The Biblical Beast May Be Unfolding Before Our Eyes

By James Donahue

The beast, as presented in the Book of the Revelation, is portrayed as a most evil person. He rises with great power and comes back to life after receiving a deadly wound to the head. Then, through magic and deception, he becomes some kind of world dictator who declares war against the church. He rations food to people willing to bear a special mark on their right hand or forehead. He forces division among those willing to accept him and those who will not. Those who reject his ways, refusing to accept the mark, starve. That mark, we are told, is the "number of the beast," which is "666."

This is the 2000-year-old Christian prophecy of how things will all come down during a period of "Great Tribulation" involving the Hebrew people. Somehow the entire world is to be caught up in a bloody war against the powers of God, described as the followers of Jesus who come down from the heavens then defeat the forces of darkness.

While most people today reject the prophecy of a Second Coming of Jesus and the events surrounding the strange awakening of the "saints" from their tombs, world events are beginning to occur that may soon make parts of the prophecy in Revelation fall into place before our eyes.

The world today is plagued by "wars and rumors of wars" as was told by Jesus as a sign of the end of times when he was discussing his return to Earth with his disciples.

Jesus is quoted in Matthew 24,during his discourse on the Mount of Olives as saying: "For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

"For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows."

Jesus also said: "because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold."

When we think about it, these verses give a pretty accurate description of the state of mankind on Earth today. Because we have polluted our planet, and poisoned our seas and the air, we are experiencing extreme climate change. This in turn is impacting the business of world agriculture. The the changing climate is causing biting and crop-eating insects to move out of the tropics and into the temperate parts of the planet where most farming is done. The result: severe reduction in harvests, shortages of food, rising prices and a growing threat of world famine.

It was only recently that the Pope called for the world to consider a one-world government and a one-world banking system to help solve the growing problems of an overpopulated world that is running out of its natural resources. He, like other advocates of a world government, believes a single world government would bring an end to conflicts between nations and perhaps open the door to a socialistic equal dividing of the remaining resources so that all people will have an equal chance of survival in the harsh times ahead.

A world government calls for a world leader. Who might this person be? What human will rise up from among us with the carasma to win the hears of the people of the world? And what might he do with the power such an office might place in his hands?

Of course the technology already exists to place microchips under people's skin that can be used to track them, tell their medical history, and even include their banking information. Might this be the long dreaded "mark of the beast?"

And just as described in the Book of the Revelation, the world seems to be priming itself for the final great world conflict . . . the great Battle of Armageddon when Jesus is suppose to descend from the sky, call home his followers, and then bring them into battle against the forces of darkness.

While this is an obvious fairy tale, the similarities between real events and the Biblical prophecies begs the question: is real prophecy coming true before our eyes or is the world unconsciously creating this situation to pattern for a return of some kind of savior with the power and wisdom to fix the terrible mess we have made of our world.

The worse nightmare would be that the latter scenario is true. And if we plunge into a final world conflict, allow a dictatoral power figure to rise up and take control of our lives, and the magical savior fails to show up, we could all find ourselves in very deep trouble.