SPECIAL PROPHECY UPDATE NUMBER 239BSeptember 7, 2005
Armageddon – Not in the Far Distant Future – Part 3
An Exposition of Revelation 16:13 to 18:24
Revelation 16:16 – And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.
I am inserting the words of James Henry Thornwell as the preamble of “An Exposition of Revelation 16:13 to 18:24.”
BEGIN QUOTE: “To employ soft words and honeyed phrases in discussing questions of eternal importance; to deal with errors that strike at the foundations of all human hope as if they were harmless and venial mistakes; to bless where God disapproves, and to make apologies where God calls us to stand up like men and assert, though it may be the aptest method of securing popular applause in a sophistical age, is cruelty to man and treachery to Heaven. Those who on such subjects attach more importance to the rules of courtesy than they do to the measures of truth do not defend the citadel, but betray it into the hands of its enemies. Love for Christ, and for the souls for whom he died, will be the exact measure of our zeal in exposing the dangers by which men’s souls are ensnared.” END QUOTE.
James Henry Thornwell was a Presbyterian Minister, and even though I do not agree with many of the views expressed in his writings, I definitely agree with what he had to say in the preceding quote. The quote was timely for me, because I was having reservations about doing the exposition of this particular series when I received it. It reminded me of an obligation God advised Ezekiel to consider as a watchman who sounds to warn those in danger.
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 2.
REVELATION 17:1 – And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
The great whore is the “her” of Revelation 18:4 from 17:1 to 18:24 identified as “the woman,” and is clearly stated to be the great city of Rome in 17:18.
Revelation 17:18 – And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.
Rome ruled the known world when John was writing the Book of Revelation in exile on the Isle of Patmos. The city boundaries sat on the seven small physical hills of Rome, and spiritually on the foundations of six evil governments of men that preceded the seventh head, which is the government of antichrist. Chronologically, the first six heads represent the Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Macedonian, and Roman Empires.
Revelation 17:9 – And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. (Mountains are occasionally used to represent governments in the Scriptures)
REVELATION 17:2 – With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
Fornication was often used to designate an act of sexual union between two unwed physical personages, which was not acceptable to God. This type of sexual union he considered an unholy physical action that produced an unholy wedding.
II Corinthuians 6:14-18 – Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? [15] And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? [16] And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. [17] Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, [18] And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
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.
The first ungodly wedding of church and state occurred in 313 AD when a grouping of irregular churches united with Rome under Emperor Constantine. It was an act of fornication against God, an unholy union of local churches with the governments of men to gain power to supposedly assist the Spirit of God. The woman of Revelation 17 and 18 is the Catholic Church. Since that time many groups have come out of her, and have, at one time or another, also have been designated as state religions by countries across the globe. Many that broke away from her carried some of the leaven of her false teaching with them, and have become almost as corrupt as she is today.
The “many waters” on which the “whore” sits are identified as “peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.” This great religious prostitute from the truth is identified and geographically located in Revelation 17:18 as “that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.” And in John’s day that city was Rome. Today, the most widespread religious organization in the world has its tentacles spread across the earth from its headquarters in Rome.
The kings of all the earth have had continuous dealings with the great Vatican government of Rome down through the ages. The history of the Catholic Church has long been one of political involvement in the affairs of nations and kings. Many nations and kings have been intoxicated with her religious wine that dulls the conscience of lost souls.
REVELATION 17:3 – So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
The “wilderness” as used here refers to a world filled with spiritual darkness. The woman claims to be filled with spiritual light, and to be able to see, to understand, the kingdom of God. But like the Pharisees of old, who claimed to be full of light, the light that is in her is the same spiritual darkness, and it is an ever greater degree of darkness because she actually thinks she sees light.
John 3:3 – Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot SEE the kingdom of God.
Matthew 6:23 – But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!
In verse 17:3 John sees the “woman” setting on the back of a “scarlet colored beast.” This is the same beast described in previous chapters as having “seven heads and ten horns” – But here it represents the supposedly resurrected Antichrist. And here, in Chapter 18, he has a new color – he is “scarlet colored.” Why has he changed colors between Revelation 13 and 17? Because, when we saw the first beast in Revelation 13:1, he had one head that had been “wounded to death” – but he was still alive – he was still a non-resurrected man. But now, in Revelation 17:3 we see him as counterfeiting Christ in shedding his blood. He claims his wound by a sword was the shedding of his blood for his religious world followers, but that he had now risen from the dead to be their eternal king. He is the blood colored Lamb of Satan. Satan is going to counterfeit the real Christ so well that only those who really know the truth will recognize his counterfeit. I worship the blood stained Lamb of God – They will worship the scarlet colored beast of Satan.
REVELATION 17:4,5 - And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: [5] And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
The Protestant Reformation was a great thing, because many believers could no longer stand the level of heresy to which the Catholic Church had ascended. It is very unfortunate that the breakaways carried some of the earliest heresies of the second to the fourth century with them when they came out, allowing Catholicism to be labeled as “the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.”
Verses four and five are perfect illustrations of all the wealth, pomp, power, ritual, and ceremony associated with the Catholic Church and world religion today.
REVELATION 17:6 – And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
Verse six requires little comment – hundreds of volumes have been amassed by countless writers attesting to horrible killing and torture of true believers by the Catholic Church before and during the Reformation. One day she will answer for all long trail of blood of the saints.
The “woman” represents the great apostasy from worship in spirit and in truth. She rides on the Antichrist because he will support her after she confirms his phony resurrection as genuine. When he makes his claim to have returned from the dead, the leader of the apostate church, who will be the false prophet pope of Rome, will recognize his resurrection as a true miracle, and the followers of this apostate church will believe it. The world religious leader will be the false prophet of Revelation 13. After this all of the great world religious leaders of the known world of John’s day will fall into line one by one.
If the idea of a fake resurrected Islamic antichrist being followed by the disciples of Islam seems strange, please consider the rest of this Update.
During my 20 plus years in military service, from time to time I went to school with the followers of Islam, and trained one in meteorological severe weather prediction at the Federal Office building in Kansas City, Missouri. The information which follows is about a traditional teaching involving the arrival of an Islamic Imam Mahdi (al-Imam al-Mahdi) at the end of this last age before the resurrection. The word Imam means “to walk before,” and carries the title of Caliph, and the word “Mahdi” means “a leader, and a spiritual guide and director.” The Muslims expect this leader and prophet to appear on the earth before the world ends, and he is expected to be the Islamic Messiah. The belief is based on thousands of traditions that claim to go all the way back to the Koran, but I have never been able to find a legitimate reference in the Koran without twisting its context. Of course, I do not believe Islamic tradition or the Koran, but what I believe is beside the point. The point is that most Muslims do believe it. So when a man does arise among them they can label as an Imam Mahdi, then I believe he will be the antichrist of which the Bible teaches, which I do believe, and it will make it much easier for some 700 million Muslims, most of which live in the Middle East, to follow him in a great and united Jihad against Israel. The al-Imam al-Mahdi will carry the title “The Just Leader of Humanity.”
Even though it cannot be found in the Koran, there are a large number of learned Muslims who claim the belief in Mahdi was widespread during Muhammad’s lifetime among them. Many say on more than one occasion he had announced the future coming of the Mahdi, and that at times he would inform the people about Mahdi’s wonderful government, plus the signs preceding his rise among the people. Ancient Islamic documents do quote the Prophet as saying: “The world will not come to an end until a man from my family line, who will be called al-Mahdi, emerges to rule my community.” A couple of other quotes from Islamic documents are also valuable in understand Muslim beliefs on this subject; one makes a statement that is quoted as having been uttered by the Prophet three times: “Listen to the good news about the Mahdi! He will rise at the time when the people will be faced with severe conflict and the earth will be hit by a violent quake. He will fill the earth with justice and equality as it is filled with injustice and tyranny. He will fill the hearts of his followers with devotion and will spread justice everywhere (Mihal, Vol. 1, p .256: Firaq, p. 62).” And, in Milal, Vol. 1, pp. 273, 278 and Firaq, pp. 67, 80, 83, the Prophet has declared: “The day of Resurrection will not take place until the True Qa’im rises. This will happen when God permits him to do so. Anyone who follows him will be saved, and anyone who opposes him will perish. O servants of God, keep God in your mind and go towards him even if it happens to be on the ice, for indeed he is the Caliph of God, the Exalted and Glorified, and my successor.”
Shiites revere 12 Imams historically, the last of whom is believed to be currently in hiding, but will make himself known to Islam as the al-Mahdi in the last days of this age. There is also a traditional teaching that he will rise from the dead before the end of time.
The subject of Imams is what led to the great split in the Islamic ranks between the Sunni, the largest party, and the Shiite, the second largest party. But the Kurds and other splinter groups also have their religious Imams, which is one of the major reasons there can never be a democracy in Iraq, because of the bitter enmity between the Islamic divisions. However, if a strong leader, with great religious charisma, should arise out of hiding to unite them all in the belief he was the Imam Mahdi of Islamic tradition with the power of Allah, the fanaticism of the Muslims would create much more than just an occasional suicide bomber – It would generate a massive flood of millions charging across the northern border of Israel unafraid of death. Of course, I do not believe the Koran or the traditional teachings of Islam. I decided long ago, from Micah 5:1-9, that the antichrist would be of Assyrian lineage, and would come out of the area that included Lebanon, extreme southern Turkey, Syria, northern Iraq, or the extreme tip of northwestern Iran (See Prophecy Updates 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, and 69 in our Prophecy Archives). And I am confident he will be of the Islamic faith (See Prophecy Updates 160B and 161C in our Prophecy Archives). If you really want your eyes opened to what was taught prophetically before 1740, then check out the following Prophecy Updates in our archives: 73D, 74A, 78, 82A, 114A, 117B, 56, 57, 58, 123B and 123D. It may be you will discover that what is going on now in the Middle East fits what pre-1740 prophetic teachings indicated would be happening, in the last days, more accurately than the twentieth century popular teachings of end time events. As I stated earlier, I do not believe the Koran or Islamic traditional teaching, but it is ironic that they are primed to receive the one we call the antichrist from their own writings, which identify him as their Messiah. Before too much longer I expect a man from within the area I previously identified, probably Syria, to be manifested as someone behind which all Muslims can unite to meet their goal of driving Israel out of the land from Dan to Beersheba, and with a view toward overcoming all the infidels in the name of Allah.