Perhaps no biblical subject attracts more speculation than Armageddon.
Yet, the word "Armageddon" is in the Bible only once.
What does it mean?
How will it affect your life in the near future?
Find out-next, on The Key of David, with Gerald Flurry.
VOICEOVER:The Key of David with Gerald Flurry.
GERALD FLURRY:?Greetings, everyone.
Just what IS Armageddon?
Well, is it going to be World War III that's coming upon us?
Or is it going to be America and Britain fighting against Russia to protect the little
Jewish state in the Middle East?
Well, if we fully understand what Armageddon means, we're probably going to
be astonished at what I'm talking about today,
if we don't really understand it.
So you know and I know that we hear TV commentators talk about Armageddon; quite often it's mentioned.
And it's used a great deal, even though it's mentioned
only ONCE in your Bible, and it's not even an English
word.
So it's a subject that we DO need to understand.
It's very critical because if we don't understand what
Armageddon means, that means we're not going to understand
other CRITICAL prophecies, and we can just end up
believing fables of this world.
During World War I they said, Well, this is the
Armageddon war.
World War II, Well, this is the END of Armageddon.
And there's always been a popular conception that it's going to be America and
Britain fighting against communist Russia.
But what IS Armageddon?
What is it?
Notice Revelation 16 and verse 13.
Here is the only place in the Bible where it's mentioned.
Verse 13 says, "And I saw three unclean spirits
like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out
of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the
false prophet.
(14) For they are the spirits of [demons], working miracles, which go forth unto the
kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them
to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.
(15) Behold, I come as a thief.
Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they
see his shame.
(16) And he gathered them together into a place
called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon."
And the margin often reads Har-Mageddon.
See, there are three demon spirits here though, and think about
that.
They look like frogs, and they're unclean, and
one comes out of the mouth of Satan, the devil-the dragon
(Revelation 12 and verse 9).
Another one comes out of the political beast, and another one comes out of the RELIGIOUS
leader, of all things.
Now, if you look at that you have to say, well, what IS this ALL ABOUT?
What IS God trying to tell us about Armageddon?
It's NOT something that we would normally and routinely understand, for
sure.
But we're living in a time when Satan HAS been cast
down, and he and all the demons are CONFINED to this
Earth.
CONFINED to this Earth, and it's one of the most
grotesque pictures you'll ever see of Satan, and just the
EPITOME of his power that he has.
He has a lot of power.
So if the world really knew Satan and understood him
and understood about this power, and that he is in his
worst wrath EVER on this Earth, well, then they would be
afraid.
They would be afraid, and you can be sure of that.
There is an UGLY picture here of an empire that IS
coming on the world scene, and we need to understand
Armageddon to REALLY understand THAT.
So here is a quote from Herbert W. Armstrong, and he
says this, "First notice that Armageddon is a Hebrew
word, not an English word.
Actually the Hebrew word is HarMagedon," H-A-R-M-A-G-E-D-O-N, "or Har-Megiddo,
and in the Hebrew, the h's are usually not pronounced,
and so are often omitted in the spelling in English.
Megiddo is the Valley of Jezreel, some 70 miles northwest
of Jerusalem, just in from the port of Haifa.
The Hebrew prefix h-a-r, means 'fortified.'
Between World War I and World War II, the British fortified Haifa
at a cost of many MILLIONS of dollars.
Consequently, Megiddo or Megeddon, has now become, in fact, Armageddon."
So when you think about all of this, here you
have these three unclean demon spirits, three unclean
demon spirits, and they're influencing the whole world.
The King
James says three "devils," but it's really "demons," and
here it is, these three unclean spirits that's stirring up
ALL this warfare.
Now, it's done by men as well, but the main motivation behind it are these three
demons, ugly, unclean demons just manifested as the very
POWER of Satan, the devil, who is in his worst wrath
ever, now.
So this is something we need to be concerned
about, and not only are they doing things through Satan,
the devil, but they have POSSESSED a political leader,
the beast, and a religious leader; that's what your Bible
says.
Do we have the courage to FACE these truths in your
Bible?
Now, there's some very good news here, and you'll see
that, the best news you could possibly ever hear.
But when it talks about the dragon and it's all explained.
This is the old Babylonish system pictured in Daniel 7,
Revelation 13, Revelation 17, and there is a fascist
government that's rising in Europe, that old Roman
Empire, and it's going to cause problems like we've never
even imagined.
And unclean spirits are there.
Just think about this.
If Satan has that POWER to actually INFLUENCE people heavily, but even MORE than
that- POSSESS THEM and SPEAK THROUGH THEM HIS OWN
WORDS AND WITH HIS OWN POWER-and use those two
leaders in that way to perform miracles, it says, you can
imagine how effective that will be and why we need to
understand it so much more than what we do.
Just think, these spirits coming out of MEN in this world.
Satan is the god of this world and he has been cast down
to this Earth and is CONFINED to this Earth along with his
demons, and they are just INFESTING this Earth as never
before.
If you've noticed bizarre problems that are off-
the-wall scary, well, then, THAT'S the reason, probably.
This is not a world like it used to be.
Just a few years ago, Satan was cast down and we write about
that, and we'll give you literature that'll explain
that to you.
But this European power is the most EVIL and DANGEROUS empire EVER on this Earth!
Now, you need to understand that because that's what this
is all about.
That's what Satan is doing with these people that are so,
well, so given to his way of life and thinking that they
actually become POSSESSED, and there is tremendous POWER that Satan has over human beings if
he can get them into that mode of thinking.
It is something we don't understand about Satan, the devil.
Often we just look upon him as being some kind of a
joke.
But he is going to show you some of the most barbaric and savage power EVER DEMONSTRATED
on this Earth!
These are POWERFUL scriptures that we NEED to
understand, and we CAN understand.
God has revealed them to us, if only we will BELIEVE what God
says!
But when you get into possession, well, that's a pretty
big problem.
God talks about, let's say, also about the NAME of the battle.
This is certainly very important because people talk about the BATTLE of Armageddon,
but this is the battle of the Great Day of God Almighty!
There is no BATTLE of Armageddon!
This is about the battle of the Great Almighty God in the Day
of the Lord.
That's the day of the Almighty God, the Great Almighty.
Notice Zephaniah 1, verses 14 and 15, let me read that
to you.
Zephaniah 1, verses 14 and 15.
This is about the day of that wrath, and here's what it says,
"The great day of the LORD is near...
(15) That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day
of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess,
a day of clouds and thick darkness," Zephaniah 1,
verses 14 and 15.
So you see, the great day of the Almighty comes
as a CLIMAX, you see, to all this devastation on the Earth
from this wholesale WARFARE, and what is going to
happen?
But see, again, the really great news begins to get into
the CLIMAX of that great day of the Almighty God, and it
IS the very best news we could possibly hear.
But it's the greatest news you could hear, but then what
precedes it is the worst news PHYSICALLY that you could
hear.
So it is a time for us to LEARN what this means
because I mean when you read these scriptures, there's
nothing LIKE them in the Bible, really.
Nothing to compare with them, what is going to happen here at the
very end, and it has everything to do with Armageddon, that
climax does.
So we need to understand that very deeply.
But God sends plagues and all kinds of destruction on
this Earth because of men's WICKEDNESS and their EVIL,
and He lets Satan have HIS wrath during the Great
Tribulation, but the wrath of God IS the Day of the Lord
which comes immediately after the Tribulation, well,
ALMOST immediately.
And then verse 1 through 4 of Zechariah 14, let me read
THAT to you.
Zechariah 14, verses 1 through 4, "Behold, the day of the LORD cometh...
(2) For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the
city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women
ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity,
and the residue of the people shall not be cut off
from the city.
(3) Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those
nations, as when he fought in the day of battle."
See, this is a great war!
(4) "And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before
Jerusalem on the east...."
Now, this is the climactic battle!
But is that good news, when you think about this all-powerful
God Almighty?
And no power even comes CLOSE to His, and here it says He's coming back, and His feet
are going to stand on the mount of Olives in Jerusalem!
And that mount of Olives is going to divide and the
whole picture there of Jerusalem today is going to be CHANGED
very radically.
But what a magnificent rule we're about to experience!
And this is really just another way of expressing the gospel, the good news of the
coming Kingdom of God!
It IS coming, and it's coming very SOON, and you can tie all of this right into
it!
It's all like one package!
And He tells you about Jerusalem being divided right here at the end, just before
He sets His feet down upon the mount of Olives.
Then in Joel 2 and verse 31 it says, "The sun shall be
turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before
the great and the terrible day of the LORD come."
See?
The Day of the Eternal, the time when He sends those
plagues, the plagues on this world.
But before those plagues come, right after the Great Tribulation,
there are supernatural signs with the sun, the moon,
and the stars, and they turn into darkness and you have all
these CONVULSIONS all over the Earth, and great
tidal waves, earthquakes and the like, and that's all discussed
in Revelation 6, [verses] 12 through 17, and
Luke 21, verses 25 and 26.
And if you want to find out about the Great Tribulation, well, you have to go to
Matthew 24.
It's all explained there.
And immediately AFTER that, that's when you have ALL
of these signs in the heavens with the sun and the moon
and the stars turning into darkness.
I mean, this is disrupting this Earth and what's in the heavens,
as well.
But you see, even the CLIMAX of Christ coming to this
Earth, He's going to destroy armies as they've never
been destroyed before on this Earth!
Now, it's not going to happen at Armageddon; that's
where the armies gather, and then God takes them on
down to Jerusalem, and that's where He fights them
THERE and fills the Valley of Jehosphat that comes right
into Jerusalem with blood up to the horses' bridles.
I mean, these are PHENOMENAL acts of God that
are coming upon this world and we need to understand
them.
I mean, there's just nothing like this that God describes,
and He says, look, we're bringing it upon ourselves by
the way we live and creating the nuclear bombs and the
weapons of mass destruction.
And you KNOW men are going to use them; they ALWAYS use the armaments
that they create!
They've ALWAYS done that.
But God says that, see, when they talk about "peace,
peace," SUDDEN DESTRUCTION is going to come.
SUDDEN destruction!
It's going to change overnight and we're going to have to realize that and be
prepared for it.
But can you imagine all that horror and all that
devastation on this Earth?
And you have those warning signs, and UP IN THE HEAVENS, even!
God warns with a message, but then He uses SIGNS in HEAVEN
to DARKEN the sun and the moon and the stars, and there's
never been anything like it!
And God is WARNING them in ways that they will HAVE to begin to see, well,
this is not your routine warning!
This is something we have to understand what prophecies these are.
And you have madmen on this Earth that are almost EAGER
to use those nuclear weapons, some of them just frankly
are not sound-minded people, and they want to use
that.
They think they can somehow conquer and get control
of the world, and God says, oh, it's going to be
very DIFFERENT than what they think.
It's not going to be at ALL the way they think it's going to be.
Well, Isaiah 13, notice this in verse 6, it talks about it
coming SUDDENLY.
But listen the way Isaiah describes this, it all comes suddenly and unexpectedly.
"Howl," he says in verse 6, "Howl ye; for the day of
the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from
the Almighty."
(9) "Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with
wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he
shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it."
(11) And I will punish the world for their
evil...".
God is going to punish the world for their evil,
and you're going to have people HOWLING like suffering
dogs or wolves or other animals, just HOWLING because
of the suffering.
And yet God says, I will protect you from this if you will obey Me and get My message
out to this world to WARN them of what's coming.
That's what He says.
Now, when He talks about howling, God INSPIRED that
through Isaiah, and He doesn't want people to go
through that.
He keeps warning them over and over with a strong message.
And then not only THAT, even with HEAVENLY SIGNS!
And STILL men don't repent!
So He has to go on with the plagues and with His
Second Coming.
That's just the way it is!
God has to send His plagues.
But you can see in Joel 2 and verse 31 that God says the
Great Tribulation is going to come PRIOR to the Day of
the Lord, BEFORE the Day of the Lord.
And THEN you have the heavenly signs, and THEN you have
the Day of the Lord, which is going to last for a year.
The Tribulation will last for two-and-one-half years, and
THEN it will ALL be over, and Jesus Christ's feet will be on
the mount of Olives, and He will RULE this world with a
rod of iron!
He's TIRED of man and His wickedness, and letting man
go His own way and causing so much SUFFERING on this
Earth!
It is INDESCRIBABLE at times.
And thank God it's about to end forever!
That is NOT bad news, that's the most WONDERFUL words you could hear, as far
as good news is concerned.
Notice Luke 21, verses 23 and 24.
This is from the Moffat translation; it's a better translation here,
"For sore anguish will come upon the land and wrath
upon this people.
They will fall by the edge of the sword.
They will be carried prisoners to all nations, and Jerusalem
will be under the heel of the Gentiles till the times
of the Gentiles expires."
Now, God also says in Ezekiel 33 and verse 11, "Why will
you die, O Israel?"
Well, it comes on Israel first, and then it goes on to the Gentiles, and then God is
going to deal with them MOSTLY in the Day of the Lord.
He's going to deal with them, but there are the tribes of
Israel.
There are Britain and America, and also the democracies
of northwest Europe.
But God is going to punish the birthright people FIRST and the scepter people,
and they'll be in that first wave of destruction.
Then the rest of Israel will come at the END of the
Tribulation when the great whore, the armies from the
east come just absolutely leaving Europe like, well, just
totally destroyed.
Matthew 24 and verse 15 says, notice, "When ye
therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken
of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place...."
You see, there's going to be an abomination.
And Luke 21 and verse 20 says that, "... Jerusalem [is]
compassed with armies..."
That IS the abomination, but they are not Arab armies; these are European
armies, that old Roman Empire has been resurrected
and is going to once more attack all parts of the world,
and this time be destroyed forever.
That is coming, and what a great bit of news that is.
God says there's going to be the martyrdom of His saints,
and they're going to make war with God.
And then in Revelation 11 and verse 15 it says this, at
that time Jesus Christ shall return to RULE, "... The
kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our
Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and
ever."
He's going to reign forever and ever.
You see, Armageddon is really the worst news that you
could hear, and yet it's the BEST POSSIBLE NEWS we could
hear, spiritually.
The best possible news!
And if you are apart from God, well, you're going to be absolutely
PETRIFIED by the FEAR that is in this Earth.
We need God!
Only God can solve our problems!
We're going to be shaking in terror if we don't turn to God!
And God says we don't HAVE to go through that.
We can be PROTECTED from that, and He's going to fill this Earth with
happiness and joy FOREVER!
It's going to END all that misery, all the plagues, all the suffering!
God is going to remove that from the Earth.
If you look at the context here, there's just all of this HOWLING going on because
of the suffering.
But right on the heels of that, God is going to
return and His feet are going to be standing on the
mount of Olives, on this Earth!
Now, that is reality!
That's going to happen!
Until next week, this is Gerald Flurry, goodbye, friends.
Request The Prophet Joel to learn about the terrifying time of God's wrath.
Also request Nuclear Armageddon Is 'At the Door,' Zephaniah's Day
of the Lord-It 'Hastens Greatly,' and Daniel Unlocks
Revelation.
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