If the resurrection doesn't happen this century, how will this century end?

[martincisneros]

I'll add the "for entertainment purposes only" schtick if necessary so that religious fundamentalists viewing this website don't take this as published announcements and predictions.  But at the same time, what do you see happening before the end of this century when you're your closest with the Lord, His Word, and the most in touch with the Anointing in you?  I'm not appealing to the hidden Nostradamus in anyone or anything goofy like that, but the Holy Spirit is supposed to show us things to come.

Any big disease cures on the horizon?

Think ET will collapse within 40 years from it's present level of credibility as a theory of the fate of those who aren't converted on our time schedule?

Think "first contact" will actually happen with aliens?

Think that there will be a Christian Universalist Television Network?

Think that if the politicians don't honestly get us all blown to Gehenna in their squabbles with other countries that lifespans may increase in the near future?

I'm hoping that we don't have too many Hal Lindsey types that only see storm clouds, writing on the walls, and unbalanced scales, but I'm taking a chance on wanting to see what the rest of you are seeing.  Economic hardships and perhaps another attempt at genocide, or a famine are just a given based upon what you can see regardless of where ever you place political blame. 

I'm hoping that some of you look beyond the surface level of consequences or current indicators with the media and that perhaps someone or a few of you are sensing anything in particular from the Holy Spirit of a genuinely hopeful nature where humanity, the message and spread of UR is concerned, or where other relevant things are concerned in the Lord's constant aim of increasing the standard of living of this world for the sake of the righteous inspite of whomever and whatever He needs to chasten along the way, even severely.  Maybe a better way of wording this, since I've just said all of this is:

What are you sensing about God that's on His immediate agenda for planet earth with regards to the spread of UR and His loving on His kids?  What things currently hidden do you think will be revealed/found within a few short decades, whether any of us live to see it or not?  Where do you sense the Holy Spirit wants to be in His work on His family in the earth by the 22nd century?

[anti_nietzsche]

I only have hopes, not certain knowledge about the future. My hope is that faith will bloom, real lively faith, and that not just in established christian churches but amongst the others too. I strongly hope for our energy crisis to be resolved thru finally finding the means to do either hot or cold fusion. I hope for certain evils to be resolved, evils like hard-core attitudes in politics about there having to be limitless capitalism and unilateral wars. I strongly hope for islam to become smaller and the now islamic countries opening themselves to christian missionaries. I hope for creationist science to flourish and finding many new small and big proofs for creation rather than evolution.

[fullarmor2]

   I hear you about wanting to focus on positive things, but the Word does teach us that its going to get darker as the time of the end of this World approaches.   Jesus didn't paint a very rosy picture when he talked about this you know.  It sounded pretty bad.   I think one thing that may be a sign that we are nearing the end is the invention of weapons of mass destruction.  For the first time in history man is capable of  worldwide destruction.  And Jesus did reveal to us that unless "those days are shortened, no flesh would survive".    And with the rise of radical Islam it seems apparent that something very big is happening not only in the natural,  but in the Spiritual realm. Radical Islamists are hell bent on acquiring atomic or nuclear weapons,  and on using them against the west.  So right now some very dark clouds are gathering.  I'm inclined to think that this will be the last century before our Lord's return.   And with all thats happening now, I don't see how we will get very far into this century!

[anti_nietzsche]

Islam is dangerous, yes, but I don't think they will get very far. In Iraq, there is peace getting stronger. Still some serious troubles in Afghanistan though.

But it may be that when this is stood through, that Islam is really starting to loose numbers. Many muslims are not desperately wicked people. In fact, they are just like us, except for being imprisoned in a religion of hate, war and death.

What I do foresee though is a difficult time when it comes to economics. I would suggest you read up on peak oil. When our leaders prove to not have any true mettle, this could lead to real disaster for a time. But I do hope that we'll be going to have fusion energy some time soon. In fact I suspect we could already have it now, but certain people prevent it because for some people the oil driven economy is more profitable. I know this from a conservative ET christian who worked in energy science for the US government. In a way, he is one of them when it comes to politics, at least he doesn't oppose it. I see it as a kind of insider knowledge.

But just think how an atomic fusion based economy would change the world. Especially if it's cold fusion and not hot fusion. If they implement cold fusion technology it would be easy, in time, to fit every household with a small cold fusion reaktor, essentially providing everyone with free energy. This would really change things for us. You would need no gas for the car anymore, no bills to pay for electricity and heating in the winter, etc. But again, this is against the agenda of some very influential groups. So it's more likely, unless things change radically, that we're gonna have hot fusion, ie big fusion reactors similar to current fission reactors, maintained by big corporations trying to earn big money.

But I do believe in the possibility that people will not accept this and put pressure on government and the corporate world.

[Michele]

Good thoughts on this thread! :thumbsup:

I'm interested in knowing where this whole "Green" movement will take us in this century. Perhaps it could bring more of a focus away from materialism and more towards ways to better this place for everybody as a whole...even the animals. 

I'm hoping to see a greater movement toward solar power in our homes and vehicles.  I think that we've only scratched the surface of knowing the capabilities of solar power.

I also believe that it's crucial that each generation learns how important it is to be mindfull of what we take from each other and the earth.....and what we leave behind for the next generation.  Each person matters.....and what we do in this life does matter, and it truly impacts the whole world.

I've been criticised for taking the Pollyana view of the future, but for me there's no other way.  There is a reason for hope......yesterday is gone.....and our future is bright, if we believe it to be so. 

Any big disease cures on the horizon?

I believe that there already is a cure for every disease....God has not left us empty handed. IMO everything we put into our mouth and mind has the power to heal or hurt our physical body.
Think ET will collapse within 40 years from it's present level of credibility as a theory of the fate of those who aren't converted on our time schedule?

Yes.....I sure hope so!
Think "first contact" will actually happen with aliens?

I think it already has, but hasn't been made public yet.
Think that there will be a Christian Universalist Television Network?

Absolutely.....why not?
Think that if the politicians don't honestly get us all blown to Gehenna in their squabbles with other countries that lifespans may increase in the near future?

Yes.....and that would mean a huge increase in population...unless people stopped having as many children as they currently are.


BTW, I feel that the movie WALL E had an excellent message for children as well as adults.

[fullarmor2]

Many muslims are not desperately wicked people.

  Your right.  Many Muslims are peace loving and wonderful people.   However there is a small percentage of them who happen to be the most blood thirsty warmongers the World has ever seen.   They are out to convert you or to cut your throat and throw you down a well,  if you refuse to convert.  What kind of religion is that?  Now they are a small percentage, but when you consider that there are over a billion Muslims, that means the number of radical terrorists is very significant.  And the radicals are trying to gain the power over the others.  And since they are more extreme they may very well end up controlling many Islamic nations if they don't already.  Even since September 11th, many in America still do not understand the threat posed by radical Islam.   And how serious it is.  Muslim extremists  present the greatest threat  the United States has ever faced. Make no mistake about it.  These extremists have been seeking atomic weapons for a long time to use against the western nations, starting with the U.S. and possibly Israel. I don't think they will attack Israel with WMDs though,  I think they will keep that fight conventional.  I think its pretty obvious that radical Islam has something to do with "end of days" events foretold in the book of Revelation.
   But having said all this,  obviously it all depends on the plan of God. I mean on what God has decided to either allow or not allow regarding the terrorists.   One person told me he thinks that the terrorists are an enemy that God has allowed to be "stirred  up" in response to the immorality that is so rampant in the World.  Similar to Old Testament times when enemies were stirred up against Israel as a consequence to Israel's disobedience.

[martincisneros]

Who needs Muslim terrorists when in the U.S. we have Six-Flags :dontknow:

Not sure if the stories have gotten world-wide attention, so I'll clarify: Big rollercoaster type of park with all kinds of exotic rides for kids up to age 100.  Last year they sorta took someone's feet off with one of the rides.  A few days ago, I honestly could have sworn that I heard someone on Spanish television say that one of the parks had topped that by taking someone's head off.  I couldn't find an English equivalent of the story that day, so I'm not 100% sure if I heard right.  What's next?  Hands?  Split 'em right in half from top to bottom?  As if people didn't think that they already charged too much without the attempted literal charging of an arm and a leg!

As far as Israel facing the Muslims.  Israel has the neutron bomb.  The U.S. was offered it during the Jimmy Carter administration, but he turned it down, so the inventor went to Israel.  A neutron bomb totally annihilates all organic material and leaves buildings, cars, etc. uneffected (although some car parts on some models have some leather that I'm thinking might be toast), and the radiation essentially dissipates immediately.  If the futurist version of all of the book of Revelation teaching were correct, then perhaps getting cornered to where they feel like they'd have to actually use such an awesome weapon might be the final straw in turning every nation against them, or at least most of them.  Used correctly and strategically and one could get accused of genocide.  That's still considered on a political level one of the few unpardonables on a universal level, regardless of who or why, and you tend to not be able to ever have enough money to make the world community look the other way on something like that.  Even just the accusation, if they weren't the actual ones to have used that type of weapon -- just the accusation after a sizeable incident could be politically deadly.

I'm likewise hoping for cold fusion, but right now everybody's too scared of costing people jobs and of having to make everybody look for work elsewhere.  It's seldom just about a few corporate heads making all of these tons of money.  The real political pressure comes from thousands of jobs being lost -- all of those voters!  All of those campaign funds!!  To a lesser degree, other corporations might be upset by the displacement of other corporations 'cause of people having the money to diversify their investments.  That's my one criticism of the oversimplification that communism tries to present, that it's as simple as the evils of the corporate board of directors, while trying to say that the answer to all of this is for the government to guarantee people's livelihoods.  It's all interconnected where corporations face genuine dangers that endanger jobs and the community.  Communism essentially just turns the state into an even bigger corporation that tries to manage all of the resources and to say who is worthy of being included into our society.  Hence, they easily go anti-religious and anti various other things.  The reason being that all societies, not just capitalistic ones, but all societies -- in the way that all of them currently understand political and economic theory, only enjoy the measure of prosperity that they do by having some that are locked out of the system so that motivation to conform is preserved in the society.  The economic pressure is genuine and it's fierce, even if felt differently, in each type of economic or social system.

Islam is losing numbers because the Kingdoms of this world are becoming the Kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ's.  A few nations have already come out and publicly declared that Jesus Christ was Lord of their nation as official acts of their congresses or parliments that were attested and announced by their presidents or prime ministers.  It's just not the kind of stuff that you're going to read about in the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal.  That's been going on since the 90s.  If I had to guess on the first Islamic nation that might go there, it's liable to be Jordan.  A number of evangelistic ministries have been invited to hold miracle crusades in that country, although it was known that Jesus Christ alone was going to be preached.  King Husseine (sp?) simply genuinely cares about his people, and if he can get 'em healed of their afflictions in any name, then he's been all about it for the strengthening of his country, even if it wasn't Islamically-correct to do so.  At least that was the current state of the union as of a few years ago.  I don't know how recently that's gone on, or if the backlash -- political or economic -- might have made anyone involved more timid and/or feeling the need to save face in that part of the world.  Minimally, I can say that the doors were opened for a while and some amazing seeds got sown, whether or not that's still going on with any kind of regularity and favor from the government.

TBN's been broadcasting for several years now into Iran and countries that speak the same language via their "Healing Channel" that shows a bunch of Benny Hinn crusades and other similar material by other healing evangelists that spend a third of the time drawing people into the presence of God with worship music, a third of the time ministering to people's bodily needs, and a third of the time preaching that Jesus Christ is the only Name under heaven by which we MUST BE saved.  That's not necessarily the most exciting news for Universalists at face value who have major issues with TBN and teleevangelists.  However, if they can bring down those walls, then eventually any of us could go over there and teach UR and anything else without the risk of getting our heads cut off for preaching.  It's great to get your head cut off for Jesus Christ.  Don't misunderstand me on that.  But you don't get a lot done if everybody you send over there comes back in a few weeks in a body bag with their heads accompanying in a duffel bag like a bunch of bowling balls.

[martincisneros]

I don't think we've seen the technology explosion yet.  Next stage after digital television will probably be holograms that can be tailored to fill your room so that it's something interactive.  Simulator technology has already existed for training for airplanes, space shuttles, and more advanced travel craft.  But something approximating it will be in every home, and we'll probably be able to communicate with it more effectively than with the internet.  Better prediction and even control of the weather is just around the corner.  Cancer of any kind won't exist in 50 years.

[WhiteWings]

Who needs Muslim terrorists when in the U.S. we have Six-Flags :dontknow:

Not sure if the stories have gotten world-wide attention, so I'll clarify: Big rollercoaster type of park with all kinds of exotic rides for kids up to age 100.  Last year they sorta took someone's feet off with one of the rides.  A few days ago, I honestly could have sworn that I heard someone on Spanish television say that one of the parks had topped that by taking someone's head off.  I couldn't find an English equivalent of the story that day, so I'm not 100% sure if I heard right. 

Martin you have heard it right. There's was even a cartoon about it in the newspapers.
(look at the middle flag)

(http://www.nu.nl/mmbase/images/1635523)

[WhiteWings]

Better prediction and even control of the weather is just around the corner.  Cancer of any kind won't exist in 50 years.

Better prediction yes. But how much? We are talking about a chaotic system (butterfly effect)
Weather control is a fact since decades. Hurricances can be 'tuned down' with ???-oxide.
Problem is it's so toxic you trade of a hurricane for a toxic wasteland.

Cancer. Yes I have hopes for that too. But that hope is in teh gentech area. Many, especially Christians, seem to oppose to such technology. Even atheists do. Look at such a topic on a random forum and soon those who see benefits in gentech are accused of being like Dr. Joseph Mengle (jews with blue eyes experiments)

[arcticmonster2003]

   I hear you about wanting to focus on positive things, but the Word does teach us that its going to get darker as the time of the end of this World approaches.   Jesus didn't paint a very rosy picture when he talked about this you know.  It sounded pretty bad.   I think one thing that may be a sign that we are nearing the end is the invention of weapons of mass destruction.  For the first time in history man is capable of  worldwide destruction.  And Jesus did reveal to us that unless "those days are shortened, no flesh would survive".    And with the rise of radical Islam it seems apparent that something very big is happening not only in the natural,  but in the Spiritual realm. Radical Islamists are hell bent on acquiring atomic or nuclear weapons,  and on using them against the west.  So right now some very dark clouds are gathering.  I'm inclined to think that this will be the last century before our Lord's return.   And with all thats happening now, I don't see how we will get very far into this century!

This is how I see it as well guys, though I don't want to speculate too much on details, I agree that scriptures speak of great tribulation for those living in the last days, and even if this is not the last century, yet every generation has had great tribulation, but if this is the last couple of years then we can expect even worse tribulation than ever before. I personally have already accepted the fact that I may, in my lifetime, be subject to severe persecutions and possible execution for my maintaining my belief in Jesus Christ. Count the cost. The things of this world are passing away. People in many countries are experiencing this now, it could happen right here in the USA too, it could start tomorrow morning, thats how things work in this world, they catch you off guard. Just like in Noah's time. I do understand that your question is concerning the resurrection and not the tribulation, but for the moment its just hard to look past the tribulation, if you know what I mean.

[martincisneros]

Going to stick my head on the chopping block on something that may be proven wrong, but if not this century then perhaps within the next 250yrs IF IT EXISTS ALREADY:  I've been doing a lot of google searches recently, or in recent months, on the subject of "biological immortality" and that's different from indestructibility in the way that scientists use the term.  I have a feeling we've got the gene already or combination of genes already in our bodies, but either some toxin exists that we're producing naturally because of a change in the climate that'll have to be changed back with our technologies, God's plan, and other factors, or it's gone into recessive mode and we'll all either wind up eating nothing but walnuts every single day or never another day without avocadoes or some REALLY BIZZAR dietary change will have to be made, if by chance it's something chemical that's keeping us from having full genetic potential where that's concerned.

Some could say, prematurely, that God judged against our having it in Genesis and the Psalms, but I believe those verses are horrendously taken out of context when people go after the 70 or 80yr old verse or the 120yr old verse.  Was thinking through everything I've seen so far online about "biological immortality" and remembering some things I've seen certain ministers mention that didn't get their training in Hebrew in seminary but spent much of their childhood actually in the middle east, was thinking through a few verses that it's too late at night to track down all of the verse references -- and they don't specifically help on this subject anyway, but are implicit with the science and what I've heard about certain Hebrew words about what God created man to be, and it was more of a mental patchwork quilt that I was putting together that's not conclusive YET, but was more my setting myself into a listening mode for Him to say something 'cause I was getting deeply annoyed by any semblance of mortality still being in this body with how much my body's been aching and a hot shower wasn't helping too much, but was helping a little.  Body's just fussy over the weather or whatever, mainly around the ribs.

I'm more inclined to think it's going to be a matter of the suppression or the better regulation of some physiological process, some chemical produced in the body will have to either be turned completely off or somehow adjusted so that genes that are likely already there, since Isaiah promises living as long as trees in this age that we've entered into, without even some great miracle of immortality being granted yet, and while some might allegorize about being fruitful from Psalm 1 and other passages, the Isaiah passage seems to speak differently than those passages to me and seems to speak more to duration of physical existence even prior to a divine grant of indestructibility.

And again, scientists are aware of the phenomenon with a few animals in nature that barring accidents, catastrophic fights or other forms of harm, or really bad poisonings can live indefinitely ALREADY.  Wikipedia mentions three or four animals if you track the links from their "biological immortality" page beyond the info it mentions just on that page.  Nagging intuitive thing that while spirituality will help, attitude and diet's always beneficial as well as hygiene and other matters, there's not going to need to be some major awakening or genetic splicing with those particular genes from other animals, NECESSARILY, for living less than a thousand years to be a thing of the past, unless there's a major accident, something hateful done, or getting poisoned beyond the body's ability to deal with it.

I was thinking that I was solely sensing an opportunity or two heading my way for greatly extended life if I made the right decision or series of decisions, and while that may still have it's place, the sense is growing over the last few hours that it won't be something unique to certain areas of spiritual growth or whatever, but is going to be much more common to where MANY OF US may ALREADY know people that are going to live 200 to 400 years, not necessarily easily since even a year's not always the easiest thing ANYONE'S ever done, but EASIER than any of us realize, and while the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness towards us in Christ Jesus would unquestionably be behind it, it may not involve outstanding miracles in every case.