I'm still somewhat rattled by the events of 06-06-06. Step upon step, it appears the ancient prophecies of Daniel and Revelation may be coming to pass. And, what's really scary, few are even noticing. But, more on that in my next commentary. Something else happened that same day that had nothing to do with prophecy. It had to do with our discussion board. And, it was because of me.

That's because I was the proverbial "bull in a china shop." The problem is, I haven't been spending enough time on our discussion board. As a result, I suddenly popped in and popped off and caused some major confusion.

How did I cause confusion? Evidently, I did it by stating my position on a thread where it may have been better I remained silent. Although I thought I knew what had been going on, I didn't. As a result, what I said came across like ... well, you know, like the proverbial bull.

The lesson learned is I need to spend much more time on our board. So, from now on I'll be speaking my mind more and available to answer your questions. It's crucial that everybody on the board understands my position on today's issues. That way they can decide if they want to participate on our board or not. So, let me share the way I view our present situation.

As I'm sure you know, we live in a day when the majority of Christians aren't watching world events and prophecy much anymore. And, I believe this is in direct violation to our Lord's command. If you recall, the first command our Lord gave in Matthew chapter 24 was for us to not allow ourselves to be deceived about His second coming. Why? Because, if we allow ourselves to become deceived in that area, we may not remain alert -- which is another of our Lord's commands.

Why is it so important for us Christians to stay alert? This is the way I see it: It's like Jesus said, if we had known when the thief was coming, we would have been ready for him. In other words, unlike today's popular view teaches, I believe the thief that Jesus was specifically referring to is the coming Antichrist. And, since the Antichrist triggers Christ's intervention for the sake of the elect, the appearing of the thief is directly linked to His second coming.

For some support to what I'm saying, let's take a look at something God said to the prophet Jeremiah. God asked him what he saw. Jeremiah said he saw a rod of an almond tree. God answered, "You have seen well, for I am watching over My word to perform it." (Jeremiah 1:11-12).

To better understand the meaning of this exchange, some verses in Daniel are helpful. Here Daniel was reading from the writings of the same prophet Jeremiah. He noticed that the time Jeremiah predicted for Israel's captivity to end had already passed. In other words, Daniel was doing what the majority of Christians today say is wrong. He was reading the events of his time into prophecy. Let's take a look at what Daniel said:

As it is written in the law of Moses, all this calamity has come on us; yet we have not sought the favor of the LORD our God by turning from our iniquity and giving attention to Your truth. Therefore the LORD has kept the calamity in store and brought it on us; for the LORD our God is righteous with respect to all His deeds which He has done, but we have not obeyed His voice (Daniel 9:13-14 New American Standard Bible).

Notice where Daniel says God "kept the calamity in store." Below these verses my NASB provides another possible translation for the above phrase. It says God has "watched over the evil." In other words, He was watching over His word to perform it.

This brings us back to that exchange between God and Jeremiah. It's evident the rod that the prophet saw implies God's promised punishment for Israel not obeying His voice -- His command. In this case, the punishment was Israel's coming Babylonian captivity. And, God was pleased that Jeremiah saw and understood it. Why? Because like we've learned, God is watching over His word to perform it. He had said through Moses that if Israel didn't obey His voice, Israel would be removed from the land.

For the same reason, it's important that we Christians stay alert and not allow ourselves to be deceived. If for no other reason, Jesus commanded us to stay alert. If we disobey His voice -- as I believe we are -- what Jesus promised will happen. The day of the Lord will come upon us as a thief. You see, He's still watching over His word to perform it.

You will notice that I have very strong beliefs regarding our time. As a result, I have come to believe that the pre-tribulation doctrine is not only wrong, it's extremely dangerous. If we take it to it's natural conclusion, there is no reason for us Christians to stay alert. And, we clearly aren't. 

However, even after saying all this, the pre-tribulation doctrine is not something I would expect others to reject in order to be welcome on our board. The reason is because, in time, I believe God will lead all His true, born again children into complete truth. And, He doesn't need me to do it for Him. Besides, I also understand that since I'm somewhat human, I could end up being the one who's wrong. So, there are only a few issues around which I have decided to draw a line. Here is what they are:

1. The Virgin Birth of Jesus Christ.

2. The Sinless Life of Jesus Christ.

3.  The Substitionary atonement of Jesus Christ.

4. The Bodily Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus Christ.

5. The Bodily Return of Jesus Christ.

6. The Resurrection of the Dead.

7. The teaching of Salvation by Grace through Faith.

8. The Deity of Jesus Christ.

9. The Trinity - The tri-equality, tri-essental (of the same essence), and 
the tri-eternality of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

10. The full authority of the Holy Scripture in all matters of Faith and 
practice. Generally, Verbal plenary confluent inspiration of the original 
autographs (Original copies of  Scripture).

If you can agree to the above primary elements of our Christian faith, and abide by a few rules, you are welcome to join us on our board and freely express your views. No matter how we believe about the other issues we sometimes fight over, if we have Jesus, we have it all.

Oh yea, there may be one more thing you may have to occasionally put up with.

The proverbial bull.