upgraded March 4, 2009
The Antichrist is a leopard beast with ten horns and seven heads.
Revelation 13:1-2 (NIV) And the dragon stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. He had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on his horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. 2 The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion.
The Antichrist will be a governmental leader, and will ultimately set up a One World Government. The ten horns and seven heads are other kings or countries that will be involved in the empire of the Antichrist. The ten horns and seven heads are referred to as two separate parts of the whole. The reason that these are always referenced in this manner is that they will never fully blend into a single unit. The ten horns are Islamic kings or countries allied with the Antichrist. The seven heads will be represented by "Judeo-Christian" kings or countries, allied with the Jewish False Prophet (Pope).
The Antichrist will be accompanied by a LAMB BEAST referenced in Revelation 13:11-18 printed below. Satan the serpent, is the most crafty beast of the field (Genesis 3:1). In historic Satanic craftiness, the LAMB BEAST (False Prophet, Pope) will look like a lamb, but speak like a dragon. He will look like Jesus, but he will speak like the devil. His words will not be vile and profane, or he would not look like Jesus. His logic, theology, and teaching, will be crafty, subtle, deceitful, and damning like the devil. This False Prophet will lead Judeo-Christian Organized Religion into a coalition with the Antichrist, and will ultimately force the members of Judeo-Christian Organized Religion to worship the Antichrist, and accept the mark of the beast.
Revelation 13:11-18 (NIV) Then I saw another beast, coming out of the earth. He had two horns like a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon. 12 He exercised all the authority of the first beast on his behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. 13 And he performed great and miraculous signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to earth in full view of men. 14 Because of the signs he was given power to do on behalf of the first beast, he deceived the inhabitants of the earth. He ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. 15 He was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that it could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. 16 He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, 17 so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name. 18 This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man's number. His number is 666.
Revelation 16:13 (NIV) Then I saw three evil spirits that looked like frogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet.
Revelation 19:20 (NIV) But the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur.
Revelation 20:10 (NIV) And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
The greatest recognized peace in the history of mankind occurred during "Pax Romano", or "the Peace of Rome." Rome established that peace through essentially a One World Government, with a One World Religion. Rome recognized that they needed a One World Religion in order to maintain a One World Government. Rome worshipped many gods including the worship of Caesar as their One World Religion. World Leadership today recognizes and has been subtly and aggressively leading the world back toward the One World Government, and the peace that they hope to reestablish through such organizations as the United Nations.
"There are a lot of very brilliant people who believe that the nation-state is fast becoming a relic of the past,"- President Clinton, New York Times, November 25, 1997
The Antichrist will be presented as a great man of peace. In the quest for peace, World Leadership will attempt to aid the Antichrist in re-establishing a new One World Government that will include a One World Religion. The Antichrist (King of Syria, governmental leader) and False Prophet (Pope, religious leader) will attempt to blend Islam, Judaism, and Judeo-Christian Organized Religion into a One World Religion, with the differences in worship being viewed as "denominational differences." The Antichrist will sell his Muslim, Arab brothers on the re-establishment of daily sacrifice by the Jews in the interest of "brotherhood." The Antichrist will state that we all look to father Abraham and worship the same God, but we simply call him different names. It will appear briefly that peace can come to the Middle East, and make the Antichrist appear to be a miracle worker, or God himself.
The False Prophet (Pope) will state that Jews call him God, Judeo-Christians call him Jesus, and Muslims call him Allah, but he is the same god. The Antichrist and False Prophet will lie in stating that God, Jesus, and Allah is the same God. There is a softening now, by the leadership of these three religions, of the religious lines between these religions.
Judeo-Christian Organized Religion is already alleging that a great "sin" of mankind is a failure to accept another person's religion. Absolute truth in the religious arena is considered narrow minded, ignorant, a form of bigotry, and conducive to hate crimes. This "accept anything" thinking does not parallel the "narrow," (Matthew 7:14) exact and precise requirements of God.
John 14:6 (NIV) Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
World Leadership does not care who is God as long as the world has peace. (In all likelihood, most world leaders do not actually believe in the reality of the literal God.) The attempt to mold Judeo-Christianity, Judaism, and Islam into a common group will evolve within three and one half years into a worship of the Antichrist.
The Antichrist will follow the Roman strategy of a One World Religion, and will take the world from the worship of Jesus Christ, God, and Allah to the singular worship of the Antichrist.
Judeo-Christian Organized Religion will accept the "One World Religion."
The Roman Catholic Church falsely claims that Peter was their first Pope, and that Jesus directed His church to be built on Peter. What a ridiculous assertion!
