Thursday, August 31, 2006

Timothy Ministry 2006/2007

Dear friends,

As many of you know, I will be leaving Fredericton this fall to join Open Air Outreach as we travel the colleges and universities of America preaching the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ, publicly declaring that men and women should repent from their sins and trust in the saving grace of our God. The journey will be long and difficult, being on the road for the entire eight months of the school year, with one break during Christmas (which marks the middle of the trip), and confronting everything the modern, liberal, new age and western universities have to offer. I will be travelling and ministering with two other brothers from the United States, Miles Lewis and Evan Schaible, living out of a modified 15 passenger van, preaching daily, praying mainly, and trusting the Lord for all my logistical needs. Needless to say, the Lord has fulfilled the desire of my heart (Psalm 37:4).

How this came about was as follows:

Nov. 4, 2005, the eve of my 20th birthday, I was in seeking the Lord in prayer for His will concerning my coming new year when I felt Him say, "Your 21st year will be unlike all your previous years so far." By faith I believed God that this would be true, though I didn't know how it would be. After Christmas the second semester of school began at UNB and I returned to my studies, but not long into the first month I felt the Lord saying, "Leave school. I have something else for you", though He did not say anything more. It was difficult to simply drop school blindly without knowing what to do next, but I believed God and by faith cancelled my courses immediately. Having now a lot of free time on my hands, and the Lord being silent, I occupied myself with open air preaching in the Fredericton downtown area.

During the summer, a brother from Africa came to Fredericton and preached at a local Baptist Church, and my family and I went to go hear him that Sunday. It was after the service that I heard the Lord speak to me once again just as clear as He had the first two times; I heard unmistakably, "When the summer is over, leave home; preach the gospel." Of course, nothing more was said. But I believed God by faith. I went to my parents that afternoon and announced that regardless of whether I had a place to live or a purpose to go, I was leaving home in September because the Lord my God had told me so, and He is faithful and true. I am blessed to have two godly parents who love Jesus and His will more than their own. It was agreed upon.

Not two weeks later, brother Jesse Morrell (who leads Open Air Outreach) and I began contacting each other, and they (OAO) were in need of preachers for the coming year of campus ministry. Because God had worked it out that I was totally free for the fall and was already planning to leave Fredericton, I offered to join the team, and this was confirmed by Jesse who had previously felt to have me come aboard. Link this with my Lord Jesus' command to go and preach the gospel, and you have now before you my adventure for 2006/2007.

Open Air Outreach is a new up-and-coming ministry, offshooting from the recognized evangelistic ministry, the Great News Network, and focuses primarily on campus preaching and open air meetings. This year, OAO will be sending out two mission teams to reach as many university students as possible, an critically strategic field of people to reach in our 21st century. Quoting Jesse:

- 80-90% of Christian youths leave the faith shortly after entering College.

- College students are our future Lawyers, Doctors, Congressman, Senators, Presidents, etc.

- Students come from all over the world to study in America. College campus preaching reaches into foreign countries by reaching the foreign students.

- The college years are the years that many are re-thinking as well as discovering their own beliefs and worldviews.

- In the free speech areas of major campuses we are able to get listening crowds of 100-500+ students for hours upon hours every day!

- After a good open-air session in the free speech area, the entire campus is talking about the gospel!

- Above all, we are losing an entire generation to the devil, and without Christ they will go to hell forever.

The universities and colleges of America are places of paramount importance where the truth of Christ much triumph! "Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." (2 Corinthians 10:5)

What follows is the itinerary for our team from September to Christmas:


Open Air Outreach: Team 2 Itinerary

September 2006

9/5,6,7 SUNY Oswego Oswego, NY
9/11, 12 George Mason University Fairfax, VA
9/13,14 University of Virginia Petersburg, VA OR
Longwood University Farmville, VA
9/15-19 North Carolina State/University
of North Carolina @ Chapel Hill Raleigh Durham/Chapel Hill
9/20-24 SOAPA conference Marietta, GA
9/25-28 College of Charleston Charleston, SC
9/29,30 University of Tennessee/
Johnson Bible College Knoxville, TN

October 2006

10/1-4 University of Tennessee Knoxville, TN
10/5,6 Middle Tennessee State
University Murfreesboro, TN
10/7-11 University of Arkansas @
Little Rock/University of
Central Arkansas Little Rock, AR/Conway, AR
10/16,17 Dallas/Ft. Worth Dallas, TX
Abilene
10/18-20 Texas Tech Lubbock, TX
10/23 Eastern New Mexico University Portales, NM
10/24,25 University of New Mexico Albuquerque, NM
10/26,27 New Mexico State University Las Cruces, NM
10/30, 31 University of Texas El Paso El Paso, TX

November 2006

11/1 University of Texas El Paso El Paso, TX
11/2, 3 University of Arizona Tucson, AZ
11/6 Arizona State University Mesa, AZ
11/7-9 Mesa Community College Mesa, AZ
11/10-14 Arizona State University Tempe Tempe, AZ
11/15 Arizona State University West
Campus Glendale, AZ
11/16, 17 Glendale Community College Glendale, AZ
11/20-22 Northern Arizona University Flagstaff, AZ
11/27-29 University of Nevada Las Vegas, NV
11/30 University of California Los
Angeles Los Angeles, CA

December 2006

12/1-8 San Bernardino
Cal State University Long Beach Long Beach, CA
Cal State University Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA
Team 2 Itinerary maptranspixel
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As you can see, we will arrive and remain on each campus for generally 3-4 days and will be covering a lot of ground throughout the country, starting in New York State and ending up in California by December. After the Christmas break, the team will continue where it left off and a second itinerary will be made for the remaining year. This is not a one week mission tour to Antigonish! Please pray for me as I step out in faith into this enormous undertaking of gospel labour. Your prayers and support are so highly appreciated. Pray for:

-power: "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." (Acts 1:8)

-boldness: "And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel." (Ephesians 6:19)

-souls: "Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." (Psalm 2:8)

-provision: "But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:19)

-glory: "Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again." (John 12:28)


Finally, if you would like to follow us along the way, you can go to www.timothyministry.com and read the many updates I will be posting as we go. Lord willing these will include pictures, audio/video, articles, etc. as well as pray requests, campus summaries and a map of where we are. Please frequent it often and write me a note! I would absolutely love to hear from you.

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter and so encourage my heart in the Lord. As your brother in Christ I am truly blessed for all the wonderful relationships that I have here at home and abroad, and I pray to the Lord that He would bless you all abundantly with all blessings in spiritual places, that He would strengthen your hearts together with Him as one, and that His perfect and acceptable will would be made known to each and every one, that we might know how exceedingly excellent is God's love toward us. Bless the Lord forever!

Sincerely and with much love,
Yours brother in Christ Jesus,
-Eli


"Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together." (John 4:34-36)

Saturday, August 19, 2006

New Feature: Email Updates

New to TimothyMinistry.com is the ability to now receive email updates by simply adding your email address to the subscription list found at the bottom of the side menu. Starting in September, this website will become an online journal to keep readers updated on what's happening during my travels in the United States, preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ on university and college campuses. The emails sent out will serve as a type of newsletter: updates will include pictures and downloadable files as well as a summary of where I am, what the Lord has been doing and what is coming up next.

You won't want to miss out on this, so make sure you sign up right away! I hope that as you receive these letters you would remember to uphold me in prayer, for this trip will by no means be easy and there will be much opposition. "Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us." (Romans 8:37) Your response to this is deeply appreciated.

May the Lord be glorified, the devil be petrified, and the saints be edified!

Friday, August 18, 2006

An Epistle to All the Slothful and Careless People

Written by John Bunyan in 1698

Friends,

Solomon saith, that The desire of the slothful killeth him; and if so, what will slothfulness itself do to those that entertain it? (Prov 21:25). The proverb is, He that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame (Prov 10:5). And this I dare be bold to say, no greater shame can befall a man, than to see that he hath fooled away his soul, and sinned away eternal life. And I am sure this is the next way to do it; namely, to be slothful; slothful, I say, in the work of salvation. The vineyard of the slothful man, in reference to the things of this life, is not fuller of briars, nettles, and stinking weeds, than he that is slothful for heaven, hath his heart full of heart-choaking and soul-damning sin.

Slothfulness hath these two evils: First, To neglect the time in which it should be getting of heaven; and by that means doth, in the Second place, bring in untimely repentance. I will warrant you, that he who shall lose his soul in this world through slothfulness, will have no cause to be glad thereat when he comes to hell.

