3ABN Today Live

The Mysterious 666

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

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Series Code: TDYL

Program Code: TDYL220005A


00:01 As you're well aware,
00:03 we're living in unprecedented times.
00:05 Join us now for Today special program.
00:12 I want to spend my life
00:18 Mending broken people
00:23 I want to spend my life
00:29 Removing pain
00:34 Lord, let my words
00:39 Heal a heart that hurts
00:44 I want to spend my life
00:50 Mending broken people
00:55 I want to spend my life
01:01 Mending broken people
01:15 Hello, welcome to 3ABN.
01:17 This is almost live, I would say because it is pre-recorded.
01:21 Why is it pre-recorded?
01:22 It is because of a heavy winter storm
01:26 in Southern Illinois.
01:28 The plan was to go live
01:30 but we had to pre-record this program
01:32 because the weather is just getting worse and worse.
01:35 And, of course, we are concerned
01:36 for our 3ABN family workers
01:38 and we wanted to get home safely,
01:40 so we have to pre-record this program.
01:42 For this reason, you're not able to send your questions
01:46 so that Pastor Steve Wohlberg
01:48 that is here with us can answer them.
01:50 Pastor Wohlberg, welcome back to 3ABN.
01:53 God bless you for coming
01:54 and you had to kind of just sneak in
01:57 before the storm came in.
01:59 Tell us about your trip and how it worked out for you?
02:02 Yes, I would call this wicked weather,
02:04 I tell you, it's amazing.
02:06 Two nights ago, I was, I got on the phone
02:09 with Alaska and found out that all my flights were canceled.
02:12 My Alaska flights they were not flying into St. Louis
02:14 because of this terrible storm that was coming in.
02:16 So my associate quickly got on the internet
02:19 and found one seat left on a Delta flight
02:22 that left at 6 o'clock in the morning
02:24 the next morning.
02:25 So I got up before three
02:28 and I got to the airport in Spokane
02:30 and got on that flight
02:32 and then made my connection in Salt Lake and flew right in.
02:35 As I think, you know, James Rafferty
02:37 was supposed to come in.
02:38 Yes. And do this program.
02:40 But he's...
02:42 We had one flight canceled, then another flight canceled.
02:44 He got booked on Delta,
02:46 as well, for later flight that was canceled.
02:48 So and I just feel like
02:50 I just snuck in when I got into the airport
02:52 and got my rental car from St. Louis.
02:55 I saw seven accidents on the way here.
02:58 The roads were just very, very treacherous.
03:01 And so I'm just thankful, John, that I'm here,
03:05 and that you're here with me in the pinch.
03:07 And I just trust that the Lord is going to bless
03:11 what we're going to do.
03:12 Amen. Amen.
03:13 Well, my name is John Dinzey for those
03:15 that are listening by radio.
03:16 And we have Pastor Steve Wohlberg with us.
03:18 He is the Speaker and Director of White Horse Media.
03:22 And I know for those watching that his face
03:25 is familiar to you,
03:26 and I believe your voice should be familiar
03:28 to many people because you're also on radio.
03:30 Tell us briefly about White Horse Media?
03:33 What is that? And why is it called White Horse Media?
03:35 Why not the red black, blue or yellow horse?
03:38 Yes, it's the White Horse
03:39 because we picked the name because of Revelation 19:11
03:42 that describes Jesus returning on a white horse.
03:45 We love that verse.
03:47 We'd like the imagery Jesus is coming as the,
03:50 you know, the Holy Hero to get rid of evil.
03:53 And so we are White Horse Media.
03:55 Our goal is to help people to get ready for Jesus to come.
03:58 We're based in Priest River,
03:59 Idaho, we have a wonderful staff there.
04:02 We've got a building, a studio, a lot of offices,
04:05 and we've been working for God as a team for many years.
04:09 We produce radio programs, TV programs,
04:12 we have seminars, I read a lot of books.
04:15 And I just feel so blessed,
04:17 John, to live in the country with my family,
04:20 my family's there, my wife and my two children,
04:22 and to work with a wonderful team
04:25 that is working for God and I'm just,
04:28 I'm a blessed man.
04:29 I really am.
04:31 Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.
04:32 I think we have a picture also of our staff
04:34 just to show that recent picture.
04:37 I've done this many times
04:39 when I go on 3ABN and show a picture of my wife
04:42 and my children.
04:43 If you look right in the middle of that picture,
04:44 the very top young man that is my son Seth,
04:47 he's actually bigger than me.
04:49 And right next, next to him is Christine
04:52 and right below Christine,
04:54 or right next to Christine is Abby.
04:56 And then I'm right behind Abby.
04:58 Abby is 14, Seth is 17,
05:01 getting ready for college
05:02 and I won't tell you how old my wife is.
05:05 But we just, I'm just so blessed,
05:07 wonderful family,
05:08 and wonderful team of people that I work with.
05:11 And so God is good. And He's good.
05:13 Glad to be back at 3ABN Praise the Lord.
05:16 Praise the Lord.
05:17 You know, Pastor Steve Wohlberg,
05:19 for those of you that are not familiar with him,
05:20 he's the author of over 40 books,
05:23 and has been featured on over 500 radio
05:26 and television programs, interviewed.
05:29 Also has participated, National Geographic,
05:32 History Channel documentaries,
05:34 speaking about the Book of Revelation.
05:36 And speaking about books, I have one here that you wrote,
05:41 not too long ago,
05:43 it's called Approaching Armageddon,
05:45 Approaching Armageddon.
05:46 I want to ask you something about this book,
05:48 but first I'd like to read something really quick here.
05:50 It says on page 91, "To my readers, I say,
05:54 Bible prophecy is being fulfilled
05:56 before our very eyes.
05:58 The words of God recorded in Daniel's book
06:01 and in other Bible books are now unlocked,
06:04 unsealed and are easily accessible for human eyes
06:07 to read like never before.
06:10 You have a personal conviction
06:12 that we are living in the time of the end
06:14 and prophecies being fulfilled before our eyes.
06:17 That's why you wrote this book Approaching Armageddon.
06:19 Tell me something about this book
06:21 and what is your hope as people read this book?
06:23 Yeah, and that book I discussed here,
06:26 the last time I was here, we talked about it.
06:28 And essentially I wrote it because the conviction
06:30 just became overwhelming.
06:32 As I looked at what was continuing
06:33 to develop in the world that Jesus is coming
06:36 and that prophecy is being fulfilled in front of our eyes.
06:39 So I wanted to make it simple.
06:40 So that book is, I call it Prophecy 101.
06:43 It establishes faith in the Bible.
06:45 And then it looks
06:46 at what's happening in the world
06:48 and points to the return of Jesus,
06:50 the battle of Armageddon, and how love will win
06:52 and evil will go down, gives people hope.
06:54 So it's kind of an entry level book
06:57 to be given to people to share and help them to learn
07:00 what's happening in the world.
07:02 Excellent. Excellent.
07:03 You have also a little pamphlet
07:05 that is talking about the time we're living in.
07:07 That's right.
