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Christian Chronicles, November 2001 - Volume 4, Issue 73
| The
Editor's Pen | Perspectives: Studying Israel | Mid-East Update |
| Fruit of the Vine | Has
God Cast Away Israel? | Messianic Jews? | God's
Chosen People | God's Love
& Anger Toward the Jews | Peace
With the Palestinians? | The Abrahamic
Covenant | Editor's Note: A
Disclaimer |
Wednesday, October 24, was United Nations Day. I attended an international conference on terrorism. There were speakers from many parts of the world, some experts and some not as well-versed in international affairs. However, they all seemed to agree that the vast bulk of the world’s problems were centered in the Middle East. The consensus was that the Israeli / Palestinian dispute lay at the heart of the problem of terrorism. Furthermore, there was broad agreement that Israel is the intransigent party. Without Israel, it seems, the world would have a chance to establish a measure of peaceful coexistence.
God has other ideas, and it is my guess that He is certain to carry the day when the battle breaks. The day is fast approaching when the world will unleash its fury against God’s chosen people. What a gross error that will prove to be. Such folly!
At the date of this writing (
11/7/01), the Israelis and the Palestinians are edging closer to the negotiating table again, even though the fighting continues. One cannot say with certainty how the current efforts toward peace will turn out, but both sides seem to be bowing to pressure from the United States to dramatically reduce the levels of violence and return to the table to seek a solution to the thorny issues that divide them.In the wake of the violence that has rocked that part of the world for the past thirteen months, everyone seems to finally be coming to a mutual conclusion; to wit, that some way must be found to effect some sort of peace agreement. If the violence continues, both economies will be sapped, though the Palestinians will fare much worse than the Israelis financially.
Shimon Peres and Ariel Sharon are comparing notes and coming up with a new proposal which they hope to present as soon as the levels of violence are controlled. At the same time, the Palestinians have seen their credibility on the world stage diminished because of the continuing attacks on Israeli citizens. Their claims that it is Israel who is the terrorist state is wearing thin, and Arafat is being pushed to the table almost unwillingly.
While we cannot predict when Satan will indwell the person of the beast and put in his mind the details of a peace agreement, it is clear that, when it happens, both sides will eagerly grasp it in their quest for stability in the region. Before that treaty is ratified, the Church will be translated.
Jesus was a Jew. Born of the tribe of Judah, He worshipped as a child under the Levitical priesthood. Now, though no priest came from the line of Judah, He is our High Priest. When a Jew is saved today, he is recognizing that fact. It is a wonderful event when a Jew accepts Christ, and every Christian ought to pray daily that God would use him in fruitful ministry to Jews. Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles, declared that he would wish himself accursed if he could only save his countrymen (Rom 9:3).
At the same time, one should keep in mind that a Jew, once saved, is no longer a Jew, but a Christian. However, when a Jew is saved, he does not become a lesser person, but a greater. The promises that God made to the Jews are great indeed, but those to the Church are greater (Heb 7:19, 22; 8:6). Nevertheless, a Jew who becomes a Christian does not travel as far, so to speak, as a Gentile who is saved. Jew or Gentile, our responsibility is to minister the word of reconciliation, but the thought of being God’s instrument in the salvation of one of His chosen people ought to leave one with a sense of breathless anticipation.
Perspectives: Studying Israel
One can almost hear the groans. Christians love to hear and to read about the various doctrines of the New Testament that spell out the good news of the Gospel, but most do not care much about the historical books of the Old Testament or the prophets. The wisdom books spark a modicum of interest, and the Psalms are a source of inspiration and comfort, but when the discussion turns to Israel and her history, the sighs begin to sound and the heads start to nod.
Yet, there is much to be learned from studies of Israel and her relationship with our heavenly Father. It is impossible to study Israel without also studying God Himself, for apart from God, Israel would become a very insignificant nation. The way that God has dealt with Israel nationally is a reflection of the way He also deals with Christians individually. The assurance of Israel’s ultimate restoration and blessing is our assurance that the promises to the Church are equally trustworthy.
From 70 A.D. until 1948 A.D., Israel was scattered abroad in the world. The land that God had promised to Abraham so many centuries and millennia ago was occupied by Gentiles. The land that our Lord walked, in which He did His miracles, where He died and was resurrected — that land was laid waste by the Romans and given over to strangers.
Near the end of the nineteenth century, the Zionist movement began. Jews began to return to the land whose name had been changed to Palestine. Some fifty years later, following the terrible persecutions of the holocaust, a tiny sliver of land on the Mediterranean coast was given to the Jews. They had a homeland again after nineteen hundred years of dispersion.
When one stops to consider the fact that the Jews maintained their racial purity, their national identity, for nineteen centuries, the hand of God becomes evident. Where are the Canaanites today? Can anyone identify himself as a descendant of the Joktan line? What of the Aramites and the Hittites? All of the ancient peoples of that part of the world have been absorbed into the populations of the Gentile nations, but the Jews remained separate all those years. One would not think such a thing were possible, except for the promises of God, who declared that He would restore them to the land and bring them to a greater glory than they have known heretofore.
The Jews are a miraculous people, a nation protected by God and the recipients of many wonderful promises. Still, the promises to the Church are greater promises. But this issue of Christian Chronicles will examine something of the history and future of God’s chosen people, Israel. Every Christian ought to be vitally interested in the Jews, for the fulfillment of God’s promises to them is the assurance of the fulfillment of His promises to us.
There are those who believe that, because the Jews rejected Christ, God has altogether cast them away, and that the promises made to Israel now apply to the Church. Among Reformed and Covenant theologians, that is a popular notion. However, it could not be farther from the truth of the matter.
That position is taken primarily from Romans 9-10. However, those two chapters do not conclude the argument. They only lead to the conclusion. In Chapter 11, Paul says, “...Hath God cast away His people? God forbid... God hath not cast away His people which He foreknew... I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles... For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead? ... And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in: For God is able to graft them in again... blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved... (Rom 11:1,2,11,15,23,26).
The future of Israel is assured by the Abrahamic Covenant (see related article on page 8). The promises that God made to the Jews stand even today, and the greatest of those promises have not yet been fulfilled. However, the geo-political stage is such that we have much reason to hope that those promises will shortly come to pass. Even today, there are prophecies that are currently being fulfilled. Ezekiel 37 has been half-fulfilled in this generation, and the rest shall be fulfilled shortly.
If the Bible is to be taken for what it says, then, if God has permanently cast Israel aside, He has become a Liar. Highly unlikely! Let us all pray daily for tiny Israel!
There is no such thing as a Messianic Jew. The group that calls itself Jews for Jesus is misnamed. The Bible identifies three types of people on the earth: Jews, Gentiles and the Church of God (1 Cor 10:32). A Jew who has become a Christian is no longer a Jew any more than a Gentile who has become a Christian is still a Gentile. To use those names is an attempt by Jewish Christians to isolate themselves from Gentile Christians, as if there were some difference. The Bible declares there is no difference.
...I will make you a
great nation;
I will bless you and make your name great... (Gen 12:2a)
...In Isaac shall your seed be called... (Gen 21:12)
...Jacob I have loved... (Mal 1:2)
Of course, Jacob’s name was changed to Israel. He had twelve sons who became the patriarchs of the twelve tribes of Israel. But let us not get too far ahead of ourselves before we even start. From the first verse of the Bible until the twelfth chapter of Genesis, God addresses the entire human race. Chapter twelve of Genesis marks a radical departure from this principle, as God calls out Abram from the land that is now called Iraq but was then called Chaldea. There He narrows His focus to a single line of men whom He has set apart unto Himself. This is the line through which the God-Man, Jesus Christ, would descend.
If the human race were likened to a great river, in the twelfth chapter of Genesis God draws off a tiny tributary in the person of Abram. That tributary would split, one channel going the way of Ishmael (Abraham’s illegitimate son by Sarah’s maid, Hagar), and the other, the way of Isaac (Abraham’s legitimate son by his wife, Sarah). The genealogy in the Gospel of Luke traces the lineage of man from Christ, through Solomon, Judah, Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham, and then all the way back to Adam, establishing a blood line from the first Adam to the Second Adam. From the twelfth chapter of Genesis to the twelfth chapter of Matthew, the Bible speaks to and about that particular family of men descended from Abraham through Isaac, and his son Jacob. It speaks of the nation of Israel, the Jews. The Gentiles are mentioned, but what the Bible has to say of the Gentiles in those books and chapters is relevant to their relationship with His chosen people, Israel. That tiny tributary that began with a single man, Abraham, would become a great river itself, a great nation, and would receive promises of dominion and glory that no other nation on the earth has yet enjoyed. Neither has Israel yet enjoyed the fullness of those promises, but we are witnessing today the early signs of the days that will usher in the period of her greatest glory. Today, the world, by and large, hates Israel, but the time is coming when her King will reign as the King of kings and Lord of lords, when Israel rules over all the nations of the earth.
Many are those who believe that the Jews should be eradicated. Make no mistake. It is not only the Palestinians who feel that way. Many Christians also think that they should hate the Jews because they rejected their Messiah. Some people hate Jews because of their financial successes, which are legendary. Others hate them for “religious” reasons. Many hate them simply because they want to hate someone, and it is almost politically correct to be anti-Semitic these days. There is a vast body of Christianity that believes that God has cast aside His chosen people on account of their rejection of Christ, and that the promises that were made to Israel now pertain to the Church. Even in America, polls show that many Americans believe that Israel is to blame for the problems that plague the Middle East peace process, and that the attack on the World Trade Center was somehow justified because of the stand that the U.S. has taken in support of Israel. There was a conference of non-governmental officials in Durban, South Africa, just before the World Conference on Racism was held there a couple of months ago. The NGO conference officially branded Israel a racist regime, an apartheid state, because she defends herself against the terrorist attacks that come from the Palestinians. Such an epithet was narrowly avoided at the U.N. Conference that followed the NGO conference when the European states threatened to walk out of the conference if such a resolution were adopted. But the perception of the world is clearly that Israel is the cause of the problems in the Middle East specifically, and in all of the world implicitly.
In 586 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, invaded Israel and carried the Jews away captive to Babylon. There they remained for more than a hundred years, until Artaxerxes, King of Persia (present day Iran) allowed them to return and begin rebuilding Jerusalem and its wall. However, Israel never again had a king. While she enjoyed some small measure of autonomy in the land, she was under the boot heel of one Gentile power or another for the rest of her time in the land. She paid taxes to foreign governments, and answered to them for her policies. That is why the Jews had to persuade the Romans to crucify Christ. First, it was the Babylonians (present day Iraqis). Then it was the Persian Empire. They were followed by the Greeks under Alexander, and then Rome gained dominance. The point is, Israel was never again sovereign in the land.
In 70 A.D., Titus, Emperor of Rome, sacked Jerusalem, removing the Jews from the land and dispersing them among the nations of the world, supposing that if they were dispersed widely enough, the Jews would lose their national distinction and simply become absorbed by the other nations of the world. Italian Jews would eventually become Italians, without the Jewish distinction. German Jews would become Germans, with no reference to Israel or to Judaism. Polish Jews would simply become Poles, etc. From 70 A.D. until the middle of the twentieth century, there were few Jews who ever lived in the Middle East.
However, Titus’ plan to absorb the Jews did not come to pass. The Jews retained their national identity. For nearly two thousand years the Jews maintained as much separation from the Gentile peoples of the world as was possible while living among them. This, because God had promised Abraham unconditionally that the land He gave him was his and his descendants’ forever. God promised to send Israel into captivity if they disobeyed Him, which they did, and which He did. But He also promised many times and in many places by the prophets that He would eventually restore them to the land. He used the Gentile nations to chasten His people by allowing them to take the Jews into captivity. And He has used the Gentile nations to restore the state of Israel. But God will yet severely punish the Gentile nations for being the instruments of Israel's chastisement. For what they did, they did willingly, without understanding that they were being used by God. They were moved by their own greed and prejudices, and God merely allowed them to exercise their own wills in their treatment of Israel.
However, the Jews are still not sovereign in the land. They pay no taxes to any foreign government (other than dues to the United Nations), but let it be known by all that the Jews certainly do obey the edicts of the Gentiles. They dance to the tune piped by the United States, and they only remain in the land at all by the good graces of the United Nations. The right of the Jews to a presence in that land could be revoked as easily as it was granted.
The Jews are suffering under what is called in the Bible “The Times of the Gentiles.” That period began with the invasion by Nebuchadnezzar, and it continues even today. It will not end until the Second Coming of Christ, at which time He will crush Gentile world dominion, establish His throne in Jerusalem, broaden the borders of Israel to include every square inch of the land that God promised to Abraham, from the Brook of Egypt in the Sinai Peninsula to the Euphrates River in Iraq. At that time, Israel will again have a King, and her King will be the King over all the kings of the earth.
God has not cast aside His people. They have been temporarily set aside. That is, God’s dealings with the Jews nationally have been suspended during this, the Church Age. The Church Age is a mystery, unrevealed in the pages of the Old Testament. From the twelfth chapter of Genesis, where God called Abram out of Chaldea, until the twelfth chapter of Matthew, where the Jews rejected Jesus, the Bible is written to, for, and about the Jews. However, when the Jews rejected their Messiah, Jesus began to announce a “mystery age.” He began to speak of the Church Age in the parables of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven in Matthew thirteen. But God’s dealings with the Jews were only suspended. They were not cut off altogether. During the Church Age, those Jews who are saved are no longer Jews at all, but are Christians. Just as saved Gentiles are no longer Gentiles, but Christians, so it is with the Jews. When this Age ends, however, God will again begin to deal with Israel nationally. At first there will be a period of terrible persecution, called the time of Jacob’s trouble, and then will come the period of their greatest glory on the earth, when their Messiah reigns in Jerusalem over not only Israel, but over the entire world.
To reiterate, there are yet two more periods of time prophesied in which God will again deal with Israel nationally. Ezekiel teaches us that it will be after they have been scattered amongst the nations for a very long time. Daniel also prophesies a long period of time between the First Advent of the Messiah and the time of the last days. But that Israel will yet enjoy her greatest glory, every conservative theologian agrees. All who interpret the Bible plainly agree that Israel’s greatest period lies in the future, and most agree that it appears to be very near indeed.
So, what is the point? What message are we trying so poorly to get across in this issue of Christian Chronicles? Simply this: The world has embarked upon a journey that will lead it directly into the teeth of that campaign called Armageddon. By setting its affections on everything except God’s chosen people, it is ensuring that the prophecies of the Bible will come to pass. Although the United States appears to be Israel’s greatest friend in the world, we are uniquely responsible for that tiny nation receiving only the merest sliver of land, a miniscule percentage of the land that God gave to Israel. Even today, we are struggling diligently to persuade Israel to give up Zion. We are coercing her to give up the very city where her Messiah shall reign. We pat her on the back, but the hand that pats her wields a knife. Even at that, the world accuses us of being too supportive of her. The world attacks us for being too pro-Israel in our brokerage of Middle East peace. We say proudly that we are Israel’s friend, but we twist the knife with which we stab her. We applauded when Israel surrendered Bethlehem on Christmas Eve, lauding her courage and wisdom.
We are already seeing the signs of the deterioration of U.S./Israeli relations. When we demanded that they withdraw from “Area A,” into which they sent tanks after a Cabinet Minister was assassinated by the Palestinians, the tensions rose between Israel and the U.S. While the U.S. will certainly be instrumental in establishing some sort of tenuous agreement that will be widely perceived as a comprehensive Middle East peace treaty, it will be the United States that breaks that treaty midway through the time of Jacob’s trouble, beginning the greatest persecution of Jews that the world has ever seen. The U.S. will finally succumb to pressure from the rest of the world, seeking to consolidate her power in the world, and will turn on Israel with a raging fury, seeking to drive her finally into the Mediterranean Sea, thereby removing that irritant that she perceives to be the thorn in the side of world peace.
Many conservatives staunchly hold to a centuries-old theory that the nation from which the Antichrist will arise will be a European or a Mediterranean state. Some think that it will be the United Nations. Let it be here proclaimed that such a position does not consider the state of the geo-political stage today. It is clear to all who will see that it is the United States that is brokering the Middle East peace agreement, is the strongest nation the world has ever seen, is respected by all the nations of the world, and alone has the capacity to serve as the dictator-state that the prophecies demand. Daniel 9:27 and many other passages make it apparent that, if we are indeed in the last days of the Church Age, as many, many other signs indicate, then the United States of America must be the state from which the Antichrist will arise. We are the single nation on earth most broadly perceived to be the friend of Israel, we are the only nation to arise from the sands of Europe and become great, and to defeat three of the European states. While this is a controversial statement, it is an unavoidable conclusion to the candid mind. Those who do not hold this view must adhere to a view that includes the sudden and catastrophic collapse of the United States. The position that demands a European beast, or a Mediterranean beast, was formulated before there even was a United States of America, and it made the most sense at the time. It no longer does, and especially in light of the world today. Understand, the nation with the most bullets and the biggest guns and the most money will win the war. But not against God.
The Times of the Gentiles will cease when the Lord Jesus Christ returns to the earth to foil those who would eradicate the Jews. At that time, He will establish a throne in Jerusalem from which He will rule the entire world with a rod of iron. It matters not that Israel will have given away her capital city. He will wrest it from the Palestinians and return it to the Jews. Furthermore, He will utterly ruin those nations that were so bold as to partition the land that He gave to His chosen people. The nations of the earth may today feel confident in their power to make tiny Israel surrender land for peace, but they do not reckon that they are facing, not that tiny nation, but the great God of the universe, who not only predicted what is happening, but also wrote an outcome that is very, very different from that which the world expects to come to pass. Let the peacemakers pontificate on their wisdom. Real wisdom lies in an understanding of the Word of God.
God's Love & Anger Toward the Jews
"O Jerusalem,
Jerusalem,
the one who kills the
prophets
and stones those who are sent to her!
How often
I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her
wings, but you were not willing!
See! Your house is left to you desolate;
for I say to you,
you shall see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed is He who comes
in the name of the LORD!'"
(Mt 23:37-39)
Let us place those verses in context. Jesus had just finished pronouncing seven woes upon the Scribes and Pharisees, repeatedly calling them hypocrites. He concluded that passage by calling them a brood of vipers. A ringing indictment indeed. After He said those three verses quoted above, He went on to describe the events that would precede His Second Coming (Mt 24-25).
Jesus’ words ring with sadness, a deep, penetrating anguish for His people that surely went to the very roots of His Spirit. Those words, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem!” are reminiscent of David’s anguish over his son Absalom who, in rebellion against his father, perished by that which brought him his greatest glory (2 Sam 18). David cried, “O my son Absalom; my son, my son Absalom; if only I had died in your place! O Absalom my son, my son!" (2 Sam 18:33).
Jesus would die in the place of Israel, just as He would die for the sins of the whole world, but Israel would suffer the retributions described in Mt 24-25 on account of their rejection of their Messiah. When He returns and they see Him coming with those heavenly armies, they will indeed shout, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”
After Jesus had lamented over the hard hearts of Israel, His disciples came to Him to show Him the buildings of the Temple. Strange that they should do so, seeing that He had been ministering to them and others thereabouts off and on for three years. He was surely very familiar with those buildings. But His disciples were led by the Spirit of God to show Him the buildings of the Temple in order that He might say, “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down” (Mt 24:2).
It is often said that this refers to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman Emperor Titus in the year 70 A.D. However, there have been stones left standing down through all the succeeding centuries after Titus’ assault. The Western wall, called the Wailing Wall, is the remains (purportedly) of Solomon’s Temple. Whether or not that is factual, the wall is very ancient, and was part of the landscape of Jerusalem in Jesus’ time. During the tribulation period, however, also known as the time of Jacob’s trouble (Jer 30:7), the destruction will be so great that not a single stone in Jerusalem will be left upon another.
Jesus’ distress when thoughts of the destruction of Jerusalem passed through His mind in that awful moment was acute. His love for both the city and His people isgreat indeed. He would have done anything to persuade His people to turn back to their God, but their hearts were hard. And, while His wrath will be poured out on both Israel and all the world, that wrath is a product of His love. It is a time of punishment, to be sure, but it is a corrective punishment. For many, many Gentiles will be saved during those dark days, as will all of Israel. The eternal punishment that is to afflict the lost of all generations will not begin until a thousand years after the end of the tribulation period. But the tribulation period is designed to cause those who will to turn back to God and acknowledge His sovereignty over that which He has made.
Since we know that the tribulation period is set in motion by the ratification of a comprehensive Middle East peace treaty, and since the world is already in desperate search of just such a treaty, it hardly seems necessary to exhort the Church Age saints to be especially watchful and energetic in their ministries here at the end of the Age. At the same time, however, it appears that the devil is working diligently to divert as many Christians as possible from their labors. Thus do we now exhort you each and all to labor in God’s field today.
The governments of the Middle East are desperate in their search for peace, even as the violence escalates. There can be little doubt that some sort of an accommodation will be reached. There is too much money at stake in future commerce in the region. Besides, Daniel tells us specifically that there will be such a treaty (9:27). All that remains is for Satan to enter into the person who is to be the Antichrist. He will give that individual a plan that will be so wise (apparently) that all the signatory nations will be amazed, and will sign on by acclamation. Before Israel ratifies that treaty, the Church Age saints will be translated, changed from mortal to immortal, and will leave the earth to spend the next seven years in heaven while God pours out His wrath on the earth.
The treaty that will be signed will be for a term of seven years. This will be written into the treaty in order to “give peace a chance.” However, the age-old dispute that has separated the peoples will not be quieted simply because their governments have signed a peace treaty. It will simmer and fester just beneath the surface, and there will be no real peace. The security of all sides will be guaranteed by the nation of the beast, but Israel will be seen as the intransigent party by all the world, even as she is already viewed today. Midway through the seven-year term of the treaty, the nation of the beast will break that treaty, beginning a great assault on the Jews that will make Hitler look like an acolyte.
Yes, there will certainly be a treaty signed, and the greater the effusion of blood in the Middle East, the greater will become the urgency to find a solution. But the treaty will be a false treaty, made for the sake of commerce, more or less forced upon all sides by the nation who is the primary broker in the negotiations. There will not be real peace in the Middle East till the King of kings establishes His throne in Jerusalem. Then there will be real peace. Until that glad Day, men will exult in their own wisdom, the wisdom of this world.
Centuries before God gave Moses the Law, He entered into a covenant with Abraham, from whom Moses was descended through Levi, one of the twelve sons of Jacob. God told Abram to leave his native land and to go to a land that He would show him. Then He said, “And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed” (Gen 12:2-3). God went on to say later, “Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever…” (Gen 13:14-15).
Generations later, hundreds of years later, God led the Jews out of Egypt at the hand of Moses. He called Moses up onto Mount Sinai and gave him the Law. That was another covenant, different in character from the covenant He entered into with Abraham. The Mosaic Covenant was conditional. If the Jews obeyed the Law, they would be blessed. If they did not obey the Law, they would not be blessed, but many trials and chastenings would befall them. This is most clearly seen in Deuteronomy, Chapter 29. In verses 9-15, God lays out the blessings that will flow to Israel if they obey. In verses 15-29, God lays out the tragedies that will come upon Israel if they should disobey His Law.
In the Mosaic Covenant, God said, “If you do, then I will…” In the Abrahamic Covenant, He said simply, “I will…” There was no condition that qualified the promises that God made to Abraham. Neither, in God’s pronouncements of the curses with which He would strike Israel in relation to the Mosaic Covenant, was any reference made to their being altogether cast aside, so that the earlier promises to Abraham would be abrogated. The Mosaic Covenant was conditional; the Abrahamic Covenant was unconditional. It would be impossible for God, who cannot lie, to break His unconditional promise to Israel, made while that nation was still in the loins of its father, Abraham.
The center article (God's Chosen People) of this issue of Christian Chronicles makes a rather bold prediction concerning the nation from which the Antichrist is to arise. While we believe it to be a reasonable and a true statement, we wish to point out that no one can be absolutely dogmatic in any position that they hold in reference to that point of doctrine. However, we believe that no other accepted position on the nation of the beast makes nearly as much sense, given the geo-political stage today. For a deeper exposition of this position, see: http://www.webgrace.net/beast.html. If you have comments, send them via email or to the postal address at the right of this page.
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