THE MARK OF THE BEAST  

                                                                      Bertrand L. Comparet

As this subject is so complex, it will take longer to go into all the ramifications. This is a fascinating subject and there has been much mis-taught about it in the Judeo/Christian churches by ignorant, misguided preachers.

There is a reference in Revelation about the fact there comes a time when everyone must receive the mark of the beast, in his right hand or forehead. If a person doesn't take this mark, he will neither be able to buy nor sell etc. Like most important subjects in the Bible, there has been a lot of utter rot preached about this. The preachers insist in teaching about this subject, even though they don't know what they are talking about.

The Book of Revelation is entirely symbolic and therefore, unless we are sure we have the right key to the symbols, we can't possibly get the correct understanding of what is recorded therein. Before we get down to this part of it, it is time we understand what the symbols are.

The Bible offers the only key to the symbols used. Many people undertake to try to decipher the symbolism of the Bible but they go elsewhere, other than the Bible, for their information. Because of this they are invariably wrong. Sometimes well meaning people try to figure this puzzle out on their own but they just aren't able to do it. Sometimes these well meaning people will take Hindu, Egyptian or other pagan religions, as a starting point, but they are always wrong. There is only one place where you can get the correct key to the symbolism of the Bible, out of the Bible itself.

We are going to study about a beast, a very odd beast, obviously symbolic. Because the Book of Revelation is the last book in the Bible, we are going to find the answer to our questions in earlier books. The first place where the Bible is telling about a very closely related beast is in the Book of Daniel. This is very appropriate as the Book of Daniel is also very deeply symbolic.

Nebuchadnezzar had a dream and it impressed him so greatly it woke him up. When Nebuchadnezzar woke up, he found he had forgotten his dream. He remembered only that the dream was of great importance so it worried him. This is in Daniel chapter 2.

Then King Nebuchadnezzar called in the wise men to interpret his dream for him. They told him, "Tell us the dream and we will tell you the significance." Nebuchadnezzar replied that he had forgotten the dream. These wise men were just pretending to be wise men, magicians and to have divine power, so they couldn't even begin to answer the king's questions. Nebuchadnezzar had them killed instantly. Then Daniel spoke up and said Yahweh would give him an understanding of the dream, just give him a little time to think about it. Yahweh did give Daniel an understanding of the dream, so he was able to give the following interpretation.

First Daniel told the king what the dream was. There was a great statue or image, which had a head of gold, the breast and arms of silver, the belly and thighs of brass, the legs were of iron, and the feet were of mixed iron and clay.

Daniel interpreted the dream saying, "This shows four successive kingdoms, each of which is going to rule the then known civilized world in its turn." The head of gold was Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar. The breast and arms of silver were another kingdom, which would come next and would be somewhat inferior, in its degree of civilization, to Babylon. This we know was the Medo-Persian empire. Then Daniel said the belly and thighs of brass would be yet another kingdom. This was Alexander the Great's short-lived empire. The fourth empire represented by the iron legs was Rome. There is something in particular we need to know about this last kingdom, the iron one of Rome, because it keeps coming up again and again.

Daniel 2:40 tells us, "And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and subdues all things: as iron that breaks all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise." This language is significant because we keep coming back to it.

When Daniel interpreted this vision, the time was pretty close to 580 B.C., within a few years one way or another. Babylon was under its greatest king, Nebuchadnezzar, and at the apex of its power and civilization. Two kings later Babylon came to the end of its greatness, about 538 B.C. The head of gold was the Babylon Empire in existence at this time, there is no question about it.

Daniel said the next one, which would come after Babylon, was the breast and arms, which were made of silver. This was the Medo-Persian Empire, two arms united in one breast, two kingdoms united in one empire. Media was the more northwestern of the two; it came to great power first. Later it was conquered and absorbed by Persia. The united empire, under a Persian king, was the one, which conquered Babylon.

The Medo-Persian power became very great; it extended from northwest India and Afghanistan, across the whole Fertile Crescent. These nations extended in a great arch, north of the Arabian desert, from the head of the Persian Gulf, on up through Iraq and Iran, as these countries are called today. It also included the Babylonian and Assyrian empires, over into Syria and down the coast through Palestine. It also took in a good deal of Asia Minor, which is called Turkey today. They even conquered and ruled Egypt for a time.

Starting this tremendous rise, with the conquest of Babylon, about 538 B.C., this empire ruled all the important parts of the known civilized world at that time, until Alexander the Great between 334 B.C. and 331 B. C. conquered it.

At this time the Greeks had a very high and cultured civilization. However, they had one fatal weakness, they could never get along among themselves. The various Greek cities were like independent nations, so they were always fighting among themselves for dominance. In their bitter warfare, whoever was losing a war was always ready to call in somebody else as an ally, to keep from losing. When they called in a powerful nation to help, it simply meant that not only did this ally conquer their opponent they also swallowed them up. This is exactly what happened.

In some of their bitter internal warfare, some of the Greeks called in the Macedonians to their aid. Alexander had a very well trained and brilliantly commanded army. There are two men in all of history who stand out as generals of ability beyond any others. One of these generals is Alexander the Great and the other is Hannibal of Carthage. It is perhaps a toss up as to which one was more brilliant, from a military point of view.

Under Alexander's leadership, the Macedonian army was irresistible. Alexander simply conquered and took over the various Greek cities and incorporated them into his fledgling empire. Then Alexander went out looking for more worlds to conquer. He conquered Asia Minor, Syria and Palestine by 332 B.C. He conquered the Tigris-Euphrates valleys by 331 B.C. These countries made up the old Assyrian and Babylonian empires. Alexander went on to conquer Media-Persia, which was then called Bactria, and today is called Afghanistan. These are located just outside of India; just north of the famous Khyber Pass it is the gateway to India.

Alexander also went down into northern India, conquering a considerable area there. All the then known civilized world from Greece to India, was incorporated into his one empire. Before his death, Alexander was mooning around, worrying because there were no more worlds left for him to conquer. He was a brilliant general, but this is all you can say for him. He was a debauched drunkard and he finally died in Babylon, of his dissipation, in 323 B.C.

Alexander had built nothing. He conquered nations and as an individual he ruled them. When Alexander died, there was nothing to hold his empire together. His empire broke up exactly as had been prophesied in Daniel. The prophecy foretold that Alexander's kingdom would be divided to the four winds of heaven and not to his posterity. The four leading generals, under Alexander, each took over approximately a quarter of the empire where they were. In a very few years, between 334 B.C. and 323 B.C.,, this enormous empire was built and fell apart.

We have Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Alexander's empire. The last of this series of empires that was prophesied by Daniel, is Rome. The city of Rome itself was founded in 753 B.C., according to Roman tradition. The republic of Rome was organized about 500 B.C. and with the organization of the republic, began its expansion into a tremendous empire. Macedonia, Greece and Egypt were incorporated into the Roman empire in 168 B.C.. From there the Romans moved on into western Asia Minor, north Africa, Syria, Palestine and then into a great portion of western Europe.

The frontiers of the Roman empire were the Atlantic Ocean, Irish Sea, the south border of Scotland, North Sea, Rhine river, Danube river, Black Sea, Caucasus mountains, through Armenia to the middle of ancient Babylonia, Arabian desert, Red Sea, Nubia, Sahara desert and the Morocco mountains. These were the areas Rome conquered and ruled.

The image had two legs, so the Roman Empire broke into two parts. It was divided into a western and eastern Roman empire about 283 A.D. The capital of the eastern portion of the empire, was set up in what had been called Byzantium. Then it was rebuilt, modernized, made into a tremendous city by Constantine, and had its name changed to Constantinople. This remained the capital of the eastern half of the Roman Empire.

While it still claimed to be the capital of the Roman empire, it is generally spoken of as the Byzantine empire, from the old and well known name of Byzantium, for its capital city. The western portion of the empire, which was gradually losing its hold on Europe, had its capital part of the time in Rome, the rest of the time the capital was in Ravenna, Italy. The Visigoths changed this in 410 A.D. The Visigoths were Israel people.

Under the pressure of the invading Visigoths, the Romans pulled the last of their legions of soldiers out of Britain, bringing them home for the defense of Rome in 408 A.D.. The Visigoth invaders had come into northern Italy but had not yet taken the city of Rome. Then the Romans bought off the Visigoths with a big money bribe. By 410 A.D., the Visigoths had spent the money so they took the city of Rome, looted it and smashed everything. Thereafter there was merely a theoretical pretense of any further Roman empire existing in the west.

However, the Romans, who were a wily people, suggested to the Visigoths that there was some wonderful lands which had been a part of the old Roman empire. Basically the Romans told the Visigoths, "There is some beautiful fertile country over in Spain, why don't you go and move there? We will give it to you, just don't stay here." This seemed like a good idea to the Visigoths. Centuries of misrule, under the Roman emperors, had reduced Italy to such a stage of poverty and general falling apart, there wasn't much worth staying there for anyway.

The Visigoths moved out across southern France, through the Pyrenees and into Spain. From sometime before 420 A.D., until the Moorish conquest in 711 A.D., the Visigoths were the dominant people in Spain. The Visigoths didn't exterminate all the previous inhabitants of Spain; in fact, some of the previous inhabitants of Spain were Israel people. The Vandals, a tribe which had moved down to Spain from southern Scandinavia, were already there and they weren't driven out immediately. The Vandals weren't very numerous and later they moved into North Africa. They were absorbed into the Arab/Moorish Empire and became extinct.

In Spain and Portugal the Visigoths were now ruling and they were definitely an Israel people. Then the Jews which were among them opened the gates and helped the Moors to conquer Spain. Contrary to what is taught by many people, the Moors were an Arab people, not Negroes. Thereafter there was much pollution of the Israel blood in Spain, which invariable happens when Israel people are overrun by non-Israel invaders. This never happened in northern Europe and for this reason the Scandinavian people are today of pure Israel stock. You cannot say of Spain, Portugal or Italy that as a nation they are Israel, because they aren't, there are too many other non-Israel races there. But you can say that among them are many who are definitely of Israel ancestry.

The Western Roman Empire came to its end; all pretenses of being an empire were abandoned by 476 A.D. The eastern or Byzantine half of the Roman empire was reduced to Asia Minor and the Balkan states, by Moslem power by 650 A.D.. The Turks captured most of Asia Minor by 1074 A.D.

Between 1204 A.D. and 1260 A.D., the so called Latin empire of Constantinople, made up of the troops of the fourth crusade and the republic of Venice, ruled briefly over the remaining territory. However, the old Byzantine empire was restored, at least in theory, actually governing nothing but Constantinople and its suburbs, in the middle 1260s A.D.. The last trace of it disappeared with the capture of Constantinople, by the Turks, in 1453 A.D.

The first of these visions of Daniel, this series of four great world empires, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Alexander of Macedon and Rome, was given in the vision of the great statute, the image of the four different metals. This is extremely important because the great bulk of recorded history is covered by this series of empires. This information was given to Daniel in a different vision. For this vision we will go to Daniel chapter 7, for this is where we start learning about these remarkable beasts.

Daniel saw this vision himself; it wasn't from Nebuchadnezzar's dream. Daniel saw four great beasts come up from the sea, diverse from one another. The sea, as used in the Bible, is symbolic of Israel people. Out of the great mass of non-Israel people, there are four different, great beasts.

The first beast was like a lion and had eagle's wings. Daniel 7:4 tells us, "I beheld, till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made to stand upon its feet like a man, and a man's heart was given to it."

The word man in this particular sentence is the Chaldean word enash, which is derived from the same root as the Hebrew word enosh. Enosh distinguishes the non-Adamic people from the Adamic. Wherever the Adamic people are mentioned, the Hebrew word Adam is used. There is also the word ish, which simply means a male person of any race. This is used sometimes in referring to Adamic people. Wherever the word enosh is used, it is speaking of non-Israel people and it is speaking in a rather derogatory sense.

By mentioning this Chaldean word enash, we should remember that the Book of Daniel is written partly in Hebrew and partly in Aramaic. The portions of the book that pertain to non-Israelite people are written in the much more widely used Aramaic language. Aramaic was spoken everywhere, from southern Babylonia on up through the Fertile Crescent, through Assyria and Syria. Aramaic was spoken everywhere in western Asia, other than in the earlier days in Palestine when the related, but not quite identical, Hebrew language was used.

Daniel's vision of the first of these beasts that came out of the sea was like a lion. The lion was made to stand erect on its hind feet like an enosh man, and was given the heart of an enosh man.

Daniel 7:6-7 tells us, "And behold another beast, a second, like a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said unto it, Arise, devour much flesh. After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had on the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast also had four heads; and dominion was given to it. After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and broke in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns."

Remember what was said about the fourth Roman Empire, the iron kingdom in Daniel 2:40. "The fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and subdues all these things: as iron that breaks all these, shall break in pieces and bruise."

Here again this beast had iron teeth, was terribly strong, it devoured and broke in pieces and stamped upon the residue with its feet. It was diverse from all the beasts that were before it. Here again is a vision of the same succession of empires. Again it is making it clear that this was Rome, by a similarity of certain identifying features and the symbolism. Then the angel explained to Daniel the meaning of this vision. The angel told Daniel that they were four great beasts; these beasts are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth.

Daniel 7:19 records what Daniel then said. "Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and his nails of brass; which devoured and broke in pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet."

The first kingdom was like a lion, in the vision of the great statue. It was the head, which was of gold, superior to the others in its degree of culture. The lion being the most powerful of the great beasts, represented Rome, and was a great military power with a high civilization, but they had only the characteristics of the enosh. Rome lacked the spiritual capacity that the people of Israel had, in spite of all their faults.

The second kingdom was like a bear; it raised itself up on one side. This was the Medo-Persian Empire, originally Media, north of Persia proper. This was the leading kingdom during the first stage of this empire. As they expanded westward, they first shattered with a sword the empire of Assyria. Assyria was north of Babylon and this was done under the dominance of Media.

Then Persia gained the dominant position, so it raised itself up on one side. Media and Persia were not equal; they were the unequal powers of two kingdoms in one. The Bible also tells us there were three ribs in its mouth. The Medo-Persian Empire conquered and absorbed three great empires, Assyria, Babylon and Egypt, identification here is unmistakable.

The third empire, the third beast that came up out of the sea of these enosh people, was like a leopard. Certainly they couldn't have used a better symbol, with the leopard's swift striking ability and its terrible power. Daniel records this third beast had four wings and four heads, while it was still a single empire under Alexander. Alexander's empire had the seed of this break up into four parts, and dominion was given to it.

Alexander conquered all the territory the previous empires had ruled. He conquered and occupied Egypt, and then he went on to take over all that the empires of Assyria, Babylon and Medo-Persia had ruled, including portions of northern India.

Finally there was the fourth beast, a beast that was dreadful, terrible, and exceedingly strong and would devour the whole earth. This was Rome, it covered all the then known world, all that was civilized enough to be known at that time, all but the eastern most portion of the earlier empires. Rome didn't penetrate into Afghanistan, or as it was called then, Bactria, but Rome had everything west of that.

Rome also had what the other empires had never conquered, all of Europe except Germany. Rome also had North Africa, but was excluded from all the principal lands then occupied by the people of Israel. It overran England because the Israel people were as yet very few in number; the bulk of the Israel people had not as yet come into England. There was just a tiny handful of Israel there, before the withdrawal of the Roman legions.

Daniel 2:40 records this beast would break in pieces and devour all things. "The fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and subdues all things: as iron that breaks all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise."

Then Daniel said this fourth beast was diverse, or different, from all those who went before it, and it were. Rome had originated as a republic. While republics were known in Greece before this time, they were small cities they were not great empires. This is the first time in all history, there was a republic rising to the power of a conquering empire.

As a kingdom, Rome kept its identity in force after the death of even its most powerful leaders. Other republics tended to weaken and sometimes-even break up, when a great and powerful leader died. In Rome there was a continuity of the empire as such, for many centuries.

This next vision obviously concerns the same four empires. Now there is a tie-in with the Book of Revelation, because there are these four beasts rising out of the sea. As we shall note, when we get to the Book of Revelation where John was given a vision, it was one beast, which rose out of the sea. But, the one beast combined in itself the characteristics of the first four. Obviously there is a connection there, which cannot be overlooked.

By way of more confirmation of this order of beasts, Daniel 8:3-8 records he was given another vision of a ram and a goat. "Then I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and behold, there stood before the river a ram which had two horns: and the two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last. I saw the ram pushing westward and northward, and southward; so that no beasts might stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand; but he did according to his will, and became great.

And as I was considering, behold, an he goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground: and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes. And he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing before the river, and ran into him in the fury of his power. And I saw him come close unto the ram, and he was moved with anger against him, and broke his two horns: and there was no power in the ram to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground and stamped upon him: and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand. Therefore the he goat waxed very great: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven." The angel then gives Daniel the explanation of this vision.

Remember, this hadn't happened as yet as it was a prophecy for the future. This is while Babylon was still at the apex of its power. Then in Daniel 8:20-22 the angel says, "The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia. And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king. Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power."

This was written some time around 550 B.C. or 545 B.C., and the fall of Babylon didn't come until about 538 B.C. So it was two centuries before the rise of Alexander the Great. Again note the accuracy of prophecy. The ram had two horns, Media and Persia, both were high but one was higher and the higher one came up last. Persia was the one that came to power later, absorbing Media. Concerning the rough goat, the cultured Greeks despised all Macedonians as being barbarians. The Greeks also despised everybody else in the world as being barbarians. They recognized only two classes of people, Greeks and barbarians.

The Greeks looked down on the Macedonians, perhaps more than some of the others, because these people were a rough, tough bunch. "And when he was strong, the great horn was broken." Alexander died at the very height of his power in 323 B.C.

In the earlier vision of the four beasts that came out of the sea, Alexander had been compared there to a leopard. The following quote comes from "The History of the Nations", published by P.F. Collier and Sons. "Alexander was one of the generals who won by rapid strokes and daring expedience. His long marches were perhaps the most characteristic part of his career. Urged on by him, his army seemed to be able to annihilate time and space. The rapidity of their movement was almost incredible. He was on the spot when his enemies believed him still to be hundreds of miles away, and when he once arrived, Alexander had an eagle eye for seizing the moment to strike. He hardly ever made a mistake. His attacks, however reckless, succeeded to a miracle."

Alexander is compared to a leopard, which is not a large animal. However, the leopard is extremely fast and it makes its attacks in just this way. "Four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power." All the members of the family of Alexander were assassinated in the struggle for power.

Egypt was taken over by Alexander's general Ptolemy I. Thrace. The old Macedonia and Greece were taken over by Lysimachus. Syria and Asia Minor went to Antigonus, Cappadocia and Paphlagonia, which were eastern turkey and the areas inland to the south of it, went to Eumenes. And it says, "...not in his power", it wasn't an orderly division of Alexander's empire. Each quarter was simply seized by the local commander by his own independent act. The accuracy of Daniel's vision is beyond any question. Now we are beginning to get into what the symbolism of what these prophecies mean.

Let's turn now to Revelation 12:1-5. "And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: and she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and he did cast them to earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto Yahweh, and to his throne."

This woman is unquestionably Israel, because here is a repetition of Joseph's dream. Genesis 37:9-11 records, "And he dreamed yet another dream, and told to his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me. And he told to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth? And his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying."

The sun and the moon obviously represented Joseph's father Israel, and his mother. The eleven stars were Joseph's brothers, Joseph being the twelfth. Now we have a woman clothed with the sun with the moon under her feet. Upon her head is a crown of twelve stars, unmistakably identifying Israel. Then we read in Revelation 12:2 that the woman was about to give birth to a child. It then continues in Revelation 12:5 that this child was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. This was the child who was caught up to the throne of Yahweh.

Of course this child, who was to rule all nations, is unquestionably Yahshua. Yahshua was born of Israel of the tribe of Judah, as far as the flesh was concerned. So far as ruling all nations, we read the following in Revelation 19:11,15-16. "And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and the wrath of Almighty Yahweh. And he has on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of Kings."

As to being caught up to the throne of Yahweh, in Hebrews 12:2 it says, "Looking unto Yahshua the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of Yahweh." As Yahshua says in Revelation 3:21, "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne."

Now we are getting some more tying in with Daniel. The dragon that stood before the woman, ready to devour her child as soon as it was born, had seven heads and ten horns. Daniel's fourth beast, which was the Roman Empire, had ten horns. The dragon is Satan. Here we have the tie in emphasizing the satanic character of the Roman Empire.

Remember what this empire degenerated into, under the emperors. In Rome's early days under the republic, they produced some men of stern and great character, although even at that stage, their morals had decayed pretty badly. Under the emperors it reach the point where it couldn't have gotten any worse, about like Hollywood today, plus more murders.

Satanism is the unifying theme, which runs through all of this, showing its origin. The dragon stood before the woman to devour her son. Herod, the Edomite Jew, tried to murder the infant Yahshua, and in Matthew chapter 2 we are told about this. In Bethlehem Herod slaughtered all the male children up to the age of two, just to make sure he wouldn't fail to murder the right one. So you see, if you ever needed it, this is further confirmation of the satanic origin and character of the Jews.

Let's now get back to Revelation chapter 13, where we are beginning to come to the beasts. John tells us, "I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea..." Remember now, this beast is coming up out of the great mass of the non Israel enosh people, a beast having seven heads and ten horns. What did the dragon have? He had seven heads and ten horns; the dragon is always representative of Satan. "And upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion."

This designates one beast, but has the composite characteristics of the earlier ones, whereas each of these had originally been, in its turn, a world power. Now there was something, which would succeed them, which would take in all of these previous empires, all with the same satanic character.

Revelation 13:1-8 instructs us, "And the dragon gave him his power and his seat, and great authority. And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded unto death; and his deathly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. And they worshiped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshiped the beast saying, Who is like unto the beast? Who is liable to make war with him? And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies: and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against Yahweh, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given to him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world."

It is interesting to note some of the symbolism here. We are dealing with something smaller than worldwide conditions; we are dealing with a single kingdom. Rivers are often used to symbolize a mass of people. Assyria and Egypt especially have been thus symbolized. In Revelation 12:15, speaking of the woman who was persecuted by the dragon, it says, "And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood." This refers to the flood like invasion of the Huns under Attila, in the middle 400s A.D.

Some of the people of Israel, on their march from the southern end of the Caspian Sea, came up around the eastern side of the Caspian Sea, others came up around the western side of it, through the Caucasus mountains. North of the Caspian Sea, these Israel people joined forces again. Then they moved along the eastern side of the Black Sea, crossed the Crimean peninsula, found the Danube valley, and started going northwest up into Europe. It took them right across the path taken by the invading Mongolian Huns, commanded by Attila.

Satan was trying to stop Israel from reaching their new homelands. The frightful numbers of these Huns, had they remained in the path of Israel, could have literally overrun and exterminated them, or at least swept them up in the mass of people and mongrelized them. But Yahweh wouldn't allow this to happen. Yahweh had promised in Isaiah 43:2, "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee."

When this flood of the Huns came, to intercept and carry Israel away, Yahweh held the Huns back until the people of Israel had passed their path on their way into Europe. The very southern most portion of Israel was still in the path of the invading Huns, but the rest of them had moved north, on up into Germany and on to the Scandinavian Peninsula.

The tribes of the Goths were being driven westward. They came in the southern portion and were in the path of Attila's invasion, so they were driven westward before it. The Visigoths, also known as the west Goths, starting from where they had been in Hungary, moved on across into northern Italy, and sacked the city of Rome. Although there were probably a few stragglers left, the greatest bulk of them moved on into the territory now known as Spain and settled there.

Then almost a generation later, as the flood of the Huns was now coming in snapping at their heels, the Ostrogoths, also known as the east Goths, split up. Some of them moved north, clear to the shores of the Baltic, where they formed northeastern Germany. Part of them went westward into northern Italy and remained there. In northern Italy they set up a Gothic kingdom that lasted for some years, although eventually they were overthrown. The ruling Goths were overthrown but the people remained there. Today in northern Italy we can find tall, blond, blue-eyed people who are in no way related racially to the short, swarthy people of southern Italy and Sicily. These blond people are what remains of that Gothic invasion.

In firmly tying down our interpretation of the significance of water as being symbolic, Revelation 13:1,15 shows that the Bible is consistent in it symbolism. It is being used the same in the Book of Revelation as it was in the Old Testament. John said, "And there came the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither, I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sits upon many waters. And he said to me, the waters which thou sawest, where the whore sits, are peoples and multitudes, and nations, and tongues."

Out of the sea, this conglomerate mass of all the non-Israel people, rises this composite beast. This has in one beast, the identifying characteristics of all four of the beasts, that Daniel saw in his vision. The ten horns show this is satanic and they also show it is a continuation of the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire was the fourth beast of Daniel's vision.

John then says, recorded in Revelation 13:3, "I saw one of his heads as it were wounded unto death, and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast." The head of the western Roman empire was wounded by the Visigoths in 41 A.D.. It seemed it was wounded unto death because they not only took away everything that had been under Roman domination in this area, but the Visigoths captured and looted the city of Rome itself. Rome was attacked by the Vandals in 455 A.D., and the Ostrogoths in 493 A.D. Then Theodoric, the king of the Ostrogoths, made himself king of all Italy.

Rome had now changed from a military and political capital to a religious capital. Rome was of no serious military or political importance after about 400 A.D.. The capital of the empire, in a political sense, had been moved to Byzantinium (Constantinople) in 330 A.D.. Here was one head of the beast wounded unto death.

The following events had occurred in the meantime. The Emperor Constantine had issued his edict of toleration of Christianity in the year 313 A.D. Before this time, paganism was the leading power in Rome. The emperors were deified and worshiped as gods, along with all the other gods such as Jupiter, Mars, Venus, etc.

Christianity eventually became an officially recognized and tax supported religion. At the same time Constantine took upon himself the title of Pontifex Maximus of Jupiter. Just how much of a Christian Constantine was, is something that is open to considerable debate. He put up statues of pagan gods in Rome, all of this after he had issued his edict of tolerance toward Christianity in 313 A.D. In 324 A.D., this Pontifex Maximus, this chief priest of Jupiter, presided over the Christian Council of Nicaea.

There was a great deal of division among the early Christians. Some of them believed there were three gods, Father, Son and Holy ghost but somehow they were still one. They thought it was a big mystery because they had no understanding of it at all. The other group of Christians believed in only one God. Some of this even goes on to this day and age.

The people were quarreling bitterly about this difference in belief and the Council of Nicaea was called at the demand of Constantine. Constantine told the two warring factions of Christianity, they had to stop fighting about this issue. He forced them to go to the council, which was to settle this problem.

It so happened that at this Council of Nicaea, the Trinitarians outnumbered the believers in one God. On the basis of one-man one vote, the Trinitarians won. Christianity should have been a monotheistic religion, but this vote changes the course of Christian history. They continued to have a polytheism of three gods, who in some unknown way, constituted one god.

In 330 A.D., Constantine moved his capitol to Constantinople, and on his deathbed in 337 A.D., he was baptized as a Christian. Up to about 376 A.D., the Roman senate had a statue of Victory, at the opening of each session, where they burned incense to this goddess of victory.

The rise to power of the bishops of Rome began when Pope Leo the Great, persuaded Attila the Hun to accept a huge money bribe to leave, instead of capturing and looting the city of Rome in 452 A.D. The emperor offered this bribe. By the middle 700s A.D., Rome was really governed by the pope.

This head had been wounded as it were unto death, but Charlemagne revived the empire in Europe. He was king of Gaul (France), and then he conquered and made himself master of Italy and practically all of Germany, as well as his own country Gaul. Charlemagne conquered and ruled part of Spain, as well as some islands in the Mediterranean. He became an emperor by his own ability, but in the city of Rome, he was crowned emperor of the Romans, by Pope Leo III. This was the first time that an emperor had ever been crowned by a pope. This is the basis for the Catholic claim that the pope has the right to ruler ship over kings.

Charlemagne was in Rome for a celebration of his taking over all of Italy. While he was there, the pope came with a crown in his hands, put it on Charlemagne's head and said, "I crown you emperor of the Romans." As far as Charlemagne was concerned, why quarrel about this action of the pope he already was emperor. If the pope wanted to recognize him as such, this was all right.

However, the church has claimed this authority ever since that time. Charlemagne ruled as emperor of Rome until 810 A.D.. Even though there was no longer a Roman empire by this time, but it was still called an empire. After Charlemagne was crowned emperor by the pope, it was called the Holy Roman Empire. The holy was added because now the pope claimed the power to create and depose kings, as a divine prerogative.

So the deadly wound was healed. Remember what is recorded in Revelation 13:4, "...worshiped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshiped the beast, saying, who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him?" Charlemagne overran the Saxon people of Germany, the Visigoth people of Spain (both of these groups of people were Israelites), as well as the various turbulent people of Italy, he was victorious everywhere. However, by 888 A.D. his dynasty fizzled out. Whereas the founder of this dynasty was Charles the Great, the last two emperors were known as Charles the Bald and Charles the Fat thus came the end.

In the absence of a strong emperor, Italy especially was torn by constant warfare between the various petty princes and independent cities. Anybody who could conquer a village of 400 people set himself up as a duke and aspired to conquer a neighboring village of a few hundred people and become an emperor. This caused an utterly intolerable chaos, as these people were constantly fighting among themselves. They could never live at peace in their own city.

If the petty ruler wasn't drafting the people into his army, to try to conquer a village 20 miles away, the ruler of the village 20 miles away was trying to conquer their city. These poor people were in desperate need of some strong authority, to put down all this chaos. So they worshiped the beast, as it was written. Whatever city was getting the worst of it always appealed to some other, more powerful king for rescue. The rescue always meant you were absorbed into the kingdom of the rescuer.

While the empire lasted, it was the emperor's policy not to allow any of these petty kings to grow strong enough to unify Italy. Both during the times when there was an emperor ruling, and in the intervals between, the popes exerted all their influence to the same effect. The popes already ruled the towns in central Italy that were given to them by earlier kings, and they wanted to extend their power. Charlemagne's dynasty came to an end in 888 A.D.

After about a century of chaos, the Italians called on Otho I, king of Germany, to come and rescue them. The Hungarians at this time were devastating Lombardy in the north and the Saracens from Africa, who ruled Sicily, were seeking to take over southern Italy.

After making two expeditions into Italy to restore order, Otho I was crowned emperor of Italy by Pope John XII, in 962 A.D.. This new emperor was the German king and the new empire continued to be called the Holy Roman Empire until 1806 A.D.

After speaking of this strange composite beast, with the characteristics of all four beasts that Daniel had seen rising out of the sea, John continues in Revelation 13:11-12, "And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth and he had two horns as a lamb, and he spoke as a dragon. And he exercised all the power of the first beast before him, and caused the earth and them which dwell thereon to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed." Remember, the first beast came up out of the sea, but this one came out of the earth.

This next beast had two horns like a lamb but spoke as a dragon, this is the papacy. The papacy came up out of the earth, not out of the sea. In the many times the words earth and world have been used symbolically in the Bible, it always refers to the so-called prophetic earth or world. They were the areas near the Mediterranean Sea and contained the nations, which were covered by these earlier prophecies.

When the earlier prophets talked about the whole world, they weren't talking about Germany, Scandinavia, China or the American continent. None of these areas came into contact with the people, which made up the prophetic world.

Nebuchadnezzar had another dream about a tree, which symbolized himself in his greatness, before his period of madness. What he told Daniel is recorded in Daniel chapter 4. "I saw, and behold a tree in the midst of the earth, and the height thereof was great. The tree grew, and was strong, and the height thereof reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth."

Nebuchadnezzar was an important figure in all the prophetic world of his day. The prophetic world extended from the Tigris and Euphrates valleys, west to the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea. This tree was chopped down, though the roots were left in the earth, and there was a band of brass and of iron put around the stump. The tree symbolized, not the entire Babylonian empire, but only Nebuchadnezzar himself. He went through his period of madness, to remind him he wasn't as important as he though he was. The words, all the earth, which occur in his dream of a tree, refer only to the area of his prophetic world, the area of his dominion.

The Asiatic empire had passed away; the development of power was now in the Roman Empire. This now symbolically constituted the earth at the time of John's vision.

The second beast had two horns like a lamb. The pope adopted the title "Vicarious Filii Deus", meaning a substitute for the Son of God. Vicarious means one who acts as a substitute in the absence of another. The pope said, "Yes, I am a substitute for the Son of God." Our motto is, The original and only genuine one, accept no substitute!

The pope claims two horns like a lamb. He always claims he exercises all the power of Yahshua, and he can forgive sins, or can condemn people to hell. He tries to adopt the outward appearance of a lamb, but he speaks as a dragon. His power has been exercised in the interests of Satanism. The pope has taken over the office of Pontifex Maximus, who was the chief priest of Jupiter; there is no mistaking this. As the Book of Revelation records, he exercises all the power of the first beast before him.

The pope claimed the power to confer the empire upon kings, and to depose them. He wouldn't crown Frederick Barbarossa, who reigned from 1152 A.D. until 1189 A.D., until Frederick swore he would conduct a crusade to recover Jerusalem. When Frederick led his army on the crusade, papal troops proceeded to steal some of his territory and added it to the papal estates. The pope excommunicated and deposed Frederick II in the year 1245 A.D.

Having horns like a lamb, but speaking as a dragon, the pope is exercising the power of the first beast. There is a period in which the head of the composite beast has been wounded as to death, but the deadly wound was healed. In the meantime there came a second beast that had horns like a lamb but spoke as a dragon, and took and exercised the power of the first beast before him.

Now we are beginning to find out something about this symbolic beast, which is in the process of getting such power over the earth. It is going to reach a stage where it says, none might borrow nor sell save he that has the mark of the beast.

As we have learned, the pope had assumed the power to make or break kings, to confer kingdoms on whomever they pleased and to take them away. So it was recorded, this little horn plucked up three of the other horns. Something of this sort did happen.

The pope excommunicated and deposed Henry IV, king of Germany in 1076 A.D.. In 1245 A.D., the pope excommunicated and deposed Emperor Frederick II.

In Revelation 13:1 we start getting to the larger picture of things. "I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns..." Later, when we get into the seventeenth chapter, it tells us this beast was scarlet in color, which again ties in with the dragon, which had seven heads and ten horns.

"I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns...and the beast was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion." Remember, in general the sea is symbolic of the non-Israel enosh people. Here were the characteristics of all of the four beasts that Daniel saw. The lion, bear, leopard and this odd beast that had seven heads and ten horns. All these were now combined into a single beast. Daniel saw these beasts as the four empires coming into power successively.

John was shown these beasts were nothing but successive manifestations of the same power, which manipulated these kings as mere pawns in the game. These empires were themselves only a part of something much larger than themselves. And it says, "...the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority."

This beast was definitely satanic, and that is the system, which has antedated all these empires, it was in existence earlier. As in the case of pagan Rome, there wasn't anything different when another of the same stripe succeeded one of these degenerate emperors. It was still a manifestation of the same evil power, just under a different man on the throne.

Then in Revelation 17:7-11 John records the vision he received of this scarlet beast, with the woman riding on the beast. John was somewhat astonished at these unexplained visions he saw, wondering just what they meant. Then an angel came to explain it to him. "And the angel said unto me, wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and ten horns. The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition... and here is the mind, which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. And they are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he comes, he must continue a short space. And that which was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goes into perdition."

John wrote this book of Revelation around 94 A.D., this is about as close as we can date these writings. There is a possible leeway of two or three years before and perhaps four or five years afterwards, so this date is as near as we can get.

When we compare this with Daniel, we are getting into more information than Daniel had. Daniel's vision concerned only four empires. In John's vision we are told there are seven empires, five of which have already fallen, they have had their day and are gone. The Roman empire, which was the fourth, was then just getting to its height of power, so this would be number six.

What are these empires, which were great in their day and have gone but nevertheless are part of this satanic system? There are two choices; my choice for number one is Egypt. Sayce, a very respectable writer, chooses Nimrod's empire, the early Babylonian empire. I don't agree with him for the following reason. The Bible only goes into any particular detail about those subjects, which in their day had contact and influenced the people of Israel.

There is no mention whatsoever of the great kingdom of China, which was a vast empire. China covered an enormous continent, which goes back thousands of years and isn't even mentioned in the Bible. There is no mention of the very respectable, in material ways though pagan and evil, civilizations of the Aztecs and the Incas, on this continent. No mention was made of these civilizations because they didn't come in contact with Israel.

Neither Cain's original empire nor Nimrod's empire affected Israel. Therefore, I would say the identification of either one of these empires as number one, is liable to be correct. I believe that Egypt is number one of the series of empires. Daniel didn't have this empire because Egypt had already passed its peak.

Somewhere around 775 B.C., Egypt was overrun and conquered by Negroes from the south. These Negroes held Egypt for about 75 years. In this short time, Egypt became the mulatto country it is today and all of Egypt's greatness disappeared. Egypt was thereafter kicked around by whatever military adventurer came along with something in the way of an army, and it ceased to be of any consequence.

Daniel was writing in the middle 500s B.C. This was 150 years after Egypt finally threw off the Negro occupation, but they couldn't get rid of the Negro blood they had absorbed. This is why Daniel didn't have a vision of Egypt. The Assyrian empire was overthrown and destroyed, Nineveh was conquered in 612 B.C.. Remember, Daniel wasn't writing this until the mid 500s B.C. The Egyptian and the Assyrian empires had already come and gone, when Daniel was having his visions.

Egypt is the first of these five empires that have already fallen when John was recording his visions. Then came Assyria, which is number two. Number three is Babylon, four is Medo-Persia, five is the empire of Alexander the Great, and all of these had come and gone. As the angel said to John, "...there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is...". This was Rome, and includes the four Daniel saw.

Daniel's prophecy was entirely a prophecy of the future. The vision covered no review of past history. Even his look into the future only brought him to the beginning of the Christian era, it didn't carry on beyond that. John was now taking up with the beginning of the Christian era; he received the visions concerning everything from then on.

Concerning this strange beast with the seven heads and the ten crowns, John said in Revelation 13:3, "And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast."

When we were studying the Roman Empire, we learned that it was split in two. This corresponds to the two iron legs of the image that Nebuchadnezzar saw in his vision. There was the old Western Roman Empire, whose capital most of the time remained in Rome, the rest of the time it was moved to Ravenna. Most of the time the city of Rome remained the seat of administrative authority for the Western Roman Empire. This was when Rome ruled Gaul, Spain's north African territory, and a small part of the Balkans, the part that would correspond to modern Austria today.

The eastern portion of the empire, with its capital city never moving from Constantinople (modern Istanbul), took over the eastern portion of the Balkans, Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine, and before long Egypt was added to this group of countries.

The power of the western part of the empire was fading out, as it experienced a series of defeats. The Israelite people, the Visigoths, captured and looted the city of Rome in 410 A.D.. Then after a short time, the Visigoths moved on across southern France and the Pyrenees into Spain, where they established themselves. They were not the only people living in Spain at this time. However, the Visigoths were the dominant ruling people from then on, until the Moorish conquest in 711 A.D.. The Moors were Arabs.

Rome was captured and looted by the Vandals in 455 A.D.. It was again conquered by the Ostrogoths in 493 A.D. Rome had reached the end of its power some time before the Ostrogoths came along.

The Romans had degenerated to the point where this formerly great military power, which had conquered the then known world, could no longer defend itself. The only way they could hope to fight off their enemies, was to hire German mercenaries to defend them. Odoacer was the German general in charge of these mercenary troops. He finally became tired of the trifling interference from the dissolute and incompetent Roman emperor, so Odoacer deposed him from the throne. In general, historians say that the Western Roman Empire came to its end at this time.

Here was one of the heads of these seven heads, wounded apparently to death, and yet John is told it’s deadly wound was healed. This wound being healed consisted of setting up the so-called Holy Roman Empire, when Charlemagne was crowned emperor of the Romans in 800 A.D.

The rise of the power of the papacy really began before the total extinction of the Roman Empire. In 452 A.D., pope Leo the Great, acting as intermediary, persuaded Attila the Hun to spare Rome by paying a huge ransom which the empire had raised. This is where the popes began showing an influence greater than the emperor. By the middle 700s A.D., the pope really had a thoroughly firm grasp of the power over Rome. The Roman Empire had collapsed completely. The dominion of the pope was a matter of ruling the city and the suburbs around it. Then when Charlemagne came in and took over Italy, he was crowned emperor of the Romans by Pope Leo III in 800 A.D.. Charlemagne personally continued to rule until his death in 810 A.D.

As we learned earlier there was chaos, with the empire being broken up into petty little kingdoms, continually at war with each other. The Hungarians were devastating Lombardy in the north and the Saracens, who had conquered, occupied and ruled Sicily, were invading and conquering southern Italy. There was such anarchy that as John was told, they worshiped the beast, the powerful beast that had ruled them with tyranny, but at least with firmness.

Remember, the Germans were called in to help restore order and eventually Otto I, king of Germany, was crowned emperor of Rome by Pope John XII.

From this time on, the Holy Roman Empire continued without a break, at least in its paper existence. A German king always ruled it, although for about the last century and a half of its existence, it was in the hands of the Hapsburg family, who settled in Austria as their basic domain. Austria was completely German in its population; it was one of the Germanic kingdoms.

The Holy Roman Empire had no actual power from about 1648 A.D. The title itself was formally claimed by one of these kings each time, until it was formally abandoned in 1806 A.D.

So the deadly wound was healed, and the people within the realm worshiped the dragon which gave power to the beast. "...And they worshiped the beast saying, who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him?" To be rescued from the constant warfare of their petty princes, they set up a bitter tyranny. They decided this was too big for any of the little local, ambitious leaders to make war with.

The way it was described to John in the middle 90s A.D., worked out as prophesied. This is the cynical view of it, which is actually a correct one. If you wish to credit it with what idealism there may have been in the minds of some of them, you can say they had the dream of a united and Christian Europe, powerful enough to suppress all this scramble for power among these little petty princes.

In those days, for lack of competition, when you say Christian you would mean Catholic, because the Reformation hadn't started as yet. Basically it was the worship of plain, blunt power. The utter tyranny that went with it, the utter dissolute character of the ruling class, was accepted as just part of the price of having somebody with enough power to rule with an iron fist and put down the disorder.

Let's now learn what the angel continued to tell John. "The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition." We have already learned that of six out of the seven kings, five have fallen and the sixth which was Rome, existed at that time. Then the angel told John the other is not yet come. Something after the end of the sixth empire, which was Rome, constitutes the seventh head, the seventh empire.

These churches that have been following the tradition that you have to blame everything, including the weather, on the Catholic Church, are trying to put the Catholic Church into the position of being this seventh head. Never, at any time, were the papal estates more than a tiny little area in central Italy. They were petty kingdoms among many petty kingdoms.

Then these supposedly learned clergy have tried to say it is a revival of the Roman empire, that is coming back to rule for three and a half years. When Mussolini came to power in Italy, it was said he was going to conquer the entire world and rule it for three and a half years. Then there was sudden silence on this subject when Germany had to step in to rescue Mussolini and his Italian kingdom, from being conquered and destroyed by the Greeks. If your clergyman has taught this to you, the odds are a million to one he is wrong. John was told, "...the other is not yet come; and when he comes, he must continue a short space."

This seventh head is in a class with the first six. It can't be a revival of the Roman Empire, because the Roman head of this is the one that had the deadly wound and yet was healed. Rome had its day and was gone it was number six. The angel didn't tell John that head number six is killed off, and then along comes head number seven. There isn't one of these heads that can fit into the picture in this way. Head number six was the Roman Empire, to be succeeded by another and the seventh had to be of a like kind.

Definitely no man can understand this book out of mere human cleverness. Any man, who can say he was the first one to stumble on the correct explanation of some of these visions, is likely to be wrong. You could literally pack this room from wall to wall, with the books that have been written trying to explain the Book of Revelation. Without exception, they are all partly wrong and many are totally wrong. Some of them have understood portions of Revelation correctly, but they usually slip up somewhere.

I did find one thing that I wasn't able to find in the many books I looked into. There is a big empire that was important and satanic in its nature. It was exactly on a par with the empire that went before it, and it has been completely overlooked. Remember reading about a man name Napoleon Bonaparte?

Napoleon was commissioned an officer in the French army in 1785 A.D. After the French communist revolution of 1793 A.D., Napoleon continued in the army and rose rapidly, because of his brilliant successes in battle. The incompetent revolutionary government got themselves into one mess after another. Their failures were the same failures the communist governments have gotten themselves into at the present time. At that time there wasn't a wealthy United States, governed by traitors, to bail them out of their troubles, like the communists have today.

The communists were at the point of collapse, by their gross incompetence in governing France. They were then overthrown by a sudden revolution, a coup d'etat in 1799 A.D. A new government was set up; to be headed by a ruler called a consul. A consul wasn't just somebody who got you out of jail in a foreign country, as it is today. A consul was an important person under the Romans.

Napoleon was appointed the first consul in 1799 A.D. By 1802 A.D., he was voted the office of consul for life. Then in 1804 A.D. he decided to stop fiddling around with formalities, that didn't mean anything, and he had himself proclaimed emperor of France. Then the pope decided to get into the act.

The old Holy Roman Empire had fizzled out completely. Napoleon had already defeated a number of the kingdoms that were part of the main strength of the empire. The pope was going to crown Napoleon again. The thinking was if the pope crowned Napoleon, they could claim he got the empire from them. They conferred it so they could take it back, thus having control over Napoleon. Napoleon was too smart for them and would have nothing to do with being crowned by the pope. He walked up, seized the crown out of the pope’s hands, and with his own hands, placed it on his own head. Napoleon had arrived at this place in history, by his own efforts, and he was letting the world know it. On December 2, 1804, Napoleon crowned himself emperor.

Napoleon then set out to establish a complete European empire. In 1805 A.D. he took over Italy and was proclaimed king of Italy. The same year Napoleon defeated Austria, and the following year the king of Austria formally abandoned the title of emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1806 A.D. Napoleon defeated Prussia. In 1807 A.D. Napoleon defeated Russia and made the Russians cede some territory to him. In 1898 A.D., he defeated Sweden.

This left no nation opposing him except England. The only nations, on the continent of Europe, which had undertaken to oppose him were defeated and conquered. Only England maintained a hostile attitude. Napoleon was now the master of the entire continent of Europe. He then began placing his various relatives on the thrones over Spain, Holland, Sweden, etc.

In 1809 A.D. Napoleon annexed to his territory the Papal States. When Pope Pius VII excommunicated him for this, Napoleon threw him into prison until the pope signed a treaty recognizing the conquest of the Papal States and that they were part of Napoleon's territory.

Thereafter the pope was reduced to only religious leadership, without any political power. At this time the Russians were getting tired of the terrible conditions prevailing in their country and were starting to rebel, ready to make war. In June of 1812, Napoleon began his invasion of Russia. He started out with his grand army; the largest ever raised in Europe up to that time, 500,000 men drawn from all the nations of Europe that he had conquered. Napoleon marched into Russia and captured Moscow on September 14, 1812.

The success of Napoleon in war was due to the fact that he had studied the tactics of the two greatest commanders before him, Alexander the Great and Hannibal. Napoleon didn't rely on supplies sent from home, a system which had never worked out satisfactorily. The politicians at home could never be relied on to keep the army supplied, they would much rather embezzle all the local money than spend any of it on supplies for the army. Supplies from home were always a case of too little, too late. So these great commanders, and the armies they commanded, simply lived off the lands they had conquered.

These armies didn't have all the elaborate machinery to supply. These soldiers didn't need guns and ammunition; their weapon was the sword. As long as the army was fed, this was all the supplies they needed. The armies plundered the countries they went through and stole their wealth to take home. Anything in the way of money was prized, because in those days money was in the form of gold. No matter whose picture was on the money, it was always valued for the gold.

The important plunder was food. The army stole enough food to keep themselves fed. Napoleon learned how to do this early in his career, when he was an officer under the communist government of France. The people at home never sent the army enough supplies to keep Napoleon's army in the field, so he plundered the conquered territories of whatever food was needed. Napoleon had his soldiers so enthusiastic over his leadership, they were willing to really put forth some effort, so they marched with terrific speed.

One of the secrets of success in war, is to get to your destination before your enemy is ready to meet you. Hannibal, Alexander and Napoleon did this. Napoleon's troops would make tremendous forced marches as much as forty miles in one day. This was marching on foot every step of the way. Several days before the enemy had their forces ready to meet him, Napoleon's armies were already in position. Such troops as were mustered to oppose him, were easily routed.

Having been so successful with this tactic Napoleon decided he would conquer Russia the same way. He had crossed all of Europe and was now proceeding deep into Russia. Any supplies from France had hundreds of miles to go. France might be loyal enough to Napoleon to support him, but why should the conquered people of Austria and Hungary, and the other conquered nations, feel a particular need to help him remain in power and conquer new territories?

The eastern portion of Europe, even before Napoleon got to Russia, was hostile territory for his supplies to travel through, then he moved into Russia. Napoleon whipped the Russian armies every time he caught up with them. However, as they retreated, they adopted a scorched earth policy by burning everything, leaving no food for Napoleon's advancing army. The cities and towns were burned, leaving nothing but desolation behind the Russian army.

Napoleon captured Moscow on September 14, 1812; all but a tiny fraction of the population had already fled before he got there. On September 15th, fires broke out all over the city, far too many to be put out. From September 15th to the 19th, Moscow was in flames and the whole city was burned down.

Napoleon had expected to make Moscow his winter headquarters. His soldiers would sleep comfortably in warm, well-heated houses and feed nicely on the food supplies of the Russians. Now there were no houses and no food and the terrible Russian winter was coming on. Napoleon had to turn back.

He was stubborn and held on for a month. It was October 19th before he started his retreat. Napoleon had gotten back into European territory when, early in December, he no longer tried to remain with his retreating army. He went on ahead to see what he could salvage in France. Out of the 500,000 men that he took into Russia, 400,000 were killed. The retreat finally brought back about 100,000 starved and tattered scarecrows out of 500,000 strong, healthy men Napoleon had led into Russia.

A loser has no friends or allies. The nations Napoleon had conquered when he was winning wouldn't stay with him now. These nations joined with England to overthrow Napoleon. When he got back to France, his efforts to stop this alliance with England were of no effect. On April 12, 1814, Napoleon abdicated. He was banished to the little island of Elba, a small mountainous island off the coast of central Italy. If he wanted to play at being a king there, no one would object. Napoleon was given the title of King of Elba, much as you might name somebody as emperor of Tiajuana.

However, there was no one competent to take over in France in his absence. He thought he saw a chance to get his kingdom back. On March 1, 1815, he and a small party of his followers landed in France. So far as loyalty of his followers was concerned, the old magic was still there. The troops that were sent to seize and arrest him, came up to where he was. Napoleon stepped out in front of his party and said, "If there is any one of you that wants to kill your emperor, here I am."

The troops greeted him with tremendous enthusiasm, joined his group of followers, and started back to retake France. But it didn't work, his whole attempt at a come back lasted approximately one hundred days. In the campaign that was waged around Waterloo, he was defeated and crushed in the middle of June 1815.

Remember about the seventh head. "...The other (seventh head) is not yet come (in John's day); and when he comes he must continue in a short space." Remember we have commented on what a brief time Alexander the Great's empire lasted. Starting out as king of Macedonia in 336 B.C., his empire lasted until 332 B.C. this is only thirteen years. So Alexander fits the prophecy perfectly. Here was a tremendous empire, which ruled nearly all the civilized world in its day. He certainly ruled nearly all the territories that were ruled in Europe by the preceding empires. The manner of the rule was as wicked as the preceding empires. It was just a plain brutal, tyrannical force, enduring only a short time.

Continuing on to our own time, all of the seven heads are now past, but there was to be an eighth head. The angel said the beast himself is the eighth head and is of the seventh, of the same character. There must be another great empire where the beast is bigger and mightier than all of his heads put together. The king of a single city or nation ruled each of these seven world empires these are the heads. But the eighth beast is much greater than this. It is not of a single nation, so it is not the revival of the Roman Empire for three and a half years.

Let's try to identify this eighth beast. John was told it had existed in the past. The beast was, but in John's day it is not. What is there that corresponds with this that would have been a world empire on a greater scale than any one of these heads? What about Satan's original, total world empire, the system Adam was sent here to overthrow? This is the original beast.

The dragon is obviously Satan because the Bible calls him dragon and serpent. The dragon gave the beast his power and authority. The beast itself was Satan's total world rule that had ceased to be. In John's day, the first century of the Christian era, the sixth out of these seven world empires was in control. There were to be only seven.

The great red dragon of John's vision had seven heads and seven crowns. Seven world empires were all that Satan had any authority to give. Remember also what Satan told Yahshua, when he was trying to tempt him. "Look at all these kingdoms of the world. If you will worship me, I will give you all these kingdoms because they are all mine to give to whom I please." If you will recall, Yahshua didn't say this wasn't true. He accepted it as a correct statement for the time when it was made. But Yahshua told Satan, "Get thee behind me: it is written, Thou shalt not tempt Yahshua."

When we come to Daniel's vision, his fourth beast the Roman Empire had only one head. It had ten horns on that one head and ten crowns. When we get to John's vision in the book of Revelation, there were seven heads and ten horns, but it doesn't say they were all on one head. But, since this ties in so closely with Daniel's vision, undoubtedly these ten horns were part of the Roman Empire, so they were relatively minor. The crowns that Daniel saw weren't as important as the crowns John saw, and recorded.

The beast that is larger than any of these previous empires and of the same character as the seven heads had existed before John's time. It was before the seven heads started, but it was not in power during John's time. This beast was to return to power as a universal world empire, not just a few nations clustered around the Mediterranean Sea.

The United Nations is the only thing in all history that will begin to fit the prophecies. The United Nations fits the prophecy perfectly. It is tyrannical, brutal, and satanic as any of the others. In the United Nations headquarters in New York, the only concession they make in recognizing the existence of any god is a stone idol of the pagan god Zeus, standing in the lobby. The name of Yahshua cannot be mentioned in any of its sessions, for fear of offending any of the various pagan nations, or the Jews who run the whole show. The United Nations is definitely satanic, utterly tyrannical wherever it has obtained any power and is absolutely brutal in enforcing this power.

In Revelation 13:11-14 we read about something else. John relates, "And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke as a dragon. And he exercises all the power of the first beast before him, and causes the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he does great wonders, so that he makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, and deceives them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast."

Undoubtedly the papacy is at least a phase of this, because fake miracles have long been the papacy's stock-in-trade. You have heard how many churches where one of their stone idols of the Virgin Mary, weeps from time to time. There are others where they have the blood of Saint Whosis, which liquifies on certain days of the year etc. It had two horns like a lamb and it claims to be the successor to Yahshua. The Catholic Church speaks as a dragon and certainly has introduced many satanic doctrines. It ruled by satanic corruption and evil through the centuries, so the papacy fits a portion of this picture.

This picture is so large we can't blame everything on the Catholic Church, just as we can't blame everything that ever happened on the Medo-Persian Empire. The Medo-Persian empire was a passing phase of this and for a time it carried out the satanic purpose of rule over many nations. We also can't say that every-thing wrong that ever happened or will ever happen is the fault of Alexander the Great. He was simply one of the cogs in the machine. The same is true of the papacy; it is one of the cogs in the total satanic machine.

Notice in the book of Revelation, particularly when we get to the eighteenth chapter, it tells about the final fall of great Babylon. It doesn't say a word about religion or religious corruption, what it tells about is the economic phase of it. During the early periods of the Roman Empire, the military/political phase of the great Babylonian system ruled the world. During the middle ages, the religious phase of the great Babylonian system ruled the world. When we get out of the middle ages and into our age, around the beginning of the 1700s, the financial and economic phase of the Babylonian system rules the world. They are all part of the same system.

We don't defend the erroneous doctrines of the Catholic Church, or defend its utterly murderous career over many centuries. The papacy sanctioned the brutal murder of several million Christian martyrs, far more than pagan Rome ever did, even so we can't blame all the evils on the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church is only a portion of the evils of this system. Just as today many protestant churches are being taken over and used by this satanic system, as part of their method to corrupt and destroy us. Look at the way communism is taking over the Methodist church.

Revelation 13:11-14 tells us, "And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke as a dragon. And he exercises all the power of the first beast before him, and causes the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he does great wonders, so that he makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, and deceives them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live."

This second beast is as much a satanic manifestation, and is much larger than any of these small individual kingdoms. It is part of the complete satanic kingdom, and while it has corrupted and used the Catholic Church in part, the second beast, just like the first, is far larger than the Catholic Church. Revelation 13:15-17 records, "And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name."

The Catholic Church can't complete the role of this second beast, any more than the first. The description doesn't fit the papacy. While the papacy undoubtedly created the Holy Roman Empire, this wasn't the image of the beast, this was just the healing of the deadly wound of one of the heads. The Catholic Church didn't create the United Nations. It was the same satanic power that corrupts and uses the papacy, which also corrupts and uses our own government, in the creation of the United Nations.

The satanic power then demanded that an image of the first beast be created, not just an image of the Roman Empire. The first beast was Satan's total rule, and the United Nations was created to be an image of that, to be a total world rule over all nations. It had the power to make the image of the beast speak the various resolutions and conventions of the United Nations. When it speaks these various commands that the nations are obligated to follow, "...and causes that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed." This has partially gone into effect.

Do you remember what was done in Katanga on the breakup of the Congo? When satanic powers compelled Belgium to turn these cannibal savages loose in the Congo, none of them had shown any ability to govern. Yet, the entire Congo was turned loose with these cannibals running it. Many of them had never even learned to wear shoes, much less run a nation.

There was only one part of the Congo that showed signs of stabilization and keeping some semblance of civilization. When most of the Congo was breaking down into anarchy and cannibalism, the only place there was any order was Katanga, the province that was under the leadership of Moise Tshombe. So what did the United Nations do? The United Nations sent in U.N. troops, largely from Sweden and Ireland, for a brutal attack on Katanga overthrowing Tshombe's government. The U.N. air force also bombed well-marked hospitals. All the atrocities that Germany was falsely accused of doing during the wars, was actually done by the United Nations army in Katanga, and somehow they got praise for doing this.

Now what is the United Nations trying to do in Rhodesia and South Africa? The U.N. has already passed resolutions commanding the British to send in an army there. They want the white government in Rhodesia to be overthrown by force and put the cannibals in power. As we know, Britain is corrupted today, to a degree equal to Rome at its worst, so they may attack Rhodesia. Similar threats have been made against South Africa.

Rhodesia may have had Negroes there before the white man came but, don't let anybody tell you the falsehood that the white man went in and took South Africa away from the Negroes, because he didn't. There wasn't a single Negro in South Africa when the white man came in and settled there. There were a very small handful of widely scattered, purely nomadic bushmen there, of a low sub human type, something like the Australian bushmen, but no Negroes.

The white man settled South Africa and began developing it, laying out their farms, etc.. They were prospecting, mining and improving the country before the first Negroes drifted in from the north.

Then Negro tribes began coming in and they ate the bushmen. It is doubtful if there is one survivor of the bushmen now, not because of the white man, but because the cannibals ate them. All the Negroes are recent arrivals in South Africa, who came into a white man's country. South Africa was never the home of the Negro. It is the white man that should tell the blacks to go home and not the other way around. The white man was in South Africa before the whites came to America. Nevertheless the United Nations is trying to overthrow white civilization there, as it is everywhere else.

There is another point to consider, "...that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name." This is already going into effect; to the extent they have had the power.

Remember what the United Nations has done to Rhodesia! They have already, by resolution, commanded all nations to completely boycott Rhodesia. Nations are neither to buy any of Rhodesia's products for export nor sell Rhodesia anything. Our own traitors in Washington are going along with this order, as is England.

The only country that is selling any supplies to Rhodesia is South Africa. Perhaps a little trickle is coming in from the eastern African Portuguese territory of Mozambique. The rest of the white nations are going along with this boycott, as part of this beast organization, the United Nations.

It was the Jews, dominating the rest of the world, who set up the strangulation boycott against Germany before World War II. The Jews are setting it up now, to do the same thing to Rhodesia. When a boycott alone isn't successful, they follow it up with a war. So now, none may be able to buy or sell, save those who have the mark of the beast.

In John's day, slaves were marked with either branding or tattooing. Soldiers of some armies were also tattooed with a mark, so if they deserted they would be easy to find and capture. Sometimes the brand was put on the forehead, so everybody could easily see it, or sometimes it was put on the hand. This mark was a simple thing to use as a symbol here, but it is more than just the following of an ancient custom. This mark on the forehead, symbolizes the control over the products of the mind. The mark on the hand symbolizes control over the products of our physical work.

How are they going to accomplish giving us the mark of the beast? The traitors in our government have already brought us to a point where our money system is ready for a collapse. We have already read in the newspapers some of the trial balloons they have sent up. There have been releases of statements, by various public officials, that there is a need for a worldwide United Nations money system. So far we haven't fallen for that scam and let's hope we never do. The collapse hasn't swept our money into worthlessness yet. We aren't interested in getting worthless Congolese money, from the United Nations, in place of our money.

This United Nation's money is to supersede all national currencies. The money manipulators are going to bring about the internal collapse of our money system, which they can do very easily. There is no money of intrinsic value anymore. The last 90% silver coins were minted in 1964, since then our coins have only been an imitation of silver. Read Babylon's Money, for further documentation.

Anytime the Federal Reserve Bank decides to cause an economic collapse, they can do so very easily. This bank is federal in name only, it is privately owned the by international Jewish bankers. There is less than one percent of the amount of money that any recognized principle requires us to have to carry on our transactions, all the rest of business is conducted on bank credit.

When this collapse happens, which I believe is inevitable, then the powers that be will say that now the United States will have to accept the world money system of the United Nations. This money has already been printed and is right at hand to be issued.

Is this a solution? No, it is a bigger disaster than before. Who decides how much U.N. money we get? Nobody except the United Nations where we are already out voted 132 to 1.

All these other nations are like predators, ready to pounce, wanting to get their hand on the American wealth. Do you think they are going to listen to us and take our interests into consideration when it comes to distributing U.N. money? They will issue, to the United States, just the minimum amount of money which will permit us to live on a mere coolie labor scale, a bare subsistence existence and no more. These other nations, the cannibals of Africa, the millions of Chinese and Russians, will issue to themselves money in great quantities.

If we are going to get the tiny little bit of money they permit us to have, we will have to work hard. You will have to produce things of value and you will not be allowed to have the money with which to buy the products of your own labor, beyond just enough to keep you alive and working.

Who will have the money to buy the refrigerators, television sets, automobiles, etc., that we make? We won't have enough money. But, every Congolese cannibal will have a Frigidaire, a color television set, etc. He will get these products even though everything he produces in his entire lifetime would not be worth the down payment on any one of these things. He will be given these things out of United Nations money, with this they plan to buy his military support.

The United Nations plans to disarm us, so we will be unable to resist whatever they wish to subject us to. Bribing these other nations with our wealth, to unite militarily against us, they plan to keep us in slavery. They want us to produce the things they can't produce, which we will not be allowed to enjoy.

When this comes to pass, no man can buy nor sell, unless he has the mark of the beast. What are we going to buy anything with, unless we have United Nations money? American money will have ceased to exist.

This is exactly the plan that has been set up for us. As preliminary steps to force us into this slavery, we already have the following laws.

1. Public law Number 774, passed by the 81st-82nd congress.

2. Defense Production Act of 1950

3. Public Law 920 passed by the 81st-82nd congress.

This is the Federal Defense Master Plan, perfected under the late, unlamented Eisenhower administration.

Their manual, issued under the date of October, 1958, with some 42 annexes and supplements to it since then, explains the plan for a total government take over of all labor and property.

Most of you are too young to remember the rationing we had during World War II. It really didn't accomplish much of anything. I talked to people who were executives in the plants that were making necessary military supplies for the government. They told me that if the government would end this silly rationing system, with which they couldn't buy what they really needed to fill the orders, they could buy in the open market enough materials to make the products the government had contracted for. They were delayed for months because the silly rationing system prevented them from getting the materials they needed. The rationing did what it was intended to do. It wrecked a great many civilian industries, which hadn't converted to military production, because it deprived them of all the raw materials they needed.

Our government already has a complete rationing system set up, and this is only the beginning. Here is a quotation from the Office of Civilian Defense booklet, dated December 1958. "The extent to which control of the economy will have to be exercised will go far beyond any previous emergency. The matters involved, stated in very general terms are first, money matters, particularly actions to reestablish a dependable medium of exchange and a credit structure. Second will be the control of production. Third is the control of the distribution of goods and services. Fourth is the control of consumption.

When they sweep away and abandon everything we have, this will be the time when they intend to force us to use U.N. money. The government will decide how many pairs of shoes you will be allowed to have per year etc.. The American people can produce everything in quantities more than we have the capacity to use. Everything except the bare minimum for mere existence will be siphoned off, so the rest of the world can live on our slave labor. They talk about the total mobilization of all human and material resources. You will be assigned to the job they want you to have.

President Kennedy, in his first two years as president, issued over sixty Executive Orders providing for this total take over of all control of production and distribution, including slave labor, by assigning us to wherever they choose. If they think you are a bad influence on your neighbors, they can say they need you somewhere else in the country and ship you to wherever they please.

It has gone beyond even this. President Johnson continued making further orders, strengthening the details of the tyranny. All this comes into operation whenever the president shall proclaim a state of emergency, which is not limited to war. A Jew named Robert Kintner, formerly head of one of the big broadcast networks N.B.C., was appointed as head of the Office of Defense Resources. President Johnson referred to him as his mobilization czar.

Public law number 452 of the 88th congress, the so called Anti Poverty bill of 1964, in its first sentence sets out its objective as to mobilization of the human and financial resources of the nation, and to combat poverty in the United States. You can imagine how they plan to combat poverty. They have made sure that no lame duck politician need face poverty and beyond this they haven't worried.  Their anti poverty administration budgets eighty percent and more, of its total funds for administrative expenses, twenty percent or less will go to the poor people. This was just another boondoggle; it is welfare for government workers.

Several years ago a congressmen produced an official memorandum from the F.B.I., which tells of the necessity of brainwashing the citizens. J. Edgar Hoover was long past the age of retirement. Congress had to pass an amendment to the retirement laws to make a specific exception for him. He was not only past the optional retirement age; he was also past the compulsory retirement age. He was an old man and very weary.

Out of patriotism alone, Hoover hung on to a job that he hadn't personally wanted to keep. If he had retired Adam Yarmolinsky, a Jew and the son of two Russian communists, would have been appointed head of the F.B.I.. To prevent this from happening, Hoover kept on with his job. Hoover was reduced to a mere figurehead for a long time because of the Jew Katzenbach, who had been put in charge of the Justice Department.

You should note that the F.B.I., for some years now, has ceased to be even slightly annoying to the communists. The F.B.I. has been turned completely into a minor branch of the Russian N.K.V.D., with headquarters in Moscow and is now only used to harass patriots.

Now do you see how the trap has been set up to be sprung on us? This is exactly what John was given his vision of, in the curious symbols. Don't you think that what was shown to John is a pretty good picture of just what we have today? The Book of Revelation is not easy to understand because it is all in symbols. When you really study what these symbols are, they make sense.

If we don't go into our study with preconceived notions, that we are going to force a symbol to mean what the official doctrines of the establishment churches are, but instead, if we try to find what the book itself means, these visions make sense.

In Matthew 24:22 there is a statement that except those days were shortened, none of us would survive. The picture is not all black. It would be all black if it were merely a human problem and these people had their way. Our nation, as a whole, has degenerated to the point where the people are not even futilely indignant about this. They are contented. They say they have never had it so good. They don't realize that to have it so good they had gotten deeper and deeper in debt so are now slaves to high interest credit cards.

The same God who warned us about these things, which are coming upon us, has also basically said, "My enemies are planning this destruction of My people Israel, without considering Me. I shall stop them in their tracks when the time comes."

There is going to be a time when all these laws that put us in slavery, will be put into effect. It is going to be a very rough time. However, it is not going on to the conclusion these children of Satan have planned. Yahweh promises us He will intervene and put a stop to it, before they can fulfill Satan's plans.

Consider the things you have been reading in the local papers. Not the censored news in the daily papers, though even there they let the cat out of the bag once in a while.

Now do you see where all these things are leading us? Don't they fit into place perfectly? Some of these things didn't seem terrible in themselves, until we understand the whole picture. These things are much like the spokes in a wheel. Each one is separate, each one starts out at a different point on the rim and each one goes in a different direction. In the end they all come together at the same hub in the center. They are just as they were shown in John.

This is the picture. Now you know what the mark of the beast is going to be and how it is going to work. It is going to be thoroughly bad. As Christians, we have the consolation of knowing that this is to be a temporary condition. We will be rescued by the return of Yahshua who will take over and run things in His perfect way. He shall not worry about the losing the vote of the Negro block, when he does establish His kingdom