Friday, June 24, 2016

Global SITREP C3-16: It Was Never About the EU, But All About NATO


24 June 2016: This is a special SITREP that I think is necessary because Bible prophecy teachers will be talking about it in their sermons this weekend.  So I see the need to tell you where I stand, and because I anticipate there are more than a few who will ask questions on this subject.

When it comes to Bible prophecy and 'last days' eschatology, I hold to the opinion that the EU was never the central theme of the fifth and final world empire. This final world empire has been discussed at length in many Eschatology Today posts over the past 7 years which have looked at the angel Gabriel's prophecies recorded in the Book of Daniel, chapters 2 and 8 through 12, as well as Revelation 13. In my view the central eschatological focus should never have been on the EU, but always should have been on NATO. And this is the bottom line on why I see the BREXIT vote as much ado about nothing. It is irrelevant when it comes to the eschatological 'big picture.'

Why? Because the EU is not a military force, NATO is. And the dominant theme in last days prophecy of the 70th Week is one of a final world-dominating empire of the Antichrist wielding overwhelming military power. Without NATO the Antichrist would be a great big nothing. The final dominating world empire is "Rome" in the 21st century, and this time "Rome" will include not only the United Kingdom and other European nations, but also the whole of North America and its peerless arsenal.


"And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation." 
Revelation 13:7b

Addendum 29 June 2016: So how does this relate to prophetic events just prior to the 70th Week (Ezekiel 38/39) and that week itself? What follows is my forward-looking view on how it plays out.


As discussed briefly above, the EU is not powerful; it never has been since 1958.  

NATO, on the other hand, is where the real power lies since right after the end of World War II. NATO was created by its member nations within 1 year of Israel's rebirth: Israel in 1948, and NATO in 1949. Given the type and duration of negotiations that occurred, the establishment of Israel and NATO were contemporaneous. 

NATO and its adjutant North Atlantic Council (NAC), established by Article 9 of the 1949 North Atlantic Treaty (NAT), stand as the empowerment of Article 3 and Article 5 of the treaty. This is where the true power of "Rome" in the late 20th century and early 21st century AD abides. The North Atlantic Council has been in active session from 1952 to the present moment - that's 64 years in continuous session. This is where NATO's legal power to engage in warfighting in defense of the alliance's member nations and the Council's interests exists.

By definition, the North Atlantic Treaty (NAT) is a currently existent "covenant among many." (Reference: Global SITREP C2-16: Israel Takes a Big Step Towards the "Covenant Among Many")  In the near future, at the start of the 70th Week, this NAT (covenant among many) will be expanded to include Israel, and a few other nations. Most likely the post-Psalm 83 rump of modern day Jordan and other Sunni Arab states are among those nations. 

Antichrist will "confirm" this expansion of the NAT for a period of 7 years, and after which those nations would be extended full membership in the treaty organization. At the present, this legal mechanism is known as NATO's "Partnership For Peace." And as we know from Bible prophecy this extension of the NAT to Israel will be unilaterally abrogated halfway into the 70th Week. Antichrist's NATO forces would enter into Israel during the Daniel 12:40-45 war under the provision of NATO's Article 5. 

So, this 70th Week "covenant among many," just as its pre-70th Week version, will be crafted, maintained and enforced from a position of military strength, not weakness. These are core principles that have governed the politics of world empires from Nebuchadnezzar to the present. This is accordance with Ecclesiastes 1:9.

Has the UK withdrawn or threatened to withdraw from NATO? From the North Atlantic Council and the North Atlantic Treaty? No, and it never will. 

Consider this as i have mentioned previously on Eschatology Today: are these nations prior to the 70th Week truly dealing from a position of weakness as some interpret Ezekiel 38:13?  All should now be aware of my disagreement with that interpretation. I think the initial response of NATO to the sudden appearance of the Magog horde suddenly coming south towards Israel from the Crimean Peninsula and the Caucasus is one of incredulity ("Are you blankety-blank kidding me!?"), and that quickly shifts to a response of massive retaliation (warfighting) in support of Israel. This becomes a brief world war as seen in Ezekiel 39:6 and elsewhere in Ezekiel's prophecy.

The EU Army?

1 July 2016: With the UK's BREXIT vote still resonating around the globe the French and German foreign ministers jointly issued an obviously prepared in-advance dictum announcing the European Union's transformation into a "political union" that would include massive rearmament to enable future offensive military operations anywhere around the globe. 

The website German-Foreign-Policy.com (click link) published on 28 June its own report, entitled "The European War Union," which included the full text of the joint position paper written by German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier (a Social Democrat) and French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault (a Socialist). 

This dictum might well be seen as a whole lot more than the words of European socialist dreamers bent on creating a European Superstate. German Chancellor Angela Merkel very recently declared that Germany's defense budget would converge with that of the United States on the basis of Germany's GDP. Based upon World Bank GDP figures the 2014 German GDP was $3868.29 Billion, so the announced German defense spending increase would rise from the current $36.6 Billion to $131.5 Billion. France would be required to do the same, as would the other eight nations necessary to form the prophetic 10-nation confederacy, as would other attendant and necessary requirements for the establishment of a European Superstate. Such a thing would truly be unprecedented in world history and will be watched to see if the development of this "European Security Compact" truly matches or even exceeds the dream it is to be built upon.

UPDATE 5 July 2016: Something I've noticed that is sticking out like a sore thumb and which remains unmentioned by prophecy teachers in all of the discourse and sermon pronouncements since the UK vote to leave the EU late last month. That something is that neither The Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Denmark, Norway, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Estonia, Lithuania or Latvia were a part of the Roman Empire in 70 AD nor at its greatest extent in 116 AD. Neither were, of course, any North American nations. On the other-hand, there are other nations which were within the Roman Empire in ancient times but have no connection whatsoever to either NATO or the EU since their establishment after World War II.

This indicates to me that spending a lot of time looking at maps of ancient Rome should not be a key part of any exegesis regarding the geographical nature of the final beast empire; that the ten, reduced to seven, political entities represented by ten crowns on the heads of the beast do in fact symbolically represent something which simply did not exist in ancient times, but which does exist in these latter days. That something is an artificial global construct which symbolically would appear as dissimilar material being partly strong and partly weak, like iron and clay. Something which had its origins in and is based in the West, but has legal extraterritoriality as a primary feature. Is it from this recent man-made artificial "sea" of nations that the rise of 10 crowns have their origin?

55 comments:

  1. Sean,

    Over the least year or so I've been hearing that there is a desire within the EU for them to have a unified military. Do you think there is any possibility that NATO would become that force?

    -- Michael

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  2. Michael,

    NATO is and has been that force for the past 67 years.

    NATO, not coincidentally I think, came into existence on 4 April 1949. That date is within one year of Israel's rebirth on 14 May 1948.

    For additional reference, see Global SITREP C2-16 and a post from 19 July 2010 \Israel Integrates with NATO Theater Ballistic Missile Defense Systems for additional details.

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  3. if the UK is part of the revived Roman Empire, the last empire before Jesus
    returns, then why would this vote not be a prophetic advancement? Also, I've
    read other countries might follow the UK's lead and exit the EU too. I
    asked God if this is the prerequisite move to the birth or growth of the
    revived Roman empire? Still waiting for a clear answer! I may be way off here,
    I don't know the history of things like you do or much about military things.
    Just wondering if something new is forming?

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  4. Hi Sean. Brexit does not appear to be a specific Bible prophesised event, but its surely a pointer to the birth pains now showing. Whle Im now 100% convinced we are in THE last days, and we are that last generation of the 2nd coming of Messiah Jesus, (marantha !), I still sense there has not been a fully developed - biblical answer here to what role modern Turkey, and Sunni nationalism, will actually play in the biblical last days events. Noting she is an established member of NATO !, is demonically empowered in her Islamic antisemitism - delusion, and is militarily and socially gaining in arrogance and power. (Witness the pathetic appeasement of Germany - Merkel - and EU, unto Turkey...). Awaiting your further thoughts with interest.... Marantha. Rob.

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  5. (PS: Sean, this bigger question of turkey and its role, surely raises the wider issue of the playing out of Islamic sect politucal - miltary conflict in the Mid East now quite advanced in the Sunni vers Shia and the Mahadi - Mohamed - false Jesus eschatology. Im thinking of the current strange Saudi - Sunni lead "cosying up to Israel" - Arab "peace" iniative, vers Turkish aspirations of a dominant role from the ashes of the Arab "spring". Will this become basically just another straw blowing in wind iniative by Saudi - arab council mob or sonething more omnious for Israel's path ......).

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  6. This is regarding your previous post about the possible 7 day warning from the Lord, as in Noah's day, with the possible sighting of the procession of the Lord coming for His bride (the church)...have you seen the article on the blog DailyGalaxy.com. They had an article the other day about a "mysterious light that is so amazingly bright and they have no idea what the light source could be. Perhaps it is the New Jerusalem in space?? Your ideas? Thanks.

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  7. Rhonda,

    See the final paragraph which was just added.

    Aside from that, the beast empire, the fifth and final form of the empire that is the heir to ancient Rome begins as ten kingdoms, three of which Antichrist controls directly, and the other seven which will freely align with him. This is how it begins.

    Since Antichrist has not yet entered the picture at present, then this final beast empire does not yet exist, but will in a short amount of time. So, to answer your question directly, yes, the final form of the fifth empire is going to form before our eyes.

    Also aside from this, I am aware of the Scripture that Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 4:6, and abide by it and as the Spirit leads.

    "Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes, that you may learn in us not to think beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up on behalf of one against the other.

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  8. Rob,

    Not only is BREXIT not found in Scripture, but as just included in the response to Rhonda above... the final kingdom is just now beginning to become manifest. The pieces are all there, particularly the overwhelming military power, and the grouping of nations in the West (the merchants of Tarshish and all their young lions - i.e. the West) and the Sunnis of Sheba and Dedan (Arabian Peninsula).

    I believe, as stated previously, now that Israel is nearing its 70th year of existence, a great many transformative things will come to pass, things which are shaping to geo-political and military realities that will exist near-term in the 70th Week.

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  9. Lisa,

    I have not seen or heard of any such object being observed, by Iam watchful for something like you describe. The Lord has told us there will be signs in the sun, the moon and the stars. So we watch...

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  10. Sean,

    About the Lord’s possible warning to the Church 7 days prior to the Rapture…
    I’d LOVE to know seven days before the Rapture that it is coming! But I have my doubts. The Bible says that only God knows the exact day and hour, no one else and I didn’t find a change in that perspective concerning the Church. I’ve always understood the admonishing for being watchful that we’ll know because of watching and witnessing the birth pangs’ frequency and severity that the Rapture is near. I’ve also heard it several times that the Rapture is sign-less for the reason to catch Satan off-guard when the Rapture finally happens (despite him observing the times just like us). When the days of Noah is mentioned describing the end of times before the Lord’s return, the days of Lot is mentioned as well. Once I’ve read an interpretation which says that Noah represents the faithful remnant of Israel who finds God given safety during the Tribulation while Lot represents the Church. (Maybe that’s right, maybe not and both descriptions are for the Church.)I’d like to be wrong because it would be exciting to be informed that the Rapture is 7 days-near, I’m just not sure because of the above mentioned reasons. In case we’ll get a warning from the Lord 7 days before the Rapture, I’d like to ask the following: there will be only one sign or several signs? And most importantly, what do you think that sign(s) could be? What kind of sign could herald to the Church that the Rapture’s going to happen very soon?

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  11. Nora,

    I think you are responding to what I wrote in the previous post, and not to the BREXIT post.

    So, to that topic, all of the based-in-Scripture points you made are also the exact same based-in-Scripture points I made in the comments section of that post, and in previous posts on the subject of the Harpazo.

    However, there is a key difference between our views that you may have missed in the post. The difference relates to time. There are three distinct values of time and they are all different.

    In the third Heaven there is no time, time does not exist. It is eternal, timeless. In deep space - the second heaven - time is extremely relative with respect to distances and the speed of light. This is a law based upon God's creation of the physical universe. Here on earth and in the space of our solar system time is based on the earth's rotation and our orbit around the sun, also a law by the design of the Lord's Creation.

    There is a phrase spoken by many in the Scriptures, particularly prophetic Scriptures. That phase is "in the Spirit."

    When one is "in the Spirit" one is experiencing time in two different frame of reference formats simultaneously: (1) the eternal frame of reference where the passage and even the existence of time is irrelevant, and the other (2) which is the literal frame of reference of time here on earth.

    If you've ever been "in the Spirit", then you know as well as I do that while "in the Spirit" time itself is completely irrelevant. The literal earth time could be 5 minutes or it could be 5 hours, yet while "in the Spirit" there is no way to distinguish between the two. That means that while "in the Spirit" the day or the hour" are irrelevant. And it is in the Spirit that I believe it will be possible to see the procession of the Groom incoming from Heaven.

    Spiritual sight is beyond space and time in other words, and Satan cannot see what we see as individuals. Besides this, When God sends Christ for His bride, in that instant where Satan happens to be in the second heaven - he'll know it, and war will break out in heaven with Michael and his angels going into battle. Jesus is not in this battle, He's on His way to Harpazo us. His arrival and and taking us away happen faster than a human eye can blink.

    This is me trying to add to the statement I made to Lance in that previous post. With some extra additions, I wrote:

    'I believe that for the Harpazo only the bride, as enabled by the Holy Spirit, will be able to see Jesus' procession coming in some manner which is not precisely described in Scripture. The imagery (of the wedding procession) is of torches leading the procession, and upon arrival of the procession a great shout announces the arrival. This is when both the dead and the living in Christ will be taken up instantaneously (i.e. : outside of time as we know it on earth; twinkling of an eye is the closest phrase possible to describe the time the event occurs in).

