Now let’s go to Luke 4, and let’s review another scripture that we already know, which is a very powerful scripture.  And let’s understand this, that just as Adam and Eve gave control to Satan, and God gave Satan permission to come in the Garden of Eden, and just like God gave Satan permission to do what he did to Job, Satan the devil, because of the ways of men, has become the god of this world.  Now here in Luke 4 with the temptation of Jesus Christ, Satan reveals the power that he has in this world.

“And the devil, taking Him [that is Christ] up into an high mountain, shewed unto Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.”  Just like a great huge video screen, if you would.  “And the devil said unto Him, All this power will I give Thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me…”, because human beings gave it to him by falling to the wiles of the devil and allowing wicked spirits in high places.  And then he gets permission from God to go a little bit further.  And he says, “…and to whomsoever I will I give it.  If Thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be Thine” (Luke 4:5-7, King James).

Now let’s understand something very profound.  We’ll see a little later in Revelation 13 that all the world worships Satan when we come to the end time.  Now we can state categorically all of the rich and the powerful of this world do not serve God. And if they don’t serve God then at the very least they serve themselves, but mostly they serve Satan the devil because that’s where they got their authority and their power to run these kingdoms because God has turned it over to Satan the devil.  Now we also know in Ephesians 2 that he’s the prince of the power of the air.  So all of these things that are taking place in the world he is working, he’s manipulating through individuals, through meetings, through counsels, through just projecting attitudes out to people.  And he’s got a great and a grand scheme and it’s going, and it’s working, and it’s going to be mind-boggling when I tell you how it was done, and how he was able to deceive the whole world and continues to deceive the whole world.

Now let’s go to Revelation 12:9.  And this is quite a profound verse.  This is one we’ve also gone over before, but you see when things are good and when things look easy, and when things are prosperous people forget that the devil is the one who is the god of this world and controls all of these things.  And he is the one who is causing the prosperity that we have now.  This prosperity is not from God.  This is from Satan the devil through his economic policies, by his international bankers, and by those who run the Fed in the Untied States and they are running the whole world economy.  They don’t serve God.  They serve Satan the devil.  They don’t do the bidding of God.  They do the bidding of Satan.  They are the ones who deceive the world.  The world is being deceived by Satan through every form possible: government, education, religion, economics, all of those.  And he has his agents who are doing it.  And now he’s getting it down more, and more, and more, and more, and more into the grassroots level.  Now that’s why last year we had “Stinking Thinking”.  I gave the sermons on stinking thinking and group thinking.  All of that, you see, and all of these things Satan is building upon and he is using, and he is manipulating, and he is controlling, and he is deceiving.  That’s how he deceives the whole world.

Revelation 12:9, “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world…” And the Greek there means “is deceiving”.  Present tense, active indicative, “he is deceiving the whole world”.  Now we need to understand how he’s doing it.  And we need to realize that.  Well one thing I forgot to mention that he controls is the media everywhere in the world.  None of those people serve God, not a single one.  That’s why their agenda is one-worldism, globalization, ecumenism, cooperation, get-along, go-along.  And it is going down just so smooth because people are being deceived.  He’s deceiving the whole world.

Now let’s come to Revelation 17.  Now we’ll talk about the religious element in a little bit tomorrow.  I want to concentrate on the anti-christ and the anti-christ’s government, which is coming around through the United Nations.  And it’s going to come.  It’s not going to come from ten kings in Europe.  That was a complete misunderstanding of prophecy.  It’s going to come from ten kings from the ten regions of the world that have been divided down by the United Nations and the world bankers into ten regions.  And that is what is going to be the ten kings.

Now let’s come to Revelation 17.  “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” (Rev. 17:1).  Now let’s come down here to verse 15 and we will read verse 15 on down to the end because this is important for us to understand.  Because part of the whole movement of the United Nations is to bring in a whole one world religion.  And I brought that out last year with Charter 99, Satan’s global church.  So if you have those tapes, or those videos go back and review them again.

Now here, verse 15, “And he saith unto me, the waters which thou sawest [and we’ll look at waters when we come to Revelation 13], were the whore sitteth, were peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.  And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire” (vs. 15-16).  Because God is going to turn it back upon the religions of this world pictured by the woman, Babylon the Great the Mother of Harlots, called a mystery.  And I’ll talk about the things concerning the mystery of lawlessness.

