OK kids - here we go, let me try it this way; my historical method, let me author a novel here! ... See, my mocking friends want me to always read/address what they post, while they still always gloss over what I post - and - such is the intellectual exercise called Monroetalks!
Which I have been seeming to enjoy once again in recent weeks hmmmm...how long will I keep it up?
Of course, everyone loves a good argument(look at the thread views when I get involved, hahahahaha!!!
)...and...I think my side is winning; either way, all I can do is hope some seeds of
TRUTH are planted for the believers whose faith has been waning as unemployment skyrockets and this country's Christian political leaders keep destroying our financial system and starting all manners of war against brown people and other 'dissenters' of world government whose natural resources/labor they want.
The fence-sitters are another group - they believe in a 'god', a moral force/standard somewhere out there; but they won't call it Jesus, and they won't subscribe to that antiquated, outdated King James Bible from 1611 because they think all these modern advances PROVE that God's old way of doing things should CHANGE to keep up with the times...all of this, from evolution on down, is a MORAL issue/question in its totality...not a scientific one.
Either way, I am convinced our society is experiencing one of the greatest challenges to our moral underpinnings that we have ever seen - where - the General Principles of Christianity are about to be voted out as the ultimate "the rule of law" by professing Christians in our government(who also like evolution theory), since they are the worst offenders/hypocrites to God's clear principles and commands. See, the parent tells the child "NO!"; and, the government is supposed to be the child of "the people", not the other way around - but they do this intimidation crap(the bandwagon Xerxes has jumped on), with all the God-less evolution fancy dance that is funded with tax dollars and government funny money; and they distract us, and plant seeds of doubt, and make us wonder and question, and fight with each other(divide and conquer) - while they wax worse and worse morally as nobody is looking, or studying history, or VOTING - and then suddenly, as Thomas Jefferson predicted - "If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation,
the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their Fathers conquered...I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies... The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs."
It all ties together with us Ron Paul Christians: we get that the evil all around us is choking the life our of our Republic - and certainly charlatan churches preaching a counterfeit Christ HELP the government force the people into submission to men, and not God - and that's too bad; but, like the Gold & Silver thread SMASH is running - I pretty much dabble in this creation/evolution/PURE faith of our founders PHILOSOPHY thing because this is close to my heart/understanding more than studying the Federal Reserve System - and while pointing to the pure faith our founders subscribed to that made them WISE unto the plans of wicked professing Christian hypocrites that caused the pilgrims to take to boats and flee the church/state of England and start anew here.
Now, the history was they came here; England helped, pursued them, kept a watch over them, lent them money, supervised and profited off their productivity and ingenuity - and then - got GREEDY; so, they had to be thrown off by force in the Revolutionary War, and that war was basically men saying "God gave me life, the ability to work, and I am entitled to the fruits of my labor; we are not opposed to paying taxes, funding government for punishment of evil doers and national defense - but anything above and beyond that, is highly questionable; so posterity - WATCH THESE GUYS! - even though they say they're Christians like us"
Ya know - like - "don't fund evolution theory with tax dollars to teach our children there is no God; we got here by a cosmic burp 4.6 Billion years ago." That's your bird's eye view of what I am doing, in all humility, still lacking all the answers; yet confident Jesus is the truth, the life, and the way!
Now, Isaiah 55:11 says "
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." - so for all you Christians watching, whose faith in the Bible is being attacked by Xerxes here with all his pseudo-science(the religion called "millions of years" with the deity of
TIME atop that government supported pyramid scheme) and false accusations about the Bible's preservation/credibility let me say that when you go out to witness Christ to other folks, use SCRIPTURE to win souls - and remember - Jesus quoted Genesis 25 times, so the creation account is (Acts 17) Paul's best recommendation to explain God/Christ to gentiles.
As far as Xerxes big "historical method" about Jesus' 2nd coming that didn't happen and blah blah blah - I already addressed that when I responded by recommending John MacArthur's series called "Where in the World is History Headed" - you see, Jesus prophesied Peter's death by crucifixion to people who thought He would be "right back" - and the tone of the New Testament may certainly have changed as disappointment about the 2nd coming not happening within one generation of Christ's ascension - but - what is important for the Christian(as I keep pointing out) is their MORAL CONDUCT until He comes back - because - so many cite His name and His church as their moral guide when they want credibility to 'govern' people publicly or privately; since it is the MOST popular in America.
[as an aside, let me say here] See, the evolution theory says "no God, no moral standards"; yeah, homosexual marriage, adultery, fornication, lying, theft, misrepresentation, government-endorsed-sanctioned theft/murder; just make up a god in your own mind that suits your lifestyle ... yeeeaaahhh!!! That is what the religion of evolution ultimately teaches; it also teaches, "we're smart, your dumb - we PAID for all this research to prove the Earth is Billions of years old, we are the government - OBEY! - and - "we're Christians just like you, even though we violate the commandments daily; you have no right to call us out as hypocrites(or our clergy), or criticize our evolution theory, using scripture or American history because we are God-instituted government"
This is a cyclical pattern in world history - the Roman Empire and it's fall, our revolution against England; there is a PURE faith out there.
