The Restrainer

Prophecy is a strange mixed bag and while no one holds a monopoly on its interpretation many theologians ignore the topic altogether while preachers parrot teachings taught in seminaries.

It is a complex area with many choosing not to even go there; but why should we not at least try.

The problem with prophecy is when we battle with the meaning of certain verses there is this tendency to view it through a spiritual lens forgetting the physical world and real time events.

Over-Spiritualizing Prophecy

One example is the verse which says, “….and the love of many will grow cold” which is interpreted to mean apostasy or rebellion.

Another perspective is that love as an ideal has ceased to exist in a society intent on the great levelling where compliance is the new name of the game.

Orwell said love as an emotion would be no more and its replacement would be hate, rage and apathy.

The picture of the end times constructed by scriptures scarily mirrors Orwell’s prophecies to the degree we might as well call the present times Orwell’s World.

2 Thessalonians 2:7
For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, but the one who now restrains it will continue until he is taken out of the way.

The spirit of lawlessness IS at work, it is pervasive at governmental, corporate and individual level with governments a law to themselves; the institutions hotbeds of corruption and individuals following suit by not having a right concept of either law or justice.

We currently witnessing the breakdown of American society at all levels and you have to wonder how much of this is on purpose, it is almost like the trussing and basting of a turkey prior to a roasting.

This initial lawlessness is just the precursor according to St Paul and things haven’t even got started yet.

As bad as the situation is the restrainer is the one holding back bedlam but we don’t know who he is, or what he holds back.

Theories abound about his identity; the most popular are; Michael the Archangel restraining Satan, the Holy Spirit removed from the earth, or the Church taken from the earth.

While the verse in Thessalonians contains the only reference to the restrainer there is a parallel theme in the Book of Revelations that makes it all a lot clearer.

Final Turnoff to Babylon

In St John’s vision, a great whore rides a beast, thought to be a future political system slash empire, with seven heads and ten horns, the heads representing centers of power and the horns 10 rulers without kingdoms, the rulers in waiting.

The great whore represents Mystery Babylon a reigning global power with influence over every county on the planet, then St John’s vision changes; he sees the beast has thrown off the rider that controlled him to that point, at the same the horns of the beast have acquired crowns symbolizing the rule of ten kings over seven regions.

Babylon is thought to be Iraq, Saudi Arabia or Rome although it’s hard to fathom how they qualify as a powerful world entities.

It’s Geopolitical

It is apparent this restrainer is a geopolitical entity with the United States the only likely candidate for the qualifying role.

In the Thessalonians verse Paul implies that the end times cannot literally happen until the Restrainer is no longer there because he is the one holding this lawlessness back.

Not until he is taken out of the way, meaning not just a downgrading of America’s status as the world’s lone superpower, but a KO, or takedown.

Look at from the viewpoint of America as the world’s policeman, keeping order in a world that may otherwise be shambolic, okay, let’s be clear, the country is hardly a good example of moral rectitude, it has many past and present skeletons rattling away in its cupboard, but you get the gist of it.

The U.S. stands in the way of those who crave power and plan to take it by illegitimate means while curbing the worst instincts of lawlessness on a geopolitical scale.

These end times geopolitical events include a European power grab and a Muslim alliance led to launch an attack on Israel, as per Gog and Magog, events that would never happen on the watch of the world’s policeman.

What’s more the end times countdown can only start once the restrainer is no longer there to restrain .……