There are three vital areas of required health for our physical bodies to thrive in good health.  
 
1. A good heart and circulatory system
2. A healthy immune system
3. A good consistent exercise program
 
 With these three areas of required health functioning at high levels of efficiency, we automatically cover the area of lungs, liver, spleen, kidneys, joints, muscles and other sub groups of organs and glands.

Worldwide, today’s average human is very illiterate regarding what it takes to accomplish revealed truth number four.  This is largely due to the fact that most people in the world receive their information about health from doctors.  Unfortunately, medical doctors are the least equipped to teach us about what it takes to acquire and maintain these three vital areas of our health and wellness management.

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There are a considerable number of Evangelicals who would disagree with this interpretation and applications of this excellent and outstanding prophesy.  This group is referred to as: Dispensational Premillennial Rapturists.  These contend that this refers to a time after the coming resurrection of all creation.  However, Christ is our witness that this is not possible.  In his arguments with the sect of the Sadducees, when they challenged him with the proposal that seven brothers in sequence, married the same women, in keeping with the Jewish law, that a brother should marry the wife of his deceased brother if they had no children.

The Sadducees, presented the argument, that since all seven brothers had married her and none of them had children, to whom would she be given as a wife in the resurrection.  Christ, laughing, I’m sure, replied that they did not know the scriptures and that in the resurrection there is no marriage or giving in marriage.  Therefore, we see the shallowness of their argument, as Isaiah clearly states that in this future time in the Kingdom of Christ women will be married and give birth to consistently healthy babies. (Matt. 22:23-33) Click here for on-line text:

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Goals and Purpose:

The goals of this Blog in Business As Mission are to revitalize the Bride of Christ that she might learn the Whole Gospel to the Whole Man in the Whole World.  That she might exemplify all of the faithfulness, mercy, strength, principles, and values that her Savior, King and Lord foreordained for her, her children and His Kingdom.

The purpose of Business As Mission is to provide the spiritual tools and business insights necessary to make these goals the personal experience for all of those who choose to read it, to learn from it and to put it to practice..

Business As Mission:

Congratulations you are reading this one of a kind blog publication of the RMIC, Reformation Ministries International Corp, in the instruction of: Business As Mission. 

Introduction

1.  A summary of major Financial and Economical Perspectives:

We will begin our series of blog publications by introducing to the readers to a very timely and excellent discourse on how the current western civilization is applying different approaches to financial and economical perspectives.  We introduce this article as our first blog in this series for the purpose of giving everyone a rare opportunity to mentally process what is actually being done by hundreds of millions of people on two continents in an effort to be personally and financially successful.  Each reader will understand the generalities and the specifics of this article on different levels and in different degrees.  We respect each despite their different levels of prior training, experience or understanding.  We recognize that what each reader will see in this broad encompassing and multi-concept letter will seem confusing and difficult to understand.  It will seem that way because it encompasses concepts that have taken generations for their proponents to devise and attempt to implement.  It is only reasonable that you as perhaps a first time reader of this material would find some, if not all of this article, to be confusing and in some cases contradictory.  You are correct, what the author is attempting to do is to illustrate what is being done, not that he agrees with what is being done.  He agrees with some of it and he does not agree with some of it.  It is the goal of this blog series to present God’s principles of business and business application to a level of expertise that each of you will be able to identify all of the CORRECT and INCORRECT aspects of this article.  God willing, that you should arrive at such a level of understanding, you will be equipped for your journey of personal and financial success under the leadership of God’s principles of Business As Mission.  More importantly, you will have dramatically improved you instrumentality in God’s hands as a tool for His express of the Kingdom.      

ECONOMIC JUSTICE

Dynamic Capitalism
Entrepreneurship is lucrative--and just.

BY EDMUND S. PHELPS, the McVickar Professor of Political Economy at Columbia was awarded the 2006 Nobel Prize for economics, Tuesday, October 10, 2006.

“There are two economic systems in the West. Several nations--including the U.S., Canada and the U.K.--have a private-ownership system marked by great openness to the implementation of new commercial ideas coming from entrepreneurs, and by a pluralism of views among the financiers who select the ideas to nurture by providing the capital and incentives necessary for their development. Although much innovation comes from established companies, as in pharmaceuticals, much comes from start-ups, particularly the most novel innovations. This is free enterprise, a k a capitalism.

“The other system--in Western Continental Europe--though also based on private ownership, has been modified by the introduction of institutions aimed at protecting the interests of ‘stakeholders’ and ‘social partners.’ The system's institutions include big employer confederations, big unions and monopolistic banks. Since World War II, a great deal of liberalization has taken place. But new corporatist institutions have sprung up: Co-determination (cogestion, or Mitbestimmung) has brought ‘worker council’ (Betriebsrat); and in Germany, a union representative sits on the investment committee of corporations. The system operates to discourage changes such as relocations and the entry of new firms, and its performance depends on established companies in cooperation with local and national banks. What it lacks in flexibility it tries to compensate for with technological sophistication. So different is this system that it has its own name: the ‘social market economy’ in Germany, ‘social democracy’ in France and ‘concertazione’ in Italy.

Dynamism and Fertility

“The American and Continental systems are not operationally equivalent, contrary to some neoclassical views. Let me use the word "dynamism" to mean the fertility of the economy in coming up with innovative ideas believed to be technologically feasible and profitable--in short, the economy's talent at commercially successful innovating. In this terminology, the free enterprise system is structured in such a way that it facilitates and stimulates dynamism while the Continental system impedes and discourages it.

“Wasn't the Continental system designed to stifle dynamism? When building the massive structures of corporatism in interwar Italy, theoreticians explained that their new system would be more dynamic than capitalism--maybe not more fertile in little ideas, such as might come to petit-bourgeois entrepreneurs, but certainly in big ideas. Not having to fear fluid market conditions, an entrenched company could afford to develop radical innovation. And with industrial confederations and state mediation available, such companies could arrange to avoid costly duplication of their investments. The state and its instruments, the big banks, could intervene to settle conflicts about the economy's direction. Thus the corporatist economy was expected to usher in a new futurismo that was famously symbolized by Severini's paintings of fast trains. (What was important was that the train was rushing forward, not that it ran on time.)

“Friedrich Hayek, in the late 1930s and early '40s, began the modern theory of how a capitalist system, if pure enough, would possess the greatest dynamism--not socialism and not corporatism. First, virtually everyone right down to the humblest employees has ‘know-how,’ some of what Michael Polanyi called ‘personal knowledge’ and some merely private knowledge, and out of that an idea may come that few others would have. In its openness to the ideas of all or most participants, the capitalist economy tends to generate a plethora of new ideas.

“Second, the pluralism of experience that the financiers bring to bear in their decisions gives a wide range of entrepreneurial ideas a chance of insightful evaluation. And, importantly, the financier and the entrepreneur do not need the approval of the state or of social partners. Nor are they accountable later on to such social bodies if the project goes badly, not even to the financier's investors. So projects can be undertaken that would be too opaque and uncertain for the state or social partners to endorse. Lastly, the pluralism of knowledge and experience that managers and consumers bring to bear in deciding which innovations to try, and which to adopt, is crucial in giving a good chance to the most promising innovations launched. Where the Continental system convenes experts to set a product standard before any version is launched, capitalism gives market access to all versions.

“The issues swirling around capitalism today concern the consequences of its dynamism. The main benefit of an innovative economy is commonly said to be a higher level of productivity--and thus higher hourly wages and a higher quality of life. There is a huge element of truth in this belief, no matter how many tens of qualifications might be in order. Much of the huge rise of productivity since the 1920s can be traced to new commercial products and business methods developed and launched in the U.S. and kindred economies. (These include household appliances, sound movies, frozen food, pasteurized orange juice, television, semiconductor chips, the Internet browser, the redesign of cinemas and recent retailing methods.) There were often engineering tasks along the way, yet business entrepreneurs were the drivers.

“There is one conceivable qualification that ought to be addressed. Is productivity not finally at the point, after 150 years of growth that having yet another year's growth would be of negligible value? D.H. Lawrence spoke of America's ‘everlasting slog.’ Whatever the answer, it is important to note that advances in productivity, in generally pulling up wage rates, make it affordable for low-wage people to avoid work that is tedious or grueling or dangerous in favor of work that is more interesting and formative.

“Of course, productivity levels in the smaller countries will always owe more to innovations developed abroad than to those they develop themselves. Some might suspect that the domestic market is so tiny in a country such as Iceland, for instance, that even in per capita terms only a very small number of homemade innovations would bring a satisfactory productivity gain--and thus an adequate rate of return. In fact, most of the Continental economies, including the large ones, have been content to sail in the slipstream of a handful of economies that do the preponderance of the world's innovating. The late Harvard economist Zvi Griliches commented approvingly that in such a policy, the Europeans "are so smart."

“I take a different view. For one thing, it is good business to be an innovative force in the ‘global economy.’ Globalization has diminished the importance of scale as well as distance. Tiny Denmark sets its sights on markets in the U.S., the EU and elsewhere. Iceland has entered into European banking and biogenetics. France has long done this--and can do more of it. But it could do so more successfully if it did not insulate its innovational decisions so much from evaluations by financial markets--including the stock market--as Airbus does. The U.S. is already demonstrably in the global innovation business. To date, there is an adequate rate of return to be expected from "investing" in the conception, development and marketing of innovations for the global economy--a return on a par with the return from investing in plant and equipment, software and other business capital. That is a better option for Americans than suffering diminished returns from investing solely in the classical avenue of fixed capital.

“I would, however, stress a benefit of dynamism that I believe to be far more important. Instituting a high level of dynamism, so that the economy is fired by the new ideas of entrepreneurs, serves to transform the workplace--in the firms developing an innovation and also in the firms dealing with the innovations. The challenges that arise in developing a new idea and in gaining its acceptance in the marketplace provide the workforce with high levels of mental stimulation, problem-solving, employee-engagement and, thus, personal growth. Note that an individual working alone cannot easily create the continual arrival of new challenges. It "takes a village," preferably the whole society.

“The concept that people need problem-solving and intellectual development originates in Europe: There is the classical Aristotle, who writes of the "development of talents"; later the Renaissance figure Cellini, who jubilates in achievement; and Cervantes, who evokes vitality and challenge. In the 20th century, Alfred Marshall observed that the job is in the worker's thoughts for most of the day. And Gunnar Myrdal wrote in 1933 that the time will soon come when more satisfaction derives from the job than from consuming. The American application of this Aristotelian perspective is the thesis that most, if not all, of such self-realization in modern societies can come only from a career. Today we cannot go tilting at windmills, but we can take on the challenges of a career. If a challenging career is not the main hope for self-realization, what else could be? Even to be a good mother, it helps to have the experience of work outside the home.

