The enormous herd of pigs blanketed the steep hills above the eastern shore of Lake Tiberias. Two thousand sensitive snouts explored every inch of the rocky terrain. Masses of grunting hogs turned over stones, rooted up plants, and searched for crunchy beetles, succulent roots, and unwary lizards.

Here and there amongst the shape-shifting mass, lucky pigs found treats. Shrill squeals followed as opportunists tried to take advantage of the discoveries. Competition on this hillside was fierce, and it was every pig for himself.

A few pig tenders walked around the edges of this herd. They treaded carefully on the soiled ground, and they clutched their cloaks against the fierce wind and gray skies. A couple of them were muttering complaints – they hadn’t wanted to come to this place today.

These hills were cursed. Everyone in the nearby town knew that. For starters, this place was just a stone’s throw from the tombs, and that was reason enough to stay away.

But making matters much worse were the naked wild men that lived among those limestone graves. They would often cut themselves with sharp stones, and dark bloodstains were visible today on some of the pale markers.

Most people around these parts had seen these wild men at least once, but everybody had heard them. Some nights the wild men would shriek with bloodcurdling effect, and the winds off the Sea of Galilee would carry the chilling sounds into darkened bedrooms. It was hard to sleep.

These wild men had even assaulted some of the local residents and travelers, and some victims were lucky to be alive! As a result, the town’s leaders had rallied a few brave souls to confront these crazies in the bright light of day. They’d managed to shackle them in chains, but the wild men would break the metal bonds and get free. It was unbelievable!

The whole region was on edge, and the situation was getting worse. Folks were leaving the area and work was hard to find. The herdsmen didn’t want to be here today, but they were under orders and they felt fortunate to have a job.

Besides – this dreary and windy day was almost done. In a few hours they’d be

What was THAT!?

A hair-raising scream sliced through the blustery air. The men all flinched, and hundreds of pigs lifted their heads and shifted restlessly. The men moved around to flank them.

A couple of the herdsmen stopped and looked out over the lake. They talked excitedly and pointed to where a dark storm had been just moments before. Storms were not uncommon over the Sea of Galilee, but this one had just suddenly vanished. The other men took notice too.

In an instant the entire lake had gone from choppy to calm. Its surface was now like glass. The tenacious gusts were gone and the air was perfectly still. Blue sky was seen where storm clouds had been seconds ago, and the warm afternoon sun now bathed the hills in a comforting glow.

Two of the herdsmen pulled off their cloaks and glanced about. A stunted tree jutted from the rocky ground a few paces away. They walked over to it and laid their garments through its upper branches, above the reach of curious noses.

There it is again!?!

Another terrifying scream ricocheted through the hills – and now another!  It was unbearable – it was an absolutely horrifying sound!

One of the herdsmen wiped his clammy hands across his chest. A few dozen pigs trotted in tight circles. The men looked nervously down the steep slope in the direction of the tombs.

There! Look!

One – no….wait! – two gaunt, filthy, naked figures moved brazenly through the graves and markers. They looked like identical twins with their tangled dreadlocks, scraggly beards, and thin blotchy limbs. One of them had a metal cuff and a few links of chain dangling from a wrist. A powerful odor of rotting flesh suddenly infused the still air.

The pig herders watched as the wild men headed for the shoreline. The two bizarre figures growled and moaned and gestured spasmodically towards the calm waters of the picturesque lake. Their faces twitched with grotesque expressions. One of the wild men bent down and picked up a rock with both hands. He started hitting his head against it as he strode forward.

The herdsmen glanced out over the lake. A small fishing boat was visible a few hundred yards away. It was cutting a clean wake towards the near shoreline just below the pigs. Its sail was full, but there was no breeze.

One herdsman coughed and spit on two of his fingers. He rubbed them together and held them up. He looked around at his companions with a strange expression, but they ignored him. One of them slapped his hand down and motioned back out to the lake.

The boat was making excellent progress. Its occupants were easier to see, and they appeared to be average-looking folk. Another herdsman bounced his finger in the air as he tried to count their number.

Some of the boat’s passengers could be seen pointing at the two naked wild men who had now reached the water’s edge. One was standing quietly, cradling a large rock in his hands, and he was watching the incoming boat. The other one was moaning and writhing on the ground. The metal links on his wrist jangled against the stones as he thrashed about.

The boat had almost reached the shoreline when its sail suddenly fell slack. Ripples burbled over the stony shallows as the craft drifted forward. Two men stepped over the gunwales and into the knee-deep water. They grasped the boat and pushed it forward.

The pig herders watched as a lone figure rose up from the group of men still huddled in the boat. He stood and gazed straight ahead at the bizarre figures on the shore. As the bottom of the boat scraped against the rocks, he slowly lifted his right arm and pointed at the two disheveled creatures. He made no sound.

