I am not convinced we are not still the "early church"

Jesse Dornfeld

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As title says, I am not entirely convinced that "the end" is "just around the corner". Not to say that we ought not keep our lamps oiled, and indeed, I would affirm that technically, Christ could return at any time. But I do not think this is reasonable.

What Does the Bible Say About 1000 Generations?

I say this because, "1,000 years are like a day to the Lord" and knowing that over the course of about 2,000 years, there has only been about 50 generations. Now, not taking 1,000 years literally, I can only assume that Christ's redemptive plan is for us to "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19). What do we know right now? Well, there are many people on earth who have still never heard the Gospel or even the name of Jesus. As such, it will not be until all peoples have been reached with the Gospel and Christianity is in some sense normalized (not to say Christians will not be persecuted and hated) for the whole earth to at least know what the Gospel is.

I would say even if we are extremely conservative, 100 generations is nowhere near what God told Abraham about His people being a blessing to the world for 1,000 generations.

Thoughts?
 

Aussie Pete

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As title says, I am not entirely convinced that "the end" is "just around the corner". Not to say that we ought not keep our lamps oiled, and indeed, I would affirm that technically, Christ could return at any time. But I do not think this is reasonable.

What Does the Bible Say About 1000 Generations?

I say this because, "1,000 years are like a day to the Lord" and knowing that over the course of about 2,000 years, there has only been about 50 generations. Now, not taking 1,000 years literally, I can only assume that Christ's redemptive plan is for us to "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19). What do we know right now? Well, there are many people on earth who have still never heard the Gospel or even the name of Jesus. As such, it will not be until all peoples have been reached with the Gospel and Christianity is in some sense normalized (not to say Christians will not be persecuted and hated) for the whole earth to at least know what the Gospel is.

I would say even if we are extremely conservative, 100 generations is nowhere near what God told Abraham about His people being a blessing to the world for 1,000 generations.

Thoughts?
You could be right, but I would not count on it. We are living in the post-Christian era. Lord Jesus warned us that the love of most would grow cold (Matthew 24:12). The selfishness of modern society is breathtaking. Apostasy will happen before the "man of lawlessness" is revealed. (2 Thessalonians 2:3). People are leaving the church in droves, including some high profile leaders. We live in the era when this is possible: "But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. (2 Peter 3:10) That sounds a lot like a world wide nuclear war to me.

As for me, I reckon we need to make sure that we are one of the "wise virgins". We don't know when the end will come but we do need to be ready.
 
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Jesse Dornfeld

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You could be right, but I would not count on it. We are living in the post-Christian era. Lord Jesus warned us that the love of most would grow cold (Matthew 24:12). The selfishness of modern society is breathtaking. Apostasy will happen before the "man of lawlessness" is revealed. (2 Thessalonians 2:3). People are leaving the church in droves, including some high profile leaders. We live in the era when this is possible: "But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. (2 Peter 3:10) That sounds a lot like a world wide nuclear war to me.

As for me, I reckon we need to make sure that we are one of the "wise virgins". We don't know when the end will come but we do need to be ready.

I appreciate the sentiment of your post.

I believe the reason books like 1&2 Peter were written is because in some sense the "fullness of the gentiles" in their "making Israel jealous for the Lord" is because there must also be a "fullness of persecution" for Christians...

We live a pretty cushy life here in the states. Sure, there are riots and the like, but Israel (the country) has been dealing with much worse for a while. So in a sense I don't think it's going to be until the gentiles see persecution to a level that with "spur on" Israel towards repentance. I have not seen that yet, except in China. Pray for the church in China please.
 
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Jeshu

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Yes i'm with you on this, however i do believe that The Truth of Jesus Christ will be confirmed - time and again - until the end. Right now we are almost dead religiously because religion have been so out of touch with peoples real lives. To bring Jesus back, and to establish more of Jesus into peoples hearts is what the job of the Churches is about, but her need for self glory will give the spirit of religion away always. To look after the poor, widows, and the ill, is good religion. Sadly we see so very little of that around.

It is not Father's will that any of those lost will be be lost, but that all coming to know the saving power of the Son.

1 Timothy 2:3-7
This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time. And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle—I am telling the truth, I am not lying—and a true and faithful teacher of the Gentiles.

Psalm 22:22-28 says the same thing.

From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly;
before those who fear you I will fulfill my vows.
The poor will eat and be satisfied;
those who seek the Lord will praise him—
may your hearts live forever!



All the ends of the earth
will remember and turn to the Lord,
and all the families of the nations
will bow down before him,
for dominion belongs to the Lord
and he rules over the nations.


We have a lot of work to do within and without God's Churches if we want to be in God's truth about this. We now have millions of believers who have had a cosy life down here and now expect to be raptured by Christ at any time. As if they have finished the task that we got to do.



 
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Aussie Pete

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I appreciate the sentiment of your post.

I believe the reason books like 1&2 Peter were written is because in some sense the "fullness of the gentiles" in their "making Israel jealous for the Lord" is because there must also be a "fullness of persecution" for Christians...

We live a pretty cushy life here in the states. Sure, there are riots and the like, but Israel (the country) has been dealing with much worse for a while. So in a sense I don't think it's going to be until the gentiles see persecution to a level that with "spur on" Israel towards repentance. I have not seen that yet, except in China. Pray for the church in China please.
You don't get out much...... Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Indonesia - OK, almost every Muslim nation - India... North Korea makes China look like a Sunday School teacher's convention. Persecution is rife in Africa also. The good news is that the persecuted church is growing stronger as the church in the West grows weaker. We won't have to listen to Americans boast how they alone defeated the Antichrist.........
 
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chad kincham

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As title says, I am not entirely convinced that "the end" is "just around the corner". Not to say that we ought not keep our lamps oiled, and indeed, I would affirm that technically, Christ could return at any time. But I do not think this is reasonable.

What Does the Bible Say About 1000 Generations?

I say this because, "1,000 years are like a day to the Lord" and knowing that over the course of about 2,000 years, there has only been about 50 generations. Now, not taking 1,000 years literally, I can only assume that Christ's redemptive plan is for us to "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19). What do we know right now? Well, there are many people on earth who have still never heard the Gospel or even the name of Jesus. As such, it will not be until all peoples have been reached with the Gospel and Christianity is in some sense normalized (not to say Christians will not be persecuted and hated) for the whole earth to at least know what the Gospel is.

I would say even if we are extremely conservative, 100 generations is nowhere near what God told Abraham about His people being a blessing to the world for 1,000 generations.

Thoughts?

The early church taught that God took 6 days to create and one day to rest, as a prophetical foreshadow of their being six thousand years, or days, from Adam to the last Adam (Jesus) with the millennium being the seventh day, aka as Gods rest for His children.

This is called the millennium-sabbath doctrine.

Barnabas taught that in his epistle.

Hebrews 4 is supposed to be a reference to that doctrine.
 
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chad kincham

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The good news is that the persecuted church is growing stronger as the church in the West grows weaker. We won't have to listen to Americans boast how they alone defeated the Antichrist.........

The church doesn’t defeat the Antichrist- Jesus does.

The church gets worn out by the Antichrist and Overcome for 42 months.

Rev 13:4 And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?

Rev 13:5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.

Rev 13:6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.

Rev 13:7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.

Unfortunately the AC overcomes the saints for 42 months, 3.5 years- the last half of the trib.
 
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Aussie Pete

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The church doesn’t defeat the Antichrist- Jesus does.

The church gets worn out by the Antichrist and John the
revelator saw an uncountable amount of souls of martyrs who had their heads cut off in the tribulation.

Rev 13:4 And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?

Rev 13:5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.

Rev 13:6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.

Rev 13:7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.

Unfortunately the AC overcomes the saints for 42 months, 3.5 years- the last half of the trib.
You missed out Revelation 12.

"…10And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ. For the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down—he who accuses them day and night before our God. 11 They have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. And they did not love their lives so as to shy away from death. 12Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea; with great fury the devil has come down to you, knowing he has only a short time.”…
 
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SeventyOne

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As title says, I am not entirely convinced that "the end" is "just around the corner". Not to say that we ought not keep our lamps oiled, and indeed, I would affirm that technically, Christ could return at any time. But I do not think this is reasonable.

What Does the Bible Say About 1000 Generations?

I say this because, "1,000 years are like a day to the Lord" and knowing that over the course of about 2,000 years, there has only been about 50 generations. Now, not taking 1,000 years literally, I can only assume that Christ's redemptive plan is for us to "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19). What do we know right now? Well, there are many people on earth who have still never heard the Gospel or even the name of Jesus. As such, it will not be until all peoples have been reached with the Gospel and Christianity is in some sense normalized (not to say Christians will not be persecuted and hated) for the whole earth to at least know what the Gospel is.

I would say even if we are extremely conservative, 100 generations is nowhere near what God told Abraham about His people being a blessing to the world for 1,000 generations.

Thoughts?

First, a lot of this depends on one's eschatological view. In Isaiah 65, we see the new heavens and the new earth with children still being born and some people dying. As a result, the reference to 1,000 generations doesn't require them to be all contained within the current age as we understand ages.

Second, spreading the gospel to all people on earth is accomplished in Revelation 14:6.
 
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Brian Mcnamee

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Hi the Bible has many specific themes recorded that are interconnected that all have to be going at the same time for the fulfillment of the prophecies. The more you know what these themes are and how they connect the greater your understanding of end times will be.
To mention a few of them one is moral conditions deteriorate on a global scale to that compared to the days of the flood and Sodom. The return of Israel as a nation and the return of the temple and its sacrifices is another key one. The rise of a one world government. The economic collapse that will bring world conditions to a days wage for a quart of wheat when peace is taken from the earth; this is what is going on when the seal judgment are opened. The world economic system needs to be prepared for a change including a mark to buy or sell and this system comes in with 42 months to go which is after the seals have been opened. So this system comes out of the collapse of the old one. The worlds religions must be prepared to be united to accept the antichrist as a real savior.
This is a just a short list and in the late 70's early 80's many good men thought we were on the verge of the end times for Israel was a nation again and the temple institute was preparing everything for the rebuilding of the temple. Men like J Vernon McGee thought we had reached the moral collapse and indeed were as before the flood. Now think of how far morals have declined in the last 35 years. The world is seeing the NWO openly declaring they are going to reset the world order. Look up world economic forum global reset videos and you will see what I mean. The lockdown with covid has the whole world implementing similar controls over all citizens and we are seeing free speech being taken away and debate is all but stifled. The return to a new normal is a global agenda. The economic collapse coming is going to bring in Rev 6 conditions on a global level. The Trump peace plan is opening relations between Israel and other Arab states. One of the clauses in it is all 3 Abrahamic faiths will have the right to worship at their holy sites. This is paving the way towards the 3rd temple. There are over 1000 different patents on technology to buy and sell with a cashless society and these are tied to a global ID that includes your medical records. The way you cannot get in a store without a mask will soon shift to no access unless vaccinated. Bill Gates quit microsoft CEO to push for this exact goal called ID 2020. The Catholic Church is moving the worlds religions towards the unity which will be ready to accept the antichrist too.
There has not been a global empire since the Roman one fell apart. The UN is the structure for the global government and they created a thing called the UN earth charter. They made a replica of the ark of the covenant and covered it with new age symbols and yet still had the poles going through the sides so it could be carried into the UN HQ like the ark. Symbolically this is declaring the UN earth charter as the new commandments for men to live by. The UN building in New York has a Bible verse on the building, They shall beat the swords into plow shares and their spears into pruning hooks and they shall learn war no more. The UN is advertising that they are going to bring this in and not Jesus at the 2nd coming. This is where the antichrist will ascend and promise all these things. We are right now in Isaiah 61 which Jesus claimed he was proclaiming the acceptable year of the LORD, the same person in Isiah 61 is also declaring the day of vengeance of our God. We are at the very end of the acceptable year and on the cusp of the day of vengeance.
 
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"But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. (2 Peter 3:10) That sounds a lot like a world wide nuclear war to me.
The day will not be as mundane as a nuclear war, but it will be a supernatural event the likes that no man has ever witnessed or imagined before.People today have a hard time imagining what the world wide flood was like,even some deny that it even happened,in spite of what scripture says.
Matt.24:21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
 
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Douggg

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You could be right, but I would not count on it. We are living in the post-Christian era. Lord Jesus warned us that the love of most would grow cold (Matthew 24:12). The selfishness of modern society is breathtaking. Apostasy will happen before the "man of lawlessness" is revealed. (2 Thessalonians 2:3). People are leaving the church in droves, including some high profile leaders. We live in the era when this is possible: "But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. (2 Peter 3:10) That sounds a lot like a world wide nuclear war to me.

As for me, I reckon we need to make sure that we are one of the "wise virgins". We don't know when the end will come but we do need to be ready.
Parable of the fig tree generation indicates 1967 +70 years at the latest for Jesus's return to earth. Figure in the 7 years preceding. And the Gog/Magog event right before that.

Look at the activity of the Gog/Magog nations active in the middle east right now.

And before Gog/Magog the ten kings (leaders) and the little horn person over them.

So watch what is going on in Europe. The ten leaders and the little horn person will be very noticeable when it takes place. As a sign.
 
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Jesse Dornfeld

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You don't get out much...... Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Indonesia - OK, almost every Muslim nation - India... North Korea makes China look like a Sunday School teacher's convention. Persecution is rife in Africa also. The good news is that the persecuted church is growing stronger as the church in the West grows weaker. We won't have to listen to Americans boast how they alone defeated the Antichrist.........

Are you aware of the recent genocide that China is doing to Christian communities? They also will soon have 1 camera for every 2 people in China making it nearly impossible to be a Christian without persecution since they can "track" anyone who doesn't agree with the CCP. It is that China wants to snuff out the entire Christian church before it can take root.

But there are other places where it is worse to be a Christian like North Korea where parents are afraid to tell their children they are Christians because the government schools tell the children to tell on their parents if they find a Bible there.

The west's tribulation comes from within where people have the freedom to tell others about Christ, but they still do not. This doesn't mean I think this is the end of the age as Christians have been persecuted for a long time in various parts of the world. The government in the west works in different ways to snuff out the church. Still, I am not convinced this is "the end" but it may be so we must always be ready.

So when I say to pray for China, it is not at the exclusion of other nations.
 
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