Here, There or In the Air

1-7 The PRE - WRATH RAPTURE of the Church
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Makes me want to buy his book but for $17 hard cover, probably not. It is $13 new and $7 used on Amazon, so maybe.

I have a feeling we will be hearing much more about this in the days and months to come as the world heads down the drain (better get at your "best life now" business in a hurry). BHT is leaning toward pre-wrath/post-something. Many of my favorite teachers are pre-trib but so be it. Reading early Church Fathers gives me the impression they expected the church to witness the man of sin and experience the trouble surrounding him. Yes some interpret the exact opposite from the same writings so it is not always an easy conclusion. The early church expecting to see big trouble along with the structural contortions one must use to arrive at pre-tribulation theology pushes me away from a pre-tribulation position. But both sides have convincing arguments.

People on both sides of the issue are trying to understand it correctly. This is nothing over which to fight or get all bent out of shape. Much like the young vs old earth question (it was just made to look old ... please), the subject is interesting but not deal breaking. It is a great source of income for those writing books ... it keeps them off the streets.

All views feel their particular slant on rapture timing is essential for Christian preparedness. Pre-trib. keeps you on the edge of your seat expecting each day that Jesus may return. Posters feel their view of going through a time of trouble sobers the Christian mind and encourages us to "prepare." As a practical matter one could believe in pre-trib. Then, if we see God win a war in Israel; a peace treaty in Israel brought about by some smooth talker, the temple being rebuilt, or any of the various signs, we can adjust our views accordingly. What exactly are the Post people doing to "prepare" that any Bible beliving, Christ following Christian is not? If the problem is not being serious about one's faith, I suspect our position on the rapture is not the core problem.

While reading early church fathers another theme jumps out at me. They were concerned with how Christians lived their lives and they saw a connection with the way one lives and one's salvation. (Legalists rejoice!) Arriving at a cheap grace position from early church writing (the Bible included) is difficult. Just thought I'd throw that in for free. Hey, I don't like it either but it is hard to ignore. I would much rather simply say a little prayer and be done with it. But how does that square with the "good fight of faith"?

Edit: Once Saved Always Saved Special
Revelation 3:3 (To the church at Sardis)

Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you. ⁴ You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. ⁵ He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.

I assume if one's name can be blotted out of the Book, one's name was originally in the Book. So we now have eternal insecurity? (Who said this was simple?)

Someone said, "I don't know the answer but you are asking the right question." Asking the right questions suggests we are concerned about the right things. Our concerns reveal where our heart is. If our hearts are right we are more apt to do what is right. So put down that deck of cards ... just kidding. It's the old legalism slipping in. But perhaps they were asking the right questions. Yes, I know ... there is more to it, there always is.

Are You Confickered

Conficker Eye Chart
Go here and check it out. Most computer viruses worth their salt will block access to anti-virus sites, the theory behind this simple web page.

Israel's Recent History

(go to WebRadio)

Zola Levitt has a long but interesting video on Israel here.
Shalom!

The Bible Simply Copies Other Religions

“I used to believe in the Bible until I found the Epic of Gilgamesh and his story of the flood. I realized that the Bible is only a copy of other religions.” Have you heard this objection to believing in the Bible? Some find the similarity of some ancient stories to some Biblical accounts convincing proof of Biblical non-originality. Commonly people simply read about the ancient texts in some work which is attempting to discredit the Bible.  Actually reading the ancient texts (translated of course) would be helpful. There is a world of difference in the non-Biblical accounts and those found in the Bible. Non-Biblical account are filled with egotistical fantasy.  There is no replacement for reading something yourself.

Why would we be surprised to find common references to ancient happening across cultural lines. Great Flood accounts exist in most if not all cultures. Would this not validate the flood? Would it not lean more toward a validation of the Bible than toward invalidation? So it is with other similarities.

Gilgamesh is no mystery to students of Scripture. Biblically his reference is Nimrod. Dr. David Livingston has a good article entitled “Who Was Nimrod.” Possibly the grave of Gilgamesh has bee found. No one says if anyone was home.

Actually reading the documents people compare to the Bible is always eye opening. So it is with the Koran and all the rest.

The Universe is 13.73 +/- .12 billion years old! | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine

The Universe is 13.73 +/- .12 billion years old! | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine: "WMAP Results

A lot of this information was determined a while back, just a couple of years after WMAP launched. But now they have released the Five Year Data, a comprehensive analysis of what all that data means. Here’s a quick rundown:

1) The age of the Universe is 13.73 billion years, plus or minus 120 million years. Some people might say it doesn’t look a day over 6000 years. They’re wrong.

2) The image above shows the temperature difference between different parts of the sky. Red is hotter, blue is cooler. However, the difference is incredibly small: the entire temperature range from cold to hot is only 0.0002 degrees Celsius. The average temperature is 2.725 Kelvin, so you’re seeing temperatures from 2.7248 to 2.7252 Kelvins.

3) The age of the Universe when recombination occurred was 375,938 years, +/- about 3100 years. Wow.

4) The Universe is flat.

5) The energy budget of the Universe is the total amount of energy and matter in the whole cosmos added up. Together with some other observations, WMAP has been able to determine just how much of that budget is occupied by dark energy, dark matter, and normal matter. What they got was: the Universe is 72.1% dark energy, 23.3% dark matter, and 4.62% normal matter. You read that right: everything you can see, taste, hear, touch, just sense in any way… is less than 5% of the whole Universe."

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Read the entire article, quite interesting and fairly simple. Understanding or accepting that God chose such a fascinating method of creation limits God in some way for some people. They would rather view a God who waived some magic wand producing everything instantaneously and unexplainably. Well, in a way He did in Big Bang fashion. In BHT's eyes, the God who can orchestrate this vast creation, micro-tuning it over billions of years (as a sort of pastime hobby) is mind blowingly huge. God said (in the Bible) that if we looked at nature we would see Him. Sure enough, the more we look the more we see ... God.

In case you missed it, 95+% of the universe is made up of "stuff" that no one can see and no one understands. Just in case you believe "they" have everything pretty much figured out. But a lot is being understood and it is all amazing.

Take a gander at just the "little" Milky Way Galaxy.
Check out the Hubble Site.
It could be wrong. (But never small)

However God did it, I am impressed.

Epicenter a BigHuge Pick

As Mr. Rosenberg says, looking at history and current events through the third lens of Scripture brings much of the confusing and senseless into focus. “Epicenter” does well explaining how this works. In today’s messy world a little focus is a good thing. Viewing the world through politics and economics alone blurs the picture of today’s events.

The chapter on church growth in the Islamic world is a bonus. I have heard previously about Muslim conversions but never as effectively told and compiled as  in “Epicenter.” This is not just another Muslim bashing book. Hope is revealed in what is otherwise a hopeless situation. Not a business as usual kind of hope but Kingdom of God kind of hope.

I think it is an important work. No new revelations are revealed on Ezekiel’s prophecies for those already familiar. But those prophesies are effectively applied to current events … a third lens. I have never seen them explained and applied more clearly. Even if you choose not to read his other fiction books, this one is good choice.

Better Way To Read The Bible In One Year

The Blue Letter Bible website has a wonderful way of easily listening to and reading the Bible in one year.

http://www.blueletterbible.org/reader/daily/index.cfm

This site is packed full of teachings and resources.