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"THE PRINCE OF THE COVENANT"--Part 1 DFO799-1 19 May 1979
--A Discussion of Daniel's Prophecies & Sam's Class No.349:52-54, corrected by Dad.
1. (SUE: SO IT'S THE PRINCE OF THE COVENANT WHO GETS BROKEN BY THE ANTICHRIST?) No, no, no!--The Prince of the Covenant is the Antichrist! (Maria: But that's in the Daniel 11 Class in the MO Book!) (Sue: Yes, Volume 3--the "Blue Book"--page 3239, Letter 349:52-54! Look what's said here!--It's quoting the Scripture! Isn't that what it says?) Well, Sam did a great job on this but,
2. THAT'S THE TROUBLE WITH LETTING SOMEBODY ELSE WRITE THESE PROPHECY CLASSES FOR ME! Sam put in several things that were his own theories. (Maria: But see, that's the official prophecy class now for those chapters! That's what the whole Family studies.--And that's why we've had so many questions after the "Son of Sam" Letter. They didn't understand it. They said, "Look, it says something completely different!")
3. DID WE MAKE IT CLEAR THAT SAM WAS THE AUTHOR OF THESE, HUM? (Maria: Well, it was in the MO Book, & if it is in the MO Book it doesn't matter who the author is, they are authorized by you & they are our official class & our official stand!) Well, they'd better quote chapter & verse from my Letters before they start saying something like that! How did Sam get so screwed up? (Maria: This has got the whole thing screwed up!) Well, everybody makes mistakes.
4. SAM WAS WRITING THIS STUFF RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF OUR BIG FF REVOLUTION in Tenerife, & he was just pouring these things out, chapter after chapter after chapter, & I was trying to get'm read & figured out, but Bible prophecy is so complicated anyhow. How I ever missed that, I don't know!
5. (MARIA: IS THE REST OF IT PRETTY GOOD?--Or is it all based on that one point & all screwed up?) No, no!--The rest is OK. It's just that one point. But leave it to somebody to pick out one little infinitesimal thing like that & make such an issue out of it! That's the trouble with these novices getting into Bible prophecy when they know so little about it, & yet trying to establish identities & all. (Maria: But that point is pretty important, right?--Whether it's the Antichrist or not.) Yes.
6. I AM AMAZED AT THIS PASSAGE, BECAUSE I HAVE ALWAYS TAUGHT THAT THE PRINCE OF THE COVENANT IS THE ANTICHRIST! The Covenant is spoken of many times, a 7-year Covenant in Daniel 9:27 & many other passages. It's like a promise of religious freedom or religious worship, including the Jews to be able to re-establish the Temple & sacrificial worship in Jerusalem etc.
7. THE COVENANT IS MADE BY THE ANTICHRIST himself. Therefore he is called "The Prince of the Covenant." He's the one who makes this Covenant to allow religious worship & freedom in Jerusalem. This has been the general interpretation. That's my interpretation & that of most Bible prophecy students & teachers, even Scofield's Bible.
8. THE ANTICHRIST, OBVIOUSLY FROM THE 9TH CHAPTER OF DANIEL & MANY OTHERS, MAKES THE COVENANT &/OR CONFIRMS IT, & IS THEREFORE CALLED "THE PRINCE OF THE COVENANT." Then he breaks it in the middle of the seven years at the end of 3 1/2 years. And it's generally assumed or interpreted that since he is the one who has made the Covenant that is why he has the power to break it.
9. IN FACT, JERUSALEM IS RIGHT NOW THE BIG ISSUE, Sadat & the Arabs are making an issue of Jerusalem, trying to make that a great big issue to over cloud the Palestinian situation & everything else. He wants the Arabs--he knows that's one thing he can get them all together on--to make a big issue out of Jerusalem, to take it away from the Jews. But the Jews & Begin have sworn they will never, ever let it go, that it is their capital forever!
10. THIS IS AN ABSOLUTELY INSOLVABLE PROBLEM, because the Arabs say they will never let the Jews keep it, & the Jews say they will never let it go. So if there was ever any place where some kind of Mastermind's compromise agreement was needed, it's over Jerusalem! That point is even worse than the Palestinian question, because both sides are absolutely adamant about it! Both sides have been willing to talk about making certain adjustments regarding the Palestinians.
11. BUT BOTH SIDES HAVE COME OUT ABSOLUTELY FLAT THAT THERE WILL BE ABSOLUTELY NO COMPROMISE ABOUT JERUSALEM, that they will not let go of Jerusalem! Well, of course, the Jews have got it already. They say they will never let it go, & the Arabs say they will never let them keep it. So some kind of a compromise has to be wrought to solve that very, very difficult problem.
12. BUT IT'S CONCEDED BY NEARLY ALL INTERPRETERS OF BIBLE PROPHECY THAT THIS MASTERMIND, THIS SUPERMAN, THE ANTICHRIST, IS THE GUY WHO'S GOING TO SOLVE IT--by making some kind of an agreement between the Arabs & the Jews, probably by making it an international city under the U.N., is what I've often theorized, & the U.N. has even suggested it! Lots of modern politicians have suggested this:
13. "WHY DON'T WE DECLARE IT AN OPEN CITY, AN INTERNATIONAL CITY? THE SACRED CITY, THE HOLY CITY, CAPITAL OF THE WORLD'S 3 GREATEST RELIGIONS--JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY & ISLAM!" Why not declare it an international city in no one country or people's hands, but under the U.N. or the World Government. When the Antichrist takes over as the World Dictator of a One-World Government, he will have the power to do that, to declare Jerusalem an international city that belongs to the world--not just to the Jews, not just to the Arabs, not only to the Christians, but to all--the whole world!
14. THAT'S OBVIOUSLY THE ONLY POSSIBLE SOLUTION:--It'll be a compromise, a Covenant telling the whole world & the world's 3 greatest religions it belongs to all of us! It belongs to all of you! It belongs to us, the world!--How could any one religion claim it & say they've got absolute authority over it?--And that's the obvious, logical, sensible, reasonable way to solve the problem!
15. THE WORLD GOVERNMENT TAKES IT OVER & MAKES IT AN INTERNATIONAL CITY. In fact, according to the Bible, the World Dictator of the World Government--the Antichrist--then makes that city his capital too! His political capital of his World Government will be Jerusalem, the Capital of the whole World! And for awhile, to get the sympathy of the people & the world & the cooperation of the world's great religions, he allows them all religious freedom, not only all over the whole world, but within Jerusalem itself! (Dan.11:45.)
16. THIS THEN FINALLY GIVES THE JEWS THEIR GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY TO REBUILD THEIR TEMPLE & RESTORE ITS SACRIFICIAL WORSHIP! They work out some kind of a compromise with the other religions, & this is the only way it could ever be done, because the Arabs would never allow it otherwise. It has to be done by a fourth party, a World political Government, to make a compromise which is generally accepted as the Covenant spoken of in the Bible prophecies of Daniel time & time again.
17. --JERUSALEM IS ESTABLISHED AS AN INTERNATIONAL CITY BELONGING TO THE WHOLE WORLD & not just the world's 3 major religions. It is even also made the political capital of the Antichrist World Dictator & his World Dictatorship. He gets all the world's religions to cooperate at first by giving them all religious freedom in Jerusalem to practice all their religions.
18. THIS WOULD INCLUDE THE RE-ESTABLISHMENT BY THE JEWS OF SOME KIND OF A TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM!--For which they already have plans & materials!--It would be just opposite the Muslim Mosque of Omar, or Dome of the Rock, which now stands over the rock on which the temple altar once stood. Now that creates a problem, because if the Jews want to restore the temple & restore sacrificial worship, they'd want that rock back for their traditional altar! Begin is just enough of a fanatical Orthodox Jew to want that sort of thing, & according to the Scriptures it looks like that is what they are going to do,
19. BECAUSE IT SAYS THE ANTICHRIST STOPS THE SACRIFICES EVENTUALLY. (Dan.8:11; 9:27 & 11:31, etc.) Well then, he can't stop it unless somebody's started it! It's going to take some ticklish working to figure out some way for the Jews to rebuild the Temple & re-institute sacrificial worship on their altar with the Mosque of Omar standing right over it! The Arab Islamic Mosque of Omar or Dome of the Rock as it's called, the holiest of all the Muslim Holy places outside of Mecca, is now standing right over what was once the Jewish Temple sacrificial altar, where they sacrificed their sacrifices. So what they are going to do about that we don't know yet.
20. BUT WE DO KNOW THAT FINALLY THE ANTICHRIST IS GOING TO STOP IT!--Maybe it's just to settle their quarrels & fights over this very thing, maybe!--Who knows?--He is going to put an end to the Covenant right in the middle of it! Stop it! Break it! Stop all sacrificial worship! I wouldn't be surprised if the Covenant will be a compromise to stop all this bickering & arguing & fighting between the religions!
21. HE THEN LATER SETS HIMSELF UP AS GOD & his image in this Holy Place, & says, "Well now, everybody worship me & my image! Forget all these other religions, & we'll just have one big One-World Religion of the One-World Government of the One-World Dictator & I will be your god!" This is what Toynbee & a number of other very famous historians have always said:
22. THEY WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO GET THE WHOLE WORLD TOGETHER UNDER ONE GOVERNMENT UNLESS IT HAS ONE RELIGION--because most of the world's wars have been fought between the world's major religions, & they are the ones who are bringing all the wars! They talk about the cults causing trouble! My God, the major religions of the world have slaughtered more millions & caused more wars than anybody! [DELETED]
23. SO THE ANTICHRIST, AS A SMART POLITICIAN, realises that in order to stop all this bickering & arguing & in-fighting amongst the world's 3 great religions within his One-World Government, he's finally got to abolish all religions, & insist that there must just be one religion--his religion--the worship of him & his image!
24. THAT'S WHEN HE, THE PRINCE OF THE COVENANT, THE ANTICHRIST, STOPS THE SACRIFICES & BREAKS THE COVENANT THAT HE HAS MADE! He made the Covenant for 7 years, promising them all this religious freedom. Then he breaks it & says, "We're going to put a stop to all this religious fighting now, & we're going to just worship me!--And we're just going to have One-World Religion as well as One-World Government & a One-World Dictator!--ME! -- And that's the end of it!--Well, almost the End!
25. --AS THE PRINCE OF THE COVENANT, THE ANTICHRIST IS THE ONE WHO MAKES THE COVENANT, & therefore he has the authority to break it. He makes the promise, but he also breaks the promise. He's the one who gives these nations & religions their freedom & authority to practise & worship in Jerusalem & set up their official Temples there, & tries to bring about a compromise between them.
26. OBVIOUSLY, THE COVENANT DOESN'T WORK! He tries, but probably there's still so much fighting between them, that he cannot get the world really united as long as these religions are still fighting each other. So his idea, of course, with the seeming sensible reasoning of man & the Devil, is to abolish all other religions, & unite the world in one religion, the worship of himself, the Antichrist, which means the worship of the Devil, for he is the Devil in the flesh!--As the great English historian Toynbee said: "To unite the world, you'd have to unite its religions!"
27. SO FINALLY THE DEVIL HAS GOT WHAT HE ALWAYS WANTED!: THE WORSHIP OF THE WHOLE WORLD WITH HIM AS ITS GOD!--"THE GOD OF THIS WORLD" (2Co.4:4.) Then comes the attempted abolition of the worship of the one true God & of Jesus Christ His Son & all other religions! That has been the usual interpretation of who made the Covenant & who broke the Covenant, this Prince spoken of in Daniel 9:27. It says:
28. "AND HE SHALL CONFIRM THE COVENANT WITH MANY FOR ONE WEEK." (7 years.) First of all it says in Daniel 9:26 that "the people of the Prince that shall come shall destroy the city & the Sanctuary (Jerusalem & the Temple), & the end thereof shall be with a flood, & unto the end of the war desolations are determined."
