The Pyramid Power

2012 and the Bible: Part 1

Author: Tobin Crenshaw


Director Roland Emmerich’s new film 2012 is a visual feast, with half the movie being CGI effects. The plot is based upon the now well known fact that the Mayan calendar infamously ends on December 21, 2012. Since the calendar ends in a little over three years, doomsayers are once again predicting the end of mankind. Funny thing is, we have been here before, many times. (Has it really been that long since Y2K?).

Emmerich’s film stars Amanda Peet and John Cusack. The couple is in a race against time to unravel a government secret that will allow them to survive the cataclysmic end of the earth as we know it. With fellow survivors they battle tsunamis, tidal waves, earthquakes and fireballs from the sky. While countless people are dying in disaster after disaster, the focus of the movie is on this small group trying to make it through 2012 alive.

While I enjoyed the film for its entertainment value, it does bring to light a number of interesting questions. It also ignites many discussions that once again focus upon people’s obsession with the destruction of the earth, something many claim to find in ancient scriptures, including the Bible.

Quick quiz, what do 1945, 1948, 1953, 1960, 1977, 1981, 1984, 1988, 1994 and the year 2000 all have in common? These are just but a few of the predicted dates of the end of the world. In fact, in the past 2000 years there is rarely a year someone didn’t predict as the end of the world. For fundamentalists, this end includes the reign of the antichrist and the return of Jesus.

Sadly, most don’t take sixteenth century theologian John Calvin’s words to heart when he said, “It is foolish to attempt to determine the time [of the End] by calculation from prophecy.” More baffling is why believers ignore Jesus’ words again and again, “No one knows the day or the hour” (Mark 13:32). More than that, the bigger question is “the day or the hour” of what. When we study further what he said, it becomes clearer the “what” here is not the end of the world but the end of Jerusalem and its Temple priesthood in 70 AD.

Death has always been at the forefront of humanity’s thinking. We all face it, even when we pretend it won’t happen to us, or to our heroes. When an icon falls, we stop and we take notice. They seemed untouchable, almost inhuman. But given enough time all will face the very human fact of life coming to an end on this earth. For many the question of “What next?” leads them on a desperate search for answers.

Others simply ignore the inevitable and busy themselves with life. For the writers of the New Testament, death was neither feared nor embraced. It was a transition that was necessary, considered no more threatening than a bee sting. With this boldness the writers of the New Testament gave comfort to those who were facing daily threats to their lives. One book in particular spoke to this fact, and it is the most misused book in the Bible today, Revelation.

It seems that the book of Revelation has always held a particular fascination with the people. Its imagery and symbolism are both frightening and mysterious. We are intrigued by the terror that is described in the book; while at the same time we are comforted by the picture of the end of death and disease the apostle John describes. The pictures of angels worshipping around the throne of God inspire awe, while the bloodshed and tears invoke anxiety. For some the picture is too intense and they take comfort in every teaching that claims to know when the events John describes will transpire. Of course, who wouldn’t want to know when the world was coming to an end?

But what if the some of the most popular beliefs in today’s church about the end times were wrong? What if what the average American Christian believed the Bible taught about Armageddon, the Tribulation, the anti-Christ was wrong? And if we are wrong, how did we get duped?

The truth is the book was not about the end of the world, it was about the end of a world. It was about the end of a world that was separated from God but that had been reconciled on a cross. It was about the end of a world that had been haunted by death being replaced by an everlasting kingdom where all were invited to join. It was a book that let people know that death was not superior to life, and that death was not the end but the beginning. And in a time of turmoil and war, it was a book that taught people that trials and challenges in this life were not without a purpose.

Once we understand all of that, we will realize the end of the world was never Jesus’ focus. The end he spoke about was much greater than that. So let’s spend some time pealing back the layers and catching a glimpse inside the true end of all things, and may you find there not fear, but a truth that sets you free.

Tobin Crenshaw

twominutesermon.com


About the Author:


I am a former pastor who is now a full time writer. My new book is available at twominutesermon.com and is titled, "The Life That is Really Life: How Biblical Truth Can Transform Your Spiritual,Emotional,Physical and Relational Health." I have an online ministry to people looking for authentic personal and spiritual growth and passionate relationships, and also a special outreach for burned out and hurting pastors and those in need of counseling in times of conflict. twominutesermon.com

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - 2012 and the Bible: Part 1

2012 and the Bible: Part 2

Author: Tobin Crenshaw


2012 and the Bible: Part 2

As I shared in my first article, date setting for the end of the world is as natural as breathing to some people. The important thing to remember is that every one of these predictions has been wrong. A big reason for these constant errors is that people are using tools for a task for which they were never meant to be used.

The book of Revelation was never meant to be a book of codes that once discovered would reveal the earth’s final days. In fact, just the opposite is true; the book is about the victory of God reconciling the world unto himself while making all things new. Are some passages obscure? Only if we yank them out of context and try to force them to fit into a 21st Century model.

One of the clearest examples is the dreaded “mark of the Beast” that has become a cultural fixture in movies, books and in songs. The second example is the ubiquitous reference to an anti-Christ that has held people’s attention for a long time. Indeed, even entertainer Marilyn Manson prides himself in being identified with this mysterious figure. However, despite popular hype, the word does not appear in Revelation. We will consider more about this thought in the next article.

What about the idea of people receiving a mark? The book of Revelation states, “He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead” (Revelation 13:16).

For years people have speculated upon the meaning of this mark, claiming it is everything from a social security number to a micro-chip. In reality, they have failed to simply continue reading the book where just sentences later the apostle states, “Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads” (Revelation 14:1.)

Obviously the marks are a contrast to one another. The idea here is about loyalty, not technology or tattoos. When John mentions the forehead, he is using a commonly understood term that relates to one’s thought life. For some, they have God’s name impressed upon their minds and therefore give him full allegiance, for others it is loyalty to some other god. In John’s culture “the beast” meant specifically Rome and the Emperor Nero. A simpler way to put it is our faith rests in the strength of man, or in the strength of God.

A quick comparison to the Old Testament will also confirm this as we read in Deuteronomy: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads” (Deuteronomy 6:4-9.)

This is a central passage in the Hebrew Bible that every Jewish person was and is familiar with that is known as the Shema. The focus is upon the one true God that Abraham worshipped. Here Moses is the one speaking and was calling the Israelites to have loyalty to God in their hearts, and to serve him with there actions, here referred to as a “symbol on your hands.” With our hands we carry out obedient or sinful acts, while in our heart and mind we reveal where our true loyalty rests.

Simply comparing scripture with scripture reveals that the traditional doomsday view on one of the most talked about topics is simply wrong. The mark that so many ponder has nothing to do with a physical mark, but is a spiritual truth about where our commitment lies, either with God or with another.


About the Author:


I am a former pastor who is now a full time writer. My new book is available at twominutesermon.com and is titled, "The Life That is Really Life: How Biblical Truth Can Transform Your Spiritual,Emotional,Physical and Relational Health." I have an online ministry to people looking for authentic personal and spiritual growth and passionate relationships, and also a special outreach for burned out and hurting pastors and those in need of counseling in times of conflict. twominutesermon.com

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - 2012 and the Bible: Part 2

I know the bible is true as far as it is translated correctly. The last book in the New Testament which is the Book of Revelation is true. Though it is very difficult to comprehend all it teaches is about the second coming of the messiah. Interpreters of different denominations or people have different understanding in it. But it is clearly said by the messiah that even Him does not know when He will be coming. Only his Father knows it.