As the sun goes down on the world, a Christian looks upward. We must refocus — since we actually and easily belong also to this world — tainted by a sin propensity inherited from our parents. (They got theirs from their parents who got theirs from their parents and so on.) We gaze skyward to where our precious Father and Savior has prepared a sinless residence, which awaits us at the time of our death or even before — at the snatching away of the Church at 1 Thessalonians 4 and 1 Corinthians 15. The shout of the Lord, as a commander inciting his troops, will pierce the sky. A trumpet will reverberate, or bombastically blast out. Bright angelic tones sound out like the sun bursting through clouds — and all of it happening in a moment, (indivisible time), in the twinkling of an eye. (the flapping of a wing,…
Tag: <span>Comforter</span>
“In 165, during the reign of Marcus Aurelius, a devastating epidemic swept through the Roman Empire.” “…it was the first appearance of Smallpox in the west, Zinsser (1934). “But, whatever the actual disease, it was lethal. During the fifteen year duration of the epidemic, from a quarter to a third of the empire’s population died from it, including Marcus Aurelius himself.” ” Then in 251 a new and equally devastating epidemic again swept the empire, hitting the rural areas as hard as the cities.” “This time it may have been measles.” “The Rise of Christianity” Rodney Stark “…the role they, (the plagues), likely played in the decline of Rome was ignored by historians until modern times.” ” again and again, the forward march of Roman power and world organization was interrupted by the only force against which political genius and military valor were utterly helpless — epidemic disease.” Zinsser…