I think you are right on. The followers of Jesus had listened intently in their inward man to what Jesus said concerning the destruction of Jerusalem that was prophesied in Daniel 9:23-27 and they took heed and departed Jerusalem for the hills and thereby escaped the pending wrath of God that he used Rome to carry out in 70 AD. No doubt the the Jewish religious leaders were also aware of this prophecy because John the Baptist and Jesus made reference to them desiring to escape the wrath of God that was to come upon Jerusalem because they had stoned the prophets and shed the righteous blood, even of Abel. This vengeance of God was upon the devil who was the sinner from the beginning. In God’ s judgment he removes the devil and his influences from mankind. This is borne out in the words of Jesus, “Now is the judgment of this world. “Now is the prince of this world cast out. and I, if I be lifted up, I will draw ALL men unto me.”
The Jewish leaders were blinded in their pride to the fact the vengeance of God was coming upon the seed of Satan in them. The devil had decieved them into thinking that the coming of Messiah would destroy Rome. But instead, just as Daniel 9:23-27 prophesied, the destruction would come upon Jerusalem on the the seed of Satan in them.
The church in Jerusalem held all things in common because God had changed their hearts and given them repentance to be unselfish and sharing instead of selfish and unsharing. They had become cleansed of the selfish seed of Satan in them and they operated in their “inward man” that St. Paul says, “delights in the law of God” (See romans 7:22). Jesus had removed the “law of sin” from them.
Its also curious that God used Rome to destroy Jerusalem when in many ways Rome represented the forces of Satan. But this is all part of God’ s great mystery that he uses Satans forces to destroy Satan’ s forces. In God’ s mysterious kingdom plan for earth, Satan’ s kingdom is divided within itself and it self-destructs. Amen!

In His Majesty’ s Secret Service,

David Thompson

Moreover, what He said is going to happen IS happening and we simple mus do our part as believers especially as it relates to the great commission.

David Thompson

The response from Rex got me thinking about something. As much as part of me wants to resist the move to and dependence on the internet for anything and everything, it’s growth and potential can not be ignored. Seems to be a sign to me, whether your business serves a large market or a small niche that it is to your advantage to build your presence on the web so you will be an obvious find as economic activity rebounds.

Thank you for soliciting our viewpoints. I see you have already recieved some excellent and insightful viewpoints. You mentioned the feeding of the 4000. The traditional viewpoint and interpretation is that Jesus just took the little boy’ s loaves and fishes and supernatually materialized from them more and more loaves and fishes enough to feed the 4000. But God has been teaching me to question such traditional viewpoints and interpretations. Could it be that the little boy’s unselfish willingness to share the food his mother had no doubt sent with him tipped off a spontaneous reaction in others of the 4000 to share the food they had aslo brought with them? This interpretation would indicate a “sign” that “The kingdom of God was at hand.” As God has revealed his kingdom to me from scripture, I have come to realize that God’ s kingdom will be manifested on earth as people’ s hearts are “spontaneously changed” from being selfish, unloving, unmerciful and unbenevolent to being unselfish, loving, merciful and benevolent. This was evident in the early Church of Jesus Christ in which it was said they held all things in common and no man considered anything their own. Those who had houses and lands sold them and deposited the proceeds at the apostles feet to distribute to those who had need. The fact that this information about the early Church was stated twice in the book of Acts tells me it is a very important “sign” of the kingdom of God being at hand. There are many “signs” of God’ s kingdom recorded in scripture. Jesus told the Pharisees who were looking for a sign of the kingdom of God, “If I, with the finger of God, cast out demons, then no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you.” Thus, the casting out of demons is a sign of the kingdom of God being at hand. Moreover, the overall restoration of God’ s kingdom on earth comes about as Father
God’ s rightous judgments come on earth and as Jesus destroys the works of the devil and removes his influences from the consciousness of ALLmankind. Jesus said, “Now is the judgment of this world. Now is the prince of this world cast out. and I, if I be lifted up, I will draw ALL men unto me.” “For as in Adam All men die, even so in Christ shall ALL be made alive.” 1Cor. 15:22
When John the Baptist was asked what he meant by, “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.” he responded with an excellent illustration of repentance, “If you have two coats, share one with a person who needs a coat. To the tax collectors he said, “Do not take more tax than is required.” In other words, “Be honest!”
To the soldiers who were the local police of that day, he said, “Do no violence to any man.” which in the Greek means do not extort money from those you are sworn to protect. Be satisfied with your pay. Just think of the corruption that runs rampant in police forces of the world. But I think our American police force may be among the least corrupt. Possibly Great Britain’s police force IS the least corrupt. Latin American and Caribbean police forces are very corrupt.
The current financial crisis we are in is a “sign” of the FULLNESS of the iniquity of the Babylonian system of doing business selfishly, greedily, and without concern for our neighbors. If we have the wisom of the sons of Issachar, we should know that this crisis will bring changes in the way the world will conduct business. If we are to be successful, we should position our businsess to be able to operate within these changes. One of these changes wll be in the field of credit mangement and operation. Expect
God’ s 7 year debt release laws to play a more acive roll in the credit industry. Already chapter 7 bankruptcy represents God’ s jubilee laws. I know that these changes will be orchestrated by God and will begin as a grain of mustard seed planted in the hearts and minds of mankind where men will catch a vision of God’ s kingdom principles in action and it will cause them to begin sharing, loving, holding all things in common and everyone helping one another in an honest and righteous manner. At every point in this process, God has ordained that Satan be there to try to defend his evil corrupt kingdom from being taken over by using his tactics of misdirecting, manipulating and tempting people to not embrace God’ s kingdom principles and values but to stay committed and alligned to the Satanic all-to-familiar kingdom principles of selfishness, lying, cheating, hoarding wealth and not loving our neighbor as our selves.
Already, with this current crisis, we see children returning to live with their parents, friends letting friends who have lost their homes move in with them. We are seeing an unpresedented amout of sharing going on. People are reassesseing their wealth and resources and pooling it and sharing it for the common good just as I think the 4000 did with the food resources they had had brought with them as they followed Jesus into the wilderness some 2000 years ago. The idea (or myth) of rugged American indiviualism and competitive market advantage is dying and being replaced by godly socialistic kingdom values and principles that Jesus illustrated in his parables and demonstrated in his life and in the life of his church such as sharing, honesty, loving your neighbor as yourself, righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. The charismatic renewal movement in the church was a “sign” of David’ s temple of praise being restored. The unconvering, prosecution and removal of corruption in our governments, businesses, education, family, media and arts systems (mountains) are “signs” that we are in the days of Moses, “Righteousness being restored.” Behold he comes riding on the clouds, shining like the sun. It is the time of jubilee. Out of Zion’ s Hill salvation comes–for all mankind!
Now here’s a mind blower: I believe Karl Marx read the book of Acts and caught the vision of God’ s kingdom being restored on earth. As a social historian, Karl Marx saw the coming of God’ s kingdom on earth as inevitable. This belief of Karl Marx is what influenced Nikita Kruchev to say to the corrupt capitalistic Western powers, “We (Marxist Communisits) will bury you.” It was from the book of Acts saying those who had houses and lands sold them…etc that he got his mantra for socialism and redistribution of wealth, “From each according to his ability, to each acording to his need.” Marx was also quite right in saying “Religion is the opiate of the people.” The Christian religion today as well as the Muslim and other religious belief systems do little more than make people “feel good” about their miserable, deplorable and vain lives by promising them pie in the sky in the after life. But pie in the sky in the afterlife is not the hope of abundant life that Jesus and his brothers and sisters are bringing to earth.
The abundant life of Jesus is available in his kingdom in the here and now! Amen! So all we need do is, “Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand.” But if we cannot repent due to hardness of our hearts, God will give us a new heart in which he will place his spirit that will cause us to do his statutes and to walk in them. (Ezekiel 36: 26)
The signs of God’ s kingdom now being restored are everywhere. But they can be seen only by those who are spiritually mature and who want to see them. Those who are satisfied with their wealth and their their lives may have little need to see any signs of God’s kingdom being restored on earth. But that, of course, will not prevent God’ s resotoration work from proceeding as scheduled. Very soon even the rich and materially satisfied will see that the glory of God has filled the whole earth.

David Thompson