Apocalyptic Thoughts

[Sean]

Just listening to Glenn Beck this morning and he had a reporter from The New York Times speaking about cyber spying. If we are smart we will try to cease from digitizing anything that belongs to our personal information. Everything as far as data is concerned that we share is sent up to a cloud.... Scary.

[Evang.Benincasa]

Originally Posted by Sean

Just listening to Glenn Beck this morning and he had a reporter from The New York Times speaking about cyber spying. If we are smart we will try to cease from digitizing anything that belongs to our personal information. Everything as far as data is concerned that we share is sent up to a cloud.... Scary.

Glen Beck? Oh, now there's an individual we can trust.

Sean maybe you should write Mr Beck a letter and tell him what a fine job he is doing. He might even get baptized for you.

[Sean]

Do you think your digitized personal info is not being archived somewhere?

[Michael The Disciple]

Originally Posted by Aquila

One day we will wakeup to a world truly spinning out of control, and before the end of the day, a third of mankind will be dead. The entire world will be left reeling on its axis. Many Preterists will be digging themselves out of the ash and rubble of the aftermath, and they will encounter a beast, the likes of which will make the events of 70 A.D. look like the dress rehearsal of a Sunday school play.

We all know this deep down in our inner man. Even the Preterist knows this. But some have preached themselves into a corner that they can't escape from without losing the creditability they have fought so hard to gain after leaving Futurism for Preterism. This has put them on the fringe, reduced them to a minority, and left them without a prophetic message. One can only imagine the frustration that some of them might feel.

Well said.

[Evang.Benincasa]

Originally Posted by Aquila

Jesus spoke of the events as imminent because not even the man, Jesus Christ (the humanity), knew the day or hour:

Mark 13:32
But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.

We know that futurists use Mark 13:32 for a candy stick to escape logically explaining the reasons Jesus explained "immediate" not only imminent. The scripture isn't to be cherry picked to death, but taken wholistically. Taking scriptures out of their context historically, and biblically only lead people to come up with all sorts of incorrect conclusions. The Mark of the Beast we are told to have wisdom to decipher its meaning. We aren't told to await an angel from heaven to tell us the meaning. Because we are admonished not to be instructed by angels, especially concerning a manuscript which has the dyer warning found in Revelation 22:18-19. In Revelation 13:18 This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666. Again, let the one who has understanding calculate the number name of an individual. This was telling the first century readers of the Revelation manuscript which was written 2,000 years ago to employ gematria to the Greek letters to come up with the individuals name. Isaiah names King Cyrus in a document 150 years prior to the birth of the king. Yet, in the Prophet Isaiah's case we are given the name because there was no individual born yet, so the exact name is given. With gematria you would have to have some leader available so you could make your match once you went through the calculations. Hence the reason why world leaders, barcodes, and even corporations went through the process to figure out the number name. Yet, 2,000 years ago a group of people who were originally sent the Revelation manuscript, seven "churches" were given the document. They were the ones who were given the task to open up the meaning of the number name. Because it was important for them to know it. therefore the verse tells them "this calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666." the number name of "a man" a man that the readers already knew about, and would be able to employ gematria to calculate who that man was. No man knows the day or hour is fruitless to correlate with a great amount of time language in the Bible. Because logical commonsense demands the correct answer. Jesus tells them through John that wisdom is needed to calculate the number name, way back in the first century A.D. That individual needed to be there, alive, doing what he was doing, for the calculators to be able to pin point that individual. If he was not born yet, then like Isaiah there would of been no problem to mention the name of a leader who wasn't even born yet. Yet, 2,000 years and climbing we are constantly badgered by individuals who fragmentally cut up the scriptures, and view eschatology through current events as their peep stone. They were told to calculate a name which needed the individual who owned the name to be around. Waring people of a mark which they would never EVER see? Telling people that the things written in the book, were shortly to come to pass, why? Because the TIME was NEAR? a 1,000 year Day isn't what we are told in chapter 1 of Revelation? We are told language which is specific for the 7 "churches" which would get themselves to prepare to sound their trumpets. The 1,000 year Day from 2 Peter 3:8 is quoting Psalm 90:4 is concerning the brevity of man's existence compared with God's eternal existence. When God says something He brings it to pass. Therefore the Apostle couples his words with, the Lord isn't really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. The apostle assuring his readers of events that were quickly happening during there time. Some would want you to believe that Jesus was clueless concerning what was about to happen to His generation, as well as the foundational apostles who were to bring forth doctrine to the four corners of the world. Even the Apostle Paul is made to be an individual making it up as he goes along? Why? So, men can have their man created eschatology? That men living 2,000 years after the events, and languages of the documents have be forgotten?

