I was too sick to write my Newswithviews column this week; so instead, here’s one from 2015 about Americans writing letters to a volcano goddess.
http://newswithviews.com/Duigon/lee331.htm
It’s a reproach to the church in America that such things should be. People truly believe they’ve offended that goddess by taking away a little chunk of rock from the state park, and that she’s gonna get them for it: so they send the rock back, along with a frantic letter of apology.
As I once observed in one of my immortal horror novels, the flip side of modern hi-tech scientific civilization is superstition and ignorance.
The rush to accept superstition is just another example of the cost of abandoning the True God. Keep in mind, He demands exclusive devotion, and has a good reason for doing so.
This is truly astounding; that human beings with minds could be so deceived. When I hear people criticizing the ancient Hebrews for their falling into idolatry, I am often reminded of such as this, and can see no difference between them and modern mankind. We never learn. Thank the Lord that some of us do.
Yeah, but we’ve got Science and they didn’t, so there!
I see evidence of a revival of ancient paganism every day. The practice and acceptance of sexual perversions. Interestingly enough the medieval rabbi believed same sex marriage was prominent before the flood of Noah. Abortion, which is practiced in pagan cultures and a big no no to God. Earth worship in the form of environmentalism. Increase in drug use, the bible calls it pharmakia, where we get the word “pharmacy”, and is translated into English as “witchcraft” or “sorceries”. Hostility toward Christians, etc. It’s just another sign we are in the end times.
You know I’m very slow to think “End Times,” because there have–incredibly–been times as bad as these. Like, imagine your peace-loving, not easily defensible walled city suddenly finding out that Genghis Khan is coming… Or the Black Death. Or two world wars.
This era of history is uniquely bad in that the badness is largely accomplished without recourse to war.
True enough, but I think there are marked differences between our generation and previous generations, such as:
-The restoration of Israel and the recapture of Jerusalem being a big one, which was prophesied and sets the stage for additional end-time prophecies to be fulfilled.
-We have technology, the internet, instant communications, weapons of mass destruction, the ability to alter DNA itself. No other generation has had that. The bible talks about an increase in knowledge in the last days. The Mark of the Beast would have to rely on technology to control and monitor what every person on the planet buys, sells, or trades. For the first time in human history we have that ability now.
-Revelation is basically Genesis in reverse. The Tower of Babel was the first world government headed by Nimrod, the last world government will be headed by the AC. Is there any doubt that globalism is leading us in this direction?
Here’s the thing. We’ve always had wars, pestilences, economic hard times, etc. But what will be different is the intensity, frequency, and convergence off all these things on a global scale. Jesus said it would be a time of tribulation like never before, or will ever be again.
One last thing. In biblical numerology six is associated with man. When God created the earth in six days and rested on the seventh, I think this was a foreshadow of human history. A day to God is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like a day. Six thousand years of man toiling under the curse, one thousand years of rest (The Millennial Kingdom). Add up the geologies in the bible and we are near the six thousand mark.
Another thing of interest is Gen 6:3, “And the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” This could be interpreted different ways. But it’s of interest to note that 120 years times 50 (Jubilee cycle) is 6000 years. There’s those 6000 years again.
Regardless, every two-thousand years something significant happens. Adam to Abraham was two thousand years. Abraham to Jesus was two thousand years. Jesus to now has been nearly two thousand years. I figure we are due for the next big thing.
All I want is for the Lord, if He returns during my lifetime, to find me doing my best to carry out the work He’s given me to do. I leave the eschatology to others who are better equipped to speak of it.
The restoration of Israel and recapture of Jerusalem in 1967 lead me to believe that we are in the Last Days. Both of these events occurred against all odds and both are prophesied. The sudden and dramatic rise in anti-Semitism seems likely to be significant, especially in view of the prophecy regarding Gog of Magog, which seems to be shaping before our eyes.
I agree completely that our role is to carry on with our lives and, hopefully, spread some light among the world, but Jesus also commanded that we be on the watch, so we should take note.
Every day we see events which are distressing. The reasonableness that used to exist is all but extinct as of the last 10 years or so and this makes life a lot more challenging, but Jesus told us to lift up our heads when we saw the signs of the End, because our deliverance is drawing near. We should take heart from knowing that Christ is near.
Maybe I’m just afraid to get my hopes up.
That’s quite legitimate. I wish I had a definitive answer. We can’t live our lives on the edge, awaiting Armageddon with every breath we take. I’ve known people like that and it usually doesn’t make for a good result.
OTOH: our times strike me as unique. Unlike any other time in recorded history, we have armaments capable of all but obliterating life on earth. The human race is experimenting with the manipulation of DNA and no one knows where that could lead. There is mass social unrest in many places. Look at the years of war in Syria or the ongoing situation in places such as Somalia. I frankly don’t see how the cork can be put back in the bottle at this point. My lifetime, spanning the last 64 years, has been a time of relative stability for the first 45 years or so but things have changed dramatically since 9/11 and they are showing no signs of stabilizing. Frankly, I don’t believe that they can.
One way or another, some big things are going to happen in the foreseeable future. I believe that it will culminate in the return of Christ.
R.J. Rushdoony said these signs revealed a culture that is burning out. That’s why he dedicated his life to what he called Christian Reconstruction, that Christians should be working on building institutions that can take over when the pagan culture collapses. His number one emphasis was on Christian Education (you know, learning the whole Bible and applying faith in it to all of life).
In Martin Luther’s day there was much speculation that it was the End Times, and the pope was seen as the Antichrist. Luther was asked what he would do if he knew the Lord Jesus was coming tomorrow, and he answered that if he had already planned to plant a tree he would plant a tree.