“Did Yeshua Give us the name of the anti-christ?” – An Odd YouTube Video

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[NOTE: If you find this article interesting, you might also find this one a curiosity: “‘Barak Hussein Obama’ Mentioned in Ancient Manuscript?” Read on…]

Now for those of you who are regular readers of this blog, you know that I do not dive into matters of theology here. I try my best to simply represent issues as they pop up in scholarship and popular culture, and when an issue such as this (which breaches both theology *and* politics… yeesh…) I proceed…

… hesitantly…

The following clip appeared 3 days ago on YouTube, and since has had over 100,000 views:

UPDATE August 28 2014: The original video was taken down years ago, but recently there has been a sudden surge of traffic to this article so I looked about and found that the video was re-uploaded to YouTube and now has over 600,000 hits. Here it is:

I originally decided to shy away from this video clip, but when I saw that Salon.com had picked it up through my news feeds (if anything even mentions “Aramaic” on the Internet, I hear about it), I figured it was in the limelight enough to finally comment.

So here is my analysis, theology and politics 100% removed. This is a look into the actual claims of the video. The following transcript is reproduced under Fair Use Doctrine for the purposes of criticism in a manner consistent with current protections and rulings:

Luke 10:18:
And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning falling from the heavens.

“These words are written in Greek and translated to English; however, Jesus spoke these words originally in Aramaic, which is the most ancient form of Hebrew.

As you know, the Old Testament was written in Hebrew. If a modern Jewish Rabbi were to speak these words of Jesus today, he would speak them in Hebrew, much the same way that Jesus would have spoken them.”


Mistaken Claim: Aramaic is not the most ancient form of Hebrew. Since Hebrew is a Canaanite language, the most ancient form of Hebrew would be Proto-Canaanite. Jesus spoke Old Galilean Aramaic, which is part of the Aramaic language family. Eventually the Canaanite and Aramaic language families date back to Proto-Semitic, but that is certainly beyond the scope of this claim. The two are very different languages.

“So in Hebrew Jesus said that he saw Satan falling ‘as lightning from the heights’ or ‘from the heavens.’

So what are the words for ‘lightning’ and ‘heights’ or ‘heavens’ in Hebrew?

From the Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary word #1299: A primitive root-word meaning ‘to lighten’ or ‘lightning’ or ‘to cast forth’ — the word is “BARAQ”.

In the Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary word #1300: ‘lightning’ or by analogy ‘a gleam, a flashing sword, or a brightness or a glittering’ — the Hebrew word is “Baw-Rawk”

So ‘lightning’ or ‘a flash of light’ in Hebrew is pronounced “ba-rak” or “baw-rawk”


Correct Claim: Baraq [ברק] is the word in Hebrew for ‘lightning.’ In Aramaic, its cognate is also “baraq” [ברק] or “barqa” [ברקא] depending on dialect and context.

Mistaken Claim: Mr. Obama’s first name does not come from the root “baraq” [ברק; bet-rish-qof] but the root “barak” [ברך; bet-rish-kaf] and is a common Semitic name and means “blessed” or “blessing.” To claim that these two words are the same is like saying that “right” and “write” are the same word, as they sound similarly but both come from very different etymology.

Now consider this amazing fact: The Book of Isaiah is the source of the origin of the Christian concept and understanding of Satan or ‘Lucifer’ as Isaiah calls him in chapter 14, especially in verses 12 – 19.


Mistaken Claim: Isaiah does not call Satan ‘Lucifer.’ Latin translations of Isaiah use the name ‘Lucifer’ (which literally means the “morning star” “day star” or the planet Mercury) as a translation of the Hebrew phrase הילל בן־שחר [“hillel ben shakhar” = “morning star, son of dawn”].

In Isaiah chapter 14 verse 14 ‘Lucifer’ or Satan is credited with these words:

“I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.”

In the verses of Isaiah that refer directly to Lucifer, several times it is mentioned that Satan has fallen from ‘the heights’ or from ‘the heavens.’

The Hebrew word used in this text for the ‘heights’ from which Satan fell is Strong’s Hebrew Word 1116, pronounced “Bam-maw.”

Bammaw is most commonly used to refer to a ‘high, sacred place,’ as well as the ‘heights’ to ‘the heavens’ or ‘the clouds.’


Comment: The actual form of the word used in Isaiah 14:14 is במתי [“bamathe”]. Only in its root form is it pronounced “bah-mah.”

Correct Claim: במה [“bamah”] does mean “high place.”

Comment: במה [“bamah”]’s primary meaning is “shrine.” The “High places” mentioned in the King James Version of the Bible describe built-up altars that were used in religious practice throughout Mesopotamia.

Mistaken Claim: במה [“bamah”] does not mean “the Heavens” or “the clouds.”

Comment: “The Heavens” in Hebrew is השמים [“ha-shemayim”] where in Aramaic it is שמיא [“shmaya”].

In Hebrew the letter Waw is often transliterated as a “U” some scholars use the “O” of this transliteration. It is primarily used as a conjunction to join concepts together. So, to join in Hebrew poetry the concept of lightning or ‘baw-rawq’ and the high place or heaven or the heights of heaven, the letter “U” or sometimes “O” the Hebrew letter Waw would be used.

So “Baraq ‘O’ Bam-maw” or “Baraq ‘U’ Bam-maw” in Hebrew poetry similar to the style written in Isaiah would translate literally as, “Lightning and the Heights” or “the Heavens” or “Lightning from the Heights” or “the Skies” or “the Heavens.”


Correct Claim: Waw is used as a conjunction.

Mistaken Claim: Waw, as a conjunction, is never an “O” sound. In Hebrew, as a conjunction it would be pronounced “veh-” “u-” or in Ancient Hebrew “weh-“. In Jesus’ dialect of Aramaic, it would be pronunced “weh-.”

Mistaken Claim: Waw, as a conjunction never means “from.”

Comment: ברק ובמה [“baraq we-bamah” or “baraq u-vamah” due to pronunciation rules] would mean “Lightning and Shrine.”

The word “Satan” is sah-tan in Hebrew; a direct translation.


Correct Claim: שטן [“‘satan”] is the Hebrew and Aramaic word for “Satan.”

So back to Jesus’ prophesy in Luke chapter 10, verse 18. If spoken by by a Jewish Rabbi today, influenced by the poetry of Isaiah, he would say these words in Hebrew, the words of Jesus in Luke chapter 10, verse 18 as:

“And I saw Satan as Baraq u-Bama.”


Mistaken Claim: In light of the previous comments, in Hebrew it would have most likely been ברק מן השמים [baraq min ha-shamayim]. In Aramaic, it would most likely have been in ברקא מן שמיא [barqa min shmaya] or in Galilean Aramaic ברקה מן שמייה [barqa mən shəmayya]. (Update Aug 28 2014)

Did Jesus reveal to us the name of the Antichrist?

I report, you decide.

 


Comment: I believe that in light of the languages in question, that it is clear that this entire argument, theology and politics strictly aside, is based upon several, demonstrably faulty premises.

Peace,
-Steve

PS: This is also ironically, The Aramaic Blog’s 100th post. Can’t say it isn’t spectacular. 🙂

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UPDATE November 2012:
For those of you interested in the dialect of Aramaic that Jesus, himself, spoke I have posted my reconstruction of The Lord’s Prayer in Galilean Aramaic:

The Lord’s Prayer in Galilean Aramaic

=============================

Or if you’re interested in learning the language of Jesus, yourself, be sure to check out:

46 thoughts on ““Did Yeshua Give us the name of the anti-christ?” – An Odd YouTube Video”

  2. Thank you for your informative and learned analysis. I am glad that I remembered to consult the Aramaic Peshitta to verify these claims. One can never be too careful in doing one’s own due diligence when presented with sensational claims.

  6. When I googled “aramaic: lightning” your blog came up first. What a delight!
    As a Christian theologian, whose Hebrew is pretty rusty, I was still taken aback when the video said “Aramaic is the most ancient form of Hebrew.” I knew right then the video-makers were dough-heads. (Not to be confused with doe-heads.)
    Nevertheless, your analysis was spot-on, easy to understand and entertaining.
    Thanks so much!

