But Then Again . . . You May Be the Antichrist.

Given the genuine angst that many Christians feel after the recent passage of Obamacare, a number of people have actually written or asked me whether or not I think Barack Obama might be the Antichrist.

Having written a book on the subject, I guess people feel like I might be able to confirm their suspicions.  Sorry, I cannot.  Barring some completely unforeseen prophetic development (and I mean really unforeseen!), Barack Obama is not the Antichrist. 

This worry is not limited to Bible prophecy devotees as, apparently, a number of Republicans who oppose the recent healthcare bill have had the same concerns (25% of Republicans fear that Obama might be the Antichrist).

Although someone made a facetious "Barack of Sin" cover for my book (the same person made one with me on the cover as well-so don't get too upset), the biblical evidence points us in a very different direction.

The only time the term "antichrist" is used in the Bible (in John's Epistles) it refers to heretics who deny that Jesus is God in the flesh (1 John 2:18-22; 4:3; 2 John 1:7). 

When Paul speaks of the "man of sin" he's referring to someone in the church ("the temple of God") who opposes God and proclaims himself to be God (cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12).

In the Book of Revelation (chapter 13), the dragon (Satan), the beast (the Roman Empire) and the false prophet (the imperial cult) oppress the people of God, persecuting them and preventing them from buying and selling unless Christians deny Christ and confess the deity of the current Roman emperor.  This image is given us as a warning of those empires which will arise throughout the course of this age, bent on opposing the kingdom of Christ, only to be thwarted by the preaching of the gospel and the providence of God until the time of the end.

I set out the biblical data for this in my book--you can read about it here:  (My book on the doctrine of Antichrist)  

All of that is to say, "No, Barack Obama is not the Antichrist."  Look, I don't like the guy either.  I don't trust him as far as I can see him.  I fear he's a Marxist (in terms of his view of history and economics).  There can be no doubt whatsoever that he is a statist and has little regard for the unborn.  He's also a bare-knuckled Chicago hack politician.  But he was duly elected, and like it or not he is our president.  If we disagree with his policies, we have an appropriate remedy--the ballot box.

"Pin the tail on the Antichrist" has long been a Christian parlor game.  If you don't like someone and fear their power, it is easy to demonize them.  Throughout the history of the church, Christians have called their enemies (perceived and otherwise) "antichrists."

Barack Obama is not the Antichrist.  But Nancy Pelosi on the other hand . . .

"The Love of Christ" -- Ephesians 3:14-21

The Seventh in a Series of Sermons on Paul's Letter to the Ephesians

Like the majority of his letters, Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians is divided into two parts.  In the first half of this epistle (chapters 1-3), the Apostle sets out a number of important doctrinal issues before making specific applications of these same doctrines to the Christian life in the second half (chapters 4-6).  As we conclude the first half of this letter, Paul brings us back to where he began in the first chapter–God’s eternal decree to save sinners “in Christ.”  But Paul is so moved by the very thought of how God’s eternal plan has played out on the stage of human history, as well as in the circumstances of his own life, that he wraps up the doctrinal section with a heart-felt prayer of thanksgiving for the glorious inheritance which is ours “in Christ.”  Paul wants his readers to both know and experience the glorious reality of the love of Christ.
 
As we continue our series on Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, we now come to the end of chapter three, which is also the conclusion of the first half of this letter.  Here at the end of the third chapter we will find that Paul is quite moved by the very thought of all that God has done in providing for the salvation of his people.  In the first three chapters of this letter, the Apostle to the Gentiles has laid out for us in unmistakable clarity God’s plan for those of us Gentiles who were formerly strangers and aliens, without hope, and without God in the world.  Paul has told us how we relate to God’s old covenant people (the Jews), and how in Christ, God has done the impossible–he has taken those divided by race, diet, and culture, and made them one people.  God has done all of this, Paul says, through the shed blood of Jesus, who, in his death has reconciled God to us, us to God, and Jew to Gentile.

In verses 14-21 of Ephesians 3, Paul wraps up this doctrinal section with an impassioned prayer that everything he’s just told us about the grace of God, the revelation of the mystery of Christ, as well as God’s purpose for Jew and Gentile, would be fully realized in the lives of all those reading (or hearing) this epistle.  As an English biblical scholar once put it, “who has not read and re-read the closing verses of the third chapter of the Ephesians with the feeling of one permitted to look through the parted curtains into the holiest place of the Christian life.”  This prayer is but one reason why so many of our theological forbears, like John Calvin, identify Ephesians as their favorite book of the Bible.

But in order to understand what it is exactly that Paul is praying for, and what specific blessings he desires us to experience, we need go back to that point where Paul began (Ephesians 1:3-14), and where he returns in Ephesians 3:11.  Paul clearly emphasizes that everything he has stated about the mystery of Christ and the reconciliation of God’s people “was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  God’s eternal plan has been fully realized in the person and work of Christ.

To read the rest of this sermon, Click here

Academy Audio Posted -- "The Rapture"

Here's the audio from Friday's Academy lecture.

http://links.christreformed.org/realaudio/A20100319-Amillenialism.mp3

"And Such Were Some of You" -- 1 Corinthians 6:1-11

Here's the audio from Sunday's sermon, the tenth in a series on Paul's letter to the Corinthians.

Click here

This Week's White Horse Inn

The Kingdom of God, Part 1

How does God's Kingdom advance? Can we usher it in by our political or cultural endeavors? Will it come if enough people band together in pursuit of social justice? As the hosts discuss on this edition of the program, the Kingdom of God is not something that we build or bring in by our own activity, but rather is something that we receive by grace alone (Heb. 12:28).

http://www.whitehorseinn.org/



Who Said That?

"In the end, I'll put my good acts up against those of anybody in this country. Anybody."

Leave your guess in the comments section below.  Please, no google searches or cheating.  Answer to follow in one week.

Update on Saturday, March 20, 2010 at 08:37AM by Kim Riddlebarger

This one is for Richard, who dutifully guesses "George Steinbrenner" (or A-Rod, or someone else associated with the Yankees) virtually every time I post a new "Who Said That?"

This is indeed a quote from George Steinbrenner!

My Take on Congress' Performance During the Health Care Debate?

Several readers of this blog have asked me about my take on the on-going debate over health care.  My take on Congress' performance is very simple.  Where are the Martians when you need them?

Regardless of the despicable methods being used to secure passage of this monstrosity, and even on conservative CBO estimates, the bottom line is that this federal takeover of health care amounts to the creation of a new federal entitlement program which adds at least one trillion dollars to the already hemorrhaging federal deficit.  That means we are running at least a 10-12 trillion dollar deficit over the next ten years.

How long could you pay your monthly expenses with new credit cards--because all your current credit cards are maxed out and you can't even make the minimum payments?  Not long. Yet, this is what our Congress is doing on a grand scale.  We either borrow the money from countries like China or Japan, or print it and begin the inflationary cycle--the cruelest tax of all.  Add to this the fact that 40 states are running deficits and states like California are close to bankruptcy.

But then what would you expect from a generation like mine which once sang "Hope I Die Before I Get Old," and which now demands cradle to grave government services, and is all too willing to let future generations pay the tab and suffer the consequences.

Tonight's Academy Lecture -- "The Rapture"

Join us at Christ Reformed Church tonight at 7:30 PM when Dr. Kim Riddlebarger continues his series "Amillennialism 101."

Lecture Title: "The Rapture"

Lecture Contents:  The most important eschatological event in the New Testament is the second advent of Jesus Christ, our blessed hope.  Does Jesus return two times?  One coming "in the clouds" (the secret Rapture) with Christ's bodily return seven years later (at the end of the tribulation?)

Instructor:  Dr. Kim Riddlebarger

Textbooks:  A Case for Amillennialism (Baker 2003), The Man of Sin (Baker, 2006)

About the Academy:  The Academy meets at Christ Reformed Church in Anaheim.  The lectures begin at 7:30 p.m., are free of charge, and are followed by a time for questions and answers, as well as a time for fellowship and refreshments.

For more information, click here:  http://www.christreformed.org/



"The Mystery of Christ" -- Ephesians 3:1-13

The Sixth in a Series of Sermons on Ephesians

In many ways, Christianity is like a good novel–redemptive history is an unfolding and compelling drama played out on the stage of human history.  Throughout the first half of the redemptive story (the Old Testament), the central character (Jesus) remains hidden deep in the shadows.  Early on in the story, God called a people unto himself (the nation of Israel), but as the story continues to unfold, God sends a series of prophets who declare that the good things God has promised to Israel, will one day extend far beyond the narrow confines of Israel’s borders.  The great turning point in the redemptive story comes about when Jesus leaves the shadows and takes his place on center-stage, fulfilling all of the promises made about him centuries in advance.  In his letter to the Galatians (chapter 4:4-5) the Apostle Paul speaks of this coming of Jesus as follows: “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”  But in the third chapter of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, the Apostle tells us that the mystery of Christ has been revealed to him, enabling Paul to fulfill his calling as Apostle to the Gentiles.  The mystery of Jesus Christ is tied directly to God’s saving purposes, which do indeed extend well beyond the borders of Israel, just as Israel’s own prophets had promised.  In fact, the gospel which Paul preaches will go to the very ends of the earth, and God will save each and every one of his elect (Jew and Gentile) and unite them together into one body, the church of Jesus Christ.  What had been hidden is now revealed.  What had been a mystery is brought out into the open.

We have been working our way through Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians, and we now come to the third chapter of this profound and remarkable letter.  Before we turn to our passage (vv. 1-13 of Ephesians 3), we need to develop the context for the key points Paul will make in this chapter, because his points flow directly out of those important themes Paul has already developed in the first two chapters.  

Recall that Paul opens the epistle by setting out the big picture of God’s redemptive purpose.  As we have seen, the Apostle takes us from eternity past unto the resurrection of our bodies at the end of the age.  The Father has chosen us “in Christ.”  The Father sends Jesus Christ to save all those whom the Father has chosen.  The Spirit then applies the work of Christ to God’s elect, ensuring that we came to faith when the gospel was first preached to us.  In the final verses of the first chapter, Paul prays that struggling Christians would be able to live confidently in the knowledge that God has chosen them “in Christ.”  He also prays that in the midst of our struggles, we might see God’s love for sinners when we look to the cross, where our Savior suffered for us, in our place.

To read the rest of this sermon, Click here

Marching Orders

From the June 1, 2009 edition of Tabletalk

Q. What are the outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption?

A. The outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption are, his ordinances, especially the Word, sacraments, and prayer; all of which are made effectual to the elect for salvation. (Westminster Shorter Catechism, Q&A 88)

Presbyterian and Reformed churches are ruled by elders. In fact, the term Presbyterian comes to us from the Greek word presbyteros, meaning “elder.” It is closely related to the term episkopos, often translated “overseer” (as in the ESV). Both Presbyterian and Reformed churches are churches ruled by men (elders or overseers, and ministers) whose duties are spelled out throughout the New Testament — especially in the so-called Pastoral Epistles (1 & 2 Timothy, Titus) but also in James and 1 Peter.

While many people’s eyes wax over with disinterest when the subject of church government comes up, how churches are to organize and govern themselves is a major theme throughout the New Testament. Church government is an important topic in virtually all the Protestant confessions and in most of our major systems of theology. Whether the subject piques our interest, the biblical writers thought it very important and devoted much time and attention to direct those who would come after them as to how to organize and govern their congregations. Remember that all those who trust in Jesus Christ are part of His body and are to be members of a local church. Christ’s church must ensure that the souls of God’s people are cared for, that they are protected from heresy as well as from those who confess their faith in Christ but who still behave like pagans.

To read the rest of this article, Click here