    As stated before, since we are commanded to "Watch!" then there literally will be something for us to see approaching. Lights perhaps, as a "type" of torch. Noah had 7 days advance notice from God directly to prepare for entry into the ark. There is a lot of consistency here between type and actuality.'

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  12. Nora,

    Let me address this in another way.

    Back in January 2016) there was a discussion ongoing in Global SITREP E10-15: Israel Threatens Crushing Blow on Lebanese Hezbollah regarding this very subject. It was a discussion that gradually transitioned into the Harpazo topic. And from there it 'went places' because, quite simply, the Holy Spirit took it to those places...

    I recommended folks read 2 Kings 2:1-15 (The `alah/harpazo of Elijah). I strongly, and with a 'pretty please' added, recommend you read this Scripture right now also. Then please come back and read the rest of my comment.

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

    Now that you have read 2 Kings 2:1-15 I will ask again of you the same two VERY IMPORTANT questions I asked back then. (NOTE: These are questions I have not heard any Bible or prophecy teacher so much as mention much less address adequately or in-depth at any time in my life, so to seek their meaning I turned directly to the Lord via the Holy Spirit):

    1) How many "sons of prophets" knew beforehand that God was going to harpazō Elijah up into Heaven in Bethel... and in Jericho... and at the Jordan River?

    2) How did these "sons of prophets" know when this harpazō would happen?

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

    Now I'm adding additional questions:

    How did Elijah know not only the time, but also the place of his 'alah/harpazo'?

    How was Elijah's 'alah/harpazo accomplished by the Lord?

    By what description did Elisha refer to the manner of Elijah's 'alah/harpazo?

    Now a note: Elijah was "taken up" wearing the cloth that was upon him, on his mantle was left behind. Having read this account directly in Scripture, then from where does the notion arise that when the bride of Christ is harpazoed our clothing will be left in a pile where we stood in that instant?

    I would submit that notion is not Biblical.

    Now, there was posted to Eschatology Today a follow-up Global SITREP A2-16: The Groom is Coming for His Bride.

    Watch again the video featuring Messianic Rabbi Daniel Thomson and listen to what he says carefully. Re-play the video over and over again if necessary, especially beginning at the 6-minute mark and how it prepares one for what is stated at the 8-minute mark.

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  13. Has anyone noticed how the Global Oligarchy (i.e. the global elite) are in sheer panic over the BREXIT vote? Rhetorical question because the signs are everywhere. There isn't a news story of late on economical, financial, trade, markets --- you name it -- in which their panic isn't manifest. Beware, there is nothing they won't do in order to reverse the nationalist trend around the globe.

    Globalism vs. Nationalism. It is everywhere and in everything; it is an existential war. This conflict is a definer of the 2016 U.S. Presidential election. Hillary is with the Globalists; Trump is a nationalist.

    And the rest of us? We're Monarchists awaiting the coming of our King.

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  14. I've been watching this with interest. As the birth pains continue were seeing the breakdown of societies, the earth shaking, disease, hardness of hearts.When the light and salt are gone, the world will be looking for someone to bring back order.


    Luke 21:10Then said he unto them, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:
    11And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven

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  15. Tea Leaf reading in the Global Oligarchy's agenda-driven media makes some things very, very clear.

    Following BREXIT, there will occur the FREXIT (France withdrawing from the EU) on the occasion of a Marine Le Pen/National Front(FN) electoral victory. And thereafter the NEXIT will occur (The Netherlands withdrawing from the EU).

    Who knows how many will follow suit with the overwhelming tide of nationalism sweeping across European nations like a political tsunami; when a critical mass of countries have withdrawn the EU will simply collapse under its own weight. Call this political physics.

    And the UK, and the world in fact, have Barack Hussein Obama to thank for this.

    In the UK the vote to remain in the EU was up by 4% over the vote to leave the EU just one week prior to the vote occurring. Then Obama gave his speech in favor of the UK remaining in the EU, and how World Government was a virtual done deal; that it could not be stopped.

    Lo and Behold, Obama's opening of his mouth and his premature gloating about World Government changed hearts and minds in the UK, amazingly by the same 4% which won the day for BREXIT to emerge victorious. I suspect the Global Oligarchy is none to pleased with Obama now. He has ceased being an asset and has proven himself to be an open liability to the Globalist agenda going forward.

    Again, there's nothing the Globalists won't do to keep their agenda moving forward - including war or some other manufactured crisis. It's 'wag the dog' on a global scale.


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  16. Sean,

    Thank you for the detailed replies! The Elijah&Elisha story, it really stopped me and made me think. I love that story, I’ve read it in the past and heard sermons about it but this issue you addressed was never brought into light and it’s EXTRAORDINARY, so interesting I can’t find words!!! It never stood out to me how those other prophets knew about Elijah’s soon departure to Heaven, as well as Elisha, very interesting! The only explanation is spiritual understanding through the Holy Spirit indeed! I watched the Rabbi’s video too (from the 5th-minutes to the end for now, but I’ll watch the whole video again later). Years ago I’ve read several studies about the Rapture plus other characteristics about the Church compared to Jewish wedding customs, I remember how fascinated I was discovering this topic, I still am. There’s one thing left that’s still not clear to me. I get how we could feel in our spirits and souls that the Rapture is near and how the Lord could warn us. Satan and his minions probably can’t read minds, I hope so! But… the Church contains millions and millions of people around the world. In case the Lord sends us warning/sign(s) that the Rapture is within days, it’s hard to me to imagine that among millions of people won’t be a few or more who’ll talk about it. The minute they’ll talk about it, evil spirits and Satan will be informed about it too. That’s still an unsolved problem to me. Satan will wage war inevitably but I assume that it’s the Lord’s strategy to keep him in the dark till the Rapture actually happens.

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  17. Nora,

    Well Amen and Hallelujah! In the context I've written about here recently (the past as prologue for the future), the Bible is literally bubbling over with interpretive signposts highlighting prophetic fulfillment. Another way to say this is that the Bible interprets the Bible, and the Holy Spirit will guide us to chapter and verse for that purpose.

    You have indeed experienced the gaining of an understanding of Scripture through the Holy Spirit... and, as I'm sure you will agree, that is an EXHILARATING experience! As you say it is all but beyond words! So much so that were it possible one might try to jump right out of their skin and into the Spiritual eternal body awaiting at the Harpazo, and that is the ultimate in exhilaration and pure joy!

    Notice in that passage not only did both Elijah and Elisha know, but also "the sons of prophets" knew and kept the information they had received about Elijah's scheduled departure to themselves. Their lips were sealed, and they fully understood the reason why silence about it was golden. I believe the Holy Spirit will also have us understand our Harpazo in the same or similar manner. Remember what Elisha said to the sons of the prophets in Bethel: “Yes, I know; keep silent!” And the same thing occurred in Jericho: “Yes, I know; keep silent!”

    So, after crossing the Jordan, did Elisha see Elijah get caught up? Yes, Elisha was provided the Spiritual eyes to see this event take place! Elisha saw the chariot and the horses of fire and the whirlwind that caught up Elijah.

    But the sons of the prophets who stood off in the distance did not see this. They knew the Lord had taken Elijah, but they thought he was still somewhere on the earth nearby, and after incessant prodding Elisha relented and allowed a three-day search for Elijah to occur.

    So I believe it shall be before, at the moment of and after our own Harpazo.

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  18. Hi Sean, this is in regards to the discussion about the Brexit/Frexit etc. I watched Pastor Farag's prophecy update last night. In it he raised the possibility that the turmoil following all of this (contributed to by the wag the dog stuff that you described, I'm sure) may create the environment for the formation of the alliance of 10 nations described in scripture, from which the little horn will arise. I'm no authority and am truthfully not as learned as you are, but that does kind of make sense, vs. NATO. Or maybe there will be an alliance involving a reconstituted European entity and NATO.

    For what it's worth I'm hoping that the US never officially signs on with the Antichrist (I can hope, although I might be disappointed). I'm thinking that not every nation does, because the scripture says that reports from the north and east will alarm him, so that means that there is, at least, resistance. And it also lists a few middle eastern nations that will escape out of his hand. So he will not be completely invincible. And I am still sensing that we are on the cusp of a massive outpouring of the Spirit of Truth in the US which will flow throughout the earth as part of the final great harvest of souls before the end of the Age of Grace.

    Thanks again for all of your scholarly work on this blog. You are a great blessing to all of us.

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  19. Miriam,

    Pastor Farag essentially repeated what I wrote in this SITREP C3-16, and that is that prophecy will fulfill exactly as it is written in the Scriptures cited.

    The final world empire of the beast will wield enormous, overwhelming military power, as it is written in the cited Revelation 13:7

    "So they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?

    That kind of power does not exist in the western nations descended from the Roman Empire who are outside of NATO, and NATO's military power does not exist without the United States of America.

    All of Europe and all of the Western Hemisphere are nations descended from Rome, and before that from the Macedonian-Greek Empire of Alexander the Great. We are their heirs.

    Ezekiel 38:13 refers to these nations as "the merchants of Tarshish with all the young lions thereof." In the Biblical sense who was Tarshish? They're the seafaring merchant empires of old such as Great Britain, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, just to name a few. And the 'young lions thereof' are all of the nations of the Western Hemisphere - from Canada to Chile and everything in between. This includes the United States.

    The nations of the north and east (per Daniel 12) are Russia and the kings of the East (China without a doubt). This is the battle (war actually) which lasts from the mid-70th Week to Har Megiddo and the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

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  20. Thank you Sean, much has been said recently about our military capabilities being compromised, our military being diminished the smallest size that it's been since before WWII, being affected by the retirement of skilled personnel, the aging/limited maintenance done on our equipment, etc. I remember reading years ago that a lot of our Army Infantry soldiers were actually trained with bayonets and cavalry horses before we transformed our armed forces during WWII. I wonder if we are all in for some big unexpected surprises in the months and years to come. What with your background, do you have any sense of the validity of those concerns?

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  21. Miriam,

    Yes, and Eschatology Today has been one of those reporting on what has been occurring to all branches of the U.S. military over the past 8 years; particularly in the wake of the travesty, nay, treason, that occurred in Benghazi and in the months immediately following.

    Even Donald trump recently observed and state publicly, "If Obama wanted to destroy America, he could not have done a better job." However, what Obama has learned is that the US and its military forces, while in their current weakened state are nowhere near being destroyed, and remain by a great margin the greatest military force planet Earth has ever seen, and will remain so - even into the 70th Week.

    That said, the full and proper answer to your question regarding the U.S. Armed Forces can be found in Global SITREP A7-16: Global Military Power in a Multipolar World Order. I know you read this SITREP back in February of this year, but looking at it again as a refresher is useful.

    Sidebar Note: I like to be waaaay ahead of the curve on military issues, which is something no other eschatological blog or website does, and that way there's little or no surprises in the passage of time as we hurtle towards the 70th Week.

    The short story for the near term is that any nation (or group of nations) which attempts to launch a military "Pearl Harbor" against the USA would in effect be committing a national, self-inflicted suicide.

    The only nation which might attempt to do so would be the jihadist Hojjatieh Shi'a regime of Iran, but that would be the last thing they ever attempted. Who knows, Jeremiah 49:34-39 might be the result of their attempt to make war against the US.

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  22. Greetings Sean:

    My fluid end-times scenario might be changing because of Brexit.

    I believed that the global power-bases would coalesce into a singular world government, monitored and supported by companies such as google and facebook. That seems to have been the goal of the globalist politicans.

    As the brexit, Syria, Iran and Trump are illustrating, there seems to be a fragmentation of all current blocks of power and a rejection of the globalist agenda. Anger over petty differences is growing and the inter-national scene is becoming more volitile daily (a side effect of turning away from the Prince of Peace). Local nationalism seems to be growing quickly.

    perhaps when the world experiences a major violent and catastrophic event, there would be no large block of power left to deal with the aftermath. Thus, a whole new political and military structure might quickly emerge to bring order to fragmented nationalism.

    People don't want globalism, but they want world peace. One man, in contrast to the current one-world government system in place, might accomplish that by bringing all men to him. The he will set up his own world encompassing system.

    And then again. this scenario could change next week!

    Maranatha

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  23. In my view the BREXIT is much ado about nothing of real eschatological importance. I think it is the result of some unfortunate "newspaper exegesis' which began at it earliest in 1958, or possibly in 1973, but certainly by 1981, and therefore the emphasis on the EU as the rising of the 'last days' beast empire is not fitting as properly as it should. This is problematic, and the BREXIT is just fallout from this. Ha, wait until the FREXIT and GREXIT occur!

    Here's why the problematic issue exists.

    The EU began as six specific nations on 1 JAN 1958 (Belgium, France, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, West Germany and Italy). This is not ten as prophetic Scripture makes overwhelmingly clear. The next enlargement of the EU occurred on 1 JAN 1973 (Denmark, Ireland and the UK). We now have here a total of 9, not 10.

    In Daniel 7 and 8 the nation of Greece is a key player, and Greece was with or a part of the 6, or the 9, but joined solo in the subsequent EU enlargement of 1 JAN 1981. Now there are ten nations on 2 JAN 1981. Greece joined the EU a full 23 years after the grouping was founded. Greece is very important, more important than the UK, but more on this later.

    But does Bible prophesy tells us there will be 6, then 9 and then 10 nations? No, it does not. It's an eschatological creation by shoehorn exegesis.

    The one who stood near Daniel in his vision interpreted his dream by saying in verse 24 of the "Beast Empire Prophecy" (Daniel 7:23-27): (emphasis mine)

    "The ten horns are ten kings
    Who shall arise from this kingdom.
    And another shall rise after them;
    He shall be different from the first ones,
    And shall subdue three kings."

    Did Nebuchadnezzar's vision (Dan. 2) have an image which had 6, then grew to 9 and then finally 10 toes?

    Or, did that vision have 10 toes on two feet from two legs right from the get-go, and from those 10 toes does Daniel 7:8 and 7:24 inform that the little horn which rises afterwards (Antichrist), and who will violently subdue three of the original ten? Yes, this is what the plain text says!

    Then there's Daniel 8 and the perfectly timed appearance of the angel Gabriel sent to interpret another vision Daniel has two years after the previous vision. Here Greece (Macedonia/Greece) is firmly identified, it is the third empire. Alexander the Great is fully identified, and the division of Alexander's empire among four principle Diadochi (Generals) into four separate kingdoms of lesser power is prophesied and occurs precisely per the prophecy. And Antiochus IV Epiphanes, of the Seleucid Empire, is firmly identified in verses 9 through 12.

    All four of these rump kingdoms from Alexander's Macedonian/Greek empire are subsequently absorbed by the Roman Republic and then the Roman Empire. The last of the four rump Macedonian/Greek empires subdued by Rome is that of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the Seleucid Empire. Then in Daniel 8:23 Gabriel prophesies about the rise of the Antichrist from within this fourth empire (i.e. "...in the latter part of their kingdom" and "from this kingdom."

    So, is there any part of this inviolable prophecy that the European Union even remotely fulfills?

    I don't think so. I find that at no time in the past 58 years did a new king emerge from among the member nations of the European Union to violently subdue three other independent EU nations. None of this has occurred, it has a future fulfillment, and all of this EU and BREXIT eschatological hand-wringing is for naught. It should not have the eschatological 'weight' some are providing to it.

    continued below...

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  24. continued from above...

    All of this appears to me to have originated when the EU was, circa 1958-1981, prematurely assigned a prophetic role for 70th Week fulfillment. We don't know yet precisely who the 10 toes/kings/nations are except that they are (we, the West, are) descended from the ancient Greco-Roman imperial and cultural lineage.

    NATO has the exact same lineage, and more importantly possesses member nations of immense if not overwhelming military power. The EU does not. Greece and Rome were both immense military powers, so that is a key item on which eschatologists might focus, as I have.

    And here is something else missing due attention. Gabriel's prophetic interpretation identified the Goat as Greece, but it was actually an empire born of several closely related ethnicities, the two principals being Macedonia and Greece, or northern Greeks and southern Greeks who spoke the same language - whereas the Ram with two horns is solidly identified as the kings of Media and Persia, who spoke different languages.

    Perhaps the ten toes are ten kings representing linguistically-related ethnic groups. British, Canadians, Americans, for example, are three nations which might eschatologically be counted as one. Sheba and Dedan, another. Francophiles (France/Belgium) and on and on.

    All of this is certainly post-Ezekiel 38/39. By the way, Ezekiel kept it simple, so to speak, he just named the Arabs and the Western merchants of Tarshish with all the young lions thereof (Western Hemisphere and Pacific Rim former colonial possessions of European seafaring powers).

    I will now add to the end original post how I think NATO will play a role in the prophetic events of the 70th Week.

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  25. Sean,

    Many thanks for your explanation, I really hope so that sooner than later we’ll find out how these thigs will exactly unfold!

    Meanwhile I was thinking about the issue of Brexit too, more precisely what Pastor Farag said about it. In his opinion it’s possible that other nations will leave the EU till it shrinks to 10 nations. It could happen but I don’t think it’s likely because as you mentioned it, NATO will be needed as the AC’s military power. I think it’s very possible that AC’s empire will include the entire North-American continent (even South- American nations could join that future empire, who knows) and probably the whole of Europe too, including the Baltic states. NATO’s expansion in Eastern-Europe and in the Baltic states, near the Russian border exactly plays into this notion; maybe it’s a prophetic development. I also think that the Transatlantic Trade Pact (maybe that’s not exactly its name, I just try to translate it from my language) is a precursor of this future empire. (I think you wrote about this before, sorry for the repeat but I wanted to put all my thoughts about it in order.) My idea of the “10 nations” is that maybe these will be 10 “territories” instead of nations. Maybe each territory will be a block of nations (instead of a single nation), each having a leader, a “king”. Probably these 10 territories will constitute the “United North-American-European” AC Empire.

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  26. Very interesting Sean. I was also thinking about 'the cup of iniquity', in that God would allow it to fill up, then bring the sword, or famine, or plague or beasts, to deal with it. Witness the U.S in general and ISIS specifically. Prior to the destruction, messengers plead for a reversal of attitude...but I don't see it coming. What are your thoughts? THX

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  27. Nora,

    I harbor no doubts that we are witnessing how the prophetic picture is unfolding precisely as it was written so long ago. Day in and day out all of the prophetic puzzle pieces are coming together in their sequence.

    Regarding Pastor Farag's view that the EU will lose members until its shrinks down to 10. I think that notion, and pardon the pun, does not have two legs to stand on.

    Here's where the mental image of the image of Nebuchadnezzar's dream interpreted by Daniel (Daniel 2) is essential. Including that prophetic image is to remain within the 'big picture' eschatological view which contains the prophecies of all the major prophets, plus the Revelation of Jesus Christ.

    Simply put, a residual 10-nation group of the current EU membership would be lacking in the requisite strength (the iron) that the major prophets have foretold; it would be incapable crushing or trampling or breaking the residue of enemy nations underfoot; it would be vastly militarily inferior to Russia and its allies in the CSTO, which includes China "kings of the east." This is why this rump 10-nation view of the EU is a non-starter in my view.

    Ezekiel 38:13 tells us with a pretty inclusive detail the general grouping of allies are. At the very minimum they are the UK, Spain, Portugal and all of their former colonies around the world. Economically these nations will all be linked together within either the TPP (Pacific) and the TTIP (Atlantic) and other multilateral free trade partnerships, such as ASEAN, CEFTA, CISFTA, COMESA, EFTA, GAFTA, NAFTA, SAFTA, AANZFTA, PAFTA, SADCFTA and on and on.

    Regarding the 10... it is essential to understand the literal, plain text of Daniel 7:24.

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  28. Sean,

    Daniel 7:23-24 says:

    “The fourth beast shall be
    A fourth kingdom on earth,
    Which shall be different from all other kingdoms,
    And shall devour the whole earth,
    Trample it and break it in pieces.
    24 The ten horns are ten kings
    Who shall arise from this kingdom.
    And another shall rise after them;
    He shall be different from the first ones,
    And shall subdue three kings.”

    Indeed, as you mentioned the only thing that’s sure are the 10 kings, 10 political leaders I assume, only time will tell how the AC’s empire will look like finally, maybe the 10 leaders will have 10 “administrative territories” to rule, maybe the whole thing is about something else. This Bible passage indicates that the 10 kings/leaders will rise out of the fourth kingdom and only AFTER their appearance comes the Antichrist. I was wondering a LOT, how much time could pass between the 10 kings’ rise and the AC’s appearance on the world stage? I also wonder if the 10 kings’ rise should happen before the Rapture or after it. What are your thoughts on these things?

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  29. Again, these two verses are one part of the "big picture" hermeneutic of Biblical exegesis.

    Verse 23 - the Roman Empire (Daniel 2:33 - "legs of iron") was the most diverse empire the world had ever seen, it incorporated much of what had come before it, absorbing and assimilating into itself the territory and culture of Alexander's Macedonian/Greek empire.

    Its final form for the 70th Week is symbolically seen as a pair of feet made of iron and clay, five toes of which are on each foot, and which is a spot-on descriptor for the geographical, military and political aspects of the current Western alliance.

    The 'ten kings' (Hebrew/Aramaic: 'asar melek') are masculine nouns meaning ten royal men, leaders of individual nations which are the heirs to the empire which came before them. Another spot-on descriptor for the Greco-Roman culture of the Western nations.

    From the Biblical prophetic perspective the Greco-Roman empire never ceased, as amplified by Daniel 8:23, which says "And in the latter time of their kingdom..."
    Separate kingdoms emerged from ancient Rome, they have even warred against each other over the time which has passed, but even to this day they are the heirs of what came before them and reconstitute as the final fifth world empire of the 70th Week.

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  30. Sean,

    Since you wrote that the 10 kings are “leaders of individual nations” my conclusion is the following. I think we agree that the AC’s empire will contain much more nations than 10. The only way I could match these two facts is that among the empire’s nations there will be 10 prominent, leading nations. Or, as you mentioned, “Perhaps the ten toes are ten kings representing linguistically-related ethnic groups.” What’s not clear to me: currently the world is very chaotic, the EU is near to a break up while there is a strong global movement underfoot to end the existence of tanion-states and to create a borderless world, they want to unite Mexico with the USA and Canada, etc. Will they succeed to end the nation-states (in the West)? Even if nation-states will not cease to exist (I wish!) is there a chance that we’ll see some kind of re-grouping (which lessens the current chaos) before the Rapture? Also, could the Rapture be a catalyst in a way concerning the formation of the final AC-empire?

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  31. I wanted to bring to everyone's attention that the EU has just come out with a formal statement indicating in part that Europe is going through an “existential crisis” that can only be solved through more military integration, Turkish accession and the creation of a “true union.” I understand them to be calling for the commissioning of an internal pan-European military force. Of course all of this may come to nothing for now (hopefully forever), but it does bear watching, recalling that the Antichrist will come to power in part through personal persuasion/flattery and that "by peace he shall destroy many." If the structure of what they are describing is in place and the right circumstances present themselves, a "union" that we are not now envisioning based on the current world status may quickly form.

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  32. Nora,

    As we all know, that comes directly from Daniel 7:23a: "The ten horns are ten kings..." and not from anything I have written.

    Also as the prophetic texts state regarding those 10, 3 will be subdued, pulled up by their roots by the Antichrist who has risen up from among the 10.

    This is seen in Revelation 13:1

    "And 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 heads the name of blasphemy."

    So, right from the get-go of the 70th Week the beast empire begins as 6 kings under allegiance to Antichrist who has risen among the ten but has also directly taken control of three, and he is the 7th head of the beast empire.

    Again, proper interpretation requires us to remain aware of the entire "big picture" at all time as presented by God through all of His prophets. All of these individual prophetic pieces work together to form that big prophetic picture.

    Forming an exegesis from a couple, or a few, or a dozen individual verses is not the proper hermeneutic method; all of them must be considered at all times.

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  33. Miriam,

    See my comment above about the rise of the Antichrist, and recall this sentence from this SITREP:

    " This final world empire has been discussed at length in many Eschatology Today posts over the past 7 years which have looked at the angel Gabriel's prophecies recorded in the Book of Daniel, chapters 2 and 8 through 12, as well as Revelation 13."

    The action of taking over 3 of the 10 nations has not yet occurred, it waits for a future prophetic fulfillment. Also, Revelation 13:1 speaks more to conquest than it does to integration. We need to watch carefully and consistently and not allow newspaper headlines to dictate prophetic exegesis.

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  34. Miriam,
    I am in receipt of some information related to what you wrote about the "EU has just come out with a formal statement indicating in part that Europe is going through an “existential crisis” that can only be solved through more military integration, Turkish accession and the creation of a “true union."

    A briefing I received this afternoon discusses a joint position paper written by the German and French foreign ministers (Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Jean Marc Ayrault) to transform the EU into a full "political union" and to comprehensively militarize the European Union through massive rearmament for global military operations to includes highly mobile land forces, an air force and a navy with an amphibious element (marines).

    This position paper calls for the EU to become and independent and global actor, and, in fact, it goes even further in calling for nothing less than the rise of what I would call a Franco-German Fourth Reich. They call it the "European Security Compact." The governing body is to be the "European Security Council"

    This position paper is claimed the result of the BREXIT, but that's just an excuse for France and Germany to dominate a new global order built upon European political and military supremacy.

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    1. We should ask a WWII vet what he thinks of France and Germany gaining that much power.

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  35. I did just that. He said he thought he'd never see the day when Napoleon and Hitler ganged up on the rest of Europe.

    I am adding the details of this to the SITREP, we'll see how this pans out.

    Essentially France and Germany will have to convince Italy and Greece and six other nations to join in their so-called "European Security Compact" or the EU will remain toothless and much ado about nothing eschatologically.

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  36. Here are the European countries that are on-board with the "European Security Compact":

    Germany

    France

    Belgium

    Italy

    Luxembourg

    The Netherlands

    That's six. Need four more victims, er, I mean, member nations.

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  37. I wonder if Turkey will become a member. I guess we'll see.

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    Replies
    1. Yes, the acession of Turkey has been a key item for some time, especially given its exceptionally strategic location.

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  38. Concerning the 10 nations, wouldn't 5 need to be from the East and 5 from the West to fulfill the 2 legs/10 toes vision?

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  39. Sean,

    I'm aware all of this, I just quoted a part of your reply and drew some conclusions, although I feel better to call them assumptions now. Anyways, I'm still curious what you think about the Rapture as a catalyst of some sort concerning geopolitics!

    A few thoughts about your addition concerning the EU as a possible global military power... Do you think that a "NEW EU" of 10 nations with such power is a possibility now? What about the USA and NATO? A North-American-European empire for the AC still seems more likely to me. I can't easily see NATO to go away either, not to mention that Germany and other European countries are still in NATO. Even if a strong European military force is forming I could only imagine that it will merge with NATO forces in the future for the AC-empire. One more thing. I know that many Amrican Christians hope that the USA will oppose the AC and will not join his empire but Scripture says that the AC will face military challange from the Kings of the East and South, however there's no King(s) of the West, that's one of the reasons why I think that AC will eventually rule all of the Western part of the world. And that's why it's hard to fit a"EU super state" of 10 nations in this picture.

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  40. Hi sean, I been driving thru Canada and Alaska the last 2 weeks so I'm behind in the conversation but I been wanting to ask you this, what about the "Mediterranean union"? there's been some talk about that being the revived Roman empire. Do they have a strong military force and trading impact like nato, or are they just another imitation of the EU?

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  41. Rachel,

    That's what I used the think also concerning Nebuchadnezzar's vision. The figure in the dream was in the form of a man because the subject was about the empires of men, from Babylon to the final Beast empire.

    Also, in looking closer in looking closer at the prophecy about the beast empire I'm not 100% convinced that the empire is geographically divided as it is divided in term of fragility and strength as Daniel 2:41-44.

    Even still, if this beast empire is geographically divided, well, there's still a big Atlantic Ocean between the Western Hemisphere and Europe. NATO fits this aspect to a T.

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  42. Nora,

    My thoughts on the Harpazo are consistent with Scripture:

    "But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.

    Given this statement by our Lord how can the occurrence of the Harpazo be a catalyst upon the institutions of man, his geopolitics, or the people living within it?

    I think Jesus is telling us all very point blank in this passage that the occurrence of the Harpazo will have no lasting effect; that the people will just keep on living as they had prior to its occurrence.

    How is this possible? Well, It's no secret. Paul tells us that the world in these last days will be suffering from a strong delusion sent by God; they are believing a lie (2 Thessalonians 2:10-12) because they willingly rejected the gospel of Jesus Christ.

    Many Bible teachers, authors and many lay people make a big deal about some supposed grand effect of the Harpazo upon the world, but as written in these plain text passages of Scripture this is not what the word of God has to say about it. Moreover, what the Spirit-inspired Paul wrote was nothing new, the prophet Isaiah wrote the same thing a minimum of 700 years before Paul wrote it Isaiah 66:3e-4 --

    "Just as they have chosen their own ways,
    And their soul delights in their abominations,
    So will I choose their delusions,
    And bring their fears on them;
    Because, when I called, no one answered,
    When I spoke they did not hear;
    But they did evil before My eyes,
    And chose that in which I do not delight.
    "

    Getting back quickly to what Paul wrote to the Thessalonians... specifically in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3, I find that I am in agreement with Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum in that this passage describes two events that must occur prior to the start of the 70th Week, and in fact, prior to the Harpazo itself.

    These two things are: 1) the great apostasy, and 2) a revealing of who the Antichrist is.

    "Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition..."

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  43. hartdawg;

    The Union for the Mediterranean (a/k/a UfM), is touted by a good number of prophecy students as being a good candidate for the final beast empire.

    I have a wee bit of a problem with this. The UfM was created during the course of a single day (13 July 2008) in Paris by 43 nations. The group also has no standing military force. It was born of the 1995 Barcelona Process that involved 15 EU nations and 12 Mediterranean nations. That's 27 nations.

    43 nations in an organization's first day of existence, which was begun by a group of 27 nations! This constitutes a problem according to Scripture.

    The only way its not a problem, as touted by another group of prophecy students, is if the final beast empire encompasses 10 regional groups of nations around the world.

    At present this 10 regional grouping is a real-world, whole-world project of the United Nations within its "Millennium Development Goals" (MDG) program.

    The UN MDG Program has 8 goals shown in the right-hand side graphic on the linked webpage.

    The 10 regional groupings are:

    1. North American Union
    2. Central America, South America and Caribbean
    3. the EU,
    4. Russia and the CIS
    5. North Africa
    6. Southern Africa
    7. the Middle East
    8. South Asia
    9. China and Mongolia
    10.Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Oceania

    In this scenario the Antichrist would take control of groups 1, 2 and 3. As a whole all of the groups constitute the woman, the beast of seven heads with ten horns found Revelation 17:7-18.

    It could well be that all of the various scenarios for the 10/7 of the global beast empire are correct interpretations. We still have to see how this all develops in the next couple of years.

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  44. Sean,

    This UN MDG program is very interesting! I haven't heard about it until now how they divided the world into 10 groups of nation-blocks!

    Concerning the other things, I agree with you about everything except one, I think the AC will be revealed after the Church is gone. There's those verses which says that the AC couldn't be revealed till the Restrainer aka the Holy Spirit (and the Church with it) isn't taken out of the way.

    "Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition..." I think Paul was saying these words as comfort, not to worry that the 7 years long tribulation period with God's judgment has already started, explaining that it couldn't start before the apostasy which is followed by the Antichrist's appearance. In my understanding, these verses aren't indicating that the AC will appear before the Rapture. Maybe the AC appears on the world stage some time before the confirmation of the peace treaty (I'm almost sure of that!) but it doesn't necessary mean that the Church hasn’t already gone. (Ugh, sorry for my English!)

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  45. Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum is the author of a copyrighted manuscript that is part of his outstanding Messianic Bible Study (MBS) series. This manuscript is entitled "The Rise and fall of the Antichrist" ND was first published in 1983 with an update re-issue in 2005.

    This book is available for free as a .pdf The Rise and Fall of the Antichrist

    What I like most about this work is that it is a study of literal, verbatim Scripture as it was written by Paul to his students in Thessalonica. Following a brief introduction there are nine distinct chapters:

    I. The Names of the Antichrist
    II. The Origin of the Antichrist (Natural and Supernatural)
    III. The Revelation of the Antichrist
    IV. The Antichrist and the Start of the Tribulation
    V. The Rise of the Antichrist (Political and Religious Control)
    VI. The Death and Resurrection of the Antichrist
    VII. The Abomination of Desolation
    VIII.The Mark of the Beast
    IX. The Fall of the Antichrist

    This is an outstanding study, and I highly recommend for anyone who is interested to download it (Save As) and proceed with a thorough reading of it.

    In III. The Revelation Of the Antichrist Dr, Fruchtenbaum states there will be two revelations, the first is for believers before the Tribulation, the second is for Israel at the middle of the Tribulation. He states the Rapture may or not have happened at the time of this revelation because Scriptures do not inform how much time prior to the Tribulation the Rapture occurs.

    Therefore, this first revelation may be to the Bride of Christ (Pre-70th Week Church), or it could be those left behind who become believers and will be a part of that group of believers known as Tribulation Saints.

    Whichever turns out to be the case, this revelation definitely, according to what Paul wrote, occurs prior to the start of the 70th Week, and that week is clearly defined in Scripture (Daniel 9:27) as commencing with the confirmation of the covenant among many.

    The Antichrist's confirmation of the covenant among many would itself be an instantaneous revealing event to Christian believers at that time, but so also would the solving by those who have Spiritual wisdom and therefore the ability of deducing the 666 numerical value of his name.


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    1. About half way through reading Dr Fruchtenbaum's study....very interesting. I listened to his series when he was a guest at JD Farag's church. I love the insight he brings. Thanks for posting Sean!

      Lance

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    2. I think Dr. Fruchtenbaum's teaching in this study is essential for us to know and pass on to others.

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  46. Hi Sean, I hope this is somewhat on topic. I have been mulling over the coming events, and there is something that puzzles me a bit. When Jesus returns, he is going to carry out the Sheep and Goat judgment of the nations, depending on how they treated his brethren the Jews during the tribulation. The antichrist will be virulently antisemitic. If he is going to be in control of most of the nations, how can there be sheep and goat nations? I can see how individuals can be sheep or goats, like the righteous gentiles during the Holocaust, but if national governments are under the iron thumb of the antichrist, how can this apply to them?

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  47. Miriam,

    Jesus' parable of sheep and goats is not about a judgment of nations per se.

    It is about the separation of surviving mankind at the start of the Millennial Kingdom; it is the separation of those people who were redeemed in Christ, and those who rejected Him and were lost to eternal damnation. Those who are redeemed receive His Kingdom on earth as an inheritance, they repopulate it during the Millennium. God has known who these survivors of the 70th Week would be from the Creation of the world.

    I believe the "least of these" who Jesus referred to as His "brothers" are those human beings who were hungry, thirsty, were strangers but received a warm welcome, were given clothing when they had none, were provided medical care when it was needed, and generally were compassionate to others.

    There are tens of thousands of these kinds of needy people during the 70th Week, and even prior to it. The good things done to and for them are things all Christians do simply because the are redeemed in Christ and follow His Commandments. Galatians 6:10 and Titus 2:14. In doing these beneficial things to and for the needy we are serving Christ.

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  48. I had a rather disturbing and enduring dream about the beast empire the other night. I was going to keep this to myself because it was a dream, but am compelled to share it.

    The beast empire was in the likeness of an immense, unstoppable machine; like a heavily armored tank with crushing treads. It was so immense in size that I could not see all of it, just the lower portion from where I stood at ground level. All of mankind were captive, frozen in the place before path of the beast machine, unable to move, helpless to escape their horrible fate. And the beast machine was s-l-o-w-l-y crushing and grinding and treading down mankind in the mud and earth beneath it. Horrific screams, cries and wails of those being churned into the earth beneath it slowly faded into whimpers and gasps.

    There was suddenly a brilliant flash and blinding light was everywhere. This light was illuminating everything, there were no shadows anywhere to escape its brilliance, and the beast machine was instantly stopped and completely atomized into nothingness and blown away by a fierce wind.

    At that point I awoke with a start, stunned by the images seen, but knowing in full that what I saw was symbolic of the megas thlipsis and the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. I understood from the images that we must do everything possible to guide as many as possible to salvation in the Lamb of God so they may escape the beast.

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  49. Thank you for sharing that message Sean, it reminds me a bit of the final dream that brought about my own salvation when I was around 27 years old, which I have since shared with my husband and children. I may decide to share that, it has stayed with me all these years and I have wondered from time to time about its meaning, aside from the obvious, recognizing that visions and dreams from God are perfect and can have many layers of meaning.

    Truly, the only One that can guide people to salvation is the Holy Spirit, if any of us tries to accomplish this on our own, our efforts will be fruitless. Let's join together to pray earnestly for a mighty and continued outpouring of the Spirit, and asked that we might be used of Him.

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  50. This was my story, I was raised Jewish. My parents, my father in particular, believed in God but because of the vicious anti-Semitism he experienced growing up on Long Island in the 1930s, and the history of atrocities perpetrated by the “Christian” church, he had a very negative view of Christians (realize that in America most Jews considered all American gentiles “Christians”). I came across a bible in a hotel room when I was 13 years old and started reading the beginning of Matthew. I did not understand much of what I read, but something in my spirit spoke to me as I read the Beatitudes. When I approached my father a year later and told him that I thought Jesus was probably the Messiah that we are expecting, he immediately said he was going to throw me out of the house. I was afraid of him so I set the whole thing aside.

    Fast forward 12 years or so, I had just had my second child and was very sick for many months, in and out of the hospital etc. The doctors were never able to figure out what was wrong with me. Any time I exerted myself slightly, I would spike a fever of 104+. Years later, it was discovered that I had an undiagnosed heart valve infection as a result of mitral valve prolapsed/childbirth, should have been on IV antibiotics, and was just blessed that I was young enough/strong enough at the time to eventually fight it off on my own. During the time of my confinement I became more and more restless about resolving the spiritual part of my life, but had no idea where to turn. Finally I had this dream: I was at a mall with my husband and children. In the dream, I had more children than the 2 I had at that time, and there were other family members with us (spouses, grandchildren, etc) although I could not recall any specific details about who/how many they were when I woke up).

    It was a big multistory mall that had glass panels over the entrance areas that spanned the entire height of the building. Suddenly we saw what appeared to be an atomic bomb with mushroom cloud drop in the distance. I grabbed everyone expecting to be instantly vaporized. I waited, waited…and nothing happened. Then a distinctive voice spoke to me and said, “You have to get out of the building NOW!” I thought, that is crazy, the bomb is out there and we seem to be safe in here. But the voice repeated and insisted its command. I then yelled to everyone around us, “We have to get outside now! NOW!!!” but they all said, “Lady, you’re nuts, we’re not going out there.” So I grabbed my family and we ran out of the exit. The minute we were out, the entire building collapsed and everyone inside was killed.

    In my dream, my family and I were fine, nothing was affecting us. We were supposed to walk to a specific place that I knew in the dream but did not remember when I woke up. But all along our path, people were dying horrible deaths all around us, it was something like what is described in the bible about their eyes dissolving away in their sockets etc. And as I woke up, I was crying, and saying “Why are you saving me? I’m no better than they are, I’m no different than they are, why are you saving me??”

    I actually felt somewhat sick after that dream, a bit like what I imagine Daniel might have felt when he was given the graphic and disturbing visions that he did not understand and was so upset that he took to his bed for some time.

    Then God spoke to me and told me to go speak with one of my neighbors/friends that was part of an informal early childhood play group in my neighborhood that I participated in. She was a believer and was able to interpret much of my dream and explain God’s message of salvation in a way that I could understand.

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  51. Hey Sean, It will be interesting to see what comes out of the NATO Summit July 8. I don't know what the atmosphere is among them to follow a more aggressive U.S. lead against Russia.

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Positional Statement on Salvation

19 January 2016: It has become necessary due to recent events that I present a Positional Statement which explains in detail per Script...