  8. Actually, from the POV of a lot of us here in New Zealand, Mr Obama’s regime of nationalisation and massive deficit spending is as crazy as the moralising of the fundi-religonists on the right. But that’s just a libertarian speaking…

  9. I am a Pakistani who speaks no Semitic language and I could have told him the difference between Barak and Baraq. Well, we do borrow some words from Arabic, including those two. The Arabic letters the end the words are ك ف

    (qaf and kaf left to right)

    I am so relieved to learn that our President is not the anti-Christ (phew!). But I am also happy to learn that Aramaic and Hebrew also have a the throaty q sound and a letter to go with it. (Qof vs Kaf)

    But the most important question is… what if his mom had really named him Baraq. Voovooo. I think half a Biblical prophecy is enough to impeach a president.

  10. Do you think it could be a remote possibility that Jesus could have said in Aramaic, ” I saw Satan as lightning and shrine.” This would be a comment that would not make much sense. So when being translated as so often happens, the Greek translators may have paraphrased the statement to make sense to themselves. This would be one of many cases of interpretive translation.

  12. It is still ‘possible’ that Jesus did speak it as the video suggests.
    Translating from one language to another will have some pronunciation differences like Yeshua/Joshua/Jesus or Usama/Osama bin laden and maybe even Ubama/Obama, but the meaning is the same. Also the primary definition of a word isn’t always the one used; e.g., I find most of these responses to be queer postings. This also is why puns work so well.

  13. Addressing the Anonymous-es,

    Two metaphors to think these problems through with:

    “Heights” (bamot) and heavens (shamayim) are not synonyms. The two words are as different as “shrine” and “atmosphere” are in English.

    It is still ‘possible’ that Jesus did speak it as the video suggests with the same ‘possibility’ that someone would natively pronounce the name “Obama” as “Va-va-VOOM-ah.” 🙂 Linguistically it is so improbable, that this “possibility” is not really an honest one. The circumstances would have had to be so extraordinary and inconsistent with everything we know about the language.

    Hope this puts things into perspective,
    -Steve

  14. Steve, I appreciate your knowledge on Aramaic, but you are over-Aramaicizing the situation. There is a 1/3 chance he spoke those words in Greek, 1/3 in Hebrew, 1/3 Aramaic. He also could have spoke in Greek than switched to Hebrew for the important phrasing. Much like saying “I motion to file a writ of habeaus corpus”

    You are basically starting off with the belief that god doesn’t exist and that Jesus spoke only in Aramaic. This is an incredibly bold assumption. You then work backwards.

  15. bjgeier,

    Fascinating comments. 🙂

    I must admit that I am curious as to how I am “over-Aramaicizing the situation” as the point of this post was to directly address the claims of Hebrew possibilities (which is what this video argues from), as well as discuss Aramaic possibilities beside them as they are very relevant.

    As such, I must also mention that a 1/3-1/3-1/3 split in probability is not what is espoused in the majority of accepted modern theories. Most modern scholars believe that Jesus spoke mainly in Aramaic with some Hebrew and some Greek. The ratios are a little up to debate, but his primary language (when we’re talking about majority, accepted view in modern scholarship) is not.

    At the same time I must also point out, that the claims of vocabulary in this video do not hold up to scrutiny in any of the three aforementioned languages or in any combination, so “switching” (as you put it) would be moot. (This is also not to speak of the reams of research regarding loan-words in all three languages as well which would equally not support such an idea.)

    Now in closing: This is truly the cusp of where I will draw the lines about debating theology on this blog. This blog is not for theology, it is for Aramaic studies of whatever stripe, nothing more.

    However, with that said, I still must point out that you have apparently accused me of atheism.

    I find that to be an “incredibly bold assumption,” as 1) I cannot fathom how one could arrive at such a conclusion from what I have written and 2) I do not espouse to that belief. In short, you are mistaken.

    It also appears that, in looking over the total substance of your comment, that the rest of your criticisms have merely followed in suit. 🙂

    Peace,
    -Steve

  16. I have lived throughout my life in different cultures and countries…more than once I would say something in English and it would sound like something else to them in their language.sometimes embarrassing…..Like Hamas sounding like the the Hebrew word that means “to steal with violence.” or ‘one who takes what is not his with violence’…anyway that is how I viewed this …interesting …not exact translation..Barak meaning Blessing or lightning would have to be understood in context.they sound a whole lot alike and lets figure these words are transliterated ..a lot of Hebrew is like that…the word can even be the same spelling but have a different connotation depending on the context. I think what we are talking about here are possible sounds made….but the accuracy? Who knows…

  19. cute. anyway, everyone already knows that Paul was the antichrist – well, should know. he went out into the world to decieve the nations, arcording to temple loyalists anyway, and then he died of old age, a happy old ex-pharisee, alone, surrounded by his scrolls, in the capitol of the new world empire, at around the time rome crushed the temple. sorry guys: the antichrist died a loooong time ago:-)

  20. Let us say that the creator of the youtube video was wrong about Aramaic being the oldest form of Hebrew,that still doesn’t rule out what Jesus ostensibly said.
    I think that it still has merit and it is still relevant.
    By the way,look up on lottery.gov/IL for the evening(not morning) winning pick 3 numbers in IL(where Obama was celebrating his presidential win on the night of the election),the winning numbers were 666.

  22. Ian,

    “Chaldean” is an interesting term with multiple meanings.

    In reference to a language, in older literature, it refers to Biblical Aramaic, the dialect that was absorbed by the Jews during the Exile to Babylon.

    In modern times it may refer to Chaldean Neo-Aramaic, a surviving Aramaic dialect spoken today that has little relation to the other “Chaldean” Aramaic I mentioned above.

    As a physical location, “Chaldea” referred to the southern portion of modern-day Iraq and Kuwait, which was eventually absorbed into the Babylonian Empire.

    The language that individuals who lived in that area during what is traditionally associated with Abraham’s time and geographical location (“Ur of the Chaldees”) would have been Akkadian.

    Peace,
    -Steve

  23. That’s all hair-splitting, hanging on details, in my opinion. Jesus (Yeshua) could have said something encrypted, so he had not to say ‘Barack Obama’ directly. Translated into Greek he shall have said, as the bible tells, ‘I beheld Satan as lightning coming from the heavens.’ But originally in Aramaic this could also have been ‘…as lightning/sparkling sword coming from the heights/shrines’, then the heights (in Aramaic the same word as the shrines) falsely transferred to the heavens during an inexact transcription.
    It’s also sung in the churches ‘God in the height(s)’, meaning the same as ‘in the heavens’.
    The ‘lost’ Danite tribe worshipped Baal (Beelzebub, Satan in the eyes of the other Israelites) on the heights of Mount Hermon (old shrines are found there), which as told Baal impudently renamed to Mount Sion, which was another hill where King David resided. (Sion is a symbol for the heavens in Christianity)
    If baraq or barak – pronounced in the same way by Yeshua, am I right? – were it a wonder if Satan called himself ‘blessed’ only pretending this? And with Obama – I don’t care about the O (written as ‘u’ – of course with another sign – in Arabic), but bam(m)a(h) can be the heights, the shrines (also taken for the heavens). But in Luo (the original language) Obama means ‘one with an own charted plan – also meaning the dishonest, the lost, the abandoned). Would it be wrong to think Satan would come (although encrypted) calling him the blessed from the heights (taken for the heavens) when he actually is the dishonest, mislead and abandoned with the sparkling sword?
    In addition: There are claims the right name of him is Barry Saetoso, and he was a satanistic Illuminati. This is all a ‘bit’ odd, but if he is in deed the real Lucifer then there is a little consolation: It is said that he always wants the evil but in contrast causes the good (but who can rely on that? In America there really seems to come the hell – a civil war. And we are the next.)

  24. Another astonishing thing about baraq/barak/Barack – sorry you are illogical: You say ‘Barack’ comes from ‘blessed’, but in Hebrew the word ‘barak’ meaning ‘blessed’ is pronounced ‘baw-rak’ (with a ‘w'(like f?), as it was in Aramaic baw-rak!) (see http://strongsnumbers.com/hebrew/1288.htm)
    Barack today is pronounced without that ‘w’, regardless of its root.
    So Jesus could not have said ‘baw-rak’ (pronounced with ‘w’) if he wanted to tell the name of Satan in the right pronounciation – because that would have been translated to ‘blessed’. But if he said ‘Barack’ (pronounced ‘barak’ as today), in that time it must have been taken for ‘baraq’ (lightning, flashing sword), and it would have been translated to ‘lightning’ – as it was.
    And the thing with Obama: If Jesus wanted to tell this was the name of Satan, did he have a chance to put that ‘o’ in there? As much as I’ve researched there is no word sounding ‘obama’ and no word sounding ‘o’ in Aramaic. If Jesus really wanted to tell about ‘Obama’ he could only take the part ‘bama’ and tell it as ‘bammaw’ sounding ‘bah-ma(h)’.
    I’m convinced that there is in deed a high probability that Jesus had an encrypted message for us! (Perhaps Jesus knew something about the future through time travel, for me he could have been a positive loving extraterrestrial/interdimensional being – his ‘wonders’ could have been ‘supernatural’ powers which we just don’t understand – also if this opinion might be very offending to many people’s religious beliefs.
    2012 = Armageddon between light (GFL/Council of 8)and darkness (Illuminati reptilian realm)?
    But wait: My aim is not to be dogmatic or being important as many people are, I’m searching truth primarily for myself, and I want to share results with others. But what you want to believe, it’s your affair! You decide on your own.
    Franz, greetings from Germany

  25. Steve, you got it all wrong. When the video going around states that our Blessed Lord NAMES the antichrist, it has little to do with His intention to state that “I saw satan fall as lightning from the heights.” [which He does] and EVERYTHING to do with the SOUNDING of Barak’s name. In other words, the claim is that when our Lord made the statement, He said “*I saw satan fall as* BARAK OBAMA.” where BARAK OBAMA is phonetic sound of the Aramaic for “.. lightning from the heights.”

  26. Yes and “lightning from the heights” in Aramaic sounds nothing — allow me to repeat *N-O-T-H-I-N-G*; can we proceed? Good! — nothing like “Barak Obama.” 🙂

    That is my point.

    The author of the video was making a frightful show of himself, trying to draw conclusions from a language which he knows nothing about. 🙂

    In short: He is categorically wrong. A dilettante. Blatantly mistaken.

    That is all that needs to be said. 🙂

    Peace,
    -Steve

  28. I notice no one answered the last question. I find it interesting everyone is going nuts over a “k” vs. a “q” when both sound like a “k”. It’s not about what the word means but how it would have sounded. The “o” and or “u” joining is how ideas are joined, not that they mean “from” which is an english joining word. So, looking at the words, how would it sound in Aramaic? It says Baraq “o” Bamah or Baw-mah…. which sounds the same as Bama or Boma…. I find it amusing that in my thoughts had it sounded like Mitt Romney, George Bush, Sarah Palin, or Ronald Reagan, these same people would not be so vehemently opposing this issue, but since it sounds like Barack OBama, then of course we must throw out all kinds of reasons why it can’t be. Hebrew does have lightning and Heights of Heavens or Heights as shared. It’s quite interesting.

  29. I don’t tend to hound my own blog’s comments, hence how I missed it. 🙂

    As I mentioned above in the comments, Luke 10:18 in Galilean Aramaic could be close to:

    w-khamith le-satan nafel ki-barqa min shmaya
    “And I saw Satan falling like lightning from Heaven.”

    Now on to the “nuts and bolts”:

    I find it interesting everyone is going nuts over a “k” vs. a “q” when both sound like a “k”.

    Yes “their” is “reezon” “two” go “nuhts” “konsiddering” that “thuh” “too” letters “arr” “difuhrent” in “Aramaik.”

