Saturday, June 23, 2007

The Fundamental Message of Christianity

Because Jesus Christ is equal with God (Phi 2:6) and created all persons (Joh 1:1-9), he has inherent sovereign authority over all humanity and the universe. This means you and I must surrender to the authority of Jesus Christ. It is one thing to call him Master and Lord with your mouth, and quite another to make him the Master and Lord of your words, thoughts, and actions by obeying his commands in complete humility. He cannot be your Savior unless he is first your Master and Lord. If you have a problem with the idea of a Sovereign God ruling over your thoughts and actions, then you must question whether you are truly a disciple of Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ is King of Kings, seated at the right hand of the throne of God, and has all authority and power. As the righteous judge of mankind, his kingdom stands eternally opposed to sin and rebellion. Just as an inventor has the inherent rights to an invention or an author holds the copyright for a book he has written, so the Lord has the inherent rights to the earth he created and everyone in it. Because he holds the patent to the creation, he has the right to demand how it is used and how we interact and conduct ourselves within it. If that omnipotence and omniscience were the only reason to worship and obey him, it would be enough. But he not only created the world and everyone in it, he became one of us, and willingly offered himself to be butchered and crucified by his own creation in order to provide for its salvation.

How could I not bow in reverence and amazement to a King such as this? Earthly kings desire power, wealth, and fame, but this King desires mercy, servanthood, and sacrifice. This King humbled himself below all of his subjects in order to save them from their sins. Instead of giving me justice and crushing me back into dust, he vowed to save me in his boundless mercy. In the ultimate of paradoxes, God used my murder of his Son to be the medium by which I am saved! On the cross, the sinless Lamb became a curse so that a sinful human being like yourself could have his righteousness credited to your account by trusting in his blood atonement for forgiveness. Without the shedding of blood, there can be no remission of your sins, and you remain a magnet of the wrath of God. But the perfect, sinless blood of Jesus Christ can remit the sin of every person who repents and trusts in his sacrifice.

Every knee will bow and acknowledge his authority, because he has earned the right to rule and receive all glory and honor through his perfect sacrifice and resurrection from the dead. Come to him in humility, understanding the quantum lengths to which he descended in order to become a human being and experience a gruesome, excruciating death at your bloody hands. Put your trust in his sacrificial atonement for your acts of rebellion against him, realizing his perfect existence has been credited to your sinful account. Believe the eyewitnesses of his resurrection from the dead and ascension to heaven. Then, pick up a cross daily in gratitude, obey his commandments in the Word of God with joy, and follow him without wavering, no matter the price.

Saturday, June 2, 2007

Get up to speed with this....


This complimentary welcome package will introduce you to key concepts of Earthquake Resurrection and Then His Voice Shook the Earth with the following written, audio, and visual tools:

1. Six chapters from the two books, to be read in the following order:
  • Then His Voice Shook the Earth. . .
  • Earthquake Resurrection
  • Sudden Destruction of the Sixth Seal & The Aftermath: Global Disappearance
  • The Setting for the Hereafter & The Ascent to the Right Hand of God
2. Interview with Georgeann Hughes of The Byte Show (8.3MB, 55min)
3. Two-part interview with Ray Gano of PZ Radio (4.5MB, 30min) and (5.3MB, 35min)
4. One-minute video review of Earthquake Resurrection by Pastor John Stocker.
5. Full-color PDF of selected reader reviews.
6. Full-color promotional posters for Earthquake Resurrection and Then His Voice Shook the Earth.

You may also download all of these files in a convenient ZIP file by clicking here (23MB).

What is Earthquake Resurrection? It is a model bringing to the prophetic landscape a fresh analysis of the future resurrection of the dead in Christ and the meaning of the "last trumpet" that sounds just before the event. Earthquake Resurrection explores the possibility that the disappearance of a large group of believers worldwide will be masked by global catastrophe. This possibility is based on a pattern found in scripture that the power unleashed when a human being is resurrected into an immortal body causes a shaking of the surrounding earth.

You may contact me by email with any questions or comments. Click here.

Daniel's 70th Week

This post be a place for you to discuss Daniel's 70th Week as discussed in the E.R. model. It will be updated on a periodic basis. Included in the discussion will be:

  • What is the starting point of the 70 Weeks or 490 Years?
  • What is the ending point of the 69th Week?
  • What is said to take place after the 69th Week is complete?
  • Can we see the final 7 years within the Book of Revelation?

Until then, please feel free post questions or comments on this topic!


In Christ,
Dave

The 144,000

This post be a place for you to discuss the identity of the 144,000 in Rev. 7 as discussed in the E.R. model. It will be updated on a periodic basis. Included in the discussion will be:

  • Is this group made up of Christians or Jewish men?
  • What is their interesting connection to the "many saints" of Matthew 27?

Until then, please feel free post questions or comments on this topic!


In Christ,
Dave

The Enormous Rev. 7 Crowd

This post be a place for you to discuss the identity of the enormous crowd of people before the throne in Rev. 7 as discussed in the E.R. model. It will be updated on a periodic basis. Included in the discussion will be:

  • The significance of this group's appearance at this point in the Revelation chronology.
  • Their distinction from those martyred under the rule of the beast and false prophet.
  • Why does it say they came out of the great tribulation?

Until then, please feel free post questions or comments on this topic!


In Christ,
Dave

The Sixth Seal

This post be a place for you to discuss the opening of the sixth seal and its timing as discussed in the E.R. model. It will be updated on a periodic basis. Included in the discussion will be:

  • The importance of the blood-red moon before the day of the Lord's wrath.
  • Whether the events of the sixth seal will literally happen, or whether they are symbolic of nations falling and global upheaval.
  • Why is there no cause mentioned for the events of the sixth seal?
  • The sudden destruction of Noah and Lot's days compared to the coming of the Son of Man.
  • Paul's reference to sudden destruction prior to the thief in the night coming of the day of the Lord's wrath.
  • The declaration of the sixth seal survivors that the day of the Lord's wrath had come.
  • The parallels of the opening of the sixth seal to Isaiah 26:19-21.
Until then, please feel free post questions or comments on this topic!

In Christ,
Dave

Ascension to the Right Hand of God

This post be a place for you to discuss Jesus Christ's ascension to the right hand of God in Rev. chapters 4 and 5 as discussed in the E.R. model.

I've not done an exhaustive study on every vision of the Bible to see if any included historical information. Neither have I done any study on non-canonical apocalyptic writings (Revelation was written in "apocalyptic" style), like the Gospel of Barnabas, Books of Enoch, etc. to see if any of their visions included things of the past.

But, several come to mind in the Bible, including a couple in Revelation:
1. Daniel's vision in Dan. 2 included the Babylonian empire and king Nebuchadnezzar as the head of gold which already had come into power in the past, and would therefore be historical.

2. Ezekiel in chapter 9 was taken and shown things in the spirit that had been going on and were going on in Israel.

3. In Rev. 17, the angel took John in the spirit and showed him the beast with seven heads. Five of the heads were kings which had fallen, and one of them was. This means six of them were past...historical.

4. In Rev. 12, John was shown a vision of Jesus' birth. The woman is said to represent Israel, who gave birth to Jesus, and the dragon tried to kill him when he was born. Verse 5 even refers to Jesus being caught up to God and his throne. This is the ascension in the first century. So, this vision goes back even further than 33 AD...it goes back to 4-6 BC and Jesus' birth. This vision clearly included historical data.
So, it follows that John could have been first asked to "Come up here", here being the heavenly throne room, to be shown things that would take place in the future. First, John was shown a vision of the ascension from a heavenly perspective in Rev. 4-5 (remember that he was one of the few who saw the ascension from an earthly perspective at the mount of Olives in Luke 24 and Acts 1). Then he was shown what would happen hereafter, from the first century to the present and until the resurrection of the dead in Christ.

The vision of Rev. 12 is strong evidence that John could see a vision of a past event even though he was writing in the future with respect to that event. In both the vision of Rev. 4-5 and Rev. 12, it was essential that John be shown how the birth of Christ, the ascension, and Christ place at the right hand of God fit into the overall prophetic picture.

It's like giving us essential background to a story before telling us how it ended.


In Christ,
Dave

The 24 Elders

This post be a place for you to discuss the identity of the 24 elders as discussed in the E.R. model. It will be updated on a periodic basis. Included in the discussion will be:

  • Do the 24 elders match a pattern for servants of the high priest under the Levitical priesthood?
  • The reasons why the 24 are not the 12 apostles and 12 tribes of Israel.
  • The various reasons why the 24 elders cannot be the raptured church in heaven.

Until then, please feel free post questions or comments on this topic!


In Christ,
Dave

The Last Trumpet

This post be a place for you to discuss the meaning of the last trumpet as discussed in the E.R. model. It will be updated on a periodic basis. Included in the discussion will be:

  • Is the trumpet of God actually his voice that shakes the heaven and earth?
  • The pattern of the trumpet voice of God at Mount Sinai after the Egypt exodus.
  • Paul's quotation of Haggai's "once more" prophecy in Hebrews chapter 12.
Until then, please feel free post questions or comments on this topic!

In Christ,
Dave

Earthquake Resurrection Pattern

This post be a place for you to discuss the earthquake resurrection pattern as discussed in the E.R. model. It will be updated on a periodic basis. Included in the discussion will be:
  • The resurrection to mortality vs. the resurrection to immortality.
  • Application of the pattern to the future massive resurrection of the dead in Christ.
Until then, please feel free post questions or comments on this topic!

In Christ,
Dave

The Timing of the Seals

This post be a place for you to discuss the timing of the opening of the seven sealed scroll according to the E.R. model.

The scriptural evidence for believing that the first five seals have already been opened is extensive and convincing, in my view. Here are a few reasons:
a. I believe in Rev. 4-5, John was given a vision of the first century ascension of Christ to the right hand of God. This place the opening of the scroll with the seven seals in the same time frame as that event, not 2000+ years into the future.

b. The first five seals very closely resemble the "birth pains" that Jesus said would take place before the end would come.

c. I believe the four horses and riders are spiritual beings who have influence in the natural world, and that this began in the first century and continues to the present. They are progressive and current up to the present time. John was simply shown, by Jesus opening the seals on the scroll, what would have to take place from the first century until the present on the earth before the wrath of God would be unleashed after the opening of the seventh seal.
What scriptural evidence is there that the four horses and riders of Rev. 6 are spiritual beings that were unleashed in the first century?

1. Job 2:1 Again the day came when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also arrived among them to present himself before the LORD.
Job 2:6 So the LORD said to Satan, "All right, he [Job] is in your power; only preserve his life."
Job 2:7 So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD, and he afflicted Job with a malignant ulcer from the sole of his feet to the top of his head.


Satan and the sons of God (b'nai elohim) requested of God that he could persecute Job. God allowed it. Granted this isn't all humanity, but an example.

2. Zec 6:5 The messenger replied, “These are the four spirits of heaven that have been presenting themselves [yatsab] before the Lord of all the earth.
Zec 6:6 The chariot with the black horses is going to the north country and the white ones are going after them, but the spotted ones are going to the south country.
Zec 6:7 All these strong ones are scattering; they have sought permission to go and walk about [halak] over the earth.” The Lord had said, “Go! Walk about over the earth!” So they are doing so.


In this passage, the "strong ones that scatter" were granted permission by God to do what they requested to do. Notice verse 5 calls the riders of these verses the "four spirits"? Spirits, not men. And four of them.

3. Eph 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens.

Believers and nonbelievers struggle against the spiritual realm.

4. Eph 2:2 in which you formerly lived according to this world's present path, according to the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the ruler of the spirit that is now energizing the sons of disobedience,

The sons of disobedience (unbelievers) are energized (influenced) by an unseen spirit being, what the KJV calls the prince of the power of the air.

What I'm proposing in these first four seals of Rev. 6 is that evil spirit beings are influencing/energizing humans to deceive/kill/oppress, etc., and human beings are carrying out the deception/murder/oppression. This is what was going on in Zech. chapter 6...four spirits allowed by God to go to different parts of the earth and carry out whatever it is that they wanted to do. God granted their request.

What I believe scripture does clearly teach in Zech 6:5-7 (see previous post) is that there were four spirits that God allowed to go forth into the earth and do...whatever it is they did. They were also riding colored horses, not the exact same colors to the ones in Rev. 6, but very close.

The point is that there is scripture to support the belief that the white horse rider, and the other three horse riders, are spiritual beings who influence humanity to do bad things to each other. But there isn't any scriptural evidence that these riders are actual human beings. Clearly, there is sound scriptural evidence that the AC will be a human being in the future, but it does not follow that the white horse rider is that human being, especially when Zech 6:5-7 provides a much better alternative understanding.

In Christ,
Dave