Hello out there!

I've been blessed to have some readers from overseas.  I seem to be getting hits from Germany and Russia with some regularity.  But a week or so ago I got 443 page views of my blog from Russia -- all on the same day.  I figure that simply has to be a glitch in the software.


That being said, if you are a regular reader of this blog, and you are not on the e-mail update list (I send out e-mails letting people know I've posted new material) would you be willing to drop me a line and introduce yourself?  I'd love to know what you've found most helpful and I'd be very open to suggestions on what to write on in the future.


My e-mail is mac61107@gmail.com.  I'd love to hear from you.

Where do we think we're going? (Part 2)

As Christ followers mature in their faith they find they aren't satisfied with where they're at and they begin to focus on where they are going.  Part of being a mature Christian involves seeing something that most people never see and setting your heart on it.  Most of us will not see it with our eyes in this life but we can, and we must, see it with our hearts.  Once we've seen it will never be the same again. 

In Hebrews 11 we read that Abraham "lived as a alien in the land of promise … for he was looking for the city … whose architect and builder is God."  (vs. 9, 10)  We don't know exactly how or when it happened, but Abraham got some kind of a glimpse, some kind of a vision, and after that he was never completely satisfied with life on this planet and he was never completely at home here.  He knew there was a heavenly city.  He knew he was going to live there someday.  And that dream became the focus of His life.  This was in spite of the fact that Abraham was unbelievably wealthy by the standards of his time.  Abraham could buy anything he wanted.  For that matter, he could afford to buy a dozen of anything he wanted.  But somehow Abraham caught a glimpse of what was coming and after he had that vision nothing on earth could ever truly satisfy him again.

That same passage speaks of the people of God "seeking a country of their own."  "They desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one."  (Hebrews 11:14)  So they journey on serenely, confident that God "has prepared a city for them."  (v. 16)  It is a perfect place full of perfected people.  Everyone who meets you loves you with a perfect love.  Everyone you meet will become your new best friend.  Every human interaction will be marked by kindness, consideration, and respect.

And the presence of God will be manifested in that place.  You will be able to go into the actual presence of God and gaze on Him.  He is the source of all beauty and all joy.  In His presence you will experience an overflowing joy so intense that it would overwhelm and burn out the body you are living in right now.  But in that place you will be able to experience God's love and joy like powerful drugs that will lift you into ecstasy beyond your comprehension without doing you the slightest bit of harm.

I have a friend who recently lost her father.  This is a tough time for her because her mother is also terminally ill.  But she managed to get some relief because God showed her something.  It only lasted for a moment, but she saw her dad in perfect health, just radiant and vibrant with life, walking up to the gates of that city that is now his home.

We're never going to understand life until we get some kind of a glimpse of life's goal.  This isn't something you can see with your physical eyes; it is something that God alone can reveal to the eyes of your heart.  Abraham saw something and it changed him.  It is my prayer that each of you, my dear readers, will see something, if only for a moment, that will change you for the rest of your life.

Where do we think we're going? (Part 1)

Spending time with cancer victims has led me to this conclusion:  the easiest way for me to die is the hardest for my family, and the hardest way for me to die is the easiest for my family.

When someone is battling cancer they usually suffer and if the illness is terminal by the time they are ready to die their family is usually ready to let them go.  Their loved ones don't want to see them suffer any longer.  On the other hand, if you get hit by a bus and die instantly, assuming you are going to heaven, that's a great way to go.  No hospital.  No suffering.  Maybe an instant of pain and bang!  You're standing over your dead body wondering what just happened.  And then you see the angel who's come to fetch you to your real home and suddenly everything becomes clear.  That's easy for you, but it comes as a terrible shock to the people who love you.

The point that I want to make is that if you mind is right, there really isn't that much difference between dying in a protracted struggle with cancer and getting hit with a bus.  In either case, your suffering is finally over.

Sometimes we are suffering and we don't even know it.   The only time in our lives when we were treated right was when we were babies.  All we had to do was show up and we were a big deal.  Everyone loved us.  Everyone was kind to us.

Then we got a little older and all of a sudden we weren't so special any more.  We weren't a big deal.  Adults were no as excited to see us.  Then we began to interact with other little kids and we found out what life was really life.  We got insulted.  Some of the cruelest things that were ever said to us were said to us by other children.  In some cases we got beat up.

Something inside of us began to tense up.  We couldn't truly relax around other people.  We had to keep up our defenses.  We never really loose that fear of being mocked and ridiculed.  Some of us won't go back to a high school reunion because we don't want to relieve the memories of the way we were treated and the things that were said to us.

And then you die, and if you are a Christian, you go back to being the way you were when you were a baby.  You are taken to this perfect place where everyone treats you like a VIP.  Everyone loves you.  No one will ever ridicule you or be mean to you ever again.  Complete strangers will love you just as much ore more than your mother loved you.  Everyone will be unfailingly kind to you.  And that part of your heart that is all tensed up, that has been tensed up since you were a little kid, will finally be able to relax and interacting with others will be a continuous joy to you.  Once you've spent some time in heaven an experienced the perfection of true, brotherly love, you wouldn't be willing to come back here for anything.

As delightful as your interaction with other humans will be, it will pale in comparison to the delight you will find as you spend time in the presence of God.  The Spirit of God will flow unhindered through your being like a spring breeze.  You will experience infinite love, perfect peace, and the fullness of joy.  You will look back at the happy times on earth and realize that the best thing about them was the absence of pain.  Your soul will, for the first time, be fully satisfied.   

You will look back on your earthly life and say, "I was always thirsty inside.  Sometimes I was less thirsty than at other times; I called those less thirsty times happiness.  But I was never really happy.  The very best that earthly life has to offer now has no appeal to me.  In the presence of God is the fullness of joy.  I would never want to go back to the emptiness and thirst of my earthly life."

So you're in the prime of life; you've got your health, a good job, and a good family; and all of a sudden you get hit by a bus.  And everyone says, "It's so sad.  He had so much to live for." 

But people who really understand life would say the same thing about that man that they would say about a man dying after a long struggle with cancer.  They would say, "Well, at least his sufferings are finally over." 

The identity of the Anitchrist

What we call the end times centers around a seven year period of time that is frequently referred to as the tribulation.  The Bible is crystal clear about the beginning of this seven year period; it starts when Antichrist signs a treaty with the state of Israel.  The state of Israel is already in existence, but what about the Antichrist?  As it turns out we have a great deal of information that should enable us to see the Antichrist coming.

This is a brief synopsis of what you should be looking for.  We are looking for a ten nation confederacy/alliance/empire to arise out of the old Roman Empire.  It will contain two different kinds of people.  One group will be a military powerhouse, kind of like Germany in WWII; the other group will consist of militarily weak nations, kind of like Italy in WWII.  If I had to guess the two groups are Muslims in the Middle East and North Africa and the "used to be Christian" nations of Western Europe.  Don't ask me which group will be the military powerhouse; right now the Europeans are more powerful, but only because they have better technology.  These two groups will not work well together and will require a great deal of diplomatic effort to maintain their relationship.  Scripture indicates that this alliance will be involved in a great deal of military activity.

Once this ten nation alliance is in place, at some point, three heads of state will be removed and a fourth person will emerge and take control of the ten nations.  If that person goes ahead and signs a treaty with Israel then you can pretty well take it to the bank that person is the Antichrist.  (If you are wondering where all this came from, see Daniel 2 and 7.  And please, keep in mind that probably 80% of Bible believing Bible teachers in North America would agree with my basic interpretation of those passages.)

How does the Rapture tie into all this?  The most popular interpretation says that the rapture will come very near to the beginning of the seven year period.  I personally believe that the Rapture will happen in the second half of the seven year treaty period, but doesn't affect my main point one way or the other.  If the rapture happens anywhere near the beginning of the treaty period it would just about require that we would be able to see the ten nation alliance in existence before the rapture actually happens.  With a pre-trib Rapture it is also possible that the we might still be here when Antichrist removes three heads of state and takes power.  If the Rapture comes after the beginning of the seven years, then boys and girls, the church will definitely be here to see Antichrist take power and sign that treaty.

Now some of you may be saying, "If what you say is true, and it 80% of evangelical Bible teachers would agree with it, why don't we hear more discussion about this ten nation alliance?"  The answer is not very flattering to the church.  If conditions were right, you would be hearing a great deal about the ten nation alliance.  Back in the 60's and 70's when the Common Market and then the European Union were coming together you heard about the ten nations all the time.  People would say things like "Israel is in place and Antichrist's kingdom is being formed.  The end is very near!"  But then the European Union got larger than ten nations and the focus shifted away from the ten nations.  Here is the thing:  what I've shared with you, what I've told you to look for, isn't something that is "hot" right now.  I can't write a book on this and sell a million copies.  I can't make people's pulse race and have pastors waiting in line for me to come speak at their church.  But even though it's not "hot," it's still pretty standard Biblical interpretation at the present time.

