Forward: Jehovah's Witnesses are well aware of the fact that Satan the Devil is the unseen god of this world. His cadre of demons are the actual ruling principalities behind the political governments and the entire system of things. That being the case, any attempt to understand the goings-on of Satan's world in the light of prophecy, which does not take into consideration the endemic deception inherent in the system, is doomed to failure.
Put another way, we should not suppose that Jehovah's prophetic word harmonizes with revisionist's versions of history, political correctness, or with the insidious propaganda that shapes public opinions. The only realistic perspective of our world is from the ridiculed conspiratorial view of history and current events. This essay is the result of more than a decade of research into the ongoing conspiracy to establish a New World Order.
The centuries-long contest for dominance between the king of the north and king of the south is the primary phenomenon around which modern history revolves. However, the ongoing struggle between the two rival kings should not be thought of merely in terms of a military contest between two opposing national armies on the field of battle. Outright warfare is only an outward expression of a deeply underlying philosophical, political conflict.
Just as modern two-party political systems typically stand on opposing platforms on various issues so, too, the conflict between the king of the north and king of the south is rooted in two mutually antagonistic ideologies.
Elsewhere in Daniel, the prophet alludes to the preeminent world kingdom being politically and ideologically divided. At Daniel 2:41-43 we read: "And whereas you beheld the feet and the toes to be partly of molded clay of a potter and partly of iron, the kingdom itself will prove to be divided, but somewhat of the hardness of iron will prove to be in it, forasmuch as you beheld the iron mixed with moist clay. And as for the toes of the feet being partly of iron and partly of molded clay, the kingdom will partly prove to be strong and will partly prove to be fragile. Whereas you beheld iron mixed with moist clay, they will come to be mixed with the offspring of mankind; but they will not prove to be sticking together, this one to that one, just as iron is not mixing with molded clay."
The two diametrically-opposed principle ideologies are well-symbolized by the iron and the clay feet of Nebuchadnezzar's metallic colossus. But, what do those two incompatible materials symbolize in the real world? Simply put: The iron represents oligarchical rule and the clay represents the republican form of political government. Iron symbolizes iron-fisted tyrannical control; typically exercised by an elite few. Whereas, in view of the fact that we are made from the dust of the earth, the properties of clay make it a fitting symbol for the common man.
Oligarchy is associated with imperial rule; having been expressed in various sundry forms down through history. Republicanism is the antithesis of oligarchism and monarchy. Ruling-class oligarchs and elitists typically view themselves as inherently superior to the lower classes. They generally regard mankind as nothing more than an uneducable form of beast; whereas, the true republican views mankind as having great potential, being endowed with divine qualities that are far superior to the animal creation.
Of course, from Jehovah's standpoint neither the oligarch nor the republican is up to the task of governing the world. Nevertheless, all societies tend to polarize politically as they gradually stratify into upper and lower classes; with the propensity for the wealthy few to dominate the many, and the quest of the many to aspire to freedom being the natural tendency since mankind's venture into self-rule.
As regards the succession of world powers from the Bible's perspective; the modern political expression of the iron and clay is embodied in the present Anglo-American dual world power. To this day, as the successor to the Roman Empire, London remains the capital seat of the most powerful oligarchy that has ever ruled this planet.
The United States has historically been the champion of human rights, liberty and democracy. Together, Great Britain and the United States of America are a hybrid and unworkable fusion of two incompatible systems of political economy.
To fully understand the struggle between the king of the north and king of the south today, we must appreciate that there was a time when the king of the north completely dominated. The prophecy in the 2nd chapter of Daniel makes it evident that the iron and clay making up the feet and toes of the political image is only a relatively recent phenomenon. The legs of iron indicate that a sole empire ruled prior to the clay and iron mixture. History testifies to the fact the Roman Empire and its offspring, Christendom, and finally the British Empire, have each in their turn controlled Europe up until the last few centuries.
But, while the Vatican and Constantinople where vying for religious and political control of a vast portion of the planet during the so-called Dark Ages, Venice quietly became the financial capital of the world.
Under their appointed doge, the billionaire club of the Venetian oligarchy established Venice as the most powerful city-state in all of feudalistic Europe. Later, in the 16th Century the Venetians exported their usurious financial system to London, and during the intervening centuries the transplanted Venetian arrangement has gradually transformed itself into the modern Wall Street-IMF global financial system. It is considered an open secret that the London-centered oligarchy of today was modeled after the Venetian organization.
By means of Venice's transplanted oligarchical financier system, the City of London became the inheritor and perpetuator of the Roman Empire; hence, the king of the north.
What about the king of the south?
During the period when the Feudal system dominated Europe, 95% of the population lived as bestialized serfs. Ironically, the Black Death that ravaged the continent for over a century wrought far-reaching political and social changes. Because the series of plagues decimated the working population to such an extent, (estimates range from one-third to one-half) able workers were in demand. Skilled craftsman and artisans were eventually able to command a better wage. (Marking the beginnings of what would eventually become a middle class) At the same time, the Renaissance also began to have an ennobling and technologically uplifting effect upon European civilization generally. Eventually, in the 15th and 16th centuries, beginning in France under King Louis the XI, sovereign nation-states began to take shape as an alternative to feudalism.
However, it was not until after the colonization of the Americas by the European empires that the first truly independent nation-state republic, the United States, finally came into existence. For the first time in modern history the oligarchic system was faced with a formidable challenger. Thus, the prophetic king of the north and south began to renew their centuries-long enmity.
The British Empire tried to crush the upstart nation in what is called the American Revolutionary War. Having failed to destroy the newly-founded republic, the British navy routinely kidnapped American seamen and impressed them into service to the Crown. The United States eventually declared war on Great Britain, which has come to be called the War of 1812, during which the residency of the president, the White House, was destroyed by the British. (Document by John Quincy Adams regarding the political tensions prior to the war)
The struggle between the United States and Great Britain continued after the war of 1812. While the issue of slavery is cited by text book historians as the sole reason for the American Civil War, the real underlying conflict had to do with the natural antagonism between the American system of economy and the British system.
The fundamental difference between the two systems is that in the American system of political economy, the government is constitutionally bound to use its power for the general welfare of all of its citizens. It does this primarily by providing credit and education for all citizens, while developing national infrastructure and providing other incentives to facilitate human ingenuity and industry. The British system of economy merely seeks to exploit cheap labor through varied forms of slavery and usury—otherwise known today as globalism and free trade.
The American Civil War was really a manifestation of the developing conflict between the entities represented as the iron and the clay in prophecy. Ironically, the American Civil War even pitted the forces nominally called the North and South.
Leading up to the Civil War, the United States was determined to abolish the system of slavery it inherited from the original colonial powers. Even though Britain had already outlawed the slave trade in the early 1800's, England's cotton mills were the primary beneficiaries of slave-produced cotton from the South. As a little-known fact of history, seeing that their source of cheap cotton was threatened by abolition, the British monarchy supported the Confederacy in an attempt to divide and conquer the union of the United States. Had it not been for Czar Alexander's threat to use the Russian navy to prevent any British blockade of Union ports, the war might have had an entirely different outcome.
It was during the American Civil War that Abraham Lincoln embarked on an accelerated program of railroad construction and nation-building that set the United States on track for further conflict with the London-centered oligarchy.
As human schemes go, the American system is vastly superior to the British-Venetian system; and so, as other nations began to industrialize and aspire to the American economic model, namely, Germany, Japan, Russia, and China, the British Empire was forced to take action to thwart the spread of the American system, or else it faced eventual extinction. The proposed Berlin-to-Baghdad railroad was the last straw. The British merchant navy possessed a near-monopoly over maritime commerce. An overland rail route linking the Middle-East with the heart of Europe was unacceptable. British geo-political machinations under King Edward VII finally succeeded in provoking the First World War, by which the United States was subverted from its historic mission.
Having laid the historical foundation for the epic struggle between two diametrically-opposed systems, we can now better situate modern events in the context of the prophecy of the king of the north and south.
In the previous essay the case was made for adjusting our interpretation of Daniel 11:23-24 to apply to the corruption of Christ's congregation by their allying themselves with king of the north and the eventual domination of Europe by the Roman Empire in the form of Christendom. It follows, then, that an adjustment is also in order for understanding of Daniel 11:25-26 as well. Those verses read:
"And he will arouse his power and his heart against the king of the south with a great military force; and the king of the south, for his part, will excite himself for the war with an exceedingly great and mighty military force. And he will not stand, because they will scheme out against him schemes. And the very ones eating his delicacies will bring his breakdown. And as for his military force, it will be flooded away, and many will certainly fall down slain."
The Watchtower's interpretation places the fulfillment of Daniel 11:25-26 during the 3rd Century of the Common Era. The Daniel book comments on the verse above, saying: "About 300 years after Octavian had made Egypt a Roman province, Roman Emperor Aurelian assumed the role of the king of the north. Meanwhile, Queen Septimia Zenobia of the Roman colony of Palmyra occupied the position of the king of the south. (See "Zenobia—The Warrior Queen of Palmyra," on page 252.) The Palmyrene army occupied Egypt in 269 C.E. under the pretext of making it secure for Rome. Zenobia wanted to make Palmyra the dominant city in the east and wanted to rule over Rome's eastern provinces. Alarmed by her ambition, Aurelian aroused "his power and his heart" to proceed against Zenobia."
There are several problems with the Watchtower's present commentary. First, while there is no question that Rome conquered Palmyra and captured Queen Zenobia, there is no indication from history that the battle between the desert kingdom of Palmyra and Rome was of such epic portions that the imperial legions of Rome should be described by the angelic forecaster as "a great military force;" or that the armies of Palmyra should be described as "an exceedingly great and mighty military force." One source describes the two armies of Rome and Palmyra as being of equal size, at about 70,000 men each. That is hardly "an exceedingly great and mighty military force" by either ancient or modern standards.
Secondly, the Watchtower's interpretation identifies the king of the north as the king who "will not stand, because they will scheme out against him schemes." True, the Roman Emperor, Aurelian, was evidently betrayed and assassinated by his own Praetorian guard—as the Watchtower's commentary makes mention; however, the immediate context of the verse in question seems to indicate that it is actually the king of the south—the king with the great and mighty military force—who is victimized by the conspiratorial schemes of the king of the north. Besides, the assassination of Aurelian is a mere footnote of history and had no significant effect upon the course of the Roman Empire.
Not only that, but there is certainly no justification for introducing a new entity not introduced beforehand in the prophecy, as the pronoun "they," in reference to the Praetorian conspirators. After all, the prophecy is discussing the enmity between the kings of the north and south, not the petty internal intrigues within the king's own camp.
Lastly, the most glaring inadequacy with the Watchtower's application of this portion of the prophecy is the fact that the verse says "they will scheme out against him schemes"—schemes being plural—as in numerous schemes. Obviously, sound reasoning dictates that only one assassination plot can be successful. And any subsequent "schemes" to murder Aurelian would be, well…overkill.
As an alternative interpretation, and in view of the previously proposed revisions in Part One, the renewal of conflict between the king of the north and south involving "an exceedingly great and mighty military force" would well describe the Great War of 1914; or World War One as it is commonly called today.
From a broad historical perspective, which is surely Jehovah's view of earthly affairs, the First World War was an epic clash between the remnants of the Roman imperial power and the bourgeoning power of the republican form of government born during the Renaissance and unleashed by the American Revolution.
As the Watchtower is well aware, the First World War was the most intense episode of bloodletting in world history. Over 35 million men were killed or wounded in the slaughter—even as the prophecy of Daniel says: "And many will certainly fall down slain." Vast numbers of men were mobilized for the war. Some estimates put the total number of men under arms during WWI at 65,000,000! Certainly, that fits the angel's description of "an exceedingly great and mighty and military force." Obviously, those numbers far exceed the combined forces of the Palmyrene and Roman armies.
But, since the United States and Great Britain were victorious allies in the First World War, if America represents the king of the south, then, in what way could it be said that the king of the south succumbed to the schemes of the king of the north? The answer to that question may astound you.
After the Civil War the United States began to emerge as the greatest industrial power on earth. It soon became clear to the leading oligarchics in London that the formal British Empire had reached its zenith under Queen Victoria and was surely doomed to fade into irrelevancy during the new 20th Century, unless something was done.
In his book The Anglo-American Establishment, historian Carroll Quigley writes in considerable detail describing how numerous, overlapping, secret societies and roundtable discussion groups (forerunners of modern think tanks) were formed in Britain during the decades before WWI; primarily for the purpose of subverting the United States back under the control of the British Empire. The Fabian Society, established in the late 1800's, adopted the long-range goal of conditioning the world to accept socialism. Later, the Royal Institute for International Affairs was established in 1919, also known as Chatam House, for the purpose of promoting Anglo-American relations.
The ultra-wealthy diamond magnate, Cecil Rhodes, for whom Rhodesia is named, along with H.G. Wells, Bertrand Russell and Lord Alfred Milner, among others, appear to have been the primary architects of the still-unfolding subversive plot to re-invent the British Empire. In 1928, H.G. Wells published a book calling the oligarchy's subversive conspiratorial scheme, a not-so-secretive: The Open Conspiracy.
An excerpt from a book published by Carol White in 1980, describes how prior to WWI the conspiring imperialists discussed how best to go about capturing the United States to serve as London's "dumb giant," in order to use it to fight their wars and pay their bills. As far as conspiracies go, it is the scheme of all schemes—intending to destroy the American system of economy throughout the planet and establish a new Anglo world empire—a New World Order, as it is commonly referred to today.
The conspirators recognized that first they had to throttle the American engine of production by controlling credit, which meant destroying the national banking system within the United States.
Edward Griffin documents in great detail in his book The Creature from Jekyll Island how, in 1913, through their American agents, such as Paul Warburg, J.P. Morgan, and others, the "old-money" banking cartel centered in London succeeded in foisting the privately-owned Federal Reserve Bank upon the United States. This resulted in delivering the economic sovereignty of the United States into the hands of an exclusive clique of private bankers whose own aims where diametrically opposed to that of the people of the United States.
Such an act was blatantly unconstitutional and is exactly what the American Founders tried to prevent. But, the scheme was so successful that to this day most Americans assume that the Federal Reserve is owned by the government of the United States. It is not. While the Federal Reserve is governed by a board of federally-appointed governors, Edward Griffin points out in his book that that is merely window dressing to give the appearance that the Fed is a legitimate government institution.
Jehovah's matchless foresight certainly seems to have described the ongoing conspiracy between the oligarchy and the republic when he inspired the prophet to write: "And they will scheme out against him schemes."
The second aspect of the oligarchy's schemes to perpetuate the British Empire involved fomenting a war on the continent of Europe.
The founding fathers of the United States realized the importance of keeping free from foreign entanglements and wars. In 1823, President James Monroe articulated the United States' policy in what has become known as the Monroe Doctrine. Essentially, the doctrine states that the United States will not become involved in the foreign affairs of Europe and that the European colonial powers should not mettle in the affairs of the Americas. Imperialists and globalists today contemptuously refer to those who favor such a policy as "isolationists."
In the run-up to the First World War, the United States continued to maintain its neutrality toward the European powers. Even as war erupted in Europe, due mainly to the many entangled alliances of nations, the United States continued to remain neutral. On August 19th, 1914, President Woodrow Wilson addressed the U.S. Congress, saying: "Every man who really loves America will act and speak in the true spirit of neutrality, which is the spirit of impartiality and fairness and friendliness to all concerned."
However, the sinking of the British-flagged Lusitania by German U-boats, which resulted in the deaths of some 120 Americans, as well as other subsequent events, eventually drew the United States into the First World War in 1917 on the side of the British and French. To this day, though, the controversy continues as to whether the British baited the Germans into torpedoing the Lusitania by letting it be known that the passenger vessel was "secretly" shipping munitions from New York to Great Britain. Inexplicably, the Lusitania supposedly even slowed down to linger in U-boat-infested waters off the coast of Ireland. Whether that particular Lusitanian conspiracy theory is true or not does not matter; what is historically significant is the fact that anti-German propaganda eventually swayed American opinion in favor of the British.
Conspiratorial historians, that is, those who reject the sanitized version of history peddled by the oligarchy-controlled establishment, recognize that Woodrow Wilson's closest confidant and advisor, Colonel Edwin Mandell House, often referred to as Wilson's alter ego, was in fact a British sympathizer (if not an outright British agent) and one who was most responsible for steering the United States into the colossal disaster known as the First World War.
House was also apparently influential in the establishment of the Federal Reserve Bank and as well as being instrumental in the creation of the Council on Foreign Relations in 1919, which is the American sister organization of the oligarchy's Royal Institute for International Affairs.
Both organizations are dedicated to the establishment of an Anglo-American controlled empire and the destruction of the nation-state system. As Woodrow Wilson's advisor, Edwin House is credited as the American architect of the League of Nations as well.
Even though the United States' entry into the Great War quickly tipped the balance of power in favor of the so-called allies, America merely served as London's "dumb giant" and afterward found itself saddled with a foreign-owned central bank and national policies increasingly under the influence of British imperialists. After a century of struggle against the Lords of London the events of the First World War successfully manipulated America into becoming the closest ally of its former colonial master. So, in this way the American king of the south was lured into a ruinous course by traitors loyal to the Crown, so that the scripture was fulfilled that foretold: "And the very ones eating his delicacies will bring his breakdown."
On June 28, 1919, the victorious Allies sat together at the peace table and forced Germany to accept the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. The signatories of the treaty pretended they were intent on peace. That was a lie. Historians are in agreement that the victors' terms of the treaty, were so egregious—so punitive—particularly as regards the vengefully exorbitant war reparations imposed on Germany, that in reality, the "peace" Treaty of Versailles made the rise of Nazism and the Second World War virtually inevitable!
In this way, Daniel 11:27 was fulfilled: "And as regards these two kings, their heart will be inclined to doing what is bad, and at one table a lie is what they will keep speaking. But nothing will succeed, because the end is yet for the time appointed."
While the empire was successful in capturing their "dumb giant," they were not immediately successful in creating an Anglo-controlled global empire, which is what the League of Nations was supposed to become eventually. In spite of being hailed as the "political expression of God's kingdom on earth" by many clergymen of that day, the United States Senate refused to ratify the treaty; citing doing so as a violation of the Monroe Doctrine.
Prophetic destiny would not permit the king of the north to achieve his coveted goal of uncontested world government until the appointed time of the end, which was "yet for the time appointed." In the meanwhile, 11-years after the end of the Great War the king of the north used his new-found power over the financial affairs of the king of the south to further "bring his breakdown" by pulling the plug on the American economy. It is an historical fact that the London oligarchy created the Great Depression.
Not only were the scheming imperialists determined to eradicate the American system, it has also been their intention to corrupt and destroy Christianity too; because, in their view, the republican system found its legitimacy in the foundational principle that man is in the image of God. (Interesting article by Gary North: The Conspiracy's Theology)
Not only that, but towards the close of the 19th Century, it surely did not escape the notice of the demonic principalities, the real rulers of the world, that a small circle of anointed Christians began to form around Charles Taze Russell and the Watchtower. As in the First Century, the king of the north will have to deal with his satanic master's enemies. Hence, we read at Daniel 11:28:
"And he will go back to his land with a great amount of goods, and his heart will be against the holy covenant. And he will act effectively and certainly go back to his land."
As history testifies, the Roman Empire originally viciously persecuted Christ's anointed followers. But, as time went on, Rome took a more accommodating position toward Christianity, and eventually the empire even adopted the corrupted form of Christianity as the state religion. While breaking ties with the Roman Vatican, London adopted its own similar form of Christianity in the form of the Anglican Church of England. However, with the re-emergence and rapid spread of anointed Christians, those in the "holy covenant" with Jehovah, the king of the north goes "back to his land" in the sense of returning to Rome's original anti-Christ position.
At the same time as the emergence of the International Bible Students, the imperial controllers also spawned and nurtured various virulent forms of anti-Christianity. Among these were Darwinism and Communism and the satanic view that mankind was related to the animal kingdom. Through the oligarchy's steadily-increasing control over academic institutions and the media, evolution has nearly entirely supplanted in the minds of the vast majority the biblical truth concerning the divine origin of mankind.
Satanism was also codified and popularized by the Jehovah-hating occultist, Helena Blavatsky, about the same time as Russell began publishing the Watchtower. Although Blavatsky was born in Russia, her world travels eventually landed her in London, where her occult theosophy was adopted by many of the British aristocracy. Through the upper-levels of Masonry, Blavatsky's sugar-coated theosophy has become hugely popular today as New Age religion. Not coincidently, New Age pantheism is the official religion of the United Nations.
But the king of the north also took more aggressive action against the "holy covenant." As the influence of Jehovah's dedicated Bible Students began to sweep across North America and Europe—initially through such means as the incredibly successful Photo Drama of Creation, and later by means of radio, as well as the printed page, millions of persons were beginning to be exposed to long-hidden Bible truths.
It was not long before the seeds of war planted at Versailles sprouted Fascism, the holocaust, and the horrors of the Second World War as a direct affront to the holy covenant. Daniel 11:29-30 foretells of another clash between the king of the north and king of the south: "At the time appointed he will go back, and he will actually come against the south; but it will not prove to be at the last the same as at the first. And there will certainly come against him the ships of Kittim, and he will have to become dejected."
Text book versions of history portray Hitler and Nazism as a wholly German creation. In truth, Hitler was funded and supported by certain elements of the anti-American-system financier oligarchy. Of particular interest at this present moment in history, Webster Tarpley thoroughly documents in his Unauthorized Biography of George Bush, how the grandfather of the current president was instrumental in securing loans from Brown Brothers Harriman for Adolph Hitler and his Nazi regime. It is well-known that the Rockefeller family was also supportive of Hitler and the Nazi party.
Lyndon LaRouche and his Executive Intelligence Review (EIR) have researched declassified U.S. government documents from the period, which reveal that the Franklin Roosevelt administration was aware of the fact that European aristocracy was behind a plot to pit Soviet Communism against Nazism; as a pincer, in order to frighten the nations of Europe into dissolving their national governments to form a feudalistic super-state. U.S. intelligence termed the fascist movement of that period Synarchism.
In accord with the way Daniel's prophecy is written, we should not expect the identities of the king of the north and south to change so abruptly from one verse to the next— as taught by the Watchtower. In accord with the true facts of history, the Second World War again pitted FDR's United States against the global interests of the British Empire.
With the United States' once-mighty economy mired in depression and the nation itself on the verge of toppling into Fascism, the oligarchic king of the north was intent on delivering the mortal coup-de-grace to the king of the south by unleashing the combined forces of the Nazis, Soviets and Japanese imperialists against the United States.
But, things did not work out the way the oligarchy had hoped. Their earlier successes against the king of the south were not to be repeated—at least not during the Second World War; even as the prophecy foretold: "But it will not prove to be at the last the same as at the first."
At this point it is necessary to make a distinction between the peoples of Great Britain and the oligarchy that rules over the Islands—called the Club of the Isles. Every nation has the two competing factions of oligarchy and the people vying for control—the British Isles are no exception. So it is that the "ships of Kittim" may well represent the Navies of the U.S. and British Commonwealth, in that the people exerted their national interests in order to defeat the designs of the oligarchy during the Second World War.
During and after the war, the American system of economy was once again unleashed. The result was, overnight the United States became an economic and military superpower and through the Marshall Plan, the nations of Western Europe were assisted to quickly recover from the devastation wrought by the war. No wonder the angel told Daniel the conspiring king of the north "will have to become dejected."
After the Second World War, the imperialistic king of the north found himself facing a new wave of nationalistic pride and economic strength. How will the king of the north cope with the resurgent king of the south? And how will he deal with the growing influence of Jehovah's Witnesses? That will be discussed in Part Three, entitled: The King of the North Acts Decisively.
Copyright © 2004, by Robert King
All Rights Reserved.