The Lord Jesus, after having driven the greedy merchants out of the temple for the second time, subsequent to having exposed the leaven of the Pharisees, lamented over the city that had continuously killed those who told the truth. This second Jewish temple was to be left unto Jerusalem desolate and would eventually be destroyed. In His famous prophetic speech to His disciples, who still seemed to nourish some national pride over this earthly house of stone, Jesus left lifesaving guidance –not just to them but to all of His followers down the ages. He sternly pointed out what one were to look for as explicit signs of “His coming and of the end of the world”. The first advice the Savior gave was: “Take heed that no man deceive you.” (Matthew 24:4b).

Deception, massive geopolitical deception, will be the sign of His coming. The best way to prepare for Satan’s final deception is to keep ourselves constantly occupied with God’s truth; to read His truth, read it again and again and… beyond reading; do we have to do more with it?

It’s interesting. How can a book full of lamentations, mourning and woe be as honey for sweetness? And yet, a man with the name God Strengthens made exactly this experience.

Once this book had been digested though, it caused some bitterness in him. The man’s age was about 30 years, and he had the difficult task of carrying God’s truth to his own people who were captives in a foreign country. To add to the perplexity of things, God told this man that his own people would not understand. But if he brought this truth to people of other nations, those strangers would easily understand. God’s servant with this difficult mission was an appointed watchman of the house of Israel. As a priest and prophet, he received accurate information about the measures of a magnificent future temple, a temple that would never be built on the old earth, but rather on the new one.

As it unfolds to us in increasing clarity, the chiastic structure of the Book of Revelation holds a superordinate message from our Lord Jesus Christ, the true author of the book. We already found that in the ring-shaped arrangement of related narratives, each narrative bears a separate theme: trustworthiness, faithfulness, and justice we found so far.

The “scroll of indictment”, the book with seven seals, (see Part 3 of this series) contains all charges of the Heavenly Court against sinners of all ages, who, at some point during their lifetimes, had called upon the Lamb for forgiveness. But what we haven’t considered as yet: these charges are justified because man’s actions stand against God’s law, and sin is transgression of the law. In a typological sense, the scroll of lamentations told the truth about the suffering, pain and agony that sin has been causing to the Hebrew nation of old. But it also revealed the holiness of God and His eternal law. When God’s word is eaten, it is joy (Jeremiah 15:16) and sweet as honey (Psalm 119:103). The prophet Ezekiel ate this scroll of lamentations. This means that he incorporated the truth written therein. When John the Revelator ate the fully opened book that had previously been locked with seven seals, it was sweet to his mouth (Revelation 10:9), because it disclosed the truth about God’s character. But it was bitter in his stomach, because it revealed the truth about man’s rebellion and sin.

Our study of the Bible’s last book and the fourth chiastic ring continues with Revelation 10. If we take a careful look at the four chapters Revelation 10; 11; 13 and 14, it becomes apparent that these chapters have one thing in common; they all introduce entities that propagate (“prophecy”, “prophecy”, “spake”, “preach”) information to the inhabitants of the earth. And we know, information may constitute either truth or disinformation. As we will discover, those four chapters tell us about God’s truth: how God’s truth is proclaimed in the last phase of history, how His truth is attested through the lives of those living it and through a final test of obedience, and how truth is opposed to by Satan and the engines he deploys to intimidate and deceive.

FIGURE: In order to understand the message of the Book of Revelation better, we need to recognize that this book is arranged in a chiasm of five segments.

In his vision in Revelation 10, John sees Jesus (EGW: 7BC 971.3) standing with one foot on the see and one on the land. Note that both the sea and the earth are under His feet, and that He has thus ultimate power over all the earth (compare Isaiah 66:1). Jesus says something with a loud voice, and then seven thunders utter their voices. John could not understand what Jesus said, but he could understand the message of the seven thunders. He was about to write, but he was prevented from doing so. What was the message of the seven thunders?

