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I have had to learn to deal with what I have come to call “a spinning mind” all my life. This trait of “thinking, thinking, thinking” as some would define it is just who I am. For some reason, asking questions, wanting to know the origins or way of this or that is how I think and process my world and experiences. Theology and a lifelong interest in the Bible has also caused more problems than it seems to have solved for me. This is my experience. If it is not yours, I am happy for you.

I also have had to deal with anxiety in the last few years due to, what for me, are extreme life changes and that old mind spinning that projects me either back in to the past which kindles anger or depression or the future where anxiety lives. But since I am feeling that anxiety begin to rear it’s head even as I write, let’s talk about it and what might be a way to keep on moving.

We live in an anxious world and the powers that currently be seem to feel they are the cure but in fact seem more the cause of the problems and associated anxiety we all feel. Will we all die of bird flu? Will we all die of some plague accidental or deliberate? Is some idiot going to start a nuclear war because they can or have some skewed view of their role on the planet or alledged power? Have we elected (who really knows if “we” did?), people with agendas that are spinning us out of control and spending us into the poorhouse? Will we drown by tsuanami, fry in summer heat, cave in by earthquakes, be cast upon the plains by tornadoes, blown away by super storm hurricanes? Is our government turning into a dictatorship and was George Orwell correct, just a few years early?

My interest and experience is with religion gone bad. I know pastors who are building whole religious empires (at least in their minds) on the fear, guilt, shame and income they can generate by reading and preaching that they possess special knowledge and insight that the truly “called” need to understand. Churches and Denominations also do that. I have a deep resentment for these men and pure wonder at those follow them. The Church and ministry should heal the wounded, not inflict the wounds, but that is not always the outcome of how some churches and ministers end up affecting the people who trust them.

A simple test of a man’s message is to count how many times he uses the word “I” in his explanations. This is why I found it comforting to find that “I am the way, the truth and the light…” is also found on Eqyptian temples to the Sun God and may not have been spoke by the Jesus who also is alledged to have said, “why callest thou me good…” Me thinks the Church at a later date made Jesus say things that, in fact, he never did say, nor never could say. Just my less anxious feeling opinion. People who are “the only way” along with truth that is the “only truth” make me…well, anxious.

Just yesterday I received a call from a former church member who asked if I had heard that so and so had told his followers to cut off all relationships with family, relatives and friends. This is a man who has found that he personally is spoken of in the Bible, of all things. He is a self appointed Apostle type who believes that Satan will chase his small church into the wilderness and have to be hidden by God in a “place of safety” to protect them. Some have their mind on a place called Petra in Jordan where I am sure some entrepeneur type could start a chain of “Petra Huts” and make some bucks.:)

Anyway… he gets this perspective out of the book of Revelation, but then again, don’t they all. I would hope the proper authorities investigate this before it is too late for a very small number of true believers in this man’s skewed Biblical view of the world, but he is only one of scores of ill informed fundamentalists who have scary solutions for all of us, with them of course, as our leaders in the true understanding of the true God and his true church.

I don’t know if he is sincere, ill or a con man, anymore than the other three or four I know who now feel they are one of the Two Witnesses spoken of, again in the book of Revelation, that book which has caused more people with mental illnesses to rise to the surface than any other in the Bible. This call, I believe has ignited the anger over religion gone bad of my past and the anxiety caused by the unknowable future. I realise some of the anxiety comes from the personal fall out that has come from the results of my knowing it was long past time to get out of that which no longer inspired or informed me. Being a seeker at heart, that’s just how it works.

Religious anxiety is a beast of it’s own. Personally, and save for those moments when the chemistry of past experiences with religion gone bad is set in motion, I am free of it. I no longer worry about human constructs that are designed for control by fear, guilt and shame, such as the false idea of hell or the biblical threats of the lake of fire for those that are not growing in the grace and mostly fake knowledge of some who profess to know. But I still want to know why the things of religion,

Christianity is a perfect breeding ground for anxiety as it places unachievable and unrealistic goals before people. “Become ye therefore perfect, as you heavenly Father is perfect” comes to mind. No challenge there. Christians have the absolute anxiety causing duty to be sure they have the right truth, follow the right teachings, listen to the right ministers who preach the scriptures, the right way, or else.

