Summer 2010 and the Mahdi
Well, Happy New Year everyone! What a year that was. 2009 was kind of different for me in that I had lots of time to do this blog, and much as I enjoyed it, I have faith that time will be a luxury this year. I want to thank everyone who made December a banner month for the blog, there was definately an uptick in the amount of interest from the first 9 months of the year and I hope the trend continues.
With that idea in mind, I am going to begin the year writing a series that will be close to the material so many of you seemed to like in December. This one will be called the Summer of 2010 and the Mahadi. Last year I made comments (Laughing at Prophecy) about a certain liberal TV show that just loves to pick on Christianity, and yet has no spine for saterizing any other group. In fact I made quite the inference that the writers of this show were a bit spineless in their lazzie fare attitude toward mocking Christianity and Jesus, due to the fact that they feel safe that there will be no retribution for their actions. How misguided!
I, on the other hand, WIll tackle the dangerous side of this subject, and handle some information about the Muslim Religion. I won’t be making light of it, as the TV show might have, for I try to be cogent and intellectual for my reading audience, that is, unless I am in the mood to be snide for a moment or so. But, not this time. This time I want to cover some serious material that I feel should be out there, free for anyone with interest to read and be educated with. So with all due respect to the human beings involved, I will cover a middle eastern subject that could very well bring the Jihad right to my door. But, so be it, many of my friends and the remnant of my family will be effected by the Summer of 2010 and what the Obama administration is planning for this coming summer, plus the effects it will have on the middle east, and then once again on America.
1 John 2:18 has this to say: “Children these are the last days, you were told that the Antichrist must come, and now several Antichrists have already appeared, we know from this that these are the last days.”
The definite article in greek refers not to “an” Antichrist, but THE Antichrist, and if you know about the conquests of Alexander the Great, you know that his kingdom brought the Greek language to most of the world at that time; a language that has seven specific words for seven specific kinds of “Love”.
1 John 2:22,23 says: “The man who denies that Jesus is the Christ - he is THE liar, he is Antichrist; and he is denying the Father as well as the Son.”
1 John 4:2,3 says: “You can tell the spirits that come from God by this: every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus the Christ has come in the flesh is from God; but every spirit that will not say this of Jesus is not from God, but is the spirit of Antichrist, whose coming you were warned about. Well, now he is here, in the world.”
At first it might sound as if the writer is saying that the Antichrist is alive and well in his own time, and there are groups of people who believe that scripture has already been fulfilled, that there is no rapture, and all things were fulfilled by 70 A.D. (Which you will remember was when the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed.) Those same folks will tell you that it was probably the emperor Nero of his day.
But let’s consider a few things, even in John’s day the “spirit” of Antichrist was working in certain sects and groups that existed during his day, and those people were saying then as many say today, that Jesus wasn’t who he said he was, that there is coming someone else.
But John uses that “THE” word when he refers to the Antichrist and he is quite definite about there being a person who will come, not just a social movement or ideaology. One of the traits of this “person” will be the way he refers to Jesus. He will deny that Jesus was the Chist (or messiah) and also his relationship to the father, namely as being his son.
Now, in our day and age, if you were looking for a “major player” organization in the world who put forth these ideas, you would look staight at Islam. It is the top religion in the world with over 1.4 billion people who are members.
If you were to talk to some moderates of the Islamic faith you would find that they admit that Islamics and Christians have much of the same points of belief. We believe in the God of Abraham, the Torah, the Psalms and the four gospels. A big difference is that they contend that the translation of the Bible has been changed by the Jews. They will tell you that it is the Qu'ran that has the original translation. Fasting, praying, tithing, angels, judgment, hell, paradise and charity are also a part of the Muslim faith as it is a part of Christianity. But the interesting thing about this is how they think about Jesus.
I would tell them that Jesus was concieved by the Holy Spirit inside of the virgin Mary, and they would tell me that the Qu'ran includes that. I would tell them that it was a supernatural birth and they would agree. But when I tell them that he was and is the Son of God, all common things take a severe turn at this point. They don’t believe that Alla has a son, they’ll tell you he was not begotten and does not beget. Jesus, they say, is equal to one of the 27 prophets of the Old Testament; Abraham, David, Isaiah and so forth. But, they stop short at agreeing that Jesus was the Son of God.
