[Cardfan1]

^^ Define Irony: I post the Scripture verse in which God Himself declares the fact that unconverted men can never fathom the truths of the Bible because the whole concept is folly to them, and further that those concepts are not intellectually discerned, they are spiritually discerned under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Immediately then with that Scripture still hanging in the air, you come back and put up a rebuff citing an academic by the name of  Philip C Almond whose shingle gloriously declares that his expertise in the history of 'religious thought,'  is strictly based in the secular arena.

That is not to say the the good Prof Emeritus does not have any of his ducks in a row. The early Church struggled to understand prophecy which dealt with the 7 year Tribulation Period. And their writings detailing their thoughts are still out there to be looked at. But as of this day in time things have become much more clearly defined.

One night back in the days of Daniel ---  Nebuchadnezzar, (King of Babylon and the one who established the great systems of the world) had a vision that troubled him. As the King had deliberated over all that he had accomplished the question popped into his head-- Where was alll this to lead, and for man how would it all end? As mentioned the answer came from God in the form of a vision. The King saw a great statue with a head of gold the imagery of which was very troubling. The prophet Daniel though enslaved by Nebuchadnezzar was nonetheless a high ranking 'wise man' in the service of the King, who at times asked Daniel's council on various matters.

Daniel seeking understanding from God, was able to interpret the vision. The statue represented the history of man. The head of gold was Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian Empire. Then came the Medo-Persian Empire, Greecian Empire, and finally the Roman Empire. But Daniel still had questions and one of them was answered by the Arch Angel Gabriel.
Daniel 12:4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.

Saying the above to say two things: first, understanding of the end was not to come until the time of the end. And second, that would be the time when "knowledge increased." We are at that time as all knowledge is increasing exponentially. As I have said, in 1900 knowledge doubled every 100 years, by 1946 that number was down to 25 years, then it went to every 13 months, and now we are nearing doubling every 12 hours.

Not the guy who started all this off, King Nebuchadnezzar, nor Bill Gates, nor Albert Einstein, nor Stephen Hawking, or anyone else can say they've really got their head wrapped around the speed at which the history of men is culminating. That is none except the One Who created it all and like it or not, the end of all things is clearly spelled out in God's Word. Nobody can say the hour or the day, but as the Lord said; "Like in the spring when you see the trees put forth shoots, you know summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door."

Thus the importance of 'these things' within prophetic record becomes clear, and we have two choices. Blow it all off, or open our eyes to the truth.

So we should get dumber?

So we are back to the thread topic.  You hate liberals because they are getting too smart.