#christendom — Public Fediverse posts

Thomas van Villanova, Vader van de Armen, augustijn, aartsbisschop van Valencia; zorgde voor daklozen, maakte caritas speerpunt van zijn bisdom, patroonheilige van collectanten #heilig #inspiratie #geschiedenis #kerk #christendom https://www.kenteringen.nl/heilige-van-de-dag/09-september/08-september-2/

Thomas van Villanova, Vader van de Armen, augustijn, aartsbisschop van Valencia; zorgde voor daklozen, maakte caritas speerpunt van zijn bisdom, patroonheilige van collectanten #heilig #inspiratie #geschiedenis #kerk #christendom https://www.kenteringen.nl/heilige-van-de-dag/09-september/08-september-2/

Cloud of Clodoald, Franse prins die aan moord ontsnapte, resp. kluizenaar, priester en raadgever werd en het klooster Saint Cloud stichtte, nu een voorstad van Parijs; patroon van spijkerfabrikanten #inspiratie #heilig #geschiedenis #parijs #kerk #christendom https://www.kenteringen.nl/heilige-van-de-dag/09-september/07-september/

Cloud of Clodoald, Franse prins die aan moord ontsnapte, resp. kluizenaar, priester en raadgever werd en het klooster Saint Cloud stichtte, nu een voorstad van Parijs; patroon van spijkerfabrikanten #inspiratie #heilig #geschiedenis #parijs #kerk #christendom https://www.kenteringen.nl/heilige-van-de-dag/09-september/07-september/

Lees tip -> Kabinet wijst oproep voor christelijke staatsreligie af | Minister beroept zich op scheiding van kerk en staat na petitie. | #scheidingkerkenstaat #BinnenlandseZaken #grondwet #petitie #vrijheidvangodsdienst #nederland #PieterHeerma #TweedeKamer #religie #christendom #staatsreligie |

https://hbpmedia.nl/kabinet-wijst-oproep-voor-christelijke-staatsreligie-af/

De Gelderse gemeente Oldebroek wordt geteisterd door een dief die het gemunt heeft op de regenboogvlaggen die ter plaatse aan de gevels hangen. True Colors Nunspeet komt in actie en speelt daarbij in op het christelijke gemoed van de dader: “Gij zult niet stelen.” https://www.winq.nl/gij-zult-niet-stelen-ook-geen-regenboogvlaggen/316871

#LGBTQIA #Nunspeet #Oldebroek #Gelderland #Bijbel #Geloof #Christendom #Biblebelt #Stelen #Crimineel

Maximiliaan Kolbe, de Heilige van Auschwitz, die zijn leven gaf voor een medegevangene; Poolse priester en franciscaan, patroonheilige van de journalistiek en mobiele telefonie #heilig #inspiratie #geschiedenis #woii #kerk #christendom https://www.kenteringen.nl/heilige-van-de-dag/08-augustus/14-augustus/

Maximiliaan Kolbe, de Heilige van Auschwitz, die zijn leven gaf voor een medegevangene; Poolse priester en franciscaan, patroonheilige van de journalistiek en mobiele telefonie #heilig #inspiratie #geschiedenis #woii #kerk #christendom https://www.kenteringen.nl/heilige-van-de-dag/08-augustus/14-augustus/

Edith Stein, begaafde joodse filosofe die karmelietes werd (als Teresia Benedicta van het Kruis) maar solidair bleef met haar volk, vergast in Auschwitz, copatroon van Europa #heilig #inspiratie #kerk #woii #christendom #geschiedenis https://www.kenteringen.nl/heilige-van-de-dag/08-augustus/09-augustus/

Edith Stein, begaafde joodse filosofe die karmelietes werd (als Teresia Benedicta van het Kruis) maar solidair bleef met haar volk, vergast in Auschwitz, copatroon van Europa #heilig #inspiratie #kerk #woii #christendom #geschiedenis https://www.kenteringen.nl/heilige-van-de-dag/08-augustus/09-augustus/

Titus Brandsma, journalist, karmeliet, hoogleraar, mysticus en martelaar, Grootste Nijmegenaar aller tijden; verzette zich tegen Nazipropaganda en beschermde de Friese cultuur #heilig #inspiratie #geschiedenis #kerk #christendom #WOII https://www.kenteringen.nl/heilige-van-de-dag/07-heiligen-juli/27-juli/

Titus Brandsma, journalist, karmeliet, hoogleraar, mysticus en martelaar, Grootste Nijmegenaar aller tijden; verzette zich tegen Nazipropaganda en beschermde de Friese cultuur #heilig #inspiratie #geschiedenis #kerk #christendom #WOII https://www.kenteringen.nl/heilige-van-de-dag/07-heiligen-juli/27-juli/

Apocalypticism

This is the religious belief that the end of the world is imminent, even within one’s own lifetime. This belief is usually accompanied by the idea that civilization will soon come to a tumultuous end due to some sort of catastrophic global event.

Apocalypticism is 1 aspect of eschatology in certain religions, the part of theology concerned with the final events of human history, or the ultimate destiny of humanity (societal collapse, human extinction, & so on). Religious views & movements often focus on cryptic revelations about a sudden, dramatic, & cataclysmic intervention of a god in human history; the judgment of humankind; the salvation of the faithful elect; & the eventual rule of the elect with the god in a heaven &/or upon a renewed Earth.

Arising originally in Zoroastrianism, apocalypticism was developed more fully in the eschatological speculations of Judaism, Christianity, & Islam (Abrahamic religions). Religious apocalypticism often involves themes such as God’s judgment, salvation of the faithful, & the eventual establishment of a renewed world.

Apocalypticism is often combined with the belief that esoteric knowledge will likely be revealed in a major confrontation between good & evil forces, destined to change the course of history. Apocalypse can be seen as good, bad, ambiguous, or neutral. This is highly dependent on the particular religion/belief system promoting them. It’s not exclusively a religious idea.

It’s not exclusively a religious idea. There are end times/transitional scenarios based on modern science, technology, political discourse, & conspiracy theories.

Various Christian eschatological systems have developed among different Christian denominations throughout the history of Christianity. Providing different frameworks for understanding the timing & nature of apocalypse vision. While others like postmillennialism & amillennialism.

While teaching that the end of the world could come at any moment tends to focus on the present life & contend that 1 shouldn’t attempt to predict when the end will come. Though there have been exceptions, such as postmillennialist Jonathan Edwards, who estimated that the end times would occur around the year 2000.

In Western Europe, during the year 1,000, Christian philosophers held many debates on when Jesus was actually born & the debates continue to today. This caused confusion among the common people about whether or not the apocalypse would occur at a certain time. Because both literate & illiterate people commonly accepted this idea of the apocalypse, they could only accept what they heard from religious leaders on when the disastrous event would occur.

Religious leader Abbo of Fleury believed that Jesus was born 21 years after the year 1, which was commonly accepted by close circles of his followers. Abbot Heriger of Lobbes argued that the birth of Jesus occurred not during the year 1 but rather during the 42nd year of the common era.

Many scholars came to accept that the apocalypse would occur sometime between 979 & 1042. Under the influence of the Sibylline Oracles & figures such as Otto III & Abbot Adso of Montier-en-Der, many believed that the apocalypse would soon occur.

Some historians think there were ample apocalyptic expectations at the approach of the year 1000 & again at the approach of 1000 anno passionis (1033). Other historians claim that the fear of the year 1000 is a myth & there was no widespread apocalypse sentiment.

As evidence, on December 31, 999, Pope Sylvester II granted certain privileges & guarantees to the Abbey of Fulda, without any indication that either the Pope or the abbot believed that the world was soon to end. There’s also a document from October 3, 999, in which Otto III grants future concessions to Farfa Abbey.

Another document in 999 shows 2 brothers taking a 29-year loan on lands of the abbey of San Marciano in Tortona, suggesting that even common people didn’t believe the world was ending. On the other hand, the fact that Otto III visited the tomb of Charlemagne, the emperor of the year 6,000 (Annus Mundi) on Pentecost of the year 1,000, suggests that even the man who appointed Sylvester pope had his own views on the matter.

The Crusades were filled with apocalyptic expectation & prophecy, beginning with the preaching of figures like Peter the Hermit to inspire knights, nobles, & commorers to March to the Holy Land, & take Jerusalem. Count Emicho, a leading figure of the People’s Crusade, claimed that Christ appeared & ordered him to fulfill apocalyptic prophecy by marching on Constantinople, seizing Jerusalem, triggering the Second Coming, & beginning the end times struggle against the Antichrist.

Leaders of the following Prince’s Crusade, such as Raymond of Aguilers (he was a participant & chronicler of the 1st Crusade & became the chaplain of Count Raymond IV of Toulouse, the leader of the Provençal army of crusaders), understood their conquest of Jerusalem as being a victory of Christendom over the Saracen “pagans” & as a sign of the oncoming Apocalypse & Second Coming.

Christian chronicles (like Matthew of Edessa) illustrated the Crusades in an apocalyptic framework, connecting the Frankish rule with the 4th kingdom in Daniel’s prophecy. Many other European writers emphasized the bloodlines during the massacre of Jerusalem as fulfilling the violent prophecies of Revelation.

Joachim of Fiore & other millenarian thinkers perceived the Crusades as temporary, foreseeing the voluntary conversion of the Islamic world over time.

The Fifth Monarchists/Fifth Monarchy Men were an extreme Puritan sect active for 11 years (1649-1660) during the Interregnum, following the English Civil Wars of the 17th century. They took their name from a prophecy in the Book of Daniel (which we, personally, can’t wait to get into!! Well, our founder, anyway. They adore apocalyptic prophecies! They’ll probably end up writing the whole Book of Daniel. With a TON of commentary.), that 4 ancient monarchies (Babylonian, Persian, Macedonian, & Roman) would precede the kingdom of Christ.

The Great Disappointment in the Millerite Movement was the reaction that followed Baptist preacher William Miller’s predictions that Jesus Christ would return to the Earth by 1844, which he called the Second Advent. His study of the Daniel 8 prophecy during the Second Great Awakening led him to the conclusion that Daniel’s “cleansing of the sanctuary” was cleansing of the world from sin when Christ would come, & he & many others prepared. But October 22, 1844, came & they were disappointed.

These events paved the way for the Adventists who created the Seventh-day Adventist Church. They contended that what had happened on October 22 wasn’t Jesus’ return, as Miller had thought, but the start of Jesus’ final work of atonement, the cleansing in the heavenly sanctuary, leading up to the Second Coming of Christ.

The Mormon tradition teaches that followers are living shortly before the Second Coming of Christ. The term “latter days” is used in the official names of several Mormon churches, including the Church of Jesus of Latter-day Saints. LDS president Wilford Woodruff (1889-1898) preached multiple times that many then-living followers “wouldn’t taste death” before witnessing the return of Christ.

According to LDS Church teachings, the true Gospel will be taught in all parts of the world before the Second Coming. Church members believe that there’ll be increasingly severe wars, earthquakes, hurricanes, & other man-made & natural disasters before the Second Coming.

The eschatology of Jehovah’s Witnesses is central to their faith & religious beliefs. They believe that Jesus Christ has been ruling in Heaven as king since 1914. This was a date they believed was prophesied in Scripture. After that time, a period of cleansing occurred, resulting in Charles Taze Russell being his people in 1919.

They also believe the destruction of those who reject their message & thus willfully refuse to obey God will shortly take place at Armageddon, ensuring that the beginning of the new earthly society will be composed of willing subjects of that kingdom.

The Watch Tower Society has stated that its early leaders promoted “incomplete, even inaccurate concepts.” The Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses says that, unlike Old Testament prophets, its interpretations of the Bible aren’t inspired or infallible.

Witness publications say that Bible prophecies can be fully understood only after their fulfillment, citing examples of biblical figures who didn’t understand the meaning of prophecies they received. Watch Tower publications often cite Proverbs 4:18, “The path of the righteous ones is like the bright light that is getting lighter & lighter until the day is firmly established,” to support their view that there would be an increase in knowledge during “the time of the end,” as mentioned in Daniel 12:4.

Jehovah’s Witnesses state that this increase in knowledge needs adjustments. Watch Tower publications also say that unfulfilled expectations are partly due to eagerness for God’s Kingdom & they don’t call their core beliefs into question.

For Christadelphians, Armageddon marks the “great climax of history when the nations would be gathered together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon,” & “the judgment of them would herald the setting up of the kingdom of God.”

After this, Christadelphians believe that Jesus will return to the earth in person to set up the kingdom of God in fulfillment of the promises made to Abraham & David. This includes the belief that the coming kingdom will be the restoration of God’s First Kingdom of Israel, which was David & Solomon. For Christadelphians, this is the focal point of the Gospel taught by Jesus & the apostles.

Realized eschatology is a Christian eschatology theory popularized by J.A.T Robinson, Joachim Jeremias, Ethelbert Stauffer, & C.H. Dodd that holds the eschatological passages in the New Testament do not refer to the future. But instead refers to the ministry of Jesus & his lasting legacy.

Eschatology is therefore not the end of the world, but its rebirth instituted by Jesus & continued by his disciples, a historical (rather than transhistorical) phenomenon. Those holding this view generally dismiss end-times theories, believing them to be irrelevant. They hold that what Jesus said & did, & told his disciples to do likewise, are of greater significance than any Messianic expectations.

David Meade is the pen name of an American end-times conspiracy theories & book author who has yet to disclose his real name. He’s best known for making numerous predictions, which have passed, regarding the end times, including that a hidden planet named Nibiru (a.k.a. Planet X) would destroy the Earth.

Meade predicted that planet Nibiru would collide with Earth on September 23, 2017, destroying it. After his prediction failed, he revised the apocalypse to October, where he stated that the 7-year tribulation would possibly start, followed by a millennium of peace.

In 2008, Meade again made several predictions for that year. For example, North Korea would become a superpower in March 2018, & that Nibiru would destroy the Earth in spring. But didn’t predict the exact date this time. After March 2018 passed, he moved the apocalypse to April 23, 2018, in which he also predicted the Sun, Moon, Jupiter, & Virgo would signal the Rapture, & that Nibiru would destroy the Earth that day.

However, before that date, he said that reports that he predicted at the end of April 23 were “fake news.” But that the Rapture – but not the end of the world – would take place on an unspecified date between May & December 2018.

UFO religions (think Heaven’s Gate, but without the unaliving) sometimes feature an anticipated end-time scenario in which extraterrestrial beings will bring about a radical change on Earth &/or “lift” the religious believers to a higher plane of existence.

Some followers of UFO religions believe that the arrival or rediscovery of alien civilizations, technologies, & spirituality will enable human beings to overcome current ecological, spiritual, political, & social problems on planet Earth.

Issues such as hatred, war, bigotry, poverty, & so on are said to be resolvable through the use of superior alien technology & spiritual abilities. Such belief systems are also described as millennial in their outlook.

The Zoroastrian eschatological ideas are only alluded to in the surviving texts of the Avesta, in particular in the 9th-century text Bundahishn. The accompanying story, as it shows up in the Bundahishn, says: At the end of the “3rd time” (the 1st being the age of creation, the 2nd of mixture, & the 3rd of separation), there will be a great battle between the forces of good (yazata) & those of evil (daeva), in which the good will triumph.

On Earth, the Saoshyant will bring about a resurrection of the dead in the bodies they had before they died. This is followed by a Last Judgment through an ordeal. The yazata Airyaman & Atar will melt in the hills & mountains, & the molten metal will then flow across the earth like a river.

But for the righteous (ashavan), it will seem to be a river of warm milk, while the wicked will be burned. The river will then flow down to Hell, where it will annihilate Angra Mainyu & the last vestiges of wickedness in the universe. The narrative continues with a projection of Ahura Mazda & the 6 Amesha Spentas solemnizing a final act of worship (Yasna), & the preparation of parahaoma from “white haoma.” The righteous will partake of the parahaoma, which will confer immortality upon them.

Therefore, humankind will become like the Amesha Spentas, living without food, without hunger or thirst, without weapons or possibility of bodily injury. The material substance of the bodies will be sol ight as to cast no shadow. All humanity will speak a single purpose & goal, joining with the divine for a perpetual exaltation of God’s glory.

Although Frashokereti is a restoration of the time of creation, there’s no return to the uniqueness of the primordial plant, animal, & human. While in the beginning there was 1 plant, 1 animal, & 1 human, the variety that had since been issued would remain forever.

Similarly, the host of divinities brought into existence by Ahura Mazda continue to have distinct existences, “& there is no prophecy of their reabsorption into the Godhead.”

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Apocalypticism

This is the religious belief that the end of the world is imminent, even within one’s own lifetime. This belief is usually accompanied by the idea that civilization will soon come to a tumultuous end due to some sort of catastrophic global event.

Apocalypticism is 1 aspect of eschatology in certain religions, the part of theology concerned with the final events of human history, or the ultimate destiny of humanity (societal collapse, human extinction, & so on). Religious views & movements often focus on cryptic revelations about a sudden, dramatic, & cataclysmic intervention of a god in human history; the judgment of humankind; the salvation of the faithful elect; & the eventual rule of the elect with the god in a heaven &/or upon a renewed Earth.

Arising originally in Zoroastrianism, apocalypticism was developed more fully in the eschatological speculations of Judaism, Christianity, & Islam (Abrahamic religions). Religious apocalypticism often involves themes such as God’s judgment, salvation of the faithful, & the eventual establishment of a renewed world.

Apocalypticism is often combined with the belief that esoteric knowledge will likely be revealed in a major confrontation between good & evil forces, destined to change the course of history. Apocalypse can be seen as good, bad, ambiguous, or neutral. This is highly dependent on the particular religion/belief system promoting them. It’s not exclusively a religious idea.

It’s not exclusively a religious idea. There are end times/transitional scenarios based on modern science, technology, political discourse, & conspiracy theories.

Various Christian eschatological systems have developed among different Christian denominations throughout the history of Christianity. Providing different frameworks for understanding the timing & nature of apocalypse vision. While others like postmillennialism & amillennialism.

While teaching that the end of the world could come at any moment tends to focus on the present life & contend that 1 shouldn’t attempt to predict when the end will come. Though there have been exceptions, such as postmillennialist Jonathan Edwards, who estimated that the end times would occur around the year 2000.

In Western Europe, during the year 1,000, Christian philosophers held many debates on when Jesus was actually born & the debates continue to today. This caused confusion among the common people about whether or not the apocalypse would occur at a certain time. Because both literate & illiterate people commonly accepted this idea of the apocalypse, they could only accept what they heard from religious leaders on when the disastrous event would occur.

Religious leader Abbo of Fleury believed that Jesus was born 21 years after the year 1, which was commonly accepted by close circles of his followers. Abbot Heriger of Lobbes argued that the birth of Jesus occurred not during the year 1 but rather during the 42nd year of the common era.

Many scholars came to accept that the apocalypse would occur sometime between 979 & 1042. Under the influence of the Sibylline Oracles & figures such as Otto III & Abbot Adso of Montier-en-Der, many believed that the apocalypse would soon occur.

Some historians think there were ample apocalyptic expectations at the approach of the year 1000 & again at the approach of 1000 anno passionis (1033). Other historians claim that the fear of the year 1000 is a myth & there was no widespread apocalypse sentiment.

As evidence, on December 31, 999, Pope Sylvester II granted certain privileges & guarantees to the Abbey of Fulda, without any indication that either the Pope or the abbot believed that the world was soon to end. There’s also a document from October 3, 999, in which Otto III grants future concessions to Farfa Abbey.

Another document in 999 shows 2 brothers taking a 29-year loan on lands of the abbey of San Marciano in Tortona, suggesting that even common people didn’t believe the world was ending. On the other hand, the fact that Otto III visited the tomb of Charlemagne, the emperor of the year 6,000 (Annus Mundi) on Pentecost of the year 1,000, suggests that even the man who appointed Sylvester pope had his own views on the matter.

The Crusades were filled with apocalyptic expectation & prophecy, beginning with the preaching of figures like Peter the Hermit to inspire knights, nobles, & commorers to March to the Holy Land, & take Jerusalem. Count Emicho, a leading figure of the People’s Crusade, claimed that Christ appeared & ordered him to fulfill apocalyptic prophecy by marching on Constantinople, seizing Jerusalem, triggering the Second Coming, & beginning the end times struggle against the Antichrist.

Leaders of the following Prince’s Crusade, such as Raymond of Aguilers (he was a participant & chronicler of the 1st Crusade & became the chaplain of Count Raymond IV of Toulouse, the leader of the Provençal army of crusaders), understood their conquest of Jerusalem as being a victory of Christendom over the Saracen “pagans” & as a sign of the oncoming Apocalypse & Second Coming.

Christian chronicles (like Matthew of Edessa) illustrated the Crusades in an apocalyptic framework, connecting the Frankish rule with the 4th kingdom in Daniel’s prophecy. Many other European writers emphasized the bloodlines during the massacre of Jerusalem as fulfilling the violent prophecies of Revelation.

Joachim of Fiore & other millenarian thinkers perceived the Crusades as temporary, foreseeing the voluntary conversion of the Islamic world over time.

The Fifth Monarchists/Fifth Monarchy Men were an extreme Puritan sect active for 11 years (1649-1660) during the Interregnum, following the English Civil Wars of the 17th century. They took their name from a prophecy in the Book of Daniel (which we, personally, can’t wait to get into!! Well, our founder, anyway. They adore apocalyptic prophecies! They’ll probably end up writing the whole Book of Daniel. With a TON of commentary.), that 4 ancient monarchies (Babylonian, Persian, Macedonian, & Roman) would precede the kingdom of Christ.

The Great Disappointment in the Millerite Movement was the reaction that followed Baptist preacher William Miller’s predictions that Jesus Christ would return to the Earth by 1844, which he called the Second Advent. His study of the Daniel 8 prophecy during the Second Great Awakening led him to the conclusion that Daniel’s “cleansing of the sanctuary” was cleansing of the world from sin when Christ would come, & he & many others prepared. But October 22, 1844, came & they were disappointed.

These events paved the way for the Adventists who created the Seventh-day Adventist Church. They contended that what had happened on October 22 wasn’t Jesus’ return, as Miller had thought, but the start of Jesus’ final work of atonement, the cleansing in the heavenly sanctuary, leading up to the Second Coming of Christ.

The Mormon tradition teaches that followers are living shortly before the Second Coming of Christ. The term “latter days” is used in the official names of several Mormon churches, including the Church of Jesus of Latter-day Saints. LDS president Wilford Woodruff (1889-1898) preached multiple times that many then-living followers “wouldn’t taste death” before witnessing the return of Christ.

According to LDS Church teachings, the true Gospel will be taught in all parts of the world before the Second Coming. Church members believe that there’ll be increasingly severe wars, earthquakes, hurricanes, & other man-made & natural disasters before the Second Coming.

The eschatology of Jehovah’s Witnesses is central to their faith & religious beliefs. They believe that Jesus Christ has been ruling in Heaven as king since 1914. This was a date they believed was prophesied in Scripture. After that time, a period of cleansing occurred, resulting in Charles Taze Russell being his people in 1919.

They also believe the destruction of those who reject their message & thus willfully refuse to obey God will shortly take place at Armageddon, ensuring that the beginning of the new earthly society will be composed of willing subjects of that kingdom.

The Watch Tower Society has stated that its early leaders promoted “incomplete, even inaccurate concepts.” The Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses says that, unlike Old Testament prophets, its interpretations of the Bible aren’t inspired or infallible.

Witness publications say that Bible prophecies can be fully understood only after their fulfillment, citing examples of biblical figures who didn’t understand the meaning of prophecies they received. Watch Tower publications often cite Proverbs 4:18, “The path of the righteous ones is like the bright light that is getting lighter & lighter until the day is firmly established,” to support their view that there would be an increase in knowledge during “the time of the end,” as mentioned in Daniel 12:4.

Jehovah’s Witnesses state that this increase in knowledge needs adjustments. Watch Tower publications also say that unfulfilled expectations are partly due to eagerness for God’s Kingdom & they don’t call their core beliefs into question.

For Christadelphians, Armageddon marks the “great climax of history when the nations would be gathered together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon,” & “the judgment of them would herald the setting up of the kingdom of God.”

After this, Christadelphians believe that Jesus will return to the earth in person to set up the kingdom of God in fulfillment of the promises made to Abraham & David. This includes the belief that the coming kingdom will be the restoration of God’s First Kingdom of Israel, which was David & Solomon. For Christadelphians, this is the focal point of the Gospel taught by Jesus & the apostles.

Realized eschatology is a Christian eschatology theory popularized by J.A.T Robinson, Joachim Jeremias, Ethelbert Stauffer, & C.H. Dodd that holds the eschatological passages in the New Testament do not refer to the future. But instead refers to the ministry of Jesus & his lasting legacy.

Eschatology is therefore not the end of the world, but its rebirth instituted by Jesus & continued by his disciples, a historical (rather than transhistorical) phenomenon. Those holding this view generally dismiss end-times theories, believing them to be irrelevant. They hold that what Jesus said & did, & told his disciples to do likewise, are of greater significance than any Messianic expectations.

David Meade is the pen name of an American end-times conspiracy theories & book author who has yet to disclose his real name. He’s best known for making numerous predictions, which have passed, regarding the end times, including that a hidden planet named Nibiru (a.k.a. Planet X) would destroy the Earth.

Meade predicted that planet Nibiru would collide with Earth on September 23, 2017, destroying it. After his prediction failed, he revised the apocalypse to October, where he stated that the 7-year tribulation would possibly start, followed by a millennium of peace.

In 2008, Meade again made several predictions for that year. For example, North Korea would become a superpower in March 2018, & that Nibiru would destroy the Earth in spring. But didn’t predict the exact date this time. After March 2018 passed, he moved the apocalypse to April 23, 2018, in which he also predicted the Sun, Moon, Jupiter, & Virgo would signal the Rapture, & that Nibiru would destroy the Earth that day.

However, before that date, he said that reports that he predicted at the end of April 23 were “fake news.” But that the Rapture – but not the end of the world – would take place on an unspecified date between May & December 2018.

UFO religions (think Heaven’s Gate, but without the unaliving) sometimes feature an anticipated end-time scenario in which extraterrestrial beings will bring about a radical change on Earth &/or “lift” the religious believers to a higher plane of existence.

Some followers of UFO religions believe that the arrival or rediscovery of alien civilizations, technologies, & spirituality will enable human beings to overcome current ecological, spiritual, political, & social problems on planet Earth.

Issues such as hatred, war, bigotry, poverty, & so on are said to be resolvable through the use of superior alien technology & spiritual abilities. Such belief systems are also described as millennial in their outlook.

The Zoroastrian eschatological ideas are only alluded to in the surviving texts of the Avesta, in particular in the 9th-century text Bundahishn. The accompanying story, as it shows up in the Bundahishn, says: At the end of the “3rd time” (the 1st being the age of creation, the 2nd of mixture, & the 3rd of separation), there will be a great battle between the forces of good (yazata) & those of evil (daeva), in which the good will triumph.

On Earth, the Saoshyant will bring about a resurrection of the dead in the bodies they had before they died. This is followed by a Last Judgment through an ordeal. The yazata Airyaman & Atar will melt in the hills & mountains, & the molten metal will then flow across the earth like a river.

But for the righteous (ashavan), it will seem to be a river of warm milk, while the wicked will be burned. The river will then flow down to Hell, where it will annihilate Angra Mainyu & the last vestiges of wickedness in the universe. The narrative continues with a projection of Ahura Mazda & the 6 Amesha Spentas solemnizing a final act of worship (Yasna), & the preparation of parahaoma from “white haoma.” The righteous will partake of the parahaoma, which will confer immortality upon them.

Therefore, humankind will become like the Amesha Spentas, living without food, without hunger or thirst, without weapons or possibility of bodily injury. The material substance of the bodies will be sol ight as to cast no shadow. All humanity will speak a single purpose & goal, joining with the divine for a perpetual exaltation of God’s glory.

Although Frashokereti is a restoration of the time of creation, there’s no return to the uniqueness of the primordial plant, animal, & human. While in the beginning there was 1 plant, 1 animal, & 1 human, the variety that had since been issued would remain forever.

Similarly, the host of divinities brought into existence by Ahura Mazda continue to have distinct existences, “& there is no prophecy of their reabsorption into the Godhead.”

Make a one-time donation

Your contribution is appreciated.

Make a monthly donation

Your contribution is appreciated.

Make a yearly donation

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Vandaag herdenken we de Poolse boerenfamilie Ulma, als eerste volledige gezin zalig verklaard; Józef en Wiktoria en hun 7 kinderen, Rechtvaardigen onder de Naties #heilig #inspiratie #geschiedenis #polen #woii #kerk #christendom https://www.kenteringen.nl/heilige-van-de-dag/07-heiligen-juli/07-juli-2/

Vandaag herdenken we de Poolse boerenfamilie Ulma, als eerste volledige gezin zalig verklaard; Józef en Wiktoria en hun 7 kinderen, Rechtvaardigen onder de Naties #heilig #inspiratie #geschiedenis #polen #woii #kerk #christendom https://www.kenteringen.nl/heilige-van-de-dag/07-heiligen-juli/07-juli-2/

Vandaag herdenken we de Poolse boerenfamilie Ulma, als eerste volledige gezin zalig verklaard; Józef en Wiktoria en hun 7 kinderen, Rechtvaardigen onder de Naties #heilig #inspiratie #geschiedenis #polen #woii #kerk #christendom https://www.kenteringen.nl/heilige-van-de-dag/07-heiligen-juli/07-juli-2/

Vandaag herdenken we de Poolse boerenfamilie Ulma, als eerste volledige gezin zalig verklaard; Józef en Wiktoria en hun 7 kinderen, Rechtvaardigen onder de Naties #heilig #inspiratie #geschiedenis #polen #woii #kerk #christendom https://www.kenteringen.nl/heilige-van-de-dag/07-heiligen-juli/07-juli-2/

RE: https://mastodon.nl/@vosje62/116595326912383126

Heb maar even weer wat vage foto's van motorfietsen aangeklikt, om dit artikel te kunnen archiveren:

https://archive.is/jgtb5

#abortus #transrechten #christendom #geloof #Google

Nu op mijn blog: De Bible Belt, waarin Jonah Falke zich zonder enige voorkennis verdiept in de wereld van de reformatorische Nederlanders https://lalageleest.nl/2025/09/14/de-bible-belt-jonah-falke/
#boeken #lezen #christendom #geloof #religie #nonfictie

(Bijna) alles over Driekoningen 👑👑👑
#heilig #inspiratie #driekoningen #keulen #geschiedenis #kersttijd #onderwijs #kerk #katholiek #christendom https://bit.ly/3GNzsxL

The Big Conversation – Christadelphians in the United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom people may find several villages and towns where there reside Christadelphians,  a body of Christians who try to base their beliefs and practices wholly on the Bible, which they regard as God’s word. They try therefore to rid themselves of the various ideas and rituals which have attached themselves to Christendom over the last 2,000 years and to return to the beliefs and practices of the first century apostles.

Being a group of people who want to follow the Nazarene Jew Jeshua, who did not want to do his own will, but always did the Will of his heavenly Father, they as the man born in Bethlehem, are living in this world but not wanting to be of this world following human traditions and human dogmas. That does not make them so popular, because people may look strange at those people who do not want to celebrate Halloween and other pagan festivities.

Because the Christadelphians are a community without the trappings of elaborate buildings, priests or icons, their institutions and fellowship-rooms not be seen straight away. The outer sights are not important for the Christadelphians who prefer to give honour to God and show a deep respect for God’s word and love to have a strong sense of family and fellowship.

On the above map you can see some of the more than 300 ecclesiae in Great Britain and Ireland. They were taken under the loop by brother Jon Downes who on the 10th of October asked

What is happening?

For him the present size & growth or non-growth of UK ecclesiae show there isn’t a, ‘No Change’ option

It’s not that we aren’t trying!

he said to about 350 Christadelphians present at Dudley college.

In this world of figures, comparisons and evaluations it is all about numbers in graphics which have to show an up-going trend and reach high peaks. this for sure can not be said about our very small community. Lots of people may think when it is not big it has no value and can not be good. But people should look at the intrinsic value and to see what a group or church is believing, following up, and how they keep to what they preach. It is true that minorities do not exert influence, and that they should have to contend on the culture or the systems around it.

Christadelphians do not fall in the temptation to pretend to be a majority, even if one is not. They do know they are just a little grain of sand in our religious world. But that does not mean that many more little grains can be put together with water and with clay form a nice vase. Though sometimes it can look like we are coming to sit more in an urn. Especially in Belgium we are in distress and can do with some support form abroad. Though looking at other countries can show us also how important it is to make more work of the announcing or making known of our society.

All over the world people may not forget that the church of Jesus Christ is never a majority, in any fallen culture, even if we happen to outnumber every[one] else around us. They should come to see that the real church of God is the church of Christ were people are willing to follow Jesus his words, his teachings, but also his manners and his aspirations. It is a place where people are willing to share the agapè love of Christ, who was even willing to give his life for others, even for those who turned against him. Would we do that?

Where Christian churches have held fast to the truth that the Holy Scriptures have been given by God as an authoritative and infallible rule of faith and practice, they have never wandered very seriously out of the right way. But when, on the other hand, reason has been exalted above revelation, and made the the exponent of revelation, all kinds of errors and mischiefs have been the result, and got many sorts of denominations which have lots of rituals people may like very much but which are not according to God’s Law. And that part is the most important in our building community. We should all try to live according God’s Law and love His Words more than the words of man.

Unfortunately, lots of Christians do not closely follow the Bible today and prefer to join churches in which they can keep up their human traditions. They have changed things to how they want them to be.
Since the times of Jesus, there have been small groups of people who believed what the Bible said. Many of these people were cruelly treated in times past as a result of their beliefs. Such believers united in the North of America when in 1864 broke out the Civil War. Dr. Thomas thought up the word “Christadelphian“, a name combining the name “Christ” with the Greek word “adelphi” meaning “brother”. So the name “Christadelphian” means “brothers and sisters in Christ“.

Christadelphians are grateful to John Thomas for his efforts in searching out the message of the Bible. John Thomas was not a prophet or someone special. He read the Bible, just as we try to do. Christadelphians follow Jesus Christ, not John Thomas. Not following just one man or just one human organisation gives that we may have different ideas about certain things, but that doe snot mean we would not have union with each other, though we must agree that there are certain Christadelphian groups who shamefully do not want to have contact with other Christadelphians.  According to the Belgian Free Christadelphians this is also part of the reasons why it is so difficult to show the world a bigger group of religious people under one name: Christadelphians.

Being joined together by our common faith in the Bible, and the way we live, we all should try to meet each other and have contact with each other as loving siblings. All being brothers and sisters in Christ. Though each “ecclesia” has to look after its own affairs, and choose members who determine arrangements and organise activities on behalf of their members they should feel that unity with Christ with other Christadelphians world wide and show the outside world that Jesus Christ is their head of each ecclesia.

Living in this world we do agree that “It’s not about the numbers” … …but the “numbers tell a story”. And those numbers in west Europe may be alarming. Therefore there was the call to come thereto in the UK to discuss that matter of dwindling ciphers.

Like any other western capitalist country in the UK Bible ownership and Bible knowledge has slumped, some english people also do find it a form of indoctrination when parents in their home pray and talk about God in front of their children of that child.

Jon Downes presented the anxious members a snapshot of our society in the UK.

and showed those present how a typical ecclesia looks like.

When we look at the adult baptisms in our community from related people (3,5) and from non related
(1.0) plus counting the (0.5) refellowshipping members, comparing them with the average of 10 people falling asleep and 2 people leaving the fellowship, we might say that such numbers bring the graphic line downwards.

What might happen to the Christadelphian community in the United Kingdom when they do not something to change the coarse.

happened.

Therefore lets look at the United Kingdom as an example.

what might this give to that community, where we find, like everywhere in the world members becoming older and dying, whilst the world is getting less interested in God and commandment.

In case we can bring the Gospel of the Good News to many more ears, we should be able by a co-effort of preaching to increase the interest in God again and get again some people interested in joining a community of lovers of Christ and lovers of God.

We must see that

The lost are our hope

and that there is good reason to try to reach the lost. We as brothers and sisters in Christ should love the people in the world so much that we will be offering some of our spare time for preaching work.

We are the hope of the lost

Luckily it is not all ad  or sad news.

Good News!

tells brother Downes is that we can look at

• 120 baptisms a year (4 average sized ecclesias)
• In the last 40 years, 39 new ecclesias. (Although 96 have closed & some were renamed).
• In the last 15 years,1/4 of all baptisms from non Christadelphian backgrounds were by just 16 ecclesias. (Although 1/3 didn’t baptise any)
• While many ecclesias are shrinking many are growing.
• Numbers in Africa are growing!
• Bible Learning Centres & Learning English are having a big impact

Instead of going for Plan A is it not better that we go for Plan B?

• Current UK Christadelphian population of 8-8500 is based on 223 2015 ALS Diary returns on households & 178 2015 CCH survey returns. 10 Ecclesias had neither return and were estimated on previous diary returns.
• 1985 to 2015 data based on records kept from the back of the Christadelphian, clearly subject to some error, gaps and misreporting. The last 12 months of Magazine entries were analysed separately and yielded results consistent with the records obtained.
• Net loss of 120 per annum and the 10, 5, 1 ratio derived from average of last 10 years data. Approx 240 out and 120 in. These do not include brothers and sisters movement in and out of the UK.
• Forecast from 2015 based on a linear continuation which could easily be a) more dramatic because of rapid closure of small ecclesias, ageing population, reduced home pool to draw from, fewer people to witness, higher rates of leaving the community b) less dramatic as in a smaller community there are fewer people falling asleep each year.

One of the deceases of this time is that too many people want to enjoy their own little cocoon and not getting out of their comfort zone to share life with the spiritually needy. Those who call themselves Christian may not forget that this means to be a follower of Jesus Christ and demands also doing what he required from his followers. Jesus asked us to go out in the world to proclaim the Kingdom of God. We are to make every effort to bring hope and healing in Jesus name to those in need.

We are to see that the tangible goodness of God flows into every nook and cranny of our communities – especially in those places where darkness seems to prevail. {Walking With Intentionality}

+

Preceding articles:

Religious Practices around the world

Manifests for believers #3 Catholic versus Protestant

Ecclesia to exist, grow and communities to have people communicating with each other

The Ecclesia in the churchsystem

Reasons to come together

The Big Conversation

The Big Conversation follow up

Reasons why you may not miss the opportunity to go to a Small Church

Engaging the culture without losing the gospel

Evangelisation, local preaching opposite overseas evangelism

Feeling-good, search for happiness and the church

Members of the ecclesia uniting and seeking God’s help in tribulation

Why we do not have our worship-services in a church building

Belgian Christadelphians 2013 & 2014 in review

Personal thoughts, communication, establishing ecclesia and guest writings

++

Additional reading:

1. People are turning their back on Christianity
2. Looking on what is going on and not being of it
3. London an exaggerated microcosm of the UK at large
4. Parents forbidden to pray in front of their children or to take them to church
5. State and attitude of certain people to blame for radicalisation
6. More Muslim children than Christian children growing up in our cities
7. Will Islam conquer Europe
8. Christianity to be enshrined
9. Halloween custom of the nations
10. Wrong ideas about religious terrorism
11. A call easy to understand
12. Discipleship way of life on the narrow way to everlasting life
13. Many forgot how Christ should be our anchor and our focus
14. The meek one riding on an ass
15. Do not be afraid to learn or to speak
16. Reasons to come together
17. Congregate, to gather, to meet
18. Fellowship
19. Disciple of Christ counting lives and friends dear to them
20. The first on the list of the concerns of the saint
21. Holiness and expression of worship coming from inside
22. To find ways of Godly understanding
23. Perishable non theologians daring to go out to preach
24. Who are the honest ones?
25. Certain people trying to stem freedom of speech
26. Priority to form a loving brotherhood
27. Newsweek asks: How ignorant are you?
28. Religious Freedom in a Multicultural World
29. Some christians do have problems with the Christian connection with Jews
30. American atheists most religiously literate Americans
31. Determine the drive
32. Try driving forward instead of backwards
33. Campbell, Thomas and Bijbelvorsers
34. Looking at older articles series over Russell on the previous Bible-scholar Association
35. Wanting to know more about basic teachings of Christadelphianism
36. Christadelphians or Messianic Christians or Messianic Jews
37. Christadelphian people
38. Who are Christadelphians
39. What are Brothers in Christ
40. Two new encyclopaedic articles
41. Christadelphians today
42. Keeping an ecclesia in modern times
43. Small churches of the few Christadelphians
44. Christianity to be enshrined
45. Christianity is a love affair
46. Intentions of an Ecclesia
47. Character transformed by the influence of our fellowships
48. Love for each other attracting others
49. What makes a consecrated Christian
50. A call easy to understand
51. If you have integrity
52. Work with joy and pray with love
53. To know Christ is filling life with meaning
54. The truth is very plain to see and God can be clearly seen

+++

Other articles of interest:

1. Walking in Total Dependence Upon God
2. What is God’s Will For Your Life?
3. On the Affirmation of Scripture
4. A Snapshot of the Church in America
5. a little church
6. Four Pressing Needs in Rural Communities, and How the Church Should Respond
7. If It’s All About Relationship…
8. Leading a church is not a hands free exercise
9. Walking With Intentionality
10. Living Our Faith in a New Way
11. What’s in It for Me?
12. Deacon Selection In the Small Church
13. Lord’s Day 10: God is in Control
14. Just Try a Few Things
15. “When Faith Goes, All Good Things Go”
16. Growing Deep
17. All the Wrong Reasons
18. Little Church
19. Leading Change
20. Small Groups & Grow A Small Church by Multiplying Its Small Groups
21. Living well
22. Blessed by His Hand
23. Encouragement for the Small
24. How Did You Get Here?
25. How to Impersonate a Big Church
26. What Do You Do Well?
27. Recognize the Facts
28. What are your top two struggles?
29. The Best Thing You Can Do
30. On the road to sainthood and not silent about it
31. Incognito Zone: Where the Church Is Booming
32. House Church Reaches Out to Atheists, Agnostics in California
33. The one religion that’s not part of my spiritual quest
34. Six Ways Not to Forsake the Assembly
35. Tent Making
36. Journey On The Narrow Path

+++

Related articles

• One in three people born in the UK this year will suffer from some form of dementia in their lifetime, the Alzheimer’s Research UK charity has warned. (grumpyelder.com)
• Israel Goldstein Youth Village looking for dates in Europe (christadelphianworld.blogspot.com)
• Looking for writers for two Lifestyle Magazines (christadelphianworld.blogspot.com)
• Change of name (christadelphianworld.blogspot.com)

Rate this:

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The Big Conversation – Christadelphians in the United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom people may find several villages and towns where there reside Christadelphians,  a body of Christians who try to base their beliefs and practices wholly on the Bible, which they regard as God’s word. They try therefore to rid themselves of the various ideas and rituals which have attached themselves to Christendom over the last 2,000 years and to return to the beliefs and practices of the first century apostles.

Being a group of people who want to follow the Nazarene Jew Jeshua, who did not want to do his own will, but always did the Will of his heavenly Father, they as the man born in Bethlehem, are living in this world but not wanting to be of this world following human traditions and human dogmas. That does not make them so popular, because people may look strange at those people who do not want to celebrate Halloween and other pagan festivities.

Because the Christadelphians are a community without the trappings of elaborate buildings, priests or icons, their institutions and fellowship-rooms not be seen straight away. The outer sights are not important for the Christadelphians who prefer to give honour to God and show a deep respect for God’s word and love to have a strong sense of family and fellowship.

On the above map you can see some of the more than 300 ecclesiae in Great Britain and Ireland. They were taken under the loop by brother Jon Downes who on the 10th of October asked

What is happening?

For him the present size & growth or non-growth of UK ecclesiae show there isn’t a, ‘No Change’ option

It’s not that we aren’t trying!

he said to about 350 Christadelphians present at Dudley college.

In this world of figures, comparisons and evaluations it is all about numbers in graphics which have to show an up-going trend and reach high peaks. this for sure can not be said about our very small community. Lots of people may think when it is not big it has no value and can not be good. But people should look at the intrinsic value and to see what a group or church is believing, following up, and how they keep to what they preach. It is true that minorities do not exert influence, and that they should have to contend on the culture or the systems around it.

Christadelphians do not fall in the temptation to pretend to be a majority, even if one is not. They do know they are just a little grain of sand in our religious world. But that does not mean that many more little grains can be put together with water and with clay form a nice vase. Though sometimes it can look like we are coming to sit more in an urn. Especially in Belgium we are in distress and can do with some support form abroad. Though looking at other countries can show us also how important it is to make more work of the announcing or making known of our society.

All over the world people may not forget that the church of Jesus Christ is never a majority, in any fallen culture, even if we happen to outnumber every[one] else around us. They should come to see that the real church of God is the church of Christ were people are willing to follow Jesus his words, his teachings, but also his manners and his aspirations. It is a place where people are willing to share the agapè love of Christ, who was even willing to give his life for others, even for those who turned against him. Would we do that?

Where Christian churches have held fast to the truth that the Holy Scriptures have been given by God as an authoritative and infallible rule of faith and practice, they have never wandered very seriously out of the right way. But when, on the other hand, reason has been exalted above revelation, and made the the exponent of revelation, all kinds of errors and mischiefs have been the result, and got many sorts of denominations which have lots of rituals people may like very much but which are not according to God’s Law. And that part is the most important in our building community. We should all try to live according God’s Law and love His Words more than the words of man.

Unfortunately, lots of Christians do not closely follow the Bible today and prefer to join churches in which they can keep up their human traditions. They have changed things to how they want them to be.
Since the times of Jesus, there have been small groups of people who believed what the Bible said. Many of these people were cruelly treated in times past as a result of their beliefs. Such believers united in the North of America when in 1864 broke out the Civil War. Dr. Thomas thought up the word “Christadelphian“, a name combining the name “Christ” with the Greek word “adelphi” meaning “brother”. So the name “Christadelphian” means “brothers and sisters in Christ“.

Christadelphians are grateful to John Thomas for his efforts in searching out the message of the Bible. John Thomas was not a prophet or someone special. He read the Bible, just as we try to do. Christadelphians follow Jesus Christ, not John Thomas. Not following just one man or just one human organisation gives that we may have different ideas about certain things, but that doe snot mean we would not have union with each other, though we must agree that there are certain Christadelphian groups who shamefully do not want to have contact with other Christadelphians.  According to the Belgian Free Christadelphians this is also part of the reasons why it is so difficult to show the world a bigger group of religious people under one name: Christadelphians.

Being joined together by our common faith in the Bible, and the way we live, we all should try to meet each other and have contact with each other as loving siblings. All being brothers and sisters in Christ. Though each “ecclesia” has to look after its own affairs, and choose members who determine arrangements and organise activities on behalf of their members they should feel that unity with Christ with other Christadelphians world wide and show the outside world that Jesus Christ is their head of each ecclesia.

Living in this world we do agree that “It’s not about the numbers” … …but the “numbers tell a story”. And those numbers in west Europe may be alarming. Therefore there was the call to come thereto in the UK to discuss that matter of dwindling ciphers.

Like any other western capitalist country in the UK Bible ownership and Bible knowledge has slumped, some english people also do find it a form of indoctrination when parents in their home pray and talk about God in front of their children of that child.

Jon Downes presented the anxious members a snapshot of our society in the UK.

and showed those present how a typical ecclesia looks like.

When we look at the adult baptisms in our community from related people (3,5) and from non related
(1.0) plus counting the (0.5) refellowshipping members, comparing them with the average of 10 people falling asleep and 2 people leaving the fellowship, we might say that such numbers bring the graphic line downwards.

What might happen to the Christadelphian community in the United Kingdom when they do not something to change the coarse.

happened.

Therefore lets look at the United Kingdom as an example.

what might this give to that community, where we find, like everywhere in the world members becoming older and dying, whilst the world is getting less interested in God and commandment.

In case we can bring the Gospel of the Good News to many more ears, we should be able by a co-effort of preaching to increase the interest in God again and get again some people interested in joining a community of lovers of Christ and lovers of God.

We must see that

The lost are our hope

and that there is good reason to try to reach the lost. We as brothers and sisters in Christ should love the people in the world so much that we will be offering some of our spare time for preaching work.

We are the hope of the lost

Luckily it is not all ad  or sad news.

Good News!

tells brother Downes is that we can look at

• 120 baptisms a year (4 average sized ecclesias)
• In the last 40 years, 39 new ecclesias. (Although 96 have closed & some were renamed).
• In the last 15 years,1/4 of all baptisms from non Christadelphian backgrounds were by just 16 ecclesias. (Although 1/3 didn’t baptise any)
• While many ecclesias are shrinking many are growing.
• Numbers in Africa are growing!
• Bible Learning Centres & Learning English are having a big impact

Instead of going for Plan A is it not better that we go for Plan B?

• Current UK Christadelphian population of 8-8500 is based on 223 2015 ALS Diary returns on households & 178 2015 CCH survey returns. 10 Ecclesias had neither return and were estimated on previous diary returns.
• 1985 to 2015 data based on records kept from the back of the Christadelphian, clearly subject to some error, gaps and misreporting. The last 12 months of Magazine entries were analysed separately and yielded results consistent with the records obtained.
• Net loss of 120 per annum and the 10, 5, 1 ratio derived from average of last 10 years data. Approx 240 out and 120 in. These do not include brothers and sisters movement in and out of the UK.
• Forecast from 2015 based on a linear continuation which could easily be a) more dramatic because of rapid closure of small ecclesias, ageing population, reduced home pool to draw from, fewer people to witness, higher rates of leaving the community b) less dramatic as in a smaller community there are fewer people falling asleep each year.

One of the deceases of this time is that too many people want to enjoy their own little cocoon and not getting out of their comfort zone to share life with the spiritually needy. Those who call themselves Christian may not forget that this means to be a follower of Jesus Christ and demands also doing what he required from his followers. Jesus asked us to go out in the world to proclaim the Kingdom of God. We are to make every effort to bring hope and healing in Jesus name to those in need.

We are to see that the tangible goodness of God flows into every nook and cranny of our communities – especially in those places where darkness seems to prevail. {Walking With Intentionality}

+

Preceding articles:

Religious Practices around the world

Manifests for believers #3 Catholic versus Protestant

Ecclesia to exist, grow and communities to have people communicating with each other

The Ecclesia in the churchsystem

Reasons to come together

The Big Conversation

The Big Conversation follow up

Reasons why you may not miss the opportunity to go to a Small Church

Engaging the culture without losing the gospel

Evangelisation, local preaching opposite overseas evangelism

Feeling-good, search for happiness and the church

Members of the ecclesia uniting and seeking God’s help in tribulation

Why we do not have our worship-services in a church building

Belgian Christadelphians 2013 & 2014 in review

Personal thoughts, communication, establishing ecclesia and guest writings

++

Additional reading:

1. People are turning their back on Christianity
2. Looking on what is going on and not being of it
3. London an exaggerated microcosm of the UK at large
4. Parents forbidden to pray in front of their children or to take them to church
5. State and attitude of certain people to blame for radicalisation
6. More Muslim children than Christian children growing up in our cities
7. Will Islam conquer Europe
8. Christianity to be enshrined
9. Halloween custom of the nations
10. Wrong ideas about religious terrorism
11. A call easy to understand
12. Discipleship way of life on the narrow way to everlasting life
13. Many forgot how Christ should be our anchor and our focus
14. The meek one riding on an ass
15. Do not be afraid to learn or to speak
16. Reasons to come together
17. Congregate, to gather, to meet
18. Fellowship
19. Disciple of Christ counting lives and friends dear to them
20. The first on the list of the concerns of the saint
21. Holiness and expression of worship coming from inside
22. To find ways of Godly understanding
23. Perishable non theologians daring to go out to preach
24. Who are the honest ones?
25. Certain people trying to stem freedom of speech
26. Priority to form a loving brotherhood
27. Newsweek asks: How ignorant are you?
28. Religious Freedom in a Multicultural World
29. Some christians do have problems with the Christian connection with Jews
30. American atheists most religiously literate Americans
31. Determine the drive
32. Try driving forward instead of backwards
33. Campbell, Thomas and Bijbelvorsers
34. Looking at older articles series over Russell on the previous Bible-scholar Association
35. Wanting to know more about basic teachings of Christadelphianism
36. Christadelphians or Messianic Christians or Messianic Jews
37. Christadelphian people
38. Who are Christadelphians
39. What are Brothers in Christ
40. Two new encyclopaedic articles
41. Christadelphians today
42. Keeping an ecclesia in modern times
43. Small churches of the few Christadelphians
44. Christianity to be enshrined
45. Christianity is a love affair
46. Intentions of an Ecclesia
47. Character transformed by the influence of our fellowships
48. Love for each other attracting others
49. What makes a consecrated Christian
50. A call easy to understand
51. If you have integrity
52. Work with joy and pray with love
53. To know Christ is filling life with meaning
54. The truth is very plain to see and God can be clearly seen

+++

Other articles of interest:

1. Walking in Total Dependence Upon God
2. What is God’s Will For Your Life?
3. On the Affirmation of Scripture
4. A Snapshot of the Church in America
5. a little church
6. Four Pressing Needs in Rural Communities, and How the Church Should Respond
7. If It’s All About Relationship…
8. Leading a church is not a hands free exercise
9. Walking With Intentionality
10. Living Our Faith in a New Way
11. What’s in It for Me?
12. Deacon Selection In the Small Church
13. Lord’s Day 10: God is in Control
14. Just Try a Few Things
15. “When Faith Goes, All Good Things Go”
16. Growing Deep
17. All the Wrong Reasons
18. Little Church
19. Leading Change
20. Small Groups & Grow A Small Church by Multiplying Its Small Groups
21. Living well
22. Blessed by His Hand
23. Encouragement for the Small
24. How Did You Get Here?
25. How to Impersonate a Big Church
26. What Do You Do Well?
27. Recognize the Facts
28. What are your top two struggles?
29. The Best Thing You Can Do
30. On the road to sainthood and not silent about it
31. Incognito Zone: Where the Church Is Booming
32. House Church Reaches Out to Atheists, Agnostics in California
33. The one religion that’s not part of my spiritual quest
34. Six Ways Not to Forsake the Assembly
35. Tent Making
36. Journey On The Narrow Path

+++

Related articles

• One in three people born in the UK this year will suffer from some form of dementia in their lifetime, the Alzheimer’s Research UK charity has warned. (grumpyelder.com)
• Israel Goldstein Youth Village looking for dates in Europe (christadelphianworld.blogspot.com)
• Looking for writers for two Lifestyle Magazines (christadelphianworld.blogspot.com)
• Change of name (christadelphianworld.blogspot.com)

Rate this:

#AdultBaptism #Agape #BeingInUnion #Belgium #BiblicalTruth #BrothersAndSistersInChrist #BrothersInChrist #CapitalistWorld #Christadelphian #ChristadelphianCommunity #Christadelphians #Christendom #ChristianChurches #ChristianTruth #Christians #ChurchOfJesusChrist #ComfortZone #DwindlingChurch #Ecclesia #Fellowship #FollowerOfChrist #FollowingJesusChrist #FollowingMan #GreatBritain #HopeOfEcclesia #Influence #InterestInGod #Ireland #JohnThomas #JonDownes #LeavingTheFellowship #LivingInThisWorld #LoversOfChrist #LoversOfGod #Minority #NorthOfAmerica #NumbersAmount_ #PaganFestivities #Preaching #PreachingWork #Proclaim #Proclaiming #ReachingTheLost #Refellowshipping #RuleOfPractice #SistersInChrist #SmallCommunity #TeachingsOfChrist #Temptation #Union #UnitedKingdom #Unity #UnityInChrist #UnityInDiversity #WayOfLiving #WordOfMan

The Big Conversation – Christadelphians in the United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom people may find several villages and towns where there reside Christadelphians,  a body of Christians who try to base their beliefs and practices wholly on the Bible, which they regard as God’s word. They try therefore to rid themselves of the various ideas and rituals which have attached themselves to Christendom over the last 2,000 years and to return to the beliefs and practices of the first century apostles.

Being a group of people who want to follow the Nazarene Jew Jeshua, who did not want to do his own will, but always did the Will of his heavenly Father, they as the man born in Bethlehem, are living in this world but not wanting to be of this world following human traditions and human dogmas. That does not make them so popular, because people may look strange at those people who do not want to celebrate Halloween and other pagan festivities.

Because the Christadelphians are a community without the trappings of elaborate buildings, priests or icons, their institutions and fellowship-rooms not be seen straight away. The outer sights are not important for the Christadelphians who prefer to give honour to God and show a deep respect for God’s word and love to have a strong sense of family and fellowship.

On the above map you can see some of the more than 300 ecclesiae in Great Britain and Ireland. They were taken under the loop by brother Jon Downes who on the 10th of October asked

What is happening?

For him the present size & growth or non-growth of UK ecclesiae show there isn’t a, ‘No Change’ option

It’s not that we aren’t trying!

he said to about 350 Christadelphians present at Dudley college.

In this world of figures, comparisons and evaluations it is all about numbers in graphics which have to show an up-going trend and reach high peaks. this for sure can not be said about our very small community. Lots of people may think when it is not big it has no value and can not be good. But people should look at the intrinsic value and to see what a group or church is believing, following up, and how they keep to what they preach. It is true that minorities do not exert influence, and that they should have to contend on the culture or the systems around it.

Christadelphians do not fall in the temptation to pretend to be a majority, even if one is not. They do know they are just a little grain of sand in our religious world. But that does not mean that many more little grains can be put together with water and with clay form a nice vase. Though sometimes it can look like we are coming to sit more in an urn. Especially in Belgium we are in distress and can do with some support form abroad. Though looking at other countries can show us also how important it is to make more work of the announcing or making known of our society.

All over the world people may not forget that the church of Jesus Christ is never a majority, in any fallen culture, even if we happen to outnumber every[one] else around us. They should come to see that the real church of God is the church of Christ were people are willing to follow Jesus his words, his teachings, but also his manners and his aspirations. It is a place where people are willing to share the agapè love of Christ, who was even willing to give his life for others, even for those who turned against him. Would we do that?

Where Christian churches have held fast to the truth that the Holy Scriptures have been given by God as an authoritative and infallible rule of faith and practice, they have never wandered very seriously out of the right way. But when, on the other hand, reason has been exalted above revelation, and made the the exponent of revelation, all kinds of errors and mischiefs have been the result, and got many sorts of denominations which have lots of rituals people may like very much but which are not according to God’s Law. And that part is the most important in our building community. We should all try to live according God’s Law and love His Words more than the words of man.

Unfortunately, lots of Christians do not closely follow the Bible today and prefer to join churches in which they can keep up their human traditions. They have changed things to how they want them to be.
Since the times of Jesus, there have been small groups of people who believed what the Bible said. Many of these people were cruelly treated in times past as a result of their beliefs. Such believers united in the North of America when in 1864 broke out the Civil War. Dr. Thomas thought up the word “Christadelphian“, a name combining the name “Christ” with the Greek word “adelphi” meaning “brother”. So the name “Christadelphian” means “brothers and sisters in Christ“.

Christadelphians are grateful to John Thomas for his efforts in searching out the message of the Bible. John Thomas was not a prophet or someone special. He read the Bible, just as we try to do. Christadelphians follow Jesus Christ, not John Thomas. Not following just one man or just one human organisation gives that we may have different ideas about certain things, but that doe snot mean we would not have union with each other, though we must agree that there are certain Christadelphian groups who shamefully do not want to have contact with other Christadelphians.  According to the Belgian Free Christadelphians this is also part of the reasons why it is so difficult to show the world a bigger group of religious people under one name: Christadelphians.

Being joined together by our common faith in the Bible, and the way we live, we all should try to meet each other and have contact with each other as loving siblings. All being brothers and sisters in Christ. Though each “ecclesia” has to look after its own affairs, and choose members who determine arrangements and organise activities on behalf of their members they should feel that unity with Christ with other Christadelphians world wide and show the outside world that Jesus Christ is their head of each ecclesia.

Living in this world we do agree that “It’s not about the numbers” … …but the “numbers tell a story”. And those numbers in west Europe may be alarming. Therefore there was the call to come thereto in the UK to discuss that matter of dwindling ciphers.

Like any other western capitalist country in the UK Bible ownership and Bible knowledge has slumped, some english people also do find it a form of indoctrination when parents in their home pray and talk about God in front of their children of that child.

Jon Downes presented the anxious members a snapshot of our society in the UK.

and showed those present how a typical ecclesia looks like.

When we look at the adult baptisms in our community from related people (3,5) and from non related
(1.0) plus counting the (0.5) refellowshipping members, comparing them with the average of 10 people falling asleep and 2 people leaving the fellowship, we might say that such numbers bring the graphic line downwards.

What might happen to the Christadelphian community in the United Kingdom when they do not something to change the coarse.

happened.

Therefore lets look at the United Kingdom as an example.

what might this give to that community, where we find, like everywhere in the world members becoming older and dying, whilst the world is getting less interested in God and commandment.

In case we can bring the Gospel of the Good News to many more ears, we should be able by a co-effort of preaching to increase the interest in God again and get again some people interested in joining a community of lovers of Christ and lovers of God.

We must see that

The lost are our hope

and that there is good reason to try to reach the lost. We as brothers and sisters in Christ should love the people in the world so much that we will be offering some of our spare time for preaching work.

We are the hope of the lost

Luckily it is not all ad  or sad news.

Good News!

tells brother Downes is that we can look at

• 120 baptisms a year (4 average sized ecclesias)
• In the last 40 years, 39 new ecclesias. (Although 96 have closed & some were renamed).
• In the last 15 years,1/4 of all baptisms from non Christadelphian backgrounds were by just 16 ecclesias. (Although 1/3 didn’t baptise any)
• While many ecclesias are shrinking many are growing.
• Numbers in Africa are growing!
• Bible Learning Centres & Learning English are having a big impact

Instead of going for Plan A is it not better that we go for Plan B?

• Current UK Christadelphian population of 8-8500 is based on 223 2015 ALS Diary returns on households & 178 2015 CCH survey returns. 10 Ecclesias had neither return and were estimated on previous diary returns.
• 1985 to 2015 data based on records kept from the back of the Christadelphian, clearly subject to some error, gaps and misreporting. The last 12 months of Magazine entries were analysed separately and yielded results consistent with the records obtained.
• Net loss of 120 per annum and the 10, 5, 1 ratio derived from average of last 10 years data. Approx 240 out and 120 in. These do not include brothers and sisters movement in and out of the UK.
• Forecast from 2015 based on a linear continuation which could easily be a) more dramatic because of rapid closure of small ecclesias, ageing population, reduced home pool to draw from, fewer people to witness, higher rates of leaving the community b) less dramatic as in a smaller community there are fewer people falling asleep each year.

One of the deceases of this time is that too many people want to enjoy their own little cocoon and not getting out of their comfort zone to share life with the spiritually needy. Those who call themselves Christian may not forget that this means to be a follower of Jesus Christ and demands also doing what he required from his followers. Jesus asked us to go out in the world to proclaim the Kingdom of God. We are to make every effort to bring hope and healing in Jesus name to those in need.

We are to see that the tangible goodness of God flows into every nook and cranny of our communities – especially in those places where darkness seems to prevail. {Walking With Intentionality}

+

Preceding articles:

Religious Practices around the world

Manifests for believers #3 Catholic versus Protestant

Ecclesia to exist, grow and communities to have people communicating with each other

The Ecclesia in the churchsystem

Reasons to come together

The Big Conversation

The Big Conversation follow up

Reasons why you may not miss the opportunity to go to a Small Church

Engaging the culture without losing the gospel

Evangelisation, local preaching opposite overseas evangelism

Feeling-good, search for happiness and the church

Members of the ecclesia uniting and seeking God’s help in tribulation

Why we do not have our worship-services in a church building

Belgian Christadelphians 2013 & 2014 in review

Personal thoughts, communication, establishing ecclesia and guest writings

++

Additional reading:

1. People are turning their back on Christianity
2. Looking on what is going on and not being of it
3. London an exaggerated microcosm of the UK at large
4. Parents forbidden to pray in front of their children or to take them to church
5. State and attitude of certain people to blame for radicalisation
6. More Muslim children than Christian children growing up in our cities
7. Will Islam conquer Europe
8. Christianity to be enshrined
9. Halloween custom of the nations
10. Wrong ideas about religious terrorism
11. A call easy to understand
12. Discipleship way of life on the narrow way to everlasting life
13. Many forgot how Christ should be our anchor and our focus
14. The meek one riding on an ass
15. Do not be afraid to learn or to speak
16. Reasons to come together
17. Congregate, to gather, to meet
18. Fellowship
19. Disciple of Christ counting lives and friends dear to them
20. The first on the list of the concerns of the saint
21. Holiness and expression of worship coming from inside
22. To find ways of Godly understanding
23. Perishable non theologians daring to go out to preach
24. Who are the honest ones?
25. Certain people trying to stem freedom of speech
26. Priority to form a loving brotherhood
27. Newsweek asks: How ignorant are you?
28. Religious Freedom in a Multicultural World
29. Some christians do have problems with the Christian connection with Jews
30. American atheists most religiously literate Americans
31. Determine the drive
32. Try driving forward instead of backwards
33. Campbell, Thomas and Bijbelvorsers
34. Looking at older articles series over Russell on the previous Bible-scholar Association
35. Wanting to know more about basic teachings of Christadelphianism
36. Christadelphians or Messianic Christians or Messianic Jews
37. Christadelphian people
38. Who are Christadelphians
39. What are Brothers in Christ
40. Two new encyclopaedic articles
41. Christadelphians today
42. Keeping an ecclesia in modern times
43. Small churches of the few Christadelphians
44. Christianity to be enshrined
45. Christianity is a love affair
46. Intentions of an Ecclesia
47. Character transformed by the influence of our fellowships
48. Love for each other attracting others
49. What makes a consecrated Christian
50. A call easy to understand
51. If you have integrity
52. Work with joy and pray with love
53. To know Christ is filling life with meaning
54. The truth is very plain to see and God can be clearly seen

+++

Other articles of interest:

1. Walking in Total Dependence Upon God
2. What is God’s Will For Your Life?
3. On the Affirmation of Scripture
4. A Snapshot of the Church in America
5. a little church
6. Four Pressing Needs in Rural Communities, and How the Church Should Respond
7. If It’s All About Relationship…
8. Leading a church is not a hands free exercise
9. Walking With Intentionality
10. Living Our Faith in a New Way
11. What’s in It for Me?
12. Deacon Selection In the Small Church
13. Lord’s Day 10: God is in Control
14. Just Try a Few Things
15. “When Faith Goes, All Good Things Go”
16. Growing Deep
17. All the Wrong Reasons
18. Little Church
19. Leading Change
20. Small Groups & Grow A Small Church by Multiplying Its Small Groups
21. Living well
22. Blessed by His Hand
23. Encouragement for the Small
24. How Did You Get Here?
25. How to Impersonate a Big Church
26. What Do You Do Well?
27. Recognize the Facts
28. What are your top two struggles?
29. The Best Thing You Can Do
30. On the road to sainthood and not silent about it
31. Incognito Zone: Where the Church Is Booming
32. House Church Reaches Out to Atheists, Agnostics in California
33. The one religion that’s not part of my spiritual quest
34. Six Ways Not to Forsake the Assembly
35. Tent Making
36. Journey On The Narrow Path

+++

Related articles

• One in three people born in the UK this year will suffer from some form of dementia in their lifetime, the Alzheimer’s Research UK charity has warned. (grumpyelder.com)
• Israel Goldstein Youth Village looking for dates in Europe (christadelphianworld.blogspot.com)
• Looking for writers for two Lifestyle Magazines (christadelphianworld.blogspot.com)
• Change of name (christadelphianworld.blogspot.com)

Rate this:

#AdultBaptism #Agape #BeingInUnion #Belgium #BiblicalTruth #BrothersAndSistersInChrist #BrothersInChrist #CapitalistWorld #Christadelphian #ChristadelphianCommunity #Christadelphians #Christendom #ChristianChurches #ChristianTruth #Christians #ChurchOfJesusChrist #ComfortZone #DwindlingChurch #Ecclesia #Fellowship #FollowerOfChrist #FollowingJesusChrist #FollowingMan #GreatBritain #HopeOfEcclesia #Influence #InterestInGod #Ireland #JohnThomas #JonDownes #LeavingTheFellowship #LivingInThisWorld #LoversOfChrist #LoversOfGod #Minority #NorthOfAmerica #NumbersAmount_ #PaganFestivities #Preaching #PreachingWork #Proclaim #Proclaiming #ReachingTheLost #Refellowshipping #RuleOfPractice #SistersInChrist #SmallCommunity #TeachingsOfChrist #Temptation #Union #UnitedKingdom #Unity #UnityInChrist #UnityInDiversity #WayOfLiving #WordOfMan