Wednesday, May 25, 2011

The Myth of Armageddon

Armageddon. The word means many different things to many different people. The most popular definition is a great cataclysmic battle which will take place between the righteous and the unrighteous just before Jesus comes back to earth to judge and rule over the people. Detailed scenarios have been handed down for generations describing the battle itself and what people believe will happen, most of it "based in the Bible". The great irony here is that the Bible goes into no such detail.

A quick search of the Bible reveals the word Armageddon appears exactly one time. That's right. You heard me. One time! (Look it up yourself! www.biblegateway.com) Quite a big mountain made out of a tiny molehill!

The other thing people fail to take into consideration is what this passage actually says:

     And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.
     And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.
      And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. (Revelation 16:16-18 KJV)

Notice this: they are gathered at Armageddon, but there is no battle! They gather, then there is a voice out of the temple of heaven saying "It is done". The only thing that happens after that is an earthquake!

Where is the great battle of Armageddon as described in the Bible? NOWHERE! It is a grossly exaggerated story made up in the imaginations of men, yet millions of people (particularly Christians) believe there is to be a battle and are looking to it as a sign of "the end". Sure, people take bits and pieces of other Bible passages to back up their claims of a great battle, but is this truth?

For those of you waiting for the Kingdom of God on earth, I would quote directly from words attributed to Jesus:

     And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
     Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
    And he said unto the disciples, The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it. (Luke 17:20-22 KJV)

If you are looking for God's kingdom, follow Jesus' advice and look for it in the correct place: within yourself. If you choose to listen to the voices of those who would tell you they know all the answers, you will end up the victim.

Learn to question all your beliefs. Boldly ask yourself where that thought came from and be unafraid to follow it to its source. Is it something I was taught in my childhood or in later years? Did I come to this conclusion on my own and how? In the end, you will probably discover some of your beliefs are truth and some are not (and should be discarded). Don't let the myth of Armageddon overwhelm your life to the point where you are no longer able to see the truth. Learn to listen to that voice of God within for your answers. It is only the truth that will set you free.


2 comments:

  1. Good post! I think a lot of the ideas surrounding Armaggedon and "The Last Days" comes from a book written in the 1970s, called "The Late, Great Planet Earth" that was written by a fundamentalist preacher, and many in that branch of Christianity adopted the ideas and ran with it. It fits in well with the "fear paradigm", with the Reverend Harold Camping being the latest in a long line of Doomsday preachers to scare believers that the world was ending.

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  2. This was more or less prompted by my own understanding of where my beliefs were based on the teachings of man instead of the inspiration of God. The Armageddon reference is one my father likes to point out to people. It's just a very obvious example of how people get led astray by the teachings of others.

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