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Locked on 10/27/2009 12:40:43 PM PDT by Admin Moderator, reason:
Childish behavior. |
Posted on 07/25/2009 2:40:04 AM PDT by Quix
The Bible says we cannot know the time of the Lord's return (Matthew 25:13). But the Scriptures make it equally clear that we can know the season of the Lord's return (1 Thessalonians 5:2-6):
"You yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night... But you brethren, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night or darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober."
This passage asserts that Jesus is coming like "a thief in the night." But then it proceeds to make it clear that this will be true only for the pagan world and not for believers. His return should be no surprise to those who know Him and His Word, for they have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to give them understanding of the nature of the times.
Furthermore, the Scriptures give us signs to watch for — signs that will signal that Jesus is ready to return. The writer of the Hebrew letter referred to these signs when he proclaimed that believers should encourage one another when they see the day of judgment drawing near (Hebrews 10:25-27). Jesus also referred to the end time signs in His Olivet Discourse, given during the last week of His life (Matthew 24 and Luke 21). Speaking of a whole series of signs which He had given to His disciples, He said, "When you see all these things, recognize that He [the Son of Man — that is, Jesus] is near, right at the door" (Matthew 24:33).
A Personal Experience
Every time I think of "Signs of the Times," I am reminded of a great man of God named Elbert Peak. I had the privilege of participating with him in a Bible prophecy conference held in Orlando, Florida in the early 1990's. Mr. Peak was about 80 years old at the time.
He had been assigned the topic, "The Signs of the Times." He began his presentation by observing, "Sixty years ago when I first started preaching, you had to scratch around like a chicken to find one sign of the Lord's soon return."
He paused for a moment, and then added, "But today there are so many signs I'm no longer looking for them. Instead, I'm listening for a sound — the sound of a trumpet!"
The First Sign
One hundred years ago in 1907 there was not one single, tangible, measurable sign that indicated we were living in the season of the Lord's return. The first to appear was the Balfour Declaration which was issued by the British government on November 2, 1917.
This Declaration was prompted by the fact that during World War I the Turks sided with the Germans. Thus, when Germany lost the war, so did the Turks, and the victorious Allies decided to divide up both the German and Turkish empires.
The Turkish territories, called the Ottoman Empire, contained the ancient homeland of the Jewish people — an area the Romans had named Palestine after the last Jewish revolt in 132-135 AD.
In 1917 Palestine included all of modern day Israel and Jordan. In the scheme the Allies concocted for dividing up the German and Turkish territories, Britain was allotted Palestine, and this is what prompted the Balfour Declaration. In that document, Lord Balfour, the British Foreign Secretary, declared that it was the intention of the British government to establish in Palestine "a national home for the Jewish people."
The leading Evangelical in England at the time was F. B. Meyer. He immediately recognized the prophetic significance of the Declaration, for he was well aware that the Scriptures prophesy that the Jewish people will be regathered to their homeland in unbelief right before the return of the Messiah (Isaiah 11:11-12).
Meyer sent out a letter to the Evangelical leaders of England asking them to gather in London in December to discuss the prophetic implications of the Balfour Declaration. In that letter, he stated, "The signs of the times point toward the close of the time of the Gentiles... and the return of Jesus can be expected any moment."
Before Meyer's meeting could be convened, another momentous event occurred. On December 11, 1917 General Edmund Allenby liberated the city of Jerusalem from 400 years of Turkish rule.
There is no doubt that these events in 1917 marked the beginning of the end times because they led to the worldwide regathering of the Jewish people to their homeland and the reestablishment of their state.
Since 1917
Since the time of the Balfour Declaration, we have witnessed throughout the 20th Century the appearance of sign after sign pointing to the Lord's soon return. There are so many of these signs today, in fact, that one would have to be either biblically illiterate or spiritually blind not to realize that we are living on borrowed time.
I have personally been searching the Bible for years in an effort to identify all the signs, and it has not been an easy task to get a hold on them. That's because there are so many of them, both in the Old and New Testaments.
I have found that the best way to deal with them is to put them in categories, and in doing that, I have come up with six categories of end time signs. We will explore these catetories beginning in Part 2 of this series.
Thanks for the ping!
. . . to be fair . . .
the impossible takes longer . . .
LOL.
Haven’t analyzed each item closely as I reparagraphed and html coded it.
My sense was he was pretty well right on.
We have been systematically dismantling the Protestant Reformation of 1517. We no longer recognize the necessity of Sola Fida (Only Faith), Sola Scriptura (Only Scripture) and Sola Gratia (Only Grace). Many Christians, especially Charismatics, comfortably co-exist with Rome. We have made ourselves ripe for the judgment of both Christian and heathen alike in our country. We are more concerned about creating a unity that is not of God than in believing and obeying the truth of God in the Scriptures.
I'll sure give that one an Amen!