29. THE LITERAL FULFILLMENT OF THIS PARTICULAR PROPHECY is usually considered the desolation of Jerusalem under the Romans in 70 A.D., because it was "after Messiah was cut off" (Dan.9:26), after Jesus was crucified, that the city was destroyed & made desolate.
30. BUT MAYBE IT ALSO APPLIES TO THE FUTURE DESTRUCTION UNDER THE ANTICHRIST, because obviously he too is going to invade & take over Jerusalem, probably in the Oil War, the Reds preventing the West from grabbing the Mideast oil! (Maria: Maybe it applies to both, right?) Yes, it could apply to both--one a foreshadowing & the other a final fulfillment.--Many Bible prophecies are like that. Anyhow, it says in vs. 27--& this obviously can refer only to the Antichrist because it has to do with the Covenant: (Dan.9:27.)
31. "AND HE (ANTICHRIST) SHALL CONFIRM THE COVENANT WITH MANY FOR ONE WEEK"--OR SEVEN YEARS. This Prince that shall come shall confirm the Covenant. This is why he is called the Prince of the Covenant, the Antichrist, as it is he who confirms the Covenant. He makes a seven-year Covenant for the reinstitution of sacrificial worship & freedom of religion in Jerusalem, or an ingenious compromise between the Jews & Arabs!
32. BUT THEN HE BREAKS IT!: "In the midst of the week" or the seven years, or therefore at the end of 3 1/2 years, "he shall cause the sacrifice & the oblation to cease." Now there is reference after reference about this event: Dan.7:25; 8:9-14; 9:27; 11:31; 12:7-11; Mt.24:15 & 21; Lk.21:20-24; Rev.11:2 & 3; 19:5-12 & many others.--Read'm!
33. "HE SHALL CAUSE THE SACRIFICE & OBLATION TO CEASE (BREAK THE COVENANT), & for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate (the abomination of desolation), even unto the consummation (the End), & that determined shall be poured upon the desolate"--judgment on the Jews! [DELETED]
34. NOW WE COME TO THIS VERY MYSTERIOUS CHAPTER, DANIEL 11! Sam is trying to explain it here very well. But if you get bogged down in too many details & too many specifics, you are bound to make some mistakes, because Bible prophecy is a little too mysterious & you can't be too dogmatic. However, this interpretation of Bible prophecy based on these Scriptures, is probably the most agreed upon interpretation in the Catholic, Protestant, fundamentalist, evangelical, Pentecostal, saved world of the Christians of all ages, & it pretty much follows the Moody-Scofield Bible interpretation too.
35. THERE IS ONLY ONE PLACE WE REALLY DEPART FROM THE SCOFIELD BIBLE, the most popular prophetic edition of most evangelicals. We pretty much agree with the rest of the evangelical, fundamentalist world on interpretation of Bible prophecy according to the Scofield Bible & its interpretation. But where we don't agree is a very big disagreement, his pushing the pre-Trib Rapture & the Jews being God's final Israel--that's where we part company. (See Letters 8, 45, 46, 66, 86, etc.)
36. BUT ON ALMOST ALL THE REST OF THIS, nearly all of the Christian, Catholic, Protestant, evangelical, fundamentalist, Pentecostal, Baptist & religious world, most of the more spiritual Christians & the ones who believe in real salvation, being born again etc., that's their general usual interpretation of these Bible prophecies.
37. ALONG COMES THE ANTICHRIST. He solves the world's problems, settles the fights & the arguments & even attempts to settle the most delicate & difficult one, this religious question, by a compromise between the world's major religions, especially the fight between Arabs & Jews over their Holy City, Jerusalem.
