Last Things

Eschatology is just anytime we are talking about "eschaton" or the "last things." It's actually an easy heading to use for all these ideas.

We study it because it's there. We have two means of figuring out its meaning: is it literal or is it figurative? It has to be one or the other and it can be both.

We view the eschaton through various optional interpretational grids; and if we buy into a certain grid, that is how we see it. That is how we put together our personal scriptural apologetic.

In other words, we construct the meaning of scripture (our arguments) based on our interpretation preference.

Over time ~ over the centuries ~ there have developed four basic ways of seeing the "last things": historicist, preterist, futurist, and idealist.

Here's how they break down in simple terms:

HISTORICIST ~ The "last days" are from the resurrection of Christ to the return, general resurrection, and judgment. The "millennium" is a metaphor for however long this timespan lasts.

PRETERIST ~ The "last days" refers to the end of the Jewish dispensation or period. The Preterist understands "millennium" much the same as the historicist. There are also two options for this aeonic millennium: amillennial and postmillennial (see below).

FUTURIST ~ The "last days" may refer to the Church dispensation but focuses on the last of the last days, that is, the time period just before Christ returns. This view tries to take Bible prophecy literally and tends to construct scenarios about future events based on what the prophetic passages sound like they are saying.

IDEALIST ~ This idealizes the eschaton. The Apocalypse is not a roadmap for theological understanding. It is all a metaphor for the conflict of God and Satan through all history. This interpretation stays outside of the other three: it doesn't suggest punctuations of time. This is a very general and kind of non-prophetic approach.

AMILLENNIAL ~ There is no literal millennium. Any interpretation that basically says all the time from Advent to Advent is the millennium.

POSTMILLENNIAL ~ Same as amillennial, but optimistic. The tendency is to view the Church as somehow swallowing up everything else, marching toward ultimate, complete victory.

PREMILLENNIAL ~ The millennium is literal and therefore future, since it hasn't occurred yet. The tendency here is to see Christ reigning on earth for an actual 1,000 years. That is the most literal possibility. However, "millennium" can also be a metaphor for all the ages to follow Christ's return.

That's it in a nutshell. I see a possibility here that all of this can be homogenized or combined. There are many areas where all these views intersect.

Preterist ~ the Kingdom was set up in men's hearts in the initial years of transition from Jewish paradigm to Christian. Historicist ~ the Kingdom has proceeded throughout the millennia since the paradigm shift. Futurist ~ the Kingdom is going to culminate in future closure. Idealist ~ the Kingdom is the story of it all, from beginning to end.

So eschatology does not have to be a battleground of opposing ideas and one-upmanship. Get that Modernist impulse out of your head. This is not just end-times science and may the best man win. This is a composite picture of the work of God through Christ. We're all tracking on this.

The 10 Cs and Love

The ten commandments (10Cs) are the foundational law of Judaism and thus all monotheism. There are 5 vertical commands and 5 horizontal, suggesting the cross (+). Below we examine the Big Ten.

I. God is exclusive, the only God.
II. Do not worship idols or other gods.
III. Do not abuse God's name.
IV. Remember the Sabbath day rest.
V. Honor your parents (authority).

I think of these as the "vertical" commands because they are upward, toward God. Most people probably say the fifth commandment is horizontal. I won't quibble. But even honoring parents and authorities is toward God: it is like worship. The promise with Five is that you will live long. This makes sense in the real world. If we are rebellious toward authority and parents, we tend to limit our lives. Also, God is the Divine Parent, and it works down like a heirarchy, restraining evil.

The next five commands are "horizontal": they concern how we relate to others.

VI. Do not murder.
VII. Do not commit adultery.
VIII. Do not steal.
IX. Do not lie about your neighbor.
X. Do not covet what your neighbor has.

All of these are inspired by human greed. So the intent of the commands is to restrain the human instinct of greed. Greed is the opposite of love. If you love your neighbor, you won't kill him, have sex with his wife, steal his car, tell falsehoods about him, or desire his goods. The point of the commands is to generate loving behavior by restraining evil impulses.

Matthew 22: 34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:
36 "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 37Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

When we practice love, we keep all the commandments and fulfill the law. Love honors and pursues God and helps its neighbor.

1Cor. 13: 1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Love is patient, kind, not covetous, self-effacing, humble, mannerly, generous, slow to anger, forgiving, pursues the good, is true, protects, trusts, hopes, and perseveres. This is the goal of the faith-life. If we do this, we won't be breaking God's laws.

Paul shows that we have to graduate beyond the law. Law seeks vengeance for wrongs. These are "childish ways." All the world is involved in law, even Christians. But when we move up to living out the love described above, we become mature. The cross and the 10Cs are about love. God is love. If we practice love, we are like Him

Zodiac and the Bible

When we observe the heavens we see pictures. The ancients devised a coded representation of the constellations we now call "the Zodiac." Pasting these pictures over the Bible we come up with something like this:

1. VIRGO, the Virgin: Revelation 12: 1 A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. 2 She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth.

The virgin is an important symbol in the Bible, as is the "virgin birth." This oxymoron describes both the birth of the Savior and the "bride" that He is seeking.

2. LIBRA, the Scales: Psalm 89: 14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you.

God is just. He wields the scales of justice.


3. SCORPIO, the Scorpion: 1 Cor. 15: 55"Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?"[b] 56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Lord has removed the sting of death. In Revelation 9: 5, 6 there is a description of the sting of the scorpion related to death. Jesus removes that sting when we place our faith in him.

4. SAGITTARIUS, the Archer: Rev. 19: 11 I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. 12 His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. 13 He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. 14 The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. 15 Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. "He will rule them with an iron scepter." He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

This constellation features a man-horse firing arrows. It reminds me of this picture of Jesus as a warrior.


5. CAPRICORNUS, the Goat: Matthew 25: 31"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

The goat constellation is a picture of a goat with a fish tail. The goat is often a picture of the unbeliever or the wicked. The fish is a picture of the redeemed. The combination speaks of the redemptive power of faith on the unredeemed, to transform us from death to life.


6. AQUARIUS, the Water-bearer: Joel 2: 28 "And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. 29 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days."

The picture of a man pouring out an urn into the sky. It reminds me of the Holy Spirit pouring himself into mankind.


7- PISCES, the Fishes: Mark 6: He also divided the two fish among them all. 42 They all ate and were satisfied, 43 and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. 44 The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand.

Two fish reminds me of the multiplication of the fish. This is what Jesus came to do.

8. ARIES, the Ram or Lamb: Revelation 5: 6 Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders.

There is the Lamb figure here, but I am reminded of the ram in the thicket, which also represents the sacrifice on the cross. He is the Lamb that takes away the sins of the world.

9. TAURUS, the Bull: 1 Timothy 5: 18For the Scripture says, "Do not muzzle the ox while it is treading out the grain..."

This is the picture of a rushing bull. The church is a bull ox, treading the grain of the harvest.

10. GEMINI, the Twins: Ephesians 2: 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.

The twins are united, suggesting unity. This speaks of the power of the cross to unite mankind in God. It is a symbol of peace.


11. CANCER, the Crab: Hebrews 13: 5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

The crab is a tenacious critter, holding on with its claw. Jesus is tenacious with his inheritance, the human race. He never leaves us or forsakes us.

12. LEO, the Lion: Revelation 5: 5 Then one of the elders said to me, "Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals."

The lion is king and Jesus is that lion, the King of kings. There is no beast that can stand before the king of beasts. He will best them all.

Pumpkin Light

"Bring The Light"
Shot down I stood
Withstood my neighborhood
I got it wrong
But I could
Follow love lest
I learnIt's light
To bring the light
I fought with all my might
With light
Oh bring the light
Light
Bring the light
I never felt so good and right
But tonight
You'll never need another sound
Oh bring the light
Bring the light to me
Here and gone oh
I trustYou'd spit upon my dust
And mix my ash with your blood
A son of God you know you must arrive
In the light
Bring the light
Let's bring the light
Light
Oh bring the light
Light
Bring the light
It's yours not mine
If you just want to survive
Go grab a glimpse of any star
In heaven's high
I never felt so real and loved and alive
No shadows follow me unsung
In the light
Bring the light to me
A flower song, clear and bright
Is it wrong in neon white
To insist you are mine
Standing dumb in the light
Bring the light
Oh bring the light
Bring the light
Light
Bring the light
I never felt so real and right and alive
Don't let them steal you from what's yours by right
LightBring the light
You know there comes a place and time
You can't deny
With every movement shadows cast and align
Bring the light
Bring the light
Bring the light
Let's bring the light

My comment: Smashing Pumpkins latest "Zeitgeist" is, as per their Gothic persona, suitable for Halloween-time. This is a cool song as ear-candy. Interesting lyrics. I like to publish a poem once a month.
[Thanks to Frank Clug (tengaio@hotmail.com) for these lyrics][ www.azlyrics.com ]

Paradise Lost: the Movie

The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, or a hell of heaven.
John Milton (1608 - 1674)
Source: Paradise Lost (Penguin

Rev. 12:
7 And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.

8 But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven.

9 The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

Scott Derrickson is a screenwriter, producer, and director. He has written and directed the film The Exorcism Of Emily Rose, which was loosely based on a true story about Anneliese Michel, a college freshman who was at one point recognized by the Roman Catholic Church for her demonic possession.[citation needed]
He is currently working with Legendary Pictures to direct a big screen adaptation of John Milton's Paradise Lost from a script by Stuart Hazeldine. He is also currently writing and directing the adaptation of "Devil's Knot" by Mara Leveritt for Dimension Films.
Derrickson graduated from Biola University La Mirada, CA with a degree in humanities, a degree in communications, and a degree in theological studies. He earned his masters in film production from USC Film School.[1]
Derrickson got his first break into the film industry directing the fifth installment of the Hellraiser series, Hellraiser: Inferno (2000) and writing the screenplay for Urban Legends: Final Cut (2000)

Variety reports that Scott Derrickson, director and co-writer of The Exorcism of Emily Rose, is attached to direct (and co-write?) a big-screen adaptation of John Milton's Paradise Lost! The film is being developed by Legendary Pictures, the outfit behind Batman Begins and last year's Superman Returns.

Variety also says: "Paradise Lost," published in 1667, tells the story of Lucifer's failed rebellion in heaven and subsequent role in Adam and Eve's fall from grace.

Scott Derrickson may not be a household name, but you may be familiar with his next project: "Paradise Lost." Yes, that "Paradise Lost," John Milton's epic poem. And he's reportedly got a budget of around $100 million to make it. Not bad for a guy who's best known for the horror films "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" and "Hellraiser: Inferno." If horror may seem like an unlikely genre for a Christian filmmaker, Derrickson--raised a fundamentalist, now a self-described "orthodox Christian"--sees it as part and parcel of his faith. "By approaching spiritual issues and religious questions through the window of the horrific or the dark side of life, you suddenly had free reign to deal with spirituality in a way that was not going to be preachy or come off as propaganda," he told Beliefnet in 2005.

My comment: How interesting that we have a Christian making top-notch horror flicks and about to produce a blockbuster movie based on John Milton's masterpiece about the war in heaven. What an opportunity with today's digital possibilities: demons, angels, Adam and Eve, Paradise. I'll be in line to see this. And what is next? Dante's Inferno?

Templar Heretics?

By FRANCES D'EMILIO, Associated Press Writer Fri Oct 12, 7:53 PM ET
VATICAN CITY - It's not the Holy Grail, but for fans of "The Da Vinci Code" and its tantalizing story line about the Knights Templar, it could be the next best thing.

Ignored for centuries, documents about the heresy trial of the ancient Christian order discovered in the Vatican's secret archives are being published in a limited edition — with an $8,377 price tag.

They include a 14th-century parchment showing that Pope Clement V initially absolved the Templar leaders of heresy, though he did find them guilty of immorality and planned to reform the order, according to the Vatican archives Web site.

But pressured by King Philip IV of France, Clement later reversed his decision and suppressed the order in 1312.

Who were these noble knights of the Rosy Cross? How vast was their influence? Did it become a conspiracy or something else? Whatever they were, theirs is one of the most fascinating legends in Western history.

We have even inherited the superstition of Friday the 13th through them. That was the day their leader, Jacque Demolay, was put to death in 1312 by a coalition of the Pope and the French King.

My version of the story of the Knights of Solomon's Temple is basically that they were instrumental and revered warriors of the Crusades, who actually, at one time, had occupied the storied Temple Mount, today occupied by the Dome of the Rock, a sure symbol of Islamic victory. It had been one cause of the Crusades to secure the holy mount for the church.

The irony is that these church warriors were later closed down by the church-state itself. The question is, where did those go who escaped the purge? There is little doubt they had to go underground to survive; and it is logical that they would have at least influenced the rising secret societies in Europe. It is also likely that those societies had a marked influence on the revolutions and development of democratic systems that signalled the end of the church-state. It all has the smell of revenge to it.

Now this intriguing piece of history has become popular; and the question of the Templars is receiving public scrutiny. Freemasons and Catholics alike are ferreting for the truth. For instance, the idea is out there that the Shroud of Turin was actually the burial shroud of deMolay, not Christ. And there are the legends of the Grail, and the Merovingian kings, that all seem to commence with the mystery of the Templars. Were they the early entrepreneurs of modern banking? Did they smuggle occult ideas into Europe? Were they toying with ideas of revolution?

The DaVinci Code popularized Templar obsession. Indeed, these boys did generate a great deal of enigma. Many of The Code's ideas have been debunked and Templar history has been defanged: and now it appears the Catholic Church is seeking some exoneration. Still, the mystery is not likely to go away.

Also, the Temple Mount is linked in the minds of many Christian scholars with Bible prophecy. That very mount is still the focus of Middle East tensions today, as Jerusalem becomes again a "cup of trembling" for the world. Did the Knights once possess the Ark of the Covenant? Mysteries abound, still.

Three Doctrines

The above is a picture called "Doctrine of Signatures" by an artist named Brewer.

1 Tim. 4:1 The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.

2John 9Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.

Colossians 2: 20Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: 21"Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!"? 22These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. 23Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence. Also Mark 7:7.

Many years ago I realized there are only three types of doctrines (teachings) in the Bible. These are:
1) the doctrines of Christ and the apostles or sound doctrine;
2) the doctrines of men; and
3) doctrines of demons.

"Sound doctrine", then, tends to be any teaching that does not incorporate #2 or #3. Essentially, sound doctrine proceeds from the fulfilling commandment of LOVE. All commandments are complete in actions based on love. For instance, James says, "true religion is to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction and to keep one's self uncontaminated from the world." If someone is teaching something like this, they are teaching sound doctrine.

In the time of Christ, many Jews were practicing not just the Law of Moses, but many variants based on it that were hatched up by men. These kinds of doctrines are often designed to bring men into bondage to systems of behavior and thought that do not come from God directly. They can be very subtle and sound right, but they aren't necessary. They don't have to be just a bunch of man-made do's and don'ts, though, they can also be ideas constructed from scripture that are from "private interpretation." That is, any doctrine that comes from human reasoning and is declared dogma.

Finally, there is "demonic doctrine." The apostle John, in his epistles, reveals the main test by which we discern spirits. A demon will oppose Christ. John calls it the spirit of antichrist. He says, "Any spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God."

So we can use these things as tools of discernment when we are being confronted by anyone's teachings. First of all, is this doctrine or teaching in opposition to Christ at its core? What premise is it building on? Does it deny Christ in some way? Better back off from it.

What if it is a Christian doctrine, but it teaches you to practice sin, or to keep endless laws that you are not required by the New Testament to practice? Then it is likely a doctrine of men. You are under no compulsion to practice it.

Finally, if it is a Christian doctrine that mirrors the Sermon on the Mount, that urges you to walk beyond the law into the law of the Spirit, then it is acceptable teaching. You can practice it.

If this sounds vague, it is because these are only basic principles to help you to discern what kind of doctrine you are being confronted with. We learn discernment through spiritual exercise: basically, study, prayer, and experience. But this gives us a basis on which to judge what we are hearing.

Apocalypse Revisions

Below I will look at 4 of the methods of interpreting the book of John's Revelation that developed over church history. To flesh this out, click here.

1) The oldest and probably most influential view is the Past View or Preterist View. Essentially, this says that most of the book of Revelation refers to the Roman Empire: perhaps the most logical view. That is, it can easily be demonstrated from the history of the time it was written. For instance, the "7 kings" can be shown to be directly related to the Imperial Cult of the day.

It seems there can be little doubt this view is valid. The style of the book is "Jewish Apocalyptical" and the imagery corresponds to Rome, the fourth Beast of Daniel's visions. It was under Roman domination that the church was born.

2) The next method of interpretation of the Apocalypse was basically popularized by Augustine. Augustine grew weary of the prognosticators that preceded him: the endless sea of predictions for Jesus' return that he saw as injurious to the church. In order to squelch these fancies, Augustine explained Revelation as Symbolic history.

In other words, Augustine saw Revelation as a proceeding vision. One-thousand year references were not to be taken literally, but applied to the whole of Christian history. That is, Revelation images could be applied to any time in history. But they were to be handled as just that, imagery. This has been the dominant interpretation in Catholicism, so heavily influenced by Augustine.

3) Despite Augustine's efforts, literalists still abounded. These interpreters saw the millennial imagery as pertaining to the current age of the church. They developed means of interpretation now known as the Continuous Historical view. That is, the imagery of Revelation could be applied literally to whatever period of time in which the church found itself.

This method of interpretation persisted from the time of Joachim of Fiore in the 12th century to the mid-19th century. Joachim used the 42 generations of the Gospel genealogies to calculate 1,260 years from the birth of Jesus to his own day as the fulfillment of biblical prophecies, ending with Saladin who defeated the Crusaders. In other words, one could apply scriptural clues to present situations. These methods came to be known as "postmillennial." This mode persisted through the Reformation even until Cotton Mather's time in the Colonial era.

4) The final method of interpretation is the Futurist mode, basically emerging from Calvinist and Reform theology. This was popularized in the late 19th century by the dispensationalism of John Nelson Darby (1800-1882) and popularized by the successes of the Scofield Bible marginal notes after 1909. It arose because it became difficult to see how the thousand years, if taken literally as in the Continuous Mode of interpretation, could be in the past. Thus developed "premillennialism". That is, everything in Revelation, from chapter 4 on, needed to be interpreted as predictive of future events.

With a literal 1,000-year period posited in the future, the imagery of Revelation needed to be interpreted as "end-time" events surrounding the return of Christ and placing him as reigning during an actualized millennium on the earth. Once again, this urged many inquirers to refigure old guesses as to the dating of the return of Christ, all of them wrong, obviously.

The point is, Revelation is very enigmatic and compels us to desire to unlock its secrets. Even Columbus sailed the ocean blue in response to his millennial interpretations. And still, today, we find there are biblical scholars who tend to fit themselves into one of the four above-mentioned groups of interpreters.

Perhaps it is the frustation we feel with unsolved mysteries. It is the riddle that won't quit. And, of course, there are those who just leave the thing alone. But I never could. It is the most fascinating book of the Bible.

I wonder then if the answer lies in all 4 of the above modes and not in any single one. That is, the document refers definitely to its day, contains mystical reference to the developing age of the church, and culminates somewhere up ahead of us. Again, we are left to spar over literal and figurative interpretations.
May the best man win?

