Study – Grow – Know

Jacob Prasch’s “Shadows of the Beast”

June 8, 2012 at 11:44 AM 14 comments

I’ve been reading another book lately.  It’s called “Shadows of the Beast” by Jacob Prasch and while I am only about halfway through it, I have found it be be very interesting.  It is interesting because of Prasch’s grasp of Judaism and his understanding of Scripture in light of the religion of Israel.

I will note up front that Prasch is not necessarily a Dispensationalist.  He does not agree with a PreTrib Rapture for instance.  What I thoroughly appreciate about his presentation is that as someone who does accept a PreTrib Rapture, I do not in the least feel condemned by him because of my understanding of Scripture.  In a day and age when it has become the norm for people not only to castigate (but also to be referred to as a “heretic”) those of us who believe that Christ will come for His Bride before the Tribulation begins, reading what Prasch has to say is a breath of fresh air and certainly welcome by me.  I have stated any number of times that I do not all knowledge concerning Scripture.  I have made mistakes and it is possible that at least some of my beliefs now are not 100% lined up with Scripture.  I hope that is not the case, but if it is, I also expect and welcome the Lord’s correction.

I have gotten to the part of the book where he believes that the Rapture occurs between the 6th and 7th seals.  So far though (and I’m not done reading), he has not explained why he believes this to be the case.  He states, “The Rapture of the Church will not happen until the identity of the Antichrist is revealed to the faithful Elect.” [1]

Prasch spends a good amount of time dissecting what he believes to be modern errors that are based on historical inaccuracies.  He has a disdain for Preterism, Replacement Theology, hyper-Calvinism, hyper-Charismania and a few others.  His main premise is found in the subtitle for his book:  “How the Identity of the Coming Antichrist Will Be Revealed to the Church.”  For this to happen, obviously, he believes that the Church will be here on this planet, something that PreTrib Rapturists would take issue with, however, his arguments are worth considering.

Prasch believes that there will be a short amount of time between the removal of the Holy Spirit and the Church in the Rapture.  He refers to this time span as “the night” when no one can work.

He spends a good amount of time proving that while there is going to be one final man of sin we would call the Antichrist, history is replete with those who have been part of the antichrist spirit and in many cases, have been types of Antichrist themselves.  It’s all very interesting the way Prasch goes way back into history (well before Jesus) to highlight those individuals like Nimrod and Antiochus Epiphanes who were solid types when it comes to the final revelation of the man of sin, who will be the actual embodiment of Satan himself.

He deals with the hermeneutic originally used by the apostolic church and I cannot agree with him more when he essentially states that the Western world of today has lost a great deal because we tend to look at Scripture through the eyes of the Greek mindset.  The Bible was written by individuals who were either at the very start of the Israelite nation (therefore Hebrew or Jewish) or by people like Luke who likely became Jewish through proselytizing.  In essence, we lose a great deal when we fail to understand this truth.  The Scriptures are Jewish, just as Jesus in His humanity was/is Jewish and because of that, He understood the writings of the prophets and Moses and David through Jewish eyes.  How can we do no less?  The trouble is that we often do not know how.  Prasch helps us with that.

From here, he explains the meaning of “in place of” or “Pseudologon.”  This is very important to grasp because it helps in our comprehension of what the Antichrist will not only be, but will do.  Using many leaders throughout history even including Barack Obama, Prasch correlates the attitudes and activities of many of these individuals with a spirit of antichrist.  He does not say that any of these people ARE the Antichrist, but that they operate under the spirit of the antichrist, a spirit which will fully embodythecoming Antichrist.

Prasch states, “While we may correctly point to religious figures such as Sun Myung Moon and the pope being antichrists, and although we may point to political figures such as Henry Kissinger, Xavier Solano, and Barack Obama as having the spirit of antichrist, there are many antichrists.”

Regarding the spirit of Antichrist that now exists and has been working for some time behind the scenes, Prasch believes that four things are working together to prop up the coming final Antichrist:

• A love of money as a primary motivator
• Hatred of the Jews that is not at first apparent
• A false theology of Jesus
• A capacity to deceive even the Elect [3]

Interestingly enough, he tends to shy away from many of the conspiracy theories connected to our Founding Fathers and their connection with Freemasonry.  While he does not discount that connection, he essentially says that it is part and parcel of what is occurring in the spiritual realm to bring about the final man of sin.

We often think of conservative presidents for instance, as being far better than liberal ones.  Yet, he cogently points out that both Reagan and George W. Bush had their problems.  George W. Bush brought a Qur’an into the White House during his watch. Here is what Prasch states:  “In order to honor Islam after the 9/11 attacks, George Bush began celebrating Ramadan in the White House. He placed in the White House what John’s epistle defines as an Antichrist book that rejects the divine Sonship of Christ. Yet Bush claimed to be a Christian.” [4]

About Reason, he says this:  “In 2010 it was a homosexual Republican judge nominated by Ronald Reagan and appointed by George W. Bush who, with a stroke of a pen, nullified the democratic will of the citizens in striking down the anti-homosexual and lesbian Proposition 8.” [5]

Supreme Court Justice, Sandra Day O’Connor was an appointee of Ronald Reagan.  “And it was Ronald Reagan’s pro-abortion Supreme Court appointee Sandra Day O’Connor who ordered God out of the courtroom when O’Connor wrote the decision banning the Ten Commandments from Alabama’s judicial building. It was also Ronald Reagan’s appointee Sandra Day O’Connor, who penned the ruling outlawing Texas anti-sodomy laws, that opened the way for same-sex marriage—decisions she made in large part on the basis not of the Constitution but of “foreign judicial precedence.” Reagan appointed this notorious woman to the Supreme Court despite her pro-abortion orientation after lying to Christian America that he was pro-life.” [6; emphasis added]

Yet, many of us have problems with Supreme Court Justice Kagen and Sotomayer because of their propensity to want to set the U.S. Constitution aside in favor of international law.  This has been going on since before Ronald Reagan and all the way back to Eisenhower’s Earl Warren Supreme Court that “ordered God out of the classroom.” [7]

Prasch’s point is not that the church is to become politically motivated.  He points all of this information out to help us understand just exactly how the enemy of our souls has been working to use a spirit of antichrist tochange the laws and seasonsas stated in the book of Daniel.  Ultimately, the final man of sin will do whatever he pleases and change laws and seasons as he sees fit.  (Unfortunately, groups like Seventh-day Adventists have gotten caught up in believing that the “antichrist” has already done this by allegedly changing the Sabbath, so they will be caught completely off guard when the final and real Antichrist takes the stage.)

All of these things are being done in order to provide the final Antichrist with the ways and means to persecute true believers.  Right now, in various places in the world, people are being arrested for “hate-speech” such as stating that homosexuality is forbidden by God based on biblical admonitions of Paul (Romans 1) and Old Testament moral code.  They are being jailed because of the truth that they state about Islam.  These laws are being put in place now so that when the Antichrist is revealed, he will already have plenty to work with in order to clamp down on and eventually persecute (to death) anyone who opposes him and his plan for world domination.

It also needs to be remembered that the Antichrist will attempt to do what Nimrod and others did.  They will attempt to keep God from carrying out His plans and purposes.  One of the ways this will be accomplished is by eradicating Jews and Christians.  The Antichrist will understand what Scripture says – that Jesus will return a second time to save His people – the Jews – and to establish His Kingdom.  If Antichrist can destroy all Jews, who will Jesus come back TO?

Prasch speaks of the many false prophets and false teachers that have come and will continue to come.  Prior to the first advent of Jesus, there was a proliferation of false prophets and the Bible says that there will be again, before Jesus returns.  Jesus Himself makes this 100% clear in the Olivet Discourse of Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21.  Just as John the Baptist was the forerunner of Jesus, the Messiah, so will there be plenty of false prophets and false Christs.  This is also exactly why the final Antichrist will have his own false prophet.  In every way, he will attempting to masquerade as and counterfeit the true Messiah and Savior, Jesus, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Prasch – throughout his book – emphasizes the fact that Christians MUST study Eschatology (study of last things) because Christ commands it (in the Olivet Discourse) and He does so for a reason.  He wants us to be alert to what is happening around us so that when prophetic Scripture does unfold, we will recognize it.  We cannot sit back and take the attitude that says it will all pan out in the end.  Prophecy is part of God’s Word and it is our responsibility to read His Words, understand them, and live by them.  This means ALL of His Words, not merely the ones we think are important.

Unfortunately, as Prasch notes, there are too many people who are in church leadership positions, who do everything they can to teach Christians to avoid studying Eschatology.  They don’t want us to worry about it because they say that’s not the main role of the Church.  Evangelism is and while they are right about the fact that we need to be involved in evangelism, we also need to be aware of the times.

How ridiculous would it be for a person to set out on a journey with no preparations and no map?  It would be absurd and most of us would think it stupid of that individual to attempt to do what they are doing without having made any preparations whatsoever.  The same applies to the study of Eschatology.  We are commanded by Jesus to be aware of the things that are going to happen, to note them, to understand them, and to react to them.

He deals in a very detailed way, with the 70 weeks of Daniel.  He notes that too many today make the mistake of thinking that the “prince of the people who is to come” references Jesus Himself, when it point of fact, that prince is speaking of the coming man of sin, the Antichrist himself.

Throughout his book, he is critical of people – naming them by name – who are doing everything they can to push their own godless agenda, which gives those in their churches a false sense of security.  He discusses Rick Warren’s P.E.A.C.E. project, which is, at its root, completely unscriptural.  He discusses the many who are involved in Replacement Theology who essentially wind up being anti-Semitic because of their false believe that God is done with the nation of Israel.  He shines the light on those in the Word of Faith movement, as well as hyper-Calvinists and hyper-Charismatics.  He does not simply tear into them because he disagrees with them (apparently, Prasch believes that all the gifts are still available).  He tears into them because he believes that they have no solid footing on Scripture whatsoever and sets out to prove it.

The entirety of Prasch’s book is designed to help people understand how the spirit of the Antichrist has been working throughout history and how it is all going to lead to the big reveal of that one, final man, whom Paul calls the “man of lawlessness” (cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:3).  He believes that it is important to understand how this antichrist spirit has been working throughout history so that we will be better equipped to note whotheAntichrist is when God will reveal him to the world.

In my understanding, we know that according to Daniel 9:27, it is the Antichrist who brokers a deal with Israel for a period of seven years.  This seven years represents the final “week” of the Times of the Gentiles.  In my view, it would be easy to recognize the Antichrist because he will be the one who is able to bring peace to the Middle East, something many have tried and failed to do for generations.  At the same time, Prasch believes that just prior to the revelation of the final Antichrist, there will be plethora of antichrists and false prophets, making it that much more difficult to note who the real one is in actuality.

I have not gotten to the part in his book where he clearly discusses what will he believes will make it easy to discern who the Antichrist is, but I will discuss that in a follow-up post when I have completed the book.

There is quite a bit of great information in Jacob Prasch’s book, “Shadows of the Beast” and for those who are novices regarding Eschatology, this is certainly a good book (so far) to have in the library.  He is somewhat repetitive and detailed when it comes to history, you’re sure not to miss that and it tends to stick with you.

Certainly, I would recommend this book because it appears to have a great deal to share regarding the antichrists, the spirit of the antichrist, and the final man of sin, the Antichrist himself.  All of this is knowledge well worth having, which appears to be solidly based in Scripture.

[1] Prasch, James Jacob (2011-05-27). Shadows of the Beast (Kindle Locations 3064-3065). Moriel Ministries. Kindle Edition.

[2] Prasch, James Jacob (2011-05-27). Shadows of the Beast (Kindle Locations 3249-3251). Moriel Ministries. Kindle Edition.

[3] Prasch, James Jacob (2011-05-27). Shadows of the Beast (Kindle Locations 4372-4374). Moriel Ministries. Kindle Edition.

[4] Prasch, James Jacob (2011-05-27). Shadows of the Beast (Kindle Locations 5084-5086). Moriel Ministries. Kindle Edition.

[5] Prasch, James Jacob (2011-05-27). Shadows of the Beast (Kindle Locations 5114-5116). Moriel Ministries. Kindle Edition.

[6] Prasch, James Jacob (2011-05-27). Shadows of the Beast (Kindle Locations 5131-5133). Moriel Ministries. Kindle Edition.

[7] Prasch, James Jacob (2011-05-27). Shadows of the Beast (Kindle Locations 5127-5128). Moriel Ministries. Kindle Edition.

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