end time 6. Revelation; the false prophet

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

end time 5. Revelation; the pregnant woman

WEB (Revelation 12:1-4) 1 A great sign was seen in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. 2 She was with child. She cried out in pain, laboring to give birth. 3 Another sign was seen in heaven. Behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven crowns. 4 His tail drew one third of the stars of the sky, and threw them to the earth. The dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child.

This woman is clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet and has a crown of 12 stars. The number 12 occurs more frequently in Scripture  as an organizational form that is complete, as the 12 tribes of God’s covenant people and the 12 apostles of Jesus.
Clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of stars has the meaning of continuous illumination. This light has the meaning of the support of God and the Lamb:

WEB (Revelation 21:23) 23 The city has no need for the sun, neither of the moon, to shine, for the very glory of God illuminated it, and its lamp is the Lamb.

This woman represents the Jerusalem above, the heavenly Jerusalem, the heavenly mother:

WEB (Galatians 4:21-26) 21 Tell me, you that desire to be under the law, don’t you listen to the law? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the handmaid, and one by the free woman. 23 However, the son by the handmaid was born according to the flesh, but the son by the free woman was born through promise. 24 These things contain an allegory, for these are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children to bondage, which is Hagar. 25 For this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answers to the Jerusalem that exists now, for she is in bondage with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem that is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

WEB (Hebrews 12:22-24) 22 But you have come to Mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable multitudes of angels,…

The heavenly Jerusalem turns out to be a heavenly city and includes an organization of angels with their tasks.

Some tasks of angels:
The transfer of the law of Moses (Acts 7:53) (Galatians 3:19)
An angel defeated the army of the Assyrians, one hundred eighty-five thousand men (2 Kings 19:35)
Angels protect us (Psalm 34:7) (Psalm 91:11-12)
Angels provide an escape from prison (Acts 5:19-20)
An angel strengthened Jesus (Luke 22:42-43)
Angels bring messages, as to Zacharias (Luke 1:5-20), to Mary (Luke 1:26-38), to Joseph (Matthew 1:18-25), to Mary Magdalene (Luke 24:4,5)
Angels make war (Revelation 12:7)
Angels have a leader, an archangel (Jude 9)
Angels can function as monarchs (Daniel 10:13,20-21)
Angels accompany Jesus at his second coming (Matthew 16:27) (Matthew 25:31) (Matthew 24:31)

Not all angels are loyal to the woman, the heavenly Jerusalem.
There is an angel with supporters who rather opposes the woman.
This angel is in Rev. 12:3 depicted as a fiery colored dragon, who wants to destroy the newborn child. Rev.12:9 shows, that this “fiery colored dragon” is Satan.
The heavenly woman is pregnant and has birth pangs. In the scriptures we can read in Isaiah 26:17-21, that birth pangs are the beginning of radical events:

WEB (Isaiah 26:17-19) 17 Like as a woman with child, who draws near the time of her delivery, is in pain and cries out in her pangs; so we have been before you, Yahweh. 18 We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have as it were brought forth wind; we have not worked any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen. 19 Your dead shall live; my dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust; for your dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast forth the dead.

The heavenly woman underwent such birth pangs when the birth of the ‘symbolic’ child presented itself:

WEB (Revelation 12:5-9) 5 She gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. Her child was caught up to God, and to his throne. 6 The woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that there they may nourish her one thousand two hundred sixty days. 7 There was war in the sky. Michael and his angels made war on the dragon. The dragon and his angels made war. 8 They didn’t prevail, neither was a place found for him any more in heaven. 9 The great dragon was thrown down, the old serpent, he who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

The dragon, Satan, is after losing the war in heaven (Revelation 12:7,8) thrown down to the earth, together with his angels.
According to Revelation 12:5, the male child is ‘caught up to God and to his throne’. The child is fully protected by God, who takes care.

The war in heaven:

Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and overcame him:

WEB (Revelation 12:7-10) 7 There was war in the sky. Michael and his angels made war on the dragon. The dragon and his angels made war. 8 They didn’t prevail, neither was a place found for him any more in heaven. 9 The great dragon was thrown down, the old serpent, he who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. 10 I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now is come the salvation, the power, and the Kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ; for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them before our God day and night.

The name Michael means: Who is like God.
In the Scriptures, Michael is the only angel who is called an archangel:

WEB (Jude 1:9) 9 But Michael, the archangel, when contending with the devil and arguing about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him an abusive condemnation, but said, “May the Lord rebuke you!”

In Daniel, Michael is named one of the chief princes:

WEB (Daniel 10:13,21) 13 But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; but, behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me: and I remained there with the kings of Persia.
21 But I will tell you that which is inscribed in the writing of truth: and there is none who holds with me against these, but Michael your prince.”

Whether there are other archangels in heaven, Scripture does not say, but the description “one of the chief princes” suggests this may be the case. (Vine’s Dictionary)
Some believe that Jesus is the archangel Michael, but according to Ephesians 1:20-21, Jesus was raised above all princes, including heavenly princes:

KJV (Ephesians 1:20-21) 20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,21 Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:

According to Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, the word ‘principality’ in Ephesians 1:21 is a translation of ‘arche’, which is the prefix of archangel:

Topic: Archangel
… cp. Also Rom. 8:38; Eph. 1:21; Col. 1:16, where the word translated “principalities” is arche, the prefix archangel. “* [* From Notes on Thessalonians, by Hogg and Vine, pp.. 142.]…..

That Jesus shouts with a voice like an archangel is no conclusive evidence that Jesus is the archangel Michael:

WEB (1 Thessalonians 4:16) 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with God’s trumpet. The dead in Christ will rise first,

This proof is also not provided by the fact, that they both perform a war. In both Revelation 12:7, where is written that Michael and his angels are fighting, as in Revelation 19:11-14, where is written that ‘the one on the white horse’ is in war and his name is ‘The Word of God’, so Jesus (See John 1:1). Michael and his angels fought against the dragon (Satan), but Jesus on the white horse performs a war in justice, a judgment against the kings of the earth and their armies. (Revelation 19:11,19)

Revelation 12:10 speaks of the blessing / salvation of our God, the power of our God, and the Kingdom of our God and the authority or power of his Christ:

WEB (Revelation 12:10-11) 10 I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now is come the salvation, the power, and the Kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ; for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them before our God day and night. 11 They overcame him because of the Lamb’s blood, and because of the word of their testimony. They didn’t love their life, even to death.

This verse is thus about the salvation of men, the first fruits as first, the powerful intervention of God and the beginning of God’s kingdom with Jesus as King. Because Satan is thrown down to the earth, the promised kingdom can finally start functioning. The 144,000 saints overcome Satan by unconditional faith in the blood of the Lamb, by believing that this blood was also shed for them and by the continued testimony about Jesus under life-threatening conditions.
This ‘symbolic’ newborn child can be nothing else as the newborn New Jerusalem, the heavenly city whose foundation stones are the apostles and Jesus the chief corner stone. (Ephesians 2:19-20) (1 Peter 2:6) (Revelation 21:14)
The 144,000 saints are represented as ‘pillars’ in the New Jerusalem. (Revelation 3:12) That they have the opportunity to reign as kings and priests with Jesus, that is the reward for these saints.
The promised Kingdom will commence:

WEB (2 Peter 3:13) 13 But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, in which dwells righteousness.

The beginning of this new heavenly organisation, the New Jerusalem, is also the explanation for the severe birth pangs of the heavenly woman. (Revelation 12:2)
That the newborn child is a son, called a male child (Rev. 12:5) indicates, that this new organization is powerful.
After the dragon – Satan – was thrown down to the earth, he first persecutes the heavenly woman who has also tasks on earth. He is furious:

WEB (Revelation 12:12-17) 12 Therefore rejoice, heavens, and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and to the sea, because the devil has gone down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has but a short time.” 13 When the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. 14 Two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, so that she might be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. 15 The serpent spewed water out of his mouth after the woman like a river, that he might cause her to be carried away by the stream. 16 The earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the river which the dragon spewed out of his mouth. 17 The dragon grew angry with the woman, and went away to make war with the rest of her seed, who keep God’s commandments and hold Jesus’ testimony.

Protected by the earth means, in this case, protection by Satan’s world system of governments and idolatry. (See the article “world powers 5. The great fiery-colored dragon“)
Then Satan persecutes “the remaining seed” of the woman.(Rev. 12:17). This seed are “the children of the kingdom”, who obey the commandments of God and have made testimony about Jesus, to the death (Op.12: 11):

WEB (Matthew 13:37-39) 37 He answered them, “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, 38 the field is the world; and the good seed, these are the children of the Kingdom; and the darnel are the children of the evil one. 39 The enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.

The children of the kingdom “are the elected saints, who – like the angels – are sons of God:

WEB (Romans 8:14-15) 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are children of God. 15 For you didn’t receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, “Abba ! Father!”

The prosecution of the remaining seed means the prosecution of the still living saints.
What says the Scripture furthermore about the child?
This male child will rule all nations with an iron rod. (Revelation 12:5)
This ‘ruling with an iron rod’ refers to the way of reigning, that will be far-reaching:

WEB (Revelation 2:26-27) 26 He who overcomes, and he who keeps my works to the end, to him I will give authority over the nations. 27 He will rule them with a rod of iron, shattering them like clay pots; as I also have received of my Father:

WEB (Revelation 19:13-15) 13 He is clothed in a garment sprinkled with blood. His name is called “The Word of God.” 14 The armies which are in heaven followed him on white horses, clothed in white, pure, fine linen. 15 Out of his mouth proceeds a sharp, double-edged sword, that with it he should strike the nations. He will rule them with a rod of iron. He treads the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God, the Almighty.

Until the end time, this ruling with a rod of iron will take place, the treading of the wine-press of the wrath of God.

Read more at: 6. Revelation, the false prophet