This very fact of Christian life is THE reason there is so much division in Christianity. There are always men who are more sure of their own righteousness and closeness to God and the scriptures than the previous guy. They split churches in half seeking a following that will be more true to God than the last church they were in and it will happen again and again. Knowing this is why when I was told that I could walk off with the Church if I was tired of what was going on in the Corporate Church, I said no, and went to massage school. Now at least I rub people the right way…Sorry, had to say that:), and don’t have to go through another coup by local church elders who want to be King of Nothing.

I knew a woman once who literally cut off her hand because “if your right hand offends you, cut it off, for it is better you go into the Kingdom of God without it than into the Lake of fire…” blah blah blah. I think it also tells us to pluck out our offending eyes as well but believe we’d all be blind and limbless along with a few other vital organs if we did what the Bible says. I know the apologetic on those scriptures, but tell those guys in the middle east where the book was written it is merely symbolic. Fundamentalist Christianity thrives on conflict and division and promotes anxiety while also offering the cure for a price. What a racket!

I don’t personally understand why people allow themselves to be lead and duped by such religious tripe. They must ignore a lot of little moments in their thinking when they inwardly say “that’s stupid” but outwardly dismiss their own observations. Well actually I do understand that as I did it for years.

Humans want to know the right things and do the right things for the right reasons in the right way. At least most of those I know and knew do and did. But that is also a formula for anxiety and not a little bit of anger. The anger will come from looking back and seeing that what you were so sure of in your youth has become the source of your doubt in the present, and the void left for a time will lead to anxiety over a future you thought you had figured out, but now know you don’t. That’s how it works. What’s the solution, or maybe, what is A solution, since maybe we need get away from thinking there is always only just one true way to think or do anything.?

First of all, get out of the unchangeable past, stay out of the unknowable future and be present in the only time you have…NOW. I am speaking to myself, but you can take this advice too if you wish. I simply refer the reader to Eckhart Tolle’s excellent insights into this topic in his series on The Power of Now. Just know that living anywhere else than the now is insane. If you think of it it, churches and their leaders motivate people by looking back to the past, (scripture, stories, history-real or imagined, and characters) for their motivational sources and ahead to the future (prophecy of what will happen, to whom and how), to motivate, frighten, “inspire” and keep the faithful in their seats and tithing. Sincere? Maybe. Profitable? Absolutely. True? Probably not near as much as one would think, but I spare you for now.

Secondly, and frankly, learn not to care all that much for you personally about what such Bible characters as Moses, Joshua, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Jonah, the minor prophets or King David, who may or may not have ever literally existed depending, had to say. Get over the idea that if someone spoke it in the Bible, that is the end of the topic and the final truth of whatever they were commenting on. It relieves your religious anxiety to be able to say “so what” to someone who tries to manage your life by quoting the people of the book, so to speak, who said what they said thousands of years gone by now. Be prepared for them to freak out as well as they have never remotely thought that you might be able to think for yourself without searching the scriptures to see if these things be so.

“I don’t give a rat’s ass about what Malachi said,” is liberating! Just learn to say “I don’t give a rat’s ass what (blank) said…” and fill in the blank with the Bible character that someone is using to inform you as to how you should be or do in the present. Maybe ‘ol (blank) was not who you think he was or as portrayed and you are truly wasting your time with allowing yourself to be motivated by advice or ideas given thousands of years ago, as if we haven’t learned anything since then. I know at least one person who’d have a right hand if they had used this skill and gotten some professional help.

Thirdly, theological anxiety can be lessoned by knowing that everything the pastor or minister says is subject to being questioned. I know we are not used to doing that. I never was. Just the act of reading “what Jesus said” was enough for me to believe that simply is THE final truth on the matter, again, as if we have not learned anything since.

Paul said in the New Testament that he wished all men could be as himself, single and celebate. Jesus said a man should leave his father and mother and cleave to a wife, you pick. Paul said women should not speak in church, but rather ask their husbands, because it was the woman who sinned and not the man. This of course is literally BS, but how many women live anxious lives trying to obey this outwardly when inside they know that they know more than their husbands anyway and his answer would be stupid and selfserving? Lots, I can assure you. Learn to question so called “authorities.” It is better mental health. Let go the fallacy that to question the minister, pastor, preacher, rabbi or Pope is to question the Deity. Trust me, all such are just men and they all fart from time to time.

Paul says the only reason for marriage is to avoid fornication. That might be the only reason Paul felt he would get married, but it’s not true, nor it a good reason to get married. Much anxiety in Christian homes is caused believing that the advice of a man who saw a bright light and fell off his ass to become an Apostle, but never met the physical Jesus or quotes him is, 2000 years later, the only advice there is. Many are anxious letting a man who had no wife, no children and no detectable relationships give them advice or even commands on marriage, childrearing and relationships! It’s kinda like going to a Catholic Priest for advice about human sexuality, children and marriage. This is one anxiety I don’t choose to inflict on myself any longer. So to lessen your anxiety, get up all your courage and be willing to believe that jsut because someone mentioned in the Bible said this or that, does not make it so. It is liberating.

Finally, but not really finally, breathe. Simple stuff really. Learn to sit, quietly with music that inspires your inner self or sounds that calm and just be. That is what in the present means. Instead of going to Church, take a hike, sit by the river, lay under a tree and look at the stars. Don’t live up to the expectations of others. Live up to your own. Don’t even have expectations for a time, but just be who you are, now and not always feeling the need to better, or smarter, or more faithful to this or that idea that you don’t and maybe can’t even grasp. Life is not something that is always just around the corner, the bend, over the next hill or something to be lived when all the problems, fears, shortcomings and needs are either overcome or met. Life is now and anxiety or the lack of it is directly proportional to one’s ability to live in the present and stay out of the anger producing past and anxiety ridden future. Theological anxiety is treated well by refusing to allow others to introduce you to God, Jesus and all the Prophets, brought to you by way of fear, guilt and shame and a claim on at least ten percent of your income.

Thanks for listening, I feel better.

DJ VU (Where have I heard this before?)

(Note: May I warn you from the outset . . . this treatise may commence with the levitas of “secular” indiscretions, comments and analysis . . . but it will culminate with relevant theological gravitas . . . bear with me; and, oddly enough, the article actually “hangs together”)

“President Bush had signed a covert finding in late spring 2002, which authorized the CIA and US Special Operations forces to dispatch clandestine units into Iraq for the purpose of removing Saddam Hussein from power. The fact is that the Iraq war had begun by the beginning of summer 2002, if not earlier . . . as was the case with Iraq pre-March 2003, the Bush administration today speaks of ‘diplomacy’ and a desire for a ‘peaceful’ resolution to the Iranian question. But the facts speak of another agenda, that of war and the forceful removal of the theocratic regime, currently wielding the reigns of power in Tehran . . . as with Iraq, the president has paved the way for the conditioning of the American public and an all-too-compliant media to accept at face value the merits of a regime change policy regarding Iran, linking the regime of the Mullah’s to an ‘axis of evil’ (together with the newly ‘liberated’ Iraq and North Korea), and speaking of the absolute requirement for the spread of ‘democracy’ to the Iranian people. (Scott Ritter, July 2005, RENSE.COM)

History tends to repeat itself. Yes, but this fast? Yes, again! Scott Ritter, beloved voice of the Left for his criticisms of the War in Iraq, is a former intelligence officer for the United States Marine Corps (where he served as the lead analyst for the Marine Corps Rapid Deployment Force concerning the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the Iran-Iraq War). Also, this “Army of One” was the key coordinator for the implementation of UNSC (United Nations Security Council) resolutions mandating the elimination of Iraqi WMD.

So . . . BAM! Ritter gets top billing in Aljazeera for his prophetic outbursts by likening Bush’s pre-invasion tactics of Iraq with what’s happening now in Iran. Indeed, the parallels are staggering and overwhelmingly convincing, even to the God bless America crowd—who, unfortunately, demand that the present conflict be expanded to include the entire “Axis of Evil” (along with a few lesser-rans like Syria and the rest of those mad bombers running around loose out there). They need to be hunted down and democratized, so the Free World can get on with globalization, along with unhindered economic growth in the USA.

Nothing, absolutely nothing, can stop the cheap money pouring into the US economy (and, ipso facto, the accelerated/unimaginable skyrocketing prices found in the US housing market today) from central banks, all to willing to finance the national debt in order to keep Americans buying their cheap products.

The foreign purchase of US bonds, in order to finance our nearly $8 Trillion Trade Deficit (now outpacing our National Debt (also $8 Trillion) by nearly twice as fast), places uninhibited pressure upon lenders and mortgage companies to keep interest rates artificially low, which in turn directly exacerbate the already inflated housing market driving the current “economic boom/bubble.”

One must ponder the intoxicating influences of that Great City prophesied in Scripture with a new understanding of what it means to be addicted to alcohol—talk about going on a bender (i.e., a massive drunken spree), with absolutely no desire for a 12 Step or “Wagon” experience!

“For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury” (Revelation 18:3).

Of course, all this apocalyptic hyperbole, according to our what-me-worry Preterist buds, took place years ago (like 1900 years ago) around 100 A.D. . . . . So, who cares about Bible prophecy anyway, right? After all, who wants to live in an encumbered future full of doom and gloom and “Ritter rhetoric” that smacks of “American hate speak” and, furthermore, borders (no, it actually is) malignant, traitorous propaganda. Alas! Ritter has become the replacement for Baghdad Bob; you know, that clown featured on news channels for his “all is love and oneness” remarks when all “Western hell” was breaking lose (now, come on, you lefties had to laugh at that character). His believability ratings were off the chart: “That wasn’t Saddam you guys captured, it was Santa Claus!”

THIS IS NO JOKING MATTER

O.K. Let’s get serious about this business of world conquest by democratization on a scale heretofore not seen since ancient Rome. The evidence mounts daily on US intentions (let alone Israeli intentions) regarding Iran’s pending demise (a.k.a., “regime change possibilities”). Most Americans have no idea, thanks to the complicity of the corporate media (and that’s not a cliché . . . check out this website next time (and excuse my purposeful digression), you’ll be glad you used a Westinghouse toaster while you’re watching TV; to wit:

“In 2004, Bagdikian’s revised and expanded book, The New Media Monopoly, shows that only 5 huge corporations — Time Warner, Disney, Murdoch’s News Corporation, Bertelsmann of Germany, and Viacom (formerly CBS) — now control most of the media industry in the U.S. General Electric’s NBC is a close sixth.” (See: http://www.corporations.org/media/ )

Pilotless drones scour the airspace above Iran, while the CIA-backed Mujahadeen el-Khalq, or MEK, an Iranian opposition group, once run by Saddam Hussein’s dreaded intelligence services, but now working exclusively for the CIA’s Directorate of Operations, pans out across Iran—a bombing here, a bombing there, man, we could be talking about a real bombing campaign here pretty soon.

And, of course, Bush/Rice continue to bash the Iranian efforts at “free elections” – naturally, the hardliners have rigged the whole smear, so what else is news. Meanwhile, a huge US military buildup continues unabated in, naturally, you guessed it: Just due north of Teheran, Iran: Azerbaijan (former Soviet bastion of infiltration and headaches for Persia’s Shah). Good night, read the entire link and weep (for “joy” if you’re a crusader; for “grief” if you’re an Islamic bureaucrat), and “you ain’t seen nothin’ yet!”

“Three air ‘lily pad’ bases in central Azerbaijan — Kurdamir, Nasosnyy and Gyulakh — which used to be Soviet air bases. Kurdamir was a strategic base, with Tu-22M ‘Backfire’ bombers located there. The base’s upgrade, including its runway, already is completed, local sources say. This means the air base can receive U.S. strategic bombers or other heavy air transport. The Nasosnyy base used to host Soviet heavy transport Il-76es for Soviet airborne forces and other troops. With the Nasosnyy upgrade soon to be completed, U.S. strategic transport planes should be able to use it too, making the air base a major point in the Caspian air corridor from Western Europe to the Caucasus and Central Asia, where U.S. troops and aircraft are located. Initially, the United States probably will deploy some special operations forces aircraft, military transport planes, air surveillance and other spy planes (including drones) and perhaps F-16s.”

Of course, Donald Rumsfeld’s visits to the locals in Azerbaijan (be it ever so innocuous) normally portends an extension of Democratic Globalism nearby and/or a continued presence in the region guaranteeing abundant oil flows from the just opened Caspian oil pipeline, and perhaps, a little from Iran “on the side.”

Likewise, if Turkey doesn’t play ball with us, we can simply do one of two things: (1) Extend the pipeline directly through Georgia to the Black Sea and on to Europe (we figured that one out a long time ago); or (2) in general, make things miserable for the Turks! In our other articles we’ve presented a powerful case for the Islamic Turks to throw their weight behind Iran and Syria . . . you’ll have to go to those chapters in The Gog-Magog Scenario.

WHAT’S THEOLOGY GOT TO DO WITH RUMSFELD, RITTER, AND IRAN?

Not surprisingly, a whole lot, according to Thetribnet (us, of course); but little or nothing according to the otherwise brilliant evangelical eschatologist and New Age basher, Dave Hunt. You see, Brother Hunt sees nothing in the current possibilities of a Gog-Magog confrontation, lumping, as he does, the entire “initial prospects for conflict in the Middle East” into the final conflict itself: Armageddon. Consequently, all this sound and fury in the Middle East (although fun speculation making for great book sales: Judgment Day, Israel, Islam, and the Nations) is a whole long ways off (at least seven years) signifies nothing . . . besides, we’ll be “outta here”—especially us American Christians (because there’s so many of us righteous ones) and that will leave room for America’s economic collapse, and the revelation of the Antichrist from a resuscitated European Union). Hey, these guys actually believe this.

There you go again—meaningless eschatological food fights amongst otherwise nice people (they just are a little nuts when it comes to forecasting the future). Folks, bear with us. We do appreciate the absolute brilliance enunciated by one Dave Hunt and for his valiant synthesis of the occult incursions into the Church and of Rome’s pervasive influences to catapult ecumenism into the immediate present wherein Antichrist will have more than a firm base of support to inflict his dastardly script upon unsuspecting earthlings.

However, when it comes to this nuance (and we’ll get into why such “nuances” are paramount in how we live our lives today); i.e., the difference (yea, blatant distinction) between the Gog-Magog conflict and the horrific descriptions of the entire Armageddon Campaign (i.e., the FINAL conflict), we affirm the blurring of that distinction is tantamount to discrediting (seriously discarding) the very Biblical literalism we know he holds dear. In sum (as you see below) Hunt has cavalierly discarded all such differentiations as trivial and disproportionate to their theological value—i.e., there’s but one end of the age conflict and we, as Pretribulationists, have naught to concern ourselves, because we’re not part of the “Left Behind” crowd in any event: Sorry guys, we’ve been raptured from the final conflict—you’ll have to endure the Great Tribulation yourselves!

Quoting from Hunt’s 1995, “A Cup of Trembling . . . Jerusalem and Bible Prophecy” . . .

“It is true that there has been some unwarranted speculation and even sensationalism in attempts to apply apocalyptic prophecies. That fact, however, does not warrant throwing these prophecies out, but instead calls for care in interpreting them. Ezekiel 38 and 39 list certain leaders, peoples, and nations that will be involved in the future attack upon Israel. ‘Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya’ are specifically named. Others are not so easily identified: ‘Gog, the land of Magog . . . Meshech and Tubal . . . Gomer, and Togarmah of the north’ (38:5, 2, 6). Some prophecy writers have allegedly traced these names and peoples to Russia and northern Europeans. It is difficult, however, to verify the accuracy of such claims, and it is not necessary.

