No Apologies Round Two

"Few if any recent generations could sit with a Bible in one hand and their newspapers in the other and see the fulfillment of prophecy, but for us it’s almost routine." Jack Kelly

Monday, October 13, 2008

Who is the Antichrist?


In the last post, we saw how people are bracing themselves either for a messianic leader, which many falsely believe Barack Hussein Obama is, or the Antichrist who is written about in Bible prophecies concerning the end times. Now, Barack Obama is NOT the Antichrist, but for any Bible believing Christian, we can see that the world is ripe, especially in the adoration of people from different religions, backgrounds, race and ethnicity for Obama. In this post, I'd like to revisit my earlier post from a couple of years ago in which I wrote about the coming Antichrist as he is described in the Bible. Please read as it has been updated since then.
Who is the Antichrist, and where will he come from?
There is no way to know exactly who the Antichrist will be- as far as the final world ruler goes. There have already been many Antichrists in the world- that is those who are opposed to or teaching opposite than Christ. Some have thought Hitler was the Antichrist, some believed that various Caesars in the Roman Empire were the Antichrist. Some even have thought that George Bush is the Antichrist. The last one sounds ridiculous to those who read and study scripture, but the thoughts are out there. This Antichrist that we are looking at though, will be someone who suddenly rises to power, and either by his own skill, or by deception will eventually gain worldwide acceptance as the world's supreme leader. (Given President Bush's poll numbers not only in the US, but around the world- it's impossible to imagine that all of a sudden the whole world would accept him as the world's leader!) Face it- the world is ripe for wanting a leader who will lead- who will have answers to peace, the environment, diseases and all other things that are plaguing this world. Well- some day soon, they will get this person who will appear to have all the world's problems solved- and they will be more than happy to make this person their world ruler.
It makes the prophecies in the Bible hard to understand as we read about the coming of the Antichrist- when authors such as Daniel and John give descriptions of such things as horns, beasts, dragons and evil beings. For Bible believing Christians however, when you consider the Holy Trinity- it makes sense that Satan will have his Unholy trinity as well- as a perfect counterfeit of the True God. Satan will have his version of the son- as in the Antichrist, will have his false holy spirit in the prophet -as a witness to the Antichrist's arrival on the world stage, and the false religion which will seek to deceive all humankind in the great tribulation into worshiping and following after the 'beast' Antichrist, then you have Satan as god- as he likened himself to be above- which is why he is doomed to destruction.
Now. What will the Antichrist actually be like? Let's look at a passage from Daniel 8:23, 24: "And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors have reached their fullness, a king shall arise, having fierce features, how understands sinister schemes. His power shall be mighty, but not by his own power; he shall destroy fearfully, and shall prosper and thrive; he shall destroy the mighty, and also the holy people."
First of all, the first sentence which reads- "when the transgressors have reached their fullness"- what can Daniel be talking about here? Well- there will be many who don't agree, but transgressions, means literally, a violation of Law or Command-as in violation of divine law- in sin. I for one have a hard time believing there can be worse in the world than what is happening now- but I also believe because the Bible shows- things will get worse and more depraved. The Law of God has been broken by all humans. While Bible believing Christians realize this, and so have faith in Jesus in that He already paid our penalties for our breaking the law- we also see God's Law being broken- but no repentance taking place.We really are living in the days where people call evil good and good evil. I know that all Bible believing Christians know what I'm talking about, in how far we have removed ourselves as nations from God. I won't be bothering to post it all here and now. Just to mention the complete reversal in society's position on homosexual marriage, abortion on demand, rampant pornography in movies, TV, printed media and other programs that our children view every day. These are just the tip of it. Our world has transgressed to a point to where very soon, God in His wisdom, will bring judgment- through the tribulation- a time in which the world has never seen, and never will see again. This time will bring to the world what it so richly deserves- in the Antichrist. Now, who will he be?
The Antichrist will eventually be a strong and brutal dictator with striking, most likely good looking physical features. Daniel warned that he would understand "sinister schemes", showing that he will most likely believe in the occult- that is witchcraft, psychic powers etc., and will be given to satanic deception. His amazing power will come from Satan himself, as the first prophecy in the Bible regarding the Antichrist as the "seed of Satan". In the story of Adam and Eve after they sinned, God told Satan, " I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed." Her seed refers to Christ's virgin birth, and to the fact that Israel gave birth to the world's Savior. The term "his seed" seems to tell us that somehow the Antichrist will be the seed of Satan.
The Antichrist will be a violent, vile and evil person during the tribulation times. Daniel warns that he will prosper and thrive in his drive to gain total control over the world. He will sit in the rebuilt Temple and declare himself to be God, and he will do everything in his power to "destroy the mighty and also the holy people." There is some good news here though- Revelation 12 tells us that God will supernaturally protect Israel and the Jewish remnant from the Antichrist's deadly persecution during the last three and a half years of the tribulation time- leading to the Battle at Armageddon.
