"Christ was Jewish, full stop."

Full stop? As in crucified? Died? Buried in a tomb? Yes. What you seem to be missing is the piece called Christ, which is the entire purpose of Christianity as relevant to humanity in relation to Jews and only relative to Jews. There is no other reason Christianity is useful, and it is patient charity for the hostile Jewish people that Christians and other decent folk do not murder every last one of them like the Muslims try to do. We may be fundamentally opposed to Jews in all ways, but we do not take action against them, especially not violence or oppression by abusing society’s systems like economy, government, and etiquette.

I apologize if that was distracting as a tangent. My point is this: the word “Christ” literally as what that word means and the origin of that word as why that Greek word was used and no other word, was specifically because of its significance as a Gentile identity of a messiah or hero, such as Hercules, Odysseus, Achilles, or any other brave hero of Gentile myth that was a savior in their own way for their people. Thor is a good example from popular culture. That is a “Christ”. The word does not mean a specific person unless used for that purpose to identify who that person is, such as Jesus Christ.

The same word can be applied as Thor Christ. Heracles Christ. Odysseus Christ. Nick Bylotas Christ. Yourself Christ, if you identified as a hero or messiah yourself. There is nothing to stop you from doing so, and it is in fact a great and good thing because you are committed to everyone’s well being and benefit if you do. The concept of it being an arrogant claim of godhood is a perversion of the meaning and the Christ should not be used in that way. That’s one of the reasons why that particular word was chosen from the Greek language and no other.

Hopefully that helps clarify what my intention was by asking that question. It is a grave misconception that people want to identify Jesus Christ as a Jew as opposed to a Gentile because that defeats the entire purpose of his memory. Jews in the world today seem to be smug of Jesus’ identity as a Jew, but they are actually quite ignorant by feeling that way. Hopefully that problem is slightly better for all of humanity for all ages to come because of my work as a Christ here and now with these words I write.

By the power of bologna, and the cheese, and whole wheat— I judge this sandwich complete. Go now and eat.

One of the things about the Christ as an identifier is that if someone is claiming it, you can expect them to do something to help you if you ask, need help, or are in trouble. If you aren’t even aware of what they are doing, you can trust that person to be doing something good somewhere and don’t need to worry. That is what being a Christian is supposed to mean, but unfortunately, as is painfully obvious with the Christian legacy Western civilization has, the people who call themselves Christ are most often betrayers of the spirit.

They are like spies in the US government who may wear a uniform and swear an oath to support and defend the Constitution, but they have no intention of doing so and are instead dangerously hostile to every citizen. They go about their day secretly sabotaging things every chance they can to destroy the nation and purposely failing to do their responsibilities. That is what Christians are like today, and why I refuse to identify as a Christian.

I’m “taking back the Christ” for Gentiles. The circumcised folk along with Jews will no longer be able to use that word’s spiritual power without my approval because of how they have betrayed the spirit of the Christ by not living like a messiah or hero and are instead being common slobs making no effort to help others or save the world by eliminating injustice and human suffering. 90 percent of the time, they are brute idiots going about like uncultured savages with no concept of how to help anyone, not even themselves, and they are extraordinarily lazy while expecting to be pampered like a king even though they don’t do any of a king’s work.

Sickening to see really, but that is why people who are Christs rise up in all cultures to rebuke the foolishness of people like that when they are out of line. They go about the incredibly difficult labor of setting things right for everyone’s benefit, even the idiots at fault for ruining things with their brute stupidity, and they succeed at doing so. Although they are not superhumans, they do the work of a superhuman, and that is why they are remembered and loved in the stories people tell about them.

I’m still working, but I don’t intend to stop even though I have done several superhuman feats for everyone’s benefit as pure charity already. I also benefited from those works with a bit of self-interest, but I did the extra work so that everyone else would as well. I didn’t have to also save everyone else, and that was more difficult than had I of just saved myself, but I did it because I want to be a person strong enough to help the weak, rebuke the unjust, and fight for truth, love, and freedom for everyone.

Some people would probably say that is a bit dorky and goofy, like LARPing every day of my life, but I don’t care what other people think about it. I am not ashamed of myself for living the story of my life like it is my favorite kind of book. I experience endless joy, magic, and spiritual surprises by doing so, making it extremely rewarding, so I do not regret the suffering that has been caused to me by brutes who do not know what they are doing, even though they should.

