Just general thoughts about current world happenigns

[SStypa]

In regards to other discussions about the Bible - I have read my Bible a couple of times (will I ever understand it?). I am just wondering who has read the Left Behind series (not that I agree with them - just read them for the entertainment and to know what was being talked about!). I am also wondering if anyone else has concerns or is wondering about what is happening around the world these days. The formation of the Euro, all the horrible storms and weather patterns around the world, the wars,... I especially raised my eyebrows when I read the news reports about the group of Elders that was recently formed by the British millionaire last week.
I am only airing this as a discussion and just wondering about your thoughts.

[kriswrite]

I think we need to use care when we start talking about the end of the world. Christians have been predicting this since New Testament times, yet the Bible says we will not know the day or the hour.

Kristina

[Rocky Top]

...Pat Robertson taught my S.S. class (Sunday school) one time in Orlando during the early 90's and told us when the end of the world would be. He said he had his people working on this...and they came up with a date.

Just to let you know...

...the date he shared is coming up.

Does this Friday work for everybody?


Okay..bad joke. But he did tell us the world would end in 2002. I wrote it down in my Bible.

[jacks girl]

Only God knows the time, but we must be ready to meet our maker, our time may come up before the world ends. We have no promise of tomorrow. I liked the left behind series the books and the movies. I listened to most of them on audio. I think that parts of them are right on the money. Others I'm not sure about. The end will come some day but as far as trying to pick out a date I wouldn't even try.

[tlm]

I always thought that the UFO abductions might play into things.

I remember a lot of buzz about the year being 1984.

I think Hal Lindsey predicted a date like that. I may be wrong about Lindsey, though.

[Ransom v. Unman]

Lindsey called for the rapture to happen in 1988.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Late%2C_Great_Planet_Earth#Predictions

[SStypa]

I agree with being careful about predicting the end times. I would never want to do that. It's just that sometimes I wonder:confused:

[tlm]

Lindsey called for the rapture to happen in 1988.

I knew it was sometime in the '80s.

I believe that 1988 was also the Age of Aquarius--or was that 89. I guess I should check Wikipedia too.

[tlm]

Hey I just did a google search, and I can't find anything about that on line anymore. I remember during the planetary alignment (1988 or 89) that tons of new agers called that the Age of Aquarius.

I guess when you make predictions, then you really set yourself up for a fall.

[cpbookworm]

I personally believe that the end will come within a generation. Most of the things that need to be set up in our modern world for certain prophecies to be fulfilled are in place.

Also, I think the pretrib rapture view, which is presented in the Left Behind series, is unlikely. I have spent a lot of time studying the issue from Scripture, and am convinced that we will see and experience the hatred of the Antichrist. I am writing a book on the topic, which I intend to publish as an e-book when it is complete.

But what is important is that we are ready to serve Christ no matter what happens on the earth or in our life. We must be ready at all times, not only because of Christ's Second Coming, but also because we could die at any time. It is not about the timing of the rapture, but about the watching and seeking of the saints for their Lord in all things.

[psychoceramic]

In regards to other discussions about the Bible - I have read my Bible a couple of times (will I ever understand it?). I am just wondering who has read the Left Behind series (not that I agree with them - just read them for the entertainment and to know what was being talked about!). I am also wondering if anyone else has concerns or is wondering about what is happening around the world these days. The formation of the Euro, all the horrible storms and weather patterns around the world, the wars,... I especially raised my eyebrows when I read the news reports about the group of Elders that was recently formed by the British millionaire last week.
I am only airing this as a discussion and just wondering about your thoughts.

To answer your thoughts and questions.....

I have read the left behind books and felt they were right on with what I have learned, well for the most part they are, but when they started doing the prequels I felt they lost the touch God had given them and they were writing just to write, (which is ok by me just stopped reading them.)

The world scares me and the thoughts that my kids are living in the end time scares me Until I remember that My God wrote the end times and He is in control. There is so much going on that point to the end of the Age that to read it all and catalog it all would take years I would think.
The red heifer, the rebuilding of the Temple, the illuminate and all kinds of evil on this earth, Yet God is still in control.

Lots of people have tried to tell us when God would return, they have all been wrong so far. There are now mostly general times like by 2012 (the most popular one right now) and other years that are close.
The bible says to be ready.

The bible also talks about birth pangs and I believe that the storms and mass murders and killings and strange things rising in the world and in the Heart of God's people are proof of these pangs.


In Jesus,
psycho

[ProfessorAlan]

I think we may have a really, really, really long time .... I mean humanity, not us, because if I'm right, we'll all be long gone by the time it happens. I just keep coming back to God's patience and mercy. He has no agenda except to bring as many people to Him as possible. As long as that take, he'll wait.

What concerns me about the LB-style interpretation is that is a relatively new interpretation, the last 150 years or so, with the notes to the Schoefiled Bible -- none of the church fathers or other doctors of the church, whose theology we base so much of our understanding on, taught this interpretation. And I tend to trust them a lot.

To veer the subject a little, anyone read the Hannegraaf (sp?) "end-times" books, which put many of the prophecies of Revelation as being fulfilled about 1800 or 1900 years ago? Hannegraaf (sp?) said some bad and mostly inaccurate things about my denomination years ago, so I'm not inclined to like him, but I think this is an interesting interpretation.

[Ransom v. Unman]

Hannagraff (I think) is hit or miss... He'll be so right-on when no one else is that you'll want to make a hero out of him, just in time for him to go on one of his pet rants and make you think "Wow, this guy sure can toss biblical logic out the window when he sure feels like it..."

Yeah, everyone who's predicted the end of the world before has gotten it wrong. Concomittant with that, however, is the ever-increasing likelihood that the next generation predicting it will happen in their life time will be right.

[Tommie Lyn]

I think we may have a really, really, really long time .... I mean humanity, not us, because if I'm right, we'll all be long gone by the time it happens. I just keep coming back to God's patience and mercy. He has no agenda except to bring as many people to Him as possible. As long as that take, he'll wait.
I'm inclined to agree with you about this.

But my thoughts are, what does it matter when it happens, as long as we are ready when it does happen? I think our focus, particularly today, with the proliferation of stories and movies about the fantastic, makes people want to look for something out of the ordinary, something exciting.

Living the Christian life day-to-day, dealing with all the ups and downs, trying to move beyond our sinful nature and develop Christ-likeness is not as electrifying and energizing as thinking about the supernatural. Reading the prophecies is more enlivening to our imaginations than reading the encouragement to right living we receive from the letters to the churches and the solace and assurance we receive from the Psalms.

My focus will continue to be on trying to keep my lamp trimmed and full of oil, whether He comes in the next ten minutes or 10,000 years from now.

[lynnmosher]

Amen, Tommie Lyn. That is just what I was going to say. Living a Godly life and being prepared is even more critical to me as age has crept up on me, now at 61. And if Jesus doesn’t know the date, how in the world can man know?

Okay, I'm a little skiddish putting this out here, so, please don't beat me up. Just as an interesting point of view, in studying the Hebrew and Greek words for ‘saved’ and ‘salvation,’ I have found that they mean so much more. These words refer to deliverance from or out of something.

One Hebrew word is ‘yeshuw`ah,’ meaning something saved, deliverance, aid, victory, prosperity, health, help, and welfare. (All of which are found in Jesus, Yeshua, ‘the Lord is salvation.’) The Greek word for ‘save’ is ‘sozo,’ which means to save, preserve, deliver, protect, rescue, heal, make whole, and so on. ‘Salvation’ in the Greek is ‘soteria,’ which means rescue, safety, deliverance, preservation, health, prosperity, help, and welfare.

God’s salvation is not only the rescue of a believer’s spirit from eternal death and hell, but also the rescue of believers out of dire circumstances and out of the coming judgment and wrath.

My favorite reference is in John the Revelator’s vision where Jesus says to the faithful church, “Because you kept the word of My patience, I also will keep you out of the hour of trial which is going to come on the inhabitable world in order to try those dwelling on the earth. Behold, I am coming quickly.” ‘Kept’ and ‘keep’ in Greek mean to watch over, preserve, hold fast, to withhold for a personal end, to keep unmarried, and so on.

Paul tells us to look forward to and await the coming of Jesus, Who “delivers us from the wrath to come.” ‘Delivers’ also means to draw to oneself, preservation from, and so on. Jesus will draw us to Himself and, in Him, He will preserve us from God’s wrath.

Paul told the Thessalonians, “God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.” If God saved us from His wrath upon sin, then He saved us from all His wrath, including that which is coming upon the world for sin in the tribulation. So, wouldn't it seem logical to assume we are raptured before the tribulation?

Sorry for being so long-winded; it’s just my innards bustin’ my gut to share what I have found in God’s Word. I’ll leave you with one last thought. One thing my husband said always tickles me but is quite profound, “Why would the Bridegroom allow His Bride to be beat up in the tribulation before He carries Her over the threshold?”

Well, here goes...I'm clicking on submit...you can now throw stones of opposition...

[ProfessorAlan]

Concomittant with that, however, is the ever-increasing likelihood that the next generation predicting it will happen in their life time will be right.

Sure, I guess the ones who predicted 2000 had a better chance of the ones who predicted 1988 ...... "ever-increasing" likelihood? Technically true. Still a really really really really small likelihood? I think so.

[tlm]

2012

I think I first heard that one on the X-Files. Just last week my brother asked me about the end of the world being 2012 because that is the last year of the Mayan calendar.

Hannagraff

My high school teacher used some of his writings to try to teach me that Christianity was foolishness.

[Ransom v. Unman]

Technically true.

But true nonetheless. :p

I WIN!

I think I first heard that one on the X-Files. Just last week my brother asked me about the end of the world being 2012 because that is the last year of the Mayan calendar.


My friend was just talking to me earlier today about this, and in this context...

Kinda' freaky. :eek:


My high school teacher used some of his writings to try to teach me that Christianity was foolishness.

Yeah... A part of the reason I have very mixed feelings about the guy. :rolleyes:

[tlm]

My friend was just talking to me earlier today about this, and in this context...

Kinda' freaky.


I hate that my mind is filled with all this sort of information. I also know, by heart, the cast of Gilligan's Island, all of the three stooges (yea, more than three), and the cast of the Brady Bunch.

I can't help it! My mind is a sponge. But I do love a good conspiracy theory.

[Ransom v. Unman]

I'd say it's a good thing to have a mind like that, though I'm quite thankful that I can't remember the Brady Bunch, or Gilligan's Island.

Actually, no, I do know Gilligan's Island's cast. :eek:

The Three Stooges are cool though - and there were only four of them, so it's not that hard to remember.

Now, tell me about the organelles in a cell, then I'll be impressed! :rolleyes:

[tlm]

Larry, Curly, Moe, Shemp, (and the hard ones), Joe Besser, and Joe DeRay (I believe is the spelling).

I can't remember which of the Joe's was called Bobby Joe in the full length movies, (The three Stooges meets Snow White was one of them. A famous ice skater was Snow White). I need to shut my mind off!!!

As for organelles--those are the little compartments in the cells that cause it to work properly; like the nucleus, ribosome, vesicle, mitochondria, and cytoplasm. organelles are to cells as organs are to the body.

I'm a science teacher lol.

Sorry I got WAY off topic.

[ProfessorAlan]

Just last week my brother asked me about the end of the world being 2012 because that is the last year of the Mayan calendar.

So every Christian end-timer has been wrong, but the Mayans probably got it right???? :confused:

[SStypa]

!thumbsup!I have been slowly getting used to navigating around on this website and I am just so amazed and encouraged by all I have read. Canadians tend to be apologetic - (sorry if I offend you by being a Christian, sorry if I offend you for being political, sorry if I offend you by being outspoken about my beliefs, etc. etc.). So to see the intelligent and thoughtful discussions around my thoughts about the end times (wow - Christians do have brains;) - who'da thunk?), I am in awe.

[tlm]

So every Christian end-timer has been wrong, but the Mayans probably got it right???

According to the X-Files finale and some documentary that my brother saw on TV. I saw a documentary <cough, cough> on the end times that said that, too.

I didn't say that he or I believe that, though. I don't get my theology from the X-Files.

As they say, time will tell.

[Keith Wallis]

Aw, 2012 is just NOT FAIR. It means we Brits won't get to host the olympics!

[Lookin^Up]

Because Jesus spoke to His disciples about the End Times as though they were imminent, I respectfully disagree that we'll see even part of the Antichrist's wrath. It seems to contradict His grace and mercy to believers to let them stay so long. I think we'll be taken out before or slightly after the Antichrist makes the international scene, not enough time to be fully victimized by him. Take that for what it's worth.

I remember that just prior to 1988, a book came out with the title, 88 Reasons Why Jesus will Come Back in 1988. I also remember that a lot of ministers got behind the author, too.

In the past 20 years, I've always wondered what happened to him ...

[Scotsman]

Having studied “the end times” for years, I notice every theory is crammed with Scriptural proof. The pre-tribulation tribe, the post-tribulation tribe, and the past-tribulation tribe all have their verses from His Word. Too often those exact same verses disprove their theory.

“At the sound of the LAST trumpet, we shall all be changed.”

Revelation lists 7 trumpets. Without looking it up, do you know what happens immediately after the 7th (the final, the last) trumpet blows? The result of the 7th and final trumpet sound is found in Revelation 11:15-19. Finally, AFTER the last trumpet, "the kingdoms of this world HAS become of our Lord, and of His Messiah, and He shall reign forever and ever."

All of Israel were God's people. Different tribes, but one people.

There is nothing new under the sun. God doesn't change. From God's promise to Adam, right up to NOW, His people have looked "toward the Messiah's coming". Even during those years Jesus, the Messiah, walked on the dusty roads, people looked for His coming.

Because of this, I have joined the ever increasing tribe – the PAN-tribulation tribe. Praise God. We all need to live our lives as everyone who ever sought after the heart of God - Keeping our eyes on the "author and finisher of our faith".

Pan-tribulation tribe? What's that? Simply that everything will pan out, and in this world YOU will have tribulation. but be of good cheer, Jesus HAS (past tense) overcome the world.

[tlm]

Aw, 2012 is just NOT FAIR. It means we Brits won't get to host the olympics!

lol.
I said a prayer for you whenever I saw a news report about the floods across the pond.

I remember when my son was born in '84 that I thought that if the predictors were right that I wouldn't get to see my son grow up.

Pan-tribulation tribe? What's that? Simply that everything will pan out,

I love it!