Something so powerful, so gigantic, that it is worshipped because of its vast military power; something that assays to fight the returning, conquering Christ at His coming is obviously a political, economic, and military power which exists at the very time of the end! But who? Where? The prophet Daniel saw it first, a monster which “devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it” (Daniel 7:7). Then John saw it, at the end of the first century; a seven-headed, ten-horned monster rising from the sea, blaspheming God, and making “war against the saints.” What is the Beast? Where did it first plant its feet? Where did it go? Follow, now, from the annals of history and from the pages of Bible prophecy, the tracks of the Beast, and come to understand its frightening prophetic significance for our time!

The beast John saw in vision seemed to rise out of an ocean. It had seven heads and ten horns. The horns featured ten crowns, while the heads were decorated with names which are blasphemous in God’s sight.

What is the meaning of this seven-headed, ten-horned creature?

John said, “And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear [strange feet indeed, for a leopard-like creature!], and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority” (Revelation 13:2).

John wrote what he saw, without comprehending all the meaning. As a reporter, or a biographer, he was faithfully recounting what he saw in a vision. A strange creature, indeed; terrible in aspect, threatening, powerful. The power and authority from this many-headed, many-horned composite creature came from a dragon.

What is meant by a “dragon”?

Dragons, purely mythological creatures, remind one of serpentine monsters with huge, bat-like wings; fierce heads with blazing, snake-like eyes; heavy, clawed feet like those of a crocodile; and rows of wickedly gleaming, sharply pointed teeth, breathing roaring tongues of fire from their mouths.

But we need not speculate about what is meant by the dragon which empowers the beast, for the Bible plainly tells us what it is: “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” (Revelation 12:7-9).

The dragon is a symbol for Satan.

Jesus Christ said, “I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven” (Luke 10:18). Satan is the “prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:2), and is “the god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4) who influences heads of state and leaders of false, counterfeit religions. He is “the accuser of the brethren” (Revelation 12:10), who, “as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8).

The many-headed, ten-horned beast is empowered and guided by Satan! As such, it is antichrist, against God, against His holy laws, His Sabbath days, and viciously, hatefully against His people, called the saints. It is against those who are performing the work of God on this earth.

Why did it look like a leopard? Why were its feet like those of a bear, and its head like that of a lion?

For centuries, Bible scholars have known that the prophecies of Daniel and those of John in the Apocalypse are inseparable; that one interprets the other.

To trace the tracks of the Beast from the time it first stood upon the earth until the time of the end, when it is said to “make war with the saints” and to fight Christ at His return, we must know what God revealed to Daniel.

Daniel, a Prophet Beloved of God

Daniel, together with three royal princes of the throne of Judah, were taken captive when Jerusalem fell to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. Who is not familiar with the story of “Daniel In the Lion’s Den,” which we were told as children? The book of Daniel contains lengthy pronouncements from Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, who not only fulfilled the prophecy of the first beast, but is symbolic of the whole system of pagan, gentile kingdoms under Satan, called “Babylon the Great” (Revelation 17:5), which is pictured as in collusion with a great false religious system, called the “mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.”

Daniel’s prophecy also contains a lengthy announcement from a heavenly messenger in chapters eleven and twelve; actual first-person quotations from an archangel of God.

The first chapter relates Daniel’s capture and his condition in captivity, and informs us God had given Daniel and the three princes “knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams” (Daniel 1:17).

The second chapter tells us of Nebuchadnezzar dream.

Daniel not only interpreted the dream, but God gave him the secret of what it was Nebuchadnezzar had dreamed: “Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee: and the form thereof was terrible [awesome; overpowering]. This image’s head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth” (Daniel 2:31-35).

To Nebuchadnezzar, the image towered into the sky! The brilliant reflections of gold, silver, and brass were dazzling. Like a comet falling, a stone then smashed into the feet of mixed iron and clay. As the image collapsed, the iron, brass, silver, and gold seemed to completely disintegrate, forming a vast pile of metallic dust. The wind blew, and the particles of metal were whisked away. Then, Nebuchadnezzar’s astonished mind seemed to see the stone which had smashed into the feet begin to grow larger until it seemed to literally fill the whole earth!

No wonder this Babylonian king was astonished. No wonder he was overcome with eager curiosity to learn what such a vision could mean!

Daniel said, “This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king. Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold” (Daniel 2:36-38).

Notice several important points:

(1) It was the Great Creator RULER God who had allowed Nebuchadnezzar to become a “king of kings,” having subjugated many other surrounding nations; taking their peoples captive, and forcing other governments to bow to his will. Daniel told this Babylonian king that it was God who decided the course of world events; who set up or deposed rulers.

(2) Nebuchadnezzar was the first real world dictator, for Daniel acknowledged that he ruled over the known, inhabited earth.

(3) Nebuchadnezzar was the “head of gold,” which meant that, as king, he stood for and represented the Babylonian kingdom. Notice the proof: “And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth” (Daniel 2:39).

King and kingdom were synonymous.

(4) Babylon epitomizes the Beast power down through history. The Babylonish “mystery” religion, handed down from Nimrod and his mother/wife, Semiramus, continues down through history, masquerading as “the one true church,” which controls the political and military power of the end-time Beast.

(5) The Apocalypse predicts that the final union of church and state that will fight Christ at His coming will be like an end-time Babylon. The “woman,” or false church which sits on the beast, is called “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.”

(6) Ancient Babylon was destroyed. Today, its ruins are a tourist attraction near Baghdad, Iraq. Yet, the Apocalypse says that the great city which represents the end-time Beast power and false church is nevertheless called Babylon. “I saw another angel come down from heaven…and he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils [demons], and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird…And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her….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” (Revelation 18:1-10).

When John received these prophecies, ancient Babylon had lain in utter ruin for approximately six hundred and thirty-nine years! This prophecy could not refer to ancient ruins, but to an end-time modern city which is called the “seat of the Beast,” or the capital city of the Beast power, which is ridden, or controlled, by the “mother of harlots,” arrayed in scarlet.

Thus, though Babylon, under Nebuchadnezzar, was the first of the four great world-ruling empires, the name of Babylon is permanently stamped upon the whole system, until the time of the Second Coming of Christ.

After predicting another kingdom, inferior to Babylon (the Medo-Persian Empire of history), and yet a third kingdom of brass (the Graeco-Macedonian Empire under Alexander), Daniel described the fourth kingdom, which was Rome: “And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise. And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken [“weak”: margin]. And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay. And in the days of these kings [the final ten kings, as pictured by the toes, cf. Revelation 17:12-14] shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever” (Daniel 2:40-44).

Obviously, though uttered thousands of years ago, this prophecy shows that there will be an end-time combine of ten nations represented by the ten toes of the great image who will be smashed into oblivion by the returning, conquering Christ!

It is called “Babylon the great” in the Apocalypse, yet is the end-time resurrection of what became the “Holy Roman Empire,” which will consist of ten nations. The ten horns of Revelation 17:12 are the same as the ten toes of the great image.

Now, let’s come to understand Daniel’s important seventh chapter, with his depiction of these same world-ruling kingdoms as beasts; three of them known creatures, and the fourth a surrealistic, satanic-looking creature, like no living animal.

Four Great Beasts

These remarkable prophecies, including Daniel’s God-given interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar dream, were uttered and later written long prior to 538 B.C., the time of the collapse of the Babylonian Empire. As the decades and centuries passed, it became clear, as a result of the rise and fall of city-states, nations, and empires, what was meant by the kingdoms of silver, brass, and iron and clay.

First, God revealed to Daniel the meaning of the king’s dream. Later, God gave Daniel a dream, which he carefully wrote down, and which forms chapter 7. This was during Belshazzar’s reign, nearing the end of the Babylonian supremacy.

“In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed: then he wrote the dream, and told the sum of the matters. Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of heaven strove upon the great sea. And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another. The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man’s heart was given to it. And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh. After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast also had four heads, and dominion was given unto it. After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it: and it had ten horns” (Daniel 7:1-7).

As we shall see, the end-time Beast portrayed in Revelation 13:1,2 embodies all the strongest characteristics of these beasts, and represents the culmination of all the gentile world-ruling kingdoms; governments ruled by men with minds like those of wild animals.

The First Beast-Like a Lion

The first beast, like a lion with eagle’s wings, which was “made stand upon the feet as a man,” and which had “a man’s heart” given unto it, represented Nebuchadnezzar, at the head of the first world-ruling empire in all history, Babylon.

Details of the seven years of Nebuchadnezzar insanity are given in Daniel 4.

Nebuchadnezzar became completely insane. The Bible says, “And he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles’ feathers, and his nails like birds’ claws” (Daniel 4:33).

For seven long years, this man who had been a powerful, war-making king, lived like a savage animal, his beard and hair no doubt matted with filth.

At the end of those seven years, his reason was returned to him by a miracle from God. “And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honored Him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom is from generation to generation: And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and He doeth according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest thou? At the same time my reason returned unto me; and for the glory of my kingdom, mine honour and brightness returned unto me; and my counsellors and my lords sought unto me; and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added unto me. Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and His ways judgment: and those that walk in pride He is able to abase” (Daniel 4:34-37).

Nebuchadnezzar’s insanity is a type of the infamous “times of the gentiles,” during which God would allow powerful pagan kingdoms to be ruled by men with minds like rapacious, wild, predatory beasts!

Dozens of infamous examples stand out in the history of gentile kingdoms: Atilla, Ghengis Khan, Alexander, the Caesars of Rome, Napoleon, Hitler, Stalin. There are dozens of other, lesser-known examples, like Antiochus Epiphanes, Laomedon, Ptolmey Soter, and Seleucus Nicator. Today, one thinks of despots like Saddam Hussein, Maomar Kadaffi, Pol Pot, Ho Chi Minh, and the late leader of North Korea, Kim Il Sung.

Such men implemented pogroms; committed mass murder and genocide; destroyed cities, villages, homes, and farms; deported helpless civilians. They raped and pillaged, burnt and destroyed, plundered and looted. As the Bible describes, they were more like “beasts” of the jungle than humane, civilized, caring human beings.

The first beast was Babylon, ruled by Nebuchadnezzar.

The Second Beast-Like a Bear

The Babylonian Empire was destroyed by Persian armies under Cyrus, probably in about October, 538 B.C. The second kingdom, represented by the chest and arms of silver in the great image, and by a bear (Daniel 7:5), ruled over the known world.

This was the kingdom of Medo-Persia, ruled by Cyrus “the Great.” Cyrus dated his years from 538 B.C., calling himself “king of Babylon and king of the countries,” meaning “king of the world.”

The remarkable prophecies of Isaiah 44 and 45 were written about 150 years before Cyrus was born, and yet mention him by name (Isaiah 45:1-6). In these two chapters, Cyrus was predicted to set the Jews free to rebuild the Temple, though the Temple had not yet been destroyed when Isaiah wrote the prophecies!

History positively confirms these astonishing prophecies, for it was Cyrus who allowed the captive Jews in Babylon, who had been taken there by Nebuchadnezzar, to return to Palestine.

Josephus, the famous and eminent Jewish historian, writes, “In the first year of the reign of Cyrus, which was the seventieth from the day that our people were removed out of their own land into Babylon, God commiserated the captivity and calamity of these poor people, according as he had foretold to them by Jeremiah the prophet, before the destruction of the city” (Antiquities of the Jews, 11.1.1).

Josephus then quotes a letter from Cyrus to Sisinnes and Sathrabizanes, in which we find preserved the statements of Cyrus himself: “I have given leave, to as many of the Jews as dwell in my country as please to return to their own country, and to rebuild their city, and to build the temple of God at Jerusalem, on the same place where it was before. I have also sent my treasurer Mithridates, and Zorobabel, the governor of the Jews, that they may lay the foundations of the temple, and may build it sixty cubits high, and of the same latitude, making three edifices of polished stones, and one of the wood of the country, and the same order extends to the altar, whereon they offer sacrifices to God” (Antiquities, 11.1.12,13).

Artaxerxes, who ruled over the Persian Empire after the death of Cyrus, issued two decrees using similar language during the days of Ezra and Nehemiah.

The decrees to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple help explain the famous “seventy weeks” prophecy of Daniel. As Halley says, “The date from which the 70 weeks [70 weeks of years, or 70 sevens of years, or 490 years] was to be counted was the decree to rebuild Jerusalem. There were three decrees issued by Persian kings for this purpose….The principal one of these was 457 B.C.

“The 70 weeks is subdivided into 7 weeks, 62 weeks, and 1 week (Daniel 9:25-27). It is difficult to see the application of the ‘7 weeks’; but the 69 weeks (including the 7) equal 483 days, that is, on the year-day theory (Ezekiel 4:6), which is the commonly accepted interpretation, 483 years” (Halley’s Bible Handbook, p. 349).

Halley then makes the mistake of forgetting to add one year in his calculations, for there is no year labeled “0,” and, unless one adds a year to account for both 1 B.C. and A.D. 1, the arithmetic is erroneous. Coming forward from 457 B.C., subtracting 457 from 483 years, one has 26 years, or 26 B.C. But this is incorrect by one year, for there are two years labeled “1” in the arithmetic. Adding the missing year brings us to A.D. 27, the true date for the beginning of the ministry of the Messiah, or the coming of the “Anointed One.”

Halley goes on to say, “Further, within 3 1/2 years Jesus was crucified, that is, ‘in the midst of the one week’ ‘the Anointed One’ was ‘cut off,’ ‘purged away sin and brought in everlasting righteousness’” (ibid.).

To understand the correct date is vitally important, for it was only in A.D. 31, exactly three and one-half years after the beginning of Christ’s ministry in the autumn of 27, that the Passover of Nisan 14 fell on a Wednesday evening, with the first day of Unleavened Bread, the “high day” Sabbath (John 19:31) falling on our Thursday.

The Messiah was to be “cut off in the midst of the week.” He was in two senses: First, He was crucified on a Wednesday, not a Friday, and was to be precisely three days AND three nights in the tomb (Matthew 12:40). He was resurrected on a late Sabbath afternoon, which is why “while it was yet dark, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week,” Jesus’ tomb was already empty (Matthew 28:1).

Second, Christ was cut off after a three and one-half year ministry, out of a prophesied seven-year ministry. The second half of His ministry is waiting to be fulfilled (Isaiah 66:19).

Halley continues: “Thus Daniel foretold not only the Time at which the Messiah would appear, but also the Duration of His Public Ministry, and his Atoning Death for Human Sin” (ibid.).

One of the great proofs that there is a God is fulfilled prophecy. Daniel, who lived during the reigns of perhaps five Babylonian kings, was inspired to foretell the collapse of Babylon; the rise and fall of the Medo-Persian Empire, depicted by the breast and arms of silver, and by the bear-like beast of Daniel 7; the rise of the Graeco-Macedonian kingdom of Alexander the Great, and its disintegration into four separate kingdoms; then the rise of the Roman Empire, with its many successive kingdoms, down through history until our modern time!

Halley says, of the four beasts of Daniel 7, “This is a continuation of the prophecy of chapter 2, which was uttered 60 years earlier: ‘two aspects of one grand scheme of history’: Four World Empires, and then the Kingdom of God. In chapter 2 these are represented by an Image with a Head of Gold, a Breast of Silver, Thighs of Brass, and Feet of Iron, broken in pieces by a Stone. In this chapter [7] these same World Empires are represented as a Lion, a Bear, a Leopard and a Terrible Beast.

“These Four World Empires are commonly taken to be Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome…, representing the period from Daniel to Christ. These Beasts seem to form the basis of the imagery of the Seven-Headed, Ten-Horned Beast of Revelation 13” (ibid., p. 346).

The Third Beast-Like a Leopard

The third, leopard-like beast, which had “four wings of a fowl” on its back, represented Alexander’s Graeco-Macedonian Empire.

A tremendous amount of literature exists about the time of Alexander, who was a student of Aristotle. He was the son of Philip II of Macedon, and his mother, named Olympus, was reportedly a “woman of half-wild blood, weird, visionary and terrible.” A careful study of this infamous man’s life helps one understand, in part, what strange influences drove him to do what he did.

Alexander conquered the known world, leading his Greek, Macedonian, Spartan, and other troops into the faraway lands of modern-day Iraq and Iran, into India, through Palestine, and into Egypt (where the city now known as “Alexandria” was established by him). He was an absolutely fearless general, once leaping over the walls of an hostile village filled with barbarous forces with only three of his men, and suffering nearly fatal wounds as a result.

Alexander besieged Tyre for seven long months. When the city fell, after Alexander had built a causeway to breach its sea-bound walls, he utterly destroyed it, and “had the old Tyrian people scattered to the winds, 30,000 sold as slaves” (Encyclopedia Britannica, eleventh edition, vol. 1, p. 547).

Early in the siege of Tyre, Sanballat, Manasseh’s father-in-law, gathered seven thousand of his subjects in Samaria, who had earlier professed loyalty to Darius, and approached Alexander. He argued that it would be to Alexander’s advantage to have the strength of the Jews divided into two parts, and urged him to build a temple on Mount Gerizzim, the highest point in Samaria, near Schechem.

Alexander granted this request. After the fall of Tyre, Alexander marched on Gaza. Shortly, he turned toward Jerusalem.

The high priest in Jerusalem, Jaddua, was terrified. He ordered the people to make supplications and offer sacrifice to God so God would spare them and the city. After he had offered sacrifice, he had a vivid dream, in which he saw himself and the priests opening the city, decorating it, and advancing to meet the Macedonian general in their priestly robes.

They halted on a high prospect, where Alexander saw them. Josephus writes, “For Alexander, when he saw the multitude at a distance in white garments, while the priest stood clothed with fine linen, and the high priest in purple and scarlet clothing, with his mitre on his head, having the golden plate whereon the name of God was engraved, he approached by himself, and adored that name, and first saluted the high priest” (Antiquities of the Jews, 11.8.5).

Alexander’s army was displeased. Among them were Phoenicians and Chaldeans, as well as other races. Alexander’s highest officer and personal aide, Parmenio, approached him and asked, “How is it, that when all adore you, you adore the high priest of the Jews?”

Alexander replied, “I did not adore him, but that God who hath honored him with his high priesthood; for I saw this very person in a dream, in this very habit, when I was at Dios, in Macedonia, who, when I was considering with myself how I might obtain the dominion of Asia, exhorted me to make no delay, but boldly to pass over the sea thither, for that he would conduct my army, and would give me the dominion over the Persians; whence it is that, having seen no other in that habit, and now seeing this person in it, and remembering that vision, and the exhortation which I had in my dream, I believe that I bring this army under the divine conduct, and shall therewith conquer Darius, and destroy the power of the Persians, and that all things will succeed according to what is in my own mind” (ibid.).

Alexander triumphantly entered Jerusalem, accompanied by the high priest and his entire entourage. He offered sacrifice in the Temple.

This remarkable occurrence, wherein two separate dreams caused the city of Jerusalem to be spared, can only be understood as the divine intervention of God. Alexander treated the priests with “magnificence,” and, when the high priest had showed him how to sacrifice, he also showed him the book of Daniel, “wherein Daniel declared one of the Greeks should destroy the empire of the Persians, he supposed that himself was the person intended” (ibid.).

The prophecy of Daniel shown to Alexander was Daniel 8, in which Daniel saw “an he goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground: and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes. And he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing before the river, and ran unto him in the fury of his power. And I saw him come close to the ram, and he was moved with choler against him, and smote the ram, and brake his two horns: and there was no power in the ram to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground, and stamped upon him: and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand” (Daniel 8:5-7).

Later, an archangel told Daniel the meaning of his dream: “Now as he was speaking with me, I was in a deep sleep on my face toward the ground: but he touched me, and set me upright. And he said, Behold, I will make thee know what shall be in the last end of the indignation: for at the time appointed the end shall be. The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia. And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king” (Daniel 8:18-21).

Thus, Alexander read a prophecy about himself that had been written two hundred years earlier. He was no doubt greatly encouraged by his dream and his encounter with the high priest, and having been shown the book of Daniel, he marched unopposed to meet Darius near Nineveh.

“Alexander came within sight of the Persian host without having met any opposition since he quitted Tyre. He had now to settle the most serious problem which had yet faced him, for in the plains the Persian army was formidable by sheer bulk” (Encyclopedia Britannica, eleventh edition, vol 1, p. 547).

But Alexander’s tactics proved too much for the ponderous Persian phalanx, wherein massed troops formed a human wedge, with shields, spears, and swords. Alexander’s horsemen and footmen launched attack after attack against the flanks and rear of the Persians, throwing them into confusion.

This was the famous battle named after Arbela, even though it was some sixty miles distant from the actual battlefield. Darius fled eastward into Media, and Alexander then marched on into Babylon, Susa, and Iran, discovering the treasure houses of the Persian Empire, and looting them.

In his overthrow of the Persian Empire, Alexander was aided by the chance (?) lunar eclipse of September 20, 331 B.C. “In the spring of 331 Alexander could at last leave the Mediterranean to strike into the heart of the Persian empire, for by his occupation of the coasts the Persian command of the sea had inevitably collapsed. Returning through Syria, and stopping at Tyre [from Gaza and Egypt] to make final arrangements for the conquered provinces, he traversed Mesopotamia and struck the Tigris some four marches above the site of Nineveh. It was near Nineveh that Darius [the Mede] was waiting with the immense host which a supreme effort could muster from all parts of the empire. The happy coincidence of a lunar eclipse gives us the 20th of September 331 as the exact day upon which the Macedonian army crossed the Tigris. Alexander came within sight of the Persian host without having met with any opposition since he quitted Tyre” (ibid., p. 547).

Like all despots, Alexander had many officers and governors throughout his kingdom who continually plotted against him. Little did he know that his kingdom would be divided up into four kingdoms even before his body was buried.

As Daniel foretold, “After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl: the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given unto it” (Daniel 7:6). True to this prophecy, Alexander’s kingdom was divided up into four kingdoms shortly after his death.

Always a man with vast and endless vision, Alexander wanted to discover whether there was a connection between the Caspian Sea and the Northern Ocean, and also determine whether there was a maritime route from Babylon (near modern Baghdad, Iraq) to Egypt, around Arabia.

He decided to build a vast fleet for his army to do just that. A great basin was dug at the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, near Babylon, which could contain 1,000 ships.

Finally, after many reorganizations and innovations which would improve his army, all was ready. Alexander intended embarking on the 20th of the month Daesius, with his vast fleet.

But on the 15th and 16th, he “caroused deep into the night at the house of the favourite Medius. On the 17th he developed fever; for a time he treated it as a momentary impediment to the expedition: but on the 27th his speech was gone, and the Macedonian army were suffered to pass man by man through his chamber to bid him farewell. On the 28th (? June 13) Alexander died” (Encyclopedia Britannica, eleventh edition, vol. 1, p. 549).