Slothfulness is usually accompanied with carelessness, and carelessness is for the most part begotten by senselessness; and senselessness doth again put fresh strength into slothfulness, and by this means the soul is left remediless.

Slothfulness shutteth out Christ; slothfulness shameth the soul (Cant 5:2-4; Prov 13:4).

Slothfulness, it is condemned even by the feeblest of all the creatures. Go to the ant, thou sluggard, consider her ways and be wise (Prov 6:6). The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold (20:4); that is, he will not break up the fallow ground of his heart, because there must be some pains taken by him that will do it; therefore shall he beg in harvest, that is, when the saints of God shall have their glorious heaven and happiness given to them; but the sluggard shall have nothing, that is, be never the better for his crying for mercy, according to that in Matthew 25:10-12.

If you would know a sluggard in the things of heaven, compare him with one that is slothful in the things of this world. As, 1. He that is slothful is loth to set about the work he should follow: so is he that is slothful for heaven. 2. He that is slothful is one that is willing to make delays: so is he that is slothful for heaven. 3. He that is a sluggard, any small matter that cometh in between, he will make it a sufficient excuse to keep him off from plying his work: so it is also with him that is slothful for heaven. 4. He that is slothful doth his work by the halves; and so it is with him that is slothful for heaven. He may almost, but he shall never altogether obtain perfection of deliverance from hell; he may almost, but he shall never, without he mend, be altogether a saint. 5. They that are slothful, do usually lose the season in which things are to be done: and thus it is also with them that are slothful for heaven, they miss the season of grace. And therefore, 6. They that are slothful have seldom or never good fruit: so also it will be with the soul-sluggard. 7. They that are slothful they are chid for the same: so also will Christ deal with those that are not active for him. Thou wicked or slothful servant, out of thine own mouth will I judge thee; thou saidst I was thus, and thus, wherefore then gavest not thou my money to the bank? &c. (Luke 19:22). Take the unprofitable servant, and cast him into utter darkness, where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt 25:26-30).

WHAT SHALL I SAY? Time runs; and will you be slothful? Much of your lives are past; and will you be slothful? Your souls are worth a thousand worlds; and will you be slothful? The day of death and judgment is at the door; and will you be slothful? The curse of God hangs over your heads; and will you be slothful? Besides, the devils are earnest, laborious, and seek by all means every day, by every sin, to keep you out of heaven, and hinder you of salvation; and will you be slothful? Also your neighbours are diligent for things that will perish; and will you be slothful for things that will endure for ever? Would you be willing to be damned for slothfulness? Would you be willing the angels of God should neglect to fetch your souls away to heaven when you lie a-dying, and the devils stand by ready to scramble for them? Was Christ slothful in the work of your redemption? Are his ministers slothful in tendering this unto you? And, lastly, If all this will not move, I tell you God will not be slothful or negligent to damn you, whose damnation now of a long time slumbereth not, nor the devils will not neglect to fetch thee, nor hell neglect to shut it's mouth upon thee.

Sluggard, art thou asleep still? art thou resolved to sleep the sleep of death? Wilt neither tidings from heaven or hell awake thee? Wilt thou say still, Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, and a little folding of the hands to sleep? (Prov 6:10). Wilt thou yet turn thyself in thy sloth, as the door is turned upon the hinges? O that I was one that was skillful in lamentation, and had but a yearning heart towards thee, how would I pity thee! How would I bemoan thee! O that I could with Jeremiah let my eyes run down with rivers of water for thee! Poor soul, lost soul, dying soul, what a hard heart have I that I cannot mourn for thee! If thou shouldst lose but a limb, a child, or a friend, it would not be so much, but poor man it is THY SOUL; if it was to lie in hell but for a day, but for a year, nay, ten thousand years, it would (in comparison) be nothing. But O it is for ever! O this cutting EVER! What a soul-amazing word will that be, which saith, Depart from me, ye cursed, into EVERLASTING fire!

Objection. But if I should set in, and run as you would have me, then I must run from all my friends; for none of them are running that way.

Answer. And if thou dost, thou wilt run into the bosom of Christ and of God, and then what harm will that do thee?

Objection. But if I run this way, then I must run from all my sins.

Answer. That is true indeed; yet if thou dost not, thou wilt run into hell-fire.

Objection. But if I run this way, then I shall be hated, and lose the love of my friends and relations, and of those that I expect benefit from, or have reliance on, and I shall be mocked of all my neighbours.

Answer. And if thou dost not, thou art sure to lose the love and favour of God and Christ, the benefit of heaven and glory, and be mocked of God for thy folly, I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; and if thou wouldst not be hated and mocked, then take heed thou by thy folly dost not procure the displeasure and mockings of the great God; for his mocks and hatred will be terrible, because they will fall upon thee in terrible times, even when tribulation and anguish taketh hold on thee; which will be when death and judgment comes, when all the men in the earth, and all the angels in heaven, cannot help thee (Prov 1:26-28).

Objection. But surely I may begin this time enough, a year or two hence, may I not?

Answer. 1. Hast thou any lease of thy life? Did ever God tell thee thou shalt live half a year, or two months longer? nay, it may be thou mayst not live so long. And therefore, 2. Wilt thou be so sottish and unwise, as to venture thy soul upon a little uncertain time? 3. Dost thou know whether the day of grace will last a week longer or no? For the day of grace is past with some before their life is ended: and if it should be so with thee, wouldst thou not say, O that I had begun to run before the day of grace had been past, and the gates of heaven shut against me. But, 4. If thou shouldst see any of thy neighbours neglect the making sure of either house or land to themselves, if they had it proffered to them, saying, Time enough hereafter, when the time is uncertain; and besides, they do not know whether ever it will be proffered to them again, or no: I say, Wouldst thou not then call them fools? And if so, then dost thou think that thou art a wise man to let thy immortal soul hang over hell by a thread of uncertain time, which may soon be cut asunder by death?

But to speak plainly, all these are the words of a slothful spirit. Arise man, be slothful no longer; set foot, and heart, and all into the way of God, and run, the crown is at the end of the race; there also standeth the loving fore-runner, even Jesus, who hath prepared heavenly provision to make thy soul welcome, and he will give it thee with a willinger heart than ever thou canst desire it of him. O therefore do not delay the time any longer, but put into practice the words of the men of Dan to their brethren, after they had seen the goodness of the land of Canaan: Arise, say they, for we have seen the land, and behold it is very good; and are ye still, or do you forbear running? Be not slothful to go, and to enter to possess the land (Judg 18:9). Farewell.

I wish our souls may meet with comfort at the journey's end.

JOHN BUNYAN

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

4 Common Mistakes When Studying End Time Prophecy

 
There seems to be a growing interest in the study of end time prophecy (eschatology) these days within the Body of Christ, or perhaps I should say a growing emphasis upon the subject, as a reaction to the recent developments in the Middle East, in North America and in the rest of the world. This is certainly nothing new. In the past, many have predicted the return of Jesus Christ and have worked up their followers into a kind of frenzy of anticipation, embracing charts and commentaries on ancient Bible prophecy, convinced they know the hidden answers. Unfortunately, many end up deceived, disappointed and often disillusioned. Jesus said: "Take heed that no man deceive you." (Matthew 24:4) The problem lies with men teaching the ideas of men and others falling for it. We need to be led by the Spirit of God which is the Spirit of truth.

Today I am seeing various false teachings arise within the Church, some terribly influential, others gaining strength, taking captive many by their subtle suggestions. Much of this is the direct result of unintentional deception, where members are ignorantly teaching something they have only been fooled into believing; but the uglier side of this points to the schemes and lies of the devil trying to lead astray precious souls from God. We also find ourselves dealing with false prophets and false teachers or worse. It is important to remember the warning and exhortation of Christ Jesus our Lord: "Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation." (Mark 14:38) If ever there was a time to watch, it is now.

End time prophecy is a fascinating and relevant part of the Word of God, constituting nearly 40 percent of the entire Bible, and oh how we need as Christians to begin to rightly divide the word of truth in this area of study. Eschatology is incredibly practical, utterly fundamental and desperately needful; I wholeheartedly encourage people to dig the mines of this valuable treasury, but let us make sure we do so correctly so we avoid dangerous errors.


