Harry Shepherd Prophecy 13

The thirteenth installment of my grandfather Shepherd's prophecy book, copied here without comment.
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The Fourth Promise, The Antichrist 
The False Prophet And Armageddon
Because the antichrist will, near the middle of the Tribulation, after his breaking of his covenant with many Israeli, launch and carry to and through Armaggedon the most terrible persecution which they have ever experienced, he must incur the penal consequences of God's Fourth Promise to Abraham. Eventually he will silence every preacher except the angel of Revelation 14:6 who will preach the Everlasting Gospel from the heavenly spaces to all peoples. He will add to his other murders the despiteful slaying of the two heavenly-returned witnesses of Revelation 11:3-13—Elijah and Moses or Enoch. He and the False Prophet will increase his guilt further by their compulsory, ruinous, totalitarian, collectivistic economic policy (buying and selling) and by their meting out death and starvation probably to those who refuse to cooperate (Revelation 13:16, 17). In addition they will put over a repulsive idolatrous worship of the antichrist and also of his image, with pain of death for refusal to comply. Jews, of course, will rebel and be slaughtered by the thousands probably. During the three and a half years ministry of the two witnesses mentioned above, in all probability the 144, 000 Israelites of Revelation 7:3-8 will be saved and sanctified holy. These fire-baptized evangels will go out into all the world and be used of God to turn to Him the great host of Gentiles which no man could number (Revelation 7:9-17). As the two witnesses' ministry is 1260 days or three and half years, and as the antichrist slays them at the end of the second woe or Sixth Trumpet Judgment toward the end of the Great Tribulation, then their work would have to begin before the middle of the Tribulation. Hence the campaign of the 144,000 Israelites would be in the last half of it (Revelation 11:1-14). Therefore the antichrist will not stop all preaching till near the end of the Time of Jacob's Trouble toward Armaggedon. From Matthew 24:14 we can infer part, at least, of what they will preach. From Psalm two we can see the effect of their ministry. I think they will preach the gospel of the kingdom, (Matthew 24:14) saying as John the Baptist and Jesus did, "Repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." They will probably remind the nations that their Messiah has come and taken back to heaven with Him all the redeemed ones who were ready, dead or alive, at this time of the rapture and resurrection. They will also declare that He will in a short time come again to earth, set up His earth-wide kingdom upon the restored throne of His father David in Jerusalem, His capital city, and that the law of the Lord for the world will go out from the capital (Isaiah 2:3) and that all sin will be put down. According to Psalm two this message will cause a furor of anti-Semitic hatred. The antichrist will call his ten confederate dictators to a Conference, possibly inviting others also. According to Psalm 2:1, marginal reading, they will tumultuously assemble. Their satanic-inspired decision will be to blot out the Israelitish race and block the setting up of a Messianic kingdom (Ps. 2:2 and 3). Satan will take a personal part by sending out a demon from himself and by helping the antichrist and false prophet send out of their mouths a demon apiece (Revelation 16:13-16). These three demons will be a satanic recruiting officers to enlist and gather the kings of the inhabited earth with their multitude of troops to Armageddon to the great day of God Almighty. Thus with the help of the devil will the antichrist assemble his vast host for the great and bloody battle of Armageddon—far, far more bloody than bloody Antietam in 1862.

The Battle of Armageddon
Armageddon is located in southwestern Galilee either in or near the plain of Esdraelon, an Old Testament battle ground, in the vicinity of Mount Carmel. Here will be the northern end of the Armageddon battle line of the combined forces of the nations. Isaiah 63:1-4, especially verse 1, gives us where the southern end will be, namely at Bozrah in Edom, south of the Dead Sea. Between these two points will the antichrist station these united troops, for 1600 furlongs or 200 miles (Revelation 14:20). He, as generalissmo, will place his headquarters "in the glorious holy mountain" (Daniel 11:45) possibly the Mount of Olives on the east of Jerusalem, or Mt. Zion in the city. From the following Bible passages we may infer some of the likely details of this terrible battle: Zechariah 14:14, chapter 14:1-16, chapter 12:2-9, 13:8 and 9, Joel 2:32 and 3:2, 9-17, Jeremiah 24:29-38, Revelation 11:1-2, 14:18-20, 16:16-21, and 19:11-21. According to the first reference Judah will fight at Jerusalem in this battle. The present population (1960) of the new State is about two million. (1,837,000 Jews and 225,000 non-Jews, total 2,062,000).

If the two million Jews in Russia and if some of the five million in the United States should immigrate into the new Jewish nation before Armageddon this influx might increase the present population. This we cannot tell for this battle is as the very end of this Time of Jacob's Trouble and as the bloody persecution (Zechariah 13:8 and 9) and scattering (Daniel 12:7) of the Israeli by the antichrist will have been under way for almost three and a half years the total population then might be even less than now. At least according to Zechariah 13:8 and 9 two-thirds of the people will be killed before and including the battle casualties. Since Haifa bay is the finest sea port on the eastern Mediterranean it is likely that the antichrist will land many or all of his armies from the West at this place. In such a case he would send them south past Jerusalem through the valley of Jehoshaphat, (Joel 3:2 and 12) east of the city, and on to Bozrah in Edom—a 200-mile battle line. Whatever may then be left of the present, very efficient Israeli army may contest this southward march, at least fight at Jerusalem as mentioned before (Zechariah 14:14). In some of the struggle it seems that these Jewish troops, supernaturally helped, will give an unusual account of themselves and inflict heavy casualties on their foes (Zechariah 12:6-8). The subnormal among them will be equal in fighting abilities to Israel's greatest king, David in his palmiest days. The house of David among them will be in this battle as the angel of the Lord.