Recently, a friend asked me (via Facebook) to look at a website published by a woman claiming to be a modern day prophet and naming a specific individual as the antichrist.

He wanted to know what I thought about it. My response was lengthy, and considering the tribulation we all can see in the world today, I thought worth sharing.

Several people in recent history have been identified as THE antichrist.

Adolf Hitler and Raj Patel come to mind as having had that finger pointed at them, and frankly, in 2008 I suspected Obama as being the one. All of them are at least symptoms of the growing culture of ‘antichristism’, but I don’t think the text in Revelation points to a person as much as an “ism”. The bible teaches that God uses both righteous and evil men to achieve His will. No position of power is received by any man unless God permits it. It is all part of His plan, perfecting humanity so that as many will come to Him of their own free will as possible.

In Isaiah 55:8-11 it says: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”

In Revelation we are shown a vision of the world from the divine perspective in order that we may understand that what we see and hear and touch and experience is not necessarily what it appears to us to be. I have been studying the Revelation in depth over the past 18 months, so allow me to share some things from a different perspective.

Whether the antichrist is embodied in one man or many is not critical to understanding what is going on. Some of the actions of the man pointed to on the website I was asked to review, Obama, are definitely antichrist, but so were the actions of those who held power in this country before him. Since the 1950’s this nation founded on Godly principles, has allowed those principals to be eroded in favor of a “kinder gentler society” and “political correctness”, which may be better described as tolerance of the intolerable in many cases. The dumbing down of America has left us with leadership that has a far different moral fiber than what was considered moral by the founding fathers or even when you (my friend who inquired) and I were young. Finally, America and Israel are unique in the world, as nations founded with God in their midst. No other nations were deliberately formed with Judeo Christian principles and ethics at their heart, and both nations have lost their way.  Jonathan Cahn shares some striking commonalities between the exile of the Jews from their promised land and the events that began to unfold on 9/11 in America in the book The Harbinger. That would be an interesting read for you.

Anyway, back to the Revelation… If we look at the images (and numbers) in Revelation as symbolic rather than literal, some compelling patterns emerge. Considering the political and cultural climate in John’s time, much of his message was necessarily highly symbolic. The churches would have understood the symbolism, much of it based on Old Testament references, while the powers that held him captive on Patmos would not.

The dragon, the sea beast, and the earth beast in Rev 12 & 13 mimic the holy trinity. The dragon mimics God, the sea beast mimics Jesus, and the earth beast mimics the Holy Spirit. As God gave authority to Jesus, the dragon gives authority to the sea beast, and as the Holy Spirit seeks to move us to worship Jesus, the earth beast seeks to move us to worship the sea beast and the dragon identified as Satan. If you read these two chapters looking for the parallels, they are hard to miss. The common tool used by the dragon, and both beasts is deception/propaganda. The sea beast manipulates people into trusting and following the political power that has placed itself above God’s law. The earth beast deceives the people through signs and wonders – recreating the Old Testament miracles performed by Moses and Elijah.

Even the seal that is referred to as the mark of the beast, 666, is mimicking Jesus the Lamb, who puts a mark or seal on his people in previous chapters. The beast from the sea represents dragon (or Satan) manipulated political power and institutions – we see a lot of that in the world today. The earth beast, with all of the religious overtones in the text, represents dragon (or Satan) manipulated religious power and institutions – we see a lot of that today too! On another level revealed in subsequent chapters in Revelation, the beast from the sea represents a false christ and the earth beast represents false prophets. Because we are intertwining representations of political and religious imagery, it can be inferred that the underlying message of the earth beast is that it is leading the people to worship the state rather than God.

By their nature, scorpions sting, fish swim, and mankind worships. Because man has a higher level of consciousness than other creatures, mankind has developed a unique defense mechanism, the need to be right, so, whatever a man worships, he feels others should also worship. As many buy into the messages of the beasts, the world view of tolerance to an extreme blooms in free cultures while the world view of intolerance to extremes is blooming in others. The forces at work in the church are so taken in with the political correctness being fed to the masses that they have reinterpreted the values put forth by Jesus through the lens of what the culture sees as right. That, in itself, is an example of putting faith in man rather than in the divine.   To dig deeper, I highly recommend reading Darrell W. Johnson’s book, Discipleship on the Edge, from which I paraphrased some of the last few paragraphs.

ALL OF THIS IS ANTICHRIST!

Jesus was quite clear on what will set His people apart from others, and it will not always be comfortable or safe for them. The message of Revelation as a whole, is that the end was written in the beginning, that this earthly life is not Life, and that these things – the turmoil of our time – are part of the plan, a test of our faith and devotion to God and to Jesus. Those who are deceived by the powers of the beasts are caught up in the turmoil – and we are all deceived to a point, yes even me, but perfection is not required. Those who do not lose their way and remain His, though they may suffer, will be with Him in the next life – the real Life – the next great adventure we were created for. Those who belong to Jesus can understand even the turmoil in this world to be good news, because it means we are getting closer to home. Our purpose while we wait, is to share this good news and help others to see the deceit surrounding them from every direction.

I anticipate some reading this may now be thinking that maybe it isn’t right that some should move on to the next life, and some will not. The real point is that some are truly alive now and some are not. Not a new concept at all, is it? Even Carlos Castaneda wrote about being able to see the Life in some but not others when he was schooled in the proper use of peyote by Native Americans (A Separate Reality – another good read).

Many people and cultures have been given a piece of God’s truth, and most individuals have lost touch with it. I accept this fact as evidence that I am moving toward the Truth rather than away from it… Even though the future on this earth is frighteningly uncertain, I am very much at peace through my faith in Jesus and ever growing relationship with Him. The most important question we can ask ourselves in these times is “Who do I really belong to?”

Blessings & Adventure,

Lynn “lynnibug” Rios