All of us at one time have heard His voice, but we often ignore it and later we say, after we realize that we made a mistake, I knew it! I should have listened to it. If only we could learn to listen to that voice all the time.
There was one time I did listen and I am still so grateful that I did. We had gone to Seymour Mountain and had Hugo’s two boys with us. We had brought a large truck tube. Hugo and I lay side-by-side, the boys on our backs and way we went.
As kids we never owned a sled, we used a piece of cardboard instead. The second time around I got it into my head to try and steer that thing, to maneuver it like I have seen the kids do on their sleds. Yes, on a truck tube! Somehow I got my foot stuck, and I mentioned this to Hugo when we got to the bottom of the hill.
It did not really hurt that much, so Hugo said; “I hope that you can make it back up the hill by yourself, for it won’t be easy otherwise, it is a steep hill.”
Now I have to admit that I like to show off sometimes, to show how tough I can be. I can do anything. I contemplated climbing that hill, but there was no way I could mistake what I heard next.
A voice that said loud and clear; “Don’t even try it” . As I said this is against my nature not too show off.
But I listened, and I am so glad that I did. We made it back up the hill somehow without my sore foot touching the ground. Then Hugo took me to the first aid. There was no swelling at all, it did not look bad, but we were advised to go to the hospital anyway to have some pictures taken.
The doctor who was on duty that night thought I would be just fine, probably just a sprain. She did take some ex-rays anyway. When she came back with the pictures, we could read from her face that things had changed she looked very worried.
The doctor said; “I am afraid that I have bad news, your foot is shattered in four places. You may never walk again!”
Wow, this is incredible, there was nothing to see, and there still was no swelling, I had a cast put on up to my hip, it took a while to heal and for about a year, my foot was stiff .
I am walking today just fine, but I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that had I tried to walk on my foot even one step, I would not be able to walk today. I am so grateful that I heard and listened, to His voice. I now knew this voice had to have been coming from the Holy Spirit.
Hplady what an amazing experiencence you had. Just beautiful. We have spend a lot of time in the Book of Revellationns but did not forget the Holy Spririt as we discussen Him also and the gifrts of the Holy Spirit. I heard His voice twice only did not have a clue who it was talking to me until later. Good to see yoiu back hplady.............
So that's your homework. Last Sunday, our church heard testimonies from six different people whose lives have been forever changed by Jesus. And then we experience the joy of watching them be baptized. You know, for me, baptisms are like attending a wedding because they take my mind back to the time when I went through that same ritual. I remember where I was, who was there, and how it happened. I was baptized in Cape Town, South Africa, in a poorer pool in a church, which is a little portable pool that has like wire mesh around the outside.
And the pool was heated with bare metal rods connected to electricity. So if anyone to touch the water while they were heating it, they probably would have died. But it worked. And that's the situation that I was baptized in. And it was it was wonderful. I remember it vividly. And last Sunday, I was thinking about what I would say to the 11-year-old me if I could go back in time to the day that I was baptized.
And and I realized that what I would say is, listen, Jeff, as wonderful and as good and as loving and as kind and as gracious as you think God is right now. I want to let you know that he's even more of those things than you could ever possibly imagine, and you are going to experience his goodness in the years to come over and over and over again in ways that will move you to tears. And as we get ready to undertake this study of the Book of Revelation, the one thing I would say to you is that however good you think God's plans are for those who love him.
The truth is they're even better. He's even better, and so we're going to close with these precious words from Jesus to his disciples in John Chapter 14. I love these verse is so much. They're all in your outline. Jesus says let your heart be troubled. You believe in God. Believe also in me. In my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself that where I am there you may be also. And where I go, you know. And the way you know. Thomas said to him, Lord, we do not know where you're going and how can we know the way Jesus said to him. I am the way the truth. And the life. Did you bow your head and close your eyes and pray with me?
Jesus, thank you for the good plans that you have in store for your church. Thank you. That they are more glorious than we could wrap our heads around. And, Lord, as we embark on the study of the Book of Revelation, I thank you for the way that you were going to build our faith, the way that we are going to be blessed as we encounter and receive the new and fresh, glorious revelation of who you are and what your plans are for our world.
And we thank you that as we look out our window and see a world descending into chaos, the truth is really that everything is coming together and everything is on schedule and everything is unfolding according to your plans. And it's your desire to share those plans with us because you love us, because you've chosen to call us friends. We love you for it and we can't wait to learn about all that you have in store. Jesus, we bless you in your precious name, we pray Amen.
If you're trying to evaluate different views on soteriology, the theology of salvation, new mythology, the theology of the Holy Spirit, or in this instance, eschatology, the theology of the end times, this test will help you evaluate the different belief systems in those areas of theology. Here's the simple test. Does the view, does the doctrine, does the position, does that perspective work everywhere in the Bible? Does it work everywhere? You see, one's eschatology has to be affirmed, not contradicted by the rest of scripture.
In other words, if a doctrine is true, it will make sense everywhere that it shows up in the Bible. It won't work only in the New Testament, but not in the Old Testament. It won't work well with the writings of Paul, but not so well with the writings of Jesus. If it's true, it'll work everywhere in the Bible. And I'd like to emphasize that it will work well, because sometimes there are some positions where people will say, well, there's not a direct contradiction here between my view and this verse, but there is what I would call textual contortionists.
These are explanations and perspectives where you're looking at a verse in the Bible, but you're having to stretch its meaning, you're having to twist it. You have to contort and manipulate the text and put it through some elaborate machinations to make it harmonize with the doctrine that you hold. So when you're evaluating these different theological views, that's good to ask. Which view works better across the whole text of the Bible? But then also, which view allows for the plainest reading of scripture?
Which view requires the least textual contortion, the least twisting and stretching of scriptures, which one just makes the most sense and works best everywhere in the Bible, the subject shows up. While there are end times, and prophecies all over the Bible, there are four super texts. I call them super texts that any serious student of Bible prophecy must study. That's right. When we're done revelation, you've begun your journey to understanding the end times, but there's more work to do if you want to be a serious student of Bible prophecy.
Your starting point is studying the Book of Revelation, the epistles of First and Second Thessalonians. The Olivet Discourse, which was taught by Jesus in Matthew 24 to 25, Mark 13 and Luke 21, and then you also need to study the back half of the book of Daniel. And so the most accurate eschatological view is going to be the one that best harmonizes all of those texts that works best in all of those places in scripture. Hopefully you're still with me.
And hopefully we can agree that beginning with a literal approach to the text is the most logical approach, because that's what we're going to do. We're going to start with a literal approach, depart from it when there is good reason to do so. And then we're going to see where that gets us. Your homework this week is to get a journal, to get a notebook. That's just a good thing to have as a Christian anyway. And I want to challenge you to write down any questions that you have about the end times, anything that you would really like to grow in your understanding of that.
You would love the Lord to show you, write down all those questions, and then begin praying into that. Ask the Lord to give you eyes to see, ears to hear, and to open your understanding of his word. And then let's just see how faithful God is going to be as we study through the scriptures to begin to answer all those questions for you. If you do that, I think you'll find that your faith is going to be deeply built up through this series.
This is the last subject I'm going to talk about here. Then we're going to wrap this up. I want to talk about how to evaluate your current eschatology, and how to evaluate your current beliefs about the end times. I want to talk about some questions you can ask and approaches you can take that will help you determine the integrity of your current eschatological views. Firstly, every view of end times prophecy takes some of the text. Every view and every view takes some of the text figuratively.
The percentages of each vary wildly based upon whichever view you take, but they all take some scripture literally and some figuratively. Whatever your current view, here's the first thing you need to be able to do. You need to explain why you view the parts of scripture as being literal that you do, and you need to be able to explain why you view the parts of scripture figuratively that you do. And when it comes to the parts that you take figuratively, the reasons can't be because it's too hard to believe it offends me or I don't understand it.
As we journey through Revelation, we're going to see and understand why we take some specific parts literally and why we take some parts figuratively. Why would you take the second coming of Christ literally, but hold the millennium to be mystical? What's the reasoning? What's the justification for that, especially when both of those things appear in the same chapter of the Bible? What is your justification and reasoning for switching gears and saying this is literal but this is figurative, even though they're pretty much next to each other in the same chapter?
Why allegories the rapture, but hold to a literal view of a new heaven and a new earth? You have to know why you believe that. Whatever your view, does it pass this test? Can you explain why you take some parts figuratively and why you take others literally? And if you're saying I don't I don't know. I don't know. Listen, that's a good thing. That's a good thing because all of us need to be willing to recognize where we do and do not have a solid understanding of different areas of the Bible and theology.
I am rock solid, 100 percent sure of my belief in the essentials of Christianity. Jesus dying in my place on the cross, rising from the grave in my place, the security of my salvation, being by faith in Jesus alone and all those sorts of things. But there are non-essential areas of scripture and theology that I'm not 100 percent sure about yet. There are some areas where I'm 50 percent sure about my view, to be honest. Others where I'm 60, 70, 80, 90 percent sure.
I'm still working a lot of stuff out. There are a lot of theological areas where I want to read more, I want to study more. I want to have more conversations because I'm not satisfied with the current understanding that I have. And that's OK. That's OK. But we need to be honest and realistic about where we are in our views. And if you're only 10 percent sure of your views of the end times, it's a good thing to know that you're only 10 percent sure, because if you think you're 100 percent sure, then you're really not going to be open to hearing anything else.
I'm not trying to pick a fight with anybody. I'm just trying to provoke us into asking good questions about our current beliefs. And I want to propose another test for any eschatological view. And I suggest to you that this test will allow you to conclude which view of the end times is most accurate. This is a test, an approach that will help you evaluate any area of theological study, any belief system related to the Bible.
We might not know everything, there might be knowledge that we have yet to acquire that if we did would open and unlock our understanding of the text without having to reduce it to a vague metaphor. There are good reasons to not view a text, literally, but the three reasons I just mentioned are not good reasons. Unfortunately, they're probably the most popular reasons for not taking biblical prophecy literally. I want to say one more thing regarding the perspective of those who say I believe that revelation is allegorical.
And to understand John's figurative language, you have to be well versed in the ancient Near Eastern apocalyptic literature of John's day. And if you're not, you're just wasting your time trying to make sense of revelation. My problem with that is philosophically. Is that type of thinking imply that God has chosen to limit and withhold the ability to understand the Book of Revelation from ninety-nine point nine percent of Christians who have lived over the past 2000 years because it implies that those poor Christians who weren't blessed with an academically elite pastor had no hope of understanding the Book of Revelation.
When we read the Bible, when we read the Gospels, do we encounter Jesus conducting his ministry or the Holy Spirit empowering the church based on intellectual merit? No, it's not how the kingdom of God works. This view implies that when missionaries plant churches and when we share the gospel with people who don't know Jesus, we might as well be handing out Bibles where all the texts related to the end times are removed. We might as well save a little weight in a few pages by pulling out the Book of Revelation because they're not going to be able to understand it unless they have somebody who has a seminary degree and some academic expertise in ancient Near Eastern apocalyptic literature.
And because I don't want to give it all away, I'll also just tell you that this view is incompatible with the first three verses of Revelation, which we'll discuss in our next study. Listen, certainly knowing historical literature, knowing archeology and all those cultural things add richness and they can add new layers to our understanding of scripture, but the truth remains that the Bible and Bible prophecy were written for all believers. They were written for believers in places where all they have is a Bible, not even one commentary.
The Bible is for them as well. And if Jesus's selection of the disciples tells us anything, it's that he doesn't need highly educated men to get his message across. Praise God, you and I do not need to be highly educated to understand the message of the scriptures and even Bible prophecy. The Bible tells us that the word of God makes wise even the simple, I don't know about you, but I'm so glad that the word of God was written even for the simple because it means there's some hope for me.
This is the last subject I'm going to talk about here. Then we're going to wrap this up. I want to talk about how to evaluate your current eschatology, and how to evaluate your current beliefs about the end times. I want to talk about some questions you can ask and approaches you can take that will help you determine the integrity of your current eschatological views. Firstly, every view of end times prophecy takes some of the text. Every view and every view takes some of the text figuratively.
And by the way, this applies to all of the Bible, the miracles in the Book of Exodus, the miracles in the Gospel, everything. So here are some bad reasons to take a biblical text allegorically. And again, will have to be brief to keep things moving first. Bad reason. It's too hard to believe. It's too fantastic, Jeff. It's just too out there. It's too supernatural. Many people struggle to accept some of the things that are written in the Bible because they seem impossible, perhaps they violate the natural order or the rules of physics that we know.
And and this creates an intellectual obstacle for the reader. This person does not have a problem with revelation or Bible prophecy. This person has a problem with the Bible. Because scripture is packed with supernatural miracles, so that person is going to have to allegories the miracles of the early church in the Book of Acts, they're going to have to allegories, almost the entire ministry of Jesus, the plagues of Egypt, the exodus of the Israelites, and on and on and on.
So where does it stop? This is a path that, if followed to its conclusion, inevitably leads one to have to allegories, even the resurrection, which is the entire point of Christianity. The Bible begins with an overwhelming supernatural miracle in Genesis one one where we read in the beginning, God created the heavens in the earth. It's been well said that if you can believe Genesis one one, you'll have no problem with the rest of the Bible if you can believe that God made the entire universe everything that exists out of nothing.
Then you'll have no problem when you read about God working other miracles, because the one who established and created the laws of nature must be able to rationally transcend them. If you can accept that God created the universe out of nothing, ixnay Nilo exactly the way he wanted to. Does it not logically follow that he is equally capable of ending it exactly the way he wants to, the beginning of our universe was astonishing. And its end shall be no less from a Christian perspective, it doesn't make any type of sense to reject a view of the end times solely because it seems too fantastic by that logic.
You'll have to also reject divine creation, the resurrection and countless other biblical miracles. And even from a scientific perspective, no views should be rejected simply because it seems unbelievable. At one time, the idea of the Earth rotating around the sun seemed unbelievable. Every proposed view must be approached and evaluated based upon the evidence. Second, bad reason to allegories. A Biblical text. It offends me or it's embarrassing to believe that I'll keep this one brief. Our feelings are irrelevant.
They're irrelevant when it comes to this issue. God is God, and he is not looking for any suggestions on how the end of the world should go down. And he's certainly not concerned with whether or not his plans meet with our approval. Furthermore, our feelings have absolutely no bearing on what is and is not true because the truth does not bend to our will or our opinions if you want to pursue the truth in any field. You must check your feelings at the door.
And then the third bad reason to allegories, a text. I don't understand it. Doesn't make sense. To allegories, a biblical text, because we don't understand it is quite simply pure hubris, it is absolute arrogance because it means that we've esteemed ourselves so highly that we're willing to claim, well, if I can't understand it, then there's only one possible explanation. It cannot be understood. Therefore, it must be allegorical or something like that. This approach leaves no room for the simple explanation that we might not know everything.
We begin by assuming the Bible is speaking literally unless there is good evidence, a good reason to suggest that the text is speaking with some type of visual language. For example, when Jesus is telling his audience something that is described as a parable, we know that it's a fabricated story. We know this because the Bible tells us that it is a parable. That's a good reason to not take Jesus's words literally in that instance. And there are many other good reasons to not take a text literally, but beginning with an assumption of literalism.
Both these words, until contrary evidence appears, is always the most logical approach to any text or conversation. Secondly, we know that in the Old Testament, there are over 300 prophecies that speak of Jesus's first coming the incarnation. We know that the overwhelming percentage of them are literal. We know because Jesus fulfilled them literally in his first coming. The Bible contains significantly more prophecies relating to Jesus's second coming. Now, if the prophecies relating to Jesus's first coming were fulfilled, primarily, literally, why in the world would we not expect the prophecies that speak of a second coming to also be fulfilled?
Literally, what justification do we have for completely changing our hermeneutical approach to Bible prophecy when it comes to the prophecies regarding Jesus's first coming and the prophecies regarding his second coming? What's our justification for taking the first set? Literally, but the second set allegorically? Or is the reality that we have no justification and we simply find all the prophecies about the end times, too fantastic, too offensive, too embarrassing or too hard to understand? If you hold a primarily allegorical view of end times and Bible prophecy, let me challenge you with this very specific question.
How do you justify that in light of the literal nature of the prophecies concerning Jesus's first coming? How do you justify that view, some will say, well, Jeff, John is writing in the style of secular, apocalyptic literature at that time. Really? Really. Are you telling me that there wasn't any savior or messiah-like mythology in play in other ancient Near Eastern cultures during the thousands of years before Jesus came to the Earth? Are you telling me that other cultures, when the prophets were writing the messianic prophecies, are you telling me that other cultures at that time didn't have their mythologies and prophecies about savior figures that were going to come about leaders, about chosen ones that would arise and lead their people the glory?
Of course, they did. Of course, other cultures had those prophecies and mythologies. Does that mean that all the Old Testament prophecies written about Jesus Christ were not true? They weren't literal just because there were other ancient Near Eastern cultures writing prophecies at that time. Of course not. Of course not. We know that those prophecies about Jesus's first coming were true and we know that they were literal. So let me ask you again, if you hold a primarily allegorical view of end times, and Bible prophecies, how in the world do you justify that in light of the literal nature of the Bible prophecies that speak of Jesus's first coming?
How do you justify that? I want to ask you not to simply skip over that question, if you hold to an allegorical view of end times, Bible prophecy now, as I mentioned, there are many good reasons to not take a text literally. But the problem in the church is that so many people approach the subject of the Bible allegorically when there's not a good reason to do so. I want to share just a few bad reasons to approach a biblical text allegorically.
If you look at your notes and your outline, you'll see the three suppositions, sub positions, and what each of them believes. Firstly, we have a post tribulation view or poster view. This is the view that the church will be raptured after the tribulation period. So at the end of those seven years, the second view is the tribulation view or mid trip view. This is the view that the church will be raptured, you guessed it, at the halfway point of the tribulation, the middle point, three and a half years into those seven years.
And then finally, we have the pre tribulation view, the pre-trip view that the church will be raptured before the tribulation begins. So there's a simple chart on your outline that helps us understand these different eschatological positions regarding the bottom of the diagram, where you see this weird word that you might not know how to pronounce the word is pronounced hermeneutics. And it's the technical term for how we approach the task of interpreting scripture, how we approach the task of interpreting the Bible.
And so you can have a very allegorical or soft hermeneutic or you can have a very literal or very firm hermeneutic. Generally, a soft hermeneutical approach is going to lead you to take the scriptures, especially prophecy, with the assumption that it's allegorical or idiomatic or mystical or something like that. In other words, you're going to view much of the Bible, especially Bible prophecy, as being word pictures and metaphors and things like that. And you're almost going to start with that assumption, whereas a firm hermeneutical approach is going to cause you to dig into the scriptures, starting with the assumption that the Bible is speaking literally.
And so if you look at that chart on your outline, you can see that if you favor an allegorical approach to Bible prophecy, then you're probably going to hold an all millennial eschatology. You're probably not going to believe in a rapture. If you favor a literal approach to reading the Bible, you're probably going to hold a pre millennial eschatology and you're probably going to believe in a rapture. Your hermeneutics have a massive impact on your theology, but especially your eschatology.
So just. To be upfront with you about where we're going in this study, we will be employing a firm hermeneutic which is going to lead us to conclude a pre millennial pre tribulation eschatology. And if that's not currently your view, let me just ask you to stick with us so that you can see how I reach that conclusion. And then once you've seen and heard the evidence, you can evaluate whether my conclusion is reasonable. You can come to your own conclusion.
So why start with a firm hermeneutic, though? Why would we begin by assuming that the Bible is speaking literally? Firstly, because conveying specific literal meaning is the primary reason words and language exist. It's the reason we invented languages is that we wanted to convey things with specific meanings that were represented by specific words. And if you think about it. We start by taking all text and conversation literally unless there is a compelling reason not to. Here's what I mean.
If you come up to me and say, Jeff, do you know where I can get a cup of coffee? None of us begin by assuming the other person is speaking metaphorically. I would be crazy to begin by assuming that by cup of coffee, you meant something else, like the meaning of life or purpose. Any reasonable person begins with the assumption that the other person is speaking literally, not metaphorically or allegorically. And so it only makes sense to approach the Bible with the same rationale.
This would include our Calvinist brothers and sisters, hold to, and our millennial eschatology. They don't believe in any type of millennium. Unfortunately, the truth is they have no choice but to adopt that belief. And I say that because those who hold to reform theology tend to hold to another doctrine which forces them to allegories and times Bible prophecy. The doctrine I'm talking about is often referred to as replacement theology. Basically, it's the belief that the church has completely replaced Israel.
God is done with Israel. He's through with the Jew. And all the promises that God made to Israel now belong to the church. The problem with end times Bible prophecies is that Israel is all over them. This creates an obvious problem for those who hold to replacement theology. How can God be done with Israel if Israel shows up in all these unfulfilled end times? Bible prophecies? The only option to solve a problem like that is to take the position that every time Israel is spoken of in eschatology, it's really a reference to the church in some sort of allegorical sense.
The only way to solve this textual problem is to paint all end times prophecy with a broad allegorical brush because you can't just allegorize one little section where you need to do that and then take the rest literally. They don't have a choice. They have to allegories Israel and to allegories Israel, they have to allegories, pretty much all eschatology. So, anyone who holds to replacement theology, I want you to understand this. Anyone who holds to replacement theology.
Cannot evaluate end times Bible prophecy objectively because they are pretty committed to viewing it allegorically, they have no choice or they create a contradiction with their theology. Let's talk about the second divergence of eschatological views which are centered on the rapture of the church. The rapture is the term given to a literal future event when Jesus will remove all those who are his collectively known as the church from the Earth, meet them in the clouds, and take them to be with him an instant.
And all this will happen in the blink of an eye. The most well-known verse is on the Rapture found in First Thessalonians 4, beginning in verse 16. I'll read it to you. Paul writes this for the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of an angel and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
And thus we shall always be with the Lord. So there are three main views on the Rapture, and they all fall under the view of pre-millennialism. The Millennialist and the Post millennialist do not believe in any type of rapture. If you believe in a rapture, this might be news to you. Most Christians do not believe in any type of rapture. Only those who hold to a pre millennial eschatology believe in any type of rapture. And so under Premal in any millennialism, there are these three different views on the rapture, and they all have to do with the issue of the timing of the rapture.
That's where they get their names from, specifically where the Rapture falls in relation to the seven-year tribulation period described in Revelation Chapter six through Revelation Chapter nineteen. All your questions will be answered when we get there in our study. For now, let's just be content to understand the tribulation, to be all the bad stuff that happens in Revelation. So these different views of the Rapture have to do with where the Rapture happened about the seven-year time period where all this bad stuff is happening.
So while there are details and nuances to each position that I didn't mention that's the broad overview. And I've done my best to explain that accurately. When we conclude our study through Revelation, I believe you're going to understand why I hold the view that I do. But while we're here, I want to share a few quick thoughts about post-millennial millennialism and al-millennialism and let you know why I don't hold either of those views. If you'll recall, all millennialism is the view that there is no literal millennium.
They believe it's entirely allegorical or spiritual. The Gospels spread across the earth, and all things are being made new. The church's call to partner with Jesus in that work, of redeeming all things and making all things new here and now things are trending up and will continue to do so until practically the whole world is redeemed, at which time Jesus will return to the Earth. Post-millennialism is pretty close because it believes pretty much the same thing, except it holds that there will be a literal thousand years of the church raining on the earth before Christ's return.
Now, as respectfully as I can say this, I feel like the last 2000 years of human history emphatically disproves the notion that we are trending up in morality and enlightenment from a moral and spiritual perspective here on planet Earth. And I think that anyone paying any type of attention to the world around them throughout their lives would be inclined to agree. And if you've been paying attention over the last decade or two, I think you would be inclined to agree with me that things are not getting better.
All you have to do is look out of your window, walk the streets, watch the news, hop on the Internet, and it's obvious things are not getting better. We are not trending up. Even nonbelievers overwhelmingly feel like things in the world are getting worse and have been for some time. They feel like the world is increasingly spiraling out of control. And so in summation, I believe that observable reality throughout our lifetimes and history over the past few millennia emphatically disprove the post-millennial and our millennial view.
And we have to be honest about observable reality. We cannot adopt a theology that is disproved by observable reality. And that's why I'm just. Not inclined to take either of those views very seriously, if I'm being honest, but let me share a little bit more about the history of our millennialism. Oregon was possibly the most important father, so to speak, of the allegorical approach to eschatology while living and working in Alexandria in the early third century. He was part of a school of Christianity that enjoyed the relative favor of the ruling Roman officials.
But it turned out that Rome didn't like it when Christians thought that the kingdoms of this world were destined to fall away and be replaced by the kingdom of Jesus and that all the authority was destined to fall away under King Jesus. You have to remember at this time in the Roman Empire, the view was that Caesar was a God. And so this sort of teaching was insurrectionist. It was causing trouble. It was blasphemous in the Roman Empire. And so to protect the political favor that he and his colleagues were enjoying at that time, Oregon decided that the best solution was to simply begin to allegories.
All these texts that talk about Jesus coming as the conquering king and the kingdoms of the earth falling away. Instead, he decided to start teaching that Jesus was going to come and rule in the hearts of men. And that's all the Bible was talking about because this was a doctrine that posed no threat to rulers with God complexes. And then in the fourth century, Augustine ran with Oregon's approach and it evolved into most of what we know today a millennialism now not all, but most churches hold to a reformed theology.
And this will become clear as we go through each position. How you interpret the Millennium of Revelation Chapter 20 or drive your interpretation of the whole Book of Revelation if you believe this millennium is not literal, that it's allegorical or spiritual or metaphorical or mystical or something like that, if you believe this millennium is figurative in some way, then you're going to interpret the Book of Revelation as primarily figurative allegorical literature. If you believe this millennium is literal, then you're probably going to interpret most of the Book of Revelation, literally.
So let me try and briefly lay out the three main views on this millennium. The first view is the pre-millennium view, pre-millennial pre meaning before so before the millennium pre-millennial. This view holds that Jesus is going to physically return to the Earth before the millennium begins. Jesus will return to the Earth with this church and reign with them from a throne in literal Jerusalem for a literal thousand years. During this time, the Earth will return to an Eden-like state and Satan will be bound.
At the end of that literal thousand years, Satan will be released to offer a final choice to mankind, which will result in the battle of Armageddon, the final judgment, and the eternal damnation of Satan and his legions. The universe will then be destroyed, and a new heaven and a new earth will be created. That's the pre-millennial perspective. The second view is the post-millennial perspective post meaning after. So after the millennium, this view holds that Jesus is going to return after the millennium.
