In the Gospel of Matthew

“Jesus said to them, ‘Take care that no one deceives you, because many will come using My Name and saying, “I am the Christ,” and they will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumours of wars; do not be alarmed for this is something that must happen, but the end will not be yet. For nation will fight against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be pestilences and famines and earthquakes here and there. And this is only the beginning of the birthpangs. Then they will hand you over to be tortured and put to death; and you will be hated by all nations on account of My Name. And then many will fall away; people will betray one another and hate one another. Many prophets will arise; they will deceive many, and with the increase of iniquity and lawlessness, love and charity in most people will grow cold; but anyone who stands firm to the end will be saved. Throughout all this, the good news of the Kingdom will be proclaimed to the whole world as a witness to all the nations. Then the consummation shall come.”

“So when you see the disastrous abomination of desolation which was spoken of by the prophet Daniel, set up in the Holy Place (let the reader understand), then those in Judaea must escape to the mountains; if a man is on the housetop, he must not come down to collect his belongings. If a man is in the fields, he must not turn back to fetch his cloak. Alas for those with child or with babies at the breast when those days come! Pray that you will not have to escape in winter or on the sabbath. For then there shall be great tribulation such as has never been seen from the beginning of the world, nor ever will be again. And if that time had not been shortened, no one would survive it; but shortened that time shall be, for the sake of those who are chosen.”

“If then anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ,’ or, ‘He is there,’ do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will arise who will produce great signs and wonders, enough to deceive even the chosen, if that were possible. Behold, I have forewarned you. If, then, they say to you, ‘Behold, He is in the desert,’ do not go out there; ‘Behold, He is in some hiding place,’ do not believe it. Because the coming of the Son of man will be like lightning striking in the east and flashing far into the west. Wherever the corpse is, there will the vultures gather. And immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened and the moon will not give its light, the stars shall fall from the sky and the powers of Heaven will be shaken. And then the sign of the Son of man will appear in Heaven; then too all the peoples of the earth will mourn and beat their breasts; and they shall see the Son of man coming on the clouds of Heaven with much power and great majesty. And He shall send His angels with a loud trumpet and a great voice to gather His chosen from the four winds, from the farthest parts of the heavens to the utmost bounds of them” (Mt 24:4-31).

In the Psalms

“God, have you finally rejected us, raging at the flock You used to pasture? Remember the people You long since made Your own, Your hereditary tribe whom You redeemed, and this Mount Zion where You rested Your Presence. Lift Your footsteps to wreak eternal ruin, to avenge everything that the enemy has harmed in the Sanctuary. Your enemies have roared where Your Assemblies used to take place; they made their signs for signs. They fixed the enemy emblems over the entrance, emblems we had never seen before. Their axes deep in the wood, hacking at the panels, they battered them down with mallet and hatchet. They have sent Your Sanctuary up in flames, they profanely razed the House of Your Name to the ground. Determined to destroy us once and for all, they said – their rulers all together – ’Let us crush them at one stroke!’ They burned down every shrine of God on earth. Deprived of signs, with no prophet left, who can say how long this will last? Until when, O God, will the tormentor revile, will the foe blaspheme Your Name forever? Why hold back Your hand, why keep Your right hand hidden? Remove it from within Your bosom!” (Ps 74:1-11).

In the Gospel of Luke

“Nation will fight against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes and plagues and famines in various places; there will be terrifying events and great signs from heaven. But before all these things happen, you will be seized and persecuted; you will be handed over to the synagogues and to imprisonment, and brought before kings and governors for the sake of My Name. And that will be your opportunity to bear witness. Make up your minds not to prepare your defense, because I Myself shall give you an eloquence and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to resist or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relations and friends; and some of you will be put to death.”

“You will be hated universally on account of My Name, but not a hair of your head will be lost. Your perseverance will win you your lives. When you see Jerusalem [the Church] surrounded by armies, then you must realise that it will soon be laid desolate. Then those in Judaea must escape to the mountains, those inside the city must leave it, and those in country districts must not take refuge in it. For this is the time of retribution when all that scripture says must be fulfilled. Alas for those with child, or with babies at the breast, when those days come! ’For great misery will descend on the land and retribution on this people.”

“They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive to every gentile country; and Jerusalem will be trampled down by the gentiles until their time is complete. There will be signs in the sun and moon and stars; on earth nations in agony, bewildered by the turmoil of the ocean and its waves; men fainting away with terror and fear at what menaces the world, for the powers of heaven will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, stand erect, hold your heads high, because your liberation is near at hand . . . when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near” (Lk 21:10-31).

In Paul’s Letter to the Thessalonians

“Never let anyone deceive you in this way. It (the Day of the Lord) cannot happen until the Great Revolt has taken place and the Rebel, the lost One, has appeared. This is the Enemy, the one who claims to be so much greater than all that men call ‘god,’ so much greater than anything that is worshipped, that he enthrones himself in God’s Sanctuary and claims that he is God . . .  Rebellion is at its work already, but in secret, and the one who is holding it back has first to be removed before the Rebel appears openly. The Lord will kill him with the breath of His mouth and will annihilate him with His glorious appearance at His coming. But when the Rebel comes, Satan will set to work: there will be all kinds of miracles and a deceptive show of signs and portents, and everything evil that can deceive those who are bound for destruction because they would not grasp the love of the truth which could have saved them. The reason why God is sending a power to delude them and make them believe what is untrue, is to condemn all who refused to believe in the Truth and chose wickedness instead” (2 Thes 2:3-12).

In the Book of Daniel

(1) “A he-goat came from the west, across the surface of the entire earth but without touching the ground, and between its eyes the goat had a conspicuous horn. It advanced toward the ram with the two horns which I had seen standing in front of the river, and charged at it with all the fury of its might. I saw it reach the ram and it was so enraged with it that it fought bitterly with the ram, knocked it down, breaking both its horns, until the ram had no strength to resist; it felled it to the ground and trampled it underfoot; no one was there to save the ram. Then the he-goat grew more powerful than ever, but at the height of its strength the great horn snapped, and in its place sprouted four majestic horns, pointing to the four directions of the heavens. Out of one of them came forth one little horn which grew to great size towards the south and the east and towards the Land of Splendour. It grew right up to the armies of Heaven and flung armies and stars to the ground, and trampled them underfoot. It challenged even the power of that army’s Prince; because of it, the Perpetual Sacrifice was abolished and the foundation of His Sanctuary overthrown, and the army too. It put iniquity on the Sacrifice and flung truth to the ground; the horn grew and prospered. I heard a holy one speaking, and another who said to the speaker, ‘How long is this vision to be – of Perpetual Sacrifice, the Holy One and the host, disastrous iniquity, of Sanctuary and army trampled underfoot?’ The first replied, ‘Until two thousand three hundred evenings and mornings have gone by; then the Holy One, the Sanctuary shall have its rights restored'” (Dn 8:5-14).

(2) “Know this, then, and understand. Seventy weeks have been decreed upon your people and upon your holy city to terminate transgression, to end sin, to wipe away iniquity, to bring everlasting righteousness, to confirm the visions and prophets, and to anoint the Holy of Holies. Know and comprehend: From the time this message went out to, ‘Return and rebuild Jerusalem,’ until the coming of an anointed Prince will be seven weeks; and for sixty-two weeks it will be rebuilt, with squares and ramparts restored, but in a time of trouble. Then after the sixty-two weeks the Anointed One will be put to death and will exist no longer; the people of the prince who shall come will destroy the City and the Sanctuary. But his end will be to be swept away as in a flood. Then, until the end of the war, desolation is decreed. He will forge a strong firm covenant with the great ones for the space of one week; but for half of that week he will abolish Sacrifice and oblation. And on the wing of the Temple will be the disastrous abomination until the end, until the extermination decreed upon the devastator” (Dn. 9:23-27).