So, what else can we learn about this Antichrist? Daniel and John both tell about his blasphemy against God. ( Revelation 13:5.) Since he will have Satan's power within him, he will hate God with a passion. Daniel also tells us "He shall regard neither the God of his fathers nor the desires of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above them all. " The Antichrist will not respect the God of his fathers (I will come back to this point later on in the series), and he may be a homosexual- yes, I'm sure I'm making a lot of people angry right now by saying this, but what other meaning can one conclude in reading the above verse, especially since homosexuality is becoming more and more accepted in all societies. Moving on, the Antichrist will boast that he is the only true god, all the while speaking evil things about God Almighty.
He is also described as the lawless one (2 thes. 2:8) as he will rebel against the laws of man and God's Law. He will hate man's law because he despises God and His ultimate Law. He will change laws and the Holy days to suit his own purpose. In these days of our own county's changing laws- due to the higher judges interpretation of a "living and breathing" constitution, and looking to other counties on which to base their decisions of cases, leads me to think the Antichrist will have no problem persuading governments and kingdoms to change their laws to according to what the Antichrist wants.
He is described to have great success militarily- that is until he and his minions are defeated by Christ at Armageddon. His initial battles will be so successful that the people of the world will have no problem accepting him as their messiah. (Rev. 13:4,5) He will have control of all world Intelligence agencies and police forces. Face it, with the worldwide problems of drug dealers and terrorism, human trafficking and other world problems, we already have a worldwide intelligence system, and policing in the UN- sharing of information between countries and governments. Government already can tap into any database and have complete files on all citizens. They have complete access to criminal and immigration records of all citizens. For instance, when I came to this country, I had to have my fingerprints taken and a criminal history background check done (just so you know- I'm clean!) before I could even cross the boarder. That info is now in Canadian and United States governments records. It is access to files like this, and the world already used to sharing information that will make it so easy and ready for the Antichrist to gain this power over all world citizens someday soon.
The Antichrist will have his own economic system. Even as I write this, Governments in the west are considering taking over some banks because of the recent economic meltdown. Gold and silver will be worthless and illegal, there will be no hard currency. We have been heading down this road for a while as well with the "cashless society" in that many employers transfer wages directly to the bank account of employees, the massive amounts of credit card use instead of paying with cash. Even charitable organizations have cashless transfers from a donor's bank account into the organization's account. Popularity among many of redistributing wealth, by way of tax increases for the rich, welfare and socialized medicine, transferring property from private individuals to big real estate conglomerates, or worse, seizure from the government or United Nations for their "protection of natural resources" as in the World Heritage Sites- these are all paving the way for the Antichrist to be accepted as a financial genius, thereby taking over the whole world's banking and financial institutions. Some day, those who are left to live during the last days will not be able to buy, or sell without the "Mark of the Beast"- that is without being subject to the Antichrist. If you do not worship him- you will be denied a way to provide for you and your family. This was unheard of technology in the days of Daniel and John. It is only now, in our generation that all these things became possible. Even 50 years ago, many ways of these things coming about hadn't been developed yet- looking at ID chips and iris scans- only these have been developed within the past decade or so. It is totally a logical argument that some day all people will be required to receive a "mark" by way of an identification chip implanted in their forearm or some other type of storing personal and DNA code data in a device which requires it to be scanned in some way.
There is much more to the subject of the Antichrist- such as where will he set up his government, whom will he make war with and how he will really convince all people that he is god. One thing to remember as satanic as the Antichrist will be- he will not start out that way. To begin with, people will see him as messiah, the one to be praised and fawned over, given leg tingles and shivers by, as the media is doing with Barack Obama.
For now though, it is well to remember that Bible believing Christians will not be around when this guy comes on the scene. If you really want to avoid having to live under this brute's regime- there is a way. His name is Jesus. He's waiting for you, and would like nothing more than to have you join the rest of His faithful in heaven so you won't be stuck on the earth when this all comes down. It's your choice. Next time, we'll look at the words of the Islamic prayers for their awaited Mahdi.

2 comments:

Heli gunner Tom said...

Bless you, Carolyn!
The whole world needs to know these facts but perhaps only 5% will MAKE the time to take them to heart. Good that you start from basics--the best foundation, Genesis, of course. The 1st prophesy of the bible: Gen. 3:15 has not yet seen it's fulfillment.
If there is ever a favor that I can do your you, just ask me.

Your Friend and Brother in Christ,
Tom Schuckman

tschuckman@aol.com
"Life is a Vapor|" -James 4:14.

betty said...

fascinating read; pretty much what I agree with

betty