The devil you know
This is the third of this next lot of Saturday posts, focusing on hell, judgement and the Sabbath in advance of the June issue of The Briefing. First we looked at why good people go to hell and bad people go to heaven. Then JI Packer explained why it is perilous to ignore Satan. This week, Greg Clarke reveals who the antichrist is:
Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us (1 John 2:18).
The latest candidate for the antichrist is Prince Charles. According to the Beastwatch website, HRH The Prince of Wales gives the game away in his coat of arms, which features a leopard (kind of), bear feet (kind of) and the mouth of a lion (well, yes). Check out Revelation 13:2 to see that this makes him the beast, at least. Furthermore, as the eighth ‘Charles’ according to some arcane calculations, he matches the predictions of Revelation 17:9-11 that the beast will be the eighth of a line. And the clincher is that when you add up the numerical assignations of the letters ‘PRINCE CHARLES OF WALES’ you get a certain significant number: 666.
Honorable Reader, this is not the way to understand the Bible. And yet I feel uncomfortable being sarcastic about such foolishness, for there is nothing more damnable than being anti-Christ. It is the thing by which we are all to be judged: “whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him” (John 3:36b).
However, when it comes to the Book of Revelation and the identification of figures such as the Antichrist, the Beast and the False Prophet—which are in different Bible passages single figures, nations or unidentifiable entities—a little cynicism about our poor human attempts at understanding is not out of place. Fantasy and prophetic enthusiasm too easily overtake reality and sober judgement. Let's take the issue of the antichrist as an example.
Read the full article online (846 words).
I don’t think that beastwatch link goes where you think it does, or Greg’s having fun.
Michael Hutton
Thanks for letting us know! I suspect the site Greg was referring to is no longer online. I have removed the link.
Unfortunately for the Prince Charles theory, the designation “PRINCE CHARLES OF WALES” has a numerical value of 1166. You get 666 if you drop the “W” but I’m not sure “PRINCE CHARLES OF ALES” is the same person! (Check this for yourselves here.)
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