Apocolyptic Madness

In just about a month we'll be having a change of administrations in the United States. I have to admit a sense of curiosity about where the Obama Administration will lead us over the next 4 years. Personally, I think Obama will be just another politician and whatever philosophy he has will play second fiddle to his desire to keep power and be reelected. Of course there are others who hope Obama will be a messiah type figure who can save America, bringing us out of the despair of the Bush years and into a time of hope. Good luck to that.

There are also those who actually think Obama is the anti-christ. Some, fortunately not most, in Christian circles think that the stars are alligned correctly and now is the sure time for the apocolypse to begin. Throughout the ages Christians have often said that we are living in the "end times." The conditions of the world being so bad that Jesus must be set to return soon. Interestingly enough Christians always point to an anti-Christ figure arriving on the scene (in this case Obama) who will charm and deceive the world, and this will set the stage for the "great tribulation" period which will result in all sorts of bad things to occur.

Pretty strong assumptions then to make if you think Obama is the anti-Christ. I got a question? Whenever you wish to know something about a particular subject that is of great importance, who do you go to for help? Could it be someone with expertise? I find it distressing that so many people who use the bible to gather information about the future too often try to interpret obscure things without first looking at things are are plain and clear. Take the anti-Christ concept for instance. Did you know that in the new testament the bible only uses the word anti-Christ twice and it is used in the present tense and in the plural. Does this not make it plain that God is telling His people that in the first century many anti-Christs are present and working to attack and deceive God and His church. This is the plain meaning of the text and is it not advisable to interpret texts in the most logical way?

So what does this mean about an anti-Christ person. Does an actual person exists who is greatly powerful and influential that will exert great destruction on the church in the future? I take it that this is a reference to the book of "Revelation" and the "Beast" figure that is spoken of within its pages; one that makes reference to his number being 666. All kinds of things are mentioned in this ominous book; wars, earthquakes, terror, death, persecution. And I do believe Revelation does speak of a particular person who is a type of anti-Christ. However there is one problem with equating Obama with this person. The Beast of Revelation, at least in the plain meaning of the text, is speaking of an event that takes place shortly after John is exiled to the island of Patmos. The events that take place during that time (which is a future event, at least in the sense that it is in the future from the perspective of John) speaks about events that happened to Christians right up until the destruction of the Jewish temple in 70 a.d. In fact, a prominent Jewish eyewitness historian "Josephus" writes clearly about that time and it is right in line with how the book of Revelation documents it. And you know who was a central figure during that time to delighted in persecuting and killing Christians? That was Nero whose name in ancient Hebrew spelling placed into Hebrew gematria; converting letters into numbers is 666.

Am I certain that the anti-Christ was Nero? No, but it sure is a heck of a lot more plausible than Barrack Obama and other past figures like Stalin, Hitler, Hussein, or whoever else might dawn of future horizons.