Was (not will) ... but was Minneapolis Ground Zero in the great battle of Armageddon? And what exactly happened on S 4th Ave and E Lake St in 1888?
If it were possible to pull from the archives the exhaustive video footage of 4th & Lake (as it’s known to locals), from 1888 to today, without a doubt, it would tell a sad story of progressive urban decay, decadence, prostitution, weakness, frailty, violence, aggression, drugs, pornography, broken families and lives; with the faintest glimmer of hope in recent years where the vacuum of darkness is being filled by the local Latino community under the all-seeing eyes of the Jesuits.
According to one of the top Revelation Scholars the world over, Jon Paulien, Ph.D. “Armageddon is a spiritual battle fought over the hearts and minds of individuals the world over.”
It’s not rocket science to see that such a battle is presently being waged the world over... and if so, what does 4th & Lake St. have to do with Armageddon?
Do a Google search for 1888 Minneapolis; you will quickly find it is arguably the single most written about event in the entire history of Minneapolis bar none.
There once stood a Seventh-Day Adventist Church on the northwest corner of 4th & Lake. In the Church basement was a Christian Church School. Moreover, in 1888, the General Conference for the SDA Church was held at this location in Minneapolis. There were business meetings; strategy meetings; and theological debates.
The primary theological debate erupted into argument and virtual chaos. The meeting was split into two sides. One side was advocating that it was possible for Christians to live with the Spirit of God in them; in their hearts; affecting their character at the level of their day-to-day choices. The other side argued against it; saying that was totally impossible; it could not be accomplished by mere humans.
One of their own attendees at that meeting, a respected founder of the SDA Church and author, Ellen White, said, “Satan [himself] triumphed ...here [i.e. in Minneapolis].” Those who believed that it was possible for the Spirit of God to fill their lives so completely that it would positively affect every choice they made ... lost!
Rumor has it that is why the early Christians were fed to the lions in Rome.
On the home front, it would seem as though when the Seventh-Day Adventist General Conference adjured their meeting in 1888 and left town... that the Devil himself was left behind in that neighborhood in 4th and Lake.
There are those, millions of people, who believe that the argument of the side that lost in 1888 is the same argument that will fuel the spiritual battle (known as Armageddon) over the hearts and minds of every human on Earth
If that is true; then the first shot fired in Armageddon occurred in Minneapolis, in 1888, and Satan himself won the first battle... and apparently claimed the real estate as his own turf.
As the story goes, eventually God’s team wins the Battle of Armageddon... and without his true followers ever firing a single shot or committing an act of aggression or violence against others ... because it is about character, God’s Character to be precise.
In the words of an old rock song from Buffalo Springfield: “There's battle lines being drawn; nobody's right if everybody's wrong!”
Hmm! And we thought it was the Purple Ones, (i.e. Vikings and Prince) that made Minneapolis famous!
Stay tuned as we continue to focus on both the macro and micro domain of Conflict Resolution.
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