Over that last year or so I have been feeling the call to preach the gospel. At first I didn’t know what to think, however over the months the call has gotten stronger. I hadn’t shared this with anyone but my wife until just recently as I wasn’t sure if it was where God was leading me and probably more importantly if I was ready to obey God’s call. Fortunately over the past couple of months God has affirmed to me the call that I doubted, and He has grown my faith and wisdom considerably.

Just Friday I made the next step in the process of Ordination or process of going in the ministry of the Church. I had a long overdue talk with our wonderful pastor at Grace Covenant Church in Grand Island. We talked about my walk with Christ, my history, our family history/testimony, the call I have had to the ministry and the process in the Presbytery. Afterward, I felt even more excited to begin this process and amazingly blessed to have such a wonderful and supportive church family.

The next step in this process is finding the right school to attend that will teach sound reformed doctrine and hopefully at the right price. However the cost I am dedicated to continue the process whether it be full time or one class at a time.

I can’t help but feel more gratitude each and everyday, as God works in my life and those around me. I can only praise God for His divine grace and mercy in saving me, a wretched sinner. God works in amazing ways in His children and throughout their lives. I see the gratitude that Paul had now more than ever going from Church persecutor to Gospel preacher to the Gentiles. I too was once a Church persecutor, and now maybe through the grace of God I’ll be half the preacher Paul was.

On Saturday August 15th we began our journey for the next 9 months with our new foreign exchange student, Samuel. We have opened up a new chapter in our lives, and have opened our door to experience a different culture. We also hope to teach our new friend a little about American culture (good & bad) as well as encourage him in his walk with Christ.

It has only been 5 full days since he joined us and we have already learned quite a bit about his culture in Nigeria. Where he has come from doesn’t give him some of the blessings that we have so we have had to teach him how to do many of the things that we do everyday and take for granted. Many of the appliances that we use on a daily basis he has never been exposed to. This in itself has been an eye opening experience. This has made me really count my blessings all the more as each day passes. So far one of the things that has been most surprising to me is how polite and obedient he has been. We were told that he would be very polite however we didn’t expect that he would be so obedient and enthusiastic about doing some of the most mundane tasks. The other day Samuel gave us a little insight as to why he is so obedient. He told us that in Nigeria it is customary that any person who is senior to you either by age or status, you must do anything they tell you to do. He told us that if a person does not obey they would likely be beaten, and nobody would say anything. He has great respect for his elders.

We have also learned that in Nigerian culture if one does not attend either a church or a mosque they are considered very evil. The rate of divorce is also low there due to the fact that many villages and churches do not allow divorce. It is also frowned upon heavily. Samuel told us this was one of the things that surprised him about America was the high divorce rate and amount of people who don’t attend a church service.

We did expect there to be surprises when we started this adventure and we have not been disappointed. We know there will continue to be surprises and challenges ahead for all of us. We are excitedly looking forward to our next week as Samuel gets into American football and the games ahead, as well as the start of the school year on next Wednesday.

Over the last several weeks my wife and I have been going through the process of applying for a foreign exchange student. My wife received an email about a program in Iowa that was short on host parents, so we tossed the idea around for a few days. I felt this would be a wonderful opportunity to minister to a teen, and perhaps to strengthen their faith and share the gospel of Jesus Christ, whether they are Christian or Muslim. The students for this program all come from either Nigeria or Tanzania, and are approximately 50% Christian and 50% Muslim.

After a week or so of examining and reading student bio’s we chose a student from Nigeria. I am keeping his identity hidden to protect his privacy. We decided on a boy student because we felt for our first year it might work out better due to the fact that we have 2 boys ourselves.

Over the last couple of weeks we have been preparing our spare bedroom for his arrival. The students are already all in the United States and have to do orientation for their stay here in America. They also get to take a trip to Washington D.C. to visit some of the historic sites from America’s history. In 3 days we will travel to Omaha to pick up our student. We are extremely excited to meet him and to start our yearlong journey. We can’t wait to teach him some American culture, watch him experience some American foods (which they have almost no exposure to). In the process we hope to learn more about his home culture as well.

All in all we hope the whole experience goes well and that our student can learn about American life in a Christian home as well as teach us about his own country and customs. If this goes well this year we just may continue to do this every year from now on.

I will be sharing some of this experience on this blog over the next year. How much I will share about our student has yet to be decided, and will be up to them.

Eschatology Made Simple

The Two Age System: The Bible’s Own System

Ever since my change of perception on Reformed Theology, and the Doctrines of Grace, I’ve been trying to open my eyes a bit more and letting scripture teach me instead of being led by the teachings of man. I realized when I saw my error regarding election and other reformed theology, that I have all along been filtering scripture through my own misconceptions. I have recently termed it “reading scripture with my blinders on”. I think this is extremely true and must be acknowledged if we are to clearly understand scripture the way that God intended us to. All of our concepts taught by worldly men and circumstances distort our view of scripture and how we absorb it.

Recently I have decided to Re-study the eschatology I had been taught as I had begun to see other distortions in my perception of scripture and my view on the end times. Formerly I had been taught the Dispensational view of the End Times, however none of those who I learned this theory from offered summaries or explanations of the other three viewpoints, only how to “disprove” these views with specific yet figurative/symbolic scriptures. None of these scriptures offered in defense of this view are very clear in meaning. I did however believe this view as do many evangelicals. I know now that I believed this theory due to not knowing the true view of the other three viewpoints on eschatology. The Dispensational view of End Times is very dramatic and complex. This fact is underscored by the series Left Behind, by Tim Lahaye and Jerry B. Jenkins. This series has sold several million copies since it’s inception. I am not in any regard putting down the series as I have read it and as a work of fiction it is well written, and very entertaining. I have recently begun to doubt the validity of this viewpoint on Eschatology due to the many holes in the theory as well as the general confusion it lead me to. The main reason however is due to a recent eye opening experience I have had with regard to my view on the general time periods in biblical terminology.

My eye opening experience occurred yesterday while reading The End Times Made Simple, by Samuel E. Waldron. For the first time since my conversion I now have a clear understanding of what each viewpoint believes. I also have a clearer understanding of the biblical view of the broad time periods discussed in Eschatology. I will outline the four views below and the time-line that each ascribes to in view of the End Times. These are the most general summaries as each viewpoint has branches of views that do not all agree on all terms. All of these viewpoints hinge upon the millennium and the return of Christ. Each differing on the relation of these two events in scripture.

Historic Premillennialism

Also known as Covenant Premillennialism as they do not believe in the separation of Israel and the Church in Scripture. This form of premillennialism rejects the idea of a “secret” rapture of the Dispensational viewpoint. This form believes in the single return of Christ at the beginning of the millennium and the end of the tribulational period. The following is a time-line of the Historic Premillennial viewpoint.

Dispensational Premillennialism

Characterized by a belief in a separation between Israel and the Church in the biblical time-line. Classic Dispensationalists believe that the biblical clock for Israel stopped running at the Resurrection of Christ which began the Church Age. The clock will begin ticking again at a “secret” rapture when Christ returns for the Church. There is much conflict over the “secret” rapture of the Church and the two returns of Christ in this viewpoint. There is also much confusion regarding the time frame of this “secret” rapture with regard to the tribulational period of End Times prophecy. Most Dispensationalists are Pretribulation rapture believers. In this viewpoint Christ returns finally at the end of the tribulation period and beginning of the millennium. The following is a time-line of the Classic Dispensational viewpoint.

Post Millennialism

Characterized by a belief in a golden age(Millennium) brought to pass by spiritual means before the return of Christ, also in direct contrast to Premillenialism. Also Post-Tribulational in relation to the Millenium and return of Christ. The following is a time-line of the Post Millennial viewpoint.

Amillennialism

Literally means no Millennialism. This view is characterized by a belief that the Millennium may not be a “literal” 1000 year time period. Those who ascribe to this belief do not believe in the Millennium in the same sense as that of the Dispensationalists. They do not believe in a “literal” 1000 year reign of Christ on earth before the eternal state brought in by Christ’s return. This Millennium period is believed to occur symbolically/figuratively between the first and second advent of Christ. The following is a time-line of the Amillennial viewpoint.

With a good general idea of the beliefs of each of the four main viewpoints and their relationship to the Millennium and the return of Christ, we can see the characteristics of each and how they relate to each other based upon these characteristics.

Basic Principles of Biblical Interpretation

There is a methodology of biblical Interpretation that follows:

• The Clear before the Difficult
• The Literal before the Figurative
• The General before the Detailed

Up until yesterday I had not been fully following this methodology in my interpretation of scriptures. I didn’t even realize this until I started to look at the scriptures outlined for the Two Age interpretation, all of which are extremely clear and literal in context. I came to the realization that I had been using figurative and symbolic passages of scripture to interpret the literal and clear passages. This is the direct opposite way that I should have been interpreting scripture and which would have given me a clearer understanding of many figurative and symbolic passages, instead of confused which is what I became.

My process of removing my worldly “blinders” and misconceptions has slowly and graciously given me a much deeper understanding of scripture, and a wonderfully clearer perception of our Amazing Lord and His Divine Grace.

The Two Age System

The scriptures clearly, concisely and literally describe all time encapsulated into two ages; This Age and the Age to come. They also clearly do not allow for any parenthetical periods between these two ages nor before or after. Let us now begin to step through each of these scriptures, examining the terminology to see exactly what I mean.

Matthew 12:32: “Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.”

These two ages encompass all time. This is also confirmed by the parallel passage Mark 3:29: “But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin.”

Mark 10:30: “but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life.”

This passage teaches us about the differences of what we shall receive in this age and the age to come.

Luke 16:8: “And his master praised the unrighteous manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the sons of this age are more shrewd in relation to their own kind than the sons of light.”

The clear contrast from this passage is the sons of this age and the sons of light, suggesting that the age to come is the age of light. It also suggests that the sons of this age are children of light.

Luke 20:34-36: “Jesus said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; for they cannot even die anymore, because they are like angels, and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.”

A clear contrast between the two ages is shown in this verse. In this age Men marry and die. In the age to come those who are worthy do not marry and do not die as they are the sons of the resurrection.

Romans 12:2: “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

This passage doesn’t show a contrast between the two ages however it is a command not to conform to this (evil)age. The word world is translated here from the original word (aiwni)Aion: Age.

1 Corinthians 1:20: “Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?”

The debater is a proponent of the wisdom of this age/world.

1 Corinthians 2: 6, 8: “Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory;”

Notice the uses of this age in these passages referring to the rulers of this world, and their lack of the wisdom of God.

1 Corinthians 3:18: “Let no man deceive himself If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise.”

This is a parallel passage to 1 Cor 2:6, 8 that speaks to the man who, “thinks that he is wise in this age.”

2 Corinthians 4:4: “in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”

The god of this world is Satan! the contrast in this passage is the darkness of this age with the light of the age to come, the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.

Galatians 1:4: “who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,”

Our deliverance from “this present evil age” is the fruit of Christ’s death and resurrection for our sins.

Ephesians 1:21: “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.”

The king is Christ who reigns in this age but also in the age to come.

Epheisans 2:2: “in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.”

“walking according to the course of this world” is a life dominated by “the prince of the power of the air” or Satan. Those who “walk according to the course of this world” are also known as the “sons of disobedience.”

1 Timothy 6:17-19: “Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.”

Here the contrast is the life of the “present world”, and the “life indeed” in the age to come, which is our hope of the eternal life.

Titus 2:12: “instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age,”

Here we are instructed to live in this age according to our blessed hope in Christ’s glorious appearing mentioned in verse 13.

Hebrews 6:5: “and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come,”

The powers of the age to come are already at work in the present age through the work of the Holy Spirit. This is likely a reference to the spiritual gifts given to the apostles at the time of their conversion.

The Logical Conclusion To This Clear Terminology

If one examines these passages of scripture with a clear head and an open mind and heart, one can only logically conclude that scripture teaches a two age system of time. All periods of time must reside within one of these two ages. We can also see that these terms permeate throughout the majority of the New Testament, from the Epistles to the Gospels and these terms were commonly known throughout the Inter-Testamental period.

These passages are not thought of as prophetic passages, yet they however convey clearly prophetic foundational eschatology.

After going through all of these scriptures I couldn’t deny the plain and simple fact illustrated clearly by these scriptures. I had believed all of this time in a very complex system backed by unclear, figurative and detailed scripture when the simplest most basic explanation was offered by the clear, literal and general passages all throughout the New Testament.

The Division Of The Two Ages

The next step in this process is determining the divider of the two ages. The New Testament clearly teaches that the return of Christ and the General Judgment He will deliver stand as the division of the two ages. Massive support is given for this view and here are a few examples: 1 Cor 15:22, 23, 50-55; 1 Thess 4:16; Luke 20:35; Matt 13:39-43, 24:30, 31; 25:31, 46; Titus 2:11-13.

Also looking at the scriptures used to illustrate the contrast between the two ages and one notices another clear teaching in scripture, This age is and always will be an evil age. The following is an assertion widely taught in the New Testament:

2 Corinthians 4:4: “in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”

Galatians 1:4: “who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,”

Ephesians 2:2: “in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.”

The Surprising Conclusion

The conclusion all of this lead me to was completely surprising to me yet it makes the most sense given the sufficiency of the clear and literal passages given here. This plain and simple teaching does not leave any room for Premillenialism. According to all Premillennial views the millennium occurs after Christ’s second coming which would put good and evil men in the eternal resurrected state. This is a blatant contradiction of the clear scripture previously mentioned. Secondly if Christ is to return before the Millennium and the Eternal state begins with Christ’s return and Judgment then there is no need for a literal Millennium as man will be in his eternal resurrected state. Premillennialism cannot be reconciled with the plain two age time-line.

Therefore we are left with two views, Postmillennialism and Amillennialism.

Postmillennialism teaches that Christ will return after the millennium, meaning that there must be a golden age in human history culminating with the return of Christ. This is contrary to what scripture teaches. The New Testament plainly and widely teaches that this age is an evil age and will always be evil. In fact scriptures indicates that not only is this age evil, that it will get worse in the approaching time just before the return of Christ.

Matthew 24:37-39: “For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. “For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be.”

Genesis 6:5: “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”

This would clearly indicate that Postmillenialism cannot be accurate due to these clear indications of scripture. This leaves us with Amillennialism.

This was not a conclusion I came to lightly nor was it easy for me to accept given my misconceptions and preconceived notions. However, given the plain and clear meanings of these scriptures I was forced to accept that this is the only logical viewpoint. This would mean that the “literal” millennium has to be figurative or symbolic in nature and not the literal time period I had previously thought.

Instead of being jaded and cynical however I have had my eyes opened and I now have a fresh and clearer view of scripture. I am still in my process of having my eyes opened up by the Holy Spirit, and my understanding can only deepen further. This epiphany has also restored in me a new fervor for His word. I want to restudy all of the scriptures with my “new eyes” and see where else my “blinders” have led me astray. I have a new and more voracious hunger for God’s Word, and I love it.

Finally I’d like to extend my thanks to the author of The End Times Made Simple, by Samuel E. Waldron. Much of the material summarized here has been taken from his book. I also give thanks to God for His Holy Spirit which has guided my studies since my reformation.

I thought this little “commercial” bit/skit on the radio program was quite funny. I’d recommend listening to the whole 2 hour program along with many others that Chris Rosebrough has done with Pirate Christian Radio. Another great resource for reformed videos on the web and many other resources is Lane Chaplin’s channel on youtube as well as his blog.

Throughout the last week or so leading up to July 4th, I’ve been doing some serious thinking, and praying for our country, it’s leaders and it’s citizens. I think what set this off was hearing the usual sayings around this time of year; “God Bless America.” I have a small problem with what that implies. It wasn’t until the last couple of years that it really dawned on me the irony of that saying. The irony being that this country(that I dearly love) has been more blessed than any other country in the world a hundred times over; and yet we hear this message repeated every year on and around July 4th. “God Bless America!” God has blessed America greatly, and unfortunately most Americans continually turn their backs to Him when it really counts. Most of America only turns to God when they need something from Him. As Americans we pride ourselves on our independence, so much so that we feel we can be independent from the one who authored our liberty. Only when our way of life is threatened do we fall to our knees and beg for God to step in and save us. It really should be no surprise then when God turns His back upon us. We should expect this, however God is more gracious than we could possibly imagine or comprehend. He continually blesses this country while this country continually spits in His face.

Oh how I wish this weren’t true. All one has to do though is look at the American culture, and one can only infer the obvious. We are a Godless country at heart.

This is why I have been fervently praying not only for our nations leaders, but also all American citizens. We continually squander the blessing that God so graciously pours down on us. It will not be long before His grace dries up like a stream, and we are left wandering through the desert.

I encourage all who read this and agree to join with me in praying for the heart of our nation. That God would soften the hearts of American citizens, and it’s leaders to repent and turn to God. Not only on this day of our independence but on everyday that we are blessed to be called Americans.

This weekend Vanessa and I decided it was due time to start painting the upstairs rooms, which we had been planning but putting off. We did end up spending over $200 in supplies and paint combined since I did not have anything to begin with. It has also been a good 9 or 10 years since I professionally painted last so I no longer have any painting gear. We made the final decisions on our colors and took a trip to Menards to stock up. For the paint we decided to go with Dutch Boy Refresh, which is more of a Kitchen/Bathroom paint as it helps fight odors. It also is wear resistant and scrubbable. We figured this would work well in a dining room, and we decided to just go with it for the sitting room as well.

Saturday night I began prepping the room for the paint. I removed all the wall plates from any outlets or switches exposed on the wall. I took the fan blades of the fan, rather than removing the fan completely. Next I put down and taped the drop cloth over my hard wood flooring, and began taping/papering all the woodwork on the baseboards, around the doors/windows, and around the partition/built in wood hutch.

After I got about halfway around the room with the masking gun. Vanessa started in with the roller. She was anxious to get started and to see the results. I can’t say that I blame her as I was curious to see how well this paint worked. At first I wasn’t really all that fond of the paint color, and I was a bit skeptical about how it would look against our dark walnut stained woodwork in the room. As we started painting the room though it changed my mind. It makes the room almost have a warm forest feel. The light green walls and ceiling and the dark walnut woodwork, almost gives a forest feeling.

The paint looked good after the first coat however the texturing on our walls is very rough so this left some small tiny holes and small patches that needed touched up. It needed a second coat.

We let it dry overnight and we started working on the second coat on Sunday evening. we are both very satisfied with the results of the color, and with the paint, which is good because the paint was $20 a gallon. Today I took down all the tape and paper and put all the cover plates back on and put everything back together, and got the room cleaned up. Our next project is the dining room, which I will start prepping tomorrow. Hopefully we can get the first coat done tomorrow night and if needed the second coat by thursday night.

Here are a few more photos of the finished room:

Last night I happened to catch a few minutes of the Late Show with Conan O’Brien at about halfway through the show after watching a recording on my dvr, and what I heard about 2 minutes after I started watching just cracked me up. I decided I’d share it here on my blog. To start off Conan had an animal expert on the show and the “expert” was showing off a vulture to Conan. Conan asks the “expert” about the coat of feathers around the vulture’s neck. The animal “expert’s” reply was what caught me as ironically funny. Here is the transcription of the dialog and the video clip beginning just before the incident transcribed.

Conan: “So that beak could crush..uh–”
Expert: “Right through your fingers–”
Conan: “–Okay, again you’re obsessed with that”
Laughter…
Conan: “Look at the–I love the–Does it serve any purpose that it’s wearing like kind of a uh…a scarf around it’s neck? Is there any reason for that in nature?”
Expert: “No…that’s just the way they’re designed, I mean. I guess evolution’s brought ‘em to that point.”
Conan(Talking at the same time): “It was God’s will, yes!”
…

Apparently this animal expert doesn’t have a clue the difference between design and chance, or the difference between Creation(design) and Evolution(chance). I think someone is really clueless, namely the animal trainer expert that was a guest on the show. Or, maybe he believes in some nonsensical muddled mixing of the two “theories” as some people do even though the thought is completely ridiculous.  The two ideas are in complete opposition to each other, complete opposites at opposing ends of the spectrum and to suggest that both could occur is completely incomprehensible. I did think this was funny that anyone would suggest such a thing on national television. Then again we’re talking about Hollywood so maybe I really shouldn’t be so surprised.

Anyway here is the clip. I hope someone else besides myself and my wife finds this at least a bit funny.

The wife and I are in the middle of moving our blogs and starting a new one that we both will share to our new domain http://reformedchristianblogs.net. The plan is to merge our doctrinal/theological posts/pages to the main blog and use our personal blogs for our personal pages/posts. We’re hoping this will make the blogs overall a bit more organized. We’ve also been wanting to get our blogs on a dedicated host so we have a bit more flexibility in customization.

Please bear with us on any changes you may see on the new site over the next couple of weeks. We are still in the process of deciding which themes we like and in the process of customizing those to fit our needs, so the blogs’ looks may change a bit.

My most recent post at http://godstalkingtoday.blogspot.com