Did Jesus say, "This Generation" or "That Generation"?

Getting back to the subject of the book, "Is Jesus Coming Soon?" by Gary DeMar, he asserts what many in the church assume in Matthew 24 1-34 about "End Times", especially Dispensationalists. On page 20 it begins, "Chapt 24 begins with, 'Jesus came out from the temple and was going away when His disciples came up to point out the temple building to Him' (24:1). So then, the 'house' that would be left 'desolate' was the first-century temple that had been rebuilt under the direction of Herod the Great."

• Page 21 continues, "Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation (23:36). Jesus and His disciples were discussing questions related to the time and signs of Jerusalem's destruction since that was the topic of discussion."

Furthermore, page 22 reads, 

• "Truly I say to you, all these things will com upon this generation." (23:36)
• "Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place (24:34)

What things? The things Jesus was speaking of about the false prophets, wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes in various places and the temple being left "desolate". All this was sandwiched between the two time texts listed above. Like, as Gary puts it, "eschatological bookends".

Lastly, on page 23, Mr. DeMar asserts, "Dispensationalists do not believe that the phrase 'this generation' refers to the generation to whom Jesus was speaking but rather to some future generation. There are a number of problems with this position."

I will list those in future posts. Stay tuned!

Why Should I Pray?

I'm taking a quick time-out from the blog topic of Eschatology for this: The first Thursday of May, the nation acknowledges a "National Day of Prayer". The mission is to communicate with every individual the need for personal repentance and prayer, mobilizing the Christian community to intercede for America and its leadership in the seven centers of power: Government, Military, Media, Business, Education, Church and Family.

And I'm encouraged to hear that ALL 50 Governors issued National Day of Prayer Proclamations. Proclamations publicly acknowledge there is a day designated for Americans to unite in prayer. Each state’s proclamation and constitution will be read during a prayer event at each state capitol.

What is Prayer? Prayer is the practice of the presence of God. It is the place where pride is abandoned, hope is lifted, and supplication is made. Prayer is the place of admitting our need, of adopting humility, and claiming dependence upon God.

James 4:8 says, "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you." "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus," (Phil. 4:6-7).

Pray for your country and our service men and women overseas. No matter what our political stance is, I'm sure they'll appreciate your prayers today, tomorrow and further in the future should the Lord tarry. Also, pray for our upcoming election. Know this, whomever wins the office of our American Presidency, God has already ordained it (Romans 13).

Pray on!

Is Jesus Coming Soon?

Over this past weekend, I finally received my copy of "Is Jesus Coming Soon," by Gary DeMar (Americanvision.org). The book is fairly an easy read. Only about 63 pages, big type and a few church art history drawings and paintings scattered throughout the book. I was intrigued right from the start. I couldn't keep it down. I even took it to church with me on Sunday and read some of the introduction as church was starting. Anyway, at the beginning of the book, there is a great chapter entitled, "A 10 Minute Guide to Bible Prophecy". It's a basic intro to eschatology mostly on Matthew 24. This book is in total contrast to the soap-opera style "Left Behind" madness and sensationalism that unfortunately dominates end-times teaching these days. In the weeks to come, I will be posting quotes that I've highlighted throughout the book. Like the one below:

"Why doesn't soon mean soon when Jesus promised to return before that first-century generation passed away nearly 2000 years ago (Matt 24:34)? When the Bible uses words like 'near,' 'shortly,' 'quickly,' and 'at hand,' they refer to times and events that are proximate to that contemporary audience." (page 2)

Even the controversial philosopher, and atheist, Princeton professor Peter Singer, asserted in a recent debate* vs Dinesh D'souza (Is God Great?), said something to the fact that Jesus Christ seemed to have made false prophecies. That, according to Matt 24, He promised His own disciples that He was coming back soon..."And He never did".

Sounds like Professor Singer has taken the traditional dispensational interpretation of Matthew 24 that has saturated most evangelical churches instead of the actual Biblical view. D'souza could of corrected him on this issue, but he had to unfortunately stick with his apologetic approach of "I'm going to reason logically without the use of the Bible"; clearly biblical humanism, but that is a post for another day.

*April 25th, 2008, "Is God Great" debate vs Dinesh D'Souza at BIOLA University

Note: To my unbelieving readers, this is mainly an "in-house" debate, however you are free to comment. But you may not understand the hermeneutic of eschatology without having some in-depth study in it first.

When Your at Work, Who's Bullying Your Child?

Campaign targets MTV's, BET's music video 'assault' on children

"A new report from the Parents Television Council finds that daytime music video programming on Black Entertainment Television and MTV features sexual, violent, profane or obscene content once every 38 seconds. Deep concerns are being expressed over the influence that is having on young children. READ MORE

Richard Dawkins Raps? Yes, Dick Does Rap. Watch!

Is Evolution Science or Religious?

In anticipation of the movie opening of Ben Stein's "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed", this Friday, many atheists and humanists in the academia mafia and blogland are defending the sacred cow of Evolution. They are outraged, angered, and disgusted that such a movie is getting so much ballyhoo. What nerve people have to question the white coat wearing smug priests of today, Secular Scientists. French Philosopher and former Jesuit Priest, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, asserted, "that even if all the specific content of the evolutionary explanation of life were to be demolished, evolution would still have to be taken as our fundamental vision; defenders of evolution, must never let themselves be detected into secondary discussions of the scientific 'hows' and the metaphysical 'whys. The Vision of the Past, trans. J.M. Cohen (New York: Harper and Row, 1967), p. 123 (italics added). In other words, evolution says, "you dare not have any other gods in before me." Philosopher, W.T. Jones, a non-christian, said that scientists had "elevated Darwinism to the level of a religious dogma." It takes a lot of faith to believe in evolution which asserts everything you see in nature today came from nothing. As a Christian, I believe there is a God who created the universe. Evolution is a religion not science.  Romans 1:22, 23 states, "Claiming to be wise, they [unbelievers] became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things." (ESV).

“Ok class, does anyone know why big secular science finds this upcoming movie so intimidating? Anyone? Anyone?"

SCIENCE TEACHER: "American school science curricula introduced the theory of ...anyone? anyone? the theory of Evolution as early as... anyone?... the 1840s. “Old earth” opinions from the, anyone? ... the European scientific community led many American writers to advance long-age views of geology in school textbooks. However, even when this was done, most writers made the extra effort to harmonize the long time periods with the biblical account of creation. The...anyone? anyone know what book?...the Bible was still applicable to all subjects, but now it was not to be taken literally in all cases. With the popularization of...anyone?... biological macroevolution by, anyone?...anyone know who the father of evolution is? Anyone?...Darwin’s Origin of Species, American textbook authors had mixed responses. Some accepted Darwin’s hypothesis readily; others rejected it outright. According to historian Edward...anyone? Lar——son, by the 1890s and 1900s, ...anyone know what theory?, the theory of evolution was thoroughly embedded in the science curricula and treated as...anyone? anyone?...fact." (source: Answers In Genesis. The "anyone? anyone?" phrase was added for humor- Phrase made popular from Ben Stein's role in Ferris Buhler's Day Off .) 

Fast forward to today, sadly, if a public school science teacher questions Darwinism, he or she will be in danger of being EXPELLED! So why is the Academia Mafia community so up in arms about this movie?