In response to.....(this is a first draft)

The following verses were given as possible problems with a premillennialist view. read the comments here for real context

First off I must say I am not theologian and I have a great deal of respect for amillennialist. Many have gone before me, that are far wiser than me. But because I do believe in the perspicuity of scripture, I will give the answer to this that I think best fits it, in the brevity of a blog post. (Now that is a challenge!) Also I am not a Greek scholar by any means. I view it as a seminary warm up. So here is my Armature shot at it.

Ok now to tackle the passages to the best of my ability.
The passage of Mark 13:29-31.*
"Even so, you too, when you see these things happening, recognize that He is near, right at the door. Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place."
Now the key word in this passage is the word generation. Now the Greek word is translated generations here and it used quite a bit in the passage its self. . (Thank God for concordances)
In the Greek it is “genea� (1074 in your Strong’s based Concordance)
It means:�race, family, generation� **
As a mater of fact the NASB version puts a footnote at the bottom stating that it also means race. So we have a situation where a word means not just a generation but it could also mean a whole race, that being the Jewish race. In other words it’s the preservation of the Jewish race.
This is also the case for the passage quoted in Luke, same interpretation for the word Generations.
Luke 21:31-33**
“So you also, when you see these things happening, recognize that the kingdom of God is near. Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all things take place."

Now on to the passage in Matthew
Matthew 16:27-28**
"For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and WILL THEN REPAY EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS. Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom."

Now the key thing is the word kingdom in this passage.
In the Greek it is “basileia� (932 in your Strong’s based Concordance)
It means:� kingdom, sovereignty, royal power� **
As has been well pointed out this verse right here is right before Christ transfiguration. Where he reveals him self in his glorified self, I.E. his royal power. So he was speaking of his glory being revealed.


So I have more I could add I may do it in a later post (ie a couple of weeks from now).

*from the Zondervan Exhaustive Concordance
** NASB

You had better watch us Reformed Baptist

I saw this online the just yesterday. If you have not had your head in the sand then you will know about the recent riots among Muslims for cartoons of their prophet Muhammad. Which apparently is blasphemous to them and makes them really angry. Ok, just proof that I can laugh at my self. I laughed for a solid 10 min. It was amazing. If you don't get it IM, email me or call me Ill try to explain it to you. It is just to priceless. ok here is the link.

Oh and just for the record this is the most I have ever posted. Man I don't think I need to knock my self down patting my self on the back.

Oh... I see where you are coming from....

You ask your self where this guy coming from! Well look no further than these men. So many of these men I owe my thanks for my growth and shaping of my theology. There by influencing my personality, world view, morals, my soul, my prayers, my convictions, my ministry, my love, my passions, my hills I die on, and my hills I run over. To them I owe many thanks some more than others. Some very practical, others extremely theological (all though I submit you can not have one with out the other), but all receive great gratitude, from me, to these men. Some dead, some almost dead some, I’ll never meet. Some I see every week. Every one of them I love. Every one of them I thank God for. I wish I could say that I was just like many of these men; they are marks and goals along the way of my sanctification and men to follow in their foot steps. As I try to know Christ as they knew/know Christ. And to do what Paul said so many times and that is “imitate me, as I follow Christ�

Who are my influences?
Dr. Steven J. Lawson (my pastor)
Chris Barksdale (my pastor over the youth ministry that I work with)
Jeff Forester (my best friend and my mentor)
Mr. Mike Stanton(a dear brother who leads with me and over me in the middle school at church)
Tom Gibson (an elder at my church)
My entire Church (to many to name off)
Dr. John Piper
Dr. John MacArthur
Dan DaHaan
Jerry Bridges
Wane Grudem
Joshua Harris
C.J. Mahaney
Martin Luther
Jonathan Edwards
John Bunyan
John Foxx
John Calvin
R.C. Sproul
C. S. Lewis
Rick Holland
Phillip Johnson
My Father (Roy Munger)
My Mother(Cynthia Munger)
Church history

I have had many people influence me and they had influences or I have read quips of these men or had them quoted to me. I really look forward to knowing more of these guys though out my life time.
Who would I like to influence me more??
C.H. Surgeon
Cotton Mather
B.B. Warfield
J.C. Ryle
John Gill
The martyrs of the ages
A.W. Tozer
Elisabeth Elliot
John Knox
George Whitefield
Richard Baxter
A.W. Pink
Martin Lloyd-Jones
J. Vernon McGee
J. Gresham Machen
John Owen
J. Adams
Augustine
Charles Finny (just kidding)

Scott Stapp a Genuine Chirstian???

Me not only loving rock music but also being some what of a rock history buff this is very interesting to me. Scott Stapp, formerly of Creed, has said alot of interesting stuff in an interview with Chirstianity Today back in 2004. Things about how he was not right with God while he was in Creed and how he now has turned some things around. He dont have every thing right but he says alot of good things that I think are very telling and that i can relate to in my own tesitimony.But time is always the best indicator of how these stories flesh them selves out.

The Crooked End of the Spear

Just recently I went and saw The End of The Spear; it is the story of Nick Saint, his son and a cannibal tribe in Ecuador. I was very disappointed to hear that they had cast an openly gay activist, Chad Allen for the role of Nick/Steve Saint which has bad enough implications as it is, but after seeing the movie I was even more appalled at its almost overt omission of the Gospel its self. Some of what I will say here might be mere speculation. I promise to keep that to a minimum. I must say that me, personally, I have not read any books on the story of these faithful men, but I have heard their stories. And have been impacted by quotes of the men who were martyred.

The Gospel was hidden.
There was only one verse quoted in the entire movie. It was the translated verse of John 3:16. And it was simply a means to pacify. I did not have a problem with the way they translated the verse. But it was the way they didn’t have any more translated that bothered me.
The need for the gospel was never really discussed. These people needing to stop killing each other was mentioned, the fact that the missionaries wanted to be ‘friends’ was mentioned, but the word hell, haa! , who uses that word any more, the way it is meant to be used. Christ lordship and sin was never mentioned in the movie, not once. Olsten would have been proud. There were so many places where the Gospel could have been introduced. No, the story was about how we could reconcile a son and his father’s murderer, and how to westernize a tribe and get it medicine. All this is great, but the gospel was scarcely there.
If I had no idea of the story, or the personal testimonies of the men who gave every thing, I could assume that they could have very well might have been UN aid workers. But no these men gave everything for the Gospel. It was foolishness, not just being nice to your fellow humans, it was greater than that. Sure they did not want the tribe to be wiped out but they did not want to see these people to die with out knowledge of Christ. They did not just want to be friends they wanted them to become brothers and sisters in Christ. It went deeper than to reform murderers. No it was about changing their hearts. Not with a message of peace, but with the message of Christ.
One point has been made to me, “But the movie showed a persons life changing, and them getting happier because of being a Christian�. Well to be honest a Hindu convert can be persuaded to be nice to people by doing good things like, administering medicine to mortal enemies and stop murdering people. Matter of fact a Hindu would have loved the verse that they quoted to the tribe’s man, about “not spearing back after he had been speared.� These are fruits of a Christian true, but it does not make us entirely distinctive from any other person’s good deeds, or an Atheist good deeds.
So what sets the Gospel apart is the distinctive person of Christ. Christ was left out. I know there was allusions to Him, very few, matter of fact. I tried asking my self during the movie why they were down there, from the perspective of the movie and knowing only what the movie told you. I challenge you to do the same. I would submit to you that Christ will not come to mind if you approach it with a fresh mind. This should have been a bold statement for the Gospel like the lives of the men and women who gave it all for this tribe of murderers.
The sovereignty of God was not explored.
When Steve Saint was comforting his son, Gods control of the situation was not mentioned like I would think it would be. God sovereignty over the situation was never even mentioned in the movie or even really hinted at. One would think that a missionary would have come to terms in a situation like this with the fact that they very well may die trying to show Christ to these people. The sovereignty was of great comfort in this stituation and would have been a great under lying theme for the movie.
Jim Eliot was portrayed as an Idiot.
I am sure that Jim Eliot was a fun guy. But the way He was portrayed in this movie was as, seemed to me, an absolute Imbecile. He said very few intelligent things although, he had one serious part. And he did not really seem to portray the gospel which, if anybody knows Jim Eliot, he was sold out for the cross. It was his life and death, and it seemed all for not in this movie. You never saw Jim’s real concern for the tribesmen.
The Last part of the film was weird
I really did not like the way the movie ended. It was really confusing. There was allot of crying, a lot of overly dramatic music. The part about jumping the boa was some what confusing. I understand that it may have been their god but I honestly did not get the hang up with the boa. It flashed back to show the death of Nick Saint and this time he was experiencing some sort of state of ecstasy and a vision of ghost like things swirling around his head. I can understand why Steve got so emotional visiting the site where his father died, but the best way to describe it was, trippy.
It tried to establish the Goodness of men.
The movie really tried to play off the goodness of the tribes men. I don’t know if the mercy really did happen with the natives that spared each other in the movie. I got the impression, from the movie, that Mincayani was really good down inside, and that he just needed a little help. He was getting tired of all the killing. I never really got the impression, from what I have heard, that the Mincayani was going around sparing anyone’s life, women and children for that matter. I always looked at the story as giving a picture of mans utter depravity, and Gods great grace.

