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http://www.beholdthebeast.com/the_beast.htmThe book of Daniel defines what a "beast" is: Daniel 7:23
Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,….
http://www.beholdthebeast.com/daniels_four_beasts.htmHere we learn that the term beast = kingdom when used in the figurative language of a dream or vision, and particularly in the context of Daniel's lion, bear, leopard and fourth "dreadful" beasts.
Bible scholars - Christian and Jew - almost universally understand these four "beasts" to be the successive kingdoms of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and the Roman Empire.
The leopard-bear-lion beast of Revelation then, is the Islamic empire since it's occupies the same seats in Iraq (Babylon - lion), Iran (Medo-Persia - bear) and Syria/Lebanon (Greece - leopard).
These beasts are explored in more detail on their own page here, and in "The False Prophet" in this chapter.
Revelation 13:2 And the beast [Islamic empire] 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 TRAGEDY
Revelation 19:20
And the beast [Islam]
was taken, and with him [kingdom/beast is a "his" in Daniel]
the false prophet [Mohammed]
that wrought miracles [Greek: "semeion" "1. a sign, mark, token" "1a. that by which a person or thing is distinguished by others and is known - the Quran]
before him, [this means in the presence of the beast - Islam - Muslims]
with which he deceived them [Muslims]
that had received the mark [666]
of the beast, and them [Muslims]
that worshipped his image. [today's Islam and second Jihad in the image of the first Jihad.
Jihad is holy worship in Islam]
These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.Regarding "him" and "his" Daniel assigns the masculine gender to his kingdom beasts.
Revelation 20:10
And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast [Islamic empire]
and the false prophet [Mohammed]
[are], and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.If we consider an ethnographic hermeneutic of John's whole world - that is looking through John's eyes at the time he penned the book of Revelation (which is required because he wrote about the things that were, are and will be, through his eyes) - John's world would have been limited to the Middle East area.
The Bible was written about the Holy Land, not Peoria Illinois.
world New Testament Greek Definition:
3625 oikoumene {oy-kou-men-ay}
feminine participle present passive of 3611 (as noun, by implication of 1093); TDNT - 5:157,674; n f AV - world 14, earth 1; 15 1) the inhabited earth 1a) the portion of the earth inhabited by the Greeks, in distinction from the lands of the barbarians
1b) the Roman empire, all the subjects of the empire
1c) the whole inhabited earth, the world
1d) the inhabitants of the earth, men
2) the universe, the world
http://www.beholdthebeast.com/1f5a3aa0.pngThrough this view we find Iraq, Iran and Syria (geographically the
seat of the leopard-bear-lion beast of Revelation, and successive kingdom beasts of Daniel) to be from 90 to 99% Muslim. Other countries in the area are similarly Islamic - like Saudi Arabia at 100% and Turkey at 99% Muslim.
In other words most everyone in the whole world that John knew, is today Muslim, and thus already have the mark.
In Saudi Arabia if a national announces they have converted to Christianity they are beheaded.
The punishment prescribed by the Koran for "apostasy" or turning away from Islam, is death. This is the punishment for Christian converts from Islam to Christianity, around the world.
Revelation 13:17
And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast [Islamic empire]
, or the number [666]
of his name.Brigette Gabriel has a great testimony as to what it is like to cohabitate with these people marked by the beast as a Christian in an Islamic country with the seal of God in her forehead.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8fa9yKQeTYNot to even mention the over 2 million killed in the Sudan alone.
http://www.beholdthebeast.com/great_tribulation.htmAnd thus it is in much of the Middle East - or John's whole world - TODAY. When we exercise the discipline of hermeneutic rules in our Bible study we find that prophecy is fulfilled, and our Lord and Savior's return is truly imminent.
Some Muslims suggest that the Bible was corrupted or mistranslated to demonize Islam, and their above number of perfection 666, but Mohammed wasn't even born until over 500 years after the Bible was written. Scripture had already been copied thousands of times, and in many languages. Changing the Bible 500 years after the fact would have been an obvious impossibility.
See Bible manuscript page.
SAVED BY THE GRACE OF GOD - GOOD NEWS
God invites all those that today follow a false prophet, as well as those that are simply lost or unrepentant, to come to know the love of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ:
1 John 1:3
That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship [is] with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.1 John 2:23
Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: [(but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also].1 John 4:14
And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son [to be] the Saviour of the world.2 John 1:9
Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.John 5:22
For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:Here is what God requires of us, Christian or Jew:
Micah 6:8
He hath shewed thee, O man, what [is] good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?http://www.israelinbibleprophecy.com/spirit_of_slumber.htmRevelation 13:8
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.The Father and the Son are coexistent and the Lamb (Jesus) was slain from the foundation of the world by the sinful nature of mankind.
ISLAM IN PROPHECY - FREE ONLINE BOOK - THE FALSE PROPHET by Ellis Skolfield - in 7 languages
http://www.beholdthebeast.com/the_false_prophet.htmSkolfield has written about the central role of Islam in end-times prophecy for nearly 30 years using the traditional continuous historic view and the day-year, or day = year, principle of prophecy.
PLUS A FREE ONLINE BOOK - ISLAM REVIEWED - M. ALI
Here is the website for Ellis Skolfield
http://www.ellisskolfield.net/Here is the website for Muslims for Christ.
http://www.exmuslim.com/On this link are videos of Muslims who have come to know the love of God.
http://www.islamandthetruth.com/christian_testimonies.htmHere is the website for Walid Shoebat, a former PLO terrorist - now saved Christian.
http://www.shoebat.com/Here is a free book "Islam reviewed" written by a Nigerian that was raised Muslim, and is now a Christian evangelist. Available in 6 languages here:
http://www.beholdthebeast.com/islam_reviewed.htmHere is a Bible translated into Arabic, and much more, including an Arabic audio New Testament.
http://www.beholdthebeast.com/#biblesAnswering Islam is an excellent site by X-Muslims that answers most any question you could have regarding Islam.
http://www.answering-islam.org/The above Muslims are referring to such things as the training of children to Jihad in the Palestinian territories that you can view on this video link.
http://www.beholdthebeast.com/#islamic_youthmiracles
New Testament Greek Definition:
4592 semeion {say-mi'-on}
from a presumed derivative of the base of 4591; TDNT - 7:200,1015; n n
AV - sign 50, miracle 23, wonder 3, token 1; 77
1) a sign, mark, token
1a) that by which a person or a thing is distinguished from others and is known
1b) a sign, prodigy, portent, i.e. an unusual occurrence,
transcending the common course of nature
1b1) of signs portending remarkable events soon to happen
1b2) of miracles and wonders by which God authenticates the men
sent by him, or by which men prove that the cause they are
pleading is God's
Click on this link to listen to some modern day Muslims that confirm the following Churchill quote is accurate in the Middle East and elsewhere, unto today.
(video loads into my Windows Media Player)
Nothing new: “How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live…The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife, or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men. Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities…but the influence of the religion paralyzes the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa…and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilisation of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilisation of ancient Rome.†- by Sir Winston Churchill - The River War, Vol. II, pp. 248-50, London; Longman, Green & Co., 1899
