Doctrines and Practices of the Church
Part 13

The Revelation
Part 3

 The Abomination of Desolation
     The verse about the "abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet" in Matthew 24:15 and Mark 13:14, gives no indication that this verse is referring to a man, nor is this specifically identified as the Temple at Jerusalem.  The verse in Daniel that the other New Testament verses are referring to is:
♦  "And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days." (Daniel 12:11).
     Again, the original has no reference to a man or the temple. 

The Number of a “Man”
     The other reference is about the number of a man:
♦  "Here is wisdom. 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." (Revelation 13:18). 
     The word "of" can mean for, the word man can be men and the "his" was added by the translators. This could just as easily be translated as "for it is the number for men; and the number is Six hundred threescore and six."  And, of course, it gives nothing specific to any person or actions he will take.  If  we allow that this verse is speaking to a particular person having this number somehow in his name, there is a very serious gap in scripture.  Beyond this verse there is no mention of any particular man to be found in the Revelation.  If this is some mysterious man, nothing more is said about him in scripture.

The False Prophet
      There is a false prophet mentioned three times in the Revelation; twice referring to his imprisonment, but he is not referred to as a leader. 
♦  Revelation 16:13 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.
♦  Revelation 19:20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
♦  Revelation 20: 10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

      The only other references to a false prophet in scripture are here:
♦  Matthew 7:15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
♦  Matthew 24:11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
♦  Matthew 24:24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
♦  Mark 13:22 For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect.
♦  Luke 6:26 Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.
♦  Acts 13:6 And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Barjesus:
♦  II Peter 2:1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
♦  I John 4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
     It should be noted that most of the verses above speak of these false prophets as living at the time.  Matthew 24:24 and Mark 13:22 also represent the only times the term “false christ” appears.

Blind-sided By God?
      Seemingly without any explanation God begins to attack the planet, wreaking ecological havoc, and killing billions of people. 
      The eighth chapter of the Revelation starts out with “voices, thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake”, then hail and fire mingled with blood, burning up a third part of trees and “all green grass was burnt up”.  A third part of the sea then turns to blood and this kills one-third of all sea life.  The rivers and springs are then poisoned killing many people.  The sun, the moon, and the stars begin to shine for only two-thirds of the night and day.
     Continuing into the ninth chapter; from out of the Earth come hordes of creatures, strange, stinging creatures called “locusts”, which do not eat plants, but do begin to torment mankind and continue this for five months.  These creatures are controlled by an angel of the bottomless pit named Abaddon and the description shows that they are anything but locusts. Verse 6 shows how serious this problem is: “And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.”.  Then four angels that have been restrained in the Euphrates River assemble an “army” made up of creatures stranger and more deadly than the “locusts’ that previously attacked men.  The result is that one third of the planet’s human population die from the attacks of these creatures.
     Now, out of the clear blue, comes the references to the population remaining who are refusing to repent of a  whole laundry list of offenses, starting with the worship of the things they manufacture. 
♦  Revelation 9:20 And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: 21 Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.
     They have just gone through a whole series of attacks of every sort imaginable, billions are dead, and the planet lies in destruction.  Why would repentance now become an issue unless they had been told to repent before the attacks began?  Does it make sense for God to kill off a third of the population, devastate the planet, and then demand that they repent after they have already been punished or without telling them why they are under attack? 

Before the plagues begin the scripture starts with this:
♦  Revelation 8:5.  And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.

           The word “voices” here is taken from the same word in these verses:
♦  Revelation 1:10. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, 11.  Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last:  
      It comes from the Greek word phone, pronounced fo-nay', through the idea of disclosure; a tone (articulate, bestial or artificial); by implication, an address (for any purpose), saying or language.  Could it be that before the plagues these voices were disclosing or addressing mankind about what is to come and the need to follow the directions of God?

     The eighth chapter of the Revelation ends with this verse:
♦  "And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!" (Revelation 8:13). 
     Though not specific in content, this clearly states that an angel flying low in the sky is broadcasting a warning to humanity about the three next disasters to come.  The last of the next three events will cost the lives of about 2 billion people by today's population figures.  It is unlikely that the only thing the angel is saying is "Woe, woe, woe" but perhaps this is a short way to say the angel revealed what all three disasters would bring.  This could also be a point at which humanity is offered a chance to repent.  

      We see this again in connection with the next disasters that occur after the testimony of the witnesses:
♦  Revelation 16:18.  And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.

      We can only trust that logic, and the fairness God has shown by warning civilization in the past to stop or pay the price, as scripture shows, must apply here as well.  We certainly find this true for the second round of disasters that hit humanity.  The warning comes in the form of two witnesses who spend 3 ½ years on the planet defying attempts to kill them and working great miracles. 

      The next round of events to plague mankind is found in the 16^th chapter and comes after these witnesses are killed and resurrected.  It starts with what is called a “noisesome sore”, which is thoroughly examined in the section named: An Amazing Prophecy .  The oceans are poisoned, killing all life in them, followed by all the rivers turning to blood.  This is followed by a burst of heat from the sun which causes men to get badly burned.  Here again it says mankind curses God and refuses to repent and give God the glory.  The world goes dark and something causes mankind great pain.  Again they curse God and refuse to repent. 
      The Euphrates River dries up and three unclean spirits convince the world to gather an army to fight God at Armageddon.  The results of this battle are not described until the 19^th chapter, but at the time they are gathering, the greatest earthquake in history hits the planet.  After that a hailstorm strikes with the hail stones having a weight of a talent, or almost 95 pounds.  Again mankind curses God. 
      Throughout the plagues mankind experiences, it is described as refusing to repent and recognize the rule of Jesus.  In the end the world gathers a great army to fight the returning Christ.  How far would we have to stretch our speculation to consider that the people refusing to submit have the slightest clue that they are cursing and defying the Creator?  The only reason they would go to these lengths would be if they were completely deceived about who was attacking them.  If the clouds Jesus returns in, and from which all these plagues are originating, do not look like clouds as the church teaches they should, mankind could easily be persuaded that it was an alien invasion. 
      What threat would cause such resistance and unite the world to organize a great army to resist it, other than the fear that mankind is about to be destroyed or enslaved?  Certainly you could not get such a global consensus to fight against the returning Christ.  There can be little doubt that the world will be seriously deceived about who they are gathering to fight.
      The only other individual humans described in the prophecies from the Revelation are the two witnesses of Revelation 11, two women; one Mary, and the other, a great city. The only group of humans mentioned as being evil are merchants. 
      As you will no doubt agree, we have challenged perhaps every concept most people believe is to be found in the Revelation to John.  And, we have pointed out some very serious contradictions to those beliefs.  We have carefully searched for any references to the orthodox concepts, and particularly for any mention of the actions of a man as world leader, or as a pretender to the Christ, and can find none.  These are the main points we have discovered about the Revelation:
·  The antichrist plays no role in the Revelation and is not associated with the visions of Daniel.
·  The False Prophet plays a minor role.
·  The Beast is not referred to as a human, and is described more realistically as a group of nations or powers.
·  There is no great human world leader mentioned that will bring peace, convince mankind he is the Christ, form a world government, or display any control worldwide. 
·  The only specific humans mentioned in the prophecies of the Revelation are Jesus, his mother Mary, and the two witnesses.
·  Satan is not described in human form, nor is he described using any specific humans to do his bidding.
·  No human or other living being is specifically described as standing in the Temple at Jerusalem in the last days.
·  The blending of the visions of Daniel with the prophecies given to John is shaky at best, and can be very misleading.

      There are 404 verses in the Revelation and we have searched them all.  The first 5 books are introductory and contain letters to the churches of John's day, so that brings the number down to about 300.  Anyone willing to take the time to read the book with the thought of proving or disproving these facts could do so in a relatively short period of time.