The Bible, Part II

The Bible, when seen collectively as a lengthy story describing God’s covenant and relationship with his chosen people, has a beginning, middle and an end. It talks about what has come, and describes in detail (the book of Revelations) what events will bring about the end of the world. In my research, I’ve found that the entire book of revelation describes astrological events and thus falls under constellation mythology rather than prophecy. However, over half a billion people look for the 2nd coming of Jesus within a paradigm that accepts the Bible as literally true.

If we start from the premise that the Bible is historical valid, and then read the prophecies in it literally, we can write an enthralling story of the end of times. The basic plot would go like this: God gave us a big warning, and set a deadline. Now, time is up, and He begins raining down his fury in the form of plagues, wars, and meteor showers. He poisons the fresh water, sets all the plants on fire, and blacks out the sun and moon. It seems that just killing everyone isn’t enough, he wants to make the process as slow and painful as he can. (Before sending the vast majority of us into Hell for eternal torture). Now, for the Christians who have been saved, and will spend eternity in heaven, this all great news. In Psalms, petitioners ask ‘how must we wait until You punish our enemies’ and the thought is embellished in Revelations – only now they also look forward to watching the perpetual torment of the fallen. Although an inhumane, disgusting ideology that glorifies the suffering of others, many modern Christians believe that the end of times will in fact mean an eternity of torture for non-Christians; and they are happy about it. Christianity lost the ability to smite its enemies centuries ago (a power it made much use of), and has since been waiting for God to come and do it for them.

In all of prophetic literature, there is only one figure who comes to bring peace: the AntiChrist. The Bible says he will be intelligent, speak several languages, and actually bring the middle east together in harmony. He is good, kind, and everyone thinks he is a prophet. Like Judas, he is God’s puppet, playing a role that has already been written for him, and like Judas, he will be punished for all eternity. Interestingly, it is this figure that leads humanity in a war against God! This idea is very important; it was originally written by a small, persecuted sect who saw the outside civilizations, with their ‘democracy’ and ‘freedom’ as dangerous. Can you imagine a God who would wage war on all humanity? Whose side would you want to be on?

For thousands of years, various political and church leaders have been given the title AntiChrist as Christians try (always unsuccessfully) to apply prophecy to real life. The best case I’ve ever seen, incidentally, is for president George W. Bush.  If this is true, then the world is ending and life is short, so go out and enjoy yourselves. Hopefully, its all just coincidence. As a symbol, I find myself in great reverence of this figure. The book of Revelations doesn’t speak specifically about an Antichrist, just a beast and a smaller beast (and as I’ve said before, revelations is 99% constellation mythology and pagan spiritualism.) But as a Hero, the AntiChrist has many winning features.

1) He’s intelligent. Why is being smart always a crime? He speaks several languages and has political allies.

2) He can perform miracles. The Bible goes through a subtle transition on its views of supernatural acts. Earlier texts say, All Powers Come from God. In fact powers are the symptom of the spiritually aware and are promised to anyone who has enough faith. Jesus said this. Later, when Jesus is gone, disciples began to see the powers of those they’d fallen out with and say, “Their powers come from the devil.” And later, when the community no longer had any spiritual powers, they began to see every supernatural act, including healing with herbs, medicinal knowledge, or weather forecasts, as demonic. (A very good question might be: why did the ‘right community’ have NO powers while the ‘wrong’ communities still had so many?)

3) He stands up against tyranny in order to save the world. The AntiChrist, like the snake in the garden, is not someone who will lie and deceive. He has a role to play and he plays it honestly. God has come to destroy the world, and sends thousands of angels with flaming swords to cut down the remainder of humans who have survived his earthquakes, plagues and meteors. Instead of cowering in a corner, the AntiChrist leads the armies of mankind to challenge the enemy in a valiant battle, one last fight in the name of freedom.

4) He is God’s victim and yet he stands to his fate. Let’s say you were the Antichrist. Unless you’ve been living with your head in the sand, you probably have a pretty good idea of what’s waiting for you. If all the other signs of the times are coming true, the horses, the angels, Jesus coming back, etc, then you know the story ends with Jesus casting you into a lake of burning sulfur. Ouch. Most of us, me included, would probably run away and hide, or beg mercy, or try to convert or something. What kind of bravery would it take for you to stick to your ideals, and fight Jesus one on one when the odds were on his side?

Editor’s note: as the 2008 presidential election nears next week, I cannot help but predict, sadly, that Barack Obama will be hailed as the anti-christ if he wins. He too is smart and charming. He will make everybody happy, feed the poor, get universal health care, make everything better: and for this he will obviously be recognized as The Great Deciever and fundamentalists Christians will fill the streets asking for his head. Either they will have enough power to get it, and send the world back into the destruction, violence and chaos that benefits religions of every kind, or the rest of us will stand up for ourselves and limit their power.