Showing posts with label Decoy Antichrist. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Decoy Antichrist. Show all posts

Friday, September 22, 2017

Jonathan Cahn is comparing Trump to Jehu, while downplaying Jehu's negative aspects

Jonathan Cahn - The Jehu/Jezebel Template.  (I don't want to get into my political disagreements with Cahn here, that is for the SolaScirpturaChristianLiberty blog).

Clearly, another way for Christians to try to convince themselves that Trump is chosen by God and they should support him in-spite of his obvious moral problems.

Here is what boggles my mind about this.  To me, Jehu is clearly a Type of The Antichrist.  I've been arguing that since early in this Blog's history, back in 2014.  In my initial post about The Four Horsemen.

It comes up when suggesting The Antichrist may be a Messiah Ben-Joseph claimant.  I cite verses like Hosea saying Yahuah will avenge the Blood of Jezreel against the House of Jehu.  And how Jehu had enemies Decapitated like Revelation 20 says The Beast will do, I think the Beast may very well call Christians he dislikes worshipers of Baal, like the Hebrew Roots movement loves to do.

In this context The House of Ahab and Jezebel could be viewed as the Decoy Antichrist.  This overlaps with when I talk about Jeroboam as a type of the Antichrist.

This also comes up in posts like The Antichrist may not be as popular as we assume, and God has used Babylon and he may use it again.

I don't want to say I think Trump is the Antichrist.  But whether he is or not, this upholding the legacy of Jehu as mostly positive is certainly helping in setting stage for The Antichrist.

Update: BTW, who is Hazael King of Aram in Cahn's analogy?  Putin?

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

The Dajjal being from Britain

Is a theory among some Muslims I recently became aware of.  Starting with This YouTube Video.

I was already familiar with the Hadith that is the main basis for this theory.  A Story about some Arab sailors who wind up on an Island where they talk to a chained person claiming to be the Dajjal.  An Island estimated to be about a month from Arabia.  Of course the people promoting this theory are saying they aren't taking it entirely literally.

I imagine most mainstream theories about where this Island was meant to be located, (if it intended a real location at all), would look for it in the Arabian Sea or Indian Ocean, or further east.

Among some Judaeo-Christian Conspiracy theorists there has long been a tendency to see British Imperialism as the source of all modern evil.  Including some posts on my own Conspiracy Theory Blog.  And on this Blog in the England and Egypt post.

Before meeting Dajjal, these sailors were first greeted by a hairy man or creature.  The name he identified himself by is apparently related to the Arab word for Spying, so this is taken as a clue it's an island particularly associated with Espionage.  The British are credited with pretty much inventing modern Espionage under Queen Elizabeth I. 

Apparently this Hadith is also one of a few that seem to foretell the Sea of Galilee drying up.  Which apparently is happening now.  You've probably seen Zionists brag about how modern Israel has made the desserts Green again.  Well apparently some think their doing that is in the long term hurting the environment of Israel, and is why the Sea of Galilee is drying up.

What most bothers me here is how the use of this Hadith to basically identify the Ashkenazim with Gog and Magog can tie into the Khazzar theory, a deception I've already addressed.

But getting back to Britain.  The idea of the Dajjal being hidden on an Island at Muhammad's time, with some linking that Island to Britain, is interesting in light of some Christian theories about King Arthur having something to do with The Antichrist.  However from what I can tell none of these Muslims have made an Arthur connection themselves.

About a century before Muhammad's time was King Arthur's time.  And at the end of his Reign he is said to have not died but been taken Mortally Wounded to Avalon, from whence he will someday return when Britain needs him again.

But some theorize Avalon isn't a separate Island from Britan, but rather the area of Glastonbury, where there is a traditional site for King Arthur's Tomb.  This Hadith has the Dajjal Chained in an old place of worship, which in the context of seeing it as Britain makes it a Church or Monastery.

I have talked about Arthurian Legend quite a bit, once previously on this Blog in England and Edessa.  But I've talked about it a lot on my Nerdy Blog.  With the idea of connections between it and Arabia sort of coming up in my post about Wolfram's Parzival.

I still currently do not consider an Islamic Antichrist theory likely.  But it's interesting to keep an eye on what their theories are.

Update June 9th 2018: apparently it might be possible to draw a direct line from this Arabic lore about the Antichrist imprisoned on an Island to Cthulu.
http://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/uncovering-the-real-necronomicon
The comments even possibly trace it back to Plutarch and other Hellenic mythology about Saturn/Kronos being chained on an Island linked to Britain.

Friday, October 28, 2016

Could The Beast of Revelation 17 possibly be a different Beast?

I've suggested one bold new theory on how Revelation 17 ties into the rest of the book already [And followed up on it in Who Is The Bride of Christ].  Now I have another one.

The parallel imagery of Seven Heads and Ten Horns leads to an assumption that the Beast of Chapter 17 is the same one we saw in Chapter 13.  And references to The Beast made in chapters 14-16 are clearly the Beast out of the Sea.

But The Dragon also had Seven Heads and Ten Horns and that is indisputably a different entity.  The Beast of Chapter 17 also has in common with the Beast out of The Sea over The Dragon being called a Beast.  And also terminology that seems to imply one of the Seven Heads is an individual who has died and been resurrected, but how that idea is communicated is different.  However it is called a Scarlet Beast, which is a variation of the Color Red, so the Revelation 17 Beast is affiliated with the same Color as The Dragon.

References to The Beast of Chapter 13 in other chapters usually mention The False Prophet, or The Mark, or the Image.  But in Chapter 17 it seems to be The Woman, Mystery Babylon, who is serving The False Prophet's function, as a simultaneously religious and economic system.

However Revelation 11's Beast is described with terminology elsewhere used only in Chapter 17, the Beast that Ascends out of the Bottomless Pit/Abyss, and goes into Perdition. 

I've also noted recently that it is strictly speaking the Ten Horns not the Eight King himself who hates and attacks The Harlot.

I've talked a lot on this Blog about the possibility of a Decoy Antichrist, possibly to be identified with The Terrible of The Nations of Ezekiel.  And while I've connected that figure to themes of Revelation like the Kings of The East, I had lacked a clearly specific place for him.  Until within the last month when I thought of this possibility.

However, it then occurred to me, what if they are the same Beast and yet different in terms of which of the Seven Heads is the main Head in mind?

I have laid out already my main view on the Seven Kings.  In identifying them with modern Geopolitical entities, The Lion is Iraq and/or ISIS, the Bear is Iran and perhaps parts of Iraq currently controlled by Iran via the Mahdi Army (the Medes being The Kurds and the Persians being the Shiites).  The four heads of the Leopard are Greece, Macedonia, Turkey and Egypt, and the Fourth Beast/Seventh Head (the one with the Ten Horns) is the European Union.

When we separate the Death and Resurrection imagery of 13 and 17.  Only 13 requires a Mortal Wound, sometimes assumed to specifically be a head wound but that forgets that the use of the word Head is itself symbolic in these chapters.  Meanwhile my argument that the Eight King must be one of the first Five applies solely to Chapter 17.

I feel the one in 13 make most sense if the Resurrection/healing of the Wound itself happens in the End Times, before the eyes of the World.  While the one in 17 I think could maybe have been Resurrected in the past, perhaps in 30 AD (Matthew 27:52-53) as part of fulfilling Daniel 12, but then was sealed in the Abyss.

If The Terrible of The Nations is someone who lived in the Past resurrected in the End Times.  Based on Ezekiel 29&30 the first obvious candidate is Nebuchadrezzar, as I alluded to in my last post.

There are people arguing Nebuchadrezzar is the Antichrist, including a Google Group.  Much of the argument for that is the Terrible of the Nations passages, because they overlook the last part of Ezekiel 30 which identifies the Terrible of The Nations with the one who gives not who receives the Mortal Wound.  And the Prophecy against the Prince (not King) of Tyre in chapter 28 could also back that up.

However, the fact that Daniel 4 depicts Nebuchadrezzar as being Saved I view as a problem with the whole "Goeth into Perdition" detail.  Though perhaps that is less definitive since I'm now pretty much a Universalist, and Nebuchadrezzar wasn't a Church Age believer.  But it still seems odd to me, and I've yet to see a Nebuchadrezzar is the Antichrist argument address Daniel 4.

Nebuchadrezzar was the first of the Seven Kings in my view.  The remaining four of the first five would be Cyrus, Alexander The Great (or maybe a Ptolemy), Antigonus or Demetrius, and a Seleucid King.

Of those I feel inclined to rule out the Ptolemies and maybe also Alexander on the grounds that if a Beast of Revelation is a Pharaoh of Egypt, that is definitely the Revelation 13 Beast.  Also both Cyrus and Alexander I view as like Nebuchadrezzar confirmed to most likely be among the saved, so if that rules him out it maybe rules them out too.

There is not much to Biblically make Antigonos or Demetrius significant.  But if you think The Antichrist is also the Little Horn of Daniel 8, then that makes the Seleucids, especially Antiochus Epiphanes, a pretty strong candidate.  And if the Beast out of the Sea is a Ptolemy, then one of his adversaries being a Seleucid would fit well.

Sunday, April 17, 2016

The Imam Mahdi of Shia Islam

All the speculation among Christians about if the Antichrist might claim to be the Mahdi of Islamic Eschatology barely acknowledges the differences between the Sunni and Shiite views of the Mahdi.  But when it does in general the focus is on the Shia version because there are more details in their traditions to over analyze.  For example, it's the Shiites who call him Imam, to the Sunnis he is a Caliph.  I've tried to be an exception in my past speculations, but have hardly gone too deep into it.

The interesting thing I've discovered recently is, it's not just Christians who think the Imam Mahdi could be the Antichrist, there is a Sunni Website saying the Dajjal is actually the Shiite Imam Mahdi.  And their reasoning is very interesting given my own speculations on a number of subjects.  But I should of course say I doubt all or even most Sunnis would agree with everything on that site, it engages in a lot of weirdness similar to what I'm used to seeing from the most off the deep end Christian websites.

It kind of starts with how the Shiite view makes Imam Mahdi kind of quasi Divine, even giving him a Pre-existence.  While the Sunnis see the Mahdi as not even a Prophet.

Another claim of this website is that Shiites don't always admit to being Shiites, and so ideas it's skeptical of in traditional Sunni sources they suspect could have been planted by Shiites.  Since for most of Islamic history the Sunnis have been in control and haven't always allowed Freedom of Religion, one can't blame Shiites for having a history of hiding.

Today most Shiites live in Iran and Iraq.  Geographically that happens to be the lands associated with the Dajjal in the oldest Muslim eschatological traditions.

The Dajjal was originally expected to be a Jewish Messianic claimant.  This website points out many things that seem oddly Jewish to them about the Shia traditions.  Like Traditions that the Imam Mahdi will use the Jewish Name of God (I've read other Muslim websites agreeing with conspiracy theories that YHWH is actually a pagan god), and rule in the manner of David and Solomon.  And that specifically say the Imam Mahdi will have Jewish followers.

And many Jews have lived in the Irag/Iran region, going back to the exile and the Exilarchs.  Also early Caliphs resettled the Jews of Khyabar in Iraq.  I meanwhile could add my arguments that the Lost Tribes settled East of the Euphrates, and that the Persians and Iranians partly descend from Naphtali and the Eranites.  In the context of all that, seeing the Shiite Imam Mahdi and the Rabbinic Messiah Ben-Joseph as possibly the same personage could fit pretty well.  And that fits how Shiite traditions often treated Ali as the Joshua to Muhammad's Moses.

They are suspicious of prophecies that say he'll discover the Original Torah Scroll and Gospel, and rule the Jews and Christians according to their own laws.  And also re-discover the original Koran as well.  I've commented on the Mahdi's expected archaeological exploits before.

They are also suspicious of the Sufyani tradition, an enemy the Mahdi is said to defeat, who will rule parts of Syria and Iraq and will descend from Sufyan.  When the split between the Sunni and Shia happened the Sunni followed a son of Sufyan, so it could be possible to see Sufyani as a code for a Sunni leader (maybe even Sunni Mahdi claimant) from a Shia POV.  Today ISL/ISIS and it's desire to set up a Sunni Caliphate in Syria and Iraq could be seen as fitting the Sufyani description from a Shiite POV.

They also object to Shiite traditions that seem anti-Arab and even Anti-Mecca.  If you're thinking "how could any version of a Faith founded by Arabs be Anti-Arab" just look at all the Anti-Semitism in Christian history.

The Koran was written before the split happened obviously.  Thing is the word Shia was originally a word for Sect, so this site takes advantage of some Koran and early Haddith usage of that word, including references to the Dajjal having a Shia(Sect).

Thing about all this is, my emphasis on the overlooked fact that the Beast is actually against Babylon, and that his Seat is West of the Euphrates.  Tells me that an Imam Mahdi claimant is far more likely to be a Decoy Antichrist then the real one, and perhaps one of the Kings of the East, or the Terrible of the Nations.

Does that make a Sunni Mahdi claimant the real one?  Maybe, maybe not, there could be multiple Decoys.

And I still have my skepticism the Antichrist will be Muslim or Pagan at all.

Saturday, April 2, 2016

The Antichrist may not be as Popular as we assume

Even many of the Bible Prophecy teachers that question our Hal Lindsey based assumptions still cling to this one.  Of course The Antichrist will be the most popular kid in school, how could he not be?

I'm not saying it's a sure thing he won't be, much of this is still unclear to me.

But what a face value reading of Revelation 13 without preconceived assumptions seems to tell me is that the whole world worships The Beast because if they don't The False Prophet will kill them.  The Beast conquerors the world, his ability to rule it comes from Satan and from military conquest "who is able to make war with him?".

The whole world Wonders after the Beast when his Mortal Wound is healed.  That means they're shocked and amazed, doesn't necessarily mean they like him.  In Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice the whole world Wonders after Superman, some love him and some hate, the latter camp seems to be the majority till the end, but they are all wondering after him.

If Hitler's mortal wound was healed would everyone suddenly forget what we all hate about him?  No, the wonderment would be one of horror, like we just saw confirmation that Vampires are real.

"By Peace he shall destroy many" in Daniel 8 refers to when Antiochus Epiphanies broke a peace agreement he had made.  The Antichrist may or may not do something similar, but there is no basis for saying it clearly means he ushers in some global communist utopia based on world peace.  The generally most indisputable type of the Antichrist in The Bible is Antiochus Epiphanes, who was anything but a popular ruler.

The warnings not to be deceived in the last days are to the Church not the World, the World is already wrong and already under Satan's control, he doesn't need an Antichrist or False Prophet when it comes to them.

The Christians who are observant and take their faith seriously and The Bible literally tend to be the ones who assume anything popular with the World is bad (I think we assume that far more absolutely then we should, and in the modern very liberal world, use that to justify being Pharisees, because the one thing liberals agree with the New Testament on is that the Pharisees were dicks).  So really it's virtually impossible for someone who's as popular with The World as the Antichrist is currently assumed to be (like Obama) to deceive The Church.

This ties into my belief that there will be a Decoy Antichrist(s), that people who seem to fit one or many of the current trendy Antichrist views will pop up and the Church will be too busy being paranoid about them to notice the Wolf in Sheep's clothing.

I find it amusing when Rob Skiba acts like he's being a rebel within the Church with his Anti-Christmas rants.  The majority of nominal Christianity may not care, but nearly everyone agrees with him and not me that the traditional date is wrong.  Rob says he was raised an Independent Baptist and some of them may happen to be the only radical Christians who dismiss the Christmas complaints.  But stuff about how Pagan Christmas is has aired on VCY, that's as mainstream as it gets within Evangelical American Christianity.  It would take only 1% of Christians to disagree with Rob for him to get the hate mail he complains about.

As I've pointed out before The Beast will destroy Babylon, because it hates her.  It is Babylon that is popular with the World, and the Beast is ultimately against Babylon, though it may use her system at first.

Not only do I think he'll seek to appeal to Christians, but maybe even specifically to Torah observant Christians.  There are lots of hints people have noticed that suggest he'll actually enforce The Torah on the world, and claim to be Messiah Ben-Joseph.  Even the Mark of the Beast could be based on an overly literal interpretation of Deuteronomy 6:8.
And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.
 The Rabbinc Jewish Tefillin custom that involves having texts bound to one's right arm or forehead during daily prayer.  Is based on this very passage.

But what about how he will "think to change times and laws"?  You may ask.

That's from Daniel 7:25, and I'm growing unsure that even is Antichrist relevant, I think it's possible the Little Horn of Daniel 7 is someone after The Millennium, possibly Gog, and may post on that in the future.

But either way Daniel 7 is Aramaic Daniel, it's about how he relates to the World not Israel.  So it could very well be that from that POV his enforcing the Torah's Laws and Calendar on the world would fulfill exactly that.  Because right now The World does not follow the Hebrew Calander, associating that detail with a rejection of the Hebrew Calander is basically a Preterist or Historicist logic, saying The Antichrist already did this when Catholicism was born.

Interestingly Daniel 2:21 attributed "changing Laws and Seasons" to the God of Israel (It is popular to assume Nisan was not the beginning of the year before the Exodus).  So that could further back up the changing of times to being in favor of not opposition to the Hebrew calendar.

And there is this theory which has lots of assumptions I'm still not sure on but is interesting.  And also my theory about a counterfeit Ark/Mercy Seat.

And in John 5:43 when Jesus says "I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive."  That I believe was fulfilled by Barabbas.

He could even find a Hebrew Bible basis for Decapitation being his preferred form of execution in Jehu.  Jehu is one of the more complex figures in The Bible, he has the best review of any Northern kingdom ruler, and fulfilled Prophecies of Elijah after being anointed by a Prophet sent be Elisha. An old movie was made called Sins of Jezebel that ignores the bad aspects of Jehu and simply painted him as a good guy.  Not unlike that 90s Solomon movie which spent a lot of time propping up Jeroboam and stopped before his fall into idolatry.

Jehu specifically decapitated the Priests of Baal.  And Baal is exactly who Hebrew Roots Christians accuse mainstream Christianity of unwittingly worshiping.

Sunday, October 11, 2015

I now think the Abomination of Desolation could start the Seven Years

Allow me to clarify what I mean.  The Man of Sin proclaiming himself God while sitting in The Temple in II Thessalonians 2, which I believe connects to events in Revelation 13, is certainly at the Midway Point of the Seven Years.

But I'm no longer convinced of the assumption that what Jesus meant by the "Abomination of Desolation" is the same as that event.  Jesus called it "The Abomination of Desolation spoken of by Daniel The Prophet".

Actually that they're distinct events is grammatically justified by that Paul's Man of Sin is sitting in The Temple while Jesus' Abomination is standing in it.  It know it might seem silly to quibble about that but I believe the details of God's Word are important.

Daniel never used that phrase of what Paul describes (a Man deifying himself), he used it of an Idol of Zeus Olympus being set up in The Temple.  And Upon reading Maccabees more closely I realized it wasn't even in the Holy of Holies, it was on the Brazen Altar.  Now one could argue Antiochus Epiphanes did deify himself, but that's not what the "Abomination the maketh Desolate" refers to in Daniel 11.

Revelation 13 does refer to an Image of The Beast, but I don't think that is what most people think it is.

In past studies on this Blog I've come to the conclusion that if Jerusalem is captured by a Gentile army during the end times, it marks the beginning of the Week, not the middle like people assume.  And I've talked about the possibility of a decoy Antichrist doing a decoy Abomination event.

I did a post where I argued the 1290 days ends with the Abomination of Desolation.  I'm no longer convinced of that argument, I'm having trouble clearly getting it from the Hebrew, and I've noticed the Preterists making that argument appeal to the Septuagint, which I object to.

That assumption remained in mind when I did my Calculations on the 70th Week post.  I'm also no longer convinced the 7 years of Revelation necessarily has anything to do with Daniel 9.

I do still believe that if those numbers in Daniel 12 are relevant to the End Times at all (I believe that can apply to Antiochus's Abomination, I just don't know how, but it most likely involved history beyond the first Hanukkah and Antiochus' death).  That the 1290 days are the first half and the 1335 days the second half.  With the point where they meet being the Yom Teruah on which The Rapture will happen.  The 1290 days would begin in Nisan if the first half has a Second Adar, and the 1335 days would end on or near Pentacost, which I think will formally begin the Millennium a couple months after The Beast is defeated.

That would put the beginning of the ministry of the Two Witnesses in Iyar rather then Nisan as I thought before.  But I have reason to see Iyar as prophetically significant.

I think this Abomination of Desolation will be performed by a Decoy Antichrist.  And later the actual Antichrist and False Prophet will present themselves as saving the world (or at least Israel) from him.

The "Great Tribulation" I still think refers to all Christian persecution, but now I can argue the escalation of it Matthew 24 describes applies to the first half of the 7 years, not the second.

Now it's also possibly it could be distinct but still happen at broadly the Mid-Way point.  I'm continually revising my theories as I study the Word.

Friday, August 28, 2015

Awaited Messiahs of False Religions

One of the unique things about True Biblical Christianity is we believe our Messiah has already come. We're not awaiting anyone new. We're awaiting his return, but it will not be necessary to identify him, the Church will be gathered to him and then he'll go to directly where believing Israel is. Those we expect to appear before him, the Two Witnesses (Enoch and Elijah), are also men who lived on the Earth before. We are awaiting only second comings.

Now false religions may also be expecting someone to return, (including hijacking figures of our tradition, Jesus, Elijah and Enoch ect.), but they're also expecting a new Messiah, or Avatar of their chief god to arise. But we Christians know the next important person to be revealed shall be the Wicked One, and he shall have a False Prophet to back him up as well.

I believe Satan himself doesn't know how things will play out exactly.  I think all these were seeds he planted to potentially use, but it's still possible none will be relevant in the end.

I have discussed The False Prophet in a separate study. I have come to the view he is Judas and will claim to be Jesus. He may claim to be other expected returning figures as well. He may endorse Mormon theories about Jesus coming to the new world after the Resurrection, and also identify himself with Quetzalcoatl, Kukulcan and Gukumatz.

The story of the life of the Mexican divinity, Quetzalcoatl, closely resembles that of the Savior; so closely, indeed, that we can come to no other conclusion than that Quetzalcoatl and Christ are the same being. But the history of the former has been handed down to us through an impure Lamanitish source, which has sadly disfigured and perverted the original incidents and teachings of the Savior's life and ministry." (Mediation and Atonement, p. 194.) John Taylor.
Which are also tied into New Age/Ancient Aliens theories.
The Islamic Mahdi and Messiah Ben-Ephraim, are of unique importance, as one is extra-Biblical Rabbinic Jewish tradition and the other is awaited by Israel's nearest enemies. I have talked about them alreayd and will more in the future. Also "Abrahamic" religions tend to be more detailed in their prophecies, so there is more to say on them.

The Cumaean Sibyl in Virgl's 4th Ecolouge is a prophecy of a new Golden Age, ushered in by Apollo and Saturn, where men and gods will mingle together.  The originally intent was to be about Augustus, but later post Constantine Christians co-opted it and now it is somewhat infamous in New Age and Neo-Pagan circles.

As I've said elsewhere, I believe The Antichrist will claim to be all the awaited Messiahs of all false religions.
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Saoshyant [sou-shyuhnt] is a figure of Zoroastrian eschatology.

I personally believe the original Zarathustra lived about 600 A.D. "258 years before Alexander." And might have been partially descended from exiled Israelites, but that his teachings where corrupted over the generations (and may have been corrupt to begin with, givne the state of the Northern Kingdom), the oldest written texts attributed to hm are much later. Legends about him over time tried to place him further in the past.

Yasht 19.88-96 is the oldest reference to Saoshyant as an expected savior, and only one that comes in the B.C. era. Not a lot of details exist there, he emerges from a sacred lake("rise up out of the sea"?), makes the world perfect and destroys evil.  But he is said to wield a sacred weapon called Verethragna. The Verethragna is sometimes represented as Bow, and is said to have "conquering superiority" (Revelation 6, First Horseman).

He's developed in greater detail in 9th-12th century texts. Zoroastrian tradition envisions three future saviors, one for the end of each 1,000-year period that comprise the last 3,000 years of the world. All three will be born of maidens, conceived while their mothers bathed in a lake that miraculously preserved the seed of the prophet Zoroaster himself. The first will be named Hushedar, the second Hushedarmah, and the third will be Saoshyant, who will lead humanity in the final battle against falsehood.

As you can see, they have begun to borrow aspects of Jesus. The legends elaborate a great deal on this Virgin Birth, and state it'll be 30 years before the finale battle, but this is then contradicted by references to him living for 57 years.

No details are known about those preceding saviors. But if The Antichrist claims to be Saoshyant, and that the third of those millenniums are ending about now, The False Prophet/Pseudo Jesus may well claim to be Hushedar.
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Kalki, the final Avatar of Vishnu in Vedic mythology and Hindu religion, who will end the Kali Yuga.

I could first note that his name means "Destroyer" and can thus be viewed as a Vedic translation of Apollyon. He is also said to come Riding atop a White Horse.

The previous Avatars were Krishna and Rama. Krishna died because an Arrow pierced his Heel. Rama I believe was the Raamah son of Cush of Genesis 10, but the legends were embellished greatly.

Padma will be his consort, an Avatar of Lakshmi, previous Avatars include Sita wife of Rama and Radha consort of Krishna.

The the Kali Yuga is today traditionally viewed to have begun in 3102 B.C. and is supposed to last 432,000 years, someone calming to be him now might seem implausible, but many already have, and their faithful rationalize it all. At any rate I personally believe whoever historically inspired Krishna lived not around 3100 BC but in the 9th century B.C. Due to the archeological evidence for the Kurukshetra war being around that time.

A lot of work among Hindu scholars involves trying to use Astrological references to give him a Birth Date. The possibility of an Evil Counterpart to the Star of Bethleham (Jupiter's conjunction with Regulus on September 11th/First of Tishri 3 B.C.) is intriguing. Sri Potuluri Virabrahmendra Swami, for example, wrote 400 years ago in his Divya Maha Kala Gnana, or 'Divine Knowledge of the Time,' that Kalki would arrive when the moon, sun, Venus and Jupiter entered the same sign. This is not a rare occurrence and last happened in early 2012.
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Maitreya, the next Buddha

Buddhism doesn't really give any specific details at all. But one mention of the prophecy of Maitreya is in the Sanskrit text, the Maitreyavyākaraṇa (The Prophecy of Maitreya). It implies that he is a teacher of meditative trance sadhana and states that gods, men and other beings:

"will lose their doubts, and the torrents of their cravings will be cut off: free from all misery they will manage to cross the ocean of becoming; and, as a result of Maitreya's teachings, they will lead a holy life. No longer will they regard anything as their own, they will have no possession, no gold or silver, no home, no relatives! But they will lead the holy life of oneness under Maitreya's guidance. They will have torn the net of the passions, they will manage to enter into trances, and theirs will be an abundance of joy and happiness, for they will lead a holy life under Maitreya's guidance." (Trans. in Conze 1959:241)

Sounds like a possible precedent for ending all currency to bring in the Mark of the Beast.

One random site on the Internet suggests that Maitreya will be the actual name of the Antichrist. They claim there are 7 different ways to spell Maitreya in Hebrew and that each has a numerical value of 666. I have not independently verified this claim yet, and I still prefer to use Greek to decipher the Number of The Beast. But at the beginning of Revelation 13 it says "having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy." So could it be a different form of the same name on each head?

The Maitreya concept is expanded on in Theosphy, and other New Age religions. Which also often utilize Kalki as well.
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The Baha'i faith, is a mingling of Judeo-Chrstian, Islamic and Zorosatrian ideas.

In 1873 Bahá'u'lláh wrote in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas:

"How great the blessedness that awaiteth the king who will arise to aid My Cause in My kingdom, who will detach himself from all else but Me! Such a king is numbered with the companions of the Crimson Ark--the Ark which God hath prepared for the people of Bahá. All must glorify his name, must reverence his station, and aid him to unlock the cities with the keys of My Name, the omnipotent Protector of all that inhabit the visible and invisible kingdoms. Such a king is the very eye of mankind, the luminous ornament on the brow of creation, the fountainhead of blessings unto the whole world. Offer up, O people of Bahá, your substance, nay your very lives, for his assistance."

(Bahá'u'lláh, Kitáb-i-Aqdas, 1873) 

This is elaborated specifically:

"In the Lawh-i-Ra'ís He actually and categorically prophesies the rise of such a king: "Erelong will God raise up from among the kings one who will aid His loved ones. He, verily, encompasseth all things. He will instill in the hearts the love of His loved ones. This, indeed, is irrevocably decreed by One Who is the Almighty, the Beneficent." In the Ridvánu'l-`Adl, wherein the virtue of justice is exalted, He makes a parallel prediction: "Erelong will God make manifest on earth kings who will recline on the couches of justice, and will rule amongst men even as they rule their own selves. They, indeed, are among the choicest of My creatures in the entire creation.""

(Bahá'u'lláh, 1868, quoted by Shoghi Effendi in Promised Day is Come)

Globalism in general is important to Baha'i belief.

Shoghi Effendi wrote:

"... It must, however long and tortuous the way, lead, through a series of victories and reverses, to the political unification of the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, to the emergence of a world government and the establishment of the Lesser Peace, as foretold by Bahá’u’lláh and foreshadowed by the Prophet Isaiah."

(Shoghi Effendi, Citadel of Faith, 1947) 

Bahá'u'lláh wrote in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas:

"We have appointed two signs for the coming of age of the human race: the first, which is the most firm foundation, We have set down in other of Our Tablets, while the second hath been revealed in this wondrous Book."

(Bahá'u'lláh, Kitáb-i-Aqdas, 1873)

The first sign refers to the selection of a single language and the adoption of a common script:

"O members of parliaments throughout the world! Select ye a single language for the use of all on earth, and adopt ye likewise a common script. ... This will be the cause of unity, could ye but comprehend it, and the greatest instrument for promoting harmony and civilization, would that ye might understand!"

(Bahá'u'lláh, Kitáb-i-Aqdas, 1873)

The second sign refers to the emergence of a "divine philosophy" which will include the discovery of a radical approach to the transmutation of elements:

"Consider the doubts which they who have joined partners with God have instilled into the hearts of the people of this land. “Is it ever possible,” they ask, “for copper to be transmuted into gold?” Say, Yes, by my Lord, it is possible. Its secret, however, lieth hidden in Our Knowledge. We will reveal it unto whom We will. Whoso doubteth Our power, let him ask the Lord his God, that He may disclose unto him the secret, and assure him of its truth. That copper can be turned into gold is in itself sufficient proof that gold can, in like manner, be transmuted into copper, if they be of them that can apprehend this truth. Every mineral can be made to acquire the density, form, and substance of each and every other mineral. The knowledge thereof is with Us in the Hidden Book."

(Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writing of Bahá'u'lláh, Section XCVII, undated)

In Bahá'u'lláh's tablet addressed to Shaykh Salmán, he mentions a third sign, which is that no one will accept to bear the weight of kingship:

"One of the signs of the maturity of the world is that no one will accept to bear the weight of kingship. Kingship will remain with none willing to bear alone its weight. That day will be the day whereon wisdom will be manifested among mankind. Only in order to proclaim the Cause of God and spread abroad His Faith will anyone be willing to bear this grievous weight. Well is it with him who, for love of God and His Cause, and for the sake of God and for the purpose of proclaiming His Faith, will expose himself unto this great danger, and will accept this toil and trouble.”"

(Bahá'u'lláh, undated, quoted in Shoghi Effendi, The Promised Day is Come)

Shoghi Effendi wrote:

"The unity of the human race, as envisaged by Bahá’u’lláh, implies the establishment of a world commonwealth in which all nations, races, creeds and classes are closely and permanently united, and in which the autonomy of its state members and the personal freedom and initiative of the individuals that compose them are definitely and completely safeguarded…"

"A world federal system, ruling the whole earth and exercising unchallengeable authority over its unimaginably vast resources, blending and embodying the ideals of both the East and the West, liberated from the curse of war and its miseries, and bent on the exploitation of all the available sources of energy on the surface of the planet, a system in which Force is made the servant of Justice, whose life is sustained by its universal recognition of one God and by its allegiance to one common Revelation—such is the goal towards which humanity, impelled by the unifying forces of life, is moving."

(Shoghi Effendi, The Unfoldment of World Civilization, 1936)

"The Most Great Peace... a peace that must inevitably follow as the practical consequence of the spiritualization of the world and the fusion of all its races, creeds, classes and nations..."

(Shoghi Effendi, World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, 1936) 

Of course Bahá'u'lláh was against anyone in the next Thousand years calming to be God, but I don't believe the Antichrist will deify himself at first, only after his counterfeit resurrection in the mid-way point of the Tribulation.
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As I said, True Christianity is not awaiting any new Messiah, but Heretical Christianity has always been around, and it's always had a thing for creating new Messiahs to expect.
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Emperor Constans, foretold by The Tiburtine Sibyl or Albune.

A Prophecy attributed to another of the Sybils written down in 380 A.D.

THE LATIN TIBURTINE SIBYL

Then will arise a king of the Greeks whose name is Constans. He will be king of the Romans and the Greeks. He will be tall of stature, of handsome appearance with shining face, and well put together in all parts of his body. His reign will be ended after one hundred and twelve years. In those days there will be great riches and the earth will give fruit abundantly so that a measure of wheat will be sold for a denarius, a measure of wine for a denarius, and a measure of oil for a denarius. The king will have a text before his eyes that says: "The king of the Romans will claim the whole Christian empire for himself." He will devastate all the islands and the cities of the pagans and will destroy all idolatrous temples; he will call all pagans to baptism and in every temple the Cross of Christ will be erected. "Then Egypt and Ethiopia will be eager to stretch their hands to God." ~ Whoever does not adore the Cross of Jesus Christ will be punished by the sword. When the one hundred and twelve years have been completed, the Jews will be converted to the Lord, and "his sepulchre will be glorified by all." In those days Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell with confidence. At that time the Prince of Iniquity who will be called Antichrist will arise from the tribe of Dan. He will be the Son of Perdition, the head of pride, the master of error, the fullness of malice who will overturn the world and do wonders and great signs through dissimulation. He will delude many by magic art so that fire will seem to come down from heaven. The years will be shortened like months, the months like weeks, the weeks like days, the days like hours, and an hour like a moment. The unclean nations that Alexander, the Indian king, shut up (i.e., Gog and Magog) will arise from the North. These are the twenty-two realms whose number is like the sand of the sea. When the king of the Romans hears of this he will call his army together and vanquish and utterly destroy them. After this he will come to Jerusalem, and having put off the diadem from his head and laid aside the whole imperial garb, he will hand over the empire of the Christians to God the Father and to Jesus Christ his Son. When the Roman empire shall have ceased,39 then the Antichrist will be openly revealed and will sit in the House of the Lord in Jerusalem. While he is reigning, two very famous men, Elijah and Enoch, will go forth to announce the coming of the Lord. Antichrist will kill them and after three days they will be raised up by the Lord. Then there will be a great persecution, such as has not been before nor shall be thereafter. The Lord will shorten those days for the sake of the elect, and the Antichrist will be slain by the power of God through Michael the Archangel on the Mount of Olives.

Translated from the edition of E. Sackur, Sibyllinische Texte und Forschungen. pp. 185—86.

In a lot of ways this shows how many of my Futurist interpretations of Scripture were pretty unanimous to early Christians, (Enoch and Elijah, Israel being destined to be redeemed).  Though I no longer support a premillenial Gog and Magog invasion, but I still geographically place Magog in Russia.   It's popular to claim the Gates of Alexander legend wasn't connected to Magog untill the Seventh Century.  In addition to this reference, I feel I can also show it's pre-Christian because Josephus in Wars of The Jews Book 7 Chapter 7 Section 4 says the Scythians (who he in Antiquities says are Magog) were who the Gates of Alexander shut up.


But there is no Biblical basis for this great Christian Emperor, it is in fact the Antichrist who shall restore Rome to greatness again. Before Constantine, men like Ireneaus and Hippolytus got this right.
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Last Roman Emperor or Last World Emperor

The legend first appears in the 7th-century apocalyptic text known as the Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius, and developed over the centuries, becoming particularly prominent in the 15th century. The notion of the Great Catholic Monarch is related to it

The Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius is a 7th-century apocalypse that shaped the eschatological imagination of Christendom throughout the Middle Ages. The work was written in Syriac in the late 7th century, in reaction to the Islamic conquest of the Near East, and is falsely attributed to the 4th-century Church Father Methodius of Olympus. It depicts many familiar Christian eschatological themes: the rise and rule of Antichrist, the invasions of Gog and Magog, and the tribulations that precede the end of the world.

A new element, probably adopted from the Tiburtine Sibyl, was a Messiah-like Last Roman Emperor, who would be a central figure in apocalyptic literature until the end of the medieval period. It was translated into Greek soon after its composition, and thence into Latin (by the eighth century), Slavonic, Russian, Armenian, and Arabic.

Its precise date is difficult to ascertain; dates proposed by recent historians fall within the range 644 - 691 AD (Palmer 1993:225).

It was developed in the writings of Adso of Montier-en-Der, and was particularly current around the end of the fifteenth century.[S.N., Mirabilis Liber, 1522] Christopher Columbus refers to it in his Book of Prophecies.


The 7th Century apocalypses also emphasizes the Last Roman Emperor conquering both Egypt and Syria, which is interesting if you still think Daniel 11:36-45 is about The Antichrist.

Christ White has discussed this subject in the context of comparing it to to the Islamic Mahdi.  One mistake he makes is most Islamic Antichrist theorists make Dajjal Elijah not Jesus.  When I used to lean towards however I never agreed with that and say Dajjal as a Decoy Antichrist.  Another note, the Antichrist being blind in one eye possibly has a Biblical basis in Zachariah 11.

What he misses is the Messiah Ben-Joseph idea was entering it's current form in the 7th Century AD as well.  Particularly due to the Messianic status given to Nehemiah Ben Hushiel which is a part of works like the Sefer Zeubbabel, the poems of Eleazer Ben Killir, the Otot ha-Masiah and the Pirqie Masiah.  And Messiah Ben-Joseph has a Mahdi parallel the Last Roman Emperor does not, being killed by The Antichrist/Armillus/Dajjal to be resurrected by Messiah Ben-David/Isa the Muslim Jesus.  A book called The Byzantine Apocalyptic Tradition discussed how the Last Roman Emperor is probably base don Jewish Messianic expectations.

To me none of that refutes the notion that all these awaited Messiahs were potential Antichrist seeds Satan had planted.
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The Great Catholic Monarch

In Catholic tradition, the Great Monarch is predicted to have a restorationist character and to restore the European Catholic royalty in the West, destroy the power of heretics and atheistic rebels, and successfully convert many Muslims and Jews to the Faith.(See Catholic Prophecy: The Coming Chastisement by Yves Dupont)

The concept of the Great King features prominently in mystical and folk traditions, as well as writings of people thought to have been granted gifts of prophecy or special visitations by messengers from heaven (such as angels, saints, or Christ). 

Saint Remigius, bishop of Reims and apostle of the Franks, baptised Clovis I, king of the Franks on 24 December 496. This baptism, leading to the conversion of the entire Frankish people to Nicene Christianity, was a momentous success for the Catholic Church and a seminal event in European history. Allegedly he had had a vision and prophesied that in the distant future, the last monarch who descended from the line of the kings of France, would be revealed and reestablish the Holy Roman Empire at the end of time. This prophecy was related through Hincmar, archbishop of Reims (806 – 21 December 882), and Rabanus Maurus Magnentius O.S.B., archbishop of Mainz (780 – 4 February 856).

Himcar was the Propagandist for Charles the Bald, so he may have invented it to serve political purposes for the Holy Roman Empire. 

The Great Catholic Monarch was very popular in popular folklore until the 18th century Enlightenment. He reappeared in 19th century prophecy when French legitimists believed that the count of Chambord, Henry V of France would be the new king.

Perrie Plantard's original intent in creating the Priory of Sion Hoax was to claim that he was the Great Catholic Monarch, tying it into French Israelism/Franco Israelism. From there the idea is openly advocated for in Holy Blood, Holy Grail, and it's follow up Messianic Legacy, which bring the Jesus Bloodline theory into it.  And Bloodline of the Holy Grail which further linked it to standard British Israelism ideas and Jacobite Politics, and it's follow up Genesis of the Grail Kings which ties in Ancient Aliens theories.
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Mab Darogan, once and future King of Welsh legend.

The concept is of a great future Briton leader who would restore Celtic England and drive out the Anglo-Saxons. The return of King Arthur derives from the concept.  

When The Tudor Dynasty was established it was popular to think this would be fulfilled by King Henry VII.
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The White Horse Prophecy of Joseph Smith

The Latter Day Saints, according to the prophecy, would "go to the Rocky Mountains and ... be a great and mighty people", identified figuratively with the White Horse described in the Revelation of John. The prophecy further predicts that the United States Constitution will one day "hang like a thread" and will be saved "by the efforts of the White Horse". 

Over time this developed specially into a concept that a Mormon would become President of the United States and turn the U.S. into a Mormon Theocracy. It has been speculated about in relation to various Mormon Presidential candidates like George and mitt Romney. Glen Beck who's a Mormon has also subtly alluded to it on TV many times.
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More recently I've become aware of others like how the Druze are awaiting Al-Hakim.  


This can also tie into any King In The Mountain myth.

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

I have two conflicting Antichrist views I'm leaning towards now

I still like the one that had been a central developing theme of this blog for most of it's history.  That I lay out in posts like this.  About a western leader who'll claim to be or be claimed to be Messiah Ben-Joseph, I've even argued that he could be American.  That it'll be us conservative Judeo-Christians he's chiefly trying to seduce, not The World.  But the main thing not compatible with the other view is that his Mortal Wounding/death will be at the start of the 70th week, in Nisan.

But I've developed more recently from my Daniel 7 study, a view that he could be a Seleucid Ruler, probably Epiphanes himself, who will ascend from the Bottomless Pit.  I even speculated at the end of my recent Daniel 11 study that he might have been sent there in 30 AD.  For fairly obvious reasons however that view can't have The Antichrist present at all when the 70th Week begins, the Fifth Trumpet is the soonest he can show up if he's anyone who's death already happened.

Aspects of both views can still certainly overlap.  If the first view is true I'm certain he'll have Seleucid descent through Charlemagne and that that'll be relevant.  I'm growing more and more interested in what I suggested in the American Anitchrist post about the Royal Family of modern Greece.  They are also Danish royalty and descend from the same clan of German Royal families as the Windsors and the rulers of the Netherlands, who had ties to 18th Century Freemasonry and The Illuminati.

The second theory could still have him going for the ideological viewpoint I suggested.  But what I would need to explain since I am firmly convinced of the 70th Week having a dual fulfillment now (and possibly all 70 Weeks, leading to a theory of when it could be) is who the Prince that will come and be cut off in the Nisan that starts the week could be if he's not the Antichrist.  Maybe still an Antichrist, my belief in there being Decoy Antichrists remains intact either way.

Monday, June 22, 2015

Which wrong view on The Rapture is the most dangerous?

The popular answer is the Pre-Trib view, the one thing all non Pre-Tribbers seem to agree on.

I really don't understand how the people who are now not believers or believers who are uninterested in Prophecy talk about being raised on the Pre-Tirb Rapture and being constantly terrified by it.  They clearly did not truly understand what The Rapture is if they found it frightening.

But what I'm going to discus here is how most of my fellow non Pre-Trib Futurists seem to think, simply by virtue of it being currently the mainstream view, that Pre-Trib is the most dangerous view.  That once we're clearly in the 70th Week and no Rapture happens countless formally faithful Pre-Tribbers will lose their faith and fall away.

Post-Tribbers particularly then see the dangers of Pre-Trib as innate in any more obscure view that has the Rapture as distinct from Revelation 19, even though I am adamant Christians will face Great Tribulation.  They are unwilling to listen to anything I have to say on Prophecy so long as I'm not Post-Trib like them.

I don't think so low of Pre-Tribbers, or anyone else who disagrees with me.  But especially Pre-Tribbers because I've grown a lot in the Spirit listening to other issues talked about by Pre-Tirbbers like Chuck Missler.  Pre-Tribbers are often the most likely to agree with me on Eternal Security, it seems the Pre-Wrath camp has a lot of Calvinism in it.

I've listened to a lot of Pre-Tribbers, many do believe American Christians will face persecution first.  I'm confident they will simply get over it and rework their understanding once Pre-Trib is proven wrong.

I don't think there is any risk of truly Saved people being "deceived" by the II Thessalonians 2 event.  I certainly don't think it's possible for a saved person to take the Mark, if you think that 100% of people who take The Mark are damned, but also believe in Eternal Security, then you have to believe no Saved person could take the Mark.  I think the Mark is instituted after The Rapture has just happened, and the awakening Israelites are fleeing to the wilderness.  So no one already saved will be presented with that dilemma.

Rob Skiba likes to say that the warning to Believers to not be deceived clearly means it's possible for us to be deceived.  That is true but it's not about the II Thessalonians 2 event, that event isn't a deception at all, that's when the Deception ends and the enemy just comes right out and says what he means, he will not claim to be Jesus or The God of The Bible he will claim to be better then The God of The Bible.

Before that, during the first half of the Week it might, MIGHT, be possible for Believers to wind up being tricked into helping/supporting the Man of Sin.

Pre-Trib will be proven wrong pretty much as soon as the 70th Week starts.  I believe The Temple will be standing before we enter it, and all of the first Six Seals will be opened before the Nisan that starts it is over.

So I'm more concerned that the default position among people is that IF Pre-Trib is wrong Post-Trib must be the only other option.  Then after that is the trendy Pre-Wrath view.  And also that movie from the Pastor I do not like to name that is presenting a model technically Mid-Trib in form but is really a hybridization of Post-Trib and Pre-Wrath ideas.  Pre-Wrathers especially love to brag about Mid-Trib being a "defunct view".  Well they should remember that it'd suit Satan well if the correct view is the least popular.

All three of those models place the Seventh Trumpet at the end of the 70th Week rather then The Mid-Way point as a plain reading of Revelation clearly shows.  Post-Trib sometimes sees the sixth or seventh Seal as the same event but not always.  Pre-Wrath places the Sixth Seal some indeterminate amount of time after the Mid-Way point.

Meanwhile there are also people arguing that there is no 70th Week, that the entire period is only 3.5 years and so every 3.5 year period referenced is the same.  And most who do believe in a 70th Week have this wrong idea that those years will begin and end on Yom Teruah, when Yom Teruah should Biblically mark the midway point.

I've talked to Pre-Wrathers who think it's possible we're already in the 70th Week now and aren't aware of it.  I firmly believe it can't start till The Temple (it could be just a Tabernacle) is standing in Jerusalem.  Pre-Wrathers also tend to think the Persecution only starts at the Abomination of Desolation.

Basically what I'm saying is I fear once Pre-Trib is firmly debunked people may be deceived into thinking we're already at or past the Mid-Way point when the 70th Week has really only just started.

The only issue there is how can people be tricked into thinking The Abomination of Desolation has happened already when it really hasn't?  Paul certainly makes what it is unmistakable in II Thessalonians 2.  But lots of people are already trying to alegorize or twist that.

I think there will be plenty of Christians who won't fall for this deception, even if their current views make them vulnerable to aspects of it.  But we need to be aware of how that deception could work.

1. Thanks to how the 1290 days reference from Daniel 12 is commonly misunderstood, most people assume the Sacrifice and Oblation is made to cease at the same time as the Abomination of Desolation when it's really 1290 days before it.

2. The Anti-Semites of the world may well think the Temple being rebuilt itself is the Abomination of Desolation.  That's what some of Texe Marrs logic seems to imply.  And since many other Dispensationalist and Zionsit Christians think it's possible The Temple won't be rebuilt till very soon before it happens, they are not prepared to refute that argument timing wise.

3. Then there are the people who allegorize what The Temple means in II Thessalonians to being The Church.  Don't assume that view will lose credibility once a Third Temple is standing, many of them are clarifying they do think The Jews might get their Temple rebuilt, but that Christians should not be tricked into thinking that is prophetically relevant.

4. Rob Skiba has gone and wrongly defined what The Abomination of Desolation of Antiochus Epiphanes was, saying it refers to when he offered the Pig on the Altar (a legend that is apocryphal to begin with) not the Idol.  So imagine if it's Nisan, perhaps on Passover, someone invades Jerusalem, enters the Temple and kills a Pig on the Brazen Altar.  Rob Skiba is set up to be deceived, especially if that same Decoy Antichrist claims to be Nimrod.

5. I've also seen someone argue (with the intent of supporting a Prestist view however) that when Jesus said "The Holy Place" really means "A Holy Place" and that the Abomination need not happen in specifically the Inner Sanctuary at all.  This is especially tempting to fall for once you notice Antiochus Epiphanes lesser Abomination Idol wasn't in the Holy Place but on the Brazen Altar.  That's probably why Rob Skiba got confused.  But II Thessalonians 2:4 says he sits in The Temple, the only sitting Place in The Temple was the Ark itself which lid was the mercy Seat, this Temple I don't think will have the real Ark.

6. I also think some might get confused by a person deifying himself or giving Messianic status to himself and forget that The Beast will also speak AGAINST the True God.

All of these could be relevant, since Satan will probably try to have multiple deceptions going on with multiple Decoy Antichrists.  Maybe even relevant in ways that sometimes overlap.

Friday, February 20, 2015

Suleiman and the 70 Weeks of Daniel

I've argued on this Blog for why I believe the first 69 weeks of Daniel 9 were fulfilled from 454 BC-30 AD.  I decided later in response to those who are Futurists yet view the 70th Week as fulfilled, to investigate the possibility of the 70th week being fulfilled from 30-37 AD.  And then I came to the conclusion that the 70th Week is a Prophecy with a dual Fulfillment.

I eventually decided to contemplate in my mind the possibility of the first 69 weeks having a second fulfillment also.  This would require another decree to rebuild Jerusalem.  It need not seem identical to the one by Artaxerxes or any other Persian ruler.  It matters only that it fit what Daniel 9 says of it.  Interestingly Daniel 9's description of the Decree says nothing about Israelites returning to Jerusalem at this time, or anything about The Temple.  Only the City being restored and rebuilt with a specific emphasis on The Walls.

I decided to look at Wikipedia's Timeline of Jerusalem and saw that 1535-1538 AD Suleiman The Magnificent had Jerusalem rebuilt including The Walls which had been in ruin since at least 135 AD. Also The Dome of The Rock was renovated then.  These restored Walls are the Walls that stand to this day.  The story goes that he gave a decree to rebuild the Walls that was prompted by a divinely inspired dream he had.  Whatever prompted the Decree, we have archaeological evidence of it.
Building inscription commemorating the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem 
Jerusalem 
Ottoman period, 1535–1538 
Stone 
Israel Antiquities Authority 
Accession number: IAA 1942-265 
The Ottoman Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent ordered the construction of new buildings in Jerusalem and the renovation of existing ones. Among his most notable projects were the renovation of the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount and the rebuilding of the Jerusalem city walls. The walls, reminiscent of those surrounding Istanbul, are the ones that still surround Jerusalem’s Old City today. This building inscription commemorates their renewal.
“Has decreed the construction of the wall he who has protected the home of Islam with his might and main and wiped out the tyranny of idols with his power and strength, he whom alone God has enabled to enslave the necks of kings in countries (far and wide) and deservedly acquire the throne of the Caliphate, the Sultan son of the Sultan son of the Sultan son of the Sultan, Suleyman.”
Digital presentation of this object was made possible by: The Ridgefield Foundation, New York, in memory of Henry J. and Erna D. Leir
I've already addressed the usual argument against Date Setting.  

Problem is we don't know exactly when this "decree" was, it was in the range of 1535-1538 AD.  In my view in order for it to fit perfectly it needs to have been made in Nisan.  

I did some searching and found that others had noticed this possibility before me.  A lot of them however seem to incorporate mistakes about the 70 Weeks Prophecy I addressed in my earliest posts on it.

I saw on one website someone arguing that only this Decree could fit Daniel 9 and not any of the Persian ones.  They base it on seeing Daniel 9:25 as saying that the Wall must continually stand at least during the entirety of the 62 weeks.  The Walls built during Persian times were breached at least once before the earliest possible date one could give for the 62 weeks ending (106 BC and that requires a few assumptions I view as wrong, I as you know see them as ending in 30 AD), by Antiochus Epiphanes forces, Josephus Antiquities of The Jews Book 12 Chapter 5 does say he destroyed the walls.  Suleiman's Walls meanwhile have stood without interruption unto this very day.

The problem with that argument is that it removes the first Advent of Christ from the 70 Weeks.  Also Gabriel was clearly promising something in the near future, something at least some of Daniel's original readers would live to see.  What's said about the Walls standing has room for interpretation, Antiochus did not completely destroy them like the Romans did in 70 and 135 AD. 

It is a common feature of Double Fulfillment Prophecies that certain key details are not fulfilled in their truest sense till the second fulfillment, that's largely why we know it needs a second.  In the case of the 70 weeks we tend to see the 70th alone as what needs something yet future to be fulfilled.

But given what I argued already about my view of the 70th Week, the implication that perhaps the Walls could be torn down or breached when the Eschatological 70th Week starts is pretty provocative.  Since I am expecting the Nisan that starts The Week to include an Islamic conquest of Jerusalem in response to The Temple being rebuilt.  And a Decoy Antichrist will kill the true Antichrist who will be heralded as Messiah Ben-Joseph.

Most people believe if Jerusalem is conquered by a foreign enemy during the 70th Week it's at the midway point, at the same time as the Abomination of Desolation.  And I have other reasons for thinking an End Times deception could involve making people think the beginning of The Week was it's middle.  It was I think in Nisan that the Walls of Jericho fell.

If this theory is true, I think some discovery will be made before the 70th Week begins that will clarify exactly when Suleiman made his decree.  And if it was in Nisan on either the Rabbinic Hebrew, Kariete Hebrew or Samaritan Hebrew calendar, then I will start feeling this hypothesis is very possible.

The margin of error currently gives us Nisan of 2018-2021 for the start of the 70th week.  Tishri of 2021-2024 for the Midway Point, when I place The Rapture/Second Coming, and when we all place the Abomination of Desolation.  And Nisan of 2025-2028 for the end of the 70th Week.

People have independently of this seen reasons to look to that range for the end times.  Some of those I might get into in future posts.  I've offered two possible 70th Week theories on this blog before, neither of which are compatible with this.  I'm trying to consider many possibilities.

Update: It seems the 1535-1538 range is really the time the walls were under construction, though other construction in Jerusalem continued for awhile after, 1541 for the Golden Gate, and then additional renovations after the 1546 Earthquake.  Which means the Decree could have likely been Nisan 1535 placing the 70th week as 2018-2025, with the Seventh Trumpet sounding on the First of Tishri in 2021, marking the Mid-Way Point.

I've come to view the 7 and 62 weeks distinction as that the 7 weeks is how long the construction went on.  I know of no documentation that anything was exactly finished in 1584, but it's possible, that's 38 years after the earthquake.

Also a correction on something I said above, it was April 1st 1969 not 68 reconstruction in the Old City was allowed.  I've seen one website suggest that the second fulfillment perhaps switched the order of the 7 weeks and the 62 weeks.  I think that's torturing the text a bit, but that it is a full jubilee from then to Nisan 2018 is interesting.

Update May 2017:   If you want to learn more about Suleiman himself in an easy and fun way, I recommend watching Extra History: Suleiman The Magnificent.

Friday, January 23, 2015

Could The Antichrist be American?

Disclaimer: This is NOT in any way me trying to defend the Barack Obama as the Antichrist nonsense.  Quite the contrary what has largely inspired this post is my suspicion that the Antichrist will probably come from the political right (and America is still the most conservative western nation).  That he'll convince many Evangelicals he's one of us, or at least be the kind of politician too many of us tend to be too easily suckered in by.  Obama is horrible, but not in my view Antichrist material.

This post is kind of a follow up to The Lost Tribes and Bible Prophecy.  Which was itself a follow up to earlier posts of this blog.  Thing is, if The Antichrist is the head of a western nation that comes to Israel's aid (being her ally at first but turning on her later) like Chris White and I in different ways suspect.  Right now it seems the United States of America is the by far the most likely nation to do that.  That doesn't prove anything because circumstances could change, but it's worth looking at.

Objections to the idea of The Antichrist being a United States President, or American in anyway, that are actually Biblical, tend to come purely down to passages taken as proving he does come from somewhere else.

I agree with Chris White's arguments against the Assyrian Antichrist. but not with his arguments against a Roman Antichrist.  However America does have a Roman legacy as much as Europe.  I think it's possible that the Little Horn in Daniel 7 isn't just the individual of The Antichrist, but also an 11th Nation.  The U.S. as that 11th Nation could work quite well.

Chris White also insists Daniel 8 proves The Antichrist must come from the region of the nations conquered by Alexander The Great.  But as I've argued elsewhere I believe that connection is genealogical not geographical.  (Though it is interesting the exiled Royal Family of modern Greece is living in New York, the youngest members of it including the current second in line to the throne were born here and thus under the 14th Amendment have American citizenship.  But at this point I see no solid reason to accuse any of them, it seems unlikely any would seek to run for an American political office.)

So I see no solid reason to limit where he could come from.

In terms of the potential relationship to the Hersey that Western Nations are the inheritors of the Northern Kingdom.  Britam (drawing on earlier ideas) affiliates the U.S. with Manasseh and the U.K. with Ephraim.  It's interesting that the Continental United States is divided between east and west by a major river (Mississippi) just as the lands allotted to Manasseh were by the Jordan.

But a stronger thematic connection is that Gideon (the greatest hero of the Tribe of Manasseh) can be compared to George Washington.  Both men after being the military leaders of successful rebellions were offered Kingship but turned it down.  And also both later became symbolically affiliated with a Tree.

It's interesting then to return to the role both White and I feel the false Psalm 83 War belief could play.  Psalm 83 makes an allusion to the narrative of Gideon, which leads to a desire to affiliate that Psalm with a call for a "New Gideon", which plays into the Messiah Ben-Joseph concept quite well.

(Update: I've done another post on the Manasseh connection.)

In the Edom=Rome study I talk about how the Eagle was a major Symbol of Rome and became a major Western Symbol from that.  I also talked about how UnBiblical the idea of the Eagle being linked to Dan is, and pointed to passages linking it to Edom.  There is however one interesting Bible Prophecy that can justify linking the Eagle to the Northern Kingdom.  Micah chapter 1 is a Prophecy mainly against Samaria.  At the end in verse 16 it says.
"Make thee bald, and poll thee for thy delicate children; enlarge thy baldness as the eagle; for they are gone into captivity from thee."
The Eagle as I said has been a symbol of The West for centuries.  But the sub-species known as the Bald Eagle is indigenous to the New World, which is why it was chosen to be a specific symbol of the United States of America.   Yet we have here Samaria being represented as a bald eagle in a time long before Columbus.

So I'm not saying The Antichrist certainly will be American, but I think Believers need to be more open to the possibility that he could be.

Satan I believe has been laying the groundwork for every possible option.  And that American politically conservative Christians tend to marry their Faith and their Patriotism is something I consider a major problem.  I call it Patriotic Idolatry, and definitely a form of the Sin of Pergamos.

And while Evangelicals love to preach against Mormon Hersey, they are very surprisingly willing to jump into bed with Mormons politically, when it comes to "Family Values" and other things.  Mormons meanwhile have their Prophecy of a Rider on a White Horse, who'll become both President of the U.S. and Prophet of the Mormon Church at the same time, and "Save" the Constitution when it "hangs by a thread" by creating a Mormon Theocracy.  Regardless of those concerns Evangelicals got behind Mitt Romney in 2012 and I fear may again in 2016.  The Mormons also in-cooperate seeing America as Manasseh into their doctrine, and have even used the Messiah Ben-Joseph concept in their own weird way.

That rant doesn't mean I think it must be a Mormon who becomes an American Antichrist.  That's just one option.

Back during the period just before and after 2000 there was a popular trend of making many independently produced Christian movies depicting the End Times (almost all with Pre-Trib suppositions), and with them were also books.  These works also reflected this dangerous marrying of faith and patriotism, which I've already complained about.  By having the U.S. be one of the few countries who manages to rebel against The Antichrist.

Two of those films go so far as to feature a President of the United States as a Hero standing up against The Antichrist.

First is Megiddo: The Omega Code 2, (a Sequel to the first movie only in having the same actor as it's Antichrist).  That movie even makes it's hero the Antichrist's brother.  Somehow one brother becomes President of the E.U. and the other President of the U.S.

In Left Behind: World At War (based on left over plot-lines of the second book), the President is African American, which I give them credit for.  But also this time he does in fact die in his battle with The Antichrist.

Reason this is significant is that I think there will be a decoy Antichrist (maybe more then one) who will have an adversarial relationship with the real one.  He's The Terrible of The Nations in Ezekiel.  And I argued in my Four Horseman study that I think this individual could be who gives The Antichrist his mortal wound.

I know these authors might hate to think their own works may unwittingly help The Antichrist.  But I'm afraid that may very well happen.