antichrist again

 Sometimes I am forced to wonder how I can hold on so tenaceiously to the idea that the Antichrist is the Pope in the face of all the sincere confident opinion that he is only going to be revealed at the very end just before he takes the rieins of world rulnership for the last part of the great tribuiotn .  They stronly believe this, and I just heard a little montage of a number of them sayig so, those who subscribe to the pretribulation eschatology that is the most popular eschatology tin the Church these days.   Well, it's hared to be at odds with so many strong leaders of the Church, but I just don't have any other reason to wavewr.  I got convinced through my own researches when I started this blog back in oh seven or so, by Richard Bennett for starters, but also by the calculation of the number  six six six that I had already known about for a number of years efore that.  Later Chris Pinto became a source as well.  But I think maybe the number is what is the strongest of my foundations.  

It's just oo perfect a calculation for that number to be wrong.  There is nop way anyone will come up with anything more convicingh for that number.  It's embedded in a gtitle of the Pope that in itself just about defines the Antichrist, meaning Subsitutute for the Son of God in Latin, vicariuvs filii dei, a Latin name of rhte Pope from which the number is calculationed in Roman Nnumberals.  And the Roman connection is quite clear in the Book of Revelation, in Chapter seventeen, as well as the first beast of chapter thirteen.  Rome Rome Rome.  All the things they try to put together to add up to this Roman identity just don't fit like this one does, they are all quite tenuous by comparison.    o no, I'm not giving this up.  I just have to go on cringeing when others carry on abou this other version of the concept that I have to regard as simply false.  And probably concocted by the Roman Church too, as critics of the futiurist eschatology used to say.  Nobody has much to say about  or against the roman Church these days, and that in itself is a clue I think, paving the way to his taking the role by surprise in the end.  

There are definitely two different descriptions of the coming of CHrist, the second coming that ios, in Matthew twenty four, where Jesus is answering His deisciples' questions about how to recognize the End and His return.  Two different descriptions is what makes the Rapture  idea compelling to me, aas nothing else does.   He will come twisde, once to get His Church and snatch us away to Heaven some time before the Great tribulation plays out on earth during which the Antichrist will reign and those who becomine believers will have to do it the hard way, the hardest way, maybe even harder than the believers did under the Inquisition in the Middle Ages.    Then at the very end He will return in fulll glory and visible to all on Earth.  

Romanism and the Book of FRevelation Again

 Serendipitous events, two discussion of the Book of Revelagion dropped in my path, so I guess it's time for another post on that subject.    It's frustrating because I don't like popposing the best teachers out there and that's what happens with this subject.  Well, also creationism I have to admit.  I hope I'm not just a gadfly but I suppose Im at least that.  Just thinking things through on my own I arrive at opinions these other guys don't arrive at and find myself in opposition to thejm.   Qell, I'm trying to follow the leading of the Lord and if I'm wrong I'm wrong, but maybe I'm not wrong.  He'll have to be the one to promote what He wantsa to promote in the end, that's not up to me.

John MacArthur, one of my favorites, and the guys at Understanding the Times Radio now that Jan Martell has left, and others who work from the Pre Trib Pre Mill eschatology.   I guess it's because they've concluded that Revelation Four shows the Rapture of the Church, which puts the Church in heven during Revelation four and five, and the opining of the seals after that, all of it being pushed to the verny end of the tend times.  

But it doesn't make any obvious sense to suppose that the seven seals are opening only tghat late in history.  Jesus of course qualified to open them after His ascension in the first century, what would be the reason to wait two thousand years?  His own teaching in Matthew Twenty four covers the same events as described in the first four seals, the so called Four Horsewment of the Apocalypse, the sequence of false Christs, wars, famines and death from all sorts of causes as the "beginning of sorrorws, after which, He tells us, comes the End, starting from the Abomination of Desolation standing in the Holy Place and continuing for three and a half years.  All that is of course found in Revelation and not earlier, but the BVeginning of Sorrows includes the sort of things we've seen throughout history and has no spewcial reason to be confined to the Book of Revelation, the false Chrissts, wars, famines, pesilences and martyrdomes.    So  if the seals reveal God's judgments on the earth, these could have beguin right after Jesus' ascension to heaven.  Qhy not?   That's how I've been tentatively thinking of it.

And it firtrts with my having been persuaded that the Protestant Reformers weere right to identify the papacy as the seat of the Antichrist, each successive Pope ascending to that role in the world for timethje time of his reign.  Now we have Leo.  QWill he be the Final Ancichrist, the one of Daniel twenlve?  or is it nine?  "They" are waiting for this Antichrist to be revealed at the very end, but I'm confinced by the Reformers that he was revealed wway back ion  606 AD when the Bishop of Rome took on the title Universal Bishop, essentially usurping power to himself over all the other bishops.   Even one of the Popes hismelf said that was the taking on of the role of the Antichrist, and here were many Chirstians outside the Roan Church doewn the centuries who identified the opopes as CAnctichrist.  Chris Pinto has a DvD on that subject.

Leo just recently, for the second time I think, had the effrontery to denounce the US for our supposed mistreatment of "migrants," meaning of course illegal aliens who don't belong here and must be deported.  They are not mistreated at all.  He wants to be sure they get Catholic rites or some suich, hoo boy.  In ;my mind, this efforontery makes Leo a solid Antichrist already.  But I thought Francis was dgoing to be the Final Antichrist, so I'm not oing to stick my neck out atgain and say the same about Leo.  I don't know.  He might not be the Final one.  Wait and see.  If he makes a deal with Israel for seven years, I'd say that's the sign that he is definitely the one.

I do not get why MacArthur thinks Daiel Eleven is about the Roman Anctichrist.  Isn't it very clearly about the Greek version, that is, Anticiohes Epiphanes, who was the abomination of desolation dealt with by the Macabbees?    As I understandi it , all those military movements describe that Greek or Seleucid leader and theree are some who can describe them all in historical terms.  Not the Roman Antichrist.  A preucurser, a harbinger, not the One.

MacAerthur explains the jsixth seal of Revelation as showing the people of the world finally getting around to realizing that the world is coming under God's judgment.  Seems to me if you just read it straight, in order, it is the point at which the final wrath of God begins, or the seven year tribulation peierios, the previous seals bieng he Beginning of solorrow but not the tribulation wrath.   The martyrs of the fifth seal would be the millions killed under the Popes and their various inquisitions.  They are told to wait for the martyrs yet to be made under the Tribulation.  And since they are described as "souls" and clearly not yet in their glorified bodies, they were not rapituresd, and if anyuthing I'm saying is right, the rapture does not occur in Revelation four.  I don't like being in this posisiton, but there you have it.  I don't as yet have a clear idea of where in the historical sequence the rapture occurs, but it has to be after the sixth seal.

Seems to me, if you stop and think about it anyway, that it's pretty obvious that the papacy has no place in true Chrsitain history.  And since he takes on titles that belong only to Christ and even the Father and the Holy Spirit as well, he's clearly a usurper of high degree.  Yet Catholics have no idea.  Most of them were born into their religion and have no knowledge of the hstiroy of any of it, and of course feel offended if you suggest their Church isn't the true Church.  But it isn't, and the wosonnooner they learn that the better for them.   Years ago,, when I was reading my way to becoming a Christian, I went through a phase where I thought I would be a Catholic.  I was reading a Catholic theologian who said that the Pope is the ehad of the Church, and I knew there was something frwrong with that idea, in fact it disturbed me quite a bit.  It's standard in Romanism though.  But ehre are two places in scripture where it is clearly said that Christ is the Head of the CHurch.  Not the OPope, and the Lord showed mew both those places ina  amiraculous way one day, which is what ended any idea I had had of becoming a Catholic.

