The Number of the Seat is 666.

The Fifth Parliament of Europe met on Tuesday, 20th July 1999 in their newly built glass ‘tower building’.

The Tower Building was made in the likeness of the Tower of Babel from the ancient city of Babylon.

In the Bible the civilisation of Babylon and the construction of the tower was in the glory of man, not the worship and praise of God. It is prophesised in the Bible that from such a civilisation would rise the Anti-Christ. 

In the new EU Tower Building there are 679 (1999) only 678 were being used. The vacant chair had the number 666

“Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.”

(Rev 13:18)

The ideas of the Book of Revelations must be taken pretty seriously if the leaders of the world refuse to sit in the 666th chair, it reminds me of back in primary school when no one would want to sit on the end or get the wooden chair (the plastic ones looked better). Some even believe the new Tower of Babel and the number of the seat is the unfolding prophecies and a sign that the end is nigh.

 

References:

http://www.ianpaisley.org/article.asp?ArtKey=666

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_Babel

http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/End%20of%20the%20World/seat_666.htm

William Blake & the Great Red Dragon.

William Blake (1757 – 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Blake is considered a seminal figure in the history of both poetry and the visual arts of the Romantic Age. The Great Red Dragon Paintings are a series of watercolours, painted between 1805 and 1810. Blake was commissioned to create over a hundred paintings intended to illustrate books of the Bible. These paintings depict ‘The Great Red Dragon’ in various scenes from the Book of Revelation.

“And behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth.”

(Rev. 12:3-4, KJV)

The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed in Sun

 

“The poet, printmaker, and painter William Blake combined his literary and graphic skills in four provocative and disturbing images devoted to the Great Red Dragon. For this series—produced for his most faithful patron Thomas Butts, a government clerk—Blake drew on chapters 12 and 13 of the Book of Revelations, an apocalyptic text akin to the artist’s own prophetic writings.

In this narrative the Dragon, identified with Satan, schemes to seize the soon-to-be born Redeemer from his mother. Derived from the Virgin Mary of the Gospels, the figure known as the Woman Clothed with the Sun also stands for Israel and for the Church. Blake’s threatening Dragon displays powerful musculature as well as its monstrous tail, wings, and horned heads. Subsequent scenes reveal the failure of the Dragon’s plan but the emergence of new threats to mankind.”

Inscriptions: Above the image: “A Woman clothed with the sun, & the moon under her feet, and/upon her head a crown of twelve stars; and behold a great red dragon also.” Below the image at right: “Revns:ch:12th: v 4th:”

Below the image: “And the tail of the great red dragon drew the third part of the stars of/heaven, and did cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the/woman which was ready to be delivered for to devour her child as soon as it was born.”

(the Brooklyn Museum)

The Great Red Dragon and the Woman clothed with the Sun

 

This image is similar to The Great Red Dragon and the Woman clothed in Sun but shown from a different viewpoint.

 

The Great Red Dragon and the Beast from the Sea

 

 

The Number of the Beast is 666

The character of the Great Red Dragon and these paintings play a prominent role in Thomas Harris’ Book ‘Red Dragon’ and the two film adaptations. The character of Francis Dolarhyde has an obsession with the painting ‘The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed in Sun’ he believes he is becoming the Dragon, he even goes to the effort of consuming the painting.

 

 

 

 

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Blake

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Red_Dragon_Paintings

http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/4368

Albrecht Dürer

Albrecht Dürer  (1471 –  1528) was a German painter, printmaker and theorist from Nuremberg famous for his series of fifteen Apocalyptic woodcuts which depicts scenes from the Book of Revelation and was published in 1498. It is possible that the publication of the woodcuts was in conjunction with the popular belief at the time that the Day of Judgement was coming in 1500. 

Albrecht Durer’s ‘Dragon with Seven heads’ shows the first of the two beasts, the False Messiah controlled by the second beast, the Lamb.

Albrecht Durer’s ‘The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse’ depicts the White, Red, Black and Pale Horse ravaging the land.

Albrecht Durer’s ‘St. John Beholding Seven Candlesticks’ depicts the event of St. John being shown the events of Revelations by God.

Albrecht Durer’s ‘Woman of Babylon’ or ‘Whore of Babylon’ depicting the false idolisation of the first beast. also shows the decent of the four horses.

 

As well as Albrecht Durer’s woodcuts being interesting depictions of the Book of Revelations. The fact they are linked with a possible prediction of the world ending in 1500 just goes to show that the idea of the apocalypse is always a powerful one and that people are always predicting the end.

 

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocalypse_(Dürer)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albrecht_Dürer

The Book of Revelations. Part 2

And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon this earth, so mighty and earthquake and so great. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came into remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven… and I saw the heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called faithful and true, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.

(Rev. 16:18ff and 19:11)

And I saw, and behold a white horse and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him; and he went forth conquering and to conquer … and there went another horse that was red; and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another; and there was given unto him a great sword … and I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand … and I looked and behold a pale horse; and his name that sat on him was death, and hell followed with him. And power given unto them over the forth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.

 

The whole Book is here.

Gustav Dore’s engraving ‘A Vision of Death’

Nostradamus: The Millennium Scenario

If there is one thing that Nostradamus is most famous for it has to be the Apocalyptic ‘Millennium’ Scenario. Links have been made with Nostradamus’ apocalyptic predictions and the end of the world occurring around the time of the end of the 20th Century and the beginning of the 21st. So theories describing how the world will end around the time of the 21st Century have been strife. ‘The Millennium Bug’ the ‘2012’ theories involving the expiration of the Mayan Calendar cycle, Asteroids, expansion of the sun etc etc etc.

However according to my reference the term ‘Millennium’ or ‘New Millennium’ had a different meaning back in the 16th Century, it refers not to the end but the beginning. The ‘New Millennium’ is the time span of at least 1000 years when Christ and his saints will return to rule the earth in peace and harmony. ‘The Golden Era’ may sound a lot nicer than all the spout from the prophets of doom but when referred to the Book of Revelations of which Nostradamus took great influence as a Christian. The Book of Revelations describes the new heaven on earth, ‘the Golden Era’ or ‘the New Millennium’ to only follow the Battle of Armageddon and the Day of Judgement which does not sound pretty. 

Nostradamus’ references to the millennium may not be implying the literal new millennium but the time span following the end of the world, the beginning of the world.

 

Reference:

Nostradamus & the New Millennium: A Guide to the Great Seer’s Prophecies by Michael Jordan Carlton Books Limited 1998

The Apocalypse and the shape of things to come. Edited by Francis Carey. British Museum Press. London. 1999

The Prophecies of Nostradamus

Predictions of the future have always cropped up now and then, a hot topic being the end of the world. The Jehovah’s Witnesses foresaw the end to be in 1914, they then predicted that it would occur in 1925 and again in 1975. In November 1995 they announced that due to earlier miscalculations they were no longer able to predict the date of Armageddon.

The most famous prophet is of course Nostradamus, a christian philosopher, doctor, astrologer and prophet is a great believer in the Book of Revelation’s foretelling of the Apocalypse, the battle of Armageddon and the day of Judgement. Unfortunately Nostradamus’ predictions are very much doom & gloom and unfortunately he seems to have gotten a lot of them right. He has predicted comets, plagues, invasions, political events, deaths and natural disasters. IF the understanding of his quatrains have been correct and interpretations of Nostradamus’ dating system are right then he has foreseen some major events in mankind’s history. Here are a handful…

 

Quatrain 11 tells of the execution of Charles I in 1649 and the Great Plague of London that followed in 1655 & 1666…

“The just man will come to be wrongly put to death, killed publicly and in their midst. So great a plague will be born in this place, that the judges will be obliged to flee.”

 

Quatrain 55 tells of the preparations and aftermath of the 1st World War, including an influenza epidemic that broke out at the end of the war and killed millions…

“The frightful war which is prepared in the west, the next year will bring pestilence so awful that neither young, nor old, nor beast will survive the blood, fire, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter in France”

 

Quatrain 62 describes the reign of Adolf Hitler and his devestating grip hold over Europe. Even describing his famous hand gestures and speeches…

“Evil will soon die and there will come a horrible destruction of humanity and beasts. Then a sudden retribution will come. Incoherant speeches, hands, thirst, hunger, when the comet will pass.”

A comet passed in 1927 which marked the beginning of the economic crisis that provided the breeding ground for Hitler’s rise to power.

 

Quatrain 65 tells of many things…

“Child without hands, never witnessed so great a thunderbolt. The royal child injured in a game. At the well flashes of lightning strike, three with chains secured by the middle.”

and

“One will be placed in the corner of the moon where he will be in a strange land. The immature fruit will be a great scandal. Great blame to the one, great praise to the other.”

The first of these two tell of the incident involving the drug thalidomide which was marketed from 1959 as a safe sedative, by 1962 about 11,000 babies had been born with truncated and malformed limbs due to the drug. The first also refers to the three Kennedy brothers and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963. The second refers to the United States space programme which began in 1961 and reached it’s peak in 1969 with the moon landing.

 

There is much speculation and discussion into Nostradamus’ work and possible foresight so much so that his writings have never been out of print since they were written. His predictive quatrains continue into our future with such entries as Quatrain 74…

“At the turning of the great seventh number, it will appear at the time of the games of great public sacrifice. Not far from the great age of the millennium when the dead will leave their tombs”

 

is this a possible reference to the Book of Revelations & the Day of Judgement? The seventh number could be alluding to the opening of the seventh and final seal that will begin the Apocalypse described in Revelation. Of course the dead leaving their tombs could describe the day of Judgement when the dead will rise to be judged.

 

Who knows *cough*oh shit*cough*

 

Reference:

Nostradamus & the New Millennium: A Guide to the Great Seer’s Prophecies by Michael Jordan Carlton Books Limited 1998

The Players: The Beast

Within the Book of Revelations there is one figure that stands out as an important piece within the structure of events that amounts to the end of the world. The Beast or the Anti Christ, the one that brings around the end. The Book of Revelations describes two beasts, the first coming from the sea and having seven heads and ten horns. The second comes from the earth and has the appearance of a lamb but the voice of a dragon. The second beast known as the false prophet uses the first beast as a symbol to be worshipped whilst being it’s voice.

The number or mark of the beast is known as 666 or 616 according to different translations and sources. It is believed that this is a code used to identify the Anti Christ.

 

There are interpretations of the Book of Revelations that say the book was a vision of events that have already transipred.

1. In the 1st Century Nero took the role of the beast. The Greek Rendering of Nero’s name is “Neron Kaisar” and when translated into hebrew נרון קסר (Nrwn Qsr) had a number of 666.

2. A German Protestant Theologian named Ethelbert Stauffer said that the Beast was in fact the reigning Roman Emperor of the time of John’s Visions. Emperor Domitian ruled 81-96 AD and supposedly earned himself the nickname ‘the beast’. Again similarly to Nero the Greek rendering of his name was ‘Autokrator Kaisar Dometianos Sebastos Germanikos’ which for the currency and coins was abrbreviated to

A.KAI.DOMET.SEB.GE (1+20+1+10+4+70+40+5+300+200+5+2+3+5).

666

3. If the number of the beast is 616 it is believed that it could have been referring to the Emperor Caligula who attempted to erect a statue of himself within the temple of Jerusalem considered a blaspheme possibly turning people to view Caligula as the Anti Christ. 

 

Another interpretation is that the beast is the Anti Christ who will appear at the rapture, the time of the second coming and will rule the world using deception. By using government to control the world such as a revived Roman Empire. Suggestions have been made that it could be the United States or possibly a united Europe.

There is also a suggestion that advancing technology and the invent of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) basically ID tagging will be the beasts mark upon humans and his way of control.

The number of the beast is 666 by William Blake.

 

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_of_the_Beast

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beast_(Bible)

The Players: Four Horses

The Four Horsemen of the apocalypse appear in the 6th chapter of the Bible’s Book of Revelations. There are a few interpretations of the four horses however within all interpretations the horses bring forth the end of the world.

 The Revelation of St. John: The Four Riders of the Apocalypse, 1497-9. by Albrecht Dürer

Though there are varying interpretations of what each horse and their rider represents the Book of Revelations clearly gives each a visual description. The White Horse, The Red Horse, The Black Horse and the Pale Green Horse.

 

The most prevalent interpretation of the four horses is as follows…

The White Horse: Due to confusing descriptions within different points of the Book of Revelation it is difficult to tell whether the White Horse is Christ or possibly the Anti Christ. The white horse is seen as the beginning of the end, an important figure in the Apocalypse. Possibly the second coming of Christ or just the Word of God and it’s judgment over humanity.

Revelation 6:1 – 6:2 – “…When the Lamb had opened the first of the seven seals, I heard the first of the four beasts say with a thundering voice, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a white horse; and he that sat on him had a bow: and there was given unto him a crown, and he departed as conqueror and to conquest.”

The Red Horse: The second rider represents War. The colour of spilled blood and carrying a great sword. The Red horse could represent the war that occurs before the end of the world.

Revelation 6:4 – “And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.”

The Black Horse: The Third horse represents famine and suffering of the people, possibly due to the war.

Revelation 6:5 – 6:6 – “And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.’”

The Pale Green Horse: The final horse is plainly named death. The death that follows the famine. The rider has been interpreted as the reaper of souls. The Grim Reaper.

Revelation 6:7 – 6:8 – “And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a pale green horse; and he that sat on him was called Death, and Hades followed with him. And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, and that they(the four horsemen) should kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.”

Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, by Viktor Vasnetsov (1887).

 

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Horsemen_of_the_Apocalypse

I find the Four horsemen fascinating and  great symbol to work on. As either taken literally having four horses come and devastate the world or symbolising the four stages of the end of the world. The white horse could be a Leader of men (if the interpretation is that the white horse is the anti christ) this individual is responsible for the war to end wars (the red horse) war leads to famine (the black horse) and famine leads to death (the pale green horse).

Yawm ad-Din

Yawm ad-Din “the Day of Judgement” or Yawm al-Qiyāmah “the Day of Resurrection” is the Islamic foretelling of God’s final judgment of humanity. Yawm ad-Din consists of a series of events that leads to the day when every sentient being’s good and bad deeds will be scrutinized

 

“Anyone who has an atom’s worth of goodness will see it and anyone who has done an atom’s worth of evil will also see it.”

Qur’an 99:7

 

The sequence of events leading to the Judgment of humanity is firstly the annihilation of all creatures and then the resurrection of the body, the dead coming to life ready for judgment. After which no one will ever experience death, death literally dies and humanity is split between Jannah , heaven and Jahannam, hell.

 

This Islamic end of the world is also referred to as “The Last Hour” by the prophet Mohammed. The Prophet Mohammed foretold of several signs that would usher in the end of the world and judgment day, these signs have been split into major and minor. Describing the minor signs he said, “People would follow a way of life other than mine and give guidance other than mine”, “I fear for my people only the leaders who lead men astray”, “Before the Last Hour there will be great liars, so beware of them”, “When the most wicked member of a tribe becomes its ruler, and the most worthless member of a community becomes its leader, and a man is respected through fear of the evil he may do, and leadership is given to people who are unworthy of it, expect the Last Hour”.

 

In regards to the Major signs there will be ten: “Smoke, Dajjal (The imposter messiah, comparable to the Antichrist), the Animal (that will speak to the people), rising of the sun from the West, descending down of Isa (Jesus), appearance of Yajuj and Majuj (a couple of destructive supernatural giants or demons), and three sinkings (or caving in of the earth): one in the East, another in the West and a third in the Arabian Peninsula. The last (sign) will be that of the Fire that will start from Yemen and drive the people towards the place of Reckoning.”

 

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qiyamah

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/End_of_the_world_(religion)

The Qur’an

The Book of Revelations

The Book of Revelations contains the descriptions of two visions as told by John. The second vision describes a possible end of the world depending on interpretation. The end of the world or the end of an age, in which Satan’s rule over mankind is ended by the Messiah and the second coming. God will come to earth and the battle of Armageddon will commence, a battle of good and evil resulting in the final judgement and imprisonment of Satan & the beast (the antichrist), and the ushering in of a new Heaven and Earth.

 

Interpretations of the Book of Revelations

 

Firstly there are some that view the events described in the book of revelations to have already taken place. The battle of Armageddon as being the persecution of Christians by the Roman Empire and the resulting judgement of Satan being the fall of the Roman Empire. Also holding Emperor Nero in the position of the Beast as apparently “his name equals 666 in Hebrew”.

 

Some view the prophecy as telling the story of between the end of the first century and the time of the second coming. ‘Historicist’ interpretations see Revelations as foretelling the expansion of the Church into a dominant global power and it’s evolution into an Apostate Church lacking it’s original beliefs and power hungry. Leaving the true Christians behind to be ridiculed, becoming the Antichrist. Christ will then judge the Apostates and vindicate the true believers. This interpretation works around the Antichrist being a population of people growing over a longer amount of time rather than one figure stepping in at the final moments before judgement.

 

The Futurist interpretation is that there will be a ‘Great Tribulation’ when the world will witness a great persecution of believers. The tribulation will be a seven year period where through persecution and martyrdom believer’s will be purified and strengthened by it or not. This judgement will be initiated by Israel unintentionally signing a peace treaty with the Antichrist, the Antichrist potentially being the head of a revived Roman Empire. After such a Tribulation the true believers would be saved by God.

 

Some view the writings of Revelations to be less a prophecy but a guide to the end of the world. For when it comes you should be ready but only God can know when Judgement will occur. Perhaps even referring to personal judgement and the battle within yourself over good and evil. Always be ready to meet your maker.

 

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Revelation

The Holy Bible