End Times Nonsense

How do you know when you are reading or seeing a video story on end times nonsense?

Recently I saw a few minutes of some show on a Christian tv network. I stopped to watch it and this man showed some quote from a Pope back in early 1900's. I don't remember the entire quote but the meaning behind it was something to the effect that if we don't come together with the Roman Catholic church then there will be war. Please, give me a break.

This same theme is also in books promoted by 7th Day Adventists in which they claim that the Catholic church will eventually impose a Sunday worship law. I literally got into an argument with and SDA member pushing this nonsense. Last time I looked the Catholic church has no established rule over any land. Only over the Catholic people who give allegiance to it. This was promoted as some kind of end time nonsense.

I don't study alot on end times stuff. Only enough to be dangerous but it doesn't take much common sense to cry foul when nonsense is heard.

I know Israel exists and it cannot be defeated. Matters not of the whole of Israel is Atheistic. In the OT they were a rebellious people anyway.

What kind of stories have you found to be a bunch of end times nonsense pushed as if it is genuinely true?

John

yea thats folly all right

the only way to really know is to be well grounded in scripture ,,and be sure to know what being led by the spirit is ,and rely on that inner witness ,,maybe it can be called the gift of discernment ,,be sure to believe that god still gives discernment through the anointing ,and operate that gift through faith ,,,,knowing god will show the truth

bold trusting in god in area ,,,,you may get fooled for a Little wile ,,but you will know the truth ,,and well the truth will also set you free from lies of devil ,,,you just gotta be bold and believe that ,,and gods spirit will operate discernment in our heart and minds consistently ,according to faith

Ironically, my title is end times nonsense but it should have been end times nonsense with the Catholic church.

I know some, maybe most? Posters on this forum are strongly against or simply disagree with the Catholic church. I often find this crosses into the End Times dogma in tagging that church with end times prophecy that gets ridiculous as I mentioned in my original post.

I find that it tends to create a peculiar hatred in some Christian towards Catholics as a result. That isn't right and seduces people into something that isn't their intention at all. Yet, are my observations true or just an illusion?

John

End times nonsense?

Well....I have lived long enough to recall a lot of alarmists crying foul when they perceived apostasy being certain this will hasten the coming of the LORD. Maybe they were right and maybe they were wrong...or maybe what they were seeing and calling people to be watchful was a mere rung in the ladder to end times. Maybe.

Having read so much of these kind of articles, I began to wonder what is the cataclysmic event that will for sure hasten the coming of the LORD? So, I became uncertain. Sometimes I am sure and then again I am not. In any case, I do well to study the book of Revelation. In it I find Jesus being the victor over all the battles that were fought; I find Jesus inflicting calamities upon people in order to make them aware of their need to repent; I find people refusing to repent in face of severe disasters visited upon them; I see people hardening their hearts repeatedly in spite of Jesus knocking the props out from under their feet. I am seeing the Son of God waging a war who will win and as for me, I want to be in his army of saints, even if it means being beheaded or shot or....

My desire based on my understanding...

ginnyrose

End times nonsense?

Well....I have lived long enough to recall a lot of alarmists crying foul when they perceived apostasy being certain this will hasten the coming of the LORD. Maybe they were right and maybe they were wrong...or maybe what they were seeing and calling people to be watchful was a mere rung in the ladder to end times. Maybe.

Having read so much of these kind of articles, I began to wonder what is the cataclysmic event that will for sure hasten the coming of the LORD? So, I became uncertain. Sometimes I am sure and then again I am not. In any case, I do well to study the book of Revelation. In it I find Jesus being the victor over all the battles that were fought; I find Jesus inflicting calamities upon people in order to make them aware of their need to repent; I find people refusing to repent in face of severe disasters visited upon them; I see people hardening their hearts repeatedly in spite of Jesus knocking the props out from under their feet. I am seeing the Son of God waging a war who will win and as for me, I want to be in his army of saints, even if it means being beheaded or shot or....

My desire based on my understanding...

ginnyrose

But what is really tying this together?

One thing one needs to be careful of is seeing God too much as a God of vengeance. In your words here I read of God being a God of total vengeance and heaping calamity upon people because of sin. It is a mirror image of those who say the OT God is evil and full of war and killing. People are apt to run away from such a Entity as a result. Where is the hope in it all?

How can you tie these calamities in with 'end times' things? Many say Israel is the sign of it all. If so how to we demonstrate that?

How do you know you are rightly understanding what you are reading in Revelation an applying it, is it all for today or have these things happened already to an extent?

Even Rev. 13 trips people up. Some preach it as the resurrected Roman empire being the now European Union. How is that turning out now? Some say it is the Catholic church. ( I saw that is because some are hateful toward it and that hatred gives them a bias as a result). Or does that chapter refer to something totally different?

I think it gets to be dangerous to become too dogmatic with Revelation when we think we know the interpretation and preach it as we think it is because often times it comes from our own bias'.

Just my thoughts.
John

John,

God inflicts calamities upon people to force them to think of their own death and what they will encounter after it. When all your props are knocked out from under you, and you are helpless what do you do? People do one of two things: curse God, or repent. One sees this demonstrated by the thieves that were crucified with Jesus. This is an act of mercy of God. As long as things do well people do not experience a need for God. It is when one gets desperate they will cry to the LORD for deliverance. This is normal - read the OT stories, like the book of Judges. Human nature has not changed.

Revelation repeatedly informs us that after God afflicted the people they still did not repent...

