America Asks More Questions about the Second Coming of Christ

Question
Isn抰 the book of Revelation just so many symbols and thus should not he placed on the level of other clearer messages of the Bible?

Answer
The book of Revelation is replete with symbolism; but so is much of the rest of the Bible. We should give no less credence to it than to any other part of the Bible. Symbolisms were used to guide an entire nation of ancient Egyptians and to protect and give hope to generations of Israelites. All of this was done in the very first book of the Bible, so if we are going to lessen the veracity or the practicality of biblical symbols we would have to start at the beginning of the Bible. If we start there, we will find countless other symbols not to trust and in the end we will have chopped up a great deal of Gods word. We don抰 have the right to remove even one letter from Gods word physically, but we are not to remove it by spiritualizing it or nominalizing it either.

When Egypt was about to undergo one of the worst droughts in its history, Pharaoh had a dream filled with symbolism that deferred the worst from happening. When Joseph interpreted Pharaohs dream he secured a future for his own generation of Israelites. Genesis 41:1f

It might do well to note that the very first recorded prophetic message in the Bible was a dream also filled with symbolism. Genesis 37:5f Joseph抯 dream of the sun and the moon and the stars would outline the history of his people forever. Why then should it be hard to see Revelation and its symbols as the outline for only one small seven year long period.

The very first prophetic utterance in the Bible is referred to as the Prote-Evangelium, and it uses symbolism. Genesis 3:15 There is where the first promise that Christ would overcome all evil is found.
Highways around the world are covered with universal traffic symbols. Language and lore is embellished with symbols. Theater, television, business, culture, and our own daily conversation are saturated with the use of symbolism. How is it that we have thought God couldn抰 use symbols to covey part of his message to us, and that it could he trusted. And how is it that those who are so quick to point out that this is the most educated generation in the history of the world, cannot seem to find a way for implicit and explicit teachings in the Bible to co-exist and compliment each other. To persist in this silly fear of the symbol comes under the heading of hypocrisy rather than confusion, if we would he honest enough to admit it.

Question
Aren抰 many of the pictures and symbols of Revelation much like those of the Old Testament and are they just borrowed from the Old Testament?

Answer
I find it hard not to answer this question with a simple yes, but so what, but for the sake of the more serious student of the Bible I will try to address the question in a more persuasive manner. Many New Testament references are made from the Old Testament. Jesus, the apostles and many others referred to the Old Testament scriptures and its symbols.

Have we forgotten that the Bible is to the Christian after all only one book, not two? If God were not so faithful in his revelation to us we might find huge differences between the symbolism of the old and new testament. That would no doubt give rise to another group of people who would argue against the validity of the Bible because of the enormous disparity in the images presented in the Old Testament as compared to those of the New Testament.

Doubters will never be satisfied with anything. Believers are glad that God has given us one comprehensible picture of his intentions in sixty six books, spread out over thousands of years.

This alone is a miracle. When John received the Revelation of Jesus Christ on the Isle of Patmos, we can imagine how relieved he must have felt when he saw it didn抰 diverge very much from the messages given to Daniel, Ezekiel, Jeremiah and others. If it had been that radically different, he may have been inclined to dismiss it as not having come from God in the first place. We can thank God that John knew the voice of his Savior as Jesus promised he would, John 10:27 and he could see its consistency with the rest of the messages given to his predecessors.

I am also thankful that when I saw a vision of the sun darkened and the moon glowing the color of blood, that when I finally saw that description in the Bible it wasn抰 something unfamiliar or strange. It takes no genius to comprehend that though the symbolism of the New Testament is similar to that of the old, it is only to supplement, advance or further elucidate the message not just to borrow from it. Borrowing from the Bible or any other source to enhance a vision that purportedly came from God would make the messenger not a visionary or prophet but a common liar. The last time I looked, God was still calling only those who are searching for, living for and willing to die for the truth, to become his messengers.

Rev Bresciani is the author of two popular Christian books, one on the second coming of Christ. He has hundreds of articles published both online and in print. Visit the website at www.americanprophet.org

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America ?You抳e had it Made Too Long

There is little doubt that America is riding the wave. She is at the peak of her power and at the top of her game. Trying to get her attention would be a lot like trying to stop a train with a handkerchief. Every similarity to previous world powers notwithstanding our collective national behavior is so close to ancient Rome that all that is missing is the togas. The land of the mighty Caesars made a noise heard round the world for a season then died alone in a protracted whimpering that went largely unnoticed as the world entered the modern era. What can we learn from this? Leaving this question unanswered might normally imply that the answer is understood, however, it is apparent that for Americans nothing at all is understood.

The dangers are ignored, the warnings go unheeded, and the party goes on. Contrasts of our lifestyle and that of other nations make us all the more pompous and less willing to question our own indulgence. We have been all to willing to conclude that there must be something wrong with those guys over there. The prophet, bard and poet must now curb their urgency and put out a more entertaining message in keeping with the tone of the party spirit. We are only one step away from jailing, hurting or killing the messengers who provide us with a call to conscience. Or have we already taken our first few baby steps in that direction.

Like a mangy little dog scampering behind us and nipping at our heals comes the ACLU standing up for the rights of Gays and Lesbians while beating down manger scenes at Christmas and Ten Commandment plaques in public buildings. It makes me wonder if even common heroism has fallen victim to perversion. Are these acts heroic, are they really protecting our freedoms?

In Pennsylvania a law was recently rammed through the legislature that makes it illegal for a minister of the gospel to quote passages of the Bible from the pulpit that cite homosexual behavior as a sin. That law has been challenged by people with a bit of common sense still left to them in that state.

In Iraq and Afghanistan we are kept from entering and searching mosques that are known centers for Islamic jihad groups or where weapons are stockpiled and cached. They are considered cultural centers and thus are placed off limits. Contrast this to the latest effort to keep military chaplains from praying in the name of Jesus Christ with those who they are sheparding. Chaplains are guarding the spiritual welfare of our own soldier citizens, is that any less important than the cultural traditions of foreigners?

On a recent ride through a rural district of Arkansas I noticed that there was a church building about every one and a half miles on the road I was on. There were Pentecostal, Full Gospel, Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopal, Nazarene, Catholic and some unheard of varieties of churches stretched out in profusion for well over two hundred miles. As I drove I was thinking of an old adage spoken by one of our most well known missionary pioneers who said厰why should anyone hear the gospel twice when there are so many people in the world who have not even heard it once?I wondered if this profusion of churches laid out to us like a grand spiritual buffet is just taken for granted. No, I抦 sure that it is.

After retuning home I saw a picture on the internet that I couldn抰 help but contrast to the highway of churches I had just encountered. On a news site online was a picture of three Indonesian policemen standing behind three seated women they were guarding. The policemen were in full dress complete with strapped gun holsters, uniforms with arrays of badges and medals and a stern look of duty etched across each sullen face. In front of them were seated three average looking Indonesian women garbed in light blue prison jumpers. Three middle aged elementary school teachers who had just been sentenced to three years each for teaching their young students about Jesus Christ in their predominantly Muslim school sat stunned as sentence was pronounced. Save that Mosque but waste the lives of three harmless but dedicated educators, now that抯 good thinking.

So over here it may not seem so bad厃et. Hollywood would have to make stumbling wimpy idiots of most gospel ministers; it goes with the territory and may seem even a bit tolerable after all. If you抮e going to pump out a secular world view full of profanity and degenerate living you don抰 want gospel preaching ministers to be taken too seriously. It would be too hard to sell a product if the naysayer抯 were allowed a soap box from which to stand and proclaim that the product was trash within the very medium the product was sold through.

Should a dedicated Christian happen to slip through the cracks with the gospel on their lips and a life to back it up, they too would be relegated to the class of the disdained. It seems acceptable to make fun of the born againers and bible thumpers in media and in society in general. No one cares if you strip half naked, paint your face and act like a frenzied baboon on a psychedelic drug at a football game卼hose are fans are they not? But those who get even nominally excited about God are always labeled協anatics. It is unlikely that Americans notice such double standards, since we are so bent on disregarding any standards at all.

We have gone from a state of utter dependence on God as we did during our pioneer days and then on to seeking the presence of God in our formative years as a nation. But now we are entering that place where we don抰 even like to retain the knowledge of God at all in our thinking or living. What will be the result of all this and what can we expect next? I will let the Bible answer that.

And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Romans 1:28

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