End of the World and the Final Seven Years

2011-11-26T23:44:00.007-05:00

The End of the World and the Final Seven Years

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Will Christ Return in 2018?

Were the First Four Seals Opened in 2011?

Outline of the Book of Revelation

Order of Events Until the End of the World

One-World Power: the Anti-Christian Beast

The Fourth and Final Kingdom

The Final Battle (Armageddon) and the Final Judgment

What Shall Be the Signs of Christ's Return?

The Age to Come: 'The Kingdom Age' vs. 'The Eternal Age'

"Take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things." (Mark 13:23)

"And He began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. And He spake that saying openly. And Peter took Him, and began to rebuke Him. But when He had turned about and looked on His disciples, He rebuked Peter, saying, 'Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men.' And when he had called the people unto Him with His disciples also, He said unto them, 'Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when He cometh in the glory of His Father with the holy angels'."- Mark 8:31-38

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2011-06-23T21:45:00.063-04:00

Will Jesus Christ Our Lord Return in 2018?

The Third Temple: Building a Stage for Antichrist (Excerpt)

We have a world government, but it is mostly private, and the private institutions running the world government are not geared or focused on the common good. So what we have nowadays is private power. And private power is the power running the world government. They issue documents. They publish books. They have logos. They make reports. It’s all out there. All you need to do is, like a jigsaw puzzle, put the pieces together. - Adrian Salbuchi, Will It Be World Government?

By Ken Raggio
1996 with July 2010 Update

Israel's overall political objectives were mostly nationalistic and protectionist, and as such, outraged world opinion. Hostilities against Israel have been escalating at an unprecedented pace.

But this, of course, also increases the likelihood that we are headed for the Battle of Armageddon spoken of in Bible prophecy.

Historical Biblical sites such as Bethelehem, Nazareth, Hebron, Jericho, and Galilee will be taken away from Israel with the declaration of a Palestinian state.

Christians around the world are affected by events in Israel. How? For one thing, they are looking for signs pointing to the second return of Jesus Christ. Perhaps one of the most significant signs they look for is the reconstruction of the Holy Temple on Mount Moriah (the Third Temple), and the re-instituting of Old Testament sacrifices. This would be followed, prophetically, by the appearance of Antichrist in the Temple to shut it all down again -- to call an end to prayers and sacrifices. This is called the Abomination that makes desolate, or the Abomination of Desolation (Daniel 9:27).

Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God (2nd Thessalonians 2:4).

Opportunities may present themselves in the near future for Abbas to negotiate with Netanyahu to finally bring about a Palestinian state in the West Bank, and ultimately define what will be done about East Jerusalem -- settling the final status of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount.

The Jerusalem Issue is certain to flair up into a major conflict in the near future. Scripturally, we can expect Jerusalem to be increasingly embattled. Ultimately, Jerusalem will not fall to Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, or Syria. The New World Order will take control of Jerusalem, and the United Nations and the Roman Catholic Church will govern it.

The Temple Mount is now controlled by Muslims. The Dome of the Rock and the al Aqsa Mosque are the only places of worship on the Temple Mount. Jews and Christians may not pray, worship, or read the Bible aloud on the Temple Mount.

Dome of Spirit Professor Asher Kaufman of the Hebrew University claims that the Third Temple could be built next door to the Dome of the Rock without necessitating a change in that controversial Muslim landmark.

[Editor's Note: When Jesus Christ returns, He never will reign from a temple built by human hands (Acts 17:24). When He returns He will destroy the kingdom of antichrist and create a new heaven and a new earth. And the holy city, new Jerusalem, will come down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And God Himself shall be with us and we shall be His people. The Lord tells us specifically that there will be no temple in His eternal kingdom: "for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it (Revelation 21:23)."]

News releases in April of 2008 state that rabbis are preparing now to conduct an animal sacrifice in the near future on the Temple Mount itself. This will be a very provocative act, and will probably trigger an earth-shattering Islamic jihad. It has the potential of escalating into the worst conflict ever inside Jerusalem, maybe even the whole world. I cannot imagine anything in the world being more antagonistic to radical Islam than a Jewish blood sacrifice in the shadow of the Dome of the Rock. The act itself, however, is probably a necessary precursor to any sanctified preparations for the Third Temple.

The Church of Jesus Christ will witness the Antichrist's stand in the Third Temple [or on the Temple Mount], according to 2 Thessalonians 2. That event will precipitate the final three-and-a-half years of Daniel's 70th week. Why do I say that? Look at those verses from 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4:

Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

NOTICE CAREFULLY what is in those verses. Paul is addressing these subjects:

1. The coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
2. Our gathering together unto Him (the rapture / first resurrection).
3. Called here, "the day of Christ."

Paul says "THAT DAY SHALL NOT COME..." until

1. there comes a great falling away
2. the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition
3. he opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God
4. he, as God, sits in the THIRD TEMPLE, showing himself that he is God.

What do we learn from these statements?

1. The rapture will NOT take place until there is a great falling away.
2. The rapture will NOT take place until the man of sin is revealed (Antichrist).
3. The rapture will NOT take place until the Antichrist sits in the Third Temple.
4. The church WILL SEE the Antichrist.
5. The church WILL SEE the Third Temple built.
6. The church WILL SEE the Abomination of Desolation (see Daniel 9:27).

And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate (Daniel 9:27).

This gives us the MOST IMPORTANT CLUE about how much time we have left.

We will know that the LAST SEVEN YEARS have begun whenever we hear the news that a SEVEN-YEAR COVENANT has been made between Israel and the Antichrist.

We should be watching very carefully the negotiations that are being conducted between the UN Quartet with the State of Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Certainly, if we hear on the world news outlets that Israel is about to sign a SEVEN-YEAR AGREEMENT with any of these entities, we should become very alert to the possibility that this is the Confirmation of the Covenant spoken of by both Daniel the Prophet and Jesus Christ in Matthew 24.

If such an agreement is reached, we can be almost certain that within the following three-and-a-half years the THIRD TEMPLE WILL BE BUILT, and the Antichrist will appear in it!

We are certainly nearing the end. The clock of prophecy is ticking toward midnight! Time to prepare our souls for the final events leading the world to Armageddon.

I will tell thee the mystery of the woman,
And of the beast that carrieth her,
Which hath the seven heads and ten horns.
The beast that thou sawest was, and is not;
And shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition:
And they that dwell on the earth shall wonder,
Whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world,
When they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
And here is the mind which hath wisdom.
The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.
And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come;
And when he cometh, he must continue a short space.
And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth,
And is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.
And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings,
Which have received no kingdom as yet;
But receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.
These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them:
For He is Lord of lords, and King of kings:
And they that are with Him are called, and chosen, and faithful.
And he saith unto me,
The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth,
Are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore,
And shall make her desolate and naked,
And shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.
For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil His will,
And to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast,
Until the words of God shall be fulfilled.
And the woman which thou sawest is that great city,
Which reigneth over the kings of the earth.
Revelation 17:7-18

What Is the Meaning of the 70 Weeks in Daniel and the 1260 Days in Revelation?

According to gotquestions.org:

An understanding of Daniel 9:24-27 is necessary in order to understand the purpose and time of the tribulation. This passage speaks of 70 weeks that have been declared against “your people.” Daniel's people are the Jews, the nation of Israel, and Daniel 9:24 speaks of a period of time that God has given “to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy.”

God declares that “seventy sevens” will fulfill all these things. This is 70 sevens of years, or 490 years. (Some translations refer to 70 weeks of years.) This is confirmed by another part of this passage in Daniel. In verses 25 and 26, Daniel is told that the Messiah will be cut off after “seven sevens and sixty-two sevens” (69 total), beginning with the decree to rebuild Jerusalem. In other words, 69 sevens of years (483 years) after the decree to rebuild Jerusalem, the Messiah will be cut off.

Biblical historians confirm that 483 years passed from the time of the decree to rebuild Jerusalem to the time when Jesus was crucified. Most Christian scholars, regardless of their view of eschatology (future things/events), have the above understanding of Daniel's 70 sevens.

With 483 years having passed from the decree to rebuild Jerusalem to the cutting off of the Messiah, this leaves one seven-year period to be fulfilled in terms of Daniel 9:24.

This final seven-year period is known as the tribulation period—it is a time when God finishes judging Israel for its sin.

Daniel 9:27 gives a few highlights of the seven-year tribulation period:

“He will confirm a covenant with many for one 'seven.' In the middle of the 'seven' he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing of the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.”

The person of whom this verse speaks is the person Jesus calls the “abomination that causes desolation” (Matthew 24:15) and is called “the beast” in Revelation 13.

Daniel 9:27 says that the beast will make a covenant for seven years, but in the middle of this week (3 1/2 years into the tribulation), he will break the covenant, putting a stop to sacrifice.

Revelation 13 explains that the beast will place an image of himself in the temple and require the world to worship him. Revelation 13:5 says that this will go on for 42 months, which is 3 1/2 years.

Since Daniel 9:27 says that this will happen in the middle of the week, and Revelation 13:5 says that the beast will do this for a period of 42 months, it is easy to see that the total length of time is 84 months or seven years.

Also see Daniel 7:25, where the “time, times, and half a time” (time=1 year; times=2 years; half a time=1/2 year; total of 3 1/2 years) also refers to “great tribulation,” the last half of the seven-year tribulation period when the beast will be in power.

For further references about the tribulation, see Revelation 11:2-3, which speaks of 1260 days and 42 months, and Daniel 12:11-12, which speaks of 1290 days and 1335 days. These days have a reference to the midpoint of the tribulation. The additional days in Daniel 12 may include the time at the end for the judgment of the nations (Matthew 25:31-46) (Revelation 20:4-6).

According to BibleLight.net:

One of the most misunderstood and misinterpreted time periods to be found in scripture is the time, times and half a time which is mentioned in Daniel and Revelation:

And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time (Dan 7:25).
And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished (Dan 12:7).
And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent (Rev 12:14).

The word time in this context refers to a period of a year. In the story of King Nebuchadnezzar, because of his pride, he went crazy for seven years and ate grass as an ox:

And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will (Dan 4:32).

So on a literal level, time, times and half a time means time (1 year), times (2 years) and half a time (1/2 year) or 3 1/2 years. Most people who study Bible prophecy stop at this point and accept the 3 1/2 years only at face value. The period that this is generally attributed to by most people, is the last half of the 70th week of Daniel and the reign of the AntiChrist, which is proposed to be fulfilled at some time in the future.

A Day Equals One Year

The 70 week prophecy of Daniel 9:24, however, establishes a principle related to prophetic time that few completely understand. Virtually everyone acknowledges that the 70 weeks are not literally 70 weeks, but rather 70 weeks of years, or 490 years. The principle is that in Bible prophecy, you must substitute a period of a year in place of a day. This is the day=year principle. This equation is clearly established in scripture:

After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise (Num 14:34).

In this verse, a relationship between day and year is clear, each day will equate to a literal year. For the forty days that Israel spied in Canaan in unbelief, they would be punished by wandering forty years in the desert.

And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year (Ezek 4:6).

Here again, the equation is stated quite openly, a prophetic day represents a literal year. So to return to the 70 weeks of Daniel, you must first determine the number of days represented. Seventy weeks is 70 x 7 or 490 days, which will then equate to a literal 490 years in the fulfillment of the prophecy.

The Lunar Calendar

So now to apply this formula to the 3 1/2 times we must first establish just exactly how many days this represents. The Jews did not use a solar calendar as we do today, they used instead a lunar calendar, as indicated in Psalms:

He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down (Psa 104:19).

The length of the lunar month can be determined from Genesis:

In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened (Gen 7:11).

And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days (Gen 7:24).
And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat (Gen 8:4).

Note that the there were exactly 5 months from the point where the flood began and the ark came to rest on Ararat, and that this was a period of 150 days. This demonstrates that the lunar calendar set forth in the Bible has a 30 day month, therefore the year is counted as 360 days. (This 360 day lunar year also accounts for the reason that there are 360 degrees in the compass).

The 1260 Days

Returning to the 3 1/2 times, which we now know represents 3 1/2 lunar years of 360 days each, using the same methodology as is used for the 70 weeks of Daniel we calculate it to actually represent 1260 literal years. So, Time, Times and half a Time in prophecy is really 1260 years! To confirm this formula we need only to look to the 12th chapter of the book of Revelation:

And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days (Rev 12:6).

Here the woman represents the faithful church, who flees into the wilderness for 1260 days. Again using the day=year formula, this actually speaks of 1260 years that the church would be persecuted. Now look at this next verse from the same chapter:

And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent (Rev 12:14).

Here the exact same time of persecution is referred to as 3 1/2 times, again meaning the same period of 1260 days/years as found in verse 6. In the book of Daniel, this exact same period of persecution in church history is found:

And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time (Dan 7:25).

This verse in context is referring to a period of time that the little horn or AntiChrist will persecute the true believers or true church, again for 1260 years. The same is true for this next verse:

And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished (Dan 12:7).

The Two Witnesses

The exact same 1260 years is found in Revelation chapter 11:

And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth (Rev 11:3).

The commonly accepted interpretation of the verse is that the two witnesses are real prophets, perhaps Moses and Elijah. When you understand that the time period does not represent 1260 literal days, but rather 1260 years, it can be seen that it cannot be referring to real people as witnesses. One clue is in the next verse:

These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth (Rev 11:4).

The two witnesses are also called two olive trees standing before God. This links us to:

And said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof: and two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof. So I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my lord? (Zec 4:2-4)

Zechariah sees a candlestick and two olive trees and asks what they are. Note the answer:

Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord. Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts. (Zec 4:5-6)

The candlestick and two olive trees are the word of the Lord! So the language used in Revelation 11:4 is prophetic and symbolic, the two witnesses actually representing the word of God, the Old and New Testament, that would "prophesy in sackcloth" or be suppressed during the very same 1260 years of persecution we are considering.

The 42 Months

This same period of persecution is found in the following verses:

But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months (Rev 11:2).

Again as in Rev 12, we have a strong relationship between this 42 months of verse 2 and the 1260 days of Rev 11: 3. Forty two months calculates as 42 x 30 (30 days in a lunar month) which equals 1260 days/years. This verse is saying that the Gentiles or unbelievers would trample the people of God (the holy city) for 1260 years. Again this same time period of 42 months is found in Revelation 13:

And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. (Rev 13:5-7)

This passage speaks of the great and terrible beast from the sea, which actually is the same as the little horn of Daniel, which is to say the AntiChrist power that would persecute the people of God for 1260 years.

So, here is a complete listing of the passages that deal with the same 1260 year time period of persecution:

3 1/2 Times - Rev 12:14, Dan 7:25, Dan 12:7
1260 days - Rev 11:3, Rev 12:6
42 Months - Rev 11:2, Rev 13:5

If you know much about what is called the Dark Ages, then you probably know who this persecuting power is already.

What Palestine in 2011 Means! (the 7-Year Covenant Described in Daniel Chapter 9)

By Tim Hammond
January 16, 2011

It is critical that you understand this one thing — that Palestine will be recognized as a nation in the immediate future. One hundred nations support recognizing Palestine as a nation unilaterally, meaning without Israel's approval. This is the top agenda in the UN at this time. We know through Scripture it will not happen that way but the push to make Palestine a nation is the biggest sign we are at the end with the exception of Israel becoming a nation. Let me show you why.

The current plan is for Israel to return to its 1967 borders. Why is this significant? Because it would put Jerusalem into the hands of the Palestinians. In Revelation 11:2 it specifically mentions the temple mount in Jerusalem and the city of Jerusalem,

"But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months."

Daniel 9:27 describes the event that begins the Tribulation. A 7-year covenant is confirmed by the antichrist. The contents of this covenant are in Revelation 11:1-2: Israel will get the right to build their temple, but Palestine will get Jerusalem -- but remember that the covenant is broken at the midpoint.

"And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week..."

As many of you know the word 'week' there is being used to describe 7-year periods. Depending on the translation it may also be stated as a "week of years."

Continuing on in Daniel 9:27

"and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate..."

At the midpoint, the covenant is broken. The Tribulation is 7 years of 360 days each. Because the covenant is broken at exactly the midpoint, the Tribulation is described in the Bible as two halves: 3.5 years, 42 months, or 1260 days.

Are you getting the connection to the 42 months mentioned in the second paragraph? It is the first half of the 7-year Tribulation to the day. Or, put in other words, the day Palestine is recognized as a nation, with Jerusalem as its capital, is the day the Tribulation starts.

When will Palestine be recognized as a nation? I have understood since August of 2009 that it will happen in 2011. We are on a parallel course to that in Daniel 9:2.

"In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem."

May 14, 1948 (when Israel again was officially established as a nation) started a 70 year countdown (Psalm 90:10 & Zechariah 1:12).

1948 + 70 = 2018 minus 7 (for the Tribulation) is 2011.

Erekat: 10 EU states will upgrade their PLO missions
South American countries recognize Palestinian state
Arab League to turn to UN for anti-settlement resolution

The Countdown to Jerusalem 2018

By Edyta Nowak Tehrani
May 15, 2008

Many people worry about what will happen in 2012, but it will not be the end of the world, only the beginning of the end. The real change will take place in year 2018 in Jerusalem. How do I know? Read and find out…

There is growing anxiety about the events that many are predicting will take place in 2012 -- from the shift of the poles and the end of our species to the shift in consciousness that will take us to the new age of a sustainable world under one world government -- but many ignore all that the Bible has to say about the end times.

The Bible is the ultimate book of prophecy that has a stunning accuracy. We continue to watch the fulfillment of its predictions. Israel is in the biblical prophetic clock; and, just as predicted, it is a centerpiece right now on the world stage. We see it on the news almost every single day. Barack Obama said that there will be no peace in the world until Israeli-Palestinian conflict is resolved and promised to deliver it as a part of politics of “Change.”

While Israel and the rest of the world long for that very peace, the world’s stage is set for a series of very dramatic events that will bring about peace, but of a very different nature from the one everyone is expecting.

I’m not prophesying the end of the world here; however, it will be the end of the present world order. The events I talk about have been written in advance in the Bible.

And before you dismiss me as some fundamentalist freak, I want to tell you that what will follow is not preached or shared by anyone else, so read even if you don’t consider the Bible credible.

It came to me and my husband as an observation of something in Scriptures that most, if not all, Bible students miss. We believe that the state of Israel is a prophetic clock and everything that happens to it has been foretold with incredible details.

We noticed that number seventy is a specific number assigned to Israel only. There were 70 members of Jacob’s family who went to Egypt. Moses appointed 70 elders for Israel. The duration of Babylonian captivity was exactly 70 years. Daniel prophesied 70 prophetic weeks for Israel. It was in year 70 of the present era that the Jewish temple was destroyed and the Jewish people scattered all over the world for almost 2000 years.

It is logical, then, to expect something very significant to happen 70 years from the time of Israel’s rebirth. This year was marked by the sixtieth anniversary of this event, and this is the countdown I’m talking to you about.

What exactly will happen in 2018? I don’t know, but I do know that whatever this event will be, it will bring about the second coming of Yeshua the Messiah, who will come down from heaven with great power and glory. He is the answer to the problems of humanity.

I’m not saying that He for sure will come in 2018, though He might; but what will take place 70 years from Israel’s rebirth for sure will hasten His coming. Between now and that time, we can expect millions of people dying in more and more famines, natural disasters, wars; there will be economic depression, and even cosmic disturbances along with the release of the supernatural-miracle-working power of God, as well as demonic counterfeits of it.

If you never studied the Bible, this is a good time to begin, for we might not have the Bible available, at least legally, for very much longer. Jesus said to us 2000 years ago to watch the fig tree. The fig three is Israel, and it has been budding for the past 60 years. He said that the generation to see it happen will not pass away until all the things He foretells in the Gospel of Matthew (chapter 24) come to pass. Study this and make sure you belong to Him. When you see all of this happening, get ready for what is coming.

It will not be easy for the followers of Jesus under the world government pictured in the book of Daniel as the 10 toes. It will be the last world empire made out of 10 world federations; and it is set to be established by the end of 2012. Eventually, it will be ruled by one man, the Antichrist, who will be worshiped as divine; and all who oppose him will be persecuted. But at the end, Jesus will end the reign of Antichrist. And He will save the world. Nobody else can do that.

7 Years Tribulation - The Last Generation

TheElects.org

FACTS: Did you know that the Book of Psalms is number 19 in the bible? So if we put the pieces together, we can see the outline for the above, correlating to the years and numbering in the Psalms.

I will explain so that you will grow in faith, unto Christ Jesus the Lord, even unto understanding, and, know that we are living in the last days.

Lets start with Psalm 41:9 : Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.

Here you can see that Italy (Also the country shaped like a boot/heel) was an ally with the U.S. and Britain during WW1, they ate the same bread, but turned and declared war against the United States.

Next is Psalm 43 in 1: Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation: O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man.

Here in Psalm 43, we can see this is referring to Germany, during Hitler's dictatorship.

I am sure you remember the Holocaust during World War 2, that during the year of 1944, it was when the greatest slaughter of the Jews was made, as written in 22: Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.

Here in Psalm 45:1 My heart is inditing a good matter: I speak of the things which I have made touching the king: my tongue is the pen of a ready writer.

We know that in 1945, it is when the war was over, and throughout Psalm 45 prophecies are written of this, and especially concerning of having the "pen" as unto being ready to sign the peace agreement.

Now in Psalm 46:9 He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire.

You can see clearly, war has already ended and peace is upon the earth. This is the first year of peace after the war was over in 1945.

Psalm 47:4 He shall choose our inheritance for us, the excellency of Jacob whom he loved. Selah.

There in Psalm 47, you can see the plan of Israel's birth, when the United Nations was set to to establish Israel as a nation.

In Psalm 48 are prophecies of Israel's birth, where when Israel was a nation, the world marvelled, and those surrounding Arab nations were troubled when they saw it.

They saw it, and so they marvelled; they were troubled, and hasted away.
Fear took hold upon them there, and pain, as of a woman in travail.

Now that concludes the comparison to the last 7 years, but it works in a backward style as you can see in this picture below and above. Likewise for the 7 years comparison, you see 3 1/2 years of tribulation first, since 1941, then 3 1/2 years of Peace to Israel's birth. But for these last days, it's 3 1/2 years of peace, then 3 1/2 years of tribulation unto a "New Jerusalem" when Christ Jesus the Lord that shall return in 2018.

As for the Prophecies in 2011 and forward, those are shown in the other articles. I pray that you will read them so that you will be prepared for the things in which shall come, in which you shall endure unto the end.

God bless you always, in Christ Jesus, I pray that this will help you to grow in faith and to believe that the Psalms contains the prophecies that are written, concerning the last days even until the end.

My brothers and sisters, the time of Christ Jesus the Lord return is near. He has left us with MANY similitude throughout history to give us signs of the end, a sign of the return of Christ Jesus the Lord in 2018. We cannot deny these truths and cast them away as coincidence but instead they are living examples of what will take place in the times to come. Remember this, the True Word of God will not pass away.

Further Understanding of the Last 7 years Tribulation

Tribulation Summary

In order to understand about the end-times prophecies concerning the last 7 years from 2011 until 2018, or better known as “The Tribulation” period, we must understand what is written in the book of “Daniel” concerning the seventy times seven weeks prophecies.

To begin, we must know that we are the “last generation".

It began on May 15, 1948, some say it is on the 14th, when Israel was born again. Even before it, there was only destruction and desolation, but God has a purpose and that purpose is the covenant and promises of God. This is why, even the tribulations of the Jews, during World War 2, it also has led to the final purpose. To destroy the wicked and melt away the darkness. To redeem His people, to fulfill the perfection and righteousness of God. To that end, the Word of God shall be fulfilled, for this Generation shall not pass away until all these things be fulfilled.

When Christ Jesus the Lord was speaking concerning “this generation”, he was speaking of those who was born and living at the time of Israels birth unto the end. For a single birth is one generation for a person, likewise, for a nation of Israels birth, it is one generation unto the people.

For we who are living now, who is born in the time when Israel was born on May 14, 1948, some say the 15th, will have witness many signs, saw many miracles, and even the fulfillment of prophecies, written in the Psalm, concerning the birth of Israel.

When we know that we are the Last Generation, of the seventy years since Israel birth, then we shall also believe and understand that we will endure through the tribulation period, and Christ Jesus the Lord will return immediately after the tribulation of those days, so that we shall be a witness the fulfillment of all things unto the very end. For if those who believe in the doctrine of demons and is deceived believing in a rapture before the coming of Christ Jesus, they will not see the fulfillment of the Word of God, for they will have already taken their own lives. It is those who remain and endure, that the Elects of Christ Jesus, shall see and be a witness unto the fulfillment of the Word of God.

To begin, as concerning this Tribulation summary, we begin with the year 2010. In this year, in 2010, a war will take place between Israel and the Arab nations, and you will witness 3 horns that shall be broken by the antichrist, and his small horn will rise up in its place. The antichrist shall war with the 3 kings, to subdue it and save Israel from destruction. For this purpose, many Jews and many people will be deceived thinking that he is the messiah because he brought peace. All of this shall be fulfilled as it is written in the Book of Daniel concerning the seventy times seven prophecies. Therefore, we who are living in this last generation who endure unto the end, shall witness all the things to come.

Therefore, because of this war in 2010, the pope shall make a peace covenant between Israel and the surrounding nations Arab nations in 2011 for 7 years. Since the beginning in times past, there has never been any covenant of peace between Israel and the Arab nations. Since the beginning, it has always been war between Israel and the Arabs. And because of the war, when this pope endorse this peace covenant for 7 years, and is accepted because of this “war”, many will be deceived thinking he is a god, or the messiah.

This covenant which shall be made be for 7 years from 2011 to 2018. In the midst of the 7 years, the treaty shall be broken, and the abomination that cause desolation will take place, and we shall be a witness thereof. We shall witness the Word of God being fulfilled written in Daniel. It is from that time onwards, how we must choose, if we die like the rest, or endure unto the end. We must, from this point onward believe in the truth of Christ Jesus. We must believe in the Truth concerning God, knowing these things, being the Elects of Christ Jesus, being faithful unto God, to the very end for all eternity. Do not go after doctrines of demons which speaks of a rapture before the Second Coming of Christ Jesus the Lord written in the last book.

Click here for the timeline.

The Middle East crisis will lead to World War III. Antichrist will appear at the end of WWIII to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem. A one-world government with a one-world religion will be established, the anti-Christian kingdom prophesied in chapter 13 of the book of Revelation. This one-world power will offer apparent peace and security to a world in chaos. The devil, Satan, will establish his earthly kingdom for "a little season," so that he as God will stand in the holy place, showing himself that he is God, and he will deceive many with his signs and wonders.

For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them. (1 Thessalonians 5:3)

The goal of the New Jerusalem Covenant Project is to create the plan by which Antichrist can solve the Middle East crisis; Antichrist will use this crisis to stage his appearance in the world. Antichrist is supposed to appear at the end of the Middle East crisis (World War III). The prophetic reality of Daniel 9:24-27, Matthew 24:15 and Revelation 11:1-12 is that the new Temple will be built after World War III and will produce the Man of Sin. Thus, the Illuminati plans to destroy the Dome of the Rock during the World War III fighting so that their Antichrist can rebuild Solomon's Temple. This reality means that Arabs will retain control over the Temple Mount until the moment Antichrist comes to the world scene and seizes it for the Jews so his temple can be created. "Peace and safety" will be heralded, and the leaders of the major nations will be busy taking credit for their "brilliant" leadership that seemingly finally solved the deeply engrained religious strife in and around Jerusalem that has plagued mankind for the past 1,400 years.

- David Bay, Cutting Edge Ministries

According to Pastor Tom McElmurry of tribulationperiod.com:

Israel shall be attacked by Islamic forces 1335 days (1260 + 30 + 45 = 1335) before the end of the Tribulation Period: Syria, Turkey, Iran, Lebanon, Hizbullah and Sudan will lure the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) to push north into Lebanon so as to make Israel appear as the aggressor in Middle East war, which is likely to start prior to 2015.

30 days later the "two witnesses" shall begin their testimony in Jerusalem.

45 days later Jerusalem shall fall as the IDF withdraws south to Beersheba and the United Nations brokers a truce or hudna agreed to by Islam and Israel.

Israel shall remain surrounded in the Negev Wilderness for some 1260 days after the truce agreement.

Some 45 days before the end of the Age of the Gentiles, the two witnesses shall be killed by the Antichrist after having testified for 42 months (1260 days).

The Antichrist will declare himself to be God on the Temple Mount – this is the abomination “that maketh desolate.”

Three and one half days later, three events shall occur in rapid succession (all three shall occur on the same day, which marks the end of the Tribulation Period):

The two witnesses shall ascend up to heaven through the clouds.

A great earthquake shall occur in the same hour that the two witnesses depart.

The seventh and last trumpet shall sound, and all the saved shall be caught up in the clouds.

All the saved shall be judged in heaven while the seven vials of God’s wrath are poured out upon unbelievers on earth.

Some three and one-half years after the initial attack of Islamic forces against Israel, the war has a happy ending for believers because then comes Jesus and His Kingdom! And “the words of God shall be fulfilled”!

For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4)

And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming: even Him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders. (2 Thessalonians 2:8-9)

"But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give Her light, and the stars of Heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in Heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. And then shall He send His angels, and shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of Heaven." (Mark 13:24-27)

That in the dispensation of the fulness of times, He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in Heaven, and which are on earth; even in Him. (Ephesians 1:10)

Behold, I shew you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. (1 Corinthians 15:51-53)

And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? And whence came they? And I said unto Him, Sir, thou knowest. And He said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple: and He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. (Revelation 7:13-17)

Israels Re-Birth - 1948

We begin here as a guide to show to you the importance of Israel's birth and the prophecies concerning its creation in 1948. Israel proclaimed its statehood on May 14, 1948, but officially came into being on the May 15, 1948, when the entire world recognized Israel as a nation. When Israel become a nation again, it was a sign that we are living in the end-times.

Understand this parable as it is written in Matthew:24:32:

"Now learn a parable of the fig tree: when his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh."

Israel is the key to the end-times prophecies, as we can begin to look for the similitude in prophecies.

Let us look at the beginning, in the prophecies concerning the 70 weeks of Daniel in Chapter 9:2:

"In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem."

Here we can see that after its destruction by the Babylonians, Israel needed 70 years of "desolation" to atone for its sins before it could be rebuilt, as it is written in Daniel 9:2. We see Israel's birth after the 70 years of atonement. Then in 70 AD, Israel was again destroyed as prophesied in the Gospel, through Christ Jesus the Lord, as written in Matthews 24:2:

"And Christ Jesus said unto them, 'See ye not all these things? Verily I say unto you, there shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down'."

Let us fast forward to when Israel was created in 1948, also prophesied in Psalm 48 as written in verses 4-6:

"For, lo, the kings were assembled, they passed by together. They saw it, and so they marvelled; they were troubled, and hasted away. Fear took hold upon them there, and pain, as of a woman in travail."

Concerning the number 70, when we add 70 years from Israel's birth, we come to the end, which is in 2018, the Last Generation.

The Last Generation that Christ spoke about concerning the end-times is the generation born into this world when Israel was created in 1948. And, more importantly, one generation is 70 years, so Christ Jesus the Lord reveals to us that we are the ones that shall witness the fulfillment of all these things

Starting in 1948, there will be 70 years of living in sin before judgment and a new Jerusalem is made, ending in 2018 when our Christ Jesus the Lord shall return.

-TheElects.org

Could Christ Return in 2018?

For an excellent presentation by Barry John on why Christ may return mid 2017 - mid 2018, click here (PDF) or here (quick view).

I Firmly Believe Christ Would Return By 2018 Or Even Sooner

By 3rdAdam, christian-forum.netm Christian-Forum.net

I'm not a Bible or prophecy expert, but I know a little bit about the fig tree parable and the last generation prophecy. From these two phrases in the bible, we can determine the season of Christ's return; and if we can determine the season, then we can determine the year.

God gives us four seasons of about three months each. So, if we know the first day of Spring, then we know the Summer season will be only about three months away, the same as with the season of Christ's return.

I believe we all agree that the sign of the fig tree and the beginning of the last generation is when Israel became a nation in 1948. So, we know that the start date of the four seasons is May 14, 1948. Then from one season to the next is only three months away. The three months that I'm talking about are calculated from the generation year. The generation could be 20, 30, 40, 70, 80 or 100 years. I know God loves number 7, so I'm going to use 70 years as the last generation year. 70 divided by 4 equals 17.5 years, so each season lasts about 17 years.

From the above calculation and assumption, I believe we are in the last season of Christ's return.

Let's look at it from another point of view:

First season: 1948 + 17 = 1965
Second season: 1965 + 17 = 1982
Third season: 1982 + 17 = 1999
Fourth season: 1999 + 17 = 2016

Now we have to factor in the 0.5 year, and there are four of them, which is two years. Therefore, the fourth season should last until 2018.

Now if we factor in other prophecies, then seven years of tribulation will begin in 2011.

I believe God doesn't want us to be clueless of when He will return. And I believe that it is not in His nature to keep us in the dark.

According to Rafael Ministries, we may only have seven years remaining before the end of the age and the return of Christ:

Do Jesus and the prophets Daniel, Jeremiah and Isaiah reveal the date of the beginning of the end of this age? I think so. Jeremiah and Daniel speak in code about 70 years decreed over Israel; Jesus speaks of two “night” seasons that are to come. This may or may not be correct, but I still think it is fascinating study. I report, you decide.

For more details, and how I arrived at September 10, 2010, watch the video below.

Matthew 24-25 and Revelation Chapter 6 indicate what should be expected if we have truly entered this period. Here are some of the indicators:

Earthquakes
Economic Collapse: inflation/deflation
Violence: riots, revolutions, crime
Religious Persecution
Starvation / Hunger
War: World, Nuclear, Middle East
Destruction of Damascus (Isaiah 17)
Mass Death
Signs in the Sun

All of this could happen over a period of weeks, even days; but a more likely scenario is over a period of months to a few years. However, one sign that should happen relatively quickly is the “destruction of Damascus.”

"But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only." (Matthew 24:36)
"Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh." (Matthew 25:13)
"But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father." (Mark 13:32)

Jesus says the Father only knows the day and hour when the Son will return in the clouds of heaven. Yet Jesus gives us the signs to look for when the end of the age is approaching, and he tells us that the generation to see these signs shall not pass till all these things be done. According to the analysis by Rafael presented in the video above, we may have only seven years left before Jesus returns. This interpretation is in concurrence with that of Pastor Tom McElmurry, who believes that Israel will go to war with Islamic forces in the Middle East before 2015, and that Jesus will return some three and one-half years after that, which would be in 2018.

"Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled." (Matthew 24:34)
"Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done." (Mark 13:30)
"Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled." (Luke 21:32)

And He said unto the disciples,
"The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it.
And they shall say to you, 'See here; or, see there:' go not after them, nor follow them.
For as the lightning that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven shineth unto the other part under heaven;
So shall also the Son of man be in His day.
But first must He suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation.
And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.
They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage,
Until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.
Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot;
They did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;
But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.
Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed."
(Luke 17:22-30)

This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance:
That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets,
And of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour:
Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
And saying, 'Where is the promise of His coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.'
For this they willingly are ignorant of,
That by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:
Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:
But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store,
Reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness;
But is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night;
In the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat,
The earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved,
What manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God,
Wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of Him in peace, without spot, and blameless.
And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation;
Even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;
As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood,
Which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.
Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before,
Beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.
But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
To Him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.
(2 Peter, Chapter 3)

2011-06-22T19:02:00.006-04:00

Were the First Four Seals Opened in 2011?

It is possible that the first four seals have been opened, and we are about to experience death of 1/4 of the earth by war, scarcity, famine, diseases, plagues, etc. At the opening of the fifth seal, the persecution of Christians will intensify. The Lord tells us that, at the opening of the sixth seal, destruction will come upon the earth in the following forms: a great earthquake, sun turns black, moon turns blood red, stars fall to earth, sky rolls up like a scroll, and every mountain and island moves out of its place. This will be followed by 1/2 hour of silence in heaven before the seventh seal is opened.

The seventh seal in the Book of Revelation reveals itself as the seven trumpets, described as "the wrath of the Lamb." The first four trumpets will bring destruction upon the earth: 1/3 of the trees will be burned up and all the green grass will be burned (hail and fire mingled with blood); 1/3 of the sea will turn to blood, 1/3 of the sea creatures will die and 1/3 of the ships will be destroyed (great mountain burning with fire cast into the sea); 1/3 of the waters will be poisoned (great star falls from heaven); and 1/3 of the sun and moon and stars will be darkened.

At the sounding of the fifth trumpet, Satan will be released from the bottomless pit to rule over his one-world religion and government. Standing in the holy place, Jerusalem, he will claim to be God and will deceive many with his signs and wonders. During this five-month period, "then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened."

The deception of the devil must work out till the bitter end. Shortly before the end of this world, this final deception of the nations shall take place. The heathen nations shall be civilized and they shall become conscious of their power, and they shall, for a time, join forces with the beast and the false prophet to form one great world empire. Nevertheless, they shall remain pagan in every respect, and though they give their power to the beast for "one hour," for "a little season," this cannot possibly last. The heathen nations and the anti-Christian civilization will ultimately gather as separate forces for the last war, the battle of Armageddon.

This is the period of the sixth trumpet, when the heathen nations will join forces to form a 200-million-man army and kill 1/3 part of men. Once the second woe (the sixth trumpet) is past, the third woe (the seventh trumpet and the return of Christ) will come quickly. It will be upon this scene, when the heathen nations are gathered in battle and surrounding Jerusalem, that Christ will return to deliver up His people and to destroy by fire the devil's kingdom on earth.

"And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined,
And will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them:
I will say, 'It is my people:' and they shall say, The Lord is my God."
(Zechariah 13:9)

The Day of the Lord will be a cloudy and dark day, and there will be a great earthquake and voices from heaven, and the temple of God will be opened in heaven; and there will be lightning, voices, thunder and great hail; the sun and moon will be darkened, the stars will fall from heaven, and heaven and earth will be shaken. The just will be resurrected for eternal life; the unjust will be resurrected for eternal damnation. God will pour out the seven vials of His wrath upon the earth; the last enemy to be destroyed will be Death, the great dragon, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan. And the Lord will create a new heaven and a new earth, and He will bring New Jerusalem down from heaven to earth, and He will reign with His people forever and ever.

Jesus says the Father only knows the day and hour when the Son will return in the clouds of heaven. Yet Jesus gives us the signs to look for when the end of the age is approaching, and He tells us that the generation to see these signs shall not pass till all these things be done. It is possible that the last generation (70 years being a generation - Psalms 90:10) began in 1948 when Israel once again become a nation. On May 19, 2011, Obama jolted Israel by embracing the Palestinians' terms for drawing the borders between the two states, saying "a lasting peace that ends the conflict and resolves all claims is more urgent than ever." This peace agreement could mark the beginning of the final seven years before Christ returns, which means we could expect Him to return in 2018.

A Once-in-a-Lifetime Solar Storm Could Be What Causes the Cosmic Disturbances at the Opening of the Sixth Seal, Which May Not Be until Midway or Later into the 7-Year Tribulation Period

Like most experts in the field, Solar physicist David Hathaway of the National Space Science & Technology Center has confidence in the conveyor belt model and agrees with Dikpati that the next solar maximum should be a doozy. But he disagrees with one point. Mausumi Dikpati of the National Center for Atmospheric Research forecast puts Solar Max at 2012. Hathaway believes it will arrive sooner, in 2010 or 2011. Who's right? Time will tell. Either way, a storm is coming. - NASA, Solar Storm Warning, March 10, 2006

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

THE FIRST 4 SEALS: Death [the Devil or Satan] Takes 1/4 of the Earth by War, Scarcity, Famine, Diseases, Plagues, Etc.

And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals,
And I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow;
And a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.
And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see.
And there went out another horse that was red:
And power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth,
And that they should kill one another:
And there was given unto him a great sword.
And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see.
And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say,
A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny;
And see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.
And when he had opened the fourth seal,
I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
And I looked, and behold a pale horse:
And his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.
And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth,
To kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death,
And with the beasts of the earth.
(Revelation 6:1-8)

According to The Coming Epiphany, Chapter 13: Be Prepared, the first five seals entail:

First seal (white horse): Establishment of the world religion and government through deception.

Second seal (red horse): War and/or anarchy on the earth.

Third seal (black horse): Famine due to crop failures and/or a worldwide economic collapse.

Fourth seal (pale horse): Death of one-quarter of world’s population by various means, possibly culminating from the first three seals.

Fifth seal: Persecution and martyrdom of Jews and Christians.

There are about three billion people around the globe that live on the equivalent of two dollars a day or less. Those people cannot afford for food prices to go up much. Coincidentally (or not) three billion people is about 1/4 of the world's population -- the amount of people that will die by war, scarcity, famine, diseases, plagues, etc. at the opening of the first four seals.

The Rider on the Pale Horse as Filmed in Cairo, Egypt, February 4, 2011

World Net Daily
February 5, 2011

A mysterious, pale green figure seen in televised news coverage of the Egyptian riots has prompted some viewers to ask, "Could this be the Fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse?"

The footage, provided by Euronews and subsequently seen on MSNBC, CNN and uploaded over a dozen times to the popular video sharing site YouTube, captures the fiery, violent protests in Cairo this past week … and something else.

Between the crowds of protesters and barricades, the video shows a flowing, pale green image that resembles an erect rider atop a horse in Medieval-like barding. The ethereal figure remains for a few moments before floating over protesters' heads and off the screen.

The last of the biblical Book of Revelation's Four Horseman of the Apocalyse, the "pale rider" is said to be the bringer of death and the forerunner of "hell" on earth.

The Book of Revelation refers to a time when "the Lamb" — usually understood to be the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ — opens the seven seals of a scroll of judgment. Each of the first four seals is accompanied by a horseman of a different color, each bringing a separate calamity.

When the fourth seal is opened, Revelation 6:8 records,

"And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth."

Is the image from Egypt a fulfillment of Revelation's prophecy?

Comments from the tens of thousands of viewers who have watched the video on YouTube express a wide array of opinion.

Some claim the video's "pale rider" is a sign and the greenish tint is somehow symbolic of Islam, while others insist the image has been added to the footage by editing technology. Still others point to three, trailing points of light in the footage that move away from the crowds at the same time and speed as the "horseman," indicating that both the "rider" and the lights are merely smudges or reflections cast on the lens of a moving camera.

One comment, from a viewer calling himself TheRhythmhawk, also tried to explain the "pale rider" and the trailing lights as simply lens reflections, but eventually concluded,

"The image of the horseman leaves more questions than answers."

The original video can also be viewed in even higher resolution at the Euronews website.

The Four Horses Individually Considered

Herman Hoeksema, Behold He Cometh
Copyright 1969

Our next observation in regard to the symbolism of these four seals concerns the color of each horse, and in harmony with their respective colors the other details of description.

The color of the first horse is white, which is symbolic of victory. Repeatedly this color appears as such in Scripture. Those who are faithful and overcome shall ultimately appear in white robes. In Chapter 19:11 ff., where we have a final description of the battle of Armageddon, the Lord Jesus appears as the victor, seated upon a white horse, in all the glory of His power and victory.

Thus it was also customary in the Roman army that the victors should return riding on white horses. Hence, it may be deemed rather evident that the white horse is symbol of a victorious power. In harmony with this color of the horse are the other features pictured in the text. First of all, we are told that the rider has a bow, which is symbolic of righteous and victorious warfare. In Psalm 45:5 we read of the king who is typical of Christ:

"Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the king's enemies; whereby the people fall under thee."

In the second place, the rider receives a crown: not the royal diadem in this case, but the garland, the wreath of victory. And finally, this idea of victory is definitely expressed in the last clause, that the rider goes forth "conquering and to conquer," which by its peculiar repetition assures us of the certainty of the victory this rider will win. Therefore, we have in the first seal the picture of an armed warrior, going forth to battle, whose victory is assured him beforehand.

The color of the second horse is red, or, as the original indicates, a color glowing like fire. It is the color of wrath and anger, of heated passion and violent emotion, such as causes a man's blood to rush to his countenance, of lust and gain, of envy and revenge, of blood and war.

The man that cometh from Bozrah, with sprinkled garments, who has trodden the winepress of Jehovah's anger alone, is red in his apparel. And when the Lord is described in all the holy zeal of His heated anger, He is pictured in Scripture as a consuming fire.

This horse bears the color of a glowing fire, of heated passion and revenge and bloodshed and war, of which it is also symbolic. Again, the other details mentioned of this second horse and its rider serve to corroborate and enforce this idea. For, in the first place, we read that he receives a great sword, symbolic of war and death and destruction. And, in the second place, the definite information is given us that this horse receives the power to take peace from the earth.

In general, therefore, the second horse and his rider are the picture of heated passion and wrath going forth to do its work in the earth.

The third horse is black. Occurring in the Word of God, this color is the symbol of scarcity and famine. In referring to a drought in the land of Judah in his own time, the prophet Jeremiah writes:

"Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish; they are black unto the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up," (Jeremiah 14:2).

And in his Lamentations (5: 10) we hear the same prophet complain:

"Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine."

Black, then, is the color of scarcity and want, of drought and famine. The rest of the description of this horse is again in harmony with this idea of the black color, although at the same time we should not fail to notice that by it the idea of famine is somewhat modified and mitigated.

The rider is pictured as one who holds a balance and who does some careful weighing. And as he weighs, the voice is heard:

"A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny."

A measure of wheat (about one and one-half pints of our measure) constitutes the equivalent of one man's subsistence for one day. And the same is true of three measures of barley. If in connection with this we also bear in mind that a penny, or shilling, constituted just about a day's wages of the common laborer, we come to the conclusion that this third rider represents scarcity and death, rather than downright famine. The relation between the wages of the common people and the cost of the necessities of life is such that the latter devour the former every day.

But this is not all. The voice continues, and says,

"And see thou hurt not the oil and the wine."

Oil and wine are symbols of plenty and luxury, of merriment and feasting. These may not be hurt, but must continue to exist. And, hence, the complete portraiture of this third horse and its rider presents a remarkable contrast: a contrast between poverty and riches, between a bare subsistence and luxurious living.

The fourth and last horse is of a pale green, such as is the color of death. Here we cannot be left in doubt as to the meaning of this fourth horseman. The horse represents the color of a corpse, of death itself. And in harmony with the color of the animal is the name of its rider, which is Death, while Hades, the abode of the dead, follows him, ready to receive the victims killed by this terrible horseman.

The definite commission which this fourth horseman receives is to kill and destroy one fourth part of the earth's inhabitants with the sword, with pestilence, with the wild beasts of the earth, and with death in general.

If four is generally the number representing the completeness of the world, one-fourth represents such a fraction as is in harmony with the present existence in the world throughout this present dispensation. The symbolism of the last horse and its rider makes us think of death in all its various forms.

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Outline of the Book of Revelation

The following is a chapter-by-chapter outline of the book of Revelation based on the King James Bible (chapter numbers are in parentheses). Scripture is enclosed in quotation marks; other text not in quotes is commentary from the book "Behold He Cometh" by Herman Hoeksema, copyright 1969.

NOTE: The book of Revelation repeatedly follows the development of the world to its very end from a certain point of view in order, and it then resumes the drawing of the same picture from a different viewpoint (note the "interludes").

THE BOOK OF REVELATION, KING JAMES VERSION 1611

INTRODUCTION: JOHN, THE APOSTLE, IS TAKEN IN SPIRIT AND SHOWN VISIONS (1)
"I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, saying, 'I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last:' and, 'What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches... I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter'."

THE SEVEN LETTERS TO THE CHURCHES (2,3)
The seven churches represent the Church as it exists in any period of this dispensation, so that at any time these seven types may be observed; nevertheless, these seven types are not always equally prominent in every period of Church history. Always, the features presented by the seven churches in Asia are observable in the Church, yet so that now one and then another of these features appears on the foreground. These seven churches [which are mentioned in geographical order] are representative of the whole Church as she is in the world at any period of history; therefore, we reject the view that each of them represents a limited period in the history of the Church of the new dispensation. However, we believe that the order in which these seven churches are addressed does indicate, in a general way, the trend in which the Church develops, with the Church presenting the likeness of the church of Laodicea at the end of this dispensation.

GOD'S THRONE IN HEAVEN (4)
"After this I [John] looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I [John] heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, 'Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.' And immediately I [John] was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and One sat on the throne... The four and twenty elders fall down before Him that sat on the throne, and worship Him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, 'Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created'."

"God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that He is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands." (Acts 17:24)

"And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in His temple the ark of His testament." (Revelation 11:19)

"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, 'Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God'... And He that sat upon the throne said, 'Behold, I make all things new.' And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it." (Revelation 21:1-3, 5, 22)

Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence." (John 18:36)

THE LITTLE BOOK & THE 7 SEALS (5,6)
The Victorious Progress of the Kingdom of God as the Gospel Is Preached Throughout the Nations [Witnessing], with a View to the Completion of the Kingdom of God, Symbolized by 1,260 Days, When the Woman [the Church] is Fed the Word of God Before the "Lamb's Wrath"

THE FIRST 4 SEALS (6): Death [the Devil or Satan] Takes 1/4 of the Earth by War, Scarcity, Famine, Diseases, Plagues, Etc.

"Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil." (Hebrews 2:14)

THE 5th SEAL (6): Souls in Heaven Ask: "How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?" They Are Told: "Rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled."

