“And he will prove successful until the denunciation comes to a finish; because what is determined must take place. ” 

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Mankind now stands at the brink of a great upheaval, a global crash — even a third world war; a war that will most certainly far surpass the horrors and hardships wrought by the 20th century’s two previous world wars. The conflict now developing will undoubtedly be the most tumultuous calamity ever experienced by any generation. It will most assuredly overturn civilization itself. 

But how may we know for certain what the future holds in this regard? Surely the leaders of the nations would not be so stupid as to risk destroying all life on this beautiful planet with their thermonuclear arsenals, which is certainly within their power to do? 

As regards the future, we may know the things to come because the finale has already been determined long ago, by someone far wiser and more farsighted than any mere human. Jehovah God not only foresees the future, he can intervene to cause to happen or simply allow to happen, or prevent from happening. No wonder the Hebrew name of God literally means “he causes to become.” 

Happily, He Causes to Become has also revealed the things to come in prophecy. And God has kindly revealed to us that there are influential evil entities that exist behind the cloak of invisibility who are much more powerful than puny humans, and their malevolent intent is to cause the extermination of mankind in the eventuality that Christ initiates action against them. 

To underscore that fact, while people are generally familiar with the biblical term “Armageddon” – there even being a popular Hollywood, science fiction movie by that title – most do not appreciate what Revelation actually reveals as regards the influences that will ultimately lead the nations into the conflict known as the war of the great day of God the Almighty at Armageddon. But according to the 16th chapter of Revelation it is “expressions inspired by demons” that overreach world leaders — luring them into a situation, to a symbolic place called in the Hebrew language — Harmageddon. 

Other books in the Bible confirm that same eventuality.

The book of Daniel, written five centuries before Jesus came to the earth, consists of a series of visions and dreams that God inspired, as well as direct messages to the prophet from divine messengers that reveal the historical developments and the behind-the-scenes goings-on that will soon culminate with the climatic coming to power of the Kingdom of Christ and the catastrophic end of all human governments and their invisible demonic overlords. 

But the initial phase of the now-onrushing global tumult will not be Armageddon. It will merely be the final, decisive battle in an earthly struggle that began more than two millennia ago. 

The prophecy in the 11th chapter of Daniel identifies two opposed earthly kings or kingdoms — the king of the north and the king of the south. Over the span of 24 centuries the dominant power has shifted from one to the other. First the kings of the south dominated, then the kings of the north, until the crucial period delineated in prophecy as “the time of the end.” Then there is to occur “a pushing” between the two rival kingdoms. And the pushing provokes the king of the north to sweep through the lands like a storm flood. 

And during the time of the end the king of the north will “enter into the land of the Decoration” — paralleling what Christ foretold concerning a disgusting thing standing where it ought not. He will ultimately establish a world government, followed by a campaign of genocide on a global scale, or as Daniel 11:44 states: “But reports out of the east and out of the north will disturb him, and he will go out in a great rage to annihilate and to devote many to destruction.”

But the book of Revelation, which is intertwined with the prophecy of Daniel, reveals that this last kingdom will only rule the world for “one hour,” or in other words, for a relatively short period of time. 

The final chapter of the long-running historical saga concludes when Michael, the great prince, stands up to confront the king of the north, at which point the king of the north comes to an inglorious end. This must surely coincide with the final confrontation at Armageddon. 

acaesar001p1But who is this king of the north that comes to his end? Can it be identified with any kingdom or empire on earth today?

First, the Watchtower’s last commentary on Daniel, published in 1999, stated that they do not know who the king of the north is and that we must wait and see — implying that it is not possible for anyone to know if they do not know.

The reason for their mystification is because 41 years prior to 1999 the Watchtower had published a commentary on Daniel entitled Your Will Be Done, in which they identified Germany, followed by the USSR, as occupying the role of the prophetic king of the north during the 20th Century. In an advertisement for the book in the October 15, 1958, Watchtower Magazine, the Society boasted that Your Will Be Done “points with unerring accuracy” to the fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy. 

And to further becloud the truth, the Watchtower has convinced Jehovah’s Witnesses that the eighth king has already begun ruling, supposedly, originally as the League of Nations. 

But, alas, apparently the sudden dissolution of the Soviet system in 1991 took the Governing Body utterly by surprise. However, rather than revise their “unerring” interpretation of Daniel they have apparently decided to quietly walk away from it altogether. 

lenin

Statue of Lenin toppled

But thinking Jehovah’s Witnesses may rightly wonder how the Watchtower could have gotten it so wrong! Especially since the Watchtower resolutely maintains that we are ‘deep in the time of the end,’ when all the secrets of Daniel are scheduled to be unsealed and understood by the holy ones.

The answer as to how they could be so wrong primarily lies with the Society’s slavish attachment to 1914 as the beginning of the end and “the most important date in all human history.” 

As we know, the coming of Christ in his Kingdom initiates a period known as the “time of the end”; variously called the “conclusion of the system of things,” “the final part of the days” and “the last days.” And because the Society has fixed 1914 as the beginning of “the time of the end” they are compelled to interpret prophecy to support that date. 

So, according to the Watchtower the foretold “pushing” of the king of the south — the king of the south being identified as the Anglo-American power — began after WWI and was manifest in the egregious terms and conditions imposed upon Germany by the Treaty of Versailles, which admittedly could be argued “pushed” Germany into economic ruin and ultimately fascism. 

But that is not the end of it. Supposedly the “pushing” continued all during the 20th Century up until the Cold War ended with the collapse of the USSR. And both Hitler and the USSR flooded over the nations in response to the ongoing “pushing.” 

The Watchtower even claims that the USSR subjugated and ruled over the secret treasures of the United States (“Egypt’) by causing America to spend lavishly in the arms race. Of course, historical reality is exactly the opposite. It was the USSR that was bankrupted, due in no small measure to excessive military expenditures. 

1958will

Perhaps the most blatant error the Society promotes is their unjustified assumption that the struggle between the two rival kings ends in stalemate, with neither king being victorious. For instance, the Society made this statement in the October 15, 1986, Watchtower: 

“You likely want to know, What will finally happen? Will they eventually negotiate lasting peace? Or will one defeat the other? According to the prophecy in God’s Word, the answer to both questions is, No! Why? Because a third king will defeat them and take over world control. So there will be a change of rulership—soon!”

If you really want to know “what will finally happen” why not read the concluding verses of the 11th chapter of Daniel for yourself? If you do, you will surely take note of the fact that there is no mention of two earthly kings who come to their end as the Society asserts. There is only one — the king of the north. Is that an insignificant detail? Apparently the interpreters of prophecy associated with the Watchtower think so.  But what gives them license to be so careless in their teaching? It is something for which they will have to answer to God.  

With the disbanding of the Soviet Union in December 1991, the king of the north suffered a serious setback. Who will be this king when Daniel 11:44, 45 is fulfilled? Will he be identified with one of the countries that were part of the former Soviet Union? Or will he change identity completely, as he has done a number of times before? Will the development of nuclear weapons by additional nations result in a new arms race and have a bearing on the identity of that king? Only time will provide answers to these questions. We are wise not to speculate. — Pay Attention to Daniel’s Prophecy pp 280

So, here we are — August, 2014. Jehovah’s earthly channel of communication has convinced Jehovah’s Witnesses that virtually all aspects of the prophecy have been fulfilled already and that there will be no decisive victory for either the king of the north or south. The Society implies that it has fully explained the modern-day power struggle between the kings of the north and south that leads directly to the war of Armageddon in spite of the fact that the Society now even admits it does not know who the king of the north is presently! 

However, with the recent renewed confrontation between the USA and Russia and and escalating tensions between East and West generally, it may seem to some diehards as if Russia has been revived in its role as the king of the north, as the Watchtower actually suggested may happen. Ironically, though, the present crises only underscores the fact the Society’s entire prophetic foundation is faulty and ought to be altogether scrapped. Why is that? 

Here is what Daniel 11:36 says in regards to the king of the north: “The king will do as he pleases, and he will exalt himself and magnify himself above every god; and against the God of gods he will speak astonishing things. And he will prove successful until the denunciation comes to a finish; because what is determined must take place.”

Obviously it is not possible for the USSR to “prove successful until the denunciation comes to a finish,” nor is it likely that the resurgent Russia will flood over and conquer the world, or plant its royal tents between the grand sea and the holy mountain of Decoration, signifying its occupation of God’s restored symbolic land. In other words, the king will successfully suppress God’s people around the world. 

However, the description of the king of the north does harmonize with the 13th chapter of Revelation, which similarly describes the beast, saying of it: “It was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and it was given authority to act for 42 months. And it opened its mouth in blasphemies against God to blaspheme his name and his dwelling place, even those residing in heaven. It was permitted to wage war with the holy ones and conquer them, and it was given authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation.”

A SHORT HISTORY LESSON

The final campaign of the king of the north is not directed against the king of the south. Therefore, the king of the north does not come to his end at the hands of his great rival. Similarly, the king of the south is not destroyed by the king of the north. — Daniel’s Prophecy pp 285

For the past half millennia much of the world has been dominated by Europe, in which is embedded the legacy of both the Grecian and Roman cultures of republican and oligarchic systems. The aristocratic landowners and kingdoms of Europe were the remnants of the Roman Empire. But the Renaissance brought a renewal of classical Greek culture and with it an impulse to break free from the feudalistic system and develop a more just form of civilization. But it was not possible in Europe at the time. 

Except for the main landmass of Asia most of the lands throughout the planet were colonized and exploited by Europeans. The English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Italians, and Germans were competing to grab the resources of the backward peoples inhabiting Africa, the Americas, Australia, the sub-continent of Asia and the far flung islands of the seas.

Eventually the British became the most successful colonizers and London (formerly established by the Romans and named Londinium) ultimately became the capitol of a vast empire — the identifiable successor of the Roman Empire; hence, the king of the north. 

british-grenadierBut in 1765 the 13 British-held colonies of the so-called new world began to revolt against the Crown and eventually broke free from its authority altogether in 1776 by a formal Declaration of Independence. Eventually more territories were added to form the United States of America. 

Because of the great distance from the Motherland the British were not able to retake their lands. Not only did the Americans throw off the yoke of British mercantilism, but they established a revolutionary new system of political economy — the American system of development, which was antithetical to the British system of slavery and exploitation. With this development the king of the south emerged anew.* 

However, in spite of the loss of its American colonies the British Empire went on to dominate much of the rest of the world. But because in the late 1800’s other major nations, such as Russia, Germany, France, Japan and China, were aspiring to the American system, London was forced to plunge Europe into war — originally known as the Great War until World War Two. (How Henry Carey Built the Modern World)

During the Second World War Great Britain and the United States became allied in what has since become known as the Special Relationship. And in the aftermath of that war the Breton Woods system was set up, along with the IMF and World Bank, together with the United Nations. Because of winning the war and its increasing industrial power the US Dollar became the world’s reserve currency. But by the early 70’s the fixed exchange Breton Woods agreement was scrapped and a floating exchange system was installed. 

With the repeal of Roosevelt’s Glass-Steagall in 1999 and the introduction of computers the British system of speculation and usury has allowed a criminal financier oligarchy associated with the City of London to control the world’s monetary and financial affairs. The imposition of globalism is basically a sophisticated form of British mercantilism, which enslaves the poorest to provide for the wealthy. Through LIBOR rigging, high frequency trading, drug money laundering, currency exchange rate manipulation and various other fraudulent schemes, such as the nearly 2 quadrillion dollars of virtual money known as derivatives, cities, states, and entire nations are defrauded and plundered. Through Wall Street’s influence over the political system, combined with their ownership of the media, London has essentially reacquired its renegade American colonies and is now using the United States’ vast military potential to intimidate and bully the nations into submission. 

modi-brics-story_650_051914125040But once again the American system is making a comeback, but ironically it is being championed by Russia and China and the newly formed BRICS. The BRICS nations comprise nearly half of mankind and represent the potential to unleash the most creative era in history. The recent establishment of the New Developmental Bank is intended to circumvent the nation-destroying policies of the IMF and World Bank and represents a direct challenge to the decrepit imperial system. 

It cannot be coincidental that the day following the BRICS agreement, which was largely ignored in the press, a Malaysian airliner was shot down over Ukraine. Since then it has been around-the-clock demonization of Russia by the media. And this comes at a time when the European banking system is teetering on collapse. 

So, the two incompatible systems, symbolized in prophecy as an iron and clay amalgam that does not stick together, have now reached the point where they can no longer coexist. Just as London pushed Europe into the First World War, now the empire is threatening to plunge the world into nuclear war if the nations to not capitulate, which brings us to the question: Has the pushing begun? (World War on the Agenda?)

It certainly appears that such is the case. And no doubt the “pushing” will intensify in the days ahead, as nations try to extricate themselves from the net that has been cast over them. 

Of course, if we are presently witnessing the prophesied “pushing” that would mean the time of the end has recently begun and more profoundly — the stealthy coming of Christ. 

But how might the king of the north prove to be successful and what are the disturbing reports from out of the north and east? Those and other questions will be considered in the next article. 

(For a detailed considered of the 11th chapter of Daniel see King of the North)

* The identification of the USA as the king of the south is based upon, not only that the American system is opposed to the British system in reality, forming the symbolic iron and clay of prophecy, but also the fact that America is symbolized in prophecy as the Egyptian cedar in the garden of God and Egypt was the original king of the south and is depicted as “Egypt” during the time of the end. 

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Video excerpted from LPAC August 1 Webcast

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