MORE ON THE GULF WAR!--AND IS SADDAM THE AC? DO 2665RV 11/90
--A Bible Study with Dad!
1. The Lord has amazing mercy! The other night He even gave me a prayer for Saddam Hussein. (See ML #2668.) Mama was telling me this morning, "Whew! When this 'Prayer for Saddam' gets out, some people, maybe even some of our own people, are going to have a hard time understanding it!" I said, "Well, you can even be sorry & pray for a monster or for a terrible sinner!" The Lord was sorry for a lot of sinners! He was sorry for the drunks & the harlots & the publicans & sinners.
2. I was looking at Saddam the other night on the news, & he looked so sad & so tired, he really just looks human. But the way these news hounds & propagandists whip up the war fever & the atrocity fever, boy oh boy! I just read an article talking about the Iraqis abusing all these babies in the Kuwaiti hospitals & starving them to death & taking them off the incubators & pulling the plug & abusing the patients & blah blah blah! But a doctor who had been there had the courage to say that he had not seen any of the Iraqi atrocities cited by Bush & other U.S. officials.
3. I'll tell you, in war time, the war fever gets so hot, anybody that tells any story contrary to the GI version has to have a lot of guts! Techi asked me the other day, "What's a GI?" I explained that during World War 2, everything that came from the government was "government issued," so by & by, even the soldiers got to be called GIs, "government issues"! And by & by all the news gets to be GI, government issue.
4. Did you hear the latest? Bush was in Saudi Arabia shaking hands with the soldiers, & his new ploy is, "We've got to get in there soon to stop that monster from developing the A-bomb!"--As though it was a matter of great haste! But at least some reporters were honest & said, "However, both U.S. & Israeli authorities consider it will take Saddam Hussein at least five to ten more years to develop the A-bomb."
5. Every few days Bush thinks up something new, some new reason why the U.S. should get in there & make a big mess & slaughter tens of thousands of people, maybe hundreds of thousands! Thank God Gorbachev has more sense, he's trying to stall Bush off the best he can. And Kohl really put down his foot about it & said, "We're simply not going to do it without U.N. approval! The U.N. Security Council is going to have to vote on it. We cannot actually attack first & start a war unless the U.N. gives its approval!" So thank God, at least there are a few cool heads amongst the World leaders! (Editor's note: Although even this has changed now that the U.N. has voted to authorise the use of force, after James Baker, Secretary of State, went around to each member of the Security Council & pressured them into voting for it!)
6. The greatest fervour for Bush was right after he started sending soldiers over there--he had 75% support. But now it's cooled down to less than half, as people got to thinking about it & what it's going to mean, & as hundreds of thousands of families are beginning to feel it & realise what it's going to cost! I agree with some writers who have said they don't think the price of oil is ever going to go down! From now on it's always going to be scarce & hard to get, & a lot more scarce than it has been.
WHAT WORLD LEADER HASN'T DONE THE SAME AS SADDAM HUSSEIN?
7. Well anyhow, I was praying for poor Saddam. You look at him, just look at him! He's a human being! They say he's a monster & he's killed a lot of people, but what World leader hasn't? Bush barely got into office when he invaded the poor little country of Panama!
8. The U.S. tried to lie about its casualties & actually gave as their excuse for attacking that a U.S. couple had been stopped & harassed by Panamanian soldiers. As far as the soldiers knew, they may have been spies driving into the compound where Noriega had his headquarters! But the U.S. said they had beaten up the husband & might have raped the wife if they hadn't come & rescued them, blah blah blah, & that was the incident upon which they base their invasion of Panama! They tried to belittle the number of casualties on the American side, but we now know that there were hundreds of Americans killed & wounded, & reliable reports of thousands of Panamanians killed, whole sections of the city just wiped out!--All the homes, buildings & apartments destroyed! Just horrible!
9. So how many has Bush killed & been directly responsible for killing!--Although he didn't have to actually pull the trigger, as they claim that Saddam has on some occasions. They say Saddam is a terrible monster, he's killed people, he's gassed villages & he's carried on an eight-year war with Iran that cost millions of lives. Well, many Presidents of the United States have done the same--and even worse! What's the difference? (Family: And Bush was once the head of the CIA, wasn't he?) Yes, he was, & they're one of the dirtiest outfits in the bunch, they use all kinds of trickery! They not only go out killing their enemies, they sometimes even kill their own people because they know too much! So Bush finally got to where he can really kill now! What's the difference between that & Saddam Hussein?
10. So I can't explain it, but after reading all these terrible tales about Saddam Hussein, the Lord put real compassion on my heart for him. I can't say I necessarily agree with what he's done, although many writers have written that he had justification for taking Kuwait back, that it was a part of Iraq for many years. In fact, it's only been a few years since the British gave it to that Emir!--Who, by the way, looks like the Devil! They say he's been as selfish as can be with all those oil riches & hasn't distributed to the poor.
