* We are not meant to know the times and seasons which the Father has placed in His own hands.
* We do not know the day nor hour in which the Son of man shall come.
But there are a number of things which I think are quite clear:
* Jesus fulfilled Messianic prophecy.
* The Temple and city of Jerusalem have been destroyed, just as foretold by Jesus.
* The Gospel is to continue to be preached among all nations.
* All who live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer tribulation.
* Jesus is coming again.
* There shall be a resurrection from the dead.
* There is coming a day of eternal judgment.
* His kingdom shall be revealed.
* His coming is soon.
There are also a number of other modern popular beliefs about end-times which, to me at least, still seem quite unclear in the Bible, such as:
* Any future special period of worldwide tribulation lasting seven years, or 3 1/2 years.
* A pre-tribulation rapture, or mid-tribulation rapture.
* A One-World government and One-World currency.
* A cashless society.
* That microchips fulfill the mark of the beast.
* That there must come a nationwide spiritual awakening in Israel.
* That the Temple must be rebuilt in Jerusalem.
* That Christ must return within the lifetime of the generation that saw the rebirth of the nation of Israel in 1948.
* That there must come an exponential increase in earthquakes, famines, pestilences and wars in the few years immediately preceding Christ's second coming.
* A literal, Jewish Millenium.
When it comes to end-times teaching, I think we should have the integrity to distinguish between what we cannot know, what we must know - and what still appears unclear.
If something is unclear in the Bible, we should at least admit it's only our opinion - rather than promulgate it as Gospel truth. And in those matters we ought to be tolerant of others who may have a different opinion. But by all means, we should be shouting the things which everyone must know, from the rooftops.
Jesus is coming!
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