Coronado Bible Church

• The logos for: Monster Energy Drink, Taco Bell and Google Chrome
• The trademark scrolly writing of the name “Walt Disney”
• The hand gestures of President Donald Trump
• The ancient Christian symbol for the Trinity
• Even a pan of cinnamon rolls (That should help you with your diet).

I’m not making this stuff up, but someone is. People have also been multiplying theories for who the number might identify as the Antichrist. One of the strongest candidates ever put forward was Ronald Wilson Regan. It was so obvious! Each of his names had six letters and he and Nancy did live at 666 St. Cloud Road, Bel Air, Los Angeles. U.S. Presidents have always been popular targets. As I mentioned, Donald Trump is currently being identified as the Antichrist … but then so was Barak Obama. I don’t want to leave out my Canadian friends, so I think you should be warned that Justin Trudeau has been identified as a likely candidate … look it up! On second thought, don’t bother.

Revelation 13:18 describes the “Mark of the Beast” as follows; This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.

This is David … the shepherd boy … standing on the corner of my desk. I found him in a bin of church stuff. It all makes sense now; how an adolescent could have killed a lion, a bear and then a trained Philistine warrior over nine feet tall. If the toymakers are right, David was no regular prepubescent. The testosterone kicked in way early for this boy. And look at that stone! I read in 1 Samuel 17 how David chose “five smooth stones” that fit in his shepherd’s pouch, but who am I to argue with a Chinese toy manufacturer. Slinging cannon balls like that is probably how David defeated Hannibal’s army of Elephants when it crossed the Alps into Israel. No … that didn’t happen either, but if you’re not going to stick to the text of Scripture, anything goes.

I looked up the toymaker online and discovered they use the same mold for Joshua, Goliath and Lachmi (that’s Goliath’s brother). I know you don’t remember Lachmi, but he’s in there (1 Chronicles 20:5). They probably picked this obscure character because there are only so many body builders mentioned in the Bible. The company also makes Samson. His figurine comes with removable hair (sad, but I’m not joking). I have a theory about Samson. I think he was about as imposing as Kenny G … a little thin guy with a wild mop of hair. If he had looked like Arnold Schwarzenegger, they wouldn’t have kept asking about the source of his strength. And if he looked like he could push down a temple, they probably wouldn’t have put him between the pillars. Samson’s story is not a story about a man bound with muscle, it’s the story of a man filled with God’s Spirit.

“Research done in North-Central India, where the sun only becomes visible after it has risen higher than surrounding mountains, documents the onset of crowing approximately two to three hours before sunrise with initial intervals of about 30 minutes that decrease to about seven minutes at the time of sunrise—even though the sun is not actually visible at the moment of sunrise.”

Do you remember Cornelius the Rooster? He was the mascot for Kellogg’s Corn Flakes. In my childhood commercials, the sun didn’t come up until Cornelius crowed. Television was my only exposure to Roosters and I thought they only crowed right at sunrise. I was totally confused when I moved to Panama and heard them crowing 24/7. While Panama roosters don’t seem to have much sense of time, according to researchers, other parts of the world have pretentiously punctual poultry. In fact, a new study (done by Nagoya University in Japan) “shows that roosters don’t need the light of a new day to know when it’s dawn—rather, their internal clocks alert them to the time.”

Roosters are reliable enough that prior to our chronographically fixated age, people told time by them. The Greek word alektorophōnía, literally means “roosters voice” but is sometimes translated “third watch.” Although the Greeks and Romans had developed other ways of marking time throughout the night, the three hours prior to sunrise was still called “cockscrow.” Mark 13:35 uses the word in Jesus’ parable counseling vigilance in watching for His return,

“Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn.”

Interestingly, Jesus mentions only the watches of the night … the times when it is most difficult to be alert and aware. This was exactly His point. Jesus continues, “If (the master) comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!”  The specific servant mentioned in Jesus’ parable was the door keeper. While others slept, he stayed alert through the dark watches of the night, ready to welcome his master home. Many considered the final watch, just before the breaking of dawn, the most difficult time to stay awake. The night has been long, the Master tarries … but He is coming. Wake up!

Sources: Scientific American article, “What time does the cock crow?” by Krystal D’Costa, November 30, 2011; National Geographic article, “How a Rooster Knows to Crow at Dawn” by Jane J. Lee, March 19, 2013.

Not many realize, but 2018 marks a period of crisis for many End-times preachers. They are coming down to a make or break date for the past seventy years of their teaching. Dates for Christ’s return have been set, passed and forgotten throughout the history of the Church. As Dispensationalism grew in popularity over the past 150 years, teachers began predicting the date of the Church’s Rapture. When Israel was reborn as a nation in 1948, speculations about that date exploded. Teachers keyed in on the words of Jesus in Matthew 24:32-34,

Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.

Noting that Israel is often equated with a fig tree in the Bible, many interpreted their national rebirth as the greening of the tree in Jesus’ parable. If correct, we were just one generation from beginning of the end. 1948 + 40 years (which everyone insisted was the span of a Biblical generation) = the magic number. That’s why so many End-Times preachers staked their reputations on 1988 bringing the rapture of the Church.

When that date passed, speculators had to adjust their approach. Psalm 90:10 says, “The length of our days is seventy years— or eighty, if we have the strength.” So, suddenly a Biblical generation was 70 to 80 years. And they’re still setting dates. According to Dr. F. Kenton Beshore, “If you extend that from 1948, the outside date for the millennium would be 2028. Take off seven years for the Tribulation and the outside date for the rapture would be 2021.” But what about their “inside” date? This is the 70th anniversary of Israel’s nationhood. That would mean the rapture of the Church should take place sometimes this year. In any case, the next three years is make or break.

Later in Matthew 24, Jesus said, “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.” My recommendation is that we stop calculating dates … and start living like He could come back today!

Everyone celebrates the famous Albert Einstein, but how many people appreciate the genius of Alfie Epstein. Just this past Wednesday I was contemplating his Third Law of Laddernity. Epstein’s law describes a phenomenon with which every tradesman and handyman is well acquainted. The precocious intellect stated the law rather urbanely, using terms like hypotonus, angle of acclivity and bangnacity … but I’ll try to put the law in layman’s terms. The force of gravity on small objects increases exponentially with every step you take up a ladder.

You’re trying to attach a hanger bracket for a shade to the ceiling at an elevation of roughly 1,400 hundred feet, and suddenly the screw jerks sideways, is torn from your hand and hurtles to earth at exactly the farthest point from your ladder. It is likely that the screw (did I mention it’s your last one) will come to rest under a heavy object too close to the floor to reach under. You believe this was just clumsiness … but it was actually the Law of Laddernity. If you are working alone, the effect quadruples! If your wife is out of earshot … determine the power of the affect by taking the obtuse angle of a ladder, multiplied by the number of steps, times ten to the thirty-forth power. Some jobs just weren’t meant to be done alone.

A person could have a genuine relationship with Jesus Christ in total isolation … but that wasn’t Plan A. The Christian life was not meant to be lived in alone. I easily could produce dozens of Bible verses that speak to God’s design for Christian community. Maybe just one will do for now.

Epstein and his law are fictitious … but this law isn’t:

Carry each other’s burdens and it this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2