It is veruy disturbing to reaslize how little anyone knows any more about the false claims of the Roman CHurch.  It's all been forgotten by the majority of Protestantsm, although there was a time when it was pretty well known.  It's the reason the pilgrims came to America of course.  You could start there.  And then you can find John Adams, our second Presicdnet saying that the Jesuits are the most evil organization on earth.  Long long time since any such sentiment was heard in America.  Sad and dangerous.  And you'll hear naive statemewnts like how it makes no sense for us to critizie Catholicsm because the docgtrinal disgferences are so small and inconsequential.  That is a monumental historical blindness since it may have been millions of proto Protestants who died under the Inquisition for their refusla to affirm the idea of Transsubstantiation.  No minor disctrinal difference to them.   And then I found out that Charlie Kirk, who I thought was pretty good at arguing against Catholicism, was found to have a "St. Michael's medal attached to the chain around his neck on which he also wore a cross.  Very distrubing to think he had a Catholic talisman like that on him.  

There are plenty of deceptions fogging up the atmosphere we live in these days, but obne of theworlse is no doubt this acceptance of the Antichrist system, the Roman CHurch.

Next day:  In case it wasn't clear, I think the first five seals are ongoing throughout the time since the Lord ascended to the right hand of God, that is, He opened them then, as John shows in his vision of Rvenlation.  I think the opening of  the sixth seal is still future, and certainly the seventh is, which I take to be the tribulation itself, the seventieth week of Daniel as well as the seven years to the return of Jesus.    John MacArthur speaks of the martyrs in the fifth seal as if they are living saints facing martyrdom rather than souls already martyred waiting under the altar for God's vengeance on their behalf.  I think that's how it sounds anyway, though it's hard to believe that's what he really means.  I think they are the martyrs madew throughout the previous two thousand years, most of them under the Roman Inquisitions.  here are certainly Christian martyrs being made today, thousands of them in Nigeria for instance, all joining those under the altar I suppose.  

But the sixth seal shows dramatic celestial events among other things that haven't yet occurred, and reads like an introduction to the final period of God's wrath, although MacArthur reads it as if it's connected to the first five seals, and that I don't get at all.  Those first seals reveal nothing out of the ordinary in the life of this world, false Christs, wars, famines, diseases and death, nothing new there.  It may be God's judgment but it's not in the same category as the judgmgnets that come in the seventh seal, which definitely show the hand of God in destructive natural events and strange phenomenoa.  The difference in content seems to me to be a straong reason to take ther seventh seal as the time of the tribulation, the last hhalf of it being the Great Tribulation, the time being given both in Revelation and in the Book of Daniel.

I supooses the Rapture could occur at any time as is believed by those who believe the Pre Trib PreMill escahatology, perhaps just before or even during the opening of the sixth seal which I take to be yet future, but as I've mentioned a few times by now, I think the main sign that the end period has beggun will be the Antichrist's making of a treaty of some sort, or "confirming" such a treaty, with Israel, for seven years, which he will break at the halfway point, three and a half years into it.  Followed by the Great Tribulation.

You Must be Born Again

 I realize that I take for granted that anyone who could profit from the idea of learning to depend on God alone, the subject of my previous post, would be born again, would already be saved and have the Holy Spirit given by God gto those who have believed on Him for salvation.  Nobody else could possible live that way, so it needs to be said.

And I've had in mind for soe time wriging on the subject of being born again, which needs to be revived as atopic at least now and then because otherwise people who think they are Christians because they go to Church and known something of the Bible and like the Biblical moral teachings and so on but do not have the Spirit of God, will only deceive themselves further.  YOu have to get saved first, you have to get born again first or you can't possible live the Christian life.    Anyone who does not have the Holy Spirit is "none of HIs" says Paul.

But I'm jas so often happens these days, too tired to write a owhole post on this subject.  I just have to get that much said and hope to come back to it soon.  

Learning to depend on God

 I love this kind of story.  Ron Daley, a sixtyfive year old man who lies in Fresno, Califoria, went o a huting trip he planned for half a day, got lost and then stranded and when nobody came to find him after twetnty days he walked for nine hours until he met some hunters who rescued him.   But here's the real sotry.  He's a believer and prayed a lot while he was in that situation.  I thik the first thing we ay wonder is why on earth did the Lotf let him suffer so long, surely he could have rescued him a lot sooner.

But no, first his struck broke down and while he had enough food for a couple of weeks that started runing out too.  When he finally started walkeing he hadn't eaten in almost a week.   Although he'd been praying and praying it wasn't until he was at the end of all his resources that the Lord finally led him to safety.

And that, I believe, is gthe real sotory here.  Another acount of how GBod goes to great extremes sometimes in His efforts to teach us to depend on Him alone instead of on our own resources.  Sure He could have rescued Ron a lot sooner but He didn't do it until Ron was out of, well, everythig.  In fact, it was at the point of exhaustion, after walkeing for hours, that he scalled on the Lord sayig he had no more energy to walk any further and please help me now.  And when he looked up from his prayer, there was the truck with its headlights on just ahead of him o the road.  It was at the exact omet that Ron ran out of absolutely every bit of his own resources, down to the last gasp of his phyiscal energy, that the Lord acted.

So what am I saying?  Well, the Lord engineered this whole drama from beginning to end and the whole point of it was to teach Ron to depend on Him alone instead of on what the Biblce called "th arm of flesh" meaning our human strengths and resources.   It's a lesson the Lord tries to teach all of us but we often hardly notice His acting on our lives for this purpose, some of us never get the message and some of us gett it only late in life, which is a shoe that fits me.  And I still haven't learned it.

It's what Andrew Murray wrote about in his book, Absolute Surrender, it's what all the best Christian writers and teachers present as the problem of learning how to deny ourselves as the LOrd commands us to do, deny yourself, take uip your cross ajnd follow Me.  And if you won't deny yourself "you canot be My disciple."    Give it u, give it ALL usp.  And He gies us time to learn it, but we're awfully obtuse about it, and keep ascriging things to human and worledly causes that are really arranged by the Lord for our good if only we knew how to read the signs.  And een then, alas, even when we sort of get the message, as I have many times over, we still fail the test.  It's a ery hard less to learn.

Happy is Ron Daley if he gets it.

*****

More thoughts on tghe same subject.  

It happens to be a subject I've rebeen reading about a lot over the last few weeks, so of course the timing is great for this story to appear in the news when I'm able to make this connection.   As I said it'as a ery hard lesson to learn.  I'm disappointed in myslef at how obious it is what the Lord has done from time timo time throughout my life and I fought Him because I didn't see His hand at work in it, and even after I knew intellectually that this is how He works in our lives I still didn't see it until after the fact, and I still don't know if I've learned very a small gbit of the practical lessons H wants me to learn.  I'm grateful that hHe's given me a long life and tht He might continue it for a while longer so maybe I still have a chance to learn it.  

As my reasding has been making clear this is a very important lesson to learn because the Lord can't work with our fleshly soulish strengths, He wants to work with the renewed Spirit He has put within us and that has to become the power we must learn to edepend on and learn to put our own strengths aside.  I know this theortetically far better than I know it in any practical sense at all, alsas, alas.   

fThe letter kills, but the spirit is life.  Adam was a living souls but Christ a life giving Spirit.  Walik by the Spirit and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh,.   He who would sae his soul will lose it, but he who would die for My sake will lie to eternal life.  I'm getting the words wrong but I think I got the gist of it.  

Watchman Nee's book, The Release of the SPirit, is oje of my current sources for this teaching.  For the Lord to be able to use us for His own work, to do His will, we must give up our own will, our own ideas, our own methods, and wait entirely on Him for the guidance and the strength to do what He wants us to do.  Often our Spoirit is "buried" beneath our flesh and we must learn to release it for it to become useful to us for the Lord's purposes.  

I think it helps a lot if ewe at least grasp that giving up our own ways is something we should do  even if we keep failing to actually do it.  At least we have the right idea, which is a lot better than the usual habitual way of living where we just do whatever we want to do or what we thing is right.  

I't s a very hard lesson to learn.  I ope the Lord will make me learn it because I reall y do want to be useful for His kingsomdom.  The world wo so desperately needs spiritually guided CHristians right now.  If we just do what we thihk makes sense we won't really accomplish the spiritual blessings this world needs, at best we might teach a few truths, but god wants to be able to use us in spiritual power to effedt real lasting change in this benighted world.  

