Texts on the End Times
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Texts on the End Times
Ten Horns of Daniel
Jesus ad campaign 'not blasphemous' http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/250752.stm
Jesus: No wimp in a nightie http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/249128.stm
Dear all,
The experience of two world wars combined with Paul Manning's revelations about the Bormann Network laundering wealth looted by the Nazis in World War II means totalitarian Nazi forces are alive, well and wealthy today. Bormann created 750 corporations in the late 1940s and early 1950s and these dominate the diabolical transatlantic arms, food, energy, banking and technology ... armys, corps', divisions and brigades of predatory cult-capitalism which are killing the poor and destroying humanity today. The up-shot of their Orwellian anarcho-capitalism is they are laying out a red carpet both for the far-right and despotic leaders here in Britain and of course an open world war III, what Kissinger calls the war on terror phase 2.
Combine this with last week's Hillsborough revelations about unpunished criminality in the judicial system and South Yorkshire police perverting the course of justice and then with Cressida Dick's promotion for murdering Jean-Charles De Menezes in 2005 and also the present growing numbers of criminals in Cameron's cabinet led by Mexican drug cartel treasurer while he was at HSBC, Lord Green.
David Cameron: Entrusting economic policy to ex-investment
bankers
http://www.ianfraser.org/dear-david-cameron-entrusting-economic-policy-to-ex-investment-bankers-is-no-solution/
Alongside the monstrosities of NATO's Operation Gladio, 9/11 & 7/7, along with the total non reporting of this major international news story.
President of Italy’s Supreme Court To Refer 9/11 Crimes To
International Criminal
Court
http://www.globalresearch.ca/president-of-italys-supreme-court-to-refer-911-crimes-to-international-criminal-court/
You get a pretty bleak picture of widespread evil in the mainstream media and at the top of society.
It's time to push to address the question of exposing the hidden networks of power that have allowed this Nazi continuity network to flourish without being exposed despite it's dominance of the Western world.
So here is the interview with Tim transmitted last night, followed by his book, two other Biblcal reference books and two excellent sources of real internet radio news.
all the best to one and all ;-)
Tony
Begins just after 41 minutes in.
http://bcfm.org.uk/2012/09/14/17/friday-drivetime-88/21513
http://radio4all.net/index.php/program/62911
US Air Force veteran & messianic Jew Tim Cohen explores heraldry, something like a genetic code, and the centuries old power network of The Order Of The Garter founded in 1348, and asks is it the centre of a clandestine power network that is slowly extending across the world? Looking at Biblical prophecy in the Book of Revelation, Cohen believes Garter Knights represent the core leadership of the Prieuré de Sion, Freemasonry, Rosicrucians, Illuminati, Banking, Insurance, Television and Media. His book is ‘The Antichrist And A Cup Of Tea’.
Programme also includes interviews on recent Fracking trial, killing of US Ambassador to Libya & other anti-Muslim film protests, Al Hilli family contract killing, censorship of Syrian and English language Iranian TV & internet news. Also militarily, can Isreal attack Iran?
The fascinating saga of the British Monarchy's centuries-long endeavor to establish a "New World Order," and for the first time, gives hard evidence to suggest the identity of the biblical AntiChrist.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0966279301/
Called by God in 1987 to be "him who has understanding" (Rev 13:18) — while a United States Air Force Academy cadet — Timothy Cohen is today an internationally recognized Christian author, speaker, and teacher. He has researched and written what many are now coming to view as Christendom's foremost prophetic and theological works (Rev 19:10), to include The AntiChrist and a Cup of Tea as well as the Messiah, History, and the Tribulation Period multi-volume series.
Would you like to understand where we are in the timeline of Bible prophecy, without having to guess? In The AntiChrist and a Cup of Tea, Tim Cohen presents the fascinating saga of the British Monarchy's centuries-long endeavor to establish a "New World Order," and gives hard-evidence to suggest the actual identity of the coming AntiChrist. Learn the remarkable truth concerning the "man of sin," the "son of perdition," in The AntiChrist and a Cup of Tea.
Along with The AntiChrist and a Cup of Tea (Rev 13:18), Tim Cohen's forthcoming Messiah, History, and the Tribulation Period series offers a real and deep insight into the prophetic scriptures. Tim's teaching therein represents a genuine paradigm shift in Christian understanding of both The Person and the work of The Messiah — the testimony of Yeshua (Rev 19:10). As such, it illuminates biblical theology and will, over time, redefine the best in Christian understanding and teaching. The saints will understand both the written and living Word of God more deeply and more fully than previously. Within Cohen's volumes, you will see many hidden treasures of God's Word and learn biblical wisdom; you will be taught things that few understand, what some obstinately or ignorantly refuse to investigate or consider, or even perilously choose to ignore — despite the great strength of the evidence. Future theologians and historians will, we believe, come to recognize Cohen's books as the new theological standard in several areas of study. For example, Cohen unveils the first-ever unified school (and theory) of Christian theology, one that encompasses the whole of eschatology and eschatological interpretation — a true Messiah-centered approach called the "Messianic view" — in Messiah, History, and the Tribulation Period. This is well beyond the "scholarship" of today's Christian seminaries and Jewish schools, and yet Tim Cohen makes it biblically testable and easy to grasp. This will change the way you think about and perceive God and Yeshua.
Tim's books are written for all levels of Christianity, from the babe in Christ to the "scholar of scholars." They are clear and easy to follow, yet packed with more information than would typically be found in several times as many pages of other authors' writings.
End Times
Bible
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0529111136/
The EndTimes Bible contains notes, charts, and features to assist readers in finding out what the Bible says concerning the end of the world. Written in a straight-forward manner, these features are not sensationalistic and are not slanted to one doctrinal view over another. Readers will discover several historic approaches to end times thought, presented in a balanced tone.
Jewish New Testament
Commentary
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/9653590111/
TRUNEWS is the news network that is reporting the two biggest stories
in the
world:
http://www.trunews.com/index.htm
The acts of the Holy Spirit to save, heal, and deliver people around the world…
…and the glorious Second Coming of Jesus Christ!
http://www.trunews.com/listen_now.htm
Today’s world news headlines look like passages from the Holy Bible. War in the Middle East… terrorism… weapons of mass destruction… globalization… implanted microchips in humans… Big Brother surveillance technology… a cashless society… human cloning… hybrid chimeras… genetically modified food… robotics and artificial intelligence… 3-D holographic images… global warming, extreme climate changes, and weather modification… bizarre new diseases… the removal of the Ten Commandments and Christian symbols from public display… the persecution of Christians around the world… super volcanoes… mega-earthquakes… tsunamis… the risk from asteroids… extreme solar eruptions… and much more.
We believe that Jesus Christ is coming again soon. Although world events are indicators that His return is drawing closer, Jesus told us that the end would not come until the Gospel of the Kingdom is preached unto all nations. “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” (Matthew 24:14)
That is why the most important mission of TRUNEWS is not to report bad news – but to declare the Good News that Jesus saves and He promised to resurrect His children into eternal life in God’s Kingdom. There just aren’t any bigger news stories to report than the marvelous acts of the Holy Spirit around the world to save the lost, heal the sick, raise the dead, restore broken lives, and bless God’s children; and the amazing world events and trends shouting that Jesus Christ is coming soon.
TRUNEWS was founded by Rick Wiles. Prior to launching this ministry, Rick’s professional background was in media sales and marketing. In the mid-1980s, Rick was the national cable marketing manager for the CBN Cable Network (now the Family Channel) in Virginia Beach. In the 1990’s, Rick was director of marketing for TBN in Irving, TX.
Rick resigned from TBN in 1998 when the Holy Spirit called him to full-time ministry after experiencing a life-changing vision about America’s future. His first radio broadcast was on May 24, 1999. The original name of the radio program was America’s Hope.
Rick and his wife Susan live in West Palm Beach, Florida. They have a daughter (Karissa), a son-in-law (Marshall) and a son (Jeremy), and two adopted grandchildren (Kiarra and Blake).
Karissa and her husband Marshall Washburn are the founders and co-directors of Bless An Orphan, an outreach of TRUNEWS to send supplies, food, money, and equipment to orphanages around the world.
Jeremy is the founder and president of Bible Treasure Films – a Christian movie production company specializing in Biblical archeology documentary films.
The Secret Truth - Host: George
Butler
http://www.gcnlive.com/programs/secretTruth/
George Butler spent three years in the U.S. Army, the last year in West Berlin, Germany, he witnessed the vulgarities and cruelties of the Berlin Wall. Today he speaks out about preserving our rights. His concerned about America's and the World's slide toward fascism motivated him along with Charlotte "Littlefield" Brown to launch the radio talk show program in the fall of 2006 "The Secret Truth". In addition his musical drama GIVE THEM A CHANCE was performed in Austin, Texas in the summer of 2007. The musical drama not only speaks about giving our children a chance but also vehemently reflects present struggles and echoes, warnings from the past that must not be ignored. Today, America and the World are experiencing a great transformation and Mr. Butler is intent on trying to awaken the citizenry to present dangerous trends. This new program will focus on worldly, national and local changes affecting our freedoms and liberties.
