Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Silenced and Mocked

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I wanted to share a little something that happened last week.
No, not an earthquake or tornado, though this week has not been lacking in those departments. I wanted to share a Facebook incident.
When I see Christians being bashed on Facebook I like to speak up in their defense. So I did. This was not on a random acquaintance’s page, this was my sister's post. Her post (a link) and the comments from friends about the link spoke ill of Kirk Cameron and his "treatment" of gays. Now, I don't know much about Kirk. I don't agree with the Left Behind series that he was a part of, and I've never watched any of his other films or studies. But I've heard him give interviews and he seems like s good guy. The link my sister posted had the basic message that if you don't agree with the gay lifestyle you’re automatically a hater, a homophobe, or any other title the left likes to throw around. Kirk had said that he had gay friends even though he disagrees with that lifestyle. The linked article as well as my sister's friends said that that's not real friendship.
My mind went to a time in my life that I was living a sinful lifestyle and my parents kicked me out of their house. I had a job, and was old enough to be on my own (one year out of college), but they had been helping me save money by allowing my daughter and I to live with them. Being kicked out and having my actions labeled as sin did not make me feel unloved. Most people refer to it as tough love. Tough love is when someone who loves you stops enabling you to live a sinful life. They still love you, they just don't love your actions, and instead of acting like it's no big deal they say, yes it is a big deal, and I won't be a part of it.
I'm pretty sure this is what Kirk, as well as many others who view homosexual sex as sin was doing. He loves his gay friends with a tough love. The liberals in the world are using this and other issues (such as "reproductive care") to portray Christians as haters.
I left a comment on my sister's post that said basically that... That we were labeled as haters and that it will lead to Christians being arrested for hate crimes and eventually put in concentration camps and killed. My sister deleted my post because she found it offensive to her other friends, or perhaps she just found me "crazy" once again talking about the end of the world. I texted her about it, and she apologized and said I could re-post if I wanted. (I never did.)
But it proved my point even more than if she would have left my comment there. We... Christians, especially conservative Christians, and even more so Conservative Christians who believe that the antichrist is soon coming, and even more than that conservative Christians who believe the antichrist is coming from Islam, are being silenced and mocked.
Delete comments, keep off the radio, off the TV, make sure that this word does not get around and if it does dismiss it as insane. I ask you, why? I'll tell you why, because Satan does not want the truth out there. He is all about silencing truth, and the truth that he cannot silence he mocks. He has put the Mayan calendar ordeal in people's faces, and people like Harold Camping in the spotlight so that talk about the end of the world is crazy. It's dismissible.
Thirty percent of scripture is prophecy. Most of Jesus' recorded "sermons" were about his second coming. When was the last time you heard a message about the second coming in church? I know have haven't been every Sunday, so I can't say for certain, but in my last 12 years of church, I have not heard one sermon focused on that topic. Mentioned briefly, yes, but all about, no. Even mentioned briefly I bet I could count on my fingers. Nothing comes to mind. Not one single word about any kind of time frame. By time frame I don't mean a time line, just anything; anything about pre or post trib, or a-millennialism or anything.
Let me briefly remind you of the time line.
Daniel talks about the last seven (in the 70 sevens), so most people say the tribulation is 7 years long. However, every other verse that speaks of the tribulation says it's 3 1/2 years. This could simply refer to the magnitude of the sufferings, as the final 3 1/2 years is the time that the Bible describes as having plagues for the non-believers and captures and killings of believers. The antichrist will be known during these three and half years, where prior to he will be veiled. The two witnesses will also be present during these 3 1/2 years.
When the feast of Trumpets (Yom Teruah) is accomplished (the rapture of the church) there will be an additional time of torment on the earth. (some people think the whole seven years, I think only the final weeks-month) The angel of death is to start at the temple and kill all who do not mourn over what has happened. Then Christ will return with an army of saints dressed in white to claim his throne here on this earth for a thousand years. The millennium will be a wonderful time of lion and lamb laying together, kids playing with vipers, (Isaiah 11) and people living as long as trees. During this time Satan and all demons will be locked away. They will be released at the end of the thousand years for a time to deceive the nations again. Then there will be a final battle, and a final judgment. The earth will be replaced with a new earth and heaven will be replaced with a new heaven, and we will live there eternally with no Satan ever again. (Revelation 20)