The False Prophet is a key figure in The Book of Revelation, it's number three villain. "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." Forming a sort of counterfeit Trinity. He's first clearly introduced as the "beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon." After Chapter 13 this figure is called The False Prophet.
The only reference to either of the Beasts prior to chapter 13 is chapter 11:7 "the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. " Chapter 17:8 makes the beast who " shall ascend out of the bottomless pit" synonymous with the Beast who has 7 heads and 10 horns, and this the first beast of chapter 13. But the symbolism of the Beast is complicated, the 7 headed 10 horned Beats represents the individual of the Antichrist but also his Empire, his political system. Which is the Roman Empire, the Fourth beast of Daniel 7, which is no being rebuilt via the European Union but also via Western politics in the Middle East. The False Prophet as his both religious and economic overseer is part of that system, so you could argue during any section that seems to only have one of them The Beast could be seen as both together.
We commonly discuss allot of verses outside Revelation that are about The Antichrist. But I don't see any other verses taken to refer to The False Prophet. False Prophets, plural, appear often as do False Christs. "For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect."-Matthew 24:24.
Many characters who serve as Foreshadowings or Types of The Antichrist do have a False Prophet figure with them. Adonijah had Abiathar the Priest, Ahab had the unnamed False Prophet who had that dramatic scene with Micaiah. Also if you study the history of Antiochus Epiphanies and the Maccabees, there is Menelaus, the Benjamite Apostate High Priest who presided over the worship of the Abomination of Desolation.
However, actual specific Prophecies of this figure outside Revelation our not well known. I have seen it suggested that maybe many Prophecies assumed to be about The Antichrist really refer to the False Prophet, or even that some refer to both together in some way. But those suggesting this never seem to elaborate on it.
Then I noticed this little detail of Isaiah 9, in verses 14&15. "Therefore the LORD will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush, in one day. The ancient and honourable, he is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail." The word translated "ancient" really means "elder". So we have a political leader being paired with a lying prophet.
Small little reference, but once I had noticed this my mind's floodgates burst open, and I started getting all kinds of ideas. They begin with II Thessalonians 2:3. No words are mistranslated here, but it's one of those caissons the translators felt the need to change the order of the words for the sake of English grammar. Which is often needed, but here I would render it this way.
What if it's really referring to the unveiling of two people? The following verses are clearly talking about a single individual man deifying himself in the Temple. But maybe that person is the first mentioned, and the second is his supporter facilitating him in this act? If the Son of Perdition is the False Prophet rather then The Antichrist as assumed, that could be interesting.
The term "Son of Perdition" is used only twice, the above passage is the second time, the first was John 17:12 where it refers to Judas Iscariot. Because of that many have taught that Judas is the Antichrist. But to me that conflicts with too many other details about his connections to Rome and the Seleucid kingdom and being Assyrian and so on. But those details don't conflict with him being The False Prophet.
The word translated Perdition is Apoleia. Apollyon from Revelation 9:11 is a related word, derived from the same roots. Apoleia means destruction (perdition is a King James English synonym for Destruction) and Apollyon means Destroyer. It would be accurate poetically to call Apollyon the Son of Apoleia. Acts 1:25 says when Judas died he went "to his own place". What does that mean? Does it mean it's not the same afterlife as normal people (Saved or unsaved) go to? could it be the Abyss?
There are two Old Testament prophecies cited in the New Testament as referring to Judas, yet when read in their entire context seem much grander then just Judas as we normally think of him. Psalm 109 (in Acts 1:20), and the Idol Shepperd of Zechariah 11 (in Matthew 27:9). Many allege a Bible Contradiction in how this is attributed to Jeremiah, but Zechariah 9-14 is different from the first part of the book, when a date of when he had the vision is recorded at each one's start. It could be he incorporated an early Prophecy of Jeremiah into his work.
Zechariah 11:17 calls him "the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock", sounds like it could connect to the same terminology as the verse where Yeshua calls Judas the Son of Perdition. "I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled."
Psalm 109 actually has three evil personages are in mind, the subject of the Psalm (Who we are told is Judas) and verse 6 says "Set thou a wicked man over him: and let Satan stand at his right hand." Could it be another picture of the counterfeit Trinity?
In John 6:70 Yeshua refer to Judas as "a Deivl". In the Greek this is Diabolos, any time you see references to people being possessed by "a devil" "devils", or any references to plural "devils" the Greek is Daimon or Daimonian. This is the only time Diabolos refers to anyone other then Satan himself, but in reference to Satan it's always "the Devil" not "a Devil" so this is very unique.
The other name for Apollyon is Abaddon, his Hebrew name. Most people don't know that this name does appear in the Hebrew Scriptures, it's Strongs number is 11. The KJV always translates it "destruction" but it's not the only word for destruction, so it's important to differentiate. The verses it appears in are Job 26:6, Job 28:22, Job 31:12, Psalm 88:11, Proverbs 15:11, and Proverbs 27:20.
It's used as the name of a place, not a individual. Being frequently linked with Sheol (Hell/Hades) I take it to be the Old Testament name of the place the New Testament calls the Abyss/Bottomless Pit and Tartaros (Translated Hell in 2 Peter 4). So if the place Judas went was "his own place" perhaps he took it's name?
Now back to Revelation 13. Some interpret "out of the Earth" as meaning Jewish, while "out of the sea" for the first Beast means Gentile. I'm not sure I understand that logic, but it happens to fit my interpretation here somewhat. (The Antichrist I do not believe will be a Jew, he might have a distant descent from Dan, but that won't be enough to make him a true member of any Tribe.)
Having "two horns like a lamb" is thought to support the idea of him claiming to be Jesus. The word translated "lamb" here is used 28 times in Revelation, this is the only time it's not in direct reference to Yeshua. But it's not actually a lamb, it's "like a lamb". similar or resembling is what the Greek word here means. So many scholars (even without the intent of connection to any extra Biblical traditions I'll mention latter) have theorized that ti's the second beast not the first who claims to be Jesus himself. Antichrist means a substitute Christ, which can be viewed as distinct from a False Christ though definitely a type of one. The Antichrist claims to be a new savior greater then Jesus, with supposedly the original verifying that.
If the False Prophet does claim to be the returned Jesus, then him being Judas makes that lie related to the truth. He would be a First Century Judean, who died the exact same day, and was probably about the same age. Today scientists are pretty sure they know what a first century Judean would basically look like, between studying ancient artwork and skulls they've found. There have been specials on TV all about them trying to create on a Computer what Jesus might have looked like. So if someone wants to convince the world he is a specific First Century Judean, it would help to at least have been one of them.
Next, "and he spake as a dragon" since the dragon in mind here is thought to be The Dragon. Judas is the only person who is ever known to have been indwelt by Satan himself. So he could easily speak with his voice.
Judas had the ability to perform miracles, just like the False Prophet will do. Matthew 10:1-8, all of the Twelve are listed including Judas. Even tough Judas wasn't really saved he could perform divine miracles, including healing and raising the dead. In this period they'll be Satanic miracles rather then divine as in Matthew 10, but the point is Judas has experience in doing this.
In 13:13 he can make "fire come down from heaven on the earth". Satan had this ability in Job:12. But Luke 9:51-56 implies this was also in the arsenal of the Twelve, though Yehsua rebuked John and James them for desiring to use it.
The first Beast has a "Mortal wound" that is healed. We're not explicitly told The False Prophet performs this counterfeit-resurrection, but it is the False Prophet in performs his miracles in general.
I don't believe the life like behavior of "Image of the Beast", Satan can't truly create life. I believe this is an illusion to modern technology. many see a Robot a Hologram, and that could be part of it. But I also like the 2000 film Revelation's suggestion that it's a sort of Computer program anyone on Earth can plug into. I thin it's directly related to the Mark.
The Second beast isn't just the religious leader, he's also in charge of the new economy. In verses 16 and 17 we're told he makes everyone get the Mark and requires them to need it to buy or sell. John 12:6 tells us Judas was in charge of the moneybag during Yeshua's ministry, he was the treasurer, so likewise he'll over see the Beast's economic policy for the whole world as well.
Since The Beast and The False Prophet are cast alive into the Lake of Fire without any reference to being killed in Revelation 19, at the start of the Millennium, some have argued that they are individuals who where allowed to experience the “Second Resurrection” (the resurrection of the damned) early, rather then at the end of the Millennium. The Beast's Mortal Wound being healed could refer to his resurrection, not being termed as such because it's not a true Resurrection like Yeshua's. But what about The False Prophet's? Perhaps after Judas's soul-spirit (Apollyon) is released from the Abyss, he will then find whatever remains of his body and be resurrected. Remember, after death our bodies return to the dust of the earth from which we where formed. So maybe coming "out of the Earth" mean out of the earth that his body had decomposed into?
That's the end of my Biblical argument. But there are some extra Biblical connections that are interesting to view in this context.
I have become very convinced of the theory that the Mahdi of Islamic prophecy was demonically inspired for the Antichrist to claim that title. Now part of that theory tends to be that Isa (Islam's counterfeit Jesus) is the False Prophet. It being Isa who resurrects the Mahdi fits that well.
Also extra Biblical modern Rabbinic Jewish tradition has created the Messiah Ben-Ephraim, who will be a leader of Israel, but be killed by Armilus and then resurrected by Messiah Ben-David.
Now I return again to the subject of the name Apollyon. Apollyon was an ancient Homeric alternative name for the Greek god Apollo. It's used for example in Aeschylus's play Agamemnon, where Cassandra says repeatedly. "Apollo, thou destroyer, O Apollo, Lord of fair streets, Apollyon to me.". Virgil's fourth Eclogue records a pagan prophecy attributed to the Cumaean Sibyl. Which foretells a new "Golden Age' brought about by Apollo, but Saturn is in view too.
Now I know full well that at the time this was written Virgil intended it to refer to Augustus, that this new Golden Age was supposed to be Augustus's Pax Romana. But remember, among other things that the Little Horn's kingdom will be a revived Roman Empire, I think he will present his peace plan as a new Pax Romana.
When Rome began being Christianized (or more accurately Christianity began being Romanized) which started even before Constantine, it became popular to reinterpret this as a prophecy of the Nativity of Christ, being made at very near the same time. Constantine, the first Christian emperor, in his first address to the assembly, interpreted the whole of The Eclogues as a reference to the coming of Christ, and quoted a long passage of the Sibylline Oracles (Book 8) containing an acrostic in which the initials from a series of verses read: "Jesus Christ Son of God Saviour Cross". The books refereed to as the "Sibylline Oracles" are actually Jewish and Christian (often Gnostic), Apocrypha drawing on the Sibyl traditions of Greeco-Roman paganism.
That's why Michelangelo prominently featured the Cumaean Sibyl in the Sistine Chapel among the Old Testament prophets, as had earlier works such as the Tree of Jesse miniature in the Ingeberg Psalter. And why Dante Alighieri chose Virgil as his guide in The Divine Comedy (Dante's Inferno). So Catholic Christianity (and other apostate churches) have long embraced identifying Apollo with Jesus via this prophecy.
The Greeks also identified Apollo with the Egyptian Horus, who came after the dieing and rising god Osiris.
Looks like allot of groundwork for a great deception has been laid.
The only reference to either of the Beasts prior to chapter 13 is chapter 11:7 "the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. " Chapter 17:8 makes the beast who " shall ascend out of the bottomless pit" synonymous with the Beast who has 7 heads and 10 horns, and this the first beast of chapter 13. But the symbolism of the Beast is complicated, the 7 headed 10 horned Beats represents the individual of the Antichrist but also his Empire, his political system. Which is the Roman Empire, the Fourth beast of Daniel 7, which is no being rebuilt via the European Union but also via Western politics in the Middle East. The False Prophet as his both religious and economic overseer is part of that system, so you could argue during any section that seems to only have one of them The Beast could be seen as both together.
We commonly discuss allot of verses outside Revelation that are about The Antichrist. But I don't see any other verses taken to refer to The False Prophet. False Prophets, plural, appear often as do False Christs. "For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect."-Matthew 24:24.
Many characters who serve as Foreshadowings or Types of The Antichrist do have a False Prophet figure with them. Adonijah had Abiathar the Priest, Ahab had the unnamed False Prophet who had that dramatic scene with Micaiah. Also if you study the history of Antiochus Epiphanies and the Maccabees, there is Menelaus, the Benjamite Apostate High Priest who presided over the worship of the Abomination of Desolation.
However, actual specific Prophecies of this figure outside Revelation our not well known. I have seen it suggested that maybe many Prophecies assumed to be about The Antichrist really refer to the False Prophet, or even that some refer to both together in some way. But those suggesting this never seem to elaborate on it.
Then I noticed this little detail of Isaiah 9, in verses 14&15. "Therefore the LORD will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush, in one day. The ancient and honourable, he is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail." The word translated "ancient" really means "elder". So we have a political leader being paired with a lying prophet.
Small little reference, but once I had noticed this my mind's floodgates burst open, and I started getting all kinds of ideas. They begin with II Thessalonians 2:3. No words are mistranslated here, but it's one of those caissons the translators felt the need to change the order of the words for the sake of English grammar. Which is often needed, but here I would render it this way.
It appears we have two titles of the Antichrist listed side by side. He had many titles, often more then one used in the same chapter or even same verse, but simply listed in succession is unusual.Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and the unveiling of the Man of Sin, the Son of Perdition.