THE 4 COMMON MISTAKES OF END TIME STUDY

When studying end time prophecy, I have observed four very common mistakes that Christians make which opens the gate for false teachings. This article is written as an introductory overview in the hope of raising the awareness of these errors and curbing future misconceptions that corrupt the intended meaning of Biblical prophecies. I can only pray that the reader will remember these as he/she continues to study or be taught the subject.

1. Starting from the Wrong Place
One very common mistake people make when studying the end times is that they immediately jump into the book of Revelation, or the book of Daniel, or any of the expressly difficult apocalyptic books that contain much imagery and symbolism, and there attempt to paint a picture of what will take place at the close of the age. In doing this they break one of the most elementary rules of Biblical hermeneutics, which is: that unplain Scripture is to be intpreted by plain Scripture and not the other way around. This means that difficult apocalyptic Scripture is to be interpreted by simple literal Scripture and not the other way around. Error occurs when people create a scenario from the book of Revelation and then try and fit the words of Jesus or the words of Paul into their own conceived notions.

Where students of end time prophecy should start when they begin to study eschatology is with the very words of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and solidly understand what He has to say about the subject before proceeding further into the abstract content. Our Lord spoke very plainly and clearly about His own return; what better place to start than with the One to whom these things concern? In essence, it is like building a house. The first thing to do before assembling the frame is to lay down a solid foundation where the rest of the house will be aligned and set. If the foundation is straight, the house will be straight. It is also like constructing a human skeleton from a pile of bones. It is very difficult to know which bone is which and where each fits, but if you establish first the spine, then the rest of the bones fall into place one by one from that starting point. It is exactly the same when studying Biblical prophecy. Make sure you begin at the right place to avoid future error. The right place to start is with Jesus and His plain teaching. Then after Jesus, read and understand that writings of the apostle Paul, who also wrote simply and plainly about the end times, and builds naturally on Jesus. Once the foundation has been solidly laid, then you will find that Book of Revelation and the Book of Daniel falls easily into place - easier than you thought!

2. Reading Beyond the Text: Imposing a Presupposition
This fallacy applies not only to Bible prophecy but to any study of the Word of God. It is the error of reading the Scriptures with a preconceived idea and imposing it into a text what is not actually there. Simply put: it is pressing "truth" into the text instead of drawing truth from the text. Unfortunately, this happens with shocking regularity by many who study end time prophecy. Our understanding of Scripture must be so pure that if someone else across the world were to read the same thing we would both come out with the same conclusion. I am not negating the fact that some passages of Scripture are more difficult than others, but regardless of difficulty, we must intentionally refrain from any and every speculation of interpretation that is not plainly drawn from the Scriptures. I believe it is for this reason that there is so much division within the Church regarding doctrine. We must remember 2 Peter 1:20 and hold to it dogmatically, which states: "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation." If you do not know the meaning, do not guess! Simply take what is plain and wait until God makes the rest clear. Interpreting the Bible is a matter of patience.

Let me illustrate this using a straightforward Scripture that has been repeatedly abused in this way. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 reads: "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." Now from this very plain Scripture has amazing speculation been strongly asserted. It is said by many this verse teaches:

1) this is not the coming of the Lord Jesus
2) this is a secret snatching away of the Church
3) this will not be seen, heard or felt by anyone but the Christians
4) this happens before "the Great Tribulation"

Now where in this Scripture did they read this? Try going back and reading the Scripture again to find these suggestions - they cannot be found! How could a person without any previous suppositions gather these points from these words of the apostle Paul? The answer is simple: they have imposed their speculation into the text. These ideas could not have been deduced by the plain reading of the passage. The important key to remember in all this, in order to avoid error, is to only desire the pure milk of God's Word and not the modified "chocolate" milk delivered from a man-ufacturer (1 Peter 2:2). We must be ever so alert to this most common practice.

3. Misunderstanding Israel and the Church
One of the greatest misunderstandings that exists within the Christian Church today, which leads to a whole plethora of doctrinal error, is that there are essentially only two views one can take regarding Israel and the Church: Supercessionism or Dispensationalism. Supercessionism is the belief that the Church has replaced Israel as the people of God (also known as Replacement Theology) and that God has nothing more to do with the Jewish people in any distinct sense. Dispensationalism is the belief that Israel and the Church are two totally separate entities; that neither have replaced the other, and that there exists simultaneously two distinct peoples of God. What one believes about the Israel and the Church will effect their interpretation of prophecy on every level, therefore, to get it wrong here is fail before you even begin.

