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That was what "war" looked like to people in Rome, as there were celebrations of their triumphs.
The white color of the first horse could mean victory, because generals of that time often rode white horses after they had won a battle or war. The crown that its rider wore was a kind of prize awarded for service in a war. The bow that he carried could be a symbol of an enemy at that time, the Parthians, who were famous for their archery.
originally posted by: St Udio... [post=18140835]
a reply to: spy66....[post=18105275
much discernment is needed to address your question....
the basic fact is that the 8th head being one-of-the-seven, means that a resurrected empire/kingdom is meant
but which one of the 7 world empires will rise again? (to become the 8th & final 'Beast' empire of the antichrist]
Here is the Key:
And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard,
and his feet were as the feet of a bear,
and his mouth as the mouth of a lion:
and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
the Rev 13, final Beast Empire...was like a Leopard
Leopard = Greek Empire of Alexander & notably the beast-man arises from the Seleucid kingdom, a prophecy says the man-of-perdition arises from Assyrian lands, both north & west of Jerusalem. the Seleucid kingdom came about directly after Alexander's Greek Empire broke into 4 pieces (Egypt/Syrian/Macedon/Greece)
the Rev 13, final Beast Empire...had the feet of Bear
Bear = the Mede-Persian Empire---seat of the Shia Republic nation of Iran, which is also the Shia led Caliphate
the Rev 13, final Beast Empire...the mouth of the Lion
Lion = refers to the Babylonian Empire, modern Iraq, in which now exists the Sunni declared Caliphate (this is still evolving)
since John was alive only during the 6th world empire, Roman Empire... the 7th world empire had not yet come into existence
I, along with mr. shoebat of youtube noterity, concur that the 7th empire was Islam...and Islam will reemerge in a resurrected Caliphate (8th head that is really one-of-the-7)...in the Area of Syria-Iran-Iraq as a Caliphate
parts of Turkey will make up the 10 toes of clay & iron of the final Caliphate (reborn) if only because it was in
Ephesus Turkey where the religion of Goddess Worship was fiercely practiced (fertility goddess & moon goddess worship) which was also accompanied by worshiping the 'Image" that fell from Jupiter (a black stone meteorite worship)
see: Acts 19:35 -> ...Ye men of Ephesus, what man is there that knoweth not how that the city of the Ephesians is a worshipper of the great goddess Diana, and of the image which fell down from Jupiter?...
So, do you see where the idolizing of a Crescent Moon symbol and a black meteor began...
way before the Muslims & Mecca there was Ephesus and the Temple of Diana=Artemis with the sacred Black Stone from the gods
...so even if Jihad Islam seems new.. it has its roots in the Turkish city of Ephesus,
which was a part of the 5th Head or Greek Empire > Seleucid Kingdom...
hence the unified Final Beast composed of Leopard/Bear/Lion appearance
that is actually reborn as the Islamic Caliphate...
(a Caliphate reborn soon after the 1st blood moon of 2014)
I hope it was clear enough, because the prophecy gets all convoluted with twists & turns so that the 'end times' might be sealed until it is ordained for the secrets, revelations, apocalypse to be revealed
and then when the veil is removed we will know that the Final 70th week is upon the world
originally posted by: St Udio
a reply to: Ploutonas
the Turkey leader, Erodan?... is in the process of radically changing the Turkish Constitution...
I suspect that the ISIS-ISIL Islamic State Caliphate will be afforded much status in this revamped package of policies and a very lax policing of the Caliphate's activities...
after all the way for the Kings of the east must be prepared...so Gog-Magog (the Caliph & Caliphate) can mobilize
be aware that al-Baghdadi, the 1st Caliph, holds the position of being the 'little horn'-> aka: Gog , the little horn of Daniel (Caliph) which overtakes 3 horns/kings..(i.e. Magog, Meshech & Tubal)... this little-horn known as GoG may not be this present Caliph al-Baghdadi but his replacement Caliph after the Islamic State grows...
in any event Turkey either joins or allows ISIS=ISIL/Caliphate to prosper
...As the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria has captured vast swathes of territory, analysts are questioning how long the militant Al-Qaeda offshoot can maintain control.
