Prophecy
Do You Want Electronic Life or Eternal Life?
I have a new cell phone–an Android Galaxy Note 3 which is an amazing machine. I’m about to upgrade my laptop to a Hewlett Packard Spectre that can do one thousand times what my original computer did for one third of the price.
I’m going to send this blog all over the world via the Internet which didn’t exist when I was in high school. It only takes a few keystrokes and VOILA! My writings circle the globe in less than ten seconds.
These new contraptions are incredible tools, but as Bill O’Reilly has pointed out recently, they can be extremely addicting, distracting, and destructive to our spiritual health.
We may want to ask ourselves the question: Do I want electronic life or eternal life? (Or both.)
Even the secular media is getting the idea that people are getting addicted to the machines, especially impacting kids and parents. Here’s an April 22, 2014 article by Kate Raddatz of CBS Minneapolis:
“It’s not just our kids getting too much screen time these days. Parents are also guilty of spending too much time on their electronic devices.”
“Researchers at the Boston Medical Center observed 55 different groups of parents and young children eating at fast food restaurants. The study found the majority pulled out their mobile devices right away, and, in turn, their kids tended to act up more.”
“’It’s just normal childhood behavior,’ said parenting coach Toni Schutta. ‘If I can’t get your attention in a positive way, I’m going seek it in a negative way.’”
“Suzanne Ferguson, of Minneapolis, said she and her husband used to be smartphone addicts, checking their emails around their kids.”
“‘We were the couple that would go out to eat at dinner and both be on our own phones before we had kids,’ she said. ‘We’re very much attached to our phones.’”
“Schutta says parents spend, on average, 11 hours a day using electronic devices. All that time takes away from face to face communication which helps kids learn behavior.”
“’Kids in preschool and kindergarten are no longer as able to read social cues from other human beings,’ Schutta said. ‘That’s in part because of their own media use and it’s in part because of their parents’ media use, they’re just not getting that training.’”
“Too much time on technology can also leave an emotional impact on your child, if you’re missing life moments for email.”
“’We get such a limited amount of time with our kids in the day, we need meaningful conversations,’ Schutta said.” Ferguson said once her daughter starting talking, it was the kick she needed to kick her phone habit.”
“’Dinner is a good time to have family time, so trying to keep the phone as much as possible away,’ she said.”
Of course, the machine craze goes way beyond family life. Driving while texting is probably the biggest new problem on the freeways, and electronic addiction to endless video games (let alone pornography) are driving down our productivity.
Interestingly, the Bible said this explosion of knowledge (via the machines) would come one day.
Daniel 12:4 sounds like 2014: “Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.” Doesn’t that remind you of our fast-paced society and the reams of information we must now process each day?
Yes, we are living in a day of abundant travel (running to and fro) and increased knowledge (the Information Age). But have we stopped to ponder what it might do to ourselves, our families, and our souls? What is the godly response to the dawn of an age aggressively molded by information and technology?
First of all, let’s look at the positive. The Bible says that “knowledge is power” (Proverbs 24:5). Thus the use of fiber optics, high speed airplanes, the Internet. etc. can all be used to empower the Christ’s Good News to spread throughout the earth. This is certainly God intention: To use this age to increase the knowledge of His Son in all the nations of the world.
And it is happening. I can e-mail or SKYPE missionary friends all over the world and plan evangelistic initiatives in a matter of minutes. That used to take two weeks of postal delivery–or three-to twelve months to deliver by boat–or it wasn’t possible at all.
Technology has changed all that.
What about travel? In the 1990s alone, Our King’s Kids missionaries flew over six million miles and preached Jesus to hundreds of thousands of people. Why? Technology.
When you look at the great missions advance of the past fifty years (hundreds of millions of people coming to Christ on every continent of the world), there is no question in anyone’s mind that technological advances have played a great part in the harvest.
And the best and greatest still lies ahead. I chronicle that in my book The Fourth Wave.
But there is a negative side also. Much of today’s media is in the hands of ungodly people or institutions that are discipling the planet with it, and only a small perecentage is being consciously used to advance God’s kingdom.
A recent article almost glowingly looks at the most unifying part of that techno advance–The Internet–with these sobering words:
“We’re at the beginning of a new way of working, shopping, playing and communicating. We’re calling this phenomenon e-life, and it’s just in time. Because the day is approaching when no one will describe the digital, Net-based, computer-connected gestalt with such a transitory term. We’ll just call it life.”
E-life. Interesting term. Of course they mean electronic life, but there’s another phrase that comes to my mind: eternal life. In the article’s paradigm, electronic life is the very future itself–life. Are we preparing the world to accept the Information Age as the true heaven–a worldly substitute for relationship with God (which Jesus said was eternal life)?
I fear so, and I don’t want a part of it. This planet, wired to the hilt without God, is already hell. Can you imagine what the evil use of technology could create on earth in the coming decades?
Technology is only a tool, but used improperly it can easily become a master (think atomic bombs). Or an idol. Or a substitute for God. I believe that one of Satan’s quiet strategies is to lull us into believing that technology can be a meaningful God replacement.
Ponder this E-life substitute for friendship with the Living God:
1. Movies can be a substitute for God’s omnipotence. Instead of marveling at God’s REAL voice speaking from heaven during Moses’ time, you go into a movie theater and see actors whose heads are fifteen feet high, whose voices boom in Dolby stereo, and appear to have the power to do anything (the story line allows).
2. Television and radio can be a substitute for God’s omnipresence. They’re everywhere–always babbling away. They’re on in many homes 18-24 hours a day. Every airport you travel trough has TV monitors at each gate and in most restaurants. When you need comfort, companionship, or stimulation, or just to pass the time–where do you turn? The TV knob. It even makes a great babysitter for the kids.
3. The Internet can be a substitute for God’s omniscience. It’s the place to go for all knowledge. Right now there are over 2 billion world-wide users. There are hundred of thousands of pornographic sites and they get more hits than Netflix–corrupting the human heart at the click of a button. 160 million Americans use e-mail. On our favorite machines–the cell phone–you can chat, buy food, pay bills, watch movies, or whatever you like, and spend hours a day looking at an impersonal screen. Hours of prayer have given way to hours of texting and surfing.
A wired, fast-as-a-bullet world has captured our hearts, time, attention, family life, and pocket books (ever count up the money you spent on technology in the past few years?). In some ways, it is becoming our god (what you give your time and supreme attention to).
While using technology for the noble purposes of advancing God’s Kingdom, how can we keep ourselves unstained by the god-substituting lust of the e-world? Which do you enjoy more: The wonders of e-life, or the hope of eternal life? Or can you have both?
Here are my encouragements during this Daniel 12:4 time period:
- Use all machines to learn, grow, and love those God has put in your life.
- Spend more time in prayer, Bible-reading, book reading, and worship than you do fingering keyboards and touchscreens.
- Keep the machines out of sight when you’re with family and friends–especially during meals.
- Never use the machines for evil. Stay away from all the bad stuff.
- Use your electronic life to advance God’s kingdom and fulfill the Great Commission.
- Shut off the machines more and listen to God. Take walks. Meditate in the silence. Long for His voice more than the chatter of a multitude of human voices.
And more than anything, never enjoy your e-life more than you long for eternal life.
You can have both–but one is a grain of sand and the other is an unending ocean of relational delights.
The Heavens are Speaking
Earth, Mars and the Sun all aligned last week–a rare combination of the planets that only happens once every two years.
However, this starry alignment also occurred exactly one week before all people on earth will see the first of four dark “blood moons” (over a one year period) which some Christian leaders believe may represent major spiritual events or even the Second Coming of Christ.
It was too cloudy to see the moon from my house last night.
The Bible states: “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD comes,” [Joel 2:31].
I don’t know what that means in 2014, but I don’t want to be speculatively silly, dangerously cynical, or woefully apathetic.
The heavens might be speaking to us.
The New York Daily News was so impressed about the “blood moons” that it did a story on Pastor John Hagee who has authored a book on the subject:
“Bestselling author and televangelist Pastor John Hagee claims the four blood moons that will soon appear in the skies over America are evidence of a future world-shaking event. The blood moons are part of a tetrad, a set of complete and consecutive lunar eclipses that will begin on April 15 and continue in roughly six-month intervals until October 2015.”
“According to NASA, seeing four complete lunar eclipses in a row is very rare. The skies were tetrad-free from 1600 to 1900. But in the 21st century, there will be many. What’s even stranger is that Americans have a front row seat. ‘The most unique thing about the 2014-2015 tetrad is that all of them are visible for all or parts of the USA,’ NASA eclipse expert Fred Espenak told CNN.”
“Hagee, founder of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, thinks this is no coincidence. For him, it’s a sign of the end times. The 73-year-old preacher has been preparing for the tetrad for years. He released a book about the blood moons last October. “
“Hagee says that each of the blood moons happens on a religiously significant day.The April 15 event happens during Passover. On Oct. 8, the blood moon will occur during the Feast of Tabernacles. Another blood moon will occur during Passover on April 4, 2015. The last will happen on Sept. 28, 2015, another Feast of Tabernacles.”
End-times events has never been my forte. I’m committed to fulfilling the Great Commission so that Jesus will return to a worshipping world. My Fourth Wave book chronicles the incredible spiritual harvest now taking place in the 21st century.
But I’ve also been nudged by the Holy Spirit over the last two years to say from every podium, “The world is about to change.”
I sense it in my spirit though I don’t know the ramifications.
Does this new tetrad of blood moons coming in 2014-15 (tetrad = a set of fours) signal a major act in God’s providential plans for planet earth?
Read the following article by David Kubal, a friend of mine and president of Intercessors for America. Then draw your own conclusions.
Just make sure they include “watch and pray” (Matthew 26:41).
The Heavens Are Speaking
By David Kubal
While I have never ventured into prophetic waters…I offer a prophetic word for our day, believing we are about to see a great move of God.
How do I know? Let us read God’s Word.
“I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth…The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord” (Joel 2:30-31).
This prophecy, spoken by Joel centuries ago, had the same authority then as it did when Peter quoted it on the Day of Pentecost, and as it does today. Very rarely are there such obvious signs—or signals, as the Hebrew is often translated—pointing to a move of God. But Scripture is clear; at times the “heavens” tell us something is about to occur.
When Joel spoke of the sun turning dark, he no doubt referred to a solar eclipse. And if you have witnessed a lunar eclipse, you will remember that the moon turns red. So, the question is this: can we see, throughout history, certain times—remarkable historic sequences that only God could orchestrate—where this pattern of solar/lunar eclipses has occurred?
There have been many solar and lunar eclipses over the past 2,000 years, but there are only eight instances when lunar eclipses occurred exactly on Jewish holy days. All eight coincided with significant events for God’s people. The dates are noteworthy, as they occurred exactly on Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles.
Passover recalls God’s mercy of “passing over” homes with lamb’s blood applied to door-post for protection of the firstborn on the night before the Israelites left Egypt. The Feast of Tabernacles celebrates God’s provision for His people in the wilderness as they stayed in temporary tabernacles (or tents).
Let us trace what has happened in the past. When lunar eclipses occurred on Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles, significant events coincided with those eclipses each time.
1. Tetrad of 1967-1968. In 1967, tensions built between Israel and its neighbors with threats to drive the Jews “into the sea.” Israel was surrounded by almost 500,000 troops, including heavy artillery. Yet in six days, Israel claimed the victory, with only 779 casualties compared to 21,000 enemy casualties. Miraculous circumstances included bringing the Old City under Israeli control.
2. Tetrad of 1949-1950. With the conclusion of WWII, Israel was reborn in 1948. It was well into 1949 that the Israeli government moved into its offices and signed peace agreements with Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria, establishing Israel’s borders. After centuries, the Jews existed again as a restored nation.
3. Tetrad of 1493-1494. During the reign of Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain, concerns arose over the rising influence of the Jews in that country. Consequently, an inquisition process examined the scope of the issue. In 1492, Jews were ordered to leave Spain through the Edict of Expulsion. Given an August 1 deadline, they were not permitted to take their wealth with them.
Accounts record that over 200,000 Jews were expelled. Many suffered duress and abuse. As we recall the passage, “I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you” (Genesis 12:3), it is interesting to note that the prosperity Spain enjoyed before this time has not been seen since, even to the point where they have recently struggled with national bankruptcy.
The year 1492 is a very important year in Jewish history, just as it is in American history. In the first few days of August 1492, Spanish harbors were filled with Jews being evacuated. As Christopher Columbus left port on August 3, his ships passed the Jews’ boats as he set sail and would soon “discover” a land destined to become a safe haven for Jews for centuries to follow.
As if marking the pain of Jewish rejection with the later birth of a nation that would be used of God like none other (for many Gospel purposes in addition to being a great ally of Israel), a series of the lunar tetrads began on Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles in the following two years.
4. Tetrad of 860-861. This tetrad marked the halting of millions of Christians’ deaths at the hands of Arabs in Northern Africa and Spain with the Battle of Lalakaon.
5. Tetrad of 842-843. The Vatican’s treasuries were looted in an Islamic jihad attack just three years after this tetrad.
6. Tetrad of 795-796. This tetrad marked a significant shift in power as Charlemagne was able to create a buffer zone in modern day Spain and France that resulted in the halting of the Islamic invasion of the Moors.
7. Tetrad of 163-165. In 162 AD, before the first lunar eclipse, the Tiber River flooded its banks in the spring, wreaking havoc to the city of Rome and killing most animals resulting in severe famine. Two years later a plague broke out killing one-third of the Roman Empire. This was also a time of great persecution in the Roman Empire under the reign of Emperor Marcus Aurelius.
8. Tetrad of 32-33. Historical records are not totally conclusive, but it is very possible that Jesus was crucified between a series of two lunar eclipses occurring on Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles with a solar eclipse (“… there was darkness …” see Matt 27:45) on Passover in 33 AD.
These are the only instances when lunar eclipses occurred in the last 2,000 years, with significant happenings each time: the restoration of Israel as a nation, the birth of the most Christian nation the world has ever known, devastation, destruction of the second (Herod’s) Temple, and possibly the crucifixion of our Savior.
As you can see, God “shows us wonders in heaven,” and we know that God “does nothing without first telling His servants the prophets.” (Amos 3:7) There are many modern prophets worldwide that are recognizing the significance of these events.
The next occurrence is this month. Passover 2014, April 14, will mark the first in a series of four lunar eclipses over the next two years occurring on Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles. The last eight times, something of major significance occurred. This phenomenon will not occur again for nearly 500 years.
To add even more interest (or warning), lunar eclipses on April 14, 2014 (Passover) and October 9 (Feast of Tabernacles) will take place on the EXACT DATES as did the 70 AD lunar eclipses on Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles, when the Roman Army destroyed the second temple, ending more than 1,000 years of Jewish rule of Israel. (These occurrences were not tetrads—a series of four—but instead a series of two lunar eclipses with remarkable timing, almost acting as exclamation points to this prophetic message for today.)
What will the message be, and how should we prepare?
First, we should have hope. After Joel pronounced his prophetic word, he concluded the section by saying, “And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved…there will be deliverance….” (Joel 2:32) We need not fear the future, but let us trust in the Lord.
Second, if there were ever a time to pray, it is now! Those not aligned with the Word of God are especially vulnerable during the days ahead. Disobedient nations will expose themselves to times of great pain and anguish. We must pray 2 Chr 7:14 like never before. The Church must realize its own tenuous state and humbly seek the Lord with repentance.
What can we expect? As most of you know, God has been doing an amazing work around the globe in the form of transforming revivals. In these mighty moves of God, His divine presence comes into a community or region and changes everything. The Church sees exponential rates of salvation, righteousness is brought back to government, godly cultural norms are established or renewed, and in many cases even the land is rejuvenated.
As the pace of these transformations seems to be accelerating around the globe, it is my prayer that we would see more revivals. We have only seen a handful in the U.S. We must pray that God would find the condition of the Church in the U.S. worthy to host His transforming presence.
Political Correctness is Really Secular Intolerance
The recent Easter season got me thinking about the fight against faith in America.
I recently read an article in my local newspaper (Kitsap SUN) that described the evidence for the Genesis Flood that an engineer had discovered in rock formations in Arizona. It was a great article and even mentioned Noah’s Ark as a possible historical reality.
Two days later, a letter to the editor was posted that made fun of the article–even calling it “laughable” from a scientific standpoint. Why the shrill response?
Well, I think it’s time to give a true meaning to the term “political correctness.” Political correctness is nothing less than secular intolerance. And it’s becoming a menacing bully in many nations.
Here’s the Letter to the Editor, written by Dan Van Eycke, Poulsbo, Washington:
“Regarding Sunday’s article about the supposed proof of Noah’s flood: Could you possibly have found anything less newsworthy to publish? And on page A3 nonetheless!”
“To begin with, young-earth creationism is scientifically irrevelevant and intellectually vacuous–and has been for over a century. And yet the Kitsap SUN thinks its important to print a story about a tourist from Richland, Washington, who claims that a single geologic formation in Arizona is proof of the biblical flood myth, therefore disproving the scientific age of the earth.”
“This man was a tourist with no expertise in geology who thinks he knows better than the countless trained geologists the world over. That he is an engineer from Hanford gives him no more authority on the subject than a warehouse worker from Tacoma. In fact, emphasizing his engineering background is an obvious attempt to impress credulous readers.”
“If articles like this belong in the Kitsap SUN at all–and that’s an extremely big if–they belong on the religion or entertainment pages.”
Note the incredible condescension in the letter. It ends with Mr. Van Eycke relegating the engineer’s fair-minded opinion to the “Religion” section (does he mean the “Myth Section) or the entertainment pages (is that the “Mindless Section?).
C’mon. This is nothing less than bigoted prejudice.
