-9-
The Ultimate Narcissist in Action
This world is in serious trouble and the return of Jesus is the only thing that will fix everything.
There are those who are saying that climate change is going to destroy our way of life. Others point out that man is destroying the ecological balance so that the eventual outcome is going to be disastrous.
Pestilences and pandemics have changed lives all over the world. Tremendous famines are being predicted. Storms and earthquakes are increasingly destroying homes and property with greater severity than ever before.
The tiny nation of Israel, set in the center of the earth, is God's nation. God has said that whoever would bless Israel would be blessed and whoever cursed Israel would be cursed.
Satan wants Israel cursed. He is anti-God in every sense and his only way to hurt God is to hurt God's people, the Jews, and to hurt God's spiritual family, the church.
The more 'Godless' this world becomes, the greater the attacks against anything that represents God. Take another look at the Godlessness that the apostle Paul has predicted,
2Ti 3:1 ¶ But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come:
2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!
This behavior has always accompanied Godlessness, and as Godlessness increases all around us, so does this Godless behavior.
As I said a earlier, the more Godless the world becomes, the greater the attack against anything that represents God.
Israel represents God. Israel has been quite protected in these last difficult years by the USA.
However, not every politician in the USA agrees with the level of support to Israel that has been offered in the last few years. Many would like to let Israel fend for itself, just as any other nation must do. But these are the Godless politicians. These are the ones that do not acknowledge that an unseen enemy is focused on destroying Israel.
Most Godless politicians are not openly, or even knowingly, Satan worshipers. They are merely 'secular'. They are humanists. But behind the scenes, biblically, we are aware that Satan is pulling the strings.
This coming Fall (2020), a change in the leadership of the USA could prove fatal to Israel. The Devil, as a roaring lion seeks to devour everything Godly. If Israel no longer would be able to depend on American protection, then to whom could they turn?
In our studies of the end-times, we have already seen the answer to that question. A mysterious 'King' of the north becomes their 'protector' and benefactor.
At the mid-point of their protective agreement, when the Anti-Christ shows his true colors, roughly a third of Israel, the God-fearing remnant, will flee. The remaining Jews, the majority … about two thirds of the nation, are enjoying security and peace like never before. They will have their general, their hero. They will be enjoying a peace treaty with all of their neighbors because of him. During the first part of this treaty, the God-fearing remnant will have been able to offer sacrifices and enjoy temple worship.
But then this leader will change the treaty … he will put a stop to the daily temple sacrifice … he himself will sit in the temple and declare himself to be God.
This will be just fine with the godless Jews. Good riddance to the Godly minority! Without them the remaining Jews will finally live in quiet peaceful security and unity. They (and many others in the world) will literally worship this man. He will have managed to bring about peace for Israel that up to now had been just a dream.
Money matters worldwide will have been addressed and there apparently will be only one currency … everyone will buy and sell … provided they support, follow and worship this wonderful leader. They will adopt his identifying mark.
We have read in verses 37 and 38 that he will worship a god that no leader before him has ever knowingly or openly worshiped. We discover in the Revelation that this god is none other than Satan himself. Not only will the King of the North worship Satan, but he will do so openly.
The scriptures say that he will even promote his religion of Satanism. Here is the text from Young's Literal Translation.
Da 11:39 And he hath dealt in the fortresses of the strongholds with a strange god whom he hath acknowledged; he multiplieth honour, ...
He will promote Satan worship. Many individuals will join his religion. Many will become promoters of it. To top it all off, Satan will give them miracle working powers. Jesus told us,
Mt 24:24 ... false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.
This could be just around the corner. Jesus said that we need to be ready. We will need to take a stand against this new religion.
I mentioned earlier that famines are predicted. But there is another kind of famine that is here now. It is a famine for the Word of God. To a believer this is a far worse famine than a famine of food. It is this kind of a famine that will cause many nominal Christians to depart once the 'miracles' of the new religion begin.
This makes it so fundamentally imperative that we 'make' our election a certainty, as Peter reminds us
Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. 2Pe 1:10
So, as the King of the North establishes his religion, promotes his economic solutions, his policies, and his position as 'world leader', … a problem from the one strongholds that he did not eliminate … presents itself.
The King of the South obviously disagrees with what seems to be shaping up and he attempts to do something about it.
Da 11:40 "At the time of the end, the king of the south shall attack him, but the king of the north shall rush upon him like a whirlwind, with chariots and horsemen, and with many ships. And he shall come into countries and shall overflow and pass through.
This version (ESV) uses the word attack. The literal word seems a bit weaker than 'attack'. The KJV catches the meaning a little better, “And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him:”
So where in the last seven year period does this last conflict between the North and the South happen? At the end. This is the end for the King of the South.
The book of Revelation deals with this as well, but it uses a different type of language. In Daniel it sounds like prophetic history. The events describe literal 'men' (kings). In Revelation, the same seven year period is described, but instead of people, it uses picture language … symbolic language.
Let's re-iterate Daniel's prophecy before we go anywhere else.
Here is a brief summary
Lets read the final verses of chapter 11.
Da 11:41 He shall come into the glorious land (The Holy Land). And tens of thousands shall fall, but these shall be delivered out of his hand: Edom and Moab and the main part of the Ammonites.
42 He shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
44 But news from the east and the north shall alarm him, and he shall go out with great fury to destroy and devote many to destruction.
This final evil deed of his (plundering of the Holy Land) is described by Ezekiel in chapters 38 and 39. Let's read a few of the verses.
Eze 38:1 ¶ The word of the LORD came to me:
2 "Son of man, set your face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him 3 and say, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal.
4 And I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great host, all of them with buckler and shield, wielding swords.
Gog, in the above verses, is Daniel's King of the North. How do we 'deduce' this? Very simple reasoning, actually. It goes something like this …
The 'story' that Daniel relates, … is the complete story. So when we read elsewhere of an 'end-time' character that is involved in one of the major end-time events, we have to ask ourselves … which one of Daniel's characters is this?
Gog is not the king of the south. Ezekiel clearly states that Gog will come from the North. This we pick up on as we continue reading. For the sake of time I will skip ahead.
Ezekiel repeats in the next chapter:
Eze 39:1 ¶ "And you, son of man, prophesy against Gog and say, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal.
2 And I will turn you about and drive you forward, and bring you up from the uttermost parts of the north, and lead you against the mountains of Israel.
3 Then I will strike your bow from your left hand, and will make your arrows drop out of your right hand.
4 You shall fall on the mountains of Israel, you and all your hordes and the peoples who are with you. I will give you to birds of prey of every sort and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
The King of the North will have come against Israel. And God will have something to do with this. Remember, the God-fearing Jews will be somewhere else, securely protected. The Jews who will now feel the worst of this double-cross will be the atheists. God will be dealing with them as He deems they deserve to be dealt with.
But notice also that God will 'use' Gog and his armies, but even though He will use him, it in no way endorses Gog as an 'obedient' tool in God's hands.
Ezekiel points out that God will knock all the arrows out of Gog's hands. Both him and his armies will become a feast for the carnivorous birds of prey. “I will give you to birds of prey of every sort and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.”
As Jesus was concluding His Olivet discourse He refers to the same last battle Lu 17:37 And they said to him, "Where, Lord?" He said to them, "Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather."
The King of the North, the Anti-Christ, the man of sin, the son of perdition, Gog … is the ultimate narcissist. Not only will he have a god complex, he will claim to be the only god that anyone would ever need.
But, somewhat contradictory to that, this man will need others. His armies will be a coalition of armies from a number of countries.
I am sure that some, if not many of you, are wondering if we cannot put some clearer identifying tags on the King of the North, the King of the South and even on the 'troubling news' that the King of the North hears from the East. I will put forward some ideas in the next chapter.
But for now let's imagine and talk about the 'world scene'. The King of the North will bring in a system of buying and selling that affects, not just Israel, not just the immediately surrounding countries, but the whole world. His actions will affect the world. His power will be felt in the world.
So, what is our present worldscape?
America has positioned itself as a world power. If a 'King of the North' should show up very soon … If he should start looking like an upcoming world leader, how do you suppose America would take this?
According sources that I have read, at present the world does not have a 'balance' of powers. Clearly America is THE world power. But what makes really makes it the world power includes many other allied countries.
Opposing powers include Russia and its allies, China … and perhaps its allies as well as countries that are clearly Muslim.
As I have stated, it is agreed that there is not really a balance of powers, but that America is clearly number 1.
America sides with Israel. Russia sides with the Muslim countries around the holy land. China stands somewhat alone but could easily side with North Korea. There are many other countries scattered all over our globe that may or may not connect to one of the super powers.
If America's position as ally, defender and supporter of Israel gets replaced by another super power … an anti-American superpower, it would be the cause of huge concern for them. America's presence there offers stability for them and for the rest of the free world. But if a Democratic presidential replacement does not see the value of America's presence in Israel and allows it to slip away … they may regret it, but it may also be too late to go back.
In the global events of Daniel 11 we are seeing that the King of the North will represent a super power. The same with the King of the South.
I hope to address this further in the next chapter. Also, the very last battle, after the King of the south is out of the picture, we see that the King of the North, with support from middle east countries, will form a 'ring' all around Israel.
So as 'narcissistic' as the anti-Christ will be, in order to pull off the total pillaging of Israel … he must depend on others for help. He will be powerful … but not almighty.
The wise will take a stand against him. He can be overcome.
Re 12:11 “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.
There are those who are saying that climate change is going to destroy our way of life. Others point out that man is destroying the ecological balance so that the eventual outcome is going to be disastrous.
Pestilences and pandemics have changed lives all over the world. Tremendous famines are being predicted. Storms and earthquakes are increasingly destroying homes and property with greater severity than ever before.
The tiny nation of Israel, set in the center of the earth, is God's nation. God has said that whoever would bless Israel would be blessed and whoever cursed Israel would be cursed.
Satan wants Israel cursed. He is anti-God in every sense and his only way to hurt God is to hurt God's people, the Jews, and to hurt God's spiritual family, the church.
The more 'Godless' this world becomes, the greater the attacks against anything that represents God. Take another look at the Godlessness that the apostle Paul has predicted,
2Ti 3:1 ¶ But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come:
2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!
This behavior has always accompanied Godlessness, and as Godlessness increases all around us, so does this Godless behavior.
As I said a earlier, the more Godless the world becomes, the greater the attack against anything that represents God.
Israel represents God. Israel has been quite protected in these last difficult years by the USA.
However, not every politician in the USA agrees with the level of support to Israel that has been offered in the last few years. Many would like to let Israel fend for itself, just as any other nation must do. But these are the Godless politicians. These are the ones that do not acknowledge that an unseen enemy is focused on destroying Israel.
Most Godless politicians are not openly, or even knowingly, Satan worshipers. They are merely 'secular'. They are humanists. But behind the scenes, biblically, we are aware that Satan is pulling the strings.
This coming Fall (2020), a change in the leadership of the USA could prove fatal to Israel. The Devil, as a roaring lion seeks to devour everything Godly. If Israel no longer would be able to depend on American protection, then to whom could they turn?
In our studies of the end-times, we have already seen the answer to that question. A mysterious 'King' of the north becomes their 'protector' and benefactor.
At the mid-point of their protective agreement, when the Anti-Christ shows his true colors, roughly a third of Israel, the God-fearing remnant, will flee. The remaining Jews, the majority … about two thirds of the nation, are enjoying security and peace like never before. They will have their general, their hero. They will be enjoying a peace treaty with all of their neighbors because of him. During the first part of this treaty, the God-fearing remnant will have been able to offer sacrifices and enjoy temple worship.
But then this leader will change the treaty … he will put a stop to the daily temple sacrifice … he himself will sit in the temple and declare himself to be God.
This will be just fine with the godless Jews. Good riddance to the Godly minority! Without them the remaining Jews will finally live in quiet peaceful security and unity. They (and many others in the world) will literally worship this man. He will have managed to bring about peace for Israel that up to now had been just a dream.
Money matters worldwide will have been addressed and there apparently will be only one currency … everyone will buy and sell … provided they support, follow and worship this wonderful leader. They will adopt his identifying mark.
We have read in verses 37 and 38 that he will worship a god that no leader before him has ever knowingly or openly worshiped. We discover in the Revelation that this god is none other than Satan himself. Not only will the King of the North worship Satan, but he will do so openly.
The scriptures say that he will even promote his religion of Satanism. Here is the text from Young's Literal Translation.
Da 11:39 And he hath dealt in the fortresses of the strongholds with a strange god whom he hath acknowledged; he multiplieth honour, ...
He will promote Satan worship. Many individuals will join his religion. Many will become promoters of it. To top it all off, Satan will give them miracle working powers. Jesus told us,
Mt 24:24 ... false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.
This could be just around the corner. Jesus said that we need to be ready. We will need to take a stand against this new religion.
I mentioned earlier that famines are predicted. But there is another kind of famine that is here now. It is a famine for the Word of God. To a believer this is a far worse famine than a famine of food. It is this kind of a famine that will cause many nominal Christians to depart once the 'miracles' of the new religion begin.
This makes it so fundamentally imperative that we 'make' our election a certainty, as Peter reminds us
Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. 2Pe 1:10
So, as the King of the North establishes his religion, promotes his economic solutions, his policies, and his position as 'world leader', … a problem from the one strongholds that he did not eliminate … presents itself.
The King of the South obviously disagrees with what seems to be shaping up and he attempts to do something about it.
Da 11:40 "At the time of the end, the king of the south shall attack him, but the king of the north shall rush upon him like a whirlwind, with chariots and horsemen, and with many ships. And he shall come into countries and shall overflow and pass through.
This version (ESV) uses the word attack. The literal word seems a bit weaker than 'attack'. The KJV catches the meaning a little better, “And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him:”
So where in the last seven year period does this last conflict between the North and the South happen? At the end. This is the end for the King of the South.
The book of Revelation deals with this as well, but it uses a different type of language. In Daniel it sounds like prophetic history. The events describe literal 'men' (kings). In Revelation, the same seven year period is described, but instead of people, it uses picture language … symbolic language.
Let's re-iterate Daniel's prophecy before we go anywhere else.
Here is a brief summary
- a cunning, slippery person from the North will become Israel's guardian and benefactor.
- He will have selfish plans with reference to Israel but has to deal with opposing forces before he can
do what he really wants to do. He will be only partly successful. - His overall plan will become a world plan, and he is able to spread wealth around. Included in his plan
is the elimination of anything Godly. - At the time of the end, his enemy, the king of the south, will make a move against him, but will be
totally destroyed by the king of the North. - After the destruction of the King of the South and all of its allies, the King of the North will go straight
to Israel, … a people who have never felt so secure and safe, and he will plunder them.
Lets read the final verses of chapter 11.
Da 11:41 He shall come into the glorious land (The Holy Land). And tens of thousands shall fall, but these shall be delivered out of his hand: Edom and Moab and the main part of the Ammonites.
42 He shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
44 But news from the east and the north shall alarm him, and he shall go out with great fury to destroy and devote many to destruction.
This final evil deed of his (plundering of the Holy Land) is described by Ezekiel in chapters 38 and 39. Let's read a few of the verses.
Eze 38:1 ¶ The word of the LORD came to me:
2 "Son of man, set your face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him 3 and say, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal.
4 And I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great host, all of them with buckler and shield, wielding swords.
Gog, in the above verses, is Daniel's King of the North. How do we 'deduce' this? Very simple reasoning, actually. It goes something like this …
The 'story' that Daniel relates, … is the complete story. So when we read elsewhere of an 'end-time' character that is involved in one of the major end-time events, we have to ask ourselves … which one of Daniel's characters is this?
Gog is not the king of the south. Ezekiel clearly states that Gog will come from the North. This we pick up on as we continue reading. For the sake of time I will skip ahead.
Ezekiel repeats in the next chapter:
Eze 39:1 ¶ "And you, son of man, prophesy against Gog and say, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal.
2 And I will turn you about and drive you forward, and bring you up from the uttermost parts of the north, and lead you against the mountains of Israel.
3 Then I will strike your bow from your left hand, and will make your arrows drop out of your right hand.
4 You shall fall on the mountains of Israel, you and all your hordes and the peoples who are with you. I will give you to birds of prey of every sort and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
The King of the North will have come against Israel. And God will have something to do with this. Remember, the God-fearing Jews will be somewhere else, securely protected. The Jews who will now feel the worst of this double-cross will be the atheists. God will be dealing with them as He deems they deserve to be dealt with.
But notice also that God will 'use' Gog and his armies, but even though He will use him, it in no way endorses Gog as an 'obedient' tool in God's hands.
Ezekiel points out that God will knock all the arrows out of Gog's hands. Both him and his armies will become a feast for the carnivorous birds of prey. “I will give you to birds of prey of every sort and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.”
As Jesus was concluding His Olivet discourse He refers to the same last battle Lu 17:37 And they said to him, "Where, Lord?" He said to them, "Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather."
The King of the North, the Anti-Christ, the man of sin, the son of perdition, Gog … is the ultimate narcissist. Not only will he have a god complex, he will claim to be the only god that anyone would ever need.
But, somewhat contradictory to that, this man will need others. His armies will be a coalition of armies from a number of countries.
I am sure that some, if not many of you, are wondering if we cannot put some clearer identifying tags on the King of the North, the King of the South and even on the 'troubling news' that the King of the North hears from the East. I will put forward some ideas in the next chapter.
But for now let's imagine and talk about the 'world scene'. The King of the North will bring in a system of buying and selling that affects, not just Israel, not just the immediately surrounding countries, but the whole world. His actions will affect the world. His power will be felt in the world.
So, what is our present worldscape?
America has positioned itself as a world power. If a 'King of the North' should show up very soon … If he should start looking like an upcoming world leader, how do you suppose America would take this?
According sources that I have read, at present the world does not have a 'balance' of powers. Clearly America is THE world power. But what makes really makes it the world power includes many other allied countries.
Opposing powers include Russia and its allies, China … and perhaps its allies as well as countries that are clearly Muslim.
As I have stated, it is agreed that there is not really a balance of powers, but that America is clearly number 1.
America sides with Israel. Russia sides with the Muslim countries around the holy land. China stands somewhat alone but could easily side with North Korea. There are many other countries scattered all over our globe that may or may not connect to one of the super powers.
If America's position as ally, defender and supporter of Israel gets replaced by another super power … an anti-American superpower, it would be the cause of huge concern for them. America's presence there offers stability for them and for the rest of the free world. But if a Democratic presidential replacement does not see the value of America's presence in Israel and allows it to slip away … they may regret it, but it may also be too late to go back.
In the global events of Daniel 11 we are seeing that the King of the North will represent a super power. The same with the King of the South.
I hope to address this further in the next chapter. Also, the very last battle, after the King of the south is out of the picture, we see that the King of the North, with support from middle east countries, will form a 'ring' all around Israel.
So as 'narcissistic' as the anti-Christ will be, in order to pull off the total pillaging of Israel … he must depend on others for help. He will be powerful … but not almighty.
The wise will take a stand against him. He can be overcome.
Re 12:11 “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.