Revelation 17:11-18 “The beast that was, and is not, is himself also the eighth, and is of the seven, and is going to perdition. (12) "The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast. (13) These are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast. (14) These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful." (15) Then he said to me, "The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues. (16) And the ten horns which you saw on the beast, these will hate the harlot, make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire. (17) For God has put it into their hearts to fulfil His purpose, to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled. (18) And the woman whom you saw is that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth."
In this section we want to discuss the final preparations that need to be put in place for the fourth kingdom to be ready to receive the anti-Christ. In the above quoted passage of scripture the angel explains the meaning of the scarlet beast to the apostle John. We have already identified the scarlet beast in this passage as representing the person of the anti-Christ and his kingdom. We have also identified the ten horns in this passage as representing the ten leaders that will arise to rule with the anti-Christ in his kingdom. We have clearly established thus far that the kingdom of the anti-Christ is in fact the kingdom of Islam which has been in the earth since the year 650 AD. The fact that Islam has been in the earth for the last fourteen hundred years clearly tells us that this kingdom is not yet ready for the manifestation of the anti-Christ. So what still needs to be put in place for this kingdom to be ready to receive the anti-Christ? The angel tells us in this passage that the ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, must first be in place so they can give their power and authority to the beast and reign as kings together with him. Earlier we identified that the most likely nations comprising the kingdom of the anti-Christ are; Iran, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, Jordon and Turkey. Each of those nations are relatively new on the earth however; for historical records reveal that from the year 650 AD until fairly recently, the geographic location of the anti-Christ’s kingdom fell under the rule of a succession of either one or two Islamic Caliphates or dynasties[1]. Clearly during all that time the ten nations comprising the kingdom of the anti-Christ were not yet manifested. It was only in the twentieth century that things began to change however, i.e. the ten nations slowly began to emerge as each one in turn gained independence as sovereign nation states; beginning with Yemen in 1918, Afghanistan in 1919, Syria in 1920, Jordan in 1921, Turkey in 1923, Iran in 1925, Iraq in 1932, Saudi Arabia in 1932, Pakistan in 1947 and ending with United Arab Emirates in 1971. It is interesting to note that Israel also gained its independence as a sovereign nation state during the same period, i.e. in 1948. And so we see that for the first time since the manifestation of the Islamic kingdom in the earth, there are ten nations that have arisen from that kingdom which fit perfectly the description given to us by the angel. All of these nations gaining independence in the last one hundred years is not a coincidence; they are being prepared for the coming of the anti-Christ in the case of the ten Islamic nations, and for the coming of Christ in the case of the state of Israel.
So now that the ten Islamic nations are in place, why has the anti-Christ still not been manifested? The reason is because there are two main events which must still take place in this region before the stage is fully set, so to speak. The first event has to do with the state of Israel, which we will only briefly discuss in this series, because it falls outside the scope of this teaching. Suffice it to say for now that Israel in its current state is not yet ready for the revelation of the anti-Christ. The second event, which we will discuss now, is the expulsion of the United States of America from the geographical region in question. So what do I mean by that statement? Irrefutable evidence shows that in order to expand their hegemony in the region, the USA (supported by Israel) has constantly sought to bring each of the ten nations in question under their control. The first country targeted by the USA was Iran; in 1953 the USA organised the overthrow of the Iranian government in a coup and installed their own puppet government. In 1979 Iran regained its independence by overthrowing the US puppet government. Ever since then the US has continued to be actively involved in various coup attempts and military activities against Iran. On numerous occasions the US threatened to go to war with Iran over various issues and has placed sanctions on them. And so relations between the two nations continue to be hostile to this day[2]. As an aside, it is important to note that Israel and Iran are arch enemies and both nations are determined to see the destruction of the other[3]. The second country targeted by the USA was Afghanistan; the USA invaded Afghanistan in 2001 and remained at war with that nation until 2021 when it finally withdrew its military[4]. Nevertheless, the US continues its hostilities against Afghanistan through sanctions and the confiscation of its foreign reserves. The third country targeted by the USA was Iraq; the USA invaded Iraq in 2003 under the false pretence that Iraq had weapons of “mass destruction”. The US only withdrew the bulk of their military in 2011; nevertheless they still maintain a military force of over 5000 personnel in Iraq today[5]. The fourth country targeted by the USA was Yemen; the USA has been actively involved in various military activities against Yemen from 2009 even until today[6]. The fifth country targeted by the USA was Syria; the USA has actively been involved in various military activities against Syria from 2011 even until today, and continues to illegally occupy parts of Syria with military bases manned by approximately 3000 US military personnel[7]. The sixth country targeted by the USA was Pakistan; during the USA’s war against Afghanistan the US had access to military bases in Pakistan. After the war however, the president of Pakistan denied the USA’s demand for permanent military bases, which resulted in the US engineering a coup against him in 2022, replacing him with a US friendly government[8]. Time will tell if the US is able to establish military bases in Pakistan. The rest of the nations all have US military bases located on their territory; The USA currently has one military base in Jordan[9]. The USA currently has two military bases in Turkey, one of which houses US nuclear weapons. Turkey is also a member of NATO, which is led by the USA[10]. The USA currently has one military base in Saudi Arabia[11]. The USA currently has three military bases in the UAE, housing approximately 5000 military personnel[12]. On top of all of this, the USA (supported by Israel) has also been instrumental in instigating various hostilities between these nations in order to destabilize the ones that refuse to submit to them. To that end they instigated the war between Iraq and Iran, they instigated the conflict between Saudi Arabia and Yemen, they instigated the hostility between Saudi Arabia and Iran and they instigated the conflict between the Arab states (including Turkey) and Syria, to name but a few. And so we can clearly see that the United States has continually sought to exercise control over the entire region. The passage of scripture quoted above teaches us that prior to the manifestation of the anti-Christ that the ten nations will be of one mind. In other words they will become a unified body of aligned nations. Clearly as long as the USA remains in the region with its destabilizing influence, the environment will not be conducive for these nations to become a unified body.
Michael E.B. Maher
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93United_States_relations
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93Israel_proxy_conflict
[4] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/9/6/timeline-how-september-11-2001-led-to-uss-longest-war
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_War
[6] https://www.justsecurity.org/80806/still-at-war-the-united-states-in-yemen/
[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American-led_intervention_in_the_Syrian_civil_war
[8] https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/imran-khan-us-wanted-to-establish-military-bases-in-pakistan-alleges-imran-khan-2956760
[9] https://www.americansecurityproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Ref-0213-US-Military-Bases-and-Facilities-Middle-East.pdf
[10] https://www.americansecurityproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Ref-0213-US-Military-Bases-and-Facilities-Middle-East.pdf
[11] https://www.americansecurityproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Ref-0213-US-Military-Bases-and-Facilities-Middle-East.pdf
[12] https://www.americansecurityproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Ref-0213-US-Military-Bases-and-Facilities-Middle-East.pdf
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