The obvious people in need right now are drunkards (sinners) and substance abusers (sinners). They (sinners) are costing society trillions of dollars and causing countless numbers of pre-mature deaths. Prisons are overflowing with criminals who committed hundreds of thousands of crimes because of their willful abuse of drugs and/or alcohol. Seven out of ten prisoners, in California, return to jail or prison within three years. This is the highest recidivism rate in the nation. (14)

The Second Temple was built in 20 B.C. by Herod the Great, though the surrounding outer courts were not completed until A.D. 64. The Temple was destroyed by Titus in the year A.D. 70.

God broke down the wall of partition of Jew and Gentile back in the first century (Ephesians 2:14). That is the mystery of the Gospel; God will live in both Jew and Gentile believers. 

God was never confined to a building (Isaiah 66:1, Acts 7:49). Though during the Old Testament days He did allow temples to be built in His name. The temple was where the Jewish priests would go into each year to make animal sacrifices for “atonement” not forgiveness of sin.  That came later through Jesus Christ's dead, burial and resurrection.

However, in the New Testament God will forgive and spiritually enter into anyone who believes and obeys the Gospel. The church believers become the new spiritual Israel, the spiritual temple of God, the New Jerusalem, living in the spiritual Kingdom of God. Now! Today! This is not about being in the right church or denomination… it is about individuals being in Christ and Christ being in them!

One has to study what really happened over two thousand years ago to truly understand and appreciate what we have today, now! No one group or individuals are considered special any longer in God’s eyes. The Bible clearly states in Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”. We all need forgiveness of our sins. That includes all races, religions, nationalities, whether they are doctors, lawyers, celebrities, prisoners, drunkards, substance abusers, etc. etc. etc. 

Jesus Christ came to give us life and life more abundantly... NOW. TODAY! He came to forgive and deliver sinners from sins. NOW! TODAY! We do not have to wait for this to happen, someday. Jesus and His everlasting Kingdom are with us NOW… TODAY just as prophesy pointed to. (Psalm 145:13, Daniel 4:3, Daniel 7:14, 2 Peter 1:11).

There are not any more prophecies to be fulfilled. Jesus fulfilled all of them just as He said He would. In Luke 21:22 Jesus stated, “For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.” He returned spiritually within the first century generation at 70 AD to complete His plan of salvation. He used the Romans to bring about vengeance upon a disobedient, unbelieving and rebellious generation who turned their back on God. He destroyed their old Jewish religious system and ushered in His everlasting spiritual Kingdom. 

Jesus Christ is the one in charge of building His church. In Matthew 16:18 Jesus explained to the Apostle Peter after he made the statement that identified Jesus as the Messiah that “…I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Jesus is building the church. Not man! Believers are supposed to be believing, spreading, living and obeying the Kingdom message, not waiting for Jesus to come again… when He already did! 

Three examples of misleading yet very popular end-times prophecy books. Note one predicted rapture in 1988.

The futuristic dispensational thinking Christians of today are causing more damage to the Kingdom of God then they can honestly and properly understand. They cannot live in the "now" today because they are too busy waiting for a future physical earthly kingdom. They are only repeating the words of numerous dooms-day authors and so-called end-time scholars who some believers like to call prophets. 

These are actually false prophets who take scriptures way out of content and try to apply Jesus' words to the generation we are living in today instead of teaching to keep His words to the generation Jesus was actually speaking to back in the first century. This is critical!! Jesus predicted false prophets coming in His generation and warned His followers not to believe them or follow after them. This same principle applies today. 

If Jesus said He was returning in the 1st Century then who are we to say or act differently? That has always been the problem. Man wants to “change” God’s words to fit man instead of allowing God’s word to change and transform man into the image of God. 

A prophet is considered false when his prophecies do not happen when they said they would. A perfect example is all who have said Jesus is coming over the last two thousand years. And there is a whole gang of them. Jesus warned of false prophets coming within His generation and the apostles taught that as well. (Matthew 24:24)

It is no wonder the secular world laughs at today’s Christians. The futurist dispensational thinking Christians have wrongly followed misunderstandings or outright lies for years, thinking Jesus is coming again when He already did spiritually back in the first century, just as He promised and prophesized. The Old Testament first prophesized this would happen within the first century generation. 

The 21st Century church has turned into a wishy-washy watered down version of what God intended. The first-century church had the overcoming power of the Holy Ghost. The modern day church has basically thrown in the towel and holds defeated secular sounding rehabilitation meetings in their sanctuaries. It has taken on the world's understanding of life instead of applying the Holy Ghost overcoming life-changing power of God. 

Destruction of the Temple and entire Jewish religious system - AD70

The futuristic dispensational thinking church of today has become a medical treatment center calling and treating sin as disease instead of helping people receive real true deliverance and forgiveness from their sins. Many teach it is ok to sin. That God will continually forgive sin no matter how many times one commits it. Christians should be asking themselves why this has happened and do something to correct it. We should not wait around for Jesus to come again when He already did in 70AD. He is not going to do this all over again. It is up to man to accept God’s plan not God accept man’s plan.

Many churches have bought into the addiction disease modality instead of offering total and complete deliverance. (15) It is a sad day to see this. One of the real reasons for this is the futurist thinking believer’s understanding of what really happened in 70 AD. That date is being treated as a non-event happening, when instead should be considered as one of the most important events to ever happen in mankind’s history. It is the date of the spiritual return of Jesus Christ and the destruction of the old religious Jewish system. (16)

The forty years following Jesus Christ’s resurrection is what Christians should be focusing on to try to figure out how the Church and the world has gotten so far away of the simple Gospel message. 

What really did happen within the 70 years of Jesus’ generation leading up to the destruction of Israel, Jerusalem and its’ temple? Are we really living in the spiritual Kingdom of God now? Once those issues are resolved individual problems as well as the entire world’s problems can easily be solved. Until then it is just "pass the pill, needle or bottle" because the substance abuse disease (sin) concept and all it consequences will be around for a lot longer than necessary and will become even more damaging and costly than ever before experienced. 

Footnotes

(14)  - Public Safety - http://gov.ca.gov/index.php?/issue/sgp-backpage/sgp-prison-reform
(15) - Eight Recovery Principles - Celebrate Recovery - No mention of the word "sin or repentance" -  http://celebraterecovery.com.au/8principles.php
(16) - The Works of Josephus - Complete and Unabridged - Translated by William Whiston. ISBN 0913573868