WARNING! The information in the linked article is of the sort that could cause one to be overwhelmed by fear. I do not want to cause that and I feel like I need to apologize for even posting this, but it needs to be looked at. If you are prone to go into fear, you may want to do some deep breathing and get centered before proceeding. As you read, the scope of the thing will slowly hit you.
THE GREAT ABYSS THE LORD'S GREAT LAKE OF FIRE AN ENTIRE CONTINENT BURNING THE VERY CONCEPT OF HELL _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Then, after showing photos of what America is probably in for, it states this: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT THE U.S GOVERNMENT HAS HAD ITS MILITARY, ITS BEST EXPERTS, SCIENTISTS FROM AMERICA'S BEST UNIVERSITIES, AS WELL AS EXPERTS FROM THE CHEVRON OIL COMPANY, EXAMINE WHAT YOU ARE ABOUT TO READ, AND NOT ONE OF THEM HAS BEEN ABLE TO DISPROVE ANY PART OF IT !! THEY KNOW IT'S TRUE, BUT THERE'S NO SOLUTION, SO THEY DON'T DARE TELL YOU !!
Oh goody break out the tin foil hats ladies and gentlemen its another session of DISPENSATIONAL CONSPIRACY THEOLOGY! <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/bash.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/3stooges.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/dizzy.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" />
Peter
If you believe what you like in the gospels, and reject what you don't like, it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself. Augustine of Hippo
I think the true threat to America is that if we don't repent soon of hatred of God's law, judgment will come in whatever form God chooses, be that war or secularism or something else. So pray that God will grant conversions among the lost and boldness and true Biblical unity among His people!
True godliness is a sincere feeling which loves God as Father as much as it fears and reverences Him as Lord, embraces His righteousness, and dreads offending Him worse than death~ Calvin
Please forgive my brothers' sarcasm. It's just that so many of us are sick and tired of scare tactics. Revivalists, politicians, and our own government here in the U.S. has been inventing and hyping crisis after crisis for years and years.
Revivalists use fear to wake what they perceive to be a sleepy church out of her doldrums. Politicians use fear to gain greater power. Our national and state governments create alarm in order to exceed their Constitutional boundaries and to justify savage attacks on personal liberty and brutal taxes "to save America" from this "threat" they have either invented or exploited for its value as a fear factor. I blogged about the use of fear as a tool of empire here.
When it comes to the modern evangelical end-times scenario, it might surprise you to hear that the very idea of a "rapture" that is separated from the Second Coming of Christ by years of time is little more than 100 years old! Even the founders of colonial America never heard of any such idea. Lots of articles on historical Christian eschatology (doctrine of "last things") can be found here. Historically, the church's teaching about the last days was based on Scripture rather than newspaper headlines and conjecture. Today's popular "left behind" scenario is not only unBiblical, it is dangerous. Find out why here. I know it's popular to use fear as a motivator. But the more and more it used, the less and less effective it becomes as people become jaded.
Remember when Hal Lindsay wrote that the Soviets were going to invade Israel by 1988? Remember all the TV preachers' predictions about the rise of the Antichrist that was supposed to happen by that time? The more these "Christian" predictions that are supposedly based on the Bible fail to come true, the more and more people will say, "See? The preacher proved his own Bible to be a book of fairy tales. Nothing he said the Bible predicts has happened."
You'll prob'ly find a lot of resistance to scare tactics and unBiblical eschatology in this forum.
Please don't worry about the "pucka" of the black helicopters. I have recently discovered the answer to all of our national threats and fears. By determination of will, she will lead our country into the new paradise of love, safety and security. Just ask her!
Denny
Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life." [John 6:68]
Please know that my sarcastic post last night was not in any way intended to discredit you as a person but rather to extend Boanerges' humor by satirizing the type of post you linked to, which is frequently forwarded in mass e-mails marked by the following:
1) every other SENTENCE IS IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS (internet code for shouting)
2) lots of EXCLAMATION POINTS !!!!!!!!!!!!! and QUESTION MARKS ???????????
3) reference to some terrible imminent doom which 3a) only a few people know about and 3b) those people are hiding it from the rest of us
4) the statement that IT CANNOT BE DISPROVEN.
First, any logic course will tell you that nothing which is asserted to take place at an unspecified time in the future can ultimately be disproven. It just can't be done. We have to just live with that.
However, the word of God tells us clearly what has happened, what is happening, and what will happen, in reference to his Son, the Lord Christ. And because of that, we are able to walk through this world with all of its terrors--whether real, possible or only imagined--with confidence. If we have already died with Christ and our lives are hidden with Him in God, what difference does it make if the place where I live is destroyed by natural causes, or I am run over by the #3 bus on my way to the bodega, or they finally turn off some tubes in a nursing home? There is only one worst thing which is certain, and that is that all who are not in Christ at the judgment will be forever cut off from God in hell.
The dangerous effect of the doom scenarios is that they excite people's fear of natural disaster rather than awaken them to the fear of having offended the thrice-holy God; when the natural disaster does not occur, they stupidly and fatally assume that they are safe, when in fact those outside of Christ are still under the wrath of God.
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There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you(repent, you will all likewise perish." (Luke 13:1-5, ESV)
But for those of us in Christ through faith in His justifying blood:
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What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised— who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,
"For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered."
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romand 8:31-39)
