SECOND COMING

I am not referring to Steve Jobs’ Second Coming to the fold of the Apple Corporation, nor to any number of novels bearing this title. I am referring to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, to earth, the subject dearly espoused by many Christians and Moslems alike.

In Christian and Islamic eschatology, the purpose of the Second Coming is the fulfillment of aspects of Messianic prophecy such as the resurrection of the dead, last judgment and full establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth. This includes the Messianic Age that is to last one thousand years. The ancient Greek term Parousia referred to the ‘appearance and subsequent presence with’. It is also equated with the Second Advent, from the Latin term ‘adventus’, or ‘coming’. According to many ‘prophets’, this will also be the time when the Church is lifted up into Heaven.

To describe the Second Coming, Christians use a range of names, drawing on Biblical images. The New Testament is peppered with, often vague, references to this event. As if that wasn’t enough, there are numerous latter day, often self-appointed, prophets who took it upon themselves to define the time for this momentous occasion. It so happens, however, that the phrase Second Coming is not used in the Bible. Not even once.

A word about the Islamic view. According to their version of the Second Coming, Jesus did not die but was lifted up to Heaven by God, where he is waiting to descend during the ‘last days’. On His return, He will then wage a battle against Dajjal, the Anti-Christ. It sound very promising – so much so, that a number of ‘latter day, mostly Christian, prophets’ took it upon themselves to accelerate His return. Peripherally it bears mentioning that antichrist or antichrists are mentioned only five times in the Bible, and only by John in his epistles, where he defines antichrist as anyone who denies Christ. Although the Islamic eschatology follows the Christians’ predisposition for the Second Coming and the Anti-Christ, the Qur'an does not mention the Dajjal, or ad-Dadjjal, at all.

No matter. Such details never stood in the way of ardent believers.

One of the most famous prognosticators, Nostradamus, in his Les Propheties published in 1555, thought that "great King of Terror" would come from the sky in 1999. For some reason, latter scholars equated this with the Second Coming, though I find it a peculiar name to attach to the return of Jesus, the Prince of Peace.

In more recent times, William Miller predicted October 22, 1844, as the day of the Second Coming. Subsequently, this date was referred to as the Great Disappointment. Nevertheless, the remaining Millerites founded the Seven-day Adventist Church, though, at least for now, refrained from setting new dates. A few years later, Charles Taze Russell taught that Parousia of Christ began in 1874. Jehovah’s Witnesses insist that the Second Coming already took place in 1914, though as an unseen presence. Rudolf Steiner predicted that Christ would reappear in the lowest spiritual plane beginning in 1930.

The late Herbert W. Armstrong of the Worldwide Church of God, predicted the return or of Jesus Christ somewhere between 1940 and 1975. Harold Camping thought that 1994 would be a more appropriate time. The even more lately lamented (though not by many), Jerry Falwell, the ardent and uncompromising fundamentalist and renown leader of the ‘Moral Majority’, said in 1999 that Jesus’ Second Coming would occur within10 years. I wouldn’t hold my breath.

Edgar Cayce, the man known as the Sleeping Prophet, who healed tens of thousands of people, couldn’t resist trying his hand at the game. He thought that Jesus would be born (again) in 1999 and thus is, presumably, living amongst us right now. Finally, Jack Van Impe, having failed many times in his predictions, now points to 2012 as a good date for the Second Coming. Why not? Many past dates were already taken.


But then there is that enigmatic saying of Jesus: "Verily, verily I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am." (John 8:58, check it for yourself). Now that drives a spike in all those predictions. If Jesus already is before Abraham was, and Abraham was born in 1996 BC, (that’s 1996 years before Christ) then, surely, what most of us recognize as his First Coming, that night in Bethlehem, must have been his… ah, at least his, ah… Second Coming?

Is this what the Enigma is all about? The Enigma of the Second Coming? Not in my book. Not yet…

And then there was Adam. Some recognize that he was the first embodiment of…

"The Perfection of the Protanthropos is also sometimes seen as a result of a non-material emanation from God, called the Son of God and seen as the prefigurement for the appearance of Jesus, who, even in Conventional Christian literature is often referred to as ‘The Second Adam’." (Wikipedia, Adam and Eve) If Jesus was the second Adam, was Adam the first Jesus? What’s in a name… Qur’an confuses me still further. Adam is mentioned as the first man created by Allah. A verse in Sura al-Imran states: "The similitude of Jesus before Allah is as that of Adam; He created him from dust, then said to him: "Be". And he was." (3:59)

It was about a then that I really gave up. Something didn’t tally up. I decided to dive headlong into the deeps of the eschatological mysteries. I wrote the ‘Enigma of the Second Coming’. If you want to find out what really happened, you’ll just have to read it. Right now. All you need do it click below. If you dare. While there is still time.

http://www.amazon.com/ENIGMA-SECOND-COMING-Stan-I-S/dp/0973187247/ref=sr_1_3/102...

Or read excerpts at: http://stankap.netfirms.com/enigma.html