THE RISE OF THE SPIRIT OF THE BEAST

Through the years I have shared with audiences in North America a life-changing information release that set me on a course of study determining that the Antichrist of Bible prophecy would be a Muslim from the Middle East.  In the early 90’s this view was rejected by the majority of noted prophecy ministers. Most held to a traditional view that the Antichrist was a “Jew from the tribe of Dan.”

The two main problems with this interpretation are that nowhere in the Bible is there a direct Scripture that the Antichrist would be a Jew. This was built upon the speculation that the Jews would receive the Antichrist as their Messiah; thus he must be a Jew. The Muslims would never receive a Jewish leader, and the book of Daniel and Revelation reveal he is a Gentile and not a Jew. I will answer these and other incorrect theories in Louisville, Kentucky at our July conference. The second issue is that the Antichrist is coming from the tribe of Dan. Unless a Jew is named Levi, Leven, or Cohen of Judah, they are uncertain of their ancestral heritage, or from which “tribe” they came, as Israel is no longer today divided up in their tribal land grants. Further, the land grant for Dan was moved from the coastal areas in the later part of Israel’s history and was transferred to the area of the Golan Heights and Bashan.  This area only has a few settlements and is predominantly large mountains.  It is bordered by Arab villages, of which the Druze and other Islamic groups live and control the region. 

In the early 90’s, I was preaching in Baton Rouge, LA., from Revelation 13, regarding John’s vision that there are two “beasts”. One rising from the sea (13:1-2) and a second from the earth (13:11). The first is the Antichrist and the second is the False Prophet.  In the service that night was a young girl whose family was all Shi’ite Muslims from Iran. After the service she began comparing the predictions of the Antichrist in Bible prophecy with the Islamic expectations of the man called the Mahdi.  She explained to me how the entire Islamic world was caught up in the eventual arrival of a man who would unite all Islam into one Caliphate, eventually marching on Jerusalem and taking the city from the Christians and Jews.  After two days of studying and comparing information, it was clear that the Antichrist of prophecy had the same parallels of the future Mahdi.

After years of study I completed a book, “Unleashing the Beast,” which covered this subject in detail.  In the book I predicted the fall of Saddam Hussein, and how a more radical element of Islam would eventually seize Iraq.  In time, the nations of Persia, Iraq, Syria and even Lebanon would fall under one Caliphate – who would be directed by the Antichrist!

One of the main Islamic prophecies involves the “black banners,” and when you see them the Mahdi will be among them.  The recent march of ISIS, the radical Islamic jihadist that are beheading, shooting and killing as they move toward Bagdad, caught my attention. They march under the black flags and hoist their flags in every taken city. Certainly, the spirit of the beast is stirring and we are only seeing the beginning of what will eventually become the headquarters of an Islamic leader who will emerge as the Antichrist.  His headquarters the first 42 months will be in Iraq, and the last 42 months in Jerusalem.

P.S. For detailed information that was written prior to recent events which will help to explain in detail what is now happening, I recommend getting my book, “Unleashing the Beast” which is available on our website or from the ministry center by calling 423-478-3456 and requesting item BK-UB3.

Perry Stone, Jr.

The Intelligence Community says the US will be out as the sole superpower by 2030

The Intelligence Community has issued a report which projects that the US will no longer be the world's only superpower by 2030 and Asia will surpass North America and Europe combined with Asian population, military spending, and technological investment.

This report comes from the office of the Director of National Intelligence which states that the unipolar world that emerged after the fall of the Soviet Union will not continue.

Global trends project that the US will retain a role in the world in part because of its history and past leadership but nations like China, India, and Brazil are the rising world powers.

Jimmy's Prophetic Prospective on the News

With countries like China, India, and Brazil on the rise in our world today, the US will soon be reduced economically and militarily no longer to be the only superpower in our world which is a scenario that can be found in Bible prophecy for the last days.

Many political pundits and world thinkers have said that the economic crisis which the US faces will play a key role in knocking the US out of superpower status. Militarily, China is quickly becoming an equal to the US and there are projections that China will overtake the US in military power in the near future. Students of Bible prophecy have for some years known that the US is not in Bible prophecy as a player in the last days. One suggestion is that at the Rapture of the Church, the US will be rendered weak since the backbone of America is the born again Christian who will leave at the Rapture, I Thessalonians 4:13-18.

Both China and India are included in the prophetic phrase, "Kings of the East" found in Revelation 16:12 and they will be key players at the end of the seven year Tribulation Period. Other nations in the Middle East will form a coalition of nations that align themselves to try to destroy the Jewish state of Israel at the beginning of the Tribulation, Ezekiel 38, Daniel 11, and Psalm 83. Between the Rapture which happens just before the Tribulation Period and the return of Jesus Christ at the end of that terrible time of trouble, much judgment will come upon the world including the nations already mentioned in this report as well as the US.

Iran says they are ready to go to war with Israel

Iranian President, the Iranian military chief, and even the leadership of the Supreme Council of Iran, the Ayatollahs, the Islamic leaders, say that they are prepared for an attack from Israel, the United States, or any other nation that may decide to move against the Islamic Republic. The Iranian threat to the Middle East, Europe, and even to the United States, is the development of a nuclear weapon of mass destruction in Iran that could be used to destroy the Jewish state as has been called for by the Iranian president. 

Israel recognizes Iran as their number one threat and have put in place a strategic plan to make certain that Iran does not have a nuclear weapon of mass destruction that could be fired on the Jewish state and that plan may well be a preemptive strike against Iran. 

Jimmy's Prophetic Prospective on the News

The saber rattling by Iran against Israel and the fact that there is evidence Israel is preparing for a preemptive strike against Iran is a precursor to the prophetic scenario that can be found in Bible prophecy for the last days. 

There has been much discussion among Israeli officials in recent days that seems to indicate the Israeli government may well be ready to order a preemptive strike against Iran in order to dismantle Iran's development of a nuclear weapon of mass destruction. Iran has responded to these discussions with a declaration of readiness to go to war with Israel. The Israeli government says they will not allow the Iranians to launch a long range missile with a nuclear warhead towards the Jewish state of Israel. Almost every Israeli leader believes that Iran is indeed Israel's number one threat and that they must be dealt with. 

What is so interesting to me as a student of Bible prophecy is that this scenario was foretold 2500 years ago by the ancient Jewish prophet Ezekiel. Ezekiel 38:5 mentions the nation Persia as one of the nations that will align themselves against the Jewish state. Until 1936 the nation of Iran was called Persia - today it's Iran. In the Scriptures we find out that the Lord will intercede in the affairs of man and destroy Iran and the other nations aligned against the Jewish state when they make their attack against Israel (Ezekiel 38:18 - 39:6). 

Israel is as expected preparing to take care of their number one threat Iran. However, the Lord will be the one to defend the Jewish state that is according to Bible prophecy - Bible prophecy that will be fulfilled.

Israeli PM Netanyahu tells newly arriving Jewish immigrants that they are the protectors of the Jewish future

Recently, a planeload of over 350 Jewish immigrants arrived in Israel to be welcomed by the prime minister who told these Jews they would be the protectors of the future for the Jewish people and actually the Jewish state of Israel.

The Chairman of the Jewish Agency, Natan Sharonsky, himself an immigrant from Russia, said it was tremendously moving to see hundreds of new immigrants disembarking from the plane to become Israelis who will strengthen the future of Israel.

Jimmy's Prophetic Prospective on the News 

Hundreds of new Jewish immigrants arriving in Israel recently were welcomed by the prime minister and told they are the protectors of the future for the Jews, a statement that can be confirmed by Bible prophecy.

The modern day state of Israel is made up of Jews from 108 nations of the world that arrived in Israel over the last 100 years who have returned to the land of their forefathers. The establishment of the Jewish state after 2000 years without a structured nation of people in their homeland has been applauded by many world leaders. In fact, most of these leaders believe it was a miracle to see a people scattered across the world come together to form a modern day state. However at the same time, in the Middle East there has risen a group of nations, the Arab nations that reject the right of the Jews to have a state in the land of their forefathers. Israeli PM Netanyahu was correct when he greeted these new immigrants with the statement that they will be the protectors of the future for the Jewish people and the Jewish state.

Bible prophecy actually does confirm the prime minister's statement. The ancient Jewish prophet Ezekiel foretold of a day when Jews would be gathered from all over the world back into the land of their forefathers, Ezekiel 37:7 and 34. Ezekiel 37:8 says that not only would the Jews return to their land, but they would be restored as a nation in that land in the last days. Ezekiel 35 reveals that the Palestinian people would rise up to kill numbers of those returning Jews and try to take their God-given land. Ezekiel 38 tells of a coalition of nations that will try and wipe the Jewish state off of the map.

As Prime Minister Netanyahu said to those returning Jews to Israel, they will indeed play a role in Israel's future.

The Israeli government is considering a bill that if made law would give Israel sovereignty over the Biblical heartland of the Jewish people

The Israeli Knesset is considering a law that would make Israel sovereign over Judea and Samaria which has been the Jewish heartland since Biblical times, a piece of real estate that Israel liberated from Jordanian occupation during the Six Day War in 1967. The Jewish state has formally declared sovereignty over the eastern section of the city of Jerusalem which includes the Old City and the Temple Mount and the Golan Heights but Judea and Samaria continue to be administered by Israeli military governors. 

Israeli officials believe that declaring sovereignty over the Jewish heartland of Judea and Samaria actually creates a historic opportunity for Israel to make right a protracted wrong. 

Jimmy's Prophetic Prospective on the News

Even though the Israeli government might declare sovereignty over the Jewish heartland of Judea and Samaria in this day, the Lord gave the Jews that piece of real estate many centuries ago and had promised them this land forever according to Bible prophecy.

In the 1967 Six Day War the Israeli Defense Force liberated the piece of real estate referred to as the West Bank from the Jordanians and this land, known in Biblical terms as Judea and Samaria, became a part of the Jewish state. However, the area of Judea and Samaria did not come under the sovereignty of the state of Israel but has been administered over these many many years by military governors. Now the Israeli government wants to implement sovereignty over the Biblical heartland of the Jewish people. In essence, that has already happened because God made a promise to the Jewish people and told them they would have this land forever. 

Ezekiel 36 speaks much about the land of the Jewish people. In fact 35 times the prophet refers to the land, a land that will belong to the Jews for one reason: He promised this land to them and Ezekiel 36:22 says that the Lord must keep that promise for His holy namesake. The Land Covenant, a promise between the Lord and the Jews found in Deuteronomy 30, this Land Covenant must be fulfilled or God is not God. Ezekiel 35 reveals the prophecy of the Palestinian people, descendants of Esau, these Palestinians who will come and kill the Jews and take their land, that's the land of Judea and Samaria. 

The Israeli government's sovereignty over Judea and Samaria is an absolute not because of human government, but because of Bible prophecy - Bible prophecy that will be fulfilled.

The Palestinians are calling for unity in order to be able to destroy the state of Israel

A minister of the Palestinian Authority, the ruling body for the Palestinian people, says that the two factions of the Palestinian people, Fatah and Hamas, must unite in order to achieve the destruction of the state of Israel.  This report from an official Palestinian Authority newspaper revealed a number of Palestinian Authority ministers who agreed with the call for Palestinian unity in their struggle against Israel.

Both Fatah and Hamas, the two factions of the Palestinian body politic, have been involved in the armed struggle to remove the Jewish state from the land that Palestinians claim as their state and now the radical rhetoric is calling for Palestinian unity in order to destroy the Jewish state of Israel.  

Jimmy's Prophetic Prospective on the News 

A call by the official of the Palestinian Authority for the Palestinian people to unite in order to destroy the Jewish state of Israel is a page out of Bible prophecy for the last days.

In a large Palestinian rally attended by female Palestinian prisoners recently released from Israeli jails, an official of the Palestinian Authority called for the reunification of the Palestinian people.  The Palestinian Authority minister said that the Palestinians must unite in order to achieve their goal of the destruction of the Jewish state of Israel and the establishment of a Palestinian state on all the land that today belongs to the Jewish people.

This Palestinian plan fits exactly with the prophetic passages found in the Bible that reveals what will happen in the last days between Israel and the Palestinians.  Malachi wrote that the Edomites, the Palestinian people of today, would return to Israel and set up borders - borders which the Lord said will be borders of wickedness (Malachi 1).  Ezekiel foretold of a time when the Palestinians would kill the Jewish people and then take their land (Ezekiel 35).  The little prophetic book of Obadiah says that the Palestinians will become intoxicated with power as they take the steps to rid the land now known as Israel of the Jewish people, but these Palestinians themselves will be destroyed (Obadiah 15-18).

Calls for the Palestinians to unite in order to be able to destroy Israel will only set the stage for the opposite to happen.  Bible prophecy will be fulfilled.