Michael Bresciani
The Mahdi, the Irish referendum: bumps along the eschatological highway
By Michael Bresciani
With French President Nicolas Sarkozy calling for a strong first President for the EU and Ireland making headway in the upcoming vote on the Lisbon Treaty how close is the United States of Europe, the prophesied antichrist and other eschatological road signs and what of the hype concerning the Muslim Mahdi?
The elite of this world are neither huddling in some deep underground musing through secret papers nor sitting in the seats of kings and presidents. They are those who's King and the very kingdom he rules resides within them. They are guided by every word and edict he has manifested to them. It is little wonder that Jesus Christ said '...the kingdom of God is within you.' (Lk 17:21b)
They are chosen to see the world exactly as it is and not as it imagines itself to be. In the modern vernacular they are said to hold a 'Biblical worldview.' In the scriptural manner they are those who can see the world even at the same time the world cannot see them, the exceptions notwithstanding.
The writer of John's gospel says, 'And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.' (Jn 1:5) Every word of their King and those spoken by his prophets and his Apostles is regarded as the light, a light that is not now nor has ever been fully recognized, much less understood by those dwelling in secularisms darkness.
It is because they trust God's word that the query "If Christ is the answer then what are the questions' is simply all of them.
Exordiums are the carefully crafted preambles to any decent lecture or homiletical discourse. All that follows is to establish the exordium or utilize it or to verify the principle or premise put forth. In the simplest terms I have said all of that, to say this.
Two questions that have taken center stage of late in all second coming prophecy questions is the passing of the Irish referendum on the Lisbon Treaty after which the EU will look to elect its first President and the Muslim prophesies of the seventh Imam or the Mahdi.
Objections to the treaty of Lisbon raised by the Irish are mostly based on the differences between the EUs laws and the Irish Constitution. The referendum is presently floating or as some say pending on the idea that exceptions should be made in the wording of the referendum. That wording would ensure the protocols of the Irish Constitution as it pertains to the "right to life', family and education would remain. The other deterrent to be dealt with is the wording "We, the people of Éire, Humbly acknowledging all our obligations to our Divine Lord, Jesus Christ, Who sustained our fathers through centuries of trial..." these words and others which proclaim that Ireland must retain adherence to the will of the Trinity are contained in the Irish Constitution.
These words can hardly be tolerated in the forming of a secularist based government and the idea of the 'right to life' won't fly in the face of the EUs newly mandated requirements for membership into the union. Those mandates call for every member nation to allow abortion across the board.
Whether pre-existing protocols of the Irish constitution will be given precedence over against EU law is to some a mere technical issue and will not pose a serious threat to the passage of the Treaty. Ireland's politics is as deep and at times as acrid as Dublin's Liffy and all but a few from the outside have a faint clue. Suffice it to say that prophecy is pre-written history and that translates to the passing of the Treaty at the appointed time. The referendum will be voted on as early as fall of 2009.
The reasons generally cited on the surety of the treaties passage are many but the top two are without question. First is the decline of Irish youth to strict adherence to Papal authority and Catholic dogma. The second is the economic advantages to the Emerald Isle that no one in Dublin is willing to ignore.
The other distracting road sign on the trek to last day's prophecies is the newly emerging question of the Muslim Mahdi. Care should be taken here not to blow this overrated concern out of all proportion.
Because Muslims still use beheading as a means for execution the likeness to the antichrist is easily inferred. The antichrist will use beheading to quickly depose his enemies according to scripture. (Rev 20:4) It is this practice plus the idea that the Mahdi will sign a seven year peace treaty with Israel that are among the reasons that for some he must be the antichrist.
That the antichrist may be an apostate Jew or Muslim might hold some veracity but regardless of that possibility two important factors must not be overlooked. Firstly, The Mahdi is not explicitly referred to by the Quran but it is in only one of the six books of hadith.
The second and more important reason to proceed with extreme caution concerning the Mahdi is that to offer or encourage Christians to accept this as the fulfillment of eschatological doctrine is a paradigm shift away from complete trust in the scriptures. Those who depend on the scriptures will never do this and for good reason.
The only thing worse than an improper interpretation of the scripture, is the interpolation of scripture. That is reading in meanings that are not there or removing explicit meanings that are. The Bible and specifically the book most concerned with the second coming of Christ comes with a warning. It is among the most severe warnings in the bible, to wit, "For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book." (Rev 22:18-19)
The scriptures are quite clear concerning the antichrist. His kingdom is the modern revived Roman Empire (EU) and regardless of his heritage or background he will lead the world in the last seven years before the return of Jesus Christ during the Battle of Armageddon.
He will not need to be Muslim or European but will surely be charismatic and radical. As in America where we have a president who never owned or ran a business spending trillions of dollars of taxpayer's money and who hasn't accomplished a single political or civil achievement of note in his life but is now at the head of the most powerful nation on earth, that antichrist will need only his personal charisma and charm is easy to understand.
As the world teeters on the precipice of chaos in politics, economics and civil upheaval it is apparent that we are more likely to call for an Elvis Presley to run the world rather than a Ronald Reagan.
France's President Sarkozy may have hit the nail on the head in calling for a strong first choice for the first President of the EU but hold steady, the strongest one may not be the first but two or three down the line. But that's a subject for another time.