In the Book of Joel

(1) “Listen to this, you elders; everybody in the country, attend! Has anything like this ever happened in your day or in your ancestors’ days? Tell your children about it and let your children tell their children, and their children the next generation! What the nibbler has left, the grown locust has eaten, what the grown locust has left, the hopper has eaten; and what the hopper has left, the shearer has eaten. Wake up, you drunkards, and weep! All you wine-bibbers, lament for the new wine: it has been snatched from your lips. For a nation has invaded My country, mighty and innumerable, with teeth like a lion’s teeth, with the fangs of a lioness. It has reduced My vines to a desolation and My fig trees to splinters, stripped them and broken them down, leaving their branches white. Mourn, as a virgin-bride in sackcloth for the bridegroom of her youth! Cereal offering and libation are lost to Yahweh’s Temple. The priests, the ministers of Yahweh, are in mourning. The fields are ruined, the land is in mourning, for the grain has been ruined, the new wine has failed, of olive oil only a trickle. Stand dismayed, you farmers, wail, you vinedressers, for the wheat, for the barley! The harvest of the fields has been lost! The vine has withered, the fig tree wilts away; pomegranate, palm tree, apple tree, every tree in the countryside is dy, and for human beings joy has run dry too.”

“Priests, put on sackcloth and lament! You ministers of the altar, wail! Come here, lie in sackcloth all night long, you ministers of my God! For the Temple of your God has been deprived of cereal offering and libation. Order a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly; you elders summon everybody in the country to the Temple of Yahweh your God. Cry out to Yahweh: ‘Alas for the day! For the Day of Yahweh is near, coming as destruction from Shaddai.’ Has not the food disappeared before our very eyes?* Have not joy and gladness vanished from the Temple of our God? The seeds shrivel under their clods; the granaries are deserted, the barns are in rins, because the harvest has dried out. Loudly the cattle grown! The herds of oxen are bewildered because they have no pasture. The flocks of sheep bear the punishment too. Yahweh, to you I cry: for fire has devoured the desert pastures, flame has burnt up all the trees in the countryside. Even the wild animals pant loudly for you, for the watercourses have run dry, and fire has devoured the desert pastures” (Jl. 1:2-20).

(2) “Blow the ram’s-horn in Zion, sound the alarm on My holy mountain! Let everybody in the country tremble, for the Day of Yahweh is coming. Yes, it is near. Day of darkness and gloom, day of cloud and blackness. Like the dawn, across the mountains spreads a vast and mighty people, such as has never been before, such as will never be again to the remotest ages. In their fan a fire devours, in their rear a flame consumes. The country is like a garden of Eden ahead of them and a desert waste behind them. Nothing escapes them. They look like horses, like chargers they gallop on, with a racket like that of chariots they spring over the mountain tops, with a crackling like a blazing fire devouring the stubble, a mighty army in battle array. At the sight of them people are appalled and every face grows pale. Like fighting men they press forward, like warriors they scale the walls, each marching straight ahead, not turning from his path; they never jostle each other, each marches straight ahead: arrows fly, they still press forward, never breaking ranks. They hurl themselves at the city, they leap onto the walls, swarm up the houses, getting in through windows like thieves. As they come on, the earth quakes, the skies tremble, sun and moon grow dark, stars lose their brilliance. Yahweh’s voice rings out at the head of His troops! For mighty indeed is His army, strong, the enforcer of His orders, for great is the Day of Yahweh and very terrible – who can face it?”

“But now – declares Yahweh – come back to Me with all your heart, fasting, weeping, mourning. Tear your hearts and not your clothes, and come back to Yahweh your God for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, rich in faithful love, and He relents about inflicting disaster. Who knows if He will not come back, relent and leave a blessing behind Him, a cereal offering and a libation to be presented to Yahweh your God? Blow the ram’s-horn in Zion! Order a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly, call the people together, summon the community, assemble the elders, gather the children, even infants at the breast! Let the priests, the ministers of Yahweh, stand weeping between portico and altar saying, ‘Spare your people, Yahweh! Do not expose your heritage to the contempt, to the sarcasm of the nations! Why give the peoples cause to say ‘Where is their God?’

