Are you planning your own revolution? Maybe you and your friends want to succeed from your local city council? Or your math class doesn't want to do logarithms? Or you're tired of taking out the garbage and you want your dad to relent and let your little brother do it instead? Whatever you want to change you're going to need a statement of purpose. Some document that spells out your grievances, what you hope to achieve by your revolt and what are the principles you want your new government or agreement to abide by. You will also need to understand from the beginning how enduring you want your document to be. The revolt over logarithms might only need to last for one semester, that is through the life of your immediate class. The revolt over trash will only need to last until you are of legal age and can move out of your parents house. The revolt from your city council is probably going to be more enduring. The point: If you don't give your document sufficiently enduring language it won't be sufficient to cover the period of time you envision for your revolt.
Language is important and the type of language we use makes all the difference. The least enduring language is emotional language. Bursting out in a fit of exasperation that you are "tired of taking out the trash every night" may get you a reprieve for that one night, but it probably won't change the situation for any following nights and may get you disciplined. However, a reasoned argument using language alluding to your growth as a more responsible person who desires, and is willing to take on, greater responsibilities and suggesting that your younger brother is getting stronger and could benefit from learning responsibility through the task of taking out the garbage nightly would likely have more influence on your father's decision. (It would probably also be more along the lines of what he was already thinking.) It would also be more enduring because the next time the trash wasn't taken out your little brother would be called to task. This is because all parties know the purpose for the revolution and change was to remove that task from your list of responsibilities and give it to your little brother. He is the one that is now to be held accountable.
We can all agree that a revolt over taking out the garbage is not as important as changing our form of government. But language plays the same role in either situation. There is no doubt that the emotions felt over a bad form of government are going to be stronger and more highly charged than emotions regarding the task of taking out the trash. But it is no less important for a reasonable, well developed argument to sustain the more serious revolt than to sustain a less serious one. The revolt to change a government is a drastic measure and in most cases very emotional language is needed to get the revolt going. Paul Revere riding through the New England countryside crying, "The British are coming, the British are coming," stirred American patriots to immediate action to protect their arms and for that moment they needed all the adrenaline they could muster to take on British regulars. However when the going gets really tough and men are staring defeat in the face they need something with a greater foundation and more intellectually sound than their emotions to keep them fighting on.
The men who founded the United States of America and wrote its declaration of independence and its constitution were aware of just how serious their undertaking was. They knew that men had gone to war for money or land or women in the past. But they wanted to found their nation on something more enduring and more profound. They had talked about and written about something called inalienable rights. (Most of them were active members in their local churches.) Webster'd defines inalienable rights as " incapable of being alienated, surrendered, or transferred." They are rights that are impossible to take away or give up. Such rights, however, which cannot be taken away or given up, are not endowed on us by mere men. The men who forged this country were aware of this. And this is precisely where Ben Affleck has come up short.
On a recent televised debate between Ben Affleck and Bill Maher on the Muslim faith and whether it is a worthwhile religion (see: http://youtu.be/vln9D81eO60 ) Afllect blurted out the ascertian, "We are endowed by our Cre - forefathers with inalienable rights, all men are created equal." Affleck started to say "Creator" but changed it to forefathers. I am not sure why he was afraid to say creator, when a moment later when he finishes with "created equal." If you are going to use the word created in a sentence then it is a good idea to use the word Creator as well. Whatever the reason Affleck does not understand what the founders of our nation did. When appealing to inalienable rights you have to refer to something more constant than human beings, who are here today and gone tomorrow. Aren't you glad that Jefferson, Franklin and Adams, the writers of the declaration and the men who signed it did not endow us with rights that could be taken away, but appealed to a Creator, who has always existed and always will, and who the Bible says never changes, as the one who endows. What seems to have been lost on Afflect was that if our founding fathers could endow us with rights, another man, such as Bill Maher perhaps, could take them from us. If Affleck had continued with his initial thought and used the word creator, as the founding fathers did, his argument would have had more force. But because he did not, his argument was limp and weak.
So if you plan a revolution any time soon I recommend that you give Affleck a pass for the one to write your declaration of independence.
Saturday, October 18, 2014
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
The Noahic Culture: Question of Gender
In simpler days nearly everyone thought of two kinds of people in the world: boys and girls, men and women. (According to my dad the boys were the ones with the short hair and the girls were the ones with the long hair. So the sixties were a little challenging because he could't figure out who was who.) In those by gone days it was very easy to tell one's gender. Back then, before some clever clog discovered ultra-sound, we waited nine months while the kid baked in the oven and then once it popped out we looked between the legs and presto, we announced "it's a boy" or "it's a girl!" It was easy. Little boys had a little boys thing-a-me-bob and little girls had the other bit. And for family and friends it was even easier. Mom and dad brought the little darling home and dressed the little girl in pink and the little boy in blue, saving everyone the embarrassment of checking the physical parts for themselves. Everyone just trusted that the doctor at the hospital read the signs correctly. From then on everyone, including the "little darling" knew what was expected throughout the rest of life. The little boys knew to wear pants, stick frogs in their pockets and grow up to be firemen, pilots, mechanics and so on. Little girls knew they were supposed to wear dresses, play with dolls and grow up to be moms, or sometimes nurses. Little Billy pulled little Sally's hair in the desk in front of him and little Ines passed notes to little Joy across the isle.
I am, of course, deliberately stereotyping now. But we get the picture. Just 20 to 30 years ago the question of gender was hardly raised. Most of us accepted ourselves for what our physical make up indicated that we were. My parents dressed me in the clothes they did and encouraged me to play with the toys they did because that is what was expected of me as a male, which I am according to the physical parts I posses. If I was going to someday raise a family I needed to know and embrace the role and skills that a husband was to exhibit. After all, in those days, like it has been for millennia, the roles of males and females had always been well defined and my parents had no reason to try to change direction for me. I am sure that some reading this now might want to put their hands up and offer some corrections, but bear with me for a little longer if you will. The roles of male and female were very clear. Men were the bread winners and women raised the children and kept the house. But today things are a little more complex, or as some would have it, more sophisticated. I don't want to debate the indignity, cruelty and pain that was at times a result of that long established system. It left society wanting a good many times. But there was also much dignity and clarity in that system. Most of us knew who we were and where we were going and what was expected of us. It took much of the mystery out of life.
Our long understood roles in society began to change in the 1960's. That was the age of flower power and the peace movement. The era of long hair, no bras and LSD. Music changed, clothing changed and institutions began to change. The Catholic Church had Vatican II, the American Camelot (the Presidency of John F. Kennedy) was ended with a bullet in Dallas and American College campuses were battlefields of protest against the Vietnam war. Ideas that had once seemed the bastion of society began to be questioned and rejected. For better or worse, society began to take another view on those long standing roles that we had lived by for so long. Along with the change in roles for men and women, came among other things the very nature of what we thought it means to be a man or a woman. Although the human race has always had individuals who had trouble being comfortable in the body the Lord gave them, in has only been in recent years, after the revolutions of the sixties, that society has begun to acquiesce to demands that we accept, accommodate and even celebrate the right of such individuals to be "who they are." Recently Facebook changed it's profile setup to include more that two choices for gender. Now users can choose custom and enter something in the box. As you start typing Facebook will offer choices based on the letter you type. The really weird (to me that is) thing is if I want to I can change my gender every year, month week, daily or whatever. If I want to be known as Trans-male this week, but then start to doubt the male part next week I can change it to Gender Questioning. And then if i feel like I am more female the next week and can change it again to Trans-female. Then, maybe if I don't feel like any gender a few weeks later I can change it to nuetrois. (My spell checker doesn't even recognize that word)
Of course I am exaggerating the frequency of the changes a bit to make a point. (Although I don't doubt that in some cases it may get this unbalanced.) The point is we have seen a huge change over the past few years that has the heads of many people spinning. However, we should not be surprised by what is happening. Our Lord told us as he was talking to his disciples to expect that in the last days society would be much like it was in the days of Noah or in the days of Lot. In those days the human race was lawless and each man did what was right in his own eyes. "The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." (Genesis 6:5) This is not to say that today some people are truly confused about their gender. But what is happening is caused by the general lawlessness that has taken hold in society. Are am sure some reading this are a little confused by that statement. After all we still seem to have law and order in our society. I mean we are not seeing wholesale violence and law breaking on our streets every day. Our prisons may be crowded, but we are not sending people by the truck loads to prison — yet. But listen to these words by the apostle Paul to the Romans.
"The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them." (Romans 1:18-32)
The interesting thing to note about what Paul is saying is that God is not judging the people because of sex and lustful desires, but that part of God's judgment is the perverted acts of sex and lustful desires. Yes there may be individuals today who are confused about their gender, and indeed, there has always been such people in the world. But as the world becomes more lawless as regards the law of God, the less God will be able to extend his grace to mankind and the more confused and lost men will become. And the worst of that confusion will come just before the return of Jesus Christ the second time.
