Part Two: Presidents, Politics, and Prophecy
Lesson Overview
Presidents, Politics, and Prophecy, Part 2 with Dr. Jimmy DeYoung
This session completes DeYoung’s study of Revelation 17:17, the verse that says God puts it into the hearts of rulers to accomplish His purpose. He adds two more modern presidents to his case, then turns to Daniel 11 to show how Scripture named political leaders centuries before they appeared. Use this overview to review the key points after watching the full video.
Review of the Framework
DeYoung restates his reading of Revelation 17. A false religious system, which he traces to an ancient Babylonian mother-son cult, will be headquartered in the city of the seven hills, and the ten horns of verse 12 represent a revived Roman Empire he associates with the European Union. The Antichrist, called the beast eight times in the chapter, rules both. At the midpoint of the tribulation those same powers destroy the false religious system (verse 16), and the Antichrist relocates to Jerusalem, entering the temple and committing the abomination of desolation described in 2 Thessalonians 2:4, echoing the five “I will” statements of Isaiah 14.
He then repeats his organizing principle from verse 17: God puts it into rulers’ hearts to execute His purpose. Leaders make decisions they believe are their own, usually with no idea what they are accomplishing.
He also gives a simple rule for reading prophecy: watch two things, the Jewish people and the city of Jerusalem. And he anchors it in Revelation 19:10, that the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy, making Christ the center of it all.
The Antichrist Will Be a Gentile
DeYoung notes that the little horn of Daniel 7 emerges from the ten horns of a Gentile empire, which means the Antichrist will not be Jewish. Anticipating the obvious question of why Israel would accept a Gentile as Messiah, he points to 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12, where those who refuse the love of the truth are sent a strong delusion so that they believe the lie.
Ronald Reagan
DeYoung’s next example is Ronald Reagan, tracing his consistent opposition to Soviet communism from his years as an actor and union president, through his governorship, to his 1983 “evil empire” address to the National Association of Evangelicals.
The decisive moment, in DeYoung’s telling, came at the Brandenburg Gate in 1987, where Reagan insisted on keeping a line his aides had struck and called on Gorbachev to tear down the wall. The wall fell in 1989, the Eastern Bloc broke apart, and those nations were invited into the European Union, which DeYoung sees as the formation of one of the two superpowers that will operate after the rapture.
He then follows the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the presidency of Boris Yeltsin, and Yeltsin’s elevation of a former St. Petersburg official, Vladimir Putin, who has led Russia since. DeYoung identifies Russian leadership of a Middle Eastern coalition as the second superpower of the end times.
Barack Obama
His second example is Barack Obama’s 2009 address in Cairo, where he told the Islamic world that America was not at war with Islam. DeYoung argues this emboldened Islamist movements, just as he earlier argued Jimmy Carter’s withdrawal of support from the Shah awakened them.
He connects this to the Arab Spring beginning in 2011, which spread from Tunisia to Egypt (removing Hosni Mubarak), to Libya (removing Gaddafi), and into Syria. He is careful to say he is not defending those rulers, only noting that their fall removed a measure of stability. He also criticizes the 2011 withdrawal of American troops from Iraq, the unenforced “red line” over Syrian chemical weapons in 2013, and the Iran nuclear agreement.
He includes a claim from his own years as a journalist in Jerusalem, that he was shown footage of chemical weapons being flown out of Iraq into Syria’s Bekaa Valley.
The Description That Was Not Trump
DeYoung then uses a deliberate rhetorical device. He describes a leader with no political experience, arrogant and strong-willed, unpopular with women, who considered himself a military strategist, became the most powerful figure in the world, met with the leaders of the Islamic nations, then went to Jerusalem to meet Israeli and Palestinian leaders, then to Rome to meet the Pope, and finally had to deal with the kings of the East.
The audience assumes he is describing Donald Trump. He then turns to Daniel 11:36-38 and reveals he has been describing the Antichrist, whom Daniel portrayed 2,500 years in advance as exalting himself above every god, showing no regard for the desire of women, and honoring a god of forces.
Asked directly whether Trump is the Antichrist, DeYoung answers plainly that he does not know and cannot know, since only God and Satan know that identity. What he does argue is that Trump’s decisions have opened a path that the Antichrist will later walk, almost certainly without Trump knowing it.
Daniel 11 as a Case Study
DeYoung presents Daniel 11 as one of the most remarkable prophetic chapters in Scripture, naming rulers long before they appeared: Ahasuerus decades in advance, Alexander the Great about two centuries in advance, Antiochus the Great and Antiochus Epiphanes centuries in advance, and the Antichrist some 2,500 years in advance. He notes that Antiochus Epiphanes desecrated the temple in what he calls the original abomination of desolation, prefiguring what the Antichrist will do.
The End-Time Campaign
Working through Daniel 11:40-45, DeYoung lays out the sequence he expects. At the time of the end the king of the south and the king of the north come against the Antichrist. Using the chapter’s own earlier usage, he identifies the king of the north with Syria and the king of the south with Egypt.
He stresses Syria’s current significance, noting the Russian and Iranian military presence there on Israel’s northern border. He then follows the text: the Antichrist enters the glorious land, destroys Damascus (which he ties to Isaiah 17), passes by Edom, Moab, and Ammon, the region of modern Jordan, which DeYoung connects to Petra as the protected refuge of Revelation 12:6, and moves into Egypt, gaining control of treasures of gold and silver.
On that last detail he offers a speculation of his own, that the gold and silver mentioned here and in Ezekiel 38:13 may come from mineral extraction at the Dead Sea, the lowest point on earth. He presents this as his own suggestion rather than as established teaching.
Reports from the north and east then trouble the Antichrist, which DeYoung identifies as Russia and Iran, leading toward the destruction described in Ezekiel 38 and 39. Finally, Daniel 11:45 says he plants his palace between the seas and the glorious holy mountain, which DeYoung identifies as the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, requiring that a temple be standing there by the midpoint of the tribulation.
The Closing Appeal
DeYoung concludes that the pieces are unusually well aligned: Israel preparing for a temple, a hostile coalition forming on her northern border, and the machinery for the Antichrist’s rise in place. But before any of it, the rapture comes first.
He closes with a direct gospel appeal, urging listeners to admit they are sinners, believe that Christ lived a perfect life, died, shed His blood, and rose again, and call on Him to save. He then gives three charges for those who already believe: live pure lives in light of that hope, be productive with what they have learned rather than keeping it to themselves, and serve as watchmen who warn others.
Key Terms
Little horn: the figure in Daniel 7 who rises from the ten horns, identifying the Antichrist as a Gentile ruler.
Strong delusion: the judgment of 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12 on those who reject the love of the truth.
King of the north and king of the south: figures in Daniel 11 that DeYoung identifies with Syria and Egypt.
Time of the end: the phrase in Daniel 11 and 12 that DeYoung takes as the tribulation leading to Christ’s return.
Abomination of desolation: the desecration of the temple, prefigured by Antiochus Epiphanes and fulfilled by the Antichrist.
Verses to Know
Revelation 17:17, God puts it into rulers’ hearts to fulfill His will. Revelation 19:10, the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Daniel 7:7-8, the ten horns and the little horn. 2 Thessalonians 2:4 and 2:11-12, the man of sin in the temple and the strong delusion. Daniel 11:36-38, the character of the coming ruler. Daniel 11:40-45, the end-time campaign. Isaiah 17, the destruction of Damascus. Revelation 12:6, the place of protection prepared for the woman.
Takeaway
Daniel named rulers centuries before they were born, and Revelation 17:17 says God still directs the decisions of leaders today, so the believer’s response is not to guess at identities but to recognize the season, trust Christ, live purely, and warn others while there is time.