07:09 And it's about Coronavirus,
07:10 obviously, and it says what's next.
07:12 Very small pamphlet, people can get very easily.
07:14 This can, also they can get from White Horse Media.
07:17 Yes, that's just a little tract
07:18 that makes it very simple to give away to people.
07:20 I gave many away on the,
07:22 on my trip here to the person at the ticket counter,
07:26 and the person that dropped me off from the shuttle,
07:29 I hand them a little track.
07:30 So it's just a simple track that,
07:32 you know, people are thinking about the virus
07:33 and about all these crazy things
07:35 that are happening.
07:37 And they're wondering, well, what's coming.
07:38 And that book, or that tract is simply a catchy cover,
07:41 which leads into a Bible study on the time
07:43 when nobody can buy or sell,
07:45 unless he has the mark of the beast,
07:46 and then what the mark of the beast is all about.
07:48 So it's just a little simple study to plant seeds
07:51 about what's coming in the future.
07:54 So our ministry, John, White Horse Media
07:56 is producing programs
07:58 and material to share with the world.
08:01 That's what we're all about. Excellent.
08:04 Now, the reason you are here is because you wrote a book
08:07 called The 666 Beast Identified,
08:12 and what is it?
08:13 What does it means to you?
08:17 So this is a captivating cover,
08:19 written by Pastor Steve Wohlberg.
08:22 And why did you write this particular book
08:25 and what's in your heart?
08:27 You have something to share. We have two hours.
08:29 Well, a little less now to talk about this important topic.
08:33 But why did you feel the need to write this book?
08:36 Right, I write books, John,
08:39 based on what the Holy Spirit convicts me
08:42 about in my own personal study.
08:45 And you mentioned to me a little bit ago
08:46 that you've got a number of books on your list too,
08:49 your mentalist that you want to write
08:51 about and probably there,
08:52 because you've been convicted that these are topics
08:55 that need to be addressed.
08:56 And so that's what happens with me.
08:58 As God works with me,
08:59 I've developed my writing skills.
09:01 And so I write books based on things that I've been studying.
09:04 And Revelation Chapter 13, as most of us know,
09:08 is a critical chapter.
09:09 It talks about the rise of the beast from the sea,
09:12 and then there's a beast from the earth.
09:13 And then they both work together
09:15 to enforce the mark of the beast.
09:17 And there's so many of us that believe
09:18 that we're getting closer
09:20 to the final verses in Revelation 13.
09:24 And when you go down right near the end,
09:26 it talks about, in verse 16,
09:28 that he would cause all both small and great,
09:32 rich and poor, free and bond
09:33 to receive a mark in their right hand
09:36 or in their forehead,
09:37 and that no man might buy or sell,
09:39 save he that had the mark,
09:42 or the name of the beast,
09:45 or the number of his name.
09:49 And then it says hear his wisdom,
09:52 let him calculate that number which comes out to 666
09:55 which we'll talk about more.
09:57 But anyway in answer to your question,
09:59 that conviction has just been deep in my heart,
10:02 that we're getting closer to the final sequence
10:04 in Chapter 13, Revelation 13,
10:07 we're getting closer to the time
10:08 when the mark would be enforced.
10:10 And we also need to know,
10:12 what is the name of the beast
10:14 because it's right in the sequence,
10:16 and what is the number of his name,
10:19 which is right in the sequence.
10:21 So I just feel like as we're getting closer
10:23 to those final events,
10:25 God has been impressing me about these verses
10:29 that lead to 666.
10:32 And so I've been studying this.
10:34 And what I've learned is so powerful,
10:36 that I wanted to share it.
10:38 And so that's why I wrote this book.
10:41 Excellent. Thank you very much.
10:42 Well, you know,
10:43 my wife and I were in a Mexican restaurant,
10:45 I think it was in Texas, and we ordered our food
10:48 and they gave us a receipt with a number on it,
10:52 Pastor Wohlberg.
10:53 And when I looked at the number they were going to call out,
10:57 for us, it was 666.
11:00 Now, I said to my wife, "Look at this,
11:02 this is very interesting."
11:04 Now, we understand about the number 666.
11:09 So, but I believe someone else may have looked at that
11:12 and think I have the mark of the beast now.
11:14 So there's a lot of confusion about this.
11:16 And many theories are out there.
11:20 For example, when Ronald Reagan was president,
11:23 because his name is Ronald Wilson Reagan,
11:25 and there are six letters in his first name,
11:28 six letters in his middle name,
11:29 and six letters in his last name,
11:31 people were saying, "He is the...
11:34 He's got the mark of the beast.
11:36 He's the beast."
11:37 So there's confusion about that.
11:38 Barack Obama, another individual
11:40 that people mentioned that has the beast
11:43 or he's the beast power.
11:45 Some people think it's a computer chip.
11:47 And recently is circulating all over
11:52 that the Coronavirus or the vaccine is 666,
11:57 and it has to do with the mark of the beast.
11:59 So, you have written a book about this,
12:02 we are going to spend time digging into this
12:06 so that all the confusion can be cleared up.
12:09 But before we do this,
12:10 we need to go to the Lord in prayer.
12:12 This is a very important,
12:14 vital topic for the time we're living in.
12:16 And we want to get answers from the Bible,
12:19 Pastor Wohlberg has been studying
12:21 and led by the Holy Spirit to write this book
12:23 so that we hope that by the time you are done,
12:26 you're saying, I understand this topic.
12:28 And you may want to share this with others.
12:30 So we encourage you to consider getting copies of this book.
12:34 Let's go to the Lord in prayer and ask for His blessing.
12:37 Let us pray together.
12:40 Our loving Heavenly Father,
12:42 we live in difficult times.
12:45 There is every wind of doctrine blowing.
12:49 And Heavenly Father, we don't want
12:50 to rely on what people say.
12:53 And even in this program,
12:54 the things that your children are going to hear
12:58 we pray that they will be like the Bereans,
13:00 go to the Scriptures to see if these things are true.
13:04 We thank you so much for the Holy Scriptures
13:07 that are able to lead us
13:10 to the light and wonderful salvation.
13:12 Help us to understand what is coming upon us.
13:16 There are a lot of people asking questions.
13:18 There are a lot of people confused about the mark
13:20 of the beast, what is this 666
13:23 and what they should do about it.
13:25 Revelation 13 speaks of this impacting the whole world.
13:30 So it's a message for everyone.
13:31 So we pray that You will bless Pastor Wohlberg
13:33 with Your Holy Spirit.
13:35 And we pray that You will guide him as he explains
13:38 that it may be clear
13:40 and that all confusion will be eliminated.
13:44 We pray that all honor and glory be unto Your name.
13:47 We thank You for providing 3ABN the opportunity
13:50 to broadcast this program.
13:51 And we pray that it will reach people in the time
13:55 of great need and in time of confusion
13:57 so that they will understand that You are our only hope.
14:02 We ask You Heavenly Father in Jesus' holy and blessed name.
14:06 Amen. Amen.
14:07 Amen.
14:09 Well, it's time to fasten your seat belts for a Bible study.
14:13 And we hope you have your Bible handy
14:15 to access it to follow along.
14:18 And, Pastor Wohlberg,
14:20 let's go from the beginning.
14:23 Okay, sure. Thank you, John.
14:25 And it was, you know,
14:26 I appreciated your mentioning
14:27 you being in the Mexican restaurant
14:29 and seeing that.
14:30 It reminds me of my, our,
14:32 we have a mutual friend Doug Batchelor
14:33 and he told a story once a while
14:35 I think he was in a Walmart
14:36 and he was going to the check stand
14:38 and the amount of things that he had purchased.
14:40 It came up on the screen as $6.66,
14:45 just a little purchase.
14:47 And the lady who looked at that,
14:49 Doug tells the story, her eyes got really big.
14:52 And he looked at her and said, "Do you know what that means?"
14:56 And she said, "No, but I know it's bad."
15:01 So, you know, that was just an illustration.
15:03 And the whole topic of 666 is all over the map.
15:07 I mean, as you mentioned, people are,
15:09 they don't really know what it means,
15:10 but most people have heard of 666.
15:12 Yes.
15:14 I think we have a graphic on the screen,
15:15 or we can put on the screen of the time
15:17 when the Dow Jones Industrial Average
15:20 went down 666 points in a day.
15:24 And, you know, people looked at that
15:26 and they started thinking, "Well, you know,
15:29 maybe this is the beginning of the final days,
15:32 because they're 666."
15:34 And again, there's just, you know,
15:36 there's so much speculation about this,
15:38 when Apple first released its first computer,
15:41 the price if I can remember this right
15:44 was $666.66.
15:48 And so people thought, well, maybe computers are evil.
15:51 And people think of 666 connected to a barcode
15:54 or Social Security or people's names or etc.
15:57 Etc.
15:58 Most people have no idea what it really means.
16:00 So we're going to do
16:01 is we're going to look at the Bible,
16:04 Revelation 13:18,
16:07 and we're going to really zero in
16:09 on what this verse actually says.
16:12 And I think we have a graphic also,
16:14 just to put that up, okay.
16:16 Verse 18 says, "Here is wisdom.
16:19 Let him who has understanding
16:22 calculate the number of the beast,
16:25 for it is the number of a man:
16:28 and his number is 666,
16:31 or, as the King James translate this, the New King James,
16:34 six hundred sixty and six.
16:37 So that's the text.
16:41 And the first, I guess, the first point
16:42 I want to make is that God tells us in this verse,
16:47 that we need wisdom to understand it.
16:50 And some people think it's all just speculation,
16:53 it's impossible to understand it.
16:56 But I don't buy that.
16:57 Because this text, you know, God is appealing to us,
17:00 here is wisdom.
17:02 And then He also says,
17:03 let him that has understanding.
17:06 So, John, that implies
17:09 that we can be wise on this topic,
17:12 and we can have understanding of this topic.
17:16 And so that's critical as we really just dissect the text.
17:20 And then it says,
17:22 let him who has understanding count
17:24 or some Bible say calculate,
17:26 the number of the beast.
17:28 So there's some counting,
17:30 some calculation that needs to be involved.
17:33 You know, that's a pillar point.
17:36 We just go, you know, point by point
17:38 and really look at this.
17:39 We need wisdom from God, we need understanding,
17:42 and we need to do some calculation.
17:44 Yes, very important. So, that is.
17:46 And then it says, let him count the number of the beast,
17:50 which we'll look at it a little while that we need to know
17:54 who the beast is.
17:56 You know, as you mentioned Barack Obama,
17:57 he used to be driven around in a big black limousine,
18:02 that people nicknamed the beast.
18:04 And so people thought maybe President Obama is the beast
18:07 because he's driving around in this big beast car.
18:10 But Barack Obama doesn't fit
18:13 all the biblical characteristics
18:16 of the beast in the Bible.
18:17 And so we have to know who the real beast is.
18:22 And then it says, for it is also,
18:23 it is the number of a man.
18:28 And I'm going to build my case that this is a specific man.
18:31 This is not just as some people think,
18:34 mankind, man in general.
18:37 It's not that,
18:38 it's specifically a man that is connected
18:41 to the beast.
18:43 So we need wisdom, understanding,
18:45 we need to calculate,
18:46 we need to know who the beast is.
18:48 And it is also the number of a man and then it says,
18:51 and the reason why I say a man is because it says
18:54 and his number.
18:56 So the number is specifically connected to that man.
19:01 His number is 600 three score,
19:06 the King James says three score,
19:08 a score is 20, so three score is 60.
19:11 And then it also says and 6.
19:13 So the text, many Bible say his number is 666.
19:19 But you know, that's not exactly what the text says.
19:22 The text doesn't say 6, and then another 6,
19:26 and then another 6,
19:27 the text actually says 600,
19:31 60, and 6.
19:34 And there's a subtle difference there
19:36 and we'll go more into that,
19:37 that, you know, some people are looking for 666
19:40 somewhere where they're going to see 666.
19:44 But the text doesn't say 666,
19:48 it says 600, 60 and 6.
19:52 You know, that's very good that you say that
19:55 because Ronald Reagan, of course, is eliminated.
19:59 That's right.
20:00 Because his, the six letters in his first name,
20:01 six letters in the middle name,
20:03 six letters in the last name is not 666,
20:06 it's just 6, 6, 6. Exactly.
20:08 Also, by reading the text,
20:11 for people that are not familiar with the scriptures,
20:13 we read there, that is the number of a man.
20:17 So the idea that it's a computer
20:18 or a computer chip
20:20 that has to be thrown out the window,
20:22 and is not valid,
20:23 it cannot be a computer or a computer chip.
20:27 So already, we see some confusion clearing up
20:29 just by reading the text.
20:30 That's right. Just by reading.
20:32 And you're right.
20:33 And these are all critical points point by point.
20:35 And you mentioned Ronald Reagan.
20:37 And there are some people that take a person's name,
20:40 like Caesar, Nero and different people,
20:43 and they try to use the numerical value
20:46 and they come up with 666.
20:47 But all of those options
20:51 need to be eliminated,
20:53 unless that beast and man lines up
20:59 with every other characteristic
21:01 that is described in Revelation Chapter 13.
21:04 And that's a critical point that we're not just,
21:07 we don't want to speculate and just,
21:09 you know, find some man and some name
21:11 and then see if it calculates out to 666
21:14 using the numerical value,
21:16 but we've got to find a beast
21:18 and a man that fits all the characteristics
21:23 of this beast in Revelation 13.
21:26 And that's a key point.
21:28 I have a question then, I have a question.
21:29 Okay.
21:32 I saw a documentary a few months ago.
21:36 And they brought a person they consider an authority
21:41 on the Scriptures.
21:43 And the question was asked about the 666.
21:48 And you mentioned Nero.
21:51 And the person that was supposed
21:53 to be an authority on the Scripture said,
21:55 oh, this is Nero,
21:56 an individual that lived several hundred years ago,
21:59 almost 2000 years ago.
22:01 Yeah, in the first century.
22:02 So you're saying
22:04 is not a man of the past.
22:07 You're saying is a man of the future, not the past.
22:11 Well, yeah...
22:13 And then you mentioned something
22:14 about the characteristics, because all the number 666
22:18 is just one characteristic.
22:21 There are others. That's right.
22:22 And we'll get into the past, the present, the future,
22:25 but we'll put all these pieces together.
22:26 But one of the common views,
22:30 as you mentioned, is Nero.
22:31 That's really a preterist view
22:33 that Nero was the beast in the first century,
22:36 he persecuted Christians.
22:38 And if you, you know, put together
22:40 Nero with Caesar or Caesarion,
22:43 you can calculate it out to 666.
22:45 And many people think he's the guy,
22:47 he's the 666 man, but he doesn't fit.
22:50 He doesn't fit. He doesn't fit all the other characteristics.
22:53 And it's significant that when he was alive,
22:57 and after that period, for 100 or 200 years,
23:02 the early Christians never associated
23:06 Revelation 13:18 with Nero.
23:09 So this is a novel interpretation
23:12 and there's many of them.
23:14 And, John, I want our listeners,
23:15 our viewers to know that I've looked
23:19 at many different views on this topic.
23:22 And in my book, 666 Beast Identified,
23:25 I actually look at nine different perspectives
23:30 on this topic.
23:32 And I'm convinced
23:33 that when you really look at the text,
23:36 and you really, you know,
23:37 dissect it and look at its details,
23:40 all the other alternative theories
23:45 that have taken the place of what I see as the true view,
23:50 they're just eliminated, they don't fit.
23:53 Now, here's another key point.
23:55 And I know you probably have questions as we go along.
23:57 Oh, yes, questions will be coming to you.
23:58 In Revelation 15:2.
24:01 Revelation 15:2.
24:03 Yeah, 15:2, this is a critical point.
24:06 15:2, John says,
24:08 "I saw as it were a sea of glass,
24:10 mingled with fire.
24:12 And John saw this in vision, and he saw them
24:15 that had gotten the victory over the beast,"
24:19 which is the beast of Revelation 13,
24:22 "and over his image,"
24:25 which comes in the second part of Revelation 13,
24:28 the second half, "his image and over his mark."
24:32 So the mark has to do with the beast itself.
24:35 And then it says an over the number of his name,
24:40 which calculates out to 666.
24:43 So when you look at this carefully,
24:45 we have the beast mentioned,
24:47 which points us back to Chapter 13.
24:49 And then it's his image,
24:51 it's an image of the original beast.
24:54 Yes.
24:55 And then his mark, the mark of the beast
24:57 is the mark of that first beast 'cause it says his mark,
25:01 and then it says an over the number of his name.
25:04 So when it says his name,
25:05 that points us back to that first beast.
25:08 So 666 or 666
25:12 is connected to that first beast.
25:14 And it also says that
25:16 it has to do with the number of his name.
25:20 Yes.
25:21 So, we're looking for, we need to find the right beast,
25:24 we need to find the right man, his man, its man.
25:27 And then we need to know what the number of his name,
25:31 he has a specific name that is referred to in the Bible,
25:35 and then we need to count it.
25:37 And we need to calculate it,
25:39 which eventually comes out to 666.
25:42 So when you look at this verse,
25:44 you know, it eliminates a lot of other options.
25:47 And then it also tells us,
25:48 which we'll get into farther on,
25:50 is that we need to figure out well,
25:51 how once we know what the number of his name is,
25:55 how do we get the victory over that?
25:59 What does that mean?
26:00 A good friend of mine, asked me, he said,
26:02 "Steve, I've asked a lot of people,
26:04 what that means that we get the victory
26:07 over the number of his name?"
26:09 And he said, "Nobody knows."
26:11 Nobody that he's asked knows the answer to that.
26:15 So we had a Bible study on that,
26:16 which we'll do in a little while.
26:18 And we'll try to decode the mystery.
26:20 So this is part of what's coming during this program?
26:23 Exactly.
26:24 I want to remind our viewers and listeners
26:25 that this is a two hour program,
26:28 we have half an hour,
26:29 about half an hour left in this first part,
26:31 and we're going to come back for a second part.
26:32 So make sure you don't miss a minute of this program
26:36 so to receive the full blessing.
26:38 And so I want to also add for those
26:40 that are watching on Tuesday night,
26:42 that there's a rebroadcast on Sunday at 3pm Central Time.
26:47 So just in case you only saw part of it,
26:49 you can catch the full program on Sunday at 3pm Central Time,
26:54 so make sure you do not miss it.
26:56 And if you can record it, by all means, do so.
27:01 Pastor Wohlberg, the question, now we need to,
27:04 we need to start unfolding this
27:07 so that people can jot down the information,
27:10 continue studying, and all important,
27:13 all important.
27:14 So this is something that we are going to be facing.
27:18 What helps you understand
27:22 that this is something that is coming very soon?
27:24 I mean, is it something that we should be concerned about
27:29 for those of us living right now?
27:31 Or is this something way in the future?
27:32 We already, you already established
27:34 that it's not in the past?
27:36 Is it way in the future?
27:38 Are there signs, indicators that say,
27:41 it's going to be very soon?
27:43 I believe we are getting very close.
27:46 And there's, this is a big topic,
27:48 but I'm sure you know,
27:49 I mean, what's happening in America,
27:51 what's happening in the world.
27:52 We look at the pandemic,
27:53 we look at various signs of the times,
27:56 and many of us are deeply aware of the fact
27:59 that our freedoms are slowly disintegrating.
28:03 Yes.
28:04 You know, we see this with the big tech companies
28:07 clamping down on freedom.
28:09 We see all kinds of things happening
28:11 that our freedoms are disappearing.
28:14 And Revelation 13:16-17
28:17 points to a time when freedom is gone.
28:20 Because nobody will be able to buy or sell this connected
28:24 to the world economy unless they go along
28:27 with the mark or the name of the beast
28:29 or the number of his name.
28:31 And so many people in different churches
28:34 recognize that as we look around us,
28:37 surely we're getting closer to that time.
28:40 And I'm not a prophet, I don't set dates,
28:41 I don't know exactly when it's going to happen.
28:43 But I'm just convicted, that time's running out
28:45 that we're getting closer, and it won't be long,
28:48 until these final verses kick in,
28:50 and freedom completely disappears.
28:53 And this grand global solution will be imposed upon the world,
28:58 in the name of doing what is right,
29:01 you know, the common, good trying to help everybody,
29:04 but it's going to be as phony as a $3 bill.
29:07 It's going to be a proposal from the devil, ultimately,
29:11 it's going to be deception,
29:12 that people will think if they go along with it,
29:13 things are going to get better.
29:15 But it's really in the middle of this is going
29:17 to be the mark of the beast.
29:18 And so, you know, I just think that we're getting much closer.
29:22 And as I mentioned, as I've been pondering this
29:25 and thinking about this,
29:26 and I look at these last verses in Chapter 13,
29:29 I not only see freedom disappearing,
29:31 I not only see seeing it affecting the world's economy,
29:35 but I also see and buying and selling being affected
29:39 and the enforcement of the mark,
29:41 but the name of the beast surfaces as an issue,
29:44 and also the number of his name that also surfaces.
29:50 So that's what led me to really try to figure this out,
29:54 you know, I've been praying and studying
29:56 and researching, God has convicted me,
29:58 study this.
29:59 And once I feel like all the lights went on,
30:01 based on what the text says, and my research in the past,
30:05 and what's happening now, what's coming in the future,
30:08 I felt like, I got to write this book
30:11 and help people to understand.
30:12 And especially when we deal with Revelation 15:2,
30:15 that describes a people that get the victory over the beast,
30:20 the image, the mark, and the number of his name.
30:23 I thought, you know, I need to get the victory.
30:25 And I need to understand
30:27 what I'm getting the victory over.
30:28 That's right. So that's all part of this package.
30:31 That's right.
30:32 Well, Pastor Wohlberg, apparently these people
30:34 that have the victory over the mark or his name,
30:37 apparently, these are the people
30:38 that are saved, that are with the Lord.
30:40 So it's important to get the victory,
30:42 it's important to understand
30:44 that this is a vital topic for everyone.
30:46 I also want to have the victory because obviously,
30:49 if you don't, you're not with the Lord.
30:52 This is very important.
30:54 So how about if we go to Revelation 13,
30:56 because we read verse 18.
30:58 And it's kind of leading us to understand
31:02 that this is something vitally important.
31:05 And we need to have this victory.
31:07 And who is this beast?
31:09 Is identifying this beast?
31:11 How about unpackaging a little more?
31:13 This is one of the...
31:14 Let's go through the characteristics
31:16 that are mentioned so that we can get zero in,
31:19 as you say, focus in on who this is.
31:21 That's right, exactly. And that's a critical point.
31:23 As I've studied this, it's become so clear to me
31:26 that in order to understand Revelation 13:18,
31:30 and have wisdom and understanding,
31:32 we need to know who that beast is.
31:34 And once we look
31:35 at the characteristics in the rest of the chapter,
31:40 then we're pointed in the right direction,
31:42 then we know that it's not Barack Obama's
31:44 big black limousine, it's not Nero,
31:47 you know, who lived in the first century,
31:49 we need to be directed in the right direction.
31:52 And that is a very important point.
31:54 And Revelation 13:18,
31:57 about the number of the beast
31:59 is really kind of like the capstone
32:02 of this whole chapter.
32:04 It's one final identifying
32:08 mark or characteristic of this beast.
32:12 And so, we have to look at the whole chapter context,
32:16 and I'm sure you have too.
32:18 In my ministry,
32:20 I've made it a very major priority in my life,
32:24 to really study Revelation Chapter 13.
32:28 My book on 666 goes into it in detail.
32:31 I've written other books that go into other details.
32:34 And when you read Revelation 13,
32:36 it describes this beast rising up out of the sea,
32:39 and it has all these different characteristics.
32:42 For those who study prophecy,
32:44 many of them realize that the characteristics
32:47 of the beast in Revelation 13 point you back
32:51 to Daniel Chapter 7 in the Old Testament.
32:54 That both chapters talk about beasts,
32:56 both chapters talk about 10 horns,
32:58 both chapters talk about mouth speaking great things
33:02 and war on the saints, and Revelation is like,
33:05 it's like a jigsaw puzzle.
33:07 We need to put the puzzle pieces together.
33:09 And when you look at the puzzle pieces of Chapter 13,
33:11 they clearly go back to Daniel 7.
33:14 And we don't have time to have a whole Bible study
33:17 on this completely.
33:18 But the information is in the book,
33:20 but I'll just give you some quick points.
33:23 Yes.
33:25 In Daniel 7, we have,
33:26 Daniel had a dream of four beasts,
33:28 there was a lion like beast, there was a bear,
33:31 a leopard, and a dragon like beast with 10 horns.
33:34 And then this little horn pops up,
33:37 who has a mouth speaking great things
33:38 and makes war on the saints.
33:40 And in Daniel 7:23,
33:42 the angel clarified that the fourth beast
33:45 is the fourth kingdom upon the earth.
33:47 And most people who have studied prophecy and history,
33:50 they recognize that those four beasts
33:53 represent the great kingdoms or nations of Babylon,
33:57 Persia, Greece and Rome, four beasts, four kingdoms.
34:00 Daniel was living in Babylon when he had the dream.
34:03 Archeology has confirmed that a winged lion was a symbol
34:06 of ancient Babylon.
34:07 So Daniel was in Babylon,
34:09 and there was the Babylonian beast,
34:11 then the Medo-Persian beast, Persia conquered Babylon,
34:14 and then the Greek beast.
34:16 The Greeks,
34:18 under the leadership of Alexander the Great,
34:19 conquered the Persians.
34:21 And then came the Romans with their Caesars,
34:23 Augustus and Tiberius, etc.
34:26 And this is all history, and its Bible history.
34:29 So the fourth beast was the Roman Empire,
34:31 the mighty Roman Empire.
34:33 And then when it finally went down,
34:35 it was divided among, what the Bible calls 10 horns.
34:38 There were 10 horns out of this that came out
34:41 of the head of this beast,
34:42 which represent different nations
34:45 that divided up the Roman Empire in the fourth,
34:47 fifth and sixth centuries,
34:49 leading to the collapse
34:51 of the imperial government in Rome,
34:54 which was in 476 AD.
34:56 And then the text says that this little horn would come up
35:00 among the 10,
35:02 that would have a mouth speaking great things,
35:03 would make war on the saints, would do various things.
35:06 And when you compare Daniel 7,
35:09 that little horn with Revelation 13,
35:11 about the beast, the beast also has a mouth
35:13 speaking great things,
35:14 the beast also makes war on the saints.
35:16 You conclude that the horn of Daniel 7
35:18 and the beast of Revelation 13 are the same power.
35:22 The same power. That's right, just with different symbolism.
35:25 And Protestant scholars in the 1500s, 1600s, 1700s,
35:31 they looked at all of this.
35:32 And they finally concluded that there's no other power
35:37 that fits every characteristic of that little horn,
35:40 other than the Roman Catholic Church system
35:44 as a system.
35:46 It's not talking about the individual people,
35:48 because there's a lot of and have been,
35:50 and are today godly Roman Catholic people.
35:52 But it's the system of Catholicism,
35:55 because the Roman Church,
35:57 the system did rise up out of the Roman Empire.
36:00 That's why it's called the Roman Catholic Church.
36:03 It did rise up among the 10 horns
36:05 that divided up the Roman Empire
36:08 in Western Europe settled in, and it was,
36:11 it made its headquarters in Rome.
36:13 And then it did have a man at the head,
36:16 like the scripture says, he would have eyes
36:18 like the eyes of a man.
36:20 There was a man that was eventually designated
36:22 as the head of this power,
36:24 which was given the name the Papa or the Pope.
36:27 And he did make great claims for himself,
36:30 which we'll look at in a little while.
36:32 And then it also says
36:33 that the horn made war on the saints,
36:35 and you look at history, you look at the Inquisition,
36:38 you look at the reasons
36:39 why the Protestant Reformation rose up in Germany.
36:42 And you can just see this history
36:44 and the Protestants looked at history,
36:46 they looked at what was happening in front of them.
36:48 And they finally concluded that the little horn,
36:51 which is the beast is a perfect symbol
36:54 of the Roman Catholic Church system.
36:56 And this was the conclusion that Martin Luther
37:00 the monk of Wittenberg, in the 1500s.
37:03 That's the conclusion that he came to.
37:06 And I think we have a quote from,
37:08 I'd like to put this on the screen,
37:10 which is from a classic Protestant history book
37:12 by d'Aubign,, and it's a quote from Martin Luther,
37:16 where Luther, it's actually a reference
37:19 to his ministry and what he taught.
37:22 And so there is the book called
37:24 The history of the Reformation
37:26 in the 16th century by Merle d'Aubign,,
37:29 and the quote is, it says there that
37:30 Luther proved by the revelations of Daniel,
37:34 from Daniel 7, and St. John,
37:37 which is in the Book of Revelation,
37:38 by the epistles of St. Paul,
37:40 which we'll look at later in 2 Thessalonians 2
37:43 from St. Peter and St. Jude,
37:45 that the reign of Antichrist predicted
37:47 and described in the Bible was the papacy.
37:51 And papacy, meaning the popes,
37:53 and all the people did say Amen!
37:55 A holy terror seized upon their souls.
37:57 It was Antichrist,
37:58 whom they beheld seated on the pontifical throne.
38:02 This new idea which derived greater strength
38:05 from the prophetic descriptions
38:07 launched by Luther into the midst
38:09 of his contemporaries,
38:11 inflicted the most terrible blow on Rome.
38:14 And that is a fact of history.
38:16 There's a statue of Luther from Wittenberg, Germany,
38:19 and I'd like to just,
38:20 let's take a look at Revelation 13...
38:22 Before you do that,
38:23 can give us a little background on who Martin Luther was.
38:27 He was, you said he was a monk from where?
38:30 That's right. He was actually a Roman Catholic.
38:32 He was a Roman Catholic priest.
38:34 He went to, he was an Augustinian monk,
38:36 he trained to be a monk.
38:38 He eventually became a professor
38:41 at the University of Wittenberg in Germany,
38:44 famous town, I went to that town,
38:46 I saw his statue, and he studied the Bible,
38:50 he began to protest against the Roman Catholic practice
38:54 of issuing indulgences.
38:56 If you pay money for an indulgence,
38:58 you can have all your sins forgiven.
39:00 Luther had been studying the Bible.
39:01 He looked at that practice
39:02 and as a good Roman Catholic priest,
39:04 he said, but that's just not right.
39:06 So in 1517, the year 1517, he posted,
39:10 he nailed on to the door of the castle church
39:14 in Wittenberg 95 protests against the practice
39:19 of indulgences.
39:20 And that really was the launching
39:23 of what became known as the Protestant
39:25 or Protestant Reformation.
39:28 And Luther was the famous monk of Wittenberg,
39:33 who launched this reformation, which eventually led,
39:37 it shook Europe and it brought people
39:39 back to the Bible,
39:41 and eventually led to an Exodus
39:43 out of the Catholic Church from millions of people
39:47 and they became Protestants.
39:49 And that's how Protestantism and Catholicism,
39:53 you know, the battle was engaged.
39:55 Now this is a...
39:57 This is very important, very important to understand
39:59 that he was not somebody outside
40:02 of the Roman Catholic Church,
40:03 he was somebody inside the Roman,
40:05 in fact, a priest in the church.
40:08 And he was horrified when he saw the scriptures
40:12 and that his own church,
40:15 whom he was a priest of fit all the descriptions.
40:19 Daniel Chapter 7, and as you read in that quote,
40:22 he was horrified.
40:23 But you mentioned that it was the Protestant Reformation,
40:29 Luther's plan, Luther's desire was for the church,
40:32 the Roman Catholic Church to reform.
40:35 That's right.
40:36 It was supposed to be an effort to reform the church,
40:39 and the protest were for them to look at them,
40:43 study them, and understand
40:45 that the church had departed from the Bible.
40:48 They were practicing things that were not biblical.
40:51 So his desire, his hope, his prayer was,
40:55 the church will reform and walk and live and teach
40:59 according to the light of the Bible.
41:01 Unfortunately,
41:04 there was resistance to these reforms.
41:07 That's right.
41:08 That's why there was a separation.
41:10 That's right. Yeah.
41:11 If you look at the big picture,
41:12 the early church started relatively pure,
41:16 preaching the gospel around the world.
41:18 As history worked its way down the stream of time,
41:22 a lot of traditions came in.
41:24 Eventually, the Roman Catholic Church
41:26 rose up in Europe,
41:28 and became the dominant form of Christianity in Europe.
41:33 We entered into history, entered into the Dark Ages.
41:36 Most people back there had never seen a Bible
41:38 in their lives because they didn't have printing presses.
41:41 And so Bibles were copied by hand and few people had them.
41:44 And so Europe was wrapped in the Dark Ages.
41:46 And in 1450, approximately,
41:49 a German printer Gutenberg invented the printing press.
41:52 Yes.
41:54 And so the first book off the press was, guess what?
41:56 It was the Bible.
41:57 So the Bible began
41:59 to be printed for the first time
42:01 and circulate in Europe and Luther
42:03 as a good Roman Catholic priest,
42:04 teaching in Germany, in Wittenberg,
42:08 he got a hold of a Bible
42:09 and he began to study the Bible,
42:11 and Bibles began to circulate in Europe.
42:13 And that's how, you know, this consciousness
42:15 of what the Bible actually says, grew.
42:19 And then Luther looked at the traditions
42:21 of the church, and what the Bible says,
42:23 realize that they were not the same.
42:24 And as you mentioned, his goal was not to start
42:27 a new movement.
42:29 His goal was to reform the church he loved
42:32 and to bring it back to the Bible.
42:34 But the Roman Catholic hierarchy,
42:37 centered in Rome, resisted.
42:40 And then they began to put the screws on Luther and said,
42:43 "If you don't give up your ideas against indulgences,
42:47 and about the Bible,
42:48 you're going to be burned at the stake."
42:50 And Luther was, he was a tough nut to crack.
42:54 He was pretty bold.
42:55 And he finally decided, all right,
42:57 if you're going to make war on me,
42:59 I'm going to return the favor.
43:00 And I'm going to make war on you based on Scripture.
43:04 And so, and the more he studied,
43:07 then he read verses like Revelation 13:7
43:11 that talks about the beast,
43:13 that it would be given to him to make war with the saints.
43:16 And Daniel 7:21 says the same thing
43:18 that the little horn would make war on the saints.
43:21 And Luther learned about Jesus,
43:25 but as he saw the reaction from Rome,
43:28 and then he began to study prophecy,
43:31 he took the next step.
43:32 And the next step was to not only discover Christ
43:36 in His Word,
43:37 but to identify Antichrist that was against the Word.
43:42 That's a famous Protestant statement
43:43 that Luther discovered Christ and Antichrist.
43:46 And he realized that the Roman Catholic Church
43:49 system centered in the authority of the pope
43:51 was really against the Bible.
43:53 And so that's what launched him in that quote
43:56 that I just put up from d'Aubign,'s book,
43:58 that's just a classic quote,
43:59 many others we could find,
44:00 and there's a lot of quotes in my book,
44:02 when the Protestants put together the pieces,
44:05 and they realized that the Roman Church
44:07 was the little horn, and that it was the beast.
44:11 Then they realized we can't reform this organization,
44:14 we got to get out.
44:15 And that's why they became,
44:17 there became Protestant churches,
44:19 like the Lutheran Church
44:21 and the Methodist Church, etc.
44:22 Etc.
44:24 I'm sure Luther shed many tears,
44:25 as he saw that they were not seeing
44:28 what the Bible says, they were not accepting
44:29 what the Bible says, he shed many tears.
44:32 And it was a painful decision to say, we have to separate,
44:37 painful, painful.
44:39 That's right. And so, take us through.
44:43 You already mentioned some of the characteristics
44:46 pointing to Daniel Chapter 7.
44:48 And you're saying this identifies specifically
44:52 the Roman Catholic Church.
44:54 That's right.
44:55 And for me, one of the capstones
44:57 of that identification
44:58 is back to Revelation 13:1-2.
45:02 John wrote 13:1-2,
45:05 "I stood upon the sand of the sea.
45:07 And I saw beast rising up out of the sea,
45:09 having seven heads and ten horns,
45:11 and upon his horns ten crowns,
45:13 and upon his heads the name of blasphemy."
45:16 And we'll come back to that.
45:17 There's a blasphemous name at the head of this power.
45:20 And then verse 2 says,
45:22 "The beast which I saw was like a leopard,"
45:24 meaning it brought characteristics
45:25 in from Daniel 7's leopard like beast,
45:28 which was Greece, it had part of Greece,
45:30 thinking in it,
45:32 "and his feet were like the feet of a bear,"
45:34 going back to Daniel 7, the Persian bear,
45:36 it brought Persian ideas into it.
45:39 "And then his mouth was as the mouth of a lion."
45:41 Going back to the lion in Daniel 7,
45:43 which was Babylon.
45:44 So it brought Babylonian elements into it.
45:47 So this beast is a combination
45:48 of different elements from the past.
45:51 And then it says, and the dragon,
45:52 which was the fourth beast of Daniel 7,
45:55 which was the Roman Empire,
45:57 you got Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome,
45:59 the fourth beast, and it says,
46:01 "The dragon gave to this beast, this composite beast,
46:05 his power, and his seat, and great authority."
46:08 Who is this dragon?
46:09 Well, the dragon is ultimately the devil in the Bible.
46:12 But in the context of Daniel 7,
46:14 it's the fourth beast in the sequence,
46:16 you've got the lion, the bear, the leopard,
46:19 and then the dragon
46:20 and the dragon was the Roman Empire,
46:21 Satan working through the Roman Empire,
46:23 and the Roman Empire,
46:25 its seat of government was in Rome,
46:28 its headquarters was in Rome.
46:30 And this text says that the dragon would give his seat,
46:33 referring to his seat of government to this beast.
46:35 And Protestants put this together
46:38 and they realized, "Wow,
46:39 the little horn is the Roman Catholic Church,
46:42 it's doing all the things that prophecy says
46:44 it would have a mouth speaking great things,
46:46 it would have a man at its head,
46:47 it would make war on the saints,
46:48 and its seat of government would be right there in Rome,
46:53 the seat of the ancient Roman Empire."
46:55 And they put all these pieces together,
46:57 and they knew for sure, and this is history, John,
46:59 this is basic history,
47:01 that the Roman Catholic Church system fit the prophecy,
47:05 it was the little horn of Daniel 7,
47:07 it was the man of sin of 2 Thessalonians 2,
47:10 it was the woman in Revelation 17,
47:12 riding the beast, the harlot woman,
47:14 and it was the beast of Revelation 13,
47:17 that when you go down to the end of the chapter,
47:20 this is the beast that has the mark,
47:25 and the name, and the number,
47:28 which calculates out to 666.
47:31 This is a fascinating study.
47:34 And, you know, confusion is being cleared up,
47:37 because there is a lot of confusion concerning this.
47:40 And you're saying this mark,
47:42 and the number 666 are all part of the package.
47:47 Exactly.
47:49 All part of the package, Revelation 13:18
47:51 that we started out to study with?
47:53 Exactly.
47:55 And I think we have another graphic,
47:56 we can put up showing a picture of the pope
47:59 speaking in front of the huge crowd,
48:02 as reported by the New York Times.
48:05 And that's just a picture that you can find pictures
48:09 like that in news organizations around the world,
48:11 showing the significance of the Vatican,
48:15 the significance of the pope,
48:18 and of his influence worldwide.
48:21 And so, you know, we see this right now,
48:24 we see the influence of the Roman Catholic Church
48:26 and the influence of the pope.
48:28 As, you know, as big, it's mega big,
48:31 there's no politician, there's no president,
48:34 there's no talk show host, there's no music star,
48:38 there's no basketball player, sports figure,
48:40 nobody who can gather a bigger crowd than the pope.
48:45 And the fact of history is that the Protestant Reformation
48:50 studied all of this, and put the pieces together
48:54 and realized that the beast is right here.
48:57 And its man is right here,
49:00 which is the man
49:01 who is the center of the system.
49:05 And that's what we need to look more closely
49:08 at as we keep going to identify the name,
49:11 and the number that comes out to 666.
49:16 This is a fascinating... This is a fascinating study.
49:18 And you're pointing to Scripture,
49:21 but also you're pointing to history.
49:23 Why do you point to history?
49:27 To get confirmation from about the scriptures.
49:31 You're pointing to history,
49:33 things that have already happened.
49:34 Right. And is this some something secret?
49:36 Can people find this information?
49:38 Oh, yes.
49:40 And the Bible is basically I mean,
49:41 the Bible is God's book, but it's also a history book.
49:44 Somebody once said, history is His story.
49:49 That's what history is.
49:50 So it's the history of God's working in the world.
49:56 And when you look at Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome,
49:59 this is a prophecy in Daniel 7.
50:02 But you can also watch documentaries
50:04 on the History Channel about it,
50:06 you can go to any library.
50:07 Jesus, the Bible says was born in Bethlehem.
50:10 It was predicted in Micah 5:2 700 years
50:14 before Jesus was born,
50:16 that He would be born in Bethlehem,
50:18 that He would be betrayed by a friend
50:20 for 30 pieces of silver,
50:22 and that He would ride into Jerusalem on a donkey.
50:24 And these are all prophecies we don't have time to look at,
50:26 but they were prophecies in the Old Testament,
50:28 that were fulfilled in the life of Jesus,
50:30 and fulfilled in history.
50:32 And it's the same thing with Daniel 7 and Revelation 13.
50:36 It talks about, you know,
50:37 the move of Christianity into the Dark Ages,
50:41 the rise of a beast,
50:42 the rise of this massive apostasy,
50:44 the rise of this little horn,
50:46 that would make war on the saints,
50:48 whatever mouth speaking great things
50:49 that would have eyes like the eyes of a man,
50:53 meaning a man would be at the head.
50:55 And all of these prophecies
50:57 we can see in history had been fulfilled.
51:00 And that was part of what fueled
51:02 and sparked and ignited
51:04 the Protestant Reformation,
51:06 which really continues to this day,
51:08 we consider ourselves to be part of that,
51:12 you know, we're holding up the torch.
51:15 And so, and this is all part of Revelation 13,
51:18 when we finally get down to hear his wisdom,
51:21 let him that has understanding,
51:23 let him count the number of the beast,
51:26 which is the number of a man,
51:29 and his number is 666.
51:31 So we need to know who the beast is,
51:33 we need to know what that man, who that man is,
51:35 and then we need to know, need to know what that name is,
51:37 and what the number is.
51:38 And that's what we're going to do.
51:40 You know, Pastor Wohlberg, we put a picture on the screen,
51:45 and letting people know on the radio,
51:47 it was a picture of the pope in the balcony
51:52 there in the Vatican.
51:53 And they were, he was overlooking
51:57 about how many people, you know,
51:59 it's an estimate,
52:00 tens of thousands of people that he was doing a Mass,
52:05 the Easter Mass it said on the screen.
52:08 I find just like you said there's no rock star,
52:11 no movie star, no singer,
52:13 anyone, not even presidents can go to a country,
52:18 like the leader of the Roman Catholic Church,
52:21 and draw as many people, draw as many people.
52:25 And why do you think there's this interest,
52:30 this massive amount of interest in the pope
52:34 went to Jamaica, let's say, the pope went to Cuba,
52:38 the pope went to Argentina,
52:42 why is there so much interest in the pope?
52:45 Well, because he's...
52:46 He represents a religion that has over a billion members.
52:50 So, he's got a lot of influence,
52:52 a lot of weight, a lot of political power.
52:55 When the pope speaks, people listen.
52:57 And again, we're not against,
52:59 you know, this program is not against Roman Catholic people.
53:02 But we're looking at the system,
53:04 and we're looking at prophecy, and we're trying to figure out
53:07 Revelation 13:18,
53:09 about the number of the beast.
53:10 Now, maybe before we take a break,
53:12 or you're going to go on, I just want to make,
53:14 hope we can get another couple key points
53:15 in before we...
53:17 Well, you know, I wanted to say
53:20 the point you're making is there's a verse
53:22 that says all the world wondered after the beast.
53:25 Exactly. And it's true.
53:27 There is a point to be made about this.
53:30 Like there's, he is the head of a religious denomination.
53:34 That's right. Okay.
53:36 But he's also the head of a country,
53:39 probably one of the smallest countries in the world,
53:41 is the Vatican.
53:43 They have their own government,
53:45 their own system,
53:47 but they have no army of their own.
53:51 But here's the point to be made
53:52 is that he's the head of a religious denomination.
53:57 Can the head of the Baptist Church go to a country
54:01 and all the media is wanting to know where he's going,
54:07 who he's going to meet with and follow him as they do?
54:10 No, there's nobody else.
54:12 No religious leader can receive the media attention
54:16 that the Roman Catholic pope receives.
54:19 Exactly.
54:21 And to me, this is, that's what the Bible says,
54:24 the whole world wondered after the beast.
54:26 And you're talking about
54:27 international television channels that report
54:30 what the pope is doing.
54:32 We arrived in Guatemala for an evangelistic campaign.
54:36 They told us, the hotel,
54:40 the hotel that was sending the vehicle
54:44 to pick us up at the airport.
54:46 They said we cannot pick you up until 8pm.
54:49 And we were arriving like at 1pm.
54:51 Because the pope had arrived that day
54:54 and all the streets were closed to give him free access
54:58 to go to wherever he's going.
55:00 Can the head of any denomination do that?
55:04 No. No, that's right.
55:06 They don't close the streets for the President
55:09 of the United States, the United States like that.
55:10 So this is a unique individual,
55:13 even by, let's say,
55:17 public opinion,
55:18 a unique individual
55:19 and there's no one like that in the world,
55:24 the head of a religious denomination,
55:25 and the head of a country.
55:27 That's right. Exactly.
55:28 And there is a scripture, you kind of, you alluded to it,
55:31 that a woman is riding the beast,
55:33 what does that mean in Bible prophecy?
55:35 That's right.
55:36 Yeah, I've written a whole book on that topic
55:39 about the bloody woman and the seven headed beast,
55:41 and that's a whole other topic.
55:43 But Protestants saw that woman being another symbol
55:46 of the Roman Catholic Church.
55:48 And you're right, I mean,
55:49 we're dealing with a big subject, you know,
55:50 just kind of bring things into perspective.
55:52 The Bible is the world's all time bestselling book.
55:56 Its hero is Jesus Christ,
55:59 who's the most famous person in all of history.
56:02 Christianity, his religion,
56:04 is the largest religion in the world.
56:06 And the largest form of Christianity
56:09 within the Christian world is the Roman Catholic Church.
56:12 And the head of the Roman Catholic Church is the pope.
56:15 And he is the politician who has more influence
56:18 than any other human being on planet Earth.
56:20 So that's what we're dealing with.
56:21 And I'm convinced, and we'll get into this,
56:24 that when we get to Revelation 13,
56:27 and it tells us,
56:28 at the end of all of these characteristics,
56:30 here's wisdom,
56:32 let him that has understanding count the number
56:34 of the beast for it is the number
56:35 of a man that it's the man at the head of the system,
56:39 and his number is 660, and 6.
56:43 And so we'll go deeper in the next section
56:46 and see if that number applies to the pope or not.
56:50 And then what does it mean to me?
56:52 What does it mean to me?
56:53 Well, we are ending our first hour,
56:55 the first hour of this program.
56:57 And there's so much to cover,
56:59 as you have already heard, and where we are going,
57:02 and we're going to, as this book says,
57:05 we're going to identify 666,
57:09 what that is,
57:11 and what does it mean to me as an individual?
57:14 Because, as we already talked about in this program,
57:18 this impacts the whole world
57:21 and you are part of the world, my friend.
57:23 So it's vitally important that you listen,
57:25 and vitally important
57:27 that you consider these things prayerfully
57:29 and understand what your role should be
57:31 and what you should do,
57:33 because there is this part that we have to get victory
57:36 over the beast, over the name and over the number
57:39 and we're going to be right back
57:40 to continue this program.
57:42 We'll see you in a moment.


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Revised 2022-10-20