chryss

The sad truth is, brethren, the Antichrist has already come and sat in the Temple of God, that is the Christian Church, for centuries, blaspheming God, persecuting the saints and claiming to be God, but nobody seems to notice it! Even prophesed Christians like us, having the Bible in our hands, just dont' seem to get it, even after more than one thousand years of extremely cruel persecution! The prophesies in Daniel clearly point out towards Rome as the great persecuting power for the people of God. This is represented by the feet mixed with clay of the statue from Daniel 2: 40-43, the fourth and most terrible beast in Daniel 7:7, and the little horn in Daniel 8:9-12. Revelation 17:9 also identifies the city of seven mountains - Rome, to the beast in chapter 13. The power of Rome did not die out after the fall of the Western Roman empire in AD 476, as the power of the Roman emperor has been replaced by the authority of the pope of Rome! It is very important to notice that the Word of God does not warn us against communism, or Islamic fundamentalism as some people might expect, but against the danger represented by the unreformed institutions of Christianity itself! The Roman Catholic Church possesses nowadays the same ecclesiastical and doctrinal structure as in the darkest ages, and is ready to resume its blasphemeous activity against the truth of God and the church of God, if only given the occasion. In my opinion, it becomes very important nowadays to correctly understand the prophetic message contained in the books of Daniel and Revelation. Many people are very concerned about the events in the Middle East, and the threat of Islamic fundamentalism, but we as Christians should pay attention to the Word of God as the only sure way to keep our path strait in troubled times like these. And we have to understand that the Bible contains clear answers and accurately unveils the most treacherous plans of Satan, opening before us the path of salvation, if only we would heed its warnings. The Bible prophesies are literally being fulfilled before our very eyes, and the time of probation nears its end. It is time to wake up, such that the great and dreadful hour of the judgement of our Lord will not catch us unprepared! Blessings, Christian

Personnaly, I have never understood where the idea of the 7 year contract the Antichrist is supposed to make with the nation of Israel comes from? Is it Daniel 9:27? But as far as I know, the 70 weeks prophecy in Daniel 9:24-27 refers to the 1st coming of Jesus Christ, and not to the coming of the Antichrist?! Indeed, Daniel 9:25 clearly mentions "Mesiah the Prince", and this prophecy gives the exact year for the baptism of Jesus Christ in the 1st century. After baptism, He preached the gospel for 3.5 years to the Jewish nation, and then He was crucified. His sacrifice on behalf of sinners would cause the ritual Temple sacrifices to cease, as there would no longer be any obejct for them. The gospel continued to be preched to the Jewish nation for 3.5 years after the death of Jesus. Only after the killing of Stephen by the Jewish Sanhedrin were the apostles commisioned to bring the gospel to the nations as well. Then why do people apply this very important messianic prophecy in Daniel to the Antichrist, when it clearly refers to Jesus Christ Himself? Maybe I am wrong, but I think all such talk about the 7 year treaty between the Antichrist and Israel to be just nonsense, unsubstantiated in any way by the Bible! Or maybe can someone enlighten me on this subject? The truth is that the Antichrist has already come, only the world does not notice it! According to the prophecies in Daniel, the Antichrist is the Pope of Rome, and this power will rise again in the last time. This is why in Rev 17:8, people are wondering when they see "the beast that was, and is not, and yet is" - Papal Rome will rise to proeminence again in the world, and we will just see once more heretics burned at stake, the tribunal of Inquisition in action etc. And people who do not know Bible prophecy will just wonder very much seeing mankind going back all of a sudden hundreds of years into the darkness of the Middle Ages ... The final persecution unleashed by papacy will bring the world into direct conflict with God, and will precipitate the Apocalyptic events that would lead to the utter destruction of the entire world and the salvation of the saints. And the issue that will divide those that obey God and those that don't will have to do with allegiance to the Law of God - the Ten Commandments, that include the 4th commandment, the one that orders the sanctification of the 7-th day Sabbath. It is the keeping of the Sabbath that is to represent a sign (see Ezech 20:12, Exod. 31:13, Exod. 31:17) that we are worshipping God, and not some apostate beast power. I wish that we could all turn back to God, in order that He might open our eyes, hearts and minds for understanding the very important prophetic message contained in the book of Daniel, now that it is not too late! Blessings, Chryss

