Today in Iran they are ‘celebrating’  ‘Great Satan’ Day marking the 31st anniversary of the capture of the American embassy by Islamist students. As usual mass protests are scheduled by the government and the authorities get to harangue the USA before hand picked crowds of thousands of students bussed to the capital for the event.

As usual the President of the USA will be hung in effigy and burned. But this time the image is going to be that of Barack Obama instead of George W. Bush. A strange sight indeed considering that the current administration has reached out to the Iranian leaders as no President has before and even recently declared a Sunni opposition group to the Iranian regime as ‘terrorists.

Nevertheless, The USA continues to be identified as the ‘Great Satan’ by the Iranian authorities and Israel of course is the ‘Little Satan’ but today the USA gets all of the spotlight.

Interestingly after 31 years some of the intensity of the former ‘celebrations’ seems to be lacking. Todays students are full of smiles and having fun. Gone is the utter rage that we have seen on these occasions in the past. This kind of reminds me of a ‘burning man’ event accept for all of the regimentation and control.

Why ‘Great Satan’?- The Title Comes From Shiite Eschatology

Most of us in the America laugh at the event and wonder why we are considered the ‘bad guys’ since they were the ones who attacked our embassy and took our personnel hostage. We were the violated party yet we are still called the ‘Great Satan’?

Actually the term comes from Shiite Muslim eschatology. According to their ‘end-time’ scenario in the last days before the coming of the Muslim ‘Messiah’-the Mahdi’ also called the ‘Hidden Imam’ or the ‘12th Imam’ in their current cultic understanding. An infidel power will be dominating the world politically, economically, and militarily. That end-time power is called the ‘Great Satan’.

The current leaders believe that they are in the end-times and that the 12th Imam is coming back soon. In fact the Ayatollah Khamenei (Iran’s supreme leader) claims that the ‘Hidden Imam’ has appeared to him and told him so!.

The current Iranian leaders including President Ahmadinejad and the Ayatollahs identify the USA as the ‘Great Satan’ that must be defeated by the coming Mahdi who according to their eschatological scenario becomes the one world leader and Islam the only authorized religion. But first the ‘Great Satan’ must be utterly defeated and all Jews and Christians that will not join Islam must be killed.

The students are smiling today but the implications of their end-time religious convictions are anything but joyful.            *Top of the Blog

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Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei is telling his advisors that he has actually met the ‘Hidden Imam’ who promised to publicly appear while Khamenei is still Supreme Leader according to a senior cleric.

The Ayatollah (Age 71) has been in bad health and was rumored to be dying or even dead at one point last year.

The ‘Hidden Imam’ is a major ‘messianic’ figure in the shiite ’end times’ apocalyptical scenario who is suppose to come back along with Jesus and rule the world after Muslims win an impossible war against the ‘great satan’. The Iranians believe that they are the ones that have been chosen to be victorious in a coming war against the Jews and the USA.

Response: This is scary! What this really means is that Khamenei is predisposed to start a war with Israel and the USA as soon as they get nuclear weapons and a viable delivery system. Both are in the works and could possibly be ready in the next 12 months.

The Iranian leader’s apocalyptic beliefs and visions make it more than likely that they will use the weapons even in the face of the superior arsenals of Israel and the USA. After all, the Ayatollah believes that Allah is going to support them against ‘the Great Satan’ and the ‘hidden Imam’ just personally confirmed it.

Iran’s President Ahmadinejad just last week announced that a new ‘Age of Enlightenment was coming soon and that the USA and Israel were going down.  He must have got that idea from Khamenei.

In the past we have always thought that Ahmadinejad was crazy enough to start a war but we’ve always been somewhat comforted by the fact that the Ayatollah Khamenei was really in charge and Ahmadinejad could do nothing without his permission. Now the Ayatollah is shown to be as crazy if not even more so than the President.

I hate to say this but we should all be hoping for the Ayatollah’s health to take a turn for the worse and that he leaves this world before the weapons are ready. Then we can hope and pray that the next Supreme Leader will not be quite so crazy.      *Top of the Blog

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Here is a change of pace culture clash story.

A group of seven Amish farmers in Michigan are refusing to tag their livestock with radio frequency ID devices claiming that the Federal tagging program:

  “constitutes some form of a ‘mark of the Beast’ and/or represents an infringement of their ‘dominion over cattle and all living things’ in violation of their fundamental religious beliefs.”

The Amish claim that the program is against their religious beliefs –that it is part of an ongoing attempt to number every living thing, a practice mentioned in the Book of Revelation that is linked to the Devil.

The Amish farmers have filed a lawsuit against the Federal government in order to opt out of the program. According to Federal officials, they should be suing the State of Michigan. The Fed. program is optional–it is the State that is requiring all farmers to comply.

The US department of agriculture (USDA) says that its cattle tagging plan is a voluntary national tracking system created to help contain outbreaks of mad cow, or foot and mouth disease.

It should be interesting to see how a court will balance the interests of safe public food sources with religious freedom.           *Top

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Is there a new evil religious group in the world that needs to be to be combated and it is called Christian Zionism? 

According to an LA Times article, the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, plans to distribute a brochure titled “Why We Should Be Concerned About Christian Zionism.”  Here is some quotes from the handout:

(Christian Zionism) “…fosters fear and hatred of Muslims and non-Western Christians” and “can lead to the dehumanization of Israelis and Palestinians.”

(The end result-Christian Zionism) “involves the death of all non-Christians, including Jews, through apocalyptic warfare or divine judgment”.

Also, according to Rabbi Haim Beliak, who teaches at the Leo Baeck Temple in Los Angeles, these Christians are standing in the way of a peace settlement between Israel and the Palestinians:

“My religion and my Zionism have been hijacked by Christian Zionists and their Jewish friends.  Most of us have the view that the outline for the possibility of peace has been sitting in a drawer ready to be implemented for at least 15 years, and most of us think Christian Zionism is an impediment toward peace in the Middle East.”

According to the NCC and these folks, Christian Zionists want to hasten an end-time apocalypse by promoting conflict in the Middle East.

Wow, that does sound like an evil that needs to be combated. Now exactly what do these Christian Zionist really believe?

Christian Zionists say they believe that the creation of Israel was ordained by God.

Wow, I guess that I am one of those evil folks that are Christian Zionists and didn’t even know it!  Me and probably another 40 million evangelical Christians in America who continue to support and pray for Israel and for the peace of Jerusalem.

Now for the other side–from David Brog, executive director of Christians United for Israel:

“To say we’re dehumanizing Israelis and Palestinians with our support for Israel dehumanizes us.”

“I would say the whole flier seems to me to be describing a stereotype of a Christian Zionist. There are some Christian Zionists who are opposed to the peace process in the Middle East, but that does not define a movement of millions of Christian people.”

Brog calls for a dialogue between the NCC folks who support the brochure and Christians leaders who support Israel:

“I wish [the council] would be more fair and respectful of our teachings. If they have a problem with us, shouldn’t they be the ones to invite us to a debate? We’ve never attacked the National Council of Churches, and I think it would be fair for them to start that dialogue if they really want it. If we were sitting in a room together, we might find we don’t disagree as much as they might think we would.”

Response: To say that Christians who support the existence of the Jewish state are standing in the way of the peace process is ridiculous.

During the Clinton administration, the Palestinians could have had their own state and 95% of all that they said they wanted but rejected the treaty instead. Also, they could of had their own state in 1947, but chose to fight for all of the land and try to push the Jews out.

The dirty little secret that the main stream media, liberal church leaders in the NCC, and Jewish leaders that oppose Zionism, will never admit is that the Palestinians, particularly under their current radical leadership (Hamas),will never accept any compromise which recognizes and leaves a Jewish state intact in the Middle East, and particularly with any part of Jerusalem.

The claim that evangelical Christians who support Israel are looking forward to a eschatological end-time apocalyptic scenario is ludicrous. Many may believe that at the end there will be major upheavals and destruction. Nobody in their right mind or anyone that I know actually ‘looks forward to’ or wants to bring about or foster an apocalyptic vision.

The only one that I have ever heard of supporting an end-time scenario is President Ahmadinejad of Iran.            *Top 

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Vs. 1-3  The Prophecy of The Destruction of The Temple

The disciples here are impressed with the huge and magnificent Temple of Herod.  It was one of the architectural wonders of the ancient Roman world.  Jesus takes them by total surprise by proclaiming and prophesying of the total destruction of the Temple.  The followers of Jesus are still expecting Jesus to conquer the Romans and set up the ‘Messianic’ kingdom.  After all, a couple of days ago he came into Jerusalem as the ‘Son of David’ riding on the back of a donkey with the shouts and adoration of the people.  Now he is proclaiming that the Temple was going to be utterly destroyed! 

