Cardinal Who Warned of 'Antichrist' Rises in Betting Odds (Poll-Who is 'Antichrist' he describes??)

Though Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi is the odds-on favorite to be the next pope, global betting parlors are reporting an influx of bets on Cardinal Giacomo Biffi.

"From what I can see here, there's been a lot of wagers on Biffi," Mani Sanders of Pinnacle Sports, an online gambling service based on the resort island in the Netherlands Antilles, told the Providence Journal.

Cardinal Biffi, emeritus bishop of the archdiocese of Bologna, was recently listed as a 125-to-1 long shot to succeed John Paul II.

The paper reports that as an influx of "bets were placed on Biffi in the past several days, the odds on the 76-year-old Italian had dropped to 50 to 1 by Wednesday."

If Biffi does win, it will be a sign that the Church leaders are trending more conservative.

Biffi is strongly anti-Masonic. He was quoted as saying Catholic churches should ban Mozart's music, as the composer was a Mason. The Church and the Masonic movement have long had an antagonistic relationship.

In recent years Biffi stirred controversy by saying Italy should "protect its national identity" and stop the avalanche of Muslim immigrants.

In 2000, Biffi predicted that "Europe will either become Christian again or it will become Muslim." He added ominously., "The vast majority of Muslims are coming here determined to remain outside our humanity."

That same year Biffi also said that he believed the Antichrist was alive and would soon rise to prominence.

Biffi told a conference meeting in Bologna that the Antichrist was a prominent philanthropist who advocated causes like human rights, the environment and ecumenicism.

Biffi said that this man – who he never identified – had a "fascinating personality" and espoused causes like vegetarianism, pacifism, environmentalism and animal rights.

Biffi added that this Antichrist would be a Bible expert who would discard its truths to prosletyze for "vague and fashionable spiritual values."

The 27 Characteristics of the AntiChrist

Know how to recognize the beast and not be swayed into believing that someone is the AntiChrist who doesn't match the biblical characteristics.

1. He comes from among ten kings in the restored Roman Empire; his authority will have similarities to the ancient Babylonians, Persians, and Greeks [Daniel 7:24; Rev 13:2 / Daniel 7:7]

2. He will subdue three kings [Daniel 7:8, 24]

3. He is different from the other kings [Daniel 7:24]

4. He will rise from obscurity…a “little horn” [Daniel 7:8]

5. He will speak boastfully [Daniel 7:8; Rev 13:5]

6. He will blaspheme God, [Daniel 7:25; 11:36; Rev 13:5] slandering His Name, dwelling place, and departed Christians and Old Testament saints [Rev 13:6]

7. He will oppress the saints and be successful for 3 ½ years [Daniel 7:25; Rev 13:7]

8. He will try to change the calendar, perhaps to define a new era, related to himself [Daniel 7:25]

9. He will try to change the laws, perhaps to gain an advantage for his new kingdom and era [Dan 7:25]

10. He will not be succeeded by another earthly ruler, but by Christ [Daniel 7:26-27]

11. He will confirm a covenant with “many”, i.e. the Jewish people [Daniel 9:27] This covenant will likely involve the establishment of a Jewish Temple in Jerusalem [see Dan 9:27; Matt 24:15]

12. He will put an end to Jewish sacrifice and offerings after 3 ½ years and will set up an abomination to God in the Temple [Daniel 9:27, Matthew 24:15]

13. He will not answer to a higher earthly authority; “He will do as he pleases”[Daniel 11:36]

14. He will show no regard for the religion of his ancestors [Daniel 11:37]

15. He will not believe in any god at all [except for himself] [Daniel 11:37]

16. He will have "no regard for the desire of women": He will either be asexual or homosexual [Dan 11:37]

17. He will claim to be greater than any god [Daniel 11:37; 2 Thess 2:4]

18. He will claim to be God [2 Thessalonians 2:4]

19. He will only honor a “god” of the military. His whole focus and attention will be on his military. He will conquer lands and distribute them [Daniel 11:39-44]

20. His arrival on the world scene will be accompanied by miracles, signs and wonders [2 Thess 2:9]

21. Either he, or his companion [The False Prophet], will claim to be Christ [Matt 24:21-28]

22. He will claim that Jesus did not come in the flesh, or that Jesus did not rise bodily from the grave [2 John 7]. He will deny that Jesus is the Messiah [I John 2:22]

23. He will be worshipped by many people [Rev. 13:8]

24. He will hate a nation that initially will have some control over his kingdom, but he will destroy this nation [Rev 17:16-18]

25. He will appear to survive a fatal injury [Rev. 13:3; 17:8]

26. His name will be related to the number six hundred and sixty six—but not in an obvious fashion [Rev 13:17-18].

27. He will be empowered by the devil himself [Rev. 13:2]

http://www.crisismagazine.com/september2003/letters.htm

Spare the Meat, Spoil the Gospel

I was delighted to read the Manichaean ramblings of Daniel Paden, director of the Catholic Vegetarian Society ("Letters," June 2003). It confirmed my theory that fanaticism in Western society alternates between nudism and vegetarianism, both of which contradict the order of grace.

