The most frequently asked question at
prophecy conferences and in Bible prophecy classes–at least
in my experience—is: “Is America in Bible prophecy?” The second most asked is: “Do you think
Antichrist is alive on earth today?”
These questions are for the most part
posed by people in the audiences or classes in general.
However, more and more frequently I find these questions
being asked by journalists, both print and broadcast. It is
interesting to me that I rarely hear a skeptical or scoffing
tone in the voices of the media representatives who
interview me. There seems a sense, even among secular
journalists, that perhaps there’s something to this Bible
prophecy stuff after all.
Don’t get me wrong: I’m not sensing a
sudden turning to God, or to His Word. However, there is a
halting uncertainty there. Like, “Well, maybe I had better
be just a bit more serious about the subject, since there is
such angst over these strange economic conditions.”
Economic Conditions
There is a sense that strange,
unexplainable things are happening, and even secular
newshounds seem to viscerally understand that Bible prophecy
has something to do with the increasingly troubling issues
and events of our time. U.S. leaders–I use that term
loosely—have seemingly thrown caution to the wind. It’s
like, as I heard one Bible prophecy broadcaster say the
other day—those who are supposed to be trying to fix the
melting financial structure of America have placed the whole
shebang on 17 black, and have given the roulette wheel a
hope-filled turn. Actually, it is more like they have
written trillions in IOUs and put them on 17 black, and have
given the wheel a turn.
If the little ball ends up on any
number other than 17 black, what then? That is the crux of
the crucial nature of this insanity surrounding the American
economy as the end of the age approaches. Craziness
rules--like when the Federal Reserve reached in its right
pocket and transferred more than a trillion dollars IOU to
its left pocket to keep the American financial system
afloat.
“Just last Wednesday the Fed said it
would flood the teetering financial system with an
additional $1.2 trillion. The money will be used, the Fed
said, to buy government bonds and mortgage-related
securities in hopes of lowering the borrowing costs for home
mortgages and other types of loans, thereby stimulating
economic activity. In other words, the central bank will
print more money to pay for the purchases. What the Fed does
not explain publicly is how those kinds of infusions of
money out of thin air, with nothing to back it, reduce the
purchasing power and assets of all Americans by devaluing
the dollar.
The $1.2 trillion is in addition to
hundreds of billions already added to the system since the
beginning of the year and dwarfs even the biggest government
bailouts to date…” (“Fed's secrecy
policy 3 years old,” WorldNetDaily MoneyNetDaily, 3/22/09).
Keep in mind that the Federal Reserve
is a non-government agency. Congress designated this
monetary governing body to control the nation's money
supply. The
Fed’s actions directly impact the value
of the dollar. This body, manned by the non-elected
financial elite, holds sway over every investment held by
Americans.
Actions like those taken by the Federal
Reserve in the case of creating out of nothingness the
trillion-plus dollars, then putting that massive IOU into
the system with a blind faith that that unbacked infusion
will beat the odds of failure, will, if nothing else is
done, put not only America’s economy, but the economies of
the nation-states of the world into the final stages of
collapse.
The following excerpt tells of just how
surreptitious are the actions against the taxpayers and
their offspring, who are expected to shoulder the burden of
funding the globalists elite’s grandiose plans to build
their new world order.
“WASHINGTON – As America's economy
continues in freefall, tomorrow marks an auspicious
three-year anniversary – the day the Federal Reserve
announced, with little fanfare, its decision to stop
reporting to the public the M3 money supply, the broadest
measure of three standards of measurement…Since 2006,
Americans have seen their investments plummet in value and
witnessed the shrinking buying power of their earnings. Why
did the Fed make that decision three years ago? What was its
rationale? The justification for the secrecy by the
organization that prints money was cost. By not producing
those numbers for the public, the Fed would save about $1.5
million annually…” (ibid.).
The Craziness Proliferates!
It should be astonishing to think that
the media, so obsessed with nefarious financial dealings by
civilian monetary elite–e.g., the AIG executive bonuses,
would let civilians with the power of the Fed go without
being punished for perpetrating such surreptitiousness on
American taxpayers. There seems to be, however, not the
slightest notice.
The $1.5 million savings by the Fed in
not reporting to the public the M3 money supply amounted to
0.00000699 percent of its annual net income of last year.
This savings was highlighted as sufficient reason to keep
vital information from the public. Just to point out the
deceptive nature of this piddling savings being reported in
order to justify keeping taxpayers in the dark, remember
that the same media went all out in diverting the publics’
attention from the enormous bailouts by focusing on–by
contrast to the prodigious bail-out dollar amount— the
infinitesimal bonuses paid to AIG executives. Remember, too,
that the bonuses were given to the AIG
executives through contractually mandated arrangements.
The sleight of hand by the Fed in
transferring the massive IOU from one pocket to the other to
keep the country’s economic ship afloat was done under the
knowing eyes of the Obama administration and Congress. An
uninformed American public was, and is for the most part,
kept in ignorance by news media not fully disclosing the
scope of the thievery of the economic well-being of this and
future generations.
What About Antichrist?
This essay’s title is “Antichrist:
Where Is He?” So, where, if anywhere in this present hour,
is this future evil Bible character in all of the foregoing?
Can he be on the scene today?
Jesus forewarned that false christs
will come on the scene in the latter times. The definition
of antichrist is most often given as the one who will
present himself in place of (imitate) Jesus Christ, and will
at the same time oppose Jesus Christ. The “beast” is
prophesied to be the world’s worst tyrant of human history.
The prophet Daniel was given the following about this person
who is called “son of perdition,” “man of sin,” and many
other names.
“And in the latter time of their
kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king
of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences,
shall
stand up. And his power shall be
mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy
wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall
destroy
the mighty and the holy people. And
through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in
his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and
by peace shall destroy many: he shall
also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be
broken without hand “ (Dan. 8:24-25).
We will examine this man who is of
legendary proportions, yet who transcends by far any legend.
He is not an imaginary monster such as Dracula in the Stoker
novel, or Darth Vader as in Lucas' fictional wars among the
stars. Antichrist, when he is revealed, will be a real
monster, and a most treacherous one, because he will through
supernatural deceit appear as a geopolitical and
socioeconomic savior of mankind. Be sure, the beast of
Revelation 13 is about to step into the spotlight of
history’s final act.
The question “Where is Antichrist?” is
appropriate for this “time of the signs,” as my friend Chuck
Missler has phrased his description of these strange days.
So many signals are on today’s prophetic horizon that one
must ask, if he or she knows much about Bible prophecy, “Is
Antichrist alive today?”
Those who have looked at the world’s
issues and events through the prism of God’s prophetic Word
throughout preceding decades of America’s history have heard
questions about the leaders of the times. Are presidents
like Franklin D. Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton,
George W. Bush, or non-presidents like Henry Kissinger and
others the Antichrist? Now the question is pointed at
President Barack Hussein Obama: “Is he the Antichrist?”
This hour is more prolific with
end-times signs than any in history. Obama’s watch as
president marks one particular characteristic that adds,
peripherally, to the more substantial signals pervading the
news at present. I refer to conditions like Israel’s being
back in its land and the center of world attention, the
Roman Empire seeming to revive in the form of the European
Union (EU), and the Gog-Magog coalition of Ezekiel 38-39
forming right before our eyes.
The peripheral matter of concern in
this case is the deceit with which this administration is
trying to steer the American ship of state. Mr. Obama’s
campaign claim was that he would have “transparency” in all
of his dealing with the business of the American people. Yet
his administration, with the continuing ramrod tactics of
his political party, has gone against the will of the
American public and is in the process of running up
trillions of dollars in debt, an action that even the most
“progressive” economists have declared to be beyond any
semblance of fiscal sanity.
One such expert comes across as almost
fearful of Obama’s plan as put forward by his controversial
secretary of treasury, Timothy Geithner.
“HONG KONG (Reuters) The U.S.
government plan to rid banks of toxic assets will rob
American taxpayers by exposing them to too much risk and is
unlikely to work as long as the economy remains weak, Nobel
Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz said on Tuesday…
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's plan to wipe up
to US $1 trillion in bad debt off banks' balance sheets,
unveiled on Monday, offered ‘perverse incentives,’ Stiglitz
said.
The U.S. government is basically using
the taxpayer to guarantee against downside risk on the value
of these assets, while giving the upside, or potential
profits, to private investors, he said…” (“Geithner plan
will rob American taxpayers,” Susan Fenton and Deborah Kan,
Reuters, 3/24/09).
The economic expert expressed his
concern.
"Quite frankly, this amounts to robbery
of the American people. I don't think it's going to work
because I think there'll be a lot of anger about putting the
losses so much on the shoulder of the American taxpayer"
(ibid.).
Time and time again in this fledgling
administration, Obama’s regime demonstrates a level of
non-transparency that borders on treachery, in my view. To
strap an entire nation’s citizenry with debt they don’t
want, going against their will, expressed through legitimate
polling methods, is beyond taxation without representation.
This administration is taking liberty from Americans in a
way that does so by deception and force by fiat, not
constitutional vote. Such tyranny will enslave citizens and
their offspring for generations–possibly into perpetuity—and
is among the most despicable forms of deception and deceit.
Does all of this criticism mean I view
President Obama as a prime candidate for the one who will be
Antichrist? No. In no way do I mean to express that Mr.
Obama is the biblically prophesied man of sin. However, the
way things are being done in Washington D.C. during these
strange times should make the observer of issues and events
from a biblically prophetic perspective sit up and take
notice. They should know from their observations that this
generation is seeing governmental razzle-dazzle not unlike
the machinations that will mark the ultimate deceiver’s
regime. Antichrist’s most tyrannical dictatorship will be
one of ultimate enslavement to the 666 marks and numbers
system of Revelation 13:16-18.
There is a peaceful revolution going
on, about which most of us have at least heard–the neo-Tea
Party to protest the forcing of trillions of dollars of debt
on American taxpayers, their offspring, and their progeny
yet unborn. People are putting tea bags in envelopes and
mailing them to the appropriate address in Washington, D.C.
At least, the White House kitchen help should, through all
of the submitted tea bags, be able to–through having copious
amounts of tea on hand, sent to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. by
irate citizens—save a few of the dollars that are coming off
the presses like toilet paper off the roll. (Be aware, you
Tea Partiers, however. Word is that the envelopes containing
the bags--a powdery substance--are being summarily disposed
of because of possible harmful substances they might
contained. Best, I’m told, just to send the tags with the
attached strings.)
Something Rotten in Denmark–And Everywhere Else
The smell permeates almost every corner
of America and the world. It is an odor of things to come.
Beyond the political exigencies of this
troubling hour is the spiritual atmosphere that has the
stench of Antichrist and his father, the devil. The scent
was prevalent 2,000 years ago, and the Bible prophet John
forewarned about its cankering, corrosive qualities, as well
as defined it:
“Little children, it is the last time:
and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now
are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the
last time… Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the
spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets
are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of
God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come
in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and
this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard
that it should come; and even now already is it in the
world” (1 John 1:18, 4:1-3).
Denial of Jesus Christ and God’s
prescription for living godly lives on Planet Earth saturate
this generation. The antithesis of Christ’s words is not
only carried out in the sinful lives of earth-dwellers; the
opposition to the Lord is set in the hardened rebellion of
manmade law.
The denial that Christ came to teach
God’s standards for living on the planet He created is
almost imperceptible. Most–even leaders of every conceivable
religious sort--often agree that Jesus was a great teacher
of good. But when Jesus is held up as the only Way to God
the Father (John 14:6), the shrieks emanating from the
spirit of Antichrist come from every dark direction of this
fallen sphere.
During the present hour, there are even
claims that Jesus taught that it is the mother’s right to
choose whether her baby lives or dies. It is held among a
growing number of clergy that Jesus himself gave blessing to
those who chose homosexuality over heterosexuality. Most
worrisome of all, the world is more and more embracing the
lie that Jesus only represented the Christ spirit during His
time on earth. He didn’t die for the sin of man. He didn’t
resurrect from the dead because He didn’t really die at the
crucifixion, but feigned death on the cross. He didn’t
ascend to on high to sit at the right hand of God. He is,
therefore, not coming back to rule and reign.
Jesus, the majority of the
world–including many in our government as it is presently
constituted, deny that Jesus is God–the second Person of the
Godhead, the Trinity.
Just a cursory examination of the
earliest phase of the new presidential administration tells
the story of this time of the growing Antichrist spirit. The
first months following the inauguration have brought changes
by presidential edict that are diametrically opposite God’s
will as given in His Word, the Bible. For example, the
president ordered that money of the American taxpayers now
be used to help with abortion practices in foreign nations,
reversing former President George W. Bush’s presidential
order that no such use of taxpayer money be made. This Obama
did, despite the protestation of more than half of the
American public.
The United States is being channeled
and forced into a mold that looks like the biblically
foretold one world order that will be ruled with a deadly
iron fist by the one who is called “the beast.” With the
stage of history’s last act set, for all practical purposes,
it is perhaps not far-fetched to suspect that Antichrist is
among us even now. He is here in spirit, for sure.
