Top Christian Posts of mine
November 9, 2009 Leave a comment
Top Christian Posts of mine
in the last days perilous times shall come
November 8, 2009 5 Comments
The Apostle Paul told us “…that in the last days perilous times shall come” (2 Tim 3:1-7). Jesus said there would be a time of worldwide conflict and wars that would be “the beginning of sorrows” (Mt 24:8). Christ said, “except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved…” (Mk 13:20).
Mat 24:2 And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. :3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? 4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. 5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. 6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
2 Th 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; :4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
The end time, end times, or end of days is a time period supposedly described in the eschatological writings in the three Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam).
In Christianity, the End Times are often depicted as the time of tribulation that precedes the Second Coming, return of the Christian “Saviour” or a “hoped-for deliverer”, Jesus, the Christ, is the true Jewish Messiah, who next will usher in the fullness of the World to Come and Kingdom of God thus bringing an end to suffering and evil and all things wrong with the current world which is tainted by Original Sin and the devil.;
The return of the nation Israel in modern times according to the Jews was not only an amazing political event, but was the miraculous fulfillment of a 3000 year old Jewish Biblical prophecy against all odds and yet not all do here Christians agree. Many Christians even do say that Israel has tried to conquer back the promise land in the flesh without the spirit of God still will lead to continual conflicts, state of war, and will not provide any kind of lasting peace for the Jews, nation of Israel.
The Zionist movement in the 1880′s -1890′s.made the reality that the Jews could return to the holy land became possible. From the beginning, this movement was rarely supported by most Christians who realized the prophetic significance of this return. Only a few American ministers Dwight L Moody and a bit later William Eugene Blackstone did preach this supposedly modern day importance of the return of Jews to the Chosen Land. In 1891 Blackstone and a number of important American business leaders and thinkers petitioned U.S. president Harrison for the return of Jews to their original land. In the same period, the 1880s to the 1890s, this push to return to the homeland was of course driven among Jewish thinkers in Europe, where leaders, such as Theodor Herzl, urged for the return to the homeland. All of this rose to the First Zionist Conference in Basel in 1897, The first part of the 20th century marked an ever increasing call for the Jews’ return by Jews. In 1909 there was another Jewish the milestone event was the establishment of the first Kibbutz, Degania, in the historical land of the Jewish people.;Also in 1909 the heretic Scofield Reference Bible was published by Cyrus Scofield. The Scofield commentaries placed a revived Israel as a central reality for “the Gospel does not abolish the covenant promises to Israel” (Scofield Reference Bible. 1917 edition, Introduction to Romans). With respect many Christians here have disagreed with Scofield especial his views on the work of the Holt Spirit. ,.In 1917 a dramatic even occurred for Jews with the Balfour declaration, in which the British promised a wide swath of land for the Jews. While Britain later backed off on this promise, this jump started the hopes and political will that would eventually lead to statehood later in the century. After world war II and throughout 1947 there were diplomatic effort to establish the state of Israel and in November the newly formed United Nations introduced the 1947 Partition Plan to defined the borders for the Arab -Jewish conflict that now had carved out a homeland for the Jews in their once promised land. Israel became a state in 1948. In 1967 – in the Arab Six Day War, Jerusalem was recaptured by Israel. This event was perceived by mainly still the y to have great prophetic significance. Now none of this was in itself any kind of basic Christian Movement.
A significant amount of Jews do continually lie by saying falsely that they have the majority of the Support of the Christians for all that they do. the conquest of Zion too. but. that is not true. Most Christians do nit support any of the wrong Israel does in it’s unchristian pursuit Of it’s full Zionist goals, acquisition of the full supposedly promised land. Only for some, a few Fundamental Christian Israeli Supporters the Old testament Bible is describing a future very real multidimensional war at the end of the Gentile age, a conflict between good and evil with Israel at the center of this conflict.. But yet the new Testament does not fully confirm this.. and the reality is that evangelicals even amongst themselves are rarely in agreement, never mind the rest of Christendom, as to what will or is realy happening in New testament Prophecy and why is that? yes many old testament prophecies have already been fulfilled but still Many Christians even do see still the Biblical prophecy is just made up story by some crazy red-state extreme fundamental evangelical Christians, still not supported by the rest of the Christians.
“Following the 9/11/2001 attacks in the US, the Middle East has been on a rapidly growing war footing unprecedented in modern times. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad rose to power in Iran, proclaimed the imminent return of the Islamic “messiah,” openly threatened Israel with destruction, and began to obtain the nuclear weapons to do this. Meanwhile, Russia, led by Vladimir Putin, began selling sophisticated weapons to Syria, Iran, and other enemies of Israel. Israel fought a war in the summer of 2006 against the Iranian backed Hezbollah, its amour suffered losses due to Russian and Iranian supplied anti-tank weapons. Now, with poor leadership, and its enemies massing on its borders, Israel prepares for an widespread war once again. The nations gathering for war against Israel remarkably were supposedly described in exact detail over 2600 years ago in the Old Testament’s Ezekiel 38 and 39.”; It all depends on what side of the fence you are still..
“in the last days perilous times shall come” for the jews and all (2 Tim 3:1-7). The same nation of Israel, Jews will now next fall into the antiChrist’s trap because he will promise to help them reach their goal of establish the Jewish nation in full, with its ritualistic temple, religion, full promised land. 2 Thessalonians 9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, 10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie
The examination of the controversial end time prophecy
Ezekiel chapters 36, 38 & 39, the prophecy tell us that Israel will be reformed physically as a nation, but it will still be disconnected relationally (spiritually) with God until the Lord returns and He breaths life back into them
(Ezekiel Ch. 36). Also,“in the latter years” a great war will come against Israel spearheaded (Ezekiel Chs. 38 & 39), which can only happen if Israel exists as a nation.
The Six Kingdoms (“Man’s view” from Daniel 2:31-45)
“You, O king, were looking and behold, there was a single great statue; that statue, which was large and of extraordinary splendor, was standing in front of you, and its appearance was awesome. The head of that statue was made of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, and its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. You continued looking until a stone was cut out without hands, and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay, and crushed them. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were crushed all at the same time, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. This was the dream; now we shall tell its interpretation before the king. You, O king, are the king of kings (the greatest of the four ancient kingdoms), to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the strength, and the glory; and wherever the sons of men dwell, or the beasts of the field, or the birds of the sky, He has given them into your hand and has caused you to rule over them all. You are the head of gold. And after you there will arise another kingdom inferior to you, then another third kingdom of bronze, which will rule over all the earth. Then there will be a fourth kingdom as strong as iron; inasmuch as iron crushes and shatters all things, so, like iron that breaks in pieces, it will crush and break all these in pieces. And in that you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, it will be a divided kingdom (ten rulers); but it will have in it the toughness of iron (dictatorial), inasmuch as you saw the iron mixed with common clay. And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of pottery, so some of the kingdom will be strong and part of it will be brittle. And in that you saw the iron mixed with common clay, they will combine with one another in the seed of men (democracy); but they will not adhere to one another, even as iron does not combine with pottery (non-cohesive, divided by various factions). And in the days of those kings (the ten) the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever. Inasmuch as you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what will take place in the future; so the dream is true, and its interpretation is trustworthy” (See references to this “stone” in Isaiah 28:16, Romans 9:33 & 1 Peter 2:4-10. They all are referring to the Messiah, Jesus Christ.)
