October 21 - The End is Near
- Thread starter Kreskin
- Start date
The main part of Christ's second coming and his victory over the anti-Christ can be read in Revelation 19:11-21. Check this out:
I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True[Jesus Christ]. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword[judgment!] with which to strike down the nations. He will rule them with an iron scepter. He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: "KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS."
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Pretty awesome eh?! Now, put together the whole story: Amazing creation; man lost to sin; God already has a plan to win us back; Hebrews are the chosen blood line; Israel is promised to them; God performs miracle after miracle for their benefit; sinless-God humbles himself before his own creation and becomes a man; he breaks into history and fulfills ancient prophecy; he lives a perfect life that no man could live; performs miracles; lays down his life and takes on the WHOLE burden of mankind's sin; suffers in hell for you and me!; rises victoriously from the dead; all people whether Jew or Gentile now have a way to be made right with God (substitutional punishment/forgiveness) and have eternal life through Jesus; Christianity spreads like wildfire even amid persecution; people get filled with the Holy Spirit; end times and world is in turmoil; God has to intervene again and Christ triumphantly returns for a second time like he promised; millennium of peace; Armageddon; Judgment Day; eternal state.
At that's just the part of the surface story! Then there's the sub text: Israel is a mircocosm for our own present day world filled with unbelief, religious legalism, disobedience; Israel's years and years of sacrificing animals for atonement of sin symbolizing the blood of Christ(the perfect sacrifice); Jesus first comes as a humble servant, taking on man's sin, but comes back a second time as a conquering warrior; etc. etc. etc.
Written over thousands of years, 40 authors inspired by God, 66 books yet it makes ONE COHESIVE book that tells the greatest story ever told!
Fact is, you just can't make this stuff up! I sure am glad there's someone as interested in this as me.
Naw, I just hate p*ssing on people's parades, but I guess you already noticed that! :smile:
:lol: The 19th century? John, who lived with Jesus, wrote revelation 95 a.d while on the island of Patmos, off the coast of present day Turkey. It was a series of letters he wrote to seven churches.
Textual Criticism of the NT
The actual term "rapture" is in reference to the "being caught up" found in 1 Thessalonians 4:17.
Rapture is a MODERN word we use. It's absence in the bible doesn't detract from the concept. Another example is atheism, the word atheism or atheist does not appear in the bible, yet the concept is clearly outlined and understood: Psalm 14:1
Another fun fact: The word "Christian" appears in the bible only twice!
That's why I usually don't bother with these end time threads. It's more practical on this forum to discuss the basics of Christianity because there's so much misconception out there and I feel people should understand the fundamentals first before they dive into the end times stuff. Ah well, fun enough to discuss I suppose.
The Bible's Ungodly Origins
by Robert L. Johnson
According to Professor John Crossan of Biblical Studies at DePaul University the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great (274-337 CE), (a bust of Constantine is pictured below) who was the first Roman Emperor to convert to Christianity, needed a single canon to be agreed upon by the Christian leaders to help him unify the remains of the Roman Empire. Until this time the various Christian leaders could not decide which books would be considered "holy" and thus "the word of God" and which ones would be excluded and not considered the word of God.
Emperor Constantine, who was Roman Emperor from 306 CE until his death in 337 CE, used what motivates many to action - MONEY! He offered the various Church leaders money to agree upon a single canon that would be used by all Christians as the word of God. The Church leaders gathered together at the Council of Nicaea and voted the "word of God" into existence. (I wish to thank Brian Show for pointing out in his rebuttal to this article that the final version of the Christian Bible was not voted on at the Council of Nicaea, per se. The Church leaders didn't finish editing the "holy" scriptures until the Council of Trent when the Catholic Church pronounced the Canon closed. However, it seems the real approving editor of the Bible was not God but Constantine! This fact is revealed in the second counter-rebuttal to Brian Show's first rebuttal to this article. This counter-rebuttal makes the following important statement and backs it up with FACTS - "Therefore, one can easily argue that the first Christian Bible was commissioned, paid for, inspected and approved by a pagan emperor for church use."