THE 6th SEAL (6): Great Earthquake, Sun Turns Black, Moon Turns Blood Red, Stars Fall to Earth, Sky Folds Up Like a Scroll, Every Mountain and Island Moved Out of Their Places

INTERLUDE: THE 144,000 SEALED & THE GREAT MULTITUDE STANDING BEFORE GOD'S THRONE IN HEAVEN (7)
[12 (the Prophets of the Old Dispensation) x 12 (the Apostles of the New Dispensation) x 1000 (the "thousand years," i.e., the "fulness of times," described in chapter 20) = 144,000]

THE 7th SEAL REVEALS ITSELF AS THE 7 TRUMPETS [THE LAMB'S WRATH] (8,9)
"The Wrath of the Lamb," Symbolized by 42 Months, When Satan Makes War With the Remnant of the Woman's Seed [the Church, the Body of Christ, the Temple of God, the Spiritual Israel of the New Testament]

"And I [John] saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, 'Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads'."

THE FIRST 4 TRUMPETS (8): The first four trumpets will bring destruction upon the earth: 1/3 of the trees will be burned up and all the green grass will be burned (hail and fire mingled with blood); 1/3 of the sea will turn to blood, 1/3 of the sea creatures will die and 1/3 of the ships will be destroyed (great mountain burning with fire cast into the sea); 1/3 of the waters will be poisoned (great star falls from heaven); and 1/3 of the sun and moon and stars will be darkened.

THE 5th TRUMPET (9): 'Satan Shall Be Loosed Out of His Prison;' 'Locusts' Torment Men Without the Seal of God for Five Months [a 'Little Season']

"And I [John] saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to Him was given the key of the bottomless pit. And He opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man. And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them. And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle... they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months. And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon. One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter" [the sixth and seventh trumpets].

"I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death." (Revelation 1:18)

THE 6th TRUMPET (9): 1/3 Part of Men Killed by the 200-Million-Man Army of the One-world Government, the Anti-Christian Beast

In the great river Euphrates, "The four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men. And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths... And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands... neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts."

The first four seals in the Book of Revelation describe death of 1/4 of the earth by war, scarcity, famine, diseases, plagues, etc. At the opening of the fifth seal, the souls in heaven ask: "How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?" They are told: "Rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled."

Following the cosmic disturbances of the sixth seal (great earthquake, sun turns black, moon turns blood red, stars fall to earth, sky rolls up like a scroll, every mountain and island moves), there is silence in heaven about 1/2 hour before the seventh seal is opened.

The seventh seal in the Book of Revelation reveals itself as the seven trumpets, described as "the wrath of the Lamb." The first four trumpets will bring destruction upon the earth (1/3 of trees burned up, all green grass burned, 1/3 of sea turns to blood, 1/3 of sea creatures die, 1/3 of ships destroyed, 1/3 of waters poisoned, 1/3 of sun and moon and stars darkened).
When the fifth trumpet is sounded, Satan will be released from the bottomless pit to rule over his earthly kingdom (his one-world government and religion). He will stand in the holy place, showing himself that he is God, and he will promise peace and security to a world in desperate need of grand solutions to profound problems. Satan, deceiving many with his signs and wonders, will reign as king over this earth for five months, during which time (sixth trumpet) 1/3 part of man will be killed (most likely Christians and others who refuse to worship "the beast" and to receive his "mark" in their right hand or forehead).
After this earthly reign by Satan for "a little season" and his persecution of the followers of Christ, Christ will return in the clouds of heaven with great power and glory (seventh trumpet) to deliver up His people to the kingdom of heaven. He then will destroy by fire the kingdom of "the beast" and create a new heaven and a new earth over which He will reign with His people for eternity.
"And I will bring the third part through the fire,
And will refine them as silver is refined,
And will try them as gold is tried:
They shall call on my name, and I will hear them:
I will say, 'It is my people:'
And they shall say, 'The Lord is my God'."
(Zechariah 13:9)

THE RETURN OF CHRIST AT THE SOUNDING OF THE 7th TRUMPET: HE COMETH WITH CLOUDS AND EVERY EYE SHALL SEE HIM, AND THEY ALSO WHICH PIERCED HIM (10,11)
The Victorious Battle by the Glorious Kingdom of Our Lord Jesus Christ over the Satanic Kingdom of Darkness. This is the Ultimate Outcome of the Entire Plan of God, Which is the Displacement of the Old and Sinful Order by the New and Perfect One.

"Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." (Matthew 24:29-30)

"Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. Even so, Amen." (Revelation 1:7)

INTERLUDE: THE MYSTERY OF GOD TO BE FINISHED AT THE SOUNDING OF THE 7th TRUMPET (10,11)

"And I [John] saw another Mighty Angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon His head, and His face was as it were the sun, and His feet as pillars of fire. And He had in His hand a little book open: and He set His right foot upon the sea, and His left foot on the earth, and cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when He had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices. And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, 'Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.' And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up His hand to heaven, and sware by Him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer: But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as He hath declared to His servants the prophets."

"And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth... And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth. And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them. And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, 'Come up hither.' And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them. And the same hour was there a great earthquake and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted and gave glory to the God of heaven. The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly" [the seventh trumpet and the return of Christ].

THE SOUNDING OF THE 7th TRUMPET: THE TIME HAS COME FOR GOD TO JUDGE THE DEAD AND TO GIVE REWARD UNTO HIS SERVANTS (11)
A Cloudy and Dark Day: Great Earthquake, Voices from Heaven, Temple of God Opened in Heaven, Lightning, Voices, Thunder, Great Hail, Sun Darkened, Moon Darkened, Stars Fall from Heaven, Heaven and Earth Shaken

"And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, 'The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever.' And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, saying, 'We give Thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because Thou hast taken to Thee Thy great power, and hast reigned. And the nations were angry, and Thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that Thou shouldest give reward unto Thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear Thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.' And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in His temple the ark of His testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail."

INTERLUDE: CHRIST, THE LAMB, VERSUS SATAN, THE DRAGON (12,13)
Satan, the 'prince of this world,' is the 'king of the bottomless pit,' which is his current abode. We know this to be true based on the following Bible verses:
"And the angel said unto her, 'Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call His name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David. And He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end'." (Luke 1:30-33)

Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence." (John 18:36)

"How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!" (Isaiah 14:12)

Jesus said, "I saw Satan falling like a lightning from heaven." (Luke 10:18)

Jesus said: "'Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.' This He said, signifying what death He should die." (John 12:31-22)

Jesus said, "Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me." (John 14:30)

Jesus said, "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)

Jesus said, "Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged." (John 16:11)

Peter said, "God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment." (2 Peter 2:4)

John said [when describing the vision of the birth of Christ while Michael is battling Satan over the saints in heaven], "And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him." (Revelation 12:9)

Later John said, "And I saw an Angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in His hand; and He laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season." (Revelation 20:1-3)

Immediately after the vision described above [when Christ, who has the keys of hell and of death (Revelation 1:18), binds Satan for 'a thousand years'] John sees a vision of the resurrected saints in heaven, who "lived and reigned with Christ 'a thousand years'." (Revelation 20:4)

"The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is." (Revelation 17:8)

"And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth... And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them." (Revelation 11:3,7)

Jesus said: "Then cometh the end, when He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when He shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death" [Satan]. (1 Corinthians 15:24-26)
Revelation chapter 12 describes the battle in heaven between Michael and Satan for the saints of the old dispensation, which occurred at the same time the "women clothed with the sun, being with child, brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron."

"And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: and she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to His throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days. And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, 'Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.' And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child."

Satan roamed freely upon the earth before the birth of Christ (Job 2) and during the time that Jesus dwelt among us (Matthew 4). It was Satan himself who personally sought to tempt Jesus to sin when He fasted forty days and forty nights in the wilderness. However, Jesus (He that is in you) overcame Satan (Death) when He was resurrected and exalted to His heavenly throne where He sits on the right hand of God. Through Christ's victory on the cross, Satan was bound in the abyss (the bottomless pit) and restrained from preventing the spreading of the gospel throughout the nations. This period of restraint (which is partial only, for the devil's spirit is in the world and has been in the world throughout this dispensation) is designated as "the thousand years."

Near the end of this dispensation, the devil, Satan, shall be loosed out of the bottomless pit to rule over his earthly kingdom for 'a little season,' so that he will stand in the holy place, showing himself that he is God, and he will deceive many with his signs and wonders. This is the other king which is 'not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space' (Revelation 17:10).

This anti-Christian 'beast,' this kingdom of man under Satan, shall be a kingdom which has sway over all the universe, over all men, over all the powers of creation. It shall be a kingdom in which man worships his own work and in which the devil is lord supreme. This world power to come shall lay down the rules for religious life in particular: it shall tell all men how they must worship and what they must worship. It shall be a new system of thought and religion, with a new creed, universal in its scope and, at the same time, with a new god. That new god will be the devil incarnate, the great world power, whom all shall admire and worship and for whom all shall erect an image in order that they may worship the same. All things shall be under the control of this great and universal world power: the very necessities of life shall be in its power. It can surely allow or prevent buying and selling according to its good pleasure. The saints of Christ who do not worship the image, and who refuse to receive the mark of the beast, shall not be able to do business; they shall not be able to buy or to sell. They shall not be able to live along with this great society. They shall not be able to buy the necessities of life. They shall be outcasts, mocked at, held in derision, thrust aside, ousted from society, and killed.

"And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up. And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people. And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand." (Daniel 8:23-25)

"And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that is determined shall be done." (Daniel 11:36)

"The day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God." (2 Thessalonians 2:2-4)

The deception of the devil must work out till the bitter end. The devil, to whom the kingdoms of the world belong, shall succeed in combining all his kingdoms under one head and inspiring them all with the same principle. Although man has fallen away from Him, God nevertheless allows man to exercise dominion over the earthly creation and to bring to light all the hidden powers and talents of creation to their fullest degree. In this kingdom we have the anti-Christian beasts described in Revelation chapter 13, which represent the highest development of the sovereignty of man apart from God, and under the devil they shall develop all the powers of creation without God. However, the dragon's power and authority itself is limited: it is well that we bear this in mind, for it is to our comfort; it assures us from the outset that the power and authority of this anti-Christian kingdom, however great, is not unlimited and that Christ, who has all power, is mightier than antichrist.

Here is the patience and the faith of the saints, that in all these times they remain faithful and refuse to deny the Christ and that they wait for the day of His coming.

The future combined one-world power of the nominally Christian nations and heathen nations cannot last, because ultimately the ten kings shall hate the whore and shall make her desolate and naked and shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire (Revelation 17:16). Therefore, shortly before the end of this world, the devil's final deception of the nations shall take place. The heathen nations and the nominally Christian world will ultimately gather as separate forces for the last war, which will be a world war in the strictest sense of the word (the battle of Armageddon). Looking upon the nominally Christian world, which in fact will be an anti-Christian civilization, the heathen nations shall do as the nations of the old dispensation did with respect to Jerusalem; that is, they shall say: "Let us go up to Jerusalem; let Zion be defiled; let our eye look upon Zion!" And again the Lord will use the hostile spirit of the heathen nations to destroy the anti-Christian power and eat the flesh of the great whore.

In Revelation chapters 16 and 17, there mention is made of ten kings who as yet have received no kingdom, but shall receive power as kings for one hour with the beast: their dominion shall last but "one hour" with the beast; that is, "a little season." In Revelation chapter 20, the reference is evidently to the same going forth of the devil to the nations, the kings of the whole world that live on the four quarters of the earth, to deceive them and gather them for battle.

It is especially Gog and Magog that look upon all Christendom, no matter how apostate, as the beloved city, even as the heathen nations in the old dispensation considered earthly Jerusalem to be the city of God no matter how apostate and wicked it had become. The nations of Gog and Magog, in compassing about and coming to battle against Christendom in its widest sense, certainly intend to destroy "the beloved city," the cause of Christ, and to make paganism supreme in the world. In this, they reveal their wickedness and become ripe for the judgment. God nevertheless uses them to inflict His judgments upon the anti-Christian world.

The final result of this anti-Christian influence will be that the heathen nations will unite their forces for war against the nominally Christian world, the last war that shall ever be fought on earth (the battle of Armageddon). However, they will never touch the camp of the saints: the people of God shall look for the coming redemption, which then shall be very near. It will be upon this final scene of confusion and iniquity that the Lord will appear in judgment to destroy His enemies and to give His saints the victory forever.

CHRIST HARVESTS THE EARTH (14)
"And I [John] heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, 'Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.' And I [John] looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud One sat like unto the Son of man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to Him that sat on the cloud, 'Thrust in Thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for Thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.' And He that sat on the cloud thrust in His sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped."

"Let them grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, 'Gather ye together first the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn'... The tares are the children of the wicked one; the enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world." (Matthew 13:30,38-40)

THE AVENGING ANGEL & THE JUDGMENT OF THE GREAT WHORE: THE 7 VIALS OF GOD'S WRATH POURED OUT UPON THE UNJUST ON EARTH (15,16)
Grievous Sores upon the Ungodly; Sea, Rivers and Waters Turn to Blood; Ungodly Scorched with Fire; Seat of the Beast and His Kingdom Full of Darkness: They Gnaw Their Tongues for Pain; River Euphrates Dried Up for the Kings of the East

"And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. And I [John] saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon."

"And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done. And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath. And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great."

THE RESURRECTION OF THE JUST & THE MARRIAGE SUPPER OF THE LAMB (17,18,19)
Christ Delivers Up the Just to the Kingdom of Heaven for the Final and Complete Union of the Church of All Ages

"And I [John] heard another voice from heaven, saying, 'Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities... Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her."
"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD." (Amos 8:11)

"That in the dispensation of the fulness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in Him." (Ephesians 1:10)

"Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved." (Romans 9:27)

"Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace." (Romans 11:5)
"Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her'... And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth... I [John] heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, 'Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God; for true and righteous are His judgments: for He hath judged the great whore'... And I [John] heard as it were the voice of a great multitude... saying, 'Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.' And He saith unto me, 'Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb'."

CHRIST AND HIS ARMY OF SAINTS PREPARE TO COME FROM HEAVEN IN GLORY FOR THE FINAL JUDGMENT OF THE NATIONS GATHERED IN BATTLE (19)

"And I [John] saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and He that sat upon Him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He doth judge and make war... And He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed Him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean... And I [John] saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, 'Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great'."

THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON - THE HEATHEN NATIONS, GOG AND MAGOG, APPEAR UPON THE SCENE LAST (19,20)

Gog is mentioned in nine verses of the Bible, seven of which are in the book of Ezekiel, chapters 38 and 39 (the other verses are in 1st Chronicles and Revelation). Magog is mentioned in five verses of the Bible, twice in Ezekiel (once in chapter 38 and once in chapter 39) and once each in Genesis, 1st Chronicles and Revelation. Gog and Magog together are mentioned in only two Bible verses: Ezekiel 38:2 and Revelation 20:8. In Revelation 20:8, Gog and Magog are mentioned in the same sentence as "the thousand years" expiring, when "Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations."

"And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 'Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him'." (Ezekiel 38:2)

"And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea." (Revelation 20:7-8)

"Thus saith the Lord GOD:
In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it?
And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee,
All of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army:
And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land;
It shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land,
That the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.
Thus saith the Lord GOD:
Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel,
Which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them?
And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel,
Saith the Lord GOD,
That my fury shall come up in my face.
For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken,
Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;
So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven,
And the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth,
And all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence,
And the mountains shall be thrown down,
And the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.
And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord GOD:
Every man's sword shall be against his brother.
And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood;
And I will rain upon him, and upon his bands,
And upon the many people that are with him,
An overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.
Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself;
And I will be known in the eyes of many nations,
And they shall know that I am the LORD."
(Ezekiel 38:14-23)

"And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles:
And they shall know that I am the LORD.
So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel;
And I will not let them pollute my holy name any more:
And the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD;
This is the day whereof I have spoken.
And I will set my glory among the heathen,
And all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed,
And my hand that I have laid upon them.
So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day and forward.
And the heathen shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity:
Because they trespassed against me, therefore hid I my face from them,
And gave them into the hand of their enemies: so fell they all by the sword.
According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions have I done unto them,
And hid my face from them.
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD:
Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob,
And have mercy upon the whole house of Israel,
And will be jealous for my holy name;
After that they have borne their shame,
And all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against me,
When they dwelt safely in their land, and none made them afraid.
When I have brought them again from the people,
And gathered them out of their enemies' lands,
And am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations;
Then shall they know that I am the LORD their God,
Which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen:
But I have gathered them unto their own land,
And have left none of them any more there.
Neither will I hide my face any more from them:
For I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord GOD."
(Ezekiel 39:6-8,21-29)

"For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel." (Romans 9:6)

"And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, 'It is done'." (Revelation 16:17)

THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON – THE BEAST AND FALSE PROPHET ARE CAST ALIVE INTO THE LAKE OF FIRE; FIRE COMES DOWN FROM GOD OUT OF HEAVEN TO SLAY THE DECEIVED WHO RECEIVED THE MARK OF THE BEAST AND WORSHIPED HIS IMAGE [THE REST OF THE DEAD]; THE LAST ENEMY THAT SHALL BE DESTROYED IS DEATH [THAT OLD SERPENT, CALLED THE DEVIL AND SATAN] (19,20)

"And I [John] saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him that sat on the horse, and against His army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the remnant were slain with the sword of Him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of His mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh."

INTERLUDE: CHRIST BINDS SATAN AND CASTS HIM INTO THE BOTTOMLESS PIT FOR 'A THOUSAND YEARS;' AFTER WHICH HE SHALL BE LOOSED 'A LITTLE SEASON' (20)

In a vision, John sees Christ, who has the keys of hell and of death, bind Satan for a thousand years and cast him into the bottomless pit. Immediately after this, John sees the resurrected saints in heaven, who lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. Then John tells us that, when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle against the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire comes down from God out of heaven and devours them.
"And I [John] saw an Angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in His hand. And He laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season."
"And I [John] saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I [John] saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years."
"And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them."

"For a thousand years in Thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night." (Psalms 90:4)

"But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." (2 Peter 3:8)

"Yea, though he live a thousand years twice told, yet hath he seen no good: do not all go to one place?" (Ecclesiastes 6:6)

"And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever."

"It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment." (Hebrews 9:27)

THE FINAL JUDGMENT - THEY THAT HAVE DONE EVIL [THE REST OF THE DEAD] SHALL COME FORTH UNTO THE RESURRECTION OF DAMNATION [THE SECOND DEATH] (20)

"And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I [John] saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."

A NEW HEAVEN AND EARTH: THE SON WILL BE SUBJECT UNTO HIM, THAT GOD MAY BE ALL IN ALL (21,22)

"And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I [John] heard a great voice out of heaven saying, 'Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.' And He that sat upon the throne said, 'Behold, I make all things new...' And He said unto me, 'It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son'... And I [John] saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it... And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life... And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and His servants shall serve Him; and they shall see His face; and His name shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever."

"But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. And many nations shall come, and say, 'Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. And He shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it. For all people will walk every one in the name of his God, and we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever.' In that day, saith the LORD, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted; and I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation: and the LORD shall reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth, even for ever." (Micah 4:1-7)

The Lord's Stern Warning:
"For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book,
'If any man shall add unto these things,
God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy,
God shall take away his part out of the book of life,
And out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book'."
(Revelation 22:18-19)

Editor's Note:

I only read the King James Bible. Other versions, including the New King James Version, have changed thousands of words and ruined valuable verses. And this you must know: those who translated the NKJV did not believe that God perfectly preserved His Word! The Bible today basically has been rewritten by many of the major religious bodies (be wary of the devil's deceptive influence and infiltration of the Church, especially in altering God's Word). They will live and die with their new interpretations of what the Word of God says and means.

"The major religions of today, especially Christianity, will have to be changed because they are not compatible with the changes to come. In order to do this, the Bible will be changed. It will be rewritten to fit the new religion. Gradually, key words will be replaced with new words having various shades of meaning. Then the meaning attached to the new word can be close to the old word - and as time goes on, other shades of meaning of that word can be emphasized, and then gradually that word replaced with another word. The idea is that everything in Scripture need not be rewritten, just key words replaced by other words. The variability in meaning attached to any word can be used as a tool to change the entire meaning of Scripture, and therefore make it acceptable to this new religion. Most people won't know the difference; and this was another one of the times where he said, 'The few who do notice the difference won't be enough to matter'." [The New Order of Barbarians: Changing the Bible Through Revisions of Key Words, Dr. Lawrence Dunegan, commenting on a March 20, 1969, gathering of pediatricians at a meeting of the Pittsburgh Pediatric Society where Dr. Richard Day, an insider to the NWO plans, gave a lecture]

Evangelicals and the Coming One World Religion

By Paul McGuire, PaulMcguire.com
April 15, 2009

Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has created the Tony Blair Faith Foundation to unify the world’s religions. Blair is especially interested in promoting the benefits of globalization to Christian churches.

There are a number of prominent American ministers who have endorsed his Tony Blair Faith Foundation with its emphasis on globalization or global government. In Revelation we read about this coming one world religion and the False Prophet who unites the world’s religions in order to bring peace to Planet Earth under the rule of Antichrist.

It is interesting that one of the primary focuses of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation is not only to unify the different religions, but to specifically promote the benefits of globalism or global government to evangelicals. A number of well known evangelical leaders have signed on board.

Tony Blair writes in his article seeking to Understand Faith and Globalization that “at a certain point each (religion) is in communion with each other.” So one would have to ask the question what is the communion between militant Islam, Judaism and Christianity? Suicide bombers? The often stated theology from militant Islam is death to Jews and Christians. So where is the communion?

Tony Blair says:

“The global community — 'it takes a village' as someone once coined it is upon us.”

It is difficult to understand how Blair would not know that the “someone,” who coined the term “global village,” was the world famous Canadian communications theorist Marshall McLuhan. Blair goes on to say:

“Examine the impacts of globalization. For a moment right and wrongs. Just look at its affects.”

Here in America we know the affects of globalization. We were told that NAFTA and GATT would bring enormous economic benefit to both Mexico and Canada. Americans lost jobs and entire industries packed up and moved out of the county. NAFTA and GATT were devastating to the Mexican worker, and the Canadians are unhappy about how it has hurt their economy.

Across the world we are in a global financial meltdown with United Nations Climate Control Treaties designed to transfer trillions of dollars in wealth from the U.S., Great Britain, France, Australia, South America and Asian nations.

The current economic crisis appears to be a planned crisis to bring in a globalized World Socialist government, which is what Tony Blair really seems to be promoting.

In order to accomplish that goal, there must be massive wealth redistribution and a consolidation of economic controls by some kind of new “International Federal Reserve System” or, as the world leaders are saying (as they are reading from the same script), “a new world financial order.”

The recent G20 Meetings in London were an elaborately staged production with world leaders posing and smiling in front of the cameras and all reading off the same page. Outside where carefully orchestrated demonstrators, financed by the same people who financed the meetings of world leaders inside the G20 Meeting. How can you say that, some people may ask? Because the exact same verbiage that was used inside the meeting was used by demonstrators outside of the meeting. The demonstrators and world leaders were both saying “capitalism is dead,” “world currency,” “a new world financial order” and so on. Even Hugo Chavez was reading from the same script when he called for a “new world order,” which was exactly what they were calling for inside the meeting.

But there is one small problem to their agenda. In order to bring in their new world financial order, new world order and global government, they have to get the churches and leaders of various religions on board. But, as Blair and his backers understand, getting “Evangelical Churches” to sign on to globalism is imperative because many of them are pro-Israel and exert a certain degree of influence over certain demographic groups.

Around 1919, when the League of Nations began to fail, the proponents of globalization recognized that one of the primary reasons they failed was that they did not get the Protestant Churches to go along with their program. The international banking interests behind the push to global government realized that they needed to sell the “Evangelical Church” on world government. So eventually they brought in a man named John Foster Dulles, whose brother was Allen Dulles, who was director of the CIA under Eisenhower and Kennedy. Allen Dulles was responsible for the highly sophisticated social engineering and “mind control programs” popularized in movies like the “Manchurian Candidate” and “The Bourne Identity.”

In 1937, John Foster Dulles strategically met with the heads of over 30 different denominations, along with prominent ministers and heads of seminaries. He had millions of dollars to finances his agenda, and his goal was to get “Evangelical Churches” on board with a world government through creating the theology of “social justice.” So whenever you hear preaching and teaching or an emphasis on the theology of “social justice,” it is important to remember that this was introduced into the church by a non-believer whose goal was globalization.

We are on the precipice of a new world financial order, a cashless society and global government. Once again, the forces behind globalization understand that they need to recruit the churches in order to make the transition. The Tony Blair Faith Foundation, the prominent evangelical ministers, and religious leaders of other religions are part of globalization strategy. If you want to know where this all ultimately ends up, read Revelation chapter 13.

Jesus Will Return to Deliver Up His People as the Nations Gather for the Battle of Armageddon

“The common enemy of humanity is man. In searching for a new enemy to unite us, we came up with the idea that pollution, the threat of global warming, water shortages, famine and the like would fit the bill. All these dangers are caused by human intervention, and it is only through changed attitudes and behavior that they can be overcome. The real enemy then, is humanity itself." - Club of Rome

By MagicLougie

What is uniting the nations of the world? The manufactured fear of man-made global warming and a call for carbon taxes against the developed nations.

What has formed to fight this perceived global problem? The United Nations climate change conferences and climate control treaties. This 'green movement' is the new religion that will replace the monotheistic religions of Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

What will be the cataclysmic event that ushers in the one-world government prophesied in the Bible? It will be the destruction of 1/3 of the earth.

The Lord tells us that destruction will come upon the earth in the following forms: a great earthquake, sun turns black, moon turns blood red, stars fall to earth, sky rolls up like a scroll, every mountain and island moves out of its place [the sixth seal], 1/3 of the trees are burned up and all the green grass is burned [hail and fire mingled with blood], 1/3 of the sea turns to blood and 1/3 of the sea creatures die and 1/3 of the ships are destroyed [great mountain burning with fire is cast into the sea], 1/3 of the waters are poisoned [great star falls from heaven], and 1/3 of the sun and moon and stars are darkened [the first four trumpets].

Will these events be caused by biological, chemical and nuclear weapons of war? Will these events be caused by 'terrorist' attacks or the affects of natural disasters (earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, underwater landslides and other phenomenon) on nuclear power plants and deep-sea oil rigs? Will these events be caused by asteroids hitting the earth or EMP (electro magnetic pulse) threats and solar storms? The mystery is yet to be revealed.

When the events that destroy 1/3 of the earth occur (the first four trumpets), the world will be in utter chaos. The devastated people of the world will embrace a one-world government that promises peace and security.

"Research points in the direction that an 'alien agenda' is on the government's table as one among many other options to ring in a one-world government and a one-world dictator. They want to create an 'outside threat' a fake alien invasion, so that the countries of this world will be willing to unite as one, to fight the 'threat' from outer space. If this succeeds, the Illuminati goal is completed. This is what the mass media is preparing us for; currently they are reporting on more UFO sightings than perhaps ever before." [Wes Penre, The Secret Order of the Illuminati (A Brief History of the Shadow Government), Illuminati-News.com, November 12, 1998 (Updated September 26, 2009)]

The "Iron Mountain Report" of 1963 discusses the transition from a war-time economy to a peace-time economy while keeping the masses under subjection and manufacturing a common enemy. A possible alien-threat scenario was envisioned in this report as a means to uniting the masses together against an alien invasion. Holograms and reports of 'UFO' sightings are being used to test the public's vulnerabilities and to manufacture belief in aliens. [cyrus1914, Project Bluebeam & Iron Mountain Report, truTV Message Board, October 31, 2010]

However, the children of God will refuse to worship the one-world government, the beast that rises up from the earth and the sea; therefore, the world must rid itself of them. This war against the monotheistic religions cannot occur until the devil establishes his earthly throne in Jerusalem, claiming to be God. This occurs at the fifth trumpet, a five-month period before the sixth trumpet is sounded, when 1/3 of mankind is killed.

"And I [John] saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to Him was given the key of the bottomless pit. And He opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man. And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them. And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle. And on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men. And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle. And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months. And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon. One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter" [the sixth and seventh trumpets]. (Revelation 9:1-12)

What event will lead to the abomination of desolation at the fifth trumpet; that is, the devil standing in the holy place claiming to be God?

Almost every nation is experiencing a collapse of its economy, for which there can be only a global solution. The only solution will be a world currency, which will be the final step in establishing a one-world government. The developed nations have been discussing a world currency for the past year or so, so we are fast approaching the end of sovereign nations. The establishment of a world currency will lead to a world government, which will be a socialist / communist / totalitarian / dictatorial government whose leader will be the devil incarnate.

Those who refuse to worship the beast, the one-world government and religion, most likely will be among the third part of men killed by the 200-million-man army described in the book of Revelation (the sixth trumpet).

"And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men. And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths. For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt. And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts." (Revelation (9:13-21)

The union of all nations into a world government with a global currency and religion cannot possibly last. It will be only a matter of time before the heathen nations turn on the other nations under the control of the devil. Already we see military alliances between Russia and China, as well as other nations.

The following essay ("The Sixth Trumpet War of Revelation 9") presents a coalition of forces -- in particular, China, Russia, Iran, Syria and Turkey -- attacking Israel from the East at the sixth trumpet in a war before the battle of Armageddon. However, the war which begins at the sixth trumpet is the battle of Armageddon, when the heathen nations join forces to destroy Jerusalem. This coalition of forces, called Gog and Magog in the Bible, will prepare to attack the one-world government ruled from Jerusalem. It will be upon this scene, when the heathen nations are gathered in battle and surrounding Jerusalem, that Christ will return to deliver up His people.

"They shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake. And it shall turn to you for a testimony. Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer: for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist. And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. But there shall not an hair of your head perish. In your patience possess ye your souls." (Luke 21:12-19)

"And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto. For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh." (Luke 21:20-28)

Once the second woe (the sixth trumpet) is past, the third woe (the seventh trumpet and the return of Christ) comes quickly.

"And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed. These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will. And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth. And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them. And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them. And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven. (Revelation 11:3-13)

The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly. And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever." (Revelation 11:14-15)

It is at this point that Christ will return in the clouds of heaven to deliver up His people and to destroy by fire the devil's kingdom on earth.

"And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon His head, and His face was as it were the sun, and His feet as pillars of fire." (Revelation 10:1)

It will be a cloudy and dark day, and there will be a great earthquake and voices from heaven, and the temple of God will be opened in heaven; and there will be lightning, voices, thunder and great hail; the sun and moon will be darkened, the stars will fall from heaven, and heaven and earth will be shaken. The just will be resurrected for eternal life; the unjust will be resurrected for eternal damnation. God will pour out the seven vials of His wrath upon the earth; the last enemy to be destroyed will be death, Satan. And the Lord will create a new heaven and a new earth, and He will bring New Jerusalem down from heaven to earth, and He will reign with His people forever and ever.

The Sixth Trumpet War of Revelation 9

The seventh and last trumpet calls the saints of God to meet Jesus Christ in the air to attend with Him the battle of Armageddon, where He will triumph over all His enemies and establish His kingdom on earth.

A 200-Million-Man Army. 1/3 of Mankind Will Die.

By Ken Raggio, kenraggio.com

"And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men. And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them" (Revelation 9:13-16.)

...In Revelation 8 and 9, John described seven "trumpets" of the end-time... In this spiritual revelation [at the sounding of the sixth trumpet], John saw the largest army ever assembled.

"I heard the number of them," he said. Two hundred million!

That will be the largest army that has ever fought in the history of the world! Think about it! A 200-million-man army! And that army is scheduled to march very soon.

This incomprehensible battle, according to John, begins when four angels or spirits are loosed in the region of the Euphrates River. It is a horrible calamity that will kill fully one-third of the population of the earth -- more than two BILLION people!

Look at any map of the region to see the local nations that will be involved in this war. They are the nations touched by the Euphrates River: Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran. By no small coincidence, these are also the nations that are RIGHT NOW engaged in an escalating war against Israel and the West. This prophecy describes a coalition of nations that will almost certainly include China and Russia and several other Muslim nations of the Middle East.

The Sixth Trumpet War begins along the Euphrates River. The Euphrates originates in Turkey, and flows through Syria and Iraq. Then it converges with the Tigris River, which then borders IRAN. Anyone who hears the daily news should know that these four nations are extremely volatile trouble spots for military conflicts nowadays. The prophecies even imply that the nation of Iraq, once controlled by the regime of Saddam Hussein, will be a notable part of this final showdown. The presence of radical Shia and Sunni Moslems, plus Al Qaeda and Hezbollah throughout this region guarantees that there will continue to be increasing hostilities.

The population of these countries today is: Turkey -- 77 million; Syria -- 19.4 million; Iraq -- 29 million; Iran -- 70 million. The total population of that region is 195.4 million. Obviously, a 200-million-man army cannot come from these nations alone.

Many Bible students have for decades suspected that the 200-million-man army would come from China. Chairman Mao boasted in the 1960s of an army of two hundred million men. Until the Islamo-fascist uprising of recent years began, it seemed that no other nation on earth could accomplish that feat.

Admittedly, radical Islamic extremism might now be capable of calling a 200-million-man army, but at this time it seems highly unlikely. In the light of China's cooperation with Iran and Syria (both openly and covertly), it appears to be fairly certain that China will league with Iran and Syria, somehow engaging Iraq and Turkey as well, to attempt to defeat Israel and the West. The entire international community is familiar with the loathings of radical Islamic fundamentalists who scream "Death to Israel! Death to the United States!" Their rabid anti-Zionism, anti-American hatred will not die, but will escalate into the worst conflagration in the history of human conflicts.

Every day, the evidence mounts that China will be tightly leagued with Russia and many of the Islamic nations in a powerful new anti-Israel political and military alliance from which this 200-million-man army will ultimately come.

I will show that actual alliance to you in this article. I will show you HARD EVIDENCE that there IS, right now, a massive coalition forming between these very nations just mentioned with China, Russia and several extremist Islamo-fascist nations in that neighborhood.

China possesses the worlds’ largest conventional, low-tech army. China could, at least theoretically, easily engage the largest army of foot-soldiers in the history of the world. The combination of its own interests in competing with the West for OIL DOMINANCE in that region, and winning the good will of the oil-rich Muslim nations there, is already spelling the creation of a POWERFUL POLITICAL AND MILITARY AXIS between China and the Muslim nations.

The Bible foretells the last and final march of "the Kings of the East," immediately before Armageddon. I believe that coalition is being formed right now. The SHANGHAI COOPERATION ORGANIZATION (SCO) might be described as the Eastern powers' emerging answer to the Western NATO alliance.

The SCO was founded in Shanghai, China in 2001. It is, above all, a cooperation between China and Russia, with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan as members. More significantly, however, (with regards to Bible prophecy) is the SCO "observer status" of IRAN, PAKISTAN, India and Mongolia. As of October 2008, Russian and China have voiced approval to make Iran a permanent member of the SCO.

Iran and Pakistan are hotbeds of Islamo-fascist extremists, including Al Qaeda, led by Osama Bin Laden, and the terrorist Iranian Revolutionary Guard, which supports the enormous terrorist extremists, Hezbollah. Together, they are Israel's public enemy Number One.

Pakistan is arguably the most explosive political situation in the world today. It is a nuclear-empowered country that is in grave danger of falling into the hands of the likes of the Taliban and Osama Bin Laden. For more commentary on this situation, please read my brand new article on PAKISTAN IN BIBLE PROPHECY.

This is a convoluted mess. On one hand, it seems impossible to predict what may happen when these nations join forces, but I can't see how it can possibly be good news for either Israel or the United States and Western democracy.

It seems inevitable (to me) that China, Russia, Iran, Syria, perhaps Pakistan and Afghanistan will team up to finally squash the entire Zionist and American presence in the Middle East. This would definitely fit the description of the SIXTH TRUMPET WAR!! And it is ESCALATING even as we speak!

On February 26, 2008, the Parliament Speaker of Kyrgyzstan, Adahan Madumarov, proposed that the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization) should form a Parliament Assembly. This is a MAJOR, MAJOR news development! His proposal was submitted to the President of the SCO, Kurmanbek Bakiev, who welcomed the initiative.

What is the significance of the SCO forming a Parliament? It will consolidate the Communist/Islamic nations of the East in the most formidable new political entity on planet earth. It will catapult the SCO into the world league of powers and almost instantly place it into the same ballpark as the European Union and NATO. This new non-democratic, communistic, pro-Muslim, anti-Semitic, anti-Western, anti-NATO Parliament is destined to change the face of world politics dramatically.

For the first time in history, there will be a unified Parliament representing a conglomeration of Russia, China, Kazakhstan (a nation scarcely known in the west, yet four times the size of Texas), and several central Asian communist-Islamic nations, AND Iran, Pakistan and maybe even, eventually, Afghanistan. The SCO threatens to be the biggest challenge ever to Western Democratic ideology and politic.

But most significantly, it is what the SCO represents in the context of Bible prophecy. The SCO may quickly rise up to be the political and military beast that finally comes to the Middle East to crush Israel. Don't miss that point!

Do not forget that these nations are the homeland to the world's most oppressive and despotic governments. Furthermore, several of them are the host nations for the world's worst terrorist organizations such as Al Qaeda and the Taliban. These nations share massive "underground" networks trafficking opium, heroin, and other illicit drugs that support the terrorist organizations. Their drug lords and mafia-like war-lords wield enormous power in these countries. Additionally, illicit arms traders in both China and the Muslim nations where the Taliban and Al Qaeda operate could easily provide all the missing links to a Sixth Trumpet scenario.

If and when this happens, it could very easily fulfill all the prophecies of the Sixth Trumpet War.

Only God knows the potential holocausts that could ensue if Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan or Syria drag China into the fray. If a nuclear war breaks out, the entire Middle East could easily go up in smoke.

Four Spirits Loosed in the Euphrates

Revelation 9:14 speaks of four spirits being loosed in the area of the Euphrates River, which runs through Iraq. In verse 15,

"And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men."

The very next verse introduces the 200,000,000-man army. I believe that the FOUR HORSES of Zechariah 6 and Revelation 6 are those four spirits that break out into war around the Euphrates. The American Standard Version calls them the four spirits that "patrol the earth."

The forces of Capitalism, Communism, Catholicism and Islam are converging RIGHT NOW on the Middle East. This unspeakably horrific SIXTH TRUMPET War is developing RIGHT NOW as a CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS between Capitalism, Communism, Catholicism and Islam in the area of the Euphrates River. It is NOT going to be pretty, but it IS going to fulfill Bible Prophecy, and it IS going to IMMEDIATELY PRECEED the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ at Armageddon.

What will precipitate a battle of such magnitude? What could be the motive behind a 200-million-man army marching into the Middle East?

The West's military industrial complex has produced a menagerie of today’s sophisticated weaponry: stealth jets, intercontinental ballistic missiles, tanks, high-tech warfare tools as spy satellites, reconnaissance planes, aircraft carriers, and more. That hardly prepares them for a massive conventional ground warfare (old-fashioned foot soldiers) of this magnitude.

In these days of exorbitant oil and gas prices, and talk of shortages and energy dependence, and cries of "drill here, drill now," China's explosive economic growth is a cause for grave concern.

China's need for oil is growing at a staggering pace. The Middle East is the most likely place for China to get its oil, and it will get it, if necessary, by force. The Euphrates region is fabulously oil-rich. China has a long history of co-operation with Iran and Syria, economically, politically and militarily. Every day, China has more incentive for forming stronger alliances with the oil-rich Muslim nations.

These alliances will come with increasing threats to the West. Any new links between China and the Muslim world will invariably smack of anti-Semitic and anti-Western hostilities.

China has already demonstrated to the world its eagerness to act swiftly in matters pertaining to political upheavals among its neighbors. Hong Kong, Taiwan, Tibet, Korea, Cambodia, and Vietnam have all felt Beijing breathing down their necks in modern times.

China strongly desires to maintain and expand dominance in the Asian community. (The Gulf War, however, may have taught them a painful lesson about what happens when modern warfare is waged with the advanced weaponry of Western powers against outdated weaponry such as theirs.)

China has conducted nuclear testing more recently than the other superpowers, and appears anxious to flex its muscles to assert its presence in the region. They conducted intimidating military exercises against Hong Kong during its transition from British rule to Chinese.

New threats are developing in the region.

In November 1997, unexpected election results in Taiwan raised the possibility of an international crisis. The old communist KMT government was suddenly unseated by the Democratic Progressive Party, and the consensus was boiling to declare independence from Beijing. Eight of Washington’s elite military and diplomatic personalities were rushed to the region to try to diffuse any potential flare-up of tensions from Beijing.

The United States has recurrently warned China not to interfere with Taiwan, and China has recurrently warned the United States not to interfere. Obviously, the risk of serious trouble is running pretty high.

But the real showdown between China and the West may end up being in the Middle East if and when the Muslim world enlists China's assistance in the anti-American, anti-Israeli confrontation. The record shows that China has already been engaged in illicit sales of nuclear armaments to Muslim nations. Many of the Muslim nations in the Middle East are client states of China. The de facto alliance already exists. Both China and the Muslim nations have a similar interest in maintaining control of the oilfields of the Middle East. It may be that China joins with the Muslim nations in a cataclysmic confrontation with both Israel and the West in the near future, probably over the oil wealth of that region.

Nuclear Powers in India and Pakistan

In the summer of 1998, both India and Pakistan conducted Nuclear testing in their countries. Meanwhile, China, in July 1998, deployed six new ICBMs, loaded with nuclear warheads. That adds to 14 others that were already deployed. While the United States is certainly one of their perceived enemies, no one can deny that the entire Asian region is a hotbed of potential conflict. CHINA, PAKISTAN, and INDIA are all potential nuclear forces to be feared.

Most alarming, is the possibility that a nuclear showdown between these nations could EASILY KILL ONE-THIRD of humanity. There are 2.68 BILLION people living in the region.

That could easily become a fulfillment of the prophecy of Revelation 9:15,

"And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men."

The very next verse introduces the 200,000,000-man army (presumably China and its coalition partners).

Many Asian leaders hold the view that the United States must remain politically, economically, and militarily engaged in the Asian-Pacific to ensure stability. Others believe, however, that the US will ultimately withdraw, leading to regional instability. Consequently, many countries are attempting to forge new ties with the United States.

A TWIST: China has "New World Order" connections.

China's former Premier, Zhu Rongi, a radical reformer, was elected with a mandate to save the nation's industry and banks from collapse. Zhu's strategy included reorganizing the central bank along the lines of the U.S. Federal Reserve.

Some students of prophecy would recognize the connection with behind-the-scenes international banking forces. This suggests that China is moving toward compliance with, and may actually be complicit with, New World Order operatives (i.e., Big Brother).

As China acquires more and more clout in the East, via the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and other agreements, we could quickly see a shift in dominance at the United Nations Security Council, weighing heavily against the United States. China may become increasingly active in the UN Security Council (photo), and ultimately dominate the UN strategy in a Middle East showdown. As long as China holds its seat there (and its veto power), its power should never be underestimated!

HERE IS AN INTERESTING ASIDE, for what it's worth:

Revelation 9:17 says,

"And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone."

Do these colors reveal the powers behind a 200-million-man army?

I will remind you that global politics, however influential, are nevertheless subservient to global economics.

Let me state that in other terms. Before you get TOO worried about who will win the struggles between CAPITALISTS and COMMUNISTS, remember that BOTH SIDES are controlled by Central Banks and the International Banking System. Remember Mayer Amschel Bauer Rothschild's historic, albeit infamous statement in 1791:

"Allow me to issue and control a nation's currency, and I care not who makes its laws."

With that, let me remind you that the New World Order rules the world through the banking system, chiefly the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland. That means they control capitalist nations, communist nations, Muslim nations and Christian nations all the same. By further deduction, the NWO rules the central banks in the US, CHINA, IRAN and ISRAEL all the same. (For what it's worth, the President of Israel, Shimon Peres, is a SOCIALIST.)

I know that a lot of people cringe at such "conspiracy theory babble" but there can be no denying -- through the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Bank of International Settlements, the World Trade Organization and a hodge-podge of other extremely powerful international financial institutions -- that every nation on earth has become a slave to the money-mongers. Whether you want to believe it or not, the international bankers truly rule the world.

With that said, I am going to also remind you that the Bible prophesies that the seven-headed, ten-horned beast of Revelation (representing the Antichrist, the Mark of the Beast, and World Government) was SCARLET. That means RED. That means SOCIALISTIC. Expect the end-time World Government to be entirely Socialist. That spells GLOBAL SOCIALISM.

In a word, the New World Order fully intends to paint the globe RED -- Socialist. That means that America is NOT going to succeed at turning the Middle East into a Democratic Republic. That means that SOCIALIST COMMUNISTS are going to prevail in the Middle East.

Do not be surprised to see the New World Order marching a SOCIALIST/COMMUNIST army into the Middle East to "settle" all the conflicts.

Two major Bible prophecies support this conclusion:

* 200 million men (Chinese or Islamic) attack from the EAST
* the GOG-MAGOG (Russian) Army attacks from the NORTH (Ezekiel 37).

This is probably a long shot, but I think it's at least worth a mention. Let's look at that verse again.

Revelation 9:17 says,

"And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone."

The COLORS of these breastplates (shields) were RED, BLUE and YELLOW:

* Fire-RED
* Jacinth-BLUE
* Brimstone- YELLOW

The New World Order has evolved from its roots in the International Banking System established by the Rothschilds The very name, Rothschild, means RED SHIELD.

The shield and colors of the Rothschild family on their coat of arms is BLUE and YELLOW. China is firmly controlled by a sophisticated Central Banking system that is fully compliant with the Bank for International Settlements in essentially the very same way as the US Federal Reserve controls America.

Was John telling us that the 200 million soldiers would be marching under the NEW WORLD ORDER colors? Or New World Order directives? Can it be that the secretive New World Order will use these primitive conventional means of warfare to attempt to crush the Middle East and convert it entirely to Socialism? I think so. But this Sixth Trumpet War may be intended for a much larger purpose than crushing Israel. This may be America's last stand.

The Sixth Trumpet War may spell the end of America's democratic republic. This may ultimately spell the overthrow of America by world-wide socialism. Don't say it can never happen.

Additional support for that theory comes from the fact that China has recently overhauled the Central Bank. The Central Bank is Big Brother’s number one power tool over any government. That indicates the increasing control of the New World Order gang, even inside the Great Wall.

Simply put, the entire NEW WORLD ORDER is headed for Scarlet-colored Socialism (including America) that will be complicit with Islam in rising up ominously against Israel. The pro-Israel American stance that was the hallmark of the 20th Century will be forever gone. Israel is destined, by prophecy, to see all the nations of the world come against her to destroy her. THAT is when Jesus will come.

In case you do not understand what I have just said, let me say it plainly. The Sixth Trumpet War (in which two billion people will die) may be won by Communism and Islam (from Russia, China, and Iran), and Capitalism and Christianity may be sorely defeated (a devastating American defeat) just before Jesus comes to turn the tide at Armageddon.

It is going to be very interesting, to say the least, to see how these scenarios actually unfold. Stay tuned to this website for more insight. If you have not subscribed to the DAILY BIBLE STUDY, please do so now!

I am continually writing new content for this site.
Please return often for more material, and tell your friends about www.kenraggio.com , too!

THANKS!
And God bless you!
Ken Raggio

World War III, the Rise of the Anti-Christian One-world Government and Religion, and the Abomination of Desolation

"When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place,
(Whoso readeth, let him understand:)
Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:
Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.
And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:
For then shall be great tribulation,
Such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved:
But for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened."
(Matthew 24:15-22)

Israeli-American Crisis Update (Excerpt)
By Robert Palaszewski, The Absolute Truth & Prophecy, Issue #286
April 4, 2010

...The World Tribune confirmed that according to some scientific / military sources, that for the most part, nuclear weapons have been rendered obsolete by this new generation of Quantum Potential (QP) and Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) weapons. China, Russia and Israel are all thought to be more advanced than the U.S. in these areas.[6] Their ultimate defeat would, according to David Bay, fulfill the judgment prophecies of Zechariah 12 and Joel 3.[7 8]

“For behold, in those days and at that time, when I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; and I will enter into judgment with them there on account of my people, my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations; they have also divided up my land.” (Joel 3:1-2)

CONSPIRACIES & REALITIES — PART V

Last time out we looked behind the short term plan to birth a messianic New World Order out of worldwide war and chaos. This time we’ll talk about some of the more long-standing plans that the PTB ("powers that be") have had to bring this about. If you’ve been following this series, you’ll see how they dovetail rather nicely with what our friend W has revealed.

REVEALING THE ANTICHRIST

A few years back, David Bay of Cutting Edge Ministries did some groundbreaking work, reporting on a seminar of the New England Theosophical Society that outlined for the attendees the plans to call forth the New Age Messiah. Bill Lambert, who was the Director and featured speaker at the conference, believes that prophecy is self-fulfilling.

“What a person thinks, he creates”.[9]

A belief in the concept of Armageddon will lead to massive nuclear war. So too, when enough people believe it, this world will be ready for the New Age Messiah. It is then that he will arrive. This is the same message of The Secret, that New Age drivel that Oprah is hawking on internet radio. Applying the message, Peter Lemesurier, author of The Armageddon Script agrees.

“If the Messiah is to appear, then he must be produced”, says he.[10]

Lambert's remarks, when taken in conjunction with other New Age writings, lay out a clear and rather precise blueprint for realizing the coming New World Order.

Whether with full knowledge or not, it is interesting that the specific steps that Lambert spoke of all dealt, on some level, with events that are clearly predicted in Scripture. We'll take as our working template the scenario outlined at the Theosophy seminar.

With due props to David Bay of Cutting Edge Ministries, here is the plan that according to Mr Lambert and other Illuminati types, which they had hoped to unfold by about 2010.

The New Jerusalem Covenant Project - The problem of Palestine will be solved when Jerusalem becomes a truly international city — for Jew, Christian and Muslim alike. [The world is almost daily pressuring Israel to cave in to demands to make East Jerusalem capital of a new Palestinian state. This newsletter has covered in the past how the Vatican would like to see it declared an international city — to operate under the control of the Catholic Church.]

One World Religion Declared - A concurrent religious celebration for Christians, Muslim and Buddhists will occur. At that time the New World Order Religion will be announced.

A Global Political / Business Conference - The conference will put arms as well as human and environmental resources, and the control of space, under control of a global governing body.

Now here's David Bay quoting conference speaker Bill Lambert. Once these religious and political / business meetings have taken place “a grand merger of all forces will occur world-wide that will move the world in any desired direction.” [They're planning the political / religious super kingdom of Antichrist.] That desired direction starts with a combination political / religious settlement in the Middle East.

Lambert again:
“Once this religious problem is solved, then the power and influence of the Orthodox Jews in Israel would permanently decline”.
There is a concerted effort to take down the Orthodox Jews.

The New Temple Is Built - It is a combined Temple / Church / Mosque. [I've seen the design for this building on the internet in the past but have not recently been able to locate it.]

War Drives The Plan - Quoting Mr Lambert:
“The impetus toward this type of settlement is made possible only because of a general fear of war. This fear of war must be maintained until the desired political and religious changes have been instituted”.[11]

It's necessary here to take a little side trip to the work of Peter Lemesurier, author of The Armageddon Script. In his book he lays out in detail just how the Illuminati New World Order types plan to maintain the pressure that will create the conditions necessary for the rise of the Antichrist.

Here are the details of the plan.

Arab Israeli War - Israel wins an annihilating victory, fulfilling may Biblical prophecies.

Catastrophic Terror — Major terror attacks against the U.S. and Europe using WMDs.

Nuclear Crisis In Korea - Lemesurier writes,

“A hair raising nuclear confrontation in Korea may, towards the end of the period, threaten man's very survival.”

Taiwan Invasion - China uses the fact that the U.S. is occupied on two fronts to invade Taiwan, challenging the already stretched American Naval forces in the region.

Alien Presence - Extraterrestrials manifest a presence that leads to the collapse of the religious beliefs of many around the globe. [Artificial or demonic in nature.] Here are the words of Bill Lambert as quoted by David Bay of Cutting Edge Ministries.
“UFO's and Aliens are part of the New World Order. They are benevolent beings which will aid mankind in attaining the goal of becoming one humanity. They will appear at the proper time to enable mankind to make that Quantum Leap of Collective Consciousness — when the Anti-Christ appears.” [Henry Kissinger has suggested much the same thing.]
Stock Market to Crash - You can see why.

Earthquakes around the world - Unconfirmed reports exist that Russian and U.S. military capabilities include the ability to create earthquakes.

The New Age Christ Appears - He is a man of peace. He claims to be the Jewish Messiah, Jesus, Mohammed and Buddha rolled into one. He shows displays of supernatural power.[12]

So that's the plan to reveal the New Messiah — and how that works has some very interesting prophetic implications.

Unveiling The New Messiah

“And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.” (Revelation 13:12)

Everything that has passed so far is but the preamble to what follows. The rebellion of Nimrod, the infiltration of the Church, Fallen Angels cohabiting with the “daughters of men” in Genesis 6, the secret plots of the Illuminati / One Worlders, and the monosyllabic chanting of the New Agers: It's all about setting up the short-lived triumph of the Beast — the Antichrist.

We have just examined the plot to set the stage for the rise of the New Christ. Now we'll look at just how he is revealed. We pick up again the revelations of Bill Lambert at the Theosophy seminar as reported by the Cutting Edge's David Bay.

1. The Pope Takes Command - According to Mr Lambert:

“At the proper moment in history, the Pope will visit the combined Jewish / Christian / Moslem sector of Jerusalem to announce that all religions should be combined into one. This action will finally break the Middle East logjam. This will mark the advent of the One World Religious System under the False Prophet of Revelations.”

Lambert is saying that some future pope will operate as the False Prophet of Revelation.[13] Catholic Writers Agree. We have seen how Roman heavyweights — like Francis of Assisi, Bishop Sheen and Cardinal O'Conner, among many — have taken the position that the False Prophet of the Last Days would indeed be an apostate prince of the Church.[14] The Prophecies of St Malachy — These extra-biblical writings lay out a scenario in where there will be only one or, at the most, two more popes before Christ's return.[15]

2. The Messiah Is Revealed -

“Minutes before the Antichrist arises, some supernatural sound will be heard and spiritually felt by everybody on the planet, simultaneously…with everyone's attention aroused, images of Antichrist will appear simultaneously over the entire earth, speaking to mankind, each in his own language. The signs and wonders will have begun.” (Bill Lambert)

According to Lambert,

“He will appear as different beings to different people”.

Alice Bailey says,

“A loud sound will be heard world-wide which will herald the coming of Maitreya the Christ. Prompted by this sound, people will be aware of his coming on three distinct levels: Spiritual, physical, and emotional”.[16]

Constance Cumbey tells us,

“His three-dimensional image will appear over all nations of the earth simultaneously”.[17]

Again, this agrees with much of what certain segments of the Catholic world is expecting.[18]

Pope John Paul Expected a Marian Vision - Recall that we saw that Vatican Jesuit Malachy Martin revealed this in his book The Keys of This Blood. John Paul believed that he was promised a powerfully-psychic worldwide vision of Mary that would confirm the primacy of both Rome and the Pope. It would produce an “engulfing chaos” that will lead to mass conversion. It will be preceded by a loud sound, light or odor.[19]

We Have The Technology - The Pentagon, for instance has signed on to the notion of the “use of digital technology to create false realities”. It is no great feat to be able to insert people — even dead people like Steve McQueen — into commercials; or, in the case of Woody Allen's Zelig, into old newsreels. It is so sophisticated that the subjects seem to be interacting with those on the original film. A blending of the real and the cinematic, the Chinese Olympic fireworks display in the summer of 2008 fooled audiences around the world.

The danger in all of this, of course, is that instead of being used for just entertainment and advertising purposes, it could be used to actually create the news. In fact, prior to the Iraqi war, the Pentagon considered faking videos that showed Saddam involved in sexual perversions and “crying like a baby”. One former military affairs analyst, William Arkin, revealed that a plan was even worked out to “project a huge holographic image of Allah into the skies over Baghdad, urging Iraqis to overthrow Hussein”. It was abandoned for logistical reasons — and more importantly, because no one was quite sure what Allah would look like anyway.[20]

The Technology of Spiritual Deception

If we are to believe their own pronouncements, the leaders of the New Age Movement have a surprise in store for Mankind: a technological ambush, aimed at changing the spiritual status quo. Peter Lemesurier, writing in The Armageddon Script, tells us that the New Age Messiah will be “humanly produced” with the aid of “technological phenomenon” and “special effects”.

Jerry E. Smith, in HAARP: The Ultimate Weapon of the Conspiracy, talks of a plan to

“…take over the world by projecting holographic images into the sky while beaming thoughts directly into our heads, telling us to accept the new 'god' of their design”.[21]

(I know that sounds nuts — it does to me too!) Describing that very technology from a more independent, scientific perspective, Ivan Amato, in MIT's Magazine, Technology Review, believes that

“…the stage is set for deception to move the world in new ways”.[22]

One example is something called Project Blue Beam, first revealed in 1994 by Serge Monast, an investigative reporter for the International Free Press in Canada. He later died under mysterious circumstances. Monast reported that Operation Blue Beam was a technological conspiracy by NASA scientists aimed at abolishing “all Christian traditional religions in order to replace them by a one-world religion”, which in turn would serve as the necessary prerequisite for the establishment of the One World Government. This plan of techno-deception has four aspects.

Discrediting All the Worlds Religions - Through earthquakes that lead to “new” archaeological discoveries.

Global Apparition of “God / Messiah Figure” - Achieved through a giant Space Show, using laser projections of three-dimensional holographic images that will speak as “God” and speak to regions in their predominant native languages: Christ to Christians, Mohammed to Muslims, etc.

“Spiritual” Confirmation - Artificial Electronic Telepathy - ELF, VLF & LF waves utilized to send messages to individuals that will seem to be God communicating with individuals from within their individual souls. (I'm not vouching for the legitimacy or effectiveness of their technology here, just reporting the plan.) Many are the reports of successful use of these “mind control” technologies.

Fear of Alien Invasion & Satanic Infiltration - Creating the illusion of an impending alien landing and a ubiquitous demonic presence.[23]

The disturbing fact is that New Age writers and high-tech publications confirm the plausibility of much of this plan. Consider point one: The use of artificial earthquakes were blithely referred to in Lemesurier's New Age tome, The Armageddon Script. It has long been a standing rumor in technological circles that several countries have the capability of using sound waves, “Radiant Energy” and scalar technology to control weather patterns and shift tectonic plates under the oceans. Now China has set up a National Weather Control Center.

Of course it's hard to swallow the whole “alien presence” bit. But we've reviewed the connection there at length. New Age sources are quite insistent that other-worldly beings are all part of the plan. Bill Lambert of the Theosophical Society stated clearly that

“UFO's and aliens are part of the New World Order. They are benevolent beings which will aid mankind in attaining the goal of becoming one humanity. They will appear at the proper time to enable mankind to make that Quantum Leap of Collective Consciousness — when the Anti-Christ appears.”[24]

Another hard part for me was point three: The use of “Artificial Electronic Telepathy” or mind control. I thought it challenged the boundaries of credulity until I stumbled on a website detailing recent American patents for subliminal suggestion and mind control. Here are just of few examples of the more recent patents issued.

Nervous System Manipulation by Electro-Magnetic Fields — 2003,
Magnetic Device for Producing a Desired Brain State — 2002,
Electric Field Manipulation of Nervous Systems — 2001,
Communication System & Method…enabling communication through monitored brain activity and wave analysis — 2000.

There were others covering the manipulation of nervous systems through Acoustic Manipulation, fluctuating electronic fields, Pulsative Manipulation, and a Brain Wave Inducing System patented in 1999. The era of mind-control is no longer some far-future science fiction fantasy.[25] All of this could set the stage for a “False Rapture”. Next we'll investigate that possibility.

SHORT TAKES

FEMA BADGES & MICROCHIPS - It was reported to this newsletter by reliable sources that the new FEMA employee badges contain a microchip that workers are being told contains a microchip which contains all personal information as well as a tracking capability. The issuing FEMA official informed his charges that the badge's location could be traced anywhere.[26]

LAW ENFORCEMENT CHIEFS RESIGNING - An article published in February detailed how at least 70 police chiefs and sheriffs have resigned their positions in the last months. Many of these left after serving only weeks or months on the job. So what's up with that?[27] Decorated Phoenix lawman Jack McLamb warns that it is all due to the fact that the PTB are preparing for the imposition of martial law, and many officers don’t want to have to enforce that against the American public.[28] This line of thinking was also confirmed by a local law enforcement official who said that it was “common knowledge” among the rank and file that martial law was coming and that people were leaving because they “don’t want any part of it.” This officer said that as for resignations, you can “expect more”.

MARTIAL LAW TRAINING - The Houston Police Department is set to begin training a special unit to “staff checkpoints at key infrastructure points throughout the city”. This would be a first for a domestic police department in the United States. According to Infowars, “The Checkpoint Team will be armed with Assault Rifle Carbines and shoot to kill orders”.[29]

TRUER WORDS - The saying goes, “You can learn a lot about a person by the friends they keep.” And so it is with the supporters of the new Health Care law. Planned Parenthood, for instance, celebrated the legislation by declaring “Victory” for the pro-abortion provisions of the bill on its Action Center website. They even dismissed the President's executive order as “a symbolic gesture” to abortion opponents.[30 31] Cuba's Communist Dictator also signaled his support for Obamacare.[32]

But it was Rev. Al Sharpton that finally cut to the heart of the matter while commenting on FOX News.

“I think this began the transforming of the country”.

He went on to explain what many have seen for some time now. This is a transformation toward socialism. Sharpton explained that

“The American public overwhelmingly voted for socialism when they elected President Obama”.[33]

WANT TO KNOW MORE?

Want to get a deeper understanding of what you’re reading? If you have any issues or questions you’d like us to address — or if you’d like this Newsletter’s author, Rob Palaszewski, to come and speak to your church or organization, please contact us at rob@atpministry.com

EDITOR : Robert Palaszewski ATPMinistry.com COPYRIGHT Robert Palaszewski, 2010

Absolute Truth & Prophecy Ministry
MY FATHERS HOUSE MINISTRY
140 Pound Rd
Elma, NY 14059

Albert Pike and Three World Wars

By ThreeWorldWars.com

Albert Pike received a vision, which he described in a letter that he wrote to Mazzini, dated August 15, 1871. This letter graphically outlined plans for three world wars that were seen as necessary to bring about the One World Order, and we can marvel at how accurately it has predicted events that have already taken place.

Pike's Letter to Mazzini

It is a commonly believed fallacy that for a short time, the Pike letter to Mazzini was on display in the British Museum Library in London, and it was copied by William Guy Carr, former Intelligence Officer in the Royal Canadian Navy. The British Library has confirmed in writing to me that such a document has never been in their possession. Furthermore, in Carr's book, Satan, Prince of this World, Carr includes the following footnote:

"The Keeper of Manuscripts recently informed the author that this letter is NOT catalogued in the British Museum Library. It seems strange that a man of Cardinal Rodriguez's knowledge should have said that it WAS in 1925".

It appears that Carr learned about this letter from Cardinal Caro y Rodriguez of Santiago, Chile, who wrote The Mystery of Freemasonry Unveiled.

To date, no conclusive proof exists to show that this letter was ever written. Nevertheless, the letter is widely quoted and the topic of much discussion.

Following are apparently extracts of the letter, showing how Three World Wars have been planned for many generations.

"The First World War must be brought about in order to permit the Illuminati to overthrow the power of the Czars in Russia and of making that country a fortress of atheistic Communism. The divergences caused by the "agentur" (agents) of the Illuminati between the British and Germanic Empires will be used to foment this war. At the end of the war, Communism will be built and used in order to destroy the other governments and in order to weaken the religions."

Students of history will recognize that the political alliances of England on one side and Germany on the other, forged between 1871 and 1898 by Otto von Bismarck, co-conspirator of Albert Pike, were instrumental in bringing about the First World War.

"The Second World War must be fomented by taking advantage of the differences between the Fascists and the political Zionists. This war must be brought about so that Nazism is destroyed and that the political Zionism be strong enough to institute a sovereign state of Israel in Palestine. During the Second World War, International Communism must become strong enough in order to balance Christendom, which would be then restrained and held in check until the time when we would need it for the final social cataclysm."

After this Second World War, Communism was made strong enough to begin taking over weaker governments. In 1945, at the Potsdam Conference between Truman, Churchill, and Stalin, a large portion of Europe was simply handed over to Russia, and on the other side of the world, the aftermath of the war with Japan helped to sweep the tide of Communism into China.

(Readers who argue that the terms Nazism and Zionism were not known in 1871 should remember that the Illuminati invented both these movements. In addition, Communism as an ideology, and as a coined phrase, originates in France during the Revolution. In 1785, Restif coined the phrase four years before revolution broke out. Restif and Babeuf, in turn, were influenced by Rousseau -- as was the most famous conspirator of them all, Adam Weishaupt.)

"The Third World War must be fomented by taking advantage of the differences caused by the "agentur" of the "Illuminati" between the political Zionists and the leaders of Islamic World. The war must be conducted in such a way that Islam (the Moslem Arabic World) and political Zionism (the State of Israel) mutually destroy each other.

Meanwhile the other nations, once more divided on this issue, will be constrained to fight to the point of complete physical, moral, spiritual and economical exhaustion…

We shall unleash the Nihilists and the atheists, and we shall provoke a formidable social cataclysm which, in all its horror, will show clearly to the nations the effect of absolute atheism, origin of savagery and of the most bloody turmoil. Then everywhere, the citizens, obliged to defend themselves against the world minority of revolutionaries, will exterminate those destroyers of civilization, and the multitude, disillusioned with Christianity, whose deistic spirits will from that moment be without compass or direction, anxious for an ideal, but without knowing where to render its adoration, will receive the true light through the universal manifestation of the pure doctrine of Lucifer, brought finally out in the public view.

This manifestation will result from the general reactionary movement which will follow the destruction of Christianity and atheism, both conquered and exterminated at the same time."

Since the terrorist attacks of Sept 11, 2001, world events, and in particular in the Middle East, show a growing unrest and instability between Modern Zionism and the Arabic World. This is completely in line with the call for a Third World War to be fought between the two and their allies on both sides. This Third World War is still to come, and recent events show us that it is not far off.

ARTICLES ON ESCHATOLOGY:

For an exposition on the Book of Revelation:
http://www.thywordistruth.com/Revelation-Class/index.html
http://www.spindleworks.com/library/hoeksma/intro.htm

Satan, the "strong man," was bound (locked and sealed in the "bottomless pit") by the victory of Christ on the cross; he had to be bound so that Christ could build His Church by releasing those whom Satan held captive. The binding of Satan marked the beginning of Christ’s "thousand-year" reign—the Kingdom of Christ is a present reality as the gospel is being preached throughout the nations; we are His representatives here on earth because Christ dwells within us:
http://www.rense.com/general80/dealing.htm
http://whtt.org/
http://whtt-christianzionism.blogspot.com/2008/08/beginning-of-end-of-christian-zionism.html
http://www.missiontoisrael.org/tapelist.php#T064
http://spindleworks.com/library/hoeksma/behold47.htm
http://www.graceonlinelibrary.org/etc/printer-friendly.asp?ID=635
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Parthenon/9000/The_Church_Is_Israel_Now.htm
http://www.biblestudy.org/question/when-was-satan-cast-out-of-heaven.html

To understand that Christ's "thousand-year" reign is a present reality—that is, we live and reign with Him now, whether we are here on earth or with Him in heaven:
http://www.scionofzion.com/millennium.htm
http://www.eternallifeministries.org/lrs_israel.htm
http://whtt.org/index.php?news=2&id=2639
http://whtt.org/index.php?id=PhariseeWatch&cat=
http://www.ptm.org/nd96-1900yearsRev.htm
http://www.prca.org/articles/amillennialism.html
http://www.the-highway.com/millennium_Riddlebarger.html
http://www.wcg.org/lit/gospel/kingdom.htm
http://www.wcg.org/lit/bible/Rev/millenn.htm

There are nine verses in the bible which use the term "thousand years" (six of the nine verses are in chapter 20 of the book of Revelation):

"For a thousand years in Thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night." (Psalms 90:4)

"Yea, though he live a thousand years twice told, yet hath he seen no good: do not all go to one place?" (Ecclesiastes 6:6)

"But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." (2 Peter 3:8)

"And He laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years. And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea." (Revelation 20:2-8)

To understand that a pre-tribulation rapture is not biblical:
http://minuteswithmessiah.tripod.com/question/pretribulation.html
http://www.mydoctrine.com/Rapture.HTM

The meaning of numbers in the book of Revelation (there is significance in God's use of certain numbers):
http://www2.eis.net.au/~paulh/rn30nums.htm
http://www.agapebiblestudy.com/documents/The%20Significance%20of%20Numbers%20in%20Scripture.htm

A creationist's defense of the King James Bible:

http://www.icr.org/home/resources/resources_tracts_kjv/

In this day of rapid change, when many Christians have suddenly started using one of the many modern English translations of the Bible (NASB, NIV, NEB, NRSV, NKJV, etc.), abandoning the long-used King James Version read and loved by English-speaking people of all ages and walks of life for over ten generations, it may be appropriate to review a few of the reasons why many creationists, including this writer, still prefer to use the latter. All the fifty or more translators who developed the King James Bible were godly men who believed strongly in the inerrancy and full authority of Scripture and who, therefore, believed in the literal historicity of Genesis, with its record of six-day Creation and the worldwide flood. This has not been true of many who have been involved in producing the modern versions. The spiritual motivations and convictions of the King James translators are indicated by their fascinating preface, entitled "The Translators to the Reader."

For a good book on the end times (Joe Ortiz, 'The End Times Passover'):
http://www.freado.com/read/1440/the-end-times-passover-etymological-challenges-to-millenarian-doctrines

For facts on countries around the world, including religion, go to the CIA's website (the elect of God also are gathered from the pagan nations into the Church; however, as nations they remain distinctly heathen):
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html

2010-12-01T07:54:00.022-05:00

The Order of Events Until the End of the World

(Based on the writings of Reverend Herman Hoeksema before his death in 1965)

The Spreading of the Gospel of Christ Throughout the Nations

Jesus said unto him, "Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God." (Luke 9:60)

And He said unto them, "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." (Mark 16:15)

The Church shall witness of the truth and of Christ throughout this dispensation (the days of witnessing/the spreading of the gospel/the building up of the Church, spiritual Jerusalem of the New Testament, the True Israel of God).

"And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." (Matthew 24:14)

"And the gospel must first be published among all nations." (Mark 13:10)

And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people. (Revelation 14:6)

And they went forth and preached every where, the Lord working with them and confirming the word with signs following. Amen. (Mark 16:20)

A World Ripe for Judgment at the Time Near the End of the Present Dispensation

Near the end of this dispensation, the devil, Satan, will be released from the bottomless pit to rule over his earthly kingdom for "a little season," so that he as God will stand in the holy place, showing himself that he is God, and he will deceive many with his signs and wonders.

And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up. And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people. And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand. (Daniel 8:23-25)

And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that is determined shall be done. (Daniel 11:36)

The day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. (2 Thessalonians 2:2-4)

The "Wrath of the Lamb"

Near the end of this age, the devil shall reign supreme for "a little season," and he will be allowed to persecute the Church.

And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the Word of God and for the testimony which they held: and they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled. (Revelation 6:9-11)

"And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth... And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them." (Revelation 11:3,7)

God's people shall be persecuted; they shall be delivered up to synagogues and into prisons because they shall refuse to deny Christ and to worship the "beast," the anti-Christian kingdom. And some of God's elect shall be put to death for the testimony that they keep.

"Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake." (Matthew 24:9)

"Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows. But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them. And the gospel must first be published among all nations. But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost." (Mark 13:8-11)

"They shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake. And it shall turn to you for a testimony. Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer: for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist. And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. But there shall not an hair of your head perish. In your patience possess ye your souls." (Luke 21:12-19)

However, this culmination of antichrist and time of great tribulation, of which Scripture has warned us so frequently and which the Church shall experience just before the resurrection, shall be cut short for the elects' sake.

"And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened." (Matthew 24:22)

The Return of Christ

Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming: even Him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders. (2 Thessalonians 2:1-9)

At the end of this dispensation, antichrist shall have accomplished his work against the Church and the witnessing shall be finished: the Church shall be cut off and her testimony shall be ceased (the two witnesses lying dead in the street of the great city, Revelation 11:8).

"But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established." (Matthew 18:16)

"For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." (Matthew 18:20)

Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge. (1 Corinthians 14:29)

This is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established. (2 Corinthians 13:1)

Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses. (1 Timothy 5:19)

He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses. (Hebrews 10:28)

Immediately after the tribulation of those days there shall be fearful sights and great signs from heaven: witnesses of Christ lying dead in the streets ascend to heaven in a cloud, voices from heaven, Temple of God opened in heaven, sun darkened, moon darkened, stars fall from heaven, a great earthquake shakes heaven and earth, lightning, thunder and great hail. And then shall the Son of man come in the clouds of heaven with a rainbow upon His head, and His face as it were the sun, and His feet as pillars of fire.

"For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect. But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things. But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. And then shall He send His angels, and shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven." (Mark 13:22-27)

That in the dispensation of the fulness of times, He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in Him. (Ephesians 1:10)

At this darkest hour, Christ shall return in the clouds of heaven with great power and glory to deliver up His Church to the kingdom of heaven. In other words, immediately after the tribulation of those days, while antichrist and the heathen nations, "Gog and Magog," are still on earth, the Church shall be taken away from her shame, persecution, and terrible suffering.

"Then cometh the end, when He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when He shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. (1 Corinthians 15:24)

And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, "Come up hither." And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them. (Revelation 11:12)

The persecuted saints shall be changed in the 'twinkling of an eye' and they shall be united with those already "fallen asleep in Christ," "dead in Christ."

Behold, I shew you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. (1 Corinthians 15:51-53)

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. For this we say unto you by the Word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:14-18)

Christ shall separate the wicked from the just; and He shall deliver up the just to the kingdom of heaven, and the Church of all ages shall be glorified in heaven.

