Monday, August 18, 2014
Thursday, August 14, 2014
The Promised Land
As I wrote in "The Millennium," one fine day following the Tribulation Satan will be bound in the bottomless pit, the prison for demons, along with his minions, for a thousand years.
I think people would be amazed to see how much chaos Satan has caused, but it will be apparent once he is locked up. For one thing, while it will still be possible to sin, it will not be something people are so constantly confronted with, since the origin of the problem will not be around for a long time.
So? you ask. Well, connect the dots. Why is there war? Disease? All sorts of murder and mayhem? Famine? It all comes down to rebellion of humanity against God. Some will say, "Do you believe that my illness was due to my sin? I don't." I don't really know specifically, but I do know that if no one had ever sinned there would be no illness. I know that Jesus warned a man that He healed not to sin again lest a worse thing happen to him. And I know that there are some times that the connection between sin and illness is more obvious. Why can't we successfully end wars? Because deep down inside we want war, because we are evil beings. We would blow ourselves to extinction tomorrow if all the stops were pulled. Famine? Basically the same thing.
When Satan is locked up in the bottomless pit, it will be easier for people to live better lives. A time of abundance will begin on the earth, and Christ will rule here on earth, with the saints in charge of the government. Oh no! Oh yes. And the result?
First, crime and war will end immediately. Anyone that wants to see what happens if they commit a crime will discover that he can't possibly get away with it, and punishment will be swift and sure. But, people just won't be as motivated anymore for crime and war.
Second, there will be a mass healing. There will be no disease, no injured, maimed people, blind, deaf, or crippled. In addition, the average lifespan will increase to a thousand years. It will be considered an untimely death if someone dies at age one hundred. People will have good teeth and be vigorous in every way.
Third, most of the curse from God will be lifted from the earth. Snakes and spiders, or anything else, will not be poisonous anymore. Children will play with once poisonous snakes and come to no harm. The wolf will lie down with the lamb. Lions will eat grass, like cattle. Leopards will be led easily on leashes.
Fourth, the mountain ranges will be greatly reduced in altitude, the oceans decreased, and the climate vastly improved, so that instead of 15% of the earth surface to live on, man will have 80 or 90%. Clean drinking water will be abundant, deserts will be gone, and the arctic will at most be a temperate climate. With the floors of the seas now dry land, we will discover undreamed of minerals assets - gold, silver, precious stones, and industrial minerals, and new sources of oil. God will desalinate most of the ocean so that the water is fresh water. There will be vast new territories of land for people to live in.
Harvests will be unbelievably abundant, and the new problem will be storing all the harvest.
There will be no more terrible storms - no blizzards, hurricanes, typhoons, tornadoes, hailstorms.
There will be no more alcoholism or drug addiction.
I think we will probably be vegetarians, because originally people were given "every green herb" to eat by God, and only after the flood did our diet include meat. I don't think we'll feel deprived. But I don't know that this will happen either. It stands to reason that if lions suddenly just feel like eating grass, we may also decide to go back to being vegetarians. Maybe a few rogues will still eat butter and cheese and eggs.
How do I know all this? It is in prophesies in the Bible that are thousands of years old.
To be continued
I think people would be amazed to see how much chaos Satan has caused, but it will be apparent once he is locked up. For one thing, while it will still be possible to sin, it will not be something people are so constantly confronted with, since the origin of the problem will not be around for a long time.
So? you ask. Well, connect the dots. Why is there war? Disease? All sorts of murder and mayhem? Famine? It all comes down to rebellion of humanity against God. Some will say, "Do you believe that my illness was due to my sin? I don't." I don't really know specifically, but I do know that if no one had ever sinned there would be no illness. I know that Jesus warned a man that He healed not to sin again lest a worse thing happen to him. And I know that there are some times that the connection between sin and illness is more obvious. Why can't we successfully end wars? Because deep down inside we want war, because we are evil beings. We would blow ourselves to extinction tomorrow if all the stops were pulled. Famine? Basically the same thing.
When Satan is locked up in the bottomless pit, it will be easier for people to live better lives. A time of abundance will begin on the earth, and Christ will rule here on earth, with the saints in charge of the government. Oh no! Oh yes. And the result?
First, crime and war will end immediately. Anyone that wants to see what happens if they commit a crime will discover that he can't possibly get away with it, and punishment will be swift and sure. But, people just won't be as motivated anymore for crime and war.
Second, there will be a mass healing. There will be no disease, no injured, maimed people, blind, deaf, or crippled. In addition, the average lifespan will increase to a thousand years. It will be considered an untimely death if someone dies at age one hundred. People will have good teeth and be vigorous in every way.
Third, most of the curse from God will be lifted from the earth. Snakes and spiders, or anything else, will not be poisonous anymore. Children will play with once poisonous snakes and come to no harm. The wolf will lie down with the lamb. Lions will eat grass, like cattle. Leopards will be led easily on leashes.
Fourth, the mountain ranges will be greatly reduced in altitude, the oceans decreased, and the climate vastly improved, so that instead of 15% of the earth surface to live on, man will have 80 or 90%. Clean drinking water will be abundant, deserts will be gone, and the arctic will at most be a temperate climate. With the floors of the seas now dry land, we will discover undreamed of minerals assets - gold, silver, precious stones, and industrial minerals, and new sources of oil. God will desalinate most of the ocean so that the water is fresh water. There will be vast new territories of land for people to live in.
Harvests will be unbelievably abundant, and the new problem will be storing all the harvest.
There will be no more terrible storms - no blizzards, hurricanes, typhoons, tornadoes, hailstorms.
There will be no more alcoholism or drug addiction.
I think we will probably be vegetarians, because originally people were given "every green herb" to eat by God, and only after the flood did our diet include meat. I don't think we'll feel deprived. But I don't know that this will happen either. It stands to reason that if lions suddenly just feel like eating grass, we may also decide to go back to being vegetarians. Maybe a few rogues will still eat butter and cheese and eggs.
How do I know all this? It is in prophesies in the Bible that are thousands of years old.
To be continued
Monday, August 4, 2014
Sunday, August 3, 2014
The Millennium
The Tribulation has ended and the Millennium begins. How will things be when the Golden Age arrives? How long until this happens?
The reason the Tribulation needed to happen was in order to make the earth ready for the Millennium. There are only a few verses written about the Millennium in Revelation 20. Satan is bound for a thousand years and cast into the bottomless pit. (verses 2 and 3). The First Resurrection occurs - the resurrection of the saints. At this time the saints will be installed as rulers in the Millennial Kingdom, and Christ will be the King on earth. (verses 4 and 5) The saints will have new bodies, but they will now be immortal. (verse 6)
There will be other people still on the earth who lived through the Tribulation. They will be governed by Christ as King and the saints as rulers. The level of leadership for the saints will depend on the abilities of the individual saints, and also on their track records in their lives. The martyrs will be given special places of honor and seats of power. Judgment will be given to these rulers. Christ will rule with a rod of iron. This may surprise some, thinking that Christ is meek and mild. Yes, but this kingdom will have law and order and he's not deviating from that.
Due to the loss of Satan, mankind is no longer plagued by temptations to sin that seem to come out of nowhere. The anger, malice, greed, hatred, all those thoughts that ruin things, will not occur to people, because Satan was putting them there in the first place. He's gone to the place where he didn't want to go - the abyss, demon prison. And he's got a lengthy sentence, a thousand years. In that period of time, with perfect government, under ideal conditions, mankind flourishes.
Imagine a world with no crime and no war. Is it midnight? Sit in a park in a major metropolitan area and watch the stars if you like. Are you at home? There will be no prowlers.
And speaking of situations that give one the creeps, there will be no more ghosts either, no haunted houses, poltergeists, or occult practices either. Why would there be? All the ghosts have gone to the bottomless pit. There is no way to play with spirits because they can't communicate anymore.
And speaking of situations that give one the creeps, there will be no more ghosts either, no haunted houses, poltergeists, or occult practices either. Why would there be? All the ghosts have gone to the bottomless pit. There is no way to play with spirits because they can't communicate anymore.
The saints will be resurrected in the first resurrection. The saints who have died ever since Adam will come back to enjoy the Millennium and places of prestige in society. This will include little children who died of all people. Will they live as children and grow up? Yes, I think so. Who will care for them? I suppose they will live with their parents if their parents are there. Otherwise, I think there will be a special home, probably administered by angels, where they will be cherished. Their parents will be able to have them at home and see them grow up, and know that nothing can ever harm them again. Will they grow up and have children? I don't think so, because in the resurrection we will be neither male nor female, but as the angels.
While Revelation tells us the point the Millennium will start, but few details, there are many places in Scripture that fill in the gaps.
to be continued
to be continued
Revelation 20
Written from memory
1. And I saw another angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand.
2. And he laid hold of the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years.
3. And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years are fulfilled, and after that he must be loosed a short season.
4. And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands, and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
5. But the rest of the dead lived not again until a thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
6. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection, on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
7. And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison.
8. And he shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
9. And they went up on the breadth of the earth and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
10. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
11. And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them.
12. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books were opened, and another book was opened which is the book of life, and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
13. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in it, and they were judged every man according to their works.
14. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
15. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
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