The two men who had guided the boat to the shore’s edge straightened up. They glanced alternately at each other and at the wild men. One of them gestured back to the boat; and after a moment’s hesitation, they both climbed into it and sat down with the others.

The man in the boat who had stood tilted his head back and closed his eyes. His right arm remained outstretched, but now he lifted all his fingers so his palm faced the two naked figures.

The wild man with the rock abruptly screamed. He spun and hurled the large stone back in the direction of the tombs. The pig herders involuntarily gasped as the rock flew far and landed high up on a nearby slope. It was an impossible throw!

The thrower turned back around to face the boat once more. He dropped his head onto his chest and all his limbs began to shudder. The other wild man still thrashed about on the ground and clawed the air.  A tone of pain infused his moans.

The pig herdsmen watched as the man who had stood in the boat lowered his arm and opened his eyes. He looked around at each of his companions, but they kept their own gaze downward. He gathered up his garments and stepped out of the vessel. His companions remained where they were.

He walked up to the two wild men and stopped. He looked down at the one who was thrashing about on the ground and then at the one who’d thrown the rock. The second one was swaying and trembling violently. He was barely standing.

The man from the boat reached out and placed the tip of his forefinger under the reeling figure’s chin.  He lifted the man’s face and stared into it.

The wild man suddenly crumpled to the ground. He shook violently as he gathered himself and kneeled before the man from the boat. “WHAT HAVE YOU TO DO WITH ME, JESUS, SON OF THE MOST HIGH GOD?” the wild man loudly shrieked. His voice was high and thin, but his words were clear.

The herdsmen sucked in a breath. Their eyes were wide as they looked at each other, and hushed questions tumbled out to nobody in particular.

“Did you hear him speak?”

“Have these men ever spoken before?”

“How can this man call to God?”

“Who is this Jesus?”

Nobody had any answers, and it was only seconds till the herdsmen returned all their attention to the strange scene below. The pigs behind them had resumed their foraging and were quickly scattering upslope in the absence of their overseers’ care.

Jesus looked down on the shaking figure before Him. His face was grim. He lifted his right hand and held it out over the naked man as one would hold their hand over a campfire. “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit,” Jesus commanded. His voice was authoritative.

The wild man flung his head back and stretched his arms wide. “I BEG YOU, DO NOT TORMENT ME!” he cried even more forcefully.

The other wild man had stopped thrashing about and he’d raised himself to his hands and knees. His thin sides were heaving and every rib showed. His head hung down. “HAVE YOU COME HERE TO TORMENT US BEFORE THE TIME?” he loudly wailed. His voice was more guttural than his companion’s, but his words were just as plain.

Jesus lowered His hand and looked back and forth at the two wretched and naked creatures groveling in front of Him. He pointed at the kneeling one and asked, “What is your name?”

The wild man’s eyes were tightly shut and his face was pained. He issued a wheezing laugh through clenched teeth before replying, “My name is Legion, for we are many.”

“Legion, Yessssss!” the other wild man hissed. “We are many, many…..many….” His words gave way to broken chuckles as he crawled over to his companion. He kneeled beside him, clasped his hands together, and looked up at Jesus with fear on his face. “I BEG YOU, DO NOT COMMAND US TO DEPART INTO THE ABYSS,” he screamed.

Jesus again lifted his right hand over the two men cowering at His feet, “I command you….”

“AAAAAAIIHH!” The wild men screamed. They flung their heads back. Their eyes were wide and they panted heavily.

“WE BEG YOU JESUS, DO NOT SEND US OUT OF THIS COUNTRY,” the one with the shackle screamed. “DO NOT SEND US INTO THE ABYSS.”

The wild man who had thrown the rock was struggling to stand. He’d gained a crouching position, and now he rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet with his hands over his ears. Jesus stood with His arms at His sides and watched him.

The wild man abruptly put his hands down on his knees and snarled. His lips curled back and he bared his teeth. He attempted to push himself up to a standing position, but Jesus gently shook His head. The wild man dropped back down to his knees and cried out as though in great pain.

The wretched figure lifted his head and stared up at Jesus. His face softened and it stopped twitching. “Please,” he begged in a woman’s silky voice. “Do not send us away from here. It is not yet our time.”

The pig tenders furrowed their brows as they glanced at each other again. What was going on? This was all so peculiar! Jesus’ companions were also watching the proceedings. A couple of them were now standing in the back of the boat, but the rest remained seated.

Behind the herdsmen, the pigs continued to scatter uphill. Some of them were finding new foraging opportunities some distance away, and the herd’s usual skirmishes had resumed.

“Yes, we beg of you,” the wild man with the shackle pleaded. His guttural voice was gone, and in its place were the tones of a small child. He sobbed his appeals, “Please….do…do not….do not send us…..away.” Jesus continued to look at them.

Both wild men suddenly gave a great shudder. They began to frantically look around at their surroundings. Their knees rubbed noisily over the stony beach as they hastily pivoted in one direction and then another. They muttered unintelligibly, and their eyes were wide.

“THERE! THERE! YES – OVER THERE!” The wild man with the shackle suddenly screamed.

He pointed up the hill in the direction of the herdsmen. The other wild man turned to look where his companion had pointed, and Jesus did the same.

The pig herders gasped! The two wild men were looking at them, and so was Jesus! One of the herdsmen turned and sprinted away up the hill towards the pigs. The rest hunched their shoulders. The color drained from their faces as they gazed down at the ground and sidelong at each other. What was going on?

“Yes. Yes! Send us to the pigs – let us enter THEM!” The other wild man looked up at Jesus, then up the hill, and back to Jesus again. His original voice was back. “Legion” had returned.

Jesus ignored them both. He was still looking in the direction of the herdsmen. He lifted His right hand so His palm faced the wild men. Their pleas subsided to whimpers.

The herdsmen started to panic. Their temples pounded. It was hard to swallow or breathe. They backed up slowly. Something was about to happen, but what?!?

Above and behind the herdsmen, the huge mass of pigs kept up their chorus of contented grunts. Life was good.

The men in the boat were watching. None of them had moved.

The air was still, and the lake was glossy and smooth.

Jesus lowered His hand.

“Go,” He said.

Several things seemed to happen at once. There was a “whooshing” sound as though a strong gust of wind had just blown through a stand of trees. Somewhere – far off in the distance – a host of dissonant voices screamed and wailed.

A blast of foul, icy air washed over the herdsmen, and they collapsed as their legs gave out. Their limbs were locked to the ground and they were overcome with a strangling fear. They were paralyzed – unable to move or breathe. Darkness flashed over their senses.

An ear-splitting cacophony of squeals suddenly ripped through the air, jarring the men back to their wits. The herdsmen gasped deeply as they scrambled to their feet.

The massive herd of pigs above them was in complete disarray. Some pigs were leaping high into the air while others were lying on the ground and convulsing. Hundreds of pigs were madly running around and violently colliding with each other. Here and there, several catatonic pigs floated quietly in the dusty air a few feet above the herd.

It seemed every pig was loudly squealing as though its very life depended on it. The noise was deafening, and the men’s ears pained with the strident assault. Instinctively, they cupped their hands to the sides of their heads and squinted.

Suddenly – in an instant, the entire herd of pigs turned and rushed downhill towards the herdsmen. The dense mass of hogs thundered down the steep slope. They smashed through brush, poured over boulders, and cut off all escape routes.

The men turned to flee, but the pigs were upon them in a flash. They were running faster than the men had ever seen pigs run. The herdsmen dropped to the ground and covered their heads with their arms.

The enormous herd of stampeding swine parted a few yards uphill from the herdsmen and swept around the men in a riotous reeking mayhem. They were close – so close that the men could have reached out and touched them! But – not a single pig even brushed against any of the herders.

The men dared to lift their heads and watch as the last of the pigs dashed by. The squealing, roiling, and frenetic mass raced all the way down the steep slope. The pigs tore across the stony beach and plunged headlong into the waters of Lake Tiberias.

The first pigs in didn’t stop. They kept going forward into deeper water. The pigs behind them did the same thing, and the ones further back pushed them all along. The waters of the Sea of Galilee foamed under the onslaught. The entire herd of pigs seemed obsessed with getting to a single spot on the opposite shore, and none of them had slowed.

Everyone – Jesus, the men in the boat, and the herdsmen – watched as the last of the herd splashed into the lake and forged ahead. The leading edge of the large herd grew ragged as hundreds of hogs began to disappear. More and more of them slipped under the water’s surface, their rough gasps silenced by the lake.

It wasn’t long till the once-massive herd had thinned to a few dozen pigs. They struggled erratically towards the far shore, but one by one, they also disappeared the same way.

One final hog was left. It blew puffs of spray here and there as it gasped and splashed in its desperate throes. Then – it too was gone. The waters closed over it and the ripples gradually faded.

The Sea of Galilee had erased the entire spectacle. Once again, its waters were calm. The air was still and clean. The late afternoon sun washed the entire scene with forgiving warmth.

The herdsmen looked at each other with open mouths. A couple of them started to speak, but they stopped. They looked up the hill and back out to the lake where the pigs had all disappeared. Not a single hog was left!

“What will we say?” one of them muttered. Nobody answered. “What will we say?” the man repeated.  The group looked around at each other in silence. It was all too overwhelming.

The men glanced back down the hill. Jesus was motioning for his companions to come out of the boat. The naked wild men were lying on their backs on the stony shore. They were breathing heavily, but they were not moving.

A yell caught the herdsmen’s attention and they turned to look uphill. It was their companion who had fled. He was at the top of the hill and he was waving his arms to urgently summon them.

The herdsmen glanced at each other and nodded. No words were needed. They couldn’t get away from this awful place fast enough.

They all turned and ran up the hill.

To be continued…

© Steve Schmutzer 2018. All Rights Reserved

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The Antichrist Approaches
I’m in no mood to mince words here, nor is there good reason to. The truth about our nation’s political and cultural upheavals needs to be plainly stated, so I’ll start with the burner on low and turn up the heat as I go.

There are various ways to approach these issues, but I want to look at “the good, the bad, and the ugly.” With my nod to Clint Eastwood, that’s an easy outline to follow. First – the “good.”

President Trump has achieved an amazing feat with our nation’s economy, and even the Washington Compost, The Associated Depress, and The New York Slimes reluctantly admit this. The President’s brand new NAFTA deal is the latest of his promises he’s performed on, and it remedies a massive $500 billion trade deficit that has burdened America’s manufacturers. It infuses fresh oxygen into an economy that’s already roaring back under his leadership.

The unemployment rates for African Americans and Hispanics have fallen to their lowest levels on record, and our nation’s overall unemployment rate is at a 50-year low. Consequently, consumer sentiments are at their most favorable levels in 18 years, and U.S. small business optimism has just hit its highest point in history.

The United States economy grew at a rate of 4.2 percent in the second quarter of 2018, and the stock market has jumped 27 percent since President Trump began slashing regulations, implementing sensible tariff policies, and cutting taxes. Various environmental and economic policies that President Obama put in place to hamstring this country have been repealed, and now all the right arrows are going up.

The good news permeates other fronts in our nation’s affairs too. Kim Jong “Goon” hasn’t fired any more missiles over Japan since President Trump told him whose red button was bigger and better. Instead, America received back the remains of its Korean War heroes without airlifting pallets of illegal cash in a covert nighttime operation. “Little rocket man” has pledged to disarm his atomic arsenal in North Korea, and the Iranian Nuclear Accord has been exposed for being the shameful house of cards it always was.

President Trump has also unshackled his military leaders so they can do their job. They no longer have to get permission to “shoot back.” The result is ISIS has been crushed in Iraq and Syria and they are in full retreat. President Trump has actually followed through on his “red line” promises. He has dropped massive bombs on terrorist hideouts, unleashed cruise missiles on chemical warfare perpetrators, and required our NATO allies to pay their fair share of the defense account.

In the 20 months or so since the world’s most recognized comb-over has rebranded The White House, many young conservative judges have been appointed to the federal appeals courts, and constitutional judges have been appointed to The Supreme Court. President Trump’s greatest legacy may end up being his forward-thinking stamp on the U.S. judicial system. The benefits are likely to be felt for decades to come.

Under President Trump’s leadership, it’s OK again to say “Merry Christmas” and to claim we are “one nation under God.” We may not be a truly “Christian” nation at this point in time, but at least we now have a President who is supporting the basic expressions of our faith.

The obvious truth that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital is finally official, and relations between Israel and America have never been better. It’s also proper now to screen folks coming into the US from countries which have openly pledged to harm American citizens. It always was proper to do this, but President Trump had to contend with lawless ideals in order to make common sense a rule.

Much more could be said here that qualifies as “good,” but the bottom line is President Trump has made our nation stronger and safer. By rejecting a fanatical socialist-globalist agenda, he has pointed our country back towards sanity.

Enter Maxine “Mad Max” Waters. Like a pull-string doll in a rumpled James Brown wig, her reaction to all this good news is, “Impeach! Impeach! Impeach!” Her talking points are mostly two-syllable squawks that contribute as much to a productive discussion as a trained parrot.

“Maxine, what do you think of the historically-low unemployment figures within the African- American community?”

“Impeach!!!”

“Maxine, how do you feel about getting proven constitutionalists on the judiciary instead of activist judges that want to change the laws?”

“Impeach!!!”

“Maxine, isn’t it great that we’ve managed to beat back ISIS?”

“Impeach!!!”

“Maxine, have you….”

“IMPEACH!!!”

It’s obvious by now I’ve shifted over to the “bad” point of my outline, but I wouldn’t be writing this article if the rabid rantings of “Mad Max” were isolated to her. They’re not. She’s just one of the most transparent individuals about her party’s real intentions.

We hear that the left is “unhinged” in their reactions to President Trump and his supporters, but that description hardly comes close to telling the truth.

Although the right was deeply distraught with the election of President Obama, and with his “Make America Weak” policies, they never rioted in the streets, torched cars, beat up bystanders, threatened to kill electors, shot cops, formed filthy communes in public places, encouraged assassinations, promoted anarchy, planned hit squads against homes, bankrolled mobs, shut down free speech, nor asked for safe rooms, teddy bears, pet therapy, and Play-Doh.

When conservatives disagree with the liberal-socialist agenda, they don’t flood Twitter with murder threats or roundhouse kick peaceful protesters. They don’t menace the left with threats of rape, and they don’t shoot Democrat lawmakers at baseball games.

Conservatives clean up after themselves at their own (peaceful) rallies, and they don’t chase administration staff from restaurants. They don’t talk about blowing up the White House, and they don’t pose with severed heads of the President. Conservatives are not out there shouting at folks in elevators, stabbing opposition candidates, encouraging supporters to harass liberal lawmakers wherever they find them, or burning the left’s campaign headquarters to the ground.

The right has not compared Obama’s supporters to segregationists or Nazis, and they have not claimed that a Democrat President is worse than the 9/11 terrorists. Conservatives don’t scream that the left has placed a madman in The White House, and they don’t publicly appeal for drastic action and violence in the streets. Conservatives don’t attack and berate Christians for their beliefs and values at the same time as they are protecting and aiding Islam’s Sharia law.

Conservatives don’t call for impeachment just because they don’t like someone, and they don’t protect a two-tiered system of justice at all costs. They don’t turn venerated proceedings for Supreme Court picks into chaotic protest rallies, and they don’t stonewall cabinet nominees for over a year. The right does not register illegal immigrants in a dishonest effort to create sympathetic voters, and conservatives do not go on national television to protect criminals from that group over the rights of their unfortunate – and legal – victims!

Sure, the right is imperfect. Nobody is going to argue with that one, and I’ll be first to say I’m very unhappy with many of the “reds.” No one disagrees that far too many Republicans are really “Republicrats” under their tailored suits. The “never-Trumpers” behave like “blues,” and we can look at who the Bush family voted for as a case in point.

All those things said, we have much bigger problems here. The conduct of the left is now commonly unlawful, routinely deceptive, habitually self-serving, frankly phony, and – on so many points – outrageously wrong!

It’s not that the left doesn’t understand the virtues of common sense, law, due process, and faith – but rather, they don’t want them! This is why committed liberals are engaged in a war against all things reasonable, righteous, and respectable. Their actions prove they’re agents of hate.

All that leads me to “ugly,” and maybe it feels like we’re already there. We naturally wonder, “Can it get any worse?” Unfortunately, it will.

I’m becoming more and more convinced that these rapidly eroding cultural and political trends we see within our nation represent a prototype that will reach full expression in the Tribulation. If the Lord returns soon, many hardened liberals will be the antichrist’s strongest allies.

“GASP! Whaaaaat?! How can you say that? That’s so intolerant, so racist, so totally, uh….white male! You’re creating division!  You are not promoting healing. Shame on you!”

Whatever.

The left doesn’t want healing! They want their way – and they’re playing by whatever rules they need to play by to get it. They govern by mob rule, and if they can smear and move the goalposts in the process, that’s just fine. Disruptions and crises are useful to them. It’s patently obvious.

Think about it. My points are not an issue of partisan labels, but rather an assessment of the plain facts. Those who most despise God, His gospel, His values, His followers, and His systems of law and order which are based on His Word – are those who are most likely to be left behind in the Rapture. It’s these hateful postures that routinely marinate the passions of the left.

In the past ten years, we’ve seen many examples of liberals ignoring the laws to advance their agenda, and that’s because they could care less about laws. Laws remind responsible people how to color inside the lines, and so laws are an inconvenient factor for the left. If laws are in their way, the left ignores or attacks them.

None of their behaviors are about making a cogent case; the left will elevate the absurd to achieve their goals. Over and over we’ve seen the left praise anything which calls sound reason into question. It’s why liberals are the ones to most exalt the senseless premise of climate change, and it’s why they celebrate economic policies which are not supported by third grade math.

It’s predominately the left that attacks national boundaries, pushes for government dependence, expands welfare, riots against free speech, hates Israel, promotes violence as a means of expression, plots lies to gain an advantage, puts down Christians, and believes in redistribution of wealth. None of these positions hold water, but they are the left’s identity.

So again, let me be blunt. The kind of folks that are going to rally behind the antichrist and his depraved policies are exactly the kind of people the progressive-liberal-socialists are today.

For any of my readers who are offended by my assertions, take a deep breath. Let’s all be honest here – politics have changed!

The Democrats today are not the party of your mother or your grandmother! The left is not the party of John F. Kennedy anymore. His past speeches ring with more conservative fervor than an entire apple-pie-eating Republican congress can muster today. The left of our times has morphed into an anarchist movement that wants to constrain freedom, create chaos, control power, and change the responsible order of things. Like it or not, that’s the plain truth.

Let’s assess my conclusions from another point of view. Let’s see what the Bible says about the antichrist and his style of leadership. I believe that will help us imagine the sort of people his supporters will be like.

A pithy portion of Scripture that lays out a series of bullet points about these matters is found in Daniel 8:23-25. Here, Gabriel explains some details about the antichrist to Daniel, and the picture that emerges is a telling one.

He throws truth to the ground. This is an over-arching condition that is stated back in Daniel 8:12, and it reinforces that the end times will be upside down.

Lying lips will be the foundation of the apocalypse. Good will be bad, and bad will be good. Right will be wrong, and wrong will be right. Gabriel elaborates on this matter more in Daniel 8:25 where he says of the antichrist, “He will cause deceit to prosper.”

The antichrist’s political system and the people he will set up to advance his globalist agenda will actively promote deception. His efforts will be strategic, ruthless, and unapologetic.

Lies of all kinds will infuse the antichrist’s brand, and his supporters will approve of his ruses the same way those tactics are defended by the ranks of the left today. For unprincipled liberal-socialist-globalists then and now, “the end justifies the means.”

Various other translations state the antichrist’s deceit will come by way of his “cunning” and “policies.” This is simple to understand. He’s intentional about his shams. If someone wants to advance law and order, promote accountability, and fight for justice during the antichrist’s rise to power, they’re not going to be welcome. He’ll see to that.

Deception is key to the end times at every turn and level. The antichrist’s agenda will promote “hope and change,” but that’s part of his deception. His real goal is a godless one-world government with himself at the top. He wants to be seen as God, and he wants to be worshipped as God (2 Thess. 2:3-4), and to achieve this he must control the minds of the masses. His supporters will believe things that are not true, and they will be this way because he has “….caused deceit to prosper.”

He destroys mighty men and the holy ones. This phrase closes out Daniel 8:24, and it emphasizes the theme of destruction which marks the antichrist throughout the Scriptures. But here, every translation states he will destroy two specific groups of people, and I think there are details we should take note of.

“Mighty men” is the most commonly used term for the first group, but other translations call them “powerful leaders” or “powerful people.” These are folks with resources and networks, and they are probably wealthy. They are powerful, prominent, and privileged. In other words, they have the potential to resist the antichrist and to influence others.

Despots throughout human history have always destroyed this class of people in their own rise to power. Rich people, scientists, scholars, politicians, and businesspeople have always been a threat to narcissistic dictators, and so they are eliminated. The antichrist will do the same thing.

Many of these “mighty men” in Daniel 8:24 will be self-made. Many of them will be independent – not in the political sense, but in terms of shaping their destinies. They are likely to be suspicious of the antichrist’s plans, and they’ll hesitate to give up what they’ve worked hard to achieve.

These “powerful people” missed the Rapture so we can assume most of them by this point will still be godless – but like many of their classic type, they will be self-reliant. They will “march to the beat of their own drummer,” and this will mark these non-conformists as a lingering threat to the antichrist’s agenda. The Bible says he will eliminate them when they least expect it (Daniel 8:25).

Believe me – the antichrist will find strong support for destroying this influential group. We already see the basis of this argument today. Millennials form the bedrock of the liberal activists and mobs. They constitute the majority population of “Occupy Wall Street,” “Black Lives Matter,” and “Antifa.” Millennials are proving you only need two things to succeed: ignorance and confidence.

Because they fail to understand basic economic principles, and because they lack a strong work ethic, Millennials distrust capitalism and they deeply resent those who are successful. They constantly demand entitlements, even if it means others need to give up what they’ve legitimately earned and acquired. Newsweek called the Millennials “The Me Me Me” generation in 2013, and it’s one of the few times this publication has stated the truth.

I’m painting with a broad brush here, but if many Millennials’ brains were taxed, they’d get a refund. Several studies reiterate that most Millennials want socialism, which proves this group has learned nothing from history. Modern political and economic failures like Venezuela, South Africa, and most of the European continent are shrugged off. Millennials still want everything for nothing.

In defense of the Millennials, it’s impossible to be informed when your news source is SNL and The Comedy Network. It’s hard to find the truth when CNN admits they’re pushing lies, but they push them anyways. It’s challenging to gain a responsible perspective of the world when you’re still supported by your parents as an adult.

This entire state-of-affairs is a convenient situation for the globalists! At a recent campaign-style rally in Las Vegas, Michelle Obama encouraged folks who “know nothing about nothing” to get out and vote. It is the “low information voter-type” that will endorse the antichrist’s destruction of “powerful people.” This plan will appeal to their ignorance, to their progressive-socialist ideals, and to their warped sense of justice.

There’s a second group the antichrist will target, and it’s also going to suffer more of the same biases we already see from the ranks of the left today. The antichrist, in Daniel 8:24, will also destroy the “holy people.” Other translations call them “God’s people,” “saints,” and “Holy ones.”

These are folks who have come to saving faith after the Rapture. They didn’t have a right relationship with God before that point, but they do now! “Seeing is believing” I guess.

But these people are the real deal! Revelation defines them as those who will be killed “….for the Word of God and the testimony they had maintained” (Rev. 6:9; 12:11). It’s pretty clear from Revelation and related passages that the antichrist does all he can to get rid of them.

This is also the point of Daniel 8:24. The followers of God during the antichrist’s reign share something in common with the “powerful people,” though they may differ in most other ways. This second group also resists the antichrist and his system. They are also a threat to his plans.

Now, the motives of “God’s people” will be much different than the motives of the “powerful people.” Since the saints are marked by a right relationship with God, their stance is a righteous one. But it’s the same net end result for the antichrist.

This second group will not conform to the antichrist’s godless, deceptive, and self-serving ideals because these things are in violation of a Holy God and His standards. They will not yield to the antichrist’s economic policies and his corrupt governance. In fact, we know the saints will speak out against all of this. Again, Revelation makes that clear.

This second group will be reviled, attacked, persecuted, and killed for placing their faith in Jesus Christ and for living according to God’s Word. They will refuse to conform to the sham of a one-world system. Put another way, “God’s people” of Daniel 8:24 will be square pegs in a new world order where all the holes are round.

It’s that way for “God’s people” right now, so it’s easy to see this dynamic becoming much worse. The seeds of hate against “God’s people” are already flourishing in the left today, and nobody set that prejudice in motion more effectively than our nation’s first Muslim President, Barack Hussein Obama.

It was B.O. who showed up at the National Prayer Breakfast to remind attendees about the terrible deeds done in the name of Christ. He was the one who mocked folks for “clinging to God.” His White House asked Georgetown University to cover a symbol of Jesus’ name before he spoke there. He tried to implement a non-religious Christmas. It was President Obama who said in 2006, “….we are no longer a Christian nation,” and it was him who said it again to his Turkish buddies in 2009. Finally, it was President Obama who decided against recognizing the National Day of Prayer, but who chose to host a Ramadan dinner instead.

This is just a sampling of all the ways President Barak Hussein Obama rejected Christians and their faith during his eight years in office. Under his carnal leadership, the left found energy and justification for disparaging Christians, and their bigotries have only grown since.

We’ve truly reached a point where the left is anti-God. The Democrat Party has veered so far in the pro-choice, anti-family, pro-gay, anti-Israel, pro-transgender, anti-prayer (etc.) directions that former 2013 nominee for Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, E. W. Jackson, stated, “Christians should leave it.” He added in a radio interview that he thinks believing in God and voting Democratic are fundamentally incompatible. I think he’s much more right than he is wrong.

The “demon-crats” today attack the tenets of Christian faith with a venom that is truly other-worldly. Their angst against the Bible and against those that rightly believe it is the inspired Word of God boils down to one basic reason: liberals are anti-God!

Pick your poison – call them what you will: “liberals,” “the left,” “Democrats,” “progressives,” “socialists,” “globalists,” “fascists,” – define them anyway you choose. It’s clear the lines between these terms are heavily blurred.

All these groups despise conservatives, Christians, and constitutionalists, and they all hate God. Members of one group are active in the next. Labels mean very little when the depraved behaviors are the same across the spectrum.

Because liberals are anti-God, they are an intellectually dishonest and unprincipled people. They’ve checked their brains at the door because they are always in search of a world without moral consequences; and that’s not the way God designed things. This situation renders the left as “fools” because they refuse to admit the obvious facts and to “give God glory” (Rom. 1:21-22).

The truth about God is an unrelenting accountability to the left’s corrupt desires (Rom. 1:18-19). Liberals don’t want the Gospel because that implies their choices are wrong. A liberal cannot stand the fact that their own conscience is supernaturally wired to remind them of their sin. This is a key reason why so many liberals are angry people. They are constantly at war within themselves against their own need for God’s grace.

It is also a key reason why the left makes “the State” their god. Liberals worship “the State” and the one-world community they desperately want it to become. The left attempts to use their god (big government and absolute control) to achieve their globalist ideals and to eliminate all consequences for their immoral behavior.

This is why the left despises Christians now, and it’s why liberals make every effort to shut down all expressions and standards of the Christian faith. It’s why liberals scream bloody murder against any warnings about the true Islamic agenda while they turn a blind eye and deaf ear to those who persecute Christians and mock The One True God. Their double standard is evident to all.

The Tribulation Scriptures plainly lay out the loathsome behaviors directed against God and His followers by those who support the antichrist. A number of passages provide startling parallels between the vile behaviors that are prominent in liberals today and the abhorrent deeds that qualify the globalists during the end times.

For example, the antichrist will oversee and orchestrate the relentless persecution and killing of the Tribulation saints (Daniel 7:21, 25; Dan. 11:33; Rev. 12:11; 20:4; et. al.).  He cannot tolerate their resistance, but more importantly, he absolutely hates God.

In exact imitation of the antichrist’s hatred of God’s followers, his supporters will rage en masse against God’s truth and against those who dare to speak it. The mobs will react in unspeakable ways as a result. A particularly grotesque example of this is when the two witnesses of God are killed in Jerusalem (Rev. 11:5-10).

This text says the world will applaud the death of these two witnesses and will refuse their burial. They will even “send each other gifts” to celebrate this occasion. It’ll be party time for the real “deplorables.”

This occasion will be a big deal to the unsaved world because these two witnesses will have had a strong “testimony” (vs. 7) and they will have backed up their words with evidence of God’s power (vss. 5-6). The world that will reject Christ at that time will want no reminders of who they have rejected – in the very same way the world that has rejected Christ today is obsessed with ridding our culture of His values.

One of the clearest displays in The Tribulation of behaviors we see in the left today is the way the followers of the antichrist will choose to remain in their sin. Their depravity will persist even when they are presented with the truth and when they face consequences for it (Rev. 9:20-21). All around them, the evil ranks of humanity will have been killed by God’s judgments. There will be constant evidence of God’s sovereignty, power, and truth. It will all be on plain display like no other time in history.

It seems none of this will matter to the antichrist’s followers. They will choose to remain in their sin, and they will curse God instead of repenting (Rev. 16:9). They will do whatever it takes to protect and continue in their depravity the same way the left today does whatever it takes to protect their wicked ideals.

One only needs to look at the violent behaviors of liberals today who defend abortion and gay rights to see this egg has been let out of the shell – and it’s not going back in. There is no doubt the unsaved masses today have chosen darkness rather than light (John 3:19).

The antichrist will be the ultimate socialist. One of the hallmark qualities of the left today is their desire to control the flow of money, to redistribute wealth, and to implement a global system of economics. This highly regulated situation defines the socialists’ utopia, and the antichrist will succeed at accomplishing what others before him have been unable to do.

I believe it may all start matter-of-factly enough. The Rapture will take out millions of people, and this will result in abandoned properties and resources being left for everyone who remains.  There will be plenty of money and other “goodies” to redistribute for a while, and this will further cement within the future masses the socialist ideals they are already conditioned to want.

Eventually, these resources will run slim. There will be too many takers and not enough givers to keep the corrupt process going. The practical bottom line is socialism never works. Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said, “The trouble with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.” This dilemma will inevitably arise in The Tribulation as it has with every socialist experiment before it.

There’s no doubt that the “mark of the beast” (Rev. 13:16-17) is strategically designed to cause further persecution of the Jews and Christians during The Tribulation. It is also designed to promote worship of “the beast.” But – given that the antichrist is also the maximum expression of a socialist dictator, it is no surprise his mark is also a tool to institute global economic control.

Quite simply, this worldwide fiscal rule is the ultimate objective of liberal-socialist-progressives today. If they can control the flow of money and resources and place themselves at the top of the food chain, then they can acquire everything else they most covet. It all follows from there.

Other facets of the antichrist’s socialist constitution emerge elsewhere in the Scriptures. He redistributes land and wealth (Dan. 11:39), his policies become the economic ruin of many (Dan. 8:25), he accumulates vast amounts of resources for himself (Dan. 11:43), and he will speak out against God throughout the entire process (Dan. 7:25; Rev. 13:5-6).

Stride for stride, these things are the hallmarks of every socialist despot in human history, and sadly – they are also the passionate bent of the left today. The antichrist will emerge to become the ultimate “show and tell” of the left’s agenda, and the entire world will suffer unfathomable traumas as a result.

In closing, the title of this article is one which focuses on end times’ deception. It is blatant deception the antichrist will employ to achieve his goals, and it is lies of every sort that the left advances in our times to achieve theirs.

The socialist ideals of liberals cannot succeed where truth is given priority and virtue is encouraged. And so it will be during The Tribulation as it is now – an atmosphere of crisis and a thick stew of lies will be fostered by the depraved world to justify a collectivist oppression.

We see many examples in our time of the left calling evil “good” and calling good “evil.” Daily, we see law and order being rejected by the violent and ignorant masses. Every evening we are saturated with news stories that feature the blatant corruption and injustice of those who have rejected God’s standards. We see the mounting hatred of God and His people. We see physical attacks and calls for assassination against people just for their political views.

There are so many examples like these – even 15 years ago we would have marveled to think we’d be where we are now… but it has happened! The world is preparing itself for their false Messiah, the antichrist, and he’ll find favor from many people the likes of many around us today.

There is no remedy for this grievous situation except the Gospel. That is true now and it will be then too. Those who are truly in Christ do not need to be afraid. Jesus knows what we are facing now, and He knows what is coming. In John 14:27-31 He reminds us of this:

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me, but he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me.

“Come now, let us leave.”

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