Yes, you are right. Daniel 7 presents the Antichrist (little horn) as arising out of the 10 kingdoms that resulted from the division of the Roman empire, and it is not very difficult to understand what it means. The divided Roman empire represents the present-time nations of Europe, that have for centuries struggled to re-unify, and have still remained divided. This is just because, as Daniel 2:43 points out, they are not made up of the same material: some are strong as the iron, while others are weaker, like clay. We could understand this better if we looked for instance at the difficulties faced by the European unification processus, currently underway, that strives to achieve nothing less than the resurrection of the old Roman Empire: some nations are stronger and richer, such as Germany or France, while others are poorer and weaker, such as Italy, Spain or Poland. The result is that they don't stick together, and the prophecy in Daniel 2 tells us they will not do, until the second coming of Christ! Another very interesting phenomenon has happened with the Western Roman empire, after its fall in AD 476: the dissapearance of the secular power of the Roman Emperor has left a huge political vacuum that was filled by the spiritual power of the Bishop of Rome. The Roman Power, that has been used by Satan for many centuries in his struggle against the church of God, changed form. Political power has been replaced by spiritual power, as Satan decided to replace the violent persecution of the church from without with a much more dangerous persecution from within the church. The Pope of Rome became in this way the representant of Satan on earth, a Judas - like figure taking the seat at the very table with Christ, but caring forward the plans of the devil. I am not sure if you have watched the death of Pope John Paul II in 2005 with much attention. My impression has been that words in Rev. 17:8 might very well have been applied to this event: all the world was just wondering after the beast. And I am sure you have noticed the extraordinary pomp displayed at his death, a pomp rightfully fit for the Roman Emperor himself! With that occasion, it was easy I think to get a sense of the fact that, despite of the division foretold by the Bible, the Roman Empire is still existing today, and it also has an Emperor! Daniel 8 presents a different perspective on the Antichrist. It is shown as arising out of the four Greek kingdoms that have appeared after the death of Alexander the Great, and this is the reason the prophecy has been applied to Antiochus Epiphanes - emperor of Syria that is the author of one of the worst persecutions against Jews and their religion in the history of the Jewish nation - a persecution and blasphemy to be compared with the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple by the armies of Nebucadnezzar in the 6th century BC. Still, Daniel 8 is presenting a spiritual perspective of the actions of Antichrist that far exceeds the profile of Antiochus Epiphanes' actions. Daniel 8:24 tells that he shall "destroy wonderfully", both the "mighty and the holy people", and Dan. 8:25 says "he shall be broken without hand"! Dan. 8:9 tells us he "waxed exceeding great", whereas Antiochus has been defeated by the revolt of the Maccabees, and didn't have the courage to stand against the Romans. The fact expressed by Dan 8:11, that he "magnified himself even to the prince of the host" also does not fit Antiochus, as he lived several hundreds years before the birth of Jesus Christ, and as such could hardly have magnified himself against Him. Whereas, the attack originated with Papal Rome against the religion of Jesus Christ would rightfully fit these descriptions: the Pope of Rome had power for many centuries over the temporal rulers, and many sought to overthrow his yoke, but did not succeed. He magnified himself exceedingly great indeed, as he entitled himself the "Vicarius of Christ" (that is the Antichrist!), called himself infallible, and sought to exercise on earth a power comparable to that of the Roman emperor, though not by his own might, as Dan. 8:24 rightfully predicts. The corrupt practices originated by the papacy so obscured the way of truth, that the religion of Jesus Christ lost almost all its power and significance. The Bible was hidden for centuries, and the people were left in darkness and sin, ignorant of the way of salvation, to be achieved by the power of faith in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ alone, and not by good deeds and blind submission to the church, priest and pope. Thus, the daily sacrifice was taken away (Dan. 8:11). This blasphemous career will come to an end at the second coming of Jesus Christ - the antichrist will thus be broken without human help (Dan 8:25). Although the little horn of Daniel 8 is presented as arising out of Greece, this can be explained by having a look at Daniel chaper 11. Namely, among the struggle between the kingdoms of North and South, represented by the hellenistic kingdoms of Syria and Egypt, the place of Syria is at some point (Dan 11:14) taken by Rome. It is also interesting that the Greek legend of the battle of Troy(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trojan_war) presents Rome as being founded by Aeneas, a survivor from the fall of Troy. If this legend were to reflect some truth, the Romans would be descendants of Greek colonists, and this would explain better why Bible prophecy sees Rome as the continuator of Greek power.

I am sorry if I have offended anybody with my post on the Anti-Christ. Actually, I do belong to a church whose official doctrine includes this particular point: that the Pope in Rome is the Anti-Christ, represented by the "little horn" of Daniel 8. This evening, just before deciding to post this reply, I studied my weekly Bible school lesson, on the subject of the prophecy in Daniel 7. And here is a quote, very representative, from my study, in connection to the "little horn" prophecy in Daniel 8: " You might need faith to believe in the Second Coming or the resurrection of the dead, but you don't need much faith to see papal Rome as the power depicted here. " Very interesting, don't you think? I actually disagree with the author of this study about his/her opinion that you don't need faith in order to understand the Bible prophecies. You need faith just to open the Bible, and turn to God for guidance in understading its message. And you need faith to be willing to seek and accept the truth, no matter where it will lead. In order to be willing to abandon your social position, to endure shame and rejection, just to be able to stand on the side of God. And this is what really means to be a Christian! I sincerely hope that you will take time to properly study the Bible prophesies, and especially those in Daniel and Revelation, in order to understand what they really teach. This is especially important today, when events are rapidly unfolding around us, to open the way for the final confrontation between Christ and Satan, a confrontation where the pontiff of Rome will play no little part. And we will all have to decide on whose side we really want to be, and on this will depend our eternal salvation. May God be always with us and guide us through His Spirit into understanding His truth. God bless, Chryss

I think people have got a wrong idea about the anti-christ. They expect a political dictator, somebody like Hitler or Stalin that will assume power in the world and violently persecute Christianity. That is, somebody that will persecute the Christian church from without. But I believe the Bible teaches that anti-christ is to be regarded rather as somebody who will persecute the Christian church from within! In 2 Thes 2:3, the anti-christ is called "son or perdition", and it is said that he (verse 4) "takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God". This clearly excludes, in my opinion, any sort of political figure playing this role. Apart from referring to the anti-christ, the expression "son of perdition" is also used in the Bible to refer to Judas Iscariot, who sat at the same table with Jesus and finally betrayed Him. That is why, in my opinion, when we talk about the anti-christ, we have got to look for a religious figure, somebody that sits at the very table with Jesus, and that will be used by Satan to lead the final blow against the Christian faith, in an attempt to bring the whole world in subjection to the prince of darkness. Actually, the anti-christ has already come, and this has happened centuries ago, only the world doesn't notice it! I believe the anti-christ to be the Pope of Rome, which took the place of the Roman emperor, as the agent of persecution against the Christian Church. Only the direction of this persecution has changed: instead of being persecuted from without, the church has been persecuted from within, by means of people that pretended to represent Christ, but worked the will of Satan. I think that we need to understand clearly the nature and the truth about anti-christ, the way the Bible speaks about it, in order to be prepared to stand firm in the final confrontation, that will close the history of this earth very soon. Although the Bible prophecies clearly forewarn us about the rise of the Papacy, those clear warnings are much neglected today. Prophecies are mis-interpreted such that people will not understand the underlying message, and this out of political reasons. The same sort of political reasons that lead to the condemnation of Jesus will lead the world to unite with the papacy and put to death the saints of the Most High, hoping to achieve lasting peace and security on the earth. But this will only bring the wrath of God upon the whole world, just as it brought it on the nation of ancient Israel. The Apocaliptic events will then be unleashed, culminating to the utter destruction of the entire world, and the salvation of the faithful. And I personnally think we might only be a few years away from these events!