Appearance of the Anti-Christ

[Bruce Michael]

Dear All,
How could Solovyov have known of the rise of China as we see it today?

A tale we shouldn't forget: From "Three Conversations" by Vladimir Solovyov.

Pan-Mongolism! The name is wild,
Yet it pleases my ear greatly,
As if it were full of forebodings
Of the glorious providence of God.

"At that time, there was among the few believing spiritualists a
remarkable person -- many called him a superman -- who was equally
far from both, intellect and childlike heart. He was still young, but
owing to his great genius, by the age of thirty-three he had already
become famous as a great thinker, writer, and public figure.
Conscious of the great power of spirit in himself, he was always a
confirmed spiritualist, and his clear intellect always showed him the
truth of what one should believe in: the good, God, and the Messiah.

"In these he believed, but he loved only himself. He believed in God,
but in the depths of his soul he involuntarily and unconsciously
preferred himself. He believed in Good, but the All Seeing Eye of the
Eternal knew that this man would bow down before the power of Evil as
soon as it would offer him a bribe -- not by deception of the senses
and the lower passions, not even by the superior bait of power, but
only by his own immeasurable self-love."

"Thinking thus, the superman of the twenty-first century applied to
himself everything that was said in the Gospels about the second
coming, explaining the latter not as a return of the same Christ, but
as a replacing of the preliminary Christ by the final one -- that is,
by himself.

"At this stage, the coming man presented few original characteristics
or features. His attitude toward Christ resembled, for instance, that
of Mohammed, a truthful man, against whom no charge of harboring evil
designs can be brought.

"This man justified his selfish preference of himself before Christ
in yet another way. 'Christ,' he said, "who preached and practiced
moral good in life, was a reformer of humanity, whereas I am called
to be the benefactor of that same humanity, partly reformed and
partly incapable of being reformed. I will give everyone what they
require. As a moralist, Christ divided humanity by the notion of good
and evil. I shall unite it by benefits which are as much needed by
good as by evil people. I shall be the true representative of that
God who makes his sun to shine upon the good and the evil alike, and
who makes the rain to fall upon the just and the unjust. Christ
brought the sword; I shall bring peace. Christ threatened the earth
with the Day of Judgment. But I shall be the last judge, and my
judgment will be not only that of justice but also that of mercy. The
justice that will be meted out in my sentences will not be a
retributive justice but a distributive one. I shall judge each person
according to his deserts, and shall give everybody what he needs."

The Anti-Christ is set to fool many. Thank God we already have some descriptions- such as the above book by Solovyov. Who ever thought that the Anti Christ would be unappealing?

-Br.Bruce

[wil]

It seems over the past few centuries many have been identified as the anti-christ...

[mee]

Antichrist

Definition: Antichrist means against or instead of Christ. The term applies to all who deny what the Bible says about Jesus Christ, all who oppose his Kingdom, and all who mistreat his followers. It also includes individuals, organizations, and nations that falsely claim to represent Christ or that improperly ascribe to themselves the role of Messiah.

[AndrewX]

Two quotations from Esoteric Psychology, by Alice Bailey, convey the understanding that many esotericists have of the Principle of the Anti-Christ. Caveat #1 is that this is an esoteric presentation, and clearly not something that the average church-goer is used to considering. It's largely for that reason that I post it.

Caveat #2 is that if you look carefully, the Tibetan does not say that there is no such thing as evil, or that it is completely subjective. Much is said about the Dark Forces in the esoteric teachings ... but the point of these quotes is that the Anti-Christ is actually the 1st Aspect of Divinity Itself - or God the Father - which must esoterically Prepare the Way in order for a new presentation (let alone Manifestation) of the Christ to be possible.

And a 3rd caveat is that this is all written during the 20s and 30s, thus the terms `black' and even `dark' should be understood in context, and if there appears to be a problem with political correctness, then let us simply understand that the Tibetan speaks a great deal about dualities in his teachings ... so that Good & Evil might be used instead of White & Black. Of course, even young children still understand this language and its inherent symbolism ... and it is only once we start making a fuss over things that people become offended - and begin to abuse the inherent symbolism of color (and other natural qualities both of life and its manifesting forms).


The quotations:

I should like here to give a suggestion, for it is necessary that some of the methods of the Hierarchy should begin to be understood. The work of what in the West is called "the Christ Principle" is to build the forms for the expression of quality and life. That is the characteristic work of the second aspect of divinity. The work of the Antichrist is to destroy forms, and this is essentially the work of the first expression of divinity. But the work of the destroyer is not the work of black magic, and when ignorant humanity regards Antichrist as working on the black side, their error is great. His work is as beneficent as that of the building aspect, and it is but man's hatred of the death of forms which makes him regard the work of the destroyer as "black," as being against the divine will, and as subversive of the divine programme. The work of the representatives of that mysterious power which we call cosmic evil, and their responding representatives, is indeed worthy of the word "black"; but it is not applicable to the work of Antichrist. It might be added that the work of the black forces wells up from below, whilst the work of the destroyers is impelled from above. The symbols of these two ways are the sword and the cross.

...

What do we mean by the phrase "forces of evil?" Not the armies of unrighteousness and sinfulness, organised under that figment of the imagination, the devil or some supreme Antichrist, for such an army does not exist, and there is no great enemy of God, arraigned in battle against the Most High. There is only suffering, erring humanity, still half-awakened, dimly sensing the vision, and struggling to free itself from the thralldom of the past, with its tarnished allegiances and its unchecked loyalties. The forces of evil are, in the last analysis, only the entrenched ancient ideals and habits of thought which have served their purpose in bringing the race to its present point of development, but which must now disappear if the New Age is to be ushered in as desired. The old Antichrist rhythms, inherent in the old forms of religion, of politics and of the social order, must give place to newer ideals, to the synthetic understanding, and to the new order. The laws and modes of procedure which are characteristic of the New Age must supersede the old, and these will, in time, institute the new social order and the more inclusive regime.

The world today is full of experiments, particularly in the realm of government, which are the attempts of men everywhere to apply the new dimly-sensed approaching ideals. These have to be applied to our modern conditions of living and eventually supersede them. There is no form of national experiment which is not based on some such ideal, and which is not essentially an effort on the part of some school of idealists to better world conditions, or to bring relief to some group of human beings. This is an axiom which must be accepted from the start, and it is one upon which the New Group of World Servers takes its stand. It therefore negates in them all political antagonisms. In the process of materialising the ideal, in the effort to procure its recognition and thus bring about conformity to the life purpose of the idea, the methods employed and the hatreds induced, the cruelties done in its name, the enforced acceptance demanded, and the evils perpetrated in the name of the new goals, have produced a condition of such an inflammatory nature that Those who stand behind world affairs and the development of humanity have been hard put to it to keep matters as quiet as they are.

Here is another quotation that summarizes the esoteric position with specific reference to what the Christian calls Divinity vs. the Devil. Remember the Latin: Demon est Deus inversus ...

This conflict is expressed in many ways according to the point of view and the background of thought. It can be called the conflict between Christ and anti-Christ but not as those who usually employ those phrases understand them. No one nation is expressive of the spirit of anti-Christ, just as no one nation expresses the spirit of Christ. Christ and anti-Christ are the dualities of spirituality and materialism, both in the individual and in humanity as a whole. Or you can speak of God and the Devil with the same basic implications. For what is man himself but an expression of divinity (God) in a material form (the Devil), and what is matter but the medium through which divinity must eventually manifest in all its glory? -- Externalization of the Hierarchy

There are other references to the Anti-Christ in esoteric teachings, specifically those given out by other Masters than the Tibetan (via Alice Bailey). In some of those teachings, the Anti-Christ is acknowledged as the hierarch (head) of the Black Lodge, meaning that the true black magicians do work under a directing agent, just as all White Magicians work under the Christ as the Hierarch for the Divine Plan upon Planet Earth.

There is even a 4th caveat here, however. Even though dark magicians do oppose the Divine Plan upon our Planet, since they serve a lower trinity consisting of sex, greed (with money as its concretized symbol) and power, they ultimately serve some aspect of an even Greater Divine Plan than that which embraces our planet alone.

In short, we must learn to balance the pair of opposites, as it is called (yin and yang), upon the Earth - during a relatively early stage on the Road to self-Mastery ... and consider that perhaps in the distant future we will be dealing with dualities which transcend everything that we can possibly imagine now as good and evil on this planet.

By that point, the Christ will have long since assumed an exoteric, open Rulership of all events and activity upon the planet - in accord with the spirit of exoteric teachings, though not in agreement in terms of detail - and Humanity will have begun to develop those interplanetary and even extra-Solar relationships which necessarily involve the balancing of additional environing forces and factors.

Quite a different picture than the familiar ideas regarding Rapture, and the 1000 years, etc. And something to think about ...

Namskara,

~Andrew

[Pathless]

Whoa, whoa, whoa... y'all are all way behind. The Anti-Christ problem was solved several decades ago. A taped confession for all to see.

[mee]

Originally Posted by Pathless

Whoa, whoa, whoa... y'all are all way behind. The Anti-Christ problem was solved several decades ago. A taped confession for all to see.

LOL

[Pathless]

Heh, glad you liked it, mee.

[Thomas]

I think Andrew has touched on a very salient point when he raised the issue of principle as prior to any manifestation.

To assume that a person of the antiChrist will appear to counter the person of the Christ assumes a duality that is inconsistent with Christian teaching, are we saying there is God and His equal, an antiGod? Or that there is a Logos and an antiLogos?

Certainly not within Christianity. Our monotheism is holistic, not dualistic. In all our teaching, the contrary principle is located in the angelic orders, not the Divine. If we are talking of 'antichrist' in a loose and generalised sense, then we can look to the data of other traditons. If we consider it within a Christian context, then there is a different order of interpretation.

Furthermore in Christian doctrine the person of Jesus Christ is an hypostasis, the Union of two natures. For the antiChrist to be a type of Christ (in the philosophical sense) would require a sililar hypostatic union, on this occasion between a human and an evil nature.

But Christian doctrine also points out that evil is not an ontological reality,
There is a teaching that the antiChrist will not be dualistically opposed, but functionally opposite to Christ and His teaching — this is famously contained in the rebuke "Get thee behind me, Satan" (Matthew 16:23).

What Christ refutes is not the man, but the tendency in men: "thou art a scandal unto me: because thou savourest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men."

The principle of the antichrist is the love of self.

The antichrist is at work in the material, everyday, commonplace, little things ... in the trivia of the daily round ...

... all it takes to defeat it is mindfulness.

Thomas

[seattlegal]

Originally Posted by AndrewX

In short, we must learn to balance the pair of opposites, as it is called (yin and yang), upon the Earth - during a relatively early stage on the Road to self-Mastery ... and consider that perhaps in the distant future we will be dealing with dualities which transcend everything that we can possibly imagine now as good and evil on this planet.

Therefore it is said, 'In representing the Dao of Heaven one uses the terms Yin and Yang, and in representing the Dao of Earth one uses the terms Soft and Hard, while in representing the Dao of Man, one uses the terms Love and Righteousness'.--Zhou Dunyi

Originally Posted by Thomas

I think Andrew has touched on a very salient point when he raised the issue of principle as prior to any manifestation.

To assume that a person of the antiChrist will appear to counter the person of the Christ assumes a duality that is inconsistent with Christian teaching, are we saying there is God and His equal, an antiGod? Or that there is a Logos and an antiLogos?

Certainly not within Christianity. Our monotheism is holistic, not dualistic. In all our teaching, the contrary principle is located in the angelic orders, not the Divine. If we are talking of 'antichrist' in a loose and generalised sense, then we can look to the data of other traditons. If we consider it within a Christian context, then there is a different order of interpretation.

Furthermore in Christian doctrine the person of Jesus Christ is an hypostasis, the Union of two natures. For the antiChrist to be a type of Christ (in the philosophical sense) would require a sililar hypostatic union, on this occasion between a human and an evil nature.

But Christian doctrine also points out that evil is not an ontological reality,
There is a teaching that the antiChrist will not be dualistically opposed, but functionally opposite to Christ and His teaching — this is famously contained in the rebuke "Get thee behind me, Satan" (Matthew 16:23).

What Christ refutes is not the man, but the tendency in men: "thou art a scandal unto me: because thou savourest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men."

The principle of the antichrist is the love of self.

The antichrist is at work in the material, everyday, commonplace, little things ... in the trivia of the daily round ...

... all it takes to defeat it is mindfulness.

Thomas

I like to look at 2 Thessalonians 2 when considering the antichrist. It says that the love of self {verse 4} and love of unrighteousness {verses 10 and 12}, along with strong delusion {verse 11} will be some of the hallmarks of the antichrist; (confirming your analysis.)

From what I understand, the spirit of the antichrist will be expressed by those who actually think they are speaking for God, but who actually confuse their own will with God's will.

[Thomas]

Originally Posted by seattlegal

From what I understand, the spirit of the antichrist will be expressed by those who actually think they are speaking for God, but who actually confuse their own will with God's will.

Indeed. Any again, the idea the 'God is dead', or that God cannot be known, or that God is mere superstition ...

... elsewhere I referred to the new European Constitution in a discussion with Wil, and in that regard the Constitution would appear to advance the cause of those who would rather any talk of God be struck from the record.

... and for many, the US seems to operate on the notion that it acts in accordinace with some divine mandate.

Interesting to see how those two notions shape up in years to come.

Thomas

[mee]

Originally Posted by seattlegal

From what I understand, the spirit of the antichrist will be expressed by those who actually think they are speaking for God, but who actually confuse their own will with God's will.

yes , it is interesting that certain manmade things such as the LEAGUE OF NATIONS or now known as the United nations , have been promoted by religious leaders as the ....political expression of the kingdom of God on earth............ but that is not true because only GODS HEAVENLY KINGDOM GOVERMENT can bring peace to the earth Daniel 2;44 .they are putting themselves where it should not be . only Gods kingdom will bring true peace to the earth.

[AndrewX]

Hmmm, I will point out that some of continue to support the Spirit behind the founding of the original League, as well as of the United Nations. We even support it by the many millions, if you count all those here in the United States, as well as the citizens of the other several dozen constituent member countries!

What's more, given that TODAY is United Nations Day (Yeaaaa!), I think we should take the chance to speak out in support of the ongoing wonderful efforts that so many people have been involved in, over the last few decades!

The UN has not had the full support of its member nations, and especially owing to such failures as that of the USA - in paying its annual dues from the times of the Reagan Administration forward ... it may be that we shall not see the true wishes of the Christ and the Great Ones expressed via the UN, as the nucleus of a future World Governing Body.

Yes, yes, nations like the US want to play world policeman, and there are folks who - with all the typical John Wayne/Clint Eastwood bravado (or should I say, the Arnie-Terminator/Sly Stallone-Rocky,Rambo ballsiness) - want to see the USA become World Ruler, top dog, yadda yadda. Bush is the worst example we have ever seen of one man's delusions (and utter ineptness) becoming reality ... though in all fairness, it is the rest of the cronies that are running the puppet-show. And even their actions are largely dictated, despite the best prayers - and energies of Light & Love sent onward, their way - which religious and spiritually-minded people can manage.

With the Cold War over, and Russia no longer a threat, the War Pigs were in danger of running out of defense contracts and big business partnerships, thus we see the machisimo factor ... the male-aggressive, testosterone driven will-to-dominate ... being played out in the Bush family's crusade against `rogue nations' - and while I would shy away from hasty conclusions about 9/11 conspiracy theories, I think we can see just who is benefitting from this phony war. And we also see who is dying, now quite possibly by as many as the millions - for the sake of greed, and powerlust.

We are damn close to a disaster here, and much as I am grateful for the times we are living in, I also think we are seeing the old Chinese curse taking on true, new meaning! We do have the power, the ability, to avert the present course of various energies - energies which are powerful, though neutral, and which NEED our directing invocations & prayers (and visualizations, and positive channeling via creative thought) ... but as the expression goes, `If you don't change the path you're on, you're likely to end up where you're headed!'

The Human Spirit - or SOUL - is indestructible - and were a major disaster to occur, what we might very well discover would be our continued existence, in strange - yet somehow familiar - circumstances. The world is still the same, minus its physical garment, yet evolution cannot continue - in the way that God has designed and ordained it - without that portion which provides us contact with the most material expression of the Creation. Take off your coat, and you are still `you.'

The forces of the Antichrist, some conscious and intelligent, even shrewdly so, direct those which are not, or which do not yet give their full complicity ... yet which nevertheless form a tremendous force - either for Good or for ill - based sometimes even upon the most seemingly insignificant of factors.

The decision, for example, to say a certain Prayer or Invocation, daily ... especially coming from someone not accustomed to doing this ... could literally save our planet, and advance the Cause of the Christ & the Great Ones by decades, or centuries. Examples which many esotericists use are The Great Invocation (Christ's Mantram), and the Mantram of the New Group of World Servers, or the Five O'Clock Mantram as it is also called.

Might I suggest The Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi for anyone who wishes a more traditional Christian approach, as also the website Pray and Act for Peace! | Christian Peace Witness for Iraq ...

Not that there are not a number of other troubled spots on our planet at this time, yet I truly believe that the forces which oppose our Spiritual Progress, and which threaten our taking the next major steps in welcoming the Christ back into outward expression ... are those which are fueling the current war machine, and which will stop at nothing in attempting to sow DISCORD, rather than Harmony, and in spreading fear, mistrust, xenophobia and paranoia.

We are wise to consider that - no matter how clever we think ourselves to be, those who seek to arrest Humanity's spiritual growth are a bit more clever. If this were not the case, we would have long ago defeated them, and already ours would be a `Sacred Planet,' as it is called esoterically.

Increasingly, there will be (and already is) a recognition and acceptance, and thereby a group cooperation - from sane, ordinary, rational-minded people - that in addition to the various Angelic Hierarchies which complement our own, Human Spiritual Hierarchy (the 5th Kingdom in relation to the 4th) ... VISITORS from perhaps even several dozen other planets, have worked amongst us, and alongside us, for a number of decades.

Only a few of these may take actual incarnation, and be aunt Lucy or cousin Fred. The vast majority are likely to serve, for quite some time (or at least at this time) via the subjective worlds ... and even such things as materializations, or the choice to express themselves in our physical world, will be rare. This doesn't change the fact that many millions have now already witnessed appearances among us of people from other planets.

But let us think for a moment, and admit to ourselves what challenges we must be ready to embrace, if we are to accept the plans of the Christ and Those Who Serve alongside Him. The Visitations, and partnerships, with these more advanced planets, are all conditional. They are utterly dependent upon OUR WILLINGNESS to accept, and to cooperate, with the outstretched Hands of Deity Herself, and Himself.

If the churches, and the religions, and the people of various spiritual affiliations can all learn to see beyond our many (and valuable) differences, then we might just have some HOPE of receiving the aid that is offered to us at this time. For this Christian, as for the Western traditions, there may be some considerable challenge, for again - as my dear friend was sharing with me today - our culture has grown tremendously out of balance, and the Divine Feminine does not even register with a great many people (myself included) who so desperately need to understand, and accept Her.

Once those who have not been accustomed to understanding God as Sophia, or as `the Divine Woman,' learn that Christ too, has a counterpart ... a great many current challenges for the Christ may be easily overcome.

Yet how is a man to learn to know something more of his very own Savior, if he does not even accept Her Presence within the heart of his wife, his sister, his Mother, his Reverend or Minister (and these will increasingly be women, we understand) ...

The spirit against the Christ sows separateness, favors discord ... and struggles, for this is the very basis of its existence, AGAINST Understanding, AGAINST Tolerance, AGAINST Cooperation (which must prevail, regardless of outward differences of religion, race, skin color, gender, or social status) ... and the saddest part of this all, is that a relatively small group of intelligences are ultimately responsible, on this planet, for the survival of what we call evil (or anti-Christ).

What irony, that I of all people should say something about cool-headedness, and yet, this is probably one of the greatest renewed acts of Service that any human being could contribute to the current state of things, along with the aforementioned Invocation and Prayer ... especially as we move forward toward Peace - despite what is being planned, by those whose greed, powerlust, and worldly ambition know no limits.

And yet, just a few moments of centering, observed daily ... whether we call this meditation, prayer, coming to peace, seeking the Inner Light, Jnana Yoga, stilling the mind, or following the breath ... such practice, has the potential to transform our planet almost overnight!

What a tragedy (already), that we have even dared to ask such questions as `how much longer do we have,' `how much more oil can we suck out of this earth,' `how much longer before our environment collapses, choked with smog & pollution' ... as if the best course of action was to find a number, then add one - and do everything in our power to make tomorrow arrive that much faster.

Who will deny, that this is what we are doing?


I think this is relevant, so I will quote Pastor Martin Niemöller's `First They Came':

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn't a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.

Better than speaking of what is anti-Christ, we can work so much Good in the world, even just by speaking - and doing - what we know and believe is PRO-`World-Solution.' If Christ shines out for us, reminding us what it really means to love one's neighbor as oneself ... as also to FORGET one's enemies, by making them your friends (talk to me about loving my enemies - but have you ever heard the expression, `Fighting for Peace is like F-ing for Virginity'?) ... then I think our focus should be on Christ.

But let us remember, acknowledge, and THANK GOD, that there are people who Love God as Krishna, who Love God as Allah, who Love God as Buddha - for if you cannot substitute the word `Good' for `God,' and thus understand something of Buddhism as a Christian ... then I do not believe you are really ready to know God at all, or to go about doing GOOD, even as Christ did.

Loving the Lord can be expressed and demonstrated in so, so many ways, regardless of one's religious choice, and even if one is the most practical-minded of skeptics or scientists. Believing in Wise, Magnificent Intelligences Whom and which guide our evolution, such great Minds as Einstein and Nicholas Tesla (from the early 20th Century) have contributed more to the GOOD in this world, than any of us will likely ever realize.

So many connections are about to be made. So many are already being made. Some have just been made, which would probably make our heads spin - if we really had an inkling of what are the Grand implications in the larger scheme of things. But most important of all, the very Heart of Creation Itself ... something truly Cosmic in stature and in importance ... has just spoken to our System and our tiny little planet, and we have at least begun to lift our weary head(s) - and our mouth has begun to open, in response.

Our hearts are yearning to sing the Response, in acknowledgment and in Affirmation ... and if only we can reach the `critical mass' (double entendre, there), I am thoroughly convinced, our Creator will wait and listen, till "every knee is bowed, and till every heart (tongue) has answered ---."

So mote it be,

Namaskar

[mee]

The inability of humans to bring true freedom in the important things of life emphasizes what is said in the Bible at Jeremiah 10:23: "To earthling man his way does not belong. It does not belong to man who is walking even to direct his step." No, God did not create man with the ability or prerogative to be independent of His direction and be successful. This is one reason why God has allowed so many thousands of years of human rule independent from him, to demonstrate once and for all time that such rule cannot bring true freedom and happiness. Hence, Psalm 146:3 wisely counsels: "Do not put your trust in nobles, nor in the son of earthling man, to whom no salvation belongs." Then whom can we trust? The Bible answers: "Trust in Jehovah with all your heart and do not lean upon your own understanding. In all your ways take notice of him, and he himself will make your paths straight."—Proverbs 3:5, 6.

[Tao_Equus]

Someone called?

[flowperson]

Originally Posted by Tao_Equus

Someone called?

Okay...if 17th ever comes back, your avatar snorting blue flames and the above motto underneath that on t-shirts. A winner methinks. Get a percentage Tao...remember the ultimate goal for those of us in the "OF" corral is to establish a passive, long term royalty income stream.

flow....