Why do you need to know?

One disclaimer: this is more of a rant than I am used to doing, but I hope you find it helpful.

Why do you need to know?

Someone asked me last week, “Is Obama the Anti-Christ?”  I am going to answer that question, but first I want to deal with the question itself.  It is a bad question.  Some say there are no bad questions, but I think there are.  This is a wrong question.  If you want to ask that question, then let me first ask a few….

Why do you need to know?  Will it help you in your walk with Jesus?  Will it make you lead one more to Him?  Will it make you want to love your family more?  If so, then let that be added motivation for these core things.  But the fact is, most Christians want to know who will be the Anti-Christ for the same reasons others read horoscopes, tarot cards, or Ouija boards.  Perhaps we want to know the future because it gives us a sense of power or control over our lives.  We cannot face the tension of thinking that America may actually be part of the engine of the Beast of Revelation, or that the United States will become part of the ten member organization that aligns itself against Jesus.  Some people try to say that America is not mentioned in scripture and will not be part of that organization.  Some say that something else will happen or that we’ll go down swinging against the other nations.

Nothing could be farther from the truth.

The truth is that the United States, in my opinion, will indeed be part of the ten member organization; that we will indeed align ourselves with the False Prophet and the Beast; that we will deny God and persecute Christians.  There is simply not another way to interpret the passages.  There of course will be a remnant and there will be the people of Israel who will stand against the beast, but honestly, truthfully, the United States will become a pawn in the hand of Satan.  Perhaps she already has.  People have labored long and hard over who the great harlot is in Scripture: is the Roman Catholic Church?  It is the Muslims?  Maybe the great harlot is the USA.  Maybe the nation who says “In God we trust,” who has sent more missionaries than any nation ever known, who has done more good, given more money, and defended more weak than anyone will become the first to fall when the Anti-Christ appears.  Maybe not.  But scripture does not leave us much to go on here and we have to be honest with ourselves that this could be the case.

But in case I have not offended already, here is another offense: Christians should not care where the USA fits into apocalyptic history.  When Jesus ascended into heaven in Acts 1, the disciples asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?"  You see the early Christians had the same problem we do: we want to know things.  We want our team to win.  We want to be number one.  The Jews and believers of that day saw within the Old Testament passages these large passages describing how highways would be built to bring people from Egypt, Assyria, etc. to Jerusalem.  They envisioned a big kingdom.  And they wanted to be at the head of it.

But Jesus would not be swayed.  In verse 7, “He said to them: ‘It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’”  Basically, Jesus said, “not your job.  Get back to work of bringing people to me.”  The rest of the book of Acts details that effort.

Paul had to deal with this again.  In 1 Thessalonians he hits on this.  People in that city were quitting their jobs, sitting on roofs, and looking for Jesus to come.  Nero ruled and people were being persecuted: torn limb from limb, hot oil poured on them, thrown in jail, thrown on sticks and impaled, thrown to lions, thrown in the rivers, thrown out of cities.  Surely, this is the end of the world as we know it.

Paul did not even touch on these issues.  Read 1 Thessalonians 4:13 through the end of the book.  Paul talks about the end and that we need to have hope.  He talks about the end and that it will come suddenly.  He says that we are to be in the light and children of light – not of darkness.  That is, we need to be informed, be wise, be alert and self-controlled.  Verse 8 is the key here:

“But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.”

Faith, love, and the hope of salvation is our focus and what we encourage one another with. 

Now look at the sections before 1 Thessalonians 4:13 and after 1 Thessalonians 5:11.  Paul emphasizes to work hard, mind your own business, live in peace, and win the favor of outsiders.

When I worked for a large corporation, I went through a time where I had a great deal of responsibility and I felt like I needed to know everything that was going on in the organization.  I needed to know a lot but not everything, of course.  But over time I tried to worm information out of people and finally I overstepped my bounds and got into trouble.  I was rebuked by a Senior VP – as I should have been – and told to get back to work and mind my own business.  You see the fact of the matter was that I was not doing what I should have been doing because I was getting into things that were not my responsibility.  When I reset my vision on my job and its goals, I functioned better.  I didn’t need to know everything.

Is Obama the Anti-Christ?  I really don’t know.  Could be, but probably not.  If so, then we have Revelation to tell us that God wins, Jesus cleans house, the permanent Kingdom is established, and we get to enjoy it.  If he is not, then we have a while to wait.  Some are going to try to use scripture to say that he is or isn’t.  I am not going to make that move because I think that if I put my mind to it I could convince a few people that he is the Beast.  But then again, I think I could demonstrate that Alexander Putin or the President after him is the beast and/or false prophet.  They fit more of the criteria: they are from Europe, they are possibly of Jewish origin, they are making moves again to take over large portions of land, they are largely anti-God, and on and on.  Many have done that with Hitler, Stalin, Nero, and on and on.  Obviously, none of them were the false prophet or the beast in terms of post-tribulation prophetic interpretation.

So you see, you read your tarot cards and I’ll read mine and we’ll be in Scotland in the morning.

God’s holy word is not a Ouija board to be used for telling fortunes.  God gives us his word for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness.  It is not to be used as a horoscope.

 The Old Testament writers got it right when they called the last days the “day of the LORD.”  It is the LORD’s day when he brings to an end evil, Satan, and the flesh: not ours.  We try to make that day ours when we try to bring our questions to scripture and demand answers the way we want them answered.  The right question is not “is Obama the Anti-Christ” but “what am I doing to bring redemption to my world?”  If we focus on that and mind our own business then I think we will not only live in more peace and hope, but we’ll bring a lot more people with us.