The Coming War of Gog and Magog, an Islamic Invasion | 28 comments (28 topical, 0 hidden)
Been there, read that. (none / 0)
Being raised in the Bible Belt and watching too much of the 700 Club as a kid, this is all too familiar for me. People who likely got their evangelical creds from a two-week "bible course" claiming to know history and geography--and this guy, who has a show on TBN no less, fails in so many ways.

First of all, Indo-European is a family of languages that includes Russian, Persian, Kurdish, Armenian and the languages of north and central India including Hindi-Urdu, Bengali and Punjabi, and Greek (see below), but not Turkish, Arabic (a Semitic language like Hebrew and Aramaic), Georgian or Chechen, so I'm not sure what he even means by "Indo-European". This would include India, which he fails to mention, and he denies Europe (presumably the EU) will fulfill the role of Gog and Magog.

I'd trust the Wikipedia article long before I'd endorse this guy's spiritial pipe dream, anyhow. Also, my theory that the "northern kingdom" to invade Israel was Greece (guess that proves the "Indo-European theory"), then reconquered by Rome after being liberated by Judas Maccabaeus, is probably just as good. Oh wait, that actually happened, and while part of the Roman Empire and under Syrian governor Herod, the Messiah was born in Bethlehem...

God, these televangelists hucksters are such creeps.

by LudwigVan on 10/11/2009 11:52:31 AM EST

Correction (none / 0)
Herod the Great was Rome's client king in Judea; I don't know where I got Syria.

by LudwigVan on 10/11/2009 11:54:53 AM EST

[ Parent ]
I think I'd agree (none / 0)
If you wanted to give any credence to this kind of "prophecy," the invasion by Greece and Rome would qualify much more as a fulfillment, but televangelist types just HAVE to find some way to link Revelation to the Old Testament, despite the fact that it is a book that their beloved Martin Luther wanted REMOVED from the Bible.  morons.

by thain1982 on 10/11/2009 11:58:07 AM EST

[ Parent ]
Yeah, Luther's "edits" to the Bible... (none / 0)
He also wanted the Epistle of James removed because it contradicted his sola fide theory (the epistle having declared "faith without works is dead"), but that's a different issue altogther.

Revelation can also refer to an event that already happened--the conversion of a pagan Roman Empire to Christianity under Constantine, and collapse of said empire. There are plenty of theories for John's apocalypse that may or may not involve Ezekiel 38 (and Daniel).

by LudwigVan on 10/11/2009 12:07:36 PM EST

[ Parent ]
As a Catholic (none / 0)
at least as someone raised as a Catholic during the 1960's, we were told to ignore Revelations by our priets. When I asked why I was told "No one knows what is truly meant by that book and smarter people than you'll ever be have driven themselves to insanity trying to figure it out. When god means for us to understand, he'll reveal it. Until then live a good Christan life."


Unfortunetly, I didn't listen and spent several years reading up on this stuff. Luckily, at some point, my brain started working and I woke up.

Apocalyptic writings were quite popular at that time, we find them in the Dead Sea scrolls and at least five others in the Nag Hammadi Library. They all read like an abused 10 year old yelling "My big brother is gonna kick your butt!" to the bully who just took his lunch money. Adolescent revenge fantasies.

Here's a link to the Nag Hammadi texts.

by CptRich on 10/11/2009 12:37:02 PM EST

[ Parent ]

The Coming War of Gog and Magog, an Islamic Invasion | 28 comments (28 topical, 0 hidden)