/ 1 And I stood upon the sand of Daniel 7:3-8 And four great "Beast out of the sea": The fourth / the sea, and saw a beast rise up beasts came up from the sea, beast of Daniel is shown to John / out of the sea, having seven diverse one from another. in this vision. It has character- / heads and ten horns, and upon his The first was like a lion, of the other three beasts which / horns ten crowns, and upon his and had eagle's wings: I beheld I Timothy 1:20 ...whom I have include swiftness, power and / heads the name of blasphemy. till the wings thereof were delivered unto Satan, that they great strength, but it is composed / 2 And the beast which I saw was plucked, and it was lifted up may learn not to blaspheme. of an alliance of ten kingdoms which / like unto a leopard, and his feet from the earth, and made stand some how seem to be combined into / were as the feet of a bear, and upon the feet as a man, and a a grouping with a total of seven. / his mouth as the mouth of a lion: man's heart was given to it. This beast rises up out of the sea / and the dragon gave him his power, And behold another beast, a of nations or gentiles. This / and his seat, and great authority. second, like to a bear, and it great world ruling alliance receives / 3 And I saw one of his heads as raised up itself on one side, it power from satan whom they / it were wounded to death; and his and it had three ribs in the worship. This kingdom is apparently / deadly wound was healed: and all mouth of it between the teeth the same as the ten toes of iron and / the world wondered after the beast. of it: and they said thus unto clay of the statue of Nebuchadnez- / it, Arise, devour much flesh. zar's dream since this is the last / After this I beheld, and lo great world ruling empire before / another like a leopard, which " the God of heaven set up a kingdom / had upon the back of it four which shall never be destroyed". / wings of a foul; the beast had One of the leaders will rise to gain / also four heads; and dominion control through an apparent miracle / was given to it. which causes all the world to wonder / After this I saw in the night and he will become an object of wor- / visions, and behold a fourth ship for much of the world. This / beast, dreadful and terrible, ruler with great power and very / and strong exceedingly; and it elegant speech will reign for 42 / had great teeth: it devoured months or 1260 days. This ruler is / and brake in pieces, and most often identified as the anti- / stamped the residue with the christ who will be the final ruler / feet of it: and it was diverse on earth during the ultimate strug- / from all the beasts that were gle which will settle once and for / before it; and it had ten all the struggle between God and / horns. satan. A ruler which will lead his / I considered the horns, and, followers to worship himself / behold, there came up among instead of God. Of course one leader / them another little horn, could not lead for a prophetic per- / before whom there were three iod of 1260 years, only a super- / of the first horns plucked up natural spirit such as satan or an / by the roots: and, behold, in organization tion with a series of / this horn were eyes like the leader could so rule. This leads / eyes of man, and a mouth many scholars to accept the period / speaking great things. of rule to be an actual 1260 days. / 4 And they worshipped the dragon Daniel 7:19-21&23-25 Then I would Nearly generation has its candidate / which gave power unto the beast: know the truth of the fourth for the antichrist and most of these / and they worshipped the beast, beast, which was diverse from are revealed as only a person acting / saying, Who is like unto the all the others, exceeding dread- under the spirit of the antichrist / beast? who is able to make war ful, whose teeth were of iron, or the control of satan or a false / with him? and his nails of brass; which prophet. The true antichrist will be / 5 And there was given unto him a devoured, brake in pieces, and II Thessalonians 2:3-12 Let no a ruler of power and blasphemies to / mouth speaking great things and stamped the residue with his man deceive you by any means: for an extent that the earth has never / blasphemies; and power was given feet; that day shall not come, except seen before. / unto him to continue forty and And of the ten horns that there come a falling away first, / two months. were in his head, and of the and that man of sin be revealed, "Beast coming up out of the earth": / 6 And he opened his mouth in other which came up, and before the son of perdition; The next beast will have a different / blasphemy against God, to blas- whom three fell; even of that Who opposeth and exalteth him- nature in that it will appear as a / pheme his name, and his tabernacle, horn that had eyes, and a mouth self above all that is called God, lamb, a man of peace, with limited / and them that dwell in heaven. that spake very great things, or that is worshiped: so that he power of only two horns. Many / 7 And it was given unto him to whose look was more stout than as God sitteth in the temple of scholars interpret this to be a / make war with the saints, and to his fellows. God, showing himself that he is religious leader while the first / overcome them: and power was given I beheld, and the same horn God. beast will be a great government / him over all kindreds, and tongues, made war with the saints, and Remember ye not, that, when I leader. The second beast is often / and nations. prevailed against them: was yet with you, I told you these refered to as the "false prophet" / 8 And all that dwell upon the Thus he said, The forth beast things? as in verses 16:13, 19:20 and 20:10. / earth shall worship him, whose shall be the fourth kingdom And now ye know what withholdeth He will lead the deceived people to / names are not written in the book upon the earth, which shall be that he might be revealed in his worship the first beast through / of life of the Lamb slain from the diverse from all kingdoms, and time. miraculous signs and wonders. He / foundations of the world. shall devour the whole earth, For the mystery of iniquity doth will also be able to control the / and shall tread it down, and already work: only he who now commerce of the world to the extent / break it in pieces. letteth will let, until he be that he will allow only his follow- / And the ten horns out of this taken out of the way. ers who are identified by a mark to / kingdom are ten kings that And then shall that Wicked be buy and sell. Naturally there has / shall arise: and another shall revealed, whom the Lord shall been much speculation as to the / rise after them; and he shall consume with the spirit of his nature of the mark and how such uni- / be more diverse from the first, mouth, and shall destroy with the versal control could be accomplished. / and he shall subdue three brightness of his coming: Such control seems more feasible / kings. Even him, whose coming is after with the advancement of computer / And he shall speak great the working of Satan with all controlled financial systems. / words against the Most High, power and signs and lying wonders, / and shall wear out the saints And with all deceivableness of 666: There has been so much specul- / of the Most High, and think to unrighteousness in them that ation concerning the mark or number / change times and laws: and perish; because they received not of the beast that it is tempting to / they shall be given into his the love of the truth, that they avoid the subject. When Christians / hand until a time and times might be saved. continue to bring up new theories / and the dividing of time. And for this cause God shall send concerning this matter and time / them strong delusion, that they proves these theories to be wrong it / 9 If any man have an ear, let him should believe a lie: provides fuel to the nonbelievers / hear. That they all might be damned and those with the spirit of the / 10 He that leadeth into captivity Jeremiah 15:2 ..Thus saith the who believed not the truth, but antichrist to ridicule the Word and / shall go into captivity: he that Lord; Such as are for death,to had pleasure in unrighteousness. use this as arguement to prove that / killeth with the sword must be death; and such as are for the the Word is in error. However, when / killed with the sword. Here is the sword, to the sword; and such the Word states "Here is wisdom." / patience and the faith of the as are for the famine, to the the true believer cannot ignore it. / saints. famine; and such as are for Nearly all educated people are / captivity, to the captivity. familiar with the use of Roman / 11 And I beheld another beast Deuteronomy 13:1-5 If there arise I John 2:18 & 22 Little children, it numerals when letters of the alpha- / coming up out of the earth; and he among you a prophet, or a is the last time: and as ye have bet are assigned numeric values. / had two horns like a lamb, and he dreamer of dreams, and giveth heard that antichrist shall come, This system was also used with most / spake as a dragon. thee a sign or a wonder, even now are there many anti- of the ancient alphabet including / 12 And he exercised all the power And the sign or the wonder christs; whereby we know that it Greek and Hebrew. Usually the first / of the first beast before him, come to pass, whereof he spake is the last time. letter was assigned the lowest / and causeth the earth and them unto thee, saying, let us go Who is a liar but he that denieth number and each following letter was / which dwell therein to worship the after other gods, which thou that Jesus is the Christ? He is assigned increasingly larger numbers. / first beast, whose deadly wound hast known, and let us serve antichrist, that denieth the We have writings of no less an auth- / was healed. them; Father and the Son. ority than Irenaeus, who was a pupil / 13 And he doeth great wonders, so Thou shalt not harken unto I John 4:3 And every spirit that of Polycarp, who was a pupil of John / that he maketh fire come down from the words of that prophet, or confesseth not that Jesus Christ the Apostle, to inform us that this / heaven on the earth in the sight that dreamer of dreams: for is come in the flesh is not of was the meaning. Irenaeus applied / of men, the Lord your God proveth you, God: and this is that spirit of this to the Greek word "Lateinos" / 14 And deceiveth them that dwell to know whether ye love the antichrist, whereof ye have heard which means "The Latin Kingdom" to / on the earth by the means of those Lord your God with all your that it should come; and even now proclaim that the Roman Empire was / miracles which he had power to do heart and all your soul. already it is in the world. the kingdom of the antichrist. And / in the sight of the beast; saying Ye shall walk after the Lord II John 7 For many deceivers are there is no doubt that the Roman / to them that dwell on the earth, your God, and fear him, and entered into the world, who Empire at the time of the early / that they should make an image to keep his commandments, and confess not that Jesus Christ is Christian Church had the spirit of / the beast, which had the wound by obey his voice, and ye shall come in the flesh. This is a the antichrist. A safer position is / a sword, and did live. serve him, and cleave unto him. deceiver and an antichrist. to interpret the number 6 to be that / And that prophet, or that II Corinthians 11:13-15 For such of fallen man and that 666 is a / dreamer of dreams, shall be put are false apostles, deceitful symbolic trinity of the number of / to death; because he hath workers, transforming themselves man which emphasizes how man falls / spoken to turn you away from into the apostles of Christ. short of the perfection of God who / the Lord your God, ..... And no marvel; for Satan himself would be symbolized by 777, a / 15 And he had power to give life Daniel 3:5-6 That at what time is transformed into an angel of trinity of sevens. Some scholars / unto the image of the beast, that ye hear the sound of the light. believe that the trinity of evil is / the image of the beast should both cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, Therefore it is no great thing satan, the antichrist, and the false / speak, and cause that as many as psaltery, dulcimer, and all if his ministers also be trans- prophet which forms a poor imitation / would not worship the image of the kinds of music, ye fall down formed as the ministers of right- of the true trinity of the Father, / beast should be killed. and worship the golden image eousness; whose end shall be the Son and the Holy Spirit. Unfor- / that Nebuchadnezzar the king according to their works. tunately the Word provides us with / hath set up: I Timothy 4:1-2 Now the Spirit little help since 666 appears only / And whoso falleth not down speaketh expressly, that in the two other places in the Word. In / and worshippeth shall the latter times some shall depart Ezra 2:13 we are informed that / same hour be cast into the from the faith, giving heed to Adonikam has 666 descendents, which / midst of a burning fiery seducing spirits, and doctrines would seem to be no help. 666 was / furnace. of devils; also the salary of Solomon the great / 16 And he causeth all, both small Ezekiel 9:4-6 And the Lord said Speaking lies in hypocrisy; king of Israel. In this we could / and great, rich and poor, free and unto him, Go through the midst having their conscience seared possibly imply that the life of / bond, to receive a mark in their of the city, through the midst with a hot iron; Solomon could be in some way a type / right hand, or in their foreheads: of Jerusalem, and set a mark II Peter 2:1-4 But there were false of the antichrist. Solomon was / 17 And that no man might buy or upon the forheads of the men prophets also among the preople, world famous for his earthly wisdom / sell, save he that had the mark, that sigh and that cry for all even as there shall be false and amassed greath wealth and it was / or the name of the beast, or the the abominations that be done teachers among you, who privily during his reign that Israel would / number of his name. in the midst thereof. shall bring in damnable heresies, appear to reach the pinnacle of / 18 Here is wisdom. Let him that And to the others he said in even denying the Lord that bought earthly success. Could this be the / hath understanding count the mine hearing, Go ye after him them, and bring upon themselves type of the antichrist that will / number of the beast: for it is the through the city, and smite: swift destruction. provide a seemingly very high level / number of a man; and his number is let not your eye spare, And many shall follow their of success and peace to his servants. / Six hundred threescore and six. neither have ye pity: pernicious ways; by reason of Then as was the case with Solomon / II Chronicles 9:13 Now the weight whom the way of truth shall be the people will be led slowly into / of gold that came to Solomon evil spoken of. idol worship and "make our yoke / in one year was six hundred And through covetousness shall grevious" (I Kings 12:4). Will the / and threescore and six talents they with feigned words make antichrist first appear as a chari- / of gold: merchandise of you: whose judg- smatic leader of great wisdom, power / II Chronicles 9:18 And there were ment now of a long time lingereth and peace and then lead his follow- / six steps to the throne, with not, and their damnation slumber- ers in the wrong way? The true / footstool of gold, eth not. believer will be instilled with the / I Kings 11:6 & 8 And Solomon did For if God spared not the angels wisdom as required to understand the / evil in the sight of the Lord, that sinned but cast them down to true nature of the antichrist, his / And likewise did he for all hell, and delivered them into kingdom and the number of his name / his strange wives, which chains of darkness, to be reserved when the time for revealing the " / burnt incense and sacrificed unto judgment; son of perdition" comes. Until then / unto their gods. the Christian should beware of any / organization or man to which the / number 666 seems to apply. It is / interesting to note that some / scholars have computed the number / of the ordinary Greek form of Jesus / to be 888. Eight being the number / of "new things". / / / Matters of contention: Many scenarios concerning these visions have / been proposed by many scholars. We will present only one for / your study. We urge the reader to study and develop their own. / a) A seven year period begins with the rising up of a g) The covenant with Israel is broken and the temple is converted to / confederation of ten nations from the ruin of the old a worship place for the antichrist, probably the site of the / Roman confederacy. memorial to the antichrist. / b) A charasmatic leader rises to power over this confeder- h) Persecution and slaying of the true believers begins. / ation and leads the world to a temporary peace. i) Many of the true believers and the remnant of Israel flee to a / c) The leader (the antichrist) makes a covenant with a safe haven in the wilderness for the latter half of the seven / remnant of the nation Israel and makes it possible for years. / them to rebuilt the temple and reinstitute the ancient j) The antichrist now controls all of the promised land and the / rituals including sacrifice. Holy City. He forms a large army to pursue the fleeing remnant. / d) The antichrist achieves control of most of the world k) The two witnesses arrive upon the scene and witness to all / and along with this world domination a world religious the nations of the world. / system lead by a false prophet becomes prominent. l) The Almighty intervenes to protect the remnant of true believers. / e) Near the middle of the seven year period the antichrist m) The antichrist returns to the Holy City and slays the two witnesses. / is apparently slain and miraculously seems to be n) After three and one half days of celebration by the wicked the two / resurrected. This is accompanied by miracles performed witnesses are resurrected and taken up into heaven. / by the false prophet. o) The wicked repent not and their blasphemies increase as the time / f) The prophet erects a memorial to the antichrist which of the final judgments begin. / is seemingly alive and to which all the world must / worship and accept the symbol of the antichrist or / they will not be allowed to participate in commerce. / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /