The message was confusing...but I dearly miss the woman who died water skiing with her family. The pastor mentioned the passage: "The last enemy to be destroyed is death." 1 Cor 15:26 He went on to say someday there will be no physical death. In the next breath he quoted the passage: "We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him." Rom 6:9 Then he said, "Christ has conquered death."
To that I say, "Amen!"
Now what most Christians fail to put together is that Christ has destroyed the last enemy according to 1 Cor 15.
Thank God for Jesus' completed work on the Cross, that we may never die.
"...and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” John 11:26
Am I missing something?
Meet the next possible VP, Joe "I'm a Zionist" Biden
"There is this inextricable tie between culture, religion, ethnicity, that most people don't fully understand..."
Eatn' Mud-cakes with John Hagee
How did I ever get so fired up about all this preterism/futurism/Zionism/-ism/-ism/-ism talk? How come other guys my age are busy talking about girls and football and hunting and all sorts of other fun stuff and I am part of a little internet blog that just discusses eschatology and all sorts of –isms that most people have never even heard of? Don’t get me wrong, these are just a few of my other favorite topics to discuss, but I guess out of a sense of duty I feel obligated to try and share what I’ve learned in the past year with the general populace concerning theological issues. I may not be 100% right on everything but at least we are talking about these things, right?
Getting the ball rolling on the “Emerging Conversation” that we are having here is the hard part. Sometimes helping people become aware of what all these crazy –isms mean and why they are important is like trying to teach kindergarteners how to tie their shoes! The kindergartener at first could care less if their shoe is or isn’t tied because it doesn’t directly interfere with eating mud cakes, but as soon as they try chasing the puppy, they notice that there might be something that you as a loving parent need to teach them. Once people (sincere Christian men and women) see how these –isms are important to understand, we can really begin to enjoy and explore the Kingdom of God for what it is with peace in our hearts like the little kid that enjoys playing with the puppy with his shoe laces tied and not falling on his face with every other step. Unfortunately, it is only human nature that we fall on our face once or twice before we ask for help. Maybe the modern
Now, I don’t mean to sound conceited here but I am not trying to say that everyone that does not agree with me is like a little kindergartener that can’t tie their shoes. Like I said, I’m a young guy in my mid-twenties with interests like most guys my age and I have the proper respect for my elders with biblical training. What makes me different though is that I have enough humility to admit when I’m wrong so I can change to what is right and I tend to question authority more often now, rather than saying “yes” to whatever any pastor tells me like a little bobble-head toy in the pew. Let me demonstrate the ignorance of placing all your trust in an authoritative figure and not looking for the empirical truth.
I remember one time at a place I used to work, we were all sitting around drinking coffee and talking about politics and such like we usually do and I usually did most of the listening in these settings because I enjoyed the passionate rants of my co-workers. Somehow the subject got to the official story of what happened on September 11, 2001, and how there are all these “pinheads,” like Bill O’Reilly likes to put it, that don’t believe this official 911 story in it’s entirety. I gently cleared my throat and said that, “Well, maybe the ‘official story’ is what they want us to believe and that is far from what actually happened?” After that point, I was the local conspiracy nut to them. I then followed up with, “How do you know then that they are telling you the truth if you don’t ever question what you hear on FOX news? Isn’t that a little naïve to just simply believe what they tell you? Is Bill O’Reilly really looking out for you?” What he said next will stick in my mind forever. He paused for a second, clearly irritated with me by now, and growled, “Because I’m older and wiser than you, that’s why.”
I think this is the same kind of treatment that we get when we start discussing preterism, futurism, Zionism, dispensationalism, millennialism, and all the other –isms out there with our fellow church goers. This is maybe why I am so disheartened with the way things are going today in modern Christianity. When I first started questioning things, I found a few discrepancies with what I was taught in Sunday school by my sincere Christian teachers. Then the more I looked into it, the more I discovered that the whole plain literal hermeneutic that our churches use to interpret the beginning and the end of the bible was wrong. I trusted my elders completely... and I was wrong. Ei carumba!!!
Sometimes I get frustrated and this whole eschatology debate grows tedious to me. Sometimes it seems next to impossible to tell someone that throughout their whole life, they have been completely wrong about Genesis and Revelation. How do you approach this? Sometimes it might be easier to sit back and watch the dispensationalist fall flat on his face before we tell him his shoes are untied. The more I study and learn, the heavier the burden becomes. When I start getting frustrated, I am reminded of a Socrates quote, “A wise man dissatisfied is better than a fool satisfied.” The wise man is the competent judge that finds that the more he seeks knowledge, the more he realizes what he doesn’t know, whereas the fool is only familiar with the simpler aspects of life. Jesus actually said something similar about how we're suppose to love him.
Jesus told us in Mark 12:30 to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and all your mind and with all your strength.” Maybe the most difficult part to this commandment is to love him with all our minds. Knowing what I know now, I realize that I was not loving with all of my mind before I understood what preterism was. My mind was trapped with pride and ignorance; behold the power of a paradigm.
So, don’t be a fool, y’all. You’ll be sitting in the dirt with your shoes untied eating mud cakes with John Hagee and Hal Lindsey, interpreting the bible with yesterday’s newspaper next to it, wondering if the rapture is going to happen soon--because man, it’d sure be nice to get out of those muddy clothes. Praise the Lord, eh?
Stephen Covey to speak at MSU
One of Time magazine's 25-most influential Americans and an author who has sold more than 20 million copies of his books will speak to Montana State University about how they can tap their greatness at MSU's 2008 Freshman Convocation set for 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 2, at Brick Breeden Fieldhouse.
Stephen R. Covey will discuss his landmark book, "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change." Incoming MSU freshmen read the book over the summer.
The convocation, a celebration for MSU's incoming freshmen, is free and open to non-freshmen who have obtained tickets in advance from MSU's Ask Us Desk or Borders Books.
Covey's "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, has sold 15 million copies and won a number of honors, including being the top-selling audio in history, the most influential business book in the 20th century and the best-selling hardcover book on family. In addition to being a prolific author and a popular speaker, Covey is co-founder and vice chairman of FranklinCovey, the leading global professional services firm with offices in 123 countries and the recipient of the International Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
"I believe this book has value for all college-bound students in any area of study," said Greg Young, MSU's vice provost for undergraduate education. "I have been impressed by how positively my students have reacted to the book when I used it in a couple of classes over the past few years."
Young said while Covey's talk is free and open to the public, the convocation, which is MSU's second, is primarily a celebration for incoming students. Tickets for non-freshmen are available at MSU's Ask Us Information Center and at Borders, with a limit of 4 tickets per person.
Last year's inaugural freshmen convocation featured Bozeman resident Greg Mortenson, co-author of the hugely popular "Three Cups of Tea," and the founder of the Central Asia Institute that has built schools in remote areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The MSU Leadership Institute of ASMSU and the MSU Alumni Association have provided additional sponsorship for the event. For more information, go to http://www.montana.edu/convocation/
Stephen R. Covey will discuss his landmark book, "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change." Incoming MSU freshmen read the book over the summer.
The convocation, a celebration for MSU's incoming freshmen, is free and open to non-freshmen who have obtained tickets in advance from MSU's Ask Us Desk or Borders Books.
Covey's "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, has sold 15 million copies and won a number of honors, including being the top-selling audio in history, the most influential business book in the 20th century and the best-selling hardcover book on family. In addition to being a prolific author and a popular speaker, Covey is co-founder and vice chairman of FranklinCovey, the leading global professional services firm with offices in 123 countries and the recipient of the International Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
"I believe this book has value for all college-bound students in any area of study," said Greg Young, MSU's vice provost for undergraduate education. "I have been impressed by how positively my students have reacted to the book when I used it in a couple of classes over the past few years."
Young said while Covey's talk is free and open to the public, the convocation, which is MSU's second, is primarily a celebration for incoming students. Tickets for non-freshmen are available at MSU's Ask Us Information Center and at Borders, with a limit of 4 tickets per person.
Last year's inaugural freshmen convocation featured Bozeman resident Greg Mortenson, co-author of the hugely popular "Three Cups of Tea," and the founder of the Central Asia Institute that has built schools in remote areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The MSU Leadership Institute of ASMSU and the MSU Alumni Association have provided additional sponsorship for the event. For more information, go to http://www.montana.edu/convocation/
Pre-trib Ignorance or Post-trib Paranoia?
Here at the “Will Not Delay” Blog, we tend to pick on the on the pre-trib rapture folks a bit. All in good humor, right? It’s not that we have anything personal against people that believe this doctrine, let’s face it—they had it coming to them!!! It is the easiest doctrine to poke holes in and it probably is the most popular doctrine among American Christians. Once you understand how Zionism has intended to brainwash this large group of people using this manner of interpretation of scripture so they have millions of loyal subjects for their cause, you can easily see my contention.
Nevertheless, my theological quest for truth has taken me down many other paths, even though it started in the pre-tribulation, pre-millennial form of dispensationalism, (Read my first post, “Quest for Truth in Eschatology Led Me to Preterism”) I also considered myself a post-trib at one time. The post-trib person is a whole different ball o wax, maybe just a little scarier when you get one cornered in a dark alley.
Nevertheless, my theological quest for truth has taken me down many other paths, even though it started in the pre-tribulation, pre-millennial form of dispensationalism, (Read my first post, “Quest for Truth in Eschatology Led Me to Preterism”) I also considered myself a post-trib at one time. The post-trib person is a whole different ball o wax, maybe just a little scarier when you get one cornered in a dark alley.
This is an interesting study in psychology, these two very different kinds of Christians are still very similar in they way they view the future. On one hand, you have the group that expects to be vaporized in the rapture before Revelation gets started, and then you have the other group that is a little more in tune with their survival instincts, ready to endure till the end, but equally delusional.
The pre-trib individual is much more evangelistic, much more eager to share their faith and spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. I give much credit to them for this, but they feel this is their only primary duty, to bring as many souls to Christ before the rapture. However when it comes right down to it, the pre-trib person usually clams up or becomes “foaming at the mouth mad” when they start talking about Young Earth Creation vs. Evolution to a different point of view. When a pre-trib discusses this subject with an atheist, someone usually ends up unhappily stomping out of the room. These two opposing sides keep butting heads and nobody seems to win!(This is another reason why Preterism appeals more to my intellect, check out Beyond Creation Science)
On the other hand, the post-trib individual is more content with simply taking care of themselves; the time for evangelization has now turned into a time for paranoia and preparation. The post-trib individuals are usually discontent with the pre-trib church that they started at, because they are tired of arguing or they feel arguing is virtually pointless. Therefore, they tend to stick to themselves in small groups and focus on protecting their loved ones in the coming apocalyptic bloodbath.
Now, as a truth-seeking Preterist, I have found that both of these groups hate discussing eschatology with me. This brings me into discussion on what these two groups have in common in their forms of futurism. In my difficulty in discussing these matters with these two peoples, I have found that it is usually the individual’s inability to explore new ideas that contradict their own that hinders them. That is the primary reason, and the other reason is based in their futurism, where they are content with simply waiting on the apocalypse and ignoring dissenting opinions. I’d like to quote Don K. Preston for a bit:
“At the end of the book of Revelation, John is told six times that fulfillment is at hand and that Christ was coming soon. In fact, the fulfillment of the prophecy was so near, so close, that John ws told to say: “Let the wicked remain wicked, let the filthy remain filthy!” (Rev. 22:11) Time for repentance was gone! Judgment was near, so near, that the opportunity for repentance was all but lost!
This statement of urgency is sandwiched between the command for John not to seal the Apocalypse because the time was so near, and Jesus’ statement that he was coming “quickly.” The command not to seal the book is in direct contrast to Daniel, whose vision Revelation repeats, who was told to seal the book because its fulfillment was not near (Daniel 12:4). This temporal contrast must be taken seriously, just as we must honor Jesus’ statement that he was coming quickly. This promise is based on Jesus’ promise from Matthew 16:27 where Jesus said he was coming in judgment in the lifetime of that first century audience.
If the judgment of Revelation, and that includes Armageddon, has not occurred, then the modern church must continue to proclaim, “Let the wicked remain wicked, let the filthy remain filthy!” So, if you do not believe that the modern church should be proclaiming “Let the wicked remain wicked,” you must believe that Armageddon is past!”
You see, both the pre-trib and the post-trib person with their futurism are content with ignoring problems rather than fixing them. An intellectual person is obligated to learn how something can or can’t be right before they say, “that can’t be right.” When confronted with such powerful statements like Don K. Preston’s here, a person is forced to think a little bit. Friends, I am not going to be like Jack Nicholson’s character in that one movie (?) where he says, “You want the TRUTH? You can’t handle the truth!” Sorry, I’m going to take truth and make you eat it. Have a nice day ;)
The Antidote to Zionism
This is something that has been weighing heavily on my mind in recent days. In recent world events such as the
Oooh, that was a very controversial statement. The notion that there are people governing our country that do not have the American people’s best interest in mind is nothing new. But what does
Why are the Neo-cons so blood-thirsty? Why are we being told in the news that
The answer to all these questions is an idea that pervades to the very core of our culture, it taints the theology in our American churches and it possesses the minds of a whole electorate and the hearts of our children--that idea is called Zionism. The idea that the current State of Israel is fulfillment of biblical prophecy and that the
This theology is called Christian Zionism where dispensational premillennial churches in
Mega-churches in
The only solution to this problematic theology that causes world problems is if there is revolution within the church that starts reading prophetic scriptures like Mathew 24 and Revelation as real events that were going to happen to real people at a very soon time after they were written.
You see, placing these passages in the future takes the writing out of it's historical context and removes the judgment from the Jews that crucified Jesus and the prophetic significance of the falling of
This is why it is so important for Christians everywhere to take a new look at their bibles, and discover the only interpretive method that makes sense. Preterism is the only antidote for Zionism. If Christians in
Any thoughts, brother David? Can one be a Preterist and a Zionist at the same time?
Another great video for your viewing pleasure:
