First Seal:The White Rider Part 2

                Last week we talked about exactly who the white rider is. We also talked about one of the many possible suspects of who this white rider is. Today I would like to expand on this a little more. It is not my intent that you believe the LDS church is, by itself the anti-Christ. There are many factors at play here, many dangerous spiritual beliefs that actually open the way for the anti-Christ to rise to power.

                Remember what I said last week, how Jesus warned that there would be many who come in His name claiming that they are the Christ. The suspect I would like to talk about next is a man who boldly claims he is the “Vicar of Christ.”[i]

            It is the Catholic belief that the Pope stands in the place of Jesus until the return of Jesus. In the mind of the Catholic faith, he is the head of all Christian churches and he will unite the world into one religion in which he Pope is the head. There is a danger in this ecumenical movement. This idea of joining all Christian faiths under the Catholic banner has taken on a new life and has even penetrated bible believing Christians who would otherwise reject most Catholic doctrine as heretical.  [ii] But instead bit by bit protestants accept more and more of the church doctrine.

How far douse this world acceptance go? Well, consider the source. This is the official stance of the Catholic Church on religions that do not teach Jesus as the only way to salvation.

“Religions, however, that are bound up with an advanced culture have struggled to answer the same questions by means of more refined concepts and a more developed language. Thus in Hinduism, men contemplate the divine mystery and express it through an inexhaustible abundance of myths and through searching philosophical inquiry. They seek freedom from the anguish of our human condition either through ascetical practices or profound meditation or a flight to God with love and trust. Again, Buddhism, in its various forms, realizes the radical insufficiency of this changeable world; it teaches a way by which men, in a devout and confident spirit, may be able either to acquire the state of perfect liberation, or attain, by their own efforts or through higher help, supreme illumination. Likewise, other religions found everywhere try to counter the restlessness of the human heart, each in its own manner, by proposing "ways," comprising teachings, rules of life, and sacred rites. The Catholic Church rejects nothing that is true and holy in these religions. She regards with sincere reverence those ways of conduct and of life, those precepts and teachings which, though differing in many aspects from the ones she holds and sets forth, nonetheless often reflect a ray of that Truth which enlightens all men. Indeed, she proclaims, and ever must proclaim Christ "the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6), in whom men may find the fullness of religious life, in whom God has reconciled all things to Himself.(4)
The Church, therefore, exhorts her sons, that through dialogue and collaboration with the followers of other religions, carried out with prudence and love and in witness to the Christian faith and life, they recognize, preserve and promote the good things, spiritual and moral, as well as the socio-cultural values found among these men.”[iii]
            In other words, it is the Catholic stance that broad is the way that leads to salvation and narrow is the way that leads to destruction. Jesus took the opposite stance.
“ Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” John 14:6
                Also see Mat.7:13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.”
                This belief that all roads lead to heaven is dangerous. Not just because it leads souls into Hell but it also prepares the way for the anti-Christ to establish his world religion worshiping the beast of the sea. Don’t think this will have momentum among protestants? Consider this video of Billy Graham.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axxlXy6bLH0 Start really paying attention around 1:18. Did you hear what Billy Graham said? “Muslim world, Buddhist world or Christian worlds all are members of the body of Christ because they all have been called by God.”Billy Graham is a well known evangelist in the Christian faith, and now he is asserting that for all intents and purposes that the blood of Christ was unnecessary. Upon further study we find a Catholic connection in his past were he in endorsed by the Catholic Church, speaks at their universities, and was a friend to Pope John Paul II.[iv]

The Vatican is not the only ones perpetuating this broad idea of all paths leading to God, many religions have been proclaiming this stance for years. But what makes the Catholic Church unique is its worldwide influence. Vatican city is among the wealthiest cities in the world and is the only city with that kind of authority which is also a city ruled by a religion. Let’s look at some recent news that illustrates just how much power the Catholic Church has.

I have been praying for my brothers and sister in Christ who live in China. You see, over the last Easter several Christians were arrested for practicing their faith.  [v] However, the group that seems to be oddly not persecuted is a group that is distinctly Catholic.[vi]

The point is this. The one world religion is essential to the coming anti-Christ. It is the goal to unite the world spiritually, so that when he rises to power the world will accept him as the only god.

