Apocalypse discussion reaches from US
President to legislators
Hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, the
threat of a deadly flu pandemic and now the Real ID: Are global events
unfolding something bigger?
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"And there shall be signs in the sun,
and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations,
with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring" (Like 21:25).
Several years of epic events have witnessed a
growing number of the world's population wondering if something prophetic is
transpiring.
First came 9/11 and the beginning of the war on
terror. Then a tsunami in Asia killed approximately 250,000 people. Hurricanes
Katrina, Wilma, and an earthquake In South Asia followed, which claimed tens
of thousands more lives. 2006 witnessed leaders of countries referencing terms
like "Apocalypse" and "Armageddon" to describe the uneasy
times. 2007 has started out with record snowfalls in parts of the US, the
national weather service is predicting even more blizzards, experts warn that
a deadly avian flu virus could pass over to the human population at any time
in a full-blown pandemic, potentially bringing global markets to their knees,
and now the US Congress has erupted in a debate about the biblical "Mark
of the Beast."
It's enough to make anybody wonder what in the
world is going on.
For many folk, these are the signs of the End
Times.
Over at Endtime.com, a popular website that
serves as a daily news aggregator of a wide variety of world events based on
reflection to Bible prophecy, Irvin Baxter Jr. runs the most widely circulated
prophecy magazine in the world, hosts a daily radio broadcast called Politics
and Religion, and is the author of several prophecy books and Bible studies.
Recently his Endtime magazine reached national exposure when the Associated
Press ran a feature story on Sen. Ruth Whitaker, whose resolution opposing the
Real ID Act of 2005 passed the Arkansas Senate. According to the report,
resolutions "in Arkansas, Georgia, Maine and Missouri were offered after
legislators read materials, spoke to or had indirect contact with Endtime
Ministries of Dallas, whose magazine, radio show and outreach examines current
events through the prism of Christian apocalypse." (1)
At issue is whether national ID numbers given
to residents could become the mark of the beast, the 666 from the Book of
Revelation.
"Congress hopes to reduce identity theft
and boost national security by requiring people to use Real IDs to board
airplanes, enter federal buildings and open some bank accounts," the
article went on to say. "Those who dabble in biblical prophecy say the
new government-issued numbers mark the beginning of the end."
"People are very concerned if the federal government gives you a number,
it will be the mark of the beast," said Missouri Rep. Jim Guest, the
sponsor of a resolution similar to Whitaker's. "There are everyday people
who get the connection to 666."
A
new book that hit #1 Google News Search the same week it was released also
purports to explain current global
events as the fulfillment of ancient prophecy. Published by Anomalos
Publishing, Apocalypse
Soon: The Beginning of the End documents recent history in light of the
books of Revelation, Ezekiel, and Daniel, and concludes that the Four Horsemen
of the Apocalypse have started their destructive ride. The book is already the
subject of two made for television documentaries.
So close is the correlation between recent
events and end times prophecy, that even President George W. Bush was asked
last year following a speech on the War on Terror whether he believed the war
in Iraq and the rise of terrorism were signs of the Apocalypse. Bush said he
hadn't thought of it that way, but author Bob Woodward noted in his book Bush
at War, that just three days after 9/11, the president during the National
Day of Prayer and Remembrance at the National Cathedral in Washington seemed
to act as if he had found himself within a fantastic cosmic scheme, declaring
that the nation’s responsibility to history was already clear: "to
answer these attacks and rid the world of evil" (2).
By taking up the language of "good vs.
evil," Woodward said, the president was "casting his vision and that
of the country in the grand vision of God’s master plan" (3).
According to Woodward, the prophetic context for war in the very land
associated with future Armageddon (and against Saddam Hussein, no less, the
man who claimed to be the reincarnated Nebuchadnezzar) held for Bush the
Manichean language necessary to play out a "divine mission" while
earning him admiration from certain supporters who saw the reconstruction
efforts of Babylon under Saddam Hussein -- followed by the War on Terror -- as
signs pointing to the Apocalypse.
Biblical scholar Bruce Lincoln’s examination
of a speech delivered by Bush to the nation on October 7, 2001, announcing the
U.S. attack on Afghanistan (4) produced redundant references from Apocalyptic
books of the Bible concerning the End Times. Lincoln's research seemed to
support Woodward's claims, that the president's word craft was a strategy
"of double coding" to secretly appeal to people who saw Bush as a
devout Christian standing up to the enemies of God in an unfolding event in
the Middle East, which they believed was foretold in the books of Revelation,
Isaiah, et al.
Of course George W. was not the first American
president to use language associated with end times prophecy. Who can forget
Ronald Reagan’s view of the Soviet Union as the "Evil Empire" and
his feeling that war in the Middle East might draw "Gog" into
nuclear war and fulfill biblical prophecy. In his 1984 debate with Walter
Mondale, Reagan admitted, "No one knows whether those prophecies mean
that Armageddon is a thousand years away or the day after tomorrow."
Democrats too have been known to employ
language that could be seen as "coded" to appeal to the beliefs of
devout persons or patriots. When Rep. Nancy Pelosi on January 4, 2007 assumed
her roll as speaker of the House at the opening of the 110th Congress, she
stated that the founding fathers were so confident in "the America they
were advancing, they put on the seal, the great seal of the United States,
‘novus ordo seclorum’—a new order for the centuries."
The new speaker did not go into detail as to why the phrase "Novus Ordo
Seclorum" was important dialectic during the momentous changeover of the
control of congress. Nor did she explain why "Novus Ordo Seclorum"
exists beneath the unfinished pyramid and the All Seeing Eye in the Great Seal
of the United States. Her reference may have been a simple coincidence, but
the origins of the motto "Novus Ordo Seclorum" and the use of it in
this historic speech was interesting in light of possible prophetic events
happening around the world.
The term "Novus Ordo Seclorum" (A New Order of the Ages) was adapted
by Charles Thomson in 1782 when he was designing the Great Seal of the United
States. According to the official record, Thomson created the phrase from
inspiration he found in a line in Virgil’s Eclogue IV: "Magnus ab
integro seclorum nascitur ordo" [Virgil's Eclogue IV (line 5)], the
interpretation of the original Latin being, "and the majestic roll of
circling centuries begins anew."
Ironically, Christians since the middle ages have held that the Cumaean Sibyl
of Virgil’s Ecologue IV prophesied the birth of Jesus Christ and that it was
this arrival of the Savior that gave rise to "the majestic roll of
circling centuries begins anew," or New Order of the Ages. Virgil himself
was believed to be a prophet in this regard, and that is why Dante Alighieri
selected him as his guide through the underworld in The Divine Comedy. The
Cumaean Sibyl is also prominently featured alongside the Old Testament
prophets in Michelangelo’s paintings in the Sistine Chapel. Some say this
fact played a role in Thomson’s "inspiration" for "Novus Ordo
Seclorum" taken from Virgil’s Ecologue IV. ( story continues
below )
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Yet upon reading Virgil’s text, the divine
son that comes of the Sibyl’s prophecy is a savior unknown to Biblical
theology. "He" is to be spawned of "a new breed of men sent
down from heaven" who receive "the life of gods, and see Heroes with
gods commingling." According to the Sibyl’s prediction, this
"messiah" would be the son of Jupiter and come when the Roman god
Saturn returned to reign over the earth in a new golden age (the Novus Ordo
Seclorum), when Apollo rises again through mystical "life" power
given to him from the gods.
From the beginning of the poem we read (5):
"Now the last age by Cumae's Sibyl
sung Has come and gone, and the majestic roll Of circling centuries begins
anew: Justice returns, returns old Saturn's reign, With a new breed of men
sent down from heaven. Only do thou, at the boy's birth in whom The iron
shall cease, the golden race arise, Befriend him, chaste Lucina; 'tis thine
own Apollo reigns. …
"He shall receive the life of gods, and see Heroes with gods
commingling, and himself Be seen of them, and with his father's worth Reign
o'er a world…
"Assume thy greatness, for the time draws nigh, Dear child of gods,
great progeny of Jove! See how it totters- the world's orbed might, Earth,
and wide ocean, and the vault profound, All, see, enraptured of the coming
time! Ah! might such length of days to me be given, And breath suffice me to
rehearse thy deeds, Nor Thracian Orpheus should out-sing me then, Nor Linus,
though his mother this, and that His sire should aid- Orpheus Calliope, And
Linus fair Apollo. Nay, though Pan, With Arcady for judge, my claim contest,
With Arcady for judge great Pan himself Should own him foiled, and from the
field retire. Begin to greet thy mother with a smile, O baby-boy! ten months
of weariness For thee she bore: O baby-boy, begin! For him, on whom his
parents have not smiled, Gods deem not worthy of their board or bed."
Therefore according to the Sibyl, the New Order
of the Ages occurs when a special "son" is born on earth, a new
messiah who comes of "a new breed of men sent down from heaven" when
"heroes" and "gods" are blended together. This sounds
eerily similar to what the Watchers did during the creation of Nephilim; to
what scientists are doing this century through the creation of transgenic
human-animal chimeras, and to what the Bible actually describes as the
Antichrist being the "son" of perdition" (2 Th 2:3, Apoleia,
from which we make Apollyon, the demon destroyer). Note the similarity
of the names Apollo and Apollyon.
Patrick Heron believes the pagan Sibyl may
actually have pointed to a false Christ who appears during the end times
Apocalypse, and that the Novus Ordo Seclorum prophecy of a coming special
"son" who leads mankind to a New World Order could be fulfilled
anytime. According to scripture, Heron says, the near future will produce a
man of superior intelligence, wit, charm, and diplomacy who will emerge on the
world scene as a savior. He will seemingly possess transcendent wisdom that
enables him to solve problems and to offer solutions to many of today’s most
perplexing issues. One of his most important accomplishments at the very
outset will be to broker a peace treaty between the Jews and Palestinians. He
will also lead the charge in rebuilding the long awaited Jewish Temple. This
is especially interesting given that, just this month, an Israeli
archaeologist and Hebrew professor claims to have pinpointed the exact
location of the original Jewish Temple, a potentially important step toward
the fulfillment of the Temple reconstruction prophecy.
