Survivors - a note on Apocalyptic prophecy

One other thing that struck me while reading this book Survivors was what on earth the anti-Christ thought he was doing. I mean, if the whole series of events was written down in Revelations, couldn't he read it? Wasn't he aware that he would ultimately be defeated, that he was really just part of God's plan and being manipulated?

Perhaps the antiChrist doesn't have free will. But mankind does, supposedly. Yet the primary aim of these Jesans (and so, presumably, the real-life Jesus Christians) is to follow the prophecy and see that it is fulfilled. Doesn't this scripted apocalypse contradict free will?

It is, indeed, an obvious flaw of the very concept of prophecy that has caused much disagreement among theologians. Should one cause prophecy to be fulfilled? Should one attempt to counteract it? If one believes that an action one can take will fulfill a prophecy, is one obliged to do it? If not, then surely only people unaware of the prophecy can ever be involved in prophesied events.

Apparently there is a movement among Christians that revered Judas Iscariot because he 'caused' the Messiah prophecy to be fulfilled. Weird.

You can get the whole text of Survivors, and find out more about these whacky zealots, at the Jesus Christians website.