Youtube, Obama, and Antichrist
A while back I heard about a video posted on Youtube that made the connection to Luke 10:18 to demonstrate that President Barack Obama is the antichrist. So I checked out the video and did not know whether to laugh at what could be ranked as a joke for being the worst cast of biblical interpretation ever, or cry at the fact that many people viewing the video would actually think it true.
The idea presented in the video is that the Luke 10:18 phrase “heaven like lightning” in Hebrew should be translated baraq o bam-maw and serves as a cipher for the name of Satan’s antichrist is unfounded. Of course getting from point A to point B requires numerous leaps in logic that stretch credulity beyond the breaking point.
First, those who read Luke 10:18 in context can readily see that Jesus reference to Satan’s fall from heaven like lightening referred to something that had already happened when the Lord spoke those words, namely the success of the preaching of the Gospel by the seventy evangelist (cf. Luke 10:1-17). They preached the Good News, people were saved, and their victory can be likened to Satan falling from heaven like lightening.
Secondly, it does seem odd that Jesus would speak a prophecy about a world leader of the United States of America—a beautiful nation that only came into existence some 233 years ago—which means for over 2000 years no Christian would know what He was talking about! Does it make sense to think that the Lord of the universe would commend the seventy evangelists with words that would have made sense to them, but be crystal clear to a few people living in the twenty-first century?
Third, it may be true that the Hebrew word baraq means “lightning”[1] and bamah “heights;”[2] however, it is not demanded that one translate the phrase “heaven like lightning” as baraq o bam-maw or Barack Obama. In fact, an online Hebrew translation of the Greek New Testament renders the phrase “heaven like lightning” in Luke 10:18 differently, and its translation is pronounced kva-raq min ha-sha-ma-im,[3] which obviously has no resemblance to the name of the first African American President.
Finally, the New Testament was written in Koine Greek, which was the language “commonly used in the Greek-speaking world from the time of Alexander the Great to about A.D. 400.”[4] The various people groups at that time also conversed in their native tongue (e.g., Jews spoke Aramaic and Romans spoke Latin). The inclusion of the Aramaic words “Talitha cumi” and “Ephphataha” (Mark. 7:34), and Latin words “denarii” (Matt. 18:28) and “praetorian” (Phil. 1:13), demonstrates these languages influenced the writers and intended readers of the original Greek New Testament.[5] There is also good evidence to believe Jesus spoke Aramaic, Hebrew, and Greek.[6] So Jesus could have spoken those words in any of the three languages He knew. Moreover, Luke under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit originally recorded Jesus’ words in Greek. While we cannot be dogmatic on the exact language Jesus used in saying “I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning,” we know what He meant.
The real problem is that when Christians use this type of slander against a person, and it does not pan out to be true, the credibility of their message is lost, and Christ very name is soiled.
[1] Francis Brown, S.R. Driver, and Charles Briggs, The New Brown-Driver-Briggs-Gesenius Hebrew and English Lexicon, (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1979) 140.
[2] Ibid., 119.
[3] “Hebrew New Testament translated by Isaac Salkinson” http://dvar-adonai.org/hnt/He_htm/Luke006-010.htm. In spite of the words being different, a Hebrew student with some fundamental understanding of the language and a good Lexicon in hand could tell the phrase is translated “heaven like lightening.”
[4] Ray Summers, Essentials of New Testament Greek (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1950), vii
[5] Ronald F. Youngblood, F. F. Bruce and R. K. Harrison, Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Nashville: Nelson 1986), 744.
[6] M. O. Wise, Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels, eds. Joel B. Green, Scot McKnight, and I. Howard Marshall (Downers Grove: Inter-Varsity Press, 1992), 441-442.
The idea presented in the video is that the Luke 10:18 phrase “heaven like lightning” in Hebrew should be translated baraq o bam-maw and serves as a cipher for the name of Satan’s antichrist is unfounded. Of course getting from point A to point B requires numerous leaps in logic that stretch credulity beyond the breaking point.
First, those who read Luke 10:18 in context can readily see that Jesus reference to Satan’s fall from heaven like lightening referred to something that had already happened when the Lord spoke those words, namely the success of the preaching of the Gospel by the seventy evangelist (cf. Luke 10:1-17). They preached the Good News, people were saved, and their victory can be likened to Satan falling from heaven like lightening.
Secondly, it does seem odd that Jesus would speak a prophecy about a world leader of the United States of America—a beautiful nation that only came into existence some 233 years ago—which means for over 2000 years no Christian would know what He was talking about! Does it make sense to think that the Lord of the universe would commend the seventy evangelists with words that would have made sense to them, but be crystal clear to a few people living in the twenty-first century?
Third, it may be true that the Hebrew word baraq means “lightning”[1] and bamah “heights;”[2] however, it is not demanded that one translate the phrase “heaven like lightning” as baraq o bam-maw or Barack Obama. In fact, an online Hebrew translation of the Greek New Testament renders the phrase “heaven like lightning” in Luke 10:18 differently, and its translation is pronounced kva-raq min ha-sha-ma-im,[3] which obviously has no resemblance to the name of the first African American President.
Finally, the New Testament was written in Koine Greek, which was the language “commonly used in the Greek-speaking world from the time of Alexander the Great to about A.D. 400.”[4] The various people groups at that time also conversed in their native tongue (e.g., Jews spoke Aramaic and Romans spoke Latin). The inclusion of the Aramaic words “Talitha cumi” and “Ephphataha” (Mark. 7:34), and Latin words “denarii” (Matt. 18:28) and “praetorian” (Phil. 1:13), demonstrates these languages influenced the writers and intended readers of the original Greek New Testament.[5] There is also good evidence to believe Jesus spoke Aramaic, Hebrew, and Greek.[6] So Jesus could have spoken those words in any of the three languages He knew. Moreover, Luke under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit originally recorded Jesus’ words in Greek. While we cannot be dogmatic on the exact language Jesus used in saying “I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning,” we know what He meant.
The real problem is that when Christians use this type of slander against a person, and it does not pan out to be true, the credibility of their message is lost, and Christ very name is soiled.
[1] Francis Brown, S.R. Driver, and Charles Briggs, The New Brown-Driver-Briggs-Gesenius Hebrew and English Lexicon, (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1979) 140.
[2] Ibid., 119.
[3] “Hebrew New Testament translated by Isaac Salkinson” http://dvar-adonai.org/hnt/He_htm/Luke006-010.htm. In spite of the words being different, a Hebrew student with some fundamental understanding of the language and a good Lexicon in hand could tell the phrase is translated “heaven like lightening.”
[4] Ray Summers, Essentials of New Testament Greek (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1950), vii
[5] Ronald F. Youngblood, F. F. Bruce and R. K. Harrison, Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Nashville: Nelson 1986), 744.
[6] M. O. Wise, Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels, eds. Joel B. Green, Scot McKnight, and I. Howard Marshall (Downers Grove: Inter-Varsity Press, 1992), 441-442.
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