And his power must become mighty, but not by his own power. And in a wonderful way he will cause ruin, and he will certainly prove successful and do effectively

"And his power must become mighty, but not by his own power. And in a wonderful way he will cause ruin, and he will certainly prove successful and do effectively. And he will actually bring mighty ones to ruin, also the people made up of the holy ones. And according to his insight he will also certainly cause deception to succeed in his hand. And in his heart he will put on great airs, and during a freedom from care he will bring many to ruin" 

(Daniel 8:24,25)

This aspect of the prophecy cannot be said to have been fulfilled in his first term. Unlike his predecessors, he did not launch major military expeditions around the world, causing hundreds of thousands of deaths, mostly civilians. However, it seems that according to Daniel’s prophecy, his second term should prove to be much more destructive. He will succeed in everything he undertakes by attacking powerful people, both inside and outside of his country.

The last king will quickly show who he really is. He is described as having a great power of destruction that does not come from him, but is placed at his disposal. The last king will use this extraordinary power of destruction to cause even more havoc. But where exactly? We must examine another passage of the same prophecy of Daniel to find out. Indeed, in Daniel chapter 11, it is written: "But reports out of the east and out of the north will disturb him, and he will go out in a great rage to annihilate and to devote many to destruction. And he will plant his royal tents between the grand sea and the holy mountain of Decoration; and he will come all the way to his end, and there will be no helper for him" (Daniel 11:44,45).

The destructive actions of the king of the South, who invaded the land of Decoration in 1948, are discussed, supporting the creation of the state of Israel (verse 41). This king of the South is represented by the United States, which vassal is the nation of Israel. The destructive actions of the last king, mentioned in Daniel (8:24,25), are to be compared with the narrative of the actions of the king of the South, in the Middle East, in Daniel (11:44,45). Moreover, what is written in Daniel 8:25 seems quite similar to what is written in Daniel 11:44,45: "He will bring many to ruin. And against the Prince of princes he will stand up, but it will be without hand that he will be broken. (…) And he will go out in a great rage to annihilate and to devote many to destruction. (…) And he will come all the way to his end, and there will be no helper for him". Thus, the foreign policy of the last king should support without reserve, the military actions of Israel in the Middle East, which are currently taking place in the Gaza Strip, as well as in the north, in Lebanon, Syria and against the nations of the East.

In Daniel (11:45) it is written: "And he will plant his royal tents between the grand sea and the holy mountain of Decoration; and he will come all the way to his end, and there will be no helper for him". "The grand Sea" is the Mediterranean Sea. "The Holy Mountain of the Decoration" is where Jerusalem ((Old City (East Jerusalem)) is located, particularly in its eastern part, where Mount Zion is). The Decoration is Israel, present-day Palestine.

It is possible that the fulfillment of this biblical prophecy took place on May 14, 2018, during the inauguration of the "royal tents" of the king of the south, the American embassy in Israel, located very exactly at the foot of the "holy mountain of Decoration" and between the "grand sea" ((South/south west of Mount Zion (Old City (East Jerusalem)), between the Karyat Moriah neighborhood (See Genesis 22:2 (Moriah), 14 (Jehovah Yireh)), to the east and the Arnona neighborhood to the west (direction "grand sea")). It is in West Jerusalem (which did not exist when Daniel's prophecy was written). Therefore, being slightly outside the Old City, the "Royal Tents" are between the "Old City" of Jerusalem (East Jerusalem) and the "Grand Sea", the Mediterranean Sea)).

He will bring to ruin the people made up of the Holy Ones

Who are the Holy Ones?

The Only Ones are people, men or women, whom God sets apart to do or continue to do His will. He will set them apart, with the favorable judgment of His Son Jesus Christ, for everlasting life, either in heaven or on earth (Ezekiel chapter 9; Matthew 25:31-46).

There are currently, shortly before the great tribulation, humans, men or women, who constitute the remnant of the 144,000 who will join Christ in heaven. This remnant, just before the great tribulation, will be 7,000 people, men or women, according to the book of Apocalypse chapter 11: "After the three and a half days, spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell upon those who saw them. And they heard a loud voice from heaven say to them: “Come up here.” And they went up into heaven in the cloud, and their enemies saw them. In that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell; and 7,000 persons were killed by the earthquake, and the rest became frightened and gave glory to the God of heaven" (Apocalypse 11:11-13).

The tenth of the city represents the future heavenly priestly class of the 144,000 (as whole group) (Revelation 5:9,10). The fall of the tenth of the city, representing the death of the 144,000 as the whole group (followed by their heavenly resurrection), wich will automatically cause the death, followed by a heavenly resurrection of the remnant of 7,000, shortly before the great tribulation: "Because the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a commanding call, with an archangel’s voice and with God’s trumpet, and those who are dead in union with Christ will rise first. Afterward we the living who are surviving will, together with them, be caught away in clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and thus we will always be with the Lord" (1 Thessalonians 4:16,17).

It is written in the narrative of Apocalypse chapter 11: "The rest became frightened and gave glory to the God of heaven" (Apocalypse 11:13). The city as a whole (including its tenth), represents the people of God, the people of the Holy Ones (either heavenly or earthly). This "rest" of the city represents the great crowd of humans who will come out of the great tribulation: "After this I saw, and look! a great crowd, which no man was able to number, out of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes; and there were palm branches in their hands. (…) So right away I said to him: “My lord, you are the one who knows.” And he said to me: “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb"” (Apocalypse 7:9-17). It is God and his Son Jesus Christ who judge who are the Holy Ones, set apart for everlasting life (Romans 14:12). This group of Holy Ones constitutes a people that God protects and will continue to protect through His Son Jesus Christ: "During that time Michael will stand up, the great prince who is standing in behalf of your people. And there will occur a time of distress such as has not occurred since there came to be a nation until that time. And during that time your people will escape, everyone who is found written down in the book" (Daniel 12:1).

The Attack against the Holy Ones

The last king will attack the “Holy Ones” whether heavenly or earthly, in a position of approval before God (Acts 11:26). How will this king effectively attack the people of the Holy Ones in order to “ruin” them? First, he will find “legal” pretexts to seize Intelligence Agency, such as the FBI or other federal agencies, the police, the military, the courts, and judges, in order to "frame trouble by decree" (Psalms 94:20). This is what the court officials of the king of Medes in Babylon did in the past to Daniel, a faithful servant of Jehovah God (Daniel 6:4). In his case, “they could find no grounds for accusation or anything corrupt, for he was trustworthy and no negligence or corruption could be found in him". The continuation of the story in chapter 6 describes how they "framed trouble by decree", in order to be able to cause the death of the prophet Daniel. Nevertheless, God miraculously protected him. It will be the same for the people of the Holy Ones, shortly before the great tribulation (Daniel 12:1; Matthew 24:22).

Unfortunately, nowadays, this last king, contrary to the moral integrity of the prophet Daniel, will have no trouble finding legal pretexts to attack the headquarters of some religious authorities, called "Christian", which are in the United States. Some of them are organized into very closed communities, or into multinationals with assets of several hundred million, even billions of dollars. The latter, with their international ramifications, govern autocratically over the Holy Ones, who very often, in all sincerity, trust them blindly. The last king could first of all, concerning some religious communities, note illegal actions. For example, the mismanagement of thousands of cases of abuse against children, by these religious multinationals, some of which operate like states within states (see the Australian Royal Commission of Inquiry (2013-2017) and the New Zealand Commission of Inquiry (2024)). Or will it be a question of findings of financial misdeeds. Or maybe the finding of widespread psychological abuse such as the numerous cases of shunning (by threat of social ostracism) (or indirect intimidation of members wanting to evade their governance), which have led many people to serious depression and suicide.

Is there any precedent in the past, concerning a legal procedure against an autocratic religious group, in the United States? Yes, of course, these were two extremist religious groups, armed to the teeth. Although these two dramatic facts could seem caricatured because Christian religious groups are generally peaceful, it will rather be a question of seeing, what were the methods to eradicate these two religious’ groups in the United States.