38. SO HE MAKES THIS COVENANT, some kind of an agreement or compromise between the Arabs & Jews over Jerusalem. I am inclined to agree with the people who believe it is going to be an international settlement under the U.N. to make Jerusalem an open city, a U.N. internationalised city, like the World's Religious Capital, under U.N. administration, which would be the cleverest thing he could possibly do, & the only way he could ever possibly settle it.
39. BUT EVEN THAT DOESN'T STOP THOSE [DELETED] JEWS & THEIR COMPLAINTS--along with the Arabs, Christians & everybody else, they are still fighting! So after 3-1/2 years of the Covenant he finally gets fed-up, & you can't much blame him! It looks like the reasonable, sensible, logical solution:
40. "WE'RE NEVER GOING TO HAVE WORLD PEACE AS LONG AS THESE RELIGIONS KEEP FIGHTING EACH OTHER!" So he just decides to obliterate & abolish all religions & set up a One-World Religion worshipping him! After all, what better god can he think of but himself--the Devil--because he is the Devil incarnate! So, all of these other passages then refer to him & this Covenant that he makes, this internationalisation of Jerusalem, a compromise settlement between the world's major religions to bring about religious peace & freedom of worship of all 3 religions in the city of Jerusalem.
41. APPARENTLY THE JEWS FINALLY SEE THAT'S THE BEST THEY ARE GOING TO GET, so either they have already rebuilt the Temple by that time, or they decide to build it then, who knows? We don't know. Although according to some Bible timetables, it sounds like they may have already started to rebuild it before the Covenant, like Daniel 8:13-14 & 12:7-12, & it is in existence some years before the End.
42. ALL THROUGH DANIEL IT SPEAKS ABOUT THE PRINCE OF THE COVENANT, the Antichrist, who then turns around & breaks it in the middle at the end of only 3 1/2 years. He is talked about in Mt. 24:15 by Jesus, & in Rev.11 & 13 by John. He finally turns against the Jews & the daily Temple sacrifices of the Jews, & stops it, & sets up the "transgression of desolation," his own image (Rev.13:14-15--a talking Mastermind Demonic Computer?) the "abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet" quoted by Jesus in Mt.24:15-21:
43. "WHEN YE THEREFORE SHALL SEE THE ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION (the image) spoken of by Daniel the Prophet stand in the Holy Place ... then shall be (the) Great Tribulation!" What worse kind of an abomination could stand in the Holy Place of the world's 3 greatest religions than obviously the Image of the Beast, the Image of the Antichrist? He finally sets up his own image in the Holy Place, a talking, seemingly-living idol! (See coming Letter, "Image of the Beast!")
44. HE IS FED UP WITH ALL THESE DAMN JEWS & CHRISTIANS & ARABS & ALL RELIGIONS & ALL THEIR FIGHTING & WARRING! The Antichrist gets sick of their damn bickering & fighting & wars with each other!--And most of the unbelieving, atheistic, anti-Christ, evolutionary communist world couldn't give a damn about any of the religions anyhow, so they will agree with him that the best way to stop all this, including these annoying little sects & cults like us, is just to abolish all religions, stop them all, & start a new One-World Religion that will unite everybody & stop all this fighting & all these wars!
45. SO AFTER TRYING WITH THE 7-YEAR COVENANT to get the religions to compromise & work & worship together & leave Jerusalem an open internationalised city with freedom of worship for all, which doesn't work, this Prince of the Covenant apparently gets fed up & stops the whole works, breaks the Covenant, stops the worship, & places the Image of himself, the Beast, right in the Holy Place, at the Temple, & says:
46. "ALL RIGHT, FROM NOW ON, WE'RE JUST GOING TO HAVE ONE RELIGION, & THAT'S WORSHIP ME & MY IMAGE!"
(See
Part 2
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more
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!--Are you
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Copyright (c) 1997 by The Family
