Oh Magog! Why End-Times Buffs Are Freaking Out About Syria

[Hum 6,929]

In early 2012, bestselling novelist Joel Rosenberg came to Capitol Hill for a meeting with an unidentified member of Congress to discuss the end of the world. "I thought the topic was going to be the possible coming war between Israel and Iran," Rosenberg explained on his website. "Instead, the official asked, 'What are your thoughts on Isaiah 17?'"

For the better part of an hour, Rosenberg says, the writer and the congressman went back forth on something called the "burden of Damascus," an Old Testament prophecy that posits that a war in the Middle East will leave Syria's capital city in ruins?and bring the world one step closer to Armageddon. As Rosenberg put it, "The innocent blood shed by the Assad regime is reprehensible, and heart-breaking and is setting the stage for a terrible judgment."

But Rosenberg and his anonymous congressman aren't alone in viewing Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's actions through a Biblical lens. With Congress set to vote next week on the authorization to use military force in Syria, the Damascus prophecy has taken on a new significance among the nation's End Times industry?writers and pastors who believe the world is hurtling toward the return of Christ as forecasted in the Book of Revelation?and its adherents in the pews and in public life. On Saturday, Rosenberg will travel to Topeka, Kansas, at the invitation of Republican Gov. Sam Brownback, to discuss the situation in the Middle East.

The idea behind the prophecy is a fairly straightforward one. In Isaiah 17, the prophet explains that, in the run-up to Armageddon, "Damascus is about to be removed from being a city, and will become a fallen ruin." The implication is that it will be leveled by God on behalf of Israel as part of the last great struggle for mankind.

How exactly that will happen is a bit less clear. "The honest answer is that the Bible does not say," Rosenberg wrote on his blog last June. But in Rosenberg's Twelfth Imam series, he postulates that the emergence of the Mahdi, the Muslim messiah, leads to the rise of a new Islamic caliphate in the Middle East that prepares to decapitate Israel by launching nuclear warheads from Damascus. As the top-rated Amazon review for the final book in the series, Damascus Countdown puts it, "This is a great read for anyone interested not only in the prophetical future of Israel but for Iran and Syria as well?[it] makes one want to keep his or her eyes wide open on current day Middle East events, and see if they line up to eschatological Old Testament passages."

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[Growled 3,880]

For the better part of an hour, Rosenberg says, the writer and the congressman went back forth on something called the "burden of Damascus," an Old Testament prophecy that posits that a war in the Middle East will leave Syria's capital city in ruins?and bring the world one step closer to Armageddon.

 

I figure that will happen during the next world war, which probably will be a nuclear war.

[siah1214 1,432]

I wish Revelations wasn't in the Bible so idiots like Joel Rosenberg, Tim Lahaye, Jerry Jenkins, and anyone that wants to write fiction on the end times wouldn't constantly obsess over it. It was written for the Christians living in Rome, and included in the canon as encouragement for Christians going through persecution.  These apocalypse obsessed idiots are just one of many groups that make Christians seem insane.   Just shut up.  Not everything's a sign, not everything is a portent of the end. 

 

Jesus said it best:

"You will hear of wars, and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come."

 

TL:DR: Joel Rosenberg, read the ENTIRE Bible. 

[Hum 6,929]

^ You'd better pack up plenty of ice water for Hell. :devil:

[theyarecomingforyou 9,094]

It's one thing to use the Bible as a philosophical guide; it's another entirely to take it literally. It's scary that there are politicians in the US who are looking at the conflict in Syria from a biblical perspective, though unfortunately it's not even slightly surprising.

[compl3x 6,252]

It's one thing to use the Bible as a philosophical guide; it's another entirely to take it literally. It's scary that there are politicians in the US who are looking at the conflict in Syria from a biblical perspective, though unfortunately it's not even slightly surprising.

 

 

Or hearing politicians say things like:

 

"?I would point out that if you?re a believer in the Bible, one would have to say the Great Flood is an example of climate change, and that certainly wasn't because mankind had overdeveloped hydrocarbon energy,? he said." - Rep. Joe Barton

 

No points for guessing whether he is a Rep or a Dem