Is Armageddon Just Ahead?

      When a cult shot it out with law enforcement agents near Waco, the media reported cult leader David Koresh had predicted “Armageddon.” “Their Armageddon” was the way one reporter put it. How utterly ludicrous that modern news reporters or cult leaders could label bizarre criminal activity “Armageddon.” What ignorance! Do you know about the prophesied “battle of Armageddon”? What is it? Where, and when, is it to occur? Who is to participate in this apocalyptic battle? Here is what your Bible says about “Armageddon.”

by Garner Ted Armstrong

      During the Gulf War, TV evangelist and erstwhile presidential candidate Pat Robertson said, “The nations of the world will come against Israel.” For many decades, he and many other well-known religious teachers had confidently identified the Soviet Union as the infamous “beast” of Bible prophecy.
      Many books were published by these self-proclaimed “prophets,” with titles like The Coming Invasion of Palestine, or Countdown to Armageddon.
      Always, the scenario was that Russia, together with her allies, would come pouring into northern Israel; that this would signal the beginning of the final great battle, or “Armageddon,” to be followed by the Second Coming of Christ.
      During all the years of the Cold War, I was confidently predicting that Russia would not invade Palestine, that Russia was not the “beast” of Bible prophecy. I said thousands of times from the mid 1950s onward that the Warsaw Pact would collapse, that Germany would reunite, that the nations of Eastern Europe like East Germany, Poland, Czechoslavakia, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania would come out from behind the iron curtain. I told live audiences numbering into the many thousands, “You will live to see the day when Russia and the United States may well be allies once again, against a common enemy.”      
      I identified that enemy as a kind of “United States of Europe,” led by a powerful remilitarized Germany!
      In order to understand Bible prophecies concerning the time of the end, one must have a grasp of history, geopolitics—especially the identity of the major players on the world scene. The “Battle of Armageddon” is so called because of the location of the battle to take place.
Notice: “And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon [Satan—Revelation 12:9], and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.
      “For they are the spirits of devils [demons], working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Behold I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue ‘Armageddon’” (Revelation 16:13-16).
      Armageddon is a place, not a battle. The battle is called the “battle of that great day of God Almighty.” The battle is to occur in a place known as “Armageddon.”
Where is it? The Bible plainly says it is a place “called in the Hebrew tongue ‘Armageddon.’” It comes from two words in Hebrew: Har, meaning a ridge or a hill, and Megiddo, a place in Northern Israel in what was a part of ancient Manasseh.
      I have been to “Tel Megiddo,” as it is called, meaning the “Hill (or Mound) of Megiddo.” I still have a couple of small shards of pottery I picked up there, and some small tusks of swine.
      Today, the site is sometimes identified as “Tel-el-Mutesellim,” and it commands the pass from the Plains of Sharon to the Plain of Esdraelon. From the times of Thotmese III, who captured Megiddo in the twenty-third year of his reign until World War I, when Allenby marched there in 1917-1918, Megiddo has been the natural route of advancing armies. Fortifications have been found there which date from two-thousand years before Christ.
      Countless thousands have been slain in battles over the centuries at and near Megiddo.
      Like many other terms and place-names in the Bible, “Megiddo” has come to mean any “final battle.” Shortly after returning from Japan, the late General Douglas MacArthur warned that unless mankind found some greater and more equitable means for settling disputes than warfare, “our Armageddon” would soon be upon us.
      But the Bible speaks of a specific battle, at a specific time, between specific forces, in a specific place.
       Many similar biblical terms are misunderstood, misinterpreted by the media and laymen alike. It is common, for example, to refer to something horrifying, calamitous, truly gargantuan, as “apocalyptic.” But the word “apocalypse” merely means “revelation,” or “a revealing.” A benign word, this. To unveil, disclose, or “reveal” is hardly a hyper-superlative word for something horrifying. Yet, because the “Apocalypse,” or the book of Revelation, contains many prophecies about God’s intervention in human affairs, including the trumpet plagues, the seven last plagues, and the battle of the great day of God Almighty at Armageddon, many have taken the term to mean the sum total of all the horrifying events depicted in the “revelation.”
