Tim LaHaye

There Be Dragons in the Book of Revelation

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 1 Comment

I started attending a new Bible study led by Mike Glenn, pastor of Brentwood Baptist Church and lead teacher at Kairos on Tuesday nights. It’s all about the mysterious book of Revelation. Yeah, that scary book at the end of the Bible before you get to the maps.

It’s really not about how things are eventually going to turn out one day. It’s about how they already are. It’s not about how one day Jesus will ascend to the throne, but how He’s already there.

I confess I’ve missed the point of the book in the past. It’s not about who the anti-Christ will be or what day the end will come. The reason John wrote the book was to encourage believers who were facing intense persecution by a very hostile and anti-Christian government.

It’s about how evil forces in the world will try to rise up against God and His people, but how God in Christ has already overcome the enemy. The outcome is not in doubt. Jesus has already won the battle at Calvary.

The best takeaway from tonight’s study was that this book was written in worship to communities of worship about whom to worship. Not Caesar, but Christ.

Revelation is a reminder that the ending to my story is already written and it is a happy ending. No matter what I’m currently facing or how hopeless my situation seems sometimes, the best really is yet to come.

So I suppose I really will be spending a lot of time in that last book of the Bible. I could read all the commentaries and bible study guides and Tim LaHaye books in the world, but I’d be much better off just reading the book itself. Only God’s Word is living and active. Only God’s Word is God-breathed.

There will be more about those dragons and seven-horned beasts and other special guest appearances from the Book of Revelation in blogs to follow. I’m looking forward to it.

 

Signs that the Apocalypse Is Nigh

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I am not an end-times expert, so these signs are for entertainment purposes only. Kinda like those 1-800-PSYCHIC HOTLINE numbers, but with nothing even remotely psychic involved. You know the end is nigh upon us when:

1) The Chicago Cubs are actually favored to win the World Series. Forget them actually winning. Even the merest possibility of them getting there is a sign that the end draweth nigh.

2) There will be no more Left Behind-related books by either Jerry Jenkins or Tim LaHaye.

3) When we finally elect someone for President of the United States who is actually qualified to be President of the United States. Unlike the last 4 or 5 (just so you know I am not picking on one side or the other).

4) Gas is less than $1 a gallon again. Or maybe we finally get to the point where we no longer need gas to run our cars.

5) When Westboro Baptist Church members start acting nice to other people and paying them compliments.

6) On the day after the last Simpson’s episode (which will probably be after season 50).

7) When a girl actually agrees to marry me (yes, this one is particularly in jest).

8) When Apple products aren’t overpriced and when PCs don’t crash.

9) When there’s actually something good on television on a Friday night.

10) When I get all of my NCAA bracket picks right.

11) When box hockey becomes an official Olympic sport (and it actually should be way before the Apocalypse comes).

12) When I stop using so many parentheses (and I do realize that I sometimes go overboard on them at times).

13) When I come up with a sign for #13.

14) Hopefully not before I’ve seen every episode of Friends (again just kidding with that one so no nasty emails please).

15) Probably when all the hoopla about the end-times dies down and no one is really talking about it or expecting it to come. And probably when I’ve finally bought that winning lottery ticket.

 

In the End

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 1 Comment

I am still baffled at how much Christianity in general has become and “our side vs. their side” religion. It’s obvious that everything that’s wrong with the world is “their” fault, with “them” being any group who believes differently than us or who maybe falls into a sin category that we don’t struggle with.

I’m not sure when the end will come or what it will look like. I like to think that I am a pan-millennium person– that it will all pan out in the end. I do know this.

In the end, it won’t matter that we proved our point or showed the other side how very wrong they were. It won’t matter that we had the best arguments and the most clever billboards and bumper stickers around.

It won’t matter that we got “our” people into political office so that we could get “our” agenda and laws put in place and keep “them” from being able to destroy all life as we know it.

It will matter how much we loved people. It will especially matter how much we loved those whom we disagreed with, who sided against us, who ridiculed our beliefs, and who mocked our faith.

It will matter that instead of seeking power, we took the form of servants as our Lord Jesus did, and laid down our lives for others. It will matter that we went to the least of these.

It will matter that we gave food to the hungry, gave a drink to the thirsty, clothed the naked, visited the sick and those in prison, and stood up for the outcast and downtrodden. It will matter because what we did for them we did for Jesus. Jesus Himself said so.

In the end, it’s not about taking back a country, but advancing a Kingdom and making way for a King who will make all things right again and turn this world right-side up again.