Showing posts with label rapture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rapture. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Not all critics of Harold Camping are on the side of righteousness. Many of them are just scoffers.

Photo Credit: thefreedictionary.com
On the day Harold Camping's "Bible-guaranteed" prediction failed, I went to his Facebook page to see what's happening on the wall. Those responses that call for his repentance are proper. Camping must be told about his folly.

Yet on Camping's wall, you could also read posts from wicked men. One such post is from a man named Ron Holden. He posted:

"The bible guarentees it" - You mean that work of FICTION that was LOOSELY based on hear-say that happened 300 YEARS before it was written?? You mindless, ignorant fuckin' lemmings. Drink the kool-aid and get off my planet.
Let's list what Holden believes about the Bible.
 i. it is a "work of FICTION"
 ii. the Bible was not written by first century eyewitness but a product of hearsay-- written in the 4th century.
 iii. its believers are as mindless and ignorant as a certain kind of rodent.

Another post, by Matin Sabz asserts:
Jesus was a bastard kid, his mom got knocked out before marriage and blamed it on G0d, 2011 years later, there are morons out there who believe this fairytale...
Sabz believes that:
i. Jesus was not Virgin-born
ii. he was a product of  pre-marital sexual relations
iii. Jesus' mother was a liar who claimed that the baby in her womb was from God.
iv. those who believe in the virgin birth are morons

So not all who criticize Harold Camping are on the side of righteousness. They don't know it, but false teachers like Camping and mockers like Holden and Sabz are on the same side-- the Devil's side. Long ago, the Apostle Peter prophesied about the advent of such mockers. He wrote:

"First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, "Where is this `coming' he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation." (2 Pet. 3:3-4 NIV)

These mockers think that life will go on and on and on the same way. They reject the idea of a righteous God acting in history to judge the wickedness of men. Peter then assures his readers that just as the wicked world in Noah's day was judged by God through a cataclysmic global flood, this present world that mocks Christianity will also face God's judgment, this time not by water by fire.

Nobody listened to Noah, the Preacher of Righteousness during his time (2 Pet. 2:5). In every day that passes, life seems to be normal for the wicked. They were eating and drinking. Businessmen were selling. Consumers were buying. Lovers were getting married. Perhaps with mocking they talk about Noah, "that crazy old man is buiding an ark-- he is expecting a great flood" and together the wicked laugh out loud (LOL). But the day of the Lord came like a thief and destroyed them all-- except that family of eight inside the ark who believed the word of God.

And so will it be the same when the true judgment time comes.

"He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power" (2 Thess.1:8-9)

But what about us? What shall we do? The Bible instructs us not to join the mockers (Psalm 1:1). Instead, we are to believe and proclaim the gospel. We must warn everyone that God has set a day when he will judge the world (Acts 17:31).
  --------------------------

Thursday, December 23, 2010

4th Halo-halo Huwebes



MidTrib Out; PreWrath In
Zondervan has released a new edition of Three Views on the Rapture. The big surprise is that the MidTribulation Rapture position has been dropped in favor of the PreWrath view. Actually, it came not as a surprise to me anymore because I learned about the plan several months ago through a blog post by Alan Kurschner. I was then expecting Charles Cooper or Marvin Rosenthal to present and defend the position in this volume for they have been the primary advocates of the PreWrath view for nearly two decades now. What really came to me as a surprise is that the one chosen for the task is Alan Hultberg , a name I have not heard before. His profile at Talbot is found here. I am looking forward to Kurschner and Cooper's evaluation of Hultberg's presentation.

Douglas Moo who was also a contributor to the first edition returns to present and defend the PostTribulationism once again. Craig Blaising will stand for PreTribulationism. He is not new to the Counterpoints series since he stood for the PreMillenial position in the book Three Views on the Millenium and Beyond.

Watch Tower Vs. Watch Tower 
Because of this Christmas shopping advertisement in an old issue of Iglesia ni Cristo's (INC) Pasugo, I was reminded of two similar cases involving The Jehovah's Witnesses.

