Blog note:

Ten (10) Evil Horns/Crowns (Kings) of the Beast’s Empire:

… “And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.” (Rev. 12:3). (Emphasis added).

… “And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.” (Rev. 13:1). (Emphasis added).

… “So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.” (Rev. 17:3). (Emphasis added).

… “And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman and beast that carrieth her, which hat the seven heads and ten horns.” (Rev. 17:7). (Emphasis added).

… “And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power of kings one hour with the beast.” (Rev. 17:12). (Emphasis added).

… “And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.” (Rev. 17:16). (Emphasis added).

Commentary: These six (6) verses describe the political and military backbone of the beast’s evil empire. The ten (10) kings are a consortium of political leaders that collectively give up their political and military sovereignty to the beast/antichrist. In exchange, he grants them “power as a king.” It is commonly believed that these ten political leaders who will be given “power as kings for one hour” will come from what is currently represented as the European Union (UE). The above reference in verse 17:12-14 indicates that these ten (10) political leaders act in a collective unison (with one mind), and give up their political and military might (power and strength) to the beast (based upon the will of God). This verse also continues on to indicate that these kings “for one hour” are active military participants against Jesus Christ on the Lord’s Day at the battle of Armageddon. Two verses reference the influence that these ten (10) kings have on Mystery Religion Babylon. Verse 17:7 indicates that these kings act in collective unison and purpose in supporting (and enforcing) the worldwide acceptance of the whore, Mystery Religion Babylon. They are the ‘muscle of the means’ or the part of the beast that supports (carries) the domination of the mystery religion worldwide. The last reference, verses 17:16-17, indicate that midway through the Tribulation, these ten (10) kings turn on and destroy the whore, the Mystery Religion of Babylon.  Why would these ten (10) kings, who have worked for 3 ½ years to build up and support the whore, the worldwide mystery religion system, suddenly turn on her to “make her desolate and naked and shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire?”

The answer lies in the religious or spiritual ‘bait-n-switch’ that Satan pulls off on evil mankind. At the beginning of the Tribulation, to gain easy acceptance and domination over the world’s peoples, Satan allows them to worship anything and everything (but God and Jesus Christ) and to also enforce his worship through the beast/antichrist and false prophet. The worship of anything and everything (but God and Jesus Christ) is known as Mystery Religion Babylon, which also includes Satanic worship. Halfway (3 ½ years) into the Tribulation, Satan physically indwells the beast and commits the “Abomination of Desolation” in the rebuilt Jewish Temple. The satanically indwelt beast places himself in the holiest part of the rebuilt temple and declares himself to be God and demands to be worshiped directly as such, under the pain of death and beheading of not doing so. As a result, men who have taken the mark of the beast and perhaps have been worshiping idols of gold or silver, have no choice but to give up their mystery religion and are forced to worship Satan/beast exclusively. Most of those deceived men who have already been worshiping the beast and his image will have no problem in continuing to worship the satanically indwelt beast. Their worship will just be more of the same, except that Satan is now the direct object or recipient of their worship. Conversely, those men who were actively participating in the mystery religion of worshiping whatever they wanted, now have to turn their worship exclusively to Satan. Thus, Satan has effectively pulled-off a successful religious “bait-n-switch” of historical proportions. Evil men thought they could get away with chasing whatever they wanted, and now, Satan/beast has a firm grasp of them ‘bait-hook-line-sinker.’ Evil men have to worship him, they are forced to worship him under threat of death. They have physically and satanically defiled themselves through taking the beast’s mark (or name, number) and thus, they have given themselves over totally, completely and whole-heartedly to the beast’s kingdom and system.

Now, the whole mystery religion system has been destroyed “burned with fire, flesh consumed,” and replaced with the singular, exclusive worship of Satan. The ten (10) kings that helped carry the whore throughout the whole world, and conversely, helped destroy her when the time was right and dictated by Satan. Just as the beast and false prophet are puppets of Satan, the ten (10) kings are the ‘puppet thugs’ or ‘heavy muscle goons’ that carry the beast’s system and mystery religion (for 3 ½ years) throughout the world. Ten (10) is a doubling of Satan’s evil number of 5 (five), (5×2=10). In the context of God’s divine mathematics, these “kings for an hour with the beast” represent a double portion of satanic evil or worldly strength. Ten (10) also represents a doubling of the satanically empowered beast’s kingdom, or a doubling of any kind of Satan’s influence.

Ten Nation Confederacy of the Beast’s Kingdom (Rev. 17:12, 17:13, 17:14, 17:16, 17:17). Throughout the book of Revelation, there are many references to ten (10) horns that represent ten (10) kings or nations making up a confederacy. The Bible indicates that they will have one mind and give their power and strength (political/military) to the antichrist. Although these leaders are not kings, in return for their allegiance to the antichrist’s system, they receive power as kings from the antichrist for a short period (one hour). Lastly, the Bible says in Rev. 17:17, “For God hath put in their hearts to fulfill his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.”

Emmanuel Macron’s coalition of the willing: The French-led military pact has pulled in London — and Berlin. By PAUL TAYLOR , 5/2/18. PARIS — Impatient with German foot-dragging on defense, French President Emmanuel Macron will bring together a 10-nation coalition of the willing next month designed to prepare European armed forces to take action together in emergencies, and to bind Britain into military cooperation as it leaves the EU. Defense ministers of France, the U.K., Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal, Denmark and Estonia will sign a letter of intent in Paris in June, officials told me, pledging to develop a common strategic culture, share analysis and foresight on trouble spots that may require intervention and work to coordinate their forces for future operations. Macron outlined the idea in his keynote Sorbonne speech on European integration last September, calling for a common European intervention force, defense budget and doctrine for action in contingencies where the United States and NATO may not get involved. France wants to recruit allies that could help share its military burden especially in Africa, where it intervened alone in Mali in 2012 to prevent Islamist militants seizing control of a weak state. Frustrated by the big-tent, low-ambition start to the European Union’s so-called Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) in defense agreed last year at Germany’s insistence, the French leader is pressing ahead with a small core of like-minded nations outside EU and NATO institutional structures.

End of Blog note.

OCTOBER 25, 2018 / 3:30 AM / UPDATED 5 HOURS AGO. Reuters.

As winter comes, NATO kicks off largest maneuvers since Cold War

OSLO (Reuters) – Military forces from 31 countries began NATO’s largest exercise in decades, stretching from the Baltic Sea to Iceland, on Thursday, practicing military maneuvers close to Russia, which itself held a huge military drill last month.

As temperatures fell below freezing across training grounds in central Norway, giving a taste of what it means to defend NATO’s vast northern flank, some 50,000 troops, 250 aircraft and 10,000 tanks, trucks and other land-based vehicles were ready.

“We’re here now, in the north, demonstrating our capability to bring a large force to bear on a problem that is an Article 5 problem,” said U.S. Admiral James Foggo, referring to the NATO treaty’s promise of mutual defense among member countries.

Dubbed Trident Juncture and headed by Foggo, the exercise is by far the biggest in Norway since the early 1980s, a sign that the alliance wants to sharpen its defenses after years of cost-cutting and far-flung combat missions.

“We’ve brought in the equivalent of seven combat brigades over the last month. That’s impressive, and we’ll operate here for the next couple of weeks in what is an unforgiving environment at sea and on land,” Foggo told Reuters.

Increasingly concerned about Russia since it annexed Crimea in 2014, Norway has sought to double the number of U.S. Marines receiving training on its soil every year, a move criticized by Moscow. Russia last month held its biggest maneuvers since 1981, called Vostok-2018 (East-2018), mobilizing 300,000 troops in a show of force close to China’s border which included joint drills with the Chinese and Mongolian armies.

NATO’s war games were originally meant to involve 35,000 troops, but that number has grown in recent months and included the late addition of an aircraft carrier, the USS Harry S. Truman with some 6,000 personnel. NATO fears Russia’s military build-up in the region could ultimately restrict naval forces’ ability to navigate freely, and on Oct. 19 the Truman became the first American aircraft carrier to enter the Arctic Circle since before the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Although a solid majority of Norwegians support membership of NATO, whose secretary general is former Norwegian prime minister Jens Stoltenberg, some parties on the left would prefer that the country quit the alliance and form some type of military cooperation arrangement with its Nordic neighbors.

“The effect of this activity will increase the tension between Norway and Russia,” Socialist member of parliament Torgeir Knag Fylkesnes said of the exercise, adding that the presence of an aircraft carrier caused particular concern. “You have to be quite hawkish to view this as something that brings peace in any way,” he told Reuters.

Additional reporting by Lefteris Karagiannopoulos; Editing by Gwladys Fouche, Robin Pomeroy and Catherine Evans