Are we in the last days? Well, yeah, but that started a long time ago

Eschatology is simply defined as the study of last things. I personally like the phrase last things rather than the oft-used end times, primarily because the latter phrase can leave solely scary images in peoples’ minds. Even Hollywood has picked up on this idea in all of their apocalyptic films. We need healthy and hopeful theology, whatever theological camp one lands in.

Even more, there are a lot of crazy things going on in our world today, right? A pandemic, racial unrest, political turmoil, regular occurrence of massive hurricanes, and more. Sounds like something out of Matthew 24:

You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains. (Matt 24:6-8)

What are we supposed to make of this? Is it the end times, or again, last days?

Continue reading

The Misplaced Hopes of Left Behind

left-behind-movie

I don’t believe in the rapture!

Well, I actually do believe in the rapture. But not in the particular version that we find espoused by many Christians, including the Left Behind series, which has now been launched as a new movie as of today. This version is known as a “pre-tribulational rapture” where God removes all Christians from earth, takes them to heaven, all the while a 7-year period of great tribulation takes place on earth. This is, then, followed by a millennial (1000-year) reign of Christ.

I don’t believe this version holds much water under the scrutiny of Scripture’s teaching. Continue reading

It’s the Last Days

Eschatology is simply defined as: the study of last things. I personally like the phrase last things instead of end times because the latter phrase can leave a lot of scary images in peoples’ minds. We need healthy and hopeful theology, whatever camp one lands in.

When studying eschatology, one of the first questions that could arise is: When are the last days? And I’d say it’s an important question. Some teaching might place it around a time period such as the last seven years before Christ returns, or something of that nature (what many have termed the “Great Tribulation”). But I’m convinced we are already in the last days……and we’ve been in the last days for a very long time. Continue reading

I Don’t Believe in the Rapture

the-raptureWhat, you don’t believe in the rapture?!

Well, I actually do believe in the rapture. But not in the particular version that we find espoused by many Christians. The version known as a pre-tribulational rapture where God takes all Christians to heaven while there is a 7-year period of great tribulation on the earth, then followed by a millennial reign of Christ.

I don’t believe this version holds water under scrutiny, at least the scrutiny of what Scripture teaches. Continue reading

Wrong Angle on God’s Judgment

I recently read some of the blog posts on the topic of God’s holiness and wrath by neo-reformed blogger, Tim Challies. You can catch all 4 parts here – part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4.

First off, let me begin by saying I have great respect for Tim Challies, and other neo-reformed folk. Not so much because I agree with their every theological approach. But because they typically engage and interact with great humility. All could learn a thing of two from these brothers and sisters.

Nevertheless, there is a problematic trend that I tend to see amongst those of the neo-reformed paradigm when they address topics like judgment, God’s holiness and the ever-growing popular topic of hell. I am very familiar with the particular approach because I would have argued very similarly in past days. Continue reading