According to The Book of Revelations the anti-Christ is: The anti-Christ will
be a man, in his 40's, of MUSLIM descent, who will deceive the nations with
persuasive language, and have a MASSIVE Christ-like appeal....the prophecy says
that people will flock to him and he will promise false hope and world peace,
and when he is in power, will destroy everything..
Do we recognize this description??
I STRONGLY URGE each one of you to post this as many times as
you can! Each opportunity that you have to send it to a friend or media outlet..do it!
I refuse to take a chance on this unknown candidate who came out of nowhere.
So, I just had to respond. Let's first examine what Revelations 13 actually says, shall we?
Revelation 13
1And the dragon[a] stood on the shore of the sea.
The Beast out of the Sea
And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. He had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on his horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. 2The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority. 3One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was astonished and followed the beast. 4Men worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, "Who is like the beast? Who can make war against him?"
5The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise his authority for forty-two months. 6He opened his mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. 7He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. 8All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.[b]
9He who has an ear, let him hear.
10If anyone is to go into captivity,
into captivity he will go.
If anyone is to be killed[c] with the sword,
with the sword he will be killed. This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints.
The Beast out of the Earth
11Then I saw another beast, coming out of the earth. He had two horns like a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon. 12He exercised all the authority of the first beast on his behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. 13And he performed great and miraculous signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to earth in full view of men. 14Because of the signs he was given power to do on behalf of the first beast, he deceived the inhabitants of the earth. He ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. 15He was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that it could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. 16He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, 17so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name.
18This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man's number. His number is 666.
Okay, so let's look at the e-mail and figure this out:
1st: The Anti-Christ will be a man.
Actual: Then I saw another beast, coming out of the earth. He had two horns like a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon.
Um, it says he's a beast. It says he has two horns like a lamb, but speaks like a dragon. I'm not exactly sure where people interpret that as a man, but we'll let this one go for now.
2nd: He will be... a man, in his 40's...
Actual: Doesn't mention his age at all.
3rd: He will be... of MUSLIM descent...
Actual: Doesn't mention that at all. In fact, ISLAM wasn't even created until four centuries after the writing of Revelations.
4th: He will be one... who will deceive the nations with
persuasive language, and have a MASSIVE Christ-like appeal....the prophecy says
that people will flock to him and he will promise false hope and world peace,
and when he is in power, will destroy everything.
Actual: Well, Revelations 13 says some of this. But some of it is only an interpretation of the rest of Revelations. The truth is that the Anti-Christ will not win, so he can't destroy everything. Ultimately, he will be destroyed in Christ's second coming. This, of course, is the whole reason this e-mail is so preposterous.
You see, IF BARACK OBAMA was the Anti-Christ, then all of you whose names are not written in the Book of Life are pretty much screwed anyway. The Bible says:
All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.
All inhabitants... which includes most of us. But here's the thing, this is a pre-ordained thing, right? That means that whether you VOTE for Barack Obama or not, it doesn't matter. If he really is the Anti-Christ, he will still come to power. There will still be the mark of Satan. And the world will still come to an end at its appointed time. In fact, if you really truly do believe that Barack Obama is the Anti-Christ, you'd be better off not even worrying about this election. You should be getting your religious house in order, praying for forgiveness and getting your soul in line with Christ in a big hurry, because the END IS NEAR!
I'm growing sick and tired of people selectively reading the Bible as a means to score points - political, social, or whatever. The last group of people who did this, as I recall, were the religious leaders of Jesus's day - who found justification to murder God in the scrolls of the Torah. How many times do we have to use the Bible to destroy people's hopes, dreams, and lives, before we stop reliving that day some 2000 years ago? Well, if this e-mail is correct, maybe not much longer.
In California right now, we have a very contentious amendment to the California State Constitution on the ballot - Proposition 8 - which seeks to forever clarify marriage as being that of a man and woman. Now personally, I don't really care where people stand on this issue one way or the other. What I really hate is when people argue the issue on religious grounds. The Bible tells them that its okay to persecute a population and that, as a result, we all have the right to persecute these people. I see "religious" rallies on the News where people say such venomous things because the Bible tells them that its okay, so long as the outcome conforms to what the Bible says. Kill Jesus for being unclean! He ate with the lepers and the tax collectors! Kill him! KILL HIM! He HEALED people on the SABBATH! Doesn't He know that's against the Bible! It says so right here!
I think the perfect solution might just be a taste of their own medicine. After all, if Proposition 8 passes, it will amend the Constitution of California. There will be no other debate about it, unless you can get the Amendment repealed or overturned by the Supreme Court. So, instead of fighting for the right to marry, I think those affected by this proposition ought to put a new Amendment on the ballot defining marriage as Permanent before the Eyes of God - I.E. No More Divorce! I say, if they love marriage that much, let's follow the strict Biblical interpretation and outlaw divorce again! It'll never pass... but it will expose the hypocrites for what they are.
Of course, I think we all know what happens when hypocrites are exposed... someone is arrested in the garden late at night and executed the next day.
The more we change, the more we stay the same. Only God can heal our sinful hearts.
3 comments:
All I know about your Prop 8 is what I read in the papers.
As you know, I've always maintained that in order to be effective at arguing in favor of a position on a social issue, one must be able to articulate a philosophical basis for one's position which is separate from a theological basis. This does not mean that one disbelieves the theology. Rather it means that one choose to engage the opponent on the opponent's turf, as it were. Stated differently, you only get 81 games in your own park. At some point you gotta take a road trip.
Unfortunately, both sides of the social divide tend to manipulate scripture to their own ends. The classic is the "Christ said, 'Let him, who is without sin, cast the first stone'" without mentioning that he also told the woman to go and sin no more.
Nevertheless, if we are going to have democracy, we cannot inquire why people cast a vote a certain way. People may be idiots, but that's life. I prefer it to the alternative.
Cheers.
Randall;
Good to have you back! I hope everything is back to normal for you and that there was no long term distress.
I agree with you that both sides use the Bible like a weapon, each forgetting the other side. But that's kind of the point. Ultimately, if you look at that scene from scripture, what Jesus is saying is, "You all sin. And you all need to stop. Anyone who sins, for any reason, has the same exact punishment." I.E. None of us are any better than anyone else.
That's why I'm disgruntled with anyone trying to use the Bible as a means to lure people to one side or the other of a political argument. Its one thing to take a personal stand because of your belief in the Bible. Its quite another to condemn someone or their political beliefs because they don't share your same views.
Is it any wonder that atheism is growing when we Christians seem to be using the Bible like a blunt weapon against friend and foe alike?
I am going to stand by one simple perspective...because I now have been convicted of it:
We must simply discuss the Gospel of Christ.
Period.
Nothing else matters. We must view everything we do through the lens of the Gospel. If our actions, personal, political, professional or otherwise, interfere with the sharing of the Gospel, then we've got a lotta explainin' to do to the Big Guy Upstairs.
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