Waiting for a ten nation alliance isn't very exciting, but wars and natural disasters are very exciting (as long as you don't have to live through them).  Jesus spoke of these signs at the beginning of Matthew 24, and whenever we get a new crop of wars or natural disasters someone writes a book and explains that the coming of Jesus is right around the corner.  The only problem with this is that people have been making these claims for 2,000 years and for 2,000 years they have been wrong.  This doesn't mean that Matthew 24 is wrong, it means that we need some kind of a guide that will help us to understand which wars and natural disasters Jesus is referring to so that we don't go off the deep end every time a calamity happens.  And the book of Daniel gives us that key.

If you read a little farther in Matthew 24 you will find that Jesus references events from the book of Daniel!  The people he was teaching were familiar with the book of Daniel.  So they took the information about the wars and the natural disasters and incorporated it into what they already knew.  And they knew about the ten kings.  They knew about three kings being removed from power.  And they knew that the man who would take over that alliance would be the Antichrist.

Let me close with this.  There was a man named Irenaeus.  He was the Bishop of Lyon around 180 A.D.  He was originally trained by a man named Polycarp.  And Polycarp was trained by (drum roll please) the Apostle John.  Irenaeus lived at a time when the Roman Empire was intact.  So what was he looking for as he waited for the second coming?  Here is my paraphrase.

"In the last days the Roman Empire will be divided up among ten kings.  The Antichrist will kill three of these kings and rule over the other seven."  (From "Against Heresies," Book Five, Chapter 26.)

Why is it important that we remain clear on these issues?  Once upon a time there was a man who went off to fight in a great war.  One of the enemy rulers was a man named Mussolini.  Mussolini was the dictator of Italy and he was bragging that he was recreating the Roman Empire.  So the man going off to war had the whole thing explained to him by a preacher.  Mussolini was the Antichrist and the end of the world was very, very near.  That man was part of a bomber crew that was shot out of the sky on it's third mission.  The man parachuted to safety and was put in a POW camp where he met a minister and became a born again Christian.  That man is my father.  He's in his late 80's now and we don't discuss complex subjects like Bible prophecy, but back in the day we did have a little talk about the subject.  Dad understood that the man who had taught him had made some major mistakes, but he didn't confuse a man making mistakes about what the Bible says with the Bible having mistakes in it.  Not everyone is that wise. 

I wonder about the other guys who listened to that preacher (and there were a whole lot of preachers giving that same message back in those days).  Did any of them come to the conclusion that the Bible is full of bunk when the news reached them that Mussolini had been hanged by his own people?

If we live long enough strange and maybe even terrible things will happen.  They always do.  And when they do people are going to be asking themselves, is this the end?  And you'll be able to explain it to them and maybe, just maybe, keep an irresponsible brother (who may or may not be a famous preacher/author) from damaging precious souls with false information.  A ten nation alliance; three rulers removed from power; the guy who removes them from power takes over and signs a treaty with Israel.  If you are alive at that point you might want to stop making deposits in your retirement savings plan. 

Israel is a modern miracle

The existence of Israel is one of the reasons why I believe in the Christian faith.  There are two kinds of reasons to be a believer:  internal and external.  Internal reasons have to do with our own religious experience.  When I pray I can sense a Presence.  Time spent in the Presence has resulted in permanent alterations in my personality and character.  Those are examples of internal reasons to believe.

External reasons have to do with objective facts.  You can argue that my internal reasons are simply mind games that I am playing with myself; but you can't argue against a fact.  You are argue about the meaning of a fact but you can't argue against the fact itself.

The Christian religion teaches quite clearly that everything that exists, including time and space, were created "ex nihilo " (out of nothing).  To the best of my knowledge none of the other ancient religions teach that space and time had a beginning.  We have gotten to the point where almost every educated person believes in the Big Bang Theory.  But this wasn't always accepted and until it became the dominant theory for the origin of the universe Christians were ridiculed for believing in creation.  As our knowledge of the universe expanded it must have seemed more and more ridiculous to believe that any force could have brought all of this into existence out of nothing.  It would be a tremendous act to bring our solar system into existence if that were all there was to the universe, but to bring all of the galaxies into existence and to create the vastness of space and time out of nothing?  What immeasurable power would that require?  Christians on university campuses were mocked for decades because they denied scientific orthodoxy of the day which was called the "Steady State Theory."  That theory taught that the universe had always been here and mocked dolts who were superstitious enough to believe that there could actually be some cosmic Person with enough power to speak everything into existence.

From time to time I have discussions with well educated people who try to explain to me that God is unnecessary because we have now "proven" that all life is the result of natural, evolutionary processes.  I remain profoundly skeptical of the theory of evolution.  Even if it is true, it is impossible to rule out the possibility that God set evolutionary processes in motion in the creation of life.  These people look at me and I can tell what they are thinking.  "This guy seems to be fairly intelligent, so what in the world is wrong with him?  Every educated person 'knows' this is true.  How can he be so ignorant?"  These same people are usually completely ignorant of the fact that the very name of the Big Bang Theory was given to the theory by a leading scientific figure of the day who was mocking the theory.  "Do you really expect us to believe that the universe began in some sort of a big bang?" he asked.  The very name, "Big Bang," is sarcasm and that sarcasm has become scientific orthodoxy.  Matter and energy and time and space didn't exist.  They came into existence "ex nihilo."  So I don't sweat the fact that "everybody" believes in evolution.  I've seen one "universally" accepted theory that contradicted the Bible go down the toilet in my lifetime and I'm not intimidated to be in the minority when it comes to evolution.

Israel is another objective fact.  It exists.  It is a Jewish state.  They practice the same religion they have always practiced.  I believe that the majority of the citizens of Israel are actually agnostics and that only a minority actually go to synagogue, but that's nothing new.  Throughout most of their history only a minority of the Jewish people have been faithful to their religion.  Israel is the only surviving nation from the ancient Middle East/Mediterranean world that I know of.  None of the others still exist, not even the big boys.  They may have the same name, but they aren't the same nations.  Egypt was a superpower throughout most of Biblical history; if any of the ancient nations were to survive with their religion and culture intact you would expect it to be Egypt.  It is true that there is a place called Egypt today, but there are no Egyptians living there.  They speak a different language and follow a different religion.  If someone tried to revive the ancient Egyptian religion the Muslim population would undoubtedly murder them.

They still speak Greek in Greece but they don't practice the same religion.  In Rome they speak a modified version of Latin, the modern Italian language, but they no longer practice the ancient religion.  Persia is now Iran and Babylon and Assyria are now Iraq.  Once again, the religion has changed.  The same thing is true of Syria.  So these once great nations still exist in a sense, but in another sense they do not.  They no longer have the same culture and the same religion they once had.

Now let's look at little Israel and all her little neighbors from the ancient world.  Do you know anyone who proudly proclaims their Philistine heritage?  Have you ever met a Moabite or an Edomite?  These were Israel's immediate neighbors and they have vanished from the pages of history.  Israel itself ceased to exist as a nation in 70 A.D.  What were the odds that this nation would somehow survive with its culture and religion intact?  All of Israel's little neighbors have vanished.  What were the odds that the Jewish people would survive and still have a Jewish identity?

In order for the ancient prophecies to be fulfilled there has to be a Jewish state in the land of Palestine.  There have to be people there who still practice the Jewish religion.  That nation now exists; and that's an objective fact.     

Israel and the Second Coming of Jesus Christ

 

Jesus didn't come back last weekend.  I caught a little of the coverage on Fox News and was pleased with the way they handled it.  They made it clear that the belief that the rapture was going to happen on May 21st, 2011 was a lunatic fringe and not a mainstream Christian belief.  There were also a number of people quoting the passages that say that no man knows the day or the hour of His return.  And they seemed sympathetic to the victims rather than scornful.  So good job, Fox News.

When will Jesus be back? Are there some signs that we should be looking for?  The answer is yes, a resounding yes.  While no man can know the day or the hour, the day of the Lord will not come as a "thief in the night" if you are a believer and if you are paying attention to the signs.  The classic passage dealing with this matter is found in I Thess. 5 where Paul says that "the day of the lord will come just like a thief in the night" (v. 2).  But then he clarifies by adding that the "brethren are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief" (v. 4).  Clearly believers have "inside information" that outsiders either don't know about or don't believe.  So the question is, what is this inside information?  What are we supposed to be looking for?  The answer can be found in teaching that is well understood but seldom applied.  The information in the next paragraph is accepted as the correct interpretation of prophecy by the overwhelming majority of Bible believing people in North America and probably throughout rest of the world as well.

