A brief dive into John chapter 6

Posted on 04/12/2013 by remso

I meet with some men on Sunday mornings. There we have been reading short portions of the book of John and talk about what we just read, as we attempt to integrate it into our lives. For several months it has been a time of building relationships with the guys as I am the relatively new one. I had really been enjoying myself, interjecting occasionally. But for several weeks we have had a full blown bible scholar coming. He corrects us, throws in his opinion, and goes on incessantly for 30+ minutes stretches. Our leader asked us all to read the portion I made notes on and then come back and talk about it as it has affected him deeply.

Keep in mind that John wrote to show us that Jesus was God, and the Jews understood perfectly what he was saying.

John 6:28 NASB Therefore they said to Him,

“What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?“

Seems like a reasonable question.

Jesus responded with,

John 6:29 KJV “This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.”

They wanted to do stuff, put on a good show, and there was probably an underlying idea about monetary profit. It wasn’t about the show. The work, as you call it, is to believe on me, the one God sent.

Him in verse 29 is referring to Jesus; he is referring to God to who sent his son.

Defensive, perhaps caught in their deceptive ways, they respond, “What sign do you show then, so that we may see and believe you?” “What do you work?” John 6:30 MKJV

They have not stopped talking. Usually when you fling out a question at someone you wait for an answer, unless you’re attempting to divert attention off yourself.

Our fathers ate the manna in the desert, as it is written, “He gave them bread from Heaven to eat.”

John 6:31 MKJV

They are justifying their actions and responses. If we are whining at God to give us a sign, well, manna in the desert was certainly a sign, but that was then and this is now.

Flinging scripture at the Messiah is not going to sway him, but then they are refusing to acknowledge that he is the messiah.

When they said he gave us manna in the desert to eat, sounds good. It also sounds like they are referring to God as the he, but they are talking to the one that knows the secrets of the heart. Now watch his response.

Then Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, Moses did not give you that bread from Heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from Heaven.

(John 6:32 MKJV)

Truly, truly – the words are Amen, amen. It is an absolute. I am to understand that to repeat it like this is to drive the point home. There are no exceptions.

Again their response sounded reasonable to my English-speaking ears. As I said, the Word knows the thoughts and intents of the heart and discerns what is the mind of the spirit. Jesus read their intent and went straight for the heart. Moses did not give them the bread (manna). People will say that Jesus claimed to be God and yet right is one of those statements in which he states his son-ship. “My Father gives you the true bread from Heaven.”

“For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.”

(John 6:33 NASB)

the bread of God is:

  • that which comes down out of heaven,

    Jesus came down from Heaven. This would not have been a new revelation to them. Based upon their understanding of scripture they new not only when, where, and how Jesus would perform, in their midst. He was standing right there. They knew he opened blind eyes, they knew he healed.

    The manna also came down from heaven, and it gave life, but the life was temporary.

  • “and gives life to the world.”

    The manna was only for the Jews. It did not give life to the world, and I do not believe that the world was affected by Israel struggles in the desert.

Then they said to Him, “Lord, always give us this bread.”

(John 6:34 NASB)

They did not want life, their attempts at trapping him were incessant, but again it sounds reasonable.

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.

(John 6:35 NASB)

The context of the conversation seems to be wrapped around feeding oneself and Jesus is telling them that he is bread. They understood the law and everything about this statement would have appalled them.

“he who comes to Me will not hunger, ..”

Clearly he is not talking about food for one of the most notable Christians in the NT was Paul, and he went hungry. Phillipians 4:12

I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. (2 Corinthians 11:27 NASB)

Why would we not hunger? We balk at the concept of eternal salvation, but we ignore that scripture in multiple places reminds us that he will never leave us now forsake us. He has engraved us on the palm of his hands.

I will not leave you as orphans [comfortless, desolate, bereaved, forlorn, helpless]; I will come [back] to you. (John 14:18 AMP)

If I was hungry for something what would that be?

Without Christ I suppose it would be peace, but there are many Christians who do not have peace. Is it a fallacy to think that you have no peace.

I have known the Lord since I was a child. I have never been without him, so I do not think I can speak to what the void feels like. But after many years of a life in him I can tell you that I have been in despair, hurt, filled with anguish, experienced the darkness of depression and felt lost. What I have come to realize is that He is always with me, and always has been. That does not mean I have always been close to him. On the contrary, my failures have many times made me feel as though I could not see or feel him.

When I chose to stop feeling sorry for myself and call upon him, he was always there.

Stepping back from the tumult of the problem I was able to see the truth of a statement like this, “he that comes to me shall never hunger, ..” It was my spirit, my heart, my life that was kept alive when it could have died.

The idea of coming to Jesus implies to accompany by leaving where you are and coming to him.

“But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe.

(John 6:36 NASB)

He has talked about signs proving power, authority. Clearly manna in desert registered in their minds as a sign.

Manna and bread seemed to mean the same thing, hence Jesus refers to himself as the bread from heaven. How many things had God sent to earth. If there were more than 1 none was more important than the gift of the Son.

In verse 36 he now says, you have seen Me, and yet do not believe.

The Me is God.

I always struggle a little with the concept of the Son being the same as the Father. Children do not carry the same weight and yet harm the son, especially in a feudal society, and the wrath of Father will come upon you.

The son typically gains the inheritance upon death and therefore takes over the kingdom, authority and power.

We are all painfully aware that many children do not appropriately demonstrate the character of the Father, and yet Jesus fully did. P.S. Many children emulate their fathers, by practicing their lives of violence and crime, and they do it to the letter.

Jesus only did what the Father told him to do, and he was obedient unto death.

All whom My Father gives (entrusts) to Me will come to Me; and the one who comes to Me I will most certainly not cast out [I will never, no never, reject one of them who comes to Me].

(John 6:37 AMP)

I, will not, in NO way cast him out.

You want to know the nature and character of God? Look at the Son.

What did he say? I (representing all that the Father is) will not cast you out.

Out of what?

  • The family

  • Heaven

  • the rapture

Some family members are broken, even screwed up and we consider them unsuitable, and unacceptable. Just the fact that you made that kind of judgment on them demonstrates how unsuitable and unacceptable you are, and yet you are included in his grace and mercy.

Broken and messed up? Not a problem, God is in the business of healing, mending and restoring the broken and unacceptable. He seems to be especially fond of loving on them. Beside his demonstrated heart toward you there will be a point at which we who are in Christ will be raised up.

We tend to think of someone who is raised up as being dead, like Lazarus, but it also applies if I were to say elevated in rank and stature. At the rapture both will take place; the dead in Christ will rise first. This is a puzzlement to me for the concept is that our spirits never die, therefore we either live together with Him or without, but none-the-less we live on.

Since the dead in Christ have apparently already gone on to be with Jesus why is this concept of a body rising so important? I honestly do not know, but when Jesus rose from the dead his body went with him.

He ate fish with them.

When they got out on land (the beach), they saw a fire of coals there and fish lying on it [cooking], and bread. Jesus said to them, Bring some of the fish which you have just caught. So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net to land, full of large fish, 153 of them; and [though] there were so many of them, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, Come [and] have breakfast. But none of the disciples ventured or dared to ask Him, Who are You? because they [well] knew that it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so also [with] the fish. (John 21:9-13 AMP)

He had them touch his body.

Then He said to Thomas, Reach out your finger here, and see My hands; and put out your hand and place [it] in My side. Do not be faithless and incredulous, but [stop your unbelief and] believe! (John 20:27 AMP)

He walked through walls.

Eight days later His disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, though they were behind closed doors, and stood among them and said, Peace to you! (John 20:26 AMP)

And he showed up where he pleased.

And while they were conversing and discussing together, Jesus Himself caught up with them and was already accompanying them. (Luke 24:15 AMP)

Jesus was a spirit with a body; the image of God. Man was made in the image of God, and we should know that God is a spirit.

God is a Spirit (a spiritual Being) and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth (reality). (John 4:24 AMP)

And yet God opted to put a body on him. What need does a spirit have for a body? Unless God was intentional in giving us a method enjoying physical and mental pleasure. (Do not go there! What happened in that garden was all good until evil got into the mix.)

Why did Jesus sit and eat with the disciples that day?

  • Hunger? I doubt it.

  • Enjoyable flavor? Maybe, we don’t know.

  • Fellowship and further directions for the boys? Most likely.

But then why sit us all down to the marriage supper of the Lamb if we are all spirits and have no need for food, unless food can be tasted, appeal visually to the eyes, and fellowship enjoyed.

“For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.

(John 6:38 NASB)

If he has not lit them up yet he did it now. The Jews allegedly look for the Messiah, the one from God and soon they will looking for ways to kill him over these statements. The world, and religious folk, will still try to tell you that Jesus never said he was God. They heard it.

Heaven – The Jews had solid image in their heads that heaven was God’s throne.

I came from there – The implications can one be three:

  • You are either God, and they were not buying that

  • He was God’s son, making himself equal with God and they understood that language. Of course to them, anyone making a claim like that was worthy of death.

  • Or, there is something seriously wrong with his head. The Jews never took that point of view and decided that calling him a blasphemer was the right thing to do.

There is a strange irony in this blasphemy issue. When the Jews stated that the work that Jesus was doing (healing blind eyes, casting out demons, raising the dead) was through the power of Satan, then he got into the middle of them; telling them that they had blasphemed. Now they are into some serious trouble.

“This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.

(John 6:39 NASB)

This is the Father’s will, God’s will.

Want to know what God’s will is? That Jesus lose nothing and raise them up on the last day.

“of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.”

How do you know you have been given to him? Maybe it is because your heart yearns for him.

This entire discourse seemed to start with, “believe that I am the one that He sent.” I do that.

There are no qualifiers to the statement and no exclusions.

“For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”

(John 6:40 NASB)

The will of the Father is that we have eternal life, AND that Jesus will raise them up on the last day.

When you consider that our spirits never die. They will live on with God in eternity, or they will live in eternal separation from the creator. You can scoff at that if you wish but you won’t change it. Those that will live separate from God have done so by choice.

If our spirits live on eternally then there must be something else that is meant by this. Life can only be lived in Him. The mind that balks at that idea is the mind that lives in selfishness, unwilling to allow anyone to tell them what to do. I think that it is clear that God desires for us to live with him in glory.

“..and that Jesus will raise them up on the last day.”

We have two frames of reference for this.

  1. One would be the catching away.

    The Greeks used the word harpazo, or snatching away. It implies a quick and sudden removal. The implication is, off this earth and into the heavenly realm. Scripture tells us that the dead in Christ rise first and then we which are alive and remain will be caught up to meet him in the air. This happens at the beginning of the time of judgment, also known as the tribulation years (7 of them.) I also happen to think that we are in the mere minutes phase until he arrives.

  2. The second point of view on this would have to do with a time period at the end of the thousand-year reign. Now why would I say that? Because it is the only other time that we see people being raised up. These are not the dead in Christ and they are brought forward for judgment. Even here we find a merciful God and he separates the un-dead based on whether they lived a life of selfishness or showed mercy (a trait of God). Those that showed some mercy are then given mercy. You might decided that this entire last process is in itself against the traits and mercy of God, but you forget that Adam’s act was to intake the knowledge of both good and evil, therefore no man has an excuse. To do evil is an act of the will. Adam exhibited that act when he took of the fruit. Cain did it when he slew Able.

Wisdom alone tells me the last day, when Jesus shall raise them up would have to be the rapture. Of all the days that are spoken of concerning the end they are all filled with gloom and punishment. Jesus raising us up is the total opposite of that.

“..and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”

The Jews standing there did not miss a thing (except that God stood before them, the Messiah that they longed for.) They knew that he was telling them that he was God’s Son and carried all the attributes, authority, and nature of the Father. He just told them that in the future he (Jesus) would be the one raising the Church up, and they knew that only the Father could do that. Only the Father had the right to forgive and make judgment. They knew exactly what Jesus told them.

Therefore the Jews were grumbling about Him, because He said, “I am the bread that came down out of heaven.” They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, ‘I have come down out of heaven’?”

(John 6:41-42 NASB)

“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.

(John 6:44 NASB)

This screams a line from the Chronicles of Narnia. “You would not have called to me unless I had been calling to you,” said the Lion.

In our arrogance we think we are in control. We are really not. Does it mean nothing to hear that before the worlds were formed I knew you. I know the plans that I have for you …

just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love (Ephesians 1:4 NASB)

‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. (Jeremiah 29:11 NASB)

We struggle and worry over the lost. Many think that they are selfishly sinning because they are not doing something. Even if you did do something, they would not come unless God had called them. So the day they do come, whether you talked with them or not, would be because God had called them.

It is written in the prophets, ‘AND THEY SHALL ALL BE TAUGHT OF GOD.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me. (John 6:45 NASB)

I wish everyone could be taught of God, then perhaps this recent baseball fight in which the pitcher got his collar-bone broken might not have happened. I know, that is trivial and irrelevant, but then is it? Jesus explained himself. It is those who hear and learn. We can hear but certainly not learn, that requires a shade more effort and desire. But then you would not have the desire if God did not give it to you.

  “Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father. (John 6:46 NASB)

Jesus was the one that said, “if you have seen me, you have seen the Father.” I suppose that really means in character and actions. No one had seen the Father. We seem to think that Moses did, but even God told him he would die; not from punishment but his human body probably could not handle it. I think I can understand that.

 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. (John 6:47 NASB)

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. I heard one of the radio pastors indicating that this means to put an unshakable emphasis on what he saying, and was a common method of expressing themselves.

He wants us to understand, he who believes has eternal life. I wonder when we will start teaching and believing that.

 “I am the bread of life. (John 6:48 NASB)

 “Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. (John 6:49 NASB)

 “This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. (John 6:50 NASB)

 I believe he made his point here. I am secured in him. Do I test the waters of grace? I suppose I do but I always return to grace and mercy. Maybe that is my way of saying I eat the bread. His word is my bread.

Father, forgive me for I have made you to small in my life. Allow me to comprehend all that you are telling me this day. I believe in you, that you are the Son of the living God, and that you will come again for me and all those who believe in you. Thank you for never letting go of us, and taking us into your kingdom. In Jesus name.

 

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Another beast – out of the earth. Revelation 13:11-17

Posted on 04/07/2013 by remso

He had horns like a lamb.

Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb and he spoke as a dragon.

(Revelation 13:11 NASB)

Out of the earth.

The word for earth is gē and can also mean a country. If we reread this verse with the concept of a specific country involved then it takes on a whole new meaning. The problem is we cannot be sure what that country is.

The distinction is clear to me. The earth represents a common factor, man; not some fallen angel or demon, and definitely not an empire or kingdom like our previous beast. Our previous beast had so many aspects that could be defined by historical evidence. Our new beast is defined by scripture and if you are willing to look at them, by Islamic prophecies as well.

Here is the passage that paints the picture of our previous monster.

And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore. Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names.

(Revelation 13:1 NASB)

He had two horns like a lamb,

Oddly the two horns do not carry the same meanings as those on the previous beast. On the previous beast horns meant ruling bodies in Revelation 13:1. Here they fit best as a mockery.

We city folk rarely ever see a sheep with horns. For whatever reason the herders cut them off.

We in Christianity commonly use the phrase “the lamb of God.” Who are we referring to? Jesus Christ the lamb of God and risen one. I happen to think that this was meant to immediately grab your attention.

And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.

(Revelation 5:6 KJV)

It might be worthy to note that Jesus Christ, represented here by the slain lamb (he became this on the cross.) has seven horns, not two. Two horns are what a sheep herder would expect to see.

Why is this hugely significant?

This verse probably gained no clarity until sometime after the Iranian revolution of 1979. Until then most, from that part of the world, referred to themselves as people coming from Persia and we Westerners really knew little about them and what the hardliners really believed.

It only feels like a couple of years since I learned of what Islam teaches in Quran, but if this was common knowledge among prophecy teachers then why did they not teach it? The answer lies in God lifting the veil of understanding and increasing knowledge, and an understanding of what Islam’s prophecies teach.

But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ. But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart; but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. (2 Corinthians 3:14-16 NASB)

And He said, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is in parables, so that SEEING THEY MAY NOT SEE, AND HEARING THEY MAY NOT UNDERSTAND. (Luke 8:10 NASB)

“Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. (Daniel 12:3 NASB)

“Many will be purged, purified and refined, but the wicked will act wickedly; and none of the wicked will understand, but those who have insight will understand. (Daniel 12:10 NASB)

It is hugely significant because Islam is looking for a Jesus to appear as well.

I have covered this before but I can also assume that many of you did not read those earlier posts.

From Wikipedia:

Isa ( Arabic: عيسى, Transliteration: ʿĪsā ), known as Jesus in the New Testament is considered to be a Messenger of God and the Masih (Messiah) in Islam [1] who was sent to guide the Children of Israel (banī isrā’īl) with a new scripture, the Injīl or Gospel.[2] The belief in Jesus (and all other messengers of God) is required in Islam, and a requirement of being a Muslim. The Quran mentions Jesus by name twenty-five times, while it only mentions Muhammad by name four times.[3][4] It states that Jesus was born to Mary (Arabic: Maryam) as the result of virginal conception, a miraculous event which occurred by the decree of God (Arabic: Allah). To aid in his ministry to the Jewish people, Jesus was given the ability to perform miracles (such as healing the blind, bringing dead people back to life, etc.), all by the permission of God rather than of his own power. According to the Quran, Jesus, although appearing to have been crucified, was not killed by crucifixion or by any other means, instead, “God raised him unto Himself”. Like all prophets in Islam, Jesus is considered to have been a Muslim (i.e., one who submits to the will of God), as he preached that his followers should adopt the “straight path” as commanded by God. Islam rejects the Trinitarian Christian view that Jesus was God incarnate or the son of God, that he was ever crucified or resurrected, or that he ever atoned for the sins of mankind. The Quran says that Jesus himself never claimed any of these things, and it furthermore indicates that Jesus will deny having ever claimed divinity at the Last Judgment, and God will vindicate him.[5] The Quran emphasizes that Jesus was a mortal human being who, like all other prophets, had been divinely chosen to spread God’s message. Islamic texts forbid the association of partners with God (shirk), emphasizing a strict notion of monotheism (tawhīd).

Numerous titles are given to Jesus in the Quran and in Islamic literature, the most common being al-Masīḥ (“the messiah”). Jesus is also, at times, called “Seal of the Israelite Prophets”, because, in general Muslim belief, Jesus was the last prophet sent by God to guide the Children of Israel. Jesus is seen in Islam as a precursor to Muhammad, and is believed by Muslims to have foretold the latter’s coming.[6][7]

Muslims believe that Jesus will return to earth near the Day of Judgment to restore justice and to defeat Masih ad-Dajjal (“the false messiah”, also known as the Antichrist).[6][8]

According to Islamic tradition which describes this graphically, Jesus’ descent will be in the midst of wars fought by the Mahdi (lit. “the rightly guided one”), known in Islamic eschatology as the redeemer of Islam, against the Antichrist (al-Masīh ad-Dajjāl, “False messiah“) and his followers.[27] Jesus will descend at the point of a white arcade, east of Damascus, dressed in yellow robes—his head anointed. He will then join the Mahdi in his war against the Dajjal. Jesus, considered as a Muslim, will abide by the Islamic teachings. Eventually, Jesus will slay the Antichrist, and then everyone from the People of the Book (ahl al-kitāb, referring to Jews and Christians) will believe in him. Thus, there will be one community, that of Islam.[28]

  1. A Jew of the Aaronic lineage.

    That means he can be a high priest, and may well be. This man is not going to just walk into the scene and command people’s respect, I primarily mean Israel’s. Considering the amount and degree of deception it would have to seem reasonable to follow him.

  2. He produces documentation, new scriptures, that refute the God that Israel has followed.

  3. He will do the miracles that Jesus did and call fire down from the skies.

  4. He will deceive many.

And he spoke like a dragon

Who is the dragon? If you have followed then you know this one; for those that have not it is Satan.

And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.(Revelation 1 2:9 NASB)

To alert the world that this false prophet, Isa (the Jesus of Islam), is coming, is to tell us that like Satan his words are lies and his sole purpose will be to deceive.

“You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. (John 8:44 NASB)

“..the authority of the first beast on its behalf”

It uses all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and it makes the earth and those living on it worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed. (Revelation 13:12 ISV)

“It uses all the authority of the first beast on its behalf,”

This is not the beast of Revelation 13: 1,2

I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns, seven heads, and ten royal crowns on its horns. On its heads were blasphemous names. The beast that I saw was like a leopard. Its feet were like bears feet, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. The dragon gave it his power, his throne, and complete authority. (Revelation 13:1-2 ISV)

The beast of Revelation 13: 1,2 is a compilation of empires and leaders. One of the ruling bodies, an empire if you will, that arises out of this compilation is stopped momentarily in its destructive tracks and to the world effectively killed. This empire had leaders and a name but the basis of its theme was the Quran. It was called the Ottoman empire.

If this false prophet is using all the authority or power, as the KJV states, then he has the backing and fire power of the Islamic empire. This sort of sounds like a Star Wars movie. Sadly it is very real and deadly.

In saying “the first beast before him ..” as the KJV does, we have two possible meanings:

  1. The false prophet operates in the presence of the Antichrist or Mahdi, and as supreme ruling authority over Islam the false prophet is then operating in his power.

  2. Because the ‘mouth’ in Revelation 13:5 is given power to continue 42 months he apparently steps out-of-the-way. We know he is not dead for God takes the two of them alive and tosses them in the lake of fires.

    In this last scenario the word ‘before’ takes on the sense of someone previous.

There is another clue about this 42 months and then departure. Look with me at Daniel 9:27

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

For whatever reason the Antichrist figure breaks the treaty. He helped to set up the treaty and now at 42 months he breaks it. You can learn from this passage that the Antichrist is there at the beginning of the years of God’s judgment against Israel and the nations.

Another aspect of this verse tells us that the temple is in operation and the Antichrist is the one that causes the sacrifice and prayers to stop.

Another clue:

Daniel 11:28-31 NASB “Then he will return to his land with much plunder; but his heart will be set against the holy covenant, and he will take action and then return to his own land. (29) “At the appointed time he will return and come into the South, but this last time it will not turn out the way it did before. (30) “For ships of Kittim will come against him; therefore he will be disheartened and will return and become enraged at the holy covenant and take action; so he will come back and show regard for those who forsake the holy covenant. (31) “Forces from him will arise, desecrate the sanctuary fortress, and do away with the regular sacrifice. And they will set up the abomination of desolation.

In particular look at verse 30. Something has happened here that he did not expect. It has not stopped his actions but it sure has his attention; a nation that did not bow its knee to him. One of my commentaries attributes this peculiar name to the Cyprians. As of this date, 04/05/13, Cyprus is undergoing financial upheaval and not looking good at all. Where does someone like this get the money to run an effective navy?

What does it mean to exercise all the power of the first beast?

I have expounded before how I believe that the beast, all the way up to Revelation 13:4 is not a man but a demonic stronghold empowering Islam. Allah himself may be the beast that Revelation 13:4 speaks of, but Allah is no more a god than the rocks on the hillside. What makes the difference, in terms of power and ability, is that he or it is empowered by Satan himself.

To empower is to: to give power or authority to; authorize, especially by legal or official means. And yet we all understand what is coming to be more than just authorization. The false prophet and the Antichrist seem to take on the destructive and deceptive nature of Satan himself, even up to the point that many will witness the image that gets set up in the temple speaking.

Think about this. If the first beast equates to Islam or Allah then you have to ask what kind power do they wield? Islam has strength by numbers therefore political power as well as economic power.

We have all recently witnessed some of that political power as Mohamed Morsi was elected President of Egypt. And Saudi Arabia, one the wealthiest oil nations on the planet, finances almost every destructive aspect of Islam.

Islam’s strongest weapon and by extension power, is violence.

Allah himself is merely a myth and does not wield any of this power, unless he is a fallen angel. For those who do not think of angel’s as being powerful you need to look back at Daniel. Michael, a heavenly archangel and protector of Israel, had to be called in as a backup for Gabriel, another archangel. Gabriel had been in combat with fallen angels, who had names, for 21 days. Gabriel told Daniel that another fallen angel was coming to the fight. Read your scriptures and you will find that several are bound now in the Euphrates river (I hope) and will be released upon the earth in the near future. They have a very destructive goal and yes, God allows them to be loosed for a time. Folks, deny it if you wish but there is a warfare going in the heavenlies, all around you.

Up to this point no one in Islam displays or exerts any power over people other than fear, but that day is coming when a representative, the Mahdi, will do miracles not so dissimilar to what Jesus or the prophets did.

“he even makes fire come down”

Revelation 13:13 NASB He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down out of heaven to the earth in the presence of men.

What is the significance of that?

  1. Ezekiel 38,39 tell us that when armies besiege Israel that God fights for Israel. God does this in several ways but the one that gets my attention is the fire storm he sends upon the Muslim nations of the earth.

    This would seem to be right before the Antichrist/Mahdi commits to a seven-year treaty with Israel, and Israel immediately rebuilds the temple.

    Doesn’t anybody ask how that could be remotely possible?

    Apparently God will wipe the Dome of the Rock right off the map with this firestorm. Do you really think that there could be any other way for Israel to regain the temple mount?

  2. The other hugely significant even is the two witnesses.

    You can argue for a lifetime about when they show up, but where you put them in the time-line is really inconsequential in God’s timing, but if he followed your timing then it changes everything.

    I hold to the idea that they show up immediately and leave at the 42 month mark in the time of judgment and tribulation. This timing coincides with two events: The amount of time allotted to the ‘mouth’ given to the beast (I believe this mouth is the Mahdi.) and the clear introduction of the false prophet/Jesus of Islam.

    Keep in mind that the two witnesses have spewed fire from their mouths and halting rain as they see fit. We can assume that all the world has watched them, and as long as they have stood on the earth the hatred for them and God has grown immensely.

    Finally, after multiple attempts, God allows for them to be killed. Much like his own Son their lives will not be taken without God’s permission. Having these two witnesses removed from the earth should bolster a false bravado and an outpouring of hatred, anger and bloodshed against Israel.

    This is also the time that the image gets set up in the temple. I am sure that the two witnesses play a significant role in preventing anything that looks like that from happening. Jesus warned his listeners in Matthew 24, 25 that when you see things happening, that those in Israel need to flee to the desert.

“he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs”

Revelation 13:14 NASB And he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who *had the wound of the sword and has come to life.

What did Jesus say?

Mark 13:21-22 KJV And then if any man shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ; or, lo, he is there; believe him not: (22) For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect.

When he gets to this part he is clearly speaking about the end times, so the context is the time of judgment, precisely what I have been discussing.

When the disciples asked him when these things would happen the first thing he said was,

Luke 21:7-8 NASB They questioned Him, saying, “Teacher, when therefore will these things happen? And what will be the sign when these things are about to take place?” (8) And He said, “See to it that you are not misled; for many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am He,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not go after them.

“And he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs ..”

We already have an idea of who he is. I happen to believe that he is already here. The Jews are not going let just anyone walk into the holy of holies. And I can assure that Islam is not going to listen to anyone that is a Jew tell them anything, unless, there is something known and there are corresponding actions that prove that this is the man they seek.

“He” – is the Jesus of Islam. They happen to call him Isa.

He is:

  • A Jew

  • A descendant of Aaron, therefore entitled to act as a high priest. And if he is acting in that role then he has access to the Holy of Holies where he sets up the image. (He is probably acting in the role of a priest ask we speak.

  • A convert to Islam

He causes the image of the beast to speak. This image is either a resemblance of the Mahdi, or something that looks like the confederation of nations that creates the multi-headed animal like body of Revelation 13:1,2.

I lean toward the image of a man.

Here is an odd thought. What if he got something like the Mr. Lincoln exhibit at Disneyland. It could be done and in a fairly short time.

How could he possibly deceive everyone left on earth? We are clear that many elite Jewish leaders will follow him, convinced by the signs. Those of the fringe of Islam, and not fully given to the ideals of Jihad will be converted, and many in the world will give in.

Think about what influences the conversion rate. Placed under the edge of the sword many will bow their knee to Allah, accept the markings and worship the beast (what ever that happens to be.) Some will not be affected by this for we see “nations” coming during the thousand-year reign who did not take part in the worship of Allah. Just considering the rebellious nature of some people they will fight against Islam and quite possibly be successful, but you cannot fight against God, and will possibly be considered among the nations. When you consider the number and size of the earthquakes described during the time of judgment, it would not surprise me to find the continents shifted back together. That would enable Islam to have an even greater influence.

“..those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast;”

Had power?

The words that give us this phrase are: didōmiautos. And it means to give to yourself.

We know the first beast is empowered by the dragon. The dragon is Satan. The beast is not an amalgamation of empires, but it could be; it could also be Allah, which some might think is a fictional god in the mind of Mohammed. But what if Allah is the name of a powerful angel, fallen with Satan. Then we have Satan transferring his power to this angel named Allah making him as deceptive as Satan is.

This second beast, the false prophet, exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence.You find this in Revelation 13:12. Does this mean that his power is limited to being in the presence of the first beast? I doubt it. Depending on what version you read the alternate word used for authority is power. The word power is exousia and means, “the liberty of doing as one pleases.” This second beast may have demonstrated power on purpose to the Mahdi as an act of compliance but the meaning of the word shows us that this character who goes by the name Jesus, now does as he pleases.

Revelation 13:4 NASB they worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?”

In Revelation 13:5 the beast is given a mouth, someone to speak for him. In chapter thirteen verse seven the ‘mouth’ is given the power to make war with the saints. In Revelation 13:11 the second beast with the lambs horns, speaks like the dragon/Satan (With lies and deception.)

“..he had power to give life unto the image..”

Revelation 13:15 NASB And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed.

  • He has access to the image, now setup in the temple. Not everyone can do that.
  • He makes the image to speak.
  • He causes as many as do not worship the image to be killed.

There will come a point at which trying to coerce you into worshiping will not be worth their time, so they will just lop your head.

This implies a global dominance, but that is really not the case.

“He causes all, … to receive a mark…”

Revelation 13:16 KJV And he causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

It is the false prophet, this Jesus of Islam, that causes everyone to receive a mark. Not the Antichrist as we teach people.

So that no one will have power to buy or sell

Revelation 13:17 AMP So that no one will have power to buy or sell unless he bears the stamp (mark, inscription), [that is] the name of the beast or the number of his name.

Though we live in a high-tech world, at least here in America, there are still plenty of places on earth that do rather well on a barter system economy. Never say never when it comes to God, but the practical has to have an influence at times. This barter systen adds to the problem of world-wide domination and lends itself to the false prophet having a significant influence over the middle eastern world.

Remember! The acts that this person does are significant, especially when you contrast what he does against the two witnesses.

Since everything Satan does is the antithesis of God, this beast, the false prophet, empowered by Satan is mimicking the powers of God.

Should you consider the powers of angels, messengers and emissaries of God, they carry the full weight and authority of God himself. Angels have set rocks on fire, killed off the first-born of a nation, stood guard with drawn swords, fought wars for Israel, and gently delivered messages of comfort and peace.

I have intentionally not delved into 13:18 because I think it deserves a bit more thought on my part.

As always I warn you that time is short and these things are coming. Don’t think so? Just watch the news. North Korea is on the verge of pulling their own trigger. Iran is still playing its nuclear game. Syria will collapse and according to President Bashar at the collapse of Syria the middle east will pretty much implode. Things are moving quickly now.

Jesus Christ, the messiah that Israel longed for and ignored is coming again soon for those that await him. He will pull the body of Christ, the Christian community in general, out of here. He gave us the story of both Lot and Noah as examples of how it would come to pass, and if you know those stories with any familiarity then you should know that judgment fell as the righteous were escaping.

Give your life to Jesus Christ. He will welcome you with open arms because he loves you, he proved that when he went to the cross for you.

Until next time, live like he is coming today, and walk with dignity through life.

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Written in code, Revelation 13:10

Posted on 03/31/2013 by remso

It would seem that most of Revelation is written in code.

An example of that would be: Beasts with multiple heads; all of which represent empires, kingdoms and rulers, but you are not given the rules to break the code directly.

If I only looked at verse 10 in the KJV it comes across as a riddle and takes a very different meaning from many other translations. The question is, which one is right?

He that leads into captivity shall go into captivity: he that kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.

(Revelation 13:10 KJV)

One might assume that the one that is leading others into captivity would be the Antichrist and since Islam is one the leading advocates of beheading by sword, they fit the mold quite nicely as the ones doing the killing by sword.

In this modern world we live in where advancements in technology are rapidly changing and improving the way we kill people, why the sword? The sword within Islam almost takes on a religious theme, and may well fall under that category.

Here in the United States we already have a large collection of FEMA detainment camps; sometimes referred as protective facilities. Who is being protected? Us Christians from those that wish to remove our rights and freedoms? I do not think so. Do you really believe that believers will be treated respectfully while detained there? Then you are deluded.

Other versions of this passage read like this:

Whoever is to be a prisoner, will be a prisoner. Whoever is to be killed with a sword, will be killed with a sword. This means that God’s holy people must have patience and faith.

(Revelation 13:10 ERV)

Why this is an entirely different spin from the KJV for it for it removes the focus off the perpetrator and places it on the victim.

In theory this may be one of the ways God has chosen for us to understand what is to befall those that are left.

Penn Jillette of the magical act, Penn and Teller, has been very vocal about being an agnostic and his disappointment in Christians not taking the responsibility to tell someone like him if something equitable to a devastating train wreck is about to befall him. At least then he could make a logical decision about how to react to that information. I believe that what I am doing could equate to something like that. Having seen in scripture what is coming for those who wait, I warn you; this world after the rapture will not be pretty. Sure the man who shows up will be handsome (maybe), well spoken, charismatic, and have all the right things to say, calming most people down. Following him will be a tragic and last error in judgment for worshiping that man and taking any marks he demands will end your chances for God’s redemption, and there will still be a chance (kind of like playing a card trick, only God has the deck of cards and Mr. Penn Jillette will not be able to figure out what he is doing should he end up before the white throne of judgment.)

By translating verse 10 from the victim’s point of view it enlightens but possibly misdirected the world from looking at reality.

Let’s take at look at the words being used, because I want to understand.

He thatG1536 leadeth intoG4863 captivityG161 shall goG5217 intoG1519 captivity:G161 he thatG1536 killethG615 withG1722 the swordG3162 mustG1163 be(G846) killedG615 withG1722 the sword.G3162 HereG5602 isG2076 theG3588 patienceG5281 andG2532 theG3588 faithG4102 of theG3588 saints.G40

(Revelation 13:10 KJV+)

 Nothing short of confusing when you look at it like this, but give me a moment.

åéG1487 COND ôéòG5100 X-NSM áé÷ìáëùóéáíG161 N-ASF óõíáãåéG4863 V-PAI-3S åéòG1519 PREP áé÷ìáëùóéáíG161 N-ASF õðáãåéG5217 V-PAI-3S åéG1487 COND ôéòG5100 X-NSM åíG1722 PREP ìá÷áéñáG3162 N-DSF áðïêôåíåéG615 V-FAI-3S äåéG1163 V-PAI-3S áõôïíG846 P-ASM åíG1722 PREP ìá÷áéñáG3162 N-DSF áðïêôáíèçíáéG615 V-APN ùäåG5602 ADV åóôéíG1510 V-PAI-3S çG3588 T-NSF õðïìïíçG5281 N-NSF êáéG2532 CONJ çG3588 T-NSF ðéóôéòG4102 N-NSF ôùíG3588 T-GPM áãéùíG40 A-GPM

(Revelation 13:10 GNT-TR+)

Again confusing and I do not read Greek but the Strong’s reference numbers are the same. Originally written in Greek and then transliterated into English guys like me are at the mercy of those who seem to know. For me it is beneficial to compare texts.

There is a common thread between the two translations

Here is the perseverance and the faith of the saints.

If the focus is on the perpetrator then it seems that God is spelling out the type of retribution that they shall receive. Why then would it be necessary for the Saints to have perseverance and faith?

If they focus is really intended to be upon the victims then this statement makes all the sense in the world.

What does it mean to have perseverance and faith?

Perseverance, according to the Greek, means to be steadfast constant and to endure. But what are you enduring? And for what purpose?

The ISBE and Vine’s expository call it a different Greek word and the ISBE says it only occurs one time in the NT and that is Ephesians 6:18.

Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

(Ephesians 6:18 KJV)

The KJV states it this way: Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.I suppose it is safe to say that the word endurance and patience kind of lean in the same direction.

Strongs tells us that the word patience is: Hupomonē – From G5278; cheerful (or hopeful) endurance, constancy:– enduring, patience, patient continuance (waiting).

So then what are the Saints, going through the tribulation, waiting for? God to rescue them and give them a home in his arms also.

If I could warn you of impending death or imprisonment with torture, then adding a statement that allows you to mentally prepare might be a good thing. I am certain that a statement like this does that very thing for some.

As I sat down to dinner this night at Chick-fil-A, a business known for its Christian stance, a man walks up to the counter with a t-shirt on that expresses some aspect of how he feels. It said some name and the words, “standing at hell’s gates.” It would seem to me that he has no hope of a future with God.

In focusing on verse 10 alone, I believe that for some there will be a separation from the body only to find themselves in the presence of the Lord, while others may find themselves faced with hell’s gates and the sudden realization that this is not really where they wanted to be.

I am almost embarrassed to tell you this because it is the environment I grew up in, but the religious assumptions I heard left me with the idea that there was no hope for anyone after the rapture. Clearly that is not the case. Why?

  1. The verse we have dealt with speaks to the Saints and implies the necessity of faith and patience.

  2. Peter stood on the day of Pentecost, as recorded in Acts chapter 2, and told those scoffers that what they were hearing was the prophecy of Joel chapter 2 being fulfilled in their hearing.

    Do you realize that the prophecy of Joel is one about the last days? And the fact that Peter announced that it was fulfilled on that day and forward. Lawyers like to call things like this a precedence, and establishes a freedom to act a certain way from that point on.

    We, in our Christian circles, love to use the prophecy of Joel to describe something out the ordinary that typically happens to the youth, in the realm of the prophetic, primarily with our pre-rapture church body. (Note: You will not see anything like this at the church I go to. It is not allowed. – A warning: God will tear the walls off your church building if you try to keep him out.) While Peter’s statements give us the precedent to use it, it is primarily directed to a handful, maybe larger, of Saints that are not merely surviving the horrors of the great tribulation, but living in extraordinary victory during this time. They will come to understand that they are not of this world. Filled with the Holy Spirit they walk in the freedom and power of the most feared of prophets who walked this earth. (Consider. If you came to a person like this, humbly seeking to know and understand the God they have come to know and understand, how do you think they would respond? With the loving merciful nature of the God that empowers them.

    Take the time to Read the first two chapters (at least) of Joel. You will find that the emphasis is on the Day of the Lord, a day of darkness and gloom, and that aspect alone is at the end of the seven-year period.

One of the main themes in the NT is our hope, a hope in a future with Jesus Christ and the Father. That is what these Saints of the tribulation years have come to understand and hope in too. Obviously a hope like this is built within you, but based upon what? The scriptures, a witness, a testimony, and a faith in a message. Nothing has changed for the scriptures tell us that faith comes by hearing, but we assume that there is no one left to tell them. Think about it. Why send two witnesses to earth. Sure they will have an impact on Israel but broadcast on global television the world will see what men of God really act like and say. We also know that an angel flies around the globe preaching the good news of Jesus Christ. And then there is not only copies of the bible left everywhere, but guys like me that post it on the Internet.

I am asking you look into the scriptures for yourself. Yes it is appropriate to compare your notes against what scholars have ascertained, doing that has multiple effects:

  1. It gives you a compass that tells you that you might be headed in the right direction and

  2. It allows you to confirm that your thoughts are sound (keep in mind that if you Born Again and filled with the Holy Spirit, then you have a guide and teacher – trust him.)

    But remember, even scholars have leaned toward spinning the result to satisfy those who are paying their bills. No one is paying my bills and that is why I am attempting to rock the boat a little.

The only way to gain assurance that your hope is in heaven is to accept Jesus as Lord of your life, and that the Father has promised a life with him in heaven. Choosing against that pits you against the time of judgment that was meant for those who reject him; that includes Israel. Even Israel will be shown mercy but not without a cost. You do not have go through something that was not meant for you. To go there is purely your choice. Choose wisely was the phrase used in the Raiders of the Lost Ark movie. I would hope that you do.

 

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Answering Muslims: Where Did Jesus Say, “I Am God, Worship Me”?

Posted on 03/30/2013 by remso

Answering Muslims: Where Did Jesus Say, “I Am God, Worship Me”?.

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All those dwelling in the earth will worship it, Revelation 13:8

Posted on 03/29/2013 by remso

Revelation 13:8 LITV

And all those dwelling in the earth will worship it, those of whom the names had not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb having been slain from the foundation of the world.

Several things jump out at me as I read this. The statement is implying that there is only two classes of people on the earth at this point.

A. Those that worship the beast

B. Believers in Yeshua, those whose names are written in the Book of Life.

Is this really the situation? I am not trying to challenge God but I wish to better understand because I have read other passages that make me believe that this is not the case. As I was writing my notes, not having a good concordance in front of me, I questioned if the word All as used here was valid.

