Introduction.
In Education, Ellen G. White says this: Angels are now restraining the winds of strife, that they may not blow until the world shall be warned of its coming doom; but a storm is gathering, ready to burst upon the earth; and when God shall bid His angels loose the winds, there will be such a scene of strife as no pen can picture, (179.6)
The storm that is about to rise has been staged by Satan, and his fellow runners in the battle against God’s faithful remnant in the end times. In the driver’s seat among those who go on Satan’s errand we find the beast from the sea, and about this beast John says in Revelation 13:3: And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.
It says all the world, not almost all the world or large parts of the world, but all the world. It is worth noting this.
What is being done now is to set up a mindset that leads to a gathering under the umbrella of papal power. Here, the vast majority of the world’s more than 8 billion people will gather, but there are some who will not submit to human teachings that go against the teachings of the Bible. Pope Francis calls these fundamentalists. But let’s look at what history tells us before we go any further.
When Israel took the land of Canaan, God told them to exterminate those who lived there. It sounds very brutal, but if we look behind the very order God gave, we see that God wanted His people to be separate from the world. They were not to mix with the pagans because then paganism would soon penetrate among God’s people. God knew this and therefore He gave the order to ‘cleanse’ Canaan of paganism. It belongs to history that the people who lived in Canaan had been given a grace period of 430 years to stop worshiping pagan gods and performing pagan rituals, (see Genesis 15,13-16).
In one of her devotional books, «That I May Know Him,» says Ellen G. White: The Lord Himself has established a separating wall between the things of the world and the things which He has chosen out of the world and sanctified to Himself. The world will not acknowledge this distinction … … But God has made this separation, and He will have it exist. In both the Old and the New Testaments the Lord has positively enjoined upon His people to be distinct from the world, in spirit, in pursuits, in practice; to be a holy nation, a peculiar people, that they may show forth the praises of Him who hath called them out of darkness into His marvellous light. The east is not farther from the west than are the children of light, in customs, practices, and spirit, from the children of darkness. This distinction will be more marked, more decided, as we near the close of time, (308.3).
More and more within the group who rightly call themselves God’s end-time people, the Seventh-day Adventists, or the Advent movement, both lay and scholar are now claiming that the Catholic Church has changed. This is because they participate in the ecumenical cooperation with life and desire.
As Ellen G. White says, this people, the Seventh-day Adventists, are set apart from the world and sanctified by God to constitute His end-time church. We cannot therefore return to the mother church without ending up in the same situation as the Jews, who ended up breaking with God. To the claim these bring to the fore that the Catholic Church has changed, it is only necessary to state that this is not the case. This is something that has been confirmed by the last two popes, Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis, in a clear and distinct way. They repeat the ideas of the Middle Ages when it comes to heretics, that is, those who have apostatized in relation to what the Catholic Church has decided, and these are all those who do not follow every order and demand that comes from Rome.
Bible-believing Christians, both Adventists and others who place the Bible alone as the basis for their faith, are called fundamentalists by Pope Francis, and then he adds the worst imaginable negative meaning to the word and compares fundamentalists to terrorists – even if they are not violent and adds that there is only an appropriate punishment for these. He does not say what the punishment is, it was sort of hanging in the air, but we already know what was an appropriate punishment for those who stood against the Catholic Church.
However, there is one thing that obviously troubles the many within our denomination who claim that the Catholic Church has changed and that is what is written in John 17:14: I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Those who say that the Catholic Church has changed certainly do not want to be hated by the world and the fallen churches. Instead, they love to receive praise and good publicity from the world and the fallen churches, therefore they join the ‘gang’ and receive good publicity and words of praise, even leading positions in ecumenical activities. Let’s remember what Jesus said to the Pharisees and scribes in Matthew 23:6-7, and which we can also use in this setting, because it has something to do with being loved by the world and doing: And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.
What kind of storm is coming upon us?
God’s people will thus be exposed to a spiritual storm in the end times. It mainly comes from forces outside our church community, and this is easy to reveal. Unfortunately, God’s faithful remnant in the end times will also be exposed to negative influence from many of our church’s leaders, both at local and international level. This is thus the backdrop for the storm that will come upon us with full force in a short time. The Bible encourages us several times to choose the Creator of heaven and earth and follow Him rather than choose an idol or human traditions imposed on people by the papacy.
This storm has really raged since the time of the primitive church. All of Jesus’ disciples were persecuted for their faith, and only John was not killed. Stephen became the first Christian martyr when he was stoned to death in 34 AD. It was mainly the military Rome that persecuted the Christians, but also the Jewish leaders fuelled the hatred against the first Christians and greatly contributed to the Christians being persecuted and killed. In the first centuries following John’s death, as the last of the disciples, the church was persecuted, and paganism began to seriously enter the church in the 4th century, as a result of the Roman emperor Constantine making Christianity one of many state religions in the Roman Empire. In the first half of the 6th century we see a shift in the persecutions.
John says this about what happened to the Christian church: And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration, (Revelation 17:6). This means that the church had been divided into two, a pure church which is God’s remnant in the world, and a fallen church which persecutes those who will not submit to the dictates of the Roman Church.
In the end times, the Christian world will be hit by a storm that will surprise many, precisely because they are beginning to understand that the greatest church in the world is the persecuting power, together with its daughters – the fallen reformed churches.
We are therefore in the end times, and we read in Revelation 12:17 what will happen: And the dragon was wroth with the woman and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
We see from this verse that the church has been divided into two, those who follow God, and those who follow Satan. The dragon is, as we know, Satan, and he uses his servants, which are the fallen churches to fight this war against God’s remnant. In other words, it is those who keep God’s ten commandments, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ, and who have the faith of Jesus (Revelation 14,12) who are the target of Satan’s wrath, and who are the target of the war he is waging. Now it is not only the fallen Christian churches that are involved in this war against God’s faithful remnant. We find all the pagan religions and all secular forces have united with the papacy (see Revelation 13:3) in the last attempt to put an end to the hated group of people who rather follow God’s commandments and have the faith and testimony of Jesus.
What kind of storm are we talking about here? What kind of storm is it that, according to Ellen G. White*, is building? Under this heading, we can choose two different paths to the goal, and both paths are equally relevant. These two roads can be divided into a religious road A), where A1) is the road that goes via Armageddon in Revelation 16:16, and the Kings from the East in Revelation 16:12, and where A2) is the road that goes via the angels from Euphrates in Revelation 9:14, and in a political way, B).
* See above in the introduction.
- A1) Is this the last great war that most of the Christian world believes will be fought in a place called Armageddon?
- A2) Who are the angels from the Euphrates?
- B) Who is behind the political way?
All Bible texts are from King James Version unless otherwise stated.
A1) The way via Armageddon and the kings from the east.
Armageddon.
Type and antitype.
The sixth bowl, Revelation 16,12-16 tells about the kings from the east: And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs [come] out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, [which] go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed [is] he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.
This is one of the last things that is happening on this earth as we know it today. When we get this far towards the end, Satan will gather his forces in the place that the Bible calls Armageddon. Satan knows that if he cannot deceive all who faithfully keep all ten commandments of God, then he will lose. Therefore, he makes a last desperate attempt to shake God’s remnant out of the Lord’s hands.
In order to be able to understand the whole thing in a correct way, we have to deal with the typology contained in this section. We have a historical type, which is something that happened a long time ago and which will be repeated in the end times in the form of an antitype. Now in the end times we stand just before our deliverance. We will cross the Red Sea of our time to continue to the Jordan of the end times and then take possession of the promised land.
The type: Israel is being pursued and caught up at the Red Sea.
I therefore believe that the sixth vial shows us the conclusion of it all. After the tenth plague had fallen upon Egypt, God’s people were still not finally delivered from slavery and captivity. When Israel set out on the road to the Red Sea, another trial awaited them, the greatest trial of all they encountered in Egypt. When they reached the Red Sea, they were suddenly overtaken by Pharaoh’s soldiers who came behind them. Before them lay the Red Sea, and they had nothing that they could use to get across the Gulf of Aqaba, and on both sides to the north and south were impassable mountains. In other words, Israel was trapped, and had nowhere to hide.
The antitype: Gathering at Armageddon.
When the last seven plagues fall upon the wicked, God’s faithful remnant, who are not affected by the plagues, will be blamed for the plagues that afflict the wicked. Then we will see the antitype unfolding. Just as Pharaoh persecuted Israel when they left Egypt to destroy them, so Satan will raise up his allies to persecute and kill all who keep God’s Ten Commandments, have the faith of Jesus and the spirit of prophecy. At the Red Sea God’s people were confined, and in the end times God’s faithful remnant will also be confined, in that they are surrounded by their enemies on all sides and will have nowhere to turn.
In Egypt, the persecution of Israel was not considered a plague. It cannot therefore be considered a plague in the end times either, because the antitype must reflect the type in a correct way. Although there is a lot of focus on Satan and his helpers, Satan and his helpers are not the main message of the sixth vial. This is meant as an explanation for the evil that happens. The main characters in these verses are the kings of the east who are none other than Jesus and his angels who come to redeem the faithful little remnant God has had on earth during the last seven plagues. Jesus’ return cannot be counted as a nuisance, can it? And when Jesus has returned to earth, the seventh bowl is emptied and it all ends with the saved being taken to heaven, and the wicked dying. Jesus’ return can be compared to God dividing the waters of the Gulf of Aqaba from east to west so that Israel was saved from its persecutors.
Revelation 16:12 and 16:16: Verse 12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. Verse 16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.
Let’s look at the most important words in these two verses.
He in Revelation 16:16 refers directly back to the dragon in verse 13. Another interesting word in this verse is a place. The Greek word for the place is «to´pos«. This word translates as place, region, area, country; occasion and opportunity. In our case as < to’pon> (noun masculine singular accusative). If we choose to translate with a geographical location, it is most likely that it means the valley of Megiddo, the valley of Jezreel or the plain of Esdraelon which stretches from the Carmel Heights and Mount Carmel in the west to the Jordan Valley in the east. This was Israel’s biggest battlefield from the olden days, and here the British and Turks also met in a big battle during the First World War. This is one possible interpretation, but the word can also be understood in a figurative sense, occasion, or opportunity, and then in the form of setting up a mindset.
We then have a situation where the wicked gradually set up a mindset that involves blaming God’s faithful people for all the misery that befalls them through these plagues, because they see that the plagues do not affect God’s faithful remnant, and therefore they want to try to kill them.
However, what is important is where and/or what Armageddon is. Armageddon has been explained in many ways, but we must realize that the battle between Christ and Satan, which takes place on the spiritual plane, must always lie as a backdrop to the understanding of the Bible. The cosmic conflict, the battle between good and evil is at the heart of this question as in the vast majority of other questions, and the question is: Who should get your worship?
As for Armageddon, there is, as far as we know, no geographical place that has been called Armageddon. We must therefore look for the actual meaning of the word. First, let’s look at the word Armageddon. It is important to understand that the word Armageddon is composed of two Hebrew words, the word har which means mountain, and the word mo´ed (mageddón) which in the Old Testament is used to describe the congregation or an assembly. The symbolism here then becomes mountain which is the place where God has revealed himself throughout history, and congregation or assembly which in turn describes God’s people, so we must look at the second part of Armageddon – <Mageddón>, for which there are two different explanations.
Mo’ed or <Mageddón> is written from the place Meggido, and we find it, among other things, in 1 Kings 9:15 and Zechariah 12:11. Mageddón (see above), is derived from the Hebrew word mo’ed which throughout the Old Testament is used to describe when the congregation should hold a fixed feast or gathering. One explanation places as we see Armageddon as a >geographical< place – Mageddón, which is problematic considering that no place with this name has ever been found to have existed. Another suggests a connection with the great conflict between Jesus and Satan. Since it is this conflict that is the backdrop for most of the Bible, and that the symbolism in the use of the word points to the mountain, which is the place where God has revealed himself through all time, I believe that we should consider the second explanation as the correct one.
In Isaiah 14:13, Har-mo`ed has been translated as the mount of the assembly, and this alludes to Solomon’s temple, which in Solomon’s time was located north of old Jerusalem. It has always been Satan’s desire and goal ever since he was cast out of heaven to take God’s place. God’s throne is in the north: «For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: (See Psalm 4:,3; Ezekiel 28:13-16.)
Joel 3:7 calls it the valley of Jehoshaphat: «… I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and [for] my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land«, (the peoples here are the Gentiles), and …
Zechariah 14:2 tells «For I will gather all the nations to war against Jerusalem … …»
If we then go to Revelation 16:13-14, we find this text: «And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs [come] out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, [which] go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world*, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty«.
* Greek: oikûme’nê (oy-kou-men’-ay’) and means the inhabited or civilized world, and in this connection the Roman Empire.
If we put this meaning – the Roman Empire – into the cosmic conflict, it certainly makes sense. The Roman Empire is alive and well today, with Pope Francis as emperor.
We can then read it so that the three unclean spirits (Revelation 16:13) gather the people of the world on the «mount of assembly» to take God’s place.
There seems to be a contradiction here, but the explanation is that the Bible here describes a typology. Jehoshaphat’s valley was the place where God intervened and fought for his people. Jerusalem is a type of God’s people. So what the Bible is telling us here is that God will intervene and fight for His people again.