Alexander’s kingdom disintegrated immediately.

Josephus writes, “Now when Alexander, king of Macedon, had put an end to the dominion of the Persians, and had settled the affairs of Judea after the aforementioned manner, he ended his life; and as his government fell among many, Antigonus obtained Asia; Seleucus [Nicator] Babylon; and of the other nations which were there, Lysimachus governed the Hellespont, and Cassander possessed Macedonia; as did Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, seize upon Egypt” (Antiquities of the Jews, 12.1.1,2).

Then followed a period of protracted warfare between the Seleucid dynasty of Syria, and the Ptolemys of Egypt, a lesser dynasty of Pharaohs.

The Seleucid dynasty began with Seleucus Nicator, a Macedonian, who was one of Philip’s generals. When he was about twenty three, he accompanied Alexander into Asia (333 B.C.).

Daniel 11 is amazingly detailed, dealing with a protracted period of time, from the first year of Darius the Mede to the “time of the end” when the final “king of the north” will invade Palestine. Chapter 12 begins with the time of the Great Tribulation prophesied by Jesus Christ, and concludes with a prophecy of the setting up of the Abomination of Desolation.

Looking back at world history from our modern perspective, we need not indulge in idle speculation or fantastic prophetic scenarios. Instead, we can look at what actually happened from the time of ancient Babylon until the present.

World history proves that which practically all Bible scholars and commentaries agree upon; that Nebuchadnezzar’s visionary image represented the four successive world-dominating empires from Babylon to Rome. These facts are not open to argument or fanciful, imaginary interpretation.

Dozens of historical sources corroborate Daniel’s prophecies. The identity of the four successive world-ruling empires is utterly without question; substantiated by the great events of history. Never forget, then, that the fourth and final beast, which answers exactly to the feet and ten toes of the image, represents ROME, not some backward, impoverished, insignificant Middle Eastern country populated by Arabs. It was to continue down through history until an end-time “resurrection” of the Roman Empire occurred.

The Fourth Beast and the Time Setting of Daniel 7

Now, notice how Daniel’s prophecies of the fourth beast, which is identified as Rome, repeatedly culminate in the setting up of Christ’s kingdom, just as chapter 2 shows how the ten toes of the whole Babylonish system are smashed by the “stone cut out without hands,” which is the returning, conquering Christ:

After describing the dreadful fourth beast with iron teeth, Daniel wrote, “I considered the horns [ten horns], and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man [it depicts a human leader], and a mouth speaking great things. I beheld till the thrones were cast down [some scholars believe this should read “were placed,” referring to Christ’s kingdom (Revelation 20:4)], and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head like the pure wool: His throne was like the fiery flame, and His wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him: thousand thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened” (Daniel 7:8-10).

Horns are symbols of human leaders of governments. Notice that Daniel describes the Ancient of Days almost exactly as does John, who saw the glorified Christ in vision: “And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and His eyes were as a flame of fire; And His feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and His voice as the sound of many waters” (Revelation 1:13-15).

Some commentaries think the Ancient of Days described in Daniel 7:8-10 is the Father, rather than Christ, because they see only the Father as conducting the Great White Throne Judgment (Revelation 20:11). Whether it refers to Christ or the Father, it is obvious it refers to the time of the setting up of the Kingdom of God on earth, after the “little horn” succeeds in overthrowing the first of the ten succeeding kingdoms. Daniel continued, “I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame” (Daniel 7:11).

When is the Beast slain?

“And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and He that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness doth He judge and make war….And He hath on His vesture and on His thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS….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. And the beast was taken [seized; arrested], 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” (Revelation 19:11-20).

This passage, near the end of the Bible, graphically depicts the Second Coming of Christ. One of the very first things He will do is hurl the Beast and the False Prophet¯two evil, demoniacal, cruel human leaders¯into a lake of fire.

The False Prophet is the infamous Antichrist, the head of a great, false religious system, called Mystery, Babylon the Great (Revelation 17:5).

Now, notice how Daniel saw, again and again, how the dreadful fourth beast, which is Rome, and the little horn, which is the papacy, continue until the time of the Second Coming of Christ, and the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth: “I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man [Christ] came with the clouds of heaven [cf. Matthew 24:30; 1 Thessalonians 4:17], and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought Him near before Him. And there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve Him: His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed” (Daniel 7:13,14).

For the second time in only five verses, Daniel 7, which depicts the four successive world-ruling empires, culminates in the Second Coming of Christ, and the setting up of Christ’s millennial reign on this earth.

Notice the next example: “These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth. But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever” (Daniel 7:17,18).

Daniel then wrote, “Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and his nails of brass: which devoured, and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet: And the ten horns that were in his head, and of the other which came up, and before whom three fell; even of that horn that had eyes [the little horn,], and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows. I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them: Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom” (Daniel 7:19-22).

So the fourth beast is a continuing system, along with the little horn with eyes like a man, who speaks great things, and who persecutes God’s true church¯the saints! It continues, along with the little horn, until the setting up of God’s kingdom on earth (Isaiah 2; Micah 4; Isaiah 11; Revelation 20:4).

Now, we have seen three examples in this ancient prophecy, written before the rise of the Persian Empire, of how the prophecy continues until the time of the Second Coming of Christ.

Notice another: “Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall arise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. 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. But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end. And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him” (Daniel 7:23-27).

Again, here is absolute proof that the little horn which plucks up by the roots three of the first ten horns, continues until the time of the Second Coming of Christ and establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth.

These scriptures also demonstrate that the ten horns of Daniel 7 are ten successive governments¯ten revivals of the Beast system down through history. How remarkable that Daniel’s prophecies, written five hundred and thirty-eight years before the time of Christ, should be so specifically detailed, so accurate! Christ Himself referred to Daniel’s prophecies when He said, “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place…Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains….For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be” (Matthew 24:15-21).

Who, or What, Is the “Little Horn”?

Now, what is the identity of the little horn which had eyes like a man, a mouth speaking great things, names of blasphemy, and which will think to change times and laws; a little horn that terribly persecutes God’s saints, makes war against them¯engaging in every kind of brutality and mass murder?

Referring to this little horn or the “other horn” of Daniel 7, Halley says, “The ‘Other Horn’ (8, 20, 24, 25), which should arise among the Ten Horns, is a combination of the Leopard Beast and Lamb Beast of Revelation 13. The ‘three kings’ which he displaced (8, 24), are thought to refer to Lombards, Ravenna and Rome, which were handed over to the Popes as the beginning of their Temporal Kingdom, (A.D. 754)…The ‘other horn’ (8, 20, 24, 25) possibly refers to Antichrist” (Halley’s Bible Handbook, pp 346-7, emphasis added).

There is much disagreement about which three governments were “plucked up by the roots” by the little horn, which is identified as the papacy. Some believe they were the Vandals, Ostragoths, and the Heruli. The important point is that this little horn, which is seen to have a “look stouter than its fellows,” and which specifically is identified as persecuting and making war against the saints of God, functions as a state. It is a government, with the power to overthrow other governments.

Writing of the little horn of Daniel 7, the Critical and Experimental Commentary by Jamieson, Faucett, and Brown, says, “And the ten horns¯answering to the ten ‘toes’ (ch. ii. 41). out of this kingdom¯it is out of the fourth kingdom that the ten others arise, whatever exterior territory any of them possess (Rev. xiii.1; xvii.12). and another shall arise after them…Antichrist rises after their rise, at first ‘little’ (v. 8): but after destroying three of the ten he becomes greater than them all (vv. 20,21). The three being gone, he is the eighth (cf. Rev. xvii.11); a distinct head, and yet ‘of the seven.’ As the previous world-kingdoms had their representative heads¯Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar; Persia, Cyrus; Greece, Alexander¯so the fourth kingdom and its Antichrists shall have their evil concentrated in the one final Antichrist” (vol. 4, p. 422).

Notice carefully that the time period of “time, times, and half a time” are mentioned in both Daniel 7:25, and Daniel 12:5-7. That a literal three and one-half years is meant is inescapable in the book of Revelation, since its setting is during the time of the end. Some have thought the persecutions of the saints would take place during 1,260 years, on the “day-year” theory (Ezekiel 4:6).

But there is no doubt whatever that a literal three and one-half years is the period of ascendancy for the latter day Beast and the “image of the Beast.”

John wrote, “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” (Revelation 13:1). It was only after the little horn had overthrown the first three of the ten, leaving seven, that the title “holy” was attached to the whole governmental system.

“And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard [its overall bodily characteristics were lithe, sinewy, powerful, like a leopard¯reference to Alexander’s kingdom], and his feet were as the feet of a bear [referring to the strongest characteristics of a bear; the powerful paws, which can roll over huge rocks, smash logs, or disembowel a large range animal; reference to Cyrus’ Medo-Persian empire], and his mouth as the mouth of a lion [reference to the huge head of a male lion; its powerful jaws¯depicting Nebuchadnezzar Babylonian kingdom]: and the dragon [Satan] gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.

“And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death [this was the collapse of the Roman Empire in A.D. 476]; and his deadly wound was healed [the restoration of the Roman Empire in A.D. 554]: 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 [1,260 days, or three and one-half years]. 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” (Revelation 13:1-7).

This is nothing short of state worship; a gigantic socio-economic, military, and industrial power which evokes awe and worship among its citizens; which rises to such power and prestige that it is a true world power.

Thus is the description of John, which he saw in vision of the final, end-time Beast, which embodies all the strongest characteristics of the first three beasts: Babylon, Persia, and Graeco-Macedonia.

But who is the “spokesman” for this system? Who is it who blasphemes God, and persecutes God’s people?

“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” (Revelation 13:11). Here is a government, which appears, outwardly, “Christ-like,” for it has lamb-like characteristics. Yet, it speaks as directly motivated by Satan. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him…” (verse 12). So this lamb-like beast, which is counterfeit Christianity, utilizes the economic, industrial, and military power of the civil government; the first beast of Revelation 13, which is the end-time Beast which will fight Christ at His coming (Revelation 19:19,20).

“And causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed [this is state worship]. 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 [a replica; a copy; an exact counterpart] to the beast, which had the wound by the sword, and did live” (Revelation 13:11-14).

This is obviously an ecclesiastical government, under a human leader. It corresponds to the “mystery of iniquity” foreseen by the apostle Paul in his warning to the church in Thessalonica. He wrote, “For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth [restrains] will let [restrain], until he be taken out of the way [or: “until it arise in the midst,” or “become to be”]. 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 2:7-9).

So the image of the Beast is obviously an ecclesiastical government patterned after the Roman civil government, headed by a human leader who will eventually have satanic powers to produce awe-inspiring miracles, signs, and wonders¯thus deceiving countless millions.

This will be a combination of church and state, the two cooperating fully. “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 13:15).

The ancient Roman government was organized into political spheres called the great diocese and the diocese. There was the “collegia.” Which great universal church has the same governmental pattern today?

The little horn of Daniel 7 represents the papacy, as does the lamb-like beast of Revelation 13. The “man of sin” (2 Thessalonians 2:3-9) and the False Prophet of Revelation 19:20 are one and the same, commonly called the Antichrist.

Writing of the papacy, Halley says, “The Papacy is an Italian Institution. It arose on the ruins of the Roman Empire, in the name of Christ occupying the throne of the Caesars; a Revival of the Image of the Roman Empire inheriting the Spirit thereof; ‘the Ghost of the Roman Empire come to life in the garb of Christianity.’ The Popes have mostly been Italians.

“The Papacy’s Methods: It brought itself to power through the prestige of Rome, and the Name of Christ, and by shrewd political alliances, and by deception, and by armed force; and by Armed Force and Bloodshed has maintained itself in power.

“Papal Revenues: Through a large part of its history the Papacy, by the sale of ecclesiastical office, and its shameless traffic in Indulgences, has received vast revenues that enabled it to maintain, for much of the time the most luxurious Court in Europe” (Halley’s Bible Handbook, p. 783).

The lengthy article by Halley (pp. 757-804) is well worth reading, for it represents a brief synopsis of the gradual development of the Roman Catholic Church, lists all popes since the bishop of Rome began to assert his sole power over the church in about A.D. 500, and explores the Protestant Reformation.

The Roman Empire

The fourth beast with great iron teeth represents the Roman Empire from its founding until the time of the end when a final, ten-nation resurrection of the same system will fight Christ at His return.

Rome was founded, according to historical legend, by Romulus. Romulus’ name, when adding up the Roman numerical value of the letters, adds up to 666, as does “Lateinos,” which became the common language of the Roman Empire, and the language of the great universal church which has its seat in Rome.

Romulus was represented as the “son of Mars” by the Vestal Rhea Silvia, or Ilia, daughter of Numitor.
Romulus was the twin of Remus, born to Silvia. The legend has it they were placed in a trough and cast into the Tiber River by their grandfather. The trough then ground in the marshes under a wild fig tree, and the two children were, according to the myth, “suckled by a she-wolf” and “fed by a woodpecker.”

There is a massive amount of literature available about the Roman Empire, from the founding of the city of Rome through history until the present. Study the accompanying chart, and notice the names of the leaders of the Holy Roman Empire down through time.

Now, with the many prophecies of Daniel and Revelation 13 in mind, let’s understand the true meaning of the end-time Beast of the Apocalypse.

The Ten-Horned Beast of the Apocalypse

John saw a woman sitting astride a monstrous beast. Notice how he described what he saw: “And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials [of God’s wrath; see Revelation 16:1], and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, 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” (Revelation 17:1-5).

The woman symbolizes a great false church; a church which rules over kings and governments; a church which has political intercourse with the civil governments of this world. She has daughters, which came from her, and are also called “harlots.”

As we saw in Daniel 7, the little horn was depicted as continually making war with the saints. Notice that her colors are purple and scarlet¯the colors, traditionally, of harlotry¯and that she is decked with splendor; gold, precious stones and pearls.

John wrote, “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 [awe]” (Revelation 17:6).

Many, many books, such as Fox’s Book of Martyrs, and Hislop’s The Two Babylons, detail the sickening facts of centuries of murders and vast persecutions which have occurred.

Halley says, of Innocent III (1198-1216), “Most Powerful of all the Popes. Claimed to be ‘Vicar of Christ,’ ‘Vicar of God,’ ‘Supreme Sovereign over the Church and the World.’ Claimed the right to Depose Kings and Princes; and that ‘All things on earth and in heaven and in hell are subject to the Vicar of Christ.’

“He brought the church into Supreme Control of the State. The Kings of Germany, France, England, and practically all the Monarchs of Europe obeyed his will. He even brought the Byzantine Empire under his control. Never in history has any one man exerted more power.

“He ordered Two Crusades. Decreed Transubstantiation. Confirmed Auricular Confession. Declared that Peter’s successor ‘can never in any way depart from the Catholic faith.’ Papal Infallibility. Condemned the Magna Charta. Forbade the Reading of the Bible in vernacular. Ordered the Extermination of Heretics. Instituted the Inquisition. Ordered the Massacre of the Albigenses. More Blood was Shed under his direction, and that of his immediate successors, than in any other period of Church History, except in the Papacy’s effort to Crush the Reformation in the 16th and 17th centuries. One would think Nero, the Beast, had come to life in the Name of the Lamb” (Halley’s Bible Handbook, p. 776).

Writing of the infamous Inquisition, Halley states, “The Inquisition was the main agency in the Papacy’s effort to Crush the Reformation. It is stated that in the 30 years between 1540 and 1570 no fewer than 900,000 Protestants were put to death in the Pope’s war for the extermination of the Waldenses….

“Think of Monks and Priests, in holy garments, directing, with Heartless Cruelty and Inhuman Brutality, the work of Torturing and Burning alive Innocent Men and Women, and doing it in the Name of Christ, by the direct order of the ‘Vicar of Christ’” (ibid., p. 777).

Chillingly, as we shall soon see, God’s Word prophesied an end-time martyrdom of saints; a time in the future when the Abomination of Desolation will be seated in the “holy place” in Jerusalem; Jerusalem will be surrounded with armies, and the Great Tribulation will have begun. For a lengthy, in-depth understanding of the coming events, read our booklet “MIDEAST STRIFE—Will It Lead To ARMAGEDDON?“. It details many events occurring now on the world scene, including vitally important information about Jerusalem and the Middle East; about the potential for the construction of another temple there, and whether or not another major war is coming in the Middle East.

Many prophecies describe martyrdoms which are coming in the time of the end. Yet, millions of people believe there will be a rapture of the saints which will occur before the Great Tribulation, so there will be no martyrdoms! Which is right: Daniel 7, Revelation 13, and the prophecies of Christ Himself, or those who believe in a “rapture”?

John continued describing his vision, “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 [an “abyss”], and go into perdition [it will be the last “beast”; going into final destruction, or 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 17:7,8).

What a remarkable prophecy! Right now, today, in our time, this prophecy is being fulfilled! Today, the successive “beasts” of history are simply gone! The beast “was,” in the past. It emerged time and time again, from the time of Nebuchadnezzar to Cyrus, to Alexander, to ancient Rome, to Constantine, to Otto the Great, to Bismark, and to Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, and the Holy Roman Empire Mussolini declared during World War II.

But with the defeat of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy in World War II, the Beast power descended into a figurative abyss. Today, there is no great visible coalition of ten powerful governments, situated where the Roman Empire and the Holy Roman Empire was always situated, in the heartland of Europe. Never before in history has there been a time when the prophecy of Revelation 17 was exactly current.

Why?

Daniel heard and saw incredible visions of the great beasts of prophecy. Yet, he did not understand. He wanted to know the meaning of all he saw and heard. He said, “And I heard, but I understood not: then said, I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? And He said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end” (Daniel 12:8).

For centuries, men have tried to understand the mysterious symbols of Daniel and the Apocalypse. But the meaning eluded them. God had closed the prophecies; sealed them by “concluding them all in unbelief,” until the time of the end.

Notice further: “Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried: but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand” (Daniel 12:10).

Now is the time for the wise to understand the visions of Daniel and the Apocalypse; for God’s people to watch world events, and to be forewarned (Luke 21:36; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4).

When John was transported forward in time into our day, now, in vision, he wrote, “The Revelation [not the concealing, or the “mystery”] of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him to shew unto His servants those things which must shortly come to pass; and He sent and signified it by His angel unto His servant John” (Revelation 1:1).

It is astonishing, but true! We are living in the day, right now, when the great BEAST of the Apocalypse “was, and is not, and yet is” (Revelation 17:8). This prophecy could not have been understood in its current relevant sense even during World War II. It would not have been currently relevant at any time in history until our day, now!

Today, the final great Beast of the Apocalypse has not yet emerged. It is ready to form¯to come out of the bottomless pit, which is metaphor¯but it is not yet visible.

Europe has made many major steps toward uniting, as we have continually warned for decades! The pope has called for a “United Europe from the Urals to the Atlantic,” but no such complete political unity has yet been achieved.

Following the defeat of Nazi Germany and Italy, because of the threat of world communism and Red Russia, the United States adopted the Marshal Plan, to rebuild Germany.

For many decades, we warned of where this would eventually lead. We spoke of the reunification of Germany, and the creation of a “United States of Europe,” back in the 1950s, throughout the decades of the ‘60s and ‘70s. Germany would rise from the ashes of defeat, and once again become the dominant power in Europe, we said. That has happened!

Never in history has there been anything like the incredible collapse of the former Soviet Union, and the toppling of communist governments in East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary, Rumania, and Bulgaria in rapid-fire succession, within only months!

It was a staggering series of events.

When I knew the Berlin Wall was coming down, I rushed to Germany to do special television programs. I began writing, from Berlin, a special edition for our magazine, which was published in January, 1990, entitled “New Order Coming In Germany.”

In that article, I reprinted over fifty quotations from our magazines and radio and television programs over the preceding years, demonstrating how consistently we had predicted the reunification of Germany and the rise, eventually, of a modern-day “Holy Roman Empire,” perhaps called “The United States of Europe.”

As the Western Allies began rebuilding Germany as a bulwark against world communism, the terrible years of the Cold War began. For many years I said, dozens of times, “the last chapter of European history has not been written.” Early on, Europeans began moving toward greater economic cooperation. First came the European Coal and Steel community; then Euromart, then the European Economic Union, which exists today. There is a European Parliament, and the ECU, a Common European Currency. But there are more than ten nations presently allied with the European Community, including Britain.

The final ten-nation Beast will not necessarily include some of the nations of the European Community of today. Likely, it will include mostly the Catholic countries of Europe, and not Britain, which is Anglican, or the Church of England.

As never before, in these increasingly troublous times in which you live, you need to be informed about the coming Great Tribulation; about where in the Bible our peoples in the English-speaking world are identified in prophecy; about what major events we should be alerted to which will mean the Tribulation is almost upon us.

The Beast power could arise and be visible in a matter of only weeks, or months, or a few years! There will be major stimuli which will bring it about; wars, especially another big war in the Middle East, which would threaten European oil supplies; a collapse of the global economic system, which would give rise to violent overthrow of present governments, and the rise of despotism¯dictatorships!

Today, Europe gets 46 percent of its precious oil supplies from the Persian Gulf. Japan gets 70 percent. The United States, while about 50 percent dependent on imported oil, receives 17 percent from the Gulf. A major war in that region would spell catastrophe for the big industrial powers. They would all become involved! They would have no other choice¯just as the Bush government, which put together a coalition of forces to drive Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait.

That war was about oil, as everyone knows. Another war in that region would be about the same thing. Be sure to read our major booklet entitled “MIDEAST STRIFE—Will It Lead To ARMAGEDDON?”  You simply must read this important booklet in order to understand!

Now, notice again John’s prophecies about the final, end-time Beast of the Apocalypse: “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 of the seven, and goeth into perdition” (Revelation 17:9-11).

The little horn uprooted the first three of the ten horns, or ten governments, revealed in Daniel 7. That left seven. The one that is “yet to come” is the eighth system, yet is “of the seven,” or like them in every respect. The eighth consists of a final ten government system which will coalesce into the Beast power.

“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” (Revelation 17:12).

Writing of the seven heads and ten horns, Halley’s Bible Handbook has an interesting comment: “The Dragon had them (12:3). The Leopard-Lamb-Beast had them (13:1). And here the Harlot-Beast, Babylon, has them. They are understood to symbolize World-Government.

“‘Babylon’ is stated to be the great city reigning over the kings of the earth (17:18), which, at the time, was Rome. Rome is further identified in the expression, ‘The Seven Heads are Seven Mountains on which the Woman sits’ (17:9): for Rome, literally, was built on Seven Mountains, and was known as the ‘Seven-Hilled City’….

“‘An eighth is of the seven,’ (17:11). This looks like a Revival of the Beast, after the Seven Heads and Ten Horns have passed, perhaps pointing to the Final Form Antichrist will assume” (p. 731).

The Critical And Experimental Commentary says: “That a personal antichrist will head the anti-christian kingdom, is likely, from the analogy of Antiochus Epiphanes, the Old Testament antichrist, the ‘little horn’ (Dan. viii. 9-12); ‘the son of perdition’ (2 Thess. ii. 3-8), answers to ‘goeth into perdition,’ and is applied to an individual, Judas, in the only other passage where it occurs (John xvii. 12). He is a child of destruction, and has but a little time ascended out of the bottomless pit, when he ‘goes into perdition’ (vv. 8,11)….The eighth [beast] is not merely one of the seven….At the same time, there are not eight, but only seven heads, for the eighth is the embodiment of all the God-opposed features of the seven….He does not fall like the other seven (v. 10), but is destroyed, going to his own perdition, by the Lord in person” (Jameison, Faucet, and Brown, vol. VI, p. 712).

Remember, the woman, which is the great false church, over which Antichrist rules, rides upon, or controls the beast. It is a church-state union which is described by John; the False Prophet using the power of ten kings; meaning their economic and military power, for his own purposes.

Notice that the final ten-nation combine exists for a very short time, called “one hour,” and is the last beast, for it “goes into perdition.” It is the Beast power which will fight Christ at His return (Revelation 19:19,20).

John continued, “These have one mind [one overall strategy; one purpose, or plan they are in complete agreement], and shall give their power and strength unto the beast” (Revelation 17:13).

The power and strength of a king is the total power of his people, his economy, his industrial infrastructure, his raw materials, and his military. It is absolute, despotic power, not limited by the “checks and balances” of a democratic system of government.

“These [the final ten kings, or human leaders over governments] 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 [may God grant that this includes you and me!] are called, and chosen, and faithful” (Revelation 17:14).

As we have read in Daniel’s seventh chapter, the final great Beast power exists at the time of the Second Coming of Christ. It is this system, together with the False Prophet, which will perpetrate the Great Tribulation upon the United States, and the British Commonwealth of nations.

Now, think. If you knew absolutely nothing about the book of Daniel; if you knew nothing about the identity of the “Lost Ten Tribes”; if you knew nothing about any other scriptures in the entire Bible except three verses in Revelation 17, you would still know a great deal about major world events!

How so? Read Revelation 17:12-14 again, slowly. Ponder each and every word of this prophecy. Here is what you would come to understand, if you had no other information whatsoever:

(1) There are ten governments which are to receive absolute despotic power “as kings” for a short time with the Beast.

(2) They are in complete agreement, and give their power and strength to the Beast.

(3) They are the last beast of Bible prophecy and world history, for they will fight Christ at His coming, and will be utterly destroyed!

That these are the ten toes of Daniel 2 is simply indisputable.

Now, where on this earth would you look to find the successors to the historical Beast power of prophecy; the Beast power that held sway from the time of Christ, through the Middle Ages, down until the time of World War II?

Remember, you cannot find the answer anywhere in the oriental world. Why? Because the Beast is controlled by the great harlot woman, which is a false Christ! It is a counterfeit Christian system, not a Buddhist, or an Islamic, or an animistic system!

There are those who speculate wildly, imagining that an Arab leader is the Beast, or that perhaps even the United States government is the Beast. This is absolute nonsense, and will not stand the test of the truth of prophecy and history.

Always, from the time of the emergence of the fourth beast, which was Rome, the Beast power has been in Europe! In most of history it was a Germanic kingdom, as is clearly shown in the chart, and proven by history.

The Holy Roman Empire was never Islamic, or Buddhist!

It was always nominal “Christian,” under the popes of Rome.

Notice what the eminent Critical And Experimental Commentary says about the Beast of Revelation 17: “It seems that these ten kings of kingdoms are to be contemporaries with the beast in its last or eighth form, viz., antichrist. cf. Daniel ii. 34, 44, ‘the stone smote the image upon his feet’¯i.e., upon the ten toes, which are, in vv. 41-44, interpreted, ‘kings.’ The ten kingdoms are not, therefore, ten which arose in the overthrow of Rome (heathen), but are to rise out of the last state of the fourth kingdom under the eighth head. Three of the former ten, the fourth kingdom’s little horn, the papacy, starting subsequently, absorbed Daniel vii.8. But the last ten of the fourth kingdom, the ‘ten toes,’ shall tread down the earth as ten simultaneous kingdoms, subordinate to the beast” (vol. VI, p. 712).

It is the system of Anti-Christ, not Anti-Mohammed, or Anti-Buddha.

Remember, the great fallen woman dressed in scarlet is a false, counterfeit “Christian” system, it is not Islamic!

The Great Tribulation¯the Time of “Jacob’s Trouble”

The two most specific events which will indicate to God’s people that the Great Tribulation is about to begin were prophesied by Jesus Christ in His famous Olivet Prophecy.

He warned, “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….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 [by God’s intervention], there should no flesh be saved [alive]; but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened” (Matthew 24:15-22). Again, please read our in depth booklet, “MIDEAST STRIFE—Will It Lead To ARMAGEDDON?“.  It covers all the amazing signs Christ said would occur which would usher in the tribulation; droughts, famines, disease epidemics, earthquakes; you will learn how the nations have stockpiled deadly biological and chemical weapons; about nuclear proliferation; about the potential for another war in the Mideast, and European and American involvement.

The Abomination of Desolation has occurred several times in the past, as a type, or forerunner of the final fulfillment. Antiochus Ephipanes desecrated the Temple, dedicated it to Jupiter Olympus, and caused swine to be sacrificed in the holy place. Titus desecrated it when Jerusalem was destroyed in A.D. 70.

The second very specific sign for which Jesus said we are to watch is armies surrounding Jerusalem. “And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh” (Luke 21:20).

The final, end-time fulfillment of these prophecies will be brought about by the Beast power moving into Palestine, overflowing into many other countries in the region, including Egypt (Daniel 11:40-45).

For many years, we have shown how the pope has called for Jerusalem to become a “corpus separatum,” or “internationalized city,” open to people of all faiths, in order to remove it as a political capital for any nation.

The new Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, has said over and over again that Jerusalem will never again be a divided city; that it will remain, in perpetuity, as the capital of the Jewish state. Yet, Yassir Arafat and the PLO, backed by many other virulently anti-Israeli nations, including Syria, Iraq, and Iran, absolutely insist that Jerusalem must become the political capital of the Palestinian state.

As discussed thoroughly in our booklet, “MIDEAST STRIFE—Will It Lead To ARMAGEDDON?”  the policies of the new Israeli government could well spell an end to the tentative “peace process” in the Mideast. Be sure to read that lengthy and very informative booklet for the complete picture.

The next war in the Mideast could bring about massive intervention from Europe. That intervention could come in the form of the movement of vast military forces into Israel, surrounding Jerusalem! If masquerading as the “Prince of Peace,” the pope of Rome could then enter into the Temple, having the power to perform miracles before hundreds of millions over global satellite television! He could claim that the only true church, the universal church, is returning to the place of its birth, Jerusalem! Study 2 Thessalonians 2 in this regard, where the “man of sin” will sit in the Temple of God, claiming to be very God!

Now, the Abomination of Desolation, AND the surrounding of Jerusalem with armies, would be in place!

Meanwhile, the United States and the British Commonwealth countries will be deep into economic malaise; afflicted by shocking, record-breaking droughts in some places; floods in others. Disease will be taking a dreadful toll; starvation will take the lives of hundreds of thousands, as famines grip many countries. Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions will cause further, massive destruction.

The Time of Jacob’s Trouble

Make no mistake! In the event of a major war in the Mideast, the United States would be directly involved! So would Europe, and, if such a conflict threatened the oil supplies in the Gulf, so would Japan. These observations are not prophetic¯they are geopolitical; practical economics!

This is important, for many scoff at biblical history and Bible prophecy, which prove the Great Tribulation is to fall primarily on the lost ten tribes of Israel, as well as the Jewish state of Israel.

The Tribulation is to fall upon Britain, the United States, and all those countries which are a part of “Jacob” and “Judah.”

Jeremiah was given a prophecy about this time of terrible national suffering, “For thus saith the Eternal; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace. Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness? Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it” (Jeremiah 30:5-7).

This is exactly the same time described by Jesus Christ and Daniel¯a time without parallel in horror, in destruction and death; a time worse in disastrous events than there has been “since there was a nation until now”; a time greater than any other time “from the beginning of the world to that time, no, nor ever shall be.”

It is the time of Jacob’s trouble! Jacob’s name was changed to Israel. Israel had twelve children who are the eponymous ancestors of twelve tribes. But dying Israel crossed his hands, deliberately blessing the two sons of Joseph by laying his right hand on the head of Ephraim, who was the younger, and his left hand on the head of Manasseh, who was the elder. He said, “let MY NAME be named on them” (Genesis 48:13-21).

Ephraim was to become a company of nations and Manasseh was to become the greatest single nation on earth. This fascinating story is covered in great detail in the book mentioned above¯there is no space to repeat it all here. It is the story of how the Israelite nation was formed; how the house of Israel and the house of Judah are two distinctly different nations in history, with two separate histories; two separate dynasties of kings.

Israel was carried captive in 721-718 B.C. by Shalmanezer of Assyria. The bulk of them never returned. Judah continued in the land until being deported as slaves by Babylon. As you read earlier, Cyrus and Artaxerxes allowed them to return to Palestine and rebuild the Temple, during the time of Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah.

But the vast majority of the tribes¯Gad, Asher, Reuben, Naphtali, Dan, Issachar, Ephraim, Manasseh, Benjamin, and large portions of Simeon and Levi (who had no inheritance in the land, and were disbursed among all the tribes, including Judah)¯overspread the valleys of Europe, eventually settling all of northwestern Europe and the British Isles.

God’s warning through Jeremiah said the Great Tribulation of the end time would come upon Jacob, meaning Israel. But the biblical term Israel does not mean the modern nation in Palestine by that name, who are predominantly Jews, and therefore of the house of Judah. Remember, the very first time the word Jew is ever used in the Bible, the Jews are at war against Israel (2 Kings 16:6).

Four whole books of the Bible, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles, are devoted to the separate histories, and the separate dynasties of kings of the two distinctly different kingdoms of the house of Judah, (the Jews) and the house of Israel (who were never called Jews).

Now, notice the time setting of Jeremiah’s prophecy: “For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Eternal of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him: But they shall serve the Eternal [Jehovah, or JHVW] their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them” (Jeremiah 30:8,9). Again, here is a prophecy which shows Israel in captivity until the time of the intervention of God, the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, and the resurrection of the dead!

Israel, meaning Jacob, or the so-called lost ten tribes, are pictured as in captivity until God Himself breaks their bonds. A foreign power, or powers, has laid a yoke upon them, as a man would yoke an ox. They are in bonds which Christ Himself will burst, to set them free.

Now, whose yoke is laid upon them?

God says, “O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few” (Isaiah 10:5-7). Study this entire chapter, for it is God’s prophecy that the northern ten tribes would be removed by the armies of Assyria. And they were, in waves of invading forces from 721 to 718 B.C. But they never returned to Palestine en masse.

Once again, notice the time setting of the prophecy: “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob [Ephraim and Manasseh primarily], shall no more again stay upon him that smote them; but shall stay upon the Eternal, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. The remnant shall return [this has never yet happened in history!], even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God….And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing” (Isaiah 10:20,21,27).

Time and time again, ten-tribed Israel is depicted as being in a wretched state of captivity, their proud nations having been destroyed and their populations having become slaves, like the millions of forced laborers in Germany and eastern Europe during World War II. When does the Bible picture this terrifying state of affairs?

Isaiah 11 answers this question. Here are a few brief excerpts: “And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse [Christ], which shall stand for an ensign for the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and His rest [His millennial kingdom] shall be glorious. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people, which shall be left, from Assyria [this has never happened in history!]….And He shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah [notice two different peoples] from the four corners of the earth….And the Eternal shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea [the eastern Mediterranean and Nile Delta]: and with His mighty wind shall He shake His hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dry shod. And there shall be an highway for the remnant of His people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt” (Isaiah 11:10-16).

Never has any such thing occurred in history. Here, modern-day Israel, which does not mean the nation by that name in Palestine, is scattered among many nations, primarily Assyria, which is a modern, super-powerful, industrialized nation.

Notice again that it was Assyria that is prophesied to place a yoke of slavery on God’s people Israel during the Great Tribulation.

Now, notice: “Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground: there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate….Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man. As for our redeemer, the ETERNAL of hosts is His name, the Holy One of Israel. Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called, The lady of kingdoms. I was wroth with my people, I have polluted mine inheritance, and given them into thine hand: thou didst shew them no mercy; upon the ancient hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke” (Isaiah 47:1,3-6).

This is the great false church organization, the “image of the Beast,” which is a mystery religion, having its ancient roots in Chaldea. For astounding proof of the direct relationship between the ancient Chaldean mystery religion and modern-day Roman Catholicism, read The Two Babylons, by Alexander Hislop.

Notice, then, that it is both Assyria, the modern nation, and the great “lady of kingdoms,” or a false religious system, which lay their yoke of merciless captivity and persecution on God’s people Israel.

“And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever: so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it. Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I AM, and none else beside me [names and titles of GOD, which are ultimate blasphemies in God’s sight!]; I shall not sit as a widow [so she was metaphorically married], neither shall I know the loss of children [she has “daughters” which came out of her in protest]: But these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great abundance of thine enchantments” (Isaiah 47:7-9).

The Beast power is ridden by a scarlet-colored woman, called the “mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.” God will allow the ten-nation Beast power, at the behest of the False Prophet, over a great false church, to punish His people, who have utterly rejected His laws and His way of life.

But after the Beast power occupied Palestine and Egypt, “tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him” (Daniel 11:44).

The sixth trumpet plague is described: “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 saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. They are the spirits of demons, 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 [Har-Meggido, or the hill of Megiddo, about ninety miles north of Jerusalem]. 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” (Revelation 16:12-19).

The Beast power will then turn upon the great false church and utterly destroy her!

There was a limerick many years ago which is hauntingly appropriate to the description of the woman who rides the beast, but who is ultimately destroyed by the Beast:

There once was a lady from Niger,
Who smiled as she rode on a tiger;
They returned from the ride
With the lady inside,
And a smile on the face of the tiger.

Notice: “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 it 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 17:16-18).

The Critical And Experimental Commentary says, “As Jerusalem used the world-power to crucify her Saviour, and then was destroyed by that very power, Rome, so the Church, having apostatized to the world, shall have judgment executed upon her by the world-power, the beast and his allies” (vol. VI., p. 713).

Then follows Revelation 18, which details how the Beast shall “hate the whore” and make her desolate.

Here, she is once again characterized as “Babylon the great.”

God’s warning to the world, and His warning to you is, “Come out of her [the Babylonish “mystery” religion], 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” (Revelation 18:4).

Now you know who, and what, is the Beast of the Apocalypse! It is a ten-nation combine which will arise in Europe, most probably dominated by Germany, the “fatherland,” in cooperation with the “mother” church!

A “king of the south” will “push at” this huge European power (Daniel 11:40-45), which will precipitate a massive invasion of the Mideast, and the occupation of Palestine.

Perhaps prior to this time, a temple will be rebuilt in Jerusalem, or a cornerstone will be dedicated. If the Arab mosques of the Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa Mosque, which stand on the site of Solomon’s Temple, were to be destroyed, it would precipitate a massive war in the Mideast; such an act would unite otherwise bickering, disagreeing Arab states.

Any major threat to the precious oil supplies of Japan (70 percent dependent!), or Europe (46 percent dependent!), would bring about military intervention.

The stage would be set for a great religious leader to “sit in the temple of God, shewing that he is God,” by performing “miracles in the sight of the beast,” and bringing about massive persecution and martyrdom of God’s true people!

Never forget that the two most important events for which God’s people are to watch were pointed out by Jesus Christ Himself: “When ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet…stand in the holy place where it ought not,” and, “When ye see Jerusalem surrounded with armies then know that the destruction thereof is nigh.”

There are no “secrets” involved in any of these prophetic understandings. No chronologies, no numerology, no secret visions, no special dreams.

Today, geopolitics moves inexorably toward the very events Jesus Christ Himself described. But as evil and horrifying as the Great Tribulation is to be, Jesus Christ reassured His people by saying, “And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads: for your redemption draweth nigh” (Luke 21:28).

It is always darkest before the dawn. You and I live in terrible times. We are surrounded by senseless terrorist bombings, street crime, drug abuse, rape, arson, and murder. Daily, we hear of children murdering other children; of parents drowning or shooting their own children; of “drive-by” shootings. We hear of robbery, burglary, auto theft, and every form of violence. We hear of wars and conflagrations from Bosnia to Northern Ireland; from Burundi to Korea.

Our nations are being torn apart by divorce, and the destruction of the family. Like Sodom of old, major political influences now change legislation to permit “same sex” marriages. Millions of helpless, unborn human beings have been slaughtered, many in the ninth month, by the forces of “pro-choice,” who now represent a major political movement, absolutely critical in national elections!

For these, and myriad other sins, God Almighty says He will shortly allow the wrath of the mighty Beast of the Apocalypse, ridden by a scarlet-clad woman, to wreak terrible vengeance upon our peoples!

Speaking of the horrible droughts, famines, disease epidemics, earthquakes, and wars which will afflict us, Jesus Christ says to you and to me, “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that you might be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man” (Luke 21:36).

As the “watchman” to Israel, Ezekiel cried out, “Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?” (Ezekiel 33:11).

Finally, remember Jesus’ words: “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 [by divine intervention from God!], there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened!” (Matthew 24:21,22).

May God grant that you and I be a part of His very elect!

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This publication is intended to be used as a personal study tool. Please know it is not wise to take any man’s word for anything, so prove all things for yourself from the pages of your own Bible.

 

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The post The Beast of the Apocalypse: What Is It? first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

The Bible describes something as miry clay, mixed with iron.  But iron and clay don’t mix!  The prophecies describe ten-nations which will be unified together, but only for a short time. What is the unifying agent which will bring that about?  The current France/German cooperation is without precedent!  But, for numerous reasons, many expert observers believe Europe will never become a completely cohesive entity.  Those reasons include language barriers, cultural identities, historical disagreements and long-standing animosities.  Nevertheless, there are as yet unfulfilledCORROBORATING prophecies  which predict a cohesive combine of nations described as TEN KINGS which will play a critical role in a tumultuous culmination of end time events.

Surely the Lord Eternal will do nothing, but He revealethHis secret unto His servants the prophets (Amos 3:7).  The prophet Daniel said, He [God] revealeth the deep and secret things: He knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with Him…there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets… (Daniel 2:22-28).

The secret of which Daniel spoke was the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s famous dream, in which he saw a monstrous image.  Read the entire second chapter of Daniel to refresh your memory concerning this great event.  Daniel showed that the head of gold of the great image Nebuchadnezzar had seen represented Nebuchadnezzar himself and his Babylonian kingdom.  Thus it was revealed in the interpretation of this prophecy that king and kingdom are synonymous.  Quickly following, Daniel revealed that the four successive world-ruling Gentile empires would consist of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greco-Macedonia, and finally, the Roman Empire.

The Roman Empire was described as …the fourth kingdom [which would be] strong as iron…and whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potter’s clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.

And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken [margin: weak] (Daniel 2:41-42).  Some have imagined that the miry clay of Daniel’s vision (chapter 7) which seems to weld the ten toes of the great image together, represent a sticky, bituminous substance, which, even though it is obviously not mixed with iron, is used as a weak bonding agent of some kind, which at least effects a weak union for a time.

Daniel’s vision shows that although the hardness of iron is present in the ten governments represented by the toes; there is also the weakness of clay.  The bonding agent which will hold the entire system of the future ten-nation central government in Europe together is religion! 

Bible Prophecy – A Warning!

One third of the Bible is prophecy. Jesus Christ was the greatest Prophet of all time. His famous Olivet prophecy is the CORNERSTONE of all prophecy for the time of the end the time of the GREAT TRIBULATION, the Day of the Lord, and the Second Coming of Christ to RULE all nations!

Armed with the knowledge of the identity of the modern nations of the United States and Europe, you can come to UNDERSTAND, at last, the overall picture of future events.

As we shall see, the prophesied GREAT TRIBULATION is to come primarily on JACOB! It is the time of Jacob’s trouble, meaning the time of great national trauma for England, Canada, Australia, South Africa, and the United States, as well as others of ten-tribed Israel. Remember, EPHRAIM AND MANASSEH were the recipients of the NAME OF ISRAEL! Dying Jacob (Israel) had said, Let MY NAME be named ON THEM!

Now, let’s notice the prophecies of Christ Himself.

The Prophecies of Christ

A partial understanding of Bible prophecy is possible without the knowledge of the identity of the lost ten tribes. For example, a careful study of Daniel 2, 4, 7; together with Revelation 13, 17, 18, and Christ’s Olivet Prophecy gives an overview of world events in the immediate future, but only if one is armed with knowledge of the true meaning of the beast, the image of the beast, and the identity of the false prophet and the antichrist! Even then, one remains ignorant of how those prophecies will affect the United States of America if one is missing the most important KEY to prophecy; the identity of the United States and Britain!

The proofs concerning the identity of the world-ruling empires depicted by the fabled image of Nebudchadnezzar (Daniel 2) are too numerous to mention. Most Bible commentaries include ample references to historical sources correctly identifying the kingdoms of Babylon (the head of gold), Persia (the chest of silver), Graeco-Macedonia (the belly and thighs of brass), and Rome (the feet and toes of miry clay and iron). That Daniel could have successfully predicted the rise and fall of all these kingdoms, including the successive resurrections of the same system (the Roman Empire) down through the centuries, is one of the great testimonies to the inspiration of scriptures; the accuracy of God’s Word.

Today, millions of amateur theologians muse about the beast, leap to incredible, fantastic conclusions based on whimsical theories. Some think the beast is the United States. Some claim it is the Catholic Church. Some think it is a group of Jewish money-lenders involved in a vast conspiracy. Opinions and theories are rife, as Christ predicted they would be. Many shall come in my name, saying I am Christ [not necessarily that they are Christ, but that HE is Christ! Preaching Christ!”] and shall deceive many!

But the identity of the beast has never changed. The culmination of the ancient kingdoms was Rome. Its many revivals down through history are documented. A weak revival of the Holy Roman Empire, embodying the same races of the heartland of Europe as the days of the Hapsburgs and Otto the Great, occurred during World War II, under Adolph Hitler and Benito Mussolini, who declared the central European alliance the Holy Roman Empire.

