Immediately after the departure the false prophet appears, who exalts himself as a God and desires exclusive devotion. (2Tess. 2:3,4) (see also: world powers 6. The origin of the wild beast with two horns)
WEB (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4) 3 Let no one deceive you in any way. For it will not be, unless the departure comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of destruction, 4 he who opposes and exalts himself against all that is called God or that is worshiped; so that he sits as God in the temple of God, setting himself up as God.
The false prophet therefore is according to 2Thessalonicenzen 2:3 the son of destruction.
In Revelation, the false prophet is described as a person with the appearance of an innocent lamb (Messiah), but with the story full of lies of a dragon (Satan).
WEB (Revelation 13:11) 11 I saw another beast coming up out of the earth. He had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke like a dragon.
The number of the false prophet is the number of a man; six hundred sixty-six:
WEB (Revelation 13:18) 18 Here is wisdom. He who has understanding, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. His number is six hundred sixty-six.
In Scripture, this number appears again in 1 Kings:
WEB (1Kings 10:14,15) 14 Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred sixty-six talents of gold, 15 besides that which the traders brought, and the traffic of the merchants, and of all the kings of the mixed people, and of the governors of the country..
Solomon had a great financial wealth in his kingdom, he received 666 talents of gold per year. If we make a direct comparison with Solomon, the person with the number 666 represents probably a very rich person in his time, like King Solomon was.
He wants to be worshiped as God, and be showered with riches: (see: world powers 8. The wild beast with two horns)
WEB (2 Thessalonians 2:4) 4 he who opposes and exalts himself against all that is called God or that is worshiped; so that he sits as God in the temple of God, setting himself up as God.
WEB (Daniel 11:38) 38 But in his place shall he honor the god of fortresses; and a god whom his fathers didn’t know shall he honor with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
The wild beast with two horns will provide powerful signs such as fire coming down:
WEB (Revelation 13:13-14) 13 He performs great signs, even making fire come down out of the sky to the earth in the sight of people. 14 He deceives my own people who dwell on the earth because of the signs he was granted to do in front of the beast; saying to those who dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast who had the sword wound and lived.
In Rev. 19:20 this wild beast with two horns is identified as “the false prophet”:
WEB (Revelation 19:20) 20 The beast was taken, and with him the false prophet who worked the signs in his sight, with which he deceived…….
Because the rebellion has already come, the false prophet must soon be revealed.
If we relate the above section to the world as we know it today, there must already be interfaces or connections.
In 2010, an organization is founded, The Giving Pledge.
Pledge means in this case a signed agreement by a philanthropist to donate half of his wealth to society, however, it is not a legal contract.
It is an initiative of Bill Gates and Warren Buffet and a lot of very rich people have signed so far The Giving Pledge.
The donated money is mainly used as an investment in education, even kindergartens, in which the foundation wants a delegation in the board.
The reactions to The Giving Pledge are divided:
Pablo Eisenberg, who works at the Center for Public and Nonprofit Leadership at Georgetown University, is afraid that it only adds to the amount of mega-foundations. This can have bad consequences for democracy, because these foundations do influence the political agenda very much.
Other people find it a legitimization of greed to then by the people – as appreciation – be placed on a pedestal if in times of crisis many billions are strewed.
http://www.economist.com/node/21555605
At a recent meeting of The Giving Pledge at Santa Barbara was the hottest topic – according to the article – “impact investing,” a phrase that describes how to invest money to make money and do good at the same time.
Each signatory shall submit a written explanation why he signs the Pledge, many of them take an example of the 19th century steel magnate Andrew Carnegie, who wrote the book “The Gospel of Wealth”.
Herein describes Carnegie that the rich must be trusted by the government so that their money can be useful applied in society to improve the living conditions of the disadvantaged.
Carnegie spent the bulk of his fortune to the construction of 2,500 public libraries.
The theory of Carnegie seems debatable if we look at the huge tax evasion by companies and super rich.
Recently it appears in a TV documentary about ‘tax havens’, that by a collaboration of large accountancy firms, lawyers and bankers absurd amounts of cash out of the economy are removed and through various tax havens fully or partially tax-free be laundered.
According to ‘The Guardian’ it may well be possible of globally 32.000 billion dollars:
http://www.euronews.com/2013/04/04/rich-using-offshore-tax-havens-exposed/
It is estimated to 32.000 billion dollars that could stand in offshore accounts , according to The Guardian in collaboration with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).
The offshore industry, said the ICIJ, allows the rich a tax evasion, allows fuel corruption and ignites considerable economic difficulties in both poor countries and rich countries.
The philanthropists of The Giving Pledge, most of their lives people have squeezed through as much as possible to sell for the highest price and many of them have evaded taxes, which are apparently suddenly changed benefactors.
The philanthropists of The Giving Pledge, of which the most all their life have squeezed people by selling as much as possible for the highest price and of which many have evaded taxes, these apparently are suddenly changed into benefactors.
As a Christian, it really is a sin to want to stand as a benefactor to the fore. They are described in Scripture as hypocrites who want to be honored by men.
Christians don’t let the left hand know what the right hand gives:
WEB (Matthew 6:1-4) 1 “Be careful that you don’t do your charitable giving before men, to be seen by them, or else you have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. 2 Therefore when you do merciful deeds, don’t sound a trumpet before yourself, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may get glory from men. Most assuredly I tell you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you do merciful deeds, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand does, 4 so that your merciful deeds may be in secret, then your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
Because this way of charity is in contrary to the Christian lifestyle, questions arise about this charity:
What do these foundations want back, will they first help people out of the fire with an overwhelming gesture or support them financially and then impose requirements and make them dependent?
Or it is developing power, to gain prestige and desire exclusive dedication?
In the latter case, this is the identification of the foretold false prophet .
From Scripture we have a clear picture of how the false prophet will manifest himself, but we have not yet seen the powerful signs that he will do.
This false prophet is probably a very rich person, like Solomon. (1 Kings 10:14,15)
He’s like Satan an opponent of God, who opposes and exalts himself and wants to be worshiped as God. (2Thess. 2:4)
This false prophet has the same method as Satan, with all sorts of power and signs and lies. (2 Thess. 2:9)
It is not yet certain that The Giving Pledge is the foretold false prophet.
After all, so far, the actions of The Giving Pledge appear in our eyes still as rather soft signs, which does not mean that it can still start manifesting very different ….
Read more at: 7. Revelation; the harvest