SPECIAL PROPHECY UPDATE NUMBER 240B

September 13, 2005

Armageddon – Not in the Far Distant Future – Part 5

An Exposition of Revelation 16:13 to 18:24

Revelation 16:16-19 – And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. [17] And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done. [18] And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. [19] And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.

Ezekiel 33:3-6 – If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people; [4] Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. [5] He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul. [6] But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand.

The primary Scripture, among those on which I will be expositing in this series, specifically warns those setting under false teachings to break away from the religious “her” that is teaching them today.

Revelation 18:4 – And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

This Scripture lets me know there are saved men and women who are in the “her” of this verse, because it calls them “my people.”  The primary purpose of this series is to specifically identify the “her” and to implore those in “her” to come “out of her, and to warn those “not in her” to stay “out of her.”

Now, I shall continue expositing from where we left off in Part 4.

REVELATION 17:15-17 – And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. [16] And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. [17] For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.

The ten horns are ten Arab kings who will soon come against Israel led by the Antichrist, who is the eleventh horn on Daniel’s fourth beast.

Daniel 7:24-28 – And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. [25] And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.

The ten Arab kings will accept the Antichrist as their leader “for God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.”  The Prophet Mohammad loudly proclaimed he was God’s prophet, and he was supposedly called by the angel Gabriel.  Today some 400 million followers of Allah are scattered across Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and southeastern Europe, and they believe that Allah is God.  Allah is a word compounded of the article “al” and the word “ilah,” which means “the God.”  I believe the Catholic faith will accept the Antichrist as the “O Theos” (the God), and the Islamic faith will accept him as Allah (the God).  Most of the many faiths would love to have a flesh and blood man to lead them, one who had returned from the dead.  Many different faiths across the earth have multiple gods – some sects in India have hundreds of gods – but each sect always has one god who is more powerful than all the others.  All the religions, both small and great, will believe that the beast is that one most powerful god in their worship system.

Unfortunately for the “woman,” the Arabs have always hated religious Christianity, and near the end of the tribulation period they will vent their full religious zeal on the religious woman of Rome.  John attests to the woman’s final destruction by the sons of Allah in verse sixteen – “And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.”

REVELATION 17:18 – And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

The woman identified as “The Whore of Babylon” sits in Rome with her tentacles extended across the earth to influence the world with her false teachings.  I believe it will be in Rome that the false prophet of Revelation 13 will arise and, for a while Rome will ride high on the beast as a supporter of its cause against Israel, but after Israel is driven into the Negev the beast will turn on the Catholic churches in Islamic churches with a vengeance.

The false prophet of Revelation will play a major role in end time events and I believe will relate quite well with what I call “leader worship,” which both Catholic and Islam practice when it comes to idolizing statues of men.

Revelation 13:14 – And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.

For an exposition of “them that dwell on the earth” consult our Archives for Prophecy Updates 77, 77A, 77B, and 77C.  It is used as a hyperbole, and means the “known” world when John wrote the book of Revelation.  For an exposition of “had the wound by a sword, and did live,” consult previous updates in this series.

“THAT THEY SHOULD MAKE AN IMAGE TO THE BEAST”

My AWS and NSA career carried me to assignments in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.  During these assignments I became familiar with the religious beliefs of many different areas across the earth.  I can assure you that the knowledge of the information contained in the areas of biblical prophecy writings from Genesis to Revelation is not known by 99.9 percent of those who make up the Islamic faith.  But their dictatorial leaders down through the centuries have established a definite pattern of self-aggrandizement by the creation of massive images of themselves in public places.  When one goes to Syria, Iraq, Jordan, or Egypt, he or she is met by a constant series of statues, huge pictures or banners of the current leader, along with musical voices on loud speakers sounding out his praises.  I can also assure you that the creation of images, statues, and other visible artifacts is found to abound in catholic worship across the surface of the planet.  I will also assure you that an actual knowledge of prophetic teachings is not obtained by private study of the scriptures by individual Catholics in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.  What pitifully little they do obtain is taught by the priests, and very, very little is taught from the book of Revelation.  I will guarantee that the average parish attendee of catholic services in these areas knows nothing about the book of Revelation.  So it would be child’s play to get both Catholics and Muslims to worship the image of a man whom the false prophet said had been resurrected from the dead.  There would only be an extremely small minority in these areas that would refuse to do so, and they would be among those who worship Christ only as the total sacrifice for their sins.  They would be killed for failing to worship the image.

Revelation 13:15 – And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

This may be an absolute miracle where a statue does seem to come to life and speak.  However, it is more likely it is the image of the beast on a worldwide television screen, or a voice from a recording inside a statue, which calls them to worship him, similarly to the call to worship that now occurs across the Islamic world several times a day from Muslim towers, when they bow down toward Mecca in answer to the call.  The daily call to fall down and worship toward where the image was located would not be difficult to obtain from either Muslim or Catholic beliefs.  But in the U.S. and most countries of the post-Columbus New World it would be most unlikely to be accepted.  Please review Prophecy Update Numbers 77, 77A, 77B, and 77C for an exposition on the size of the Antichrist’s final empire and where he is in absolute control.  This will also help to better understand the “all” to which John refers in the next verse.  It refers to the “known” world of John’s day.

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

I believe the mark of the beast will only be forced on the peoples of what is often referred to as “the old world.”