      So it is with “Armageddon.”
      Cults who shoot it out with law enforcement agents are not experiencing “Armageddon.” Nor, for that matter, are they experiencing their “Apocalypse.” They are merely experiencing the result of the folly of failing to heed Jesus’ constant warnings about how “many false prophets shall arise, and shall deceive many,” and suffering the natural consequences of fathering children from twelve-year old girls, and stockpiling large caches of semi-automatic and full automatic weapons.
      We have seen where Armageddon, or Har-Megiddo, is located. Now, who will be the participants in the battle prophesied to take place there?

Kings of the North, South and East

      The symbolic “frogs,” or unclean spirits (demons), which are seen coming “out of the mouth of the dragon [Satan], and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet...are the spirits of devils [demons], working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them [many kings, many armies, from the “east,” as well as “the whole world”] to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.”
      This is describing world war. It is depicting an invasion by powerful armies from the east of Palestine.
       Now, notice an important, closely related scripture: “And at the time of the end [no question about the time setting of this prophecy] shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries [many nations in adjoining territories], and shall overflow, and pass over.
      “He shall enter also into the glorious land [Palestine], and many countries shall be overthrown [conquered by military force]: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom [probably Turkey, an Islamic state], and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon [probably Iraq and Jordan. The Hashemites of these Arabic countries are Islamic. “Amman” is the modern capitol of Jordan].
      “He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
      “But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians [not the modern-day nations of this name, but “Cush and Put,” probably modern India, Bangladesh, and neighboring countries] shall be at his steps [on his most distant borders].
      “But tidings [intelligence] out of the EAST and out of the north [northeast of Palestine] shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many [notice it is the “kings of the east” that are demonically inspired to advance to Megiddo. Here, news of this advance “troubles” the “king of the north,” who has already occupied Palestine!].
      “And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas [the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean—in Jerusalem] in the glorious holy mountain; he shall come to his end, and none shall help him” (Daniel 11:40-45).
      This is describing an invasion of Palestine, Egypt, and neighboring countries with some exceptions (Edom, and Moab, and the Chief of the children of Ammon) by a northern power.
      Anciently, the “king of the north” was one of the Syrian kings, part of the four divisions of Alexander’s Greco-Macedonian Empire which led to the emergence of Rome as the world power. The “king of the north” was therefore related to the biblical “beasts” of Daniel 7 and 11, and Revelation 13 and 17, as we shall see.
      These prophecies follow one of the most minutely detailed, lengthy prophecies in the Bible. Daniel was inspired to make these predictions about two-hundred years before the Greco-Macedonian Empire ever came into existence; about four-hundred years before the “king of the north,” a line of Syrian kings, and the “king of the south,” a line of lesser pharaohs of Egypt, came on the scene!
      When it was God’s time for the typical fulfillment of this detailed prophecy, and the desecration of Jerusalem during the reign of Antiochus of Syria (from about 175 to 164 B.C.), the Greco-Macedonian Kingdom had already disintegrated (answering to the third beast of Daniel 7) and the Roman Kingdom was forming (the fourth beast of Daniel 7). Remember, though Antiochus’ kingdom was successor to one of the four generals who carved up Alexander’s kingdom immediately upon his death, it was at all times part of the biblically-prophesied BEAST.
      The beast power of prophecy consorts with a false prophet who is a false Christ! Mohammed did not come along until the eighth century after Christ. This was never an Islamic power, not anciently (for Islam did not exist then), nor intended to imply such in the future, for at all times and in all cases the prophecies are dealing with a counterfeit Christian power, a “false prophet” who masquerades as Christ.
      Some idle speculators may assume Iraq and Saddam Hussein are somehow tied in with this prophecy. Not so. Even as the Bible completely ignores the hundreds of regional wars down through history, even ignores World War I and the American Civil War, so there is no mention whatever of most of the various regional conflicts of the world.
             The “king of the north” was Antiochus Epiphanes, king of Syria. Antiochus invaded Egypt, occupying Palestine in the meanwhile, in the eleventh year of his reign, about 166-165 B.C. He set up an altar to Jupiter Olympus in the temple, and caused unclean animals to be offered upon it. Both Josephus and the writer of the book of Maccabees note that this was a fulfillment (albeit a former type of a later, end-time fulfillment) of Daniel’s prophecy concerning “the abomination of desolation” (Daniel 9:27).
      Christ referred to this prophecy, noting that the final fulfillment was for a time yet future:
       “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation [an abhorrent desecration which is abominable in God’s sight which causes desolation, or destruction], spoken of by Daniel the prophet [Daniel 9:27], stand in the holy place [in the temple], (whoso readeth, let him understand:) then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains...” (Matthew 24:15,16).
      Antiochus was the “king of the north” of the early portion of Daniel 11. Commentators and scholars have long recognized that he was but a type, however, of an end-time fulfillment of the main points of Daniel 11:40-45.
      Notice that the “king of the north” of this end-time prophecy occupies Palestine and also overwhelms Egypt. One must ponder the serious question as to what power, from where, and for what purpose would advance at once into both modern Israel and Egypt, historically enemies. Here, the old saw “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” does not seem to apply. The king of the north occupies both Egypt and Palestine, modern Israel.
      Egypt is an Arabic nation. The original Egyptians have long since disappeared. Some speculate the pyramid builders of Central America and Mexico may have sailed there. Some identify the “Gypsies” of “Little Egypt” with the ancient Egyptians. Whatever the fate of the ancient Egyptians, modern-day Egyptians are Arabic, believers in the religion of Mohammed: Islam.
      For generations, Egypt has been the sworn enemy of the Jews; waged war against Israel in 1948, 1956, 1966 and 1973. Notice how this end-time prophecy could not have been understood in its proper, modern context until after the Camp David Accords during the Carter Administration. Daniel’s prophecy specifically states that “Edom and Moab and the chief of the children of Ammon” are not occupied by the “king of the north,” while Egypt and Israel are. Turkey, and the nations immediately to the east of Palestine are Islamic states. Therefore, we are left with a distinct possibility: Since the “king of the south” of the original prophecy (fulfilled in type only) was always one of the Ptolemys of Egypt, a lesser line of Pharaohs, and since Egypt is singled out for military overthrow (Daniel 11:40-45), and since the “king of the south” is the person who “pushes at” (economic? military? political?) the king of the north, precipitating the invasion, it seems logical that a leader of Egypt in the future will fulfill the role of “king of the south.”
      Now, notice the shadowy types associated with the original “king of the north,” Antiochus Epiphanes.
      In verses 20 through 45, the prophecy shifts from Antiochus the Great, a forerunner of Antiochus Epiphanes, and his son, Seleucus Philopator: “Then shall stand up in his estate [replacing Seleucus Philopator] a raiser of taxes in the glory of the kingdom.” This “tax collector” was Heliodorus, as Rawlinson and other authorities prove, and is so identified in the Critical and Experimental Commentary, Vol. IV, p. 446.
      The commentary says: “Maurer translates, ‘one who shall cause the tax-gatherer (Heliodorus) to pass through the glory of the kingdom’—i.e., through Judaea, ‘The glorious land.’ Simon, a Benjamite, in spite against Onias III., the high priest, gave information of the treasures in the Jewish temple; and Seleucus having re-united to Syria Coelo-Syria and Palestine, the dowry formerly given by Antiochus the Great to Cleopatra, Ptolemy’s wife, sent Heliodorus to Jerusalem to plunder the temple. This is narrated, 2 Macc. iii 4 &c. In contrast to this, it is foretold in Zech. ix. 8, ‘No oppressor shall pass through them any more.’”
      Daniel’s prophecy continues, “...but within few days he shall be destroyed, neither in anger, nor in battle....” Heliodorus poisoned Seleucus while Demetrius, Seleucus’ only son and heir was absent from Rome in an attempt to gain the throne, but was instead ousted by Antiochus Epiphanes, who ascended to the throne “by flatteries.”
      Notice, “And in his estate [in place of Heliodorus, the “tax collector”] shall stand up a vile person [Antiochus] to whom they shall not give the honor of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries” (Daniel 11:21).
      Jameison, Fausett and Brown comment, “...the nation shall not, by a public act, confer the kingdom upon him, but he shall obtain it by artifice” (p. 446).
      Notice the language of Daniel’s prophecy: “And with the arms of a flood shall they be overflown from before him, and shall be broken, yea, also the prince of the covenant. And after the league made with him, he shall work deceitfully: for he shall come up, and shall become strong with a small people. He shall enter peaceably even upon the fattest places of the province; and he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his father’s fathers; he shall scatter among them the prey, and spoil, and riches: yea, and he shall forecast his devices against the strong holds, even for a time. And he shall stir up his power and his courage against the king of the South...” [anciently, Ptolemy of Egypt] (Daniel 11:21-25).
      In recent history there was yet another typical fulfillment of a part of this prophecy. Notice that once Antiochus Epiphanes is introduced as a “vile person,” the prophecy never introduces another individual as “king of the north.” Therefore, whoever is to fulfill the role of “king of the north” in the FINAL, literal fulfillment of this prophecy is typified by Antiochus.
      Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany was a member of the “Hohensollern” family. The name meant “tax collector” or “taker of custom” in German! As Germany slipped into grinding poverty, deep depression and political chaos following her defeat in World War I, Hitler came to power by “flatteries.” He appealed to the deep-seated biases and frustrations of the German people, seizing upon the Jews as scapegoat.
      He came to dizzying heights of power with a “small people.” At the time he marched into the Rhineland, the French had an army four times the size of the German army, but did nothing. He “forecast his devices” against the “strongholds” in an incredible series of calculated risks, occupying the Sudetenland in Czechoslavakia, scrapping the Treaty of Versailles, forming an alliance with Italy, he plunged Europe and eventually the world into war by first attacking Poland, and then turning to France, advancing swiftly into northern France around the famous “Maginot Line” by sending his tanks through Belgium.
      Hitler seized power “in a time of peace,” and did so by “flatteries.” He worked “deceitfully,” and many nations were “broken before him.”
      Hitler was an inescapable type of the fourth beast of Daniel 7; the next-to-last resurrection of the same old European system called “the Holy Roman Empire,” which was, for the most part a Germanic kingdom.
      As a forerunner of the GREAT TRIBULATION (Matthew 24:21,22), Hitler occupied most of the democracies of Northwestern Europe. Both America and Britain were deeply involved in World War II; millions of lives were lost on all sides.
      In the early months of World War II, my father, Herbert W. Armstrong, thought Mussolini was the “beast,” considered Hitler merely as an ally. He saw, later, how Hitler had risen up above Mussolini, and began to believe it was Hitler who was the “beast” of Revelation 13 and 17. Because Mussolini had invaded Ethiopia in the early 1930s, my father thought he was seeing the end-time fulfillment of Daniel 11:40-45, which you read above. With Hitler having invaded and occupied Greece; with a combined German and Italian army marching to within the sound of gunfire of Alexandria, Egypt; with Germany poised to leap into Turkey, bottling up the Bosporus-Dardanelles, my father believed the Axis would link up in Palestine. He saw the Japanese making swift advances into Burma; saw the huge British bastion of Singapore, lauded as an impregnable fortress, fall to the Japanese. He knew the Japanese were already bombing Indian cities, that only the British forces in India stood between Japan and the Middle East.
      To him, this massive pincers movement presaged an Axis occupation of Palestine. If it happened, and if the pope in Rome then intervened to stop further bloodshed in the region by going in person to Jerusalem, my father believed he would be seeing the end-time, literal fulfillment of the setting up of the “abomination of desolation,” that the battle of Armageddon was ultimately going to follow.
      Then, when Rommel began to be driven back, when the Germans failed in Russia, when the United States began advancing into the Marshals and Gilberts against Japan, my father began to understand that World War II was not the final battle, that Germany and Japan would lose the war.
      From that time on, he began to preach that Germany would be defeated, but that she would rise from the rubble of her ruined cities to once again dominate Europe. He knew the vicious, die-hard Nazis would “go underground,” fleeing to Spain, Argentina; to many Central and South American countries; change their identities, and bide their time until a new, revitalized, powerful Germany would once again begin to dominate.
      From the mid-1950s, after I had graduated from Ambassador College, been ordained into the ministry, and began speaking on television, radio, and in the pulpit, I continually emphasized the identity of the United States and Europe in prophecy; constantly predicted the rise of Germany to dizzying heights of power—said Germany would one day be the dominant power over a united Europe.
      In order to understand the battle of the Great Day of God Almighty at a place called “Armageddon,” one must know who will be the participants. How does this war begin? Why?

Who is the Beast?

      Christ is pictured as fighting against “the beast” and his armies at His coming (Revelation 19:19-21). Christ is coming, in the power and glory of the Almighty God, with millions of angels, to this earth, to stand on the Mount of Olives near Jerusalem (Zechariah. 14:4).
      Notice how John saw in vision a “beast” that had “ten horns,” which picture “ten kings” (perhaps presidents, prime ministers, premiers, dictators; perhaps absolute monarchs, kings)—a ten-nation combine which is to fight Christ at His coming.
      “And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour [a very brief time in fulfillment—probably no more than a few years, perhaps only one year] with the beast.
      “These have one mind [a unified policy; one master plan to dominate the world], and shall give their power and strength unto the beast [all ten kings give their industrial, economic and military power into a multilateral, ten-nation force].
      “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” (Revelation 17:12-14).
      Obviously, then, this final “beast” power of ten dictators or kings is to fight Christ at His coming. This is the LAST resurrection of the “Holy Roman Empire,” the final world-dominating power.
      This final system is pictured by the ten toes of the great image seen by Nebudchadnezzar, and interpreted by Daniel after God miraculously inspired him to see both the dream and the vision. A thorough reading of Daniel 2 is important. Toward the end of Daniel’s interpretation, after he had told Nebudchadnezzar exactly what he saw, and described the great statue in the plain, he said: “Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of heaven hath He given into thy hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all.
       “Thou art this head of gold...” (Daniel 2:37,38). That the king represents the kingdom is obvious in the prophecy.
      “And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee [Persia, under Cyrus; later, Darius the Mede], and another third kingdom of brass [Alexander’s Greco-Macedonian kingdom], which shall bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.
      “And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potter’s clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.
      “And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken [margin: weak].
      “And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men [a multi-racial mixture; a supra-national combine of nations]: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.
      “And in the days of these kings [the final ten, depicted by the ten toes of iron and clay] shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.
      “Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold;
      “The great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter...” (Daniel 2:37-45).
      Earlier, Daniel had described this great event: “...Thou sawest until a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet [the ten toes!] that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces...and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth” (Daniel 2:34,35).
      Nearly all reputable scholars, writers of Bible commentaries and histories, agree that the image of Daniel 2 depicts the four successive world-ruling empires. Even a layman’s Bible handbook like Halley’s says: “These Four World Empires are commonly taken to be Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome...representing the period from Daniel to Christ. These Beasts seem to form the basis of the imagery of the seven-headed, ten-horned beast of Revelation 13” (Halley’s Bible Handbook, p. 346).
      Indeed they do. Notice: “And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea [image of a Gentile ruler seizing power over a multitude of people], having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy [the so-called “Holy” Roman Empire, with its “spiritual” leaders who arrogated to themselves divine titles].
      “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 [see Revelation 12:9] gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
      “And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death: and his deadly wound was healed [this was the fall of Rome in A.D. 476, and the restoration in 554]: and all the world wondered after the beast.
      “And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast [this is state worship: the adulation of a dictator; vicarious identification with the state as a living organism—patriotism to the extreme, chauvinism], saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?” (Revelation 13:1-4).