“ So they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?” Revelation 13:4
                To sum up, be wary of the white rider. He will look innocent, he will come from strife, and he will conquer the world. There is much more to this rider that I have not yet gotten to, but we will come back to him. You will see his hand all over the place as we delve deeper into Revelation. In the mean time brothers and sisters be mindful, wise as serpents and harmless as doves.

[i] Catechism of the Catholic Church #882 http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p123a9p4.htm#882

[ii] http://www.garnertedarmstrong.org/Mark_Wordfroms/manews0083.shtml starting paragraph 11

[iii] http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decl_19651028_nostra-aetate_en.html

[iv] Smoke Screens by Jack Chick Ch.8 http://www.chick.com/reading/books/153/153_08.asp

[v] http://www.christianpersecution.info/index.php?view=10208

[vi] http://efpastormeritus.blogspot.com/2011/06/chinas-national-patriotic-church-to.html

Top Stories

First Seal:The White Rider Part 1

“ And I looked, and behold, a white horse. He who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.” Revelation 6:2

          So right away, at the first seal we are already talking about the rising up of the anti-Christ or the office of the anti-Christ. How can we tell that this rider is the anti-Christ? Well there is a line that gives him away; he is compared to another white rider later on in Revelation.

“Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war.” Revelation 19:11

          Revelation 19 will later describe this rider as the Word of God who we already know according to John 1 is Jesus Christ. We will come back to Revelation 19 later on, but for now just note that the white rider of Revelation 6:2 is not our Lord Jesus, but he douse resemble Him in many ways. For starters he will ride a white horse, meaning he will give the appearance of purity, it will seem like he is without sin or will want people to believe he is without sin.

          This rider wears a crown, a symbol of authority. This crown, this authority will be given to him, he is given authority which is not normally his. He will have a bow. This took me a bit of extra research, but the Greek word used is toxon[i] which is a simple bow made with the simple material from the root word tikto which means to produce in travail or laborious work. In other words this rider will do hard work, which makes sense because he is going to want people to exalt him. He is going to want the people to see his good works so that they will glorify him. Through this hard work, and simple nature, the people will glorify him. He will have a false humility, not as though he were humbled by God but as though he humbled himself.

          He will ride out conquering and to conquer. Meaning he will get victory. Do not let this disturb you, Revelation douse say that the beast of the sea will be given authority for a time. In Revelation 6:2 he hasn’t gained that full authority yet, but he will by the time of the time of the seventh trumpet in Revelation 11, and I will discuss more of the beast at that time. For now it is my goal to share that I believe that the first seal is the first rider preparing the way for the anti-Christ.

          Before I discuss some suspects as to who this first rider is in the world around us may be, there are some other things of note in scripture that tell us more about the character of this rider.  Daniel 7 clarifies a bit of who the beast is, and the horns of the beast. There will be ten horns, and then another horn shall rise after them and subdue three other horns.  It is this horn, who is on the beast and is a part of the beast, that shall be given a mouth to speak blasphemies and the saints shall be given into his hand. So the end times anti-Christ will be unlike any that held the office before him, it is this horn that will unite the world. “It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation.”Revelation 13:7

          So that being said let’s look at some potential suspects, people, principalities and powers who are preparing the way for this rider or may very well be this rider.

LDS Jesus

          On the surface the LDS church appears to have all the right answers. They teach good family values, that Jesus saved us from sin, that we must be humble before God, and that you must allow the Holy Spirit to guide you in your day to day life. When you meet a member of the LDS faith you will probably walk away with a generally good impression of them. But the bible tells us to question every spirit.

 “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. ² By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, ³ and every spirit that does not confess that^[a] Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.” 1 John 4:1-3

          Now, you need to know, so that you will not be deceived by the false teachings of this church who they teach Jesus to be. According to LDS doctrine Jesus is the literal son of God along with Satan all the angles and all of us here on earth.[ii] They believe that in the pre-life[iii] God had spirit children, his begotten son was Jesus. Satan and Jesus both had a plan for salvation, the plan of Lucifer was to force everyone to worship God, and the plan of Jesus was free will. God accepted the plan of Jesus and rejected the plan of the devil. A third of Gods spirit children were cast to the earth with Satan and became demons.

          You need to know all this so that when a Mormon tells you they follow the teachings of Jesus, this is the Jesus of whom they speak. I have found nothing in the bible to support this, and indeed even their own web site agrees that very little is expressed in the bible to support this belief and that you have to look to the Book of Mormon to understand the fullness of Gods plan.

