The Elements of Delay in Jesus Teaching about His advent

Jesus promised His disciples that He would be back, in John 14:1-3 we read that Jesus has prepared a place for them and for us as well. Not long after that, Jesus gave the disciples the signs that would anticipate His second coming. In Matthew 24, Jesus describes those signs. After Jesus went to heaven, the angels promised the Disciples that Jesus would be back in the clouds, in Acts 1:10-11, the angels tell the disciples that the same Jesus that left would come back.
For centuries, we have preached that Jesus is coming back soon, but He never did, people have died with the hope that Jesus would come back soon, and still today, we do not know when Jesus is coming, we still waiting. Jesus did tell His disciples in Matthew 24:36 that the day and hour nobody new, and we also need to take in consideration II Peter 3:8-9 which says, “But don't forget this, dear friends, that a day or a thousand years from now is like tomorrow to the Lord. He isn't really being slow about His promised return, even though it sometimes seems that way. But He is waiting, for the good reason that He is not willing that any should perish, and He is giving more time for sinners to repent."
Jesus has kept His promises of coming back, but He loves us so much that He is giving us enough time to get ready and repent of our sins, turn away from our wicked lives. Each day that Jesus delays His coming I because one soul is repenting. We need to do as Matthew 24:42 says: “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.”
It would be unfair for Jesus to come back sooner then He will, He knows the time, and He knows what goes on people’s heart, and He knows the perfect time to intervene in world’s history.
Jesus have not delayed His second coming, He still on His time line, I believe Jesus cannot wait to come back and forever free us from sin, and Jesus must be anxious to see us and to give us a new body, a new house and a new name, however if we look at divine things with human’s eyes, Jesus has delayed, and He is taking a long time, but for Jesus, things are running as planned.
I do believe Jesus is coming back soon, and He can come back at any time, any minute, and any second. In Ecclesiastes 9:5, Salomon is clear to say that the dead knows nothing, so when you die, in a blink of an eye, you will see Jesus, not that you went to heaven, any supernatural event happened, when someone dies, that person will rest, and on Jesus second coming that person will awake to see Christ coming back in the clouds, so for me or for anybody else, Jesus can come back now, “since no man knows the future, who can tell him what is to come?” Ecclesiastes 8:7 NIV.
Jesus has not delayed; we are the ones that try to set a time for Jesus to come back. Human beings are so tired of sin, and the affects it has on us that we cannot wait for Jesus to come and free us from all of that. Luke 21:34-36 says, “Watch out! Don't let My sudden coming catch you unawares; don't let Me find you living in careless ease, carousing and drinking, and occupied with the problems of this life, like all the rest of the world. Keep a constant watch.” So we need to watch, and do not be worried that Jesus has delayed, because it is not our responsibility to set a time for God’s plan, but to accept it, and be ready for that day, and when it comes, we will be ready.

Is Satan in the Bible?

