Are We Living In The End Times?

Like the tooth fairy?

timothyu said:

Like the tooth fairy?

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Yes... no...

“The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.”

Revelation 17:8

So, those people who had the name in the book of life was not there to see the beast?

Steve_K said:

Those who believe that the next 10-20 yrs will be just another chapter in human history and 'all things continue as they were from the beginning' are in total denial.

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When I first joined CF 20 years ago, this exact same admonition was put forth countless times on these forums...

Timtofly said:

John is still alive. John's days have never stopped.

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That is sort of a duck-and-dodge way to look at God's definition. It is pretty apparent from Ezekiel 12:21-28 that "AT HAND" prophesies are not "prolonged" into "times that are far off" beyond the lifetime on earth of those to whom they are first given. Of course John is now alive in heaven. That isn't the point. Revelation's "AT HAND" prophecies were fulfilled during John's time while he was still on earth.

As I said before; not all Revelation's prophecies were "at hand" and unsealed in those days. The Revelation 10:4 prophecies were NOT written down, and therefore were NOT included in that "at hand" designation. They were sealed up and reserved for fulfillment in later generations which included our times and our future as well.

parousia70 said:

When I first joined CF 20 years ago, this exact same admonition was put forth countless times on these forums...

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In case you haven't noticed, we are living in a totally different world. The next series of false flag cataclysms and manufactured crises (eg. cyber pandemics, food and energy shortages, social unrest, famine, wars, etc) will usher in ever increasing totalitarian measures and accelerate the ‘necessity’ for global governance over the next 10-20 yrs (‘global problems require global solutions’).

Steve_K said:

(‘global problems require global solutions’).

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Don't forget the alien threat to unite the people under that global govt. now that communism, terrorism, and plagues are passé.

3 Resurrections said:

That is sort of a duck-and-dodge way to look at God's definition. It is pretty apparent from Ezekiel 12:21-28 that "AT HAND" prophesies are not "prolonged" into "times that are far off" beyond the lifetime on earth of those to whom they are first given. Of course John is now alive in heaven. That isn't the point. Revelation's "AT HAND" prophecies were fulfilled during John's time while he was still on earth.

As I said before; not all Revelation's prophecies were "at hand" and unsealed in those days. The Revelation 10:4 prophecies were NOT written down, and therefore were NOT included in that "at hand" designation. They were sealed up and reserved for fulfillment in later generations which included our times and our future as well.

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I agree "to whom" are not still alive on earth. So it did not happen in the days of his audience. Some cannot even agree which generation or generations that even applies to. Only while present on earth would John's message apply. We cannot know all the generations to whom that message applies, as long as we think John is not present on the earth.

John states he was caught up to the Lord's Day, by way of the Holy Spirit. That is not how some accept that. Many just claim John had lucid dreams, and was writing down his thoughts while dreaming and magically those writings materialized out of his dreams into reality.

Steve_K said:

In case you haven't noticed, we are living in a totally different world. The next series of false flag cataclysms and manufactured crises (eg. cyber pandemics, food and energy shortages, social unrest, famine, wars, etc) will usher in ever increasing totalitarian measures and accelerate the ‘necessity’ for global governance over the next 10-20 yrs (‘global problems require global solutions’).

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10-20 yrs what makes you think not earlier?
I mean if Joe Biden can be president, anything can happen.

Timtofly said:

I agree "to whom" are not still alive on earth. So it did not happen in the days of his audience. Some cannot even agree which generation or generations that even applies to. Only while present on earth would John's message apply. We cannot know all the generations to whom that message applies, as long as we think John is not present on the earth.

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It doesn't seem as if you are getting the point being made. God tells you in Ezekiel 12:21-28 exactly how to understand what an "AT HAND" prophecy means - according to HIS definitions. An "AT HAND" prophecy's fulfillment is limited in time as to whom that prophecy directly applies. It must be fulfilled in the days when God not only "speaks" that prophecy, but "performs" it also in that same time span.

Since John and the people to whom he originally wrote those "AT HAND" prophecies are no longer here on earth, that proves Revelation's "AT HAND" prophecies were fulfilled before he and they had passed from this earth - according to GOD'S definition of His own terms.

Sunshinee777 said:

10-20 yrs what makes you think not earlier? I mean if Joe Biden can be president, anything can happen.

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And if we die tonight.
how much significance will all that have for us?

Our Lord "shall come to judge the living and the dead", so say we all. But despite what every date setter since our Lord's Ascension has said, we don't know when. But we know that we're all gonna die fairly soon if He doesn't return before we do. So it behooves us to be ready to leave here on short notice whatever our eschatological notions lead us to believe.

High school friend of mine wasa drafted and sent to Vietnam. Grunt infantry. After however many months of being shot at the end of his hitch was coming up; he was "short". Safe at last! Got 2 weeks R&R, and went to Taipei on a tour of some kind. Tour bus was involved in an accident, and he was killed.

My point? "Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth." Maybe we'll live to see the Lord return, maybe we won't and we don't know which it'll be. Maybe He's coming back next Thursday, but if we get hit by a bus next Monday...

Be ready to die, and if the Lord returns, rejoice that you didn't have to.

JM said:

A good answer and explanation to the question, "Are we living in the End Times?"

Yours in the Lord,

jm

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Would you say this theology is one you agree with or are considering now, jm? Is this technically postmillennialism?

Steve_K said:

In case you haven't noticed, we are living in a totally different world. The next series of false flag cataclysms and manufactured crises (eg. cyber pandemics, food and energy shortages, social unrest, famine, wars, etc) will usher in ever increasing totalitarian measures and accelerate the ‘necessity’ for global governance over the next 10-20 yrs (‘global problems require global solutions’).

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And y2k was a totally different world from 1980 which was a totally different world from 1960, which was totally different from 1940…

You clutching your pearls about this or that news headline doesn’t make the next 20 years any more likely for whatever is is you’re fretting about unfolding than the last.

Predictions like yours have been a dime a dozen for centuries my friend, and all of your predecessors have one thing in common. A 100% failure rate. I’d be careful attaching my wagon to that star if I were you.

We have gone through many periods of upheaval, not just wars but societal change. We could start lets say, when Jesus came and presented us with a revolutionary counter-culture which did not divide the world of man itself as man is prone to do, but instead set the entire world of man apart from the Kingdom of God. His good news was God would return and eliminate the oppressive self serving governance of man and replace it with His own.

The next upheaval came when God's supposed church became yet another institution of man and broadsided God and His Kingdom/governance by whoring itself to the governance of man. This, instead of representing itself as allied with the Kingdom and governance of God, turned back to the governance of man. Of course this eventually turned into the harlot itself becoming the master and it's leader taking over the role of previous Caesars under a different name, becoming itself ruler over kings and emperors as it built it's own worldly empire. The fact this rebellious church institution was the product of a Latin versus Greek civil war, eventually the defeated Latin side would overtake the Greek and take Christianity in an entirely new direction of oppression.

Lets skip to the next major upheaval where an ever present minority within Christianity rebelled and claimed the institutional Roman church and leader was not the authourity but that it was scripture itself that was to be followed. It became a conflict as these protesters, aptly named Protestants, refused to bow to clergy and their leader who claimed to be a god (just like the Caesars before) and returned to bowing to God and following scripture rather than the dictates of the church. Bible believers versus organized religion. This led to centuries of carnage as bibles were burned and the rebellious Protestants were executed by the millions for refusing to bow to the clerical authourity of the church they had left behind. Of course, as time moved into the 19th century, the Adversary still in control, the two sides by way of ecumenism eventually started to meld into a world religion at the behest of Rome and Christianity started yet another return to the world of man.

This was about the same time as what was called an industrial revolution that produced amazing wealth for a few and signalled the rise of business incorporation. This newest upheaval though would meet it's match for a time with the temporary rise of peoples' unions as the masses once again rebelled against oppression. But the time honoured institution of oppression of the few over the many had gained strength, especially when amalgamating with the fledgling world church. More upheaval was to come.

Fast forward to today. Ecumenism is almost complete and all Christians use bible translations, except for the KJV, built upon two Roman texts of dubious origin from the 19th century. This so called world religion built upon the original traitorous church to the Kingdom of God, has now sided with an emerging world government called Corporatism. Sounds very beasty false prophety. It's very name describes how the Adversary, thanks to today's human technology, has incorporated the oppressive institutions of man into a new world power. The Adversary after all, is all about doing things home grown. So we now have a new world power promoting a 4th industrial revolution called the Great Reset whose aim it is, is to build back better which of course means for those who run it at the expense of the masses. Another upheaval hiding behind the skirts of a pandemic. However, once the few who now run it end up incorporating themselves into one leader, this leaves the second last ultimate upheaval in the history of mankind in plain view and thousands of years of incorporation coming to a final adversarial fruition.

Yet there was a time when Jesus once said the final upheaval would be God returning to eliminate the oppressive self serving ways and governance of man once and for all. Farewell nations and religions. It can't happen too soon.

Yes - we are living in the End Times / Last Days, and have been for 2000 years.
Acts 2 Peter's Pentecost sermon, explains Pentecost as "Last Days".
Hebrews 1 "but in these Last Days"....

No one knows the time except the Father to avoid insider trading within religion.

timothyu said:

No one knows the time except the Father to avoid insider trading within religion.

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YES - and that! Could be tonight, could be another 50,000 years - we just don't know

But theologically speaking, we're in the 'Last Days' - and have been for 2000 years and counting. It's just what this side of the ascension is called

Steve_K said:

In case you haven't noticed, we are living in a totally different world. The next series of false flag cataclysms and manufactured crises (eg. cyber pandemics, food and energy shortages, social unrest, famine, wars, etc) will usher in ever increasing totalitarian measures and accelerate the ‘necessity’ for global governance over the next 10-20 yrs (‘global problems require global solutions’).

Click to expand...

Yes, yes, your right. And I'm the one to lead the world in a big, beautiful, dictatorship.

As long as it is democratically run, I actually don't have a huge problem with global systems. EG: I want the AU to grow into a proper economic block like the EU - if anything - to help them protect themselves from US doing neo-colonial corporate rubbish to them in a modern version of the slave trade

timothyu said:

Yet there was a time when Jesus once said the final upheaval would be God returning to eliminate the oppressive self serving ways and governance of man once and for all. Farewell nations and religions. It can't happen too soon.

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God did it before; in the days of Noah and He tells us in many prophesies, that He intends to do it again:

Obadiah 1:15-21 The Day of the Lord is at hand for all the nations, they will be treated as they have treated others and their wrong actions will recoil upon themselves. My people will drink the wine of God’s wrath, then all the nations in turn will drink of it and be devastated by it. But in Jerusalem there will be a holy remnant, the Lord’s people will be like a flame while the House of Esau will be burnt up with no survivors. My [Christian] people will possess all of the holy Land that was given to Abraham and those in Jerusalem who lead My people will control the lands of the Edomites, but the Kingdom belongs to the Lord.

Isaiah 28:21-22 The Lord will arise as He did at Mt Perazim and in the valley of Gibeon, and storm with rage to do what He must do, to perform His task – a strange and alien deed. But now, have done with all arrogance and pride or the Lord will increase His punishment, for destruction is decreed over the whole Land. Jeremiah 10:18

Isaiah 26:10-11 Lord: Your hand is lifted high and Your enemies can’t see Your good will toward Your people. [Let them see and be ashamed.] Let the fire reserved for Your enemies consume them. The wicked are destroyed, they have never learnt justice, they are corrupt and blinded to Your Majesty and power.

Micah 4:11-12 Now, many nations are massed against Israel, they say: Let Zion suffer outrage, we will gloat over their demise. They are unaware of the Lord’s plans, for His purpose is to gather them like sheaves to the threshing floor.

Nahum 1:5 The earth quakes before the Lord, the world and all who live in it are in tumult. Who can stand before His wrath? Who can resist the fury of His anger, poured out as fire?



‘The Lord will arise and storm with rage, as He did in ancient times’. Jeremiah 30:23-24

‘His task, strange and alien’. We know God as a God of love, but also of justice and it is just to punish those who do not obey Him and who attack His Land. Isaiah 34:5

‘destruction is decreed’. The entire Middle East will be burnt and devastated. Ezekiel 30:3-5, Isaiah 17:1, Amos 1:3-15

‘fire reserved for the Lord’s enemies will consume them, His anger poured out as fire’. A massive sunstrike CME will fulfill all these prophesied effects. Deut. 32:22, Isaiah 66:15-16, Malachi 4:1

‘My people will drink the wine of God’s wrath’. This will be the third ‘swing of the sword’ Ezekiel 21:14, the final judgement/punishment of the Jewish people. Jeremiah 2:9, Eze.24:14

‘now, many nations are massed against Israel’. This perfectly describes the situation today and they want to ‘gloat over her demise’. Psalm 83:1-18

‘The House of Esau, burnt up – no survivors’. Those attacking Israel will be totally wiped out. Zephaniah 3:8, Zephaniah 2:4-5

‘those who lead My people’. Another proof that all this will happen before the Return of Jesus. Jeremiah 30:21, Hosea 1:11

Hi Keras,
it's an interesting exegetical practice you have when you have to add words to God's word.

EG: [Christian]

Babylon had probably already conquered Israel - and so this is most probably a prophecy about Israel returning to the land under Persia. But hey, nothing like ripping a verse out of context to make it fit your schema?