The Anti-Christ And Mr. Obama
Since the election I've been asked a number of times to
comment on the likelihood that Mr. Obama could be the anti-Christ.
Let me begin by saying that having been elected President he's Mr. Obama
now, not just Obama. As for him
being the anti-Christ I've discouraged that thought because I don't believe it's
time for the anti-Christ to be revealed yet. But apart from that there's no
Biblical reason I can find that would absolutely disqualify him.
And based on the things we know about the anti-Christ there's a fit in
several important places. The
anti-Christ will have to burst on the scene quickly and powerfully to accomplish
so much in the little time he has, so maybe he'll need a head start.
If that's the case, maybe Mr. Obama is on his way to becoming the
anti-Christ. Let's find out.
We know that the anti-Christ will be a descendant of the
people who made up the Roman Empire in Biblical times (Daniel 9:26), and
he'll arrive on the world scene as a peace maker (Daniel 8:25). He won't
be part of the world's powerful elite at the beginning of his career (Daniel
7:8) but will rise up among them to eventually surpass them and become the
leader of the entire world. (Rev. 13:7-8)
He will cause deceit to prosper, and he will consider
himself superior. When they feel secure, he will destroy many and take his stand
against the Prince of princes. Yet he will be destroyed, but not by human power.
(Daniel 8:25)
This means that he'll base his success on a lie,
misrepresenting himself and his intentions, but people will want to believe him
so badly that they'll disregard his inconsistencies until it's too late to stop
him. Initially he'll seem
successful, but just when they're saying “Peace and safety”, destruction will
come on them suddenly, as labor pains to a pregnant woman, and they won't escape
(1 Thes. 5:3).
Deja Vu All Over Again?
Some of us remember when Jimmy Carter was elected President
of the US. The country was fed up
with Washington and even though he had no national leadership experience, we
elected him because he was an outsider who promised change. He said he would
never lie to us, but after the election it turned out that he had. He had
misrepresented his background and didn't have the ability he needed when it came
to governing. He said he was Christian and even orchestrated a land for peace
deal between Israel and Egypt, but he proved to be anti-Israel. Soon we had a
crisis in finance with interest rates at 20%, an energy crisis with our first
gas shortages, and an administration that didn't know how to work with Congress
to fix things. The Iranians captured
our embassy and held our citizens hostage.
Thankfully he lasted only one term.
Mr. Obama could easily turn out to be just another Jimmy
Carter, and if so America will suffer through the next four years and then he'll
be gone. But if he
continues to be successful in convincing people all around the world that
he's on the right track even though everything seems to be falling apart, it
could be a different story.
If my calculations are correct, American Christians have
just voted in our last presidential elections and won't be here to see if Mr.
Obama turns out to be the anti-Christ or not. But someone with a lot more
experience in accurately predicting the future has some interesting insight into
the next few years. His name is
Gerald Celente, CEO of Trends Research Institute, and he's renowned the world
over for his accuracy in predicting future world and economic events.
He accurately predicted the 1987 Stock market crash, the Fall of the
Soviet Union, the 1997 Asian currency collapse, the sub-prime mortgage crisis,
and one year before the fact predicted what he said would become known as the
Panic of 2008, saying that giants would tumble to their deaths, which is what
we've just seen in the fall of several of our oldest and biggest financial
firms, and with the big three auto makers teetering on the brink. (You can check
his track record for yourself at
www.trendsresearch.com )
Celente is now forecasting revolution in America, food
riots and tax rebellions - all within four years,
cautioning that putting food on the table will be a more pressing concern
than buying Christmas gifts by 2012.
According to his recent Fox News interview, called “Predicting
Obama's Impact” (posted on YouTube on Nov. 10, 2008), by 2012 America will have
become an undeveloped nation. There
will be a revolution marked by food riots, squatter rebellions, tax revolts and
job marches, and holidays will be more about obtaining food than gifts.
