The Antichrist will feign to be dead, verse 3, and will rise again, like the South, preserving his wound in order once more to ape the stigmata of Christ. And it will obviously be on television. It will be on CBC, ANC, ABC, and Universal.

Verse 5: „And there was given to him a mouth speaking great things and speaking blasphemies, and there was given him power to act for 42 months.‟ This is the verse that says the Antichrist’s reign will be three and a half years. The mouth and the pride of the Antichrist are let loose for a limited three and a half years. The Antichrist is gonna reign supreme for a terrible period, but it’s limited. He is given a mouth and power to let loose, to rage, to prevail, to dominate, for three and a half years, 42 months. Three and a half years is the limited duration of the Antichrist’s reign.

Verse 6: „And he opened his mouth unto blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle.‟ „His tabernacle,‟ the tabernacle of God is the Catholic Church, „and those who dwell in Heaven.‟ Against the Church and against the Saints.

Verse 7: „And it was given him to make war upon the Saints and to conquer them.‟ So the Antichrist really is going to smash the Church, to all appearances. To make war with the Saints. The Antichrist will physically overwhelm Catholics. He will crush Catholics. Catholics will be crushed by the Antichrist. It was given to him, notice. It is given him to… God in his mysterious providence allows the Antichrist to prevail physically, just like God is mysteriously allowing the predecessor of the Antichrist, like William Jefferson So-and-so, to prevail today. Decent men hardly get a look in. It’s all that decent men can do to get their act together. Everything is against them. Everything seems against them. Everything is at least made to look as though it’s against them by the vile media. Just keep thinking of today and think of this, sunt idem (they are the same).

„And it was given him to make war upon the Saints and to conquer them. It was given him power over every tribe, and people, and tongue, and race.‟ Compare the universal empire of the Messiah. Again, the Antichrist is aping Christ. Christ’s reign is universal. The Antichrist will make a point of making his reign universal. His empire will be universal like the Messiah’s. Daniel 7:14. The universality of the empire of the Messiah. The Antichrist is at all points aping Christ.

Verse 8: „And they all adored it… All who dwell upon the Earth adored the beast, all those whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb, who was slain from the origin of the world.‟ A little tricky. „All worldly men, all carnal men,‟ again, „all worldly men not written in the Book of Life. All worldly men…‟ In other words, the world, people are divided between the servants of the world and the servants of Christ. The world is against Christ, Christ is against the world. „All worldly men will be totally at the service of the Antichrist.‟ „All worldly men will be totally at the service of the Antichrist who have not profited from the graces of the Lamb.‟ They’ve all received graces of the Lamb, but they’ve by no means all profited from the graces of the Lamb. All those who turn away the Lamb will adore the Antichrist. By the Lamb’s graces alone, since the beginning of the world, men can be saved. That’s what this means from the… He was killed from the beginning of the world. That’s what that means. By the graces of the Lamb alone since the beginning of the world, men can be saved. Adam was saved. If Adam was saved, Church fathers teach that Adam and Eve did long penance, but they were saved. They were saved by the grace of Jesus Christ. There’s no other grace by which anybody can be saved. So from the beginning of the world, the Lamb was slain in the sense that it is by the grace of Jesus Christ that anybody at all from the beginning of mankind was saved. Now, the grace of Jesus Christ is the graces of the slain Lamb because his grace comes by his passion and death. Therefore, the grace of the Lamb was slain from the beginning of the world. So all those who have not profited by the graces of the Lamb, who therefore are not written in the Book of Life, will be blinded and adoring the Antichrist because the only way in which anybody could be saved is by the grace of the slain Lamb, that grace which was available from the beginning of the world. I hope that’s clear. It is reasonable.

