Chapter 18
The Final Fate of the Antichrist
WE have noted that the nations of Europe will finally
turn upon the Papacy with great ferocity (Revelation 17:16); however,
before that event occurs, Scripture states that the nations of the world
will cry, "Peace and safety." (1 Thessalonians 5:3)
Cries of peace are already being heard. These cries are
based upon two diplomatic negotiations in Rome and Moscow.
The pope’s vision of a unified Europe from the
Atlantic to the Urals and Mr. Mikhail Gorbachev’s notion of a
"common European house" had, until recently, only geography in
common. Yet the more the Soviet leader introduces changes in his country
and reorients Soviet foreign policy, the closer they grow. (Singapore Straits
Times, March 13 1990)
It is the Vatican which is largely orchestrating those
changes in Soviet foreign policy.
The word in Rome is that, during the meetings with Mr.
Gorbachev in December, the pope noted that there had not been bloodshed in
the Baltic Republic [Lithuania], the Ukraine, or other Soviet regions
where there is a strong Roman Catholic presence. This was in striking
contrast to what was happening in mostly Muslim Azerbaijan. The message to
the Soviet leader seemed to be that Mr. Gorbachev could survive the
secession of the Baltic states and even periodic trouble in Central Asia.
But if turmoil erupted in the important, populous Ukraine, he could not
survive. Because of the large Catholic population there, the Vatican could
provide invaluable help in keeping spirits calm. The pope said, after Mr.
Gorbachev’s visit, that he would pray for the Soviet leader. Mr.
Gorbachev said that he had asked for the pope’s spiritual contribution.
The design is one of vast proportions. For Mr. Gorbachev, it would mean
substantial help in keeping order and stability in the sensitive regions
of his country where there are large numbers of Catholics. For the pope,
it would mean gaining religious freedom in the Soviet Union. (Straits
Times, March 13 1990)
Past indications are that promises made by the Vatican
are valid only so long as they meet Vatican political needs. When
expedient to do so, the Vatican regards its assurances as ropes of sand
broken with ease; thus Gorbachev, in accepting John Paul II’s promise to
keep Roman Catholics in the Ukraine calm, would be a naive student of
Vatican political policy if he expected an indefinite tenure to that
promise.
If Lithuanian independence is firmly established and
recognized by the world community of nations, it would not be beyond
Vatican treachery for it to encourage similar ambitions in the Ukraine.
Already, mild calls for such independence are abroad.
The Ukrainian nationalist party, Rukh, buoyed by fresh
election victories after just six months in existence, has pledged to
follow the example of the Baltic states and push for independence.
(Bangkok Nation, March 22 1990)
Fortunately for the U.S.S.R., the Rukh Party obtained
only 30 percent of the seats in the first multiparty election; thus, at
the present, it does not possess the political muscle to implement its
agenda.
Mr. Odarich, the leader of the Rukh Party, has made an
ominous prediction:
Against little Lithuania, he [Gorbachev] could still
find a pretext to send in troops. But, against the Ukrainian people, this
is impossible. (Ibid.)
The devout student of prophecy will watch the events in
the U.S.S.R. with great interest as they evolve, particularly the
interplay between the Kremlin and the Vatican.
While all three Baltic republics—Estonia, Latvia, and
Lithuania—crave their pre-1940 independence, it is quite significant
that Lithuania, with its more than 80 percent Roman Catholic population,
was the first to declare its independence. The other two have cautiously
followed. This turn of events did not provide a simple solution for
Gorbachev. Military intervention was hardly a viable option because of the
delicate Vatican relations at stake. On the other hand, doing nothing
would have been an invitation for other republics to follow the same
example. Gorbachev chose the less dangerous option of economic boycott—a
warning to other Soviet republics; yet this option is less threatening to
developing relations with the Vatican.
Significantly, on March 15 1990, the Vatican and the
U.S.S.R. exchanged ambassadors for the first time in over seventy years.
We can rest assured that it is not religious freedom
that the Vatican seeks for the U.S.S.R. Prophecy predicts that papal
dominance will be achieved in the U.S.S.R. and throughout Europe, but only
for a "short space." As the iron curtain totally crumbles and
becomes only a matter of historical interest, the cries of peace are
perfectly understandable Troops and armaments in Europe have been
increasingly cut back; nevertheless, the same divine voice declared that
there would be a swift end to peace.
