Blood Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 No, this isn't just some lunatic fringe group with 50 members like Westboro. Rather, this is a pastor at a mainstream Baptist mega-church in Dallas with 11,000 members. http://www.religionnews.com/2014/01/08/pastor-obama-paving-way-antichrist/?ref=leaderboard (RNS) Already no stranger to controversy, the Rev. Robert Jeffress, a Dallas megachurch pastor, is coming out with a book that claims President Barack Obama is clearing the way for the Antichrist. Jeffress, head of the 11,000-member First Baptist Church of Dallas, writes in his book “Perfect Ending” that he does not believe Obama is the Antichrist, yet he links Obama’s support of gay marriage to the coming of the Antichrist. Many Christians believe Jesus’ Second Coming will feature a confrontation with an enemy called the Antichrist, based on interpretation of passages 1 John and 2 John. “While I am not suggesting that President Obama is the Antichrist, the fact that he was able to propose such a sweeping change in God’s law and still win reelection by a comfortable margin illustrates how a future world leader will be able to oppose God’s laws without any repercussions.” “It is foolish to try to identify the Antichrist, but what we can do is see how what is happening now is paving the way for what may come in 10 years or may come in 1,000 years,” he said. My favorite part is how foolish it would be to try to identify the Antichrist. But not at all foolish to identify someone "paving the way" for the Antichrist. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
disillusioned Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pawn Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 What an asshat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
midniterider Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 No, this isn't just some lunatic fringe group with 50 members like Westboro. Rather, this is a pastor at a mainstream Baptist mega-church in Dallas with 11,000 members. http://www.religionnews.com/2014/01/08/pastor-obama-paving-way-antichrist/?ref=leaderboard (RNS) Already no stranger to controversy, the Rev. Robert Jeffress, a Dallas megachurch pastor, is coming out with a book that claims President Barack Obama is clearing the way for the Antichrist. Jeffress, head of the 11,000-member First Baptist Church of Dallas, writes in his book “Perfect Ending” that he does not believe Obama is the Antichrist, yet he links Obama’s support of gay marriage to the coming of the Antichrist. Many Christians believe Jesus’ Second Coming will feature a confrontation with an enemy called the Antichrist, based on interpretation of passages 1 John and 2 John. “While I am not suggesting that President Obama is the Antichrist, the fact that he was able to propose such a sweeping change in God’s law and still win reelection by a comfortable margin illustrates how a future world leader will be able to oppose God’s laws without any repercussions.” “It is foolish to try to identify the Antichrist, but what we can do is see how what is happening now is paving the way for what may come in 10 years or may come in 1,000 years,” he said. My favorite part is how foolish it would be to try to identify the Antichrist. But not at all foolish to identify someone "paving the way" for the Antichrist. That's his escape clause. Can't say Obama is 'for sure' the anti-christ, but he could be one of Satan's minions. "Now, when all 11,000 members of this fine congregation go home via their fine SUV and pull some fine food out of their fine refrigerator that they bought at one of many fine and convenient grocery stores , and click the thermostat up just a notch to a comfortable temperature, remember this: Murica is in horrible shape!" 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
midniterider Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 No, this isn't just some lunatic fringe group with 50 members like Westboro. Rather, this is a pastor at a mainstream Baptist mega-church in Dallas with 11,000 members. http://www.religionnews.com/2014/01/08/pastor-obama-paving-way-antichrist/?ref=leaderboard (RNS) Already no stranger to controversy, the Rev. Robert Jeffress, a Dallas megachurch pastor, is coming out with a book that claims President Barack Obama is clearing the way for the Antichrist. Jeffress, head of the 11,000-member First Baptist Church of Dallas, writes in his book “Perfect Ending” that he does not believe Obama is the Antichrist, yet he links Obama’s support of gay marriage to the coming of the Antichrist. Many Christians believe Jesus’ Second Coming will feature a confrontation with an enemy called the Antichrist, based on interpretation of passages 1 John and 2 John. “While I am not suggesting that President Obama is the Antichrist, the fact that he was able to propose such a sweeping change in God’s law and still win reelection by a comfortable margin illustrates how a future world leader will be able to oppose God’s laws without any repercussions.” “It is foolish to try to identify the Antichrist, but what we can do is see how what is happening now is paving the way for what may come in 10 years or may come in 1,000 years,” he said. My favorite part is how foolish it would be to try to identify the Antichrist. But not at all foolish to identify someone "paving the way" for the Antichrist. This guy sounds sounds like he isn't looking forward to the second coming of Christ and the end of the world when the faithful will be taken to heaven and live happily ever after. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bhim Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 Oh, I'm not surprised that a "mainstream" evangelical pastor would say this. That's because mainstream evangelical Christianity is extreme. We're talking about people who believe that those who aren't evangelicals will go to an eternal hell. Compared to that, simple belief that President Obama is the anti-Christ isn't so bad, is it? When I was a Christian, lots of people at my church thought similarly. No one would ever say "you should vote Republican" from the pulpit. But pretty much everyone I talked to hated the President. What I find hypocritical here is that their Bible itself says to pray for kings (which everyone agrees translates to today's elected officials) and to give honor to whom honor is owed. Yet evangelicals pretty much unanimously disparage President Obama. I remember that during the Bush administration, evangelicals used to talk regularly about "supporting our President." Hell, I even found one lady on ChristianForums.com who had this as one of her interests in her profile. As much as I hate Republicans, even today after having left Christianity I still refer to President Obama's predecessor as "the President" or "President Bush." In fact I actively try to avoid disrespecting him, since for all his terrible policies he was nonetheless the democratically-elected leader of the free world for eight years. I don't need a bible to tell me that I should respect the office of the Presidency even when I don't like the person in the Oval Office. The Bible specifically instructs Christians to honor a person who would - according to the Christian version of history - execute two of their apostles and enact widespread persecution of Christians. Paul wrote this before Nero's alleged persecution of Christians, and Peter did so during said persecution. Instead we have Christians whining because President Obama personally supports gay marriage, and despite the fact that he hasn't solicited Congress to pass any legislation on the topic. I do not personally even care one way or another about gay marriage, and I must say that I regard this Christian behavior as grossly hypocritical. In effect, Christians honestly think that support for gay marriage is a cause for disparaging national leaders when (alleged) mass execution of Christians is not. Further evidence that the blood of Christ is impotent to change a person's heart. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slave2six Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 They said Reagan was the Antichrist (each of his first, middle and last names contained 6 letters!!!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pratt Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 10 years or 1000 years? what a cop out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwc Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 Some guy of Somewhere was also accused of this same basic thing at many times over the past couple thousand years or so. Not only did it scare a bunch of naive people but it usually tended to ruin, if not end, some guy's life, while never having any sort of anti-christ turn up. mwc 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
★ Citsonga ★ Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 Whew! And here I thought Obama WAS the Antichrist! j/k 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miekko Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 As a slight digression, has any preacher ever publicly acknowledged being wrong on who the antichrist is even after it's become painfully obvious the person he accused neither was nor could have been the antichrist? I find this question particularly interesting since it indicates lots of preachers are entirely ok with witnessing falsely - that is, witnessing that they know someone to be the antichrist even when it's clear they do not possess that knowledge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texmex2003 Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 Also, remember back in the 80s that Gorbachov was the Antichrist. He had "the Mark of the Beast" on his forehead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geezer Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 Rev. Robert Jeffress is a Christian fundamental bible literalist. I would call him mainstream only in the sense that he espouses typical Christian extreme fundamentalist mainstream dogma. I suppose another way of categorizing him would be to label him a religious kook and proably a financially successful one ta boot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bhim Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 As a slight digression, has any preacher ever publicly acknowledged being wrong on who the antichrist is even after it's become painfully obvious the person he accused neither was nor could have been the antichrist? I find this question particularly interesting since it indicates lots of preachers are entirely ok with witnessing falsely - that is, witnessing that they know someone to be the antichrist even when it's clear they do not possess that knowledge. Harold Camping (owner of Family Radio, a Christian station) predicted that the rapture would occur in May 2011. When it didn't happen, he did admit by October that he was wrong. He died last month, btw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deva Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 Didn't Hal Lindsey predict the rapture/tribulation/end of the world in the 1980s? I remember a book on that subject, it was either by Hal or one of his fellow end-times nut friends. It had a picture of a gas gauge pointing to "empty" on the cover. Still waiting. Hasn't happened and I have every reason to believe it will never happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deva Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 Also, remember back in the 80s that Gorbachov was the Antichrist. He had "the Mark of the Beast" on his forehead. Yes, and during the cold war Russia was identified with "Magog" and they were going to attack Israel any second, on horseback! I am living proof that once read, this crap never leaves the brain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miekko Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 As a slight digression, has any preacher ever publicly acknowledged being wrong on who the antichrist is even after it's become painfully obvious the person he accused neither was nor could have been the antichrist? I find this question particularly interesting since it indicates lots of preachers are entirely ok with witnessing falsely - that is, witnessing that they know someone to be the antichrist even when it's clear they do not possess that knowledge. Harold Camping (owner of Family Radio, a Christian station) predicted that the rapture would occur in May 2011. When it didn't happen, he did admit by October that he was wrong. He died last month, btw. He didn't accuse anyone of being the antichrist, though, iirc? Or did he? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bhim Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 He didn't accuse anyone of being the antichrist, though, iirc? Or did he? No, not that I know of. IIRC, his prediction was based on a "calculation" he did (perhaps using the Book of Daniel). Camping was an interesting fellow though, because on the surface, he actually sounded rather sane. I used to listen to him on the radio when I was a Christian. I took what he said with a grain of salt, because in evangelical circles he was regarded as a heretic for claiming that the "Church Age" had ended and that people should not belong to churches any longer. Really the only reason that I and other friends from my church listened to his station was because they would play hymns (something that people of an intellectual bent miss when attending contemporary services). Sometimes the hymns would be interrupted by one of his predictive messages. He stated that he wasn't a prophet, and that his predictions were his best attempts at making extrapolations based on scripture. Really it's a brilliant tactical move. Do not take up the mantle of prophet, and you can say whatever you want without fear of judgment. Humility is the best way to win over most Christians, even if it's feigned humility. Alas, being a true believer he went and alienated himself from other Christians by spreading these unpopular ideas about the end of the church age. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Positivist Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 I think Xianity requires these fear tactics like sheep need wolves to circle and herd. I feel so abused by these scare tactics that were employed (with some success) in my lifetime as a believer. We were always waiting for the 'other shoe to drop' and be whisked away and executed for being Xians. It's abuse, through and through. It's like they strategically throw out these morsels of fear, suspicion and panic to keep the flock in line. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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