THE "ARMS" PROCEEDED FROM THE KING

Hitler soon went to war, as the angel had correctly foretold:  "There will be arms that stand up, proceeding from him; and they will actually profane the sanctuary, the fortress, and remove the constant feature."  (Daniel 11:31a)  The "arms" were the military forces that the king of the north used in order to fight the king of the south in World War II.  On September 1, 1939, Nazi "arms" invaded Poland. Two days later, Britain and France declared   war on Germany in order to help Poland. Thus began World War II.  Poland collapsed quickly, and soon thereafter, German forces occupied Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France.  "At the end of 1941," says The World Book Encyclopedia, "Nazi Germany dominated the continent."

Even though Germany and the Soviet Union had signed a Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation, and Demarcation, Hitler proceeded to invade Soviet territory on June 22, 1941, the German army actually suffered defeat at Moscow.  The following day, Germany's ally Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Learning of this, Hitler told his aides:  "Now it is impossible for us to lose the war." On December 11 he rashly declared war on the United States.  But he underestimated the strength  of both the Soviet Union and the United States. With the Soviet army attacking from the east and British and American forces closing in from the wast, the tide soon  turned against Hitler. German forces began losing territory after territory. Following Hitler's suicide, Germany surrendered to the Allies,on May 7, 1045. 

"The [Nazi arms] will actually profane the sanctuary, the fortress,m and remove the constant feature," said the angel. In ancient Judah the sanctuary was part of the temple in Jerusalem.  However, when the Jews rejected Jesus, Jehovah rejected them and their temple. (Matthew 23:37-24:2) Since the first century C.E., Jehovah's temple has actually been a spiritual one, with its holy  of holies in the heavens and with a spiritual courtyard on earth, in which the anointed brothers of Jesus, the High Priest, serve.  From the 1930's onward, the "great crowd" have worshiped in association with the anointed remnant and are therefore said to serve 'in God's temple.' (Revelation 7:9, 15; 11:1, 2; Hebrews 9:11, 12, 24) In lands under his control, the king of the north profaned the earthly  courtyard  of the temple by relentlessly persecuting the anointed remnant and their companions. So severe was the persecution that "the constant feature"-the public sacrifice of praise to Jehovah's name-was removed.  (Hebrews 13:15) Despite horrible suffering, however, faithful anointed Christians together with the "other sheep" kept on preaching during World War II. -John 10:16. 

Next time: 'THE DISGUSTING THING IS PUT IN PLACE'

From the book:  PAY ATTENTION TO DANIEL'S PROPHECY! 1999