This will be last and final event of the Great Tribulation. The Bible says that immediately after the Tribulation occurs, Jesus will return back to us for His second coming! Here are 2 key verses on this battle and how it all gets set up in the first place.

1. This 1st verse is very, very interesting. It implies that the Antichrist does not have full control over the entire world. It says that he hears “news” from the east and north that trouble him. This news causes him to go out in “great fury” to annihilate many. My guess is that China and Russia do not want to come under his rule and they are setting up to come against him. Here is the verse:

“But news from the east and the north shall trouble him; therefore he shall go out with great fury to destroy and annihilate many. And he shall plant the tents of his palace between the seas and the glorious holy mountains; and yet he shall come to his end, and no one will help him.” (Daniel 11:44-45)

This verse tells us that he is going to meet his end and that no one is going to be able to help him. As you will see further down, Jesus is the one who will be putting an end to him - so this verse is showing us that this event will lead up to the battle of Armageddon.

2. In this next verse, the word Armageddon is actually used to describe the place where this battle is going to take place. Armageddon is the plain of Megiddo which forms the only pass through the mountains which enters from the North and South of Israel. It is in northern Israel and it is a natural pass from the Mediterranean Sea through the mountains and the interior of Israel.

This next verse tells us that the Euphrates River will dry up so that a pass and a way is made for the kings of the east to come against Israel and the Antichrist in this last battle. Here are the verses describing all of this:

“Then the sixth angel poured his bowel on the great river Euphrates, and its water dried up, so that the way of the kings from the east might be prepared. And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are spirits of demons performing signs, which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world to gather them to that great day of God Almighty … and they gathered them together to a place called in
Hebrew, Armageddon.” (Revelations 16:12-16)

Also notice that the demons that are in the Antichrist and False Prophet will be the ones that will go out and draw the rest of the nations to Armageddon for this last and final battle. The stage is now set. You have what is probably China coming in from the east, possibly Russia, Libya and Iran coming from the north and the troops from the Antichrist’s 10 nation European confederacy coming in from the east - all converging onto Armageddon to battle it out - probably to see who will rule the world. What happens next? Read our next article in this series.

Article written by Michael Bradley of Bible Knowledge Ministries. Their website is a resource of Bible articles, commentary and teaching. They currently have over 100 Bible articles. All free of charge.
If you do not want to wait for the next article, you can go to our
end times section of our website for all 15 articles regarding the 2nd Coming of Jesus.
Copyright © 2005 by Michael Bradley. All Rights Reserved.

You know, O Lord, the intent of my heart

Help me, I pray, to do my part

If only you would speak the word this day

All my trials and troubles would go away

Lord, I’ve been bogged down so long

In this miry clay, I do not belong

My feet are firmly stuck in this bog

Sometimes I feel like I’m in a fog

Your clear direction and guidance I need

Deliver me from this bog I plead

Your word, O Lord, has tried me sorely

I am down and out and feeling poorly

Strengthen my inner man, I do pray

Send help from on high this very day

I’m bogged down in this miry clay

Trying to get out and find the way

At the right hand of the Father you sit

Speak to him about my boggy pit

Lift me up and set me on solid ground

In this boggy pit, I’ll no longer be bound

Copyright 2005, Irvin L. Rozier

Religion today is in an interesting state. God appears to be suffering an identity crisis. Who is he? What is he? Does he even exist at all? And whose identity crisis is it anyway - God’s or ours?

The reasons are many. Globalization has brought different nations closer together. Religions have over flown the borders of countries, become obsolete, and been revived with a dizzy speed. The most important in all this I think is the fact that human beings have become far too clever for their own good. In addition, these same human beings think too much about too many things.

Let me explain. Consider religion in ancient times. Each society had their own idea of morality, religion and God or the gods. This idea was seldom questioned for several reasons. Mostly, these involved torture, death or eternal damnation. Today however, we have things like information technology, the Internet, and globalization. The world has become so small that there is little difference in terms of time between calling your sister next door and e-mailing your friend a thousand miles away. As a result, cultures that have been secluded for centuries are now suddenly learning about each other.

This has far-reaching consequences in terms or religion, philosophy and the like. Imagine that you grew up in the above small village. There was one way of doing things: your parents’. And of course that was the right way. Now suddenly people in vast, noisy machines turn up and tell you you’d been wrong the whole time. Of course things like the Spanish Inquisition, Crusades, and the wrongful extermination of entire tribes would result. These are extreme examples, but the fact remains that, with long-distance travel, the world began to be one of many viewpoints instead of just one.

It is also only now that we are beginning to recognize that maybe God is much more elusive than we first believed. My parents and my church taught me that God makes himself known through his Spirit and through the Bible. This is true of the Christian God. A similar MO is true of other gods from other cultures. A cultural concept of God builds up through ancient scriptures and cultural consciousness. In this way each culture’s gods cater to their specific needs. Could this be why God seems to be suffering an identity crisis today?

So what now? We are living in a world where cultures mix and match until it is almost impossible to distinguish one from the other. We are as free to choose our religion as we are to choose our jobs, our spouses and our cars. It has become a matter of individual taste rather than intellectual culture.

I do not believe that God is unnecessary. What I do believe is that the concept of God is inextricably part of the human psyche. It would be foolish to ignore him (or her or them). Indeed, it may be vital for our survival to explore and learn about the God that has become unknown, but not unknowable.

Catherine holds a Master’s in English from the University of the Free State in South Africa. She is an instructor in a special program there, teaching year long seminars to help disadvantaged students improve their English academic reading and writing skills in preparation for University studies. In addition she is a reviewer and proofreader for the Institute of Groundwater Studies, also at the University. This department is concerned with the management of borehole water and other underground water sources mainly in South Africa, and also in other parts of Africa. Highly interested in the Internet as the new form of international communication, Cathi has established two Blogs, one on self improvement subjects and one on Web site reviews of sites she has found to be excellent and rewarding experiences for Internet surfers.

Cathi’s self-improvement blog can be found here:
http://www.writingup.com/Cathi.

Her Web site review blog can be found here:
http://cathe-reviews.blogspot.com/2006/03/introduction.html