Friday, August 16, 2013

Baseball Mentioned In The Bible

When I ask people if they knew that baseball is mentioned in the Bible, they will usually respond and say, "oh yea, where"? And I will respond with Genesis 1:1 - "In the big inning" [beginning]. They will kinda laugh at me as being a silly old man. Then I will say that "Honda' is mentioned in the Bible, and again the question, where? And I will say the disciples went to the upper room in "One Accord" [Honda]. Now, I know that's stretching it a bit.

But when I tell them that just as Bible prophecy foretells future events, it also reveals some interesting circumstances that talk about the modern technology in our world today, they very skeptically look at me and say, "you've got to be kidding. Here are some examples:


1) Increase in Knowledge
Daniel 12:4 reads, "But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase." 

These words were spoken to Daniel when he asked for an explanation of some of the end-time prophecies that had been given to him. In short, he was told that the prophecies would not be understood until the time came for them to be fulfilled. We must be living in that time because the rapid pace of modern scientific discovery is enabling us to understand Daniel's prophecies for the first time.

2) Transportation
Again, the context is from Daniel 12:4 concerning the "time of the end." The closer we get to the return of Jesus, the more people will travel faster and farther. Stop and think of how we traveled just a single century ago. We've traded our horses in for automobiles, speedboats, jets, and rockets.

3) Mark of the Beast
Revelation 13:16-17 reveals that the Antichrist will control all buying and selling in the Tribulation economy. How does he achieve this? He does so by requiring his name or number to be put physically on each person's forehead or right hand. What kind of technology could enable such a mark? Some have suggested tattoos with magnetic ink and readers, but I personally think that an RFID chip will be implanted in our forehead or hand. And most certainly computer networks, e-commerce and the Internet will play a part.

4) World Evangelism
Jesus in Matthew 24:14 declared, "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come."

Technology is playing a big part in evangelism today and will continue to do so during the Tribulation. The whole world will even witness the death and resurrection of the Two Witnesses at the mid-point of the Tribulation. That means mass communication devices such as satellites, cell systems, cameras, television, and the Internet.

5) Image of the Antichrist
Revelation 13:13-15 reveals that an image made in the likeness of the Antichrist will be given the appearance of life and be able to cause "fire to come down from heaven."

We live in the only time when this could be done with modern technology, utilizing pyrotechnics or lasers for the fire and robotics or holograms for the "living" image.

6) Population Explosion
Revelation 9:16 and 14:20 contain prophecies that at the end of the Tribulation the decimated world population will still be able to produce a two hundred million man army that originates from the East and marches to their slaughter at Armageddon. That is possible only because of the exponential population growth of today. And what has produced that? Medical technology.

7) Nuclear Weapons
Nuclear weapons are strongly suggested in horrific descriptions of future calamity such as "their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet" (Zechariah 14:12), "the sky receded like a scroll" (Revelation 6:14-15), and "men will faint from terror... for the heavenly bodies will be shaken" (Luke 21:26).

With tens of thousands of nuclear bombs sitting unused, their time is short until launching. Complex technologies such as heavy metal refinement, nuclear plants, and inter-continental ballistic missiles for deployment are involved.

8) Limits on Technology
The events of the Tribulation also give us an indication of just how far technology can be allowed to go, and it's not that much farther. Take, for example, the fact that rare earth metals vital to the construction of today's technologies are quickly running out.

Or consider the fact that future events prophesied in the Bible involve all people, but only people on this earth. That pretty well makes it clear that we will not be colonizing any moons or planets in the near future. Plus, the destruction of infrastructure and power grids along with solar disruption by the end of the Tribulation may reveal why the soldiers at Armageddon are pictured as using horses and primitive weapons. Man's technology, along with most of the earth, will have been decimated.

We live in a time like no other, where dizzying strides in technology make end-time scenarios finally a reality.

Jesus is coming soon!

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