11. So frankly, the way conquerors & World leaders think, Saddam felt justified in taking back Kuwait. That's what Bush did in Panama! When Panama was getting out of hand, he just went down & took it back!--And has kept the leader, Noriega, in prison now for nearly a year without a trial, which is definitely against the Constitution! One of the provisions of the U.S. Constitution is the right to a speedy trial, that prisoners not be kept for a year or years without trial. But they're afraid to go to trial! They haven't got enough evidence yet to go to trial to be sure they convict him. (Family: They even wire-tapped his conversations with his lawyer.) Yes! And they won't let him get any money out of his bank accounts to pay his lawyer! I don't call that fair! He said he thought he was going to get a fair deal even if he got arrested by the U.S., but he's getting anything but a fair deal!
12. Well, I guess I don't have to explain it, the Lord just laid real compassion on my heart to pray for Saddam. And by the way, the next day it showed him laughing on the news!--The very next day after that prayer! He was all cheered up & laughing & kidding around with his advisors. I felt like that was a real token that the Lord had heard my prayer! The power of prayer can reach over the miles & the Lord can really do something! PTL! Before that he looked so burdened & so depressed & so tired, he's got such big problems.
13. No matter what he's done in the past, some U.S. Presidents have done much worse! FDR was to blame for the deaths of millions in World War 2. The country didn't even want to go to war, he couldn't persuade them to go to war, so he allowed the attack on Pearl Harbor, knowing that the Japanese were coming! He figured that was the only way he could get the U.S. people to go to war! There was even a political party that arose before that war called "America First," the "America Firsters," & it was a loud voice all over the country speaking against getting into the war. They'd been through one World War & they didn't want to be in another. And no matter how much he tried to persuade them, he wasn't able to persuade Congress to declare war until the day after Pearl Harbor.
14. So there have been plenty of Presidents who slaughtered millions! The Civil War was one of the most horrendous wars. It had the highest casualty rate, considering the population, of any war that the U.S. has ever fought, & virtually pitting brother against brother, fathers against sons, just slaughtering each other! Just horrible!
15. But President Lincoln, who was president at that time, is now worshipped as a great hero! They made us memorise & quote his Gettysburg Address when I was in high school, think of that!--And he was responsible for the slaughter of tens of thousands of Americans on both sides. He was a tyrant, a real tyrant, & he had no right whatsoever to force the Southern States to stay in the Union. They had joined with the idea that it was a confederacy, something they could voluntarily join, & if they didn't like it, they could voluntarily get out! Imagine, he went to war to force them to stay in!
16. To say these things is practically heresy today, because of the years of propaganda!--All the propaganda they crammed down your throat when you were in school, that Abraham Lincoln was such a great man & a wonderful Christian, blah blah! (Family: And then they blame the Soviet Union when they try to keep their country together.) Yes.
17. Every government does it!--The Devil's own governments. The U.S. has pretended for too many years to be a Christian nation when it's anything but Christian now & they're so hypocritical & self-righteous! I'm as anti-American as I ever was! And the Americans are getting less Christian & worse all the time; in fact, one of the worst countries in the World! And that guy Bush, he behaves like some kind of a mad man! You know he's got to be insane! I think any man that would ever want to be President of the United States has got to be insane, really!
18. So I agree with Booth, the guy who shot Lincoln. He shot him in his box seat in a theatre just before the play began, right in the back of the head, then he jumped from the box onto the stage, which broke his leg. And God bless him, he cried out the truth: "Sic semper tyrannus!"--"Thus always with tyrants!" To Americans, "That's heresy, that's subversion, to speak this way about our great leader who brought the Union together," blah blah!--Yes, & nearly killed half of them!
19. So what President hasn't done the same as Saddam Hussein? There are plenty of horrible horror stories that have been leaked out. And I told Mama, "Now watch how suddenly all the news begins telling the same story, about all the terrible deeds & all the horrendous atrocities & how bad the other side is, & how good we are!"
20. I've been through several wars now that the U.S. has fought. I was born right after World War 1, & went through World War 2, & then the Korean War, & then the Vietnam War, & now it looks like we're about to have another one. Of course, we've also been through the Grenadian War & the Panamanian War. Just think, in my one lifetime, God knows how many wars the U.S. has fought!
21. Well, I didn't intend this to be a talk on the evils of Americanism. But one day if they begin saying everything's all white on one side & all black on the other side, you know something's wrong! It usually means that there's evil on both sides. As you'll read in the WND, one writer spent quite a bit of time explaining the whole situation the way it really is.--How that until the British got there & started handing out land grants & making kings of everybody who was on their side, Kuwait did belong to Iraq, & the islands too & the waterway. But the British didn't want Iraq to have too much power, especially any naval power, so they deliberately took away the islands & the waterways & the ports & made it a land-locked country! And then they took off the whole bottom there, Kuwait, just to make sure the Iraqis didn't get too near the water, & they gave it to this former Emir of Kuwait.
22. So the way the World & World dictators & World kings & presidents think, they feel they're justified to go & take back what was theirs!--Just as Bush thinks he's justified to go & take back what was America's!--The oil! Of course, they can always think up excuses. I don't know that Bush ever once actually said it was for the oil, but soon after the invasion of Kuwait, Senator Robert Dole spelled out the motive he saw behind the U.S. action: "O-I-L"! And Bush said, "It would take away our American way of life!"--Which means gasoline & cars, etc. (Family: Secretary of State Baker said, "It's about jobs!") Yes, & then later Bush said, "It would ruin the whole World if Iraq had control of the oil!" And this time he says, "It's to stop him from developing the atom bomb!"--Ten years from now! They tell such lies & give so many excuses that it's horrible! Saddam had more excuse for taking Kuwait than the U.S. had for going to Saudi Arabia in the first place! "Oh, we must prevent aggression!--Especially on our oil!"
23. Well anyhow, I've heard both sides, & the truth is beginning to trickle out now. There are a lot of people coming to their senses, & it's becoming a controversial subject now. There's an anti-war movement already begun in the United States, as well as worldwide, so I'm not alone in my sentiments. You can't condone everything that a dictator does, but if he didn't do those things, he wouldn't be a dictator. He wouldn't be the dictator, if he wasn't an especially strong man & tough, & quick of judgement on those who oppose him. I'm not excusing all that, I'm just saying that that's the way it is, that's the way the World is, the World leaders are all that way, let's face it!--Including the U.S.A.!
24. So Saddam is no more evil than Bush is! Bush has taken more troops to Saudi Arabia to get into that mess of Kuwait than Saddam Hussein has there! Of course, Saddam is getting more now, I understand, but after all, if Bush is going to bring'm in, he's going to bring'm in too!
25. All I know is the Lord laid real love on my heart for Saddam. Can you love a man like that?--Jesus did! He even prayed for those who were crucifying Him & said, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do." At least Saddam knows what he's doing & why he's doing it!--And he isn't crucifying Christ! In fact, in spite of everything they say, he allows churches & Christians & missionaries & people who wear crosses, & has a comparatively open society in Iraq!--Whereas the kingdom which the United States is now supposedly defending, according to what they claim, won't even allow Bibles, won't allow anyone to wear crosses, won't allow missionaries & won't allow any kind of non-Moslem religious literature into Saudi Arabia!
26. So now the U.S. has gone whole hog, all the way, & is there to defend a nation that is as anti-Christ as it can possibly be!--Against Christianity, churches, crosses, missionaries, even one little piece of Christian literature! They've warned the U.S. not to allow any of those things in! The U.S. has gone to fight for a kingdom like that against a kingdom that actually allows religious liberty, Iraq. Think of it! Think of the horror of that! There are probably as many Christians on the side of the Iraqi army & in the Iraqi army, as there are real Christians there in the American army! Talk about Christians killing Christians, if the U.S. goes to war, they'll probably be killing Christians too!
27. All I know is the Lord really laid on my heart to pray for him. The last I'd seen him on the news he looked so sad, so tired, so worried.--And he had plenty to worry about! And I prayed for him, I poured out my heart in the Lord's Love, that somehow the Lord, if it be His Will, would let him out of this mess he's gotten into.
28. If this is the beginning of God's judgements on the U.S., well, so be it! It won't be the first time God used heathen kings to punish His people. He said, "I have shaved Israel with a razor that is hired," which was Nebuchadnezzar.--Isa.7:20. And Saddam allows more Christianity & religious freedom in his country than do the Saudis!--Or the Kuwaitis, or any of that string of Gulf States!--All Arabs & all absolutely dictatorial states, all of them dictators & all of them anti-Christian.
29. So the U.S. is there protecting those who allow no Christianity, prepared to fight against a kingdom that does allow Christianity! Think of it! Can you see how people's minds get so blurred & so twisted? They drink in & believe all this propaganda that the U.S. is dishing out to them!
30. So I said, "Lord, if You've got to use this so-called 'monster' to punish the U.S. for its sins, well, it's as good a place as any!" Because I'm a little inclined to believe what Saddam has warned of. He said, "If you try to start a war against me, you're all going to be burned with fire!" One writer said, "When they start bombing those oil fields, a lot of people are going to be burned!" It's going to be one great massive fire, & they won't be any good for anything after that. It'll take five or ten years to restore the oil fields, think of that! And they're wide open, it's impossible to defend anything so big.
31. So anyhow, the Lord laid it on my heart to pray for him, "Lord, if it be Thy Will, get him out of this mess! At least he allows Your churches & Your children & He doesn't persecute them, whereas these others do." Imagine, the U.S., a supposedly Christian country, is there defending the anti-Christs, anti-Christian countries, against a country that is part Christian & allows Christianity & churches!
32. Well anyhow, the Lord led me to pray for him, & if you don't agree with the prayer, then blame it on the Lord, because I was really praying in the Spirit out of the fullness of my heart for that poor man & the mess he's gotten into. But it just might be that the Lord is going to use him to be the instrument in God's Hand to punish the U.S.!
33. Saddam Hussein may be the worst sinner in the World, but God loves him!--And he is being a tool to accomplish God's Will. Even if he's no saint, he doesn't have to be a saint to be a tool of the Lord's! I doubt if there are too many people praying for him except the Muslims & Palestinians.--And I would probably again be branded an anti-American traitor to my country for saying this!
34. They talk about what he's done & how many families he's disrupted, but the U.S. is doing the same thing! With 250,000 men there already, a quarter-of-a-million men, they're planning on doubling it! And it doesn't just involve those men, they've got fathers & mothers, wives, children, brothers, sisters, relatives! It involves & is disrupting many times more that many people back in the home country! They're suffering, which they deserve to do! They persecuted us & practically ran us out of the country, lied about us & still lie about us, & God is beginning to judge them!
BIBLE STUDY--COULD SADDAM HUSSEIN BE THE AC?
35. Well, so much for Saddam Hussein. But now I've heard there are church people & some prophetic preachers, etc., who are beginning to contemplate that he is possibly the Antichrist! I even received a six-page letter from someone in the Family trying to prove the same thing! And other Christian writers are trying to prove that Iraq is the Babylon of Revelation! So I thought we'd just go over some of these Scriptures & let you judge for yourself & see what you think. Could Saddam Hussein be the Antichrist? Some people say he has a fierce countenance, but I don't think he looks very fierce at all. He has a very sad, burdened, tired-looking countenance, but not a fierce countenance.
36. Okay, did you all get your Bibles? Can you spare one more hour? What I've been doing is going through these passages, the ones particularly about the Antichrist & Babylon, & I even got some new ideas, praise the Lord!
37. Daniel 11 is quite complicated & quite confusing & you have to make quite a few assumptions, but I think we have pretty well pinned it down. If we even have to start with "the abomination that maketh desolate" in the 31st verse & work backwards, we know that by the time we get to the 30th verse that this guy being discussed here is the Antichrist, because he's the one that places the "abomination that maketh desolate" in the holy place. Jesus says, "When ye therefore shall see the Abomination of Desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place ... then shall be Great Tribulation."--Mat.24:15,21. So we know then that that's the Great Tribulation.
38. And we know that this guy that it's talking about here in the 31st verse must be the Antichrist! So we work back. What does he do first that we will surely know about, any such great action as that? They've reached some kind of agreement, some kind of a covenant, some kind of a truce. We have theorised, & the only thing we could think of that he could get everybody together on--Jews, Arabs, Gentiles, Christians, Muslims & whatnot--would be to internationalise Jerusalem, the holy place of the three greatest religions in the World today. The Jews, of course, will have to be forced to do it, they'll never do it voluntarily.
39. That's our theory, we can't prove it, but it certainly seems to be logical. Therefore we have theorised that it's because the Jews are breaking the Covenant that he gets angry with them & comes down & breaks the Covenant himself. And he's so angry with the Jews, he sets up his Image in the holy place, the Temple Mount somewhere. Apparently the Temple has been rebuilt at this time, because it says that "he sitteth in the Temple of God, as God, proclaiming that he is God!"--2Th.2:4.
40. Now if Saddam Hussein is the Antichrist, he could do all of these things. He is a Muslim, although they say he wasn't quite as enthusiastic about it until he got into this war! He figured that would win him a few more friends amongst the Muslims to get them on his side.
41. Anyway, we go back & in verse 30 he gets angry because all these ships of Chittim come against him. "Therefore he shall be grieved, & return, & have indignation against the holy Covenant; so shall he do; he shall even return & have intelligence with them that forsake the Holy Covenant. And arms shall stand on his part, & they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, & shall take away the daily sacrifice"--that could be no place else but in front of the newly-built Temple. It's going to have to be newly-built if it's going to be a Temple at all with sacrifices restored. "And shall place the abomination that maketh desolate." There are the key words. It mentions this before in Daniel, Jesus mentions this in Matthew 24, & it mentions it further along in Revelation, etc.
42. You say, "Well, maybe I can picture Saddam Hussein doing all that." Well, then he's going to have to fight quite a war before this particular event takes place. So can we go back & find any war not long before this? We have to go clear back to the 25th verse: "And he shall stir up his power & his courage against the King of the South." There's something that could fit. The forces of the United States are on the South & he's on the North. He could fit the King of the North, couldn't he?--And Bush & all his mob could sure fit the King of the South!--And "ships of Chittim."
43. "He shall stir up his power & his courage against the King of the South with a great army; & the King of the South shall be stirred up to battle with a very great & mighty army." Whose forces do you think could be very great? You could be describing the U.S. forces in that manner right now. So this picture could sure fit. "But he shall not stand"--the King of the South shall not stand--"for they shall forecast devices against him. Yea, they that feed of the portion of his meat shall destroy him, & his army shall overflow: & many shall fall down slain."--The King of the South is defeated.
44. (Verse 27:) "And both these kings' hearts shall be to do mischief, & they shall speak lies at one table." I wouldn't put it past Bush that if he saw that he was already beaten, he's apt to sit down with Hussein & they'll lie to each other, which they always do at these peace talks. (Family: Bush recently sat down with Syria's Assad, even though he said he would never talk to terrorists.) Yes. "But it shall not prosper: for yet the end shall be at the time appointed."
45. (Verse 28:) "Then shall he return into his land with great riches." Well, I'll tell you, if Saddam beats the U.S., I'm sure he'll keep the oil, & that's about the greatest riches you can have in the World today! "And his heart shall be against the Holy Covenant."--Whatever the Holy Covenant is. If the Covenant is something with the Jews, it probably had to be crammed down the Antichrist's throat too, & then he'll be free to attack the Jews.
46. (Verse 29:) "At the time appointed he shall return, & come toward the South; but it shall not be as the former, or as the latter. For the ships of Chittim shall come against him." This is supposedly British & possibly American ships of some kind, so he'll have to be prepared to fight another war here. That part could fit, in fact it fits better than almost anything else. But does it fit all the way? Now let's go to another specific passage about the Antichrist, shall we? I can see where maybe some of that could fit the present situation.
REVELATION 17--BABYLON!
47. Now, Revelation Chapter 17. This Chapter is about Babylon, the Great Whore! One Christian writer makes a case that possibly Iraq, which used to be Babylon & the Babylonian Empire, with whom the Israelites had a lot of trouble, could be this Babylon here in Revelation 17. Well, that to me is a little far-fetched, because not all the kings of the Earth have committed fornication with Iraq!--Unless, as he tries to make a case, they've all committed fornication with that area because of the oil & their desire for the oil wealth, etc. If you ask me, that's what Bush is doing right now!
48. So this one fellow tried to make a case for that, that the Babylon of Revelation could be Iraq, & that that would fulfil a lot of the prophecies. But when you read this through, it doesn't really fit. It says in verse 1 that she "sitteth upon many waters." Well, the present Babylon, Iraq, doesn't sit upon many waters. It sits on two famous waters, the Euphrates River & the Tigris, but this word "waters," of course, doesn't mean just rivers. "Waters" in Bible prophecy always means people, & he only sits on one people!
49. (Verse 2:) "With whom the kings of the Earth have committed fornication." Well, they have committed fornication with not only Iraq, they've committed just as much fornication for oil with Kuwait & Saudi Arabia! So why blame it all on Iraq? "And the inhabitants of the Earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication." Well, if you want to call that oil, they sure have!
50. (Verse 3:) "So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: & I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet-coloured Beast." Some people believe this is the Reds. But as we find out, this Beast has heads going clear back to Egypt! This Beast is very mysterious, by the way, & I'm going to shock you with something that I came up with when I've been studying this recently.
51. We've always talked about the Beast as the governments of the Earth because of the different heads, but all these seven heads come out of one Beast.--All the governments of the Earth & all those great kingdoms represented by the seven heads, beginning with Egypt all the way through the seventh head who is going to be whom? (Family: The Antichrist.) We know that because of the 10th verse that says, "There are seven kings, five are fallen"--can anybody name them? (Family: Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia & Greece.) Very good! Excellent! You have a good memory! "And one is," in the Apostle John's time. (Family: Rome.) "And the other is not yet come."
52. Back to verse 6: "And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the Saints." Some of these guys write me about Saddam Hussein & say, "It could be Islam which has been drunken with the blood of Saints, since Babylon today represents one of the heads of Islam." Well, you can make things to appear as something like that, but if you ask me, you've got to stretch things pretty much to say that poor little Saddam Hussein & his little Kingdom of Iraq is this great Kingdom of Babylon which practically rules the World, & all the governments that have been & yet one that will be! You sure couldn't blame that all on Iraq! So that's a little far-fetched as far as I'm concerned.
WHO IS THE BEAST?
53. (Verse 8:) "The Beast that thou sawest was, & is not; & shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, & go into perdition." Now who is this Beast, anyhow? We've always said the seven World Empires are represented by the seven heads; but the heads grow out of the Dragon, the Dragon doesn't grow out of the heads! So where have all these great Empires been from? Who was really responsible for them? (Family: The Devil.) The Devil, Satan!--The red Devil according to Rev.12:3, the "great Red Dragon." So the seventh head grows out of the Dragon himself.
54. So now, what does this mean?: "The Beast that thou sawest was, & is not; & shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, & go into perdition." First of all, he was, he'll be the seventh head, the AC government. "And is not." Now this is a very strange verse & I've heard all kinds of explanations & none of them ever satisfied me. But I really prayed about this today, & this came to me. Now whether you think it's right or wrong, I have to trust my Source.
55. Who's speaking to John here, anyhow? (Family: An Angel.) And Angels live in what time? They live in the place where there is no time. "The Beast that thou sawest was"--the AC seventh head, he has been--"he is not"--as far as the Angels are concerned. There is going to be a time when he "is not," when he's cast into the Pit & chained for a Thousand Years in the Millennium. As far as the Angels are concerned, it's already happened. "And he shall ascend out of the bottomless pit."--Who else but the Devil is going to ascend out of the bottomless pit & then again be cast into perdition?
56. Now that came to me just like that when I really prayed! I said, "Lord, what does that mean? I've never been able to figure it out." I theorised before that it could have something to do with the death & "resurrection" of the Antichrist. But the Devil is the only one who's ever going to come out of the pit & then go back into it, right? "And they that dwell on the Earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the Book of Life ... when they behold the Beast that was, & is not, & yet is." What other Beast could possibly be that bad?
57. (Verse 9:) "And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth." Mountains in Bible Prophecy mean what? (Family: Kingdoms.) Kingdoms, or actually seven great Empires. "And there are seven kings"--kings of these Empires--"five are fallen, one is, & the other is not yet come. And when he cometh, he must continue a short space." The Antichrist is not going to rule very long.
58. (Verse 11:) "And the Beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, & is of the seven, & goeth into perdition." Now if the Beast, the seventh head as we've just pointed out, has to be part of the Devil, from whom all these kingdoms come, "the Beast that was & is not"--he will be "is not" for awhile during the Millennium--& he's "of the seven," he's the seventh of the seven kings that have gone before, "even he is the eighth!"--You mean, there's another one after the Antichrist, after the Tribulation? When could there be an eighth one?
59. The eighth! Is there going to be another kingdom that comes out of the Devil? It came to me today just as plain as day! (Family: After he comes out of the Pit, then it's Gog & Magog.) Exactly! "Even he is the eighth." He's not only the seventh, but he's also the eighth. That's as clear as can be. I don't know why I never saw that before.
60. I've really been praying about these passages, because of these people writing me that maybe Saddam Hussein is the Antichrist! So how about that? I don't know why I never saw it before. I just have to ask the Lord & then He shows me. It's so simple, Gog & Magog, there's one more to come! He's of the seven & he "goeth into perdition" after he comes back for the Battle of Gog & Magog & tries to round up the World against the Saints!
THE TEN KINGS!
61. (Verse 12:) "And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings." Now they were definitely ten horns, but are they spread out over all the heads? Back in Daniel they come out of the last head, the seventh head, so obviously they must be on the last head. Now he's getting specific, "These ten horns are ten kings which have received no kingdom as yet"--in John's time, their time--"but receive power as kings one hour with the Beast." Here we have the Beast practically identified the same as the Devil. The Antichrist is the Devil, the Devil incarnate, the Antichrist possessed with the Devil.
62. (Verse 13:) "These have one mind, & shall give their power & strength unto the Beast." Here are ten kings, & it used to be very easy to identify these ten kings as the ten powers of the European Economic Community when there were only ten, but now there are 12! But of course, some of those you can identify as one, three of today's countries comprising just one of the original countries, & so forth. (Family: Belgium, Luxembourg & Holland are just one area.) There are still ten as far as God's concerned, or it's merely a significant number as far as God's concerned. But I think you could figure that out pretty easily, that these ten incorporate all 12 to this very day.
63. (Verse 14:) "These shall make war with the Lamb." In the movies you have flashbacks & sometimes you have flashforwards, & here we have the Battle of Armageddon thrown in right there to sort of encourage you & also warn you that they're going to make war with God's Kingdom & His people. (Verse 16:) "And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the Beast, these shall hate the Whore, & shall make her desolate & naked, & shall eat her flesh, & burn her with fire."
64. The Whore has ridden all these kingdoms, all these Empires, right? It's been the same Beast, the Devil, all down through history. The Beast out of whom each of these Empires came, she's ridden them all. That would sort of throw out Babylon right away. She's ridden them all, but she only rode Babylon once, when it was in power. So how can you get her riding just Babylon, Iraq, Saddam Hussein?
65. Well, who is she? Well, I think this one guy tried to explain that it's because all this oil's coming out of this area, that the whole commerce of the World rides on this oil. He had to kind of stretch it a little bit to try to figure that out. And he suggested all the merchants on Earth would grieve when she's destroyed. Well, I don't doubt that if the oil was cut off that they'd all be grieving, that's for sure!
66. But then who are these ten kings that receive power with the Beast, the Antichrist, at the very end for a short time? (Family: The European kings.) Well, yes, that's what we've always said, the kings of Europe. That's why I'm trying to say, how could it be that the ten kings are going to join with Saddam Hussein, the Beast, & then they're finally going to turn & burn the Whore with fire? Well, I think he said something about that, that that could be possible if they join with him & then somehow all that oil caught fire. Well, I think it's a little far-fetched! Not by any stretch of my imagination can I picture Iraq as the King of Babylon & as having ten kings under him to support him, & that burn the mysterious woman with fire!
AMERICA THE WHORE!
67. I didn't know until I read some of this Christian material that there are apparently a lot of people who have begun to agree with us, that the Whore's the Queen of all mercantile business & commerce--as I've always said--America! That's my guess, I can't prove it, but for all the kings of the Earth to mourn & grieve after she's destroyed--what market is it that all nations of the Earth crave above all to sell goods to? (Family: America!) They all want to sell to the American market. Even the richest nations like Japan like to sell to the American market. Well, I don't think it's going to be for long, because she's not going to have the money!
68. You could say it's materialism, mercantilism throughout the whole World. But it says in Revelation 18 that the merchants of the whole Earth will grieve over her. They picture an actual land, a country, on fire, & they view it from afar & from the sea. You can't exactly picture worldwide commerce as a land which is burned. "They shall eat her flesh, & burn her with fire."
69. Well, the first one to ever propose that the Whore was America was Avak, some 30 years ago, & I almost thought he was crazy! He said the Lord had showed him that that was America. I thought, "That guy's a little nuts, that one country like America could be the Great Whore that is corrupted by all the kings of the Earth, etc." But the more I thought about it, the more it seemed to fit. And although I can't prove it, it's still my best guess, because it sure fits the picture more than anybody.
70. But I certainly don't think it fits the picture of poor little King Saddam Hussein having ten nations to join him! And in Daniel, it says that three of them are overthrown by the Antichrist & the rest then join him. So I can't exactly see where that fits Saddam Hussein or the Great Whore or anything like that. I can't see it, maybe you can! That's why I want you to read it, if you think it can fit.
71. (Verse 17:) "For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil His Will, & to agree, & give their kingdom unto the Beast, until the Words of God shall be fulfilled." Well, if you ask me, there are more kings involved in this Bush effort & it would fit Bush better, really! There are ten kings that join the Antichrist, & there are a whole bunch of kings that have joined Bush! Well, Bush hasn't got a fierce countenance. Sometimes he looks a little fierce, but I think he's usually got a silly clown countenance most of the time. (Techi: He's also married.) Yes, he even had his wife there in Saudi Arabia with him.
72. (Family: Saddam had an affair with a woman some years back, so he must regard the desire of women!--Dan.11:37.) Absolutely! He also has a wife & five kids! Somebody has explained, by the way, that if the Antichrist doesn't regard the desire of women, maybe he likes men! Wouldn't that be perfect for the Antichrist, to be the worst possible kind of man, the kind of man who loves men! How sickening! Well, he'd certainly be in tune with the times & have lots of friends.
73. Well, I'll leave it with you, you can think about it, pray about it, & see if you think Saddam Hussein fits the picture of the Beast who has the ten kings joining him, & together they destroy the Great Whore. Well, if he is it & he has ten kings that do join him, they'd sure have a great chance of destroying the Great Whore right where he's at! Only I am just about convinced that this doesn't mean destroying the Great Whore's army, but it's going to be an attack on America itself.--The final third World War! They haven't destroyed all those bombs, they haven't even limited them all that much! Russia just moved hers across the Urals to get out from under the restrictions of the arms controls. She's got plenty left, & so has the U.S. They could still have a war.
74. (Maria: The other night in your prayer for Saddam you said, "It seems that this would be the time for Thy prophesied invasion of Israel & for the defeat of the forces of the West & Chittim & their ships.") Hallelujah! Because if the U.S. loses, or it looks like they're losing, who do you suppose would come to their rescue who has stood on the sidelines & stood back & kept quiet? (Family: Israel.) Before it will ever let the U.S. lose, it will dive in & try to conquer Iraq, & that would give Saddam an ideal opportunity to carry on, with the help of all the Arabs & all the Muslims, of which there are many many countries! It's a Great Wall, as the Lord showed us, that would then turn on the foreign forces. (See "The Arab Wall!" ML #274.)
RUSSIA & THE FRIENDS OF IRAQ!
75. Oh, yes! I've got to read you something else! There was another very interesting thing in Daniel, still the 11th Chapter. This sounds very interesting! It's certainly a good time for the Antichrist to arise, but I can't see right now exactly how Saddam fits the picture. But he may dive in & join the game & help him carry on, especially if it looked like maybe he was going to lose. The real King of the North is Russia, & Saddam is one of their best customers! They've still got thousands of advisors in Iraq helping them run the war machine that's going to be fighting the U.S.A. Gorbachev's a very clever fellow! He could be pretending to be backing up the U.S. & saying, "Yes, yes," but all the time he's been trying to hold busy Bush back! So this is an interesting thing I ran into.
76. (Verse 40:) "And at the time of the end shall the King of the South push at him: & the King of the North shall come against him like a whirlwind." Who is the King of the South right now, at the moment? Remember, everything in the Bible always gets its direction from Israel & the Mideast. Who is their most powerful force now?--South, all those forces. (Family: America.) "With chariots & with horsemen, & with many ships." Chariots?--Tanks! Horsemen?--The guys that drive'm, right? What kind of ships mostly now?--Airships! "And he shall enter into the countries, & shall overflow & pass over.
77. "And he shall enter also into the glorious land"--Israel--"& many countries shall be overthrown." If the Antichrist should decide to back Saddam up, it's a perfect time for the Antichrist to rise in Russia. I can't swear to it, but I just can't see how anything else would fit the picture. Iraq is Russia's best customer for arms & wheat, & I don't think the Russians are going to let Saddam fall! They'll do their best, even if they have to go to war, to save Iraq!--In spite of all the things they're saying right now. They're trying to keep the confidence & good will of the U.S. & trying to please Bush & all this baloney!
78. "And many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom"--that's right down near the South of Israel--"and Moab"--that's Jordan. And Jordan is about the only ally & the only friend besides Russia that Saddam has right now. "And the chief of the children of Ammon."--Moab & Ammon is Jordan.
79. (Verse 42:) "He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: & the land of Egypt shall not escape." What has Egypt done? (Family: Sided with America.) Yes, fighting against him. This would explain why. I never understood how this could happen, but it sure fits the picture! (Verse 43:) "And the Libyans & the Ethiopians shall be at his steps." Libya is one of the few countries that is a friend of Saddam right now! And the Ethiopians, well, they're Communists. So that sure fits!
