The Eighth Beast

Chapter 3 ~ 6th Trumpet

The Coming Army

In this article I would like to speak on the beginning of the fulfillment of the 6^th trumpet in our life as it pertains to the Church. Let me explain.

• The 6^th Trumpet has sounded and an army is already here fighting against the church.

• The Euphrates River which is the moving of the Spirit has begun to dry up in our age to allow this army to come with power.

• This army is even now slaying a portion of the saints with its fire, smoke and brimstone.

• This army is even now slaying a portion of the saints with its uncleanness coming from its mouth.

• This army is another part of the working of the Eighth beast.

The Trumpet Has Sounded

Let’s begin by reading several scriptures for the foundation of this message. First, concerning the 6th trumpet known as the 2nd woe.

Rev 9:13-21 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God. Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men. And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths. For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt. And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk. Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.

The 5th Trumpet which is the 1st Woe has already sounded and is being manifested continuously today. Even as the 6th Trumpet, which is the 2nd Woe, has also sounded and is being manifested.

In Revelation it states that the Beast which ascended out of the bottomless pit is the Eighth Beast. This Eighth Beast does miracles, makes fire fall from heaven and gets the people to make an image of the beast.

Rev 13:13-14 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.

Both of these passages are describing the working of Satan. Each describing it a little differently, but the basic description is the same. The Beast is bringing an army to issue out of its mouth, a message to kill some of God’s people, by deceiving them with signs, wonders and miracles while gather a people together against God’s people.

I am not going to explain each passage, but rather I am going describe the work of Satan that started in the 1st Woe and is now manifesting differentially in the 2nd Woe.

The Drying up of Euphrates River

This river is one of the four rivers that flow from the Garden of Eden. It means fruitfulness or prosperity. During the great revivals of the early 1900’s, we saw God restore into His church the baptism of the Holy Ghost with signs, wonders, miracles and separation from the world. Then in the mid 1900’s we saw a decrease in the power of God about the same time there was an increase of worldliness creeping into the Church as the flood of ungodliness increased in the world. This working of Satan was not by his power alone. It was God allowing or making him do it so that God might gather his elect unto the true doctrine of God; as Satan gathered the wicked to sin and his worshippers to a false doctrine from Satan.

That is why we have seen a diminishing of the operation of the Holy Ghost in the world as a whole. The Euphrates River has to dry up in order for this army of filth and perversion to come out, thereby deceiving the world and attempt to deceive God’s people, just as Eve was deceived in the Garden.

Lying Spirits Turned Loose

The loosing of angels in the Euphrates River is similar to the time when Jehoshaphat allied himself with Ahab when Micaiah was the Prophet.

2Ch 18:19-22 And the LORD said, Who shall entice Ahab king of Israel, that he may go up and fall….. Then there came out a spirit, and stood before the LORD, and said, I will entice him. And the LORD said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go out, and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And the LORD said, Thou shalt entice him, and thou shalt also prevail: go out, and do even so. Now therefore, behold, the LORD hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of these thy prophets, and the LORD hath spoken evil against thee.

Jehoshaphat (the true) and Ahab (the corrupt) fighting alongside each other to preserve the family of God (the church today). The true saints are asking for a Word from the Lord. They hear a lot from the religious prophets but something just doesn’t ring quite true to Jehoshaphat. He asked if there was another prophet around here, the corrupted church leaders said yes, but he is always against us. He has nothing positive to say. That was when Micaiah stood up and declared this revelation. The false prophets and those who followed them could not discern the false in what was being said. It is a perverted word which God allowed that He might cause the ungodly backsliders to stumble, fall and be destroyed. At the same time God shows us that His people can discern something they hear just doesn’t sound right.

Not only are these lying spirits turned loose today deceiving the false, but it is silencing the Spirit of the Lord in the Church also, therefore bringing death to some that follow after this deception.

Zec 6:5-7 And the angel answered and said unto me, These are the four spirits of the heavens, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth. The black horses which are therein go forth into the north country; and the white go forth after them; and the grisled go forth toward the south country. And the bay went forth, and sought to go that they might walk to and fro through the earth: and he said, Get you hence, walk to and fro through the earth. So they walked to and fro through the earth. Then cried he upon me, and spake unto me, saying, Behold, these that go toward the north country have quieted my spirit in the north country.

The Army, the Flood, the Beast

• The 6th Trumpet says it came as an army to kill with smoke, fire and brimstone with power in their mouth and their tails.

• It says the Eighth Beast will do great wonders, making fire come down from heaven in the sight of men and deceiving the people with miracles.

