The Mark of the Beast

Fred R. Coulter—March 25, 2000

 - PDF | Audio | [Up]

or Download

• Where are we in prophecy?
• Where are we in relationship to the return of Jesus Christ?
• What things do we need to look to and see what's happening today?

If there's any one thing that is true, we are living in the end-times!

Someone sent me a book and said, I don't see how America can be Israel in prophecy—that is the descendants of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh.' Most people think that the house of Israel are the Jews, the one tribe of Judah plus a few Levites. They don't understand about the ten tribes, who are supposedly lost, because the Jews say that the ten tribes were absorbed into Gentiles, therefore, they no longer exists; which is not true if you know and understand history.

So, this person sent me this book saying that 'the United States is Babylon.' I came to the conclusion that, no, it is Israel that is Babylonianized. That's what we are really dealing with.

Let's see some of the promises that God gave, and then we will see what happened to Israel after Solomon completed the temple. Let's review the blessing given to Ephraim and Manasseh: It shows that they would be the leading nations at the end-time (Gen. 49)—that is Britain and America.

In Deut. 28 we have the blessings and cursings given to Israel; that's all 12 tribes! We have to understand that the covenant given to Abraham was unconditional, meaning that in spite of the behavior of the offspring, the blessings and prophecies would happen.

What God did in giving the covenant to Israel, the covenant of the Old Testament, He made it conditional.

Deuteronomy 28:1: "And it shall come to pass, if… [that means that it's conditional and there are choices] …you shall hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD your God to observe and to do all His commandments which I command you today, the LORD your God will set you on high above all nations of the earth." We will see that happened during the days of Solomon. It also has happened in the end-time because of the promise given to Abraham that it would be.

Verse 2: "And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you if you will obey the voice of the LORD your God."

When people look to the promises of God, what do they want? They look to the promises of blessing! But there are other promises of God that are not blessings. You can read all the blessings that will be (vs 3-10)

Verse 11: "And the LORD shall make you abound in goods, in the fruit of your body, and in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your ground, in the land, which the LORD swore to your fathers to give you." Of course, America is part of that land that He swore to give to us.

Verse 12: "The LORD shall open to you His good treasure, the heaven to give the rain to your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. And you shall loan to many nations, and you shall not borrow. And the LORD shall make you the head, and not the tail. And you shall be always above, and you shall not be beneath, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you today, to observe and to do them. And you shall not go aside from any of the words, which I command you today, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them" (vs 12-14). There are all the blessings!

Notice that all the blessings are contained in 14 verses. In v 15 starts the promises that are cursings: "And it shall come to pass, if you will not hearken to the voice of the LORD your God to observe and to do all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you." Then he lists every one of them.

Now let's come to the conclusion of the matter, and let's see what is happening today. Why do we have so many immigrants coming into America, to Britain, to France, and all of the Israelite nations? Why is that taking place, but especially in America?

Verse 43: "The stranger dwelling among you shall get up above you very high, and you shall come down very low." We're about halfway there.

I called a federal government agency, and I got this woman on the phone and I couldn't understand her. I asked her twice to please repeat what she had to say. In exasperation I said, 'Don't you have someone there who speaks English? You will see that more and more strangers are coming in, and more and more they're getting ascendancy. As a matter of fact, here in certain counties the Anglo-Saxon whites are outnumbered by all of the so-called minorities.

Let's notice what will happen next, v 44: "He shall loan to you…" That's what happened to our debt. We were a lending nation until 1981, then we became a debtor nation and it has increased to where the U.S. debt alone is trillions and trillions of dollars.

Now a good number of American citizens hold that debt, but Japan holds hundreds of billions of dollars of that and so do the other different governments.

"…and you shall not loan to him. He shall be the head, and you shall be the tail" (v 44). So, sooner or later we are going to come down. The way it is now with everything setup in the land, we have so many ethnic groups and they're allowed to keep their own customs, their own language and live in their own segregated neighborhoods, and all this sort of thing.

One teacher said that she's having a difficult time trying to teach students in the second or third grade and that's because there are 67 languages spoken by the kids in this elementary school. So, here's the bleak future of America. All these blessings are going to switch over to curses. It's just a matter of a pendulum, kind of like a see-saw.

We're about the halfway point and it's going to gradually with more and more strangers coming in, more and more jobs are being taken by the, and it seems like more and more they get into the public sector, so they're controlling the government.

Verse 45: "And all these curses shall come on you, and shall pursue you and overtake you, until you are destroyed because you did not obey the voice of the LORD your God to keep His commandments and His statutes, which He commanded you. And they shall be on you for a sign and for a wonder, and on your seed forever. Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joyfulness and with gladness of heart for the abundance of all things" (vs 45-47).

Don't we have that today? We are so full of things: property, houses, cars, gadgets, technology, money, wealth, anything your heart could desire.

Verse 48: "Therefore, you shall serve your enemies, which the LORD shall send against you…" You can send enemies two ways:

• an army
• immigrants

"…in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in the want of all things. And he shall put a yoke of iron on your neck until he has destroyed you. The LORD shall bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth…" (vs 48-49).

This does not sound like, what some people have said in the past, were the Nazis out of Germany.
"…from the end of the earth as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you shall not understand' (v 49). Try Chinese! Are they not fierce?

Verse 50: "A nation fierce of countenance…" The Chinese are more fierce looking than Germans! They're threatening right now with no qualms. If you interfere in Taiwan, it's nuclear war! They control the east and west gates of the Panama Canal with Chinese corporations right there, plus the naval base in Long Beach, California, is partly leased out to the Chinese. So, they could bring things in here and we could go any minute.

"…who shall not regard the person of the old, nor show favor to the young. And he shall eat the fruit of your livestock and the fruit of your land, until you are destroyed. He shall not leave you grain, wine, or oil, neither the increase of your livestock, or flocks of your sheep until he has destroyed you. And he shall besiege you within all your gates…" (vs 50-52).

This may be a type of the immigration, and isn't our southern border besieged? They're sent in cargo containers on ships to come over here? It's amazing!

"…until your high and fortified walls in which you trusted come down throughout all the land. And he shall besiege you within all your gates throughout all your land which the LORD your God has given you" (v 52).

Then it goes on showing how really desperate it is going to be. Let's have an historical lesson; let's see what happened to Israel. Let's see what happened in Solomon's concluding remarks in the prayer of the dedication to the temple.

1-Kings 8:54: "Now, it came to pass as Solomon finished praying all this prayer and petition to the LORD, he rose from before the altar of the LORD, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread up to heaven. Then he stood and blessed all the congregation of Israel with a loud voice, saying, 'Blessed be the LORD, who has given rest to His people Israel…'" (vs 54-56). At that time it was all the 12 tribes together.

"…according to all that He promised…." (v 56). So, they entered into their inheritance of the land.

"…There has not failed one word of all His good promises, which He promised by the hand of Moses His servant. May the LORD our God be with us as He was with our fathers. Let Him not leave us nor forsake us, to incline our hearts to Himself, to walk in all His ways…." (vs 56-58).

I want you to notice what he's saying here, because we will see that Solomon ended up doing the opposite, though he commanded all the people:

"…and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments which He commanded our fathers. And let these my words, with which I have made supplications before the LORD, be near the LORD our God day and night, so that He may maintain the cause of His servant and the cause of His people Israel at all times as the matter requires, that all the people of the earth may know that the LORD is God; there is no other. And let your heart be perfect with the LORD our God: to walk in His statutes and to keep His commandments, as at this day" (vs 58-61).

Let's see what happened to Solomon, and the whole lesson is here: it doesn't matter how you start, it matters how you finish! That's what's important!

Remember the parable that Jesus asked the Pharisees: 'A man had two sons and he told them to go work in the field. The one said no, he wouldn't do it. But later he repented and did and worked. The other one said that, yes, he would do it, but he didn't do it. Tell me, which one did the will of the father?' The first one! So, likewise here; it's not how you start, it's how you finish!

They started great, and let's see all the blessings that came as a result of that. Let's see that much like today, Solomon had a worldwide trading combine. He was not only the wealthiest man in the world, but he was also the wisest. Let's read about what they had:

2-Chronicles 9:13: "And the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold"—180 lbs; that's a whale of a lot of gold. In today's money it would come out a whole lot more than it was back then.

Verse 14: "Besides that…" This came to him in one year; we'll see that it came year-by-year-by-year. This was tax, tribute and trade. They had ships and commerce.

"…from the traders and that which the merchants brought. And all the kings of Arabia and governors of the country brought gold and silver to Solomon. And King Solomon made two hundred targets of beaten gold. Six hundred shekels of gold went to one target. And he made three hundred shields of beaten gold. Three hundred shekels of gold went to one shield. And the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon" (vs 14-16).

That's where the king lived, so he had his halls lined with these solid gold shields. Can you imagine walking in to see that? There is something with human beings that when they see gold, something happens. But I want you to notice the wealth. We think we're wealthy—as a nation—but we have paper and plastic.

Verse 17: "And the king made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with pure gold." Where does ivory come from? Africa! It does not come from Palestine.

Verse 18: "And there were six steps to the throne with a footstool of gold fastened to the throne. And there were armrests on each side of the sitting place and two lions standing by the stays." Solomon would sit there and right where he would place his hands, right out in from of the arms were big lion heads.

Verse 19: "And twelve lions stood there on the one side, and on the other, on the six steps. There was nothing like it made in any other kingdom. And all the drinking vessels of King Solomon were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold…." (vs 19-20).

We live in a Styrofoam age. If one of the servants would have brought Styrofoam he would have had his head removed! I wonder what it would be like to drink out of pure gold?

"…None were of silver. It was accounted as nothing in the days of Solomon, for the king's ships went to Tarshish with the servants of Hiram. Once every three years the ships of Tarshish came bringing gold and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks" (vs 20-21). This is from Africa and also Southeast Asia.

How long did it take for Magellan to go around the world, and his vessel was not that big? It took him three years! They knew where to go. There's even in New Mexico Hebrew writings depicting the Ten Commandments written near one of the copper mines to this very day. So, they had trading ships that came over here.

Verse 22: "And King Solomon was greater than all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom." One thing I've learned is that when the Bible says all the earth it means all the earth!

Verse 23: "And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom that God had put in his heart. And they each brought a present, vessels of silver and vessels of gold, and clothing, armor, and spices, horses, and mules at a certain rate year by year" (vs 23-24). So, Solomon had a trading agreement, and probably part of this was tariffs. Then it shows what he did:

Verse 25: "And Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, whom he put in the chariot cities and with the king at Jerusalem. And he reigned over all the kings from the River… [the eastside of the Euphrates] …even to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt. And the king made silver in Jerusalem like stones, and he made cedar trees as the sycamore trees in the low plains. And they brought to Solomon horses out of Egypt and out of all lands" (vs 25-28).

If you want to know what happens when you become so stinking filthy rich you don't know what to do, read the book of Ecclesiastes. In reading Ecclesiastes, you'll find that he experimented with everything. He wanted to know what it was like to be a fool, to be drunk, so he did all of those things. I don't know what else he experimented with, but let's look and see what Solomon did to the nation of Israel.

1-Kings 11:15: "And King Solomon loved many foreign women, even the daughter of Pharaoh, Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, Hittites; of the nations which the LORD had said to the children of Israel, 'You shall not go in to them, and they shall not go in to you; surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.' But Solomon clung to these in love" (vs 1-2). I don't know how he did it, but someone commented that he must have originated vitamin pills.

Verse 3: "And he had seven hundred wives… [How would you like to manage that household?] …princesses, and three hundred concubines. And his wives turned away his heart." He bought upon him the curse of Adam by listening to the voice of his wives!

Verse 4: "For it came to pass when Solomon was old, his wives turned away his heart after other gods. And his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God as was the heart of David his father, for Solomon went after…" (vs 4-5).

Compare that with the world that he gave in his prayer. He turned around and went completely the other way! "…Solomon went after…" meaning he chose to do so!

"…Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians…" (v 5). [the female goddess that came from Semiramis; known today is more notably Mary-worship!

"…and after Milcom… [Nimrod] …the abomination of the Ammonites" (v 5). So, here we have Nimrod and Semiramis. What days did they worship on? Sunday! Israel went into captivity because of Sunday-worship. Most people don't know that.

Verse 6: "And Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD and did not go fully after the LORD like his father David. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill, which is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon" (vs 6-7).

So, after he built the temple of God, then he went into the temple-building business, building them for all of the gods, that God said, 'Don't do!'

Verse 8: "And likewise… [here's how He kept family peace; he sinned]: …he did for all his foreign wives, and burned incense and sacrificed to their gods."

What do you think the general population thought of that? You do as the king does! If the kings goes after all of these strange gods, it's okay for you to do it; after all he's the king!

Didn't we find the same thing today when Pres. Bill Clinton did what he did; there's a noticeable steep decline in morality, because the population mimics the leaders. This is what he did, and when you come to understand it, he Babylonianize Israel! So, a person from the outside looking in could look at Israel at that time and say, 'I just came from Babylon and this is just like Babylon. Look at all of these churches, all of these altars and all of this incense centers.' No wonder all the children of Israel built the high places on the hills.

We'll see here that Solomon did not repent. What his status is with God, I don't know, because God is the Judge. But notice:

Verse 9: "And the LORD was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned from the LORD God of Israel who had appeared to him twice and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; and he did not keep that which the LORD commanded. And the LORD said to Solomon, 'Since this has been done by you, and since you have not kept My covenant and My statutes which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant'" (vs 9-11).

That's the worst thing a king could ever hear, because a servant was one that held fidelity and allegiance to the king.

Verse 12: "But I will not do it in your days, for David your father's sake, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son. Only, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son for David My servant's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake which I have chosen'" (vs 12-13)—the tribe of Judah, and the Levites came with him and part of Benjamin.

Let's see the result of it. Jeroboam was the servant, and God told Jeroboam—through the prophet Ahijah—that if he would follow God's ways and commands that He would build the house for him just like David. In other words, a perpetual dynasty.

Well, Jeroboam didn't do that. Let's see what he did. He had ready-made mostly Babylonianized population in Israel. So, now he's got the majority of the ten tribes. About 200-plus years later they were carried off into captivity because of their sins.

1-Kings 12:25: "And Jeroboam built Shechem on Mount Ephraim and lived on it, and went from there and built Penuel. And Jeroboam said in his heart… [instead of relying on God, he relied on his own thinking] …'Now, the kingdom may well return to the house of David! If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again to their lord, to Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me and return again to Rehoboam king of Judah.' Then the king took counsel…" (vs 25-28)—whenever there is something to be done with religion and government together—and that's what's going to happen in the end-time.

He's the head of state, so here's what he did, v 28: "Then the king took counsel…" He has his cabinet and he got bad advice. Not one of them said to trust the Lord!

"…and made two calves of gold…" (v 28)—like they have in Egypt with horns that come up around and a round sun-disk in between. This is Baal-worship, Sunday-worship, Ashtoroth-worship. At this point this is what you call a paradigm shift! A paradigm shift is when you are ready to radically change values. America is just about at that point today.

In the beginning of the 20th century the Supreme Court ruled that we were a Christian nation. At the end of the 20th century they said we are a pluralist society with diversity, meaning that we have gone from the precepts of God to following the precepts of Babylon. And it's been done by all the illegal immigration coming in. Same thing here.

He "…made two calves of gold and said to them, 'It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem…. [that's a long way to go, let's have it closer] …Behold your gods, O, Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!'" (v 28). So, he could hearken back to the time when they made the golden calf. Can you imagine, this was 480 years later that they hearkened back to the golden calf? That the children of Israel made at the foot of Mt. Sinai?

Verse 29: "And he set the one in Bethel… [close to where Samaria is in the southern part of the ten tribes] …and he put the other in Dan…. [the northern part] …And this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one, even to Dan. And he made houses of worship on the high places and made priests of the lowest of the people, who were not the sons of Levi. And Jeroboam ordered a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like the feast that is in Judah. And he offered upon the altar…." (vs 29-32).

He probably told them, 'Look, it's too far to go to the Jerusalem, and we're going to have this 30-days later, and the 8th month would be more convenient because all the crops will be sure to be in at that time.' You can use all the human reasoning you want.

"…So, he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he had made. And he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places, which he had made. And he offered upon the altar, which he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, in the month, which he had devised out of his own heart. And he ordained a feast for the children of Israel. And he offered upon the altar and burned incense" (vs 32-33).

Two hundred-plus years later they were all sent off into captivity because of their sins.

Let's come forward to our day, and let's see how the world is in a position now for a paradigm shift. After the ten tribes split off, Jeroboam[transcriber's correction] completed the paradigm shift and made the ten northern tribes totally Babylonian in practice, though they were the children of Israel. Likewise in the world today.

Religion is going to play a key part in the coming political events. That's why the pope went to the 'Holy Land.' Who did he see? The religious leaders and the political leaders!

Now this Babylon spoken of in Rev. 17 is not a country of Babylon, but the whole world system! {Note sermon: The Beast that Was, and is Not, and Yet, Is—I show conclusively that has to be at the end-time the United Nations.}

Revelation 17:1 "And one of the seven angels who had the seven vials came and spoke with me, saying to me, 'Come here; I will show you the judgment of the great whore who sits upon many waters.'"

That makes the Catholic Church mad, because the Protestants have said that for hundred's of years. The Catholic Church considers that they are the woman of Rev. 12, and that the Son to be born is the coming Christ, which will come through the Catholic Church, but who will not be the real Christ coming from heaven. It will be the antichrist coming from the earth.

Let's see the explanation of that, v 15: "Then he said to me, 'The waters that you saw, where the whore sits, are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages.'" There's only one man in the world that has that kind of influence, and that is the pope!

Verse 18: "And the woman whom you saw is the great city that has royal power over the kings of the earth."

They do, because they have diplomatic relations with almost every country in the whole world. The only other organization similar to that is the United Nations. What is going to happen is that the UN that they have divided the world down into ten regions. In each one of those regions will come one of the kings. They will end up fighting Christ; those are the 'ten horns.'

The 'seven heads' will be an expansion of the security council of the UN from five permanent members to seven permanent members, perhaps adding Japan and Germany in addition to the ones that are already on there, and that way you will have seven and ten.

Look what happens when you get the wrong religion. Of course, you know that God hates religion anyway, because His way is the way of life. But I use that because that's a term people understand.

Verse 2: "With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication…" Isn't it interesting what Solomon did with all of his wives? The same thing! They turned him from God! This is spiritual fornications.

"…and those who dwell on the earth… [the whole earth] …were made drunk with the wine of her fornication" (v 2). What happens when you're drunk? You don't have good judgment! Another thing that happens when you're drunk: you don't want to hear the truth! You don't want someone coming up and saying, 'You're drunk!' No, I'm not! There's a lack of judgment! And there is a lack of judgment in people today!

Example: George W. Bush went to Bob Jones University to bring a campaign speech. One of the Catholic representatives from New York leapt upon this occasion and castigated him for going there for two things:

• because they didn't allow interracial dating
• they teach that the Roman Catholic Church is the whore of Rev. 17 and is Satan's instrumentality in the world

Rather than asking what the truth is and why they believe that, and whether it was so, what happened? He's anti-Catholic! People are interested in their positions, they're not interested in truth! Why? Because they're all "…drunk with the wine of her fornication."

You take not only just the Catholics and expand that out and the Catholics are becoming Babylonianized even more. All the religions of the world are 'coming home to mama!'

Verse 3: "Then he carried me away in the spirit to a wilderness; and I saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet beast…" The woman controlling politics! That is so in every pagan nation.

"…that had seven heads and ten horns, full of names of blasphemy. And the woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and was adorned with gold and pearls and precious stones; and she had a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominations and the filthiness of her fornication; and across her forehead a name was written: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT…" (vs 3-5).

This is going to be for the whole world, BABYLON THE GREAT! All the inhabitants have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.

"…THE MOTHER OF THE HARLOTS…" (v 5). All the Babylonian religions, which is:

• Judaism
• Hinduism
• Muslimism
• Buddhism
• All the animal religions of Africa

and more lately:

• Protestantism

What happened was that when the reformation took place all the Protestants said that 'this is Rome.' They had that right. The Sabbath-keepers come along and say, 'Yes, that's Rome and the harlots are all the Protestant churches. That's not quite correct. One of the harlots could represent the Protestant churches, but all the rest represent the rest of religions of the world out of Great Babylon.

Let's see how this develops in Rev. 13, because there are some very important things in here that we need to look to, that we need to understand and see what's going to happen. It starts out with the political world-government, and then develops into the person of the antichrist. We will notice that it's a combination of all the prophecies of Dan. 7 and the great last Babylonian one-world society. That's why it's called globalism.

Revelation 13:1 "And I stood on the sand of the sea… [peoples, so it's coming from all peoples] …and I saw a beast rising up out of the sea…" In 1947 we had, all of a sudden, the United Nations. It tried to come up in the 1920s with the League of Nations, but they couldn't get America to go in with it. But WWII convinced Americans to do it. Before they even met they had the whole outline of the Constitution of the UN, they had the General Assembly, the Security Council; they had everything all ready to go!

"…having seven heads and ten horns… [a sign of Satan] …and on his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast that I saw was like a leopard… [the Grecian Empire] …and his feet like the feet of a bear… [Persian Empire] …and his mouth like the mouth of a lion; and the dragon gave him his power, and his throne and great authority" (vs 1-2).

What did Satan tell Christ in the temptation (Matt. 4; Luke 4)? He told Christ that if He would worship him, 'I will give you all the kingdoms of the world and the power and glory of them, for it's mine to give unto You.'

Notice what happens, v 3: "And I saw one of his heads as if it were slain to death, but his deadly wound was healed…" The Seventh Day Adventists say that this is the pope on whom was an attempted assassination and came back. There are other people who applied this to Ronald Reagan when he was in office because of the attempted assassination, so they figured he was the beast. No, he wasn't the beast!

"…and the whole earth was amazed and followed the beast" (v 3). So, this man has yet to come on the scene. We don't know who he is, but when he comes on the scene we will recognize him. This will be the dictator of the whole world. He won't come on as a dictator at first, because the book of Daniel shows that there's going to be seven years of his reign. Three and a half years is going to be peace and prosperity. Then there is going to be the deadly wound that will take place and be healed. Notice what happens:

Verse 4: "And they worshiped the dragon… [Satan the devil] …who gave his authority to the beast…." This is what we have seen develop. It will become a completely occult society. The whole society is being set up for this, beginning by teaching the children in the lowest grades in public school all about spiritism and the occult, fostered all the cartoons and entertainment for children, promulgated at a higher level by Disney. You watch all the programs that you see on television and how much is involved in superstition, witchcraft, evil, and everything like that. The world is being programmed for it.

When they worship the dragon, that's going to be when Satan comes out and he is worshipped as Lucifer, 'the light-bringer.'

"…And they worshiped the beast, saying, 'Who is like the beast?….'" (v 4). Satan is going to be worshipped, but they won't see him because he's invisible. He has to have the visible man of the beast.

"…Who has the power to make war against him?" (v 4). Picture this scenario: the Secretary General of the UN may perhaps be the one who will be the beast, and all the nations sign an agreement to bring peace and to bring all nuclear weapons under the control of the UN. Who is able to make war against the beast? That's not a stretch of the imagination by any means! I think that we will see that happen.

Let's see about this man and the prophecy of it. This is going to be some man with greater power than any man; he's going to have sway over people in such a way that has never been seen before in all the history of the world.

• he's going to be wise
• he's going to be dynamic
• he's going to be powerful
• he's going to be magnetic
• he's going to be able to make other nations all of a sudden get along with each other in a way that has never been done before

Daniel 8:17: " So, he… [the angel Gabriel] …came near where I stood. And when he came, I was terrified and fell upon my face. But he said to me, 'Understand, O son of man, for the vision is for the time of the end.' Now, as he was speaking with me, I fell into a deep sleep, my face toward the ground…." (vs 17-18).

I'll just interject here about Joseph Smith (Mormon): Anyone who falls on their back and is looking up they are worshipping Satan. Smith fell on his back when 'God,' supposedly, 'talked to him,' which means that was a lying vision. I've had to explain that to ex-Mormons over and over again. Whenever you worship God, you're always on your face.

"…But he touched me and set me upright. And he said, 'Behold, I will make you know what shall happen in the latter time of the indignation, because it belongs to the appointed time of the end…. [of course, God knows that time] …The ram which you saw having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia." (vs 18-20). The two horns represent two kings. We'll come back to the two horns a little later on.

Verse 21: "And the shaggy goat is the king of Greece. And the great horn between his eyes is the first king"—which was Alexander the Great, and right at the height of his empire he was cut off and died.

Verse 22: "Now, that being broken, then four stood up in its place; four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not with its power." That's exactly what happened, it split up into four regions.

Verse 23: "And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors have come to the full…" Notice the qualifications; it's a time when the whole earth is filled with sin. And there is going to be no time like it, like the occult society that we are now entering into and the world is going to be practicing.

"…a king, fierce of countenance and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up. And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power…." (vs 23-24). Because we saw that Satan gave him the power (Rev. 13).

"…And he shall destroy marvelously, and shall prosper and do his own will, and destroy the mighty and the Holy people" (v 24). We'll see that in just a minute; he will kill the saints of God.

Verse 25: "And also through his cunning he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand… [the spiritism and witchcraft] …And he shall magnify himself in his heart… [we'll see how he lifts himself up] …and in time of security shall destroy many. He also shall stand up against the Prince of princes. But he shall be broken without a human hand."

There's only one leader of the world to stand up against Christ and fight, and that is the beast. Then we will see that the false prophet does too. Both of them were cutoff without hand—which human hand—angels take them and cast them into the Lake of Fire (Rev. 19).

Let's see how this man exalts himself, Revelation 13:5: "And a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies was given to him; and authority was given to him to continue for forty-two months." That is after the deadly wound was healed.

Verse 6: "And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, and His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven." Never have we had a man stand up and do that!

Verse 7: "And he was given power to make war against the saints, and to overcome them…" That's when true Christianity is going to be outlawed. That is when the martyrdom of the saints will occur again. How far down the road that is, we don't know, but we know that we're getting closer and closer to it.

"…and he was given authority over every tribe and language and nation. And all who dwell on the earth will worship him…" (vs 7-8). This is going to be some man! There has never been a political leader who has been accepted as 'God.' But the 'religions' of the world will have to endorse him as 'God' or the 'Christ.'

Notice the one's who do so are "…whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. If anyone has an ear, let him hear" (vs 8-9). That means you better pay attention! When God says, 'Let anyone who has an ear let him hear' that means that you better pay attention to what's being said, and moreover it's difficult to understand, so you really better pay great attention to it.

Let's see what Paul said about this man who was coming out of the system, this great Babylonians system that is going to take place.

2-Thessalonians 2:1: "Now, we beseech you, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him… [this the true Christ] …that you not be quickly shaken in mind, nor be troubled—neither by spirit, nor by word… [message] …nor by epistle… [letter] …as if from us, saying that the day of Christ is present" (vs 1-2). Remember what Christ said, 'There shall arise false Christs and false prophets and they'll say, 'He's in the desert, but don't go forth. He's in the secret chamber, but don't believe it.'

Verse 3: "Do not let anyone deceive you by any means because that day will not come unless the apostasy shall come first…"—a falling away. There two aspects to this apostasy:

• within the Church of God
• within the world, leaving even the things of God that they had and going into accepting all of the occultism of Satan so that the whole world is going to abandon anything concerning the true God and accept Satan as their god

"…shall come first…" It's in operation of coming! When it is fait accompli then the next thing is going to happen:

"…and the man of sin shall be revealed—the son of perdition…" (v 3). It's going to be known. Those who are in the Church of God and have the Spirit of God and understand the Word of God will know! The world won't!

Notice his character, and how it fits right in with Rev. 13 & Dan. 8:

Verse 4: "The one who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is an object of worship; so that he comes into the temple of God and sits down as God, proclaiming that he himself is God." This also shows that there has to be a temple built in Jerusalem by the Jews.

You know the Jews are going to sign no peace pack without a guarantee of being able to build a temple. When they start building the temple know the time is short.

Verse 8: "And then the lawless one will be revealed (whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth, and will destroy with the brightness of His coming); even the one whose coming is according to the inner working of Satan… [that is this man of sin, the son of perdition] …with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in those who are perishing, because they did not receive the love of the Truth, so that they might be saved" (vs 8-10). That's where people are today:

• They don't love the Truth!
• They don't want the Truth!
• They don't want to hear the Truth!

all they want to do is

• go along to get along
• I'm okay, you're okay
• you accept me, I accept you
• your religion is just fine, it's the same as mine

Therefore, all forms of Christianity are brought down. The only one that is going to stay above it is true Christianity, because they won't believe it.

There is only one God Who sent His only Son and He spoke to the world, which we have recorded here, and He is the Christ! Nowhere else, no other prophet from any religion has anything to do with Christ. They are all of Satan the devil! That is the Truth, but people don't love the Truth. And when people don't love the Truth, something else happens:

Verse 11: "And for this cause… [or because of this] …God will send upon them a powerful deception that will cause them to believe the lie, so that all may be judged who did not believe the Truth, but who took pleasure in unrighteousness" (vs 11-12). They enjoy the occult! They enjoy all of these things! So, they are going to get their man!

Revelation 13:11: "And I saw another beast rising out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, but spoke like a dragon; and he exercises all the authority of the first beast…" What power did the first beast have over all the world as the civil ruler.

Now we have the religion coming along, which has the same power. In other words, this is the one-world religion that they are working on to bring into the world. In order to do that they have to make all religions agree on common ground. All this ecumenical movement that has been going on since Vatican II in the 1960s—where they're bringing not just Protestants and Catholics together—they are bringing all religions together. Even the pope has declared that you can believe in evolution as long as you believe that God created the soul.

"…before him; and he causes the earth and those who dwell therein to worship the first beast… [they are going to authorize worship to this man as the Christ] …whose deadly wound was healed. And he performs great wonders, so that he even causes fire to come down to the earth from heaven in the sight of men" (vs 11-13).

That's going to be the real thing! It's not going to be some technological gimmick that's going to happen. We are too 'technologicialized' today that we won't put up with any makeshift nonsense of a delusion. It's going to be the real thing!

Verse 14: "And he deceives those who dwell on the earth… [because they didn't love the Truth] …by means of the wonders that were given to him to perform in the sight of the beast, saying to those who dwell on the earth that they should make an image for the beast, which had the wound by the sword, yet, was alive."

Note sermon: What is the Image for the Beast? The image for the beast is always the goddess figure.

Verse 15: "And he was given power to give life to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast also could speak; and he causes everyone who will not worship the image of the beast to be killed." That's when the dividing line comes.

Verse 16: "And he causes all… [everyone on the earth] …the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free and the bond, to receive a mark in their right hands, or in their foreheads"—the Greek means upon: 'epi.'

You watch the Babylon V television series and they have right there on their right hand and in their forehead. Same way with Star Trek. All the little kiddies watch that, so they're all programmed into receiving it. People are going to flock to the mark of the beast. Especially because of the benefits that they will receive.

Verse 17: "So that no one may have the ability to buy and sell unless he has the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name." So, all three will probably be right on that chip.

Verse 18: "Here is wisdom. Let the one who has understanding count the number of the beast; for it is a man's number, and his number is 666." This beast—the 666—is referring to the second beast.

The Seventh Day Adventists have done a very good job showing how 666 is all the way through the whole papal system.

Let me read you some things that are very interesting:

v 11—the beast comes up out of the earth

The New American Magazine; Dec. 6, 1999

The 1999 Parliament of the World's Religions, beginning on Dec. 1-8 the 1999 Parliament of World Religions will convene in Cape Town, So. Africa, like its predecessor in 1993.

I brought, during the Feast of Tabernacles that year, a couple of sermons on what was going to happen with the Parliament of World's Religions, and I was predicting this very thing that we're seeing happening right now. They have been busy working on it and doing it.

This year's parliament will bring together practitioners and experts from various sundries exotic face, including Wiccans…

witches or witchcraft—male and female

…Scientology…
New Age

…Zoroastrians…
fire and sun worship

…Theosophs…
spiritists—occultists; like Alice Bailey

…to discuss the modern role of religion in modern society and to continue to hammer out a new one-world religion.

Great steps toward that goal were taken in 1993. The key speaker at that year's confab told the assembly that a new religion must be created, a substantial faith tradition on earth.

Notice that all religions began talking about tradition, tradition, tradition!Even the Churches of God! Remember that when the apostasy was occurring within the Churches of God what happened? They said tradition! 'Passover is our tradition.' No! It's God's command! But that's what they did

A faith such that if everyone adopted and followed it, we would be assured a sustainable just and humane future for earth and her people.

In his view Christianity is an outdated ecumenism that is not sustainable.

True Christianity is because it's eternity.

The rush to created a universal faith that is earth-based…

Where did the second beast come from? The earth! Are prophecies real or not?

And sustainable will continue with the 1999 gathering. There, according to the conferees and the company document—a call to our guiding institutions—which is to all church institutions and to all government institutions, conferees will be invited to, among other things, to create a modern golden calf by providing leadership to assure that the earth is respected, revered and protected.

Ah la Rehoboam! So, the whole world will be Babylonianized.

The creation of the new sustainable earth-centered faith will be accompanied by the destruction of other supposedly unsustainable social structures. For instance, market economies would be phased out as to move beyond our narrow self-interests.

Communism! We're already communists but just don't know it. Economic power should be wielded in the service of economic justice and the common wealth. That's what the pope says. 'Oh, you rich people, why don't you give the money to the poor countries?'

Further, sovereign states and their tended nationalistic tendencies would be replaced by the global village.

We must work toward a prolific affirmation of global interdependence.

You must work by committee and that's what communism is, dictatorship by committee. That's why the sermon Stinkin' Thinkin'—group thinking—that they teach in the schools. Everything is group! No one is responsible for himself. No one is taught independence. It's interdependence!

Moving beyond the present model of tenuously balanced power among nation states toward a model of robust cooperation within the human family.

Doesn't that sound good?

Giving the keynote address at this year's confab will be the Dalai Lama.

Remember the picture that I showed you of the pope and the Dalai Lama working together. So, the two horns—I'm pretty well convinced that that is true—one representing the East to the West, and the other who is bringing the West to the East.

Also speaking on behalf of this agenda is the liberal Catholic theologian Hans Coon whose fame is due to his stance opposition to traditional Catholic teaching on such issues as ordination of women, married male priests, and birth control.

Other speakers were Otto Guntry, actress Goldie Hawn, a full slate of Hindus, Buddhists and New Age practioners.

Isn't that amazing?

News Week Magazine March, 2000—Visions of Jesus: The Other Jesus

It showed that all the other major religions of the world accept a version of Jesus that fits into their scheme. So, when the beast comes on the scene and he is called the Christthe New Agers will accept him as Lord Matria, the Catholics will accept him as Christ, the Jews will accept him as Messiah, the Muslims will accept him as the great Imam, and the Buddhists will accept him as the reincarnation of Buddha, and the Hindus will accept him as the manifestation of Vishnu. That's why the picture of 'Jesus' looks like some hippie just coming off some sort of drug trip.

I've said before that they're going to accept a one-world Bible by taking parts of the Bible and taking parts of what some other religions believe are the sacred scriptures—they're no more sacred than demons, because they are all demon inspired—and make the new world Bible.

Paul had the same problem with those in Corinth, 2-Corinthians 11:3: "But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent… [Satan the devil] …deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds might be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For indeed, if someone comes preaching another Jesus… [that's what the title of the article is: The Other Jesus] …whom we did not preach, or you receive a different spirit, which you did not receive, or a different gospel, which you did not accept, you put up with it as something good" (vs 3-4).

This really means that you count it as wonderful! This is what they are doing with all the propaganda in the news magazines to go ahead and bring an acceptance of combining a one-world religion like they said in the previous article, an earth-based religion.

From Newsweek Magazine by Kenneth L. Woodward:

Caption: To Christians He's the Son of God. But the world's other great religions have their own visions of a legendary figure.

Meaning they all have prophecies of a Christ.

Ever since his election, John Paul II has wanted one thing: to walk where Jesus walked, preach where Jesus taught and prayed, where Jesus was crucified, died and was buried. This week the pope finally gets his chance.

I remember the picture of him standing on Mt. Nebo and looking out and seeing all the 'Holy Land.' My wife said, 'How blasphemous that is for him to be doing that.'

Where embodied, but ecstatic in spirit, John Paul makes his long anticipated pilgrimage to the Holy Land. For him it is a personal journey with God. There will be no intruding television cameras when he is lost in prayer and communes alone at Christianity's holiest shrine.

Those are all paganized shrines with idols.

But the land of his heart's desire is holy to Jews and Muslims as well. So, the pope will visit the western wall, Judaism's most sacred site, the Mosque of Omar upon the Temple Mount he will also meet with Muslim and Jewish religious leaders and one particularly resident moment, he will pause to pray at Yad Vashem, Israel's Memorial to the victims of the Holocaust.

Like his powerful plea for forgiveness a fortnight ago, the trip is also an exercise in religious reconciliation. More than ninety times since he took office, John Paul has acknowledged past faults of the church and begged pardon from others—Muslims and Jews, as well as Protestant and Catholic Christians—for sins committed in the name of Catholicism.

It's been one exercise in killing people. There's another story that I read where over 100-million people were killed by the inquisitions of Catholicism.

However, the sound of a one-hand clap…

If you have a one-hand clap you can't hear anything.

…his views have brought few echoing responses. Now, at the high point of this jubilee year for the church, he comes to Jerusalem, the city of peace, hoping to erect bridges among the three monotheistic faiths.

There are, of course, some important commonalities among the three religious traditions.

See, it isn't how you truly worship the true God, but religious traditions. This how they're going to all get sucked into this.

All three believe in one God Who has revealed His will through sacred Scripture. They all look to an end-time when God's justice and power will triumph. They all recognize the figure of Abraham as a father in the faith, which is often overlooked. However, in another figure common to the three traditions, Jesus of Nazareth.

Christ of the Gospels is certainly the best known. For Christians in the world Jesus is unusually unique, the only Son of God. As the pope puts it, is the one Mediator between God and humanity.

But he really likes to put Mary as the mediatrix, ahead of Christ.

But alongside this Jesus is another, the Jesus whom the Muslims—since Mohammad—had regarded as a prophet and a messenger of Allah.

After centuries of silence about Jesus, many Jews now find Him a Jewish teacher and reformer that they can now accept on their own terms as one of us.

Jesus has become a familiar, even the love figure, among the adheredants of Asian religions, as well. Among many contemporary Hindus, Jesus has become to be revered as the self-realized saint who reached the highest level of God-consciousness.

That is through incarnation.

In recent years, Buddhists like the Dalai Lama have recognized in Jesus a figure of great compassion, much like Buddha.

 "I think as the world grows smaller, Jesus as a figure will grow larger," says Protestant theologian John Cobb, a veteran of interfaith dialogs.

Each of these traditions: Judaism, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism is rich in its own right, and each has its own integrity. As the pope calls for better understanding among the world's great religions it's important to recognize that non-Christian faiths have their own visions of the sacred and their own view of Jesus.

So, when the beast comes on the scene, there it is, he will be accepted by all. Even most of the Christian religions even say that all these other religions are all going to the same place, they're all going to heaven! Even Judaism says that!

Let's examine the mark of the beast. As I have said and watched it through this and through the years, it's going to be more than buying and selling. It is actually going to be giving up your free moral agency.

Article: Dec. 12, 1999: World's First Satellite:

Tracked human implant device.

They have GPS, Global Positioning System,

Palm Beach, Florida: Applied Digital Solutions, ADS, today announced that it has acquired patent rights to a miniature digital transceiver.

As I have said, it's not just to buy and sell. But this transceiver is to send and to receive.

This transceiver has the name Digital Angel and can be used for a variety of purposes…

They're going to say it's all good. Just Satan told Eve, 'The tree is pleasant, it's good.'

…such as providing tamper-proof means of identification for enhanced e-mail security, locating lost or missing individuals, tracking the location of valuable property and monitoring the medical conditions of at-risk patients.

In the agreement signed last week, ADS acquired the right to develop this unique product itself for all its applications and to sublicense of the development of specific applications to other business entities.

A special technological group has been formed with ADS to supervise the development of this device. The implantable transceiver sends and receives data and can be continuously tracked by the GPS technology. The transceiver power supply and actuation system are unlike anything ever created. When implanted within the body, the device is powered electromechanically through the movement of muscles, and it can be activated either by the wearer or by the monitoring facility.

Remember the Elf Project? Where they can send these low frequency radio beams all across the United States. Now you put in one of these devices and BINGO! you can control them!

A novel sensation feedback feature will even allow the wearer to control the device to some degree. The smart device is also small enough to be hidden inconspicuously on or within valuable personal belongings and priceless artworks. The chairman of ADS is quoted as saying, "We believe its potential for improving individual and e-mail security and enhancing the quality of life for millions of people is virtually limitless."

Although in the early development phase, we expect to come forward with applications in many different areas from medial monitoring to law enforcement. However, in keeping with the core of our business strengths, we want to go with e-commerce.

This is a follow up, Monday, March 20, 2000 by David Kaplan, the World Net Daily commentary:

Revelation about Digital Angel:

Then he quotes Rev. 13 about causes all

I've always wondered about this passage in the book of Revelation. How people would ever be made to accept such a mark of the beast or to accept the implantation of some sinister chips in their bodies. It sounded like science fiction. If it weren't such a terrifying future scenario would begin to unfold, I figured, then the antichrist and all of his operatives would try to mandate the massive acceptance of this mark, there would be massive rebellion.

Everyone would just say, "Hey, Dude, didn't you ever hear of a little thing called the Bible and the book of Revelation? So, get out of my face because I'm not interested in obtaining eternal damnation. Have a nice day."

That was then! Little did I know that the day would come when traditional Christianity would be under such severe assault, its basic precepts so maligned, its adherence so demonized that the nightmarish scenario predicted in Revelation could not only come about, but be welcomed with opened arms.

Little did I know that the once super-secret echelons surveillance network would be capable of monitoring any e-mail and phone conversation anywhere on earth.

They can do that! They can monitor every transaction with a credit card. Everything is monitored by the National Security Administration.

And soon that people's locations would be trackable through their cell phones or pagers.

Now here comes the Digital Angel, the new dime-size implantable transceiver whose manufacturer, the Nasdaq Applied Digital Solution intends its global use for tracking and monitoring of human beings, emitting a homing beacon that can be tracked by global positioning system satellites and is being marketed as the ultimate tamper-proof means of personal identification.

When implanted in your body, the device is powered electromechanically through the movement of muscles and can be activated even by the wearer or by the monitoring facility.

Meaning that it may want to put a thought into all people's mind at one time, and BINGO! they can do it.

"A few years ago there may have been resistance, but not anymore," says Dr. Peter Shell, Chief Scientist for the Development of the implant and President of ADS Subsidiary Digital Angel, Inc.

They told World Net News commentary that people are used to having implants. New century, new trend.

In a spine-tingling comment on mankind's future," Shell added, "we will be a hybrid of electronic intelligence in our own soul."

I'm not claiming that Digital Angel is the tool of the antichrist, but I am saying emphatically that it is that the world is just about ready for it. The first ones out may not be the final ones, because they will improve them. But as we can see:

• the mark of the beast is coming
• the one world-religion is coming
• the one-world government is coming

You watch these things so that, as Christ said, 'you are counted worthy to escape and stand before the Son man!

All Scriptures from The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version

Scriptural References:

• Deuteronomy 28:1-2, 11-15, 43-52
• 1 Kings 8:54-61
• 2 Chronicles 9:13-28
• 1 Kings 11:1-13
• 1 Kings 12:25-33
• Revelation 17:1, 15, 18, 2-5
• Revelation 13:1-4
• Daniel 8:17-25
• Revelation 13:5-9
• 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4, 8-12
• Revelation 13:11-18, 11
• 2 Chronicles 11:3-4

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Genesis 49
• Deuteronomy 28:3-10
• Revelation 12
• Daniel 7
• Matthew 4
• Luke 4
• Revelation 19

Also referenced:

Sermons:

• The Beast that Was, and is Not, and Yet, Is
• What is the Image for the Beast? (Dan/Rev. series #25)
• Stinkin' Thinkin'

Articles:

• The New American Magazine; Dec. 6, 1999
• News Week Magazine; March 2000—Visions of Jesus: The Other Jesus
• World Net Daily; March 20, 2000: Revelation About Digital Angel (wnd.com)

FRC:bo
Transcribed: 4/14/17