|
There is a lot of excitement about the coming eclipse. Here in Casper, Wyoming, they expect crowds that this city has never seen, and are wondering how to cope with them. There are a few who believe, however, that it is an omen of the end of the world. An informed Bible student can definitely say that it is not the end, nor a sign of the end. There are events that prophecy says must happen before Christ comes. In the Bible, there are references to signs in the sun, moon and stars. A “sign” has to do with a miraculous event—unexplainable naturally. The coming eclipse is not at all miraculous. In fact it is very predictable. It is merely the moon blocking the disk of the sun in its entirety. The Bible says that “immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened…” This has already happened. It was a sign that the Dark Ages were over and we were about ready to enter the time of the end. This occurred on May 19, 1780, right after Europe banned religious persecution that had prevailed for over a thousand years. There is no explanation as to why the day that dawned naturally, began to darken about mid morning, and by noon, was very dark. By mid afternoon, it was as dark as pitch. This lasted for hours rather than minutes, and there was no eclipse. This sign occurred at the same time that America was being formed into a new nation that would bring freedom to not only North America, but through its influence, to much of the world. Thus, the end of time is a prophetic period that is marked by freedom, increased knowledge, increased travel and communication, and increased lawlessness and destruction known as the “time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation.” Any natural, and predictable eclipse, though it be total for a few minutes, is not a sign of anything except nature’s diversified wonders and man’s ability to forecast them.
Learn more about America’s unique roll in salvation history in Dennis Pumford’s new book, America by Design.
0 Comments
North America is experiencing an unprecedented number of natural catastrophes, one after another. The response of many Christians is, “Jesus is coming soon!” They see these things as signs that Jesus foretold in Matthew 24. However, Jesus, knowing that whenever bad things happen on a wide scale people would respond this way, inserted the phrase, “But that is not yet the end.” A few verses later he said, “This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world for a witness to all nations, and then will the end come.” What interests me more concerning the timing of Christ’s return is how the gospel is progressing in reaching the whole world. That is why I have more interest in the developments between the United States and North Korea than in the natural disasters. There are two areas of the world particularly closed to the advance of the gospel: North Korea and the many Islamic states. I believe that these will somehow be opened to the gospel before Jesus comes. It is unpredictable how it will happen, but I believe it will happen. For many years, India was impenetrable to the gospel. It wasn’t the government in their case, but it was the culture. Some missionaries spent most of their carrier trying to get some converts with dismal results. Then, in the late 1980’s, something changed. Ministers from America could go over to India, hold a short evangelistic effort, and baptize people by the hundreds or thousands. It seemed that the Holy Spirit was being poured out in a way that had not been before. We could say, India became ripe for the harvest. In Acts 16, the Holy Spirit specifically told Paul not to preach the gospel in Asia or Bithynia. Then in a dream, Paul was invited to go to Macedonia and help the people there. He did so, and raised up a church in Philippi, the first foothold for Christianity in Europe. From this and the recent phenomena of India, we see that the harvest ripens in different places at different times. The gospel going to the whole world is the sign of Jesus return more than natural disasters. Watch the news more carefully with the two remaining regions of the world in mind. To get a more complete picture of why things happen the way they do, read the book, America By Design, by yours truly, Dennis Pumford. We need to shift our focus to a wide-scale lens and see the “Big Picture,” as explained in the book. Many things will begin to make sense then.
Leftist have been trying to have their way in America since its founding. Their first move was to take over Harvard College and secularize it. This occurred in 1805 by the Unitarians. The next move was to press for public education. At the time, Americans were probably the most literate people in the world, and Boston had 90% enrollment. Those families who did not have their children in one of the many schools kept them out by choice—most were homeschoolers. There were several schools provided by philanthropists for families that could not afford to send their children. However, the liberals used the 10% not-in-school statistic to drumbeat the need for state-run education, and they finally got their way. By the 1840’s, public education became the norm, and since that time literacy in America has gone down. Then there were the educators such as Owen, Thorndike, and Dewey who pushed the American education system in the direction Europe had gone. By the beginning of the 20th century, socialism was popular, even within the Republican party. The aftermath of WWI moved the pendulum back towards conservatism, but not for long. America has been going back to the ways of Europe from the earliest days, and forsaking its founding. The principles of freedom and individualism made America great, yet today America is doing what Old Testament Israel did—forsaking its founding and going after other nations.
Read more about this in the new book by Dennis Pumford: America by Design. In Revelation there are two women. They are symbols. One is called the bride, the other the harlot. They have names—Jerusalem and Babylon. Jerusalem means “city of peace,” and Babylon means “confusion.” The first symbolically represents God’s truth, God’s program of spreading truth, and God’s people who love the truth. The other woman and city represent Satan’s lies, his false religious ideas, and those who adhere to them. These are the two sides of the controversy that started in heaven and was transferred to this earth. Revelation 12 predicted that there would be a 1260-year period when darkness (the absence of truth) would prevail. This period is known in history as the “Dark Ages.” It was dominated by the Church. That period came to an end with the French Revolution. France was the greatest supporter of the Church, and when it turned against Christianity, the period of Church domination ended. Then the Bible reads, “The earth helped the woman.” Right when the tyranny of Church domination came to an end, America was rising in a new land. Freedom was the central principle, and the “Bride” of Revelation, God’s truth, God’s principles, God’s people who love truth, began to flourish again. The rise of America was not happenstance. God, who oversees the rise and fall of nations, had a plan in mind for this period known in Bible prophecy as the “time of the end.”
You can read more about this and many other things having to do with America in prophecy in the book that just came out by Dennis Pumford entitled, America by Design. Christopher Columbus was motivated to sail west to find a new passage to India. But his discovery of America, though not his expressed purpose, caused him to think he was somehow following a script written by God. In fact he came to believe that his discovery was a fulfillment of certain prophecies in the book of Isaiah. I believe he was mistaken as to which prophecies he was fulfilling, but there definitely are prophecies in the Bible that point to the unique and timely rise and role of America in the world. There are actually five prophecies that have been fulfilled by America. They are found in Revelation 12 and 13, Daniel 12, Matthew 24, and Leviticus 26. To learn more about these prophecies, go to Amazon and purchase the newly released book by Dennis Pumford entitled: America by Design. It is a real eye-opener! This book sweeps through history through the eyes of God, and the reader will never see things the same after reading it.
The Bible speaks of a “time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation” (Matthew 24:21 and Daniel 12:1). Most Christians are waiting for it to happen. Many believe that it is part of the seven years before Jesus comes. Actually, a close examination of the Scriptures reveals that is has been going on for over 100 years. WWI was the first war with weapons of mass destruction (WMD’s). Since then, more people have died as a result of war than all the rest of history combined. However, the time of trouble is not over, and it will climax. Learn more about it and what brings it to an end in the book, America by Design, by Dennis Pumford—just coming out in bookstores and on Amazon this week.
|
Dennis PumfordArchivesCategories |
RSS Feed