Each of these is describing to some extent, the working of Satan as he attempts to destroy the church in the last days. I would like to explain to the best of my ability, as God has helped me put this together. There have been three great movements in the last 50 years that have brought this about. I do not want to try to define phrases or words in the passages. But, I want to give a broad overview to help bring some clarity to the situation without trying to judge the people who are deceived. You can find extensive information on the Internet about those preachers who are deceived and from preachers who have warned against Satan working in these unclean movements.

The Three Movements

• Charismatic movement

• Word of Faith movement

• Prosperity movement

I want to say as we get started, that many saints of God are involved and influenced by these deceptions of the enemy. The purpose is not to condemn or even judge the person involved, but simply manifest the works of Satan in this religious confusion. Those that are defiled with this image of the Beast must decide to repent and come out of this Babylon. They also can choose to harden their heart and become partakers of the next phase of judgment which is coming.

God speaks of this as a time of unclean spirits going forth. In the gospels, this term is used when the spirit of the devil was abiding within a person, having taking dominion over that life in some way. This term unclean, is not used in reference to immorality or filthiness of the flesh.

The revivals of the age of reformation compelled people to come out of Catholicism, come out of Lutheranism, come out of Methodism, come out of Baptistism and even come out of Pentecostalism. During this time of reformation, God refers to them in the seven Church Ages as defiled or not being perfect, not unclean. Each one of these was growth stages of leaving and forsaking of the past, while also reaching for the present truth. The church was working its way back to being like the Church of the New Testament. But this Charismatic movement today is not just defiled; it is a body of believers filled with the unclean spirit of the Wicked One. It is not the same Spirit that comes into the body of believers of Jesus Christ.

This army which came upon the face of the world has become a large force in Christianity. It has brought a new energy and vigor to the Catholic, Protestant and Pentecostal churches who have embraced these doctrines, signs and wonders. These movements have united a very diverse group of believers while each continues to keep unique doctrinal beliefs, keep their works of the flesh, keep their desire for signs, miracles and wonders and keep their passion for Christ.

This is not about a group, an organization, a denomination, whether spirit filled or non-spirit filled, whether trinity believers or oneness believers. It is about a lying spirit of deception that has made in-roads into the church and is attempting to corrupt, destroy and defile as many saints as possible.

We do not know the exact date when this all started. Neither do we know the exact date when God will destroy this Babylon system and glorify his elect who have stayed faithful and true. Nor do we know when he will expose those that worship this image of the Beast, or expose those that worship gold, silver, brass, stone and wood …their natural possessions.

Charismatic Movement

The Charismatic movement came out of the Pentecostal revivals in the 40’s and 50’s, with a unique difference between the two movements. The Pentecostal movement brought a restoration to the church with signs and wonders which caused people to come back to the Word and the early church doctrine and life. The Pentecostal movement preached sanctification and against the influences of the world creeping into the church. It also brought separation and offense to those who did not believe in the Holy Ghost.

The Charismatic movement had one unique difference; it did not cause a separation from the non believers. It did not look or act likes the early church in doctrine or demonstration; but it did have signs, wonders and miracles. A fire began to fall on a people but it did not bring separation, offense or antagonism to those who remained in darkness.

A quote from Charismatic Movement on the Wikipedia says this, “Before 1955, Pentecostal doctrines… were not embraced by the religious mainstream. If a church member or clergyman openly expressed such views, they would separate from their older denomination. The Charismatic movement was a reversal of this previous pattern as those influenced by Pentecostal spirituality chose to remain in their original denominations.”

The beginning of the movement is usually dated to Easter of 1960, as an Episcopalian leader recounted his Pentecostal experience to his parish. This caused others in the mainline protestant churches to proclaim their Pentecostal experience and was termed Charismatic in 1962. There began to be another major movement in the Catholic Church in 1967 with an estimate now, of as many as 120 million members, particularly in Filipino, Korean, Philippines, Latin American, Brazil and Hispanic communities. There was also another large movement in the mid 1980’s called the “Third Wave” that the Vineyard movement was a part of.

These believe in the infilling or baptism of the Holy Spirit and that spiritual gifts are believed to be manifest in form of signs, miracles, and wonders, including, but not limited to, speaking in tongues, interpretation of tongues, prophecy, healing and discernment of spirits. The Charismatic accept a range of supernatural experiences as evidence of being baptized in the Holy Spirit.

I am not going to take the time or space to explain the false, perverted or deception that is amongst this movement. There has been plenty of preaching about this today and is also found in the ministries of the 1950-80’s period. By the time the 80’s arrived, we saw this movement had made great in-roads by its affects and influences upon the main stream Pentecostals.