As an optimist, I happily trust that Paden confines his extreme commitments to vegetarianism. Taste is one thing; it is another thing to condemn meat-eating as "evil" and permissible only "in rare and unfortunate circumstances." Paden disagrees with no less an authority than God who forbids us to call any edible unworthy (Mark 7:18-19), and who enjoined St. Peter to eat pork chops and lobster in one of my favorite revelations (Acts 10:9-16). Does the Catholic Vegetarian Society think that Our Lord was wrong to have served up fish to the 5,000, or should He have refrained from eating the Passover lamb? When He rose from the dead and appeared in the Upper Room, He did not ask for a bowl of Cheerios, nor did He whip up a meatless omelette on the shore of Galilee.

Man was made to eat flesh (Genesis 1:26-31; 9:1-6), with the exception of human flesh. I stand on record against cannibalism, whether it be inflicted upon the Mbuti Pygmies by the Congolese Army or on larger people by a maniac in Milwaukee. But I am also grateful that the benevolent father in the parable did not welcome his prodigal son home with a bowl of radishes.

Vegetarians assume an unedifying posture of detachment from the sufferings of vegetables that are mashed, stewed, diced, and shredded. In expensive restaurants cherries are publicly burned in brandy to the applause of diners. It is not uncommon for people to submerge olives in iced gin and twist the peels of lemons. Be indignant, vegetarian, but not so selectively indignant that the bleat of the lamb and the plaintive moo of the cow drown out the whine of our brother the bean and the quiet sigh of the cauliflower. Vegetables have reactive impulses. Were we to confine our diet to creatures that lack sense and do not even respond to light, we could only eat liturgists and liberal Democrats.

Rev. George W. Rutler
New York City

- a Bible expert, who would "discard its truths to prosletyze for 'vague and fashionable spiritual values'."

Get a load of this guy:

Gay bishop backs Planned Parenthood

By Jon Ward
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Published April 16, 2005

Planned Parenthood should target "people of faith" to promote abortion rights and comprehensive sex education, the Episcopal Church's first openly homosexual bishop told a gathering in the District yesterday.

"In this last election we see what the ultimate result of divorce from communities of faith will do to us," New Hampshire Bishop V. Gene Robinson said during Planned Parenthood's fifth annual prayer breakfast.

"Our defense against religious people has to be a religious defense. ... We must use people of faith to counter the faith-based arguments against us," he said.

Bishop Robinson's comments at Planned Parenthood's national leadership conference took aim at traditional interpretations of the Bible.

"We have allowed the Bible to be taken hostage, and it is being wielded by folks who would use it to hit us over the head. We have to take back those Scriptures," he said. "You know, those stories are our stories. I tell this to lesbian folk all the time: The story of freedom in Exodus is our story. ... That's my story, and they can't have it.

"This current administration notwithstanding, the world is not black and white," Bishop Robinson said. "We need to teach people about nuance, about holding things in tension, that this can be true and that can be true, and somewhere between is the right answer. It's a very adult way of living, you know.

"What an unimaginative God it would be if God only put one meaning in any verse of Scripture," he said.

Mr. Robinson left his wife and two young daughters in 1986 and moved in with another man. He was elected bishop by state and clergy delegates in June 2003 and affirmed by the national convention two months later.

Abortion, he said yesterday, is "not just a matter between a woman and her body. This is not like removing a mole. On the other hand, no one should interfere with a woman's right to choose."

[snip]

Bishop Robinson encouraged Planned Parenthood leaders to fight their opposition.

"I know, in the end, that I'm going to heaven, and so are you," he said.

[snip]

Well, no, I just grabbed that from another thread since ya all where discussing it. More??

What does the Bible say about the Antichrist?

