Posted on 10/08/2017 12:28:07 PM PDT by SVTCobra03
In America today, there are roughly 300,000 churches claiming to represent Jesus Christ, that’s an average of 6,000 churches per state. That’s a lot of churches. So why are so many professing Christians ignorant about the main theme of the Bible? Because there is not one in a thousand that preaches Bible doctrine, and not one in ten thousand that believes the book of Revelation is a road map of the future.
(Excerpt) Read more at nowtheendbegins.com ...
Post Mil!
Probably because Jesus will not come back to the earth to rule. (1 Thess 4:16-17).
He’ll come for the Church first in the Harpazo and at the end of the Trib then Christ will return and finally clean up this mess.
>>So why are so many professing Christians ignorant about the main theme of the Bible? Because there is not one in a thousand that preaches Bible doctrine, and not one in ten thousand that believes the book of Revelation is a road map of the future.
They are generally ignorant about the main theme of the bible because their church preaches too much about the End Times and not enough about the Good News or worse, it makes up stuff about “heaven on Earth” and Socialist Jesus.
Very few churches are brave enough to teach about sin, our failure to see God if left to our own intellect and heart, and the finished work of Jesus on the cross.
> there is not one in a thousand that preaches Bible doctrine <
Not one in a thousand? Really? Here we go again. My Christian doctrine is correct. All other Christian doctrines are wrong, and must be condemned.
There is a lesson to be learned from the fall of Constantinople in 1453. While the Christian states squabbled among themselves, the Muslim Turks took the city, and the city’s empire.
While that lesson be learned?
Because all the “worthy” Christians were raptured up on September 23, 2017.
Article seems off especially when it says “From cover to cover, the main theme of the Bible is the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to rule and reign as King over all the nations...
Actually the main theme is how can sinful man be made right or reconciled to a Holy and Just God. The main theme of scripture I guess you can say is summed up in Rom 3:23-26...
What the church is deficient in is NOT that doesn’t preach end times sermons. Its deficient in that it doesn’t preach the gospel. It sugar coats it and dresses it up to appeal to carnal men and be “relevant” to culture rather than to God!!
This is from J.I. Packers introductory Essay to John Owens “The Death of Death in the Death of Christ”
There is no doubt that Evangelicalism today is in a state of perplexity and unsettlement. In such matters as the practice of evangelism, the teaching of holiness, the building up of local church life, the pastor’s dealing with souls and the exercise of discipline, there is evidence of widespread dissatisfaction with things as they are and of equally widespread uncertainty as to the road ahead. This is a complex phenomenon, to which many factors have contributed; but, if we go to the root of the matter, we shall find that these perplexities are all ultimately due to our having lost our grip on the biblical gospel. Without realising it, we have during the past century bartered that gospel for a substitute product which, though it looks similar enough in points of detail, is as a whole a decidedly different thing. Hence our troubles; for the substitute product does not answer the ends for which the authentic gospel has in past days proved itself so mighty. The new gospel conspicuously fails to produce deep reverence, deep repentance, deep humility, a spirit of worship, a concern for the church. Why? We would suggest that the reason lies in its own character and content. It fails to make men God-centred in their thoughts and God-fearing in their hearts because this is not primarily what it is trying to do. One way of stating the difference between it and the old gospel is to say that it is too exclusively concerned to be “helpful” to man—to bring peace, comfort, happiness, satisfaction—and too little concerned to glorify God. The old gospel was “helpful,” too—more so, indeed, than is the new—but (so to speak) incidentally, for its first concern was always to give glory to God. It was always and essentially a proclamation of Divine sovereignty in mercy and judgment, a summons to bow down and worship the mighty Lord on whom man depends for all good, both in nature and in grace. Its centre of reference was unambiguously God. But in the new gospel the centre of reference is man. This is just to say that the old gospel was religious in a way that the new gospel is not. Whereas the chief aim of the old was to teach men to worship God, the concern of the new seems limited to making them feel better. The subject of the old gospel was God and His ways with men; the subject of the new is man and the help God gives him. There is a world of difference. The whole perspective and emphasis of gospel preaching has changed.
From this change of interest has sprung a change of content, for the new gospel has in effect reformulated the biblical message in the supposed interests of “helpfulness.” Accordingly, the themes of man’s natural inability to believe, of God’s free election being the ultimate cause of salvation, and of Christ dying specifically for His sheep, are not preached. These doctrines, it would be said, are not “helpful”; they would drive sinners to despair, by suggesting to them that it is not in their own power to be saved through Christ. (The possibility that such despair might be salutary is not considered; it is taken for granted that it cannot be, because it is so shattering to our self-esteem.) However this may be (and we shall say more about it later), the result of these omissions is that part of the biblical gospel is now preached as if it were the whole of that gospel; and a half-truth masquerading as the whole truth becomes a complete untruth. Thus, we appeal to men as if they all had the ability to receive Christ at any time; we speak of His redeeming work as if He had done no more by dying than make it possible for us to save ourselves by believing; we speak of God’s love as if it were no more than a general willingness to receive any who will turn and trust; and we depict the Father and the Son, not as sovereignly active in drawing sinners to themselves, but as waiting in quiet impotence “at the door of our hearts” for us to let them in. It is undeniable that this is how we preach; perhaps this is what we really believe. But it needs to be said with emphasis that this set of twisted half-truths is something other than the biblical gospel. The Bible is against us when we preach in this way; and the fact that such preaching has become almost standard practice among us only shows how urgent it is that we should review this matter. To recover the old, authentic, biblical gospel, and to bring our preaching and practice back into line with it, is perhaps our most pressing present need
I would say the main theme of the Bible is to understand we are sinners and to repent for that sin—because Jesus lives and we will be judged by God. LIfe on earth, not so much.
I was involved not that long ago in a discussion re the so-called ‘secret rapture.’ I made the point that getting too focused on secret-rapture related issues and discussions, etc., undermines a person’s ability to actually focus on being ready.
According to Jesus, we are ready for His return when we are feeding the hungry, giving the thirsty something to drink, clothing the naked, caring for the sick and visiting those in prison. In other words, living out the first and second greatest commands by showing agape love to those around us. See Matthew 25:31ff for more details.
The person I was discussing this with said it was possible to highly focus on the secret rapture and love others as Christ loved us at the same time. But our exchange illustrated that is isn’t. The person was rude and dishones, and made false accusations. That’s not agape.
So I reiterate the point. Jesus commanded us to love others as He loved us. A constant, overarching focus on the secret rapture indeed distracts believers from that imperative.
The author starts with an incorrect premise and then complains that others do not jump on to his bandwagon.
The Bible is about God’s relation with man, how man moved away from that relationship and God’s provision to restore that relationship to those that chose to honor God and attempt to live one’s life accordingly. Jesus’s return is but one small part of the much larger whole.
When was the last time you heard a preacher warn about Hell? Jesus certainly preached about it. As the old movie line says, “Because you can’t stand the Truth.”
Bump
End times theology is implicitly globalist. Who do you seeing pushing it? Older neocon types. It has no presence at all among libertarians or paleocons.
Because most are what I call “get rich quick and be happy” churches. They are in it for the money. Osteen being the most successful.
Personally, I don’t believe they believe in God. I KNOW many of the preachers do not know Jesus IS God in the flesh.
I believe what my mom believed. You must be “called” to preach. Otherwise, you are a fraud.
New Testament scripture teaches that when a Christian receives Jesus as his Savior he is born again and God is within him.
http://christinprophecy.org/articles/the-biblical-evidence-that-jesus-is-returning-to-reign/
HE came into the world as a little child to seek and to save the first time.
The second time not so much.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.