      This end-time beast is the same as the fourth beast seen in Daniel’s seventh chapter. Notice that it embodies all the strengths of each of the preceding beasts: the bear (Persia) uses its legs and paws to overturn huge boulders, logs; to dig for marmots and squirrels. A grizzly can disembowel a range bull with but a single stroke. The lion is noted for its oversized head, the huge jaws which can crack the bones of a large animal. The leopard is known for its tremendous body strength. It can carry an animal twice its own weight high into a tree; can obtain lighting-like bursts of speed in short sprints to bring down leaping gazelles.
      Rome, pictured as the “...fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly...” (Daniel 7:7) is meant here. The Roman Empire was the fourth great beast. But it was to have many resurrections, was to continue down through history until the “time of the end.”
      Notice how many times Daniel’s prophecy culminates in the time of the Second Coming of Christ, the time of God’s divine intervention in human affairs: “I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, Whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head like the pure wool: His throne was like the fiery flame [see Ezekiel 1 and 10], and His wheels as burning fire.
      “A fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him: thousand thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened” (Daniel 7:9,10). This is obviously incontrovertible evidence that the events considered in the previous verses, as the “little horn” (the papacy) uproots three kingdoms (probably the Ostrogoths, Vandals, and Heruli [verse 8]) culminate in the time of Christ, the time of His return to earth, and the establishment of His millennial reign.
      Notice further: “I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn [the “little horn,” the papacy; compare with Revelation 13:5-7] spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame” (verse 11; see Revelation 19:20; Ezekiel 28:18; Isaiah 14:15-19).
      Again, notice: “I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days [here it is obvious the “Son of man” is Christ, and the Ancient of days is God, the Father], and they brought Him near before Him.
      “And there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom...which shall not pass away, and His kingdom...shall not be destroyed” (Daniel 7:13).
      Again: “But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever...” (verse 18).
      Again: “I beheld, and the same horn [the “little horn,” symbolizing the false prophet (see II Thessalonians 2)] made war with the saints, and prevailed against them [see Revelation 12:9-17; 13:7]:
      “Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom” (verses 22,23).
      Again: “And he [the “little horn”] shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given [the saints] into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time [three and one-half years—the Tribulation and Day of the Lord].
      “But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end.
      “And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him” (Daniel 7:25-27).
      Thus, time and time again, after introducing the fourth beast with its many heads signifying many resurrections down through history, and its final ten horns signifying the final ten-king combine, the prophecy of Daniel culminates in the Second Coming of Christ.
      Reread all of Daniel 7 carefully, and notices how many times the prophecy leads directly to Christ’s coming, and the establishment of the Millennium!
      Now, we are ready to answer some questions about “Armageddon.”

Who, When, Why, and Where?

      First, who is the “beast” of Revelation 17 and 19? He is the same as the “king of the north” of Daniel 11; the power which invades and occupies Palestine (Daniel 11:40-45).
      He does so at the behest of a “false prophet” depicted by the “little horn” speaking blasphemy, thinking to “change times and laws.”
      Of this individual and his apostate system, Angus’ Bible Handbook says: “Among the prophetic visions of the Apocalypse, there is one peculiarly prominent (Rev. 17:18), which strikingly harmonizes with other prophetic intimations evidently referring to the same subject, (II Thess. 2:3-12, I Tim. 4:1-5). There is unusual agreement among the greater number of the best expositors in explaining these combined prophecies; although some consider them to refer to events still future. They are regarded as predicting the rise and temporary ascendancy of a great apostate power in the midst of the Christian Church, which should be distinguished by the following characteristics:—
      “(1) Deep-seated corruption of religion, which corruption, by fraud as well as force, it spreads and maintains throughout the world, (II Thess. 2:3, 8-10; I Tim. 4:1, 2; Rev. 17:2-5; 18:3-5; 19:2).
      “(2) Gross immorality and licentiousness, combined with hypocritical and self-righteous asceticism, (I Tim. 4:2,3).
      “(3) Arrogant and blasphemous pretensions, usurpation of Divine prerogatives, opposition against God, and persecution of His people, (II Thess. 2:4, 5; Rev. 17:6-14; 18:6-20; 19:2).
      “(4) Great wealth, magnificence, and luxury, (Rev. 17:4; 18:7, 8, 11-19).
      “(5) Reliance upon the support and aid of worldly powers, whose tyranny it sanctions and upholds, (Rev. 17:1, 2, 15, 17; 18:3, 9).
      “Such is the picture drawn by the hand of prophecy, of this rival and enemy of God, seated in His temple; and its counterpart is but too clearly seen in the history of a great portion of Christendom. Out of the abundant proofs furnished by the records of the church during the long, dark night through which she has passed, and even by the present state of the world, it is sufficient to mention a few leading traits of character which mark that system of iniquity in which the fulfilment of these predictions is pre-eminently seen. Gross corruptions of Christian doctrine and worship;—compulsory celibacy and uncommanded austerities, combined with meretricious splendour and a counterfeit Jewish ritual;— blasphemous assumptions of Divine titles and honours, claims of infallibility and supreme authority over the conscience—dispensations and absolution of sins, pretended prophecies and miracles—oppression and persecution of the people of God, carried on with the concurrence and aid of earthly rulers;—all these have been found more or less developed in those antichristian systems which have so greatly prevailed both in Eastern and Western Europe, to the hindrance of the spread of Divine truth, and the ruinous delusion of myriads, who, being blinded by error, perish in their sin” (The Bible Handbook, Joseph Angus, pp. 767,768).
      The beast and the false prophet are allied in an unholy alliance which will bring about the GREAT TRIBULATION upon God’s people, which is obvious from all these prophecies. Notice how many times the prophecies predict how the false prophet (the “little horn”) “wars against the saints of the most High.”
      The first five seals of Revelation 6, together with Christ’s detailed account in Matthew 24, depict the end-time events which lead directly to the Heavenly Signs and the Day of the Lord.
      The first horseman of the Apocalypse (Revelation) signifies false Christs and false prophets, which are but forerunners of the final “man of sin” who will sit in the “temple of God, shewing himself that he is god,” and who Christ will “consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming” (II Thessalonians 2:3-9).
      When will the battle of the “great day of God Almighty” in a place called “Har-Megiddo” take place?
      After the beast and false prophet have already destroyed modern twelve-tribed Israel and occupied Palestine, “tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him” (Daniel 11:44). Intelligence is brought to the super dictator over the ten-nation European power that a massive army composed of dozens of nations; probably Russia, China, Mongolia, and many other nations, including combined Arab armies are coming toward Megiddo from the East.
      There, he “shall go forth with great fury to destroy” (Daniel 11:44).
      Why does all this occur? Simple human lust for power; vanity, greed, virulent, Satan-inspired racism, nationalism, and hatred. For years, the world will have been rocked by a massive, global economic collapse. The United States and Britain will have slipped into a third-world status not unlike Bangladesh, experiencing widespread disease epidemics, poverty, squalor, rampant violence and crime; armed groups attacking towns and farms to take by force of arms the dwindling means of survival.
      If our nations do not repent of their incredible national and personal sins, they shall enter into a time of trouble as has never before occurred (Daniel 12:1; Matthew 24:21,22).
      The first four seals of Revelation 6 describe this horrible time, as does Ezekiel 5:5-17, together with Deuteronomy 28 and Leviticus 26.
      Then comes the fifth seal, which presages religious persecution and martyrdom, exactly as foretold by Christ (Matthew 24:9).
       The sixth seal depicts the Heavenly Signs to come, which will halt all human activity for a time, and will directly result in the greatest harvest of human life for God in all time!
      Notice: “And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;
      “And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.
      “And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
      “And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
      “And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
      “For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” (Revelation 6:12-17).
      Now, notice two companion scriptures: “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
      “And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
      “And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matthew 24:29-31).
      “And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.
      “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come.
      “And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered: for in the Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call” (Joel 2:30-32).
      Christ had warned that EXCEPT GOD CUT SHORT the wars that would break out, the persecutions and martyrdoms against God’s people, “...no flesh should be saved: [alive], but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened” (Matthew 24:21,22).
      During the awesome display of God’s Heavenly Signs, countless millions from all nations, including one hundred and forty-four thousand from among all tribes of Israel, save Dan, are converted.
      Then, millions will suddenly realize God is REAL! They will be shocked, stunned to the point of dying of heart attacks. Christ said: “And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;
      “Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
      “And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
      “And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh” (Luke 21:25-28).
      Now, turn to and read all of Revelation chapter seven. God will supernaturally protect these countless people who will drop to their knees in SHOCKED SURRENDER and desperately, tearfully call out to Him in heart-broken REPENTANCE!
      Then will come the real harvest of THIS WORK; the work of my father, Herbert W. Armstrong, during his lifetime, and the work God has been continuing through this ministry since!
      As Ezekiel wrote, “Also, thou son of man, the children of thy people still are talking against thee by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another, every one to his brother, saying, Come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that cometh forth from the Lord.
      “And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness.
      “And, lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they hear thy words, but they do them not.
      “And when this cometh to pass,, (lo, it will come,) then shall they know that a prophet hath been among them” (Ezekiel 33:30-33).
      Constantly, Ezekiel’s frightening, awesome prophecies terminate in the following expression: “And ye shall know that I am the LORD.” See Ezekiel 6:7,10,13,14; 7:4,27; etc., etc.
      After the supernatural sealing of these “last” who shall be “first,” the terrible trumpet plagues are poured out upon sinning mankind. Read Revelation 7, 8, and 9. Chapters 10 through 15 are insets, dealing with pictures in heaven, the ministry of the two witnesses (chapter 11); the history of the church (chapter 12), the beast and the false prophet (chapter 13), the harvest of the earth for God (chapter 14), the picture of the saints who have gotten the victory over the beast and his mark (chapter 15).
      Chapter 16 picks up the chronological sequence of events once again with the seven last plagues of which the final battle, the “battle of Armageddon,” as many call it, is the main feature.
       The participants are the armies of the beast, who will meet the armies of the “kings of the east” in the plains of Esdralon and Sharon, at and near “Megiddo.” This is the final battle to take place during this cataclysmic time of WORLD WAR at the last moments prior to the Second Coming of Christ!
      As the beast power armies are locked in combat with the countless hordes from Russia, China, and other countries, Christ will descend from heaven at the head of millions of angels.
      The God-defying, hate-filled human armies will assume it is some attack from space, or some secret weapon of their enemy. They will attempt, in their puny, inferior, ridiculous human stupidity to actually fight Christ!
      Now, read all of Revelation 19. Here is a part of it:
       “And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and He that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He doth judge and make war.
      “His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns; and He had a name written, that no man knew, but He himself.
      “And He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and His name is called The Word of God.
      “And the armies which were in heaven followed Him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
      “And out of His mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations: and He shall rule them with a rod of iron: and He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
      “And He hath on His vesture and on His thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.
      “And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;
      “That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.
      “And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him that sat on the horse, and against His army.
      “And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
      And the remnant were slain with the sword of Him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of His mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh” (Revelation 19:11-21).
      Now, notice another related prophecy: “And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink.
      “Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? will ye render me a recompence? And if ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompence upon your own head;
      “Because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly peasant things:
      “The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border.
      “Behold, I will raise them out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will return your recompence upon your own head:
      “And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a people far off: for the Lord hath spoken it.
      “Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles, Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up:
      “Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.
      “Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord.
      “Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.
      “Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great.
      “Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.
      “The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.
      “The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the Lord will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.
      “So shall ye know that I am the Lord your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more” (Joel 3:4-17).
      These “multitudes” in the “valley of decision” are the forces of the beast and the “kings of the east” at the great battle of the Great Day of God Almighty—the “Battle of Armageddon.”
      It is time, and past time, your God is urging you, for “all men everywhere to repent”! God says: “I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.
      “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the LORD come.
      “And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD [the Eternal Creator God] shall be delivered: for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Eternal hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call” (Joel 2::30-32).
      Are you one of those?
      Is it possible God is calling you through these pages? Don’t sell yourself short. Don’t doubt for a moment that God knows you by your first name. Perhaps it is not an accident you are reading these words; perhaps it is not by mere chance you are having your mind opened to see and understand a great deal of God’s precious truth.
      Just perhaps.

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