More Subtle Than I Imagined

The Bible is very accurate but sometimes I feel like I've let my imagination get away from me over the years. When it comes to the end times and a few other issues; I'm seeing things unfold in a more subtle, patient way. This way can still be profound, but it's not as theatrical as I thought it would be. Maybe that will come later? The older I get and the more I can compare the infinite time of a God and the universe to my own short time as an organism, the more I can see the subtle nature of prophecy in the Bible. Maybe we have been in the end times for 2000 years and if you combine it all into a 10 year span, then yes, it sounds like hell on earth but history is like a circle. Knowing the nature of man, what he will do in the future is pretty easy to predict because he's already done it once and he usually doesn't learn his lesson.

Honestly - in modern times, could you have a better Darth Vader-ish type Antichrist than Hitler? Well, Hitler is dead and he didn't completely take over the world and never got the chance to destroy Christianity, so the next guy or gal will REALLY have to be slick to pull off the world domination thing again. It may have to be so far into the future that Hitler is a side note of a charismatic cult leader that people think they are too smart to fall for. Yes, in our ignorance, even the bad times in history repeats itself over and over. Which brings up the question - how will we know this is the final straw? I heard a pastor say once that he hasn't returned yet because he is trying to save as many souls as possible? Well, that could go on forever. As I type this, there have already been about 110 million births this year with a net population growth of 64 million.

After some studying and a lot of contemplation, it seems (at least to me) that if Jesus says that he doesn't even know when he's going to return - no matter how blatant we think the signs are, we still can't be sure if they're the right signs at the right times. Considering that God is eternal how can we possibly expect him to work on our time line? Every generation for the last two thousand years thinks they will be the last one. It's kind of like saying if I'm not going to be here, then no one else should be either. We all think we've reached the limit on moral depravity, but history is littered with some very sick people - I'm talking entire populations of sickos and we're still here.

AC: "Since you are a mortal being and you have a life span, you just want to be like yeah, no, I go - Everyone Goes! Everyone!" 

JR: "Yeah, it's like the ultimate flip the board game over if you can't win." 

Anthony Cumia and Joe Rogan on The Joe Rogan Experience

Here's one example where I expected something unbelievable but instead got the more subtle and explainable version years later. I don't know where he got his information from, but I clearly remember my father telling me, when I was a kid, that Israel would be attacked and that "no missiles would be able to land there. It'll be almost like there is a dome around the country and the missiles just bounce off." At the time I thought he'd gotten it from Revelations, but now the only place I can see this even being hinted at in the bible is Ezekiel 39 -

"I will strike your bow from your left hand and dash down your arrows from your right hand.You will fall on the mountains of Israel, you and all your troops and the peoples who are with you; I will give you as food to every kind of predatory bird and beast of the field.…"

So, growing up I saw this as one of the signs of the end times and I still do. But what I had in my head of how this missiles would just be falling out of the sky and how everyone would be amazed came about in an entirely different way - The Iron Dome. Yes, it still supports some of the commentary on the end times and it's definitely a game changer, but if you want converts, you'd think it would be more like the battle my imagination had conjured up all those many years ago.

It's kind of funny really. It's like getting this huge crowd of people ready for this unbelievable fireworks show. They have been making websites, debating on message boards, getting together on late night talk radio about this crazy fireworks show that is supposed to happen REAL soon. A date is finally set by someone, so they all show up in this field (which someone else set up) the evening of the first guy's predicted date. Up to this point, people are willing something to happen but they aren't for sure if the pyrotechnics crew is going to show up. When it's completely dark and crowd is hushed with excitement - that's when a lone man slowly walks into the field with one of those small glass coke bottles, digs it into the mud a bit, and shoots off one bottle rocket. He turns to the crowd and says, "Come back in 6 months and you will see something different." Did they get to see fireworks? Yes. Did the fireworks show have Bruce Willis shooting flares just over the crowd while Radiohead chanted melodically in the background? No. Will the next fireworks show have what everyone was expecting? Maybe. That's the mystery of it all, just when you think it's all slow, subtle and scientific, the clouds could part and we could see things that would make our hearts stop.

More Subtle than I Imagined -http://t.co/UzFYuTsHjY #endtimes #Christian #prophecy
— parker todd (@sturdyminded) October 17, 2014