And Jesus said, "I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven." (Mark 14:62)

"When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory: and before Him shall be gathered all nations: and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats." (Matthew 25:31)

"And He that sat on the cloud Thrust in His Sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped." (Revelation 14:16)

"Let them grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, 'Gather ye together first the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn'… The tares are the children of the wicked one; the enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world." (Matthew 13:30,38-40)

I heard another voice from heaven, saying, "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven and God hath remembered her iniquities. Reward her even as she rewarded you and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double. How much she hath glorified herself and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen and am no widow and shall see no sorrow." (Revelation 18:4-7)

The Destruction of the Anti-Christian Kingdom

Gog and Magog shall prepare for battle against the kingdom of the Beast, believing that they will be battling against Christ and His saints. However, the Church is no more in tribulation, for the time of her tribulation is past. The time for conversion is now past as well, for the witness of the Word, the Church, shall have been taken away from her shame, persecution, and terrible suffering and delivered up to the kingdom of heaven. It shall be only a time for judgment: Christ shall judge the earth and destroy the anti-Christian kingdom.

"Behold, the days come," saith the Lord God, "that I will send a famine in the land; not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord." (Amos 8:11)

"And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto. For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled." (Luke 21:8-22)

The followers of the anti-Christian kingdom and the heathen nations, gathered for battle, shall remain on earth while God pours out His wrath upon them.

And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and He that sat upon Him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He doth judge and make war... And He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed Him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean... And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him that sat on the horse, and against His army. (Revelation 19:11,13,19)

For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty… And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. (Revelation 16:14,16)

The Final Judgment

God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment. (2 Peter 2:4)

And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:7-15)

The Lord shall judge the earth and destroy the kingdom of antichrist: the earth shall be utterly consumed by fire. And whosoever is not found written in the book of life shall be cast into the lake of fire. And the devil that deceived them shall be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, along with the beast and the false prophet, and they shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

"Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death and mourning and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her. And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning, standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come. And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more: the merchandise of gold and silver and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen and purple and silk and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass and iron and marble, and cinnamon and odours and ointments and frankincense, and wine and oil, and fine flour and wheat, and beasts and sheep and horses and chariots, and slaves and souls of men. And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all. The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, and saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls! For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off and cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city! And they cast dust on their heads and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate." (Revelation 18:8-19)

The Inauguration of Eternity

And the Lord shall create a new heaven and a new earth, and He shall establish His glorious kingdom forevermore. And He that sits upon the throne shall say, "Behold, I make all things new… he that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son (Revelation 21:5-7)."

"Rejoice over her thou heaven and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her. And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down and shall be found no more at all. And the voice of harpers and musicians, and of pipers and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee; and the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the Bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints and of all that were slain upon the earth." (Revelation 18:20-24)

And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? And whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple: and He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. (Revelation 7:13-17)

And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude… saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. (Revelation 19:6-9)

And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And He said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. And He said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. (Revelation 21:2-8)

We are now still in the "1260 days" and so we must still witness. Perhaps the "42 months" of great tribulation will come soon—it seems as if we are fast becoming prepared for those days. However, still the testimony is not finished. Therefore, it is still the calling of the Church to witness. And the purpose of this picture in Revelation is to spur us onward to be faithful even unto the end so that no one may take our crowns. On the other hand, the people of God may be comforted by the fact that Christ shall not leave them alone and that, even at the time of the end, during the period of great tribulation, the days shall be shortened for the elects' sake.

* * * * * * *

When I was a little girl, I went to my father and said,
"Daddy, I am afraid that I will never be strong enough to be a martyr for Jesus Christ."

"Tell me," said father, "When you take a train trip to Amsterdam,
When do I give you the money for the ticket? Three weeks before?"

"No, Daddy, you give me the money for the ticket just before we get on the train."

"That is right," my father said, "And so it is with God's strength.
Our Father in Heaven knows when you will need the strength to be a martyr for Jesus Christ.
He will supply all you need, just in time."

Corrie ten Boom

Corrie ten Boom (April 15, 1892 – April 15, 1983) was a Dutch Christian Holocaust survivor. She and her family helped many Jews escape the Nazis during World War II. The Germans arrested the entire Ten Boom family on February 28, 1944, with the help of a Dutch informant. They were sent first to Scheveningen prison (where her father died 10 days after his capture). Corrie's sister Nollie, brother Willem, and nephew Peter were all released. Later, Corrie and her sister Betsie were sent to the Vught political concentration camp (both in the Netherlands) and finally to the notorious Ravensbrück concentration camp in Germany on December 16, 1944, where Betsie died. Before she died, she told Corrie, "There is no pit so deep that God's love is not deeper still." Corrie was released on Christmas Day of December 1944. In her movie The Hiding Place (based on her book), Ten Boom narrates the section on her release from camp, saying that she later learned her release had been a clerical error. The women prisoners her age in the camp were killed the week following her release. She said, "God does not have problems, only plans."

"'When I am weak, then I shall be strong,' the Bible says.
Betsy and I were prisoners for the Lord.
We were so weak, but we got power because the Holy Spirit was on us.
That mighty inner strengthening of the Holy Spirit helped us through.
No, you will not be strong in yourself when the tribulation comes.
Rather, you will be strong in the power of Him who will not forsake you.
For 76 years I have known the Lord Jesus,
And not once has He ever left me or let me down."

Corrie ten Boom, 1974

2010-12-01T07:36:00.005-05:00

One-World Power: the Anti-Christian Beast

The following is adapted from "Behold He Cometh: the Power of the Antichrist" and
"Behold He Cometh: the Beast Out of the Earth"
by Herman Hoeksema (1886 - 1965), ©1969 Reformed Free Publishing Association.

REVELATION CHAPTER 13

And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him? (Revelation 13:1-4)

And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. If any man have an ear, let him hear. He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed by the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints. (Revelation 13:5-10)

And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth, by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. (Revelation 13:11-14)

And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred threescore and six. (Revelation 13:15-18)

A COMPLETE PICTURE OF THE ANTI-CHRISTIAN POWER (THE ONE WORLD POWER)

The devil’s attempts to frustrate God’s plan in establishing His kingdom have failed:

Firstly, the devil attempted to oppose the plan of God by preventing the birth of Christ, and he failed.
Secondly, contemporaneously with the first war on earth, the devil also carried on a war with the angels in heaven for the possession of the saints of the old dispensation, and he was defeated.
Thirdly, the devil attempted to amalgamate the power of the Church and the power of the world, and again he failed, at least in the respect that he cannot destroy the Church.

Yet the devil is determined at least to make war with the rest of the woman's seed, the Church, the individual believers on earth. In chapter 13 of Revelation, we are told in what manner the dragon makes this war with the saints and, principally, with the God of heaven and earth and with His Anointed, Jesus Christ our Lord.

In short, in the devil’s last attempt to oppose God’s plan, he simply will realize his own kingdom, or he will attempt to realize it, and boldly set it up. The first attempts were rather negative in nature, always aiming at the destruction of God’s kingdom first of all. This last attempt really consists in this: the devil now will ignore all that has been done by God Almighty: he will ignore that Christ has come and is King; he will ignore that the Church exists and that there is already, in principle, a kingdom of Christ established in the world. He simply will proceed to realize and establish his own kingdom before Christ has an opportunity (speaking from the devil’s point of view, of course) to do so.

In the thirteenth chapter of Revelation, we have a complete picture of this anti-Christian power and kingdom to come. There is, as far as I know, no controversy about this truth. Therefore, we proceed from the assumption that this may be regarded as an established fact: Revelation chapter 13 gives us a picture of antichrist. It is deemed of greatest importance that we should understand the picture, and this is clearly proved by the solemn conclusion of the text: "If any man have an ear, let him hear." If we have no ear, it is, of course, quite a different question. However, if by the grace of God our ears have been opened and we have a spiritual understanding of what God has revealed to us, then let us hear so that we may be instructed from the Word of our God. And let us derive light and strength from the Word of our God so that we shall stand in the evil day.

THE FIRST BEAST: THE BEAST OUT OF THE SEA (THE ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT)

Let us call your attention, in the first place, to the description of this beast as it is given in the text. John beholds how out of the sea arises a frightful monster. Very naturally it is described in the text just as John must have beheld it in his vision. What he saw first he describes first. Naturally the horns appeared first of all, and John tells us that it was a beast with ten horns. Naturally also the heads followed, and John continues to inform us that the monster had seven heads. He further notices (as details in the description) that the ten horns had ten crowns (royal diadems) and that on the heads there were names of blasphemy written. And finally, he is able to give a general description of this dreadful monster, and he informs us that its general appearance was like that of a leopard, while its feet were like those of a bear, and its mouth a lion’s mouth. And as a detail, which at first he probably did not notice but which he observed upon closer examination, he remarks that one of the heads appears to have been smitten in the past with a death stroke, but that the stroke was healed.

Let us investigate the meaning of this highly symbolic picture: the fact that here again we have symbolism needs no further argument; the text itself indicates this more than plainly. The sea is the birthplace, the source, the origin, of this beast. In this case, there is little doubt that it must be taken in the sense of peoples and nations and tongues as they live on earth under the power and principle of sin. We read of the sea in this sense more than once in Scripture. Isaiah says in Chapter 57, verse 20: "But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt." In Daniel 7:2-3 we read: "Behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea. And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another."

The entire context shows very plainly that nothing else can be meant by this symbolism: the troubled sea represents the nations. Indeed, it is a very fit symbol. The peoples and nations of the earth as they are under the power and principle of sin, and as they develop according to this principle, are indeed like unto the troubled sea: war-swept, revolution-swept, plague-swept, and famine-swept.

Revelation 17:15 clearly proves that this same sea of nations and peoples is meant in the words of our text: the same beast together with the harlot is described once more, but now with a view to its final destruction. And the angel tells us:

"The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues."

Therefore, we arrive at this conclusion: the beast finds its origin, its source, its birthplace from among the peoples and nations and tongues of the earth as they develop under the principle and power of sin.

The picture is that this sea of nations is swept and in uproar, and it rages and foams till finally this beast comes up as a result. Looking at the beast proper, let us notice that it is a beast, and that too, a wild beast, a monster, just as the dragon was a monster. We may be more or less familiar with this figure; in this case, the Word of God gives us the unmistakable key to its interpretation. In Daniel we also read of beasts, especially of four. And in Daniel the interpretation is given by the guiding angel who directs the prophet: this angel interprets the figure of the beast as referring both to kingdoms and kings. In Daniel 7:17 we read:

"These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth." And in verse 23 of the same chapter: "The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth."

A Great Political World Power

The figure of the beast represents a great political world power with its government as its head. There has been a great controversy all throughout the ages of the new dispensation about whether this beast, or the antichrist, is a person or a power or a system or a kingdom, but it seems to me that this controversy is not necessary. Daniel tells us that the beast is both the kingdom and the king. Or to speak just a little more generally, the beast represents both the world power and its government.

I would say that this beast neither represents merely a person (who by personal power and personal strength—without any aid—conquers, subdues and controls the whole world and all that it contains) or only a kingdom or dominion without its head and government. Instead, it represents both. And not only do we find it so in Daniel, but it stands to reason and lies in the very nature of the case.

A king is powerless without his kingdom, and a kingdom without a king is inconceivable: the two are inseparable. Therefore, we come to the conclusion that this beast is the symbol of a political government as we know it. I care not whether you are thinking now of a kingdom, empire, republic, or a worldly dominion as it naturally culminates and is represented by its head. Again, I care not whether you conceive of this head as a king, emperor, president, or even as a group or body of persons.

Firstly, let us call your attention, further, to the fact that this world power as described in our passage is a consummation and culmination of all that has gone before and of all separate kingdoms that might possibly exist or have existed. It is well that we have our attention called to this feature for it is one of the main features of our text.

This power as it is here pictured does not merely consist of one nation and one people, but it combines within itself all the kingdoms and empires and republics of the world. And, at the same time, it constitutes a combination and accumulation of all the power of all the kingdoms and empires and republics of the past.

This is plain, in the first place, from the various beasts that are represented in this one beast. First of all, we may notice that they are all wild beasts and, therefore, destructive in their nature. In ordinary circumstances they would not form a unity, but rather exist to their mutual destruction. In the second place, it cannot escape our attention that in this wild beast we have a combination of the beasts pictured to us in Daniel chapter 7. There also we read of the beast like a lion, bear and leopard, and of a fourth beast, not accurately described, but terrible. And there these beasts constitute four separate kingdoms, the fourth of which finally blends into the vision of antichrist in the little horn rising from among the ten. Here, then, we have a combination of all these.

Secondly, the kingdoms of the world, ordinarily like wild animals existing to their mutual destruction, have succeeded in forming a unity. And even as the spirit of the one beast is in all the beasts, so also is the world kingdom, which is represented by this beast, one. It combines in itself all the power, glory, ambitions and spirit of all the kingdoms that have aimed at world power in the past and that do aim at it at the present time. This is also more or less symbolized in the ten horns and seven heads. Although we do not interpret these ten horns as representing ten different kingdoms, or the seven heads as seven different kings, yet the general idea is expressed that this beast represents a combination of all the kingdoms of the world.

The First Beast, the Incarnation of the Devil

With the first beast, we have the resemblance of the dragon: the first beast is the incarnation of the dragon, which possesses all the kingdoms of the world. The dragon has ten horns and seven heads, and so has this beast. The idea clearly is that the devil, to whom the kingdoms of the world belong, now has succeeded in combining all his kingdoms under one head and inspiring them all with the same principle. The only difference is that he does not succeed in giving to his kingdom the complete and perfect aspect of the kingdom of God.

Ten is the number of the world kingdom; seven is the number of the kingdom of God. For a long time the dragon wore his seven crowns on his seven heads, but now his authority and strength are both represented by the number ten. And though it is true that he still has seven heads, no one can mistake them for heads of the kingdom of Christ for names of blasphemy are written upon them.

This is a world power that includes all the existing powers of the whole earth, and the head of this power has authority over all peoples, nations, tribes and tongues (verse 7). Therefore, we come to this conclusion thus far: the beast represents a consummation of all the world powers that have been in the past. It combines within itself all the power of these dominions, all the glory of them, all the ambitions of them, and all their aspirations and aims and accomplishments. Furthermore, it is itself a combination, a confederation, of all nations, peoples, tongues and tribes which may exist at that time under one head and under one government.

If we understand this, we shall also be able to comprehend the significant detail of the scar that this beast has in one of its heads. We read:

"And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed."

This does not refer to the fall of the Roman, Grecian, Babylonian or Egyptian Empire, or, in fact, to the fall of any particular empire or to all of them combined.

It is true that many attempts have been made to realize this great world power in the past: Babylon, Persia and Greece were filled with the same aspirations, and Rome advanced a good way to its establishment. It is also true that all failed and that they were smitten unto death.

There are two things that lead us to the consideration that the fall of any or of all these empires together cannot be meant by this death stroke. In the first place, the death stroke meant here was healed, but the death stroke of these empires was final. And, in the second place, these empires in the past consisted of the domination of one nation over all the rest of the world and not of a combination of them all, as is indicated in this beast.

Hence, there is but one thing in past history that can be indicated by this scar on one of the heads of the beast: it is the attempt in the days of mighty Nimrod, and the building of the tower of Babel, to establish a universal world power: it was to be a combination rather than the dominion of one individual or group. They planned to form a mighty federation, a mighty league, with a common center in the city and tower and with common aims and purposes. However, it received the death stroke for a time. That death stroke consisted in the confusion of tongues and the consequential separation into nations (with their national differences and aspirations), and the resulting wars and strife.

In the text, that death stroke is now healed. After many an individual power have made the attempt to gain the world power and to obtain control of the whole earth, the nations have finally come to the conclusion that the way of combination is the only way. National differences will be overcome and national aspirations will be combined into the aspiration of all.

"For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape (1 Thessalonians 5:3).

We will have no more world wars and no more strife and competition; instead, we will have a great worldwide empire, including all nations and comprehending them all under one head. The death stroke shall be healed and what was prevented in the days of Nimrod now shall be accomplished.

The Power of the First Beast

The power of the first beast originates in the dragon, the old serpent, the devil: "the dragon gave him his power and his seat and great authority." In regard to this, we may remark, in the first place, that the dragon’s power and authority itself is limited: he bears the number ten and his kingdom bears that same number, and that number refers to God’s own sovereign decree. It is well that we bear this in mind, for it is to our comfort: it assures us from the outset that the power and authority of this kingdom of the beast, however great, is not unlimited and that Christ, who has all power, is mightier than antichrist.

However, the fact remains that the dragon is permitted to give his power and authority and throne to the beast. In the text, he has now realized what he failed to establish when he tempted Christ. As we know, Satan made Christ the offer,

"Fall down and worship me, and I will give Thee all the kingdoms of the world."

You see, the devil is a spirit and, as such, he cannot establish an earthly throne in person: he must have some human agent or agents who will take the position. He wants to establish a world kingdom, but he cannot rule over that world in person; he must have human beings, or a human being, to be his vice regent. This is why he offered the position to Christ.

The devil tried to tempt Christ while He dwelt on earth by offering Him a kingdom. He thought that Jesus was powerful and able, capable of filling the position; however, there was one condition to be fulfilled: this great vice regent of the devil had to worship and fall down before him, otherwise the devil would lose the very dominion he sought. The devil himself must remain lord, and this condition Christ refused to fulfill for the simple reason that He was the anointed Vice Regent, not of the devil, but of God. However, according to the text, now the devil has found someone.

I think we must conceive of this in such a manner that, in general, the power of the devil is vested in the entire dominion of the beast. The authority and power is given to the beast as a whole; however, we must also maintain that this power and authority will be concentrated in the governing head of this world power. It makes no difference now whether this governing head is a person or a group of persons, a sort of central committee that rules the whole world: at this stage of history, this is difficult to say.

One World Government

The fact is that, in the future, there will be the full realization of a great world power, combining in itself all powers of the earth, with a government that has all the authority of the dragon, the old serpent, the devil. Therefore, this world power in general, and this governing head in particular, we may fitly describe as the very incarnation of the devil.

The text tells us that this antichrist, this central government, in combination with its kingdom, will do great things. Do not make a mistake here: you must not imagine that the whole world will groan under the yoke of antichrist and long to be delivered from it. This is perhaps what the devil tries to tell us so that we should not recognize the power of antichrist when it is established, but it will be just the opposite.

This antichrist will be attractive and inspiring. The whole world will be fond of his regime. The whole world will live in the conviction that this is just the thing. There will be a splendid time for the world. It will be a time of peace, all nations having been combined into one great whole. There will be no more rising of nation against nation. And it will be a time of wonderful accomplishments. This central person or government will have all things under its control. It will control the powers of nature. It will control science and philosophy. It will control religion and worship. It will control commerce and industry. It will control all that this world possesses in hidden talents and powers. And the promise given to man in the beginning, that he would have dominion over all things, will be realized.

I imagine that in this kingdom or world power to come you will be able to scan the heavens since the air shall have been conquered. Perhaps we shall even be able to visit other planets in the universe, as is already attempted in this present time. In this world kingdom to come, you will be able to fathom the depths of the sea. In this kingdom you will be able to speak with its remotest inhabitant, and there shall be no poor and no miserable from a worldly point of view. All the powers of creation shall come to full development under the direction and under the control of the central head, and all shall be at our command. In a word, it will be a splendid kingdom, and all that the world desires will be realized there.

The kingdom of antichrist will not be a heavy yoke on groaning subjects; rather, it will be a most beautiful kingdom with peace and splendor, riches and plenty, and harmony and great developments. And the whole earth will wonder after the beast. All the inhabitants will admire that state of things, and they will say, "Who is like unto this great government, and who is able now to war with us?" And in pure gratitude they will worship him and, thereby, they will worship the devil.

That this must be so follows from the fact that this kingdom is universal in its scope. In the first place, it is universal because there shall be no nations that are outside and, therefore, there shall be no nations to make war: "and there was given him authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation." All nations freely and willingly obey the one government. This one government will have its own laws, which hold for all the nations of the world. It will have its own police force and its own representatives who have authority over every nation. And perhaps it will succeed even in establishing one language. At any rate, all the nations will be one nation with no more competition and no more difference and war. It will be a peaceful kingdom.

This kingdom will be universal because all things will be under the control of its central government. If I may just run ahead for a moment, the rest of the chapter tells us that this central government has the power over buying and selling. Under this central government, you cannot buy the necessities of life or do business and live along in society unless you are allowed to do so by the beast. It must be a government, therefore, which not only has complete control over all the inhabitants of the historic world, but also controls all things connected with their life and existence in this kingdom.

Commerce and industry will be completely in the power of the central government. Natural resources, railroads, air roads, waterways and other roads; coal, iron, grain and vegetables; telegraph, telephone, radio and television; and all things will be in the power of this central government. Schools, universities and churches will be under its jurisdiction. It will tell you what to believe and how to worship since it will want one science and one religion and one worship.

This one-world government will have power to command you to worship the beast and its image. And therefore, once more we come to this conclusion, based on the words of this passage and also on other parts of Scripture: the one final manifestation of antichrist will be that of a great and universal world power, which will include all nations. This universal kingdom will have a central government that will have authority over all nations and over all things.

The Spiritual Character of the First Beast

This central government will control all things in the world, and it will be admired and worshipped by all the inhabitants of the whole earth except the one class of people who will refuse to put their trust in this great power and who will refuse to worship the beast. And this class of people is especially described as those whose names have been written in the Lamb's book of life. In short, the people of God will still be on earth: the elect of the Most High, the covenant people, will be on earth, and they will refuse to worship the beast.

And this brings us to our third question: "What is the spiritual character of this great and splendid world power?" The answer to this question is that it is anti-God and anti-Christ. It is anti-saints and anti-kingdom of God. That this is so might be surmised from the fact that this world power receives its power from the dragon, the old serpent. As we have said before, he has but one principle and by that principle he lives: it is the principle of opposition against God. He has but one aim and that is to thrust the Almighty from His throne, deprive Him of His sovereignty, and to be God instead of Him. He, therefore, is the author and accomplisher of this power; and since he gives this kingdom his power and throne and authority, it would be sufficient to conclude that this kingdom and dominion is anti-God and anti-Christ in character. This is also plain from other portions of the text.

This beast has names of blasphemy inscribed upon his seven heads, and he receives a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies. He actually opens his mouth to blaspheme the name of God and of His tabernacle, namely, those that dwell in heaven. To blaspheme the name of God is to deny His name, His sovereignty, His power, and all His virtues. (Nebuchadnezzar was blaspheming when he said in the pride of his heart that he himself was the author of mighty Babylon.) And so this kingdom and its head will blaspheme the name of the Most High. It will deny that God and His Christ have anything to do with this world kingdom, and it will maintain that all in the world is the result of the power of man and the manifestation of his glory.

In a word, it will try to expel the very name and authority of the Almighty from His own works. And it will do the same with the saints who have already gone into glory. It will deny that there is such a thing as glory in the hereafter. It will refuse to speak of it, and it will not tolerate to have it mentioned. It will banish the very remembrance of the saints. It will not tolerate all that is connected with God and His name and His worship.

This power is its own god and its followers worship the beast: "all that dwell on the earth shall worship him." In general, all the inhabitants of the earth shall worship the existing state of things and, centrally, also the government, which is at the head. They will put all their trust in the anti-Christian beast. They will expect the very necessities of life from him. They will turn to him in trouble. They shall worship and admire him, and they will give divine honor and praise to him in gratitude of heart. They shall worship the beast and its image, and through it all they shall worship "the great dragon, that old serpent, called the devil, and Satan."

Must I prove that this is the realization of all that has been pictured to us in the Scriptures concerning antichrist? If so, let me first call your attention to still another feature: they shall make war with the saints.

In this time to come, there are still saints on earth, and they shall be witnesses. They shall refuse to submit to the power of antichrist. It is not that they shall fight with the sword and rise in political rebellion—no, not that; but they shall refuse to worship the beast, and they shall uphold the sovereignty of the Almighty and of His Christ in those days. They shall refuse to change their religion and their worship and their testimony.

The Witnesses of Christ on Earth

The witnesses of Christ on earth in those days shall maintain that Christ and not antichrist is King; therefore, they shall be hated, and then shall be fully realized what Christ said, "Ye shall be hated of all nations." Antichrist shall make war with them and overcome them. They shall be hard days, days so hard that the elect would not hold out if the days were not shortened. Days of persecution shall they be. We shall learn more about them in future discussions. Let it now be sufficient to prove that this world power is anti-God, anti-Christ, anti-kingdom and anti-saints.

Thus antichrist in his final consummation is pictured to us everywhere in the Word of God. In Daniel 4:25 we read of him: "And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and law; and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time."

And in Daniel 8:23-25:

"In the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up. And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people. And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace he shall destroy many; he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand."

And in Daniel 11:36 we read:

"And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that is determined shall be done."

Turn to the New Testament and read what Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4:

"Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God."

