These are my comments relating to some of the articles found at www.forerunner.com.
Check back for my random thoughts on eschatology, world missions, God's Law and Society, theonomy, Christian Reconstruction, pro-life activism, evangelism testimonies, Neo-Puritan theology and social theory, revival and spiritual awakening, church history, and so on.
A reader named Steve asks a question about my interpretation of Daniel 9:27.
It appears that you take a preterist view of Daniel 9:27.
That brings me to a couple of questions that I need answered.
Question #1. If Jesus, in Matthew 24, is speaking to his disciples about "the end of the world" (verse 3), then, if the "abomination of desolation" that Jesus says Daniel the prophet spoke about is referring to an event that took place back in 70 AD. my first question is "Is Jesus speaking about an end time that is almost 2,000 years long?" The reason I'm asking is because we know that Matthew 24:30 is in the future, and therefore if Matt 24:15 took place back around 70 AD, then Jesus is speaking in direct response to the disciples' inquiries about a period from about 70 AD to His second coming. (Matthew 24:15-30).
I have an article that fully describes my view on Matthew 24 and 25.
The following passage in bold is an except from that article:
“The sign of His coming”
In verses 30 and 31, Jesus refers to the “sign of His coming” which I interpret as the gathering of the elect from the nations after the time of the destruction of the Temple.
“And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Mat. 24:30,31).
He says in vv. 29-31 that immediately after the tribulation of those days, the powers of heaven will be shaken, the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and there will be a time when the Gospel will go out to all nations (as it has been doing for 2000 years). Compare this with Matthew 28:18-20 and the other “Great Commission” passages. There is a great similarity of language.
Futurists believe that verses 30 and 31 refer specifically to the Second Coming. But what is being explained is “the sign of His coming.” Compare the language here with Acts 2:16-21. Peter says, “this is that which is spoken of by the prophet Joel.” Peter uses language very similar to Jesus in Matthew 28:29-31. The highly figurative language used here denotes Christ’s rule from heaven over the nations.
Thus the “sign of His coming” is the Church enlarged by Gentile believers and used of God to disciple the nations.
Some preterists hold that the sign of His coming is Jesus coming in judgment when the Roman armies would destroy Jerusalem in 70 AD. That is only part of what is meant here.
He explains that Christ’s attention turns from A.D. 70 to the future Second Advent in the two transition verses, Matthew 24:34-36. I was very pleased when I read this article because it matches my view of Matthew 24.
Question #2. As far as I know, neither Titus nor Nero ever set foot in the second temple. So, my question is "Who was 'standing in the temple' as the 'abomination of desolation' " that Jesus is referring to (the one spoken of by the prophet Daniel)?"
Essentially it is Titus and/or his legions. However, the Jews themselves profaned the temple by rejecting the Messiah. This was just the final consummation of what took place 40 years earlier when the unbelieving Jews sought to murder their the Lord.
The following paragraph in bold is an except from the article on Daniel 9:
“The overspreading of abominations”
This refers to the “abomination of desolation” the bringing of ensigns and standards of the pagan Romans in to the Temple. Antiochus Epiphanes of the Assyrians profaned the Temple restored in the time of Ezra. Titus, Roman destructor of Herod’s Temple, profaned the Temple in AD 70. This was the direct cause of the profanation of the Temple by Jews who rejected the Messiah.
For evidence that the Roman legions entered the Temple and profaned the holy place, see the representations of the Jewish vessels as they still stand on Titus's triumphal arch at Rome.
Hopefully, you can see this in the image here:
Jesus' disciples also must have thought of the previous desecration of the Temple spoken of in Daniel 8:23-25 and Daniel 11:31:
“And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.”
According to 1 Maccabees 4:52:
“Now on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month (which is called Chislev), in the hundred and forty-eighth year they rose up betimes in the morning. And offered a sacrifice according to law upon the new altar of burnt offerings which they had made.”
Josephus writes that the Temple was desecrated for three years. He testifies that this was the fulfillment of the prophecy of Daniel:
“Indeed it so came to pass that our nation suffered these things under Antiochus Epiphanes, according to Daniel’s vision and what he wrote years before they came to pass.”
However, Jesus uses specific language in the Mount Olivet Discourse that refers to Daniel 9, which is a subsequent profanation to the one spoken of in Daniel 8 and 11. Nevertheless, Jesus compares the two. Antiochus profaned the Temple by actually slaughtering a pig on the altar. There is no record that the Romans did this, but they did enter the Temple and carry off the furniture, candlesticks, etc., before the Temple was razed to the ground. The mere presence of the Romans within the Holy Place was an abomination.
We also can't separate this desecration from the overall context of the prophecy that is framed by Matthew 24:1,2.
Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”
Jesus prophesied there should not be left one stone upon another. The prediction was fulfilled to the letter in the destruction of the temple by the Romans under Titus in 70 AD.
I had a couple of dynamic spiritual experiences this week. The first was meeting Dr. Peter Hammond of Frontline Fellowship, South Africa. Dr. Hammond is a personal “hero” of mine and is doing more to promote true Revival than anyone I can think of. He spoke of his mission’s work in Africa – the vision is no less than “All of Africa for Christ.” Hammond understands that Revival isn’t simply life-changing on a personal and pietistic level, but nation-changing and world-changing as well.
Not only are there numerous messages available for download, but sermons have also been prepared as power point presentations that you yourself can present and teach to your small group or church meeting. When presented under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, these presentations are truly life-changing, nation-changing and world-changing.
Dr. Hammond emphasized the following points:
1. John Calvin, although he is not primarily known as a social reformer and an evangelist, was more full-orbed in his theology and social theory than most people realize. Calvin’s view on justification by faith and a resulting sanctification translated into the increase of Christian efforts to reform the society of his own day and in succeeding generations.
2. John Knox and the Scottish Covenanters are primarily known as the founders of the Presbyterian movement. Yet this revival was not just a reformation of doctrine in the Scottish church, but also a spiritual awakening that affected the entire country of Scotland. This was the first nation in modern history that was literally converted en masse to Christ. According to Iain Murray, author of The Puritan Hope, there was not a household in Scotland in which one of the members experienced a profound conversion to Christ. The nation itself was born-again and the people of 16th and 17th century Scotland covenanted with God.
