Unlocking Revelation

In an article he wrote less than two years after Herbert W. Armstrong’s death, “A Sealed Prophecy Now Open to Understanding!”, Herman Hoeh didn’t mention anything about the many revelations that God gave to Mr. Armstrong. God revealed the foundational part of Daniel to Mr. Armstrong.

Dr. Hoeh, an evangelist in the Worldwide Church of God, made some interesting points about the little horn, the ram and the he-goat from the book of Daniel. He even talked about the truth being cast to the ground, as it says in Daniel 8:12: “And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practised, and prospered.”

Dr. Hoeh asked, When did it happen? He then proceeded to talk about Antiochus prohibiting the daily sacrifice from 167 to 164 b.c. “He defiled the temple with an idol and offered swine’s blood upon the altar. He authorized the burning of as many scrolls of the Law as could be found. He attempted to stamp out the truth. He did fulfill this prophecy of the ‘little horn’ as a forerunner. But the final ruler symbolized by the ‘little horn’ of Daniel 8 is to be alive at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ” (Good News, November-December 1987). He saw only the physical. He didn’t see the spiritual fulfillment inside God’s Church, which we now see because we have remained loyal to God. (This mind-staggering prophecy is explained in my booklet Daniel—Unsealed at Last!)

Dr. Hoeh wrote, “Some tried to explain this enigmatic prophecy before God’s time came to reveal it!” Those are strong words. He was implying that God had revealed this prophecy to him, for the Church. The truth is, God did no such thing.

At the end of the article, Dr. Hoeh wrote, “But the fulfillment of this prophecy ‘in the latter days’ will not again be for 1,150 days, but for 1,290 days according to Daniel 12:11.” I don’t know what this means and neither did Dr. Hoeh! It is confusing, and God is not the author of confusion.

Always remember: It is God who gives revelation! God could have revealed truth for the Church to Dr. Hoeh, but He didn’t. God has already made it clear that He reveals that truth only to apostles and prophets—not evangelists (Ephesians 3:5).

Was God’s Work foremost in Dr. Hoeh’s mind? Was it his priority to simply teach all the wonderful revelation God had provided Mr. Armstrong—truth by the bushelsful? No, that wasn’t his priority. In fact, we had to fight him personally in court depositions to hang on to that truth!

These verses in Daniel are talking about finishing the Work! We must always keep our minds on God’s Work! We must fall deeply in love with God’s truth and Work.

Even when Mr. Armstrong was ill, Dr. Hoeh came out with some prophecies that were wrong and quite different from what Mr. Armstrong was used by God to restore. We must be certain not to make that mistake! Why would men of such high rank, to whom God had given such honor, make such catastrophic mistakes?

Since God uses Daniel to unlock the book of Revelation, we must get it right. These are two of the most complicated books in the Bible.

God Gives Light!

The word revelation means to uncover, disclose, enlighten or give light! The biblical book of Revelation is God giving light to the world.

Yet the world sees it as the worst possible outcome you can imagine.

As I emphasize in Daniel—Unsealed at Last!, the meaning of the book’s name is critical: “God is my Judge.” Likewise, “Revelation” means light. That too is God’s “specific purpose statement” for this book—His theme or motif. How many people see that light? How many recognize the transcendent, luminous outcome awaiting us?

Fifteen times, the book of Revelation talks about the throne of God. God wants to give His firstfruits a throne! He wants us to sit on a throne and help Christ give this world light! He wants us to teach people how to conduct their lives in a way that works beautifully.

However, man has rebelled throughout his history. And now, at the extreme end of that history, he faces his blackest nightmare. Like Adam and Eve, mankind has willingly followed the devil. That is man’s own doing. God has even sent prophets and apostles to warn him in all of that rebellious and black history. Many of those prophets and apostles were killed. Men loved darkness and rejected the light.

Now man must face the consequences of what his accumulated rebellion has produced.

Thankfully, Jesus Christ is going to return and save mankind from annihilating itself! Only then will Christ lead mankind to be full of joy and live in God’s light.

“The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John” (Revelation 1:1). A source higher than Christ gave light to the Apostle John! What depth!

It doesn’t matter how high you rank in God’s Church, you must keep the Father at the Head of His Family or you’re going to lose it all! We have a lot of examples to prove that.

This book came from God the Father. He structured everything precisely and carefully. He wants us to know that all this revelation came from Him—not from Christ, not from an angel, certainly not from John—never from a man!

The Father is the originator of prophecy. God only reveals truth to His servants. Today, we are those servants of light.

A Father’s Love

Just a few years before he died, Mr. Armstrong said he had one fear: what would happen to the Church if God let him die.

Why would he be so concerned about that?

That beautiful statement shows Mr. Armstrong’s love and depth. Such thinking comes right out of the mind of God the Father. I will prove that to you.

“Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks [the seven Church eras]; And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle” (Revelation 1:11-13).

Right in the middle of these seven churches is the same all-powerful God that Nebuchadnezzar saw in the furnace with Daniel’s friends! (Daniel 3:25).

Is God deeply involved with His Church? Is it possible that the Father’s greatest concern, like Mr. Armstrong’s, would be what happens to His Church—His Family?

This brilliant Being is right in our midst! We are His number one concern. Throughout Revelation chapters 1-3, He is still talking about His Church. This is a long introduction, which illustrates the importance of God’s Family! God and His firstfruits are the top priority in everything—for all eternity! Christ and His Bride are there to implement the Father’s will in His Family. God and His firstfruits are mentioned first in the book of Revelation because they’ll be God’s leaders for all eternity.

This mind-staggering reward is why God’s prophets and apostles could face bloody persecution and death—and still consider it the greatest bargain possible.

Consider this: Everything that happens in the Kingdom of God will be channeled through God and His firstfruits.

If you understand this, you can see why Mr. Armstrong’s whole life was God’s Church. You can see why he was so concerned about what would happen to it.

Daniel 3 depicts just three saints of God who were thrown into a fiery furnace—and right there with them was one “like the Son of God”—just like in Revelation 1. God doesn’t intervene so miraculously for the world. But He is fervently concerned for His very elect, who will help Him rule the world.

Revealing the Beast

“And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea [this troubled world], having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy” (Revelation 13:1). Something here is acutely evil and extremely dangerous!

“And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority” (verse 2).

In Who or What Is the Prophetic Beast?, Mr. Armstrong wrote, “And the fourth kingdom, which, developing from Rome, spread out and gradually absorbed one after another of these four divisions—‘dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly,’ was the Roman Empire (31 b.c. to a.d. 476).

“It had absorbed all the others, occupied all their territory, was greater and stronger than all. It included all the royal splendor of ancient Babylon, thus having the head—the strongest part—of the lion. It had all the massiveness and numerically powerful army of the Persian Empire—symbolized by the legs, the most powerful part of the bear. It was the greatest war-making machine the world had ever seen, and it also possessed the swiftness, the cunning, the cruelty of Alexander’s army, symbolized by the leopard.

“And thus, this fourth beast was unlike any wild beast of the Earth. It was stronger, greater, more terrible, than any.

“And so John, in Revelation 13, sees, not four beasts, but one beast. Not a leopard, but like a leopard—possessing all its cunning, cruelty and speed. But it also possessed the dominant characteristics of the two other most powerful beasts—the feet of a bear, and the mouth of a lion. Daniel’s fourth beast, the Roman Empire, had absorbed and therefore it included the three beasts before it. Thus it included all seven heads. And John’s beast also has seven heads. It was Daniel’s fourth beast, only, which had 10 horns, and John’s beast has 10 horns.

“And so, if we are willing to be guided solely by the Bible description of this ‘beast’ and to let the Bible interpret the symbols used to describe it, we come to the inevitable conclusion that the beast of Revelation 13 is the Roman Empire, of 31 b.c. to a.d. 476!” (emphasis mine throughout). So we see how Daniel unlocks Revelation 13.

Continuing in the passage in Revelation 13: “And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months” (verses 3-5).

Mr. Armstrong explained, “The beast here symbolized is the one which included the royal splendor and kingly power symbolized by the mouth of the lion (Babylon); the ponderous strength symbolized by the feet of the bear (Medo-Persia); and the speed, cunning and cruelty of the leopard (Greece). Since the interpretation of these symbols is found in Daniel 7, and since the fourth beast had 10 horns, the Bible interpretation of the beast of Revelation 13 is the fourth beast of Daniel 7—the Roman Empire, of 31 b.c. to a.d. 476. The beast described by John in Revelation 13 included seven heads, but the only head existing at the time John saw this nondescript beast (which included the most powerful characteristics of all the beasts symbolizing its predecessors) was that of the fourth beast of Daniel, containing the seventh head, and also the 10 horns. So the specific ‘one of its heads’ that was wounded to death (Revelation 13:3) was the seventh head of the Roman Empire—the head out of which 10 horns grew. The 10 horns, as Daniel interprets, represent 10 successive governments out of the Roman Empire, which were to continue until the setting up of the Kingdom of God at the Second Coming of Christ.

“The deadly wound, then, was the one administered to the Roman Empire, when, in its last decaying stages, the barbarians overran it, ending its government in a.d. 476” (ibid).

Then came 10 resurrections of that beast. This power kept coming back. Here God says it received a deadly wound. We mustn’t have the misconception that it just degenerated and collapsed—it received a deadly wound and almost died. That is why the Roman Catholic Church had such a vengeance in resurrecting a strong empire—the last seven of those 10 horns (after the first three horns were uprooted).

