Fresh Market Halloween pumpkins! Purty!I get fascinating emails, particularly on the Sabbath. This one arrived in my inbox last Sunday evening.
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Dear Daisy,
Your blog is interesting. I found it through your link about "Is Barack Obama the anti-christ?" You seem to think this is a funny question and it IS NOT at all. Please take this seriously.
You seem to have the timeline confused. I see from your blog that you are Catholic and most Catholics have no knowledge of the anti-christ or Rapture. Let me explain using Biblical principles.
Satan works in the world and he shapes people and society to achieve his goals. Knowingly or not, anti-christ will force people to follow and obey an agenda that appears to be in the best interest of its people but, in following the pattern of human history and man's rebellion to God, will bring about pain and suffering until Christ comes again.
(Insert pertinent quotes from Revelation 13 here, Mark of the Beast, et. al.)
A time is coming when society and lives will be ruled by a self-imposed system where mankind is monitored, analyzed, measured and evaluated by computers. In those times, anyone who refuses to accept this system will be tortured then killed.
We are moving towards a ubiquitous society where people from all walks of life can access anything, anywhere, and at anytime regardless of time and location. The implementation of RFID technology in retail stores is one example. It's estimated that the majority of retail merchandise will use RFID within 1-5 years, and will replace standard bar codes which have been used for the past 30 years.
What drives such development is the belief that we will live safer, easier, richer and more enjoyable lives by using technology to manage everyday aspects of daily life. In a society that craves automated financial management, instant communication and security, it's not a far stretch for RFID enabled biochips to be implanted into the body, and eventually, replacing currency that is easily stolen, lost or hidden.
In the near future:
1) All people will be required to have a biochip. All economic operations will use this chip, thereby replacing today's unit of monetary exchange.
2) There will be privacy invasion and freedom will cease to exist.
3) A charismatic leader, who is the Anti-Christ, will rule the whole world through a system that is interconnected and interdependent.
MARK OF THE BEAST [1] IN THE HUMAN BODY, WE MUST NOT RECEIVE IT. (REVELATION 14:9, 14:11, 16:2)
Accepting this mark is the irreversible act of selling your soul to Satan. This sin is unforgivable and cannot be reversed by physically removing the mark. (see Revelation verses, above). Your soul belongs to God. Therefore if you receive this mark, you then belong to Satan.
If you receive this mark, you are willfully placing your faith in man and not in God. You are actively choosing to live without a loving God who desires to spend eternity with you in Heaven. God does not want you choosing Hell's path.
God knew these things beforehand [2] and because He loves us and wants us to acknowledge this, it was revealed to us through the writing of the apostle John in Revelation around 100 AD.
If you are not taken up to heaven and are thereby left behind for the tribulation, you must not receive the mark of the beast even though you will be tortured then killed for not accepting the government's sanctioned acts of Satan. You must remember this at all times because the hope of heaven still remains.
The Rapture [3] is reserved for those saints who will be lifted into the sky upon God's trumpet call, saints that are to be Raptured will be lifted into the sky to meet Jesus in the clouds. (1 Thessalonians 4: 16-17) The rapture is reserved for those believers who wear spiritual white robes. Their physical body will be transformed.
Jesus will be coming in the clouds for the salvation of Mankind.
If you remain in lukewarm faith, Jesus will spew you out, so you must not be this type of believer, Daisy! (Revelation 3:16) Jesus' first coming was to bring salvation, but his Second Coming is not to bear sins, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
Those with lukewarm faith, those who are tied with the world, and those who do not know Jesus Christ, will be left behind for the Great Tribulation. The Great Tribulation will be the most devastating time in all of human history. All saints must realize this truth and pray for Jesus Christ's return. Be awake in the spirit and know that Jesus Christ's return is very near.
Maranatha, [4]
__________ (real name given, phone number, the works!)
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[1] Does anyone remember the German horror movie, MARK OF THE DEVIL(1970), that promised free vomit bags to the audience?
[2] I dunno about this. Theologically, it's kind of tricky.
[3] Although my correspondent dutifully links this site, I don't have the heart to tell him that I was already banned from the message board years ago (after only ONE post that didn't contain a single cuss word).
[4] Which congregation started this fad? Who exactly decided to dig up this old Aramaic word and use it all the time? Was this Lonnie Frisbee or somebody like that?
Speaking of which, thanks to John Powers for the heads-up on the documentary of Frisbee's life, which I watched over the weekend, courtesy of Netflix. I enjoyed it, but the music was horrendous and made me want to rend my garments, if I may sound suitably Biblical for a moment. If I had to listen to music like that all the time, I'd be praying for the Rapture to hurry up and get here, too.My criticisms: not enough explanations regarding precisely what Pentecostalism IS and the various factions therein. Thus, when these various factions started accusing each other of not being genuinely Pentecostal, it wasn't very clear what they meant, theologically. (They all seemed equally Pentecostal to ME, for example.) I certainly enjoyed the chronicle of the Jesus Movement, although I would have greatly preferred more exactitude: dates, times, places and names all seemed to blur together. It was unclear to me if Frisbee was integral to the actual founding of Calvary Chapel and The Vineyard, or if he was just part of the ongoing charismatic scene. The filmmakers never once clarified the geographic locations of any of these places, which was pretty shoddy. And the hugely controversial nature of "being slain in the spirit" was skimmed over, given very short shrift.
I found the central spiritual concept of the last half of the movie--where Lonnie says, "They want my gifts, but they don't want ME!"--to be most interesting. This is similar to what so many artists say, which begs the question of whether charismatic spirituality is a unique talent or possibly a specific art form.
And again, the music made me want to shriek. It might have been the worst music I've ever heard.