3. The English version of the Presbyterians, the Puritans, were responsible for bringing this vision to England and America. Men such as Oliver Cromwell, William Bradford and John Winthrop changed not only the politics of the west, but their lives resulted in a greater evangelistic thrust for the fulfillment of the Great Commission.
4. In the 18th century we can say much the same about the lives of George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards. Their preaching of the Gospel, far from being a “salvation-only” message, affected all aspects of society.
5. By comparison, today’s Calvinists (and we evangelicals in general) are frozen in our devotion to God. We tend to neglect fervent prayer, emotional expression in worship and evangelism. If they were alive today, the Calvinists of the past would hardly recognize today’s Calvinists as being representative of their lives’ work.
6. We are currently undergoing a paradigm shift in the evangelical church from pervasive and being an ardent dispensational premillennialism to a postmillennial activism. This shift in eschatological outlook will be vital to the future of Christian cultural transformation.
7. The greatest century of missions was the 19th century. The world missions movement was initially fueled by the postmillennial hope. The eschatology of the founders of modern Protestant missions was almost universally optimistic. The result of this postmillennial worldview was claiming the nations for Christ.
8. The prospects faced by William Carey, George Mueller, David Livingstone and others in plowing the rocky soil in Africa, Asia and other “dark continents” was thought to be “dismal.” The immediate result of their efforts was a handful of converts. If these men had the eschatology and vision of today’s Christians, they would not have had the long term outlook that enabled them to persevere. The great irony is that by the end of the 20th century, hundreds of millions of Christian converts have streamed into the kingdom of God. These men didn’t live to see the fulfillment of the promise, but believed. Yet most Christians today are seeing the fulfillment, but don’t have their hope.
9. Frontline Fellowship’s vision is the transformation of all of Africa and the world. Neo-Puritanism is having an impact in these nations from children in home schools and church schools to the highest levels of government where presidents and high ranking officials are being impacted with world changing Gospel teaching.
10. In Sudan and other places, Christians are being martyred for their faith. What should be our response to this? We need to elect politicians with the backbone of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan who stood up to communism, not to appease anti-Christian tyranny, but to defeat it. Our attitude toward militant Islam should not be a “turn-the-other-cheek-pacifism.” Military action by African Christians in defense against Islam is not only permissible from a New Testament perspective, but mandated to defend the faith. There could even come a time in America when Christians may have to take up arms against invasive regimes, false religions and an oppressive government in our own land.
Is “Nero” in the new Star Trek movie an intentional Christian allegory?
If you haven’t seen Star Trek XI, you need to drop everything and go out and spend $10 (or whatever it costs in your town to see a movie these days) and see it. Not only is it the best Star Trek movie by far, but it will be the biggest movie of the year and shockingly, despite all the hype, it is much better than expected. I could go on and repeat all the critical drivel about how it will revive the franchise, how great is Chris Pine’s portrayal of Captain James T. Kirk, blah, blah, blah, but I won’t.
I am thinking that the “Nero” character in the new Star Trek movie is an intentional Christian allegory.
The “mythology” of a science fiction or fantasy series, whether it is The X-Files, Star Wars or Dune, works on several levels. There is the “back story” of a series, which enables the audience suspend ignorance and disbelief about the characters and their world. In The X-Files, Fox Mulder is obsessed with UFOs because he wants to believe that his younger sister’s disappearance when they were children is due to an alien abduction. It is what drives him to believe that “the truth is out there.” In Star Wars, the audience is asked from the beginning to understand that this is a mythological setting, for the story takes place, “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away ...” And thus we are willing to accept that there can be no reference to the world we are from. In Star Wars the impossibility of faster than light travel is explained by the existence of “hyper-space” – another dimension where those nagging laws of Einstein’s do not interfere. In Dune, the entire mythology revolves around the production of spice on the desert world of Arrakis or Dune, which not only makes interstellar travel possible, but drives the entire culture of the galaxy as well.
Science fiction and fantasy writers also draw upon mythic symbolism and universal archetypes. They capture the audience’s sense of wonder appealing to a deeper level of emotion and spiritual awareness. Therefore, George Lucas became an avid follower of Joseph Campbell, author of The Hero With a Thousand Faces, and self-consciously used these symbols and stories in each of the Star Wars movies. Ursula K. LeGuin, author of The Dispossessed and The Left Hand of Darkness, wrote what she called not science fiction but “thought experiments” relying on Jungian psychology and Eastern symbolism found in the Tao Te Ching. Frank Herbert, author of Dune, drew from biblical messianic prophecy tinged with ancient mythology and Arabic sounding words suggesting the religion of Islam. Other fantasy authors such as J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis used Christian symbolism, although Tolkien claimed he hated the very idea of allegory and had no such intentions.
The original series of Star Trek was no stranger to allegory, mythology and dense symbolism. However, Christianity is the most common mythic reference. (Here I use the word “myth” in it’s proper literary sense.) One example is Episode 44 of Star Trek: The Original Series, entitled “Bread and Circuses,” a story about a planet whose leader has imitated the culture of the Roman Empire, but with 1960s technology. In the episode, the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise encounters a persecuted minority known as “sun worshipers” who help McCoy and Spock escape certain death in the gladiator arena.
KIRK: Gentlemen.
MCCOY: Captain, I see on your report Flavius was killed. I am sorry. I liked that huge sun worshiper.
SPOCK: I wish we could have examined that belief of his more closely. It seems illogical for a sun worshiper to develop a philosophy of total brotherhood. Sun worship is usually a primitive superstition religion.
UHURA: I'm afraid you have it all wrong, Mister Spock, all of you. I've been monitoring some of their old-style radio waves, the empire spokesman trying to ridicule their religion. But he couldn't. Don't you understand? It's not the sun up in the sky. It's the Son of God.
KIRK: Caesar and Christ. They had them both. And the word is spreading only now.
MCCOY: A philosophy of total love and total brotherhood.
SPOCK: It will replace their imperial Rome, but it will happen in their twentieth century.
