Who is the owner of The Federal Reserve? (Central Bank of the USA)

[Kevin H]

I don't know if I am fully comfortable with the idea that it is the Jesuits; first the position the Jesuits have formed in the Catholic Church can be comparable to the Fordites in our church. Also, the Papacy is a part of the 5th head, NOT THE WHOLE BEAST! Granted most Popes have sided with the wrong side in most issues and this most likely will continue thus making the stonch Catholics (which we do not see too much of in the US but which are in most of the other countries with a strong Catholic influence) naturally side with the wrong system in the end.

However, whether it be the Jesuits or not, I believe that what we are seeing in the Federal Reserve bank and the institution that it is a part of is what is discribed for the 7th head in Revelation 13. Right now one of my college professors have put on Facebook a study in the Federal Reserve and Revelation 13. He mentions how there is a lot of conspiricy, but that they actually have the facts in the open and we don't need to go beyond them to see how strong it is and how manaipulative and how they have taken over the government and taking over other goverments, publish the Journal "Foreign Affairs" (which is by the way starting to talk about the war on terrorism as a thing of the past; what do they know that we don't?)and they give us our presidential candadates.

It use to be that the Republicans were the party of the rich and the Democrats the party of the common person. Today the Republicans are the party of Big Oil and the Democrats of the Big Banks (which of course owns big oil). We talk about the "liberal press" but in the 1990s they were bought up by the same people who own the fed. Walter Cronkite would not be allowed on the air today. and what ever "liberal" ideas they give have to have the "Ok" of their conservative owners. While a President may can himself a Republican or a Democrat, we are finding that they don't carry out the traditional Republican nor Democrat ideas, but just keep carrying out the plans of the financial superstructure. One of the few politions who is not a part of this is Ron Paul. As he does well in different parts of the country it is down played by the press including "conservative" FOX. He won one thing once and they said that the real winner is the person who came in second and focused on the person who came in second and barely mentioned Paul's win. This year two of the Republican possible candadates, Perry and Bachman, would probably destroy what is left of our tattered constitution. Texas gov. Perry sounds like a fictional character written by an Adventist academy student with a wild imagination who read the Great Controversy three times too often than is healthy, yet he is a real person who is a possibility for President. Most of the others from both parties would simply be business as usual and does not matter which one is elected except for the people who like to insult, villify, and joke about the party that is in.

[Kevin H]

This link goes to a fasinating photo essay on the Federal Reserve, our current financial system and Revelation 13.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=...b44c&type=1

[Kevin H]

The above link and photo essay came from a 2 part study on Revelation 13 and where we have been istorically and where we are going by one of my former Old Testament, Writings of Ellen G. White, Daniel and Revelation professors, John MacCall. I hope you find these useful, whether you agree or dissagree he makes you think:

Prophetic Notes September 2011

Rev 13: The Symbols Described and Exegeted PART 1

Hello friends!

We have not fully described, even in the exegetical studies, the issues brought forth in Revelation 13. Or the relationship of the powers described in those symbols.

While the studies do an excellent job of describing the concept of the Nature of Man held by the Beast from the Earth, and the various reasons that Beast can be identified with the modern leading nation, it has not fully described the sequence of power in the chapter. So we will do that now. Later, we'll incorporate this material into the updated studies.

(The series has been completely updated. Unless you are receiving studies and reading them right now, you have an old set. Some items here are for the benefit of those who have not completed reading the series.)

First, let's go back to the now-familiar painting of The Cosmos, as it relates so specifically to Revelation 12 and 13:

THE COSMOS by Gary Hunt

Let us remind ourselves that the ancient cosmos, carried over in apocalyptic literature all the way to the time of the Revelation, consisted of three parts, "the heavens above" which included the crystal dome that rotated, to which were attached the stars; "the earth beneath" which floated on the primeval sea as a kind of raft; and "the waters that are under the earth" which all ancients KNEW were there, because you could come to them simply by digging.

The upper realm was the sphere of life, fruitfulness, ease. The lower world was the realm of darkness, death, unfruitfulness. Man lay halfway between the forces of life and death (and, in the pagan mind, re-enacting the acts of the gods of the upper world created a life-bond with them by sympathetic magic). The duality of man's nature -- lifegiving and doomed to death -- was part of the cyclic nature of all reality. Life was followed by death. Which, however, was followed by life. And so forth. (The earliest references to resurrection are tied specifically to the certainty, seen in nature, that if man dies, he will live again.

The run of imagery in Revelation 12 and 13 recognizes this conception of The Cosmos. In fact, even Roman depictions show us that many of the concepts of the Ancient Near East had survived alongside the more modern conceptions of the Greeks of a planet suspended in space. (Which is why most of the creationist/evolutionist claptrap is useless, since both sides are misreading what the Creation Stories actually say/mean.)

The First Symbol: the Great Red Dragon (again)

This abbreviated discussion will not replace the exegetical studies. Readers who have not read the studies carefully should certainly do so. The exegetical approach finds out what the passage meant to the author and original intended audience, to avoid all the ridiculous and far-flung interpretations of Scripture that have developed over the centuries.

Revelation 12 says that "a great red dragon with seven heads and ten horns" (reminiscent, immediately, of Daniel 7, therefore) stood before the Cosmic Woman at the time of her delivery of the male heir who was to rule all nations, ready to devour him. The Christians of Roman Asia would of course immediately think of the Roman Empire, itself, since the "red" here and elsewhere is imperial purple, neither our "red" nor our "purple," but most definitely Roman.

The cosmic child is caught up to heaven, however, and the remnant of the cosmic woman's seed flee to the wilderness for the second half of the 70th Week of Daniel 9. (Revelation 11 had detailed the first half of that week under the rule of the Two Witnesses; Revelation 12 carries us forward to events in the second half of that week.

Before we confuse traditional historicists, let's remember that the 70 Weeks of Daniel 9:24-27 ran without gap or interruption, from the fall of 457 b.c. (an absolute date verified by cross references to the Persian, Jewish, and Egyptian calendrical systems!) to the fall of 34 a.d., when, under massive persecution, the apostles left Judea and carried the gospel outward to the world. Jewish probation was closed. But let us also remember the reality that all time was cyclic in the ancient East, and that apocalyptic proceeds under that same assumption, detailing constant recycling of the same events, over and over, each time the cycles ending with the same series of events.

This by itself is the type of concept that developed in hinduism and the Far East generally, where man is doomed to relive the same events endlessly for all eternity, with nothing that might be called "progress" ever possible. On the other hand, in the West, the conception developed in the opposite way, that time is LINEAR, and that no time overlaps any other time, and that people may experience similar events without, in fact, leading parallel lives. We know the rule that when faced with a set of opposites, the human mind tends to embrace the one and annihilate the other. The one concept saw all cycles as SAMENESS and the other saw time as essentially and always DIFFERENT.

The Biblical view puts these together. From the earliest Old Testament time is cyclic, and the cycles are the SAME in two ways: the spiritual issues are the same, and the events that lead to a showdown between good and evil at the end of each cycle are the SAME. However, Biblical time is different in this way: the cyclies GROW from the miinimal struggle of Abraham and his immediate family with those they immediately come into contact with, through tribal states, city states, nation states, imperial states, to the final complete world-state. We start with a single family and end with a struggle that includes every human being, small and great, free and slave, rich and poor. (Those are "merisms" that include everyone in between.) And the events, while essentially the same, and having the same meaning, are nevertheless not identical, but suited to the various ages the cycles end. Hence the cycles are also DIFFERENT in the same two ways they were the SAME.

This was not understood until the 20th century's research into the Ancient Near East uncovered ancient concepts of time. (All these new revelations were the work of the Holy Spirit to prepare those who wanted to be prepared for the issues of the end of The Final Cycle.) And this is why there is a 70th Week in Daniel that occurred in the PAST, and a 70th Week in Revelation that is to occur in the FUTURE. It is no surprise why this confused folks in prior ages. The historicists emphasized ONLY the 70th Week of the PAST, while the dispensationalists emphasized only the 70th Week of the FUTURE. Both were half right and half wrong. And be reminded that every half truth is a lie.

After the cosmic Son is caught up to heaven, the holy angels, under Michael the warrior prince of the angels, undertake a war upon the rebel angels. Now note, this happens AFTER the ascension of the divine Son. Ever since the 17th century, and John Milton's "Paradise Lost" formalized the misconception, there has been the assumption that Lucifer and his host left paradise in open rebellion before the world began. NOT SO. The issues raised (oh how they were raised!) in the life and death of Christ opened the eyes of the angelic beings. They (without God having to do anything) had had it. Up to that point, the whole of Scripture pictures them as residing in Paradise, and constantly attacking God's management of The Cosmos, and His treatment of mankind.

It is counter-intuitive, but the Revelation says that the evil that came to earth and is part of the nature of man came down from Paradise! Long since Lucifer had taken on the role of the prosecutor, the court official in the Ancient Near East who could prosecute anyone from the lowliest slave to the emperor. This was "the shatan," the adversary. In the Revelation it is a title.

And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called "the Devil" and "Satan,"

the deceiver of th whole world -- he was thrown down to the earth -- and his angels with him. Rev 12:9

Revelation is explicit that a great forward step in the Kingdom of God has been taken by exiling the evil powers from Paradise. In particular, Satan's role as "the accuser" has been removed. He can no longer accuse mankind of evil constantly. Or accuse God of being unfair in exercising grace toward mankind.

Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ have

come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night

before our God. Rev 12:10

While this is a good thing in one sense, it is not an umitigated blessing. It means that mankind as a group must now deal with Satan much more directly than had been the case heretofore. Since the event of throwing Satan and his host from Paradise is the end of the cycle characterized by the ascension of the cosmic Son, the coming of Satan to the earth is characterized as his realization that he has only a short time left. What follows immediately is a description of the second half of the 70th Week (again).

Now the dragon is imperial Rome (as the color makes clear) and it, in turn, is a reflection of all the empires in Daniel 7. (There are seven heads, total, in Daniel 7, and ten horns). But here it is Rome in a much more specific guise. (Folks get so easily confused, because they do not understand the nature of literature, especially apocalyptic literature. We have repeatedly pointed out that Revelation itself often gives multiple meanins -- explicitly -- to a single symbol. So it is here. While there is no doubt that the readers were to think of their own empire, they were to think of Satan and his host acting directly through and upon the actions of that empire.

And how the death decree of their own emperor upon themselves was activated directly and explicitly by Satan, and represented his very actions in the world! The Roman Christians are encouraged by the steadfastness of prior believers, when Satan accused them directly before God in ages past. (One thinks here of how Satan stood before God and accused Prince Zerubbabel and the high Priest Joshua directly, and how he encouraged the Persian Empire to destroy them and their plans to continue God's truth in the world; we remember how in Revelation 11 these two are cited as forerunners of the Two Witnesses.)

And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony

[martyrdom, also, in the usual Johannin double entendre], for they loved not their lives unto

death. Rev 12:11

The scene closes with a remarkable defeat for Satan and his host. The Cosmic Woman is not destroyed by the dragon, and her child has been lost to him. In a rage (here the Revelation reflects the terminology of the Apostle Peter) he goes off to destroy "the remnant of her seed." How he does this is not made clear in this scene. Only in the scene-change and the next scene do we discover what his plan is to do that. Remember, the next plan will have to take into account his double failure, and what he has learned and done to correct that failure.

The Second Image: The Composite (Imperial) Beast

The next image, no surprise, comes up from the Underworld, the realm of death and darkness. Like all the imperial beasts of Daniel 7, it arises from the ocean of the Underworld. This is the mis-named "leopard beast" of the late historicists, from Joachim of Fiore all the way to the Powerscourt Conferences that ended in 1831. It is NOT a leopard, however. It is a lion-bear-leopard-dragon beast. That is, it is a COMPOSITE of all the imperial beasts of Daniel 7, which were, you will recall, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome. However, the crowns have shifted to the very end of the old cycle, for they were on the heads in the Dragon image, and they are on the HORNS in the Composite Beast.

Recalling Daniel 7, you will remember that the horns arise only at the very end of that sequence.

The astonishing thing is that these two images are mirror images of each other. Man is attacked by evil from both directions! While the first image placed all the emphasis on Satan himself, and his host, working through the empires, this image places all the emphasis on those empires themselves. It is a way of looking at the same process of the culmination of the war between good and evil from two different but related aspects. BOTH aspects are very important.

So we have EVIL ANGELS:EVIL MEN to think about here. Both functioning in political (imperial) ways.

It turns out that this composite Imperial Beast is exercising authority during that second half of the 70th Week.

But wasn't Satan doing that? Re-read the previous paragraph. We are looking at the same thing, just another aspect of it. The Roman Christians are now directed away from brooding too much about Satan and evil angels to think about evil as it manifests independently in mankind. (Of course, evil actions are motivated by Satan. We know that. But man is also corrupt, and were all the demons to die tonight, man would continue in evil tomorrow undaunted.)

This, then, explains a direct statement:

Men worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast. And they worshiped the

beast, saying, "Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?" Rev 13:4

The implication of that last question is "NO ONE." But that is not the whole point. The Revelation also makes reference to the ancient Baal Epic imagery that the dragon of the underworld was given a mortal wound, thus ending the period of sterility, darkness, and death. And thus the rains and life could come again to the world. But of course, remember that cycles were unending in the ancient pagan world. If a mortal wound was given to the beast of death, it would heal eventually, and so the age of darkness and death would come again.

Revelation simply cannot say everything there is to be said all at once. This composite Imperial Beast is only partially described here. We find out much much more about it in Revelation 17. We find that the heads are separate symbols from the Beast itself. That is, the Beast is the concept of imperial powers controlling, persecuting, and martyring God's remnant. But the heads are seven specific imperial periods. In ONE of those there is no single world empire which contains almost all of God's people and has the power to destroy the truth all at once -- if God would allow it.

And, of course, those seven SPECIFIC imperial identities represent ALL the human empires in all history, which have been evil persecuting powers. That's the nature of seven, both specific and general. Obviously, even for the Romans, the first four of the seven were simple. Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome. The big news is that since the Jews, as a people, (not as individuals) had run out their probation, time would continue through three more imperial periods. In Chapter 17 we find that the heads are to be considered CONSECUTIVE (of course) and that after FIVE (and only after) is the mortal wound inflicted.

On the sixth head. But Revelation 17 says the Beast "is" when the head "is not". Meaning, as we just said, the GOAL AND IDEA of a single empire does not cease in the sixth period. In fact, remember, that chapter says to think of the Beast as an eighth thing, along with the seven heads.

So was there an empire that followed Rome where the majority of believers were located, but were persecuted?

Well, yes. Remember, Rome took awhile to fall. It fell in stages, and for several centuries a piece of it continued to struggle along as Byzantium. But even Byzantium faded. And by the time it did, a whole new empire, whose identity was theoretically "Christian" had overtaken Rome. History knows this as "The Holy Roman Empire" though holy it was not. Founded by the French imperial figure Charlemagene (Charles the Great) is lasted all the way until another French Emperor, Napoleon (yeah, the Great, too, actually) put an end to it in 1809.

And it was a true empire, a true political unit likes its predecessors. Moreover, it was just as much a persecuting power to the faithful remnant -- maybe moreso -- than the pagan empires that preceded it.

OK. Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, Holy Roman. That's the five.

Number six always means something bad for whatever is being discussed. That's the numerological nature of number six. Always. Any ancient Hebrew reader of the First Creation Story would have seen the ominous implicaton that mankind was created on the sixth day. While the prose poem repeats constantly that what God made was "good/extremely good" and that, therefore, God did not create evil, nevertheless the potential for evil was already there.

So Revelation 17 says that it is the SIXTH head that receives the mortal wound. This wound kills the reality of an imperial state controlling God's people and killing them at will. That does not mean that the IDEA or HOPE was gone. After 1809 the French, the Dutch, the Portuguese, the Germans, the British, the Americans, the Japanese, the Spanish all hoped to create one great controling empire to which all others must do obeisance.

Revelation 17 says this:

THE HEADS THE BEAST

Five have fallen The beast was

One is And is not

One has not yet come While being related to the seven, it is an eighth thing, but being part of the whole

symbolism, it goes into perdition

Ten Horns Come at the very end, and rule very briefly with the beast as separate powerful states within The Final Empire

There is no contradiction here, and it is actually quite easy to understand. In the sixth period the Imperial Beast "is not" while the sixth head "is" because there IS, of course, a sixth imperial period. Butin that period there is no single great persecuting empire controllng God's people. An EMPIRE is a political unification of nation-states, and The Final Empire, though a true world-state, will have several highly powerful individual states who comprise the power centers of that final brief period of the coming Antichrist's rule. They rule "with" the Imperial Beast, as a conjoined cooperative entity.

This is what we are about to look at in detail in Revelation 13.

So far, we've still been looking at the Composite Imperial Beast, the SECOND of three powers or divisions of "Great Babylon" as it is called in Revelation 17.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

A Brief Aside for Confused Historicists.....

(Yes, I know about the papal antichrist theory. The problem arises this way: though the 1260 days/42 months/3 1/2 years are half the final 70th Week, and already EXPANDED from weeks of DAYS to weeks of YEARS, Joachim of Fiore, in his influential 1198 a.d. commentary on Daniel and Revelation, expanded the period A SECOND TIME, giving rise to the historicist position. He counted the 1260 years from year 1 to year 1260, when he predicted Christ's return, giving rise to the SECOND "great disappointment". The theory was later transferred by the late historicists in the Powerscourt Conferences to a later papacy, allegedly killed in 1798 by the atheist French Revolution.

The historicists jumped too soon. Despite the claim of the French Directorate to have "ended the cult of Catholicism" the next pope was promptly elected. No change from the 30 other times popes had been exiled. The next Pope, Pius VII, continued to be the temporal ruler of the Papal States (so the claim of 1260 years of temporal rule is absolutely false), and in his long battle with Napoleon won on every point; he personally intervened to save the Buonaparte family after his enemy was destroyed, and formed the American Catholic Church, then expanded Catholicism in Asia, and even regained legal rights for Catholicism in all European Protestant countries, etc etc etc. Hardly a deadly wound! Catholicism and the papacy WERE NOT DEAD, BUT MORE ALIVE THAN EVER, after 1798.

During this period of tremendous growth in the power of the papacy, Piux IX promulgated the theory of infallibility, something no medieval pope would dare to do. Of course, many folks who believe sincerely in the papal antichrist theory don't even know the papacy was part of a larger, very real, existing empire, the Holy Roman Empire. That part gets left out of the story, quite deliberately.

Additionally, the papacy did not become a temporal power in 538 a.d. (The actual date of the Byzantine decree was 533, and imposed in 537.) But the papacy had been in the business of temporal rule for centuries by 537. And the temporal rule continued until 1870, when Pius IX ceded the papal states to Garibaldi for a huge indemnity, however requiring that the Vatican be exempted and declared an independent nation, its temporal rule never ceasing!

It took several decades before the Italian government caved and officially agreed that the Vatican State was, and always had been an independent nation, never ever a part of modern Italy, and that the popes had never ceased their temporal rule on earth. In other words, the claim of temporal rule that beganin 538 a.d. and ended in 1798 a.d. is completely bogus.

But there is an even bigger issue. Paul described the great, final antichrist as arising "by the activity of Satan" and says of this figure,

... and the Lord Jesus will him slay with the breath of his mouth, and destroy him by his appearing

and his coming. 2 Thess 2:8

Joachim in 1198 a.d. thought of the world ending soon. So he could believe that a coming pope and/or emperor (of the Holy Roman Empire) was the coming antichrist, who would be killed by Christ at His coming.

But how a last-day antichrist would fit with something that ended in 1798 is impossible to explain! Whatever ended in 1798 will NOT be destroyed by the Lord Jesus at His coming! The application, understandable in 1198, and dubious at best in 1798, now makes absolutely no sense whatever.

"If it does not fit, you must acquit."

Now back to exegesis!

----------------------------------------------------------

OK, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, the Holy Roman, as the first five.

Then six is NO SINGLE PERSECUTING EMPIRE.

Number seven, then, the Seventh Head, the healing of the deadly wound to the Imperial (composite) Beast, is the coming universal and final, empire. The coming world-state.

BUT HOW DOES THIS COME ABOUT? IS THERE IN THE RUN OF SYMBOLS IN THE PROPHECY OF REVELATION 12 AND 13 ANY INDICATION OF SUCH A SHIFT TO A WORLD-STATE? We haven't looked at the Beast from the Earth, or the evidence that it fits with the United States in The Final Cycle. But if that Beast is to be identified with the rise of the U.S., where do we fit in globalism and a global world-state?

Obviously, the United States is not going to expand to cover the entire earth. There must be something else going on. That is what we are going to examine in Part 2, looking at the actual wording (in Greek) of what Revelation says.

So far, this is simply a brief review of what is more fully explained over the course of several exegetical studies in the series. Those who read those studies carefully should have been able to write what we have written here on their own. Yes, there are a few additional insights we didn't have time to consider before, but this is a really simple overview.

BUT FIRST, before going on to Part 2, please take the time (it's really very important) to read the photo essay we have prepared for you, titled "The Financial System" on Facebook. You don't have to use Facebook or have a membership there or log into it or anything like that, to study this photo essay. You can simply press on the link here. Since a photo is often worth many more than a thousand words, we think the development of the current financial crisis will be much, much clearer (and the implications) once you've looked at these photos and their explanations.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=...b44c&type=1

(When you get there, read the comments beneath each picture. You just click on the first picture and it will enlarge, and after that there are arrows to take you to the next picture. Each picture has our comments explaining its significance beneath it.)

As always, courage in Jesus.

John MacCall

[Kevin H]

I thought I just posted part 2 a few minutes ago, but when I came back it was missing so I'll try again I hope it does not post twice. This was part 2 of the study which looks at Revelation 13. If you agree or dissagree he makes you think. I hope you find it useful:

Prophetic Notes Sept 2011 Rev 13 PART 2

We now come to the heart of the matter. What does Revelation 13 actually say happens at the very last stage of human history?

How would John the Apostle and his flocks in the cities of Roman Asia have understood what was written?

So far we have looked very briefly at the first two major symbols in Revelation 13: the great Red Dragon who comes down from heaven, and the Composite Imperial Beast that arises from the sea of the Underworld.

Let's look at The Cosmos again:

The Cosmos, by Gary Hunt

Now note, we have a tripartite cosmos, coming from the Ancient Near East and continuing, in apocalyptic, right into the Revelation. So far, two part, "the heavens above" and "the waters that are under the earth" have given up two of the major symbols. But "the earth beneath" has not been represented.

"The earth beneath" is the peculiar realm of mankind. It has been invaded by Satan and his host, and the evil powers that manifest in the earth's political systems. What is missing is a major symbol that symbolizes man as man, with his peculiar dual nature, both spiritual and carnal, good and evil, and capable of both to the extreme.

The chapter division is wrong here. The actual reading is

And I stood upon the sand of the sea. And I saw, rising out of the sea....

Rev 12:17b-13:1a

This requires some further background.

We recall that John tells us at the opening of The Revelation that he is in exile on Patmos, off the coast of Turkey, or more significantly, off the coast of Roman Asia. Ships supplying the military colony there (it was not a penal colony) had constant relationship to the great port of Asia, Ephesus, its capital. Which was not only the home of the Apostle John, but also of the Emperor Domitian. And we remember that exile was the chosen punishment for political prisoners who were too hot to handle, and would cause too much trouble to execute.

The imperial way of dealing with such an individual was to make him incommunicado. Obviously that did not work with the Apostle John (who has divested himself of apostleship, at this late stage of early Christian development, and returned to the role of prophet, the ongoing medium of guidance of the Spirit over the Church). John says

I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day.... Rev 1:10a

The words here, "kuriake hemera" are the common phrase that became, in the next fifty years or so, the standard Christian way of referring to Sunday. Hence those interested in Sunday sacredness look to this verse as a proof text for keeping Sunday holy as a "Christian sabbath." However, this is prior to Revelation, the standard title for "The Day of the Lord" in reference to what we call "The Day of Atonement."

For the problem of "sabbathkeeping" after Acts 15, see the exegetical studies.

That the earlier Biblical reference is intended is shown by several things. One is the constant use of the Old Testament as the primary source for material in Revelation. Another, and more important, is that Christ is immediately seen in His heavenly incarnation as heavenly High Priest (a la the Book of Hebrews), dressed as the High Priest would be dressed on the Day of Atonement, and walking among the candlesticks, a reference to the seven huge candelabra that lit both Solomon's and Ezra's (second) Temple.

(Those who know only about the Wilderness Sanctuary tend to know far too little about the Temple which replaced it.)

This tells us that John saw the visions of the Revelation on the Day of Atonement, in the late fall, the time when the Mediterranean and Aegean are stormy and wild. (You will recall Paul's shipwreck.) That means that John sees the Imperial Beast rising amid the roiling and thundering of the huge surf at the fall of the year.

This run of prophecies certainly bears out the symbolism. The roaring roiling sea, especially seen as the sea of the Underworld, is an apt image for the wars and tumults that give rise to the rising and falling of empires. The Imperial Beast is all about the rise and fall of successive empires, and how they retain their "Babylonian" war against God and His people.

This run of prophecy reinforces this image of the roiling sea. In Revelation 17 John sees the great harlot seated on the Imperial Beast, the successive empires. Empires are made up of multiple nation-states. The passage says,

Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me,

"Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who is seated upon

many waters. Rev 17:1

In case you are a dunce and missed it, the Revelation goes on to explicitly render a meaning to the waters image:

And then he said to me, "The waters that you saw, where the harlot is seated,

are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. Rev 17:15

This makes for an obvious anomaly in the matter of the rise of The Beast from the Earth. It explicitly rises out of the earth (where else, since that is the part of The Cosmos not represented!) But that leaves us with the absurd picture of a great imperial power rising at the end of the age out of a place where there have been no prior great empires, and virtually no peoples, multitudes, nations, tongues. And the very definition of an empire is an area of political and economic and military unification of various peoples, multitudes, nations, and language groups.

Dr. Martin Luther didn't really like the Revelation. It paid to much attention to what we do, to "works," and thereby, in his estimation, undermined a clear concept of the gospel. However, anyone who has translated the entire Bible, including this book, has an "up" on all other Biblical interpreters, and a sense about the text. Luther commented, in mid-sixteenth century about the Beast from the Earth, "He has not yet come, but must soon arise."

Pretty prescient, given that permanent European settlements had already been planted in the Americas, including the area that would become the United States.

The Beast from the Earth is described in a full passage, one that is shocking in its implications:

The I saw another beast, which rose out of the earth. It had two horns like a

lamb, and [or, but] it spoke like a dragon. It exercises all the authority of the

first beast in its presence, and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship

the first [that is, the Imperial] beast, whose mortal wound was healed. Rev

13:11,12

There is another major aspect, but let's stop here and examine what we have so far.

This special representative of man as man, of human nature and its duality, is described as peaceful, in manner like unto Christ ("two horns like a lamb," reminiscent of The Lamb in Rev 5), but it speaks like a dragon, taking us back to Rome, but not just Rome, the Rome that had coalesced with Satan and his vast host of evil. Thus we have both Christ and Satan as represented in this image, a very striking and unusual occurrence.

The Beast from the Earth rises during one of the periods of the Imperial Beast. Since it arises at the end of the age, we can understand that the rising must come in the sixth or seventh head. However, its main period of rule is in the seventh head, when the mortal wound to imperial power has healed. Because, of course, this Beast exercises imperial power to the maximum!

In fact, it takes over the control of the earth, even making the earth itself, and its inhabitants, the servants of the Imperial Beast. What we have here is the AGENCY by which the Imperial Beast is brought back into existence. That happens because of the rise of The Beast from the Earth. The worship of imperial power is not merely suggested. It makes the earth and its inhabitants WORSHIP the Imperial Beast.

Ah, the Imperial Beast does not just "come back to life." A power arises (in a place where there had been no great imperial power, and no significant people, either) that nevertheless becomes so powerful that it is the AGENT by which the Imperial Beast can live again!

Alright, that is unlikely. But what we had in the first part of this study was Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, the Holy Roman (ending in 1809) and a period of many empires, but no single persecuting, controlling empire, the aspects that had tied together all the of the first five. Then, because the Beast from the Earth becomes so powerful, and gains control of the whole earth (as an imperial power), it exercises all the authority and force of the previous empires.

Remember, now, that the Imperial Beast is not gone, even during the sixth period when no single persecuting empire controls God's people. But when the Beast from the Earth comes like a lamb, peaceful, pacifistic, Christlike, it changes things. It speaks like a dragon. It becomes, from its initial apparent Christlikeness, into an imperial Satan, a new imperial Rome.

When the Founders of the United States created its Constitution, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, they considered the nature of man, his duality, his capacity for endless goodness and endless evil. They were Christians, and their Deism did not diminish that reality. (Deism is merely a way of seeing God as orderly and mechanistic in his rule. His active intervention in the affairs of men was described by the term "Providence.")

The group, as a group, were the most learned about human governments in history. In fact, young James Madison, whose obsession had been the nature of governments since he was a young teenager, was probably the greatest authority on human governments then alive. While they endeavored to create a government that would foster the good in man, they also recognized the unlikeliness that such a government could "long endure." Dr. Franklin was "on the money" when he gave about fifty years. And so it was.

By that time the Mexican War, the Indian Wars, and the Monroe doctrine were already visible signs that Americans were turning slowly into a warlike and conquering people. Over its history that process accelerated.

So, the simple reality is that just such a power did arise where no prior great empires had ruled the world. It did not arise from the clash of nations, peoples, ethnicities, one with another. It arose almost in an accidental way, out of a strange revolution where the aristocracy revolted. We have said that most revolutions can be summed up in the famous phrase "The peasants are at the gates, and they have brought their pitchforks with them!" The American revolution, by contrast, could be summed up by "The aristocracy are at the gates, and they have brought their peasants with them!"

The United States arose as a minor power in the sixth period, right on schedule. But its destiny is to end that sixth period and usher in the seventh. Without it, the Imperial Beast could never live again. Its armies are now occupying all seven continents and the heavens above them and the waters beneath. It has surrounded its great enemies and rivals for world power, economically and militarily. Its firepower is unparalleled, equal to all the firepower of all the militaries of all other nations on earth. It determines with a stroke, the fate of entire peoples. Today its president has told the assembled representatives of the nations why the United States has decided there will not be a Palestinian State at this time.

It regards the very earth itself as its servant, using vast amounts of the earth's resources to accomplish its economic, military, and political goals. And it is readying to do battle with its great foes to the death for absolute control. And it will win. But that very confrontation will terrify the earth's inhabitants and help beat them into submission.

It is, in a word, the greatest nation in human history, Exceptional, in every imaginable way.

Its apparent impending demise is only the coiling of a snake. It is not about to fade into oblivion. Even the globalists need it as the base for their planned world-state. Others will discover yet the wisdom of Admiral Yamamoto, that it is best not to arouse the United States to its danger. It remains a sleeping giant, that, when aroused, is capable of enormous evil. Yet another attack upon it would cause such a cry for vengeance as to destroy entire populations of the earth.

As one who has read prophetic interpretations from century after century, I can say that nothing has caused more frustration than how to speak about the Beast from the Earth. It is a description that defies logic, and defies anything seen in human history. It is an empire that came, literally, from nowhere, and eventually rules everywhere. Many ingenious suggestions were offered in prior times about how such a passage might be fulfilled, or what it might actually mean, apart from its obvious and sweeping claims.

Could it mean merely "the world" contained in the Roman Empire? Even the Romans recognized that Rome, for all its pretensions, ended where Parthia began. And beyond lay India and China. To the north lay the dreaded barbarian tribes of the Germanics. To the west lay the primordial sea, and to the northwest lay the dread Caledonians, a people so fierce the only solution was to wall them out. The Romans, somewhat defensive about their failures, doubted the Caledonians were even human beings, with their blue faces and strange wailing sounds.

Which is to say, that even when the Revelation was written, people knew that it was not possible for any power -- even Rome -- to rule a true world-state.

The Beast from the earth is given "exousia" or authority. It has legal authority, judicial authority, political decision-making authority. It has all the authorities assumed by all the previous empires represented in the Composite Imperial Beast. God gives it authority because it is God's will to demonstrate, before human history can be logically ended, what would happen if evil were finally unrestrained.

The result will be so horrific that the entire universe will be convinced by that demonstration.

But the passage we have read so far is only beginning. If the Beast from the Earth already sounds unimaginable, then what comes next is incomprehensible:

It [The Beast from the Earth] works great signs, even making fire come down

from heaven to earth in the sight of men. And by the signs which it is allowed

to do ["poieo" in the passive, indicating that the signs and supernatural powers

the Beast exercises are given to it directly by God] in the presence of [the

Imperial] beast, it deceives those who dwell on earth, bidding them make an

image to/for the beast which was wounded by the sword and yet lived.

Rev 13:13,14

As usually happens with absolute political power, that power is wedded to and becomes one with religious power. The previous imperial states all had a paganized form of religion by which they explained their unique function in the world. The "citizens" (mostly just those under its power, and not really citizens in the technical sense) were required to regularly make obeisance to the imperial state, maintained, as it was, by the gods.

We remember how Nebuchadnezzar dreamed an image, of which he/his reign/the extension of his reign to the entire reign of Neo-Babylonia, was the golden head. He then made an image of gold from top to bottom to indicate his unending rule. To fail to worship the image meant being burned alive.

In Rome, the goddess Roma represented the empire through which the gods worked. (Revelation says not gods, but demons, of course). Also there were statues of the emperor. Offering a few pinches of incense thrown on the coals of a brazier indicated your absolute worship of, and obedience to, the gods as they manifest in the state.

The recorder either recorded your name (a book of life, so to speak), or you had your external palm marked with an ink mark indicating you had made obeisance. The mark placed on the palm was reminiscent of the tattoo that might already be there since you were most likely a slave owned by a great senatorial or imperial family. This ritual was the background to the infamous "mark of the Beast."

The Roman Christians understood this, especially in Asia, where their recent refusal to offer obeisance had resulted in Domitian's death decree of universal beheading of all Christians in Asia.

Interestingly, as with ancient imperial powers and modern ones, the demons stood ready to uphold the state with supernatural demonstrations. Jannes and Jambres went as far as they could in fighting it out with Moses and Aaron. But unlike them, the Beast from the Earth is given power (as all the beasts in Daniel 7) to work great signs, real ones, put to a deceptive purpose.

As fire came down from heaven to convince the leaders of Israel that Yahweh, not Ba'al was the one true God, so the Beast from the Earth works this sign with exactly the opposite result.

So far we've been talking about pagan religions and their official role in the pagan empires that are represented by the prior heads of the Imperial Beast. But the Beast from the Earth has given indication of starting out like Christ. Here we have another unique feature. The New Testament, already being collected at that time, is replete with warnings about the great final deception.

That a deception comes that deceives the peoples of earth, is no surprise. In fact, we might say that by now the demons are so good at it that it is the norm, not the exception. The vast majority of people will be deceived, and never imagine otherwise. BUT.... the Lord Jesus warned, in His final words about the end of the age, a deception that proceeds on a completely different basis than these prior deceptions. Compared to it, Jannes and Jambres and all the other pagans never even came close!

For then there will be a great tribulation such as has not been from the

beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. And if those days

had not been shortened, no human being would be saved. But for the sake

of the elect those days will be shortened.

Then, if anyone says to you, "Lo! Here is the Christ!" or "There he is!" do not

believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will arise, and show great signs

and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect!

Lo! I have told you beforehand! So, if they say to you, "Lo! He is in the

Wilderness!" do not go out. If they say "Lo! He is in the inner rooms!" do

not believe it!

For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so

will be the coming of the Son of man. Wherever the body is, there the

vultures will be gathered together. Matthew 24:21-18

Look at this passage carefully. It is all about the great final deception. And it is all about false interpretations of the gospel! Not a hint of pagan religions in the whole world.

THE BEAST FROM THE EARTH'S RELIGION WILL BE A CORRUPTED FORM OF CHRISTIANITY, COMPLETE WITH CHRISTS PLAYED BY SATAN AND THE LEADING DEMONS, AND FALSE PROPHETS CAPABLE OF DOING REAL SUPERNATURAL SIGNS AND WONDERS.

This is the delusion so strong, so overpowering, it would deceive the very elect, if such a thing were possible! The words of Christ are so bold, so strong, so emphatic, so repeated, that no Christian dare ignore the terrible implication that he or she could be deceived by this movement.

We shall have much to say about this in the coming studies.

Under the incontrovertible signs and wonders that the inhabitants of earth can see (here Revelation is emphatic: "in the sight of men") the world is easily united under a false gospel of "love" that has no judgment, no consequences, and an Antichrist who appears to be the very embodiment of Christian love. So long as love never means resisting sin or fighting evil or facing judgment.

Now we have laid out before us the key to the Beast from the Earth's religious nature, its strange power to unite the whole world, a unity that has never occurred in human history. Under the many crises of famine, worldwide plague, the death of the oceans, the end of available water, the horrific super-heating of the earth, the horrible darkness that shrouds parts of the earth, the world will turn in "revival" and prayer to a god who has no standards, and whose "love" is devoid of justice. This "god" under whom the nations unite, under the leadership of the Antichrist, is Satan, his master.

Paul says of the human Antichrist

The coming of the lawless one -- by the activity of Satan -- will be with all power

and with pretended signs and wonders. 2 Thess 2:9

This translation gives the wrong impression. The statement is that the Antichrist will derive his supernatural powers from Satan. He rises in power. The statement reads literally in Greek: "with all power, with signs, and with pseudo wonders." The word "pseudos" in Greek means, broadly, whatever pretends to be something it is not. It is PSEUDO not because the wonders are not actual supernatural events, but because they arise from using Satan's angelic powers, not God's power directly. That is, they are deliberately deceptive. (Of course, Satan's "supernatural" powers are themselves derived from God.)

False prophets have arisen the world around in Christendom, recently, predicting an overwhelming and near-at-hand triumph for right-wing Christians. Now please note, all the fears about the liberal politicians and their statist beliefs would never come close to deceiving "the very elect," not a single one! It is not an ANTI Christ, but a Christ that is IN PLACE OF the real one, teaching a gospel that is only partly true (and every half truth is a lie) that is so appealing. ESPECIALLY A GOSPEL BACKED UP BY SUPERNATURAL EVENTS.

The implications are mind-boggling. The Christians of Roman Asia, awaiting beheading, were actually told that things could be worse. A lot worse. And would be.

What the Beast from the Earth does with this supernatural power is, as we have suggested, uses it to manipulate the population of the world into a world-state that it leads and controls. Even the globalists will be taken in and deceived, led to believe that at last their goals are going to be achieved. Note that unbelievers and skeptics of all sorts can be easily taken in. They claim there is no supernatural. The demons have a little surprise for them. This process is described quite fully:

It [the Beast from the Earth] was allowed [by God, its power always being

derived] to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the

beast should even speak (!) and to cause those who would not worship the

image to the beast to be slain!

Also it [the Beast from the Earth is still the subject] causes all, both small

and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right

hand or the forehead, so that no one buy or sell unless he has the mark --

that is, the name -- of the beast (or the number of its name).

This calls for wisdom. Let him who has understanding count up the number

of the beast (for it is a human number). Its number is six hundred sixty-six.

Rev 13:15-18

Alright, this is where the distinction between symbols comes in. Frankly, I have never found anyone who could clearly explain the difference between the Beast from the Earth and the Image to the Imperial Beast. So let's make it graphic, since that usually helps.

The Beast from the Earth The Image to the Imperial Beast

Has a false religion that has supernatural power Uses that religion to coerce the

belief and action of all humans

Is a symbol of the United States Is a symbol for the rest of the world

Rises in the 6th period Begins the 7th and final Imperial

period, the 7th Head

Controls the whole world Is the world that is controlled

Uses force to create the world-state Persecutes and controls the remnant

like the former empires

Uses a false gospel to coerce control Is comprised of all human beings

deceived or merely fearful

A couple of days ago a headstrong member of a certain sect assured me that there is no global world-state in Revelation 13, and after reading the photo essay (whose whole point is to show the REALITY of what is happening) decided this was just fantasy, a conspiracy theory. Why? Because in his understanding this is not what he understands the prophet Ellen White said, so it cannot be true.

Explaining that God never forces the will, never shows prophets in advance more than the people of their time can understand, did no good. He said our view as the same as. saying the prophet was incomplete, wrong, false. But Jesus Christ our Lord said to His disciples, and this is a PRINCIPLE, "I have many things yet to tell you, but you cannot bear them now."

Now that these things are developing, the Holy Spirit has done what was done in classical prophecy. He sends other messengers [whether through inspiration or learning more about the Bible in linguistic and cultural and historial studies] to update and clarify, to further the truth. The further understanding of truth does not undermine the previous revelation, it CONFIRMS and EXTENDS it.

(We find that the less the ignorant and unstable know, the more certain they are, and the more anxious to straighten us out.) A request to this individual -- so lacking in humility and a teachable spirit -- to explain the difference between the Beast from the Earth and the Image to the Beast resulted in this know-it-all running away. We were not surprised to find him no longer on our "friend" list, but the testimony we sent (nothing ever happens by accident) is the one the Holy Spirit wished him to hear.

Susan sent a question about these verses (at 2:44 a.m. our time). Susan wants to paint the symbols. She can "see" the Two Witnesses, the Composite Imperial Beast, the Beast from the Earth, the Great Red Dragon, but her question is what about the Image? What is it? What does it represent? What, therefore, does it look like? How should it be painted?

Susan, you have your answer. If you are painting for the Christians of Roman Asia, you can paint a small image like the goddess Roma or the emperor. If you are painting for today's audience, then here's a suggestion: when you paint the Composite Imperial Beast, the leopard body should be spotted leopard. The lion heads should like lion-like. The bear legs and feet can by grizzly and brown. The dragon tail can be long, pointy, and Roman imperial purple.

The image can be painted as a mirror image, looking EXACTLY like the Imperial Beast (it is, after all, in its image). The act of the Beast from the Earth in creating it and giving it breath to live is deliberately a pun on God's creation of man in His image! Same size, same shape exactly (though as I said, draw it in mirror image) but we make this suggestion: don't put in the lively colors of the Imperial Beast. Paint the image all in blacks and grays. It is the ultimate deception, and should look like it.

By understanding how the Beast from the Earth creates an exact image of the Imperial Beast, we can understand the last part of the description of that Beast's activities during its seventh, and final, period:

And the [imperial] Beast was given uttering haughty and blasphemous words

and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months [the second half

of the 70th Week]. It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God,

blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven.

Also, it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And

authority was given it over every tribe and people and tongue and nation.

And all who dwell on earth will worship it, every one whose name has not

been found written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of

the Lamb that was slain. Rev 13:5-9

None of this would ever be possible except for the Beast from the Earth, that creates that final haughty and blasphemous world empire.

Alright, this brings us back around to a very detailed investigation of the developing false prophecy movement, so well known in right-wing circles, and so missed by so many others. That's still next.

With confidence in Christ,

John MacCall

[skyblue888]

Did any take the time to read those two books by Bill Hughes? or check the link www.pacinst.com.