The Antichrist and His Forerunner

END OF THE AGE SERIES VOLUME II

by Gordon Lindsay

Published by CHRIST FOR THE NATIONS Dallas, Texas Litho U.S.A.

Printed 1974

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter I The Forerunner of the Beast

Chapter II Adolph in His Youthful Days

Chapter III The Strange Incident of the Night

Chapter IV The Man Turns Into a Demon

Chapter V The Rise of the Antichrist

Chapter VI The Revival of the Roman Empire Under the Beast

Introduction

In these days there is a great deal of speculation about the antichrist, his general appearance, and his rise to power. Some picture him as a monster with horns, hoofs and a pitchfork in his hand, breathing out fire and brimstone, and looking much like the artist pictures the devil. Actually if that were his appearance, he would never be able to win the confidence of people and achieve supreme power.

Although the antichrist will be Satan's supreme masterpiece, his appearance before the world will be in a manner inspiring confidence.

Even as Christ had a forerunner, events show that this is true of the antichrist. One individual we believe fills that place and stands out far beyond all the rest—Adolph Hitler. History repeats itself. By studying the means by which Hitler achieved power in Europe, we may understand how the antichrist also will rise to power.

Satan offered the kingdoms of this world to Christ, who as we know spurned his offer. The antichrist, even as did his forerunner Hitler, will eagerly accept the devil’s proposition. Nevertheless, at the beginning he will appear as a humanitarian and one able to bring order out of chaos. As the result of a series of lightning strokes, he will crush those nations which oppose him in his rise to power. Only after he has gained supreme control of the nations will he throw off his mask and reveal his true character and initiate a ruthless campaign against Christianity.

Adolph Hitler after he achieved supreme power instituted a campaign to exterminate the Jewish race. The antichrist will follow in his footsteps, but in addition he will also seek to wipe out Christianity from the face of the earth. He will, in fact, manifest an implacable hatred toward all who name the name of

Christ. Nor will nominal Christians escape, except they take his mark, the mark of the beast. The church itself as an organization will be utterly destroyed within his realm. This latter event, however. will not take place until near the close of the antichrist’s reign.

In this volume we discuss the identity of the ten nations which cooperate with the antichrist. We note too the place of NATO and the Common Market in preparing the way for the ten-nation confederacy. We consider also some important facts concerning the history of the Roman Empire—that fourth and last Gentile empire before the coming of Christ. Only when all these facts are taken into consideration do all the parts of the prophetic picture fit perfectly together.

Chapter I

The Forerunner of the Beast

In our previous volume we took note of the many events that are paving the way for the coming of the antichrist. Now with the aid of the Scriptures we seek to trace world developments as they will begin to move toward the actual reign of the Beast.

There are many erroneous ideas about what the appearance of the antichrist will be like, some of them quite fanciful. There are those who see him as a baleful personage with thunder and lightning flashing when he speaks; some imagine him, as it were, with horns and hoofs and a pitchfork in hand, looking somewhat like the artist pictures the devil. Actually if that were the case, people would flee from him, and he would never have a chance of attaining supreme power. Although he will be Satan’s masterpiece, at first he will appear as a man inspiring the confidence of the world. There will be a human side to him. Like any other politician he may kiss babies and perform humanitarian acts.

Christ had a forerunner. Will the antichrist have one also? The truth is that the antichrist has already had several forerunners, but one especially stands out beyond the rest. It is an old saying that history tends to repeat itself. In the Bible we have many instances in which a character was a type of someone who appears later on the scene. For example the lives of various figures of the Old Testament each typify some phase of Christ’s life. Among these are Joseph, Moses, Joshua, and David. There are also characters in history who obviously are a type of the antichrist. The Pharaoh of Moses’ day, Haman, Antiochus Epiphanes, and Caesar each apparently in some way fulfilled such a role.

Some years ago the Lord spoke in the spirit of prophecy concerning the coming of the antichrist. The Spirit said:

“My son, teach the people to prepare themselves against destruction. They should be prepared against the onslaughts of the enemy. As Hitler destroyed before, so another shall arise like his figure and will seek to destroy the people of God. So, therefore, settle it in thy heart that thou wilt seal thy faith with thy blood if necessary. For ye shall know that the enemy will rise as he did in the days of Mordecai to seek to destroy, and so there must arise a group like Esther who will say, I will go in unto the king which is not according to the law. If I perish. I will perish. How can I endure to see the destruction of my people?”

It came to the writer quite forcibly that this antichrist will not only seek to destroy the Jews as did Hitler, but his hatred will be equally intense against all who profess the name of Christ (Rev. 13:7).

An obvious way to understand the methods by which the antichrist will rise to power is to study his antetypes Caesar and Antiochus belong to ancient times, but Adolph Hitler is a product of the twentieth century. In tracing the latter’s activities, we can get an insight on how the antichrist will rise to power and take over control of the nations. We may also get a hint on how he will come to his end.

Hitler became such an inhuman monster that it is not pleasant to rehearse the gruesome story. Nor is it our purpose to go into detail concerning the horrible acts for which this man was responsible. However, a brief study of Hitler’s early life, of how he won the confidence of the nation and came into power is essential if we are to get a clear picture of how the Beast of Revelation 13 achieves such great authority in so short a time. Chapter 13 goes into considerable detail about the Beast’s reign and his activities. Chapter 17 informs us that ten nations will lend the antichrist their strength and give him support in his bid for world dominion. It will be recalled that Satan once offered the kingdoms of the world to Christ. He, however, spurned his proposition. Hitler, on the other hand, coveted world power with maniacal desire, but he was cut off before he attained his goal. The antichrist will eagerly accept Satan’s offer and will sell himself utterly to the devil in order to obtain this power.

It is certain that at the beginning the antichrist will not reveal his true character. He will appear as a humanitarian, the world’s saviour, who will bring order out of chaos. Only after he has achieved full power will he begin to reveal his real satanic nature. Rising to world prominence from a small beginning he will, like Hitler, astonish the world with his military prowess. Moving in lightning strokes, he will crush three nations, one after another until the peoples of the world will exclaim in wonder. “Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?” (Rev. 13:4).

Once he has gained supreme power he will throw off his mask and reveal his real nature. Undoubtedly strong opposition will arise against him, but it will be too late to be effective. The antichrist will not hesitate to use the tremendous forces of destruction which have been prepared unwittingly by science for his disposal. After crushing these three nations, his threats of annihilation will probably be sufficient to intimidate and deter any other country which might seek to oppose him.

We believe, therefore, that in our study of the antichrist we should take note of the man Adolph Hitler, who beyond doubt has been a real forerunner of the Beast of Revelation 13. Hitler sought to exterminate a race; he actually succeeded in murdering six million Jews. The antichrist will have the same murderous hatred for the Jews, but in addition will regard all Christians with an implacable hatred and will seek to exterminate them from the face of the earth. Yet as we have said, his real intentions will not be manifest at first. The majority of the inhabitants of the earth will not recognize the real role of the antichrist until it is too late to stop him.

The Young Adolph Hitler

Hitler as a youth showed some good qualities such as his love for his mother. He possessed, however, a vile temper, resented authority, and was dominated with an inordinate pride. These traits made him fertile ground upon which Satan could work. Let us get the story from August Kubizek, Adolph’s sole intimate in his youth.

August Kubizek met Hitler in the year 1904 when the latter was 15 years of age. In his book The Young Hitler I Knew, a simple but extraordinary chronicle, he describes the Hitler of his youth, his impressionable years, of the young man while there was yet some good in him before he became the demonic leader of the German nation.

August was one year older than Adolph when he met him, and for about four years was his constant companion. He says, “I lived side by side with Adolph. In these decisive years when he grew from a boy of fifteen to a young man, Adolph confided in me things that he told no one, not even his mother.”

The occasion of their first meeting was at an opera performance in their home town of Linz. The two found they had mutual interests and they became close friends. August noted that Adolph always appeared meticulously dressed, but did not seem to be engaged in any productive labor. When asked if he attended school, Adolph displayed an outburst of temper. Apparently his attendance at school had ended in disaster. August soon discovered that his new friend was extremely sensitive about questions that did not suit him.

Even though Adolph was high-strung and given to outbursts of temper, the friendship between the two lads was solid, apparently because August was such a patient listener. Adolph loved to talk, and needed someone who would listen to him. He sometimes made a speech accompanied by violent gestures for his friend’s benefit. This seemed to give him an outlet to his tempestuous nature. Adolph was not play-acting in his outbursts; he was always in dead earnest. Moreover, for one who had such little schooling, he possessed a remarkable fluency in expressing his feelings. August writes: “Not what he said impressed me first, but how he said it. This to me was something new, magnificent. I had never imagined that a man could produce such an effect with mere words. All he wanted from me was one thing—agreement.” The antichrist will possess this talent of being able to fascinate people with words.

Adolph completely monopolized August’s time when he wasn’t working. His friendship with him did not leave the youth any time for cultivating other friends. Nor did Adolph have any other friends.

One of the things that struck August was Hitler’s eyes. His face was dominated by his eyes. He had a staring, penetrating gaze. When Adolph first came to August’s house and he introduced him to his mother, she said, “What eyes your friend has!” He recalled that there was more fear than admiration in those words.

Adolph believed absolutely in his own oratory, however high he soared in fantasy. When once he was talking about rebuilding the museum and the railway station, August interrupted him and asked how he would carry out these projects. Young Hitler would throw at him a strange and hostile glance showing that he had not understood his question at all.

Adolph set great store by good manners and correct behaviour, although he thought little of society itself. He was exceedingly careful about dress. Each night he would put his trousers under the mattress so that he would have a faultless crease in the morning. Although he presented a well-groomed appearance, he met with little success in the workaday world. His histrionic talents did not bring him any ready income. Until the Great War broke out, he generally lacked money for food.

One thing August noted that Hitler completely lacked was a sense of humor. His enormous seriousness overshadowed everything else. He was intensely serious in everything he said and did. He could never pass over anything with a smile.

The Father of Adolph Hitler

The father of Adolph, Alois Hitler, was the illegitimate son of a poor servant girl. His illegitimate birth is attested to by the Church Register of the Parish of Stones. The boy took his name from his mother Anna Maria Shicklgruber. The identity of the father was never revealed by the mother. He would have retained this name throughout his life had not a relative left him a sum of money in a will on condition that he would change his name. This act was to greatly please his son who considered the name Shicklgruber uncouth and boorish. No one can say what effect this apparently trivial circumstance had on future world events. Few people at the first took Hitler seriously. If the comic opera name of Shicklgruber had been attached to him, no one is able to guess what the reaction would have been. It would certainly have been used by his enemies to make him appear ridiculous.

Alois Hitler was a custom’s official on the Austrian border at the very spot where Hitler’s tanks would cross in 1938 to accomplish the Anschluss. The father exercised absolute power in the home. Against this autocratic authority, young Hitler soon turned into open rebellion. The father wanted Adolph to become a civil servant. With equal determination Adolph refused to comply with his wishes. Self-will, the dominant characteristic of the antichrist was a trait that appeared early in the life of Hitler.

Alois Hitler died suddenly when his son was 14 years of age. The lad fell into uncontrollable weeping.

Chapter II

Adolph in His Youthful Days

August was often in Adolph’s home. His mother seemed glad that her son had at last found a friend. She often confided in him the worries that her son caused her. Whenever August visited the home, Frau Hitler would never fail to invite him to return.

The mother did her best to reason with her son because of his peculiar and unorthodox ways. She reproached him saying, “Our poor father cannot rest in his grave, because you will flout his wishes. Obedience is what distinguishes a good son. but you don’t know the meaning of the word. That’s why you did so badly at school and why you’re not getting anywhere now.”

August in describing the character of Adolph emphasizes the utter consistency in everything he said and did. There was in his nature something firm, inflexible, immovable, obstinately rigid, which was at the bottom of all his other characteristics. Adolph simply could not change his mind. He was utterly dominated by his own will. Self-will will be the overruling characteristic of the antichrist.

Yet Adolph at this time appeared far from being all bad. He shunned the common vices. He hated drinking and smoking. His brother-in-law Raubal did both; Adolph had no use for him. Once while in Vienna when August was with him a temptress attempted to seduce him. Adolph fled from her as he would from a leper.

What was young Adolph’s attitude toward religion? His forebearers were church-going folk. His mother is spoken of as a pious Catholic. As long as Adolph was close to his mother he was strongly influenced by her devout behaviour. In his early years he showed interest in the church, and the mother certainly encouraged him in this.

Unfortunately the father was a lukewarm church member, and his liberal attitude toward religion soon weaned Adolph from his childhood faith. The school he attended helped. The teacher of religion in the Technical School was as dry as dust, and none of the pupils took him seriously.

By the time August met Adolph, he had ceased attending church. The former attended regularly, and Adolph never tried to dissuade him from going. He told August his mother wanted him to go to church, but he had made up his mind otherwise. August summed up the matter, “Hitler was by no means indifferent to the church, but the church could give him nothing.” Alas! Had he attended a church with a burning message, perhaps the history of the world might have been different.

By the time Adolph left school he was already mildly anti-Semitic. Some of his teachers were openly against the Jews, and he picked it up from them. When August met Adolph, his views about Jewry were beginning to be pronounced. Once as he walked by a synagogue he said. “This shouldn't be here.”

Although Adolph caused his mother much trouble, he still had a deep love for her. Kubizek says. “Adolph really loved his mother. I swear to it before God and man. I remember many occasions when he showed this love for his mother most deeply and movingly during her last illness. He never spoke of his mother but with deep affection. It was her heartfelt wish to see him started on a safe career. When we lived in Vienna, he always carried his mother's portrait with him.”

Adolph and School

How did Adolph do in school? Very poorly; he was an exceedingly difficult pupil. He was passed from the third form only on condition he would continue his studies at another school. Professor Huemir later at the Treason Trial after the unsuccessful Putsch of 1923 gave evidence of his pupil's character. He said: "Hitler was certainly gifted, although only for particular subjects; but he lacked self-control, and to say the least, he was considered argumentative, autocratic, self-opinionated, and bad-tempered and unable to submit to school discipline." Self-will again.

By the time Adolph left school he had a fundamental hatred of it. He cared nothing for the bad reports he received. He had a severe illness at the age of fifteen, and when he arose from his sickbed, he made up his mind never to return. For a time he lived with his mother and let her keep him. It was during this time that August met him.

Adolph and His Strange Love Affair

During the four years of which August writes, Adolph had a love affair with a girl whom he calls Stephanie. The girl was beautiful, well-dressed, and came from a well-to-do family. When Adolph first saw her she was escorted by young lieutenants in their smart uniforms. Adolph living from hand-to-mouth could not hope to compete with them, and this made him angry and depressed.

Stephanie had little idea of how deeply Adolph admired her, but regarded him as a rather shy but tenacious admirer. When she would smile at his inquiring glance, he was supremely happy. His mood changed, and for once the world was good, well-ordered, and everything was right. If perchance her glance was cold, or she ignored his gaze, he was crushed and ready to destroy himself and the world. He wrote poems about her and recited them to August with fervent ecstasy.

He expected Stephanie to reciprocate his love. For a time he put up with the interest she took in others. But this attitude gave way to fits of jealousy. His emotional condition became so disturbed that for the first time in his life he asked August what he should do. So far he had never spoken a word to the girl. August suggested that he seek an introduction. But for some reason Adolph could not bring himself to do it. In his despair he contemplated suicide. Sad. perhaps for millions, that he did not carry out his impulse. But then an even darker thought came to him. Stephanie would have to die with him. He outlined a plan for jumping off the Danube bridge with her. It was a rehearsal of the day when all his dreams would fail; he would destroy himself and were it possible the world with him.

Yet the dark clouds passed, and on another day when Stephanie rode past and threw him a flower from her bouquet, all was well again. This strange romance of fantasy that Adolph carried on for four years falls into the pattern of his character. Adolph had a dream, and he did not want it disturbed. Had he met Stephanie and found her an ordinary human being, the dream would have been shattered. And so he continued to live in an imaginary world, projecting plans, imagining he was married to her and living in a magnificent house. It was all a dream, for he never actually spoke to her.

Adolph was never idle, but what he did seemed to be aimless and without purpose. He engaged himself in drawing innumerable sketches. He drew buildings and edifices. He would redesign and remake the whole city of Linz. Occasionally August would ask him where the money was coming from to finance his grandiose projects. These objections were impatiently brushed aside. But when August persisted in raising the question, Adolph became disturbed. Then he did what other people do when they want to get rich in a hurry—he bought a lottery ticket.

Adolph’s Experience with the Lottery

Now most people when they purchase a lottery ticket dream and hope. But the minute Adolph bought his ticket, he believed all he had to do was to collect the money. His only worry was how to spend it.

While waiting for the drawing, Adolph was in the third heaven of happiness. The first prize represented a considerable sum, and Adolph anticipating that it was already his, determined not to spend it carelessly. He decided that his first investment would be in a flat. The days were spent in planning for the house where he and August would live.

The day for the drawing came. The results can be guessed. Upon drawing a blank, he worked himself up into a consummate rage. Adolph had conditioned his mind to expect to receive the prize, and now he cursed the state lottery as being an utter fraud. Never once did it occur to him that with the number of tickets issued, his chance of drawing the first prize or any for that matter, was hopelessly small. He had taken for granted that the first prize belonged to him. Now no longer would he trust the crooked government that had so wickedly cheated him. Since he lacked the capacity to change his mind once it was made up, he could not adjust to the fact that he had failed to receive the money on which he so surely counted.

The Death of His Mother

It was during the last illness of his mother that we see Adolph Hitler at his best. He had gone to Vienna to study (he was denied admission into the academy of fine arts), when word came to him of his mother’s condition apparently caused by breast cancer. He returned at once to Linz and was informed that the doctors said that the sickness was incurable. This made him extremely angry. He could not reconcile himself with the verdict and considered the doctors at fault. To those who saw him in his excitement, it seemed he was arguing with death.

Yet death was the enemy with whom Hitler had to come to terms. And in his mother’s case he showed that he had the capacity to act as a human being.

So it was that while his mother lingered in her sickness, Adolph seemed transformed. August commenting on his conduct during those days said, “Gone were the problems and ideas which used to agitate him so much; gone were the thoughts of politics. Even his artistic interests were hardly noticeable. He was nothing but his mother’s helper and faithful son.”

This came as a surprise to August who imagined that Hitler had such a low opinion of house chores that his good intentions would not exceed a few well-meant gestures.

But in this he was mistaken. He adds, “I had not realized that his unbounded love for his mother would enable him to carry out this unaccustomed domestic work so efficiently that she could not praise him enough for it.”

Adolph even took an interest in his little sister Paula. He noticed that she was not getting along in school as well as her mother expected. Adolph took her by the hand and led her to her mother’s bedside and made her promise to be a diligent and well-behaved pupil. Young Hitler was still a human being.

But death was approaching, and the hour came when Frau Hitler a Catholic was given extreme unction. When August visited the home for the last time while she was alive, she was sitting up in bed. Adolph had his hand around her to steady her, so the pain would be less severe. The mother waved to August and said. “Guste (the name Adolph called him), go on being a good friend to my son when I am no longer here. He has no one else.” That night she died.

Adolph was so shaken by the loss of his mother that he could scarcely speak. He had lost the only creature on earth on whom he completely concentrated his love and who had loved in return. Apparently he never loved anybody again.

A few days later he signed a request for an orphan’s pension for himself and his sister Paula, which declared that “they are without either of their parents, are minors, and are incapable of earning their own living.” Adolph’s share was 25 crowns a month.

Chapter III

The Strange Incident of the Night

And now we come to the most important incident that August Kubizek has to tell us about the life of Adolph Hitler. This incident explains all that followed in Hitler’s life. I quote word for word his story of what happened on that memorable night:

“It was the most impressive hour I ever lived through with my friend. So unforgettable is it, that even the most trivial things, the clothes Adolph wore that evening, the weather, are still present in my mind, as though the experience were exempt from the passing of time.

“Adolph stood outside my house in his black overcoat, his dark hat pulled down over his face. It was a cold, unpleasant November evening. He waved to me impatiently.

I was just cleaning myself up from the workshop and getting ready to go to the theatre. Rienzi was being given that night.

We had never seen this Wagner opera and looked forward to it with great excitement. In order to secure the pillars in the Promenade we had to be early. Adolph whistled, to hurry me up.

“Now we were in the theatre, burning with enthusiasm, and living breathlessly through Rienzi's rise to the Tribune of the people of Rome and his subsequent downfall. When at last it was over, it was past midnight. My friend, his hands thrust into his coat pockets, silent and withdrawn, strode through the streets and out of the city. Usually, after an artistic experience that had moved him, he would start talking straightaway, sharply criticizing the performance, but after Rienzi he remained quiet a long while. This surprised me, and I asked him what he thought of it. He threw me a strange, almost hostile glance. ‘Shut up!’ he said brusquely.

“The cold, damp mist lay oppressively over the narrow streets. Our solitary steps resounded on the pavement. Adolph took the road that led up to the Freinberg. Without speaking a word, he strode forward. He looked almost sinister, and paler than ever. His turned-up coat collar increased this impression.

“I wanted to ask him, ‘Where are you going?’ But his pallid face looked so forbidding that I suppressed the question. “As if propelled by an invisible force, Adolph climbed up to the top of the Freinberg. And only now did I realize that we were no longer in solitude and darkness, for the stars shone brilliantly above us.

“Adolph stood in front of me; and now he gripped both my hands and held them tight. He had never made such a gesture before. I felt from the grasp of his hands how deeply moved he was. His eyes were feverish with excitement. The words did not come smoothly from his mouth as they usually did, but rather erupted, hoarse and raucous. From his voice I could tell even more how much this experience had shaken him.

“Gradually his speech loosened, and the words flowed more freely. Never before and never again have I heard Adolph Hitler speak as he did in that hour, as we stood there alone under the stars as though we were the only creatures in the world.

“I cannot repeat every word that my friend uttered. I was struck by something strange which I had never noticed before, even when he had talked to me in moments of the greatest excitement. It was as if another being spoke out of his body, and moved him as much as it did me. It wasn’t at all a case of a speaker’s being carried away by his own words. On the contrary; I rather felt as though he himself listened with astonishment and emotion to what burst forth from him with elementary force. I will not attempt to interpret this phenomenon, but it was a state of complete ecstasy and without even mentioning him as a model or example, with visionary power to the plans of his own ambitions. But it was more than a cheap adaptation. Indeed, the impact of the opera was rather a sheer external impulse which compelled him to speak. Like flood waters breaking their dikes, his words burst forth from him. He conjured up in grandiose, inspiring pictures his own future and that of his people.

“Hitherto I had been convinced that my friend wanted to become an artist, a painter, or perhaps an architect. Now this was no longer the case. Now he aspired to something higher, which I could not yet fully grasp. It rather surprised me, as I thought that the vocation of the artist was for him the highest, most desirable goal. But now he was talking of a mandate which, one day, he would receive from the people, to lead them out of servitude to the heights offreedom.

“It was an unknown youth who spoke to me in that strange hour. He spoke of a special mission which one day would be entrusted to him, and I, his only listener, could hardly understand what he meant. Many years had to pass before I realized the significance of this raptured hour for my friend.

“His words were followed by silence.

“We descended into the town. The clock struck three. We parted in front of my house. Adolph shook hands with me, and I was astonished to see that he did not go in the direction of his home, but turned again towards the mountains.

“‘Where are you going now?’ I asked him surprised. He replied briefly, ‘I want to be alone.’

“In the following weeks and months he never again mentioned this hour on the Freinberg. At first it struck me as odd and I could find no explanation for his strange behaviour, for I could not believe that he had forgotten it altogether. Indeed he never did forget it, as I discovered thirty-three years later. But he kept silent about it because he wanted to keep that hour entirely to himself. That I could understand, and I respected his silence. After all, it was his hour, not mine. I had played only the modest role of a sympathetic friend.

“In 1939, shortly before war broke out, when I, for the first time visited Bayreuth as the guest of the Reich’s Chancellor, I thought I would please my host by reminding him of that nocturnal hour on the Freinberg, so I told Adolph Hitler what I remembered of it, assuming that the enormous multitude of impressions and events which had filled these past decades would have pushed into the background the experience of a seventeen-year-old youth. But after a few words I sensed that he vividly recalled that hour and had retained all its details in his memory. He was visibly pleased that my account confirmed his own recollections. I was also present when Adolf Hitler retold this sequel to the performance of Rienzi in Linz to Frau Wagner, at whose home we were both guests. Thus my own memory was doubly confirmed. The words with which Hitler concluded his story to Frau Wagner also are unforgettable to me. He said solemnly, ‘In that hour it began.’”

And thus it was that Adolph Hitler as it were entered into a league with the powers of the dark world. Apparently it was his baptism by Satan. The antichrist when he appears will likewise have a baptism of hell. He will receive his power from the dragon (Rev. 13:2).

Chapter IV

The Man Turns Into a Demon

Hitler went to Vienna, sought admission to the Academy of Fine Arts, but was twice rejected. For five years he drifted from one odd job to another. He copied and peddled post cards, shoveled snow, painted houses, beat carpets, worked as a railroad porter. By reason of his poverty he was forced to live in flophouses and eat in soup kitchens. Hitler had to blame his poverty on somebody, so he blamed it on the Jews. In his Mein Kampf he declares it was at this time that “he became a fanatical anti-Semite.”

Then the great war broke out, and Hitler at last became employable. He joined the German infantry and was delighted with the violence and excitement of battle. At first a message runner, he was promoted to corporal. The defeat that came on Germany in 1918 stunned him.

As Hitler in his despair brooded and prowled the streets of Munich, that strange demon that took possession of him that night in Linz awoke to full power. Suddenly Hitler found that as he orated he could weave people under his spell. He saw he possessed a magnetic drawing power that attracted to him other men who were as unscrupulous as he. After the abortive beer Putsch in 1923, he was sentenced to prison. The driving forces within him inspired him to write Mein Kampf, later to become the Bible of Naziism which outlined an insane plan, first to exterminate the Jewish people, then to expand Germany eastward through Russia and finally to secure for Germany a full place in the sun. He developed his theme of the Aryan nation as the world’s “master race.”

In plain words he planned to build a Hitlerian Utopia by exterminating the people who lived on the land he wanted. The spirit of the antichrist began to develop more and more in Adolph Hitler.

Hitler’s Abhorrence of the Common Vices

Do not look necessarily for the antichrist to be a man given to the ordinary evils. Hitler abhorred the vices in which the man of the street usually indulges.

