Black-on-Black Crime (Q&A)

 

Q: Black lives apparently don’t matter that much, especially in black communities. Re. Tyre Nichols, who died following a brutal attack by five black police officers, several (increasingly lengthy) questions stand out in my mind:

 

1. Why didn't these officers’ consciences stop them?   

2. Why weren't they afraid of the likely consequences for their acts?  

3. Why weren't they concerned about the video evidence that was being recorded?  

4. Was beating and killing a fellow human remotely worth the heavy prices they must pay?

5. What kind of employment culture would make five police officers comfortable with such behavior?

6. Why would anyone risk his/her peace, freedom, reputation, and promising future for a senseless, evil, cruel act?

 

A: Thanks for sharing your deeply pensive questions. No one can clearly answer these questions. I can only offer the highest possible framework for understanding such acts. By now, you well know the perspective from which I view everything in life. So please bear with me as I endeavor to answer from the deepest, most broad and piercing spiritual perspective that governs everything on planet Earth. Any effort to address such probing questions as yours will ‘miss the boat’ if the spiritual realm ignored, as it is the foundation for every act and consequence of sinfulness. 

 

First, you well know the broad context in which we live, namely sin, which is failing to obey the instructions from Father God and Jesus, The Lord God. Only in The Bible: (a) are these love-centered instructions clearly conveyed, (b) are both their positive and negative consequences effectively demonstrated, and (c) are both the blessings and curses of their application iteratively pronounced.

 

One of these instructions is for us to ‘love our neighbor as ourself’. While the debate about the definition of ‘neighbor’ is ancient history, one thing history proves: devils are experts at exploiting and aggravating proximity relationships between humans! Connect the dots to your questions…

 

Second, in response to persistent, sinful disobedience, The Lord has promised to turn folks over to ‘a reprobate mind’. Reprobate means morally corrupt, rejected and depraved, and from The Lord’s perspective, fit for [eternal] condemnation. Symptoms of a reprobate mind include hardness of heart /spirt to the point of lacking any remorse or misgiving of conscience for vile acts. Ponder the implicit collateral damages from such. Connect the dots to your questions...

 

Third, both secular and Biblical history reveal the intensity of human reprobation has drastically increased toward the end of the initial two (of seven) planned ages of human history. As revealed in The Bible, the seven ‘ages’ of humanity are: (1) pre-flood, (2) post-flood/pre-cross, (3) post-cross (Church Age), (4) tribulation/great tribulation, (5) Millennial Reign, (6) post-Millennial Reign, and (7) eternity. With such a GRAND, multi-millennial, strategic plan, The Lord ‘harvests righteous saints’ from each of the first six ages, for our seventh age. There is a clear reason human reprobation intensified toward the end of the first two ages, is similarly intensifying toward the end of this current, third age, and will intensify toward the end of the fourth, fifth and sixth ages. Revelation 12:12, an angel gave to Apostle John an insightful clue to this reason:

Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them!

Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth and the sea,

for the devil has come down to you, having great wrath

because he knows he has a short time.

 

As insightful spiritual beings, satan and his cohort of devils and demons who temp us to sin against God and each other, are not ignorant of the rapidly approaching ends of each of these ages! Thus, 'knowing their time is short', they intensify their own actions to ‘harvest sinful humans’. These two strategic harvesting objectives are diametrical opposites!!! The Lord’s revealed strategic objective is:

To recruit, orient, train, then 'harvest' from humanity, a tested, proven, righteous remnant to whom He will show everlasting Grace and Mercy as immortal, 'angel-like' beings (but not as angels)

I’ll leave it to you to intuit satan’s multi-millennial strategic objective, and to connect the dots to your questions...

 

Across our land and world, there are increasing signs of the rapidly approaching end of this, the third age of humanity. Rampant lawlessness, as that demonstrated with the murder of Tyre Nichols, is merely one sign among many. For us who are wise and righteous in Christ, these signs are precursors to The Lord’s long-promised (1) rapture of His saints, (2) rise of the anti-Christ government, (3) intense, global tribulation, and (4) ensuing Millennial Reign of Jesus as Earth's global King. Each of these topics is extensively addressed throughout this blog.

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Readers: FYI, here is an article, shared by the questioner, that gives a relevant secular explanation to the questions above: The Myth Propelling America’s Violent Police Culture. Taken together, these spiritual and secular insights help to paint a fuller picture of what's going on. Sadly, nothing's new here. 

Believing Your Lying Eyes? (Poem)

‘Don’t believe your lying eyes!’, a plea that’s often heard,

Ironically, from folks prompting us to discount evidence.

They infer ‘there is much more to a story’ that’s blurred.

But in a story, early evidence triggers …deep credence. 

Waiting ‘for other evidentiary shoes to drop’,

Is clearly not a strong human characteristic.

So this plea is either seen as …just a deception flop,

Or simply an effort to be melodramatic.

‘I can’t believe what I’m seeing!’, an expression we hear more,

During these increasingly unprecedented times!

As ‘never happened before’ disasters increasingly soar,

The world’s facing …‘shifting ‘normality paradigms’.

That expression defies the adage, ‘Seeing is believing’,

And hints that now, nothing is believable, seen or unseen!!!

It seems like critical links between seeing and believing,

Have been culturally diminished. From this, can we be weaned??

YES we can, but only if we open both sets of our eyes!!

In His Wisdom, The Lord endowed us with eyes, physical,

To engage with events that in our physical world arise.

As a counterweight, He blessed us with eyes, spiritual.

Only fools deny the spiritual dimension of life,

And live only by what they see, that’s until …they don’t!

How do they explain ‘shifting paradigms’ that are out of sight,

And perceive when their eyes are lying? Fact is …they won’t!

Thus, their physical eyes are ‘blindly wide open’,

And their spiritual eyes are ‘divinely wide shut’.

They join the ‘don’t believe what we’re seeing’ faction,

And things The Lord says we all should believe, they rebut.

The Lord emphasizes living by faith throughout this life, ¹

Trusting His guiding Spirit to reveal to us what’s Truth.

He says to test spirits that manifest things in our sight,

And things that we perceive, test like a spiritual sleuth. ²

As this current age rapidly comes to its predicted close,

Devils have ‘upped their ole game’ because

they know their time is short! ³

For millennia they’ve deceived humans, and by now, they’re pros!!!

With both sets of our eyes open, their deceptions we will thwart!

---------- 

¹ As if to ensure we ‘emphatically get this point’, it is iterated four times in The Bible: Habakkuk 2:4, Romans 1:11, Galatians 3:11, and Hebrews 10:38. Do you ‘get it’??

² See: 1 John 4:1. The Lord inspired Apostle John to give us this wise advice.

³ See: Revelation 12:12. An angel revealed this to Apostle John during his vision on the Isle of Patmos, which provided the basis for The Book of Revelation. Ponder this: Since this was revealed, and was true thousands of years ago, imagine how much shorter satan’s time is NOW! Caveat~

The Truth Rejection Effect (Poem)

To pose a question that was heavily on His mind,

The Lord appeared in a vision, to a man named Isaiah.

He asked, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?’ ¹

How would you answer such a question from The Divine??

About the unspoken task, Isaiah had an idea.

Thus, details of the task they didn’t even discuss.

So, without further ado, he answered, ‘Here am I! Send me.’

The assignment was to make his fellow Judeans, ²

Dull of heart, with heavy eyes and ears shut,

Lest they come to understand, and from pending judgments be free.

For such an odd task, what might have been The Lord’s reason?

Coming from Him, that’s a strange caveat!

This was The Lord’s call for Isaiah to become a prophet.

Prophets should open hearts, eyes and ears, spiritually!

So how on Earth would he accomplish this task, au contraire?