“We’re going to see the end of the retail Christmas….we’re
going to see a fundamental shift take place….putting food on the table is going
to be more important that putting gifts under the Christmas tree,” said Celente,
adding that the situation would be “worse than the great depression”.
“America’s going to go through a transition the likes of which
no one is prepared for,” he said, noting that people’s refusal to acknowledge
that America was even in a recession highlights how big a problem denial is in
being ready for the true scale of the crisis.
All this comes from a man with an international reputation for
being right and whose continued success
depends on it. If he's right now like he has been so often in the past,
then the next four years will be worse than the Carter Administration ever was,
rather than the launching platform for a coming world leader.
(By the way, please take note that this is another independent
expert pointing to the year 2012 as one of cataclysmic significance in bringing
about the End of the Age.)
There's a wild card that I hesitate to throw in here because I
don't even want to think about it.
But if it's true it could easily cause the problems that Mr. Celente is
predicting. For some time now
certain people, Republican and Democrat alike, have been saying that Mr. Obama
isn't legally qualified to be President because he's not a natural born citizen
of the US. I won't go into the
details but the point is that he could make this all go away by producing a
legitimate birth certificate, something he's been unwilling to do.
A federal court has given him until Dec. 1, 2008 to do so, and if he does
then the Electoral College vote will be certified and he'll be the next
President. But lawsuits in a dozen
or so states have been or are being filed to prevent the certification until Mr.
Obama proves he's qualified. If the
courts throw out the election who knows what could happen.
What Time Is It?
As many of you know, I've said that all of the End Times
prophecies including the 2nd Coming could be fulfilled as early as
2018. I base this on the Lord's promise that the generation being born at the
time of the first End Times signs would still be alive when “all these things
have happened” (Matt. 24:34)
Most scholars view the re-birth of Israel in 1948 as the first of the end times
signs. With an average lifespan being 70 years, according to Psalm 90:10,
everything will have to come to pass by 2018. If the Rapture only just precedes
the 70th Week of Daniel it could come 7 years earlier, in 2011, which
is 2 ½ years from now, about half
way through Mr. Obama's first term, assuming the election stands.
So here's how to tell if he'll become the anti-Christ or not.
If it seems like he can do no wrong, if people feel safe and it's
beginning to look like there'll be peace in our time, then there's a good chance
he's the one. But if Gerald
Celente's predictions are coming to pass, and the world's in worse shape than
ever, then he's just another Jimmy Carter, an inexperienced outsider who had no
business running for president in the first place, let alone being elected.
Time will tell, but either way we can look for some difficult
days ahead for the Church. Because
either way we are in the final phase of post Christian America and can expect
the world around us to become more and more anti-Christian. And if the economy
continues to self-destruct it will be just that much worse.
But whether Mr. Obama turns out to be the anti-Christ or
not is really irrelevant to the Church.
Our job in the short time we have left is to get ready to move to our new
home. That means breaking our ties
with the old one. Anything that
can't be put to kingdom use is excess baggage to us now.
We should be sending whatever treasure we have up ahead.
We should stop worrying about our career, our retirement fund, our
lifestyle, and all those other worldly distractions and put all our resources to
work for the benefit of our next life.
After all it's the real one.
And one way or the other, this one is already gone.
Whether you believe in a pre-trib rapture or not you know
my advice is sound. After all I'm
not just making this up. Everything
I 've been saying is straight from the Lord's own mouth.
He's the one who said to quit storing up treasure on Earth where moth and
rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. He's the one who said to
store up treasure in Heaven instead. (Matt. 6:19-20)
And He's the one who said not to worry about our lives here but seek
first His Kingdom and His righteousness and he'll provide all our needs. (Matt.
6:31-34) So whether you think
we're leaving here soon or not, it's time to pay attention to what He's been
telling us. No matter how much time
you think we have, you can almost hear the footsteps of the Messiah.
11-15-08
