Michael Bresciani
Eschatology speaks to progressive liberalism: tree climbing in America
By Michael Bresciani
There has never been a time in history when the terms Eschatology and progressive liberalism have meant more yet it is also a time when speaking rationally of either of them would first require a very specific definition for both. What are the definitions and why are they so important today?
Eschatology is the study of the last four things specifically death, judgment, heaven and hell. The study of eschatology necessarily takes in the second coming of Christ since no judgment will take place until that is accomplished.
Progressive liberalism is a neo-political term used to describe the geo-political trends in a modern world. It generally means a leaning toward larger government and less stringency in education and child rearing. A fuller definition would require pages not paragraphs.
At the outset liberalism is at a disadvantage because of another definition and it is hard to make a comparison. An "ism" is a movement, doctrine or system of belief. An "ology" is a specific body of knowledge and in general does not necessarily require anyone's belief in it to make it true. You may believe that gravity is nothing but when you fall out of a tree it establishes itself as a law each and every time you hit the ground.
It would be fair to say that progressive liberalism is man falling or in today's climate of PC, tolerance and diversity, jumping out of a very tall tree and eschatology is what happens when he hits the ground.
Before seeing how second coming prophecies speak to liberalism it must be noted that one of liberalisms more prominent assertions, that religion has no bearing in modern life is partly true, but that too has only to do with definitions.
The common definition for religion is that it is a "belief system." In fact the word religion is non-existent in the Old Testament and is used only four times in the New Testament and only once there is it given a definition. The definition James gave to religion (James 1:27) has to do with the behavior of the believer and not a system of worship. So what are we to do if even the Bible refuses to give us a proper definition?
The simple truth is that the Bible isn't about religion it is about revelation. Religion is something man creates to categorize, codify, actuate and perpetuate a system of belief. From the New Testament onward no such demand was made by God but a request or invitation was made to see what God had revealed to man. God has revealed himself in the person of Jesus Christ and that is why the Apostle Paul was able to say that Jesus was the 'express image' of the living God. (Heb 1:3)
Revelation and religion are as far apart as the east is from the west. One is mans feeble attempt to appease, assuage or placate God with a system of beliefs, behaviors, liturgies, ceremonies, sacraments, icons, theologies, doctrines, ethical codes et al. The other is God reaching down to man and showing who he really is and exactly what he expects of us.
The Bible says mans number one proclivity from birth to death is to sin. The second greatest proclivity although not mentioned in scripture but proven in history has got to be religion. Sadly, among the great list of sins is the sin of rejecting the revelation that God gave of himself. Religious practices are useful only as long as they are supplements rather than substitutes for the real thing. What is the real thing?
Once again we have to resort to the differences between "ologies" and "isms." God wants us to know him, not just about him from second sources like theological positions or religious practices. He wants us to know him personally and collectively as in community or nationally. The 'ology' or knowing part of theology means nothing unless it is in fact personal.
When we don't know him personally we will always hide in or live in 'isms' like Catholicism, Presbyterianism, Methodism and many others. An 'ism' is a terribly poor substitute for a real 'ology.' Real time Christianity can safely borrow from the meaning of the phrase "it's not what you know, but who you know that counts."
Don't decide to take offense with this because you happen to be a devout Catholic or Protestant. Just ask yourself if the practice of your religion is a substitute or a supplement. The answer is yours to decide and any subsequent action taken is also entirely in your ball park.
Because eschatology includes what is known as pre-millennial prophecies (second coming of Christ) that are according to scripture pre-written history how can a mindset like neo-liberalism possibly stand against the prophetic in an effort to explain our future? Liberalism is a pathetically hopeful pipe dream by comparison.
To qualify the assertions of pre-millennial prophecies we have only to view the record of accuracy in Old Testament prophecy. In what is known as pre, mid and post exilic prophecies (captivity and subjection of Jews to Gentile Nations) the accuracy rate is one hundred percent. In prophecies of the Diaspora (dispersion of the Jews to all nations) the accuracy rate is also one hundred percent.
Messianic prophecies also have a one hundred percent accuracy rate. Some of the prophecies Christ fulfilled in the last 24 hours of his life before his crucifixion and subsequent resurrection were fulfilled against the odds of 53,000,000 to 1. There are 167 scriptural pictures of what would happen to Christ and not one of them was wrong. The final clincher is the fact that it is the same God, the same Spirit that gives us the pre-millennial prophecies.
The second coming prophecies are replete with timing, (season of) moral and geo-political conditions of the nations, the formation of a world economic and political power in the same general geographical area as the old Roman Empire (EU) and the emergence of certain key figures that engage the entire world in a new economic system.
It isn't confirmation of the accuracy of prophecy that we need to seek here but rather it is comparison. Biblical prophecies paint an entirely different picture for our world than the purveyors and prognosticators of the new progressive liberalism that is sweeping the world and America of late. Here is a simple breakdown in layman's terms.
Global Warming: Without doubt the threat of our planet being thrust into a worldwide drought or another ice age is absolutely zero. According to prophecy the world as we know it is transformed by the re-entrance of Christ in our history. Radical topographical changes will be made to the earth before the 1,000 year millennial Kingdom begins but they are not man made. Some eschatologists believe that it is to prepare the world to become an almost completely agrarian society. Deserts will cease to be arid and many mountains will be flattened.
Gay Agenda: The gay agenda is the second to the last signal that society has gone to the edge of its own demise. Both the Bible and history clearly have shown that any and all nations that began the trek into moral decline were at the precipice of their own final and irreversible fall. Nothing has changed in writ or history and progressive liberals can only hope you don't know that, much less believe it. Today's idea of education won't pose any threat of our children finding out. God was given his walking papers long ago from the Dewey system of enlightenment. Revisionist history and a progressive slant to geo-political science take up the rear guard and that's why some students think Prague is a town in Kentucky.
Abortion: It would seem at first that there is no way to connect the worldwide genocide that is abortion to the prophecies of the second coming of Christ. Speaking again of conditions that would prevail in society as the last days approached Christ said "And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold." (Mt 24:12)
Throughout millennia mothers birthed and raised children through times of war, famine, drought and political uncertainty with little or no money. Now in a time when western civilizations poorest and even welfare moms have thousands of times more money than ever dreamed of by women of the past the single greatest excuse for an abortion is the lack of money. In the very simplest terms Christ is saying that this is a pure unadulterated excuse wrapped in the skin of a lie. In no uncertain terms Christ said that in the last days it would be love that is missing not money!
We live in a world that spends billions of dollars to save whales, seals, wolves and endangered species of all kinds. We put limits on how many animals a hunter may kill or how many fish an angler can catch but place no limits on how many of our own unborn children we may kill.
Abortion stands alone as the most nefarious and wicked by-product of progressive liberalism. Regardless of how lawful it is to abort an unborn human being no amount of common acceptance can remove the reprehensibility, the gore and the blood guilt that it spawns. It is in truth unbridled murder under the auspices of an ideology that is not worthy of even one of its innocent victims.
The next time you hear someone say that more people have died because of religion than any other cause you might remind them of this. Not only has some perverted political ideology cost the lives of more people throughout history but in this country alone 50 million innocents have died under the banner of liberal court rulings (Roe v Wade) in less than a generation.
Nearly 115,000 abortions occur every day worldwide. In John Lennon's 1971 hit 'Imagine' we are asked to imagine a world with no religions. That is all too easy as the last days approach Antichrist will handle that part of the worlds big transition into progressivism. What seems a far better thought is a world with no abortion!
Although there is much ado about Al Gores "Inconvenient Truth" for the unborn it is Darwin's 'convenient truth' that is the worry. It is a delusion of biblical proportions (2Th 2:11) that convinces a modern and liberal world that God's sweetest little souls can be sent back to where they came from marked 'unwanted.'
Apostasy: The apostasy (falling away) of the church is what the Bible concerns itself with but when this keg of wispiness, laziness and faltering loyalty explodes it creates a lot of collateral damage. Documents regardless of how revered and the principles on which they were drawn such as the Constitution and the Bill of Rights will be damaged, disregarded and altered.
At the heart of the apostasy is a general decline in faith in the one God who created everything and the revelation of his will in the scriptures. This opens doors to falsehoods, false prophets, and idolatry. This is the last step in the decline of any nation. Pre-millennial prophecy shows that man will finally go to the heights of idolatry in the very worship of man. The Antichrist will be a well accepted leader who will draw the worldwide allegiance and worship of every inhabitant of the earth...or else, but that's another subject. Here is what Christ says about it...
"I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive." (John 5:43)
In short the pipe dream of progressivism leads to the nightmare of Armageddon and that too does not require the belief of the adherents of liberalisms brave new world. The truths in Eschatology are the hard cold ground that will meet a mistaken world on its way down from the lofty and wind shaken boughs of the highest tree that today is named progressive liberalism.
© Michael Bresciani
May 15, 2009
There has never been a time in history when the terms Eschatology and progressive liberalism have meant more yet it is also a time when speaking rationally of either of them would first require a very specific definition for both. What are the definitions and why are they so important today?
Eschatology is the study of the last four things specifically death, judgment, heaven and hell. The study of eschatology necessarily takes in the second coming of Christ since no judgment will take place until that is accomplished.
Progressive liberalism is a neo-political term used to describe the geo-political trends in a modern world. It generally means a leaning toward larger government and less stringency in education and child rearing. A fuller definition would require pages not paragraphs.
At the outset liberalism is at a disadvantage because of another definition and it is hard to make a comparison. An "ism" is a movement, doctrine or system of belief. An "ology" is a specific body of knowledge and in general does not necessarily require anyone's belief in it to make it true. You may believe that gravity is nothing but when you fall out of a tree it establishes itself as a law each and every time you hit the ground.
It would be fair to say that progressive liberalism is man falling or in today's climate of PC, tolerance and diversity, jumping out of a very tall tree and eschatology is what happens when he hits the ground.
Before seeing how second coming prophecies speak to liberalism it must be noted that one of liberalisms more prominent assertions, that religion has no bearing in modern life is partly true, but that too has only to do with definitions.
The common definition for religion is that it is a "belief system." In fact the word religion is non-existent in the Old Testament and is used only four times in the New Testament and only once there is it given a definition. The definition James gave to religion (James 1:27) has to do with the behavior of the believer and not a system of worship. So what are we to do if even the Bible refuses to give us a proper definition?
The simple truth is that the Bible isn't about religion it is about revelation. Religion is something man creates to categorize, codify, actuate and perpetuate a system of belief. From the New Testament onward no such demand was made by God but a request or invitation was made to see what God had revealed to man. God has revealed himself in the person of Jesus Christ and that is why the Apostle Paul was able to say that Jesus was the 'express image' of the living God. (Heb 1:3)
Revelation and religion are as far apart as the east is from the west. One is mans feeble attempt to appease, assuage or placate God with a system of beliefs, behaviors, liturgies, ceremonies, sacraments, icons, theologies, doctrines, ethical codes et al. The other is God reaching down to man and showing who he really is and exactly what he expects of us.
The Bible says mans number one proclivity from birth to death is to sin. The second greatest proclivity although not mentioned in scripture but proven in history has got to be religion. Sadly, among the great list of sins is the sin of rejecting the revelation that God gave of himself. Religious practices are useful only as long as they are supplements rather than substitutes for the real thing. What is the real thing?
Once again we have to resort to the differences between "ologies" and "isms." God wants us to know him, not just about him from second sources like theological positions or religious practices. He wants us to know him personally and collectively as in community or nationally. The 'ology' or knowing part of theology means nothing unless it is in fact personal.
When we don't know him personally we will always hide in or live in 'isms' like Catholicism, Presbyterianism, Methodism and many others. An 'ism' is a terribly poor substitute for a real 'ology.' Real time Christianity can safely borrow from the meaning of the phrase "it's not what you know, but who you know that counts."
Don't decide to take offense with this because you happen to be a devout Catholic or Protestant. Just ask yourself if the practice of your religion is a substitute or a supplement. The answer is yours to decide and any subsequent action taken is also entirely in your ball park.
Because eschatology includes what is known as pre-millennial prophecies (second coming of Christ) that are according to scripture pre-written history how can a mindset like neo-liberalism possibly stand against the prophetic in an effort to explain our future? Liberalism is a pathetically hopeful pipe dream by comparison.
To qualify the assertions of pre-millennial prophecies we have only to view the record of accuracy in Old Testament prophecy. In what is known as pre, mid and post exilic prophecies (captivity and subjection of Jews to Gentile Nations) the accuracy rate is one hundred percent. In prophecies of the Diaspora (dispersion of the Jews to all nations) the accuracy rate is also one hundred percent.
Messianic prophecies also have a one hundred percent accuracy rate. Some of the prophecies Christ fulfilled in the last 24 hours of his life before his crucifixion and subsequent resurrection were fulfilled against the odds of 53,000,000 to 1. There are 167 scriptural pictures of what would happen to Christ and not one of them was wrong. The final clincher is the fact that it is the same God, the same Spirit that gives us the pre-millennial prophecies.
The second coming prophecies are replete with timing, (season of) moral and geo-political conditions of the nations, the formation of a world economic and political power in the same general geographical area as the old Roman Empire (EU) and the emergence of certain key figures that engage the entire world in a new economic system.
It isn't confirmation of the accuracy of prophecy that we need to seek here but rather it is comparison. Biblical prophecies paint an entirely different picture for our world than the purveyors and prognosticators of the new progressive liberalism that is sweeping the world and America of late. Here is a simple breakdown in layman's terms.
Global Warming: Without doubt the threat of our planet being thrust into a worldwide drought or another ice age is absolutely zero. According to prophecy the world as we know it is transformed by the re-entrance of Christ in our history. Radical topographical changes will be made to the earth before the 1,000 year millennial Kingdom begins but they are not man made. Some eschatologists believe that it is to prepare the world to become an almost completely agrarian society. Deserts will cease to be arid and many mountains will be flattened.
Gay Agenda: The gay agenda is the second to the last signal that society has gone to the edge of its own demise. Both the Bible and history clearly have shown that any and all nations that began the trek into moral decline were at the precipice of their own final and irreversible fall. Nothing has changed in writ or history and progressive liberals can only hope you don't know that, much less believe it. Today's idea of education won't pose any threat of our children finding out. God was given his walking papers long ago from the Dewey system of enlightenment. Revisionist history and a progressive slant to geo-political science take up the rear guard and that's why some students think Prague is a town in Kentucky.
Abortion: It would seem at first that there is no way to connect the worldwide genocide that is abortion to the prophecies of the second coming of Christ. Speaking again of conditions that would prevail in society as the last days approached Christ said "And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold." (Mt 24:12)
Throughout millennia mothers birthed and raised children through times of war, famine, drought and political uncertainty with little or no money. Now in a time when western civilizations poorest and even welfare moms have thousands of times more money than ever dreamed of by women of the past the single greatest excuse for an abortion is the lack of money. In the very simplest terms Christ is saying that this is a pure unadulterated excuse wrapped in the skin of a lie. In no uncertain terms Christ said that in the last days it would be love that is missing not money!
We live in a world that spends billions of dollars to save whales, seals, wolves and endangered species of all kinds. We put limits on how many animals a hunter may kill or how many fish an angler can catch but place no limits on how many of our own unborn children we may kill.
Abortion stands alone as the most nefarious and wicked by-product of progressive liberalism. Regardless of how lawful it is to abort an unborn human being no amount of common acceptance can remove the reprehensibility, the gore and the blood guilt that it spawns. It is in truth unbridled murder under the auspices of an ideology that is not worthy of even one of its innocent victims.
The next time you hear someone say that more people have died because of religion than any other cause you might remind them of this. Not only has some perverted political ideology cost the lives of more people throughout history but in this country alone 50 million innocents have died under the banner of liberal court rulings (Roe v Wade) in less than a generation.
Nearly 115,000 abortions occur every day worldwide. In John Lennon's 1971 hit 'Imagine' we are asked to imagine a world with no religions. That is all too easy as the last days approach Antichrist will handle that part of the worlds big transition into progressivism. What seems a far better thought is a world with no abortion!
Although there is much ado about Al Gores "Inconvenient Truth" for the unborn it is Darwin's 'convenient truth' that is the worry. It is a delusion of biblical proportions (2Th 2:11) that convinces a modern and liberal world that God's sweetest little souls can be sent back to where they came from marked 'unwanted.'
Apostasy: The apostasy (falling away) of the church is what the Bible concerns itself with but when this keg of wispiness, laziness and faltering loyalty explodes it creates a lot of collateral damage. Documents regardless of how revered and the principles on which they were drawn such as the Constitution and the Bill of Rights will be damaged, disregarded and altered.
At the heart of the apostasy is a general decline in faith in the one God who created everything and the revelation of his will in the scriptures. This opens doors to falsehoods, false prophets, and idolatry. This is the last step in the decline of any nation. Pre-millennial prophecy shows that man will finally go to the heights of idolatry in the very worship of man. The Antichrist will be a well accepted leader who will draw the worldwide allegiance and worship of every inhabitant of the earth...or else, but that's another subject. Here is what Christ says about it...
"I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive." (John 5:43)
In short the pipe dream of progressivism leads to the nightmare of Armageddon and that too does not require the belief of the adherents of liberalisms brave new world. The truths in Eschatology are the hard cold ground that will meet a mistaken world on its way down from the lofty and wind shaken boughs of the highest tree that today is named progressive liberalism.
© Michael Bresciani
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