Archive for the ‘End Times’ Category
Filed under: Christianity, End Times, Jesus, Satire
3. We’ll all be strumming harps on clouds for thousands of years anyway… what’s the point?
Once we finish standing in the long lines at the pearly gates, are introduced to all of our favorite bible characters, and say hello to the big guy and ask him all the questions nobody had answers for here on earth, and we have full knowledge and understanding… we will be given a harp and a cloud. It will be a very special harp, and a very special cloud, because to God… you are very special. Yes, you will not get bored and will have no need to do anything of value… just think of it as a fully-funded retirement; the American dream times 100. So why bother?
Is God is going to bring heaven and earth together at the 2nd Coming of Christ? Having made known the mystery of His will, will He gather together in one ALL things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth in Him? Seriously, if heaven and earth were joined together and believers could interact with both the heavenly supernatural realm and the earthly physical realm that would be rather mind blowing… and very distracting from the harps and clouds reality everyone is so excited about.
What I want to know is who started the rumor that Jesus is coming back to rule and reign as King of Kings on the earth and that we would be here with him forever? Somebody needs to investigate this and get back to me!
2. Jesus is a heavenly Santa Claus and is committed to making my life easy in this age.
Jesus understands my needs and desires and as long as I am going to church, giving to the poor and doing more than my other Christian friends, He is committed to giving me the desires of my heart. I am working hard to make sure the house I live in and the car I drive matches up with the church culture around me and makes me happy. Jesus wants to make me happy. Why would I need to study about the end times if Jesus is just as committed to me obtaining the American Dream as I am?
It’s not like I would learn anything about Jesus by studying His leadership and heart at His 2nd coming. I’ve heard some of those who talk about this Jesus who is a zealous Bridegroom King coming to establish His Father’s glory, vindicating His persecuted Bride and replacing all evil governments on earth by dashing nations and executing heads of nations that refuse His leadership… but that doesn’t sound at all like anything I would go through as a Christian. Jesus wouldn’t allow me to suffer persecution, so I have no idea where they got their information. Besides that would totally wreck my lifestyle if I actually had to believe that.
1. Studying the end-times will not affect my Christianity today. It’s irrelevant, a waste of time, and distracting.
If I studied the end-times in a focused way it would distract and pull me away from other subjects in the Bible that are more important and pressing in the day we live in NOW. This subject takes would-be kingdom workers and makes them into theoristic, eccentric Christians who seem to put the topic of Jesus and His coming to be with us and our desire to be with Him AHEAD of loving our neighbor and bringing others to the knowledge of Christ.
… wait a second …
[goes and reads Mark 12:28-31]
… now this is awkward.
Tags: 2nd Coming, Christianity, End Times, Eschatology, Jesus, revelation, santa claus, Satire
Permalink Comments (0) Adam Parker Sep 28, 2008
Filed under: Christianity, End Times, Jesus, Knowledge of God
What I’m going to attempt to do in this article is to provide the framework for the real establishment of a real government whose leader is God Himself in human form. This will take place at a future point in time and will be a progressive time of preparation for the earth as a whole.
This framework will take on these 2 assumptions:
- Jesus is coming again to the earth at some point in the future (2nd Coming)
- There will be a literal 1,000 year period of time starting soon after Jesus returns to the earth (2nd Coming).
For the past 2 months I’ve been studying Psalm 50 (a Psalm of Asaph). We’ve been looking at it in a small group I lead as well as singing through the passages each week. I’ve developed an insatiable desire to see Jesus break into this world set the wrong things right and setup a righteous government all the while believers getting to be with Jesus and work along side of Him.
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Tags: 2nd Coming, Christianity, Eschatology, Government, Jerusalem, Jesus, Zion
Permalink Comments (1) Adam Parker Jul 26, 2008
Filed under: Blogging, End Times, Prayer
To most people Independence Day is associated with fireworks, parades, barbecues, carnivals, picnics, baseball games, and other various events that celebrate the history of the United States. It’s a day for celebration because of the freedom that we as Americans have living in the “land of the free.”
However to some, Independence Day is just another day, another 24 hours they are held captive and forced into doing things they don’t want to do.
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Permalink Comments (0) Adam Parker Jul 3, 2008
Filed under: Blogging, Christianity, End Times, IHOP
Most of the time when people think of judgment and more specifically “God’s judgment”, they think of something that is very scary, dark, end of the worldish, destruction, etc. For most of my life my view of Jesus coming and judging the earth was very similar, focusing on the negative aspects of judgment.
However, a judge is not a bad person or a mean, angry person. When we think of a judge in a court of law, he is not there in that court solely so that he can execute punishments. He doesn’t find fulfillment doling out punishments left and right, keeping the ever-so-creepy grin on his face while people receive the hard end of a hammer. The judge is there to make sure the law is upheld. If the law is upheld by a person then a judgment is administered in favor of that person. It is only when the law is broken that a judgment has negative consequences, and rightly so. It is completely right and just when someone who murders or rapes someone receives a negative judgment.
We have been studying, playing and singing through Psalm 50 (one of the 12 end-time Psalms of Asaph) with our worship team. It is so exciting and exhilarating to sing about the return of Jesus to earth to setup His kingdom in Zion and rule and reign on the earth with Him. Today we just went through Ps. 50:4-6 introducing the Judge and what will happen upon His return.
Psalm 50:3-6 - “3 Our God shall come, and shall not keep silent; a fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous all around Him. 4 He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that He may judge His people: 5 ‘Gather My saints together to Me, Those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.’ 6 Let the heavens declare His righteousness, for God Himself is Judge.”
Judgments are rewards for the innocent and punishment for the guilty. When we come into a court of law and stand before the judge, if we are innocent and have evidence to prove our innocence, then the judge will give us a judgment in our favor. We will be glad to stand before the judge in that case. That is what we have before God. The covenant we have made with Jesus being the sacrificial lamb that paid the penalty for our sins is all the proof we need to stand boldly before the judge (with fear and trembling… it is the uncreated God we’re talking about here). But Jesus has given us a right standing with God and there are rewards that God will give to us when He returns (that is a whole ‘nother topic though, yet a great one).
2 Cor. 5:10 - “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”
I am really looking forward to the time that I get to see Jesus coming with the clouds in the whirlwind of fire where every eye will see Him and know that He is God. I am passionately motivated to pray for those who don’t Him and am moved by the love and desire that God has for them, not to see them perish but to come into the kingdom. We have a kind, merciful God, a good just Judge.
Technorati Tags: judgment, judge, christianity, end-times, rewards, psalms, Jesus
Permalink Comments (2) Adam Parker Jun 30, 2008
Filed under: Blogging, End Times, Prayer
The U.S. Department of State estimates that by 2010, human trafficking will be the No. 1 crime worldwide:
- An estimated 27 million people are held in slavery worldwide, meaning there are more slaves in the world than were taken from Africa during 300 years of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
- Annually between 700,000 and 4 million people are bought and sold as prostitutes, sex slaves, domestic workers, child laborers and child soldiers. This includes children as young as 4.
If you are breathing, you should be praying. We must take this on as our own. This is not something we can ignore. Please pray and encourage others to keep barraging heaven until human trafficking is gone. Another sign of the times.
Permalink Comments (0) Adam Parker Aug 29, 2007
Filed under: Blogging, Christianity, End Times, Evangelism, Intimacy
You are coming back. Soon.
That should spark 2 responses in a follower of Christ.
- An urgency to get our hearts right, to get to know Him, to prepare our hearts for the coming revival and the coming judgments by having a life of prayer.
- An urgency to tell others and prepare others. Evangelism that is fueled by the complete Good News of of the Gospel of Christ.
Is your heart driven by this hope?Do you love Him so much that you are longing for His return?
If there is urgency burning within you, is this just something you feel and don’t act on, or do you actively tell people about this good news? And when you tell them about Jesus, do you leave out the part about He’s coming back?
We must not live unbalanced lives. There is a man who is completely in love with you and is coming back for you. Do we know him? We must make sure that we prepare our hearts, and let God take control and give us the grace to move forward.
We must not neglect this message we have inside of us while we are continually preparing our hearts and interceding for those we want this message to go to. He will give us the strength to follow through. We must make sure that we lean on Him for the strength and not think we can do it on our own. But intentionally walk in weakness so that we have to rely on Him. So much more can be accomplished for His kingdom if we rely on Him more than on ourselves, but we still have to go.
He will establish it, but we have to commit our works to Him and turn our plans over to Him.
Permalink Comments (1) Adam Parker Aug 24, 2007
Filed under: Christianity, End Times, Featured, Intimacy, Knowledge of God, Prayer
God is really pressing some things on my heart lately. This is one of them and I wanted to share it with you and encourage you in your pursuit of God. Many of you may have this reality pressing on your heart already, and for some this may be something that isn’t normally talked about. So please share your experiences and thoughts on this pressing issue because I feel its an issue that God is really highlighting in this hour of history.
Without a history, it’s sooo easy to cut and run.
It is very easy to leave someone or a group of people if you do not have a history with them. If you are not really connected relationally when troubles come it is sooo easy to just cut and run because of the lack of ties you have. This is what happens to many relationships within the church, and I believe it is why so many people leave the church.
The more history you have the stronger your cord becomes that is tieing you to that relationship. It’s like a rope that is tied to each of us. The more you build relationally together the stronger that rope is. It becomes thicker and thicker. Usually that rope will start out as a small piece of thread which can be easliy torn apart with two hands and even kids scissors. But the more history that is built with good communication and good relationship building the stronger and thicker that tie becomes, and it is not easily broken at all.
2 things that I see that help strengthen the ties we have to one another are: (more…)
Permalink Comments (7) Adam Parker Mar 23, 2007
Filed under: Christianity, End Times
I have been reading some great posts lately and wanted to take this post to highlight some amazingly insightful wordcast articles on the end times. In light of my previous post we do need get a better perspective of the end times and how important it is in walking out our salvation. So please check out these articles and leave some comments if you found them interesting.
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Permalink Comments (19) Adam Parker Mar 2, 2007
Filed under: Asides, End Times
Steve & Amanda Offutt wrote an excellent SUMMARY of why we should focus on the end-times and the 2nd Coming of Jesus. You should definately check it out.
Why We Should Focus on the End-Times and the 2nd Coming of Jesus:
- It’s Necessary
- Knowing the End Affects Us Now
- It Gives Hope
Permalink Comments (1) Adam Parker Mar 2, 2007
Filed under: Christianity, End Times, Knowledge of God, Prayer
What stirs up urgency inside of us? Do we only feel urgency when crisis happens? Do we feel an urgency to pray and pray like there may be no tomorrow only when a close family member or friend is in critical condition and if we don’t pray he/she may die? Sure, then we will stop everything, get before God and start crying out. But when there is no immediate crisis happening that affects us do we still feel the urgency that God speaks of?
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Permalink Comments (0) Adam Parker Feb 6, 2007
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