Skeptic Project

Am I right when the Bible talks about the ten kingdoms and a end times war that the Bible is talking about that time period since the Bible talks about wars with swords horses and kingdoms we don't have those now a days and not any end time prophecy New World Order like many Christians seem to believe ?

Rev.1
1.[16] And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.
Rev.2
1.[12] And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges;
2.[16] Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
Rev.6
1.[4] And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.
2.[8] And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.
Rev.13
1.[10] He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.
2.[14] And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
Rev.19
1.[15] And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
2.[21] And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.

^This

Nero was exceptionally cruel to the Christians, even having them crucified as dinner entertainment.

It reads like a bad fantasy novel without the hot warrior women.

And one that can't envision modern technological forms of warfare. You'd think God's word would include concepts that don't only pertain to the time it was written. Or maybe God didn't want to bother them with such complex ideas such as electricity and gun powder.

Makes sense.

It wasn't until the rise of dispensationalism that most people believed Revelation was a literal prophecy, most groups believed it to be esoteric references to the past or perhaps generic problems that could exist in any time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dispensationalism</p>

The reality is that the book is basically reference to the author's own time as mentioned above, to think otherwise is really to believe in a fantasy, but then again, people who literally believe it also tend to believe the Earth is only 6,000 years old.

There was some documentary I saw once (I can't recall the title) about people who do believe in Revelation, and what sad, scary lives most of these people seem to live.

Not to mention that these people also tend to believe in the rapture, which isn't even in the Bible, dispensationalists simply made it up, it was an idea that didn't exist before them.

The whole thing talks about horses, swords, etc. where are the tanks, guns, etc? The most common excuse is that these weapons will be used again during the final war between good and evil. But why? If I were the anti-christ, I'd take some guns down to the battle field, and just mow down the Jesus freaks since they'll all have swords and horses.

Any day now! Just like martial law, any day now!

You are right Mike. What a lot of tribulation, and Jesus returning believers missed is such prophecies were meant for the 1st century age and not 2000+ years into the future. Thus, folks run wild with these bible prophecies and reinterpret them with current events and sell books and videos about them.