Christian based commentaries and observations.

Quote of Note

Billy Graham's Prayer For Our Nation



: 'Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance.
We know Your Word says, 'Woe to those who call evil good,' but that is exactly what we have done.

We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.

We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.

We have killed our unborn and called it choice.

We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.

We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self esteem.

We have abused power and called it politics.

We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition.

We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.

We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.

Search us, Oh God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and Set us free.
:
: Amen!'
:


Tuesday, September 22, 2009

An Honest Question

A man recently wrote me an email after having seen my website, "You've Been Left Behind". It seems that he was asking in an honest questioning tone. I am sure that some of you have heard the same question. How did/would you answer?
Here is his question and the answer I gave him. (I have renamed him):
Hi,
I saw your site. Have you ever stopped to think that maybe your religion is not the truth? It's been two thousand years since the Bible says that Jesus returned bodily to heaven. Didn't he say that his followers would be seeing him again?
Maybe the Jews were right to reject Jesus. I mean where is all of nature has a lion sat with a lamb and not tried to eat it?
Yours with interest,
Qwerty


Dear Qwerty,
I'll keep this short. Everything here is worth you time.
The words you wrote are almost an exact quote from the book of 2 Peter.

2PE 3:3 First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. 4 They will say, "Where is this `coming' he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation." 5 But they deliberately forget that long ago by God's word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water. 6 By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. 7 By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.2PE 3:8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.2PE 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.

But how do we know the the time has finally come?

The "thousand years is as a day and a day is as a thousand years" Is a quote that Peter repeated from the Old Testament. Adam and Eve (mankind) were/was told that for 6 days that would work the soil and toil, but on the 7th day they would rest. They were also told before sinning that "in the "day" of eating of the fruit they would die. They died a spiritual death in a man day, they died a physical death in a God day- Adam living to be 930 years old.
Jesus speaking prophetically said, "on the third day I will raise you up". In three man days he rose from the dead. On the third God day we will be raised up.
Jesus also spoke these words:

MT 24:3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. "Tell us," they said, "when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?" MT 24:4 Jesus answered: "Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, `I am the Christ, ' and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains. MT 24:9 "Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. And...MT 24:32 "Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 33 Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. 34 I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

The Fig tree is the symbol of Israel. You may remember that one day after leaving a frustrating event with the Jewish leaders he was walking out of town and saw a fig tree without fruit. He cursed the tree and the next day the disciples noticed it had withered. The fig tree was symbolic of Israel. They had no spiritual "fruit" to recognized him as their God, creator, and messiah. For that reason they were destroyed as a nation and dispersed throughout the nations of the Earth. This event was prophesied by the prophet Daniel. Also prophesied by Daniel was the eventual return of the Jews to Israel and the coming of the end. We are now here! The times are different that ever before! The time has come!


Thanks for asking,
Mark

Quote of note from July 09

"The Declaration of Independence dogmatically bases all rights on the fact that God created all men equal; and it is right; for if they were not created equal, they were certainly evolved unequal. There is no basis for democracy except in a dogma about the divine origin of man."
G.K.Chesterton