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Will You Be Left Behind? July 9, 2010

Posted by Henry in Eschatology & End Times.
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Each time I look at this issue of the rapture I can’t help but be amazed and amused at how people can be so easily persuaded to believe something that is not even founded in scripture. I guess this is one of the results of extra-biblical materials from people who claim to have some kind of secret knowledge or insight. Take the Left Behind books for instance. These are nothing but fiction yet people buy and believe in them as if they are gospel truth. If Tim Lahaye (et al) really believed in an imminent rapture I don’t think they would be so concerned with amassing wealth now would they. After all where are they going to spend all that money, in Heaven? Already 63 million copies of this book have been sold worldwide and there are movies and games to go with it and yet people are unable to see into the scam of it all. If these men really believed the stuff they wrote they wouldn’t be trying to peddle it but instead they would be given this info out for free. 

The simple truth is that there is no imminent rapture. Strictly speaking the idea behind an imminent rapture is that Jesus can come anytime (or the church can and will be miraculously wisked away before you can say ABC) but of course if we read scripture we can discern that this is not so. To add to that the idea of a pre-tribulation rapture is a LIE – It is a complete fabrication by fantasists. Simply put, a pre-tribulation rapture purports that the church will be raptured before the man of sin, the son of perdition (synonymous with the anti-christ beast of Revelations) comes to fore but again I will show that this is simply not so.

Paul writing to the Thessalonians had this to say:

2 Thess 2

1Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, 2That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. 3Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

He was encouraging the brethren that they should not be deceived or be troubled in spirit concerning the day of Christ being at hand (or imminent). And as such he reminded them of a key sign which would need to take place before the day of Christ came. This sign was that the falling away (OF THE CHURCH INTO APOSTACY) and the revealing of the man of sin would need to take place first. If this man of sin is the same as the anti-christ beast of Revelations then Paul’s explanation here is corroborated by Rev 20:4-5 which makes it clear that the first resurrection (which is considered the rapture) takes place after the anti-christ was already in power and persecuting and killing the saints. It should be noted that the scripture which is cited for the rapture is 1 Thess 4:13-17. Essentially the resurrection and catching away must necessarily be the FIRST resurrection which included those who were also beheaded by the beast and those who overcame his mark and image.

In light of this therefore where is the pre-tribulation rapture and how can it be imminent? Yet you have people falling over themselves looking at Jewish feast days and wedding ceremonies trying to prove something that is clearly not in scripture. Why are so many people being deceived on this issue which is so simple to understand?

The Beast that was, Is not, Yet is! May 11, 2010

Posted by Henry in Eschatology & End Times.
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Some of the popular views that abound concerning the end times “beast” that John prophesies of in Rev 13 assert that this beast having seven heads and ten horns will arise from Muslim nations surrounding Israel and as such they assert that the antichrist will be of Muslim origin. However, the purpose of this post is not to speculate on the identity of the anti-christ himself but rather to look at what scripture reveals concerning the “identity” of the beast. Indeed I have already put forward a post on the Identity of the beast but in this study I will attempt to look at some considerations that were not previously looked at.

As aforementioned, the Apostle John saw a “beast” rising out of the sea having seven heads and ten horns. This beast arises some time towards the end of the age and will continue until Jesus Christ returns. The interesting thing about this beast however is that it isn’t new but rather existed before, then for a time it didn’t appear to exist and then came into existence again. This is what the angel told John when he explained the meaning of the beast in Rev 17:

8The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. (Rev 17:8)

So if this beast existed before, which is denoted by the use of the past tense “was”, then there must be some evidence that points to its identity. Do the scriptures therefore give us any “clues” then as to the identity of this beast? Indeed it has. If we look at Rev 12 we shall learn beyond the shadow of a doubt exactly who or what this “beast that was” is.

