Antiochus Epiphanes Not Anti-Christ

Daniel the prophet prophesied about polluting the sanctuary of strength, taking away the daily sacrifice, and placing the abomination of desolation in the Book of Daniel 9:27, 11:31 and 12:11. Question: has this prophesy been completely fulfilled or not? Daniel lived 600 years before the time of Christ.

If you are Jewish, then you would probably point to the time of a Greek king named Antiochus Epiphanes, who ruled over the Seleucid Empire. During the time of the Maccabees, he desecrated the temple in Jerusalem and did abominable things there around the year 168 B.C.

This sounds right-on until you consider the words of Christ around the year 33 A.D. Christ prophesied about FUTURE events Matthew 24:15 and Mark 13:14 and referred to  “the Abomination of Desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet”. Christ warned the disciples and FUTURE generations about this FUTURE desecration of the Holy Place with an Abomination that makes Desolate.

It is IMPOSSIBLE, that the prophecy in Daniel is speaking solely of Antiochus Epiphanes, because Daniel’s prophesy is reaffirmed by Christ for future events. Antiochus Epiphanes had been dead for over 200 years, when Christ reprophesied about Daniel’s Abomination of Desolation for the future.

Some may refer to the Roman Emporer Caligula, who ordered that a statue of himself as Zeus be placed in the temple of Jerusalem. But Caligula died and was not able to carry through on his plan.

Many theories abound, which try to show that the Daniel prophesy has already been fulfilled; however, after the Temple was destroyed the matter becomes more difficult. For over 1900 years there has been no Holy Place in which to erect the Abomination of Desolation. The prophesies in Daniel + the prophesies of Christ in Matthew 24:15, Mark 13:14 + the prophesy in Second Thessalonians chapter 2 + the prophesy in Revelation 13:14-18 seem to be talking about the same event that will take place in the Great Tribulation at the time of the end in Jerusalem, Israel.

 

 

 

 

 

Date Of Christ’s Return Surprising

He cometh in the clouds.

An evil imposter is waiting in the wings as it were, and he has answers that will astonish earthlings. The vast majority of the the earth’s inhabitants are not interested in knowing the truth, and this is the exact reason why they will swallow his bait hook, line and sinker.

Second Thessalonians 2:1-3 warns us, that Yahshua Jesus will not return for His bride the Church, until the false Christ is revealed. The anti-Christ will be a test for the Church for the purpose of separating the chaff from the wheat, because the Church is saturated with people, whose loyalty to Christ is shallow. Those who have a genuine deep personal relationship with Christ will not be fooled, but the ones whose relationship with Christ is shallow will be fooled and they will defect from the truth. Of course this same evil imposter will also deceive the whole earth, whose names are not written in the Book of Life (Revelation 13:8).

No one knows the day or the hour of Christ’s return, but Almighty God has left us more clues besides the one mentioned above. In Matthew 24:3, the disciples ask Christ what will be the sign of His coming. Christ replies in Matthew 24:29-30, “The sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give its light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken, and that time shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven.” Luke 21:25-26 includes “distress of nations with perplexity”, “the sea and the waves roaring”, “men’s hearts failing them for fear and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth”. This appears to be around the time of the sixth seal mentioned in Revelation 6:12-14, for it has much similar wording as in Matthew 24.

Second Thessalonians 2:4 reveals, that the Temple of God will be rebuilt and that the imposter will sit in this temple claiming that he is God. Second Thessalonians 2:3 warns the Church to not be fooled.

Many people believe that Christ will come back before the Great Tribulation and I suppose there is maybe a 1% chance of this happening. The main bulk of scripture, perhaps 99%, indicates that Christ will come back considerably later than that.

Believe what you want to about the timing, but just be aware, that it may not be when you think. Matthew 24:44 warns us, that Christ will return at a time or season that seems unlikely. Luke 21:34-35 says it this way, “And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and distractions of this life, and that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.”

The date of Christ’s return will be surprising. Don’t be caught off guard, but live your life in a state of preparedness.

Only After Antichrist Revealed

Some Christians will have a very hard time with this post. I want to start off saying, no one knows the day or the hour of Christ’s return. I will repeat this statement, because so many people ignore qualifying statements: no one knows the day or the hour of Christ’s return. Now that I have made that very clear, I want you to read this profoundly important passage in the Holy Bible in Second Thessalonians chapter 2: [Now we beseech you brethren by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto Him, that you be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first, and that the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.] Please take note; we have just read a passage out of the Holy Bible. It is pure raw truth. Question: What is the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to Him in verse 1? I think that the answer is obvious: Christ promised to return for His church and take them home with Him to heaven or as some people call it “the rapture”. It seems clear that this is the “Day of Christ or at least the first part of the “Day of Christ”. Paul under the anointing of the Holy Spirit tells us, that there are two things that must take place before Christ’s return: 1. a falling away  2. the man of sin/son of perdition is revealed. The “falling away” mentioned here will be spiritually catastrophic for those poor souls who defect from the truth, but I want to focus on number two. There is that point in time, when the man of sin/son of perdition/antichrist /beast will be revealed. He will have the number 666 as it says in Revelation 13:18.  He will claim to be God as it is written in Second Thessalonians chapter 2. He will sit in Almighty God’s temple claiming to be Almighty God. His coming will be after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders (Second Thessalonians chapter 2). He will receive a deadly wound with a sword and yet survive . He will speak incredibly blasphemous words against Almighty God. He will make war with the saints and overcome them. An image of this person will apparently be made and all people will be required to worship this image on pain of death (Revelation chapter 13). It also seems that this same man is mentioned in Daniel chapter 8 as coming out of Alexander the Great’s empire. Daniel 11:37 seems to indicate that he will not be interested in women. Could this mean that he is a homosexual?

I will return to my main point now. The day of Christ will not come until the antichrist is revealed. Let us say it in words easily understood: Christ will not return for His bride the church, until after the antichrist is revealed. It sure would be nice if we were raptured away before this time as some people say; however, if you read the text carefully in Second Thessalonians chapter 2, you will find more than one warning written there, to not be deceived by anyone concerning this matter. I believe there are some well-meaning teachers, that are teaching an easy exit for the church, but it is still a deception. Do not be deceived! There are very difficult days ahead for Christ’s church. The early Christian church suffered greatly because of persecution and martyrdom. Christians down through the ages have been tortured and killed by the haters of Almighty God. Do we think we are better than they? No! We are not better than they are! There is a difference between the wrath of Almighty God and tribulation and don’t think for one minute that the church is not going to suffer great tribulation. We are already getting a foretaste of some of this even now. Have you heard about the four youths who were beheaded by ISIS for refusing to recant their faith in Christ? This will be the everyday scenario under the rule of the antichrist and you need to prepare yourself and your family for what could happen even in our own lifetime. If you do not prepare yourself, you could be one of those in the “falling away” mentioned above. I don’t have to convince you. It is the job of the Holy Spirit to convince. All I have to do is warn you my friend. I am sure that there will be those who will respond to this post in a most negative way. This point of doctrine is not anything to fight over or get angry over. Everyone is entitled to believe what they want to believe. I only ask, that you tuck this bit of information away in a safe corner of your mind just in case you need it. It could be that you and your loved ones wake up one day in the great tribulation, and should this happen (Almighty God forbid), you will need to remember what this preacher warned you about. Your life and soul and the lives and souls of the ones you love could depend on it. One more thing: those who have to suffer martyrdom will be given an extra helping of grace to help them finish well and then they will enter swiftly into Almighty God’s eternal kingdom. Do not be afraid, for precious in Almighty God’s sight is the death of His saints. Be faithful unto death and I will give you a crown of life (Revelation 2:10).