TODAY'S TECHNOLOGY IN BIBLE PROPHECY


Lesson 29: Red China's future leading role in establishing a powerful world government.

  I  Setting:

     A  Red China will emerge from the Sixth Trumpet War as
        the world's most powerful nation.

     B  The margin of her military triumph will place the
        Chinese in a position to dominate the decimated
        nations.

     C  According to Scripture, China will promptly launch a
        movement that will set the stage for the entrance of
        the last beast.

 II  What biblical evidence shows that Red China itself will not
     be the last beast?

     A  Daniel's introduction of the Fourth Beast (7:7) elimin-
        ates this possibility since China is one of many nations
        ruled by a communist form of government: "and it was
        diverse from all the beasts that were before it"
        (Dan. 7:7).

     B  Clearly the Fourth Beast's instrument of government will
        not be patterned after a political system used by one of
        the first three beasts.

     C  Red China alone then, is not the "dreadful and terrible"
        (Dan. 7:7) Fourth Beast, but only the first stage of the
        last beast's development.

     D  Satan will use Red China's might after the Sixth Trumpet
        War to promote his plan for the construction of a world
        government "over every tribe and people and tongue and
        nation" (Rev. 13:7, IGENT).

III  The Fourth Beast's rise to power.

     1 And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten
     horns and seven heads, and on the horns of it ten diadems,
     and on the heads of it names of blasphemy (Rev. 13:1, IGENT).

     A  What biblical evidence identifies the beast about to be
        described as the Fourth Beast in Daniel's vision of the
        four beasts?

        1  "And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea," matches
           the language Daniel used to describe the world's last
           four power structures: "And four great beasts came up
           out of the sea" (Dan. 7:3, RSV).


        2  John employed the same wording here to show that the
           beast about to be described will be the same Fourth
           Beast introduced in Daniel's four beasts vision.

     B  How will the Fourth Beast be very similar to the Great
        Red Dragon beast?

        1  It will use the same structural alignment of the
           nations and the institutions and facilities of the
           seven heads and ten horns to carry out the actual
           governing processes.

        2  According to Scripture, the Fourth Beast will
           continue to refine the bureaucratic machinery of
           these powerful international organizations until it
           eventually succeeds in bringing all the world's
           nations under its control.

     C  As the Fourth Beast power structure takes form, the
        previously crowned seven heads will be overshadowed by
        the organization represented by ten horns as these ten
        nations rise to greater heights of influence.

     D  The names of blasphemy against God show the seven heads
        defiantly presuming the rights and qualities of God.

        1  For example, despite God's prophecies warning them not
           to set up a godless international government, they will
           dismiss God as less than their equal, and do so anyway.

        2  Keep in mind that Christians will preach against the
           evils of a world government before it is set up, and
           while it is being established.

        3  The world leaders who will set the new world order in               motion will not do so in ignorance.

     2 And the beast which I saw was like to a leopard, and the
     feet of it as of a bear, and the mouth of it as the mouth
     of a lion.  And the dragon gave to it the power of it and
     the throne of it and great authority (Rev. 13:2, IGENT).

     A  Why are the first three beasts in Daniel's vision of the
        four beasts--the British lion, the Russian bear and the
        Arab leopard--symbolically merged here?

        1  The imagery shows the important contribution each
           will make to the construction of the last beast.



        2  The imagery also reveals the power sharing relation-
           ship between the international government and the
           world's newly established superpower, Red China.

     B  How does the language of this text show that Red China
        will give man's final world government its power, its
        throne and its great authority?

        1  The language "like" a leopard, feet "as" of a bear,
           mouth "as" the mouth of a lion shows that the nations
           and power structures represented by this imagery will
           have some say as to how the world government will
           operate.

        2  But when it comes to the dragon there is no
           equivocation--the dragon "gave."

           a  In other words, the dragon will set the beast up
              and control it.

           b  China's newly acquired position of undisputed
              superpower will convince the rest of the world's
              nations to submit to China's grand plan for a new
              international order.

        3  In view of Rev. 12's forewarning that Satan will
           select China to champion his goals during the great
           tribulation, what will be the hidden agenda of this
           new world order?

           -  Behind the scenes Satan will use China's control
              of the nations through the institutions of the
              newly established world government, to push his
              all-out war against Christianity.

     C  The Arab leopard beast's contribution to the formation
        of the new world order.

        1  What will be the world's number one need after the
           Sixth Trumpet World War?

           -  To rebuild the world's international economy.

        2  After the Sixth Trumpet War, why will the Arabs
           be able to successfully bid for a central position of
           power in the formation of the last beast?

           a  After the trumpet wars much of the world's oil
              industry will lay in ruins.


           b  The Arabs control 62% of the world's known oil
              reserves.

           c  Historically, Western Europe imports 60% of its oil,
              Japan 90%, and in recent times U.S. oil imports have                climbed as high as 70% of America's needs.

           d  Red China's military might will not jump-start the
              international economy.

           e  Clearly, the world's reconstruction efforts in the
              post-Sixth Trumpet War period, will depend on vast
              quantities of easily accessible Arab oil.

     D  The Russian bear's contribution to the formation of the
        new world order.

        1  Daniel's description of the Fourth Beast says, "It
           devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue
           with the feet of it" (Dan 7:7).  "And it shall devour
           the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break
           it in pieces" (Dan.  7:23).

        2  The Fourth Beast's feet "as" of a bear shows that the
           Soviet's law enforcement system will be the main
           Russian contribution to the one-world government's
           three-and-one-half year reign of terror.

        3  In the decades following the 1917 Bolshevik
           Revolution the feet of the modern Russian bear (the
           Russian Red Army and the Soviet State Security
           Committee [KGB]), perfected communism's procedures
           for eliminating "undesirables" and violating human
           rights.

        4  According to John's symbolic comparison, man's future
           world government will pattern its law enforcement
           system after the violent methods used to control the
           Soviet people from 1917 until the collapse of the
           Soviet Union in 1991.

     E  The British lion's contribution to the formation of the
        new world order.

        1  And the mouth of the last beast is "as the mouth of a
           lion," a mouth that will speak in English.

        2  Why is it not surprising that English will be the
           official language of the world government?


           a  English is the language of diplomacy, business,
              and the international scientific community.

           b  It is also the dominant language of medicine,
              electronics, aviation and space technology,
              international advertising, radio, television,
              and film.

           c  English is the world's most studied language.

           d  Eighty percent of Russian children study English
              starting in the fifth grade.

           e  By 1985, 250 million Chinese were actively
              learning the language--more than the number
              speaking it in the U.S.

           f  Six years of English language are required in
              Japanese schools.

           g  In Western Europe it is the second language of
              most bi-lingual people.

           h  Modern India, with 179 different languages, relies
              on English to unify the country.

           i  Perhaps most significant of all, English is the
              medium for 80 percent of the information stored in
              computers around the world.

        3  What evidence reveals that only God could have known in             John's time that an insignificant island on the edge of             the European continent would one day field the universal             language of the nations?

           a  John recorded this prophecy 19 centuries ago
              during the time of the Roman Empire--a time when
              Britain was nothing more than an outpost on the
              fringe of the civilized world.

           b  In John's day the people living in the British
              Isles did not speak English.

           c  It was almost 400 years after John wrote the
              Revelation that English finally arrived as a rude
              tongue spoken by obscure Germanic tribes who
              invaded the Isles in oared warships.

           d  Yet, 1,500 years later, the English language
              encompasses the globe.

 IV  The head with the stroke of death that was healed.

     3 And one of the heads of it as having been slain to death,
     and the stroke of the death of it was healed.  And all the
     earth wondered after the beast,
     4 and they worshipped the dragon, because he gave the
     authority to the beast, and they worshipped the beast
     saying: Who is like to the beast, and who can to make war
     with it? (Rev. 13:3-4, IGENT).

     A  The imagery discloses that one of the heads, or
        countries, will be completely devastated in some way;
        yet will manage to recover afterwards.

     B  Rev. 13:14 explains the situation in more detail.

        1  Instead of referring to the beast as "it," which is
           the neuter gender form of the pronoun, the pronoun
           "who" is used, which here is the masculine gender.

        2  Verse fourteen provides the additional fact that the
           leader of this country (pronoun "who") will also
           receive a wound unto death, but his wound will be
           mysteriously healed.

        3  Predictably, people will wonder, or speculate
           curiously, about his mysterious recovery.

        4  The spectacular nature of this event will cause
           people to worship Red China for giving them this
           superhuman world government leader, and they will
           also begin to worship the leader.

        5  When they say, "who is like the beast," they will be
           saying this dictator is the beast or government.

     C  People around the world will also say, "who can make war
        with it?" Since an attempt to remove this dictator would
        result in a war with "it"--the world government and the
        armies of the nations that will back that government.

  V  The world government's campaign to discredit God will take
     the form of all-out war against Christians.

     5 And was given to it a mouth speaking great things and
     blasphemies, and was given to it authority to act forty-two
     months.
     6 And it opened the mouth of it in blasphemies against God,
     to blaspheme the name of him and the tabernacle of him, the
     ones tabernacling in heaven (Rev. 13:5-6, IGENT).

     A  John reported that the Fourth Beast government will last
        42 months, or approximately three-and-one-half years.

     B  The world government's first act will be to launch a
        propaganda campaign against God, God's name, and those
        that dwell in heaven with God.

     7 And it was given to it to make war with the saints and to
     overcome them, and authority was given to it over every
     tribe and people and tongue and nation (Rev. 13:7, IGENT).

     A  How do we know that China will be the driving force
        behind the war against the Christians, referred to here
        as saints?

        1  From Rev. 12:17 that stated "the dragon . . . went
           away to make war with . . . the ones keeping the
           commandments of God and having the witness of Jesus."

        2  The imagery here supplies the additional fact that
           Red China will delegate "authority to the beast."

        3  This shows that it will be Red China who will
           transform the beast into an instrument of war against
           the world's Christian community.

        4  Once that transformation is complete, the Fourth
           Beast will methodically carry this Chinese initiated
           war against Christianity to the far corners of the
           earth.

     B  The Chinese backed world government will use every
        conceivable means to crush the Christian opposition,
        until Christ returns and puts an end to the violence.

     C  This process will be akin to Hitler's domination of
        Europe and his war on the Jews--it happened in stages,
        not all at once.

     D  Hitler kept advancing, but he was destroyed before he
        was able to crush the Jews completely.

        -  So it will be with the final beast and its war on the               saints.

     E  John forewarns further that the "world government beast"
        will be given authority over every group of people and
        nation on the face of the earth.