Worshipping the Image of the Beast
Posted by: Joe Haynes in In the News on November 23rd, 2009
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Herman Von Rompuy has just been appointed the first ever permanent President of the European Union. It’s no wonder that this news causes a stir among a large segment of Christians in North America who subscribe to a view of the end of the world known as “Dispensationalism”, or, more commonly, the “pre-trib rapture view”. It’s even less surprising that when Von Rompuy, in his first big speech, made mention of “global government” and “global management of our planet”, certain Dispensationalist sensationalists saw all kinds of “red flags”, portens of the “one world government” they expect before the coming of the arch-enemy of the Church, the Antichrist. (Just so you know, I actually respect Jerome Corsi, the author mentioned in the above link. But I think his work on this topic is a misinterpretation of the Bible and that its sensationalistic flavour feeds certain extremist elements in the Christian Church.)
What did President Herman Von Rompuy actually say? Here’s the video:
Okay, so all he really said was that the current financial crisis was the occasion of the establishment of a G-20 response… what he called “global governance”… by which it seems he meant “global governance” of the financial crisis. Similarly, when he mentioned “global management of our planet”, it was in the context of talking about the Copenhagen Conference, and seems to be a reference to “global management of our planet” with respect to the environment.
I think both of those (global governance of the financial crisis and global management of the environment) are terrible ideas. They seem to undermine local national sovereignty (which I think is a great idea!). I want to be governed by a government that I elect, a government formed from my own countrymen, ruling with respect to the laws of the country I live in. I don’t want some European deciding how much fuel I can put in what kind of car so that I can commute to work and earn a foreign currency to spend however the EU or some foreign legislative body determines I should spend it. I’m Canadian. I like my flag with the maple leaf on it, thank you very much. I’m also Baptist in my heritage and convictions (Second London Baptist Confession of Faith, 1689), and I value local autonomy, for local churches and individual countries!
But Von Rompuy isn’t the Antichrist. The Westminster Confession of Faith identifies the Popes of Rome as the Antichrist–and I think those guys were correct. It makes better sense of the various Bible prophecies than expecting a single individual to be the arch-enemy of the Church. Especially an individual living so long after the Antichrist was due–at the demise of the Roman Empire and the rise of 10 European kingdoms that replaced it in the West.
And just because liberal elites like Von Rompuy and his socialist friends scheme and plan how to centralize international control of things like the environment and the global economy doesn’t mean that they are setting up an evil Antichristian Empire to usher in the end of days. All it means is that they are worshipping an ideology patterned after the Roman Empire. They are enamoured with fantasies of recreating the Imperial Senate of Rome.
In Revelation 13 & 17, as well as in Daniel 2 & 7, the Roman Empire is the fourth and final monolithic Empire to rule Western Europe. Upon its demise a ten-fold commonwealth of kingdoms is predicted to emerge, with a partly political and partly ecclesial kingdom rising to leadership among them. This occured when the Roman Empire fell, finally, in 476 AD and within a bit more than a century, the territory of Western Europe saw the emergence of 10 barbarian kingdoms–the precursors of the same number of nations that exist within those boundaries today. During much of their history–more or less the period sometimes called the “Dark Ages”–the City-State ruled by the Popes, dominated those ten kingdoms.
In Revelation 13 and 17 and in Daniel 7, the Empire of Rome is called “the beast”. When socialist elites today fantasize and scheme to recreate Rome’s glory through the establishment of the European Union, the G-20, the Copenhagen Conference, etc., etc., they are literally worshipping the picture, the form and shape and image of the Beast:
Revelation 13:14-15 by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast it deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived. And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain.
It’s an old cult, this worship of the image of the beast, the idolatry of Roman forms of government. Not new at all. And Christ has already conquered the beast, its worshippers, the Hell they will endure forever and the death their sins (and ours) have earned. So don’t fear the Antichrist, his government, or Obama. Fear God, worship His Son, Jesus, and put your trust in His death and resurrection as the Substitute for sinners.
Even Chuck Norris Is Afraid of Obama’s “One-World Government”
Posted by: Joe Haynes in In the News on October 26th, 2009
Famous movie-star, martial arts expert and political columnist, Chuck Norris, recently wrote a column on WND warning readers about the implications of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, to be held in Copenhagen this coming December. Bottom line? He’s afraid.
I was in a small-group Bible study this past weekend in which a member expressed similar fears that Obama is working towards a “one world government”. I’ve got to admit that the socialist, even communist, ideology that seems to motivate Obama is scary. And yes, democracy, freedom, national sovereignty (for all nations), opportunity for hard work and religious freedoms, all of these are threatened by what seems to be the agenda of the Copenhagen coference and what sure looks like Obama’s agenda. But why do people give voice to this fear under the label, “one world government”?
The reason, I think, is the wide acceptance of the theological views most popularly expressed in the Left Behind series of novels and movies. The actual perspective is known as “Pre-Tribulational Dispensationalism”. This perspective sees the Bible as teaching a series of dispensations under which God arranges His dealings with humanity throughout history. The “Pre-Tribulational” part of the label refers to the belief that the final dispensation is ushered in by the invisible coming of Christ to Earth just before a world-wide “tribulation” (pre-tribulational) breaks out against Christians.
Very common among writers who hold this view is the belief that the mastermind behind this world-wide tribulation will be a global dictator, the “Antichrist”, and leader of a “one-world government”. The thing of it is that no such “one-world government” is described in Bible prophecy anywhere.
For instance, in Daniel 2, the Bible predicts that starting in about the year 600 BC (2600 years ago), the nation of the Jews will be dominated by a succession of Empires: 1. Babylon, 2. Medo-Persia, 3. Greece, and 4. (though not named) Rome. In that prophecy, the Roman Empire is foreseen to break up into a commonwealth of 10 inferior kingdoms. This happened within about a century-and-a-half of the collapse of the Roman Empire in 476 AD. I’ve written in some detail about this already in a previous post. The point is that from the early “Middle Ages” until the present day, that same territory exclusively ruled by the Roman Empire (not the Greek, Medo-Persian, or Babylonian Empires) still included 10 nations.
Daniel 7 adds some detail to this foreview of world history by explaining that a single religious-political ruler will emerge who will have great influence and power over this commonwealth of 10 nations. Revelation 13 also pictures this. We often call this religious-political ruler “the Antichrist”–though he’s not named that in either book of the Bible. But even if we go along with the use of the name, “Antichrist”, we still find no indication whatsoever that he ever is predicted to rule over a “one world government”.
I don’t really care that lots of people believe a “one world government” is coming though they’ve paid very little attention to studying the relevant Bible passages. But I do care that in looking ahead so intently for the emergence of the Boogeyman a great many Christians are blind to the much more serious and close-at-hand threat presented by the real “Antichrist”, the Popes of Rome. It’s not that Christians around the globe are in danger of being persecuted by the Pope. Hardly. It’s that the Gospel message proclaimed by Christians around the globe is constantly attacked by the counterfeit “Christianity” of the Roman Catholic Church, and the self-proclaimed leader of the Christian Faith.
A read through Augustine’s City of God is a more effective vaccine for fuzzy Christian thinking about the distinction between politics and the mission of the Church than Obama’s H1N1 vaccine is for the Swine Flu. Augustine can help Christians to see that our main mission is not to defend religious freedoms and democracy, but to preach the Gospel. We can be good citizens and pray for our political leaders, yes, but when we begin to demonize them we run the risk of being distracted from our mission as the Church of Christ. We can and must pray for and seek the welfare of “The City of Man”, but we are first and foremost citizens of “The City of God.” Therefore, our real enemy is not Obama or the UN or some fictional future leader of a “one world government”. Our real enemy is the enemy of the Gospel. We call him “Satan”, and the counterfeit Christianity we call, “Roman Catholicism” is his pawn (as is every other counterfeit form of Christianity that has spawned from the Roman “church”).
Let’s pray for the success of the Gospel while also doing our part. Let’s also pray for the welfare of the City of Man and the leaders God has set up in it. But let’s not get distracted from our spiritual mission by political science-fiction masquerading as biblical teaching.
By the way, I still love Chuck Norris’ column.
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What the Dutch & English have in common
Posted by: Joe Haynes in In the Bible on September 17th, 2009
I recently received emails from two individuals both wanting some explanation on related verses in Revelation. One was about the “mystery of God” and the “little scroll” and the other was about the destruction of the tenth of the “city” and the “seven thousands of people”.
The “little scroll” of Revelation 10:11 has long fascinated me. I enjoyed so much the light that Dr. Collins shed on the subject in his commentary The Final Prophecy of Jesus (see sidebar). I had read through E.B. Elliott’s comments on this verse in Horae Apocalypticae (a 19th century classic), but it was a bit difficult to get right down to the key point of what Elliott was saying in his rather extended argument. Collins was much more succinct and therefore helpful for getting my head around the idea.
So this week when I needed to reply to these two questions emailed to me about related verses in Revelation, I was able to draw on what I have learned from Colllins and then also go back to Elliott for further detail. The following is taken in part from those emails.
In a nutshell, the “little scroll” introduced in Revelation 10:2, 8-10, is an additional self-contained prophecy parallel to the structured vision of the rest of Revelation. This additional prophecy explains with more detail than ever before, how “the mystery of God would be fulfilled, just as he announced to his servants the prophets” (Rev 10:7).
The additional prophecy “about many peoples and nations and languages and kings” (verse 11) is going to explain the “mystery of God”: what follows Revelation 10:11, i.e., chapters 11-14, is this “additional prophecy” (see Rev 10:11) that will explain the old mysterious prophecy in Daniel 7:19-28 and that, when it is fulfilled in history, will be finally understood by God’s people. The prophecies of Rev 11-14 predict in great detail the persecution of God’s “saints” who remain, the “two witnesses” which are symbolic of the remaining few Christians after a period of persecution, but who continue to testify to the Gospel even though the enemy of the Church tries to stop them (chapter 11); the Satanic power at work trying to destroy the Gospel-preaching Church but through which God protects and preserves a remnant of His people (chapter 12), and the rise of the ultimate weapon of Satan, the Antichrist, who wages all-out warfare against Christians for “forty-two months”, who is temporarily allowed by God to have authority over “every tribe and people and language and nation” (Rev 13:7, c.f. Rev 10:11). In a nutshell, these prophecies were fulfilled as the secular Roman Empire (which was predicted by the “fourth beast” in Daniel 7, and lasted from about 168 BC to 476 AD), gave way to an alliance of 10 European kingdoms (the “ten horns”) that inherited the land of the western part of the Roman Empire after its collapse and had as their leader the Pope of Rome (the other horn in Dan 7:20-21; the “beast” in Rev 13:5, which we call “The Antichrist”) for about 1,260 YEARS (approximately 606 AD to 1866 AD), or “42 months” of years (each day in the prophecy is fulfilled as a year in history). That’s the low-down on the contents of the “little scroll” introduced in Rev 10:2ff.
This helps us understand how to interpret the results of the “great earthquake” in Revelation 11:13. Since “mysterious” vision in Daniel, explained in detail in the “little scroll” section of Revelation chapters 10-14, is about the Antichrist/Beast with ten horns who persecutes Christians, then we have two big clues to decipher verse 13 of chapter 11.
Revelation 11:13 13 And at that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.