Introduction
The presence of Satan in the Bible is inevitable; some people even believe that Satan wrote the Bible. There are some theories that Satan is not an actual being, and this is not minority that believes it, in fact, 59% believe that Satan is just a symbol, not a real being, and only 34% believe that Satan is actually a real being .
The common image of Satan is a little man with horns, a pointy tail holding a fork looks more like the god pan from the Greek mythology then anything Biblical.
Satan comes in to the scene first in Genesis 3:1-6 when he, disguised as a serpent, tricked Eve to eat of the forbidden tree in the Garden of Eden. In 1 Chronicles 21:1, Satan was the one that incited David to count all men of Israel. Satan plays a different role in Job. It is in Job that we see the real face of Satan, and the battle that it is in heaven over God’s people. In Job 1:7, we find out where Satan lives. Satan was also the one that killed Job’s sons and daughters, and all his flocks (Job 1:12-18), and Satan also took away Job’s health (Job 2:7). In Isaiah 14:12 we learn that Satan was cast down to the earth, and in Isaiah 14:14, Satan wants to be like God. In Zechariah 3:1, Satan is our accuser, and he is ready to lay down his accusations against human kind.
Altogether, in the Old Testament alone the name Satan is mentioned 13 times, and the concept of Satan as the evil or the adversary, is mentioned many times in the Old Testament alone. In the early Hebrew writings, Satan is not as much as an individual character, but rather an adversary position through both people and angels.
In the New Testament, Satan is portrayed as a more active being. People in the community would face demon-possessed people very often. Satan is still being the tempter. In Matthew 4:1-11, as well as Mark 1:12,13, and Luke 4:1-13, Jesus is tempted by the Devil, which comes from the Greek Diablo, which means tempter.
In Revelation, we find a vivid description of the great controversy between good and evil that toke place in heaven and were carried on to this earth (Revelation 12). In the New Testament, we learn that Satan will be imprisoned after Jesus’ second coming, and will be in chains for one thousand years, but after that he will be freed, and will try to make war one last time.
Based on the evidences found in the Bible, I find two conclusions:
• The Devil’s Image has changed from a concept of bad things that happened to a more active tempter.
If we were to add a new testament to the Bible, Satan would be a celebrity. Satan was able to get attention of people in such a way, that people nowadays think he is not as bad. There are churches that worship Satan, and the simple matter of thinking that Satan is a horned, pointy-tailed, fork-holding devil is a tactic used by Satan to deceive people about who he actually is.
In the Old Testament, Satan was a snake, and he was able to fool the human race with a very small lie. Later on in the Bible, Satan was everything bad that came up to Israel. We only see Satan’s full power in Job, but even though Job was clearly tempted by the devil, Satan seems to be seen as a concept in the Old Testament. Not much as an active tempter, but a bad being.
In the New Testament, Satan is more active, and people seem to see him as a real tempter, the one that will do anything to take you out of track. He tempted Jesus, he tempted the disciple, he used Judas to kill Jesus, and he used the Pharisees to condemn Jesus.
Nowadays, Satan is real but not for real. Whenever something bad happens, we usually condemn God for what is happening, and we forget that Satan is still around, and nowadays, he is more active then never, Satan doesn’t even try to hide him. Movies, music, plays, and books talk about Satan openly, and people seem to be more and more interested on it.
• Satan is constantly learning and changing tactics
If we compare the methods in which Satan used on the Old Testament, New Testament and today, there is a pattern of learning that is noticeable. From a simple lie told to Eve in the Garden of Eden to more different and unnoticeable tactics. Satan has grown as this human race has grown. Satan has learned new ways to deceive people. Some of the temptations are still the same, that is way it is safe to say that Jesus was tempted in the same way we are tempted, that is because even though the tactic has changed, the motive is the same, “to make us distant from God.”
In my opinion, we as Christians do not learn enough about Satan. Not that we should do an extensive research on it, because with Satan, no one should play around, but we need to know that Satan is an angel, he was cast down from heaven, he tempt us, and he was defeated in the cross, but even though he is defeated, he will not give up on any one that searches for God.
One thing that never changed about Satan is the fact that he mixes lies with truth, and he works extra hard to make sure you think that sin is an acceptable thing and that it is sociably normal.
Conclusion
Satan is not only on the Bible; he is the reason why we have a Bible. Without Satan, there would be no sin, therefore men would never fall, there would never be temptation, and there would never be a cross. We would not need those things because we would be perfect beings, without blemish, and without fault.
By analyzing the texts in the Bible that talks about Satan, two conclusions can be found; the first is that Satan has changed from a concept of a bad thing and actions to a more active tempter. The second is that Satan is always learning, and he has changed his tactics throughout the ages, and he is adapting to each person to make sure he drives away that person from heaven.
Christians do not study much about Satan, in fact, many of them don’t even believe that Satan is an actual being, many believe that Satan is only the evil that happen in the world, and for that reason, they blame God for everything that happens.

"I See People Falling"

Sometimes when I'm sitting in front of the TV and watching the winter Olympic games in Torino, Italy, I feel a little guilt. I don't want to say that I am pessimist, or that I love to see the others fail, but I kind of enjoy seeing people failing. When a girl in figure skating falls, it feels as if you don't want to look, but you have to...



I really love to watch the jumps, it excites me to know that people can flip that many times… the bobsled is one of my favorite too, it can reach high speeds and it makes a cool noise.



When someone is performing whatever sport, sometimes I think what that person went through before the Olympic games. It has at least 4 year of intensive training, and discipline, so to see them fail, doesn’t mean they are not good. I would not be able to do 1/10 of what they can do, but when they fall, or they do something wrong, it seems as if I have a suggestion or a comment to make to that person. It seems so easy to spot what the problem was with that person, and sometimes it is easy to forget how much it took for them to be where they are, many of them gave up social life, marriages, kids, and even some dreams so they could achieve their ultimate goal of being a Olympic medalist.



Sometimes I wonder why do people compete. I personally don’t think that competition is a Godly act. Satan was kicked out of heaven because he wanted to compete with God to see who was greater. However, what would we be if there were no competitions? We would be boring human beings with lots of free time in our hands and nothing to do. Competition adds spice to our life, but I think it can be very dangerous. Competition starts to be harmful after someone get so drowned to the competition that she or he will do anything to win.



One of my friends came to me one day and told me he did not think it was bad to have competitions, and I asked him why. He told me that he enjoys running, and he likes the feeling of competing against others. Up to this point it is OK, but if you look at the competitors, whoever is humble never wins.



Whoever doesn’t think that he or she is the best, it will be very hard to win. If you accept second place, you will never achieve the first place. So if you start competing, even if it is for the write reasons, the road will usually lead you to a self centered, egoistic life stile, and God will probably be out of the scene.

Is it OK to be a Gay?

