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Antichrist
Many churches are obsessed with the issue of the antichrist, emphasizing the Book of Revelations and defining it as a specific single person. A large sect in La Paz, Bolivia, even claims Bill Gates is the antichrist. Yet, if we study the Bible carefully we see a different definition:
1 John 2:18 Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
Rejecting God is the relevant parameter for being defined antichrist (1 John 2:22) and many may fall into this category.
State of Israel
A similar misconception among many churches identifies the State of Israel with the Biblical Kingdom of Israel. I’ve explained the error in extension at The True People of Israel. One of the key points there is simple. The State of Israel does not have the right to use the name. The Kingdom of Israel was destroyed in 721 AC and its people were scattered; they disappeared from human history. The people in the State of Israel are descendant of the Kingdom of Judea. Can you imagine the political consequences of the name "State of Judea?" Everybody would link them to Judas the Traitor. Thus "Israel" was chosen and created a false image within the Christian World. It is like if the United States would change its name tomorrow to the "Roman Empire." They do not have the right, because they lack historical continuity. The same is true for the State of Israel. Other arguments presented in that article relate to the complete Biblical definition of the term “People of Israel.” The bottom line is that it isn’t an ethnic term. Bottom line: Israel is not the Kingdom. The State of Israel is not the promised Kingdom of Israel.
Jews were officially reminded of that by the Holy See. Theodor Herzl (Hebrew: Binyamin Ze'ev Hertzl, Hungarian: Herzl Tivadar) was an Austro-Hungarian journalist and the father of modern political Zionism. He lived between 1860 and 1904 and in Israel is known also as Hoze Ha'Medinah (Predictor of the State). The city of Tel Aviv was named after his work Altneuland (“The Old New Land,” 1902), a novel devoted to Zionism and translated to Hebrew as "Tel Aviv" (obscenely, this name refers to a place in Babylon – see Ezekiel 3:15 – and means “Hill of Spring”). The town to Tel Aviv’s north – Herzlia – was named in his honor. He is buried in Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl, which was also named in his honor. (Should I use a capital “h” every time I write “his?”. In 1903, Herzl attempted to obtain support for the Jewish homeland from Pope Pius X. Cardinal Rafael Merry del Val explained to him the Church's policy of non possumus on such matters, saying that as long as the Jews deny the divinity of Christ, the Church certainly could not make a declaration in their favor. I’m on solid ground here.
State of Israel as Antichrist
How can we identify an antichrist? Apostle John was mentioned above; yet now I would like to cite Jesus (Matthew 25:31-46):
When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
It would be very easy to show how the State of Israel – as a society – breaks every one of this noble guides. Instead of the long list, I’ll bring here just one article of the Goldstone Report – which defines Israel as a terror organization and was accepted by the UN Human Rights Council. A fuller analysis of it appears in my Justice from the Hip: On Goldstone and Terrorism (the report can be downloaded from this website).
Article 1716 of the report says: “…The firing of white phosphorus shells over the UNRWA compound in Gaza City is one of such cases in which precautions were not taken in the choice of weapons and methods in the attack and these facts were compounded by reckless disregard for the consequences. The intentional strike at the Al Quds hospital using high explosive artillery shells and using white phosphorous in and around the hospital also violated Articles 18 and 19 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. With regard to the attack against Al Wafa hospital, the Mission found a violation of the same provisions, as well as a violation of the customary law prohibition against attacks which may be expected to cause excessive damage to civilians and civilian objects.”
Some churches may be living the illusion the State of Israel is biblical in nature. Yet, we were earned Satan appears as an Angel of Light (2 Corinthians 11: 14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.), and this is the case of the State of Israel. Bombing hospitalized children with white phosphorous is a strong enough argument. The State of Israel is just another antichrist.
