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Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Is Trump the Antichrist?


Short answer: no. I don't think Trump is the Antichrist. But I have a reason for raising the question, which I will get back to after a backgrounder. 

Prophecy teachers are always on the lookout for the Antichrist–and related events. Prophecy teachers write books and serve as keynote speakers at prophecy conferences. There's an insatiable appetite for this sort of thing.

Now, I don't necessarily say that as a criticism. The Bible contains a number of prophecies which remain outstanding: mainly centered on the return of Christ and related events. Christians should take an interest in future prophecies. We are exhorted in Scripture to be watchful. 

I think it's safe to say that John Walvoord was the most prominent prophecy teacher of his time. Among other things, he wrote Armageddon, Oil and the Middle East Crisis. That was first published in 1974. 16 years later, he published a revised edition. Then 17 years later, he published another revised edition, under a new title: Armageddon, Oil, and Terror.

Notice the pattern: He sticks to the same basic script, but changes names and dates to make it more contemporary. 

Yet what this means is that his original projections were wrong–repeatedly. That, however, doesn't cause him to go back to the drawing board. Instead, he just updates the plot. The actors change, but the play remains the same. Same characters, different names. 

Surely, though, that goes to a deeper problem which requires more than superficial revisions to rectify. Why did he keep missing the target? Because he entertained false expectations. Yet he doesn't question his expectations, which is why he repeats the same mistakes. 

Suppose the Antichrist is not what we expect him to be? Indeed, it would hardly be surprising if the Antichrist had a hidden agenda. If he concealed his true intentions. 

In other words, there might well be a difference between how the Antichrist presents himself in his rise to power, and what happens once he achieves power.

Due to false expectations, many Christians could be blindsided. The Antichrist didn't fit their profile. If they suppose the Antichrist will resemble a villain in a James Bond movie, they may be surprised. Ironically, this means some pious Christians could unwittingly be political supporters of the Antichrist in his rise to power.

Let's take a few comparisons. Consider Lutheran NT scholar Adolf Schlatter. He was theologically very conservative by German standards. And he was quite philosemitic by German standards. Nevertheless, his views on Nazism and the plight of German Jews are highly ambivalent. Cf. Anders Gerdmar, "Adolf Schlatter and Judaism," Roots of Theological Anti-Semitism: German Biblical Interpretation and the Jews, from Herder and Semler to Kittel and Bultmann (Brill Academic Pub, 2008).

In our own day, evangelicals like Craig Blomberg and Darrell Bock both voted for Obama. In principle, some Christian conservatives might unintentionally throw their support behind the Antichrist, in his ascendancy, because he's not what they anticipated. By the time they catch on, it's too late. 

Likewise, there might be prophecy teachers who support Donald Trump, even though he has the piety of a Borgia pope, because they think his candidacy is a bludgeon to the Republican establishment. In theory, they could be backing the Antichrist, but fail to recognize his true character and agenda, because they have a mistaken preconception of what the Antichrist will be like. 

Never underestimate the power of an orator. Hitler was a great orator. Many voters were swept away by Obama's oratory. And it's disturbing to see how Trump has cast a spell over some conservative voters and pundits through his oratorical posturing. For whatever reason, some people just don't know a showman when they see one. They allow themselves to be manipulated by a flimflammer. This can happen to good people who ought to know better. It's not the first time–and unfortunately, it won't be the last time.  

6 comments:

  1. With his immigration policy I wouldn't be surprised if he wanted to chip everybody on the planet.

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    1. What does that even mean? Is it not acceptable to secure your own country like you would secure your home to protect those that you have been intrusted to protect? Or are you ok with flooding the country woth those who hate and want to kill us? Would you welcome these same people into YOUR home with your children? I think not

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  2. The beauty of this article is that there is no conclusion as to who would the Antichrist be or when... The analysis made to come to the understanding that the game changes but with the same theme, and the players remain but with different names is awesome.

    If the Antichrist were to be hidden until it was time to be revealed, then we are not gonna be able to see or predict him accurately until he arrives. And once he does, we are all going to look like fools (I mean the ones of us who have been predicting the Antichrist); because we are going to be taken by surprise when this guy comes. He is not going to be a hidden person. We will all realize that he was an elephant in the room all the time. This is how it would happen.

    Anyway, my intellect is not complete so that I cannot say my conclusion is correct but it seems to be logical to me at least... There are ways to know the pattern, the origin and the plans of this person because they are all given in open or a shadowed information.

    We almost know everything else about the Antichrist but his name! The bible does not hide anything from us. The bible actually has the most of the Antichrist explained in too many places. The bible gives the nick names of this person but the real one. It is his name, that the bible wants us to calculate if we had understanding; not intelligence!!!

    The problem with all prophecy teachers and almost all people who want to reveal that person is that they all use their intellect; they don't know if they understand it or not. It seems like the bible wants the Antichrist to understand that he is the Antichrist; so that he can plan and work out!!!

    It sounds hilarious but I have seen words all over the internet that point to this fact. You can read something like that here in the below page:

    http://www.awaitedelement.com/2015/08/the-long-awaited-one.html

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  3. For any Christian beware of a man, who does not know he needs God's forgiveness. Trump says he doesn't need to ask for forgiveness, because he doesn't make mistakes. You might want to ask who else speaks like this? Did Satan ever ask for forgiveness or does he believe he is right? How can Trump be a Christian if he is in no need of a Savior?

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  4. He is not. He IS the antiChrist!

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  5. Trump qualifies 666. Donald 6 letters, JTrump 6 letters, born June 1946 6th month.

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