It was the fourth kingdom (symbolized by the fourth horn), succeeding the fall of the empire in a.d. 476, which really healed the deadly wound, and restored the empire. In a.d. 554, Justinian, emperor of the East, from Constantinople, set up his government through an imperial legate at Ravenna, Italy, and brought about what is known in history as the “Imperial Restoration” of the empire. (For more information on how the empire was restored, request your free copy of our booklet Who or What Is the Prophetic Beast?)

The Roman Empire is the most vicious beast this world has ever known. It is the greatest monster human beings have ever seen. It is “exceedingly strong.”

The Daniel 2 image represents the Roman Empire with two legs, two feet and 10 toes. We are about to witness the time of the 10 toes of the last horn! It is rising out of a turbulent sea—a deeply troubled world like never before.

Then Jesus Christ will come and smash the entire image! He will smash the feet, and the whole image will come crumbling down. This world will never see it again.

That is phenomenal prophecy! Such knowledge leaves you breathless when you realize what God has revealed! Let’s put that understanding in perspective. This is a real challenge to God’s ministry.

Let me illustrate what God strongly impressed upon my mind, even as I prepared this material.

The Importance of Love

1 Corinthians 13 is one of the magnificent chapters of the Bible; we must always keep it in mind.

“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity [love—agape], I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not [love], I am nothing” (verses 1-2).

God says you could have all knowledge, have the faith to move mountains, understand all mysteries, have the gift of prophecy, and if you don’t have God’s love, it profits you nothing! Not anything!

Mountain-moving faith is worthless without God’s love.

We must get this love in our prophecy! God’s ministers must have it there to inspire God’s people, or they won’t be inspired! We need this love in all our books and booklets, or we might as well be out beating on an old tin can! Our teaching would be of no value.

Here is where the Laodiceans truly went off track—even those who knew so much about prophecy! How much did they love God and His truth? They lost God’s truth because they didn’t love it (2 Thessalonians 2:10).

The Laodiceans loved the gift of prophecy—to a point, but they didn’t love God’s truth.

Ministers: Does your government inspire God’s people—or does it depress them? Does your leadership encourage them—or discourage them? Do you uplift them and inspire them? Are you inspired? Are the people in your congregations truly excited about God’s Work—in general? (There are always a few weak examples.) Do the congregations which God gave you to shepherd really love God? “By their fruits you shall know them.”

Think deeply about this! God holds us accountable. We must get this right and help God’s people to understand this more deeply.

Every bit of the prophecy in the book of Revelation flows from the great God of love—from His master plan to build His Family.

On television I always try to make prophecy inspiring—and I have to be inspired to do that. It must inspire me if I am going to inspire others.

How many of God’s people understand the love in God’s prophecies? He is filled with love—not only for His very elect, but for all the inhabitants in this whole world!

If we don’t have this love in everything we do, it’s all a waste of time!

Ezekiel 33 describes some people who love to hear God’s prophecy—but they don’t love God’s law! “And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness. And, lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they hear thy words, but they do them not” (verses 31-32).

The Laodicean ministers spoke about prophecy, but when it got down to law and government, they didn’t obey. They denied God’s name. They denied their Father! They were excited about the prophecy, but they didn’t love the God at the center of it—and they didn’t see God’s love in it. They thought God would protect them, and that they didn’t need to worry about the fulfillment of the prophecies they taught. They don’t realize it yet, but soon they will see: They are not going to be protected by God, because they denied God’s law and government!

Perhaps some of them still like to study prophecy—but what will their knowledge of prophecy mean when they’re in the Great Tribulation? These events were designed to crush all hope man has in himself—and turn him to hope in God.

The Laodiceans and many people in the world love to hear God’s prophecies, even as they reject God’s law.

God says if we don’t warn the people of this world because we love them, their blood will be on our head! (verses 7-8). It’s about living and dying—physically and spiritually. That’s how serious this is!

“We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts” (2 Peter 1:19). Revelation from God brings more and more light and inspiration into your life. It will get brighter and brighter until Jesus Christ is here!

The Day Star, Jesus Christ, should be rising in our hearts! He should be lifting us up and inspiring us more and more!

Of course we will have trials—but that shouldn’t diminish our love for God, who gives us those trials to increase our love. After all, He is right there in the fiery furnace with us, one like the Son of God!

If God’s love is in our prophetic messages, then it inspires people. God’s people need to be more than just stirred—they need to be inspired! The word inspire means to influence, move or guide by divine or supernatural inspiration.

That’s what God’s ministers need: God inspiring us, reaching out to His people through us! We need to get ourselves out of the way and be filled with God’s love. We must help God’s people build God’s love or we are just tinkling cymbals.

I think the best sign of God’s love in our ministers’ sermons is that they inspire—not just stir. They must help people to soar with inspiration. Faith can stir, but it takes God’s love to fully inspire.

“And to the angel [messenger] of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth; I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name” (Revelation 3:7-8). In Revelation 3, God is not emphasizing the angel, or messenger—He doesn’t want any man’s name there. He wants us not to deny His name! Why is God so excited about the Philadelphians? Because they haven’t denied His authority, or His government! Thayer’s Lexicon says the word translated “name” means “to do a thing, i.e. by one’s command and authority, … promoting his cause.” Did Mr. Armstrong die promoting God’s cause? He certainly did, but we all know some Laodicean evangelists who did not die doing God’s Work.

The Philadelphians see beyond the man—that’s what Philadelphia is all about! They are experts on God’s loving government and authority. They know where God rules.

“Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee” (verse 9). The Laodiceans must come to know that God loved us—the Philadelphians. That means that we loved God. It is proof that our government includes God’s love. We know how to administer a government of love—even though we are not perfect.

Our government is not Nazi-like, nor is it permissive—it is godlike. We must get it right!

A minister can use his authority to help people’s joy or to take it away. How friendly, happy and joyful are our congregations? The ministry has a lot to do with that. We will be judged by that standard. This is a Church of joy! If our people don’t have joy, God wants to know why.

The ministers can go from the extreme of being too strict to being too permissive. We have to use God’s government, but always make sure it is a government of God’s love.

God says in Isaiah 55:8, “[M]y thoughts are not your thoughts ….” That can be true even inside God’s Church if we’re not careful.

Having all the prophecy of the Bible crammed into our heads—if we don’t have love—still profits us nothing!

Some of the wcg evangelists wrote articles that were dazzling. But where was their love of God? Where was their love for God’s truth? When the Church leadership changed, these men let those leaders trample all over God’s truth. They even helped them do it. They didn’t love God and His truth.

It takes a lot of God’s love to inspire God’s people. We all need much more.

We must understand God’s master plan enough to see that even our most severe trials flow from God’s deepest love. After all, Christ died for the salvation of mankind! We were purchased with His blood!

We need that level of love. If we have to die, then so be it—but we must love God!

A Church With a Mission

It takes God’s love to do such a difficult job. If we love God and men, we will deliver this message as long as we can, even if that means getting plunged into a fiery furnace.

That is the love God has for this world. Christ died to do God’s Work, and so, in some few cases, must we.

“And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him …. He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints” (Revelation 13:6-8, 10). God continues to focus on “the patience and the faith of the saints.” God’s Laodiceans are plunged into the Tribulation and overcome by the beast. God’s Philadelphians continue to trust God and proclaim His prophecies.

A religious beast also rises: “And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon” (verse 11).

During World War ii, Pope Pius xii said, “We have twin enemies: the Communists and the democracies.” We must not dismiss such a statement. It is very revealing of the Vatican’s mindset. That is how this power conducts its foreign policy—through the Holy Roman Empire.

Consider this: Within the crown jewels of the Holy Roman Empire is an orb—a globe with a cross on top. That orb represents “the Earth under Christ”—that is, its version of Christ. It basically symbolizes this world ruled by the Catholic Church. Does anyone really take note of the global ambition bound up in that church? And it has a bloody history to prove it!

“And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live” (verses 12-14).

Satan gives this religious beast power to do miracles—men are dazzled—and the religious beast fully supports the political beast.

Dr. Hoeh, a German, said the pope had an opportunity to unite East and West Germany in 1950. But the pope didn’t want East Germany at that time, because its people are primarily Protestant. I can’t prove or disprove that; though, knowing Catholic history, I believe the Vatican would make such a decision.

Charles de Gaulle, the late leader of France, didn’t want Britain in the EU because it is predominantly Protestant. Former French President Jacques Chirac thought very much like De Gaulle. The U.S. is mostly Protestant. The Vatican knows that if it is going to rule the world, the U.S. must be brought down!

The late Pope Benedict xvi and Pope Francis have expressed sympathy and praise for Martin Luther. This has caused some Catholics to speculate that the Vatican may soon declare Luther a saint. That may be true. After all, if Martin Luther along with all these Catholic saints were “together in heaven,” there’s no reason for the Catholic-Protestant division, right? Of course, if they unite, it would be under the authority of the Catholic Church. Isaiah 47 tells us that is exactly what will happen.

The EU knows it can’t stand without uniting. Germany has many Protestants, but it also wants to be more united. That will happen as the Protestants come more and more under the pope’s authority. Then Germany—the powerful economic engine of the EU—will lead with real authority.

Revelation 17

Dr. Hoeh wrote this in the Good News of April 1952: “The question that President Truman and Secretary Acheson and you face is causing careful observers to tremble!

“Does America dare arm Germany?

“Can we unite Europe and guide the colossal military machine we envision there by 1955? …

“Our leading generals in Europe adamantly warn that Germany is a calculated risk. [But our leaders and people are too ignorant of history to even have this concern today!] What will a Germany, armed with American help, think of her new power?

“The hour of decision struck at Lisbon when it was decided to rearm Germany. Your future is at stake! How are you going to know what will happen in Europe? …

“Why will the diplomats think that TODAY the hearts of the people in Germany are different from yesterday? Every one of those undemocratic nations when once armed has turned upon us. We are the hated ‘have’ nations, the ‘capitalist’ nations, the ‘imperialistic’ nations.

“The heart of the German people, indoctrinated with Nazism, has not been converted to our way of life. If they really would have come to love us since their defeat, would they now be trying to bargain for domination in Europe, and threatening to withhold support from the cause of democracy against Russia? Is that the way love is manifested? Can we purchase love with money?”

As I mentioned earlier, Dr. Hoeh was also German and understood the German mind.

Even back in 1952, Germany was fighting for domination of Europe—and America didn’t have the sense to understand what it meant. That has been Germany’s goal from the beginning!

Revelation 17 talks only about the last seven heads, or seven horns, of the Roman Empire. These are resurrections of the Holy Roman Empire, which would be better termed the “unholy” Roman Empire.

“And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication” (verses 1-2).

Who is this great false church that sits “upon many waters”? She has huge churches in many parts of the world. She spiritually fornicates with the kings of this Earth—even dominates them. Who could this be? Even a teenager should be able to answer that question!

How ignorant this world is of God’s Bible.

God’s true Church is a “little flock” who never fornicates with the kings of the Earth. This great false church actually guides kings of this Earth, while God’s little flock is persecuted by them.

God’s Church is a virgin; this is a great whore! She has made the whole world drunk on false doctrine (Isaiah 29:9-11). That’s what people—including the Laodiceans—get drunk on! God will have to sober them up before He can teach them.

The leader of the Roman Catholic Church is called the “vicar of Christ.” He’s not a man who represents Christ; he’s actually in the place of Christ.

In contrast, Christ is directly in charge of His Church. Nobody is in the place of the Head—the Husband of the Bride.

This is what the gospel is all about—the good news of the coming Family of God!

Otto von Habsburg once said, “The [European] Community is living largely by the heritage of the Holy Roman Empire, though the great majority of the people who live by it don’t know by what heritage they live.” And that is a great understatement! He also said, “We do possess a European symbol which belongs to all nations equally. This is the crown of the Holy Roman Empire, which embodies the tradition of Charlemagne.”

Europe will go in a far more violent direction than many Europeans believe when the new “Hitler” comes on the scene!

As Hitler spent time in Vienna, under Satan’s sway his vision expanded from mere anti-Semitism into something much greater—and far more destructive!

And Satan is going to change the mind of the coming political head of the Holy Roman Empire.

Certain European leaders say they are living in the tradition of Charlemagne, and it was a violent and bloody tradition. That part of their history we will clearly see before Christ returns. It’s amazing to me that they can hang on to their evil traditions and false religion—and yet the Laodiceans can so quickly reject God’s true religion.

How fiercely will we fight and hang on to the end for God’s truth?

Thunder From Heaven

In 1984, a wcg minister wrote that, because the Daniel 2 image had two legs, it was apparent that the European superpower would have five nations in the West and five in the East. He concluded that this meant the Soviet Union would lose some of its western satellites.

In 1984, such a development looked utterly impossible! Yet a man in a little Church knew it would happen because of what God spelled out in Daniel 2. That was like lightning and thunder out of the heavens! It’s truly phenomenal that God’s Church can make statements like that—today those prophecies have come to pass! And those men who said it know it! They know it has happened just as they said!

Is this something to take lightly? How wise is it for those ministers to simply obey when they are commanded to prophesy not?

Where did those prophecies come from? Who makes such monumental events come to pass? We are not talking about men, but about the great God!

Sadly, most of God’s people have turned away from these truths. Those men had some impressive knowledge—but what are they doing with it now? God fulfilled the prophecies just as these men taught. They then cast that revelation aside. Now most of them are fighting against it, and God calls them antichrist. They had a lot of knowledge about prophecies, but where was the love for God who gave those prophecies?

They’re not going to be able to ignore it for long. Soon they will be staring the Holy Roman Empire in the face.

In 1984, the EU was called the Common Market, but the Holy Roman Empire doesn’t want to be a super market, but a superpower! It wants to rule the world! That is its goal. It has the teeth of a lion, and it is going to grind up its prey—primarily America, Britain and the Jewish nation in the Middle East. Today that seems impossible—just as Russia losing its satellites did in 1984. Nevertheless, it happened, and so will the fall and enslavement of biblical Israel.

The EU is an empire looking for an emperor. Why? Because it is the final resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire. That spirit has continued since the caesars to this very day!

Also, there is an emperor in embryo now, looking for an empire. When the emperor and the empire unite, this world will see the greatest explosion of violence ever on planet Earth. This empire will have all the power of Daniel’s four beasts in one and an ambition to conquer the world!

We have prophesied for over 75 years that the last Holy Roman Empire will be comprised of 10 kings (Revelation 17:12-14). They will be destroyed by the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

These 10 kings are rising on the world scene in Europe this very moment!

Our reporter Josué Michels wrote this on April 13, 2023: “French President Emmanuel Macron was in China from April 6 to 9 and essentially swore off Europe’s alliance to the United States. He noted that Europe should not follow the U.S. policy on Taiwan and instead needs to work on the creation of a ‘third superpower.’ China, in the meantime, has signed major deals with countries around the world to undermine the dollar—a development Macron supports. Macron was greatly criticized for his comments, but he is just putting words to an existing reality. The German foreign minister is now also on her way to China.”

France is one of those rising 10 kings along with Germany at this time.

Biblical Reuben (France today) is betraying his Israelite brother Manasseh (America today).

The U.S. saved France in World War ii from Germany. Many of our soldiers died and were buried in France. We also fought with them in World War i.

France is only a mouthpiece for Germany today. That is extraordinary when you consider the history between these two nations. Germany started a war against France in 1870. And as many people remember, Germany started both world wars. According to Bible prophecy, it is about to start World War iii.

So you can see that this alliance between Germany and France will not last long.

You can imagine how frightened the world would become if the German leader was speaking the way Emmanuel Macron is today. Germany has perhaps the greatest record of starting wars!

Here is another of those 10 kings that has essentially already risen. This nation also has a strong message for the remainder of the 10 kings. “The entire Dutch land force is now under German command. This barely made the news, but it’s hugely significant. The Dutch land force had already integrated two combat brigades into the German military; on March 30, the third brigade followed. The integration is said to be an example for other surrounding nations” (ibid).

Holland’s entire land force is now under Germany’s command! And its example is a blunt message to the remaining kings what must be done to enter the Holy Roman Empire. The message is that the 10 kings are going to be under Germany’s command.

Have we forgotten what our leaders said after their World War ii victory? In February 1945, Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt said, “It is our inflexible purpose to destroy German militarism and Nazism and to ensure Germany will never again be able to disturb the peace of the world.” We have failed to fulfill that “inflexible purpose”!

What makes all this more terrifying is that Germany has planned this last Holy Roman Empire from the beginning!

This truth should be understood far more than it is. Bernard Connolly wrote a bombshell book in 1995 titled The Rotten Heart of Europe. For years he served at the heart of the Exchange Rate Mechanism for the European Union. He headed the commission unit responsible for monitoring and servicing the system. He labels the European superstate as rotten. Why? The EU system has already been called a Trojan horse. Mr. Connolly says it is a “cloak for German ambitions.”

He is correct. And history absolutely proves it!

Germany is indeed about “to disturb the peace of the world” again!

How much do we have to suffer before we heed God’s Bible prophecies?

God is putting those thoughts into the leaders of the EU (Revelation 17:17). The wcg ministers didn’t spend much time on that part of the prophecy in 1984. Why is God intensely wrathful toward biblical Israel? Because He is sick of our leading the world into the vilest of sins. We lead the world in every major pathology.

God chose Israel anciently to set an example for the world, but it failed then too. Now God is preparing an empire to correct the people of Israel if they refuse to hear His message.

The EU already has immense power, although we haven’t seen anything yet!

God says that European combine is like iron mixed with miry clay. The fact that Israel is mixed in—like France, for example—makes it inherently weak. It will not last long.

Revelation 16:12 says that God is going to dry the Euphrates River, and all the kings and millions of soldiers of the East—Russia and China—are going to come trample down Europe and the Mideast.

God tells us exactly how these events will unfold, yet the world won’t pay attention. People spurn this wonderful prophecy because they are spiritually drunk. The media are drunk; the politicians are drunk. They won’t listen to a little Church that had to go underground for 1,260 years to keep from being killed. That’s not their kind of church! They don’t want to be associated with a Church that spends its life on the run.

They would rather look to a great false church, which looks to the kings of the Earth for its power, not the Creator of all things!

We must show this world that we will not give up God’s truth, regardless of the persecution!

The Laodiceans talked about how much they liked the sophisticated culture of Europe—its music and arts. That’s fine—but the Europeans are still going to fight Christ when He returns! And the outcome is already prophesied.

“And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up. And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people” (Daniel 8:23-24). A man is about to come on the world scene who has a “fierce countenance” and understands “dark sentences.” All of this happens “not by his own power”—he is empowered in every way by Satan!

He is going to “destroy the mighty and the holy people.” God’s Laodicean people will be destroyed physically in the Great Tribulation to save half of them eternally.

This man doesn’t think he would do murderous deeds (Isaiah 10:6-7). But Satan is going to get to him—he will experience a mind change (Habakkuk 1:11).

That man could be coming on the scene very soon. Regardless of when this “king of fierce countenance” appears, it is going to be for an extremely short span of time.

“And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand” (Daniel 8:25). He has a policy of craft. He talks peace and destroys the gullible nations.

But this all leads to the greatest news we could possibly hear. Christ is going to destroy this man and the Holy Roman Empire.

That happy ending should cause our spirits to soar because it’s almost here!

The seventh head especially is covered in detail. God’s prophets received explicit visions about this empire that stunned and shocked them. Daniel said he was astonished by the vision of this beast (verse 27). That word means to grow numb, devastate, stupefy, be appalled, be desolate, be destitute. The same Hebrew word was used to describe Tamar after being raped by Amnon!

Just the vision caused Daniel to faint! But people are about to experience the reality! This beast is going to destroy them by the millions!

If we love people as much as Christ does, we will tell this world what awaits them!

Doing this job will require intense commitment. It won’t be easy. Our love is being evaluated! How much love do we have for God and mankind? We must bring Christ into these prophecies.

In a way, you could say that the prophecy those Laodicean ministers understood was really nothing more than entertainment for them!

How condemning! This is revelation from God! God is love—so it is about much more than prophecy: It’s about mankind becoming God—members of God’s Family.

Look what God did to make this revelation available to us! God came down to Earth and sacrificed everything!

I want to live in a world governed by that kind of love. That is how God has lived for eternity. I want to be out of this world that is so filled with hatred, violence and war! I want to live in a world where people are filled with love toward God and man.

Do we love God enough to proclaim this wonderful message?

Opulence of the Roman Empire

“And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns. The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is” (Revelation 17:7-8).

About the only thing Americans can seem to think of when it comes to Europe is someone yodeling in the Alps. They have no idea what the Holy Roman Empire is about—or what that crown is about. They don’t know anything about this deadly beast! You can travel all over central Europe and still see some of the opulence of the Habsburgs.

The Habsburgs were the sword of the Catholic Church throughout the Middle Ages. They did their killing while supporting artists like Mozart, Bach and Schubert—they were very sophisticated as they slaughtered people.

Hitler used to love to go to the opera and have his mind saturated with the music of Richard Wagner. He even said that one couldn’t understand the Third Reich without understanding Wagner, who was a sex pervert and an anti-Semite—yet Hitler was intoxicated by him.

The next political leader will be much more suave and sophisticated than Hitler was. Otherwise other nations would not be so easily deceived—even those that are members of the EU.

The merchants of the Earth are going to wail when they see Babylon fall (Revelation 18). Most of these merchants will be highly cultured people. Still, that business conglomerate is going to be filled with horrors!

In 1983, Pope John Paul ii was in Vienna—300 years after this city was attacked by the “barbarian Turks” and the Polish king rallied the European kings and drove out the barbarians. John Paul was saying, back in 1983, that Europe needed to get back to its Christian roots. The final pope will rally Europe into making this a reality.

The Vatican leaders understand their history—unlike most of the world. This is why many millions of people are so easily deceived.

You can travel around Europe and see those Habsburg castles. Many of them have dungeons below them. A tour guide will tell you that the Habsburgs would be having great feasts upstairs, listening to the finest classical music, while people were being tortured to death below. And Hitler could listen to beautiful opera while he did the same.

And it is going to happen again. The next dictator will be much more sophisticated—much more cultured. But he is going to fight Christ!

In 1926, Hitler stated, “Christ was the greatest early fighter in the battle against the world enemy, the Jews …. The work that Christ started but could not finish, I—Adolf Hitler—will conclude.” He did not consider Jesus a Jew, but only a half-Jew, because He was begotten by God.

However, the biggest problem that Hitler posed to the world was not being a fanatical anti-Semite. That is only part of the story. This is where many people are deceived.

Much of the world looks upon the Jews as God’s chosen people. In Vienna, Hitler came to believe that God had replaced the Jews with the Germans and the Holy Roman Empire. He learned it in that cultured city—looking at all those crown jewels and the opulence of the Habsburgs.

He believed the Germans were God’s chosen people. This is why the crown jewels of that empire meant so much to him.

In 1938, Hitler had brought the insignia of the First Reich, the imperial crown, the orb of empire, the scepter, and the imperial sword, from Vienna to Nuremberg. At a rally, he vowed that they would remain there forever.

There is also a spear, called the spear of destiny. Many believe it is the spear that killed Christ—which is pure nonsense. The spear is supposed to have mystical powers. The legend states that if you look at this spear long enough, it will endow you with magical power. Hitler went there often and undoubtedly was mesmerized by it and probably picked up some demonic influence.

He later demonstrated power beyond that of any human. Satan empowered him—just as he will the next political head of the Holy Roman Empire.

Our nations have no concept of the unparalleled disaster that is racing toward us.

Lange’s Commentary says this about the fall of Jerusalem to the Roman armies in a.d. 70: “[T]he stamp of divine retribution was impressed upon the fate of Jerusalem and the temple, even for heathen eyes. We may call to mind the expression even of … Titus: ‘That God was so angry with this people that even he feared His wrath if he should suffer grace to be shown to the Jews’ ….”

Caesar Titus sensed somehow that God was having him punish the Jews. And he was right.

Lange’s continues: “[H]e refused every mark of honor on account of the victory obtained, with the attestation that he had been only an instrument in God’s hands to punish this stiff-necked nation. Compare the well-known expressions of Josephus, as to the height which the wickedness of his contemporaries had reached.”

Has evil reached this height in biblical Israel today? Is God concerned about our wickedness?

Josephus said Titus killed 1.1 million Jews and took 97,000 slaves. Do you really believe that we are getting close to a time when 100 million Americans will die before Germany even attacks, then another 100 million during the attack, and then 100 million taken as captives? In the end, only a 10th of the nation surviving it all?

That same catastrophe will strike Britain and the Jews of the Middle East.

The wcg minister previously referred to wrote, “You’ll be asleep at the switch unless you are watching these things.”

They were watching, and now they’re asleep!

“And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man” (Luke 21:34-36).

Watch and pray always! Don’t just watch—pray in the Spirit. That you may stand! We have to watch and pray so we can stand before the Son of man! That’s what this is all about—standing before the Son of man. That should be real to us!

We must bring God into every thought and deed.

Moffatt translates verse 36: “From hour to hour keep awake ….” Why? To “be accounted worthy to escape ….” Only those saints deeply committed to God’s Work will “be accounted worthy to escape.”

There are so many snares out there. But pray always that we’re counted worthy to stand right there by the Son of man!

Is that inspiring? Is that stirring? Is that moving and wonderful and precious? That we could stand right there with the Son of man—just for watching and praying in the Spirit and proclaiming this message?

These wcg ministers knew prophecy just on the surface, but they did not know God. If they did, they lost that knowledge by the time they delivered these messages.

Speak God’s Message

“And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition” (Revelation 17:11). Here is what Mr. Armstrong wrote: “The entire beast of Revelation 17—the revivals of the Roman Empire—is a part ‘of the seven’ heads of Revelation 13 and Daniel 7 because it comprises the last seven horns. Yet this revived Roman Empire is ‘the eighth’ system, differing from the seven before it …” (Who or What Is the Prophetic Beast?).

The seven heads of the Daniel 7–Revelation 13 beast are seven systems. The entire seven-headed beast of Revelation 17 becomes the eighth system.

How is this eighth system of Revelation 17 different? Because all seven heads are guided by the scarlet woman, or church, riding the beast. None of the seven heads, or systems, of the Daniel 7–Revelation 13 beast were guided by a church. We’re looking for a Hitler type to come on the scene and begin to stir millions of people. The audience is already there for the pope—look at the staggering audience that watched John Paul’s funeral and Joseph Ratzinger’s election as Pope Benedict xvi!

That gives you a vivid picture of the audience awaiting the political beast who will rule the Holy Roman Empire!

God says, “Watch … and pray always” so you can stand there with Him, as Daniel’s three friends stood with Him in the fiery furnace. Only this will be in an entirely different setting.

The Laodiceans could not withstand Satan’s attack, but we can! We have the power to conquer the devil—as Christ did.

“For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled” (Revelation 17:17). God is using this system to punish biblical Israel.

We must be speaking God’s message. Mr. Armstrong, after hearing the ministers’ messages in the late 1970s, said, I want to hear more spiritual meat, and see more fire! God isn’t taking this lightly. Let’s be honest. God the Father would not send His Son to Earth, watch Him get savagely beaten and killed by evil men, and say, It’s OK if you want to slack off a bit. No—this is deadly serious! He sent His Son to die for us! We ought to take His message seriously or get into some other business!

He’s not going to let the Laodiceans get away with their rebellion. If the boss says, Prophesy not, then you have the wrong boss! We must realize who the Boss is and who leads the Church. If we don’t know that, we don’t know anything!

The only hope of this world is this message. Those Laodicean ministers have betrayed God and left their night watch when they should be protecting that truth—guarding God’s people. But they turned and walked away because someone at the top said, Prophesy not.

Did they understand and obey God the Father and Jesus Christ, the Head of the Church? No, they did not.

It is left to us now—you and me. This little remnant has been given that watch. We are all that is left, and God says, I want you to watch and pray; proclaim my message and finish the Work!

Then we will all stand before the Son of man!