Daniel 7:7-8


Shalom!

This is Israel Leonard with the Word of God for you!

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Do you know that tomorrow's news are already here? They are called "prophecies". And there are many prophecies about this time of ours. Which ones do you believe?

This is not a simple question, because this world has seen many prophets and many false prophets also. But let's go to a real one, among those who wrote the Word of God.

When Our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified, his mother and one of his disciples were at the cross. That man was the apostle John, to whom Jesus entrusted his mother - and He entrusted John also to her. This disciple couldn't stay in Jerusalem because of his ministry and also because of the persecutions of the Roman Empire against Christians. We find him in the book of Acts 8:14 when he went to Samaria with Peter, and then in the Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15 (where Paul says to have met him in Galatians 2:1-9) But we hear nothing more about him until the book of Revelation, where we read that he was a prisoner in the island of Patmos, because of his faith. This book of Revelation, the great prophetical book of the New Testament, was written by John there, and it's inspired by God to strenghten the newborn church under Roman persecution, and to give us a most detailed revelation about the Second Coming of Jesus and the Kingdom of God. Remember, it is a highly prophetical book, and those prophecies WILL be fulfilled.

What's the relationship between the books of Daniel and Revelation?

In a quick comparison we can point at least five great similarities:

  1. They both saw Jesus Christ and got revelations from Him. Compare Daniel 10 and Revelation 1.
  2. They saw also God in his throne, and the Son of Man presenting Himself before His Father to receive His kingdom. Compare Daniel 7 and Revelation 4 and 5.
  3. They saw the Messiah coming to this earth, and the Kingdom of God with Him (it's found in Daniel 2, 7 and 12; compare Revelation 19 and 20)
  4. They saw the resurrection of the believers and unbelievers. Compare Daniel 12 and Revelation 20
  5. They saw the fall of the last human government, the "beast" of Revelation 13 which falls in Revelation 17-19; it is also seen in Daniel 2, 7, 9 and 11.

What is it that is so special about these books?

Which message do they have for us today?

Let me put these questions in their context.

In the book of Chronicles, chapter 28, we read about king David, who was talking to the people about his intention of building God's temple in Jerusalem. He tells them that God had forbidden him to do that, because He had destined Solomon his son to accomplish it. It was revealed to king David in a prophecy that God gave him through Nathan, which you can find in 2nd Samuel chapter 7. King David confirmed and strenghtened Israel and its capital Jerusalem. He intended to build the temple and even gathered materials to accomplish the task. But it was not he who made it. It was his son Solomon.

This history is a type of something which happened with the birth of the Pentecostal Church, which has its origins in the Holiness Movement in the Methodist Church. The Methodist Revival was a so strong influence within the church that many have seen it as the prophetical fulfilment of the prophecies to the church of Philadelphia in the book of Revelation. But Wesley saw only dimly the great restoration of Israel, and he was amazed by the book of Revelation, that was "so Jewish". It was not his church the one who received this great prophecy and revelation, but the church which was born from her.

We can hardly imagine the birth of Pentecostalism without a closer relationship with the Holy Spirit that was a primary doctrine in Methodism and in the Holiness Movement. In the same way that Luther's Reformation leads the Church back to the Scriptures, Methodism leads it back to the Holy Spirit. But Wesley served and preached in a time when almost the whole church was antisemite. The mainstream doctrine was that the church had replaced Israel as God's people, and that the promises of the Old Testament to Israel were to be fulfiled on the church, no longer on Israel. It was even vox populi that the Jews were the ones who killed Jesus Christ. Nobody even dreamt that Israel should be a nation again. It would take some time for the Holy Spirit to set the church free from antisemitism. And it is far, far from done.

How did it come to pass that the church became antisemite, and the interpretation of Revelation - and of the whole Bible - was twisted in order to sustain such claims?