Both of these views represent two extreme ends of a spectrum. Both of these views actually hold a truth, but they have held that truth too tightly so as not to see how their truths fit together. On the one hand, Supercessionists are correct to notice that in Scripture there is only one people of God, and that the idea of two distinct peoples of God is grossly unBiblical. They are correct to identity that the Church is Israel, but they are wrong in the way they think about it. Nowhere does the Bible teach that the Church has replaced Israel, for the Church is Israel, the same Israel as Israel has always been. What the Bible tells us is that "some of the natural branches (Jews) have been broken off, so many wild branches (Gentiles) could be grafted in" (Rom. 11:17); so Israel hasn't gone anywhere... the branches have just been rearranged. And the Bible also tells us that "those natural branches that God has broken off He is able to graft in again" (Rom. 11:24). This is what the Dispensationalists have right: they maintain that the Jewish people still have a significance and a future with God. The Bible is very clear in this regard. The Dispensationalists, like the Supercessionists, have simply offered an unBiblical explanation of how these truths fit together.

There is only one people of God, Israel, but Israel has had a major renovation of her branches. The Church is made up of Jews (natural branches who belong there) and Gentiles (who are enjoying a rather odd situation!) who have believed on Jesus Christ the Messiah and His atoning sacrifice. But the Bible tells us that there is still a future for those unbelieving branches who have been cut off. God is well able to graft them back into "their own tree", and one day He will indeed (Rom. 11:25). So it is vital that we have a correct understanding of Israel and the Church, for Biblical prophecy has everything to do with her; we must rightly understand who it is we're reading about!

4. Handling Prophecy Chronologically
The fourth common mistake people make when studying Biblical prophecy is that they mishandle prophecy by assuming a neat and tidy chronological order of prophetic revelation. It is interesting to note that not one prophetic book of the Bible is perfectly chronological: Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Joel, Zechariah, for example, are all highly discursive (jumping from one subject to another, from one time to another) in their order of vision. If you were to read these books supposing an orderly sequence the final outcome would be confusing and incoherent. Is it not characteristically the pattern of God to reveal unto His people discursive dreams and visions? This may not seem logical to us, who would reason putting everything in a nice neat order, but the fact is, our ways are not His ways (Isaiah 55:8-9).

However, though most Christians acknowledge Biblical prophecy is to be understood discursively rather than chronologically, many people fail to apply that same rule to the Book of Revelation, and rush forward, handling it as if it were a chronologically received vision. In this way they fall into two large dilemmas: first, if you read the Book of Revelation in this way, you will find that the chronology is at odds with what Jesus, Paul and the prophets have disclosed about the time of the end. Secondly, you will find innumerable discrepancies within the Book of Revelation itself (for example, baby Jesus being born in the end times? The second coming happening multiple times?) The Book of Revelation is not one long grandiose vision that John received in perfect chronological order, but a variety of short discursive visions which he received back-to-back, the junction of these scenes being seen his repeated phrase, "After this I saw". It was not the content of the visions that was chronological, but the visions themselves - the next vision following the previous vision, and so on. The book cannot be treated differently than the other prophetic books of the Bible. Doing so creates all sorts of problems (as mentioned above) and would be hermeneutically unrealistic.


THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH

I hope that by these brief points your study of eschatology and Biblical prophecy will be rooted and grounded in a proper understanding of Scripture after a sincere love of the truth. The Lord did not set out to confuse His people in this area, but rather desires for us to know and apprehend these matters, even more so as the great Day approaches. May we always seek to be filled with the precious Holy Spirit of promise, that He may give light and understanding to our dark and feeble minds; light we so desperately need in this rapidly approaching midnight hour.

"Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come." (John 16:13)

Thursday, August 03, 2006

Paul's Advice to His Son Timothy

Leonard Ravenhill preaches this excellent message on the book of 2 Timothy, highlighting significant verses of advice that the dying saint Paul had for the young up-and-coming Timothy. I thought it appropriate to post this sermon on Timothy Ministry.com and am certain that if you take the time to listen you will be challenged, impacted and blessed. Brother Ravenhill speaks from years of Christian service and experience, and in many ways is like Paul exhorting the younger generations. Download below: