THE BEAST

BEHOLD THE BEAST

THE LEOPARD-BEAR-LION "BEAST" OF REVELATION 13

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On the prior page Daniel defined the term "beast" when used in the context of a dream or vision in prophecy: Daniel 7:23 Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth...

Daniel's lion, bear and leopard kingdom "beasts" discussed on the prior page, along with the widely held understanding of those figures representing the successive kingdoms of Babylon, Medo-Persia and Greece, reappear together in scripture only one more time - in Revelation Chapter 13 - but combined into a single composite "beast"/kingdom.

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.

Seven heads are the seven successive kingdoms that ruled John's whole "world" through time. The ten horns could be the ten Islamic caliphates.

2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as [the feet] of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.

(The Greek interlinear below helps us understand who it is that gives what to whom.)

The reverse order was perhaps because Daniel's prophecy was forward looking at these kingdoms to come, while John's prophecy was in part a review of history and their fulfillment. This leopard-bear-lion beast was to continue 42 months. The seats of the ancient successive kingdom beasts of Daniel's lion, bear and leopard which are widely believed to be Babylon, Medo-Persia and Greece, are occupied today by the countries of Iraq, Iran, and Syria/Lebanon.

The dragon in the verse above is Satan. The power that Satan gave his "beast" is the sword, through which Islam was spread, and the threat of which for 1400 years has prevented people from leaving Islam and coming to a life in Jesus Christ. Additional power of the false prophet Muhammad's Islamic kingdom "beast" is oil. No surprise we find western nations whoring themselves out to countries that are composed of up to 100% antichrists (Saudi Arabia), in order to keep the oil flowing, that are even sworn to annihilate us (Iran). the West giving weapons to these countries, that will eventually be turned on Israel. This while the same nations evermore compromise the safety and freedom of the Israelis, who are the only people in the Middle East that share our western values. Indeed Muslims enjoy more freedom in Israel than they do in any Islam controlled country on earth.

(URL) This Islamic kingdom is described "as a leopard", perhaps because while an individual Muslim can change it is impossible for Islam to change, as long as the Quran (mouth of the "beast") exists:

Jeremiah 13:23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? [then] may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.

While those Islamic countries may have theological and political differences, and separate national identities, they are all perfectly united spiritually through the false prophet Muhammad and his Quran. The "sign" that the false prophet Muhammad "wrought" before his Islamic kingdom "beast". As a result each and every follower of Muhammad is an antichrist as an article of their faith because they must deny and even blaspheme the Son of God, while they are taught that to profess that Jesus is the Son of God, or even to pray in Jesus' name, would be to commit the single most "heinous" and only unforgivable sin ("shirk") in the false prophet Muhammad's kingdom. That's 1.5 billion antichrists - which is 1/4 of mankind in the world today - in the specifically counter-Gospel, antichrist, anti-religion of Islam.

Last checked put Iraq at 97%, Iran at 98%, Syria/Lebanon at 90%/60% Islamic. However recent reports suggest the Christian population in Syria to be in rapid decline.

Sura 19:88 They say: "(Allah) Most Gracious has begotten a son!" 89 Indeed ye have put forth a thing most monstrous!

Following are maps of the approximate geographical boundaries of this succession of Gentile kingdoms:

Islamic Second Jihad

(URL) Geographically and demographically speaking, Bible prophecy is best understood through an ethnographic hermeneutic and is therefore is largely about the Middle East and the Holy Land.

Ezekiel 5:5 Thus saith the Lord GOD; This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her.

John was instructed to:

Revelation 1:19 Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter;

Thus it is necessary to understand it in the context of the times during which John was writing - looking through his eyes at his world - to apply this ethnographic hermeneutic. Terms like "whole world" are not about Peoria Illinois. "that deceiveth the whole world" - Strong's explains: 3625 oikoumene {oy-kou-men'-ay} 1) the inhabited earth 1a) the portion of the earth inhabited by the Greeks, in distinction from the lands of the barbarians 1b) the Roman empire, all the subjects of the empire

Thus John's "whole world" is virtually entirely Islamic, with the exception of Israel, and small percentages of persecuted Christians in a few other countries in the area. The sketch map above is an illustration of the seat of the Islamic Empire "beast", and the countries that compose that seat today. However the Lord's interest isn't likely to lie in the artificial boundaries of men, but rather in the spiritual condition of mankind. Men united by the spirit of antichrist, in this case. Each of Daniel's successive kingdoms conquered the whole known world (Middle East area) in its turn.

(link to this spot) Below is a map of the composite leopard-bear-lion "beast" (kingdom) and the spiritual condition of the Middle East today. (from a map at Wikimedia Commons)

Percentage of Islam by country: (scroll to bottom of this link page for % by country largest to smallest %)

Leopard-Bear-Lion - Islamic Empire

While some Muslims may be unaware that other Muslims mark the Quran with the number 666, former PLO terrorist Walid Shoebat also said that the moment he saw the GREEK symbol for 666, he read it as the ARABIC symbol for "Bismillah", or "in the name of Allah". There are ISLAMIC web sites that discuss how the number 666 demonstrates the perfection of the Quran, and that the Quran "is the 666". This number association of 666 was prophesied in Scripture 500 years before Muhammad was born and is explored more completely on this page.

Revelation 13:18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number [is] Six hundred threescore [and] six.

It is very important to understand The History of Mecca.

On this link are videos of Muslims who have come to know the love of God.

For nearly thirty years, seventy-nine year old Ellis Skolfield has written about the central role of Islam in Second Coming prophecy, by studying within the traditional continuous-historic framework.

(link to a description of "John's Eight Beasts" that includes the above four)

Some Muslims claim the Bible was corrupted to demonize Islam, but this would have been an impossibility since it had been copied thousands of times and translated into many languages over the hundreds of years before Muhammad was ever born. The Quran, on the other hand, was collected on stones and palm leaves, wasn't even written until long after Muhammad died, and the current Middle East version was selected from among many versions - while burning the rest - twice. Here is an online book written by M. Ali - a Nigerian former Muslim - now Christian evangelist - that discusses the differences between Islam vs. Christianity and the Bible vs. the Quran.

With the understanding of the kingdom beast Islam, and the false prophet Muhammad, marked by the number 666, we can now exegete Chapter 13 of Revelation without trouble, and indeed the book of Revelation, reconciling it with the book of Daniel, as well as the Olivet Discourse, through this perspective - and confirm it all mathematically. The two horned beast of Rev chapter 13 is covered in chapter 12 of The False Prophet. It is manifest in the Crusades and the British mandate and the remnant of the Roman Empire, unto today. The False Prophet includes a sound hermeneutic study of FULFILLED prophecy, not guesswork theology. It may not fit some of the 20th century church's pop-eschatological doctrines, but it fits scripture very well when we employ sound study principles, and is also manifest in the world around us.

This study employs a traditional linear historic, or continuous historic, view of prophecy. This is the view of ALL Christians regarding the Old Testament First Coming prophecy. That is, that those prophecies came to pass steadily, as that era unfolded. This was also the view of the Reformers in regard to New Testament Second Coming prophecy, and much of Christianity throughout the Christian era, until the 20th century.

Revelation 13:18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number [is] Six hundred threescore [and] six.

"GOD made His Messenger a witness with the letter Qaf and the number 666."

In Revelation 13:18 we find that "the beast" and "a man" are separate, but are nonetheless both designated by the same number - 666.

Revelation 14:9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive [his] mark in his forehead, or in his hand, 10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: 11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.

Imagine being in torment forever without rest! The world is setting up for the greatest tragedy in the history of mankind. It's not yet too late for you - or anybody. WE ARE ALL going to experience eternal life. Are you going to spend it in the smoking or non-smoking section?

On this link are videos of Muslims who have come to know the love of God.

Here is an interesting link with photos, for pondering the "mark" of the beast, however I believe the mark to be spiritual and not physical.

Does a mark need to be physical? Here is an excellent link regarding a physical as opposed to a spiritual mark.

Genesis 4:15 And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.

Revelation 9:4: And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.

While lots of folks speculate about how the mark of the beast will physically manifest itself, I haven't heard much speculation as to how the "seal of God in their foreheads" will physically manifest itself. Jesus knows what is in the heart of each and every one of us and it is on that basis that He will judge us. We are all marked right now. John 5:22 For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:

When we look to John's "whole world" in the map above we see that his whole world almost universally carries the mark today.

Revelation 13:17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

Doesn't this verse describe an ethnographic view of the condition of the Middle East today? The time is perhaps later than most Christians think. Death is the punishment for apostasy, or turning away from Islam. So what if a Saudi announced that they turned Christian in a check-out line, when they were buying or selling something?

There is certainly no shortage of people in the world today, particularly in the Western media, that proclaim that Christian fundamentalists, or Christianity, are "dangerous". But, of course, fundamentalism is what the church can thank for our religion having been brought down through the ages relatively unscathed, until we entered this period of apostasy in 1948 - the "falling away".

Search the Internet for Christian persecution at the hands of Islam, around the world, including the Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Indonesia and much of the rest of the non-Western world, to see how simply it works in practice.

"We will murder 100 more Christian teenagers and their heads will be presented as presents." The note accompanying 3 teenage girl's heads that were left on the steps of a Church in Indonesia read. The girls were beheaded on their way to a Christian school. This is from Voice of the Martyrs, an organization that has been involved in this subject for 40 years.

Read Fox's Book of the Martyrs or Martyr's Mirror for free online, for examples as to how the mark vs the seal of God works in practice.

ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION

So then the abomination that maketh desolate, it would seem, was founded in 688 AD, as the Islamic Dome of the Rock. Ask any Jew in Israel to point to the biggest abomination that they know of. One would think that a billion and a half antichrists, and the "man" and the "beast" of the number 666, might be enough evidence but blessedly we can confirm it with mathematical precision.

Consider the words of Bishop Sophronious when Khalifah Omar proposed that he would build a memorial to Muhammad on the original site of the temple of God. Sophronius exclaimed in horror, "Verily, this is the Abomination of Desolation as spoken of by Daniel the prophet, and it now stands in the holy place". Though Sophronius was a very old man of about 80, Khalifah Omar put him in prison and to forced labor, the severities of which killed him." - Jerry Landay - "The Dome of the Rock"

Wonderfully there are over a dozen math problems that were given to us by Daniel over 500 years BC, and John in the book of Revelation written in the first century, that not only point repeatedly to the year 688, but also to the year Christ was crucified, as well as the years 732 AD and the Battle of Tours, 1948 restoration of the Holy Land to the Jews, 1967 fulfillment of the Gentiles in the Holy City and even 1776, the founding of the United States, to name a few.

Blue Letter Bible is an excellent resource that has a Greek/English interlinear as well as Strong's definitions and tons of different translations at your fingertips. When you click on the individual verses in you will find commentaries that you can study that include Isaac Newton and Matthew Henry, but I would encourage you to avoid modern exegesis written within the last 200 years or so.

God has removed the seal from the book of Daniel. But will the Church see it, or is it destined to continue to stumble blindly in a doctrinal stupor? It would seem this blindness to truth is what kept the Church from identifying its task of evangelizing Muslims, at a time when they would have been more receptive - before the wound of the Islamic empire beast was healed by Western wealth transfer through oil purchase.

"You mean the beast isn't "The" "Antichrist" of silver screen legend of the "Left Behind" or "Revelation" series, that has henchmen that go from house to house putting goofy goggles on people that instantly uncripple them and even burn a mark on their hand right through the air?" Perhaps not. When I visited YouTube in about December of 2007 I did a search of - mark beast microchip - and found around 150 videos. When I did the same search on July 27, 2009 I found 645. On October 24, 2011 I found 2,220. Does Scripture instruct us about such teachings?

2 Timothy 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; 4 And they shall turn away [their] ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

ISLAM AROUND THE WORLD (link to this spot)

Islam grows by population, not conversion.

They even outpopulate the Hindus in India by 50%!!

The following excerpt from "Who is this Allah" by G.J.O. Moshay. A Nigerian who has seen first hand how Islam works:

""Oh you who believe! Take not the Jews and the Christians as 'Auliya' (friends, protectors, helpers etc.), they are but 'Auliya' to one another. And if any amongst you takes them as 'Auliya' then surely he is one of them. Verily, Allah guides not those people who are the Zalimun (polytheists and wrongdoers and unjust)" (Surah 5:51 Al Hilali, Verse 54, Yusuf Ali).

In other words, any Muslim who becomes a Christian or even befriends a Christian leaves the leadership and control of Allah.

So, all Islamic leaders who come to British and American Church leaders for inter-faith co-operation are either defying the instructions of Allah or they have a hidden agenda. The Islam of the 7th century AD is the same today, probably under new guises as the situation demands. It is the same tactic of "No compulsion in religion" that Mohammed first adapted to Christians and Jews, that Muslims are using in the Western world today. Migrate to Christian areas because they are tolerant. Pretend to be peaceful, friendly and hospitable; begin to clamor for religious, political and social rights and privileges that you will not allow to Christians in an Islamic country; breed fast there and settle down; there should be no Christian activities in your community; you may speak or write to discredit their religion, but they must not talk about Islam; begin to expand your community; Christian activities should be restricted in all the places you expand to; the moment you have enough military might against these 'disbelievers', these Trinitarian kaferis, go ahead and eliminate them or suppress them as much as you can, and be in control. Where immediate invasion is not possible, that has always been the policy.

There are so many incitements against Christians and non-Muslims running through the pages of the Quran that we find it hard to believe that anybody can be a real practicing Muslim now or then and not hate Christians. It is impossible. Any Muslim who is not violent (secretly or openly) is hardly a real Muslim, at least not in the Quranic sense. It means he has not got the spirit of Islam. A typical practicing Muslim must be violent, especially if he expects to get any reward in the in the Muslim heaven:

"Let those who fight in the way of Allah who sell the life of this world for the other. Who fighteth in the way of Allah, be he slain or be he victorious, on him We shall bestow a vast reward ... Hast thou not seen those unto whom it was said: Withold your hands, establish worship and pay the poor-due, but when fighting was prescribed for them behold! a party of them fear mankind even as their fear of Allah or with greater fear," (Surah 4:74,77 Picthall).""

Revelation 13:4 And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who [is] like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?

"God is truth, so how well a person serves the Lord is not dependent on how artfully he can defend his doctrines, but on his willingness to seek out and follow the truth." - Ellis Skolfield.

Here's Frank Gaffney on Muslim Brotherhood in America - the Enemy Within.

(link to the next page and the mathematical precision of prophecy)

New Testament Greek Definition:

3625 oikoumene {oy-kou-men'-ay}

feminine participle present passive of 3611 (as noun, by

implication of 1093); TDNT - 5:157,674; n f

AV - world 14, earth 1; 15

1) the inhabited earth

1a) the portion of the earth inhabited by the Greeks, in

distinction from the lands of the barbarians

1b) the Roman empire, all the subjects of the empire

1c) the whole inhabited earth, the world

1d) the inhabitants of the earth, men

2) the universe, the world

Eze 5:5 Thus saith the Lord GOD; This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her.

(link) the earth

New Testament Greek Definition:

contracted from a root word; TDNT - 1:677,116; n f

AV - earth 188, land 42, ground 18, country 2, world 1,

earthly + 1537 + 3588 1; 252

2) the ground, the earth as a standing place

3) the main land as opposed to the sea or water

4) the earth as a whole

4a) the earth as opposed to the heavens

4b) the inhabited earth, the abode of men and animals

5) a country, land enclosed within fixed boundaries, a tract of

land, territory, region

New Testament Greek Definition:

4592 semeion {say-mi'-on}

from a presumed derivative of the base of 4591; TDNT - 7:200,1015; n n

AV - sign 50, miracle 23, wonder 3, token 1; 77

1) a sign, mark, token

1a) that by which a person or a thing is distinguished from

others and is known

1b) a sign, prodigy, portent, i.e. an unusual occurrence,

transcending the common course of nature

1b1) of signs portending remarkable events soon to happen

1b2) of miracles and wonders by which God authenticates the men

sent by him, or by which men prove that the cause they are

Jeremiah 51:25 Behold, I [am] against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the LORD, which destroyest all the earth: and I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain.

Jeremiah 51:26 And they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but thou shalt be desolate for ever, saith the LORD.*

Who gives what to whom? (Textus Receptus) (link):

(Greek/English Interlinear (tr) NT) Revelation 13:1 | (12-18) kai <2532> {AND} estaqhn <2476> (5681) {I STOOD} epi <1909> {UPON} thn <3588> {THE} ammon <285> {SAND} thV <3588> {OF THE} qalasshV <2281> (13 -1) {SEA;} kai <2532> {AND} eidon <1492> (5627) {I SAW} ek <1537> {OUT OF} thV <3588> {THE} qalasshV <2281> {SEA} qhrion <2342> {A BEAST} anabainon <305> (5723) {RISING} econ <2192> (5723) {HAVING,} kefalaV <2776> {HEADS} epta <2033> {SEVEN} kai <2532> {AND} kerata <2768> {HORNS} deka <1176> {TEN,} kai <2532> {AND} epi <1909> {ON} twn <3588> keratwn <2768> autou <846> {ITS HORNS} deka <1176> {TEN} diadhmata <1238> {DIADEMS,} kai <2532> {AND} epi <1909> {UPON} taV <3588> kefalaV <2776> autou <846> {ITS HEADS} onoma <3686> {[THE] NAME} blasfhmiaV <988> {OF BLASPHEMY.}

2 kai <2532> {AND} to <3588> {THE} qhrion <2342> {BEAST} o <3739> {WHICH} eidon <1492> (5627) {I SAW} hn <2258> (5713) {WAS} omoion <3664> {LIKE} pardalei <3917> {TO A LEOPARD,} kai <2532> oi <3588> {AND} podeV <4228> {FEET} autou <846> {ITS} wV <5613> {AS} arktou <715> {OF A BEAR,} kai <2532> {AND} to <3588> stoma <4750> autou <846> {ITS MOUTH} wV <5613> {AS [THE]} stoma <4750> {MOUTH} leontoV <3023> {OF A LION;} kai <2532> {AND} edwken <1325> (5656) {GAVE} autw <846> {TO IT} o <3588> {THE} drakwn <1404> {DRAGON} thn <3588> dunamin <1411> autou <846> {HIS POWER,} kai <2532> ton <3588> {AND} qronon <2362> {THRONE} autou <846> {HIS,} kai <2532> {AND} exousian <1849> {AUTHORITY} megalhn <3173> {GREAT.}

3 kai <2532> {AND} eidon <1492> (5627) {I SAW} mian <3391> twn <3588> {ONE} kefalwn <2776> {HEADS} autou <846> {OF ITS} wV <5613> {AS} esfagmenhn <4969> (5772) {SLAIN} eiV <1519> {TO} qanaton <2288> {DEATH;} kai <2532> {AND} h <3588> {THE} plhgh <4127> tou <3588> {WOUND} qanatou <2288> {DEATH} autou <846> {OF ITS} eqerapeuqh <2323> (5681) {WAS HEALED:} kai <2532> {AND} eqaumasqh <2296> (5681) {THERE WAS WONDER} en <1722> {IN} olh <3650> {WHOLE} th <3588> {THE} gh <1093> {EARTH} opisw <3694> {AFTER} tou <3588> {THE} qhriou <2342> {BEAST.}

4 kai <2532> {AND} prosekunhsan <4352> (5656) {THEY DID HOMAGE TO} ton <3588> {THE} drakonta <1404> {DRAGON,} oV <3739> {WHO} edwken <1325> (5656) {GAVE} exousian <1849> {AUTHORITY} tw <3588> {TO THE} qhriw <2342> {BEAST;} kai <2532> {AND} prosekunhsan <4352> (5656) {THEY DID HOMAGE TO} to <3588> {THE} qhrion <2342> {BEAST,} legonteV <3004> (5723) {SAYING,} tiV <5101> {WHO [IS]} omoioV <3664> {LIKE} tw <3588> {TO THE} qhriw <2342> {BEAST?} tiV <5101> {WHO} dunatai <1410> (5736) {IS ABLE} polemhsai <4170> (5658) {TO MAKE WAR} met <3326> {WITH} autou <846> {IT?}

5 kai <2532> {AND} edoqh <1325> (5681) {WAS GIVEN} autw <846> {TO IT} stoma <4750> {A MOUTH} laloun <2980> (5723) {SPEAKING} megala <3173> {GREAT THINGS} kai <2532> {AND} blasfhmiaV <988> {BLASPHEMY;} kai <2532> {AND} edoqh <1325> (5681) {WAS GIVEN} autw <846> {TO IT} exousia <1849> {AUTHORITY} poihsai <4160> (5658) {TO SET} mhnaV <3376> {MONTHS} tessarakonta <5062> {FORTY} duo <1417> {TWO.}

Map of the Roman Empire