The special light given to John which was expressed in the seven thunders was a delineation of events which would transpire under the first and second angels’ messages. It was not best for the people to know these things, for their faith must necessarily be tested. In the order of God, most wonderful and advanced truths would be proclaimed. The first and second angels’ messages were to be proclaimed, but no further light was to be revealed before these messages had done their specific work. This is represented by the angel standing with one foot on the sea, proclaiming with a most solemn oath that time should be no longer. 1MR 99.2 (emphasis supplied)

Ellen White clearly links the seven thunders’ message to events accompanying the proclamation of truth by the first and second angel which connects Revelation chapters 10 and 14 (Revelation 14: 6-8). After the seven thunders had ceased their uttering, Jesus announces the end of prophetic time, which pointed to 1844 (compare Dan 8:13-14). In 1844, the work for man’s redemption, the “mystery of God” (Rom 16:25; Mark 4:11), entered its last phase: the investigative judgment. During the investigative judgment, the sanctuar is being cleansed.

Revelation 10, verses 10 and 11 tell us that the eating of the book was enjoyable and satisfying (sweet); however, it’s digestion and nutritional incorporation was a rather uncomfortable (bitter) process. The commission was given to John as a representative of God’s people to “prophesy again about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings.” At the end of Revelation 10, we are left with two vital questions:

01.

What effect does God’s truth have on the one who incorporates it, and

02.

What is the subject and content of the prophecy that must go forth again?

If we now keep reading and simply continue with Revelation 11, we might get confused, since moving from Revelation 10 to Revelation 11 will take the chronology and subject slightly out of context. Considering the chiastic build of the book, we now take a different approach and move from Revelation 10:10 directly to Revelation 14:1. If we do this, we will find that this makes good sense: we are given the answer to the first question in the first paragraph of Revelation 14:

And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Zion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads. [..] These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.

Ellen White places Revelation 14, 1-5 into perspective:

Christ Formed Within—Why were they so specially singled out? Because they had to stand with a wonderful truth right before the whole world, and receive their opposition, and while receiving this opposition they were to remember that they were sons and daughters of God, that they must have Christ formed within them the hope of glory (Manuscript 13, 1888, emphases supplied).

The key to the understanding here is that the eating of God’s truth, the incorporation of His word has a transforming, character changing effect, because Christ is thereby formed within, which answers question number one: no guile is found in the mouth of those who have eaten God’s truth. The “wonderful truth” Ellen White refers to is set forth in verses 6-11, and these verses provide the answer to the second question above: the subject and content of the prophecy from Revelation 10:11 are the messages of the three angels. Furthermore, Revelation 14:12 explains how “Christ formed within” is visible in God’s people from the outside: patient endurance of opposition, keeping of the commandments and the faith in Jesus. Then another effect of God’s truth, proclaimed by the “labourers” (verse 13) is lined out in verses 14-20: the proclamation of the three angel’s messages prepares the world for the harvest of the wicked: while God’s truth transforms the believers into the image of Christ, it condemns the wicked and sets them apart for the final judgment. What now exactly is God’s truth and through what mechanism is it proclaimed or testified of? Moreover, how is the “opposition” manifested that Ellen White indicates?

The messages of the three angels, God’s truth, the Father’s truth for the last age, is the truth about the Lamb, because the messengers “follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth”. There are three distinct elements of truth about the Lamb:

1. the Lamb is the Redeemer (Revelation 14: 3), which is the subject of the everlasting gospel (verse 6),

2. the Lamb is also the Judge, and judgment has commenced (verse 7),

3. the Lamb is the Creator (verse 7). There is also the truth about the enemy of souls:

4. There are in essence only two religions: the worship of the true God and “Babylon”, which is in opposition of God’s truth,

5. Like Adam and Eve of old, God will again allow man to be tested; Satan will set up a worship system that will oppose true worship, and whoever receives the “mark of the beast” will be lost for eternity. (verse 9)

So, now it get serious, since eternal life is at stake! Critical questions: Who is the “beast”, his “image” and what is the “mark” of the beast? In order to get answers to these questions, we need to shift our attention from Revelation 14 back to Revelation 11 and Revelation 13, for both chapters introduce the forces that oppose God’s truth: Satan’s engines of deception and intimidation.

