Dear John and Doves -

The Lord said to those in His day that they were "hypocrites" (a rather scathing indictment) for being able to discern the weather but not the signs of the times (Matt. 16:3).  In those days, it appears that the "signs of the times" were not signs in the sun, moon and stars, but rather, dare I say, social and political trends, events in the life of Christ as they impacted the community in those days.  He was giving sight to the blind and raising the dead and feeding multitudes.  They were supposed to know from those signs that the kingdom of God was near.  It appears that they ignored or resisted the signs and the message, and the kingdom was postponed.

Here we go again, except it appears that there will be signs and miracles to deceive the very elect, there will be false Messiahs, and there will be "signs in the sun, moon and stars."  I don't know how to figure that stuff out.  I think the kingdom is near once again, but I don't know HOW near and I don't know what to do about it.

I think The Economist and the current cover of Time magazine are in-your-face announcements of what the bad guys would LIKE to do, but they can't do anything without God's permission.  So in that I remain comfortable:  God is still in control.

License plate eschatology or trying to discern some "message from God" in the numbers of an odometer ... or discerning hidden messages from Strong's Concordance numbers is all foolishness at best.  God never said that He would communicate to us through media like that.  If you want a message from God, you read the Bible.  It's really fairly simple.  The Bible is the message, and it is also the lens through which we view the events of the world.  Numerology and divination and the like are forbidden in the OT as you probably know.  So is saying "God says ...." when God did not say anything.  There is a LOT of that in the eschatosphere, in the dreams-and-visions crowd, and on YouTube.  False Christs, false messiahs, deception and lies are the order of the day.  "See that ye be not deceived" is the first warning Jesus gave the disciples when He began to answer their end-time questions.

I think the bad guys take "over-population" seriously, and they announced a long time ago that half a billion people was ideal, and the rest of us were excess baggage that needed to be removed.  However, God's end-time plan also involves de-population, just as His remediation did in the days of Noah.  Looking through the lens of the fear-mongers, what's coming is horrible.  Looking through the Biblical lens, it appears rather different to me.  God is going to cleanse HIS earth of evil-doers.  Isn't that sort of what we want?

I still have an expectation of deliverance.  Rather like bowling:  the ball (representing judgment) knocks down some pins (representing God's enemies) but some pins (us guys) remain standing (see Psalm 91:7) and then the pins remaining are "lifted up" and the machine sweeps the fallen pins away (2 Kings 21:13).  At this point the analogy breaks down because God does not take a second pass at judgment, at least not until after the Millennium.

So that's my story and I'm stickin' to it.  Hope deferred makes the heart sick (Proverbs 13:12) and I'm a little heartsick at present.  But this too shall pass.  Jesus is coming soon.  I don't know when and I don't suppose we really CAN know when.  The data is not in the scriptures, the "prophets and seers" may be well-meaning, but they are not getting messages from God.  Clearly.  The dates come and go.  My latest was built -- and I stated this often -- on a CONJECTURE.  I said, "IF the Millennium begins in October 2028 ..." and what followed was simply math.  The premise of the calculation is apparently incorrect.  MAYBE the Millennium won't begin until 2029.  Maybe later than that.  I don't know, I don't claim to know, and I certainly don't claim that God has revealed anything to me.

Our redemption draweth nigh ... and I don't know how to convert that to years, months, weeks, or days.  I'm confident that God's plan is PERFECT.  So we wait.

Best,

Steve