There is nothing new under the sun.

Harold Camping wrote a book proclaiming Jesus would probably return in 1994, with a caveat that it might be 2011.

Edgar Whisenant predicted Christ’s return on Sept. 11-13, 1988.

Benjamin Creme predicted the Second Coming

would occur on June 21, 1982.

Published in 1956 by Herbert W. Armstrong, who believed the return of Christ might be in 1975.

Charles Taze Russel, the first president of what is now the Watchtower Society of the Jehovah's Witnesses, calculated 1874 to be the year of Christ's Second Coming.

Joseph Smith claimed that God had told him that Christ would return the year he became 85 years old.  Smith died at the age of 38.

Founder of the Harmony Society. Predicted Christ 

would

return on Sept. 15, 1829.

Jesus Christ Is NOT Returning on May 21, 2011

Probably.

I mean, nobody really knows.  So it could possibly be May 21.  But it is just as likely to be five seconds after you finish reading this sentence.

Billboard near Vidor, Texas

(Waiting…5…4…3…2…1)

Christ Himself said that no one knows when He will return, except for God the Father (Mark 13:32).  It’s a mystery by God’s design.  It’s not for us to know (Acts 1: 6-7).  That’s why we are to remain vigilant and watchful (Matt. 24:42, 25:13).

The Bible clearly indicates that Christ’s return and Judgment Day are impossible to predict.  Mr. Harold Camping doesn’t see it that way.  Camping believes that God has given him special insight into the Scriptures which allow him to pinpoint Christ’s return.

Harold Camping

Here is his logic, with quotes from his website.  He asserts that over the past 35 years “God began to open the true believers’ understanding of the timeline of history.” Therefore, he can accurately identify the dates of major Biblical events, such as “Creation (11,013 B.C.), the flood of Noah’s day (4990 B.C.), the exodus of Israel from Egypt (1447 B.C.) and the death of Solomon (93l B.C.)”

On a side note, Camping claims that the Holy Spirit was removed from the Earth on May 21, 1988, marking the beginning of the tribulation.  Therefore, anyone who still follows the church is not a true believer.  And during this period of time “very few, if any, were saved.”

This week's weather forecast brought to you by FamilyRadio.

In Gen. 7:4, God told Noah that the flood was coming and it would destroy every living thing.  The flood began seven days later (Gen. 7:10-11). 

Now for the first step down the slippery slope of heretical false doctrine.  Using 1 Pet. 3:8 out of context, Camping deduces the following mathematical formula:

1 God day = 1000 man years,

therefore 7 days until flood = 7000 years until Judgment Day

He claims that the passage in Gen. 7 was essentially God “telling the world there would be exactly 7,000 years escape the wrath of God that would come when He destroys the world on Judgment Day.” 

This assertion is not only unbiblical, it is down right absurd.  This false doctrine ignores the clear Biblical teaching, and builds a house of cards on the foundation of poor hermeneutics and unfounded assumptions. 

Don’t get me wrong, Judgment Day is imminent.  It will be a glorious and triumphant day for believers, and a day of grim reality for the unrepentant.

Therefore I urge everyone to repent and trust wholly in the grace given to us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Because Jesus is coming back, just not on Harold Camping’s time table.

Quote of the Day

Life is like an elevator, there's a lot of ups and downs.
People are always pushing your buttons and you get jerked around.

Lecrae

I was never really a fan of rap music.  I listened to it for a short period during high school, but that was just because I thought it would make me cool (it didn’t).  Some of my complaints against mainstream hip-hop music were moral, and others were simply preference.

In college, I was part of an after school program at church.  We would open up the church game room to the neighborhood kids and feed them pizza or hot dogs.  We had a 1991 model CD player with speakers and we would play this one Christian rap CD that the pastor’s wife brought.  It was Real Talk by Lecrae.  Although I didn’t care for the style or the genre, the lyrics were phenomenal.  This dude loved the Lord, and he was going to let you know in every track.  It was the most Scripture-filled music I have ever heard.  I was an instant fan.

