Decoding the Antichrist and the End TimesWhat the Bible Says and What the Future Holds
Author: Mark Biltz
Publisher: Frontline, Charisma Media/House Book Group, Lake Mary, Florida, 2019
Author Pastor Mark Biltz, founder of El Shaddai Ministries in Washington State is a well-known and popular commentator on the Feasts of the Lord and has produced a series of DVDs on the Feasts that have gone around the world. He knows his subject and does not claim to be anything he is not.
Biltz’s contention is that there is no extra bonus prize for being first to identify the real “Antichrist” or when exactly the “end times” will arrive. If fact, if you focus on that you may well miss the Antichrist. Instead, he contends we need to learn to recognize spiritual patterns within history and look for the reoccurrence of events in those patterns, perhaps updated to account for our ‘progress’. If we know the patterns, we’ll know what to look for and we won’t be fooled into either missing the Antichrist or being taken in by his message.
His book is broken down into two main parts. The first explores theories, myths, and misconceptions. It provides us with a historical perspective of the title’s two topics. This is where he introduces us to various Hebrew word mistranslations – some very intentional at the time, and this has sent us down the wrong path. One good example is where the translators translated the same Hebrew word as ‘church’ in some cases and ‘assembly’ in other places. There was method to their madness – and not for good. Then Part One goes on to give us, using very thorough descriptions, the Jewish, Islamic, and Christian views of the End Times. While covering the Jewish view, Biltz provides a perspective on, among other things, who exactly will rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem. While describing the Islamic view, he provides an account of the Muslim perspective on Gog and Magog, and much more.
He introduces us to, and explains well, the history, rationale, danger, and consequences of Replacement Theology (the idea that God has given up on the Jews as His chosen people and replaced them with Christians). And he certainly does not let the Greek Philosophers get away scot free with respect to their influences on these views. This part of the book is then rounded out with a review of various Antichrist theories. What is amazing is the similarity as well as the differences between the views, and Biltz does a good job of explaining what gives rise to both. Students of scriptural documents and ideologies will find this most interesting.
In the second part of his book, entitled ‘Scriptural Keys to the Truth’, Biltz introduces us to Solomon – the king we recognize mainly as the wisest person that ever lived. But the author uncovers Solomon’s dark side presenting him (and with good reason given the evidence he offers) as a ‘type’ of the Lawless One. This section was most enlightening, even to a long-time reader of Scripture like me. Did you know, for example, that Solomon was acting as an arms dealer to Israel’s enemies?
From there, he goes on to cover Israel’s Glory Days, focusing on what those times teach us. With that we transition into the importance of the Judaic calendar vs. the Roman one. He describes the various feasts that God wanted us to celebrate and when they were to be celebrated. Biltz also has a sense of humor and points out in one place in the book that our failure to observe the right calendar and allowing certain variations in the dates from year to year, causes us to celebrate Christ’s death before His birth.
He zooms in on two very special celebrations – Hanukkah and Purim. Biltz explains the two historically and then relates Hanukkah to the Messiah (using Matthew 24) and Purim to the End Times. A broader perspective of the Feasts is then presented, using the Book of Revelation as the source. He discovers, as will his readers, that the Feasts of the Lord are directly tied to the last book of the Bible and thus to the unfolding of end times events.
The whole point being we would do well to look for the pattern in the timing of the Feasts and how they would apply in the End Times.
One learns much from the book and many questions are raised which challenge the reader. For example, is it possible that the Antichrist may be AI (Artificial Intelligence)? Could there be two Messiahs as the Jews believe? Will two different Jesus figures arrive at the end times – the real Jesus and the fake Jesus, as the Muslims believe? Do the Jews believe the Messiah they are awaiting will be divine?
Biltz maintains we need to be studying the modus operandi of the Antichrist more than we need to figure out who it is or will be? He warns us that the deception of the Antichrist will be very appealing because of the amount of truth he will embed in the lies.
Based on his belief that the answer to when the End Times will occur, Biltz identifies a series of events that we need to look out for and that is worth the price of the book itself. Early in his introduction he does give us an indication that he believes we are likely living in the last third of this present age. I’ll let you discover how he arrives at that for yourselves – and it is most interesting and convincing, at least to me.
However, he makes it clear throughout the book, that his views are merely his beliefs based on his research and study. We can make up our own minds.
This is a book that I very highly recommend. It is informative no matter what your faith is or isn’t. It makes you think. And then you start to look for the signs of the pattern of events that will bring it all to fruition.
It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.
