Apocalyptic Visitations to the Afterlife and Visions of the End
“For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” Emphasis added, The Apostle Paul, 1 Corinthians 13:12
Perhaps no question intrigues the human race more than the question, “Is there life after life?” From time immemorial, people, both within and without the Christian faith, have reported dying (i.e., death experiences, or DEs), or coming close to death (near-death experiences, or NDEs), and in the aftermath of those experiences, reported who or what they encountered in the afterlife.
DEs and NDEs: Ancient
In Plato’s Republic
In his Republic, Plato tells the story of a soldier named Er who,
Click here to continue readingwas slain in battle, and ten days afterwards, when the bodies of the dead were taken up already in a state of corruption, his body was found unaffected by decay, and carried away home to be buried.
Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, Fresh Revelations, and an “Open” Canon
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” Paul, 2 Timothy 4:4, Emphasis Added.
Lewis Sperry Chafer (1871-1952), the first president of Dallas Theological Seminary, once reportedly said that all heresy is either the Bible plus, or the Bible minus. The work of radical higher criticism, as it has affected, even determined, the liberal view of the Christian faith since the late 1800s, has seen to it that there’s a lot of Bible-minus ideology amongst professing Christians now-a-days, even among so-called evangelicals. Now however, voices are emerging which advocate a Bible-plus view of Holy Scripture. One such voice has stated:
Click here to continue readingWhile I do believe that the Holy Bible is Divinely inspired and written by men, I do not necessarily hold to the idea that only the 66 books we now have in our (Protestant) bibles are the sole Divinely inspired books of antiquity.
From Cosmos to Chaos, and Cosmos Again
“Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof; When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” Yahweh to Job, Job 38:4-7
The Gap Theory, as known among and designated by Bible teachers, students and some scholars, proposes that an indeterminate period of real time, constituted of millions, if not billions of years, existed between Genesis 1 verse 1, and Genesis 1 verse 2. Many Bible-believing Christians have held to this theory of the Genesis creation account. As paleontological science began to assert itself upon the understanding of human origins during the early 1800s, a science that proposed millions, if not billions, of years for the development of life on this planet, Christian scholars and teachers began to propose different ways of looking at the Genesis account. Click here to continue reading
What would it look like?
“Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.” James 2:23, KJV
Common to all three of the world’s monotheistic religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—are the respect, if not reverence, they hold for Abraham. Though differing on many points, all three faiths find a common contact in the person of Abraham (Jewish, Genesis 12-25; Christian, Romans 4:1-25; Muslim, Koran, Sura II. 124-140) For Christians, the faith of Abraham serves as a prototype. Abraham was justified by faith. Abraham “believed in the Lord; and He [the Lord] reckoned it to him [Abraham] as righteousness” (Genesis 15:6; See Romans 4:3, 20-22; Galatians 3:6; James 2:23.). And as Abraham was right with God by faith, so too is every true Christian believer. Genuine Christians believe God’s Gospel and are saved (See 1 Corinthians 15:3-4; Romans 10:8-11.).
But given the prominence of the patriarch among the three monotheistic religions, it should not surprise us that Abraham’s God was targeted for ridicule by at least one of “the new atheists.” Click here to continue reading
Christ before Cosmos
“Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” Emphasis added, Colossians 2:8, KJV
Introduction
From time immemorial, paranormal phenomena have manifested themselves in the cosmos. And as America has become more secular, there’s been a resurgence of it in our society and culture. Via the digital dimension of movies and video games, the paranormal has become quite “normal” in Western culture over the last generation. In fact, for many persons it’s become their new “reality.” [1] To hitchhike on the title of Peter Jones’ book, the Gnostic empire has struck back. [2]
The phenomenon has especially manifested itself in movies that highlight invading UFOs, aliens and powerful hybrid-transformer-like creatures which threaten to destroy or control civilization as we know it. Consider but several out of hundreds of movies that have been produced around this theme: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), Invasion (1997), The Colony (1998), The Invasion (2007), Alien Siege (2007), Alien Species (2008), The Darkest Hour (2011), Lethal Target (2013), Battle Earth (2013), Alien Invasion (2013), etc. Click here to continue reading
“Emmanuel”—God is with us!
“The mysterywhich has been hidden from the past ages and generations . . . has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:26-27, NASB)
Among evangelicals there’s a lot of chatter and publicity about “getting intimate” with or “seeking the manifest Presence” of God. Often spelled with an upper case “P,” the new Christian spiritualists hope to experience God’s “Presence” by means other than just praying to and reading about Him in the Bible. One means employed to invoke the “manifest presence” is called Soaking Prayer. Preparatory measures to bring down this prayer “presence”—though soaking prayer’s practitioners deny there is a precise formula for it—involves steps such as getting alone with God (solitude and silence; contra Matthew 18:20), repenting of sin(s), speaking in tongues, presenting one’s self to God, remembering God’s past workings, telling the Lord, “I want more of your presence,” and then waiting in silence for His manifest presence to come. Click here to continue reading
A Spiritual Life-Lesson from the Back of the Line
“Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.” Micah 7:18-19, NASB
Perhaps most of us, at one time or another, when leaving a store, have experienced being first in waiting at an unattended checkout lane and counter only to see another lane open up and the attendant then serve people who should have been served after after you. Well, it happened to me the other evening. Allow me to share with you a lesson I learned from it.
After meeting my wife to eat at our favorite place the other evening (Steak ‘n Shake for any who might be curious), I told her that I needed to shop for a few groceries and run a couple of errands after our meal. Click here to continue reading
The Sons of God, the Daughters of Men, and the Nephilim in Genesis 6.
“And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. . . . There were giants in the earth in those days; and [there were giants] also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.” Emphasis added, Genesis 6:1-2, 4, KJV
Recently, question has arisen over the understanding of the daughters of men, sons of God and mighty men of old as described in the Genesis record, question that has been occasioned by a recent post on the Herescope blog.[1] Click here to continue reading