          Now, from what I just shared it is easy to see how the Jesus of the LDS church looks a lot like the Jesus of the bible. Do not be deceived, the bible says “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1 Jesus was with God and Jesus was God. Here is something to ponder. If Jesus were not God, than it would be blasphemy to worship Him. If Jesus were not God than Jesus would be an idol, He would be of man. If you worship Jesus than you have to acknowledge that Jesus is God, not just the offspring of God but the Creator of Heaven and Earth, Alpha and Omega, Beginning and the End.

“For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.” Colossians 1:16

          There is another danger to the LDS belief system, one that sounds pleasant to the ears. They teach that there are three degrees of heaven; all people will go to one of these three heavens with the exception of the sons of perdition.[iv] It is this plan that few go to hell, or in the LDS doctrine Outer Darkness.

          Why is this belief important to the anti-Christ? There has been a movement in religion, a belief that all paths lead to heaven. This is a feel good belief, a love doctrine with absolutely no true biblical backing. In fact scripture tells us the exact opposite.

““Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. ¹⁴ Because^[a] narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Matthew 7:13-14

          If there is life on the broad path Jesus would have told us so. But instead He tells us that the broad path leads to destruction.  Mormons aren’t the only ones teaching this by the way. Catholics, main stream Muslims, Judaism, and many protestant faiths as well have begun to embrace this idea that God will allow you as an un-repented sinner into the kingdom of heaven.  This is all paving the way for the anti-Christ to come in, it’s setting the stage for a one world religion in which the Serpent and the Beast of the sea are the primary focus of worship.

          There is much more to be said about this movement, but I will talk about it more when I talk about the Beast of Revelations. For now put this in the back of your mind so that you will not be deceived when a false prophet tries to tell you about the broadness of God’s love.

          I will stop here for now. When I started this part of the blog I did not realize how deep God was going to take me. There is much more to be said about many other principalities and powers. So the next blog will be part 2 of the white rider.

          In the mean time be strengthened, study Gods word and testing every spirit rightly dividing the Word of Truth so that false prophets cannot deceive you.

---

[i] Interlinear bible and Strong’s exhaustive concordance

[ii] http://www.fairwiki.org/Jesus_Christ/Brother_of_Satan

[iii] http://www.mormonbeliefs.org/mormon_beliefs/mormon-beliefs-the-plan-of-salvation/the-plan-of-salvation-the-pre-existence

[iv] http://www.mormonwiki.com/Celestial,_Terrestrial,_and_Telestial_Kingdoms

Introduction

                Who am I to interpret bible prophecy? I’m just a working class citizen, etching out a living for himself and his family.  I have a few college credits, but I wouldn’t say I am highly educated or overly intelligent.

                How ever I am a child of God. I have eyes to see and ears to hear. I’m not a prophet, but just a servant who diligently studies scripture and eagerly chases after Jesus who died for my sins and rose from the grave so that I may live forever with Him and have a personal relationship with the creator of heaven and earth.

                What I will share in this blog is a chapter by chapter, bit by bit study of Revelations starting in chapter 6. I will look at each seal, trumpet and bowl judgment, and tie it in with other scripture. I will also discuss things happening around the world and how they relate to these end times, news articles you may have missed because they got swept away under the torrent of main stream media. Science will play a role as well, from biology to chemistry and from earth science to astronomy I will show you how these things tie in with bible prophecy.

                Because I believe you should seek for yourself the truth and not just take my word on any of this I will always site my references.  I admit fully that I am completely human so I invite any and all new insights into my blog. I believe in free speech and I want to know what you have to say, but I reserve the right not to have foul language, bullying or abuse on my sight and will censor for content.

                I hope you will prayerfully consider the things I write in these blogs.  Do your research, let God lead you and let Jesus be your light. Study the scriptures and be aware of the world around you.  Not just the veil held over your eyes so that you only see what the world wants you to see, but look deeper.  Don’t be afraid of the hard questions, ask them boldly.

                God hates the things of this world, and the world will one day fall into judgment. When that day comes which side will you be standing on? If you want to know how to escape judgment please feel free to e-mail me and I will discuss with you at length anything you may want to know or are struggling with.

                My first blog in this series will be about the anti-Christ.  I will share with you some of my ideas of who this is or may be, and as always show you the references.  I look forward to taking this journey with you. In the mean time may the light of Jesus shine through you and may you walk in the fruits of the Holy Spirit.