“I must mention a ‘derived’ benefit from dynamism that flows from its effects on productivity and self-realization. A more innovative economy tends to devote more resources to investing of all kinds--in new employees and customers as well as new office and factory space. And although this may come about through a shift of resources from the consumer-goods sector, it also comes through the recruitment of new participants to the labor force. Also, the resulting increase of employee-engagement serves to lower quit rates and, hence, to make possible a reduction of the ‘natural’ unemployment rate. Thus, high dynamism tends to bring a pervasive prosperity to the economy on top of the productivity advances and all the self-realization going on. True, that may not be pronounced every month or year. Just as the creative artist does not create all the time, but rather in episodes and breaks, so the dynamic economy has heightened high-frequency volatility and may go through wide swings. Perhaps this volatility is not only normal but also productive from the point of view of creativity and, ultimately, achievement.

Ideals and Reality

 “I know I have drawn an idealized portrait of capitalism: The reality in the U.S. and elsewhere is much less impressive. But we can, nevertheless, ask whether there is any evidence in favor of these claims on behalf of dynamism. Do we find evidence of greater benefits of dynamism in the relatively capitalist economies than in the Continental economies as currently structured? In the Continent's Big Three, hourly labor productivity is lower than in the U.S. Labor-force participation is also generally lower. And here is new evidence: The World Values Survey indicates that the Continent's workers find less job satisfaction and derive less pride from the work they do in their job.

Dynamism does have its downside. The same capitalist dynamism that adds to the desirability of jobs also adds to their precariousness. The strong possibility of a general slump can cause anxiety. But we need some perspective. Even a market socialist economy might be unpredictable: In truth, the Continental economies are also susceptible to wide swings. In fact, it is the corporatist economies that have suffered the widest swings in recent decades. In the U.S. and the U.K., unemployment rates have been remarkably steady for 20 years. It may be that when the Continental economies are down, the paucity of their dynamism makes it harder for them to find something new on which to base a comeback.

“The U.S. economy might be said to suffer from incomplete inclusion of the disadvantaged. But that is less a fault of capitalism than of electoral politics. The U.S. economy is not unambiguously worse than the Continental ones in this regard: Low-wage workers at least have access to jobs, which is of huge value to them in their efforts to be role models in their family and community. In any case, we can fix the problem.

“Why, then, if the ‘downside’ is so exaggerated, is capitalism so reviled in Western Continental Europe? It may be that elements of capitalism are seen by some in Europe as morally wrong in the same way that birth control or nuclear power or sweatshops are seen by some as simply wrong in spite of the consequences of barring them. And it appears that the recent street protesters associate business with established wealth; in their minds, giving greater latitude to businesses would increase the privileges of old wealth. By an ‘entrepreneur’ they appear to mean a rich owner of a bank or factory, while for Schumpeter and Knight it meant a newcomer, a parvenu who is an ‘outsider.’ A tremendous confusion is created by associating ‘capitalism’ with entrenched wealth and power. The textbook capitalism of Schumpeter and Hayek means opening up the economy to new industries, opening industries to start-up companies, and opening existing companies to new owners and new managers. It is inseparable from an adequate degree of competition. Monopolies like Microsoft are a deviation from the model.

“It would be unhistorical to say that capitalism in my textbook sense of the term does not and cannot exist. Tocqueville marveled at the relatively pure capitalism he found in America. The greater involvement of Americans in governing themselves, their broader education and their wider equality of opportunity, all encourage the emergence of the ‘man of action’ with the ‘skill’ to ‘grasp the chance of the moment.’

“I want to conclude by arguing that generating more dynamism through the injection of more capitalism does serve economic justice.

“We all feel good to see people freed to pursue their dreams. Yet Hayek and Ayn Rand went too far in taking such freedom to be an absolute, the consequences be damned. In judging whether a nation's economic system is acceptable, its consequences for the prospects of the realization of people's dreams matter, too. Since the economy is a system in which people interact, the endeavors of some may damage the prospects of others. So a persuasive justification of well-functioning capitalism must be grounded on its all its consequences, not just those called freedoms.

“To argue that the consequences of capitalism are just requires some conception of economic justice. I broadly subscribe to the conception of economic justice in the work by John Rawls. In any organization of the economy, the participants will score unequally in how far they manage to go in their personal growth. An organization that leaves the bottom score lower than it would be under another feasible organization is unjust. So a new organization that raised the scores of some, though at the expense of reducing scores at the bottom, would not be justified. Yet a high score is just if it does not hurt others. ‘Envy is the vice of mankind,’ said Kant, whom Rawls greatly admired.

The 'Least Advantaged'

“What would be the consequence, from this Rawlsian point of view, of releasing entrepreneurs onto the economy? In the classic case to which Rawls devoted his attention, the lowest score is always that of workers with the lowest wage, whom he called the ‘least advantaged’: Their self-realization lies mostly in marrying, raising children and participating in the community, and it will be greater the higher their wage. So if the increased dynamism created by liberating private entrepreneurs and financiers tends to raise productivity, as I argue--and if that in turn pulls up those bottom wages, or at any rate does not lower them--it is not unjust. Does anyone doubt that the past two centuries of commercial innovations have pulled up wage rates at the low end and everywhere else in the distribution?

“Yet the tone here is wrong. As Kant also said, persons are not to be made instruments for the gain of others. Suppose the wage of the lowest- paid workers was foreseen to be reduced over the entire future by innovations conceived by entrepreneurs. Are those whose dream is to find personal development through a career as an entrepreneur not to be permitted to pursue their dream? To respond, we have to go outside Rawls's classical model, in which work is all about money. In an economy in which entrepreneurs are forbidden to pursue their self-realization, they have the bottom scores in self-realization--no matter if they take paying jobs instead--and that counts whether or not they were born the ‘least advantaged.’ So even if their activities did come at the expense of the lowest-paid workers, Rawlsian justice in this extended sense requires that entrepreneurs be accorded enough opportunity to raise their self-realization score up to the level of the lowest-paid workers--and higher, of course, if workers are not damaged by support for entrepreneurship. In this case, too, then, the introduction of entrepreneurial dynamism serves to raise Rawls's bottom scores.

“Actual capitalism departs from well-functioning capitalism--monopolies too big to break up, undetected cartels, regulatory failures and political corruption. Capitalism in its innovations plants the seeds of its own encrustation with entrenched power. These departures weigh heavily on the rewards earned; particularly the wages of the least advantaged, and give a bad name to capitalism. But I must insist: It would be a non sequitur to give up on private entrepreneurs and financiers as the wellspring of dynamism merely because the fruits of their dynamism would likely be less than they could be in a less imperfect system. I conclude that capitalism is justified--normally by the expectable benefits to the lowest-paid workers but, failing that, by the injustice of depriving entrepreneurial types (as well as other creative people) of opportunities for their self-expression.”

Summary:

Thank you for time to read this first blog on Business As Mission.  You have made a dynamic step forward in understanding God’s redemption of the marketplace and the greater culture.  The beginning of a long journey is always begun with the execution of the FIRST STEP!  You have now made your FIRST STEP and therefore you have begun your long journey of discovery.  I am excited and thankful for you and I pray that you too can sense God’s blessings in this truth for your business and personal ministry opportunities.

Comments and Questions:

Email your questions or comments and we will touch on them as soon as possible in our up-coming blogs.  If you require a direct response state as much in your email and we will respond personally, otherwise it will be best for all, if we can share the principle of your idea, comment or concern together.  As I have stated below under “Feedback,” no comments or personal concerns are ever revealed to others, on the concept of the idea or concern!

E-mail: zesterhatfield@reformationinaction.com 

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  The Identity of the Beast

On August 7^th we entered a blog with an introduction of a book by Kenneth L. Gentry, "The Beast of Revelation".  As a follow-up I want to share some of the first chapter of that book with you.  I stated before that many wannabe "prophets" of the postmodern church are actually false prophets who have every opportunity to know the truth which is clearly stated in the Word of God relevant to their stated falsehoods.  The modus operandi used by these individuals is to invent their own fictional world view of how they would personally prefer that the world would end.  They then proceed to develop out of whole cloth doctrines and philosophies to validate their biased views.  Given the fact that the truth is so clearly stated to the contrary of their ideas and predictions, compels me to believe that they are so driven by greed and personal pride, that they willfully blind themselves and charge ahead with no concern for the damage to the elect of the Kingdom.  One of the most egregious acts of willful ignorance that is constantly repeated by this group of individuals is their notion of who is the Beast of Revelation.  The revealed word is clear, as Dr. Gentry so ably argues, in "The Beast of Revelation".  Yet, the self deluded blindly forge ahead and unfortunately bring many others along with them, as is illustrated in a dispensational work of the 1970s.  In this work we read a vain attempt to explain the number 666.

 "At all times Satan has had to have one or more Antichrist candidates waiting in the wings, lest the Rapture come suddenly and find him unprepared.  That is why so many malevolent world leaders have had names whose letters added up to 666 when combined in certain ways.  (Depending on which 666 formula is used, at any given moment there are several hundred thousand men in the world whose names add up to 666. It is from this large pool of candidates that Satan has traditionally chosen his ‘man of the moment'.)"  Raymond Schafer, After the Rapture (Santa Ana, CA: Vision House, 1977), p. 55.

Dr. Gentry uses a writing style for the presentation of his argument that is contrary to the normal order, such as leading the reader through a series of arguments that lead to the conclusion to be presented.  Gentry in this instance, states the answer and then develops his argument for the reader to consider as they move along from chapter to chapter.  I quote:

"Those readers who like to read the last pages of a book to discover the conclusion to the story will be disappointed in my approach.  In this very opening chapter I will identify the Beast.  I do this so that you might have his identity in mind as you consider the evidence as it is presented.  For those who expect the Beast to appear on the scene of history at any moment, there will also be a surprise.  The material in Revelation is quite clear:  The Beast has already made his appearance in history past.

"All students of Revelation are familiar with the ‘number of the Beast' (Rev. 13:18a), which is ‘the number of his name' (Rev. 13:17b).  That dreaded number is ‘666.' In that number is contained the specific identity of the Beast, an identity confirmed by a number of lines of additional evidences within Revelation.

Interpretive Principles

"Although I will deal specifically with the number of the Beast in a separate chapter, there are several principles for the interpretation of that number which we must keep in mind to govern our thinking.  As is evident from the history of the interpretation of 666, we certainly do need something to confine our thing to the realm of the reasonable!  The necessary, textually derived limiting principles are:

• 1. The name-number 666 must be ‘that of a man' (Rev. 13:18b). This excludes any interpretation that would involve demonic beings, philosophical ideas, political movements, or any other than an individual human person.
• 2. This man must be someone of an evil, idolatrous, and blasphemous nature. This is required in lifht of his character traits and evil activities outlined in Revelation 13, particularly verses 4-7.
• 3. He must also be someone possessing ‘great authority' (Rev. 13:2, 7). This certainly demands that he be a political figure, particularly in that upon his heads are ten diadems. These first three principles are fairly widely held among evangelical Revelation commentators. The two remaining ones are largely overlooked and are almost certainly the causes of a radical misidentification of the Beast and his mission. These will be simply listed and stated at this juncture. It will be left to later chapters to establish them.
• 4. The name-number must speak of one of John's contemporaries. This is due to the temporal expectation of John. The events of Revelation are to occur ‘soon'; John insists that ‘the time is at hand' (Rev. 1;1, 3, 19, 22:6ff). This principle alone will eliminate 99.9% of the suggestions by commentators.
• 5. The name must be that of someone relevant to the first century Christians in the seven churches to whom John wrote (Rev. 1:4, 11). He expected them to give heed to what he wrote (Rev. 1:3) and to calculate the Beast's number (Rev. 13:18). How could they have done so if the Beast were some shadowy figure far removed from their own situation?