3And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. 4And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. 5And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. 6And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days. (Rev 12:3-6)

Here in this portion of scripture we see the same depiction of a beast with 7 heads and 10 horns except that this time it is depicted as a dragon but this is simply metaphorical. This is especially the case since we know that it was the dragon who gave the beast with the seven heads and ten horns his power, seat and authority (Rev 13:2). It goes without saying therefore that this beast of Rev 13 is the one and the same being depicted as a dragon in Rev 12:3-6, quoted above.  What we need to understand here though is that the woman in this scripture that was about to give birth, who the beast stood before to devour her child, is none other than Israel and the child in question was Jesus Christ, The Messiah, The Risen Saviour. So who then was this beast that was already in existence at the time of Christ’s birth and which sought to devour Him? The answer simply is Rome. In other words Rome was the ruling head of the beast and which sought to kill Jesus. If we recall from scripture, Matt 2:16, it was Herod the Roman surrogate King of Judea who issued the decree to kill all the male children from two years old and under. This was the dragon’s plan at work to devour the male Child and which is spoken of in Rev 12. It should be noted here that the beast is a world kingdom and at the time of Jesus’ birth Rome ruled most of the known world. This is therefore the beast that was and the future beast (world kingdom) will incorporate Rome as well. We know this because Rev 17:14 tells us:

11And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.

Here we see that the beast that was and is not is the eighth and is of the previous seven kings (or heads).

From what we have learn from the scriptures then, the beast cannot be led by Muslims nations although certain Muslim nations may very well be incorporated into it since we know that the beast is given authority over the whole world. But what should be clear is that the “beast that was” was led by Rome and must necessarily incorporate Rome when it arises to prominence again in the future.

The Coming One World Government – Part 2 March 15, 2010

Posted by Henry in Eschatology & End Times.
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The world is governed by different forces than imagined by those who are not behind the scenes. (Benjamin Disraeli)

 There are many organisations and secret societies today which play a role in advancing the cause for a one world government. These organisations are many and varied although many of them do interrelate and these organisations have been working behind the scenes for decades and even centuries to establish the New World Order. The NWO as I explained in Part 1 is basically a system or ideology of bringing about a one world state in which there will be a one world government, one world religion and a single currency.

 The European Union for example is a pre-cursor to this one world government. Federalism in Europe has seen the merging of many formerly independent states into a United States of Europe. First it started out with the idea of a European Free Trade Area (or the EEC) which was meant to reduce trade barriers amongst member states and increase world output to counter the USA (and NAFTA). But we have seen the idea of the EU moving from simply a free trade area to a “united state” with it’s own central bank, a parliament, court and a single currency. At the moment it only has a rotating presidency but in time it will have a single individual as its president and figure-head. Europe is also rapidly expanding towards Asia, the Mediterranean and Northern Africa as well and this can be ascertained by looking at future plans on the EU’s website. It is interesting to note that the EU’s website is officially called Europa, which is somewhat prophetic to say the least. Europa in ancient Greek mythology is a woman who is depicted riding a bull (beast), which incidentally was the god Zeus in disguise and who had abducted her. This same depiction of Europa is currently being used as a symbol in the form of a statue in front of the EU headquarters in Strasbourg. This symbol is also being used on the Greek 2 Euro coins. The parallels in John’s vision of a woman riding a beast in the Book of Revelations, is quite evident here.

 These developments in Europe are not unique to Europe however as the world is currently divided up into namely four regions or trading blocs. There is also the North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA), which has in recent times been expanded into a Free Trade Area of the Americas. This expansion was designed to incorporate countries from Latin America and the Caribbean (CARICOM countries) although it should be noted that some Latin American countries including Cuba were opposed to signing up. Another trading bloc is the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and there is also the Free Trade Area of Africa which is gradually gaining momentum and these are namely the four trading regions in the world today. Due to the rapid rate at which the forces of “globalisation” is overtaking the globe, it is the belief that individual nations can no longer stand independently on their own otherwise they will lose out economically. Gone are the days of closed economies with their protectionist regimes and in with the open economies with their trade and financial liberalisation. It is the belief especially supported by organisations like the IMF and the World Bank that this is necessarily if countries are to benefit economically. However, in the pursuit of economic growth and stability countries are sacrificing their independence and sovereignty as they become more interdependent. But this is hailed by positive globalists as necessary for the overall good of mankind. These major trading blocs will therefore eventually morph into a single world state.

