THE WORLD’S GREATEST CITY

By Dr. M. R. Dowler

We return to the blog site after spending a week in Israel. Damascus, Syria has been credited as the oldest continuously inhabited city on earth. But the question today is---what is the greatest city in the world? Obviously, it depends on who you ask. Some may say it is Paris, the City of Light. Others may say it is Rome, while others may submit New York or Moscow or Tokyo as the world’s greatest city. To the theologically-thinking, Bible believer, one city stands out as the greatest---Jerusalem.

Jerusalem (Yerusalim in Hebrew) is not the largest city (about 725,000 in population), or the prettiest city (by human standards), and Jerusalem has no natural resources to boast of. The actual word Jerusalem means city of shalom (peace), and yet ironically, throughout its history Jerusalem has been destroyed eighteen times, and changed hands thirteen times in the last 1,000 years.

Jerusalem is mentioned 767 times in our English Bible and 669 times in the Hebrew scriptures, referred to in the Bible as the City of our God (Psalm 48:1-2, 8). Interestingly, the first and last scriptural references are significant. Jerusalem is first referred to by the name Salem (Genesis 14:18) where Abraham fellowshipped with a mysterious man name Melchizedek, a priest of Salem; and the last specific reference is of the eternal, holy city called the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:10).

Theologically, Jerusalem will play a significant role in many future prophetic events unfolding today. The Eastern Gate (AKA the Golden Gate) is one of eight gates in the wall of the Old City. It is the only eastern entrance onto the thirty-three acre Temple Mount. One day Jesus will walk through the Eastern Gate to set up His millennial kingdom (Ezekiel 44:1-3). Knowing this ancient eschatological prophecy, the Ottoman leader Suleiman shut up Eastern Gate in 1541. A large Muslim cemetery was also placed directly in front of the gate for the purpose of keeping Jesus out. But massive blocks and an old cemetery won't keep the King of Kings out (Psalm 24:7).  Think about it.

LOOKING FOR LIFE IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES

By Dr. M. R. Dowler

This week we turn to the political…and bizarre. 2016 is a presidential election year and I’m sure between now and November we will all see our share of yard signs and TV ads. But there is a presidential candidate you may not have heard of---Zoltan Istvan, who is running as a candidate for the Transhumanist Party. I think its safe to say that neither the Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton campaigns are losing any sleep worrying about Mr Istvan. In fact Zoltan himself doesn’t think he can win the election, but hopes Hillary will pick him to be her running mate.

But who is this man running for our nation’s highest office and what is the connection to theology? Based on information from his website and several news reports, Zoltan Istvan Gyurko, a former reporter for National Geographic says his goals (should he become president) is to “put science, health and technology at the forefront of American politics.” Impressive words…until you read the Transhumanist Party’s platform, then it becomes scary. You see---Zoltan Istvan wants to live forever by being transformed into an “im-mortal cyborg.” He believes in a few years humans will be able to upload their minds to achieve immortality and live forever on earth.

The Bible is very clear about the reality of immortality and the afterlife. The scriptures emphatically declare there is only two eternal realities; heaven or the lake of fire. The lake of fire is our eternal default destination because of Adam’s fall in the garden (Romans 5:12). But God has graciously added one (and only one) alternate detour---heaven, ac-quired through faith in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ (John 14:6; Ephesians 2:8-9). The theological concept of conditionalism points to the fact that immortality is the property of God alone. Simply stated, because God is immortal (1 Timothy 6:15-16), immortality can only come to humans as a gift of eternal life through faith in Christ (2 Timothy 1:10; Romans 6:23).

Zoltan Istvan is driving all over America in a bus shaped like a coffin that he calls it his Im-mortality Bus to bring awareness to man’s search for immortality (through technology). Apparently Zoltan is unwittingly echoing what the Bible says---that immortality is not something inherent to humanity, but rather something to be sought after (Romans 2:7). Poor Zoltan…he’s looking for life in all the wrong places. We’ll have to wait to see if Hillary picks him to be her vice presidential running mate. Think about it.