I am not here to question any of your beliefs. I am here to see what everyone here feels about recent events and whether or not they relate to bible prophecy. I do not believe in prophecy 100%, but I do have a respect for it as a possibility. Suddenly, with hearing of famine, where 100million + may die from it, I have thought back to the Four Horsemen that are described in the Bible. Just for reference: War, Famine, Pestilence and Death. Certainly there were times where all four were present, but I don't see how all four combined in the past would lead to the destruction of the world. The times are different, and these four scurges seem to be world wide and not limited to certain nations, or regions. War: We are going to war with useless reasons, under the ruse that it's somehow good for us. Famine: Recent food shortages seem be more due to greed than anything else. I am not sure about this, but the food shortage we are facing is probably more complex than it has ever been experienced before. "a measure of wheat for a penny" Overcharging for food due to inequality and corruption. Pestilence: I am not sure if anything is exactly worth mentioning other than the AIDS epidemic, but can that really coincide with the prophecy, or is there something far worse coming our way? Also, the Bible prophecies speak of weather changing and great floods occurring... Frankly, I'm a bit worried. As a non-Christian, I think that I may start to believe that the prophecies are being fulfilled. (Floods in asia, America, world-wide, global warming, and the worst hasn't happened yet...) The Bible talks of a currency that is sort of invisible which enslaves you. I believe this currency could be credit cards. Buying something from absolutely nothing seems a bit strange and seems to be a huge scam. The Bible often talks about how it is sinful to put interest on loans. What does everyone think about this? Many people from the past thought their times were the end times, could these be the end times based upon the Bible? Could we be misinterpreting the information from the Bible?
Believe it or not, the world is pretty much the same as it was 2000-3000 years ago. The same people that controlled the world then are very much the same people that control it today. Wars are a part of an unbroken cycle in history. They have seasons when they come. And you can watch for the signs of the seasons turning. Same for climate changes and famine. What has changed, is our ability to know everything thats going on in the world. We are assaulted on a daily basis by the media that has an electronic spiderweb across the entire planet now. You have to learn to measure out what you let into your lives. If you don't, the shear volume of it will carry you downstream. You got to be like a rock in the river. In the middle of it all, yet unmoved by any of it. This includes clinging to beliefs. The more you have, the greater drag upon your otherwise smooth soul. Let them go, and watch the turbulence swirl around you as if in the eye of a hurricane. Stay centered, the silence is deafening. Touch the outer walls, and listen to a thousand possibilities presenting themselves at once. x
I don't believe in prophecy even 1%, except for the self-fulfilling kind. It worries me that too many Christians, Jews and Muslims believe that the "end times" Tribulations are inevitable, the will of God, and thus a good thing. It's especially disturbing that believers in the Raptures think they can avoid the repercussions of it all by blind religious faith, that those who think the world is imminently about to end believe we can abuse the planet with impunity, and that we can hasten the coming of this glorious event by such actions as rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem.
You have good points okiefreak. I agree with you on many of your points. I just want to see what believers in prophecy have to say because I'm interested. Maybe it is all inevitable. It's not like we can just take down the greedy people, and in the meantime, more and more harm is being done. All you really can do is to remain a good person, and remaining a good person isn't about going after the people on the top and killing them; that seems contradictory to Jesus' teachings. Meanwhile, the greedy people are continuing to do what they are doing... there has to be something that eventually stops them... or at least I hope so.
You have good points ,too. I emphasized the danger from religious fanaticism, but human attachments to wealth, status, and power, coupled with increased access to weapons of mass destruction, could easily result in a calamity eriely like the Apocalypse and Armageddon. Prophecy may reflect probable outcomes of basic human tendencies couped with the continued advance of technology. This is my understanding of the concept of original sin, and also, when projected as an eternal verity, the metaphor of Hell. Was it Sartre who said:"Hell is other people'?
Good Homework my dear freind, The Pestilence is going to be the bird flu I fear crossing over into humans... The floods and wheater... hmm u may want to google Nibiru and look into the effects of what this is going to have and accept or reject for yourself... I peronsally had a dream about this very event, Before I even knew anything about the Red Planet :O!! So yah... I have sorta had to come to grip with the fact it was for real. The system of currency you speak of is RFID chips. Im my lil ole humble opinion they are going to be mind control devices that "They" are going to implant in people to prevent them from getting the massive shift in consciousness and truth that is coming to the planet in these times. But to briefly awnser your question we are most definitly in the the "End Times" ...
I am suspicious of anything that sounds like it came from the mouth of Jack van Impe...I can't understand how the most blatantly metaphorical book in the Bible can be taken that literally. Verse 5, Will God literally punish the church of Ephesus by removing a literal candlestick? NO! Removing a literal candlestick would be no great loss to anyone. But from what we learned in verse 20 of chapter one, the candlestick IS one of the churches . So Christ is threatening to REMOVE THE WHOLE CHURCH, not some piece of furniture or candlestick from the building of a church. Verse 7, Is the tree of life a literal tree that one literally eats? Verse 9, Was the church in Smyrna literally in poverty and literally rich at the same time? Does "synagogue of Satan" mean a literal synagogue where Satan has a Rabbi teaching the Law to a congregation every Sabbath day? Verse 13, Is a name something that one literally holds fast to with one’s hands? Verse 16, Will Christ literally do battle by using a literal sword which He literally keeps in His mouth? Or do we not read in another place in God’s word that this "sword" IS God’s Word? (Heb. 4:12). Verse 17, Will Christ reward the faithful with a literal little white stone? Can’t we see that the stone and the name written in it represents something else? Something of much greater value? Verse 20, Was the harlot Jezebel literally in the Thyatira church? Literal Jezebel died CENTURIES before this book was written by John. Jezebel in the physical represents or symbolizes a SPIRITUAL condition in the church of Thyatira. Verse 22, Will Christ literally throw literal Jezebel into a literal bed where she will literally commit adultery with literal men? Verse 23, Will Christ kill literal children of the literal harlot, Jezebel? Verse 27, Will the saints beat the nations with a literal rod of iron into literal small pieces like broken pottery? Verse 28, Will Christ give the literal morning star to His saints? Where would they put it? What would they do with it? Chapter 3:1, Was the Sardis church literally alive and literally dead at the same time? Verse 4, Were members of the Sardis congregation wearing literally soiled clothing? Verse 7, Is there literally a metal key of David that is needed to open a literal lock? Verse 12, Will Christ literally turn people into stone pillars in the temple? Verse 16, Will Christ literally spit the church of Laodicea out of His mouth? Verse 17, Were the members of the Laodicean church literally poor and literally blind and literally naked without clothing to wear? Are there not other Scriptures that tell us what it means to be SPIRITUALLY "poor, blind, and naked?" Verse 18, Did Christ try to sell Laodicea literal gold? What would they do with the gold? What, pray tell, would Christ do with the money? Verse 20, Does Christ literally knock at the doors of our homes and then come in and eat a literal home cooked meal and pecan pie with us? Is it necessary for me to go through this entire book verse by verse before we can fully realize that this book is written in figurative, symbolic, and metaphorical language? http://bible-truths.com/lake1.html About 5 eighths of the way down...
