Unleashing the Beast

W HEN I SLAM R ULES THE W ORLD / 183

to do so until the intrusion of the Antichrist. He and his people will successfully "liberate" Jerusalem from the "infidels." His success will be his ability to merge a coalition, and successfully hold nations hostage with his spectacular arsenal of weapons. T HE A NTICHRIST AND H IS W EAPONS In Revelation 13, John announces the appearance of the Beast and his kingdom. John asks, "Who can make war against the beast?" (Revelation 13:4). Later in the same prophetic book, we read where the beast and his 10 kings destroy a large city in an hour (Revelation 18:10, 17, 19). This powerful blast produces a "smoke" that creates fear in the hearts of those standing afar off, observing the destruction (Revelation 18:9, 18). Within an hour, these 10 kings will "give their kingdoms (nations) over to the beast" (Revelation 17:12). After carefully researching the chapters alluding to these passages, I believe the reason nations submit to the Beast is the fear that he will destroy both the leaders and people in any country that resist him. This is how Saddam was successful in retaining power in Iraq. He murdered thousands of his own people, the Kurds, including anyone who disagreed with his mode of operation. The Biblical prophets visualized many wars prior to the return of the Messiah. During these battles, men would die in a manner unknown to the prophet. Imagine when Zechariah saw the vision of the final battle for Jerusalem and how men would die: