WHO IS THE ANTICHRIST?

In this chapter we will discover the Antichrist. We begin by reading Revelation 14:8.

"And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. "

You will notice that this system called Babylon causes all the nations on earth to drink from her cup. This is why God's wrath is poured out upon the inhabitants of the earth who drink from this cup.

Further details are revealed in Revelation 18:1-4.

"And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power, and the earth was lightened with his glory..

"And he cited mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

"For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.

"And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye he not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. "

Why? The next verse, Revelation 18:5, explains.

"For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities."

God in His great mercy has revealed every detail of this Antichrist power by describing an eighth and final beast in prophecy. (See Figure #15). An evil woman rides on this beast holding a cup of false doctrines in her hand from which the inhabitants of this world are drinking. Let us read how God describes this woman who sits upon this beast.

"I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:

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

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

"And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:

"And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT,THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH" Revelation 17.1-5.

Please remember, there must be no guessing about this beast, for this is a life and death issue! So please turn to the back cover of this book and open the folded chart showing eight beasts. Keep this before you as you read this chapter. These beasts of Bible prophecy cover six thousand years, from the creation of our world down to the last days when Christ has promised to return and usher in His everlasting kingdom.

Now we are ready for a quick review of the first seven beasts which will help us to clearly understand the eighth beast which is the Antichrist.

The Bible tells us that war broke out in heaven between Christ and His angels and Satan and the angels who chose to follow him. The devil was cast out of heaven and came to this world where Adam and Eve had been given dominion over the earth. Let us read Revelation 12:7-9.

"And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, '!And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.

"And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world.he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him."

Satan soon deceived Adam and Eve causing them to sin against God by eating the forbidden fruit. This disobedience automatically placed the family of man on the side of Satan in the battle against God. Thus, the war which began in heaven continues on this earth with two opposing forces, the "Sons of God" who obey Him, and the "sons of men" who are loyal to Satan.

In prophecy God pictures this enemy power now on this earth as a great red dragon. Since God knows the end from the beginning, He has given us this picture of Satan's power which will continue to control this world until the end when Jesus will come the second time to fight the last battle called Armageddon, destroying Satan's kingdom.

Notice how God describes in detail how the devil's kingdom got started as we read Revelation 12:3,4.

,And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.

"And his tail drew the third Part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth:"

The seven heads symbolized the seven time periods in which the dragon power controls the people under its influence, beginning with the antediluvians who became so evil that God destroyed them with a worldwide flood.

After the flood Satan again took over the world by developing a universal pagan kingdom in the year 606 B.C. called Babylon. God used a lion with wings to portray this powerful kingdom of Satan. But Babylon was conquered by the Medes and Persians in 538 B.C. The prophet portrayed this transfer of the dragon power by picturing a bear representing Persia which was devouring the three provinces of Babylon and eventually overthrew the Medes. A leopard with wings representing Greece conquered Persia in 331 B.C. Pagan Rome arose in 168 B.C. to conquer Greece, thus the dragon power again was transferred. In A.D. 31 the devil through pagan Rome crucified our Saviour in an attempt to destroy Christ forever, but praise God, Jesus arose from the tomb victorious over Satan!

Pagan Rome continued as the universal kingdom of the dragon power until 476 A.D. when it divided into 10 separate kingdoms just as God had prophesied in Daniel 7:7, as a beast having 1 0 horns. In the year 538 A.D. the little horn power destroyed three of the 10 kingdoms causing the remaining 7 kingdoms to accept the papal rule over them. Thus, the dragon continued to control the world.

At this point God gives us a caricature of the beast of Revelation 13 to reveal that this papal power is nothing more than a continuation of the dragon power which revealed itself in all the past universal kingdoms of this earth. In developing this caricature Inspiration reaches back through past history by taking the horns from the monster beast of pagan Rome, the body from the leopard beast of Greece, the feet from the bear Medo-Persia, and the head from the lion, Babylon. And then inspiration adds "and the dragon gave him his power. " Revelation 13:2. This brings us back in time to the very beginning when the dragon seized control of this world soon after creation.

However, as you look forward in time using the beast chart attached to the back of this book, you make a discovery. The Satanic power of this first beast, the dragon, was passed on from one world empire to the next succeeding kingdom; such as the Dragon to Babylon, then to Medo-Persia, to Greece, to pagan Rome, and then to Papal Rome. This is clearly indicated in Revelation 13:2, "the dragon gave him his power.

But this Papal power of the dragon suffered a setback in the year 1798 A.D. when Napoleon dethroned the pope and caused him to die in exile. The Scripture speaks of this as receiving a "deadly wound".

Revelation 13:3.

In the same year that the wound was inflicted in 1798 the seventh beast, the United States of America, was recognized as the coming world power. (See beast chart). Prophecy predicted it would be an uncrowned, two-horned beast. The two horns representing Republicanism and Protestantism; that which the world had not seen for centuries, a nation with complete separation of church and state. During this time period the "deadly wound" which had been inflicted in the year 1798 began to heal when Mussolini agreed to make the Vatican a papal state in 1929.

We read the following words of Scripture in Revelation 13:14 in which this two-horned beast says to its citizens: "...that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by the sword, and did live. "

The restoration of power to the Vatican makes it possible for the appearance of the last and final beast to control the world. This beast of Revelation 17 which has an evil woman riding upon it depicts the Antichrist. (Please look again at the chart unfolded on the back cover).

God has given us clear unmistakable evidence so there can be no possible misunderstanding. Let us read Revelation 17:1-3 again.

'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:

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

"So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet Coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. (See figure #15, page 79 also Beast #8 in the unfolded chart of Beasts at back cover).

God gives eight points of identity.

1. The woman is seated on the beast. This is very significant. We have learned in previous chapters that a woman represents a church. A pure woman in white indicates a pure church. An impure or scarlet colored woman depicts an impure woman such as a whore, or an apostate church.

Here we have a woman seated upon a scarlet colored beast, the civil authorities, by which she is upheld and which she controls and guides to her own ends, as a rider controls the animal upon which he is seated. Thus the Antichrist church power is in absolute control of the New World Order.

2. This woman holds a cup in her hand from which she causes the inhabitants of this earth to drink and become drunk with the wine of false doctrines. This wine represents the deceptive false principles and policies from which the inhabitants of the earth have become unstable or drunk leading to a universal breakdown of law and order.

3. This woman riding the beast is called the mother of harlots revealing that as a result of the Ecumenical Movement the entire religious systems of the world have joined hands with her in religious unity of doctrines held in common.

4. The "deadly wound" inflicted in 1798 has been completely healed. She rules the entire world. Revelation 17:8 makes this clear: "...behold the beast that was, (538-1798); "and is not, (1 798-1929); "and yet is." (1929-today).

5. The color of the beast and the woman's dress are very important! Read Revelation 17:3,4:

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

"And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her handful of abominations and filthiness of her fornication."

These are the official colors portrayed in church pageantry.

6. Notice the words-"full of names of blaspheme This is the same beast of Revelation 13 which claims to have changed the Divine Law of God by removing the second commandment and changing the fourth commandment, thus the seventh day, God's Holy Sabbath day, has been changed to a false first day, Sunday worship; enforcing the "mark of the beast" by making it impossible to buy or sell unless this "mark" of her authority is accepted.

7. This Papal power portrayed by God is stated to be drunken with the blood of saints.

"And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of martyrs of Jesus. " Revelation 17.6.

History reveals that Papal Rome destroyed millions of God's saints.

8. And finally, the unthinkable! For Paul calls the Antichrist the "mystery of iniquity", 2 Thessalonians 2:7, which will attempt to fight the return of Christ in the final battle of Armageddon. God clearly reveals this in Revelation 17:10-14:

"And there are seven kings:five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come, and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.

"And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.

"And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet, but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.

"These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.

"These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful." (Emphasis added).

Now look again at the chart of beasts at the back of the book. You will notice that each beast is numbered in their order, one through eight. These beasts cover the entire history of the world from its beginning to the very end. Notice the dates printed above each beast provided by history and Scripture.

In Revelation 17:10 the Scripture states of these beasts that-"... there are seven kings:five are fallen. " (Now count the beasts starting with the dragon, as displayed on the chart). These time periods, or world powers controlled by Satan, were described by God as: #1 -the Dragon (the Antediluvians), #2-the Lion (Babylon), #3-the Bear (Medo-Persia), #4-the Leopard (Greece), and #5-the Monster (Pagan Rome). These were all in the past as the Scripture states, "all are fallen."

Now let us read Revelation 17:1 0 again.

"7'here are seven kings: five are fallen," number 6 refers to the Papacy, the beast of Revelation 13 is composed of a part from each of the previous (beast) powers. Then the Scripture continues, "the other is not yet come" which is referring to the number 7 beast.

These last six words refer to the United States. The prophet continues by stating that this seventh power, the United States, would continue a "short space" after it appeared, meaning an indefinite period of time. If God had given a date when it would end, we would know the exact time when Christ would come and man would procrastinate and not be ready for His coming. It is during this short time period that Scripture states in Revelation 13:11,12 regarding the United States of America:

"And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. "

Verse eleven of Revelation 17 then states "the beast that was and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven." Here is a perfect synopsis of the Papacy ruling the world from 538 to 1798. Then, because of the deadly wound, "it is not," until 1929 when the wound begins to heal to a full worldwide reign again. Then God adds these significant words, "and is of the seven" revealing that the power of Satan which is found in all seven preceding beasts is now fully developed in the eighth beast. This is God's explanation of the Antichrist. Satan is the true Antichrist, but he rules through his earthly representative, which the Bible calls a "beast" power.

You will recall in chapter 2, we discussed Revelation 12:3 in which God revealed that the dragon power would eventually control by reigning over the seven time periods of earth's history which God represented by the seven heads of the dragon, each with a crown, "behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. "

The ten horns represent the final ten powers which are now being formed on the earth under the New World Order, who give their power to the beast (the Antichrist). As we read in Revelation 17:12, 13:

"And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet, but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. "

As the Antichrist power enlists the entire world through the Ecumenical Movement for a One World Church and Government, God is preparing a special people who will gain the victory over this beast power and robe themselves in the wedding garment of Christ's righteousness to live with Christ throughout all eternity.

May God help you to decide to be a part of God's people who "...keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus, " Revelation 14:12, so that you may join His mighty army which will soon be victorious over the Antichrist power. Your soul is at stake!



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