These two events concern two extremist "Christian" groups, organized in very closed communities, a sect in the full sense of the term. The Protestant sect Peoples Temple, of Jim Jones, in the city of Jonestown, Guyana, which resulted in the largest mass suicide of the 20th century, causing the death of 900 people. What caused this disastrous headlong rush of this sect? In the summer of 1977, when his community had just undergone a tax audit, Jones and the 1000 members of the Peoples Temple moved to Guyana near Port Kaituma.

On November 15, 1978, Leo Ryan, a member of the United States House of Representatives, has been sent to investigate the community following complaints from relatives of members of the Peoples Temple about living conditions that were potentially in violation of human rights, particularly because the village was allegedly being run as a disciplinary camp. Leo Ryan was accompanied by reporters from NBC and the Time and a cameraman. After three days of investigation, as he was about to leave, some members of the community tried to flee with them. This is what led to the start of the mass killing. Leo Ryan, the NBC reporter, a cameraman and a photographer were killed, along with hundreds of other victims.

What lesson can be learned from this tragedy? First, the United States sent a member of the House of Representatives to conduct a parliamentary investigation on the scene. The conclusion is that the misfortune came about through the bad behavior of a religious leader who behaved like a true despot, on all Christians, many of whom were probably sincere. This behavior naturally attracted the attention of the American State, which indirectly (probably unintentionally) caused the self-destruction of this religious community.

The second example is a similar situation: David Koresh and the Waco Branch Davidian sect. Once again, he was a "Christian" teacher, ruling autocratically over his small Christian community. In his case, it was the United States Federal Police (ATF) and later the FBI which began investigating David Koresh's actions. On February 28, 1993, the federal agents showed up at the community's residence with a search warrant. There was a real siege of the residence with gunfire, in order to dislodge the members from their residence. It lasted 51 days and ended with an absolutely disastrous general assault causing a fire, the cause of which is still unclear; the death toll from the tragedy was 82, including David Koresh, 23 children, and four Special Agents Overview. This second example is quite similar to that of the Jim Jones sect, the illegal actions of the headquarter of the Christian community, which provoked judicial and military actions by the United States government in order to eradicate this religious community.

Currently, some American religious corporations, with their billions of dollars in assets spread all over the world, and their armies of lawyers, feel invincible and behave arrogantly by ruling with an iron fist over thousands of congregations of sincere Christians who blindly trust them. Daniel’s prophecy mentions that the last king will devastate the people of the Holy Ones, under the rule of these American religious multinationals. Daniel’s prophecy does not mention that God or his Son Jesus Christ will prevent this devastation caused by this last king.

Since these multinationals, these religious corporations are hyper centralized (in the United States), it is possible that he will attack the head of these organizations (their headquarters offices), by dissolving these American executive juntas... Let us wait and see what will happen... If on the United States side the sky should darken even more for the Holy Ones, it will be the same on the side of the northern sunrising. The last king will not hesitate to be part of the global coalition of Gog of Magog (the prophecy of Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39). It is interesting to note the very cordial diplomatic relationship towards one of the most important prince of the kingdom of Japheth, in the immense country "from the remotest parts of the north" (let the reader use discernment (Matthew 24:15)) (Ezekiel 38:6). Which means that this coalition against the Holy Ones will have no difficulty in being carried out, shortly before the great tribulation, both in the East and in the West of the globe...

Who are the people of God? 

"During that time Michael will stand up, the great prince who is standing in behalf of your people"

(Daniel 12:1)

The people of God belong absolutely to God and to his Son Jesus Christ, because he gave his human life without sin to redeem them (John 3:16). Although what has just been written is quite obvious, in fact, religious groups, Christian or not, seize the right to determine who is part of the people of God, or not. This question is very thorny because thousands of religions, Christian or not, exclusively claim the title of people of God. To speak only of the Christian religions divided into thousands of different congregations, there is the expression of, them and us. Them, the people of the world and us, the people of God. In the fundamentalism religious reasoning and often in a corporatist reasoning (for religious groups that call themselves "organizations" rather than people), by evoking the people of the world, they also include their brothers and sisters in the faith in Christ, but who are not part of their religious group.

