The Preacher Pollard Blog

Resistance Isn’t Futile: Standing Firm in a Cultural Winter

Brent Pollard

Have you looked around at the world lately—the headlines, the cultural divisions—and felt completely exhausted?

It feels like we’re living through a cold civil war: polarization is everywhere, institutions are in turmoil, and those holding fast to timeless truth and faith may feel the ground shifting beneath their feet.

Are We Living Through a Fourth Turning?

In 1997, historians William Strauss and Neil Howe published The Fourth Turning, proposing that societies move through 80- to 100-year cycles shaped like the four seasons—a pattern they traced across centuries of history.

Howe and Strauss portray history as a cycle of seasons: Spring, when society takes root and grows; Summer, when culture comes into full bloom; and Autumn, when divisions deepen, and the first signs of unraveling appear. Then comes Winter—the “Fourth Turning”—a period of profound crisis, institutional breakdown, and fierce struggle over the future.

According to their research, we’re now right in the heart of that winter. The claim comes from Neil Howe’s 2023 sequel, The Fourth Turning Is Here. William Strauss died in 2007.

Bible students may recognize this familiar pattern: the Old Testament repeatedly recounts cycles of faithfulness and apostasy. The Book of Judges traces the cycle again and again—Israel serves the Lord, drifts into idolatry, suffers oppression, cries out, and is delivered. Yet, as the writer observes, “when the judge died, they would turn back and act more corruptly than their fathers” (Judges 2.19). Solomon’s words capture the pattern: “there is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1.9).

“Resistance Is Futile”: The Borg and the Spirit of the Age

Just two months before the book’s release, Star Trek: First Contact landed in theaters, bringing Earth face-to-face with an existential threat: the Borg, a relentless, hive-minded cybernetic race that conquers worlds not merely by destroying them, but by absorbing them.

As the Borg ship bears down on Earth, it delivers a chilling ultimatum to the fleet defending the planet: “Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile.”

When I heard that line recently, I stopped in my tracks. Isn’t that exactly the message our culture is sending believers today?

The loudest voices, amplified by the biggest megaphones in media, entertainment, and the halls of power, often deliver the same message: Everything you’ve built and believe in will be changed and absorbed into a new agenda. So don’t stand firm. Give up. Assimilate. Resistance is futile.

That strategy is nothing new. When Nebuchadnezzar brought the young men of Judah to Babylon, he didn’t cast them into a dungeon—he sent them to school. He had them learn “the literature and language of the Chaldeans,” dine at the king’s table, and trade their God-honoring names for new ones (Daniel 1.4–7). Babylon wasn’t trying to destroy Daniel; it was trying to absorb him. But “Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself” (Daniel 1.8). Paul’s charge is the same: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12.2).

When Weariness Sets In

In the depths of a long winter, it’s easy to believe that lie. Weariness sets in, cynicism creeps closer, and we start to wonder: What’s the point of holding the line when the tide feels too strong?

Elijah knew the feeling. After his victory on Mount Carmel, he fled into the wilderness, exhausted and certain the battle was lost. “I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away” (1 Kings 19.10). But God set the record straight: “Yet I will leave 7,000 in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal” (1 Kings 19.18). Elijah was never as alone as he felt—and neither are you.

Why Resistance Isn’t Futile

Here’s the truth: Resistance isn’t futile—it’s essential.

God never calls His people to surrender to the spirit of the age; He calls them to resist. “Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4.7). Paul urges us to “take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm” (Ephesians 6.13).

Even in the movie, the Borg seem invincible when their opponents are scattered, isolated, and demoralized. But when the defenders stand together and hold their ground, the tide begins to turn. With Picard’s arrival and his order to focus the fleet’s phasers and photon torpedoes on a single target, the Borg cube is destroyed—and the immediate threat to twenty-fourth-century Earth comes to an end.

Scripture taught this lesson long before Hollywood: “If one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart” (Ecclesiastes 4.12). On the plain of Dura, as all Babylon bowed before the golden image, three young men stood united and refused: “But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up” (Daniel 3.18).

Winter Never Lasts Forever

Strauss and Howe underscored a powerful truth about every Fourth Turning: winter never lasts forever. Spring always returns, and from the rubble of each ending, an entirely new era emerges.

God embedded that promise in creation itself: “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease” (Genesis 8.22).

But who will shape the new Spring? Not those who gave in to panic or abandoned their convictions to fit in. It will be shaped by those who endured—who held fast to their faith, cared for their neighbors, protected their families, and stood firm in the truth when the pressure was greatest.

Babylon learned that lesson the hard way. The empire that sought to absorb God’s people fell in a single night (Daniel 5.30–31). Yet “Daniel continued until the first year of Cyrus the king” (Daniel 1.21)—the very year God moved Cyrus to send His people home to rebuild (Ezra 1.1–3). The assimilators were gone. The faithful remnant lived to plant the next spring.

Don’t Grow Weary in Doing Good

Scripture reminds us again and again: Don’t grow weary in doing good. In due time, we’ll reap a harvest if we don’t give up (Galatians 6.9; 2 Thessalonians 3.13). Cultural waves may seem unstoppable—until, suddenly, they break.

The world says resistance is futile. God says otherwise: “Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15.58).

So don’t lose heart this “winter.” Stand firm, keep building, and let your light shine. The perseverance you show today is sowing the seeds for tomorrow’s spring.

Go And Sin No More

Carl Pollard

Imagine every sin you’ve committed this past week being displayed on a screen for everyone to see. Every thought, every word, every private moment. Now imagine the people watching get to decide what happens to you. That’s an uncomfortable thought! But what makes it worse is every person judging your sins has sins of their own.

In John 8, we find a woman caught in adultery, surrounded by religious leaders ready to condemn her. They bring her before Jesus, hoping to trap Him. Interestingly, adultery involves two people, yet only the woman is brought forward. The Law condemned both parties (Leviticus 20:10). These men were more interested in trapping Jesus than administering justice.

And Jesus exposes their hypocrisy by saying, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her” (John 8:7). And one by one, her accusers walk away.

You can be right about someone’s sin and still be wrong in how you handle it. You can defend biblical truth with an unbiblical attitude. You can become so consumed with exposing someone else’s failures that you overlook your own! When we discover someone’s sin, is our first instinct to help them or tell somebody?

But the account doesn’t end with the accusers leaving. Jesus turns to the woman and says, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more” (John 8:11). Jesus offers mercy AND a command to repent. He doesn’t excuse her adultery. He doesn’t pretend her choices were harmless. He shows compassion while demanding change.

That’s something our world desperately needs to understand. Love doesn’t require approving of everything someone does. Sometimes the most loving thing we can do is confront what is destroying someone spiritually.

We all need the mercy Jesus demonstrated. Romans 3:23 reminds us that everyone has sinned. We’ve all needed forgiveness, and we’ve all had sins we needed to abandon. Repentance doesn’t mean we’ll never stumble again. It means we’ve stopped making peace with sin. There’s a big difference between struggling against temptation and just surrendering to it.

So the challenge is this, if you’re holding a stone, remember how much mercy God has shown you. If you’re standing guilty before God, don’t mistake His mercy for permission to continue sinning.

Jesus offers forgiveness, but He also calls us to a changed life.

Leviathan

Gary Pollard

When we read the book of Job or study it in class, we spend a lot of time on the first couple of chapters, briefly summarize what Job’s friends said, skip over Elihu for the most part (except maybe to decry the “arrogance of youth”), and dig deep again by chapter 38. That’s fair! Most of those chapters read like discussions we may have had with our siblings when we were little: “Yeah huh,” “Nuh uh,” “Yeah huh,” “Nuh uh,” for dozens of chapters.¹ It can be tedious, and Job’s bitterness (from soul-crushing trauma) doesn’t do much for one’s weekend disposition. Still, to read everything Job accused God of either doing or allowing (which in our legal system is practically the same thing), and to still be ultimately considered righteous is encouraging. Most of us have probably struggled at some point with the coexistence of a loving God and senseless suffering. “Bone cancer in children” is not unique to mid-2000s atheism. The tedious chapters between the angel-adversary-God section and the leviathan-behemoth-where-were-you-when section are well worth our study.

That said, what was leviathan? I could (and maybe should?) end this article with, “We don’t know for sure.” But this is a series on celestial things in scripture, so I get to speculate. There is some evidence (as presented by the meticulous research of others, whose primary sources I’ve checked with skepticism and found to be plausible) points to ancient cultures all over the world using people (e.g. Gilgamesh, Nergal, Indra, Hercules, etc. for Mars) to represent celestial bodies and events.² They also used animals like dragons, cows, bulls, serpents, etc. for the same purpose — sometimes for the same celestial body or event.

I don’t doubt for a second that some kind of aquatic dinosaur was probably the earthly counterpart to whatever leviathan was. I do doubt that people in Job’s day had submarines and sonar and other remote sensing technologies, so it may be safe to say that leviathan’s earthly counterpart is extinct. True, we understand so little about our oceans — but we have to be at least somewhat ahead of the (probably) global catastrophe survivors who lived in Job’s day. Apparently these creatures spent time in bodies of water near human civilization and were instantly recognizable.

Looking at ancient near eastern literature as a whole, it seems the inspiration for leviathan could have been celestial. This appears to have been true of the dragon, too, which plays a prominent role in almost every culture’s mythology.

To cut a very long story short (and oversimplify it in the process), the heavens were often visualized by ancient cultures as being a cosmic sea. At some point, from this sea came a dragon/serpent/sea monster that brought great destruction. Lotan (Canaanite) was the “twisting serpent” (c.f. Is 27.1; Ps 74.14) defeated by Baal³ and Anat⁴. Kur (Sumer) was the serpent who guarded the cosmic waters and was defeated by Ninurta or Enki. Similar themes appear in Egypt (Sekhmet/Amen-Ra), India (Kali/Shiva & Vritra/Indra), Mesoamerica (Cipactli/Quetzalcoatl/Tezcatlipoca), China (Gongong/Yinglong), and Native American folklore (like Uktena of the Cherokee, Mishipeshu/Animikiig of the Great Lakes, Unktehi/Wakinyan of the Lakota, and many others). All are described with language very similar to leviathan in Job, but especially with Rahab in Isaiah 27 and Psalm 74.

As fun as it is to speculate and pattern match, the fact is that there’s still uncertainty. Even if the word leviathan is cognate with lotan or abyss with tiamat, this does not necessarily prove that the two are perfectly interchangeable. Before God gave his name as YHWH to Moses in Exodus 3, he was known most often by some form of El. El was the chief Canaanite deity, possibly the planet Saturn. Unlike the Canaanite-speaking Israelites, however, El of Canaan was married to Asherah and was the father of Baal, Yam, Mot, and Anat. Does that remotely resemble Elohim of the Old Testament? God’s defeat of the twisting serpent could also be a taunt against neighboring religions, not a conflation of God with the Canaanite El.

So while leviathan shares some fascinating parallels with serpent or dragon-like creatures in global mythology — with a compelling case made for their identity as celestial bodies or phenomena — we simply do not know enough to identify this incredible creature with certainty. Leviathan existed to showcase God’s power: it was a created thing, but far too powerful for humanity to tame. God, being far more powerful than humanity, is the only one able to defeat the twisting serpent.

^{1 Do they still argue like this today? Am I officially old?}

^{2 Cochrane, E. (1997). Martian metamorphosis. Aeon Press. See also Cardona, D. (2006). God star. Trafford. and Talbot, D. (1980). The Saturn myth. Doubleday. These are great resources if you wish to be ostracized by every branch of mainstream scholarly discipline. If you choose to read these, I suggest two things: 1. Check their work against the ancient sources they cite, and 2. Discard just about everything they say about God. Their value is in providing a comprehensive survey of global mythologies from a different perspective (that doesn’t blame everything on aliens), and offering a theory with remarkable internal consistency that brings clarity to many obscure symbols in ancient myth. Of the many different views I’ve studied to make sense of the distant past, theirs is the most reasonable and consistent. Again, once the bones are picked out.}

^{3 Baal Hadad has been identified with the planets Mars, Venus, and Saturn. The strongest evidence seems to lean in favor of either Mars (attributes) or Saturn (linguistics).}

^{4 Anath was described as a star in one of the Ras Shamra tablets. Anahid of the Persians is explicitly named as the planet Venus (Bundahish 5.1, “…the planet Venus [Anahid] unto Sahaves…”).}

Coin Collectors

Neal Pollard

Coin collecting is big business. Projections indicate that this industry is expected to double from $20.9 billion to $47.5 billion in the next decade, driven by enthusiastic numismatics (the fancy term for coin collectors). Coins are appealing to the nostalgic, the historian, and the investor. We are fascinated by cultures of the past, even the long past. The oldest known coin is the Lydian Lion, dating to the late 7th-Century B.C., a gold and silver alloy coin known as electrum. Several other coins from nearly that long ago have been found around the world, from Ionia, India, China, Greece, and the Persian Empire (info from Guinness World Records and Market Research Future websites).

Think about how frequently inspired Bible writers “collect” coins to communicate the Creator’s commands and share heavenly wisdom. We are wise to invest in the lessons they contain.

The parable of the lost coin (Luke 15:8-10), which features the drachma (or silver coin, a common laborer’s daily wage) teaches the value of a human soul to God.
The parable of the workers in the vineyard (Matthew 20:2ff), each paid a denarius (also a silver coin equal to a laborer’s daily wage; a Roman penny), teaches the urgency of following Christ and the perfect impartiality of our gracious God.
The parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37) uses two denarii to help paint the picture of compassion shown by one who is truly a “good neighbor” to one in need.
The illustration of five sparrows sold for two cents (Luke 12:6), a cent being an assarion (or 1/16 of a day’s wage), shows the minute degree of God’s care and concern for us and what happens to us.
The incident of the temple tax (Matthew 17:24-27), which calls for a didrachma (two drachma coin) and which ends with Peter finding the miraculously supplied fish that had swallowed a stater (four drachma coin) with which Jesus and Peter could pay their tax, shows both Jesus’ exemption from human expectations as well as His example of subjection to government.
The scribes’ and chief priests’ attempted trap of Jesus concerning paying taxes to Caesar (Luke 20:20-26) causes Jesus to use a denarius to answer them, indicating that God should be given what is due Him and that government is as well.
The incident of the widow’s mite (Mark 12:41-44) involves a fractional amount of money, called the lepta (1/128 of a denarius). The widow put her last two lepta into the temple treasury, and Jesus uses her utterly sacrificial giving to show who is truly rich and how heaven regards such sacrificial choices.
The incident of Judas’ betrayal of Jesus for thirty pieces of silver (Matthew 27:3-10), an amount impossible to determine but literally thirty pieces of that precious metal, demonstrates how cheaply a follower of Jesus sold Him out to those who hated Him and wanted Him dead.
The incident of the moneychangers, where Jesus poured out their coins (kerma, usually small copper coins)(John 2:15), demonstrates how misplaced our priorities can be in the name of worship and service to God.
The teaching of Jesus concerning the last cent (Luke 12:59)(the lepta or mite like that which the widow put into the treasury), is used to illustrate the greater value of using righteous judgment over prideful self-interest.

Money has long been used in civilization (the first mention of it in the Bible is Genesis 17:12-13, where the price of a servant is cited in God’s instructions to Abraham about circumcision). God takes something central to human survival and uses it to relate important spiritual principles to us. Just as He does with institutions like marriage (Eph. 5:22-33), God takes items that are such integral parts of our lives and teaches us with them. The greater question is, will we invest in the valuable lessons He is making available to us?

Is Chronic Illness A Sign Of Sin? What The Bible Really Says

Brent Pollard

Some believe chronic illness is evidence of unrepentant sin or demonic oppression. Before evaluating that claim, we should consider how the Fall affected the human body.

From “Very Good” to Death: How the Fall Changed Human Life

When God created the world, and all it contains, He declared it very good (Genesis 1.31). This was no ordinary superlative; it expressed the harmony, beauty, and fitness of all He had made. Goodness, then, is not a human construct but a divine attribute woven into creation. This declaration also suggests that humanity’s fall corrupted what was good from the beginning.

God warned that disobedience would bring death (Genesis 2.16-17). This death involved separation from God and, because humanity was barred from the tree of life, the loss of the perfect food that sustained physical immortality (Genesis 3.22-24). Thus, the Fall brought both spiritual and physical death.

The process became fully apparent only after the effects of the Global Flood took hold. Before then, people lived for hundreds of years; afterward, lifespans declined to “by measure of strength” eighty years (Psalm 90.10). In this way, as mortality replaced immortality, death became the natural end of human life.

The Curse, Genetic Decay, and Shorter Lifespans

What happened to fallen humanity? In short, life no longer supported longevity. Adam and Eve would have had pristine DNA, free of flaws, copying errors, and hereditary diseases. As a result, their descendants could live for centuries and intermarry without the genetic risks people face today. Over generations, however, those conditions changed, and genetic vulnerabilities became increasingly significant.

After the Fall, the curse of decay described in Romans 8.20-22 entered the physical world. As cells copied genetic material, they began accumulating errors. These mutations were passed down through generations, gradually altering the human genome. In this account, mutations are overwhelmingly degenerative, leaving each generation with a slightly more degraded genome than the one before.

At the time of Noah’s Flood, humanity’s gene pool shrank to just eight people. Mutations within Noah’s family may have been passed down and become more common over generations, potentially contributing to an increase in genetic defects and a decline in lifespans.

Cut off from the Tree of Life, humans lost the divine sustaining power that may have prevented or reversed physical aging. Under the curse, natural decay led to genetic mutations that accumulated and compounded over generations, gradually diminishing human vitality to the limits we observe today.

Is All Sickness Caused by Sin or Demonic Oppression?

It is fair to attribute sickness and disease to the fallen human condition before considering other causes, such as demonic oppression. However, some attribute all illness to demonic oppression or other causes stemming from unrepentant sin, implying that chronically ill people brought their condition upon themselves.

Jesus’ disciples shared the assumption that the blind beggar’s congenital blindness resulted from his sins or his parents’ sins (John 9.2). Jesus rejected this view, explaining that the man’s blindness was not a basis for blame but an opportunity to reveal God’s work (John 9.3).

Paul was told something similar when he repeatedly pleaded for God to remove his “thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment” him (2 Corinthians 12.7). God did not remove the thorn—which some believe was a physical ailment—nor did He blame Paul for it. Instead, He showed Paul that the torment revealed the perfection of His power in weakness: His grace (2 Corinthians 12.9). In neither instance is the sufferer identified as a sinner who must repent to be healed or relieved; instead, relief—or strength to persevere—comes from God.

Lessons from Job’s Friends

We should therefore avoid blaming people for physical suffering, lest we resemble Job’s faithless friends, Bildad, Eliphaz, and Zophar. They repeatedly urged Job to repent of the hidden sin they assumed had caused his suffering (Job 8.5-6; 11.13-14; 22.23). Eliphaz even claimed that a dream had revealed truths about sinners that explained Job’s condition (Job 4.12-19).

Yet Job was righteous, and God allowed Satan to afflict him to demonstrate his righteousness. When God later appeared to Job and his companions, He led Job to repent—not of a hidden sin that had caused his adversity, but of speaking confidently about what he did not understand (Job 42.3).

