August 2009
Are We The “Last Generation”?
Aug 14, 2009 · Posted in Emails, End Times, Prophecy, TimelineA member on my private forum asked this Question:
Hey Tim I got one more question. We are 100% sure we are in the last generation right? If this is true then do you have any idea how long a generation actually is? It seems like no one has a clear cut answer. Ive heard 40, 50, 70, but no one really knows.
Answer: Actually there is no “last generation” described in Scripture. That concept came from a popular misapplication of the Parable of the Fig Tree (Mt 24:32-35). This view posits that the thing to watch is the fig tree (Israel) putting forth leaves (take Jerusalem) and that “this generation shall not pass until all is fulfilled” refers to the people alive when the fig tree does this still being alive when Jesus returns.
If this were true, then again we’d have a calculation for the absolute single time of Jesus’ return far in advance which contradicts what he expressly said about the impossibility of no man knowing the time (“day or hour”) of his return (Mt 24:36). This is the reason all such calculations have failed throughout history: Jesus said they never will work since even he the Son of God (and the entire Word of God) does not know. The Bible is just a subset of the Word of God and so we can never use it to figure out Jesus’ return (further in advance than 1290 days from the Abomination of Desolation probably).
In truth, the Parable of the Fig Tree does not refer to Israel at all. It tells us to watch for “all these things” that the Olivet Discourse listed as the precursors to his return. Just as seeing leaves on any tree (not just a fig tree—Lk 21:29) tells you summer is nigh, so do all these events happening tell you Jesus’ return is near.
Read Mt 24 to see what all those things listed are. Ironically, none of them match Jerusalem getting return to Israel and instead one of them is Jerusalem taken from Israel by the Antichrist (Lk 21:20)!
Now that you know it won’t help you figure out the Second Coming’s timing, do you still want to know the length of a biblical generation? It’s established at 40 years from more than one precedent (Heb 3:9-10; Ps 95:10). Sign up for my free newsletter for a series on the Seven Prophecy Pitfalls that discusses this in more detail.
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Furl thisJesus Said Obama Was The Antichrist: Not
Aug 9, 2009 · Posted in Antichrist/BeastSeveral people have emailed me about another, “Is Obama the Antichrist?” theory. A “Christian Theologian” posits that Jesus spoke Hebrew words that sound like “Barack Obama” today recorded in the Greek Luke 10:18. You can read all about the theory and listen to the video at WND.
The nicest thing I can say about it is that it is highly original and provocative. The convoluted reasoning it employs is authoritative-sounding enough to the average Christian. Since they cannot disprove it, it leaves them wondering if it could be true or not knowing what to make of it. So they forward it to a friend to see if they know.
Then read this rebuttal in case several things do not jump out immediately at you when you hear his reasoning and after you read the verses in question yourself like a good Berean (Acts 17:11). Reading the verse alone (Luke 10:18) should suffice since you can immediately see it has nothing to do with the Antichrist nor is it a prophecy:
Luke 10:18 (HCSB) He said to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a lightning flash.
If the sound of Obama’s name did come off Jesus’ lips, it would only be an insignificant coincidence. It’s not the proper way to build accurate doctrines. See my previous post as to why no American can be the Antichrist.
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Is Obama the Antichrist
(or Even A Natural-Born American Citizen)?
Aug 8, 2009 · Posted in Antichrist/Beast, Discernment
Believing the Impossible
Last month I attended and spoke at my first Bible conference keynote. (Previously I had spoken at Borland Conferences during my previous career as a programmer). While researching for my keynote, I happened upon a profound quote:
“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s mind there are few”—Shunryu Suzuki.
As an expert on Bible prophecy, I can attest to the applicability of that principle in my field. I constantly hear beginners pose Bible prophecy theories that are frankly impossible. Usually there is a clear and plain verse that nullifies the beginner’s theory. One clear verse is all that it takes because of the principle Jesus taught that “the Scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35). We are not to believe a doctrine that would contradict the Bible. The Bible is a big difficult book that takes years to become expertly familiar with so false doctrines are commonly passed around and accepted.