As far as the 2nd coming: here's John MacArthur's point - (and I do recommend you get the audio of all 5 sermons from the series) - this is from the 1st one - I will HIGHLIGHT what Xerxes is doing here - i
t is nothing new:
"Let me remind you of something.
In the early church they believed that Jesus was coming back very soon. You remember the questions of the disciples? "
Will You at this time bring Your Kingdom?" Right? And the question of the disciples, "What is the sign of Your return?"
They believed it was immediate.In John 14 when Jesus said I'm going away and I'm going to come back and receive you to Myself that where I am there you may be also, but before I come back I'm going to go to the Father's house and get your room ready, and they believed it would be very soon.
They tended to think it would be in their lifetime.Peter, of course, knew it wasn't going to be in his lifetime. He knew that for certain. You say, "How do you know?" Because Jesus told him it wouldn't be in his lifetime. You say, "When did He tell him that?" Look at John 21, in John 21 verse 18 Jesus says to Peter, "Truly, truly I say to you, when you were younger you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wished." In other words, you did exactly what you wanted. "But when you grow old, you'll stretch out your hands," mark that little phrase there in verse 18, it's used in extrabiblical literature to describe crucifixion.
You're going to get crucified, and he did.
And someone else is going to gird you or tie you down and bring you where you don't want to go. Now look at verse 19, "Jesus said this signifying by what kind of death Peter would glorify God." Peter was told you're going to die, which means, "Peter, you're going to die before the Lord returns, before I come back." So Peter knew that he wasn't going to live till the Second Coming. He wasn't going to be around until the return of Jesus Christ, because he had a specific word.
But in that same text of John 21, Jesus said to Peter something else. Peter having heard that got the message. Then he saw John and he said, "Well, what about him? What about him?" To which Jesus replied, "If I decide that he lives till the Second Coming, it's none of your business." All right, but it did leave the thought. Maybe John is going to live to the Second Coming.
And so, there were some in the early church who believed that Jesus would return in their lifetime. Why not?
Their hearts were filled with anticipation. In fact, as you read through the epistles, there's a certain expectancy. You hear the Apostle Paul say, "We shall not all sleep," right? First Corinthians 15:51, he includes himself. Doesn't say "they" or "them" that happen to be alive in the far-beyond when it happens. "We shall all be changed. The trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed." We remember, don't we, 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, "We do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep that you may not grieve as do the rest who have no hope, if we believe Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus." Then he goes on to say, "Then we when Jesus comes who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air," and so forth.
There's no question there was a high level of expectation that Jesus would come in their lifetime. One other text, James 5:8 and 9, he says, "You too be patient, strengthen your hearts for the coming of the Lord is at hand." That's James 5:8. They were living in expectancy. They were living in anticipation.
The Lord didn't tell them when He was going to come. They assumed it would be in their lifetime.Now remember our study of 1 Thessalonians? I don't think there's any church in the New Testament that was more expectant than the Thessalonians. In chapter 1 of 1 Thessalonians he identifies their steadfastness of hope in the Lord Jesus. In verse 10 he says they were waiting for His Son to come from heaven. And then in chapter 2 verse 19 he says that you are my joy in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming. And then in chapter 5 of 1 Thessalonians and verses 1 and 2, "As to the time and epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you for you yourselves know full well the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night."
So they were living in anticipation of His return.Now remember, the Thessalonians had a problem, what happened?
Some of their number began to...what?...
die. And they began to die, they call it falling asleep because they knew it was temporary. And as they began to die,
the Christians became very distressed because they had thought that everybody would sort of be alive and Jesus would be right back. And they began to grieve. And they began to be worried about those that died, would they miss the Rapture, would they miss the return of Christ, would they miss the Kingdom, would they miss heaven? And it was those kinds of questions and queries in their minds
that prompted Paul to write as he did in 1 Thessalonians and also in 2 Thessalonians. Why the delay? And so there were many Christians who had expected the Lord to come quickly.
And when He didn't come, mark it, they got emotionally involved, they became disappointed. They didn't understand it and their friends were dying.
And when the mockers came and began to ridicule them, it was effective when it hit those that were emotionally upset. "
Where is Jesus Christ, you guys? Isn't He supposed to be here? I mean, shouldn't it have happened long ago? I mean, people are dying off over here." Capitalizing on their emotional disappointment and their sort of personal trauma, this particular ploy became effective.
So
Peter says to them, "Know this..." you've got to understand some things.
You've got to understand how the scoffers are going to work. You've got to understand how they're going to operate.
I've got to warn you about their plan and their M.O. First of all, he says, first of all...by the way, that is not the first in a list of things, that's the preeminent, that's the priority thing.
"It is a priority that you know how they are going to try to steal your hope," because if they can steal your hope they can feed your flesh and they can take away your motivation and your joy."