What if it's really referring to the unveiling of two people? The following verses are clearly talking about a single individual man deifying himself in the Temple. But maybe that person is the first mentioned, and the second is his supporter facilitating him in this act? If the Son of Perdition is the False Prophet rather then The Antichrist as assumed, that could be interesting.
The term "Son of Perdition" is used only twice, the above passage is the second time, the first was John 17:12 where it refers to Judas Iscariot. Because of that many have taught that Judas is the Antichrist. But to me that conflicts with too many other details about his connections to Rome and the Seleucid kingdom and being Assyrian and so on. But those details don't conflict with him being The False Prophet.
The word translated Perdition is Apoleia. Apollyon from Revelation 9:11 is a related word, derived from the same roots. Apoleia means destruction (perdition is a King James English synonym for Destruction) and Apollyon means Destroyer. It would be accurate poetically to call Apollyon the Son of Apoleia. Acts 1:25 says when Judas died he went "to his own place". What does that mean? Does it mean it's not the same afterlife as normal people (Saved or unsaved) go to? could it be the Abyss?
There are two Old Testament prophecies cited in the New Testament as referring to Judas, yet when read in their entire context seem much grander then just Judas as we normally think of him. Psalm 109 (in Acts 1:20), and the Idol Shepperd of Zechariah 11 (in Matthew 27:9). Many allege a Bible Contradiction in how this is attributed to Jeremiah, but Zechariah 9-14 is different from the first part of the book, when a date of when he had the vision is recorded at each one's start. It could be he incorporated an early Prophecy of Jeremiah into his work.
Zechariah 11:17 calls him "the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock", sounds like it could connect to the same terminology as the verse where Yeshua calls Judas the Son of Perdition. "I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled."
Psalm 109 actually has three evil personages are in mind, the subject of the Psalm (Who we are told is Judas) and verse 6 says "Set thou a wicked man over him: and let Satan stand at his right hand." Could it be another picture of the counterfeit Trinity?
In John 6:70 Yeshua refer to Judas as "a Deivl". In the Greek this is Diabolos, any time you see references to people being possessed by "a devil" "devils", or any references to plural "devils" the Greek is Daimon or Daimonian. This is the only time Diabolos refers to anyone other then Satan himself, but in reference to Satan it's always "the Devil" not "a Devil" so this is very unique.
The other name for Apollyon is Abaddon, his Hebrew name. Most people don't know that this name does appear in the Hebrew Scriptures, it's Strongs number is 11. The KJV always translates it "destruction" but it's not the only word for destruction, so it's important to differentiate. The verses it appears in are Job 26:6, Job 28:22, Job 31:12, Psalm 88:11, Proverbs 15:11, and Proverbs 27:20.
It's used as the name of a place, not a individual. Being frequently linked with Sheol (Hell/Hades) I take it to be the Old Testament name of the place the New Testament calls the Abyss/Bottomless Pit and Tartaros (Translated Hell in 2 Peter 4). So if the place Judas went was "his own place" perhaps he took it's name?
Now back to Revelation 13. Some interpret "out of the Earth" as meaning Jewish, while "out of the sea" for the first Beast means Gentile. I'm not sure I understand that logic, but it happens to fit my interpretation here somewhat. (The Antichrist I do not believe will be a Jew, he might have a distant descent from Dan, but that won't be enough to make him a true member of any Tribe.)
Having "two horns like a lamb" is thought to support the idea of him claiming to be Jesus. The word translated "lamb" here is used 28 times in Revelation, this is the only time it's not in direct reference to Yeshua. But it's not actually a lamb, it's "like a lamb". similar or resembling is what the Greek word here means. So many scholars (even without the intent of connection to any extra Biblical traditions I'll mention latter) have theorized that ti's the second beast not the first who claims to be Jesus himself. Antichrist means a substitute Christ, which can be viewed as distinct from a False Christ though definitely a type of one. The Antichrist claims to be a new savior greater then Jesus, with supposedly the original verifying that.
If the False Prophet does claim to be the returned Jesus, then him being Judas makes that lie related to the truth. He would be a First Century Judean, who died the exact same day, and was probably about the same age. Today scientists are pretty sure they know what a first century Judean would basically look like, between studying ancient artwork and skulls they've found. There have been specials on TV all about them trying to create on a Computer what Jesus might have looked like. So if someone wants to convince the world he is a specific First Century Judean, it would help to at least have been one of them.
Next, "and he spake as a dragon" since the dragon in mind here is thought to be The Dragon. Judas is the only person who is ever known to have been indwelt by Satan himself. So he could easily speak with his voice.
