My Hero Nero

Well, Preterista, you've failed miserably to prove the prophesied things things you hay have already happened DID already happen, such as the five things in the OP of the "Hey, Preterista" thread!

But I wanna be fair, so I'll give ya the chance to make amends & prove me wrong. Let's just concentrate on the "beast" and his false prophet in this thread. Since you say they've come-n-gone, I'll give ya the chance to PROVE it!

Many of you say it was your hero Nero, so, lessee...

Daniel 11:36 “Then the king will do as he pleases, and he will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will speak monstrous things against the God of gods; and he will prosper until the indignation is finished, for that which is decreed will be done. 37 He will show no regard for the gods of his fathers or for the desire of women, nor will he show regard for any other god; for he will magnify himself above them all.

Now, Nero worshipped the Roman pantheon of gods/goddesses & built shrines to several of them.

Continuing on in Daniel 11:38 But instead he will honor a god of fortresses, a god whom his fathers did not know; he will honor him with gold, silver, costly stones and treasures. 39 He will take action against the strongest of fortresses with the help of a foreign god; he will give great honor to those who acknowledge him and will cause them to rule over the many, and will parcel out land for a price.40 “At the end time the king of the South will collide with him, and the king of the North will storm against him with chariots, with horsemen and with many ships; and he will enter countries, overflow them and pass through. 41 He will also enter the [aw]Beautiful Land, and many countries will fall; but these will be rescued out of his hand: Edom, Moab and the foremost of the sons of Ammon. 42 Then he will stretch out his hand against other countries, and the land of Egypt will not escape. 43 But he will gain control over the hidden treasures of gold and silver and over all the precious things of Egypt; and Libyans and Ethiopians will follow at his heels. 44 But rumors from the East and from the North will disturb him, and he will go forth with great wrath to destroy and annihilate many. 45 He will pitch the tents of his royal pavilion between the seas and the beautiful Holy Mountain; yet he will come to his end, and no one will help him.

Now, did Nero do all this, or have it happen to him? Not hardly!

Daniel 7:24 As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise; and another will arise after them, and he will be different from the previous ones and will subdue three kings. 25 He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time. 26 But the court will sit for judgment, and his dominion will be taken away, annihilated and destroyed forever.

Nero did NOT arise from among 10 kings and subdue three of them. Now, he mighta whacked some Christians, but what laws & times did he try to change?

Rev. 13:7 It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him. 8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain

Now, did Nero rule the whole earth? Newp!

Rev. 13:12 He exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence. And he makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed. 13 He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down out of heaven to the earth in the presence of men.

Now, who was this man?

Continuing in Rev. 13:14 And he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who *had the wound of the sword and has come to life. 15 And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed.

And when did he do this? History would NOT have missed it ! !

Still, in Rev. 13:16 And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, [m]to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, 17 and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name.

When was this mark given out ? ? ? Again, history would NOT have missed it!

So we see, Nero falls far short of meeting the criteria of being the "beast". He had no false prophet. He was not a great conqueror. He was not wounded in the head & survived it.

Rev. 19:20 And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone.

Now, Nero was slain by being stabbed by his secretary Epaphroditos, at nero's own request. He died in the presence of several men. His body was buried. He was NOT cast alive into gehenna; he went to 'torments' in hades, same as all pothers who died in sin. And there was no miracle-working FP with him when he died.

Now, I haven't gone into ALL the details about the beast, such as his not being able to be overcome by men, while Nero was being overthrown by Galba when he died. So, again, we can rule out Nero's having been the "beast".

I wrote this several years ago, but I posted it from another site, in response to the last post on the now-closed "preterists won't give up" thread. I wanted to make it clear here that although Nero was a bad dude, he did NOT meet too many of the criteria for the TRUE 'beast/antichrist/man of sin" while the real one MUST meet'em ALL, to the letter.