Fulfilling Prophecy?

A news report I read recently sent my heart racing, and prompted me to write this. I wrote recently a post entitled “Were They Right?” This post dealt with the reformers claim that the Roman Catholic Church was the Antichrist. There is another reformer which I didn’t mention, one which wrote extensively on this very topic, and had visions revealing the truth of the apostasy of the papal church. Her name was Ellen G White. In the late 19th century, at a time when America was still strongly opposed to the Roman church having their forbears only recently escaped the tyranny of European popes and kings, E G White wrote that the time was coming when American protestantism would reach out and clasp the hand of the papal power and join with them in establishing a single world govening authority based on doctrines they had in common, and enforcing worship through the use of financial boycott or economic incentives. You can read the full account of this in “The Great Controversy”.
Meanwhile, the news that captured my attention was the following which to my mind is another sure step in the fulfilment of all White wrote.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/10/24/vatican-calls-for-new-world-economic-order/

http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2011/10/24/vatican-calls-for-global-authority-on-economy/

The Restrainer and the Restrained

The Restrainer, and the Restrained.

Now we beseech you brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him, that ye be not troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of the Lord is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Remember ye not, that when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know what with-holdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way, and then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the Spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming: even him whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

2 Thessalonians 2:1-10

And the Dragon gave him his power, his SEAT, and much authority." Revel. 13:2

The above verses are perhaps, alongside Daniel 7 and Revelation 13, the most significant texts in the entire word of God as to revealing the identity of the Antichrist of scripture.

The Beasts of Daniel…an overview.

The chapter in which these creatures appear is Daniel 7. But to understand the context, one must go back to Daniel 2 where a vision is given and an explanation of the meaning of a statue. It had a head of gold, chest of silver, belly and thighs of brass, legs of iron and feet of iron and clay. Then a rock from heaven comes down and destroys the whole thing.
This statue represented 4 empires to come, beginning from Daniels time, each one superceding the one before, and the final to continue right down to the second coming of Christ, which the rock represents.
The first kingdom was Babylon. The second, Media – persia, the third Greece, and the fourth, Rome. Rome would continue till our day except in a different form. The iron on it’s own was pagan Rome, the mixture of iron and clay is papal Rome. So Rome continues to exist, but as a church/state union.

What happens in chapter 7 is the same pattern of empires but with much greater detail. A lion representing Babylon, a bear representing Media-Persia, a Leaopard representing Greece, and a horrible indescribable beast representing Rome. Out of this last beast grows 10 horns, plus another which grew up among them, and displaces 3 of them.

The Counterfeit God

Isa 14:12-14  How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, that didst weaken the nations!  For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; and I will also sit upon the mount of congregation, in the uttermost parts of the north;   I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;

I will be like the Most High.

Here we have a revelation into the heart and mind of Satan. We are here given insight into his most cherished ambition, to be like God, therefore to receive the worship, adoration and fidelity of his subjects. If anyone has doubt as to whether Satan still cherishes this particular ambition, one need look no further than the temptation of Christ in order to confirm this. Satan offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the earth and their glory, if only Jesus would fall down and worship him. Imagine, the Creator worshiping His creation!!! Although Satan failed in that particular exercise, he has not failed when it comes to enticing man to worship him. I am not speaking here of those who are involved in the occult, or in Satanic rites. No, no. I am speaking of people who consider themselves Christians, those who sincerely believe and are convinced they are worshiping God. Allow me to explain.

The Book of Judges; the Big Picture.

In our church study group, we have been looking at background characters in the OT, such as Caleb, Abigail, Uriah, and Rizpah. Many of the characters we’ve been studying are to be found in the book of Judges, among more renowned characters such as Samuel, Samson, Gideon and Deborah. In my personal study of that particular book of the Bible, a picture formed in my mind of the tremendous potential and promise that the young nation of Israel had so long as they remained faithful to their calling and obedient to their God. The book of Judges in the OT canon is a history of Israel’s emergence as a nation in the Middle East. What could have been a history of victory, of establishment, and one that brought knowledge of the love and power of God to all the nations round about, sadly, turned out quite different. The Bible, if anything at all, is almost brutally honest.

Daniel; Part One.

The following article dwell principally upon the seventh and eighth chapters of the book of Daniel, with a particular focus on identifying the commonly termed “little horn”. The identity of this entity has been the subject of debate and argument for centuries, however, in our day we have been given great light, and we are now able to view history from a perspective unrealised by former Bible students, having the advantage of a more complete panorama  of the history of the empires and kingdoms involved. Also, God Himself has promised in the book of Daniel that readers in the latter days would understand the visions.These visions also hold the key to understanding the book of Revelation, for much information and symbolism is repeated in John’s book, along with an enlarged vision which provides the Bible student with a great deal more insight.

A principle of understanding prophecy, particularly those of Daniels is that later prophecies are repeats of earlier ones, but magnified and inclusive of much  more detail. With that in mind, we shall begin in chapter 2 with the vision King Nebuchadnezzar had of the great statue, and Daniel’s inspired interpretation of it.

Close, very very close…….part 2

This is a follow up to my previous article which was based around Matthew 24:6-10. I would suggest that if you haven’t read that yet, please do so, as it forms the foundation of what is to follow. For those who did read it, as a reminder I would like to provide a brief summary.

We are presently living in a time of intense war and strife. The past 100 years has seen this planet turned into one vast graveyard as a direct result of war, and compounding disasters in every land and continent. Matthew 24:6 and 7 are being played out before our very eyes. And not only nations are at war, but we also witness sectarian violence, terrorism, gang warfare in our local suburbs, and family violence in our homes. So poignant are the words of Jesus when He described the last days as being as the days of Noah, “the earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence” Genesis 6:11.

Israel.

Who is  true Israel? Is it the physical nation fighting for its existence in the Middle East, or is it the spiritual entity we know as the church. And if its the church, which one?

The name “Israel” first appears in the Bible in Genesis 32:28 After a night of wrestling with the heavenly visitor (who I personally believe to be Christ Himself) Jacob prevails in his efforts and his name is changed from Jacob, the deceiver or supplanter, to Israel, meaning he will rule. Jacob has prevailed with God and overcome.

At the time of this event, Jacob was reluctant to face Esau after 20 years of exile and was quite simply terrified of him. His former deception of his father and claim to be Esau was now playing on his conscience and he desired God’s blessing and forgiveness before proceeding. So the ‘Angel’ asks Jacob his name, to which he truthfully replies ‘my name is Jacob’. In this he was confessing his guilt, and God then knew he was a changed man, so gave him a new name that celebrated so to speak his victory over sin, self and his night of wrestling in prayer, the ‘Angel’ saying “for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.”
Israel, as a name therefore represents spiritual victory over sin.

Close, very, very close.

Matthew 24:6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled:for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:
There is a great escalation in verse 7 from the previous verse where war was simply rumour and hearsay. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries the world was full of confidence and great expectation of a coming millennium of peace and safety brought about by very recent remarkable advances in scientific knowledge in industry and medicine. Christianity was held dear by the vast majority of those living in the world, before communism took over in Russia, before the Chinese shut out the missionaries from the west, before Japan turned away the church from their doors.

President Obama and Islam

There has been for some time much debate over President Obama’s relationship with Islam. The controversy received some added impetus last year around August when Obama expressed admiration for Islamic culture and architecture.

As for his admiration of Islamic culture and architecture etc, I have no problem with that.  Syrian Christian communities worshiped in domed churches 5oo years before Islam. Nor do I have a problem with the presence of Muslims in America, (or in NZ for that matter.) We as Christians demand freedom for ourselves to worship according to the dictates of our conscience, should we not extend that same freedom to others? America was founded by way of escape from European royal and papal oppression, yet the constitution made provision for that very same freedom they strove for to be extended to their former enemies, and the huge influx of Irish in particular and other European immigrants of Catholic heritage was a just and fair outcome.