In a recent episode of The Rosenberg Report, New York Times best-selling author and prophecy expert Joel Rosenberg offered a bold and sobering take on China, Bible prophecy and what he sees as a growing threat to global freedom—and a direct connection to the end-times scenario laid out in the Book of Revelation.
Rosenberg didn’t hold back.
“It is a prototype of the tyrannical Antichrist society,” he said. “And I believe the Antichrist, which will come out of the Roman Empire—the revived Roman Empire in Europe—is going to just pick up the technology and the way of being a tyranny that the Chinese government has developed.”
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That’s a heavy statement. But for Rosenberg, it’s more than geopolitical analysis—it’s prophetic fulfillment.
Revelation 16 and the Kings of the East
Rosenberg walked his audience through Revelation 16:12–16, reading from the New American Standard Bible.
“The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the Great River, the Euphrates, and its water was dried up so that the way would be prepared for the kings from the East,” he read. “And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs—for they are spirits of demons performing signs, which go out to the kings of the whole world.”
He paused.
“You’ve got the kings of the East—some set of kings from east of Israel—and they’re going to lead the charge,” he said. “But they’re not going to be alone. They are demonically driven. They’re being driven by these evil, unclean spirits, and they’re gathering all the kings, all the leaders of the world.”
Their goal? War. Specifically, the climactic battle at Armageddon.
“They gather them together to the place which in Hebrew is called Har-Magedon,” Rosenberg said. “That’s where we get Armageddon.”
Is China One of the Kings?
When asked directly if he believes China is one of these “kings of the East,” Rosenberg didn’t hesitate.
“Yes, that’s what I believe,” he said. “Can you prove it? I cannot prove it. Well, why are you here? I don’t know—Gary asked me.”
He acknowledged that other nations like Pakistan, India or even North Korea could be included. But he emphasized China’s unique position.
“When you have a country as big as China, that has the largest army in the world, that has nuclear weapons, ICBMs, and is the spirit of the Antichrist right now—little ‘a’—they are crushing Christianity, they are persecuting the church, they are trying to stamp out all religion,” Rosenberg said. “There is no freedom in China.”
A Literal Drying of the Euphrates?
Some might dismiss the prophecy as metaphor. Rosenberg isn’t one of them.
“When God’s actually referencing a specific river—the Euphrates River—this isn’t a metaphor,” he said. “This is how the armies are going to get there—they’re going to come up through a dry riverbed.”
Rosenberg pointed to secular sources like the New York Times and Discover Magazine that have reported the Euphrates is, in fact, drying up.
“The river will completely dry up by 2040,” he said, citing Iraqi and Syrian government concerns. “This is interesting to me. Something to think about.”
America, China and the Growing Threat
Rosenberg stressed the danger posed by the Chinese Communist Party. He cited official U.S. sources to back his concerns.
“The State Department right now…says that the Chinese Communist Party—the CCP—is posing the central threat of our times,” he said.
“The FBI website…says the counter-espionage and economic espionage efforts emanating out of the Chinese government and the Communist Chinese Party are a grave threat to the economic well-being and democratic values of the United States.”
And it’s not just spying.
“China produces 97% of the world’s fentanyl supply,” he said. “The chemicals that create the drug that is killing a hundred thousand Americans a year comes from China.”
A Revival Behind the Curtain
Despite the oppression, Rosenberg sees an incredible move of God unfolding in China.
“Over the past four decades, Christianity has grown faster in China than anywhere else in the world,” he said, quoting a 2023 Boston University study. “The Christian community in China has grown from 1 million…to 100 million.”
He called it “the greatest spiritual awakening on the planet,” and he sees it foretold in Isaiah 49.
“Behold, these will come from afar,” he quoted, “and these from the land of Sinim.”
“Sinim” is widely understood by Hebrew scholars to refer to China, Rosenberg explained.
“This is the only reference specifically to China. Revelation 16 is a reference I believe refers to China, but when you’re talking about the word of the Chinese people in a biblical world, this…is China.”
A Call to Prayer
Rosenberg closed with four specific prayer points:
- Pray for the persecuted Church in China to have “great courage and great boldness” to preach the gospel and make disciples.
- Pray for the lost in China, that they will “renounce communism…abandon atheism…and come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.”
- Pray for Western leaders to have “wisdom and courage” to stand up to the Chinese Communist Party.
- Pray for vulnerable nations, including Israel and Taiwan, to withstand rising threats.
“Revelation is pretty important to the Chinese people, it turns out,” Rosenberg said.
And perhaps, now more than ever, it should be important to the rest of us, too.
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James Lasher is staff writer for Charisma Media.
