How close are we? Part IV

As promised, this is the last installment of the End Times series. This time we will deal with one of the most intriguing subjects of the last days time period: The Antichrist. This individual has been immortalized on the silver screen through the "Omen" series and although the story line is very close to the actual biblical account, it is more Hollywood than not. Let's see what The Bible says about this person.

First you must understand that the term "antichrist" only appears in one book in the entire Bible, the Book of 1 John or John's First Epistle (Letter). He uses is to not only describe the "person" The Antichrist, but also to explain that it is a "type" of person as well. Let's look at what he says:

In the following verse he describes both:

1 John 2:18-Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.

In this verse he explains who qualifies as an antichrist:

1 John 2:22-Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.

Therefore anyone who denies that Jesus is the Messiah is a "type" of antichrist.

He also goes on to talk about :"antichrist" as a type of spirit that is present in the world system:

1 John 4:3-And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that [spirit] of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world

So as you can see antichrist is not only depicted as the coming world leader spoken of in Revelation but also someone who denies that Jesus was who He said he was-The Christ. There are however, verses in The Bible that actually speak about the "person" The Antichrist and these are the ones we will look at closer.

When most people talk about the End Times and The Antichrist they refer to The Book of Revelation. Here The Antichrist is spoken of as "the beast". In Chapter 13 The Bible lays out what the characteristics of this person will be, his behavior and the events that will transpire around him as he reveals his evil plan for the world.

So what are the characteristics of The Antichrist? As described in Revelation Chapter 13 he will:

Get his power and authority from Satan himself (Rev 13:2)

He will be wounded in the head (possible assassination attempt)and miraculously will survive (Rev 13:3)

His "miracle" of survival will cause all people of the world to worship him and the power behind him which is Satan (Rev 13:4)

He will be given power to do whatever he wants for 42 months (Rev 13:5)

He will wage war against the Christians and the Jews and wipe many out and he will rule the entire world (Rev 13:7

He will be assisted by another "beast" that will perform miracles and have great power which he will use to cause all to worship The Antichrist and his image (13:11-14)

He will cause all to get a "mark" (in the hand or forehead) which they will need in order to buy or sell anything (Rev 17)

Also in Revelation 13 we are given a clue of who this person will be and how to recognize him when he comes:

Revelation 18-Wisdom is needed to understand this. Let the one who has understanding solve the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. His number is 666.

It is interesting to note that the number 666 is more prominent now in many different places than it was just 10 years ago. Many scholars believe that the "mark" that the beast causes everyone to take will be some sort of bar code that contains the number 666 in some fashion and that there is an effort underway now to desensitize people to the stigma surrounding that number. We shall see.

There are also many warnings given about following The Antichrist and receiving his "mark". The Bible states that this will condemn you to eternal punishment and you should resist doing so.

Revelation 14:9-11 states-Then a third angel followed them, shouting, "Anyone who worships the beast and his statue or who accepts his mark on the forehead or the hand must drink the wine of God's wrath. It is poured out undiluted into God's cup of wrath. And they will be tormented with fire and burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and the Lamb. The smoke of their torment rises forever and ever, and they will have no relief day or night, for they have worshiped the beast and his statue and have accepted the mark of his name.

As you can see it would be a very bad idea to accept this "mark" and to give in and worship The Antichrist. But what if you did not know who you were worshipping? What if you were deceived by this man as many will be? Is this even possible? Actually it is and it is also another warning. If you have been told of Jesus Christ and you have rejected Him then this is warning is for you:

2 Thessalonians 2:8-12 states-And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. The coming of the [lawless one] is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Basically, The Antichrist when he comes to power will appear to be supernatural and will also appear to be "godlike". He will have the power of Satan that will allow him to work miracles and many will fall for this "false messiah". The warning from God is that if you have rejected His son and His plan for your redemption then this "strong delusion" He will send will affect the way you view things and you will willingly accept and worship the "beast". That is a very strong warning and should be taken very seriously.

