I, Daniel, was troubled in spirit, and the visions that passed through my mind disturbed me. I approached one of those standing there and asked him the true meaning of all this. 9I wanted to know the true meaning of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others and most terrifying, with its iron teeth and bronze claws -- the beast that crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. I also wanted to know about the ten horns on its head and about the other horn that came up, before which three of them fell -- the horn that looked more imposing than the others and that had eyes and a mouth that spoke boastfully. As I watched, this horn was waging war against the saints and defeating them, until the Ancient of Days came and pronounced judgment in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time came when they possessed the kingdom. He gave me this explanation: "The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear on earth. It will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth, trampling it down and crushing it. The ten horns are ten kings who will come from this kingdom. After them another king will arise, different from the earlier ones; he will subdue three kings. He will speak against the Most High and oppress his saints and try to change the set times and the laws. The saints will be handed over to him for a time, times and half a time."10

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"It is easy for me to explain the parts of the prophecy that have happened. There are parts of future prophecy that are very clear to understand. There are, however, things that have not happened yet and are not quite as clear. I will do my best to explain it all.

"Let's review for a minute. Brian, do you remember what the rapture is?"

Brian thought for a minute. "It's when the Christians are taken out of the world to meet Jesus in the clouds."

"You're right! Jamie, take a minute to describe what the world will be like right after the rapture takes place."

"Well, the Bible tells us that it will happen in the twinkling of an eye. If I happen to be in school, I will disappear right out of my classroom. My teacher will probably have a heart attack! If Mom is cooking dinner, she won't stop to turn off the stove, so the food would burn up and the house might catch on fire! If you are driving home from work, and the rapture happens, you won't pull over to the side of the road and park the Jeep before going. There would probably be a big accident as the Jeep went down the road without a driver! If a woman who is not a Christian is giving her baby a bottle, the baby will be taken from her arms. She will probably go out of her mind!"

"Jamie, that was excellent insight!" Elizabeth praised her.

"Now imagine those kind of things happening world wide. Everyone who has accepted Jesus as their L-rd and Messiah suddenly disappears," her father told them.

"The world would be in a state of chaos!" Brian cried. "All the people still here will be demanding an answer!"

"That's right, Brian! With that in mind, let's look at the fourth beast in greater detail.

The Bible tells us that the ten horns represent ten kings. They will most likely be the leaders of nations, or perhaps territories of the world. The little horn represents the antichrist. The antichrist will be the great world leader. He will probably come from a country that was part of the original Roman Empire. He will come to power shortly after the rapture. The antichrist will need to have some sort of story to tell the world about what happened to the people who are missing," Darryl explained.

"What do you think he will tell them, Dad?"

"Well, he might say the missing people were abducted by aliens from another planet and the people of the world need to set aside their differences and join together to fight a common enemy."11

"That sure would be a wild story!" Brian laughed.

"You might be right about that, Dad. The way people are so interested in UFOs lately, maybe the devil is getting them ready for a big lie."

"Why thank you, Jamie. I'm glad you think my theory has merit. Your mother has another idea of what he might tell the people."