Simple: Jew or Christian

That is the simple reality of the world we live in. Decide what side you are on: the side of Jesus the Christ, or the side of the Jews who kill, reject, and deny Jesus the Christ and all that he teaches.

It’s not really a choice.

So… why the fuck are so many people trying to side with the Jews and defend them? They do not deserve defense because of how rude, inhospitable, cruel, evil, dishonest, uncharitable, and treacherous they are. They do not deserve anything.

Banish them. Kick them out. Be rid of them. Everything will be better without Jews.

End

The Paradox of Judgment

Listen, the differential between judging society in general and an individual is kind of ambiguous. Some people are going to say stuff about a general social group that ticks off individuals personally because they are part of a group, and they may feel inclined to declare in response that they aren't like that because they truly aren't. Then sometimes someone will say something about an individual in the nicest way possible, and then conclude that the entire group is like that which could be upsetting in different ways. The point is that these kinds of verbal exchanges can get a bit bloody in the worst situations. Tolerate it.

Better to let words get bloody than have to settle things with physical violence. An apology can heal the wounds caused by words, but not those caused by guns and knives. That's why, in my opinion, I believe communist nations should protect free speech and information just as much as the USA is supposed to. It reduces threats of public violence, because tensions are relieved with heated exchanges of words and with greater efficiency the more good information there is available. If that cannot happen among the public, then the likelihood increases that people may "snap" under the strain of not being able to express their suffering adequately, and then they end up doing mass violence while in a broken mental state, which is a temporary and serious condition.

There is a line in this situation of passing judgment that designates when something is “too far”. I don't know how to define it now, other than this: if someone crosses that line in the future, it will be pointed out that what they are saying is worse than what I am.  Their words hit meaner, are too insulting, are too cruel, or are simply wrong because of how hurtful it is without truth. Listen to them when they say that and to what they are responding to as though this situation with me were happening all over again. Which you better pray to the gods and all that you believe holy that this does not happen again.

I have been exceptionally harsh with people, and I see no reason why others should ever need to be more severe than I am when in my most wrathful wordsmack form. If that happens, demand an apology. It shouldn't matter who you are, or who you are demanding one from, nor how you relate socially. You should always be able to have words with anyone when necessary and appropriate. An insult that demands an apology is always appropriate.

The simplest reason demanding an apology is of the utmost importance: an apology boils down to life or death. The longer explanation is that for the same reason that the tyrants refuse to apologize, they should apologize.  If they don’t, they are risking what they are so irrationally afraid of losing. You can apologize fine and not lose that. You can be totally in the wrong making a huge mistake like a total fool of devastating apocalyptic proportions, and not lose that if you are not too proud to say sorry.

So, if someone demands an apology or a word in the kind of way I am that demands the national government and the entire public’s attention, that means it is at least as serious of a life or death situation whether you recognize it or not. There is nothing to lose by granting a speedway to pride rock for them to say what is on their mind.  If they don’t have anything to say, they will look silly, big deal, but that kind of diversion is the kind of thing the government needs to allow, even when you get a practical joker up there who farts on stage and nothing more. The costs are negligible, and the benefits are infinite.

In those situations, the people concerned should approach it carefully, with a sense of fear, awareness, and caution of what they are not seeing coming out from their blind spot and shanking them in the kidney with a rusty shiv from Hell.  That kind of approach costs a person nothing, and ensures that they do not lose their head.  It is foolish to dismiss apologizing as an option because of pride, otherwise known as arrogance.

Do they think anyone believes they are infallible and cannot ever sin or make a mistake!? The very thought brings the wrath of the public upon them, saying nothing about divine wrath which is also awoken. Every person should know better than to believe themselves infallible. Even the pope. If the pope was infallible, Christianity wouldn’t have such a horrific history. That teaching is more of a bureaucratic thing to maintain order in the structural organization, in my opinion, because I don’t believe the pope is a divine person who cannot make mistakes and never sin.

He can represent that authority and speak with it, but that doesn’t make him any more or less human than anyone else. Besides, addressing situations that demand an apology shouldn't take more than a few minutes for most things, and be an infrequent necessity. For whatever chagrin a person may feel at saying sorry, the relief of forgiveness after is infinitely better than the slow poison of a begrudging guilt.

Consider the lesson of Jesus Crist’s life, death, and resurrection. Jesus died because people believed his sin was unforgivable. He died for a sin that he was accused of which the people who made the accusation believed was unforgivable. It is they who needed his forgiveness because they had no right to judge him for that sin without committing it themselves by judging guilt as the authority of the species (ideological species, not biological – like a living idea with a mind and will of its own).  Jews are humans, not divine beings, so they cannot be an authority of the species because they themselves are not of the species. ***They had no right to say that Jesus was not “God”, because if he was, they wouldn’t know it and they claimed that they did in fact know it.***  Jews are not divine beings any more than anyone else is, that being just a mote which grants us free will and the divine power to create good with free will.

Refusing to forgive someone’s sin is the worst thing I think a person could do as an offense against the highest divine (otherwise known as “God”).  Forgiveness doesn’t exonerate them from crimes or reparation, because there are other reasons why laws need to be enforced other than guilt and atonement.  However, it does change the way a person thinks about the person they forgave, and that is a big deal for both the victim and the offender. So, having died, his resurrection (at the very least in memory through these very words which call to mind the living, real person he is then and now), … his resurrection testifies that no person is beyond forgiveness. That means that everybody is subject to mercy and by association, wrath, of a higher power no matter the height at which they may recline.

Consider this: Even if Jesus had committed the sin he was accused of, and he didn’t, he should have been forgiven and dealt with mercifully, not the way it happened. In other words, even if Jesus was God and Man in the way he was accused of claiming to be, and then offended God in such a way as a Man would by actually committing the sin he was accused of, he would forgive himself as both a Man and God. If I could forgive him for that, he sure as hell can too if he wants.  Being able to forgive as a Man, means that the God self is also capable of forgiveness, because the power and authority of Man is not beyond that of the highest divine.

Furthermore, when the Jews accused Jesus of the sin he was sentenced to death for, Jesus completed the sin himself by accepting the punishment for it. He would not have accepted that punishment if he did not commit the sin, because even accepting punishment for such a sin commits that sin. It’s a horribly evil situation and why it is said he died for evil. It was a lost cause not worth dying for that he totally believed in with true faith because he was a bastard child who had nothing to believe about himself but the story of his national identity which he totally integrated into his person because it was intertwined with traditional sacred claims of several thousand years. Traditional sacred claims are personally powerful in ways that a legal claim in court is not, nor are new sacred claims nearly as powerful as traditionally established ones.

(My personal sacred claim to derive who I am from is none of your concern, but if you want to know more about who I am and see if learning about me can help you, I would appreciate a little more respect and kindness from you.  Cease doing the evil that you have been doing to attempt to get to know me. Things like stealing information in gluttonous amounts, invading my privacy, stalking me, and knowingly violating my human rights continually. I will believe what I want about myself, and you will not have any control over that, and I will hold you accountable to the law for doing me harm so egregiously for so long.  Go to hell with your evil thoughts as false gods, because you are not welcome around me with those.

None of you people can claim responsibility for who I am as a creator, because that is me alone, and I created who I am myself. I had nothing sacred I could identify with that completed the logical link between mortal man and the highest divine source which Christianity promises me is true. It cannot be Jesus Christ because he is a Jew and I thankfully have nothing to do with Jews and no relation to them, nor do I want a connection with those… people. Christianity is beneath me. It is not good enough for me, especially with people like that traitorous president claiming to be one.

Under no circumstances do I want to identify in the slightest with people like that. Being a man myself, and knowing my quality as a man in relation to other men, I don’t want to have any connection to such pitiable excuses for men. They are disgraceful and an embarrassment to all that can see them as they truly are.  I have more self-respect and dignity of a higher nature than they reach themselves, far more, so how can I be like them if they are beneath me in the hierarchy of men? They are surely like me, not the other way around, but unfortunately for them, they are not even recognizable because of how far they have strayed from the source at which I found myself and the Christ true.)

So, everyone should be willing to apologize if they do something wrong, or "sin" in some way. Nobody does wrong like that on purpose anyway (not true sin) which is why apologies are necessary when the situation is made clear as to how they went wrong and who it hurt.

The thing about words, is that anyone with communication skills can rearrange words to heal and do any sort of magic goodness in people's lives that rebounds them from the worst situations. Even though you may think in the moment that you'd rather be shot in the chest than insulted in such a way, it's not so bad because you just need a skilled wordmage to say the right thing to make it better. People with those talents, skills, and abilities that are not all that uncommon. You probably know one who could help you sort out any sort of situation with a good talk.

Whether or not you believe this, I can do that for the entire nation, for the treasonous presidents, for the shameful congress’, and anyone for that matter.  If I say the word, I could pull the entire god damn catastrophe of the USA’s failed government out of the fire, and save it from the eternal destruction they are condemned now to suffer because of their bad decisions upon bad decisions all because they are trying (and failing miserably), to hide their crimes and sins. Obviously they would need to repent with a contrite heart, but that is both the easiest and only way out of their problem, so it should be the obvious choice. They seriously think apologizing in public is going to be worse than the punishment of cold, hard justice which will bring about what they fear anyway?

There is no blaze of glory for them to be destroyed in such a way as refusing to do any good whatsoever, because their crime is ideologically evil, unintelligent, meaningless, disgraceful, and does not look remotely cool in any way. Did they not know that Jesus already died for sin? He already died for evil. It changed nothing and only made the situation worse, and they are supposed to have learned from that like everyone else.

They don’t even have a nation or idea they are trying to keep alive, because they betrayed their national sacred ideology openly to not die for it! Cowards in every sense of the word. Afraid of punishment, afraid to fight for the ideals they swore an oath to protect, and afraid of that one man, who is particularly unfortunate in life and disabled too. That actually makes him look incredibly bad ass for cowing them to such humiliation just by taking a stand. I’d better go help him, because if I’m not fighting with him when he wins, which we all know is going to happen, then… let’s not even go there. “Yo! Daisy! I got your back! Don’t give up the fight!”   

There is no question about whether or not they need to admit their mistakes and submit themselves to justice. It is necessary for the simple reason of correcting the damage which continually hiding their crimes and sins only makes worse. If they don't, the ship will still be flooding, the fire will still be burning out of control, and the breathable atmosphere will continue to deplete until it is entirely gone. As far as confronting me the way they need to, they don't have to like me, honor me, praise me, say nice things to me, or anything, but they do have to present themselves in my presence because what they did affected me personally as an individual worse than anyone (as far as I know), and I am the higher authority they answer to as the citizen.

A child born of a Gentile and Jew wonders if he is a Jew (not a joke)

You are what you choose to be. Judaism is a religious ideology that is more secular than faith-based because of its morally evil theology. That is a factually true statement. Religion is generally about being a good person, but Judaism is generally about being an evil person, which is why I don’t respect them at all, and never will.

The Abrahamic Covenant from which all Jews identify with as their origin apart from everyone else, is undeniably evil and provably so. Therefore, you can choose to deny it, which is right, just, and true, and Judaism has no meaning other than a delusion people insist on by force of violence. So, it all depends on whether or not you believe what the Jews do about the Abrahamic Covenant. Jews will try to tell you that it’s not a choice, as an ethnicity, but it definitely is and that idea is a common deception they use to try and take advantage of other people.

Judaism is entirely based on an idea which is morally fraudulent and wrong and has nothing to do with physiology, genetics, race, ethnicity, or national identity unless you accept the false claim that they insist is true. That claim is not possible because it defies the goodness of the highest divine by being an evil act of worship in exchange for worldly power. That exchange is by all accounts not in accordance with the divine laws of truth and goodness which they are trying to manipulate to their evil advantage by faithlessly abusing the spiritual nature of humanity. They particularly take advantage of people like you who ask questions like this because you are seeking guidance or of people who are vulnerable and weak in general, such as newborn infants.

For example, the common use of the word “God” has two implications. One, it is a word used to identify when one is referring to the highest divine which is a concept that cannot be adequately expressed in human language. Two, it refers specifically to the Jewish deity of worship. Therefore, “God” is a superstition and there is no such thing. You need not fear anything like that because it is an evil, Jewish idea with no meaning other than causing their own torment.

