PTM WEEKLY UPDATE -- JUNE 30, 2008
What our readers and listeners say
Looking for Mr. antichrist
Someone challenged me once -- "do you believe in the antichrist?" I think they wondered who I thought might be the antichrist. I said I believe that there is an antichrist because I believe what the Bible says.
But I don't think anyone can label a specific person as THE antichrist. I think determining anyone to be antichrist is dangerous and divisive no mater how evil that person's actions are. It doesn't give them a chance to repent and God to change them. And someone worse might come along after!!
But then I also think certain world systems -- whether political, religious or business -- can be antichristian in their way of dealing with people and the planet -- and labeling them might also be dangerous. Who's to judge which is the most evil? As for presidents, prime ministers and other major leaders -- aren't they all in danger of being corrupted by the power they have? I think it's too much power & responsibility for one person to be "in charge" of a huge country -- or a smaller one -- so the temptation to act in anti-christian ways goes with the job!
What does PTM think of the "antichrist" labeling? Is it okay to effectively write off a certain political leader, business or religious sect as antichrist? If the Big Antichrist is already out there, he probably wouldn't get found out so easily if he's the deceiver -- we might all be deceived! Didn't the Bible say there would be lots of antichrists as well as the Big One?
In any case, should Christians worry about who the antichrist is or concentrate on Christ? There clearly are evil forces at work in the world -- divisive, deceptive ones and violent, extreme ones --- even in the church. We need God's help more than ever to do what's right and keep on trusting and serving God in difficult times. I think we'd be better off praying than pushing our own point of view and better off living like real Christians as much as we can than spending time labeling others and judging them.
What do you think Greg? Is my perception of what's going on accurate or is it only a very small segment of the church that's obsessed with views about the antichrist and end-time prophecies? I just want to pray for Christians everywhere to find God's way forward and to grow in understanding, compassion, hope, holiness and everything else good that God intends us to have. Of course I'm interested in end-time prophecies too -- especially as I'm a keen sci-fi fantasy fan who loves weird and wacky imaginative stuff -- but when it comes to the real world I think we need to be more down-to-earth and realistic. How do you think we can be down-to-earth realistic and have a biblical/heavenly perspective at the same time?
Sorry this is so long, but I had to explain a lot and ask a lot after reading the antichrist article in the June 23 PTM Weekly Update. -- England
• PTM believes that any effort to identify any human being, or any nation, or any political system that is bound by time as the antichrist -- is a mistake. PTM believes that antichrist is a spirit that has worked in mankind since (and before, for that matter) those words were originally written in what we now know as the New Testament -- well over 1900 years ago.
Antichrist is, in PTM's view, the idea that we humans may somehow justify ourselves before God -- that we may, by our performance of deeds and ceremonies, ingratiate ourselves with God -- and that our works will therefore mollify God, making him like and love us more than he would have, had we not gone to the trouble of doing all that stuff.
This idea is the very idea that religion has been grinding on -- not only since the time of Jesus -- but before. The gospel of Jesus is good news because it is the antidote to the antichrist message of religion and all of its legalisms. The gospel of Jesus is based on grace, and centered in and on Jesus. Antichrist religion is Christ-less religion, Christ-less "Christianity" (Christendom which appropriates the name of Jesus but denies the power and significance of who Jesus is and his power to save).
PTM believes that getting people's attention riveted on the "end times" -- on "end-times prophecies" -- along with all of the attendant speculations about which person (religious or national leader) is the antichrist -- the beast of Revelation -- is a spectacularly successful religious device to take the focus away from Jesus. Prediction addiction mania is a religious contrivance that provides enslaved people who exist in religious prisons entertainment and diversion to take their mind off their own suffering and misery (caused by Christ-less religion).Obama, McCain, jetting televangelists and the Rapture
Regarding the article about Obama here are my comments: The man epitomizes the term "empty suit" as he stands for absolutely nothing and talks in circles. Is he the antichrist? If it would help get him elected, he would probably campaign as such. The man talks like a "used car" salesman and when you really listen to him, has no clue on how to help solve any of our problems. Between what I read about his wife and his loony-tune minister, I wouldn't vote for him if he was running for "dog catcher."
Regarding McCain: The man is insane as he has stated he would keep our troops in the Middle East for 100 years. This is not in the best interest of our country as we are already bankrupt and could not possibly stay there even for another 5-10 years at this point. As Ron Paul accurately said during the debates, the decision to bring the troops home will either be made by us or made for us as our current financial situation is unsustainable.
Regarding the use of corporate jets by John Hagee and company, isn't that inconsistent with their Left Behind views? What happens if they are raptured and there is no one to fly the plane?? Many will die and it will be all their fault. Perhaps they should utilize atheist or Jewish pilots just to be on the safe side. Keep up the good work!
-- New JerseyAssorted quotes on war from a reader
"War is the only game in which both sides lose." -- Walter Scott
"War is the sum total of human villainies." -- John Wesley
"War is the blackest villainy of which human nature is capable." -- Erasmus
"If you had seen one day of war, you would pray to God that you would never see another." -- The Duke of Wellington"
"I confess without shame that I am tired and sick of war. Its glory is all moonshine. It is only those who have neither heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded, who cry aloud for more blood, more vengeance, more desolation-War is Hell." -- General Sherman
"The noted philosopher William James of Harvard, in his Varieties of Christian Experiences, quoted approvingly an Austrian army officer: 'If the soldier is to be good for anything as a soldier, he must be exactly the opposite of a reasoning and thinking man. War and even peace require of a soldier absolutely peculiar standards of morality. The recruit brings with him common notions of which he must seek immediately to rid himself . . . . The most barbaric and pagan tendencies in men come to life in war, and for war's use they are incommensurably good.'"
"War is not only the denial of Christianity, but of all the most sacred things of life." -- Major General John O'Ryan
I often wonder why people, and especially Christians, support war knowing, at least in part, how utterly horrible war is. In the following quote, I think Mark Twain puts it rather well: "The loud little handful will shout for war. The pulpit will warily and cautiously protest at first . . . . The great mass of the nation will rub its sleepy eyes, and will try to make out why there should be a war, and they will say earnestly and indignantly: 'It is unjust and dishonorable and there is no need for war.' Then the few will shout even louder. . . . Before long you will see a curious thing: anti-war speakers will be stoned from the platform, and free speech will be strangled by hordes of furious men who still agree with the speakers but dare not admit it....Next, statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting blame upon the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations of them; and thus he will by and by convince himself that the war is just, and will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of grotesque self-deception." -- Mark Twain
-- CanadaRETURN TO PTM WEEKLY UPDATE CONTENTS PAGE
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