THE CHARADE OF THE SELF- INFLICTED WOUND

In Revelation 11, verses 1 and 2, John is asked by Jesus to conduct a peculiar task; measure “the temple of God, the altar, and them that worship therein”. But John was also given instructions to leave out the outer court, because it is given to the Gentiles. For 42 months, the holy city is to be trodden underfoot. Let’s now take a look at Revelation 13. It appears that Revelation 13 gives more information on this important 42-month period of Satanic oppression: a beast (a kingdom or temporal power) would rise out of the sea (i.e., would originate from a densely populated region), receive power, speak in blasphemy and would make war with the saints for 42 months (verse 5).

John’s task to divide off the outer temple court in Revelation 11 could be interpreted such that this “beast” appears -at least on the surface- to be part of God’s church (the temple), but in reality is a Gentile institution opposing God’s true church. Revelation 13, on the other hand, indicates that the “beast” also has temporal power (verse 2). The reformers identified the “sea beast”, which is the same entity as the “ten horned” beast in Daniel 7, with papal Rome. Papal Rome ruled exactly 42 prophetic months or 1260 prophetic days equaling 1260 actual years: it came to temporal power on May 7th, 538 AD, when the ecclesiastical Sunday law was enacted ¹ at the third synod of Orleans, France. The Papacy’s power ended 1260 years later ², on February 15th, 1798, when French General Berthier, the head of the French army, ordered his troops to take Pope Pius VI captive. He died in captivity 18 months later.

Back to Revelation 11. The two witnesses (verse 3) -Ellen White (4SP 188.2) identifies them with the Old and the New Testament of the Holy Scriptures- would prophecy “in sackcloth” for 1260 prophetic “days”, meaning 1260 actual years. This is exactly the time span of the temporal dominion of the “sea beast” (Rev 13), the papacy. By the end of the testimony in sackcloth, which coincides with the (preliminary) end of the temporal papal rule, around 1798, a mysterious beast would ascent out of the bottomless pit (the “abyss”), to rage war against God’s word, God’s truth (Revelation 11:7). Hence, the appearance of the “abyss”-beast roughly coincides with the papacy’s receiving a wound that appeared to be mortal (Revelation 13:3).

Now we have to do some work of reasoning. A powerful beast gets wounded in the late 1700’s. But who was able to hurt the beast at that point in history? Revelation 13 mentions only two beasts, the “sea” beast (papacy) and the earth beast (United States, 4SP 277.1), which, however, was not strong enough at that time to content with the “sea” beast. After all, the “earth beast” would eventually collaborate with the “sea beast” to set up its “image” (Revelation 13:14), where apostate Protestantism would use the state to enforce religious doctrine (GC 445.1). Moreover, Daniel 7:21.22 states that papal Rome would have world dominion until the return of the Lord. We are apparently unable a spot a contender strong enough to inflict a blow on the sea beast’s head. If there was no contender around at 1798, the only possibility remains that the “deadly wound” was self-inflicted, that it was nothing else than a ridiculous charade; a circus of deception, pretense-play that was designed to regain the temporal papal power that had continuously dwindled away after the Protestant Reformation. Who was (or is) the “beast from the bottomless pit”? Ellen White identifies it with the French revolution and atheism:

But another power—the beast from the bottomless pit—was to arise to make open, avowed war upon the word of God. [..] According to the words of the prophet, then, a little before the year 1798 some power of satanic origin and character would rise to make war upon the Bible. And in the land where the testimony of God’s two witnesses should thus be silenced, there would be manifest the atheism of the Pharaoh and the licentiousness of Sodom. GC 269.3 (emphasis supplied)