    See my point?

    Simply because they superficially sound similar in English transliteration, does not mean they can be exchanged for something else.

    In Aramaic there are actually three sounds between them (qof is an emphatic “k”, kaf is an English “k” or a “ch” like in German depending on where it lands in a sentence. They do not share these sounds either.

    As I mentioned earlier, “And” is “u-” or “weh-” in Aramaic, “u-” or “veh-” in Hebrew. “From” is “min” in both. These are not interchangeable.

    I don’t care if it sounded like “Mitt Romney” or “Sarah Palin” as it would be *equally* ridiculous. These are words that don’t occur in Aramaic or Hebrew of the era! 🙂

    Anyways, this all seems to be moot, as the guy who posted the video pulled it. 🙂

    Peace,
    -Steve

    (Excuse any typos, I’m currently wrangling my youngest.)

  30. People on here who are even pretending to have some higher understanding of pronunciations in a language, now totally dead, and not spoken in “no body even knows” how many years, can’t possibly pretend, with any accuracy to know how a particular syllable was pronounced, how a single letter was pronounced when in conjunction with the contextual letters around it, etc, are as likely to be completely wrong as they are claiming the original video to be.

    In short, no one here has even the remotes clue how they were pronounced 2000 years ago.

    Just my $0.02

  31. Curtis, not to sound rude (as this is meant with the highest respect) but your comment betrays your own ignorance about the subject.

    1) Aramaic is not “totally dead.” There are Aramaic languages still spoken today. They are endangered, yes.

    2) Linguists don’t “pretend” to know, we *do* have a rather firm grasp upon how languages change and evolve over time. This is what the field is dedicated to understanding, and where it is not a *complete* understanding (because *no* field has a complete understanding) the underlying principles of how languages behave coupled by observations made by writers in antiquity and modern observations as well, paint a rather accurate picture for many old languages.

    To say otherwise would be like saying to a biologist “Well you can’t even pretend to understand anything at all about passenger pigeons.” After all, they’re extinct, and no one today has seen one alive.

    It’s a position that has no edifying merit. 🙂

    3) My “beef,” as it were, is with “armchair scholars” (such as the author of this video) who have ideological axes to grind. pretending to speak with authority they have not rightly earned through experience, dedication, and consensus.

    Just my two pritin. 🙂

  32. No Steve, you sir are incorrect in all of your assumptions you make about understanding the Aramaic language, as well as anyone else who pretends to understand a dead language. You have no fact upon which to base your claims about the Aramaic language, except what you have learned from others, which is their opinion and therefore not necessarily a fact. No one could possibly know what the Aramaic that Jesus spoke sounded like, they can only speculate. Your study of the Aramaic language is commendable but it is not based on FACT. All of the information today is based on opinion, possibilities, or speculations. You mention the word “evolve” in your post and just as the theory of evolution is only a hypothesis, so is the speculation on the evolution of languages.

  33. If you have any doubt about what Jesus said in Luke 10:18, go to Ezekiel 20:29 where G-d shows the prophet Ezekiel the high places of idolatry perpetrated by the rebellious Israelites. The KJV of the Bible retains the Hebrew word which is ‘Bamah’ [‘to this very day’].

    The evil one tries to counterfeit the true high places from which he has been cast down. See the pyramids, zigguarats, temples, burial mounds and other pagan places all over the world, the Bamah from ancient times even until now. And in our day it will be a towering, evil, one world socialist government.

    Look it up, also in Isaiah as per the You tube video.

    What are the chances of this being a coincidence, since Mr. Obama already has many of the qualities of the ‘lawless one’ (and getting worse all the time) who is to be revealed in the end times?

    Starting with being born of two atheists…

    Wake up, semi-comatose America!!
    You voted him in!

    Mark R.

  34. If Jesus said “I saw Satan falling as Barack Obama” is it conceivable that people would have heard “lightning” and “heights” and assumed that’s what he said since they had no idea what a “Barack Obama” was?