© Michael Bresciani
June 24, 2009
With French President Nicolas Sarkozy calling for a strong first President for the EU and Ireland making headway in the upcoming vote on the Lisbon Treaty how close is the United States of Europe, the prophesied antichrist and other eschatological road signs and what of the hype concerning the Muslim Mahdi?
The elite of this world are neither huddling in some deep underground musing through secret papers nor sitting in the seats of kings and presidents. They are those who's King and the very kingdom he rules resides within them. They are guided by every word and edict he has manifested to them. It is little wonder that Jesus Christ said '...the kingdom of God is within you.' (Lk 17:21b)
They are chosen to see the world exactly as it is and not as it imagines itself to be. In the modern vernacular they are said to hold a 'Biblical worldview.' In the scriptural manner they are those who can see the world even at the same time the world cannot see them, the exceptions notwithstanding.
The writer of John's gospel says, 'And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.' (Jn 1:5) Every word of their King and those spoken by his prophets and his Apostles is regarded as the light, a light that is not now nor has ever been fully recognized, much less understood by those dwelling in secularisms darkness.
It is because they trust God's word that the query "If Christ is the answer then what are the questions' is simply all of them.
Exordiums are the carefully crafted preambles to any decent lecture or homiletical discourse. All that follows is to establish the exordium or utilize it or to verify the principle or premise put forth. In the simplest terms I have said all of that, to say this.
Two questions that have taken center stage of late in all second coming prophecy questions is the passing of the Irish referendum on the Lisbon Treaty after which the EU will look to elect its first President and the Muslim prophesies of the seventh Imam or the Mahdi.
Objections to the treaty of Lisbon raised by the Irish are mostly based on the differences between the EUs laws and the Irish Constitution. The referendum is presently floating or as some say pending on the idea that exceptions should be made in the wording of the referendum. That wording would ensure the protocols of the Irish Constitution as it pertains to the "right to life', family and education would remain. The other deterrent to be dealt with is the wording "We, the people of Éire, Humbly acknowledging all our obligations to our Divine Lord, Jesus Christ, Who sustained our fathers through centuries of trial..." these words and others which proclaim that Ireland must retain adherence to the will of the Trinity are contained in the Irish Constitution.
These words can hardly be tolerated in the forming of a secularist based government and the idea of the 'right to life' won't fly in the face of the EUs newly mandated requirements for membership into the union. Those mandates call for every member nation to allow abortion across the board.
Whether pre-existing protocols of the Irish constitution will be given precedence over against EU law is to some a mere technical issue and will not pose a serious threat to the passage of the Treaty. Ireland's politics is as deep and at times as acrid as Dublin's Liffy and all but a few from the outside have a faint clue. Suffice it to say that prophecy is pre-written history and that translates to the passing of the Treaty at the appointed time. The referendum will be voted on as early as fall of 2009.
The reasons generally cited on the surety of the treaties passage are many but the top two are without question. First is the decline of Irish youth to strict adherence to Papal authority and Catholic dogma. The second is the economic advantages to the Emerald Isle that no one in Dublin is willing to ignore.
The other distracting road sign on the trek to last day's prophecies is the newly emerging question of the Muslim Mahdi. Care should be taken here not to blow this overrated concern out of all proportion.
Because Muslims still use beheading as a means for execution the likeness to the antichrist is easily inferred. The antichrist will use beheading to quickly depose his enemies according to scripture. (Rev 20:4) It is this practice plus the idea that the Mahdi will sign a seven year peace treaty with Israel that are among the reasons that for some he must be the antichrist.
That the antichrist may be an apostate Jew or Muslim might hold some veracity but regardless of that possibility two important factors must not be overlooked. Firstly, The Mahdi is not explicitly referred to by the Quran but it is in only one of the six books of hadith.
The second and more important reason to proceed with extreme caution concerning the Mahdi is that to offer or encourage Christians to accept this as the fulfillment of eschatological doctrine is a paradigm shift away from complete trust in the scriptures. Those who depend on the scriptures will never do this and for good reason.
The only thing worse than an improper interpretation of the scripture, is the interpolation of scripture. That is reading in meanings that are not there or removing explicit meanings that are. The Bible and specifically the book most concerned with the second coming of Christ comes with a warning. It is among the most severe warnings in the bible, to wit, "For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book." (Rev 22:18-19)
The scriptures are quite clear concerning the antichrist. His kingdom is the modern revived Roman Empire (EU) and regardless of his heritage or background he will lead the world in the last seven years before the return of Jesus Christ during the Battle of Armageddon.
He will not need to be Muslim or European but will surely be charismatic and radical. As in America where we have a president who never owned or ran a business spending trillions of dollars of taxpayer's money and who hasn't accomplished a single political or civil achievement of note in his life but is now at the head of the most powerful nation on earth, that antichrist will need only his personal charisma and charm is easy to understand.
As the world teeters on the precipice of chaos in politics, economics and civil upheaval it is apparent that we are more likely to call for an Elvis Presley to run the world rather than a Ronald Reagan.
France's President Sarkozy may have hit the nail on the head in calling for a strong first choice for the first President of the EU but hold steady, the strongest one may not be the first but two or three down the line. But that's a subject for another time.
© Michael Bresciani
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