Don't Go Hog Wild

                So what do we know about the Antichrist? What are we to look out for? Well let's see. We know that he or she or it or whatever it turns out to be will be associated in some way with the number 666. We know that. And we will eventually know what that means because we are directly told to calculate it. There is something about a mortal headwound that gets healed.....a "seeming" fatal head wound....or what "appeared to be" a fatal head wound. Is that a literal head wound....or a wound to some particular power or position that the Antichrist would have....for example....he might be a....Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy....(just to use that 1974 John le Carre' book title for a little help)....and maybe the tinker or the soldier or the tailor or the spy part of him gets that seemingly fatal head would. Whatever it might be....it is eventually restored....and all the world will be amazed.
                 I haven't told you anything new yet have I? Well I'm not going to try to tell anything new....because I don't know anything new. All I know for sure is what God's Word tells us. Why would the whole world follow this man? I can't see that happening to a Muslin as some Bible prophecy teachers believe him to be. 
                 He is going to work wonders and miracles....so what might they be? Bringing peace might be considered a miracle? But then it might be something like restoring an economy? Maybe he will get everyone to like each other. That would be a miracle. 
                 And what could all of this....ten horns and seven heads and ten crowns stuff be? Maybe those folks who say it will be a revived Roman empire with ten countries are right? Could be? 
                 Daniel gives a lot of very specific hints....beginning around chapter eleven....but they are the kind of things that we will not know until they actually happen. It does seem that the Antichrist will forge a covenant with Israel. Now that's a real possibility today. We are under the assumption that this covenant that everyone is expecting has not been signed yet. That's very possible....even probable....but not absolutely necessary. Hey....for all we know he may already have signed that covenant....or maybe it was an oral covenant....with a promise that we never even heard about. We do know that he will break that treaty or promise or covenant half-way through the seven years that the covenant is supposed to be.  We have to look at every aspect of all these hints that God's Word give us.
                  And we know that a false prophet will be hanging around him. That also could be a man or an inanimate object...like a computer....or artificial intelligence? I could see that happening....AI giving us miracles....and then tells us that this particular man is to be worshiped by everyone. That's where the mark on the hand or the forehead come in.
                  Folks....I am purposely writing this post in this manner. I'm not mocking anything. I believe all of this. I will sit down regularly and utilize this type of questioning in my own mind. There is no other way to do this! Oh you can go to the Internet and send for a couple of dozen books on the end-times and the Antichrist and the Rapture and any number of other things....and those authors will give you all the specifics. The problem is that they don't know the specifics....but who is going to buy a book like the post that I have here? 
                  I'm not saying that all these books are bad. Some are quite good....particularly books such as the Rose Publishers put out....because they do not speculate. They give you the theories that are out there and let you work it out yourselves. This is what we are supposed to be doing today. God does give direct answers through studying His Word diligently....but those answers are more confirmation that He is near....that you are on the right track in studying and desiring and even in calculating! The alternative is that you will be taken by surprise. God is not going to enlighten someone all at once....someone who showed no previous interest. 
                  This has been just a primer on the topic of end-times prophecy. It takes time....don't go hog wild over the first theory that you read. The reward is great if you keep in moderation....with prayer and self-examination hand in hand with your study in this area.