Jesus Christ is the Truth.

7/28/11

http://JesusChristIsTheTruth.YolaSite.com Dispensational-Bible-Prophesy;

http://MyReligiousQuestiosViews.YolaSite.com Bible-Prophesy-Dispensational

BOOK REPORT BY JOHN L. DECOSSAUX

“THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE MESSIAH,

A STUDY OF THE SEQUENCE OF PROPHETIC EVENTS”

BY DR. ARNOLD G. FRUCHTENBAUM”

INTRO

This is a book for serious Bible students who want to understand the book of Revelation from many different Christian view points. If you want to tell others about the Bible, the Gospel & Jesus you should become a serious student of the Bible even though you are an ordinary layperson with no formal education in the Bible.

Dr. Fruchtenbaum features his own theory & presents the flaws in other dispensational view points. He explains & exposes the amillennial doctrine. He also goes into other details about the Mysteries, Heaven, Hell, the Millennium, the Last Days and more. St. John refers to over 500 Old Testament Bible verses in Revelation & the references are listed. Then Dr. Fruchtenbaum places all the prophesies, from the Old & New Testament, into the proper time-line sequence, which is quite a feat in itself.

The Holy Spirit’s Book of Revelation, recorded by John, travels back in forth in time, uses: symbols, explains those symbols, uses exact numbers & exact numbers of years. St. John’s interpretations of prophesies agree with the symbols explanations in the Old Testament. Dr. Fruchtenbaum then further explains & illustrates them with charts & diagrams. Most main line Christian churches claim that Revelation is all symbolic & only represents the 1^st Century Christian history. No matter how good a job St. John does, for most Christians, Revelation is still clear as muddy water. The future is here & we need to know how to survive it. How can we know what to preach if we don’t even know the basic doctrines of Heaven, Hell, New Jerusalem, Rapture, Millennium, Second Coming & antichrist? I don’t know how much of this book is true, but he has certainly challenged my foggy thinking, my amillennialism, my dislike of the “secret” Rapture (he never calls it a secret Rapture), my belief that Hell-fire is temporary & some other sloppy doctrinal interpretations I’ve tinkered with.

In the Foreword by Charles C. Ryrie we learn that the author’s foundation

for Bible interpretation is dispensational, pretribulational premillennialism.

Original publication August 11, 1996, Body of work: pages 3-540, Appendices from pages 543-800, Scripture Index pages 801-831. There are sixteen charts & three diagrams. The back hardcover says he received a B.A. from Cedarville University, his Th.M. from Dallas Theological Seminary, and his Ph.D. from New York University, with graduate work studies at the Jewish Theological Seminary, NY & Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

This Intro was copied, but revised slightly from my recent Book Review of “The Footsteps of the Messiah”. http://MyReligiousQuestionsViews.YolaSite.com, under: “Reviews-books-movies-audio”

WHAT THIS REPORT IS BUT ISN’T

This report is really: a record of my initial impressions of this very large book.

I haven’t memorized his statements or sequences of prophesy & so: I’m in no way an expert in it.

His book contains a lot of information, though I’m familiar with much of it from my Bachelor’s in Religion/Philosophy & church attendance, it is difficult for me to understand, much less teach anyone about it. A lot of information in my education comes from: mail order Bible studies, Sabbath & Sunday school lessons, religious: books, radio & TV; plus the Bible. I’ve been, more or less, serious about the Bible & Jesus since I was 16 years old, unless I was backsliding back into sin & non religious books, radio & TV. I feel that everyone who wants to know what “Footsteps” says should just read it for themselves www.ariel.org. One way to study it would be to look up all the Bible texts & once you’ve understood his positions, doctrines & interpretations, find others who contradict everything he said. Then you must pick through all religious doctrines, theories & claims. Which ones truly seems to follow the spirit & story-line of the Bible and also fits in with your preconceptions or beliefs about Jesus & Christianity? Wisdom comes with age, experience, meditation & education, but it can also be somewhat subjective. It’s personal between you & God. I can’t force you, convince you or trick you, because then it wouldn’t be your belief. You only have one sinful life or saintly life on this cursed earth so you might as well, form your own opinions based on serious Bible & Bible Commentary study, meditation & prayer.

If you can’t face your doubts & find books that help you to defeat them,

you will remain a weak Christian.

I believe the best position in Christianity is to believe as many parts of the Bible as is possible. You must believe that the Bible is the truest book on this earth, because Jesus is the truest man that ever lived, died & rose again. To merely flatter the Bible & call it,

“Beautiful literature, inspirational, majestic, etc., but clearly created by uneducated ancient people that is certainly out of date & behind the times”

This kind of defeatist thinking has more than once put me on a slippery slope that ended with me saying:

“Well since the Bible isn’t true or maybe it is but, I can’t figure it out, I might as well use my own common sense or wisdom. God has left me without an instruction book for life. How do I even know if Jesus was really God or even a real person?”

MY AGENDA

Everyone has one. Most don’t realize they have one, but I think I know that I have an agenda. It is to show you that not all Christians are absolutely sure of their doctrines & do change their minds, because I’m one of them. I think that if I’m not sure then why should I lie about it? Lying is evil, even if it is for the good cause of trying to bring more people into the church. Maybe there are people like me out there & I want to encourage them not to quit. I’m a slow learner. The longer you stay with something the more you understand it. They say it takes 10,000 hours you become an expert at something, so let’s get started. The Bible only takes between 50 & 75 hours to read. It usually takes me over a year to read it. Why is that? Try to put away time-wasting activities & learn about the God you will spend eternity with. To love someone you must get to know, understand & deepen your love. If you don’t deepen your love you weaken your love. God demands & desires all our love, loyalty & attention. Your spouse, children & friends expect your best behavior & so does God. He expects you to be on your best behavior. He is the best Father in the universe. He will draw nearer to us, if we will also draw nearer to Him.

Someone is investigating Christianity or your denomination right now. They may decide to attend your Christian Sunday school class. Maybe most of the members are pretending that they honestly believe all & every doctrine of their church or Christianity in general. It’s also obvious to our visitor that these good church folk haven’t studied, can’t explain the lesson accurately & get that puzzled look on their faces when the Pastor or teacher explains their Sunday school lesson. Deep down they’ll know something is wrong with us & maybe our church. So, they’ll either study to learn the doctrines properly & later teach us or decide that in Christianity or our denomination are a bunch of cover-ups, half truths, and lies. They may rationalize that either our intelligence level or faith is not up to par for Christianity. Most people work, go to school, have relationships & are too busy to engage in intensive Bible study for years & years. That doesn’t diminish Jesus Christ, the Bible, the truth, prophesy or eternity. I might have a feeling that something is true, but I don’t have the words, understanding or ability to tell you what I believe. I need to find the words to explain my own beliefs. It’s not a matter of salvation, but of doing good works. Christians have their own judgment from God based on works, Romans 14:10-12 & 1Corinthians 3:13-15. When you are a child you can’t explain yourself, your parents or the world to anyone intelligently, but when you become an adult you are expected to know these things.

We could become well versed in the Bible, if we gave up, sports, the news, romance novels, car magazines, immoral programs on TV, senseless video games, surfing the Internet or talking on the phone for hours about nothing.

Most people trust the religious expert,-their pastor-or priest, it’s easier than researching the Bible, but what if we’ve picked the wrong Church? Let me give you three instances of God’s warning & punishing a church or religion.

1. Most of the Jews in Jesus’ day rejected him, because their leaders did. Their Temple sacrificial services were scrapped & rejected by God, because they were led astray by their own Hebrew & Greek Scriptural experts. Their works & commandment-keeping were not motivated by their faith & obedience to God. They let their pride over take their love.

2. Look at the Roman Catholic Church reaping a whirlwind of lawsuits, priest-less churches & half empty seminaries, because they made the priesthood a privileged class, covered up sexual impurity & refused to eject greatest priestly sinners from the duties of the church.

3. Look at the hundreds of Protestant Churches splitting from their mother churches, because of doctrinal differences. Either the smaller group accuses the church of liberal doctrinal errors or it has become too liberal itself.

Progressives (liberals, socialists, pagans, communists, humanists & atheists) accuse the Bible believing conservatives of being old fashioned, power hungry & haters who deny: women, homosexuals, pagans & others church positions. They are also found guilty of following a dangerous ancient book too closely—the Bible!! Let this be a warning to us, because this is where liberal doctrines logically end. A social gospel replaces a God-given moral code. Mankind becomes his/her own savior. Works are not mandatory, but only make us a better person. In some false churches they don’t need a savior, because they believe sins are just part of life. If you teach that Jesus is not necessary & there is no Hell then you are an antichrist, because you have destroyed the message that Jesus came to give. To call Jesus a good man & a savior or messiah on the same lower level as ordinary people is to blaspheme God.

How sure are you about your pastor, Bible & its doctrines? If, you don’t examine them all closely, realizing it may take several years to do so, you will not see the real pastor, church or doctrines. Will most people be destined to Hell-fire for eternity unless they pick the right pastor, interpretation of the Bible & a church that is truly sanctified by the Holy Spirit? If that is the criterion for being saved, yes, the majority of Christians would go to Hell. If I believed that I would give up on Christianity, because I have a sub-standard brain, emotions & I don’t know how to discover truth. I’m incompetent in most things & even more so in eternal truths & I’m a bit lazy. I believe that Jesus knew I was too weak, stupid & sinful to be saved unless he intervened. I’m depending on his strength, intelligence & holiness, his kindness, mercy & grace. I believe he wants to save me & is making every effort to capture my heart & your heart so we can hold him & follow him into Heaven. If I didn’t think that way I’d be in despair all the time, because I don’t like it when people sin against me. I hate when my loved ones struggle & fail. I’m horrified & disgusted by the processes of old age, disease & death. I want eternal youth, health, happiness & love for myself, family, friends, acquaintances & everyone I’ll ever meet. Is that too much to ask for? On this earth it is, but not in Heaven or on the New Earth in our new perfect bodies…no pimples, no pains.

“I believe God is fair & just. I believe I will have a pure, perfect & painless life for ever”.

Let’s repeat that to ourselves until we die. Now, I do know some Christians that picked a perfect church, are able to thoroughly defend it, believe it & claim that they’ve never changed their opinions about Jesus or the Bible. Even if they’ve changed church denominations three times like me, they’ll rationalize that away, so they can maintain that the Holy Spirit has led them & they followed Him flawlessly. They’ll swing at you with multiple Bible quotes until you run for cover. Some will tell you, “The Holy Spirit lead me to this church & God can’t lie & never make mistakes”. What can you say to that? Recently I’ve been church-less & it’s looking like I’ll finish my days on earth that way. I visit a few conservative & a few slightly liberal churches. I found a radical Sunday school class in a United Methodist Church that uses Dr. Fruchtenbaum’s book “Footsteps of the Messiah” in their handouts. A married couple bought me the book & so here we are. Thanks Len & Marvel!

What is Dr. Fruchtenbaum’s agenda? It seems to be:

1. Prove to the reader that the Bible has specific prophesies that have come true.

2. Assume it’s prophesies about the future will also come true.

3. Assume that future prophecies can be so specific that the future saints will know in advance what to do to protect themselves.

4. Prove or make the case that Jesus & God the Father always keep their promises, especially to the Jews, though it may take thousands of years.

5. He makes a case that the Church of Christ is separate from the Jewish Nation & non Christians, because many scripture verses that have been misinterpreted through the lenses of Replacement Theology. Binding covenantal promises to the Jews will be fulfilled no matter how long it takes.

6. He points out that we are in the church age of Laodicea, in Revelation 3, & further conclude that no Christian Churches today are accurate, holy or pleasing to God. That has certainly been my experience.

7. Replacement Theology was responsible for the Christian persecution or refusal to help the Jews in WW2, because it made them seem abandoned by God & like devils that were bound for Hell anyway.

8. The error in Replacement Theology says that because the majority of Jews & Israel today reject Jesus & God has abandoned them forever. That cannot be true, because there has always been a remnant of Jewish Christians ever since the twelve Apostles & until today.

9. He tries to get us to accept his Bible interpretation theories & guidelines. For instance, you should take the Bible literally unless it speaks in obvious symbols, which have been defined throughout the Bible or if it speaks in generic parables. When someone is named in the story then it is not a parable, like the “Rich Man & Lazarus”.

10. If the virgin birth, incarnation of Jesus & prophesies that predicted these events are taken literally, because they came to pass then, we can with confidence believe all the still unfulfilled Bible prophesies. We can understand them, wait for their fulfillments & if we are alive then watch them unfold before our eyes.

11. The Bible is the word of God & without contradictions or error.

12. We are saved by faith through grace alone.

13. The Judgment of the Righteous is a works judgment, but we’re saved by faith & not works. It occurs after the resurrection of the righteous & it is to give or withhold gifts, crowns, lands, leadership, careers, etc. 1Corinthians 3:15.

14. The Righteous Ones can’t lose their salvation, even if their works are: wood, hay, stubble & burn to ashes.

15. The Millennium is a literal 1,000 year reign of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem & he does rescue his remnant (Christian) Jews from total destruction.

16. Jews will come to repentance & never die as a Nation, after they accept Jesus as their Messiah.

17. Resurrected righteous Jews & Gentile Christians can’t die & never die.

18. Gentiles that survive the last plagues or are born during the Millennium, if they accept Jesus as Messiah, will never die. If, they can’t bring themselves to accept his reign as King of all kings they will die at a hundred years old.

19. During some of the last plagues demons will attack, cause great pain & even kill many people.

20. Hell, death & the Abyss will cease to exist & be thrown into the Lake of Fire.

21. Beast, False Prophet & antichrist will burn-body & soul-for 1,000 years & then Satan is also thrown into the Lake of Fire with them.

22. Eternal is used to refer to God, sinners in Hell & saints in Heaven or down on the New Earth. The same Greek word for eternal is used for all of them. If God is eternal, so is Heaven & so is Hell.

23. Unsaved & un-resurrected Gentiles will still sin during the millennium & die if they don’t repent. This is what the Bible says, so take it literally.

24. During the tribulation 2/3rds of the Jews are killed in Israel, but 1/3rd become the remnant & call for Jesus, their Savior, to rescue them. He then & only then can return to earth in the Second Coming.

25. The Second Coming happens seven years after the peace contract with the antichrist.

26. The Rapture can happen tomorrow, but it must happen before the tribulation starts.

27. Once the full number of Gentiles is reached the Christian Church is translated up to Heaven. That means the Christians that are dead & alive at the Rapture will have their souls sanctified & be given a new immortal body & fly up to the safety of Heaven & Jesus.

28. No one knows the day & hour of the Rapture, but they will know the year of the Second Coming.

29. Purgatory is a Catholic tradition. There are no Scriptures that verify it, not even in the apocryphal (deutero-canonical) book of Maccabees.

30. At death the soul is purified & perfected by God & goes into Heaven.

31. There is no intermediate body for us in Heaven. Angels do things without bodies & so does God & so will we.

32. The Roman Catholic Church is not Babylon. Babylon is located in the Middle East in the Iraq area. That will be the headquarters for antichrist. Babylon is the ancient seat of demonic activity & it will be the home of the half demon & half human antichrist.

33. All the mysteries of the Old Testament are revealed in the New Testament.

34. After the Millennium life is perfect on the New Earth while Satan, demons & sinners burn forever & ever & no one cares.

WHAT I THINK ABOUT THIS SO FAR

I don’t remember most of the details of when this or that happens. Is it before the tribulation, the first half (3.5 years after the peace treaty is signed) or the second half? It seems silly to take Scriptures so seriously or literally. What if your prophesies are wrong, Dr. Fruchtenbaum? Do you apologize or just revise your books & become even more famous or the butt of the liberal six o’clock news cast? But, if you are correct, then thank you very much. You have clarified & strengthened the case for the Bible’s inspiration & prophetic abilities.

Jesus told the believers; when the city of Jerusalem will be surrounded by soldiers, flee to the mountains. The Jewish & Gentile Christians did just that in 66 A.D. when Vespasian surrounded the city. He allowed anyone to escape, if they agreed not to fight him later. The Jewish non-believers in Jesus or Christianity, stayed in the city to fight. They successfully fought Vespasian & Jewish Zealots & fighters outside the city cut off his supply lines, so he went back to Rome frustrated without a victory. In 70 A.D. about 3-4 [3.5?] years later Titus came back with a bigger army & killed over 1 million Jews & tore down & burned the Temple. If the Mosaic Jews would have heeded Jesus’ prophesy they would have been saved too. So prophesy is very important. Maybe this fulfilled the tribulation prophesy, did it? No, because the messiah would have returned & destroyed the Romans, before letting the Jews & the Temple be destroyed. The Jewish excuses for rejecting Jesus as the messiah are that:

Israel isn’t at peace
It doesn’t have a King or Messiah on the throne
It doesn’t have a new temple or sacrificial system
Its enemies haven’t been destroyed.

In other words the promises of the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible) haven’t been literally fulfilled in every detail. Dr. Fruchtenbaum wants to prove to us that one day these prophesies will come true. God will live on the earth, on the highest mountain. The New Mt. Zion & the New Jerusalem will come down from Heaven with angels & saints already living there. Kings & Gentiles will come to bring gifts to Jesus Christ. The sheckinah glory will be on the whole fifty square mile mountain top & the city will be safe from the elements & any harm. The Jews will believe that Messiah Jesus is God forever. But, Satan will be loosed from his prison after the thousand years. He’ll gather the enemies of God & surround the city. Fire will come down from the sky & kill all of them. Satan, death & hell are thrown into the Lake of Fire along with all resurrected sinners. The cleansed & purified heavens & earth are born again. There is no more sin & death. There is humanity living on an earth with no sea & no Temple. God is with us. We are now immortal in body, mind, spirit, soul, joy, love & everything. The curse from Adam & Eve’s mistake has been lifted. Satan, demons & sinners can’t escape from the Lake of Fire & they never threaten God’s angels or people again. Yeah!

SDA

What gets me upset comes from my seven year membership in the Seventh Day Adventist Church is that they taught us that Jesus’ Second Coming could happen at any time & then the judgment of sin & evil would follow. It could be today, 1980, 1990 or 2000 for sure. They kept us on the edge of our seats. You want to tell people about Jesus’ salvation before it’s too late. That’s good! They said the antichrist would try to make Seventh Day Adventists & the rest of the world-who already keeps Sunday holy-worship only on Sunday. The Sabbath also falls away as the test of the Last Days. Bowing to & worshipping the antichrist & his beast & receiving the 666 mark to buy or sell that is the test. Most Christians don’t need E.G. White, their prophetess, but we do need commentaries & a theology that grabs, challenges & motivates us to evangelism. Do we need a prophet or a theologian like Dr. Fruchtenbaum? We can’t join a church today with St. Paul or Peter or Thomas, Phillip, John or James, but we’d be stronger if we could. That would make us feel that we had an orthodox doctrine, safe from the wiles of the devil & modern societies. Ellen G. White does that for the SDA’s & that’s a comforting illusion for them, but we also can’t rely on modern prophets or theologians to keep us orthodox. We better read the Bible for an hour a day, study commentaries/books another hour & meditate on some part of it for twenty minutes & maybe pray for understanding. You are saved by faith, but you must mature in your understanding of what Jesus taught & why. How can you stand up to false or atheistic religions & philosophies if you don’t know how to respond to unfair or inaccurate questions? How can you stand up to or resist peer-pressures, if you don’t know if God will condemn you or still save you, in spite of your sins? How can you deliberately sin & then say, “All my past, present & future sins are forgiven”? Where then is our loyalty & faithfulness to God? We can at least do our best to avoid sin, but realize that we will fail & repent once again & be forgiven once again & so it goes until we realize it’s not a trick. God will really save us, through Jesus Christ our sacrifice, Savior, High Priest, & King.

I don’t believe that Dr. Fruchtenbaum is 100% right, because no man is or ever was. Not Moses or King David only Jesus was. The Bible was & is perfect because of the Holy Spirit. He used error-prone men & women to present truth & prophesize mysteries that even they couldn’t understand. Dr. Fruchtenbaum doesn’t have the same Old or New Testament-Holy Spirit guidance & his works will never appear in our Bible’s, except perhaps as commentary. The Bible is sealed with the book of Revelation. It mirrors the book of Genesis. So, the Bible has a beginning, the fall of man & woman. Then in Revelation, it is finished. Jesus dies & is raise for us. There is an interim period (millennium) & the new human race, New Heavens & the New Earth at the ending. That’s a good story. So what is the error or errors of this fine author of “Footsteps”? Well, I don’t really know. As far as his belief in the literal fulfillment of prophesies that are now hundreds & thousands of years old, we will have to wait & see. I want to believe they will come true. Why should I stop trusting the Bible now? I think I will be more aware of the seven year peace treaty with Jerusalem, the reign of ten worldwide Kings, & the “man” who signs the Jerusalem peace treaty, who is killed, resurrected from death, does miracles & then demands worship. If I see that I’ll be expecting the return of Jesus in seven years retroactively from the signing.

If I die in my sleep, in an operation, an accident or as a martyr I will go to Heaven in spirit or will I rest in peace until the resurrection? If I’m still alive when the Rapture saves the Gentile church from the tribulation, I won’t be able to predict it or plan for it. It will just happen, ready or not. If I’m translated body & soul—great!!I’ll go to Heaven with a body. I’ll hug Jesus & get a crown & a robe of righteousness. Later, who knows when, I’ll return with Jesus for the Second Coming. That will be awesome too!! The Rapture seems almost like a non issue, except that we don’t know its time. But we know seven years after the peace treaty with Israel is signed, Jesus returns. Or do we? We know the year, but not necessarily the day & hour. At least we know for sure that the antichrist’s time is limited. Appendix 11 says, The Book of Revelation has over 500 references to the Old Testament. So, this book, Footsteps of the Messiah, is obviously a first class effort that should be studied by more theologians who are adept at prophesy, Biblical & current events history.

AMILLENNIALISM

What is amillennialism & who teaches it? The majority of Catholic & Protestant Christian churches seem to teach it. It basically says all prophesies concerning the Jews & Jerusalem are now to be adapted & transferred to the Universal Church which is all Christians. So, who cares what happens to the Jews, Jerusalem or Israel? Jesus won’t come back to Jerusalem he’ll come back to the whole world. Besides several peace treaties have been signed by Israel with American & European mediators with Arabs, Egyptians, etc., & Muslims since 1948 & we’re still here, no Second Coming. It is doubtful that a demon can get a human female pregnant that’s the stuff of horror shows, but the antichrist will be inhabited by the devil, but he won’t be his son. Jesus established his kingdom on earth 2,000 years ago, so we are currently in a millennial time frame. It is symbolic & it could be thousands of years more until Jesus returns. Why would Jesus come back to earth again & co-rule with saintly resurrected Jews & Gentiles over many semi-evil Jews & Gentiles for a thousand years? That would be a misreading of the many Old Testament prophesies, of which many were mysteries. Now we understand, through the Holy Spirit & the New Testament that we are all spiritual Jews & heirs to the Kingdom. Unless a Jew becomes a Christian he will go to Hell, just like all other sinners. There is no special privilege based on his ancestors & Jesus made this clear. When he returns sin, death & the devil are defeated & the universe is remade without a curse. Only saints, good angels, Jesus & the Trinity come down from Heaven to live on the new sinless Earth. There won’t be a literal 144,000 Jews or saints, it’s obviously symbolic. 12 tribes of Israel times 12 apostles of Jesus equals 144 & multiply that by 1,000, our symbolic number, & you have 144,000 saints. The Bible explains that there is a multitude in Heaven that no man can number. Dr. Fruchtenbaum is a Jewish Christian & that’s great, but he places entirely too much importance on the Jews as a Nation. They were, to use one of his terms, from a different dispensation of grace or covenant [Uses of the word “dispensation” in the Bible: 1Cor.9:17; Eph. 1:10, 3:2; Colossians 1:25] now they & we are only saved by the blood of Jesus (Matt. 26:28; Hebrews 9:14-15). There is no Jew, Gentile, male, female, slave, free, rich or poor in Christ (Colossians 3:11). In the Dispensational beliefs you must ignore so many Bible verses that treat the Church as one (Romans 12:4; 1Cor.15:9; Galatians 1:13; Matt. 16:18]. Revelation is too difficult to interpret when you take it literally. When you take it as it is-symbolic, it is very rational & unemotional. Most of its prophesies have been fulfilled & Jesus can return at any time now.

I have been presenting a generic amillennialist in the above paragraph. I’m sure there are many variations to this theme, but in general I’m painting with a broad brush stroke. This paragraph seems to destroy most dispensational arguments, but Dr. Fruchtenbaum goes into exhaustive details to educate us on the Last Days. He also rebuts amillennialism & he does a thorough job. Does he win? I don’t know, but this is a very interesting book to read. .