This had to be completely confusing to the disciples.  Also, the last couple of days he was teaching in the Temple, challenging the Temple leaders and teachers, and cleaning out the Temple.  It probably looked like he was intending to take over the place to his followers. Now he was prophesying of its destruction?  Peter, James, John, and Andrew go privately to Jesus to find out what the deal is.     

Note:  In 70 AD, Jerusalem was attacked by the Roman army under Titus, and the Temple was utterly destroyed.  The Soldiers took it apart one stone at a time in order to recover the ornamental gold which had melted into the cracks and crevices when the Temple was burned.  The prophecy was completely fulfilled.

Vs. 4  The Ultimate Question

Peter, James, John, and Andrew were elected to ask Jesus the question on everyone’s mind.  When is the Temple going to be destroyed, and the real underlying question which Jesus knew was on their minds but they do not officially ask:  when are we all going to take over, and when is the “Messianic” kingdom going to be established after all?  Jesus answers these two questions in the rest of the chapter.  Some have referred to these passages as the ‘Little Apocalypse’,  However, some of the references pertain to the generation of the disciples up to the events surrounding the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 AD, while other references are for the very ‘end-times’ leading up to the Second Coming of Christ and the ushering in of the ‘Messianic’ Kingdom of God.  The disciples did not envision a large parenthesis of time between these major events.  For us, it provides some difficulty and some differences of opinion among Bible scholars in interpreting where to place all the events noted by Jesus.  I believe that much of what Jesus talks about is relevant for both events, and for both time periods.

Vs. 5-8  Signs of The End -The Beginning of ‘Birth Pangs’

Many critics of the Bible have asserted that wars, earthquakes, and famines have happened in every generation of human history.  This may be true.  However, the prophecy of Jesus here is to look for a time that is more clearly defined by extraordinary catastrophic events.  To also look for false leaders who are proclaiming that they are the expected ‘Messiah’ or the next or final embodiment of ‘Christ’.

Leading up to 70 AD, there were a number of leaders in Judea that rose up against the Roman Empire.  Some believed that it was a good time to rebel against Rome because of succession battles that were on-going (there were four different Roman emperors in 69 AD) and rebellions and wars in far away places that were occupying the Roman armies. There had been a number of major earthquakes at the time, and famines were also numerous, many caused by the disruptions of war. All of these difficulties were quickly resolved, and soon the army of Titus was marching on Jewish cities and particularly Jerusalem.

One could say that our own times are marked with wars, famines in some places, and extreme problems and disasters brought on by weather.  However, there are other signs to be aware of also.  Jesus refers to these signs as the ‘beginning of birth pangs’.  This analogy indicates that in the end-times, these type of events will proceed to get increasingly more numerous and more severe.   …To Continue…

*Top 

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The Jewish groups presented, are merely trying to prepare for the coming of the Messiah.  Some are preparing to rebuild the Temple, making priestly robes, golden Temple vessels, and new corner stones.  Even some Christian ranchers are trying to help out by raising ‘red heifers’ (cattle) used in purification rituals.  These folk are not looking for ‘The Apocalypse’, they are seeking the good ‘Messianic’ times promised to the Jews by the OT prophets.

The Christian groups in the article, are trying to fulfill ‘The Great Commission’, hoping to take the gospel to every nation and bring about the Second Coming of Jesus.  None of these Christians are seeking ’The Apocalypse’.  They are actually trying to save as many people as possible from facing those end-time events.  To infer that Christians involved in trying to save  a ‘Billion Souls’ are actually pursuing “an ultimately bloody hope, a slaughterhouse hope,…” as a UCLA professor seems to imply, is more than outrageous. 

The Muslim example given in the article, is that of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran.  Here the ‘Apocalyptic’ designation is more than appropriate.  The author correctly mentions that Pres. Mahmoud talked about the coming of the ‘Mahdi’ in an address before the United Nations last year.  He said that soon the 12th Mahdi would reappear and conquer the World, and force everyone to convert to Islam.  However, the article did not mention that Mahmoud recently commented that Israel needed to be utterly destroyed and the Jews forced to leave; and that soon, Iran would have the nuclear capability to fulfill that goal.  Now that’s what I call ‘really’ seeking the Apocalypse!  Goodbye ‘moral equivalence’. 

*Top 

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