Muhammad; the perfect Messiah!

 Muhammad; the perfect Messiah!

By Richard P. Joseph

Well, I tried visiting a church but it did me no good.  I don’t regularly attend any church because, after decades of listening to the same faulty theology, I finally decided it is a sin to go to church.  Especially to sit there for decades and never make an impact on society, nay, to just sit there week after week and never really change our community.  In fact, most churches today have been completely taken over by our politically correct, totally sinful society.  But the church I attended was not that bad off, they just continued with the same ole futurist doctrine that Jesus is going to physically come back and slaughter all the bad people (Warning; please think about that before you ask for it!)  In the sermon the preacher mentioned Revelation 19:15  From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule[c] them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.

In other words, Jesus is going to come back wielding a sword and go forth to judge and make war.  He will be dressed in a bloody robe and his armies will be with him.  Then, as far as I can guess, when all the Christians see this bloody warrior making his way around the globe laying waste to all the infidels, they will be cheering him on.  He will make Adolf Hitler look like a schoolboy.   In fact, I would say that Muhammad fits the bill quite well.  Either straighten up or get chopped up.  Either believe or behead.  

If all those church goers ever stopped and thought about what they believe, they would be embarrassed.  Jesus made it very clear that he will never step foot on this planet physically again.  He told his disciples to not be fooled.  "If they say I am in the desert or in the inner room, do not believe it."  That’s because he won’t be there.  He isn’t coming back physically, ever.  His return was in AD 66-70 at the head of the Roman armies when he did exact judgment on the people that he said he would judge, and that is unfaithful Israel, not us.  Sure, he certainly will judge but Revelation was written about the fall of Jerusalem, not the end of the earth.  There is no “end of the earth” mentioned in the bible.  The old physical Jerusalem fell in a bloody war just like Jesus said it would and the New Jerusalem was established by the blood of Christ.  We, the Christians, are the New Jerusalem and Jesus is the true Israel.  All of us who are in Christ are the true Israel.  Trust me, Jesus isn’t going to come back as some new dictator and begin slaughtering us, we do that well enough ourselves.  Jesus rules this earth in his people.  It is our responsibility to bring the gospel to this wretched world and let the light of Christ shine.  We are not waiting for some dictator to come out of the clouds and begin slaughtering people.  We have terrorist groups like the FBI that can do that.  The first century Jews were waiting for a warrior king like David to lead them to physical victory and glory.  They were completely surprised when a meek but strong carpenter came and told them that their problem wasn’t the Romans, it was sin.  They killed him.  Now, the exact same thing is happening again.  People are waiting for a warrior to come on a horse in the clouds to lead us to victory and glory.  Whenever the real Jesus shows up in articles like this, we get killed.  

Get your swords ready and wait.  In fact, I have a saying “He who waits, waits”.  I will be busy building the kingdom of God and being productive instead of sitting and waiting.  There is much work to do for all those that want to join in. 

Drinking the Kool Aid

 Drinking the Kool Aid

By Richard P. Joseph

Back when I was 18 years old in 1978 american news was flooded with images and stories about a cult leader named Jim Jones.  Jones was a bisexual communist who used religion to gain control over the masses.  In his attempt to establish a closed community of faithful dumbed down followers he relocated to South America and established a commune.  Jones often used Apocalyptic end-times sermons to gain full control over his flock.  Because of rumors of abuse, congressman Leo Ryan took a trip to Guyana to inspect the commune.  As he and his entourage was leaving, Jone’s personal bodyguards fired on the group killing Ryan and injuring others.  Jones then commenced to force the entire encampment to drink a poisoned concoction resulting in over 900 deaths.  

This same type of scenario could be found in the Waco incident where, in 1992, Vernon Howell (aka David Koresh) led his band of followers to resist an illegal invasion by the FBI resulting in the death of 4 agents and multiple members of the Branch Davidians.  Howell also was a preacher of “End-Times” prophecies and also took pleasure in sexual favors from his followers just as Jones did.   

On a lesser scale, faulty theology also entered the picture at Ruby Ridge.  Again, the wife of Randy Weaver was a heavy believer in End-Times prophecy which skewed  the way they viewed the world.  Instead of following solid scripture, they were led astray by faulty theology.  The family, however, was leading a happy life living the homestead lifestyle when the father made a few mistakes and was targeted and set up by our over-reaching FBI once again.  The stand-off at Ruby Ridge, which was totally uncalled for, resulted in the death of Vicki and her son Sammy.  So what does all of this have to do with preterism?

A lot.  Preterism can’t stop our corrupt government from attacking any citizen it disagrees with but it might help people to not fall for faulty theology that puts them in harm's way.  All cults and man made religions are a result of not knowing and not understanding scripture.  Even in preterism there is faulty theology.  David Curtis, one of the best teachers I have ever listened to, is a staunch proponent of the idiotic flat earth cult.  Even though nothing in the bible teaches it, he believes it.  These are the kinds of things that lead people into dangerous territory.  Strict conservative preterism keeps people on the straight and narrow.  We don’t need to worry about the earth ending or Satan winning or anything about the Jews, we just carry on and fight the good fight.  We don’t stop fighting, we just know which battles to fight.  We don’t follow doomsday preachers because, there is no doomsday.  There are, however, battles to fight but the war was already won and Satan was defeated forever.  People still follow the fallen Satan but he and they are already defeated.  We don’t have to help the rabbinical Jews build a temple because that is not biblical.  We don’t have to wait for Jesus to come because he already came.  We don’t have to withhold having a family because we are commanded to be fruitful and multiply.  We don’t have to live in a commune because that would be unfruitful.  And most of all, we do not have to fear, for Jesus Christ is victorious over all.  So don’t drink the kool-Aid, drink the scripture.