One of the things I deal with almost everyday are trends in the world and the church and how it all relates to Bible prophecy. I try to be balanced and not join with all those Christians on the fringe who are convinced that there is some Satanic elitist conspiracy to immediately thrust the Antichrist upon us all and fulfill their fantasy of the world ending this decade. The spirit of antichrist is already alive and well in America but the Antichrist figure of Bible prophecy is not coming as soon as some seem to think.
I just do not see the evidence for this imminent Antichrist like some think they do. People thought they had the evidence many times in history. Just in this generation we have had the second coming expectations of the late 1980’s the late 1990’s and now the 2012 cult. The biblical evidence for those prior periods where actually stronger than any evidence presented by the 2012 cult of today. Their claims are subjective at best and they use one subjective theory to support other subjective theory. It becomes circular reasoning and it is not Bible based it really is mostly pagan based suppositions.
With all the Christians in the world that are in every organization you would think that someone could expose this vast conspiracy to take over the world and present it to us in a way that will lead most Christians to believe them. The truth is that if we had such proof we could prevent it from taking place but they never come up with anything worth taking to court.
The real truth of the matter is that conspiracy teachers are all over the board. They agree on very little other than that there are Satanic initiated conspiracies. Well we already know that there are conspiracies against the sons of light but He that is in us is greater than he that is in the world. One thing that is notable is that most of these conspiracy people are always on the Christian fringe. Most either fellowship nowhere at all or else in small conspiracy minded cells.
The reason many of these are on the fringe of Christianity is because almost everything they build is off the foundation. They have left the foundations of the prophets and the Apostles and are in some off site lab trying to figure out God’s timing and His message about end time events through the actions of world elite bankers, analytical methods and through man’s own reasoning.
They say, lets measure the distance from the Temple to somewhere else on earth for that will reveal hidden knowledge, or lets measure the Pyramid to figure out the time of end time events, or lets look for hidden codes in the Bible to predict the future, or lets even say the Spirit put in the people of Israel in Ezekiel Chapter 37 was already fulfilled even though Israel’s people today are still filled with an antichrist spirit.
The latest antichrist expectation for the over excited is that some Mahdi will come out of well or a Lord Maitreya figure will come fulfilling the expectations of all Religions. Well I have news for Benjamin Creme and his Lord Maitreya. People have been waiting to see your Lord Maitreya appear for quite some time now. Remember, your followers were putting full page adds in national newspaper about his soon appearing several decades ago. So I guess the Lord Maitreya forgot to show up, or did he just fall asleep?
Don’t expect any Mahdi to pop out of a well either and lead Islam to take over the world. That is just another pagan fantasy. There are going to be many disappointed among the 2012 end of the world fanatics when they can find no Mahdi to fight.
Through my own experiences spanning four decades of following the claims of self anointed prophets and writers with claimed new understandings I now get a little weary of it all. I could fill a dump truck with books written by Christian authors about Bible prophecy that they were ill advised to write. For example, 88 Reasons why the Lord would return in 1988, or Racing toward Judgment, or Hidden Prophecies in the Psalms (that make each chapter in the Psalms fit something that happened in the same year as the chapter number in the twenty century – what a crock), or Revelation 2000, or Armageddon Appointment with Destiny, etc.
Now we have the 2012 new crop of useless books and the presumptions TV and radio teachers and false prophets where “Christians” hang on their every word. The reality is that Christians are just wasting their time with most of this stuff. These self appointed prophets and writers have no more knowledge about end times than anyone else. They just know how to write books that will appeal to those looking for a new special revelation.
The Rapture, and the tribulation with its Antichrist is going to happen in God’s timing and I seriously doubt that anyone can possibly know that it will happen in this decade in spite of those teaching this with best intentions.
The end of the worlder’s “Christians” are one side of the coin, on the other side are the leaders in Christianity that are increasingly being yoked with unbelievers in the world. Somehow they think they will make Christianity popular and something to be desired by the world.So they teach a flesh message that pleases the world of flesh still dead in their sins.
They really are soft and sometimes hard dominionists. We have people like Rick Warren and Joel Olsteen adopting the methods of the world because worldly techniques produce worldly measures of success. Nevermind, that there is no gospel of Jesus Christ ever given in all their methodologies and feel good messages. Now we have others joining this “celibate humanity bandwagon”. Forcus on the family seem to be going that way now that they got rid of Dr. Dobbson, as are many others.
Lets be clear. Jesus did not tell us to become like the world and He did not tell us to stop telling the world that people are dead in sin. People still need His salvation. Jesus did not say you can stay in your religion because all religions reflect God. Jesus said, He is the door to God and nobody comes to the Father except through Him. The gospel is not telling the world they can become prosperous if they practice biblical concepts or humanism. The gospel is not about gaining worldly success and getting your best life now or some purpose driven life for people still dead in their sins. A gospel without a gospel of dying to self and of obtaining spiritual salvation through Jesus Christ is worthless. Those “Christians” that give the illusion that they are ambassadors for Christ without a gospel of salvation are apparently working for a different Kingdom.
The sad state of Christianity in America is evident when a supposed mostly Christian nation freely elects an administration that is hostile toward the teachings of Christ. So now these American “Christians” have been hit in the pocket book because the nation is under judgment so they wag God and country and think the nation will become prosperous again if they just change the leadership.
So now it looks like these “Christians” will go from one extreme to another. They will go from electing someone who signs laws and picks aids that are hostile to Christians to wanting to elect someone that believes Word of Faith presumptuous false prophets give messages from God. So will electing dominionsts or Christian cult influenced leaders solve the sin problem in the Untied States or will it just further divide the people?
Until “Christians” actually become Christians in this nation and live like Christians and work to convert the lost in this nation, America will remain under judgment and delusion.
The spirit of the antichrist is always within those not living for Christ and it will destroy this nation long before the Antichrist figure of Bible prophecy ever appears in the scene unless America repents and seeks the healing that can only be found in a nation that is actually following Christ.
Well said, Don.
Some of these “prophets” who see a conspiracy behind every hiccup have reasoning that goes like this :
Why firetrucks are red :
A firetruck has 6 wheels and 6 men on it, and 6 + 6 = 12. There are 12 inches in a ruler, and Queen Elizabeth is a ruler. The Queen Elizabeth is also a ship, and ships sail on the sea. The sea has fishes, and fishes have fins. The Finns fought the Russians, and the Russians are reds. Firetrucks are always rushin’…. so therefore, firetrucks are red!
Keep the faith,
Paul
Ha, That’s pretty good Paul
Don, I have been reading information on your website for sometime now and must say that I value and agree with much of the information posted. I also wholeheartedly agree with what you have discussed in this post. I do have one question that keeps coming to my mind as I have read items on your website. It is about 2012. Please realize, this is primarily for conversation purposes and I do not buy into the 2012 hype. My point for the discussion is this: I tend to believe that much of our (mankind’s) mythology is based on actual occurances which have been passed from generation to generation. Admittedly, many of these historic events have been distorted, but I believe there is often some truth still remaining. This being said, if we look beyond the paganism that has been blended with dates like 2012, do you think there could be any actual historic basis for 2012?
We know that many things in our solar system happen in cycles, whether it is ice ages, the 11 year cycle of the sun, Pacific decadal oscillation, etc. Do you think that some part of what the Mayans (and other “pagans’) documented is their distortion (mythos) of actual events that they then projected into the future?
Just “thinking out loud”.
Hi Jon,
Read these links they are short and to the point.
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2283/does-the-mayan-calendar-predict-the-end-of-the-world-in-2012
http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/question.php?number=686
As for mythology the Mayan’s were not even in existence at the beginning of this long count calender cycle so they could not have projected anything about the past to the future. They also have no mythology about this cycle. The theories are being thought up by people today.
I personally think there could be a cycle that will effect mankind but it will not be the Mayan cycle it will be a return of whatever comet caused the earth cataclysm that brought the flood and many of the events of Exodus. I am not saying that God could not have done it supernaturally but I might be saying that God often uses His creation to deal with His creation. In his foreknowledge of what sin would bring on the earth He might have fore-knowingly created the agents of judgment in the path of the earth that would bring judgment at the foreknown times.
Can that cycle be figured out. I do not believe so since any encounter with the earth or the sun would have changed the cycle. However, when Wormwood or whatever comes upon the earth everyone will be quite aware that it is coming.
Lu 21:26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
Isa 2:19 And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.
Re 6:15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
Rev 8:10 And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters;
11 And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.
I read the 2 links and generally agree with what they say, though the article in the second link had some errors. Again, please don’t get me wrong, I do not believe (nor have I ever believed) that anything will happen on December 21, 2012. My point/question ran more along the line of whether we should consider that mythology has had impacts on pagan (and even modern Christian) religions and thus certain of the ideas could have some basis in fact. Don’t get me wrong, I do not consider the Bible and true Christianity to be based on mythology, I am simply indicating that mythology has impacted the practice of both paganism and Christianity and that mythology contains both reality and fantasy.
As an example of the point I am trying to make: Though some agree on the start date of the Mayan cycle, there is certainly room for dispute. Who is to say, however, that the current Mayan cycle did not start on the day Noah entered or left the Ark. I guess what I am trying to say is that the Mayans (and other past civilizations) may have had a historical understanding that we do not and they built from that. The end date of their long count calendar may be meaningless, but maybe the start date is not.
Best Regards.
Whatever is happening, common people out in public have become more rude and rebellious in the last year. My husband and I have been noticing this. There are people who are rebllious in the way that the drive. Sometimes rebellious people drive in a very rude and erractic manner. The point I am making is this: in the last days, people would be lovers of themselves, etc…………
Jon, I think mythology is a distortion of some truth. For example myths about ancient god men probably came from stories about the Nephilim.
We really do not know why the Mayans picked a start date for this long cycle. I am sure they had historical understanding that we do not have now. I guess stories about the flood could be a reason for the start date. So what year does any such reasoning make the flood? I am too lazy to do the math right now.
Don, the problem is (and the sad thing about this 2012 hype), is that the actual experts are not even sure the start date for the Mayan long count. I say it is sad because certain people are making a big deal about December 21, 2012 as the end of the Mayan calendar when there is not consensus on when the long count started. Silly really.
As for the start date contenders, I have not done the math either, but the 1st article you linked indicates 3114 BC or 3374 BC. As with so many of these things, it would/will probably be difficult to find a verifiable answer, but it is simply interesting to me. I think there are a number of local myths that are eventually proven by archealogical finds.
Even more interesting is that these finds then are found to support biblical accounts, but the general scientific/archeological community seems to carefully avoid such ideas.
Another similar case is the archeological (Egyptological) find of the Pharaoh, Akhenaten, that pushed monotheism. When I first heard it, I thought to myself, what would cause an Egyptian Pharaoh to consider monotheism? The first thing that popped into my head was the Hebrew exodus. The idea intrigues me, but I simply haven’t taken the time to investigate it. I believe traditional chronology places the exodus around 1450 BC while Akhenaten’s reign started around 1350, but this does not negate the possibility of the influence of the plagues on the egyptian civilization and thus on a pharaoh that took power later.
Sorry, I am way off topic and starting to ramble. I simply find these types of correlations interesting and wish that the mainstream archeological and scientific communities would consider the bible and even some mythology when they draw conclusions about our past.
Again, sorry for rambling and thanks for listening…