Again, I really do hope Ron Daley gets even a smidgen of the message I think is written all over his harrowing experience lost in the woods.  Wrecked truck,  No cell phone service.  Heavy snow adds to the idifficulties.  Running out of food and finally runs completely out.  Rationinst it nut by nut finally before it runs out.  Finally the Lord tells him to start walking, but He doesn't help him until he's finally so exhausted he can't walk another step an prays accordingly.   The Lord takes anway everything before He gives us the spiritual resources He wants us to have.  

Die to self.  Take up your cross.  Deny yourself.  Lose hyour life for His sake and you will gain it for eternity.  Lose, give up , die,  that's the message of the cross we all need to learn and so few of us learn it, just fight it all the time in favor of self preservation which seenms so natural to us, well, it IS natural to us, it's the natural that has to go if the spiritual is to thrive.  

May I get it.

And again, if Ron Daley gets it even a little, blessed is he.

No Kings insanity but ot happy with Trump poop panne either

 Late getting to this but it's perennial so not too big a deal.  I'm not happy with trump's so called meme flying the plane above a crowd of No Kings protestors and dumping blogs of I guess poop on them.  Q We don't need this level of response, we need a little dignity here.  Leave the barbarism to them, they are so good at it.  And I'm not happy with Trup's use of the F word either.  Time to pull badk on that kind of things in my opiion.  

But of course No Kings is gruly insane, the product of years of propaganda,all lies, and although there are clearly a lot of ordinary everyday liberals drawn into it, it's no doubt primarily fundaed and organized by Soros and his tribe.   

I get tired of turning on any media outlet and hearing mostly anti Trump opinios.  I guess the liberals don't notice but I certainly tdo.  We are already living in a society run by autocrats, and they are on the left.  They are the lones who have been cancelling us conservatives for a long time now, getting us booted off social media for so calledf Misinformation when it's just personal opinion and often the truest dstatement out there.   They are the fascistsa  as usual trying to get the labnel to stick to the other side.  This isn't America but they use all the rhtetoric and confuse people.  Trump is no king, far from it, he was elected and he is hampered at every turn by leftist neverending lawswuits or whatnot, most of which turn out to be illegal in themesleves, but they have to be waited out.  If Trump erwere a king they wouldn't be waited out, he'd just give orders no mater what, but gthe left doesn't think at all about anything, they kjust emote.

Saw this poor lady in her seventies being interviewed at a No Kings protest, weeping copiously about how scared she is with Trump in orroice although nothing was said about exactly what it was that was scaring here.  It's scary to me that this sort of emotion is stirred out by lies and we on the right have just about no way to answe her.  The Left have managed to block our public presence whenever they like so we can't be heard.  I'd like to reassure that woman that she'sl suffering from propaganda, and that she has nothihng to b scared of except the people who have lied to her.  Trump is working hard to tdo her and all the rest of us some reas dl good after years of leftist destruction of the nation at every level.   She'll never see my blog and even wif I weren't lehgally blidnd I don't know how I'd get a message to her to calm her down.  She's a victim, she's a pawn, it's sad.She doesn't uhnderstand how any one could have  voted for this person, she weeps.  Well, if we had any access to her wqe could explain it to her but swe don't.   If she only tunes in the propagandists she'll only continue to be scared for o good reason.    We are living in evil times and the evil is all coming from one direction, stifling the voice of truth and goodness and WEmrican patrioticsm, while even pretending all that is on their side.  It's truly diabolical.  

And of course they blame tTrump for the government shut down although it's the Demotcrats who have voted for it every time the vote is called, and the Republicans vote to reopen.  They want to blackamail Trump into giving up his hard won policies in previous legislateion.  I hope he doesn't given in.  He's trying to provide funds to help those hurt by the shut down too but that is also hampered in various ways.

Prayer is the sonly solution.  All this is beyond us mere human beings, beyhond [olitical solutions, God is going to have to change things and that could happen if huge number sof us pray for it.