The world still recalls with shuddering horror the scenes of that most cowardly and cruel onslaught, the Massacre of St. Bartholomew. The king of France, urged on by Romish priests and prelates, lent his sanction to the dreadful work. [...] The same master-spirit that urged in the Massacre of St. Bartholomew, led also in the scenes of the French Revolution. Satan seemed to triumph. Notwithstanding the labors of the Reformers, he had succeeded in holding vast multitudes in ignorance concerning God and his word. Now he appeared in a new guise [….] The work which the papacy had begun, atheism completed. The one withheld from the people the truths of the Bible; the other taught them to reject both the Bible and its Author. The seed sown by priests and prelates was yielding its evil fruit. SP 4.191-192.

It appears from the Spirit of Prophecy’s testimony that the Romish priests and atheism worked hand in hand to attack God’s truth. Does the reader now get the hidden truth about the “abyss” beast? Are there historical clues that the forces driving the French -and later Russian and Chinese- revolutions were just “hidden” manifestations of Romanism?

The seemingly “mortal wound” that the Papacy received in 1798 was historically inflicted by Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon Bonaparte himself rose to prominence during the French Revolution, a “movement that shook France between 1787-1799”³. So, Napoleon took out the pope. But who pulled Napoleon’s strings? This question is most difficult to answer, since none of the established history books tell us something about the “hidden” agendas of world politics. But there is circumstantial evidence, and we can get an answer from puzzle pieces of historical side notes. All sources are freely available on the Internet for everyone to study. Who benefitted politically from the removal of Pope Pius VI? Pius VI was the very pope that was captured by General Bertier in 1798 and died in exile in 1799. In 1773, about one and a half decades prior to the French Revolution, something interesting happened, and we get this amazing detail directly from the source:

Jesuits [The Society of Jesus, a Roman Catholic order of priests] were first expelled from Portugal (1759), then France (1764), Spain (1767) and Austria (1770). Thousands of destitute priests and brothers sought refuge in Rome during these years. Finally in 1773 anti-Jesuit forces succeeded in persuading Pope Clement XIV to issue Dominus ac Redemptor, the papal brief suppressing the Society of Jesus, in order to secure peace in the Church. ⁴

So, the Society of Jesus was generally suppressed in 1773. Let’s collect some more puzzle pieces:

- In 1776, only three years later, something else happened: a Jesuit theologian (teacher of canon law) named Adam Weishaupt formed the order of the Illuminati (the enlightened ones). ⁵

- The “Illuminati” incited the French Revolution ⁶

- There is strong suspicion that Napoleon was a high-level Freemason ⁷

- The Jesuits invented advanced degrees in Freemasonry ⁸

- Pius VII, the successor of dethroned Pope Pius VI, became pope in 1800.

- One of Pope Pius VII’s first acts following Napoleon’s abdication in 1814, was to reinstate the Society of Jesus worldwide with the Bull Solicitudo omnium ecclesiarum. ⁴

So, what does this look like to us? The Society of Jesus, aka the Jesuits, was banned, so it went “underground”; meaning it created front organizations to be able to operate in the background. These front organizations would influence governments to execute their bidding. Napoleon was one of their puppets who took the pope captive and exiled him. The next pope would then immediately reinstate the Jesuit Order, which is known as being “more papal than the pope and more Catholic than the College of Cardinals”. ⁹

Is it not likely that the Romanists themselves inflicted the deadly wound on the papacy to set a starting point for a long-ranged action plan to regain absolute papal power? In this context, it is important to recognize that the “sea beast” (Romanism) does indeed have seven heads (Revelation 13:1), with the papacy being one of them. This implies that there may be six other “departments” of Romanism, which we could imagine collaborating most of the time, but sometimes working against each other. But let alone the political power struggle, on a higher spiritual level, what was Satan’s plan in this “black op” ¹⁰ , “false flag operation” -a strategy often used in order to attain a hidden military or political goal- of having the papacy inflicting a mortal wound to the papacy?

Owing to the success of the Protestant Reformation, the papacy was no longer able to withhold God’s word from the people and the monarchs of Europe. Rome’s power was weakening. So Rome had to change its strategy: it would “die”; but not really die, just going underground and then attack God’s truth through the creation of atheism and communism ¹¹. Atheistic theories have been an efficient weapon in Satan’s hand to destroy faith in the living God and the Bible. The diligent student of historic “side notes” might become aware that the “abyss” beast is behind atheistic theories. Just two examples: atheism rests on two strong legs: (1) biological evolution and (2) cosmology. Here is food for thought:

[first]

famous biologist Thomas H. Huxley, “Darwin’s Bulldog”, was a Freemason and,

with no apparent achievements to claim as his own, was made a Fellow of the Royal Society at the age of 26. T.H. Huxley tutored Freemason H.G. Wells, who would later teach Huxley’s two grandsons, Julian and Aldous. Both Julian and Aldous were Freemasons. ¹²

Aldous Huxley is the author of the novel Brave New World. The novel tells the story about a “World State”, a benevolent totalitarian government headed by ten “World Controllers”. Thomas Huxley, Aldous’ grandfather, coined the term “agnostic” and founded along with J. Hooker the “Nature” magazine in 1869. “Nature” is one of the most prestigious scientific journals today.

[second]

The “Big Bang Theory”, the anchor theory of modern cosmology, is not a result of scientific data evaluation. This theory was invented by Jesuit Priest Georges Lemaitre ¹³.

If the “abyss” beast from Revelation 11 is indeed “Romanism underground” or “hidden Romanism”, Romanism pulling the strings of power behind innocently appearing front organizations, secret societies and intelligence agencies, then Revelation 17:8 describes the ultimate “resurrection” of the sea beast, when the wound would finally be healed:

01. The beast that thou sawest was ... ... Romanism from the time of John the Revelator (or AD 538 for papal Rome) until AD 1798, when Pope Pius VI was taken captive.

02. and is not ...... because it went underground in the late 1700’s “hiding” in the “abyss” to attack God’s word, destroy man’s faith in a living God and take the lead in building a communist (Egyptian atheism based) totalitarian New World Order by ruling all nations from behind the scenes thru puppet “democracies” and dictators. To achieve this, it will create world- wide chaos and unrest, maybe even World War III.

03. and shall ascend out of the bottomless pitt It will roar back into power on the back of a communist/fascist world government system for the “man of sin” to finally appear pursuant to the motto “ordo ab chao” (order out of chaos).

04. and go into perdition Thanks and praise to the Lord! When the Lord Jesus comes He will “consume that Wicked with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy him with the brightness of his coming.”

Revelation 17:8 tells us that the “resurrected” Papacy will catch everyone by surprise –that is everyone whose name is “not written in the book of life”. It is thus a matter of eternal life and death to study God’s word about the last great deceptions of Lucifer.

THE PINNACLE OF ABOMINATION

Back to Revelation 14. Here we learn that the papacy will finally coerce the “mark of the beast”, and the Bible itself explains what this will be about. About 685 years before John was given a rod to measure God’s temple, the altar and the people who worshipped in the temple (Revelation 11:1), the Prophet Ezekiel received astonishing truth from on high about four “tiers” or “levels” of abominations that eventually brought God’s judgment upon the people of Judah (Ezekiel 8):

Abomination Level 1: The image of “jealousy” (verse 9), but even greater was:

Abomination Level 2: Image idolatry in the dark (verses 10&11), but even greater was:

Abomination Level 3: Weeping for Tammuz (i.e., the sun god in the flesh, a Pagan counterfeit of Jesus Christ, verse 14), but even greater was:

Abomination Level 4: The pinnacle of abomination. This is important, so let’s read the entire paragraph:

And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD'S house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east. (Ezekiel 8:16)

This is fascinating and chilling at the same time; sun worship appears to be the most detested loathed, top level of evil worship from the perspective of God’s truth. It is obvious why: “sun worship” transitions directly into worshipping Lucifer (Isaiah 14:12-14; Ezekiel 28:11-19). In Ezekiel 9:4, we read about how the sun worshippers were separated out from the remnants of true Judah:

And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. (emphasis supplied)

A “mark of God” was issued to those who did not participate in sun worship, and the remaining people were judged (Ezekiel 9:5-7; compare this text with Revelation 14:15-20). True and false worship in the time of Ezekiel provide the typology for the end time: while Ezekiel’s message went only to Judah, John’s message goes to all people and nations on the earth. In the end time, things will be inverted: this time, the sun worshippers will receive a mark, while God’s true people will be imparted the signet of heaven. Dragon worship (Revelation 13:4) will be manifest as world-wide sun worship, which will culminate in a Sunday law.

THE FALSE PROPHET: APOSTATE PROTESTANTISM

In the late 1700, when the Papacy went “abyss”, when it began to hide behind secret societies, another nation came “out of the earth” that would have a strong influence on the development of world politics: the lamb like beast with two horns (Revelation 13:11):

Here is a striking figure of the rise and growth of our own nation. And the lamb-like horns, emblems of innocence and gentleness, well represent the character of our government, as expressed in its two fundamental principles, Republicanism and Protestantism. The Christian exiles who first fled to America, sought an asylum from royal oppression and priestly intolerance, and they determined to establish a government upon the broad foundation of civil and religious liberty. These principles are the secret of our power and prosperity as a nation. Millions from other lands have sought our shores, and the United States has risen to a place among the most powerful nations of the earth. 4SP 277.1

Indeed, with respect to the supreme law, the Constitution, the United States of America has been an innocent and gentle republic. The Constitution guarantees liberty of conscience. I remember once when my wife and I applied for a visa, the immigration attorney told us that, as long we are on US soil, we are “protected by the Constitution”. True, it is not any politician or government official that protect our freedom and liberty; it is the US Constitution. And this is very similar to most West European nations, where the government adopted principles of the Protestant reformation.

As long as our government is set up and guided by the Constitution and honors the Bill of Rights, the USA matches the lamb-like (Jesus-like) features as represented by the two horns. But the pen of inspirations draws a strange development that will eventually clash with constitutional rights, and established religious institutions, purportedly “Protestant” churches, will play a key role in forcing this development:

When the churches of our land, uniting upon such points of faith as are held by them in common, shall influence the State to enforce their decrees and sustain their institutions, then will Protestant America have formed an image of the Roman hierarchy. Then the true church will be assailed by persecution, as were God’s ancient people. SP4 278

The “image to the beast” represents that form of apostate Protestantism which will be developed when the Protestant churches shall seek the aid of the civil power for the enforcement of their dogmas.... {FLB 286.4}

Once constitutional rights are being weakened or even entirely nullified such that churches can employ state power to enforce their doctrines, the image of the beast is formed. How can such a change take place, and why would it be widely adopted by the populace? Let us listen to once-US President James Madison ¹⁴. Note the underlined passages:

If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.[..] It is a universal truth that the loss of liberty at home is to be charged to the provisions against danger, real or pretended, from abroad. (emphasis supplied)

Did US President Madison -who was also a political theorist- already sense that future “blackops” or “false-flag” attacks would be orchestrated from the “abyss” for the purpose of installing tyranny and oppression? Hard to tell. Impossible to prove.

