Revelation Renewed???

The elections were brought to mind again today as I came across some propaganda questioning Barack Obama's U.S. citizenship. Obviously, no matter who you are supporting in the elections, it is easy to recognize that the video is done by people who do not want Obama to be President and has such a spin on it. Similar propaganda came out about John McCain way back in February by people who obviously don't want him to be president. To me it is very sad when we go after the identity of a person to try and disqualify them or make attacks on a person's family history (which has been done to both candidates) instead of on the merit of their own decisions and platforms (both of which can be rightly called into serious question for both candidates in various areas).




The whole issue got me thinking about a number of the fears I have heard from friends and family about the possibility of us being in the end times. These fears have been expressly connected with fears about Obama being the antichrist, or more mildly, what his possible term in office might unleash in the way of world events. Most of these people are obviously Christians since they are pulling on imagery of the end times found in Revelation, Daniel and some of Jesus' sayings. They also are obvious supporters of McCain along with what seems to be a heavy majority of Evangelical Christians. One piece of irony I have noticed is that according to the claims of Jesus that in the end days there would wars and rumors of wars...I would be more inclined to think that McCain's intentionally hardlined international policy would lead us to the state of affairs in the world that many believe will precede the apocalypse.

What is probably most ironic is that people's understanding of Revelation and application of it to our modern day situation is in many ways undermining the message of the book . The book begins by saying "Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near....and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. " Whoever reads the book (with its original intent I would think) will be blessed by it. This is a far cry from the fear and propaganda it has bred. It goes on to say that Jesus, who is the faithful witness to the prophecies (which is a way of saying that he brings truth to it and validates it) is "ruler of the kings of the earth." I think this is the main message in the book of Revelation and it's original intent for the readers of it's day, that even when things seem dark, even when it seems like the state of the world is so bad that it is the end of the world (such as persecution of all Christians by wicked emperors like Nero or Caligula) that Jesus is king, that his kingdom will reign and that his dreams will be reality. Our trust is extremely misplaced if we think that one person even if she/he is the leader of the "most powerful nation in the world" (which Rome was in it's day too) will thwart the good plans of God for the world because it is his kingdom that reigns, his peace that will rule, his justice that will bring truth.

While I am glad and I think that it is important many Christians have taken a renewed interest in politics, we must also recognize that Jesus truly is the only door to bringing heaven to earth and all political parties, all other candidates fall extremely short (another key message of the book of Revelation...the beast...trying to establish his kingdom...could be...any world leader who tries to establish his own kingdom...or...either...candidate......whoa!!!) It does seem as if the need for the book of Revelation has been renewed, but maybe not in the way that many think.