How has the faith of the poor… one began by fishermen and humble tradesmen become the tool of the Elites?  At the beginning of Christ’s ministry upon the earth He declared in no uncertain terms what is was that He was setting out to do when He said:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised [provide freedom and justice to those wrongfully oppressed], To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.  And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.” (Luke 4: 18-21)

So how has the Church… and more specifically the American Church… mucked it all up?  Christianity as a whole has turned away from the message of the Gospels and has replaced them with marketing strategies, purpose-driven jingoism, and justification of greed.  They have not only turned their backs upon the poor, but have become an instrument of oppression towards them… at the hands of the Elite.

There are roughly 6 billion people on this planet and a great majority of them have probably heard of Christianity.  Yet that which they have heard of is not the Christianity, which Christ established with His declaration to “…heal the brokenhearted” and “…preach deliverance to the captives,” rather instead what they know of the Church is that which has been marketed and promoted endlessly throughout the world as the “American version” of Christianity.

It is a faith, which is more comfortable discussing tax breaks and judicial appointments than turning the other cheek.  It is a faith more likely to find devotees among the Rockefeller’s and Dupont’s of the world than among the carpenters and fishermen.  Sadly it is also a faith more inclined to justify the violence and mayhem of warfare than it is to give more than lip service to loving your enemy.

In short Christianity has become the Religion of the State and of those who control it.  Whereas Christ called His followers out of the world into His heavenly kingdom, today’s Christianity seeks instead to become a part of the world so that it might control it.  Even the Ivy League is not immune to the push of evangelicalism gone awry.  The very breeding ground of the poor’s Elite antagonists has now become the latest battleground in the battle to win back America and the world for Christ.

Matt Bennett, one of the heirs to the Holiday Inn Empire, and a Cornell graduate spoke of this battle on Ivy League campuses in a recent interview touting the Christian Union’s effort to recruit missionaries for campus missions.

“What is happening now is good," Mr. Bennett said, "but it is like a finger in the dike of keeping back the flood of immorality."

I wonder how Mr. Bennett defines immorality.  No doubt secular and sensual indulgence are part and parcel of the collegiate scene these days and no doubt the more so among the sons and daughters of privilege making up the Ivy League set.  Yet, what about the Bennett family’s financial empire?  Holiday Inn, like all the major hotel chains derives extreme profits from their in room sale of pornographic movies.  I guess the reason Bennett only wants to put one finger in the dike of immorality is so he can count the money he makes off of it with the rest.

This is the problem when the Elites become enmeshed in the Church.  They pollute it with their hypocrisy and turpitude.  Money is the god of such men… and everything else is merely window-dressing.  Christ said it was easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than it was for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. (Matthew 19: 24)  Yet the rich have seized control of the Church… and in the process have sullied it beyond repair.  True Christianity should transform the life of the believer into that of one striving to please Christ.  True faith should reveal the Church (the body of Christ) as a testimony to the fulfillment of His commandments.  Yet in whoring after the Elites, the Church has instead taken on the likeness of their corporate masters.

The Church life American style is one, which the Carpenter from Nazareth would in no way recognize as being of Him.  Rather than being a collection of humble servants drawn together in Christ through bonds of love, family, and fellowship… the Church today is a collection of audience members willing to pay top dollar to whoever can entertain them and make them feel good about themselves.  In this type of environment it is not the Gospel of Salvation and the leading of the Holy Spirit, which directs the Church and its leadership.  Instead, MBA’s and marketing directors work to find the right niche, and present their “product” in a way palatable to the masses.  The word palatable is very apropos in this case… because what these churches offer is poisonous pabulum, which goes down easy… but kills you in the end.

The model of the Church is not that of Christ and the Apostles… but the Wal-Mart/GM Corporate America plan where mass appeal and “bigger is better” philosophies rule the day.  And just like Wal-Mart, America’s mega church Christianity does not really bring too many new “customers” into the fold… instead it mostly cannibalizes the existing body of Christ.  In Earthly Empires, one of a series of articles on Yahoo’s Business Weekly website the business side of evangelical Christianity is covered in some detail.  Included in the coverage is the Lakewood Church of Houston, Texas.

Lakewood is a gigantic operation headed by Joel Osteen, son of the late John Osteen, founder of Lakewood.  The senior Osteen himself embraced and practiced most of the false doctrines now permeated throughout the Church… yet his son Joel has taken things to a new level.  His combination of apostate doctrine and entrepreneurial savvy has seen the already immense Lakewood Church explode in membership.

On Osteen and the Lakewood Church journalist William C. Symonds notes:

“Osteen's flourishing Lakewood enterprise brought in $55 million in contributions last year, four times the 1999 amount, church officials say. Flush with success, Osteen is laying out $90 million to transform the massive Compaq Center in downtown Houston -- former home of the NBA's Houston Rockets -- into a church that will seat 16,000, complete with a high-tech stage for his TV shows and Sunday School for 5,000 children. After it opens in July, he predicts weekend attendance will rocket to 100,000. Says Osteen: "Other churches have not kept up, and they lose people by not changing with the times."

Symonds continues:

“Pastor Joel is one of a new generation of evangelical entrepreneurs transforming their branch of Protestantism into one of the fastest-growing and most influential religious groups in America. Their runaway success is modeled unabashedly on business. They borrow tools ranging from niche marketing to MBA hiring to lift their share of U.S. churchgoers. Like Osteen, many evangelical pastors focus intently on a huge potential market -- the millions of Americans who have drifted away from mainline Protestant denominations or simply never joined a church in the first place.”

Osteen says churches lose people by not changing with the times… Yet what is really at issue is just what changes he and other such super-shepherds have made.  Out the window has gone any portion of Christ’s message that is against the rich, for the poor, or that does not call Christians into political involvement.  Churches like Osteen’s are bastions of support for neo-liberal economics and the war on Terrorism.  In becoming such entities they are tools of the Elites, who are the only ones that benefit from this right wing agenda.

Additionally, once the Church heads in this direction insofar as its “world view” is concerned it is only a mater of time before the very operation of these grand enterprises becomes materialistic and worldly as well.  Symonds brings light to this fact in his reporting on Willow Creek Community Church of South Barrington, Illinois:

“Once established, some ambitious churches are making a big business out of spreading their expertise. Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Ill., formed a consulting arm called Willow Creek Assn. It earned $17 million last year, partly by selling marketing and management advice to 10,500 member churches from 90 denominations. Jim Mellado, the hard-charging Harvard MBA who runs it, last year brought an astonishing 110,000 church and lay leaders to conferences on topics such as effective leadership. "Our entrepreneurial impulse comes from the Biblical mandate to get the message out," says Willow Creek founder Bill Hybels, who hired Stanford MBA Greg Hawkins, a former McKinsey & Co. consultant, to handle the church's day-to-day management. Willow Creek's methods have even been lauded in a Harvard Business School case study.”

Willow Creek made 17 million dollars providing marketing and management advice.  Putting aside the issue with Christian marketing and management advice in general, I wonder how the big-wigs at Willow Creek justify their profits in light of Matthew 10: 8, which reads:

“Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.”  (Matthew 10: 8)

Freely ye have received, freely give… I guess they don’t cover that verse at Willow Creek conferences.

But hey, Corporate America isn’t the only one being emulated here… they are doing a bit of emulating themselves.  With everything from Christian mortgage brokers, Christian publishing, Christian Music, and Christian clothing lines pushing their wares in the open market the pie is getting too big for the Elites to watch from the sidelines.  Total retail sales of Christian merchandise now top 7 billion dollars… and with that much money at stake the big-boys are jumping in to get their share.  In doing so they are partnering up with the main players in the Christian world.  By partnering with the giants of the corporate world Christianity has linked itself up to all the crimes against humanity perpetrated by the Corporate Elite.  From pornography pushing to derivates markets… the Church is now enmeshed in it all.

But that is all right with most of the evangelical leadership.  They are in it to win it any way… and by win it I mean the rat race for riches… not the race to Christ’s glory of which the Apostle Paul spoke.  In this sense the perfect embodiment of the evangelical mindset is that of Creflo Dollar, pastor of the World Changers Church International in Atlanta, Georgia.

Dollar says quite plainly that, “The Bible talks more about money than it talks about heaven” and as such justifies pursuing wealth and riches as being some sort of Godly mandate for believers.  While the Bible does indeed speak about money quite a bit, most of the verses are similar to these:

"No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. (Luke 16: 13)

"... they (meaning Christians) that will be rich (who desire wealth) fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. (I Timothy 6: 9)

"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." (I Timothy 6: 10)

"... Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.  And again I say unto you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 19: 23-24)

"Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you." (James 5:1)

"... Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats? Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called?" (James 2: 6-7)

So yes… the Bible does mention money and the rich quite a bit… yet the words are quite clear that the context is one of warning against the Church pursuing such things.  Neither Creflo Dollar, the other big players in American Christianity, or the laity they entertain want to hear this message though.  They choose instead to believe a lie and in taking this course are leading America and its Church down the path to eternal destruction.

We have come a long way down this path already.  One example of this is the brazenness and audacity of Christian America’s involvement in the culture war and politics.  In times past Christians put a fish on the back of their car… and now they put this:

In today’s Christian America George Bush is the symbol of the faith… a man after their own hearts.  This is quite fitting because his true allegiance lies to money, power, and those who have lots of both.  Thank God their Christ is not the true Christ and that their faith is not the true faith!

Those in power don’t really care about freedom or democracy any more than they care about Christ no matter how much they pander to the American Church.  Their end all beat all is wealth, power, and control… and this is what the new National Security State is all about.  While the Osteen’s and Dollar’s run around making zombies out of the masses, the Elites are busy insuring there can be no domestic resistance to their dreams of world empire.  Just look at the news surrounding the new national ID requirements on State issued drivers licenses.  This move is the first step in a sequence leading up to a national ID card, which will in essence give the government the ability and “right” to keep tabs on the whereabouts of all its citizens.  Of course all this is being done for your own protection… against terrorists and other assorted enemies of the state.  Yet as a self-professing Christian nation shouldn’t the US rely a bit more on God and a little less on Gestapo-type tactics?

Didn’t Christ say,

“And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”? (Matthew 10: 28)

Indeed He did… but in the eyes of Christian America… He didn’t have all this wealth to hold on to.  And He was not pushing a system, which impoverished and enslaved the greater part of the world’s population as the American Elites are… So in these circumstances I guess you’ve got to run your house like a garrison lest the “natives” break out the torches and implement their own brand of justice.

Another thing you’ve got to do to run this kind of an operation is to keep the people at home properly amped-up against the “big threat.”  Back in the Cold War the big threat was of course the former Soviet Union.  After their demise China has gradually slidden into that role within the US consciousness.  Yet just as much of the former Soviet threat was lies and propaganda meant to rally the American populace… so too are the reports of imminent danger from China.  It seems the US has been lying about China’s military strength and spending… as well as lying about the power of the Chinese economy.  Just like in the Cold War days the ruse is perpetrated to keep the American people fixated on the enemy without, rather than the true enemy within… and to rake in the trillions in revenue, which come from defense spending in preparation for war against another “great power.”

Another prominent lie being pushed on the populace… especially the Christian populace… is the menace offered by the Euro and a “European Super State”.  Many Christians misinterpret Biblical prophecy to see this super state as the land from which the antichrist will rise to rule the world.  Yet both the Euro and the European Union are creations of the US.  Currently the economies of the western European powers are in serious crisis.  Unemployment is up and investment returns are down in Germany, Italy, Spain, France, and Great Britain.  Currently Germany’s economy is the lowest ranking of all EU nations insofar as growth rates are concerned.

The best indication of who controls Europe is to look at where the economic growth is occurring… because after all… it is money that makes this world go ‘round.  The economies of the traditional western powers, whose corporations are already controlled by the US Elites, are either shrinking or stagnant. Their jobs are being "outsourced" to the third world… and to where any real growth in Europe is taking place… former Eastern Bloc nations. These nations have allowed the Neocons and America’s New World Order economic system to overrun their countries and turn their economies into third world models… replete with sweatshop labor, no union presence, no environmental regulations, and no hindrances on profits being shipped back to the American Elites at full value.While “traditional Europe” withers on the vine... in the east there is a boom taking place. Yet the boom does not enrich the average Eastern European… instead it flows back to the US, who holds the reins on whatever strength the EU might have by controlling these nations and their economies.

The people who created this system are those to whom the American Church has wedded itself... They are those who create phantom enemies in order to avert people’s eyes from the true adversary.  They are the ones who rape and pillage the earth… and who happily take along their Christian mouth pieces in order to have them frame the transgressions as being God’s work.  In every single facet this system is rotten to the core.  Its malignancy has infected the Church beyond repair… and the Church in turn has infected the country with a “spiritual rationale” for perpetrating even greater crimes.  There is no hope for recovery and there is no cure in sight.  God has commanded those who TRULY believe in Him to come out of this terrible two-headed monster.

He knows that remaining within is compromising with the devil himself.  Therefore He commands His children to leave… because a “kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation.” (Matthew 12: 25)  And the kingdom of the United States of America is not yet destined to fall… Therefore this means the kingdom is not divided, but harmonious in its execution of brutality, oppression, enslavement, and death upon the world.  Those loving Christ and His truth must come out from this satanic entity.  Otherwise they will become irreparably corrupted.

 Do your part in keeping the message of this ministry going. Talk and pray about these issues with those around you. Speak out against the evil of our day... and  Support us so that we can continue and expand this message!

Everyone wants to talk about terrorism and the threats offered by WMDs in rogue states. They all want to discuss how our enemies hate freedom and democracy more than anything else.  Yet nobody wants to discuss the real motive behind the US “war against terrorism.”  Aside from the hypocrisy involved in destroying Iraq and Afghanistan while nations like North Korea and Uzbekistan are given free passes, one must look at the big picture in all this.  Based upon the evidence, overwhelming evidence I might add, what the US military is up to has little to do with stopping the spread of terrorism and nothing to do with promoting the spread of Democracy.

While there was nothing to admire about Saddam’s rule in Iraq or that of the Taliban in Afghanistan… what makes them different or worse than the regimes in North Korea or Uzbekistan?  For that matter, what is the difference between Islamic fundamentalism as it is practiced in Iran or that which is practiced in Pakistan?  I ask this because at this very moment the US is “gearing up” for war in Iran, while Pakistan is considered a very close ally in the US “war against terrorism.”

As I said above, you have to look at the big picture to fully grasp what is important and unimportant to the powers that be.  Democracy, religious freedom, equal rights, and humanitarian concerns are of no importance whatsoever.  This is proven by US support of the brutal regime in Uzbekistan, the corrupt Muslim government in Pakistan, and the dark ages-style monarchy in Saudi Arabia.  These governments are no friends of liberty, freedom, human dignity, or any of the other pie-in-the-sky buzzwords GW Bush is so prone to quote.  Yet they are allies, trusted friends and business partners of the American Empire.  Meanwhile we also have to deal with the hypocrisy inherent in destroying Iraq on the false accusation of possessing WMD’s while Kim Jong Il’s regime in North Korea has openly declared they possess such weapons and are in the process of making more.

What matters to the men at the top is money and the power, which comes from possessing more of it than anyone else.  In this light you can understand what US actions in the Middle East and the rest of the world are all about.  A regime can be as oppressive, antichristian and anti-democracy as they want, as long as they play ball with the US… especially in those parts of the planet where there is real money to be made… such as the oil producing regions of the world.

Yet the imperial ambitions of Bush and his elite partners have to be presented quite differently to the American public.  Come on now, as I’ve said before, you can’t get middle America to send its sons and daughters to the slaughter for the good of Exxon-Mobile, now can you?  Of course you can’t… so a greater good has to be invoked upon.  Something bigger than our own selves and our own needs… and this is just how the expansion of the empire is being accomplished.  Back at the start of all this Bush said quite strongly this was going to be a crusade… and though he backed off the statement… the sentiment it invoked is the very one, which rallies those in the US to make war on its enemies.

This is possible due in large part to the tremendous power of America’s false Christian Church.  Theirs is an ideology that readily embraces violence and warfare… as long as it serves “the greater good.”  Theirs is a religion, which lifts up their country as special before God and more than morally capable of being God’s “hammer upon the earth.”  Theirs is also a belief system, which is totally supportive of the avarice and greed of America’s corporate agenda.  Money is God’s sign of blessing goes the thinking… and America as the richest and most powerful of all nations is surely the greatest before God.

To sell never-ending war to this ilk one has to sell it as a crusade… as a war of the cross, which is what crusade essentially means.  So the battles in Afghanistan and Iraq haven’t just been for secular ideals of freedom and democracy, but more importantly for Christ and the Church.  Defeating the enemies of God, of which they identify Islam as a major one, is the noblest of all causes.  In this mindset one may still recoil a bit at the brutalities involved in war… yet deep in the heart there is a feeling “we are doing the right thing.”

Believe me, I get tons of emails everyday from friend and foe alike.  Those who support the war and the “Imperial Agenda” eventually relate their support to me in the above-described terms.  “If we don’t do it who will?” they say… as if the God who created the heavens and the earth needs depleted uranium and sado-masochist torture sessions to further His kingdom on earth.

Recently Bill Moyer spoke out about unending rightwing attempts to bring him down and on a larger scale to eliminate what they see as rampant, unchecked liberalism on US public broadcasting stations.  Within his speech he offers some really good insights into where the US is headed… and the fact that a good barometer of the direction is that of the media itself.  The fact that the US media never questioned going to war and has never offered critical views on the burgeoning power of the police state are just two easy examples of the fact the direction the US is taking is one towards expansionist police state.  In essence, the US media has become a lapdog of this state… and a dog, which is kept on a short leash at that. Throw in the religious element, in which rightwing Christians are leading the charge and then you should be able to see the prophetic ramifications of where the US is headed. 

Ultimately it’s all about fear.  Fear is the tool used to keep the people in line.  Fear of terrorist, fear of communist, fear of liberals, fear of homosexuals, fear of secularists… etc. etc.  Fear is also what keeps most real Christians silent in the face of this onslaught of evil.  They fear losing friends, family, reputation, and jobs so they fail to speak up against the evil of the day.

Yet quite plainly, this is not good enough for the Lord.  God’s Word is very straight to the point on this matter.  Those who love Him will testify in His name.  Those who do not are deemed unworthy to be called by His name. (See Matthew 10: 37-38; Matthew 22: 1-8; Mark 8: 38; Luke 9: 26) God is looking for a people willing to testify on His behalf.  He is looking for a people who fulfill the words of Revelation 12: 11…

“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.”

It is up to us to answer the call…

Once again I want to encourage everyone to support us in this endeavor.  We really do need your continued financial assistance.  To do so just click on this link.

Thanks and God Bless,

Sean

Usually this journal is filled with personal commentary and links to articles revealing information pertinent to prophecy, world events, the church, and the US… along with how these matters are all related.  Today’s journal is going to be slightly different.  In replying to a recent email I found myself going quite extensively into biblical prophecy concerning the US as Babylon, the king of Babylon being the Antichrist, and the fact that Babylon will not be destroyed until the end of the age.  After a bit of editing I offer you the substance of my foray below with many links to our writings covering the subject, including those in our new Encyclopedia of Terms concerning the end of days [which is still a growing work-in-progress].

There still seems to be quite a bit of confusion out there concerning the identity of the US as Babylon the Great and more specifically the fact of Babylon’s destruction not coming until the end of the age.  Many people do see the US as Babylon Great, yet mistakenly believe it will be destroyed or taken out of the way before the final world empire arrives upon the scene.  People holding this view believe that upon this removal of the US as world-ruler the Antichrist and his “league of nations” will arise to conquer the world and fulfill the prophecies of the Tribulation.

Yet, the Bible is quite clear in pointing out Babylon the Great, i.e. the United States is not destroyed until the end of the age... at the conclusion of Daniel's 70th Week.  A this point I do implore everyone to read our writings on this subject... and the scripture included within, so they can understand and hopefully agree with this belief.  Here is a link to the section of the Antipas Papers dealing with Babylon the Great: Chapter 14, The Antipas Papers.

I also encourage everyone to read the entire book thoroughly if you have not done so already.  All of the scriptural backing for the book is included within.  Here is a link to the book itself: The Antipas Papers.

Biblical evidence suggests quite clearly that Babylon will not be destroyed until the end of the age.  Revelation 17 and 18, Isaiah chapters 13 and 14, and Jeremiah chapters 50 and 51 are where the most pertinent information concerning Babylon the Great and its destruction are to be found.  Within these passages the circumstances surrounding its destruction appear to indicate it is to take place at the beginning of the commencement of the "Day of the Lord", i.e. the "wrath of God".  The Bible is quite clear in stating God’s Wrath is not executed upon the earth until the conclusion of the 70th Week.

In light of this people need to understand that the American New World Order System is not going anywhere for some time yet.  It will not be destroyed and replaced by the EU, or a confederation of "First World nations" like the G-8 or some similar entity.  Now there will be a confederation of nations which will attach itself to the coming Antichrist, which will be the leader of the United States, i.e. the King of Babylon... yet the kings of these nations assume power specifically to "give their power unto the beast" i.e. the Antichrist:

Rev 17:12  And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
Rev 17:13  These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.

It appears this does not happen until near the mid point of the 70th Week, since Revelation 17: 14 says:

Rev 17:14  These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.

Next one should step back a bit to the two preceding verses, Revelation 17: 10-11.

Rev 17:10  And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.
Rev 17:11  And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.

These verses also indicate the kingdom of Babylon the Great is the final world empire and that it is from out of this empire, which the Antichrist will arise.  It is also from out of this empire that the Antichrist will rule when he is transformed into the beast.  Revelation 17: 10-11 matches up with other passages of Scripture indicating it is at the mid point of the Tribulation when the Antichrist and those in league with him will make terrible war against the saints of God and will prevail until Christ returns.

Yet the point to be made at the moment is that the US as Babylon the Great will not be destroyed until the end of the age.  The passages concerning the kings past present and future reveal this to us and do so since there is no interruption between the 7^th and 8^th kings.  To understand this we need to go back and look at detail included in the verses.

At the time of John's recording of this prophecy the 5 fallen kings represented those world empires, which had preceded Rome.  These include the Babylonian Empire, Medo-Persian Empire, and Greek Empire, which can be verified through study of Daniel 2.  [It appears Daniel only listed those 3 as preceding Rome because his writings are based upon his interpretation of Nebudchadnezzar's dream, which begins with his own kingdom.  I believe the two additional fallen empires added in Revelation 17: 10 may be Egypt and Assyria.  Both of these kingdoms conquered, enslaved, or oppressed the Jewish people and both had fallen before Nebudchadnezzar's reign in Babylon... yet I am not dogmatic on these two being a part of the five, which are fallen.]

The next part of Revelation 17: 10 refers to the leader of the empire ruling the world at the time of the Revelation.  This is of course the Roman Empire.  Next is the empire which "is not yet come".  I believe scripture does show quite clearly this is the United States, i.e. Babylon the Great.  Going back to Daniel 2 for a second, one should notice that all the empires listed in Daniel 2 ruled the geographic area known as Babylon (Modern day Iraq), yet only Nebudchadnezzar ruled his empire from Babylon.  The Medo-Persians ruled from Persopolis, Alexander's Greek empire was seated in Macedonia, and the Romans ruled from Rome.  Likewise the US rules Babylon from Washington.

The passage then says the king of the seventh empire must continue a short space... this is so because the reign of the seventh begins the reign of the Antichrist.  Whereas the US has been THE world power for a bit of time now... its tenure as the dominant nation of the world is not nearly as lengthy as the time span of the 6 previous world empires [though I will say the Assyrian empire was fairly short-lived as well... and this is one reason why I am not dogmatic on including them as one of the 5 fallen].

Specifically though, the reign of the king of the seventh will not be that long and there are multiple passages in the Revelation which indicate as such.  Yet it will be more than long enough for the rest of the world.

Next we learn of the eighth, which is of the seven and is described as the "beast that was, and is not... and goeth into perdition."  The seventh kingdom is the US and the seventh king is its ruler... this man is also to be the Antichrist.  The first part of his reign is as a man.  Yet, at the mid-point of the Tribulation he is transformed into something else.  The Bible also depicts this as the time when the Beast receives its "mortal head wound" from which it is thought to be dead... but miraculously recovers:

Rev 13:3  And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.

When John writes of the beast that "was and is not" he is noting his earlier Revelation in chapter 13, verse 3.  At the midway point of the Tribulation, when the Antichrist commits the Abomination of Desolation, he his henceforth described as the beast.  At this point the seventh becomes the eighth... because he is no longer a man... but as the Bible infers has been transformed into the beast... incarnate of Satan himself.  To more fully understand this situation please do read our writings on the Abomination of Desolation available here:  Chapter 8, The Antipas Papers

Finally Revelation 17: 11 notes this king which has become a beast, i.e. the 8th, which comes out of the seven "goeth into perdition."  This coincides with Revelation 17: 8, which says,

Rev 17:8  The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition...

The reference of going "into perdition" indicates he will go about causing great persecution and destruction upon the whole of the world... most particularly upon the Church and the remnant of Israel, who are God's Two Witnesses during the 70th Week of Daniel.  The time period in which this is done is the second half of Daniel's 70th Week, a time the Bible notes as a time of great tribulation, i.e. the Great Tribulation.

Therefore the time line for these events would be as follows:

1. Five world empires rise and fall leading up to the Roman Empire.

2. John records the Revelation during the rule of Imperial Rome, the 6th world empire.

3. After a long absence of any such powerful world-ruling entity, the US, the most powerful of all rises as the 7th world empire, which the Bible call Babylon the Great.

4. The ruler of this 7th world empire, i.e. the 7th king, initiates the events beginning Daniel's 70th Week, i.e. the Last Seven Years, i.e. the Tribulation.

5. At the midway point of the 70th week the 7th king commits the Abomination of Desolation, in which he is no more known as a man, but henceforth the beast and is now the 8th, which is of the seven. [Once again please do read Chapter 8 of the Antipas Papers to understand what the Abomination of Desolation is all about.]

6. The king of Babylon, i.e. the ruler of the US, then goes into perdition bringing great destruction and persecution upon the world, specifically upon the Church and Israel until the end of the 70th Week.

7. At the conclusion of the 70th Week Babylon the Great is destroyed and the beast (the Antichrist) along with the false prophet, and the dragon (Satan himself) are defeated as God's Wrath takes place in the form of the judgment of the Seven Vials.

There is much more to talk about concerning this subject, but I am going to wind things down for now.  I really hope everyone will examine our writings on this subject and more importantly the scriptures on which they are based.  It is important for people to fully realize the significance of the United States in Prophecy.  It is important for them to realize the place of the American Church in prophecy as well.  Though not mentioned in this commentary, she is right along side the beast in all of this.  She is the Woman that rides the beast, which is Babylon the Great (Revelation 17: 1-7).  God has called His children out of both the woman and the beast she rides.  He has also called His saints throughout the world to testify against this entity, this merging of false Christian religion and overwhelming state power.

It is the prayer of those of us here at Antipas Ministries that our readers will heed God’s Word on this.  It is also our prayer that you will support us in our efforts to further this message of truth.  We really need your help on this matter and your support will go a long way towards helping us reach even more people with this message.

May 10, 2005