I'm still dreading the unconstitutional mandate of this boondoggle. It didn't help that I was watching a rerun of a Glenn Beck program in which he hosted Lord Christopher Monckton, former aide to British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who has been warning that the United States will be signing its sovereignty away at next month's global warming conference. This one-two punch will go a long way toward taking the United States down the path that Venezuela took--or worse, toward a one-world government.

Earlier tonight I was chatting with a fellow member of an organization that I belong to when he shifted the topic to the end times. I mentioned that I had read and heard so many different theories of how the Revelations chapter of the New Testament will play out. Having heard that he really knows his stuff on matters of faith, he proceeded to demonstrate just that in saying that the Bible gives us the name of the Antichrist and tells us where he is. I forgot the name, but he is a fallen angel who was thrown into a pit, waiting to return when Israel has signed a peace treaty with its Arab neighbors. That would lead to the rebuilding of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, where some believe the ark of the covenant is buried. Animal sacrifices would resume while other fallen angels would rise to power over 10 areas around the world as part of the shift to a one-world government.

The stage is then set for the arrival of the Antichrist. The friend also mentioned something about the "Messiah" of the Muslims called the Mahdi showing up on the scene, but I'm not sure if the Antichrist and the Mahdi are the one and same or two different persons. Anyway, all hell breaks out and the Antichrist calls off the animal sacrifices and performs miracles to deceive folks into thinking he is the second coming of Christ, going so far as be "resurrected" from the dead three days after he is killed. Those who won't take on the mark of the beast and become his follower will be shipped off to be executed. A remnant of the true believers will go underground and come out for an uprising, perhaps paving the way for the second coming of Jesus for what will be the final battle between good and evil.

I'm aware that some folks believe this should only be taken figuratively, but the friend is convinced it will literally happen. He thinks we are on the verge of this taking place, perhaps within the next 30 to 40 years. Seeing how things have been going, I would not be surprised if he turns out to be right. If that indeed is what will happen, then it's pretty mind-boggling to think that we are inexorably headed for such an outcome no matter what we do or don't do. It's all prophetic, I guess. After all, 130-some biblical prophecies have been fulfilled, with more to come--most significantly Jesus' promise of victory in the end.

Thought I'd throw that out there so if these things during our lifetime, you could look back and see how things fell in place to make them happen like the reform of the health-care system and establishment of the new world order. 

Hilarious! Please contribute another fantasy/science-fiction discussion in your next blog! 

Tom do you still fish at *RIVERWALK*?? Just wondering!

We live in "interesting times" Pax. God help us and save us from our government because no one else can.

Paxchristi, now you're talking, and you said it with almost no words that divide people. Very nice work.

I believe we are living in the end times. I see no way to stop it. But Remember that Satan is the evil one. Human beings who are trying in their hearts to do the right thing are not the evil ones, no matter how mistaken their beliefs may be in God's eyes.

I don't take Romans 14 as a license to do everything, but it does tell me that God will judge more favorably the man who tries to love their neighbors and serve God under a different set of doctrinal beliefs than He will judge a man who knows what evil is and knowingly does it anyway. Sin will always be sin, but the man who knows what sin is and does it anyway is more culpable than the man who interprets God's teachings about sin differently.

If these are the end times, we must not push away the unsaved who, in their hearts, are trying to do the right things. We need to show them the Holy Spirit within us, and allow Him to work on their hearts once they are opened.

Thanks for the compliment, Berean. I can't argue with anything you've said, so I'll try to keep that in mind. Indeed, it seems impossible to thwart the inevitable outcome even though we certainly have the free will to alter the course. It seems nothing short of a complete unity with the body of Christ from all of us can save the day, and we know that'd never happen when we have folks like TomJoad thinking like he does. But, as Sam points out, there's still always hope and prayer is our only recourse.

I read that the U.S. Catholic bishops lended their "full-throated approval" to the bill now that the abortion funding provision was scuttled. I'm still leery of it, though, for what it would do to our economy and because of its unconstitutional mandate. An extensive debate between the Senate and House in working out a final version is likely to follow. If senators try to change the amendment to allow abortion funding, they likely will doom its passage. After all, 39 Democrats still voted against the bill even with the amendment. And I bet the lone Republican who supported it, a staunch Catholic conservative like myself, as well as the bishops will backtrack on their support if the amendment is altered in any way.

By the way, the friend that I mentioned above also brought up the prophecy of St. Malachy, which I was aware of, that indicates that Pope Benedict XVI may be the next to last pope: http://www.spiritdaily.net/...

I would not be surprised if Benedict XVI is the next to last Pope. I don't know about you, but I believe in a pre-tribulation Rapture and a pre-millennial reign of Christ.

I agree with you that free will could still save the day. End-times eschatology looks like it's all coming to pass, and I believe it is, but Jesus in Luke 19 instructs us to go on about our business until He comes. It would be shameful if, in misreading the signs of prophecy, we stopped doing the Lord's work and idly waited for Him to come when, in actuality, it's not yet time.

I think there are the end times, but I could be wrong.

Amen to that, Berean. While my church has a different take on what its fellow Christians consider to be the Rapture, everything else you said is indeed how we should prepare for the end times. There's that saying that we should be "watching" for the return of our master as we tend the vineyard.

Whatever else we all may or may not have in common, this is surely the collection of the most brightly colored avatars on this site.

I feel out of place chiming in on a discussion of the End Times, but even I think we are in for some tribulations that could be almost Biblically painful.

I do not personally believe that the world as we know it will end as told in Revelation, but I do think we are moving into the "End Times" of our present energy-hungry, globally interdependent lifestyle.  When the reality of its unsustainability stares humanity in the eyes, it will lead to a tribulation of sorts, and I am not looking forward to weathering the socio-political storm.

We must begin reversing the web of global economic and energy interdependency and begin bringing control of our basic needs back within our borders and back under our own control as much as possible.

For that reason I am in favor of offshore drilling, but only as a temporary, transitional energy supply.  Those who would peg me as an environmentalist would be correct, as I am a lover of the Earth, but I am willing to condone offshore drilling as a temporary necessary unpleasantry, an intermediate step between ending foreign oil dependency and developing sustainable domestically produced energy - all as we begin to adapt to a future lifestyle that is much less demanding of energy than is our current lifestyle.

So here I find myself in the most unlikely company, as I also do not want the one-world government that a global economy would eventually create.

ApolloDawn, thanks for sharing your thoughts about how you think the end times will pan out. No doubt these are some interesting times, and hopefully there aren't too many folks who think a one-world government is a good idea.

Going back to the health-care reform debate, I read a report that it's going to be tough sledding to get the Senate to go along with the House version. One senator called it dead on arrival. It's shaping up to be a long drawn-out process. I can't see the public option surviving it.

Like Matthew Archbold of the Creative Minority Report, I wonder if the bishops really know what they're getting themselves into in supporting PelosiCare. Even with the abortion funding provision, um, aborted, there's still some other things that give me cause to pause: http://www.creativeminority...