Restoration or Escape?

Proverbs 21:5 - "The plans of the diligent lead surely to plenty."

One of the things I have tried to keep in mind in my posts is to emphasize the real-life ramifications of the reality of Christ's Satan-vanquishing, pure grace, New Covenant, finished work, the extremely good news here to Christian & non-Christian alike is that the Blessed Hope is here among us now & forevermore! The different teachings on end-times has, in some cases, taken precedence over the good news gospel.

The occasional dark cloud is not to be feared, it is not the end of the world: it's just the end of an occasional bad day. Bright, sunny days will follow again and again. And we should make plans for them; plans that draw upon the full, realized & present power of Christ’s Good News, the exceedingly great & precious promises, even the ones some take to erroneous extremes, and lift up the arms of disheartened & distracted humanity, energizing them to believe for a reward that is certainly theirs to attain.  The Kingdom of God is here. The Government from God is with us.  There remains no Bible-mandated cataclysms standing in our way forward with the resurrected Christ and Saints.

World economies are wondering if nuclear fusion or renewable energy sources will come soon enough to replace the petroleum presently fueling the industrial engines of modern prosperity; prosperity which has even filled the minds of 3rd World paupers with visions of their own version of the American dream.

But the real source which propels mankind's progress has always been and always will be the hope of God, guided by the wisdom of God, and moved forward by the power of God - each made available by a good understanding of the Word of God, Jesus Christ Himself.
The restorationist view delivers some upgrades to that understanding necessary to getting our thrusters opened up wider for the heavy lifting soon to be required. We can do it. Christians are called by God -as kings & priests- to do it. Many are sitting on the sidelines or in the game half-heartedly because they just cannot see clearly enough: they need the corrective lenses that the restorationist view delivers.  

Matthew 5:16 “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father.”

Around 100 years ago, Christians in many parts were praying, thinking surely the end of mankind was near. Men have discovered gun powder, dynamite, machine guns, airplanes and promptly employed them in war against his own relatives & foreign enemies (Civil War, WW1, etc). With billions of people and exhausting soils in population centers like Europe, how can we go on? God help us!

What happened? Some would trumpet, certain excesses notwithstanding, the Pentecostal movement beginning with the Azusa Street Revival which continues to be the most dramatic evangelizing movement on the face of the globe.

Others could boast that the Wright Brothers brought us powered flight; Henry Ford delivered the automobile to the common man; Thomas Edison's labored to spread the marvels of electricity light up cities throughout the World; radio extends the ears of common men to hear the conversations within great cities; airplane-guiding radar, penicillin, wonder drugs, and polio-vanquishing vaccines; then television enabling the common man to gain the insights of world travel from his family room; jet propulsion; modern fertilizers converting worthless soils into fields 13 times more productive than virgin lands; camaraderie among governments via diplomatic efforts such as the United Nations; NATO, computers & internet bringing organizational power to every human communication & plan, multiplying their efficacies; men on the Moon and a permanent,  International Space Station; the fall, exposure and demonization of militaristic approaches to human government exemplified by Nazis and Soviets; Martin Luther King guides the Civil Rights Movement, taking getting along among ethnic groups to a more sustainable level, this is now a worldwide movement etc. etc.

Each of these advances is a form of wealth. None of these advances we currently depend upon to maintain a population approaching (8) billion people would have happened if certain movers & shakers didn’t make them happen, and they made them happen by hope within them that mankind would benefit for generations.
                                                          
We are presently living the dreams of our ancestors.  And if you could time-travel any random person from the ancient world and drop him into a modern shopping mall (the ones still open) he'd likely think he went to heaven.

Proverbs 13:22 – “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children: and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just.”

The restorationist view is the only capable vaccine against the hope-crippling virus spreading the mental disease commonly known as Endtimer's Dementia, Tribulation paralysis, Left Behind paranoia, Pessimillennialism, disorders rampant among many Christians who would otherwise be out there working earnestly to give God's Hope, Wisdom, & Power to their sin-sickened surroundings.

Matt 24:35-37 - “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.”
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If that be the case, whether one is a Preterist or a Futurist, and Jesus returned 2000 years ago or 2000 yrs. from now, we are to occupy.

Project 21:5 - "The plans of the diligent lead surely to plenty."
The restorationist view - Christ Jesus' finished work is the Good News view. It’s what delivers the hope that motivates movers & shakers to make the personal sacrifices necessary toward providing for humanity's needs.

2 Tim 2:6 - "If a man will not work, neither shall he eat." God has a thing about us working for the things we need - even though He's ever present to help us. “The husbandman that labors must be first partaker of the fruits.”  (why? so that he does not faint from discouragement while laboring)

The restorationist view is the only bible-compatible message capable of delivering to bible-lovers the faith-sustaining encouragement to keep laboring to benefit mankind in a temporal way: this only comes by way of certain knowledge that their labors will bring the harvest that benefits generations to come. These temporal benefits are lasting legacies that trumpet the practical byproducts of the Gospel that the sin-blinded can recognize as beneficial - making Christ's message attractive to them.
                                                          
Gal 6:9 -“And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not”.
Matthew 5:16 - “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven”.
But without such tangible benefits recognizable as such by common men, it is difficult to make the case to them that God has any understanding of man's needs, or any feeling for his common sufferings. This difficulty is heightened all the more when gospel-sharing Christians are found to resist necessary progress needful to mankind's survival, having themselves succumbed to the progress-stifling mental diseases of Endtimer's Dementia, Tribulation Paralysis, Left Behind Paranoia - each of which entirely preventable by the vitamins the restorationist view makes available.

The restorationist view motivates us who are seated in heavenly places with Christ to exercise our talents to benefit those on earth.
As the adage goes, "Don't be so heavenly-minded that you become of no earthly good."
I'd like to review some more thoughts -thoughts that I think should grab many restorationist thinkers.

Proverbs 21:5 - "The plans of the diligent lead surely to plenty."
Some of the people who think the most altruistically, most idealistically, while putting practical efforts towards blessing their world for generations to come, are those studying to be scientists - MIT, CalTech, Rice Univ. type people. And yet, these are the very people most turned off by conservative Christianity because of its dispensationalistic disdain for all things in preparation for the future. Restorationist should be able to speak to them the Lord's Good News from an understanding that they cannot so readily reject outrightly - as they would see anything else that is anti-progress.

Ecclesiastes 1:4 -“One generation passes away, and another generation comes; But the earth abides forever.”

Isaiah 11:9 - “ . . . for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the sea is full of water.”
                                                             
Habakkuk 2:14 - “For the earth will be filled With the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, As the waters cover the sea.”

 Acts 3:20-21 AMP - “and that He may send [to you] Jesus, the Christ, who has been appointed for you, whom heaven must keep until the time for the [complete] restoration of all things about which God promised through the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time.”

Ephesians 3:21 - “Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end.”

It was this kind of optimism and confidence and energy that overcame every giant obstacle and spread to gospel into the world. With this kind of optimism and confidence we can invigorate our efforts to overcome every giant obstacle to make the world a better place, and bless our children and their children, our home countries, our hometowns.

There is no glass ceiling hanging our mankind's head preventing us from progressing forward into better times ahead. There is no end, no limits, no boundaries to human potential except those caused by our own ignorance & disobedience.

Tomorrow is a blank page waiting to be written between God & us. God has invited us to co-author with Jesus -The Word- the great story of Humanity. Tomorrow is strictly determined by what we do with Jesus Christ today - not by fatalistic judgments upon previous generations - generations long since buried or off in the distant future.

We Christians get to be the Joshua and Caleb's, the great, optimistic, hope-giving, visionary leaders among every generation, declaring before the daunting, giant obstacles of our times and secure the future due the next generations: "Let us go up at once and take the Land, for we are well able to overcome them!" (Numbers 13:30).

This is the great, overarching conclusion from the restorationist view -good news that puts you in a good mood- makes you want to get to work for our futures with God, spiritual & physical, & for the benefit of all Mankind.

Matthew 5:14 - “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.”                                          
Revelation 21:24 - “And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it:”

Matthew 5:16 - “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father”.

Philippians 2:11 - “That every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Romans 10:9 - “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”

Hebrews 12:28 - “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us hold on to grace. By it, we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and awe,”
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