An “earthquake” in biblical symbolism generally refers to a great upheaval among people–usually some sort of political upheaval. The upheaval in this case refers to some great political disturbance among the people living in Antichrist’s revived, 10-fold, Roman Empire. As most of my readers should know by now, the “10-fold Roman Empire” refers to the “new and improved” Roman Empire under the rule of the Popes of Rome after the last of the Caesars, and the old pagan Roman Empire, had been conquered by Germanic tribes. This revived Roman Empire drew its power from the allegiance of 10 European kingdoms, pictured in the prophecy as ten horns on the head of the beast (the beast represents the Roman Empire and its head). So an earthquake among them is a political upheaval or uprising that shakes the 10 European kingdoms under the rule of the Pope. The Protestant Reformation of the 16th century fits this description.
This sheds some light on the meaning of the words, “and a tenth of the city fell.” 1/10th of the “city” (see Revelation 17:18) is one of the ten horns, or ten European kingdoms, which supported the Roman Catholic Church (the “city”). The obvious question to ask at this point is, “What was the first European kingdom to rebel against the Roman Catholic Church and fall away from the Pope’s rule like a ‘horn falling off a beast’s head’?” The answer is England. Under Edward VI, England officially turned Protestant in 1550. There were a couple of bumps in the road along the way to becoming a stable and permanent Protestant country and Elizabeth’s rule greatly helped English Protestants to throw off papal control for good. You can almost hear the sound of the horn cracking and falling off the head of the Roman Beast.
Coat of Arms of the Republic of the Seven Netherlands
Finally, what about the “seven thousand people” killed in the earthquake? As I’ve said, the earthquake was the 15th century Protestant Reformation, and the fall of the 1/10th of the city was the breakaway of Protestant England. The “seven thousand people” must have something to do with those events as well. The normal way to express a number in Greek, like 7,000, would be to say “seven thousand” not “seven thousands” with the plural noun “thousands”. As is common in Revelation, the idea is borrowed from the Old Testament, where the word for “thousand” (elef) also means “tribes” or “tribal provinces” (as in the “tribes of Israel” Numbers 10:4). This seems to be because originally the division of the people of Israel was into groups of “thousands” (elef) which eventually grew into much bigger numbers and inherited fixed territories after the conquest of Canaan. So the old word for “thousands” eventually came to mean “provinces”. That’s how it should be understood in Revelation 11:13. Similar to the fall of one of the “ten kingdoms” of Europe, we see next a prediction of the fall of 7 provinces. The idea that seven provinces are “killed” is from the perspective of the Roman Beast–these provinces which were once part of the beast become dead to the beast by a violent tearing away. This happened in an incredible fulfillment of the detail of this prophecy in 1579 when the seven provinces of the Netherlands signed the “Union of Utrecht” and later formally declared independence from Catholic Spain in 1581, forming the Protestant Republic of the Seven United Netherlands.
What a great and Sovereign God we serve that He is able to show His servants what would happen centuries before, with incredible detail and proportion, and then bring it to fulfillment. God is truly deserving of all praise and glory.
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The Islamic Antichrist?
Posted by: Joe Haynes in In the Bible on August 31st, 2009
In a World Net Daily article titled, “‘Evangelical’ Christians now thanking Allah” the author of The Islamic Antichrist, Joel Richardson, criticizes Emergent Church pastor, Brian MacLaren for encouraging believers to celebrate the Islamic holiday Ramadan. It amazes me that any Christian, especially a pastor like Brian MacLaren who should know better, would join with Muslims in celebrating the origins of the Quran (that’s what Ramadan is about). And so I’m with Richardson on this point. I firmly believe in showing hospitality to Muslims and developing warm friendships with those of all faiths. But for me to ask a Muslim to celebrate with me the true meaning of Easter (i.e., Passover) is to ask a Muslim to deny his faith. Likewise, for me to join in celebrating with a Muslim the true meaning of Ramadan is to ask me to deny my faith. It just so happens that the Christian faith is true and God-given while the Muslim faith is based on a demonic deception (hint: the spirit who revealed the Quran to Mohammed wasn’t actually Gabriel as he claimed–that spirit’s real name started with “S” and ended with “atan”). And so what Christians should be aiming at in extending hospitality to Muslims is the salvation of their souls through faith in Jesus Christ.
