Sketches of Revelation, this and that

by TerryWalstrom 15 Replies latest watchtower bible

  • Cold Steel
    Cold Steel

    Yet the Armageddon of scripture is so vastly different than that taught by the adventists, including the Jehovah's Witnesses, who regard it as an endtime judgment of God upon the world, which only they will escape. But the early Christians viewed it far differently. They, as well as the Jews, saw Armageddon as an endtime assault on Jerusalem in which the messiahs of Joseph and David would deliver the city from its enemies, establish peace and order and usher in an era governed by a theocracy.

    Clearly the Jews hoped for such deliverance from the Romans -- a deliverance that was not forthcoming. The Christians, however, knew that Jerusalem and the temple were doomed, and they fled to Syria under the guidance of their leaders, who presumably were guided by revelation. They knew, in my view, that many things remained to be done. They knew about the scattering of the Jews and that Judah would eventually be gathered to the lands of their inheritance. This began happening in the 1870s and continues to this day. Eventually, however, Jerusalem would face an enemy it could not prevail against; and in the final hours of that conflict, the great Messiah ben David would personally appear and save his people and destroy all but a sixth of the invaders. (See Ezek. 38-39, Isaiah 11:10-12, Zechariah 12-14)

  • Cold Steel
    Cold Steel
    Viviane: When they mention Jerusalem being destroyed, I mention that the Bible doesn't say when or by whom, they are adding that, all the "prophecy" is doing is saying that something that happened before would happen again DURING a time a rebellion was going on (assuming it was written prior to the events described, which there is no proof for).

    I recommend a book entitled The Islamic Antichrist, by Joel Richardson. I believe you would find it compelling. He's also written a follow-up book entitled The Mideast Beast. It's amazing how much Islamic and Jewish/Christian eschatology parallels each other. The only difference is that the good guys in biblical eschatology are the bad guys in Islamic eschatology, and vice versa. Even the black flags being used now are part of Islamic prophecy, but one can always say it's self-fulfilling prophecy. As a believer, I'm amazed at how the fulfillment of prophecy is playing out. But I'm also amazed at how awful Watchtower exegeses is. There is no U.N. in the Bible, nor do I believe Obama is there. šŸ²

    Here's how the end is viewed by many Muslims:

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=dY2uVNcUSbc

    The Mahdi and the Muslim ā€œJesusā€œ in Islamic prophecy very carefully parallel the Antichrist and false prophet of Christian prophecy. In both scenarios, Jerusalem is attacked, by the Muslim forces in Muslim eschatology, and by Gog (Antichrist) in Jewish/Christian eschatology. The only difference is, the Dajjal (Islamic Antichrist), which is the Jewish Messiah, appears and is defeated or, as Christians see it, defeats the armies of Gog.

    Both the Mahdi and the Antichrist will rule for seven years.

    That's just a little too close for coincidence. I've always wondered why, when the Messiah comes, the Antichrist attacks him. The reason is, they think he's the evil one foretold in their prophecies.

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=nwr3fC_jY0s

  • Village Idiot
    Village Idiot
    Interesting how Muslims accord a role of high honor to Jesus.
  • TerryWalstrom
    TerryWalstrom

    Terry, I havenā€™t kept up with Erhmanā€™s ā€beliefsā€ as opposed to his knowledge of Biblical texts. Is he still a believer?

    I would normally suggest people avoid ā€Biblical scholarsā€ since their partisan beliefs and faith interfere with objective evaluation of texts. Has Bart E made the change to the disinterested academic approach or is he still hanging in there as a believer?


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeFdhyuVyzI


  • Finkelstein
    Finkelstein

    Interesting that there so many individuals who take a deep study and examination of the bible, end up being agnostic or out right atheists.

  • Half banana
    Half banana
    Thanks Terry.

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