Barrack Obama Antichrist Rumors
Case in point: is Obama the Antichrist? Lately, this is the question I receive most frequently since he became President of the United States.
Besides questions, I receive plenty of emails from people trying to convince me that Obama is the Antichrist. I think people send them because of the article on my website that uses Revelation 13 to identify someone else as the Antichrist. Obama Antichrist theorists naturally view the article as wrong and just have to correct me. One person even told me to take the article down so people are not “mislead” by it.
The article is still up even though I admit it is possible that the suggested candidate is wrong. We just will not know he is wrong until that person dies or the real Antichrist appears, whichever comes first. In the meantime discussion on the topic is good and one of the best ways to get people to actually study the Bible for themselves.
As for Barrack Obama, we can disqualify him as an Antichrist candidate today. This theory is about as valid as the common Christian belief that “Jesus can come back at any moment” (the secret pretrib rapture). To the beginner both theories seem possible. An expert can tell you that both theories are contradicted by plain clear Scripture. Barrack Obama does not fulfill a single major identification requirement for the Antichrist, especially not from Revelation 13.
Moreover, he cannot possibly be the Antichrist because he is a national of the wrong country. As I have covered in my free newsletter (simply email eatt-news@aweber.com to sign up), Daniel 9:26 tells us the nationality of the Antichrist is the same as those who destroyed the Temple in 70 AD: the people of the Roman Empire. The New American Commentary – Volume 18: Daniel 9:26 on page 267 confirms this is the meaning:
The “people” who would destroy Jerusalem and the temple were the Romans, but v. 27 makes clear that this “ruler” will be the future persecutor of Israel during the seventieth seven. “The people of the ruler” does not mean that the people “belong to” the ruler but rather that the ruler will come from these people. If the text is to be taken literally at this point, this future ruler will come out of the peoples and nations that made up the ancient Roman Empire. Daniel already had divulged in chap. 7 that the Antichrist’s origin will be from the fourth empire, Rome.
The country that Obama is from and rules did not even exist as country until 1700 years later. Therefore, a US Citizen cannot be the Antichrist because they are from a country that was not part of the Roman Empire who destroyed the Temple.
Proving Rumors With Conspiracy Theories
When I tell this to Obama Antichrist proponents, they usually ignore the evidence and invoke the “birther” conspiracy theory you may have heard in the news. It states “Obama was not born in the USA”. I suppose one wild theory deserves another to back it up. Anyone who would believe the first could easily entertain the second.
But even if this argument were true, it would make no difference because Daniel’s prophecy was not referring to the nation the Antichrist comes from. He was referring to what nation he is from. Making Obama a Kenyan does not help since Kenya was not part of the Roman Empire either.
Let’s be reasonable. If it were true that Obama was not qualified to be president, then the McCain campaign would have pounced on this Anyone who was willing to make the risky move of choosing Sarah Palin for vice president certainly would have used this angle if it had any solid evidence behind it. In fact, it recently came out that the McCain campaign did investigate this angle before the election. They found it to be unsubstantiated and the proof of Obama’s birth in Hawaii to be well-documented.
If only believers would consistently do likewise: investigate theories in the Bible themselves and only believe what is well-supported there. We would have a very different set of doctrines taught and widely believed if so. And we would have a lot more Bereans (Acts 17:11) than we do now.
Hope This Helps
Am I down on people who fail to do this and entertain or spread these weak Bible theories? Not at all. I remember some of the crazy doctrines I used to entertain when I was a beginner and had not learned clear thinking skills yet. I write what I do here to help those who want the truth and need a little help finding it just like I did when I was still a beginner. Although I am now an expert, I keep learning to grow in grace and knowledge and correct my own errors.
Here are more articles debunking Obama Birther and Antichrist conspiracy theories from Snopes.com. (BTW, Snopes is a great site to check before forwarding “Obama is the Antichrist”-type emails to avoid the embarassment when it turns out to be false as they usually do.)
- snopes.com: Is Barack Obama a natural-born citizen of the U.S.?
- snopes.com: Occidental College
- snopes.com: Barack Obama’s Passport
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