It is also the false prophet that will be instrumental in extending the reach of the fourth kingdom in the earth, for the scripture says that he is the one who will cause the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the Anti-Christ. In other words, he will go through the earth to persuade more and more nations in the earth to become a part of the fourth kingdom. One of the ways that the false prophet will accomplish this, is that he will instruct those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast, and he will be granted power to give breath to the image of the beast so that the image of the beast will be able to speak and cause as many as refuse to worship the image of the beast to be killed. It is interesting to note that in persuading many on the earth to worship the beast, that the false prophet will very often remind them of the incident of the beast being healed from his deadly wound. Again this gives us a strong indication that many people around the world would have witnessed the assassination attempt made on the life of the Anti-Christ. And then finally we also see in this passage, that it is the false prophet that will introduce the mark of the beast into the earth. That mark will be placed on either the right hand or on the foreheads of those who choose to follow the beast and no one will be allowed to buy or sell, except those who have the mark or the name of the beast or the number of his name, which is 666. We have already seen that all in the fourth kingdom will gladly receive the mark of the beast, but obviously for the saints dwelling in nations that decide to join the fourth kingdom during that time it will be another form of persecution that will be used against them.
Michael E.B. Maher
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