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The Messianic Age, the Biosphere and such thingsReader comment on item: Musing on History Submitted by Michael S (United States), May 8, 2015 at 03:23 Hi, Waz. You said, "No one says death was caused by death." The Bible doesn't say, "Death was caused by death". It says "(people) were killed by Death". There is nothing peculiar in this passage, which was written around 95 AD; the only problem is with modern people trying to apply a modern understanding to ancient writings. You continued, "I'm fine with being in the audience. What we don't want is for audience participation in this drama to be part of the script or for the show to stay on Broadway too long or be shown in other theatres." I like your word picture. Unfortunately, we do live in such a situation. It's like a play of "Romeo and Juliet" my wife and I attended, wherein the actors would move through and speak from the audience. 9/11/2001 was such an episode of "audience participation". Bali 10/12/2002 was another. You went on, "Good point (that the area of the struggle covers roughly 1/4 of the earth, as in the prophecy) - but it is still a vey large area that would be involved.Russia is 1/6th of the earth's surface - so for 1/4 of the world's surface to be involved in sustained warfare would be hugely disruptive to everyone and to the biosphere though even it could recover as long as nukes were not involved." You seem to be assuming that I feel the "sustained warfare" alluded to in the "horsemen" prophecies -- or any other prophecy, for that matter -- is somehow connected with the "destruction of the biosphere". I never said this, and the prophecies I talked about do not say this. Let's get on the same page in this matter, before we move on to the rest of what you said. How shall I do this? Let me break the matter down into topics: 1. The "Horsemen" prophecies, and other prophecies in Revelation and elsewhere: I haven't done a comprehensive study of these; I'm not a Bible scholar. I just read the Bible, look at the world around me, and let you know when I see something that seems to match. The "Horsemen" prophecies seem to be a pretty good description of what's going on today in the "War Belt", stretching roughly from Kivu to Kabul. Those are the first four of the "seals" that were broken, to open the end-times "scroll". The mass killing and beheading of Christians, moreover, seems a lot like what is happening in the "fifth seal" (of seven, total). That's all I'm saying: It looks as though the seals are being broken today, for the opening of the end-time "scroll". 2. Destruction of the Biosphere. The Bible doesn't talk about any such thing during the times I have been writing about. The "opening of the scroll" are events that must happen before the coming of the Messianic Age -- which, in the book of Revelation, is described as a "Thousand Year Reign" (Yes, move over, Adolph Hitler, you plagiarer!). The biosphere remains intact throughout those 1000 years. Just two points -- I guess that covers it. You went on, "So bringing it back to the present day - the spread of islamofascism in the ME and even in our countries is really the only player on the block lilkely to seriously stuff things up for humanity." Remember that Islam and Islamofascism are essentially schisms of Judaism; so this "Middle East" conflict is pretty much an outworking of a Biblical theme. There are other, world-wide, things happening, though. For instance, the world has been shifting its worldview from one controlled by unseen, mysterious spirits to one presumably controlly by forces we fully understand and control. This is a serious delusion that is gripping the whole world (not just the ME); and it will surely be addressed by God in these last days. One more point for my list: 3. The Messianic Age. I'm full of wonder, as to what will be involved in its coming and nature. One parallel keeps coming to mind, though, and that was the collapse of the Roman Empire. Note that the biosphere did not vaporize in those days either; but the whole order of humanity was turned on its head: A very orderly, howbeit cruel, system was replaced by barbaric anarchy. During those day, it was the Christian Church that preserved knowledge, cared for the sick and ministered to many of the day-to-day needs of Western Europe, leaving the rulers and their hordes free to go about slaughtering one another. I have a hunch that the coming Messianic Age will be similar in some respects -- accompanied by some wonders, such as thousands of previously beheaded people coming back to life. I don't know what others are anticipating. Maybe the many "zombie" movies are an indication of what many fear. God bless and keep you. Shalom shalom :-) Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments". Reader comments (206) on this item
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