When I was in high school, I sat in the back corner of one of my classes with a couple of Christian girls. They regaled me with End Times stories which I now believe were cobbled up from John Darby and the Plymouth Brethren, further promoted via the Scofield Bible, which gave rise to Dispensationalism and Christian Zionism.
I wasn't a Christian myself, just an ignorant, clueless churchgoer, but I listened avidly to their tales. They said that one day soon, there was going to be a one world government, a one world religion and a one world currency. I had no idea about any of this, but lo and behold, we are actually now at the precipice of such a possibility. Not that I believe this will happen. It is being threatened after a fashion by WEF.
They said that one day, Jesus would come and rapture all of the Christians out of the world before the horrors were unleashed, and they considered they would be receiving this wonderful ride.
However, all of the non-Christians "left behind" were going to be in very serious trouble. The Anti-Christ would arise and rule the world and would begin persecuting any new Christians that would convert after the rapture. These people would have a kind of "second chance" with Jesus, but it would really cost them, because the Anti-Christ would chop off their heads if they didn't take the "mark of the beast," without which no man could "buy or sell."
I was so freaked out by these talks, that I got out a Bible and read all of Revelation, without any understanding of the text, of course. Since I didn't know how to "believe in Jesus," I thought I was going to end up being one of those people who got their heads chopped off, because taking the mark would result in a ride to hell, which, of course, I didn't want.
This was about 15 years prior to my conversion. And I finally learned that much of Revelation is written in a very symbolic way.
After conversion, someone gave me a copy of the Scofield Bible. It is very influential in the American churches. I noticed that there are copious margin notes, and the notes overwhelmingly promote the earthly nation of Israel. So this led many American churches to put earthly Israel above Christ's Kingdom.
If you notice the kinds of things that WEF and others of that ilk are saying, doing, and threatening to do, they seem to be promoting some kind of End Times madness. It is interesting that in the early days of the Christian church, people were saying that the disciples were "turning the world upside down." It is equally interesting that today, the world has once more become something that has "turned upside down," but not in the Gospel sense, rather in a crazy, never-seen-before kind of way. Good has become bad, ugly has become beautiful, upside down is now considered to be right side up.
If the WEF orcs get their way, there will be all kinds of suffering and death, and they have been holding this over our heads since early 2020. Not that they didn't talk about it before. It's just that not many were listening. Well, a lot of us are listening now, because the orcs got louder.
Since 2020, I have had some days with crying and even screaming at the walls. "Isn't anyone going to put a stop to this?" The world has truly gone mad. I thought maybe Hazmat suits were going to come to my door, throw me down, and forcibly inject me with poison. Hasn't happened so far. I thought the BLM riots might come to my neighborhood, robbing, raping, killing and setting fire. Hasn't happened yet. Last fall, Biden promised a dark winter. Didn't happen. They are threatening us now with no money, no food, no heat for our homes, no fuel for our cars, and even a potential nuclear exchange. Is any of that going to happen? Or is it mostly just fear mongering for the purpose of controlling the masses?
Orcs such as Klaus Schwab talk as if they are on the verge of victory. I think they are wrong. They haven't read the back of the book. I don't think we will have to line up at guillotines, emaciated, freezing, and beaten nearly to death. These things have indeed happened to some people throughout history. But I believe in the happy ending that God has promised. Satan's army is busy threatening ALL of us. That has never happened before, to my knowledge. Satan can't win, however. God wins. It is that simple.
Only one explanation lines up with both scripture and historical events.
And no, it was not even remotely mainstream and taught by early church fathers.
https://www.understanding-ministries.com/docs/The%20Origins%20of%20Dispensationalism.pdf
I believe Jesus, who is the eternal and uncreated God in the flesh and part of the triune God head, died on a cross and rose on the 3rd day and all that turn from their sin and follow Him shall have everlasting life in Heaven by God's grace alone. So you can evaluate from that statement of faith if we will be neighbors.
A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still. I take the Bible literally and believe Jesus will return to set up His kingdom on the Throne of David in Jerusalem as is says in Revelation and all through the Bible. I believe in premillennialism. Good day.
You take the Bible literally? So what about the 7 headed 7 horned beast? (I can tell you clearly and plainly what that is and it's not literal) What about other clear symbolism?
Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father making all His enemies His footstool. The church is the new Jerusalem. Christians are His people. We were grafted in and the old vine was cut off. He came in judgement on Jerusalem in 70AD in that generation just like He said He would. Temple destroyed. Not one stone left on top of another.
I believe what the Bible says too friend. I used to be premillennial but I submitted to scripture after examining it in the mindset of a Messianic Jew at that time and in light of historical events. After doing that everything was beyond clear and I also realized that if aI had not been taught dispy views I would have NEVER come to that view of end times from scripture alone. It was a tradition that I believed in and used it to interpret everything else.
Test everything. Don't take pride in your knowledge or ability. The devil knows that noone polishes brass on a sinking ship so he LOVES dispy views. He's even had wildly successful books, movies, and tv shows to push that view. The most popular "Christian" books ever published. Hmmmm....
There are figures of speech in the Bible. Good grief, let it go.
You're the one that said you took the Bible literally when discussing a book of the Bible that has more imagery than any other book.
Do you not like talking about your faith? Or do you just not like questions and things that challenge you? Paul instructs us to be ready to give reasoned defense for our faith. Are you not ready or do you lack the reason?
Explain the 7 headed 7 horned beast in your view. I'd love to hear it. Is it literal IYO or symbolic?