Notice the… Once again, the crusading blindness of Paul VI in this long letter in which he’s trying to take the archbishop to cleanness. On the one hand, he’s so wrong. On the other hand, he’s completely convinced. He’s locked into his error. He’s blind, absolutely blind. It’s a terrible punishment, that kind of blindness. I think I said to you that there is a story, I have no idea if there’s a grain of truth in it or not, there is a story that at the end of his life, Pope Paul VI made a confession which turned the hair of the young priest hearing his confession white. I don’t know if that story is true. You know, you know nothing about any of this true or false coming out of this Vatican. You have got no idea if anything’s true coming out of it. That’s the story that comes up. Se non è vero, è ben trovato, the Italians say. „If it’s not true, it’s well found.‟ If it isn’t true that his confession turned the hair white of a young priest listening to it, hey, it’s still, it’s on target. It’s ben trovato. It’s literally well found. Somebody thought it up. It’s well thought up. Ben trovato. Well thought up. If it isn’t true, it’s well thought up. In other words, if it isn’t true, it’s very like the truth. It would have been an enormous grace for Paul VI to see at the end of his life. But, gosh, imagine his responsibility if he has gone to hell. But the terrible blindness. There was a French mystic who when he became pope said he wanted it. She knew perfectly well that it was a deadly thing, both for him and for the church, for him to have become pope, but he wanted it. He wanted to be pope, and he became pope. For his own downfall, for his own wretchedness, for his own misery, for his own punishment. And the moment he became pope, he began pushing through this incredible program of transforming the Catholic Church. John Paul II was similar, but they’re blind, blind. Terrible punishment. Beg God not to let you go blind. The greatest blinder? Pride is right, pride. Because if I want… The disordered appetite of one’s own excellence, the disordered desire of one’s own excellence is the definition of pride, and these modernists want to set themselves up in the place of God. It’s as simple as that. They want to change the church. God was the maker of the church, they want to be remakers of the church. They want to be like gods once again. So it’s pride. And if I’m so keen on my own excellence, I’m gonna deliberately blind myself to anything that’s against that excellence or a reality that puts me back in my place, I’m gonna blind myself to it. I’m gonna see only those things that lift me up and puff me up. That’s the blindness of pride.

Verse 10: „He who will have led into captivity will go himself into captivity. Who will have killed with the sword must himself be killed by the sword. Here is the patience and faith of the saints.‟ So this is the last word. Well, the last word in Chapter 13 on the Antichrist. It’s not the last word in the whole of the Apocalypse on the Antichrist, but it’s the last word here. It’s like a little conclusion. If anybody has ears to hear, let them hear. Listen to this. The triumph of the Antichrist will be short-lived. He will in turn be punished. Three and a half years. Queen Elizabeth I of England is meant to have prayed to God. Again, I don’t know if it’s true. She said, „Just let me be queen for 40 years and then I don’t mind what you do with my soul.‟ I mean, it’s not she prayed for that. To who did she pray to? Maybe she prayed to the devil. I mean, I’m not… That’s not the kind of prayer God would grant. But she’s meant to have prayed for just 40 years. She had… She got exactly that. She got 40 years of reign and then she went to the devil. Terrible death, Queen Elizabeth I. They brought in one of the Anglican priests that she had so established. She set up the Anglican Church. When she was dying they brought in an English priest. She said, „You’re only a hedge priest. Get out of here.‟ She knew exactly what she’d done. She knew the church she set up was bogus. „You’re a hedge priest. Get out of here.‟ She was a terrible woman. Terrible, terrible woman. Very powerful. A real Jezebel.

The triumph of the Antichrist will be short-lived. He will… If imprisoned, he will be imprisoned. If he will have killed with the sword, he will be killed with the sword. However, „here is the patience and faith of the saints.‟ He will in turn be punished not without having shown up the patience, not without having brought out the patience and faith of true saints. Not without having highlighted, not without having provoked, not without having caused, not without having been the occasion of the patience and faith of the true saints. That’s of course why God will have allowed the Antichrist, because there will be, we’re told, several of the greatest saints in all the history of the church, and their greatness will be shown by the terribleness of the persecution. All that happens on this earth is for the sake of the saints. St. Augustine says it in the Holy Week liturgy: „If God allows evil men, it’s either so that they should convert or that they should put good men to the trial.‟ It’s Augustine, in Holy Week. One of the readings. You’ve got to work out whether it’s… That’s all we think about, what it’s actually saying, you know? I mean, come on. You can’t expect too much.

Verse 11: „And I saw another beast arising from the earth, and he had two horns similar to the lamb, but he spoke like the dragon.‟ So he’s a false lamb. Got it? This is a false lamb. The servants of the Antichrist with intelligence, eloquence, and talent. Arising, the first beast arose from the sea. The second beast arises from the land. Some people equate the red dragon with communism. And again, there’s plenty of application there. The red dragon is Satan, but communism is satanic and therefore what’s said about Satan can to a great extent be said about communism. So there are… Don’t think that any one of these applications excludes others. There are spiritual patterns which repeat down history.

Arising not from the depths of perversity, i.e., from the sea, like the first beast, but arising from worldliness, i.e., from the earth. From the desire to obtain by the Antichrist glory, wealth, etc. Malachi Martin, I think, says that the motivation of the churchmen of the new church is to obtain a place in the sun in the new world order. It makes sense. They want to be prominent and glorious in the new world order. In other words, they want to receive from the Antichrist. So the second beast wants to receive from the first beast. It rises from the earth, from the desire to obtain by the Antichrist, glory, wealth, and everything else this world has to give. So the second beast is working in conjunction with the first. The false lamb works in conjunction with the Antichrist. The new church is already working in conjunction with the new world order. In this fifth age of the church, we can already see the partnership. It’s very clear.

The two horns, verse 11, are seductive doctrine, once again, intellect and will, doctrine and virtue. Seductive doctrine, in other words, false doctrine, and simulated virtue. Pretended virtue in the will, pretended truth in the intellect. Firstly, pretended truth in the intellect, error in the intellect, but seductive error. And then pretended virtue in the will, again, false. It’s false. The second beast is a false lamb. Pretends to be like the first lamb, which is why you can definitely say it’s like… it’s the false church. The Lamb is the bride of the Lamb of God, and the false lamb is the false church. Two horns, seductive doctrines, simulated virtue.

But it spoke like the dragon. The language of the second beast is filled with pride, blasphemy, and hypocrisy. That’s the new church today. Its language is full of pride, blasphemy, and hypocrisy. Glory to man in the highest. Pride. God is at the service of man. Blasphemy. Vatican Two is the greatest council there ever has been. Hypocrisy. Bazillion examples. The talk of the false lamb is filled with pride, blasphemy, and hypocrisy.

Verse 12: „And he executed all the power of the first beast in the sight of the first beast, and he made the earth and those dwelling upon the earth adore the first beast whose deadly wound was cured.‟ So, that’s the Antichrist again. So, the false church makes everybody bow down in front of the Antichrist. It makes sense, because the false church has got spiritual clout because it is a false church. The false lamb makes everybody bow down in front of the Antichrist. The power of the Antichrist will be communicated to the false lamb. „And he executed all power of the first beast.‟ The Antichrist gives all of his clout to the false church. However, „he executed all power of the first beast in the sight of the first beast.‟ In other words, only instrumentally, never without the principle. The second beast acts always only instrumentally as an instrument of the first beast. He carries out all of his power only in the sight of the first beast, meaning never separately from the first beast. The second beast is only the instrument of the first beast. The first beast is to the second as principle to instrumental. Principle cause to instrumental cause. Just so you don’t think I’ve misspelled principle. As principle to instrumental. The first beast is to the second as principle to instrumental. The second beast is to the first as instrument to the principle. All right. So he’s carrying out the full power of the first beast, only always in the sight of the first beast. In other words, always as instrument of the first beast.

And the second beast, the false lamb, will lead all mankind to adore the first beast. So the second beast, the false church, is going to put people in the service of the Antichrist. The new church today is putting people in the service of the new world order. Clear. Clear, clear, clear. Yoking people to the new world order. The false church will lead mankind to adore the first beast, to adore the Antichrist.

Verse 13: „And he did great signs so as to make fire descend down from heaven upon earth in the sight of men.‟ Fire from heaven. The second beast will have power to ape Pentecost, the fire from heaven. The devil is always aping God, because he wants to be like God. So fire from heaven, he’s going to ape fire from heaven. It’s going to be a new Pentecost, just like Vatican II. Pope John Paul II keeps on saying that Vatican II is a new Pentecost. All of those Neo-Modernists believe that. They believe the church only began with Vatican II. For 1900 years the church has been teaching that the good news is that Christ has redeemed us just so long as we want to cooperate. But Vatican II tells us that the really good news is that we’re all of us saved whether we cooperate or not. Only for 1900 years the church has been blind to what the real good news is. The church has been locked up in darkness and shadows and pessimism. We are emerging in the bright, brave new world of knowing that everybody is saved. John Paul II teaches that. He teaches it clearly. He believes it. And the Holy Ghost is the continuer of the good news, of the good news that we’re all saved. And thus, when any man has any pangs of conscience that proves that the Holy Ghost is at work. If the Holy Ghost is at work, that’s sanctifying grace. If there’s sanctifying grace, that’s conversion. Therefore, any pangs of conscience are conversion. So all those who have any kind of pangs in their conscience are converted. They’re good guys, they’re Catholics, fine, no problem. And who’s the best good guy of all? Who is Mr. Nice Guy par excellence? Hog love. Hog love. The Holy Ghost who is love. Amen and amen. That’s it. That’s what Pope John Paul II teaches. The greatest good guy of all… Ah, he doesn’t put it quite like that. But he takes this doctrine that the Holy Ghost is love, that the Holy Ghost is gift, and makes it into the fact that the Holy Ghost is the conversion of everybody. The Holy Ghost is everybody’s conversion. The Holy Ghost is present in every man. The Holy Ghost is divine, therefore every man is divine, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. I mean, you know, it’s… From the point of view of Catholic theology it’s absolutely childish, childish. He just takes the words and fools around with them how he likes. And he’s been pope for 20 years. And he means well. And he’s convinced. Isn’t it fun? Yeah, that’s why you’re here.

I’ve been having to look at, in some length and depth and breadth, the encyclical on Dona Vita Candidam. This latest book of Professor Dumm, the fourth book of Professor Dumm, is about the encyclical on the Holy Ghost. It’s hair-raising, absolutely hair-raising. God comes up to a man. The Holy Ghost comes up to a man. God, the Holy Ghost opens himself, opens the depths of God to the man. The man then, well, opens himself. „Ah, thank you,‟ says the Holy Ghost. „You’re converted.‟ Isn’t it nice? Have you ever heard anything so lovely? I tell you. Oh, man. Unbelievable, but I think he’s pope. I personally still think he is pope. One, because he is too dumb to know what he is doing. He’s book smart, but that doesn’t mean to say you’re smart. He’s book smart, but outside of books he is dumb. As dumb as his feet. And the other thing is that he, there’s no authority above him that can back him up against the wall and say, „Look, you are as dumb as your feet, and this is why. Do you recognize it?‟ He says, „Yes, I do.‟ „All right, well then do you recant?‟ „Yes.‟ Okay, then he’s no heretic. Or he says, „No, I don’t… I, I, this is… Love, love, love is what life’s all about, and this is the truth, and this is the good news.‟ In that case you’re a heretic, boom. That’s it. There’s no authority above the pope that can authoritatively confront him with his material heresies so as to make them into formal heresy. And as long as it’s not formal heresy, God can allow… You can see from the Book of the Apocalypse here, that God can allow an extraordinary amount of disorder and persecution of his church. He can. His church can seem almost to go under by the wickedness of men. That’s what’s happening today. Five equals seven. Five closely parallels the seven. The fifth age of the church, close parallel to the seventh age of the church. That’s why what we are experiencing today is like what we’re now reading about the Antichrist.

Verse 15: „And it was given to the second beast to give spirit to the image of the first beast such that the image of the first beast should speak and bring about that whoever did not adore the image of the first beast should be killed.‟ So maybe it’s not holy cards of the Sacred Heart, maybe it’s gonna be one statue which will be on worldwide television, it’ll be on satellite TV, and everybody will see the second beast coming up, the false lamb coming up to the image of the first beast and sort of doing abracadabra, and then hey presto, the image of the first beast is gonna speak. It’ll be on TV and everybody will be, „Ah.‟ All the televidiots, „Ah.‟ Well, it’s gonna be quite a scene. The second beast will have power from devils through the Anti-Christ to make the images of the Anti-Christ talk. Maybe one image, maybe many. Maybe singular for singular, maybe singular for plural. The second beast will have power from devils through the Anti-Christ. Always remember the second beast’s power is instrumental and dependent upon the Anti-Christ’s principal power. The second beast will have power to make the images of the Anti-Christ talk and to kill all who refuse to adore. It’s gonna be tough.

Figuratively, back to verse 14, figuratively speaking, this again is a second layer of interpretation, all men will have to model their behavior on that of the Antichrist, verse 14. Verse 15, the images speaking are the followers of the Antichrist babbling in tongues, etc. The followers of the Antichrist babbling in tongues. Verse 16, the character, and he will make all the freemen and slaves, rich and poor and so on, everybody will have a character upon their right hand or upon their forehead. The character will be some rite, some ceremony aping baptism which of course imprints a sacramental character. Some ceremony aping baptism. Only it won’t be in the name of the Father, of the Son, the Holy Ghost, it won’t be in the name of the Holy Trinity, it will be in the name of the 666. Some ceremony aping baptism in the number, not of the Holy Trinity, but three, but verse 18, 666.

There are all kinds of theories about 666. Here are just a few that Dom Mollion judges to be the most serious. By Greek numbering, alpha equals one, beta equals two, gamma equals three, delta equals four, epsilon equals five, zeta equals six, eta equals seven, theta equals eight, et cetera. By Greek numbering, the Church Fathers single out three Greek words with a number value of 666. They are the Greek words for giant, contrary honor, and I deny: Titan, An Timeos, and Arnaumai. Giant, contrary honor, and I deny. Therefore, say the Church Fathers, Catholics should situate the Antichrist by 666. 666 enables us to situate the Antichrist as a giant of pride, contrary to the honor of God, and denying all truth. That’s the Church Fathers. A giant of pride opposing the honor of God and denying all truth.

Also, as seven is the number of completion or perfection (seven sacraments, seven days, seven ages, gifts of the Holy Ghost, days of creation), so six is incompleteness and imperfection. Therefore, triple six is triple incompleteness. The Antichrist will never enter into the peace of God’s seventh day or Sabbath. The Antichrist will never enter into the peace and protection of God’s seventh day or Sabbath. I think you can see that as commentary upon 666, that’s extremely sober. It quotes church fathers and it just quotes six being the figure of incompletion and imperfection, which again, is well known. Therefore, 666 is triple imperfection. Therefore, the Antichrist is a bad guy. That’s fairly sober.

There are all kinds of interpretations of 666. Like there are all kinds of interpretations of many other things in the Book of the Apocalypse wrapped in mystery.

Any other questions? I forget who prophesies the… Our Lady of La Salette said he will be the son… I think Our Lady of La Salette said something about it. He will be the son of… in The Secret of La Salette, I think it is. The son of a bishop, a Catholic… son of a Catholic bishop and a Jewess, I think. I can’t remember. Jewish rabbinate. Something like that, a Jewish name, something of that order. Who knows?

All right, there will be an exam in six days time. I advise you, know the text. Look, 13 chapters is really not all that much. I admit it’s difficult, I mean, it’s obviously mysterious and so on. I advise you to sort of construct a schema. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and then you’re going to have letters and you’re going to have seals, and then trumpets, and then the dragon. So what ages? Obviously, the letters is one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. The seals is one, two, three, I think four… and then it’s whatever it is. Work out against the seven ages of the church. Somehow or other you’ll get examined on it.