There is a theory among some Christian Scholars that there have been many "antichrists" in history and there may be many more in the future. The reason behind this? They claim that because Satan is a fallen angel and is this a "created" being then his knowledge is finite whereas Got is omnipotent and knows all things Satan only knows some things. What he doesn't know is WHEN God will decide to Rapture His people and thus usher in the the final age in man's history. Because of this "blind spot" Satan must always have someone prepared to assume the role of the The Antichrist. They argue that Hitler, Napoleon, Stalin and other murderous tyrants could very well have been applicants for the job. In any case, The Bible is clear that this man is coming one day and he will orchestrate the bloodiest period in man's history. Is he waiting in the wings now? The world seems to be ready to accept a one world leader now more than ever. Someone who will have the answers to all of the worlds problems. Someone who will bring the world together and bring all religions together under his power. He is waiting for his signal to begin his reign of terror and then he will be unleashed. But the question is when?

How close are we? Part II

As promised, this is Part II of my series on the End Days. This time we will take a look at an event that is promised to be the most earthshaking, wonderful, spectacular event ever witnessed by mankind. Since there have been several spectacular, earthshaking and wonderful events already you can imagine (or maybe you can't) what one would need to be to be called the greatest in all of history! To be sure it will be BIG, REALLY BIG!! Let's take a closer look at what The Bible says.

The Second Coming has long been a promised intervention, by Jesus Christ, in this world's history that Christians, and to some extent non-Christians, have found to be somewhat mysterious. I guess we should look at WHY this is going to happen first.

While Jesus walked the Earth He made a promise to all that followed Him then and those that would in the future that even though He had to leave, He would one day return. The reason for His return? To claim His rightful place as the Ruler of the World. You see, Christians believe, because The Bible tells us so, that because of what Jesus did (Death on The Cross), He would be rewarded for His obedience. God commanded that ALL things would then be under the power, rule and control of Jesus Christ. And when God says ALL things He means ALL things. It is at the time of His coming that Jesus will establish His kingdom upon the Earth and ALL nations will be ruled by Him. This will be the "restoration" of all things. Just as The Fall (think Adam and Eve here) set in motion the Death of all of Creation so the return of Jesus will set in motion the restoration of all Creation. You see God planned a much different world than the one we live in today. If you go back and read Genesis you will see how great things were before The Fall. God said several times during Creation that "it was good". But what does that mean? It means that the following DID NOT exist in the world God created: sin, evil, hate, anger, disease, natural disasters, death, envy, greed and the list goes on and on. The world that God created was perfect in every way, as were we (mankind), until we rebelled against Him. Once Adam and Eve rebelled against God the world started to die, as did we, and it has continued to do so to this very day. That is why Jesus must come again to restore all things. When He comes again he will destroy all of the above mentioned evils and vices and the world will be perfect again. His return will usher in the Thousand Year Reign of Peace.

What should we expect when Jesus comes again? A good place to look is in The Book of Matthew the 24th Chapter, of The New Testament. Here the Disciples come to Him and ask what will be happening when He returns and what they should expect? The following will be present:

False Messiahs (they will actually refer to themselves as "the Christ" Matthew 24:5

Wars and rumors of wars 24:6

Famines, diseases and earthquakes 24:7

Murder, persecution and hatred of Christians 24:9, 10

False "holy leaders" or prophets that will cause many to be deceived 24:11

Lawlessness and lack of love in the world 24:12

Christian Gospel preached everywhere in the world 24:14

So as you can see it's not going to look like the Land of Oz!! (We are definitely not in Kansas anymore Toto!)The interesting thing about this passage is that if you take a closer look at the present state of the world today it looks eerily similar doesn't it? Perhaps now we should look at WHEN this will take place.

Although Jesus goes into great detail to tell us what the world will be like when He comes again He never says when. In fact he states in scripture that even He does not know when but only God Himself. So unfortunately that is a question that we cannot answer. We can only hope and wait for that day to come.

Even though we do not know when, we do get an idea of WHAT will happen when Jesus returns. The Bible tells us that this will be THE MOST incredible, amazing, fantastic, sorrowful (for some) day in history! The Bible says that Jesus will come riding a heavenly white horse and an Army will be following Him. the Army of The Lord (Talk about a Breaking News Alert!!) Jesus, along with His army, will meet the armies of the world at the Valley of Meggido or Armageddon and He will destroy the "beast" or the Antichrist (One World Leader) and the armies of the world arrayed against Israel. In one fell swoop the power and might of Jesus Christ will be shown to all. The first time He came He allowed Himself to be beaten and killed. This time around He returns as Judge and ALL will bow before Him. From this point onward He will set up His kingdom on Earth and will rule with an iron hand. Basically, what He says goes....period. This will be a wonderful time of great peace and tranquility like the Earth has never seen since the days of Creation. Once and for all there will be no questions as to who He is because He will live amongst us.

Now some of you are thinking: "This is the craziest thing I have ever heard and this idiot actually believes this"! YES, I do. However, it does not surprise me that there are those who do not. In fact, The Bible itself predicts that there will be people who scoff at the idea of the Second Coming : 2 Peter 3:3-4 says:

First, I want to remind you that in the last days there will be scoffers who will laugh at the truth and do every evil thing they desire.

This will be their argument: "Jesus promised to come back, did he? Then where is he? Why, as far back as anyone can remember, everything has remained exactly the same since the world was first created." (New Living Translation)

As you can see The Bible, once again, accurately predicted the future. You must understand that my belief begins and ends with scripture. In other words; without The Bible there IS no Christianity. That is why so many have tried over the centuries to either destroy it, ban it or discredit it. Take away The Bible and Christianity dies. and so many have tried and continue to try even today to do away with this holy book. The Bible continues to prove that it is God's Word with each passing day and year. Predictions made thousands of years ago continue to come true. History, as The Bible explains it, continues to be proven true with each archaeological find. So you must ask yourself this question: If The Bible predicts that all of this will happen and it has never been proven to be inaccurate then shouldn't I read it and learn to understand it's message?

I think the one thing that people need to understand is that God has not hidden this from us in any way. He TELLS us what will happen in The Bible. His hope is that you will see what is coming and turn your life around before it's too late. He wants you to be saved from what is coming but you must choose to do so. Coming soon: Part III The Rapture.

How close are we? Part I

This post will be one of a series that I am going to do that will mix modern day events with my beliefs of Christianity and the topic of the "End Days". In order for us to properly examine this topic we will need to rely heavily on what I believe to be God's Word: The Bible. I must first put out the disclaimer that I am a fundamentalist and a literalist. This means that I believe what the scriptures say and I believe it literally. This is somewhat of a radical view even among Christians but I tend to believe that if there is a God and He did leave His Word for us to follow, then chances are very good that He meant for us to understand it. Many people believe that God has hidden many things in "codes" within the Bible. I am not a big believer in this since they seem to change every time someone puts out a new "Bible Code" book and if there is one thing that I know about God it's that He is "the same yesterday, today and tomorrow" (Hebrews 13:8). So keeping this in mind let's look at what the Bible says and how it relates to our world.

First, let's discuss a topic that many people are discussing these days: The End Times. How can we say that we are truly living in the last days or end times? Surely if we were nearing "the end" God would let us know that we were right? In fact He has. Case in point: 1 Timothy 3:1-3:4 says the following in the New Testament-

But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come:For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good,traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God (NKJV)

Now you don't have to be a theologian to understand that all of what is being discussed here is present within this world today and has been for sometime. Now here is the rub: Did you catch when these things will supposedly be present? In the first line it says the last days. So now you have to ask yourself a question here: If these things have been present in the world for sometime now and The Bible says that these things will happen in "the last days" then that means that we have been living in the last days for quite sometime. Right? What if I told you that The Bible actually states that we have been living in the "last days" of "end times" for over 2,000 years? Don't believe me? Here's the proof: 1 Peter 1:20 in the New Testament says the following:

He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you (NKJV)

WHOA! What does that say? Maybe a more simplified version will make it plainer:

God chose him for this purpose long before the world began, but now in these final days, he was sent to the earth for all to see. And he did this for you. (NASB)

Yep, that's right. Basically, according to God, the last days or end times BEGAN when Jesus revealed Himself upon this Earth some 2,000+ years ago!! This little revelation gives new meaning to the whole argument that mankind is running out of time. Technically, we have been living on borrowed time for quite a while. I think this is enough for you to digest for now. More to come in the next posting: The Second Coming. Stay tuned!