Until a week or so ago, I had not been aware that Barney, the purple dinosaur of children's television fame, was yet "among the living." Perhaps it was a rerun, perhaps not.
It nonetheless brought to mind an article we published some years ago concerning the need for objectivity in addressing prophetic concerns. With permission, we had shared a tongue-in-cheek "revelation" from Cal and Rose Samra's book "Holy Hilarity" (1) - the gist of which went something like this:
Beginning with the title "CUTE PURPLE DINOSAUR" in which, as per Latin usage, the letters "U" are changed to "V," one thus arrives at CVTE PVRPLE DINOSAVR. Substituting Arabic numeral equivalents for the Roman numerals CVVLDIV contained in the amended title, one further arrives at 100-5-5-50-1-5, the sum of which totals 666. Barney is the Antichrist!
Although we smile, might it be that conjectural flights of imagination in some areas of the believing community tend at times to prophetic "insights" not too distantly removed from the foregoing?
Some may remember when, following World War II, biblical reference was "discovered" denoting the new instruments of warfare: "When you therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet..." (Matt. 24:15). There it was! the first four letters of the word abomination being comprised of "a-bom," short for "A-bomb" - the "A-bomb of desolation."
Others will recall the excitement attendant discovery of the fact that by ascribing an ascending value of the number 6 to letters of the English alphabet (A=6; B=12; C=18; etc.), then Secretary of State Kissinger's last name could be construed to total 666 (no doubt to the immense relief of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat who, given the fact that Charles de Gaulle was no longer around to fill the role of Antichrist, was himself now acquitted of that onerous responsibility!).
From recurring claims of Mideastern vultures whose numbers are multiplying spectacularly (now laying four eggs per clutch as opposed to a previous single egg) in preparation for the coming carnage of Armageddon, to reports of Russian scientists who, having drilled a hole many miles into the earth into which a microphone was lowered, were stunned beyond measure upon hearing cries of the damned (a story, as it turned out, initiated by a religious skeptic in the interests of proving Christians gullible and naive) - the problem continues.
To the outside world, confusions of such nature tend to undermine the credibility of both faith and prophetic interests. Not only so, but within the believing community itself, "eschatological goose chases" likewise tend to frustrate a necessary sensitivity to divine intent as time progresses toward that day wherein confusion and deception will, "were it possible," overwhelm "the very elect" (Matt. 24:24).
As per the apostle: "Brothers, do not be children in your thinking; continue to be babes in matters of evil, but in your minds be mature" (I Cor. 14:20 Amp.).
Burl Ratzsch
(1) "THE JOYFUL NOISELETTER," P.O. Box 895, Portage MI 49081-0895
