I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers, and it was not there; in her fertile fields and boundless prairies, and it was not there; in her rich mines and her vast world commerce, and it was not there. Not until I went to the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.”

- de Tocqueville 1831































Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Hey! I'm Up Here.....Someone Please Talk Me Down

I grew up attending an unafilliated Protestant church.  Before the Left Behind books came out, I was steeped in apocalyptic speculation.  The Book of Revelations still remains one of my favorites of the Bible (this should give you tremendous insight into my charactor).  I have noticed that the LDS church doesn't seem to focus a lot of attention on future biblical prophesy.  They rightly focus on preparation for whatever happens.  I am not complaining about my new found church.  I am trying to prepare you for what I am about to write.  You see, I have this annoying habit of putting together future scenarios in my head, stringing together facts and events and trying to fit them into biblical prophesy.  This, by the way, is one of the things I do that drives my wife nuts.  I am not saying that I am a prophet or have any greater insight than anyone reading this and, odds are, I am totally wrong, but it's nice having a blog where I can put down on paper (so to speak) what I speculate. 
One Final Warning:  you are about to enter into my version of the twilight zone,  read it at your own risk.

Since reading about the Antichrist in the Bible, I have an innate distrust of anybody in a leadership role who has charisma.  Of course, this makes it dificult for me to trust anyone in leadership since charisma is one of the prerequisites to being an effective leader.  Speculations on who the Antichrist is has been the game of Christians since Christ last left the earth.  I remember when a friend's mother thought it was Ronald Reagan when he was president.  Her reasoning was that his three names all contained six letters (his middle name was Wilson).  I considered it for about three minutes and than dismissed it because it was, after all, Ronald Reagan - the last good president we have had (I place him as one of the three greatest).  Letters in a name is one interpretation of the six-six six riddle; but another interpretation that I have heard is that it cannot equal seven ( the number of perfection)  no matter how many times six is repeated.  How this would apply is that the Antichrist would be a person portraying himself  and his agenda as perfect or close to perfect but never able to be perfect.  At this point, I think you, my very savvy readers, are catching on to what I'm saying.  Perhaps you have had simular thoughts. 

Okay enough beating around the bush.  I think President Obama might (emphasis on might) be the Antichrist.  Now that I have finally put that out to the public at large, I truly feel as if I'm up a tree in the center of crazy town.

Here's my reasoning:

A)  The charisma thing.  It amazes me how people are taken by his charm and how eagerly they look past all his flaws.  He has very little political experience.  The people he surrounds himself with are leftest to the extreme and yet a country that is supposedly centrist elected him to the highest office.

B)  Although he has such little experience, he comes off as arrogant.  In and of itself, arrogance would not be indicative of the Antichrist but it lends credence to my idea of the assumption of perfection.

C)  There has been some dispute about his having been born in this country.  Okay, I know there are many people born outside of America and they can't all be evil.  I wonder about the possibility ( and this is a stretch but, hey, it's my brain - you have no idea how scary it is to live in my brain) that Obama could have been born near the original location of Babylon.

D)  The UPC bar codes that are on many of the products we buy start with,  have in the middle of them, and end with the numbers six, six, six.  The mark of the beast is ready and could easily be used to ID the population at any time.  The reasoning for using this form of ID is in place.  It involves the control of money.  If we were to get rid of paper money and simply use debit cards, money would be harder for terrorists or other unsavory charactors to obtain.  Of course, cards can be stolen.  But if chips were to be planted in either the forearm or forehead, as referenced in The Book of Revelations, it would be nearly impossible to steal.

E)  Okay, this is a real stretch but bear with me.  The Mayan calender is scheduled to make its big change in 2012.  It's possible that the Mayan's are decendants of the Lamanite's.  Is it possible that the Mayan calender could be inspired by our God?  Truthfully, I don't know, so I leave it for your scrutiny.

Now that we have plumbed the depths of my addled psyche (now you can relate to my wife) let's step back and gain some perspective.  Every generation since Christianity was founded has thought that they were in the last days. It's quite possible that the seventh seal has been opened recently (earthquake's could be our clue), but even so, it could be up to a thousand years before Christ returns.

I have questions about Mormon beliefs regarding the last days.  Most Protestants believe in a rapture (the catching up of Christians) before the Tribulation.  It is speculated that the rapture creates the disruption that brings about the changes necessary for what is foretold in The Book of Revelations.  I know that we are to meet in Jackson County, MO where we will be protected from the tribulation period.  Is it possible that the calling up of the Saints and the rapture could both occur?          
       

6 comments:

Angela said...

Interesting theory. I've wondered about it myself. What stops me short of calling Obama the Anti-Christ is that he doesn't denounce Christ. He certainly doesn't testify of Him, but, as the name implies, he isn't suggesting that he doesn't exist or will never come etc. like Korihor did in Alma chapter 30. If he does do that, then I might consider it. Although, I have wondered if he still could be if he's trying to present himself as Christ, or a Christ-like figure. I'm not sure if that counts or not, just a thought.

I don't have a background in Protestant theology, BIC and all, but I've found the book Prophecy: Key to the Future by Duane Crowther to be tremendously informative. It was written in the 60's but I think that just makes it better. Also, Cleon Skousen has a book on prophecy that will be released this month(compiled posthumously by his sons). I'm super excited to read it. I can't get enough prophecy info! You're right, every generation has thought they were in the last days. But there seems to be a feeling of events coming to a head. If the Constitution isn't hanging by a thread now, I'd hate to see how much worse it could get. Even if we still enjoy many freedoms, the Constitution is definitely under a fierce attack.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

rocslinger said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
rocslinger said...

Angela, thanks for informing me on the books and thanks for not turning me into the shrinks, You havn't have you?

goddessdivine said...

Gosh, listen to all this hate speech. I'm turning you over to Janet Napalitano and her ilk. This is extremism at its best. Are you a gun-totin', religion-clinging fellow? ;-)

The Last Days are fascinating. It's hard not to be swept up in it. I think there's a lot of things we do know, and so many that are going to take us by surprise. I'd recommend any New Testament commentary to add extra insight into Revelations. Those shed light into the subject.

rocslinger said...

G.D.
Religion clinging, yes. Gun toting, no, but only because my wife who lovingly calls me psycho boy wont let me.

Kerri said...

Amen to that, Psycho Boy. Love ya, though.