In this post-"Cold War" era in which so many hopes and dreams have flowered and wilted in the light of harsh economic and political realities, what will the future hold? Will there be the dawning of a golden New Age and a New World Order of peace, or are we in a period like the 1930's when post-W.W.I nations faced the prospect of a globe  soon to explode in the twisted face of evil aggression. Will terrorism mold our lives into a paranoid existence? Will a trip to the mall become a potential nightmare of imagined violence? Will the proliferation of nuclear weapons and biological agents transform our utopian visions into a grotesque Orwellian dictatorship as a necessity of survival? Can the environment survive the Malthusean onslaught of emerging population and uncontrolled development? So many questions, and who holds the answers for the "brave new millennium."

    There are many voices beckoning for our attention, promising a glimpse of what is to come. We have the scientists who project a future bright with hope where science and technology conqueror all human limitations and maladies. On the other hand, the mystical seers in visions and trances predict a utopian paradise - if we but heed the warnings of the "higher dimension" spirit-guides. The aliens beings have come to save us.

    On both sides of the spectrum, the message is clear: if we take control of our destiny, we can shape an enlightened human evolution. The future is in our hands. In the siren's song of sci-fi optimism, both streams are merging into one future reality, the vision of the scientific magician. This projection predicts a high-tech world where mystical powers are realized by genetically engineered human-gods (The futuristic realization of Hitler's Aryan Superman?).

    But is the future really in our hands? Is mankind the only power in the universe? Are we gods? What if our destiny is in the hands of a much higher power? What if that power has already set forth what is to come and dictated this vision to selected agents? What if we could know with certainty what is to come? What if the answer has been with us all along, found in the oldest book known to man and the "best seller" of all time?

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    Although it is found in almost every home in America, in many doctor's offices, and in a vast host of other establishments, the Bible is the most widely held and least read book in society. It is occasionally quoted and given general reference by the media, but most of the populace have never read the "best seller of all time" from cover to cover. It is amazing that in this so called "educated" country, the number one book of all time goes unread while children can quote from the latest sitcom. The sophisticated and erudite who consider the average person crude if not schooled in the various modern works of the intelligencia are often blatantly ignorant of the one treatise which is the foundation of Western culture. This aside, it is no wonder that the guardians of knowledge and the mesmerized masses see no relevance to our contemporary dilemma between the pages of The Book (the literal meaning the word, Bible).

    Our current state of affairs reminds me of that great science fiction classic by H. G. Wells, "The Time Machine." In the tale, an inventor builds a time machine to travel to earth's distant future. He arrives in what appears to be an idealic civilization. Our futurist wants to know more about the Eloi, the inhabitants of this paradise. Weena, his new Eloi girlfriend, leads him to the neglected repository of knowledge (the Eloi are ignorant of their history). The Time Traveler finds a dusty historical archive consisting of multimedia magnetic rings. He spins the data rings and they reveal the future world's tragic past. The Eloi were living in a false utopia of complacency designed by an underground society of mutant cannibalistic predators. The beautiful people of the Light were being fattened like cattle by the evil monsters who lived in the recesses of the earth. The Eloi were food for these ugly gods. Hypnotized by the siren's song and subliminally led to their demise by countless years of social programming, their lives were only an illusion in a fool's paradise. The rings provided the truth which the Traveler was seeking.

    As seen by the holy prophets via God's Time Machine, today's teaming throngs are being fed by a world system of demonic delusion. The end for the contemporary Eloi, the unbelievers, is spiritual slaughter by Satanic forces. The masses are lulled into complacency by the siren's song of the media and "secular humanistic" educational establishment. The time is at hand for us to dust off the "prophetic rings" of our future. The prophetic scripture is the real time machine. It's not man's science nor is it fiction. It is beyond science and stranger than fiction. It is the truth - for those who have ears to hear it.

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    For the first two centuries of Christianity, the Early Church Fathers^a taught a theological concept called Chiliasm. The term Chiliasm is derived from the Greek word "xilia" (pronounced kil-ee-ah) which means one thousand. In Latin the term is "mille" and is the root for "millennium," a period of one thousand years^b. The word Chiliasm is defined as the belief in a 6,000 year timetable of human history followed by a literal 1,000 year reign of Christ upon the earth. This corresponds to a Divine week of human history upon the present earth. This theological construct states that fallen man will work in the corrupted world for 6 days of 1,000 years each and then mankind will find rest upon the seventh day when Christ returns to earth to set up His Kingdom. This is analagous to the creation account found in Genesis where the world was formed in six literal days with God resting upon the seventh

  The historic reality of this belief among the early Christians is well documented in "Patrology" by Johannes Quasten (Catholic University of America, D.C.) as well as other scholarly works on this topic^c. As Quasten observes about these writings, "Typical of all these writings is their eschatological character. The second coming of Christ is regarded as imminent." (Quasten Vol.1 p.40). Papius of Hieropolis^d, the author of The Epistle of Barnabus^e, Justin Martyr^f, and Irenaeus^g, to mention a few, all taught this 6,000 year concept of secular human history.

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    The main scriptural sourcing for this Chiliast doctrine is found in several Biblical passages: Psalm chapter ninety, the Second Epistle of Peter chapter three, and Revelation chapter twenty. The Word says that everything must be established by the mouth of two or three witnesses (Mat. 18:16, 2Cor. 13:1, 1Tim. 5:19, Heb. 10:28) and these three passages provide sufficient attestation to honor the injunction.
 
 

Psalm 90:4
"For a thousand years in thy sight [are but] as yesterday when it is past, and [as] a watch in the night." (KJV)
 
 

2 Peter 3:8
"But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day [is] with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." (KJV)
 
 

Revelation 20:1-3
"And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season." (KJV)

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    Is the scripture metaphorically discussing the relative time dimension of God to we mere mortals or does the Bible give us insight into a deeper more literal meaning concerning God's timetable - and ours? Archbishop James Ussher (1581-1656), an Irish Protestant theologian and scholar, at one time had the largest collection of books in Europe. Using the Book of Genesis, he exactingly followed the genealogies of "begets" back in time and determined that the present earth was created in the year 4004 BC (This chronology is still inserted into the margins of many editions of the King James Bible). Interestingly enough, a comparison of this chronology in one thousand year equivalent segments produces an enlightening correspondence to the purported Chiliast assertion:
 
 

Day                       Time Period                                           Era of Recorded Human History
 

ONE	4004 - ~3000 BC	Adam to the Flood
TWO	3000 - ~2000 BC	Flood to Abram
THREE	2000 - ~1000 BC	Abraham to Solomon's Temple
FOUR	1000 -    0004 BC	Temple to Birth of Christ
FIVE	4 BC - ~1000 AD	Christ to the Great Schism?  (East-West Church Split 1050AD)
SIX	1000 -    1996 AD	End of 6,000 years (according to Julian Calendar)
SEVEN	???? -  ???? AD	Millennium Day of Rest preceded by 7 year Tribulation

NOTE: Given that the 1,000 year periods and Bishop Ussher's calculations are not precise, but approximate interpretations of Bible-based chronological data, we cannot set exact dates nor project an exact time of fulfillment. However, this does not mean that this extrapolation is inaccurate. It only acknowledges that our times are in the hands of the Almighty and that we see through a "glass darkly" (1Cor. 13:12).

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Chapter Purpose: To extrapolate from catholic church teaching an increased expectancy for His imminent return and to identify our generation as key in the culmination of this era.

^a Definition: Church Fathers = The early Church leaders and writers who were either taught by the Apostles or their direct disciples. [return]

^b Definition: Millennium = The eschatological doctrine that Christ will rule on earth for 1,000 years in a Kingdom of peace . [return]

^c Definition: Patrology = the study of the early church fathers. [return]

^d Papius was Bishop of the church in Hieropolis, a city in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey). Irenaeus, the great Church Father, reports that he heard John the Apostle preach and was a friend of John's disciple, Polycarp. Eusebius, the first church historian, records in his church history that "Papius defended the belief in the Millennium" (Quasten, VOL.1 p.82). [return]

^e The Epistle of Barnabus was probably written in the early years of the second century. The author of this document is unknown, but it probably represents an instructional form from the post-Apostolic era. From early times it has been attributed to the Apostle Barnabus, the co-laborer with Paul the Apostle. Clement of Alexandria and Origen, both pillars of the early church, considered this epistle to be among the sacred writings. Although modern scholarship has brought into question the authorship because of its apparent anti-Judaistic sentiment, it is worth quoting concerning our topic as a reflection of the prevailing doctrine of its times, "The author is a follower of chiliasm. The six days of creation mean a period of six thousand years because a thousand years are like one day in the eyes of God. In six days, that is in six thousand years, everything will be completed, after which the present evil time will be destroyed and the Son of God will come again and judge the godless and change the sun and the moon and the stars and he will truly rest on the seventh day. Then will dawn the Sabbath of the Millennial Kingdom (15, 1-9)" (Quasten Vol.1 p.89). [return]

^f Justin lived during the first half of the second century. It is reported that he was beheaded for his witness and thus his historic name, Justin the Martyr. He was the foremost apologist of the early church and a man learned in all the philosophies of the Greeks. Justin was well able to debate with the leading minds in Rome where he founded a school in defense of the Gospel. Johannes Quasten declares that he shared the views of the Chiliasts concerning the millennium quoting from The Dialogue With Trypho, "But I and others are right-minded Christians in all points and are assured that there will be a resurrection of the dead and a thousand years in Jerusalem" (Quasten Vol.1 p.219). [return]

^g Irenaeus of Lyons (Today in France) is the leading theologian of the early church. When he was young he listened to the preaching of Polycarp, the direct disciple of St. John the Apostle. Polycarp had received the doctrine of Christ from John and had taught it to his students, young Irenaeus being one.  Thus spiritually , his instruction was close to the seminal church beliefs , being a grandson of the orthodox faith. In his quintessential defense of the true faith, Against Heresies, he concludes in Book V with a clear position of Chiliasm, "he speaks of the millennium, and it is here that Irenaeus proves himself to be a Chiliast." (Quasten Vol.1 p.289). It is clear that the human author of the Book of Revelation taught his disciples the Chiliast view and that his spiritual grandchildren received the same truth faithfully handed down, against all heresies to the contrary. This theology was held by many more contenders for the faith but this brief accounting should serve as proof to the concept's authenticity and historical veracity. [return]

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