One visit to your local Christian bookstore should be enough to convince you of the immense interest in end time events. An issue that continues to intrigue much of the Christian community is the identity of the Antichrist.
Is he alive today? Is he in power somewhere in the world? Which nation will usher this seemingly dauntless leader onto the stage of world affairs? These are just a few of the questions many have sought to answer about this person. Several writers have developed intricate numeric schemes in an effort to identify either his name or his identity. Others have approached the subject from the standpoint of current world events.
The Bible, however, teaches that when the Antichrist comes onto the scene, there will ultimately be no doubt about his identity. His deeds and doctrine will eventually expose him to the world.
In his epistles and the book of Revelation, the apostle John made it clear that many people would come along in the spirit of antichrist. But there will come a day when one world leader will rise to power who will be the embodiment of evil, one who is empowered and directed by the devil himself. This will be the Antichrist. The benchmark by which these false prophets were to be tested concerned their attitude toward the incarnate person of Jesus Christ. Their refusal or failure to acknowledge that Jesus had come in the flesh would expose the spirit of antichrist, according to John. Therefore, if we take our cue from John, we can assume (accurately) that antichrists have come and gone since the day John penned his letters.
In the book of Revelation, John refers to the final and ultimate Antichrist as the Beast. The Beast will be the embodiment of the entire spirit of antichrist. He will have supernatural power and global influence.
The Beast first appears as a political leader, who will make a covenant with Israel and assume world leadership. Later he takes on the role of a religious leader who is worshipped. Supported by his sidekick—he False Prophet—the Beast will deceive the world. He, his prophet, and Satan will form an unholy trinity to rule all of creation.

Although we derive much of our thinking about the Antichrist from the descriptions of the beasts found in Revelation 13, the word Antichrist appears only in the epistles of John. As discussed earlier, John's reference was more pointed to a false doctrine than to a particular person. However, because of the interest in the "person" or "persons" described in Revelation, a brief look at the connection between John's idea concerning antichrist and the beasts described in Revelation is essential.
Two meanings go along with the prefix anti. The first carries the thought of "instead of" or "a substitute." A better way of putting this would be "false Christ." The second meaning is probably the one most often thought of—"against," or "against Christ." If you are antisomething, then you are against it. This, I believe, is the more accurate meaning of the term used in John's epistles.
The latter definition lends itself to the description of the first beast in Revelation 13:1, "I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name." Scripture says this first beast will set himself up in direct opposition to Christ, falsely pledging to give Israel the land, bringing about peace for the first three and one-half years of the tribulation period. For this reason, many evangelicals believe this first beast to be the Antichrist.
The description of the first beast—especially the ten horns and seven heads—has led many to conclude that the first beast will be a political leader. He will achieve worldwide control through his plan for peace. This ruler will be in this position for the entire seven-year tribulation period.
Who will he be? Will he be resurrected from the dead, as many believe because of the reference to a fatal wound that has been healed? No one knows, and our most educated guesses are just that.
In direct cooperation with the first beast is a second beast known as the False Prophet, who will assume a place of leadership in the religious community that rightly belongs to Christ. Reference to this second beast is found in Revelation 13:11: "I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon."

There is much to be learned about the False Prophet from the description in Revelation 13:11-17. The description that he had two horns like a lamb but spoke like a dragon signifies his religious role. The word dragon has been used as a name for Satan; thus, the False Prophet is described in terms such that he will look like a lamb (Christ) but speak like a dragon (Satan). The role of this second beast is to support the first beast - the political leader. The authority that this False Prophet claims is derived from Satan and the political leader. His role is to cause the inhabitants of the earth to worship the first beast, thus fulfilling the third part of the false trinity.
Many terms have been used to describe or define antichrist(s) or the Antichrist. One that comes to mind most often is the deceiver. Based on further study of Scripture, we can see that there will be an onslaught of false teaching that will cause many to form a new world religion. Those drawn to this new theology will be deceived into believing Satan's lies, as taught by antichrists (those who teach against Christ) and the False Prophet who deceives those who listen to his lies.
As the religious leader of this time, the False Prophet will gather credibility among the earth's peoples by performing great and miraculous feats. Although all who believe in the only true and living God recognize His ability to perform miracles, many forget that (within limitations) Satan can also perform miracles. With power derived from Satan, the False Prophet is able to induce the inhabitants of the earth to worship the Beast, thus deceiving them with false teaching.
In addition to the use of miracles, the False Prophet will require everyone to wear the mark of the Beast on the hand or forehead as a sign that he or she has worshipped the Beast. Many have speculated on what the mark will be, with the most common thought being some use of the number 666. Again, this is speculation at best, and I will leave those studies to others. Suffice it to say that Scripture says there will be a mark, and whatever that mark is, it will be placed on everyone who worships the Beast. Without it, Scripture says the right to buy and sell would be prohibited.
The false religious system that will eventually come into being will be a clever, but nonetheless false, imitation of the divine Trinity. In his unholy schemes, Satan desires to be worshipped as God the Father, with the first beast (the Antichrist) assuming the place of Jesus Christ and the second beast (the False Prophet) taking the place of the Holy Spirit.

Dr. Charles Stanley

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