Word of Faith Movement

The Word of Faith movement began to take roots around the mid to late 60’s with such men in America as Kenneth Hagin and Kenneth Copeland and from Korea, Paul Yonggi Cho. Here are a few passages from Christianity in Crisis of statements made by these preachers.

Kenneth Copeland said the faith formula is:

• You see whatever you need, whether physical or financial

• You stake your claim on the Scripture

• You speak it into existence

Kenneth Hagin said Jesus gave him 4 steps to always receive whatever he wants from God:

• Say it – Positive or negative is up to the individual, according to what the individual says, that shall he receive.

• Do it – Your action defeats you or puts you over, according to your action, you receive or you are kept from receiving.

• Receive it – We are to plug into the powerhouse of heaven, faith is the plug, just plug in.

• Tell it – so others may believe.

Paul Yonggi Cho said it is a “Law of Incubation”

• First make it a clear-cut goal.

• Next draw a mental picture, vivid and graphic to visualize success.

• Then incubate it into reality.

• Finally speak it into existence through the creative power of the spoken word.

Again, I am not going to try to pick their doctrine apart. There are several aspects which are similar to the New Testament teachings. But the end results places trust in one’s self and their ability to alter circumstances thru positive confession. They believe this is what Jesus wants for their life. However, it all results in self-exaltation, focus on material things, money and such like, of which Jesus and the Apostles taught against.

Prosperity Movement

The Prosperity movement is about coveting riches or material things as a witness or proof of God’s blessing upon a believer’s life. This message is accompanied with positive speech and appeal for donations to God’s ministry which will reward the giver financially many times above what was given. It is based upon a premise of a contract between God and humans. If humans will have faith in God, then God will deliver his promise of security and prosperity. Confessing these promises to be true is perceived as an act of faith, which God will honor. This is achieved through visualization, positive confession and expressions in contractual terms.

The preaching of prosperity was seen as early as:

• 1947 by Oral Roberts, preaching that God would return donations seven fold. Roberts later characterized it as the “seed faith” doctrine in the 1970’s.

• 1953 - AA Allen promoted merchandise such as tent shavings and anointed pray cloths. In the late 50’s he increased his focus on prosperity and it became a major theme in the 60’s. He began teaching word of faith, power to speak things into existence and that poverty was a spirit. He believed in God’s ability for financial miracles and prosperity.

• 1960’s - Prosperity messages increased as television programs began to have a greater influence upon believers.

• 1970’s - There were only about 10 mega churches in America (greater than 2,000).

• 1973 - TBN was founded; TBN embraced the Word of Faith and Prosperity, giving a boost to this message.

• 1974 - Kenneth Hagin opened a RHEMA Training center, training students with his theology.

• 1980’s - We saw a continuing presence of prosperity preachers on TV.

• 1990’s – The number of mega churches increased to 250 mega churches. These took a more prominent role of influence within the Charismatic movement with dynamic, word of faith and prosperity preachers.

• Today in the US there are about 1,540 mega churches with about 90 of them having greater than ten thousand.

One last comment. There is nothing wrong or bad in having a large church. But if we have to sell out in order to reach to the masses and if we appeal for money to further this gospel, then it is obvious where the problem lies.

Results of This Flood upon the Church

I hope you now understand how the enemy has come in sowing tares into the field of the Lord. We are seeing its effects upon the true church as it struggles to hold on to truth and godliness. This is different than any time in history, for this flood from the adversary is coming with a false doctrine and a false spirit. It is extremely difficult to discern true from false because the church is all mixed up like a melting pot.

Jesus came about 2000 years ago preaching. Later he sent his spirit to baptize the believers with the Holy Ghost and fire. Jesus told his disciples to go preaching repentance and remission of sins to the entire world. Today, Satan has come with his message baptizing his believers with his spirit, with a fire from heaven. Satan is telling his disciples to preach to the entire world; be filled with the spirit and receive prosperity. This is unclean, as Jesus said. It is not unclean because of sin and filth; but, it is unclean, because it is the spirit of the wicked one taking abode within his followers. They have heard and are following their Angel of light.

As Isaiah prophesied that Satan would say …I will ascend unto the heaven and I will be like God. Today there is a group of people within these Movements mentioned above, who have said, I am like God. I will speak my world into existence. I believe, therefore I speak. As Adam was the God of Eden so I have become a God to control my circumstances and my world. If I can see it …if I can believe it …if I can speak it …I shall have it. This brings about a fulfilling of the scriptures in Revelation describing the coming of the Eighth Beast, deceiving them that dwell on the earth, (not the elect), but them that dwell earthly. Through this deception the Eighth Beast has urged them to build an image to the beast which was wounded to death and does now live. This image is a perverted gospel and twisted image of Jesus’ doctrine.

Can Not Buy or Sell

Rev 13:17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast...

I know that there may be some later fulfillment of this passage. There may even come a day when people cannot buy or sell literal physical merchandise unless they have some mark or symbol of allegiance to a greater governing power over them. There may come a day when Christian ministries cannot legally preach the gospel unless they are associated with the other religious powers setup by Satan.

But there is another factor present today though out the Christianity community. This army has flooded the world from its mouth with poisoned lies from the False Preachers. It is having another major effect upon the churches of God. The believers find themselves trying to hold on to the truth as they strive to resist the pressures of the world which assault them from this modern end time Christianity. In the economy of the Lord, ministers present the gospel or sell the good news to the listeners (without price). They do this by offering the Word and Spirit of God to others, which brings an inward life, hope, healing and the hope of eternal life. These hearers, whether they are saints or sinners, are coming in a sense to buy something to fulfill, fix and make their lives new for today and unto eternity.

Let’s use our natural economy for an example. During the 1980-90’s the small retail and grocery stores began to lose their customer base to the new bigger …one stop shop, …get it all here stores. The little stores in order to keep some of their customers, had to compete by lowering their prices to match the big stores, while still buying the merchandise at the same price as before.

This took away the small retailers ability to grow or make changes putting them in a position of being barely able to survive. In time the big stores became able to demand their suppliers of merchandise to lower their prices if they wished to sell their product in their big stores. This caused the smaller manufactures to lower their prices in order to compete with the other big manufacturers. Again this caused the small companies to no longer be able to sustain any growth or capital to make upgrades, thus causing many to go out of business as they lost out to the effects of big business.

Now compare that to what has happened within the Church. Years ago, before the age of big churches, there were churches of various denominations that had crowds large enough to sustain the work of the Lord in that place. There were small churches and larger churches. But as this army began to take hold within a more prosperous society, a change began to happen. Those who had followed these unclean spirits like frogs began to bring a burst of excitement to their churches. The stagnation period was being revitalized.

Churches began to lose their laity to iniquity and to other churches who seemed to be more prosperous naturally and spiritually. The leadership within the true churches found themselves fighting to keep sin out of their people and the church. But, these leaders were also competing with churches that were bigger, more prosperous, and more dynamic, with more programs, with better choirs and churches seemingly more in tune with the times.

The smaller churches found themselves losing their youth, existing with no new growth, and operating on reduced finances which created a greater strain on the smaller crowd. Leadership had to choose whether to join this new movement or adopt some of it ways within their churches. Those who will not change, wait in hope of a revival that will cause the people to come back to the truth. The strain increased on those leaders who have chosen not to join this new modern Christianity. As attendance becomes less and finances decrease, some ministries have had to make cut backs. Bus ministries reduced, revivals cut back, the number of services cut back and expenditures reduced. In time, if God doesn’t move, they may have to close their doors and their voice will be silenced in the community.

We are seeing today the consequences in all denominations of not getting on board with this charismatic, word of faith and prosperity message. Churches are not being able to continue to preach/sell the gospel because the remaining few, holding on to the truth, cannot sustain the financial burden of the buildings which was meant for a larger body of believers. The elect of God will become less and less of a voice within their communities. One result of this is that those who wants to join to the True Gospel of Jesus Christ to change their life, may have a difficult time finding places of ministry that preach/sell the True Gospel because so many voices have been silenced and fading away.

Summary

The 6th trumpet, the 2nd woe has sounded, releasing an army which is devouring God’s people. The Eighth Beast has already ascended out of the bottomless pit. This was explained in the previous message on the 5th trumpet. This Eighth Beast ascended with the appearance of a lamb with two horns but when it spoke it sounded like the Dragon. The 5th trumpet explained one of the lamb’s horns as being the power of iniquity which was turned loose in the mid 1900’s. In the beginning it looked harmless but this iniquity has now brought down many of God’s people through many temptations and devices of Satan.

This present message is about the Lamb’s other horn’s power manifested in an army coming at the sound of the 6th trumpet. The Eighth Beast has come with all attributes of the previous seven beasts. God showed us how it would come in with the gentle innocence of a lamb, but once it started to speak and manifested its true nature, then we would see that it is the dragon.

The scriptures describe that 4 angels would be loosed within the Euphrates River, not out of it. This would bring forth a great army with fire (false anointing), smoke (deception) and brimstone (corruption). This army was not a natural, literal army, but an army of spirits, with power in their mouths and their tails (representing the false prophets).

Almost immediately in the mid 1900’s, after the iniquity was loosed upon the world, we saw the diminishing operation of the true Holy Ghost. The move of the Spirit began to dry out within the Christian church system, making way for this army of false spirits to fall from heaven. As this influence increases, many were deceived and seduced into believing that this move was from God. People seemed to be receiving the spirit and speaking in tongues. This army flourished and increased rapidly through the Charismatic, Word of Faith and Prosperity message. On one hand, these armies were like the locust, palmerworm, cankerworm and caterpillar spoke by the Prophet Joel. They were also devouring God’s people, drying up the wine and drying their spiritual food source.

In this infilling of the spirit something was missing. It was not bringing the followers to the Word of God. The manifestations of the fruits of righteousness were also missing. This move of the spirit was not following the example of the book of Acts and the previous outpouring of the Holy Ghost as in the early 1900’s. Children of God began to realize that this movement sounded true, yet the direction the people were going, was not the same as found in the doctrine of Jesus and his Apostles.

This modern day movement within the body of Christian believers does not strive to separate from the world and cease from sin. Their doctrine promotes a coveting of this world’s richest by teaching that possessing riches of this world is a witness or proof of God’s blessing upon your life. The world began to be mixed with the church like Constantine did with Paganism and Christianity. The Beast that was wounded came back alive in another idolatrous religion. This group of people had received a false fire from heaven and was worshipping the image of Satan through this false doctrine. It is an image of lust, pride, covetousness, rebellion to God’s word, yet all the time expressing a love for God and singing about Jesus. These believers now find themselves worshipping gold, silver, brass and things to be desired. The love of the world is consuming them. A new altar had been constructed. A new and strange fire is consuming the sacrifice.

In this generation, when someone says they have received the Spirit of Christ within, we thank God; but we now wait to see what kind of fruit the vessel bears. In time we will then be able to determine if it is the true Holy Ghost or the Spirit of Devils. If it is the Spirit of Christ, in time it will began to bear the fruits of righteousness and will desire to follow more closely to the teachings of Jesus and his Apostles.

Jesus said it this way in… Luk 6:44 For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes.

If it is the False Spirit, it will bring forth fruits of corruption and will slowly follow after the lust of the eyes, …lust of the flesh, …pride, …covetous of this world riches, …exalt man’s leadership and their teachings over what the Apostles taught. If it’s a false preacher it will also …make merchandise of the gospel, …appeal for money and fleece the congregation, …all the while giving the hearers a false hope with a perverted doctrine.

We realize that people in the church are at; different levels of scriptural understanding, different levels of faith, different levels of yielding to the spirit, different levels of following, different levels of obeying the spirit and at different levels of maturity in Christ. We would be doing wrong if we judge another as being false, simply because they have less maturity, or different manifestation of knowledge, demonstration, outward appearance, faith and obedience to the scriptures. Paul told us we all fall short in our righteousness with God. Moses also told us that there is the appearance of being an unclean leper, but it is only skin deep.

If we was at the market shopping for fresh fruit and vegetables, we would take the time to examine its quality and if it is rotten. Likewise, we do not judge an individual as being true or false, we simply judge the fruit coming from its vine. If the fruit is corrupt then the root is corrupt. We should not condemn the soul to hell simply because that soul is deceived and following after a false anointing. We should rather hope that God opens their eyes and set them free from Satan’s hold. Yes, we condemn the false doctrine. Yes, we condemn the false spirit. Yes, we warn against their corrupt fruit. Yes, we understand they have an unclean spirit. Yes, we know they have leprosy. Yet with all that understanding, we continue to reach out to rescue that lost soul. That is our job as Christians.

When Satan was loosed from the pit in the mid 1900’s, he offered the world and the church more things to satisfy the basic needs and wants of life. They said yes, let’s make life easier. Why should we do without? It’s out right. Satan came offering them the way to demonstrate how they can be as God, how they could learn to command the forces of faith. They said yes, give us this doctrine. Satan said; look at the riches of the world and its prestige of gaining wealth. Man said yes, it is ours; we will inherit the earth and its riches today.

The kingdom of Christ is in direct opposition with the kingdom of Satan. 2,000 years ago, Jesus sent back his Spirit to dwell in his tabernacle or body of believers with its purpose to destroy the works of Satan. In the mid 1900’s, Satan began pouring out his spirit into tabernacles or a body of believers, to destroy the children of God. Both kingdoms have some similarities. Yet, both are as opposite as light is from darkness. The true and false preach from the same bible. Both proclaim to have the Spirit of God. Both sing the same songs. Both say they please God.

But, watch the FRUIT. You may not be able to discern it by the doctrine. You may not be able to discern it by the Spirit. But Jesus said, the FRUIT will reveal the tree and its root.