It's simple: somewhere, most of the church abandoned John's theology, the doctrine of the writer of Revelation, and adopted Augustine's theology, one of the most known "fathers of the church" and author of "Amillennialism". Our faith determines our actions. If we believe God's prophecies, then we do God's work. If we believe false prophecies, then we do the devil's work.

Now, what is this "theology of John" that the church rejected? Let me tell you.

John's writings in the NT are a gospel, three letters and the book of Revelation. But let's focus on this last one. There are at least three ways of interpreting Revelation: futurist, preterist and allegorical. Futurists live in expectation that many prophecies are about to be fulfilled. Preterists on the other hand believe that all prophecies are already been fulfilled, and allegorists don't see any prophecies, but allegories about the war between good and evil. There is a big difference; a prophecy is a development that you know for certain will take place, but an allegory can be seen as a fictional moral story with the only purpose of addressing a person or congregation to correct them. It's end is not always to describe future events.

Now listen carefully: John the apostle, the author of the book of Revelation, received not only visions and prophecies. Many times he received the interpretation of them, the meaning they convey, in the same way that Daniel got revelation about the meaning of his visions. Because of these interpretations, John and his disciples were all futurists. They believed that those visions and revelations were talking about a special fulfilment in a special period of human history.

Let's put it this way: When Daniel said to king Nebuchadnezzar, "After you, another kingdom will arise...", he was unequivocally saying that the silver in the statue of the king's dream was the Persian Empire, the one who raised after Babylonia, and no other one. When the Lord says to John, "The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches", He was saying that the visions had a concrete meaning, seven churches which existed in "Asia" - not the whole continent, but a Roman province in that land we know now as Turkey. He was also saying that the meaning of the stars were the pastors of those churches ("angel" comes from Greek "ángelos" which means an angel, or a messenger, or a preacher) The Persian Empire, the seven churches or the pastors can "typify" something else and then they get a wider prophetical meaning, but they never cease TO BE that thing which is revealed in the original interpretation. If we see the books of Daniel and Revelation in this light, which is what the authors themselves do, the only possible interpretation is futurist, because it is the only one which explains all things. The Spirit of God will reveal and interpret for us the same things he inspired to the authors of the Bible, because He is the same Spirit which inspired them when they wrote. He is God.

Why then did those other interpretations, "preterist" and "allegorical", appear?

Well, they appeared because of a hidden agenda. Which one?

Let's take the second one, the "allegorical" interpretation. Its proponent was Augustine of Hippo, who lived from 354 to 430 AD. He developed a doctrine known as "Amillennialism" - this means "there is no millennium" - and his doctrine requieres to interpret Revelation in an allegorical way. When you use allegorical language, there's no "must" in the interpretations. They are moralizing stories, not prophetical ones. This method was very useful to Augustine, who wanted to prove that there is no millennial kingdom coming with Christ the Messiah, as we read in Revelation 20, but the thousand years we read about there is the "era of the church", BEFORE Jesus comes.

Why do we call amillennialism an "interpretation with hidden agenda"?

Because it forces the Scripture to say something different than the truth that was revealed to the prophets and saints of God, so that the "interpretation" fits in a preset model that the exegete has in mind. The original meaning of the symbols in Daniel and Revelation implies that they mean one thing, and one thing only. Once they have been interpreted, THAT IS THE THING. It doesn't matter how much you allegorize about it, THEY REMAIN THE SAME THING, basically. Allegorization and new meanings are absolutely valid methods, but they have no authority to make the original interpretations invalid. If it were so, the Messiah, who was revealed to be Jesus Christ, tomorrow could be another person who fulfills the same prophecies in the OT and invalidate Jesus as Messiah. There are several false Messiahs who have made that claim.

Let me put it another way:

Chemistry exists because "H2O" is ALWAYS water. If the combination of two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen should be equal to a molecule of water "sometimes", but equal to alcohol, or equal to cod liver oil another times, then chemistry would be impossible to know, and chemical laws wouldn't exist. We could forget the industrial revolution, electricity, computers or cell-phones. The medical science should go back to the Middle Ages, and our world should be a very, very different one.

What is this "amillennialism" that Augustine proposed?

We have to go back to "millennialism", or "there IS a millennium", which is John the apostle's theology and was the same one that Augustine professed before he invented amillennialism. The book of Revelation shows that after a period of total chaos, crisis and terrible judgments on humankind and even on the planet, Jesus Christ will come back. In this second coming, He will seize the "beast" that is governing this ungodly world, and will seize Satan, and start a reign on earth that will endure for a thousand years (that's why it is called "millennium") In this millennium, his saints are governing. It is called "millennialism" and it was the accepted reading in the whole church. The hope on Jesus' coming gives meaning to the Lord's promise that ends the Scripture, "I'm coming soon". Hallelujah!

Millennialism was the mainstream doctrine in the church, not only for John, but for the rest of the apostles, and even for 200 years, for the fathers of the church, including Augustine himself. The real interpretation of Revelation continued in John's disciples, for instance Papias and Polycarp of Smyrna. This last one was the teacher of Irenaeus of Lyon, one of the best expositors of the doctrine, who lived between 130 and 202 AD, and who was in turn the teacher of Hyppolitus of Rome, considered the most important theologian of the 3rd century.

All of these fathers of the church and other ones, including Augustine, believed in millennialism, with one and the same interpretation of the book of Revelation that was mainstream doctrine in the church during two centuries. But in 313 AD the Roman emperor Constantine made Christianity legal, and the Roman Empire underwent a transformation process, which finally wiped out the pagan religions to make Christianity the first one.  

It was in times of a legalised Christianity that Augustine invented his new doctrine, abandoning his former belief and proclaiming that Christ would not bring any millennium. Instead, he interpreted "millennium" as the Kingdom of God that was "the church on earth". When the Christians were no longer an illegal persecuted religion, but the state religion, Augustine found a way to make the books of Revelation and Daniel to say something different about the future.

Augustine's Amillennialism has many prophetical failures, because the church has existed more than a thousand years and the Kingdom of God is yet an alien concept for the majority of mankind. Some theologians retook the non-millennial idea and transformed it in "postmillennialism", which means that the church will bring the Kingdom of God on earth, and THEN shall Jesus come, when every one on earth is a Christian because of the church's work of evangelization. Have in mind the change in both Post- and Amillennialism: they say that the Kingdom of God or Millennium will be done on earth, BEFORE the second coming of Jesus.

Why do we care so much about this Millennium and the second coming of Jesus?

Let's go to the visions of Daniel. The fourth beast that Daniel saw corresponds to the iron in the legs and feet of the statue that Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream. It is also the same beast that John the apostle saw in Revelation 13. Millennialism starts with an interpretation of this beast as the last human government on earth - as it is seen in the interpretation of the dream in Daniel two, or in the vision in Daniel seven - because after this goverment, the Kingdom of God will begin. And because this Kingdom of God comes to us in the Person of the Messiah, Jesus Christ the Son of God in His second coming, then this beast or last human government is the one that Jesus defeats.

Which is the last human government that the beast represents? Let's read first, about the vision of this beast:

Daniel 7:7-8

"After that, in my vision at night I looked, and there before me was a fourth beast - terrifying and frightening and very powerful. It had large iron teeth; it crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. It was different from all the former beasts, and it had ten horns"

"While I was thinking about the horns, there before me was another horn, a little one, which came up among them; and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like the eyes of a human being and a mouth that spoke boastfully"

LET'S PRAY

Almighty God, thank you for Your Word. Thank you for these prophecies which warn us about bad things to come but also give us hope about You, the One who will come to earth and bring eternal justice and eternal peace. Oh Jesus, You who revealed these glorious things, help us to receive the message you have for us today. Amen

This is the original Aramaic text:

"Batár dená, khazé havét bekhezvé lelyá, vaarú khevá rebiayá, dekhilá veemtaní, vetakifá yatirá. Veshinnáyin di farzél la, rabrebán. Akhlá u maddeká, usheará be raglayá ráfsa. Vehí meshanyá min kol khevatá di kadamá, vekarnáyin asár la"

"Mistakál havét bekarnayá, vaalú kéren akhorí zerá silkát benehón, utelát min karnayá kadmayatá etakarú min kodamayá. Vaalú aynín keayné anasá vekarná da, ufúm memalíl rabrebán"

The NIV's rendering for these verses is perfect. "Boasfully" at the end of verse eight is the translation of "rabrebán" which means "grandness" or "great things". But to "speak great things" can also be rendered as a kind of haughty or boastful speech, precisely as it has been translated in the NIV.

Which Empire is represented by this fourth beast?

There are several explanations in the Bible about it. The beast has ten "horns". In Daniel 7:24 we read that these horns are ten kings, and that the "little horn", another king, will raise after them. The "holy people" in Daniel 7:25 - meaning Israel - will be oppressed, and "delivered into his hands" for three and a half years. But the Kingdom of God will finally come, the "horn" or oppressor of Israel will be defeated, and they will receive the Kingdom, as we read in Daniel 7:26-27.

The same history comes back in Revelation. The final beast with ten horns raises in Revelation 13:1, and we read about it in Revelation 17:3 also. The horns are kings there too, as we read in Revelation 17:12, and they will give their power to the little horn, which is called also "beast" in Revelation, meaning this last king. He fulfills in Revelation 13:5-7 the same prophecy of the little horn of Daniel 7.

Who is this last king? Let's see first who he is NOT:

The interpretation known as "preterism" tells us that the beast is the Roman Empire of the first century, and the little horn is identified as the Roman Emperor Titus, who invaded, plundered and destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD. That's why it's called "preterism", because they pretend that all prophecies are already fulfilled. But these events in 70 AD are only the outcome of the first Jewish revolt against the Roman Empire. And the preterists have a big problem with this interpretation: after this war the Kingdom of God didn't come to earth. There were a second and even a third Jewish revolt against Rome. The Empire crushed both rebellions and took several measures to keep the Jews under their rule and to erase Jewish identity. They where massively deportated from Judea (for some secular historians the diaspora begins here) The Roman Empire changed the name of Jerusalem to "Aelia Capitolina" and mixed Judea with Syria, giving them the name "Syria Palaestina" - that's where the name "Palestine" comes from.

What "Kingdom of God" do preterists see here? That same Empire which conquered Jerusalem and tried to erase Israel from the world, persecuted the Christian church for two centuries, killing many Christians and trying to obliterate the church of Jesus Christ. How do preterists manage to explain that the "Kingdom of God" came to this world after Jerusalem's fall, we don't know, but this only claim is enough to show that the doctrine is false and satanical. The Kingdom of God will bring justice and peace to this world, not persecution and death.

Other satanical lie is the "Maccabean Thesis" that identifies this fourth beast with the Seleucid Empire, one of the four kingdoms that appeared because of the division of the territory that Alexander conquered. Then the little horn is Antiochus IV Epiphanes, one of the most cruel enemies of the Jews in their whole history. But this thesis has the same flaw of the previous one, making the "Kingdom of God" to come when it didn't come, Besides, Our Lord Jesus Christ prophesied about the "abomination that causes desolation, spoken of through the prophet Daniel" as a future event, and Jesus Christ spoke almost two centuries AFTER the Maccabean Revolt. The "little horn" of Daniel 7 is not the same as the "little horn" of Daniel 8, which means that the fourth beast is NOT a Greek Empire or a part of the Hellenistic Greece. With the Lord's help we will deal with these two horns in other message.

Other satanical feature of this thesis is that it makes the book of Daniel to a fraud, written AFTER the persecutions of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, "in order to give hope to the Jews fighting for their nation", they say. This idea collides with the book itself, where we read the dates of the stories and visions. Daniel 7 speaks of a vision that the prophet saw "in the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon", Daniel 8 about another vision "in the third year of King Belshazzar’s reign", Daniel 9 about events that took place "in the first year of Darius son of Xerxes", and Daniel 10-12, "in the third year of Cyrus king of Persia". A book that would tell lies about this should not even be in the canon of the Scriptures, or be used by the Lord Jesus Christ as an example of God's Word. The Maccabean Thesis is the galimatias of an anti-Christian philosopher called Porphyry of Tyre, who wanted to delegitimize the existing Christian consensus about Daniel's prophecies in the third century. This nonsense of this enemy of Christ is still in use in our times by other enemies of Christ, who want to take away the authority from the Scriptures, and present us Christians as wrong, especially so called "theologians" who don't believe in the gift of prophecy (we could wonder how you can call yourself a "Christian" and know nothing about the Holy Spirit)

But let's go to the Scripture iself, the one which has the truth. The Bible deals with the vision of this fourth beast, and gives us several clues in the prophecies which are related to it.

The "little horn", which returns in Daniel 7:21-22, is revealed as a king that "arises after the earlier ones", the ten kings. In Revelation 13:1-10 this king is called "beast of the sea" and in Revelation 17:12-13 we read that the ten kings will give him their power and authority. The king of Daniel 7 who "waged war against the holy people" and who "spoke boastfully" is doing the same things in Revelation 13, where he is "the beast of the sea". And he is defeated by Our Lord Jesus Christ in His second coming.

Other clues about this beast are the following ones:

  1. it was "different from all the former beasts"
  2. it wasn't "allowed to live for a period of time" after losing its power, like the other beasts were allowed in Daniel 7:12
  3. it got "a fatal wound" but it "healed", which is an important piece of evidence that we find in Revelation 13:3

When we say NO to the satanical doctrines and hold us to the revelations that we find in the Word of God, we can gather some information about REAL things that we can know about this fourth beast and the little horn:

  1. It rose after the leopard, defeated it and replaced it
  2. It is called "Babylonia" in Revelation, in a symbolical way
  3. It was wounded but healed, and
  4. It is different from all the other ones

There is only one Empire in human history which fulfils these prophecies. The Empire that raised after "the leopard" Greece, is Rome, the fourth beast. In 1 Peter 5:13, "Babylon" is used in a symbolic way to mean "Rome" (there was no church in Babylon at that time) and that explains why we read about the "fall of Babylon" in the book of Revelation, to mean the fall of Rome. Early Christians saw Rome as Jews had seen Babylon, and besides, it was kind of a code to avoid to use the real name because of the persecutions. If John prophesies "the fall of Rome" in Revelation 17-19 he should be accused of sedition and his prophetic ministry should have been probably shortened. Besides, in Revelation 17:5 we read: "The name written on her forehead was a mystery: Babylon the great..." The word "mystery" is showing us that this "Babylon" is not the known one, but another country or people which is being called so.

But if Rome is this fourth beast, why is preterism wrong? Don't they say the same thing?

Not exactly. When we take a look to the verses about the fall of this beast, we ALWAYS read that the Kingdom of God comes immediatly after that event. Observe these three examples from the Scripture:

In Daniel 2:44-45, the rock cut out of a mountain which broke all metals is "the kingdom that will never be destroyed", and which will be set up by God "in the time of those kings" - the ones represented by the feet of iron and clay

In Daniel 7:11-14, the Son of Man comes before God and receives the "kingdom that will never be destroyed", AFTER the destruction of the beast, which was "slain, and its body destroyed and thrown into the blazing fire"

In Revelation 19:11-20:6 we read about the Second Coming of Jesus, when he defeats the beast, which is "thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur", and then Satan is bound and the Millennial Kingdom begins.

It is evident that the three passages of the Scriptures are describing the same event. And we can't explain the coming of the Kingdom of God or Jesus Christ's Second Coming with preterism, because IT IS NOT "that" Rome from Antiquity the last human government that Jesus will defeat when He comes.

How does Jesus defeat Rome, and bring the Kingdom of God to the world?

Observe carefully what we read in Revelation 13:3:

"One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast"

This beast has been fatally wounded several times. By 476 AD the Empire was divided between the Roman West Empire and Byzantium, the Eastern Empire. The western part fell on that year and was conquered by tribes from the north. This is considered "Rome's fall" in secular history. But certainly Rome didn't fall in 476 AD; only the western part did. Byzantium lasted almost a thousand years more with its capital Constantinople, and by 800 AD a new Roman Empire was born in the west, including today's Germany. This kingdom was called "Holy Roman Empire" and later, the "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation". The Holy Roman Empire ended 1806 AD, when the last emperor, Francis II, abdicated and dissolved the Empire, becoming Francis I of Austria. He did it in order to avoid that Napoleon Bonaparte, which defeated the Austrian army in Austerlitz, would claim the title, legitimizing himself as Europe's emperor.

This little historical outline shows us that at least three times "the beast was fatally wounded":
  1. in 476 by Odoacer, king of the federati
  2. in 1453 by Mehmet II, Ottoman sultan and
  3. in 1806 by Napoleon Bonaparte, the French emperor
But Revelation 13:3 says its wound was healed. It happened in 800 AD, and it will happen again. We that live in Europe are witnessing the arising of this beast. From 1993, when the European Union was proclaimed, the natural trend has been that the European states are losing sovereignty all the time. In circa 20 years, the language of "collaboration" has changed drastically to another one of exigence or subjugation of minor or weaker states. Because of those developments, countries like Greece or the UK have been considering to abandone it, and the actual migratory crisis has caused to rise great antagonisms between the ones who are for or against a policy of "open doors". For instance, Hungary's position defending its borders has been criticized by some apprentices of dictator which despise the rights of a sovereign state.

This kind of developments is not surprising if we read about the "feet of iron and baked clay" in the statue of Nebuchadnezzar's dream. Rome, which started as "legs of iron", is becoming "feet of iron and baked clay", which Daniel interpreted as a "human mixture" which can't prosper, like iron doesn't mix with clay.

The arise of this beast is linked to several crisis that we find in Revelation chapter six, together with the beast itself. The "little horn" is riding out in a white horse in order to conquer the world. Other three horses follow him, symbolizing war, financial crisis and death. There are voices already calling for an pan-European dictator to come; the time of their triumph is not revealed to us yet. But we see all the time that nations are difficult to govern, that democratic structures and democratic thought is eroding, and that the absence of order only leads the continent to that destination.

Last but not least, this fourth beast is different from all the other ones. There are at least two differences we can point to:

ITS INFLUENCE. Rome gave birth to several European nations that conquered most of the world. Between 1492, when Columbus came to the New World, and the first half of the last century, America, Australia and extensive territories in Africa or Asia were conquered by the children of Rome. The colonization has left European languages, the latin alphabet, the Christian religion and the western civilization as a powerful influence in most of these countries, as a part of their identity. In comparison, Babylonia, Persia or Greece have lost their influence in the former conquered territories.

ITS FALL. In Daniel 7:12 we read that "the other beasts had been stripped of their authority, but were allowed to live for a period of time". Before they lost their dominion, the first three beasts lasted a certain period. Babylonia coexisted some years with Persia, before its fall in 539 BC. In the same way, Persia coexisted with Greece, and Greece with Rome, for a certain period of time. But the fall of the fourth beast will be a sudden one, because it will be replaced by the Kingdom of God, which won't coexist with human governments.

There is a one and only prophetical development about the events that will take place when Jesus comes, and we can find it anywhere in the Scripture. It is in Nebuchadnezzar's dream, it is in the vision of the beasts in Daniel seven, and it is in the book of Revelation, with this last empire and its fall when Jesus comes.

Augustine said that the church was the Kingdom of God. But in the 7th century, a half of that "kingdom" became Muslim. Then in 1054 AD, half of the remaining "kingdom" became Ortodox, and in 1521 AD began a Reformation that took half of that "quarter kingdom" remaining, and it became Protestant. In the three divisions of the church, many "citizens of the kingdom" have become apostates, it means atheists, heretics, sectarians and many more. There is a clear way to prove prophecies right or wrong, and it is in Deuteronomy 18:21-22:

"You may say to yourselves, 'How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord?' If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously, so do not be alarmed"

It is clear that the amillennialist view of this world is totally false. And the same thing applies to Postmillennialism. The prophecies about the last times show us a world full of evil, wars, crisis and apostasy, an ungodly world that the Messiah will mend when He comes back, NOT the church with evangelization. The church shall evangelize, the church shall save souls of men from hell, but the church will NOT make this world to a Christian one. It is the Messiah who will bring justice and peace to the whole earth, not the church. The Messiah shall bring the Kingdom of God to the world, that kingdom wich king Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream, which Daniel saw in his vision, which John tells us about in the book of Revelation.

There is a prophecy, a one and only prophecy, about all things that will take place when the Lord comes. As we have seen, it's been misunderstood because of false interpreters who have deceived many. But Jesus said that the truth will set us free. He wants us to know the truth. The Messiah's coming is our blessed hope that God's justice will dwell on earth forever. There are people who believe that the church will evangelize the whole world before the second coming of Jesus, that everyone in Saudi Arabia or China will become Christian, Communism and Islam will give way to democracy, everyone will be Christian, and THEN will Jesus come. But that "prophecy" is found nowhere in the Bible. The prophecies you can find in the Scripture are about a second coming that nobody is waiting for, and nobody knows when it will take place - that's why He comes "as a thief". The prophecies about this second coming are about an ungodly world, with a great apostasy, the love of many growing cold, great persecutions of Christians, the Jews back in their ancestral home, great hostility against Israel in all nations, a world with wars, epidemics, financial crisis... That's what you can read in the Bible before the second coming of Christ, and that's what is being fulfilled before our own eyes.

You are not supposed to live in a fictional world, make a "politically correct" theology for yourself, and dream with a peaceful world where Muslim terrorists will have a revival together with Seven Day Adventists, or where Communists will join the Mormons in great Masses. This world is only in "decay mode", and we don't need to hide our heads in the sand. The gospel is being preached in almost all nations, and thousands or maybe millions become Christians every year. But it is not the way the kingdom of God will come to earth. It is the way of saving souls NOW. Jesus is coming soon, and the eternal Kingdom of God will come with Him!

If you have not yet received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, let me tell you that it is not too late. The day will come when you won't be able to do it, but if you are listening to this message, it is not today. The Lord calls you to set you free from sin, deception and falsehood. Jesus is coming! The Lord's Coming is our hope, it is a guarantee that we who have received him as our Lord and Savior will be with Him on eternity. And the Lord's Coming is also a warning to those who haven't received Him, a warning about great plagues and cataclisms coming on earth, the last and terrible judgements of God that will be poured on this ungodly world.

With a prayer, you can change your destination on eternity. With a prayer you can receive the blessed hope of Jesus Christ manifestation. With a prayer you can enter the house of God and know the truth. Jesus said that the truth should set us free. With a prayer you can be set free from your sins, and receive the One who will lead you to the heavenly realm.

Do you want to receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? Just pray with me:

PRAYER

Thank you Lord for that light you bring to us. Thank you for your Son Jesus Christ who has the power to set us free. Thank you for your love, that even when we have sinnned against you, and we have been living in a lie, you still call us and want us to live in communion with you. Forgive my sins, o Lord, forgive me and receive me in your communion. Be my Lord, be my Savior, be my God. I want to follow you and you alone, o Lord. In Jesus Holy Name. AMEN

The peace of God be with you all!

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