Book Review: The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin

Book Cover

So remarkable has been the rise and rise of Vladimir Putin in Russian politics, and so brutal has his reign been to maintain power, that there has never been a more likely contender for the Beast of Revelation to have appeared on the world scene for quite a long time. It is a small wonder that there are those out there who would choose to label the man in question for what he is - a dictator of types. Even though there is not usually a time when I would choose to give someone a free kick for a book and support any book that person may have written, because of the accuracy of "The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin" this is one of those rare occasions. As there has been times when I may have thought that Putin was as I have suggested above that he might be, that alone is reason enough for publishing this book review by Nadir Hassan at this BlogSpot. However, in doing so there is still no way that I am being suggestive of Putin being the Antichrist when the facts of the matter speak for themselves.
 
Reviewed by Nadir Hassan
The remarkable and sudden rise of Vladimir Putin to the zenith of Russian politics from a place of obscurity will ring a bell for Pakistanis. Here was a man chosen by the embattled Boris Yeltsin not because of his political nous or sparkling charisma; rather the complete opposite was the case. Putin was dull, grey and seen as an obedient yes-man who would protect those who had elevated him. Instead, he embarked on an orgy of violence and score-settling. It took only the merest hint of dissent for Putin to lash out, often violently and sometimes through cooked-up trials, at his former patrons. The parallels with Generals Ziaul Haq and Pervez Musharraf are quite eerie and speak to the natural human tendency to be corrupted by absolute power.

Russian-American journalist Masha Gessen, in her brave and valuable portrait of the less seemly aspects of Putin in The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin, posits that the man he has become in power is the man he was all along. Growing up in a one-bedroom apartment with his family, a place that would be his home till his mid-twenties, Putin was a thug from the start. He sought fights as a kid and personal enrichment as a KGB employee. His first KGB posting in Dresden was notable only for his desire to accumulate material goods, snatched from benefactors without so much as a thank you.

Gessen also dismantles the self-created myth of Putin as the dashing young spy fighting the good fight during the Cold War. According to her, he was little more than an office drone, gathering information no one wanted and writing reports that would never be read. Gessen also believes that Putin, while fiercely nationalistic, had no particular attachment to the Communist cause. Thus, in her opinion, Putin could play a secret role in supporting the hardliners in their 1991 coup attempt, distance himself from the aspiring coup-makers once their failure was guaranteed and then align himself with the non-Communist politician Anatoly Sobchak in Leningrad.

Of the incredibly risky reporting Gessen has undertaken, none is as impressive as her investigation into the $90 million Putin siphoned off while serving under Sobchak. She tracks down a woman who had looked into this matter and then fled to an almost uninhabited town after being threatened by Putin’s regime. The scheme goes something like this: with Leningrad facing a severe food shortage, Putin was responsible for selling raw materials to Germany in exchange for food. Nearly $100 million in raw materials was sold but almost no food arrived. Putin, as it transpired, purposely prepared legal documents for the import/export that were so flawed they would have no standing in court.

Peering behind the image of Putin as a nationalist who has brought prosperity to Russia, in The Man Without a Face, Gessen exposes a web of criminality and gangsterism that can all be traced back to Putin. She writes in painstaking detail about the various ways in which he took over the largest companies in Russia, simply arresting his opponents on fraudulent charges or intimidating them into leaving the country and abandoning their businesses.

Then there is the pile of corpses. The victims include journalists Anna Politkovskaya and Yuri Shchekochikhin, former patron-turned-critic Sobchak and secret service defector Alexander Litvinenko. Gessen goes a step further and accuses Putin of masterminding a string of terrorist attacks which were then used to brutally subjugate the Chechen people, including apartment bombings and the Moscow Theatre hostage situation of 2002. Given the diminished life expectancy of Putin critics, collecting all these theories in one book testifies even further to the courage of Gessen, who has lived in Moscow since 1991.

Gessen is equally scathing in her assessment of Putin’s rapacious appetite for wealth. She estimates that his fortune may be as high as $40 billion. One anecdote in particular illustrates her claim that Putin is motivated by a need to take what belongs to others. During a meeting with the owner of American football team, Putin was shown a Super Bowl ring that had 124 diamonds. He looked at it keenly and then simply pocketed it. After a few days of controversy, the man simply had to say that he had intended to give the ring to Putin just to diffuse a potentially fraught international situation.

So thorough is Gessen in her indictment of Putin as an evil force and so courageous is her willingness to do this freely, it seems a bit churlish to point out a couple of inadequacies in her book. Still, it is a bit jarring just how willing Gessen is to excuse the Russian people, who after all have consistently returned Putin to office, for tolerating and even supporting Putin. She overlooks the fact that Russia under Putin enjoyed a robust economic boom, sparked primarily by record-high oil prices and that this in itself could explain why a blind eye has been turned to Putin’s kleptocratic and murderous regime.

The other jarring moment is the epilogue to the book. After 250 pages of unremitting gloom, Gessen suddenly turns naively optimistic. She writes of a few protests that started to take place in 2011 and begins predicting Putin’s downfall. Gessen starts believing in the power of Facebook status updates and the white ribbons that come to symbolise opposition to Putin. Just a few short months after these protests, however, Putin’s grip on power does not seem to have loosened a bit. This is something anyone could have figured out just by reading the rest of Gessen’s book. That she does not do so, shows just how strong her hatred of Putin really is and just how badly she wants to believe that his rule may soon come to an end.

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.

SHOP NOW with the MARK OF THE BEAST using PAYPAL on your SMARTPHONE

The Matrix Data Barcode - the Mark of the Beast

The Mark of the Beast money system for buying and selling is being introduced over here in Australia via the mobile phones. Moreover, this is happening without the average Aussie even being aware of what is going on.

For years and years, I was amongst the chorus of those who thought that the mark was an RFID chip. That is, until the Matrix Data Barcode started to appear everywhere I looked. As we have been buying and selling with barcodes for years and years anyway, it was at that point that I then came to the realization that the mark of the beast has been with us all for that amount of time anyway, but that is was just that we did not know that it was already here.

Can we then say the same thing when it comes to the correct identity of the beast; the suggestion is that he may have already achieved his power base without the average Christian even being aware that he is already in power. That may be the case even though there may be those who already suspect just who he is by naming who he is in some instances.

Data Matrix code is a two-dimensional matrix barcode consisting of black and white "cells" or modules arranged in either a square or rectangular pattern. The information to be encoded can be text or numeric data. Usual data size is from a few bytes up to 1556 bytes. The length of the encoded data depends on the number of cells in the matrix. Error correction codes are often used to increase reliability: even if one or more cells is damaged so it is unreadable, the message can still be read. A Data Matrix symbol can store up to 2,335 alphanumeric characters.

The 2D Matrix Barcode Scanner

Data Matrix symbols are rectangular in shape and usually square and are composed of "cells": little squares that represent bits. Depending on the coding used, a "light" cell represents a 0 and a "dark" cell is a 1, or vice versa. Every Data Matrix is composed of two solid adjacent borders in an "L" shape (called the "finder pattern") and two other borders consisting of alternating dark and light "cells" or modules (called the "timing pattern").

Within these borders are rows and columns of cells encoding information. The finder pattern is used to locate and orient the symbol while the timing pattern provides a count of the number of rows and columns in the symbol. As more data is encoded in the symbol, the number of cells (rows and columns) increases. Each code is unique. Symbol sizes vary from 10×10 to 144×144 in the new version ECC 200, and from 9×9 to 49×49 in the old version ECC 000 - 140.

Some us who like to receive what most would label as being junk mail in their letterboxes. Just the other day I happened to receive a Good Guys (a local electrical retailer) catalogue in the mail. On the front page was pictorial representation of a mobile phone with a clearly marked drawing of the mark of the beast right in the centre of the illustration. Around this illustration were the words SHOP NOW with PAY PAL via the mobile phone.

The mark of the beast is already then on the Smartphone in the form of an application with the next phase sure to be that it will soon start to appear on the skin. From that point onwards, once buying and selling begins, there can be no doubts at all that what will be looking at will be the Mark of the Beast.

The banking elitists, or the Jews behind the New World Order like to introduce dramatic changes slowly so that those who are having any new system foisted upon them do not become aware of what is taking place until after it is too late. That is exactly what is taking place right now, slowly but surely. After all, that was how the GST was brought into law over here, slowly but surely. Furthermore, there may yet be other infrastructure, such as the National Broadband Network, that still needs laid down before the mark can start to go onto the skin for buying and selling.

With a process like time setting one runs a distinct risk of any date that has been set of passing by without the predicated event-taking place. Knowing the scum of human nature, the only result of that can be is that I would be labelled as a False Prophet, terminology that passed the lips of so many quite frequently. Accordingly, I am then not going to pin point a date and say with without any doubts at all that this is going to be the time when we are going to see what now is nothing much more than a Smartphone application go onto the skin. It only those who are in the higher up echelons of the New World Order who are ever going to know exact dates and times. The rest of us will find out after the event has taken place.

A bizarre coincident? concerning the barcode is the Greek word charagma translated 'mark' in Revelation. Here's how Robert Van Kampen, in The Sign describes this coincident:

"It is interesting to note that the Greek word translated 'mark' is charagma which comes from the Greek word charax, which means 'a palisade, like a picket fence.' When one realizes that this specific word was used back in the first century, and we see today the use of the computer-related bar code, we find the possibilities becoming more than a reality in our day and age." (Robert Van Kampen, The Sign, 1992, p. 231)

Here's the explanation: The Greek "root" word for charagma (translated "mark") is charax. One of the meanings of charax is "a palisade" which is like a "picket fence, or vertical lines". The "idea" is, the reason John used the Greek word charagma, rather than stigma, etc., is because he was describing a 'mark' with vertical lines — a "bar code".

The barcode did something very important to help bring in 666: The mark of the Beast. . .

The barcode opened the door (in fact, it not only opened it, it kicked the door down) to the "digital world". Everything is now a number. Everything gets a barcode. As someone truly said, "If it exists, bar code it". I remember when barcodes first started appearing. I began telling people back then, the barcode was preparing the world for 666: the Mark of the Beast. Was I ever laughed at. . . even by the Christians. I can still remember their laughing and ridicule, "You mean to tell me, everything is getting one of those "marks". You mean, I'll go even to the local "7-Eleven" and they'll have laser scanners and they'll scan these "marks". No way. It would be too obvious what was happening. Everybody would know the mark of the beast is coming".

But isn't it amazing 25 years later. . . and nobody gives the "mysterious" barcodes even a "second thought".

Satan very carefully and subtlety (see Genesis 3:1 and 2 Cor. 11:3) indoctrinated us to our wonderful, convenient, new "digital world".

Take a close look at any electronic devices, whether it is an automotive keyless entry system or home audio equipment, and you will come across a unique coding standard called Data Matrix which is used by current product manufacturers.

The drive behind the integration of this standard is to help manufacturers build an automated tracking system which is long lasting, machine readable, and creates a unique identification of each product during its entire life cycle.

The ECC 200 2D Data Matrix codes are made through laser marking. They are a cost-effective method for distinctive identification and tracking of products during the manufacturing cycle, sales distribution and after-sale warranty verification stages.

All that I am able to do is to hazard a guess, as sheer speculation is all that it is going to be, I will say that we should see the matrix data barcode go onto the skin sometime within the next ten years or so.

That may sound like good news to those who are older. (I fit into the older category) However, to those who are still quite young that type of news is not so good, as what it then means that those same persons are going to see the Antichrist in full flight.

Furthermore, those same persons will also have to take the mark of the beast if they have not yet accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as their saviour and deliverer. If there are those who reading this and have not yet accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as their saviour there is no better time than right now to do just that by reciting the believers prayer of redemption out loud. See the HOW TO BE SAVED page below.

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.

Raeptius and Harpazo

There would have been literally dozens and dozens of books written on the Rapture of the Church. In fact, there would have been so many it is therefore not surprising that there has been so many who have been thus far fooled by something that is not even mentioned in the word of God to begin with.

Most of those reading this would have a
basic understanding of the original meaning of the word Rapture. Nevertheless, there are those who say that when used in Biblical terms the word Rapture is supposedly an English word used in place of the Latin word raeptius, which is taken from the Vulgate version of the BIble, which in turn is a translation of the Koine Greek word harpazo, found in the early Greek New Testament manuscripts of 1 Thessalonians 4:17.

As one may have gathered from the above there those who claim that even though the word Rapture is never mentioned in the word of God some claim that due to an incredible metamorphous the word Rapture has been handed down to us in this modern day and age.

HOWEVER IF THOSE ORIGINAL WORDS HAD THE MEANING IT IS CLAIMED THEY DO THEN WHY WERE THEY NOT TRANSLATED INTO THE MODERN VERSIONS OF THE BIBLE SO THAT THE WORD RAPTURE IS PRESENT IN THE MODERN VERSIONS. THERE IS A VERY SIMPLE REASON WHY THE WORD RAPTURE IS NOT PRESENT IN THE MODERN TRANSLATIONS. THE ORIGINAL MEANINGS OF THOSE WORDS RAEPTIUS AND HARPAZO ARE NOT WHAT THEY CLAIM TO BE BECAUSE THEY DO NOT MEAN A RAPTURE AT ALL.

I for one would have no idea at all when it comes to reading the original Greek or Latin versions of the Bible. Therefore, how can I take that as being the correct information that is really nothing much more than second hand information at the best of times.

Nonetheless, there are those who say that "The "Rapture" event itself is the name given to a Biblically revealed event in which Jesus Christ descends from Heaven, accompanied by the spirits of all the saints who have passed on prior to this event, and then the bodily remains of these saints are transported from the earth to meet the Lord and be rejoined with their corresponding spirits in the air.

Adding to that it is claimed in many modern English translations of the Bible, harpazo is translated; "caught up", or "taken away". The meaning of "harpazo"[ har-pad'-zo Koine Greek;] is= "forcibly snatched away", "taken for oneself". Christians, alive and dead, are therefore "forcibly snatched away" by Jesus at some time known only to God the Father, and taken to Heaven to be with Jesus forever. The Bible then says, "Comfort one another with these words. (1 Thess 4:18 KJV).

The word of God does not say that the Christians will be taken up into Heaven to be with the Lord forever. Quite clearly, the word of God says that the dead in Christ will be raised first and then we who are still alive will be gathered together to meet the Lord in the air, with there being a distinct difference between the air and Heaven.

There is a great deal of scriptural verse that so many quite commonly use to verify their rapture doctrine. However there is still nothing at all that describes anything other than the Day of the Lord which really has very little to do with a Rapture. Nevertheless, the Day of the Lord and the Rapture of the Church are one in the same event as there are not two separate events.

If there is anyone, out there in cyber land who would like to show me a verse that they claim refers to a Rapture of the Church then I would be quite happy to retract that statement. However, I won't have to because no such verse exists.

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.

Windows 8 and Some Obvious Conclusions It Now Draws.

Just to gain some sort of an idea of a comparison between windows 7 and windows 8 I have installed the latest version on one of my computers.

What I have found is that there is very little or no difference at all between the either one of the operating systems but that there are a what they label as being apps (short for applications) on the start page of the windows 8 computer when it is first switched on.

The apps have been quite prevalent on other similar devices for quite some time and now and because of the latest Microsoft operating system, they are all prevailing in the world of computers as well.

That then beggars the question as to why we are having apps foisted upon us in the first place when there are those of us who have been quite happy to do without them.

The answer to that question just may lay in the reality of the mark of the beast being introduced over here in Australia via the applications on the iphone -- and that those of us who have resisted the Iphone are now having the apps foisted upon them anyway.

That statement does not seem to be all that far removed from the truth when a minimal price is being charged for windows 8 and that it can be installed on any computer hardware going right back to the early days of XP.

In the past whenever a new operating system came out from Microsoft it involved hundreds and hundreds of dollars, alternatively, the cost of a new operating system involved the purchase of a new computer with the latest operating system already installed.

Of course, there is no one who is forcing anyone to go out and buy this latest version of windows.

However, for the reasons mentioned above they are making it so attractive to do so that anyone with an old computer would be foolish not to do so.

The reality of what I have mentioned above verifies that the Mark of the Beast is an application tattooed onto the skin and that it is being very cleverly foisted upon us over here in Australia even as I write this piece.

What is taking place is also a true testament to the true cunning of Satan and to the foolishness of those who have not yet accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as their saviour and deliverer.

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.

Myths of a Muslim Antichrist

by Jeremy Stevens
Ever since the followers of Mohammad stormed across the Middle East in the 6th century, Christians have feared this aggressive religion. Aside from the three hundred year struggle of the Crusades, Christians and Muslims have clashed time and again. Wherever Islam grows, the established Christian society finds itself besieged by the resilience of Islamic culture, and occasionally by the power of Muslim armies.

Lebanon, Nigeria, Egypt, Syria – all of these countries have seen their Christian minorities oppressed as Islamic birthrates continue to dominate their Christian adversaries. In the 21st century, Americans are rightfully afraid of the terror wrought by radical Islamist groups. From the recent killing of our ambassador in Libya to the terror of 9/11, Americans are on the front line of the War on Terror.

With Muslim birthrates soaring across predominantly Christian strongholds from Europe to Sub-Saharan Africa some sociological experts have Islam replacing Christianity as the world’s largest religion soon—real soon. There are simply not enough Dugger families in the Christian world to keep up with the Duggers of “Islamistan”.

What does scripture say about Islam’s future? Should Christians be so fearful of the world’s second largest religion? Additionally, there has been a growing movement in evangelical circles to pin the ethnic/religious background of the future antichrist as a Muslim.

Arguments for a Muslim Antichrist
No, the antichrist was not Hitler. Neither was the antichrist George Bush or Barack Obama. It’s not even Lady Gaga. Some in the evangelical world believe the antichrist will come from the Muslim world, not the Western world.

In his book The Power to Make War, the late great evangelist Zane Hodges believed the antichrist would be a Muslim due to the reference of “the Assyrian” found in Isaiah. Because that particular reference was discussing the antichrist, the Bible must be indicating that the antichrist will be an Assyrian. Since the Assyrian empire was founded in the Middle East, the Assyrian antichrist must also be a Muslim.

Philip Goodman, in his work The Assyrian Connection, also points to the reference of “the Assyrian” in Micah 5:5 as evidence for an Assyrian antichrist. Goodman speculates that there will be a revived Assyrian Empire founded in the Middle East.1 This Assyrian Empire will spawn the antichrist and will invade the globe from the Middle East.

Joel Richardson, author of Antichrist: Islam’s Awaited Messiah, believes the fourth world empire of Daniel’s dreams was not Rome and its descendants, but rather, the Ottoman Empire.2 This revived Ottoman Empire will create a caliphate across the Middle East, and will lead a host of nations against Israel.

Richardson also cites the similarities between the Shiite last Imam in Islamic eschatology with the antichrist of Scripture -- beheadings, conquest, and an intense dislike for Christians and Jews.

Do these authors have valid arguments for an Islamic antichrist? Given the recent surge in Muslim population across the globe it may appear so. Despite their claims, there are many issues with this theory. I have limited these problems to six major flaws below.

Why the Antichrist will NOT be a Muslim
1. “The Assyrian” reference in scripture does not necessarily refer to the antichrist

Dr. David Reagan, of Lion/Lamb ministries explains in his article, "The Antichrist: Will he be a Muslim?" that the reference found in Micah 5:5 to the “Assyrian” is located squarely in a Millennium passage of Micah. During the Millennium, Dr. Reagan asserts that God will protect Israel from all their enemies (Assyria was the enemy of Israel at the time Micah was written).3

Similarly, references in Isaiah to “the Assyrian” are attributed more to the character of the antichrist rather than the ethnicity. Similar types of antichrists are found throughout scripture. Sennacherib the Assyrian king who besieged Jerusalem was certainly a type. As was the Egyptian pharaoh of the Exodus. The most famous antichrist type was Antiochus Epiphanes, highlighted in Daniel 8 and again in Daniel 11.

“The Assyrian” must be a reference to his character as an enemy of God’s people and a terrible person overall.

2. Assyrians are predominantly Christian anyway

Even if the “antichrist-will-be-Assyrian” crowd is right, Assyrians today are predominantly Christian and not Muslim. Yes, most of them reside in present day Iraq, Syria, and Turkey (all overwhelmingly Muslim nations) but Assyrians themselves are over 90% Christian today. This counters the claim that an Assyrian antichrist would have to be Muslim.

3. Daniel predicted a Roman antichrist not a Middle Eastern one

In the famous “seventy weeks” passage of Daniel 9 the Old Testament prophet predicts the coming Tribulation as well as the ethnicity of the antichrist. Daniel 9:26b states, “…and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary…”

Daniel prophesies that this same “prince” in verse 26 will make a treaty with Israel in verse 27. He will then break that treaty and set up the abomination that causes desolation during the middle of the Tribulation. The “people” of this prince (the antichrist) were predicted to destroy the city (Jerusalem) and the sanctuary.

In 70 AD, almost five hundred years after Daniel’s prediction, the Roman Empire annihilated the Jewish people. A culmination of three Jewish uprisings, this last assault on Jerusalem would kill over a million Jews and send millions more into slavery across the Roman world.

Jerusalem has only been destroyed one time after Daniel’s prophecy and it occurred almost 2,000 years ago at the hands of the Romans. Therefore we can conclude that the antichrist, the prince of the Romans, will be a man of Roman descent -- not Assyrian.

4. The Fourth Beast of Daniel’s dream is Roman/Western, not Islamic/Middle Eastern

Daniel’s four world Gentile empires found in chapters 2 and 7 of his book describe four world empires in chronological order. Please look up these passages as you are reading this article.

a. Babylon (lion, head of gold)

b. Persia (bear, silver arms)

c. Greco-Macedonian (leopard, (bronze torso/legs)

d. Roman (iron beast of Rome, two legs (Eastern and Western Rome, and the future ten-toes/feet of antichrist’s rule)

It is plain to see in Daniel’s visions that neither Islam nor the Ottoman Empire were represented. Chronologically, there are no gaps in Daniel’s dreams other than the one separating the iron beast of Rome with its ten-toed counterpart during the Tribulation.

Babylon was quickly replaced by Persia in 538 BC, while Persia was swiftly routed by Alexander in 332 BC. After Alexander died, his generals divided the empires amongst themselves, only to eventually succumb to the power of Rome in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC. Rome dominated the world for another seven hundred years until its eventual collapse in 476 AD. The East wouldn’t collapse until 1453 AD.

Islam is also a relatively modern phenomenon, arriving in the 6th century AD. Islamic warriors never conquered the globe, nor are they expected to do so. The Islamic world of today is a conglomerate of different cultures, governments, and peoples, not a united Gentile world empire like Babylon, Persia, Greece, or Rome.

The Ottoman Empire is even younger. The Ottoman Turks made their debut in the Middle Ages against the Christian Crusaders, but wouldn’t grow to their full height until the 16th and 17th centuries AD.

The Ottoman Empire was impressive during its time, but fell apart after WWI. Scripturally and geopolitically, Turkey is not predicted to conquer the earth any time soon. Yes, Turkey is making a comeback today. Turkey may be involved in the Gog/Magog fiasco of Ezekiel 38 and 39, but Turkey will not spawn the antichrist or conquer the entire earth.

Those who claim the two legs of Daniel’s dream represent the two legs of the Ottoman Empire (Shiite and Sunni) have forgotten to account for nearly 1,000 years of Roman domination, the basic chronological outline of Daniel, as well as the nature of Islamic society and culture itself. Ah yes, one more thing – the Ottoman Empire was predominantly Sunni and not Shiite. The vast majority of Muslims practice Sunni and not Shiite Islam. Unless Daniel’s end-times beast was hobbling around on one leg, his visions cannot represent Sunni and Shiite Islam. The end-times world government will be a Roman/Western government, not an Eastern/Islamic one.

5. Lots of people enjoy be-headings (not just radical Islamists)

British and French people beheaded their monarchs. Japanese Samurai preferred beheadings as an honorable death. Mexican drug cartels are also known for the gruesome practice. Yes, there is a similarity between the end-times Shiite eschatology and that of Scripture – both the Imam and the antichrist love lopping off heads. Then again, so do a lot of different peoples and cultures today.

6. Imagine a Muslim antichrist blaspheming Allah… and living to tell about it

The Bible doesn’t hold back when describing the personality of the antichrist. He will be the worst human being in world history. Think about that for a moment. Perhaps the most telling indication that the antichrist will not hail from a Muslim land is found in Daniel 11:37,

“He will show no regard for the gods of his fathers or for the desire of women, nor will he show regard for any other god; for he will magnify himself above them all.”

Could you imagine the response of a devoutly Islamic nation like Egypt or Iran after their leader says, “I am god, there is no other god but… me! You will now bow down and worship… me!” This declaration would be both a direct blasphemy against Allah and a death sentence. Even in secular Turkey a man who claimed to be god would find himself thrown in prison at best.

No, the antichrist will not come from a Muslim land. The biblical, cultural, and historical evidence is too strong against the prospect.

More likely, the antichrist will come from the heir of the Roman Empire – the Western world. Rather than declared a heretic and beheaded, the antichrist’s blasphemous opinions will be welcomed with open arms in post-Christian Europe as trendy and edgy. If you’re planning to take that once-in-a-lifetime getaway trip to Europe with your spouse, do it sooner than later.

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.

Sandy the Super Storm and America's first ever-Mormon President, Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney will be Americas first ever Mormon President

Right now, there are going to be those who are going to accuse me of being a conspiracy theorist, but the facts of the matter speak for themselves when it comes to coincidences.

In this instance I am referring to the occurrence of the Sandy Super Storm right before the Americans were due to go to the polling booths on November the 6th to select who will be their next term president.

This storm as it came ashore as barely as Category 1 storm and quickly broke down into a tropical depression.

The incredibly low barometric pressure gave Sandy enormous ability to cause huge water surges.

The real damage from this storm is primarily from water, not wind.

Keeping in mind that the Americans vote electronically, power outages are so widespread that many polling areas will be shut down.

Alternatively, many people would be physically unable to get to their assigned polling place with the the result being the vast majority of Americans will never ever get their opportunity to vote as they would have liked.

As that is the case, it then looks very much to me like this so-called natural event has been deliberately planned and that the USA is going to have its first ever-Mormon president.

As the name suggests, a Mitt is a fist that is clenched in anger and it ready to seek revenge.

High-level Mormons take a bloody oath of vengeance, of revenge, against the United States of America. They also have always felt a fervent desire to win the Presidency so they can carry out their revenge.

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.

"Chuck Missler world war 3 -- is upon us!!! Rapture is Even Closer Romans 13:11"

As the title of the video suggests World War 3 is already upon us. Nevertheless, there has never ever has been a time when I have thought there was any such event as the rapture of the church. That false assumption remains a point of contention that I still do not concur with relative to the attached DVD. However, the rest of the DVD may still be worth a look and that is the reason why I have decided to upload it here.

In the following lengthy, (4-hour); but, also **Biblically excellent** video, there are **MANY subjects of End Times interest** that are discussed and explained in detail in this video.

Also, for those of you who are **spiritually searching for the REAL truth**, there are MANY, MANY times in this video where there is a **VERY CLEAR** Gospel presentation that is given about just WHAT that a person needs to do to repent of their sins and to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as their very own personal Lord and Savior in order to have the TOTAL forgiveness of ALL of their sins, forever!

So, without any further explanation,here is the DVD entitled, "Chuck Missler world war 3 -- is upon us!!! Rapture is Even Closer Romans 13:11" :

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.

Who will collect Nobel peace prize for the EU?

The obvious choice, perhaps, is European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso.

Jose Manuel Barroso

The EU faces a major headache in deciding who will collect the Nobel peace prize. As Henry Kissinger famously pointed out, when he asked: "Who do I call when I want to speak to Europe?", there are several pretenders for the job.

The obvious choice is José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European commission, and/or Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European council. Also a possible candidate is Katherine Ashton, the EU's British high representative and its "foreign minister". Or Martin Schulz, the European parliament president.

Thorbjørn Jagland, the head of the Oslo-based Nobel committee refused to say on Friday who he thought should fly to Norway to receive the prestigious gong. He said merely: "It's up to EU institutions to decide who will collect the gold medal and make a lecture."

The EU may prefer a more symbolic heavyweight choice, dispatching to Oslo instead a former European head of state. The leading candidate is surely former German chancellor Helmut Kohl. Kohl, after all, presided over the peaceful reunification of Germany and was a driving force behind the euro and deeper EU integration. The only drawback is Kohl's health: following a serious fall in 2008 he is confined to a wheelchair and has problems speaking.

Alternatively, the EU might come up with a cutesy solution worthy of Tony Blair, an ex-EU leader who is surely not on any shortlist. With Croatia about to join the union next year, becoming its 28th member, what better than a choir of photogenic Croatian schoolchildren?

Or, perhaps, one child from each of the EU's states, dressed up in national costume, the UK representative coming as a mini-knight?

An unscientific appeal to Twitter yielded several interesting recommendations. Most were humorous. Some were unprintable. They included: "Nigel Farage", "Giscard d'Estaing?" "Golden Dawn" - the neo-Nazi Greek party - and "A weirdly shaped banana."

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.

The president of the EU Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, calls for an EU 'federation of nation states'

The EU Commission President, Jose Manuel Barraso

The European Union needs to evolve into a "democratic federation of nation states" as a long-term solution to its economic and political crises, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso said today.

Barroso – giving his annual state of the union address in the European Parliament in Strasbourg on a key day in the eurozone crisis – differentiated his vision from a super state but said it would require treaty changes. He said "explicit" ideas for treaty changes would be put forward by the commission ahead of the 2014 European elections.

Arguing that "in the age of globalisation pooled sovereignty means more power, not less", Barroso said: "We should not leave the defence of the nation just to the nationalists and populists. I believe in a Europe where people are proud of their nations but also proud to be European and proud of our European values."

The president added that this autumn could prove to be a turning point in the euro crisis if the Greek government "banishes all doubts about its commitment to reform" and other countries "banish all doubts about their determination to keep Greece in the eurozone".

At the same time, the commission published proposals for a supervisory mechanism for all 6,000 banks in the eurozone – and those in any other EU countries that choose to take part – giving overall responsibility to the European Central Bank. Barroso described the plans as a "stepping stone" towards full banking union.

Then minutes after Barroso spoke, Germany's Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe ruled that the European Stability Mechanism – the eurozone's new permanent bail-out instrument – was in line with German law and could therefore go ahead. It imposed some conditions, including that any additional German contributions to the fund would need the approval of the country's parliament, the Bundestag.

After the ruling Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the Eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers, said the ESM's board would hold its first meeting next month.

Meanwhile elections are being held in the Netherlands today following campaigns that have been dominated by the debate over Europe. Opinion polls yesterday showed the mainstream pro-European parties – Prime Minister Mark Rutte's Liberals and the centre-left Labour party – were likely to prevail over the anti-European hard-left Socialists and Geert Wilders' far-right Freedom party.

In Strasbourg Barroso said: "I call for a federation of nation states. Not a superstate. A democratic federation of nation states that can tackle our common problems, through the sharing of sovereignty in a way that each country and its citizens are better equipped to control their own destiny."

He said moves towards a "deep and genuine economic and monetary union" could be made without treaty changes, but to complete the transformation a new treaty would be needed – while acknowledging "how difficult treaty change has become". But he added that this should not "distract" from solving the immediate crisis.

In addition he called for the strengthening of European political parties to tackle the "real disconnect between political parties in the capitals and the European political parties" in the EU parliament.

The commission adopted a proposal for a reinforced legal statute for European parties today, which provides for them to be given EU-level legal status where they currently have to register as Belgian non-profit making associations. Barroso called on all political groups in parliament to present a candidate for commission president in 2014 in order to "deepen the pan-European debate".

Responding to the speech, Joseph Daul, chairman of the centre-right European People's Party, agreed that economic integration had to go hand-in-hand with political integration. "It is unthinkable to create an economic union without a political union," he said. "Our credibility is at stake. Political union is legitimacy. It is more democratic control. It is more participation by our citizens."

And Hannes Swoboda, leader of the Socialists and Democrats, said: "We have to think about a more forward-looking structure for the Europe we share. And therefore we must organise a convention to draft a real constitution for Europe. But first we have to find solutions for today's problems."

But Martin Callanan, leader of the European Conservatives and Reformists, said Barroso was repeating the "same old, tired approach. The solution to every problem is more Europe rather than better Europe". He criticised the commission president for proposing "another long-drawn out academic debate about EU treaty change".

The proposals for a single banking supervisor will, if backed by the parliament and member states, hand the power to grant and revoke bank licenses to the ECB, working alongside national supervisors. The eurozone central bank issued a brief statement welcoming the move.

European Commissioner for the Internal Market and Services Michel Barnier, who presented the details of the plan at a press conference, said: "It will be the role of the ECB to make sure that banks in the euro area stick to sound financial practices. Our ultimate aim is to stop using tax payers' money to bail out banks."

Now I am not going to read too much into this at this stage, but it has already been touted that Putin and Barroso are going to run a confederation of the EU and Russia together, and that should start as early as 2013. So let us just see where all of this leads. If what has been suggested above ever becomes the reality then we will be looking at the most fearsome and terrible or empires to ever come to power here on the earth. That is not just scaremongering but is the fulfilment of the Bible prophecies that is sure to take place right before your very eyes.

Just as a footnote to the above, I really do hate to rain on the parade of those poor misguided individuals who think they are going to Raptured up into Heaven in a within the interim future, but they are really beginning to run out of time. So let us face reality and stop trying to bury our heads in the sand. The bottom line is that a Rapture of the church is never ever going to come to pass, so to those who think there is going to be a Rapture it may be time to wake up, or come to your senses, before it is too late.

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.