The Idol Shepherd
By Prophet Jacob R. Blandford
"And the LORD
said unto me, Take unto thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd. For,
lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, which shall not visit those that be
cut off, neither shall seek the young one, nor heal that that is broken, nor
feed that that standeth still: but he shall eat the
flesh of the fat, and tear their claws in pieces. Woe to the idol shepherd that
leaveth the flock! the sword
shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up,
and his right eye shall be utterly darkened." (Zechariah 11:15-17 KJV)
In Zechariah 11:17 the Antichrist is called “the idol shepherd”. Why?
Because the Antichrist is an emulator (Gal. 5:20) or imitator of the Lord Jesus Christ; therefore he’s
tried to be a shepherd like Jesus. (cf. Zech. 13:7; Mark 14:27; John 10:14) But notice.
If you’re hearing Zech. 11:17
aloud, (and not looking at the Text,) you might miss this. After I read this several times I’ve noticed it’s
not the ‘idle’ shepherd (like the NKJV would have you think [they ruin the
prophecy in typical apostate Alexandrian scholarship fashion by using the word
‘worthless’]):—it’s “idol”. As in idolatry or idolatrous. Kind of like the “American Idol” TV
program. So here we have a false Christ
(Mark 15:22) that’s falsely/idolatrously
worshipped. That describes exactly what
the Antichrist does at what’s called “the abomination of desolation” (Matt.
24:15; Mark 13:14). That’s a prophetical event, Apostle Paul, Prophet
Daniel, John the Revelator, and the Lord Jesus Christ predicted would take place.
(cf. 2 Thess. 2:3-4) The KJV 1611
Epistle Dedicatory identifies “that man of sin” (2 Thess. 2:3) as the pope. [NOTE: THE KJV TRANSLATORS IDENTIFIED
THE ROMAN CATHOLIC POPE AS THE ANTICHRIST IN THE PREFACE OF THE 1611 HOLY
BIBLE.] So again, we can go back
to Zech. 11:17 and now see this
prophecy is about the pope: who is the antichrist. Now, what’s the Roman Catholic Church most
notorious of? Idolatry. Their abominable sacrilege of the Lord’s
Supper: wafer-worship and Mary-worship.
Catholicism is the most blasphemous pagan religious system on earth. (see Rev. 17) It
always has been. When Constantine
blended his legalized form of Christianity with the Roman Empire’s
mystery religions, Catholicism became “Satan’s seat” (Rev. 2:13), headquartered
in Rome. All the idols and false gods from the Roman
Empire were retained; they were now only given ‘Christian’
names. And the pope is a “shepherd” over
all these religious idols (e.g. Mary, saints, mythological gods, etc.), hence
he’s “the idol shepherd” (Zech. 11:17). So when we come to the prophecy of the
abomination of desolation involving the Antichrist in Rev. 13, we see a strong
similarity between Zechariah’s prophecy and John the Revelator’s prophecy—his
wound. Both the prophet and the apostle
state he is wounded by a “sword” (Zech. 11:17;
Rev. 13:14). That’s the deadly wound the
Antichrist recovers from.
Notice another point from this
prophecy about the Antichrist in Zechariah 11:17. The prophet tells us part of his judgment is
that “...his arm shall be clean dried up...” (Zech. 11:17). Is there any other example of such a thing
taking place in the Scriptures? Yes 1
Kings Chapter 13, it happened to Jeroboam, the idolatrous king of Israel. Jeroboam was the wicked king who instituted
idolatry in Israel
by making golden calves in Dan and Bethel.
(see 1 Kings 12:28; Ex. 32:4) He completely disobeyed the 2nd
Commandment. Just like the RCC blatantly
removed the 2nd Commandment (the prohibition of worshipping images)
from their enumeration of the 10 Commandments.
Again, this is the same iniquity of Catholicism—idolatry and image
worship. But look also in 1 Kings,
there’s another indication of prophecy: Jeroboam consecrated false “priests”. (see 1 King 12:31-32, 13:33) That’s P–R–I–E–S–T–S. Just like in Roman Catholicism: viz. false,
idolatrous priests. (cf. Judges 17:10,
18:19) So what happened to king Jeroboam
in 2 Kings 13? “...And his hand, which
he put forth against him, dried up, so that he could not pull it in again to
him.” (1 Kings 13:4) There it is: a
“dried up” arm or hand, just like the idol shepherd. Jeroboam’s religion was a type of the
Antichrist’s idolatry—Jeroboam was a picture of the pope; and again, this is
cross-referenced with Zechariah’s prophecy.
And then is arm is healed like the Antichrist will be healed in the
future. (1 Kings 13:6; Rev. 13:3) 1 Kings Chapter Thirteen
and Revelation Chapter Thirteen.