First of all, for those who got offended with the picture, "I'm Sorry."
Some people came to me and asked if it was OK to be gay; my answer to this question is “Yes, it is OK to be gay.” Now before you go out there quoting me, just listen up to what I have to say.
God will not burn gays, God will not hate gays, and God will not stop loving gays. God however does not agree with this life style. We cannot judge gays because of their life style. In I Corinthians 6:9, Paul writes, “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders” (NIV). Notice that homosexuality is number 5 on the list that includes:

Sexual Immoral: Pedophilia, S&M, Bukkake, Animal Sex, Creampie, camel toe, A2M, Milf, Gangbang, BDSM, etc… if you are familiar with any of this terms, you are most likely to be sexual immoral person.

Idolaters: you do not need to bow down to an image to be idolater. The Catholics are shameless though. They worship anything but Jesus. Jesus is just a greater God then all the other images, the Catholics even changed a little bit the 10 commandments, so it would be acceptable the fact that they worship idles and Gods. Even in my church (Seventh day Adventist) that proclaims to follow the 10 commandments, people still worship idols. That is because you do not need to worship and man-like image, people nowadays worship their money, their car, their job, their boat, their new flat screen TV, their girlfriend, and the list goes on. Just pay attention, people will protect, talk about it, share ideas about their gods.

Adulterers: Jesus says in Matthew 5:32 that, “But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery.” So if we look around, with a rate of divorce of 50%, there are a lot of idolaters around us. Just look at Hollywood, to them, marriage and divorce happens more often then you blink. Millions of weddings are performed in Las Vegas each year, and many of them have to basis or fundament.

Male Prostitutes: this is getting more and more common nowadays; they even made a movie (and a sequel) about the subject, where a man is hired as a gigolo. Kids and parents that see the movies, and laugh at it, start to see it as a wrong act but acceptable.

Homosexual Offenders: this is plain as straight “gay people.” More and more you hear about them, there are movies, sitcoms, singers, politicians, bishops, pastors, and parents that are gays.

This whole thing reminds me of the story of Sodom and Gomorra, and the end will be the same…

So before you go out there pointing fingers on gays, look at yourself first. God hates the sin but loves the sinner, I think it is Ok to be gay but it is not OK to give yourself into your desiers.

If for some reason you are gay and you really feel you need to change, let me tell you something that might help. When Paul wrote this message, guess to whom he wrote it? On I Corinthians 6:11 it says, “And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” So some of the people that Paul is speaking here were gays.
Some people might argue that being a gay is genetic and once you are gay, you never comeback. I won’t argue with that, however if a sex offender that struggles with pornography, if he/she asks God to help him/her, God will help, and even if the temptation is there, God will give victory to that person. Even if adulterer feels tempted to do it again, but he/she asks God for strength, God will help that person. If a male prostitute that gave his life to God, and changed lifestyles because of it is suffering because he is not make as much money as he was before, even if the temptation is there, God will also be there.
I can understand that gay will feel attracted to someone with the same sex, however, that person does not need to sin, if that person asks God for forgiveness, and asks God for help, He will provide the help you need. Satan will still tempt you, and you may loose some battles, but you will definitely win the war.

I got $20

Today I got 20 bucks from a rebate of a microwave that I bough the day after thanksgiving. I do not want to disrespect the manufacture of the microwave, but it has been 2 months, and 20 days since I sent it away, I understand the fact that all of them must be so stingy that they must be crying until now. I can even imagine them having a farewell party to the 20 bucks, and they wrote love letter to those 20 bucks. On the other side, being a student, I was dreaming with those 20 dollars, I would check the mail box everyday, just to see if I had my 20 dollars, I made plans with the 20 dollars, I prepared a special place for that 20 dollars in my wallet, I was like a mother that was expecting a child. I have great planes, and hopes for this 20 dollars, I hope it becomes 100 dollars someday, but first, I need to dedicate it to the Lord, and give Him 2 dollars of my baby…

One More Boring Blog

Have you noticed that with the invasion of bloggers, writing are getting more and more boring? People nowadays are writing about their pets, their days at school, and even about period and menstrual cycle. The rule nowadays is that there are no rules, and very few blogs are worth reading. I’m sure this one will not be one of them…
I’m just writing because the doctor told me to, it takes away the stress of my daily routine, and the things that go one in life.
Before you lose anymore time here, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Henrique O. Gomes; I am studying theology at Southwestern Adventist University in Keene, TX. Even though this is my last year here, I wish I could stay more. I like everything about here, and I enjoy my student life. I’m originally from Brazil, and I’ve been here in the States for five years, my mom and my sister live in Virginia, and I’m the only one here in Texas… I’ll be talking about some theological stuff, since I enjoy it, but I will also be talking about some stupid and useless stuff, so let me know what you think, and if you don’t, I do not care, I have mote things to do then to think about a unanswered entry.