The Rise of Antichrist and the Restrainer

[RandyPNW]

The US is fast approaching the status of an Antichrist. What this means it that one political party is becoming so doggedly antichristian that it will not tolerate any speech or thought but its own. As long as the current push among Conservatives continues to see success I think there is hope for our country.

Let me put this in a biblical frame of understanding. Jesus said, "let both grow together until the harvest."

Matt 13.28 “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.
“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’
29 “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”

This has been the principle all down through the ages. God began with Israel. When Israel grew hardened against God's word, their nation was taken away, and the Kingdom of God was given to pagan nations, ie Roman Civilization. Christianity has prospered among European nations since that time.

But in modern times we see a gradual shift away from Christianity, and more recently, an abrupt shift away from Christian thinking. Christian nations are now becoming hardened, as Israel was, against God's word. And our nation is in jeopardy along with so many others.

We read of a "restraint" happening in history, preventing the complete collapse of Christian Civilization into hardened Antichristianity...

2 Thes 2.1 Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, 2 not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter—asserting that the day of the Lord has already come. 3 Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction....
6 And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. 7 For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming.

Paul is teaching that those who claim to be bringing in the Kingdom of God today are deceivers, because God is actually holding out bringing final judgment until Antichristianity is hardened and fully "mature." He doesn't want to bring judgment as long as the pagan state of our culture remains open to the Gospel. Antichristianity has been around since Christ was crucified, but wickedness has not matured to the extent that European Civilizatin has closed its doors to further evangelization.

This is the "Restrainer" that holds back divine judgment and the Coming of Christ. The Early Churh Fathers identified the "Restrainer" as Roman Government. And that is based on Dan 2, where King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream in which a final 4th Kingdom would be extended until feet appeared at the end of 2 legs. This represents, to me, the 2 halves of the Old Roman Empire, which still exist in form today, and ultimately result in the Eastern and Western States of Europe, ie the feet and toes.

Daniel saw that before Antichrist would arise there would be a long history of paganism in which God could shower grace upon the peoples, bringing about their salvation and blessings to their nations. Antichrist would be restrained as long as Christianity was prospering.

But today's aggressive progressive movement is throwing off all restraint now, and is acting fascistically in preventing Christian morality and speech, consigning it to banned dogmatic material that is biased and inhuman. This is the rise of the endtimes Antichrist, though the door is not yet closed on the Gospel.

I would encourage all true Christians to work on their commitment to Christ, because you will be the judges who in the end bring this nation back to who it was called to be. Once the door on the Gospel is closed, final judgment will fall on all nations. God will deliver Christians who have remained true to who they are, and they will decide the basis by which their nation will continue to survive.

 

[SavedByGrace3]

This is so true. As time passes, the presence of the anti-Christ spirit is more and more evident. These folk really believe the things they are saying. They really believe they are the good guys and you are the bad guys. Stay close to the Lord and in the fellowship of believers. If the wickedness on the news and the internet seems to overwhelm you, get away from it.

 

[d taylor]

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Must be bad where you live

 

[Douggg]

Randy, if you are saying that we are living in the days right before the Antichrist, definitely so.

This is parable of the fig tree generation.

Gog/Magog appears to be on the near horizon with what is going on in Ukraine.

My eye is on Zelensky.
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Paul was speaking to the Thessalonians in his day, that they should not be worried about rumors that the rapture had taken place already and the day of the Lord had begun.

Then Paul gave the two criteria for when the man of sin would be revealed.

1. a great falling away from Christianity.
2. the act of the Antichrist going into the temple, sitting, claiming to have achieved God-hood.

The great falling away from Christianity, I think you are saying is taking place right now. Personally, regarding the scale of the falling away, I don't think that will happen until after Gog/Magog, and the prince who shall come is perceived to be the messiah by the Jews. The Jews will then convince the world of their being right. Which, there will be the great falling away from the truth that Jesus is the messiah.

The second criteria, involves the necessity of a temple in place. Not there yet, but could quickly be built, temporarily to the bare minimums, right after Gog/Magog and the Muslim presence gone from the Temple Mount.
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Paul's main message in his letters is that the rapture could happen at any time, and what follows it, Christians are not appointed to.

 

[RandyPNW]

Randy, if you are saying that we are living in the days right before the Antichrist, definitely so.

This is parable of the fig tree generation.

Gog/Magog appears to be on the near horizon with what is going on in Ukraine.

My eye is on Zelensky.
---------------------------------------------------
Paul was speaking to the Thessalonians in his day, that they should not be worried about rumors that the rapture had taken place already and the day of the Lord had begun.

Then Paul gave the two criteria for when the man of sin would be revealed.

1. a great falling away from Christianity.
2. the act of the Antichrist going into the temple, sitting, claiming to have achieved God-hood.

The great falling away from Christianity, I think you are saying is taking place right now. Personally, regarding the scale of the falling away, I don't think that will happen until after Gog/Magog, and the prince who shall come is perceived to be the messiah by the Jews. The Jews will then convince the world of their being right. Which, there will be the great falling away from the truth that Jesus is the messiah.

The second criteria, involves the necessity of a temple in place. Not there yet, but could quickly be built, temporarily to the bare minimums, right after Gog/Magog and the Muslim presence gone from the Temple Mount.
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Paul's main message in his letters is that the rapture could happen at any time, and what follows it, Christians are not appointed to.

Well, Doug, I'm not an "imminency" guy, with respect to Christ's Coming, although I would say that Christ's Coming as been "near" since the Early Church. The fact Jesus has already come to redeem us from our sins is an indication that his judgment follows soon after.

You can see that Christ's judgment followed soon after his testimony to Israel in the 70 AD debacle. And now that Christian Europe has received a full witness, and religion is eroding, we can expect world judgment very soon, with preliminary judgments, as well.

The fact that it has been 2000 years since Jesus died on the cross does not render the "nearness" of Christ's Coming any less significant. The proximity of Christ's Coming to our lives is in critical tension, since all that we do, in each generation, is about to be judged by Christ for all eternity. So we must live in the sense that the Kingdom is nearby.

I don't expect that it can come "any day," since I believe Antichrist's appearance necessarily precedes that day. Christ comes, according to Paul, in 2 Thes 2, *at* the destruction of Antichrist, the "man doomed to destruction," and not before.

That being said, we agree that we are in the last of the last days. And I agree that Russia is very significant with respect to biblical prophecy right now. Indeed, Russia may be "Gog"--not sure. But you may be right.

As far as a temple goes, I'm not at all convinced that the Jews will build their temple, although it certainly may happen. We'll see.

The sign I look for has already been happening, which is a great apostasy from European Christianity. The claim to displace the word of God with "modern morality" precedes the coming of Antichrist himself who will seek to change God's laws and morals.