Monday, May 02, 2011

The Antichrist Series - Introduction:

The Antichrist Series
Introduction:
By de Andréa

April 2, 2011

Sometime ago I promised you a teaching on the “‘Whole’ Word of God as it applies to Islam”. Where will the biblical Antichrist come from, when, and who will it be. Will it come out of the Nations of Islam, or as many Christian theologians have taught in the past, out of the European Union as the revived Roman Empire.

Even though some will shy away, and/or, are afraid to look at this, prophesies for the end of this age, in both the Old and New Testaments are clearly an important part of the Christian and the Jewish scriptures. But out of fear or ignorance, it seems to be generally missing from the Christian church, or described and treated as irrelevant and unimportant or at least a low priority.

Even if you don’t think of yourself as a Christian, this is still an important lesson to learn. Your life and the lives of your children may depend on it. You will clearly see what and how the current events of wars, rumors of wars, accelerated natural catastrophes, diseases, pestilence, and most relevant today, the positioning of power in the U.S. and the Middle East was prophesied beginning more than three thousand years ago.

Since this is the first in a numbered series of articles on this subject, all with the Title “The Antichrist Series” as well as an appropriate chapter number and title, you might want to create a file folder and/or print them out as they are published, and share them with family and friends.

A note of warning


As with any Biblical teaching, I strongly suggest that you test this teaching by looking up the appropriate scripture. All Biblical teaching must be tested by the word of God, then you decide weather or not this is a true an important teaching and application for today.

The ignorance of the Whole Word of God
Over the centuries the Christian Church has been fractured by the ignorance of not accepting the ‘Whole’ Word of God. First it was the corruption of the Catholic Church, which was the result of misinterpretations and the denial of certain parts of Biblical truth, and in some cases the overt fabrications by the early Christian Church. Then after the Reformation we saw the division of the Protestant Church because of truth splitting, or the outright disregarding and the degradation of certain truths, and/or parts of truths that seemed contradictory.

Even to focus, as many denominations do, on just one truth or just one part of Gods Word at the expense of the rest, (this is indecently what lead to the division in the first place) causes an imbalance in the Christian experience leading to ignorance and deception, which in these current and uncertain times becomes more an more important to understand.

Because of the ignorance of biblical teaching and deceptive theology, and to rectify an imbalance and lack of teaching of End time’s prophecy I am introducing this mostly avoided subject of the Antichrist. To ignorantly turn a blind eye to this part of Gods word is to ignore a significantly important part of Biblical truth. Up to 25% of the Old and New Testament is devoted in some way to the return of Jesus Christ the Messiah. My stern argument in support of the inclusion of this part of God Words in the life of a Christian ‘is’; ‘if this were not important, God wouldn’t have devoted so much time and effort to advising us about the events leading up to His return’. I thoroughly believe that He fully intended us to be watchful and prepared, and one cannot be properly prepared of one is ignorant of the truth.

Identifying true Biblical Eschatology


In the past, theologians have mistakenly looked for Biblical support for current events by attempting to prove that we were approaching the end of this age by taking future projections of current events, politics, philosophy, and sociology and trying to connect them to Biblical prophecy. This has historically proven to be a dead end and has led to confusion and false predictions as in the “putting the proverbial cart before the horse”.

So what I am going to attempt is, a Biblical study of End Times Prophecy and then make the observation of current events to see if in fact the pieces of the Biblical puzzle will fit --- thereby putting the truth before the application, or the horse in front of the cart if you will. I suggest you do the same as we move through this study.

As the title suggests I will focus on that part of scripture surrounding the events relating to the Biblical Antichrist. Where he comes from, who he is, etc, this would include of course the false prophet and those countries that will ultimately attack Israel before the return of Jesus Christ Himself. This will hopefully dispel some of the theological myths that have proven to do nothing but confuse and cause distrust in Biblical interpretation. Although one cannot refrain from this completely, I believe the less interpretation the less chance of error.

Embracing Biblical Eschatology:


Eschatology or the study of End-times Prophecy may be on your back burner, or it may even be on the backburner of your church. Or, it may not even be on your stove. If this is the case, you might want to consider what the Bible has to say about the ‘End of This Age”. In Matthew 24, as Jesus describes the last days, in verses 32- 34, He says that the fig tree "budding" will be the sign that this generation will not pass away until these things take place, meaning His return. Most theologians agree that the fig tree represents Israel, with this in mind; it clearly states that when the Jews return to their country from the four corners of the earth, not a generation shall pass before the return of Jesus Christ. Supporting scripture that the ‘fig tree represents Israel is Hosea 9:10, and Jeremiah 24:1-10, and Luke 13:6-9 all describe Israel with the metaphor of a "fig tree".

If you can remember your history this far back, the Jews began to return to Israel in 1929 and are continuing to return to this day. In 1948, Israel was established as a State and Jews are continuing to pour into the land of their father’s everyday. Moreover they are truly returning from parts of the earth that one would not expect. On September 2, 2007 for example, I p published an article titled Lost Tribe Of Isrial about a tribe of nearly 7000 people in the north east of India where the religion of Buddhism began, they look like a cross between Chinese and Indian. Speaking Hebrew and keeping all the early traditions of Judaism, they didn’t even know that they were from a lost tribe and descendants of the captive Jews from the Old Persian Empire now mostly Iran. They have now all immigrated to Israel. But we must not stop there, in the early 1970’s another part of a lost tribe was discovered in Ethiopia (the Biblical land of Cush) all keeping the traditions of Judaism. An even larger group of black African Jews with an cemetery dating back hundreds of years displaying the Star of David, Jewish scrolls of the Torah and wearing Jewish traditional garb. There are still more than 12,000 of them in Ethiopia trying to get to Israel. This is truly the Biblical prophecy of Isaiah, coming to fruition.

Some people think there are more pertinent and more relevant issues to attend to than studying Eschatology. They think we should be about the work of ministering to the immediate needs of the people around us, rather than staring out at the clouds or out into a distant and uncertain future. But what if the reality of the present, were the beginning of the times leading up to Jesus return. What if we were in the END TIMES RIGHT NOW, wouldn’t it be relevant, wouldn’t it be meeting the immediate needs of the people in preparing them for Jesus return? I think one would have to agree that at least it might be worth taking a closer look.

What started me on this look to the future is the response I received from an article that I published on February 2, 2011 titled “Islam The Biblical Antichrist” You might want to read it.

Watch for next in “The Antichrist Series” The Preface…

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