Antiochous Epihanes - Terrible, but not Antichrist

There is a very important argument about this man. He ruled over Israel about two centuries before the time of Jesus. He seems to have fulfilled some of the prophecies concerning Antichrist. Certainly his lineage would lead one to think that way. For Antichrist will arise out of the Greek empire. He also desecrated Israel's temple, as will Antichrist.

His very name makes him a powerful type, as he adopted the title of "Epiphanes", meaning "god with us". But despite these striking similarities, he was, and remains, only a type. The real Antichrist was yet future of the days of Jesus, who told us, unmistakenly, of the consequences of his rule, which ends in the Great Tribulation.

Paul warns of his coming and his actions which will usher in the Day of the Lord. Since the Day of the Lord has yet to take place, all the attempts to identify Antichrist are false. He was not Antiochous, or a pope, past or present. He was not Hitler, and so forth.

False teachers try very hard to make prophecies a thing of the past. Many, of course, are. But the end of the days for Israel--the "time of Jacob's trouble"--are yet future. The church will not be on earth to endure them. We will be in heaven (Revelation 3:10).

See Daniel 11:21-35 Is Not Antiochus IV.

Our MacArthur Park Country

The matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men. Daniel 4:17

I had intended to write about Antiochus Epiphanes, I really did. But instead this will be a mini state of the nation address. I promise it will be short and I hope, not boring at all.

To talk about the president and his first "lady" may seem to be a total departure from the Bible, but there is a saying that we get the government we deserve. You can gauge a nation's merit by its leaders.

This goes far beyond mere politics, to the freakish nature of our first couple. There have been rumors that Obama and Michele were all mixed up in the gender department. Pictures of Michele show her wide shoulders, adam's apple, and most tellingly, the length of her ring fingers. Men's ring fingers are longer than their forefingers.

I will not involve the apostle Paul in this one, though he writes about it most clearly. Instead I will invoke, of all people, Joan Rivers. I quote her as an insider, one who knows about dark secrets. Only, to her, this issue is not a secret at all. Don Rickles, famous for his barbs, once said of Joan, "You notice how she never moves out of her key light?"

In the linked video below, she is in the light of day, as she wearily answers the reporter's question, "Do you think we'll ever have a gay president?". She tells him that we already do, and that his partner is a "tranny". "Everybody knows that," she says dismissively. Such naivety. not to know this.

But the man with the mike is young. He may even believe in his once-great nation. To me, it is a dead duck. It is a MacArthur Park cake, melting in the rain. Put it back together? We'll never find that recipe again.

See Joan Rivers President Obama Video | Michelle Obama Is A Man | Gossip Cop.

How to Cross a Barbed Wire Fence

A long time ago, as part of my basic training, I had to learn how to do just that. I had roamed a lot of fields edged with barbed wire, so I thought I knew how. You bend down a strand and poke your head through. I found out I could not be more wrong. To stand up would put you in the sight and shooting range of an enemy.

The only enemies we had at Fort Knox had stripes on their sleeves and yelled at us a lot. But before we hit the Infiltration Range, one of us had to go to the PX and buy a supply of feminine napkins to protect our elbows as we crawled through the gravel.

Machine guns were fired so close overhead that if you stood up you would be killed, as a soldier in another outfit did. There were dugouts surrounded by sandbags where nitro starch explosives were set off to simulate artillery rounds.

So how did the Army teach us to cross a barbed wire fence? We were to hit the ground and crawl until we came to one of the fences. Then we rolled onto our backs and held our rifles above us. The weapon was what was used to lift the wire. On our bellies, a snag would have been hard to undo. So instead of facing the "enemy" we kept our eyes on the wire.

The wire was the enemy. Crawling on your back, carrying equipment, while wearing a steel helmet can be tiring, but it was good training.

So much could be made from this event if I were the kind of guy who sees "lessons" in everything. But since I am not, I won't talk about looking at the immediate problem--your "wire"--instead of looking too far ahead. Or being ready to learn a new strategy for a combat situation, where the old civilian way once worked. What was a good tactic for your boss, may not be so good for resisting Satan.

But I won't mention these things.

Lord, I Know That You Created the Universe, But Would You Care for Some More Bread?

There they made him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at table with him.
John 12:2

Supper with Jesus, who earlier in the book of John is revealed to have created all things. Not only the setting of the universe, the Earth, the food that they ate, and the people who ate it. Wouldn't you love to know what they talked about? Not only at this meal, but at other ones they had with Jesus before Lazarus died and was resurrected.

One thing we know, from Martha's own lips, was that they learned pure doctrine. Little credit is given to this blessed woman. She seems to be remembered as the "busy one" in the story of Mary and Martha. But in John 11:24, Martha says of her brother, "I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day."

If you could find a crowbar large enough, you might be able to pry the minds of ministers away from the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, the only Lazarus they seem to know. But hell is much more important to them, along with an immortal soul to suffer in.

How I love to read of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus! I love to imagine what they spoke of as they ate, when Martha learned the wonderful truth from Jesus.

Two Suppers

Then the angel said to me, "Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!" Revelation 19:9

And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, "Come gather together for the great supper of God,... Revelation 19:17

Two suppers--one for the saints, one for the vultures.

God can sure be ironic. In one case he sets a table for us. In another the wicked are the food. For those who believe that God only loves--that people are all alike and God does not punish the wicked--let me say that the subjects of these suppers were to be invited from the beginning of time. The invitations were already written before the world was made.

I once taught a little class in which a man said that the vultures in Israel were laying extra eggs for the earthly feast. At one time this was a popular myth distributed, no doubt, to discredit believers. I asked who in Israel has the job of counting vulture eggs? Is there a job description of "vulture egg census taker"? He became very angry with me because I would not accept such an idea.

When the time comes, I am sure there will be no lack of vultures. For the fate of the evil has been set long ago, just as God has prepared a feast for those who love Him.

But there is another supper I think of that is not future. It is available now, to all believers. It is so striking that it is offered, not to a church, but to anyone who invites Jesus in. I call it a "church of one". No music. No preachers. Just Jesus and you.

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me. Revelation 3:20, NIV

Treasure in a Discard Basket

My old church had a library. I'll give them credit for that. Too bad it was held in such low esteem. They had a young seminary student clean it out, get rid of the old stuff. He did.

I think of how much a seminary student knows--one going to a university approved by my church at the time. What a horrible thought. But he discarded many books that were old and, in his esteemed judgement, no longer "relevant".

There was a nice basket on a table with a little book and a sign in it. The sign read "free discarded books". When I saw the title of a book in the basket, I grabbed it. It was The Chronology of Revelation, by Gary Cohen.

I just saw such a title listed on Amazon as "690" pages! I'm sure it was "69". It was just a little paperback, printed on the kind of paper that soon turned brown and brittle, the kind that no 690 page tome would be printed on. Wood pulp bleached by sulphur dioxide, not meant to last. So I photocopied this treasure and three-hole punched it for a notebook. It fit into the pocket of my guard jacket, so I could read it on company time.

I was so impressed with this book's careful exposition. The author had a degree from Wheaton. He was careful and thorough, not a speculation anywhere in his book. I taught a course on this book and gave boxes of it free to my classes.

My course was on the chronology of Revelation. The very subject was considered a heresy in my old church. I was ignoring some time-honored Presbyterian beliefs. These were: Revelation should never be taught or even mentioned. But If someone studies it, they must remember that the events in it are all past history.

When the sea turns red and all the animals in it die, this is NOT LITERAL, or at the very least, it was an algae bloom in the Red Sea, past and limited. The predicted Anti Christ was just Nero, limited in scope, and of the past.

Apparently God made a big mistake when He recorded the last words of Jesus to his church, as recorded by John. Even the oldest members did not remember the teaching of this blessed book. The church hated it. It was never to be read, studied, or preached on.

I have great respect for the knowledge of the Covenant people concerning salvation.They are the best. But when God speaks through His Word concerning the future they refuse to listen. To them, doctrine ends with Luther and Calvin. The 15 hundreds are a safe cut-off point.

They have no use for outsiders to their closed club. Gary Cohen ends up in the discard basket, and what does a security guard know anyway?

Twin Speak

A couple I knew had twin boys. Since they had no other children, the babies grew up together while learning to speak. I was there when a counselor called to ask about the language the boys were developing. They were starting to speak a language of their own.

In the movie "Mr. Saturday Night", the comic Billy Crystal has his comic character look out at a heckler and say, "See that folks? That's what happens when cousins marry."

Serious or humorous, these are examples of what happens when churches become inbred. Not only to their doctrines, but to their language. We shouldn't need a translation guide to understand them. But over time we have terms like "Pontiff, Eucharist, genuflect, and denominational myths of church origins.

I'll speak of Baptists, since I love them and know about them. I remember my grandmother saying that the first Baptist was "John the Baptist", though there was no church until after John died, and no Baptists until after Luther. Must we speak in "church speech" concerning our faiths? We invent words and doctrines found nowhere in the Bible and even contrary to it.

Confucius was asked what he would do if he were emperor. He said, "The first thing I would do is purify the language." No wonder he is considered a wise man.