The Six Kingdoms (“God’s view” from Daniel 7:2-8, 19-27)
“Daniel said, ‘I was looking in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea. And four great beasts were coming up from the sea, different from one another. The first was like a lion and had the wings of an eagle. I kept looking until its wings were plucked, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man; a human mind also was given to it (demonstrating superiority over the other ancient kingdoms that would follow, just as in the previous vision and its interpretation). And behold, another beast, a second one, resembling a bear. And it was raised up on one side, and three ribs were in its mouth between its teeth; and thus they said to it, ‘Arise, devour much meat!’ After this I kept looking, and behold, another one, like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird; the beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it. After this I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrifying and extremely strong; and it had large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed, and trampled down the remainder with its feet; and it was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns (which parallels the ten toes). While I was contemplating the horns, behold, another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were pulled out by the roots before it; and behold, this horn possessed eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth uttering great boasts’”.
“Then I desired to know the exact meaning of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others, exceedingly dreadful, with its teeth of iron and its claws of bronze, and which devoured, crushed, and trampled down the remainder with its feet, and the meaning of the ten horns that were on its head, and the other horn which came up, and before which three of them fell, namely, that horn which had eyes and a mouth uttering great boasts, and which was largerin appearance than its associates (notice: the eleventh horn grew stronger than the other horns after three of the ten horns are deposed). I kept looking, and that horn was waging war with the saints and overpowering them until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was passed in favor of the saints of the Highest One, and the time arrived when the saints took possession of the kingdom. Thus he said: ‘The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth, which will be different from all the other kingdoms, and it will devour the whole earth and tread it down and crush it (another reason for accepting the revived Roman Empire view). As for the ten horns (the fifth kingdom), out of this kingdom ten kings will arise; and another will arise after them, and he will be different from the previous ones and will subdue three kings. And he (clearly a reference to the Antichrist) will speak out against the Most High, and wear down the saints of the Highest One and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law (The human understanding of time, i.e. a seven-day week, and law, i.e. the Ten Commandments, were largely established in the first two books of the Bible. The Antichrist will attempt to alter the very foundation mankind was created to exist upon.); and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time (scheduled to take place over a 3 ½ year period). But the court will sit for judgment, and his dominion will be taken away, annihilated and destroyed forever. Then the sovereignty, the dominion, and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him” (The Antichrist will have only a short reign, and then Jesus Christ will physically slay him and judge his soul directly, tossing him straight into hell. Then Jesus, with His saints, will set up His kingdom, the sixth and final kingdom) [emphasis, with commentary added from the details that are given in the book of Revelation].
So, in Daniel 2:38, Babylon, the head of gold, is listed as the first kingdom. In Daniel 8:3-8, 20-22 the second and third kingdoms are identified for us using animal representations, as was the case in the previous chapter, and later by their direct names, as well. “Then I lifted my gaze and looked, and behold, a ram which had two horns was standing in front of the canal. Now the two horns were long, but one was longer than the other, with the longer one coming up last. I saw the ram butting westward, northward, and southward, and no other beasts could stand before him, nor was there anyone to rescue from his power; but he did as he pleased and magnified himself. While I was observing, behold, a male goat was coming from the west over the surface of the whole earth without touching the ground; and the goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes. And he came up to the ram that had the two horns, which I had seen standing in front of the canal, and rushed at him in his mighty wrath. And I saw him come beside the ram, and he was enraged at him; and he struck the ram and shattered his two horns, and the ram had no strength to withstand him. So he hurled him to the ground and trampled on him, and there was none to rescue the ram from his power. Then the male goat magnified himself exceedingly. But as soon as he was mighty, the large horn was broken; and in its place there came up four conspicuous horns toward the four winds of heaven(Alexander and his four generals) [emphasis and commentary added]. (This correlates extremely well with the four heads of Daniel 7:6).
Now we are directly told in the context of Daniel’s prophecies who the second and three kingdoms will be. “The ram which you saw with the two horns represents the kings of Media and Persia (the second kingdom). And the shaggy goat represents the kingdom of Greece (the third kingdom), and the large horn that is between his eyes is the first king. And the broken horn and the four horns that arose in its place represent four kingdoms which will arise from his nation, although not with his power” [emphasis added] (Daniel 8:20-22) .
The fourth kingdom, which overthrew the Greek empire, was Rome. History indisputably bares this out. Rome conquered Greece and later the Roman Empire was split in two (the two legs of the statue). Further, Daniel 9:26 confirms Rome from the historical record, as it states that after the Messiah was cut off (killed), the city and the temple would be destroyed by the people of this empire, which we know took place in 70 A.D. by the Romans. The fifth and sixth kingdoms are yet future, as no reliable historic record establishes their existence. The first four were literally fulfilled, leaving us with the reasonable conclusion that the last two will be literally fulfilled in the future, as well.
From the description in Daniel, it should be obvious to the reader that the fifth kingdom, composed of the feet with ten toes and/or ten horns on the beast, which tramples down and devours the Earth, is the kingdom of the beast or the “Antichrist’s”kingdom. The “Antichrist” is the eleventh horn, which arises up among the first ten horns, blasphemes God and attacks the saints of God. This ultimate false Christ will be given dominion over the earth for three and one half years before Jesus Christ physically returns and defeats him. “And he will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time. (Daniel 7:25) And again, “And one said to the man dressed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, “How long will it be until the end of these wonders? And I heard the man dressed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, as he raised his right hand and his left toward heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever that it would be for a time, times, and half a time; and as soon as they finish shattering the power of the holy people, all these events will be completed.” (Daniel 12:6-7)
In the ancient vernacular a time (1) + times (2) + and half a time (1/2) equaled a three and one half year time period. Daniel’s prophecies confirm this brief reign of Antichrist four separate times (Daniel 7:25, 9:27, 12:6 and 12:11).
Even evangelical Prophetic scholars rarely agree with a more detailed explanation of the prophecies being unfolded so how can anyone else?
Daniel was told in chapter twelve of his book that Israel would go through a time of great distress that would last for 3 1/2 years, and Daniel was to go his way, “for these words are concealed and sealed up until the end time”.
But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God; holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; and avoid such men as these” [emphasis added] (2 Timothy 3:1-5).
The Apostle John Foresaw: “And I saw heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True; and in righteousness He judges and wages war. And His eyes are a flame of fire, and upon His head are many diadems; and He has a name written upon Him, which no one knows except Himself. And He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood; and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies, which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. And from His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may smite the nations; and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, ‘KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.’ And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in midheaven,‘Come, assemble for the great supper of God;” in order that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them and the flesh of all men, both free men and slaves, and small and great. And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies, assembled to make war against Him who sat upon the horse, and against His army’. And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire, which burns with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat upon the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh” (Revelation 19:11-21).
The tribes Of Israel were never lost, they merely scattered. But Jesus Christ, the Messiah, will also be returning to rescue physical nation of Israel, The book of Zechariah makes this clear. “In that day the LORD will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the one who is feeble among them in that day will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of the LORD before them. And it will come about in that day that I will set about to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him, like the bitter weeping over a first-born”[emphasis added] (Zechariah 12:8-10). “And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south” (Zechariah 14:4). By this act Jesus will physically claim the land of Israel for solely himself too.
The still basic Objections-
Objection #1: Earthquakes, famines, wars and pestilence have always been with us. The only reason that they seem to be increasing is that we now have a larger population and the technology to be able to better track these things. They are not an indication that we are the final generation of this age.
Objection #2: There are many other books and prophecies outside the Bible that predict some of these same things. The Bible is just one among many – therefore its prophecies aren’t anymore special than the others.
Objection #3: Prophecy is just symbolic. Besides, it’s just too hard to understand and way too controversial.
Objection #4: No man knows the day or the hour of Jesus return and He is coming like a thief in the night. Because of this, there is no way we can know for sure, so why bother trying to figure it all out? It will just cause division and strife and nothing good will be accomplished by pursuing it.
Objection #5: We really don’t need to bother with prophecy, because we are supposed to be focusing on Jesus and/or witnessing to the lost.
Objection #6: Biblical prophecy is nothing but a negative doom and gloom message, which is just not something anyone in their right mind would be interested in.
2nd Wittness Weblog 