They believe that the Gospel is going to spread across the Earth with increasing success to such a degree that eventually almost everyone on Earth will become a Christian. This gospel movement is going to culminate in a golden age of a literal thousand years in which Christian ethics and character will rule humanity because almost all the earth will be Christian and there's going to be this literal. Thousand years, a golden age where all governments will be made up of Christians who love Jesus, and then after this post-millennium, Jesus will physically return to the Earth to conduct a final resurrection and judgment.
That's the post-millennial view. The third view is the millennial view or a millennial view, meaning no or none. So this view holds that there isn't any kind of literal millennium. They believe that it's allegorical, mystical, spiritual, but it's not literal in length or in detail. Rather, it refers to the whole period of the church age which began on Pentecost in Acts Chapter Two, likely in the year 32 A.D., and continues up to the present day.
The period from Pentecost up till today is known as the church age. And so the millennial perspective essentially believes that the millennium is a reference to the whole church age. They believe that Jesus' reign during this millennium is spiritual. As the gospel spreads across the earth, all things are being redeemed, and all things are being made new. And the crescendo of this redemptive movement will be the physical return of Jesus to the Earth to oversee a final judgment and rule over a new heaven and a new Earth Bible geek.
Side note, Frederiksholm is the view that the events described in Revelation all took place around the fall of Israel. You know, the fall of Jerusalem took place in 70 A.D. and Israel was pretty much wiped out by 120 A.D.. And so the Predator Eastview teaches that everything described in the Book of Revelation is figurative allegorical language. Speaking of the fall of Israel and Jerusalem that took place in the late first and early second centuries, technically, Frederiksholm falls under the millennial view.
I want to repeat something I often share with our church, don't believe anything I say simply because you hear me say it, do your own research, and dig into the scriptures for yourself. Our goal is to be like the Syrians who, when visited by the apostle Paul himself, did not take anything he said at face value, but rather searched the scriptures for themselves to see if what Paul was teaching was the truth. And Paul commended them for doing so.
We want to be like those billions. If you don't hold our view on eschatology, I'm glad you're here and I applaud your desire to know God's word more deeply. I believe that it's always good to familiarize oneself with other theological perspectives because the truth is capable of standing up to whatever scrutiny we place it under before we get into Revelation itself. Thought it might be helpful to just give a brief overview of the three most popular eschatological views. One of the positions has three suppositions as well, but we'll explain that when we get there.
And don't worry, this explanation includes pictures on your outlines. I know we're going to be a little bit academic today and some of this stuff, but I want you to know that this is as academic as our study through Revelation is going to get. It's never going to be more difficult than this. And this is honestly much more academic than the rest of the study is going to be. So hang with me. These are going to be broad, generalized explanations because if they weren't, they would take up the entire message series.
So regardless of what view you currently hold, please know that I'm doing my best to represent each of these views accurately, but briefly. When it comes to how Christians view the end times, the first divergence of views takes place around the issue of what's known as the millennium. The millennium is spoken of in many parts of the Bible, Old Testament and New Testament. But most famously, it shows up in Revelation Chapter 20, where we read this and I saw Throne's and they sat on them and judgment was committed to them.
Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God who would not worship the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years.
Now I know for many of you, if you haven't studied Revelation, you're like Jeff. I understand almost nothing in there. Don't worry. We're going to explain it when we get to Revelation 20 in about six months. But for now, all I want you to notice are those explicit references to this time period of a thousand years. That's the millennium that we're talking about when we talk about this first divergence of views on the end times within Christianity.
And when it comes to this specific revelation mentioned in Revelation 20, there's some significant disagreement among Christians over what exactly it is. But all Christians agree that it's something because it's right there. It's explicitly in the text of the Bible, just as all Christians agree that the Bible is clear that Jesus is going to return to the Earth at some point in the future, that concepts all over the Bible, also in the Old Testament, the New Testament, and in the words of Jesus himself in the Gospels, the three main views on eschatology within Christianity get their names from how they view the relationship between the Millennium of Revelation Twenty and the future return of Jesus to the Earth.
And the critique goes something like this. If you're too heavenly-minded, you'll be no earthly good. I remember opening a prominent Christian music magazine and reading their review of a concept album that a well-known Christian artist had just released. All the songs were focused on heaven and the coming of Jesus for his church, and it was and is a brilliant album. But this review felt the need to accuse the album of, quote, suffering from our Flyaway syndrome and quote.
Both critiques that I mentioned are rooted in the belief that Christians who are focused on heaven will neglect all the things they should be doing for Jesus on the earth here and now. Those who make this critique believe that Christians who are focused on heaven will live useless lives as they waste away their days longingly gazing toward the heavens when they should be sharing the gospel and occupying themselves with the work of the kingdom on Earth. My testimony and the testimony of countless others is that Eschatology has the complete opposite effect on a person because the reality is that you won't be any earthly good until you're heavenly-minded.
Most Christians are familiar with concepts like storing up treasure in heaven and the importance of living for eternity rather than the temporal nature of our earthly lives. What revelation does is it moves that knowledge from the head down to the heart. Instead of having a blurry concept of the end times, revelation shifts your understanding into gloriously detailed high definition to such a degree that the reality of what is to come overwhelms you in the best way possible. Imagine if I told you that if you worked hard and sacrificed money for 50 years, you'd have a nice retirement.
Knowing that would motivate you. But but only to a certain degree. But imagine if I told you the same thing. Except this time I also gave you a special pair of glasses that you could put on whenever you wanted. And these glasses would allow you to see your future in detail. Imagine putting those glasses on and and seeing yourself laughing and smiling with your spouse, surrounded by your adult children and your grandchildren in a wonderful house, in a beautiful setting.
Imagine being able to see your comfort and feel how good things are going to be. Your motivation would increase exponentially in the here and now because you have received a greater revelation of what your future is going to look like. Any time you were feeling uninspired or tired of the work sacrifice and discipline, you could simply put the glasses on and take one more look at that glorious future and find fresh motivation. That's what revelation does for the person who reads it and understands it.
It makes the reality of heaven and eternity so vivid that it inspires a deeper level of wholehearted sacrificial living for Jesus here and now in one's earthly life. That's why the time you're taking to study this book will be one of the most profitable investments you will ever make. Trust me on that. Now, I feel a responsibility to let you know up front that eschatology is not a salvation issue, our beliefs regarding the Rapture, the tribulation, Antichrist, et cetera, have no bearing on our eternal destination.
We are saved by placing our faith in the substitutionary life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, not by perfecting our eschatology. There's a myriad of reasons to study what the Bible has to say about the end times, as we shall see. But salvation is not one of them. So please relax and know that if you don't hold my views on the Book of Revelation, but you do love Jesus, we're still family. We're still on the same journey, seeking to know and understand more of our Lord.
And we all laughed at one of Christianity's classic inside jokes that nobody knows what's going on in the Book of Revelation. And for most believers, that inside joke holds for the rest of their lives because while you can jump into almost any other book of the Bible and pretty quickly figure out what's going on, Revelation can feel like you're dropping in on someone else's apocalyptic LSD trip. In the rare instances when I would come across a church or a pastor teaching from the Book of Revelation, they would very selectively pull out the few verses is they did understand and then sweep away the rest of the book with a comment along the lines of, Listen, Jesus wins in the end.
And that's all that matters. Over the years, I gleaned a few snippets of information from books and low budget Christian movies, and the odd sermon. But after walking with Jesus for years, my understanding of revelation still sounded something like I'm pretty sure Jesus comes back at some point in the future. I think there's a rapture in there somewhere. There's an Antichrist, a battle of Armageddon, something to do with 666, and lots of bad, scary stuff that's going to happen.
My knowledge of what the Bible says about the end times was scattered and lacked any semblance of cohesive understanding. I felt like I had seven pieces of a 100-piece puzzle. Couldn't see the big picture, and I had no idea how the few pieces I did have fit in with the rest of the puzzle. Perhaps you can relate then at the age of 23, I took a position at the church that would change my life my and my understanding of the Bible.
When I joined that church, the pastor was about halfway through a message series on the Book of Revelation. And when I found that out, I remember I asked someone, Oh, you mean the parts we can understand? And they said, well, no, actually, the whole thing we're going through the whole book, verse by verse. I was floored. I couldn't believe it. As an employee of the church, I tried not to look completely confused.
So I politely nodded while I thought, I don't understand. How is that? How is that possible? I listened attentively through the rest of the series and then went back and listened to the first half of the message series, the messages I had missed. And by the time I reached the end of the series, I couldn't believe it. I understood it. I understood the Book of Revelation. I understood every chapter and pretty much every verse, and it changed my life.
Let me tell you how the first word that we need to learn is eschatology. Eschatology. That's a good, smart-sounding word to add to your vocabulary. It's the term for the theological study of Bible prophecies related to the end of the world, the end times, and the last days. So if you're studying eschatology, you're studying end times, Bible prophecies, which is what we're going to be doing in this message series within Christianity, there's a frequently repeated critique of those who love to dig into eschatology.