The early establishment of Principles 4 and 5 is essential to the correct understanding of the identity of the Beast.  Consequently, we will deal with them at length in Chapter 2.

Introducing the Beast

"With these introductory considerations before us I will now state what I believe the Beast to be in regard to both his generic and his specific identity.  I will establish the generic identity in a little more detail at this juncture.  Then after only briefly identifying his specific, I will develop the proofs of his specific individual identity in the following chapters.

His Generic Identity

"The generic identity of the Beast is the ancient Roman Empire of the first century, under which Christ was crucified and during which John wrote.  According to Revelation 17:9, the seven heads of the Beast represent ‘seven mountains.'  The seven heads, then, seem clearly to specify a prominent geographical feature.  Perhaps no point is more obvious in Revelation than this one: It is Rome that is here symbolized by the seven mountains.  After all, Rome is the one city in history that has been distinguished by and recognized for its seven mountains.  The famous seven hills of Rome are the Palatine, Aventine, Caelian, Esquiline, Viminal, Quirinal, and Capitoline hills.

"The Roman writers Suetonius and Plutarch make reference to the first century festival in Rome called Septimontium, i.e. the feast of the ‘the seven hilled city.'  Archaeologists have discovered the Coin of Vespasian (emperor A.D. 69-79) picturing the goddess Roma as a woman seated on seven hills.  The famed seven hills of Rome are mentioned time and again by ancient pagan writers such as Ovid, Claudian, Statius, Pliny, Virgil Horace, Propertius, Martial, and Ciscero.  The seven hills are mentioned by such Christian writers as Tertullian and Jerome, as well as in several of the Sibylline Oracles.

"This fact-that Rome was universally recognized as the city on seven hills-is widely recognized by evangelical commentators as having a bearing upon our passage.  The referent is virtually beyond doubt: Rome is alluded to in this vision of the seven-headed beast.  By everyone's dating, Revelation was written sometime during the period of the Roman Empire.

"Furthermore, both secular and ecclesiastical history record that the first imperial persecution of Christianity was begun in the seven-hilled city, Rome, by the emperor Nero Caesar in A.D. 64, John himself tells us that he wrote Revelation to seven historical churches in Asia Minor (Rev. 1:4, 11).  These churches existed in an age of great trouble (Rev. 1:9; 2:10; 3:10).  Moreover, John exhorted these churches to read, hear, and heed the book (Rev. 1:3; 2:7, 2:11, 17, 29: 3:6, 13, 22; 22:7).  The subject matter of Revelation was critical and relevant to these churches, for John spoke forcefully of the imminent occurrence of the events of Revelation (1:1, 3, 19; 3:10; 22:6ff).

"The matter of the relevancy of the referent in Revelation 17 to the original audience should be a paramount concern for the modern interpreter.  In light of the circumstances outlined above, is it at all likely that when John mentioned ‘the seven mountains' he was not speaking of the Roman Empire?  Put yourself in first century sandals:  Would you think John might be speaking of events occurring untold centuries past the collapse of the empire which was presently engaged in your persecution?  Would you suspect that he was not really relating a message about Imperial Rome?  Impossible!  John exhorted the people to read, hear, and heed the book.  He was speaking of the then existing Roman Empire, headquartered in the seven-hilled city of Rome.

His Specific Identity

 "But who is the Beast individually considered?  The Beast of Revelation in his personal incarnation is none other than Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, better known by his adoptive name, Nero Caesar.  He and he alone fits the bill as the specific or personal expression of the Beast.  This vile character fulfills all the requirements of the principles derived from the very text of Revelation.

"Excluding Julius Caesar, probably no other Roman emperor's name is as well known to the average Christian today as Nero's.  Yet, his large role in Revelation is virtually unknown among contemporary Christians.  Perhaps a brief history of Nero's tumultuous life would serve well in preparing the reader for the proofs of our identification, which will be given in Chapters 2-7."  Dr. Kenneth L. Gentry, The Beast of Revelation https://www.kennethgentry.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=1

I firmly believe that most people who would read this blog are sincere honest people who do not make a habit of self-consciously deluding themselves with misinformation or as I have stated above, outright false prophecy.  Yet, it is without dispute that the majority of our current postmodern church believes the disinformation and the false prophecies popular among today's so called "Christian Book Authors."   I cannot name them all, but this terrible condition that persists and continues to grow in the Kingdom of God today, compels me to name at least some of the most egregious: Hal Lindsey, Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins.  To be fair to these three that I have named it is important to mention that this false doctrine and series of false prophets started as early as 1630.  Later I will blog with a few comments and references of the most noted publication that lists these early works.

One of the most notable asides of this group is that they all make money.  In the case of the three that I have identified, they all have made millions on their false eschatological literary works and continue to make more money every day.  I do not have any problem with making millions of dollars, but I do have a problem when it is so for those who teach others to sell all that they have, and to get ready for the imminent coming of Christ and lie repeatedly in the process.  Somehow that strikes me as grossly immoral at its best and deadly idolatrous at its worst.

