Blog Comments

The place where all that do offend and work iniquity which is a furnace of fire is the resurrection of damnation; contrariwise, the good seed which are the children of the kingdom is the resurrection of life. The children of the wicked one are no longer in a kingdom, but shall be gathered out of the kingdom; and out means out. Christ means exactly what He says.

Great Post, Bill-Brown. Excellent! Well thought out! Eschatology is a lot simpler and more straightforward than many, if not most, Christians think. God has always had one plan, one people, one way for salvation, one kingdom and one recreation of the world.

Rufus

Well, if the "millennium" is a literal one thousand year reign by Christ on this earth, then there are all kinds of scripture passages that achieve a certain incongruity with that . . .

Are you saying the millenium is not a literal one thousand year reign by Christ on this earth?

Spot on, Billy !!! !!! !!!
You've even caught all the details of my position.

Of particular significance is the exact sequence of the resurrection and THEN the "rapture" in 1Thes 4.
One will not precede the other (v15) and then the sequence is restated (v16,17) for clarity and emphasis.

Some, of the pre-trib persuasion recognize this sequence, but then they must “move” Rev 20 to the beginning of the timeline in an effort to preserve the pre-trib doctrine.

Scripture is clear that the saints will be persecuted and even killed.
(It’s happening already in many countries, but not due to “the mark”.)

Unfortunately, Pre-tribbers often view this issue just as any other doctrinal debate.
If we ARE indeed nearing the 70th week, we may be required to offer our heads as a testimony.
However, this is a possibility which pre-tribbers deny and so they shall be emotionally unprepared.

This realization is not unlike receiving short-timer news from the doctor.
There’re the stages of dealing bad news: …depression before finally accepting and even embracing the situation.

The initial phase of denial may be too much of a hurdle for pre-tribbers and I fear the realization that they’ve been taught something which is untrue may cause them to doubt the whole.
While the church seems to be more and more apostate in accepted doctrines (new age and such), I fear that the realization that the tribulation had begun will cause an emotional rupture which may cause many to fall away.

One man on the TV loves to proclaim “our hope is in the rapture!”
What shall happen to such hope, when the truth of 1Thes 4 bears out?

Yep . . . the Jewish Council in Jerusalem . . . the same people who murdered Jesus Christ Himself.

Interesting . . .

Billy, It would be safe to say that the stoning of Stephen wasn't by Gentiles but of the Jewish Council

Totally agreed.

II Cor. 12:7-10
7 Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself!
Paul was cought up to the third heaven and saw things he couldn't speak about. That was his thorn and he didn't want to exalt himself by telling it so it was a thorn. God also didn't want him to so God said, my grace is sufficent for you.

Ezekiel 43.11: And if they are ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the design of the temple...

God specifically said that Ezekiel was only to give them those temple plans if the Jews were ashamed of their past sins... were they ashamed? Not according to the books of the prophets written after the return from the Babylonian Exile.

All the more reason to put on Christ as Paul did. Thank you for your blog and thoughts.

I agree with you 100%. This world is so set on making a buck that we lost sight of the important things that actually matter to God.
Todah!