Case #1
The JW's believe and teach that Jesus was nailed on a stake, not a cross. They further believe that the cross is a pagan symbol and its use as a form of idolatry. Yet from January of 1891 to October of 1931, their publication Watch Tower displayed the cross symbol on the front covers.

case #2
The JW's believe and teach that saluting the flag is equal "to salute the Devil as the invisible god of the nation." Yet the May 15, 1917 issue of the Watch Tower contains this paragrah:

"Suppose the city or state officials should issue an order requiring, or even requesting that all persons display the American flag, what should we do? We answer, we think it would be right to display the flag in obedience to such an order or request. Everyone in America should take pleasure in displaying the American flag-- especially when requested so to do."

 

Sola Fide Safeguards Sola Gratia 
"The doctrine of free justification by faith only, which became the storm-centre of so much controversy during the Reformation Period, is often regarded as the heart of the Reformers' theology, but this is hardly accurate. The truth is that their thinking was really centered upon the contention of Paul, echoed with varying degrees of adequacy by Augustine, and Gottschalk, and Bradwardine, and Wycliffe, that the sinner's entire salvation is by free and sovereign grace only. The doctrine of justification by faith was important to them because it safeguarded the principle of sovereign grace."
 - J.I. Packer & O.R. Johnston
Historical and Theological Introduction
in Martin Luther's The Bondage of the Will
(Fleming H. Revell, 1957) p.58

Upon Hearing About a Friend's Death
"O, how I repent of our vain controversies when we last met, and we spoke so little of Jesus. O, that we had spoken more one to another! Lord, teach me to be always speaking as dying to dying."
-  Robert Murray McCheyne

Ecumenism in Heaven??? 
"Will there be in heaven saints saved according to a score sorts of gospel? Will these agree together to sing the same song? And what will the song be? Saved on different footings, and believing different doctrines, will they enjoy eternal concord, or will heaven itself be only a new arena for disputation between the varieties of faith."
            - Charles Spurgeon
Progressive Theology
Sword & Trowel (April, 1888)

Monday, July 6, 2009

Sa Pagdating ng Araw na Ipagluluksa na Ninyo Ako




Halos hindi ako makapaniwala nang aking mabasa ito. Hindi ko tiyak kung mapagkakatiwalaan nga ba itong source na sinasabi nila. Pero Papatulan ko na rin. Ayon sa ulat, 12 katao na raw ang nagpakamatay dahila pagpanaw ni Michael Jackson.

Hindi naman masamang magluksa lalo na kapag mahal na mahal natin yung namatay. Umiyak nga ang ating Panginoon sa pagpanaw ni Lazarus.

But the Bible discourages grieving "like the rest of men, who have no hope" (1 Thess.4:13). Ang pagluluksa ang mga Kristiyano ay hindi tulad ng pagluluksa ng sanlibutan.

Mula sa 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, pupulot ako ng ilang mga prinsipyo tungkol sa pagluluksang Kristiyano. Kung sakaling darating na ang araw ng ipagluluksa ninyo ang aking pagpanaw, ito ang nais kong mangyari.

1. "we do not want you to be ignorant" (1 Thess.4:13)- I want you to mourn with biblical knowledge. The more you are informed about the truth, the more you can mourn correctly. So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do (including weeping), do it all for the glory of God. (1 Cor.10:31).

2. When you mourn for me, keep in mind that my my death will not dissolve my union with Christ. I have just "fallen asleep in him" (1 Thess.4:14). Rest assured that I will be in a better place by then. If it were not so, Paul could not have said, " I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far" ( Philippians 1:23)

3. Keep in mind that if you are in Christ, we will be reunited soon. You will like me better by then because all things sinful about me will be gone. And best of all, we shall be with the Lord forever (1 Thess.4:17)

4. Kapag nagkita-kita kayo sa lamay ko, I want you to encourage each other ( 1Thess.4:18)



Photo taken from chron.com
----------------------------------------------