Revelation is the record of a vision given to John - he wrote what he saw. As I read it I try to understand what he saw. Sometimes an interpretation is given for that he saw. I do not consider the book as being symbolic and full of riddles but take lessons from the OT - in how Jesus' birth/life was prophesied - on how Revelation is to be understood.

Many folks work to fit current political situations into the prophecies as recorded in Revelation but too many times they have to bend facts to make them fit. It is like one instructor said - it will happen just like it says it would.

Revelation speaks of people being beheaded. We believe this to be an archaic method of execution but do you know there is a move to revive this method of execution? Hmmm - wonder why? Because it is more humane? Or, is there some thing else at work here?

I consider it tragic how few people will read Revelation. Too many theologians have intimidated people with their conflicting interpretations that people will say if the experts can not agree how can I understand it? I think this is a ploy used by the devil to keep people from reading it because it clearly says, "Blessed is he who reads..."

Read it, John. And do NOT use any other book to help you understand it. If it makes no sense ask the LORD to give you sense! This book reveals to us an awful lot about the nature of God - the Son, heaven, angels...In the Gospels Jesus is revealed as the Lamb of God; in Revelation he is pictured as the King of Kings and as an avenger of evil. No one is going to run over him - all the attempts by man and the devil will come to an inglorious end. God is going to win! We are in a war and I want to be on the winning side...

ginnyrose

PS: It is late - got to get to bed.

In the Gospels Jesus is revealed as the Lamb of God; in Revelation he is pictured as the King of Kings and as an avenger of evil. No one is going to run over him - all the attempts by man and the devil will come to an inglorious end. God is going to win! We are in a war and I want to be on the winning side...

ginnyrose
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Greetings ginnyrose

This is the one thing that I have always held on to as well. No matter what happens its all already been decided. The history is already written and JESUS reigns. It tells us every knee shall bow, every tongue confess. JESUS is victorious, HE has overcome and the rest is just details...

God bless
maryjane

Last night after posting this and thinking more how Jesus was described as the Lamb of God I got to thinking about lambs.

I grew up on a working, diversified farm complete with all kinds of farm animals and fowls. Dad also raised sheep. In the course of life on the farm, I was given an orphaned sheep to raise. I bottle fed it, played with it - it became a wonderful pet. While I was not "Mary had a little lamb..." I was Sandra who had one and it did what Mary's did except it did not follow me to school. It was a wonderful pet. It was docile, gentle, and did follow me wherever I went: it loved it when I went to the gate and opened it for it to come out and follow me. I was the saddest person on the farm when dad decided to sell this sheep.

"Lamb" is an apt description of Jesus life on earth in his relationship with the Father and how he served mankind in obedience to Him.

Still love sheep and lambs... when I see one I have to resist my instinct to go hug it. Sometimes I wish to give Jesus a hug as well.

Ginnyrose
MaryJane

What do your last posts have to do with the topic and End Times nonsense?

I am just curious.
John

John you wrote on 8/4 @20:08:

QUOTE:
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One thing one needs to be careful of is seeing God too much as a God of vengeance. In your words here I read of God being a God of total vengeance and heaping calamity upon people because of sin. It is a mirror image of those who say the OT God is evil and full of war and killing. People are apt to run away from such a Entity as a result. Where is the hope in it all?
______________________________________________________________

This quote evoked my response as to Jesus being depicted in his life here as the Lamb of God and in Revelation as the King of Kings and the avenger of evil - stark contrasts. Many view Jesus as a meek, gentle and mild God with no wrath to mete out on the rebellious. He is viewed as a lamb. Many people cannot fathom a God who displays the qualities of being a Lamb and a King of kings who will rule and get rid of his enemies through violent means.

My latest post on this thread dealt with the character of a lamb, prompted by my experience with lambs in my youth. The fact that Jesus is referred to as the Lamb of God is best understood when one is familiar with lambs and their personality.

I admit this was a rabbit trail but it does connect to the main trail. :-)

God bless.

Ginnyrose

I understand what you are saying but it really has nothing to do with the End Times nonsense that I see put out there. What you said is mere theology of the Characteristics of who Jesus is.

I find Christians jumping on various bandwagons in order to somehow prove we are in the end times and in the end these 'examples' really don't do anything except push a false faith. Meaning, do those examples really enrich your faith in God or do they merely give a supposed hope.

Even one nonsense example I hear from time to time. The building of the temple of lamb sacrifice. Apparently it has to be done before Jesus comes back. When do you suppose that set up is going to happen? Or did that happen already and we are in the wrong time period?

Then we have those who say the EU is the beast while others say the Catholic church is the beast. So much heresay about things from Revelation that it really makes the mind numb.

These examples are reasons why I don't get caught up in 'End Times' stuff because it leads to all kinds of rabbit trails and it takes your mind and heart off of the real issues at hand. Extending the love of God to those around you and bring the Gospel to those around you. I believe that this is how a Christian becomes ready for heaven. It isn't in creating things for End Times nonsense.

I don't want to sound angry but this topic tends to make me irritated because I find it does more disservice then is a service to Christians because of the false information put out which leads to disillusionment.
John

John

I was responding to Ginnyrose on something she said. Yes it was off topic but then that does happen here in the forum from time to time :) Sorry about that.

I can not really say I have heard of any nonsense teachings on end times. Honestly it seems to be the opposite for me, not many people seem to concerned about the end times or living for JESUS no matter what is going on around them. They are happy and content to live for themselves.

God bless
maryjane

resently end time topics have realy boosted my faith ,,and desire for the lords return ,,some sermons from walid shoebat ,,realy had me blessed hopeing for the the lord

it is creating an urgency to get ready for jesus

Share some more brothagary because I am on the opposite side of your comments.