There are many misconceptions about the Antichrist. One of these is the teaching that he will be the leader of a one-world government. In reality he will be far from a one-world leader.

The reason so many people believe that he will be the one world leader is because of a book that was published in 1918 by a man named Clarence Larkin. Many of our Bible prophecy studies today are based on his teachings. He had many accurate things that he taught but he was only a human being and made mistakes the same as anyone of us can and do. Many of our major denominations in America base their teachings from his beliefs.

Clarence Larkin believed that the Antichrist would be the false leader of world peace, who would then take over the whole world forcing everyone to take the mark of the beast. He believed that the League of Nations would be the tool the Antichrist would use. After the League of Nations dissolved, he then believed that it would be the European Common Market or possibly the United Nations itself. His book was revised many times between 1918 and present day teachings. This book is called Dispensational Truth.

Many Bibles to this day use his teaching and drawings in the back to tell about the seven years of tribulation. Since Bible publishers use this in many of their Bibles, most people believe that this teaching must be the absolute truth. But Clarence Larkin was too soon to be dead accurate. God told Daniel to seal up the book until the time of the end. Clarence Larkin was given many things about the end-times from the Lord, but because of God's timetable he was unable to put it all together. I really do believe that Clarence Larkin was a great man of God and I treasure many of the things he taught me through his teachings but he was too early to have the whole message.

If you will research the scriptures with me, you to will realize that the Antichrist will not take over the whole world or will he cause everyone in the whole world to take the mark of the beast. He would like to, but he won't be able to.

Some scriptures that convince many people that this is true are found in Revelation 13: 7-8.
7. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
8. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

The word all in these scriptures is talking about everyone that he is able to get his hands on. In reality the Antichrist is fighting wars until the time of Armageddon. In order to force everyone in the earth to take the mark or worship him, he would first have to conquer everyone. At the time of the end, he and the false prophet will send out spirits of devils to convince other nations to help him go against Israel. If he has to persuade nations through deception to help him, then he doesn't have the power over them to take their lives for not taking the mark of the beast. He would simply say, do it, and they would if he had the power over them that we imagine.

First I would like to talk to you about the way the Bible uses the word all.

The terms "all the world" and "the whole earth", and "all" must be understood in a figurative sense when used of a King of a kingdom of men. The figure of speech is a synecdoche by which a part is put for the whole, or the whole for a part. It is used repeatedly in the Bible when only a part is meant. It is used by men daily in such language as "the whole country (state or city) was there last night," or "everybody in town was there." If we meant such a statement literally we would be telling a falsehood unless it could actually be proved. But the Bible does use it in this sense many times and I would like to show you some of these places in the scriptures.

In Daniel 2: 37-38, speaking as an oracle of God, Daniel said this:
37: Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory.
38: And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold.

Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar that God had made him ruler over everyplace that men lived, and had given him power over all the beasts of the field and the birds in the sky. Since we know that God doesn't lie, it is important to understand that God was speaking of only that part of the world being the entire world as a synecdoche. A part is put for the whole, or the whole for a part. Nebuchadnezzar never conquered Greece, Rome, the rest of Africa, or most of Asia, Europe or the Americas. In fact His Kingdom was smaller than the ones that the Greeks or the Romans would achieve. And they themselves never conquered the whole world.

Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar that another Kingdom would come that would rule over all the earth, the Grecian Kingdom. (Dan. 2:39) And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. But we know that Greece did not rule over Italy or Spain, of course England, Europe, Asia, most of Africa or the Americas, not to mention Japan, Australia, China, or India, the south Sea Islands, or Australia.

Daniel spoke of the Roman Kingdom in Dan. 7:23. Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. It was suppose to conquer the whole world, but this never happened. Once again we are looking at a part for a whole, or a whole for a part. Basically talking about that part of the world that surrounded the Mediterranean Sea.

When John was baptizing in Matt. 3: 5-6, we see a similar happening.
5. Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan,
6: And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.

This sounds as if every living soul in all of Judea, Jerusalem, and everyone in the region of Jordan were baptized by John. Where in reality it is a synecdoche letting us know that there were a very large number of people who were baptized by John. Judea is the whole Southern Kingdom of Israel, which at that time was Israel. We know for a fact that John did baptize everyone in Israel. John ended up being beheaded by his enemies, because the Kings mistress and most of the religious leaders in Israel hated him.

Luke said this in the second chapter of Luke talking about the birth of Jesus:
Luke 2: 1-3:
1: And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.
2: (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)
3: And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.

This sounds as if the whole world went to pay their taxes to Caesar Augustus. But we know that only the people who were under the dominion of the Roman Empire paid taxes to him. The Indians who lived in America at that time did not pay taxes to him. Neither did many, many other peoples of the world, such as the Chinese, or the people in what we know as Russia today.

On the day of Pentecost we see another such thing.
Acts 2:
5: And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.
6: Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.
7: And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans?
8: And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?
9: Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia,
10: Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes,
11: Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.

This says every nation under heaven. If we were to take it literally, we would have to believe every nation in the whole world. But the writer of the book of Acts clearly shows us that it was only nations around the Mediterranean Sea.

In Romans 1:8 Paul was telling the Romans how their faith was known all around.
8: First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.

We should know that there were many nations and people who had never heard of the faith of the Romans. This once again is a synecdoche. It simply means that a lot of people knew that the Romans had a lot of faith.

Romans 10:
18: But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.

This is the same thing in Colossians 1:23:
"If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister."

We know that there were many nations at the time of Paul who had not heard the Gospel.

One of the things that I have found very interesting is that the word all is used in the Old Testament 153 times. In the New Testament it is used 192 times. All total it is used 348 times in the Bible. Yet the words nearly or majority are not used in the entire Bible. The word almost is only used 10 times in the whole Bible. The word many is used 334 times in the Bible.

This seems to indicate that the Hebrews and Greeks had difficulty when it came to saying that something was a majority, or almost everyone. The word many does not express majority, nor does the word all. The word all was used to express majority or almost everyone for the lack of a better word.

I believe that God did speak about all in the entire amount sense as long as there were not other scriptures that revealed it in a different sense. For example: That all have sinned and fallen short; That all men can be saved; That Christ died for all. But when it comes to nations and Kings often times God gives us a clearer picture through other scriptures to show us the difference.

Let's now take a good look at this Antichrist. Many people teach that he will be the leader of World Peace. This teaching is born out of our imaginations, not scripture or divine revelation. Read what Daniel had to say about him.
Daniel 9:26-27
26: And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
27: And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

In the 27th verse Daniel said, speaking of the Antichrist, that he would confirm the covenant with many for one week. First let's talk about the covenant.

The covenant the Antichrist will confirm is not something that he himself invents. In fact it is something that God made. In Daniel 11:28 we will get a greater understanding about the covenant he confirms.
28: Then shall he return into his land with great riches; and his heart shall be against the holy covenant; and he shall do exploits, and return to his own land.
29: At the time appointed he shall return, and come toward the south; but it shall not be as the former, or as the latter.
30: For the ships of Chittim shall come against him: therefore he shall be grieved, and return, and have indignation against the holy covenant: so shall he do; he shall even return, and have intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant.

God gives us a better picture of this covenant through the scriptures that you have just read. This covenant happens to be a holy covenant. No man can create or make a holy covenant. Only God is able to do this. The covenant that the Antichrist is involved with is the same covenant that God made with Abraham. And that is, that the land of Israel belongs to the Jews. God gave them this land through his holy covenant to Abraham. The Antichrist will not make it, create it, or come up with it. It is God's covenant. The Antichrist will only confirm this promise to Israel.

He will simply sign a peace treaty that will recognize Israel's right to exist in the land that already belongs to them. The reason the nations around Israel have tried to keep from signing agreements with Israel is the way they see Israel's position. They commonly believe that if they sign a treaty with Israel, their signing will be an acknowledgement of Israel's right to live there. This is why they don't want to do so. Any signing is recognition of Israel as a government. Israel's enemies hate to sign anything with them because of this common belief among themselves.

When Saddot of Egypt had the courage to be the first to sign an agreement with Israel it cost him his life. This is the reason it did. He was believed to be the first to confirm or acknowledge Israel's right to exist. The nations who oppose Israel realize that to treat Israel as a nation would be to give in. This is what the Antichrist and the other nations who sign a seven-year treaty with Israel will be doing. They will be acknowledging Israel's God given right to be a nation. This is the reason it is so easy for them to hate this covenant. In reality they honestly do not want to sign it in the first place.

Because of a devised plan (Daniel 11: 23) the enemies of Israel will sign a seven-year peace treaty. This will happen in order to acquire something that they want. What that will be I do not know, but it will be something that will motivate them to bend to signing an agreement with Israel. This will cause great rejoicing in Israel and probably the United States as well. We have been working on a peace plan for what seems like an eternity.

In Daniel 9:26 we see that he will break his agreement with Israel and invade their country. The scripture says, "the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined."

This is one of the things I have been hoping to share with you. Notice it says, "unto the end of the war desolations are determined."

The Antichrist will be fighting a war for the whole last 3-1/2 years of the tribulation period. Since he will be fighting other nations, it will be impossible for him to be the leader of a one-world government. In order for him to be the leader of a one-world government he would first have to conquer every nation and every person in the world. This he will never able to accomplish. He will fight wars right up to the Battle of Armageddon. This also proves that he will not make every single person in the world take the mark of the Beast. He would have to first conquer their nations in order to enforce it. He would like to conquer the world, but like so many before him, he will fail.

Something else to consider is that according to the first four of the seven seals found in the 6th chapter of Revelation is that he would only ride 4 horses. He will ride the white horse of peace, the red horse of war, the black horse of famine, and the pale horse of death. This latter horse he will ride to his own death at Armageddon. It is during the time of his ride on the pale horse, which is his last horse, that he will receive power over 1/4th part of the earth. He does not ride any more horses. These horses are showing us his entire ride; he will not ride anymore.

In Revelation 13: 1 the scriptures show us the Antichrist nations in the beast that comes out of the sea. He only has ten horns and ten crowns. Which shows us that he is only the leader of ten nations. If he were the leader of all the nations in the world he would have close to 200 horns on his head not just 10.

An interesting thought is this; the Antichrist invades Israel at the middle of the tribulation. At that time Israel escapes from his grasp to be protected from the face of the Dragon for 3 1/2 years, (Revelation 12) this is the entire last 3 1/2 years of the tribulation period. Now if he was the leader of a one-world government, why does he leave Israel after he has taken it? And why would he need to come back at the end of the tribulation, which is 3 1/2 years later, and gather other nations to help him fight against the nation of Israel, a nation that he has already conquered? Especially since the Jews are not at home. The answer is simply this. He gathers nations to come and fight against Israel's allies who have formerly driven him out of the land of Israel.

Let's go back to Revelation 13 for just a moment and look at these scriptures again.
7. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
8. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

As I have told you in the past, the word all in these scriptures is a synecdoche by which a part is put for the whole, or the whole for a part. To prove that he will not conquer the whole world let's start with this. If you were to rule over the whole world, it would mean that you would literally rule over every single nation of people on the face of the earth. It there happens to be one single nation that is not under his authority then it can't possibly be that he has power over everyone.

Let's look at these scriptures carefully.
Daniel 11:
40: And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41: He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.
42: He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43: But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.
44: But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.
45: And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.

Notice in verse 40 that it says at the time of the end the king of the south and the king of the north would come against him like a whirlwind. This shows two countries that have managed to stay out of a conflict with him during most of the seven years of tribulation.

In verse 41 it says that many countries would be overthrown, not all. The same verse tells us that Edom, Moab, and Ammon would escape out of his hand. These people make up the modern day nation of Jordan. Which tells us that he is unable to invade Jordan. There has to be a reason for this. Remember that in order for Revelation 13 to be fulfilled as "all" it would have to mean every single nation. This is one nation plus the nation of Israel that escapes at the middle of the tribulation for the entire last 3 1/2 years. This makes two nations that he does not control or make take the mark of the beast. There are many more nations in the world that will not be controlled by the Antichrist.

One of these nations will be the United States of America. We will be his number one enemy. The scriptures show seven nations that will deal the Antichrist a terrible blow. They will literally drive the Antichrist out of the Holy Land sometime during the last 3-1/2yrs.

In Micah the fifth chapter we will find these seven nations hidden in scripture for us to find in our day.
Micah 5:2-6 "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
3: Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth: then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel.
4: And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God; and they shall abide: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth.
5: And this man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land: and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men.
6: And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof: thus shall he deliver us from the Assyrian, when he cometh into our land, and when he treadeth within our borders."

These scriptures found in Micah tell us that the Messiah would come out of Israel. That Assyria would invade Israel. When this happens Jesus would rise up seven shepherds and eight principal men who would drive the Assyrian all the way back to the old city of Babylon. This is only 80 miles from Baghdad, Iraq. The land of Nimrod is Babylon. Both the nations of Assyria and Babylon make up the modern day nation of Iraq. These people will be part of the ten nations of the Antichrist during the tribulation. This is showing a time coming that they would be driven out of Israel. This will occur during the last 3-1/2 years of the tribulation.

The mystery in this story is "who are the seven shepherds and the eight principal men?" This mystery is revealed through scripture. As Gentiles we have conditioned our minds to only see ourselves when reading the Old Testament. This has caused serious problems when it comes to understanding Bible Prophecy. We have blinded our own minds by our own vanity. When we read these scriptures we try to see everything from a Gentile church prospective.

This is the way God has preserved most of the Old Testament prophecies, simply by the way we think. We hide them from ourselves. Let's look at these scriptures.
Jeremiah 23:
1: Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD.
2: Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD.
3: And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.
4: And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the LORD.

In order to explain these scriptures I must tell you that the pastors and shepherds are the same thing. God is warning the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of his pasture. Because we have preached and taught these scriptures as being preachers over congregations we blind ourselves to the real meaning of these scriptures.

Let's take a closer look at verse 3. God says that he is going to gather the remnant of his flock out of all countries whither he has driven them, and will bring them again to the folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase. Verse 4 tells us that he is going to give them new shepherds that will feed them and they will have no need to fear any more.

If you know anything about the history of the Jews from the time of Christ, you will understand what I am getting ready to share with you. The scripture that you have just read is a prophecy written as an allegory. It is about Israel being driven into the world. God has driven Israel into all the nations of the world, and he is holding all of these nations responsible for Israel's welfare and safekeeping. He is calling the governments of the nations, "Pastors or Shepherds". He is warning the nations that have mistreated Israel "he would visit upon them the evil of their doings." In other words, He is going to punish them for the way they have treated his people Israel. Remember the promise that God gave to Abraham? That whoever blessed him, God would bless, but, he also said that whoever cursed him he would curse. What we do to Israel, we are doing to Abraham.

God then promised to give Israel over to new shepherds who would take care of them and that they would never be afraid anymore. God has already done just that. These scriptures have been fulfilled in just the last two hundred years.

Israel has been killed and persecuted in every nation of the world. But for the most part they have lived in Russia, Europe, and nations around the Mediterranean Sea. In all of these countries horrible things have been inflicted upon them. The first group of Jews came to America somewhere around 1650 from Brazil, which was just 30 years after the Pilgrims arrived in America. They have been a part of our history from our very beginnings. In the last two hundreds years God has slowly brought the Jews to America and other countries like her that will not do the Jewish people any harm. America was the first country in the world to give the Jewish people equal citizenship. We are blessed because of it. At the present time there are more Jews living in America than any nation in the world including the nation of Israel itself. We have six million living in America compared to 4.8 million there.

God has given Israel new Shepherds and has delivered them from the fear of persecution in these countries. In America the Jewish people prosper more than they have ever prospered in their entire history. So much to the point that most Jewish peoples in America has no desire to return to Israel. God is blessing them here, but there are other countries that treat the Jews well also. We are the countries (shepherds) that God has provided to blessed his people Israel. During the tribulation we will defend Israel against the Antichrist. In fact we will drive him completely out of Israel sometime during the last 3 1/2 years. This is why he will call for help from other nations at the time of Armageddon. Remember? Israel is gone; they have escaped for 3 1/2 years. They are not home. Yet the Antichrist sends for nations to come and help him go down against Jerusalem for the Battle of Armageddon. We, Israel's allies, will be the reason that he will come down. He will be coming to make war with us and the other nations who are helping her.

In Revelation it says that they are coming down to make war against Christ. For armies to literally go to war against Jesus in this light is probably not true in the sense that we see it. When Paul was persecuting the Church, He was not literally persecuting Jesus. Yet, Jesus said to him, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" Paul was persecuting the followers of Christ not Jesus. To Jesus it is one and the same. This is what is going to happen during the tribulation period. The Antichrist is going to wage war against God's people. At Armageddon they will be coming against the nations who are in Israel to defend her against the enemies of God. To God they are fighting against him. He will rapture the nations that are there to help him defend Israel basically because almost every one of these people in these armies will be born again by that time. Simply because they will recognize the hour they are living. They will know that it is the Battle of Armageddon!

Christ will rapture these nations along with the rest of his believers from all over the world, to take them to the marriage supper of the lamb. No doubt the Antichrist will wonder what happened to his enemies. It won't be long, for he is about to find out, when supper is over these nations will return with Jesus and all his saints to put the Antichrist in his place.

Look at these scriptures again in the 5th chapter of Micah.
5: And this man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land: and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men.
6: And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof: thus shall he deliver us from the Assyrian, when he cometh into our land, and when he treadeth within our borders.

In verse 5 the seven shepherds are the seven nations who take care of Israel. The eight principal men are the seven leaders of these nations. Jesus himself will be the eighth principal man. These scriptures declare it. In the 5th verse it says, "and this man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land." These Assyrians will be part of the ten nations of the Antichrist. Think on this: This fifth chapter of Micah is talking about Jesus. Did Jesus deliver Israel from the Assyrians? No, in fact in 722 BC they took Israel captive. This is talking about in our time, not then. There has never been a time such as this.

One of the most amazing things to me is found in the 11th chapter of Daniel. I suppose the thing that amazes me is the way we have tried to make scripture say what we want it to. If we didn't know the answer, we would make up one. Until recently God hasn't revealed the book of Daniel. It is sad but I truly that most of our pastors if approached by a member of their congregation with a question about it, they would supply that person with an answer. It would not matter if they knew the answer or not. Isn't that amazing? Pride is a terrible thing. Instead of saying we did not know, or if we pray maybe God would give us the answer, we would give them an answer whether it was right or wrong! This is the condition of most American pastors. We just don't want anyone to think that we don't know. What do you think that Jesus thinks about all of this?

Many of our Bible theologians have been to college but have never been born again by the Spirit of God. We accept their instructions as if it were flawless. Amazing. In the 11^th chapter of Daniel beginning at verse 21 we see the Antichrist make his appearance. From verse 21 to the rest of this chapter it is talking about the Antichrist, yet in verse 30 they try to say that this is talking about the Romans long ago. They are wrong in their opinion. Let me share with you one of the greatest mysteries the Church has never seen but is about to embrace.

Read with me in Daniel for just a minute; It is commonly believed that verse 21 through the rest of this chapter is talking about the Antichrist. I personally believe this myself.
Daniel 11:
21: And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries.
22: And with the arms of a flood shall they be overflown from before him, and shall be broken; yea, also the prince of the covenant.
23: And after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully: for he shall come up, and shall become strong with a small people.
24: He shall enter peaceably even upon the fattest places of the province; and he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers' fathers; he shall scatter among them the prey, and spoil, and riches: yea, and he shall forecast his devices against the strong holds, even for a time.
25: And he shall stir up his power and his courage against the king of the south with a great army; and the king of the south shall be stirred up to battle with a very great and mighty army; but he shall not stand: for they shall forecast devices against him.
26: Yea, they that feed of the portion of his meat shall destroy him, and his army shall overflow: and many shall fall down slain.
27: And both these kings' hearts shall be to do mischief, and they shall speak lies at one table; but it shall not prosper: for yet the end shall be at the time appointed.
28: Then shall he return into his land with great riches; and his heart shall be against the holy covenant; and he shall do exploits, and return to his own land.
29: At the time appointed he shall return, and come toward the south; but it shall not be as the former, or as the latter.
30: For the ships of Chittim shall come against him: therefore he shall be grieved, and return, and have indignation against the holy covenant: so shall he do; he shall even return, and have intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant.
31: And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.
32: And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.

Because people have been unable to explain the ships of Chittim they have tried to teach that the ships of Chittim was something that occurred around the time of Christ. I would like to give you a quote from The Holman Bible Dictionary.

"Kittim (kit' tim) Tribal name for the island of Cyprus, sometimes spelled Chittim. This name was derived from Kition, a city-state on the south-eastern side of the island. Long associated with maritime lore, the island was ruled first by Greece, then the Assyrians, and finally, Rome. Genesis 10:4 traces the people's roots to Noah's son Japheth. Jeremiah and Ezekiel both mention it in their prophecies (Jer. 2:10; Ezek. 27:6, compare Isa. 23:1,12).

Kittim is used in intertestamental writings as denoting all of the land west of Cyprus. 1 Maccabees credits it as being the land of Alexander the Great (1:1; 8:5). The writer of Daniel understood it to be a part of the Roman Empire (11:30) used to threaten Antiochus Epipanes. The Dead Sea Scrolls contain several references to Kittim, the most notable being the defeat of her people (Romans) at the hands of God's people. See Cyprus."

Kittim and Chittim are one and the same. The Holman Bible Dictionary explained that it was used in intertestamental writings as denoting all of the land west of Cyprus. They also believed that he was probably talking about Rome during a time after Christ. I disagree with them about the Roman Empire. I know that at the time of Christ many Jews called the Romans Chittim, but that was because they were from west of Cyprus. In these scriptures God is simply showing us a group of ships coming from the west of Cyprus that are very powerful. Put it into modern day times. The Jews didn't know that America would exist today. God simply showed Daniel ships coming from the west. This would have been ships from Chittim, to Daniel.

The reason I wanted to bring this point about is because this is the reason that the Antichrist invades Israel. The Antichrist is involved in invading the king of the South for the second time. Powerful ships from west of Cyprus come against him. They are a lot stronger than he is.

Look at verse 29 to 31 again.
29: At the time appointed he shall return, and come toward the south; but it shall not be as the former, or as the latter.
30: For the ships of Chittim shall come against him: therefore he shall be grieved, and return, and have indignation against the holy covenant: so shall he do; he shall even return, and have intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant.
31: And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.

Daniel said that at the time appointed he would return and come toward the south; but this time it would be different from the times before. This time powerful ships from the west come against him, it says that he shall be grieved and returns. The reason he is grieved and has to return is that he is simply not strong enough to go to war with the ships from the west. Remember, in Bible times anyone west of Cyprus was called Chittim. Daniel was telling us that it would be ships from the west. The United States is directly west of Cyprus. We will be the ships of Chittim. The sad thing is that we will be the reason the Antichrist breaks his treaty and invades Israel. Think about it! There is not another country in the world that would get involved the way we do when it comes to other nations. The ships from the west are there to force the Antichrist out of the nation of the king of the south.

The Antichrist becomes indignant. Why? He is humiliated in front of all of these other nations. Daniel said that he would have indignation against the Holy Covenant. This indignation toward this covenant simply means that he regrets ever signing the treaty with Israel. Now the United States has put him to shame, this makes him even more indignant. He begins to contact the other countries that he his previously made agreements with. There will only be six of these countries at this time. It shows these nations as having forsaken the Holy Covenant. Do you remember what I told you about their signing any kind of treaty with Israel? It is acknowledging Israel's right to possess the land of Israel and be a nation. When I was young in the lord I thought that the forsaking the covenant was talking about a bunch of backsliding Christians. But this is on a national level. It is talking about the nations who signed the peace treaty with Israel.

These six countries plus the nation of the Antichrist makes seven nations. How do I know that there are only seven nations with the Antichrist? In Revelation 12:3 The Red Dragon has seven heads, 10 horns, seven crowns. The heads are nations; the horns are kings; the crowns mean that seven of these kings have received power. Which shows 3 kings yet to come, but have not received countries to rule yet. This they will do under the leadership of the Antichrist. He will invade Israel at this point; this is the middle of the tribulation.

These nations invade Israel in order to spite the ships of Chittim. Of course the United States is the ships of Chittim. Think about this for a moment. The ships of Chittim absolutely have to be a close friend of Israel, if the Antichrist invades Israel thinking to wound the ships of Chittim in some way. This absolutely has to be the United States. When we went to war with Iraq, one of the first things tht Saddom did to hurt us was to fire on Israel. He knew that we have an important relationship with Israel. He was trying to force Israel into battle so that the other Muslim nations would join him against the U.S. It could also cause problems between the U.S. and Israel. This move by the Antichrist when he invades Israel will be a similar move; it will be the beginning of World War Three. This war will end at Armageddon.

The arms standing on his part are simply these six nations joining with the Antichrist to invade Israel. These people are the people of the prince that would come in Daniel 9. They will set the Antichrist on a throne in the Temple and declare him to be God. Israel escapes when he comes. They will go into the land of Jordan to await transport to the United States of America. It is here in this land that God is going to feed Israel for 3 1/2 years. America was a wilderness in John's day. God told John that they would go to a place that he had prepared for them in the Wilderness. God has been preparing America for this event for over 400 years.

The United States of America, along with six other allies, will fight in Israel's defense. Sometime during the last 3 1/2 years we will drive the Antichrist completely back to the Euphrates River in Iraq. Afterwards he will call for help from other nations to fight against us. This will be time for Armageddon. At that time most of America will have come to Christ and will be in the Rapture along with everyone else that is the Lords. We will eat the marriage supper of the lamb and return to defeat the Antichrist. Then there will be a One-World Government just like Isaiah said; "the Government would be on His Shoulders." Jesus is coming back to rule the World with peace and Love. Thank You Lord for such a wonderful plan.

Your brother in Christ,
Tommie Spurgeon

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