So a great victory has been won for the satanic world, and now the response of the Senate in this past week has even appalled the president of the
United States. The Senate, partly in response with indignation over this attitude on the part of people that we have been supporting with our
foreign aid, the Senate cut off and simply refused to pass the foreign aid bill, and they killed it. Our government is now in a panic. It's having
repercussions in all the nations of the world because they can't believe that the United States would actually come to a point and say, "Fine. From
now on we will use our money for our decrepit cities, and for our own poor, and for advancing the cause of American life. You people who voted to
remove a nation of 14 million people and to dismiss them as a nonentity, a nation whose economic life has been a marvel in contrast to the dire
status of living just across the channel in China itself, mainland China, people who were willing to oust a free nation and rejoice over it have
got something wrong with their thinking." And it is time the United States maybe gave some second thoughts to supporting that kind of thinking.
Now the conditions for breeding dictators have historically been: anarchy; lawlessness; moral decadence; human desperation; and, a desire to have
some hero to admire and to worship. Now the trends of world conditions today are moving to this kind of a desperation and this kind of a climate of
restlessness on the part of the people of the world. We have an epidemic-like growth in major crimes. Every statistic that you read indicates to us
that major crimes are multiplying far far out of proportion to the increase of the world's population. That means that more and more people are
becoming criminals in major ways every day who were not that before. We have mounting warfare through guerrilla tactics and through the revolutionary
movements. We have open declaration of Black Panthers who are coming into this country who have been in exile, and who are coming with the open
declared intent of conducting guerrilla warfare in the United States, and moving the nation increasingly to a status of fear.
The population boom is an ever-living problem and growing worse. Those who are the most expert on this subject are declaring that there is no
return. The world will not be able to take any action to control the population explosion, and furthermore, along with it, what a population
explosion creates in the way of pollution, congestion, unemployment, famine, and unrest. These are elements that are only going to get worse. So
all the talk that you hear about controlling population and about improving the environment are, by and large, will-of-the-wisp hopes that are not
to be realized by people who study these things in great detail.
There is a certain wide-scale psychological ailment in our society. There is an alienation on the part of large segments of the society. There are
pressures from impersonal qualities in the society, and certainly the movement toward a drug oriented culture, which again, from the Word of God,
we realize that the Bible, in describing society in its last days, tells us that it will be a society which refuses to repent of its drug addiction.
We have a vast array of super weapons and the communists still want to rule the world, while the free world is determined not to let them do it. So
with super weapons on two sides you have a condition of constant tension in reference to open violence and conflict. Society is increasingly
becoming receptive to the idea of the need for a strong man with a strong hand to control the problems and the tensions of the world. So as we move
along on just the various directions in which we are going today, there will come a time when the world will be so desperate that it will welcome
Satan's man who will come on strong. He will be able indeed to bring a certain temporary peace to the world. Then he will not be able to be stopped.
He will be the apple of everyone's eye after the desperate conditions that the world will have come to.
Revelation 13
I'd like us to look together for a little bit at a major revelation concerning the antichrist world dictator which is to come. Here is a personality
that you should be acquainted with. His characteristics should be in your mind. Then maybe you can look over the world scene and see what you
see in the way of people who may be matching up to this. In Revelation 13:1, John says, "And I stood upon the sand of the sea and saw a beast rise
up out of the sea." Now in Scripture, this word "sea" has reference to the chaotic mass of the gentile nations. Revelation 17:15: "And he said unto
me, 'The waters which you saw where the harlot sits are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues.'"
So the picture here of a beast coming out
of the sea, as we interpret Scripture with Scripture, means that out of the gentile nations, some place on the face of the earth, out of the mass
of gentile nations, this strong man will be born; will be reared; and, will come on the political scene. Revelation 17:1 says, "And there came one
of the seven angels, who had the seven bowls, and talked with me saying, 'Come here and I will show you the judgment of the great harlot that sits
upon many waters.'" This harlot, which is a false church (which we will be looking at), sits upon many waters, and this means that she sits in a
dominating position upon all the gentile nations.
The sea here indicates the nations, and out of the sea, a beast arises. This is the antichrist who here in Revelation 13 is given the title of a
beast, because from God's point of view that's how God sees him--as a bestial personality. What he does is very bestial, and the conditions and the
climate to which he leads the societies of the world are extremely bestial. Now this man and his kingdom are described under the analogy of several
animals.
The Beast
Let's begin again at Revelation 13:1: "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 upon his head the name of blaspheming; and the beast which I saw was like a leopard; his feet were like the
feet of a bear; and, his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his crown and his great authority." Leopard, bear,
and lion are symbolic of the gentile world empires which have preceded the Roman Empire out of which the antichrist comes. The antichrist is on the
scene as the ruler who has moved and has come out of the fourth empire now in the form of a ten-nation confederacy.
These animals have characteristics that describe what kind of a world empire the antichrist is going to be ruling. As a leopard, it indicates
the swiftness to seize its prey. In Daniel's image in the book of Daniel, the leopard empire was the Greek empire. The conquest under Alexander the
Great was particularly noted for its swiftness. The bear was the Media Persian Empire of Daniel's revelation. The bear speaks of the strong and
tenacious quality that will be in the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire is the inheritor of the qualities of the empires which preceded it. Finally,
the lion, which represented the Babylonian Empire--the first one--the one in which Daniel was living, speaks of the voracious and regal quality
that will characterize the antichrist's empire. So the future dictator is to be rapid in conquest; he is to be very strong; and, he needs to have
a devouring quality that characterizes all that he does.
Power from Satan
Now, who is the force? Where is the power coming from that the antichrist has? We are told in Revelation 13:2 that the dragon gave him his power.
His power comes actually from Satan. Revelation 12:9 identifies one of the names of Satan as that of the dragon. Revelation 12:9: "And the great
dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the devil and Satan who deceives the whole world." So it is Satan who is behind this man. Here as a
human being, someone just like yourself. Out of the gentile nations of the world, he comes onto the political scene, and Satan makes a deal with him.
Consciously or unconsciously, this man is taken over by Satan as his personal agent. All the forces of the satanic world and the demonic world which
Satan rules are just placed at this man's disposal.
Now remember that Satan has fantastic powers. He is not supernatural. He does not have the powers of deity, but he does have fantastic powers. He
has powers of manipulating your being that you don't even imagine. As we pointed out recently, it is hard to think that the people who are our
friends as Christians, and devoted Christians, can be the voice of Satan in our lives. Yet that's exactly what Peter was to the Lord. Peter was
remonstrating to the Lord, and the Lord had to turn to Peter and say, "Get thee behind me Satan," because it was the devil talking through Peter.
Tomorrow morning when you get up and you look in the mirror, it would be well for you to remember what you are looking at is Satan. I'm not implying
you look like the devil in the morning. That may be true. But when Satan deals with us, one of his subtleties is to give us ideas that we think are
our own. We come up with thoughts and we come up with ideas and we come up with plans, and because they originate with us, we think they're ours.
We have to, once in a while, walk by a mirror and say, "That's a beautiful disguise you're wearing today, Satan," or whatever you think of how you
look. But that's his disguise. It's you. This is very subtle. He can manipulate the elements of your soul. Once you permit the old sin nature to
take over, he has a free hand. He can only manipulate you through your old sin nature. As long as you are filled with the Spirit of God, he's zilch.
As long as the old sin nature is neutralized, you are in control of the situation. But once he takes over the old sin nature, he will move in,
and you will be doing things that you just cannot believe that they're coming out of you.
Now this dictator is going to welcome all this. He's not going to resist. He's not going to fight that. He's going to find that this is the
greatest thing that has ever happened to him. He is Satan's inspired man. Consequently, Satan gives him, Revelation 13:2 says, power of a miraculous
nature. This is interesting, isn't it? You may have run into someone who told you about some great miracles, like maybe some miracles of healing, and
having them attributed to God. Well I want to tell you right now that the dictator of the world is going to have miraculous-like powers, but they
will be from Satan's working, not from God's. Please remember that Satan can make you sick just like he did Job. Consequently, when people come
along and try to play the role of healers, as we have in the tongues crowd today, they do heal people, because Satan makes people sick. So, in order
to promote this which is against the plan of God, Satan heals the people that he has made sick. And sure enough, the hero looks like he's doing a
job. Satan can heal, because Satan can make sick.
So, he's going to give this man great miraculous-like powers. He is also going to give him his throne, that is, world government. Satan offered this
to Jesus Christ in the wilderness. He said, "All you have to do is just worship me and I will give you the governments of the world." And Satan
could have. They are his. He's going to give them to this man, whereas Jesus Christ rejected them. He's also going to give him great authority, it
says, which means that he will be in supreme absolute control of the world. The antichrist is going to make the deal with Satan that Jesus rejected.
The antichrist will worship Satan, and will receive this power and this authority and this throne.
A World Empire
Revelation 13:3 says, "And I saw one of his heads as though it were wounded to death, and his wound was healed, and all the world wondered after the
beast." In Revelation 13:1 here, John says, "I saw the beast rise up out of the sea having seven heads." In Revelation 13:4, it says that one of
these heads had what seemingly was a mortal wound. This might be viewed, as some Bible teachers view it, as being one of the seven forms of the
Roman Empire. The Roman Empire had a series of different types of government. The last was the imperial form where they had an emperor. This is the
form that seemingly has died, this line of explanation says. This is the form which is going to be restored. He's going to once more be an emperor
over an empire.
Although that's possible, I think there's probably a little better explanation than that. I think that this should be taken more literally. I think
that the wound here to the antichrist, a mortal wound, is a physical actual wound that he has received. Revelation 13:14 identifies the instrument
with which the wound is inflicted: "And he deceives them that dwell on the earth." This is speaking now about his agent the false prophet. "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 that had the wound by a sword and did live."
So, here is this man who comes on the world scene. He experiences a wound by a sword and seemingly dies. The wound is of such a nature that it is
evident to the physicians that this was a mortal wound, and seemingly he dies. However, he survives the wound and shows up again perfectly restored,
and the world views this as a resurrection and as a sign of supernatural power. The false prophet then directs worship toward the antichrist on this
basis--on the supernatural qualities supposedly possessed by the antichrist because he was restored from a mortal wound from which he should have
died. Now this causes, we're told here, worldwide amazement. The antichrist dramatically moves to stage center as the result of this.
Analogy to JFK
This summer, when I was in Minnesota, I was hanging around a drugstore reading their magazines and newspapers. I saw a sheet with a blazing headline
saying that John F. Kennedy did not die in Dallas. I thought that's very interesting. I didn't know that. So I grabbed the paper and started reading.
The story went on to tell that John F. Kennedy, here in Dallas outside of the Texas School Book Depository, received a wound in the head from a
bullet that was of a mortal nature. Those who had seen the wound were aware of the fact that a whole section of the skull had been blown away. There
was a gaping hole. This was the most self-evident thing to those who were carrying the unconscious president into Parkland Hospital.
A short time after the event happened, I was down at the Texas School Book Depository because we do a lot of business with them. That's when they
had to put the sign on and put the restrictions on who could enter, and only those who they knew and who were there on official business could even
come in. One of the men who was on the scene was talking to me about the incident. One of the things he observed, he said, "For three days, here on
this counter, right here--when we were all shut down for three days--here on this counter sat a piece of the president's skull with the hair and
everything attached, and bigger than a 50-cent piece, set right here on this counter for three days before they came and picked it up." Now this
was a massive head wound.
The article in the Minnesota paper announced that when it was evident the president's wound was such that his capacities had been destroyed; that
he would not be rational; that he would be a vegetable; that he could no longer function; and yet, the wound was not of such a nature that he would
die from it, the CIA and other agencies conspired with LBJ to keep this a secret. They pretended to carry the president out in that magnificent
casket out of Parkland Hospital. But they really, surreptitiously and secretly, removed him from the city and took him to an island off of Greece
owned by Aristotle Onassis. It said that the arrangement was made that LBJ was to be sworn in as president on the pretext that JFK had died, and that
there was to be, therefore, in order to prevent any national trauma and disruption on the world scene by the president being alive and yet
incapacitated, for the conduct of the government, and what effect this would have had upon the people and the world scene.
It said that for this reason now, for seven years, the president lived. It also said that for this reason it was necessary for Mrs. Kennedy to
have a pretext to be on that Greek island to take care her vegetable husband. So they came up with the plan that she would pretend to marry
Aristotle Onassis. Aristotle provided all the special care and the hospital care and the provisions for taking care of the lingering life of the
president. Then they quoted the reports of a fisherman who observed the arrival of Ted Kennedy and a meeting with Mrs. Kennedy. One morning,
unbeknownst to them, through his binoculars, he had observed them boarding a ship and moving out into the Aegean Sea. He followed them at a distance
because he was on a boat. Through his binoculars, he saw them standing around the deck and bringing out a long object wrapped in white cloth, and
slowly slide it overboard into the sea. This was the burial of the president seven years after from the assassination attempt in Dallas.
Now, supposing as I had put that paper down there in Minnesota, I had walked out of that drugstore and there I saw walking down the street JFK.
What would I have thought? It was true. Only, he didn't die, and they didn't bury him. Now supposing that this story had been true and that five or
six years later, the president was fully recovered, and that he were to walk back in to the city of Washington. What kind of pandemonium would have
broken loose? What kind of worldwide adulation would have been directed toward him? What would have been the fantastic response of people all over
the world? He was already labeled in his lifetime as having a charismatic quality about him--this magnetism that drew people and accomplished things.
What kind of qualities and what kind of influence, can you imagine, he would have born after surviving what was obviously a mortal wound to all who
dealt with him, with parts of his body even left in the School Book Depository, picked up off the grass by somebody or a policeman or someone?
Now this is the thing that is exactly apparently going to happen here to the antichrist. He's going to suffer some kind of a wound with a sword, and
everybody is going to know that it is fatal, and he's going to die. However, he doesn't die. He comes back strong. He is right back there in his
political operations. He comes back to the positions that he holds, and everybody looks upon him and says, "Man, this is supernatural. He is
something else." He will have all of the admiration, without limits, that the world can give to him.
Now, as a matter of fact, it seems that the beast's survival will cause the worship of Satan and of the antichrist himself. Revelation 13:4 says, "And
they worshiped the dragon who gave power unto the beast, and they worshiped the beast saying, "Who is like the beast, and who is able to make war
with him?" The antichrist deifies himself and he demands worship. We have this fact given to us also in 2 Thessalonians 2:4: "Who opposes and exalts
himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he as God sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God."
The Analogy of Roman Caesars
This is going to be something similar to what the Roman Caesars did. They deified themselves and required this as an expression of patriotism and of
loyalty. This place of worship is going to be in the rebuilt temple. The magnetic personality of the antichrist and his power to speak will have no
equal anywhere in the world. He will impose from this position a peace upon the whole world which everybody is longing for. But this is going to be
a short-lived false security. 1 Thessalonians 5:3: "For when they shall say peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them as travail
upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape." The antichrist is going to seemingly be able to bring the world to peace. This is from the
middle of the seven-year tribulation period.
Then in Revelation 13:5: "And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things, and blasphemies, and powers. Power was given unto him to continue
42 months. The period of the antichrist's absolute rule is going to be 42 months, or three-and-a-half years. This period of rule is to be terminated
by the return of Jesus Christ, so we know that this is the last part of the tribulation period. He speaks blaspheming against God and His name. He
speaks blasphemy against the true worship of God.
Then something very interesting happens. He speaks blasphemies against the inhabitants of heaven--those
who dwell in heaven. Revelation 13:6: "He opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His Tabernacle, and them that dwell in
heaven." Who dwells in heaven at this point? You and I. It is the Christians who have been caught up at the beginning of the tribulation to meet the
Lord in the air and be taken to heaven. They're the ones. Now, why is he blaspheming us? Because somehow, apparently, he has to explain how millions
of people have disappeared off the earth. He has to belittle and discount the situation, and he has to brand these people as some kind of religious
nuts and kooks who have gone off someplace. So he blasphemes in order to take the edge off of anything impressive about so many people that so many
knew who are no longer around.
The 144,000
Revelation 13:7 says, "It was given unto him to make war with the saints." I thought we just said that all the Christians and all those saints were
in heaven. Who are the saints that are here for the antichrist to make war with? Well, these are the people who become believers during the
tribulation period. God supernaturally raises up 144,000 Jewish evangelists, and they proceed because they realize indeed that Christ was their
Messiah, they proceed to cover the earth with evangelism. They are under the protective hand of God, and those who believe, who are their converts,
then come under the persecution of the antichrist and many of them are martyred. "It was given unto him to make war with the saints to overcome them.
And power was given him over all kindreds and tongues and nations." He's an absolute authority. It's worldwide. Russia and the kings of the south
have been removed from the scene in the middle of the tribulation. The kings of the eastern confederacy are across the Euphrates River and still
subservient to him. So, he's in supreme rule.
Revelation 1:8 says, "And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him whose names are not written in the book of the life of the lamb slain
from the foundation of the world." All who are not born again, who are not in the book of life, will be worshiping the antichrist.
Now here is a strong distinct revelation from the New Testament--just one segment of Scripture from the New Testament--that presents this world
ruler. As you work your way through these verses and try to imagine these things taking place in our day, you'll get some very distinct impressions
on the personality, the characteristics, and the temperament of this man.
Daniel 7
The Old Testament gives us added pictures from various angles, particularly
in Daniel 7 which also speaks of this man. Daniel here in this chapter has received a vision concerning the four world empires which were to take
place in the movement of history from Daniel's day to the return of Jesus Christ. These were the Babylonian, the Media Persian, the Grecian, and the
Roman Empires. Now the emphasis in this passage, however, is upon the Roman Empire. In Daniel 7:7, this empire is described: "After this I saw in
the night visions, and, behold, the 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 its feet, and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns."
This description simply is declaring that the Roman Empire, as it exists here in its final stage especially, is going to be irresistible. It is
described here as having ten horns. So we are speaking of it in its final organization of ten nations which are joining together. Now there is a
little horn here in Daniel 7:8: "I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn." And there he is, antichrist of
whom we have been reading in Revelation 13. "He rises before which there are three of the first horns plucked up by the roots." The antichrist comes
on the scene, and he comes into warfare and into combat with three of these nations. He conquers them, and they come under his control. The other
seven nations take a look at this and say, "You can't beat him." So they join him. At that point, in the first part of the tribulation period--the
first three-and-a-half years, he becomes the ruler of this ten-nation western federation around the Mediterranean Sea.
In Daniel 7:8, it says, "And, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man." Eyes would speak of a great perception. Why is this fellow so
smart? Why is he able to call plays on the world scene so well that impress people? Because he is getting his information from Satan, and there is
great information in the demonic world. "And he has a mouth speaking great things." Now how can he speak with such authority and with such ability?
Because of who is giving him the information--Satan, the old dragon. This is the original dragon-mouth that you have heard about. You know what an
impression a dragon-mouth makes today. Well, that's the sort of thing that this fellow is going to do. When he speaks, people are going to sit up
and listen.
In Daniel 7:17-28, we have the interpretation of this vision. Daniel 7:17 says that the four beats are four kings or empires who are going to rise
out of the earth. Then, Daniel 7:18 says that the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and
ever." This means that after the antichrist's era, Jesus Christ returns, and He sets up His millennial kingdom which will last forever. And it will
be the kingdom of the Jewish people here on this earth.
Daniel 7:19 says, "Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast which was diverse from all the others, exceedingly dreadful, whose teeth were of
iron and its nails of bronze, which devoured broken pieces and stamped the residue with its feet; and of the 10 horns that were in its head, and of
the other which came up (the antichrist), and before whom three fell, even of that horn that had eyes and a mouth that spoke very great things, whose
look was more stout than his fellows." Daniel says, "I'd like to know what this was all about."
Well, he gets the explanation in Daniel 7:24: "The
ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise, and another shall arise after them (the antichrist). He shall be diverse from the first.
He shall subdue three kings (three of the nations), and he shall speak great words against the most High. He shall wear out the saints of the Most
High (people who believe in the tribulation), and think to change the times and the laws." He's going to change the times and the laws which means
that he's going to disregard all past institutions. He is going to create a way of life--this distinctly his own.
Evil
I want you to notice something. This man is empowered by Satan. Satan works today, but there is a very dramatic difference between what Satan can do
today through any individual and what he will be able to do through this individual. There is now in the world a restraining force upon satanic
activity. There is a restraining force upon evil. People cannot be as bad today as they potentially can be. Evil cannot go today to the extent that it can
go. 2 Thessalonians 2:7 says, "For the mystery of iniquity does already work. (Evil is at work.) Only he who now hinders will continue to hinder
until he be taken out of the way." Now this Scripture is speaking about God the Holy Spirit. He is the one who is hindering the full expression of
iniquity in our day. Now when is He going to be taken out so that all hell can break loose on the earth? Obviously, at the rapture of the church.
When the church is removed, God the Holy Spirit is removed from this scene. Then there is no longer anybody restraining and holding back evil.
It says, "Then shall that wicked one be revealed (our man of sin, the antichrist) whom the Lord shall consume with the Spirit of His mouth and shall
destroy with the brightness of His coming, even him whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, with all
deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they receive not the love of the truth that they may be saved." They have no positive
volition toward the Word.
You can imagine all of the vile, perverted, rotten things that are done in our day and that are dignified and that are presented as
acceptable patterns of living. Yet, there are restraints. Even in governments, there are restraints on pornography. There are restraints on evil.
You can't pick up a movie page without being conscious that if you attend the movies you would see the most vile, crude, bestial, decrepit,
fantastically debased actions right there on the screen. Now, you couldn't say that not so many years ago. This increasingly is a recent development.
When the antichrist is on the scene, you can just let your mind go as to what will take place in public; as to what will be provided
for society; as to what will be legalized; and, as to what will be tolerated. There just aren't going to be any holes. Nothing will be denied.
Man will move on into the lowest level, and he will immerse himself in evil as humanity has never experienced before. The world has never been able
to do that. Always God the Holy Spirit has been holding back, holding back. Can you imagine what it will be like to live in a society where there
is no restraint on wrongdoing? It is all accommodated, and permissiveness runs its full course. Now that's what it means that he's going to change
all the old times and all the old seasons.
Here's the end in Daniel 7:26: "But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end. And the
kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose
kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him."
This is the antichrist. This will be the world's last great dictator.
He is in all likelihood alive now. He is in all likelihood moving into political preparation and political prominence someplace in the world. In the
years of the near future that lie before us, his time will come. Once the Holy Spirit is removed, Satan will move into his man and project him
upon the world scene in a very dramatic way, with his wound that heals and his magnetic personality, and he will, with his conquests of three
nations, be viewed as something equal to God. And when he gets to the middle of the tribulation, he will make himself god.
There will be true
believers, probably thousands of believers. The Scriptures seem to indicate there will be great response to evangelism in the tribulation. All true
believers probably will be martyred. This man will wreak vengeance and give mankind its greatest hour of evil. He is going to run the whole world
until Jesus Christ returns, and meets him on the field of Armageddon, as he is confronted with a rebellion from the nations of the world that he has
been ruling. The eastern confederacy will be moving against him. What's left of the northern confederacy and the southern confederacy will be moving
against him, and suddenly Jesus Christ shows up on the scene, and the antichrist organizes the nations of the world, of all things, to fight the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's his final hour, when our most magnificent hour begins. I hope you're going to be in that company with us.
Dr. John E. Danish, 1971
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