Getting Ready for Revelation Date:6/20/21.Speaker: Jeff Thompson
Before we dive into the Book of Revelation, it's worth taking a moment to understand how we're going to approach the text and why we're going to approach it that way, and to familiarize ourselves with the differing primary views on this amazing book
Welcome to our study of the Book of Revelation. I am so glad that you're here for this, whoever you are, whether you're a skeptic, if you're someone who's not even a Christian or you're someone who's been a Christian your whole life. I'm just glad you're here. And I think you're going to be blessed. You're going to be challenged and you're going to be grown through the process of studying this incredible book from the Bible. You know, there's a well-known saying, Jack of all trades, master of none.
That quote actually comes from Benjamin Franklin. And it's a misquote, if you can believe that the actual quote says, Jack of all trades, master of one, jack of all trades, master of one. And the idea is that everyone should be able to know a little bit about everything, but everyone should have an area of specialty, an area of expertise. And if you're a Christian, if you're any type of Christian, not a lifelong Christian, a young Christian, a paid Christian, a volunteer Christian, if you're any type of Christian, your area of specialty should be the Bible.
And wherever you are, if you're a follower of Jesus, you want to be on the path toward making the Bible your area of specialty, the thing that you know more about than pretty much anything else in your life. That's what we're called to. And so today, before we get into the actual text of Revelation, I wanted to take one message to explain how we're going to approach the Book of Revelation, and why we're going to approach it that way.
And you're going to learn a lot of interesting things about just how to approach the Bible as a whole and how to study the Bible as a whole. As we go through today's message, if you're not a believer or you are a skeptic, hang with us, because when we get to Revelation chapters two and three, things are going to get really, really interesting for you, because if you're wondering why should I take the Book of Revelation seriously, why should I take anything the Bible says about the future seriously?
Surely the best way to answer that question would be to look at the predictions the Bible has already made about the future and then judge whether those that are supposed to have come true have actually come true. And when we get to Revelation chapters two and three, we're going to find that over the past 2000 years, the Bible has predicted prediction after prediction that has already come true. It's already come to pass. And so if you're a skeptic, you're going to get a small glimpse of the Bible's perfect track record of predicting the future through prophecy.
So hang with us for that. You know, I was 16, if I remember. Right. And I was riding in a Chevy Suburban packed with friends from my church's youth group. We were talking about crazy things in the Bible as teenagers and youth groups are apt to do. And it wasn't long before somebody said, dude, have you ever read Revelation? There's dragons in there and beasts coming out of the sea and angels of death and just all kinds of crazy, wild stuff.
Increased number of prophetic dreams, visions moment of awakening for Muslims Written by Vanessa Friesen Tuesday, Jun 06 2023, 12:40 PM Share this story:
(Mostafa Elbaz/Unsplash) In an area where being Christian is a dangerous choice, missionaries are reporting that more Muslims are converting than what has been seen in over 1,400 years.
James Bradford, the lead pastor at Central Assembly in Springfield, Missouri, and missionary d*ck Brogden told Assemblies of God News that God is working in Islamic countries through prophetic dreams.
While in Western culture, signs of God's existence is through miracles, typically of healing the sick; in Islamic culture, they are unphased by these moments of wonder.
In the Qur'an, the holy book of Islam, it speaks of Jesus and the miracles he performed, the difference is that it doesn't state Christ was crucified or that he's the son of God. So, when these miracles happen, it doesn't have much of an impact as they already believe Jesus can perform miracles.
They do find significance, however, in dreams and visions which is where the change is happening.
"I would even say it's the normal experience," says Brogden. "It would be accurate to say that Muslims are responding to Jesus in levels we have neer seen, not in 1,400 years."
Despite this growing conversion rate, the numbers are simply rising with the growing global population.
In 1982, there were 2.5 billion people in the world classified as ‘lost’ with 1.5 billion being classified as unreached. In 2022, the global population reached eight billion, with six billion classified as ‘lost’ and 3.15 billion being classified as unreached, according to Brogden.
The process of converting to Christianity is a difficult one, as Muslims know it will cost them everything and even possibly get them killed, but it's the visions and dreams of Jesus that calm their soul.
Bradford shares that he was in a Muslim country meeting with church leaders from several Muslim nations and one of the leaders talked of a woman who had a dream of Jesus.
"A woman had left the Muslim faith, but she was full of hatred and suspicion of Christians," says Bradford. "She didn’t know what to do—she asked God for help. One night she had a dream where she saw a shepherd, walking about an empty tomb with a staff. The shepherd walked round it a few times, and then He headed directly towards the woman. He had a loaf of bread in His hands, which He broke and offered it to her and as He did, He said, 'Take, eat, this is my body.'"
After experiencing this dream, it was told that this woman went to someone who she knew was a Christian and he showed her the Bible, specifically the part where Jesus says the very words she heard in her dream.
The woman then accepted Jesus as her savior and continues to serve him to this day.
Bradford and Brogden encourage believers across the world to continue praying for those who resist the gospel to have their eyes opened and have an encounter with Christ.
This catechism was printed up but then destroyed by the political and religious police but then reprinted on the occasion of the election of the new president. It is on sale in bookstores in Tehran, and the Father often used it to answer catechumens’ questions.
“Thanks to the Muslims, I am aware that Jesus is the Son of God”
Father Humblot continues his dialogue now from Paris through the Internet with Muslims who, in Iran, Afghanistan and Europe, wish to convert to Christianity, and he receives touching testimonies of friendships like that of Amin, an Iranian, who wrote: “I am a Muslim but I like the Catholics because they are respectful of the person and preach love.”
Father Humblot gives thanks to God for having “converted him to Jesus Christ through the Muslims’ attitude.”
He explains: “Raised in a very Christian family, I loved the gospel and considered Jesus my best friend. Until the day when, in the leper colony where often the very sick and suffering prayed and fasted with great submission to the will of God Almighty, I discovered adoration and prostration before Jesus as not only my friend but also the Son of God.”
“I never felt any animosity on the part of the Muslims that I lived with,” says the priest, who spent 45 years in Iran. His troubles came from the political police, who looked askance at his activities as a missionary priest in Tehran and who threatened him to the point that his bishop urged him to leave five years ago. Since 1969, after learning the language, he did something scandalous: he taught Muslims who wanted to convert to Christianity — and there are many of them — despite the risks!
His neighbors knew it but never reproached him for it. “Once, during the Islamic Revolution, in the volatile atmosphere you can imagine, a group of youths attacked me when I had gone out to shop at the local grocer, ‘This is an American! Let’s get him!’
“I told them I was French. Their answer was: ‘Oh yes, since the Imam Khomeini took refuge in France, all foreigners are French!’
“When we got to the grocer who knew me, we continued to debate, and finally the leader of the group offered me a cigarette, a Marlboro! My immediate response was: ‘I do not smoke American — take one of these.’ And I took an Iranian cigarette out of my pocket. The whole gang burst out laughing, and we parted friends.”
The Catechism of the Catholic Church translated by ayatollahs Later, the priest was invited to the holy city of Qom, where the ayatollahs and other Shiite leaders were trained. A group of Muslim clerics asked him to check their translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. When Father asked why they had translated it, they replied: “Because we want to present each religion with the official texts of the religion, not according to what we think.”
In the discussion that followed, the Muslim clerics questioned him. “What is the greatest commandment in Christianity?” Father Humblot answered that there was only one commandment: “Love, which encompasses all things. And off we go into a discussion on this one God who is love, not only because he loves us but because he is not remote, solitary and dangerous, overseeing and judging sinners …” he recalls.
The Catholic Priest Who Found Jesus Christ While Among the Muslims WEB-MUSLIM-WOMEN-GIRL-EYE-Zoriah-Miller-CC Zoriah Miller CC.......Sylvain Dorient - published on 01/31/16
At great risk, Fr. Humblot lived for years in Iran, sharing the Gospel and serving the poor One of the first times Father Humblot came into contact with Muslims was seeing the shadow of a “terrorist” during the war in Algeria. He was serving at the time in the French contingent, and the figure was at the end of his gun. He knew he should shoot, but he chose not to pull the trigger and withdrew on tiptoe. The enemy did not shoot either. When he was still a seminarian, he decided to devote his life to the service of Muslims. He became a missionary priest in the Prado Association.
While he finished studying theology in Beirut in the early ’60s, Father Humblot chose to live in the slum that adjoined the city dump. His neighbors, Lebanese Shiites of southern Lebanon or Syria, were dock workers or worked sorting garbage. Separated from them by a simple sheet of cardboard, he was admitted into this community of poor Muslims, and he shared their work, either in the middle of the city dump or as a longshoreman at the port. His goal was to help seminarians and young priests who wanted to serve the poor not only to contemplate the poverty of Jesus Christ but to share for a few days that of the poor.
