Talk of JESUS .com

Tag: Empire

  • Looking Back – Nations in the eyes of the LORD

    “So nation was destroyed by nation, and city by city, for God troubled them with every adversity. – 2 Chronicles 15:6 NKJV

    History from an eternal perspective

    We have begun this year of our Lord, 2018, in consideration of eternal time. Time beyond years and measurement shows a perspective of man peering beyond the beginning and ending of our mortal history.

    The Lord’s voice resounds through those God chooses in both spoken and written words. Therefore books of the Bible also relate stories of the Lord given to mortal men. 

    We occasionally hear God speaking through Prophets of events which the Lord will cause in the future. They speak of Israel and of nations familiar and forgotten. True prophets warn of the consequences of men and nations opposing the will of Almighty God.

    A few Prophets like Ezekiel, Daniel and John reveal events beyond the mortal timeline of all mankind, even to an apocalypse of the heavens and earth!

    Christ Jesus boldly proclaimed not only what was, but the unseen of time before man, now, and forever more.

    This Nation (U.S.) – Looking Back

    Without looking back Americans might not acknowledge some divergent views of actual history of our 17th century founding. (500 years, so long past; yet passes so quickly)

    Notice a Pennsylvania only east of the Alleghenies. You likely haven’t read how a George Washington surrender to the French may have led to the French and Indian War. 

    At the time of the U.S. Constitution, Colonial states claimed lands for future expansion.  America has always been a land of immigrants.

    We the people, while opposing fading European empires, conquered a new world from native nations. Then we the new world people defended it against immigrants from foreign lands of origins other than our own.

    Spain, England, France and other empires expanded then diminished, even to the point of America coming to their aid in the great wars of the twentieth century.

    Yet who remembers the fall (or even existence) of empires besides Rome?

    A Lesson for the Nations from Israel

    What does all of this have to do with the Bible, you may ask?

    Deuteronomy 9:

    “Hear, O Israel: you are to cross over the Jordan today, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than you, cities great and fortified up to heaven..

    4 “Do not say in your heart, after the LORD your God has thrust them out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the LORD has brought me in to possess this land,’ whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is driving them out before you.

    Israel would not only ignore the voice of the LORD though its Prophets, God’s own chosen people would ignore the Law given for their own holiness. A people of tradition has rejected its own traditions of the Lord their God.

    And empires to follow, including Spain, Great Britain and now the United States of America, which sometimes make claims to new lands of milk and honey, reject the rule of the Righteous One.

    The Lord God brings nations to renewed hope and crushes wickedness in the wilderness of the unknown.

    History beyond claims of conquerors & contentions of analysts

    We the people of the Lord really must hear more than quick sound-bytes of this hour. Godly men and women should seek more than a 60 second headline to the crowds.

    Even now, a boisterous tyrant or reasonable king may proclaim in an instant his partism message of good or evil. Will the world look beyond the agendas of mortals to the written word of Almighty God? Rarely, only the faithful.

    The Lord will lead a remnant of all the nations to eternal life. God has revealed His plan and chronicled events of the past for our understanding.

    Moses did not write the Books of the Law as the events unfolded. The LORD revealed the Beginning, the generations of Noah & Joseph, a great leader of Egypt. God gave instructions to priests, elders and common men and women. In addition to prophesies of the failings of Israel and other nations, the Bible records events for the discovery of God’s will in later generations. Yet will you read God’s word and claim its cautions?

    Looking Back

    “Do not say in your heart, after the LORD your God has thrust them out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the LORD has brought me in to possess this land,’… 

    This caution to a new conquering empire (Israel) might well serve as a lesson of history to many 21st century nations.

    This series will continue with scripture written or chronicled as historic evidence of events for others to read later.

    Stay tuned and read your Bible. It’s all there – history, that is; but we just give a headline glance to most of these pivotal events. For after all, it was a long time ago. What could that matter to a 21st century Christian?

    To be continued..,

     

     

     

     

     

  • A Temporary Throne – 22

    A Temporary Throne – 22

     And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. – Genesis 6:5 KJV

    CHAPTER 22

    THE LORD confused the men who would make a name for themselves. Their babble was unintelligible to me (but I have never had understanding of other languages). When they confused the meaning of one another, they began to bicker and ultimately go their own ways. (Is it not also true of those of the same language?)

    Yet I saw that men traveled to the ends of earth to ‘make a name’ for themselves.

    God had remedied the result of the sin of the moment, but God could not cure the root of our original sin, that ‘the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth.’

    And I saw their names and their aspirations on the tops of buildings and stadiums and on images of man, carved into stone and erected for the glory of men and not the glory of GOD.

    The buildings gathered men to glorify men like Pharaoh and Caesar. Men gathered to worship idols and colossus of men great in their own eyes: men who are not GOD. Statue and structure, large and small, glorified man and beast and the desires of every imagination of man’s heart, which is only evil.

    Buildings grew and strengthened with the knowledge of men, from the dust and water baked in God’s sun to the sand and ore of the earth forged in the heat of man’s own desire – desire to glorify the evil workings of his own sin-forged heart, which is only evil.

    I saw names of men, and not GOD, men like: Washington, Eiffel, Rockefeller, Sears, Trump and many more. I saw buildings standing in pride to the glory of men I do not know; buildings for companies of men invested in speculation of empire of riches taken from men, the imagination of whose hearts is only evil.

    The Lord showed me rise and fall of empire and building: from ancient Babylon and Thebes; to beyond London, New York, Taipei, and Dubai. All built to the glory of mankind, by secretive men and women, whose desires of their hearts from youth are only evil.

    To be continued…

    A Temporary Throne is an original work of Roger Harned,

    © Copyright 2013, All Rights Reserved by the author.

  • EMPIRE Fallen: Church Divided – Part 3

    EMPIRE Fallen: Church Divided – Part 3

    10 August, AD 2013 – This time in history.

    The Revelation of Jesus Christ to John 18:3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.

    Where does the Early Church fit into this history?

    The tragic answer includes many martyrs for Christ Jesus, including one who died on this day.

    10 August, AD 258 Laurence, Deacon and Martyr, died (b. ca. 225). You can read of the atrocities and horrors of his torture and death in Foxe’s Book of Martyrs.

    +

    Let God’s curse fall on anyone, including us or even an angel from heaven, who preaches a different kind of Good News than the one we preached to you. – Galatians 1:8 NLT

    AD 570 – Abū al-Qāsim Muḥammad – born in Mecca Arabia.  Not everyone accepted God’s message transmitted through Muhammad. Even in his own clan there were those who rejected his teachings, and many merchants actively opposed the message. 

    +

    The Holy Roman Empire – continued:

    10 August AD 955 The Battle of Lechfeld was a decisive victory of the forces of Otto the Great, King of the Germans, over the Magyar leaders. The Magyars retreated to the Carpathian Basin, where they settled into a more agricultural way of life and were eventually Christianized.

    Otto I is considered by many to be the founder of the Holy Roman Empire.  In order to unify and control the major territories of Germany, he established the Church-State Alliance; this strengthened his power and decreased the power of the duchies. He gave large grants of royal land to bishops and abbots, who became his royal vassals and were obligated to provide him with military and political services. It was successful for both the Church and the State because it had church officials ruling the land, but allowed Otto the power to appoint them.

    +

    The fall of Rome

    “Rome wasn’t built in a day and did not fall in one day.

    AD 235- AD 476 – A blow-by-blow account of the fall of the Roman Empire.

    The Empire Reorganized – The Church Prospers
    AD 257/258  Emporer Valerian issued edicts against the Christians. This series of persecution was not a general attack as had come from Decius. This was targeted at the bishops and the upper class Christians.

    In the 260’s the borders of the empire were being breached by barbarian tribes. The peace and security of the Roman Empire was threatened on every side. Emperor Gallienus sought to keep things in order – he could not protect the outer regions, so regional legions did their best. Territory was lost around the edges, but the empire was held intact.

    AD 284 – Diocletian became the emperor, and brings Maximian into his confidence. The two men rule the empire as a team, Diocletian ruling in the east and Maximian in the west. In effect, there were now 4 emperors, each waging war against the barbarian hordes in a different region.

    AD 300 – According to Eusebius, there were 40 churches in Rome. The third Christian century was coming to a good close – everything was good – the church was growing, church buildings were getting larger, and the Church was financially prosperous. The peace of Rome was good and the Christian Church was enjoying being a legitimate part of that peace.

    AD 306-324 – Civil war between the two halves of the Empire. Constantine won control of both halves and moved the capital from Rome to Byzantium, later renamed: Constantinople.

    +

    Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus Augustus – The first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity

    AD 325 – Constantine played an influential role in the proclamation of the Edict of Milan, which decreed religious tolerance throughout the empire. He called the First Council of Nicaea in 325, at which the Nicene Creed was professed by Christians.

    AD 337-395 – Emperor Constantine planned succession of the Roman Empire to be divided between his three sons, but war between them caused permanent division in AD 395.

    9 August, AD 378 – The Visigoths defeated Eastern Roman Emperor Valens.

    +

    AD 383 – Augustine arrives in Milan. After his conversion takes the position as bishop of Hippo  near his native Carthage, N. Africa, in 396, a position which he held until his death in AD 430.

    AD 401-410 – Visigoths make incursions into northern Italy and sack Rome.

    AD 429-435 – Vandals in N. Africa cut-off Roman grain supplies.

    AD 440-455 – Huns threaten Rome, are paid off, and then attack; then sack Rome.

    AD 476 – Last western emperor, Romulus Augustulus, is deposed by the barbarian general Odoacer who then rules Italy.

    +

    As you can see, “The Roman Empire fell long before Emperors gave up their false claims of leadership of the Roman citizens.

    The Church became divided with Empire.  The Church is up against continual opposition from without and within.

    Faithfulness to God, Christ Jesus, and the Holy Spirit has given example to pagan Empires of a nation under God.  Yet corruption of church leadership and division of the church has also weakened Christ’s church in the same way as divided and fallen Rome.

    The Gospel has been taken into all the world and Rome had a role in God’s plan.  Christ is opposed at every front by the enemies of the love of God and grace of the risen Christ Jesus.

    Matthew 24:14 – And the Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it; and then the end will come.