Archive for June, 2006
06.18.06
Posted in Uncategorized at 8:16 pm by Perry
Sony Pictures recently announced that they were going to be making a follow-up film to The Passion titled The Resurrection to detail the events of Christ’s resurrection and the events that took place during the fourty days between his resurrection and his ascension.
While it is a good thing to spread the news about Christ’s death and resurrection I can’t help but be aprehensive when I found out that none other than … Tim LeHaye was chosen to produce the film. As if the Catholic influence from Mel Gibson in the Passion was not bad enough we are going to have to sit through another Easter offshoot that inserts terrible doctrine to be spread among the masses; this time we have only exchanged Roman Caltholic dogma for Dispensational doctrine.
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06.14.06
Posted in Uncategorized at 3:01 pm by Perry
Hear Ye, Hear Ye…
There is a FREE David Crowder Band concert this Saturday the 17th in Dayton, Ohio. The concert will be held at the Island Metro Park and is being sponsored by Praise 89.5 FM. Crowder starts at 7:30 p.m. but the Dustin Burke Band is opening at 6:00.
Go to the following link for more information:
http://praise895.com/concerts2006.htm
Hope to see everyone there!
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Posted in Uncategorized at 7:17 am by Perry
And Jesus said…
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves” (Matthew 23:15).
Oh snap!
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06.11.06
Posted in Uncategorized at 7:37 am by Perry
There have been some great things happening to me over the past week that I would like to share:
1) First and foremost, being accepted into Wright State University’s Boonshoft School of Medicine.
2) Saturday I received a letter in the mail from financial aid notifying me that I had received a $1,750 scholarship.
3) I got “A”s on all of my final exams which gave me straight “A”s again this quarter.
4) My brother and sister-in-law offered to give us an used car for an amazing price (about $1.00) just when we were expecting to have to buy a new car.
5) I was able to celebrate my birthday with my best friends and my wife.
It just seems to me that God has been working in many ways evidently in my life. I have also been thinking that with all God has been doing over the past year I must be being prepared to be used according to His will and divine plan. I realize that, as a professing Christian, I can not spend my life practicing medicine in a rural setting witnessing to nominal Christians as I once pictured myself doing. That picture has me as the center and not God’s glory. I now know that, as a physician, I will be granted opportunities that many other missionaries might never have and I need to use those opportunities to glorify God, not myself.
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06.05.06
Posted in Uncategorized at 11:57 am by Perry
Alas, this Tuesday is the sixth day of the sixth month of the year 2006. You know what that means don’t you, the devil will father his son the antichrist, the earth will go into turmoil, spiritual warfare will break out and people will start to show up missing in the rapture just as Tim LeHay predicted; right? Well, in actuality, not so much.
Just as dispensational hype and hysteria is nothing new, neither is this day. In the year 1906 the date was 06-06-06 and yet we have not seen the emergence of “the” antichrist and to my knowledge life has gone on as normal in the past hundred years with people “eating, drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage”. So, if all of this hype over a number was shown to be false before then why do people get hyped over this coming Tuesday? It can all be traced back to the predominance of Dispensational teachings and a poor interpretation of the book of Revelations.
Without delving too deeply into those issues let’s instead go straight to what the Bible says about this issue of the end times, the antichrist, and the mark of the beast, 666. First and foremost, Jesus says that “you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place but the end is not yet” (Matt. 24:6) and that “concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only” (Matt. 24:36). Jesus follows that last verse by saying that the last day will be preceded by people “eating, drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage” (Matt. 24:38) just as we live our lives today.
What are we to learn from this? There will be no sign such as a date or mark that is to indicate that the end is near. We will continue in our lives as we have always done and will always do and the end will come without a preceding period that is to make us aware that the end is near.
But what about the antichrist, doesn’t the Bible teach the end will culminate in “an” antichrist becoming all powerful and ruling over the world forcing a mark upon all of the people? Scripture tells us a story which is quite contrary to this understanding. The antichrist is only mentioned four times by name in scripture and only by the Apostle John. So, let’s examine what John has to say concerning the antichrist.
John says in 1 John chapter 2 that “many antichrists have [already] come” (vs. 18) and that the antichrist is “he who denies that Jesus is the Christ” (vs. 22). John later re-affirms that is chapter 4 by stating that “every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God [and] this is the spirit of the antichrist which you have heard is coming and now is in the world already” (vs. 3).
The scriptures teach that the antichrist is not a singular person but instead every person who goes out denying that Jesus is the Christ. This fits the very grammatical definition of the word antichrist which means to be against or opposed to the Christ which is Jesus.
So, what about the number 666? Are we to anticipate that a day will come when we will be branded with a symbol or mark that indicates the end is near and that the antichrist has come? Well, we have already shown that we are not to look for signs of the end nor are we to expect a single antichrist to emerge so this idea must be false but lets examine it more thoroughly from the scriptures to prove the point.
The number 666 emerges in Revelations chapter 13:16-18:
And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name. Here is wisdom let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six.
If you read on chapter 14 introduces the elect of God emerging from Zion in John’s vision with the name of Jesus and the Father written on their foreheads. Look around, do you see a mark on the foreheads of those you recognize as being part of God’s elect? Of course not, these writings are part of an apocalyptic writing and must be interpreted as such. Previous efforts have been made to claim that social security numbers, identifications chips, and the sort were being introduced as the mark of the beast but have proven not to be so.
In conclusion, we as Christians are not to be so terribly obsessed with the end of the age as if it were fearful and something to be afraid of. The Bible teaches that we have hope and joy in our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ and that our lives should reflect that at all times. In fact, Jesus says that the end will come when the “gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matt. 24:14); that to me sounds like a pretty glorious way to end this age. With that said we are to remember Jesus’ commission (Matt. 28) and preach the glory of Christ warning them that a day will come when judgment will be enacted.
** This lesson was adapted from a lesson by Pastor Paul Orrick**
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