Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Thoughts About the Anti-Christ

As you have read here, there are anti-christ tags pinned all over Obama. That said, I still won't lay down the gauntlet and say he's "the" man of sin. The anti-christ "coincidences" we see all over Obama tell me more about the time we are in than the man Obama is.

We know the bible tells us that the man of sin will be revealed when the restainer is taken out of the way, until then, all people can do is speculate. What we do not have to speculate on is the time we are in. Or another way of saying it is we don't have to speculate about all the signs we are seeing. The signs are everywhere for those with eyes to see. Do we have to know who the man of sin is, or is it enough to know the time of his rising? America has turned virtually overnight from a nation of laws and morals (at least outwardly) to a nation of lawlessness and immorality. Lawlessness is one of the names of anti-christ. I've been hearing the word "transformation" now for years and here we are in the midst of a major transformation. Using the bible to benchmark what we are transforming into allows us to place ourselves on the world timeline. Greed, corruption, lawlessness, rebellion, moral degredation, apostasy, these are the words that best describe our days. Think we are close to the tribulation?

I am convinced that America is Babylon, those who deny this are entitled to their opinions. I've settled it in my own mind, you should settle these kinds of things in yours. Since there are layers of depth and meaning within God's word, I don't think most people (including me) have scratched the surface of what's coming and how it all fits together. When its over, there's a 100% guarantee we will be able to see the the word of God nailed events perfectly, we were just too blind to see the orchestration of all of it. We might not be able to see the view from our commanding general's perspective, but we can see parts and pieces from where we stand.

The parts and pieces I see form a very strong outline of a picture of the tribulation. How the dots all directly connect will be something we look back on an "Ahhhhhh, so that's how it fit." As soldiers, we don't need to see things from the general's perspective, its enough to see things according to the faith and wisdom we have received. There are many descriptions given for anti-christ, he's the "chaldean" the "assyrian" he comes from the people who destroyed the last temple "roman" he's the "man of sin" and the list goes on and on. I suspect when he is revealed, the combination of connections will run from the surface level obvious down to deep and symbolic, it will be all of the above.

With anti-christ signs plastered all over the landscape, what does that mean about the timing of the restrainer being removed? Only the Lord really knows, but there's a reason we are told to be continually watching. What happens when we are always watching? We'll "see" things and not be caught off guard. We are told to be like the wise virgins of Matt 25 who were watching and ready for the bridegroom. Today many people are overcome by the anxieties of life, which is one of the chief things Jesus said would weight down the hearts of many at the time of the escape (luke 21:34-36).

Times get tough and people can get anxious or they can stand on their faith. We will all stand or fall on our faith (or lack of it). I see more and more people "losing their faith" because they feel their prayers are not being answered. Is it any surprise that prayers are not answered when all people want is a spiritual "one night stand" with Jesus? They want him to fix their problems, but they don't want to fix themselves. They want to be blessed, but they don't want any strings attached. They want the world to change but they don't want to change themselves. You still wondering why millions are'nt getting results from their prayers? They ask, but they don't believe they'll receive anything, that's faithless prayer, and people expect that to be effective? Only at the end will all the motives and contents of the hearts of men be laid bare to expose every time the Lord knocked on people's hearts and they turned away. Only the Lord can judge us as individuals, he has all the info ready to review when everything is said and done. Until then, we each know our own hearts and whispers in our hearts and minds that enable us to know what the things we should be doing to please the Creator of all things.

The tribulation will be a time of worldwide testing, and some will be kept from that testing (Rev 3:10), why? They've already been tested and passed the tests. Even now we are being tested. Things are getting tough, where's your faith? Things will get tougher, the faithless are in for a rough ride. I am greatly saddened at all the suffering we see in this world. People forget that this place was cursed from the very beginning, remember the garden of eden? Who messed up, men or God? We did and we've all been paying for it, but our Father did'nt leave us hanging, he sent his own Son to make things right. Yea, we suffer in this world, some more than others, but what is 20, 30 , 40, 50, 100 years of suffering compared to the 999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,
999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,
999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999 years, etc etc etc ETERNITY in paradise?
Really, when we are a couple quadrillion years into eternity is anyone gonna look back and say, man, those 50 years a couple quadrillion years ago were pretty rough? Are you kidding me? Our Father sees the vastness of eternity and what he has planned for those who love him. Men, especially faithless men can only see what's right in front of their face.

Yea, there's evil, there's suffering in this world, but ALL THINGS work together for good for those who love the Creator. Time is short, its important to keep things in perspective. If you have faith the size of a mustard seed you are infinitely more wealthy than any crook on wall street, and your future is much brighter. Remain in Christ, be patient, be faithful. We are saved by grace THROUGH FAITH. You are dearly loved, grace and peace