Identifying the Antichrist

I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, ‘Come and see.’
“And I saw, and behold a white horse; and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him; and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.” (Revelation 6:1, 2)
A few weeks ago, I heard a preacher on television say that after much studying he concluded that the man on the white horse in Revelation 6 is Christ in His second coming. If you read the previous chapter, the Lamb is Christ. That ought to settle something right off. Christ, therefore, would have to have opened the seal and let Himself out. In Revelation 19 John says,
“I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat on him was called Faithful and True…
“…and he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”
The very reason for that phrase is to distinguish the one on that white horse from the man who comes out when the first seal is opened. Satan has always been the great imitator; and the man on the white horse in Revelation 6 is an imitation of the Christ Who appears as the rider in Revelation 19.
The book of Revelation proceeds through seven seals, seven trumpets, and seven vials. The seven seals unleash; the seven trumpets announce; and the seven vials pour out the wrath of God.
A lot of Christians stay confused over the tribulation. There are some of great influence who say, “Try to tell the Christians in China that the church is not going through tribulation.”
Well, nobody wants to tell the church in China or any church that they will not go through tribulation. Jesus said, “In the world ye shall have tribulation.”
To distinguish it from all other tribulations, the Greek used in the book of Revelation speaks of the tribulation, the Great Tribulation. This tribulation, the Great Tribulation, is a tribulation that comes because of the unleashing, as the seals are opened; the announcing, as the trumpets are blown; and the outpouring of God’s wrath, as the vials are emptied. It is a tribulation unlike any ever seen in this world because it is God pouring out His wrath.
The Church is not appointed unto wrath. We are the body of Christ. The saints cannot suffer God’s wrath because the body of Christ suffered His wrath once. He finished it; paid the price for our sins. We, the church, will be lifted out of the way. That lifting out of the way is called the “rapture.”
Tribulation from the world, from the devil, that is okay; that is our lot. We are no better than the Master Who called us, in that sense. But the wrath He bore when He put Himself as a covering between us and the wrath of God must only occur once. Since it has occurred once, we who are in Christ must be taken out of the way before the wrath of God hits this earth. Otherwise, Christ’s body suffers wrath twice.
That is why, to the Thessalonians, Paul took account of the fact that they were suffering tribulation; but he said, “Even if somebody writes to you in my name, do not believe it is that great tribulation, because there is a prior happening that must occur.
“The spirit of Antichrist is at work in the land, but he cannot come to power until the force that restrains him from full revelation is taken out of the way.”
That is the act called “rapture.” “Rapture” simply means “catching away.” You find the word only once in the New Testament. That is in the book of Acts where Philip was caught away from the Gaza Strip and appeared in Jerusalem. That swift movement and placement in another area has come to be used as the word for the “catching away of the saints.”
“When that restraining force is gone,” Paul says to the Thessalonians,” the man of sin shall be revealed.”
The “man of sin” has come to be called “Antichrist,” which simply means “substitute Christ,” or “substitute deliverer.” “Christ” means “Deliverer.” Satan always has his substitutes. Antichrist is a substitute deliverer for the Deliverer Who shall come.
The man on the white horse in Revelation 6 is but the substitute for the One called Faithful and True Who will come. He starts the wrath of God.

“The Tribulation the Great begins.”
The first of seven seals is opened and the man on the white horse comes out. He has a bow and no arrow. He does not come to conquer the world. He comes with an answer to the world’s conflicts, a man of peace.
His peace plan will quickly evaporate and war will follow. That is the second rider, the man on the red horse. Then comes the third seal, a black horse, for famine. He is followed by the pale horse of death. And the tribulation begins to flow in its terrible tragedy. Thank God, we who are in Christ will be gone.
The point I want to make is that the first events of that great outpouring of God’s wrath will be the appearance of this Antichrist, the man of peace, on a white horse, bow and no arrow.
Let me give you some other glimpses of him:

Nebuchadnezzar’s Vision
This image’s head was of fine gold, his breast and arms of silver, his belly and his sides of brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of iron, part of clay.
“Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and break them to pieces.
“…and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.”
“Thou, O king, art a king of kings; for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory…”
“Thou art this head of gold.” (Daniel 2:32-35, 37, 38)
The symbol is of a kingdom on earth, Babylon.
“…After thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee…”
Here the Medo-Persian Empire is perfectly symbolized. Its two shoulders and two arms represent the union of two kingdoms, the Medes, or Iran, and Persians around the Persian Gulf. They were welded together by Cyrus the Great into a combined kingdom, conquering the Babylonian kingdom.
“…Another third kingdom of brass…shall bear rule over all the earth.”
This is Alexander the Great’s Grecian kingdom, which extended its sway until Alexander sat and wept because no kingdoms remained to be conquered.
“And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron” forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.”
This is the Roman Empire, noted for its iron will and rule of law.
“Whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.
“…Whereas thou sawest iron mixed with …clay, they shall mingle…”
Then, we have a mixture of kingdoms: some autocratic, dictatorial, strong as iron like the Roman; others much weaker, but united.
Out of the territory of the iron kingdom, Rome, will come a ten-toed kingdom, a confederacy of kings, and here’s the important line:
“And in the days of these kings…” (the confederacy of ten) shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed.”
That hasn’t happened yet! Therefore, where are we in the prophecy?
If the iron kingdom was the Roman Empire, there has to be a gap between it and the confederacy of ten kings that will put itself together at the time of the end.

The Gap Theory
The authority for the existence of such a gap is given by Jesus Himself when He read from Isaiah in public during the Feast of the Tabernacles;
“And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,
(He read) “ The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captive, and recovering of sight of the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
“to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”
And he closed the book…
And he began to say unto them, “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.” (Luke 4:17-21)
He read from the prophecy concerning the coming Messiah in Isaiah 61, verses 1 and 2:
The spirit of the Lord God is upon me… to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,
Then He stops right in the middle of a sentence, because the next half of the sentence says: “and the day of vengeance of our God;”
He stopped with the passages of healing and joy and setting captives free, looked at His congregation and said, “This day this scripture is fulfilled in your eyes.” Had he kept reading, He couldn’t say that because the day of God’s vengeance had not yet come.
We now know a gap of more than 1900 years has passed and the second half of the sentence is not yet fulfilled. The first coming of Christ fulfilled the first half of the sentence; the second coming of Christ will fulfill the second half of the sentence.
But the prophet saw it from a distance, the way we look at a mountain range.
At a distance, the front hills melt into the back hills and you see them as one silhouette. But as you get close you see the valleys between the first low hills and the ones behind. Isaiah saw the mountain range of the works of Christ. He would come to set captives free, to bring joy, to bring healing. He would also come with a day of vengeance, which we read about in Revelation19. But between those two events, occurring both in one sentence, was a gap, a valley that the Word of God in Christ separated for us. The gap in Daniel works the same way. There is a valley, a span of time, between the iron leg kingdom and the iron and clay feet kingdom.
We now know Daniel is like that, and other verses of scripture will fill in the space in the gap; but in Daniel’s first utterance to Nebuchadnezzar he simply sees the head, the beast, the sides, the legs that flow from this kingdom of evil, and he skips over the gap and makes one large leap, that, in the last days before God sets up His stone kingdom which is forever, there will be formed a confederacy of ten nations.

Daniel’s First Vision
In Daniel 7, Daniel has a vision of four great beasts coming up from the sea.
Instead of an image like a man, we have a succession of beasts. This prophecy comes after prophecies that define the kingdom as beastly, so beasts are very fitting.
The first was like a lion.
Behind it, another beast,
“…like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh.”
From a lion to a bear. The Medo-Persian Empire interestingly symbolized as it happened, raising up on one side high than the other, because Cyrus first united the Persians; and the stronger Persians conquered the Medes, “with three ribs in its mouth. “ You can trace the three great victories that brought the Medo-Persian Empire to fulfillment. It is symbolized in this bear.
“After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it.”
This is a strange leopard beast with four wings, four heads, and it had dominion.
“After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and breaks into pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.”
This has come to be known in history as the indescribable or nondescript beast. Instead of the ten toes on the image, here we have ten horns on the beast.
Now we see some greater detail. It’s like moving toward that mountain range where you can start to see the valleys.
“I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another little horn…”
Among the ten, there arises an eleventh kingdom, the “little horn” which represents an emerging kingdom. It grows up in the territory wherever the ten-horned or ten-toed confederacy spreads itself.
“…before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn (the little one) were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.
“I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow and the hair of his head like the pure wool; his throne the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.
“A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.” (Daniel 7:8-10)
He talks of the eternal kingdom that follows. Then:
“I Daniel was grieved in my spirit in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head troubled me.
“I came near to 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.” (Daniel 7:15-17)
There is one school of prophecy which contends that these beasts cannot be identical to the image of the head, shoulders, sides and legs because at the time of this vision, Nebuchadnezzar was already dead. Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom had already been formed and his successor was there. It was the first year of Belshazzar. If Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom was already fulfilled, how could the lion refer to Babylon? Because it says, “these kingdoms shall arise,” future tense. You don’t say, “These four beasts are four kingdoms that shall arise,” when one of them is already established.
That’s why the King James needs some explanation.
In every usage, the verb being translated “shall arise” exclusively means,”to get up to leave.” It does not mean “shall come into existence.”
“Shall arise,” in the original verb, is exclusively used to translate “someone who gets up in order that they might leave.”
In other words, it could be translated, “These are four kingdoms that shall say, “Let’s go. Let’s pass from the scene.’” That is very important.
Babylon was there; but it hadn’t yet “gotten up to go.” It thought is was around forever. But the beastly vision announced that there were four kingdoms, including the existing one, Belshazzar, successor to Nebuchadnezzar. Each one was going to get up, on the stage of history, and leave. But there was also coming a kingdom that shall never get up to leave.
Just as the iron legs of the first vision represent Rome, so does the nondescript beast of this vision. This little horn uproots three of the ten that grow out of the nondescript beast. As the feet and toes are attached to the iron leg, the horns grow out of the nondescript beast. The ten toes and the ten horns are a confederacy of ten kingdoms.
In the beastly vision, in the day of the ten-member confederacy, an eleventh one which is not very big, a “little horn,” will rise up, uproot three of the ten, and have absolute power for three and one-half years. The little horn is none other than the Antichrist. Then he will be put down, as the kingdom of the saints, which is the equivalent of the stone kingdom, is established to last forever.
The first vision says the time of the end is when this confederacy form. The second vision lets us know that before the time of the end comes, one little kingdom, Antichrist, will rise up, overthrow three other kingdoms, set himself up against God Eternal and be destroyed.

Daniel’s Second Vision
Imagine that prophecy is like a telescope exchanged for binoculars, then for a microscope as you get closer. Each successive movement forward gives more detail.
Nebuchadnezzar’s image didn’t show the gap. Nebuchadnezzar’s image didn’t show the little horn and the specifics of his power after uprooting three. The beastly prophecy didn’t show the gap; but the beastly prophecy added the detail of the little horn and the uprooting of three.
In Daniel 8, we move the telescope closer. Instead of seeing all four empires with the fifth one as the outgrowth in the last days, he concentrates on just two: the Medo-Persian and the Grecian empires. The importance of this prophecy is it will let us locate where the little horn, Antichrist, will come from when he appears.
This vision focuses on just two kingdoms, those that have been called the silver and brass, the bear and leopard. They now become a ram and a goat. Medo-Persia as the ram is perfectly described. It has two horns, because it was a combined kingdom. The last one, the younger horn, rises up higher than the older one. The Medes, modern Iran, were breaking the back of Assyria, and creating the vacuum into which Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom could move, before the warring tribes around the Persian Gulf were even united.
The Medes were the older part of the kingdom. The younger part, united under Cyrus around the Persian Gulf, once united, overpowered the Medes. So the younger horn grew higher than the other, but it’s a two-horned kingdom.
“I saw in a vision…I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and behold, there stood before the river a ram which had two horns: and the two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last.”
“I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward; so that no beasts might stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand; but he did according to his will, and became great.”
Powerful! The Medo-Persian Empire under Cyrus conquered Babylon and seemed to feel no resistance. Then, suddenly:
“And as I was considering, behold, a he goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground [it was moving so fast]: and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes.
“And he came to the ram that had two horns… and ran unto him in the fury of his power… and smote the ram, and brake his two horns: and there was no power in the ram to stand before him, but [the goat] cast him down to the ground, and stamped upon him: and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand.
“Therefore the he goat waxed very great: and when [this goat] was strong [in his prime] the great horn was broken; and for it [in the place of the great horn on the goat] came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven.
“And out of one of them [out of one of the four horns which replace the notable horn on the goat] came forth a little horn, which waxed exceedingly great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land.” (Daniel 8:1-9)
Once again, a little horn is identified, except that this time it is a horn which grows out of the four replacement horns of the goat. That little horn rules until Christ sets up His final kingdom. The little horn of Daniel’s beast imagery which comes up out of the ten-member confederacy and rules three and one-half years is Antichrist. In this prophecy, the little horn that comes up in the midst of the four horns on the head of the goat is the same person, Antichrist.
This prophecy, like the other, is interpreted by an angel.
“And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king. Now that being broken… four stood up for it, four kingdoms…” (Daniel 8:21, 22)
Alexander the Great, the first king of the Grecian Empire, swept across Asia and conquered Medo-Persia, but was cut off in his prime. In his place four generals rose up. Two of them played a prominent part in the history of Israel, the Seleucid kings that ruled the area of the Middle East form Babylon to Turkey including Lebanon and Palestine, and the Ptolemys who ruled Egypt. They entered into well known modern history when the Seleucid king gave his daughter Cleopatra in marriage to the Ptolemy ruler of Egypt.
After Babylon, the gold kingdom, came the kingdom of silver, came the brass which was Greece; and after Greece, iron legs, again two parts; the Roman Empire broke into two parts. Then, there is a gap necessitated by the conclusions of the time of the confederacy.
So, in three separate passages in Daniel, we are told that before the end occurs, a ten-member confederacy must form. A little kingdom will arise up out of the area of Alexander the Great’s four-part kingdom and uproot three out of that confederacy; then, he, Antichrist, will be given power by the others.

The Beast of Revelation 13
The beast of Revelation 13 symbolizes earthly kingdoms. But, we have to set the beast of Revelation 13 in the context of the previous beasts.
“I saw upon the sand of the sea [symbolic of all peoples] a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
“And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard [which brings us back to the symbol of Alexander the Great’s kingdom], and his feet were as the feet of a bear [which brings us to where the feet sit on the ground, symbol of the geographic placement of this beast, the territory of the Medo-Persian Empire.
The territory of the Medo-Persian Empire was centered from the Persian Gulf, Iran, to Palestine on the coast. The center for the Grecian Empire was a little farther west; although, before his death, Alexander the Great moved his capital to Babylon. Though the Roman Empire reached to and exerted its influence on the territories of each of its two predecessors, its center of gravity moved to the west. The importance of the beast in Revelation 13 is the center of power for Antichrist. Though having the nature of the leopard, its feet will be planted where the bear was.
There are so many books identifying Antichrist as everybody from the Pope to Hitler to Mussolini. There are all kinds of “former” best sellers identifying Antichrist which are now in wastebaskets. He is not here yet.
Furthermore, in spite of movies suggesting otherwise, Antichrist is not some laser-beam eyeballed kid growing up in some little village somewhere dissolving his sister with a glare.
Antichrist will be a very normal person, growing up in a nation destined to play the little horn role. He will perform, no doubt, a very normal act of patriotism as he uproots three kingdoms in the little area war which he uses to establish his position.
Indeed, he may even come up with his peace plan before the event happens which makes him go into perdition. That happening is an act of demon possession. A beast out of the bottomless pit will ascend; and enter into that man who is already in his position of earthly power. That demon will possess him and take him to perdition. Until that is seen, certain prophecies about Antichrist cannot be understood.
The center of this beastly kingdom of evil, which is like the leopard with its speed and power of movement, but with his feet planted where the bear is geographically, will be in the area from Iran in the Persian Gulf area through Palestine. Do not expect the center of it to be in Geneva, in Berlin, or even Moscow.

The Mystery religions of Babylon
And out of Babylon comes the substitute doctrine of Nimrod and his evil wife Semiramis, whose doctrines, through the Mystery religions via Pergamus, have dominated most of the religious would including much of Christianity.
Each year as we approach Christmas, that heathen holiday, “Christ’s mass,” I teach on the Babylonian religions. “Mass” is from the word “massa” which were the little cakes that the women in Egypt and Babylon baked for the Queen of Heaven. Jeremiah condemned that action.
The doctrine which has divided the church more than anything else is over whether or not when you take communion you eat an emblem symbolizing a covenant act of Christ, or whether you partake of a transubstantiated, miraculous substance that has you literally eat the flesh and blood of Christ. That “transubstantiated” theory is a Babylonian doctrine. Christ used the Passover as His takeoff point, and when He offered the bread His body was intact, and when He offered the cup, His blood was intact. .If you take off the blinders of medieval concessions to Babylonian religion, the symbol, rather that the substance, is obvious. But the Mystery religions of Babylon have conquered.
Christ was born in the fall of the year. That is proved by deduction from scripture. The time of the birth of John the Baptist, proven from scripture, was in the spring, six months prior to Christ. Christ was born in the fall. The Pope knows He was born in the fall; but we celebrate Christmas December 25th, which is the birth of the Saturnalia. It is a Mystery religion add-on.
Do you know where the word “cannibal,” depicting those who eat flesh, comes from? It is a cognate of the old Chaldean two-word phrase, “K’hunnah-Baal,” meaning priests of Baal.
It is that substitute religious system, that substitute belief in the incarnation where Tammuz was conceived by a sunbeam, that religion of ritual and works which comes form Babylon, Satan’s caricatured substitute for Christianity, which is the voice of Babylon.
The beast’s geographic territory will be that of the Medo-Persians. Its methods of conquering, movement and power will be that of ancient Greece.
“And the dragon [Satan] gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
“And I saw one of his heads [one of the seven] as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.” (Revelation 13:2, 3)
Now, in this verse, Antichrist, who is the little horn and the man on the white horse, is somehow related to this beast of Satan-controlled kingdoms on this earth, which has his head wounded unto death and is suddenly restored. So the wounded head is another analogy to the little horn, and the analogy to the man on the white horse in Revelation 6. This wounded head is restored.
This final opposition to Christ’s reign on this earth, which we call Antichrist, can only be understood when you connect all the symbols.
He is symbolized as the man on a white horse who comes with a peace plan.
He is symbolized as the little horn who in the last days, out of a confederacy of ten, uproots three and then is given, by the others of the confederacy, his kingdom.
Now he is symbolized as a wounded head that is restored.
When John Kennedy was shot, preachers in pulpits all over America were preaching, “John Kennedy may be the wounded head that will rise.” Then when Robert Kennedy was shot, sermons began to be preached on the wounded head that will rise. Then, when it was rumored about a year ago that Khadaffi was shot and was recovering, we had another “wounded head.”
There are more funny theories circulating on this “prophetic Love Boat” than you can shake a stick at. And you can never understand these prophecies until you link them all together.
In Revelation 17, the same beastly kingdoms are portrayed:
“There came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and he talked with me, saying, “Come hither; I want to show thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters.”
He comments about the kings of the earth. Then he begins to interpret this beast, which is the same beast described in the 13th chapter, the “beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.” It’s the same beast. That beast of Revelation symbolizes in one great beast what the separate beasts have broken down into part. The angel says,
“I will tell thee the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.”
“The beast that thou sawest was and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
“And here is the mind of wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sitteth.
“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.” (Revelation 17:7- 11)
Now, to see what that is referring to we need to go back to the seventh verse.
“The angel said unto me…I will tell thee the mystery of the woman…” (Which I can tell you is the false church) “…and of the beast that carrieth her, which beast hath the seven heads and ten horns.
“The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder…”
“The beast that thou sawest was… (That is pre-John) and is not. (He’s not around ruling when John is writing this) And shall ascend… (That means he is yet to come. Where does he come from?) …out of the bottomless pit, and shall go into perdition.”
There is only one word in the New Testament that, translated variously, is “darkness,” “pit,” “bottomless pit,” and occasionally, “abyss.” When Jesus was walking around Galilee, He came upon a demoniac. The demons in that person recognized Christ and said, “Are you come to send us to the abyss before our time is due?” They knew about the bottomless pit.
In this same book of Revelation, out of the bottomless pit, after the 144,000 are sealed, will come a smoke that releases demons with the power to bring pain, but not death, across the earth. And when Armageddon is finished in Revelation 19, the 20th chapter opens and John says,
“I saw an angel come down from heaven having a great chain in his hand, and he laid hold on… that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan,” binds him a thousand years and casts him into the bottomless pit.
The word used is this same word, “abyss.”
On this beast that has seven heads and ten horns at the time of the end, consistent with the other imagery, one of the heads creates a mystery in the first scene because it is wounded unto death, and then it reappears.
The angel say,
Let me explained what that one of the seven heads which you see wounded unto death and then reappearing is:”
“It is a head that ‘was before’ you were looking at this scene, John. It ‘is not’ now while you are looking at this scene, John. But after you, John, somewhere in the future, it ‘will arise again’ out of the bottomless pit and go into perdition.”
The wounded head, which is a symbol of Antichrist, is not some human ruler who survives an assassination attempt. The wounded head is one of these seven kingdoms symbolized by the seven heads on the beast.
The head, a historic kingdom, existed prior to John, was wounded or stricken and was not in any ruling position when John was alive. We know where it was because, when it reappears, it will come out of the bottomless pit. So, one of these heads of the seven kingdoms was stricken and put in the bottomless pit; was in the bottomless pit when John saw that vision; but at a future time, it will come out of the bottomless pit, go into perdition, and become the power or head over the last Antichrist kingdom.
So this beast that was and is not and will be again is none other that a demonic force which ruled one of these seven kingdoms. He is in the bottomless pit at the time that John prophesies; but will be released out of the bottomless pit. He well literally possess the little horn, the man on the white horse who comes forth as Antichrist. When that demon enters into Antichrist, he will go into perdition and become the evil figure of the end which explains why both Daniel and Revelation speak of great miracles performed by this Antichrist.
Angels are too often caricatured as little cupids with ‘fluffy-dove’ wings.
One third of Heaven’s angels rose up in rebellion after the crowning cherub Lucifer, and were cast out of Heaven. And since Adam gave up his dominion on earth, the prince of the power of the air has been ruling and will rule until the fulfillment of the passage in Revelation where Michael is turned loose to cast him out of the heavens. He is there appearing with the sons of God to accuse Job. Nothing about his capacity to accuse has changed. The only thing that has changed is that those who are in Christ now have an advocate with the Father, defending them against those accusations, covering them with His own atonement. Satan is still the prince of the power of the air; demons are still very much alive.
Those demon forces will have their last orgy during this tribulation period.

Daniel’s Prayer
In Daniel, chapter 10, the Medo-Persian kingdom ruled. That is the “silver” kingdom, the “ram,” the “bear,” one of the seven heads, symbolic of the Medo-Persian kingdom, was in command.
Daniel was praying. An angel appeared and said,
“Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thy heart to understand… I am come for thy words.
“But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes came to help me… (Daniel 10:12, 13)
He refers to Michael as a chief of princes, which removes any doubt about where the princehood was seated. He was not talking about an earthly king of Persia. He was talking about a prince of evil, a lieutenant of Satan, the prince of the power of the air. He was referring to the same kingdom that Paul was when he said, “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but wickedness in high places.”
A lieutenant of Satan was the true ruler of the Medo-Persian kingdom, the beastly bear. And that evil demon force had such an envelope of power that when Daniel, who was in the city of the kingdom of Persia, prayed to the Eternal God, and received an answer delivered by an angel, that angel must fight his way through those powers and get help from Michael to be able to get to Daniel.
Then the angel said, “Having delivered the message to you, I have another one.” Furthermore, he pointed out, “Michael owed me one.” He told of a time when Michael had a battle and this angel had stood with Michael in that case. So the score was even.
The modern mind can hardly conceive of these warfares between demons and angels in the fight of the Ages. But Daniel makes it clear that there was a prince of Persia, not a human prince, but an evil spirit, because he was resisted my Michael, prince of princes, whom we know is an angel. And kept this angel from getting there for three weeks.
Now comes the good news. This angel says,
“…and now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia: and when I am gone forth, lo,the prince of Grecia shall come.” (Daniel 10:20)
Now, we have an explanation of why the ram, which had power no one could resist, Persia, suddenly, with no explanation, became powerless; and the goat came, so powerful nothing could stand in its way. What is the explanation?
In between the ram, Medo-Persia, and the goat, Greece, there was a loss of power because of the conflict between angels, when the messenger to Daniel goes, joins Michael, and beats the whey out of the prince of Persia. Then a new demon force, called the “prince of Grecia,” empowered Alexander the Great, which explains his amazing military conquering of the world, sweeping across Medo-Persia without any resistance.
Now, when you read about the notable horn of the goat being broken off and replaced by four, it is prophetic of Alexander the Great who was cut off in his power and replaced by four of his generals. Scripture makes it clear that they would have his territory, but not his power. Why? Because the prince of Grecia, who gave power to the notable horn, Alexander the Great, is wounded and put in the abyss. He is the demon being that will be released during the tribulation, come out of the bottomless pit, and enter into a new world ruler, Antichrist, the little horn, the man on the white horse with a bow and no arrow. When that same demon that empowered Alexander the Great, called the “prince of Grecia,” enters into Antichrist, whoever he may be, the wounded head will be restored. Antichrist, under full demon force, will be in place.

The Seven Heads
When John said all this, five were fallen, one was, and another was yet to come. Before Rome, which was, only Greece, Medo-Persia, and Babylon were identified by Daniel. Where are the other two?
In Daniel, because the prophecy starts with the head, Babylon, that section of history is focused on. What follows in the third prophecy is narrowed to Medo-Persia and Greece. In the beast of Revelation we have the full picture of the beastly kingdoms under Satan’s power that oppress God’s chosen people, including the two previous kingdoms which complete the history of those beastly kingdoms that oppressed the seed of Abraham: first, Egypt; then Assyria which carried the northern kingdoms and most of Judah into bondage; then Babylon is number three; Medo-Persia is number four; Grecia is number five; Rome, the nondescript beast, is number six; then there will come a short-time ruler, followed by a ruler into whom the same demon that possessed Alexander the Great will enter. Where will Antichrist come from? He will come from the territory of this ten-member confederacy and he will not come through world war.
Now, there seems to be a great fear that some kind of nuclear holocaust is going to wipe us off the face of the earth, or that some world war will come, or that the time of the end will begin when Russia comes down on Lebanon or the Middle East.
Though no man knoweth the hour of His appearing, you can know when it’s at the door. Therefore, take heart. We’re not going to blow ourselves up this year. There isn’t going to be a world war. There won’t be a nuclear holocaust. But we are going to learn about a kingdom which is forever.
The end of time is not going to approach until a little horn, in a local war, uproots three members of a ten nation confederacy. That war is placed through the ram and the goat prophecies in the territory of the Seleucid horn of Alexander’s kingdom. Don’t look for it in a split-up in the Common Market. Keep your eyes on the conflicts in Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, southern Turkey, Trans-Jordan, for that is the Seleucid kingdom. Look for a confederacy to be formed encompassing that area. Then, when one rises up in a local war, not a world war, and uproots three of the horns that comprise the confederacy, we’re at the door of the end.
Know this: Antichrist will not be revealed until the Church that restrains him is taken out of the way, but he’s got to be at least close enough that we can identify at least the initial shadowy elements of a forming kingdom into which he will move, uproot three, and be given power by the others. Then the demon which empowered Alexander the Great will come from the pit, possess him and lead him to perdition.
By Dr. Gene Scott A transcribed message preached in September, 1987