Apollyon is not Rising in 2012. You are being Hornswoggled.

Some in Christian media have been doing interviews with Thomas Horn so I decided to read a couple of his books. I recently read “Apollyon rising 2012″ and I will soon read his latest book “Petrus Romanus”, which God willing, I will comment on sometime in the future. The title “Apollyon Rising 2012″, implies that Apollyon of Revelation 9:11 will be rising in 2012 but If you believe that you probably already have been hornswoggled.

First let me say that there are quite a few errors and shoehorning of scripture as well as some hornswoggling in Tom Horn’s book. Dr. Cathy Burns points out many of the problems in her critique of Tom’s Horn’s Apollyon Rising: 2012. In addition to most of what Dr. Burns mentions in her article, my problem with “Apollyon Rising 2012″ is that the major concepts within the book are really built on the foundations of pagan beliefs and myths.

It seems to me that some Christians are peddling Tom Horn’s conjectures as if what Tom Horn extracted from these extra-biblical books and pagan beliefs enhances God-given Bible prophecy. Never mind that Horn also shoehorned some of the pagan data to make it fit his own Apollyon rising theory.

I did think that the preface in the book by Christian J. Pinto was very good. I can’t say that everything Pinto said is correct because I am no expert on Freemasonry or American history. However, this preface by Pinto does seem to document the case that many of our forefathers and the founding of this country were heavily influenced by Freemasonry. Much of the theory in the book is based on Freemasonry in America so Pinto’s preface lays the necessary foundation for the book theory.

After reading the first chapter I had already surmised that Thomas Horn was reading his own Illuminati conspiratorial views into President George Bush’s speeches. I think if one has expectations to find double hidden occult meanings in speeches by George Bush or most anyone, conspiratorial theorists probably will be able to find fitting candidates. Later in the book Horn does the same thing with President Obama. I am not saying that what Tom Horn conjectured about our presidents is necessarily wrong but even Tom Horn cannot be sure he is right about Bush or Obama choosing certain words or phrases for occult purposes.

Who really writes the presidents’ speeches anyway? Perhaps it is more likely that certain speech writers are influenced by elite Masons that want their own occult beliefs fulfilled through the presidents’ words. It even could be that some writer is being paid off by a conspiratorial writer to use certain words. Hey, it sells books. Perhaps the ghost of a former Mason president haunts the White House and gets modern presidents to say things with masonic meanings? I could go on, but the point is that coming up with conjectures for the use of certain words in a speech is easy, coming up with proof that there was actually intended double meanings by the speaker is difficult.

I also saw in the first chapter that Horn had his own interpretation of the Iraq war and he even backed it up with scripture that had nothing to do with that Iraq war at all. After reading what he had to say on Bush and the war, I realized that Horn is one of those people who shoehorns brief biblical verses any which way that he wants to make it seem like scripture is supporting what he says. Thomas Horn’s conjecture about George Bush and staff and the Iraq War seemed more than a bit contrived to me.

Along with Freemasonry much of the rest of the book is based on Horn’s interpretation of apocryphal, pseudepigraphal books, Jewish traditions and ancient myths. One of the major problems with the whole book is that he attempts to interpret scripture through non-scripture. Horn’s theories are almost entirely based on Horn’s interpretation of books that have been rejected from the Jewish and Christian Canon. I would venture to say Horn did not leave a note unturned while blasting through ancient extra-biblical sources to try to support his strange conjectures.

There is major fundamental error in logic and Christian thinking in Horn’s book. For example, the book conveys the idea that pagan humans can bind and loose demons (who the book claims are the spirits of 72 rebellious angels). The book gives the false belief that pagan humans can bind or loose demonic angelic beings through ritual, words, numbers, symbols etc. Are we to believe that human sorcery actually makes angels dance on the head of a pin? I am sure that pagan sorcerers or witch doctors would like to believe that they gain power over the spirits but I do not see that concept in scripture. Scripture and logic teaches quite the opposite. Unregenerate humans are like earth worms or natural beasts and when they get into the occult they can be manipulated or possessed by supernatural lying spirits.