According to some, this Antichrist will appear at first to be a man of
distinguished character, but will ultimately become "a king of fierce
countenance" (Dan. 8:23). With imperious decree he will facilitate a
one-world government, a universal religion, and global socialism. Those who
refuse his New World Order will inevitably be imprisoned or destroyed, until
at last he exalts himself "above all that is called God, or that is
worshiped, so that he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself
that he is God" (2 Thess. 2:4).
When asked why he believes prophetic signs at
this point in history could be pointing to the Antichrist and the end of
times, Patrick Heron says, "I believe God is warning people, giving them
one last chance to believe before the judgments of God, as revealed in the
Book of Revelation, begin to fall on earth."
Grizzly Adams Productions, a well known
producer of family-friendly television shows who has created original
programming for Discovery, PAX, NBC, 
CBS, the Learning Channel and other networks, found the insights presented
in Heron's new book, Apocalypse
Soon: The Beginning of the End engaging enough that in 2006 they acquired
the worldwide television and DVD rights to the work. Their first documentary
based on the book was titled, "End
Times: How Close Are We" and was broadcast nationwide during sweeps
weeks in 2006. The show connected with viewers, and the DVD has become the
all-time bestseller at such places as WorldNetDaily.com. A second
documentary based on the book -- "Apocalypse
and the End Times" -- aired in October and has done equally well.
"Throughout human history, cultures from
the Hopi Indians to biblical prophets have shared stories about the end of the
world," notes David W. Balsiger, a producer on the "Apocalypse and
the End Times" special. "We sought to examine these legends and look
to modern scientific findings to get to the truth behind current events and
these ancient stories."
| Even the
mainstream press picked up the "Apocalypse" theme in 2006.
CNN, MSNBC, The Washington Times, BBC and others ran feature stories
on the US presence in the Middle East, focusing on the possibility
that it signaled the End Times Armageddon spoken of in scripture. |
 |
|
Paula
Zahn asks, "Is it the end?" (Video)
|
CNN devoted several entire news segments with
Paula Zahn concerning the possibility that the biblical Apocalypse might
actually be here (Watch
Media Matters Video).
More recently, however, language of the
Apocalypse was raised again when the Doomsday Clock was pushed forward at The
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists by two minutes, marking 11:55 before
midnight, five minutes before the figurative end of civilization.
Like Judaism and Christianity, Shiite Islam
also gives credence to an end times event involving the reappearance of the
Twelfth Imam. Devout believers in Iran assume the reappearance of the Twelfth
Imam will occur when he emerges from a well at the Jamkaran mosque. Iran's
president, Ahmadinejad gave $17 million of government funds to support the
shrine and has said that the mission of the Islamic Revolution is to pave the
way for the coming of the Twelfth Imam. Some believe Iran is on the verge of
obtaining nuclear weapons and that Ahmadinejad has little inhibition about
using them to start Armageddon. President Bush has reaffirmed his commitment
to keeping Iran from possessing nuclear weapons, and he has not ruled out
using force to accomplish this goal. Students of prophecy see this as
potentially more than saber rattling between the two countries. They believe
it could trigger the final Apocalypse.
As for Dr. Heron, he begins in Apocalypse
Soon by focusing on scientific evidence showing a sharp increase in
bizarre weather patterns including a 500 percent increase in tornadoes last
year, record-setting earthquake activity, the threat of a worldwide bird flu
pandemic, growing famine, disease, and the exponentially higher risk of
all-out nuclear war involving lands identified in the Bible as central to End
Times prophecies.
In the middle of his book, he analyzes this
data and determines that it aligns perfectly with the ancient prophecies,
which he believes points to the imminent appearing of the great man of sin,
the Antichrist.
Finally, Heron concludes with America and
Europe in prophecy. He looks at the famous dream of the ancient king of
Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, who saw what many believe to be the final global
kingdom -- a revived Roman Empire. But "a careful examination of the
prophecies relating to this future government specifically state that it will
be a global confederacy," Heron says. "It is not confined to one
geographic area. It will be a club of ten members ruled by ten kings who will
serve the interests of the Antichrist. I have no doubt that Europe and the USA
will play prominent roles in these future alignments."
>>NEXT
NEWS STORY: PREMEDITATED SUCCESS = ANOMALOS PUBLISHING
PRODUCTS RELATED TO THIS STORY:
Apocalypse
Soon: The Beginning of the End
End
Times: How Close Are We
Apocalypse
and the End Times
WEBSITES RELATED TO THIS STORY:
Endtime
Website
Anomalos Publishing House
(looking for new authors!)
(1) Jon Gambrell, Biblical prophecy finds
way to legislators in battle over ID plan, Associated Press, March 11, 2007
(2) President's Remarks at National Day of
Prayer and Remembrance, Office of the Press Secretary, September 14, 2001
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010914-2.html
(3) Bob Woodward, Bush at War (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2002), p. 67
(4) Bruce Lincoln, Holy Terrors (Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 2003), pp 30-32
(5) Translation by John Dryden, as published
by Georgetown University, http://www.georgetown.edu/faculty/
irvinem/gendersextexts/texts/eclog4.html