I challenge my readers to do your own homework and read the evidence offered by the many honest, but not so popular scholars, who have dedicated years to searching only the truth of God's Word.  We are a weak church today and we have lost our way, most assuredly this deluge of misinformation and false prophesy have greatly attributed to this fact.  If you are personally moved by these facts and see the evil the Kingdom of Christ suffers because of such ignorance, prayerfully consider forwarding this blog site to others.  Get in contact with those whom I have introduced to you as honest scholars, be informed and free in your faith, not shackled by fear and misinformation.

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 Mankind's New Beginning

One very important aspect of Biblical Truth that I have come to understand is that, the Truth of God's Word is always supportive of business that is done according to His principles and values.  However, the many erroneous assumptions and myths, that are popular in our current postmodern church, are indeed negative toward business and tend to stifle the efforts of honest Christian men and women to conduct their business according to God's principles and values.  The most egregious of these myths and assumptions are those that concern what has become commonly known as "The Great Tribulation," which a majority within the postmodern church believe is an event yet to come, and in the eyes of many it seems always to lurk just around the next corner in our human experience.  I.e. "the great tribulation is coming soon," "the rapture is coming soon," "Jesus is coming soon," "be ready to go at any moment," "don't be one of those ‘left behind,'" "don't get involved in things of the world, ‘business, politics or activist groups."

Such overriding tendencies in teaching and general opinions expressed among the members of the greater postmodern church, cause honest Christian business men and women to feel disenfranchised from the main body of believers.  True service to God is more often hailed to be a preacher, Sunday school teacher, music director or teacher in a bible school.  True service to God is, rarely if ever, presented as a career in business, politics or the sciences.  This uninformed and biblically incorrect attitude which prevails in a majority of the post modern church is very destructive, for the healthy ongoing development of the Kingdom of God!

There are many sources of excellence on this issue, with insight into how it has come about and the facts of all the biblical truth that set aside these myths and assumptions, with the clear and distinct revelation of God in His Word.

One of these very excellent sources, among many, is the commentaries and biblical research of David Chilton.  In addition to the one source I will present today there are four other works currently available in free Epublications; "Productive Christians in an Age of Guilt-Manipulators," 1981, "Paradise Restored: A Biblical Theology of Dominion," 1985, "The Days of Vengeance: An exposition of the Book of Revelation," 1987, "Power in the Blood: A Christian Response to AIDS, 1987.  Our current example for today is from, "The Great Tribulation," also of 1987.

I will quote a portion of the publisher's preface for your examination.

Publisher's Preface by Gary North:

 "Mankind's New Beginning"

"It is one those oddities of recent intellectual history that perhaps the most succinct and perceptive comment on the Christian view of history is provided by a secular Jew law at Harvard University.  In the introduction to his book, Law and Revolution: The Formation of the Western Legal Tradition, published by Harvard University Press in 1983, Harold J. Berman makes a crucial observation on the centrality of the resurrection in Christian historical thought.  He begins with an important insight into the Hebrew attitude toward historical time.

                ‘In contrast to the other Indo-European peoples, including the Greeks, who believed that time moved in ever recurring cycles, the Hebrew people conceived of time as continuous, irreversible, and historical, leading to ultimate redemption at the end.  They also believed, however, that time has periods within it.  It is not cyclical but may be interrupted or accelerated.  It develops.  The Old Testament is a story not merely of change but of development, of growth, of movement toward the messianic age-very uneven movement, to be sure, with much backsliding but nevertheless a movement toward.'

"Berman then goes on to explain how Christianity adopted this view of linear time, but added a key new element:

                ‘Christianity, however, added an important element to the Judaic concept of time: that of transformation of the old into the new.  The Hebrew Bible became the Old Testament, its meaning transformed by its fulfillment in the New Testament.  In the story of the Resurrection, death was transformed into a new beginning.  The times were not only accelerated but regenerated.  This introduced a new structure of history, in which there was a fundamental transformation of one age into another.  This transformation, it was believed, could only happen once:  the life, death, and resurrection of Christ was thought to be the only major interruption in the course of linear time from the creation of the world until it ends altogether (pp. 26-27)'

"The Great Tribulation shows that this transformation of the old order into Christ's new order was decisively manifested in the public termination of the old order:  the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple and its sacrificial system.  This was the shaking of the foundations in history.

"Modern Christians are almost totally unfamiliar with the events of A.D. 70.  The eschatological viewpoints that predict the great tribulation in the future led to neglect in popular Christian literature of the story of the fall of Jerusalem.  David Chilton has performed a major educational service to the church of Jesus Christ in reminding us what a momentous event the fall of Jerusalem was.  From the fall of Jerusalem until the future conversion of the Jews (Romans 11), which will inaugurate a period of unprecedented earthly blessings (vv. 12-15), nothing else comes close as a public manifestation of Christ's new order.

"What we need to understand is that Satan is a great imitator.  God defeated him at Calvary, but he still seeks to defeat Christians in their lives.  God imposed a great tribulation on the old order of the apostate Hebrews, but Satan imitates God by imposing holocausts on mankind through his followers.  Christ inaugurated a new world order, and so Satan's followers now promise to bring us a new world order.  The Marxists do, the Nazis did, and the New Age Movement does.  It is all a counterfeit.   Accept no substitutes!  Remember Christ's words:  ‘But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come unto you' (Matthew 12:28).  He cast out devils by the Spirit of God, so the kingdom of God had come to them.  It is now our inheritance as members of Christ's new nation, the church, for He told the Jews of His day: "The Kingdom of God shall be given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof" (Matthew 21:43).  Christ's new world order has come, and the fall of Jerusalem is proof.  As Berman says of the resurrection:  ‘This introduced a new structure of history, in which there was a fundamental transformation of one age into another.  This transformation, it was believed, could only happen once:  the life, death, and resurrection of Christ was thought to be the only major interruption in the course of linear time from the creation of the world until it ends altogether.'  The worst is over! (Gary North)

For this FREE book: "The Great Tribulation" and the complete works of David Chilton you may go to: http://www.garynorth.com/freebooks/sidefrm2.htm

However, BEFORE you attempt to review and download these books you must install a free reader: To read the books and the newsletters, you will need a copy of the free DjVu reader. Download the DjVu Plug- in, in about two minutes, depending on your modem's speed, by clicking on the link provided:  http://www.caminova.net/en/downloads/download.aspx?id=1

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 Mankind's New Beginning

One very important aspect of Biblical Truth that I have come to understand is that, the Truth of God's Word is always supportive of business that is done according to His principles and values.  However, the many erroneous assumptions and myths, that are popular in our current postmodern church, are indeed negative toward business and tend to stifle the efforts of honest Christian men and women to conduct their business according to God's principles and values.  The most egregious of these myths and assumptions are those that concern what has become commonly known as "The Great Tribulation," which a majority within the postmodern church believe is an event yet to come, and in the eyes of many it seems always to lurk just around the next corner in our human experience.  I.e. "the great tribulation is coming soon," "the rapture is coming soon," "Jesus is coming soon," "be ready to go at any moment," "don't be one of those ‘left behind,'" "don't get involved in things of the world, ‘business, politics or activist groups."

Such overriding tendencies in teaching and general opinions expressed among the members of the greater postmodern church, cause honest Christian business men and women to feel disenfranchised from the main body of believers.  True service to God is more often hailed to be a preacher, Sunday school teacher, music director or teacher in a bible school.  True service to God is, rarely if ever, presented as a career in business, politics or the sciences.  This uninformed and biblically incorrect attitude which prevails in a majority of the post modern church is very destructive, for the healthy ongoing development of the Kingdom of God!

There are many sources of excellence on this issue, with insight into how it has come about and the facts of all the biblical truth that set aside these myths and assumptions, with the clear and distinct revelation of God in His Word.

One of these very excellent sources, among many, is the commentaries and biblical research of David Chilton.  In addition to the one source I will present today there are four other works currently available in free Epublications; "Productive Christians in an Age of Guilt-Manipulators," 1981, "Paradise Restored: A Biblical Theology of Dominion," 1985, "The Days of Vengeance: An exposition of the Book of Revelation," 1987, "Power in the Blood: A Christian Response to AIDS, 1987.  Our current example for today is from, "The Great Tribulation," also of 1987.

I will quote a portion of the publisher's preface for your examination.

Publisher's Preface by Gary North:

 "Mankind's New Beginning"

"It is one those oddities of recent intellectual history that perhaps the most succinct and perceptive comment on the Christian view of history is provided by a secular Jew law at Harvard University.  In the introduction to his book, Law and Revolution: The Formation of the Western Legal Tradition, published by Harvard University Press in 1983, Harold J. Berman makes a crucial observation on the centrality of the resurrection in Christian historical thought.  He begins with an important insight into the Hebrew attitude toward historical time.

                ‘In contrast to the other Indo-European peoples, including the Greeks, who believed that time moved in ever recurring cycles, the Hebrew people conceived of time as continuous, irreversible, and historical, leading to ultimate redemption at the end.  They also believed, however, that time has periods within it.  It is not cyclical but may be interrupted or accelerated.  It develops.  The Old Testament is a story not merely of change but of development, of growth, of movement toward the messianic age-very uneven movement, to be sure, with much backsliding but nevertheless a movement toward.'

"Berman then goes on to explain how Christianity adopted this view of linear time, but added a key new element:

                ‘Christianity, however, added an important element to the Judaic concept of time: that of transformation of the old into the new.  The Hebrew Bible became the Old Testament, its meaning transformed by its fulfillment in the New Testament.  In the story of the Resurrection, death was transformed into a new beginning.  The times were not only accelerated but regenerated.  This introduced a new structure of history, in which there was a fundamental transformation of one age into another.  This transformation, it was believed, could only happen once:  the life, death, and resurrection of Christ was thought to be the only major interruption in the course of linear time from the creation of the world until it ends altogether (pp. 26-27)'

"The Great Tribulation shows that this transformation of the old order into Christ's new order was decisively manifested in the public termination of the old order:  the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple and its sacrificial system.  This was the shaking of the foundations in history.

"Modern Christians are almost totally unfamiliar with the events of A.D. 70.  The eschatological viewpoints that predict the great tribulation in the future led to neglect in popular Christian literature of the story of the fall of Jerusalem.  David Chilton has performed a major educational service to the church of Jesus Christ in reminding us what a momentous event the fall of Jerusalem was.  From the fall of Jerusalem until the future conversion of the Jews (Romans 11), which will inaugurate a period of unprecedented earthly blessings (vv. 12-15), nothing else comes close as a public manifestation of Christ's new order.

"What we need to understand is that Satan is a great imitator.  God defeated him at Calvary, but he still seeks to defeat Christians in their lives.  God imposed a great tribulation on the old order of the apostate Hebrews, but Satan imitates God by imposing holocausts on mankind through his followers.  Christ inaugurated a new world order, and so Satan's followers now promise to bring us a new world order.  The Marxists do, the Nazis did, and the New Age Movement does.  It is all a counterfeit.   Accept no substitutes!  Remember Christ's words:  ‘But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come unto you' (Matthew 12:28).  He cast out devils by the Spirit of God, so the kingdom of God had come to them.  It is now our inheritance as members of Christ's new nation, the church, for He told the Jews of His day: "The Kingdom of God shall be given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof" (Matthew 21:43).  Christ's new world order has come, and the fall of Jerusalem is proof.  As Berman says of the resurrection:  ‘This introduced a new structure of history, in which there was a fundamental transformation of one age into another.  This transformation, it was believed, could only happen once:  the life, death, and resurrection of Christ was thought to be the only major interruption in the course of linear time from the creation of the world until it ends altogether.'  The worst is over! (Gary North)

For this FREE book: "The Great Tribulation" and the complete works of David Chilton you may go to: http://www.garynorth.com/freebooks/sidefrm2.htm

However, BEFORE you attempt to review and download these books you must install a free reader: To read the books and the newsletters, you will need a copy of the free DjVu reader. Download the DjVu Plug- in, in about two minutes, depending on your modem's speed, by clicking on the icon below:

Click on this icon: 

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  The Beast of Revelation

HERE IS THE WISDOM, LET HIM WHO HAS UNDERSTANDING CALCULATE THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST.

One of the greatest mysteries of all time is the identity of the dread Beast of the Book of Revelation.  The Bible describes him as the ultimate villain in human history.  He is the archetype of evil.  He is the very incarnation of wickedness and perversion.  It is not at all surprising then that many of the brightest  minds throughout history have sought to identify and expose him.

Unfortunately, a great majority of those diligent detectives missed one of the most important clues-if not the most important clue-to solving the mystery.  That clue according to Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr., is when and to whom the Apostle John actually wrote the Book of Revelation in the first place.

Following that clue, he is able to blow away the dusts of time that have masked the evil culprit's identity for so very long.  Like any good detective, Dr. Gentry lets the evidence speak for itself.  And he lets you weigh all the fact to decide for yourself.  But be forewarned: He has constructed an iron-clad case.  This book is thus likely to revolutionize your interpretation of the mystery of the Beast-and the rest of the Book of Revelation as well.  (Taken from the back of the book cover.)

This is another one of those books that I read after reading the Word of God from cover to cover nine times.  I was very impacted by the thoroughness of Dr. Gentry's research and the clarity of his delivery.

I have had the privilege to hear him personally in one of the conferences he holds around the country.  I am sure that once you get to know him and his brilliant work and dedication to thoroughness you may also want to attend one of his conferences.

Zester

Let us know your thoughts on this matter.

zhatfield@reformationinaction.com

Check it out!  You will blessed and greatly relieved to learn the truth.

"The Beast of Revelation"  Dr. Kenneth Gentry,

https://www.kennethgentry.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=1

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  Dating the book of Revelation

"Dating the Book of Revelation" is also the sub-title of a book, written by one of our century's most outstanding biblical scholars, Dr. Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr., "The Fall of Jerusalem," International Scholars Publications, Christian Universities Press, 1997.  This outstanding work of Gentry, poses a virtually irrefutable exegetical and historical argument for a Pre-A.D. 70 compilation!

During my personal ministry as a missionary to Mexico from 1961-9174 I was dramatically impacted by the writings of several false prophets, the most blatant being, Hal Lindsey.  Lindsey, in his book; "The Great Late Planet Earth" predicted with certainty that the holocaust was coming and was coming fast.  Lindsey stated in that book, which is still unashamedly available on "Christian Book Store" shelves, that by 1972 the holocaust would begin in full force and that we all had to take steps to do all that we could for Christ because the time was very short.  Needless to say, it is always good to be aware of the shortness of human life, Paul said that it is as a vapor of smoke that appears for a short time and then is gone.  However, that has nothing to do with the predictions of Lindsey which were and are false.  The most notable action that is ever taken when such gloom and doom messages are printed is the retreat to escapism that attacks all of those who believe it.  In my own case I wrongly took the advice of Mr. Lindsey as true and felt like I needed to do more for the Mexican homeless children we were serving than we were actually equipped to do.  This ultimately caused many planning and administrative mistakes that we spent years working ourselves out of, before we left the ministry leadership in the hands of very able Mexican leaders, in 1974.

After the exposure of these many false prophets, the grace of God drove me to read the Word of God, from cover to cover nine times, before I ever read another book that commented on those inspired writings.  Dr. Kenneth L. Gentry's book "The Fall of Jerusalem, Dating the Book of Revelation," was one of the books I did read after that time.  I could easily affirm his statements and conclusions without fear of being misguided, because of my own personal study, which gave me the kind of overview and in-depth understanding of the Word that prepared me to fully grasp the liberating study presented by Gentry.

See:  https://www.kennethgentry.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=1

Three well known experts also give their opinion of Gentry's book:

"Gentry convincingly demonstrates the fact the Book of Revelation was written, as it in so many ways declares, prior to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. It should receive a wide reading an ought to rattle many windows." Jay E. Adams, PhD.

"A thorough and outstanding statement of the case for the early date of Revelation, No stone is left unturned to resolve the question."  George W. Knight III, Th.D.

"Gentry's through treatment is not only valuable, but it leads the reader through substantive passages of Revelation with illuminating insights."  Carl W. Bogue, Th.

Please give your comments and arguments,

zhatfield@reformationinaction.com

Zester

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