[like Xerxes and his side assert - we came from apes, not God; why believe?]
"Peter knows how critical a strong confidence in Christ's return is. Boy, when he gets to verse 11 through 18, he really lays out the practical impact of believing in the return of Christ. And so,
Satan works very hard to take away that hope. You show me a liberal theologian,
you show me one who doesn't believe in the truth of the Scripture and I'll show you someone every time who denies the Second Coming of Christ. So Christians need to know that Satan is going to make the effort to mock the Second Coming.Here we are sitting here two thousand years later and when
the mockers come along and say,
"Hey, folks, where is Jesus? Where is He? I mean, the folks back in the first century were upset that He wasn't around, here you are two thousand years later,
don't you think the whole thing is a hoax?" And maybe there are some folks who have been distressed in life and burdened enough in life and disappointed enough in life and longing for the coming of Jesus Christ and it hasn't happened. That maybe
this is pretty intimidating stuff.
And maybe they're going to say...Ah, maybe it's just a spiritual thing and the Kingdom comes to your heart and that's it, and we just live our life and die and then go to heaven and there isn't ever a coming of Christ and there's never a Kingdom and there's never a time of real reward, and there's never a time of judgment...we'll just kind of pass that all off.
So Peter puts it in perspective. He says, back to verse 3, "In the last days," I need to comment on that phrase, it's a common New Testament phrase and a common New Testament idea taken out of Isaiah 2. It refers to the era since Christ came the first time. It refers to the New Testament age. This is the last days. It just means the time of the New Covenant, the time after Christ, the entire time from the first coming to the Second Coming. Had we time I would take you to passages. You might want to note them, Acts 2:17; 2 Timothy 3:1; Hebrews 1:2; 1 Peter 1:20; 1 John 2:18 and 19; James 5:3; Jude 18.
There's a few examples, if you didn't get them all they're on the tape.
But repeatedly
in the New Testament the phrase "the last days" refers to that entire period of time from the decisive event of the arrival of Messiah to His return. It is all the last days, it is all the last days. And I love what J.N.D. Kelley says in his commentary on 2 Peter, he says that this entire age is to be marked, quote: "By the emergence of saboteurs of sound religion," end quote. And
the saboteurs are out there trying to sabotage the Second Coming. And they've been doing it since Christ came throughout all the last time.
Now would you notice again in verse 3, Peter says, "
Mockers will come." Future tense, this is prophetic. But because he is prophesying very much the same words as in Jude 18, "In the last time there shall be
mockers," Jude says it that way, because he is prophesying he is saying that from now on throughout the last days this is going to be true. Now that doesn't mean that he's saying it's not true then, we know it was true then.
You remember in Matthew 24 that the Lord said this would happen also. The first thing the Lord says in response to their question in verse 4 is, "See to it that no one misleads you about My return, for
many are going to come in My name saying I'm Christ and mislead many." Down in verse 11 He says, "Many false prophets will arise and mislead many."
Over in verse 23, "There are going to be some coming saying, 'Here is Christ and there is Christ," and false Christs and false prophets arise and show signs and try to mislead if possible even the elect." I'm telling you in advance. A lot of false doctrine, a lot of false prophets. So Peter echoing, as it were, the words of our Lord says it's going to come, but he's not denying that it exists right then.
In fact,
it's not even new. You want to go
back into the Old Testament and you can find those who mocked God. You can go back into Isaiah 5 and hear that terrible mocking of verse 19, the sinners say to God,
"Let Him make speed, let Him hasten His work that we may see it, let the purpose of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come to pass that we may know it." The prophets said God's going to judge you, and the mockers said...Well then let Him have at it, let Him do it, hurry up, God, if You're really there and You're going to judge us, let's see You do it. They shake their fists in God's face, mocking the prospect of judgment. No, that isn't anything new, it's always been around.
There have always been those who mocked the threat of judgment, mocked the promise of judgment. Nothing new at all.
So, says Peter, in the last days mockers will come with their mocking. By the way, he takes a strong Hebrew form, puts it into the Greek...mockers with their mocking...a very strong form to emphasize what they do. They attempt to attack the reality of Christ's return, Christ's judgment by ridicule.
It isn't an intellectual argument, it's an emotional one. It's not a strong logical argument, it is really simply intimidation of something that is ridiculed as a silly belief for weak, non-intellectual minds. It plays on disappointment. That still works today on some who are intimidated by the so-called intellectual elite who will deny the return of Christ.But notice the second argument, they go really beyond this and this is an argument they don't want to make but it's an argument that Peter makes for them. What is really interesting is
the argument from morality, verse 3, the end of the verse says, "These mockers will come in with their mocking are
following after their own lusts." Now, friends,
here's the true motive. Here is the true motive. "Following after" is "walking." This is their life style. Walking means the course of conduct, the course of life style. They are walking after their own epithumia, what is that? Passion, sexual desire.
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Topic: The Impossible Life of Jesus – The Historical Method (Read 4116 times)
