One of the things I wonder about with all the End Times talk is whether or not that guy with the EU knows he is supposed to be the Antichrist or not. If Javier Solana isn't really the AC, does it bother him that we think he is? Or does he even care what we think? I know if people thought I was the AC it would bother me. A lot. On the other hand, if he really is the AC, does he know that we're on to him? Does he know the jig is up, so to speak? It looks like it would be more difficult for him to carry out his plan for worldwide domination if folks realize that's what he's up to. Has he ever spoken publicly about being suspected of being the AC? If I was him I would sure want to issue a public denial, whether I was the actual AC or not. Maybe he doesn't know that we know, or think we know, that he is the AC and that is why he hasn't confirmed or denied the accusation.

Another thing I wonder about is - can't the AC, whoever or wherever he is, read? Why can't he read about what a sorry end he is going to come to and change his plan? Surely he knows God is gonna win in the end. If he is smart enough to take over the world and establish a one world government, surely he is smart enough to see how it is all going to end. It's all right there in Revelation, isn't it? Or, is it?

Come to think of it, where do we get the idea that the AC has a part to play in the End Times anyway? There's no mention of the AC at all in Revelation, at least that I can find. The only places we find any mention of the antichrist is in I John and II John, and there the reference is plural and pertains to people alive at the time John is writing. John doesn't say anything about some AC who is going to come in the distant future.

So, where does the idea that the antichrist is alive today come from?

Beats me. 

Another thing I wonder about the End Times is where do we get the idea that Revelation is about something that will happen, from John's perspective, in the distant future? In the 1st verse of Revelation John writes "The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place." Then in verse three John writes "...because the time is near."  How do we get the idea that the events in Revelation take place 2,000 plus years in the future when John uses words like "soon take place" and "time is near"? What a rip off for the poor folks John was writing to, the christians undergoing Roman and Jewish persecution. If John is telling them vindication is on the way, and judgement for the persecutors is near, when it is really something like 2,000 years in the future, what a disappointment that had to be! 

So how do we get from "near" and "soon" to sometime way off, like 2,000 years in the future?

Beats me.

These are just a few questions that come to mind when thinking about the End Times and trying to make sense of it all.

   Maybe with this blog I'll find out how many folks are actually reading this stuff. This one may make some people mad, or at least uncomfortable. But I think bloggers are supposed to be kind of edgy, weird, on (or over) the edge kind of writers. I hope I don't find out I'm just writing all this to myself and one or two close friends and family. Anyway, I've got questions. About Sunday morning. Like, why is it the way it is? Or at least why is it the way we seem to perceive it to be - boring? By this I mean we all seem to be pretty well bored on Sunday mornings.

   Given the Reason we all get together on Sundays, it seems like just a tad more enthusiasm might be in order. Aren't we there to celebrate Jesus, the bringer of the Good News? Even more than that, He is the Author, and Finisher or what the Good News is all about? Salvation!  Our salvation. Mine and yours and yours and yours over there, and that guy's in the corner, and ...So, why do we just sort of sit there like this is a high school civics class we are having to retake? Maybe some of us just partied too hard, or stayed up too late, the night before. Surely not. Baptists don't do that kind of thing, do we? If I am missing out on something please fill me in, okay? On the other hand, I've been told that this is just the way Baptists are supposed to act in church - dull. Well I don't buy that, or at least I don't buy that it is supposed to be that way.

   I've seen some churches where from the moment the music starts until it ends 45 minutes later the congregation is on their feet, clapping and stomping and raising their hands like they're actually having a good time and are excited about praising Jesus. Then there is all kinds of amening and clapping and comments during the sermon time too. Now I know those folks aren't anymore saved than we are, so what is up with this? Do they just appreciate it more, or do they feel like they have permission to be more expressive and emotional, or do they just go to bed earlier than we do Saturday nights?

   At rock or country concerts folks will stand on their feet for two or more hours listening to artists like ZZ Top, Bob Dylan, or Merle Haggard. At christian concerts people stand up for two or three hours, listening to and singing along with the music of Third Day or the Newsboys. So why do we feel like we are all wore out and tired and have to sit down just as soon as we can and stay that way during our praise and worship? Okay, so at rock concerts it is all about the artists and how folks idolize them and so forth and that is why they are standing up all the time. What about at christian concerts? Is it all about Third Day, or Jars of Clay, or Toby Mac - or is it all about Jesus? I hope it is all about Jesus. Don't we have the same Jesus to sing about and talk about on Sunday morning?

   Okay, I've probably griped enough and ticked enough folks off by now so I better wind down. All this is offered in love, okay. Maybe I'm way off and on the wrong track. I don't know, maybe it is the partying thing...

   One of the most important questions to ask ourselves when studying, or even just reading, Scripture is "what is the context?" This means getting a handle on the background of what is going on in that particular passage. This could mean understanding the historical setting, or the timing of when it was written, or who it was written to, or why it was written, or the who, what, why of the person speaking, or some combination of all of these. The thing to remember is that for the most part, the Bible wasn't actually written to us, but to some other folks 2,000 to 3,000 years ago.

   Now this doesn't mean that we can't learn from and glean great understanding and comfort and peace and knowledge from Scripture. But, we do need to remember that for the most part, it is someone else's mail we are reading when we read the Bible. Just imagine how confused you would be if you took a letter I had written to a wayward cousin about specific issues he needed to address in his life, and, without knowing anything about the erring cousin, tried to make a literal application to your life from what I had written. You could get into all kinds of trouble! For instance, suppose I told him that he needed to get away from that woman in his life and move back home with his parents. Now does that mean that you should go and divorce your spouse and move back home with your parents? Well, taken out of context you could sure end up with that kind of interpretation. But, if you understrand that I am addressing a specific person in a specific situation, and then look at the letter with the sort of corrective lens that this context gives you, it will make a lot more sense. You can still derive a helpful principle from what is written without getting yourself into trouble.

   You've probably heard people remark that you can make the Bible say anything you want it to. Well, unfortunately this seems to be the case, especially when we ignore context and just jump into the middle of a passage without looking at the what, when, and who, of the situation. You can take just about any idea, no matter how far out, and go chasing through the Bible and find a verse, taken out of context, that proves your point. So, it is always important to look at what comes before and after a particular passage, and at what the historical background is, before we jump up and go running off with some wild assumption about what God is actually saying.

   I have a good preacher friend who is so careful about staying in context when he teaches that he once said he would like to have "IN CONTEXT" engraved on his tombstone when he passed on. Now, he might have been joking, or he might not, kind of hard to tell without knowing the context, I guess.  

   The apostle Paul has to be one of the greatest preachers that ever lived. Just think about it. With only a few companions he spread the gospel throughout the whole Roman world in just twenty years. So what should we think about a bunch of folks that weren’t quite willing to believe what Paul had to say about Jesus? That is, what should we think about folks that felt like they had to check up on what this great preacher said, instead of just taking Paul’s word for it? Well, the Bible says that this bunch would eagerly receive what Paul said and then go running to the Scriptures every day to check up on poor old Paul. Every day. Man, do you think he got tired of these folks second-guessing him all the time? Why couldn’t they just take him at his word? Sounds like a bunch of jerks doesn’t it? I bet God was really mad at them!

   Guess what. God LOVED it! He loved those folks digging around in the Scriptures for themselves and checking up on what the preacher said, even if the preacher was the great Apostle Paul himself. Look at how Luke describes these folks in Acts 17:11:

 11Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. 

   Luke says these folks, these Bereans, were of noble character because they not only eagerly listened and received what Paul said, they also went and verified his claims for themselves. Just think what that means. God likes it when folks question stuff, when they go to the Book for answers, rather than just taking someone’s word for it.

   So, what does that mean for us, the Body of Christ at Trees?

   It looks like this passage gives us permission, maybe even encourages us, to question what we hear, to examine the scriptures for ourselves. Think about it, when Gray, or Danny, or anyone, preaches or teaches they throw out all kinds of scriptures, right? Are they just doing that to show off how much Bible they can quote? I don’t think so. The idea is that they are giving us the passages we need to go and examine the Scriptures for ourselves. They give us these references so we can look at things like “is that really the way to interpret that?”, or “is he staying in the context or jumping out of context?”

   Wouldn’t it be cool if every Sunday after Gray’s sermon there was a bunch of folks down front with their Bibles out, ready to discuss or challenge a point of Scripture?  Man, that would be what a really living Body, the Body of Christ, is all about!

   Oh yeah, by the way, don’t take my word for this. Go read it for yourselves – Acts 17:11.

Imagine what would happen if your knee suddenly decided it wanted to be a nose and jumped from it's normal place right up onto the middle of your face. That would certainly complicate things. What if you had a bad cold and your head was stopped up? Would you blow your knee? Your voice would sure sound peculiar, if you were even be able to talk at all! What about your leg, how would it work without a knee to hold it together? Would the bottom part just fall off, or just sort of go flopping along? What if your big toe talked an eye into changing places. How weird would that be? No more binocular vision, no more depth perception, and all you would see with one of your eyes would be the inside of your sock, and maybe some lint. Plus, you would look really strange with a big toe hanging out of your eye socket. Say goodbye to bilateral symmetry. Or what if your left ear got tired of being an ear and decided if it can't be a finger then it would just leave? So, there it goes, off to who knows where. Now, not only do you have a knee in the middle of your face, and a toe hanging from an eyesocket, but now your left ear has bailed out, leaving a peculiar looking hole in the side of your head.

What if the various body parts got to arguing with each other over which one was the most important? What if the mouth decided the liver wasn't important and the liver got it's feelings hurt and went off and pouted and then went on strike. The body wouldn't last long with no liver functions. Imagine the brain and heart got all puffed up and decided to have a contest to see which one was really the most important by stopping work. It wouldn't take long before it wouldn't matter anymore which one was most important because the body would be dead. 

All that sounds pretty funny, I guess. But that is just the kind of thing Paul talks about folks doing in the Body of Christ, the Church. In 1st Corinthians 12 Paul talks a good bit about how we are all different parts of the Body of Christ and should all work together, without jealousy or being puffed up and arrogant. He also says we should all support each other and look after each other. Paul teaches that there are many different kinds of parts to the Body, Each part has an important role to play in the functioning of the Body, the local church. Finding out what our roles are and then plugging in where we belong will make for a healthy Body. Fighting and arguing and being selfish with everybody struggling for position and trying to get their own way will kill the Body just as dead as a man with no liver, heart, or brain.

What if everyone wanted to preach and nobody wanted to cut the grass or clean the church? Well, we would be a noisy bunch in a really nasty building that we probably couldn't even get to for all the grown up weeds. Or what if everyone decided they wanted to teach Sunday School? Who would they teach? Teachers need students and if you don't believe it just try standing up and talking to yourself in an empty room for 45 minutes sometime. Some of the most important body parts may not even have anything to do with having church. Their role in our assembly might be to sit in the pew and recharge their battery for the coming week. The most important role in the church might just be someone that goes to work five or six days a week in a non-christian environment. By their quiet and humble example they shine a little light into the darkness.

It may take a bit of trial and error to find just where you fit in. Your place may not be where you think it is. You may have been an ear somewhere else but what Trees really needs now is a little toe. Maybe the foot that holds the whole rest of the church up is just a little shaky and needs a really stable little toe to go in and sort of settle things down. God does work in mysterious ways sometimes. Until we find our niche and start doing whatever function it is we are designed for, I don't believe we will be really content and happy. It just won't feel right until we find our spot and lock into it and get busy in God's Kingdom.