ESCHATOLOGY: The End of An Age!

It's just my opinion but I believe we crossed an invisible line in this sin-darkened world when we entered 2008.

The bible is clear that a day will come when the end will be clearly seen [See 1 Thessalonians 5:1-6 below].

Some generation has to alive when that happens; up to the rapture of the church, Christians will participate in the events and culture of that day. There is no escaping the fact that some generation of believers will be known for its unholy "apostasy."

For the past two millennia believers from Paul to Pope, from clergy to laity, from apostate to fanatic have announced that their's is the age of the end ... I have books and pamphlets and magazines in my library from the 19th and 20th centuries showing just how often prognosticators have erred in this judgment.

That said, one can't escape the daily onslaught of material which reminds us of the signs of the end ... and even the Lord Himself warned us to be ever vigilant. Perhaps a reminder of His warnings would be helpful ...

"It is like a man away on a journey, who upon leaving his house and putting his slaves in charge, assigning to each one his task, also commanded the doorkeeper to stay on the alert. Therefore, be on the alert--for you do not know when the master of the house is coming, whether in the evening, at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning-- in case he should come suddenly and find you asleep. What I say to you I say to all, 'Be on the alert!'"

Mark 13:34-37

I could go on; but what I want to do is point to headlines of the past 24 hours, items culled from news feeds.

THOUGHT POLICE GONE MAD:

Two citations -

1. ... the notion that publications in the Western world could staunch the violence on the Muslim street half a world away by not reprinting [those Danish] cartoons, was ludicrous, even if most politically correct talking heads nodded knowingly at the suggestion that reprinting them would make matters worse. [National Post]

2. The blogger TomaShot, who operated the now defunct Uutisia Suomesta website, a catalogue for various news stories and articles that dealt with immigration, Political Correctness and other Eurabia related issues, was dealt a serious blow by Finland’s judicial system today.

He was fined 825€ and ordered to close down his website. […] […] [H]As far as I know, TomaShot’s webpages contained very little of his own material, it was more of a repository for news articles and blog postse was convicted for republishing snippets of posts and articles of stories the courts deemed unflattering towards minorities. [Tundra Tabloid; HT: Black Kettle]

And a third egregious example is that of Ezra Lavant, the former publisher of The Western Standard, went against the system in Canada and republished them; he is now on "trial" for offending Muslims by the act. The simple fact he has to defend his free speech rights before the Canadian Human Rights Commission (sic) is indicative of evil's victory in this arena.

You say this is an isolated event? Not so - November 29, 2007, Stephen Boissoin [an Alberta Christian/activist] and The Concerned Christian Coalition Inc. were found guilty of offending the public for publicly proclaiming the biblical addresses of several anti-homosexual passages.

COMPLICITY OF UK:

Two items -

1. Ministers are planning to implant "machine-readable" microchips under the skin of thousands of offenders as part of an expansion of the electronic tagging scheme that would create more space in British jails.

Amid concerns about the security of existing tagging systems and prison overcrowding, the Ministry of Justice is investigating the use of satellite and radio-wave technology to monitor criminals.

But, instead of being contained in bracelets worn around the ankle, the tiny chips would be surgically inserted under the skin of offenders in the community, to help enforce home curfews. The radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, as long as two grains of rice, are able to carry scanable personal information about individuals, including their identities, address and offending record. [Independent (UK); HT: Black Kettle]

I know, I know! I'm on record as pooh-poohing this fear; but I've changed my mind now that it is becoming a reality in the UK and planned here in at least on of the Colonies. Besides, the import of this post rests not in any one item but rather the collective and synergistic evidence.

2. When the Bishop of Rochester, Michael Nazir-Ali, wrote the other day that in some of Britain’s Muslim communities there were now no-go areas, the great and the not-so-good rose as one to denounce him for talking nonsense. From William Hague to Hazel Blears, people said they simply didn’t recognise what on earth he was talking about. There were no no-go areas, they cried. All a figment of the Bishop’s over-active imagination, apparently. ... Sigh.

The Sunday Telegraph, which ran an opinion poll on the subject, also reported the following:

Church leaders in communities with large concentrations of Muslims said that Christians were being targeted. An east London vicar who had delivered Christmas leaflets in his parish said he was told to stay away from ‘Muslim areas’. He said: ‘Despite this being a mixed area, where Muslims make up only about 15 per cent of the population, I was told that the leaflets were offensive and could make people angry.’Another churchman said his path had been blocked by Muslim youths as he drove through a district of Oldham, Lancashire, last year. ‘They wanted to know why I was coming into “their” area,’ he said.

The end of Western Civilization will require the almost simultaneous end of its two centuries old allies and historical greats, the UK and the USA. Continental Europe is already toast as a pillar of Western thought and practice.

MIDDLE EAST:

Three contributions -

1. The Palestinian “right of return” entered the lexicon of American policymakers in December 2006, when the Iraq Study Group Report urged the U.S. government to support Israel-Palestinian negotiations that addresses what it termed a “key final status issue.” ...

A year later, White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino adopted the term, though without much notice. Out of seemingly nowhere, she informed journalists at a press briefing on November 28, 2007 that “The right of return issue is a part of the road map and it's going to be one of the issues that the Israelis and the Palestinians have to talk about during … negotiations.”

Indeed, on schedule, “right of return” emerged as a motif before and during George W. Bush’s recent trip to Israel and the Palestinian Authority, when he mentioned it three time ... [Front Page Magazine]

Even though the Israel in Israel since 1948 is not the true Israel of the Hebrew bible or its prophesies, that Israel is indeed the secular image of the biblical Israel and that alone should cause us to be her long-suffering ally.

2. Coinciding with Bush's trip, the Bush administration in Washington notified Congress on Monday that it will offer Saudi Arabia the chance to buy sophisticated Joint Direct Attack Munitions — or "smart bomb" — technology and related equipment, the State Department said. [AFP]

Any one recall the Mujahideen and the military equip the USA provided them to fight the Soviets with? Does the word Afghanistan mean anything to you? In a future conflict these weapons can be used against Israel just as easily as Iran ... which is Islamic, which is Jewish?

3. Israel and the Palestinians opened on Monday their most serious peace talks in seven years despite differences over what each side aims to achieve. [Reuters]

Anyone remember Paul's words regarding the Last Days?

"Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are saying, "Peace and safety!" then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober."

1 Thessalonians 5:1-6

You say the USA wouldn't stand for it! Remember Iran under the Shah before Iran, and Iraq before Desert Storm? Remember the US Embassy crisis in Tehran? Come on, wake up!

ADULTERERS, APOSTATES, MOCKERS, etc.:

Examples only, but representative of numerous others in the past couple of years ...

NBC Show Criticized for Portraying Christians as Violent 'Bible Thumpers'

Wally the Wiener Fights Porn - XXX Church uses porn to fight porn (next week free hypodermic needles)

Megachurch leader charged with perjury - A warrant for the arrest of 80-year-old Archbishop Earl Paulk, co-founder of Cathedral of the Holy Spirit at Chapel Hill Harvester Church, was issued Monday, according to court documents.

You may think this is an overreaction to events common to our age and fallen culture ... okay! But remember, these are items occurring in only the past 24 hours on one blogger's news feeds. Hardly insignificant ... multiply these by the hundreds of feeds of the past 365 days, as compared to 365 day period say 50 years ago!

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