For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden
destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they
shall not escape. (1 Thessalonians 5:3)
This scene depicts the cataclysmic end to the powers of
this earth, when God’s hand is felt in the affairs of men. The nations
of the world have followed, for too long, the policies of expediency
instead of righteousness. The final support of the antichrist power (in
Europe, America, and the whole world) is the final affront to a pure and
holy God.
In a few brief verses, the prophet Daniel saw the
scenario which we have portrayed. A little background detail is necessary.
At the death of Alexander the Great, his kingdom was divided into four
parts by his four powerful generals. Lysimachus became the king of the
North; Ptolemy became the king of the South; Cassander accepted the throne
of the Western territories; and Seleucus, the Eastern.
Daniel used the terms, king of the North and king
of the South, to depict the principal powers involved in the last-day
events which have been discussed in this book. We know that they are
last-day events because Daniel places them "at the time of the
end." (Daniel 11:40) Let us read this fascinating prophecy:
And at the time of the end shall the king of the south
push at him [the king of the north]: 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, and shall overflow and
pass over. (Daniel 11:40)
Two victories are recorded here. First, the king of the
South at the time of the end "pushes at" the king of the North.
Second, the king of the North eventually gets his revenge, and destroys
the king of the South with great alacrity ("like a whirlwind").
The present-day kings of the South and the North, as symbolized, are not
geographical entities; instead, they are political entities possessing
characteristics of the two former kingdoms.
This fact is easily illustrated in examination of the
king of the South. The original king of the South incorporated the
territory of Egypt. No ancient kingdom blasphemed the name of God more
than did this land. Pharaoh retorted when Moses and Aaron sought the
release of the Israelites from Egypt:
And Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord, that I should obey
his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel
go. (Exodus 5:2)
Egypt symbolized atheism, and was a fitting symbol of
its political entity—communism. Another beast, the beast of Revelation
11, was appropriately represented by Sodom and Egypt (Revelation 11:8),
two areas over which the king of the South ruled. This beast is the least
noticed in the book of Revelation; yet it is a powerful symbol of the
atheism that commenced at the time of the French Revolution.
It is advantageous to spend a brief moment examining
this beast because it clarifies a number of things about the king of the
south. In Revelation, chapter 11, God’s two witnesses—the Old and the
New Testaments—are mentioned. The zealous effort to destroy these
witnesses during the era of papal dominance is outlined. But with the
coming of the sixteenth-century Reformation, the power of those witnesses
is seen.
And when they [the Old and the New Testaments] shall
have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the
bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and
kill them. (Revelation 11:7)
This passage refers to the banning of the Scriptures in
Paris and throughout France during the French Revolution. At that time,
thousands of copies of the Holy Bible were cast into the bonfires.
And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the
great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our
Lord was crucified. (Revelation 11:8)
It all started in Poland, say close advisers to the
pope. One can hardly deny it, adds Adam Bonlecki [a priest], editor of the
Polish edition of Osservatore Romano. During Karol Wojtyla’s
first trip to Poland as Pope John Paul II, in 1979, the streets were
filled with millions of people. He sent a clear message to the crowds,
"Liberate yourselves from fear; it is the only tool the regime can
use against you." That was the beginning of the great events that
unfolded in the following years, says Bishop Szczepan Wesoly, who
accompanied the pope. For the first time, the people realized the extent
of their potential strength. A year later, during the strikes at the Lenin
Shipyards, in Gdansk, huge portraits of the pope were everywhere, a new
and incredible thing in a communist country—the snowball that became an
avalanche. And now Vatican diplomats, some of the world’s most
effective, are on the move. (Singapore Straits Times, March 13
1990)
God’s Word has certainly been fulfilled, because the
Papacy has overflowed and surpassed the strength of communism. And this
has taken place as we have looked on.
The ascendancy of the Papacy, with its period of
terrible persecution, will be mercifully short-lived.
The ten horns [nations of Europe] which thou sawest
upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate
and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. (Revelation
17:16)
Daniel, too, predicts the same fate for the Papacy, but
uses different words. Daniel declares that the king of the North
"shall come to his end, and none shall help him." (Daniel 11:45)
The antichrist will finally be abhorred by all the
nations which supported her in the time of her ascendancy. But it will be
forever too late for those who supported the Papacy when it was a popular
movement. These people heeded man’s dictates instead of responding to
the pleas of a loving God. Today is the moment to make our calling and
election sure. It will be forever too late for those who await the
destruction of the Papacy before they turn to God. Let us always cherish
God’s promise to us:
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some
men count slackness; but is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any
should perish, but that all should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9)
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