Is Romney the Antichrist?

[CrunchyCon]

Here's a few things that make me uncomfortable about Romney...

- He claims to be Christian, but rejects Christian monotheism.
- He is a bishop who rejects the Nicene (orthodox) understanding of the Holy Trinity while claiming we become gods in the afterlife (Babylonian gnosticism).
- He was once pronounced officially dead by state authorities, but made a "miraculous" recovery.
- He is attempting to claim both the highest secular political office in the world and high ecclesiastical office.
- Even devout Christians, in their dislike of Obama, are willing to believe that Romney is christian.
- He's been put forward as the subject of his own religion's prophecy that he's the rider of the white horse of the four horsemen of the apocalypse, whom many early Christians identified as the Antichrist.

[mindyrbusiness]

The King of the North?
Putin to be sworn in as president of divided Russia
http://www.reuters.com/article/slidesho ... 120506#a=1
By Timothy Heritage

MOSCOW | Sun May 6, 2012 6:17pm EDT

(Reuters) - Vladimir Putin will be sworn in as Russia's president at a glittering ceremony on Monday, hours after clashes between police and protesters laid bare the deep divisions over his return to the Kremlin for six more years.

The former KGB spy will take his oath before nearly 2,000 guests in the Kremlin's St Andrew Hall, the former throne room with sparkling chandeliers, gilded pillars and high Gothic vaults, before being blessed by the head of the Russian Orthodox Church and taking charge of the nuclear suitcase.

He will also deliver a short speech, inspect the Kremlin presidential guard and host a lavish reception featuring only Russian food and drink.

Although he has remained Russia's supreme leader for the past four years as prime minister, Putin will take back the formal reins of power he ceded to his ally Dmitry Medvedev in 2008 after eight years as president.

He is returning with his authority weakened by months of protests that have polarized Russia and left him facing a battle to reassert himself or risk being sidelined by the powerful business and political elites whose backing is vital.

In the latest protests on Sunday, police detained more than 400 people, including three opposition leaders, after tensions boiled over at a rally attended by about 20,000 people across the Moscow river from the Kremlin.

Police hit protesters on the head with batons as they tried to stop demonstrators advancing towards them, carrying metal crowd barriers and throwing objects. The crowd fought back with flagpoles before the police eventually restored order.

"Putin has shown his true face, how he 'loves' his people - with police force," said Dmitry Gorbunov, 35, a computer analyst who took part in the protest.

A few kilometers (miles) across Moscow, several thousand people staged a rally supporting Putin, seen by his backers as the only leader capable of defending Russia's interests on the world stage and the guardian of the economy at home.

While Putin's critics have tired of a political system that concentrates power in one man, many of his supporters welcome his domination of the country of more than 140 million.

"Democracy is the power of the majority. Russia is everything, the rest is nothing!" Alexander Dugin, a Kremlin-aligned nationalist, told the pro-Putin crowd.

RUSSIA HAS CHANGED

The rival rallies underlined the rifts opened by Putin's return to the Kremlin and protests that were sparked by allegations of electoral fraud but fuelled by many Russians' frustration that one man continues to dominate the country.

Some opposition activists plan to try to stage a protest outside the Kremlin before the inauguration ceremony.

Although the protests had lost momentum before Sunday's rally, they have given birth to a civil society, two decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union, that is gradually chipping away at Putin's authority.

Putin, who will be 60 in October, grew up in Soviet days and worked as a spy in communist East Germany, is under pressure to show he can adapt to the new political landscape. Few think he has changed much - if at all.

Putin has eased up on the choreographtranquilizerics that burnished his image at his peak in Russia, such as riding horseback bare-chested and shooting a tiger with a tranquilizer gun.

Harder to shake off will be his habit of seeking total control and learning to cope with political opponents and a middle class demanding more political freedom.

He has to quell rivalries between liberals and conservatives battling for positions in the new cabinet under Medvedev, who is swapping jobs with Putin. The outcome of the struggle could help determine how far reforms go to improve the investment climate.

The $1.9 trillion economy is in better shape than in most European countries but is vulnerable to any change in the price of oil, Russia's main export commodity. The budget is under pressure from Putin's lavish election spending promises.

Putin has said he wants to attract more foreign investment by improving the business climate, reduce corruption and red tape, and end Russia's heavy dependence on energy exports. He has not spelled out how he will do this.

Putin is likely, as in the past, to use tough anti-Western rhetoric on foreign policy to drum up support if times get tough in Russia. But he has never yielded his strong influence over foreign policy as premier, so a major policy shift is unlikely.

(Editing by Andrew Roche)
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RELATED:
Putin says ready to "go far" in U.S. relations: Ifax
http://s1.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/ ... E8441DQ100
By Gleb Bryanski

MOSCOW | Sat May 5, 2012 6:25pm EDT

(Reuters) - Russia's President-elect Vladimir Putin is ready to go far in developing ties between Russia and the United States provided the relationship is equal, Interfax news agency quoted Putin's foreign policy aide as saying on Saturday.

Putin discussed bilateral relations at a closed-door meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama's top security aide Tom Donilon at his Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow on Friday, three days before his inauguration ceremony at the Kremlin.

"Putin emphasized that in developing the relationship with the United States, Russia is ready to go really far, on condition that the Americans will act on the principles of an equal and mutually respectful partnership," Yuri Ushakov was quoted as saying.

Ushakov said Donilon handed Putin a letter from Obama, calling it "a multi-page detailed document, whose main message is that Obama is ready to cooperate with Putin in order to move forward on the path of the creation of partnership between the United States and Russia".

Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov and the U.S. embassy in Russia declined to comment on the meeting.

Putin plans to make his first foreign visit as president later this month to the United States where he will take part in the G8 leaders' summit as well as meet Obama. Putin's second major foreign visit will be to China at the start of June.

Putin, who tried to keep a low profile in foreign policy issues during his stint as prime minister, last met Obama for a caviar breakfast at Novo-Ogaryovo in July 2009.

Obama made "reset" of U.S. relations with Russia one of his top foreign policy priorities. He had a good working relationship with departing Russian President Dmitry Medvedev who will now become prime minister.

As prime minister, Putin has held regular meetings with former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, an architect of the Cold War policy of detente towards the Soviet Union.

Putin extensively used anti-American rhetoric in the run-up to March 4 presidential election accusing U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of stirring protests against his 12-year rule by encouraging "mercenary" Kremlin foes.

The two former Cold War foes still differ over issues including the Syrian crisis and U.S. plans for a missile defense shield in Europe. Many observers believe the relationship may deteriorate during Putin's six-year presidency.

A top Russian general warned this week that Moscow could carry out pre-emptive strikes on future NATO missile defense installations. NATO called such threats "unjustified" and said the system posed no threat to Russia's security.

Obama was caught on camera in March telling Medvedev that he will have "more flexibility" to deal with contentious issues such as missile defense after the U.S. presidential election in November.

Obama, who holds his first political rallies of the 2012 campaign on Saturday, has been criticized by opponents for being too soft on Russia and is likely to step up criticism ahead of the election.

(Reporting by Gleb Bryanski; Editing by Rosalind Russell)

[CrunchyCon]

Putin, for all his faults, is doctrinally orthodox (and quite devout) when it comes to Christology and his professed belief in the Holy Trinity. That alone excludes him from being the Antichrist from what I understand of the Book of Revelations.

[PoliticallyIncorrect]

Putin, for all his faults, is doctrinally orthodox (and quite devout) when it comes to Christology and his professed belief in the Holy Trinity.

You trust a former KGB thug?

[RedDog]

So to be clear, "conservatives" have officially made the switch from trashing Sarah Palin to trashing Mitt Romney? How many are closet Obama fans after all?

Keep up the good work team.

[backhoe]

So to be clear, "conservatives" have officially made the switch from trashing Sarah Palin to trashing Mitt Romney? How many are closet Obama fans after all?

Keep up the good work team.

That's how it looks from where I see things and I'm getting fed up with it.

Job #1 is booting Komrade Zer0 & the First Clydesdale from office. I have a lot of reservations about Romney but at least he doesn't hate America and all other Americans who aren't his color.

Unlike The First Grifters...

[RedDog]

So to be clear, "conservatives" have officially made the switch from trashing Sarah Palin to trashing Mitt Romney? How many are closet Obama fans after all?

Keep up the good work team.

That's how it looks from where I see things and I'm getting fed up with it.

Job #1 is booting Komrade Zer0 & the First Clydesdale from office. I have a lot of reservations about Romney but at least he doesn't hate America and all other Americans who aren't his color.

Unlike The First Grifters...

Exactly. He's not my first choice but is his wife "proud" of America yet? Job ONE is ditching the fraud.

[CrunchyCon]

So to be clear, "conservatives" have officially made the switch from trashing Sarah Palin to trashing Mitt Romney?

Oooh....scare quotes around "conservative" - that's SO scary....

The truth is that conservatives never trashed Sarah Palin. Mitt Romney (and his supporters) trashed Palin during the 2008 election because she was perceived (rightfully) as Mitt's greatest threat come 2012:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2118686/posts

[RedDog]

So to be clear, "conservatives" have officially made the switch from trashing Sarah Palin to trashing Mitt Romney?

Oooh....scare quotes around "conservative" - that's SO scary....

The truth is that conservatives never trashed Sarah Palin. Mitt Romney (and his supporters) trashed Palin during the 2008 election because she was perceived (rightfully) as Mitt's greatest threat come 2012:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2118686/posts

If you want scary go back to your church. They specialize in that. Your choices now are Hussein Obama or Mitt Romney. Further discussion in that arena is pointless.

By the way, how many of you are actually able to vote in the USA? You may as well be lecturing on the political affairs of Romania or Egypt at this point. It has about as much relevance.

[CrunchyCon]

So to be clear, "conservatives" have officially made the switch from trashing Sarah Palin to trashing Mitt Romney?

Oooh....scare quotes around "conservative" - that's SO scary....

The truth is that conservatives never trashed Sarah Palin. Mitt Romney (and his supporters) trashed Palin during the 2008 election because she was perceived (rightfully) as Mitt's greatest threat come 2012:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2118686/posts

If you want scary go back to your church. They specialize in that. Your choices now are Hussein Obama or Mitt Romney. Further discussion in that arena is pointless.

A little touchy about Mitt's underhanded treatment of Sarah during the 2008 election, are we? Thought those stories had vanished down the memory hole, eh? Find yourself whistling past the graveyard of Christian conservatives' buried enthusiasm in such a tight election?

He's your candidate, not ours. It's up to you to get him elected.

But here's a tip anyway: anti-Islamic fear-mongering (i.e. B "HUSSEIN" Obama) won't work given that historically Mormonism has allied itself with Islam over orthodox Christianity, even post 9-11. It's no coincidence that Brigham Young University runs the largest translator of Islamic texts into the English language.

[free_life2]

I am not aware of conservatives trashing Palin. As for mittens yes conservatives have trashed him from the beginning because he is not conservative. Whats so hard to understand about that.

This selling of Romney because he is not as bad as Obama is like gallows humor nauseating to conservatives.

[free_life2]

Putin, for all his faults, is doctrinally orthodox (and quite devout) when it comes to Christology and his professed belief in the Holy Trinity. That alone excludes him from being the Antichrist from what I understand of the Book of Revelations.

I don't see anything excluding Putin from being the antichrist, not that I am making a claim he is. Enough is known about Putin to know he is no Christian. Devils believe in the trinity, does that make them orthodox ? Is killing people now a claim of being devout?

[CrunchyCon]

I am not aware of conservatives trashing Palin.

My friend! You need to pay a little closer to the debate! Those within the GOP who trashed Sarah last election were primarily Romney supporters (see the link in my previous post) with the GOP elite. These same supporters define Romney as "severely" conservative. Therefore, by their logic, conservatives trashed Palin last time around.

[CrunchyCon]

http://www.randumblog.com/2012/04/are-w ... -days.html

Are We Living in the Last Days?
I've always been annoyed by presumptuous pastors who plot the demise of the human race with more detail than even the Bible predicts. Something in me always seems to be drawn back to Jesus saying that "No man knows the day or the hour." Yet there has always been a subtle intrigue by which believers regard Revelation.

If a church does a series on Revelation the attendance will go up. When a book is published on this subject it could sell in the tens of millions. Even a movie that is apocalyptic in nature will have a healthy haul at the box office. So, am I writing this post to increase web traffic? No, although it probably will. I just want to point out a few things worth noting.

