Worldliness

If we are to assume that this civilization in which we now live is the fifth empire, the millennial kingdom, then what are we to do with the concept of worldliness? At the time of the new testament writings, the fourth empire [Rome] was the world, and worldliness meant doing things as the Romans did - rule through fear, lust, greed, and generally just plain old self interest.

But what about now? Take a look around you. Take a look at your roads and schools and hospitals and cars and computers and laws and freedoms. Do you honestly think this all happened through the worldliness of selfish people? God used Babylon as a stick to whack Isreal "upside the head". Don't you think he's running the show now [in spite of all the same selfish people]?
I'm not talking about any one nation - I'm talking about this Empire that Christ has built through people "infected" with His Spirit and the fruit of that spirit - is
" love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."

And regarding those who are not "infected", He also is reining with an iron rod:

Rev 19v15 From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron ; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty."

so anyway, if Satan is no longer ruler of this world, but Christ is then we have to be careful with what we consider "worldliness".

Someone [maybe Adrian Rogers?] defined worldliness as anything that makes sin appear normal. I like that. But what about those that assist their ministries with successful business models? Is that worldliness?

I have to go to sleep now, but I'll return to this question, the answer to which I think can be found in 2Peter:

5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.

What does it really matter? ...part 1

What does it really matter what your creation and end time views are as long as you're saved, right? Well, my argument is that it really does affect your attitude in several ways. Take climate change, for example: If you believe the scientists who say the earth is billions of years old, then all this rapid melting of this glacier and that ice shelf represents an abrupt [and therefore alarming] change. On top of that, if you're a pre-millennialist, this sense of alarm could feed right in to thoughts that "the end is near". Now I do believe we should be personally ready at all times as our individual ends may be near, but living with the sense that our own children likely won't live long enough [before the rapture happens] to die of old age can really change your perspective on life [more on this later]

Back to climate change: if on the other hand we see the earth as roughly 6-10,000 years old, then the things that are happening with the climate are on the same scale as the rest of history and don't represent a drastic change.

Some quick examples of dating problems: 1. a plane of early vintage found buried in greenland ice in a layer normally interpreted as being up to 10,000 years old. 2. Human artifacts found embedded in coal. 3. Carbon14 found in diamonds. [more on this later too.]

what's A&O Ministries

that's short for "Alpha and Omega Ministries", as in dealing with the beginning and end of history (as we know it). It's not actually a registered entity anywhere, more like a motto or statement of context.

Wanting to have my cake and eat it too

As the purpose of this blog is to attempt to re-construct a worldview that is the closest to the truth I can achieve this side of eternity (got to dream big!) I am not interested in chasing rabbits trying to disprove the beliefs of people I disagree with. The transparent nature here is to build one thought at a time, testing the spirits (ideas) as we go.

For this purpose I am prepared to be accused of having a double standard. My thoughts come out from the mish-mash of everything I've ever come across, read, heard, once believed true or false... not every thought I write here will have specific scriptural references [yet...]. From you the reader and contributor, I need two things before I can entertain incorporating your comments into this worldview:

1. (assuming you believe Jesus Christ was the son of God and died to pay the penalty for your sins, of which you've confessed to God and turned away from, with the risen Christ's help - i.e. you are a christian) please specify a specific sentence or idea of mine that needs correcting and provide at least a scripture reference, and ideally the scriptural context that bolsters your position.

2. (from everyone, including interested non-believers) please specify a specific sentence or idea of mine that contains a flaw of logic that needs to be corrected. I'm sure there will be plenty of these, however [stated pre-supposition #1] it is my belief that logic is an irremoveable aspect of the absolute truth which constructs the reality live in we and is described in the bible, and that paradox (apparent contradiction) is not necessarily excluded by logic.

If, however, one of my ideas triggers a story you'd like to tell and it really has nothing to do with what is said here, I'll reply that it's "not useful" (or possibly delete...)

Similaries between the two "end times"

At the end of the Millennial kingdom, I'd suspect that the approach of the loosing of Satan, when he's allowed to deceive the nations, and the actual events will look alot like what believers of pre-millennialism have imagined will happen leading up to and during the "Great Tribulation". It'll be like the joke about the jew and christian who ask Messiah if this is his first or second coming.

If we are in the Millennial Kingdom, the noticeable difference is that there will be no rapture until after Satan is defeated. We [or our descendants] will be here watching the whole debacle unfold. At that time the pre-millennialists may need some encouragement as they may be tempted to doubt their faith in Christ because of faulty eschatology.


I wonder if after the rapture finally does happen, they'd be reminded of these words...

Rev22:6 And he said to me, "These words are faithful and true "; and the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent His angel to show to His bond-servants the things which must soon take place. 7 "And behold, I am coming quickly. Blessed is he who heeds the words of the prophecy of this book. "

Will John be asking "how much more clearer could I have been than ' must soon take place '?"

The Bible is...

Always literally true, but not always truly literal.

why "Glass Atlas"?

I wanted to write a book about the importance of proper beginning and ending theology - the alpha and omega of history. It would be a biblical "worldview", so the appropriate book-type would be an "atlas". I also wanted it to be written in a public format with christians keeping me true to scripture and non-christians reminding me of the secular point of view I'm trying to influence. The whole process is to be transparent, therefore "glass".

terrorism, national response & eschatology

Another large terrorist attack plan was foiled yesterday, bringing to the news editorials items about the seeming impossibility to prevent these types of things from occasionally succeeding. The "eschatological tension" arises when we start talking about the most likely solutions - increased surveillance, large databases and identification technology. For the pre-millennial set these are all concepts tied in with a one-world government and the mark of the beast and must be resisted. If, on the other hand the mark of the beast was actually a ritual that had to be publicly performed proclaiming allegiance to the Roman Emperor (who claimed to be a god) in order to engage in the commerce of the day, and if the force governing the nations is the risen Christ currently reigning at the right hand of God, then these technological protections for the kingdom should be (carefully) embraced...

What about Satan

According to Revelation, at the end of the great tribulation Satan was thrown into the abyss and will be released at the end of the millenial kingdom to wreak havok for a short while. So if Satan isn't here now, why is there so much evil in the world?

First, lets not forget about sin...

Second, how many angels were created to begin with? Let's guess, say 10 billion. 1/3 turned to the dark side, so what is that, 3 billion and change? Okay 3 billion minus 3 (satan, the beast, and the false prophet) - that still leaves a lot of demons to stir things up.

Quick Summary 1

Revelation (and all NT scripture) was written before 70 AD because none of it records the destruction of the temple, which you'd think would be a pretty big news item as it represented the end of the "old testament" world.

Irenaeus is the only guy who dated Revelation at 95, but he also wrote that Jesus was over fifty when he died, so I wouldn't take him as an accurate source of information this important.

"Coming on clouds" is old testament lingo for judgement, not a literal aerial arrival. So shortly before 70 AD John writes Revelation, he talks about the judgement of apostate Isreal and Rome, Nero is 666, the temple is destroyed, eventually Rome falls, and since then the last (fifth) empire governed by Christ begins to grow slowly as small stone and continues to grow even to this day

Dan 2:32	"The head of that statue {was made} of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze,
Dan 2:33	its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.
Dan 2:34	"You continued looking until a stone was cut out without hands, and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them.
Dan 2:35	"Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were crushed all at the same time and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.