But this same article on WND goes on to promote Richardson’s book by quoting,
The Bible abounds with proofs that the Antichrist’s empire will consist only of nations that are, today, Islamic… Despite the numerous prevailing arguments for the emergence of a revived European Roman empire as the Antichrist’s power base, the specific nations the Bible identifies as comprising his empire are today all Muslim.
The article continues,
Richardson believes the key error of many previous prophecy scholars involves the misinterpretation of a prediction by Daniel to Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel describes the rise and fall of empires of the future, leading to the end times. Western Christians have viewed one of those empires as Rome, when, claims Richardson, Rome never actually conquered Babylon and was thus disqualified as a possibility.
According to the article, Richardson postulates that the Messianic figure expected by many Muslims called “the Mahdi” is one-and-the-same as the Bible’s predicted “Antichrist”. There are many reasons, from Scripture, why a Christian should reject this speculation. But the first reason springs from Richardson’s own assertion that since Rome never actually conquered Babylon, Rome could not therefore be the fourth empire predicted by Daniel in the interpretation of King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in Daniel 2. However nothing in the text of Daniel 2 indicates that the fourth empire must conquer Babylon.
For instance, in verse 39, Daniel explains that “another kingdom inferior to [Babylon] shall arise after [the Babylonian empire].” The only qualifier is that the second empire would be “after,” and “inferior to,” the Babylonian. The rise of the the third empire is predicted next in verse 39: “…and yet a third kindom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth.” Here we could make an argument that to “rule over all the earth” it would also be necessary for this kingdom to have conquered Babylon. But the word for “earth” in the Hebrew Bible, “eretz” can also be translated “ground” as in dirt, or “land”. (This is much the same way as ”earth” has a range of meanings in English: the sentence, “the seed took root in the earth” does not have the concept of the whole globe in mind at all, but only a local patch of soil.) However, the qualifiers “…and yet a third” and “of bronze” point out that this empire would come after the second in order and have something characteristic of bronze about it (though the “bronze” may just indicate that it is inferior in quality to its “silver” predecessor). The next empire is predicted in verse 40: “And there shall be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron, because iron breaks to pieces and shatters all things. And like iron that crushes, it shall break and crush all these.” No mention about conquering Babylon directly. The most important qualifier here is that it shall be the “fourth” in order. Also it is said to be an empire “strong as iron”.
How should we understand the fulfillment of this prophecy? By reviewing a little history. Babylon, the first of these empires, ruled from about 603 to 538 BC. The next empire (the one that did actually conquer and overtake the Babylonian empire) was an empire of the Medes and the Persians combined–sometimes called Medo-Persia. It lasted from about 559 to 330 BC. The third empire, the one that replaced and overtook the Persian empire, was Greece. Under Alexander the Great, the Greek empire overthrew the Persian empire to become the third great empire in the fulfillment of this prophecy. The territory conquered by Alexander was so vast that the description of ruling “over all the earth” is appropriate. To identify the fourth empire we’ve seen that the main question must be, “What empire came next? And did this next empire overthrow not Babylon, but Greece?” The answer is Rome and yes it did overthrow Greece to rule as an empire from about 168 BC to 476 AD.
But Richardon’s other important assertion is that all of the countries identified with the Antichrist are today Islamic countries. Let’s see if this is right.
Daniel chapter seven contains a prophecy that is in many respects parallel to the one we’ve looked at in Daniel 2. Verses 1-12 detail a vision that the prophet Daniel had in which he saw four “beasts” rise up on the Earth, one after another, each one overthrowing the previous beast. In verse 12, after seeing the fourth beast destroyed, Daniel notes, “As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but their lives were prolonged for a season and a time.” In verse 17, an angel explains the “beasts” to Daniel saying, “These four great beasts are four kings who shall arise out of the earth.” And a little later in verse 23, the angel adds, “As for the fourth beast, there shall be a fourth kingdom on earth, which shall be different from all the kingdoms…” So we see that these four “beasts” represent four kingdoms–just like the prophecy of empires in chapter 2. And the four kingdoms are, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome.
But as each “beast” / empire conquers the one before it, it doesn’t completely annhilate its predecessor. Verse 12 said that each of the first three beasts lose their “dominion” but continue alive. So what is actually happening in the prophecy is that the seat of ruling power is moving, from Babylon to Persia, to Greece and finally, to Rome. What’s so interesting about chapter 7’s prophecy is that the fourth beast, Rome, isn’t conquered like the others were. Instead Daniel foresees a new seat of power grow up out of the Roman Empire–it’s still Roman in essence but it is not unified like the original Roman Empire was. Daniel sees, in verse 7, that Rome, the fourth beast, “had ten horns…and behold, there came up among them another horn…” The same angel explains this to Daniel in verse 24 and following: “As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom (the fourth beast, the Roman Empire) ten kings shall arise, and another shall arise after them… He shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High… and they shall be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time.”
In short, this means that out of the Roman Empire 10 smaller kingdoms would emerge with an eleventh “kingdom”, “different from the former ones” (verse 24) taking leadership among them and persecuting “the saints of the Most High” for a period of time. This eleventh horn that persecutes the sainst is identified by many Christian commentators as “The Antichrist”. The real question here is how to identify these other ten horns. Are they Islamic countries like Richardson contends?
Well, first of all, where do they exist? To answer that we need to pay attention to one verse while keeping another one in mind. Notice that verse 24 says, “out of this kingdom (which we see is the Roman Empire) ten kings shall arise”. So the 10 kingdoms that are associated under the Antichrist’s leadership come “out of” the Roman Empire. Now the Roman Empire in its zenith was big. It stretched from England to Egypt and from Spain to Palestine. Richardson’s right: it never did conquer Babylon. So obviously we need to try and identify the “ten kingdoms” that come “out of” the Roman Empire by searching within the boundaries that the Roman Empire did include–not outside those boundaries. But actually, we have to narrow our search even more. We need to keep in mind verse 12 which ads the detail that the bodies of the other three beasts/empires are still around though they don’t dominate any more. So the ten horns cannot include any countries that were ever part of those first three empires: the horns cannot be found in the old territory that was ruled by Babylon, by Persia, or by Greece. This means that when we are looking to identify the ten kingdoms that rose up out of Rome, we have to confine our search to those countries West of Greece that were part of the Roman Empire. This leaves a fairly small territory–the area we call Western Europe. The boundaries of that part of the Roman Empire ran along the Mediterranean Sea on the South, the Atlantic Ocean on the West, through the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Austria on the North (since Rome never actually conquered Germany), and on the East along Italy’s border with Greece.
Today this territory includes, not by coincidence, TEN COUNTRIES. They are not Islamic countries (yet). They are post-Christian countries which at one time all fell under the leadership of the Pope who ruled from Rome after the fall of the Roman Empire (incidentally, this means that the Popes of Rome are the eleventh horn, which we call the “Antichrist”). These countries are Italy, Austria, Switzerland, France, the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Luxemburg, Belgium, Spain and Portugal.
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The Problem with Preterism
Posted by: Joe Haynes in In the Bible on July 2nd, 2009
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Ask a preterist about preterism and he will talk about Nero, the fall of Jerusalem and Matthew 24.
But ask an historicist about preterism and he will argue that the book of Revelation was written in A.D. 96 during the reign of Emperor Domitian.
The above quote is the introduction to a new article, available on Historicism.com’s “Matt24.com” feature section, written by Midnight Oil Ministries. Read more here!