In the landmark work by H.G. Wells, The Outline of History, Vol. I, pages 462-463, we read, "It (the Council of Nicaea) marks the definite entry upon the stage of human affairs of the Christian Church and of Christianity as it is generally understood in the world to-day. It marks the exact definition of Christian teaching by the Nicene Creed."
Constantine ordered and financed 50 parchment copies of the new "holy scriptures." It seems with the financial element added to the picture, the Church fathers were able to overcome their differences and finally agree which "holy" books would stay and which would go.
by Robert L. Johnson
Many rank and file Christians sincerely believe the Bible is a direct communication from God to man. I know I used to believe it was when I was a Christian. And from recent conversations with many sincere Christians I know this is currently true for many believers. Once it is proven to our God-given reason that the Bible is strictly a man-made collection of mythology the mind loses yet another shackle of "revelation" and is soon on its way to full freedom and progress.
The Bible was not handed to mankind by God, nor was it dictated to human stenographers by God. It has nothing to do with God. In actuality, the Bible was VOTED to be the word of God by a group of men during the 4th century. According to Professor John Crossan of Biblical Studies at DePaul University the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great (274-337 CE), (a bust of Constantine is pictured below) who was the first Roman Emperor to convert to Christianity, needed a single canon to be agreed upon by the Christian leaders to help him unify the remains of the Roman Empire. Until this time the various Christian leaders could not decide which books would be considered "holy" and thus "the word of God" and which ones would be excluded and not considered the word of God.
In the landmark work by H.G. Wells, The Outline of History, Vol. I, pages 462-463, we read, "It (the Council of Nicaea) marks the definite entry upon the stage of human affairs of the Christian Church and of Christianity as it is generally understood in the world to-day. It marks the exact definition of Christian teaching by the Nicene Creed."
Constantine ordered and financed 50 parchment copies of the new "holy scriptures." It seems with the financial element added to the picture, the Church fathers were able to overcome their differences and finally agree which "holy" books would stay and which would go.
You are. Thank God they use nat gas now and you don't have to shovel coal anymore.
What is Heaven if not a place where there are no wannabe preachers telling me I'm praying wrong?
40 authors? How so when the first books were only first written down in 700BC and the rest compiled in 300AD. Prior to that it was all campfire stories passed from person to person.Written over thousands of years, 40 authors inspired by God, 66 books yet it makes ONE COHESIVE book that tells the greatest story ever told!
There is no wrong or right way to pray. Just say what's in your heart. Say what you are feeling be it hatred, sadness, happiness or fear. It's more like a conversation between just you and God. I don't think it even requires a "Amen" unless you choose to end it that way.
Radio report says today is the day. Almost 11:00 A.M. here. You still there too?
I guess I've been.....Left Behind.Radio report says today is the day. Almost 11:00 A.M. here. You still there too?
Fact is, you just can't make this stuff up! I sure am glad there's someone as interested in this as me.
Maybe you can't make this stuff up, but others have. It's pretty amusing, though.
It's all just bad fiction. There'll be no Rapture, Jesus isn't coming back, Scripture is not about what the fundamentalists think it is, there's no substance to any of it. Ain't gonna happen, unless enough loons who believe it IS get the their hands on the levers of power sufficiently to create the Armageddon their nasty little death cult so earnestly desires. But that won't turn out to be quite what they expect either, human civilization will just self-destruct and that'll be it. There's no celestial dictator coming down to save us from ourselves.
Lessee now, it's 1315 hrs in my time zone as I write this, it's already the 22nd in the Far East, no sign of anything happening...
Lessee now, it's 1315 hrs in my time zone as I write this, it's already the 22nd in the Far East, no sign of anything happening...
..or when our sun starts going into the red giant stage, or we actually are smacked by a big enough comet, asteroid, or something.
It's Jan. 1 here. As far as I can tell, the rest of the planet still exists. lol