“I gave the baby a bottle” He established a relationship of trust with his neighbors, who knew he was a Catholic priest: “My chapel was out in the open, everyone could see it,” he recalls. One night, the man in the house just next to his called for help: his wife had left, and he did not know how to feed the baby as she had been breast-feeding. … The priest then boiled a bottle and made a baby bottle out of it. And this is how we could see a French priest giving a small Muslim his milk between two cardboard boxes in a Beirut slum!
Koran reading; When it rained, the inhabitants of the slum met during the night in each other’s homes to avoid going out in the muddy streets. They listened to the Koran, gathered around the best reader. Father Humblot was chosen to read, resulting in another strange scene: a Catholic priest reciting suras, especially that of “Maryam,” that he explained to his audience in the light of the Gospels. Two sheiks got wind of the priest’s activities and wanted to stop him, but they were driven out by Father Humblot’s neighbors who were accustomed to “their” priest.
At the end of his stay, he learned that his activities and his complicity with the local population earned him the distrust of some Muslims, but his neighbors protected him during the June 1968 war with Israel. ”During many of my journeys, I was followed by two neighbors who discreetly ensured my protection! I knew nothing at the time. ”
But I do miss things about the culture of my Hindu life. I miss the sense of community. Religion wasn’t something you did on a Tuesday or a Sunday lunchtime. It was a way of life.
I think the most attractive thing for the Hindu believer is a deep sense of belonging to a community, to a group of people who are practicing, worshiping, and doing life together. I don’t think I appreciated that until I was removed from it.
I am loved as I am. There’s nothing more I can do.
But now, I feel a deep sense of belonging in Christ. The most attractive thing about Christianity, for me, is encountering the tangible, available presence of God through Christ. That deep joy, that peace, that love. The presence of God satisfies every part of your being. And it’s available every single day, throughout the day. I didn’t have to work hard to get that peace or work to get that joy. It comes regardless of circumstance. When I fall short, when I make a mistake, when I think something wrong, that engagement with God’s presence cleanses the conscience.
I am free of all my shortcomings. I am not burdened by karma. That was impossible before. I am loved as I am. There’s nothing more I can do.
I landed in London, 40 years old, having given up my search for God.
I was traveling more and more and meeting people “outside the fold” of my Hindu denomination. And my view of God started to change. I started to believe that he was much bigger, more diverse, more beautiful, and not tied to a guru or an image in a temple. This view of god started seeping into the speeches I was giving. In Orlando in 2007, I spoke at a national convention and gave a 10-minute keynote address. I read a Hindu verse and gave my interpretation based entirely on my own experiences of what I saw through my travels. And people responded to it. And so I continued along – my speeches becoming less and less strictly based on the Hindu scriptures.
A few years later, I went to Bombay to visit the guru. But when I walked into the room, a whole group of very senior people were there to talk to me about my theology and the content of my speeches. I was told that I would be kept in a village in India because I had too much influence on people’s minds to keep making speeches of the kind I was making.
That was the first time I said no to the Hindu god. And I decided then and there that I didn’t want to be Swami anymore. How that came out of my mouth, I don’t know. And the guru, to my shock, told me to go. Just like that. After 20 years.
As I entered the church, in my first few steps, the presence of God just fell on me with this beautiful blanket of deep peace. I had this sense of home.
I was given two pairs of trousers and two shirts. I gave back my orange robes. And I wondered – where do I go now? My parents had moved to Dubai. So, a friend put me up in his hotel in London. I landed in London, 40 years old, having given up my search for God. Everything I’d started to do as a teenager was gone.
My friend putting me up in the hotel told me not to worry about a job just yet but encouraged me to focus on opening up my senses. I went on lots of walks.
In January 2012, I was walking to South Kensington station and I saw this beautiful church down a quiet road: Holy Trinity Brompton. It was a Sunday morning around 11:15 AM and I decided to go take a look. Standing at the door were two Australians – Josh and Sarah. And I remember they had this love just oozing out of them. As I entered the church, in my first few steps, the presence of God just fell on me with this beautiful blanket of deep peace. I had this sense of home.
Twenty years ago, in my first month of training in the monastery, I was prostrating to the images with all the other swamis. And I heard a voice asking me, ‘Have you made the right decision? Are you in the right place?’ I had suppressed that voice, putting it down to Maya – the Hindu version of the devil – trying to stop me from meeting my destiny.
I’d heard the same voice a few times after that – once when I was reading the works of Swami Vivekananda – an Indian Hindu monk. And that same voice came to me in the church, telling me that this was home.
I stayed for the sermon, and the worship – I’d never seen worship on drums and guitars! And then I went back to the hotel. I sat on my bed. I didn’t say any specific prayer, I just said yes. I remember saying that to myself: Yes.
At that moment, on that day, I still didn’t know much about Jesus Christ. But there was a pull towards him that I found attractive. I went to church every Sunday after that.
For at least two years, I wrestled with a feeling of rejection and abandonment by my Hindu denomination. I felt treacherous. Like a backstabber. But God started to heal me. I feel now completely free of that.
The most attractive thing for the Hindu believer is a deep sense of belonging to a community.
You have breaks throughout the day, a few more worship sessions, a one-hour nap, and some yoga. That’s a typical day. Five times a month, we fasted – 36 hours without food or water.
I was there for six years.
In 1995, I was ordained as a priest. I spent a couple of years in Mumbai, looking after youth activities. But then in 1997, I was given the role of evangelizing to Europe and Russia, setting up temples, building congregations, and raising funds for more activities.
I asked my guru a lot of questions, right from the beginning – even about his own divinity.
Our first priority was to bring other Indians or Hindus into our denomination. In Europe it was a very barren land for us at that time. America, UK, Australia and New Zealand, obviously India in the Middle East, Africa was all growing – flourishing, even. But Europe was barren. Language was often a barrier for Indians thinking of emigrating, so there weren’t many Indians in Europe.
I started by just finding one person – or one family that is dedicated. And start building from there.
My guru had 800 disciples at the time, but I was one of his favorites. I was thought I could be quite free with him. And I asked a lot of questions, right from the beginning – even about his divinity.
My view of God started to change. I started to believe that he was much bigger, more diverse, more beautiful, and not tied to a guru or an image in a temple.
But from about 2005, I started a secret fascination with Jesus Christ. I would be wearing the orange robes, but I just loved looking at the cross. I didn’t know much about Jesus. From my school days, I knew he was crucified, but I didn’t know what that meant. I started to just walk into churches. It wasn’t so much about the art or the architecture, but there was something I found attractive about being there.
By this time, my position was quite senior, and no one questioned my visiting a church.
Home » Philosophy » A Hindu priest encounters Jesus By Rahil Patel (adapted by Kaley Payne from Episode 17 ‘Hindu Priest’ of the Undeceptions Podcast)
In our home, we had a special room dedicated for the house shrine where we had the images of the Hindu god that we worshiped as the supreme being. Like for thousands of other similar families, we would bathe first thing in the morning, so we could be fresh for worship. We each had a personal prayer kid, with the relevant images. We weren’t allowed to eat or drink before we worshipped.
After school, as we walked into the house, we would take our shoes off prostrate six times in front of the house shrine, say a few prayers and then go and do our homework. After dinner was a sort of family scripture time.
Our temple was in Northwest London. By the time I was 16, I’d been given the responsibility to look after all the youth activities in the temple. In 1988, our particular Hindu denomination was growing pretty fast. The denomination’s guru – we believed he was the vessel of God on earth, and worshiped him as we worshiped god – was in London, and attending an event where I was giving a speech. There were about 3000 people in the congregation and the guru was very happy with my speech.
In 1991, I entered a monastery in Gujurat, in the northwest of India. Once I’d finished, it was tradition to go to the guru and bow to take his blessings. And he spoke to me. He told me I had a good gift and that I should become a priest – a Swami. A Swami takes a monastic lifestyle, with an evangelistic approach. Immediately, I said yes. Getting that kind of recognition, in front of thousands of people at the age of 16 … it filled me with pride. I was ecstatic about the whole idea.
I left my family and followed the guru to America, touring with him for two and half months. To become a Swami, you take renouncement vows which are very strict. You can no longer talk to your parents. You take a vow of celibacy. You can’t even talk to women, let alone marry them. It demands complete detachment from all emotional ties.
You don’t get paid to be a Swami. You can’t even touch money. If you accidently touch money, you have to wash your hands 25 times. All these things, they can catch you. You must detach from it all.