Verse 17, a key verse.  “For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil His will, and to agree…” Now that’s why you’re going to see all of these peace things coming about, all these agreements they’ve been working and striving for in the Middle East.  It’s not time.  When the time comes…  And you can rest assure that those who call themselves Jews over there will never sign any final peace treaty until they have permission to build a temple. You can be guaranteed that.  God has put it in their hearts to fulfill His will and to agree.  “…And give their kingdom unto the beast…” And we don’t understand what it means to give their kingdom to the beast.  We’ll understand after today.  It’s something that human beings do to Satan.  They give it to him.  That’s how it’s going to come.  “…Until the words of God shall be fulfilled.  And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth” (vs. 17-18).  And that can be none other than Rome.  The only other city that comes close to it is New York, but New York is not built upon seven hills or mountains as Rome is.

Now you also need to understand something else. Just recently the U.S. Congress in a resolution of, I forget how they call it but it’s a non-binding resolution, that’s what it is.  Voted unanimously, with the exception of one vote, to encourage the United Nations to let the Vatican sit as a civil state in the general assembly and to have a vote.  Now most people don’t know how much that the Roman Catholic church is involved in working behind the scenes to make the United Nations work.  Robert Muller, one of the leading persons there at the United Nations, head of UNESCO, head of Education, part of World Governments, and all of those with him are Roman Catholics.  New Age Roman Catholics, who believe in spiritism, who believe in Satanism as a religion though they may call it Catholicism.  You need to understand that.

So this woman reigns over the kings of the earth, and almost every nation in the world has an ambassador to the Vatican.  And the Vatican is a civil state as well as a religious state.  And you wait and see what’s going to happen there.  And you know this Pope is not going to live too much longer.  And I know when he was first elected I though this surely is the last Pope because he got up and he spoke in 45 languages during his inauguration.  And he traveled the world over.  But he’s not the last one.  And we don’t know if the next one will be or whether there will be two more because the Catholics say there will be two more Popes.  Even the Catholics understand that the reign of the Popes is going to come to an end.  And you know what they say?  The Catholic prophecies say that the anti-christ will reign for a thousand years.  And of course we know that is Christ.  So these things are absolutely upside down.  They are completely dumbfounding.

Now let’s continue on here.  Verse 5, “And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.”  Now let’s read on because there is a prophecy here that is very difficult to understand.  And I think we can understand it when we realize how the United Nations came into existence.  Let’s continue on.

“And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.”  In other words it just took his breath, and John wondered how could this be?  “And the angel said unto me, Wherefore did thou marvel?  I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carreith 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 [or the abyss], and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names where 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” (vs. 6-8).

Now remember as we covered, God says that at the end time the wise shall understand.  But let me just say this, we don’t make ourselves wise because we are who we are.  It is with the Spirit of God, the word of God, and by diligently applying ourselves to it, and to love God and seek His way.  Because it’s nothing that we have on our own, and anything we can understand only comes from the Spirit of God.  But we have to apply ourselves and be alert. Now if we have to make adjustments when we find out if there is something that we have misunderstood.  And we have misunderstood an awful lot of things and so we have to make a lot of adjustments.  And so some of the things that we are going to cover tonight is going to give us an understanding of it and maybe there’s more understanding which is to be added to it, but it’s really quite a profound thing.

Now, what is a beast that was, and is not, and yet is?  We’ve often wondered about that. Now the angel gives John some clues.  “And here is the mind which hath wisdom.  The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.  And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.  And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.”  Now that’s kind of hard to understand. Now I think that at the time Herbert Armstrong understood this, that one is - having to do with Hitler during the time of WWII, and another is yet to come, which will be the seventh one, but he is the eighth.  Now how is that possible?  Because it’s a whole system coming together.  He’s of the seventh, meaning that it’s of the same thing that was with the seventh.  And he is the eighth, is of the seventh and he goes into perdition.  And this is the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

Now I think we can answer the question this way, suffice to say the minimum of understanding we need to know is this: the eighth one is the last one, but it is of the seventh.  But this eighth one is a peculiar beast because he is a beast, but he is not a beast, and yet he is a beast.

Now let’s go back to the book of Daniel and let’s ask the question: what is a beast?  Let’s go back to Daniel 2 and let’s review just a bit concerning Nebuchadnezzar.  And we’re going to see that kings and kingdoms and empires, as we have understood it, has been correct.  Now all those things that we’ve understood that have been correct, we keep.  And then other understanding that God gives us, we add to it.  And if we make a mistake in properly adding to it, then we have to be corrected and get rid of it.  But here is very clear.  Daniel told him the dream and the interpretation, verse 36 of Daniel 2.  “This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king.  Thou, O king art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory.”  God gives it.

Now we also know in chapter 4:17, “This matter is by the decree of the watchers [now the angels are in control of all of these things today, and watchers], and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men…” That’s why it says in Revelation 17 that He put it in their heart to do His will.  “…And giveth it to whomsoever He will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.”  Now that’s talking about Nebuchadnezzar.

Now let’s come back to chapter 2.  God is the one Who gives it.  Now notice what we have here.  “…Given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory.  And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath He given unto thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over then all.  Thou art this head of gold.”  Then it goes through the silver, and the brass, and the iron, and then down to the iron and the miry clay, which then are ten toes.  “And in the days of these kings shall the god of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed…”(vs. 37-44).  Now we’ve already covered part of that so let’s go on.

Let’s come over here to Daniel 7, and let’s look at the beasts, and we’ll answer the question, what is a beast?  What does it consist of?  Then that will help us understand what the beast that is, and is not, and yet is, we will know what it really is.  In other words, as Bill Clinton says, “We’ll understand what is, is.”

Now, Daniel 7.  We have these beasts which are a combination then of the things that we find, each one here separately, but in Revelation 13 it’s a combination of all of these beasts.  The first one is a lion, the second one is a bear, the third one is a leopard, and the fourth one is a dreadful beast that has iron teeth.  And this continues right on to the end.

Now let’s come over here to verse 16.  “I came near unto one of them that stood by, and asked him the truth of all this.  So he told me, and made me know the interpretation of the things.  These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth.  But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever” (Dan. 7:16-18).  Now we won’t get into the fourth beast except to say there is a little horn that rises above, we’ll talk about that in just a minute, like unto the others, but different.

Now a beast then is a kingdom.  A kingdom consists of geography, so there has to be land, and by defined boundaries.  God is the one Who gives it.  Have to have people.  There has to be an economy.  There has to be a government.  Now that’s what a beast is.  If you have something that is not a beast but yet is, and is not, how do we define that then?  How do we come to understand that?

Now, I’m going to read to you from this book called Diplomacy By Deception, by Dr. John Coleman.  Now let me give you an 800 number where you can get it if you want the book.  He has many other publications there which will help you.

Dr. John Coleman   - 1-800-942-0821

And you can just ask for the book, Diplomacy By Deception.

Now he shows, although he doesn’t state it that Satan is doing it, he shows how the whole thing concerning the United Nation was by diplomacy of deception and that the world’s nations have bought a package of lies and have been deceived.  Now this is quite profound.  He helps define what a beast is by saying what a real country is.  Now we’ll get to that in just a minute.  This is in the first section called “The Threat of the United Nations”.  And when I say the United Nations represents the organization of the anti-christ, when we are done with this you will understand why.

“The history of how the United Nation was created is a classic case of diplomacy by deception [planned deception].  The United Nations is the successor to the defunct League of Nations, the first attempt to set up a One World Government in the wake of the Paris Peace Conference which gave birth to the Treaty of Versailles.  The peace conference opened at Versailles, France on January 18, 1919, attended by 70 delegates representing the international bankers from the 27 “victorious” allied Powers.  It is a fact that delegates were under the direction of the international bankers from the time they were elected as delegates until they returned to their own countries, and even long after that” (pg. 1, Diplomacy By Deception).

“In his book, “After Democracy,” Wells stated [this is H.G. Wells] that once the economic order (social energy), of a dictatorship One world Government is established…”  Now stop and think about all the treaties, the trade treaties that we have done. NAFTA, The World Trade Organization.  That’s exactly what it’s talking about here.  “…A political and social order will be imposed.”  And we are right at the time of the beginning of the imposition of this.  “This was precisely what the Paris Peace Talks that began in 1919 set out to do, based primarily on a Royal Institute of International Affairs (RIIA) memorandum” (pg. 2, Diplomacy By Deception).

Now then, he explains about the RIIA and some things concerning that, and the League of Nations.  And that failed because the United States did not accept the treaty to go into the United Nations.

Now then, “From the start, the Big Ten Supreme Council…”  Now seven heads and ten horns, they counsel together.  See, we need to put all of this together, don’t we?  “…The Big Ten Supreme Council (forerunners of the U.N. Security Council) took over.”  And then it lists all of those that were in the council of ten.  “The League of Nations was born in January of 1920.  Housed in Geneva, it consisted of a secretary-general, a Council (chosen from the five major powers) and a General Assembly” (pg. 3, Diplomacy By Deception).  And so not much different from what the United Nations is.

“For example…” Now here’s something we need to understand.  Here is what we are told today, but this is where the deception comes in.  “…Senator Robert Byrd, an admitted Rockefeller protégé said recently that a treaty is the supreme law of the land.”  Wrong!  “Apparently, Sen. Byrd does not know that for a treaty to be valid, it has to be made with a country that has sovereignty…” Now that’s how he explains it.  “…And the United Nations, as we will find, has no sovereignty whatsoever.”  Why does it have no sovereignty?  It has no land with defined boundaries.  It has no people who are its citizens.  It has no economic system.  It has no ruling body over that, but it becomes a beast and a ruling body because of the false assumption that we can make treaties with a non-sovereign entity.  Now that’s important to understand.  So that’s why the United Nations is the beast that is, because everyone accepts it and they give power to the beast.  And it is not because it’s not truly a beast as defined by the Bible, or a sovereign nation, if you please, and yet is.   Now let’s go on, you’ll see this born out.

“…Has no sovereignty whatsoever.  In any case, a treaty is only a law and cannot override the U.S. Constitution, nor can it stand when it threatens the sovereignty and security of the United States” (pg. 4, Diplomacy By Deception).  That’s why it says that all these kings give power to the beast.  We are giving power to the United Nations.  We are empowering it.

Now, continuing on.  “When the League of Nations Treaty was brought before the U.S. Senate in March of 1920, 49 senators understood the immense implications involved, and refused to ratify it.  There was much discussion compared to what passed for a debate when the U.N. charter came before the Senate in 1945.  Several amendments to the League treaty were submitted by the RIIA [Royal Institute for International Affairs].  These were acceptable to President [Woodrow] Wilson, but were refused by the Senate.  On November 19, 1920, the Senate rejected the treaty with and without reservations by a vote of 49-35” (pg. 4, Diplomacy By Deception).  So that was a setback.

Now in order to impose a world government they had to have World War II.  And please understand World War II was planned.  It was no accident.  Planned by the establishment, which he calls in this book the Committee of 300.  Now if you want to get the book that Dr. Coleman has written on the Committee of 300, these great establishmentarian people who are the rich and the wealthy of this world, you get it.  It will be shocking.  You will be amazed.  And that Committee of 300, if you understand it properly, in fact is the synagogue of Satan referred to in Revelation 2 and 3.  So you get that book and you read it.

Now, let’s continue on here.  “It was not until April 18, 1945 that the League of Nations dissolved itself, transferring all of its assets (mainly money taken from the German people after WWI, and war loans not repaid by the allies to the United States)...” And we were conned into forgiving all of those loans, and all of that money stayed in Geneva, Switzerland under the auspices of the League of Nations and all of that was transferred to the United Nations in April 18, 1945.  And not many people even knew it.  Amazing isn’t it?

“In other words, the Committee of 300 never gave up on its plans for a One World Government and waited until the United Nations was in existence before dissolving the discredited League of Nations.  The money that the League of Nations transferred to the United Nations rightfully belonged to the sovereign people of the United States.  The United States had advanced billions of dollars to so-called allies to pull their chestnuts out of the fire after they’d picked a quarrel with Germany in 1914 and were in dire danger of losing the fight” (pg. 5, Diplomacy By Deception).

Now this continues on and comes down to the time of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  Now look, I just want to tell you one thing, very plainly, very clearly.  If you are a Democrat, or if you’re a Republican, whatever, look - you were deceived by what went on in the Democratic Party and the Republican Party in bringing this into existence.  Franklin Delano Roosevelt was on the in for the planning of WWII.  He was on the in and was given orders by those of the Committee of 300 to bring in the United Nations.  Now remember where we started.  Satan the devil has his demons and wicked spirits in high places, which is running and controlling this world, but as an angel of light it’s made to appear all good to us dumb people down here on the lower end.  Now you need to understand that.  We’re coming down to the time brethren, where it’s going to be Christ is our King, Christ is our Lord, we are looking for the Kingdom of God, and in order for us to have a part in it we have got to reject everything in this society.

And besides, if you go out and vote in this election you can be well assured you’re only voting for those who are going to lead the United States into oblivion to bring about the more control by the United Nations upon the United States and the rest of the world.  There’s going to be no change.  The more things change the more they remain the same, right?  Yes.  And there is nothing that happens in politics that is not planned.  We need to understand that.  And you need to understand that the time is coming that you are going to have to declare yourself a citizen of the Kingdom of God, and stand up and maybe even give your life because these people who are instituting this beast that was, and is not, and yet is, in giving power to the United Nations to rule over the whole world, they are going to set up a world court and we are going to be tried, and we are going to be executed.  Now we’re living in dangerous times.  Because everything is nice and peaceful and prosperous., brethren let us not be deceived as to what is happening.  Let us get out eyes open so we know.

Now continuing, “In November of 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected the first openly socialist President of the United States.”  True fact.  “Socialist Roosevelt’s arrival at the White House had its beginning in the murder of President William McKinley…” And assassinations don’t take place by some wild gunman.  If there is a wild gunman he is made wild and he is given his instructions as to what to do.  “… Followed by the election of the fraudulent “patriot” Teddy Roosevelt, whose job it was to open the doors to socialism which was to be ushered in by Franklin D. Roosevelt.”  But in-between that was President Woodrow Wilson, who helped draft the treaty for the League of Nations.  Isn’t that amazing.  “This contrived sequence of events is too long [to] be recounted here. On instructions from Chatham House, Roosevelt lost no time in winking at the horrendous default on the loan agreements signed by the allies.”  He’s the one who forgave their debt.  “By December 15, 1932, all of the nations who owed the United State billions of dollars for war debts were in default.  Britain was the largest debtor and the largest defaulter” (pg. 5-6, Diplomacy By Deception).  Now this is amazing stuff, brethren.

Now he continues on here by saying, “If there is one thing that we have learned about the Committee of 300, it is that it never give up.”  And if one of its members dies, well then they’re replaced with someone else.  Now you need to understand the Committee of 300 have their mouthpieces.  And these mouthpieces appear on CNN, on Larry King Live.  You need to understand we are watching these very people.  Listen to what they have to say and then you will know who they are.   “There is a saying that history repeats itself; certainly this is true of the Committee of 300’s intention to force a One World Government body on the United States.  H.G. Wells, in his work, “The Shape of Things to Come” described this body as “ a sort of an open conspiracy—a cult of the World State” (i.e. a One World Government.)”

“In the case of the United States, the plan is not to overthrow the U.S. government of its Constitution, but to “make it negligible.”   Now is the United States Constitution negligible?  Yes.  “This has largely been accomplished by slowly and carefully implementing the socialist manifesto written in 1920 by the Fabian Society, which is based on the Communist Manifest of 1848” (pg. 6, Diplomacy By Deception).  Now let’s understand something.  The Fabian Society, then, grants Rhodes Scholarships to leading intellectual college students where they go to Oxford, where they study and they become Fabian socialists.  Guess Wilhelm Clinton went to college in England?  He’s their man.

Now my wife has said that she thinks that Bill Clinton is going to be the beast.  And I’ve kept saying, Nah, nah.  But I think we’re just going to have to wait and see.  Now when he leaves office, he’s not going to rollover and play dead and go away and die.  He’s going to continue what he’s been taught.  And it’s something.

So we’re just about out of time here, so you come back tomorrow for the rest of the story.