THE ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION

The Lord Jesus Christ first gave a clue about the abomination of desolation in Luke 21:20 thus, 'And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.' When Jerusalem is surrounded by enemy forces, the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet (Dan 11: 31; 12: 11) will be near (nigh), but not yet occur. In Matthew 24:15, it was recorded that the abomination of desolution was standing in the holy place - meaning that this had already happened at a later point in time than that stated in Luke 21:20 - and it is God's intention that those who read this prophecy understand its meaning (whoso readeth, let him understand). Similar statement was recorded in Mark 13:14 for emphasis - thus indicating its importance. Once the abomination of desolution is in the holy place - the holy temple in Jerusalem - that is the signal for God's people to flee from the imminent Great Tribulation to a place of safety!

History bores out that there was a former type of the abomination of desolation that took place during the time of Antiochus IV - the king of the north prophesied in Daniel 8:11 which is a type of an end-time civil ruler that embodies the Beast system. In 167 B.C. the evil Antiochus Epiphanes destroyed the holy temple in Jerusalem, took away the daily sacrifice of the Jewish people and even poured swine's blood on the altar, defiling the holy place. As Bible prophecy is dual, a latter type of such end-time civil ruler will appear on the world's stage at the close of the church age (Dan 11:31). The true church of God has been warned to watch and pray as events begin to unfold (Luke 21:36).

The man used by Satan that started the deception was Simon Magus - the sorcerer mentioned in Acts chapter 8. This Samaritan was a formidable magician who founded the sect known as Simonians and deceived the multitudes. A statue was erected in the Tiber River to honor him as god. To many of his followers, he was also known as Jupiter. Such is the Babylon Mystery Religion  (Rev 17:5) that God condemns.

Some time ago, it was reported that a bronze statue of the pagan god Jupiter reappeared in Rome, apparently recast as one of Christ's chosen disciples. It could well happened again that another statue could resemble the end-time civil ruler who will challenge the religious system of the Jews in Jerusalem. That could well be the abomination of desolation prophesied to appear in the holy temple in Jerusalem. While a rebuilt physical Jewish temple may not be necessary, something of the old religious order may have to be restarted for the abomination to take place.

The False Prophet together with the Beast will deceive millions of worshippers into submitting to their control, possibly even with signs and wonders invoked from the evil powers that be. God told the prophet Ezekiel to prophesy of the False Prophet who wanted to take the place of Him thus, 'Son of man, say unto the prince of Ty'rus, because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas, yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God.' - Ezekiel 28:2. The masses who are so ignorant of the true teachings of the Bible will be deceived to even follow their command to fight the true Christ when He returns!




 

THE CONCEPT OF HELL

Most Christians were taught in Sunday School about the concept of hell and hell fire, believing that all unbelievers will go to hell and be burning there for all eternity. But Scripture is clear that the wages of sin is death, not eternal life of torment in hell fire. If that is so, the Bible will be unequivocal in what it says and says what it means. This is another man-made doctrine and idea that has its root from paganism - most notably from Greek philosopher like Plato and Roman poet Virgil. In fact, the concept of hell and eternal torment in hell was popularised by a Christian writer and poet named Dante Alighieri (1265-1321 AD) in his work titled Divine Comedy.

The concept of hell and eternal torment in hell is derived from the wrong concept that all human being has an immortal soul. Accordingly, when a sinner dies, his or her immortal soul will live on in hell to experience eternal torment forever. But the Bible teaches no such thing. What the Bible actually teaches is that man does not possess an immortal soul - for man is an immortal soul. Genesis 2:7 states thus, ' And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.'  This verse does not state that men possess souls, but that men are souls! Following on in verse 17, ' But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.'  The prophet Ezekiel wrote the death of soul thus, 'The soul that sinneth, it shall die.' - 18:4,20. This means that the soul can die, and will die due to sin - not an immortal soul as countless millions were made to believe!

Lest the readers be quick to conclude that these are Old Testament concepts, the Lord Christ affirmed the same in Matthew 10:28 thus, 'And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.'  Christ was stating that the physical body is destroyed at death - no matter what the cause, whether natural, through accident or even if blown to smithereens - but only God can destroy the soul in hell at death. The Apostle Peter also reinforced this truth in Acts 2: 29 and 34 stating that 'David...is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day...For David did not ascend into the heavens'

Solomon penned Ecclesiastes with this clear understanding that when men and animals die, they return to the dust of the earth without any life or consciousness of anything (Eccl 3:19-20; 9:5). Similarly, David addressed this in his Psalms, 'For in death there is no rememberance of thee:in the grave who shall give thee thanks?' - Psalms 6:5. ' The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence.' - Psalms 115:17. 'His breath goeth forth, he returned to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.' - Psalms 146:4.

Chew on what the Lord Christ instructed His disciples about this subject, 'Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming in the which ALL that are at the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.' - John 5:28-29. The Lord Christ was instructing His disciples not to marvel at the truth that all who were dead are 'resting in the graves - rest in peace (RIP)'.  Many then, as of now, will find it hard to believe the very words of Christ when told the truth that only resurrection will bring all the dead to life! Till then when Christ returns, all the dead - including all the patriarchs and matriarchs of faith - were and are still resting in the graves awaiting resurrection. They have yet to receive the promise and hope of eternal life (Hebrews 11:13).That is why Christ instructed His disciples to watch and pray for when the time of His return looms near, their redemption draws near too (Luke 21:28).

Many Christians can quote verbatim John 3:16, but only few understands what it really means. 'For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.' Those who receive salvation will not perish but have eternal life. If the lost are destined for eternal torture, they too have eternal life in hell, but nowhere does the Bible teaches such thing! The Apostle Paul instructs in 1 Corinthians 15:51-54 that all true believers (he used the term 'we') 'shall be changed' from mortal to immortality through the resurrection. If all men already possess an immortal soul, then why is there a need to change from mortality to immortality, when death is swallowed up in victory?

The word hell is translated from 'sheol' in Old Testament and 'hades ' in the New Testament. Simply stated, it refers to the grave where all the dead goes, irrespective of religious affiliation. Only in 2 Peter 2:4 is the word hell refers to 'tartaros' - a place of restraint reserved for some of the fallen angels. Many are troubled by Christ's teaching in Mark 9:43-48 about the term 'hell', when He was referring to Gehenna - a deep gorge on the outskirt of Jerusalem which acts as a large refuse dump that burnt up everything thrown into it, including human corpses. Those corpses that fail to make its way down to the burining furnace, but lodged on the ledge of the gorge will be consumed by maggots.

In Matthew 5:22, the Lord Christ refers to 'hell fire' - meaning the lake of fire which is the ultimate furnace where everything wicked and evil will be burnt to ashes (Malachi 4:1). It symbolises the final place of punishment, not punishing. John the Baptist introduced Christ as the One who will come to baptise the true disciples ('you') with the Holy Spirit and the wicked with hell fire ( Matthew 3:11) - at the lake of fire. A loving and merciful God will put the wicked out of their misery at the lake of fire to be totally annihilated with no possibility of resurrection - the second death (Rev 20:14-15)!