ET #28DO 219415/5/86

1. (MARIA: WE'VE ESTABLISHED NOW THAT THIS LEAGUE IN DANIEL 11:23 IS POSSIBLY & EVEN PROBABLY THE COVENANT, RIGHT? But in the 27th verse where the "kings are speaking lies at one table, but it shall not prosper," that also indicates that they have made some kind of a Treaty‚ Pact or Covenant. You've said several times you thought this could be the time the Holy Covenant is made instead of in Verse 23.) It's probably the same men, we don't know. Anything's possible!

2. THIS HAS ALWAYS BEEN A VERY MYSTERIOUS CHAPTER & EVERYBODY HAS TRIED TO EXPLAIN IT! We're just theorising & I've simply proposed or offered to our people several possibilities. There are only a few absolutely certain things about this Chapter, & one is that it is obviously talking about the Antichrist! It has to be the Antichrist because he is the one who makes & breaks the Covenant!

3. THERE ARE CERTAIN KNOWN FACTORS IN THIS EQUATION, absolute, positive, clear, couldn't be otherwise‚ because they're mentioned time & again or referred to many times throughout the prophetic Scriptures. One is that there is going to be an Antichrist, all the Scriptures confirm it. He is going to make a Covenant for seven years, some kind of a Covenant, & usually covenants are for the sake of peace, right? Treaties, covenants‚ charters & contracts imply specifically an agreement. Now if it is an agreement between political powers or military powers, obviously it means some kind of a peace, right?

4. SO HE MAKES THE COVENANT WHICH BRINGS SOME KIND OF PEACE, BUT THEN HE BREAKS IT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WEEK. He then sets up the Abomination of Desolation that maketh desolate‚ his Image in the Holy Place. That's almost as obvious as it can be, it speaks of it several times in the Scriptures‚ at which time he stops sacrificial worship at the Temple & installs himself in the Temple.

5. NOW THESE ARE ALL SCRIPTURALLY BASED & BACKED UP & CLEAR FROM THE SCRIPTURE. And he claims to be God & has all the people fall down & worship his Image. This also brings on the Great Tribulation because he is trying to enforce his worship on people & obviously it causes a lot of trouble because a lot of people won't accept it‚ as we have proven with a whole series of lectures. He therefore has a number of wars with the people who rebel, until the very End. Now those are the specifics we know & can prove by Scripture.

6. JUST EXACTLY WHEN HE MAKES THE COVENANT WE CANNOT PROVE, except that we can prove definitely that it begins the Last Seven-Year Period, that's all we know. When he makes it & how he gets such powers to be able to make it, & how he gets into power & how many wars it takes him, we don't know specifically.

7. (MARIA: YOU'VE BEEN PROPOSING DIFFERENT ALTERNATIVES IN THESE TALKS.) I have been proposing different theories & different possibilities. Now that is another thing we know specifically, that he does have wars. And to me it is quite obvious that if he is the prince of the Covenant, as it says here in the 22nd verse, & in the same verse it says, "That with the arms of a flood shall they be overthrown," that although he comes in peaceably & obtains the kingdom by flatteries‚ then it sounds to me like he suddenly seizes it!

8. THE PHILIPPINE GOVERNMENT THAT HAS BEEN SO MUCH IN THE NEWS LATELY CAN BE A GOOD EXAMPLE. They claim to have taken over peacefully & with flatteries. I mean, it sure is a parallel!—Claiming to be so self- righteous & peaceful, assumption of power with flattery. Flattering the people is who they're flattering, "People Power" blah, blah! But now that they're in power, they are forcibly seizing companies, government, governorships & mayoralities! By force, enforced by the police, by guns, by the threat of violence, they are now enforcing their power by arms! You get it? They got it, they snuck in with flattery & supposedly peaceably, etc., but now that they've got the power & they've got the army, they are enforcing it with police & at the point of guns!

9. THEY ARE GRABBING WEALTH, COMPANIES & PROPERTIES WITHOUT SO MUCH AS AN EXCUSE OF LEGALITY!—Not by judgements or courts or anything, just by the ministers appointed to take care of this & to take care of that‚ they're just walking in! And if the people don't give up peaceably, they bring the cops with them. So they are seizing them now by force of arms, do you get it?

10. "THEY SHALL BE OVERFLOWN FROM BEFORE HIM & SHALL BE BROKEN."—In other words, his enemies. I think perhaps the Lord has specifically made it a mystery so we don't know exactly when that Covenant is made in this Chapter. We don't know when, we only know when he breaks it‚ & maybe that's to veil & keep it veiled even so that it won't be too specific or exact. We can't count the days on our fingers, we can't specify exactly when the Covenant is going to be made, how many wars before or after or what!

11. (MARIA: SO THEREFORE, WE DON'T KNOW IF THIS WAR IN THE 25TH VERSE COMES AFTER THE COVENANT IS MADE, WHICH WOULD BE IN THE 23RD VERSE‚ OR IF IT COMES BEFORE THE COVENANT IS MADE IN THE 27TH VERSE.) The only thing in this Chapter that we know about the Covenant is that he is the prince of the Covenant, therefore he had something to do with making it‚ & we know that his heart turns against the Covenant. It doesn't say when the Covenant was made & it doesn't say when his heart turned against it‚ except that it does say after this he returns to his land & that his heart turns against the Covenant. But it specifically says when the Covenant is broken—that it happens after all these other verses.

12. IN THE 28TH VERSE HIS HEART TURNS AGAINST THE COVENANT. In the 30th verse he works with those who are also against the Covenant. In the 31st verse is the crucial breaking of the Covenant when he pollutes the sanctuary‚ takes away the daily sacrifice‚ sets up his Image, etc. That is specific! The only thing we know, therefore, about this 31st verse is that obviously the Covenant has been made before this 31st verse, because it is in existence & he has indignation against it. It's also been made obviously before the 28th verse because he has "turned his heart against the Holy Covenant." Get it? But that's all we know because we don't know then when the Covenant was made in the preceding verses. All we know is that these wars are going on.

13. THE ONLY THING THAT GIVES US SOME LITTLE CLUE OR CUE THAT PERHAPS THAT IS THE TIME THAT THE COVENANT IS MADE, is in Verse 22 where he is called the prince of the Covenant. From reading the Chapter & not trying to be too complex & too specific, but just taking it simply (this is the way the Lord finally gave me Revelation), where does it seem to fall? If the League is the Covenant, which it probably is, then it was made before the 23rd verse. And since it is mentioned in the 22nd verse, it sounds to me like the Covenant is some kind of a Peace Treaty made after this war in the 22nd verse. I cannot prove it, I can only assume it by not trying to be too devious & complex & read too much into this. It mentions the Covenant here in the 22nd verse, he is the prince of the Covenant.

14. (MARIA: ALL RIGHT, NOW I HAVE A QUESTION, because several times the other day you said to me that the Covenant could have been made in the 27th verse.) Well‚ I am much more inclined to believe that it was made at the end of this war in the 22nd verse. He snuck in first, then he seized power & he defeated his major enemy, & it is only natural & it is history that at the end of a war they usually make a treaty. In fact, the treaty is usually imposed on the loser by the winner, & the Antichrist obviously wins this war in the 22nd verse. So then it calls him the prince of the Covenant, which seems to imply that the Covenant is made at this time at the end of that war. He has licked his main enemy & he more or less forces the Covenant on them, which is probably why he has so many rebellions afterwards. It wasn't necessarily something they wanted to agree to, but they had to, they were forced to, right?

15. (MARIA: YES, BUT BECAUSE WE DON'T KNOW FOR SURE IF THE COVENANT WAS MADE BETWEEN THE 22ND & 23RD VERSE, OR IF IT WAS MADE IN THE 27TH VERSE, therefore, because we are not sure, we can't really tell that the war in the 25th verse was before the Covenant was made or after the Covenant was made, right?) I can't prove it, but shall I just give you my opinion? Just from simply reading this Chapter it sounds to me like he first sneaks in & then he seizes power by force, a flood of arms in the 22nd verse. Why should it mention here that he is the prince of the Covenant unless this is the time of the Covenant? (Maria: Perhaps because, like you've often told us, this might be a flash forward to what actually happens later?) Well, why do we want to go through that?

16. I OFTEN GIVE YOU ALL THESE OTHER OPTIONS & ALTERNATIVES WHICH ARE USUALLY WEAKER THAN MY OWN OPINION, then I go back & I say, "But I believe, it is my opinion" that he first of all sneaks in by flatteries & peaceably, but then, when he's got the proper opportunity‚ he seizes power by force of arms like a flood! That's a war!—In the 22nd verse. Then it identifies him as the prince of Covenant! Now why should it identify him here at that particular point unless this is the time when the Covenant is made? That's my opinion! (Maria: Well, that sounds logical!)

17. YOU CAN TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT, BECAUSE I CAN'T PROVE IT! (Maria: No‚ that sounds right!) But if you use that theory that he is the prince of the Covenant & this is the time that the Covenant was made at the end of this first war, then everything fits logically after that! In the 23rd verse it says "after the league‚" so if the League is the Covenant, it has already been made. He works deceitfully, he becomes strong with a small people & he grabs things like nobody has ever done before, even peaceably. Many countries fall prey peaceably, although not all.

18. HE SCATTERS THE PREY‚ & LIKE COMMUNISM, HE DIVIDES THE PREY AMONGST THE POOR, ETC.—Like they are doing right now in the Philippines. They're grabbing all the rich people's stuff & scattering it to the "poor‚" mostly to the government, ha, ha! Of course they consider the people the government! That's what every dictatorship says, & that's what Communism says‚ that they merely represent the people.—That the government doesn't really own all these things, "It's the people who are the government & they're the ones that own all these things!"

19. THEN HE HAS ANOTHER WAR IN THE 25TH VERSE. "He stirs up his power & his courage against the King of the South with a very great army, & the King of the South shall be stirred up to battle with a very great & mighty army, but he shall not stand: for they will forecast devices against him. Yea, they that feed of the portion of his meat shall destroy him."—Traitors‚ in other words, spies he apparently had that helped him forecast their devices. "And his army shall overflow & many shall fall down slain." Here is again another big war.

20. IT SOUNDS LIKE THE COVENANT COMES INTO BEING AT THE END OF THE FIRST WAR IN THE 22ND VERSE. Then he continues grabbing things & grabbing countries. But finally this King of the South stands up against him! Now we don't know whether that is the same guy that he fought in the 22nd verse or not!—But very likely, I wouldn't be surprised! Do you get it?

21. BUT IT IS OBVIOUS HE FIGHTS A WAR TO GET INTO POWER TO MAKE THE COVENANT. Then he fights another war with the King of the South after the Covenant has been made, & they sit at one table speaking lies after this war. Again, there is like a peace agreement or something. Maybe they're swearing allegiance to the Covenant again. Maybe he is making the King of the South swear his allegiance to the Covenant, savvy? We can prove that the second war is definitely with the King of the South, but we can't prove the first war was with the King of the South.—Got it?

22. (VERSE 28:) "THEN SHALL HE RETURN TO HIS OWN LAND"—NOW THIS IS THE ANTICHRIST—"WITH GREAT RICHES." He has beaten the King of the South & he has taken away a lot of his riches, his lands, etc. "And his heart shall be against the Holy Covenant," which it sounds to me like they had made clear back in the 22nd verse! (Maria: Right‚ the League.) And it is most likely he is fighting the second war with the same guy again who is in rebellion. And because the fellow rebelled against him, rebelled against the agreement they had made, the Covenant, now the Antichrist's heart is turning against the Covenant.

23. UNDER THE COVENANT THE ANTICHRIST PROMISED TO DO THIS & DO THAT & AGREED TO PEACE ON CERTAIN CONDITIONS, such as the internationalisation of Jerusalem, my guess, & is going to allow them to rebuild their Temple, which is also my guess, as a part of the Covenant. But I think it is pretty obvious, considering what happened afterwards, that it must have been part of the Covenant to rebuild Jerusalem, the Temple, etc. Right? Because it all has to do with that when it comes down to the end of things.

24. (MARIA: SO ACTUALLY THE FIRST WAR IN DANIEL 11 IS RIGHT BEFORE THE SEVEN YEARS STARTS, in other words, right before the Covenant is made?) Yes, that's what it sounds like! (Maria: And the second war is in the 25th verse.)—Which sounds to me like the second war is a rebellion against the Covenant. So that by the time you get down to the 28th verse, the Antichrist is beginning to get fed-up with the Covenant because they are not keeping it & they are complaining about it or fighting against it, etc. Savvy? Doesn't that sound just like what the Jews would do or the Israelis?

25. SO HIS HEART IS NOW TURNING AGAINST THE COVENANT BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT KEEPING IT. He's promised them this & that, but they're not keeping their part of the bargain, that's what it sounds like to me. So‚ verse 29, "At the time appointed he shall return, & come towards the South"—& this time, obviously, he is coming now for the third time. This time he is going to crush the South, which sounds like Israel & its friends to me. He is going to crush the South & break the Covenant because he is fed up with it, they don't keep it & all they do is complain & murmur, like the Jews usually do, & finally rebel. They're rebels at heart & always have been. Even Moses called them rebels, "Ye rebels!" (Num.20:10)

26. SO, VERSE 30, HE COMES BACK NOW TO HAVE "INTELLIGENCE WITH THEM THAT FORSAKE THE HOLY COVENANT." Now he is siding with some of the people who are against the Covenant & who are also against the Jews‚ people like him who are on his side.

27. HOWEVER, IT SEEMS LIKE EVERYBODY IS TURNING AGAINST THE COVENANT! He made the Covenant to begin with‚ but they started breaking it‚ which then turns him against it. If they break their word, he doesn't have to keep his word either! So he sides with the people who are against them, & also against the Covenant because it didn't work.

28. SO HERE IS ANOTHER WAR THEN IN THE 31ST VERSE. He is coming down also in the 30th verse because of the ships of Chittim & all that. And he comes down against the Holy Covenant now to break it & in the 31st verse, "arms shall stand on his part." It is a war in which he crushes the forces of opposition now. It sounds like he crushes Israel because he pollutes the sanctuary & he takes away the daily sacrifice, that's obviously in Israel, & he places the abomination that maketh desolate.—Which pinpoints it exactly as the beginning of the Tribulation, the same thing Jesus talks about in Matthew 24‚ the same thing that is talked about here & other places. (Mat.24:15; Rev.13:14,15) Savvy? Everything else from then on is the Tribulation & it's obvious.

29. (MARIA: SO THE FIRST WAR IN THIS CHAPTER IS TO GET HIM INTO POWER.)—Yes! And it sounds to me, if you just read it simply & don't get too complicated‚ that this war ends with the Covenant. He is the prince of the Covenant. This war ends with the Covenant. See?

30. SO THEN THE NEXT WAR, VERSE 25, IS APPARENTLY A REBELLION AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT BY THE KING OF THE SOUTH, who it certainly seems obvious is Israel & her friends. Then this turns his heart against the Covenant because they don't keep their word, which is typical of the Jews & Israel. At one time Israel even had a peace covenant, so to speak, with Lebanon, that Lebanon was neutral & they would keep Lebanon out of the wars & they would not invade Lebanon‚ but they turned right around & did it anyway! … They make promises that they break & covenants & contracts that they break if they can, so they don't have to keep their word. So that sounds like what they've done.

31. SO THE SECOND WAR, THE ONE IN THE 25TH VERSE WITH THE KING OF THE SOUTH, SOUNDS LIKE HE IS DEALING WITH A REBELLION AGAINST THE COVENANT. They sit at the same table & speak lies, etc., apparently trying to reinstitute the Covenant, but now he is turning against it, he is getting sick & fed-up with it! So after he has gone home he has more trouble. He hears of more trouble down South, so this time he comes & he invades & he crushes all opposition & he pollutes the sanctuary, takes away the daily sacrifice & places the Abomination of Desolation. Do you get it? I think I went over all of this before. (Maria: You did, it's not that I disagree. I think that sounds great, but I just had a few things I needed to get clear!)

32. WELL, I HAVE BEEN SUGGESTING THINGS THAT ARE POSSIBILITIES. It talks about a league which I feel is probably the Covenant. Then it talks about sitting down at the same table, & I don't rule out the possibility that that's the Covenant. But I would rather make it simple—this is my opinion & you can take it or leave it—& that is that he does get into power originally with a war.—Power enough to force this Covenant on whoever is the loser. And the war & the Covenant are both spoken of in the 22nd verse. So it is logical that the Covenant followed this first war.

33. THEN APPARENTLY THE KING OF THE SOUTH REBELS AGAINST IT. The Antichrist comes down & defeats him & tries to re– establish the Covenant, "the league made with him," etc. by sitting at one table, but it just doesn't seem to work, so his heart is now beginning to turn against the Covenant completely.

34. SO IN THE 29TH, 30th & 31st VERSES, FOR THE THIRD TIME HE COMES DOWN & CRUSHES ALL THE OPPOSITION RIGHT THEN & THERE, at least Israel, it's obviously Israel! Because he is coming down again against the king of the South. In the 31st verse it says, "Arms shall stand on his part & they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength," which can only mean the Temple. "And shall take away the daily sacrifice," which again can only mean the altar in front of the Temple. "And shall place the abomination that maketh desolate," the Abomination of Desolation, the Image of the Beast in front of the Temple! And then he sits in the Temple & claims he is God & abolishes all other religions. (2Th.2:3-4)

35. SO NOW, THERE ARE THREE WARS RIGHT THERE, SPECIFIC WARS, RIGHT?—Three specific wars which precede the breaking of the Covenant.—One before the making of the Covenant, two after that which eventually wind up with breaking the Covenant. Then after that it goes on & there are more wars!

36. THEN THE 40TH VERSE, "AT THE TIME OF THE END SHALL THE KING OF THE SOUTH PUSH AT HIM." There's the fourth specific war. "And the king of the North shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots‚ horsemen, many ships, & he shall enter into the countries, shall overflow & pass over." Here you have another invasion of Israel because, verse 41‚ "He shall enter also into the glorious land & many countries shall be overthrown." Verse 42, "He stretches forth his hand upon the countries‚" etc.

37. BUT THEN THERE'S A POSSIBILITY OF A FIFTH WAR IN VERSE 44: "Tidings out of the East & out of the North shall trouble him." He is down South by this time & he's hearing bad news from home & bad news from the East. They're still uprising against him. "Therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy & utterly to make away many." That's what?—How many wars now? (Maria: That's the fifth war which is probably the atomic war.)—The fifth war, very likely‚ yes.

38. ALL RIGHT, & THAT'S JUST ABOUT AS CLEAR AS I COULD POSSIBLY MAKE IT! (Maria: Yes, Sir, thank you very much! It's quite clear now.) Exactly when the Covenant is made is not very clear, but to me it is clear that it is quite specifically at the end of the first war. And the next two wars are rebellions from the King of the South‚ against the Covenant, which also turns the Antichrist against the Covenant so he comes out in the third war & crushes Israel!

39. THEN AFTER THAT THE KING OF THE SOUTH EVEN REBELS AGAIN IN THE FOURTH WAR! The Antichrist comes down & licks them again! And then the fifth war, there his trouble doesn't come from the King of the South any more, the King of the South is pretty well finished & the Antichrist is occupying Israel & he puts his palace there & that's his capital. But the next trouble comes from the North & the East, which means that there is then a fifth war.

40. MAYBE I SHOULDN'T EVEN GIVE ALTERNATIVES, but do you know why I do it?— Because I've heard so many Bible teachers teach dogmatically that "this can only be this way" & never even mention the other possibilities or theories! It's just like they teach Evolution in the public schools, they don't even mention Creation, that there is another possible way. And I've heard many Bible Prophecy teachers teach like that, teach only their own interpretation.

41. I HAVE TRIED TO BE FAIR TO MY PEOPLE & I HAVE GIVEN THEM ALL THE VARIOUS THEORIES OF PROPHETIC INTERPRETATION about the pre- Millennialists & post-Millennialists & pre- Trib Rapturists & post-Trib Rapturists & mid-Trib Rapturists! I give all these different opinions so that my people will be informed & know about these & not be stuck on one‚ the one that they believe & I believe, but that they will be cognizant of all these other different opinions, which I believe helps them understand the other guy's position so they can even argue against it!

42. IT'S JUST LIKE DEALING WITH CULTS & ISMS & FALSE RELIGIONS! How are you going to counteract them or answer them unless you know what they believe? So I have tried to give alternatives of the various theories of prophetic interpretation, literally to show them that mine is best, ours is best, by comparing it with these others to show how "This can't be true & this can't be true; although this is a suggestion, nevertheless we prefer this!"

43. I HAVE TRIED NOT TO BE DOGMATIC ABOUT THINGS‚ that it has to be this way, it has to be that way, because sometimes I just don't know, except for things that are very clearly so in the Bible! Sometimes my opinion could be wrong & it might turn out some other way. But most of the time the Lord helps me to have the right opinion & usually things happen the way I believe or feel that they will! PTL?—What do you think?

"Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth. And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also." (2Tim.2:15,2.)

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family