The Woman Bent Double: Affliction Without Accusation

One notable account describes a woman who had suffered for eighteen years from a chronic condition attributed to Satanic influence. A spirit had left her “bent double,” unable to straighten up (Luke 13.11). Jesus nevertheless called her a “daughter of Abraham,” affirming her covenant relationship with God (Luke 13.16). The account does not link her affliction to unrepentant sin or suggest that she had to confess a hidden offense before being healed. Afterward, she glorified God (Luke 13.13).

The question is not whether Scripture records illnesses caused by evil spirits—it does—but who today has the authority to identify such a cause in another person. Jesus’ knowledge of the woman’s condition does not grant that authority to those who explain another person’s suffering. Neither the severity nor the duration of an illness proves demonic responsibility, much less hidden sin.

What Scripture Tells the Sick to Do

Scripture offers practical guidance for the sick. Timothy suffered from stomach problems and “frequent ailments” of unknown cause, and Paul recommended wine as medicine (1 Timothy 5.23). This suggests seeking medicinal remedies. Paul also traveled with a physician (Colossians 4.14). In addition, the sick may ask the elders to pray for them and anoint them with oil (James 5.14-15).

Can Illness Be God’s Discipline?

It would be intellectually dishonest to ignore the rest of James 5.15, which says that the elders’ prayers may also bring forgiveness of sins. The following verses similarly connect prayer and forgiveness, suggesting that some illnesses may be related to sin. If Paul is referring to physical sickness and death, 1 Corinthians 11.29-32 shows the Lord disciplining His people for profaning the Lord’s Supper through selfish and divisive behavior. Thus, some illnesses may result from God’s loving discipline (Hebrews 12.5-11). However, no one can attribute another person’s illness to God’s chastening; only God knows the heart (Acts 1.24; 15.8). As with the Corinthians, each person must examine their own actions and change as needed.

If we know of sins that need confessing, we should repent for the sake of our spiritual health, not merely our physical health. The problem arises when someone assumes, as Job’s friends did, that a person with chronic illness must be clinging to sin and needs deliverance from demonic oppression. How could they know? And if they don’t know, how can they offer deliverance through a “prayer of deliverance”? Asking the elders to pray for the sick is very different from presuming that the sick need deliverance from demonic oppression.

The Witness of Chronically Ill Christians

Why overlook the good that can come from the lives of the chronically ill? Their lives can magnify God’s grace and model perseverance. I remember a dear older sister with cancer who never missed a service. Though she had to lie in pain on the back pew, she loved the Lord and His people and wanted to worship, however limited her capacity. Her example, however, comes with an important caveat: recognizing her faithfulness does not mean Christians should seek suffering or treat illness as a badge of honor.

We can encourage others through our perseverance while still longing and praying for relief. Our sister’s example should not lead us to judge those whose illnesses prevent them from attending; their faithfulness may be evident in other ways. Illness reflects the brokenness of a fallen world, but God’s grace sustains His people. When their perseverance encourages us, may gratitude move us to help bear their burdens.

Caring for Those Who Suffer Without Adding Blame

We need not explain every illness to care faithfully for those who suffer. We can pray for healing, offer practical help, and encourage one another without claiming knowledge God has not given us. Those in Christ still await the redemption of their bodies (Romans 8.23), so ongoing illness proves neither hidden sin, failed repentance, nor demonic bondage. Suffering Christians need assurance of God’s love and the compassion of His people. Let us help bear their burdens without adding unfounded accusations.

The Election Is Over…Now What?

Carl Pollard

Another election has come and gone. Some people are celebrating. Others are frustrated. And by the looks of social media, some people probably need to put their phones down for a few days.

But regardless of how you feel about the results, I think there’s something Christians need to seriously think about. We can’t expect our country to uphold biblical values that we aren’t willing to practice ourselves.

Proverbs 14:34 says, “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.” Notice that Solomon doesn’t mention the economy, military strength, or political leadership. He points to righteousness.

Don’t misunderstand me, elections matter and our laws matter. The people making decisions for our country matter. And Christians ought to care deeply about the direction our nation is heading. But there’s something incredibly inconsistent about demanding that politicians defend biblical morality while Christians often compromise it.

We want leaders who respect marriage. Are we honoring ours? We want a society that values children. Are we raising ours to know the Lord? We want people to respect God’s Word. Do we actually know what it says? We want Christianity protected in America. But are we doing anything with the freedom we already have?

It’s easy to get worked up over what’s happening in Washington while ignoring what’s happening in our own homes. Jesus never told His disciples to wait until Rome became more favorable toward Christianity before they started living faithfully. In Matthew 5:13–16, He told them to be salt and light in a world that desperately needed both.

And that’s still our responsibility. We should never apologize for what Scripture teaches. Not about marriage, morality, the sanctity of life, or the exclusivity of Christ. But we also need to make sure our conduct gives people a reason to take those convictions seriously.

The truth doesn’t need to be rewritten to accommodate the culture. It needs to be believed, taught, defended, and lived. What good is it to win a political argument if we’re losing our influence for Christ?

I’m thankful we have the opportunity to vote. I’m thankful we can speak freely about our convictions. But I don’t want us to become so consumed with protecting Christianity politically that we fail to practice it personally.

The election may determine who holds office. It doesn’t determine whether we obey God. That decision is ours, every single day.

The Old Testament Is Fascinating

Gary Pollard

When I started this series, I didn’t expect to write more than one or two articles on astronomical references in the Bible. We’re just getting started on this series, so before it goes any further I should offer some explanation (maybe also justification) for why I’m pursuing this line of inquiry in the Bible.

For the last several years, my personal study focus has been on the New Testament. Greek feels more natural than Hebrew to my limited brain, so I haven’t spent much time in the writings of the Jews. For personal research projects, I’ve spent most of my time in ancient Semitic and Near Eastern texts (other than the relatively late Jewish texts), Chinese, Greek and Latin, and Mesoamerican texts (with very few exceptions, not in their original or ancient translation languages…but I understand now why the gift of tongues was so coveted in the early church). After gaining some familiarity with the contents of these old texts, I started to notice that some of the most bizarre aspects of a myth or history or religious belief would show up in texts written by people who couldn’t have had any contact with each other. Most of it seemed to be celestial in nature (i.e., planets and stars), most of it had to do with great catastrophes. Up to this point, I’d had no interest in astronomy, cosmology, or cosmogony.

Two things later happened: I wanted to check my work against other commentators’ writings to confirm or invalidate these observations; and I wanted to see if these same themes were present to any degree in the Bible. To my great chagrin, the only people who seemed to notice some of the same things were almost universally labeled with the prefix “pseudo-“. So I studied the consensus opinions and found them to be too heavily built on modern prejudices and arrogance. These observations (in consensus view) couldn’t be correct because they strongly disagree with our modern, superior understanding of origins and history.

To the pseudo-crowd, then. Their writings, while seemingly more intellectually honest, were problematic for their own reasons. They were built on late mysticism or alternative sciences (which still sought to displace God), or were used to justify pet worldviews. Both consensus and “pseudo” writings are far from monolithic, they exist on something of a spectrum. But no group I’ve yet encountered — wherever they exist in their respective spectrums — fully account for all observations in these texts.

To the Old Testament, then. These global themes absolutely exist in the ancient Jewish texts! Some things became more clear. One was why Moses kept repeating, “Don’t worship the planets and stars. Fear YHWH alone.” That’s hard to wrap my brain around, honestly. One has to be interested in astronomy or astrophotography to reliably identify the same celestial object night after night. And planets are virtually indistinguishable from stars for the overwhelming majority of people.

Yet, every culture in the ancient world worshiped deities associated with a single celestial body. With free time, dark skies, and patient observation, single celestial objects can be tracked night after night (while visible). The ancients certainly had those prerequisites. But the explanations for idolatrous worship and fear of false gods seemed inadequate and weak, both in secular and Christian circles. Unless our atmosphere was composed primarily of LSD in the ancient world, the global fear and mourning and other universally-experienced extreme emotions and behaviors over these “gods” didn’t seem to be adequately explained.

Mass deception, hysteria, or psychosis? Maybe. But why do the most prominent gods share many of the same specific, often-bizarre characteristics, no matter where they are on earth? What compelled the ancients to track certain celestial movements (especially planets) so meticulously? What is it about celestial bodies that would drive so many disparate cultures to worship them, study them, and create stories about them that had to be repeated through the generations? Maybe they were just dumb. But the architecture these cultures left behind invalidates that assumption immediately! We would be hard pressed today to replicate some of the great structures of the ancient past — if we could do it at all.

As of right now, my conclusion is that the past is shrouded in too much uncertainty to be dogmatic. Many texts are incomplete and written in languages we still don’t fully understand. It’s impossible to completely rid ourselves of bias while studying texts written long ago by people whose world was, in many ways, different from our own. Ancient and modern commentators all read the same texts and came away with sometimes radically different interpretations because the texts were filtered through a worldview. Translation is interpretation and far from immune to the worldview problem. It’s a problem we may not ever be able to solve!

As for astronomical interpretations, I’ve studied cosmology enough to know that it (whether ΛCDM, MOND, String Theory, EU/Plasma, or any other system) is based heavily on educated guesswork and assumption and theoretical math. It’s almost as if the human mind is incapable of grasping the Creator and the full magnitude of creation. However, some things are clearer than others. In my limited and fallible opinion, it could not be more clear that the ancient stories ultimately have something to do with the skies. There seems to be an inseparable connection between the universal memory of global catastrophe (after an age of paradise) and a celestial cause of some kind. By studying the Old Testament (sometimes other Jewish texts if relevant) to see how and where these themes overlap, maybe we’ll come to a better understanding of these events. Since the same language is sometimes used in passages that might be eschatological, this study should at least be interesting.

In summary, the assumption I will carry throughout this study is that scripture is more reliable than other ancient sources. I do believe there was divine guidance in what was preserved, but do not dispute that much older material was sometimes adapted. In those cases, the older material was probably accurate but needed revision and/or was a convenient medium due to its familiarity. Where the pagan deified whatever caused both Paradise and Destruction, those who worshiped YHWH — led by someone who had had unlimited access to ancient data I would do almost anything to be able to study (c.f. Acts 7.22) and personal conversations with God — knew that these were sent by the Creator and were not themselves divine. Well, that was sometimes true. From their beginning, Israel worshiped false deities that have been identified since at least Classical Antiquity with the planets we call Venus, Mars, and Saturn. Moses and the Prophets perpetually struggled to keep God’s Chosen (at that time) from worshiping the hosts of heaven. This study is essentially my research on this topic as it develops. I will sometimes cite secular works (often by authors rejected by mainstream science and history). Their works have been useful for pointing me at primary sources and offering alternative explanations for obscure passages. I reject their worldviews almost entirely, disagree strongly with some of their conclusions (especially concerning God), and do not blindly accept any alternative explanation. However, their work can be quite valuable and they deserve credit when their writings are consulted. No citations should be construed as endorsement, unless otherwise stated.

Tall Tales of Giants in the Ancient World

Dale Pollard

The Romans and the Greeks wrote quite a bit about two tribes that migrated into their neck of the woods from the isolated North between 113 and 101 BC. No direct records or remarks from these tribes, known as the Cimbri or Teutones, survive but those who fought them felt the need to jot it down. They were huge, terrifying, and some even took them to be something other than human. The king of the Teutones was especially freaky. Here’s what the old folks had to say about them.

Lucius Annaeus Florus (Epitome of Roman History, Book I, Chapter 38)

“King Teutobochus himself, who had been accustomed to vault over four or five horses at a time, could scarcely mount a single one when he was led in the triumph; and he was a conspicuous object in the rest of the procession of captives because of his extraordinary height.”

Plutarch (Life of Marius, Chapter 24)

While describing the entire army (or several of their warriors), Plutarch says the following:

“…uttering a strange and savage cry, not like that of human beings… their bodies were wonderful for their size, and they were in no way like any other men of that time.”

He briefly notes the king’s size as well. He spake thus:

“Marius ordered Teutobod, the king of the Teutons, to be brought out in chains; for he was seen to be of immense and prodigious stature (Life of Marius, Chapter 27).

Velleius Paterculus (Roman History, Book II)

Writing in the 1st century AD, Roman historian Paterculus detailed the panic that throttled Rome during the first scraps of the Cimbrian invasion. He makes it sound as though the tribal army was more like a plague of giants. He spoke thusly:

“Then appeared the Cimbri and the Teutones… a huge multitude of young men, of immense physical size and monstrous strength.”

What Happened to the Giants?

The post-fall and post-flood world began with the slow decline in height and strength of the giant races. Thoughtful theories and speculations are proposed, such as the deterioration of their DNA through genetic lines, radical changes in the earth’s atmosphere, and possible health-related issues. While the more scientific explanation(s) could shed light on their decline and ultimate disappearance, the commonsense philosophy of Occam’s razor indicates that the most simplistic answers are often the closest to the truth. The simple answer? Many accounts describing giants depict them as mighty warriors. Their heads were highly coveted as trophies of war, and any giant-slayer was surely bound to be immortalized in history. The many harrowing attempts to kill a giant on the battlefield were successful and those men reached legendary status— their stories told for thousands of years (2 Samuel 23.8-38).

In the Bible, the through-line is clear. When giants show up, God is about to prove who’s bigger. In a world full of giants, no matter who you’re up against– God’s got your back.

“The Wife Of Your Youth”

Neal Pollard

You have heard of the trophy wife or, less frequently, the trophy husband. Husbands and wives get tired of each other, drift apart, and forget what drew them together in the first place. Conflict, tension, and turmoil transform sweet young couples into bitter old adversaries. So often, even with professed believers, one or both parties forget God’s wisdom: “For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24). They forget the sentiment of the first husband: “This is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh” (Genesis 2:23).

On a few occasions, God specifically exhorts the marriage partner to take a different attitude toward his or her spouse. Consider Solomon’s inspired advice in Proverbs 5. He writes, “Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth” (18). This encompasses faithfulness (15-17), sexual satisfaction (19), and integrity (20-21). Isaiah illustrates spiritual infidelity with a spouse who spurns the one he made vows to in their youthful prime, saying, ‘For the Lord has called you, Like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, Even like a wife of one’s youth when she is rejected,’ Says your God” (Isaiah 54:6). Finally, the prophet Malachi highlights the literal problem of husbands abandoning the wives who pledged themselves to these men before the ravages of time and toil. Angrily, God warns, “Because the Lord has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. But not one has done so who has a remnant of the Spirit. And what did that one do while he was seeking a godly offspring? Take heed then to your spirit, and let no one deal treacherously against the wife of your youth. ‘For I hate divorce,’ says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘and him who covers his garment with wrong,’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘So take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously'” (Malachi 2:14-16).

When you say “I do,” it is without the benefit of a crystal ball. You say “for better or for worse,” not having any idea of all that will follow. You don’t know, but God does. Having the benefit of divine foreknowledge, He still calls not just for permanence but for taking pleasure in the marriage even as the decades begin to accumulate. What are some ways we can do that in our marriages?

Don’t leave it unsaid. How common to assume we appreciate the good and good deeds of others! Never miss an opportunity to express gratitude to your mate for precious memories, blessings, and assistance they’ve given you through the lifetime of your marriage (cf. Ephesians 5:4).
Keep doing the little things. There are different rituals in every relationship. One spouse appreciates things others might not so much. But you know what your spouse likes to hear, to see, and to experience. Compliments, acts of service, moments of physical touch, listening when distracted or in a hurry, or whatever those specific things are all constitute “the little things” (cf. Song of Solomon 2:15; Proverbs 25:11; Colossians 4:6).
Practice the golden rule (Luke 6:31). Just as we should show empathy in our public, church, and other extended relationships, our spouse deserves it, too. Treat your spouse the way you want your spouse to treat you. Do you want to hear that your spouse is still attracted to you, dependent on you, an admirer of you? Do inventory of such things you desire and appreciate and demonstrate them to your mate.
Count the blessings they’ve brought into your life. Here is a tangible exercise that can be repeated throughout married life. Perhaps it would help to actually get a pad of paper and write them down (it won’t be a bad thing if your spouse finds the list). Be specific. Put some time and thought into it. Just writing it down will deepen your gratitude for the “spouse of your youth.”
Revisit those formidable moments. Reminisce about your first date, your dating days, your wedding day, those early days of married life including the birth of children, special days, vacations, and spiritual milestones enjoyed together. Do it from time to time. Because you are a sinner married to a sinner, you disappoint, hurt, transgress against, and betray each other at times. Life gets mundane and tedious. You face stress and pain in this fallen world (Job 14:1). God gives us memory, and we can choose to make it a blessing. Remember (cf. Luke 16:25).
Look for the youth through the years. Time does its inevitable work on everyone. She (or he) cannot retain the polish of those early days, as wrinkles, pounds, and various blemishes are destined to come. But love and devotion see something far more attractive as the years press on–growth, character, acts of love, dependability, and transformation. Think of the things that drew you to your mate, however long ago that was. She (or he) is still that person, refined by time and experience.

There is beauty in youth and the prime of life, but there’s something profoundly more precious that follows. It’s forged by history and the Hands of the Master Sculptor, who shapes us as we strive to be more Christlike. Every day you participate in your marriage, you are building something better. God wants you to stand on the pinnacle and look back with eyes full of appreciation at where you have been with your spouse. As you admire that, express it to your mate!

The Spoils of the Servant: How Isaiah 53:12 and Ephesians 1:3 Tell One Story

Brent Pollard

Picture a king returning from battle in the ancient world. His enemies have been defeated. Behind him stretches a long train of wagons, loaded with gold, grain, armor—everything his enemies once owned and will never see again. No one in that city fought for the king’s victory, but everyone eats from it. The battle was his; the bounty is theirs.

Scripture describes such a victory in two places, each from a different vantage point. Isaiah 53.12 stands beside the Victor: “Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, and He will divide the [spoil] with the strong; because He poured out Himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet He Himself bore the sin of many, and interceded for the transgressors.”

Ephesians 1.3 stands among those who receive the spoil: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.”

Paul isn’t quoting Isaiah in Ephesians 1. Yet Isaiah’s picture of a triumphant Servant holding spoil and Paul’s picture of believers blessed with every spiritual blessing in the ascended Christ belong to the same story.

Isaiah’s Vantage Point: What the Victory Cost the Servant

Isaiah tells the story from the Servant’s perspective, and it turns on two words. The first is “because.” The reward has a reason; the crown has a cause. Isaiah names four costly things the Servant did.

He poured out His soul unto death. Unlike the familiar image of a conqueror who defeats others, this Servant triumphs through self-giving. He did not prevail by shedding others’ blood, but by pouring out His own soul. He was numbered with the transgressors. At the center cross, the world saw a criminal die alongside criminals (Mark 15.27). He bore the sin of many. The Servant did more than defeat our enemies; He carried our guilt. And He interceded for the transgressors, praying even as He died: “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23.34).

The second word is “therefore.” “Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, and He will divide the [spoil] with the strong.” Portion. Spoil. The great. The strong. This is the language of the battlefield—the vocabulary of a conquering king returning with plunder. Isaiah deliberately applies it to the Man who poured out His soul unto death. The world saw a condemned criminal; the Father saw a Conqueror returning home.

Isaiah’s account ends with the Servant’s hands full, but it does not yet reveal what they hold.

Paul’s Vantage Point: What the Victory Won for Us

The New Testament shows us what the exalted Christ does with His victory. Psalm 68.18 says, “You have ascended on high, You have led captive Your captives; You have received gifts among men.” Paul cites that very psalm in Ephesians 4.8 and applies it to the ascended Lord Jesus: “When He ascended on high, He led captive a host of captives, and He gave gifts to men.” The risen Christ receives—and the risen Christ gives. He returns from the campaign with His hands full and opens them to His people.

Ephesians 1 tells the story from the receiving end. First, the blessings are “in Christ”—that little phrase is the key. These aren’t scattered gifts we hunt down one by one; they’re everything the Father gives us in His Son, and we have them because we’re joined to Him. Second, they are “every spiritual blessing”—not some, not most, but every one. Third, they are “in the heavenly places”—blessings from the realm where Christ now reigns.

Isaiah counts the cost. Paul takes inventory. And item by item, the inventory is measured against the cost.

Where Isaiah 53 and Ephesians 1 Meet

The Elect Servant and a chosen people. “…He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.” (Ephesians 1.4). The choice is made “in Him.” And who is God’s chosen One? Isaiah tells us: “Behold, My Servant… My chosen one in whom My soul delights” (Isaiah 42.1). The cross did not create the Father’s love; it reveals a love that was already there. Those counted among the transgressors become sons whom the Father adopts (Ephesians 1.5).

The Sin-Bearer and our redemption. “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace” (Ephesians 1.7). Set Isaiah 53.12 beside that verse: “He Himself bore the sin of many.” The connection between these passages runs deep. The spoil the Servant shares includes pardons. The plunder won at the cross includes the cancellation of our record—the “certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us,” nailed to His cross (Colossians 2.14).

The Servant’s portion and our inheritance. In Him, “also we have obtained an inheritance” (Ephesians 1.11). The Servant receives “a portion with the great”—and in Him, we receive an inheritance. Paul makes the same point to the Romans: “if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ” (Romans 8.17). What belongs to the Victor belongs to His people. The portion is His; its enjoyment is ours.

The Victor’s gift and our seal. Believers “were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession” (Ephesians 1.13–14). At Pentecost, Peter preached, “Therefore, having been exalted to the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear” (Acts 2.33). Exalted, having received, poured out: the Spirit is the Victor’s gift and the first installment of what He won. Some of the spoil is already in hand; some still lies ahead.

One Story, Two Vantage Points

Set the two passages side by side, and the story reads as a great reversal. He was numbered among the transgressors — so that, in Him, transgressors could be adopted as sons. He poured out His soul unto death — so that we could be blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. He bore the sin of many — so that, in Him, we could have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. He received a portion with the great — so that, in Him, we who were weak could obtain an inheritance. His suffering, our blessing. His victory, our inheritance. His grace, our praise.

Neither passage tells the whole story on its own. Isaiah without Ephesians shows a victory whose spoil we never see shared; Ephesians without Isaiah reveals a treasury whose cost we never count. Read together, they show what the blessings cost and what that cost bought—all of it, as Paul says three times, “to the praise of His glory” (Ephesians 1.6, 12, 14).

Caring When Others Don’t

Carl Pollard

Galatians 6:9, “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”

There’s a very unique kind of exhaustion that comes from caring deeply about things that others seem to take lightly. It’s the exhaustion of trying to lead people who don’t want to be led. Of encouraging people who don’t seem interested in growing. Of pouring yourself into something only to wonder whether any of it’s making a difference.

And possibly the hardest part is realizing that you can’t make someone care. You can teach the truth, but you can’t make someone love it. You can encourage faithfulness, but you can’t force someone to be faithful. You can show someone what God expects, but you can’t make the decision for them.

Even Jesus experienced this. In Matthew 23:37, Jesus lamented over Jerusalem, saying, “How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” Look at those last few words, “You were not willing.” Jesus was willing. He wanted to gather them. He wanted what was best for them. But they refused. And if the perfect Son of God encountered unwilling hearts, we shouldn’t be surprised when we encounter them ourselves.

But there’s a kind of danger in caring deeply.

If we’re not careful, our disappointment with people can become bitterness toward people.

We begin measuring our efforts by their responses. We get frustrated when people don’t grow as quickly as we think they should. We start noticing who isn’t there more than appreciating who is. And slowly, the very people we once wanted to help become the people who exhaust us.

Moses experienced this, and so did Elijah and Paul. In 2 Corinthians 12:15, Paul wrote, “I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls.” Then he asked a painful question, “If I love you more, am I to be loved less?” Paul understood what it meant to give more than he received. To love people who didn’t always return that love. To sacrifice for people who didn’t always appreciate the sacrifice.

Yet he was still willing to be spent. Why?!

Because Paul’s faithfulness wasn’t solely dependent upon other people’s appreciation.

And neither can ours be.

There will be times when the work is encouraging. People will grow and souls are saved. Families become stronger. Christians step forward and begin serving. But there will also be times when attendance declines, enthusiasm fades, and the people you thought would step forward seem content to remain exactly where they are. What do you do then? You remember Galatians 6:9!

Paul doesn’t say we won’t grow weary. In fact, his warning assumes that weariness is a real possibility. He just tells us NOT to surrender to it. Paul doesn’t promise that we’ll see the harvest immediately. He says we’ll reap “in due season.”

Some of the seeds we plant today may not bear fruit for years. Some of the people we encourage may not understand our concern until much later. And some of the good we accomplish may never be fully visible to us in this life. But none of that makes the work meaningless.

In 1 Corinthians 3:6, Paul wrote, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.”

There’s freedom in understanding what that verse means. Our responsibility is to plant and water. God’s responsibility is to give the increase. And sometimes our frustration comes from trying to assume a responsibility that God never gave us.

We can’t produce conviction in another person’s heart. We can’t manufacture spiritual maturity. We can’t force someone to become what God calls them to be. We can only faithfully do our part. That doesn’t mean we stop challenging people. It doesn’t mean we lower expectations or become satisfied with spiritual mediocrity. It means we learn to distinguish between being responsible to people and being responsible for their decisions.

Sometimes, while we’re grieving over the people who aren’t responding, we overlook the people who are. Elijah once believed he was the only faithful servant left in Israel. But God reminded him that seven thousand hadn’t bowed to Baal (1 Kings 19:18).

Elijah’s discouragement had narrowed his perspective. Ours can too.

There are still people who want to grow. There are still families trying to raise godly children. There are still Christians quietly fighting temptation, overcoming sin, and making sacrifices that nobody else sees.

Don’t become so consumed with those who refuse to grow that you neglect those who are desperately trying!

And don’t allow the failures of others to steal the joy of your own service. One day, every servant of God will stand before the Lord.

On that day, the question won’t be whether everyone listened to us, appreciated us, or responded the way we hoped. The question will be whether we were faithful with what God entrusted to us.

You can care deeply without carrying what only God can carry. Love people, challenge them, teach them, pray for them, and sacrifice for them! But don’t allow their unwillingness to destroy your willingness.

Keep planting, keep watering, and keep loving. And when you’re tired, remember that the Lord never asked you to produce every result. He asked you to be faithful. And faithfulness is never wasted!

2 Kings 17

Gary Pollard

The king of Assyria took the Israelites out of Samaria and brought in other people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim. They took over Samaria and lived in the cities around it. When these people began to live in Samaria, they did not honor the LORD, so the LORD sent lions to attack them. The lions killed some of them. Some people said to the king of Assyria, “The people who you took away and put in the cities of Samaria don’t know the law of the god of that country. So that god sent lions to attack them. The lions killed them because they don’t know the law of the god of that country.”

So the king of Assyria gave this command: “You took some priests from Samaria. Send one of them who I captured back to Samaria. Let that priest go and live there. Then he can teach the people the law of the god of that country.” So one of the priests who the Assyrians had carried away from Samaria came to live in Bethel. He taught the people how they should honor the LORD. But all those people made gods of their own. They put them in the temples at the high places that the people of Samaria had made. They did this wherever they lived.

The people of Babylon made the false god Succoth Benoth.¹ The people of Cuthah made the false god Nergal². The people of Hamath made the false god Ashima.³ The people of Avva made the false gods Nibhaz and Tartak⁴. The people from Sepharvaim also burned their children in the fire to honor their false gods, Adrammelech and Anammelech⁵. But they also worshiped the LORD. They chose priests for the high places from among the people. These priests made sacrifices for the people in the temples at those places of worship. They were afraid⁶ of the LORD but also served their own gods, just as they did in their own countries.

Even today, they live the same way they did in the past. They don’t honor the LORD. They don’t obey the rules and commands of the Israelites. They don’t obey the law or the commands that the LORD gave to the children of Jacob. The LORD made an agreement with the Israelites. He commanded them, “You must not honor other gods. You must not worship them or serve them or offer sacrifices to them. But you must follow the LORD, who brought you out of Egypt. He used his great power to save you. You must worship him and make sacrifices to him. You must obey the rules, laws, teachings, and commands that he wrote for you. You must obey these things all the time. You must not be afraid of other gods. You must not forget the agreement that I made with you. You must not be afraid of other gods. No, you must be afraid only of the LORD your God. Then he will save you from all your enemies.”

But the Israelites did not listen. They kept on doing the same things they did before. So now those other nations were afraid of the LORD, but they also served their own idols. Their children and grandchildren did the same thing their ancestors did. They still do these things to this day.⁷

1 ^{Sarpanitu, “the shining one,” was the goddess of fertility associated with the planet Venus and may have been analogous to Ishtar. She was worshiped as “mother goddess and chief consort of Marduk” (britishmuseum.org, Sarpanit). II Kgs calls Succoth Benoth a god, not a goddess. Either this was a jab (it could mean tents of daughters), a corruption over time of the original spelling, or actually a reference to Marduk/Enlil (ISBE: Sakut(h)ban’wat(h)), who was Jupiter.}

²Mars

3 ^{Much uncertainty with this one. It could be related to the Hb word meaning “guilt” but that makes little sense to me. If any false deity in this list deserves to be ridiculed, why not one of the supreme Babylonian gods like Nergal? Ashima/Ashimath was associated with Σειμιος, from “sign”. This god was associated with Tammuz, which helps us potentially identify who it is. According to ISBE, Tammuz was the same as Adhon of the Phoenicians (Syr. Adon), the god of vegetation, winter, life and death cycles. Tammuz was said to be the consort of Ishtar (Venus) and Adonis (the Greek version) of Aphrodite (Venus). Therefore, Tammuz/Ashima/Adon is likely Mars. At Baalbek, Seimos was worshipped with an ornate staff or pole, which was typical of Mars-figure worship all over the world.}

4 ^{The name Nibhaz appears to mean “sacrificial altar” and may not lend itself toward a singular meaning. Tartak has several potential meanings, but one possibility seems to fit this context best: Tarthakh was the Persian deity worshiped as the Hero of Darkness/Intense Darkness. The archetypal similarities between Tarthakh and other Mars figures are too many to be coincidence. Considering that many of the false gods in this list appear to be Mars figures, we could safely identify Tartak as the Avvite equivalent of Nergal-Mars. Perhaps Nibhaz was the altar used to sacrifice to this false god and — possibly related to the world pillar/mountain archetype — was itself deified by the Avvites}.

5 ^{This pair may be related to Nibhaz-Tartak and Milcom-Ashtoreth and Baal-Asherah. The child sacrifice element, the melech (king) ending, and one version’s association with the underworld (Malik) are consistent with this identification. Anammelech means Anu is king, and may suggest another interpretation. The Akkadian Anu (Gk. Ouranos) was considered “father of the gods” and has been traditionally associated with just the sky. But as Cardona has pointed out (I generally disagree with his views, but his work is meticulous and occasionally useful), “But that An, in his Akkadian version of Anu, was a radiating body in the sky is ascertained not only…by the cuneiform sign which designates him, the stylized picture of a star — * — but also by the allusion to the “terror of his splendour” radiating “in the midst of heaven” (Cardona, D. 2006. God star. Trafford Publishing. pp. 167-168). He makes a compelling case for Anu’s identification with Saturn. Adrammelech is likely Jupiter (via Adad, the thunderbolt-wielding storm god).}

6 ^{Hb yr, terror, fear, awesome, dread}

7 ^{Israel named a month in two calendars after Tammuz-Mars.}

When Angels Fell

Dale Pollard

“And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling—“ Jude 6

The Bible indicates a battle between Satan and his rebellious followers in several key passages. The reason for this spiritual spat is not given to us in great detail, but we are told that it began after they abandoned their rightful habitation (Jude 6). While many have speculated as to what and how this happened, scripture indicates only one reason. Genesis begins beautifully but turns bloody in a mere four chapters. The earth is entirely corrupted by chapter six. Wickedness was so prevalent it even fell from above as the angels took for themselves the wives of men (6.4). Jude will reference this event again in his short letter and he specifically ties their sexual immorality with the sins of the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah (Jude 6-7).

The spiritual conflict ended with Satan and his apostate followers cast from the heavenly realm (2 Peter 2.4, Rev. 12.14, Jude). As an interesting side note, we’re also told that the Archangel Michael took a significant role in Satan’s defeat and ultimate expulsion.

At one time, Satan seems to have been a high-ranking Angel who thought he stood a chance against his very Creator. That’s a ridiculous thought. The application of this historical event is evident. Nobody, whether angel or man, can win against God’s will. It’s mind boggling to imagine taking on God Almighty in some kind of battle, yet Paul tells us in Romans five that we were enemies of God at one point while living in sin and sinners are currently waging a war with God. We should let that long ago battle in the heavenly realm be a reminder to us that God always wins the war.

Styrofoam Strength

Neal Pollard

Polystyrene was accidentally discovered by a German apothecary named Eduard Simon in 1839. He had no idea what to do with the polymer and it would not be used in manufacturing for more than a century. In fact, it wasn’t until the 1950s that it was used in packaging, insulation, and food containers. Its versatility became somewhat its trademark.

Environmental awareness led to its ban in a growing number of places due to the difficulty of recycling the material. But the plastics industry and entrepreneurs’ innovative spirit continue to find applications for it–fill material in civil engineering projects like roads and retaining walls, forms and molds in concrete work, insulation panels, floating docks and other nautical items, sound absorption panels, and more. You’ll find it in homes, cars, airplanes, ships, and nearly every public space.

It’s flimsy, yet resilient. It’s flexible in utility. It is often unseen while serving a vital function. It’s found in so many different places doing so many different things.

You and I were no accident. Our Maker knew exactly what He wanted us to be. The mastery of His work is such that we are capable of so many different purposes, all of which are meant to be useful and helpful to those around us. We’re pretty unremarkable and fragile in so many ways, yet our service and actions can outlive us for a long, long time. Romans 12:6-8 highlights all the potential ways we can be used by God to accomplish His purpose. None of these is insignificant (Ephesians 4:12-16). What’s more enjoyable than looking for new ways to be used for God’s glory?

Paul uses a different substance to describe us, but the idea is quite similar. He says, “For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, ‘Light shall shine out of darkness,’ is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves” (2 Corinthians 4:5-7). We are earthen vessels, unspectacular of ourselves. But God utilizes us to share the most important message of history. Because of Him, we have value. Despite our weaknesses (2 Corinthians 4:16-18), He displays His strength through us to His glory! May we never forget that we were made for His purpose and never discount our value in His hand!

https://www.lifeandfavor.org

What Is Partial Preterism? Matthew 24, AD 70, and Christ’s Return

Brent Pollard

In a previous article, I argued that the church is Christ’s kingdom, established at Pentecost, ruled by the risen King, and not deferred until a future earthly millennium.

This understanding also shapes how I approach prophecy. I favor a partial-preterist reading: many passages often understood as referring to our future describe events that have already been fulfilled, particularly judgments involving first-century Jerusalem and the enemies who opposed the early church. “Preterist” refers to past fulfillment. “Partial” distinguishes these fulfilled judgments from Christ’s still-future return, bodily resurrection, final judgment, and everlasting consummation.

Matthew 24 and the Destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70

Matthew 24 must first be understood in its original context. Jesus had announced the temple’s destruction, prompting His disciples to ask about it (Matthew 24.1–3). His warning told people in Judea to flee and addressed concerns about rooftops, fields, pregnancy, winter, and travel on the Sabbath (verses 15–20). He also said that “all these things” would be fulfilled within “this generation” (verse 34). These details should guide our interpretation before we connect the passage to modern headlines.

Luke’s parallel makes the historical setting especially clear: Jerusalem’s encirclement by armies would signal its impending desolation (Luke 21.20–24). I understand these warnings to refer to the catastrophe that culminated in Jerusalem’s destruction in AD 70. That destruction vindicated Jesus’ prophetic warning; it did not establish a kingdom that had not existed before. His kingdom already existed.

Understanding “Coming” Language in Bible Prophecy

Prophetic language should also be understood against its Old Testament background. Isaiah describes God’s judgment on Egypt as the Lord riding on a cloud (Isaiah 19.1), a phrase that can refer to God intervening in history without implying a visible bodily descent. Likewise, Daniel 7.13–14 depicts the Son of Man approaching the Ancient of Days to receive dominion and moving toward the heavenly throne. These passages caution against treating every reference to divine “coming” as the same description of the final return.

Revelation’s Message to Its First-Century Readers

Revelation also spoke to real congregations facing real pressures. Its opening and closing affirm that the events it reveals were near (Revelation 1.1–3; 22.6, 10)—a point that mattered to its first readers. Its images must be understood in the context of their world before being applied to ours. Christians may differ over particular symbols, the book’s date, and how much it concerns Jerusalem or Rome, yet still recognize that its message spoke directly to the churches that first received it.

Partial Preterism vs. Full Preterism: What Is Still Future

Partial preterism doesn’t mean every promise has already been fulfilled, nor is it another term for amillennialism. The former concerns how prophecy is fulfilled; the latter concerns the interpretation of the millennium. The two can be compatible, but each conclusion must be established from the relevant passages.

For that reason, the claim that “everything is fulfilled except the second coming” needs qualification. Christ’s return involves events that are still genuinely future: the dead will be raised, everyone will face judgment, and death itself will be abolished (John 5.28–29; Acts 17.31; 1 Corinthians 15.26, 51–54). These promises cannot be reduced to the fall of a city or a change in covenantal circumstances.

Full preterism crosses that boundary by placing the final coming and resurrection in the past—a conclusion I reject. Paul condemned the claim that the resurrection had already taken place (2 Timothy 2.17–18). Our hope includes the redemption of our bodies (Romans 8.23), and Jesus promised to return (Acts 1.9–11). The Christian’s future holds more than the indefinite continuation of present suffering.

Already and Not Yet: Christ’s Kingdom and His Return

The kingdom’s present reality and future fulfillment therefore belong together. Christ already holds all authority (Matthew 28.18), yet we still await the defeat of every enemy. His church already enjoys forgiveness, reconciliation, and citizenship under His rule, yet we still await resurrection life beyond the reach of death.

Paul’s sequence in 1 Corinthians 15.23–28 is decisive for my understanding: Christ’s people are raised at His coming, and then the end comes, when He delivers the kingdom to the Father. His reign continues until every enemy is subdued. The passage points to the completion of His royal work. He returns with a kingdom to deliver, and death is the last enemy to be destroyed.

Living as Citizens of Christ’s Kingdom Today

This conviction gives the church both dignity and responsibility: we already belong to the King. Our worship, obedience, holiness, love, and proclamation of the gospel express an allegiance we already owe. Jesus said His kingdom draws neither its authority nor its methods from this world (John 18.36). Its spiritual character does not make its demands on our lives any less real.

The church is God’s redeemed assembly, the people of His Son’s kingdom. It was part of His eternal purpose, established under the risen Christ, and entrusted with proclaiming His victory. We await the King’s return even as we confess His authority.

The throne is occupied. The kingdom is here, and the King will come again.

The Sin of Doing Nothing

Carl Pollard

In Genesis, we’re introduced to two brothers, Jacob and Esau. Their relationship was filled with jealousy, deception, and anger. Esau even threatened to kill Jacob. Yet years later, the brothers reunited, embraced, and wept together (Genesis 33:4).

Centuries passed. Jacob’s descendants became Israel, and Esau’s descendants became Edom. When Jerusalem was invaded and its people were suffering, Edom had an opportunity to help. Instead, they stood by and watched.

In Obadiah 11, God condemned Edom, saying, “On the day that you stood aloof… you were like one of them.” God placed Edom alongside the enemies who attacked Jerusalem! Their guilt began with their refusal to help.

The Sin of Indifference

Jesus told a similar story in Luke 10. A man was beaten, robbed, and left half dead. A priest saw him and passed by. A Levite did the same. Then a Samaritan stopped, showed compassion, and cared for his wounds. All three saw the same suffering. Only one responded. How often do we recognize someone struggling and assume somebody else will help? James 4:17 says, “Whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”

The Sin of Rejoicing

Obadiah 12 reveals that Edom actually rejoiced over Judah’s destruction. It’s disturbing how easily we can find satisfaction in another person’s failure. Someone’s marriage falls apart. Someone makes a terrible mistake. Someone who mistreated us experiences hardship. And somewhere in our hearts, we think they finally got what they deserved. In Proverbs 24:17 Solomon says, “Do not rejoice when your enemy falls.” The way we respond to another person’s suffering reveals something about our hearts.

The Sin of Exploitation

In Obadiah 13–14, Edom went even further. They plundered Judah and intercepted people fleeing for their lives. The people who should have offered refuge became another source of suffering. Galatians 6:1 teaches us to restore those caught in sin with gentleness. When someone is already hurting, our responsibility is to help them recover.

Is there someone you’ve been meaning to call? Someone struggling spiritually? Someone carrying a burden you could help lighten? We can’t solve every problem, but we can respond to the needs within our reach.

Edom stood aloof. The priest and Levite passed by. The Samaritan stopped. When someone needs you, which one will you be?

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Amos

Gary Pollard

“Therefore, I will bring upon you all the disasters I have announced. Prepare to meet your God in judgment, you people of Israel!” For the Lord is the one who shaped the mountains, stirs up the winds, and reveals his thoughts to mankind. He turns the light of dawn into darkness and treads on the heights of the earth. The Lord God of Heaven’s Armies¹ is his name!

Listen, you people of Israel! Listen to this funeral song I am singing:

“The virgin Israel has fallen, never to rise again! She lies abandoned on the ground, with no one to help her up.” The Sovereign Lord says: “When a city sends a thousand men to battle, only a hundred will return. When a town sends a hundred, only ten will come back alive.”

Now this is what the Lord says to the family of Israel:

“Come back to me and live! Don’t worship at the pagan altars at Bethel; don’t go to the shrines at Gilgal or Beersheba. For the people of Gilgal will be dragged off into exile, and the people of Bethel will be reduced to nothing.” Come back to the Lord and live! Otherwise, he will roar through Israel like a fire, devouring you completely. Your gods in Bethel won’t be able to quench the flames.

You twist justice, making it a bitter pill for the oppressed. You treat the righteous like dirt. It is the Lord who created the stars, the Pleiades and Orion.² He turns darkness into morning and day into night. He draws up water from the oceans and pours it down as rain on the land. The Lord is his name! With blinding speed and power he destroys the strong, crushing all their defenses. How you hate honest judges! How you despise people who tell the truth! You trample the poor, stealing their grain through taxes and unfair rent. Therefore, though you build beautiful stone houses, you will never live in them. Though you plant lush vineyards, you will never drink wine from them. For I know the vast number of your sins and the depth of your rebellions. You oppress good people by taking bribes and deprive the poor of justice in the courts. So those who are smart keep their mouths shut, for it is an evil time. Do what is good and run from evil so that you may live!

Then the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies will be your helper, just as you have claimed. Hate evil and love what is good; turn your courts into true halls of justice. Perhaps even yet the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies will have mercy on the remnant of his people. Therefore, this is what the Lord, the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies, says: “There will be crying in all the public squares and mourning in every street. Call for the farmers to weep with you, and summon professional mourners to wail. There will be wailing in every vineyard, for I will destroy them all,” says the Lord.

What sorrow awaits you who say, “If only the day of the Lord were here!” You have no idea what you are wishing for. That day will bring darkness, not light. In that day you will be like a man who runs from a lion—only to meet a bear. Escaping from the bear, he leans his hand against a wall in his house—and he’s bitten by a snake. Yes, the day of the Lord will be dark and hopeless, without a ray of joy or hope. “I hate all your show and pretense—the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies. I will not accept your burnt offerings and grain offerings. I won’t even notice all your choice peace offerings. Away with your noisy hymns of praise! I will not listen to the music of your harps. Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living. Was it to me you were bringing sacrifices and offerings during the forty years in the wilderness, Israel? No, you served your pagan gods—Sakkuth your king god and Kaiwan³ your star god—the images you made for yourselves. So I will send you into exile, to a land east of Damascus,” says the Lord, whose name is the God of Heaven’s Armies.

What sorrow awaits you who lounge in luxury in Jerusalem, and you who feel secure in Samaria! You are famous and popular in Israel, and people go to you for help. But go over to Calneh and see what happened there. Then go to the great city of Hamath and down to the Philistine city of Gath. You are no better than they were, and look at how they were destroyed. You push away every thought of coming disaster, but your actions only bring the day of judgment closer. How terrible for you who sprawl on ivory beds and lounge on your couches, eating the meat of tender lambs from the flock and of choice calves fattened in the stall. You sing trivial songs to the sound of the harp and fancy yourselves to be great musicians like David. You drink wine by the bowlful and perfume yourselves with fragrant lotions. You care nothing about the ruin of your nation. Therefore, you will be the first to be led away as captives. Suddenly, all your parties will end.

The Sovereign Lord has sworn by his own name, and this is what he, the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies, says: “I despise the arrogance of Israel, and I hate their fortresses. I will give this city and everything in it to their enemies.” (If there are ten men left in one house, they will all die. And when a relative who is responsible to dispose of the dead goes into the house to carry out the bodies, he will ask the last survivor, “Is anyone else with you?” When the person begins to swear, “No, by …,” he will interrupt and say, “Stop! Don’t even mention the name of the Lord.”)

When the Lord gives the command, homes both great and small will be smashed to pieces. Can horses gallop over boulders? Can oxen be used to plow them? But that’s how foolish you are when you turn justice into poison and the sweet fruit of righteousness into bitterness. And you brag about your conquest of Lo-debar. You boast, “Didn’t we take Karnaim by our own strength?” “O people of Israel, I am about to bring an enemy nation against you,” says the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies. “They will oppress you throughout your land—from Lebo-hamath in the north to the Arabah Valley in the south.”

1 ^{This name appears multiple times. It is possible that the destruction levied against Israel (and other nations) came at least partially from space; so much of the judgment terminology has to do with the “Lord of the armies of heaven” and there are so many references to daylight, darkness, space (i.e. “heavens armies”), and destruction that this cannot be entirely ruled out. However, because Amos — who we saw quoted in last week’s article — references Israelite worship of planetary deities in this text, it is more likely that he’s putting YHWH, “who shaped the mountains and stirs the winds,” above those deities. Saturn, by its many names, was worshipped the world over as the “king of the gods” and the “immovable one”. The ancient Canaanite name, El, may have also been a reference to Saturn. If so, then elohe sabaot is even more likely to mean here, “God above all gods.” What remains, in my mind at least, to be explained is why the term “armies” is used, often in judgment/destruction contexts. We do not think of stars and planets today as being destructive forces, though this was almost universally believed in the ancient world.}

2^{These are members of the armies of heaven. This statement likely strengthens the use of this title to mean, “Above all celestial objects.” Why “armies” and why in destruction contexts may send the researcher down many rabbit holes.}

3 ^{As noted last week, this was Saturn. To the ancient mind, the words “star” and “planet” were often interchangeable. It seems that many of the oldest prominent deities were planets personified and, for some reason, feared.}

The Curious Case Of The Caratinga Cow

Dale Pollard

We know that tomorrow isn’t promised and we also understand that, unless God comes first, everyone will die one day. With that being said, I am almost 100% certain that nobody reading this will pass from this life after having a cow fall through your roof. The “steaks” just aren’t that high. While this is an unlikely way to die, it’s not an impossible way to go. In fact, this is exactly what happened to Joao Souza in 2013. A one-ton cow was grazing on the hills behind his home in Caratinga before it somehow found it’s way up on to his roof. An unknowing Souza was snoozing on his couch when suddenly his life was over. The asbestos-filled roof collapsed under the weight of the cow. Being done in by a bovine is not exactly a bodacious way to make that final transition, but the media had reported two more similar events of cows seemingly falling from the sky in this area just two years prior. Even though this event actually occurred, how ridiculous would it be for us to spend our days in fear— worrying that we will meet a similar fate?

The last verse of Matthew six will tell you not to exert so much energy worrying about tomorrow. This passage has brought peace and comfort to many Christians throughout the years, but many of us still worry about our tomorrows. I guess if our tomorrows were actually ours to begin with, we may really have something to fear. The truth is, God owns the future. He doesn’t tell us not to worry about the things that are unlikely to happen, He simply tells us not to worry. God’s almighty hand still holds the world, and for the faithful believer this reality can set your mind to rest. I’m not sure what tomorrow brings. It’s possible that a cow could even come crashing through my roof and send me into eternity— but that’s alright. It’s not just alright because I could use a little more dairy in my diet, but it’s alright because a life in Christ comes with a secure future. It doesn’t matter what Fox News tells us when the Good News already told us everything we need to know. No matter what the day may bring nothing can change the fact that Jesus came, He died, and He definitely is alive, well, and active every day. Don’t worry about tomorrow. Let’s live our lives with joy and in the peace only He can provide.

Seven Biblical Principles To Help Us Encourage Our New Christians

Neal Pollard

Thankfully, God anticipated that His church would have men and women who love souls enough to invite them to church, share the gospel with them, help them find their way, and welcome them into the spiritual body of His Son. Since discipleship begins rather than ends at the baptistery steps, the right question to ask concerning these spiritual newborns is, “What’s next?” What does God expect of us to help these precious ones to survive and thrive as His children?

Practice The “Golden Rule” (Luke 6:31). Perhaps the best starting point in helping new Christians is seeking to see things through their eyes. They are in need of new relationships, further knowledge, trustworthy examples, time, patience, understanding, and so much more. As much as we can, we must do what we can to treat them empathetically and imagine how this radical life change impacts them. That means listen to them, ask questions, and learn what and how they think.
Watch Your Step (Ephesians 5:15-16). Established Christians should model the Christ-life. Conversations don’t have to project perfection, but should promote proper priorities (Matthew 6:33). Our task is to show the urgency of Christian commitment and our goals should reflect that we’re living more for eternity than for this life.
Don’t Be A Stumbling Block (Luke 17:1-2). We should wise about the attitudes and words we exhibit when speaking of the church, her leaders, decisions we don’t like or agree with (even if we’re sure we’re right). New Christians are looking to us to show them how to live Christianity. If we’re reckless and careless, we easily offend and trip up impressionable spiritual babes. Being comfortable around new Christians is great. Losing our filter is deadly and reveals our need to watch what’s being filtered (Mark 7:21-23).
Accept Them (Romans 14-15). New Christians need new relationships. They’ve not arrived at the maturity that requires time and practice. This may show up in their speech and actions. We don’t treat their missteps with the same harshness and severity as one who knows better and doesn’t do better. Accepting them also means inviting them into our lives! Their survival depends on it.
Help Them Grow (Ephesians 4:11-16). Whatever we’re involved in, we can invite them to be a part of. They may not be able to teach a class, but they could sit it and learn. They may not know what to say when visiting a sick or shut-in person, but they’ll gain much just by going. Jesus tells us we must be fruitful branches on the Vine (John 15:1ff). That makes us, as established branches, cultivators, too. They’re part of Christ’s body and need to know the part they play to work properly and help the body be built up.
Get Together With Them (Acts 2:44). New Christians usually are faced with building new relationships, new habits, new friendships, new lifestyles, and new patterns. Imagine how hard that is without the help and example of those who have long ago incorporated these. Fellowship and hospitality are vital tools for their spiritual survival (Acts 2:46; 4:32; 1 Peter 4:9). Include them in your plans and your life.
Teach Them To Observe All Things (Matthew 28:20). Sometimes we assume that new Christians know everything we know, whether knowledge of Scripture or how to apply it. Never in a condescending way, but rather in a loving, patient way, help them learn the book that will not only judge them (John 12:40; Revelation 20:12) but will guide them now (Psalm 119:105). Equip them to be useful to Christ and His church (2 Timothy 2:2). Help them grow their spiritual hunger (1 Peter 2:2).

Think about how much better and stronger a congregation gets with each new person who puts on Christ in baptism. Think about how happy their presence among us makes the God of heaven (Luke 15:7,10). They’re growing, learning, developing, and inevitably struggling here and there. Love them, care about them, and keep in touch with them! Then, some day, you can look back together for all eternity, grateful that they were faithful to the end (Matthew 10:22).

Is the Church the Kingdom of God? Why Christ Reigns Now (Part 1 of 2)

Brent Pollard

Jesus succeeded in establishing His kingdom. The church is not just a temporary solution or a substitute for God’s original plan. Christ reigns today, and His church is made up of people redeemed by His blood who live under His authority.

This belief shapes how I see both the church and biblical prophecy. I do not expect a future earthly millennium where Jesus will start the kingdom He spoke about. I also do not think that denying such a millennium means denying the kingdom itself. The kingdom is real. Its King reigns. Its citizens are already here.

Church and Kingdom: Two Descriptions of One Redeemed People

When we say the church is the kingdom, it helps to see what each term highlights. “Church” refers to Christ’s gathered people. The Greek word ekklēsia means “assembly,” and the New Testament describes this as people God has called through the gospel, out of darkness and into His light (2 Thessalonians 2.14; 1 Peter 2.9). “Kingdom” focuses on Christ’s royal authority and those He rules. The church is these redeemed people seen as an assembly, while the kingdom is the same people seen under Christ’s rule.

These words do not always mean the same thing in every Bible passage. God’s rule covers all creation, even those who resist Him. But when we talk about Christ’s redeemed people on earth, we are not talking about two different groups with separate futures. The people Christ saves and adds to His church are the same ones He brings into His kingdom.

Jesus brought these ideas together. In Matthew 16.18–19, He promised to build His church and then promised to give Peter the keys of the kingdom. This shows a clear link between the community He would build and the kingdom that the gospel would welcome people into. If we separate the church from the kingdom by thousands of years, we lose that connection.

When Did the Kingdom Come? From Mark 9.1 to Pentecost

The timing is important. In Mark 9.1, Jesus said that some people standing with Him would live to see God’s kingdom come in power. Even if the transfiguration that follows is a preview of His glory, this promise means the kingdom would arrive during the lives of those listening. It does not make sense to say the kingdom would wait thousands of years to be established.

Acts tells us that the risen Christ promised the Spirit’s power (Acts 1.8), which was fulfilled at Pentecost (Acts 2.1–4). Peter explained Jesus’ resurrection and exaltation by referring to God’s promise about David’s throne and to Psalm 110 (Acts 2.29–36). On that same day, those who accepted the gospel repented, were baptized, and the Lord added them to His people (Acts 2.38–47). These passages together show that Pentecost was when the church was established under the risen King.

New Testament Evidence That Christ’s Kingdom Exists Now

Other New Testament passages clearly show that the kingdom exists now. Paul told Christians that God had already moved them into His Son’s kingdom (Colossians 1.13). John said he shared in the kingdom with his readers, even while they faced hardship (Revelation 1.9). Hebrews says believers are receiving an unshakable kingdom (Hebrews 12.28). These Christians were already citizens of a real kingdom, not just waiting for one to be created.

Amillennialism and Revelation 20: Christ’s Reign and the Thousand Years

This is why I think the term “amillennialism” can be confusing. It might sound like it simply denies the millennium, and maybe even the kingdom. But this view actually affirms that Christ is reigning now. It sees the thousand years in Revelation 20 as a symbol for the full period of Christ’s reign and His people sharing in His victory, not as a literal future period of exactly one thousand years on earth.

Revelation uses many symbols, like a dragon, beasts, lampstands, a chain, and numbers. Interpreting the thousand years as a symbol fits with this style. The real question is what the symbol means. In this view, John’s vision encourages persecuted Christians that even death cannot take away their life and victory with their King. The martyrs who seem defeated by earthly rulers actually live and reign with Christ.

Satan’s binding has a clear purpose: to limit his ability to deceive the nations (Revelation 20.1–3). This does not mean he is completely inactive. Peter still warned Christians about the devil’s dangerous activity (1 Peter 5.8), which does not go against Christ’s victory over him. Satan’s power is limited, his opposition continues, and his final defeat is certain. The spread of the gospel around the world shows that the enemy cannot keep the earth away from Christ.

For these reasons, I do not believe in a future earthly millennium, but this does not mean I deny the kingdom or Christ’s victory. I also do not accept the postmillennial idea that a golden age must happen before Christ returns. The church’s confidence is based on Christ’s current authority and His promised return, not on the idea that the world must first become mostly Christian.

Was the Kingdom Postponed? Why the Church Is Not Plan B

My main objection is to the idea of a postponed kingdom, especially as taught in classical dispensational premillennialism. This view says that because Israel rejected the kingdom, God delayed its establishment and the church filled the gap in the meantime. Not all premillennialists believe this, and those who do usually affirm God’s sovereignty and foreknowledge. My issue is with the explanation itself: the Bible shows the church as the fulfillment of God’s purpose, not as a backup plan because He could not establish His kingdom.

Ephesians 3.10–11 places God’s work through the church within His eternal purpose, fulfilled in Christ. Acts 2.23 shows that even the crucifixion was part of God’s predetermined plan. The cross was not an emergency response to an unforeseen rejection. Through the very event in which His enemies seemed to triumph, Christ defeated the powers opposing Him (Colossians 2.15; Hebrews 2.14).

I cannot see how Christ’s victory fits with the idea that the church is just a substitute for a kingdom that Satan and human unbelief managed to stop. If opposition could block the promised kingdom once, what would make it succeed the next time? Those who support postponement would say God was not frustrated. Still, I think the New Testament gives a better answer: God fulfilled His purpose through Jesus’ rejection and crucifixion. The King rose, ascended, and now reigns.

To be continued…

Are We Living Through a Fourth Turning?

“Resistance Is Futile”: The Borg and the Spirit of the Age

When Weariness Sets In

Why Resistance Isn’t Futile

Winter Never Lasts Forever

Don’t Grow Weary in Doing Good

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From “Very Good” to Death: How the Fall Changed Human Life

The Curse, Genetic Decay, and Shorter Lifespans

Is All Sickness Caused by Sin or Demonic Oppression?

Lessons from Job’s Friends

The Woman Bent Double: Affliction Without Accusation

What Scripture Tells the Sick to Do

Can Illness Be God’s Discipline?

The Witness of Chronically Ill Christians

Caring for Those Who Suffer Without Adding Blame

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