Judas had the ability to perform miracles, just like the False Prophet will do. Matthew 10:1-8, all of the Twelve are listed including Judas. Even tough Judas wasn't really saved he could perform divine miracles, including healing and raising the dead. In this period they'll be Satanic miracles rather then divine as in Matthew 10, but the point is Judas has experience in doing this.
In 13:13 he can make "fire come down from heaven on the earth". Satan had this ability in Job:12. But Luke 9:51-56 implies this was also in the arsenal of the Twelve, though Yehsua rebuked John and James them for desiring to use it.
The first Beast has a "Mortal wound" that is healed. We're not explicitly told The False Prophet performs this counterfeit-resurrection, but it is the False Prophet in performs his miracles in general.
I don't believe the life like behavior of "Image of the Beast", Satan can't truly create life. I believe this is an illusion to modern technology. many see a Robot a Hologram, and that could be part of it. But I also like the 2000 film Revelation's suggestion that it's a sort of Computer program anyone on Earth can plug into. I thin it's directly related to the Mark.
The Second beast isn't just the religious leader, he's also in charge of the new economy. In verses 16 and 17 we're told he makes everyone get the Mark and requires them to need it to buy or sell. John 12:6 tells us Judas was in charge of the moneybag during Yeshua's ministry, he was the treasurer, so likewise he'll over see the Beast's economic policy for the whole world as well.
Since The Beast and The False Prophet are cast alive into the Lake of Fire without any reference to being killed in Revelation 19, at the start of the Millennium, some have argued that they are individuals who where allowed to experience the “Second Resurrection” (the resurrection of the damned) early, rather then at the end of the Millennium. The Beast's Mortal Wound being healed could refer to his resurrection, not being termed as such because it's not a true Resurrection like Yeshua's. But what about The False Prophet's? Perhaps after Judas's soul-spirit (Apollyon) is released from the Abyss, he will then find whatever remains of his body and be resurrected. Remember, after death our bodies return to the dust of the earth from which we where formed. So maybe coming "out of the Earth" mean out of the earth that his body had decomposed into?
That's the end of my Biblical argument. But there are some extra Biblical connections that are interesting to view in this context.
I have become very convinced of the theory that the Mahdi of Islamic prophecy was demonically inspired for the Antichrist to claim that title. Now part of that theory tends to be that Isa (Islam's counterfeit Jesus) is the False Prophet. It being Isa who resurrects the Mahdi fits that well.
Also extra Biblical modern Rabbinic Jewish tradition has created the Messiah Ben-Ephraim, who will be a leader of Israel, but be killed by Armilus and then resurrected by Messiah Ben-David.
Now I return again to the subject of the name Apollyon. Apollyon was an ancient Homeric alternative name for the Greek god Apollo. It's used for example in Aeschylus's play Agamemnon, where Cassandra says repeatedly. "Apollo, thou destroyer, O Apollo, Lord of fair streets, Apollyon to me.". Virgil's fourth Eclogue records a pagan prophecy attributed to the Cumaean Sibyl. Which foretells a new "Golden Age' brought about by Apollo, but Saturn is in view too.
Now I know full well that at the time this was written Virgil intended it to refer to Augustus, that this new Golden Age was supposed to be Augustus's Pax Romana. But remember, among other things that the Little Horn's kingdom will be a revived Roman Empire, I think he will present his peace plan as a new Pax Romana.
When Rome began being Christianized (or more accurately Christianity began being Romanized) which started even before Constantine, it became popular to reinterpret this as a prophecy of the Nativity of Christ, being made at very near the same time. Constantine, the first Christian emperor, in his first address to the assembly, interpreted the whole of The Eclogues as a reference to the coming of Christ, and quoted a long passage of the Sibylline Oracles (Book 8) containing an acrostic in which the initials from a series of verses read: "Jesus Christ Son of God Saviour Cross". The books refereed to as the "Sibylline Oracles" are actually Jewish and Christian (often Gnostic), Apocrypha drawing on the Sibyl traditions of Greeco-Roman paganism.
That's why Michelangelo prominently featured the Cumaean Sibyl in the Sistine Chapel among the Old Testament prophets, as had earlier works such as the Tree of Jesse miniature in the Ingeberg Psalter. And why Dante Alighieri chose Virgil as his guide in The Divine Comedy (Dante's Inferno). So Catholic Christianity (and other apostate churches) have long embraced identifying Apollo with Jesus via this prophecy.
The Greeks also identified Apollo with the Egyptian Horus, who came after the dieing and rising god Osiris.
Looks like allot of groundwork for a great deception has been laid.
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