Jerusalem Blade
Puritan Board Professor
No, Phil, your posts were fine.
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We “do not have the spiritual vision to see” what? (Continuing from post #28) What has happened – and is presently happening at an accelerating rate – in our country, our culture(s), and our world does not appear to be something that can be remedied. Europe has been profoundly ruined by letting in barbaric Muslim hordes with a clear agenda of taking over. The U.K. is similar but with its own distinctives of disintegration. Canada is becoming weirdly dystopian, and virulently anti-Christian. Cannot one see the “strong delusion” God has sent upon those “who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness” in such doings? (2 Thess 2:11-12).
The U.S. is more complex, in great measure because of its being the initial entrance of our own – and from us the world’s – invading horde (more on which in a moment). Revelation 9:1-2 in the 5th trumpet judgment speaks of this entrance as the abyss or bottomless pit being opened and spiritual darkness “as the smoke of a great furnace” pouring into the realm of men, with demons issuing out of the smoke causing deception and anguish as a judgment, sparing only those sealed of God. Rev 9:15, at the commencement of the closely related 6th trumpet judgment, has a time-stamp of sorts to show these intimately related judgments to be historical events and not recapitulating dynamics: “the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men,” as Dennis Johnson, G.K Beale, and others agree, though they do not venture to give any historical examples.
Is there such an “initial entrance” discernable as an historic event prophesied in Revelation visible in retrospect? Is was the opening of the inter-dimensional gateway between the demonic realm and the collective human consciousness through the recreational sorcery practiced by the counterculture of the 1960s and ‘70s (the Woodstock generation, plus interested parties in many fields) – its use of LSD, mescaline, psilocybin mushrooms, peyote, marijuana, hashish, etc – and exported into all the world. Sorcery, the use of drugs and potions to open the gateway, has been the endeavor of shamans, pagan worshippers, and occultists of various sorts for ages. But now, in God’s timing, sorcery has come into its own. The spiritual / psychic effects of this symbolically depicted in Rev 9:1-6. We can see it went into all the world from the later judgment against Babylon issued in Rev 18:23, “…for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.”
For those who wonder at this, let me ask, do you think the seismic shifts we are seeing in our world merely of human making? Do you think we are ever going to go back to some of the normalcy and domestic tranquility we have known? Some postmil brethren think our civilization will collapse and they will build it up again on a godly foundation, and over centuries or possibly millennia their vision will be realized. That’s a wishful thinking the Scripture does not corroborate.
William Hendriksen, respected New Testament commentator, discussing Rev 20:7-10, wrote,
Note that he wrote this around 1962 – almost 60 years ago! Were he writing today he would no doubt express himself far more strongly. And this was before Woodstock took hold here nationally. He was referring to the severe persecution of Christians in certain lands, and the shutting down of Gospel witness.
Going back to the OP, and the severe heating prophesied in the 4th vial or bowl judgment, is this intimating that we are nearing the track of the wrath judgments of the later end times?
According to my understanding and observation, it took around half a century – 50 years – for the 5th trumpet judgment to thoroughly work its delusional leaven in the heart of unregenerate humankind, removing most all restraints on speech and behavior (is not the evil and madness we see in our land shocking?), and move into the beginning of the 6th trumpet, where a “third part of men” are slain (Rev 9:15). We can observe – nowadays – to see if there are things increasing the death count significantly. An important thing to keep an eye on.
I am convinced we are in the throes of momentous times which shall not lessen or abate societal – as well national – upheavals.
All of which to say, the Book of Revelation – revelation in the Greek, apokalypsis, means uncovering, disclosure – is a most pertinent book for us in these times, as we look more deeply into the spiritual dynamics as exposited Scripture uncovers what is taking place in the unseen realms about our lives. Revelation is the climax of all prophecy, given us by the Prophet King, with vision, comfort, and warning such as Daniel was given for the Jews in the time of Antiochus Epiphanes.
And here is the question that must be asked: is what we are seeing in our land, and our various cultures, is it merely human, or is it a potent demonic activity and ideation operating through humans caught in their strong delusion – leading to a unique demon-indwelt man, a shrewd prince of sorcerers, coming onto the world stage? Are we that far along yet, or nearing it?
As the sorcerous drugs are increasingly legalized – for there are now pushes to legalize magic mushrooms and LSD (Denver, Oakland, Santa Cruz, Wash. D.C., Oregon, and a couple of cities in Mass. have already decriminalized psilocybin mushrooms) – our sorcerous age will be the prelude to Armageddon. In my state, NY, anywhere you can legally smoke cigarettes you can smoke potent marijuana.
Here’s the back cover of a book I recently published which catches the gist of it (and here free digital copies of it from my Google Drive: https://goo.gl/EQ9L9d ).
_______
We “do not have the spiritual vision to see” what? (Continuing from post #28) What has happened – and is presently happening at an accelerating rate – in our country, our culture(s), and our world does not appear to be something that can be remedied. Europe has been profoundly ruined by letting in barbaric Muslim hordes with a clear agenda of taking over. The U.K. is similar but with its own distinctives of disintegration. Canada is becoming weirdly dystopian, and virulently anti-Christian. Cannot one see the “strong delusion” God has sent upon those “who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness” in such doings? (2 Thess 2:11-12).
The U.S. is more complex, in great measure because of its being the initial entrance of our own – and from us the world’s – invading horde (more on which in a moment). Revelation 9:1-2 in the 5th trumpet judgment speaks of this entrance as the abyss or bottomless pit being opened and spiritual darkness “as the smoke of a great furnace” pouring into the realm of men, with demons issuing out of the smoke causing deception and anguish as a judgment, sparing only those sealed of God. Rev 9:15, at the commencement of the closely related 6th trumpet judgment, has a time-stamp of sorts to show these intimately related judgments to be historical events and not recapitulating dynamics: “the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men,” as Dennis Johnson, G.K Beale, and others agree, though they do not venture to give any historical examples.
Is there such an “initial entrance” discernable as an historic event prophesied in Revelation visible in retrospect? Is was the opening of the inter-dimensional gateway between the demonic realm and the collective human consciousness through the recreational sorcery practiced by the counterculture of the 1960s and ‘70s (the Woodstock generation, plus interested parties in many fields) – its use of LSD, mescaline, psilocybin mushrooms, peyote, marijuana, hashish, etc – and exported into all the world. Sorcery, the use of drugs and potions to open the gateway, has been the endeavor of shamans, pagan worshippers, and occultists of various sorts for ages. But now, in God’s timing, sorcery has come into its own. The spiritual / psychic effects of this symbolically depicted in Rev 9:1-6. We can see it went into all the world from the later judgment against Babylon issued in Rev 18:23, “…for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.”
For those who wonder at this, let me ask, do you think the seismic shifts we are seeing in our world merely of human making? Do you think we are ever going to go back to some of the normalcy and domestic tranquility we have known? Some postmil brethren think our civilization will collapse and they will build it up again on a godly foundation, and over centuries or possibly millennia their vision will be realized. That’s a wishful thinking the Scripture does not corroborate.
William Hendriksen, respected New Testament commentator, discussing Rev 20:7-10, wrote,
“. . . the era during which the church as a mighty missionary organization shall be able to spread the gospel everywhere is not going to last forever; not even until the moment of Christ’s second coming. Observe what is happening in certain countries even today. Are certain regions of this earth already entering Satan’s little season?” [emphasis mine] (More Than Conquerors, pp 194-195)
Note that he wrote this around 1962 – almost 60 years ago! Were he writing today he would no doubt express himself far more strongly. And this was before Woodstock took hold here nationally. He was referring to the severe persecution of Christians in certain lands, and the shutting down of Gospel witness.
Going back to the OP, and the severe heating prophesied in the 4th vial or bowl judgment, is this intimating that we are nearing the track of the wrath judgments of the later end times?
According to my understanding and observation, it took around half a century – 50 years – for the 5th trumpet judgment to thoroughly work its delusional leaven in the heart of unregenerate humankind, removing most all restraints on speech and behavior (is not the evil and madness we see in our land shocking?), and move into the beginning of the 6th trumpet, where a “third part of men” are slain (Rev 9:15). We can observe – nowadays – to see if there are things increasing the death count significantly. An important thing to keep an eye on.
I am convinced we are in the throes of momentous times which shall not lessen or abate societal – as well national – upheavals.
All of which to say, the Book of Revelation – revelation in the Greek, apokalypsis, means uncovering, disclosure – is a most pertinent book for us in these times, as we look more deeply into the spiritual dynamics as exposited Scripture uncovers what is taking place in the unseen realms about our lives. Revelation is the climax of all prophecy, given us by the Prophet King, with vision, comfort, and warning such as Daniel was given for the Jews in the time of Antiochus Epiphanes.
And here is the question that must be asked: is what we are seeing in our land, and our various cultures, is it merely human, or is it a potent demonic activity and ideation operating through humans caught in their strong delusion – leading to a unique demon-indwelt man, a shrewd prince of sorcerers, coming onto the world stage? Are we that far along yet, or nearing it?
As the sorcerous drugs are increasingly legalized – for there are now pushes to legalize magic mushrooms and LSD (Denver, Oakland, Santa Cruz, Wash. D.C., Oregon, and a couple of cities in Mass. have already decriminalized psilocybin mushrooms) – our sorcerous age will be the prelude to Armageddon. In my state, NY, anywhere you can legally smoke cigarettes you can smoke potent marijuana.
Here’s the back cover of a book I recently published which catches the gist of it (and here free digital copies of it from my Google Drive: https://goo.gl/EQ9L9d ).