80. Well, that's all we have time for now & I think that's sufficient. That's our one-hour Bible Study! Now you know why I can't fully accept these guys' suggestions that Saddam Hussein could be the Antichrist & Iraq could be Babylon of Revelation & all that! Nevertheless, it prompted me to have to go back to the Bible & study up to give an answer to these people. Well, I'm giving you my reasons why I don't believe it, I'm sorry. I'm not sorry for you or me, but I'm sorry for them!
81. So you search the Scriptures & see if these things be so!--If you think that Saddam Hussein fits the picture of the Antichrist, & Iraq fits the picture of the Woman, Babylon, & all that stuff, but that's just a little bit too much for me to swallow. I don't think it fits enough of the picture. But the fact that Russia is a friend of Iraq could sure fit the picture, in which case, the friends of Iraq, like Jordan & Libya, would not be touched by the coming Antichrist if he's going to come to Iraq's rescue in order to grab all the oil.--Which certainly is a good reason. Bush thought it was a good enough reason to send a whole army there!
82. I agree with this one Christian writer, that Russia would possibly turn on Bush & he'd rather save Iraq. I say "he" because it would probably be the Antichrist! He'd certainly rather save Iraq, which has been one of their best friends & customers, than Saudi Arabia, much less Kuwait, when he does arise & does come, & could do all of those things. Well, I think as we go along the Lord gives us a little more light on these things, praise the Lord? Well, I don't want to say too much in epilogue or I'll keep you another hour, so somebody pray quick!
CLOSING PRAYERS, VERSES & SONGS!
83. (Techi: Amen, Jesus, thank You for this inspiring Bible Class that we had with Grandpa! Thank You that You show Grandpa these things, & we really pray, Lord, that You'll continue to have Your way with the World situation. Please help us & bless the rest of the evening, whatever we do, in Jesus' name.) Amen! As we thank You together: "Thank You Jesus for this day & for our home so fair. You helped us, Lord, to do some good, & kept us in Thy care, & blessed our loved ones everywhere!" Now bless & keep & help us sleep, in Jesus' name!
84. Thank You for answering our prayer about Thatcher, Lord, who I prayed against the other night! I said, "Lord, God, damn her! Stop her! She's trying her best to get the World into a war!" TYJ!--And she quit! Another answer to prayer, Lord! You promised, Lord, that if we'd pray, "They that cry unto Me with a whole heart, I will answer, & show thee great & mighty things which thou knowest not!"--Jer.29:13; 33:3. Hallelujah, Lord, that was a great & mighty thing! Thatcher actually quit when she said all the time she was going to fight! Suddenly she just changed her mind & decided to quit, & Bush has one less friend. TYL!
85. Well, amen! God bless you all & thank you for your patience & for being open. Maybe these are just theories I've given you, but there are certain things in here that are absolutely settled fact, there's no way of disagreeing with them!--The certain things & the obvious things. But some things are a little more hazy. So if you think you can read through these same passages & cause Saddam Hussein to fit the picture of the Antichrist & all those Endtime events, & Iraq to fit the picture of the last Babylon, well, go ahead, persuade me! Okay? When all these theories were coming up, I decided I'd better go back to the Source & see if these things be so, & as far as I'm concerned, they don't fit!
86. (Family: I just wanted to share a verse that I got when we prayed, confirming just what you said, that "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secrets unto His Servants the Prophets."--Amos 3:7.) TYL! Hallelujah! (Tongues) Hallelujah! TYJ! Thank You Lord that You have not failed to reveal to us step by step, Lord, to Thy little father, Lord, for his children, that they may know what is the Truth, & that the Truth will make us free! TYJ! Amen, Lord, Hallelujah! TYJ! Amen! PTL! Well, He doesn't tell us everything all at once, but He tells us when we need to know it. These are exciting times!--Dangerous times, but to be exciting they have to be dangerous!
87. Amen, praise the Lord! TYL! Let's sing a little. It says, "They sang a song & they went out."--Mat.26:30. Let's see what comes to me. (Sings:)
"Oh, the children of the Lord
Have a right to shout & sing,
For the way is growing bright
And our soul is on the wing!
I am going by & by to the palace of the King,
Glory to God, Hallelujah!
"I will praise Him, He's my King!
Of His mercies, I will sing!
I will follow in His paths of Light,
Till I see Him in His glory bright!
"Praise the Lord! My soul is filled with glory!
Praise the Lord! I love to tell the story!
Of His grace, that keeps & gives me victory
And I'm shouting, glory, till I get Home!"
88. Hallelujah! TYL! We haven't sung that series for a long time, have we? PTL! God bless you all for coming! God bless you girls for being so beautiful & so sweet & loveable, & all you boys for being so wonderful & strong & working hard! TYJ! PTL! Amen! I'll let you go earlier than usual tonight, a little after ten, so you'll have time to read those passages again if you feel like it. But as far as I'm concerned, I can't see any way that Saddam Hussein could be the Antichrist & that Iraq could be Babylon!
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family