A couple years later I had the opportunity to see Lecrae perform live at LU.  The atmosphere was more like a revival or a worship service.  He preached the unabashed gospel in and between his songs.  It was a great event.

Recently I have rediscovered this artist.  I bought a couple more of his albums and have been listening to them nonstop for the last month.  His songs are so choked full of truth.  That is an uncommon quality in this age of shallow pop-rock worship songs.  He preaches God’s glory, frequently quoting scriptures of both wrath and grace.  He is theologically sound, emotionally deep, and well rounded.  One song had me tearing up and shouting hallelujah at the same time.

Therefore, I have decided to post some of my favorite lyrics. Enjoy.

Mercy & Grace

Mercy is being pardoned from a deserved punishment.

Grace is receiving an undeserved gift.

Through God's mercy we are not utterly destroyed for our lawlessness and rebellion.  Through God's grace we are given the free gift of life eternal through Jesus Christ.

INDEED

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Go to the ant

Man was created to work and toil. One consequence of sin’s curse on this world is that by the sweat of our brow shall we eat bread (Gen. 3:19).  Thus mankind has labored to provide sustenance through out the ages.  Even in our modern era of innovation and technological advancement, we are still bound by this principal of work.

God’s Word is clearly pro-work.  In fact, the first work ever done was by God Himself in the act of creation (Gen. 1).  Likewise, the Law of Moses commanded work to be done for six days, and rest of the seventh (Ex. 20:9).  Hard work and diligence is commended as noble and wise attributes, both in the secular and sacred realms.  Conversely, laziness and slothfulness are condemned.

    ⁶  Go to the ant, you sluggard!   
      Consider her ways and be wise, 
       ⁷   Which, having no captain,   
      Overseer or ruler, 
       ⁸   Provides her supplies in the summer,   
      And gathers her food in the harvest. 
       ⁹  How long will you slumber, O sluggard?   
      When will you rise from your sleep? 
       ¹⁰  A little sleep, a little slumber,   
      A little folding of the hands to sleep— 
       ¹¹  So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler,   
      And your need like an armed man. (Proverbs 6:6-11, New King James Version)

⁴  The soul of a lazy man desires, and has nothing;   
      But the soul of the diligent shall be made rich. 
       (Proverbs 13:4, New King James Version)

⁴  He who has a slack hand becomes poor,   
      But the hand of the diligent makes rich. 
       (Proverbs 10:4, New King James Version)

¹⁵   Laziness casts one into a deep sleep,   
      And an idle person will suffer hunger. 
       (Proverbs 19:15, New King James Version)

²⁸ Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. (Ephesians 4:28, New King James Version)

¹¹ that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, (1 Thessalonians 4:11, New King James Version)

These commands are not limited to men.  Proverbs 31 describes the virtuous wife as "willing to work with her hands", "her lamp does not go out by night", and she "does not eat the bread of idleness."

In his second epistle to the church in Thessalonica, Paul encouraged them to follow his example (2 Thess. 3:6).  For even though as an Apostle Paul was entitled to be supported by the congregation, he chose to instead labor to provide for his needs (2 Thess. 3:8).  By working tirelessly night and day, he set the standard of the hard work that should characterize the life of a believer.  Paul further reinforced the principal that those able-bodied persons who are not willing to work are not to eat (2 Thess. 3:10).  In other words, they were not to continue to support a person's lazy and idle lifestyle.  Instead, they were to exercise church discipline.  Paul commanded the church to keep away from any brother who consistently lives in idleness (2 Thess. 3:6).  They were to have nothing to do with them so that they may be ashamed and repent of their disobedience (2 Thess. 3:14).  In light of all this, the church as a whole is not to become weary in doing good (2 Thess. 3:13), and should not discontinue charity to those in need because of the abuse of the sluggard.

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