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In order for there to be an end time--an ending to this era of time, there must be a beginning and an interim period to the end time process. In a word, the End Times cannot just happen over night. This is probably the primary reason why God has given us as Christians a roadmap to follow. (Note: all Bible references using the Good News for Modern Man version, published by the American Bible Society of New York) Why is the End Times important enough for God to bother with this? Why did he recruit Saint John to write Revelations or Matthew to speak of His own Son’s description of the End Times by way of Matthew chapter 24 and Mark 13? Jesus’ disciples asked him the same question: 4 “Tell us when this will be,” they said; “and tell us what is the sign that will show that it is the time for all these things to happen.” (Mark 13:4, see relative Bible versus, links available on the End Times menu) Although Saint Mark (Mark 13) and Saint Matthew (Matthew 24) are descriptive in providing us with a running chronology of the End Times event, in Jesus’ own words I might add, Saint John provides us with an eye witness report of the events leading up to the end. Yes, he was given a ringside seat where he was able to actually live the End Time events yet to unfold for you and I: Let’s talk for a moment how that can be. How on Earth could Saint John who lived in the first century see events yet to unfold in our future? To answer that question, let’s take a quick look at what he has to say about this. Here is the introduction to Saint John’s Revelation to the Servants of the Lord, Jesus Christ, as contained in Revelation, Chapter 1: 1 “In this book are written the things that Jesus Christ revealed. These things were given him by God, for him to show God’s servants what must happen very soon. Christ made these things known to his servant John by sending his angel to him. 2 John has told all that he has seen. This is his report concerning the message from God and the truth revealed by Jesus Christ. 3 Happy is the one who reads this book, and happy are those who listen to the words of this prophetic message and obey what is written in this book! For the time is near when all this will happen.” First, Saint John was given a vision where Jesus appeared to him, providing a series of messages directed at certain churches of that time period. His messages were specifically and pointedly worded to address issues of the day. This portion of John’s experience involved real issues of John’s time. But then something else happened, as you will see, that I can only describe as spiritual where John was taken in the spirit to a far place where he was shown the events yet to come. Revelation Chapter 1: 9 “I am John, your brother, and in union with Jesus I share with you in suffering, and in his Kingdom, and in enduring. I was put on the island named Patmos because I had proclaimed God’s word and the truth that Jesus revealed. 10 On the Lord’s day the Spirit took control of me, and I heard a loud voice, that sounded like a trumpet, speaking behind me. 11 It said: ‘Write down what you see, and send the book to these seven churches: in Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.’ 12 “I turned around to see who was talking to me. There I saw seven gold lamp-stands. 13 Among them stood a being who looked like a man, wearing a robe that reached to his feet, and a gold band around his chest. 14 His hair was white as wool, or as snow, and his eyes blazed like fire; 15 his feet shone like brass melted in the furnace and then polished, and his voice sounded like a mighty waterfall. 16 He held seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp two-edged sword came out of his moth. His face was as bright as the midday sun. 17 When I saw him I fell down at his feet like a dead man. He placed his right hand on me and said: ‘Don’t be afraid! I am the first and the last. 18 I am the living one! I was dead, but look, I am alive for ever and ever. I have authority over death and the world of the dead. 19 Write, then, the things you see, both the things that are now, and the things that will happen afterward. 20 Here is the secret meaning of the seven stars that you see in my right hand, and of the seven gold lamp-stands: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lamp-stands are the seven churches.” This is how Saint John’s vision began, with communication with a being who professed to be Jesus Christ, the first born to God, his Father, the first to experience the resurrection, and he’ll be the last after all else has passed away. Saint John wrote about Jesus’ message to the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3. In Chapter 4, however, he tells of a change in his initial vision, describing it as a “second vision,” where he then describes events yet to come. Chapter 4: 1 “At this point I had another vision, and saw an open door in heaven. And the voice that sounded like a trumpet, which I had heard speaking to me before, said, ‘Come up here and I will show you what must happen after this.’ 2 At once the Spirit took control of me. There in heaven was a throne, with someone sitting on it. 3 His face gleamed like such precious stones as jasper and carnelian; all around the throne there was a rainbow the color of an emerald. 4 In a circle around the throne were twenty-four other thrones, on which were sealed twenty-fojr elders dressed in white, and wearing gold crowns. 5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, and sounds, and peals of thunder. There were seven lighted torches burning before the throne; these are the seven spirits of God. 6 In front of the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.” “Surrounding the throne, on each of its sides, were four living creatures covered with eyes in front and in back. 7 The first living creature looked like a lion; the second looked like a calf; the third had a face like a man’s face; and the fourth looked like a flying eagle. 8 Each one of the four living creatures had six wings, and they were covered over with eyes, inside and out. They never stop their singing day or night: ‘Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God
Almighty, 9 “As often as the four living creatures sing songs of glory and honor and thanks to the one who sits on the throne, who lives for ever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before the one who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They throw their crowns before the throne, and say: ‘Our Lord and God! You are worthy Of special interest to this writer is the events described by Saint John in Chapter 13 of the Book of Revelation. In the initial portion of Chapter 13 he describes a scene that I believe to be encrypted so only someone of our day can actually read and understand it. He says he saw a beast coming up out of the sea. He described the beast as having seven heads and 10 horns with a crown on each one. Let’s decode this with what we know of in today’s world: Let’s first ask the question, what does every continent of Earth have in common with it? The answer is—the sea. The same water that flows around Great Britain also flow in and out of the Mediterranean, the Pacific, and the Atlantic. So, a seven headed, 10 horned beast that comes from the water could very well spell “International Government.” What did Saint John tell us that could support this notion? Well, first, he tells us that this Int’l Beast has seven heads and ten horns. Perhaps the key is the crowns on each of the ten horns. Here we could have ten heads of state that ride on the influence or political power of seven nation states—perhaps the G7 that comprise the seven key countries that control the United Nations. Here’s what the Wikipedia.org has to tell us about the G7: “Group of Seven, seven industrialized nations of
the world, formed in 1976 when Canada joined the Group of Six (United States of
America, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom); now known as G8 (with
Russia)” WWW Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G7 The link within Wikipedia’s G7 section leads us to the G8: Here is what Wikipedia.org has to tell us about the G8: “The Group of Eight (G8) is an
international forum for the governments of Canada, France, Germany, Italy,
Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States. Together, the eight
countries represent about 65 percent of the world economy.[1] The group's
activities include year-round conferences and policy research, culminating withan annual summit meeting attended by the heads of government of the member
states. The European Commission is also represented at the meetings. “Each year, member states of the G8 take turns assuming the presidency of the group. The holder of the presidency sets the group's annual agenda and hosts the summit for that year. The presidency for 2007 belongs to Germany, which will host the 33rd G8 summit in Heiligendamm from June 6 to June 8.” WWW Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G8 The ten horns with crowns could very well be the G10, also known as the Group of Ten, or the G10: The Group of Ten or G10 refers
to the group of countries that have agreed to participate in the General
Arrangements to Borrow (GAB). The GAB was established in 1962, when the
governments of eight International Monetary Fund (IMF) members—Belgium, Canada,
France, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United
States—and the central banks of two others, Germany and Sweden, agreed to make
resources available to the IMF for drawings by participants, and, under certain
circumstances, for drawings by nonparticipants. The GAB was strengthened in
1964 by the association of Switzerland, then a nonmember of the Fund, but the
name of the G10 remained the same. The following international organizations
are official observers of the activities of the G10: The Bank for International
Settlements (BIS), European Commission, IMF, and OECD. The Group of Ten signed the
Smithsonian Agreement in December 1971, replacing the world's fixed exchange
rate regime with a floating exchange rate regime. Luxembourg is also an associate member. In verse 1 of Chapter 13 we see that one of the heads of the beast, perhaps a nation, “seemed to have been killed, but the fatal wound had healed. The whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast.” What could lead John to say these things? Perhaps a nation appeared to be wiped off the face of the earth by a nuclear explosion. Or, perhaps one of the seven nations seemed to suffer an economic death, later to be revised to a position even more strong than it’s original condition. Who can say for sure, other than he that wrote these words, or the Lord Himself? But follow along for a while if you would. Let’s take a closer look at verse 2. “The beast I saw looked like a leopard, with feet like a bear’s feet, and a mouth like a lion’s mouth. The dragon gave the beast his own power, his throne, and his vast authority.” Could Saint John be talking about Russia and the Communist Party, the Bear, in collaboration with China, the Dragon? If we read further, in verse 5 and 6 we see that the beast began to speak openly in opposition to God and he was given the necessary power to fight Christians and to defeat them. He was given “authority over every tribe and people, every language and nation.” This Beast is none other than the United Nations, now empowered by China and an empowered Russia. No where do we read about the United States—not even an insinuation of it’s presence in this end times scenario. Verse 8 tells us that “all people living on earth will worship it, that is, everyone whose name has not been written, before the world began, in the book of the living that belongs to the Lamb that was killed.” That lamb is Jesus Christ. Saint John tells us to be patient as we move through this terrible period. Those who are captured are intended to be captured. Those who die will be intended to die. He encourages us to stay the course, not to be moved or swayed away from what we know we must do as believers in Jesus Christ. He tells us to endure to the end of this period. Saint John then describes a second Beast, one that comes up from the land itself. This beast has two horns “like a lamb’s horns, and it spoke like a dragon.” It is this beast that “forced the earth and all who live on it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed.” To me this says national gov’t. To me it says that each nation state on the face of the Earth will force it’s own people to worship or adhere to the laws and precepts of the first Beast, a revised and militarily powerful United Nation—one reborn out of the ashes of political and economic defeat. One revised by the economic power of China with Russia in tow. This tells us that China and Russia will, by that time, be in control of the United Nations economically and politically. Hence this is how the Jewish nation, Israel, is attacked and defeated. It is also what prompts God to rally the heavenly troops and to send them Earthward to stop the carnage before there is no life left, especially that of Christ’s Church. Praise and adoration to God and His Son, Jesus Christ--the First and the Last! |