The Kurds of NW Iraq voted overwhelmingly for independence, thus bringing us closer to the time when this region will become the most important nation of the Middle East and of the entire world.  The hysteria of most nations can be seen in this story:

Naturally, this vote was met by breathless panic from nearly every Middle Eastern nation.  The Iraqi prime minister said this vote should be annulled.  Other neighboring countries fear that this move could “destabilize” the region.  (Is this a joke?  What part of the Middle East appears stable at this moment?)  Turkish President Erdogan has called this vote “illegal”.  But with a Kurdish population of over 30 million throughout the Middle East (about triple the Palestinian population), this movement will not be silenced.

From the article: “Despite nearly a century of Kurdish nationalist movements in various countries, the Kurds have never had a nation of their own.”  That summation of this news story is not entirely accurate if you want to go back in history and look at the ancestors of today’s Kurds–the Assryians.  To say that they’ve “never had a nation of their own” is to dismiss an empire that survived almost 2,000 years.

In fact, of all the nations in the Middle East, the only one that has voiced support for Kurdish independence was Israel, with Benjamin Netanyahu’s endorsement, saying “[this was] legitimate efforts of the Kurdish people to achieve their own state.”

As I wrote in a previous post, the region that consists of the Kurdish people will play a pivotal role in prophecy, as it becomes the 4th kingdom of the book of Daniel and it is the nation from which the anti-messiah will emerge.  After posting that story, I had several people send me notes which challenged my assertion that it will be the Kurds that will make up that 4th kingdom.  Their belief is that the final kingdom will be the Roman Catholic Church, not the Kurds as a re-born “Assyria”.

My response was to point out the subtitle of my blog in which I do not permit “conventional wisdom” to cloud my judgement about what the Bible actually says.  And it truly IS “common knowledge” that the Roman Catholic Church MUST be the 4th beast.  Almost every web page you visit while researching this subject identifies the 4 beasts of Daniel 7 as Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome (Catholic Church).  Nothing could be further from the truth and it is very easy to explain if one is willing to accept the clear language of the Bible.

Who is this 4th beast?  In addition to Daniel’s description, we are given further information in Revelation 17 that makes its identity unambiguous, beginning in verse 7.  This chapter is a companion chapter to Daniel 7, as they each are describing the same event.

Rev. 17:7–“And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.  ⁸ The beast that thou sawest WAS, and IS NOT; and SHALL ASCEND out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that WAS, and IS NOT, and YET IS.” [emphasis mine].

The Apostle John, the author of Revelation, wrote that the 4th “kingdom” (a.k.a.: Beast) is a nation that WAS (had previously existed); and IS NOT (did not currently exist as he wrote those words) and SHALL ASCEND (will exist once again at some point in the future).  He further emphasized this point by repeating that the beast WAS, IS NOT and YET IS.  The “beast” nation existed, then ceased to exist, then finally was back in existence after their period of absence.

The ancient nation of Assyria alone fits this description, not the Roman Catholic Church.  Since its inception, there has been NO time in history that the Catholic Church has ceased to exist.  It began in the 1st century A.D. and has been a major religion on earth ever since that time.

However, Assyria existed for almost 2,000 years, between 2,500 B.C.E to 605 B.C.E.  It ended at that time and has not been a nation on earth for over 2,600 years (“IS NOT”).  And it soon “SHALL ASCEND” and come into existence once again (“YET IS”) very soon.

Not only are we told what nation this is describing, we are also told where this illegitimate king will reign.

Rev. 17:9–“And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.  ¹⁰ And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.”

Is there a way to identify where exactly these seven mountains are located?  And what does John mean about one of these kings only continuing for a short space?  The answer to the first question is found in Isaiah and the other answer is found in Daniel.

Isa. 2:1–“The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.  ² And it shall come to pass IN THE LAST DAYS, that the mountain of the Yahweh‘s house shall be established IN THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAINS, and shall be exalted ABOVE THE HILLS; and all nations shall flow unto it.” [emphasis mine] 

Two important facts to note here are 1) this verse pertains to the city of Jerusalem, which has seven peaks and 2) Yahweh’s house [the Temple] will be built there.  Of the seven peaks in Jerusalem, the Temple will be built ABOVE the hills, or on the highest of these seven peaks.  The highest hill in Jerusalem is the Mount of Olives.  This is why the 3rd Temple will be built there, not on the current Temple Mounts on the opposite side of the Kidron Valley.

Dan. 11:20–“Then shall stand up in his estate a raiser of taxes in the glory of the kingdom: but within few days he shall be destroyed, neither in anger, nor in battle.“  I guess it’s risky to raise people’s taxes…

A literary tool that is found throughout scripture and one that the Apostle John used often is the use of repetition.  Here, he repeats this same prophecy a third time:

Rev. 17:11–“And the beast that WAS, and IS NOT, even he IS the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.” [emphasis mine]

Clearly, the Roman Catholic Church cannot be the 4th beast of Daniel 7 simply because it can never be described as “IS NOT” at any time in its history since its inception.  Some might argue that at the time John wrote the book of Revelation that the Catholic church did not actually exist at that time, so perhaps that would fit the “IS NOT” description.  But even if we concede this spitting-hairs fact, we cannot make the Catholic church fit the “WAS” description.  The “IS NOT” is the 2nd part of this beast’s existence, not the 1st part.  Anyone who would continue to push for the Catholic church as this 4th beast coming into power in our age is ignoring the fact that this triplicate description requires that it must have have been around, then disappeared then finally reappeared as the  church we see today.

So, sorry to disappoint you who have been led to believe otherwise.  Stick with the Bible if you really want to know the truth of what’s going to happen.

Works for me.