Armageddon: The Final Battle

The map of the last great battle on earth

Russia, the Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church, Israel, Islam, the Antichrist, the Third Jewish Temple and Armageddon. Those are the elements that will play a role in the final battle on earth between good and evil. And that battle will be Armageddon.

Those are a lot of elements. Though they don't all seem to be related, they are. For example, the Roman Catholic Church will rise to prominence once again in Russia when the Catholic and the Orthodox churches reunite after 1,000 years of separation.

That will open the prophetic door for the dreaded Antichrist to come from Russia. Though his throne will initially be in Rome, he will move to Jerusalem where he will rule the world. And he will authorize the rebuilding of the third Jewish Temple in Jerusalem where he will declare himself God to the world.

In order for that to happen, he will have to tear down the Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa Mosque that have been located on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem since the 8th century A.D. And in order for that to happen, he will have to drive Islam out of the Middle East and out of the world completely. No third Jewish Temple can or will be built until Islam is permanently gone from the world.

Islam won't go easily. It's a violent religion whose adherents believe that the world must be converted by the sword if necessary and all those who resist must be murdered before Judgment Day can come. Thus, no ordinary political leader will be able to achieve what the Antichrist will accomplish. When he rids the world of Islam, he will be considered a hero. 

However, his power will come from a dark spiritual source. The apostle John, who recorded the Revelation in about 90 A.D. while in exile from Rome, wrote this: "The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority." (Revelation 13:2) Who is this dragon? He is Satan. And the beast is the Antichrist.

Therefore it will be Satan himself who will enable this man to have Israel's third Temple constructed on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. But why would Satan allow Israel to exist and permit the Jewish nation to rebuild its coveted temple if he hates the Jews and seeks Israel's destruction? 

Because he wants the world to worship him as God and his man the Antichrist as his messiah. But the Jews don't accept Christ, and they would certainly never allow the Antichrist to enter their temple and declare himself to be God or Jesus Christ. Not willingly. However, at some point after the Temple is up and running, "he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him." (Daniel 9:27)

How do Russia and the Catholic Church factor into this? The Antichrist will come from Russia (Daniel 11, Ezekiel 38-39) and he will be a miracle-worker. (2 Thessalonians 2:9-10) He will be both a political and religious figure who will assume absolute control over a world government. (Daniel 8, Revelation 13) And he will be a Roman Catholic. (Revelation 17)

Like the Orthodox Church, the Catholic Church believes that Jerusalem belongs to her alone and not to the Jews or the Muslims. And the Catholic Church believes that she has been ordained by God to bring the entire world into the Roman church and construct a new temple for Christ in Jerusalem in preparation for his return. Though the Catholic Church claims to be Christ's one and only true church on earth, she isn't and never was. She's a counterfeit that's persecuted multitudes during her history and has sent multitudes to hell with her false gospel.

Is that a bit harsh? It isn't. Not coincidentally, there's Satan worship going on in the Vatican. And that comes from reliable sources such as Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo and the late Catholic scholar and historian Malachi Martin. 

Also, I learned from a personal source whose late brother--a Jesuit priest who taught at Georgetown University for many years--confirmed that Satan worship indeed occurs inside the Vatican. Who worships the devil inside the Vatican? We don't know. However, it's incredulous that Pope Francis and his predecessors wouldn't know about this. Perhaps they're involved in it.

But what about Armageddon? How will that happen? When the Antichrist enters the Temple in Jerusalem, he will declare himself God to the world and he'll demand the Jews worship him. When they refuse, he'll order Israel's destruction by calling for the armies of the world to gather in the plain of Megiddo in the Jezreel Valley to annihilate the Jewish nation. (Zechariah 14, Ezekiel 38-39) At that point, Christ will return and rescue Israel by destroying those armies.

Concerning that battle, Christ said this: "So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand—then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again." (Matthew 24:15-21)

Certainly, Armageddon is still a long way off. But it's coming. And it could come quickly. That depends on when Russia builds her dreaded military coalition and when the Catholic and Orthodox churches reunite. And of course, when the Antichrist appears and begins dazzling the world with his supernatural tricks.