Pisteuomen - πιστευομεν - T. Michael W. Halcomb

A couple of weeks ago, I had one of those “aha” moments while reading through Mk. 13. I have argued in a previous post that there is no validity to referring to that chapter as apocalyptic (much less “the little apocalypse”). I argued in that same post that it is errant to read Mk. 13 as an eschatological treatise as well—that is, if by “eschatological” one is referring to the “end times” or the Second Coming of Christ, etc. A close, sensible contextual reading of Mk. 13 rules out any of the above readings (I realized this when, in a Bible study I was leading, one of a few recovering backwoods Dispensationalists said: “Michael, any person with a lick of sense or a shred of reading ability can see that this [Mk. 13] is not about the end of the world but about the Temple’s destruction in Jerusalem). I must say, a straightforward reading of Mk. 13 is one that results in understanding that this chapter is about the Temple’s destruction, not the world’s end and it is certainly not about the...

Do you think that Jesus would ever postpone the 2nd Coming? In the OT, we find the prophets praying all of the time for God's return and especially, God's impending judgment. Occasionally, they believe that indeed, God did postpone or delay His coming and judgment? Today, we live in a world that is so militaristic. One nation wants to war against another and wipe them off the face of the earth. But what if, instead of warring, we prayed for the salvation of one another (like the prophets did)? What if people stopped praying (like Mr. Hagee and McCain) for the quick judgment of the Middle East but for the salvation of Muslims, for instance? What if we asked God to delay His judgment and postpone His coming? Do you think He'd listen and do that?