This is where all arguments come down to one point, even in the United States today, as scripture pointed out, Jesus is the great divider. If you do away with Jesus as the Son of God, you eliminate his priesthood, and if you do that, you have no other way to arrive in heaven after death. So therfore, you have to come up with another way to get there. Every “religion” on the Earth is like this. Man must “reach up” in some way to get to God. But with Christianity, God reached down to us to offer a way of grace.
You see, most Muslims don’t really know if they are going to heaven when they die. They will inform you that they have to wait unitl they are there in front of God himself, and they step on a big scale. If they have done enough good works, then the good works will outweigh the evil they have done and they will be allowed into paradise. I find that to be a rather difficult way to live, not knowing where you’ll end up while you are still living here on Earth. What an incredible pressure on your life to pray constantly and do good works constantly, never knowing how the measurements will one day work out.
This pressure is part of the reason for the “fanatic” side of Islam, which believes it has solved this issue. Namely, “Jihad” or Holy War, the killing of innocent people. Do you realize why they get so worked up over a suicide bomber? Among the Shia and Sunni raidcals, Hezbollah and such, if you die in the Holy War, it firmly cements your entry into paradise. No need to guess, or make five times a day prayers or give alms to the poor. The young boys in these groups are told that if they die in the Jihad, then they will be given entrance to paradise and receive 72 full bodied virgins all dressed in linen for them to copulate with. (And guess what? They are PERPETUAL virgins!)
Now, you take some poor kid in a refugee camp who has nothing, (and a big part of it is that THEY are keeping them poor, that’s the PLO who has billions of dollars in bank accounts that don’t go to their own people), and you blame Israel whom you have centuries of conflict with, how can a young person NOT be a suicide bomber?
Now not only does the boy get 72 virgins but there is automatic entry to paradise for 25 other members of the family. So the young men and women who blow themselves up and take others with them, die as heroes in the same way veterans of foreign wars are celebrated every year in this country. There are no scales and judgement. They are martyrs for their own family.
In Christianity we stipulate that God sent his own Son to die on the cross to make a way for all mankind to get to paradise, and yet Islamic extremists believe they have to kill their own sons and daughters to get to paradise. Sounds a little like what was going on in Babylon with Marduk, thousands of years ago, when they would throw their young into a furnace to appease him.
There is much more to this, and I hope you take it in the educational manner in which it is meant. There will be quite a few follow-ups this month, I am keeping things short with each post, just so you don’t get eye strain looking into the monitor for too long. See you next time for part two.
With that idea in mind, I am going to begin the year writing a series that will be close to the material so many of you seemed to like in December. This one will be called the Summer of 2010 and the Mahadi. Last year I made comments (Laughing at Prophecy) about a certain liberal TV show that just loves to pick on Christianity, and yet has no spine for saterizing any other group. In fact I made quite the inference that the writers of this show were a bit spineless in their lazzie fare attitude toward mocking Christianity and Jesus, due to the fact that they feel safe that there will be no retribution for their actions. How misguided!
I, on the other hand, WIll tackle the dangerous side of this subject, and handle some information about the Muslim Religion. I won’t be making light of it, as the TV show might have, for I try to be cogent and intellectual for my reading audience, that is, unless I am in the mood to be snide for a moment or so. But, not this time. This time I want to cover some serious material that I feel should be out there, free for anyone with interest to read and be educated with. So with all due respect to the human beings involved, I will cover a middle eastern subject that could very well bring the Jihad right to my door. But, so be it, many of my friends and the remnant of my family will be effected by the Summer of 2010 and what the Obama administration is planning for this coming summer, plus the effects it will have on the middle east, and then once again on America.
1 John 2:18 has this to say: “Children these are the last days, you were told that the Antichrist must come, and now several Antichrists have already appeared, we know from this that these are the last days.”
The definite article in greek refers not to “an” Antichrist, but THE Antichrist, and if you know about the conquests of Alexander the Great, you know that his kingdom brought the Greek language to most of the world at that time; a language that has seven specific words for seven specific kinds of “Love”.
1 John 2:22,23 says: “The man who denies that Jesus is the Christ - he is THE liar, he is Antichrist; and he is denying the Father as well as the Son.”
1 John 4:2,3 says: “You can tell the spirits that come from God by this: every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus the Christ has come in the flesh is from God; but every spirit that will not say this of Jesus is not from God, but is the spirit of Antichrist, whose coming you were warned about. Well, now he is here, in the world.”
At first it might sound as if the writer is saying that the Antichrist is alive and well in his own time, and there are groups of people who believe that scripture has already been fulfilled, that there is no rapture, and all things were fulfilled by 70 A.D. (Which you will remember was when the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed.) Those same folks will tell you that it was probably the emperor Nero of his day.
But let’s consider a few things, even in John’s day the “spirit” of Antichrist was working in certain sects and groups that existed during his day, and those people were saying then as many say today, that Jesus wasn’t who he said he was, that there is coming someone else.
But John uses that “THE” word when he refers to the Antichrist and he is quite definite about there being a person who will come, not just a social movement or ideaology. One of the traits of this “person” will be the way he refers to Jesus. He will deny that Jesus was the Chist (or messiah) and also his relationship to the father, namely as being his son.
Now, in our day and age, if you were looking for a “major player” organization in the world who put forth these ideas, you would look staight at Islam. It is the top religion in the world with over 1.4 billion people who are members.
If you were to talk to some moderates of the Islamic faith you would find that they admit that Islamics and Christians have much of the same points of belief. We believe in the God of Abraham, the Torah, the Psalms and the four gospels. A big difference is that they contend that the translation of the Bible has been changed by the Jews. They will tell you that it is the Qu'ran that has the original translation. Fasting, praying, tithing, angels, judgment, hell, paradise and charity are also a part of the Muslim faith as it is a part of Christianity. But the interesting thing about this is how they think about Jesus.
I would tell them that Jesus was concieved by the Holy Spirit inside of the virgin Mary, and they would tell me that the Qu'ran includes that. I would tell them that it was a supernatural birth and they would agree. But when I tell them that he was and is the Son of God, all common things take a severe turn at this point. They don’t believe that Alla has a son, they’ll tell you he was not begotten and does not beget. Jesus, they say, is equal to one of the 27 prophets of the Old Testament; Abraham, David, Isaiah and so forth. But, they stop short at agreeing that Jesus was the Son of God.
This is where all arguments come down to one point, even in the United States today, as scripture pointed out, Jesus is the great divider. If you do away with Jesus as the Son of God, you eliminate his priesthood, and if you do that, you have no other way to arrive in heaven after death. So therfore, you have to come up with another way to get there. Every “religion” on the Earth is like this. Man must “reach up” in some way to get to God. But with Christianity, God reached down to us to offer a way of grace.
You see, most Muslims don’t really know if they are going to heaven when they die. They will inform you that they have to wait unitl they are there in front of God himself, and they step on a big scale. If they have done enough good works, then the good works will outweigh the evil they have done and they will be allowed into paradise. I find that to be a rather difficult way to live, not knowing where you’ll end up while you are still living here on Earth. What an incredible pressure on your life to pray constantly and do good works constantly, never knowing how the measurements will one day work out.
This pressure is part of the reason for the “fanatic” side of Islam, which believes it has solved this issue. Namely, “Jihad” or Holy War, the killing of innocent people. Do you realize why they get so worked up over a suicide bomber? Among the Shia and Sunni raidcals, Hezbollah and such, if you die in the Holy War, it firmly cements your entry into paradise. No need to guess, or make five times a day prayers or give alms to the poor. The young boys in these groups are told that if they die in the Jihad, then they will be given entrance to paradise and receive 72 full bodied virgins all dressed in linen for them to copulate with. (And guess what? They are PERPETUAL virgins!)
Now, you take some poor kid in a refugee camp who has nothing, (and a big part of it is that THEY are keeping them poor, that’s the PLO who has billions of dollars in bank accounts that don’t go to their own people), and you blame Israel whom you have centuries of conflict with, how can a young person NOT be a suicide bomber?
Now not only does the boy get 72 virgins but there is automatic entry to paradise for 25 other members of the family. So the young men and women who blow themselves up and take others with them, die as heroes in the same way veterans of foreign wars are celebrated every year in this country. There are no scales and judgement. They are martyrs for their own family.
In Christianity we stipulate that God sent his own Son to die on the cross to make a way for all mankind to get to paradise, and yet Islamic extremists believe they have to kill their own sons and daughters to get to paradise. Sounds a little like what was going on in Babylon with Marduk, thousands of years ago, when they would throw their young into a furnace to appease him.
There is much more to this, and I hope you take it in the educational manner in which it is meant. There will be quite a few follow-ups this month, I am keeping things short with each post, just so you don’t get eye strain looking into the monitor for too long. See you next time for part two.
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