The cross and the future

I've considered the same thing and have no answer.

We are also in the longest silent period as far as direct revelation goes. Perhaps that has contributed to some of the naturalism that you and I have argued against as well as doubts about whether God ever truly interacted directly with men at all.

Before the flood, it is obvious that God interacted directly with Adam, Enoch, and Noah at a minimum. After the flood, the gaps between direct interaction were relatively short. The period between the testaments was the longest silence I know of until John penned "The end".

I would suppose the age of grace is also the age of faith.

 

I have considered the idea that when the rapture occurs, no one will notice. If Barna's research is to be believed, less than 10% of Americans have a biblical worldview. Other nations are probably as bad or worse. Given 3 or 4 more generations, you could see a very religious nation where no one missed the true believers... or else were glad to see them missing.

 

I think it's a very interesting question.

It does seem odd in one sense, especially the 400 or so years between the testaments. On the other hand it could be viewed as a natural progression. Started very slow (Noah), then GRADUALLY picked up speed until David, then Messiah, then progressing from the early church, and picking up speed through the middle ages through the reformation, and faster through the 19th century, then the incredible leap of the 20th century - which took us from prop speed to rocket speed - till now, in the 21st, primed to enter warp speed.

Good point, and that makes me wonder if there is some possible correlation to the 400 years of silence between the Testaments. Also, the period from the reformation till now is some 400 years, right? And didn't the last 150 - 200 years of the intertestament period result in the Pharisees 'altering', 'negating', or conforming much of the Law and tradition to that of men, things that God had so meticulously laid out? I'm real fuzzy on this. But I'm wondering if there could possibly be a correlation between that period and the past 150 - 200 years, with the emergence of modernism till now. In any case, the "increase of knowledge" and the increase in the speed of development of the past 100+ years is impossible to escape.

Very astute observation, IMHO. That, and the lust of self-fulfillment are the KEY factors in discerning what is presently going on in the church, I believe. And, with a few others, are key to understanding what's going on worldwide in an eschatological sense.

Another sharp observation, IMO. Might not take that long.

 

Seems I read somewhere a hunnert years ago or so, that the New Age belief was that at some future time "Gaia" would take those away who refused to accept the NA beliefs. The purpose for her "taking the renegades" would be to "purify" them so they could return and then fit into society and be a part of the ONENESS.

My thought at that time was that satan was priming his followers to accept the rapture when it occured!