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The Bear Goes (a little bit farther) South?
Posted by: Joe Haynes in In the News on June 29th, 2009
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An article on WND.com Saturday, June 27 2009, suggests that Russia’s impending military excercises in the Caucases could be a staging ground for an invasion, and take-over, of Georgia:
Moscow has drawn a new “red line” in its confrontation with the regime of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili by calling for its end, just as Russia is preparing for its annual military exercise – which last year was used to invade Georgia, according to a report in Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.
In a previous blog post, I drew attention to the fact that Moscow is “on-record” with ambitions to acquire control of energy resources in the Middle East. It would not be surprising if control of Georgia, and its strategic location in terms of oil extraction and delivery, is a first-step toward a plan for Russian regional dominance. From a biblical prophecy point of view, Gog (Ezekiel 38) would have to go through Georgia to get to Israel.
The Georgian Times reports concern among parliamentary leaders over Moscow’s intentions:
Georgian lawmakers say the Kremlin is following its plan and [trying] to involve Georgia in a new conflict. The MPs also do not rule out the possibility of a new aggression from Russia against Georgia.
This news comes nearly a year after a five-day war broke out last August between Russia and Georgia, in which Moscow siezed control of the Georgian province of South Ossetia.
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North Korea Preparing to Launch ICBM Capable of Hitting Alaska…or Jerusalem
Posted by: Joe Haynes in In the News on June 1st, 2009
A story on FoxNews today carried this headline:
Gates: North Korea Prepared to Launch Missile Capable of Hitting Alaska
They say this missile has a range of around 4000 miles. That seems to put Jerusalem within firing range. I’m not saying that’s what North Korea is going to do. I’m just saying that if Pyongyang is working with Iran then nothing would surprise me.
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Irish Government Punishing Catholic Orders for Lying about Abuse & Wealth
Posted by: Joe Haynes in In the News on May 28th, 2009
- Image by AFP/Getty Images via Daylife
Associated Press ran this story yesterday: “Catholic orders plead poverty in Irish abuse“…
DUBLIN – The Catholic orders responsible for abusing Ireland’s poorest children say they’re struggling to come up with money to help their victims. Yet investigations into their net worth paint a very different picture — that of nuns and brothers with billions’ worth of carefully sheltered assets worldwide.
Back in about the year 2000 one of my uncles told me to expect a worldwide eruption of scandal and public backlash against the Roman Catholic Church targetting her morality and her money. He based his predictions on a) the conviction that all of Revelation up to chapter 18 was now history (i.e., fulfilled prophecy) and, b) that Revelation 18 predicts the humiliation of the Roman Catholic Church (”Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!” – Rev 18:2) and her arrogant, persistent refusal to voluntarily confess her sins. Notice the triple themes of public humiliation, sexual sin and loss of wealth in the following excerpts from Revelation 18:2-8 and 15-17. And ask yourself, “Is Revelation 18 being fulfilled right now in my lifetime? And if so, is Revelation 19 next?”
Revelation 18:2-8 And he called out with a mighty voice, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast. For all nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living.” Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues; for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. Pay her back as she herself has paid back others, and repay her double for her deeds; mix a double portion for her in the cup she mixed. As she glorified herself and lived in luxury, so give her a like measure of torment and mourning, since in her heart she says, ‘I sit as a queen, I am no widow, and mourning I shall never see.’ For this reason her plagues will come in a single day, death and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire; for mighty is the Lord God who has judged her.”
Revelation 18:15-17 The merchants of these wares, who gained wealth from her, will stand far off, in fear of her torment, weeping and mourning aloud, “Alas, alas, for the great city that was clothed in fine linen, in purple and scarlet, adorned with gold, with jewels, and with pearls! For in a single hour all this wealth has been laid waste.”
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The Russians Are Coming?