Then becoming jealous over His country, Yahweh took pity on His people. Yahweh said in answer to His people, “Now I shall send you wheat, wine, and olive oil until you have enough. Never again will I expose you to the contempt of the nations. I shall take the northerner far away from you and drive him into an arid, desolate land, his vanguard to the eastern sea, hs rearguard to the western sea. He will give off a stench, he will give off a foul stink, for what he made bold to do. Land, do not be afraid; be glad, rejoice, for Yahweh has done great thins. Wild animals, do not be afraid; the desert pastures are green agai, the trees bear fruit, vine and fig tree yield their richness. Sons of Zion, be glad, rejoice in Yahweh your God; for He has given you autumn rain as justice demands, and He will send the rains down for you, the autumn and spring rain as of old. The threshing-floors will be full of grain, the vats overflow with wine and oil. I will make up to you for the years devoured by grown locust and hopper, by shearer and young locust, my great army which I sent to invade you. You will eat to your heart’s content, and praise the name of Yahweh your God who has treated you so wonderfully. My people will never be humiliated again! And you will know that I am among you in Israel, I, Yahweh your God, and no one else. My people will never be humiliated again” (Jl. 2:1-27).

(3) “After this I shall pour out My spirit on all humanity, your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your old people shall dream dreams, and your young people see visions. Even on the slaves, men and women, shall I pour out My spirit in those days. I shall show portents in the sky and on earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before the Day comes; that great and terrible Day. All who call on the name of Yahweh will be saved, for on Mount Zion will be those who have escaped, as Yahweh has said, and in Jerusalem a remnant whom Yahweh is calling” (Jl. 3:1-5).

(4) “For in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I shall gather all the nations together and take them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; there I shall put them on trial because of Israel, My people and My heritage, for having scattered them among the nations and having divided My land amongst themselves. They drew lots for My people, bartering a boy for a whore and selling a girl for wine to drink. And what are you to Me, Tyre and Sidon, and all you regions of Philistia? Can you take revenge on Me? If you take revenge on Me, I shall quickly, instantly, make your revenge recoil on your own heads for having taken My silver and gold away and carried off My valuable treasures to your temples, and for having sold the childen of Judah and Jerusalem to the Ionians, to be taken far away from their own frontiers. Look, I shall rouse them from the places to which you have sold them; I shall make your actions recoil on your own heads by selling your sons and daughters to the sons of Judah, who in turn will sell them to the Sabaeans, to a nation far away” – Yahweh has spoken. Proclaim this among the nations. Prepare for war! Rouse the champions! All you troops advance, march! Hammer your ploughshares into swords, your bill-hooks into spears; let the weakling say, ‘I am tough!’ Hurry and come, all the nations around and assemble there! Let the nations rouse and march to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I shall sit in judgment on all the nations around. Fly the sickle, for the harvest is ripe; come and tread, for the winepress is full; the vats are overflowing, so great is their wickedness!”

Multitude on multitude in the Valley of Decision! For the Day of Yahweh is near in the Valley of the Verdict! Sun and moon grow dark, the stars lose their brilliance. Yahweh roars from Zion, He thunders from Jerusalem; heaven and earth tremble. But Yahweh will be a shelter for His people, a stronghold for the Israelites. “Then you will know that I am Yahweh your God residing on Zion, My holy mountain. Jerusalem will then be a sanctuary, no foreigners will overrun it ever again. When that Day comes, the mountains will run with new wine and the hills will flow with milk, and all the stream-beds of Judah will run with water. A fountain will spring from Yahweh’s Temple and water the Gorge of the Acacias. Egypt will become a desolation and Edom a desert waste on account of the violence done to the children of Judah whose innocent blood they shed in their country. But Judah will be inhabited for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation! I shall avenge their blood and let none go unpunished,” and Yahweh will dwell in Zion (Jl. 4:1-21).

In the Book of Zechariah

“Behold the days of the Lord shall come and thy spoils shall be divided in the midst of the. And  will gather all nations to Jerusalem to battle and the city shall be taken, and the houses shall be rifled, and the women shall be defiled. Half the city shall go forth into captivity and the rest of the people shall not be taken away out of the city.  Then the Lord shall go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fought in the day of battle. And His feet shall stand in that day on the Mount of Olives . . . [which] shall be divided in the midst thereof to the east, and to the west with a very great opening, and half of the mountain shall be separated to the north and half thereof to the south. And you shall flee to the valley of those mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall be joined even to the next, and you shall flee as you fled from the face of the earthquake in the days of Ozias king of Judah. And the Lord my God shall come and all the saints with Him. It shall come to pass in that day that there shall be no light, but cold and frost. And there shall be one day which is known to the Lord, not day nor night; and in the time of the evening there shall be light.”

“And it shall come to pass in that day that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem: half of them to the east sea and half of them to the last sea. They shall be in summer and in winter. And the Lord shall be King over all the earth: in that day there shall be one Lord and His Name shall be one. All the land shall return even to the desert, from the hill to Remmon to the south of Jerusalem: and she shall be exalted and shall dwell in her own place. From the gate of Benjamin even to the place of the former gate, and even to the gate of the corners: and from the tower of Hananeel even to the king’s winepresses. And people shall dwell together and there shall be no more an anathema: Jerusalem shall sit secure. This shall be the plague wherewith the Lord shall strike all nations that have fought against Jerusalem: the flesh of every one shall consume away while they stand upon their feet. And their eyes shall consume away in their holes and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth. In that day there shall be a great tumult from the Lord among them: and a man shall take the hand of his neighbor and his hand shall be clasped upon his neighbor’s hand. And  even Judah shall fight against Jerusalem: and the riches of all nations round about shall be gathered together; gold and silver and garments in abundance. And the destruction of the horse and of the mule, and of the camel and of the ass, and of all the beasts that shall be in those tents shall be like this destruction.”

“All they that shall be left of all nations that came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to adore the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. And it shall come to pass that he that shall not go up of the families of the land to Jerusalem, to adore the King, the Lord of hosts, there shall be no rain upon them. And if the family of Egypt go not up nor come, neither shall it be upon them, but there shall be destruction wherewith the Lord will strike all nations that will not go up to keep the feast of tabernacles. This shall be the sin of Egypt, and this the sin of all nations, that will not go up to keep the feast of the tabernacles. In that day that which is upon the bridle of the horse shall be holy to the Lord, and the cauldrons in the house of the Lord shall be as the phials before the altar. And every cauldron in Jerusalem and Judah shall be sanctified to the Lord of hosts, and all that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and shall seethe in them; and the merchant shall be no more in the house of the Lord of hosts in that day” (Zech. 14:1-21).

In Isaiah

(1) “You have rejected Your people, the House of Jacob, for it has long been full of sorcerers like the Philistines, and is overrun with foreigners. The country is full of silver and gold and treasures unlimited, the country is full of horses, its chariots are unlimited; the country is full of idols. They bow down before the work of their hands, before what their own fingers have made. Human nature has been humbled, humankind brought low: do not raise them again! Go into the rock, hide in the dust, in terror of Yahweh, at the brilliance of His majesty, when He arises to make the earth quake. Human pride will lower its eyes, human arrogance will be humbled, and Yahweh alone will be exalted on that day.”

“That will be a day for Yahweh Sabaoth, for all who are majestic and haughty, for all who are proud, to be brought low, for all the cedars of Lebanon, high and proud, and for all the oaks of Bashan; for all the high mountains and for all the proud hills; for every lofty tower and for every towering wall; for all the ships of Tarshish and for everything held precious. Human pride will be humbled, human arrogance brought low, and Yahweh alone will be exalted, on that day. When the idols all disappear, they will go into the caverns of the rocks and into the fissures of the earth in terror of Yahweh, at the brilliance of His majesty, when He arises to make the earth quake. That day, people will fling to moles and bats the silver idols and golden idols which have been made for them to worship, and go into the crevices of the rocks and the clefts in the cliffs, in terror of Yahweh, at the brilliance of His majesty, when He arises to make the earth quake” (Is 2:6-21).

(2) “Behold the Lord shall lay waste the earth, and shall strip it, and shall afflict the face thereof, and scatter abroad the inhabitants thereof. And it shall be as with the people, so with the priest: and as with the servant, so with his master: as with the handmaid, so with her mistress: as with the buyer, so with the seller: as with the lender, so with the borrower: as with him that calleth for his money, so with him that oweth. With desolation shall the earth be laid waste, and it shall be utterly spoiled: for the Lord hath spoken this word. The earth mourned, and faded away, and is weakened: the world faded away, the height of the people of the earth is weakened.”

“And the earth is infected by the inhabitants thereof: because they have transgressed the laws, they have changed the ordinance, they have broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore shall a curse devour the earth, and the inhabitants thereof shall sin: and therefore they that dwell therein shall be mad, and few men shall be left. The vintage hath mourned, the vine hath languished away, all the merryhearted have sighed. The mirth of timbrels hath ceased, the noise of them that rejoice is ended, the melody of the harp is silent. They shall not drink wine with a song: the drink shall be bitter to them that drink it. The city of vanity is broken down, every house is shut up, no man cometh in. There shall be a crying for wine in the streets: all mirth is forsaken: the joy of the earth is gone away.”

“Desolation is left in the city, and calamity shall oppress the gates. For it shall be thus in the midst of the earth, in the midst of the people, as if a few olives, that remain, should be shaken out of the olive tree: or grapes, when the vintage is ended. These shall lift up their voice, and shall give praise: when the Lord shall be glorified, they shall make a joyful noise from the sea. Therefore glorify ye the Lord in instruction: the name of the Lord God of Israel in the islands of the sea. From the ends of the earth we have heard praises, the glory of the just one. And I said: My secret to myself, my secret to myself, woe is me: the prevaricators have prevaricated, and with the prevarication of transgressors they have prevaricated. Fear, and the pit, and the snare are upon thee, O thou inhabitant of the earth.”

“And it shall come to pass, that he that shall flee from the noise of the fear, shall fall into the pit: and he that shall rid himself out of the pit, shall be taken in the snare: for the flood-gates from on high are opened, and the foundations of the earth shall be shaken. With breaking shall the earth be broken, with crushing shall the earth be crushed, with trembling shall the earth be moved. With shaking shall the earth be shaken as a drunken man, and shall be removed as the tent of one night: and the iniquity thereof shall be heavy upon it, and it shall fell, and not rise again. And it shall come to pass, that in that day the Lord shall visit upon the host of heaven on high, and upon the kings of the earth, on the earth. And they shall be gathered together as in the gathering of one bundle into the pit, and they shall be shut up there in prison: and after many days they shall be visited. Fend the moon shall blush, and the sun shall be ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Sion, and in Jerusalem, and shall be glorified in the sight of his ancients” (Is. 24:1-23).

(3) “And the Lord of hosts shall make unto all people in this mountain, a feast of fat things, a feast of wine, of fat things full of marrow, of wine purified from the lees. And He shall destroy in this mountain the face of the bond with which all people were tied, and the web held over all nations. He shall cast death down headlong forever: and the Lord God shall wipe away tears from every face, and the reproach of His people He shall take away from off the whole earth: for the Lord hath spoken it. And they shall say in that day: Lo, this is our God, we have waited for Him and He will save us: this is the Lord, we have patiently waited for him, we shall rejoice and be joyful in His salvation. For the hand of the Lord shall rest in this mountain: and Moab shall be trodden down under Him, as straw is broken in pieces with the wain. And He shall stretch forth His Hands under him, as he that swimmeth stretchetch forth his hands to swim: and He shall bring down His glory with the dashing of His Hands. And the bulwarks of thy high walls shall fall, and be brought low, and shall be pulled down to the ground, even to the dust” (Is. 25:6-12).

In the Book of Proverbs

“Because I called and you refused, I extended My hand and no one took notice. Because you disdained all My counsel and My reproof you ignored – I, in My turn, will laugh at your doom; I will mock when terror overtakes you. When terror comes upon you like a storm and your doom approaches like a whirlwind; when distress and anguish befall you. Then they will call Me, but I will not answer; they will seek Me earnestly, but they will not find Me. Because they hated knowledge and chose not the fear of the Lord. They ignored My counsel, they despised all My reproof; and in their arrogance they preferred arrogance, and like fools they hated knowledge. Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way and with their own devices be glutted. For the waywardness of the thoughtless shall slay them and the confidence of fools shall destroy them. But those who hearken unto Me shall dwell securely and shall be in peace, without fear of evil” (Prv 1:24-33).

In the Book of Revelation

(1) “When He broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of all the people who had been killed on account of the Word of God, for witnessing to it. They shouted in a loud voice ‘Holy, true Master, how much longer will you wait before you pass sentence and take vengeance for our death on the inhabitants of the earth?’ Each of them was given a white robe and they were told to be patient a litte longer, until the roll was completed of their fellow servants and brothers who were still to be killed as they had been” (Rv. 6:9-11).

(2) “Then I saw a Beast emerge from the sea: it had seven heads and ten horns, with a coronet on each of its ten horns, and its heads were marked with blasphemous titles. I saw that the Beast was like a leopard, with paws like a bear and a mouth like a lion; the Dragon had handed over to it his own power and his throne and his immense authority. I saw that one of its heads seemed to have had a fatal wound but that this deadly injury had healed and the whole world had marvelled and followed the Beast. They prostrated themselves in front of the Dragon because he had given the Beast his authority; and they prostrated themselves themselves in front of the Beast saying ’Who can compare with the Beast? Who can fight against it?’ The Beast was allowed to mouth its boasts and blasphemies and to be active for forty-two months. And it mouthed its blasphemies against God, against His name, His heavenly Tent, and all those who are sheltered there. It was allowed to make war against the saints and conquer them, and given power over every race, people, language, and nation. And all people of the world will worship it, that is everyone whose name has not been written down since the foundation of the world in the Sacrificial Lamb’s Book of Life” (Rv. 13:1-8).

(3) “Then I saw a second beast emerging from the ground; it had two horns like a lamb but made a noise like a dragon. This second beast exercised all the power of the first beast, on its behalf making the world and all its people worship the first beast, whose deadly injury had healed. And it worked great miracles, even to calling down fire from heaven onto the earth while people watched. Through the miracles which it was allowed to do on behalf of the first beast, it was able to lead astray the people of the world and persuade them to put up a statue in honor of the beast that had been wounded by the sword and still lived. It was allowed to breathe life into this statue, so that the statue of the beast was able to speak, and to have anyone who refused to worship the statue of the beast put to death. It compelled everyone – small and great alike, rich and poor; slave and citizen – to be branded on the right hand or on the forehead, and made it illegal for anyone to buy or sell anything unless he had been branded with the name of the beast or with the number of its name” (Rv 13:11-17).

(4) “In my vision, when He broke the sixth seal, there was a violent earthquake and the sun went as black as coarse sackcloth; the moon turned red as blood all over, and the stars of the sky fell onto the earth like figs dropping from a fig tree when a high wind shakes it. The sky disappeared like a scroll rolling up and all the mountains and islands were shaken from their places. Then all the kings of the earth, the governers and the commanders, the rich people and the men of influence, the whole population, slaves and citizens, hid in the caverns and among the rocks of the mountains. They said to the mountains and the rocks ‘Fall on us and hide us away from the One who sits on the throne and from the retribution of the Lamb. For the great day of retribution has come, and who can face it?’ (Rv. 6:12-17).

(5) “Then I saw another angel flying high overhead, sent to announce the gospel of eternity to all who live on the earth; every language, race, nation, and tribe. He was calling: ‘Fear God and glorify Him because the time has come for Him to sit in judgment; worship the maker of heaven and earth and sea and the springs of water.’ A second angel followed him, calling: ‘Babylon has fallen, Babylon the Great has fallen, Babylon which gave the whole world the wine of retribution to drink. A third angel followed shouting aloud: ‘All those who worship the beast and his statue, or have had themselves branded on the hand or forehead, will be made to drink the wine of God’s fury which is ready; undiluted in His cup of retribution; in fire and brimstone they will be tortured in the presence of the holy angels and the Lamb and the smoke of their torture will rise for ever and ever. There will be no respite, night or day, for those who worship the beast or its statue, or accept branding with its name. This is why there must be perseverance in the saints who keep the commandments of God and faith in Jesus” (Rv. 14:6-12).

(6) “I saw a white cloud and, sitting on it, one like a Son of man with a gold crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand. Then another angel came out of the sanctuary and shouted at the top of his voice to the One sitting on the cloud: ‘Ply your sickle and reap; harvest time has come and the harvest of the earth is ripe.’ Then the One sitting on the cloud set His sickle to work on the earth and the harvest of earth was reaped . . . [and] the angel set his sickle to work on the earth and harvested the whole vintage of the earth and put it into a huge winepress, the winepress of God’s anger, outside the city, where it was trodden until the blood that came out of the winepress was up to the horses’ bridles as far away as sixteen hundred furlongs” (Rv. 14:14-20).

(7) “Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed” (Rv 20:1-3).