Horn seems to convey in his book that these fallen angel beings are sort of locked up in stone images or some other dimension just waiting around for man to bring them back into the natural through man’s powerful sorcery. It seems to me that Horn has the cart before the horse. The angels have the supernatural power. Natural humans do not have power over the supernatural. The thinking of those into the occult seems to be that man can control the spiritual realm. That is why the so-called illuminated or high degree Freemasons put meanings on rituals, symbols and everything else. Nevertheless, they are in error. Natural man has no control over the angels apart from the power given to those that are in Christ Jesus.

The book of Revelation clearly says that there will be war in Heaven and Satan and his angels will be booted out of the heavens unto the earth by other angels that are following God. Then woe to the people living on the earth because Satan will know he has only a short time to deceive humans into taking part in his rebellion against God. Horn conveys the erroneous belief that man is the powerful being and the fallen angels are just waiting for man to come up with some occult method to loose them from their bondage, but Revelation 12:12 says quite the opposite. When Satan and his angels find themselves confined to the earth they will control humans through supernatural forces out of the abyss or bottomless pit. Apollyon is the king and angel that rules the abyss. When the hindrance is taken out of the way, Apollyon is allowed to unleash demonic beings out of the abyss to torment and control humans (Rev 9: 1-12, Rev 11:7, Rev 13: 13-17).

Horn makes another big time fundamental error in Christian thinking in his theory. He seems to think that Satan is in control of the timing of the Antichrist. He obviously thinks that by knowing what the elite occult are planning that you can know the time of the coming of the Antichrist. However Satan cannot determine the time of the end of this Age of Grace. Only the Father knows when that will happen. Satan’s man of perdition has been hindered from coming for nearly two thousand years (2 Th 2:7). and he will continue to be hindered until the fullness of the Gentiles comes in and the bride of Christ is complete.

It is not logical that Freemasons living hundreds of years ago would be setting up the sorcery to bring up the gods for people living hundreds of years in the future. I am sure most of these elite Freemasons thought that their occultism would bring in the new age or new world order in their own time. For hundreds of years their expectations did not happen so the Freemason expectations keep getting kicked further down the road. Satan may have an agenda somewhat like Horn implies but Satan is not in control of the timing of it, and neither are the Freemasons.

The 2012 date that Thomas Horn came up with comes from what appears to be shoehorned data. Horn obviously thinks the Antichrist will rise in America but much of his theory is founded on Masonic occultism and Mayan conjecture rather than the Bible. Anyone can look for things to fit their date theory and cherry pick data to support it. We see that in all date setting schemes.

Horn claims that demonic angels will arise and pose as gods. I do not disagree with that view. I have said that I think the Beast that comes out of the pit and incarnates a man will claim to be Zeus/Jupiter and that he sets up an image of himself in the Jewish temple. Tom Horn claims that this being will claim to be Apollo/Osiris/the sun-god who was the son of Zeus and that he will set up an image of his father (Zeus) in the Temple. I think Horn might even be correct here about who the Antichrist will claim to be. Nevertheless, Apollyon in the Bible does not mean Apollo even though the word sounds like it. Apollyon really means destruction or the destroyer.

I do think that it is quite likely that when Satan is cast out of Heaven with his angels that they will claim to be these ancient mythological gods or Alien beings. We are set up for this deception with mythology and UFO-ology. I also think that it is likely that they will offer humans the means to change their DNA if they take the mark. Those taking the mark of the Beast and changing their DNA would no longer be Adamic beings made in the image of God. They would be in the image of the Beast and of their father the devil and that is why nobody that takes the mark can be saved.