By faith, he understood; then The Lord revealed His plan, tacit.

He understood The Lord was speaking pejoratively,

About Judeans’ sinful and idolatrous affaires. ³

Isaiah’s job was to preach The Lord’s Truth, full and clear,

Because that’s what The Lord requires His prophets to do,

Calling out sins, and that a post-judgment remnant would be saved. 

Judeans were so tired of hearing ‘Truth’ so severe!

They’d killed prophets, and put ‘Truth’ in their …mirror, rear view!

When ‘in a fix’, they called on The Lord, and for a while, behaved.

Thus, most would just reject what Isaiah would have to say,

In doing so, they didn’t foresee judgments that on them would swell.

Most would be killed, and a remnant would be enslaved.

Some would get a taste of their ‘ancestors Egyptian days’,

Living to learn what happens when against The Lord we rebel,

With lifestyles that He always regards as …depraved.

Thus, Isaiah embraced his tough assignment,

And preached all the Truth The Lord had revealed to him.

He soon became a TOP NOTCH prophet, unrelenting,

With deep prophetic insights that were strident.

In the end, he was killed in a manner so grim,

Sawn in two (!) by a wicked king, later repenting! ⁴

Preaching The Lord’s Truth is among the greatest of assignments.

It attracts His enemies’ most ardent resistance!

They work to ensure folks turn their backs and walk away,

From The Lord’s righteous Truth, to all kinds of sinful defilements.

Folks won’t foresee their judgments because of ignorance,

Since most will refuse to hear what The Lord has to say.

And today…

All the world is in the grip of this ‘Truth Rejection’ effect’,

Unable to perceive the coming judgment tsunami,

Since they don’t regard anything as His works,

And dots between operations of His hands, they don’t connect. ⁵

They rely on science to explain things, physically,

Hey! Science has no ‘spiritual frameworks’!

To this earthly life, there are two broad dimensions:

Physical and spiritual. On both we need to rely.

Relying only on the first, and ignoring the second,

Is what folks did in Isaiah’s dispensation.

Since The Lord won't change, when to our lives their errors we apply, ⁶

Don’t be shocked when, (select your preferred ending)

…by The Lord’s judgments, we are bludgeoned, or

…on us, The Lord’s judgments are loosened, or

…to His harsh judgments, we are beckoned, or

…in His eyes, to Judeans, we’re likened, or

…in us, The Lord sees Judeans’ legend.

----------  

¹ See: Isaiah 6

² Residents of ancient Jerusalem and the Jewish nation of Judah

³ The Lord had previously determined to send very harsh judgments on Judah, and especially Jerusalem, but He apparently needed time to arrange some details of the promised Babylonian invasion. Meanwhile, He authorized Isaiah to continue to warn people, knowing only a very few would listen and believe. Across the Bible’s Old Testament, this pattern is repeated: many calls to righteous living were given, but unheeded; prophets were ignored, some slaughtered, even as more were sent; until suddenly, extremely harsh judgments arrived, and only a small remnant of the peoples were protected. Ponder this: The Lord is activating this SAME PATTERN in our day! The only differences are He's applying it worldwide, and preachers are not slaughtered in our day. Caveat~ 

⁴ See: Isaiah (Wikipedia) 

⁵ See: Isaiah 5:11-30

⁶ See: Malachi 3:6

Why the Millennial Reign Age? (Part 1)

See the series here

 

I have written extensively about The Millennial Reign of Jesus Christ from every angle imaginable. It dawned on me that I have yet to examine the likely strategic rationale for The Millennial Reign age. So let’s dig in and see what The Lord reveals.

 

The Millennial Reign age will be the 5^th Biblical age of humanity, during which The Lord God, Jesus Christ, will be Earth’s global King. He will be accompanied by His (then) immortal saints from across the first 4 ages of humanity (from pre-flood-to-great tribulation). It will begin with His drastic ending of the Armageddon War at the end of the great tribulation plagues. (See: Revelation 19:11-21), and also Revelation - Future Attacks in Israel) These plagues will be the absolutely worst and longest judgment The Lord will have poured out on our sinful, God-rejecting world. Their intensity notwithstanding, there will be a remnant of sinful humanity who will survive. These survivors will comprise the initial population of mortal humans in The Millennial Reign age. They will be responsible for re-populating Earth. This is the pattern The Lord applied in the global flood judgment, and in every other significant global judgment since then. In only a few judgments did He not leave a remnant to repopulate an evil nation or society. (See: Global Judgment Parallelisms (Part 1) and last Ages Transitions Global Judgments (Poem))

 

The strategic rationale for The Lord’s Millennial Reign must be perceived in context of (a) His overall multi-millennial strategic plan for humanity, (b) His principal strategic objective of this plan and (c) His past, physical sojourns on Earth. Overlaying these three perspectives sheds light on what He likely intends to trigger and achieve during His thousand-year reign.

 

The Lord’s Strategic Plan and Strategic Objective

 

The Lord’s multi-millennial, strategic plan covers 7 ages for humanity, namely:

1. Pre-flood

2. Post-flood/pre-cross

3. Post-cross (Church Age)

4. Tribulation/great tribulation

5. Millennial Reign

6. Post-Millennial Reign, and

7. Eternity

 

We are currently transiting the 3^rd age, which I perceive/believe is rapidly coming to a close. The Lord’s apparent strategic objective in each of the first 6 ages has been and remains:

 

To recruit, orient, train, then ‘harvest’ from humanity a tested, proven, righteous remnant to whom He will show everlasting Grace and Mercy as immortal, ‘like-angel’ beings

(but not angels!)

(NB: The strategic objective of any strategy is not the goal or purpose. It serves as a high bridge between periodic programs, projects and activities, each with their purposes and objectives. The intent of this series is not to address these, but to examine The Lord’s likely highest level, over-arching principle that is governing achievement of His multi-millennial strategic plan for humanity. I trust this is clear.)

They/we will reside with Him forever on a new, eternal Earth (not in Heaven!), with a new, eternal moon, and new, eternal heavens. The Lord thrice declared this new creation plan in Isaiah 65:17, Isaiah 66:22, and Revelation 21:5. It is further underscored in a vision Apostle John had on the Island of Patmos and recorded in The Book of Revelation. (Revelation 21:1) It is also reiterated by Apostle Peter. (1 Peter:3-10-13) Since these promises were made long ago, and were then stated in the present tense, His planned new universe might already exist!!! Imagine that...

 

The Bible infers The Lord lost a third of His holy angels who became devils and demons following Lucifer’s failed rebellion in Heaven. To achieve His strategic objective, He allows these fallen angels to serve Him as resistance factors and agents in the testing and proving processes for us who will become and remain His saints until we die. A short poem conveys this point:

Fish in a tank, shipped coast to coast.

None were dead, but they were...almost.

Then, when shipped with some predator companions,

Most arrived alive, as fit as champions!

 

Though The Lord lost a third of His holy angels, this does not mean His strategic objective is to replace those lost angels with human saints! Here’s why.

 

He created mankind, not ‘a little lower than angels’, as several Bible translations erroneously state, but ‘a little lower than Himself, The Lord God.’  Angels were created to serve both Him and mankind. I know of no Biblical reference that this ‘hierarchical intent’ will ever change. Further evidence of this is what The Lord dictated to The Church as Laodicea in Revelation 3:21 about saints sitting with Him on His Throne! Paul affirms this key point in Ephesians 2:4-10. No angel has ever been given such a glorious promise, and the only one who aspired to take over The Lord’s Throne, Lucifer, was excommunicated out of Heaven with his rebellious cohorts!

 

The Lord’s ‘hierarchical intent’ for mankind is a critical Christian theological point that, unfortunately, devils continue to exploit because of inaccurate/inconsistent Bible translations, uninformed teachings, and slothful Bible students. Had The Lord wanted/needed more angels, I’m sure He would have simply created more. Rather, it appears He desired eternal, intimate fellowship with a unique set of beings who would be created in His personal image (spirit, soul and body). The holy angels could never meet this desire, nor do I believe any want to. Rather, after witnessing Lucifer’s horrific rebellion, and later The Lord’s extremely harsh reaction to fallen angels who ‘left their proper domain, and became humans to marry women’, ALL remaining angels are likely super content with their created roles, forever!!! (See: Humans’ DNA Hacked (Poem) and also Working With Angels (Series))

Continued in Part 2

Why the Millennial Reign Age? (Part 2)

See the series here

 

As noted, I have written extensively about The Millennial Reign of Jesus Christ from every angle imaginable. It dawned on me that I have yet to examine the possible strategic rationale for The Millennial Reign age. So let’s continue to dig in and see what The Lord reveals. Keep in mind the apparent strategic objective of His multi-millennial strategic plan for humanity:

 

To recruit, orient, train, then ‘harvest’ from humanity a tested, proven, righteous remnant to whom He will show everlasting Grace and Mercy as immortal, ‘like-angel’ beings

(but not angels!)

 

(NB: The strategic objective of any strategy is not the goal or purpose. It serves as a high bridge between periodic programs, projects and activities, each with their purposes and objectives. The intent of this series is not to address these, but to examine The Lord’s likely highest level, over-arching principle that is governing achievement of His multi-millennial strategic plan for humanity. I trust this is clear.)

Continuing from Part 1…

 

The Lord’s Physical Sojourns on Earth

 

The Bible affirms The Lord has thus far had two, extended, physical sojourns on Earth, namely:

1. During the (re)creation event reported in the first two chapters of Genesis. (Could the condition of Earth in Genesis 1:2 have been triggered when Lucifer and his cohorts fell across the universe, and spiritually slammed onto the Earth? This would have been the first stains and impacts from sinfulness entering into the perfect universe. (See: Gap Creationism and Anti-Christ: Summary Review (Part 5)) 

Towards the end of this sojourn, The Lord spent time with Adam and Eve,

  (a) developing critical relationships, 

  (b) orienting them to His plans,

  (c ) teaching Adam how to tend the Garden, and

  (d) possibly warning him about His enemy, satan, and his cohorts.

This sojourn ended shortly after Adam and Eve sinned. They were driven out of Eden and from the presence of The Lord, lest they and all mankind would be irretrievably lost in sin forever. We could only be delivered from that condition when His plan of salvation would be fully implemented thousands of years later.

 

2. During His 33-year life as a man. During this sojourn, The Lord grew up among us, then as a 30-year old adult, He selected and began to spend time with His disciples and other followers:

  (a) developing critical relationships,

  (b) orienting them to ‘The Kingdom of Heaven’ vs. the kingdom of satan,

  (c) giving them insights into Father God’s plan of salvation for all humans, and

  (d) planning the establishment of His ‘Church’.

Only after His death and resurrection did a few people begin to understand the latter two points. 

 

Between these protracted, physical sojourns on Earth, He appeared once in physical form to Abraham, for a short visit to confirm His promised about the birth of Isaac, and to command the cataclysmic destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. During this visit, He and His angelic entourage enjoyed a (physical) meal Sarah, Abraham’s wife, prepared. Other times, He appeared to Old and New Testament prophets in spiritual visions, which do not equate to protracted, physical sojourns.

 

Of course, we do not know the length of time The Lord actually spent physically with Adam and Eve. I surmise it was likely quite short. Here’s why.

 

The Bible reports the serpent in the Garden was ‘more cunning than any other beast’. (Genesis 3:1) With hindsight, we know it was possessed by satan, ex-Lucifer, a former high-level angel who had led a failed rebellion (coup) to replace The Lord God in Heaven. Intensely jealous, Lucifer wanted to be worshiped, and to be in charge of The Lord’s innumerable angelic hosts! Because of his rebellion, he was thrown out of Heaven, along with his angel cohorts who had joined in his rebellion. As immortal beings, they would not be destroyed, and their final judgment would be significantly delayed. They were very likely on Earth to witness, not only the creation of Adam and Eve, but also the installation of Adam as The lord god of Earth! I imagine this triggered satan’s intense jealousy, and he simply couldn’t wait to attempt a coup on Earth! Hence, Adam’s time in this role may have been quite short. It quickly ended The Lord’s physical sojourn on Earth when satan ‘legally’ became Earth’s god. Imagine what you will…

 

Strategic Objective Progress To-date

 

History reveals, from age-to-age, The Lord has gradually broadened and intensified efforts to achieve His strategic objective. No surprise to Him, His multi-millennial focus on Israel was not entirely successful. But His resurrection (from His cruel death that leading Jews in Jerusalem demanded and orchestrated) provided an excellent launching pad to move to the third phase of His strategy, the Church age. During this age, He is extending His strategic objective to ALL mankind. Hallelujah, that includes you and me!

 

The purpose of His life as a man was not to broadcast to all, ‘I AM The Lord God Almighty!!!’ Rather, He only established sufficient basis for Jews and Gentiles alike to develop faith that He IS The Lord God, Creator and Sustainer of all things. Such faith is the kingpin of Heaven’s plan of salvation. It is absolutely required given His physical absence from Earth during this age. Remember this point.

 

Thus far, there has been incredible success toward achieving The Lord’s strategic objective, even with considerable devilish resistance, and without The Lord’s protracted, physical presence on Earth! But obviously, these achievements are woefully inadequate, especially since many believers  have ‘become lukewarm’ and have ‘fallen away from the faith’, just as Apostle Paul and Jesus predicted in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4 and Revelation 3:14-16, respectively.

Continued in Part 3

Why the Millennial Reign Age? (Part 3)

 

See the series here

 

As noted, I have written extensively about The Millennial Reign of Jesus Christ from every angle imaginable. It dawned on me that I have yet to examine the possible strategic rationale for The Millennial Reign age. So let’s continue to dig in and see what The Lord reveals. Keep in mind the apparent strategic objective of His multi-millennial strategic plan for humanity:

To recruit, orient, train, then ‘harvest’ from humanity a tested, proven, righteous remnant to whom He will show everlasting Grace and Mercy as immortal, ‘like-angel’ beings

(but not angels!)

(NB: The strategic objective of any strategy is not the goal or purpose. It serves as a high bridge between periodic programs, projects and activities, each with their purposes and objectives. The intent of this series is not to address these, but to examine The Lord’s likely highest level, over-arching principle that is governing achievement of His multi-millennial strategic plan for humanity. I trust this is clear.)

Continuing from Part 2…

 

The Final Strategic Objective Events

 

In light of the questionable progress to-date, it appears The Lord intends two final, major events to achieve all remaining aspects of His strategic objective. These two events are as follows.

 

1. The Great Tribulation

The Bible predicts, during the great tribulation plagues, a massive number of people will embrace His offer of eternal salvation. (Revelation 7) They will be aided in their choice by a specially-anointed group of 144,000 Jewish witnesses, plus a few angels who, together, will complete the job the Church did not or could not complete. I asked The Lord, ‘How will such a small group of witnesses, in such a short period of time (3¹/2 years or less), be so incredibly successful in winning souls for You, while the Church, in 2,000+ years seems to be relatively less successful?' Well, we all know how intense persecution can be an incredible motivator for people to do what they perceive they really need to do! Intense persecution motivated first-century Christians to withstand horrible attacks, first in Jerusalem, then across Israel, and later across Eurasia. The Lord gave me an answer I did not anticipate:

All people in the great tribulation will have missed the rapture of the Church. Yet many of them will have just enough Bible knowledge to recognize the anti-Christ, especially when he stands in the new Jewish temple in Jerusalem and declares, ‘I am God! Worship me!’, and demands all people the world over accept his permanent mark on their bodies (‘the mark of the beast’). Many will quickly reject both him and his mark, even at the peril of certain death by beheading! (Revelation 14:6-11)

Voila! Could this possibly be how The Lord might reclaim folks who are alive at that time, who were ‘lukewarm in their love for The Lord', and eventually fell away’ from the faith. Sadly, there will be no such opportunity for folks who will have died in this condition before the rapture! Caveat~

 

2. Removing All Constraints

During the Millennial Reign age, The Lord will remove ALL constraints to achieving His strategic objective for humanity. Constraints to achieving this objective currently are:

(a) His physical absence from Earth, thus requiring faith to believe,

(b) devils’ resistance operations, thus requiring faith, wisdom and spiritual strength to overcome, and 

(c) peoples’ evil choices, thus requiring the will to learn and the tenacity to make righteous choices.

 

How will He will remove these constraints, and what might be the broad implications of such?

 

First, He will be physically present on Earth for a thousand years, demonstrating and proving to everyone, especially the great tribulation remnant, He IS The Lord God Almighty!!! No one will need faith to believe this!

Second, He will lock away satan’s kingdom of devils and demons. People born during that age will not know direct devilish deceptions, temptations and tests. Their innate, rebellious human nature will remain, including their proclivity to disobey The Lord God. (See: Zechariah 14:16-19)

 

Third, He and His immortal saints from previous ages will rule the world with a rod of iron! That means enforcing righteous choices and peace, thus controlling, but not removing, people’s freedom of choice. Ruling with an iron rod (e.g., iron fist!) for righteousness sake is akin to a strong man or dictator today ruling a nation, but typically for selfish, evil sake. A bonus factor will be giving people born during the Millennial Reign a clear SAMPLE or ‘demonstration effect’ of the eternal bodies The Lord has planned for everyone who becomes His saints! Don’t underestimate the power of this demonstration effect. 

 

Ponder this: To you, does it seem fair and wise for The Lord to remove all constraints to achieving His strategic objective?? He clearly is ...the ultimate boss, giving Grace to whomever He wills.

Let’s examine the broad implications and then the wisdom of His odd (to us) strategic approach.

 

Removing these constraints indicates all conditions and requirements for salvation, as we currently understand them, will not be present during the Millennial Reign age. As such, I surmise salvation (as we currently understand it) may not be immediately available to people born in that age. We already know salvation will not be available to great tribulation remnants, according to Revelation 14, because during the great tribulation, they will have willingly embraced the anti-Christ and his mark of the beast. When they die early during The Millennial Reign age, these people will be eternally lost.

 

If/if The Lord intends to extend His offer of salvation (as we currently know it) to those who will be born during that age (The Bible indicates He does), then it seems they would have to remain alive until all the above constraints are back in place:

(a) Jesus and His immortal saints are physically absence from Earth,

(b) devis’ resistance operations resume with the release of satan’s kingdom, and

(c) people are free to make evil choices without external controls.

Bible students will quickly recognize these are the exact conditions that will exist ‘for a little while’ at the end of The Millennial Reign age! This scenario seems to confirm my belief there will very likely be no salvation during the Millennial Reign age. This could possibly be the core reason why satan (and presumably his kingdom of devils and demons) must be released at the end of The Millennial Reign age! (Revelation 20:1-3) The Lord obviously has more resistance operations for him to orchestrate during the post-Millennial Reign age. Makes sense?

If I am correct, people born during the Millennial Reign age will not die until sometime in the post-Millennial Reign age. How can this be?! First, recall how long people lived in the pre-flood age. The longest recorded lifespan was that of Methuselah who lived 969 years, just short of ‘a day’ if, as Moses  wrote in Psalm 90:4, and Peter reiterated in 2 Peter 3:8. But that age was rife with sinfulness on the pristine Earth! Moreover, some devils exponentially increased sinfulness by becoming humans (‘leaving their proper domain’, per Jude 6), and marrying women!

Now imagine this:

—Earth, once again pristine,

—humans and the entire animal/sea/insect kingdoms are back on their original Genesis 1:29-30 diets,

—all devils are locked away, and

—The Lord, with all His saints and angels, are policing righteousness worldwide.

In such conditions, I have absolutely no problems believing people born under such conditions could live much longer than a thousand years. Do you?

Admittedly, without clear, specific Bible guidance, this is obviously a controversial topic. My opinions are derived from a broad and deep strategic understanding of The Bible’s ‘salvation context’. Believe as you are led, and feel free to share your comments below. (See: Salvation in the Millennium (Series))

 

If my understanding is correct, it stands to reason that the post-Millennial Reign age will be the final opportunity for The Lord to complete His strategic objective for humanity. The Bible explains this age will last ‘a little while’. (Revelation 30:3) I have long pondered how long is ‘a little while’, when thousands of (our) years ago, an angel declared satan had come down to Earth with great wrath because he knows he has a short time [to deceive humans]. (Revelation 12:12) Also, thousands of years ago, The Lord declared to Apostle John the bulk of his Revelation vision were of things 'which must shortly take place'. (Revelation 22:6) Clearly, our concept of time is massively different from His. ;o)

 

The results of The Lord’s ‘constraints-moving’ approach to completing His strategic objective will be realized during the last resurrection when all peoples ever born across the initial 6 ages of humanity, and who will have missed the previous resurrections, will then be resurrected, and will stand before The Lord in their new, immortal bodies. He will consult His ‘Book of [Eternal] Life’ (Revelation 20:11-15) to confirm who embraced His offer of eternal salvation during the post-Millennial Reign age, and is, therefore, eligible to join His immortal saints on the new Earth. Everyone else whose names will evidently not be found in His Book, along with every devil and demon, will then be cast in to the eternal lake of fire, also somewhere on the new Earth, according to Isaiah 66:22-24. The Bible indicates every resident of the eternal lake of fire, including all devils and demons, will be in an immortal body, soul and spirit. (See: Earth’s Next Versions (Series) and Hell: Is This the Man? (Poem)

Thus, the strategic rationale for the Millennium Reign age appears to be to remove ALL constraints humans previously encountered to embracing salvation in Jesus Christ, so that His highly effective and efficient ‘demonstration effect’ will greatly increase the likelihood many will embrace Him sometime during the subsequent, short age. This insight uncloaks The Lord’s GREAT wisdom. Moreover, He foreknows who will and who won’t embrace His offer of salvation! 

From the lessons we learned following His past, protracted sojourns on Earth, faith in Him across the growing human populations was likely very strong for a long while (a) after Adam and Eve left Eden, (b) after Moses and his family left the ark, and (c) after He left Earth following His resurrection. But then, over time, faith in Him rapidly diminished, and even died out in many areas across the world, just like it has done today! In a sense, The Millennial Reign, His presence on Earth for a thousand years, will be an opportunity to ensure much more sustainable faith during the the post-Millennial Reign age. Keeping that age relatively short, in comparison to these earlier times, should help to maximize the number of people who will successfully overcome satan's resistance operations in those days. This applies to (a) all people who will have been born during the Millennial Reign age, who will live long enough to see the post-Millennial Reign age, and also (b) those who will be born during the post-Millennial Reign age. This is very wise in my eyes! 

 

NB. The Book of [Eternal] Life is mentioned once in Philippians 4:3, and a whopping seven times in Revelation chapters 3, 13, 17, 20 (twice), 21 and 22. These references confirm a person’s name can be written in and blotted out of this Book. Caveat~

 

Is your name written therein …sustainably?