KIRK: Wouldn't it be something to watch, to be a part of? To see it happen all over again? Mister Chekov, take us out of orbit. Ahead warp factor one.
CHEKOV: Aye, sir.
A scene from “Bread and Circuses”
When I was a child I liked Mr. Spock and I even had a Vulcan haircut for a while, but I became a more serious fan of the show once I realized that each episode was a social commentary on one of the many issues during the turbulent 1960s. I was chagrined to realize when I visited Russia and Ukraine eleven times in the 1990s that the show never caught on in Europe or even in the post-Soviet Union. It made no sense at first, since the average Russian school child knew more about the American space program than we did and the whole society idolized its cosmonauts. They loved The X-Files and Star Wars, so why not Star Trek?
Finally, I realized that most Europeans disdained Star Trek as a crass expression of the American notion of Manifest Destiny. Not only would we take over the world, but an American styled “United Federation of Planets” would one day colonize space. Note that the crew of the Enterprise is multicultural and multi-ethnic, but the captain is predictably American. They hated that.
In the 1980s, when Ronald Reagan stepped up nuclear arms production in an attempt to win the cold war, William Shatner’s character appeared in the lyrics to a song, “99 Red Balloons,” by a one-hit-wonder German group, Nena, in a wry screed against the idea that a nuclear war is winnable.
Ninety-nine knights of the air Ride super-high-tech jet fighters Everyone’s a super hero Everyone’s a Captain Kirk With orders to identify To clarify, and classify Scramble in the summer sky As ninety-nine red balloons go by
But I digress.
A few years ago, I produced a preterist video commentary on Revelation 13 featuring Dr. Kenneth Gentry called The Beast of Revelation: Identified. Copies are always available on our website.
The preterist view of Revelation sees most of the events taking place in the first century since John was writing to seven churches in Asia Minor. In contrast to the preterist view, there are three other hermeneutic approaches to the book of Revelation.
Futurism is the most common “end-times view” of our day. According to the futurist, the book of Revelation is yet to be fulfilled. The locust plagues of Revelation 9 might be interpreted to be Cobra helicopters attacking modern day Israel. The Beast of Revelation 13 is a future world dictator.
Historicism is a view that states that the prophecies of the book of Revelation was fulfilled sometime in history, but not in the first century or in the future. The black plague of the Middle Ages might be interpreted to be one of the plagues brought by the four horsemen of Revelation 6. The pope at the time of Martin Luther is thought to be the Beast of Revelation 13.
Idealism is the spiritualist approach to Bible prophecy. This view states that the prophecies of Revelation are not to be taken literally, but have a general symbolic application in all history. The heavenly battle of Revelation 12 is thought to describe the ongoing battle between good and evil in the spiritual realm. The Beast of Revelation 13 might be any ruler in history who persecutes the church.
I find the preterist view to be most compelling because it has Caesar Nero as the Beast of Revelation 13. In fact, when we understand the historical background of the New Testament, we can see a lot of historical parallels in John’s vision to events that took place in the first century.
In Revelation 12 particularly, we see the figure of the Christ child who is persecuted by the dragon.
Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth. And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born. She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne. Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days. And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him (Revelation 12:1-9).
From a preterist point of view, this speaks of Israel, the Christ child, and the Church. Israel, the Old Covenant church, gives birth to the Christ child. But as soon as this happens, Satan, symbolized by the dragon, leads a war against Christ attempting to kill him through the Roman Empire’s military rulers. The first instance of this was the attempted murder of the Christ child by King Herod the Great.
Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men … Now when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the young Child’s life are dead.” Then he arose, took the young Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea instead of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And being warned by God in a dream, he turned aside into the region of Galilee. And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, “He shall be called a Nazarene” (Matthew 2:16-23).
After this occurs, Christ is finally crucified under the Roman procurator Pontius Pilate. He is resurrected from the dead, however, and is caught up to God’s throne. There He now rules the nations with a rod of iron. In the meantime, Satan is enraged with “the seed of the woman,” the church, and persecutes her through the Emperor Nero.
Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ (Revelation 12: 13-17).
In Revelation 13 and 17, the “beast from the sea” and his number, “six hundred sixty-six,” is a symbol and cryptogram for Caesar Nero. This “Beast” has his power and authority to persecute the church from the dragon, the devil. The judgments on the “land” of the Jewish people are recounted in Revelation 18 and 19 leading up to the demolition of the Temple.
I cannot delve into a full-blown exposition of a difficult and controversial text here. I recommend if you want to know more about the preterist view that you check out the DVD, The Beast of Revelation: Identified, or one of Ken Gentry’s or David Chilton’s excellent books on the subject. It’s an interpretation that has had a minority following in church history, but is gaining ground among academics who see the frequent error of end-times hysteria in our culture.
Anne Rice, the recently converted Vampire horror fiction writer and author of a novel series, Christ the Lord, points out two important facts on preterism. A correct understanding of the biblical significance of the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD not only vanquishes crippling dispensationalism, but it also refutes the modernist conjecture that the New Testament was written late by non-eyewitnesses to Jesus.
When Jewish and Christian scholars begin to take this war seriously, when they begin to really study what happened during the terrible years of the siege of Jerusalem, the destruction of the Temple, and the revolts that continued in Palestine right up through Bar Kokhba, when they focus upon the persecution of Christians in Palestine by Jews; upon the civil war in Rome in the ‘60s which Kenneth L. Gentry so well describes in his work Before Jerusalem Fell; as well as the persecution of Jews in the Diaspora during this period – in sum, when all of this dark era is brought into the light of examination – Bible studies will change. Right now, scholars neglect or ignore the realities of this period. To some it seems a two-thousand-year-old embarrassment and I’m not sure I understand why. But I am convinced that the key to understanding the Gospels is that they were written before all this ever happened.
I understand the Star Trek XI movie as a prophetic landmark for the church pointing us toward a correct understanding of not just the book of Revelation, but of the entire New Testament. Let's look at how perfectly the Star Trek mythology dovetails with the following biblical truths.
