World Trade Center 3001

Build a virtual time machine and travel back to September 10, 2001: the day before the twin towers fell. Take along with you a list of all the planes that crashed and the passenger lists. Underscore the names of the terrorists on each list. From the 101st floor of one of the towers, fax the list to major newspapers, radio stations, as well as the FBI, CIA and the White House. Cause all major airports to be shut down until the Towers are emptied and guarded.

When the Towers fail to fall on the following morning, go forward in time to September 11, 3001. Stand at the base of the Twin Towers and look straight up at the aging and abandoned towers that stand as a monument to your time traveling achievement.

Instead of documentaries about the destruction of the Twin Towers, only what-if movies will be filmed about what almost took place.

Origionally published in Northern Lord vs. Southern Lord blog (http://realjesuscristo.blogspot.com/2006/10/world-trade-center-3001.html?m=0)

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.4

God is More than a Concept by Which We Overcome Our Own Pain

Yes, John Lennon stated years ago in "God" that "God is a concept by which we measure our own pain." It need not remain so. God is many things to many people. Your conception of or experience with God is as different than your fingerprints are different from the person in the next room.

Tonight I wanted God to save me more than He's ever saved or helped or healed me before. You know what his answer was to my great surprise. He said, "heal yourself. Help yourself. Save yourself." That was not the answer I was looking for, but it might just be the answer that will do until God in His mercy blesses me with His supernatural healing, help and salvation. I actually smiled when the realization came. Of course, it's so simple. If no one else can or will take care of and watch out for me, then who better than myself. If my parents are too old or too sick to care for me, I have to care for myself. If other relatives are too busy, too sick or too challenged themselves to care for me, then who better to care for me than myself? Of course, I can always use a helping hand by some compassionate person who has the gift of giving aid to others in need. And, with God's grace or favor, I will endeavor to be a helping hand when some person in need is brought into my life.

The Lord our God is One. Blessed be the name of the Lord for his mercy endures for ever.

Blessings for the new year whatever year you happen to be reading this.

More to come--

Science Fiction Messiah

This blog post is not about any science fiction messiah, per se,  though the most famous of SciFi messiahs does come to mind. I'm referring to Muad'Dib aka Paul Atreides from the classic novel, Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert. More recently popular culture has given us Thomas A. Anderson (alias Neo) from the Matrix film trilogy. For decades the world has been fascinated by, perhaps, the most famous of SciFi messiahs, i.e., Kal-El (alias Superman) from the planet Krypton. Humans, by nature, need messiahs at every stage of their development.

What if a new real-world messiah would appear in our midst? I'm not talking about an anti-Christ type of messiah, and, of course, he would not take the place of the quintessential messiah, Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Would this theoretical messiah one day be reading a secret text, or praying to God, or walking among us and, suddenly, the awareness that (s)he was a new 21st century messiah would dawn on him or her? It would be wonderful to have a female messiah, for a change. This line of questioning also applies to potential new genuine prophets after the biblical tradition. Examples that come to mind throughout history are the Buddha, Mohamed, Joseph Smith and Ellen G. White. How did these individuals realize that they were the genuine article and not just imagining things. Perhaps a test of their worth is that they helped found important world religions. In contrast, those who imagine themselves to be prophets or messiahs, and contribute very little to world history that is also beneficial, can be sure that they are probably wasting their time, and ours, and would do better to seek another vocation.

If a modern prophet or messiah is out there, please make yourself known as soon as possible. The world would be in a better shape with your ministry in place.

Adventist Futurist Blog Begins

Adventist Futurist, a new blog devoted to Adventist Futurism, was launched on August 14, 2010. The first post states that the purpose of "Adventist Futurist, is to collect, organize and coordinate past, present and future articles regarding Adventist Futurism." Another reason for this new blog is to trace, when possible, the origins and influences of Adventist Futurism." The blog header specifies that the blog will concentrate on futurology, futurism, science, aesthetics, ethics, space exploration, cybernetics, and other forward-thinking areas of study.

Macrolife, Space Colonization & Adventist Futurism

Adventist Futurists and their supporters may soon be in a unique historical vantage point and, with planning, can continue to be at history's cutting edge for many years to come. Adventists are growing at a healthy rate and, within the foreseeable future, will be at a unique juncture in human history as a force to be reckoned with as trend setters. The following is one of the vehicles that Adventist Futurists can utilize to effectively shape history on a larger scale than they have previously impacted it.

First of all it's important to note that Macrolife is based on real science. Macrolife is the vision of Dandridge MacFarlan Cole who "saw the human race as being at a turning point, corresponding to the adolescence of an individual, in which humanity would either destroy itself or come to a collective state of maturity and relative stability." [1] Additionally, Cole "was known especially for promoting the idea of colonizing the asteroids, or 'planetoids' as he argued they should more properly be called. The planetoids could be hollowed out, or actually inflated to create a bubbleworld with habitable space on the inside. The resulting space arks could orbit within the solar system, or be sent out on interstellar expeditions." [2] For a significant update of Cole's prescient vision consult the link below titled Islands in Space: The Challenge of the Planetoids, the Pioneering Work of Dandridge M. Cole. [3]

Some may not see what Macrolife has to do with the gospel commission to preach the good news that Jesus Christ died, rose again, and is returning to rescue those he loves from a dying world. Traditionalists focus on Christ's immanent return which Adventists have been hoping for since 1844. If, and this is not meant disrespectfully, Christ does not return by 2044, the fact that 200 years will have elapsed since Adventists started looking for Christ's return should force another assessment as to his delay. If Christ's coming can be delayed 200 years, it is not inconceivable that it could also be delayed another 100 or 200 years. What am I getting at? Humanity is capable right now, on a limited scale, of beginning the move into other worlds. Humanity lives in space right now, on a limited scale, on the International Space station. With the proper resources and vision, it can be on its way to making Macrolife a reality by 2044.

Christians are very far geographically today from whence they originated. It would have been astounding for early Christians, who did not conceive of a round and far-flung world, to envision the full extent of the Earth and how far Christianity would travel in the next 2,000 years. Christianity has even transcended the Earth itself as there, no doubt, have been astronauts who believed, and continue to believe, in Christ Jesus as their savior. Who is to say that this Earth is the limit of where Christians and their supporters can live and still await Christ's return.

References:

1. "Extraterrestrial Colonies," Navigation, No. 7, Summer-Autumn 1960, p. 85.
2. Dandridge MacFarlan Cole
3. Islands in Space: The Challenge of the Planetoids, the Pioneering Work of Dandridge M. Cole

Related posts:

Noah's Interstellar Ark, Future Worlds, Creating an Ideal World, Christianity 3001 A.D. Adventist's New Horizons, Adventist Futurism

How to Find a Near-Perfect Spiritual Group Experience

Imagine a group where everyone feels part of the group even when they are not. It is the main purpose of the group to welcome each new and continuing member. Every effort is made to address each participant's needs. Some may think it is too intrusive for the Adventist Futurism Fellowship to be so concerned with every need a member or visitor might have. For these individuals this concern about too much intrusiveness is also perceived as a valid need.

The first time one enters through the doors into an Adventist Futurist Fellowship seminar one wonders why no one had ever alerted him or her before to the outstanding cornucopia of benefits that one finds when one is welcomed into this unique group. Some find this somewhat elusive knowledge of the group as having a quasi-Gnostic quality in that knowledge of this group seems like--though is not in reality--an awareness or perception that is only available to the initiated or chosen few. That is not the case at all. What then is the source of this esoteric quality that renders this group almost invisible to the public-at-large?

The fellowship of the Adventist Futurists, or the initiation into Adventist Futurism and all its tantalizing benefits is that no one--or very few at any rate--can find information about the Adventist Futurists as one would when searching for similar groups. Some claim that they have found easy entry into the society of Adventist Futurists when what they stumble upon is one of the illusory doors that are meant to keep out the merely curious.

Only those who are dead-set on finding this once-in-a-lifetime experience and fellowship will ever find it. It is not understood by some why entry into the almost esoteric society is made so difficult. If the benefits of the Adventist Futurists are as valuable as are reported by those who have once participated, but for some reason, did not remain, then why the difficulty in gaining access into this quintessential group?

The answer may never be completely known. However, it appears that the commitment that each member of the Adventist Futurists has for each of his brothers and sisters is so complete--if one can classify the endeavor to fulfill each participant's every need as an attempt to confer completeness in this life--is taken so seriously, that only the true devotee can ever find and enter into this exquisite group of people.

I myself was serendipitously welcomed into the camaraderie of the Adventist Futurists some time in the recent past, but took a wrong step once inside and thought it preferable to venture outside the group and find my own way in the world. It is my earnest desire to once again--if they will accept me--gain entry into the beneficent care of the Friends of Adventist Futurism.

It is my hope that you too will somehow find your way into the indescribable society where each need is almost anticipated before it is fully expressed.

Fire in the Sky Outshines Sunlight

The tension in the world was unbearable. For months the three rogue nations had played their games threatening to test or detonate much of their nuclear arsenal. People of faith everywhere had started taking prayer and fasting seriously for once.

If the end of the world was days or weeks away I wanted to be on the roof with my laptop, taking pictures and short video feeds with the cellphone. Every day after work, what work could still be done in the mounting disorder that the world experienced every day, I took to the roof to document what I saw all around me. The forest smoldered in the distance as the end-of-life mobs set anything they could find that wasn't fireproof.

Last night all the lights went out for 21 minutes and I was able to see a star that shone with a different type of light. It was pulsating as nothing I'd ever seen. When the power came back on, there was too much light all around me on the roof to see the strange star anymore. The next night the lights went out again for 21 minutes and the star was visible again, but this time it was larger. How could anything in the sky that pulsates from so far away get larger 24 hours later?

This pattern continued night after night until one night, the sun came out at midnight. Except it wasn't the same sun we knew. It was three times the size. Even the darkest sunglasses made it difficult on the eyes. I took my videos and pictures and wrote what I saw and how I felt about it and published it for anyone who was still connecting to the worldwide wireless hub for continuity or information.

The next night when the sun came out again I noticed that the fires were burning brighter. The only difference was alarming. The fires that had been lit up till now were the familiar red, yellow and orange flames that one was used to. These fires were green, blue and violet. The fires were not being set from below, but from the very skies. The world we had known had ceased to exist with the arrival of the giant midnight sun.

The next night the most alarming sight took hold of me as I saw in the not too distant cemetery what seemed like huge birds darting up from the trees in the woods surrounding the park. The figures were so distant and multicolored that I wondered what type of bird could change its color so randomly as it flew higher and higher. I photographed the distant figures and posted them for anyone to see and try to comment on it, for I could not.

When the city was almost ablaze, I noticed that the couple on the roof next to mine that had come out every night, as I had done, were strangely hovering six feet above the roof. I knew the Chinese had experimented with personal hovercraft platforms, but how anyone could have a prototype in their possession in this country was beyond me. I photographed them and with only a word or two, I posted it on my blog.

After an hour or two I realized that the enterprising Chinese had sold more prototypes to eager Americans than I had thought possible. Here and there in the buildings surrounding me I saw other couples hovering six feet above the roof. It seemed as they were waiting for something. With instant phone detection, no doubt, they were able to contact each other and coordinate whatever they were planning as they hovered six feet above the roof of their high rise buildings.

In a flash the sky exploded in blinding light of emerald and blue shades of undulating waves of color and sound. I was about to send a quick note and publish it when I noticed that much to my surprise I was no longer standing on the roof. I too was hovering six feet above the roof. I didn't know what this could mean as I had no expensive Chinese hovercraft, for sure. In a panic I wrote my last message and clicked the orange "Publish" link in my blog program. Nothing else needed to be said. My last message went out to anyone who was still connected, as I dropped my laptop and looked at the One who was seated on the throne in the middle of the giant sun.

"Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire," says the LORD Almighty. "Not a root or a branch will be left to them. But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall." Malachi 4:1,2 (NIV)

[Originally posted as The Second Coming, Wirelessly]

Noah's Interstellar Ark

Hurricanes in Florida, terrorism in New York City, earthquakes and wildfires in California, tornadoes just about everywhere, global warming, raging wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and genocide in Darfur. The harsh realities of living anywhere on planet Earth hint that there are no desirable cities or countries left to live in. Why bother moving out to somewhere else? Why not consider moving up! I mean that literally, not figuratively

Noah in the Bible was not given a ready-built mode of survival from the catastrophic flood that wiped the known-world into oblivion. He had to build the ark himself. In like manner this is what must be done by Adventist Futurists and their supporters. There is nowhere to escape in the event of a worldwide conflagration but up and out. Humanity possesses the God-given science, vision and the means to build arks in space to escape Earth's destruction by fire.

If Noah and his family had to begin again from scratch after they escaped death by water into a virtually new world, a postdiluvian one, why might not modern-day Noahs also escape into a virtual new world beyond the disaster of a worldwide Apocalypse?

Yes, Christ still returns, but not to Jerusalem on Earth, but rather, to a spiritual Jerusalem on another world or sphere. All the prophecies of the Bible may need to be cast in new settings to adjust to unforeseen glitches ushered in by the postmodern world in which we live.

We've all heard the expression of not putting all our eggs into one basket. We must not disregard the possibility that the damage or dangers that have been perpetrated on Earth by humanity, or by problems endemic to life-on-Earth, may be irreversible. There may be hope yet. We need to act in undreamed of ways. We cannot wait to see the Earth dying with no solution at hand. Planning for alternate versions of deus ex-machina may not be such a bad idea after all. How true would the saying then be that "God works in mysterious ways."

Future Worlds: Theoretical Adventisms

First-day Adventists believe(d) that Christ's coming was going to occur very soon. They are one of the primary groups that grew out of William Miller's preaching toward the middle of the 19th century. As their name states, they observed the first day of the week, Sunday.

Seventh-day Adventists are one of the descendants of the previous group and most distinctly worship on the seventh day of the week, Saturday. There are some other distinctions which we cannot go into detail at this time.

(Eighth-day) Adventist Futurists are a conceptual society. They believe that not only is the seventh day the day of rest, but additionally, they observe the hours after sunset on Saturday night and ending with sunrise on Sunday morning, as well. They focus on the spiritual beauty of the Sabbath and not on the strict letter-of-the-law. (This does not necessarily mean that 7th-Day Adventists do not also focus on the spiritual beauty of the Sabbath.)

(Eighth-day) Adventist Futurists have as one their primary goals to escape planet Earth's eventual human-engineered destruction by escaping to habitable worlds within this solar system and, eventually, to worlds surrounding nearby stars. Progressive (Eighth-day) Adventist Futurists go one step further and observe any 24-hour period commencing on any day of the week at sunset and concluding at sunset on the following day because this will be the norm when the weekly cycle will cease to be meaningful. The sun never sets in outer space.

Perfect Futurists are theorized as being the descendants of the (Eighth-day) Adventist Futurists when they have successfully engineered Macro Life worlds which can exist in-between worlds and are said to be the eventual and preferred living environments for space-faring humans. [Scientist Dandridge M. Cole originated the term "Macro Life" in his 1961 book The Ultimate Human Society.]*

Please see Adventism's New Horizons for more in-depth treatment of this future society.

* "Cole conceived Macrolife as a possible next step in evolution, potentially as momentous as the transition from single-celled to multicelled life. Units of Macrolife, self-contained human societies in planetoid colonies or elsewhere, would have the capacity for growth, motion, reproduction, self-repair, and response to external stimuli.[12] He developed further details in his 1961 The Ultimate Human Society and in subsequent books."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dandridge_M._Cole

Power to Create Galaxies Is at Your Disposal

Only God can create galaxies with his omniscient and omnipotent mind. He has this power within himself and it is unborrowed. However, the promise does exist that we "can do all things through him [Christ] who strengthens [us.]" Phil. 4:13 [italics mine] Notwithstanding that the actual context refers to being content with abundance or lack of it, this text is often cited as a stand alone text referring to being able to surmount obstacles and being able to live a victorious Christian life, as well.

Additionally, did Jesus not promise that "if you have faith the size of a mustard seed you can say to this mountain be lifted up and transported to the heart of the seas and it will be done." Gospel of Matthew. Some say that this mountain is symbolic of obstacles and such. Well that may be. However, nothing is impossible for God. Why could not a literal mountain be transported into the heart of the seas? Stranger things have happened in our modern world. Did not a seemingly small Enola Gay aircraft deliver an even smaller device which destroyed two major Japanese cities with tragic results? How seemingly impossible would that have appeared to people living even 100 years before such a thing occurred to say nothing of those living 1000 years ago.

Several times a day Phil. 4:13 comes to mind, but it has come to lose some of its power by frequent repetition until I focused on each word and realized the amazing significance of each word. All worlds were created by Christ's power. We are promised that that same Christ, who is very God, can empower us to do all things through his limitless power.

Is there any reason why we at some point in our future experience will be prevented by this boundless power to create galaxies of our own invention? The universe is infinite. It is suggested by some theorists that we are a part of a multiverse which is also infinite. Each child of God can theoretically be enabled to create galaxies through the creative power of God.

In this mortal life the only ability we are granted is to create these future galaxies through the power of the sanctified imagination. One curious idea has suggested itself as I started this post. What if we already have this God-given power at our disposal and don't realize it? As we peer through telescopes that our God-given intelligence has enabled us to design, might we not be creating by the power of thought the very galaxies we are seeing in ever-increasing profusion and variety? God shares everything with us: life, mind, free will. Why put limits on what he is capable of sharing with us, his children?

The flip side of this wonderful God-given ability, is unfortunately at our disposal as well: the power to uncreate and to destroy. How else to account for the disasters and gross imperfections that come into play with ever-increasing frequency? Man and his free will are presently undoing the perfection that God blessed us with in creating our perfect reality. When planes fall from the sky we need not blame this catastrophe on an almost invincible demon, or even put the blame on God himself. These disasters happen because somewhere on Earth there are individuals who will these things into existence. Humanity is its own worst enemy.

Humankind can, through the enabling power of God, also be its own best friend and an agent for good. Why stop at just good? Why not redesign what is apparently broken? Everything is possible for him who believes. Start believing and through the wondrous power of God, start creating your first galaxy today.

Evolution's impact on Good and Evil

Science insists that evolution has happened and may, very well, continue to happen. If evolution is good science, how can you fit the conflict between good and evil into the big picture? Do you suspend belief in science and it's proofs for evolution, i.e., natural selection, the fossil record, etc., and affirm your faith in the Bible's creation account and its concurrent 6,000 year age for the Earth? If you accept that Adam and Eve existed, and the Bible makes their creation very important to the future history of the human race, how do you account for evolution's suggestion that death existed before Adam and Eve sinned? These are not easy questions, but they should be addressed lest they continue to hound us for years.

Recently a possible solution started to take shape. Evil and it's close cousin, sin, existed from the very beginning of cosmic time. I'm not suggesting that there was never a time that evil did not exist, although theoretically it has always existed as an essential opposite of good and its close cousin, righteousness. If evil and sin existed before the fall, then how could Adam and Eve be punished, as well as their once-perfect world, if evil already existed before they sinned? Was the Adam and Eve experiment, if you will, another opportunity to see if free will would choose good instead of evil? How many other Adam and Eve experiments have there been? The universe is pretty old; its age numbers in billions of years. Has this tug of war between good and evil been going on for as many years?

In a related line of thinking, if evil theoretically could always exist as an alternative to good, would it make sense to prevent the possibility of evil rising again, if at some golden future event, evil is vanquished by divine agencies? Wouldn't that be as unjust as never allowing evil to exist the first time around?

The best our universe can ever hope for--realistically speaking--is to keep evil at bay. There will always be evil--albeit in its quiescent state--in the same way that all of the complimentary opposites must always exist. Left is incomplete without its direct opposite, right. Up and down must ever exist. Dark and light, as well. Good and evil, by their very nature, must always exist in some form or another. To think otherwise is impractical and incomplete.

Intelligent beings have at their disposal the option to bring about a universe where good and righteousness by the grace of God, triumph time and time again, over evil and sin, ad infinitum.

Creating an Ideal World: Adventist Futurism

What would an ideal world be like? How would you bring it about? Before anything can be achieved it has to be envisioned first.

Computers, spacecraft, the Internet--the list goes on and on--first had to be conceived before they could be invented and perfected. As unlikely as it seems, had Jules Verne never written From the Earth to the Moon (1865) which depicts a rocket launch from somewhere in Florida, no one would have gotten the idea to make that vision come to pass a hundred years later.

What is not being done now that could improve the world beyond recognition? There must be something that either has to be added or removed before a new reality could take place. We could wait for it to come into existence on its own. While not impossible, perhaps implementing a think tank of sorts to bring about an ideal reality might achieve more than simply waiting for something that may take millennia, or perhaps may never take place.

We should pool our best minds from every nation and work towards an approach to perfecting reality in as little time as possible.

I'm reminded of the vision of Isaac Asimov in his Foundation series (Foundation, Foundation and Empire, Second Foundation.) In order to avoid a long decay into barbarism, efforts were implemented to shorten the decay of the galactic empire to only 1,000 years. Why can't something similar be done to solve the major problems of our present reality?

What are some of the greatest challenges to an improved reality? Eliminating war, poverty and hunger are the first things that come to mind. Others might be providing education, medical care and a place to live to everyone on our planet. The third phase would be addressing environmental problems, managing natural phenomena such as hurricanes and earthquakes. Finally, the greatest gift we could give our world reality would be to take measures to move beyond our sometimes fragile planet and seed the known universe with our people, our technology and our dreams.

One possible approach might involve a little-known group of people. It's as if they had almost been kept a secret from the rest of the world for some grand vision of enhancing reality. Adventists are some of the most educated people in the world because they have higher education and progress as one of their cardinal principles. Adventists may very well be some of the most wealthy people in the world when you factor in of all their collective capital. Next to the Catholic church Adventism is the richest church in existence. This is not a widely-known reality. It would be easier for a future-oriented think tank to rise out of the Adventist Futurists than from any other traditional body.

Tap into the unknown power of your mind and literally create an ideal world.

We're here for a special God-given purpose: to better the world.

For a related post please consult Adventist Futurism.

Christianity 3001 A.D.

What will Christianity look like in 500 or 1,000 years? While Christianity can still be integrated into past manifestations of its history, no matter how modern or contemporary it has become or is becoming, it is not necessarily a given that the distant future of this religion will be as recognizable as its past has been.

Some of the realities that may well come to pass in the future will, no doubt, also have their impact on Christianity. Some of these are briefly described below.

Christian cyborgs - A cyborg is a being that is composed of both cybernetic as well as organic components. To a limited extent cyborgs already exist today as technology works wonders with those who have had limbs amputated due to war, disease or other mishaps. When a future individual becomes more cybernetic than biological--perhaps some even out of choice--how would this reality impact its experience as a Christian? In such a case the person in question would be more a work of man than a work of God. Of course, it would still be God who gave humans the knowledge to enhance or refashion one of his creatures. Would cyborgs be the only ones who could share their faith with other cyborgs? How would they fit in when worshiping among biological Christians? Might not the ultimate symbol of their acceptance into the community of believers be a painting of Christ washing the feet of a Cyborg apostle at the last supper? Paul's familiar text about there not being neither slave nor freeman, Jew nor gentile, male nor female, may very well one day include, neither biological person nor cyborg. All are one in Christ.

Christian A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) Entities - Some may scoff at the mere mention, but keep in mind that earlier generations had similar attitudes toward in-vitro humans, as well as the still-forbidden cloning of human beings. If one day A.I. persons can pass for human or accomplish most human activities except anatomical reproduction of offspring, how would Christianity deal with these seemingly improbable humans? They would be perhaps one of humanity's greatest scientific accomplishments. Already one can carry on conversations with proto-humans via computer that sometimes jars one's mind as how human they appear in their thought patterns and approaches. If free-will is built into these A.I. Christians, might they not also seemingly want to relate themselves both to the God of its human creators and to their designers themselves? Could these A.I. Christians also be considered one in Christ?

Interplanetary/interstellar Christians. These are not so unlikely as one might think. In a hundred years or less, when Christians are born on Mars or the moons of the gas giants, how would they relate to their savior who will not only come for those he originally promised to retrieve at the end of Earth's history, but to their off-world descendants who also have a hope in the return of Christ. Centuries later when humanity leaves its solar system behind, what will Christ's return to Earth mean to those who are light years from Earth?

Adventists-by-Works Anonymous & other Oxymora

During my 15 or 20 year hiatus from Adventism many changes took place that were at one time unlikely or even problematic. To my surprise (I have mixed feelings about some of these) I found the following developments:

Electric guitar solos during the 11:00 church service

Tropical-flavored (Afro-Cuban) religious children's songs during the children's hour

Rings and hoop earrings on an entire family of Adventist women and children

Gold neck chains discreetly worn by Adventist men and boys

Gay Adventists and their children in regular church attendance

Adventist Alcoholics Anonymous

Adventist Charismatics

Cultural Adventists Club

Along with the oxymoron in the title I've come up with other not so unlikely additions that may either already exist or will come about in the next few years or decades:

Adventist Aeronautics Space Agency

Adventist Evolutionists Apologetics Society

Adventist Virtual Reality Evangelism

Gay Adventist Health Bar & Restaurant

Adventist Internet Pornography Addicts Anonymous

Adventist Electronica Cafe

Adventist Rap Music Festival

Adventist mainstream-TV comedy series titled The Sexy Vegetarian Next Door

8th-Day Adventist Futurist Conference

Adventist Ecumenical Apologetics Association

Who can really say what surprises await our church, pleasant or unpleasant, as the case may be. Some of the entries may switch back and forth from the actual to the theoretical heading as experience itself produces unexpected developments.

It is my prayer that whatever comes to pass or fails to materialize from the list, one thing remains: loving and lovable Adventist Christians.

23rd Century Adventist Futurism Conceived

After the collapse of world financial systems sometime in the 21st century, those Adventist Futurists who had hidden technology when there was money to be had, left Earth far behind on ark-like vessels.


Back on Earth the situation was bleak for a hundred years. After that time this is what the Earth looked like:


Clones were the second class citizens this time around.

We Create Our Adventist Reality

The reason the concept of the remnant is so effective is that only a few will ever be able or want to live the sometimes austere lifestyle of Adventism.

Traditional Adventists focus on wholesome music, art and entertainment. They eat wholesome foods, drink healthy beverages, and live a healthy lifestyle that traditionally has been both a comfort to dyed-in the wool Adventists, and a source of restlessness for the more adventurous among us.

Even though it would probably never come to pass, since you could no longer speak of a remnant, imagine what a primarily Adventist society would be like. Well, such societies actually do exist in the enclaves near Adventist institutions. The only difference is that you can always find a gas station within driving distance if you needed gas on the Sabbath.

Imagine, if you will, a world of mostly Adventists where gas stations never opened on Sabbath because everyone walked to church. That sounds like what Jewish believers do by having temples near their communities. Realistically, a society where everything stood still on the Sabbath sounds a lot like heaven on Earth.

Who would there be to evangelize in a mostly Adventist society? Again, I've experienced that when I lived in an Adventist enclave and wanted to walk to my evangelism exercise walk on Sabbath afternoon, only to find that--surprise surprise--everyone within walking distance was already Adventist. Of course, some of the Adventists I found were listening to secular music on Sabbath and not bothered by the fact that I was knocking on their door to speak to them about Christ and was subsequently informed, "everyone is Adventist in this building except the man below us who is battling cancer. If you want you could knock on his door." That was my first and last attempt to go door-to-door in a mostly Adventist community.

What if Christ, out of kindness to the Adventist worldview, actually comes back and takes the Remnant to an Adventist afterlife of their own creation? To do otherwise would seem less than kind. In a universe where anything is possible, might there also be an alternate universe where Catholics enjoyed a proper Catholic-tinged afterlife, replete with the virgin Mary having more of a salvific role than she does in protestant churches.

Might this be the reason why God tolerates so many different religions and varieties of Christianity and Judaism, because there are enough alternate universes to accommodate all his children and their particular vision of the afterlife?

Who knows, maybe the good folk in the recently conceived (8th-day) Adventist Futurism movement might also one day live and enjoy the future reality they so passionately hope comes to light.

In the future perhaps everyone will have their "million year picnic"* in a heaven of their own imagining.

* The Million Year Picnic is a 4000-word short story by Ray Bradbury, about a family from Earth that emigrates to Mars.

Delayed Second Coming

Rich Hannon: "I am presuming God will eventually explain why this train-wreck of a world should go on so long. "

I think God is a loving being. I didn't always feel that way. I'm glad I'm beginning to feel so more and more. However, I've always suspected that there is so much more that has happened and is happening behind the scenes that would explain why all of this imperfection and pain has been with planet Earth for either 6,000 years (conservative estimate) or millions of years (progressive estimate.)

I've sometimes thought that perhaps revelation is imperfect and we've assumed too much from what sacred writings he has bequeathed to humankind. Could it be that God lets this often tragic world continue because it's up to those he created in his own image to finally get it right by themselves? Did he not give us the basic tools to accomplish this, e.g., our minds? If you believe that it's taken millions of years for humanity to arrive at this point in history, might it not take a million more to make it to God's realm instead of us waiting for him to return to our realm. But wasn't this what the builders of the tower of Babel were set on doing, "making it to God's realm" They failed, the bible tells us. Perhaps all attempts at reaching God physically are meant to fail. The best we can do is try to reach him in spiritual ways.

When Jesus said "I come quickly" or that he's coming soon, he must have meant just that. Even the disciples believed such. Something must have happened that we don't know about to delay Jesus' return so much.

If Jesus doesn't come in the next thousand years, then we really should go out in search of him. I mean this in the most serious way. It is not an expression of doubt, just of mild bewilderment.

Post-Laodicean Church of Revelation 3:15

The imperfect Laodicean church, because of its lukewarm state, has already received its sentence when the Amen says "I am about to spit you out of my mouth." Rev. 3:16 (NIV) You might say that this sad spitting out has not taken effect since it speaks of "about to spit" instead of "have spit you out." Even though there is hope that the lukewarm church could potentially abandon its lukewarm condition through the spiritual gifts it is counseled to buy from the Amen, the sad reality of the Laodicean church is that it does not recognize its lukewarm state.

Note these important words, "I wish you were either one or the other [hot or cold.] Rev. 3:15 (NIV) Only in moving toward one of these two options can the Laodicean church leave its lukewarm state. Once it's fully conscious of its cold state, then perhaps the possibility of future heat can transform it, or it might also be that when once it crosses over into a cold state, it has effectively sealed its fate because it no longer makes any pretense of being even spiritually warm or, as it says of itself, "I am rich . . . and do not need a thing. Rev. 3:17 (NIV) This almost sounds like a pre-condition to becoming spiritually cold.

Since the first church, the Apostolic church, was a hot church, and since hot is the desired and positive outcome that the Amen wishes for the Laodiceans, then clearly the Laodicean church because of its steady-state lukewarm condition cannot be the last church because it would then cease to be identifiably lukewarm and would have evolved into a post-Laodicean church.

Without mentioning it by name, the words "I wish you were either one or the other [hot or cold] Rev. 3:15 (NIV,) infer the theoretical existence of a post-Laodicean church, in effect an Eighth church. Yes the number seven in the bible symbolizes completeness and you might argue that the seventh church is therefore the last one, however, the identifying characteristic of the Laodicean church is lukewarmness which does not sound like an ideal state. The wishing that this supposedly last church were either hot [desirable] or cold [undesirable but complete in its total rejection of grace] infers the return to the spiritual heat of the first church, the apostolic one. The last and ideal church would have to be like the first and ideal church. The cycle has to come full circle.

It would have been unwise to explicitly mention the Eighth church by name. Anyone identifying with it would be guilty of self-pride that he or she were part of the Eighth and ideal neo-apostolic church. By not mentioning it, it leaves the door open for its virtual existence when it finally comes into being. However, the difference being that no one who is part of the Eighth church will ever realize that he or she is, in fact, part of such an ideal and final church. Members of that church will continue thinking that they have the imperfections of the Laodicean church with its need to buy gold, white clothes and salve to put on their eyes. The silence of the name not being spelled out, or of a corresponding city being designated for this Eighth church allows it to be applied to all believers who are honest enough to realize that they are lukewarm and are in need of the Amen's saving gifts.

Identifying oneself with the lukewarm and vain Laodicean church has never seemed like much of an inspiration to me. On the other hand, wishing to be part of an unspoken and hot church, a Post-Laodicean church, sounds very attractive and worth seeking out with all the intensity that such a goal deserves.

May this Eighth church, which will remain nameless and virtual in its actual manifestation, be part of your life and mine. Or, rather, may we have the faith to seek the gold, white clothes [righteousness by faith] and eye salve that will allow us to become part of this nameless and hidden church. It is a church that hides conveniently in the description of the supposedly Seventh and final church.

One Million Members Added to Adventist Church Yearly

Through non-human means, the amount of new members is reaching incredible heights. Even though the human has to cooperate with the divine, nevertheless, some new principle is at work in the mission camps and older traditional sites of Adventism.


With the increase in numbers come new challenges, as in some locations, Adventists are no longer in the minority. Efforts are being made to counteract any dangerous influence on the part of political magistrates who now control most of the courts in some lands.


Disclaimer: The above is an example of anticipatory journalism. It expresses the desired outcome of a near-future event on the part of the writer. It is intended in the best possible way. If such outcome does not materialize, time then becomes important as to determine the eventual realization of the desired reality.

Future of God

Alternate title: Future of God and Humanity

When God said let us create humankind in our own image, did we or did we not inherit emotions or states of mind such as wonder, surprise, excitement, awe, hope, optimism, and other positive human qualities? What I'm getting at is that these good qualities had to come from God; we did not develop them ourselves. Therefore, what is so illogical about a God who also gives himself the luxury of experiencing awe, wonder, surprise and hope? Or is our God a being that has always been devoid of surprise, wonder, and exploration? I realize I'm seeing the man in God and not vice-versa, but are we not created just a little bit lower than the angels?

This may sound shocking to some, but it reassures me, in a way. Why do you suppose God created--had to create so many of us--at such a great cost? Think of the impossible although, of course, when you think of it, nothing is ever really impossible. What if we all are God's insurance of perpetuity in the same way that parents' offspring are insurance should they somehow never live out their full life span?

Why did God give so much in Christ to save us, mere flesh and blood? Might he not have more at stake then just some wayward children who needed rescuing at any cost? If you really believe that humans are children of God, then like human children eventually becoming like their parents at some future time, might we also not have been designed with the potential--perhaps millennia from now--to become as perfect as our creator through the self-actualizing gift he stored in our very DNA? It's not easy to even write these words. Nevertheless, the very idea gives me a strange hope and sense of well-being for the future of humanity on planet Earth, as well as any non-terrestrial colonies humans may yet develop in worlds beyond our own.

Finally, and this takes lots of faith and courage, what if, we are now, or may one day come to be, all that's left of the perfect and self-sacrificing being we commonly refer to as God? We not only owe it to ourselves to take care of each other and of our home planet, but we also owe it to him, our creator, God.