Posted by: Joe Haynes in In the Bible, In the News on May 14th, 2009
I know, I know, you’ve heard this all before. But a news item caught my eye this morning and it seemed like a good idea to blog it. So read over the following verses from Scripture and then read the quote (below) from Associated Press.
Ezekiel 38:3-6, 8-13 Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. And I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great host, all of them with buckler and shield, wielding swords. Persia, Cush, and Put are with them, all of them with shield and helmet; Gomer and all his hordes; Beth-togarmah from the uttermost parts of the north with all his hordes- many peoples are with you… In the latter years you will go against the land that is restored from war, the land whose people were gathered from many peoples upon the mountains of Israel, which had been a continual waste. Its people were brought out from the peoples and now dwell securely, all of them. You will advance, coming on like a storm. You will be like a cloud covering the land, you and all your hordes, and many peoples with you. ”Thus says the Lord GOD: On that day, thoughts will come into your mind, and you will devise an evil scheme and say, ‘I will go up against the land of unwalled villages. I will fall upon the quiet people who dwell securely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having no bars or gates,’ to seize spoil and carry off plunder, to turn your hand against the waste places that are now inhabited, and the people who were gathered from the nations, who have acquired livestock and goods, who dwell at the center of the earth. Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish and all its leaders will say to you, ‘Have you come to seize spoil? Have you assembled your hosts to carry off plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to seize great spoil?’
Daniel 11:43 might refer to the same events, though it is difficult to be certain: “He shall become ruler of the treasures of gold and of silver, and all the precious things of Egypt…” Of course there is no word for petroleum in the Old Testament but the word “treasures” in Dan 11:43 is a likely candidate. In Proverbs 21:20, the same Hebrew word refers to “desireable treasures” that a fool is greedy for. Now have a look at the news item below. Don’t cash in your savings, quit your job and start carrying a sign announcing the end of the world. But do consider how much time we have left in this present age and use this “sign of the times” (if that’s what it is) to spur yourself to faith, evangelism and good deeds.
MOSCOW – A Kremlin policy paper says international relations will be shaped by battles over energy resources, which may trigger military conflicts on Russia’s borders.
The National Security Strategy also said that Russia will seek an equal “partnership” with the United States, but named U.S. missile defense plans in Europe among top threats to the national security.
The document, which has been signed by President Dmitry Medvedev, listed top challenges to national security and outlined government priorities through 2020.
“The international policy in the long run will be focused on getting hold of energy sources, including in the Middle East, the Barents Sea shelf and other Arctic regions, the Caspian and Central Asia,” said the strategy paper that was posted on the presidential Security Council’s Web site.
“Amid competitive struggle for resources, attempts to use military force to solve emerging problems can’t be excluded,” it added. “The existing balance of forces near the borders of the Russian Federation and its allies can be violated.” (Get the full news item here…)
Flags of the Vatican
Posted by: Joe Haynes in In the News on May 11th, 2009
Pope Benedict calls for Palestinian "Homeland"
“Pope Benedict calls for Palestinian ‘homeland’.” (CBC News)
I was fascinated to see on the CBC news that the Pope is being welcomed to Jerusalem with the fluttering of Vatican flags all over the city. The reporter pointed out that this Pope was part of the Nazi Youth, lifted the excommunication of a Holocaust Denier, is in the process of beatifying the man who was Pope during the 2nd World War and that he’s now calling for the creation of a Palestinian State.
It’s not often that these two aspects of a traditional Premillennial (Christ-returns-before-the-thousand-years) Historicist interpretation of prophecy converge in the news like this: the conviction that the Popes of Rome are the Antichrist (”little horn” of Daniel 7:20-21; “man of lawlessness” 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4, 8-9, etc.) and the conviction that “Israel” in Old Testament prophecy generally means the Hebrew nation.
There’s no question in my mind, according to Scripture, that the Pope is an enemy of the true Church. But here’s the question news items like the one above bring to my attention: “Is Pope Benedict XVI a friend or an enemy of the Jewish people?”