And again, in verse 9 of the same chapter:

"Even Him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish."

Surely, there is no doubt about the fact that all these passages wonderfully harmonize with all that we learned about the beast that shall come up out of the sea, and that this beast is the anti-Christian power in its final and full consummation. It will consist of a wicked and universal world power with a central government doing wonderful things, but rising against the Most High and against Christ and His people.

The Identity of the First Beast

According to all Scripture, the power of antichrist is in the world already and has been in the world all throughout this dispensation: the mystery of iniquity is already working, as Paul warns us in 2 Thessalonians 2:7. And John, writing to the Christians of his time, says:

"Everyone that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is the spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come, and even now already is it in the world" (1 John 4:3).

The time period for the power represented in the beast is symbolized as 42 months in the text: it includes all the attempts in the entire period of the present dispensation that have been made to establish this world power in opposition to Christ and His kingdom. It may very well be that this 42 months (which we read of more than once in the form of 1260 days and also as 3 ½ years or times) will in the future also have another meaning, which we cannot now determine. However, it is certain that it first of all points to this entire dispensation since, in this entire dispensation, the power of iniquity and the spirit of antichrist are already in the world.

In this entire dispensation or period, the two witnesses give their prophecy. In this entire dispensation, the Church is in the wilderness of her separation. In this entire dispensation, the beast that rises up out of the abyss — and which culminates in the beast pictured to us in Revelation chapter 13 — is present. Therefore, let no man beguile you, for the devil is in the world already: he works in the world; he has made many bold attempts already to reach his culmination; and his final manifestation will be the consummation of a long process of development.

On the other hand, let me also warn you not to make the mistake of fording him already in his full manifestation and power. Never yet has there been a power such as is pictured here. Never yet was there a universal world power that had free sway over every nation and people and tribe and tongue. Never yet has there been a nation that all the peoples worshipped. Never yet was there a kingdom or dominion that had power over all the forces and resources of creation so that no one could even buy or sell in any part of the world except by the grace of this anti-Christian power. And this also applies to the present day.

Let no one beguile you. This anti-Christian power is not yet in its full reality: no single nation represents it. The world power will not be realized by sword or cannon so that there would be a tyrannical government lording over a groaning lot of subjects. Instead, it will be a kingdom or government established by common consent and agreement in which all admire and worship the beast. And again, the war this government or dominion will wage is not against any world kingdom, but against the saints of the Most High who refuse to worship the beast.

Such a power does not yet exist, but let me warn you that the time is at hand. We know not how soon, but soon it will be. All the signs of the times point to such a tremendous power, to such a league of the nations that has control over all things, to such a unity of all religion in which man is exalted and the Christ of the Scriptures is blasphemed, His blood trampled under foot. Therefore, I would say that the time is at hand! Watch therefore! Let no one beguile you, but watch!

Finally, if you ask why this complete picture of the antichrist is given us in the book of Revelation, my answer is this: so that we might clearly recognize it when it is revealed. And what then must we do when we see it is come? Must we oppose it. You may ask, "Must we fight it with the sword?" That, of course, is completely impossible. It will come. It must come. And to oppose its coming is entirely vain. Its coming is irresistible. And the battle is not one of the sword.

As the text has it, he that is for captivity, into captivity he goes; and if any man shall kill with the sword, with the sword he must be killed. We cannot oppose the power of antichrist by main force. When that world power comes and reigns supreme, we shall be submissive to the last as far as God and our conscience permit. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints, that in all these times they remain faithful and refuse to deny the Christ and that they wait for the day of His coming. May God give us grace to be found faithful at all times and to be found watching and praying so that no one may take our crowns.

Recap of the First Beast

So far in our discussion of chapter 13, we have discussed the first beast, which comes up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads and combining within itself the appearance of a leopard, bear and lion. We have come to the conclusion, in the first place, that this beast is the symbol of a great political world power, as is evident from the passages in the book of Daniel that refer to similar beasts:

We found that it is not merely a king, emperor or government that is here pictured, but that the beast represents the entire power, the government and its dominion, and that they belong together inseparably.
We also found that this world power is universal in its sway: it has dominion over all nations and tongues and tribes; and that, not by main force, but by free alliance of all the nations together. All wonder after the beast, think him great, admire him, and subject themselves to him willingly, offering him even their worship.
We saw also that this kingdom is universal: it has absolute sway over all things in its kingdom, over industry and commerce, over science and art, over religion and philosophy, and over all the powers and talents of creation.

As to its spiritual character, we found that this kingdom is anti-God, anti-Christ, anti-kingdom and anti-saints. This was plain from the fact that the beast received his power and throne from the dragon, the old serpent, the devil, the incurable opponent of the Most High and His Christ. This is clear also from the fact that he bears names of blasphemy on his seven heads, that he has a mouth to blaspheme, and that he opens that mouth actually to blaspheme the Most High and the saints of Christ in His tabernacle. This is clear, in the third place, from the fact that he kills and persecutes the saints who refuse to worship the beast. And, finally, this is evident from the fact that he himself allows himself to be worshipped as God instead of the Most High.

Thus the kingdom of man under Satan is complete: it is a kingdom which has sway over all the universe, over all men, over all the powers of creation; it is a kingdom in which man worships his own work and in which the devil is lord supreme.

In the first place, we pointed out that the spirit of antichrist is already in the world and that it is in the making all during the history of the present dispensation, revealing itself more or less boldly at different stages of history. In the second place, as we warned, you must not imagine that it already has reached its full manifestation, and you must not imagine that Revelation chapter 13 already has been fully realized. In the third place, we also pointed out that for him who has understanding and who can at all read the signs of the times, it is plain that the time is at hand and that all things develop very fast in the direction of this fascinating world kingdom.

THE SECOND BEAST: THE BEAST FROM THE EARTH (THE ONE WORLD RELIGION)

In order to prevent any misunderstanding at all, let me say from the outset that there is a definite relation between the first and the second beast. We must not have the impression that, in the first part of the chapter, antichrist was pictured in its full manifestation and that now, in the second part, we have the representation of something quite different. Rather, we must maintain that in the entire thirteenth chapter of Revelation we have the picture of antichrist.

The two beasts depicted together form the picture of the full and complete anti-Christian power (one world power):

The first beast pictures the anti-Christian kingdom in its political aspect (one world government);

The second beast deals with the kingdom’s religious, moral and scientific forces (one world religion).

In other words, the first beast tells us that the kingdom of antichrist has authority over all man and all things while the second beast shows us how this first beast exercises this authority.

It is clear from a glance at the text that the symbolism of the first part is simply continued. In the preceding part of the chapter, we find the picture of a beast rising up out of the sea, with seven heads and ten horns, and appearing like a leopard, bear and lion, all in one. In that first part of the chapter, we find things that were really unintelligible without the second; therefore, to complete the picture, we must insert the picture of the second beast into that of the first.

The full symbolism is as follows. The first beast is followed by a second, who rises up out of the earth. He is less formidable in appearance than the first beast: his origin is not of the stormy sea, but from the more quiet and more stable earth. He looks like a lamb, it seems, for he has horns as of a lamb, but when he speaks, he does not speak the truth. He stands in a very definite relation to the first beast: repeatedly this is indicated in the text. He exercises all his authority in the sight of, in the presence of, in behalf of, and as servant of the first beast. All that he does, he does in the presence of the first beast.

The purpose of this second beast, therefore, lies in the service of the first. And this soon becomes apparent, for the second beast causes the inhabitants of the world to wonder after the first beast and to admire and worship him. This second beast makes man build an image of the first beast in order to worship the beast through his image. This second beast causes all the worshippers of the first beast to receive a sign, which distinguishes them from those who refuse to worship the first beast. Those who refuse to worship the beast will not receive the sign: they are not given the sign in order that they may be killed.

This second beast is, therefore, as it were, the actual power of the first; in other words, the first beast works and exercises his power through the second. The first beast could not exist, could not exercise his authority, and would not be worshipped without the work of the second beast. And the second beast would have no reason to exist and to work were it not for the fact that this first beast must reach its full power.

It is plain from what we have said that the second beast cannot represent a second kingdom. In Daniel, as we have said, the beasts are symbols of kings together with their kingdoms. Let me call your attention to the fact that this second beast makes a radically different impression from the first beast and from the beasts that are pictured in Daniel chapter 7.

In the book of Daniel, we have the wild animal: a leopard, bear and lion all combined into one. However, here in the book of Revelation, we have an entirely different picture. This beast evidently makes one think of a lamb. First of all, he has horns like those of a lamb, though he speaks like the dragon. In the second place, let me call your attention to the fact that evidently his power is quite different from that of a king. A king commands and makes laws and thus he exercises authority; however, this beast, although it exercises authority even the same as that of the first beast, does not exercise his power by commands but rather by persuasion.

This second beast speaks: what this implies may become plain from the repeated indications in the text concerning the manner of his work. We read that he makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, he deceives man by the great signs and wonders which he performs, and he says to them who dwell on the earth that they should make an image of the first beast. And he causes all that worship the first beast to receive a sign.

Hence, we receive the clear impression that the beast mentioned here does not work like the first beast, but that he is of a different character. He comes by speaking and by doing great signs and wonders. Therefore, the second beast comes with the persuasion of a prophet: he does not force, but convince; he does not command and issue laws, but he wins the hearts of men.

Adding to this, we read repeatedly that this second beast works in the sight of and in the presence of the first beast, and that he does all he can for the power and maintenance of the first beast. Therefore, it is plain that this second beast represents some power in the kingdom, some tremendous influence in that great universal kingdom, which we have pictured to you according to the first part of the chapter.

The Power of the Second Beast, the False Prophet

The second beast works through the hearts and minds of men to influence, bewitch and charm them so that they worship the first beast and so that they admire him and submit themselves gladly to him.

What power, then, does this second beast represent? We will find no difficulty in identifying him. Scripture itself tells us: in the nineteenth chapter of Revelation, we find a reference to this same beast. In Revelation 19:20 we read:

"And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire that burneth with brimstone."

And in Revelation 20:10 we find mention of him once more:

"And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are."

The beast that is mentioned in these passages is evidently the first beast, and the false prophet is none other than this second beast, with the two lamb’s horns, who speaks as the dragon. Therefore, we come to the conclusion that this second beast is called the false prophet.

What is a prophet? We must banish from our minds the popular conception that a prophet is chiefly a man who foretells the future. True, a prophet also foretells the future, but that is not his only work. We find from Scripture that a prophet is characteristically a person who speaks for someone else. Aaron is called the prophet of Moses when they together go to Pharaoh and Aaron expressing the message instead of and for Moses. We see this also with the prophets of God among Israel. The prophets are men who speak for God and bring His message; they appeal to the minds and hearts of men; they speak to Israel in behalf of Jehovah and His covenant and cause.

God’s prophets teach and speak and reveal the will of God, and they try to persuade men so that they may embrace His cause. Now this second beast is also a prophet in that he speaks for someone else and he tries to influence the minds of men, to persuade them, to gain them for the cause of him in whose interest he speaks. However, he is a false prophet in that he does not preach the truth; rather, he speaks the lie. He persuades men and teaches them, and by doing so he deceives them so that they believe the lie. And if we compare this with what we find in the words of the passage that we are now discussing, we shall find that this is actually his character.

His very appearance is deceiving. He looks like a lamb: one would receive the impression, therefore, that he is in some way affiliated with Christ, the great Prophet, and that the words he speaks are the words of Christ. However, he speaks like the dragon: he derives the contents of his prophecy and teaching not from Christ, but from the devil, from hell itself.

He is a prophet so he speaks for someone else, but the one for whom he speaks is the first beast, who receives and exercises all the authority of the devil. In the devil's presence and in behalf of him, he speaks and exercises his authority. In the devil's sight and in his behalf, he does his great signs and wonders. He persuades men to establish an entire worship and erect an image, and he causes all who refuse the image to be killed.

This second beast, the false prophet, is the exact opposite of what Elijah was among Israel. Elijah stood before Jehovah, but this false prophet stands for the opponent of Jehovah. Elijah spoke the truth of God, but this false prophet speaks the lie of the dragon. Elijah persuaded men to break down the image of Baal and serve and worship the true God, but this false prophet persuades men to forsake Jehovah and make an image for the first beast and the dragon. Elijah persuaded men to kill the priests of Baal, but this false prophet persuades men to kill the saints of the Most High.

One World Religion

I would say that the second beast as a whole does not represent a single person, a single individual. I know that there are interpreters who urge this very strongly, but it is not necessary to maintain this nor is it very probably the interpretation.

We found in explanation of the first beast that it did not simply refer to an individual king or emperor or governor, but just as much to the kingdom or world power under the sway of that government. And the same must be borne in mind here. I do not think it impossible that in the future some great philosopher will arise who will dominate almost any intellectual movement of his time so that all others follow him.

This second beast does not represent a single individual, but rather all the power of false science, philosophy and religion combined. In the future, all science, philosophy and religion shall be united into one science and one philosophy and one religion. There shall be no more difference of opinion. Just as politically the world shall be one, so it shall be one intellectually and religiously. They shall all have the same ideas about things. They shall all admire the same science. They shall all have the same religion.

There will be a new religion: already we hear of it in our own time. And this new religion shall embrace all things: it shall be universal. All creeds, denominations and sects shall be blended and united into one so that there shall be no more strife and ecclesiastical contention. It shall have a universal creed, laying down the precepts and principles for every sphere of life.

This new religion shall lay down rules for our individual life, just as the Christian religion does. It shall lay down the principles for our home life, just as the Christian religion does. It shall reveal principles for the life of society and for the life of nations.

This one world power shall lay down the rules for religious life in particular: it shall tell all men how they must worship and what they must worship. It shall be a new system of thought and religion, with a new creed, universal in its scope and, at the same time, with a new god. That new god will be the beast, the great world power, whom all shall admire and worship and for whom all shall erect an image in order that they may worship the same. Thus it is also clear that the first beast has need of the second.

The Activity of the Second Beast

The universal world power, being based upon the unity and voluntary submission of all, has need of the power of false prophecy and has need of this universal science and religion.
The second beast must serve the first: it is indispensable to the first. The world power has need of false science, philosophy and religion to maintain the devil's authority and the integrity and unity of his kingdom.
If we understand this, it is not very difficult to comprehend the action of the second beast. We read in the text that he does great things with signs and wonders, and it is exactly through these signs and wonders that he succeeds in gaining men for his cause and deceiving them.

Naturally a prophet must do signs and wonders: these must establish his prophetic authority and the truth of the things he speaks. Thus it was with Moses before Pharaoh and at the same time with the magi of the king: they performed signs and wonders to impress the authority with which they appeared. Thus it was with Elijah on Carmel, with Christ as a prophet, and with the appearance of the apostles in the midst of the heathen world: they all performed signs and wonders in order that these might corroborate the truth of their message. Thus it is also in the anti-Christian world power to come: this second beast shall perform signs and wonders (and this was foretold already by Daniel the prophet).

As was prophesied by Christ Himself, the antichrist shall perform marvelous things: "For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect" (Matthew 24:24). It was also foretold by the apostle Paul, who predicted that the man of sin should manifest himself in great signs and wonders. And thus we find it in the words of our text.

The second beast, the false prophet, who is the power of this false science and philosophy and religion, shall do things which will astonish the world and which will cause all men to flock to him, to listen to his prophecy, and to worship the beast.

What shall this power do? There are interpreters who take it all in the literal sense of the word and who claim that this second beast represents a person who will actually perform miracles. We are not inclined that way: all that is necessary is to assume that this great power will do things that will corroborate his teachings and thus establish the universal kingdom. He will not only talk, but he will show that he can do things in harmony with the message he brings.

The second beast will apply his false science and philosophy and religion, and he will show that man is extremely powerful. He will bring fire from heaven. Why not? Through the power of electricity man has already done great things. In the future, man actually may be able to extract the fire from the clouds of heaven and bring it down in the sight of all men. The second beast will provide men with all the commodities, conveniences and pleasures modern science can invent so that they can fly through the air without danger, speak with their fellow men in the remotest corner of this great kingdom without trouble, enter into the bowels of the earth, and plow through the depth of the sea.

This false philosophy will discover all the powers of creation and bring them into use so that all men shall wonder at the great things it does. And wondering at its action, they shall follow him and believe his message and obey his command. This is evidently the sole, ultimate purpose of these signs and wonders, that men may believe and follow the beast: for we read in the words of our text that by these signs and wonders, the devil deceives men so that they make an image of the beast.

THE MARK OF THE BEAST: THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE FOLLOWERS OF THE BEAST AND THE FOLLOWERS OF CHRIST

Notice that this false prophet does not make the image through which the world power is to be worshipped, but that under his influence, as he speaks for the beast and performs signs and wonders in his name, men make such an image. This image, of course, is a representation of the beast itself so whosoever worships the image, worships the beast, and he who worships the beast, worships the dragon.

Exactly of what this image shall consist, we do not know at present. The idea of an image through which the world power is worshipped is nothing strange. The emperors of the Roman Empire made such images, which they worshipped as gods. In the French Revolution, the images of the great leaders of that revolution were made and worshipped: men paid religious worship to the images of liberty, equality, and fraternity that were made. And in the Notre Dame of Paris, the goddess of reason was actually worshipped by the great of France.

Therefore, there would be nothing strange if, in these latter days, there would be once more such idol worship in the literal sense of the word. At all events, some sign, some ensign, or some device representing this universal world power will be conceived of and made and distributed all throughout the dominion of antichrist so that they may pay divine honor to it and worship the beast.

It is before this emblem of the universal world power that all men shall bow down. And this false prophet will be allowed to perform still greater things. He will give to that image a spirit, a breath of life. How this universal idol shall speak, I know not, but this is of minor importance since we know the purpose of it all. The text tells us that this image is given a breath of life in order that it may speak and that those who do not worship the image may be killed.

At this time to come, there are still saints of the Most High on earth: the remnant of the seed of the woman is still there; they are not yet taken to heaven. And, of course, they refuse to go along with all this beautiful and worldwide movement. They refuse to adopt the philosophy of the second beast. They refuse to wonder at its great signs. They refuse to adopt its religion. They refuse to worship the beast and the dragon.

The Church shall refuse to worship the beast; therefore, the saints cannot be tolerated, and they must be discovered so that this great universal kingdom may be rid of them. And so an image must be made, some universal ensign, and this universal ensign must be displayed everywhere. Wherever you turn, you can see it in this kingdom of the antichrist, and all shall humbly bow down before it or in some way pay it divine honor, except for the saints of the Most High, who shall refuse to worship the idol.

Those who do not worship the beast will not receive this universal insignia, and thus it becomes evident that they be killed. Through this universal insignia, distinction and separation is made between the worshippers of the beast and the followers of Christ, the seed of the woman. And this universal mark or sign or insignia must serve as the means through which the distinction is realized.

In close connection with this idea is the idea of the sign. By means of the image, distinction is made between the followers of the beast and those who refuse to worship him. The faithful followers of the beast receive a sign. It is of little importance for us at present to determine exactly of what this sign shall consist. It may be that the kingdom shall literally provide for some brand or badge that the beast’s faithful followers shall be allowed to wear and with which they shall be allowed to appear in modern society. However, it also may be that this is all symbolism to denote that there shall be a visible difference in the manifestation of the followers of the beast and the followers of Christ.

It is certain that the difference between the followers of the beast and the followers of Christ shall be there and this difference shall be very plain. The false prophet, the power of false science and philosophy and religion, shall see to it that the distinction is very public and evident to all so that only his followers may share in the blessings of this great kingdom.

Just as only the followers of Christ (baptized in His name and confessing Him faithfully) shall share in the blessings of the kingdom of God, so also the followers of the beast only shall reap the benefits of this universal world kingdom. The rest, who do not have the mark of the beast, shall be excluded and boycotted in every respect.

All things shall be under the control of the first beast, of this great and universal world power: the very necessities of life shall be in his power. He can surely allow or prevent buying and selling according to his good pleasure. The saints of Christ who do not worship the image, and who refuse to receive the mark of the beast, shall not be able to do business; they shall not be able to buy or to sell. They shall not be able to live along with that great society. They shall not be able to buy the necessities of life. They shall be outcasts, mocked at, held in derision, thrust aside, ousted from society, and killed.

Those shall be terrible days. They shall be more terrible than any form of persecution that the children of God have ever experienced. There shall be no place for them on earth. They shall be left without a helper on earth. So terrible shall those days be that many shall fall who appeared to be children of the Most High, and the very elect would not be able to resist were it not for the fact that the days shall be shortened.

The Name and Number of the Beast

We must discuss the name of this great beast, which all its worshippers bear on their foreheads or in their right hand. We read:

"Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred threescore and six."

Many and varied are the interpretations given of this number: we shall not tire your attention by enumerating them all. A very favorite interpretation is that which is given by an old church father, Irenaeus, and accepted by many of our own time. The interpretation is as follows. The letters of the Greek alphabet were used as numbers. If this is taken as the basis of the interpretation, we find that the letters in the word Lateinos, or Latin, together give us the number 666. Therefore, the name of the beast as spelled by this number is "Latin," and it denotes the kingdom of the Latins or of the Roman Empire.

However, even this interpretation we cannot possibly accept as true. For, in the first place, however ingenious it may be, it is nevertheless more or less arbitrary. On this basis, I can also construe other names, which are just as suitable and also amount to the number 666, but which simply are formed by a different arrangement of the same letters. In the second place, notice that our text does not say, "Here is a riddle; let him that is bright solve it;" rather, it plainly states: "Here is wisdom; let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast." And therefore we must have something different. Finally, in the third place, we should not lose sight of the fact that the numbers in Revelation have symbolical significance: they stand also in this case for a higher spiritual reality.

Let us then notice that the mark of the beast, the number of his name, the number of the beast, and the name of the beast all denote identically the same thing. The beast has a name, and the name in Scripture always denotes character and being. The name of this beast has been impressed upon his followers so that also they may be distinguished as his subjects. And that name is the same as is expressed in the number 666.

Now what is the meaning of this number? Six is the number of the creature in all its fulness: in six days God created the world and in six days creation was completed; the fulness of creation has come to realization in six days. However, the full week is not expressed in the six, but in the number seven. The seventh day is the day of consecration and adoration of God; it is the day on which the creature was to lift himself from the sphere of the mundane and consecrate himself to the Creator. On the seventh day, man was to bring the glory of all God’s work to Him. The seventh day was hallowed.

Six is one less than seven; therefore, the number six speaks of the fulness of creation and all the powers of creation but without God and without the service and glory of God. The symbolism of the number six is the world under the influence of sin: it is the world with all its fulness and powers, but without God. Ten is the number that denotes a complete measure of anything according to the decree of God, whether it be a measure of time, power, development, or anything else.

Notice 666 + (10 x 6) + (10 x 10 x 6): 10 x 6 would denote the world and all its fulness without God, developed according to the measure of God’s plan; and 10 x 10 x 6 denotes that same development in the highest degree, coming to its fullest consummation. The idea, therefore, is not so difficult. God created a world that should glorify Him and be consecrated to Him, but that world tore itself loose from Him and refused to glorify Him. Man has developed the kingdom of the world without God, and God allows this kingdom of the world to develop to its full extent.

Although man has fallen away from Him, God nevertheless allows man to exercise dominion over the earthly creation and to bring to light all the hidden powers and talents of creation to their fullest degree. In the final manifestation of this anti-Christian kingdom to come we have the 'beasts' of the book of Revelation: these beasts represent the highest development of the sovereignty of man apart from God, and under the devil they develop all the powers of creation without God.

This anti-Christian to come is the climax of the development of the man of sin: it is the kingdom of man, of the creature, without God, without the seven. And therefore his number is 666, the number of man indeed. Such, I feel persuaded, is the meaning of this chapter.

If we have spiritual understanding, we must count the number of the beast. You may see him rise before your very eyes in the world of today. Hence, we must watch and pray that we may not fall into temptation. We must be faithful unto the end.

It is not our calling to resist the anti-Christian kingdom to come: for that is impossible. We cannot prevent its coming; however, we must watch and be prepared. Here is the patience of the saints; here is wisdom. We must know how this kingdom of antichrist will come so that we may recognize its coming and be faithful even unto the end.

God grant that we may be found watching in that day so that we may not be allured by all the beauty and fascination and by the Christian appearance, strength and stability of this world kingdom to come. Let us not be allured by the signs and wonders of the false prophet, but let us remain faithful even unto the very end so that no one may take our crowns.

Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. --1 Corinthians 15:57

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2010-12-01T06:57:00.012-05:00

The Fourth and Final Kingdom

The Fourth Beast Kingdom Which is Yet to Come

According to David Bay, Cutting Edge Ministries:

President Richard Nixon issued Executive Order #11647 on February 14, 1972, which reorganized the United States into 10 federal regions... The unconstitutional goal of this reorganization into 10 super regions is to set the stage for the abolishment of governments from the federal, to the state, to the county, and even to the local, levels. The objective is to set in place the form of government that could be implemented during a planned crisis, that would effectively strip us of our elected representational form of government. Suddenly, we would find ourselves being governed by officials who are not elected, nor responsible to any voters.

This regional system is apparently unlimited in its scope and powers. Thus, Americans could very well discover that they are back under the control of the type of government that our Founding Fathers spent their lives and fortunes overthrowing! Worse still, we could find ourselves facing the type of dictator which we have seen ruling Russia and Nazi Germany.

This regional system is also apparently a military structure. We will see this more clearly when the federal program called "General and Complete Disarmament" (Public Law 87-297) is fully integrated according to this 10-region system of government. We also will probably not see this 10-region system implemented until we are under the simultaneous crises of which we have spoken many times.

When America is under the following planned crises, we will witness this changeover to this 10-region system, most likely with FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) exercising initial control. These are apparently the crises that are planned:
All-out nuclear warfare in the Middle East (or neutron warfare).

All-out nuclear war on the Korean Peninsula (or at least the threat of such a war).

Arab terrorists threatening to devastate American cities with atomic, chemical or biological weapons (or actually carrying out this threat).

Total oil embargo from the Arab nations in support of Arab forces fighting Israel in the Middle East.

Earthquakes deliberately caused to create panic.

Simultaneous riots in many American cities to further cause panic.

American Presidency weakened because of scandal and infighting with Congress and the Courts to further cause panic among American voters.

The Stock Market will crash, causing absolute panic amongst all Americans. Jobs will immediately begin to be lost, thus further adding to the panic.

Antichrist is supposed to appear at the end of the Middle East crisis. If this occurs, then "aliens" and visible "angels" are to appear to urge all peoples of the world to support him and his plan.

At this moment, the head of FEMA will suddenly appear, announcing that he is taking "temporary" control, and quoting all the various Executive Orders and laws passed by Congress giving him all the authority he needs to assume the powers of government, of all branches of our former Constitutional government.

Once this changeover to the new 10-region system of government occurs, amidst all these contrived and planned crises, you may rest assured the End of the Age is upon us.

UN Divides the World into 10 Regional Groupings

Club of Rome's 10 Regions and the 10 Kings of Daniel and Revelation

The "10 horns" are explained in Daniel 7:23-25 and Revelation 17:12 to be 10 kings, and the whole vision is of the last form of Gentile world-power, a confederated 10-kingdom empire, most likely covering the whole earth. Now it's interesting to note that, in 1972, the Club of Rome proposed a plan to divide the whole world into 10 regions. Could these 10 regions be the 10 horns of the Bible? [his2ndcoming]

The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast. These are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast. These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them (Revelation 17:12-14).

And the ten horns which you saw on the beast, these will hate the harlot, make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire. For God has put it into their hearts to fulfill His purpose, to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled (Revelation 17:16-17).

And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army (Revelation 19:19).

Once the 10 Nations Have Arisen, Antichrist Will Appear

In 1957, Alice Bailey, then the leader of the House of Theosophy, wrote in her collection of writings, "The Externalisation of the Hierarchy," that the world must first be reorganized into "spheres of influence" before it could be organized into a global government (page 209). She made it very clear that this reorganization would not follow traditional national boundaries, but would be a completely different organization. Bailey did not specify how many "spheres of influence" would be created, but her plan was fleshed out in 1974 by New World Order authors, Mihajlo Mesarovic and Eduard Pestel, in a book entitled, "Mankind At The Turning Point." They wrote that the world would be reorganized into 10 Super Nation States, listed below. [David Bay, Cutting Edge Ministries]

(1) North America
(2) Western Europe
(3) Japan
(4) Australia, South Africa, and the rest of the market-economy of the developed world
(5) Eastern Europe, including Russia
(6) Latin America
(7) North Africa and the Middle East
(8) Tropical Africa
(9) South and Southeast Asia

Cold War Era 10-Region Map (Mexico Not Included in the North American Union)

The 'Little Horn' (Antichrist) Rises Up AFTER the Ten Kings Come to Power

So let us remember the basics here: the man of sin, little horn or antichrist, rises out of a system of 10 kings. The system of 10 kings is controlled by the harlot, Babylon, and the entire system is given its power by the dragon, Satan. Many people get a little too hung up on if it is a 'Masonic conspiracy' or a 'Jesuit conspiracy' or a 'globalist conspiracy.' They are all the same conspiracy. It is part of a Satanic conspiracy to control the globe for the prince of darkness. God has given us a witness as to the final form the system will take: 10 kings ruled by a harlot controlled by the devil. That system is not fully here yet, but true, born-again Christians who are awake and are not sleeping can and are seeing this system coming into being. It is not far off. [Mark S. Watson]

The Millennium Development Goals Report 2009

According to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) — as the targets are known — are among the seven “strategic opportunities” to be realized not over decades but within the next twelve months. [Note the map on page 57 of the report (PDF), which divides the world into 10 "Regional Groupings" as compared to the seven continents of the world.]

I will tell thee the mystery of the woman,
And of the beast that carrieth her,
Which hath the seven heads and ten horns.
The beast that thou sawest was, and is not;
And shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition:
And they that dwell on the earth shall wonder,
Whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world,
When they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
And here is the mind which hath wisdom.
The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.
And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come;
And when he cometh, he must continue a short space.
And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth,
And is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.
And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings,
Which have received no kingdom as yet;
But receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.
These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them:
For He is Lord of lords, and King of kings:
And they that are with Him are called, and chosen, and faithful.
And he saith unto me,
The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth,
Are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore,
And shall make her desolate and naked,
And shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.
For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil His will,
And to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast,
Until the words of God shall be fulfilled.
And the woman which thou sawest is that great city,
Which reigneth over the kings of the earth.
Revelation 17:7-18

Daniel Describes the Fourth Beast Kingdom Which is Yet to Come

By Richard H. Perry

Mystery of the Beast Which has the 7 Heads and 10 Horns

In this important Last Days prophecy, God explains the mystery of this beast which has the seven heads and ten horns. He also says that those whose names have not been written in the book of life will be astonished when they see the beast. Therefore, those whose names are written in the book of life will not be astonished. They will not be astonished because they will know the identity of this beast and be prepared. Let’s read the passage, so we understand.

I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns. The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful. And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth. (Revelation 17:3-18).

Wisdom Comes from the Word of God

God says that wisdom is required to understand this mystery. When wisdom is required, the answer can be found in the Word of God, because wisdom comes from God.

For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding (Proverbs 2:6).

Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or swerve from them (Proverbs 4:5).

Since wisdom comes from the Word of God, we must search Scripture to understand the mystery.

Daniel Writes about Four Beast Kingdoms

Let’s start with what we know. Daniel’s prophecies tell of four beast kingdoms that will rise on earth, three have risen and the fourth is yet to come. When the fourth beast kingdom comes, it will continue until the Kingdom of God comes on earth. Let’s read how this is written.

You, O king [Babylon], are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory; in your hands he has placed mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds of the air. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold. After you, another kingdom will rise, inferior to yours. Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth. Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron--for iron breaks and smashes everything--and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others … In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed. (Daniel 2:37-44)

The four great beasts are four kingdoms that will rise from the earth. But the saints of the Most High will receive the kingdom and will possess it forever--yes, for ever and ever. (Daniel 7:17-18)

Daniel Describes the Fourth Beast Kingdom Which is Yet to Come

From the time of Daniel’s prophecies three beast kingdoms rose to power: they were Babylon, Media-Persia and Greece. When the fourth and final beast kingdom comes it will usher in the rise of the Antichrist. The Antichrist will be destroyed by the Second Coming of Christ. Let’s read how it is written:

I am going to tell you what will happen later in the time of wrath, because the vision concerns the appointed time of the end. The two-horned ram that you saw represents the kings of Media and Persia. The shaggy goat is the king of Greece, and the large horn between his eyes is the first king. The four horns that replaced the one that was broken off represent four kingdoms that will emerge from his nation but will not have the same power. In the latter part of their reign, when rebels have become completely wicked, a stern-faced king, a master of intrigue, will arise. He will become very strong, but not by his own power. He will cause astounding devastation and will succeed in whatever he does. He will destroy the mighty men and the holy people. He will cause deceit to prosper, and he will consider himself superior. When they feel secure, he will destroy many and take his stand against the Prince of princes. Yet he will be destroyed, but not by human power. (Daniel 8:19-25).

The Rise of the Antichrist from the Fourth Beast Kingdom

When the final beast kingdom arises it will begin with ten kings. Then another king will come up among the ten and subdue three kings. This king is the Antichrist. When the Antichrist has subdued the three kings, the Fourth Beast Kingdom will then have “seven heads and ten horns.” Let’s read how it is written:

The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear on earth. It will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth, trampling it down and crushing it. The ten horns are ten kings who will come from this kingdom. After them another king will arise, different from the earlier ones; he will subdue three kings. He will speak against the Most High and oppress his saints and try to change the set times and the laws. The saints will be handed over to him for a time, times and half a time. But the court will sit, and his power will be taken away and completely destroyed forever. Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be handed over to the saints, the people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey him. (Daniel 7:23-27)

So, Daniel reveals that when the final beast kingdom has seven heads and ten horns, the Antichrist will be its leader and one of the seven heads.

Revelation Reveals More About this Final Beast

Let’s return to the mystery of the “beast which has the seven heads and ten horns:”

I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns. The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. (Revelation 17:3-8)

In addition to the “seven heads and ten horns,” we are also given several other pieces of information to help us understand this mystery. The beast comes up out of the Abyss and is destined for destruction.

Two Beast Kings are Destined for Destruction at Christ’s Return

One of the beast's destined for destruction at Christ's return is the Antichrist, whose destruction is prophesied in Daniel 8:25:

“He will be destroyed, but not by human power.”

The other is the False Prophet, who is destroyed with the Antichrist as prophesied in Revelation 19:20:

The beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.

Let’s read more about these two beasts:

And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. If any man have an ear, let him hear. He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints. And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. (Revelation 13:1-15)
But the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. (Revelation 19:20)

The False Prophet comes out of the earth (Abyss) with power to deceive the inhabitants of the earth and performs miraculous signs on behalf of the Antichrist to deceive unbelievers. The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing (they perish because they refuse to love the truth and so be saved).

Paul Also Tells Us About This

Paul also wrote of the coming Antichrist and the influence of the False Prophet when he says that God sends unbelievers a powerful delusion:

Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12)

Revelation Reveals More About the King from the Abyss

In Revelation we are told the name of the king of the Abyss. The Abyss is located either on or in the earth because the abyss will be opened when the star is on the earth.

I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power... And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months. And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon. (Revelation 9:1-3, 10-11)

The Hebrew name “Abaddon” means a destroying angel, and the Greek name “Apollon” also means destroyer. In telling us these two names, God is confirming the identity of the angel king. The destroyer is described extensively in the Old Testament.

The Destroyer is "the beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is” (Revelation 17:8).

The False Prophet and the Destroyer are one and the same.

The Seven Kingdoms of Revelation 17

Let’s return to the mystery of “the beast which has the seven heads and ten horns.”

What can we learn about the seven heads?

The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth (Revelation 17:9).

Prophecy frequently describes kingdoms as mountains. Below are examples:

The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together: the LORD of hosts mustereth the host of the battle (Isaiah 13:4).

Deliverers will go up on Mount Zion to govern the mountains of Esau. And the kingdom will be the Lord's (Obadiah 1:21).

And I will render unto Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, saith the LORD. Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the LORD, which destroyest all the earth: and I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain. (Jeremiah 51:24-25)

Listen to what the LORD says: "Hear ye now what the LORD saith; Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice. Hear ye, O mountains, the LORD'S controversy, and ye strong foundations of the earth: for the LORD hath a controversy with his people, and he will plead with Israel." (Micah 6:1-2)

Who are the Seven Kingdoms?

The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space (Revelation 17:9-10).

At the time John was given the revelation, Rome was the kingdom in power; therefore, Rome is the one who “is.”

1. Fallen = ?

2. Fallen = ?

3. Fallen = ?

4. Fallen = ?

5. Fallen = ?

6. One is = Rome

7. Yet to come = ?

What does Scripture say about the five that have fallen? In Jeremiah chapter 50 we find the following prophecy regarding kingdoms and kings that have scattered Israel:

Israel is a scattered flock that lions have chased away. The first to devour him was the king of Assyria; the last to crush his bones was Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon (Jeremiah 50:17).

The king of Assyria is the first to have fallen.

1. Fallen = Assyria

2. Fallen = ?

3. Fallen = ?

4. Fallen = ?

5. Fallen = ?

6. One is = Rome

7. Yet to come = ?

In Daniel we find the remaining four fallen kingdoms.

You [Babylon], O king, are the king of kings (Daniel 2:37).

The two-horned ram that you saw represents the kings of Media and Persia. The shaggy goat is the king of Greece, and the large horn between his eyes is the first king. (Daniel 8:20)

Therefore, the five kingdoms that have fallen are Assyria, Babylon, Media, Persia and Greece.

1. Fallen = Assyria

2. Fallen = Babylon

3. Fallen = Media

4. Fallen = Persia

5. Fallen = Greece

6. One is = Rome

7. Yet to come = ?

The One “Yet to Come” Kingdom is the Future Fourth Beast Kingdom

The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear on earth. It will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth, trampling it down and crushing it. The ten horns are ten kings who will come from this kingdom. After them another king will arise, different from the earlier ones; he will subdue three kings. (Daniel 7:23-24)

The fourth beast kingdom of Daniel’s prophecy has ten kings, and then the Antichrist arises among them and subdues three. Then the Fourth Beast Kingdom with “seven heads and ten horns” is lead by the Antichrist.

1. Fallen = Assyria

2. Fallen = Babylon

3. Fallen = Media

4. Fallen = Persia

5. Fallen = Greece

6. One is = Rome

7. Yet to come = Fourth Beast Kingdom with 7 heads and 10 horns

Therefore, the Fourth Beast Kingdom is the seventh kingdom of Revelation 17 which “has not yet come.” The Antichrist will be the seventh king since he will lead the seventh kingdom.

Let’s read how the seven kingdoms are also seven kings:

And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. (Revelation 17:9-10)

The Eighth King Becomes the Beast with “7 Heads and 10 Horns”

Returning again to the explanation of the mystery of the beast which has the “seven heads and ten horns,” we find there is even more information:

And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition (Revelation 17:11).

Remember, the False Prophet, “ was, and is not, and yet is;" and "shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition” (Revelation 17:8).

So, how is the False Prophet an eighth king who also belongs to the seven?

And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. (Revelation 13:11-13)

The False Prophet “exercised all the authority of the first beast.” The first beast is the Antichrist and the seventh king. Therefore, when the False Prophet assumes all the authority of the Antichrist, he will become “an eighth king” since he follows the seventh. Also, “[he] belongs to the seven” because he will be one of the seven.

The False Prophet is this "beast which has the seven heads and ten horns.”

The Green Reich

The Green Agenda

You don’t need to look in the shadows for the coming world government: it is standing right before your eyes. When they bring “order out of chaos,” the United Nations will be transformed and the final global empire will be born. So what events could possibly bring about the conditions that would allow the emergence of a one world government? I will briefly describe what I consider to be the most likely scenario:

Ezekiel 38 and 39 describe an attack on Israel by a coalition of Islamic nations and Russia. It seems that this conflict also involves other parts of the globe. The invading forces are completely destroyed by God’s divine intervention. The military power of Russia is annihilated, and Islam, which promised its believers a final ultimate victory, is shattered.

The world economy lies in total ruin. Significant areas of the planet are devastated. People everywhere are distraught and in despair. Emergency meetings are held at the United Nations where the blueprints for a new global system are presented and quickly adopted.

“We need a new beginning” they will say; “We all must change and renounce our old destructive ways.” Amazingly everything is already in place. The Earth Charter would be endorsed as a Planetary Constitution and the Security Council replaced with some new 'United Earth Council.' The world would be divided into 10 administrative regions with each one represented by an Earth Councillor.

The blame for the recent conflict, and many of the world's other problems, would be placed firmly on traditional religions. They would be swiftly outlawed and replaced by reverence for the earth itself. “We nearly destroyed Gaia!” they would say, “We nearly destroyed our own Mother!”

Over the last decade, the United Nations has brazenly been reinventing itself into a global government, striving to obtain the legal framework, financial resources, and grassroots support to implement its policies. As outlined in my preceding articles, it has effectively seized legal and regulatory control in many countries, through Agenda 21, and developed a Constitution, the Earth Charter, for its vision on a transformed global interdependent society.

In 1992 the UN formed a Commission on Global Governance charged with devising a system of future global management. Second in charge of the Commission, and lead author of its report, was Maurice Strong, with whom readers will be quite familiar by now. After several years of “extension consultation” with “world leaders, philosophers and futurologists,” the Commission produced a report entitled Our Global Neighbourhood...

One of the primary thrusts of 'Our Global Neighbourhood' was the formation of “regional blocs or unions to enhance political, economic and environmental security.” The report proposed that “Regional Neighbourhoods” be established, modeled closely on the successful example of the European Union.

Recent years have seen a large number of such regional unions emerging, or being strengthened, including the African Union, the Mediterranean Neighbourhood Partnership, the Gulf States Coalition, and the proposed North American Union.

The report also recommended a gradual reduction in the sovereignty of independent states, arguing strongly in favour of international “courts of accountability,” binding global agreements, and significantly enhancing the legal authority of the UN. Dr Robert Muller, Assistant Secretary-General of the UN and co-founder of UNESCO, clearly describes this UN plan for a new 'World Union:'

In my view, after fifty years of service in the United Nations system, I perceive the utmost urgency and absolute necessity for proper Earth government... There is no shadow of a doubt that the present political and economic systems—if systems they are—are no longer appropriate and will lead to the end of life evolution on this planet. We must therefore absolutely and urgently look for new ways. The less we loose time, the less species' and nature will be destroyed.

Since the United Nations is the only worldwide, universal organization that is presently available, since it had fifty years of valuable experience and many successes, and since it paved the way to proper Earth government (instead of putting it on the defensive, unjustified attacks and criticism, reduction of resources and non-payment of obligatory contributions) governments should honestly ask themselves if a better way would not be to consider a second generation United Nations upgraded by a true quantum jump into a proper Earth-preserving and human-well-being and justice-ensuring organization of our planet.

The continental approach to a world union remains an important avenue. One could conceive five continental unions: the European Union, an American, an African, an Asian, and an Australian Union. A World Union could be constructed as a super-structure and common political, economic and environmental instrument to achieve these objectives. - The Earth Charter in Action

This strategy appears to be based on the Club of Rome's proposal to divide the earth into 10 administrative regions, which they outlined in their report Mankind at the Turning Point. You can find their original map in my previous article on that topic. Interestingly, the UN is currently in the process of reviewing and reforming the organization, with particular emphasis on the Security Council.

Several alternative models have been proposed which will make the Council more 'representative and democratic.' One of these, the Italian Model, proposes replacing the current 10 seats held by individual nations with 10 seats representing 'regional unions,' two seats for Europe, three for Asia, etc. You can compare the different proposals here.

'Our Global Neighbourhood' concluded with 12 key recommendations which I have listed below, and it was these that caused such a furore that the rest of the report barely received a comment. The UN claimed that the report was merely a “visioning exercise” intended to generate discussion and did not represent official UN policy goals. The report was effectively shelved and the Commission was disbanded:

Consolidation of all international agencies under the direct oversight of the United Nations.

Regulation by the United Nations of all transnational organizations and financial institutions.

Independent source of revenue for the United Nations, and taxes on aircraft and shipping fuels, and licensing the use of the global commons.

Eliminate the veto power and the permanent member status on the Security Council.

Authorize a United Nations ready reaction force.

Require United Nations registration of all arms and the reduction of national armies as a part of a multilateral global security system under the authority of the United Nations.

Require individual and national compliance with all United Nations Human Rights treaties.

Activate the International Criminal Court, make the International Court of Justice compulsory for all nations, and give individuals the right to petition the courts to remedy social injustice.

Create a new institution to establish economic and environmental security by ensuring sustainable development.

Create a new international environmental court.

Adopt a declaration that climate change is an essential global security interest that requires the creation of a high-level action team to allocate carbon emission based on equal per-capita rights.

Cancellation of all debt owed by the poorest nations, global poverty reductions, and equitable sharing of global resources as allocated by the United Nations.

One of Kofi Annan’s first actions when he became Secretary-General of the United Nations was to appoint Maurice Strong as his Senior Policy Advisor. He then tasked Strong with preparing a plan to “reform the institution of the United Nations.”

In 2002, Strong produced a 95-page document entitled Renewing the United Nations: A Programme for Reform, which was basically a step-by-step program to implement many of the recommendations of 'Our Global Neighbourhood.' Many of these reforms have been slowly working their way through UN system. However, after Maurice Strong was indicted for his involvement in the Iraq Oil-for-Food scandal, he was forced by pressure from the United States to resign from his UN roles.

The reforms Strong designed are being implemented by the UN, but they have not been the transformation that he desired. It is the opinion of this author that the current bureaucratic and unwieldy structure of the United Nations is unlikely to ever deliver the “global interdependent society” that the Earth Charter, and the Green Movement, is fervently calling for. Most members of the general population are not motivated to change by mere words in a charter, and the majority are likely to resent further intrusion into their lives.

True fundamental change is most often born out of crisis. A common creed among the Green Agenda activists has long been “order out of chaos.” They believe that people from all nations will literally beg for their New World Order if it can promise safety and security at a time when people feel under personal imminent threat.

To once again quote the famous words of David Rockefeller:

“A New World Order is coming… all we need is the right major crisis.”

And remember, it was the Rockefeller family that donated the land on which the United Nations now stands.

Thus it seems far more likely that the UN itself will be transformed, most likely after some major international crisis which the UN is unable to prevent or respond to adequately. After all, the League of Nations was born after the first truly global crisis, World War 1, and then it was “reformed” into the United Nations following World War 2.

However there are some serious impediments to the implementation of the final phase of the Global Green Agenda:

Christianity – True Bible-believing Christians are very likely to resist the imposition of any system of global governance, especially if it based around an earth-centred religion. Christians realise that this earth is temporary and will soon pass away. The Bible specifically warns them that humans will eventually end up “worshipping the creature instead of the Creator.” However the leaders of certain denominations seem to have no problem with the Agenda. Pope Benedict proclaimed, during Live Earth that “environmental degradation is a sin, and global warming is a defilement of the Divine Will.”

Islam – Moslems are also likely to fiercely resist any New World Order that mandates a form of earth-worship. There are more than one billion followers of Islam, and they show remarkably little enthusiasm for accommodating New Age eco-theology into their doctrines. Hence it is likely that the power of Islam will have to be shattered before the Global Green Agenda can be fulfilled.

The United States of America – The USA has long been a bastion of individual liberty and freedom. Thank God George Bush defeated Al Gore in the 2000 Presidential election. If Gore had won, I have no doubt we would now be deep in the midst of the Green Reich. President Bush has bravely defended American sovereignty from the clutches of the global elitists. However this could soon change. If Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama is elected President it could well be the end of the American dream.

Communist China – The totalitarian Communist Party of China is very unlikely to relinquish much of its power to a new transformed United Nations. However, China is currently treading a precarious path. Its economic miracle is in fact a house of cards built on slave labour and artificially managed conditions. China is very vulnerable to an economic collapse, which could lead to a popular revolution or bankrupt the country.

Authoritarian Russia – Putin has established a tight authoritarian grip on Russia and is unlikely to bow willingly to a resurrected UN. However, Putin could soon be gone and a new Gorbachev could arise. Another possibility is that Russia could also once again lose its position as a global power broker through economic problems or war.

So, to quickly summarise, the activists behind the Global Green Agenda have established regulatory control in many societies through Agenda 21, they have written a Constitution for their transformed global society with the Earth Charter, and they have even described, in detail, how their new global system will operate in 'Our Global Neighbourhood.' However, several obstacles must be removed before the final phase of the Agenda, global governance based on a system of earth-worship, can be fulfilled:

Firstly, a situation must arise where otherwise apathetic, or even hostile, members of society will beg for a new global system. They must feel so personally threatened that they will eagerly give up their personal liberty for the promise of safety and security. 'Our Global Neighbourhood' said the surrender of liberty is "a principle that will yield only slowly and reluctantly to the imperatives of global environmental cooperation." In my opinion, global warming is currently being used as a conditioning tool with its fervent call for global unity to save a wounded planet.

Secondly, certain nations and religious groups are unlikely to accept a new global system that involves the loss of national sovereignty, the loss of individual liberty, and reverence for the earth as a divine being...

As David Rockefeller stated, “all we need is the right crisis.” Everything is now in place. They are just building momentum and waiting for the storm they know is coming. You don’t need to look in the shadows for the coming world government: it is standing right before your eyes. When they bring “order out of chaos,” the United Nations will be transformed and the final global empire will be born.