Re: Hey guys, I've finally found the antichrist!!

Nobody is saying that the second advent is signless. I can, however, say confidently that any attempt to identify a personal antichrist and place him in a specific time-frame, along with a whole series of events including, inter alia, a rebuilt third temple with a restored Jewish cultus, a 7 year tribulation during which the faithful suffer unspeakable horrors, and all leading to the 'final' battle (ie Armageddon), is inimical to the concept of its imminence, ie that it can occur at any time - even tomorrow if the Almighty so wills it. The lesson to be drawn from this is that we should be living each day as if it could be our last.

The complete absence of these signs is absolutely no guarantee that the second advent is still far off, for:

'While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.'

I Thess. 5:3 (ESV)

So I beg to differ that my beliefs on the subject encourage complacency. On the contrary, I believe the urgency of our message is enhanced all the more by this understanding of the true nature of the second advent. There's no doubt this is a tricky subject, and I think it boils down to walking a very fine line between watchfulness and avoiding excessive star-gazing:

And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven."

Acts 1:10-11 (ESV)

In other words, get on with it! You have work to do.

BTW, I put 'final' above inside quotes because, of course, according to the futurist scheme of end-time events, the millennium ends with yet another 'final' battle between good and evil, but that's another subject.