MY BELIEFS & UNDERLYING FOUNDATIONS

Lying never leads anywhere only truth does.
If I want to believe in Jesus I better also believe in the Bible, because that’s the source of most of the history of Jesus.
Bending, tailoring & suiting the truth to match my emotions & ideas will only lead to my truth, not the objective truth.
Bending to the will of others concerning my beliefs is cowardice.
It’s impossible to find the truth of God amongst so many counterfeits; unless God guides me to it I’ll never find it.
If there is a God He may have revealed Himself to us in any or all religions. But Christianity is His current religion necessary for the salvation of mankind. There was only one Noah’s Ark & today only one way to Heaven--Jesus Christ.
The Jewish & Jewish Christian Bible has the strengths, weaknesses, paradoxes & imperfections that would result if God really was working with a people. This is not a fable or a clever human invention.
If God wants each generation of humans to know about Him then He’ll stretch out His time with us until time ends & all the mysteries are solved.
Those who were created by God to worship & believe God, tend to reject the wisdom, morality & truths of most humans & prefer His wisdom instead.
God is in charge—not us.
God is good otherwise He would have killed us all by now.
The Bible usually reads differently, than what we heard from most Christians.
Remnant is a small number who truly believe & lovingly follow God when the majority of the followers are apostates. The few have wisdom.
The Bible makes sense only if:

a. There are two or three visitations to earth by Jesus: The birth of Jesus/First Coming, the Rapture & the Second Coming.

b. There is a millennium where the Jews & some Gentiles rule with the Messiah on the mortal earth until everyone is converted & the wicked & Satan are imprisoned forever. Then the people on earth are all righteous & immortal. Because, there are mortal & immortal prophesies describing the Messiah in the Old Testament we need two explanations that show the fulfillments of both scenarios.

c. There is a Rapture of part of the Church, but it’s not a secret, everyone will see it or hear about it. The time of the Rapture is unknown. The time or year of the Second Coming will be known by those in the Last Days.

d. All God’s promises will be fulfilled to the Jewish saints & fathers. All promises to the Bride of Christ will be fulfilled. All prophesies to the remnant Jews will also be fulfilled.

e. Jesus & the Bible are literally true, but it isn’t always easy to separate past prophesies from future, literal or symbolic prophesies.

CONCLUSION

I think this is an awesome book. Even if conservatives, evangelicals or dispensationalists are correct it will still be hard to openly follow these teachings. People in the media present them as dangerous, sinful, fools who are always re-predicting the Second Coming despite the fact that they are always wrong. Bible thumpers & loud mouthed preachers on TV are surely pitied, ridiculed & hated, because they are portrayed as hating anyone with different beliefs. Maybe better doctrines without so much acting, private jets, mansions & hysteria would solve that problem.

I should fully believe the Bible & be a full fledged Christian or else I’ll be a half-believing & half-hearted Christian. Living with half of a belief is not very satisfying.
If I’m ashamed of the Bible or Jesus then he will also be ashamed of me.
Jesus said if we followed him we would be hated. Being hated by haters of Jesus is good.
To claim that we know the will & mind of God in today’s immoral & skeptical age is considered blasphemy & nearly a crime. That’s one way we know we are being faithful to God-slander, blasphemy persecution comes to us.
It’s better to be persecuted & locked up because of Jesus then to be locked outside of the gates of Heaven.
Most people will get drunk, sleep around with so many people, steal, act rude, fight, & act irresponsibly & not care what anyone thinks. But, they are afraid to bring their Bible to work or keep it on their car seat, to openly pray at lunch time or admit that they believe in Jesus as the only Savior. To be mocked or looked down upon for disgusting behavior is fine with them, but to be accused of being religious, narrow-minded, bigoted & fanatical” is too shameful for them to bear. Wake up & choose where you want to spend eternity & act accordingly.
You don’t have to have all the answers, but you need to be part of the Church. Love, serve & obey God.
May God bless us & keep our names in the Book of Life.

If I’ve confused you then go over this book report again & search the Bible for these topics & try to find your solution.

Word search: amillennialism, pretribulation, mid tribulation, post tribulation, Armageddon, dispensationalist, the Book of Revelation, 666, the mark of the beast, heaven, hell, Rapture, last days, prophesies, antichrist, Jews, Gentiles, Apocalypse, Judgment Day & replacement theology.