Sure is, according to the Spirit of Prophecy, in his final act of deception, Satan will pose as the leader of a “Protestant” movement. Much speculation abounds on the kind and nature of the “fire” that will “come down from heaven” (Revelation 13:13-14). Will it be a spiritual or a military phenomenon? From the context of Jesus’ warning in Matthew 24:24-27, we can deduce that it will probably be a combination of both. Martin Luther called Satan “God’s ape”, because Lucifer has been trying to “ape” (emulate and fake) God’s actions from the beginning. In Satan’s final ape theater, he will try to pose as a returning savior. Of course, some impressive physical appearance in the sky will be needed for this, which would explain the spiritual and military background of deceptive “fire” coming down from heaven.

The irony is: true Protestantism once broke the power of the papacy; false Protestantism will bring it back to power. Apostate Protestantism, the “false prophet” (Revelation 19:20; 20:10), as controlled from the “abyss” behind the scenes, will take the lead in working against God’s truth and deceive mankind into setting up a false system of worship (Revelation 13:13-15). In Revelation chapters 11 and 13, Jesus tells John (and us) the truth about geopolitics in the last age. Satan’s schemes of deception are exposed. And there are only three forces involved: the dragon, which controls the beast, which, in turn, finally controls the image of the beast. Consequently, any political movement or organization that dominates the news headlines (and also people’s fears) these days must in reality be smokescreen operations controlled by the beast out of the “abyss”.

SIX HUNDRED THREESCORE AND SIX: OPERATION “PHOENIX”

The reader may now ask: what on earth does the bird Phoenix have to do with Revelation 13? For everyone who is not aware of this ancient Egyptian mythology, here is a concise summary 15:

Phoenix, in ancient Egypt and in Classical antiquity, a fabulous bird associated with the worship of the sun. The Egyptian phoenix was said to be as large as an eagle, with brilliant scarlet and gold plumage and a melodious cry. Only one phoenix existed at any time, and it was very long-lived— no ancient authority gave it a life span of less than 500 years. As its end approached, the phoenix fashioned a nest of aromatic boughs and spices, set it on fire, and was consumed in the flames. From the pyre miraculously sprang a new phoenix, which, after embalming its father’s ashes in an egg of myrrh, flew with the ashes to Heliopolis (“City of the Sun”) in Egypt, where it deposited them on the altar in the temple of the Egyptian god of the sun, Re.

Does the story of Phoenix remind us of something we analyzed so far? Let us keep hold that Phoenix (1) lived very long (far more than 500 years); (2) there was only one Phoenix at a time; (3) he set his own nest on fire, only (4) to give birth to a new bird, which then (5) would fly to the temple of the Egyptian sun-god.

The name “Fenex” is an ancient name for Lucifer, meaning “The Shining One” ¹⁶ . In ancient Greek, some letters have a dual numeral meaning. Now, the sum of the numerals represented by f-e-n-e-x is 6+5+50+5+600=666. The final apostate worship system, Scripture tells us, will be recognized by the number of the beast, the figure 666 (Revelation 13: 17+18)

Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

We are asked to count the number of the beast. The simplest and most intuitive way to arrive at this number is to count to 36 and then add up all figures counted:

So now, what’s the deal?

Ancient Egyptian sun-worship provides the bigger picture. According to the ancient Egyptians, the sun, within the course of a year (360 days+ 5 extra “unlucky” days), passes 36 constellations with each of them lasting ten days (decans) long ¹⁷. Each constellation had a god assigned to it. The superior sun-god Re (or Ra), who would oversee them all and who would constitute the “sum” of all of them, did have he number 666 assigned to him. In Chris Relitz’¹⁸ work “Antichrist Osiris: the History of the Luciferian Conspiracy”, we read on page 361:

[666 is the] Summary-number of the sun god: the sun itself traces a path through the sky moving through the constellations, which the pagan astrologers count to be 36. If you add all the numbers together between 1 and 36, you get 666. Practitioners of Kabala use a system known as the ‘magic square’ which has 36 squares, to meet the Watchers. To many cultures the Phoenix represents their coming savior and is worshipped as the morning star. The American Indians, the Egyptians and Phoenicians all knew the legend of a bird that died in flames and was reborn. The same story was told among the Babylonians, the Hindus and among the Japanese and Chinese. In the Greek language, Fenex adds up to 666. In nearly every case, the number 666 leads us back to the pagan sun-god. It’s likely that the coming Antichrist will publicly attach himself to the ancient sun-god mythos of the Mystery religions which he will publicly reinstate (emphasis supplied)

Not much to add to this excellent summary! The number 666 links sun-worship to the worship of Lucifer, which, again, ties the matter back to the pinnacle of abominations in Ezekiel 8. The story of Phoenix details the mechanism of Lucifer’s last great deception: the Egyptian/Babylonian number of the beast “666” is quasi the “code name” for “operation sun worship” calling all false religions to unite against the creator God.

Like the sun-god “Phoenix”, the unclean raptor bird (compare Revelation 18:2), the beast (the papacy) committed “suicide” after many centuries of domination. But it will rise again, and the resurrected beast (Revelation 17:8) will re-emerge in a very impressive manner (Revelation 13:3) and install a dictatorship of sun-worship, supremely legislated by a world- wide Sunday law and visibly represented by the despotic “son of perdition” (2 Thessalonians 2:3), the last pope who will likely be possessed by Lucifer himself. Lucifer will “ape” the return of Christ and will pose as the world’s supernatural savior. For many who have been conditioned into “alien” stories, Lucifer will appear as a friendly being from outer space. This is very important to understand.

Every Christian better take head to the stern warning of our Savior:

For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many (Matthew 24:5)

Revelation 13 thus concludes with the exaltation of a false law and a false system of worship. If the false law is exalted by Satan, what is God’s response? We find this answer in the conclusion of Revelation 11:

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 thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.

The conclusion of Revelation 11 is indeed the answer to the counterfeit worship system “666” of the beast.

When God’s temple in heaven is opened, what a triumphant time that will be for all who have been faithful and true! In the temple will be seen the ark of the testament in which were placed the two tables of stone, on which are written God’s law. These tables of stone will be brought forth from their hiding place, and on them will be seen the Ten Commandments engraved by the finger of God. These tables of stone now lying in the ark of the testament will be a convincing testimony to the truth and binding claims of God’s law (Ellen G. White, Letter 47, 1902).

God’s truth -as represented by the Old and New Testament- that Satan tried to blot out, ascended to heaven (Revelation 11:12). His redemptive Truth, as symbolized by the opened temple and the visible Ark, will prevail:

Sacrilegious minds and hearts have thought they were mighty enough to change the times and laws of Jehovah; but, safe in the archives of heaven, in the ark of God, are the original commandments, written upon the two tables of stone. No potentate of earth has power to draw forth those tables from their sacred hiding place beneath the mercy seat (Ellen G. White, The Signs of the Times, February 28, 1878).

Revelation chapters 10, 11, 13 and 14 together form a coherent logical unit that reveals to us the war between truth and error. Truth is exalted, while error, lie and disinformation, are exposed. Truth will win (see Figure). The two agents of the dragon: the beast out of the sea and the beast out of the earth, are defeated foes. Remember that the mighty angel (Revelation 10:3), Who sets His right foot on the sea and His left foot on the earth, does have ultimate control:

“Of David. A psalm. The LORD says to my lord: "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet." (Psalm 110:1)

Let us close with another quote:

As we near the close of this world's history, the prophecies relating to the last days especially demand our study. The last book of the New Testament scriptures is full of truth that we need to understand. COL 133

May God’s special blessing be upon us all as we discover and internalize His precious truth.

…..to be continued in Part 5

Michael E Fassbender, Ph.D., is a nuclear scientist. Originally from Germany, he spent a three-year stint in South Africa. He now works for the U.S. Government and lives with his wife and two daughters in New Mexico, USA. Michael and his wife are members of the Texico Conference of Seventh-Day-Adventists