Thus Shall It Be Part 6: Return of the Nephilim

I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things. – Daniel 7:8

As I revisit this topic tonight, I can’t help but be amazed at the point that our world has come to.  On this day, in the U.S. Congress, the world witnessed the leader of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, pleading with members of the House and the Senate to stop what threatens to be another Holocaust of the Jewish people in the form of an Iranian regime armed with nuclear weapons.  Many cheered the great stateman, as they took a stand solidly for Israel; yet, others, on both sides of the aisle. appeared tempered in their applause – sometimes not showing agreement at all.  It was as if one could see the wheels turning “how will this look to my constituents?  to the leadership? ”  WHO CARES YOU MORONS!  THIS IS LIFE OR DEATH! SHOW SOME CONCERN!!!!

Congressional reaction aside, one can not help but notice in this time of terroristic threat – the message that seems to sell the most is peace.  Peace.  What we won’t do for peace!  Oh, perhaps if we play nicey nice to the Ayatollah, he will play nicey nice with us and we can have peace.  This indeed seems to be Mr. Obama’s key foreign policy approach.  If it shows an inclination towards terror – try to placate it.  Don’t go out too strong against it.  Oh, sanction it maybe but work with it.  Negotiate with it.  Surely, it is misunderstood.  You know, maybe it just needs a nice jobs program and it will get over its bad attitude.

But, Mr. Obama will not succeed and in all likelihood neither will Bibi Netanyahu – because bad guys are always going to be bad guys and one day soon Iran will attack Israel.  Ezekiel 38 tells us that.  And, she will come with a band of other marauders on the mountains of Israel in hopes of taking a spoil.  Ominously missing are a few key nations – Syria for one.  Israel’s historic enemy is nowhere to be seen?  Did Isaiah 17 happen?  That’s what I would presume.  But also missing is the U.S. and her allied nations.  Maybe the young lions are the US (as I think they are) – but where is Israel’s friend?  where is Israel’s big brother?  Reduced.  Reduced to a mere diplomatic protest.  “Have you come to take a spoil?”  Neutered.  Superpower no more.

And so, Israel will go it alone – at least amongst the nations.  Oh – but she is not alone!!!  She is never alone!  For the God of Israel is not dead nor does He sleep.  He sees. And, He will avenge!  There is a day where all this threatening of Israel will taken care of – quite decisively – and the world will know that the Lord is God.  And the princes of Persia and all who ally themselves against Israel will have a very very bad day.

But then what?  Well – peace.  Peace on every hand.  Israel’s enemies destroyed, she will rest in peace – but it is only illusory. For though she has witnessed the defeat of one historic enemy she will be faced with another more powerful and evil than has ever been witnessed – and she will pay a horrible horrible price for her trust in him.  Great will be the tears in Israel in that day.  And yet, she will not be utterly destroyed.  For 1/3 of all Israel will survive and witness the appearance of her Messiah.  And she will look upon Him whom she has pierced and she will mourn.  Yet, he will wipe away her tears and embrace her fully and she shall be His people and He will be her God and we will be brothers and sisters with the remnant of Israel forevermore. Praise the Lord!  I pray all people reading this blog will be there as well.

Until that time, however, the world is going to go through Hell – quite literally.

This time of longing for peace will be met by a man who promises peace.  And the people will follow him.  Or at least, they will follow his image.

Here is what I think could be a possible scenario of what is coming down the pike.  It ties quite nicely in with everything we have learned thus far.  And, it may be a little paradigm shifting for some.  But, here is what I think might occur.

The AntiChrist will arise from somewhere in the Middle Eastern/Mediterranean realm.  How do I know this?  Well, from Scripture.  Revelation 17:10-11  says:

And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.

John was writing this sometime around 90 AD while exiled on Patmos during the Roman Empire.  From his perspective, there were 5 great world empires that had already fallen.  Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Greece.  The one that ‘is’ would be Rome.  And then, there would be another yet to come. This empire would continue just a short time before the 8th kingdom would arise – that of the AntiChrist.  And where would he hail from?  The Bible is not specific as to country of origin; but it does say he is of the other 7.

So, in my simple mind, all I need to do is look at where all the empires intersect and I will have a general region from whence the antiChrist has his origin.  I have illustrated that area on the following map:

So, assuming that is right, it appears he’s from a very narrow tract of area that encompassed parts of all the major world empires.  That he is called the Assyrian may imply he is from the area from Southern Turkey through Syria as well.  And that he is a “little horn” seems to say he doesn’t come on the stage as a major world player.  Do I know who he is?  I would not make that claim, though people I respect have noted several interesting candidates – the time of his revelation is yet future.  Still, I think we can rule some folks out.

What happens once he is in power will prove interesting.  First, it appears he wipes out 3 other kings somehow and he comes in as both the peacemaker and the conqueror. Kinda reminds me of Hitler.  All the while making treaties in an effort to expand his domain.  Throngs will flock to him, ignoring Scripture, and will love him.  And tiny Israel will make a deal with him as well.  Possibly in exchange for rebuilding their temple, they will sign onto his covenant and most will believe peace has finally come.  Then, sudden destruction.

At some point during his reign, it looks like he suffers a deadly head wound and that wound is healed.  Miracle?  False sign and wonder is more like it because only God can give life.  But the sign will be convincing.  What could possibly cause all of the world to buy into this false miracle? I believe we have a possible clue again in the pages of Scripture.

Our Opening passage says : I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things. – Daniel 7:8

His eyes were like the eyes of a man – but it doesn’t say they were the eyes of a man.

Going to a parallel passage in Revelation 13, we see the AntiChrist again through verse 10 and then starting in verse 11 we read:

What is going on here?  We have the beast.  He has received a deadly head wound.  Presumed a gonner, the wound is healed and he is revealed as the blasphemous monster he is.  His eyes are like unto a man but they aren’t the eyes of a man.  To me, there are three possibilities here.  1) They are the eyes of a demon indwelling a man or 2)they are the eyes of a transhumanist robot (i.e., bionic eyes) or most likely – both.

Today, I was looking at more of what DARPA is doing with robotics and they are very active in pursuing robotic consciousness.  They are primed for it even.  In the video they speak of training the robots to do things with an expected end hoping to so train them that the robots will start acting on their own and do things they weren’t expecting.  Since there is an element of the supernatural here, what is to say that a beloved world figure gets a mortal head wound – the false prophet (who is the second beast) orders that experimental transhumanist robotics be reinserted into him to save and meld with the essence of the human being they are about to lose?  Then, with the world looking on, Satan supernaturally empowers him so as to make it appear that the scheme has worked beyond everyone’s wildest dream.  The resulting being would not be the original but would be an image of the original – and all the world would fall down and worship or die.

But there is more, and here comes the tie on the bow.  What if, having seen this transformation from human to superhuman – humanity is sold the promise that they too can be as he is.  They can be as gods?  Take of the forbidden.  Experience immortality.  All..you..need…is a little nano-chip that will reprogram your DNA so as to make you immortal.  Undo the curse.  Fulfill the Genesis 3 promise.  Fulfill the Genesis 6 experiment.  Defeat God.  How many do you think would go for it?

Today, there are many companies in a race to create nanotechnology which will reprogram our DNA to get rid of disease.  Got a cancer gene?  We can fix that.  Degenerative disease?  We will stop and reverse it.  Healthy but want to do more?  We will give you an exoskeleton at first but ultimately we will download your mind and put it in a hardware shell that isn’t so susceptible to thing like death.  You will live forever.  Science fiction?  Well…set your google alerts – it’s real and it’s upon us.

Human beings want to shake off the conscience that God gave them and pursue their own lusts.  It is becoming more an more blatant.  I believe that part of the mark will be the promise of immortality and that it will come very possibly through the kind of experimentation we see today.

Will they succeed?  At first.  God will give them a measure of success so as that they would believe the lie who suppressed the truth in unrighteousness.  And in Revelation 6 when they cry to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb.”  there will be no place to hide.  And when this verse is fulfilled “And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them. (Revelation 9:6).”  It will be God saying “You wanted to live and not die?  You got your wish.”  Their attempt at godhood will be met with God’s scoff and their damnation will be assured.

As iron mixed with clay can not cleave to itself so when “they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.”  Who is they?  The same ones who spawned the Nephilim – returned for a second try at it – but their doom is sure.

And so it shall be.  As in the days of Noah – so shall it be when the Son of God returns.  He will set all things right and He will judge the evil which the world has wrought and forever reign in victory.  Praise His Holy Name!

ADDENDUM:  Shortly after I wrote this article, Drudge Report featured the headline:
Google: Live to be 500Matt Drudge linked to this article about Google’s quest for immortality.  Here it comes!