Otto Dubrich, chief of Press Relations tells of Hitler’s abhorrence for drinking and smoking: “Hitler also despised alcohol, the taste of which was repugnant to him. On ceremonial occasions when he had to drink a toast, his glass was always filled with mineral water. His opposition to smoking was much stronger. He considered nicotine extremely harmful, saying he would offer cigars and cigarettes only to his worst enemies, never to his friends. He forbade smoking in his rooms. At the entrance to his bunker in Berlin there hung toward the end of the war a sign reading: “No smoking.”

It is hard to imagine a greater contrast in one and the same person than that between this frenzied splenetic and the Hitler whose pleasant and likeable traits emerged in conversation or on public occasions. This man, so often brutal, inflexible, senselessly furious, would appear as a deeply sympathetic, artistically sensitive being, the kindly father of his people, ever ready to extend a helping hand to those in trouble. People who had known him only in the second phase could not possibly imagine what the other Hitler was like. Look for this dual nature in the antichrist.

How did it happen that so many people of Germany went along with Adolph Hitler? Indeed as events progressed people followed him with conflicting emotions. But as one great resounding success after another took place, confidence and even enthusiasm grew. “Leave it to Hitler,” gradually became the slogan of the people. Nothing succeeds like success. The people of Europe will watch the brilliant victories of the coming superman as he emerges as a world leader.

The antichrist will have a charmed life until the moment of crisis. Indeed, though “wounded unto death,” he will be restored and will go on to greater things. Hitler impressed the people in his early years as seemingly invulnerable to injury. When his comrades fell around him in the Munich beer putsch he came through unscathed.

Years later he was in an anniversary celebration in Munich. The war with Poland had shortly before come to a successful end, but there were enemies who hated Hitler for leading them into a war. Hitler gave his speech, but it was much shorter than usual. When it was over, he did not take time to shake hands with his old comrades. Something seemed to compel him to leave in a hurry. After his departure the building was swiftly emptied. Only a few comrades and the serving staff were left. Then came the explosion. The bomb had been built into the pillar behind the speaker’s rostrum and had been exploded by a time fuse. Hitler guided by his intuition had left in time, thus saving his own life and that of his entourage.

The German generals had stood against Hitler’s military adventures, but when the Lowland Countries and France fell within a month, Field Marshal Keitel carried away by a burst of emotion coined the fateful phrase: “Mein Fuehrer, you are the greatest military captain of all time.” Six years later Keitel was to hang by his neck as a war criminal.

We shall not go into detail to recount the terrible and depressing story of how Hitler led his nation down the road to ruin in six years of war. The depression which came in 1929 had given him his opportunity. Like the Pied Piper of Hamelin with his flute, Hitler with his spellbinding oratory hypnotized the vast audiences that listened to his harangues. After becoming Fuehrer he unleashed his army of brownshirts who commenced a national campaign of violence. Jews were rounded up, sent to concentration camps, and their businesses confiscated. Later the gas ovens glowed as six million Jews perished. When the antichrist breaks his covenant with the Jews, he will destroy all who will not accept him.

Step by step Hitler faithfully followed his schedule in Mein Kampf The demon in him told him the exact hour to make his moves some of which he made at the most implausible times. The generals were amazed. They were always wrong; Hitler was always right. During the nine years after Hitler came to power, the Frankenstein demon never failed him. By the end of 1941 he had all of Europe under his heel and a large part of European Russia. But then suddenly the devil mocked him. Everything began to go wrong. His guesses were now invariably turning out wrong. He commanded his generals under threat of death not to retreat. As the Nazi war machine withdrew through the Ukraine, he demanded the extermination of the Slavs. Millions of Soviet men, women and children were murdered by the firing squads.

When things begin to go wrong for the antichrist, he will slaughter all who get in his way or who oppose him in the slightest.

Hitler screamed, “I will not yield an inch of ground.” But disaster followed disaster. Vast armies perished on the battlefield while the generals vainly tried to carry out his orders. Hitler listened only to the voice of the demon that was leading him down to hell. The Third Reich which he had said “will last a thousand years” was crumbling on all fronts. Hitler was stunned. “The German people have betrayed me,” he cried. They were unworthy of him and deserved the Allied bombs dropping on their heads. He seemed to have a demoniacal passion to see the world go up in flames along with his blasted hopes.

The German generals tried to assassinate him. They almost succeeded, but not quite. They set a brief case filled with dynamite next to Hitler. Four seconds before the bomb went off a staff officer striking his foot against it, moved the case into another position. The headquarters was blown out and half the roof came down. Hitler was hurled against the wall by the blast, but he was not dead. Foaming with rage he sent the Gestapo into action. Hundreds of army officers were seized, tortured, and hanged by piano wire on meat hooks until they strangled.

As the nightmare world crashed around Hitler he retreated into his world of fantasy. The demon still told him he would be successful. He ordered the Battle of the Bulge, expending Germany’s last reserves. He thought the V-2 would do it. He sent a secret band of commandos to assassinate General Eisenhower. He hired spies to spy on the spies. All in vain.

Only at the end did he begin to see that he was the victim of his megalomaniacal delusion. His arrogancy left him. His dream of world mastery left him. He cowered in his bunker at Berlin, assailed by dizziness and a convulsive twitching. Occasionally he screamed out in his mad frustration. And then as the Russians entered the city limits of Berlin, he gave poison to his mistress and then shot himself. Thus died Hitler, a terrible example of a man who through self-will and rebellion opened himself up to total demon possession. His only useful purpose to mankind: his life revealed to the world how the antichrist will rise to power. If men only learned their lesson they would forestall the rise of this evil genius who is yet to come.

Chapter V

The Rise of the Antichrist

Hitler had three successful blitzkriegs. The first was the smashing and overrunning of Poland in September, 1939. The second occurred in April, 1940, when he swooped down on Denmark and Norway, taking one nation over in the matter of hours, and the other in days. The third was his offensive toward the west in which the Lowland Countries and France fell in a little over a month.

Remarkably enough the antichrist will have three successive victories. Of the ten kingdoms which will comprise his territory, three of these are nations which will resist him. However, he will quickly subdue them, and the others seeing that his power is apparently irresistible, will fall in line:

“And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings” (Dan. 7:24).

Thus it has been with the great dictators of the past. Their aggressions met resistance; but when one nation after another fell, the others were persuaded to accept terms.

It appears that the antichrist will give rather generous terms to both the defeated and those who accept his will. The Beast will negotiate with them and for face-saving purposes make it appear that they are joining him of their own free will. He will invite them as partners to join in an enterprise to bring the world under a united government.

Therefore, it is said that these kingdoms “receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast” (Rev. 17:12-13).

The nations have been in sore distress over world conditions; the chaos, the uprisings, popular unrest, and many will perceive with relief that a strong man has arisen, one that is able to exercise authority and to force compliance with law. Realizing the need of a world government they choose to put their fate into the hands of this new leader, who will be generous enough to allow them to retain what seems to them their sovereignty. And so they lend their power and strength to the beast.

For the past fifty years there have been attempts to establish a world government. After the First World War of 1914-1918, the ill-fated League of Nations was formed. The Second World War of 1939-45 which plunged the nations into a major bloodletting hastened its demise. In its place the United Nations was formed. But it shows no better promise than the first. At its initiation God was entirely left out. For years it was headed by a Buddhist secretary, and Russia has made a mockery of its legislative processes by vetoing one resolution after another passed by its members.

Now Red China, the nation which wiped out 50 million of its own people to establish its authority is part of the U.N. In turn Chiang Kai-shek, the man who accepted Christianity, was forced out.

The Clay and the Iron in the Feet of Nebuchadnezzar’s Image

To understand the prophecies concerning the ten kingdoms of the antichrist we must consider Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the Great Image of Daniel 2. We cannot go into full detail in discussing this dream and its meaning, which we have considered elsewhere (see Volume 1, Prophecies of Daniel Series), but shall touch only on the main points.

Nebuchadnezzar had a dream which deeply impressed him, but upon awaking he had forgotten it. He called for his wise men and magicians to recall the dream, but they were unable to do

this. Being convinced that these sorcerers were charlatans, he commanded that they be put to death. But before the decree could be carried out the news reached Daniel. He chided the haste of the king’s decree and offered to interpret the dream. He was hastily summoned to appear in the king’s presence, at which time, through divine revelation, he not only recalled the king’s dream, but was able to give him the interpretation thereof. After giving God the full credit for his ability to tell the monarch his dream, he proceeded to give a full explanation.

The image, he said, which was composed of four different metals—gold, silver, brass and iron—represented the whole times of the Gentiles, during which four world kingdoms were to appear successively on earth to be finally succeeded by the Kingdom of God.

Daniel went on to explain that the final form of the fourth kingdom (Rome) was represented by the feet and the ten toes of iron and clay. The iron and clay of the toes which did not mix portray the two divisions of the Gentile world at the time of the end. What do these two elements symbolize? Obviously the iron represents fascism and the clay communism—the two great totalitarian systems in the world today. At times the two elements appear to mix and have an affinity; eventually they always come into conflict. It was true in World War I and World War II, and it will be true in the final conflict of Armageddon. Hitler and Russia made a league, but it afterward fell apart—on the 666th day! So it will be with the Beast Kingdom of Revelation 13.

Elsewhere we have written that the ten toes of the image partly of clay and partly of iron represent the kingdoms of the end time. Since there are both iron and clay kingdoms, this indicates that there will be ten kingdoms of iron and, as it seems, ten kingdoms of clay. The kingdoms of clay—the communist countries—already have appeared. They include:

1. Russia

2. Romania

3. East Germany

4. Hungary

5. Czechoslovakia

6. Estonia

7. Poland

8. Latvia

9. Bulgaria

10. Lithuania

Ten kingdoms of iron also exist in western Europe, though not yet under the antichrist. They are united in a NATO defense pact. This organization no doubt is a forerunner of the Western Confederacy. These countries are not named in the Scriptures, but anyone with a map of Europe can make up a list that must fairly well approximate the correct order. There were six nations originally in the Common Market: France, Italy, West Germany. Netherlands, Belgium and Luxemburg. To these recently have been added Denmark, Great Britain, and Ireland. Eventually we shall have ten kingdoms of iron and clay. That these kingdoms will be destroyed at the coming of Christ is predicted by Daniel.

(The eventual ten kingdoms may not be exactly the same in the common market; we await time to tell.)

“And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure” (Dan. 2:44-45).

Common Market Forerunner of the Beast Kingdom

We have shown that the ten-nation confederacy of communism represents the clay in the feet of the image. As noted, those of iron have not yet been completely identified and united into a confederacy, and will not be until the Beast arises and heads it up. Certainly NATO and the Common Market are preparing the way for this ten-nation confederacy.

During World War II, France and Germany were deadly enemies. Would it have seemed possible that within a little over a decade they would join together in any kind of union? Strangely enough these two nations with four others did do this very thing on March 25, 1957, to form what is called the Common Market. And it was signed in Rome by the six nations exactly 6 x 666 days from the time of the formation of the United Nations in April 1946!

Time Magazine (January 12, 1959), knowing nothing of the prophetic significance of the development, did perceive the political importance of the event. It said: “Western Europe began to flex its economic muscles for the first time in a decade and took the biggest step toward unity since the death of Charlemagne, 1145 years ago.” The significance is seen when we remember that Charlemagne was the founder of the Holy Roman Empire! It is a matter of history that the Common Market has proved a tremendous economic boon to Europe. From a state of extreme impoverishment, Europe is now a rival of America in productiveness. She is rapidly cutting into American markets. The Market’s success has made other nations envious. Although the original purpose was to stimulate economic cooperation and end trade barriers, it envisions in the foreseeable future a common citizenship. This will be a clear fulfillment of the prophecy concerning the kingdom of the Beast which will include ten principal European nations.

The Common Market like NATO has also as its purpose to provide a strong bulwark against Soviet Russia and her satellites. Mr. George Bundy special assistant to President Kennedy, speaking before the Economic Club of Chicago on December 6, 1961, stated as reported in U.S. News and World Report:

“It would be better if Western Europe were one great power ... What I am suggesting is that the partnership of freedom now requires the recreation of a central political force in Western Europe. To this general end, Americans of both parties, through three administrations, have given their support, and I believe history will prove the wisdom of this unbroken purpose.

“We have in prospect then, a new Europe, with economic strength, the military self-confidence and the political unity of a truly great power. Since great states do not usually rejoice in the merging of other great states, we shall do well to note briefly why it is in this case, we can feel such confidence. The immediate answer here is in the current contest with the Soviet Union. It is certainly true that we and the free men of Europe have a common interest in the resistance of communist expansion."

This United States of Europe without doubt is preparing the way for the Beast Kingdom and the reign of the antichrist. The union instead of fulfilling the expectations of the United States is rapidly becoming its rival.

Chapter VI

The Revival of the Roman Empire Under the Beast

Now in the dream of Nebuchadnezzar there were to be four successive empires, the last being Rome. The ten-kingdomed empire of the antichrist represented by the ten toes of the image must, therefore, in some way be related to Rome. If it did not have this relation, it would be a fifth, and that cannot be, for the fifth empire is the Stone Kingdom, the Kingdom of Christ.

To understand Rome and how its empire is to be revived, we must not only study the prophecies carefully, but we must know something about the history of Rome. Actually history shows that Rome has been in existence in one form or another all down through the age. When one phase of Roman power fell, it reappeared in another form. Moreover, history reveals that a given form of Roman-power, after its fall, seems to have a peculiar capacity to revive again at a later date.

On the subject of the Roman Empire in prophecy, many theories have been developed, but we shall not deal with opinion at this point. Instead in seeking this information we must go straight into history. To get an authoritative record of the various phases of Roman power during the past centuries, we turn to Encyclopedia Britannica (XIV Edition). There we learn some interesting facts about Rome, which are not too generally known to Bible students.

The Various Phases of the Roman Empire

It is, of course, common knowledge that the first phase of the Roman Empire began at 27 B.C. There had been several political overturnings in Rome’s previous history. It finally wound up as a totalitarian dictatorship under Julius Caesar.

After his assassination there was a fierce power struggle for a number of years, concluding with the establishment of an empire under Augustus Caesar. This imperial form of the empire continued from 27 B.C. until 476 A.D.

As already noted Rome was represented in the image of Nebuchadnezzar by its two legs of iron thus indicating the empire would be divided. This division took place in the fourth century A.D.—almost a thousand years after the prophecy was given. Under the reign of Constantine, the eastern division, sometimes called the Greek Roman empire, was formed.

Elsewhere we have written concerning the Roman Empire in its later forms. Quoting from Encyclopedia Britannica (XIV Edition):

"A new Rome arose by the Bosphorus, and Constantinople became the center of what seemed a second Empire in the East (A.D. 324) ... Yet it cannot be too much emphasized that in reality such language is utterly inexact. The Roman Empire was, and always continued to be, ideally one and indivisible. There were two emperors but one Empire— two persons but one power. This point is of great importance for the understanding of the middle ages: There only is and can be one empire.”

We see that history emphasizes the fact that the Roman Empire was always “one and indivisible.” The Eastern Empire did not come to an end in 476 A.D., when the Western division fell, but continued on for 1000 years. Not until 1453 A.D. did that form of Roman power cease to exist.

The Rise of Papacy

In the fourth and fifth centuries, the Western Empire showed increasing signs of decay. The populace, softened by luxurious living had lost its one-time vigor. Warlike tribes from the north swept down, making devastating inroads. Though Rome tried to ward off her assailants, her foes gave her no respite and in 476 A.D., the imperial empire passed into history.

But while imperial Rome was decaying, simultaneously a new power was rising within her borders—the papacy. Fisher’s History of the Christian Church says on page 95:

‘‘During all these dark days, when Rome and Christian Italy were given over by the weakness of the emperors to the ravages of the barbarians, the Roman Bishop was fearless in defense of the city ... facing all dangers and assuming all responsibilities ... The sceptre which fell from the feeble hand of the emperor, was grasped by him and his successors. Rome in the loss of her old empire found a new and more lasting dominion.”

Thus as the papacy, an ecclesiastical power, began to supersede that of the Caesars, the idea of the Empire continued to be firmly established in the mind of the church. The temporary suspension of the Western Empire’s form by Odacer was but an incident; and at the earliest opportunity the papacy planned and actually did restore the Empire to its former Imperial and temporal pattern. This basic fact is emphasized repeatedly by history:

"The Empire was now the church; it was now indeed indestructible for, if it perished as an empire, it would live as a church. But the church made it certain that it would not perish as an empire for many centuries to come” (E.B.).

Thus when Odacer brought the Western Division of the Empire to an end, it lived on in its Eastern Division—or Greek Roman Empire.

“All that Odacer did, was abolish one of the two joint rulers of the indivisible Empire, and to make the remaining ruler at Constantinople sole emperor ... He did not abolish the Roman Empire in the West: he only abolished its separate ruler, and leaving the Empire subsisting, under the sway of the emperor resident at Constantinople” (E.B.).

To this Empire, whose capital had now been transferred to the East, the papacy was faithful. Constantinople was indeed the “Second Rome”:

“The Popes (were) steadily faithful to the Emperor of the East and his representative in Italy, the exarch in Ravenna" (E.B.).

The Holy Roman Empire

After several centuries of this state of affairs, circumstances developed which made it possible to restore the empire of the West. In the year 800 A.D., the Pope crowned Charlemagne emperor of the Revived Roman Empire of the West.

“In the year 800, central Italy ceased to date its documents by the regnal years of the Eastern emperors; for Charlemagne was crowned emperor in their stead” (E.B.).

H. G. Wells in his Outline of History, page 652, makes this terse statement:

“Thus the empire of Rome, which died at the hand of Odacer in 476, rose again in 800 as the Holy Roman Empire.”

The record of history, therefore, shows us that the center of Roman power returned in 800 A.D. to the West. However, it is important to note that the capital of this revived Roman Empire was not at Rome—although Charlemagne was crowned there—it was at Aix-la-Chapelle, Prussia. That fact is worth remembering.

Charlemagne’s empire did not last long. Within a century it had fallen into various partitions:

“The Empire was finally dissolved, in the sense that the old realm of Charlemagne fell asunder in 888. But the Empire as an office did not perish ... The year 888 is the birth-year of modern Europe. France, Germany and Italy stood distinct as separate units” (E.B.).

During this interval, the modern nations of France, Germany, and Italy were formed. Although there was no emperor at the moment, the office of the Empire in the mind of the world still remained intact. The papacy had now to decide which of these three units was to assume the imperial crown:

“If the conception of the Empire was still to survive, the Pope must ultimately invite the ruler of the strongest of these three units to assume the imperial crown; and this was what happened when in 962, Pope John XII, invited Otto I, of Germany to renew the Roman Empire” (E.B.).

Thus, we see that the center of the revived Roman Empire had now shifted to Germany. Is it not strange that the teaching has gone abroad that Germany was never in the Roman Empire, and thus will not be in the future? Let us quote one more statement from Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol. Il, page 836:

“By far the most important act in Otto’s eventful life was his assumption of the ... imperial crown. His successors followed his example ... and claimed as (their) right coronation by the Pope of Rome. Thus grew up the (German) Holy Roman Empire, that strange state which directly descended through the Empire of Charlemagne from the Empire of the Caesars.”

This German Roman Empire continued its existence until the year 1806, when the French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars resulted in its termination by the resignation of Francis II from the imperial dignity.

At about the same time the papacy suffered a temporary loss of its power, when Napoleon invaded Italy and imprisoned the pope. The papacy recovered its independence in 1814, although its demands for a restoration of the Holy Roman Empire at the Congress of Vienna were denied. In 1849 and again in 1870, the Roman See was deprived of its temporal power. At the latter date, the pope in protest went into self-exile in the Vatican.

Finale of the Eastern Roman Empire

We have already noted that the Eastern Roman Empire came to an end in the year 1453, when rising Turkish power swept into its capital city, Constantinople. Nevertheless, there was an important aftermath related to this event, which is recorded by history although ordinarily overlooked.

Even as the Roman Empire became separated into two divisions—the East and the West—so also the church, identified with this Empire, was divided into two parts. The line of separation corresponded geographically to that of the Empire. Now, as when Western Rome fell, the church survived; even so when Eastern Rome fell, the church survived:

“Yet as when Rome fell, the Catholic Church survived, and ultimately found for itself a new Empire of the West, so when Constantinople fell, the Orthodox Church continued its life, and found for itself a new Empire of the East—the Empire of Russia. Under Ivan the Great (1462-1505), Moscow became the metropolis of Orthodoxy; Byzantine law influenced his code and he took for his cognizance the double-headed eagle.

Ivan the Terrible, his grandson, finally assumed in 1547, the title of Tsar; and henceforth the Russian emperor is, in theory, and very largely in fact, the successor of the Old Eastern Roman emperor, the head of the Orthodox Church ...” (E.B.).

Here is an astonishing footnote to the history of the Roman Empire. The student of prophecy will do well to analyze carefully these facts in his interpretation of prophecies referring to the revival of Roman power. According to the record of history, Russia under the czars became the heir to the traditions, religion, and power of the Eastern Roman Empire. This regime of the czars, however, like other forms of Roman power fell. It was overthrown by the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, and the Greek Church, as an institution of the nation, was in effect practically destroyed.

And thus reads the record of history concerning the rise and fall of the Roman Empire. These are the actual facts that must be considered carefully, if we are to truly understand the picture which prophecy reveals concerning the Fourth Gentile Kingdom of Daniel’s Vision. For there were, we see, no less than four distinct phases in the development of this Empire—the Empire of the Caesars, the Eastern or Greek Roman Empire, the papacy, and last of all the German Holy Roman Empire.

As we have noted, all of these phases of Roman power had declined or fallen by Napoleon’s day. Consequently, prophetic students of the past century, seeing that the Beast power would be in final manifestation at the end of the age, confidently anticipated the revival of Rome. But what form would this revival take?

Revival of Imperial Rome

Now we have seen that Rome continued to exist down through the whole age just as the prophet said it would. One phase would decline and die and a new phase would arise to take its place. But always it was Rome; not a new empire, as had been true in the case of other empires that were represented in the Image. Now the question is if Rome is to be revived again, what form will this revival take?

The amazing fact is that there have already been several revivals! Garibaldi achieved national unity for Italy in the 19th century, but not until Benito Mussolini appeared on the scene did Rome again become a first-rate power. Il Duce rapidly made Italy a military power and began to menace the world with his ambitious plans. He dreamed about the restoration of the ancient glories of Rome, and among other exploits had a statue erected to himself three hundred feet in height. In the 1930’s, Mussolini inaugurated a program for Italy of Napoleonic proportions, considering the meager resources of the country. In October, 1935, he believed the hour to strike had come. Fascist forces called “the blackshirts,” crossed over the Ethiopian border, and defying sanctions by the League of Nations, quickly broke Ethiopian resistance and added the country to his Empire. The following year Mussolini formally proclaimed the restoration of the Roman Empire. An Associated Press dispatch under the date line of May 9, 1936, reads:

“Benito Mussolini, after 15 centuries, proclaimed the restoration of the Roman Empire of the Caesars’ tonight. Decreeing total Italian sovereignty over conquered Ethiopia, and proclaiming Victor Immanuel his king, emperor of that primitive land, Il Duce gave back to his millions of people a reborn empire on the seven fateful hills of Rome.”

From his Palazzo Venzia balcony, standing in the lurid light of the searchlights and flares, Mussolini shouted:

“The Italian people have created an empire with their blood. They will fertilize it with their work, and defend it against anyone with their men.

“Italy finally has her empire. It is a Fascist empire because it bears the indestructible signs of will and power, and because this is the end toward which during 14 years, were directed the vibrant and disciplined energies of the youthful generation of Italy.”

Mussolini added another nation or two to his shaky empire and then made the fateful mistake of joining Hitler’s bandwagon. From then on, the stars were against him. His armies were ignominiously beaten time after time. Hitler, in disgust, had to bail him out in some of his ill-starred enterprises. In 1943, after “seven years” of the “revived Roman Empire,” Mussolini was captured while in ignominious flight, and he and his mistress were executed. He passed from the picture unsung and unregretted. Why did Mussolini fail? The time had not come for the prophecy of the antichrist’s kingdom to be fulfilled.

Revival of the Papacy

Early in the 19th Century the papacy suffered a temporary eclipse. The Pope was made a prisoner of Napoleon. He retrieved its fortunes somewhat, only to suffer a real disaster in 1870, when his temporal dominions were taken from him. In protest, the pontiff declared himself a prisoner in the Vatican until his authority should be restored.

When Mussolini came to power, he startled the world by entering into negotiations with the papacy, with the intent of restoring its temporal sovereignty. Il Duce undoubtedly considered it sound strategy to secure the favor of the Catholic people. The Lateran Treaty was finally drawn up and signed during February, 1929. A square mile of territory around the Vatican was declared independent of Italy. This recreated state was to maintain its own government, send out its envoys and plenipotentiaries, have its own flag, and all the appointments of a sovereign state. Thus another phase of Roman power experienced a restoration.

One thing seems certain: while the various phases of the Roman power have had varied and temporary restorations, the final revival must be of imperial power, for the 13th chapter of Revelation shows the Beast to be a fierce political power that exercises its dominion with a violence unrivaled in all its ugly history of the past.

The Extent of the Antichrist’s Kingdom

From reading Revelation 13:7 it might appear that the antichrist will take control of the entire earth in the literal sense. However, we must interpret Scripture in its own context and according to its own definition. Thus the Bible when speaking of the whole world generally limited the phrase to mean the prophetic world—that portion with which the ancients were familiar. When Luke spoke of Augustus Caesar’s sending out a decree that the world should be taxed, he was referring to the Roman world (Luke 2:1). Certainly it did not refer to the Western hemisphere. Similar statements speaking of the “whole world” were obviously limited to the known world of that time (Rom. 1:8; 10:18; Acts 11: 28). For this reason unless there were positive proof otherwise, we should not assume that the antichrist will have absolute control over every nation of the earth.

Actually Daniel 7:7-8 and Revelation 17:16-17 are clear statements limiting the extent of the antichrist’s kingdom to “ten kings.” This is a powerful empire but does not nearly include the hundred or more major nations of the earth. Of course with present-day possibilities of nuclear warfare, a totalitarian power set on aggression can intimidate nations at a distance and compel their submission without having to leave its own borders. And then too Russia and her confederation of nations will be separate from the antichrist’s, though the two will for a time work hand in hand together. If anything further needed to be said on the subject, we might point out that all the nations of the earth will meet in the battle of Armageddon. If all these armies were under the antichrist system, there would be no foe for him to battle there.

So much for events that have prepared the way for the antichrist’s rise to power. Our next volume will consider the events which will occur during the first three years of his reign.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter I The Forerunner of the Beast

Chapter II Adolph in His Youthful Days

Chapter III The Strange Incident of the Night

Chapter IV The Man Turns Into a Demon

Chapter V The Rise of the Antichrist

Chapter VI The Revival of the Roman Empire Under the Beast