Genius at difficult, dark, mystical sayings

(new article tomorrow)

“God looked down through the ages and saw the time when Satan would deceive the nations with another Babylonish scheme: The dictator of a world government would repeat the attempt made by Nebuchadnezzar to command all nations and peoples to worship his image as God or be killed.

“If you want to see the kind of guy this character the Antichrist will be, Daniel 7 tells you he’s an intellectual genius, a wizard at words and communication. It says he speaks with great swelling words. He’s a military genius, a political genius, a commercial genius.

“Daniel 8:23 says, [23] And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up.

“The Antichrist’s going to be a genius about understanding dark, difficult, hard, mystical sayings. He’s also that fierce, bloody, violent man," explains Richard Jordan.

“The passage goes on, [24] And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
[25] And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.

“When it says ‘his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power,’ that’s saying he’s going to have Satan give him his power and his seat.

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“It says, ‘He shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and by peace shall destroy many.’ He’s going to come in and say, ‘Peace, peace.’

“Daniel 11:21-22 says, [21] And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries.
[22] And with the arms of a flood shall they be overflown from before him, and shall be broken; yea, also the prince of the covenant.

“That’s all that stuff in Isaiah 30 about ‘speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits.’ His words will be smoother than butter. Deceit’s in his heart but he doesn’t say he’s going to obtain the authority. Israel’s going to literally surrender to him through a peace plan.

“Daniel 11:24 says, [24] He shall enter peaceably even upon the fattest places of the province; and he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers' fathers; he shall scatter among them the prey, and spoil, and riches: yea, and he shall forecast his devices against the strong holds, even for a time.

“They’re going to think, ‘This guy, he’s a commercial, military, political genius and we’re getting RICH by helping him!’ As soon as they get there, though, he pulls the rug out from under them. He’s a deceiver.

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“In Daniel 8, Daniel sees another end-times vision in the third year of the reign of Babylon. It’s a subsequent vision to chapter 7. What he sees is a ram with two horns. Then, in verse 5, he sees an he goat come up and destroy the ram. Daniel then says, ‘What is this?’ By the way, after the he goat destroys the ram, the he goat fills up the whole earth and then the he goat’s broken into four pieces.

“The interpretation of that starts in verse 8: [8] Therefore the he goat waxed very great: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven.

“Come down in the chapter and look at the interpretation: [19] And he said, Behold, I will make thee know what shall be in the last end of the indignation: for at the time appointed the end shall be.
[20] The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia.
[21] And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king.

“Again, we’re talking about the ‘last days’; end-times prophecy. The he goat is the king of Grecia. The great horn between his eyes is the first king. The ram is Media-Persia. The horn that comes up is the first king of Greece. Who was that? Alexander the Great.

“Verse 22: ‘Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power.’

“So that king, the Antichrist, comes up out of one of those four divisions of the Greek Empire. The king of the north is Assyria. The king of the south is Egypt. If you keep reading, it’s the king of the north and the king of the south that battle in chapter 11.

“Out of those two nations, the Antichrist comes out of Syria. He doesn’t come out of Europe. He is the Assyrian by national origin. Daniel tells you that’s where he’s going to come from, so when you’re watching the politics of this thing, watch this guy. And when you see the guy take over the 10 kings by subduing three and rising up, you know you’ve got your man. So there’s descriptive prophetic details that will help a fellow.

“Daniel 11:30 says, [30] For the ships of Chittim shall come against him: therefore he shall be grieved, and return, and have indignation against the holy covenant: so shall he do; he shall even return, and have intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant.

“He’s going to break the covenant and blame Israel for doing it. He’s not going to take credit; he’s going to blame them.

“Verse 31: [31] And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.

“Jesus talked about that in Matthew 23: ‘Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.’ Right in the middle of all that deceptiveness where the Antichrist’s lying to them through his teeth, the people who know their God shall be strong and it says “they that understand shall instruct many.”

“There’s a Believing Remnant who’s going to know what’s going on because they read these prophecies and say, ‘There it is, here it is; here’s what God says that is!’ So they’re the ones who trust God’s Word; they’re the ones the Antichrist is trying to persecute, eliminate and destroy.”

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“Then they built a tower. In the Bible, a tower is a reference to a very particular thing. Psalms 18:2 says, [2] The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. Who is David’s high tower? The Lord is. He’s my high tower.

“Psalms 61 says, [2] From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
[3] For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy.  

“We got a song in the hymn book that says, ‘Oh let me flee to the rock that is higher than I.’ That’s the Bible verse that song came off of.

“Psalms 144:2 says, [2] My goodness, and my fortress; my high tower, and my deliverer; my shield, and he in whom I trust; who subdueth my people under me.

“Proverbs 18:10 says, [10] The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.

