King Of The Jews - Part 21Author and speaker, Beth Moore makes a persuasive case that Satan has had to have a man "waiting in the wings" so to speak, to fill the role of the Anti-Christ for the past two thousand years. Speaking of His return, Christ says, "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only". Matthew 25:36 Hence, Satan doesn't know either, and needs a candidate to indwell so that he might become a counterfeit Christ, god in flesh, so that he might be worshipped. There have been many excellent possibilities, Despots and Dictators, Haman, Hitler, Napoleons, Caesars, Stalin, Lenin, Mao and on and on. Men who for power and personal gain would gladly have sold their souls, possibly seeking to have done so, openly courting demonic possession. There are accounts of Hitler's inner circle portraying all the aspects of demonic possession. He was certainly a "devil". He was an occultist who believed that he had been "chosen" to rule the world. Any casual study of the life of Mao Tse Tung or Stalin for example, reveal men who slaughtered countless millions in their quest to consolidate power. Certainly, Hitler's obsession with destroying the Jewish race makes him an almost perfect actor for the part. There were rumors that he was in fact, of Jewish descent. And many scholars believe that Anti-Christ must be Jewish. There is compelling evidence that he will come from the tribe of Dan. Others believe that he will be from the European Union, the Revived Roman Empire. Still other scholars identify him as "The Assyrian" a reference to Antiochus Epiphanes who was probably the closest approximation of a pre-figurement of this mysterious and evil character. "And he shall make a covenant with many for one week; and for half of the week he shall cause sacrifice and offering to cease; and upon the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator". Daniel 9:27 RSV Antiochus Epiphanes was nicknamed by the Jews, Epimanes, meaning "Madman". His hatred for and brutality towards the Jews is well documented and he in fact, sacrificed a pig in the Jewish Temple and sprinkled broth made from the pig, inside the Holy of Holies; a true "Abomination". Assyria was a satellite of the Roman Empire, so he fits that profile, being of "the people of the prince who is to come" who "destroy the city and the sanctuary", referring to the final destruction of Herod's Temple in 70 A.D. by the Romans. "And in the latter time...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 shall he cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace destroy many; he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand". Daniel 8:23-25 Much like Israel, Assyria, now known as Syria, disappeared from world view for centuries. "The latter time" suggests a re-birth of the area now known as Syria. It did not exist as a nation until 1944 when the French mandate over the area was dissolved and Syria once again appeared as a nation. Could this "king of fierce countenance" be Syrian? "When the transgressors are come to the full", suggests the type of world in which we now live, with shockingly widespread violence and corruption, "As in the days of Noah". Children are becoming accomplished assassins, corruption in every level of society and government is commonplace. "Sorceries" or "Pharmakeia" is another form of corruption that is plaguing our planet like never before. I will quote one of my favorite authors: "Drug abuse (and I include alcohol here, the number one drug of abuse in the world) is obviously a huge problem and will continue to be. The "Drug War" is doomed to failure. We are programmed from birth to take pills and potions and now more than ever, every human is constantly bombarded with the message that a "Drug" is the answer for everything from hair loss to weight loss. The point of the "Drug War" seems to be to get people to take the drugs that the drug and alcohol companies are selling. Babies are given Prozac and toddlers are given Ritalin, both major mood altering drugs with relatively short periods of drug-company research except on those human guinea pigs now taking them." "In fact the Bible states plainly that "Pharmakeia" or "Drugs" (don't be fooled into thinking the reference is just to recreational drugs) will be a major feature of life on Earth just prior to Christ's return...'Ask your doctor if it's right for you' has replaced 'an apple a day' ... Eternal life through drugs is the implicit promise". (quote from "The America Story" by Dan Peek) Even the records of athletes are being called into question over the question of alleged steroid and other performance enhancing drugs. "Sorceries", "Pharmakeia" or "Drugs" are interchangeable words for the same thing. Manipulating reality by the use of substances. It's nothing new but mankind is taking it to a whole new level. At the end of the Great Tribulation as God is pouring out His final judgements upon an unrepentant world, "Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts". Revelation 9:21 "And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all". ...for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived". Revelation 18:21&23 In an earlier prophetic utterance, Isaiah says of Babylon that the horrible judgements to come were "for the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the abundance of thine enchantments". "Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries...Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee. Behold they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame". Isaiah 47:9,12&13 The Harry Potter phenomenon and the explosion of Witchcraft and Magic and Supernatural subject matter in film and print is an outworking of this "Spirit of Babylon". "Enchantments" are incantations; repetitions of certain words and sounds to produce an effect, a changing of reality. Couple these with "Sorceries" and you have a powerful recipe for "Signs and Wonders". In Exodus, Pharaoh's magicians could duplicate some pretty amazing miracles which God performed through Moses and Aaron. These phenomena are real and an abomination to God. On a personal note, I used to be in severe bondage to Astrology. I whored after other gods by chanting during Yoga and was nearly inducted into T.M. by Mike Love, The Beach Boy, who has helped to popularize T.M. in the West in a big way. I saw the error of my ways and repented and refuted those sins, and God has given me a second chance. But, don't be lulled into thinking that a daily Horoscope or a little chanting are O.K. in God's eyes. |
