Considering that in a few short weeks we’ll be heading into the apocryphal book of Revelation, the end of this earth and the second coming of Christ is something that will most likely be on our minds. In Matthew 24, Jesus gives some signs of the end of the age including the fact that “…false christs and false prophets will arise…”. Will sent me this link about a guy who claims to be Jesus Christ and he claims that his presence here and now is the second coming. I’d especially recommend reading this article or watching this video for the highlights.
Here’s the big question: is the presence of this guy and other false christs/prophets evidence of the imminent return of Jesus Christ (i.e. His return is just around the corner and will happen in the very near future), or do you think that we still have a good while to wait? See I Thessalonians 5:1-11 for more thoughts on the end. It’d be great if we could get some good discussion going about this. Please post a comment or two with your thoughts. I’m curious to see what everyone thinks and why.
P.S. Apparently, one of the benefits of following this guy is that in Jesus’ death on the cross, He abolished all sin and hell. This means that nothing you do is sin, and you can’t go to hell. I wonder what Paul would have to say about this, ala Romans 7…
What I find most fascinating about De Jesus is that he openly claims to be the antichrist. He simply says that the antichrist is the second coming of Christ who will basically replace the first Christ.
I guess I’d never thought that the “man of lawlessness” would openly admit to his identity and even wear it as a badge of honor. While I highly doubt that this guy is the Beast (though certainly he is *an* antichrist) simply because he’s already 60 and has only a fringe Hispanic following, this opens up new possibilities in my mind as far as how the Beast may present himself to the world.
By: Dave on March 8, 2007
at 3:02 pm
Dude, Christ already came back. He came back when Jerusalem was destroyed in AD 70. Revelation was just the prophecy of Jerusalem being destroyed and has already been fulfilled. That’s my two cents.
By: Samuel Rutherford on March 9, 2007
at 12:23 pm
To those who don’t know, the Samuel Rutherford that likes to comment here is a pseudonym for my little brother, Michael, and his last comment was very tongue in cheek.
By: Matt Borg on March 9, 2007
at 12:32 pm
I’m not so certain we can claim that this guy is a specific sign. There is a long list of people who have claimed for to be Jesus for a long time. See this list on Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_who_have_claimed_to_be_Jesus
(Man, Wikipedia really does have everything!)
Anyway, I lot of questions I’ve had lately have been with how to deal with a God who is outside of time when I can’t really comprehend being outside of time. So to say if something is “imminent” probably doesn’t get us (or at least me) anywhere.
What I do take from 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 is that Jesus is coming, I won’t know when, but I also won’t be surprised when it does happen. Nothing I can do will cause me to “miss out”. So I need to keep encouraging other believers.
Anyway, those are my thoughts. Have a great day!
By: Mikel Berger on March 9, 2007
at 12:35 pm
Maybe Matt should start a blog where his brothers can go to. That’s my two cents.
By: Dave on March 9, 2007
at 4:11 pm