The group’s shock takeover of Iraq’s second-largest city Mosul in early June gave it a firm foothold to establish its expansive Islamic state.
ISIS has so far largely deflected attacks from the beleaguered army of embattled Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
Those living in the self-declared caliphate can now obtain Islamic State passports, and read the group’s print and online newspaper in different languages.
ISIS’s apparent commitment to organized governance has led it to tear down security barriers to open roads, restore electricity lines and pay municipal employees.
Under Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi - also known as Caliph Ibrahim - ISIS maintains a fulltime staff of around 1,000 medium to top-level field commanders.
Monthly salaries range from $300 to $2,000, a considerable amount given that Iraqi government workers last year reportedly made only $400. ISIS also pays low-level fighters.
However, keeping its towns and cities running smoothly could hinder its existence due to the vast cost of maintaining the caliphate, one expert said.
Its financial operations include selling crude from oil fields under its control, robbing banks, and taxing trucks that cross its borders.
However, ISIS is unlikely to have enough resources to continue operating at its current level, said Charles Ries, a former U.S. ambassador who serves as a vice president at the Rand Corp think tank.
...
www.news.com.au/world/caliph-ibrahim-or-abu-bakr-albaghdadi-to-his...
Jul 07, 2014 · The highly secretive ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (his followers have now been ordered to refer to him only as Caliph Ibrahim)
ISIS has ordered government workers to stop giving rations to Christians and Shiites in Mosul, according to a report by Younes Thonon for ankawa.com.
The official in charge of distributing rations in the Rifaq neighborhood said he had received orders from ISIS to cut the rations.
Mr. Fadel Younis, the official in charge for the Kifaat neighborhood, said that he had received a similar order and a threat from ISIS, and was warned that if he gives rations to Christians and Shiites he will be charged and prosecuted according to sharia law.
...The new “caliphate” of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi—the Islamic State, formerly “ISIS”—recently made clear that it means to follow in the footsteps of the original caliphate of Abu Bakr al-Sadiq (632-634), specifically by directing its jihad against fellow Muslims, in Islamic parlance, the “hypocrites” and “apostates,” or in Western terminology, “moderates.”
This came out in the context of the current conflict between Israel and Hamas, with some Muslims asking the newly formed “caliphate” when it would launch a jihad on the Jewish state.
The Islamic State’s response? “Allah in the noble Koran does not command us to fight Israel or the Jews until we fight the apostates and hypocrites.”
On one of the Islamic State’s question-and-answer websites, some asked why it was “not fighting Israel but instead shedding the blood of the sons of Iraq and Syria.” The new caliphate responded:
The greater answer is in the noble Koran, when Allah Almighty speaks about the near enemy. In the majority of verses in the noble Koran, these are the hypocrites, for they pose a greater danger than the original infidels [born non-Muslims, e.g., Jews and Christians]. And the answer is found in Abu Bakr al-Sadiq, when he preferred fighting apostates over the conquest of Jerusalem [fath al-Quds], which was conquered by his successor, Omar al-Khattab....
There’s much to be said about this response, rife as it is with historical allusions....
In short, and as the Islamic State is now arguing, the first and greatest enemy of Islam—the “nearest” enemy—is the “apostate” and “hypocrite,” for they are the most capable of subverting Islam from within...
All of this history quoted by the Islamic State is meant to exonerate the new caliphate’s main assertion: “Jerusalem will not be liberated until we are done with all these tyrants, families, and pawns of colonialism that control the fate of the Islamic world.”
While this approach may be temporarily good for Israel (and all infidel states), in the long run, a fully functioning and unified caliphate with “reformed” Muslims next door is not a pretty picture.
After all, the Islamic State is not exonerating the infidel, but rather saying his turn will come once the caliphate is capable of an all-out assault. At best, it’s a temporary ...]