“There is no reason to believe that Ezekiel’s listing is intended to name each and every nation that will be involved in the last-days attack upon Israel. Moreover, we find ‘Gog and Magog’ mentioned again in Revelation 20:8, representing all nations on earth coming against Jerusalem and Christ at the end of millennium. Clearly that final battle is not the one mentioned in Ezekiel 38 and 39. If ‘Gog and Magog’ represent all nations in Revelation, then we may assume that the same is true in Ezekiel (monster conjecture on Hunt’s part here). There are two battles involving all nations: Armageddon just preceding and the battle in Revelation 20 at the end of Christ’s 1000-year reign. This is only one of several reasons for concluding that Ezekiel 38 and 39 refer to Armageddon and not to some earlier World War III” (pp. 414-415, Dave Hunt, “Cup of Trembling”).

It is baffling to me that Hunt’s Biblical literalism appears to be convenient only when it fits his presuppositions—in this case there are but two future conflicts of Biblical magnitude: Armageddon (a.k.a., Gog-Magog) and the final postmillennial Gog-Magog conflagration. The incredible specificity of Ezekiel’s constellation of nations in the initial Gog-Magog outburst is unparalleled in Scripture. What is even more incredible—notwithstanding turn-of-the-century Premillenarian hype regarding Russia’s identification with Gog-Magog—the current alignment of nations in Ezekiel 38 and 39 virtually fits the immediate contestation between the world’s super power, the USA, and the configuration of antagonists in the Middle East.

Likewise, those Middle Eastern nations either leaning toward US approbation or in its hip pocket (i.e., providing unwavering support due to military occupation and/or economic contrivance) provide ample evidence to prophetic fulfillment. A short list is too convincing (modern and Biblical names given):

FOR OR LEANING TOWARD USA (i.e., the West’s leadership; a.k.a., “Ships of Tarshish”)

Saudi Arabia (Dedan; includes Gulf States)

Iraq (Babylon)

Jordan (Edom, Moab, and Ammon)

Yemen (Sheba)

Israel (USA is her patron)

ANTAGONISTS (Not Mentioned in Ezekiel 38 and 39; but removed “somehow” …see Isaiah 17 and 18)

Syria

ANTAGONISTS MENTIONED ALIGNED WITH GOG (i.e., MAGOG) and THE KING OF THE SOUTH (Daniel 11:40-45)

King of the North/Gog:

Persia (Iran)

Turkey (Rosh, Meshech, Tubal, Gomer, and Togarmah) (Note: current “alliances” with Syria and Iran belie her “alliance” with the USA.

King of the South:

Egypt (“US Ally” in name only)

Ethiopia (Cush or modern Sudan)

Libya (Put or modern Libya)

Hunt’s complete omission of Daniel 11:40-45 (and the subsequent confrontations of major import wrought therein) is especially glaring. Robert Duncan Culver’s classic, “Daniel and the Latter Days,” conclusively substantiates the rise, exploits, warfare pursuits (prior to Armageddon and within the Middle East) of the Willful King found in Daniel 11:36-45:

“My own opinion (following the majority of recent Premillennial commentators) is that the prediction relates to Antiochus from verse 21 (of Daniel 11) to verse 35, but that beginning with 36, Antichrist (i.e., the leader of the Gentile World Power of Western Civilization; my comments), by the designation of ‘the king who shall do according to his will,’ is the theme of the prophecy, to the close of chapter 11. With the view mentioned above, that Antiochus is described in verses 21-35, and that the history detailed is typical of Antichrist’s future career, I have no quarrel. Yet I do contend that verses 36-45 are directly predictive of the career of Antichrist and of him alone.” (p. 164, Culver, “Daniel and the Latter Days”)