 Today words like the “free world”, international community, global village are bandied about by world leaders and academics and these words characterises the shape of things to come. The world is truly transforming into a one world state and it is only a matter of time before this is realised. Already there are organisations dedicated to establishing a World Parliament (1). There is even a website featuring an online form asking people to vote for a world parliament (2) and that website features, interestingly enough the UN’s logo. This is not surprising however as the UN has been a precursor for a united world from the inception of the League of Nations. The UN’s Declaration on Human Rights of 1948 for example have far reaching scope and effect and exerts itself over all human beings on the planet. This in effect is a form of global Constitution not too dissimilar to the United States’ First Amendment. Yet in spite of the virtues that that the First Amendment seems to extol, are Americans actually “free”? That is a question that the reader should no doubt meditate upon in his or her own quiet time. The idea of World Citizenship (3) and a World Passport (4) is not something that should be beyond our imaginations because such measures have already been proposed and are being proposed as I write. In actual fact, most of the infrastructure to advance the one world government is already in place. For example we already have the International Courts of Justice, the International Criminal Court, International Courts of Human Rights, International Courts of Law, International Police (Interpol), United Nations Army (and NATO), the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, World Health Organisation, World Wildlife Foundation, World Tourism Organisation, World Environment Agency, etc. etc.

 One of the “ingredients” that is not yet in place however is a single global currency. However, it is only a matter of time before this is implemented because already there are major players who are and have been proposing a move towards a world single currency. For example, the Bank of International Settlements, which is regarded as the World’s central bank, have proposed a reduction of the world’s currencies to four in the past but in more recent times they have been proposing a move to a world single currency. In more recent times we have also had the UN calling for a global currency (5) and the pretext for this has been the recent global credit crunch and consequent recession. The IMF however for a while now has been calling for a one world currency in it’s article entitled, “One World, One Currency: Destination or Delusion?”(6). One needs to be clear that all of this have prophetic significance in relation to the mark of the beast although I would not speculate as to what this will be, yet it’s implication for buying and selling is very clear. In all probability the one world currency might eventually be electronic money as the world is also moving towards a cashless society at quite a relatively rapid pace. In fact we can see evidence of this in Iceland and even in Singapore where proposals have been drawn up to move towards a cashless society. In Greece in recent times, a ban on cash transactions above a certain limit has come into effect. Again in Britain proposals have been drawn up to get rid of cheques. Everything therefore points to chip and pin and eventually imbedded micro-chips.

 In conjunction with a unified globe there also has to be a representative as “head of state” as we have seen in Europe. Such a head of state will be akin to a “world president”. Again this idea might sound quite preposterous to many people but that idea has been with us certainly since the production of the 1960’s animated series of “Captain Scarlett and the Mysterons”. In that cartoon the world was unified and headed by a world president. In more recent times however people like Bill Clinton has been touted as a future world president and even since Barack Obama has ascended to the throne, he is being hailed as the “world president” (7). Evidently after the establishment of a World Parliament then the next step naturally will be a world president. Again in recent times we have had none other than the Pope calling for a “World Political Authority”(8) to perhaps replace the UN and the pretext for this is to empower such an organisation to prevent such economic crises as we have seen in recent times. The prophetic implications of this suggestion by a religious figure of the Pope’s stature however should not be in any doubt.

 In line with the European super-state we know that it’s capital is in Strasbourg. But what if the world was to become one state, where would it’s capital be? We know that during Jesus’ millennium reign, His “capital” as it were will be in Jerusalem. Consequently wouldn’t the anti-christ, who seeks to usurp Christ and pass himself off as the true Christ also choose Jerusalem as his capital too? Indeed in our day Jerusalem is already being touted as a future world capital by the likes of Shimon Peres, under the stewardship of none other than the UN (9). This supposedly is so as to get around the problem of competing claims to the city by Arabs and Israelis.

  The final implication of the anti-christ system of the beast which I will address here is that of a united one world religion. In 2 Thess 2:3 we learn that the man of sin (the anti-christ) cannot come until there is a falling away (into religious apostasy) first. However we can already witness this falling away in the form of ecumenism. Ecumenism refers to greater unity or corporation amongst the worlds religions and means that a Buddhist monk can enter a Christian church to offer a blessing and vice versa. Ecumenism is also evidenced by having a chaplain for all religions in airports, universities, fire-brigades etc. How can you have a single chaplain to support all religions? Traditionally a chaplin was a Christian figure who provides support to Christians only, so how can you have a Chaplin that will provide support to all religions, along with Christianity? On a more global level however ecumenism is on the rise. This is evidenced by organisations like the United Religious Initiative (10), which is an ecumenical organisation that is dubbed the “spiritual arm” of the United Nations. This organisation interestingly enough was founded by a Bishop of the Episcopalian Church, by name of William Swing, who saw this vision of people of all religions working together for the common good of mankind. The World Parliament of Religions is another effort which see people of literally all faiths of the world coming together in celebration and ceremony (11). There is also the World Council of Religious Leaders which works with the UN to establish peace across nations (12). This type of partnership however is an affront to the gospel of Jesus Christ for what part does light have with darkness? Did the scriptures not say, “Come ye out from among them and be ye separate sayeth the Lord.” It is interesting to note also that the Vatican and the World Council of Churches are no strangers to courting and promoting the apostasy of ecumenism as well.

 In this two part article I have merely skimmed the surface of many of the issues affecting our world today and how they point to the coming one world government of none other than the anti-christ. These pointers, although not meant to be exhaustive should point the reader to further research but also should leave the reader in no doubt of the global direction our world is shaping up towards. Prophecy can be seen to be fulfilling and we do not know when all these things will culminate into the rise of the anti-christ but with the signs explored here we know it can’t be that far off. How can we then prepare for these things if indeed we will be alive here to witness them? The only thing we can do is seek salvation in Christ Jesus because He is our only hope.

Sources (Links):

1. http://www.worldparliament-gov.org/

2. http://voteworldparliament.org/

3. http://www.worldcitizens.org/

4. http://www.worldgovernment.org/docpass.html

5. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/currency/6152204/UN-wants-new-global-currency-to-replace-dollar.html

6. http://www.imf.org/external/np/tr/2000/tr001108.htm

7. http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/05/international.press.reaction/

8. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5662VM20090707

9. http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=33711

10. http://www.uri.org.uk/

11. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8399758.stm

12. http://www.millenniumpeacesummit.com/

The Pre-tribulation Rapture Revisited: The Seven Seals March 1, 2010

Posted by Henry in Eschatology & End Times.
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I have decided to do a further, hopefully in-depth, study on the issue of the pre-tribulation rapture primarily because a number of posters have raised certain points which I did not touch on in my previous post here. In order to avoid confusion therefore I have decided to revisit this topic.

 Firstly there seems to be some confusion amongst pre-tribulation believers that God’s wrath begins from about the opening of the first seal in Revelations 6. But this is not the case. The wrath of God is not poured out until the seventh seal is opened and we see this from Rev 8:1 onwards. The wrath of God is further elaborated on in Rev 15 and 16 and so on. It is clear from scripture that the church is not appointed unto wrath (1 Thess 5:9) and therefore will not incur the wrath of God which constitutes the outpouring of the seven vials (note difference with the seven seals) by the seven angels. However, we are appointed unto tribulation which is distinct from God’s wrath. But what is the timing of the tribulation and what do we glean from Rev 6 regarding the timing of God’s wrath? Note that Revelations chapter 6 and 7 both mirror and expand on the events that Jesus spoke of concerning His return in Matthew 24 (or Mark 13).

 In Rev 6:9 therefore we see the opening of the 5th seal. Here John saw the souls of them that were killed for the word of God and the testimony they held, under the altar. These souls were asking God how long it would be before He avenged them. The reply we can see in verse 11:

 “and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.”

 These souls were to wait until their fellowservants and brethren be killed as they were before God avenged them (We will come back to this). This was the tribulation or at least part of it because we know that the tribulation precedes Christ’s return and God’s wrath does not come into play yet until after these things were fulfilled. The first 4 seals then cannot be considered God’s wrath. We also know that the two beasts of Rev 13, which is the anti-christ’s world government which made war with and overcame the saints is in establishment at the time of Christ’s return. Therefore the tribulation period is synonymous to the last world kingdom on earth leading up to Christ’s return.

 Following in the timeline of the seals, in verse 12 of Rev 6 we see the opening of the 6th seal which sets off a great earthquake and the sun turned into darkness and the moon into blood, whilst the stars fell from heaven just as Jesus said in Matt 24:29-31. Note however that Jesus said in Matt 24:29 that these things occur immediately after the tribulation of those days. Continuing on from Rev 6 we read then that the heavens rolled away as a scroll and the people of the earth fled and tried to hide their faces from He that sat upon the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. Why? We see the reason in verse 17: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

 When does the wrath of God occur then? After the sun was turned into darkness and the moon into blood etc! When did these events occur?  They occurred after the tribulation of those days and not midway through or before. So then what can we conclude? The day of the wrath of God is NOT synonymous to the tribulation because the day of His wrath occurs after the tribulation. To say then that if the church were to be in the tribulation they would also be at the mercy of God’s wrath is completely wrong. God’s wrath begins with the opening of the 7th seal (See Rev 8:1 onwards) and therefore does not run concurrent with the tribulation which occurs at the 4th and 5th seals. This therefore means that the church can very well go through the tribulation without being at the mercy of God’s wrath at the same time. As outlined previously then, it is at the 6th seal that Christ comes and take the saints out of the way after which time the 7th seal, which is God’s wrath is poured out. The problem for pre-tribulation believers however is that they wrongly coincided Gods wrath with the first 4 seals (instead of to the 7th only) and thereby presumes that the church is raptured before these 7 seven seals are fulfilled. Thus they designated the elect of Matt 24:31 as tribulation saints (or “invited guests” to the marriage supper of the Lamb) instead of considering them as part of the church. We shall soon find out however if these claims are true.

 Now moving on to Revelations 7 we see from verse 1 and 2 that the four angels were given instructions not to hurt the earth until God’s servants were sealed. In other words this sealing had to occur before the pouring out of God’s wrath which occurred later in Rev 8. This process was part of the gathering of the elect from the four winds as outlined in Matt 24:31. First we see the 144,000 who were sealed then we see from verse 9 a great multitude of people from every nation kindred and tongue clothed in white and standing before the throne of God. We know who the 144,000 are from Rev 14 but what of the great multitude clothed in white robes which no man could number? Note here that the elect of God was gathered after the tribulation as per Matt 24:31. Bearing that in mind we read from Rev 7:13:

13 And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? 14 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15 Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. 16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. 17 For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. (Emphasis mine)

So then the elect which are gathered after the tribulation are the same as the great multitude clothed in white and standing in front of God’s throne. Could these be “tribulation saints” only or merely “invited guests” to the marriage supper? It would be expedient to introduce 1 Thess 4 here for further light and we read:

15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

Can I here a halleluiah? Bless God, the mystery is solved!!! The scripture here says those that were dead in Christ and those that are alive (even those through the tribulation) unto the coming of the Lord shall be caught up together with Jesus and the key here is the phrase, “and so shall we ever be with the Lord”. Now going back to Rev 7:13-17 quoted above, who do we see the Lamb (Jesus) sitting and dwelling amongst, paying particular attention to the phrase, “and so shall we ever be with the Lord”? We see that it is the great multitude which came out of great tribulation that serves Jesus night and day in the temple and that Jesus is sitting and dwelling amongst. Further, it is this multitude that Jesus is seen feeding. This is the marriage supper of the Lamb!! To God be the Glory for revealing His Word. If this multitude were merely “tribulation saints” or “invited guests” to the marriage supper, where is the church? There is no mention of any other group from earth anywhere in the text. Maybe the Lord put them somewhere else with the intention to visit them later? But that would violate the phrase “and so shall we ever be with the Lord”. It should be clear then that the church is the same as the elect (or part of the elect) and is the same as the great multitude which Jesus can be seen dwelling amongst and feeding around the throne. If this is true then where is the pre-tribulation rapture? Noting that 1 Thess 4:15-17 is used as part of the supporting evidence. In addition, the conspicuous absence of the term ecclesia from Revelations chapter 3 onwards cannot be used as evidence for a pre-tribulation rapture as this is mere speculation.

 Now let’s return to the “Marriage Supper” which occurs in Rev 19 to see how it fits in with the events of Rev 6 and 7 and indeed if it constitutes a separate event. It should be noted here that the pre-tribulation believers suggest that the “marriage supper” occurs at the rapture which they say occurs before the tribulation. Therefore they attempt here to make the church distinct from the elect who are gathered after the tribulation. So what does Rev 19 tell us? We read:

7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. 8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints

We know from scripture that the Church has always been described as the bride of Christ, so therefore the marriage of the Lamb constitute the church being united with Jesus Christ. The church therefore we can see be seen here in verse 8 clothed in white linen at the marriage which occurs at the time of the judging of the great whore and at the time when God avenged her for the blood of the saints (see verse 2). Recall that at the opening of the 5th seal the souls under the altar asked God how long till He avenged their blood. The response was that they should wait till their fellowservants and brethren were to be killed by. Now we can see that these fellow servants and brethren were they that were to be killed by the great whore which existed at the time of the anti-christ’s reign. The marriage of the Lamb therefore occurred at the opening of the 6th seal as clearly it is at this point we see the multitude clothed in white before God’s throne.

 In summary it is clear then that if we place scripture upon scripture, line upon line, we can come to the knowledge of the truth. What we must never do is to hold to a belief then to seek evidence to support that belief even to the point of conjecture and innuendo but rather to look at what the scripture tell us. If we follow the timeline of the 7 seals, especially from the 5th seal onwards we can see clearly that there is no room for a pre-tribulation rapture argument. There is no scripture in the Bible which supports that argument and if it did exist it would run contrary to all the scriptures I have presented here. The fact that the idea of a pre-tribulation rapture is appealing and comforting to us should not give us reason to stretch scripture and resort to conjecture in order to build a doctrine.

The Coming One World Government – Part 1 February 23, 2010

Posted by Henry in Eschatology & End Times.
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The events that have been prophesied of, particularly in the book of the Apocalypse (Revelations), which marks the beginning of the end of the age is both terrifying and intriguing for most people. One of the reasons for this is that throughout history many people believed that at least some of these events would occur in their own lifetime and the prospect of this fills one with fear and dread. This is no exception in our day. Imagine having to live under the rule of the anti-christ and at a time when the mark of the beast is being issued? Of course pre-tribulation rapture proponents believe they will not be in the world to witness the rise of the anti-christ. There are also others however who will argue as a way of escape that these events are not likely to occur until years into the future when they are long passed from this world into death. As Christians however, what can we learn from scripture in regards to the signs of the end? Are there any discernable signs today from what we see on the geo-political landscape? In Mark 13:33, after outlining the signs of His coming, Jesus warned us to watch and pray for we know not when the time is. Jesus emphasised this point again in verse 35 through to verse 37 of the passage to demonstrate how crucial it is to watch. Jesus used the illustration of the fig tree in Matt 24:32 to say that when we see the twigs get tender and the leaves come out we know it is summer. If we are watching therefore we should be able to discern some of the signs that precede Jesus’ return, not least the signs leading up to the revelation of the anti-christ and the system of the beast. This article therefore attempts to look at some of the events that are presently happening on the world stage and how they might relate to Bible prophesy concerning the end times.

 As aforementioned the Book of Revelations contains some profound prophesies concerning the events leading up to the end of the age, which the Apostle John received whilst exiled on the island of Patmos. However, many theories abound as to what these prophesies mean and indeed concerning the timing of these prophesies. One theory for example suggests that the events outlined in the book have already occurred. This of course is implausible since Christians are still awaiting the return of Jesus Christ and there are prophesies that are yet to be fulfilled prior to Jesus’ return. As Christians who are watching therefore, what can we discern from the Book of Revelations concerning the end? It would be beyond the scope of this article to look at the whole of Revelations so this article will concentrate on namely Revelations 13 but more precisely verses 15 to18, which says:

 15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. 16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: 17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. 18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

 In the preceding verses John started out by relating a vision of a beast rising up out of the sea having seven heads and ten horns.  John also saw another beast which rose up out of the earth having two horns like a lamb but which spoke like a dragon. These beasts however aren’t literal beasts but symbolic beasts and it is not until we go to the book of Revelations 17 and 19 that we learn what these symbols mean. The seven heads of the first beast represents seven kings but also seven hills on which a woman sits but more about that later. The ten horns also represent ten kings who are yet to come and haven’t been given a kingdom yet. Once these kings, who are of one mind, have been given their authority they will give their power to the first beast. The sea that the beast comes up out of represents the nations, kindred and tongues of the world. The beast with the two horns represents a false prophet which exercised the power of the first beast and caused those whose names were not written in the book of Life to worship the first beast, and he was able to achieve this by performing deceitful miracles such as bringing down fire from heaven (see Rev 19:20 for the identity of the second beast).

 The implication of the verses of Revelations 13:15-18 outlined above therefore is that towards the end of the age a universal world power will rise up and its main characteristic is that it will be both a pseudo-religious and political power. It should be clear from the scriptures that this will be a unified world power because the 10 kings for example, who are of one mind formed an alliance with the beast by giving their power to it. We also know that the beast will be a pseudo-religious power because the second beast, the false prophet, caused many to worship the image of the first beast and put to death those that will not worship it. A second implication here is that within this universal world system there will be a system of monetary union (or a world single currency) which will be governed through the issue of the mark of the beast. This implication is clear because none will be able to buy or sell without the mark, name or number of the name of the beast. Money as we know it today will therefore not be of value and unless one accepts the mark one will not be able to function as a member of society. The third implication here therefore is that in conjunction with the one world power of the first beast, there will also be a one world religion which is being promoted by the false prophet through his lying signs and wonders. This single world religion is characterised by the woman who is a prostitute and who rides the beast having the seven heads and ten horns, as alluded to earlier. This woman represents an apostate church that fornicated with the kings of the world and who is drunk with the blood of the saints (see Rev 16).  The false prophet therefore represents this apostate church. Another scripture which lends support here is 2 Thess 2:3 which says the Lord cannot return until there is first a falling away (into religious apostasy) and that the man of sin, the son of perdition is revealed.

 It is interesting to note that there are individuals in our day who are not necessarily Christians but who recognise that there is a certain “force” enveloping the globe even at this present time. This force which is being driven by globalisation they call the New World Order. The NWO got its name from world leaders like Sir Winston Churchill, a former British Prime Minister, who uttered the words in a speech following the end of Word War Two.  Perhaps it could be argued that this force has been with us since the dawning of humanity but in more recent times it has manifested itself in the formation of the League of Nations after the First World War and which later became the United Nations after the Second World War. The stated goals of these organisations were to facilitate peace and global corporation amongst nations to ensure stability and prevent wars such as the two Word Wars. In conjunction with these organisations there was also a global monetary system governed by Bretton Woods which eventually became the IMF and World Bank. Although these organisations seem quite benevolent NWO sceptics see them as morphing into what will eventually become a fascist one world government lead by a tyrannical leader. To this end such sceptics are branded as conspiracy theorists and whose voices are largely drowned out from mainstream media. What should be clear for a Christian however is that the NWO is synonymous with the one world government under the anti-christ’s rule. What then are the evidence which points to a future world government, monetary union and one world religion?

 Watch out for Part 2