Getting Hassled By Pakistan

I value the colonel's article very much and actively seek them out every week.

Keep up the great work, colonel! Your articles keep me thinking.

Please know that a purple heart and a bronze star don't instill in you common sense, nor do they license your ignorance.

The only ignorance on display here, Joe, is your own.

Both colonels,

I suspect a short-term (3-5 years) answer to the current dilemmas facing Afghanistan and Pakistan is a nonviolent military coup d'état in BOTH countries.

As you surely know, constitutional law is the regulator of rights in peacetime. Yet neither Afghanistan nor Pakistan is at peace. They are under siege by immanent, violent and enduring forces that threaten law and order and the collective rights secured by their respective constitutions.

A military dictatorship is the fastest track to change, but are there viable candidates who can act in the best interest of their peoples? For Afghanistan I do not know. For Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf may be an option.

Musharraf made progress in normalizing relations with India, demonstrating that Pakistan and India CAN work together.

Marx and Engels wrote about many topics, including the identity of the one whose number is 666. Using their formidable scientific and philosophical prowess they concluded 666 signifies "Neron Kesar", the Greek transliteration of Nero Caesar.

http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/subject/religion/book-revelations.htm

Marx and Engels summarize their preterist interpretation as follows:

"The mysterious book [of Revelation], then, is now perfectly clear. 'John' predicts the return of Nero for about the year 70, and a reign of terror under him which is to last forty-two months, or 1,260 days. After that term God arises, vanquishes Nero, the antichrist, destroys the great city by fire, and binds the devil for a thousand years. The millennium begins, and so forth. All this now has lost all interest, except for ignorant persons who may still try to calculate the day of the last judgment. But as an authentic picture of almost primitive Christianity, drawn by one of themselves, the book is worth more than all the rest of the New Testament put together."

While preterism is one plausible view of Revelation, it is not the whole view. The book itself predicts a second application at some date future to the time and context of the first common century, when the book was written. See chapter 10.

A Mighty Angel instructs John he must prophesy AGAIN; i.e., after the publication of a "little book" that evidently instills hope in those who receive it, as symbolized by the figures of the rainbow and honey. Ironically, for the latter-day "John", the experience is bitter! This book appears to be as revolutionizing in its influence as was Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" in ending slavery, which you recognize.

A name and title can be used interchangeably (Revelation 19:16), so it is feasible a latter-day "John" having any name could use "Neron Kesar" as a title and thus be a candidate for the 666 figure. But 666 is just one of numerous criteria for a latter-day savior. My interpretation of the Antichrist as a savior rather than an usurper is contrary to nearly 2,000 years of exegesis. To my knowledge, I am the only person in the present world advocating this thesis, which is rooted in two assumptions:

1. The Scriptures of of Judaism and Christianity anticipate complimentary Dual Messiahs rather than a solitary messiah; and,

2. The translations of modern versions of the Bible are biased in favor of the assumption of a single messiah.

The failure to recognize these two assumptions has steered salvific history off-course, resulting in unnecessary and horrific conflict, told and untold.

Dual Messiahs is not a new concept. Hassidic Jews have shown how it runs like a theme throughout biblical history:

http://www.chabad.org/parshah/article_cdo/aid/65485/jewish/Joseph-His-Brothers.htm

But while Dual Messiahs is not new it is a lost teaching among Christians, who have embraced Jesus Christ as the sole messiah. Consequently, passages dealing with the Antichrist in the Christian canon have been construed to portray him (or her) as an impostor messiah.

The situation was further aggravated by the Protestant Reformation. The Protestant King James I of England published his version of the Bible in 1611, during a period in history when the dominant view among Protestants was that the pope was the Antichrist. I have no doubt translations of passages such as 2 Thessalonians 2 and Revelation 13 reflect anti-papal sentiments.

What really is at stake as evinced by the colonel's article is a regional conflict that spreads and ignites WWIII. This is why I write what I do here. Religion is the ultimate key, but perhaps not the religion to which people are accustomed.

. . . just another alternative.

Martin Luther did not like the fact the primary theme of Revelation is not the doctrine of Justification by Faith. The book was adopted into the New Testament canon over one thousand years before the Reformation because it was purportedly written by the Apostle John, who was an eye-witness to Jesus Christ, the same John who wrote the Gospel that bears his name.

If not for Martin Luther, there would have been no Reformation. If not for the Reformation, there would have been no Protestantism. If not for Protestantism, there would have been no Protestant United States of America. If not for the Protestant United States, there would be no Antichrist, who alone holds the solutions to the world's biggest problems.

The various Movements of History have contributed to the grand climax, as though by intelligent design. The actors of history have faithfully played their parts never being fully aware of their impact on the grand scheme. History advancing toward this controlled climax is the theme of Revelation; the End is not destruction, rather it is ultimate salvation in the earthly Kingdom of God.

Martin Luther did not like Revelation because he could not understand it. But it was not intended he should understand it. Revelation is NOT about Jesus Christ. In chapter 1, verse 1 we read Revelation was given BY Jesus Christ. It is His last will and testament to the Other Messiah who would follow Jesus in point of time. In chapter 5, verse 9 we learn the Antichrist Lamb alone prevails to open the scroll; i.e., the last will and testament of Jesus, who is depicted as the Lion of Judah. The Antichrist Lamb prevails because he has a familial right. He like Jesus before him is messianic. The Antichrist Lamb alone understands Revelation because it is his biography.

People these days are struggling in vain for solutions. They are calling for a savior. Some reputable journalists have even publicly written, "Is Barack Obama the One?" A wise president would bring all resources to bear upon solving the problems of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Military and money are not sufficient.

Neron, do you see Barack Obama as a competitor to your holiness in the anti-christ roll

I make no claims. Regarding Barack Obama, I think this passage lays to rest the notion that a politician can be a messiah:

"Jesus called them [unto him], and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many" (Matthew 20:25-28).

How does Barack Obama measure against this passage:

"[H]e hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, [there is] no beauty that we should desire him" (Isaiah 53:2).

Or:

"He was . . . [O]ne who hides his face from us" (Isaiah 53:3, ESV, footnote).

The first biblical messiah was Jesus Christ, who appeared on schedule according to the time prophecy of Daniel 9:24-27. We should anticipate one more messiah, not a combination of two modern individuals. Jesus ingathered the Gentiles; the latter-day messiah is supposed to complete the plan of salvation by restoring messianic Israel. This latter event is the primary theme of Revelation. This is evident from the similarities between Revelation and Exodus, such as the plagues.

According to Revelation 13, a second beast with two horns acts as the enforcer of the Antichrist, leading to the creation of messianic Israel that is made after the image of the Antichrist messiah. This image begins with the restoration of the Jewish Temple in the first part of chapter 14. The role of the American presidency and military is that of enforcer.

I have no opinion regarding the year 2012.