Fasten your Seatbelts.

The election of Barack Obama as the United States’ 44th President has generated a great deal of interest in what possible connections he may have to Bible prophecy. I can only recall 9/11/01 as the only other time when there was such a sudden rush of traffic to our site.

The number one question being asked: Is Barack Obama the antichrist? I've received dozens of emails pointing out the odd fact that the day after the election, the daily pick-three lottery number in Obama's home state of Illinois was "6-6-6."

At this point, I think it’s unlikely that Obama will be the antichrist. The beast of Revelation will come out Europe, and he will be a man of profound political skills.

What makes Obama potentially important to the end time is not the fact that he will be the most socially liberal president in our nation’s history; I think his prophetic significance will center on how he handles our relationship with the state of Israel.

The stability of our nation in part depends on our friendship with Israel. God said to Abraham, "I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee" (Gen. 12:3). I believe much of our current economic troubles can be traced to the pressure the Bush administration has placed on Israel. The coming Obama administration doesn’t look very promising.

The Bible warns us that the day will come when Israel is standing by itself against its enemies. For decades, prophecy scholars have wondered what will cause America to become isolated from Israel. Some have wondered if it will be a Russian nuclear attack, while others have thought it might be the impact of the rapture. We can now add the possibility of political change to the list.

With the election of Obama, we have reached a point where so many key players are active on the world stage, we could now see prophecy come together at an exponential rate. Because Obama will be taking the role of the leader of the free world, one should expect the prophetic time clock to tick away at a faster rate.

It’s also important to realize that prophecy is now moving on a multi-front. While the world was fixated on the U.S. elections, I was keeping an eye on events in Russia. Vladimir Putin is said to be working on a plan that would soon put him back in the Kremlin. Putin has already formed an alliance with Arab nations that is amazingly similar to what is described in Ezekiel 38 and 39.

The global financial crisis is rapidly pushing the world towards the one-world economic system the Bible predicts. Later this month, several key nations are going to come together for another strategy summit.

I don’t mean to pick on Obama before he has even taken office. I believe we are so close to the tribulation hour, there is a good reason to be apprehensive about policies he will seek to implement. During the campaign, I thought it was strange that one man could be friends with so many people with radical political views.

Prophetic events have progressed along so far, the only real choice we had between John McCain and Barack Obama in the election was the speed at which we would choose to move towards the end. Now that America has selected the more rapid option, it's time for prophecy-minded Christians to fasten their seat belts.

I don’t see anything shocking in last week’s election. I do believe strongly that a dark demonic cloud has swept over the land, but this is how we should expect the end times to play out. And, I foresee more negative events to come. The only thing that worries me is the Christians who fail to see the danger that comes from prophecy being fulfilled in our day.

I believe we are entering a time when Christians really need to set their priorities. Your last chance to do something for the kingdom of God may be sooner than you realize.

“And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be” (Rev. 22:12).

"So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled" (Mat. 24:33-34).

Daniel 9:26 connects the Romans (Europe) with the anti-Christ:

And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.

This passage seems to prophesy of what were then near-term events and also still-future (for us) events. The "people of the prince that shall come" were the Romans because they were the ones that destroyed the Jewish Temple at Jerusalem in A.D. 70.

Now at the time, the Roman Empire encompassed western and central Europe, the Balkans, North Africa and the Middle East. Possible "Islamization" of Europe can indeed make a revived Roman Empire in such form a reality, though dominated by Islam.

Another thing to remember is that, "the people of the prince that shall come" colonized the western hemisphere, Australia and New Zealand, and are the dominant population in those countries. Thus, the "prince that shall come" could in fact be from the United States. Barack Obama had a white (European) mother so the possibility is there that he is the anti-christ. I personally don't believe he is, and I figure the anti-christ will be someone no one would expect.

Having said that, Obama rose to the national state quite quickly and seems to be worshiped by many. Obviously, his candidacy was helped along by the media, and people fell for it. It is reminiscent of idolatry in that people put their faith in a mere man to fix their economic, political and social problems, something the anti-christ will claim to be able to do. But the difference seems to be that the anti-christ will not need media worship to come to power (though he'd likely benefit from it, nonetheless).

I commend you on your balanced tone. I would like to point out however that Rome was not the last vestige of the Roman Empire but rather Byzantium. That would put the center of a new ten toed kingdom in Turkey. Just where the Selucid Empire existed before. AND interestingly enough there is a people group there: The Kurds. A new nation is soon to be born and a leader shall arise. Then ten kings will join him. And they will destroy the greatest city of all time “in one hour’.

Obama looks like the False Prophet to me. Dead Ringer.

http://www.biblestudying.net/index.html

And just an aside: There is no ‘rapture’. There IS a resurrection.

http://www.answersinrevelation.org/

Of all the great kingdoms or peoples in Daniel’s vision all were swept away by history itself. Not the sword. Only one, the next to last, can qualify for being wounded unto death by the sword. That is the final Roman Empire which was seated in Byzantium. It is this kingdom that will make a come-back. It is not the antichrist that is wounded by a sword. No man is wounded. Look at the symbolism. Carefully.

Here is a link from within the first link I gave you. You will see symbolism at the top of the page. Start there and work your way through the study of Revelations. You will clearly see that Dallas Theological Cemetery got it very wrong. Provably wrong and that Hal and his friends have been spreading half baked misinterpretations all these years. Only the Bible can interpret the Bible. A symbol can have only one true meaning not switch back and forth between differing meanings.

http://www.biblestudying.net/studies.html#endtimes

Babylon would establish itself as the first world empire
(Dan 2:38;7:17)
Medo-Persia would defeat Babylon and establish itself as the second world empire
(Dan 2:39;7:17;8:20)
Greece would defeat Medo-Persia and establish itself as the third world empire.
(Dan 2:39;7:17; 8:21)
Rome would defeat Greece and establish itself as the fourth world empire.
(Dan 2:40-43; 7:17)

These are military campaigns.

As far as Antichrist being wounded, one of his heads may stand for a specific ruler or it may stand for an empire.
However the events unfold, the unbelieveing world is enticed (Rev 12:9)by Satan to follow and worship the beast.
Those who worship the beast also unwittingly worship the devil, who gave authority to the beast. The Antichrist will likely be Jewish because the Jews will not receive a Gentile as their promised Messiah.
Jesus predicted that Israel will someday foolishly receive the Antichrist as their saviour.
"I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive"(John 5:43).

The Bible does hint that the Antichrist might have a Jewish background.
In Dan 11:37 it says "Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers." Although the verse could mean any deity, the wording strongly matches Jewish heritage of faith in God.

This is cheating but if it wets your whistle enough to go back and read the whole thing my work is done.

From that link:

From “Prophetic Symbols: Revelation 13 (part 3)

1. A series of unfolding historic empires can be represented collectively using a single, symbolic entity (such as the statue of Daniel 2 or the seven-headed beast of Revelation 13.)
2. The phrases “out of the earth” and “out of the sea” are used interchangeably by Daniel and, therefore, no great significance should be attached in the effort to distinguish between them.
3. Daniel 2, 7, and 8 as well as Revelation 13 all depict the same succession of empires starting with Babylon, then Media-Persia, then Greece, then Rome (along with another nation represented by the clay), and finally the coming of the kingdom of God, when the saints possess the kingdom.
4. While Daniel 7 depicts the kingdoms of gold, silver, brass, and iron from Daniel 2 as four beasts but does not depict a beast representing the kingdom of clay, Revelation 13:11 finally depicts a beast, which corresponds to the kingdom of clay.
5. Something of the Roman kingdom exists in two time periods, the time period of the legs before the clay is introduced into the statue and in the time of the feet and toes after the clay is introduced into the statue. Likewise, Revelation 13 depicts the restoration of a former head that was defeated by war to exist side by side with a second beast. This coexistence of a former empire with a new empire is identical to the coexistence of the iron and the clay in the feet of Daniel 2’s statue.
6. Beasts represent two items, both kings and their kingdoms.
7. Although the second beast of Revelation 13 does represent the single human figure known as the False Prophet, because the biblical precedent for the symbol of a beast never depicts just a king or ruler but the king and the kingdom he rules, we must understand from the second beast of Revelation 13 that the False Prophet is himself a ruler over a kingdom or empire in the same way that the kings of Daniel 7 and 8 were rulers over actual geo-political kingdoms.
8. Horns also represent kings and, unless specified by the text, horns represent contemporary kings, not a succession or line of kings.
9. Although horns represent kingdoms that arise out of an empire that precedes them, the kingdoms represented by those horns do NOT have to be situated geographically in the same region as the preceding empire. The kingdoms represented by the horns can migrate significantly away from the geographic location of their imperial predecessor.
10. A beast with multiple heads represents an overarching political entity and the political powers that come from it, as was the case with the four-headed leopard of Greece and the seven-headed first beast of Revelation 13.
11. Angelic princes rule over the kingdoms of men, and specifically over the empires described in Daniel 2, 7, and 8.
12. The “prince of the people” who “destroyed the city and the sanctuary” is NOT the Antichrist, but the angelic prince who ruled over the Roman Empire.
13. Putting all of this together we can see that Daniel’s writings recorded and anticipated a succession of the following empires: Babylon, Media-Persia, Greece, Rome, another yet unknown represented by the clay and the second beast of Revelation 13, and finally a Jewish empire or kingdom ruled over by Jesus Christ the Jewish Messiah, the Prince of princes.

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