THE PRINCE WHO IS TO COME
. . . But who is he?
Part VIII – The Prophetic Sequence
By
Doug Krieger
In our last segment—within the confines of the “prophetic sequence”—we reflected upon the 9/11 calamity – only to catapult our discussion in discerning the antecedent of the “he” in Daniel 9:27a: “Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week.” In a calculated fashion, the immediate passage prior to this enigma introduces a COMING PRINCE whose people will—as the Roman legions did in 70 A.D.—destroy the city of Jerusalem and its temple/sanctuary . . . yet, the PRINCE HIMSELF will abide his day of revelation until “he shall confirm a covenant with the many for one week.”
Simultaneous with these foreboding events and immediately following the destruction of the Jewish temple under Titus of Rome—the dispersion of the Jews and their incessant desolations will continue (as they assuredly have) until they seemingly terminate at the conclusion “of the war” which we affirm to be the Arab-Israeli Conflict and its final sevenfold phase: The Oracle of Damascus (Isaiah 17 and Zechariah 9).
So, you see, the 9/11 travesty lies not far from the final phase of the Arab-Israeli Conflict and the PRINCE WHO IS TO COME who will “pick up the pieces” of the pending finality of these endless wars, championing the cause of international peace, pressuring both Israel and the immediate nations surrounding her to “sign off” on his “comprehensive peace plan.”
Seemingly, this Knight in Shining Armor—the Man of Peace—shall prevail upon “the many” for a one-week experimental arrangement whereby the completeness of his masterful plan shall take hold, expand, and be renewed after its refreshing arrival—refreshing to the West (the “ships of Tarshish” and its supreme leader—THE COMING PRINCE) and her Arab allies (Sheba and Dedan) who share in the West’s abundance, but utterly disquieting to a wide swath of the Islamic world stirred up by the Principality Gog. From the northern regions—the peoples of Persia and Turkey—from the southern exposure—Egypt, Libya, and Sudan will rise up against a relatively shielded and at peace Israel. The horrendous ensuing conflict, known as the Gog-Magog War, will end in a disastrous, calamitous, even miraculous destruction of Israel’s foes. These defeated foes will suffer a “divine event” easily recognized by the world—but a defeat wherein the Willful King of the West, the Protector of Israel, will readily hijack as thief and robber the destructive outcome. Thence, by cunning and subterfuge, will THE COMING PRINCE, whose subsequent exploits shall extend nation state annihilation, go forth towards the north and east from his pavilion set between the seas and the Beautiful Land conquering and to conquer!
This is NOT a pretty picture—its reprieve during the culmination of that Great City’s global quest for the “hidden treasurers” of the Middle East appears in the immediate distance. Prior to excising this terminating cancer will be the infamous campaign of Armageddon, in spite of all those among us whose hearts long for genuine, lasting peace on earth; yet, the final victory over this awful apostasy, endless war, famine, and death will be the conquest of the hideous COMING PRINCE and all his machinations, by the Prince of Peace Himself! All of our protestations to the contrary; all our spurious suffrage—nothing will stop this prophetic outburst until “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Messiah, and He shall reign forever and ever!” (Revelation 11:15)
The “silver-lining” behind all this gloom and doom—and it is not announced to soften the extremity of the immediate prophetic plight—is, nevertheless, the revival, the turning to the Holy One by Israelis, Arabs, and eventually by the masses of the earth as the Angel having the everlasting gospel flies “in the midst of heaven . . . to preach to those who dwell on the earth—to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people—saying with a loud voice, ‘Fear God and give glory to Him for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water’ . . . ‘Thrust in Your sickle and reap, for the time has come for You to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe’ . . . so He who sat on the cloud thrust in His sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped” (Revelation 14:6-7, 15).
This repentance, this growing awareness of the miraculous presence of divine intervention into the affairs of humankind—in the very midst of such chaos, apostasy, and tribulation—is NOT a unilateral determination but a bilateral manifestation of human and divine cooperation wherein the “forces of Messiah the Prince” shall be marshaled, under the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, as the CORPUS, the BODY of the Two Witnesses, who will stand up in stark witness against the Man of Sin and his Great City called Sodom and Egypt, calling all to repentance . . . to the Faithful and True Witness! (Revelation 11)
The prophetic picture is punctuated by prevailing hope and utter despair, by abysmal defeat and amazing victory, by wretched sorrow and inexplicable joy, by timid shame and courageous witness—the ultimate contrast of the ages unfurled in the panoply of antitheses: light vs. darkness; life vs. death; mercy vs. judgment . . . who can be sufficient for these things? For . . .
“This will be written for the generation to come,
That a people yet to be created may praise the Lord.
For He looked down from the height of His sanctuary;
From the heaven the Lord viewed the earth,
To hear the groaning of the prisoner,
To release those appointed to death,
To declare the name of the Lord in Zion
And His praise in Jerusalem,
When the peoples are gathered together,
And the kingdoms, to serve the Lord.”
(Psalm 102:18-23)
ANTI-CHRIST CANDIDATES – THE “HE”
Firstly, let me reiterate, the establishment of THE COMING PRINCE – THE PRINCE OF THE COVENANT (Daniel 9:26; 11:22) is – notwithstanding the protestations of James Lloyd and his “Christian Media Research” – an absolute biblically-based fact in Daniel 9:24-27. Messiah the Prince who was “cut off” is diametrically opposed to the sinister figure of THE PRINCE WHO IS TO COME (i.e., The Coming Prince) in both Daniel 9:26 and 9:27. It is “he” whose people, the Romans, destroyed Jerusalem and her sanctuary; and, it is “he” who after 70 A.D.’s destruction, shall orchestrate a-yet-future “covenant with many for one week” – this is not an amplification or detailed clarification of Christ’s work on the earth (wherein Daniel 9:27 is a “flashback” to “Messiah shall be cut off” of Daniel 9:26), but a sequential continuum which follows in the train of Messiah’s (1) crucifixion; (2) the destruction of Jerusalem; (3) the desecration of the sanctuary-temple of the Jews; (4) the Jewish dispersion (flood); (5) the horrific consequences of Jewish pogroms, persecutions, and even holocaust (“desolations are determined” throughout the centuries); (6) the seven-fold Arab-Israeli conflict leading up to THE WAR’s (Daniel 9:26b) conclusive terminus: The Oracle of Damascus and the ruinous heap of that same
jurisdiction; (7) “THEN, he (ANTICHRIST) shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; (8) but in the middle of the week he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering and (9) on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate (“the abomination of desolation” –The BEAST . . . the falsification of the “resurrection of Antichrist” in the midst of Daniel’s 70th Week), even until (from the Armageddon Campaign to the Wrath of the Lamb) the consummation, which is determined, is poured out on the desolator” (10) the final judgment of the Beast and False Prophet” (Daniel 9:27).
The sweeping prophetic historicity of these two verses are simply mind-boggling—how James Lloyd can conclude that Antichrist, the Willful King, the Abomination of Desolation, the Man of Sin and of Perdition, the “Prince who is to come” is NOT encapsulated within the confines of these final verses of Daniel 9 is beyond the pale of human intelligence. Does not this bespeak of an arrogant and purposeful blindness, bordering on unparalleled ignorance and deception? Indeed, the same “god of this age” who “has blinded” the hearts and minds of those “who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them” (II Corinthians 4:4-6) – has taken this same darkness and blinded the interpretive mind of Lloyd . . . concealing the multiplicity of his darkness throughout Daniel’s astonishing revelations!
Now that we’ve gotten that out of our craw, let us consider the “candidates” of the more serious whose theological attributions of the Antichrist merit our observation and consternation . . . juxtaposed, by implication, to the many whose mindless considerations are so supercilious that to elaborate upon their dereliction of eschatological duty only provides meaningless credibility to their theological nihilism—at least allusions to brethren obsessing on the more serious characters have something to say, whereas those whose embrace of the dead and living—Nero, Charlemagne, Napoleon, Aleister Crowley, FDR, Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin, Franco, JFK, Kissinger, Ayatollah Khomeini, Reagan, Gorbachev, the Maitreya, Sun Myung Moon, Arafat, Louis Farrakhan, William Jefferson Clinton, Sam Donaldson of ABC, Bill Gates, Jacques Chirac, Willy Brandt, Prince Bernard of the Netherlands, Saddam Hussein and Koffi Annan (as Antichrist and False Prophet), sundry Princes and Popes, and, of course the absurdities of David Hasselhoff, Wayne Newton, and the purple dinosaur: Barney . . . have, in the main, incriminated themselves by these inane and superficial conjectures.
THE EURO-CENTRIC ANTICHRIST OF DR. CUDDY
Taking his cue from New Age expositor extraordinaire Constance Cumbey, Dr. Dennis L. Cuddy, NewsWithViews.com, is, like many a pre-tribulationist, theologically mesmerized by a Euro-Centric Antichrist . . . thus, once again, we are drawn to the personage of one, Javier Solana de Madariaga of Spain—whose former grandfather, Salvadorde Madariaga, presided as chief of the League of Nations’ Disarmament Section, and who served as Spanish Ambassador to the U.S. Salvadorde was a powerful proponent of a united and integrated Europe. Surely, grandson Javier Solana bears the Western European mantel of his grandfather!
Solana served, at the suggestion of Bill Clinton, Strobe Talbott and Richard Gardner, as NATO’s head in 1995. Now, as Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union (EU)—conducting the EU’s military and foreign policy—Solana seems well-positioned as one of the most powerful “peace brokers” of the West. His Kissinger-style shuttle diplomacy between Iran and the Western alliance; between Israel and the Islamic conflict—provides a profile visibility . . .
“Just before Solana became head of NATO in December 1995, he structured the Barcelona conference for peace in the Middle East. According to Constance Cumbey, the resulting peace process goes into effect January 2007, and is a 7-year program which is reviewable midway (three years and six months). Does this sound Biblical? Remember that Daniel 9:27 foretold the breaking of a covenant with Israel in the middle of 7 weeks (symbolic of 7 years)with ensuing desolation in the End times . . .
“In the midst of the confrontations between Israel and radical Muslims (e.g., Hezbollah, Hamas, etc.), Javier Solana appeared, presenting himself to the Israelis as their friend. However, he was also quoted in the JERUSALEM POST (June 6, 2006) as remarking: ‘The EU continues to be the most important donor to the Palestinians….We will not let the Palestinians down.’ The Palestinians elected Hamas to lead their government.” (Javier Solana and The End Times, Dennis L. Cuddy, Ph.D., September 6, 2006, NewsWithViews.com)
A great deal of sound and fury from the pens of Herb Peters and Constance Cumbey—which have apparently incited the interests of Cuddy—read something like this:
“Today Iran seized an EU country oil rig for allegedly violating its Persian Gulf water space. It accused the European drilling company owning the rig of ‘hijacking’ another rig. Herb Peters has reported his personal belief that this will force Solana ‘to show the stuff he is made of.’ Read all about it here. Well, perhaps there is historical precedent to predict the stuff of which Javier Solana is made. I have written about it in back blog spots. Read all about that here!” (Sept. 4, Cumbey’s Blog Spot – My Perspective, What Constance Thinks)
This fixation with Javier Solana, on the part of Cumbey, Cuddy, and Peters, is fascinating to observe—in that they, along with scores of other Premillenarian Pre-tribulationists (in the main), are wholly given over to the immediate presence of the figure of Antichrist rooted in the 10-nation confederacy of the Western European Union.
The Western European Union has 10 member countries, 6 associate member countries, 5 observer countries and 7 associate partner countries.
Member Countries:
1. France
2. Germany
3. Italy
4. United Kingdom
5. Belgium
6. Netherlands
7. Luxembourg
8. Portugal
9. Spain
10.Greece
The MEMBER countries (modified by the Brussels Treaty of 1954) are both NATO and European Union. These 10 nations are the only nations that have full voting rights. OBSERVER status (i.e., nations which are members of the European Union, but not of NATO, include: Denmark, Ireland, Austria, Sweden, and Finland); ASSOCIATE status (i.e., nations which are members of NATO but not of the EU; however, some have now joined both—but are NOT part of the original 10 nations), include: Turkey, Norway, Iceland, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania and Slovenia. (Wikipedia)
KING JUAN CARLOS I – AS THE ANTICHRIST!
Another favorite—though diminishing of late—for a Euro-Antichrist, is King Juan Carlos I or put another way: Juan Carlos Alfonso Victor Maria de Borbon y Borbon—KING OF JERUSALEM!
The late Charles R. Taylor (“Today in Bible Prophecy”) hyped the King. Once again, “Various renderings of Juan Carlos’ name in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, German and Russia) apparently add up to ‘666’ under numerological scrutiny.” (Know Your Antichrist Candidates: King Juan Carlos I – Armageddon Cocktail Hour)
“Juan Carlos is said to be a descendant of those dastardly Merovingian, the ancient Frankish kings who were the focus of Dan Brown’s ramblings in The Da Vinci Code. Juan Carlos allegedly has a yacht called The Dragon, seen as a reference to Satan, who is depicted as a dragon in Revelation 13:2, 11-14.” (Note: Many more details regarding Juan Carlos’ Antichrist pedigree can be found at Armageddon Cocktail Hour—an obvious spoof site, but most interesting.)
The drive to extend the environs of the Holy Roman Empire to the future Antichrist is irrepressible—but it was not always so . . . the Roman Empire developed in concert with the Roman Church, a triumphal theology, permitting the Church’s growing power grab within the Roman Empire . . .
AUGUSTINE vs. JOACHIM
The source of a Western European political leader, as the ultimate personification of the Antichrist, dates from the time of Charlemagne the Great during the revival of the Holy Roman Empire. Prior to this initial manifestation of medieval interest, nigh all thought of a literal millennium and the concomitant apocalyptic drama leading up to its literal reign, had been denounced by Church leaders in grandiose Augustinian design to justify the amalgamation of Church and State and their growing cooperation. Emperor and Pope carried the day in Augustine’s “City of God!”
“Augustine went still further, arguing that no historical event or chronology can be interpreted apocalyptically; and that the millennium was not a future event but already in progress, already set in motion by Christ. To explain why the evils of war, hatred, injustice and poverty continued unabated, Augustine used the notion of the Two Cities. There was the ‘heavenly city,’ the celestial Jerusalem, where the millennium was already manifest, and a terrestrial Babylon, the time-bound city of violence and oppression in which the millennium was not visible. These two cities would coexist as a corpus permixtum (a mixed body) in every man (even saints) and in every society (even the Church) until the Eschaton (end of time). Thus Christian Rome, even the earthy Church, could not represent the perfection of eschatological fulfillment, and their historical fate had nothing to do with God’s plans for human salvation. This teaching radically reoriented Christian eschatology: rather than awaiting the coming Kingdom on earth, one should await it at the very end of time. Augustine basically banned millennialism, or the belief in a coming kingdom of God on earth, from Christian theology.” (Fredriksen, Paula, ‘Apocalypse and Redemption in Early Christianity: From John of Patmos to Augustine of Hippo.’ Vigiliae Christianae 45 (1991): 151-83)
The virtual “ban on millennial thought” dominated official theological writings during the Middle Ages—it virtually disappeared from most Christian writing in the Latin Church. It was not until the 12th Century when Joachim of Fiore presented a formal eschatology which looked “forward” to a coming millennium. Indeed, if Augustine had been present when Joachim of Fiore presented his millenarian futurism to the Church, he would have been outraged!
Notwithstanding the Latin Church’s refusal to countenance millenarian bliss . . . we find these informal outcroppings of apocalyptic belief surfacing in the midst of the Middle Ages:
“There are signs of millennialism, however, both in the activity of anti-ecclesiastical prophets like the ‘False’ Christ of Bourges described by Gregory of Tours (Historiae, 10.25), and in the anti-apocalyptic uses of chronology to oppose them. Gregory, for example, published his chronology for ‘those who despair at the coming end of the world.’ The implicit message was clear: Gregory wrote in the late 5700s (Note: Dating prior to the use of A.D.), and when arguing with the ‘saints’ who emerged after the assassination of the ‘False Christ’ and ‘gained quite an influence over the common people,’ Gregory and his colleagues could argue there were more than 2 centuries to wait (History of the Franks, 1.1, 10.25). But, of course, even this more remote date eventually drew near, and in the eighth century – again the 5900s – the English monk Bede and his Carolingian followers did for Annus Mundi II, what Jerome had done for AM I: they shifted the dating system again, this time to Annon Domini. Hence the year 6000 AM II, just as the year 6000 AM I, passed unnoted by sources which spoke instead of AD 801.” (Richard Landes, Millennialism (Millenarianism, Chiliasm) Draft of article for the Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of World Religions, February 1, 1999)
Thus it was, at the coronation of Charlemagne on the first day of the year 6000 AM II (AD 801) that great millennial significance held sway—despite the overwhelming influence of Augustine. Historians—to this date—refuse to come to “millenarian terms” with this most significant date. Like the “Emperor’s New Clothes” – none of Charlemagne’s chroniclers dare to mention—though all knew—that the “millenarian date” was most significant!
“Charlemagne’s coronation contributed two essential elements to subsequent European millennialism. First, he ‘transferred’ the Empire, with all its apocalyptic and millennial freight to the West, including the notion of the Last emperor. Numerous European kings claimed this messianic status; but the German emperors above all proved fascinated by the ‘Last emperor’ (e.g., Otto III, Frederick I, Frederick II). Second, the Carolingians shifted chronological hopes for the apocalypse from 6000 AM to the year AD 1000, a date at once millennial (the end of the sixth age, dawn of the Sabbatical era) and Augustinian (the end of the millennium since Christ). And unlike the previous cases of a millennial date’s advent, chronographers were unable to shift the chronology and avoid mentioning the apocalyptic date.” (Landes, Richard, “Lest the Millennium be Fulfilled: Apocalyptic Expectations and the Pattern of Western Chronography, 100-800 CE,” in The Use and Abuse of Eschatology (1988), pp. 37-211; and Relics, Apocalypse, and the Deceits of History: Ademar of Chabannes, 989-1034 (Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 1995)
The concoction of a “Holy Roman Empire” – however, did not come to pass until the Germanic manifestation of the same under Otto I in 962 A.D. Thence, the revival of the entire issue of a Western Antichrist persisted . . . and later its doctrinal significance was soon to follow . . .
“They (The Holy Roman Empire emperors) protected the Church. They made peace. More precisely, they had the duty to give peace. Also, the emperors, and the empire as a whole, were the restrainers of Antichrist. (Curiously, Heer does not cite II Thessalonians 2:7.) The German emperors played this role when they defeated a Magyar invasion of the West in 955 at the Battle of Lech, and thereby created the sense of “Germanness.” They played the same role six centuries later, when they were the only European rulers to offer serious, systematic, and ultimately successful resistance to the Turkish jihad aimed at central Europe. According to persistent myth, when the Emperor of the Last Days lays down his crown at Jerusalem after finally defeating Babylon, then the Antichrist will appear.
“Sometimes, of course, the emperor was Antichrist, at least in the opinion of the Pope. The tension between holy empire and holy church, both claiming divine sanction, runs right through the history of the West. Heer points out that the largely successful campaign by the popes of the 12th and 13th centuries to desacralize the empire was the basis of every other claim of right that would ever be made against the state. It also meant that the Church, the City of God, would eventually become just another political body: society as well as the state was ultimately desacralized.” (The Empire was not a state, but a system of dispensing justice, John J. Reilly, November 28, 2004)
But, again, it was an obscure monk, while attempting a commentary on the Book of Revelation, in the 12th Century, who ignited the fire of futurism by giving it doctrinal legitimacy, and ipso facto, the antithesis of the return of Christ: The Antichrist!
“Joachim's great insight about history is what is often called his view of the three statuses, or three eras of history. And it's fundamentally rooted in the Trinity. If Christians believe that God is three-fold (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), Joachim then said that the Bible reveals that if the Old Testament was the time of the Father, the New Testament the time of the Son, there must be a coming third status or era of history that is ascribed to and special to the Holy Spirit, who gives the deep understanding of the meaning of both Old and New Testaments. And so Joachim returned to a more optimistic view of history, that after the crisis of the Antichrist (which he thought as imminent, as right around the corner in his own days), there would come a new era of the Church on earth, the contemplative utopia of the Holy Spirit, a monastic era of contemplation. That's the heart of Joachim's great vision and contribution to western apocalypticism.
“But Joachim wasn't into what we might call active apocalypticism that one must take up arms against the forces of evil. Joachim felt that God controlled history, and that good would need to suffer, and the good would suffer indeed from the persecuting Antichrist, but that God would be the one who would destroy Antichrist and bring about this third status in history. So Joachim felt that the role model of the forces of good was that of the suffering, the persecuted, not of those who would take up arms against the beast of the apocalypse.”
(Apocalypticism Explained, Joachim of Fiore, Bernard McGinn, Who Was Joachim of Fiore?)
The impact of Joachim of Fiore cannot be underestimated – and, subsequently, it is his legacy which has left an indelible eschatological impression upon the West . . .
“Joachim revitalized every aspect of medieval millennialism: within decades of his death in 1202, prophecies attributed to him began to circulate which people identified (in profoundly un-Augustinian fashion) with current events: mystical numerology, Franciscans and Dominicans, Holy Roman Emperors and Popes all became figures in vast and ever-shifting predictions of imminent apocalypse. Chronological calculations fixed on 1250, then 1260 as the beginning of the new Age, producing new and fearsome forms of spirituality like the Flagellants. The Franciscan order split over interpretations of Joachite prophecy, one branch becoming inquisitors, the other revolutionary millenarians.” (Ibid.)
Millennial persistence—and it would surprise you who carried this torch—could never be squelched after the millenarian genie was released from Joachim’s prophetic bottle. The fall of Constantinople in 1453 put an end to the last remnants of the Roman empire, “but brought a large number of books with ‘secret knowledge,’ like the Corpus Hermeticum to the West which reinvigorated the Joachite tradition with Gnostic elements of an a-political elitism that sought, through knowledge, to transform the world.” (Ibid.)
Yes, from Christopher Columbus to Jonathan Edwards—virtually all major Western religious movements contained apocalypticism, millennial promise. The two strains of millennialism which ultimately dominated the West were pre-millennialism which tended toward the a-political and apocalyptic disaster with the intrusion of Antichrist prior to the Second Coming of Christ; and, post-millennialism with its social reformation wherein Jesus comes after the millennium which is perfected by an inspired mankind. Augustinian amillennialism (now undergoing renewed popularity in some circles) has, in the main, been subsumed by post-millenarians and their quest bringing the Kingdom to earth now—i.e., Kingdom Now, Dominion Theology, etc.
THE BRETHREN AND A REVIVED ROMAN EMPIRE ANTICHRIST
The Plymouth Brethren of England are held in contempt by resolute Reformation Protestants who denounce their initiation and propagation of a personal Antichrist . . . a whole conspiratorial absorption of this personification has arisen wherein Jesuits are blamed for dissuading unsuspecting Protestants to embrace this awful doctrine and thereby take the “heat off the Papacy” as the “Antichrist system” . . . while the Brethren spread the heresy!
“In response to the majority Protestant identification of the Papacy as Antichrist, the modern view of Futurism (Christian eschatology), a product of the Counter-Reformation, was advanced beginning in the 16th Century. This theory was developed by a Jesuit priest named Francisco Ribera in his 1585 treatise on the Apocalypse of John entitled In Sacrum Beati Ioannis Apostoli, & Evangelistiae Apocalypsin Commentarij. This view was then codified by St. Bellarmine, who gives in full the Catholic theory set forth by the Greek and Latin Fathers, of a personal Antichrist to come just before the end of the world and to be accepted by the Jews and enthroned in the temple at Jerusalem—thus endeavoring to dispose of the Protestant exposition which saw Antichrist in the pope. Bellarmine's interpretation, in modified form, is now accepted by most premillennial dispensationalists.[7] (Wikipedia)
Notwithstanding this rather immediate Catholic dissuasion and the Protestant conjecture of its authenticity, the Roman Empire’s mantel (not the Papacy’s) as the throne of Antichrist is altogether a fact of history:
“According to Bernard McGinn, in Christianity's early days the Antichrist was identified variously as a spirit of heresy (by Polycarp), the Roman empire (by Irenaeus), or the resurrected Nero (by John Chrysostom).” (Wikipedia)
Hence, it can be argued that the personification of Antichrist, as a future Roman Prince is altogether an early belief within the Church juxtaposed to a more recent Catholic fabrication—much to the chagrin of Protestant Reformers!
Now, in no part of the world have these millenarian aspirations been more pronounced than in the New World—particularly, the USA. However, it was the futurism of the Plymouth Brethren which so greatly affected America’s perception of the End Times. It was here that the concept of a “Revived Roman Empire” as the fulcrum of Antichrist was popularized—and the Reformation’s “Antichrist System” of Roman Catholicism became dormant (although many a disgruntled Protestant clings to the notion that the “Antichrist System of Rome” is the true biblical pronouncement of the past, present and future Antichrist).
JOHN NELSON DARBY – NOT ABSOLUTE ON REVIVED ROMAN EMPIRE OF WESTERN EUROPE
John Nelson Darby wrote in his “Questions of Interest as to Prophecy – the Antichrist Properly So Called” . . . and this may surprise many who assume that Darby, as founder of Dispensationalism and the Secret Rapture of the Church, wholeheartedly supported the thesis that Antichrist was a civil authority to arise out of Western Europe:
“I am still inquiring as to Antichrist, but I had not overlooked the difficulties. It has been taken for granted among those who expect a personal Antichrist, that he is the civil head of the Roman Empire. This I question. Without doubting in the least that there will be such a blasphemous Gentile power (Note: Darby does confirm there is a CIVIL Antichrist figure from a new Roman Empire.), it seems to me that the Antichrist is another power, of which the Scriptures are even more full – the vessel of evil religious energy, rather than that of evil public government. At least two such manifestations of power we find in Revelation 13, for the second is a beast, as well as the first. That is, there is a second temporal power coexistent with the public imperial power, which has the throne of Satan. The first beast had risen, like previous beasts, out of the sea (i.e., out of the tumultuous floating mass of population – the Gentile world) (Note: NOT necessarily from Western Europe). But the second beast came out of the earth; i.e., out of the formed arrangement of God’s moral providence – the sphere where the dragon and the beast were worshipped and all heavenly association was blasphemed. In form of power, this second beast was like the Lamb; but his speech was like the dragon, or great hostile power of Satan – a religious though blasphemous character of evil at work within the sphere where Satan rules.”
Notwithstanding Darby’s immediate hesitancy regarding Antichrist’s civil base of power (i.e., a “Revived Roman Empire”) – his “Synopsis to the Books of the Bible – Zechariah” – records:
“I think that the judgment executed upon Babylon answers to that which is said in verse 8 (Zechariah 6:8 – “And He called to me, and spoke to me, saying, ‘See, those who go toward the north country have given rest to My Spirit in the north country.’”). We know that Chaldea was always the north country to Israel. The spirits employed by God have accomplished the will of God there. The seventh verse appears to indicate the Roman Empire (“Then the strong steeds went out, eager to go, that they might walk to and fro throughout the earth. And He said, ‘Go, walk to and fro throughout the earth.’ So they walked to and fro throughout the earth.”), comprising everything from its first establishment to the present time, and its historical character at all times. The white horses would be the representatives of that which God has done by means of the Greek empire. The grizzled and bay appear to indicate a mixture of Greek and Roman power-at least, these horses have a double character, which becomes afterwards two distinct classes (the last only having the character of universality, which goes to and fro throughout all the earth. I doubt not that all these proud instruments of His government will be found again as spheres of judgment in the last days, when God begins to assert His rights as the God of the whole earth, unless Babylon geographically may be an exception in virtue of what is said in verse 8.”
What Darby did realize regarding the power base of Antichrist—had far more to do with the development of Western Civilization (Greco-Roman) than it did within the confines of a Revived Roman Empire in Western Europe. Incidentally, his hesitancy to embrace a literal Babylon had more to do with his disagreement of the same with B.W. Newton (co-founder of the Plymouth Brethren), who was also a post-tribulationist and a rabid believer in a future and literal Babylon to be built on the banks of the Euphrates River; hence, Darby hesitated on this point of prophetic fulfillment.
So, how did Western Europe get tagged as the REVIVED ROMAN EMPIRE of Antichrist?
C. I. SCOFIELD’S REVIVED ROMAN EMPIRE – TOTALLY EUROPEAN
Good question—and hours of research turned up but one culprit—and he isn’t John Nelson Darby or the British!
“This (Scofield Reference Bible) is the definitive work that is the basis for nearly all fundamentalist apocalyptic beliefs today. All the major modern fundamentalist beliefs pertaining to the end of the world, including premillennial dispensationalism, began with or were codified in this turn of the century work. Scofield edited this version of the KJV of the Bible with his own interpretive notes in the margins such that it is sometimes difficult to tell the difference between Scofield’s comments and those of the KJV Bible. ‘Scofield’s marginal notes connected passages in one book of the Bible with passages in different books of the Bible as though God himself had dictated this system of cross-referencing’ (Fuller, 125). These interpretations include, among many other non-apocalyptical beliefs, the general chronological time table of the coming apocalypse, the rapture of believers, a seven year tribulation prior to the second coming of Christ in which Christians will be persecuted, belief in Russia as Gog and Magog, a unified Europe as the ‘ten nation confederacy’ revived Roman Empire led by the Beast, the mark of the Beast, the battle of Armageddon, and the millennial reign of Christ on Earth.” (Wikipedia)
C. I. Scofield’s checkered past (seen by his antagonists and admirers from different angles), both as a salesman, and “evangelical entrepreneur” brought him in line with events surrounding World War I and an American predisposition that was very anti-European in many ways—i.e., “We’re tired of European wars!” Hence Scofield very cleverly omitted any reference to America in his notes—and “stuck to” old concepts of a Revived Roman Empire culminating in the power base of Antichrist; after all—Europe deserves the Antichrist! Here are Scofield’s notes on the topic:
“The end of Gentile world-power.
(1) In the beast vision of Daniel 7. the fourth beast is declared to be ‘the fourth kingdom,’ i.e. the Roman empire, the ‘iron’ kingdom of Dan. 2. The ‘ten horns’ upon the fourth beast (Roman Empire), Daniel 7:7 are declared to be ‘ten kings that shall arise’ (Daniel 7:24) answering to the ten toes of the image vision of Dan. 2. The ten kingdoms, covering the regions formerly ruled by Rome, will constitute, therefore, the form in which the fourth or Roman empire will exist when the whole fabric of Gentile world-domination is smitten by the ‘stone cut out without hands’ == Christ ; Daniel 2:44,45; 7:9.
“(2) But Daniel sees a ‘little horn’ rise up and subdue three of the ten kings Daniel 7:24-26. His distinguishing mark is hatred of God and of the Saints. He is not to be confounded with the ‘little horn’ of Dan. 8.--a prophecy fulfilled in Antiochus Epiphanes. (See Scofield ‘Daniel 8:9’). In Rev. 13, additional particulars of the ‘little horn’ of Dan. 7. are given. See Scofield ‘Revelation 13:1’.” (Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition, Daniel 7)
So, we turn to C. I. Scofield’s notes on Revelation 13:
“Daniel's fourth beast, (See Scofield ‘Daniel 7:26’) , The ‘ten horns’ are explained in Daniel 7:24; Revelation 17:12 to be ten kings, and the whole vision is of the last form of Gentile world-power, a confederated ten-kingdom empire covering the sphere of authority of ancient Rome. Revelation 13:1-3 refers to the ten-kingdom empire; vs. Revelation 13:4-10 to the emperor, who is emphatically ‘the Beast.’
“The Beast, Summary: This ‘Beast’ is the ‘little horn’ of Daniel 7:24-26 and ‘desolator’ of Daniel 9:27 the ‘abomination of desolation’ of Matthew 24:15 the ‘man of sin’ of 2 Thessalonians 2:4-8 earth’s last
and most awful tyrant, Satan's fell instrument of wrath and hatred against God and the Jewish saints. He is, perhaps, identical with the rider on the white horse of Revelation 6:2 who begins by the peaceful conquest of three of the ten kingdoms into which the former Roman empire will then be divided, but who soon establishes the ecclesiastical and governmental tyranny described in Dan. 7., 9., 11.; Revelation 13. To him Satan gives the power which he offered to Christ. ; Matthew 4:8, 9; Revelation 13:4. See ‘The great tribulation,’ Psalms 2:5.”
Echoing Scofield’s dispensationalism and Revived Roman Empire prior to Americans landing on European shores in 1918 was the great American Bible expositor, Arno C. Gabelein, who speculated in the prophetic magazine Our Hope on his commentary on Ezekiel that Germany might “become united to Russia and march under the prince of Rosh into the land of Israel.” Gabelein predicted a Revived Roman Empire which would be opposed to the alliance.
At the height of the Kaiser’s war machinations, American eschatology got a little risky in so far as a United States of Europe . . . but took off as Fascism embraced central Europe.
“The idea of a revived Roman Empire was not new, but it was given new interest and impetus in the 1920s and 1930s by the ascendancy of Mussolini and Italy (and also in the 1950s and 1960s by the development of the Common Market.) Leadership of this great future power was supposedly to fall to a personality known, among other things, as the Antichrist.
“During the war [WWI] Dr. Isaac M. Haldeman, pastor of the First Baptist Church, New York City, had developed this theme [the revived Roman Empire] in a sermon, ‘The Falling Stone, or the Overthrow of the last Kaiser.’ According to Haldeman, Rome would be revived in a tenfold form. The Antichrist would then be invited by the ten kings, possibly ‘democratic kings,’ to rule the world as Prince of Rome. He was to be from Babylon, originally a military leader who became king. Foreseeing that Germany and Russian would combine to advance in the east, the Antichrist would set up a Zionist state as a buffer. Making a seven-year treaty with Israel, he would break it after three-and-a-half years and turn upon her, initiating the Great Tribulation. He would then be faced with rebellions in Egypt, but eventually return from there to meet the forces from the north and east at Armageddon.” (Which Groups Teach That There Will Be A Millennium on Earth? Pam Dewey and Norman Edwards)
Hence, the historic predisposition of Western Europe herself fomenting Antichrist conspiracies—and an entire eschatological system evolving in the mid-1800s (Dispensationalism . . . . apparently directly and/or indirectly aided and abetted by the Jesuits—frankly, abetted by everyone from Christopher Columbus to George Washington (Wikipedia)), along with the American abhorrence to European entanglements—C.I. Scofield’s popularization of the Ten-Nations (Revived Roman Empire) of Europe producing the Antichrist (11th Horn)—has led and continues to lead to unfiltered claims of European ascendancy over that of the USA; hence, Antichrist cannot be American, only of European origin!
THE ANTICHRIST OF TIM McHYDE
Pre-tribulationists like Dr. Cuddy, et al, discussed above, have their rigidities fairly established—e.g., under no circumstances shall we cave to an American Antichrist: Antichrist is EURO-CENTRIC—final answer!
So, when we get to the post-tribulationist like Tim McHyde, we should be able to expect something a bit different; and, in a way it is—but eventually its “center of prophetic gravity” resembles the pre-tribulationists in America.
McHyde’s quite a guy – hearty agreement is found in much of what he says—notwithstanding his vociferous defense for charging for his ministry (You have to purchase his book in order to get into what he’s revealing—and if you criticize for “asking” – look out—the “laborer is worthy of his hire” and McHyde will instruct you accordingly!).
Again, and unfortunate as it continues to appear, America will be annihilated by a cataclysmic occurrence—prophetically announced, no less—and, ipso facto, Europe shall ascend, producing the Antichrist, etc., etc., etc.
But, prior to getting into Ameica’s demise—let’s consider McHyde’s probable Antichrist . . . and for sure, he’s head and shoulders above and beyond Dave Hunt’s Antichrist: Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev in Global Peace and the Rise of the Antichrist.
PRINCE CHARLES OF WALES – McHyde’s Antichrist!
Free of charge, I am here to inform you that one amazing case has been patched together to bring his highness to full-bore Antichrist potential.
“He was born in 1948, the same year that Israel became a modern nation. He is a PRINCE (my caps) of the ancient people who came and destroyed the temple in Jerusalem (HAIL BRITANNIA)—the Romans. His lineage chart traces to every great world leader including King David (although British lineage officially dates only to 828 A.D. (King Egbert)); he is referred to as the “son of David.’ His name can be calculated to the numerical value of 666 by the ancient Hebrew method in both English and Hebrew. His calling card visually presents the composite beast made from the body of a leopard, the feet of a bear, and the mouth of a lion. His power, throne, and great authority have been given to him by a red dragon. He wants to lead the European Union (the ancient Roman Empire) and have dominion over all nations. His name is Prince Charles of Wales. He is the leading candidate to be the prophesied antimessiah.
“If you go to another believer (with any prophecy interest) and suggest that Prince Charles is the antichrist, then he will accept your idea right along with UFO alien abductions, one world conspiracy warnings of the illuminati, a hot internet rumor about some girl who dated a terrorist just before the attack, investing in gold coins, long-term storage of wheat in buckets, and the cow jumping over the moon. If the person you speak with has no interest whatsoever in end time prophecy, your suggestion of Prince Charles as the antichrist will confirm his worst suspicions of you being just plain ‘nuts.’ He will end the conversation with a cock-eyed look and the words, ‘Oh really. I need to go now.’ Further, saying Prince Charles IS the antichrist is outright slander and one of the most despicable things you can say of any public figure.” (The Prince Who is to Come, Tim McHyde)
The identity of the Antichrist—will be “unrevealed”—until the declaration of the infamous signature is affixed to the international consignment wherein “the many” shall sign on to his most comprehensive proposal for peace.
However, the Prince of Wales, according to McHyde—although Tim ultimately resigns from a complete distinctive identification of the king in waiting as the Son of Perdition—has the numerical value of “the name of a man.”
“Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six” (Revelation 13:18) . . . so . . .
“The numbers we use today are Arabic or Roman numerals. Like Hebrew and Greek, English has no numerals of their own. In ancient times, before there were Arabic and Roman numerals, a simple decimal system was used for each letter. That is, the first ten letters were given the value of one through ten in ascending order. The next letter, however, was not an eleven, but instead twenty. Thereafter, each letter was ten more (20, 30, 40, etc.). At one hundred, the letter incremented by 100’s, (200, 300, 400, etc.). Both Hebrew and Greek contain 22 letters. So, the greatest value of any letter (Tav in Hebrew, Omega in Greek) was 400. the ancients simply used letters in place of numbers to indicate numerical values.
“When John wrote his prophecy giving the value of 666 to the name of the beast (antimessiah), the ancients had no difficulty understanding the intent . . . I (am) also a writer and aware of the origins of our English letters and language out of the ancient languages. For example, the first Hebrew letter is an aleph, Greek is alpha, and English is just plain “A.” The English alphabet originates from Greek (alpha beta) and the Hebrew (aleph bet). I was curious as to whether the gematria (numerical values for each letter) would yield any interesting results.
“I limited the system (computer program developed by Tim and a friend) only to the first 22 letters as the ancients had done (Hebrew and Greek only have 22 letters). Once the program was written, I was able to type in all the names for all world figures past and present, calculating the gematria for each with computer accuracy. I had no expectation whatsoever for anyone when I started entering names . . . then it happened. I entered the name ‘Prince Charles of Wales.’ The value displayed was 666 . . . no matter how many times I entered the name, the calculation was the same. Then it hit me. He is a Prince just as the Scripture says.” (The Prince Who is to Come)
McHyde goes on to demonstrate how that the name “Charles” means “man” or “manly.” And, Revelation 13:18 says that the number 666 is that of a “man.” McHyde sites the text, The Antichrist and a Cup of Tea, by Tim Cohen—offered by Lion and Lamb Ministries in which Cohen goes into extensive detail to substantiate his own thesis that the coat-of-arms of the Prince of Wales parallels the description given by John of the Beast in the Revelation.
Likewise, McHyde alludes to Revelation 17:10-11 . . .
“There are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must continue a short time. The beast that was, and is not, is himself also the eighth, and is of the seven, and is going to perdition.”
Here, his gymnastics truly baffle . . .
“The reference to seven past kings (five have fallen, one is, and the other not yet come who remains a short while) is a historic description of the Holy Roman Empire. There have been seven Charles’ as Emperors of the Holy Roman Empire. World Book Encyclopedia and other reference documents summarize the history of the Holy Roman Empire by these seven kings. This is a historical fact. But what makes this prophecy such a puzzle is its reference to the beast being “also an eighth, and is one of the seven.” The answer is simple and right before us. They all have the name Charles – Prince Charles will be the eighth when he rules over the ancient Holy Roman Empire (the modern European Union). How is he one of the seven? He is a direct descendant of Charles VI through the Hapsburg line.”
In any event McHyde’s CSI is very extensive—nigh an indictment could be secured. Furthermore, he concludes that since the 11th Horn (which McHyde claims is “different” from the others, which it is) is, according to McHyde, different in the sense that Prince Charles was not elected to his position—whereas the other 10 horns were democratically elected.
THE GLOBALIZATION OF PRINCE CHARLES
A fundamental misunderstanding of virtually all Euro-Centric proponents of Antichrist abides—the United States of America must simply disappear as the world’s foremost super power—because America is simply not on their radar! Economically and militarily—let alone culturally and even religiously—hegemony is overtly occupied by the 800-lb. gorilla sitting in the living room of every home in the world! That monstrosity is envied and bemoaned by the entire earth: The United States of America . . . that doesn’t stop the McHydes of the earth:
“There are two competing models for the definition of world globalism. One is the UN (Note: This is the “biggie” for nearly all pre-millenarian/pre-tribbers, as well as American post-tribulationists.) model and the other European (Note: One simply cannot contemplate any other model, e.g., WTO, WORLD BANK, GATT, IMF, 82nd AIRBORNE, CFR, ad nausea, ad infinitum). The UN wants one great big community of everyone helping everyone. The European model divides the world into three parts: developed nations, developing nations, and undeveloped nations. The European model contends that there are not enough resources in the world for all nations to be developed and, therefore, part of the world needs to be sacrificed to meet the need of the other part. The European model also contends that there is not enough food to go around and the world population should be significantly reduced.”
Furthermore, McHyde points out that the coat-of-arms for Prince Charles is full of history and great meaning. Royal families are identified by their coat-of-arms—families originated their coat-of-arms from the Holy Roman Empire. Now, the Beast in the Revelation is a “composite creature depicting the past: the body is that of a leopard, the feet are from a bear, and the head (mouth) is that of a lion. The emperors of the Roman Empire were from France (leopard), Germany (bear), and England (lion. This is the definition of the Heraldic Beast from the college of heraldry and it has existed for the past 500 years. It also matches the exact description as seen by the Apostle John in the book of Revelation.” (Ibid.)
Now, the clincher . . .
“In conclusion, I have been asked many times if Prince Charles knows who he is. That is, if he is the antimessiah, does he know that he is? My answer is Yes. I believe that the antimessiah is patiently waiting for his time just as the Messiah waited for His. I believe he is trusting in the promise that was given by his father (viz. the “devil”?) . . . “Am I afraid of what Prince Charles might do with me identifying him? Nope. I’m small potatoes in this world. I’m just the “him” who did the calculation. ‘Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast.’”
WHAT HAPPENED TO AMERICA?
The fall of America—and the rise of the Beast—are bound, according to the post-trib view of McHyde, to its miraculous destruction foreseen in the Revelation and in his book: Planet X in Bible Prophecy and Mystery of Disunity (also included in the “package”) – the “Planet X” is WORMWOOD which is aimed directly at America!
Included in the $47 value (although bonuses bring the value to $97), one will find:
(1) The (post-tribulation) Rapture therefore only happens in a Sabbath year.
(2) The Great Tribulation must begin in year 4, the middle year, of a Sabbath year cycle (Dan. 9:27=Mt 24:15).
(3) Wormwood must come soon before that, probably in year 3 of a Sabbath year cycle.
(4) Since America falls between Wormwood’s passage (year 3 of cycle) and the start of the Tribulation (year 4), the timing of the Fall of America can also easily be ruled out for several years in advance at any point in time, which is very comforting (Note: Sort of a sop given to American evangelicals who were disappointed when the pre-trib rapture does not occur?)
(5) In other words, none of these events can happen at any moment, but can each actually only happen in one out of any given set of seven years!” (McHyde on Wormwood)
(. . . and, how to survive Planet X. . . .(Planet X)
America’s fate—as with virtually all pro-American prophets—is utterly incapacitated as a result of the pre-trib rapture, and now by Planet X occurring, according to McHyde at the Sixth Seal!
Her destruction and/or disappearance—whichever comes first—is simply a foregone conclusion which has to be made. How to remove the 800-lb. gorilla is now becoming the obsession of the millenarian masses.
A CONCLUDING WORD
What this author punctuates is the incredible and even willful ignorance which so many beloved brethren persist to display—and why? Because they genuinely believe that turn-of-the-nineteenth-century Premillenarianism is unalterably impervious to secular change? I doubt that. Times change—and, traditionally (though it be so ever brief)—Premillenarians have changed as much as their historicist counterparts.
Now, what disturbs is the frivolous attitude that pre-tribulational, Premillenarians are beginning to exude in reference to Daniel’s 70th Week! And, why not—we won’t be here in any event? Right? So we may fantasize all we wish without recrimination; furthermore, apolitical or patriotic indulgence is irrelevant—we’re outta here in any event—so, eat, drink, and be merry . . . and, remember, we’re looking for the “Blessed Hope” – not the Antichrist! Thus is born a superficial, materialistic, success-oriented, purpose-driven what’s-in-it-for-me Christianity that is abhorrent and hypocritical before the world—and, before the suffering Church throughout the world!
Compounding this absurdity is the complicity which the believing Church—in the name of good citizenry and patriotic duty . . . for God and country—while SIMULTANEOUSLY standing fast against the encroaching debauchery of a society under the destructive incursions of secular nihilism—strives to maintain a semblance of testimony!
Now, the West’s most visible spirituality ponders the defiance of a militant Islam and cowers before its outrage!
Brethren . . . if these are not the Last Days, then what are they?
I leave you with this meditation – both to comfort, to warn – to encourage, and to alert . . .
“‘Your words have been harsh against Me,’ Says the Lord,
‘Yet you say, ‘What have we spoken against You?’
You have said, ‘It is useless to serve God;
What profit is it that we have kept His ordinance,
And that we have walked as mourners before the Lord of hosts?
So now we call the proud blessed,
for those who do wickedness are raised up;
They even tempt God and go free.’
Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another,
And the Lord listened and heard them;
So a book of remembrance was written before Him
For those who fear the Lord
And who meditate on His name.
‘They shall be Mine,’ says the Lord of hosts,
‘On the day that I make them My jewels.
And I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.’
Then you shall again discern between the righteous and the wicked,
Between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him.”
(Malachi 3:13-18)
