Elohim III: The Return (12 page)

"And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer."
--Revelation 6:2

The beast out of the earth in Revelation 13 is also called the false prophet. He performs great miracles and "signs" and commands that anyone who does not worship the beast out of the sea or its image to be killed. He also causes all people to receive the mark of the beast in their right hand or in their forehead. The Quran says that the Islamic people will create this beast that comes out of the earth: "And when the Word is fulfilled against them (the unjust), we shall produce from the earth a beast to (face) them: He will speak to them, for that mankind did not believe with assurance in Our Signs."
--Quran, sura 27 (An-Naml), ayat 82

The key to understanding the Book of Revelation is in recognizing that all of the future prophecies within its pages are consistent with similar end-time prophecies offered by the prophets of the Hebrew Bible and the prophecies of Immanuel. Elohim's plans for the future of mankind have not changed since the time of Adam and Eve. The one thing that has changed is the perspective of the authors who wrote down those prophecies and the different world views held by their first readers, for whom their prophecies and warnings were directed.

Enoch lived before the Great Deluge called Noah's flood, yet he is mentioned by three of the New Testament writers. One of his end-time prophecies is restated in the Book of Jude. David and his son, Solomon, lived around 3,000 years ago and wrote about the coming of the Messiah at the end of time. They were followed by Elijah, Job, Isaiah, and Jeremiah.

Daniel and Ezekiel, lived during the beginning of the reign of the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel's interpretation of the great statue in the king's dream gives a synopsis of all of the great empires that would follow the Babylonian Empire until the return of Immanuel, when the last remaining vestiges of the same system of political and economic corruption that has persisted throughout the ages will finally be destroyed, and Elohim's kingdom on Earth is finally established.

Daniel's visions and prophecies during the first year of King Belshazzar's reign in Chapter 7 of the Book of Daniel are vital in understanding the Book of Revelation. Daniel describes not one, but four beasts that
...came up from the sea.
Each is followed by the next in time and each represent the same empires noted in Nebuchadnezzar's dream... Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome. The last one, the Roman Empire, was described as having ten horns, just like John's description of the same beast.

By the time John wrote his letters to the churches of Asia Minor, the first three "beasts" in Daniel's prophecy (Babylon, Persia, and Greece) had already come and gone. The systems instituted by the Roman Empire will continue in one form or another until the return of Immanuel.

Before the final phase in the life of this "Roman" beast begins, three of its ten horns are
plucked up by the roots
, and a little horn grows out of the wound on its head which has
eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.

"I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool.

His throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him.

Thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.

I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame...

One like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed."
--Daniel 7:9-14

These dreams and visions grieved and troubled Daniel. From the text it becomes apparent that during and after he experienced them, there were apparently Anunna nearby. Daniel approached one of them and asked him what the visions described.

"Thus he said,
The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time
."
--Daniel 7:23-25

After this period ends, all of the world's leaders will be removed from power, and a new world order will be established. John's vision is the same, except that instead of a little horn, he describes a beast coming out of the earth.

"All the world wondered after the beast... And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given 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..."
--Revelation 13:3,7-8

For those who are curious about the nature of the beast in today's world, simply reach into your pocket or purse and examine the coins and cash inside. It doesn't matter whether they are dollars, euros, pounds, pesos, or Swiss francs. On them you will find the image of a powerful ruling authority. The faces and images have changed since the time of Nero, but what you hold in your hand remains the same. When Immanuel was asked publicly whether or not it was a sin to pay one's taxes, he made the following remarks.

"
Bring me a penny, that I may see it.
And they brought it. And he saith unto them,
Whose is this image and superscription?
And they said unto him,
Caesar's.

And Jesus answering said unto them,
Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's
."
--Mark 12:15-17

This same event is described in three of the four New Testament Gospels. There is nothing inherently evil about money, but the
love of money
is another matter entirely. Those who pursue wealth and power to the detriment of others create "beastly" systems of economic slavery and persecution.

The Nazis came to power in the twentieth century as a direct result of the economic collapse in Germany that followed the Great Depression of the 1930's. Any system led by such people and devoted to perpetuating itself in order to maintain and increase the wealth and power of its leaders is, by its very nature, evil to the core.

Are there similar aspects of such systems extant in our world today? Yes... absolutely! Nazism, fascism, and communism are just extreme examples of the same corrupt economic and political systems which grew out of the Babylonian, Persian, Greek, and Roman empires. Each empire demanded undying loyalty to its leaders and the system that insured their wealth and power, coupled with persecution and demonization of minorities. Those who were not exiled or murdered, yet refused to pay the taxes that perpetuated the system and its power structure, were either fined, jailed, or executed. This same system is thriving to the present day.

In our interconnected world economy, most people have the ability to dispense with using cash altogether. One can travel almost anywhere in the world and enjoy the fruits of their labor or good fortune with the use of a single credit card. We consider it greater economic freedom, but those whose families are starving and whose children are dying of malnutrition, preventable diseases and social neglect have no access to the same amenities. Why? Could it be because half of the seven billion people living on Planet Earth control 99% of the available
global wealth
? That leaves over three billion people alive today with absolutely nothing! Indeed, the poor will remain with us until Immanuel returns and completely overturns the current economic and political systems.

"They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life..."
--1 Timothy 6:9-12

Whether the world's final ruling power is called a "little horn", a "beast out of the sea", or a "beast out of the earth", both John of Patmos and Daniel the prophet foresaw a time when the Roman Empire would be attacked, wounded and thought dead. However, it arises from its ashes and continues on in a different form. The ten kings who are granted rulership by this final beast power will hate the "whore" who is "drunken with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus... and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire". They will also fight against Jesus upon his return, according to Revelation 17.

The institution of the papacy began in the first century. Papal Rome and the first popes began to teach that they had a divine right to change Elohim's weekly sabbath from Saturday to Sunday and eliminate his annual sabbath days, replacing them with Rome's pagan festival days. They revised the Ten Commandments to suit themselves so that their pagan practices of worshipping before idolatrous statues could continue, and announced that
the Pope is the sole earthly representative and mouthpiece of God.
They took upon themselves the right to determine whether or not a miracle is genuine, and assumed the authority to judge whether or not an individual (including former popes) should be declared a saint.

After the final Roman emperor witnessed the fall of the empire in 476 A.D., the pope began to rule the city of Rome and the major city-states in Italy, in addition to maintaining his "spiritual" duties as the head of Roman Catholicism. The history of the papacy has been fraught with corruption. Of that there can be no doubt. The Protestant Reformation that began in the 16th century is a testament to the continued corruption of Rome, although most of the Protestant institutions which grew out of Catholicism still retain aspects of the same doctrines and practices which clearly identify Roman Catholicism as the apostate church prophesied by the writers of the New Testament. Numerous Protestant reformers, including Martin Luther, John Calvin, Thomas Cranmer, John Thomas, John Knox, and Cotton Mather, felt the early church was led into the Great Apostasy by the Roman Papacy and identified it as the
Antichrist
. Both books of Daniel and Revelation predicted the length of time that this final phase of Roman authority will last.

"The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born. She gave birth to a son, a male child, who 'will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.' And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days."
--Revelation 12:4-6

Published in 1831,
Adam Clarke's Commentary
interprets the "little horn" in the Book of Daniel as Papal Rome. He wrote that by using the
day-year principle
, the 1260-year period (the time, times, and a half or 42 months) noted in both Daniel and Revelation began in 756 A.D., when the Pope was elevated from a subject of the Byzantine Empire to an independent head of state, giving him control of the
Papal States
. Based on his timeline, the end of the papacy will take place in 2016:

"As the date of the prevalence and reign of antichrist must, according to the principles here laid down, be fixed at A.D. 756, therefore the end of this period of his reign must be A.D. 756 added to 1260; equal to 2016, the year of the Christian era set by infinite wisdom for this long-prayed-for event. Amen and amen!"
--Eschatology: Or, The Doctrine of the Last Things
, Freeborn Garretson Hibbard

Assuming that Adam Clarke is correct in his calculation, the three and a half-year period of tribulation that follows will lead to the year of 2019, when Baalthazar's term of imprisonment is scheduled to begin (as noted in Chapter 5). Both John and Daniel wrote that one of the first things Immanuel will do when he returns to Earth is to utterly destroy a great city and capture the beast and the false prophet. Then they shall be
...cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone
. That event will no doubt end the papacy for all time. Those with the mark of the beast or the number of his name (666) will then be gathered up and thrown into
the great winepress of the wrath of God
. If Adam Clarke is correct, Immanuel is currently on his way to Earth
with ten thousand of his saints
, leading the armies of Elohim.