May 2005 - Ward Ciappetta <wciappetta (at) yahoo.com>
In the seventh chapter of the book of Daniel, four kingdoms of biblical significance are foretold to arise on earth. Three of these kingdoms would ascend to power in successive order. The fourth kingdom would come in the last days of mankind.
History confirms the fluid transition of the first three kingdoms. The prophecies of Daniel foretold the transfer of authority. Those kingdoms were the Babylonian, Mede/Persian and Alexandrian Empires. All of these empires had one significant common link, they all possessed Israel, as part of their empires and so shall the fourth.
Daniels prophecies give a detailed description of this latter day fourth kingdom: “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. I considered the 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 man, and a mouth speaking great things.” -[Daniel 7:7-8]
Daniel didn’t understand the vision but God sent the angel Gabriel to explain the visions significance: “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 rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.” –[Daniel 7:24]
As you can see, the fourth kingdom that arises is diverse of all kingdoms; devouring the whole earth meaning it is a global kingdom. This global kingdom will divide the earth into portions or pieces. Since there are ten kings or leaders that rise nearly simultaneously it is reasonable to conclude that the earth will be divided into ten regions. Revelations declares that ten leaders rule as kings one hour with the beast yet prior to this point they have a power and authority of their own, “These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.” -[Revelation 17:12-13]
The ten kings are single-minded in their purpose and therefore have a common goal. When one examines the root meaning of the words “power” and “strength” in this portion of scripture, you will discover that the word “strength” is primarily referring to the strength that comes from the influence of wealth and riches as in commerce. Secondly, it means the control of armed forces. The word “power” refers to the universal rule of government over mankind and specifically the power of judicial decisions and the managing ability of domestic affairs.
The primary and initial source of authority possessed by the ten kings is the governing power of commerce. Ultimately this authority will transcend commerce to include all areas of government. We will see all the nations of the earth divided into ten regional federations existing at the same time. You could compare this process to the business practice of mergers and acquisitions. At that point the single-minded ten kings will subordinate their power and strength to one global authority, the global Beast Empire.
“And there are seven kings [Kingdoms]: 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 [Kingdom], and is of the seven [Seventh Kingdom], and goeth into perdition.” -[Revelation 17:10]
Both the ten horns and the beast exist at the same time, yet at first they are separate global entities. The prophecies of Daniel confirm that the ten kings are first to have a universal authority, which is the authority of commerce and then up pops the “little horn” followed by a transfer of power. Three of the ten kings will be replaced probably because they refuse to relinquish their authority over to the beast.
The seven kingdoms spoken of in Revelation are seven empires that directly affected literal Israel. These seven are Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Mede-Persia, Greece, Rome and Revived Global Babylon/Assyria. Notice that the beast and the ten kings are part of the seventh kingdom and when the transfer of power takes place, the beast then becomes the eighth and final kingdom of mankind.
One more scripture should open your understanding to today’s current political landscape.
“And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.”-[Revelation 13:1-3]
The global beast kingdom rises out of the sea and has seven heads representing the previously mentioned seven empires. The seventh kingdom has ten horns representing the ten kings mentioned in Daniel. Specific attributes of three animals are given to describe this kingdom. The noted characteristics are key descriptions of the three previous empires mentioned in Daniel chapter 7. All three empires ruled the “known world” and possessed the Holy Land as part of its empire. One of the seven heads receives a deadly wound and when it is healed, the entire world wonders as in admiration and worship of this healed kingdom.
The League of Nations was the first ever attempt at global government. The United States Congress however, voted not to participate in this global entity, citing that it would usurp America’s governmental authority. The onset of World War II choked this global entity as nation after nation began to withdraw from the organization and thus, it died. Yet after World War II a second attempt at global governance was born. The United Nations is the seventh head of the beast that was wounded to death yet miraculously healed. Despite its’ recent scandalous oil for food program the United Nations is held in high esteem worldwide.
According to Daniel’s Prophecy the ten horns of this seventh kingdom ascend to power first, yet they do not assume power as kings until they give their strength and power to the beast.
In 1974 a global think-tank and public relations branch of the Bilderberg Group [More on this group later] called the “Club of Rome” published their second report called “Mankind at the Turning Point” written by Mihajlo Mesarovic and Eduard Pestel. In this 210 page report on page 38 is a diagram of the world titled “Regionalization of the World System” This diagram divides the nations of the earth into ten global regions.
What makes this 1974 report and subsequent diagram interesting is that the divided global regions have an uncanny resemblance to the current regional trade blocs of today. In fact, I would call them nearly identical. For example, Region number one displays the consolidation of the United States and Canada. Western Europe is displayed as another. Japan is a third with Mexico, central and South America as yet another. China is a region on to herself, Russia the same. Now of course there would be some necessary slight modifications needed for a 1974 model if it took nearly thirty years to begin enacting, therefore it is easy to see the NAFTA Alliance as one region, the European Union as another, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation as a third and so on. Slated for 2005 another free trade zone is to be established, this free trade alliance going to be South and Central America. The 1974 report does include such a region. In its’ final form it will be 10 regions under the umbrella of the World Trade Organization. The WTO is a global entity separate from the United Nations and both exist now.
So the fact remains that these two global entities exist side-by-side, one focused on consolidating the nations economically, the other uniting the world politically and socially. One can see the ten economic regions progressing into political and social regions, which would be the logical progression. Each region would then have a governor or leader, which might then become a new form of the Security Council of the United Nations although without the power to veto decisions of the beast. The current talk of overhauling the United Nations system is noteworthy and would fit this scenario. Antichrist will prove to be the Secretary General of the United Nations or whatever title is given to him in a revamped system.
The Institute for International economics [IIE] is an interesting group. Advocates of global regional trade blocs, the stated purpose of the IIE is the study of international economic policy. Boasting contributions to key trade policy decisions, which include fast-track legislation, the development of the WTO, NAFTA and the Free Trade Area of the Americas, APEC and East Asian regionalism, the IIE seems to have an inside track into the implementation of regional trade blocs, or as some call them, zones.
The board of directors of the IIE is also drawn from the waters of international banking, multinational corporations and former heads of state. The majority of this organizations directorship also maintains membership in either the Council on Foreign Relations or the Trilateral Commission. Famous names in banking and former United States public service officials currently maintain seats on its board. Among them are David Rockefeller, Paul O'Neill [Former Secretary of the Treasury] and Paul Volcker [former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank]. Honorary chairmen also include Alan Greenspan and former Secretary of State George Shultz.
The foundations of “Regional Trade Blocs” rest upon four degrees of increasingly intertwining association and respectively are, Free Trade Areas, Customs Unions, Common Markets and Economic Unions.
Free Trade Areas are groups of sovereign countries like the North American Free Trade Area, the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation and the Common Market for Southern and Eastern Africa [COMESA], freely trading amongst them, but also maintaining individual trade barriers with countries outside the free trade area.
Customs Unions are a group of countries that are no longer fully sovereign over trade, rather there is a degree of unification of trade policies. A common tariff is maintained and applied to all countries outside this customs union. The member countries of the customs union are represented at trade negotiations with the World Trade Organization by a supra-national body. A good example would be the European Union.
Common Markets are a regional trading bloc customs union, which adds the free movement of labor and capital between the member countries without any restriction. The South American regional trade bloc “Mercosur” is an example of a customs union that has added to it this additional strand of integration.
Finally, an Economic Union is a common market where the degree of integration is more universal. The member states adopt common economic policies and also have a single common currency as well. Common currency requires common monetary policy. The final act of integration of an economic union is political integration. Lastly, this degree of integration generates the need for national sovereignty to be usurped by a regional political authority.
The March 23, 2005 meeting between NAFTA nations clearly displays signs of regional integration. As reported by the associated press, a joint task force of Canada, Mexico and the United States recommended the establishment of an “outer security perimeter” around the three countries. The task force suggested this undertaking could be achieved by establishing common visa and asylum regulations, conducting joint law enforcement training and setting up a “marine defense command” to protect North American ports. Surely you can see the blending of multi-governmental policy into one uniform system. The case of a marine defense command is especially revealing. The three countries already have their own naval patrols guarding their respective coastlines. The suggestion here in reality is the establishment of an integrated North American Coast Guard.
World government is coming in the initial form of unification through economic trade agreements and alliances such as the European Union, NAFTA, GATT under a single governing authority called the World Trade Organization [WTO].
The World Trade Organization [WTO] is a growing governing body that makes decisions concerning trade issues between member nations. By treaty, the WTO has the binding authority to impose fines on member nations determined to be out of compliance, therefore forcing those nations to change their national laws and comply with the directives of the WTO. The rules of the WTO do not only affect trade issues, their rules circumvent all areas of national law. For example, if one of it’s members use child labor to manufacture goods in sweatshops, working 16 hour days and your government advocates human rights and the rights of children in general, in times past you would not import those goods in protest of that members policy. Under the rules of the WTO it is now illegal to do so and therefore your government must relinguish that standing human rights policy in regards to that member nation or face financial penalties.
Did you know that the United Sates has an ambassador to the WTO? I thought ambassadors were sent to other sovereign nations.
By and of itself, the WTO proves that there is a governing body whose authority supercedes to some degree the authority of national government. Being bound to the directives of the WTO circumvents the Constitution by giving authority to a body of government that is unelected by the national citizen.
The world is rapidly integrating into regional cooperation’s centering on trade. The EU is the ultimate model of regionalization. Multinational treaties, first non-binding followed by binding agreements cause the relaxing of national laws and regulations in favor of regional intergovernmental unions [Regional federation].
“It is seldom easy for a government to relinquish some of the discretion it has in a particular policy area. But governments have been persuaded of the benefits of doing just that in the area of trade policies. What they have given up in policy discretion [Governmental authority] by accepting WTO rules and disciplines is more than compensated by the increased predictability and stability of trade policies.” - Trade and foreign direct investment, WTO June 12, 2003
While the world is by design moving into these regional interdependent multinational groups such as, the European Union, the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, the Common Market of the South the Australia-New Zealand Closer Economic Relations Agreement and the Common Market for Southern and Eastern Africa [COMESA], it is doing so under the rules and governance of the WTO. Ultimately, this will lead to ten regions comprising all the nations of the earth.
http://www.counterpunch.org/martin01032004.html
By GLEN MARTIN - 03 January 2004
Recently, I have been reading the gospels of Jesus Christ once again (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John). The teachings of Jesus about how to live our lives are astonishing. Essentially, Jesus says that all our worldly values must be turned upside down, for God's judgment is on the rich, on "the nations" and on the powerful of the world. God's love and mercy are for the poor, the downtrodden and the oppressed.
In this spirit, Jesus condemns the Pharisees, the respectable religious people of his day, for they perform the empty rituals of worship but do not live authentic lives of service to the kingdom of God. Jesus says he has come to bring the kingdom of God to Earth. But the respectable religious and civil leaders of his day do not care for the poor, the downtrodden and the oppressed. They prefer to be seen as respectable, as upholders of the established social, economic and religious order.
As a professor who teaches philosophy of religion at my university, I have read extensively in the theology of Latin American Christians who have produced much wonderful Christian thought since the Second Vatican Council of 1962-65. One theme that emerges again and again in this literature is the deceptive nature of the great beast of the apocalypse (the Antichrist), symbolically described in the Book of Revelation. For evil in our world does not present itself as evil.
Evil presents itself as "respectability," as the established way of doing things, as the accepted social morality of a society. Evil hides, they say, in everydayness, in business as usual, in what is given honors and the highest praise. Evil poses as its opposite, for the goal of the Antichrist is to prevent the realization of God's kingdom on Earth, to destroy the possibility of human beings living together in love and peace upon the precious planet granted to us as our home by God.
If one thinks about it, this is fairly obvious. Evil could not be successful in preventing people from living together in peace and harmony on the Earth if it appeared to us as a hideous monster (the traditional image of the devil). We would see it for what it is and turn away in horror. But if evil can cloak itself in the image of good--if it can appear as its opposite--then the destruction of God's kingdom on Earth can proceed unhindered.
This cloaking of evil is all the more necessary given the simplicity and clarity of Jesus' teachings. He sums up his teaching with astonishing focus in the "great commandment" of Matthew 22. All of the law and the prophets (including the Ten Commandments), he says, are summed up in the most fundamental command from God: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. ... And like unto it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
When his critics asked him, "And who is my neighbor?," he again answers with great clarity through the story of the good Samaritan. A man is beaten and left for dead on the side of the road. A priest and a Levite pass by the man on the other side, for they don't want to take risks and this might be a trap laid by the thieves. These are the respectable religious and civic leaders of Jesus' day.
But Jesus says a Samaritan stops and helps the wounded man. To the respectable ears of Jesus' day, this was outrageous. The Samaritans were foreigners. They were not Jews (who considered themselves the true disciples of God in Jesus' day). They were considered dirty, ignorant and deluded foreigners not worthy of mention. They were heathens, not followers of the true religion. Yet Jesus says a Samaritan loved his neighbor as himself. And he says that all people, like Samaritans, are our neighbors who must be loved as we love ourselves.
One wonders where the followers of Jesus are today. St. Paul tells us that the early Christian communities were persecuted by the respectable established system of their day (the Roman Empire), for they refused to serve in the military and refused to recognize the established religious orthodoxy and social morality of their society. The early Christian communities were not about to send their children into the military to destroy the lives and countries of Samaritans and others who were their neighbors on this precious Earth.
Who are the Samaritans of today that we should love as ourselves? I'll bet they are the good people of Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Cuba and North Korea. I'll bet they are people of the Muslim faith, or people of no faith at all. Who are the followers of Jesus today that are persecuted in his name by the dominant system of evil that cloaks itself in the appearance of goodness and respectability?
I'll bet they include the founder of the Christian group Voices in the Wilderness, who was recently brutalized by U.S. military personnel at Fort Benning, Ga., for doing nonviolent civil disobedience against the U.S. Army School of the Americas. This top secret "school" trains foreign military in methods of torture and repression. Like economic exploitation, training in repression is another gift that our country gives to our "neighbors" in Latin America.
I see among the followers of Jesus today the three Catholic nuns in their 70s recently sentenced to federal prison for painting Christian symbols on the tip of a nuclear warhead in the Midwest. They are resisting the respectable building of more and more hideous weapons of mass destruction by the great beast of our day. I'll bet there were also many Christians among those brutally attacked by police recently in Miami. They were shot with rubber bullets, sprayed with cruel pepper spray and beaten with clubs for nonviolent witness to the evil system of economic exploitation being pushed on Latin American countries by the United States. This system is called "free trade," for evil presents itself with the appearance of respectability.
I see among the followers of Jesus the priest in New Mexico who has been preaching in his church against the U.S. invasion of Iraq. He is author of many books on Jesus' teaching of nonviolent resistance to evil and injustice. This priest recently had a platoon of military recruits jog to the street in front of his house and stand there shouting at him, chanting "kill, kill, kill."
If we want to find the followers of Jesus in our day, we need to look in the prisons, to those in shackles, to those being beaten and brutalized.
We don't have far to look. They are from all sects and churches within Christianity, but they have one thing in common: They are nonviolently resisting the system of respectability and evil. If one has any doubts about who is who, just read the gospels. Read the teachings of Jesus about how his followers are to lead their lives.
If we want to discern the great beast hiding under the cloak of social morality and respectability, look to a country that spends nearly $400 billion a year on weapons, bombs and mechanisms of destruction. If we want to discern the evil built into business as usual, look at the U.S. corporations exploiting the labor of starving people in horrible sweatshops to produce the clothing that you and I purchase as "Christmas gifts" in our local superstores. Look at the corporations firing millions from their jobs in the United States so they can move overseas to increase their profit margins.
If we want to see the apocalypse in action, look at the invasion and destruction of the Iraqi people, or the nightmare of chaos and suffering our government has forced upon the good people of Afghanistan. Evil is a system, not a person. As the Christians of Latin America say, it is a "system of sin." It is a system of people wearing suits and ties, driving fine cars and giving the appearance of the highest respectability.
In reality, it is a global system of economic and military domination and exploitation, just like the Roman Empire. Evil is a system designed to prevent us from loving God and loving our neighbors as ourselves. Our neighbors include every person on this Earth. The purpose of evil is to prevent the realization of the kingdom of God on Earth. For the simple command of Jesus was to "love one another as I have loved you" and to live together in peace and harmony on our common home.
There is a fitting bumper sticker that reads "God bless the whole world. No exceptions." If we are to follow the teachings of Jesus, we need to change the system that prevents this from happening.
Glen Martin is a professor of philosophy and religious studies at Radford University in Radford, Virginia.
http://www.counterpunch.org/martin01032004.html
That
Hideous Strength: Bush & 'God'
http://www.globalismnews.com/hideous.html
No longer do the image-fakers depict the Saviour of humanity as meek and mild, white-robed with golden aura and upturned spaniel eyes. Move over wimp-face, as the newly recreated testosterone-tough tyrant-killer descends from the clouds like Zeus from a prayer breakfast on Mars, with a mission of Messianic Redemption.
Flags are waving, crowds cheer, adulation unrestrained heralds the glad tidings that the revolutionary Empire Builder with a Moral Mandate has arrived to depose dastardly dictators, to end states that sponsor terror and to foster freedom and democracy for the soul-dead and the captive blind.
The insidious tentacles of the octopus of globalist control, fictionalised in C. S. Lewis¹ book, ³That Hideous Strength², pictures the rebirth in our times of Lucifer's Babylonian System, which began on the Plain of Shinar, now Iraq, shortly after Noah¹s Flood. Enticed by power, a young journalist is used to distort truth and promote the Luciferian Empire to the mind-controlled and manipulated masses:
³The time was ripe. From the point of view which is accepted in Hell, the whole history of our Earth had led up to this moment. There was now at last a real chance for fallen Man to shake off that limitation of his powers which mercy had imposed upon him as a protection from the full results of his fall. If this succeeded, Hell would be at last incarnate. Bad men, while still in the body, still crawling on this little globe, would enter that state which, heretofore, they had entered only after death, would have the power of evil spirits.²
Like the propagandist in Lewis¹ futuristic novel, whose only aspiration is to belong to the clique of Insiders, how many more have fallen prey to the strong delusion which perpetuates the goals of that Hideous Strength?
Pastor David Meyers, a former occultist, writes in the ³Last Trumpet²: ³Never has there been such a blindness and lack of discernment among the vast majority of the people of this so-called "Christian" nation and the entire world. It is truly that strange time of gross darkness and deception when you can sell lies, but you cannot give the truth away. The reason for the existence of this strange condition is simple; people in ever-increasing numbers have been continually rejecting the true knowledge of God and have been going through a deceptive orientation of a false light of satanic origin. We must remember that Satan was once Lucifer, which means "holder of the light" or "son of the morning." Something very strange happens to people when they enter into the realm of that strange light. Everything looks different when it is back-lighted by Satan, and people find themselves in the realm of half-truths, deceptions, misunderstandings, and ambiguity. It is upon these destructive building blocks that Satan has built his kingdom with its religions, governments, economic systems, schools and universities, and all other endeavours. People have bought one lie after another for so long that they cannot recognize truth when it is laid directly before them. They are under a different light, a light that Jesus called darkness; in fact, He said, "How great is that darkness."
Meyers dares to denounce the delusion: "While many ministries are taking the side of President Bush and endorse war as some kind of a 'holy Christian war', the truth is that it is an Illuministic war designed to bring forth a new world order and a new Aquarian age of witchcraft."
Ingenuous Christians, lured by the promise of faith-based federal funding, have been lulled into the conviction that at long last a true Believer has taken up the mantle as leader of the imperial superpower, one who would lead the world in truth and righteousness. But is President George W. Bush truly a Christian, or is he a well-scripted pretender?
Remember Christ¹s admonition, ³by their fruits you shall know them.² Not all who claim to be Christ¹s ³born-again² followers are recognised by Him. We are judged not by our mendacious claims, but by what in fact we do. ³Beware of false prophets,² Christ said, ³who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. You shall know them by their fruitsŠ Not everyone that says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name? And in your name have cast out devils? And in your name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity.²
According to Bush's biography, ŒA Charge to Keep,¹ there was ³no magic moment of decision² in 1984-1985, when, he says, ³Jesus changed his heart². By his own admission, the experience didn¹t at all change his drunken lifestyle. During the pre-election debate George Bush claimed that he considered Jesus to be the ³greatest political philosopher², but he has never, ever, publicly affirmed - as a true born-again believer would - that "Jesus Christ is my Lord". Consistent as this testimony may be with liberal ecumenicalism, it is certainly not a genuine fundamentalist Christian expression of repentance, restitution and transformation.
William Rivers Pitt, in a perceptive Truthout article, ³George W. Christ?² observes that the same man who pretends ³conservative compassion² yet viciously mocked reformed Texas death row inmate Karla Faye Tucker, is now intent upon making war on as much of the Muslim world as he can put his hands around, while wrapping around himself the image and prophesies of Jesus Christ.
Bush donned another mask on the deck of that aircraft carrier, the Abraham Lincoln, one whose implications are dire and disturbing: ³In his remarks, Bush closed with a paraphrasing of the Book of Isaiah: "In the words of the prophet Isaiah, 'To the captives, 'come out,' and to those in darkness, 'be free.¹¹"
This was a misapplied quotation of the words Jesus Christ used when He presented Himself as the Son of God, proclaiming that Isaiah¹s messianic prophesies had been fulfilled.
³It has been oft-reported that Bush witnessed the attacks of 9/11 and came to believe that God Himself, and not Scalia and the rest, put him into the Presidency for the sole purpose of pursuing this war against terrorism. It has likewise been oft-reported that Bush is an evangelical Christian of the vigorous Billy Graham stripe. We have witnessed the failure of every rationalization for making war on Iraq -- the WMDs, the terrorist connections -- and are left now with the rhetorical argument that we did the whole thing to 'save' the Iraqi people. Ergo, Bush positioned himself on the deck of that aircraft carrier as a saviour. ³We are talking about a man who wears masks for the sake of political opportunism, and to survive moments when he has to address himself in the bathroom mirror. Does this newest mask have George W. Bush taking on the mantle of Jesus Christ, Saviour and Redeemer?²
Another hideous mask was revealed during his May tour of Poland to further promote his ³war on terror². Former Justice Department prosecutor, John Loftus, has well documented the scandalous history of the Bush family¹s support for Adolph Hitler. In 1942 The New York Tribune described Bush¹s grandfather, Prescott Bush, as ³Hitler¹s Angel² and, under the ŒTrading with the Enemy Act¹, the US Congress seized the holdings of several companies directed by Prescott Bush that, as fronts for the Nazi party, had channelled hundreds of millions of dollars to the Third Reich and IG Farben. It was IG Farben that built the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz and forty other extermination camps. According to classified documents from Dutch intelligence and U.S. government archives, Prescott Bush also made considerable profit from Auschwitz slave labour. President G.W. Bush has inherited his grandfather¹s obscene Holocaust profits, which are held in a trust for his benefit, yet he still has the brazen audacity to shed a tear for the cameras while visiting the remains of the Nazi death camps at Auschwitz and Birkenau.
George Bush may attend religious services, fold his hands in prayer and bow his head together with the leading religious authorities of the day, but so did the Pharisees in their time. He may quote and misquote scripture, and so did Satan tempt Jesus in the same way. He may have promised to uphold a ³conservative² agenda on moral issues such as abortion and homosexuality, but promises are easy to make and easier to break.
Bush has claimed, "I could not be governor if I did not believe in a Divine Plan that supersedes all human plans" yet Illuminists also believe their Plan to stage Antichrist is "Divine". Bush may claim a Divine Mandate, yet who asks from which ³god² he takes his orders?
Don¹t let the warning of Psalm 36 go unheeded: ³For he flatters himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity is found to be hateful. The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit: he has left off to be wise, and to do good.²
David Bay of Cutting Edge Ministries has documented how Bush¹s presidency has all the hallmarks of Illuminist Satanism and his warmongering actions are flagged by Illuminist symbolism and numerology. Like his father, former President George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush has indeed been born again, but not in the way many followers would like to believe. As an initiate of the Order of the Skull and Bones he participated in a ritual that he has never denounced, during which he symbolically died to the world and was born again into the ranks of an Illuminist Black Magick cult with Nazi connections.
During his occultic initiation, Bush is known to have taken a satanic oath that absolved him from any allegiance to his nation in obedience to the goals of the cult. David Bay comments: ³When an initiate enters the coffin of their initiation, he is considered to have 'died to self 'and to this world¹. When the leader of this coven takes the initiate by the hand and pulls him out of the coffin, that initiate is said to have been 'Born Again'¹ to the newness of life. It is a slick and counterfeit experience.²
Usurping Christian terminology in the same way, Adolph Hitler also claimed to have been born anew after his ritualistic induction into the Thule Society, another Brotherhood of Death cult closely related to the Skull and Bones, which also took as its motif the emblem of the double-cross, the Skull and Crossed Bones. However distasteful this truth may be, it is a matter of well-documented fact that, like Hitler, both Poppy and G.W. Bush have received occult training at the darkest altar of satanic doctrine, as they were groomed by loftier powers for prominent roles in establishing a Luciferian World Government. Deception, the double-cross, is accepted practice as a means to achieving the ³higher² goals, and this ³fruit², this hallmark of the Bush administration, must by now be clearly evident even to the least discerning.
Antichrist comes as a mimic, making himself out to be Christ, and is recognised by fraudulent signs and 'lying wonders'. The Devil is a liar, a usurper, a deceiver. His preferred guise is a glitzy imitation of the glorious mantle of light which emanates from the Creator¹s Throne. The company Bush keeps, notably his embrace of Satanic Hard Rocker, Ozzy Osbourne, who he has repeatedly honoured with private White House dinners and a White House Ball, also reveals his true occultic affiliation.
Philip Farruggio describes ³The Devil¹s Time²: ³Use the remote control inside your minds and rewind back to the 2000 Republican Presidential primary. Look at this President, then candidate Bush, answer as to "who is your role model?" He boldly stated "Jesus Christ". Then, all of you out there who support this President's current "undeclared war² ask yourselves if his "role model" would pre-emptively strike another nation. Would Jesus, the "role model", change the regime of a sovereign country (however brutal) by bombing, destroying and killing innocent human life? Would he have promised "reconstructing Iraq" contracts, before such a war, to certain "friendly" US companies? Finally, would any of you out there send your 18, 19, 20 year old kids, grandkids, brothers or sisters, into harm's way to overthrow a regime that this nation supplied with arms and biological weapons components for years? The receipts are there for all to read - the history of "deals with the devil" are fact not fiction.²
As that Hideous Strength once again grinds its jackbooted heel in the face of the impoverished people of yet another nation, all in the name of Christian values and morality, let the sleeping remnant awaken! There have, throughout history, been many pretenders, but for those who love and seek the real face of Jesus Christ, He is the embodiment of the only true God, Creator and Redeemer. Certainly the role model He set for us to follow is not the validation of wars for Empire and bloodshed for black gold. The true Christ¹s role model is exemplified by Truth, sacrificial Love, Forgiveness and Reconciliation, not the sweet and fuzzy pseudo kind that allows injustice to roll unchecked over the meek and humble, but the overwhelming power of grace to resist exploitation and desist from vengeance, despite injustice. The true Christ overturns the tables of the wealthy who exploit the poor and take their resources for selfish gain. The true Christ is the one who stares in the face of arrogant, self-righteous religious leaders, and fearlessly denounces the filthy, rotting corpse of hypocrisy hiding beneath the whitewashed sepulchres of deception.
Do we see in George Bush a genuine disciple of the living Christ? The reality is that we see Christianity debased and Christ given a bad name. Justice is redefined, the DarkSide becomes the LightBearer, and Truth lies fallen, the first crippled casualty of battle. This mighty crusade, so boldly fought in Jesus¹ name, is but a slick façade, a pretender¹s coup de grace. This is no grand victory for Christ, lift the mask and you will see the Devil had his day.
Now we see the dancer, but behind the thrones of earth, concealed by cloaks of silence, invisible powers pull the strings, and men are but marionettes. Out of the shadows and the radioactive dust, the New World Empire in all its dimensions begins to reveal its vainglorious face with spiritual, political, economic and social reform for all.
While the Empire parades its pretentious self righteousness in the name of Christ, the Son of God, the Arab world has no such illusions; that Hideous Strength, in their eyes, is no less than the ³Great Satan². Why? Because Satan poses as an Angel of Light, attempts to usurp the Throne of God, twists truth into a lie, and exploits the poor and the weak for gain. President Bush is waging unending pre-emptive wars in the name of Christianity, while all the time he remains an active member of a satanic cult with aspirations of global domination. By supporting the great deception of this Hideous Strength, the undiscerning faithful are doing the true Christ the greatest injustice of all.
http://www.globalismnews.com/hideous.html
I believe that insiders will initiate a world crisis only if they feel it is necessary to get the public to accept their New World Order. The mere threat of a major world conflict could be enough to scare the public into accepting such a change - especially when coupled with the existing problems of world hunger and global debt, and the created panic over the environment. As their campaign slogan openly proclaims "Global Problems Demand Global Solutions!"
Historically, however, wars have been effective in advancing the cause of world government; the fact is, major changes occur more easily during times of crisis.
Unlike the previous world wars in which Germany was the main instigator, the world's next major conflict will undoubtably be sparked by the hotbed of tensions surrounding the Middle East. If not Iraq a second time then perhaps Iran or Syria.
The writer believes that Syria might play a significant role in ushering in a new world order, if not as an instigator of war, then as a middle man for negotiating peace. It is too critical a nation to remain on the sidelines for very long and, contrary to popular belief, Syria - not Iraq - is the most powerful Islamic military state in the Middle East. It therefore merits close watching.
During the past several years, Syria appears to have been laying the groundwork for its own attack against Israel. Syrian troops now hold long sought after positions in Lebanon and have been prepared for such an invasion since early 1987. According to the U.S. Department of Defense publication, Soviet Military Power, Syria has also become the site of the largest Soviet arms build-up in the Third World, having contracted for $19 billion in military hardware. It currently boasts the largest number of Soviet military advisors of any Third World Country (1)
The Syrian government, meanwhile, has effectively turned the tables by falsely warning its people of a coming Israeli attack on Syria, although Israel has repeatedly denied such allegations. (2) According to the Jerusalem Post, during one of Syria's propaganda campaigns several years ago, it took a personal statement from Israeli Prime Minister, Yitzhak Shamir, to maintain peace. Shamir voiced his "incomprehension" at Syrian "nervousness, which", he said, "had triggered several strong Soviet warnings to Israel in recent days." (3) I believe the Syrian government was deliberately misleading its people in order to justify its own"pre-emptive" strike against Israel down the road. For these reasons, I have chosen to use Syria as our example in this scenario (although a similar scenario could be constructed using Iraq, Iran, or even Libya).
If the powers-that-be were to move Syria against Israel, it would be Syria's fatal mistake, planned this way by the conspirators in order to precipitate a world crisis. Unlike previous invasions, the Jewish state this time would have almost no time to respond. Its back would be to the wall quickly as Syrian MIG's would streak over Jerusalem within four minutes. Israel would be faced with a very difficult decision - either allow itself to be conquered, or else launch its nuclear arsenal against Syria and possibly Iraq. In late 1986, "London's Sunday Times printed an article stating that Israel may have a stockpile of as many as 200 nuclear warheads." (4) So we know that a nuclear exchange is a very real possibility.
There is an Old Testament prophecy concerning Damascus, the capital of Syria, which has yet to be fulfilled. Isaiah proclaimed: "See, Damascus will no longer be a city but will become a heap of ruins" (Isaiah 17:1). As it is Damascus is the oldest standing city in the world, never having experienced mass destruction. This prophecy must be fulfilled before the return of Christ.
Having lost several thousand of its military advisers in the exchange and with world opinion seemingly turned against Israel for her use of nuclear force, the Soviet Union could seize this opportunity to do what it has long desired - move against Israel. Arab pressure on the Soviets to invade Israel would add to the temptation.
If the Soviet Union came to the rescue of Syria, it would suddenly find itself on opposite sides with the United States. What could happen next is unthinkable. Mankind will have been brought to the brink of destruction.
Wicked men in high places have been contemplating such a crisis for years. In a letter to the Italian revolutionary leader Guiseppe Mazzini dated 15 August 1871 Albert Pike, the leader of the Illuminati's activities in the United States and the head of Scottish Rite Freemasonry at the time, described a distant final war, which he felt would be necessary to usher in the New World Order. (5)` According to Pike, this conflict between two future superpowers would be sparked by first igniting a clash between Islam and Judaism. He went on to write:
We shall unleash the nihilists and the atheists and we shall provoke a great social cataclysm which, in all its horror, will show clearly to all nations the effect of absolute atheism, the origin of savagery and of most bloody turmoil. Then, everywhere, the people, forced to defend themselves against the world minority of revolutionaries, will exterminate those destroyers of civilisation; and the multitudes, disillusioned with Christianity whose deistic spirits will be from that moment on without direction and leadership, anxious for an ideal but without knowledge where to send its adoration, will receive the true light through the universal manifestation of Lucifer, brought finally out into public view; a manifestation which will result from a general reactionary movement which will follow the destruction of Christianity and atheism, both conquered and exterminated at the same time.(6)
See note on Arab Freemasonry
Should such a crisis be permitted to occur, the amount of destruction would be staggering. Humanity would tremble with fear believing that man is about to destroy himself. For even if the Soviet Union or the United States were eliminated as military powers, over thirty countries would still have nuclear capacity. It would be a time of despair and mass confusion. Add to this the resulting chaos of global financial markets, which are already on the brink of disaster; the economic turmoil would only contribute to the world's state of panic.
Once such a war began, there would be no guarantee that the United States or Europe would remain entirely unscathed. But , it is important to remember that no matter how much the powers of darkness plot and scheme, in the end, they can only bring about what God allows. Only he knows with certainty what the future holds. Thus far, God has prevented the hidden forces from making their move. But the time could soon come when the world will have become so wicked and abominable in the eyes of God that he will say "enough is enough" and he will permit the powers of darkness to succeed for a time (Daniel 11:24).
As a result, man would be disillusioned and searching for answers. Many would blame God for the devastation, not even considering the fact that it was man's own wickedness and willingness to deceive that brought it about. For one professing to provide the solutions, the time would be ripe. The real crisis about to begin.
The moment for which Satan has so long awaited and for which his disciples have diligently laboured, will have finally come. The conspirators will submit their power to one whom they will recognise as their undisputed leader. Their complete allegiance and devotion will be given to him - truly a first since the Tower of Babel. He will be Satan personified and will have all the powers of darkness at his disposal - capable of performing every sort of sign and wonder imaginable. He is also referred to in the first letter of John as the Antichrist.
For a while, he will remain in the background; his servants overseeing the final phase. Tens of thousands of New Agers will appear on the world scene, fully organised, demanding that a one-world government be established. This restructuring of the old order, they will claim, is necessary to deal with existing global problems and to prevent any future catastrophes from taking place. The international media will give full coverage to this unfolding drama. Most of the public will be unaware that this network had been organised specifically for this purpose years in advance; it will simply appear to be a spontaneous democratic grassroots movement, held together by people with a common pursuit - the desire for world peace and unity.
Every problem, no matter how small (or how fabricated), will suddenly become a reason why we need a world government. The most convincing arguments will have to do with the environment, global debt, world poverty, and the prevention of war. A New World Order, they will say, is needed because individual nations are no longer capable of dealing with these complex problems on their own.
A New World Order will appear to come from the bottom up, as something that the people of the world want. It will come in the name of democracy, non-threatening - not as a system being forced upon us by our politicians. Too many people would become suspicious, otherwise, sensing that they are being manipulated. Instead, the inhabitants of "Mother Earth" will believe that they are in control of their own destiny, unaware of the hidden agenda of those really in charge behind-the-scenes.
Most of those initially involved at the core of this movement will in some way be connected with the secret societies, having in common an obsession with mysticism and the occult - a fact not readily apparent to the public. One popular battle cry among New Agers is, "If you build it I will come." More clearly put, if you build the New World Order and put all the pieces into place, then I (The Antichrist) will come and take my seat of power.
Once this movement goes public, it will gain momentum rapidly; many unsuspecting citizens who are not involved with the occult will join the effort, simply because it seems like the most logical thing to do. The call for a democratic world government will sound most appealing.
At some point, the beast, or one of his representatives, will step forth with what will appear to be a brilliant plan for Mideast Peace. The initiative will include some kind of settlement between the Jews and the Palestinians, claiming to ensure permanent peace in the war-torn region. The agreement would probably guarantee Israel's security and would allow the Jews to rebuild their long-anticipated temple, in exchange for allowing the Palestinians to have their own homeland with autonomous rule. The beast will succeed where others before him have failed..
His appearance will most likely be as a democratic leader, riding into power on the back of the democracy movement, appearing as a genuine man of peace. Whether he first emerges as a world diplomat or as a religious leader (such as the Pope or the Dali Lama) remains to be seen; remember, he could be someone who is still unknown to the world. However, once he and his main accomplice, the false prophet, take their positions, discerning Christians will recognise them for who they are.
The Antichrist will come to reside over an empowered United Nations or, perhaps, over a newly created global authority, such as the Federation f Earth, at first a loosely knit federation of nations. However, it would most likely emerge rapidly into a powerful structure administered on the basis of (probably) ten world regions.
A world constitution will be proposed, and a "democratic" World Parliament will be created. World citizens will believe they have a say in matters, not realising that occult-based secret societies are really the ones in control. If the New World Order, for example, were to be based on a two or three party system, all that new age occultists would have to do is control each of these parties - something easily accomplished since they were the ones responsible for proposing the world government in the first place. These insiders would determine the tempo of change and the rest of the world would follow their lead.
The public would be content because it would retain its right to vote and choose candidates, seeing itself as part of a representative government. But in reality, it wouldn't matter who was elected; the result would always be the same: supporters of the Antichrist would be running the system unchecked. As a worldwide system, there would be no place to run.
Sovereign nations would cease to exist. A single global economic system would be established and anything left from the old order of things would be purely superficial, such as languages, cultures, names of countries, etc. Any real authority would now rest with an international body controlled by Satan himself.
The disputing world religions will become unified, and as he will be a master of spiritual intrigue, it is not inconceivable that, at some point in his ascent to power, he declares himself to be "The Christ" (Unbeknown to many, the term "Antichrist", in 1 John 2:18, may also be interpreted as "in place of Christ") If this were to be the case, he might also claim to be the long awaited Messiah to the Jews. To the Buddhists he would be the fifth Buddha; th Moslems, the Imam Mahdi; to Hindus, Krishna. Those Christians accepting this lie would unfortunately see him in the fulfillment of the second coming of Christ.
But regardless, Scripture tells us that a majority of the world's inhabitants will be deceived (Revelation 13 and 2 Thessalonians 2); thus, the rise of the Antichrist will be extremely convincing to those who are unprepared and who are not firmly grounded in God's word.
New Age principles, which have subtly worked their way into many churches disguised as sound biblical teachings, will prevent unsuspecting Christians from recognising the Antichrist. If he would come proclaiming to be a servant of Satan, few would be foolish enough to follow him. Instead, he will come in the name of Christ, posing as an angel of light. Discerning Christians will be astonished at who steps forth to head the New World Order - possibly the last person ever suspected.
1. U.S. Department of Defense, Soviet Military Power 1986, Washington DC: U.S. Government printing office, 1986, p.133.
2. Post Diplomatic Correspondent, "Jerusalem Incomprehension at Syrian Nervousness," The Jerusalem Post, 12 April 1984, p.1, Col. 1-2.
3. Ibid.
4. "Israel's Nuclear Prowess - A Leak by Design?" U.S. News and World Report, 10 November 1986, p.8.
5. Salem Kirban, Satan's Angels Exposed, Rossville, GA: Grapevine books, 1980, pp. 158-161.
6. Myron Fagan, The Illuminati - CFR, Emissary Publications, TP-107, 1968. This letter between Pike and Mazzini is now catalogued in the British Museum in London (according to Salem Kirban, Satan's Angels Exposed, p.164). Parts of this letter are also quoted in Descent into Slavery by Des Griffin.
Is it a pure coincidence that the most powerful figures of the Middle East are Freemasons? Have they been destined to trigger the conflict about which Albert Pike wrote? A prominent Arab-Christian leader recently informed me that according to his contacts in Lebanon, King Assad of Syria and King Hussein of Jordan are both Freemasons. If this is true, we could be closer to the New World Order than people realise. (He was uncertain about whether Saddam Hussein belonged to the same secret society.) A few months ago the son of the same Arab-Christian gave me a Masonic document - a membership certificate - which he found in Lebanon. However, the document notes that the lodge is under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Jordan, which is under the authority of the Arab Supreme Council. For at least several centuries, Jordan has been a bastion for the secret societies in the Middle East and has much more influence in the region's behind-the-scenes politics than most people realise. The same Masonic symbol appearing on our dollar bill and found on ancient occult worship sites throughout the world, the all-seeing eye, is prominently displayed on the certificate.
The
Good Book
There is an ancient battlefield in the modern state of Israel called Megiddo. It was celebrated in an exultant victory song by the prophetess Deborah as the place where kings fought but gained no spoils of war. It was remembered more soberly as the place where Josiah the Devout, the sixteenth king of Judah, was fatally wounded by the soon-to-be-defeated Pharaoh Neco. By the time of the prophet Zechariah it was a byword for anguish and the bitter harvest of battle.
But its greatest notoriety derives from an event yet to come, which some believe is imminent and others say will never happen. Armageddon, the mount of Megiddo, the hill of plagues, is the most famous name in the history of the future. It has come to mean disaster beyond repair, the final conflict in which defeat is guaranteed to all.
And that is only part of the story. Armageddon, no matter how terrifying, is only a fragment of a larger vision unique in the Bible for the savagery of its warnings and the ferocity of its promises. The final battleground belongs to the book of Revelation, the Apocalypse, the last book of the Bible, which weaves an intricate web of allegory, hidden meanings and cryptic numbers to entrap mans instinctive fear of a future doom and turn it into irrational hope.
*
There are many mysteries in the book of Revelation, with its horsemen and its whore, its seven-headed beast, and its woman clothed with the sun. It is a journey into the beginning of eternity and to the end of time. It starts in a cave on the island of Patmos where John the Divine saw the past and the future rolled into the present:
I John, your brother, who share with you in Jesus the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the Spirit on the Lords day and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, `Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamun and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.`Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning, I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the golden girdle round his breast; his head and his hair were white as white wool, white as snow; his eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined as in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of many waters; in his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth issued a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.
When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand upon me, saying, `Fear not, Iam the first and the last, and the living one; I died, and behold I am alive for evermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. Now write what you see, what is and what is to take place hereafter...' (Revelation 1:9-19 )
It is still possible to visit the cave, now called Aghia Anna, where John looked upon an emerald rainbow and a crystal sea. The cave of the vision is surrounded by the plain ramble of a whitewashed monastery. The spot where John's head lay, while his mind was full of monsters, trumpet calls and a new Jerusalem, is encircled by a simple band of metal. The only other feature in the cave is a desk formed out of the natural rock where, according to the local monks, John's disciple Prochoros took down some of the most unfathomable dictation ever given.
John tells his readers that he has been exiled on Patmos for preaching the word of God. That much fits with historical possibility. Exile was a favourite punishment for troublemakers, and Patmos with its deadly barrenness was a favourite place for dumping political exiles throughout the 1st century AD. That is where historical certainly ends. Until 250 AD there was no doubt that John the Divine was John the son of Zebedee, the disciple whom Jesus loved, and the only disciple credited with achieving a non-violent death. Jerome says that John survived into extreme old age. Finally, unable to preach, he had to be carried to services and would just say, `Love one another, that is enough'. Irenaeus, one of the best theologians of the 2nd century, knew people who had known John the Beloved in his last years in Ephesus, and was sure of Revelations apostolic authorship. Melito of Sardis, Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian and Hippolytus all shared that conviction.
But the book has always attracted controversy. Luther and Erasmus did not like it. The heretical sect, the Alogi, found its teaching too harsh and so attributed its authorship to Cerinthus, another heretic. The most reasoned doubter was the 3rd century Dioysius of Alexandria, who pointed out quite rightly that the book bore little resemblance to the style of the Gospel of John. So either the book of Revelation was written by John the Divine, not an apostle, a Jewish Christian with detailed knowledge of Asia Minor who happened to fall foul of Rome and ended up in exile on Patmos.
Whatever the doubt about the authorship there was never any doubt about the identity of the vision-bearer, the one like the Son of Man with eyes like flame and a two-edged sword issuing from his mouth. John was certain it was the Word of God, present at the beginning of time, present at its end and made visible to him as the risen glorified Christ whose words are like the sword of wisdom brought down on a corrupt age.
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But which corrupt age? When precisely was the Patmos vision written down? According to Dr Sophie Laws, the generally held view is that it was in the reign of the Emperor Domitian at the end of the 1st century. This is not just a guess by 2oth century scholars. It was stated as early as the 2nd century by Irenaeus, and there is a good deal to support it. The book anticipates an attack on the Christian communities launched by the Roman State, and part of that attack comes through the consistent demand of the state that the emperor, who represents the state, should be worshipped. It is emperor-worship that provokes the crisis for the churches, and we know that the emperor Domitian towards the end of his reign did go off his head and required to be addressed as God. The cities of Asia Minor responded enthusiastically to this hint. A massive temple was built to Domitian, the living god, in Ephesus, a city very much associated with John. We may imagine the impact on a 1st century Asian Christian of the erection of this massive temple on the main street of Ephesus, which was to contain a statue of the emperor as god about seven metres high. Imagine the shock, the emotional and religious horror, of being confronted with that in your own city, your own province. What the state is requiring is the worship of a living man as god. What the church is developing is the worship of a man who lived and died and rose again. There is a head-on religious collision here.
The book of Revelation is about more than the clash between a madman's empire and a kingdom which belongs to fools and children. However much he loathed Rome and all it stood for, John does not begin on a note of self-righteous hostility. His vision opens with a practical, and at times critical, message for the Church itself. With a voice like rushing water, the figure of the glorified Christ warns seven local Christian communities in what is now Turkey about their imminent trials and past failings.
The church at Pergamun, he says, must stand firm against false teaching. The church at Thyatira has been beguiled by a prophetess as corrupt as the evil Jezebel. The Christians of Ephesus, Sardis and Laodicea must revive their lukewarm love and compromised faith. Only the churches of Smyrna and Philadelphia are praised for their energy and belief.
These messages to local churches pave the way for a more startling vision. John describes nothing less than the majesty of God who is older than time. Heaven shines more brightly than the most precious jewels known to man. It is more fragrant than incense burning in golden bowls and at its centre angels and elders worship not a symbol of power but a sacrificial lamb bearing the wounds of death conquered. From beneath the altar of the Lamb, the souls of the martyrs cry for vengeance.
Is such imagery with its insistence on revenge completely Christian? Is it a throwback to Daniel and to the more violent visions which comforted the Jews persecuted a hundred and sixty years before Jesus was born? Dr Carroll thinks that though it may look like a throwback it is more than that. When you are facing the Romans (and, he points out, they were not Christian gentlemen, in spite of what Paul writes in Romans), you need something stronger than `the magistrates are ordained of God'. You need something very much stronger. The old visions that were created to oppose the Greek invasion were revitalised in Christian terms. So the slain lamb leads his people against the enemy and defeats them, and Rome ends up in ruins. That goes right back to the attacks on Baal in Isaiah and Jeremiah. It is almost unchanged, and clearly represents a deep need. It is important either to believe that your enemies are going to suffer or to entertain visions in which they do, because, even if they do not, at least you still have the visions to keep you warm at night, or in prison, or at the stake. It is a way of transforming and giving a voice to those who now have no power.
But why was it necessary to express comfort to the persecuted in such arcane and terrifying language? John paints a nightmare canvas of the disasters which alone will loosen mankind's grip on this world. He promises a future at the mercy of conquest, war, famine and death - the four horsemen of the Apocalypse.
For Professor Dun the problem of the interpretation of this vision is the mirror image of a question posed much earlier in the Bible. When you come to the New Testament equivalent of Genesis, he says, which is the book of Revelation - the end, as Genesis is the beginning - you have the same problems, as in Genesis, there is a dispute about how you understand the language, so in Revelation you have the problem of how to understand the symbols and the bizarre imagery. Christians have had widely divergent views on that for centuries.
From its earliest days there has been contention over the book of Revelation. Many have felt that its description of the last days, when the sun would turn as black as death and the moon as red as blood, and the sky would vanish and the mountains move, was too brutal and fantastic to be included in the New Testament. However logical its position at the end of the Bible may seem to us now, after generations of scholars have explored its symbolism and its promise of a tree of life which would undo the harm of the tree of knowledge, Sophie Laws believes that John was allowed the last Biblical word by default, not by human design.
It is an accident of history she says, that Revelation is at the end of the Bible. It is because so many people of a more scholarly turn of mind felt uncomfortable with it. Although they were bound, by its popularity, to include it in the Bible, they tucked it as far away as they could. It is a book that people either read obsessively, and know everything about, or have never touched. It is an unloving book. There are only two references to the love of God or Christ in the whole of its twenty-one chapters. On the other hand, it is a salutary book. It leaves one at the end of the Bible regarding this world as provisional, and it is perhaps as well to end on a note of discomfort.
John sees a dying world where power has become meaningless and even kings and great men lie cowering in caves and rocky fortresses longing to be no more. For those from the tribe of old Israel, and those from the new Israel gathered from all the nations, all that will matter is the seal of faith, the only guarantee of a new life beyond the horror of a ravaged earth. When the final seal on the scroll of destiny is broken by the Lamb, there is even silence in heaven.
How can modern theologians swallow John's vision? Is not Jesus the healer, who taught his friends how to pray, all but obliterated in Johns vision of a Lamb transformed into a symbol, not of gentleness, but of fearsome majesty? Dr Thiselton says that Christ is actually prominent in the book of Revelation, but it is not the pre-resurrection Christ of the Gospel stories, it is the living Christ through whom God rules his church. So Christ is there, but not as we see him in Matthew, Mark, or Luke.
John was not the only one to believe that the world will come to a sudden and violent end. It was an intuition shared by the Gospel writers. In Mark, Jesus warns of a time of wars and rumours of wars. Famine and earthquake will herald the beginning of the end. In Matthew, Jesus says that false Messiahs and false prophets and the coldness of men's hearts will be a sign of the close of the age. Death, in the final days, according to Luke, will be unpredictable and certain. The last days will be beyond human understanding, coming, says the writer of Peter's second letter, like a thief in the night.
John the Divine tries to prepare his readers for the worst that persecution or disaster can throw at them. He gives his imagination free and fruitful rein. In the last days seven trumpets will announce three woes. The natural world will be destroyed. Trees will be shrivelled up by fire, the sea will turn to blood, the fresh water of rivers will be polluted, the sky will be darkened by smoke from a bottomless pit, monstrous locusts will ravage the earth and horsemen armed like the Parthian cavalry, riding beasts with lions heads and serpents tails, will cut a swathe of destruction through men longing for death. No matter how fevered John's imaginings, Professor Dunn believes they are necessary for the balance of the Christian message. It is, he says, recognition of the wholeness of the human person and human society. We cannot simply function on the level of the mind and body. There is an element of imagination, and it is important for any religion, for Christianity in particular, to have scope for that imagination, that ability to perceive and speak in a vision, because it is operating on a different level from the purely cerebral.
Nowadays we are more cerebrally inclined. Geologists, astronomers and ecologists who explore John's world of the final days are read compulsively. Doom is a best seller. Theological naivety may have replaced John's scientific naivety and his paranoid hatred of the Roman emperors who killed believers and counterfeited divinity, but the impulse of fear and curiosity is the same. There are times when John seems more mad than inspired, but his vision of the end has a fascination which has outlasted the more tangible successes of his enemies.
Dr Carroll says that the apocalyptic strand is always topical. Some people think the centre of the old Bible is the apocalyptic part, the exodus. There is something to be said for the apocalyptic, because it allows people to go to the Emperor, like the old Quakers who would wear their hats in the presence of the King and say: `ok you can get us now, but we will get you in the end'.
When John saw his vision, the world annihilation he promised could only be the figment of fanatical imagination. It is an index of mans shame, not of Johns clairvoyant skill, that in this century we recognise total destruction as something within mankind's ability. For all his violent foreboding, John never foresaw that human ingenuity could make the four horsemen of the Apocalypse redundant. John planted his feet on the threshold of eternity. That means he belonged to the present not the future. He was firmly rooted in the first century AD and his aim was to bolster the Christian community battered by a hostile empire. But why should anyone think that images of terror be encouraging? Dr Thiselton believes that much of the message of the Revelation is that, as far as God is sovereign, questions about judgement belong to God. The book of Revelations never says that Christians should make judgements. It says that Christians may be confident that the world and history are in Gods hands. There are some very beautiful passages in the boo: for instance, the passage about the river of the water of life that flows on the tree of life whose leaves are for the healing of the nations.
Much of the violence in Revelation belonged specifically to John's own age. When he speaks of a woman clothed with the sun giving birth to a child, he is drawing on the Jewish tradition of the Holy Spirit as mother overlaid with the metaphor of chosen Israel as Gods bride. The child is the Messiah, but there theology ends.
The monsters who are its enemies are only thinly disguised. They represent all the powers who have persecuted the Jews and Christians from Nebuchadnezzar to Nero. John is anxious that his meaning will be clear. The monster seals people on the hand or the head with the number 666, the mark of the beast, described by John as a human number. In ancient times letters were used as numbers. John's clue would have been obvious to anyone familiar with Hebrew or Aramaic. 666 is Neron Kaisar: that is, Nero the Emperor.
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So is there a case for using John the Divine merely as a coded commentary on the past? The Rev. Jerry Falwell, leader of the Moral Majority, disagrees. He believes that Revelation contains the message of an escape route for believers. He believes that it is basically a prophetic book. Chapter 1 deals with the past. Chapter 2 and 3 deal with the present, with what is going on today through the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. The seven churches of Asia Minor each represent a particular time period in church history. Chapters 4 to 22 have to do with the future. Many, he says, believe that when Jesus comes, all who have ever believed in him as Lord and Saviour and who have accepted the cleansing power of the blood of Christ shed at Calvary will be caught up to be with the Lord. Then will begin seven years of tribulation on earth, described in chapters 6 to 19 as an awful and terrible time. During that time God will purge the earth and prepare it for the establishment of his kingdom. The Second Coming of Christ, says Falwell, is in two phases. First, at the beginning of the seven-year tribulation period, Christ will come to carry away or rapture his church. At the end of it he will return to earth with his glorified church. He will sit upon the throne of his ancestor David and reign in perfect peace for 1000 years.
Many fundamentalists, particularly in the United States, believe that they will avoid the death-throes of the earth and will return after the world carnage to enjoy 1000 years of peace - a dangerous thought in people whose government has a nuclear capacity.
Was John seeing things he could not understand? Is it significant that the literal translation of Chernobyl is `wormwood', the falling star that makes water bitter? Was John predicting World War III? Sophie Laws thinks not. John, she says, speaks in images. He is not concerned to provoke the imagination. He does not believe that the world will end simply as a result of human wickedness. He does not accept that man can destroy the world by being wicked. He believes that the world will end because God will vindicate his own people against human wickedness. What brings the end of the world is Gods redemption of his own.
Revelation concludes with a vision of the new heaven and the new earth and a vision of a future life in the presence of God. That message of a new life has also been interpreted at an individual level. For believers, the last things will stand on the brink of eternity. Over the years there has been much debate about Johns precise meaning. After Armageddon John paints a lurid picture of a whore dressed in scarlet and adorned with gold and pearls. She rides a seven-headed beast and, in the manner of the prostitutes of ancient Rome, she bears her name written on her forehead. She is Babylon the Great, the Mother of Abominations: at one level a byword for occultism and materialism, at another the Jewish apocalyptic codeword for `Rome'.
Down the centuries Christians have accorded each other the dubious privilege of identification with Babylon. Anti-Christ and the False Prophet, the other two members of John's satanic trinity, are constantly being re-identified. Indeed our own century, disfigured by Nazism, has provided all too convincing contenders. John's message is ultimately victorious: Christ will return and conquer all that is evil.
The book of Revelation is constantly being re-interpreted. Is there any way we can pinpoint the events it describes? Jerry Falwell believes that we cannot be certain that we are not living in the last days. Jesus warns us, he says, against date setting. He specifically tells us that no man knows the day or hour. Those in the past who have presumptuously set dates have all been embarrassed. However, he says, we are given certain signs of the Lords return. One is the re-gathering of the Jewish people into the land of Israel, which since 1948 has been a reality. Another is the increase of knowledge and travel - the past hundred years have seen a dramatic revolution in communication and transport. As Jesus said, we can know the times and the seasons, but not the day or the hour, so that it is right to preach that the Lords coming is imminent, that he could come at any time, and we should live and work as though we were planning for the next generation. We should plan and establish equity and peace on earth for our children and our children's children, but we should also live with a consciousness that this may be the crowning day when we meet the Lord face to face.
John's warnings about false prophets and fraudulent religion have turned the Bible itself into part of the Armageddon armoury. One American professor has gone so far as to maintain that the Anti-Christ will be somebody like Professor Albert Schweitzer, who will convincingly throw doubt on the literal truth of the Bible. An untenable view, according to Professor Barr at Oxford, who argues that if you take every word in the Old Testament literally you will prove that it is not true, because there are many things within one part of the Old Testament, or within one part of the New Testament, which do not agree exactly and literally with some other part.
There is all the difference in the world between taking the Bible seriously and understanding every word mechanically. If literalism were taken to its logical conclusion, no translations, or variants of the Bible should be allowed. Jerry Falwell believes in the inheritancy and infallibility of scripture. With so many translations, words may be different; but in the general meaning and intention of most of the translations, they are all quite accurate. The Bible, he says, can be relied upon whether it is speaking to theology, geology, biology, history, or any other study.
There is a middle way of interpretation - of evaluating each book in the Bible and developing preferences and priorities. But Clive Calver, General Secretary of the Evangelical Alliance, thinks there are dangers behind this picking and choosing. Many people try to do that, he says, and they are very good at it. One of the difficulties is that the Bible actually claims that it is a totality of content, that the Old and New Testaments go together and that the stories contained within the Bible are a coherent unity. The Bible claims that it speaks as a single entity, and therefore you cannot pick and choose. He believes that the events described did take place, and that what we have in the Bible is men speaking what they understood to be the word of God as the Holy Spirit inspired them. But critical belief is not such impossibility. Dr Thiselton says that the analogy is the difference between the reader and the critic. There is a sense in which the critic is making judgements and assessments. They are not the same activity, but the student who is also a person of faith combines the two roles. We might call him a critical reader. He is both a reader and a critic. `I want to say of myself, Iam both a Biblical critic and a Christian believer. I find no contradiction between those two things'
Many early Christians, including John, felt that the last days were at hand. Our own last days, always are. The last book of the Bible looks forward beyond death to a new heaven and a new earth, where mans wickedness has burnt itself out, and day and night are no more. In the final chapter John the visionary points to a paradise restored where the tree of life heals all the wounds of a tree of knowledge - where there is no need for a temple or a church because everything is alright with the living God.
The message behind John's nightmare vision is one of peace. A place called Armageddon is not the last staging-post of the Bible journey. The destination of those who walk from Eden's garden is a new city, which John calls the heavenly Jerusalem.
See: http://www.templeinstitute.org/current-events/RedHeifer/index.html
There have been some red heifers in the past, but they turned out to become flawed by a single white hair or something else. Our non-believing Orthodox Jewish brothers and sisters await a flawless Kosher red Heifer to sacrifice for the ashes that they will put in their mikvahs for the priest to go down into so they will be ceremonially clean.
Then they can go up on the Temple mount and commence the laying of the cornerstone for the third Temple (Ezekiel's Temple) and the building of the altar for the daily sacrifices.
This will consitute the beginning of said third Temple and that officially, to the Orthodox Jews, brings in the Messianic Era....
Now for us what does this mean? ....
The covenant that is confirmed by many for seven years will also be making way for this Temple to be built. This begins the last seven years before Yahushua (Jesus Christ) returns! I estimate that we are within five years of this all commencing and the anti-annointed one taking his seat in the rebuilt Temple and declaring himself to be Elohim (God). What exciting times we are living in!
The mayhem before he comes back will go something like this.... The Temple begins and Israel welcomes a Messiah (the false one). 3 1/2 years will pass and then the abomination that makes the Temple desolate (mentioned in both Daniel and Revelation) happens and then the last 3 1/2 years of the 7 year period is the time called the "Great Tribulation". Yahushua said there will not have been such great tribulation ever seen upon this earth before.
It is my personal belief that during this time non-Torah observant Christianity will be suffering greatly and not knowing why.
Then after the tribulation of those days (Matt. 24:29) the sign of Yahushua's coming will appear. He'll come down and ressurect those who are dead in Him and then we will be changed in a moment. From there I guess it's off to the battle of Armageddon? and then the marriage supper of the lamb that many think regular Christians may not be able to be a part of because their garments are spotted because of saying the Torah was nailed to the cross and they didn't have to obey it. Truly, Yahushua said not one Jot or Tittle shall pass from the Law till all things be fulfilled. It won't be too much longer and all things will be fulfilled.
wooooowhoooo!