Here are seven points of religious symbolism from his sermon that resonated deeply among observant Muslims, but were missed by most outsiders who looked on aghast at Ibrahim al-Baghdadi’s triumphalism:
1. He ascended the minbar (pulpit) slowly, deliberately climbing one step at a time. This was how the Prophet and his companions were reported to have acted
2. While sat on the minbar, and as the call to prayer continued, Baghdadi reached for his pocket and took out a small wooden stick – known as a miswak and used widely across the Muslim world...
3. He wore a black turban because the Prophet, it is believed, wore one on his conquest of Mecca and when he delivered his last sermon...
4. He spoke in flawless classical Arabic of the Quran. Arabic speakers would be impressed, and non-Arabic speaking clerics around the world would have recognised the above choreography and admired his Arabic skill...
5. Salafi Muslims, adherents of a hardline Saudi version of Islam, would have recognized Baghdadi as one of their own. He started his sermon angrily warning Muslims against bid’ah, or “newly invented matters” in religion.
6. Throughout his 22-minute sermon he showed a fluent knowledge of the Quran by frequent citations of verses popular with Salafis
7. He claimed for himself the religious duty (wajib) of implementing God’s law (sharia) as he understood it.
STORY TITLE: How 'Caliph' Baghdadi aimed his sermon at the Muslim devout
dated: By Ed Husain, 11:20AM BST 18 Jul 2014
...
Related Stories
news.yahoo.com...
Ancient Christian population of Mosul flees Islamic State- Reuters
Iraqi PM condemns jihadis' targeting of Christians - Associated Press
[$$] Islamist Insurgents in Northern Iraq Threaten Christians - The Wall Street Journal
Islamic State rounds up ex-Baathists to eliminate potential rivals in Iraq's Mosul - Reuters
Iraqi Christians' flee violence, fear end of long history- Reuters
The Egyptian-American scholar of Islam and Middle East history Raymond Ibrahim over three years ago explained the caliphate concept and predicted the re-establishment of a caliphate
The very existence of a caliphate would usher a state of constant hostility: Both historically and doctrinally, the caliphate is obligated to wage jihad, at least annually, to bring the “disbelieving” world under Islamic dominion and enforce sharia law. Most of what is today called the “Muslim world”-from Morocco to Pakistan-was conquered, bit by bit, by a caliphate begun in Arabia in 632.
A caliphate represents a permanent, ideological enemy, not a temporal enemy that can be bought or pacified through diplomacy or concessions — economic or otherwise. Short of agreeing either to convert to Islam or live as second-class citizens, or “dhimmis” — who, among other indignities, must practice their religions quietly; pay a higher tax [jizyah]; give way to Muslims on the street; wear clothing that distinguishes them from Muslims, the start of the yellow star of David required for the Jews by the Nazis during World War II; have their testimony be worth half of a Muslim’s; and never retaliate against Muslim abuses-the jihad continues.
A caliphate is precisely what Islamists around the world are feverishly seeking to establish — before people realize what it represents and try to prevent it. Without active, preemptive measures, it is only a matter of time before they succeed.
...
Another US expert of Islam, Robert Spencer, has recently written:
And now it [the caliphate] is here, although it is by no means clear, of course, that The Islamic State will be viable or long-lasting. If it is, however, the world could soon be engulfed in a much larger conflict with Islamic jihadists even than it has been since 9/11. For in Islamic law, only the caliph is authorized — and indeed, has the responsibility — to declare offensive jihad against non-Muslim states. In his absence, all jihad must be defensive only, which is why Islamic jihadists retail laundry lists of grievances when explaining and justifying their actions: without these grievances and a caliph, they have to cast all their actions as responses to Infidel atrocities. With a caliph, however, that obligation will be gone. And the bloodshed in that event could make the world situation since 9/11, with its 20,000 jihad attacks worldwide, seem like a harmless bit of “interfaith dialogue.”
Offensive jihad to force all the world to submit to Islamic law is a duty for the ummah (the worldwide Muslim community), and no amount of media whitewashing can change that. The source to consult is not The New York Times but the Quran:
With ISIS Now Controlling 35% Of Syria And Most Of Its Oil Fields, Iraq Issues An Ultimatum To The US
by Tyler Durden on 07/21/2014 22:25 -0400
(...) ISIS has continued to expand and as Al Arabiya reports it "is now in control of 35 percent of the Syrian territory following a string of victories, the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Friday."
What's more troubling is that ISIS holdings now include nearly all of Syria’s oil and gas fields. While these are hardly significant on a global scale, they certainly allow ISIS to preserve its self-sustaining and self-funding status.
One of the latest gains of the self-proclaimed “caliphate” was the seizure of the country’s biggest oil fields, in Deir el-Zour in eastern Syria, earlier in the week.
Deir Ezzor borders Homs province as well as Iraq, where the jihadist group has spearheaded a major Sunni militant offensive that has seen large swathes of territory fall out of the Baghdad government’s control.
Meanwhile, jihadists have killed 270 Syrian regime fighters, civilian security guards and employees since seizing a gas field in Homs province, the Observatory added, according to Agence France-Presse.
The London-based group described Thursday’s takeover of the Shaar field as “the biggest” anti-regime operation by the ISIS since it emerged in the Syrian conflict a year ago.
...Ironically, it only took ISIS a little over a month to take over Syria's energy infrastructure and cripple the Assad regime, something the US forces were unable to do last summer
... ISIS has placed IEDs in places such as Mada'in, Yusifiyah, and Mahmudiyah in the southern belts of Baghdad. Iraqi Shi'a militia executions inside Baghdad may increase in response to the VBIED wave in Shi'a neighborhoods on July 19...
The reallocation of Iraqi security forces from Baghdad to Dhuluiya signals the real challenge that ISIS poses there.
ISW's conclusion is that ISIS may try to draw the ISF out of Baghdad in advance of more robust attackes there.
Last month, ISIS shocked much of the world.... the group has managed to shore up its control over communities with a combination of force and fear.
After meeting armed resistance in the town of al-Alam for nearly two weeks, here’s what the group did:
They kidnapped 30 local families and rang up the town’s most influential citizens with a simple message about the hostages: “You know their destiny if you don’t let us take over the town.”
Weeks later, according to the report, only a few gunman patrol the town at night “so comfortable is the Islamic State in its control through fear.”
Since then, with Baghdad as the prize in mind, the group has grown in size from 3,000 by earlier estimates to 20,000 as last month’s offensive bolstered their standing.
“‘It has been widely reported that ISIS soldiers have painted ‘N’ on the doors of Christians to signify that they are ‘Nasara,’ the word for Christian,”
Many of the problems started developing about 2006, after the adoption of an Iraqi constitution that is based on Islam.
That document states: “Article (2): 1st – Islam is the official religion of the state and is a basic source of legislation:
(a) No law can be passed that contradicts the undisputed rules of Islam.”
Analysts said the constitution subjugates Iraq’s Christians to the rule of Islamic law
...The fighting killed 14 members of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (PYG) and 35 IS members. Dozens of other fighters were wounded, said the Observatory.
The fighting comes two weeks after some 800 Kurdish fighters entered Ain al-Arab from neighbouring Turkey to fight IS.
There are some 3.5 million Kurds in Syria, comprising some 15 percent of the population. With the country swamped in a war that broke out three years ago, the Kurds are seeking autonomy in the areas where they are a majority.
...- IS fights Sunni tribe -
In the eastern, oil-rich province of Deir Ezzor, most of which is under IS control, members of the Shaitat Sunni tribe fought the jihadists, tweeting about an "uprising" against the radical group.
The fighting erupted after the IS detained three members of the tribe, "violating an agreement" between the two sides, it said.
According to the Observatory, the Shaitat tribe had promised IS it would not oppose it, in exchange for the jihadists not harassing or attacking its members...
The Sunni Shaitat tribe extends across three villages -- Abu Hamam, Kashkiyeh and Ghranij.
On Thursday, a day after fighting broke out, IS members raided the three villages, searching houses and kidnapping or "detaining" an unknown number of people, said the Observatory, adding that fighting was raging in the Shaitat villages