Believing for things to be getting worse and worse until the rapture comes.... might be severely hindering the church!
Believing for things to get worse and worse until the rapture comes.... very well may be hindering the church and keeping Christians from transforming society.
If Martin Luther felt things were only going to get worse and worse and then the rapture would happen (so he may as well not do anything), there would have been no Protestant Reformation.
If the Pilgrims felt that the religious persecution they were facing was just a sign that things were getting worse and worse until they were raptured out, they might not have ever come to the New World.
If the founding fathers would have just accepted that things are supposed to get worse and worse until they were to be raptured out, they would have never started America and had the freedoms that we now do.
If Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, and others would have just accepted that slavery/segregation is just a sign that things are getting worse and worse until the rapture occurs, we still would have these atrocities today.
If you and I accept that things are getting worse and worse until we get raptured out (because we are just strangers passing through), we will likely accept things happenning that should not and might make future generations pay.
Are there perhaps things that we are accepting as being from God that He is wanting us to fight against because they are NOT from Him?
NOBODY knows when the end will come. I am tired of hearing people say that it will happen in the next ten years because of how dark things are getting (because we have a recession). Look at history - how about Europe in the Middle Ages when a third of the people died of the Bubonic Plague and London burned down (amongst tremendous corruption in the church and many other issues). Things have been far worse. I am tired of hearing people believing and expecting the worst - God help us so that we do not receive things getting worse and worse for ourselves and loved ones by believing for it and through feeling disempowered to do anything as a result!
For a different view of eschatology, see Victorious Eschatology by Harold Eberle (especially where he talks of the rapture). This is not to say that I am Post-Millenial either. It is to say that there can be rather negative implications to how we live life and what we will let occur if we are only focused on the negative prophecies regarding the latter days.
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Every gift you have is reproducible in others (who will honor that gift on your life). That means EVERY gift. So perhaps our primary focus (for the sake of kingdom expansion) should be on the reproducing over the using of the gift... Or using of the gift in the process of demonstrating to others how it works.... The only hindrance from the spiritual father's side is pride in thinking how hard I sacrificed to get/grow in the gift...
If Martin Luther felt things were only going to get worse and worse and then the rapture would happen (so he may as well not do anything), there would have been no Protestant Reformation.
If the Pilgrims felt that the religious persecution they were facing was just a sign that things were getting worse and worse until they were raptured out, they might not have ever come to the New World.
If the founding fathers would have just accepted that things are supposed to get worse and worse until they were to be raptured out, they would have never started America and had the freedoms that we now do.
If Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, and others would have just accepted that slavery/segregation is just a sign that things are getting worse and worse until the rapture occurs, we still would have these atrocities today.
If you and I accept that things are getting worse and worse until we get raptured out (because we are just strangers passing through), we will likely accept things happenning that should not and might make future generations pay.
Are there perhaps things that we are accepting as being from God that He is wanting us to fight against because they are NOT from Him?
NOBODY knows when the end will come. I am tired of hearing people say that it will happen in the next ten years because of how dark things are getting (because we have a recession). Look at history - how about Europe in the Middle Ages when a third of the people died of the Bubonic Plague and London burned down (amongst tremendous corruption in the church and many other issues). Things have been far worse. I am tired of hearing people believing and expecting the worst - God help us so that we do not receive things getting worse and worse for ourselves and loved ones by believing for it and through feeling disempowered to do anything as a result!
For a different view of eschatology, see Victorious Eschatology by Harold Eberle (especially where he talks of the rapture). This is not to say that I am Post-Millenial either. It is to say that there can be rather negative implications to how we live life and what we will let occur if we are only focused on the negative prophecies regarding the latter days.
**********************************
Every gift you have is reproducible in others (who will honor that gift on your life). That means EVERY gift. So perhaps our primary focus (for the sake of kingdom expansion) should be on the reproducing over the using of the gift... Or using of the gift in the process of demonstrating to others how it works.... The only hindrance from the spiritual father's side is pride in thinking how hard I sacrificed to get/grow in the gift...
posted by Seltzer at 1:56 AM
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