Posted by john on August 31, 2001 at 06:22:54:
In Reply to: Re: conspiracy theory posted by kat on August 30, 2001 at 20:24:23:
:
: You know, this is totally my opinion, but I have a feeling the end will come with a gentle blowing, not a violent blast. One day a breeze will blow by and it will all be over. We'll be lucky to even recognize any of it.
:
: that would be nice however, I don't think it will be that nice John. Have you read the Revelation of John, by chance? just teasing you of course. Maybe in God' s mercy it will seem that way to us, but I am pretty sure it won't be what most people expect(God rarely does what we expect, right?) I do believe it will be obvious to most people what's going on though.
: Can you tell, I eat this stuff up. That's how I started studying the bible way back in high School, right there in Revelation, i think I told you that. Anyway, I really like listening to the prophecy teachers. There is one program on AM 1110 around 2pm each day and they have interviews with all kinds of authors that write books about signs of the coming One World Government, it's Southwest Radio Church or ministry or something like that. Anyway, that is not the meat and potatoes of our faith. It's Love.
: That other stuff is more like Sushi to me!
I see your point, but there's also all that thief in the night, two men in a field stuff too. I often think that it will be both ways... if that makes any sense. I think only in hindsight will it be readily apparent that anything occured. All of a sudden, Jesus will be standing on this earth in full effect and everyone will be staring dumbfounded...except for those few who were ready and they will probably just cheer or cry or something in between. Again, I'm just speculating.
Then I also sometimes think that this day is right around the corner.. which I think is a healthy expectaton... but then at other times I compare our society with countless others and see how they also thought the world was ending when in reality it was only the end of their WAY of LIFE. Rome, Egypt, Persia, USSR, China about a thousand times (that's what a dynasty is), the American Indians. There are others. They grew large and they lost their center. Governments get corrupt and people get complacent and decadent. They get more concerned with the color of their chariot, or lexus as the case may be, than with real values and oops one day the whole thing crumbles...just like that in one day it ends. I met a guy who lived through the second russian revolution in 1989. I've seen pictures of tracer fire coming at him as he documented the warriors on his way out of the country (he was a teacher). One day it was fine, the next buildings are blowing up and people are running for their lives. So sometimes I think we should expect this because it could happen at any moment, and our culture is definitely close to that point.
But again, it really doesn't matter. This kind of outlook prevents me from becoming too attached to things in this world, and there's absolutely nothing I can do to hurry it or delay it, so I might as well just live and ask God what he would have me do. When my time to die comes I'll meet it like I have met everything else (hopefully), and until that point I shouldn't worry about it. I can adapt. Still, a deep part of me kind of longs for some drastic change so that life will be forced to align with reality rather than TV... but at the same time that deep part weeps for everyone who will be lost because they are so blind they didn't see it coming, either of the above options. (This is the root of my often offensive, and as Bill calls it- militaristic and urgent attitude. I know it will come in an instant and people keep lagging around like they'll get it right in the next thousand years. But this is a flaw, as it is God's concern and not mine when people wake up, the flaw is just rooted in love and concern.)