Title: 13
Author: JOEG
Last saved by: Paul Davey
Company: Auth Co

© 2003 Joe Griffin		03-04-15.CC02-117 /

MOAB #6: The Armageddon Campaign: Early Troop Movements; Lucifer’s Conspiracy Communicated by Antichrist & False Prophet, Rev 16:13a
		32.	The principle that Jesus Christ controls history remains true in the Tribulation as it does in every other dispensation.  After receiving negative response from the five MOABs of pain, the Lord orders the sixth pursuivant to dry up the Euphrates.
		33.	The removal of this geologic barrier allows the allied armies of the East, e.g. Japan, Korea, China, et al., to join the fray about to be engaged at Jezreel.  The introduction of this army will complicate the efforts of the king of the West.
		34.	The armies of the king of the North have been crippled during its campaign in Egypt because the armies of the king of the West severed his logistical supply line that ran through Israel.  This assured eventual victory for the Antichrist’s forces after which he would turn his attention toward the Jews.
		35.	The Lord facilitates the Asian advance by drying up the Euphrates.  It and the Tigris rivers merge near present-day Basrah.  Unimpeded the pan-Asian armies streak across southern Iraq, northwestern Saudi Arabia, and central Jordan.  They enter into Israel to the east of Jerusalem and set up a command post near the Mount of Olives.
		36.	The king of the North on his return from Egypt eliminated the pan-Arabic army and has set up his headquarters West of Jerusalem.  The ensuing battle is called the Battle of Armageddon.
		37.	The drying up of the Euphrates River thus sets up a confrontation among four major armies that include most of the nations of the Eastern Hemisphere.  The resultant battles make up the Armageddon Campaign.
		38.	Battles often have more than one name.  In the War between the States the Yankees and Confederates met on two occasions near a small stream in Northern Virginia.  The Yankees under brevet Major General Irvin McDowell had their headquarters north of this stream, called Bull Run, in Fairfax County.  The Confederates under Generals Joseph E. Johnson and Pierre Beauregard had their headquarters on the south side of the stream in Prince William County near a community called Manassas Junction.  The North calls both of these engagements the 1st and 2d Battle of Bull Run while the South calls them the 1st and 2d Battle of Manassas.
		39.	In the revelation of the sixth MOAB to John the vision reveals to him the accumulation of these armies in the Valley of Esdraelon near a mountain called Megiddo where the king of the West has established his headquarters.
		40.	Consequently the entire campaign about to transpire is named after the only location mentioned in chapter 16:
`Armagedèn, harmagedōn -	“Armageddon” or the    Mountain of Megiddo.

		41.	The accumulation of these armies for battle is brought about by several factors:
(1)	The sixth MOAB releases the two-million man army of the pan-Asiatic bloc into the theatre. (16:12)
(2)	Demonic influence inspires the king of the West to advance on Israel for the last World War.
(3)	The Plain of Esdraelon is a geologic formation that has hosted armies for battle throughout history and will do so one last time at the close of the Tribulation.

(4)	The Antichrist plans to rule the world and the ruler of Israel will become a useful idiot in his nefarious scheme.  By entering into a contract with the False Prophet he establishes positive foreign relations with Israel.  At a time of Lucifer’s choosing he will break the contract and try to seize the land bridge that connects the European, Asian, and African continents.
(5)	The king of the North who rules what is present-day Russia, like all his predecessors, has a desire for warm-water ports.  Russia always has had its eye on the Middle East and ports on the Persian Gulf or Mediterranean.
(6)	Two events occur simultaneously that begin a sequence of military movements that bring about the final world war.  The king of the South—the pan-Arabic army—decides to invade Palestine for the umpteenth time.  This occurs at the same time the king of the North decided to make his move on Africa:
Daniel 11:40 -	And at the end time the king of the South will collide with him [ the False Prophet ], and the king of the North will storm against him with chariots [ mechanized armor ], with horsemen [ mobilized troops ], and with many ships [ navy ]; and he [ the king of the North ] will enter countries, overflow them, and pass through.
(7)	This sets up his logistics at sea and on land.  The land supply line runs through Palestine which is protected by a certain number of troops left behind for that purpose.  The sea supply line to Africa is taken care of by the navy.
(8)	The king of the North’s strategy is to complete an African campaign that will secure the continent’s northern ports on the Mediterranean Sea and its western ports on the Red Sea and Indian Ocean. 
(9)	The “kings of the East” have never shown much interest in the Middle East but they perceive a major shift in the balance of power between them and Russia if they do not engage.  This draws them into the fray and the Lord’s sixth MOAB facilitates their advance across the dry river bed of the Euphrates.

(10)	And then, there are the Arabs.  These Islamic kingdoms find their latest attempt to secure Jerusalem has put them squarely between two major armies.  The armies of the king of the North rout the Arabs to the south of Jerusalem.
42.	The sixth MOAB is designed to assemble these nations for the last world war.  Lucifer is permitted to initiate his plan for world conquest:
Revelation 16:13 -	Then I [ John ] saw coming out of the mouth [ stÒma, stoma ] of the dragon [ dr£kwn, drakōn: title of Satan ] and out of the mouth of the beast [ qhr…on, thērion: beast dictator of the Revived Roman Empire ] and out of the mouth of the false prophet [ yeudoprof»thj, pseudoprophētēs: Jewish dictator ] three unclean spirits [ ¢k£qartoj pneàma, akathartos pneuma ], like frogs [ b£tracoj, batrachos ].
43.	This verse is not as abstruse as it looks.  What John now sees in the vision is the implementation of Lucifer’s conspiracy.  We find the phrase “out of the mouth” assigned to the Dragon, the Beast, and the False Prophet.  The word for “mouth” is the ablative of source from the noun:
stÒma, stoma -	“mouth”
This word is the equivalent of the Hebrew word hP# peh which is used to translate stoma in the Septuagint, the third-century b.c. Greek translation of the Old Testament.  Stoma refers to statements of authority that proceed from sources of authority.  God issues his mandates “according to the mouth of the Lord.”  The mouths of the individuals mentioned in this verse belong to the satanic trinity.  What is coming out of the mouth of these three are commands that will carry out the details of the conspiracy.
Etymology of the word helps us arrive at our translation of “conspiracy”:
Botterweck, G. Johannes, Helmer Ringgren, and Heinz-Josef Fabry (eds.).  Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament.  Translated by David E. Green.  (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2001), 11:492-93; 500-502:
hP# peh.  In The Story of Ahiqar [Mesopotamian folktale about a moral man who was one of the chief counselors of Sennacherib, king of Assyria. (EB, 1:151)], 7:97-98, we find the admonition to “guard one’s mouth,” because it can be the cause of trouble.  The continuation points out that one can use one’s mouth for the benefit of others, “because the ambush of the mouth is worse than the ambush of war.”  (p. 492)
Language is an expression of thought, which emanate from within the individual.  The actual organs of speech are the lips and tongue, but the biblical text often transfers this function to the mouth (peh).
By metonymy [\me-tan' e-mē\: a figure of speech that replaces the name of one thing with the name of something else closely associated with it, e.g., the press for journalism.], peh as an organ of communication can refer to what issues from the mouth (speech, words, commands, etc.), whether the person is speaking directly or transmitting a message.  (p. 493)
The human mouth is not neutral; on the contrary, it is a mighty weapon.  Its speech entails serious consequences, good or evil.  The words of the wicked can even be deadly snares.  Careful attention to one’s speech is therefore a matter of life and death: the fruits of the mouth are either beneficent or deadly.  It is therefore easy to understand the psalmist who uses the language of wisdom to emphasize the dangers that emanate from a wicked mouth and a lying tongue and, faced with such peril, prays for God’s speedy intervention and deliverance (Psalm 109:2; 144:8, 11).  (pp. 500-501)
Various idioms with peh have their own special translations.  In most cases such variants convey a more precise meaning.  This is always true of terms signifying communication, since in these passages peh does not denote the mouth in the strict sense but rather speech, commandments, or the voice—that which issues from the mouth.  (p. 502)
		44.	Here’s the analysis: Since the Hebrew word for mouth, peh, is translated in the Septuagint by the Greek word stoma, we can learn the intent of the translators by researching the etymology of peh.  Here we find that the “mouth” is often used as a metonymy for “communication” which can be good or evil.
Obviously the context of Revelation 16:13 indicates this is evil communication agreed upon by the three members of the satanic trinity.  The three are identified as:
dr£kwn, drakōn -	The Dragon: Lucifer
qhr…on, thērion -	The Beast: the Satan-indwelt Antichrist
				yeudoprof»thj, pseudoprophētēs -	False Prophet
They are in complete agreement.  But we are about to learn that the Antichrist and the False Prophet do not speak for themselves but the conspiracy is devised solely by Lucifer.
Revelation 16:13 - And I saw Lucifer, the Antichrist and the False Prophet issue conspiratorial commands …
		45.	These commands are carried out by appointed demons who are called:
				¢k£qartoj, akathartos -	“spiritual uncleanliness”
These are demons who are assigned duties in Lucifer’s strategy to attract four major armies toward Jerusalem in order to eliminate the Jew from history and to establish the Antichrist’s Jew-free world government.
By fomenting this conflagration in Palestine, Lucifer not only hopes to consolidate his world power but also to prevent the Second Advent of Jesus Christ.
It must always be remembered that the Antichrist is a human who suffers from megalomania, and although he has visions of an autogenous global domain, he is nothing more than a puppet for Lucifer’s nefarious ends.  The same can be said of the False Prophet.  Both men are manipulated by Lucifer.  
The Antichrist is Satan-possessed.  The False Prophet is demon-possessed.  It is Lucifer and his appointed demon who issue these conspiratorial commands.  The Antichrist and the False Prophet are only the conduits for the message.  Thus the commands come out from their mouths.

Grace Doctrine Church Media Ministries:	     www.gracedoctrinechurch.com          www.joegriffin.org          www.gdcmedia.org