Matthew 16:15-18 (NIV) "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" 16 Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." 17 Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.
The Roman Catholic Church IS built on the authority of the Pope and the church leadership. Even the local churches are named after humans that the Roman Catholic Church has canonized; i.e. Saint Peter, Saint Mary, Saint Joseph, Saint James, Saint Charles, Saint Elizabeth, etc. Fortunately, that is not the church that Jesus is building. The "Rock" upon which Jesus stated that He would build His church is the solid foundation that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. The focus is on Jesus, not Peter or the Pope. The authority figure is Jesus, not the leadership of Judeo-Christian Organized Religion. The Roman Catholic Church claims that the Pope is in the authority position of Jesus Christ.
The structure that is followed by most of Judeo-Christian Organized Religion with the Pastor as the primary autocratic authority positioned between God and man was passed down from the heresy of the Roman Catholic Church and was patterned after the Levitical Priesthood that was done away with by Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the only authority in His Body, and will not share His authority with anyone.
Matthew 20:25-28 (NIV) Jesus called them together and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave-28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for man."
The rest of Judeo-Christian Organized Religion is following the Roman Catholic Church in placing their leaders in the authority position that belongs to Jesus Christ. No single person or group was to position themselves between the members of the church and Christ Himself in an authority position. Jesus is our High Priest and only authority after the crucifixion. God destroyed the concept of man as a High Priest at the Crucifixion when He tore the curtain in two from top to bottom:
Matthew 27:51 (NIV) At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split.
Every individual had the opportunity to go into the Holy of Holies and commune personally with God. The salvation of your individual soul is personally with God through your faith in Jesus Christ.
Vicar of Christ (1570) : the Roman Catholic Pope
vicarious 1 a: serving instead of someone or something else b: that has been delegated
<-authority> 2: performed or suffered by one person as a substitute for another or
to the benefit or advantage of another : substitutionary <a - sacrifice>
Webster's Dictionary
Saint Peter's Basilica within Vatican City in Rome
Additional Pictures of the Vatican
Vatican City is home of the Roman Catholic Church and the Pope, ("Vicar of Christ" - initially self proclaimed by Pope Innocent III 1198-1215, and now proclaimed by the Roman Catholic Church).
In ancient Rome, the head of the state - Caesar was worshipped as God. In the Roman Catholic Church, the head of the Church - the Pope - the Vicar of Christ - the substitute for Christ - has taken the place of God. At the time of ancient Rome, Jesus was crucified, Peter was crucified, most of the disciples were martyred, and the Christians were fed alive to lions. Who was in power, and who was being persecuted? Rome was in power, and the Body of Christ was being persecuted. Have you considered the Inquisition? Who was in power, and who was being persecuted? The Roman Catholic Church was in power, and the Body of Christ was being persecuted.
"Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction." – Blaise Pascal 1623-1662
During the Tribulation period, the False Prophet - Pope will again be leading the Roman Empire in a persecution of the Body of Christ.
Ecclesiastes 1:9-10 (NIV) What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one can say, "Look! This is something new"? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time.
The lineage of the Roman Catholic Pope comes from Caesar, not from Peter or Jesus Christ. (The Pope, standing atop his mountain of little boy raping pedophile priests, looks ridiculous in his attempt to claim moral authority. The pedophilia that was so prevalently practiced in the Roman Empire has continued to be practiced in the Roman Catholic Church.)
"And of all plagues with which mankind are curs'd,
Ecclesiastic tyranny's the worst." - Daniel Defoe 1660-1731
Man has a difficulty accepting responsibility for his own sin - Adam blamed Eve, Eve blamed the serpent.
Genesis 3:11-13 (NIV) And he said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?" 12 The man said, "The woman you put here with me--she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it." 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."
Cain also did not want to accept personal responsibility for his actions, and so he killed his physical brother Abel.
1 John 3:12-13 (NIV) Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother's were righteous. 13 Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you.
After mid-tribulation when the door of the Gentiles is forever closed, the Gentiles that are doomed and damned will be furious with the members of the Body of Christ. The damned will be in the identical position as Satan is, and will act as Satan acts. When the damned realize that they are damned, they will go ballistic. The persecution of the Body of Christ will explode with aggression. When the damned see or hear of someone who is not damned, the damned will spare no effort or expense to hurt, and slowly, painfully destroy that person if they can. Those who have dabbled in religion will be more vindictive than those who have not dabbled in religion, because the dabblers will understand more about what they have lost. Hence those formerly in Organized Religion will lead the persecution, just as those in Organized Religion led in the Crucifixion of Jesus. It is the persecution of the Body of Christ that will incite God to wrath. It is not a pretty picture, but it is coming.