The second beast of Revelation 13 is lamblike, that is, it masquerades as a Christ-like organization, yet spoke as a dragon, that is, like Satan!

Bullinger’s Companion Bible includes a comparison between Christ’s Olivet Prophecy and the seven seals of Revelation. It can be proved conclusively that the four horsemen of the Apocalypse represent the progressively worsening human condition predicted by Christ in Matthew 24. The white horse indicates false christs, false prophets; the rise of the final false prophet (11 Thess. 2) who will have the power to perform miracles; sit in the temple of God, shewing that he is god, and cause millions to worship the beast and his image. In other words, the white horse of the first seal means the unveiling of the false prophet and antichrist, at the head of the Image of the Beast (the Babylonish mystery religion) in the time just prior to the Great Tribulation.

The red horse is synonymous with Christ’s predictions of wars and rumors of wars, of the Olivet prophecy. Bullinger correctly shows the exact parallels between the two prophecies; that the gray horse depicts famine, and the black horse death.

Christ looked beyond His time into ours; foretold the future, the time in which we live; the times just ahead of us! Even if one did not know the identify of the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel, one can be sure we are living in the biblically-prophesied time of the end, like the day of Noah, when all mankind pursues the passions of flesh; heedless of the catastrophes that lie ahead.

The difference is, those who know the identity of Israel know how their own people are going to be involved; they recognize the horrifying national punishments soon to come, and they are equipped to have a part in the work commissioned to give powerful WITNESS and WARNING to God’s people before it is too late!

Yes, millions know about the prophesied Great Tribulation! But those same millions do not know the tribulation is prophesied to fall upon the peoples of the HOUSE OF ISRAEL FIRST!

Let’s see the proof!

Christ said, For then shall be GREAT TRIBULATION [a time of terrible trouble], such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be (Matt. 24:21). An unprecedented time, absolutely unique in the horrors it shall bring, without parallel in all history! That means the Great Tribulation is a time of human suffering that happens ONLY ONCE! There are not TWO such times! Only ONE! Notice what that means!

At the conclusion of the longest prophecy in the Bible, Daniel 11, the archangel Gabriel said to Daniel, And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people [Israel!]: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book (Dan. 12:1, 2).

Obviously, this great time of trouble is the SAME as the Great Tribulation predicted by Christ. There cannot be TWO such times, one canceling out the other the description of the greatest time of trouble IN ALL HISTORY means the UNIQUE time of the Great Tribulation!

Now, notice! Thus speaketh the Eternal God of Israel, saying, Write thee all the words that I have spoken unto thee in a book.

For, lo, the days come, saith the Eternal, that I will bring again the captivity [bring back the captives; return them from captivity] of my people Israel AND JUDAH…

Notice! TWO DIFFERENT GROUPS OF PEOPLE! Israel, meaning ten-tribed Israel; the House of Israel, and Judah, the Jews!

But remember, Israel DISAPPEARED from history! They were NEVER brought back from the land of their captivity between the Black and Caspean Seas, but wandered across Europe, became lost to history in the centuries that passed. Today, the Jewish people have their own nation, Israel. As we shall see, as horrifying as it is to contemplate, a future captivity for the Jews is prophesied in your Bible!

Now, back to our scripture, …and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.

And these are the words that the Eternal spake concerning Israel and concerning Judah.

For thus saith the Eternal; we have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace.

Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? Wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces turned into paleness?  Here, Jeremiah sees in vision people so shocked, so terror-stricken, that they are doubled over in pain because of the horrors their disbelieving eyes behold!

Alas! for that day is GREAT, So THAT NONE IS LIKE IT… Note that well! Once again, we read of the SAME TIME; the Great Tribulation prophesied by Christ; the SAME TIME described by Daniel; a time of trouble SO GREAT that it is absolutely unparalleled in all the earth’s history! And UPON WHOM IS THAT GREAT TIME OF NATIONAL TRIBULATION TO COME?

It is even the time of JACOB’S TROUBLE… (Jer. 30:1-7).

Ah! The time of JACOB’S trouble! And who was Jacob? His name was changed to ISRAEL! As he lay dying, he crossed his hands, as you have read, blessing Ephraim over Manasseh, said, Let MY NAME BE NAMED ON THEM! Among all the tribes of Israel, only Ephraim (Great Britain) and Manasseh (the United States) have the right to be called Jacob, or the House of Israel!

So the Great Tribulation spoken of by Christ; the horrifying time of Satan’s WRATH on the earth, is to come PRIMARILY AGAINST THE PEOPLE OF BRITAIN AND THE UNITED STATES, and incidentally against the remainder of the lost ten tribes of Israel! Now, notice the remainder of this remarkable 30th chapter of Jeremiah:

…but he shall be saved OUT of it [meaning Jacob; the U.S. and Britain, shall have to go through it, but shall not be completely destroyed; shall be saved out’ of it!]. For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Eternal of hosts, that I will break HIS YOKE from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him… (Jer. 30:7, 8).

And what is the time setting of this prophecy about impending national captivity for the House of Jacob; of Israel? But they shall serve the Eternal their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them! (Jer. 30:8, 9).

Are the U.S. and Britain serving God, today? Is the nation of Israel, in Palestine, serving God? NO! The time setting of this prophecy is the SAME as that of Matthew 24, Revelation 6, and Daniel 12. It is just before the Second Coming of Christ; just before the time of the resurrection, when God will raise David, together with all His righteous saints and patriarchs who have died, to be caught up to meet Christ (1 Thess. 4:17) when He returns to this earth (Rev. 1:7; Acts 1:11; Rev. 19) to stand, in that same day, on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem (Zech. 14:4).

Now, whose yoke will be laid upon our peoples?

The Woman Who Rode the Beast

John saw, in vision, a great harlot astride a many-headed beast. Christ’s prophecies, together with those of Daniel and Revelation, leave no doubt as to the identity of this church-state system. Notice, And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgement of the GREAT WHORE that sitteth upon many waters:

With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.

So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and 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 (Rev. 17:1-5).

The woman is a great, universal, false church! She sits on a beast, meaning she holds sway and influence over the ten-nation union in central Europe. She CONTROLS the beast!

Clearly, the ten nations exist at the very last days of man’s governments on this earth, just PRIOR to the Second Coming of Christ! Notice, And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings [absolute autocratic power] one hour [a very short time in prophecy] with the beast.

These have one mind [one policy; one purpose on which they are in complete agreement], and shall give their power and strength unto the beast [they will pool their national economies, raw materials, industry, and their military into one].

These shall make war with the Lamb [they will assay to FIGHT CHRIST at His second coming  the time setting of this prophecy is impossible to ignore], 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 (Revelation 17:12-14).

It is necessary at this point to remind you of a critically important geopolitical FACT. Suppose, for a moment, that all that you have read about the origins of the United States and Britain is mere fantasy. Suppose that all history is askew, and that none of the facts concerning Dan, or Judah, or Ephraim and Manassah, really apply.

Then, REMEMBER! Jesus Christ’s Olivet prophecy concerned JERUSALEM primarily! It was uttered in full view of the world’s most famous skyline of the time, from the Mount of Olives, in full view of the Temple of Christ’s day. His prophecy was only typically fulfilled, as a preliminary forerunner, in 70 AD when Titus’ armies destroyed Jerusalem.

But the literal, end-time fulfillment is YET AHEAD!

Now, think! Do you believe for one moment that if Israel is attacked by combined Arab armies; if SCUDS and SILKWORM missiles come raining down on Tel Aviv, Haifa, Lod, and other Jewish cities; if chemical and biological weapons are killing HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of Israeli citizens, that the U.S. and Britain will be UNINVOLVED?

It would be the height of stupidity to assume such!

You KNOW we would be immediately involved if the specter of the wholesale slaughter of Jews in modern Israel were to occur!

Daniel’s 11th chapter shows that the BEAST power, not the U.S. and Britain, will immediately descend into the Middle East like a whirlwind and OCCUPY all the nations from Lebanon to Saudi Arabia, including Israel and Egypt! Likely, this will be a move to PROTECT surviving Jews as much as it will be to STOP A MAJOR WAR FROM ENGULFING THE WHOLE WORLD!

But it will be in vain! Notice that tidings out of the north and the east bring news of a coming massive intervention by RUSSIA and CHINA! (Daniel 11:40-44). It is this final great battle called the Battle of Armageddon, which will bring about the heavenly signs and the Day of the Lord!

Remember, at the return of Christ, the Beast power, which will then be ensconced in Jerusalem, together with the great false prophet who is the ANTICHRIST, will attempt to FIGHT CHRIST!

This is an exact parallel of Daniel 2:44, and preceding verses, where God says the symbolic STONE (Christ) that is seen coming down from heaven like a meteor, smashes the ten toes of the great image. The image represents all the Gentile world-ruling kingdoms from the time of ancient Babylon down to the time of our modern age, the ten toes representing the ten kings (nations) of Revelation 17.

That great false church which has concourse with national governments is identified again in Isaiah 47. Notice it, Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called, the lady of kingdoms.

I was wroth with my people, I have polluted mine inheritance, and given them into thine hand: thou didst shew them no mercy; UPON THE ANCIENT HAST THOU VERY HEAVILY LAID THY YOKE.

And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever: so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it.

Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children:

But these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great abundance of thine enchantments.

For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me.

Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know from whence it riseth: and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know (Isaiah 47:5-11).

Notice that it is the great false church, under the FALSE PROPHET, who is the antichrist, that CONTROLS the ten-nation combine that is to PUNISH our peoples!

And the principal nation that will be one of the ten? Read Isaiah l0! Notice what it says about the nature of the modern-day Assyrians! And it shall come to pass in that day, that the REMNANT [there will be only about TEN PERCENT LEFT ALIVE (Isaiah 6:13)] of Israel, and such as are escaped of the House of Jacob [Ephraim and Manasseh], shall no more again stay upon him that smote them; but shall stay upon the Eternal, the Holy One of Israel, in truth! (Isaiah 10:20). This is describing their deliverance at the time of the Second Coming of Christ!

Notice further, And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and HIS YOKE FROM OFF THY NECK, and the YOKE shall be destroyed because of the anointing! (Isaiah 10:27).

Notice, then, that the YOKE, symbolizing SLAVERY, captivity, is laid upon our peoples by both the universal church AND ASSYRIA, and that YOKE is in place until the Second Coming of Christ; until our peoples begin to stay upon the Eternal, and until the anointing!

Notice the following proofs concerning the CONDITION OF OUR PEOPLE at the time of Christ’s coming: And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.

And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.

The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim (Isaiah 11:11-13).

And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dryshod.

And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt (Isaiah 11:15, 16).

Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.

In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that they shall no more say, The Lord liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;

But, the Lord liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land (Jeremiah 23:5-8).

Notice that the coming exodus from the NORTH countries will pale into insignificance the ancient exodus under Moses! Now, see the time setting of Jeremiah 3:17, and succeeding verses:  At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Eternal; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it [compare with Zech. 14:16-21], to the name of the Eternal, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart.

In those days the House of Judah shall walk with the House of Israel [NOTICE! TWO SEPARATE HOUSES’; TWO DIFFERENT PEOPLES!], and they shall come together out of the land of the north [this never happened in history! Ten-tribed Israel had disappeared, in the main, long before the Babylonian Empire sacked Judah!] to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers.

Finally, notice this prophecy: …And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown [see 1 Cor. l5:50-52], and they shall come which were ready to perish in the LAND OF ASSYRIA and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, AND SHALL WORSHIP THE ETERNAL IN THE HOLY MOUNT AT JERUSALEM (Isaiah 27:13).

Every time you encounter prophecies concerning ISRAEL and the SECOND COMING OF CHRIST, Israel is found to be in a state of CAPTIVITY, horrible slavery, privation, suffering, starvation! The time setting is OBVIOUS, impossible to ignore!

Not only is the modern nation of Israel in the land of Palestine to suffer YET ANOTHER TERRIBLE HOLOCAUSTS SHALL THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND BRITAIN UNLESS WE REPENT, AND TURN TO OUR GOD!

God commands, Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord (Isaiah 55:6-8).

Jesus Christ commanded, REPENT, and believe the Gospel! On the day of Pentecost, Peter cried out, REPENT, and be baptized, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit!

To those who heed God’s commands; who accept the invitation of Jesus Christ, God says, Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I will also keep thee from the HOUR OF TRIAL [GREAT TRIBULATION], which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth (Revelation 3:10).

David cried out, He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in Him will I trust. Surely He shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust: His truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways (Psalm 91:1-11).

What about you? Have you settled the BIGGEST question of your life what will happen to you in the future? Are you safe and secure in the arms of God; under His Divine PROTECTION? Make no mistake! What you have read in this brochure is truth!  Study the voluminous amount of literature available which PROVES beyond the shadow of a doubt, our national identities! But remember, whether you believe the truth about our identity or NOT, the Great Tribulation is SURELY COMING!

The next world war will mean the use of NUCLEAR weapons; biochemical weapons like botulinis toxin, nerve gas, horrifying, unimaginable weapons! TENS OF MILLIONS will die! It is not a matter of WHETHER a terrible war will rock the world threaten human annihilation it is a matter of WHEN!

Thanks be to God for His TRUTH; for an understanding of prophecy: for His calling to be a PART OF THE WORK OF HIS WATCHMEN, preaching witness and WARNING to a sin-sick, dying world! May God give you the personal conviction to act on what you know.

You may copy and distribute this information only to friends and family without changes, without charge and with full credit given to the author and publisher. You may not publish it for general audiences.

This publication is intended to be used as a personal study tool. Please know it is not wise to take any man’s word for anything, so prove all things for yourself from the pages of your own Bible.

The activities of the Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association are paid for by tithes, offerings and donations freely given by Christians and co-workers who are dedicated to preaching the gospel according to Jesus Christ.

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Millions are deeply concerned. Millions have heard about the dreaded “Mark of the Beast,” and its number, 666. There are many theories. Some allege that the number 666 is on the papal crown. Some allege the number will be put inside your skin, inserted by means of a microchip on your forehead. Many believe it has something to do with a new form of money, or the coming “cashless society,” wherein debit and credit cards (which some allege will contain the number 666) will replace cash.

The Bible contains stern warnings about those who receive the mysterious Mark of the Beast. It was the apostle John who received the visions from Christ about the Mark of the Beast. He wrote, “And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.

“[T]here fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshiped his image” (Revelation 16:1, 2).

Notice it is not only those who receive the MARK of the Beast, but also those who “worship his image” who will come under God’s wrath.

What IS the “image of the Beast”? How can you recognize it? What IS the Mark of the Beast? How can you insure you do not receive it, that you do not come under God’s wrath?

Religious Deception and Babylonish Confusion

Weird, ridiculous theories about the meaning of the Mark of the Beast are legion. To some, this mysterious mark involves major department store credit cards. Religious publications cite various “proofs” involving the presence of the number 666 found in credit cards issued by some of the large chain stores. To them, this credit card represents the Mark of the Beast.

To others, their social security number is a means of the government to keep track of them; it seems to be the harbinger of the Mark of the Beast, and many have begun wondering if it is not the first step toward a national identity card, by which a “big brother” nationalistic government can spy on all of us – keep track of everything we do, where we go, what we buy, to which church we belong, and know everything about our individual, private lives. This paranoid fear of surveillance convinces many that various forms of personal identification, such as drivers licenses, social security cards, credit cards and the like are the Mark of the Beast.

I have seen articles alleging the black stripes that appear on practically any item you purchase are the Mark of the Beast. Many have been convinced that these striations on their packages are threatening to them. Actually, each bar represents a letter or a number, like a code. The laser scanner instantly reads the code and displays it on a small screen attached to the electronic cash register. The purchaser may then watch an electronic display as each item, such as a can of string beans, accompanied by the price, appears. A computer is automatically reducing the inventory in the store by one can of beans, thus saving the old-fashioned method of painstakingly counting all the cans remaining on the shelf, and at the same time computing the sales for the day. Such modern methods have greatly reduced man-hours of labor, helped us get through the check stands much faster, and are far more accurate than human fingers on a cash register.

This modern, much simpler and faster development in computer-age technology is in no way threatening to anyone. Yet some people who tend toward paranoia are fair game for religious hucksters who like to play upon people’s fears. It is time you swept away all this Babylon of confusion and looked directly into the Word of God to see what really IS the mysterious Mark of the Beast, and what it is NOT!

Who, What, Is the BEAST?

Obviously, before one can understand what is the Mark of the Beast, one must understand who or what is the Beast!

Bible scholars are virtually one hundred percent agreed that the symbolism of the great image seen by Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 2) represents the four world-ruling empires from the time of ancient Babylon to Persia, Greco/Macedonia, and finally Rome.

Most biblical commentaries expound this view; even a well-known layman’s Bible handbook, Halley’s, reconfirms it (see Halley’s Bible Handbook, p. 342). The head of gold represented ancient Babylon, the breast and arms of silver represented Persia, and the belly and thighs of brass represented Alexander’s Greco/Macedonian kingdom. The legs of iron and feet and toes “part of iron and part of miry clay” represented the Roman Empire throughout its duration, including a yet future, end-time 10-nation combine that will coalesce in the same region and will fight Christ at His coming (cf. Revelation 17:12-14).

Notice especially verse 44 of Daniel 2: “And in the days of these kings [the kings represented by the ten toes] shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.”

In the vision, Nebuchadnezzar saw a stone seemingly dislodged miraculously, without the intervention of workman’s tools or human hands. Like a plunging meteorite, it seemed to hurtle down from heaven and smash the towering image of gold, silver, brass, iron, and miry clay on the feet! In the dream the entire image toppled to the ground and seemed to become “like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away …” (Daniel 2:35).

Then the stone, which had smote the image on the ten toes, (representing the end-time ten governments that are to arise within the confines of the ancient Roman Empire) seemed to become a great mountain that filled the whole earth!

Thus, in this one brief chapter, we see a prophecy that predicts the entire span of human history, from Nebuchadnezzar until the Second Coming of Christ!

The Bible uses the expression “beast” advisedly, since the Gentile leaders of the world-ruling governments were possessed of minds like wild, predatory animals. Nebudchadnezzar’s seven years of insanity (Daniel 4) is symbolic of the insane bestiality of such human leaders as those of the four successive world-ruling kingdoms and, in our time, such men as Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot, and others.

It is very clear that the first beast of Revelation 13 is the same kingdom as the fourth beast of Daniel 7. Notice it: “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” (Revelation 13:1, 2).

The Beast is a symbol of a great super government. That the Beast rose up out of the sea indicates it derived its power from masses of people. The seven heads are seven revivals or stages of this Beast power, and the ten horns are symbols of individual governments, each presided over by a king, or absolute ruler, symbolized by the “crowns.” That the label on each of these seven successive governments was the “name of blasphemy” indicates its amalgamation with a spiritual power, which is called, in Revelation 17, “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.”

That the Beast was “like unto a leopard,” meaning that the main part of its body appeared to be like a leopard, is symbolic of the empire of Alexander the Great, as proved by the historical fulfillment of both the second and the seventh chapters of Daniel, which detail the four successive world-ruling empires of history. The feet, “as of a bear,” indicate the ancient Persian Empire under Cyrus.

The mouth, “as the mouth of a lion,” indicates the ancient Roman Empire. The “dragon” is an obvious reference to Satan the devil. Notice: “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world …” (Revelation 12:9).

Therefore, this end-time BEAST POWER is the final end-time resurrection of the same old system that was to reemerge many times down through history, until its final emergence just before the beginning of the Great Tribulation, the Day of the Lord, and the Second Coming of Christ.

Notice it is Satan who gives power to the Beast (Revelation 13:4). The Beast sometimes refers to the human leader, the super-dictator who will rule over ten kings: “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.

“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” (Revelation 19:19, 20). Sometimes the term “Beast” refers to the entire ten-nation combine, together with its human leaders.

Now, we know that the “Beast” is a ten-nation combine that will form together prior to the Second Coming of Christ, and will be the greatest economic and military power the world has ever seen up to that time. This ten-nation combine is the final “resurrection” of the Roman Empire, this time armed with chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons – a huge military power that will actually attempt to FIGHT CHRIST at His coming!

“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” (Revelation 17:12-14). The Beast is a ten- nation POLITICAL power, but it is “ridden” or ruled over by a great ECCLESIASTICAL power!

This great political, military, and ecclesiastical power will have a SIGN – an identifying label, a MARK, which it will seek to impose on all who will submit to its will. It will not be a “secret” sign or mark, but an obvious, outward, easily recognized sign, which the whole system wears like a LABEL! The “little horn” of Daniel 7:8, which “has a mouth speaking great things” and “think to change TIMES and LAWS,” is a symbol of the spokesmen of this evil mystery religion, who, down through the centuries, have done just that! They have CHANGED God’s laws and abolished His divinely-appointed Sabbaths and annual holy days.

This great false church has adopted the labels associated with SUN worship; it has CHANGED God’s weekly Sabbaths for SUNDAY, the day of the sun, and foisted upon millions of unsuspecting believers the PAGAN holidays of Ishtar (Easter) and the “Saturnalia” (Christmas). For centuries, countless THOUSANDS were brutally martyred – tortured, burnt alive, killed in the most horrifying ways – for REFUSING to accept the Mark of the Beast, and clinging, instead, to God’s holy Sabbath and His annual holy days.

For many centuries, those who continued to observe God’s Passover on the fourteenth of Abib, or Nisan, the first month of the sacred year, were labeled “fourteenthers” or “quartodecimans” and relentlessly hunted down and slain! This had to do with TIMES and LAWS! The TIME for observing “communion,” or the Lord’s Supper as it came to be called (I Corinthians 11:20), was on the annual commemoration of Christ’s own last supper! It was to be observed on the 14th day of the first month according to the Jewish Sacred Calendar. But the apostate church issued a decree that Christians should not be found “Judaizing” by keeping God’s holy Passover exactly as Jesus had, but should substitute pagan EASTER (spelled “Ishtar” with a silent “h”) instead! Easter is celebrated amid symbols of sex and fertility (rabbits and eggs) and is known to be of wholly PAGAN ORIGINS!

Thus, by DECREE, backed up by force of arms, the now paganized, apostate church ENFORCED the changing of “times and laws” on those who, fearful of their very lives, would submit! The Bible shows the identifying SIGN of the Beast and the Image of the Beast is something that has been around for MANY CENTURIES! It is something that has already caused the death of countless THOUSANDS who refused to accept it! It is NOT, therefore, something that is of modern invention, such as computer chips or credit cards!

What Is the Image of the Beast?

Remember, it is not only those who receive the Mark of the Beast who will suffer God’s wrath in the Day of the Lord, but also those who “worship his image.” Notice the proof: “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.” So it is not only those who refuse the Mark of the Beast, it is also those who refuse to worship its ‘image,’ or its ecclesiastical counterpart! Let’s continue: “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). Therefore, it is NOT ONLY those who refuse to receive the MARK of the Beast who will be martyred, but also those who refuse to worship the IMAGE of the Beast, those who refuse to receive the NAME of the Beast, and those who refuse to receive the NUMBER OF HIS NAME, which is 666.

Six is the number of man. Three is a number connoting ultimate finality. Thus 666, or three 6s, connotes utter carnality – that which is of MAN and not of God. Seven is God’s number, which means completion, perfection. Therefore, God designed the weekly cycle around SEVEN days, not six or eight or thirteen. The weekly cycle is not observable by any astronomical phenomena. We can observe the day and night by the rotation of the earth, the month by the moon, and the year by the journey of the earth with its moon around the sun. But the Sabbath day, the seventh day of creation, has always been handed down from generation to generation from, God’s righteous patriarchs to the prophets, to the apostles, to God’s people from age to age. There is significance in God’s use of certain numbers.

Now, just what IS the “image of the Beast”? As we read in Revelation 13, it has two horns “like a lamb” yet “speaks as a dragon,” influenced by Satan himself. Therefore, this Beast masquerades as if it is of Christ, yet is of Satan! Your Bible plainly warns against counterfeits! Jesus Himself said: “Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying I am Christ; and shall deceive MANY … And MANY false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold” (Matthew 24:4-12).

Paul wrote: “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.

“And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

“Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works” (II Corinthians 11:13-15).

The first of the famed “four horsemen of the Apocalypse” represents false Christs and false prophets. John wrote, “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” (Revelation 6:1, 2).

Never is Christ depicted as carrying a bow. Some have made the mistake of falsely assuming the first horseman is picturing Christ because of the white horse. But the sequence of events depicted by the four horsemen of Revelation 6 is unmistakable when compared to Christ’s prophecy of Matthew 24.

This second beast of Revelation 13, which has two horns “like a Lamb” and yet speaks “as a dragon,” (with the forked tongue of Satan), is nothing more than a great false religious system, called “Babylon the great,” under the power of the false prophet of biblical prophecy.

Obviously this second beast is able to CAUSE WORSHIP! It is therefore a political and religious system! It encourages state worship! It points to the great economic, industrial, and MILITARY power of the first beast! It urges loyalty, servitude, cooperation, and worship upon all of its followers toward this great ten-nation combine.

The false prophet is imbued with satanic power so that “he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on 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 the sword [reference to the collapse of Rome in 476, until its restoration under General Belisarias in 554] and did live.

“And he [this great false prophet] 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 13:11-15). Hideous chapters of history detail the murder of countless millions down through centuries as the Babylonish “mystery” religion was IMPOSED upon many nations by sword and spear. Millions were burnt, skinned alive, impaled, placed on the rack, and tortured to death because they refused to “recant” their religion and embrace the growing power of the image of the beast – to accept its decrees about “times,” which were called “sacred,” no matter what the Bible said.

The great false church has been constructed based upon the same old politico-military system of the ancient Roman Empire! It includes the old Roman collegia, found in the “College of Cardinals,” and rules over greater and lesser “dioceses,” the Roman term applied to political regions under Roman rulers.

Just how filthy, how abominable, this growing politico-religious system became is partially illustrated by the life of only one of the many corrupt popes – Leo X, who reigned when Luther began the Reformation. Leo was made an Archbishop at age 8! He was appointed a Cardinal at age 13 and was appointed to 27 different church offices.

Halley’s Bible Handbook says his appointment to these many offices “meant vast income before he was 13. Was taught to regard ecclesiastical office purely as a source of revenue [this sounds painfully familiar to me, for I have known many who have been imbued with the same covetous spirit]. Bargained for the papal chair. Sold church honors. All ecclesiastical offices were for sale, and many new ones were created. He appointed Cardinals as young as seven. He was in endless negotiations with kings and princes, jockeying for secular power, utterly indifferent to the religious welfare of the church. He maintained the most luxurious and licentious court in Europe. His cardinals vied with kings and princes in gorgeous palaces and voluptuous entertainment, attended by trains of servants. Yet, this voluptuary reaffirmed the Unam Sanctam, in which it is declared that every human being must be subject to the Roman Pontiff for salvation. [Where have you heard that theory before?] He issued indulgences for stipulated fees; and declared Burning of Heretics a Divine Appointment.” (ibid. p. 780).

No wonder God describes such a system thus: “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 18:23, 24).

Thus, God’s Word shows that a great ecclesiastical GOVERNMENT would emerge, which would hold sway over kings and emperors; it would be a STATE, just like any other state, sending ambassadors to all nations, and receiving ambassadors from them. It would be a politico-religious system which would be patterned exactly like ancient Imperial Rome; thus, an IMAGE of the Beast!

This monstrous system is depicted by the famed “little horn” of Daniel 7:8, which “had a mouth speaking great thing” and would “think to change times and laws.” The heads of this great church have done exactly that! They have decreed that, unless one wholly submits to ONE HUMAN LEADER, who takes the blasphemous title of “holy father,” one cannot be saved!

But God’s people know the TRUTH about the church – that the CHURCH CANNOT SAVE YOU! That the church is a group of “called-out ones” who are an instrument in God’s hands for accomplishing His Work. They know that we are to call NO MAN “Father” in a religious sense, and that the CHURCH is not an object of worship! They know that NO MAN can have power over their salvation!

But the “image of the beast,” or the great false church that rules over many nations, claims the power to not only “excommunicate” any individual member, thus allegedly consigning them to burn forever in their version of hell fire, but also claims the power of “interdiction,” whereby the head of that ecclesiastical government can place an entire nation outside of the “universal church,” thus claiming that ALL citizens of the whole nation are going to burn in hell fire!

One can imagine the power wielded by such a system. If, for instance, a king or president were to anger the ecclesiastical head, he could place the entire offending nation under interdiction. It would be only a short time until, desperately fearful of burning in hell, the entire population rose up and deposed their king or president in order to get back in the good graces of the ecclesiastical ruler!

How the Universal Church Helped to Bring Europe Together

The ultimate emergence of the Beast power in Europe will absolutely STUN the world! It will truly become the greatest global super-power the world has ever seen! It will be so great, so powerful, so economically viable, so productive and successful that it will evoke WORSHIP from the masses under its sway, as well as adoration, adjuration, and worship from nations all over the world!

The coming super-state in Europe will be mostly of ONE RELIGION! And what is the majority religion of Europe? In most cases, it is ROMAN CATHOLIC.

Hitler brought about STATE WORSHIP! With his constant emphasis on the “super race”; his carefully orchestrated nighttime torchlight parades; his foam-flecked, shouting, mesmerizing speeches, Hitler caused the German people to utterly subject their personal will to his will. In the infamous Nuremburg Nazi rally just before World War II, Rudolf Hess shouted to the frenzied crowds: “Hitler IST Deutschland! Deutschland IST Hitler!”  which means: “Hitler IS Germany! Germany IS Hitler!” Thus, the adoration of the man and the state became one. This is utter pagan idolatry, and it will happen again!

The coming “beast,” the dictator of a United States of Europe, will be hailed as a “deliverer”; he will be worshiped! History proves that many woman fainted at the sight of Adolf Hitler during one of his parades! The adoration of the masses toward Hitler was a kind of pagan idolatry! But the Bible says BOTH the Beast and the False Prophet will be worshiped.

Already there are countless MILLIONS of people in dozens of nations who WORSHIP THE POPE! They adore, revere, and WORSHIP a human being who takes the very titles of God Himself! The present-day pope is no doubt worshiped by more people than any pope in all history! Waiting in the wings, soon to emerge, will be a super-dictator – a new “savior of Europe” – a major POLITICAL figure, who will weld the ten nations together into the greatest power the world has ever seen. He, also, will command adulation, adoration, and WORSHIP from his followers. Remember, the Bible says the nations will WORSHIP THE BEAST, just as millions worshiped Adolf Hitler! There will emerge TWO individuals who will command WORSHIP from the nations – the Beast, or the political/military leader, AND the “false prophet,” or the ecclesiastical leader.

Time magazine pointed out that the pope is one of the greatest men of the century; he is WORSHIPED by millions!

One of the reasons for that adulation, especially among the millions of Catholics in Eastern Europe, is because he was instrumental in helping to form what will emerge as the BEAST!

When Cardinal Wojtila, a Pole, was elected pope, I said before many large audiences it was tremendously significant, for the pope in Rome was now POLISH! I knew this would prove catalytic in helping lessen the hold of the Soviet Union on Poland and through such a move, lessen the iron grip of Russia on other nations in Eastern and Central Europe as well.

For years I have repeatedly stated in my sermons, and radio and television broadcasts that, “a ‘United States of Europe’ will be formed, consisting of TEN NATIONS, FROM THE URALS TO THE ATLANTIC, possessing nuclear weapons.”

The pope, during a visit in West Germany, called for a “United Europe from the Urals to the Atlantic!” Have you looked at a map of Europe lately? The Urals are a mountain chain deep inside Russia – EAST OF MOSCOW! The reason I used that expression for so many years is because it was used by the geopoliticians, men such as Makinder and Haushofer, who believed the major power in the world lay in the heartland of Europe! The heartland of Europe, Central Europe, was the core of the many revivals of the “Holy Roman Empire,” ruled over by many, many popes in Rome. In most instances, it was a GERMANIC kingdom!

Bible prophecy says the strength of IRON will be in this final resurrection of the Beast, but also the weakness of clay. Which nation is IRON? Which nation had the “Iron Chancellor”? Germany, in the person of Bismark! Which nation decorates its soldiers with the IRON cross? Germany! Yet as any metal-worker knows, clay, if it finds its way into a mold where iron is being poured, will weaken, perhaps ruin the thing being formed. In like fashion, even though the coming ten-nation combine will be formed together by the unifying agent of RELIGION, under the great Universal Church at the behest of the POPE, it will not STAY together for long! Read carefully the eighteenth chapter of Revelation, and see how the BEAST will eventually “hate the whore” and make her desolate!

The false prophet will bring about STATE WORSHIP for a time – but it will really be SATAN they will be worshiping!

Notice! “And they worshiped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? …

“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” (Revelation 13:4-8).

Now that you know who, and what, is the BEAST, and you can clearly identify his IMAGE, you can look for his MARK!

A Conscious Choice

Most of the paranoia associated with false concepts about “the Mark of the Beast” comes from an underlying false assumption. That assumption is that the Mark of the Beast is something that may be imposed upon you unsuspectingly, secretly, by subterfuge. Many people seem to believe that, though they wish to live good Christian lives, want to obey God, and do not want to come under the Mark of the Beast, that some insidious plotters in Europe, or in the Pentagon, or elsewhere, may be able to secretly impose this hated and mysterious Mark of the Beast upon them by causing them to comply with certain laws or requirements involving registration for a social security number, the issuance of a national identity card, or perhaps submitting to the implantation of a microchip, or an invisible tattoo!

But notice this scripture, and think deeply about what you will read! “And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls [Greek: psuche, meaning “lives”] of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the Word of God, and which had not worshiped 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!” (Revelation 20:4).

No one WORSHIPS computer-generated labels on food packages, or identity cards, or computer chips!

Notice carefully! The refusal of these individuals to worship the Beast or his image, or to receive his mark, and who are clearly pictured as being in the Kingdom of God – now exalted as co-RULERS with Jesus Christ – literally cost them their lives! BUT it assured their continued possession of eternal life!

Do you see? Here a conscious choice is to be made! Notice they refused to WORSHIP the Beast, or his image. That tells us they KNEW WHAT IT WAS! They made a reasoned, conscious choice! Just as happened during the infamous “inquisition,” when hundreds of thousands were put to death for refusing to give up their Bible-based faith, so the Beast and the False Prophet will be attempting to FORCE Christians to bow down to them in worship. They will refuse, choosing to OBEY GOD rather than man (Acts 4:10, 19; 5:32), and they will be martyred because of that choice! Actually, there were countless hundreds of thousands who were martyred during the Middle Ages for the very same reasons!

Halley says, “[T]he inquisition was the main agency in the Papacy’s effort to crush the Reformation. It is stated that in the 30 years between 1540 and 1570 no fewer than 900,000 Protestants were put to death in the pope’s war for the extermination of the Waldenses.

“Think of monks and priests, in holy garments [sic], directing, with heartless cruelty and inhuman brutality, the work of torturing and burning alive innocent men and women, and doing it in the name of Christ, by the direct order of the ‘Vicar of Christ.’” (Halley’s Bible Handbook, p. 777).

These people were put to death for refusing to worship the Beast, his IMAGE (the great false church and ecclesiastical STATE, formed like a GOVERNMENT and patterned after the ancient Roman civil government), or to receive his identifying MARK.

Notice Revelation 6:9-10, where you see the picture of those who were slain for the Word of God and who cry out, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?” These dead saints, pictured as crying out from their graves, were murdered MANY CENTURIES ago. It becomes obvious then that the Beast, the image of the Beast, and the MARK of the Beast have been around for a long, long time!

Do you see? It is impossible for you to lose salvation “by accident!” It is utterly impossible for some power to so interfere in your life that it imposes upon you a symbol, identifying sign, some “mark” of some kind that causes you to LOSE OUT on salvation!

Notice! “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

“As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

“Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.

“For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor POWERS, nor things present, nor things to come,

“Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:35-39)!

Your Bible absolutely promises that NOTHING – the sword (armed force), principalities, powers – can separate you from the love of God, from salvation in and through Jesus Christ!

Read Revelation 20:4 again! Here resurrected saints are seen as inheriting the thrones promised them by Jesus Christ (cf. Revelation 2:26; 3:21)! They are resurrected because they were martyred. WHY were they martyred? Because they adamantly REFUSED to receive the Mark of the Beast.

That should give you the positive reassurance that, even though some brutal men should forcibly hold you down, implant some kind of an identifying microchip under your skin, or soldiers would literally hold your arms, hands, and legs and tattoo the numbers 666 right across your forehead in great black ink, two inches high, it STILL COULD NOT DEPRIVE YOU OF SALVATION! Therefore, such things ARE NOT the Mark of the Beast!

However, make no mistake! The Mark of the Beast is definitely something that will be ENFORCED – will become a matter of law, and people will be ordered to obey it! They will have to make a final, ultimate choice! That choice will be to either submit, to give in and cooperate with the coming socioeconomic, military/spiritual system called BABYLON THE GREAT, which is to emerge as a world SUPER POWER, or under pain of DEATH to refuse to cooperate – to refuse the Mark of the Beast!

As we have seen, a mark is a stamp, a sign, a symbol, an identifying label! Anciently, Almighty God designated a great SIGN that would always identify His people! That sign was created at the end of the creation week! Here is what God said about His special SIGN between God and His people: “Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you.

“Ye shall keep the Sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people.

“Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord: whosoever doeth any work in the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.

“Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.

“It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed” (Exodus 31:13-17). The CREATOR who pronounced these words was none other than the Person of the divine Elohim – the Godhead – who became Jesus Christ! Notice the proof: “In the beginning was the Word [Greek: Logos, meaning Spokesman] , and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

“The same was in the beginning with God [Greek: Theos, the exact equivalent of the Hebrew ‘Elohim,’meaning MORE than one Person. See Genesis 1:26].

“All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

“In him was life; and the life was the light of men” (John 1:1-4). John opens his gospel with this profound statement about the divine pre-human origins of Jesus Christ! He continued, “He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.

“He came unto his own [the Jews], and his own received him not.

“But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: … And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt [Greek: skenoo “tabernacled”] among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (John 1:10-14).

The knowledge of the pre-human existence of Christ is obvious, incontrovertible, PLAIN to anyone who honestly reads these passages and accepts them as the divinely-revealed Word of God! Yet tens of thousands of professing Christian ministers and millions of their followers adamantly REFUSE to accept them!

Do you realize the CONSEQUENCES to the accepted doctrines of the great false church and her protesting daughters? It means that the God of the Old Testament – the One who WROTE THE TEN COMMANDMENTS with His own finger – IS the One who became Jesus Christ! He does not change!

Paul wrote, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and for ever!” (Hebrews 13:8).

The One who became Christ is the Creator of the Sabbath; He is the member of the divine Godhead who designated the Sabbath day as a perpetual SIGN between Himself and His people!

The Great Tribulation

 Jesus Christ of Nazareth was also the greatest prophet who ever lived. It is He who described the impending GREAT TRIBULATION in His famous Olivet prophecy found in Mark 13, Luke 21, and Matthew 24. Notice that one of the outstanding features of the Great Tribulation is a martyrdom of saints. Jesus said, “Then [during the Great Tribulation] 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.

“And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one other” (Matthew 24:9, 10).

The Satan-inspired false prophet, the great spiritual leader who will appropriate the very titles of God Himself, will use civil power to persecute true Christians! Study carefully the progressive unveiling of the first five seals of the seven seals of the scroll of Revelation. The first five are found in the sixth chapter.

Notice the first seal opened to John’s vision is a horseman riding on a white horse, seen as carrying a bow, who goes out to conquer. Even as Jesus said, the very first thing Christians should watch for is “false Christs and false prophets.” So it is obvious that the meaning of the white horse is that of a great wave of religious fervor, the gradual emergence to global prominence of a great FALSE PROPHET, who will eventually fulfill the prophecy of II Thessalonians 2, claiming blasphemous titles and, according to Jesus’ prediction, having the power to perform such mighty miracles that he would deceive, “if it were possible,” the very elect!

The next horse is red and symbolizes war. Compare this carefully with the next statement Jesus made in Matthew 24 about “wars and rumors of wars.”

The third seal reveals a black horse, an obvious reference to extreme scarcity of food and the sustenance of life. The very next thing Jesus said would follow would be famine! The black horse symbolizes global famine – a time into which we are even now entering!

The fourth seal is opened and John sees a “pale horse” whose name is “Death, and Hell [Greek: hades, meaning the grave] 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 6:8).

And what immediately follows false Christs, wars, and famines, according to Jesus’ prophecy? Christ said “PESTILENCES!” As is always the case, the ravages of warfare, including nuclear fallout and radiation; massive loss of life; the destruction of the infrastructure of cities such as communications, water and electric services, sewage disposal, and the like, brings about fearsome injury; terrible pollution of air, water, and land; and outbreaks of terrible diseases of all kinds. Notice that each of these overlap each other.

As the fifth seal is opened, John sees the figurative lives of martyrs who are crying out, in the same way God told Cain, “Your brother’s blood cries to me from the ground.”

Metaphorically, John sees in vision countless tens of thousands of human individuals who were “SLAIN for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held” (Revelation 6:9).

They cry out, 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 6:10, 11). Anciently these Christians were killed because they refused to worship the Beast or his image, or to receive his mark!

Here you see in metaphor, the lost lives of countless Christians crying out to God! Remember what you read about the brutal murder of nearly a million Waldenses during the “inquisition”? It is people like these, and countless others who were likewise put to death down through history, who staunchly refused to submit to the Babylonish mystery religion and the power of the states over which it ruled! They loved not their lives unto death but were true to Jesus Christ’s promises that any Christian who “endured unto the end” would be saved!

Notice that they are told they must “wait until their fellow servants also should be killed.”

And WHEN are their fellow servants to be killed? Why, during the GREAT TRIBULATION of the future – the next great MARTYRDOM OF SAINTS, which is prophesied to occur just before the intervention of Almighty God by the heavenly signs!

Notice we are dealing with two separate events. First, there was a protracted period of time in history when countless tens of thousands of God’s true servants were MARTYRED for their faith! They are pictured as crying out, “How long O Eternal,” waiting until He avenges their blood upon the heads of their tormentor.

The second great martyrdom of saints is depicted as occurring in the future, at the time of the opening of the fifth seal, which is called the “Great Tribulation” by Jesus Christ (see Matthew 24:21, 22)! They are to “love not their lives unto death” for the SAME REASON that their fellow servants were killed centuries before – for refusing to worship the Beast, or his image, or receive his mark!

What Is a Mark?

The “Mark” of the Beast is merely its symbol, its identifying sign, or its label. It is a counterfeit for the “mark” or the identifying SIGN between God and His people.

As we have seen, Almighty God established a SIGN, an identifying symbol, for His chosen people!

The identifying SIGN God placed upon His people Israel was that of His weekly and annual Sabbaths! A complete list of all of God’s Sabbaths, both weekly and annual, is found in Leviticus 23.

Remember, the Sabbath was made when man was made, at creation! “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.

“And on the seventh day God [Elohim: the One who became Jesus Christ: John 1; Hebrews 1] ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made.

“And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made” (Genesis 2:1-3).

Your Bible plainly tells you that the God of the Old Testament – the One who created the universe, the solar system, the earth and all that is in it; the God who spoke to Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; who spoke to Moses, and wrote the Ten Commandments (including the FOURTH commandment to KEEP THE Sabbath HOLY) – is the member of the divine Family who became Jesus Christ, born of the virgin Mary!

Notice further proof: “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,

“Hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed Heir of all things, BY WHOM ALSO HE MADE THE WORLDS;

“Who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His Person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high …” (Hebrews 1:1-3).

The One of the God family, Elohim, who MADE THE Sabbath DAY, is none other than Jesus Christ of Nazareth – so SAYS YOUR BIBLE!

God says, “For I AM THE Lord [the Ever-Living Eternal!], I CHANGE NOT; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed” (Malachi 3:6).

God is consistent. He does not CHANGE His holy laws to suit human rebellion. God does not conveniently alter His precepts to conform to the changing codes and mores of society, to accommodate the whims of carnal, lusting, sinning mankind!

It was the member of the Godhead who became CHRIST who created the Sabbath! No wonder then, that Jesus proclaimed, “The Sabbath was MADE FOR MAN, and not man for the Sabbath:

“Therefore the Son of man is LORD also OF THE Sabbath” (Mark 2:27, 28).

Which day, then, is “the Lord’s Day”? Why, the Sabbath day, of course! There are only seven places in the entirety of the New Testament where the term “first day of the week” is used. For a thorough understanding of each, and PROOF that the Bible does NOT AUTHORIZE SUNDAY WORSHIP, I strongly urge any serious student of the Bible to read Dr. Samuele Bacchiochi’s book From Sabbath to Sunday, which represents perhaps the most thoroughly documented work on the history of the CHANGE by the Roman Catholic Church from God’s Sabbath day to the observance of the DAY OF THE SUN – named after the SUN god, instead of the Son of God! It was printed by the Pontifical Gregorian University Press in Rome, 1977. The dozens of sources quoted, the scope and breadth of the research, the painstaking system and thoroughness with which the book is presented are positively conclusive.

