re: Global Spiritual War

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We are in a spiritual battle but not one that is any different than has been waged since Christ ascended to His throne in Heaven....We are told that even Jesus didn’t know the time of His return, and that He would come back as a thief in the night, where we wouldn’t know it until the time was upon us.

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I agree -- no one know exactly when the Lord is returning, but in our own time we are witnessing many signs -- like the rapid evil changes in the disposition of man as openly worshiping Satan has become very mainstream; blatant mockery & inverted truth (see the "Trans" movement), and attempt to be "God" (see 'Transhumanism');

We are very close to the Second Coming IMHO. There is scripture and Matthew's prophecy of what would be considered "Signs of the End of the Age":

Matthew 24:3-14


As he [Jesus Christ] sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray.

And 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. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.

“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. And then many will fall away[a] and betray one another and hate one another.

And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

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We would do well to live our lives as if Christ would return at any second (because He could): living our lives for the glory of God; building the kingdom through marriage, children, and evangelism; attending the means of grace through a close relationship with the Church; being conformed to Christ’s image in thankful obedience to God; and so on, as Christians have done for 2,000 years.

Being hung up on signs of the end can be a distraction for what we are called to do as Christians.

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I hear ya. Great point.

Some of us can't help but sit up and notice just how quickly and dramatically the demonically evil has accelerated & strengthened mightily during just these last few years; This observation is causing many of us to strap on the "armor of God" while giving others a well-needed head up reminder.

I am with you brother. I suggest concentrating on making yourself the best you can be and keep the faith.

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We are inherently evil and love killing each other.

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My initial answer is a bit snarky to your separation of God from good and evil.

Mankind is actually inherently good as created by God.

Now after the "fall" of mankind we became aware of our vulnerabilities and thus became inclined to selfishness. "Killing each other" is when we have separated ourselves the farthest from God to protect ourselves from those vulnerabilities. Selflessness is an act of mankind towards good and the heroic giving of ourselves brings us closer to God.

Evil is the act to hurt someone because you hate humanity- Satan hates humanity. Communism hates humanity because it can't control mankind when it wants to act towards its inherent good towards mankind.

It is interesting that many people are talking about the things that are happening that have parallels to the what was said in the Bible and especially now, the wheat shortage. There are possible parallels here with the fullness of the Gentiles. I find it so fascinating that many thing that occur in the Spiritual dimension seem to manifest themselves here in the physical realm.

God had made provision for seven appointed times (the "Moedim") or the seven feasts of Moses which occurred in sync with the Biblical harvest times of ancient Israel, and with which specific Biblical events took place or will take place.

The first three feast or appointed times (Moedim) are:
Passover
Feast of Unleavened Bread
And First Fruits of the Barley Harvest

They represent Jesus's first coming and occur near the beginning of the barley harvest, the Old Testament saints, may have hinted at this harvest in Matthew 27:52-53 when "the bodies of many saints who had fallen asleep were raised" after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many... "

The 4th feast occurred 50 days following the feast of the first fruits of the barley harvest which was the first fruits of the wheat harvest, or the day of Pentecost or Feast of Weeks (Hag Shavout) as it sometimes known, is in sync with farm calendar of the wheat harvest of Biblical ancient Israel.

The Holy Spirit appear to the 120 in the upper room on this day and it lead to many Gentiles being saved in the days of the early church and even today. This is the sometimes called the church age, but the either way the Holy Spirit is alive and present here on earth to those who will receive Him, which is also in sync with the olive harvest in ancient Israel. These are the days we currently live in.

The last three feast.
Day of Trumpets
Day of Atonement
The Feast of tabernacles

represent the return of Jesus and these three feast are in line with the 7th month of Israel's "religious" calendar and the 1st month of their "civil" calendar. They are also in sync with the fig and grape harvest of ancient Israel.

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We would do well to live our lives as if Christ would return at any second (because He could): living our lives for the glory of God; building the kingdom through marriage, children, and evangelism; attending the means of grace through a close relationship with the Church; being conformed to Christ’s image in thankful obedience to God; and so on, as Christians have done for 2,000 years.

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Yes sir. Thank you for saying the truth.

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I'm curious why you didn't include vs. 32: "

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I debated on it for more than a few seconds. I believe he was talking about the sacking of the temple by Rome, which did happen in that generation. I also believe it rings true for that day when all the signs have been seen. I personally have not seen every sign (I believe all the Luke signs are there), and since I am not Jesus, I felt uncomfortable including it. Though I will not say it is false either. My own thoughts on the matter? I think it will in this generation, and that I will be around to see it.

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Mankind is actually inherently good as created by God.

Now after the "fall" of mankind we became aware of our vulnerabilities and thus became inclined to selfishness.

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Indeed Man was perfect and as you say, inherently good.

Putting “fall” lower case and in italics somehow seems to lessen the event and mitigate it’s effects limiting humankind’s deep flaws to the simple inclination to selfishness.

The Fall is represented as a cataclysmic event that reverberates to this day all throughout the created order of this planet.

While selfishness is a major component of mankind’s corrupted nature, it’s only one component. Self-deification, envy, lust, covetousness, hatred, murder, among others, are equally prevalent and equally damning. God’s yardstick, His plumb line for His creatures is an inflexible and impossible one.

Unable to meet these standards we fail to produce a righteousness acceptable to God. Our attempts to keep the Ten Commandments leave us with little choice but to lower our standards to something we think we can keep to produce a self-righteousness apart from God.

Usually, even trying to comply with these lesser standards and personal-codes-to-live-by, we fail.

It is why the New Testament tells us The Law of the Old Testament is a tutor to lead us to Christ, our Hope, our Savior, our Redeemer God and King. In short, we beat our heads against the Law and finally surrender to Christ and avail ourselves of his unmerited grace and mercy. We surrender to Love Incarnate and are forgiven and made new and alive again.

Such a cataclysmic Fall requires an equally drastic and comprehensive solution. Christ’s Incarnation. Christ’s life. His example and teachings. His Crucifixion, His Death, and His Resurrection. In these are our deliverance from the chains of sin and freedom from the cataclysm of the Fall.

When Jesus Christ held up The Eucharist and told the Apostles, "This is my body", He meant it literally. The Apostles took it literally and the Christian Faith took it literally for over 1,500 years.

If you do indeed live to see The End Times, are you ready to explain why you refused to listen to God's Word about The Eucharist? Are you ready to explain why you turned your back and walked away from The Eucharist, just like other disciples did when Jesus told them that that "My flesh is real food and my blood is real drink"?

"Many of his disciples, when they heard it, said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” (John 6: 60)
After this many of his disciples drew back and no longer went about with him (John 6:66)"

Are you willing to bet your Soul that the Church was wrong for over 1,500 years and some guys from Europe figured it out after that?

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I debated on it for more than a few seconds. I believe he was talking about the sacking of the temple by Rome, which did happen in that generation. I also believe it rings true for that day when all the signs have been seen. I personally have not seen every sign (I believe all the Luke signs are there), and since I am not Jesus, I felt uncomfortable including it. Though I will not say it is false either. My own thoughts on the matter? I think it will in this generation, and that I will be around to see it.

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Thank you for your explanation.

I believe it is dangerous to be seeing Christ's return with every report of social or political unrest in the world. Many have been reading the tea leaves of the newspapers and claiming that Christ would return in their own lifetimes since at least the early 1800's, and so far everyone has been wrong. This has wrecked the faith of more than a few people who tied their trust in Christ's sacrifice with the belief in His return during certain periods of recent history. Simply put, many people tie their view of eschatology in with their soteriology and their belief in reliability of the Scriptures, and when the predictions come and go unfulfilled time and time again, the trust in the Bible and in Christ goes with it.

We aren't meant to know exactly when Christ will return, and we should be focused on the very clear passages of Scripture that teach us proper worship, evangelism, and living lives glorifying to God while we await His return, or our deaths, in the meantime.