Committed to the Project
Ben Simonton has managed people and taught others to manage people for a few decades. Some of his ideas include, “You can’t ‘engage’ an employee. You can only create an environment in which an employee can and will become engaged,” and “’Turned on’ people figure out how to beat the competition. ‘Turned off’ people only complain about being beaten by the competition.”
These ideas brought to my mind the contrasts between the eschatology of deep darkness coming on the earth and the light shining forth in it from Yahweh’s people overpowering it as the noon sunlight, and that of destruction and defeat that ends in a scene that looks like the Marxist abandonment of Afghanistan.
Even in the scene in the Revelation of Jesus that John saw in which many saints will be beheaded for not worshipping the beast and his image, those will be the only people who experience the “first resurrection” from the dead, and they will be the only people reigning with Jesus on the earth for the thousand years before satan is released from the pit for his last stand. The rest of the dead won’t be raised from the dead until after the thousand years of Jesus reigning on the earth.
Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven with the key to the abyss and a great chain in his hand. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for 1,000 years. He threw him into the abyss, closed it, and put a seal on it so that he would no longer deceive the nations until the 1,000 years were completed. After that, he must be released for a short time.
Then I saw thrones, and people seated on them who were given authority to judge. I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of God’s word, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and who had not accepted the mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with the Messiah for 1,000 years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the 1,000 years were completed. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! The second death has no power over these, but they will be priests of God and the Messiah, and they will reign with Him for 1,000 years.
(Revelation 20:1-6 HCSB ©®)
There is no extraction plan. Just opportunities for overcomers to overcome.
Overcome. Be awesome!