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“You see, what you’re talking about is a religious thing; something with a spiritual connotation to it. When they built the city, they were building a political entity to establish them and make them a name in the earth, lest they would be forgotten.

“They want to make a NAME. They want to take over Creation independent of God. They don’t just have a political system with the city; they have a religious system to go along with it in the tower.

“The tower's established in the city of Babel, which becomes the kingdom of Babylon, and in the Bible, it’s known as Baal worship, and starts with Nimrod right here. They say, ‘That the top may reach unto heaven.’

"You know what they’re doing? They build themselves a big cathedral with the bell tower, except there’s not just a bell up there. There’s an altar on top of that thing and they go up there on that altar and offer a sacrifice and it’s that sacrifice that’s going to get them to heaven, they say.

“Of course, they just say it ‘may’ reach unto heaven. Maybe. What they’re saying is, ‘We’re going to do it OUR way, not God’s way. We’re not going to have the nationalism and the divisions and the separations that God says. We’re going to remove the bounds God puts between us and we’re going to have one political entity. There’s going to be a one-world government and we’re going to have a one-world religion; internationalism and ecumenicalism.' You know where it all began? You’re reading it! It all began with Nimrod.

“Then there’s the religious system with all of its rites, rituals, and so on. When you hear the Bible talk about Baal worship, this is its origins and you know what it is? It’s Babylon and it’s Genesis 11, and something tremendously significant is happening here. Far more so than just another rebellion against God.

“Look what the Lord does in verse 5: ‘[5] And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. Verse 6 says, [6] And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.

“How would you like the Lord to show up and see your city? I take people around and show them Chicago and the old North Shore Church building and every now and then I think, ‘Well, why not, the Lord came down to see Nimrod’s city and his church.’

“The Lord came and inspected the city. He says, ‘Hmm, lookie here what we got.’ And He came and looked at their church building. You see, they’ve gathered themselves together with the international spirit of oneness. They’re taking away the separations God gave them; the distinct charge and commission to go and do the thing He gave them to do.”

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While it’s commonly understood that first-century Greek author Pliny the Elder named Zoroaster as the inventor of magic, the Bible clearly reveals its origins are with the 'wise men' in Babylon.

“As God scatters the nation Israel and brings the times of the Gentiles into vogue, Nebuchadnezzar takes Israel’s place as the king in the earth and in Babylon there’s this scholarly priest-class of people—the magicians, sorcerers, astrologers, the Chaldeans,” explains Jordan.

“There’s this people with this supposed profound, supernatural-type wisdom and knowledge gained from reading the stars, and the wise men from Matthew 2, who journeyed to see Jesus as a young child, have this connection with being able to grasp this type of knowledge.”

According to a website, “The religion of the Persians is often connected with the name Zoroaster, who enjoyed a wide reputation in the ancient world as the founder of the order of the Magi, and by extension as the founder of the wisdom of the Persians. Many classical Hellenic (Greek) authors and philosophers so preoccupied themselves with Persian culture that they journeyed, studied, and as a result, adopted many Persian-Magian-Zoroastrian ideas and skills.”

Jordan says, “The wise men who saw Jesus Christ’s star in the east were from Persia, from Babylon, no doubt. It was about a 1,200 mile journey. They come into the house where Jesus is now a toddler, and it’s a house, not an inn or stable. He’s not in the barn or in the field. He’s not in Bethlehem; He’s in Nazareth.

“If you remember, Herod tries to get to Jesus by ordering that children two years old and younger be killed, so the implication is it could have been as much as two years gone by since the wise men first saw the star.

“In the Book of Daniel you see these wise men came out of the tradition of Babel and Babylon. When Nebuchadnezzar came in to take Israel away, it says he took away the choicest young men.

"As Daniel 1:20 says, ‘And in all matters of wisdom and understanding, that the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm.’

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“The word ‘magi’ is where you get the term ‘magician’ and it didn’t have to do with David Copperfield and all that sleight of hand stuff you see these guys do today.

“Zoroasterism was a religion based on the ability to read the stars, but nobody can figure out when or where Zoroaster lived. They got about three dates that cover about 900 years and they got him living anywhere from Pakistan to middle Persia to up into Turkey.

"It’s a mess to try and figure out who this dude was and what he did, but the fact is these wise men pre-date Zoroaster, who simply came along and took up some of these guys’ position. Where these guys come from goes all the way back to Genesis 11.

“The magicians and astrologers were people who practiced predicting the future; claiming what was going to happen by calculating the planetary positions, taking these maps of the heavens and the signs of the zodiac and all these 'influences' of the stars.

“They professed to be endowed with profound wisdom and extraordinary knowledge in spiritual things, but we’re told Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah were 10 times better than these other guys. Why do you think that would be? Their wisdom and understanding comes from the Lord."