Culver (Theologian of the Evangelical Free Church) commences a through investigation of the exploits of Antichrist as seen in Daniel 11:36 on—listing no less than six definitive expositions of this Willful King. Highlighting his commentary are several sections which expound upon this unique figure that validates the DIFFERENCE between the Gog-Magog War (i.e., the immediate exploits of the Willful King in the Middle East) and the so-called Battle of Armageddon at the close of Daniel’s 70th Week:

From section (2), p. 165:

“The correspondence of the predictions of chapter 11 with now past history breaks down at the end of verse 35. I mean to say that if verses 36-45 were intended to refer to Antiochus, the last great Seleucid (Greek) king, then the author appears to be guilty of introducing error into the Scripture. There is nothing known in history which corresponds to the prediction of Daniel 11:36-45. Evidence of this is the utter confusion in the commentaries of those who insist that Antiochus is the chief figure down to the end of the chapter.”

Thus, Culver accentuates the personification of Antichrist as a latter day figure, juxtaposed to the mercurial prototype of Antichrist seen in Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the Greek Seleucid who attempted to Hellenize the Jews during the Maccabean Era (Daniel 11:1-35).

Culver explores this end-time’s figure extensively in section (4) pp. 165-166:

“This predictive section (i.e., Daniel 11:36-45) corresponds so precisely with other unquestionable predictions of Antichrist that the identity of the reference can hardly be doubted. Leupold, Young, and Keil of the Amillennial School as well as most of the premillennial writers agree in this. The behavior of the ‘little horn’ of chapter seven, the ‘man of sin’ of II Thessalonians and of ‘the beast’ of Revelation 13 is so strikingly similar that on this basis of correspondence alone a strong case could be built. This king not only does according to his will, but he ‘shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods’ (11:36), just as John reveals (Rev. 13:36) of ‘the beast.’ He also ‘shall magnify himself above all (11:37), just as Paul says of the man of sin (II Thess. 2:3 ff.). He meets his end at the end of ‘the indignation’ (11:36, 45) and that in an unusual manner, just as Revelation 19:20 says the ‘beast’ will come to his end. Each one of these features is found, as indicated above, also in chapter 7 (of Daniel) in relation to the ‘little horn.’”

Please do not be distracted by this rather elaborate theological contestation. It unequivocally necessitates an explanation as to Daniel’s amplification of the passages found in Ezekiel 38 and 39 (Ezekiel preceded Daniel’s exile into Babylonian captivity; and, therefore, expands upon the revelations found in his text.). Furthermore, the Willful King’s initial subjugation of both the King of the North and the King of the South demands an explanation—because its exploitive episode is of obvious magnitude (i.e., Gog-Magog!). Those who insist that the Willful King is Antiochus IV Epiphanes or another “time of the end” Seleucid monarch, confusing the antecedents of the “he” and the “him” in the text (Daniel 11:40, in particular), strain at extending the character (i.e., King of the North) throughout the entire chapter, neglecting the preponderance of evidence to the contrary.

Culver’s ultimate conclusion is noteworthy with respect to the sequence of events at the commencement and conclusion of Daniel’s 70th Week; to wit, (6):

“The conclusive and decisive evidence for an eschatological setting of the prophecy of the willful king (Dan. 11:36-45) is (as noted in passage above) the phrase at the opening of chapter 12 (of Daniel). This phrase is, ‘And at that time.’ Then follows a listing of three of the most important events of eschatology—the great tribulation of Israel, the resurrection of the dead, and the final reward of the righteous. It is unquestionably true that if the career of the willful king, and his conflicts with the king of the south and the king of the north, are at the time of these things, then he is none other than the final Antichrist.” (My emphasis.)

The point to be made here in Culver’s declarations that Daniel 11:36-45 speaks of a future Antichrist at the close of this age, is simply this:

Please see remainder of article at:
http://www.the-tribulation-network.com

Doug is a member of the “Last Days Network”… a group of evangelical pundits providing news and analysis on Religion in Politics. “Applied Biblical prophecy,” apostasy and deception, the impact of the New American World System, and the influences of the Religious Right and Left upon American culture, are topics discuss by the group. He is an educator based in Northern California; his articles appear on numerous blogs throughout the nation and the world.