Such a mindset is a judgment of one’s neighbor that belongs only to God and Jesus Christ. In doing so, and by persisting in this way, they run the risk of being judged by God and Christ, in the same way that they judge their neighbors (Matthew 7:1-4). And if this human judgment were to go so far as to suggest that there is no way of salvation for those people, who could be brothers and sisters in the faith in Christ, this self-righteous behavior could backfire on them: “However, I say to you that everyone who continues wrathful with his brother will be accountable to the court of justice; and whoever addresses his brother with an unspeakable word of contempt will be accountable to the Supreme Court; whereas whoever says, ‘You despicable fool!’ will be liable to the fiery Gehenna'” (Matthew 5:22).

Obviously, what follows will not be about praising any syncretism or any form of religious ecumenism because, according to the Bible, and according to the words of Jesus Christ, there are true worshipers of God and only one correct way to worship Him: "Nevertheless, the hour is coming, and it is now, when the true worshippers will worship the Father with spirit and truth, for indeed, the Father is looking for ones like these to worship him. God is a Spirit, and those worshipping him must worship with spirit and truth”" (John 4:23,24).

The meditation that follows will be based exclusively on the Bible, to understand what is the thought of the Heavenly Father, Jehovah God and his Son Jesus Christ, regarding their choice of humans who are and will be part of his people and who will come out of the great tribulation mentioned in the prophecy of Daniel (12:1). These humans, men, women and children who will survive the great tribulation, are designated as part of the great crowd, who in fact, will constitute the "sons of your people", mentioned (above) in the prophecy of Daniel and in the book of Apocalypse (Revelation) (1 Corinthians 2:16; Apocalypse 7:9-17).

The answer to this question is not as simple as one might think, and Jesus Christ illustrated it in an illustration of the wheat (the fine seed) and the weeds (see Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43). In this illustration, the wheat (the fine seed) represents God’s people, and the weeds represent humans who are not part of them. Jesus Christ Himself made it clear that it would take some time to be able to tell the difference because God’s people are both scattered and mixed with the weeds, all over the world, and not an easily identifiable group of people on a global scale.

In the conclusion of this illustration, Jesus Christ clearly showed that the selection will be done in a supernatural way, involving the angels, to make the separation: "In response he said: “The sower of the fine seed is the Son of man; the field is the world. As for the fine seed, these are the sons of the Kingdom, but the weeds are the sons of the wicked one, and the enemy who sowed them is the Devil. The harvest is a conclusion of a system of things, and the reapers are angels. Therefore, just as the weeds are collected and burned with fire, so it will be in the conclusion of the system of things. The Son of man will send his angels, and they will collect out from his Kingdom all things that cause stumbling and people who practice lawlessness, and they will pitch them into the fiery furnace. There is where their weeping and the gnashing of their teeth will be. At that time the righteous ones will shine as brightly as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. Let the one who has ears listen" (Matthew 13:37-43).

So, on a concrete level, by reasoning only, on the whole of the Christian congregations, separated into different religious entities in the world, the wheat (the fine seed), the sons of the kingdom, are mixed with the humans who are not part of the people of God, even if they were to be part of the same religious group or Christian congregation. And the wheat (the fine seed), the sons of the kingdom, could be scattered in different Christian religious groups. This idea is underlying in the narrative of the judgment of the seven congregations in the book of Apocalypse chapters 2 and 3. In a main way, we can say that both the qualities and the defects of these seven congregations are found in almost all of the thousands of Christian religions in the world.

In this story, we realize that Christ sometimes makes extremely serious reproaches to some Christian congregations as he could currently also do concerning almost all of the thousands of Christian religions in the world. Nevertheless, in the same story of a same Christian congregation, Jesus Christ makes a clear difference between the whole behavior of this congregation and the individual behavior of Christians in this same congregation in full spiritual deviance. For example, the congregation of Thyatira had the spiritual deviance of accepting the teachings of Jezebel. Nevertheless, Jesus Christ clearly showed that he knew that in this same congregation, on an individual level, there were disciples who had not fallen into this serious deviance: "However, I say to the rest of you who are in Thyatira, all those who do not follow this teaching, those who did not get to know the so-called “deep things of Satan”: I am not putting on you any other burden" (Apocalypse 2:24).

As a second example, there is the congregation of Sardis that Jesus Christ considered spiritually dead (Apocalypse 3:1-6). However, here is His judgment on an individual basis or concerning some upright disciples: "Nevertheless, you do have a few individuals in Sardis who did not defile their garments, and they will walk with me in white ones, because they are worthy. The one who conquers will thus be dressed in white garments, and I will by no means blot out his name from the book of life, but I will acknowledge his name before my Father and before his angels. Let the one who has an ear hear what the spirit says to the congregations" (Apocalypse 3:4-6). We can see from these two examples that the wheat (the fine seed), or the sons of the kingdom could be in a Christian religious group that could be spiritually dead, through its deviant religious practices, without altering the spiritual integrity of some of Christ's disciples, on an individual level.

For those who would essentially integrate the standard of exact knowledge as main way of judgement of Christ, it is clear that he will base himself more on a behavioral criterion, based on love for God (Matthew 7:21-23 (love for God by doing His Will)) and love of the neighbor: "I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, you also love one another. By this all will know that you are my disciples—if you have love among yourselves" (John 13:34,35; read Matthew 25:31-46, where Jesus Christ lists behavioral judgment criteria based on love and assistance to neighbor, and not mainly on criteria of exact knowledge; read also 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 "if I do not have love, I am nothing").

That being written, one could broaden the question as follows: could Jehovah God, the Heavenly Father, and his Son Jesus Christ, consider non-Christian humans as being able to be part of God’s people, part of the great crowd who will survive the great tribulation? Concerning sins committed unintentionally, or blindly way, here is what Christ said: “Jesus said to them: “If you were blind, you would have no sin. But now you say, ‘We see.’ Your sin remains”” (John 9:41). Based on this statement by Christ, but also on other Bible prophecies connected to the great tribulation, it seems that one could answer this question in the affirmative (the conditional is used knowing that the last judgment will belong to the King Jesus Christ), and the rest of the reasoning, below, will demonstrate this on a Biblical level.

To examine this question, it is helpful to consider Christ’s teachings regarding the last judgment just before the great tribulation (Matthew 7:21-23; 13:24-30, 36-43; Matthew 24:36-50 and chapter 25). Then, we must put this understanding into perspective with the prophecies found in the Old Testament. In making this comparison, we realize that Jesus Christ focused his information particularly on the Christian congregation. For example, in Matthew chapter 25 (also 7:21-23), particularly verses 31-46, we get the impression that all of humanity who will be judged seems to know Jesus Christ. However, this is not the case for all humans in the world. This means that Jesus Christ focused his reasoning, concerning the judgment before the great tribulation, primarily on the Christian congregation. Furthermore, the disciple James wrote that the judgment of God and Christ would be balanced and adapted according to the function of Christians in the congregation: “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, knowing that we will receive heavier judgment” (James 3:1). This adaptation of divine judgment could just as well apply to the non-Christian part of humanity who are in full ignorance of who is God and who is Jesus Christ.

In the Old Testament, based on the teaching of the Heavenly Father, Jehovah God, on this issue of the last judgment, before the great tribulation, we can know what will happen concerning the people of humanity who are not Christians, or who have not had the opportunity to know the Heavenly Father and his Son Jesus Christ. For this, we will see two prophecies related to the great tribulation and after this period, namely the prophecy of Ezekiel and the prophecy of Zechariah. The observation will be rejoicing, namely that we will see that Jehovah God and his Son Jesus Christ, are much more merciful than what many members of Christian religions think on this subject of the last judgment before the great tribulation (Ezekiel chapters 9, 40-48 and Zechariah chapter 13 ; for the rest of the explanation, please click on the link below and read from the subtitle "Great Crowd":  People of God ).