  35. Kneel to bless or be blessed at the High Place of Baal

    BARAK : (Hebrew) Kneel to bless and curse

    O : an opening address as in “O Lord” or “O Israel”

    Bamah : (singular) High place of Baal

    Bamah : (plural) Bamahs aka Bamas aka Bamoth Baal : The High Places of Baal aka The Heights of Baal.

  36. @markgog – Every single President of the United States for as long back as I can remember has been accused of being the Antichrist by some comparison. I don’t see anything unique about our current President in this regards.

    @Dave Thompson – I’m not sure what you mean.

    @Archelyah BenYahawah – No. Try again.

    “Barak” as an imperative would need to be in a different form.

    There is no “Oh” as in “Oh Lord hear us” in Hebrew or Aramaic. It’s /ha/ or /alwai/ or /hen/. No “Oh.”

    There were /bamot/ to the God of Israel as well in the Old Testament, not just Ba’al. (1Ch 16:39 etc.)

    Final grade: F-

  39. Jesus did speak in parables, and he left messages for people to understand, through the context of differing time-specific perspectives, for people to understand when it becomes relevant, Jesus spoke, not wrote (that I know of, I thought that was the apostles jobs), but if his words are pronounced “barack obama” when interpreted from our time-frames’ context, then he was warning us in our time period, and not earlier, the message is for the ones with ears to hear, eyes to see, and a soul to understand, not the wicked, the ones living in sin will always reject the idea of an antichrist or lucifer as being “real” because they have no faith in God in my opinion, you can’t see the truth totally without biasness if you have not been reborn at least

    thank you,
    fellow follower of Christ

  40. And on another note, If the theory of evolution is correct, show me life coming out of something inanimate, and explain why human skeleton bones were found in a gold mine during the gold rush dated to around a million years ago, then got thrown out by scientists because it didnt “fit” the theory, cuz according to them, we have only been homo-sapiens for like 30k-50k yrs. also, bones were found in the 1800s dating back 300 million yrs ago, meaning we were around “before” the Jurassic Period.. Explain that one, and why archaeology covers up more than they uncover

    Thanks,
    Ask for truth, and ye shall receive it 🙂

  41. @bob joe –

    but if his words are pronounced “barack obama” when interpreted from our time-frames’ context

    That’s the crux of the issue. (No pun intended. 🙂 )

    And as it stands, there is nothing in these verse that Jesus could have spoken in any contemporary language that would sound anything like “Barack Obama.” Nothing. Nada. לא כלום.

    As for evolution: This is the wrong venue for that debate, and I should not permit further discussion about that topic here.

    Peace,
    -Steve

  42. fair enough, but if its all about a q and k meaning different things, phonetically now in our timeframe the difference is moot, for it would sound like Barack Obama, and the q and k idea becomes moot

  43. @bob joe –

    And as I outlined in the article, it’s not just a matter of “q” vs “k” but the entire construction of the phrase (the “q” vs “k” being the most minor of those mistaken details).

    Now even if it were, would “to,” “too,” and “two” mean the same thing?

    Of course not. 🙂

    Peace,
    -Steve

  44. thats why he spoke in parables, for the ones living in Christ will understand regardless of what bias side purports what is true, and yes, I believe he is warning us, I mean, on march 21, obama went to the middle east to speak as the forefront of peace being necessary between Israel and Palestine, which in my opinion, is just a pre-cursor to the seven-year peace treaty, or covenant, spoken of in the bible that the obama, errm, anti-christ, must do 😛 i rejoice in the fact that revelations is underway in our lifetime, cuz I can’t wait till the wicked are ripped away from the face of the earth so that the meek may finally inherit it without evil

  46. @bob joe –

    Ok, let me make a small wager with you then. 🙂

    If in 3-4 years the world is falling apart because Obama turned out to be the Anti-Christ, then I owe you 30 Tyrian shekels worth of silver (about 13.5 ozt .950 Ag; a tidy sum).

    If in 3-4 years he’s out of office and we’re on to the next President, then you’ll give up apocalypticism for the rest of your life and come join the Episcopal Church.

    Whacha say? 🙂

    Peace,
    -Steve

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