End Times

[Guest lclioncross]

During my entire adult Christian life there has been a common thread in my experience, and I think, the Church as a whole. It is the fear of a one world government and the return of a dreaded Roman heathen state with its dictate of world domination through evil. Persecution of the puny Christians who faithfully hold the views of their Master. But most diabolical of all, the manifestation of the devil himself in the flesh of some world leader. The mark of the beast, 666, bar codes, scanners, and nuclear conflict. Countless books and movies have been produced on these concepts.

But worst of all, the Church has cultivated this hysteris. We huddle in our Sunday fortresses and await that blessed day when the Lord will deliver us from this present evil age. Never mind that our churches are government sponsored sanctuaries through tax exemption as we throw bricks at the window of the coming government takeover of our very religious freedoms.

Could it be, we are exactly like the Jewish Church during the first Roman government condemning the cruel tyranny and brutish evil heathens who dare confront our God, not to mention our sensibilities and our values?

Looking through the Book of Acts, I began to notice that there is many parallels with our present time.

The known world is interconnected with common threads. Then, it was military might, currently it is economic might. Although it may be said military might is the iron fist that is behind the economic might. The old Roman Empire brought some amazing progress: transportation in the form of roads and shipping lanes, communication in the form of a common language, and stability of a world that had hardly taken a breath from barbarism and chaos.

As is with military might, economic might brings with it a peculiar culture and lingua franca. Today it is the driving force of interconnectivity between countries and regions rather than cobblestone streets and aqueducts.

The early church did not focus too much on current politics and policies. Rather, they fiercely sought the will of God on how they should proceed. When they received their instructions, it is startling how quickly the fire of truth spread. In the natural realm the table was set for this expansion of the Gospel by using the apparatus of the evil empire, their transportation and communications systems. The Jewish church tried to work within the system, and clung to the idea that God was going to send a deliverer to free them from the yoke of the evil empire. One church grew and flourished, the other ground to a halt and were nearly eliminated. The Roman Empire was also the instrument that tortured and killed our Lord and countless others. But above all, it proved the futility of evil and the exaltation of our God!

[Dad Ernie]

Greetings Iclioncross,

I must be kind of dense. What's your point? BTW, spacing between paragraphs helps the reader.

Blessings,

Dad Ernie

[oliveoil]

I'm new here, and don't want to make anyone mad, but Iwould like to know the point too. I'm not waiting for a evil Roman goverment, don't think its coming. Not waiting for a temple to be rebuilt, don't believe that will happen. As far as the killing of christians, thats happening now and has been going on for centuries. I'm not worried about the mark, the bible tells us christians won't take the mark. I do think about Jesus coming back and I get happy, joy fills my being. I can't wait to see him and stand in his glory. I look around me and believe we are living in the days of awe here and now. I believe we are seeing the book of revelation being fulfilled everyday. I am not worried, just in awe, that I am alive and can wittness these times, surely the prophets of old wished they could have lived in our day. And yes you are right this is the churches best hour. The fields are white, its harvest time and thank God we can be part of it.

[forevercascade]

I think that part of what he is saying is that contrary to some folks fears of a "one world government" that such a thing could actually be used by God to spread the gospel.

[BibleStudent]

I agree with the thread-starter, but with firm biblical support. If you read the prophecy in Daniel 2, it tells of the Roman Empire (Legs of Iron, feet of Iron and Clay) that will fragment and never "cleave one to another." That is, they will never rejoin.

Daniel 2 must be the starting place for interpretation of end-times prophecies. It is simple, direct, and denies a reconstitution of the Roman Empire. There is no place for a one-world government other than that of Jesus.