{"id":4234,"date":"2022-11-07T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2022-11-07T08:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/determinetruth\/?p=4234"},"modified":"2023-07-09T06:10:31","modified_gmt":"2023-07-09T14:10:31","slug":"the-beast-5-empire-deception-and-justice-election-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/determinetruth\/2022\/11\/the-beast-5-empire-deception-and-justice-election-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"Why our hope is not in the Election. The Beast\/Anti-Christ #5"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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I noted in my post on Oct 18<\/a> \u201cBefore I proceed, I suppose that it might be of help if I make my landing spot clear. When it comes to political systems and the nations of the world . . . it is my conviction, which I believe derives from a careful study of the biblical text, that every nation\/empire is corrupt\u2014sure, I will concede that some are more corrupt than others.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then, in part #3<\/a> I noted that based on John\u2019s depiction of the Beast in Rev 13:1-8 \u201cthe beast is empire.\u201d I added, \u201cthere are, however, two caveats that need to be addressed over the course of this series of posts: First, the beast is more than empire. Second, what John meant by empire is not what empire has become in the last few generations.\u201d<\/p>\n

I will continue to expand on these thoughts in this and upcoming posts.<\/p>\n

In my last post<\/a>, I added that the Kingdom that Jesus inaugurated \u201cwas not what they were expecting and ultimately not what many of them wanted. As a result, those in power used their influence on the masses to convince the population to agree that He [Jesus] should be crucified: hence, many of the very people who loved Jesus, who had family members healed by Him, and who were invited to dine with Him, shouted, \u2018crucify, crucify.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

I intend to build on this foundation in today\u2019s post. I would like to begin with a brief anecdote.<\/p>\n

I have been privileged to work on the leadership team for the Network of Evangelicals for the Middle East<\/strong> (NEME) for the past 4 years. We recently held a 3-day retreat in Seattle.<\/p>\n

One of our goals for the retreat was to equip and mobilize evangelicals to become courageous leaders for peace and justice in their local communities; especially with regard to the conflict in Israel-Palestine.<\/p>\n

Two things stood out from the weekend.<\/p>\n