The second coming of Jesus Christ will be closely related to a seven year period in human history.  This seven year period will begin when the Antichrist signs a treaty with Israel.  In the middle of the seven year period the Antichrist will betray Israel and attempt to take his seat in the temple in Jerusalem and present himself to the world as God.

That paragraph is probably pretty close to being universally accepted by people who believe in a pre-millennial coming of Jesus Christ.  The book of Revelation speaks of a physical return of Christ to the earth where He will form a literal, world-wide government and physically rule for 1,000 years (the Millennium).  Because this passage is in the book of Revelation, which is filled with symbolic language, not all believers accept a literal 1,000 year reign of Christ on earth, but this is the majority position among Bible believing people in North America.

Most believers think that the rapture, where Jesus supernaturally removes His church from the earth, will happen very near to the beginning of the seven year treaty period.  But the actual timing of the rapture has no impact on what I am about to share with you.  It makes sense to me that the one thing we should all be looking for is for the parties to be in place to sign this treaty.  For today's post I am going to focus on the State of Israel.  Next week we will look at the Antichrist. 

Obviously, there is a Jewish state in Palestine that could, in theory, sign a treaty with Antichrist at any time.  This is potentially very exciting news, but only potentially.  They have to survive in order to sign the treaty.  Personally, I believe that this particular group of Jews is back in Palestine by divine appointment and that they will probably survive until the emergence of Antichrist at which time they will sign a treaty with him.  But if something goes wrong, if there is a second holocaust, and if the current nation of Israel gets driven into the sea, it won't create any problems for my understanding of God's working in history.  This would simply mean that the time is not as close as we thought it was and that we will have to continue to wait for God to put things in place for the return of His Son.

I would also like to add that I see no reason why history couldn't continue on its present course for a very, very long time before the second coming whether the current Jewish state is destroyed or not.  The existence of a Jewish state in Palestine simply means that one of the chess pieces in on the board and placed where it needs to be for the treaty to be signed.  I won't start getting too excited until I see the second chess piece appear on the board and that would be the antichrist.  More on him in the next post.   

The Revenge of Osama Bin Ladin

He's dead.  Part of me is glad.  But I dare not hate him.  I dare not hate any of them.  I have been concerned ever since 9/11 about the danger of bitterness to the body of Christ as it relates to Islamic terrorism.  It is possible, in fact likely, that someone will attempt to hurt us as an act of revenge for the killing of Osama Bin Laden.  To the extent to which they succeed they will present a danger to the spiritual health of Christian people that will dwarf any physical damage they are capable of doing.  As we have already established, bitterness and hatred blunt the edge of our most potent spiritual weapon, prayer.  If they manage to pull off another 9/11 the natural response will be for our hearts to be filled with rage and for a fiery desire for revenge to burn in our hearts.

I am not saying that we should not defend ourselves.  I am not saying that killing Bin Laden was wrong.  I am saying that we have to be able to defend ourselves both physically and spiritually.  And the only way we can defend ourselves spiritually is by praying for our enemies.  We have to pray for them until the thought of them no longer raises our blood pressure and fills our hearts with rage.

There was a man named Ted Bundy who became one of the most famous serial killers in American history.  Before He died he professed faith in Christ.  He may in fact be in heaven today.  But I didn't let his professed conversion change my opinion on the necessity for his execution.  Actions have consequences.  Justice must be done.  But all of this can be accomplished without hatred poisoning our hearts.

These are the prayers I am praying for the Muslim world.  I invite you to join in.

• For the destruction of the power of the house of Islam
• For more oil or alternative energy sources to be found so that the financial backing for fundamentalist Islam and terrorism will dry up 
• For Muslims in closed countries, who have no opportunities to hear the gospel, will receive direct communications for God in the forms of dreams and visions that will result in their salvation (I prayed for that for ten years without any results, and since I am told that this has happened 1000's of times)
• For Jesus to build His church in all Muslim nations by bringing Muslims to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ through all possible means
• For some of the leading Christian figures of the 21st Century to come from converted Jihadists, just as the Apostle Paul, a former persecutor of the church, became a great Christian leader

Pray for Muslims.  It is part of praying for God's will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.  It is also an excellent way to guard your heart.  Somebody may hit back at us.  They may blow up a building and kill some people.  But don't let them poison your heart.  That would be Osama's ultimate revenge.