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| Italian politician Clemente Mastella |
Now this is where a conspiracy theory begins and ends.
With some saying seat number 666 has been deliberately left vacant so that the Antichrist is able to occupy it at a later date, could it be that the seat has been left vacant (if it still is vacant) just because it is seat number 666, and out of sheer suspicion only.
Here is what one man had to say relative to that suggestion. I work at the European Parliament and, sad to say, it's actually a lot more boring than this suggests. The thing about seat 666 is an amusing myth that comes up now and then, but it's essentially just nonsense. Someone does in fact sit in seat number 666 in the European Parliament - both in the building in Strasbourg and in Brussels. The idea that the seat is kept empty goes back to an article that was written some ten years ago now. Because I've had so many people ask about this, I can even tell you who sits in the seat. At present the person who sits in seat 666 in the parliament in Strasbourg is an Italian politician called Clemente Mastella. He has a reputation for being a sleaze ball, but it's probably a bit of a stretch to call him the Antichrist. Someone also sits in the seat in the parliament in Brussels. This time it's a French politician called Michèle Rivasi - she's a Green MEP, not very famous, but a fairly nice lady nonetheless. I've met her and I certainly wouldn't think she's the Antichrist, but I'm not a very good judge of character...I must admit that it would help break up the day if we had the spawn of Satan walking around, but sadly it's just not the case.
WHY I AM NOT A DISPENSATIONALIST John Nelson Darby is recognized as the father of dispensationalism later made popular in the United States by Cyrus Scofield's Scofield Reference Bible. Charles Henry Mackintosh, 1820–1896, with his popular style spread Darby's teachings to humbler elements in society and may be regarded as the journalist of the Brethren Movement. CHM popularised Darby more than any other Brethren author. As there was no Christian teaching of a “rapture” before Darby began preaching about it in the 1830s, he is sometimes credited with originating the "secret rapture" theory wherein Christ will suddenly remove His bride, the Church, from this world before the judgments of the tribulation. Dispensationalist beliefs about the fate of the Jews and the re-establishment of the Kingdom of Israel put dispensationalists at the forefront of Christian Zionism, because "God is able to graft them in again," and they believe that in His grace he will do so according to their understanding of Old Testament prophecy. They believe that, while the methodologies of God may change, His purposes to bless Israel will never be forgotten, just as He has shown unmerited favour to the Church, He will do so to a remnant of Israel to fulfill all the promises made to the genetic seed of Abraham. I am not a dispensationalist; it is unbiblical.