There are several things that fuel my challenge:

  • Dake’s feels strongly that the beast will not have a global reign

  • The book of Daniel records that Nebuchadnezzar had a statue built and demanded that everyone bow before it. We are told that everyone, except for three, did bow. And yet Daniel was not there.

    So no, everyone did not bow. Simplistic yes, but as I have read through the old testament I have seen over the top statements and it becomes clear that not everyone was there, and therefore is a generalized statement at times.

If I jump ahead to Revelation 21: 10-27 we are told of the New Jerusalem, coming down to the earth and how it lights the earth. The kings of the earth bring their glory unto it. But verse 27 should shock you.

Revelation 21:27 AMP But nothing that defiles or profanes or is unwashed shall ever enter it, nor anyone who commits abominations (unclean, detestable, morally repugnant things) or practices falsehood, but only those whose names are recorded in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

Who could be left on earth at this point.

What do we know about those that take the mark and worship the beast? They suffer the same fate as the Antichrist and his false prophet. So they should be gone.

  • We assume that anyone coming to Christ during the seven-year period is martyred, so allegedly they are gone.

  • When Christ returns to earth he kills anyone that is attempting to fight with him. So combatants are gone. This includes those that Revelation 19 describes: the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies.

Those that fight against Christ will probably be, in majority, Islamic, but there is no guarantee of that, for a good deal of the world seems to hate the idea that God wants any authority over their lives.

If we work off the idea that it is an Islamic force coming against Christ, what can we understand about their ideology? Teach the young to hate and prepare for Jihad. Because the fundamentalists teach the way of Jihad as soon as the child can read, it is safe to assume that even if family was not carrying a weapon against God that their anger and hatred are deeply ingrained. If not destroyed in battle the merciful God allows them to continue on trying to live.

I think we need to understand something here. While the New Jerusalem sits here on earth and the earth is ruled by those called Saints, the previously martyred, for a thousand years. Life seems to go on. After all the cataclysmic judgments the earth suffers I am sure it will be vastly different, and you can see that in scripture if you pursue it.

Nothing will demand that you relinquish your anger nor your pagan ideals, but there will be one huge demand placed upon you. You must make the trip to Jerusalem, take part in the yearly Feast of Tabernacles, and bow in obeisance before God. (Some will see this as bordering on impossible. Do you really think that there will be airplanes flying after what the earth goes through, probably not. I do strongly suspect that there will have been a shaking to the point that the land masses will probably be reconnected and that the earth’s population will be dramatically reduced.)

Seems simple enough. The punishment for non-compliance will mean no rain on your ground for a year. I do not know if that means a nation suffers or the person, but the outcome may be the same for without water you do not drink and your crops do not grow.

If you have read any of my commentaries on Revelation then you should have picked up on the idea that I think God is a merciful God and that he is continuing to show mercy. Having given the earth the blanket of forgiveness of sins, placing his Son upon the brutal cross, and watching a world ignore that act of love, I could only imagine how I might react. To say the least my patience would have been worn thin, but God does not seem to work that way.

(Do not balk at this idea, Jesus paid a price that was enough and we were forgiven. He even took it one step further and bought us out of the slavery that Adam’s transgression placed us into to. Did that forgiveness buy us a spot in the family of God? No! He left that entirely up to us – This is the idea behind free will, we get to choose if we wish to be in the family of God. We do that by hearing Jesus words – he calls to you all the time– and believing in the Father.)

Who is left?

  1. The surviving remnant of Jews.

  2. Non-combatants

  3. The nations

    Revelation 21:24 NASB The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it.

  4. Those that have come to Jesus during the tribulation years and have been taken captive, and survived. I suspect that God will have them join with him in judgment over the earth for the thousand-year period. (Really, think about it. Who better to judge than those who the earth has already judged. Wait, that could be really scary as our human understanding tells us that they will seek retribution. No, they will judge with a righteous judgment, with Jesus as their leader and example.)

We make the assumption that the end comes with a purging where evil is wiped off the earth and God’s people alone populate the earth, but that is not the case. Yes, it is true, that the source of evil is locked up for a thousand years but that does not change what is in the heart of man. His choice to pursue God freely, or hate him stills exists, and God is not demanding you throw out your idols. That might be wise in the end, but as long as you comply by coming to the yearly feast you get to go on living as you choose. Are you beginning to get the picture, all nations, at least remnants of them are still here; including those we whine about saying, they have never heard the gospel! Trust me on this. They will hear the gospel. That is guaranteed, for an angel flies over the earth preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, and this happens several times, one of which is immediately after the rapture.

Haven’t you ever wondered how it is that the world, after living for a thousand more years in a condition that might be as close to the garden environment that Adam walked in, would be deceived and attempt to turn against God at the end of this millennial period.

“..whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain.”

Those of us who have asked Jesus Christ to come into our lives and make his home there, believing that God, the Father, sent his only Son to die on a cross, bearing all our sins, and then rose again to new life so that we may also might live with him, are the ones that have their names written in the book of life.

Many would tell you that you have to confess your sins and ask Jesus to forgive you your sins in order for him to accept you, but that is not the case, for while we were still sinners Christ died for us. He died for us knowing that many would not accept his love and gift; all he asks is that you believe in him and that the Father sent him. Yes, there is more. Scripture tells us that God awaits the chance to show the treasures of heaven and the life that awaits you as part of the family of God. Adam had that life for a limited time (it might have been thousands of years.)

This book of life has belonged to the lamb from before time was even a concept. The Lamb is Jesus. John, the disciple, the angry man who learned what love is, wrote:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.

(John 1:1-4 NASB)

 John spoke of my Jesus, my God.

Jesus told them exactly what would happen and then he did it. He rose from the dead. He walked among them, ate with them, let him touch his body, and comforted them. He then told them, as hard as this is going to sound to you, I have to go away to the Father now so that I can prepare a place for you.

A place for me? This is just overwhelming me now. Do you realize that one of the reasons I write is because I have struggled to understand and take this in.

He is real because he did what he said.

And though this is not intentional, here Easter is almost upon us. The time when we celebrate the fact that he rose from the dead. It is the reason for our hope, our hope that there is an eternity of peace with the Father in a land where it is too good to be true. Free from the mental anguish and pains of this world that Satan destroyed.

Easter is our anchor for Hope.

As I have watched on the news lately, many are trying to take away our hope, denying the children, innocent children the right to associate or even consider the possibility that there is a hope.

Jesus Christ did what he said he would do and he rose from the grave.

Yes, there is a hope. It does not matter what people do to me, or what goes on around me. Jesus is mine. I know this because I have asked him in and I have a confidence that he has never left me. He has proven himself true and faithful to me, even when I was not faithful to him.

I love you Father and anxiously await your embrace.

He has risen indeed!

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The Mouth that roared. Revelation 13:5-7

Posted on 03/24/2013 by remso

Revelation 13:5 KJV And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.

“There was given …”

The word given is the Greek word didōmi; reduplicated from the root δο– do-; to give(in various senses lit. or fig.): – add (1), allow (2), bestowed (4), cause

So one might say the beast was:

  • given

  • allowed

  • bestowed with

  • or caused to

To what? We will get to that.

If the beast, in this passage, is not a man, then who or what is being given a spokesman/mouth? Think about it. The dragon gives the beast not only power, but now either the beast or some aspect of the beast is given a spokesman.

In one of my recent posts we gained a strong visual description of a beast. I believe that though not defined, this is the same beast, and it looks nothing like a man.

Revelation 13:1-2 KJV 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. (2) 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.

If this beast, in its original state, has multiple heads (ruling bodies) and is shaped like something that looks like it could be interpreted as three different animals, then where could God have gotten something that matches that image?

As I read Daniel one day it occurs to me that Daniel was shown in a vision a modern map with the nations marked out that matched that of the Babylonian empire, the Medo-Persian empire, Alexandrian empire, and the Ottoman empire. The Roman empire may have been there but out of context, for the angel did not speak to Daniel of the Roman empire, but he did speak of a mystery empire and said, it is not like the others.

Try describing the outline of what you see when you look at the territories these nations embodied. Something that should catch your attention is that they are all heavily, if not primarily Muslim. Two, they, if you use your imagination, look like they could easily represent the three animals that Revelation 13:1-2 describes. I can hear many of you scoffing and laughing; really? I have never been able to look up at a sky full of stars and say, oh! I see Capricorn, or Sagittarius. I think you get the picture, and yet you are far more agreeable with that line of thinking. Sadly many of you follow Astrology more closely than you follow God.

“unto him…”

We have not changed subjects or context. The “him” is the same as in verse 2 of Revelation, and the him is not identifiable as a man as yet. It is however an authoritative body or an angel with a distinct name, and yet that name is not given. I can make a huge assumption here with the name Allah.

If this beast is the demonic/fallen angel whose name is Allah, then it makes all the sense in the world for Satan/the dragon to transfer his power to him. No one is looking in the right direction, they all have their attention turned to Satan, the deceiver, while this whatever gears up the Muslim world against anything that looks like God, and obtains a spokes person that is so charismatic, handsome, and authoritative that no one challenges him.

Consider this. Islam is founded upon Mohammed relating what an angel, an angel which tried to kill him, told him. No one in Islam, in comparison to men like Moses or Abraham, has ever heard from God and yet they call him Allah and anxiously await his two representatives, the 12th or hidden Imam, and his deputy Jesus.

What did Paul tell us believers?

Galatians 1:8 NASB But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!

Sadly Mohammed did not hear this message, but we have, and we should have our eyes wide open so that we are not deceived.

If you’re a believer in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the risen one from the dead, then this detailed description of the Islamic Jesus should be an eye opener.

Isa ( Arabic: عيسى, Transliteration: ʿĪsā ), known as Jesus in the New Testament is considered to be a Messenger of God and the Masih (Messiah) in Islam[1] who was sent to guide the Children of Israel (banī isrā’īl) with a new scripture, the Injīl or Gospel.[2] The belief in Jesus (and all other messengers of God) is required in Islam, and a requirement of being a Muslim. The Quran mentions Jesus by name twenty-five times, while it only mentions Muhammad by name four times.[3][4] It states that Jesus was born to Mary (Arabic: Maryam) as the result of virginal conception, a miraculous event which occurred by the decree of God (Arabic: Allah). To aid in his ministry to the Jewish people, Jesus was given the ability to perform miracles (such as healing the blind, bringing dead people back to life, etc.), all by the permission of God rather than of his own power. According to the Quran, Jesus, although appearing to have been crucified, was not killed by crucifixion or by any other means, instead, “God raised him unto Himself”. Like all prophets in Islam, Jesus is considered to have been a Muslim (i.e., one who submits to the will of God), as he preached that his followers should adopt the “straight path” as commanded by God. Islam rejects the Trinitarian Christian view that Jesus was God incarnate or the son of God, that he was ever crucified or resurrected, or that he ever atoned for the sins of mankind. The Quran says that Jesus himself never claimed any of these things, and it furthermore indicates that Jesus will deny having ever claimed divinity at the Last Judgment, and God will vindicate him.[5] The Quran emphasizes that Jesus was a mortal human being who, like all other prophets, had been divinely chosen to spread God’s message. Islamic texts forbid the association of partners with God (shirk), emphasizing a strict notion of monotheism (tawhīd).

Numerous titles are given to Jesus in the Quran and in Islamic literature, the most common being al-Masīḥ (“the messiah”). Jesus is also, at times, called “Seal of the Israelite Prophets”, because, in general Muslim belief, Jesus was the last prophet sent by God to guide the Children of Israel. Jesus is seen in Islam as a precursor to Muhammad, and is believed by Muslims to have foretold the latter’s coming.[6][7]Jesus in Islam From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I am not speaking this way, nor sharing this information with you to berate Islam. I am trying to get believers in Jesus Christ and God’s word to open their eyes and their minds to something outside of persistent tradition. It is this tradition that has kept your understanding clouded and darkened, and prevents you from seeing the truth.

Let me just add that scripture tells us that God will awaken the people of Iran and Egypt to revival. He will pour out his spirit upon them and pull them into the kingdom. It is happening as we speak. Stand in the way and you will get run over. Join me in prayer for the people of the mid-east as God invades their lives with dreams and vision, and awakens them to life. Jesus Christ, the son of God is life and life cannot be found in any other.

“ a mouth …”

If we had talked about a man he would have already had a mouth. I believe that this is telling us that whoever or whatever this is suddenly has spokesman. If the beast is Allah then the spokesman becomes the coming Mahdi who is supposed to speak for Allah. Makes sense doesn’t it?

If this is an authoritative body such as Islam, then someone has to speak for it. Currently many seem to be speaking for Islam. Their stories are not that much different, but this passage clearly indicates that one person will step forward.

As I was writing on my notepad I could not pull my mind away from a video I watched of Ken Peters as he told of a dream he had about the time immediately after the rapture. As I began to search the Internet to find it again so many had been removed due to copyright infringements. I found this link and it is still up.

http://www.rapturewatch.net/apps/videos/videos/show/17365611-saw-the-tribulation-ken-peters-best-video-of-end-time-prophecies-

What I valued about this man was his humility. What I remember was the imagery that I saw in my spirit as he described the image of the smooth talking Antichrist that showed up on every large screen. Somehow I could see this face on an electronic billboard next to the freeway. Keep in mind that Ken would not have known of video images of that size even being capable at that time, and besides that we did not even have cell phones in 1981. I do not think that most people comprehend the confusion and terror that will ensue immediately after the rapture of the church. Those who have been on the edge of truth, such as cult religious groups, will be wailing as they realize that they had been deceived.

“..speaking great things.”

The old standard, The King James version says it well but does give us the depth I feel we need to understand what this spokesman is doing.

Revelation 13:5 KJV And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.

Read this version which still does not translate the seriousness and nature of the this spokesman but is taking us more toward the right direction.

Revelation 13:5 NIrV The beast was given a mouth to brag and speak evil things against God. The beast was allowed to use his authority for 42 months.

We tend to apply great to ball players that get inducted into the hall of fame, and if that is the connotation God intended for us to apply then this must be a great guy and we need to listen to him.

I referred you to a Ken Peters video in which he described a spokesman who comes on the scene after the rapture of the church. This spokesman in his 1981 dream was handsome, smooth talking, and no one contested anything he implemented.

If I were to analyze the word based upon what I think or understand then I would say the first word that comes to mind is boastful. I associate that term with sports “jocks”, even if they are incapable of competing themselves they are self-enamored and arrogant.

Suppose that this spokesman’s talk pertains more toward the plans he has. That becomes scary if it involves the loss of more of my rights at his pleasure.

The Greek word for great is MEGAS. Does Great White Shark ring a bell.

megas; a prim. word; great: – abundant (1), all the more (1), arrogant (1), big (2), completely *(1), fierce (2), – From New American Standard(r) Updated Edition Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible with Hebrew-Aramaic and Greek Dictionaries

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the President of Iran, has spewed forth great things such as how his nation will wipe Israel off the map. President Morsi of Egypt has also been saying great things, again directed at Israel’s destruction.

As a side note: Moses was asked to be God’s spokesman, a mouth so to speak to Israel. The oddity is that he complained that he could not speak. A strange statement having been raised in the Egyptian courts where he may have been trained to be a Pharaoh.

“and blasphemies..”

Focus on the word blasphemies for a moment. Christians have spoken in fear of this word since Christianity began, mostly because they were not solidly fixed on the hope we have in Christ, and they did not have a confidence and trust in God; fearing that they might have said a blasphemous thing that would exclude them from God’s presence. It is sickening what we have done to ourselves. The other side of this fear comes from preachers and people using the word to control and manipulate people.

Do you not understand that Christ’s death was enough, and that he paid the price for sin, ONCE, for all.

Jesus Christ defined blasphemy for us as he accosted the Pharisees for attributing the things of God to the devil.

Mark 3:22-30 NASB The scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons.” (23) And He called them to Himself and began speaking to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? (24) “If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. (25) “If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. (26) “If Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but he is finished! (27) “But no one can enter the strong man’s house and plunder his property unless he first binds the strong man, and then he will plunder his house. (28) “Truly I say to you, all sins shall be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter; (29) but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”– (30) because they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”

What did this spokesman say that caused him to be labeled a blasphemer? The passage at hand does not tell us, but the next one might give us a clue.

Revelation 13:6 CEV The beast cursed God, and it cursed the name of God. It even cursed the place where God lives, as well as everyone who lives in heaven with God.

So he talks big and has the support to carry out what he says, but in addition he speaks against God. It almost seems that the mouth attributes anything we would consider Godly to another god, a satanic empowered entity. Remember – the dragon/Satan empowers the beast which can be an individual or a character, perhaps demonic, with a name like Allah.

Odd how silent Dake’s is on this blasphemy aspect. The concept of blasphemy is huge in religious circles. Many are quick to point out what they feel is blasphemy on our part, while others worry if they have committed the unpardonable sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

If Jesus defined blasphemy as attributing his good works to the devil then what does it look like when the emissary of the dragon, the Antichrist does it. As a representative of Satan, empowered by Satan, his statements feel like truth to him. Therefore the words of Jesus Christ, the truth in the flesh, the man Islam calls the Dijal, would be the words of evil and the Antichrist should feel compelled to denigrate the name of God and his son.

“and there was given to him authority to go on for forty-two months.”

Revelation 13:5 KJV And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.

42 months; that equals three and one half years. That should register loudly for that takes us half way through the time of wrath or the tribulation years.

Hang on, let’s talk about the tribulation for a moment. I have held that the tribulation comes after the rapture. I feel as though I have a solid foundation for believing that, and it has to do with Jesus’ statements in Matthew 25. In Matthew’s gospel he relates how Noah and Lot were rescued just prior to the judgment that fell on the people. (I have a friend who is adamant that judgment is merely specific periods and not the entire time frame.) Apply some logical thought based upon context. Part of our context comes from Matthew’s gospel as well as the Old Testament prophets. If you read both of those stories from your bible you will find that trouble was all around these two heroes of the bible. To be painfully honest and a little sarcastic, some people think tribulation is not being able to upgrade your car so that it excels your neighbors. This sickens me, and I suspect it sickens God as well. Folks, unless you have lived under a rock, there are many of us that are surrounded by trouble. Some are being killed and others suffer through constant stress and threats of physical harm in their daily lives. Tribulation comes in many forms, but do not tell me that the Christians of Nigeria, Chad, Sudan, India, Egypt, Iran, Syria, etc., are not facing hard tribulation as we speak.

Be clear on this. The tribulation that is coming will make these daily tribulations look like a trip through Disneyland.

“And he opened his mouth”

Revelation 13:6 NASB And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in heaven.

“The beast cursed God, and it cursed the name of God.”

The rapture comes and almost simultaneously the Mahdi of Islam shows up. We have called this man who is to come the mouth/spokesman, but Islam calls him the Mahdi.

In Islamic eschatology, the Mahdi (Arabic: مهدي‎ / ISO 233: mahdī / English: Guided One) is the prophesied redeemer of Islam who will rule for seven, nine or nineteen years- (according to various interpretations)[1] before the Day of Judgment (yawm al-qiyamah / literally, the Day of Resurrection)[2] and will rid the world of evil.[3]

In Shia Islam, the Mahdi is believed to be the Twelfth Imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi, whose return from occultation will be the return of the Mahdi.[4]

Isa will return to aid Mahdi, or the guided one, against Masih ad-Dajjal, the false messiah, and his followers.[5] He will descend at the point of a white arcade, east of Damascus, dressed in yellow robes with his head anointed[citation needed]. He will then join the Mahdi in his war against the Dajjal. Isa will slay Dajjal, and unite humanity.Sahih Muslim, 41:7023 (From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahdi)

Do you find any correlations in here?

If the rapture has comes and almost simultaneously the Mahdi orchestrates a seven-year peace agreement with Israel and almost immediately they begin building the temple once again.

Whoa! How and where did Israel get the temple mount land back? Islam is not going to give that mosque up for a second, so something else cataclysmic happens that makes it possible for Israel to rebuild the temple. (Read Ezekiel 38, 39) A war in which God steps in and intervenes, and it sounds like it has a nuclear aspect to it for God’s fire falls on a multitude of Muslim nations.

We tend to assume that the Antichrist gives Israel the freedom to take back what they need to build their temple. Don’t plan on it.

What else is happening at the same time?

The two witnesses from God show up. I strongly suspect they will take an active role in the protection of the temple during the time they are on the earth. How would I know that? Because they spew fire out of their mouths at anyone that attempts to harm them. Take this thought one step farther. The first attempts to kill the witnesses might be with bricks thrown at them. Those men will be burned up and will not get the opportunity to throw their bricks. Seeing that men cannot get close them they will bring out the guns. Obvious frontal attacks will not work and those men will be toasted. Snipers will be brought in to kill them, and they will be killed with fire from the mouths of the witnesses. You are not even going to take them until God says so, just like Jesus who told the Romans that they could do nothing if he had not permitted it.

The two witnesses stand in Jerusalem for how long? The same amount of time that it takes for the Antichrist/mouth/spokesman to break the treaty with Israel. So three and one half years after the rapture all hell breaks loose. The Antichrist may not wait until that time frame to speak against the tabernacle of God, and it is purely conjecture to assume that the tabernacle would be the new temple, but it is a logical choice.

Who is in heaven at this point?

The rapture has come and gone, so who is in heaven at this point?

  • The raptured church

  • Christ

  • God, the Father

  • Those that have gone before

  • The martyred saints since the rapture

  • Angels

What purpose does it serve to blaspheme God and those who cannot hear you, and you cannot harm? None, unless you believe that what you are saying is true, and wish to convince others.

Islam believes in one god, theirs, and his name is Allah. The devout, they are called Twelvers in Muslim circles, those who anxiously await the last prophet, Imam al- Mahdi, also await their Jesus/Isa. This Jesus is not the same as the Son of God who is returning for his church. Their Jesus fits precisely into the mold of the false prophet of scripture.

If you awaited someone who was in complete opposition to God what do you expect him to say. For one he will demand that the people of the earth worship no one but the image of the beast that is made to speak.

We are not there yet but the beast of Revelation 17 looks remarkably like the beast of Revelation 13. One is Satan, the other looks like Satan and obtains his power. The Antichrist is Satan’s representative on earth.

“..to make war with the saints and to overcome them..”

Revelation 13:7 NASB It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him.

Again we see that part of his empowerment is to make war with the saints.

We should already know the answer to this but who are the Saints? Anyone who comes to Jesus Christ after the rapture and lives out this testimony by their words and actions. The majority will lose their heads as martyrs and some will be imprisoned. Revelation 13:10 is rather cryptic in the King James but look at some of the other translations and you get a clear picture of saints taken prisoner.

Revelation 13:10 CEV If you are doomed to be captured, you will be captured. If you are doomed to be killed by a sword, you will be killed by a sword. This means that God’s people must learn to endure and be faithful!

If you think going through the tribulation as a believer will be easy you are wrong. Though it is possible that it is all just a nasty rumor the Department of Homeland Security is buying 2700 tank like vehicles and enough bullets for a 24 year war. Why? Internal security.

Why is this important in light of the Antichrist’s making was on the saints? Because though some might feel secure in saying that the influence of the Antichrist will only be in the middle east, there are clear signs that even in the United States of America preparations are being made to apprehend and inter anyone that speaks out against the government or fails to comply. FEMA already has the pow camps ready. So do not be oblivious to the signs around you.

What is it that scripture calls on us to do about it? Not to panic, PRAY. We who pray are holding back the enemy until we, the church, are returned to the Father’s arms.

I falsely thought that once Satan was cast out of heaven to the earth, that he no longer had any place in heaven, but then in my studies I am reminded of Job’s episode where Satan presents himself before God and discusses Job in particular. Obviously I was wrong, but in Revelation 12 we have Satan finally excluded from the presence of God where he has been busy pointing out our failures before God.

Revelation 12:13 KJV And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.

Finally thrown out he goes after the woman, Israel. Is that happening as we speak? You bet it is. God protects Israel who escapes out of the grasp of the enemy. Angered the dragon, now empowering the Antichrist, goes after those left on earth who belong to God.

Revelation 12:17 KJV And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

It is obvious that there is a timing here and it primarily happens within the 7 years of wrath. The idea of the beast making war against the saints indicates an active pursuit.

Concerning power over all.

Again, to those who cling to a strict middle eastern conflict, there is the aspect of Revelation 13:7 KJV which states:

“and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.”

The word kindred in the Greek is phulē and means tribe. When dealing with the Middle eastern people what is their identity wrapped up in? Tribes. For the scripture to say that the beast has power over kindred, then is it not saying that he has power over his own?

There is a common thread, almost like DNA, that runs through the nations involved in gathering against Israel and are represented by the beast. Since I believe that our last beast is the Islamic empire, but explicitly starts with the Babylonian empire, from where? The birthplace of Abraham. Challenged, Muslims will quickly trace their heritage back to Abraham. This tends to enforce the idea of having a global effect as you look at all the nations in which Islam has grasped a solid hold.

Dake’s goes to great lengths discussing 15 proofs that the Antichrist will not be world-wide. I have pondered these ideas and a few of my own and I can definitely say I am not sure.

    • The idea that everyone must take a mark to buy or sell.

      Even with the advanced technology in the world there are still places in the world that run on the barter system and do just fine.

      I listened to Walid Shoebat speak about the mark of the beast and he says this concept is strongly an Islamic practice.

      Jizya – From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

      “Under Islamic law, jizya or jizyah (Arabic: جزية‎ ǧizyah IPA: [dʒizja]; Ottoman Turkish: cizye;) is a per capita tax levied on a section of an Islamic state‘s non-Muslim citizens, who meet certain criteria. The tax is and was to be levied on able-bodied adult males of military age and affording power[1] (but with specific exemptions).[2][3] From the point of view of the Muslim rulers, jizya was a material proof of the non-Muslims’ acceptance of subjection to the state and its laws, “just as for the inhabitants it was a concrete continuation of the taxes paid to earlier regimes.”[4] In return, non-Muslim citizens were permitted to practice their faith, to enjoy a measure of communal autonomy, to be entitled to the Muslim state’s protection from outside aggression, and to be exempted from military service and the zakat taxes obligatory upon Muslim citizens.[5][6”

      This idea of subordination that allows to you continue living as you are without complying with the demands of worship sounds so benign. To bad it won’t happen that way during Antichrist’s war against the saints. While we made it clear that many will be captured and probably tortured, most will be killed as they refuse to comply.

  • According to Walid Shoebat the idea of taking a mark is not a new idea either. He noted in the movie, The Kingdom of heaven in which the crusader were beaten down and captured by Saladin, the one thing that the movie captured well, according to Walid Shoebat, was that the armies of Saladin had arm bands and head bands had the same words found in the Arabic translation of the bible, which the early bible translators interpreted as 666. Those words in Arabic convey, “There is no god but Allah, and Mohammed is his messenger!” You will be forced to identify as one who complies with the demands of Allah and false prophet.

    I tried to find a photo of this armband. Many wear alternate versions that state the same things. The except below is from an Islamic website. Note how they define what you do to become a Muslim.

    There is no god except Allah and Muhammad is a messenger of Allah.This is the statement that qualifies someone as a Muslim. If you are convinced of this at some point then you are a Muslim.

Formally someone becomes a Muslim by saying – in front of witnesses – “I witness that there is no god except Allah and that Muhammad is a messenger of Allah.”

To understand this statement fully some explanation is needed of the word ‘god’. A god is understood to mean anything or anyone who you use to set your values in life; to determine how you judge a matter as good or bad and how therefore you live your life. A god is also someone or something that people try to keep happy so that it may be able to change their lives and make those people happy. Since every human being by nature forms value judgments everyone has at least one god.

What is your god? Is it your desires? – Is it your work? – Is it fashion? – Is it your family? – Is it your nation? – Is it your church?

Whatever your gods may be, becoming a Muslim frees you from the service of them and brings you to the service of Allah and only Allah.

Believing that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah flows from believing in the Qur’an.

http://www.islamic.org.uk/shahada.htm

Think about where else you might have seen something like this marking. Under Nazi occupation the Jews were forced to wear a yellow star of David and beneath it was the word Juden. That way they were easily identified.

Scripture makes it clear that taking the mark and worshiping the beast will exclude you from God’s presence for ever.

  • There is no country in which Islam is not a growing concern.

  • Given that “the prince” or the “mouth” comes out of the people who destroyed the temple, then that tends to make him a middle easterner and most likely a Muslim.

    Dake’s states, “all these passages is simply a figure of speech – synochdoche in which a whole is put for a part..” Do we have an example of this? Absolutely. When Nebuchadnezzar ordered everyone to bow before his statue scripture tells us that everyone did except the 3 hebrew children (It is specific about noting them for they are an part of God’s influence on Nebuchadnezzar and an aspect of Daniel’s life.) and yet Daniel was not there. Clearly the words everyone did not work here.

  • Dake’s also points out that Revelation 13 itself limits the kingdom of Antichrist to the 10 kingdoms.

    This idea makes sense but here are a couple of problems I have with it. Even without the unity of the 10, Islam and Jihad is being felt all over the world, directed at those that fit the group of the big and little satan.

    Where are these ten nations? Algiers, Tangiers, Libya, Chad, Sudan, Ethiopia, Egypt, Syria, Iran, Turkey, and the southern nations of the former Soviet Union. Many are not typical and though Islam’s hatred is dispensed from many other places I have already exceeded the 10.

As always I implore you to turn your life over to the risen Christ, Jesus. Only through him can you obtain salvation from the wrath that is to come, and a hope of life within the Father’s arms. Paul tells us that in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye all will be changed; all the pain, torment, anguish, fear, and hopelessness of this damaged life. That hope begins in Jesus Christ. All creation is damaged by the fall of the original man and everything in you cries out to mask the pain and fix it. There is only one fix and that was the blood of Jesus poured out upon the cross. He died that we might live. Should you come to him will your life become roses and fairy tales? No, but you will have a peace in knowing that life himself resides in you. Turn your life to him, the Father awaits you.

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Posted on 03/20/2013 by remso

It has been almost a year since I posted this. I just reread it and wept again.My heart still cries over this nation and others. My heart cries over the Muslim nations. Father draw them in. Awaken my beloved for the time is at hand. Awaken the fire within you.

remso's avatarA Voice in the Wilderness

It has been a little over 7 years since I wrote this. I still weep when I read it. To those that have an ear to hear it is an encouragement and a call to war.

Hear what the spirit of the Lord is saying, not only to those who misguided the sheep but to the sheep as well.


 

 

 

 

Sheep (Photo credit: James Good)

I am writing as I have been compelled to write. The Spirit of the Lord tells me that we are of the Laodicean church, and as such we are on the last stand and have failed to hold our ground.

The prophets1 have put forth the call to repent, but you have ignored that call, and instead, induced fear in my people.

You have taken away their hope.

Most will not receive this, but some will.

“To the messenger of…

View original post 1,943 more words

Posted in Apostasy, Deception, End times, Hearing God, Hope, Prophetic, Thoughts | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The dragon gave him his power and his throne

Posted on 03/20/2013 by remso

Revelation 13:2-4
Revelation 13:2 NASB And the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority.

The beast in this passage is four empires. Three have come and gone; the fourth may be upon us now. Be very clear, in this passage the beast is not an individual unless that individual is a fallen angel.

It would be understandable if the speaker had said the power was given to them. We could then try to rationalize that he is referring to individuals, leaders within those empires. Following that train of thought quickly falls apart because the second empire, the bear, is defined as the Medo-Persian empire – a split empire clearly run by several leaders. If you throw the Alexandrian empire into the mix it does not work either for Alexander dies in his early thirties, leaving others to fight over the rule of the empire. The Alexandrian empire is eventually split four ways and in the end is controlled by the Seleucid and Ptolemaic reigns. No decisive winner here either.

Revelation 13:2 CEV The beast that I saw had the body of a leopard, the feet of a bear, and the mouth of a lion. The dragon handed over its own power and throne and great authority to this beast.

Looking at the verse from other translations may give you a bit more clarity. The dragon is Satan. (Yes, I am aware that he has a multitude of names.) Think about this. Satan offered Jesus this same deal. You do not believe that, I can tell.

Matthew 4:8-9 KJV Again, the devil took him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; (9) And saith unto him, All these things will I give you, if you will fall down and worship me.

Jesus response may have been delivered with an anger that we do not understand (Several translations put his response in all capital letters. In electronic etiquette that would mean he yelled at Satan). Consider: Jesus was God in the flesh and, a role he chose for the sole purpose of rescuing us, the world. To have Satan, a created being and one that he created throw the world he created back in his face would have been an incredible attempt at slapping God in the face. At the same time, to Satan, this was a credible and valid offer.

Jesus responded with:

Matthew 4:10 YLT Then saith Jesus to him, `Go–Adversary, for it hath been written, The Lord thy God thou shalt bow to, and Him only thou shalt serve.’

  • The word gave, according to Thayer is: to supply, furnish, necessary things

  • Him: αὐτός autos Thayer Definition: 1) himself, herself, themselves, itself 2)he, she, it.

  • Notice this wordpower: dunamis Thayer Definition:1) strength, power, ability.

Power is also used to describe the Holy Ghost coming upon the new Christians.

Act 1:8But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you:… The word power here is the same word dunamis and it means precisely the same thing. Only in this case instead of the dragon distributing powers the Holy Spirit from God is giving out strength, power and ability.

  • Throne: thronos Strong’s definition: (to sit); a stately seat (“throne”); by implication power or (concretely) a potentate: – seat, throne.

Let’s take the concepts driving the words and put them back together in a sentence.

And the dragon supplied this ability, the driving force that makes the beast what it is (the Greek word can mean it.) with his own power and ability. Since Adam had the dominion over the earth his rebellious act allowed Satan/the dragon to acquire the authority to subjugate everything on the earth to his domination.

(BDB Definition:1) to rule, have dominion, dominate, tread down. 1a) (Qal) to have dominion, rule, subjugate

Since the beast initially comprises four empires and John sees them as one, then there must be a commonality between them. What are the possibilities?

  1. The captivity of Israel.

    This only seems to work for three of them, at least that is what we can see from history. Of the countries that invade Israel in the last days, and they will take Israel captive, what do those ten have in common?

  • Islam under a unified caliphate, that may or may not have to happen,

  • and an overwhelming hatred of Israel.

  1. Another common factor is God’s plan.

    Proverbs 21:1 BBE The king’s heart in the hands of the Lord is like the water streams, and by him it is turned in any direction at his pleasure.

The idea then that God moves people around, both good and bad, is a strong possibility and one that alarms us; why? Because we want to be in control and the truth is we are not and God is.

  1. The last and least defined common trait is the religious theme.

    Daniel 7:23 tells us this fourth kingdom shall be diverse from the others. Perhaps the religious theme still applies but what is different? There was no Islam during the first three kingdom reigns

A strong clue that helps to define this last empire is Daniel 9:26.

Daniel 9:26 ESV And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed.

“.. and the people of the prince that shall come,”

This is the Islamic caliphate or at the least coming out of the Muslim nations. History proves it out for both Josephus and Tacitus recorded the details that explained how the Roman army was drawing conscripts from conquered nations and that at the time of the temples destruction the armies may have been entirely from surrounding nations and brought their intense hatred of the Jews with them.

One of my resources (The History of the Christian Church) referred to these people that destroyed Jerusalem and the temple as the Mohammedans. It would make sense that followers of Mohammed would be called this, no differently than followers of Christ obtained the name Christians.

and the dragon gave him his power and his seat and great authority.

We have not established anything other than the fact that the beast of this passage is not a man, and yet we have terminology like this.

Revelation 13:3 BBE And I saw one of his heads as if it had been given a death-wound; and his death-wound was made well: and all the earth was wondering at the beast.

If this beast is not a man and its origin is four empires, then where does this head come into play? Jump back into Revelation.

Revelation 13:1 BBE And he took his place on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads unholy names.

In this passage the beast has seven heads. The heads again represent nations or empires. We need to stay clear here. The beast is clearly defined as three kingdoms on earth and if you are paying attention to details scripture subtly defines the fourth. We have descriptions here in Revelation 13, Daniel 2, and Daniel 7. So the head that sustains what appears to be a fatal wound is one of the empires that make up the beast.

Thayer also describes the word head (kephalē) metaphorically as anything supreme, chief, prominent.

The word used for head is kephalē and shows up 76 times in the New Testament. In Matthew 14:8 it is referring to the head of John the baptist, and yet in Ephesians 1:22 it is demonstrating that Christ is the head over the church; a ruling authority. Since the beast is an oddly built creature used to direct us to look at empires and ruling authorities, then we should perceive it as such.

We know of several heads already: Babylonian, Medo-Persian, and Alexandrian. None of these ever regained it’s life and power so we can rule them out as the rebirth of the fourth beast or head.

Many like to attribute the fourth empire to the revived Roman empire, but it never regained its life once it was killed off, so we should be able to write it off the list of wounded heads. The only empire that was effectively killed off and has regained it’s life was the Ottoman empire, an Islamic empire. Which, by the way, seem to cover almost the exact same territory that the Roman empire covered.

Ottoman Empire, empire created by Turkish tribes in Anatolia. One of the most powerful states in the world during the 15th and 16th centuries, it spanned more than 600 years and came to an end only in 1922, when it was replaced by the Turkish Republic and various successor states in southeastern Europe and the Middle East. At its height the empire included most of southeastern Europe to the gates of Vienna, including modern Hungary, Serbia, Bosnia, Romania, Greece, and Ukraine; Iraq, Syria, Israel, and Egypt; North Africa as far west as Algeria; and most of the Arabian Peninsula. (From Britannica.com)

Expansion of the Ottoman Empire. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

To the world, they (the Islamic caliphate under the Ottoman empire) were effectively dead until we witnessed what appeared to be the rebirth of the Caliphate in 1979 in association with the Iranian revolution. Since then Islam has progressively become a dominant force in the world.

Ezekiel described these nations of the fourth empire:

Ezekiel 38:1-9 ESV The word of the LORD came to me: (2) “Son of man, set your face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him (3) and say, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. (4) And I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great host, all of them with buckler and shield, wielding swords. (5) Persia, Cush, and Put are with them, all of them with shield and helmet; (6) Gomer and all his hordes; Beth-togarmah from the uttermost parts of the north with all his hordes–many peoples are with you. (7) “Be ready and keep ready, you and all your hosts that are assembled about you, and be a guard for them. (8) After many days you will be mustered. In the latter years you will go against the land that is restored from war, the land whose people were gathered from many peoples upon the mountains of Israel, which had been a continual waste. Its people were brought out from the peoples and now dwell securely, all of them. (9) You will advance, coming on like a storm. You will be like a cloud covering the land, you and all your hordes, and many peoples with you.

You can expect to see the former nations of the Ottoman empire involved in this attempt to destroy Israel. God will not tolerate this one, and though much destruction is done to Israel and a remnant have to flee into a safe place in the desert, God will rain down hail stones, fire and brimstone upon these nations. They will turn upon themselves and you can expect to see only a sixth of the army fleeing for their lives. Everything about this scenario in Ezekiel 39 sounds like a nuclear blast, but clearly God is involved.

And all the world wondered after the beast.

Revelation 13:3 AMP And one of his heads seemed to have a deadly wound. But his death stroke was healed; and the whole earth went after the beast in amazement and admiration.

Again I caution you to stay clear on what we are dealing with, an empire. Hardly anyone understands what the beast, at this point, is. It seems that you almost have to look back into history to see it. Fortunately we have that window of opportunity.

Because we know that not every aspect of the four empire beast comes back to life these people that comprise the whole earth cannot be described as a global awe but a community (The Islamic community). I might be a little narrow minded here for there is not a nation on the earth that does not have an Islamic presence in it. Some are majority Islamic in their populace and therefore enforce Sharia law upon the citizens. That statement in itself almost proves that the scripture could easily be fulfilled based upon Islamic influence alone.

Did the world wonder at what was going on in Iran as the revolutionaries took the American Embassy hostage? I suspect we outsiders all thought it was merely trouble makers flexing their muscle as they shook off the government of the Shah of Iran.

“The revolution was unusual for the surprise it created throughout the world:[16] it lacked many of the customary causes of revolution (defeat at war, a financial crisis, peasant rebellion, or disgruntled military),[17] produced profound change at great speed,[18] was massively popular,[19] and replaced a westernizing monarchy with a theocracy based on Guardianship of the Islamic Jurists (or velayat-e faqih). Its outcome—an Islamic Republic “under the guidance of an extraordinary religious scholar from Qom“—was, as one scholar put it, “clearly an occurrence that had to be explained“.[20] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Revolution)

The effects of the Iranian revolution did not go away, it spread throughout the globe quietly at times and violently at others. I suspect that some began to grasp the immensity of Islam’s potential for violent influence when Ahmadinejad was elected President of Iran. A devout follower of the current Ayatollah, Ahmadinejad has espoused some of the most hateful and violent rhetoric against Israel and the United States, and yet we do not take him serious enough. President Ahmadinejad has stood before the United Nations and told them straight out that he intends to bring about the cataclysmic circumstances that usher in the awaited Mahdi, and still we do not take him serious.

In the meantime Libya and Egypt have fallen, in a sense Iraq has fallen, Syria is on the verge of collapse, and Moscow has surprisingly become friends with the enemies of peace. Syria becomes extremely important seeing as Damascus was prophesied against as being totally destroyed.

Isaiah 17:1 NASB The oracle concerning Damascus. “Behold, Damascus is about to be removed from being a city And will become a fallen ruin.

Jeremiah 49:27 NASB “I will set fire to the wall of Damascus, And it will devour the fortified towers of Ben-hadad.”

If there is a world in awe it is the Muslim world, for they now have a strength and bravery fortified by substantial gains all over the world; the rest are merely taken aback by the way they have subtly overrun cities within the US, Britain and Europe in general. They have well developed plans for taken over school systems, PTA boards and city councils. Islam has every intent to run the world under sharia law and the days scantily clad women, homosexuality, and drinking will be gone. It is not just Christians and Jews they are after. They are after anyone that does not comply with the will of Allah.

“…the whole earth went after the beast in amazement and admiration”

Another version put it this way:

Revelation 13:3 CJB One of the heads of the beast appeared to have received a fatal wound, but its fatal wound was healed, and the whole earth followed after the beast in amazement.

Do you realize how rapidly the Islamic population is growing? Do you know that if they rape your neighborhood women and all of them have babies from these rapes they consider them Islamic children and count them as such. No, that does not mean necessarily that they get taught the Qur’an, Jihad, and the associated Jewish hatred but it certainly helps pump up your numbers when Islamic’s are counting heads.

It is easy to say the whole earth is following the Islamic beast and especially in admiration. They believe with all that is in them that their way is the better way, especially if you are a man. You have to understand that scriptures tells us that the god of this world (Who is that? The Dragon/Satan) has blinded them to the truth.

2 Corinthians 4:4 CJB They do not come to trust because the god of the `olam hazeh has blinded their minds, in order to prevent them from seeing the light shining from the Good News about the glory of the Messiah, who is the image of God.

he gave his authority to the beast

Revelation 13:4 NASB they worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?”

The “they”, as I have been saying, is the Islamic world. Do you really believe that they worship the dragon, Satan? Muslims do believe in evil spirits and many report they are haunted by them. In the United States I believe that we have enough kooks that might say something like that, knowing full well it would irritate the Christian community and demonstrate their antagonism for God.

But to be honest, in this passage, it almost feels like the dragon has suddenly shifted characters. Let me attempt to explain. Jesus Christ is God in the flesh, come to earth as a man, and he retains that image even today. How is that? They are the same just as a son inherits the characteristics and name of his father. If that father carried some title and clout that could be passed along, like they do in England, then the son too becomes quite powerful without even sitting upon the throne.

Have we not already seen the dragon, much like God gave man dominion, give all his authority and power to “the beast”? What would it take for you to recognize that fact? Signs and wonders? You bet, because even in the Islamic community seeing enhances believing, and this is exactly what the Antichrist and the false prophet do.

“.. and who is able to wage war with him?”

Already we have gone to war because Islamic jihadists have blown up 3000+ people with airplanes crashing into the Twin Towers in Manhattan. I am not sure you can remember all the bombings associated with Islamic terrorism or Jihad as they like to call it. Unfortunately for those outside of Islam Jihad can come in so many forms. Obviously the beast wages a war, and though we struggle against their war, can you honestly say we are winning? Small skirmishes maybe, but like the Russians who waged war against the Taliban we are getting chased out of there as well.

When Christians get together you will get a wide variety of beliefs and opinions about when the rapture will come and associated tribulations. I contend that Jesus statements in Matthew 25 explaining and contrasting his coming for his own with Noah and Lot tell us that he will rescue us (the majority) only moments before all hell breaks loose. If you have read about Noah and Lot then you know that from the time God pulled them out to the time destruction came was either immediate in Noah’s case, to possibly hours with Lot. I feel strongly that what I am talking about as I attempt to make the book of Revelation understandable, will have taken place before these things take place.

On this note I strongly urge you to turn your life over Jesus Christ. Ask him to make his home in you and receive you into the kingdom of God when that day comes. Should you choose to remain rebellious and find yourself on the worst side of the tribulation years there is still hope. Ask him into your life. Commit yourself to him and arm yourself with the Holy Spirit of God (He will still be here to guide you.) I truly believe that the two witnesses, sent from God, will be an example for those who choose to follow them as examples of how walk in God’s strength. In the second chapter of Acts Peter stood and addressed the crowd, telling them:

Acts 2:16-21 KJV But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; (17) And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: (18) And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: (19) And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: (20) The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come: (21) And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

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This freakish image.

Posted on 03/09/2013 by remso

It was like a leopard, a bear, and a lion.

As a heads up, I am not a scholar but I am someone who has an intense interest in understanding and helping others to understand. In sharing my insights with you the goal is not to bring you under my spell and start a new cult but you to get you thinking, looking outside the traditional religious box, and get you diving into your bibles and find out for yourself what is true. Therefore if you find something that you cannot agree upon then it is up to you to search the scriptures and find out for yourself. Paul ran into a bunch like this, they were called the Bereans, and they daily searched the scriptures to find out if what Paul said was true. The result, they came into alignment with Paul. You need to come into alignment with the Word, but it is always fun talking to like-minded believers.

That being said let’s jump in.

In my previous post I covered Revelation 13:1 and I could have expounded further. You have to agree that chapter 13 is a highly symbolic chapter, filled with imagery that most find difficult to understand. I discussed how the sea represents people, and how the heads are considered by many to represent empires that in John’s day fit into the categories of: was, are, and are to come. The last of those empires that could be tightly defined and had a huge impact on John’s life was the Roman empire. The final empire rises out of the territory that was not only controlled by the Roman empire but several earlier empires as well.

When you compare the statue that Daniel described to Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel chapter two and the dream Daniel had in chapter seven against what Ezekiel describes in Ezekiel 38 as the nations angrily surrounding Israel in the near future with the beast of Revelation chapter 13 you will see that most are nations we are familiar with, and they are Muslim majority.

With that let’s start looking at this more closely.

And the beast that I saw was like a leopard; its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority.

(Revelation 13:2 ESV)

Many like to assign this freakish image to the beast that desecrates the temple and it is not. Freakish in description, yes. This fits the description that Daniel gave to Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 2, and it matches the explanations given to Daniel in Daniel 7. Ezekiel 38 identifies many of the nations/empires that fulfill the crowns or ruling authorities.

In trying to help Daniel’s explanation make sense, I include:

Revelation 13:1 And he took his place on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea.

The sea represents people, but not just any people, they are people associated with the nations that rise against Israel in Ezekiel 38.

Why would I say that? Because there is a context to what Daniel saw, what Ezekiel saw, and what John the revelator wrote, and it all has to do with the culmination of time either right before the rapture of the church or almost immediately after.

It is shown that the descendants of Abraham through Ishmael have a hatred of Jews and Israel, and this hatred is clearly portrayed in scripture. We are seeing the effects of their hatred lived out on our television screens almost daily. (In an effort to make this a reasonable length I am avoiding great details here. If you want great details then I suggest that you get and read the The Islamic Antichrist or The Mideast Beast, by Joel Richardson.)

“I had a vision by night, and saw the four winds of heaven violently moving the great sea.” Daniel 7:2 BBE

We have a tendency to look at events like this as always in the future. I strongly suspect that the four winds have blown. What we can attest to is the level of violence within the Muslim nations.

One of the biggest turnovers, (that tends to be what a strong wind does,) occurred in 1979: Iran’s Islamic Revolution.

After the overthrow of the Shah, the American ally became one of its biggest adversaries. I remember it. It birthed a television show called Nightline and everyday Ted Koppel reminded us during under the Presidency of Jimmy Carter the US embassy in Iran had been taken hostage. This went on for over a year. (Interestingly there was a correlation between Ronald Reagan who played a cowboy in the movies, his rhetoric as he ran for Presidency, and the release of the American hostages. What helped me to understand that correlation was a book I read called the Kite Runner. In it, the author who had been born Afghani, explained how, in the early days before the Taliban, so many would travel to go see the American cowboy movies that had been translated into Pashtun. They seem to understand that the cowboy shot first and asked questions later and they seemed to respect someone associated with this lifestyle.)

You are not convinced. But what was the change that happened from that point on in the nation of Iran? Although they have a President for the sake legitimacy, the nation was effectively run by Islamic leaders, Mullahs; Ayatollah Khomeini was the first dominant one that I remember. We call this leadership under a religious leader a caliphate. Everything changed and this Islamic revolution began to saturate into every nation that had an Islamic presence. Indonesia, that “beautiful” little island country can be a brutal place to live if you are not Muslim and abiding by strict Sharia laws. The Northern African nations: Chad, Sudan, Nigeria, Somalia, etc. are majority Muslim nations. Yes, they have a different title Boko Haran but the rules and objectives are the same, kill anything that does not bow it’s knee to Allah.

Be serious, what have we been seeing and hearing in the news for at least the last year?

The Arab spring.

And what has been the result?

  • Libya has been overthrown, Muammar AL-Gaddafi has been killed, and the Muslim Brotherhood has taken control of Libya, instituting sharia law, a control system governed by an Islamic Caliphate.

  • Egypt suffered a violent revolt which drove Hosni Mubarak out of power and got Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood elected. Christians are imprisoned, beaten, and killed there with frequency now.

  • Syria is currently undergoing a major upheaval. In trying to retain power, President Bashar AL-Assad is slaughtering thousands within the nation. It is clear that Syria is heavily influenced by Iran as their military commanders are deeply involved with operations in Syria. It is also known that Syria has prepped chemical weapons and may have used them on its own citizens. It is only a matter of time before Syria collapses and falls under the hand of the Muslim Brotherhood as well. Syria is also a nation that has no tolerance of Jews or Christianity. The secret police, and that appears to be about every third person there, will have you arrested, imprisoned, and tortured. I believe you will see a change in the streets of Syria as a wholesale slaughter of anyone not bowing the knee to Allah will be killed.

    • (Isaiah 8:4 NASB) for before the boy knows how to cry out ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.”

      It is not vitally important to focus on the names or ages but on the speed with which it falls. By the way.

    • (Isaiah 17:1 DRB) The burden of Damascus. Behold Damascus shall cease to be a city, and shall be as a ruinous heap of stones.

      Considering the direction of the battle and the context of the region this should not be a surprise to anyone. If I had anything else notable to say about this, it would be to get your families out of Damascus if you can.

Revelation 13:2 KJV 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.

John sees one beast with three deadly attributes: a Leopard, a Bear, and the mouth of a Lion.

We will compare notes with what Daniel saw to gain a better understanding of what John is looking at.

Daniel 7:3 KJV And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another.

Daniel 7:4-7 KJV The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man’s heart was given to it. (5) And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh. (6) After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it. (7) After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.

Daniel chapter 7 helps to understand who we are dealing with.

  • The lion was Nebuchadnezzar. (Daniel 7:4) Nebuchadnezzar had his sanity taken away to humble him before God. God returned his mind to him and he stopped crawling on all fours like a cow.
  • The bear was Medo-Persian empire. The Persian empire was much stronger than the Medes hence we see them as lopsided.
  • The Leopard began as the Alexandrian empire. Alexander did not live through his thirties and two remaining dominant empires coming out of his were the Seleucid and Ptolemaic empires, sort of the North and South.

  • Although prominent the Roman Empire is not under consideration here. They only briefly attempted an expansion into Iraq under Trajan, but within months Trajan was dead and Roman influence was retracted to its original boundaries. They never held the same territories that any of the others held.

There is no clear definition of who the fourth beast is, but there is a strong clue and we will get to that later.

Daniel 7:23 KJV 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.

Did any of these previous kingdoms conquer the entire world? No. If you are honest then you have to admit that there were civilizations going on in every continent. I believe that history is always favorable to you when you record your own words, and I think that they spoke of the world they knew as the only one of any concern. These empires: the Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Alexandrian, Roman, and Islamic, conquered all that was not only important to them but fell within the context of God’s plan.

If Daniel 7:23 described the fourth beast as different then you need to ask how? Consider that Islam is the only one that is religiously driven.

Daniel not only told Nebuchadnezzar what his dream was but defined what it meant.

Daniel 2:31-35 NASB “You, O king, were looking and behold, there was a single great statue; that statue, which was large and of extraordinary splendor, was standing in front of you, and its appearance was awesome. (32) “The head of that statue was made of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, (33) its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. (34) “You continued looking until a stone was cut out without hands, and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them. (35) “Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were crushed all at the same time and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

As you can see Daniel described a solitary unit much like John. Aspects of this solitary image are what concern us.

  • The head of gold represents Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian empire.

    In Daniel 7:4 we see a winged Lion. “..and it was lifted from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man, and the mind of a man was given to it.” This is a very clear description of Nebuchadnezzar, for God had taken his sanity and he crawled on all fours as cattle might. In time he was given back his sanity, made to stand on two feet, and his kingdom was restored. Although Babylon took Israel into captivity it almost seems that God deemed that a time of learning and protection. The focus is now directed at those that are to come.

  • Daniel 2:39 NASB “After you there will arise another kingdom inferior to you,

    This inferior second kingdom came in the form of the Medo-Persian empire. When you look at Daniel 7:5 it is represented as a lopsided bear because the Persian portion of the empire was much stronger than the Median portion.

  • “…..then another third kingdom of bronze, which will rule over all the earth.”

    The third kingdom was the Greek empire under Alexander’s short reign. Daniel saw this third beast and described it in Daniel 7:6. The leopard had “four wings of a bird on its back. And the beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it” Alexander’s reign was short-lived. At Alexander’s death his empire was divided primarily among his four strongest generals. Those four fought for fifty years and the two remaining empires were the Ptolemaic and the Seleucid empires. The Seleucid empire being the largest and strongest.

    The four empires immediately after Alexander were:

    • the Ptolemaic dynasty ruling over Egypt

    • the Seleucid dynasty covering the region from modern-day Turkey to Afghanistan and Pakistan.

    • The Lysimachian dynasty ruling over the region of Bulgaria.

    • The Cassandrian dynasty which was over the regions of Macedonia or Modern-day Greece.

      These four comprised the wings and the heads upon the Leopard of Daniel 7:6

  • Daniel 2:40 NASB “Then there will be a fourth kingdom as strong as iron; inasmuch as iron crushes and shatters all things, so, like iron that breaks in pieces, it will crush and break all these in pieces.

    While so many attribute this fourth beast to the Roman empire, it just does not fit the characterization of crushing and destroying. Rather the Roman empire built infrastructure, and established order and law in the lands it conquered. In comparison the empire of Islam has been a destructive force to those it conquered. Even today the Christian community that may have once flourished in majority Islamic nations has been brutalized for having conflicting beliefs.

    Another reason that this is not the Roman empire has to do with the prophecy of Daniel 9:26.

    Daniel 9:26 KJV And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.

    Far to many have used this and said, it is the Romans that fill this role because they ordered the destruction of the temple. Statements like this prove your lack of desire to find and see the truth. The problem is that even history disproves that theory.

Josephus the Jewish historian, and Tacitus the Roman Senator and historian, both recorded that the legions in Jerusalem were conscript troops from the local populace, either outnumbering Italians 11 to 1, or they comprised the entire military contingent of 60,000. Both historians record that these conscripts had an overt hatred for the Jews, and Josephus particularly records, that of their own accord they assaulted the city and the temple. Josephus tells us that Tacitus was alerted and ran to stop their assault for he saw that the temple was salvageable. He was ignored. Yes, they marched under the colors of Rome and wore the Roman uniform but their anger caused them to ignore the orders of Tacitus. These conscript troops are clearly defined by history as being primarily Assyrian/Middle Eastern.

If the people who destroyed the temple were Assyrians then their prince will be Assyrian too. Essentially what we should be looking for here is a Muslim.

(Daniel 7:3 DRB) And four great beasts, different one from another, came up out of the sea.

One of the things I stated in a earlier post is that you have to keep your beasts straight. No, this is not mandatory but we fling these terms around without clarity. Here in one passage are four beasts and they refer to multiple things if you think about it.

  • Empires

  • Rulers

  • And the demonic spirit that drives them.

I am making some of these statements not because I have a clear line of background evidence but because logical thinking should prove that there is something more going on here. Satan, we understand from scripture was a very powerful but fallen angel. He took one-third of the heavenly angels with him. We also know the names of several other angels, some good and some bad. A couple of bad ones are: The prince of Persia, and the prince of Grecia.

Folks there has to be more. You cannot confirm or deny that these beasts may in actuality be princes by the same names, such as Alexander, Seleucus, or Cassander.

How do we have any clue about who or what these are?

Daniel felt the same way and so he asked. Here is the response.

As for me, Daniel, my spirit was grieved and anxious within me, and the visions of my head alarmed and agitated me. I came near to one of those who stood there and asked him the truth of all this. So he told me and made known to me the interpretation of the things.

(Daniel 7:15-16 AMP)

The angel’s explanation of the four beasts begins with:

These four beasts are four kingdoms that shall rise up on the earth: which shall be taken away; and the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, and possess it for ever and ever. (Daniel 7:17-18 Brenton)

Recap:

The beast of Revelation 13:2 is a history in allegory form describing waring empires and a future, vicious empire. It has been part of God’s plan to regain his family back all along. God is pouring out his spirit upon these middle Eastern nations as we speak. Therefore I implore you to pray.

Ask Jesus Christ to come into your life and he will give you a new life, his. You will be welcomed into the kingdom of God with open arms. And you know love like you have never known.

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The background behind the chaos, Revelation 13:1

Posted on 02/24/2013 by remso

If you are following along with me we just finished chapter 12. A quick recap of chapter 12 has Satan thrown out, and excluded from access to heaven. If you are honest we saw a throw back in time to him lying in wait to kill the Christ child. Unable to do that he pursues the Woman (Israel) in attempt to kill them off. Failing that he goes after her seed, which happens to be Israel. There is another peculiar aspect of chapter 12 that should have caught your attention and that is: Revelation 12:17 EMTV And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went off to make war with the rest of her seed, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus.

This last segment clearly identifies this aspect of the remnant as:

  1. Those keeping the commandments of God.

    Any decent Jew would think that they are doing that.

  2. And having the testimony of Jesus.

    Now we are in deep water.

    The Jews rejected Jesus, but these either have not, or they have turned to Jesus as the awaited Messiah. Depending on when they came to know Jesus as the Messiah plays heavily into the end times chronology. If they came to a knowledge and acceptance of him prior to the rapture they would not be here. So then it is safe to say they came after. Using your brain and putting the pieces of the puzzle together, you can gather that they have been:

    • pursued,

    • persecuted,

    • seen many die around them,

    • chose not to flee,

    • and had someone mentor them about how they could walk through this test.

After walking through the barrage being thrown by Satan, stepping into chapter thirteen is like putting the brakes on. Chapter thirteen takes us back in history and prophecy, so can we say that this chapter is giving us the background that makes all this chaos happen.

And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.

(Revelation 13:1 KJV)

John is the person referred to when it says “I”.

The sand of the sea is not necessarily literal but certainly can have a correlation with Abraham, for God told him that his descendants would be as the sands of the sea. This is another area in which we may have made disastrous assumptions for we consistently attribute the sands reference to Jews. But if you are paying attention then you know that Muslims claim Abraham as their father through Ishmael. Ishmael was not the son of promise and seems to be the basis of their anger, but try numbering them. The promise applied no matter what direction Abraham’s seed went.

John has the fortune to have an angel, much like with Daniel, give an explanation of the events that John is seeing. The sea that the beast rises out of is explained in Revelation 17:15

Revelation 17:15 EMTV Then he said to me, “The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and languages.

A beast rise up out of the sea,

The beast at this point has no definition and yet we eagerly assigned this to some man. One of the things I noted as I journaled about this, is that you have to keep your beasts straight. Scripture tells us that four have attained that title.

“having seven heads…”

In trying to find the right words there is no shame using the words of someone smarter. John MacArthur’s commentary states:

“The heads may represent successive world empires—Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, and the final kingdom of Antichrist”

MacArthur goes on to say,

“When John wrote, the Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian, Medo-Persian, and Greek empires had gone out of existence; Rome still existed; and the Antichrist’s empire had not yet come.”

If we are talking empires when we try to ascertain the heads, and I believe we are, then we have to begin looking for some commonalities. I may not go into that here, but hopefully touch on some possibilities.

Keep in mind that my object is make this book understandable, as I believe it was meant to be.

“..having seven heads and ten horns,”

John MacArthur says the horns represent power.

Daniel saw the same beast.

Daniel 7:7-11 NASB “After this I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrifying and extremely strong; and it had large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet; and it was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. (8) “While I was contemplating the horns, behold, another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were pulled out by the roots before it; and behold, this horn possessed eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth uttering great boasts. (9) “I kept looking Until thrones were set up, And the Ancient of Days took His seat; His vesture was like white snow And the hair of His head like pure wool. His throne was ablaze with flames, Its wheels were a burning fire. (10) “A river of fire was flowing And coming out from before Him; Thousands upon thousands were attending Him, And myriads upon myriads were standing before Him; The court sat, And the books were opened. (11) “Then I kept looking because of the sound of the boastful words which the horn was speaking; I kept looking until the beast was slain, and its body was destroyed and given to the burning fire.

But Daniel got an explanation of the beast.

Daniel 7:23-24 NASB “Thus he said: ‘The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth, which will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth and tread it down and crush it. (24) ‘As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise; and another will arise after them, and he will be different from the previous ones and will subdue three kings.

So the horns actually represent ten kings. Three get taken out. What do we have that closely resembles this level of activity? Libya and Egypt. Is Syria the third? Do not know for sure, but it is a strong maybe.

I mentioned earlier that you should start paying attention to commonalities. Although I am sure this can be defined we have the underlying purpose behind their coalition, God decreed it to fulfill his word.

Revelation 17:17 NASB “For God has put it in their hearts to execute His purpose by having a common purpose, and by giving their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God will be fulfilled.

Revelation 13:1 CJB (12:18) Then the dragon stood on the seashore; (13:1) and I saw a beast come up out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads. On its horns were ten royal crowns and on its heads blasphemous names.

The focus at the moment is what is on its heads. Each head had a crown. Let’s think this through for a moment. The queen of England wears a crown but only during ceremonies.

Some of the countries that may fit into this beast as a head:

  • Libya – Old information, valid during the reign of Muammar Qadhafi, defined the government there as: governed by the populace through local councils; in practice, an authoritarian state. Col. Qadhafi never wore a crown.

  • Saudi Arabia – A major supporter of terrorism seems to be missing from the prophetic picture. They are run as a monarchy. No one here wears anything closely resembling a crown. Sharia law is exclusive to Saudi and outsiders have no rights there.

  • Iran – They seem to be a major player in bible prophecy. They are called a theocratic republic. Consider what that means. Although they have a president the real leaders of the country are religious. The religion happens to be Islam and the laws are Sharia laws. Essentially the mullahs or Imams run the country.

  • Egypt – Their name is actually Arab Republic of Egypt. Prior to Morsi’s election as president of the country they claim to be a republic. Anyone with open eyes knows that within the last year Egypt under went a major upheaval and Andrew Morsi got himself elected. The country is now attempting to govern itself by Sharia law and one should only assume that the Imams wish to have total control.

None of them wear crowns, but they do wear turbans.

John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible states,

“And upon his horns ten crowns; which distinguishes Rome Papal from Rome Pagan; the crowns in Rome Pagan were upon the heads, or the emperors, that resided at Rome; and though it had ten horns, as here, and was divided into so many provinces, which were governed by deputies, proconsuls, &c. yet they were not kings, they had no crowns; but here the horns have crowns on them because the governors of these ten kingdoms are crowned kings:”

You might think that this should force us to focus on the Vatican as the beast, but I think that is a misdirection and some ill thought out logic.

Daniel shows that the human Antichrist will rise up from these ten kings (Daniel_7:16-24); And that this is the little horn.

Daniel 9:26 CJB Then, after the sixty-two weeks, Mashiach will be cut off and have nothing. The people of a prince yet to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary, but his end will come with a flood, and desolations are decreed until the war is over.

Both Josephus and Tacitus recorded that Assyrians within the legions outnumbered Romans by a five to one ratio, and that at the time of the temples destruction there were about 60,000 troops primarily of Assyrian decent. They demonstrated no love for the Jews, and were entirely responsible for the destruction of the temple.

So if you are looking for the direction from which the prince will come then you should be looking toward the Assyrian nations. These are the nations that are surrounding and threatening Israel as we speak. And they are Islamic controlled nations.

A bit of a heads up. Find the book The Islamic Antichrist, by Joel Richardson and you will get a clearer picture than I can give you.

“…and on his heads were blasphemous names. “

In Mark’s gospel, chapter 3, the Jews attributed the works that Jesus did to the devil, specifically Beelzebub = “lord of the house”1) a name of Satan, the prince of evil spirits (Thayer). For this he lit into the middle of them and defined for us just what blasphemy was.

Mark 3:22-29 KJV And the scribes which came down from Jerusalem said, He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils casteth he out devils. (23) And he called them unto him, and said unto them in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan? (24) And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. (25) And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand. (26) And if Satan rise up against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end. (27) No man can enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house. (28) Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: (29) But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation:

These names on their heads are the antithesis of God (in opposition to.) The Greek word used was blasphemia, and means: 1) slander, detraction, speech injurious, to another’s good name; 2) impious and reproachful speech injurious to divine majesty.

God did not introduce himself to the father of not only Israel, but the Arab as well (through Ishmael) by the name of Allah. He called himself “I am”. It is even more complicated than that, for as one translator described it, his name sounds like breath itself.

The Quran teaches that it is absurdity to think that Jesus Christ is the son of God for Allah would degrade himself to partake of such an act. Therefore Jesus is merely a good prophet, worthy of listening to, and he did not die on any cross for he was rescued off of it before death and lived a long, married life. Again you should be able to see the opposition to the gospel and blasphemy.

If this is not a man who John sees in Revelation 13:1 then what is it. We have an idea of what it looks like, but that only makes it more freakish. We also know that Satan brought powerful angels with him in his first fall. The angel Gabriel had fought with a powerful angel and another was coming. Ironically one of those angels was called the prince of Persia (Which we now know as Iran). We also know that there are four evil angels that are to be released, currently bound in the river Euphrates.

So what if this beast is really upheld by the actions of a powerful angel, and what if his name is Allah?

I tell you these things not to incite you riot, scare you off, or turn you from God because you see him as filled with rage, but in hopes that you come to him.

We are still living in the age of grace, that time period where Christ’s blood covers our sins, therefore the only thing that puts distance between us and the Father that longs for us is our arrogance and unbelief.

I equate this world to a giant adoption agency where God came to make an adoption. Knowing full well what we were like and how many of there were he brought the full price and paid for all of us, so that we could be in his family. Because God is loving and wants all to come by choice you merely have sign in agreement and get in the truck to go home with him.

What does it mean to sign the agreement? Not that much different from believing. Believing means I understand that he loves me and wants me, and that the price Jesus Christ paid that day (his life) was enough. We have been forgiven of all sins. I cannot stress that enough, but we have to make the decision to get on board of our own free will. Love outside of free will is slavery and not love at all but fear. God is love. Love put himself on the cross for you, and the best news of all is that death could not hold him, for he is alive.

Ask Jesus Christ to make himself real to you. He will. The rest is up to you, run into his open arms and life with him is yours.

P.S. I talk to much, so we will continue Revelation 13 with the next post.

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