Question
What happens to all the cities of the world? Are they utilized in Christs millennial kingdom?

Answer
According to Revelation 16:18-20 the mother of all earthquakes will topple every city on earth. If Jesus wants to use them again, he would have to order their restoration. I doubt he will do that because the Bible says there will he topographical changes throughout the earth. Rivers will he re-routed, mountains displaced, valleys elevated and deserts will be made to bloom. These changes may indicate that the earth will become largely an agrarian environment. This idea is not ironclad but the city busting earthquake is.

Question
Is the battle of Armageddon the third or the last world war?

Answer
Armageddon is not the third world war. In fact it isnt a world war of any kind. It is a battle involving most every country in the world. It takes place fifty five miles north of the city of Jerusalem in the plains of Megiddo. It is a last ditch attempt of the antichrist to stop the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. It fails miserably because Christ annihilates every last person in that battle with a single stroke. It will take the armies a hundred times longer to assemble, than to meet their doom.

But a world war it is not. Perhaps it could best be described as a futile attempt to stay a very angry God. I always think of Isaiah saying the nations are as a drop in the bucket when I think of this battle Isaiah 40:15. It has to be constantly emphasized to the believer that man is not using his own devices to bring about the judgments of God in those days. Armageddon is the perfect example of the ineffectiveness of the combined efforts of the entire world to produce much of anything. This is Gods time not mans. Revelation 16:l3f

Question
Why is the idea that the world will just keep getting better, and that a gradual improvement will usher in the return of the Lord, wrong?

Answer
The Jehovahs Witnesses hold this belief, but they are not alone. The so called Dominion teachings that are strongly emerging today espouse the same idea. Sometimes referred to as restoration theology this teaching is found mostly in Great Britain but is gaining acceptance in other countries as well. It is based on the idea that man must take dominion over the earth and bring in the millennial peace by laws and biblical principles. The laws are largely based on the Old Testament Mosaic traditions.

Besides the fact that the Mosaic Law already had its debut and failed, it is hard to believe that any person who has ever read the New Testament could believe this foolishness, but they do. Those who go ahead with this absurd idea must disregard about one quarter of the Bibles teaching. This is equal to labeling every angel, apostle, prophet and the Lord himself a bunch of inveterate liars. I wouldnt want to be in the shoes of any one espousing this doctrine when Christ appears in the eastern skies and the trumpet can he heard that calls the whole world to attention.

This notion that things are getting better may allow uncounted millions to accept the rule of the antichrist without question. After all, he does enter on the wings of peace, and a promise of a better worldwide economy. How easy it would be to see him as part of the things are getting better doctrine of the Dominionists. Even without this doctrinal new kid on the block, only a fool or someone deaf, dumb and blind would admit that the world is getting better. But there will always be those who dismiss the insanity in todays world with the glib adage these things are not new, but have been around for ages. Yes, they have been in the world for centuries. Murder, theft, etc, have been with us since time immemorial but thats not the question. The question is how pervasive are these things today.

I could use hundreds of examples here but to make the point let me just pop this one out. In the mid nineteen thirties America was shocked, outraged and in arms about the kidnapping of one single child, Charles A. Lindbergh Jr. Today upwards of fifty thousand children a year go missing, some are abducted and killed. Is this what we mean when we cover our increased penchant for evil with the worn out lame excuse that all these things are after all, nothing new?

Jesus said that in the last days the love of many would wax cold. Matthew 24:12. The last thing that this world needs less of is love but the reason love thins down is also stated in the same verse of scripture. Love is given walking papers in the last days by the abounding of iniquity. This implies that it isnt the presence of the same old sins that have been around for centuries, but it is their exponential increase in the last days that helps to rid the world of the thing it has always needed the mostlove.