但族與敵基督
The Tribe of Dan
and the Antichrist
Will the Antichrist come from the tribe of Dan? Early Jewish
and Christian commentators make a connection between the
first tribe to go into apostasy and the end-time rise of the
Antichrist, the greatest apostate of all. The Bible confirms
the evidence. And modern genealogical history presents a
fascinating picture of just who the Antichrist may well turn
out to be! Read, here, the shocking story.
William F. Dankenbring
In the Encyclopeida Judaica, we read that early Christians such as Ireneaus believed that the Antichrist would come from the Hebrew tribe of Dan. Says this source regarding the belief in the coming of a world figure known as the “Antichrist,” “One partricular form basing itself on Jewish traditions (see Test. Patr., Dan. 5:6), makes the Antichrist a Jewish pseudo-messiah of the tribe of Dan” (“Antichrist,” vol.3, page 62).
The Judaica also points out that another element entering into the appearance of the end-ending Antichrist is the concept that he will be Nero redivivus – that is, the wicked ruler to come will take on the “characteristics of the Roman emperor who represented the very epitome of all conceivable evil. The idea of Nero’s eschatological reappearance developed and is to be found in the Sibylline Oracles (e.g. 4:119-139) which constitute the most extensive early source for this idea. In this book the demonization of the Nero figure is complete (5:361-70) and it is very clear further (5:28 -34), where of his return it says (33f.): ‘Then he shall return, making himself equal to God, but [God] shall convince he that he is not.’ The same concept is to be found in Revelation 13, 17. There, too, the antidivine arises in the form of a dragon, the ‘primordial serpent called Satan’ (12:9), and of the two beasts, one of which is generally associated with Nero (13:17 -18)” (ibid.).
Nero and the Antichrist
The “Sibylline Oracles” simply means the oracles or words of the “Prophetess.” This ancient source of early Christian prophecy states that in the “last times,” “But when faith in piety perishes from among men, and justice is hidden in the world, untrustworthy men, living for unholy deeds, will commit outrage, wicked and evil deeds. No one will take account of the pious, but they will even destroy them all, by foolishness, very infantile people, rejoicing in outrages and applying their hands to blood” (4:152-158).
At the time of the end, says the prophetess, “a leader of Rome will come to Syria [the Middle East] who will burn the Temple of Jerusalem with fire, at the same time slaughter many men and destroy the great land of the Jews with its broad roads” (4:125-127). It is also foretold that the world then will “Know then the wrath of the heavenly God, because they will then destroy the blameless tribe of the pious. Then the strife of war being aroused will come to the west, and the fugitive from Rome Euphrates with many myriads” (4:135-139).
This end-time Roman king or tyrant is also called “the Persian,” a reference to the “return of Nero” (“Sibylline Oracles,” The Old Testament Pseudopigrapha, vol.1, page 395). The oracle or prophetess declares: “For the Persian will come onto your soil like hail, and he will destroy your land and evil-devising men with blood and corpses, by terrible altars, a savage-minded mighty man, much-bloodied, raving nonsense, with a full host numerous as sand, bringing destruction on you” (5:93-97).
The reference is to a latter day Nero. The oracle continues, “a great king of great Rome Italy Babylon Temple
Speaking of “The Return of Nero,” the oracle declared, “For to him God gave strength to perform things like no previous one of all the kings” (5:220).
In a later section called “The Return of Nero,” the oracles declare:
“There will come to pass in the LAST TIME about the waning of the
moon a war which will throw the world into confusion and be deceptive
in guile. A man who is a matricide will come from the ends of the earth
in flight and devising penetrating schemes in his mind. He will destroy
every land and conquer all and consider all things more wisely than all
men.. . . . He will destroy many men and great rulers, and he will set fire
to all men as no one else ever did. Through zeal he will raise up those
who were crouched in fear. There will come upon men a great war from
the West. Blood will flow up to the bank of deep-eddying rivers. Wrath
will drip in the plains of Macedonia
West, but destruction for the king. Then a wintry blast will blow through-
out the land, and the plain will be filled again with evil war. For fire will
rain on men from the floors of heaven, fire and blood, water, lightning bolt,
darkness, heavenly night, and destruction in war, and a mist over the slain
[poisonour gases?] will destroy at once all kings and noble men. Then the
piteous destruction of war will cease thus and no longer will anyone fight
with swords of iron or with weapons at all, which will no longer be lawful.
A wise people which is left will have peace, having experienced evil, so
that it might later rejoice” (5:361-385).
These end-time prophecies tie right in with the warnings of the Scriptures for the time called “the last days,” and by the Jews, the “birthpangs of the Messiah.”
Some ancient sources connect this end-time Antichrist, or “Nero,” with the tribe of Dan. Says the Apocalypse of Daniel, an early work of the church era, “And another great scepter will arise from Judea . And his name (is) Dan” (8:1-2). “With him reigning, the Antichrist will go forth from the lower regions and the chasms of Hades. . . . He comes into Jerusalem
From the Tribe of Dan?
Perhaps the earliest source connecting the Antichrist with the tribe of Dan, however, is the Testament of the Patriarchs. In the testament of Dan, the progenitor of the tribe of Dan, he tells his children a prophecy for them for the last days, before the coming of the Messiah. We read: “For I know that in the last days you will defect from the Lord, you will be offended at Levi, and revolt against Judah; but you will not prevail over them . . . To the extent that you abandon the Lord, you will live by every evil deed, committing the revolting acts of the Gentiles, chasing after wives of lawless men, and you are motivated to all the wickedness by the spirits of deceit among you. For I read in the book of Enoch the righteous that your prince is Satan . . .” (Testaments, Dan 5:4-6).
Will the Antichrist be descended from the tribe of Dan, at least in part? Dan is missing from the tribes listed in Revelation 7, the 144,000 (Rev.7:5-8).
In Jeremiah’s prophecy, we read of Dan: “The snorting of their horses is heard from Dan; at the sound of the neighing of their stallions the whole land quakes. They come and devour the land and all that fills it, the city and those who live in it. See, I am letting loose snakes among you, adders that cannot be charmed, and they shall bite you, says the LORD” (Jer.8:16-17, NRSV).
Irenaeus attributes this omission to the fact that “the antichrist is to come from the tribe of Dan –a belief which he bases on Jeremiah 8:16 , LXX (‘from Dan shall we hear the noise of his swift horses’)” (The New Bible Dictionary, p.289).
Irenaeus says of the Antichrist: “And there is therefore in this beast, when he comes, a recapitulation made of all sorts of iniquity and of every deceit, in order that all apostate power, flowing into and being shut up in him, may be sent into the furnace of fire. Fittingly, therefore, shall his name possess the number six hundred and sixty-six, since he sums up in his own person all the commixture of wickedness which took place previous to the deluge, due to the apostasy of the angels. . . And [Antichrist] also sums up every error of devised idols since the flood, together with the slaying of the prophets and the cutting off of the just” (Irenaeus, “Against Heresies,” XXIX, 2, Ante-Nicean Fathers, p.558).
Irenaeus relates the coming of Antichrist to the tribe of Dan. He declares: “And Jeremiah does not merely point out his sudden coming, but he even indicates the tribe from which he shall come, where he says, ‘We shall hear the voice of his swift horses from DAN; the whole earth shall be moved by the voice of the neighing of his galloping horses: he shall also come and devour the earth, and the fullness thereof, the city also, and they that dwell therein.’ This, too, is the reason that this tribe is not reckoned in the apocalypse along with those which are saved” ( XXX, 2, p.559).
What the Scriptures Say
This vile man is also revealed in the Scriptures, of course, as being “a king of bold countenance, one who understands riddles” (Dan.8:23, NRSV). He will arise, “His power shall be great, and he shall cause fearful destruction, and shall succeed in what he does, and destroy mighty men and the people of the saints. By his cunning he shall make deceit prosper under his hand, and in his own mind he shall magnify himself. Without warning he shall destroy many; and he shall even rise up against the Prince of princes; but, by no human hand, he shall be broken” (Dan.8:24-25).
Daniel 11 also speaks of this fearsome Antichrist. Daniel relates that in the “end time,” there shall “arise a contemptible person on whom the royal majesty had not been conferred; he shall come in without warning and obtain the kingdom through intrigue. Armies shall be utterly swept away and broken before him, and the prince of the covenant as well [Jewish high priest?]. And after an alliance is made with him, he shall act deceitfully and become strong with a small party” (Dan.11:21-23, NRSV). He will wage war and be very successful.
Daniel goes on, “Forces from him shall appear and profane the temple and fortress, and shall take away the continual burnt offering. And they shall set up the abomination that makes desolate. He shall seduce with flattery those who violate the covenant; but the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action. And those among the people who are wise shall make many understand, though they shall fall by sword and flame, by captivity and plunder, for some days. When they fall, they shall receive a little help. And many shall join themselves to them with flattery, and some of those who are wise shall fall, to refine and to cleanse them and to make them white, until the time of the end, for it is yet for the time appointed” (Daniel 11:31-35).
What will this cruel tyrant be like? Revelation calls him a “Beast.” He will have a beastial, feline, fierce nature. Says Daniel: “And the king shall do according to his will; he shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak astonishing things against the God of gods. He shall prosper till the indignation is accomplished; for what is determined shall be done. He shall give no heed to the gods of his fathers, or to the one beloved by women; he shall not give heed to any other god, for he shall magnify himself above all. He shall honor the god of fortresses instead of these; a god whom his fathers did not know he shall honor with gold and silver, with precious tones and costly gifts. He shall deal with the strongest fortresses by the help of a foreign god; those who acknowledge him he shall magnify with honor. He shall make them rulers over many and shall divide the land for a price” (Dan.11:36-39).
Who is this vile, contemptible, horrible creature?
Strange Legacy
In the July, 1998 issue of Prophecy in the News magazine, author J.R. Church Clinton England France
Church continues: “Furthermore, he is related to every Scottish monarch and to the current British royal family. Clinton Clinton Britain
What about his father’s side of the family? Here’s where the story gets even more entertaining.
Blythe was a bigamist. He had not bothered to divorce his third wife, Wannetta. It would be another seven months before that marriage would end, on April 13, 1944 .
Another fact Blythe did not tell his new wife was he had been drafted and ordered to report to duty, and just five weeks after they married he boarded a troop ship bound for Europe , in the autumn of 1943. It was not until December 10, 1945 , that he and his new wife were reunited in Hope , Arkansas
“Twelve weeks after Virginia Virginia Europe just eight months before and the boy was born full-term, started local tongues to wagging. It did not help that, over the course of the nearly three years her husband was overseas, she was a fixture on Hope’s dance hall and party scene.
“Over the years Virginia Arkansas
Therefore, William Blythe was obviously not Bill Clinton’s father. So who was Bill’s true father? Here’s where the story gets even more interesting!
“Over the past six years, efforts to uncover Clinton
been nigh unto impossible to confirm. The President had all records of his
family history, school records, medical history, etc. sealed.
“In 1992, we called Burke’s Peerage and asked if they had done any research
into Clinton
search on his ancestry. It seemed strange to us at the time that they denied
knowing anything about Clinton
AP story that linked Clinton
a source. We again called Burke’s Peerage and repeated our request.
Again, they told us that no work had been done. That’s when we read the
article to the person on the phone, naming Harold Brooks-Baker as a source.
She then admitted that they had done some work on the genealogy. She said
that we should talk with Harold Brooks-Baker, himself. She requested that
we fax a letter and request a reply.
“We did as she asked. Two days later, having received no reply, we called
again. This time, we were able to get Mr. Harold Brooks-Baker on the
phone. He asked why we wanted the information, and said he would have
to clear our request with Washington
He talked like there might be something to hide.”
Indeed! What might that closely-guarded secret be? J. R. Church continues his riveting story:
“Bill Clinton’s family goes back to William Henry Harrison and Benjamin
to Ford makes him ‘near kin’ to Richard Nixon and George Bush. Small
world, isn't it?
‘Royal Boy Chosen ’
“There is no official documentation for what I am about to relate. I talked
with a man in the summer of 1996 who claimed to be a descendant of the
Rothschild banking family. He informed me that Bill Clinton used to attend
their family functions as a boy.
‘This man grew up in the same town with Clinton
schools. He would see Bill at family get-togethers wearing a Jewish
skullcap. According to him, Bill Clinton is a descendant of the Roths-
child family.
“He said the rabbis would kiss his hand and refer to him as the Segulah Yeled
Eklatosh -- the ‘royal-boy-chosen.’ He said that according to private family
records, the original Meyer Amschel (Bauer) Rothschild claimed to have
had a heavenly visitor in 1773, who informed him that Jesus was not the
Messiah. He told Meyer Amschel that the family from which he descended
would produce the Messiah in the last half of the twentieth century.
“A few weeks later I read in The Jewish Festivals by Hayyim Schauss
(published in 1938) that the Roman Emperor Nero had faked his death,
escaped and married a Jewish woman. The famous thirteenth century
Rabbi Meir (also spelled Meyer) of Rothenberg , Germany
descent from Nero. I called my Rothschild family friend and asked if there
was a family connection. Two days later he called me back, and said
‘Yes! The Rothschilds are descended from Nero!’ . . .” (“Roots of the
Presidents,” by J. R. Church, Prophecy in the News, July 1998, pages 18-19).
Nero to Rothschild to Clinton!
I have a copy of the book The Jewish Festivals: History and Observance, by Hayyim Schauss, published in 1938. In it we read that during the period surrounding the Tish B’Av (9th day of Av), the teacher of children in the synagogue drills them on the book of Lamentations, the destruction of the Temple, and tells them related stories from the Talmud and Mishnah. TheY are taught of the Babylonian conquest and destruction of the Temple, at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar’s general Nebuzaradan, who later converts to Judaism.
Then we read the following:
“The Emperor Nero appears on the scene. The story they are
told makes them feel kindly and well-disposed to him. He was a
fine and gentle individual who, the teacher states, abandoned his
army near Jerusalem, escaped, and became a convert to Judaism.
Not only that, but the great teacher, Rabbi Meir, was a descendant
of his” (page 103).
Corroborating this story, The Book of Our Heritage, by Eliyahu Kitov, volume 3, states regarding the destruction of Jerusalem:
“The Emperor Nero went up against them. As he approached Jerusalem,
he shot an arrow eastward and it fell toward Jerusalem. [He shot another
arrow] westward, and it fell toward Jerusalem. [He shot arrows] in all
four directions, and they all fell facing Jerusalem.
“He said to a child: ‘Quote me your verse [i.e., tell me a verse with which
you are familiar].’ And the child replied: ‘And I shall exact my revenge
on Edom through my people Israel (Yechezkel 25:14).
“Said Nero: ‘God wishes to destroy His House yet He wishes to clean His
hands with me [i.e., although God wishes to destroy Jerusalem, the instrument
of destruction will nevertheless be punished].’ He fled and converted to
Judaism and R. Meir was his descendant” (p.970).
From the villainous Nero to Clinton -- what a legacy! But to understand this legacy more fully, let’s examine the Emperor Nero himself. What sort of man was he? Was he really a “fine and gentle individual”?
Musician, Poet, Arsonist, Murder
On July 18, 64 A.D., a fire broke out in the Circus Maximus, spread rapidly, and in nine days destroyed two thirds of the city of Rome. Nero, emperor at the time, blamed the Christians, without any proof that they were the villains. They were a convenient “scapegoat.” The Roman historian Tacitus wrote:
“Nero proceeded with his usual artifice. He found a set of profligate and
abandoned wretches who were induced to confess themselves guilty; and
on the evidence of such men a number of Christians were convicted . . .
They were put to death with exquisite cruelty, and to their sufferings Nero
added mockery and derision. Some were covered with skins of wild beasts,
and left to be devoured by dogs; others were nailed to crosses; numbers of
them were burned alive; many, covered with inflammable matter, were set
on fire to serve as torches during the night.”
Yes, a very fine and gentle man was he! Nero was so perverted that when his wife Poppaea died in 65 A.D., in advanced pregnancy, from a vicious kick to the stomach by her angry husband, Nero lamented her death. He was still so passionate for her that he found a youth, Sporus, who closely resembled her, and had him castrated, “married” him in a formal ceremony, and “used him in every way like a woman.”
Jesse Lyman Hurbut in his History of the Christian Church, relates: “In the year 64 A.D. a large part of the city of Rome was destroyed in a great conflagration. It has been said that the fire was started by Nero, the worst of all the Roman emperors. . . It is certain that Nero was charged with the crime by common report. In order to clear himself, Nero declared that the Christians had set fire to the city, and began a terrible persecution.
“Thousands were tortured and put to death, among them St. Peter by crucifixion, in the year 67; and St. Paul by being beheaded, in the year 68. These dates are not certain, and the apostles may have suffered martyrdom a year, or two years, earlier.” Says Hurbut, “the gardens of Nero, where multitudes of Christians were burned as ‘living torches,’ while the emperor drove his chariot among them, are now the seat of the Vatican palace, the home of the Roman Catholic pontiff, and of St. Peter's Church” (p.40).
Halley’s Bible Handbook tells us further of this man: “The Great Fire in Rome occurred in A.D. 64. Nero himself burned the city. Though an inhuman brute, he was a great builder. It was in order to build a new and grander Rome that he set fire to the city, and fiddled in glee at the sight of it. The people suspected him; and historians have commonly regarded it as a fact that he was the perpetrator of the crime. In order to divert suspicion from himself he accused the Christians of burning Rome.”
Haley continues:
“In and around Rome multitudes of Christians were arrested and put to death
in the most cruel ways. Crucified. Or tied in skins of animals, and thrown
into the arena to be worried to death by dogs, for the entertainment of the
people. Or thrown to the wild beasts. Or tied to stakes in Nero’s gardens
pitch poured over their bodies, and their burning bodies used as torches to
light Nero’s gardens at night, while he drove around in his chariot,
naked, indulging himself in his midnight revels, gloating over
the dying agonies of his victims” (p.635).
Nero was the cruel, inhuman monster of the first century, who martyred Christians by the thousands in grossly brutal and diabolical ways.
Gibbon’s Decline and Fall
Edward Gibbon, in his classical The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, tells us,
“In the tenth year of the reign of Nero the capital of the empire was afflicted
by a fire which raged beyond the memory or example of former ages. The
monuments of Grecian art and of Roman virtue, the trophies of the Punic
and Gallic wars, the most holy temples and the most splendid palaces were
involved in one common destruction. Of the fourteen regions or quarters
into which Rome was divided, four only subsisted entire, three were leveled
with the ground, and the remaining seven which had experienced the fury of
the flames, displayed a melancholy aspect of ruin and desolation.”
Although Nero subsequently opened the Imperial gardens for the homeless to take shelter in, and temporary buildings were erected for the accommodation of the dispossessed, nevertheless, the masses suspected Nero of starting the blaze.
To divert suspicion, says the Roman historian Tacitus, “he inflicted the most exquisite tortures on those men who, under the vulgar appellation of Christians, were already branded with deserved infamy. They derived their name and origin from Christ, who in the reign of Tiberius, had suffered death by the sentence of the procurator Pontius Pilate.” Says Tacitus, “the confessions of those who were seized [Christians who under the duress of torture confessed to setting the fire to escape greater pain] discovered [exposed and revealed] a great multitude of their accomplices, and they were all convicted, not so much for the crime of setting fire to the city as for their hatred of human kind.”
Tacitus continues:
“They died in torments, and their torments were embittered by insult
and derision. Some were nailed on crosses; others sewn up in the skins
of wild beasts, and exposed to the fury of dogs; others again, smeared
over with combustible materials, were used as torches to illuminate the
darkness of the night. The gardens of Nero were destined for the
melancholy spectacle, which was accompanied with a horse-race, and
honored with the presence of the emperor, who mingled with the populace
in the dress and attitude of a charioteer.”
Notice how Christians of the first century were accused of being “haters of mankind.” In other words, they were because of their attitude towards pagan practices, pagan religions, and toward Gentile government and society, which was rampant and rife with paganism, considered guilty of “hate crimes.”
More and more, today, the same charge is being hurled toward Bible-believing, evangelical Christians in the Western world. Christians are being accused of creating a 'climate' of hatred toward such groups as homosexuals and abortionists. Intolerance toward Bible-believing Christians is growing. Those who believe in Bible prophecy, in a soon-coming “Armageddon,” and “doomsday,” are increasingly being looked upon as the “lunatic fringe” and as “fanatics.”
The NUMBER of the Beast
In the book of Revelation, the apostle John warns us: “Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast; for it is the number of a MAN; and his number is Six hundred threescore and si” (Rev.13:18). That is, the number of 666.
In Aramaic, the name Nero Caesar is Nron Ksr. The numerical value of these letters are:
N = 50 R = 200 O = 6 N = 50
K = 100 S = 60 R = 200 Total: 666
His name, “NERO CAESAR” in Aramaic, the common language of the Jews in the first century, adds up to “666,” the number of the Beast of Revelation (Rev.13:18). He was the “Antichrist” of the first century, and a “forerunner” or “type” of the end-time “Antichrist”!
Will a descendant of Nero’s become the “Antichrist” of the last century of this age -- our day, today? What about the name “William Jefferson Clinton”?
According to Hebrew gematria, the letters of the Hebrew alphabet each have numerical values. Therefore, in Hebrew, the name "William Jefferson Clinton" is spelled as follows::
WILLIAM
Vav = 6
Aleph = 1
Yod = 10
Lamed = 30
Yod = 10
Mem = 40
97 97
JEFFERSON
Yod = 10
P(F)eh = 80
Resh = 200
Samech = 60
Nun = 50
400 400
CLINTON
Koph = 20
Lamed = 30
Yod = 10
Nun = 50
Tet = 9
Nun = 50
169 169
Total: 666
As revealing and astonishing as this is, it is even more incredible when we learn that another name also adds up to “666.” Notice!
HILLARY
Het = 8
Lamed = 30
Resh = 200
Yod = 10
248 248
RODHAM
Resh = 200
Dalet = 4
Hay = 5
Mem = 40
249 249
CLINTON 169
Total: 666
How about them apples?
Could it be that we have found and identified the end-time Antichrist, the “Beast” of Revelation? Is he today standing among us, right in our very midst?
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