The true concept which that confused word refers to has no need for a a written or spoken form and is self-evident without need of any expression. Not spoken, not written, not ritualized. Nothing. It takes no offense when someone denies what it isn’t, the word “God” or “YHWH” being prime examples of what the divine is not. It exists as it is and that is all there is to it. Nothing humans can do or say about it changes what it is and how it relates to all existence. No ritual, no sacrifice, nothing. Least of all a murderous and evil human sacrifice such as in the Abrahamic covenant or with Jesus.

Back in the day, a Christian or Jew would kill someone like me for saying this, but they can’t get away with that kind of lawlessness anymore. That is the only reason why it is still around in human consciousness. They murderously and violently forced everyone to pretend that it is to be taken seriously. They have no power to do that anymore and they are dwindling away to non-existence. The only thing that will remain, is the faint memory of obscure human history forgotten in obsolete archives and the lingering use of the word “Christ” or “Jesus Christ” as a form of profanity, insult, blasphemy, and a common expression of cursing.

Someday people may trace back the origins of why that word has any relevance as a hateful curse when there is no longer any memory of Judaism. They will delve into that obscure history to be horrified of the immense evil that darkened humanity as a result of the abomination and unlawful, evil, and failed experiment of Judaism.

Some people will probably doubt that it’s not so bad, because rumors will go around about a religion, and experts will be like, “oh no, it is. Look it up for yourself if you really think it might have any value,” and then help them find all information they may want. The conclusion being, “damn… Jews really are evil. Jesus Christ what the fuck!? How could human beings be so evil on a massive scale of public delusion? Holy shit… that’s why the government takes the law so seriously and why honor and integrity are important even though they seem like dorks sometimes and can be sticklers over the smallest matters that seem to make no difference. It all makes sense now.”

Is circumcision a “small matter”? What is the going value of human flesh?

You know how a lot of popular media portrays the future as a dystopian, grungy place that is dark, unpleasant, and generally fucked up with a tyrannical and evil government authority? That’s not how it’s going to be. That is what Judaism, Islam, and Christianity lead to, and we are putting a stop to it so it doesn’t happen. The future is going to be good, as it should be.

It’s fun to pretend you are a hero in an evil world like that and save everyone while gathering a harem of lovely maidens and always will be, but reality is going to actually be a good world. Really good. The evil problems of the world today are going to be unthinkable in the future and people will sometimes get reckless and rebellious and out of line which is normal and fine, but it will be mostly harmless. The difference is that light years before they even come close to the terror, evil, and malevolence of the world today, they will see or be shown their mistake, and either correct it or have it corrected if they won’t.

The days of evil humans acting like wild beasts that can bludgeon each other around with human inventions is coming to an end, and people like me are going to ensure that it never gets a chance to come back.

Additionally, it is not fun to actually live in an evil world and have to fight it. That is not a good feeling. It is a nightmare. It is only fun when playing make believe and pretending, and that’s the only place where evil can exist. If you ever notice evil in real life, it needs to be seen as the most severe threat and if you can’t put a stop to it on your own, find someone who can.

So, if you are in the distant future and looking back on history where evil happened, don’t pin the evil on the humans. Humans only do evil because they are confused. They never do evil on purpose. If they think they are doing it on purpose, they have no idea what they are doing and are stupid. They need to be put to justice, but they are still humans and humans aren’t evil. None of creation is evil. For further information on evil, feel free to look up my other discourses on the subject where I explain in full detail what it is, why it exists, and what to do about it.

He's already here!? The Second Thessalonians Prophecy

So I busted this paper out at the last minute and got it in a few hours late, but I got it in. Hopefully I still manage to pass the course.

Anyway, if you want to read it, here it is. I don’t think it’s too bad.

If you want to better understand a highly interesting passage of scripture a little better, I reccomend you read it. I guarantee you will not regret it if that’s why you approached it.

So…. yeah. I’m just going to copy and paste. Boom.

Nicholas Bylotas

8/15/2022

THY-532 The Life and Writings of Paul

Dr. Marc Pugliese

He’s already here!?: The Second Thessalonians Prophecy

            The Man of Apostasy, the Lawless One, the Antichrist—all names for a single human being who has coursed through the consciousness of humanity ever since his coming was first prophesied in Second Thessalonians.  Theologians, scholars, and laypeople alike have made countless claims over the years as to who this inimical man is, but the mystery is yet unsolved, and the pot is only getting larger as more and more bets are placed.  The first twelve verses of the second chapter of Second Thessalonians contain the prophecy from which this excitement has arisen, and this exegesis will examine them so to ascertain their original meaning as the author intended.

            One of the reasons why 2 Thessalonians 2:1-11 is such a mystery to us today, is because it refers to insider information which the church of Thessalonica received from Paul the Apostle’s direct instruction when he spent time with them.  This is evident from v. 5, “do you not recall that while I was with you I told you these things?”.  The verse serves to complete the information of the preceding verses which anticipate the arrival of the “man doomed to perdition” as a necessary event that must happen before the day of the Lord (2 Thess 2:3).  Unfortunately, we don’t know what it was that Paul said in the instance that is being referred to, making it particularly difficult to arrive at a precise conclusion of what is meant.  What is more obscure is v. 6, “and now you know what is restraining,” which implies an eschatological conclusion that the Thessalonian community arrived at, but as far as we know was never recorded and is now lost.

            Before we peer into the mystery of the new evil characters and forces of darkness at work in the final days, we will begin where chapter two begins, which is both the start of the body of the epistle, and the address of the occasion for writing (Esler).  There is some debate as to what the specific details of the occasion is which are interpreted differently depending on whether it is authentic Pauline or not (Ibid).  These differences refer to which particular group or message and at what time had provoked the false teaching that needed to be addressed, which was the belief that the day of the Lord had already come (Ibid).  The author, whom I will make no claims as to whether he was Paul or not, urges the congregation not to be “shaken” or “alarmed” by a teaching coming from an alleged Christian who announces that the day of the Lord has already come (2 Thess 2:1-2).  Whether it was a notion that emerged from millenarian excitement in the Thessalonian church, or was something a Gnostic brought to them, the author is clear that such a teaching is false (Ibid).

            The proof the author provides to justify his rectification against false doctrine is a reminder of a prerequisite event he calls “the apostasy” which has yet to occur.  He then goes into further detail of what this previous instruction he is referring to means.  His method is to employs a storytelling approach that introduces characters, plot, conflict, and resolution; a classic method of communicating spiritual truth in any culture or community (Gaventa 110).  The story approach serves both as a conveyance of information, but also to generate emotional investment which is charged by a sense of danger which is relieved by the encouragement for hope (Ibid 116).  The characters include the Lawless One, Jesus, Satan, the Restrainer, and the two anthropomorphized concepts of rebellion and the mystery of lawlessness (Ibid 110).

            Up first is the Restrainer doing the restraining (2 Thess 2:6-7).  This has been interpreted both as a positive character that holds back the mystery of lawlessness and the lawless one, and as a negative one which oppresses the church and restrains her (Elias 288).  The reason there are different interpretations is because of how one may translate the ancient Greek phrase to katechon and ho katechon (Elias 281).  The phrase is what refers to the Restrainer, whom for those who assert is a positive force is given an object noun to identify it as a person i.e. “And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his time” (2 Thess 2:6, Ibid 282).  Although admittedly I know very little about the ancient Greek language and cannot read it myself, my very brief studies of ancient languages in general have taught me that it is not unusual to need to supply such words to complete a translation.  For those who interpret the restrainer as an antagonist, to katechon and ho katechon are translated as the words oppression and oppressor, based on the various translation of the root word katecho throughout scripture (Ibid 282)

            So which is it?  If the Restrainer is a helpful character, some propose it is God himself, the Holy Spirit, or even the Roman Empire enforcing its laws (Beverly 114).  Those who claim it is an antagonist also point to the Roman Empire but emphasize its oppressive traits that work against the Christian church (Elias 283).  Seeing that I am unable to read ancient Greek myself, I’m inclined to agree with what is written in the Catholic Study Bible before me as I write this, which supplies an object and implies a positive role to the force/person.  However, more than that, it seems to logically flow that if the removal of this agent results in the release of the supernaturally evil Lawless One, then it is probably a force of good, which could be an angel, the Holy Spirit, or God himself. 

            We have arrived now at the Lawless One, whom as I mentioned above embodies evil to a supernatural degree (2 Thess 2:9-10).  The eschatological nature of this figure suggests that he can only be properly identified at the moment of his destruction on the day of the Lord (Gieschen 276).  It is as if saying his true name is the magic that breaks the spell and sends him back into the pit, like Rumpelstiltskin.  Jesus of course is prophesied to do this with the breath of his mouth (2 Thess 2:8).  Who is this great approaching enemy that the ancient author of Second Thessalonians foresaw?  Some interpret the Lawless One as not only predicted in Second Thessalonians, but as the same figure described in Daniel (Beeke 11).  The verse in reference is v.4: “who opposes and exalts himself above every so called god and object of worship…”.

This language that describes a man or king exalting himself in such a way is found in several places throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, those being Daniel 11:36, Ezekial 28:2, and Isaiah 14:13 (Gaventa 112).  The repeated use of this concept as a person becoming the total enmity of God’s people indicates that it is less important what prophecy refers to who, than it is that the language describes a particular human behavior which demonstrates the epitome of faithlessness and sin.  Examples of this happening are identified with Antiochus Epiphanes from Daniel’s passage, an unnamed king of Tyre from Ezekiel’s book, and an unnamed king of Babylon in Isaiah (Gaventa 112). 

The Lawless One is special in this regard, however.  Not only does he do that, but he does so with Satanic power that summons signs and wonders that deceive the people (2 Thess 2:9).  The details of how the Lawless One enters the scene are uncertain, but some propose that it means he is going to impress himself into the consciousness of the people as God, not by claiming to be that, but by performing Satanic signs that deceive people into believing it true (Beeke 12).  According to the author of this epistle, it’s the people who do not accept the truth of the gospel and are thus under the power of death who become this man’s victims (2 Thess 2:10).

The last verse to examine in this exegesis answers a very important question that many people have: why does this happen?  According to the author, God allows the Lawless One to have his way for a time because it is how he is going to differentiate the condemned from the saved (2 Thess 2:11).  This underscores the importance of adhering to the doctrine they hold to be true, and not allowing themselves to be deceived by anything that may come.  Although it appears that the Lawless One is going to totally dominate the world, the passage promises the hope of Jesus’ return which will destroy him, thus the author reassures his readers of the promise that has been made to them.

To sum everything up, I’ll restate the original author’s meaning in a way that holds as true to his intent as possible but doesn’t say it as a direct translation:  “Don’t worry, you haven’t missed your salvation because it hasn’t happened yet.  You’ll know it’s about to come because Satan’s man will take over the world first and be very convincing while he does.  That’s when Jesus will come, and the few who kept their faith will be saved.  So don’t ever give up, no matter how much you may want to.”

This is going to come off as perhaps a bit unusual and definitely heretical, but when I read this passage, I see Jesus as this supernaturally evil man.  These are my reasons: he’s a man, he’s sitting on the throne of God, and he’s propagating idolatrous human sacrifice to himself.  Obviously, the Christian community may find this idea utterly inappropriate and anathema.  Hear me out though, perhaps it is exactly the present version of Jesus that developed over two thousand years of a very bloody and contentious history that is precisely who was foreseen as the Lawless One in the first century.  I find it very likely that what is taught about Jesus today is nothing like what the initial Christians believed, let alone what the real Jesus intended when he walked the earth.

Sources:

Barton, John, and John Muddiman. The Oxford Bible Commentary. Oxford University Press, 2001. Open WorldCat, http://site.ebrary.com/id/10269141.

Beeke, Joel R., and Paul M. Smalley. “The Man of Sin: 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12.” Puritan Reformed Journal, vol. 10, no. 1, Jan. 2018, pp. 5–30. EBSCOhost, https://search-ebscohost-com.saintleo.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=rfh&AN=ATLAi5IE190318000396&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

Elias, Jacob W., and Inc NetLibrary. 1 and 2 Thessalonians. Herald Press, 1995.

Gaventa, Beverly Roberts. First and Second Thessalonians. Westminster John Knox Press, 2012.

Gieschen, Charles A. “Antichrist in the Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions: The Relevance of Reformation Exegesis of 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 for the Church Today.” Concordia Theological Quarterly, vol. 81, no. 3–4, July 2017, pp. 263–79. EBSCOhost, https://search-ebscohost-com.saintleo.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=rfh&AN=ATLAiC9Y180604000036&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

Senior, Donald, et al., editors. The Catholic Study Bible: The New American Bible Revised Edition. Third edition, Oxford University Press, 2016.