I am, of course, deliberately stereotyping now. But we get the picture. Just 20 to 30 years ago the question of gender was hardly raised. Most of us accepted ourselves for what our physical make up indicated that we were. My parents dressed me in the clothes they did and encouraged me to play with the toys they did because that is what was expected of me as a male, which I am according to the physical parts I posses. If I was going to someday raise a family I needed to know and embrace the role and skills that a husband was to exhibit. After all, in those days, like it has been for millennia, the roles of males and females had always been well defined and my parents had no reason to try to change direction for me. I am sure that some reading this now might want to put their hands up and offer some corrections, but bear with me for a little longer if you will. The roles of male and female were very clear. Men were the bread winners and women raised the children and kept the house. But today things are a little more complex, or as some would have it, more sophisticated. I don't want to debate the indignity, cruelty and pain that was at times a result of that long established system. It left society wanting a good many times. But there was also much dignity and clarity in that system. Most of us knew who we were and where we were going and what was expected of us. It took much of the mystery out of life.
Our long understood roles in society began to change in the 1960's. That was the age of flower power and the peace movement. The era of long hair, no bras and LSD. Music changed, clothing changed and institutions began to change. The Catholic Church had Vatican II, the American Camelot (the Presidency of John F. Kennedy) was ended with a bullet in Dallas and American College campuses were battlefields of protest against the Vietnam war. Ideas that had once seemed the bastion of society began to be questioned and rejected. For better or worse, society began to take another view on those long standing roles that we had lived by for so long. Along with the change in roles for men and women, came among other things the very nature of what we thought it means to be a man or a woman. Although the human race has always had individuals who had trouble being comfortable in the body the Lord gave them, in has only been in recent years, after the revolutions of the sixties, that society has begun to acquiesce to demands that we accept, accommodate and even celebrate the right of such individuals to be "who they are." Recently Facebook changed it's profile setup to include more that two choices for gender. Now users can choose custom and enter something in the box. As you start typing Facebook will offer choices based on the letter you type. The really weird (to me that is) thing is if I want to I can change my gender every year, month week, daily or whatever. If I want to be known as Trans-male this week, but then start to doubt the male part next week I can change it to Gender Questioning. And then if i feel like I am more female the next week and can change it again to Trans-female. Then, maybe if I don't feel like any gender a few weeks later I can change it to nuetrois. (My spell checker doesn't even recognize that word)
Of course I am exaggerating the frequency of the changes a bit to make a point. (Although I don't doubt that in some cases it may get this unbalanced.) The point is we have seen a huge change over the past few years that has the heads of many people spinning. However, we should not be surprised by what is happening. Our Lord told us as he was talking to his disciples to expect that in the last days society would be much like it was in the days of Noah or in the days of Lot. In those days the human race was lawless and each man did what was right in his own eyes. "The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." (Genesis 6:5) This is not to say that today some people are truly confused about their gender. But what is happening is caused by the general lawlessness that has taken hold in society. Are am sure some reading this are a little confused by that statement. After all we still seem to have law and order in our society. I mean we are not seeing wholesale violence and law breaking on our streets every day. Our prisons may be crowded, but we are not sending people by the truck loads to prison — yet. But listen to these words by the apostle Paul to the Romans.
"The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them." (Romans 1:18-32)
The interesting thing to note about what Paul is saying is that God is not judging the people because of sex and lustful desires, but that part of God's judgment is the perverted acts of sex and lustful desires. Yes there may be individuals today who are confused about their gender, and indeed, there has always been such people in the world. But as the world becomes more lawless as regards the law of God, the less God will be able to extend his grace to mankind and the more confused and lost men will become. And the worst of that confusion will come just before the return of Jesus Christ the second time.
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Wars and Rumors of War
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One day when Jesus was leaving the temple in Jerusalem with his disciples they pointed out the buildings to him. (The sense of the story seems to be that the disciples thought the buildings were important, and probably magnificent. Maybe they wanted Jesus to see how "spiritual" they were to recognize the temple buildings as important. After all, they thought that Jesus came from God and some even professed that Jesus was the son of God. So of course he would recognize the importance of the temple buildings. But Jesus had another attitude to the buildings.) He said, "You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” (Matthew 24:2) This statement intrigued them and later, while they were resting away from the crowds that normally surrounded Jesus, they asked him to explain when this disaster would happen, and for good measure they asked him to further explain what would be the signs of his coming and the end of the age. (The disciples were not thinking of his coming back a second time, but they meant his coming into Jerusalem as the promised King who would restore Israel's fortunes.) In 70 AD the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Roman army led by the general Titus. The Roman soldiers literally tore the temple buildings down stone by stone to retrieve the gold that was on the walls.
Titus carried off all of the temple treasures to Rome and the Arch of Titus in Rome depicts the event in stone.
So Jesus' prediction that not one stone would be left on another came true within about 40 years. One of the predictions that Jesus gave at that time was a sign of his return: wars and rumors of wars. War is nothing new and we have had it for centuries before and after Jesus. We have also had rumors of wars. What is interesting and I think exciting at the same time, unless you're a person that gets anxiety from conspiracy theories, is that when you do a Google search on Illuminati, Armageddon, WW3, New World Order or something similar you will get millions of hits. Indeed, it seems that just about everyone is talking about some sort of war in the near future. Some are predicting war in a matter of months or weeks, some within the next year or two. Some made those predictions last year, or two years ago or even right after September 11. Whether there are more rumors of war today than in Jesus' day I don't know, but now, with the world wide use of the internet his prediction that we would hear of rumors of war may be just what we are seeing today. And if that is so we may all soon see a tremendous flash of lightning.
Sunday, September 21, 2014
Every Eye!
BEHOLD, HE IS COMING WITH THE CLOUDS, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen. (Revelation 1:7 NASB)
These are the words written by one of the disciples of Jesus who was given a revelation of things to come by the Lord Jesus himself. John, who was the last living apostle - one of the 12 who had been with him from the beginning and whom he had chosen to be apostles - had been exiled to the Greek Island of Patmos by the Roman authorities. This is much the same words as Jesus said when he told John and the other followers that he would return with the clouds, and that his return would be like lightning, that flashes from the east to the west and is seen of everyone. Only in this case it will be witnessed by the whole world at the same time.
As John's word says, even those who pierced him, meaning the Israeli nation, who were represented in the Jews of the first century AD who went to Pilate the Roman to have Jesus crucified. And the Italians. (Romans who did the actual execution and who represent the gentiles - that is everyone who is not Jewish.) They will all morn because they have rejected Jesus as the only way to God. Indeed, Jesus was known in the 1st century AD as the Way and His followers were known as followers of the Way. Jesus said of himself, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14:6 KJV)
In the future - indeed possibly in the very near future, Jesus will return like a flash of lightning that will be visible to the entire population of the world at the same time - everyone will see him without exception - and then there will be many that will morn. But his followers will rejoice! "Dear friends, we are already God's children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is. (1 John 3:2 NLT)"
These are the words written by one of the disciples of Jesus who was given a revelation of things to come by the Lord Jesus himself. John, who was the last living apostle - one of the 12 who had been with him from the beginning and whom he had chosen to be apostles - had been exiled to the Greek Island of Patmos by the Roman authorities. This is much the same words as Jesus said when he told John and the other followers that he would return with the clouds, and that his return would be like lightning, that flashes from the east to the west and is seen of everyone. Only in this case it will be witnessed by the whole world at the same time. As John's word says, even those who pierced him, meaning the Israeli nation, who were represented in the Jews of the first century AD who went to Pilate the Roman to have Jesus crucified. And the Italians. (Romans who did the actual execution and who represent the gentiles - that is everyone who is not Jewish.) They will all morn because they have rejected Jesus as the only way to God. Indeed, Jesus was known in the 1st century AD as the Way and His followers were known as followers of the Way. Jesus said of himself, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14:6 KJV)
In the future - indeed possibly in the very near future, Jesus will return like a flash of lightning that will be visible to the entire population of the world at the same time - everyone will see him without exception - and then there will be many that will morn. But his followers will rejoice! "Dear friends, we are already God's children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is. (1 John 3:2 NLT)"
Saturday, September 20, 2014
Florida minister claims to be god.
CNN reported the story of a Florida pastor with the number "666" tattooed on his arm who claims he is divine. Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda, who is called "daddy" by his followers, claims, "The spirit that is in me is the same spirit that was in Jesus of Nazareth." As Jesus told his followers, "Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is the Christ, or, Here; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. Behold, I have told you beforehand. If therefore they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the wilderness; go not forth: Behold, he is in the inner chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh forth from the east, and is seen even unto the west; so shall be the coming of the Son of man." (Matthew 24:23-27 ASV)
Miranda is not the first person to say he is divine and he will not be the last. Indeed there are some others even now who claim divinity. Take for instance this example from Siberia. And false Christs did not come on the scene after Jesus, but there were many before him. However, the key to knowing Jesus when he returns are his words from Matthew to his followers: like lightning comes from the east and is seen even unto the west. In other words, Jesus will be seen by everyone, all over the world, in an instant. Indeed, he warns us, do not go to far off Siberia to seek him, we WILL see him from where we are at.
Miranda is not the first person to say he is divine and he will not be the last. Indeed there are some others even now who claim divinity. Take for instance this example from Siberia. And false Christs did not come on the scene after Jesus, but there were many before him. However, the key to knowing Jesus when he returns are his words from Matthew to his followers: like lightning comes from the east and is seen even unto the west. In other words, Jesus will be seen by everyone, all over the world, in an instant. Indeed, he warns us, do not go to far off Siberia to seek him, we WILL see him from where we are at.
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
As lightning shines from the east to the west...
For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. (Matthew 24:27 ESV)
Lightning is truly awesome. "Most people aren't aware of the incredible energy and power of lightning', says Brent McRoberts of Texas A&M University. It's true that some bolts of lightning are much stronger than others", he explains. "At any given moment, there are about 1,200 thunderstorms occurring all over the Earth, and it's estimated that each second, there are about 100 lightning flashes somewhere over our planet. A typical lightning bolt contains about 15 million volts of electricity and instantly heats up the air around it to over 60,000 degrees, with some reaching more than 100,000 degrees. That's why the total energy of a strong thunderstorm can exceed the energy released during an atomic explosion." (Citation)
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The Lord Jesus, in describing for his disciples his return to earth after his resurrection and a subsequent earthly history, the length of which is known only to God the Father1, says that his coming would be like the lightning of a thunderstorm. But we can imagine, as his Father is none other than the creator of the universe this will be like no other lightning and thunder the world has ever known. When we think of the energy of just one sun, like our own, which is around 10,000 degrees F at its surface and around 27 million degrees F at its core, and when we think that the universe is made up of billions and billions of suns, then we begin to see that the creator of all of this must be immensely powerful. Indeed since He has created all of this then His coming will be more explosive and far brighter than billions, if not trillion of stars. (We have not actually found the edge of the universe yet so we really don't know for sure the full number of stars. The image at left is the Hubble ultra deep field image from NASA.) It is easy for us to see why in the Book of Revelation John says that "...every eye shall see him."2
The full significance of what the Lord Jesus is describing becomes even more exciting when we consider what he told his disciples right after this: “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.(Matthew 24:29,30 ESV)
WOW! Talk about a freaky event. Jesus mentions some days of tribulation and then he tells his disciples that right after those days there will be a day of total blackness. Think about it. Jesus says the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light and the stars will disappear. This means that for at least one day there will be absolutely no light on earth. Can you imagine it? People go to bed one night and as they wake up the next morning by time zones going east to west they wake up to total darkness. Have you ever been in total darkness. Without either the sun light, moon light or star light there will be complete blackness. Mankind will find themselves in darkness for at least one day. (Except for the followers of Jesus, because he is their light.) There was such a darkness on the earth once before, during the time when the Israelites were leaving Egypt. "And Jehovah said unto Moses, Stretch out thy hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt. And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days; they saw not one another, neither rose any one from his place for three days: but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings." (Exodus 10:21-23 ASV)
Lightning is truly awesome. "Most people aren't aware of the incredible energy and power of lightning', says Brent McRoberts of Texas A&M University. It's true that some bolts of lightning are much stronger than others", he explains. "At any given moment, there are about 1,200 thunderstorms occurring all over the Earth, and it's estimated that each second, there are about 100 lightning flashes somewhere over our planet. A typical lightning bolt contains about 15 million volts of electricity and instantly heats up the air around it to over 60,000 degrees, with some reaching more than 100,000 degrees. That's why the total energy of a strong thunderstorm can exceed the energy released during an atomic explosion." (Citation)
The full significance of what the Lord Jesus is describing becomes even more exciting when we consider what he told his disciples right after this: “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.(Matthew 24:29,30 ESV)
WOW! Talk about a freaky event. Jesus mentions some days of tribulation and then he tells his disciples that right after those days there will be a day of total blackness. Think about it. Jesus says the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light and the stars will disappear. This means that for at least one day there will be absolutely no light on earth. Can you imagine it? People go to bed one night and as they wake up the next morning by time zones going east to west they wake up to total darkness. Have you ever been in total darkness. Without either the sun light, moon light or star light there will be complete blackness. Mankind will find themselves in darkness for at least one day. (Except for the followers of Jesus, because he is their light.) There was such a darkness on the earth once before, during the time when the Israelites were leaving Egypt. "And Jehovah said unto Moses, Stretch out thy hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt. And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days; they saw not one another, neither rose any one from his place for three days: but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings." (Exodus 10:21-23 ASV)
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