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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.
We don't join ourselves. God unites us to Christ. But the work of salvation is entirely the work of Christ alone.
"This union of the mother with the Son in the work of salvation..."
That sentence from the RCC catechism is blasphemy. No one joins in the work of salvation. Men are gifted with salvation. Men are graced with salvation. Men are chosen for salvation. Men do not, ever, never, aid Christ in His work on the cross.
He did it all. That's why salvation is by unmerited grace through faith and not debt.
Crystalinks.com is not a Roman Catholic website, even though your post says it is. Any discussion there is from the point of view of occult phenomena, in which they include psychic readings, Mayan prophecy and all manner of divination.
The provenance and discussion of any and all weeping statues there is suspect, as is everything at the website.
To post “From this Roman Catholic website” is an error. There seem to be a lot of errors like that in the protestant posts.
"Photo taken in Cuenca, Ecuador by Fr. James Manjackal Here Fr. James Manjackal meet a Missionary Carmen Patricia and saw the crucifix and the statue of the Mother of God in her room weeping, which also today still cries tears. In the photos you can see the tears flowing of both eyes. Patricia lived in the world with completely lay life change. She worked as a Model for folklore dresses. That was 16 years ago on August 29, 1988 then the Mother of God appeared to her. Fr. James Manjackal meet a Missionary Carmen Patricia and saw the crucifix and the statue of the Mother of God in her room weeping, which also today still cries tears. In the photos you can see the tears flowing of both eyes. Patricia lived in the world with completely lay life change. She worked as a Model for folklore dresses. That was 16 years ago on August 29, 1988 then the Mother of God appeared to her."
Yes, I agree with you; obviously Jesus is God and Mary is not God. The way I read it in the Catechism is that there is a Treasury of Grace. The Treasury of Grace is eternal and came from the Death and Resurrection of Jesus. Mary and the Saints, because of their faithfulness to God and their good works have added to the Treasury of Grace. The impression I got from reading that is that Mary and Saints added a limited amount to the eternal Treasury of Grace that we have access to.
The Catechism is very interesting in how it explains that the entire time since the dawn of creation until now is just 1 day. It is the day of the Passover of Jesus. We are still in that same day and the impression I got from the reading is that we are sharing the sufferings and the glory of Jesus. I find it all very fascinating and awesome.
Yes, I agree with you; obviously Jesus is God and Mary is not God. The way I read it in the Catechism is that there is a Treasury of Grace. The Treasury of Grace is eternal and came from the Death and Resurrection of Jesus. Mary and the Saints, because of their faithfulness to God and their good works have added to the Treasury of Grace. The impression I got from reading that is that Mary and Saints added a limited amount to the eternal Treasury of Grace that we have access to.
The Catechism is very interesting in how it explains that the entire time since the dawn of creation until now is just 1 day. It is the day of the Passover of Jesus. We are still in that same day and the impression I got from the reading is that we are sharing the sufferings and the glory of Jesus. I find it all very fascinating and awesome.
That opinion is anti-Scriptural;. There is nothing in the Bible about Mary or anyone else "adding to the Treasury of Grace."
However there is plenty of Scripture which tells us Christ alone redeems His flock.
In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist." -- Colossians 1:13-17 "(God) who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:
lol. Without even looking I bet that’s the butter picture. Imagine how big the peanut butter and jelly must be. 8~)
We were traveling to KY the first time I saw that.
It was like “Whoa”!
What Catholic website?
This is from the main page of that website.
“Ancient and Lost Civilizations
Astronomy and Mythology
Conspiracies and Mystery Schools
Creation
Crystals
Extraterrestrials & UFOs
Healing and Energy
Physical Sciences
Prophets and Prophecies
Psychic and Spiritual Development
Sacred Places and Teachings
Social Sciences”
Some people would have more credibility if they would not label everything “Catholic” or maybe they’re “just kidding” like Anita Dunn was kidding about Chairman Mao.
Finding a site where a picture is from is very easy. Even finding who owns the site and where that site originated from is cake. As Judge Judy says, “Do you think I can believe anything you say after you have lied?”.
And I just have to add at this point, the “decoration” of that crucifix is really cheesy.
“Blasphemy”
That’s an opinion.
The good part about being in America is (for the time being) each of us is allowed our own.
“Blasphemy” comes up on these threads like “racism” is thrown around by the libs.
It’s tired and kind of lost it’s bite.
The website is CRYSTALINKS.com. What in the world leads you to conclude that it is a Catholic website? Doesn't this ever get old to you? I would think that after repeatedly making the same blunder I would at least stop to check and see if it was really a Catholic website.
Truth be told.
But it’s much more fun to misrepresent then let the readers find out.
Because in someone’s mind, the damage is in the accusation and not the facts.
BTW, look at post 843 to Judith Anne.
That will make you laugh.
And many were assassinated in the State of Florida by the one true church as well...
But it’s much more fun to misrepresent then let the readers find out.
Because in someone’s mind, the damage is in the accusation and not the facts.
Let's see, in the last few weeks we've had:
1. A quote from THOUSANDS of Catholic websites that turned out to be a complete fabrication.
2. A picture which can only be found on the website of some wacko who hates basically everyone. And the photo doesn't even remotely seem like it would fit at the basilica it is purported to, which is one of the oldest and most photographed in Rome.
3. Now we have yet another photo which is purported to be from a Catholic website. However, the website is actually Crystalinks.com which belongs to a woman named Ellie Crystal and is her "Metaphysical and Science Website". When you go to Ellie's biography you are told that she is a "psychic, healer, teacher, researcher, lecturer, author and broadcaster," But wait, there's more . . . as you read on you will also be told that she is a "nice Jewish girl from Brooklyn," and she has spoken to a "entity named Zoroaster" all of her life and she now just calls him "Z". However, NOWHERE in her biography does the word Catholic or even Christian appear (though she does mention sitting at her computer on Christmas of 1989 and receiving a vision of a boy). Basically, one would have to really try to find a website which is LESS Catholic than Ellie's.
Basically, this is stuff that Dan Ratherbiased would probably shy away from, but that's just me.
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