So I agree with Horn on the general end time concept of angels posing as gods but not on the timing. I also do not agree with Horn’s concept that America is the land that will bring in the Antichrist. America’s role in Freemason new world order expectations was most likely influenced by the wishful thinking of high level American Freemasons that came out of Europe. So they moved a copy of their occultism here but the seat of power of this mystery religion still is in Europe. Even Thomas Horn makes the Roman Vatican connection. What we have here among our founding father Masons may just be a copy just like the Mormon’s are a copy of a copy. The main demonic occultism has been entrenched in Rome.

Horn spends a whole chapter expounding on actions and words of Obama as if he may be the Antichrist. However, like many satanic world leaders set up before him, Obama will not meet the expectations of elitists. The latest American prototype for the “One” the American satanic elite promoted to rule the world may have been Obama but I am sure they are quite aware by now that even with all their occultism and promoting they did not stop this man from screwing up and exhibiting his very human flaws. I think they are now looking for someone else. By the way, all promoted by the demonic controlled world elite will fail until God allows the Son of Perdition to rise.

Thomas Horn clearly said in this book that 2012 will either be the start of the tribulation or the start of the great tribulation. He will be proven wrong on both counts. Had the last seven years started in 2009 we would be aware of the two prophets so that is already proven wrong. If the final seven years starts in 2012, with all that remains to be fulfilled I will gladly eat his book in front of Jesus.

This is not a book that I could recommend for most. It certainly is not for those not well grounded in the Bible. I can see them going directly from this book into end time conspiracy sites and being further mislead. This book does give food for thought and some of Horn’s views might even make sense to those that believe the great deception is demons posing as aliens or gods.

I think the last chapter that covers his dating scheme for 2012 is about as reliable as the Harold Camping formulas. I don’t know why Horn believes that demons would know the date that the hinderer would be taken out-of-the-way so that Apollyon can unleash the beings that come out of the pit.

The only Bible based views on the timing that are not based on smoke and mirrors is the 70 year generation from the contemporary classic 1948 erroneous interpretation of the fig tree parable. I covered why I believe that theory is incorrect elsewhere on this blog so I won’t get into that here (see sidebar).

Horn also liked to quote the late J.R. Church as a supporting authority but J.R. Church was also into certain date setting. For example, his “Hidden Prophecies in the Psalms” book pretty much set the date of the Lord’s return at the end of the twenty century. Each of the first one hundred psalms was said to be a description of what happened or would happen in that particular year in the 20th century.

In the last chapter Horn seems to make a strong case for 2012 from extra biblical sources but I believe he just found everything from any source that he could possibly shoehorn into his 2012 conjecture and he ignored whatever would not support his 2012 conjecture. Like I said, cherry picking is the universal truth of all date setting schemes. Of course Horn says he is not a date setter. I am sure that Horn will emphasize that more in the future when 2012 comes and goes without Apollyon rising?

I do not recommend the book for most, but I feel secure enough in my own knowledge of the scriptures that I know Horn’s hornswoggling would have no negative effect on my own beliefs. I actually liked the book because it was thought-provoking and It did have some useful information. Horn obviously does a lot of research even if he sometimes shoehorns the information that he finds. The book does give inquiring minds information about mythologies and ancient pagan practices and worship and the book give a lot of information about Freemasonry in the United States.

There is much more said in this book that I cannot cover here. I think some of the book is convoluted and not worth the effort to sort it out. Let’s just say that it seems to me that the book covers a jumble of conjectures that just do not quite fit together under a single theory under close scrutiny. Read Dr. Burns critique of the book in the link near the top of this article for the more obvious scriptural problems and some of Horn’s contradictions. The bottom line that I want to convey is that I think quite a bit of Apollyon Rising 2012 is Horn hornswoggling those that are looking for an immediate Antichrist.

 Don Koenig founded www.thepropheticyears.com website in 1999 after almost thirty years of independent study on the Bible and learning from many astute teachers within Christendom. Don created his website to write about Bible prophecy, biblical discernment and his Christian worldviews. Don wrote a free Revelation commentary ebook in 2004 named "The Revelation of Jesus Christ Through The Ages". The World and Church and Bible Prophecy section of this website was started in 2007.