Church-types Reimagined (Part 2)

See the series here

 

While reflecting on this concept, The Lord took me on a revealing 5-scene tour of His perspective on this topic. Part 1 describes the initial 4 scenes. Let’s continue…

 

The 5th scene shifted to a few decades before the Roman invasion of Jerusalem in Judah in AD 70, when Jesus (The Lord in human form) personally launched His 4th ‘church-type, called Christianity. The broad concept for what I called, ‘church’, somewhat mirrored His plan for ancient Israel. But it would be targeted at ALL peoples who would, by faith,  embrace His pending crucifixion as being His just payment for their sins. Thus, the mission of the church today, is:

 

     1. To be a unique ‘called-out’ people who would reflect and glorify The Lord by their lifestyles;

     2. To exercise His ‘demonstration effects’ that would speak loudly and clearly to critical, on-lookers; and

     3. To activate and spread His faith-based Gospel of Peace with God through the forgiveness of sins. 

 

In return, as in His plans for earlier church-types, this church would benefit from His boundless GOODNESS, based on and according to our ‘learned, practiced faith’. The Lord knew satanic forces were the seeds, roots and fruits of rebellions in His earlier church-types. He knew this 4th church-type would encounter the same resistance. Thus, in Matthew 16:18, He emphatically declared ‘…the gates of hell will not prevail against [My church].’

 

During the ensuing decades of the 1st century, some church members began to reimagine The Lord’s glorious church plan, to fit their own sinful desires and ambitions. 

 

Perhaps in an effort to redress this issue, The Lord, in a vision to John before the close of the first century AD, dictated letters to each of 7 churches in Asia. (See: Revelation 2 & 3) He encouraged their progress, rebukedtheir shortcomings, and warned of His judgments for straying from His original ‘church plan’.

 

Since then, history has witnessed numerous ‘church reimaginations’ across the world. The most significant ones were establishment of the worldwide Roman Catholic Church; the subsequent Protestant Reformation to return that church to The Lord’s original plan; and the subsequent, incredible number of sub-divisions of the protestant church. Since then, many church reimaginations have been much less substantive, and more performative, stylistic, and simply personality cults.

 

I intuit The Lord’s Matthew 16:18 declaration broadly applies, not just to His Christian church, but also to ALL His ‘church-types’ as well. Though satan’s earthly kingdom has had MAJOR progress in corrupting and prevailing over substantial proportions of each of The Lord’s ‘church types’, the pre-intended elements of each type will indeed prevail! In His pre-eminence and fore-knowledge, The Lord fore-knew each angel, each Hebrew/Jew, and Gentile person who would abuse His gracious gift of a free will, and would yield to temptations to rebel. So, effectively and essentially, there will be no loss at all in His fore-known, eternal kingdom! (Hallelujah!!!) From a strategic perspective, gifting all angels and humans with free will, is far better than creating us as robot-like drones who, lovelessly, could only do as we were programmed.

 

From a much broader perspective, we see such reimaginations of The Lord’s original, righteous plans, have not been limited to His 4 ‘church-types’. Indeed, such reimaginations have extended to:

 

    a. Families, the building blocks of communities and societies;

    b. Societies, the building blocks of nations;

    c. Nations, the building blocks of global communities;

    d. Companies/corporations, the building blocks of our ‘needs meeting’ systems.

 

Literally, NO facet of human life has escaped this well-honed reimagination plot, seeded by satan, against every righteous intent of The Lord God. 

 

Each story has its unique ‘twists and turns’, but the core of the plots is, undoubtedly, the same. And I suspect you may well have been on both ends of such plots, as the instigator and the victim of …re-imagined, original, righteous plans. Recall how the leaders of Germany, Italy and Japan reimagined their countries and the world could be after World War II. Today, many strongmen and wanna-be strongmen, are currently reimagining how their nations and the world could be, if only…

 

In response to this persistent, sequential deterioration, Jesus, The Lord God, gave to us His ‘reimagination of our corrupt reimaginations!’  He will ‘flip-the-switch’ on our reimaginations of righteousness during His pending, global Millennial Reign, the 5th age of human history. Every aspect of life on Earth will revert to His original, righteous plans. (See: The Millennial Reign (Series), and also Human History Ages (Series).)

 

Going forward, may we ALL learn to be more keenly attuned to, and aware of plots to ‘reimagine righteousness’.

Church-types Reimagined (Part 1)

See the series here

While reflecting on this concept, The Lord took me on a revealing 5-scene tour of His perspective on this topic.

In the first scene I saw images of the church in which I ‘grew up’ in Norfolk, Virginia, where my parents had joined well before my birth. The focus sharpened on a string of men who, over my ~2 decades there, seemingly had ambitions of replacing the aging pastor, and reimagining that church per their personal visions. Whether, due to The Lord’s ‘callings’, or their impatience, one-by-one, they departed to start their own reimagined churches, some taking with them several members of the already small congregation. After ~30 years, my Father, a humble, tested and proven servant, became the next pastor, a role in which he faithfully served over 30 years.

In the 2nd scene, I saw a university friend who started a church, and was a long-term, faithful pastor to a small congregation. He embraced a man who was interested in  ‘learning the ropes’, and serving this congregation. That man eventually captured the hearts of a large segment of the congregation, and convinced members to leave with him, to start his own reimagined church. My friend is still dealing with the fall-out from this …coup d’état equivalent. 

The 3rd scene shifted to The Lord’s innumerable company of angels, organized in ranks and files, with different powers to perform assigned functions. Their core functions are to worship, honor, obey Jesus, The Loving, Gracious and Merciful Lord God over all created beings and things, and to benefit FULLY from His boundless GOODNESS. In the tour, I understood this was The Lord’s 1st ‘church-type’. Angels were apparently given the gift of free will, just as humans were subsequently given. You know the story. At some point, Lucifer, a high-ranking angel, attempted a coup d’etat to reimagine Heaven according to his own desires, with him replacing Jesus on the shared Throne of God and Jesus. Lucifer convinced a third of all angels to rebel with him. They lost the battle, were kicked out of Heaven, and fell to Earth, and Lucifer became satan.

On Earth, they witnessed The Lord’s creation of mankind. The Lord’s plan for us was to be His 2nd ‘church-type’, a unique type of created beings who, on a unique, heavenly planet, would love, worship, and obey Him (as the remaining two thirds of holy angels do), and to benefit FULLY from His boundless GOODNESS. You know the story. Adam capitulated to satan’s temptation to sin and to reimagine life on Earth to his liking. In rebelling, Adam ceded his God-given authority over all things on Earth, to satan’s kingdom of devils and demons, who, with our help, have wreaked havoc, on The Lord’s church-type plan for us.

The 4th scene shifted to The Lord and Moses on Mt. Sinai, shortly after the exodus of Hebrew slaves from ancient Egypt. There, The Lord summarized His plan for the nation that would become ancient Israel. Israel would be a called-out people who would reflect and glorify The Lord by their lifestyles, and would benefit from His boundless GOODNESS. In the tour, I understood Israel was to be The Lord’s 3rd ‘church-type’, a ‘nation church’. But even well before Israel settled into the promise land, some Hebrews had begun to reimagine and reshape The Lord’s plan to suit their sinful lifestyle desires. This attitude greatly expanded after Israel settled into the promise land. As a result, she was subjected to a long string of warnings and ramped-up judgments from The Lord, eventually culminating in His decision to split the people in to two nations – Israel and Judah. Subsequently, He allowed the land to ‘vomit’ both nations out of the promised land via invasions of the Assyrian, Babylonian and Roman armies that killed, captured and scattered many.

Stay tuned for the 5^th scene of this tour.

Missed Insights in Ezekiel (Part 2)

Curiously, in Ezekiel 37, The Lord predicts the reestablishment and rejoining on Judah and Israel into one, unified nation of Israel, as an ‘exceedingly great army’. Of course, the entire nation is NoT a military force. And in the very next chapter, He predicts an awful scenario in which the entire nation is then flooded with Jews from across the world. According to Zephaniah 43:8-13, they will spillover into northern Jordan (Gilead) and Lebanon. At that time, the entirety of Israel will be at peace and totally defenseless, This is clearly a predictive inference about the dissolution of the Israel Defense Forces! 

Revealing these two insights in back-to-back, consecutive chapters, could be a possible hint that, in The Lord’s very broad purview, almost as soon as Israel is reestablished and stands-up an army, that army will dissolve! If so, it is further proof of His ultimate objective for Israel, namely TOTAL reliance upon Him for its defense, and everything else! Period!!! Any cursory reading of The Bible reveals this is the ultimate condition toward which He has been working …since Abraham.

 

So, within the historical contexts of Israel, human nature, and several relevant predictions in The Bible, let’s examine 7 plausible possibilities by which the IDF might one day …dissolve. Feel free to include your thoughts on this pivotal topic in the comments section below, or to share them via email to me, and I will summarize them as from anonymous. 

 

1. Major supportive allies of the IDF will stop their support

 

This could occur due to major socio-political, budget and/or technical production problems in those nations. The U.S. was the first country to recognize the provisional government of the state of Israel upon its founding in 1948. Israel has been the largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid since World War II. A significant part of that foreign aid is grants to purchase military products from the U.S. defense industry, per approval by the U.S. President and Congress. Since the U.S. is saddled with an unimaginable $35+ trillion debt burden, which is steadily increasing due to unfunded annual budget deficits, the operative question is …what happens to U.S. support to the IDF if/when it is forced to default on its massive debt??

See: Where the US spends the most on foreign aid and U.S. Aid to Israel in Four Charts.

 

2. Global Jewish racism reaches unprecedented levels

 

Israel's 2023-24 war in Gaza has triggered a tsunami of global Jewish racism, especially across the U.S., as the USG continues to be the IDF’s major supporter. The decision to withhold supplies of huge, bunker-busting bombs capable of collapsing land tunnels that Hamas built (withheld due to their massive collateral damages on civilians), triggered criticisms from Republican lawmakers, and did not quell calls to end all U.S. support. The war also triggered massive revolts across other western and the Arab worlds, pressuring governments to modify their relationships with Israel and the IFD. In mid-2024, the U.K. government decided to reduce its supply of some weapons to the IDF. A variety of other socio-cultural factors has triggered anti-Jewishness to surge in China.

See: Anti-Semitism Surges Dramatically Across the World, Surge of Anti-Semitism in the Peoples’ Republic, and also Anti-Semitism (Poem).

 

3. Pre-apocalypse covenant with the anti-Christ

 

The Bible predicts Israel will enter into an agreement or treaty with the man who will quickly rise to global dominance during the predicted 7-year tribulation age, the 4^th age of human history. He is the anti-Christ, and is called ‘the beast’ in Revelation. But by the mid-point, 42 months, of that short age, The Bible predicts he will renege on his commitments. It refers to what he will do afterward, as the abomination of desolation.’ 

Since The Bible predicts the construction of the 3rd Jewish temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, it might be safe to presume this could possibly be one aspect of the agreement. Jews have longed-for and planned for this possibility since Rome destroyed the 2^nd temple in AD70, as Jesus had predicted. Its construction, however, would require destruction of the Al Aqsa Muslim mosque, which has occupied that spot for centuries.This has been point of contention between Arabs and Jews across the world. 

In addition to resolving this issue, I wonder if the agreement might also include help in brokering amicable agreements with Jordan and Lebanon to allow Jews (who will have spilled over the borders during Zephaniah’s predicted mad rush to Israel) to remain as refugees in these countries.

See: Human History Ages (Series).

 

4. Internal socio-political unrest and distrust of governments

 

The October 2023 attack by Hamas, and the capture of hundreds of Israeli citizens, has reportedly triggered the biggest protests in Israel’s history against the policies of Israel’s current far-right government. It also triggered widespread military conscriptions, and a Supreme Court decision that ends the conscription exemption for ultra-orthodox citizens (men and women).

In light of this, imagine the level of socio-political instability that would be triggered by the predicted, sudden, massive migrations to Israel by Jews from across the world! That could possibly be another factor that could collapse key parts of the government, possibly including the IDF.

5. Mass draft dogging and military desertions

Israel is a relatively small, but highly racially and culturally diverse society. No significant part of a highly diverse nation escapes the specter of racism, classism, etc., that stains nearly every level of a society, including, or especially the military. Israel’s war in Gaza has reportedly triggered spikes in both draft dodging and desertions, potentially across a variety of societal groups. On a large enough scale, such could significantly impair the ability of a military to sustain its operations. 

6.  After-shocks of Heaven’s next rapture

The predicted resurrection and rapture of all 3^rd age saints will send shock waves across the world for several years! Imagine countless graves bursting open, and hundreds of millions alive people …SUDDENLY DISAPPEARING! I imagine folks will be clamoring for somebody, ANYBODY to make sense of it all, and especially to straighten out the total mess that will be …‘left behind’! 

If you’ll still be around then,

please direct somebody to this blog! ;o)

I suspect this massive event will somehow negatively impact EVERY national and global institution, bar none! The extent to which any nation, including Israel, will be impacted, will obviously depend upon the number of bona fide (not fake or ‘Christianesque’) ALIVE Christians in its population.

I also intuit this event, even much more than deepening global climate change, could trigger the predicted rapid rise of the anti-Christ to global power (see #3 above). Why?? The worst climate change is predicted to occur during the apocalypse, about 3 years after his rise to power! Ergo, something else will clearly trigger his quick rise and global dominance. See: Bible Raptures and Raptures – Types and Timings (Series).

 

7. Some possible combination of all the above!!!

 

Rank and take your picks of any of the above events, and feel free to share your thoughts with me, especially if, from your Bible study, you might perceive other points beyond these. 

 

Conclusion – Biblical prophecies ‘seed’ human history

 

Given the increasing rates at which totally unprecedented events are exploding across the world, we cannot discount the likelihood of other developments that might negatively impact both the IDF and its reliable allies. Ezekiel 38:13 clearly signals (a) Israel will become an ‘un-walled people’; (b) the reasons for the invasion; and (c) no ally will be able to come to Israel’s aid during the invasion. These suggest the invasion might be a result of the mounting apocalyptic pressures on every nation. 

The overwhelming majority of Biblical prophecies have, to varying degrees, already become historical facts. This enhances my faith that the remaining few will similarly become factual, in The Lord’s timing and manner. Believe as you will.

Missed Insights in Ezekiel (Poem, Part 1)

While reading about Israel in The Bible,

We’ll discover much that is chronological.

This is clearly so about things historical,

But it’s quite a patchwork about things eternal. 

 

That’s because in those books in which her history is dispersed,

The Lord’s eternal prophecies about her are interspersed.

Revelation is the book that’s most eschatological,

Yet its references about Israel …are quite minimal!

 

Thus, to learn of The Lord’s plans for her that are infinite,

We turn our focus to those books that are called prophetic,

Though most of them are contextually historical,

They focus on The Lord’s perspective that’s spiritual.

 

The Old Testament mentions, forever, 400 times.

But only twice is it linked to the new Earth paradigm! 

First, to Isaiah was The Lord’s new Earth plan revealed.

So he and John had a broad ‘futuristic windshield’. ¹

 

The Book of Ezekiel may be unique in this regard.

Deciphering its past, present and future events isn’t as hard.

Since it includes chapters that span several millennia,

Of The Lord’s perspectives, it gives us a great panorama. 

 

Chapter 36

Some years after, by The Lord’s judgements, Judah was afflicted,

A post-Babylon exile restoration was predicted.

Though un-stated, this would start the lengthy process,

Of preparing for the virgin birth of Jesus! ²

 

But decades after their Messiah’s crucifixion,

Jews were scattered again, due to their rebellion. ³

For His sake, not theirs, The Lord promised once again, 

He would launch another ‘regathering campaign’.

 

Chapter 37

The next one would include nations He’d earlier divided,

Judah and Israel together, one nation, unified.

This would start lengthy preparations for His promised return,

When, over them and the whole world, with His saints, He will govern!

 

The whole world witnessed His ‘down payment’ on this promise,

on the date,

Jews began to migrate to Palestine in 1948!

First, the state of Israel was formed, formally,

And 12 days later, ‘an exceedingly great army!’ ⁴

 

Chapter 38

The scene suddenly shifts in The Lord’s protracted purview!!!

Israel is over-run with Jewish migrants, beaucoup!

Spilling across its borders, into Jordan and Lebanon,

She’s being invaded, with NO ARMY to rely upon!!!

 

Such a great army that was ‘just created’, is then gone!

And there are no allies Israel can rely upon!!! ⁵

These are the fruits of SEEDS The Lord had long ago sown:

Jews, the world over, reliant upon Him …ALONE!!!

 

At that pivotal time in their and the world’s history,

The Lord will intervene, and then He’ll ‘capstone’ His story:

His long-awaited Millennial Reign as global King.

He’ll thin-out Jewish ranks, leaving those who to Him will cling. ⁶

 

Chapter 39

This chapter portrays parts of the early years of The Lord’s reign,

Post-apocalypse. Most people and animals will’ve been slain. 

That will be Earth’s MOST GLORIOUS time since Eden,

>>To be there, He’s giving you an invitation.<< ⁷

 

Conclusion

Friends, from this review, I hope you can see what I see:

Four consecutive chapters span 4 ages of history --

Pre-cross, post-cross, tribulation, and Millennial Reign,

The Lord’s ‘Israel and Earth restorations campaigns’.

 

Part 2 discusses 7 notions

of how IDF could dissolve.

----------

¹ See: Isaiah 65:17-18 and 66:22. See also: Revelation 21 – 22. 2 Peter 3 references Isaiah’s revelation. 

² Throughout their history, Hebrews/Jews have had ‘yo-yo’ experiences with the promise land. Abram’s arrival in the land was for the preparation of a unique family lineage – a separated (i.e., holy) people. Just as their departures were rooted in various gross sins, their returns always had a spiritual significance and long-term objectives: 

(a) Their return from Egypt was the fruit of The Lord’s promises to their patriarchs;

(b) Their return from Babylon/Persia was to prepare the nation and culture for the arrival of The Lord via His virgin birth;

(c) Their return in 1948 was to prepare for His predicted return to Earth as global King.

³ In AD 70, just as Jesus had predicted.

⁴ Curiously, in Ezekiel 37:10-11, The Lord inspired the prophet to use the phrase, ‘…an exceedingly great army’, in reference to ‘the whole house of Israel’. Some Bible teachers erroneously teach this does not refer to the post-Babylonian exile period, but to the Millennial Reign age. I know of no Scripture reference that likens Israel to an army during that age. Rather, there are several Scriptures that predict that age will be one of no warfare, but global peace! Such errors can be avoided when we allow Scripture to interpret Scripture. See: Missed Insights from Ezekiel 37, and the broader Missed Insights (Series).

⁵ See: A People Un-walled (Series), and Isaiah 26:20-21.

⁶ See: Zephaniah 43:8-13.

⁷ See: Prayer of Salvation (Poem), and The Millennial Reign (Series).