9/11 happened over 10 years ago. Yet, there are many stories concerning what happened on that day. Only one can be the truth. In 2,000 years what will be said about that event?

You have a library of ancient manuscripts called the Bible, in that collection of books there is a story which has a protology, a soteriology, and an eschatology. All of those studies are able to be found with the library you are given.

[Evang.Benincasa]

Originally Posted by Aquila

One day we will wakeup to a world truly spinning out of control, and before the end of the day, a third of mankind will be dead. The entire world will be left reeling on its axis. Many Preterists will be digging themselves out of the ash and rubble of the aftermath, and they will encounter a beast, the likes of which will make the events of 70 A.D. look like the dress rehearsal of a Sunday school play.

70 A.D. made the sacking of Jerusalem by the Babylonian eagle winged lion Nebuchadnezzar look like a dress rehearsal. That was because Jesus Christ was rejected by THEM, and THEY were personally WARNED by HIM.

Many Preterists will be digging themselves out of the ash and rubble of the aftermath, and they will encounter a beast? Not a Biblical one. People who are Christians who believed in a fulfilled eschatology have been digging themselves out of the ash and rubble of the aftermath, and encountering some sort of beast. For 2,000 years, but they still believed and trusted the Bible. Christianity has been around for a long time, and while there has been doomsdayers predicting the fall of the human race and the death of the planet. God laughs and gives us a sunny morning.

Originally Posted by Aquila

We all know this deep down in our inner man.

The Bible isn't interpreted through gut feelings. I've leaned that line from my good friend Elder James LeDeay.

Originally Posted by Aquila

Even the Preterist knows this. But some have preached themselves into a corner that they can't escape from without losing the creditability they have fought so hard to gain after leaving Futurism for Preterism.

Here it is, the Aquila/Chris passive aggressive smack in the teeth. Then he wonders with surprise why he gets the boomerang effect? Brothers who have left some form of futurism, did it, not because guys like you were constantly wrong. Didn't know how to explain something. Or were asked questions after the Bible study and got really angry that we didn't accept your explanations.
Brothers who left did their own research. We later found others who saw we we were seeing, and these were men who were in other parts of the world.
Go back because Mount Vesuvius erupted and covered our city of Pompeii?
Go back because we are at the battle of the Little Bighorn with General Custer? Go back because our ship the Titanic hit an iceberg and there aren't even life boats? Go back because we are at ground zero at the Twin Towers on 9/11? Go back because we are in Baghdad the night it is bombed by two stealth fighters? No, the Bible is interpreted not by events in our lives, bad or even good. When everything hits the fan, we are to hold on to the truth. When we are thrown into the oven which is heated seven times hotter by the mad king, we are to hold on to truth. When we are on the ice filled deck of a sinking ship with screams and death all around us, when a wife is given a seat on the last life boat, and her husband cannot go with her, she leaves her seat to be with her husband. Because their marriage wasn't based on emotion. Their relationship was based on the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Not on gut feelings, but on consistency on their commitment to each other. Men like Thomas K Burk, and Michael Blume, came out of futurism, one worked side by side to help create Endtimes magazine. Was under Irving Baxter Jr as a pastor. They found what they currently believe through study. Not through emotions, not through fear, not through edict of a church council.

Originally Posted by Aquila

This has put them on the fringe, reduced them to a minority, and left them without a prophetic message. One can only imagine the frustration that some of them might feel.

Maybes? Might? That means you hope we all feel that way.

Chris, may I suggest you sweep around your own front door?

Your time is just around the corner.

[TK Burk]

Originally Posted by Aquila

One day we will wakeup to a world truly spinning out of control, and before the end of the day, a third of mankind will be dead. The entire world will be left reeling on its axis. Many Preterists will be digging themselves out of the ash and rubble of the aftermath, and they will encounter a beast, the likes of which will make the events of 70 A.D. look like the dress rehearsal of a Sunday school play.

We all know this deep down in our inner man. Even the Preterist knows this. But some have preached themselves into a corner that they can't escape from without losing the creditability they have fought so hard to gain after leaving Futurism for Preterism. This has put them on the fringe, reduced them to a minority, and left them without a prophetic message. One can only imagine the frustration that some of them might feel.

Aquila, “frustration”? How can I “feel” “frustration” since my view is founded on Bible verses rather than newspaper headlines?

I worked at Endtime Ministries in the late 1980s to the mid 1990s. I was their second employee; my wife was their first. I wrote their brand of Dispensationalism in Endtime magazine articles, and I taught it at Endtime conferences. I secured both their 800-Endtime number and their endtime.com domain. But one day while writing an article, I decided to cite passages that supported one of Endtime’s central predictions. What I discovered is there were no such verses. Not one. I then restudied every teaching Bro. Baxter had taught me and was shocked to see them fall like dominos too.

I did not have a “church” background before being saved at Baxter’s church, so I only knew his variety of Post-trib Dispensationalism. Years later, when I asked Baxter about what I was seeing, I did it with a pure intention of just sharing what I found. He acted like I was insane and made me believe I was the only one in the world who saw it. Because I did not know anyone else saw this, or that there were any books that taught it, I thought he may well be right. Still, I could not shake off what I was seeing in my Bible. Years later I discovered another UPCI preacher had been talking to Baxter about this same stuff at the same time. Baxter never told either of us about the other, even though he made me believe I was alone. Finally, at my last Endtime conference, I decided I could no longer teach what I could not substantiate with Scripture. It was then that I left Endtime—not from rebellion, but because I had too much Scripture supporting what I believed not to.

I left a good opportunity to follow what I saw. So, it’s not like I changed my views for fame or fortune. However, in the over 25 years I’ve believed this prophecy view, I’ve never had a preacher prove—from his Bible—that his Dispensational view is biblical. Until someone can do that—Book, chapter, and verse—I will remain a believer in Fulfilled Eschatology. Because I want to be right with God, for many years I've advertised that if anyone can show me—with scripture—that I am wrong, I will publically apologize for my error, rewrite my studies to support Dispensationalism, and I will post them on my Website for all to see. Yes, I am sincere in this offer. However, so far no one has done so…but my offer still stands.

Aquila, nouns like “fringe” and “minority” is synonymous with the “few” who walk the “straight and narrow” path, therefore, if I am in that number, I’m in good company.

[Evang.Benincasa]

Originally Posted by TK Burk

Aquila, “frustration”? How can I “feel” “frustration” since my view is founded on Bible verses rather than newspaper headlines?

I worked at Endtime Ministries in the late 1980s to the mid 1990s. I was their second employee; my wife was their first. I wrote their brand of Dispensationalism in Endtime magazine articles, and I taught it at Endtime conferences. I secured both their 800-Endtime number and their endtime.com domain. But one day while writing an article, I decided to cite passages that supported one of Endtime’s central predictions. What I discovered is there were no such verses. Not one. I then restudied every teaching Bro. Baxter had taught me and was shocked to see them fall like dominos too.

I did not have a “church” background before being saved at Baxter’s church, so I only knew his variety of Post-trib Dispensationalism. Years later, when I asked Baxter about what I was seeing, I did it with a pure intention of just sharing what I found. He acted like I was insane and made me believe I was the only one in the world who saw it. Because I did not know anyone else saw this, or that there were any books that taught it, I thought he may well be right. Still, I could not shake off what I was seeing in my Bible. Years later I discovered another UPCI preacher had been talking to Baxter about this same stuff at the same time. Baxter never told either of us about the other, even though he made me believe I was alone. Finally, at my last Endtime conference, I decided I could no longer teach what I could not substantiate with Scripture. It was then that I left Endtime—not from rebellion, but because I had too much Scripture supporting what I believed not to.

I left a good opportunity to follow what I saw. So, it’s not like I changed my views for fame or fortune. However, in the over 25 years I’ve believed this prophecy view, I’ve never had a preacher prove—from his Bible—that his Dispensational view is biblical. Until someone can do that—Book, chapter, and verse—I will remain a believer in Fulfilled Eschatology. Because I want to be right with God, for many years I've advertised that if anyone can show me—with scripture—that I am wrong, I will publically apologize for my error, rewrite my studies to support Dispensationalism, and I will post them on my Website for all to see. Yes, I am sincere in this offer. However, so far no one has done so…but my offer still stands.

Aquila, nouns like “fringe” and “minority” is synonymous with the “few” who walk the “straight and narrow” path, therefore, if I am in that number, I’m in good company.

Well said.

[Sean]

I had a preterist on this forum tell me the world is gradually getting better and better.

That is what we call a gradual Millennial reign, where Christ slooooooowly takes control.

[houston]

Aquila gets his prophecy from the Koran. So, I wouldn't give his comment much thought.