Years ago, there was written a book that prophesied that the anti-Christ would be a man who at the time was coming to power in Germany, a man named Adolph Hitler. To be sure, Hitler fulfilled many of the descriptions of the anti-Christ. As it turns out, however, he did not fulfill all of them, and while some may disagree, he was clearly not the anti-Christ.
The point of mentioning that is to caution us against interpreting scripture beyond what the scripture plainly says. As soon as we begin saying, “This is what it must mean,” then we have gone too far. The Bible itself warns us to neither add to, nor subtract from, the actual words of the text
The Bible also tells us that the spirit of anti-Christ is
already in the world. That being the
case, we should not be surprised that present-day events, as well as events
from history, can foreshadow what is later to happen. The Old Testament in many places foreshadows
the Messiah Jesus.
Looking at it in this way, and being careful not to claim Biblical authority, we can make certain educated guesses as to how present-day events are portents of the End Times. Those days may yet be far in the future, or much sooner than that, but in either case, we should keep in mind what the Bible tells us about those future times.
It tells us of future calamities, both natural and manmade. Of those that are manmade, there will be wars, and rumors of war. It tells us of the rise to power of a man who will rule the world, for a time. Many dictators have fulfilled some of the characteristics of the anti-Christ, but even the very worst of them will not be as evil, nor as powerful, as the anti-Christ.
One of the more relevant passages of the Bible tells us that no one will be able to buy, nor sell, save him that has the mark of the beast. Are we seeing fore-shadowing of that, today? As government grows in power, it increasingly controls who can participate in the economy. Government can shut down businesses almost on a whim. No one can do business without a license of some sort, or if not that, then he must be in compliance with so many rules and regulations that no one can keep track of them all.
The Bible tells us that the anti-Christ will be a great speaker, and large numbers of people will be swayed by his words.
When the dominion of the anti-Christ collapses, it will lead to devastation and death. War, starvation and disease will take a terrible toll. Passages in the Bible also resemble technologies that we do not yet have, but many of which are already (so to speak) on the drawing board.
Some people believe that the collapse of the evil reign of the anti-Christ will come about when Jesus returns, but my personal belief is that the evil society will collapse of its own weight, of its own evil. Inner rot will consume it. All manner of sin and perversion will destroy society from within. The Bible tells us that no flesh would survive, except that they will be rescued, apparently at the darkest hour, with the return of Jesus.
I must close by reminding the reader that I have no Biblical authority, and that my words should be checked against what the Bible actually says. Perhaps you will partly agree with my opinions, but in any case, I think it entirely reasonable to say that we must prepare for the worst—prepare both physically and spiritually, so that when we are called upon, we will serve Jesus as He would have us to do.
-
-
No comments:
Post a Comment