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Q: Where is additional authority for the proposition that Christ would return multiple times-one being the O'Hare airport UFO?
Christ had to return at least twice because Christ told Caiaphas and those present at his trial that they would see him returning in the clouds of heaven. He also said he would return in the clouds in that generation (Matthew 24:34). Since he will also return when the world ends this suggests at least two appearances.
Another one is implied if we interpret a cloud-coming
following the "times of the Gentiles." I believe Luke 17:22-37 addresses this second cloud-coming. In that passage
Jesus spoke about "one of the days of the Son of man (17:22)." This phrase implies more than one appearance of Christ.
He cited the day Noah entered the ark in conjunction with the "days of the Son of man (17:26-27)." The passage contains
language that could be linked to the end of the world. But this was necessary because the world could have ended in
either AD 149 or AD 1149-well before 2,000 Gentile years had expired. The first night watch began in AD 149 and the second
watch in AD 1149. In one passage Jesus described events happening in the "day" and happening the following "night:"
Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. Remember Lot's wife. Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it. I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together. Luke 17:30-37
The event is not the same as the rapture. This passage implies two cloud-comings: one during the 12-hour day and the other during one of the night watches. We know the term "night" is not used in a literal sense because men don't plow fields at night nor do women grind grain at night. Jesus said certain people would be "taken" from these normal chores in the night. When asked where they would be taken, Jesus responded, "Wheresoever the body [Christ] is thither will the eagles be gathered together." This statement could be indirectly linked to O'Hare airport since eagles (i.e., airplanes) gather at such a location.
Q: Does Hebrews 9:28 contradict the theory that Christ has already returned twice in the clouds of heaven?
So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. (Hebrews 9:28)
Heavens no! This verse means Christ would appear a second time bringing salvation
but not bearing sin. He clearly brought salvation once when he died on the cross. The cloud comings were merely signs of when
to watch for the end of the world and didn't concern "salvation." At the end of the world Christ will appear
the "second time" bringing salvation.
Q: According to one of your theories, Jesus was reincarnated and appeared to Mary at the empty tomb in Mark 16 when he was only 5½ years old. Is there any scriptural support that Jesus was 5½ years old at that time?
Revelation 12 indirectly supports this theory. Verse 5 describes a woman who gives birth to a child who would rule all nations with a rod of iron and who was "caught up unto God, and to his throne." This was fulfilled in Mark 16:19 where Jesus was received into heaven and sat at the right hand of God after he appeared to Mary. The Revelation author indirectly reveals Jesus' age at this time. The woman who gives birth to the child Jesus flees into the wilderness from Satan where she is nourished for 3½ years (Rev. 12:6, 14). The account of Mary and Joseph's flight into Egypt after Jesus was born in the manger serves as the backdrop for this allusion. In Matthew 2, Mary, Joseph and the child Jesus flee to Egypt to escape Herod who was trying to kill the baby Jesus. Matthew 2:16 indicates that Jesus was likely 2 years old at that time. The reader can thereby deduce that Jesus was 2 years old when the woman in Revelation similarly flees into the wilderness. This makes the reincarnated Jesus 5½ years old at the expiration of the 3½ year period (i.e., at the advent of the kingdom of God) -the age when he sat at the right hand of God and appeared at the empty tomb.
Q: Why would Jesus tell his disciples to watch for his return if the world couldn't end in their lifetimes?
Jesus' admonishment to "watch" for his return was directed to four of the disciples: Peter, James, John, and Andrew (Mark 13:4). I believe two of them, Peter and John, lived to see Jesus return in the clouds in AD 66. Scholars are not certain of the year when Nero martyred Peter. Almost all scholars believe John lived past AD 66.
Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. (Mark 13:35-36)
This verse means that Peter and John were to watch for Jesus' return. They didn't know if he would come at the end of a millennium that was considered a 12-hour day or one of the three night watches (coinciding with the end of the world). "Lest" means "or else." The phrase "coming suddenly" means at another hour that does not coincide with the end of a millennium. In this case that was AD 66--at a time when they might not expect him since that was not at the end of a millennium.
Q: What period corresponds to the 42 months of Revelation 11:2?
This period was not the same as the tribulation. I believe the 42 months likely foretold the Bar Kochba revolt of AD 132-135. This war began because the Roman Emperor Hadrian promised the Jews to rebuild Jerusalem after its destruction in AD 70. However, he proceeded to rebuild it as a Roman city with a temple dedicated to Jupiter. He also outlawed circumcision. The Jews ousted the Romans from the city in AD 132 and the war ensued. The Romans eventually regained control of the city but not before sustaining heavy losses. According to Jewish tradition the war lasted 3.5 years.
Another
reason for equating the 42 months with this war concerns Old Testament chronology. The 42 months seem to be equated with the
period when two witnesses prophesy and summon droughts on earth (Revelation 11:3-6). One of the witnesses is likely an allusion
to Elijah who summoned a 3.5-year drought in Israel (Luke 4:25). The drought occurred almost precisely 1,000 years before
the Bar Kochba revolt. We're told that the drought ended "in the third year" (1 Kings 18:1). The question is
whether "year" can be read to mean "years" in the verse. A likely explanation for the ambiguity
of the phrase is that it had a two-fold meaning: it meant both the third year of the famine and the third year of Jehoshaphat's
reign as king of Judea (see 2 Chronicles 17:7 for details about his third year). In this period the year in Israel was counted
from Nisan to Nisan but in Judea it was measured from Tishri to Tishri. New Testament writers believed the drought lasted
3.5 years even though 1 Kings does not indicate such. If the third year had a dual meaning, then the drought lasted three
years (measured from Nisan) and ended in a year that began in Tishri (which adds another six months). Jehoshaphat began his
reign in Ahab's fourth year as king of Israel (1 Kings 22:41) and his regnal year was counted from Tishri to Tishri.
Using dating methods for this period this implies the drought ended in about 866 BC-1,000 years before AD 135.
Q: If reincarnation is true, then doesn't that mean we must
be reincarnated again after we die with no memory of our past lives?
This is not necessarily true. Since the world population is growing, those who die are likely to be reincarnated again. However it is quite possible some of us will die right now and then sleep for thousands of years before being reborn in the new earth. Therefore, some of us might "sleep" for an extended period of time after death (1 Corinthians 15:51). Simply imagine that one soul who will not populate the new earth will be born into the world after you die. That soul assumes your place in the process of reincarnation until the world ends. Since this soul does not populate the new earth this is basically equivalent to believing that soul was never born in the first place. An element of predestination arises in such a belief. Daniel 12:2 and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 also support this theory.
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