Duelling Duals

Below is a quote from a study on Hegel:

"Hegel took logic to the next logical level, in what many consider to be a higher intellectual level, claiming an (A) ideology conflicting with its (B) opposite ideology = (C) a new and sometimes better philosophy. The dialectic pits A against B in a constant conflict and resolution, which eventually creates an outcome that may or may not have any resemblance to A and B. According to modern social scientists, C does not have to be a reasonable conclusion, since Hegel's dialectic takes pure reason out of the reasoning."

In the Garden of Eden story we encounter a tree that is said to have the "fruit" of the knowledge of good and evil. Eve is told not to sample it or she will die. So, of course, this "mother of all living" does as she pleases and we are all dead meat because of it. Thank you very much, Mother Eve.

The basic idea is that Eve is innocent until she sinks her incisors into this knowledge, and she is then enlightened to the presence, in the world, of both good and evil. This just has to be an allegory, folks. Perhaps it is the point in time that humanity began to realize that the world around them is malfunctioning: there is evil in the air/

the smell of dragon-gas is there/

coming from the lair.

But good and evil are polar opposites. There is a duel going on in the cosmos, and it consists of these duals. The duals are duelling.

Oriental thinking tries to balance the dualism, and says, basically, that good is not completely good and evil is not utterly evil. Okay. But Occidental folks ~ not by accident ~ have sought to understand how to utilize the cosmic argument to bring about progress. History, if you will.

One guy says, "I believe in apples." Another guy says,"I believe in oranges." They then battle over apples and oranges until they have amalgamated them into apple-orange pie. Is it an improvement? Maybe. Maybe not. But it will now be compared to banana-rhubarb pie, and the virtues and vices of each pie will yield to the new synthesis: apple-rhubarb-orange-banana pie, or some variance thereof.

Now that I have confused you thoroughly, what is the point?

One of the lasting dualities argued in the church is the tension between the realities of predestination and free will. The scriptures talk about them both. So one group focuses its doctrine on predestination and the next group focuses on free will. They come up with somewhat radically different prescriptions for how to live.

Knowledge is confusing, enlightening as it may be. This is why Solomon said,"In much knowledge is much grief." But he was listening to 700 wives talking; and they were all just like their mother Eve.

But, according to Hegel, all history is a progression of arguments resolving to sin-thesis (synthesis). The thesis and the antithesis (the duals duelling) resolve to the sin-thesis. In other words, we can't help but sin.

Actually, that is SYN-thesis. Syn means "together" and thesis means something like "to posit" or "place." To place together: to put the two things together. Now, if we put good and evil together, what have we got? We have the world as we know it. You see? "Know." Gnosis. The knowledge of good and evil.

I'd better not teach philosophy. I will ruin thousands of years of knowledge accumulations.

Anyway, when we come to God, God is UNO. One. He is not polarized like the church is. He is not polarized like His creation is: duelling over duals. He is not confused like we are. But then, He didn't eat that apple.

So, if you pit two football teams against each other, one wins. Is that a synthesis? It is a resolution. Then they hammer it out all season and, at Super Bowl, the best man wins. But what actually happened? A lot of advertising dollars were spent and more goods were sold everywhere. But was there any real resolution? Did the long arduous battle mean anything?

So Solomon, the wisest king, got to the end of all this and said,"It all vexes me." Killjoy.

But God, in all this, emerges as non-dual. That means He ain't divided up. He is in control of the whole mess. For, to Him, it ain't a mess. For Him it makes sense. He understands the synthesis: where all the theses are going.

So what are we all arguing about? Well, we're processing information, the knowledge of good and evil. We are making sense of it all.

Doesn't that make sense?

Three Strategies

Luke 4: 1Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, 2where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.
3The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread."
4Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone.'"
5The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6And he said to him, "I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7So if you worship me, it will all be yours."
8Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.'"
9The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down from here. 10For it is written: " 'He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; 11they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'"
12Jesus answered, "It says: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"
13When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.

John 10: 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.....

The history of the church is similar to the temptation of Christ in the wilderness. In the early centuries the church was under intense persecution only to later arise to a position of state authority and finally into a period of division. In the earliest days, the demonic strategy was simply to kill; but it didn't work. The church only expanded under persecution.

In the second phase of church history, the church rose to a position of temporal power, wedded to the state through most of the Middle Ages. In her hubris, the church was in the position to steal, requiring power and money to build the kingdom on earth. But she became corrupt and despised.

In the third stage, the church has seen the demonic strategy of division to destroy her original unity. And in these three ways the church, during the nearly 2 millennia of her existence, has been compromised and opposed by her archenemy, the one that Jesus, above, identified as a "thief."

In the wilderness, we see the Devil use similar techniques against Jesus: 1) to steal, "It will all be yours" (it was already His); 2) to kill Himself in a suicidal leap; and 3) to potentially destroy by using His miraculous power, symbolized by changing the stone into food ~ the third period of the church falling into endless divisions ~ moving from the rock of unity to perishable disunity.

To the temptation to steal, Jesus answered, "Serve God only." To the threat of killing, the Savior said, "Do not test God." And Jesus said,"Life is more than bread," to the strategy to destroy by division. It is not what we have or what we eat that sustains us.

No weapon formed against the church has prospered. Isaiah 54: 16, 17 says,

"See, it is I who created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its work. And it is I who have created the destroyer to work havoc; no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and this is their vindication from me," declares the LORD."

Those weapons that were forged against the church have failed to destroy her. They have only served to make her stronger. She is about to be vindicated.

Rapture: Literal or Figurative?

I THESSALONIANS 4:16-17"For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord."

I CORINTHIANS 15:51-53"Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye ... for this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality."

I'm going to resolve a controversy here in less than a minute. Wish me luck.

The scene is usually something like this: The world is careening toward Armageddon and the Antichrist is about to be revealed to the world. Suddenly, millions of Christians around the world, along with those long dead who pop out of their graves, fly up like rockets to meet their Lord. Then, depending on who you ask, they stay up in heaven with the Lord for 7 years or else come right back with Him. In both cases, they fight the final world battle with Him, and, of course, win.

Another spin on these scriptures is that they are simply a metaphorical picture of a spiritual reality. There is no physical resurrection going on here; this is just a picture of what takes place when Christ comes into His people, whether as a past event or an ongoing feature of the unfolding of God's plan in the church.

When we arrive at the mysteries in scripture, we have two basic approaches to interpretation: literal or figurative. One way we can sometimes clarify which is the best approach is by considering context. We can also examine original Greek meanings of the words being used in the passage.

Whenever we approach these mysteries, we may actually have an agenda, or at least a preference as to how we think the interpretation should be conducted. But whenever we become exclusively either literal or figurative in our approach, we are probably just digging our own nice little comfortable cubby to live in. We are also creating a stand-off with our fellow believers who prefer a different kind of cubby-hole. Stand-offs have a way of escalating into full-scale wars and private encampments that sometimes develop into movements and then denominations.

I am finding that in most cases, mysteries yield to BOTH basic approaches, again, literal and figurative. There is no reason to suppose that either the literal or figurative explanations of the "rapture" are the last word. There are good reasons to believe it is a literal future event: even though literalists often get too head-strong about their particular imaginary scenarios. There are also good reasons to apply these verses in a more figurative way, gleaning meaning from them, but careful not to get too dogmatic about symbolism as the ONLY true approach here. Please.

In the end, we are straining to have the last word, and in doing so alienating the other guy who is trying to nail it down. Who cares and what does it matter? We end up straining at gnats and swallowing camels.

I usually say to those who want to press the futurist rapture,"Hey, you could die at any moment. Is that IMMINENT enough for you?" My personal rapture will come when I pass on. And it won't cause any divisions in the church.

Paul maintained that he was revealing these things to COMFORT the saints, who at that time were under extremes of persecution. Living the Christian life was no walk in the park.

Basically, yes, Christ in us right now is a kind of rapture, and we ought to focus on the here and now. But we are also looking toward a clear, future change, and an amazing transformation of all creation. We needn't get too anal about possible interpretations. We can all be friends.

For the figurative argument on rapture, click this.