But what does this have to do with the kings from the east?
We now have a backdrop, and then it is easier to catch the thread. In the north-west of Jehoshaphat’s valley (Jezreel valley), or Megiddo valley as it is also called, there is a mountain called Carmel. It was here at Carmel that Elijah put the people to an election. Who will you serve, the Lord God or Ba’al?
The valley of Jehoshaphat, the valley of Megiddo and Armageddon «describe» the same thing, it is the «same» place, and we can call it «the valley of choice«, precisely because we all have to make a choice; we all have to choose who we want to follow , God or Satan. There is therefore a conflict, a war that will take place in the valley of Megiddo, and there the kings of the east will come, if we want to believe Revelation 16. We shall take a closer look at the kings of the east in a little while.
Can we see any signs that the aforementioned mindset is being set up?
We have a couple of popes who have spoken about terrorists and defined what terrorists are in Catholic mindset, and Pope Francis calls Bible-believing Christians, those who keep the Bible as their only guideline in life, terrorists. After this, laws have been introduced that prohibit hate speech in most countries in the world, and hate speech is defined so that you cannot say anything that is perceived as disadvantageous by others.
Here are a couple of examples of how this mindset is and will be used:
a) When the «Black-Life-Matter» (BLM) movement had been started, someone in London sent up a plane with a huge «White Life Matters Too» banner that flew over a football stadium when they were going to mark «BLM». This was badly received, and the incident ended up under hate speech, and the football club in question, which played its home match in London that day, was fined quite a lot.
b) If you were to belong to God’s remnant in the end times and were to say something about homosexuality that could be perceived as criticism, then this would be perceived as hate speech. If, on the other hand, you are politically correct, you are allowed to harass other people in the worst possible way without this having consequences. I call this «The Intolerant Tolerance«.
This is how the storm destroys God’s people.
If you are in a boat at sea and there is a storm arising, it is important to find out where the storm is coming from so that you can put the boat upwind, so you don’t capsize. In the same way it is also with this spiritual storm that will soon break out in full. We need to know where it comes from, so we don’t go on a spiritual shipwreck.
The book of Daniel tells us about the little horn and what it will do to God’s people. “And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and (he) shall destroy the mighty and the holy people”, (Daniel 8:24). Revelation tells the same thing. «And the dragon was wroth with the woman and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ«, (Revelation 12:17). It is not the dragon himself who is on the front line against God’s people, but his minions, and primarily the beast from the sea. John was very surprised by what he saw: «And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, (the church which he himself had helped to found) I wondered with great admiration. (Revelation 17:6).
And if this were not enough, Daniel 11 tells of two kings, the king of the north and the king of the south, where the king of the north is the one who gathers all religions under his umbrella, while the king of the south gathers all secular organizations under his umbrella. These unite in the end times to destroy God’s people – something we see they are about to complete in our days. Daniel puts it this way: «And both these kings’ hearts [shall be] to do mischief, and they shall speak lies at one table; but it shall not prosper: for yet the end [shall be] at the time appointed«, (Daniel 11:27).
Chapter 11 is a merism, where two diametrical extremes, north and south, finally enter into a union, with one king submitting to the other. The king of the south is explained as Egypt (Daniel 11:8). In other words, Egypt was the first secular power to question God’s existence: «And Pharaoh said, Who [is] the LORD, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the LORD, neither will I let Israel go«, (Exodus 5:2). The king of the south therefore represents the secular forces in the world. This means that the king in the north must be the diametric opposite, i.e. the religious segment under the Pope’s umbrella.
Peter encourages us to be sober and vigilant, because our «… adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour, (1 Peter 5:8). Satan, the devil, the old serpent has soon united the whole world under the beast from the sea, and this is a fulfilment of Revelation 13:3: «And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast«.
The storm that will soon come upon us in full force is not coming from just one direction, it is coming from all sides at once – and regrettably even from within our own denomination. Paul to the Ephesians that they should put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil, (Ephesians 6:11) for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high [places], (Ephesians 6:12). This applies to an even greater extent to us who live in the absolute end times.
How should we meet this threat?
How will we be able to stand when this storm turns into a hurricane?
We must do as Paul says in Ephesians 6:13-16: Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
The kings of the east.
And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared, (Revelation 16:12).
This verse shows us the antitype of an event that happened almost 2,500 years ago. There is, almost as usual, also disagreement about the interpretation of this verse. There are several different opinions about who the kings of the east are, and both Turkey, Russia as well as China are mentioned as candidates for this title. But, is it right?
Those who interpret it this way will constantly find new ‘kings of the east’ as history unfolds. During the Ottoman Empire, many people considered Turkey the king of the east. Turkey was also given the honour of being the king of the north. Today, many choose to see Russia in one or both of these positions, but it is just as wrong as attributing that honour to Turkey.
What does the Bible itself say?
The word translated «of the east» is «anatolê’s» which literally means «from the rising» (as in the rising of the sun).
A very important point we should include in this is the symbolism that lies in and around «King Cyrus«. It is King Cyrus who is the image of the kings of the east in Revelation 16:12. About Cyrus, a human king, God says the following in Isaiah 44:28: «My shepherd» and in Isaiah 45:1 «Thus saith the Lord to his anointed«. It was Cyrus and Medo-Persia (today’s Iran) that conquered Babylon (today’s Iraq) so that God’s people could finally go home to the land that had been promised to them through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple.
If we look at the map, we will see that Iran lies east of Iraq, and King Cyrus came from the east with all his petty kings = army leaders when he conquered Babylon. This is thought-provoking in itself, but there is more to the conquest of Babylon that is interesting.
The manner in which Cyrus captured Babylon is also very thought-provoking through Revelation 16:12 bearing in mind the fact that the final resolution of the great conflict between Jesus and Satan is that Jesus wins, conquers the Babylon of our time, and leads his people home to the promised land the land—the heavenly Canaan.
There are certain prerequisites that must be fulfilled before this prophecy can be fulfilled: The prophecy in Revelation 16:12 is such that before «the kings of the east» can come, the Euphrates must dry up! When Cyrus, who is thus an image of the kings of the east, conquered Babylon, he first dried up large parts of the Euphrates, by digging canals and diverting the water from the natural riverbed so that his soldiers could enter the impregnable city .
We should also watch when the prophecy says that these kings from the east will come. Revelation 16:12-16 constitutes the sixth vial, and we then know that there is only a short time left before Christ returns. It is clear from Daniel chapters 11 and 12, and especially the verses in Daniel 11:40 and 12:1, that we are in the end times.
If we go to the seventh vial, we see that a loud voice in the temple proclaims: «It is done!» (Revelation 16:17), which is followed in verse 18 by voices and thunder, and lightning, and a great earthquake. Thunder, lightning, and earthquakes are all symbols of God’s presence, see Revelation 11:19 «And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thundering, and an earthquake, and great hail«. But the question is whether it is a figurative earthquake or a literal earthquake that we are talking about here – or whether it is both.
First we see that the great city is divided into three, and then that the cities of the nations fall. Here we are probably talking about both a figurative earthquake and a literal earthquake. The great city is Babylon, or all the fallen churches, and the earthquake that divides this «city» is certainly figurative, while what strikes the cities of the nations is a literal earthquake. (See also Revelation 16:19.)
Then we see that every island fled away, and the mountains were not found, which may indicate that the restoration of the earth, as it was before the fall, has begun. Islands and mountains disappearing can only be caused by a literal earthquake. It is generally agreed that there was only one continent on the newly created earth, and that this supercontinent, which is called Pangea, was split into several parts due to the great flood. What we see here may be that God reverses what happened during the flood and explains it by saying that «every island fled away, and the mountains were not found«. We can then state that the kings of the east will not come until the absolute end time. But who are the kings of the east?
In Isaiah 41:1-2 and Ezekiel 43:1-2 we find a couple of clues.
- Keep silence before me, O islands; and let the people renew [their] strength: let them come near; then let them speak: let us come near together to judgment. Who raised up the righteous [man] from the east, called him to his foot, gave the nations before him, and made [him] rule over kings? he gave [them] as the dust to his sword, [and] as driven stubble to his bow, (Isaiah 41:1-2).
- Afterward he brought me to the gate, [even] the gate that looketh toward the east: And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice [was] like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory. (Ezekiel 43:1-2).
The Bible is a wonderful book. It explains itself. It is the Glory of the God of Israel that comes from the east. In other words, it is Jesus who comes from the east. And when it says kings in the plural, this means that God’s angels will come with Jesus. Matthew 25:31 confirms exactly this: «When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory«. When Jesus comes, who is the antitype of Cyrus, he comes from the east, and he conquers, ingests, and destroys the spiritual Babylon, and leads his people home to the promised land, the heavenly Canaan.