In 1991, I entered a monastery in Gujurat, in the northwest of India. The training to become a priest was rigorous: Wake up at 4:30am, have a cold bath (you don’t give your body the comfort of warm water). You always have a bath with your robes on. You never take your robes off because you’re never allowed to show your body. Then you sit down in your personal prayers for 45 minutes. Once prayers are done, everybody on the campus – about 150 of us – would get together in the main temple and worship together at 6am. Then you have chores: sweep the grounds or clean the toilets or you help make garlands for the images or help in the kitchen. Then breakfast. The first sermon starts after that, and you better take notes because every fortnight there is a three-hour paper on the 14 sermons you heard, and you are expected to score above 91%
Whether you realize it or not, he is what you are looking for. He is what your soul is crying out for. He's what your life is missing. And today you can have Him. When we pray in just a moment, you can ask Him to come into your life and there'll be some instructions on the end of this video as to next steps that you can take to begin that relationship with God. Make sure you do that if you've never known God for yourself. In Hebrews Eleven, the famous hall of Faith chapter, it says this regarding the Old Testament Saints. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, were assured of them, embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the Earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. They desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. If you love Jesus, then he has prepared a place for you. More than that, he has prepared an eternity for you, and he has done so for the same reason he lived a perfect life on your behalf, the same reason he suffered and died on your behalf.
And the same reason he rose from the grave and glory on your behalf because he loves you, because your joy brings Him joy. And he knows there is no greater joy that we can have than knowing Him and being known by Him. So, he has moved heaven and Earth to make it so. Jesus is wonderful. He's wonderful. What more can we say? Let's pray. Would you bow your head and close your eyes? Jesus, thank you that you have gone to prepare a place for us, and you will come again. You will receive us to yourself so that where you are, we may be also. Thank you that our future is better than we could possibly imagine. And Jesus, what we look forward to more than anything is being with you, being with you in the place where we will see you face to face, we will fellowship with you where everything that is wrong will be made right around you and in you and through you. Thank you that that future is assured for us and Jesus. We ask that the way we live our lives right now would reflect that we truly believe and understand what you have revealed to us in Your Word.
May we realign everything in our lives around the reality of heaven and the future You've prepared for us. Lord, help us to live for it, be motivated by it, and be comforted by it. And if there's a change we need to make Holy Spirit, show it to us that we might walk in greater obedience and live for eternity, more profitably, bringing greater joy and glory to the Lord through our earthly lives. We love you. We're so thankful for you. We bless you. It's in Your name we pray. Amen.
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And I was smiling, watching them play. Because if you're a parent, then you know that your kids joy brings you joy. When Caleb was younger, he loved weapons. I mean, he still likes them, but when he was younger, he just could not get enough of weapons. And on this day, he found a stick almost as tall as him, and he decided that it was his lightsaber. And I remember watching him play. He was completely in his own world. He was fighting bad guys, running, spinning around, splashing in water, laughing and smiling and just having the time of his life.
And as I found myself alone for a minute, I was struck by this deep grief, a wave of profound sadness, because Gas Is watched Caleb playing. As I watched his anabash joy, I realized that I didn't know how to be that kind of happy anymore. There was a level of joy that he was experiencing that was beyond my grasp, because he had a measure of innocence that I no longer had. You see, living in this fallen world has weathered me like a coastal rock exposed to the endless pounding of the Ocean's waves. Life just the process of living in the world wears you down, and it steals from you. Children are still fallen beings, obviously, but they're closer to Eden because most of the time they haven't been exposed to very many storms yet. I think that's why there's something so magical about the laughter of children. It's a sound that comes from a place that we don't know how to find anymore. Because life on a fallen Earth has robbed us of the natural optimism that we once enjoyed in eternity. Jesus will declare, Behold, I make all things new. And his statement will include us.
We'll get back what was lost in Eden. We'll get back what was lost before we were even born. We will be new. We've all been shaped by our life experiences in a much deeper way than we realize. What would you be like? Who would you be if they had never made that comment? If that abuse had never taken place? If they hadn't broken your heart? If you hadn't fallen into that addiction? If you hadn't done that thing that you wish every day you could take back, take it a whole lot further? Who would you be if you never felt embarrassment ever or shame ever? If you'd never been criticized? If you'd never experienced disappointment, who would you be? How would you live? How would you laugh? How would you sing? What would you share out loud? How would you love. We will be young again. We will have knowledge and wisdom and understanding, but we will be as free as children who have only ever known. Love and joy and peace will bear no scars of any kind, mental, emotional, spiritual or physical. We'll never worry about the future. We'll never worry about having enough or being enough.
We'll never worry about screwing up because there won't even be a concept in heaven. We won't be able to be self conscious because we'll be so consumed with Jesus that there'll be no room to be consumed with ourselves. Heaven is the hope of all who hope in Christ, and our hope is not misplaced. As we've talked and dreamed about heaven, I want to remind you that Jesus said to John, These words are true and faithful. The question is, do you believe Jesus? I'm not asking if you believe in Jesus. I'm asking if you believe Jesus when he tells you about heaven, because if you do, it's going to be very evident in the way you live your life. Abraham believed God, and he lived his whole life in tents wandering the Promised land because he was convinced of the reality of the New Jerusalem. Does your life serve as evidence that you believe what Jesus says about heaven? In his word, Jesus said, Heaven and Earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away. If you're a believer, make sure your life reflects the reality of heaven. If you've not placed your faith in Jesus, if you're not following Him as your Savior and Lord, I want you to know that he is what you are looking for.
What it says is that whatever happens to those who love him in this life, God will do something good through it. When a loved one dies unnaturally early, when sickness strikes a child, when jobs are lost, when abuse happens, when tragedy strikes, God will pull something good out of all that sorrow, even when it seems hopeless. He'll create a testimony. He'll empower you to Minister to others who have gone through the same thing. He will shake people out of complacency and make them realize the importance of eternity. He will store up treasures in heaven for you. He will humble you and shape your character. He will reveal himself to you in a new way and give you greater understanding. The promise of God is that our hurt and pain is never wasted, and that's a blessing. There is meaning and significance in the trials of a believer. In contrast, the trials of the unbeliever are meaningless. Romans 828 helps me because it reminds me that Revelation 21 four is talking about heaven, not Earth. The place where there is no more pain is heaven, not this earthly life. And this is so important because there are too many churches teaching people lies by leading them to believe that if you love Jesus, then everything will work out great for you in this earthly life.
That's not true. That's not what the Bible teaches, and it's not how your life and my life are going to play out. And when people buy into this type of false teaching, they end up disillusioned with Christianity when their life doesn't play out that way. Hear me on this Church. This is not heaven. This is not heaven. I have walked with many people through times of tragedy. And when they strike, we all naturally want to know why, why? And sometimes we do each other a great disservice by trying to come up with, with baseless explanations. A lot of the time. The explanation is simply that this is a fallen world and this is not heaven. This is not everything as it should be. This is not where wrong things happening is abnormal. This is not heaven yet. And that's why we long for heaven. The bottom will fall out of your life one day, and it'll happen more than once. When I understand the difference between this life and heaven, I won't get mad at God when tragedy strikes my life. I'll remember that Jesus told his disciples, in the world, you will have tribulation.
And guess what? We are still in the world. Write this down. This isn't heaven. Don't expect it to be. This is not heaven. Don't expect it to be. Heaven is where verses four takes place, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain. For the former things have passed away. Now. Verse five, a verses so great and glorious, I cannot find the words to expound upon it sufficiently. Then he who sat on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said to me, right, for these words are true and faithful. I like that John is seemingly so overwhelmed by all that he's seeing there. He's sitting there with his mouth open. And God has to say, John right. This verse means the world to me. And I want to tell you about the moment this verse came alive most powerfully in my life. It was early in the fall years ago, and it was one of our family days that we try to take once a week where we do something together as a family.
And on this particular family day, we decided to head down to White Rock. It was low tide, and we practically had the whole beach to ourselves because while it was clear and sunny, it was still a bit windy and cold, but as is generally the case, children don't care. We blinked, and they were all soaking wet from running through the shallow pools of water that had been left behind by the tide. And they were running, as only kids do, for no apparent reason. Kids get this surge of excitement and joy, and they just run.
What a blessing it is that those who love Jesus will be reunited in his presence to enjoy Him together. I don't know how anybody's supposed to read the next verse out loud and keep it together, but I'll try. Verse four, it says, And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. And some will say this verse is pointing out that there must be tears in heaven that God needs to wipe away. And then they'll speculate as to the reason for those tears missed evangelism opportunities, regret over not living more radically for the Lord and storing up more treasure in heaven, things like that.
But that's really not what this verse is saying. This verse is saying that because the former things have passed away, nothing will exist that can cause death, sorrow or tears or crying. Those things all died. They all ceased to exist. They all passed away with the old Earth and old heavens. Write this down. Every source of sorrow is destroyed with the old Earth and old heavens. Every source of sorrow is destroyed with the old Earth and old heavens. Someone I follow on Twitter posted this earlier this week. All the sadness believers feel when leaving dear friends, all the nostalgia for days gone by, that God blessed all the pain that rocks you when death strikes loved ones. All of it is a call from a distant land where you never part, you never mourn, and most of all, you never die. No more sadness, no more disappointment, no more bitterness, no more depression, no more anxiety, no more fear. Our eternity will be sorrow proof. I have some incredible things to share with you on that point, but I need to save them for next week, so please don't miss next Sunday. It will bless you so much.
I promise we won't remember our sins and our failures in heaven. Neither will we remember those who rejected the Lord, something that's both encouraging and sobering. Remember Isaiah 60 / 517. The Lord said, Behold, I create new heavens and a new Earth, and the former shall not be remembered nor come into mind. There shall be no more pain for the former. Things have passed away in our earthly lives. There are seemingly endless sources of sorrow that could appear at any given moment. Issues in friendships, marriages and families, addiction, poverty, sickness, death. And on and on the list goes. This will be news to some. But the Bible does not say that everything happens for a reason. If you've been with us for our study through revelation, then you'll know that the Bible teaches that Satan is the God of this age and Jesus has not yet begun to rule the nation. That happens in the Millennium. This is the promise God gives in Scripture. All things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose. That verse doesn't say that everything happens for a reason, nor does it say that only good things will happen to those who love Jesus.
What it says is that whatever happens to those who love him in this life, God will do something good through it. When a loved one dies unnaturally early, when sickness strikes a child, when jobs are lost, when abuse happens, when tragedy strikes, God will pull something good out of all that sorrow, even when it seems hopeless. He'll cr What a blessing it is that those who love Jesus will be reunited in his presence to enjoy Him together. I don't know how anybody's supposed to read the next verse out loud and keep it together, but I'll try. Verse four, it says, And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. And some will say this verse is pointing out that there must be tears in heaven that God needs to wipe away.
What a blessing it is that those who love Jesus will be reunited in his presence to enjoy Him together. I don't know how anybody's supposed to read the next verse out loud and keep it together, but I'll try. Verse four, it says, And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. And some will say this verse is pointing out that there must be tears in heaven that God needs to wipe away. And then they'll speculate as to the reason for those tears missed evangelism opportunities, regret over not living more radically for the Lord and storing up more treasure in heaven, things like that.
But that's really not what this verse is saying. This verse is saying that because the former things have passed away, nothing will exist that can cause death, sorrow or tears or crying. Those things all died. They all ceased to exist. They all passed away with the old Earth and old heavens. Write this down. Every source of sorrow is destroyed with the old Earth and old heavens. Every source of sorrow is destroyed with the old Earth and old heavens. Someone I follow on Twitter posted this earlier this week. All the sadness believers feel when leaving dear friends, all the nostalgia for days gone by, that God blessed all the pain that rocks you when death strikes loved ones. All of it is a call from a distant land where you never part, you never mourn, and most of all, you never die. No more sadness, no more disappointment, no more bitterness, no more depression, no more anxiety, no more fear. Our eternity will be sorrow proof. I have some incredible things to share with you on that point, but I need to save them for next week, so please don't miss next Sunday. It will bless you so much.
I promise we won't remember our sins and our failures in heaven. Neither will we remember those who rejected the Lord, something that's both encouraging and sobering. Remember Isaiah 60 517. The Lord said, Behold, I create new heavens and a new Earth, and the former shall not be remembered nor come into mind. There shall be no more pain for the former. Things have passed away in our earthly lives. There are seemingly endless sources of sorrow that could appear at any given moment. Issues in friendships, marriages and families, addiction, poverty, sickness, death. And on and on the list goes. This will be news to some. But the Bible does not say that everything happens for a reason. If you've been with us for our study through revelation, then you'll know that the Bible teaches that Satan is the God of this age and Jesus has not yet begun to rule the nation. That happens in the Millennium. This is the promise God gives in Scripture. All things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose. That verse doesn't say that everything happens for a reason, nor does it say that only good things will happen to those who love Jesus.
What it says is that whatever happens to those who love him in this life, God will do something good through it. When a loved one dies unnaturally early, when sickness strikes a child, when jobs are lost, when abuse happens, when tragedy strikes, God will pull something good out of all that sorrow, even when it seems hopeless. He'll create a testimony. He'll empower you to Minister to others who have gone through the same thing. He will shake people out of complacency and make them realize the importance of eternity. He will store up treasures in heaven for you. He will humble you and shape your character. He will reveal himself to you in a new way and give you greater understanding. The promise of God is that our hurt and pain is never wasted, and that's a blessing. There is meaning and significance in the trials of a believer. In contrast, the trials of the unbeliever are meaningless.
Maybe there are some Christian brothers and sisters who come to mind when we talk about heaven because you find yourself immediately thinking, how am I going to avoid them for all eternity? It's going to be tough. Listen, they're going to be fully redeemed. Who we really are. Who we were created to be is going to be unlocked in eternity. Our full potential is going to be realized. And when you encounter those people in their fully redeemed States, you'll find yourself thinking, I love this person. They're amazing. And by the way, people will have that experience with you and me as well. You know, nobody wakes up in the morning and thinks to themselves, I wonder how I can alienate everyone who cares about me. Nobody wakes up in the morning and thinks, I wonder how I can drive everyone who interacts with me crazy with my annoying habits and communication style. Nobody wakes up in the morning and says, I wonder how I can make people dislike me by constantly complaining about everything. The more you get to know people, the longer you live, the more you realize that there's always a reason why we are the way we are.
I'm not saying there's always a justification. I'm saying there's always an explanation. There are negative factors that have impacted and shaped our lives. There were or are positive factors that are missing from our lives. But in eternity with Jesus, all that baggage is going to be removed. All the junk is simply going to fall away. And when those who love Jesus are freed from all that, we will become the people Jesus created us to be. We will be our true selves. For the first time in heaven, everyone will be beautiful in every sense of the word. And I promise you won't have to avoid anybody in eternity. There'll be no guilt, no shame, no awkwardness, no weirdos. Just amazing people redeemed and glorified by the Grace of God in heaven, we'll bump into those people who bugged us on Earth, and we'll say, wow, look at what the Lord has done. You're no longer a giant pain in the well, there's no cussing in heaven, but you get the idea. And again, I'm sure people will have the same experience with us. The Apostle Paul wrote about the effect the cross of Christ should have on how we view people now.
And he said, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh, meaning that those who love Jesus are not to view their Christian brothers and sisters based solely on who they are now, but rather who they are in Christ and who they are destined to become in eternity. I wish I were better at doing that, but I know the Holy Spirit is changing me bit by bit, day by day. Take a look at verse three again. Behold, the Tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. I want you to notice that the emphasis is on God being with us and us being with God. We will recognize and know our loved ones in heaven, but our focus will be on Jesus. It's okay to long for heaven so that you can be reunited with loved ones who love the Lord. It's okay. It's a great thing to hope for. But hear me on this, please. It's not okay to long for them more than you long for Jesus. The presence of those loved ones in heaven will be wonderful, but our hope and joy shouldn't be solely based on the fact that we will see them again.
Rather, our joy should be that we will behold Jesus together. And I really say this because I love you. If you're longing for heaven so that you can be reunited with your loved ones, just be sure that you don't allow your longing to be with them, to exceed your longing to be with the Lord. Because if you do, you've turned that covet one into an idol. And if they love Jesus, that is the last thing they would want you to do with their memory.
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What Makes Jesus Unique? No one else made the claims that He did, He is alive...............
All of us at one time have heard His voice, but we often ignore it and later we say, after we realize that we made a mistake, I knew it! I should have listened to it. If only we could learn to listen to that voice all the time.There was one time I did listen and I am still so grateful that I did.
We had gone to Seymour Mountain and had Hugo’s two boys with us. We had brought a large truck tube. Hugo and I lay side-by-side, the boys on our backs and way we went.
As kids we never owned a sled, we used a piece of cardboard instead.
The second time around I got it into my head to try and steer that thing, to maneuver it like I have seen the kids do on their sleds. Yes, on a truck tube! Somehow I got my foot stuck, and I mentioned this to Hugo when we got to the bottom of the hill.
It did not really hurt that much, so Hugo said; “I hope that you can make it back up the hill by yourself, for it won’t be easy otherwise, it is a steep hill.”
Now I have to admit that I like to show off sometimes, to show how tough I can be. I can do anything. I contemplated climbing that hill, but there was no way I could mistake what I heard next.
A voice that said loud and clear; “Don’t even try it” .
As I said this is against my nature not too show off.
But I listened, and I am so glad that I did. We made it back up the hill somehow without my sore foot touching the ground. Then Hugo took me to the first aid. There was no swelling at all, it did not look bad, but we were advised to go to the hospital anyway to have some pictures taken.
The doctor who was on duty that night thought I would be just fine, probably just a sprain. She did take some ex-rays anyway. When she came back with the pictures, we could read from her face that things had changed she looked very worried.
The doctor said; “I am afraid that I have bad news, your foot is shattered in four places. You may never walk again!”
Wow, this is incredible, there was nothing to see, and there still was no swelling,
I had a cast put on up to my hip, it took a while to heal and for about a year, my foot was stiff .
I am walking today just fine, but I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that had I tried to walk on my foot even one step, I would not be able to walk today. I am so grateful that I heard and listened, to His voice.
I now knew this voice had to have been coming from the Holy Spirit.
Praise and thank you, Lord!