The Book of Revelation tells us much about what will happen during the time period prior to the return of Christ. We are told that in the latter stages of the End of Days, the Anti-Christ will rise to power. However, it is Paul, in the Book of 2 Thessalonians, that gives us a key insight into what is to occur during that time. Paul tells us that the nation of Israel will be of central importance for the Beast. In 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4, it says:
Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
This passage of scripture tells us that the “man of sin”, i.e. the Anti-Christ, will claim the Jewish Temple for his own, and proclaim to the world that he is God. The implications of this passage are immense. Before discussing them, let us look to Revelation to understand the context of this major event.
In Chapter 13 of the book of Revelation, we are told that the Beast will rise to secular power, taking control of a mega-state, compromised of 10 nations. Revelation 13: 1-2 says:
And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
The ‘Beast’ is most commonly referred to as the Anti-Christ. His ten horns with ten crowns is interpreted to represent 10 nation-states that he will have power over. The ‘dragon’ represents Satan, and we are told that Satan will give the Beast his power, his position, and his authority. The Anti-Christ will be the living manifestation of Satan on earth.
After gaining secular political power over the European mega-state, comprised of 10 politically merged nation-states, the Beast will be given all of Satan’s power — and those who worship Satan, will now worship the Beast. Revelation 13:4 says:
And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?
I believe that it is at this point, when the Beast will enter the Jewish Temple (that will be rebuilt), and declare himself God, as forewarned by Paul in 2 Thessalonians. Having won great secular political power and having been given all of Satan’s demonic powers, the Beast will be ready to command the world to worship him as God.
In 2 Thessalonians, Paul tells us that the Beast will choose “the temple of God”, i.e. the Jewish Temple, as the platform from which to lay claim to his godhood. This is extremely relevant, as it supports our argument that the Beast will take on the guise of the Jewish moshiach (aka, messiah/anointed one).
Once the Beast lays claim to the Jewish Temple and declares himself God, he will command the world to worship him — and they will. Revelation 13:8 says:
And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Revelation also tells us of a second Beast, the false prophet, who will perform miraculous deeds. The false prophet, taking on the guise of Elijah, will tell the world to worship the Beast. He will command that everyone must receive the mark of the Beast, and those who refuse are to be killed — in Revelation 13:11-16, it says:
And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
It is the words of Paul that show that this chain of events are all tied to Israel, as that is where the Jewish Temple will be reconstructed. However, if these prophecies are to come about, two preconditions must be met. First, the Jewish Temple must be rebuilt. The previous Jewish Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D., after which the Romans literally destroyed the Kingdom of Israel, driving away and scattering the Jews from their native lands. Though the nation of Israel was resurrected in 1948, the Jewish Temple remains unbuilt. The second precondition is that the Beast must have political control over Israel. If the Beast does not have political control over Israel, then he will not be able to hijack the newly rebuilt Temple, and use it as the platform from which to proclaim himself God.
Given that the political control of Israel is such a fundamental requirement for the Beast, we can expect to see the Beast and his agents preparing for his conquering of Israel. The most likely way in which the Beast will gain power over Israel is by inviting it to merge with his mega-state. Once merged, he have political control over Israel, Jerusalem, and the Temple Mount. However, to rebuild the Jewish Temple, the Beast must first tear down the Al-Aqsa mosque, which sits atop the Temple Mount. To do this, I would argue, he will also invite the Palestinians and the Palestinian territories to also join his mega-state. He will make them such a sweet offer, that they will allow the mosque to be relocated.
Such a scenario is not so removed from current reality. Polls have shown that a vast majority of Israelis are already in favor of joining the European Union. I would expect that the Orthodox Jews would be opposed to such a merger, but if they were explicitly promised that the Jewish Temple would be rebuilt after the political merger of Israel to the mega-state, one could expect such an offer to win overwhelming support of the Orthodox community for the union.
However, at present, there is a very large and fundamental barrier that makes any political merger impossible. Since the founding of the modern state of Israel, a fundamental principle that underlays its laws and policies is that Israel is a nation of Jewish people and for Jewish people. For this reason, there is an extreme bias which favors Jewish people over non-Jewish people, that is codified in laws and practices. A merger between Israel and the European Union would mean that Israel would no longer be a nation of Jews (it would not even be a nation anymore) — given this, a political union between Israel and any other country would violate the fundamental nature of Israel. The Beast and his agents have recognized this, and have begun their campaign to undermine the principles of Zionism that are currently being practiced in Israel. By doing this, the agents of the Beast are seeking to help facilitate the merger between Israel and the Beast’s mega-state in the future.
George Soros, a prominent Jewish activist, has been funding a number of organizations critical of the Zionist policies of the current Israeli government. This attack on Israeli government policies have been expanded into attacks on Netanyahu himself.
I will quote from an Op-Ed written by Elliot Kaufman, published in the National Review, on July 18,2017. Kaufman is responding to on Op-Ed published by the New York Times, that was defending Soros against ‘attacks’ by the Israeli government.
I had to check my glasses after reading the first sentence of an op-ed in the New York Times yesterday: “As a Holocaust survivor, a successful financier who embraces free-market capitalism and a philanthropist who champions liberal democracy, George Soros should be a darling of the Israeli establishment.”
The author of the piece, Mairav Zonszein, writes for +972, a far-left Israeli web magazine devoted almost entirely to anti-Israel coverage. Though all but ignored within Israel, +972 delights its foreign readers (i.e. American and European Jews) with the use, then equivocation about the use, and then still more use of the gross “Israeli apartheid” analogy.
But even still, Zonszein’s piece is unbelievable. Zonszein’s problem is that, unlike her, most Israelis do not want George Soros as their “darling.” Her explanation as to why is galling: “Mr. Soros has failed the only litmus test that seems to count for Israel’s current leadership: unconditional support for the government, despite its policies of occupation, discrimination and disregard for civil and human rights.” This is rubbish. Israel is not concerned about Soros’s lack of “unconditional support for the government.” Rather, it detests the fact that he provides millions of dollars to organizations that seek to boycott, isolate, and delegitimize Israel.
For example, according to a leaked document, Soros’s Open Society Foundation has given at least $2,688,561 to a human-rights group called Adalah. Perhaps Zonszein would call Adalah merely “critical” of the Israeli government. But in reality, Adalah travels from international forum to international forum, accusing Israel of war crimes. It even calls on foreign governments to “sever or downgrade relations with Israel,” as Liel Liebowitz of Tablet has written.
Soros has given over $1 million to I’lam, a Palestinian media center that accuses Israel of ethnic cleansing and argues that “the practical meaning of the Nakba,” an Arabic term for the creation of Israel, “undermines the moral and ethical foundation of Zionism and, hence, of the State of Israel.” Soros himself wrote that Zionism “just doesn’t appeal to me,” in his 1995 book, Soros on Soros.
Kaufman gives us very concrete examples of how Soros funds organizations that are critical of Israeli government policies, and that are working to change those policies. This article shows that American and European Jewish activists have already begun their political campaign against the different forms and practices of Zionism in Israel.
Soros is not alone in his efforts to change Israeli society — there are a number of America and European players allied with Soros in these efforts. The New York Times and many other publications have consistently sided with Soros and have been critical of the Netanyahu government. It has been reported that Merkel has only met with the representives of Jewish organizations that are attacking Netanyahu. Corbyn of the UK Labor Party has been consistently critical of Israel’s policies towards the Palestinians.
The Anti-Christ and his agents are attacking the conservative policies of the Netanyahu administration, not because they actually care for the plight of the Palestinians, but because the merger of Israel with the coming European mega-state is of central importance. The notion that Israel is a nation of Jews and a nation for the Jews, is a massive barrier against any political union. The American and European Jews are trying to groom Israeli society into rejecting that principle, as the seek to prepare Israel to accept being absorbed into the Beast’s dominion. The grooming of Israel has only just begun — it will be a process that will takes years, if not decades. In the end, the Beast will achieve his union with Israel and rebuild the Jewish Temple — allowing him to proclaim his godhood to the world.