A basic reason for so much perplexity, when the subject of Bible prophecy is under discussion, is not only the failure to properly evaluate the prophecies themselves, but also the inability to correctly identify the periods in history during which certain foretold events are to be fulfilled, some having already occurred and others soon to take place. At times this kind of misinterpretation has led Biblical exponents to assign for future fulfillment that which has already come to pass. Such errors compound confusion among those who are mentally earthbound; that is, those who have very limited spiritual vision with regard to the whole panorama of prophecy.
Out of the Abyss, spawned by Satan, the Arch counterfeiter, corruptive systems have been structured which have attained a gigantic mushroom like growth, whose spores of deception and perversion have succeeded in leading multitudes astray who stubbornly resist the disciplines of belief in the truth. In the field of religion, one maliciously effective ruse has been to keep people in a state of uncertainty, always looking for something yet to come. This thwarts individual awareness of what is actually in being.
Unable to entice sincere believers away from searching for the truth in the Scriptures, and questing fro the Spiritual direction to be found in studying the messages of the prophets of the Lord, Satan, the father of lies, moved to attempt to corrupt the Written Word by distorting its application. Consequently, he has produced a masterpiece of jumblement by the introduction of Futurism as a system of interpretation of Biblical prophecies.
In the 16th century, the fathers of the Protestant Reformation readily identified the Roman hierarchy with Mystery, Babylon the Great, of the 17th chapter of the Book of Revelation, with the “Bishop of Rome” occupying the seat of the Antichrist. Therefore, since the Roman Church, under the control of the Jews, could not tolerate being exposed as the Apostate Church, which is the correct Biblical designation, it became necessary to take counter measures.
To intercept the untimely disclosure of hidden Papal purposes, the Futurist theory of prophetic interpretation was invented by the Jewish Franciscus Rivera, a Jesuit priest of Salamanca, Spain, about 1585 A.D., who published an Apocalyptic Commentary on Babylon and Antichrst. The avowed objective was to combat and overthrow the historical interpretation held by the early Church fathers and accepted by the Reformers of the sixteenth century. The Futurist system was introduced into the Protestant Church, about 1830 A.D., by Samuel R. Maitland, a clergyman of the Church of England, who accepted the prognostications of Romanist writers, chiefly the Jewish Jesuit Lacunza. This erroneous teaching spread rapidly in England, and from England to the United States.
Today, almost all the Judeo-Christian Bible schools in this country, where Christian workers are trained, are oriented toward Futurism. Their courses on prophecy in particular, studied by thousands, both by attendance and by correspondence, are based upon this spurious foundation. Ecclesiastical authorities, Judeo-Christian professors, pastors and evangelists, with hardly an exception, embrace the theories of Futurism. A veritable flood of notes on the Bible, in Commentaries, and incorporated in the writing of hundreds of books, booklets, magazines and tracts, conform with the Futurist elucidation of the Prophetic Word.
What are the Basic contentions of the Futurist school of prophetic teaching? They may be very briefly summarized as follows:
1). A yet future revival of the Roman Empire and the development of ten interlocking kingdoms.
2). The rise of a future Antichrist, or “man of sin.”
3). The Temple to be rebuilt in Jerusalem by Jewry, the Antichrist to make a covenant with Jewry for seven years; in the midst of those seven years, to break his covenant and desecrate the Temple.
Having formulated their program, the Futurists then go to the Scriptures to find texts which will appear to substantiate the agenda they have projected. For example:
1). Paul’s statement in 2 Thessalonians 2:7-8, and many other not necessarily related passage in both Old and Hew Testaments, are made to apply to a coming “man of sin,” who, they say, is the Antichrist.
2). Through an erroneous interpretation of the statement in Daniel 9:27, again embellished by unrelated Biblical statements, a case is fabricate for the predicted actions of this future “man of sin.”
3). The Futurists teach that the events symbolically portrayed in the Book of Revelation are all in the future; that is, from the fourth chapter and onward.
The question naturally arises: Why should Protestant Christians adopt a prophetic interpretation which was invented to destroy the proven fact that prophecy is history prewritten, while history is the record of prophecy fulfilled? Well did Grattan Guinness write his invaluable works of exegesis concerning the Scriptures in the nineteenth century, stating specifically in “Romanism and the Reformation:”
“We shall not be surprised to find antagonistic schools of prophetic interpretation, but, on the contrary, we shall expect such, and we shall expect the apostates and persecutors to belong to one school, and the faithful confessors and martyrs to another...On turning to the history of prophetic interpretation, this is precisely what we find.
“With many varieties as to detail, we find there have existed, and still exist, TWO GREAT OPPOSITE SCHOOLS OF INTERPRETATION, the Papal and the Protestant, or the FUTURIST SCHOOL and the HISTORICAL SCHOOL. The latter regards the prophecies of Daniel, Paul and john as fully and faithfully setting forth THE ENTIRE COURSE OF CHRISTIAN HISTORY; the former as dealing chiefly with A FUTURE FRAGMENT OF TIME AT ITS CLOSE.
“The former, or Futurist, system of interpreting the prophecies is now held, strange to say, by man Protestants, but it was first invented by the Jewish Jesuit Rivera, at the end of the sixteenth century, to relieve the Papacy from the terrible stigma cast upon it by the Protestant interpretation. This interpretation was so evidently the true and intended one that the adherents of the Papacy felt its edge must, at any cost, be turned or blunted.” (Romanism and the Reformation, pp. 183-184. Now out of print)
The success with Futurism, attained on the religious front, has its parallel on the economic, commercial and political fronts as well. In all of the spheres of human endeavor, Satan, the prince of this world (John 12:31), has engineered his diabolical “working.” (2 Thessalonians 2:9) this is the subject of Phase II of this exegesis.
During his nine-day pilgrimage to Poland, which was concluded on June 10, 1979, Pope John Paul II (a Jew) was greeted by great throngs of people everywhere he went. Commenting upon his activities in various places in his native land, one prominent commentator made the remark, on June 5, 1979, that Pope John Paul II has now become “a universal figure.”
On one occasion during the Roman Pontiff’s trip, he asserted that “Communism is the machine of the Antichrist.” His use of the word “machine” in intriguing since, in one dictionary definition, the word may mean “a device of supernatural intervention.” In this connection, the reader is invited to examine the dictionary definition of the phrase, “deus ex machina,” which, in classical drama, is “a god brought to the state in a mechanical contrivance, to intervene in a difficult situation.” Second definition: “Any unexpected, or improbable, person, or event, introduced to untangle the plot.”
Stephen F. Wise, former head rabbi of the United States said: “Some call it Communism, I call it Judaism.”
However, in actuality, the Pope referred to only one section of the “Antichrist machine,” of which he is himself another part as he is Jewish. It is pointed out in Phase II of this study that the various segments of the Satanic Combine do not, because they cannot, coalesce, while working their wiles, in their individual ways, in pursuit of their goal to hold all the inhabitants of the earth in their grip. The whole spectrum of activity is now parading onto center stage where the final scenario is to be played out.
Another admittedly imposing term; “gigantomachy,” has been borrowed from classical mythology which encompasses the agelong contest between Good and Evil, a contest which, in the latter days, has continued between Yahshua and His Kingdom and the entire gamut of Satanically -directed fores which would conspire to take the Kingdom by force. (Matthew 11:12)
We are given to understand in the Scriptures that when Satan senses the near approach of his utter downfall, he will begin to foment extreme degrees of agitation, acting in feverish haste, knowing his time is short. Thus, the conclusion of this books denotes the only possible outcome; the outcome foreordained by Yahweh, which will bring the malevolent forces of Evil, in their concomitant association, to their ultimate destruction in the grand finale of the Great Drama of the Ages.
Ecclesiastical Hierarchy
The transitional epoch in history, in which we are now living, is incalculably influenced by the wide extent of the artful, sometimes insidious, deception of pernicious propaganda, comprising a body of half-truths and distortions which bias the judgment of the individual in every area of daily life. At a time when truth is so needed, error was never more prevalent. In fact, truth is often maligned as actually subversive and this is nowhere more evident than in the religious sphere where, beyond a degree of unamity, more or less, in regard to the necessity to accept the call of God and become a follower of Christ, a Christian, theological chaos abounds.
On the subject of Biblical prophecy, the agreement of theologians and evangelists seems to be largely due to the establishment of a commonly accepted false premise, totally lacking the support of Scriptural documentation. The premise is so worded that those who rely upon it assume the role of prophets in their own right, whose assumptions become predictions still to come to pass, expressed in prolifically produced books, even though much of what they purport to foresee has already become history. This is the chasm of variance that exists between the futurist theory of prophecy and the historical approach to “the more sure word of prophecy,” which is, as the Apostle Peter termed it, “a light that shineth in a dark place.” (2 Peter 1:19)
The “Falling Away”
Consequently, we are today in the midst of a period of great apostasy under Judeo-Christian leaders who, according to Paul, have “a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof.” (2 Timothy 3:5) They were anciently designated as false prophets or false teachers, but they had; and they now have, the ear of the people.
“And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel? And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father's house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and thou hast followed Baalim. NOW THEREFORE SEND, AND GATHER TO ME ALL ISRAEL UNTO MOUNT CARMEL, AND THE PROPHETS OF BAAL FOUR HUNDRED AND FIFTY, AND THE PROPHETS OF THE GROVES FOUR HUNDRED, which eat at Jezebel's table. So Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together unto mount Carmel. And ELIJAH CAME UNTO ALL THE PEOPLE, AND SAID, HOW LONG HALT YE BETWEEN TWO OPINIONS? IF THE LORD BE GOD, FOLLOW HIM: BUT IF BAAL, THEN FOLLOW HIM. AND THE PEOPLE ANSWERED HIM NOT A WORD. Then said Elijah unto the people, I, even I only, remain a prophet of the LORD; but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men. Let them therefore give us two bullocks; and let them choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under: and I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under: And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD: and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken. And Elijah said unto the prophets of Baal, Choose you one bullock for yourselves, and dress it first; for ye are many; and call on the name of your gods, but put no fire under. And they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made. And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked. And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them. And it came to pass, when midday was past, and they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded. And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down. And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the LORD came, saying, Israel shall be thy name: And with the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD: and he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed. And he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid him on the wood, and said, Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice, and on the wood. And he said, Do it the second time. And they did it the second time. And he said, Do it the third time. And they did it the third time. And the water ran round about the altar; and he filled the trench also with water. And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word. Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the LORD God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again. Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God. And ELIJAH SAID UNTO THEM, TAKE THE PROPHETS OF BAAL; LET NOT ONE OF THEM ESCAPE. AND THEY TOOK THEM: AND ELIJAH BROUGHT THEM DOWN TO THE BROOK KISHON, AND SLEW THEM THERE.” (1 Kings 18:17‑40)
This is what is going to happen to the false Judeo-Christian clergy that are in the pulpits of America, and the other Christian countries of the world. For Yahshua will say unto them:
“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” (Matthew 7:21-23)
“Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” (Matthew 25:41)
In their studies, they only embrace a superficial theology and this is especially apparent in the failure to comprehend the scope of the Gospel of the Kingdom in juxtaposition to the Gospel of salvation for which they are the principal proponents. The Gospel of the Kingdom may not be simplistically equated with the Gospel of salivation by grace, for while the first includes the second, they are not synonymous designations with regard to the Divine purpose.
The Gospel of the Kingdom is primarily concerned with the administration of the Law of Yahweh to the nations which are the nucleus of the Kingdom of God; that is, modern Israel in the world today, represented by the Anglo-Saxons, Germanic, Scandinavian, Celtic and kindred peoples. The restoration of the pure administration of the Law of the Lord is the sole solution to national problems; for instance, it provides the only way to successfully combating lawlessness and crime.
It is a gross deception to withhold knowledge concerning the history and development of the Kingdom over which the Angel Gabriel informed Mary that Yahshua would reign forever. (Luke 1:33) That Kingdom was organized upon earth at Mount Sinai. (Exodus 19:3-8) It is of that Kingdom that the Prophet Isaiah was speaking when he said of the true Prince of Peace, without whom there will never be peace on earth:
“Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his k9ngdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.” (Isaiah 9:7)
The Day of Yahshua
Thus, much confusion exists today among the students of the Scriptures in regard to certain developments which were to mark the ending of the age as they were enumerated by the Apostle Paul in the second chapter of 2 Thessalonians in the New Testament. These events were to announce the arrival of what Paul designated as “the day of Christ” (2 Thessalonians 2:2) and the Apostle emphasized the fact that the positive indication of their coming would be a “falling away.” The modern term is “apostasy,” which means “a total desertion of principles of faith.”
Writing to Timothy, Paul communicated to him what had been impressed upon him by the Holy Spirit, “that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy.” (1 Timothy 4:1-2) The Apostle gave two specific examples of what would be included in the hypocritical doctrines: “Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats.” (1 Timothy 4:3) The Apostle Peter confirmed Paul’s words of warning, declaring that “there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies.” (2 Peter 2:1)
Revealing, Yet Concealing
The Apostle Paul’s choice of words shows it was his earnest desire that the followers of our Lord have a very clear understanding of that to which he was referring. Yet, strangely enough, the Holy Spirit caused Paul’s words in the following verses to be so translated in the King James version of the Bible, which is the translation generally read, that the full meaning is completely hidden and only found out by a diligent study of many renderings of the passages in question in other translations of the Scriptures. In fact, were it not true that the time of fulfillment is now at hand, the whole meaning of these verses might still remain concealed. However, “the day shall declare it,” as Paul points out elsewhere. (1 Corinthians 3:13)
Space permits quotation from only three versions here. First, the King James translation:
“Let 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; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.” (2 Thessalonians 2:3-8)
Second, the Smith and Goodspeed translation:
“You must not let anyone deceive you at all. For that is not until the rebellion takes place and the embodiment of disobedience makes his appearance; he who is doomed to destruction, the adversary of every being that is called a god or an object of worship, and so overbearing toward them as to enter God’s sanctuary and take his seat there, proclaiming himself to be God, do you not remember that when I was with your. I used to tell you this? So now you know what it is that is holding him back from making his appearance before the appointed time arrives. For disobedience is already secretly at work, but only until he who is now holding it in check is gotten out of the way. Then the embodiment of disobedience will make his appearance, and the Lord Jesus will destroy him with the breath of his mouth and annihilate him by his appearance and arrival.”
Third, the New International Version:
“Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He opposes and exalts himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, and even sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God. Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming.”
The Embodiment of Disobedience
The Smith and Goodspeed rendering is the most helpful in guiding our understanding, using the phrase, “the embodiment of disobedience”rather than the phrases, “man of sin” and “man of lawlessness.” The latter two designations erroneously foster the idea that only one “man” (who is called the Antichrist) is involved, whereas the true interpretation is far more complex. In actual fact, “the embodiment of disobedience” was to be identified with a multiple-branched ecclesiastical hierarchy that would be active during the entire Christian Dispensation. Paul referred to this usurpation of ecclesiastical authority as “the mystery of iniquity” (2 Thessalonians 2:7) whereas, in the Book of Revelation, John portrays the Apostate System as a woman arrayed in purple and scarlet colors, decked with gold and precious stones:
“And upon her forehead was a name written: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.” (Revelation 17:5)
Students of the Bible prophecy and secular history have identified this symbolical “woman of the Chaldean Mysteries” with the Church of Rome, and rightly so, although it is equally important to notice that she is also called “the mother of harlots;” that is, those engaged in spiritual prostitution. As the “mother” of harlot children, this “woman” is the progenitor of lesser ecclesiastical organizations which, in practice, emulate Rome. These “children” are, in fact, the so-called Protestant denominational bodies who, although separated from Rome, have, in many instances, departed farther afield from Scriptural truths than the “mother of harlots” herself.
The strong indictment, by intimation, includes the judgment upon these associated hierarchical systems because they hold to the doctrine and practice the deeds of the Nicolaitanes . (Revelation 2:6, 15) The excellent article entitled “the Nicolaitanes,” by Rev. J.H. Allen, should be read in connection with these considerations. This article refers to “that time of the greatest trouble the world has ever known, or will know,” which is the time of tribulation known as the Laodiean Church Period that all Christendom must undergo. What John records was in response to the Divine command:
“And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write: These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuked and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at that door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” (Revelation 3:14-20)
Mystery of Iniquity
Paul declared the Mystery of Iniquity was already secretly at work in his generation. But he also stated that its full exposure would not take place until the power that was hindering its outward appearance was removed. That restraining power was Imperial Rome. As Paul says: “So now you know what it is that is holding him back from making his appearance before the appointed time arrives.” (2 Thessalonians 2:6, Smith & Goodspeed Translation)
History records that, in the first place, following the fall of Imperial Rome, the Papacy, which is the Roman Catholic system of church government, did gain great power, exercising widespread temporal and religious hegemony. This was true to the extent that, according to John in the Book of Revelation, the kings of the earth, and all of its inhabitants, became subject to Papal Rome’s rulership in spite of themselves. (Revelation 17:2)
Let us examine the title by which the Head of the Church of Rome is primarily known today. The word “pope” comes from “papa” or “papas” and means “father.” It was not until the fourth century (when the power of Imperial Rome had passed away) that Pope became a distinct title of the Roman Pontiff. Gregory VII (1073-1085) finally prescribed that its use as a title should be confined to the Head of the Church.
Pontiff means “pathfinder” or “way maker” one who speaks oracularly; that is, who resembles an oracle, the medium by which a god reveals hidden knowledge or makes known a divine purpose. Thus, the Head of the Apostate Church accepts homage as Father and sits as an inspired oracle to reveal the divine purpose. Our Lord Jesus forbade Christians to call anyone Father in this sense:
“And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye called master: for one is your Master, even Christ. But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.” (Matthew 23:9-12)
Admittedly, the use of the personal pronoun in the Biblical passages under discussion leads to the assumption that a “man” a superhuman Antichrist, is to be looked for. However, just as the word “woman,” designating the Church of Rome, is a symbolical term, denoting an ecclesiastical body, equally so, the “man of sin” typifies an involvement that is much more complicated that just one man per se; rather, the wording represents an aggregation collected into a composite whole. Therefore, the phrase, “the embodiment of disobedience,” more nearly expresses the actual meaning.
The Papacy is at the center of the Roman Catholic system of church government, for the term “papacy” defines specifically the succession of popes administering the affairs of the Roman Catholic Church. Consequently, each pope who occupies the Chair of the Papacy, one following another, become one segment of the manifold representation.
Now every pope calls himself the Vicar of Christ; that is, “a substitute for Jesus Christ,” not necessarily an antagonist of Christ. This is confirmed by the following applications of “anti:” “antistrategos,” a vice-commander, “anti-basileus,” a vice-king or viceroy; “antitheos,” a vice-god or one equal to God. In the original Greek, “antichrist” means “vice-Christ” or “vicar of Christ.” Thus, “anti-christos,” the Greek translation of “vicar,” makes the two words in reality one.
Epitome of Deception
The Apostle Paul gave counsel about the necessity to be warned against being deceived. (2 Thessalonians 2:3) As Smith and Goodspeed translate Paul’s words: “You must not let anyone deceive you at all.” the accusation against “the embodiment of disobedience” focuses, in turn, upon the one who, in 2 Thessalonians 2:8, is called “that Wicked:”
“Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.” (2 Thessalonians 2:4)
In other words, he who takes his turn as the current representative of the substitutionary Antichrist System will be an almost perfect religious counterfeit. By his demeanor, his declarations and his performances, he will be the epitome of deception in the religious world. The most recent demonstration of the power of the Roman Catholic Papacy was on worldwide display when Pope John Paul II went to South America in January of 1979, then to Mexico, to attend the third Latin American Bishops’ Conference (CELAM III). In the course of his travels from place to place, in the words of one news report, “The Pope was greeted with showers of confetti, fireworks, floating balloons, flocks of white doves and plenty of overzealous rhetoric.” He was variously referred to as John the Baptist, Jesus Christ or a new Moses. The most significant statement of all was given in the Special Office Brief for February 22, 1979:
“The new Pope attaches greater importance to his office than has been voiced since 1870. He considers that he represents St. Peter in an actual sense and commands all the authority of St. Peter. Furthermore, he considers St. Peter became actual Vice-regent of Christ and that, consequently, Christ now (at this very moment) walks upon this earth. He said that in precise words in South America.”
This fulfills to the very letter the statement that he “exalteth himself...that he is God.” On July 16, 1870, Pope Pius IX was declared infallible. In September of that same year, Italian troops entered Rome for the purpose of making that long-coveted city the capital of Italy, independent of Papal rule. On November 1st, the Italian government passed a decree abolishing the political authority of the Holy See. The declaration of infallibility in 1870 was swiftly followed by the Papal loss of temporal power.
Foretold Destruction
Does the assumption of attributes of Deity by Pope John Paul II presage the prophetically-foretold outcome? Looking down through the centuries of the Christian era, Paul declared the disintegration of the Apostate Church would come about by the judgment pronounced upon the then-reigning Head of that Church:
“Whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming (Greek: ‘shining of His presence’).” (2 Thessalonians 2:8)
Smith and Goodspeed translate this passage:
“The Lord Jesus will destroy him with the breath of his mouth and annihilate him by his appearance and arrival.”
The New International Version:
“Whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming.”
Thus, the fate of this inherently false ecclesiastical system will be sealed when the presence of the Lord is made manifest with the appearing, or shining forth, of the Sign of the Son of man in heaven. (Matthew 24:30) How would the very “brightness” of the appearing of the lord Jesus Christ be the means of the destruction of the Apostate Church? The Scriptures themselves provide the response to this query. The first clue is given to us by the Psalmist, who asks a question in the fourth Psalm, and answers it:
“There be many that say, Who will shew us any good? Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us.” (Psalm 4:6)
When the outshining glory of the Sign of the Son of man is seen in have, its brightness, or light, will precede the revealing of His countenance, concerning which the Apostle John exclaimed:
“His eyes were as a flame of fire...and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.” (Revelation 1:14, 16)
The 63rd chapter of the Book of Isaiah closes with the prophet’s sorrowful admission: “Our adversaries have trodden down they sanctuary.” (Isaiah 63:18) the Apostate Church has been a great offender in this respect throughout the lands of the Anglo-Saxon-Israel nations during the Christian Era. Envisioning the total effect of this treading down, which the Prophet Daniel dealt with in more detail (Daniel 8:13-14), the 64th chapter opens with Isaiah’s urgent entreaty:
“Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at they presence, as when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence!” (Isaiah 64:1-2)
In the sixth chapter of the Book of Revelation, it is foretold that the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the chief captains, the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, will seek to hide themselves in that day, for they will cry out in terror to the mountains and rocks:
“Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb.” (Revelation 6:15-16)
If the revealing of the presence of the Lord, and the unveiling of His face, is to be so terrifying that ordinary men will quail before it, what of the Archcounterfeit of Divine things? Truly, the revelation of the glorious light of the countenance of the Lord Jesus Christ, in actual presence upon the earth, will be his destruction!
“In conclusion, be strong; not in ourselves, but in the Lord, in the power of his boundless resource. Put on God’s complete armour sot that you can successfully resist all the devil’s methods of attack. For our fight is not against any physical enemy: it is against organizations and powers that are spiritual. We are up against the unseen power that controls this dark world, and spiritual agents from the very headquarters of evil. Therefore, you must wear the whole armor of God that you may be able to resist evil in its day of power, and that, even when you have fought to a standstill, you may still stand your ground.” (Ephesians 6:10-13, J.B. Phillips Translation)
The Powers of Darkness
In connection with the foregoing of this exegesis, the overall fulfillment of that which as been dealt with, and will be dealt with, hinges upon the arrival of “the appointed time” as it is expressed in the Smith and Goodspeed rendering of 2 Thessalonians 2:6. The Apostle Paul pointed out that the “falling away’ that is, the Great Apostasy at the end of the age, would reveal the maturation of the embodiment of evil.
The manner in which the Apostle handles this whose subject; in two phases, infers that the same Great Apostasy, that exposes the first phase of evil, also makes it possible for the second phase of evil to thrive until it reaches maturity and fruition is attained. We are given to understand that the open display of the one, for all eyes to see, and the subsequent judgment, “with the brightness of his coming,” will be accompanied by the full disclosure of the other.
An Enigma
Because of the assumption that Paul referred to only a single form of Satanic activity, which would come out of the Abyss, detailed in the first twelve verses of the second chapter of 2 Thessalonians, Bible students have been confronted with an enigma in trying to harmonize the various aspects of his pronouncements. Actually, Paul dealt with the sequence of events which would expose the end-time workings of Machiavellian Evil in two segments. The translators of the King James version of the Bible were obviously somewhat at a loss to fully comprehend what was to be conveyed by Paul’s declarations in 2 Thessalonians 2:9-10. The apostle went on to describe a force of a virulent nature which would spearhead a continuing subversive degeneration, while exercising a tremendous influence upon the inhabitants of the earth:
“Whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders.” (2 Thessalonians 2:9)
Because the King James translators assumed that Paul was referring to only one diabolical personage, our system, two words were added to the text which do not appear in the original manuscript. These two words, in italics, are “Even him” and they are placed at the beginning of the ninth verse. Thus, they tend to make “whose coming is after the working of Satan” appear to refer to the one who, in the previous verse, is that which is to be destroyed in the brightness of our Lord’s appearing.
The Other’s Appearance
Again, the use of the personal pronoun seems to indicate a “man” and, of course, the entertainment of this error has become the foundation of a belief in the fantastic descriptions of a coming man who is called the Antichrist and the stupendous feats he is supposed to accomplish. We have another example of the misleading use of the pronoun “he” in the 11th chapter of the Book of Daniel, where “he” is used over and over to designate movements which certainly were not those of individuals but of countries; of nations in particular.
We are indebted once more to the Smith and Goodspeed rendering, which brings out the fact very clearly that the second evil embodiment is not specifically identified with the ecclesiastical activities of which Paul had been speaking, but is a wholly different aspect, entirely energized by Satan himself. The verses are translated:
“The other’s appearance, by the contrivance of Satan, will be full of power and pretended signs and wonders, and full of wicked deception for men who are going to destruction, because they refused to love the truth and be saved.” (2 Thessalonians 2:9-10)
The New International Version at least commences the second portion of Paul’s discussion with a new sentence, even though the phrase “the lawless one” is still used:
“The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing.”
The Ferrar Fenton rendering is of special interest:
“This outlaw’s arrival will be accompanied by the energy of Satan with all powers, and signs, and terrors of falsehood; and with all the deceit of injustice among the perishing, who accepted not the love of the truth, so that they themselves might be saved. And, because of this, god will send to them an energy of error, for themselves to make the Falsehood credible; so that, in every way, those who do not trust to the truth, but on the contrary, approve falsehood, may be condemned.” (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12)
A Political Economic Hierarchy
What, then, are we dealing with in regard to “the other’s appearance?” It has been established that Phase I is an ecclesiastical hierarchy and it will not be shown that, in the ultimate analysis, Phase II is a political economic hierarchy. With its fructification, we are to be faced with its display of “all power” and “sings” and “lying wonders.” Furthermore, they will be only “pretended signs and wonders,” “an energy of error” underlaid with “wicked deception.” In other words, the hallmark will be injustice, falsehood and fraud, a monstrous pretense, manifesting “the working of Satan.” (Which is exactly what is happening in America today) Every facet of the entire conglomeration will be permeated with the deceptive “spirit of Antichrist” about which the Apostle John wrote in his epistles. (See 1 John 4:3)
What we are contending with this is the substitutionary systematism of Antichrist and it is important to bear in mind that the word “anti” has the definition “instead of” among its primary meanings. There are innumerable deceptive substitutes in today’s world, among them those propounding error instead of truth in the areas of education and politics and those engaged in pseudo-evangelism and proffering counterfeit miracle instead of genuine verities, supported by the Scriptures, in the sphere of religion.
We have a false peace instead of a true peace and in that area of central focus on the earth; the Middle East, an impostor state has been set up that is scheming to bring in a fraudulent Zion. This is all related to the purport of Yahshua’s words when He said “the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force.” (Matthew 11:12)
Is Civilization Doomed?
In these days of perplexity, when many are disturbed about the circumstances confronting them, nationally and internationally, some are asking the question: Is civilization doomed? To answer “yes” and “no” is not as contradictory as it may at first appear. What men call civilization is not necessarily the real thing. History has shown that various nations have considered their particular brand of culture to be true civilization in contrast, those who do not live according to their standards are called barbarians.
Men boast about today’s marvelous scientific developments and label it all civilization. It cannot be denied that spectacular progress has been made during the last century in all the arts and sciences, as well as technical advances in industry. However, all of this only represents the acquisition of a wealth of knowledge and a high degree of understanding of nature’s marvels.
What, then, is civilization? The dictionary defines it as “the act, process, or production, of civilizing; the lifting up of man mentally, morally and socially.” Tried against this standard, much that is today called civilization is far from civilized norms in the use to which inventions have been put. This is borne out by another definition: “civilization is the humanization of man in society, the satisfaction for him in society of the true law of human nature.”
True civilization, then, does not consist of the possession of an abundance in material wealth. It is not found in scientific achievements alone; nor is it only manifested in the development of natural resources. As a matter of fact, there can be a real civilization without the above-mentioned attainments, for it may rest solely upon the kinds of laws that bring justice to a people, establish equity and judgment according to the quality of administration. Without this, there can be no actual mental, moral or social justice for mankind, regardless of physical achievements.
Setting aside laws which are fundamental to righteousness, along with imperfection in administration, will bring distress and want upon a people in spite of mechanical advancements and scientific accomplishments. The present world situation amply justifies this statement. Men and women are the slaves of the system under which they live.
Present business operations could be styled “crazy economics.” Politically we fine the prosperous, penalize the industrious and reward the shiftless. We call this “taxation.” Under this system the property of the unfortunate, who are unable to meet government levies, is confiscated. They are then made subjects of a welfare state, and this supposedly under “a benevolent society.”
Hospitals are built for the sick, but men are allowed to devitalize our foods and sell injurious medicines and drugs to the people in a thousand deleterious ways for financial gain. Men and nations have taken the results of scientific discoveries and devised methods of destruction that would put the barbarians of earlier times to shame. They are prepared to outdo the savages in their savagery and yet our culture is called “A Christian civilization.”
The people are taken, as it were, to the top of a mountain and shown the stupendous scientific advantages of the present age. But to the multitudes it is all only a mirage, for we have failed to provide them with economic independence and, therefore, they are unable to enjoy the benefits of these blessings. Yet we call this “progress.”
Our modern civilization is doomed because of the inability of those in places of leadership, in this order, to meet the administrative needs of the present hour. The current false economic and political systems are destined to pass away. However, their passing does not mean the complete destruction of all those things which may contribute to the comfort and happiness of the people, for while modern civilization is doomed, and the evil men in control in government, in the pulpits, in the hospitals, in the abortion murder mills, and etc., are going to be destroyed with it, the blessings of modern progress will survive its destruction.
The Vision of Beasts
The Prophet Daniel was given an overall view of forces which were to commence to be active during the reign of the four great world empires; the Babylonian Succession of Empires, which were depicted as four “beasts” or “kings.” Daniel explained that he received a vision in a dream, which he recorded in his book:
“I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea. And four great beasts come up from the sea, diverse one from another.” (Daniel 7:2-3)
It was, of course, a symbolical dream and, in the figurative language of symbology, the “sea” typifies the people. At the outset le tit be thoroughly understood that Daniel’s vision was not a repetition of what King Nebuchadnezzar beheld in his dream, which Daniel interpreted when God revealed to the prophet what the King’s dream signified. (Daniel 2) Daniel was given full understanding about that dream, but this was not at first the case with his own vision, for he confessed:
“I, Daniel, was grieved in my spirit in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head troubled me. I cam near unto one of them that stood by, and asked him the truth of all this.” (Daniel 7:15-16)
Thereupon, the interpretation was given to the prophet and it was explained:
“These great beasts, which are four, and are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth.” (Daniel 7:17)
It is stated in the book, Study in Daniel, by Howard B. Rand:
“The angel informed Daniel that these beasts represented four kings to rise from the earth. The lion, bear and leopard are beasts of prey and the acts assigned to the fourth unnamed beast indicate that it is also a beast or prey. Thus, these four beasts represent evil forces actively at work on the earth during the period when the four world empires held sway. As a part of the descriptions of the third and fourth beasts and their activities, we find sufficient reference to the third and fourth empires of the Babylonian Succession TO ESTABLISH THE CHRONOLOGICAL SETTING FOR THE RISE TO POWER OF ALL THE FORCES REPRESENTED...
“By the time Imperial Rome had come into world rule, all the forms of power vested in the first three beasts seen by Daniel in his vision were combined in the fourth, which he described as so terrible. Both Daniel and John saw the beast rise out of the sea. In the Book of Revelation, the sea represents peoples in agitation and turmoil. Thus, out from among the people, and as a result of conditions among them, the evil forces arose, represented in these beasts of prey...Our purpose in this study of Daniel’s records is to identify the four beasts and demonstrate that they do not represent the governmental administrations of the Babylonian Succession of Empires, but, instead, THEY ARE EMBLEMATICAL OF THE OPPRESSION AND EVIL OF HUMAN SYSTEMS AS OPPOSED TO THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF THE DIVINE ECONOMY.” (Study in Daniel, pp. 174-175, 182)
Therefore, in Biblical symbology, beasts” and “kings” are ‘forces” and “powers” that bear rule. While the “head of gold” of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream-image was the greatest, represented the Babylonian Empire, the following kingdoms were inferior to Great Babylon. (Daniel 2:39) However, in Daniel’s vision of the four “beasts,” the final one was the most powerful and was exceedingly dreadful. (Daniel 7:7) He was especially concerned about the fourth “beast” and was told:
“The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon the earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.” (Daniel 7:23)
This fourth “beast” represents forces completely diversified form all other kingdoms, including the Roman Empire, having the power to exercise its predatory sway over all the earth. Quoting from Study in Daniel:
“The four beasts of Daniel’s vision arose from among the people and would therefore stand for human systems as opposed to God’s system. The nature of the beasts symbolizes the results to follow the establishment of a purely human economy, together with man’s political and ecclesiastical oppression, devoured men and destroyed their substance...it is these man-made systems that Daniel saw in vision as he was shown the beastly destructiveness of their operations, growing and increasing in power as the ages passed by.” (Study in Daniel, pp. 176-178)
John wrote:
“I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.” (Revelation 13:11)
It is pointed out in the book, Study in Revelation, that this “beast” typifies a more rapacious political and economic aspect, as expressed in the command to this “beast” to “arise, devour much flesh:”
“The modern banking and financial structures (are here involved), through which all the power of the first beast (commercialism) is exercised. The two horns represent its system of debt and interest that has such power over men. The lamb-like appearance of this beast would indicate that men would consider this entire system of modern banking, with its credit, indebtedness and interest charges, a fine thing, but in the voice like a dragon, John has given us the correct diagnosis of this evil system which impoverishes men and destroys true wealth, for it is of Babylon!” (Study in Revelation, p. 197)
The Wanton System
The 18th chapter of the Book of Revelation goes into full detail concerning the judgments of God to be pronounced upon the system, called Babylon the Great, which is characterized as:
“The habitation of devils (Satan’s children), and the hold of every foul spirit and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird (proselytes of the jews). For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies...For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.” (Revelation 18:2-5)
Mr. David Davidson gave Babylon the Great the appropriately descriptive title, “The Wanton System,” and in his book, “The Domination of Babylon” (now out of print), he wrote:
“What system in the world, other than the system of human values and exchange, has given birth to the human greed and covetousness, to the poverty on the one hand, and the brutal arrogance on the other, that has occasioned, from the beginning of human history, the death of ‘all that were slain on the earth?’...Men will rob, murder, and cheat to supply the ‘wanton’ system with wealth and luxury; homes exist to maintain the factory, rather than the factory to maintain the homes; and industry itself exists primarily to supply the ‘wanton’ system with gambling counters in the world’s markets, in the form of food, clothing and other necessities, as well as in the form of luxuries.
“That the ‘wanton’ may be arrayed in splendor, millions of lives are born in squalor and to an inheritance of evil; crime is nurtured to aid her, and is punished to protect her; armaments are built to replenish her coffers; war is waged in defense of her ‘honor;’ and the terms of peace are dictated, to the rulers of the earth and declared in her favor. The mass of humanity comprise her slaves, and those kingdoms of the earth are her lovers and dupes who bow down with her in worshiping gold!”
Again quoting from Study in Daniel:
“To the rending power of the bear (the second beast) was added the swiftness and treacherous cunning of the leopard, a development in the human economy, as well as in superstitious ecclesiasticism, which began to become more pronounced during the time of the Grecian Empire, with which period that beast was associated. But with the rise of Rome to power, the political, economic and religious phase of human activity took on a more sinister aspect, as evidenced in the terribleness of the fourth beast seen and described by Daniel in his vision.” (Study in Daniel, p. 180)
Image of Gold
When King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon established the Gold Standard (Daniel 3), gold became the object of worship for all who aspired to become influential and powerful in the then-established world order. By solemn decree, Nebuchadnezzar made gold the controlling medium of exchange, the possession of which became obligatory for all who would buy or seel in the world market. The first “beast” of Daniel’s vision symbolized the birth of the Gold Standard. The evils of this system of commercial operations multiplied with the passing of the years, to modern times when the control of money and credit places in the hands of a few a degree of influence and power never before acquired by men.
With the invention of the printing press, and the institution of banking facilities, printing press money began to replace the circulation of gold. In its inception, this paper currency was redeemable in gold on demand. This gave the people confidence in the new medium of exchange and because of its ease in handling they became accustomed to accepting printed paper in exchange for goods and services. With the repudiation of the Gold Standard, however, the political branch of government reduced the amount of gold backing the nation’s currency and the degenerative process continued until, in this generation, the lifeblood of a formerly healthy economy has been turned into water; that is, by fiat money. The following excerpts are from the article entitled “Into the Fiery Furnace,” in Destiny Quarterly Review (third quarter 1969):
“World trade is an increasingly interdependent life support system among all nations because of ever-expanding commercial activities. This has placed a burdensome strain on all monetary units, especially the English pound sterling and the American dollar, (which) has led to an endeavor to displace told and substitute some other more flexible means of sustaining the value of our currency...No nation functioning under the Babylonian States has ever succeeded in weathering the removal of the governor; i.e., gold as its standard of value, and escaped the ultimate chaos that results from issuing printing press money.
“The King of Babylon attended the birth of the Gold Standard. Nations are in distress today as preparation are made for its funeral services. However, to do away with the Gold Standard without jettisoning Babylon the Great in toto spells economic disaster. No nation can escape the affliction of the fiery furnace as long as any of the Babylonian methods of operation are retained.” (pp. 303, 308)
The increasing difficulties which have followed the devaluation of currency have been far-reaching. Men labor for naught as inflation devours their earnings and excess taxation consumes their possessions. Freedom in the marketplace no longer prevails as politicians endeavor to control production through legislative enactments and dictate the hiring of laborers, as well as setting guidelines designed to regulate wage and price increases.
A “Lying Wonder”
To come specifically to the point, the modern money monopoly, in the hands of a powerful economic carted, is now a “lying wonder.” due to the dependence of the people on a monetary system that is no longer based upon genuine value, we have only an illusion of prosperity. The key word is “manipulation” shred and devious manipulation; to enrich a few while, under the same system, millions are impoverished. A succinct summation is given in the booklet, Economics of the Bible:
“How profoundly the economic fact influences the temper and quality of our lives! Even in ordinary times it exercises a dictatorship over us comparable to any other authority we recognize. Not the government itself, with all its wide-reaching control of our actions, nor even our conventional religious belief, has the dominance over our lives and thought equal to that of our economic condition. It determines our personal and social status from infancy to old age.
“The economic condition of the family into which we are born often determines what our physical development shall be. It determines our educational opportunities and the class of people we shall with through life. Our marriage is affected by it and by it the advantages of our children are limited our enlarge. It dictates as what hour we shall rise in the morning, or perhaps that the morning sun shall light our returning from a night of work. It commands how every precious day shall be spent; to what tasks we shall give our hands and mind; in what frame of body and soul; to what kind of home we shall come.
“There is nothing with which we can compare this mastery of multitudes by the economic fact. We have never seed a whole city moved by the name and glory of Jesus Christ, but we have seen a whole nation moved by the blast of the 7 o’clock shop whistle.” (Economics of the Bible, by W.J. Cameron, p. 3)
Many branches of the econometric syndicate are implicated, among them the Federal Reserve System and its associated banks, the World Bank, along with many multinational banks, the International Monetary Fund, and the United States government. All of these and other financial arms of the brutal “beast” have trampled upon the substance of the people, amassing the power to enmesh them in the greedy grasp of its enthrallment.
This is what Paul was speaking of as “the working of Satan, with all power and sings and lying wonders.” (2 Thessalonians 2:9) It is a gigantic, deceptive counterfeit, deliberately designed to foster the acquisition of economic power by an exclusive few in order to exploit the working people and obtain control over the nations. Yet, being a plausible counterfeit, its resemblance to the real thing, its facade of genuineness, elicits trust from the very people who are duped by its falsehood and fraud.
That is why Paul exhorted all believers, saying, “You must not let anyone deceive you at all.” He went on to declare that this system embodies “all deceivableness of unrighteousness” and cautioned those who do not embrace ‘the love of the truth, that they might be saved (that is, delivered).” (2 Thessalonians 2:10), that they are treading on perilous ground if they willingly, in any measure, adhere to “the embodiment of disobedience.” The rendering in the Smith and Goodspeed translation is clear:
“This is why God sends upon them a misleading influence, to make them believe what is false, so that all who have refused to believe the truth, but have preferred disobedience, may be condemned.” (2 Thessalonians 2:11-12)
The King James Version renders it:
“And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”
The Amplified Bible:
“Therefore God sends upon them a misleading influence, a working of error and a strong delusion to make them believe what is false, In order that all may be judged and condemned who did not believe in [who refused to adhere to, trust in, and rely on] the Truth, but [instead] took pleasure in unrighteousness.”
The key phrase in this passage is: “But have preferred disobedience.” Those who would be numbered among the righteous overcomers are enjoined to “beware of covetousness,” lest they bear “the mark of the beast” in their foreheads and in their hands, for this stern warning is given through the angel in the Book of Revelation:
“If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead (his mind), or in his hand (his works), the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of god, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation.” (Revelation 14:9-10)
In the same chapter, the timing and scope of the action involving “the great winepress of the wrath of God” is given. (Revelation 14:15-20) Let no Christian be led into error:
“For the love of money is the root of all evil:: which, while some coveted after, they have erred (been seduced) from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” (1 Timothy 6:10)
When the world economy, called Babylon the Great in the Book of Revelation, falls, never to delude Yahweh’s Israel people again, multitudes will bewail her passing when they shall see the smoke of her burning:
“Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, say, Alas, alas, that Great city Babylon, that mighty city! For in one hour is thy judgment come.” (Revelation 18:10)
In sharp contrast to this, only a few individuals will be n wholehearted agreement with the suggestion:
“Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her.” (Revelation 18:20)
Illuminism
There is in the world today a great conspiracy operating in the sphere of politics, the aim of which is to destroy all existing forms of government, as well as every religious belief. Volumes could be written on the ramifications of this subject, but it is enough to state that it was in the year 1776 that the Illuminati was organized to carry out its diabolical program. It is of more than passing interest to note that the word Illuminati is derived from “Lucifer and means “holders of the light.” This immediately reminds us of our Lord’s trenchant comment:
“If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6:23)
The ultimate objective of the members of the cabal who espouse Illuminism is absolute world rule and one of their most effective methods of operation is to condition the minds of individuals for the eventual acceptance of their control by the perversion of truth in all aspects of modern day life; in literature, art, music, sports, entertainment, economics, political affairs, in all the sciences and branches of technology, and religion. They employ bribery, blackmail and financial payoffs to gain influence and advantage. Temptations of all sorts, monetary and sexual, are tools in trade to hold men and women in bondage in both public and private life.
The ideologies of fascism, Nazism and Communism are merely phases of activity under the aegis of the Illuminati, carrying out pre-designated parts of the overall plan. However, they are also used in another way which was not predetermined by the Illuminati; rather, it was foreordained by the Lord god of Hosts. Therefore, the Apostle John recorded what he beheld in vision concerning what is to occur at the close of the Christian Era:
“I saw three unclean spirits like frogs (Fascism, Nazism and Communism) come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God almighty.” (Revelation 16:13-14)
The organization of the United Nations, following the end of World War II, was a grand masterstroke in the plot to seize world rule. Its purpose, unknown to the majority, is to persuade the people of all nations to believe the falsehood that in that organization; and in that organization alone, lies the hope of the world for peace. To the delight and satisfaction of the plotters, the acceptance of this deception has led to blind support of an arm of their conspiracy that is being effectively implemented to hasten the attainment of their objectives.
As the outcome of World War II, Fascism and Nazism went into decline, but we are today the beholders of the rapid spread of the power of International Communism as its insidious tactics of infiltrating honeycomb one country after another, followed by ruthless subjugation. The following quotation is from the Intelligence Digest-A Review of World Affairs (April 1964):
“The great need is for the basic reality to be faced. That reality is the relentless war of Communism against the Free World. If this fact were admitted, it would appear folly to associate with the Communists in a common organization for pace and justice, the laws of which they completely violate at their convenience...
“The fact that the Russians have not yet succeeded in all their aims should not make us think that they might abandon them. They may suffer setbacks at the UN, but this will not deter them from their purpose of gaining the maximum control of the organization and using it as a vital weapon in their fight for world power.”
The Review sums up as follows:
“The conclusion to be drawn (is) that it is not only the “modus operandi” of the UN that is wrong, but its very principles. No one would wish to quarrel with the ideal that the UN should be the longed-for channel for negotiated settlements of international quarrels, the bearer and give r of international law, the model of good conduct between nations, and the great arbiter of peace.
“But this idea could be realized only if all the partners in the UN were acting in equal good faith and with the same just aims. The whole enterprise becomes a mockery when one major state and its satellites are wholly identified with an evil, powre-seeking political concept the primary purpose of which is world-wide imposition of its own absolutism...”
A major facet of the ultimate goal of the illuminsts is the abolition of national governments. Such grandiose terms as “world community” and “world citizenship” are bandied about as part of the propaganda line to adapt the minds of men and women to a new kind of thinking through the subtle expedience of brainwashing. Private property, personal inheritance, the individual, the home, family life and family relationships, the fervor of true patriotism and all spiritual aspirations are to be finally abolished when Satanic totalitarianism is imposed on the human race. In his book, Pawns In the Game, Commander William Carr (Royal Canadian Navy) made the significant statement:
“The United Nations is the Trojan Horse of the International Conspiracy and the spearhead of the World Revolutionary Movement.”
Earlier in his book, the author had referred to two men originally identified with the Illuminati, Giuseppe Mazzini (1834) and General Albert Pike (1840). He recorded Pike’s remarks to Mazzini that following the final war (World War III), “those who aspire to undisputed world domination will provoke the greatest social cataclysm the world has ever known.” Pike’s own written words are quoted from a letter catalogued in the British Museum Library, London, England:
“We shall unleash the Nihilists and Atheists, and we shall provoke a formidable social cataclysm which, in all its horror, will show clearly to the nations the effect of absolute atheism, origin of savagery and of the most bloody turmoil. Then, everywhere, the citizens obliged to defend themselves against the world minority of revolutionaries, will exterminate those destroyers of civilization, and the multitude, disillusioned with Christianity, whose deistic spirits will be from that moment without compass (direction), anxious for an ideal, but without knowing where to render its adoration, will receive the true light through the universal manifestation of THE PURE DOCTRINE OF LUCIFER, BROUGHT FINALLY OUT IN THE PUBLIC VIEW, a manifestation which will result from the vernal reactionary movement which will follow the destruction of Christianity and atheism, both conquered and exterminated at the same time.”
It is important to notice that it was in the year 1776 that the Illuminati was recognized as an organization. It was also in the year 1776 that the United States of America came into being. Thus, a Satanically-inspired parallel movement began to develop alongside the expanding section of THE KINGDOM OF GOD THAT WAS FORMED ON THE NORTH AMERICAN CONTINENT. It was, moreover, a facet of the secret scheming of “the violent” to pursue its consummate purpose, in deep secretiveness, to take the Kingdom “by force.” (Matthew 11:12)
How is the Satanically-motivated substitutionary political system to be fully implemented? THIS IS TO BE ACCOMPLISHED, FIRST, THROUGH THE TOTAL DOMINATION OF THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE BY OTHER THAN ELECTED OFFICIALS. The vehicle of power that would be employed has been meticulously and progressively formulated and perfected.
Trilateralism
In a Special Overview Report, published in The Trilateral Observer, it is declared that the gaining of control over the entire world would ultimately result in the achievement of the power of life and death over every world citizen, who would then be forced, individually or collectively, to do whatever was wanted. It would result in the enslavement of mankind by controlling the money supply, food production, energy sources and military operations, as well as all cultural activities. When the currencies of the world became totally worthless, through secretly-devised manipulations a new currency could then be instituted to maintain absolute control over those who are to receive it and the quantity allotted. Quoting from this Report:
“People can quickly, easily, and with documentation, point fingers at such groups as the Council on Foreign Relations, the Bilderbergers, the Rothschilds, the United Nations, etc. They have all been seeking their own ends, in their own ways. It’s noteworthy, however, that none of these groups is particularly action-oriented.
“On the other hand, THE TRILATERAL COMMISSION WAS CREATED SPECIFICALLY FOR ACTION. It is NOT a passive body, stewing in its own rhetoric and propaganda, like so many other elitist organizations. Rather, it sets out from the beginning to actively create ‘a more just and equitable world order.’ Their first major goal has been met; TO TAKE COMPLETE AND POSITIVE CONTROL OF THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH, THE HELM OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT.” (The Trilateral Observer, Antony C. Sutton, Editor, P.O. box 4775, Scottsdale, Arizona 85258)
Note the phrase, “ a more just and equitable world order.” Again, this gives direct expression to the objective of “the violent” to seize the Kingdom of God “by force.” (Matthew 11:12) James Earl Carter, Jr., was the choice of the Trilateral Commission to become President of the United States. That “their first major goal has been met,” in that their directives are the first priorities of the Trilateralist Jimmy Carter, is a self-evident fact today; and was the forerunner of those presidents since that time. Was there an unintentional double meaning in his words when, in a Press conference on February 12, 1979, President Carter referred to “the nation, AND THE PEOPLE I REPRESENT?”
The declared aim of the Trilateral Commission is the promotion of closer cooperation between the United States, Western Europe, Japan and China in the economic and commercial spheres of planning. The objective is a one-world order under a unified political and economic policy, developing into a powerful international grouping. According to The Time, London, England:
“While in London in the autumn of 1973, Jimmy Carter dined with another American visitor, David Rockefeller of the chase Manhattan Bank. Rockefeller, with the help of Professor Zbigniew Brzezinski of Columbia University, was then establishing the Trilateral Commission. Brzezinski was formerly on the policy planning staff of the United States State Department under Dean Rusk.
“The rise of Carter to the Presidency dates back to 1972 when Nixon was returned for a second term as President.. At the end of 1971, Professor Milton Katz, Director of International Legal Studies at Harvard, received a call form Averell Harriman, a member of the influential Council on Foreign Relations (C.F.R.) And elder statesman of the Democratic Party. Harriman listed three Southern state governors as possible presidential candidates. Carter topped the list and Katz stored the name for future reference.
“When the Trilateral Commission was set up, the American members were vetted (read: appraise) by a panel of three: David Rockefeller, Zbigniew Brzezinski and Gerard Smith. Apart from academics, lawyers and former politicians, they decided to pick two governors. One of them was Carter.
“Carter joined the Trilaterals in May of 1973 at Brzezinski’s invitation. Since then Carter has not looked back. The way to the Presidency had been opened, with members of the C.F.R. and the Trilaterals providing Carter with the influence and advice he heeded for success.”
In Candor for February-March 1977 (a Views-Letter founded by A.K. Chesterton to defend national sovereignty against the menace of International Finance, and published in England), information-of special value is found, from which the following excerpts are taken:
“The first Trilateral meeting was held in Tokyo in October 1973, with 65 members listed as North American members. Of these, 35 were also members of the Council on Foreign Relations (C.F.R.). Eight position papers, called ‘The Triangle Papers,’ have been issued so far by the Commission.
“If ‘The Triangle Papers’ are any indication, we can look for five major thrusts; one overly political and the remaining four economic, to further world government: first, a ‘renovated world monetary system;’ secondly, a greater dependence of poor countries on rich nations; thirdly, greater trade links with all Communist countries; fourthly, manipulation of the energy crisis and other resources, including food, to achieve greater international controls...Finally, a curtailment, in varying degrees, of political and religious freedoms in Trilateral countries...
“The purpose of the Trilateral Commission, and similar organizations, is to impose controls over nations to make world government possible. It is done subtly under the guise of solving economic, ecological, food or energy problems.”
A “New Foundation”
In his State of the Union address, at the beginning of the year 1979, President Carter called upon Americans to support him in “building a new foundation for a peaceful and prosperous world.” After ward the information came to light that this is actually the goal of the Communist ideologists, as set forth in their revolutionary hymn, sung by parading youths:
“No more tradition’s chains shall bind us!
“Arise, ye slaves! No more enthrall!
“The earth shall rise on new foundations!
“We have been naught; we shall be all!”
Concerned Americans question the direction in which our nation is moving when the policies of the Carter Administration are evaluated, among them the giveaway of the Panama Canal, the recognition of Communist Cina at the expense of our former treaty relationship with Taiwan, all the while the continuing coexistence with Soviet Russia, favoring unilateral disarmament and deferring to the Kremlin despots in matters involving the military preparedness of the Untied States.
Specifically, in a move to overrule the Congress, President Carter stated he was going to implement the SALT II agreement with the Soviet Union, whether or not the Senate votes its approval. To accomplish this, he on his own authority as Chief Executive, to observe the terms of the SALT agreements as long as he was president
The Spoilers
The question may well be asked: What is the Biblical significance of all this? In the first place, the fact is reemphasized that the United States and the British Commonwealth of Nations comprise two principal segments of the Covenant People, for they are the exponents of national policy at the headship of the modern House of Israel in the world today. However, as God’s servant people, they have failed miserably in their responsibilities to be faithful to their vow to uphold the Law of the Lord as righteous nations. Consequently, the answer to what is happening today will be found in reviewing the past dealings of Yahweh with our forefathers when they departed from His righteous practices:
“The anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them.” (Judges 2:14)
Today the American people are in the hands of a government of spoilers, among who the Presidents is the Chief Spoiler. Under the heading, “The Coming Economic Pearl Harbor,” it was stated in the International Moneyline, Second May Issue, 1979:
“The first dark clouds of a major new economic storm are looming on the horizon...Unable to solve the current inflationary crisis, the Carter Administration, under THE CONTROL OF THE INTERNATIONAL JEWISH BANKING ESTABLISHMENT, has decided to lower the boom on America ‘with extreme prejudice.’ The theory is that if you can’t solve a bad problem, you make it worse so you can introduce ‘crisis management’...The weapon to be used, as in 1973, is an engineered energy cut-off. However, this time the choke hold may be fatal to the Western industrial world.”
The Heterogeneous Monster
Paul points out that “the other’s appearance” is “by the contrivance of Satan;” in other words, a superstratagem of Satan, who is the past master of diabolical intrigue. We are now face to face with the ultimate manifestation of “the embodiment of disobedience” which, exhibiting all the beast-like characteristics which the Prophet Daniel behold in vision (Daniel 7), has become a veritable heterogeneous monster in our midst. Its manifold ramifications are too numerous to deal with in detail in this limited space, but it has already been shown that its core is the power of monetary control.
The heterogeneous monster is a substitutionary system, promising good but producing evil; promising security but producing insecurity; promising a good life of health, wealth and happiness, but frustrating the worker at every level as he attempts to reach such a goal. It pretends to offer all the material well-being that is to be forthcoming to those who seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33), but our Lord Jesus said: “Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” (Matthew 6:24) Nevertheless, there are those who cling to Mammon as the source of a more abundant life, rather than seeking to be the recipients of the blessings of prosperity from the Lord, but on His terms. He stated by the way of contrast:
“The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10)
The “thief” who “destroys” may aptly refer to the thieving “monster” who continually traffics in a ripoff of susceptible people. The Internal Revenue Service is just one of the tentacles of the Octopus of Bureaucracy, reaching out everywhere and drawing in its spoils form among the people. Many horror stores can be told by taxpayers who get on the wrong side of the gestapo-like IRS. Since the year 1913; with the introduction of the graduated income tax, which was advocated by Karl Marx, legislation and court cases have allowed the IRS remarkable freedom in its harassment of hundreds of taxpayers through unjust assessments, resulting, in some instances, in financial ruin.
The year 1913 also spawned another tentacle of the octopus-like heterogeneous monster; that is, the Federal Reserve Banking System. We quote a succinct comment which appeared in the Daily News Digest for April 6, 1979:
“Money from nowhere. It’s called fractional reserve banking. It’s been going on since 1913, when the Fed was created. The bankers win through interest on fictitious money. The consumers lose as vast floods of new dollars chase the same goods and service. It’s the fundamental cause of inflation.”
In a recent conversation with a Senator, the question was asked as to why the government does not deal effectively with the problem of inflation. The answer was that “the government cannot solve the problem because the government is the problem.” By forces of disruption which are now operating at a greatly accelerated pace through governmental directives, Executive Orders and bureaucratic regulations. The heterogeneous monster is nearing the culmination of its depredations. The policies and practices of Socialism, the handmaiden of Marxism, are being increasingly foisted upon an unsuspecting public. The final result: government in the marketplace, exercising controls over production and prices, while levying excess taxation on the wealth of the people, their business assets and personal livelihood. Thus, the fourth “beast” that Daniel beheld is described as “dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it.” (Daniel 7:7)
A Gigantomachy
It is of interest to note that Ferrar Fenton uses the unique phrase, “energy of error,” in connection with “the other’s appearance.” Paul speaks of “the working of Satan” and the Scriptural term “working” is of special import when the root words are analyzed, for it has reference to “an instrumentality energized and empowered by Satan.” It is also important to consider in this context that the “working of Satan” is always destructive; never constructive. It is energized by error; not truth. It does not build up; it tears down.
Accordingly, in my consortium of Satanically-directed forces, there is no lasting adhesiveness. They only use one another for selfish gains and will finally bring about mutual self=destruction. In other words, in the end they will be resolved into a king of gigantomachy, “a war of giants;” that is, an annihilative contest among all phases of the Antichrist apparatus.
In the meantime, however, all the phases of Machiavellian evil extant among us wield tyrannical power over the people. This is due, in an escalating measure, to the fact that we are in the hands of a highly computerized society. Its very impersonalization is designed to reduce the average individual to the status of an automaton that can only operate by displaying its number.
Into the Abyss
Again, there is an “appointed time” for Divine judgment to fall upon “the embodiment of disobedience” and, in the Book of Revelation, we are told this will come about when angry nations are in turmoil and “thy wrath is come,” whereupon it is stated that a wrathful God will “destroy them which destroy (corrupt) the earth.” (Revelation 11:18) It should be carefully noted that the passage states “destroy them;” not “destroy him.” This is not one man, but “them” in the aggregate, a collective whole.
Whereas “the embodiment of disobedience” will be destroyed “in the brightness of His coming,” will be annihilated at the triumphant return of the King of kings and Lord of lords, for it is said of Him that “in righteousness he doth judge and make war.” (Revelation 19:11) It is at this juncture that what John beheld in vision will come to pass:
“And I saw an angel come down from haven, having the key of the bottomless pit (abyss) and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years.” (Revelation 20:1-2)
These are the titles given in the dramatic portrayal presented for our understanding in the Written Word of God (not the farcical “incredible hulk” of a coming Antichrist, upon whom many absurd attributes are conferred). This is “the embodiment of disobedience” which will plummet from pinnacle to nadir, into the abyss of cataclysmic oblivion.
Day of Great Rejoicing
The 18th chapter of the Book of Revelation depicts the violence of the overthrow of the present world economic structure, which will not only have disastrous political consequences, but will have a devastating effect upon all the religious institutions of Christendom. It is stated in the booklet entitled “The Power and Glory of the Kingdom” that “in conjunction with the preaching of the Everlasting Gospel to all nations, the fall of Babylon the Great will occur. (Revelation 14:8-11) Most religious operations in Christendom today are Babylonian-Jewish-orientated, particularly their need for vast sums of money to carry on their programs of building and outreach. Without exception, all of these great organizations, which are humanly-conceived and depend upon Mammon for their existence, will crumble into nothingness when Babylon the Great falls.”
The machinations of the fourth evil “beast” of Daniel’s vision will be brought to an abrupt end and, thereupon, the whole heaven and the holy apostles and true prophets of the Lord are told to rejoice. (Revelation 18:20) The reason is given:
“In her (Babylon the Great; that is, every facet of the present world order) was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.” (Revelation 18:24)
The cause of the great rejoicing will be the realization that the way will be opened for the ushering in of a new order of the ages; which will be the age of the Kingdom of God upon the earth, when the Law of the Lord will be administered as the law of the land. In striking contrast to that which now prevails in government, the administrators will all be just and righteous. (Isaiah 60:17) this will be by Divine decree and there will be no exceptions, for the Lord declares that “the days of thy mourning shall be ended.” (Isaiah 60:20) Former troubles will be forgotten (Isaiah 65:16) because of the pronouncement of the Lord:
“For, behold, I create new heavens and new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.” (Isaiah 65:17)
The laborers will be absolutely assured of reaping abundant rewards for their efforts, for “they shall hot labor in vain, nor bring forth for trouble.” (Isaiah 65:23) Each homestead will be free from taxation by the government and all personal and real property will not be subject to confiscatory levies, for the Divine promise is:
“They shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it.” (Micah 4:4)
The freedom and well-being of the Reign of Righteousness will produce the days of prosperity which the Prophet Isaiah graphically pictures:
“They shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another earth: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.” (Isaiah 65:21-22)
“The kingly power, sovereignty, and greatness of all the kingdoms under heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High. Their kingly power is an everlasting power and all sovereignties shall serve them and obey them.” (Daniel 7:27, New English Bible)
The Power and Glory of the Kingdom
It has been wisely observed that a preeminent need in our generation is for “some central structure of beliefs;” each person must have “something to believe in.” Actually, the Scriptures must be the primal source of our belief in the truth and we find the opening words of the Gospel according to Luke stating his determination, with his associates, “to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us.” (Luke 1:1) Then Luke went on to record a detailed account of the parentage and birth of John the Baptist.
The Elijah Mission
The Divinely-ordained mission of John the Baptist was unique in every respect, for a prophecy by Isaiah referred to John as:
“The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” (Isaiah 40:3)
Hen the priest Zacharias was informed by the Angel Gabriel that his wife Elisabeth would bear him a son, whom he was to name John, he was also told:
“And he shall filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb. And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elas (Elijah), to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” (Luke 1:15-17)
Ferrar Fenton renders the 17th verse as follows:
“And he will advance in His presence in spirit and power like Elijah, to turn the hearts of fathers toward children, and the apathetic toward a though of righteousness; to prepare a people in readiness for the Lord.”
There are three parts to this Elijah mission and the first part is idiomatically expressed: “To turn the hearts of the fathers to the children.” The whole prophecy is given in Malachi 4:6, which is a declaration couched in grammatically obscure verbiage, requiring discerning interpretation, for the promulgation of the Elijah message was “to turn the heart of the fathers (ancient Israel).” For more than sixty years, the Elijah message has been proclaimed in every-increasing volume. This is the Kingdom evangel which has been widely disseminated throughout modern Israel lands; that is, identifying the nations of the Anglo-Saxon, Germanic, and Celtic and kindred peoples of the House of Israel; but as a witness only.
The Elijah Message; Part II
The singular aspect of the mission of John the Baptizer, as expressed in the Ferrar Fenton rendering of Luke 1:17, was “to prepare a people in readiness for the Lord.” John’ activities prepared a receptive audience for our Lord Jesus, who afterward carried on His own ministry, which was “to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” (Luke 4:19) Following the abrupt termination of John’s work, when Jesus knew he had been cast into prison, the record states:
“From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17)
Jesus preached the very same Gospel John had been proclaiming to which our Lord added the healing of all kinds of diseases. This si confirmed by Matthew:
“And Jesus wen about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.” (Matthew 4:23)
The people had departed so far from the observance of God’s Laws that they were afflicted with a great many diseases. They had entirely forgotten that when the Law of the Lord is obeyed, in all of its requirements, the promise is:
“The Lord will take away from thee all sickness, and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which thou knowest, upon thee; but will lay them upon all them that hate thee.” (Deuteronomy 7:15)
At the very outset of His ministry, Jesus emphasized the importance of keeping the Law of the Lord in constant remembrance and giving unqualified assent to its unbending application. He spoke in specific terms in relation to this vital matter:
“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy (the law), but to fulfill (prophecy). For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all (prophecy) be fulfilled.” (Matthew 5:17-18)
Then our Lord declared emphatically:
“Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say unto you, that except your righteousness (your keeping of the law) shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:19-20)
The Kingdom of God
Before considering the scope of the Gospel of the Kingdom, which Yahshua preached, stressing the unending in durance of its laws, it is essential to define the interchangeable phrases “Kingdom of God” or “Kingdom of Heaven.” The word “kingdom” is one of the most misinterpreted terms in the entire Scriptures, either by those who attempt to spiritualize the literal actuality of the story the Bible tells or by those who attempt to sensationalize the far-ranging scheme of prophecy.
There is no reason whatever to repudiate the fact that the Kingdom over which the Angel Gabriel declared Jesus Christ is to reign, when He takes the throne of His father David, is an actual, historically-based Kingdom. Gabriel informed Mary:
“And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.” (Luke 1:32-33)
It is fully realized that the context within this Biblical statement indicates that the Lord’s Kingdom is the House of Jacob and, conversely, the House of Jacob is His Kingdom. However, this need not be a stumbling block to understanding if the Scriptures themselves are allowed to provide the correct interpretation. When we retrace the history of the people of Israel back to their national origin, we find that, following the exodus of the descendants of Abraham from Egyptian bondage, the people were led by Moses to the foot of Mount Sinai and the account states:
“And Moses went up unto God, and the Lord called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob and tell the children of Israel...Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests (administrators), and an holy (set apart) nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.” (Exodus 19:3-4)
In that encounter with the Lord God Yahweh, Moses was told to inform the people of the House of Jacob that they would become His Kingdom; howbeit it is important to note the stipulation: “If ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant.” Nevertheless, when Moses explained to the people all that the Lord had said, the result was:
“All the people answered together, and said, All that the Lord hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the Lord.” (Exodus 19:8)
The vow of the people was thrice repeated and the far-reaching consequences of this cannot be over stressed. (Exodus 19:8; 24:3; Deuteronomy 5:27) The people wholeheartedly accepted their place in the Divine plan as the Kingdom of God upon the earth, charged with the administration of the Law of the Lord, as promulgated through Moses, by duly authorized ministers of state. Thus, the foundation of the Kingdom of God was laid, over which Jesus Christ will ultimately reign, the Kingdom of the House of Jacob having been brought into being at Mount Sinai in the year 1487-86 B.C.
In a much later generation, the Prophet Isaiah envisioned that which was to ensue when Yahshua was born of the virgin Mary:
“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6)
The following verse contains essentially the same pronouncement that was made to Mary:
“Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The seal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.” (Isaiah 9:7)
These marvelous words point prophetically to a future fact not yet in being.
The Gospel of the Kingdom
After Yahshua selected the men who became His disciples, He continued with His work as Matthew further states:
“And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogue, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom.” (Matthew 9:35)
It should be a self-evident fact that Jesus confined His preaching to the Gospel of the Kingdom, for there was no Gospel of personal salivation by grace while Jesus Himself walked upon the earth during the period of “the acceptable year of the Lord.” The Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-10) focus upon Kingdom attributes and most of Yahshua’s parables were prefaced with the introduction: “The kingdom of heaven is likened unto...” That His mission and His messages were directed specifically to the citizens of His Kingdom is illustrated by the command He gave to His twelve disciples:
“Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Matthew 10:5-6)
On another occasion, Jesus said:
“I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Matthew 15:24)
The House of Israel
The reference of our Lord Jesus to the House of Israel anticipated the ultimate range of the Kingdom evangel. The people of the House of Israel, then residing in the Isles north and west of Palestine, were to be contacted, giving them the glad tidings of the accomplishment of their redemption.
It was in the 10th century B.C., following the division of the Kingdom of God into two opposing factions during the reign of Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, that the House of Israel became the northern, ten-tribed Kingdom of Israel and the House of Judah became the southern, two-tribed Kingdom of Judah. The House of Israel was taken into Assyrian captivity in 740-719 B.C.
The Second Book of Chronicles deals solely with the history of the kingdom of Judah, and has nothing to do with the history of Israel, save where it affected Judah, and thus comes into the history of Judah.
The Second Book of Kings on the other hand is the history of both kingdoms. It is a combination of two separate histories, excerpts from the records of the two kingdoms. It gives an account of the reign of each several kings in one section; a mosaic of the different reigns in the more or less chronological order.
In “The ancient Records of Assyria and Babylon,” by D.D. Luckenbill, p. 292, there are two inscriptions given of the invasion:
“The cities of ... Gala’za, Abilkka, which are on the border of Bit-Humria ... the whole land of Naphtali, in its entirety, I brought within the border of Assyria. My official I set over them as governor ...
And again:
“The land of Bit-Humria ... all of its people together with all their goods I carried off to Assyria. Pakaha their kind they deposed, and I placed Ausi as king. Ten talents of gold, ten talents of silver, as their tribute I received from them, and to Assyria I carried them.”
Pakaha was the Assyrian for Pekah, and Ausi for Hoshea. These inscriptions are of value because they completely corroborate the statements of God’s Word.
It is obvious that neither the Jezreel nor the Lo-Ruhamah prophecies of Hosea were fulfilled at this time: nor was Isaiah’s Three Score and Five Years prophecy fulfilled now, in fact it had only just been uttered.
The Third Invasion
The Third Invasion of Israel was by the Emperor Shalmaneser, whose commander-in-chief was Sargon. It took place in the sixth year of Hoshea.
There are some who suggest that Shalmaneser made two invasions. The first of these mentioned in 2 Kings 17:3, where it says:
3). Against him came up Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, and Hoshea became his servant, and gave him presents.
The second in verse 5 of the same chapter:
5). Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria and besieged it three years.
Whatever the truth may be concerning this point, it is the so-called second one that is of supreme importance, and the first is ignored by all, and both are generally regarded as only one.
This third Invasion was most disastrous, for it terminated the kingdom of Israel in Palestine. Here is the whole account of it:
2 Kings 17:3‑5:
3). Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria; and Hoshea became his servant, and gave him presents.
4). And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea: for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and brought no present to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year: therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison.
5). Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years.
This campaign began about 723 B.C., and ended in 721.
The refusal of Hoshea to continue to pay to Shalmaneser the annual tribute exacted by Assyria was the cause of this invasion; and to this was added the fact that Hoshea had appealed to Egypt for assistance; a very serious matter for Assyrian ambitions and foreign policy. Shalmaneser somehow made Hoshea a prisoner, and began hostilities. He overran the land and laid siege to the capital. It is strange to realize that during this campaign the king of Israel was a prisoner in the hands of the enemy.
Whether other cities were taken, and captives carried away is not recorded in the Bible; such events would not be known to the State Recorder shut up in the beleaguered capital. There are no monumental records of the campaign by Shalmaneser extant. It is said that all such, if any, were destroyed by Sargon: but this os not relevant to our subject.
Sayce in his book, “Assyria, its Princes, Priests and People,” p. 48, shows that Shalmaneser died, or was murdered, a year before Samaria fell, and that it was Sargon who actually completed its reduction. This fact is not recorded in the Bible for the simple reason that the State Recorder of Israel, shut up in Samaria, would not have been aware of such events, and would have no opportunity of writing them after the fall of the city, because he, with all the officials and inhabitants, was carried away captive to Assyria. For the same reason he could not have recorded the actual fall of the city, or state the number of the captives carried away into Assyria, or their location in that land. All such information must come from other sources.
The House of Israel never returned to Palestine as a nation. Later on, when the opportunity came, the people having undergone segmentation, they moved out of Assyria in groups, or clans, under different names, such as the Gate, Massagetae, Scythians, Goths, Visigoths, Ostrogoths, etc., in a massive westward trek. They became “Gentileized” by their contacts with the non-covenant nations among whom they temporarily resided. Them, passing through central and northern Europe, they eventually began to congregate in the British Isles.
Sharon Turner, the Anglo-Saxon historian, tells us the migrating Scythians crossed the Araxes River, passed out of Asia, and suddenly appeared in Europe in the sixth century B.C. In the 13th chapter of 2 Esdras in the Apocrypha, we are informed that the House of Israel left their exile, moved across the Euphrates River to a place called Arsareth (city or hill of Sareth). To the north of the Black Sea, there is a River Sareth to this day. Historical evidences clearly show that the House of Israel were resident in the Crimea for centuries, at the very time and place to which Sharon Turner traces the ancestors of the Anglo-Saxon people. From that location they continued their move westward, across Europe, under different names, but basically all one race.
A photograph of a Hebrew-Phoenician inscription, found on a tombstone in an Israelitish cemetery in the Crimea in the year 15 B.C., reads as follows:
“This is the tombstone of Buki, the son of Itchak the priest; may his rest be in Eden, at the time of the salvation of Israel. In the year 702 of the years of our exile.”
It must be borne in mind that, as the House of Israel trekked across central and northern Europe, they did not all, by any means, cross the English Channel into the British Isles. A substantial segment settled in Norway, Sweden and Finland, but many remained on the European Continent, in Denmark, Holland, Poland, etc. Among the Saxons of Germany, the Huguenots of France, the Basques of Saxon and the Lombards of Italy, there are remnants of Israel stock. The prophet Amos quotes the Lord as declaring that “pockets” of Israel will be found in all nations:
“For, lo, I will command, and I will sift (marginal rendering: ‘caused to move’) The House of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the ground (i.e., to be lost to the Divine cognizance).” (Amos 9:9)
As a matter of fact, whenever the Reformation of the 16th and 17th centuries ignited the flame of spiritual revival, this was sparked by descendants of the House of Israel moving westward. The Bible was unshackled from the church altar and the people rose up to proclaim the pure truth of the Gospel of Grace, picking up the light-bearing torch of faith and holding it high above the oppressive head of ecclesiastical tyranny.
During His ministry, Jesus presented Himself as both the promised Messiah and the coming King of His Kingdom. The errant people of His Kingdom were charged with the necessity to heed the call to return to righteousness. The outcome of this would be that the Glory of the Lord would be made manifest among them since His Sovereign Glory is reserved for His people alone (Isaiah 60:1) when the Divine purging and refining processes have restored righteousness among them.
The Coming Kingdom
Those who attempt to discount the actual earthly existence of the Kingdom of God invariably cite Luke 17:20-21 to reinforce their argument. This was Jesus’ reply to the inquiry of the Pharisees as to when the kingdom would come and He stated:
The kingdom of God cometh not with observation; Neither shall they say, Lo here! Or, lo there! For, behold, the kingdom of god is within you.” (Luke 17:20-21)
The Greek word, here translated “kingdom,” is basileia, meaning “kingly power, authority, royal dignity, majesty,” as well as “kingdom, realm or reign.” In this statement by Jesus, basileia refers to the person to whom the title and honor of king belonged, rather than to his territory or kingdom. Professor Shiting, an able Hebrew and Greek scholar, says this clause in the 21st verse ought to be rendered: “The king is among you.”
At the time Jesus was on trial, He said to Pilate:
“My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.” (John 18:36)
The Smith and Goodspeed Bible translates it:
“My kingdom is not a kingdom of this world. If my kingdom were a kingdom of this world, my men would have fought to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom has no such origin.”
The Greek word, translated “world,” is kosmos and means “arrangement” or “world order.” Thus, Jesus was sitting that His Kingdom was not of that world order, founded upon violence, for, if it were, His followers would also fight. He declared His Kingdom had so such origin as that of the Roman Empire and all other earthly governments which were founded upon the might of the sword. The foundation of His Kingdom was laid in the righteous Law of the Lord, which was promulgated at Mount Sinai, to form the basis of the constitution of the Kingdom of God on earth.
The Postponed Restoration
As the days of Jesus’ ministry drew to a close, and in spite of all the evidence, both prophetic and historic, that He was the promised Messiah, the Jews of His day rejected Him. The exhortation of John the Baptist, confirmed by Yahshua Himself, to repent for the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand, was correctly timed. If that generation had accepted Him as their Messiah, the Kingdom, with its accompanying blessings, would have been ushered in. This estimation is substantiated by Yahshua, for after He had been repudiated, He expressed His sorrowful grief:
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children (Israelites) together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.” (Matthew 23:37-38)
Because the Jews, who were then a nation, spurned both His Saviourhood and His Kingship, Yahshua said to them:
“Therefore say I unto you, The Kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.” (Matthew 21:43)
The outcome of this was that the implementation of the declaration, “the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” was postponed. It is evident, in reading what is recorded in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John in the New Testament, that the theme of the Kingdom of God was paramount in the minds of the disciples of Yahshua. This led them, at the time of Jesus’ ascension, following His resurrection, to ask:
“Wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6)
However, as the result of what had transpired, the missing that was now to be performed by His followers had changed. The previous command to preach, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 10:7), was to be superseded by an intervening commission:
“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19-20)
Consequently, Jesus answered His disciples as His ascension was about to take place:
“It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. Buy ye shall received power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” (Acts 1:7-8)
A New Dispensation
The inception of the Christian era was the commencement of a new dispensation. For 2000 years, the Gospel of salvation by grace, not the Gospel of the Kingdom, has been proclaimed. This Gospel of salvation is a call to individuals to receive Christ, after they have been called by Yahweh, as their Savior. (John 3:16) By so doing, citizenship in His coming Kingdom will be attained, for through the acceptance of Yahshua as Savior, Redeemer, the way was opened for all Israel, the House of Israel and the House of Judah to be given an inheritance in the Kingdom of God.
During this Dispensation of Grace, millions have become Christians and have thereby acquired citizenship in the Kingdom of
God. Now, in these last days, the identity of the “nation” (not a church), to whom Jesus told the Jews the Kingdom would be given, is being disclosed. Actually, “the nation and company of nations” of the seed of Abraham are today the Anglo-Saxon, Germanic, Celtic and kindred peoples, comprising the modern Israel of God.
A Recovenanted People
The Elijah message; which is the Gospel of the Kingdom, is today being proclaimed in all three of its stages. First, the chronological timing confirms that the day is at hand when the people of the House of Israel are to awaken and acknowledge their origin, responsibility and destiny as the nucleus of God’s Kingdom. It is stated in the booklet, Steppingstones To the Restoration:
“As a result of the refusal to abide by the requirements of the covenant of nationhood that God made with His people at Mount Sinai, the House of Israel, and later the House of Judah, were dispossessed of Palestine. The deportations of Israel and most of Judah to Assyria and later the few remaining Judeans to Babylon began for them both the long Seven Times period (2520 years) or punishment, during which years Yahweh dealt with His people under the terms of the punitive clauses detailed in the ‘But’ section of that document:
“‘But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee.’ (Deuteronomy 28:15)
“Then follows a long list of troubles that would overtake His people for their failure to keep the oath of the covenant. Throughout the generations of their period of chastisement, the curses pronounced upon the people for violating the requirements of their national covenant were carried out as god decreed. The sentence for the House of Israel began when the northern ten-tribed Kingdom of Israel was carried away into Assyrian captivity (740 B.C. - 721 B.C.) (And a few years later the majority of the House of Judah was also carried into Assyrian captivity, with only a remnant left in Jerusalem and the cities surround it)...”
A national awakening must now be brought about, inducing a disposition to restore the righteousness of the Law of the Lord, in fulfillment of the second stage of the Elijah message. Then Yahweh’s promise through the Prophet Isaiah will come to pass:
“And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord.” (Isaiah 59:20)
The Hour of Judgment
While, at the moment, the call to heed the glad tidings of the approaching restoration of the Kingdom of God on the earth, and what this demands of God’s people, is receiving little support, God Himself is beginning to move to compel the acceptance of the Gospel of the Kingdom through severe adversity. This will be in fulfillment of what the Apostle John beheld:
“And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.” (Revelation 14:6)
This will mark the termination of the Dispensation of Grace, when the preaching of the Gospel of personal salvation will give way to the proclamation of the good news of the Kingdom, whereupon god will cause “righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.” (Isaiah 61:11) The Gospel of salvation by grace is dispensational; the Gospel of the Kingdom is the Everlasting Gospel. The Gospel of the Kingdom will no longer be “for a witness (only) unto all nation.” (Matthew 24:14) The ascendancy of the Everlasting Gospel of the kingdom will be ushered in by the loud voice of the angel, saying:
“Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” (Revelation 14:7)
The Fall of Babylon the Great
We are told, in the Book of Revelation, that in conjunction with the preaching of the Everlasting Gospel to all nations, the fall of Babylon the Great will occur. (Revelation 14:8-11) Most religious operations in Christendom today are Babylonian-oriented, particularly their need for vast sums of money to carry on their programs of building and outreach. Without exception, all of these great organizations, which are humanly-conceived and depend upon Mammon for their existence, will crumble into nothingness when Babylon the Great falls.
Additionally, the fall of Great Babylon will enhance the readiness of the Kingdom people to conform with the terms of the covenant made with their forefathers, accepting without further resistance the proclamation of the Gospel of the Kingdom. Obviously, it will require the complete destruction of the entire world economic structure to accomplish this end:
“The Babylonian methods of trade and commerce, with the system of banking and money that begets interest, have become so indelibly etched into the very fabric of everyday life that it will require a major operation to disengage the people from its mesmeric influence. Because this is so, God has decreed its complete overthrow and, through His prophets, He has given warning about the violent means required to accomplish this purpose. Then; and only then, will God’s people become willing to give heed to the commandments, statutes and judgments of the Law of the Lord.” (News in Brief No. 21, for November 1978)
A People In Readiness
The culmination of the Elijah message was “to prepare a people in readiness for the Lord” and this was to occur at that termination of the age, just “before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.” (Malachi 4:5) We find a dual significance in this final aspect of performance, for while limited in its acceptance as the witness, the proclamation of the Gospel of the Kingdom has nevertheless prepared an audience for the Lord of those responsive to the call to righteousness.
However, within this audience, there is a coterie of believers who have determined to make their “calling and election sure” (2 Peter 1:10), who, inspired by the counsel of the Apostle Paul in his writings in the New Testament, are “pressing toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:14) To them the two questions asked by the Prophet Malachi are extremely important:
1). “Who may abide the day of his coming?”
2). “Who shall stand when he appeareth?” (Malachi 3:2)
John the Baptist provided an answer to the first question in that he “prepared a people in readiness for the Lord” and many heeded John’s call to repentance. Thus, they were able to “abide;” that is, to accept without objection, the Lord Jesus at His first coming. It was from among those whose hearts were prepared to receive Him that Jesus selected His disciples.
The next question refers to the day of His appearing, still to come, when the Sign of the Son of man will shine forth in heaven, revealing His presence. (Matthew 24:30) Malachi’s second query will then be answered. Jesus Himself gave a cautionary admonition concerning the necessity to watch and pray always in order to “stand with confidence before the Son of man.” (Luke 21:36, Jerusalem Bible) The whole burden of Paul’s writings evinced concern that those whom he addressed as “brethren” remain steadfast, being “children of light, and the children of the day” (1 Thessalonians 5:5), who are not appointed to wrath. (1 Thessalonians 5:9) He wrote to Timothy:
“I have agonized in the noble contest; I have finished the course; I have guarded the faith. Henceforth there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award me in that day; and not only to me, but also to all who desire His appearing.” (2 Timothy 4:7-8, Ferrar Fenton Translation)
At the end of his labors, Paul knew that those who love the Lord’s appearing will be able to stand in His presence. This is the goal of the overcomer for, through the Apostle John, we are informed:
“He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God and he shall be my son.” (Revelation 21:7)
This involves the right to rule in the Kingdom of God, having supervision over its affairs of state in association with our Lord Jesus Christ as King of Glory, for to them He says they will “sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.” (Revelation 3:21)
The Prophet Daniel pointed out that the Kingdom “shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High” (Daniel 7:27), but this may be rendered literally:
“But the righteous ones of the holy ones of the Most High shall receive the Kingdom.”
Thus, rulership in the government of the Kingdom is to be given only to the “righteous ones;” that is, to a very small selection of “righteous Christians,” taken out from among the countless millions, from past ages and the present time, who have accepted the call and have Yahshua as their Savior, Redeemer, and King. It is a cruel deception for the Judeo-Christian evangelists to tell converts that everyone who simple received Christ as their Savior has an automatic guarantee that they will reign with their God. Citizenship in His Kingdom is assured to all believers, but rulership is reserved only for those who have attained the status of an overcomer. The latter group will receive, in addition to the gift of eternal life, the reward of the crown of immortality. They are the chosen ones, for whom Yahshua prayed:
“Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.” (John 17:24)
The Everlasting Kingdom
The Kingdom of God is an everlasting Kingdom (2 Peter 1:11) and the administration of its laws will be the fulfillment of Micah’s prophecy:
“For the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” (Micah 4:2)
The Angel Gabriel not only informed Mary that this Kingdom will endure forever (Luke 1:33), but King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon also so the Kingdom in a vision as a stone smiting the feet of the monstrous Babylonian image and then “becoming a great mountain (nation)” that “filled the whole earth.” (Daniel 2:35) In his interpretation of the Gentile King’s vision, the Prophet Daniel confirmed the endurance of the Kingdom of God, for he declared prophetically:
“And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.” (Daniel 2:44)
Thy Kingdom Come
In the prayer our Lord Jesus taught His disciples to pray, there is a clause that states very concisely:
“Thy kingdom come. They will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10)
In succinct phraseology, it epitomizes the Gospel of the Kingdom, for it is, in essence, a Kingdom prayer. Its whole tenor is the practical application of righteousness which is always related to the Law of the Lord. It looks forward to the day when the promise of God, the Father, to His Son will be fulfilled:
“The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. Thy people shall be willing in the day of they power.” (Psalm 110:2-3)
His redeemed people are enjoined to always pray:
“For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.”
“Apply your mind to instruction, and your ear to words of knowledge. Get truth, and sell it not; Get wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.” (Proverbs 23:12, 23, Smith and Goodspeed Translation)
This study taken, in part, from “Out of the Abyss,” by Howard B. Rand. Destiny Publishers, P.O. Box 177, Merrimac, Massachusetts 01860-0177, Phone (978) 346-9311)