In its introduction, Dr. Samuele Bacchiochi’s book From Sabbath to Sunday says: “The investigation shows that the adoption of Sunday in place of the Sabbath did not occur in the primitive church of Jerusalem by virtue of apostolic authority, but approximately a century later in the Church in Rome. An interplay of Jewish, pagan and Christian factors contributed to the abandonment of the Sabbath and adoption of Sunday observance instead.” It is demonstrated, for example, that it was the policy of Emperor Hadrian to prohibit the Jews to practice their religion, particularly their two characteristic customs: the Sabbath and circumcision.

Hadrian’s persecutions were catalytic to the gradual rejection by the apostate church of all that was considered “Jewish,” most especially the weekly Sabbath and the Passover.

Bacchiochi writes: “The fact that as a result of Hadrian’s edict Judeo-Christian members and bishops were replaced by gentile ones, indicates that a clear distinction was made at that time between the two. We would assume that the distinction was limited not only to the racial factor, but that it included also a new theological orientation in particular toward characteristic festivals such as Passover and the Sabbath. This hypothesis is supported by the testimony of Epiphanius who in his lengthy report about the controversy over date of the celebration of Passover states: ‘The controversy arose [literally, was stirred up] after the exodus of the bishops of the circumcision [A.D. 135] and it has continued until our time.’ The bishop makes special reference to the fifteen Judeo-Christian bishops who administered the Church of Jerusalem up to A.D. 135 and who up to that time had practiced the quartodeciman Passover [the Passover on the 14th of Nisan!] since they base themselves on a document known as the apostolic constitutions – where the following rule is given: ‘You shall not change the calculation of time, but you shall celebrate it at the same time as your brethren who came out of the circumcision. With them observe the Passover’” (From Sabbath to Sunday, p. 161).

Where the Council of Nicea (A.D. 325) laid the groundwork for the ultimate expunging of all traces of “Jewishness” from the doctrines and customs of the church, the Council of Laodicea (whose date is a subject of some controversy) positively confirmed it.

Canon 29 of the Council of Laodicea said: “Christians should not Judaize and should not be idle on the Sabbath, but should work on that day; they should, however, particularly reverence the Lord’s day [Sunday] and, if possible, not work on it, because they are Christians.”

For some period of time, because of the growing confusion in the apostate church, both the Sabbath and Sunday were being observed. Two contemporary ancient historians, Sozomen (who lived about A.D. 440) and Socrates (who lived about A.D. 439) documented this dual observance.

Socrates wrote: “Although almost all churches throughout the world celebrate the sacred mysteries [the Eucharist] on the Sabbath of every week, yet the Christians of Alexandria and at Rome, on account of some ancient tradition, have ceased to do this” (From Sabbath to Sunday, p. 196).

Notice! These historians, writing more than four centuries after the time of the resurrection of Christ, more than twice the length of time the United States has existed as a nation, admit that “almost all churches throughout the world celebrate … the Sabbath …”

Sozomen also wrote, “[T]he people of Constantinople, and almost everywhere, assemble together on the Sabbath as well as on the first day of the week …” (ibid. p. 197).

Any serious student of ecclesiastical history MUST read Dr. Samuele Bacchiochi’s book From Sabbath to Sunday. The absolute documentation of how Easter was substituted for the Passover, how Sunday was substituted for the Sabbath is totally conclusive!

Remember, God established His Sabbath day as the great IDENTIFYING SIGN, like a stamp, symbol, label, or MARK between Himself and His people! But wait! He said SabbathS, PLURAL! Naturally He would have! For God also gave His people Israel a series of seven annual Sabbaths, holy days, which progressively, as the seasonal changes unfolded, opened up and revealed God’s marvelous plan for humankind, the very plan of salvation!

Christ said, “The Sabbath was made for man …” (Mark 2:27). The Sabbath is something that was MADE. It was created time, made HOLY by the Eternal Creator. God injected His very presence into that day, resting from His creation, giving this span of time to mankind for a great blessing. It’s a day of complete REST from labors, a day of rejuvenation, rehabilitation; a day to contemplate creation and God’s handiwork; a day to pray, study, fellowship with brethren of like mind; a day of worship toward God.

The Sabbath was made during creation week; it was made when man was made. It was made for MANKIND, not “for the Jews!” No one called a “Jew” (from “Yehudi” or “Judah,” the eponymous ancestor of all Jews) was ever in existence until the children of Jacob (Israel) were born! Yet the Sabbath had been in force and effect for thousands of years! The Sabbath LONG predates the codification of the law at Sinai.

God established the Sabbath as a SIGN – like a symbol, or an identifying label – a “mark” of IDENTITY between Himself and His people! He knew if they continually remembered His Sabbath day, it was pivotal to remembering Him as CREATOR – the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Though the Jews rejected Christ, they have clung tenaciously to the Old Testament scriptures, to the weekly Sabbath, and to the annual Sabbaths.

The Jewish people have never lost sight of the Sabbath day! The weekly cycle is nowhere observable in nature. There is no movement of the planets, sun, moon, stars or earth that indicates the day of the week. The Sabbath was established at creation by the One who became Christ, given again to Israel in the Decalogue, and has never been lost.

When Israel obeyed God, keeping His Sabbaths, they were blessed. When they broke His Sabbaths and turned to idolatry (usually SUN worship in some form)  they were cursed, plagued, overcome by warring neighbors.

Throughout the history of the northern ten tribes, the House of Israel, God pled with them to return to Him, to forsake their idols, lest they suffer unbelievable penalties – the curses that come as a natural result of breaking God’s laws – plus invasion by foreign armies, captivity, being reduced to slaves once again! But they would not listen.

Eventually, in successive waves of invasion, the Assyrian armies under Shalmanezer took the Israelites into captivity!

“Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of His sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only!” (II Kings 17:6-18).

The nation of Israel was removed for Sabbath breaking – for abandoning God’s weekly and annual Sabbaths, which would have kept them in the knowledge of God’s plan, His PURPOSE for human life. By rejecting the identifying SIGN between them and their God they lost sight of the fact that He is CREATOR of all things, and they turned to idolatry, to sun worship.

Having rejected the identifying SIGN God had placed upon them, they became quite literally LOST from history! Millions suppose Americans are “Gomer,” of gentile stock! Only a small minority understand the true identity of Britain, the United States, Norway, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, Sweden, Finland, and portions of France and Switzerland, as well as members of the Commonwealth!

By the time of Christ, ten-tribed Israel had disappeared from history. Only a tiny handful of peoples from a couple of the tribes are ever mentioned: Anna, who was of Asher, and Paul, who said he was from Benjamin, who originally shared common borders with Judah.

But the Jews never became lost to history, because, even though they also went into idolatry, even though they suffered seventy year’s captivity in Babylon for their great national sin, they never abandoned the weekly Sabbath, or the annual Sabbaths! They retained the SIGN God had placed upon His people!

Every time there was a restoration of truth – national repentance because of the decree of a righteous king, like Josiah – the people got back to God’s Sabbaths, to His Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread, to the annual Sabbaths, which keep us in mind of God’s PLAN.

Now, let’s understand! The Mark of the Beast is not something that can be surreptitiously placed upon you.

You Can Refuse the Mark!

 In vision, John was projected forward in time, forward into our century and beyond – into the time of the Great Tribulation, the Heavenly Signs, and the Day of the Lord.

In the fifteenth and sixteenth chapters of Revelation, John records his visions of the salvation of the saints of God, and the outpouring of God’s wrath on sinning mankind during the seven last plagues.

Notice the description of the saints: “And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.

“And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints” (Revelation 15:2-3).

Who are these? Why, they are the resurrected saints! They are the “firstfruits” of the earth, the last living generation of Christians, together with all those who had died previously, and are resurrected at Christ’s coming! (I Thessalonians 4:16-18). They represent ALL TRUE, GOD-FEARING, BIBLE-BELIEVING CHRISTIANS. This vision is not portraying just a small PART of the saints of God, but is showing ALL the saints!

Christ will RETURN TO THIS EARTH soon – very, very likely in YOUR LIFETIME! At the time of this great event, millions of saints will be resurrected; countless others will be instantaneously CHANGED. John’s vision shows them standing on a “sea of glass,” or translucent, crystal-like material before God’s throne. Standing upon it was a vast multitude of resurrected, spirit-born saints, now risen from the dead or instantaneously CHANGED from flesh to spirit, at the precise moment of the Second Coming of Christ (I Corinthians 15:50-52).

This represents all the church, the TOTALITY of the firstfruits of the earth, the great FIRST RESURRECTION! This is not some isolated, small group who had some special mission to accomplish, some special problem to overcome. No, it is the great FIRST RESURRECTION; it is all the saints, who are pictured standing before the throne of God, singing the exultant Song of Moses!

And what is their description? They are those who have gotten the victory over the BEAST, and over his IMAGE, and over his MARK, and over the NUMBER OF HIS NAME!

Question: If you do not know who or what this Beast really IS, if you are ignorant of what is his IMAGE, if you do not know what is his MARK, then HOW CAN YOU GET THE VICTORY OVER IT?

It is obvious that the image and the Mark of the Beast are of ancient origin, yet continue right up until the Second Coming of Christ!

Are YOU one who is conscious of the daily struggle against the Mark of the Beast, against his image, against his name, and the number of his name? If you are a Sabbath-keeping wage-earner, striving to feed and clothe a family in a SUNDAY-OBSERVING world, you are VERY aware of such a struggle!

Countless thousands have had to forsake jobs that required them to work on the Sabbath, which is the BUSIEST SHOPPING DAY OF THE WEEK! In a Sunday-observing world, it is sometimes virtually impossible to “buy or sell,” or to maintain a job or a business if you decide to OBEY GOD and keep His Sabbaths! Countless numbers of school children, whose parents ask that they be excused from school to observe God’s holy days, have been shamed and humiliated, have had their grades lowered, and have been penalized for unexcused absences.

Thousands have approached their employers, asking if they would be able to work on Sundays, or on holidays, but have their Sabbaths off from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset, and have been refused! It is THEN that one knows what it means to RESIST THE MARK OF THE BEAST! His stamp, his identifying label of the day of the SUN, is everywhere in western professing Christian societies.

Millions are deceived! Many believe the Mark of the Beast is yet some future development, a national identity card, or an invisible tattoo, or a microchip implanted beneath the skin, or a plastic credit card. All of this is nonsense! Those who believe such things know nothing of the Bible, of history, or of prophecy! The Mark of the Beast is something that a Christian may consciously refuse, even under pain of martyrdom! No civil power can forcibly take salvation from you, cause you to be a recipient of God’s wrath – the outpouring of the seven last plagues! It is only those who refuse to OBEY GOD and who choose, instead, to go along with the ways of this present world, who will come under God’s great WRATH and be exposed to the great PLAGUES He will send on this earth.

How do you feel when a loved one is angry with you? When a husband, wife, son or daughter, close family member, or someone on the job is wrathful toward you? Naturally, you’re upset, uneasy, perhaps depressed, fearful. But what if you knew ALMIGHTY GOD IN HEAVEN ABOVE IS FILLED WITH WRATH TOWARD YOU?

He is WRATHFUL against all who revere the Beast, who worship his image, and who receive his mark, or the number of his name!

How many Christians do you know who are truly AWARE in a daily, workaday sense, of just WHAT IS THE BEAST, who or what is his image, what is his mark, or the number of his name?

As shocking as it may seem, there are MILLIONS of professing, church-going “Christians,” who believe they have salvation but who are actually PART OF THE IMAGE OF THE BEAST, who joyously receive his MARK as part of their very life’s fabric but who are completely deceived, who do not KNOW they are locked into a Babylonish MYSTERY religion!

How the Image of the Beast Was Formed

The BEAST of prophecy will soon loom up in Europe! It is to comprise TEN NATIONS (Revelation 17:3, 12), most likely a reunified Germany, at the head of a “United States of Europe” possessing its own nuclear arsenal, along with chemical and biological weapons, and the means to deliver them anywhere in the world. Like a Frankenstein MONSTER, which will STAGGER its own builders, a new, ultra-right Germany will eventually emerge and, in close cooperation with many other Central European nations, form a ten-nation political union.

Notice that the world WORSHIPS this supranational, powerful economic, political, military union: “ [A]nd all the world wondered after the beast.

“And they worshiped the dragon [SATAN! Revelation 12:9] 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 13:3, 4).

The beast John saw was a counterfeit Christ-like creation. It APPEARED like Christ! Yet it spoke like SATAN! (v. 11) Let’s continue: “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 [Rome! And the successive revivals of the so-called “Holy Roman Empire” down through history], whose deadly wound was healed” (Revelation 13:12).

The “deadly wound” was received when Rome fell, A.D. 476. It was “healed” when Emperor Justinian sent General Belisarius to Carthage, and later to Rome, to overthrow the Ostrogothic king, A.D. 543. The “little horn” (Daniel 7:8, 20) that had “plucked up three horns by the roots,” was the growing universal church in the person of Justinian, as well as successive “holy” Roman emperors. Three lesser rulers were ejected from Rome over a long period – the Vandals, the Ostrogoths (by Justinian and Belisarius), and the Heruli.

Now notice: “And he [this “lamb-like” beast, which spoke as a dragon: Satan] 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. [Rome!]

“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 13:13-15).

From the beginning, the Roman Catholic Church was organized along the pattern of the Roman Empire! It was an hierarchy, which, at the absolute pinnacle of power, was worshiped as if divine. The ancient Roman emperors proclaimed themselves “gods” and were commonly addressed as “divinity,” a BLASPHEMOUS assertion attached to some of the most obscenely depraved, demented, degenerate, cruel human beings who have ever lived!

The Roman Catholic Church developed over centuries and was never a cohesive, unified church under one pope until the time of Constantine, A.D. 325. There were periods in history where there were two or more popes, each excommunicating each other! Malachi Martin has documented a great deal concerning the Roman Catholic Church not commonly known. (Books written by Malachi Martin include: Rich Church, Poor Church: The Catholic Church and Its Money; The Decline and Fall of the Roman Church; The Final Conclave.) Another author has documented the incredible chicanery, power politics, and strife that has characterized the succession of prelates of the Roman Catholic Church. One book, In God’s Name: An Investigation into the Murder of Pope John Paul I, by David A. Yallop, alleges that Pope John Paul I was assassinated. It includes much documentation and thirty-two pages of photographs to substantiate its claim.

History proves the church that emerges from the dark shroud of the second century (during which there is comparatively little written information available) is in most respects TOTALLY DIFFERENT from the church of the apostles.

Remember, the church Jesus Christ said He would build (Matthew 16:18) would be the “assembly” (Greek: ekklesia) of the early apostles, including Paul, who described himself as “one begotten out of due season,” Barnabas and others, besides the original eleven, together with Matthias, who replaced Judas Iscariot. They continued to observe the WEEKLY Sabbath, for which there is absolute, incontrovertible PROOF in the New Testament Scriptures. They continued to observe the ANNUAL SabbathS, such as Pentecost (the “birthday” of the New Testament Church – Acts 2), the Days of Unleavened Bread (I Corinthians 5), and the Passover (I Corinthians 11). Luke mentions the “fast” (Day of Atonement – Acts 27:9) about A.D. 55-56, long after the Ascension of Christ.

They observed the Passover exactly as did Christ on the 14th of Nisan, or Abib, the first month of the sacred calendar. But thousands of gentiles were coming into the ranks of the church over the centuries. They were attracted to a church that was increasingly “accommodating,” and that easily adapted to various gentile customs and practices.

The story of Simon Magus (the “Magus,” from “Magi,” Acts 8) and his rival movement is a subject for a complete book and cannot be treated here. However, there was a “Simon the Pethor” or the “Pater” (Latin: “father”) in Rome who was NOT Simon Peter! There is no connection whatsoever between “Peter” (Greek: Petros, a pebble, or rock) and “Pater.”

Study the book of Romans carefully! Paul addresses the large church at Rome in the 50s. Yet Peter is never mentioned in the book! Peter is not mentioned in the salutation, or in the body of the text, or in the many personal salutations at the close, which include references to more than twenty-seven persons by name! WHY? Because Peter was in Babylon, where there was a colony of Jews. Peter was the apostle to the “circumcision,” while Paul was the apostle to the gentiles! (See I Peter 5:13.)

By the time the curtain raises over church history in the beginning of the second century, a completely different church begins to emerge. Paul spoke of what was happening to the Thessalonians. He said, “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 worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God” (II Thessalonians 2:3, 4).

Simon Magus was called “that great power of God” and had the power to produce miracles! It is likely Paul had him in mind when he spoke of a man of sin, a “son of perdition” who exalted himself above “all that is called God, or that is worshiped.” Yet Paul was writing a prophecy for our time, something that is to occur in the final years prior to Christ’s return!

Paul said he was “withholding” (verses 6-11) the emergence of this insidious power within the church. He called it “THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY” [meaning sin or lawlessness] and said that it “doth already work: only he who restrains it [true meaning] will continue to restrain it, until it arise in the midst.” This meant that the man of sin, the individual espousing the MYSTERY religion, would “become evident for who he was” or would “arise in the midst.”

Remember, God had warned through Paul: “Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them” (Acts 20:30).

By the time of Constantine, there were many struggling, disagreeing factions within the growing universal church. The office of bishop had evolved to “metropolitan” in the case of the major cities, like Antioch, Alexandria, Jerusalem, Constantinople, and Rome. There were large numbers who insisted the weekly Sabbath should still be kept, that Christ kept it, as did the apostles. Many insisted that the Passover should be observed on the 14th of Nisan. Later they were called “quartodecimans,” a Latin term for “the fourteenth,” meaning those who insisted the Passover should be observed as it had always been, exactly as God had commanded, on the fourteenth of Nisan. But many new factions had emerged who wished to accommodate the growing numbers of the heathen who were being baptized and who worshiped the symbols of Baal, Isis, and Osirus, of Chemosh and Milcom – symbols of the sun, and moon, and the seasons.

The famous Council of Nicaea (A.D. 325) was called by Constantine to settle many of the factional differences that were causing confusion in the universal church. It lasted forty days and was attended by three hundred and seventeen bishops, several metropolitans, as well as by Constantine himself. It went down in history as the first attempted ecumenical council, dealing, as it did, with Arianism, Donatism, and other schisms that were causing dissension in the growing universal church.

At a later council, this one in Laodicea, many of the steps taken in Nicaea were broadened. More stringent edicts were issued concerning the weekly Sabbath and the annual holy days, particularly the Passover! Important among its canons were those concerning the observance of Easter – the proscriptions against those who “Judaized” by observing the Passover on the fourteenth, as had Christ Himself, the early apostles, and the Christian church of the first century.

By this time, the observance of the “first day of the week” as “the Lord’s Day” was becoming more and more the accepted standard of the church. Though there were thousands scattered throughout the Roman Empire who continued to observe the holy Sabbath day and who continued to observe God’s annual Sabbaths – like the quartodecimans – the growing might of the Roman church gradually overwhelmed them. Most disappeared from history. Through the centuries, we find only fragmentary information concerning those who continued to resist the spread of the Baylonish mystery system of religion: the Bogomils, the Petrobrusians, the Arnoldists, the Waldensians, the Vaudois; there were groups in numerous European nations who clung to the earliest truths expounded by the apostles, refusing to accept Sunday-worship, “Ishtar” (pronounced “Easter”), and the pagan “Saturnalia” celebrated on December 25th, with its symbols of Nimrod and Semiramus – the little tree, the yule log, the holly wreath, mistletoe, round orbs and bulbs symbolizing sex and fecundity.

But the majority went the way of least resistance. Those who were fearful of martyrdom readily “recanted” any further observance of God’s Sabbaths and holy days, and accepted the Church-sanctioned customs of Sunday, Christmas, and Easter. The masses of heretofore “unconverted” coming into the mystery religion were pagan. It was but a small step for these heathen sun-worshiping peoples to embrace the mysteries of the Catholic religion, for the trappings of the religion bore strong resemblance to the paganism from whence these new adherents had only so recently emerged.

An outstanding example of this is in Mexico City, where the national museum contains an ancient “baptismal” font (a contradiction in terms, since “baptizo” means “to immerse”), which features as its pedestal, a huge serpent wound around and around to form the entire stone font. The serpent is in the form of “Quetzalcoatl” (Indian for “winged, flying serpent”), which was the god of the Aztecs and many other Mexican, Central and South American savages. For these illiterate savages to approach a “priest” who would sprinkle them with “holy water” from a font that looked exactly like their serpent god was no major step for them – especially when armed soldiers insisted upon it.

This was nothing more than an adaptation of the same tactics used by the ancient Roman Empire: “In a word, the Roman government was not only wonderfully organized … everyone was required to join in the worship of the emperor because he stood for the majesty and glory of the dominion … all were obliged, as good citizens, to join in the official sacrifices to the head of the state, as a god” (Medieval and Modern Times, ch.1, p.7).

Eventually an “image” of the Beast had been created! Now, a great universal CHURCH was emerging. It had the Roman Curia, the “College of Cardinals,” like the old Roman “Collegia,” and it ruled according to the principal of the ABSOLUTE AUTHORITY OF ONE MAN – a hierarchy ruled from the top down, with NO checks and balances. History is replete with the gross abuses of many such leaders, a subject so vast it could fill a whole set of encyclopedias. This “image” of the old Roman Empire appeared to ignorant, uninformed people “Christ-like,” like a lamb. But its message was satanic, the voice of the dragon! In place of God’s Sabbath day, it substituted the day of the sun god, Sunday. In place of God’s Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread came “Lent” (mentioned nowhere in the Bible) and “Easter.” In place of the Feast of Trumpets – the official “New Year’s Day” of the Israelites, since it fell on the first day of the seventh month, the beginning of the civil year – came “New Year’s Day,” in the middle of a dead winter. “Hallowe’en” (the evening before “All Saints Day”) was adopted, and with it the symbols of Satan’s hell: goblins, witches, black cats, Jack-o’-lanterns, bonfires, orgiastic feasts, carousing; the colors of death and darkness; and belief that “Samhain” the “Lord of the Dead” (a Druidic belief) reassigned the “souls” of the dead on that fateful evening. Gradually the world’s so-called “Christian” populaces began celebrating wholly pagan festivals, as does the great universal church and her protesting daughters today (Revelation 17:5).

God’s Sabbaths were forgotten by the massive majority. Those who kept it could easily be IDENTIFIED, for their entire life was filled with difficulties and persecution as a result. Children in school, wage earners searching for jobs – all were (and are) rendered extremely difficult for Sabbath-keepers in a Sunday-observing world.

The Sign of God’s People

What is a “mark,” but a sign, a symbol, an identifying label? Those who worship the Beast and his image, who willingly give their “right hand” to it (symbolizing a handshake: willingness, agreement), who cooperate with it, naturally wear its brand – its label!

But those who have gotten the victory over the Beast, his image, his mark, and the number of his name “sing the Song of Moses!” Notice again, as we read in Revelation 14, verses 9 and 10, that those who receive the Mark of the Beast, who worship his image, will suffer the WRATH OF GOD in the seven last plagues! But notice, in context, only two short verses later, the contrasting group: “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they THAT KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD, and the faith of Jesus” (Revelation 14:12).

The Song of Moses extols God’s Ten Commandments! Moses was the intermediary who gave the LAW. The resurrected saints, who have gotten VICTORY over the Beast, his image, and his mark are those who have clung fast to God’s Ten Commandments!

Jesus said, “If you will enter into life, keep the commandments!” (Matthew 19:17). Christ inspired John to write, “And hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (I John 2:3, 4).

The end-time saints are described as “the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Revelation 12:17).

The commandments of God include the FOURTH one, which says, “REMEMBER the Sabbath day, to KEEP it holy.

“Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work [this commandment has to do with your business, your labor – buying and selling – earning your food!],

“But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God …” (Exodus 20:8-10).

God established the Sabbath as the great TEST commandment! It is a test of obedience! When rebellious Israelites were refusing to keep the Sabbath – this, before the giving of the Decalogue – God said, “How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws?” (Exodus 16:28).

As a separate covenant, an everlasting covenant, God established the Sabbath as a great SIGN between Himself and His people! The One who became Jesus Christ and died on the stake for your sins and mine, thundered to His creation: “Verily MY SabbathS YE SHALL KEEP: for it is a sign [label, identifying badge, symbol, mark] between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know I am the Lord that doth sanctify [set apart, make holy, different, unique!] you.

“Ye shall keep the Sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you. …

“Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a SIGN BETWEEN ME AND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL FOR EVER” (Exodus 31:13-18).

From the time of Pentecost, this great sign applies to ALL people of whatever national or ethnic background, for “if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:29).

Notice again the symbolism of the hand and the forehead. The hand is given in a “handshake,” as a form of greeting or agreement. How many deals have been consummated when men have said, “Let’s shake on it”? The vast majority of mankind are right-handed. The “right hand of fellowship,” a sign of cooperation, willingness, brotherly love and esteem, is commonly known. Christ sits at the “right hand” of the Father in heaven, showing that He is in fullest agreement, cooperation, that They two are ONE in everything! Now, notice!

Concerning the original Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread – two of God’s annual Sabbaths – God, the One who became Christ, said: “And it shall be for a SIGN unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes [on your forehead!], that the Lord’s law may be in thy mouth [on your mind]” (Exodus 13:9).

“And you shall bind them [God’s commandments] for a SIGN upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes [on your forehead!]” (Deuteronomy 6:8).

Notice further: “Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a SIGN upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes” (Deuteronomy 11:18).

The forehead, the area “between the eyes” of we human beings, contains the “frontal lobes” of the brain. It is here, in the frontal lobes of the brain, that our will resides—our power to choose, our volition, our free moral agency. Other parts of the brain control our motor facility, our memory, our ability to walk, sit, eat, cough, sleep. But in the portion behind the forehead is where character resides!

The number seven is God’s number signifying perfection, completion, as seen in the Sabbath day as the final day of creation, the day of rest. Six is man’s number, the number of the days given to mankind for his own work, for his own purposes. The number three is used time and again in the Word of God for “finality.” Three sixes symbolize “final carnality” or “totally human,” as opposed to divine, or spiritual.

The Mysterious Number—666

The number 666 has been attached to a great diversity of persons, places, and things – from the Titans of ancient Greek mythology to U.S. President Ronald Reagan, from Nero to the pope, from the “secret symbol” of the ancient “mysteries” to the intricate circuitry of some modern “super computer.”

Conspiracy theorists try to link 666 with the “New Age Movement.” In her book The Hidden Dangers of the Rainbow, Constance Cumbey alleges the infamous number is a “distinguishing characteristic of the New Age Movement.” New Agers, she insists, “consider the 666 a sacred number.” However intriguing, Cumbey’s imaginative attempts at seeing triple six formations in pictures in New Age publications – along with an obvious lack of genuine evidence supportive of her theories – do little for the credibility of her book.

In his book There’s A New World Coming, well-known author Hal Lindsey states, “Since the number 6 in the Bible stands for humanity, I believe the meaning of 666 is man trying to imitate the Trinity of God (three sixes in one person.)” While this fairly popular view is shared by numerous commentators, it begins with a commonly held false assumption – that God is a Trinity.

One school of prophetic interpretation tags Nero Caesar with the number of the Beast. But the believability of this argument diminishes as the facts emerge. Notice what Mounce has to say:

“The solution most commonly accepted today is that 666 is the numerical equivalent of Nero Caesar. It is held to be supported by the variant reading 616, which also yields the name of Nero when the Latinized spelling is followed. What is not generally stressed is that this solution asks us to calculate a Hebrew transliteration of the Greek form of a Latin name, and that with a defective spelling” (Robert H. Mounce, The New International Commentary on the New Testament, The Book of Revelation, p. 264).

According to some sources, both the Hebrew and Greek names of Romulus, the legendary founder and first king of Rome, add up to 666. This, to some, indicates that everyone called “Roman” has the “name” of the man for whom Rome was named.

The Greek word for Romulus is Lateinos, which signifies “Roman,” and yields a numerical value of 666. Interestingly, “Lateinos” is mentioned by second century theologian Irenaeus (in his work Against Heresies) as one of several possible solutions to the numerical riddle.

But the problems of transliteration and the fact that we don’t know for sure whether a man named Romulus ever even existed – not to mention the fact that literally thousands of names, titles, and words can be made up to add up to 666 – leaves the argument standing on a quavering foundation.

Romulus and Nero are not the only Romans branded with triple sixes. Adventists claim that the letters of the Pope’s Latin title – Vicarius Filii Dei – add up to 666. However, we must realize that the more titles an individual has, and the more ways there are of “counting,” the more likely it is that at least one of his titles will yield the numerical value of 666 – and the pope is not short of titles; nor are the interpreters of prophecy short of ways with which to count. Moreover, Vicarius Filii Dei is apparently not an officially acknowledged title.

But what does the Bible say about the “number of the Beast”? What is the purpose of the number? Is “666” the number of a computer, a church, a religious leader?

Turn to and read Revelation 13:15-17, and notice these important points:

(1) The number of the Beast is the “number of HIS NAME”!

(2) The number is the “number of a MAN”!

(3) No one can buy or sell unless he has the mark or name of the Beast, or the number of his name.

(4) The number can be “counted” by those with wisdom and understanding.

(5) The number is “six hundred threescore and six” – 666.

The number of the Beast is the number of a man and the number of his name – NOT the number of a computer, or the number of “the New Age,” or former President Regan, or the number on the label of a can of soup.

The BEAST is both the revived ROMAN EMPIRE and the MAN who presides over the revived military and political system. The “image” of the Beast is the great universal ecclesiastical system patterned after the ancient Roman Empire, which was, under its Catholic leaders, called “Holy.”

Nero Caesar, Mussolini, and other historical figures may have been types of the end-time Beast, but did not fulfill the prophecies concerning him.

When he appears, those who have wisdom and understanding will recognize him, and will find that his name (or epithet) will, by some numerical system, yield the figure 666!

It is interesting, but perhaps not prophetically significant, that the monetary standard of Germany is called the MARK, not the dollar (from “Thaler,” a valley in Germany), or the Pound Sterling. It is interesting that the French monetary standard is also a Mark, called a Franc in the French language. A “franked” envelope is one that has been stamped with postage in advance. Hitler adopted the “crooked cross,” the sign of the SWASTIKA for his “Third Reich.” Perhaps the coming Beast power will have any number of different names, emblems, or signs; perhaps it will utilize some monetary standard that will be recognizable to those who are truly “watching” world developments as Christ commanded His people to do.

And just because national identity cards or computer chips forcibly inserted beneath the skin are NOT the “Mark of the Beast,” does not mean the Beast power will not resort to some form of checking up on all its citizens! The fact that “no man may buy or sell” who does not receive the Mark of the Beast is definitely significant.

When the Beast appears, those who understand the prophecies concerning him are likely to recognize him before they ever attempt to count the numerical value of his name. The “666” then, is not the sole means of identifying the Beast and is not even the first clue of his identity. Rather, it is only one, perhaps the last, of many factors that point to the identity of the end-time Beast.

Many have speculated that the present pope, like a counterfeit of “John the Baptist,” is “preparing the way for the one to follow,” who will be a counterfeit of Christ. Some note that there have been five popes with the title “Sixtus” and have naturally wondered whether another, final pope will take the title “Sixtus, the Sixth.” Whether or not this occurs, and it may be idle speculation, one thing is sure: The “woman” which mounts and rides the Beast is none other than the Roman Catholic Church! She is the great “Lady of the Kingdoms” (read Isaiah 47), “the mother of harlots [her protesting daughters, which came out of her] and abominations of the earth” (Revelation 17:5).

Her signs are those of the cross, Sunday, Easter, Christmas, and Halloween! She has thought “to change times and laws” (Daniel 7:25) and will eventually put to death the saints of God for refusing to receive and accept her mark, to worship the Beast and the image of the Beast (the papacy), and to receive the number of the name of the Beast! She has protesting daughters, who, though rejecting her leadership, cling to many of her most important dogmas and doctrines. They include the millions who recite the “Apostles’ Creed” (absolutely unbiblical!), recite and sing the “doxology,” believe in the immortality of the soul and the Trinity, and who worship on the day of the sun and on the days of ancient pagans, such as the “Saturnalia” (Christmas) and the festival devoted to “Ishtar” (Easter).

God warns, “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” (Revelation 18:4, 5).

The Beast that is to arise is probably going to be called “the United States of Europe.” It is represented by the ten toes of the image Daniel interpreted (in Daniel’s second chapter) as the end-time kings who will be destroyed by Christ at His coming! These same ten kings are mentioned in Revelation 17:7-14, where they are on the seventh head of the successive revivals of the “Holy Roman Empire,” and these ten nations “shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for He is Lord of lords, and Kings of kings: and they that are with Him are called, and chosen, and faithful” (Revelation 17:14).

Remember! The saints of God are those who have gotten the victory over the Beast, his image, his mark, and the number of his name. Those who willingly receive it in their minds (foreheads), who cooperate with it (with their right hand), will suffer the WRATH OF GOD and the SEVEN LAST PLAGUES.

Those who resist it, who overcome it – who refuse to worship the Beast and his image – may be martyred for their beliefs! Yet they inherit eternal life, they receive SALVATION as a result! God commands you and me, “COME OUT OF HER, MY PEOPLE.”

May God give you the grace, strength, and courage to come out of modern Babylon and her “mystery” religion, and the wisdom to recognize the Mark of the Beast, the image of the Beast, and the number of his name.

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This publication is intended to be used as a personal study tool. Please know it is not wise to take any man’s word for anything, so prove all things for yourself from the pages of your own Bible.

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The post The Mark of the Beast – What Is It? first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

No such creature has ever been seen or heard of before or since. In this nightmarish vision, John saw a many headed monster seeming to rise slowly out of a vast sea, with names which were blasphemous written upon it! What was this creature? What is the meaning of the heads? What do the horns symbolize?

You are living in the close of an age. Accelerated world events have rocketed our modern generation, in only a few decades—indeed, in the lifetime of many elderly persons today—from the invention of powered flight to landings on the moon! We have “progressed” from the Maxim machine gun to intercontinental ballistic missiles; from “blockbuster” two-ton bombs, capable of knocking out a whole city block of buildings, to multi-megaton nuclear warheads, capable of destroying whole cities the size of Los Angeles or Chicago!

You are living in the days prophesied by Jesus Christ of Nazareth!

The greatest prophet who ever lived was Christ Himself. In His famous “Olivet” prophecy, He listed a careful, step-by-step sequence of events which must take place prior to His direct intervention, the close of this age, and the ushering in of the next age, the NEW age of the reign of Jesus Christ over all this earth as King of kings and Lord of lords administering the government of God over all the earth!

Just where are we now in terms of world events in the light of prophecy?

There is no more important book in the Bible concerning present and future events than the book of Revelation.

The “Apocalypse,” as the book of Revelation was named in the Greek language, means to reveal, not conceal!

God says, “Surely the Lord Eternal will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7).

Daniel said, “He [God] revealeth the deep and secret things: He knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with Him … there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets…” (Daniel 2:22-28).

The secret of which Daniel spoke was the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s famous dream, in which he saw a monstrous image.

Read the entire second chapter of Daniel, to refresh your memory concerning this great event. Daniel showed that the head of gold of the great image Nebuchadnezzar had seen represented Nebuchadnezzar himself—and his Babylonian kingdom. Thus it was revealed in the interpretation of this prophecy that king and kingdom are synonymous.

Quickly following, Daniel revealed that the four successive worldruling Gentile empires would consist of Babylon, Medo-Persia, GrecoMacedonia, and, finally, the Roman Empire.

The Roman Empire was described as “…the fourth kingdom [which would be] strong as iron … and whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potter’s clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.

“And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken [margin: weak] .

Nebuchadnezzar’s dream continued until he saw the great image destroyed by a symbolic stone, representing Christ.

Daniel revealed, “And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever” (Daniel 2:40-44).

Notice it is in the “days of these kings,” meaning the days of the kings represented by the ten toes of the great image, that the Kingdom of God will be set up on this earth!

It becomes immediately obvious that Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, commencing in ancient Babylon, progressed forward into the twentieth and twenty-first century culminating in the Second Coming of Christ, and the setting up of the Kingdom of God!

It tells us, if we ponder the meaning of this vision, coupled with the four beasts of Daniel’s seventh chapter, and the beasts of Revelation 13 and 17, that these four Gentile world-dominating kingdoms would continue one after the other until the fourth great kingdom began to rule over the whole earth—after which, through various successive stages or revivals, that fourth kingdom would once again rise to great power just prior to Christ’s Second Coming!

Notice: “Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it break in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure” (Daniel 2:45).

Now, turn to and read Revelation 17:12-14!

“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 [Christ] 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.”

Again, notice ten kings.

John says these ten kings are represented by the ten horns of the great beast which he had seen in an earlier vision.

The Beast—Who, What is He?

John said: “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.”

For years, eschatologists have known that biblical prophecy is closely interwoven, that it is interdependent upon several different books of the Bible. And even though the real TRUTH about Bible prophecy has been concealed from the world at large, many have come to understand that Daniel and the book of Revelation go hand in glove, that one cannot be understood without the other.

Here, John sees a creature which embodies all of the strongest characteristics of the creatures seen by Daniel in his seventh chapter. The leopard was symbolic of the empire of Alexander the Great; the four heads (Daniel 7:6) a symbol of the four generals who carved up Alexander’s great, sprawling empire even before his body was interred. Alexander, you will recall, revolutionized warfare, making lightning-like attacks (the “blitzkrieg” of his day) against the ponderous Persian Phalanxes with smaller, rapidly-moving, flanking columns.

The feet of the vision seen by John were as the feet of a bear. The bear was a symbol of the Persian empire, under Cyrus the Great. With its great paws and ponderous strength, a bear can smash logs, searching for ants, grubs and termites; roll over huge stones, kill a range bull with a single blow to the head, or disembowel large animals.

The beast of Revelation 13 featured the mouth as the “mouth of a lion.” It is the monstrous head of the male lion, made the more formidable-looking by the mane, which is the symbol of its strength.

Obviously, the great beast John saw in vision (Revelation 13 and 17) embodies all of the four strongest characteristics of each of the FOUR great beasts seen by Daniel. These great creatures parallel exactly the four successive world-ruling Gentile kingdoms depicted by the great image seen in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. The ancient Chaldean empire, Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom, came to be known as “Babylon” after the name attached to its capitol. Though the dates are disputed, this ancient kingdom is said to have reigned from approximately 625 to 539 B.C.

During the night of the riotous feast (Daniel 5) during the reign of a lesser-known Babylonian king, Belshazzar, the armies of the MedoPersian empire had diverted the course of the river upstream, walked beneath the river gates into the city of Babylon dry-shod, surprising the garrisons, and took the city! This was the army under Darius the Mede, allied with the Persian empire. The Persian empire dates commonly from 558-330 B.C.

Rawlinson’s World History is one of the best sources for information concerning these ancient kingdoms.

The third successive world-ruling kingdom was that of GrecoMacedonia, under one of the most famous generals in all of history, Alexander the Great.

He subjugated the Persians, conquering the known world from India and points east all the way to Gibraltar, then called the “Gates of Hercules.” History states that Alexander, then in his early thirties, having reigned for only a few short years, sat down and wept at the famous “Gates of Hercules” because, so far as he knew, there were no more “worlds to conquer”!

After his death, true to the prophecies of Daniel, his kingdom was divided by four of his own generals. History reports that the decision to carve up Alexander’s empire occurred even before the interment of his body; and so were created the “four heads” of the third beast of the seventh chapter of Daniel, including the first: Greece proper with Macedonia to the north; the second: “Western Asia,” or Asia Minor, including Thrace; the third: Syria and all of the Tigris Euphrates valley and territory into India; and, the fourth: Egypt, under Ptolemy Soter.

Eventually emerging from the chaos created by these four rival kingdoms (the eleventh chapter of Daniel, for example, enumerates the plots and intrigues, wars and conspiracies between the Seleucidae of Syria and the Ptolemies of Egypt) arose the Roman Empire. Rome came to power in approximately 31 B.C., and continued until its collapse in 476, followed by its restoration under General Belisarius in A.D. 554.

Study the seventh chapter of Daniel, and you will see the various “beasts” which picture each one of these four, powerful, world-ruling empires.

The beast of Revelation 13 is pictured as having the same number of horns as Daniel’s fourth beast; and, even as Daniel’s fourth beast had conquered the territory belonging to the previous kingdoms, absorbing its peoples and territories, it therefore included all seven heads (remember, the leopard-like kingdom representing Alexander’s empire had four, thus numbering seven total).

Obviously, the beast of Revelation 13 and the fourth beast of Daniel 7 are the same beast!

And who was the fourth beast of Daniel 7? The Roman Empire, with its various resurrections from that time to this!

Briefly, refer back to the great image seen in Daniel’s second chapter.

Here again, the events of history bear out biblical symbolism and prophecies. After about A.D. 330, the two “great patriarchs” at Constantinople and Rome began to bicker and disagree. Constantinople wielded power in the east, Rome in the west.

The Roman kingdom was finally divided between east and west, even as the iconoclastic controversy finally split the Roman Catholic Church, the eastern half surviving today as the “Greek Orthodox Church.”

To this day, the Greek Orthodox Church worships before “icons,” or raised images, whereas the Roman Catholic Church permits statues.

The two legs of the great image seen by Nebuchadnezzar represent this east-west split.

Notice that the “dragon gave him his power.” The dragon is a symbol of Satan—this is a Satanic Gentile kingdom, embodying all of the strongest parts of each of the four, successive, world-ruling Gentile kingdoms.

God says, “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world…” (Revelation 12:9).

Here, then, is truly a monster military power—having all of the strengths of the greatest war—making empires the world has ever seen, governed directly by Satan.

Clearly, the BEAST was the ROMAN EMPIRE, with its prophesied revivals—its successive “resurrections” down through history.

However, remember that “king and kingdom” are synonymous!

Daniel said after Nebuchadnezzar would arise “another kingdom, inferior to thee!”

The BEAST is, at once, the human leader over the final revival of the Roman Empire, and the military and political system he controls.

The beast has existed from the time of the ancient, pagan Roman Empire! At its head have been such leaders as the Roman emperors Constantine, Justinian, Charlemagne, Otto the Great, Charles the Great, and Napoleon.

Then, Mussolini and Hitler, at the head of the Axis powers during World War 11, formed a brief resurrection of the same old system. German units carried Roman standards in parades and marches. The symbol of Mussolini’s army was from ancient Rome. Mussolini called his militarist government the “Holy Roman Empire.”

There is obviously another resurrection of the Roman Empire to occur in the future—in OUR TIME! “And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet,” said John (Revelation 17:12).

That prophecy is specifically for us, now! Today, there are no absolute monarchies in Europe. Will the terrible economic conditions in Britain, and then in Europe, cause nations to return to monarchies? Is it conceivable Prince Charles could yet abolish Parliament—step in, and take over, in a bid to save Britain from complete economic and social chaos claiming absolute power? Many European countries have royal families, various claimants to nonexistent thrones, including Holland, Belgium, Germany, and Spain, among others.

The prophecy could be satisfied if presidents, premiers, or prime ministers took total power, or if military dictators arose, but it is not beyond the realm of possibility that monarchies could return.

John said, “…but [these ten kings] receive power AS KINGS one hour with the beast These shall MAKE WAR WITH THE LAMB…” (Revelation 17:12,13). Obviously, they are extant, at the zenith of their power, at the time just prior to Christ’s return.

The Woman Who Rides the Beast

In vision, John saw a famous harlot sitting astride the mysterious beast.

“So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

“And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, 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 [shock, or awe]” (Revelation 17:3-6).

Now, who and what is this “woman”? Somehow, she contrives to control the ten-headed monster, the amalgamated political system of ten nations.

How? What is the one most important supranational motivating power or influence which could weld otherwise differing, disagreeing nations together?

Remember, it is Satan who gives power to this agglomeration of nations.

And who is this “mother of all whores”? She wears scarlet symbolic of harlotry. She has names which are blasphemous. She decks herself with gold, precious stones and pearls, and is the perpetrator of countless, vicious crimes against the true servants of God. She is seen as figuratively “drunken with the blood of saints”! At the end of the seventeenth chapter, John gives an important clue. He says, “And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth!” And what city is that? Is it Lansing, Michigan; Kobe, Japan; or Hobart, Tasmania?

What city is it which, down through history, has literally ruled over the kings and emperors of dozens of governments?

It is the city of ROME!

Rome, the city founded by “Romulus,” eventually, through attrition and warfare, became the seat of the western “universal church.”

The Roman Catholic Church harshly excommunicates recalcitrant priests, disobedient members and dissidents.

But interdiction is utilized by the Pope to literally “excommunicate” a whole nation.

In the past, when governments unfavorable to Rome have arisen in Catholic countries, interdiction has been used. No government could long survive if an entire populace, believing firmly in the pagan doctrine of the “immortality of the soul,” were told they had been “excommunicated” and were going into an ever-burning hell fire rather than purgatory or “the beatific vision”!

Millions of frightened, crazed citizens would rise immediately, and violent demonstrations, and massive riots would topple such a government.

This has happened. There is only ONE great “universal” church which acts as a state; sending its ambassadors and representatives to national capitols all over the world, and entertaining emissaries and ambassadors from such nations in its own territory.

The Vatican is a state within a state! It is not, technically, a part of Italy, or the city of Rome! It carries statehood, absolute sovereignty, as a separate NATION inside the Italian peninsula!

As such, it is one of the several “Lilliputian” nations of Europe, including Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco, and San Marino.

Notice that the famous city sits astride “seven mountains,” or hills. (Revelation 17:9).

Rome has its seven famous hills, each named, and marked by ancient monuments.

Some have imagined that the “miry clay” of Daniel’s vision which seems to weld the ten toes of the great image together, represent a sticky, bituminous substance—which, even though it is obviously not “mixed” with iron, is used as a weak bonding agent of some kind, which at least effects a weak union for a time.

Daniel’s vision shows that although the hardness of iron is present in the ten governments represented by the toes; there is also the “weakness” of clay.

The bonding agent which will hold the entire system of the future ten nation central government in Europe together is religion!

The “great whore” is pictured as having many harlot daughters.

Notice! “Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called, the lady of kingdoms.

“I was wroth with my people [Israel!], I have polluted mine inheritance, and given them into thine hand: thou didst show them no mercy; upon the ancient hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke!

“And thou saidst, I shall be a lady forever: so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it.

“Therefore hear now this, thou that are given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart I am, and none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children:

“But these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries, and for thy great abundance of thine enchantments” (Isaiah 47:5-9).

Yes, she is pictured as a MOTHER church; a UNIVERSAL church, which has many protesting “daughters”!

Who IS this great, scarlet-attired, blasphemous WHORE, who commits spiritual fornication with many Gentile governments; who martyred countless thousands of God’s people down through the centuries; out of whom came daughters—protesting against her excesses?

She sits astride the ten-nation BEAST, wielding powerful influence. She resides in an ancient city having seven noted hills. She is “splendid” in her purple and scarlet costumes; her bejeweled facade; her gilded altars; her churches filled with the bones of dead men.

She has the names of blasphemy.

“I AM” is a title of GOD! Here is a great false church called the “daughter” of Babylon (ancient Chaldea), whose religion is a “Babylonish mystery religion,” and who adopts titles which belong to God!

The Pope in Rome is called by a title which belongs to God! He is called “father,” as are the priests of the Catholic religion, and yet Jesus said that, in a religious sense, we are to “call no man father on earth!” (Matthew 23:9).

The pope is said to be infallible when he speaks from the so-called “holy” See. It is said that he, although human, CANNOT make a mistake!

Now do you see? The Bible interprets its own symbols.

Thus, a mountain means a large nation; a hill a smaller one. A great beast or an animal always stands for a gentile kingdom; a woman means either a church or the nation of Israel, depending upon the context. The horns on the heads of beasts symbolize individual kings or governments.

Notice that this great false church, at the head of a ten-nation combine will destroy many of God’s people!

Read that quotation from Isaiah 47 again. The great false church, at the head of a united Europe, will “lay her yoke” on God’s people! They are to be taken captive by the beast power.

In Jeremiah’s description of the great tribulation, called “Jacob’s trouble,” that is made plain.

“Alas! For that day is great so that none is like it [see Matthew 24:21] it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble [Jacob’s name was changed to Israel]; but he shall be saved out of it.

“For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Eternal of Hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him:

“But they shall serve the Eternal their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up” (Jeremiah 30:7-9). Finally God releases them from captivity.

Notice the time element. This is at the resurrection, following the Second Coming of Christ! David, who has been these many centuries dead, is pictured as being raised from the dead, to become the king of Israel!

Thus, in this prophecy of both destruction, privation and captivity, there is also eventual rescue and restitution.

A great “yoke” of captivity has been laid across the backs of God’s people!

And it is that “great whore” astride the beast who afflicts God’s people with her “yoke”!

What About the Ten Horns?

A horn, as it decorates the head of horned animals such as sheep, deer, moose, caribou, elk, etc., is like a “crown” on the head of an animal. It is the horns of these animals which trophy hunters covet; the horns were utilized by ancient races, including the American Indian, as impressive headdresses to throw fear into one’s enemies, or to enhance the appearance of shamans and witch doctors.

The Bible uses horns as a symbol of a king, or a government.

The Bible clearly tells us “The ten horns ARE TEN KINGS, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast” (Revelation 17:12).

Therefore, it is clear that the final “ten horns” are seen on the final head of the many-headed beast of John’s vision.

You know this simply because the ten are obviously contemporaneous; they fight Christ at His coming! They correspond to the TEN TOES of the image in Daniel’s second chapter, which are smashed by the symbolic stone, which is Christ.

Notice the language of the prophecy: These kings have “received no kingdom AS YET”! Yet, the Bible says they receive POWER “as kings” one hour [a very short time in history] with the BEAST.

And what is the power of kings? It is absolute power! It is the power of a DICTATOR! It is total autocracy; the power to declare war, to conscript vast armies, to manipulate national economies, to impose martial law!

The prophecy says, “These have one mind This simply means they are united in purpose; that they completely agree on one united policy; that their goals and objectives are the SAME!

“…and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.” Obviously, then, ten separate nations allied under ten presidents, prime ministers, premiers or dictators (the biblical symbol is “king”) agree on a unified policy; then commit their total economies, industrial base and military forces into the united power called “THE BEAST”!

“These (all ten, allied now into ONE great ten-member nation) shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them…” (Revelation 17:14).

Do you see?

If you were on the proverbial desert island, and you knew God existed, you knew that the Bible is HIS WORD, you would need only these three verses of the Bible to wash ashore in the proverbial bottle to absolutely convince you that the following facts are true:

1) Somewhere on this earth, there will be ten kings or human rulers of ten separate governments who will emerge, having dictatorial power!

2) They will arise suddenly, and will endure together but a short time.

3) They will have one policy.

4) They will unitedly pledge their industrial, economic and military strength into one central power.

5) This power is called “the beast” in Bible prophecy.

6) They will FIGHT CHRIST at His coming!

7) Christ will overcome them, and destroy their power!

Do you see?

From just these few verses of Revelation 17, if you believe that the Bible is the divinely-revealed Word of God, you can KNOW all of the foregoing!

Now, read carefully the entire passage concerning the beast, commencing with Revelation 13, verse 1: “And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea…”

A government derives its force and power by the number of people it controls. Its industrial, economic and military base reside in the masses of people beneath that government Here, the analogy is obvious: A great, threatening, autocratic government rises up out of masses of people.

“…having seven heads and ten horns….” There were four beasts pictured in Daniel’s seventh chapter, representing four successive worldruling empires. Alexander’s government was depicted as a leopard, one of the four, but it had four heads. Since each of the other three beasts had one head, and the leopard, picturing Alexander and his four generals, had four, the total is seven heads, or the great beast of these dictatorial, military Gentile governments holding sway over the known world from the time of Nebuchadnezzar until the collapse of the Roman Empire, A.D. 476.

“…and upon his horns ten crowns…” Crowns are a symbol of kings, again representing the absolute power of an unlimited monarchy.

“…and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.” The Roman Empire was called (and is yet to be called) “the HOLY Roman Empire”! Many have made the error of interpreting the beast of Revelation 13 as purely a religious power, and have become confused about the meaning of biblical prophecy. No doubt, they simply have not understood that the pagan Roman emperors, and, in fact, the kings and emperors of more ancient states long antedating them, were WORSHIPED as deities!

Roman emperors demanded that they be called “divinity,” and were revered by the pagan populaces as “gods.”

This, long before the so-called “Christianizing” of the pagan Roman Empire, which subsequently, as its rulers were crowned by the Popes, became known as the “Holy” Roman Empire!

Therefore, names and titles which belong to God were blasphemously attached to purely pagan, militaristic governments!

We have already seen the meaning of the second verse, wherein each of the most powerful aspects of the four beasts of Daniel’s seventh chapter are revealed to characterize the powerful, final beast which will be extant at the time of the Second Coming of Christ. Let’s now notice the third and fourth verses:

“And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death….” This refers to the collapse of Rome in A.D. 476. “…and his deadly wound was healed…” General Belisarius effected a weaker resurrection of the Roman Empire when he conquered Carthage in North Africa, and various of the provinces of Italy in 554.

Actually, the “Holy Roman Empire” continued from that time until the second defeat of Napoleon in comparatively modern times; indeed, experienced another resurrection during the time of Hitler and Mussolini!

“…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?”

State worship was one of the trappings of Hitler’s “Third Reich.” Hitler was a false Christ who attempted to bring about the creation of the “super race,” claiming his “Reich” would stand for a thousand years! Thus, as the false “savior” of Germany, the architect of a race of “superhumans,” claiming that he had established a “Christian” government on the earth which would endure for one thousand years, Hitler masqueraded as Christ Himself!

There is little doubt Hitler was possessed by Satan. Can anyone explain his vicious pogroms against the Jews; the deportation of millions into slave labor camps; the uprooting of whole populations; his incredible record at the first of diabolically brilliant military successes; and his later frenzied rages, demonic dreams, tortured thoughts, and insane orders, ordering non-existent armies to non-existent fronts when his own generals told him the armies of Nazi Germany had been defeated?

In the early days of Hitler’s rise to power, he was revered—worshiped by millions in Germany! He was called the very heart, mind, and soul of Germany! Rudolf Hess, during the famous Nuremberg rally, shouted “Hitler ist Deutschland—Deutschland ist Hitler!”

Once again, there will come upon the world scene a leader with the same type of charisma; the same dark, inexplicable power; the same military genius; the same diabolical, demonic ability to sway the minds of millions who will become the HEAD of a combine of nations, probably called the United States of Europe!

The man probably will be a German, though Bible prophecy does not specify it!

That man will fulfill the biblical prophecy of the beast!

He has had many predecessors. A type of the beast of Bible prophecy was Antiochus Epiphanes, who is the last central figure of the lengthy eleventh chapter of Daniel’s prophecy, obviously a type of Adolph Hitler!

Other types were Justinian, Charlemagne, Otto the Great, Charles the Great, and Napoleon.

Each of these, reigning over the imperial restoration of the Roman Empire from 554 until 1814, represent some of the “horns and heads” of the beasts revealed in Daniel’s seventh chapter, and comprise the first five heads of the seven-headed beast of Revelation 17!

Now, back to our chapter: “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” (Revelation 13:5).

Forty-two months in Bible prophecy translates into three and one-half years.

The Three and One-Half Year Period of Prophecy

Remember, Jesus Christ of Nazareth warned of the coming GREAT TRIBULATION! (Matthew 24:21,22). The tribulation is clearly the time of national calamities to befall God’s people Israel! (Jeremiah 30:7, 8; Daniel 12: 1,2).

Even though the Jewish people of the modern nation of “Israel” in Palestine are definitely a part of Israel, they DO NOT represent the tentribed HOUSE OF ISRAEL which became lost from history!

The United States and the British Commonwealth comprise the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim; other nations of northwestern Europe, including the Scandinavian countries, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and perhaps the northern half of France comprise other parts of the “lost ten tribes of Israel.”

The national calamities to befall God’s people are prophesied to continue for a period of three and one-half years! Notice the parallels: “…and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months!” (Revelation 13:5). The beast power reign continues at the zenith of its power—for exactly three and one-half years!

However, God shows that His people are symbolically protected by Almighty God (the symbol of God’s protection is “two wings of a great eagle”: Revelation 12:14; Exodus 19:4).

“And to the woman [God’s church] were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness [a spiritual type of God’s protection] into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent” (Revelation 12:14).

Earlier, the Bible shows that God’s true church was protected for “a thousand two hundred and three-score days” (Revelation 12:6) from the persecutions of Satan, and his church on this earth.

Now, compare Revelation 12:6 with Revelation 12:14 and Revelation 13:5.

In verse 6 of chapter 12, you see the period of time during which the saints are protected is a thousand two hundred and three-score days.”

Yet, in verse 14 of the same chapter, the same period of time is called a time, and times, and half a time.” This tells you that one time is a year; that “times” is not three, seven, ten or more, but only two times, and that “half a time” is six months, or half of one year!

Compare these verses with Revelation 13:5. Here, the beast power which is persecuting God’s people continues for forty and two months.” Forty-two months is exactly thirty-six months plus six months—or three and one-half years!

Furthermore we learn that, in Bible prophecy, the months all have exactly thirty days, and each year has exactly twelve month—contrary to the present pagan, Roman calendar. For the purposes of history, Bible chronology and prophecy, God uses this special measurement of time!

Now, notice Revelation 11. As the angel symbolically measures the temple of God, he is told, “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 underfoot forty and two months!”

This coincides exactly with the prophecy of Daniel 11:40-45. Here, the “king of the north” (who was Antiochus Epiphanes in ancient times—and who is the BEAST of central Europe in the future!) will enter into the land of Palestine, setting up his military headquarters in Jerusalem. The twelfth chapter shows the great tribulation is brought about immediately by such a move! Furthermore, it concurs exactly with Jesus’ famous “Olivet prophecy” (Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21) in which He predicted yet a future “holocaust” to befall the Jewish people in the land of PALESTINE!

Christ prophesies a future occupation of the holy land, probably under the guise of “protectionism,” by a multilateral European force, in order to set up a so-called corpus separatum, or “internationalized city,” in Jerusalem!

It will be set up by the future beast, the European military power, and the Pope himself will move to Jerusalem, Palestine! At that time, he may well claim to be, not only “the vicar of Christ,” but GOD HIMSELF! (Study 11 Thessalonians2:3-10.)

Now back to Revelation 11.

“And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two-hundred and three-score days, clothed in sackcloth” (Revelation 11:3).

Notice that the exact time during which the mysterious “two witnesses” of Revelation 11 prophesy—during which they have the power to call down great plagues upon the “seat of the beast,” meaning the site of the beast’s authority—is for a duration of three and one-half years!

Now, put it all together.

God shows that the beast power will hold sway for three and one-half years. The great tribulation and the day of the Lord occupy three and one-half years! The two witnesses prophesy for a period of three and one-half years, and it is obvious from the latter verses of Revelation 11 that the Second Coming of Christ follows very swiftly after the martyrdom of the two witnesses!

Do you see?

Even as the great image of Daniel’s second chapter was “partly weak and partly strong,” and even as the ten kings will receive “power as kings one hour” with the beast, so the history of this future “resurrection” of the “Holy Roman Empire” in central Europe will endure for only THREE AND ONE-HALF YEARS!

Christ’s Warning!

Jesus Christ gave specific WARNING about a series of shocking events which would usher in the great tribulation.

He said, “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 [ALIVE]: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened” (Matthew 24:15-22).

Do you now understand?

When the world sees the forming of ten nations in Europe—probably to be called “the UNITED STATES OF EUROPE”—when the world sees that power move to OCCUPY PALESTINE (modern “Israel”)—when the world sees the POPE move his official headquarters to JERUSALEM, thus setting up the “abomination of desolation” in the HOLY PLACE—THEN THIS WORLD HAD BETTER REALIZE THE GREAT TRIBULATION IS BEGINNING!

Jesus plainly said so.

Now, in a nutshell, here is what you should WATCH for in world developments:

(1) Major economic distress will strike the United States and Britain, probably as a result of increased protectionism, resultant TRADE WARS, primarily between America and Japan, and between America and the Common Market countries, specifically Germany.

(2) Major socioeconomic upheavals will topple governments; massive marches, riots, demonstrations and violence will ensue as angry populations blame governments, minorities, and various “conspiracies” for their troubles.

(3) Western nations will find martial law being imposed; presidents and prime ministers will seek emergency powers. An absolute monarchy may return to Britain and some European countries.

(4) Western Europe will not escape unscathed in a global economic breakdown. Dictators will emerge. A “STRONG MAN” will take the helm of government in Germany.

(5) Either a single Mideastern leader (the “king of the south” of Daniel 11:40), or an Arab bloc of countries will “push at” the United States of Europe in some way. This implies economic interference. Perhaps another OIL embargo. This will be coupled with an all-out Arab attack against Israel,which will bring major loss of life and major damage to Israeli cities.

(6) Because JERUSALEM will be seriously endangered, the Pope will call for MILITARY guarantees of an “internationalized city” or the corpus separatum which he has already espoused, to be enforced by the beast power in Europe.

(7) The European powers move swiftly into the Middle EAST. The Pope will move to Jerusalem.

(8) Following trade wars and probably in connection with major events in the Middle East, a complete breakdown in the present economic structure of the world will occur. War will break out in the Middle East; the United States will declare war on the U.S. of Europe and its allies, probably including Japan. The GREAT TRIBULATION will begin! The prophesied great tribulation is to come upon God’s people Israel, Joseph, primarily meaning Manasseh (the United States of America), and Ephraim (the British Commonwealth of nations). The tribulation on South Africa will come largely from within, resulting from a violent overthrow of the minority white apartheid government. The Israelitish people in Australia, New Zealand and Tasmania, almost in a bizarre rerun of what might have happened in World War II, will very likely be conquered by Japan. It is possible that this war will NOT necessarily include nuclear weapons, or, at least, all-out nuclear war.

(9) GERMANY, at the head of the United States of Europe, will conquer the United States and the British Commonwealth of nations! (Isaiah 10:5-12; Isaiah 47:6; Jeremiah 30:7-9; Ezekiel 5:12; Ezekiel 23:9; Daniel 12:1; Matthew 24:21,22). Thus begins captivity, deportation, privation, and hardship such as never before known for the western democracies!

(10) During the next three and one-half year period, there is no organized preaching of the gospel (Amos 8: 11). The two witnesses, two human beings who are called of God as spiritual leaders, are repeatedly conveying messages to the beast and false prophet in Jerusalem, as an antitype of Moses and Aaron, demanding that the beast power release the people of God from slavery (Revelation 11).

(11) For some reason, probably betrayal and internal politics, the “beast shall hate the whore and make her desolate” (Revelation 17:16-18; Revelation 18, entire chapter). The eighteenth chapter of Revelation specifies how God will cause the beast power to turn upon the false prophet and his church, thus carrying out God’s judgments as foreordained throughout all of history and as foretold in Bible prophecy.

(12) At about this time, the two witnesses are allowed to be killed, and, miraculously, resurrected to human, physical life a few days later, just prior to the Second Coming of Christ!

(13) During this entire period (the great tribulation, the heavenly signs and the day of the Lord), God’s people, Israel, have been in captivity! Every scripture which speaks of the condition of God’s people Israel in connection with the Second Coming of Christ pictures them as being in captivity. A few samples: Isaiah 10:20-25; Isaiah 11: 10- 16; Isaiah 14:1,2; Isaiah 14:25; Isaiah 27:12, 13; Isaiah 35:4-10; Isaiah 43:1-7; Jeremiah 16:14,15; Jeremiah 23:5-8; Jeremiah 31:7-14; Ezekiel 11:17-20; Ezekiel 20:33-36; Ezekiel 34:11-24; Ezekiel 36:24-38; Hosea 11:11,12; Hosea 12:1-9; Joel 2:20-32; Amos 9:9-15; Micah 5:5-8; Zephaniah 3:14-20; Zechariah 8:13-23; Zechariah 14: 1-11.

Read each one of the scriptures listed above, and see the many graphic descriptions of hapless, wretched slaves who are released at the time of the Second Coming of Christ! Notice the time setting in each prophecy. Though there is duality in some few cases; though there was an earlier return from captivity during the time of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Zerubbabel, yet none of the prophecies concerning the New Covenant (Jeremiah 31) or the Second Coming of Christ occurred!

You will find that, in some cases, the resurrection is portrayed. In one case, Jeremiah specifically states that David will be resurrected to become the king over the physical remnant of Israel during the millennial reign of Christ (Jeremiah 30:9).

There are many more events which are to occur, including the protection of some of God’s people who will not be called upon to give their last testimony through martyrdom. Jesus plainly said, “But before all these, 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 ye shall be betrayed both by parent, 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” (Luke 21:12-18).

According to Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus said, “All these are the beginning of sorrows [great tribulation], 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 24:8,9).

Yet, to some few of God’s people, there is strong implication that protection will be offered!

“Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation [trial or tribulation] which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth” (Revelation 3: 10).

Yet, God plainly says, “And he [the “spokesman” of the BEAST] 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…” (Revelation 13:6,7).

Also, God says, “And the dragon was wroth with the woman and went to make war with the remnant of her seed [the last, end-time generation of God’s people] which KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ! (Revelation 12:17). Daniel’s prophecy says, “I beheld, and the same horn [the “little horn,” representing the papacy, which overthrew three of the preceding Roman governments!] made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; UNTIL the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom” (Daniel 7:21,22).

Make no mistake! Not every praying, fasting, spiritually strong Christian is going to be spirited away, or supernaturally protected in a “place of safety”!

The strongest biblical proof of that statement is found in Revelation 11, in the story of the two witnesses, who will become two of the greatest prophets in all history: greater than Moses and Aaron, greater than Elijah and Elisha, for their miracles will not merely be local, but GLOBAL, and they will have the power to perform great miracles, such as drought, famine, and other miraculous events to PUNISH the beast power, and will be completely impervious to all attempts at their assassination for three and one-half years, during the time of their prophecy, until God allows their martyrdom!

Thus is the scenario for the truly great events which are to shape the next decades of world history!

Somewhere on this earth Almighty God has commissioned His work, as a “watchman” to cry out in a wilderness of Babylonish and spiritual confusion, with a loud and clear voice, a dynamic message of WITNESS and WARNING!

Has God somehow led you into contact with that very work? Jesus said, “You shall know them by their fruits!”

WATCH the events unfolding around this world day by day and week by week! What events can you point to, right now, which indicate the beginning of protectionism and trade wars, and which will lead toward economic chaos and confusion? Have the Arabs clamped an oil embargo upon the powers in Western Europe and the United States previously? Could it happen again? In the event of the seeming imminent destruction of the holy places in Jerusalem, which nation would gain MORE by immediately becoming Israel’s “protector,” and which great, universal spiritual leader would most likely be the first to act?

Do you see?

Once you understand the identity of the American and British peoples in biblical prophecy, literally dozens of major events begin to fall into place. Without that understanding, those who study prophecy are casting about in the dark. They may understand, basically, that the biblically prophesied great tribulation, the heavenly signs, and the day of the Lord are coming. They read about Armageddon, and the Second Coming of Christ.

But they do not seem to know the answers as to WHO is the beast—WHO is the false prophet—and upon WHOM is the great tribulation going to fall!

Isn’t it about time you wondered about the truly big questions in your own life? What about the future? What will you Do during the biblically prophesied GREAT TRIBULATION to fall upon our peoples?

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