When I was a kid I heard that Saddam Hussein may be the antichrist (this was during the first gulf war). Then President Clinton was elected and people said the same thing about him. President Bush and President Obama have had similar rumors. So do we just always suppose everyone in power is going to become the antichrist?

President Obama was perhaps the most interesting of the comparisons. People were skeptical of his birthplace and even his religion. Many still claim that he is a closet Muslim. For the record I do not believe he is. The reason this is interesting is that Christians over the years switched from believing the Anti-Christ would come out of the U.S.S.R. or the Catholic church to someone from Islam.

What reasons would we have to suspect Islam? Well lets look. Antichrist literally means counterfeit Christ. They are both supposed to be the God of Abraham, the "only" god, and the sole creator of the universe. Sounds counterfeit doesn't it?

Well, no not really. You see the Muslims consider it an abomination to say that the Father has a son. They may have a counterfeit god, but definitely not an counterfeit Christ.

So what prominent religion clearly worships a Jesus that is not the Jesus of the Bible. Until recently there wasn't a prominent religion that did this, just some misguided views in different belief systems. But now Mormonism has moved into the public eye. With commercials on TV that give "hope", a prominent TV personality (Glenn Beck), and even a presidential candidate (Mitt Romney).

Are they a Christian denomination? You tell me. Here are some of their beliefs:

-God the father used to be a man on another planet who became a god through good works.
-God literally had sex with Mary to produce Jesus.
-Jesus and Satan are brothers (Satan wishes that he was on Jesus' level)
-If you are male you can one day be the god of your own planet.
-Each person on your planet will be created through having sex with many wives to produce the spirit babies for insertion into the humans.

My friends this is a cult. Those who pledge themselves to a cult and follow its teachings are prone to demonic influence. The antichrist doesn't start off as a "bad" guy, he becomes possessed by Satan himself after coming to power.

While some are still worried about our current president being a Muslim, I suggest they think twice when considering who to vote for for president this year. If these are our choices I will highly consider an independent or third party. Not because I believe I can stop the rise of the antichrist or even that someone running will be the antichrist. I just don't want to end up in heaven as one of the few duped into helping him rise to power.

Again for the record I am not saying that Mitt Romney will be the antichrist. In fact we may not see the rise of the antichrist for thousands of years. I do believe we should be discerning in these areas and weigh the risks and consequences of every decision. What do you think? I would love to discuss this with you below.

[mindyrbusiness]

Often the tendency is think of the (an) Antichrist in sensational theatrical terms,such as in the movie the Exorcist.
It is important to remember the Scripture writers were writing in their time and describing the false teachers and those who denied and disbelieved who Jesus Christ was.

1 John 2:18 Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
1John 4 (2) Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:(v3 )And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible on 1 John 2:18 (Biblos.com)

Little children, it is the last time,.... Or hour; not of the Jewish civil and church state, for that had been at an end for some time; this epistle was written some years after the destruction of Jerusalem; nor the last hour of the Gospel dispensation, or world to come, for this was but the first age of that; and much less the last hour of time, or of the present world itself, for that has been many hundreds of years since; but the last hour of the apostolic age. All the apostles were now dead, John was the last of them; perilous times were now coming on, impostors and heretics were rising apace, against which the apostle cautions his little children; and so still he writes to them, agreeably to their age and character, who, being such, were most likely to be imposed upon by those who lie in wait to deceive.

And as ye have heard that antichrist shall come; or "is coming"; and begins to show himself in the false teachers and deceivers, who were his forerunners; and this they had heard and understood, either from the words of Christ in John 5:43; or from the account the Apostle Paul gave to the Thessalonians concerning him, 2 Thessalonians 2:3; or rather it may be from what, the apostle had said to the elders of the church at Ephesus, where the Apostle John now was, when he met them at Miletus, Acts 20:29,

even now there are many antichrists. The Syriac and Ethiopic versions read, "false Christs"; but such are not intended here, that set up for Messiahs, whom Christ foretold should arise before the destruction of Jerusalem, Matthew 24:24; for that was now over, and those false Christs had arisen and were gone: if this sense could be admitted, Bar Cocab, in Adrian's time, bids fair to be the false Christ, or Messiah, in the preceding clause, as the same versions there read; but such as were adversaries of Christ, as the Arabic version renders it, are meant, who set themselves against Christ, and were opposers of his person, incarnation, and office; who either denied that he was the Christ, or that he was come in the flesh, the truth of his incarnation, or his proper deity, or real humanity, such as Ebion, Cerinthus, and others. The apostle might well say there were many, since in his time were the followers of Simon Magus, the Menandrians, Saturnilians, Basilidians, Nicolaites, Gnostics, Carpocratians, Cerinthians, Ebionites, and Nazarenes, as reckoned up by Epiphanius. And hence we learn, that antichrist is not one single individual, but many; antichrist in the former clause is explained by antichrists in this; see 1 John 2:22; and though the popes of Rome are, by way of eminence, the antichrist that should come, and which those deceivers were the forerunners of, and paved the way for; yet they are not the only antichrists, there were others before them, and there are many now besides them.

Whereby we know that it is the last time; the pure apostolic age was now going off, with the doctrines, discipline, and worship of it, which was easy to be discerned by the multitude of antichrists which now appeared; and it may well be thought to be the last time, or near the end of things with us, since almost every heresy is revived among us.
Vincent's Word Studies

Little children (παιδία)

See on 1 John 2:13.

The last hour (ἐσχάτη ὥρα)

The phrase only here in the New Testament. On John's use of ὥρα hour, as marking a critical season, see John 2:4; John 4:21, John 4:23; John 5:25, John 5:28; John 7:30; John 8:20; John 11:23, John 11:27; John 16:2, John 16:4, John 16:25, John 16:32. The dominant sense of the expression last days, in the New Testament, is that of a period of suffering and struggle preceding a divine victory. See Acts 2:17; James 5:3; 1 Peter 1:20. Hence the phrase here does not refer to the end of the world, but to the period preceding a crisis in the advance of Christ's kingdom, a changeful and troublous period, marked by the appearance of "many antichrists."

Antichrist

Peculiar to John in the New Testament. The absence of the article shows its currency as a proper name. It may mean one who stands against Christ, or one who stands instead of Christ; just as ἀντιστράτηγος may mean either one who stands in the place of a στρατηγός praetor, a propraetor (see Introd. to Luke, vol. 1, p. 246, and note on Acts 16:20), or an opposing general. John never uses the word ψευδόχριστος false Christ (Matthew 24:24; Mark 13:22). While the false Christ is merely a pretender to the Messianic office, the Antichrist "assails Christ by proposing to do or to preserve what he did, while denying Him." Antichrist, then, is one who opposes Christ in the guise of Christ. Westcott's remark is very important, that John's sense of Antichrist is determined by the full Christian conception of Christ, and not by the Jewish conception of the promised Savior.

Cometh (ἔρχεται)

The prophetic present, equivalent to is about to come. The same term is used of Christ (John 14:3; John 21:22; Revelation 22:20).

Are there (γεγόνασιν)

Rev., more correctly, have there arisen.

Whereby (ὅθεν)

Lit., whence. Only here in John. It is found in Matthew and Luke, and frequently in Hebrews, and not elsewhere.
And every spirit that confesseth not,.... The proper deity and sonship of Christ, his true and real humanity, and his Messiahship; or any of his offices, doctrines, and ordinances; or his satisfaction and righteousness; or that peace, pardon, justification, life, and salvation, are by him; all which are meant by what follows,

that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh: this clause is left out in the Ethiopic version, and that without hurting the sense, since it is easily supplied from the preceding verse; and the Alexandrian copy, and the Vulgate Latin version, only read "Jesus": and the latter reads the whole thus, "and every spirit that dissolves Jesus"; that separates the two natures, human and divine, in him, and makes two persons of them; or denies either of them, either that he is truly God, or really man, or denies him to be Jesus, the Saviour; who, as much as in him lies, destroys his person, office, and work, and makes void his obedience, sufferings, and death:

is not of God; neither he nor his doctrine are of God; his doctrine cannot come from God, being contrary to the word of God; and he himself is neither born of God, nor on his side.

And this is that spirit of antichrist: who is against Christ, or opposes himself to him; as he who denies his sonship, his deity, his humanity, his offices, and his grace, manifestly does; every doctrine that is calculated against these truths is the spirit and doctrine of antichrist:

whereof you have heard that it should come, and even now already is it the world; in the false teachers, the forerunners of antichrist; (See Gill on 1 John 2:18).