But Charismatics aren't the only ones who "comfortably co-exist with Rome." Many Protestants, and especially Evangelicals, simply do not know what Rome believes, and therefore think of them as brothers and sisters in Christ when the compliment is not returned since the pope says we're members of "defective churches."
Thankfully, forums like Free Republic are alerting people to what Rome actually believes and teaches. "The Reformation is dying daily in our day when the Ecumenical Movement, and other forces like unto it, wish to soften the antithesis with Rome today. I want to assure you that it's not my pugnacious debating nature that makes me say we must exalt that antithesis and guard it. It's my love for the Lord Jesus Christ and the purity of His word. Rome has not essentially changed. Rome declared that what it said at the time of the Reformation was infallible and could not change. Declared it to be irreformible truth. Rome has not changed and precious truths of God's word are still worth upholding even at the cost of unity even at the cost of being considered "troublemakers" in the religious world. We need to guard the antithesis against the destructive error of Rome." -- Dr. Greg L. Bahnsen, from a tape, THE REFORMATION, October 28, 1990.
Is anti-Catholicism a tenet of Free Republic? I could understand if the poster said that protestants on the Religion Forum were "alerting people to what Rome actually believes and teaches," but NOT Free Republic itself. If I am mistaken, and Free Republic is busy "alerting people to what Rome actually believes and teaches," please let me know.
My greatest concern is that when judgment comes to God's people, many will self-righteously proclaim that they are being persecuted for righteousness sake. We MUST realize that we have been asleep to God's will, asleep to God's battle, and asleep to God's call to speak out the truth of His Word. We have embraced the very church that God Himself separated us from in the 16th century - the Roman Catholic Church.
Surely there is room for ALL beliefs here on Free Republic?
If that first sentence up there is true, then what are Catholics doing here?
By policy, Free Republic is pro-God and the First Amendment right of freedom of religion is treasured by the moderators.
Except for a few beliefs which are excluded because they monger hatred (Christian Identity, Islamic Fundamentalism, etc.) - all beliefs and non-beliefs are welcome on the forum.
Even atheists are welcome on the Religion Forum provided they do not troll. It is after all a religion forum.
Thought you might have some sympathy with part of that!
LOL.
It appears that the Rabid Rock Thread Trashing Brigade is late today.
Maybe they are polishing their . . . ‘aids to worship.’
Or perhaps stuck in some endless bead loop.
[slapping fingers]
*****************
Imho, Free Republic is not anti-Catholic. Also imho, the post in question was as is any other post on this forum, the opinion of the poster only.
LOL!
Thank you. That’s what I thought. Surely no one speaks against Catholics in the name of Free Republic.
Ahhhhhhhhhhh
When Roman Catholic/Vatican reps pontificate a
harsh, exclusive, authoritarian, dogmatic, absolutest demand/declaration
it’s merely an OPINION.
When Dr E expresses her opinion, then it’s intolerable and time to wail, whine, throw dust in the air . . . try and demand yet again that FR treat Roman Catholic sensibilities as
PARTICULARLY SPECIAL.
Wellllll Whooooop T Dooooooo
Get in line, toots.
Thankfully, it’s still not an option to turn FR into a sub-agency of the Vatican.
Some of us are more charitable toward RC’s than Dr E. It routinely does not matter. Nothing is ever good enough for the rabid RC’s except total and absolute 100% agreement—which, interestingly, you don’t have even amongst yourselves.
CLEARLY, DUPLICITY RIDES A ROMAN HORSE.
The attitude seems to be that y’all will relentlessly demand ALL THE PIE just as your magicsterical insists is the case for the “AUTHENTIC” church of Jesus The Christ.
Thankfully, that’s not God’s perspective.
Why the moderated tone? Is the shrill one in the diswasher?
Invoking the NGR rule, here.
I might better have said...
Thankfully, ON forums like Free Republic PEOPLE CAN BE alerted to what Rome actually believes and teaches.
Okay.
Thanks.
Though, most sensible folks already knew you meant that.
I think I have a problem with folks who seem to make
RABID HOSTILITY into a DOCTRINE of their UNFAITH
trying to so chronically play all sides against the middle and demand ‘respect’ as the only ‘valid’ elephant in the tent.
I think it’s the duplicity that sticks in my craw.
It’s worth noting that some anti-Catholics on here are prone to fabricating quotes and then attributing these falsehoods to the Church.
1. I don’t know any anti-Roman Catholics hereon. We are
ANTI-heretical doctrines and practices . . . not per se anti-individuals.
Bearing false witness is also a type of fabrication.
2. We don’t need to fabricate anything. The Roman Catholic church/Vatican does quite well enough on it’s own as the recent encyclical abundantly illustrates.
Some, not all. ;-D
Amen.
One of the saddest surprises on this forum has been to watch so many "conservative" Roman Catholics lining up behind Ratzinger's foul encyclical urging a "global authority" over this nation's economy, defense systems, immigration policies, education, and sovereignty.
He might as well have included "and your faith, too" since he usurped everything else.
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