As any Trekkie can tell you, Spock’s sacrificial death and resurrection in Star Trek II and III cast him as the perfect Christ figure. Not only does he save the crew of the Enterprise, but he also saves the entire Federation of Planets from a doomsday machine called “Genesis.” The project is intended to create new inhabitable worlds in a few days or weeks out of barren planets. However, Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy sees it for what it really is.
[In the film, Star Trek II, Kirk, Spock and Bones have just viewed a proposal video for the Genesis Project]
MCCOY: Dear Lord, do you think we're intelligent enough to … suppose … what if this thing were used where life already exists?
SPOCK: It would destroy such life in favor of its new matrix.
MCCOY: Its new matrix? Do you have any idea what you're saying?
SPOCK: I was not attempting to evaluate its moral implications, Doctor. As a matter of cosmic history, it has always been easier to destroy than to create.
MCCOY: [Sarcastically] Not anymore. Now we can do both at the same time! According to myth, the earth was created in six days. Now watch out! Here comes Genesis. We'll do it for you in six minutes!
In Star Trek II, subtitled The Wrath of Khan, a genetically engineered super-villain named Khan captures Genesis and intends on using it to conquer the galaxy. The parallels between the biblical Genesis story here are all too obvious. Man, in his pride, succumbs to the desire to be like God by creating worlds. Then his adversary, the devil or Khan, manipulates man’s error in an attempt to rule the galaxy.
Ironically, Spock not only defeats “Genesis” by giving his life for the Enterprise, thus enabling the crew to destroy Khan, but later a newly created Genesis planet becomes the resting place of Spock’s body. Unknown to the crew of the Enterprise, Spock cannot remain dead on a planet that creates life out of non-life. In Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, McCoy discovers that upon Spock’s death he has received Spock’s soul which was imparted to him upon his death through a mind meld – a Vulcan ritual of laying on of hands and transferring thoughts and emotions. Spock’s DNA is reassimilated on the Genesis planet well into this third installment and he is resurrected and reunited with the crew. The Christian allegory here is obvious.
Fast forward to Star Trek XI, a movie that is all the more satisfying because the background mythology of the series alluded to elsewhere is spelled out clearly. While the story line is comprehensible to the newbie, Star Trek fans will see references to the mythology of the series in every scene, which makes it enjoyable on a deeper level.
Spock has been working as an ambassador toward universal peace among the planets for many decades. He attempts unification between his home world, Vulcan, and their ancestral enemies the offshoot race of the Romulans. Many years after this (Vulcans live much longer than humans you must know, it’s part of the mythology) it is discovered that a giant supernova threatens to destroy a large part of the inhabitable galaxy. Equipped with a substance called “red matter,” Spock attempts to cause the supernova to collapse on itself transforming the stellar phenomenon into a black hole. In the process the Romulan home world is destroyed.
A Romulan miner named “Nero” escapes death because he captains a vast starship apparently outfitted to drill, pulverize and process planetary matter and asteroids. He travels back into the past through this black hole. Nero resolves to eliminate the Federation by killing its greatest starship captain, James T. Kirk, before he could take command of the Enterprise. Kirk's best friend, Spock, tries to undo the damage caused by Nero by following him through time. Arriving 25 years later than Nero due to the time distortion, Nero is waiting for Spock. Rather than killing Spock, he imprisons him on an ice planet close to Vulcan. Spock is forced to watch the death of his own home world in this alternate universe. (Star Trek is no stranger to the time paradox theme as introduced in what is arguably the best episode, “City on the Edge of Forever.”) Nero then plans to use “red matter” to destroy the worlds that make up the Federation over 100 years prior to his own planet's destruction in order to alter the future.
Star Trek XI’s theme becomes the “Wrath of Nero.” Or as the King James version of the Bible has it:
And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ (Revelation 12:17).
This war between the dragon and the woman becomes the mythic theme of Star Trek XI. In the plot of the film, there are several striking parallels. First, the elder Spock watches his mother killed and then he is forced to contend with the war of Nero against the Federation, the prime targets being the younger versions of Spock and Kirk.
It is important to understand here that the “woman” of Revelation 12 is not singularly Mary the Mother of God, but Israel and later “New Covenant Israel” or the church. In Revelation chapter 13, a new character is introduced, “a beast arose up out of the sea.” This is the Roman Caesar Nero who actually did kill the “seed of the woman,” the founders of the Christian church, in large numbers. The Roman historian Tacitus, writing in about 116 AD, records that Nero sought to use the Christians as the scapegoat for a great fire that consumed much of Rome on the night of July 18th, 64 AD:
But all human efforts, all the lavish gifts of the emperor, and the propitiations of the gods, did not banish the sinister belief that the conflagration was the result of an order. Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular. Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind. Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired. Nero offered his gardens for the spectacle, and was exhibiting a show in the circus, while he mingled with the people in the dress of a charioteer or stood aloft on a car. Hence, even for criminals who deserved extreme and exemplary punishment, there arose a feeling of compassion; for it was not, as it seemed, for the public good, but to glut one man's cruelty, that they were being destroyed (Annals 15.44).
Writing about 20 years earlier (c. 96 AD), the Roman bishop Clement records that Peter and Paul were among the list of martyrs of his “own generation.” Clement is thought by many to be an eyewitness to the martyrdoms of the Apostles and other Christians in the arena under Nero from 64 to 67 AD.
But not to dwell upon ancient examples, let us come to the most recent spiritual heroes. Let us take the noble examples furnished in our own generation. Through envy and jealousy, the greatest and most righteous pillars [of the Church] have been persecuted and put to death. Let us set before our eyes the illustrious apostles. Peter, through unrighteous envy, endured not one or two, but numerous labors and when he had at length suffered martyrdom, departed to the place of glory due to him. Owing to envy, Paul also obtained the reward of patient endurance, after being seven times thrown into captivity, compelled to flee, and stoned. After preaching both in the east and west, he gained the illustrious reputation due to his faith, having taught righteousness to the whole world, and come to the extreme limit of the west, and suffered martyrdom under the prefects. Thus was he removed from the world, and went into the holy place, having proved himself a striking example of patience (1 Clement 5).
Star Trek’s villain Nero seeks first to punish Spock by destroying his home planet, but his family escapes except for his mother, an earth woman named Amanda. Spock is half Vulcan and half human and this too fits into the Christ myth that is developed throughout the Star Trek canon. Nero then seeks to kill “the remnant of the woman’s seed,” the young Spock and the crew of the Enterprise.
Likewise, Caesar Nero after proclaiming himself a god, was unable to countenance the existence of a growing Christian movement that placed a man from Palestine above his own authority. In his great wrath, Nero destroys the Apostles, but cannot destroy the church after three-and-a half years of bloody persecution. The Beast is said to “make war with the saints and to overcome them” (Rev. 13:7). He is said to conduct such blasphemous warfare for a specific period of time: 42 months (Rev. 13:5).
As a consequence, Nero commits suicide stabbing himself in the neck with his own sword. The Beast not only slays by the sword, but ultimately is to die of a sword wound. “He that leads into captivity shall go into captivity: he that kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints” (Rev.13:10). Finally, we see the Beast “cast into a lake of fire” at the end of John’s prophecy (Revelation 20:10). Star Trek’s Nero meets a similar end as he too dies in a conflagration.
As in any allegory, the weakness is found when we begin to stretch it too far. Obviously the time travel element and having two Spocks complicates “the seed of the woman” analogy a bit – or perhaps makes it more interesting. However, I have made it my purpose here to note the biblical parallels between Star Trek XI and the biblical story of the woman, the child, the dragon and the beast and to point out how the history of Nero can be understood to support the preterist interpretation of biblical prophecy.
In this series, Yuce Kabakci tells of his conversion to faith in Jesus Christ as well as his vision for planting churches and ministries in Turkey. He explains that even in a "secular" Muslim country, such as Turkey, there is a cost for discipleship.
I'll be posting some more information on Yuce and his vision in the next few days.
I recently wrote a 70-page script called: "The Harrowing of Hell" -- which is the unlikely title of a proposed new video about postmillennial eschatology.
Read an excerpt from my script:
The Harrowing of Hell
The term “Harrowing of Hell" refers to idea that Christ descended into Hell, as stated in the Apostles’ Creed. It is further thought (by many) to mean that He made warfare against Hell releasing its captives, particularly the righteous men and women of Old Testament times.
The Greek wording in the Apostles’ Creed is katelthonta eis ta katôtata ... and in Latin descendit ad inferos.
The Greek ta katôtata means "the lowest" and the Latin inferos means “those below.” This is where we get the Italian word inferno (the word Dante used for “hell” in The Divine Comedy.) Inferos may also be translated as “the underworld,” “the netherworld,” or “hell.” So this phrase is usually translated in most English versions of the Apostles Creed as “descended into hell.”
The English word “harrow” is a form of “harry,” a military term meaning “to make predatory raids or incursions” against an enemy in warfare.
We get the term “harrowing of hell” from numerous Old and Middle English sermons on the triumphant descent of Christ into hell between the time of His crucifixion and His resurrection, when He brought salvation to souls held captive there.
In support of this view, Acts 2:27 and 2:31 declare in effect that Hades (the “place of the dead” or “hell”) could not hold the crucified Christ.
1 Peter 3:19-20 says that Jesus “went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah.”
1 Peter 4:6 says, “For this reason the gospel was preached also to those who are dead.”
2 Corinthians 2:14 may also be interpreted to speak of the harrowing of hell.
Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.
— 2 Corinthians 2:14
We should point out that this doctrine is controversial. Not all theologians agree that these scriptures mean that Jesus visited hell in person after He died on the cross. Some rightly argue that Christ did not need to make warfare over an already defeated foe. But it is clear from the plain meaning of scripture that Jesus certainly triumphed over hell. At the cross, He defeated sin and death once and for all defeating Satan and all his works.
Central to this credo is a statement made by Jesus: “But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you” (Matthew 12:28). This casting out of demons or the “harrowing of hell” was the preeminent sign that the kingdom had come on earth as it is in heaven.
Jesus taught that the kingdom of God is already here, but it has not yet grown to its fullness. The kingdom is likened to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field until it grew into a great tree (Matthew 13:31). It is also likened to leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, until the whole was leavened (Matthew 13:33). The kingdom of God is already here, but it is always progressing and growing until it spreads into the whole world.
The role of the Church during history is to bring all things into captivity to Christ. Satan and the forces of hell have already been defeated – and yet still greater victory lies ahead.
Now if we are going to work for the kingdom of God with an eye toward winning, we must have an eschatology of victory. If we are to bring everything into captivity to Christ, we must have a theology that tells us it is impossible to lose. Ideas have consequences. We must believe that we are the people of victory and Christ is going to triumph in history. Only when all things are put under His feet will the last enemy, death, be destroyed.
As 1 Corinthians 15:25,26 tells us:
For he must reign, till he has put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.
— 1 Corinthians 15:25,26
Now this is a remarkable truth. And yet few people have taken it this at face value and have considered its plain meaning. According to this passage, Christ is reigning now from heaven. He will do so until all enemies of the Gospel are put under His feet. Through the conversion of the nations of the world, God's enemies will be destroyed. The last enemy, death, is destroyed only at the Second Coming. Until that time, we can look forward to great victories. We are told that “the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ” (Revelation 11:15).
And the exciting part of this promise is that we Christians are to be used of God to put His enemies into submission. The idea that the Lord has entrusted the stewardship of the world to His people is found in the parable of the talents in Luke 19. Here the Lord says to His servants, “Occupy till I come” (Luke 19:13). The Lord is gone for a long time, while His most faithful servants work to increase the wealth of their Master's kingdom.
When the Master returns, He rewards those who have done the best job with the wealth entrusted to them in advancing the kingdom in their Lord's absence. Those who work for the advance of the kingdom receive rulership over entire cities. But the enemies of God who would not work to increase the wealth of their master are slain with the sword (Luke 19:27).
So ideas do have consequences. If we believe that Satan is already bound according to Revelation 20:2 and Christ is seated on the throne of heaven, then what type of stewards should we be? Should we tirelessly work for the increase of the kingdom of God in history? – Or should we act like the unfruitful servants hide our talents in hope that we won’t lose the little that God has given us?
Jesus further elaborated on this promise: “But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can anyone enter the strong man's house and carry off his property, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house” (Matthew 12:28-29).
The New Testament speaks of the binding of Satan in various places. Satan falls from heaven (Luke 10:18); he is cast out of heaven (John 12:31); he was crushed under our feet (Romans 16:20); he was disarmed (Colossians 2:15); he was rendered powerless (Hebrews 2:14); his works were destroyed (1 John 3:8).
Are we, the people of God, to live in the shadow of fear of the devil and a world system bent on evil and destruction content to be rescued only at the Second Coming of Jesus? Or are we to be active participants, soldiers in the war against hell, following in the train of Christ to plunder the strong man’s house?
While much is made in recent years of different and competing theories on the end times, we are going to confine our discussion to one central issue.
And that is this: Does the defeat of Satan’s kingdom and the great increase of the kingdom of God occur before or after Jesus returns?
If we look at God’s promises to Israel in the Old Testament of a Golden Age of great peace and prosperity in the “last days,” does this promise extend to the Church within our present history – or is it confined to a future thousand-year reign of Christ on earth after His return? While all Christians should believe in the victory of Jesus Christ and the rule of God’s people during the millennium, this only begs the questions:
How much victory are we to expect in the here and now?
Is Satan already bound or is he alive and well on the planet earth?
If Jesus Christ truly “harrowed hell,” how should we then live?
And that is what this presentation is about.
In short, we want to provoke and challenge your thinking here to consider the question:
My favorite uncle died this week and I am in Fort Myers, Florida to attend a memorial service. I was asked to read a scripture passage and say a few words about my uncle.
A reading from the second letter of Paul to the Corinthians:
"We know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and place us with you in his presence. Everything indeed is for you, so that the grace bestowed in abundance on more and more people may cause the thanksgiving to overflow for the glory of God. Therefore we are not discouraged; rather, although our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to what is seen but to what is unseen; for what is seen is transitory, but what is unseen is eternal. For we know that if our earthly dwelling, a tent, should be destroyed, we have a building from God, a dwelling not made with hands, eternal in heaven" (2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1,6-10).
Norman Johnson was the son of Gustav Johnson and Emily Raposa. His father's parents were from Sweden and his mothers parents were Portuguese. As a young child, he and my mother learned more Portuguese from their maternal grandmother before they learned English. There is a story that my grandmother used to tell that my mother and Norman were left with their grandmother for a long period of time when she could not be with them. And Norman's mother, my grandmother, was surprised one day when she sat them down to say their prayers at night that Norman and my mother began praying in Portuguese rather than English.
Norman lived in Tiverton, Rhode Island; Falmouth, Massachusetts and later the Boston area. He later moved to Fort Myers, Florida to be closer to his two daughters and several grandchildren. I am my Uncle Norman's only nephew, he had four neices, and four children, Lisa, Debra, Keith and Lynne. I grew up in Massachusetts and was very close to Norman's family often spending weeks at a time with my cousins in Rhode Island and Cape Cod where they lived. We were all close since we were very young children. I have always believed that those early bonds cause you to love people even if you miss seeing them for years at a time as adults.
The scripture passage I read has to do with the resurrection. It's a biblical passage that is commonly read at funerals. However, I chose this passage because I wanted people to know that Norman believed in the resurrection because he experienced it. Many people of the Christian faith have a testimony about their salvation. But it is unusual for people, especially men, to talk about a conversion that happened toward the end of their life. But people who knew Norman as their hair stylist or friend would often hear him speaking openly about this experience. I was surprised one day to hear Norman talking about what he called his "addiction to gambling." Many people who join these 12 step self-help programs are encouraged to look to a higher power, but Norman decided that his "higher power" wasn't a vague force or an idea about God, it was literally "Jesus Christ."
"Jesus Christ saved me from my addiction to gambling," he told me. I was surprised at that because my cousin Keith and I had been members of an evangelical church for several years and I had never heard Norman speak about his faith so plainly before.
So this is the reason that I chose this passage to read. It speaks of the final victory of faith over death. Norman believed that God could save him from addictions and problems he faced. Even when he was diagnosed a with terminal illness, he believed he could overcome it. I am sure that at some point Norman told almost everyone he knew about what God had done in his life. He was not a perfect man by any stretch of the imagination or some kind of a super-saint -- none of us are -- but I know that he spoke to many people he met about his faith and the victory that Jesus Christ gave him over his sin. He didn't do it in a preachy way, but only because he wanted to people to share the joy he felt in being free.
The resurrection is thought of by most people as a future event. Most people believe in some type of life after death. For Norman, the resurrection life was something that he knew was real because he experienced it during his life. And for that reason, the scriptures tell us, we are not discouraged, but we can have great courage to face any problem or illness, even death.
For me that is the most important thing about the life of this man that I can celebrate.
"We are therefore bidden to desire that, just as in heaven nothing is done apart from God’s good pleasure, and the angels dwell together in all peace and uprightness, the earth be in like manner subject to such rule, with all arrogance and wickedness brought to an end."
People today are hungry to understand the historic orthodox views of eschatology besides the prevailing dispensational worldview that appeared only in 1830 and has monopolized eschatology ever since the mid-20th century.
Recently, some people have written me to say that I helped them to change their worldview or have learned something new about eschatology from my on-line books and articles.
The following is a recent email from someone who greatly encouraged me to continue with my publishing and video production.
- Jay Rogers
My husband and I have been Christians for about 11 years now and have been doing all that we can to understand what we're supposed to be doing TODAY for most of those years.
We are currently trying to understand what all these "Book of Revelation Camps" are about. What do they mean? What are they trying to say?
In our search, we came across your website and would just like to let you know that we appreciate your approach to the subject. We appreciate having general definitions given, without malice, so that we can see in a somewhat linear view what all these people are trying to get at.
It seems most folks who have "picked a camp" cannot speak of the other "camps" without sounding hateful and malicious. We didn't find that in your site. It was a relief. We are trying to become educated... we are trying to understand... and when we read things that are malicious, it makes us feel we're being fed a "party-line" and then we don't trust it anymore.
This is the "extended version" of the opening to The Beast of Revelation: IDENTIFIED. The first 48 seconds I cut from the final release. I wrote, produced and edited this 145-minute presentation during the "last days" millennial bug furor of the fall of 1999 while working in cooperation with Reel to Real Ministries.
Special thanks to featured speaker Ken Gentry, host Eric Holmberg and associate producer Erik Hollander who worked on this even while braving the dreaded specter of Y2K! Remember that?
The video is not what most people think it will be. If you are curious, go to The Beast of Revelation: IDENTIFIED website and read some of the articles. The entire introduction to the video is posted there in written form along with articles that give the basic outline of the video.
Here's an excerpt from the back cover --
Who is the dreaded beast of Revelation? Now at last, a plausible candidate for this personification of evil incarnate has been identified -- or more properly, "re-identified." Ken Gentry's insightful analysis of scripture and history is likely to revolutionize your understanding of the book of Revelation -- and even more importantly -- amplify and energize your entire Christian worldview!
Historical footage and other graphics are used to illustrate the lecture Dr. Gentry presented at the 1999 Ligonier Conference in Orlando, Florida. It is followed by a one-hour question and answer session addressing the key concerns and objections typically raised in response to his position. This presentation also features an introduction that touches on not only the confusion and controversy surrounding this issue -- but just why it may well be one of the most significant issues facing the Church today.
Ideal for group meetings, personal Bible study -- for anyone who wants to understand the historical context of John's famous letter "... to the seven churches which are in Asia." (Revelation 1:4)
Steyn says that in the face of the Islamic threat, the world will be divided between America and the rest and for our sake America had better win.
Although Europe now has more Muslims than ever before, this is mainly due to immigration from Europe's bordering Muslim nations. I think the greatest threat to the United States and Europe is from the radical left and western humanism, not Islam.
Islam will not have a significant influence in America. Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists make up less than five percent of the total United States population. That is not likely to change.
Christianity is actually outpacing Islam worldwide:
In 1900, Africa had 10 million Christians or about 9 percent of its population. Today, there are roughly 360 million out of 784 million people or 46%.
Latin America has 480 million Christians.
Asia has another 300 million.
At this rate of growth, Christianity will be the dominant religion with 2.5 billion within the next 25 years.
There will be Muslims who will become radicalized as a result of Christ's victory, but then again, predictions about America becoming Islamic are exaggerated.
*****
Remember all the doomsday books in the 1970s and 1980s? The killer bees are coming tomorrow, nuclear holocaust is The Day After, followed in a few weeks by new uncurable strains of deadly disease, biological warfare and genetic mutants. If the 1980s were not the Decade of Shock, then we did we learn nothing from the false prophets of the Y2K scare?
By the way, you can get all these books really cheap now!
One of my favorite songs from the early 1970s is a comic ragtime novelty piece by Ray Davies called Acute Schizophrenia Paranoia Blues. It describes the way that conspiracy theorists think.
I read in the news not long ago that it turns out we actually have killer bees in Florida now. But it's not the end of the world as we know it.
What is the "preterist" view of the book of Revelation?
Are you a person who is concerned with getting to the heart of the truth on difficult biblical passages such as those concerning eschatology?
A few years ago, I produced a video (now on DVD) that explores the preterist view of the book of Revelation. This presentation continues to have a shelf life in that more and more people are turning to this view as they see false predictions related to the dispensationalist view of the End Times fall flat. The Beast of Revelation: Identified is the best primer on the preterist view available on DVD.
People who like to debate eschatology are those who have their minds made up and are passionate about a particular view. People who don't like these arguments are usually those with an untenable view or one they find impossible to articulate. Even so, no two "experts" have the same view on the Book of Revelation. That doesn't mean, however, that there is not a consistently correct view that may be understood. It just means that we need to work harder at it.
The heretical view of preterism can be distinguished from partial preterism in that the latter suggests that many of the prophecies of scripture are fulfilled, but obviously some have yet to come. When I speak off preterism, I am speaking of the "partial" preterist view. Futurism is the "end-times" view of prophecy, while preterism is literally the "before-times" view.
A quick web search will give you the basics. Beware though that some of the information is written by "full" or "consistent" preterists, a view that is seriously deficient in many respects, the main heresy being the denial of the Second Coming of Jesus. The partial preterist view is orthodox in terms of looking with a joyful hope in the bodily Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
John Calvin wrote a preterist commentary on Daniel. I post this at my Daniel website.
Most theologians until the rise of dispensationalism (1800s and 1900s) held a preterist view of Matthew 24 -- the so-called Olivet Discourse. R.C. Sproul in his book, The Last Days According to Jesus, outlines this viewpoint.
Preterism has always been a minority view of the church in interpreting the book of Revelation -- there are some ancient writers who refer to Nero as the "beast of Revelation 13" but it is only in a cursory manner. The fully developed preterist view did not come until after the Reformation when the Bible proliferated in the 1500s and afterward.
I find this strange because Revelation is the "capstone" of other biblical prophecies found in Daniel and Matthew 24. It is inconsistent to interpret Daniel and the Olivet Discourse as having taken place by the time of AD 70, but then place events that are described in Revelation in similar language at the end of human history. A correct view will interpret scripture with similar passages of scripture.
With regards to the book of Revelation, the modern primers on preterism are the writings of David Chilton and Ken Gentry. They draw most of their material from several authors of the late 1800s. You can get the PDF files of all their books for FREE at: http://freebooks.com/
The Beast of Revelation: Identified (No, it's NOT Kim Jong-il!)
In early 2000, I released a video called The Beast of Revelation: Identified. This was produced with Eric Holmberg and Reel to Real Ministries.
The presentation is two and half hours long and is based on Dr. Kenneth L. Gentry's teaching on Revelation 13 at the 1999 Ligonier conference. Gentry takes the partial -preterist view which states that most of Revelation is history. The textual and historical context of Revelation is the first century, not the far distant future. At the Beast of Revelation: Identified website, there are several articles that explain this viewpoint in more detail.
I also published a brief commentary on Daniel from a partial preterist perspective, which is important in helping to interpret Matthew 25,25 and the book of Revelation.
In 2000, millennial madness was rampant and the sales were brisk. The DVD is anything but a bestseller, but I've been able to sell a few copies a month consistently on my own without much advertising except through the website. Over six years, it's made the production time and expense worth it. I believe that it is a needed teaching in this age of chiliastic error.
A strange phenomenon that I've noticed is that whenver a "Left Behind" type book is published or a new "end-times" movie is released, I get a flurry of orders. Recently, this occurred again with the testing of a nuclear bomb by North Korea. I suspect that people then go searching the web for The Beast of Revelation and come to my site, which is well indexed by Google. Check the surrounding links and you'll see The Beast of Revelation: Identified ranked at number 2.
Are people thinking that Kim Jong-Il is the Beast? If so they are about 2000 years too late! Check out the DVD and related articles to see what I mean.
The consensus among most conservative Christians is that there are no aliens in outer space. This is an evolutionary idea that states that out of billions of stars there must be a few planets somewhere that could sustain the evolution of life. Much of what is currently driving NASA’s exploration of the solar system is a search for life. From a biblical creationist perspective, we will find no amoebas or bacteria on Jupiter’s moons. It is unlikely that we will even find water anywhere in our solar system other than on earth. God made the earth and he created a perfect biosphere that will indefinitely support the life he created.
But the question still remains. Is it possible that God could have created a planet that contains plants, animals and even sentient creatures similar to human beings? While the Bible is silent on this, I would negate the possibility of intelligent life on other planets.
Mark Twain wrote a science fiction story, “Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven,” about the idea of a heaven where thousands of aliens from every inhabited planet in the universe arrive at a heaven that was so populated that it is the size of many planets. In the story, Captain Stormfield is amazed to find out that Christ has appeared on every planet in the universe to life an exemplary life and die for that planet’s sins. He is told, “The worlds He has saved are like to the gates of heaven in number - none can count them." Twain was satirizing the Christian view of heaven in the face of the emerging evolutionary science. However, it is just as likely that a Christian view could be used to expose the impossibility of intelligent life besides ours in the univers.
This doesn’t negate, however, the possibility of worlds that have plant and animal life. It is possible that God could have created these planets on the fourth day of creation (Gen. 1:14-19). There may be worlds He created in the foreknowledge that a redeemed civilization would one day discover and colonize. Just as a millennial impulse drove the Age of Exploration in the 15th century, so a Golden Age of Christian knowledge may drive the exploration of new worlds and the settlement of new civilizations.
If the postmillennial view is correct, we can expect to one day colonize the solar system. It is likely that we will create self-sustaining biospheres – perhaps giant bubbles on the surface of the planet Mars – that will sustain life in a similar manner as on earth. It is even possible that one day we will discover a planet capable of sustaining an atmosphere and all the various species of life found on earth. Another idea is that scientists may someday be able to create a "biosphere" on another planet that would imitate the conditions on earth. Maybe a “Noah’s Ark” of future space colonists will bring the seeds of a new earth to a far distant star?
Of course this is speculation. But Christian Reconstructionists and other postmillennialists should be considering the possibilities.
If the moon and Mars were to be colonized some time in the next 100 years, how would this affect the viability of a pre-trib rapture view?
Or how about this question: How do eschatological views affect the discussion on the existence of extraterrestrial life?
This is a topic I’ve always been interested in. I am a big fan of science fiction novels and programs such as the X-Files and Star Trek. As a Christian, I see these stories as entertaining ideas, or as one science fiction writer called them, “thought experiments.” I don’t believe in UFO’s or extraterrestrials but I find the concept interesting. Even the great Christian apologist C.S. Lewis wrote a Space Trilogy, which like his Chronicles of Narnia series is an allegory relating to Christian theology.
As a high school junior, I wrote a science fiction novella about an atheist who invents a space ship capable of interstellar travel. After an argument with his wife, who is a Christian, he decides to travel to the nearest star and discovers a strange utopian civilization. When he returns to earth he discovers that the entire earth is deserted. He is left with no choice except to travel back to the utopian planet. To his surprise, he discovers that his wife and her friends are on the planet. Even though he has traveled many additional light years, they haven’t aged. The situational irony, of course, is that the rapture has occurred while he was en route to the Bernard Star solar system – which people thought at that time was the closest star capable of having a solar system. The novel ends with the realization that the distant planet was heaven. The fate of the protagonist was that he was thrown into a black hole, which according to my story, was the second death described in Revelation 21:8.
The biggest irony in all of this is that when I wrote this story, I was not converted to Christ. I had read the works of Hal Lindsey and seen TV programs on the topic of “The Terminal Generation.” I used to believe that the rapture had to be very close because the Bible spoke only of people being “caught up” in the air to meet the Lord. Once people began to explore other planets, I thought, that would throw a monkey wrench into the possibility of the rapture occurring while people were on other planets. At least I didn’t see any mention of it in the so-called “end-times” prophecies of the Bible.
Then ten years later as a new Christian, I read a book by John Jefferson Davis called, Christ’s Victorious Kingdom: Postmillennialism Reconsidered. Postmillennialism differs from the traditional premillennial view in that there is no “rapture” of the church sometime in a seven year tribulation of wars, diseases and natural calamities. Postmillennialism teaches essentially that the world will become gradually Christianized as time goes by. The Second Coming and the rapture will occur after a long Golden Age of peace and prosperity.
Today as a postmillennialist, I believe that we have enough time left in history to colonize space – and possibly one day travel to other solar systems. I don’t think we will find aliens on other worlds, but I often wonder whether or not God created some of these worlds in a way that would allow men from the planet earth to create biospheres on other planets. Is it possible that the Great Commission involves spreading the Gospel for beyond our own solar system?
Jesus' disciples also must have thought of the previous desecration of the Temple spoken of in Daniel 8:23-25 and Daniel 11:31:
Jesus' disciples also must have thought of the previous desecration of the Temple spoken of in Daniel 8:23-25 and Daniel 11:31:
