By Kelly O'Connell ——Bio and Archives--April 3, 2011
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Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. (John 2:18)Here is offered the Reformed Christian interpretation claiming since the number 6 was the representation of mankind in ancient numerology, what 666 foreshadows is the age of ultra, hyper-humanism. Therefore, the mark of 666 would be upon all of those in the modern age who follow the ideas of man instead of the revelation of God. That would then make sense of verses like this:
But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God--having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people. (2 Timothy 3:2-5)Classic passages on the Anti-Christ are found in the books of Daniel and Revelation:
And I saw a beast coming out of the sea...The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words & blasphemies and to exercise his authority for 42 months. He opened his mouth to blaspheme God, & to slander his name & his dwelling place & those who live in heaven. He was given power to make war against the saints & to conquer them. And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language & nation. All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb slain from the creation of the world...This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man's number. His number is 666. (Rev 13)
In the last 50 years, there has been an extraordinary decoupling of marriage and procreation. In 1960 about 5 percent of births were to unwed mothers; that figure is now a record high of nearly 40 percent. Out-of-wedlock births used to be such a source of shame that families tried to hide them: Singer Bobby Darin was born to a teen mother and raised to believe she was his sister. But now out-of-wedlock births are greeted with a shrug.The Bible is quite clear on the centrality of marriage in God's creation, made obvious by a few examples. First, Adam and Eve become one flesh in paradise before any sin occurs. Second, we see that God gives marriage the ultimate blessing by comparing Christ's relationship with the church to a wedding of a bride and groom. Third, God and Jesus both explicitly defend marriage. Consider the following verses. In the Old Testament, Yahweh says,
The Lord is acting as the witness between you and the wife of your youth, because you have broken faith with her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant. Has not [the Lord] made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his. And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth. "I hate divorce," says the Lord God of Israel...(Malachi 2: 14-16)In the New Testament, Christ comments on marriage:
Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?" "What did Moses command you?" He replied. They said, "Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away." "It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law," Jesus replied. "But at the beginning of creation God 'made them male and female.' 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.' So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate." (Mark 10: 2-9)Now consider the resultant folly of loosening human marriage via: no-fault divorces, abortion, cohabitation, remarriage and multiple-partner families, casual affairs, bastard offspring, and now gay marriage and even polygamy. The NY Times wrote in 2009:
Unmarried mothers gave birth to 4 out of every 10 babies born in the United States in 2007, a share that is increasing rapidly both here and abroad... First, the entrance of every child into society was once prepared by their complete family. Now, for example for African American births, that happens about 25% of the time. And consider the towering increase in poverty for children in fatherless families. Amazingly, Blacks are more at risk from death by abortion than any other cause of death. Consider what Christ says about caring for children:
And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. (Matt 18: 5-6)So what is the real impact of the breakup of the family? The following statistics will cast a light on the true cost of turning our back on traditional marriage. In the interest of exploring the loss of the father, which symbolizes God the Father, consider these statistics from Experiments in Living: The Fatherless Family, By Rebecca O'Neill; Sept. 2002, CIVITAS. Here are some statistics resulting from the fatherless:
The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matt13:41-42)Fatherless Barack (see Are the Sins of the Fatherless the Root of Obama's Tyranny?) believes he will build an earthly paradise, perhaps to please a father who was not there to show him real love and wisdom as a child. Whether Christian or atheist, we must admit the collapse of the family creates enormous social, financial, and emotional problems, which only increase over time. So to fight against fatherlessness is to battle for common sense, itself. To save America from apostasy, is to return us back to our rightful place as the crown jewel of the nations. If the Bible is really all that separates us from barbarianism, as some historians have written--then we better stand up and fight for our classic institutions as if our very lives depended upon it, because they do.
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Kelly O’Connell is an author and attorney. He was born on the West Coast, raised in Las Vegas, and matriculated from the University of Oregon. After laboring for the Reformed Church in Galway, Ireland, he returned to America and attended law school in Virginia, where he earned a JD and a Master’s degree in Government. He spent a stint working as a researcher and writer of academic articles at a Miami law school, focusing on ancient law and society. He has also been employed as a university Speech & Debate professor. He then returned West and worked as an assistant district attorney. Kelly is now is a private practitioner with a small law practice in New Mexico.