On the whole if you are curious about the movie go see it. Dont see it for the great acting cause its non-existent, but if you want it accurate and in the sprit of the original story in all of its beauty then don’t look to the movie to do so it just isn’t.

The Crooked End of the Spear

Just recently I went and saw The End of The Spear; it is the story of Nick and Steive Saint and a cannibal tribe in Ecuador. I was very disappointed to hear that they had cast an openly gay activist for the role of Nick Saint witch has bad enough implications as it is, but after seeing the movie I was even more appalled at its almost overt omission of the Gospel its self. Some of what I will say here might me mere speculation. I promise to keep that to a minimum.I must say that me personaly i have not read any books on the story of these faithful men, but i have heard their stories, have been impacted by quotes of the men who were marytered
Jim Eliot was portrayed as an Idiot.
I am sure that Jim Eliot was a fun guy. But the way He was portrayed in this movie was as, seemed to me, an absolute Imbecile. He said very few intelligent things although he had one serious part. And he did not really seem to portray the gospel witch if anybody
The Gospel was hidden.
There was only one verse quoted in the entire movie. It was the translated verse of John 3:16. And it was simply a means to pacify. The need for the gospel was never really discussed. These people needing to stop killing each other was mentioned, the fact that the missionaries wanted to be ‘friends’ was mentioned, but the word hell, haa , who uses that word any more the way it is meant to be used. Christ lordship and sin was never mentioned in the movie. Olsten would have been proud. There were so many places where the Gospel could have been introduced. No the story was about how we could reconcile a son and his fathers murderer, and how to westernize a tribe and get it medicine. All this is great, but the gospel was scarcely there. If I had no idea of the story, or the personal testimonies of the men who gave every thing I could assume that they could have very well might have been UN aid workers. But no these men gave everything for the Gospel. It was foolishness, not niceness or just being nice to your fellow humans
The sovereignty of God was denied.
When Steve Saint was comforting his son, Gods control of the situation was not mentioned like I would think it would be. His control over the situation was never even mentioned in the movie. One would think that a missionary would have come to terms in a situation like this. It is never even hinted at. I think this would have been a great theme
Martyrdom was mocked with a hyper warm fuzzy experience

It tried to establish the Goodness of men.
The movie really tried to play off the goodness of these men. I don’t know if the mercy really did happen with the natives I got the big impression that Mincayani was really good down inside he just needed a little help. He was getting tired of all the killing. I never really got the impresion from the story that The tribes%

The Random Reformed Screaming Pirate

so its been a really long time sense i have blogged. this is not my first priority right now. But i have a few brewing. So fret not. i will post some time this month. God bless. And remember His grace.