I’ve studied the creation–evolution debate for about forty years. There are fair arguments on both sides. The evidence for an old earth is credible–though certainly not proven. There’s also substantial evidence on the other side that points to a young Earth. Even if the “old earth” theory is true, that doesn’t discount special creation or the main events recorded in the Bible.
Physician-geneticist Francis Collins is one of the most respected scientists in the world. He gave leadership to the Human Genome Project and currently serves as the director of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.
Dr. Collins believes in theistic evolution–yet doesn’t discount any of the biblical events. He is a committed Christian whose book, The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief, states clearly how science and the Bible are not necessarily in conflict.
Another book I recently read was entitled the “The Draining Floodwaters: Geologic Evidence reflects the Genesis Text.” by John D. Morris Ph.D and James J.S, Johnson, J.D., Th.D. It presented a cogent scientific case for the evidence of a biblical flood. There are enough “Ds” behind those two names to make you pay attention.
Many of you know that I am completing a doctorate degree this year. The thesis produced detailed research of the cultures and religions of the world. An interesting thing stood out: Many of the world’s diverse cultures possess ancient creation and flood stories. It’s uncanny. I don’t know what the mathematical odds of this are, but they must be pretty slim. Here’s one that appears in my new book.
The Story of the Flood. “The Epic of Gilgamesh” remains one of the most famous tales of the Babylonian period, and gives an amazing parallel account of the global flood (Genesis 7, 8). In the story, Gilgamesh meets one of his ancestors, Utnapishtim, who recalls the story of the global deluge. Warning that the gods were going to destroy the earth, Utnapishtim built a large boat and took refuge in it with his wife and two each of all animals. After the flood waters subsided, Utnapishtim recounts what happened:
“All mankind was turned to clay…I opened the window and the light fell upon my face. I bowed, I sat down, I wept, and over my face ran my tears. I looked upon the world—all was sea…I sent forth a dove and let her go. The dove flew to and fro, but there was no resting place and she returned.”
“I sent forth a shallow and let he go. The swallow flew to and fro, but there was no resting place and she returned. I sent forth a raven and let her go. The raven flew away. She saw the abasement of the waters. She drew near; she waded, she croaked, and came not back. Then I sent everything forth to the four quarters of the heaven. I offered a sacrifice. I made a libation upon the mountains peak.”
“As a result of their obedience, Utnapishtim and his wife are rewarded with “the gift of immortality,” which they explain to Gilgamesh can be obtained by eating a plant that grows in the sea. Gilgamesh finds the plant, but before he eats it, a snake steals it away and gains immortality. A humbled Gilgamesh returns to his city of Uruk, (Erech in Genesis 10:10), and is painfully aware that he does not possess immortality. The story ends unresolved.”
I share portions of this narrative to demonstrate the “memory” of real events that ancient peoples passed down in a confusing culture of raucous polytheism. Of course, many of these stories are embellished–like the end of the “Epic of Gilgamesh.”
But did you notice the similarity to Genesis? You find these same “ancient memory stories” in India, China, Africa and even North and South America. What’s the only plausible explanation?
That the global flood was a real event that left a lasting impact on the scattered peoples of the world. When you add the scientific evidence for a global flood, the playing field is more than level with the explanations from the other side.
So I responded to the letter from the bellicose atheist in these words:
Letter to the Editor,
“I had a different reaction than Dan Van Eycke to your article on the world-wide flood and Noah’s Ark. I was encouraged by the SUN’s open mind on scientific theories and historical data. Just this week I read an article by an American Ph.D who shared similar evidence for a global flood. Of course dinosaur prints being found in sediment alongside human prints, seashell fossils found on mountain tops, and the worldwide presence of “oil,” presents quite a case for a global deluge.”
“As one who has traveled the world extensively, I am especially impressed by the common “flood story” that is found in the historical texts of many nations that seems to validate the biblical one. Van Eycke is welcome to his opinion. But his condescension in calling your article “laughable” was extremely rude. That type of political correctness is really secular intolerance—not a good thing in a free and open society.”
Sincerely,
Ron Boehme
One of the truths that I share in the doctoral thesis (and upcoming new book ) is that of the five views of God that exist in the world, two of them are extremely intolerant of other opinions. They are:
- Atheism secularism – espoused by Mr. Van Eycke above, and
- Islam – a religion that often silences contrary opinions.
Does that intolerant spirit tell you something? Any worldview that doesn’t allow other points of view is either extremely insecure or afraid of the freedom that leads to the truth.
The lesson? Choose your worldview wisely.