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Series Code: PU
Program Code: PU000013S
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00:01 What do the mysterious images of Daniel and Revelation mean?
00:06 When will the Anti-Christ appear and make his final move? How can 00:12 I be ready for the final events of earth's history? You'll be 00:16 amazed and encouraged by what the Bible reveals. Join us as 00:20 Pastor Brian McMahon leads out in Prophecy Unsealed. 00:30 Hello and welcome again, everyone to our Prophecy Unsealed seminar 00:33 We're so delighted you're joining us. And our topic for 00:38 today is Unmasking the Antichrist. We have a very 00:41 important and very serious topic today that we're going to be 00:45 studying in the book of Revelation and other places in 00:48 the Bible. And so we want to be praying for humility. Want to be 00:51 praying for open-mindedness. We hope that you will be uplifted 00:57 by this study today. Some may wonder why we present topics 01:02 like the antichrist in a seminar like this. The reason friends we 01:07 present them is because God presents it to us in the Bible. 01:10 And if God presents it to us in the Bible, then he would want us 01:13 to know it. Would you agree? Absolutely. God's truth is never 01:17 sent to embarrass us or to hurt us. God's truth is always given 01:22 to enlighten our minds that by doing so, he's better able to 01:26 save us into his kingdom. And so with that, we're going to look 01:29 now at the most serious warning that's found anywhere in the 01:33 Bible. It's found in Revelation chapter 14. Verse 9 says: And 01:37 the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any 01:40 man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in 01:43 in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine 01:47 of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture 01:49 into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with 01:53 fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and 01:57 in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment 02:03 ascendeth up forever and ever: and they have no rest day nor 02:06 night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever 02:09 receiveth the mark of his name. 02:11 Now that is the most serious warning, I'm sure you would 02:13 agree. Of all human history here is something that we would never 02:17 want to have happen to us. It says that those who are 02:20 worshipping the beast or receiving the mark of the beast will end 02:23 in the lake of fire. They'll be lost. There'll be no hope for 02:25 them whatsoever friends. So we want to know what is this power 02:30 it's talking about? Who is the Beast? The average person 02:34 and even the average Christian out there has no idea what this 02:38 is talking about. And if you have no idea what the Beast 02:40 Power is then you have no idea what the mark of the beast is, 02:43 right? So that's why we're going to be studying this topic 02:46 tonight. And yet many people say that God hasn't allowed us to 02:49 understand Revelation. Now would God be fair, 02:51 would God be love, would God be just, 02:53 if he told us about the awful consequences of this, how if a 02:57 person follows this power they're going to be lost and 03:00 then withhold from us the identification of what he's 03:02 talking about? Absolutely not friends. God is not going to 03:06 tell us about the consequences of following this power and then 03:08 not reveal to us what he's talking about. So, we're going 03:13 to see friends that by looking at this topic tonight, that a God 03:18 of love sends a message to this world and he's going to make it 03:20 abundantly clear what he's talking about. Now the sad truth 03:24 is folks that millions of people have been turned off of this 03:27 subject because they've heard so much wild speculation on it that 03:32 finally, they just determined that well you really can't know 03:34 it and they tune it out, right? They don't even continue to try 03:38 to find out what it is. Now we can't take that position and the 03:43 reason we can't take that position is because Revelation 03:45 speaks about this power and Revelation 13, Revelation 14, 03:49 Revelation 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 and chapter 20. In all of those 03:54 chapters, this power is mentioned obviously, making it one of the 03:58 the most important topics that we could study. It demands that 04:02 we identify what it's talking about. Now I'm glad you're here 04:05 because tonight we're not going to get guess work involved. We 04:08 never do. We don't want to get maybes or perhaps' s. You're 04:12 going to leave tonight knowing what this is talking about, not 04:16 because your speaking up here has any special wisdom to share 04:18 with you, but because the Bible makes it absolutely clear to us. 04:23 Now I have heard so many things down through the years and maybe 04:26 you have too. Back in the 1940s at the height of his power, they 04:30 thought Adolph Hitler could have been the antichrist, right? Or 04:33 Mussolini from Italy. One of those awful dictators. Well when 04:37 they passed off the scene of the world's history, they thought 04:39 maybe it was a Russian dictator, Stalin, something like that. 04:42 Well then, he died, and they thought will maybe it's an 04:45 American President. And when Ronald Reagan came along, they 04:47 said, well, Ronald has six letters his middle name, Wilson, has six 04:50 letters and his last name, Reagan has six letters, so they thought 04:54 well, maybe Ronald Reagan is 666. I mean, it gets crazy at times. 04:58 And there was this, of course. Can we recognize the Antichrist? 05:00 And then it says, yes. Tim Cohen reveals hard evidence, Prince 05:04 Charles is the antichrist. Well it gets really crazy. In fact, 05:08 I found this one. It's How to Tell if Your Boyfriend is the 05:11 Antichrist. There's a lot of guess work in there, right? And 05:17 then, of course, the Left Behind series came along, and they have 05:20 all kinds of speculation about that. Let's look at the word 05:22 itself, shall we? The word antichrist is used four times 05:26 in the Bible. Not once in the book of Revelation. 1 John 2:18; 05:31 1 John 2:22; 1 John 4:3; and then 2 John 1:17. Where does the 05:36 word come from? It comes from a transliteration of the Greek 05:39 word Antichristos a names formed from the prefix Anti which can 05:42 mean against or instead of and Christos of course refers to 05:45 Christ. So the word Antichrist therefore can mean one who 05:48 opposes Christ, that's usually the way people use it, or one 05:52 who claims to take the place of Christ, or one who combines both 05:56 of those functions. As it is used in scripture the second 06:00 meaning is the most accurate one That which sets itself up in the 06:05 place of Christ. Once you understand that meaning of 06:09 antichrist, you can see it so much more clearly than you would 06:11 otherwise. In the Bible, Satan is represented by a dragon. But 06:18 we know that Satan never reveals himself. If he was to appear in 06:23 some city and say come follow me he would get very few followers. 06:25 So, Satan is much more cunning than that. Satan uses conduits 06:30 or agents to work his will through. We know that in the 06:34 Bible, in Revelation chapter 12, Satan was using pagan Rome to 06:37 try to put Jesus to death. You remember the story of King Herod 06:40 putting all the male children two years and younger in 06:43 Bethlehem and that surrounding area to death because he was 06:46 trying to kill off the Messiah. So Satan was trying to do the 06:49 work but he was using Rome to do it as his agent. So in the same 06:53 way Satan today still uses a conduit. You see in Revelation 06:58 13 verse 1 these words: And I stood upon the sand of the sea, 07:01 and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and 07:05 10 horns, and upon his horns 10 crowns, and upon his heads the 07:09 name of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a 07:11 leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his 07:13 mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his 07:16 power, and his seat, and great authority. And I saw one of his 07:20 heads as it were, wounded to death, and his deadly wound was 07:23 healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. 07:26 So here we find that the world is going to go after this power 07:29 in amazement. And then verse 8, it says: And all that dwell upon 07:34 the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in 07:37 the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the 07:39 world. So if the Bible tells us that the inhabitants of the 07:43 earth are going to worship the beast then there's a catch here 07:46 because the dragon that gave power unto the beast. So if 07:50 they're worshipping the beast they're really worshipping the 07:51 dragon that gave the power and strength to the beast. And 07:54 that's exactly what Satan would want. He wanted worship 07:58 originally up in heaven and if he can't get it there he's going 08:00 try to get it down here on earth So this power is a universal 08:04 system of worship. And it's pretty effective because nearly 08:07 all the world goes after it. So it's telling us again 08:11 that this must 08:13 be a universal system of worship It can't be some obscure 08:17 individual rising up in some place of the world. No, it's got 08:21 to be a power that manifests itself in a way that all the 08:24 world is worshipping after it. Folks, Satan is no dummy. He's 08:28 not going to deceive people who want to worship by saying there 08:32 is no God. So rather he raises up a whole counterfeit system of 08:36 religion, one that looks good on the outside perhaps, but it is 08:40 designed to deceive the masses. So the beast, therefore 08:44 represents a political or religious power or one who 08:48 combines both of these functions. So many people today 08:50 are looking for something else. They're looking for some kind of 08:52 ruthless dictator that's going to rise up on the stage of 08:57 earth's history, persecute Christians, you know, burn 08:59 Christian churches, that kind of thing. No, this is a power 09:03 that's going to seek to put itself in place of Christ. Very, 09:06 very important to understand that. Now it is this beast power 09:11 that God says don't worship it, don't worship its image or 09:15 receive it's mark because if you do you'll be lost forever. And 09:19 so as you look at this artistic display of what the Bible is 09:28 telling us here, let me ask you this question. Does it look like 09:31 a real animal? Yes or No. No. Does it look like something you 09:35 could find in a local zoo? No absolutely not. Something like 09:40 this doesn't exist. Right? It's a symbolic animal. It means it 09:42 represents something. The passage is telling us that it 09:45 comes up out of the sea. So we want to know, what does the sea 09:48 or water represented in the Bible prophecy? In Revelation 17 and 09:52 verse 1 it says: And there came one of the seven angels which 09:55 had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come 09:59 hither; I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore 10:02 that sitteth upon many waters: So here is water again 10:06 represented to us in prophecy and the Bible give us a direct 10:11 answer to what it's talking about in verse 15. In verse 15 10:13 it says: And he said unto me, The waters which thou sawest, 10:16 where the whore sitteth, are... so here's our interpretation... 10:19 peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. 10:22 So the waters represent civilizations, if you please. 10:25 And you know a figure of speech is used by us today. If you see 10:28 a large crowd out there, you might say Oh, it was a sea of 10:31 faces, right. So we use similar type of language even among us 10:35 today. So now you've got the waters represented in Bible 10:39 prophecy: It simply means multitudes of people. So when 10:41 you see this power coming up out of the waters it's coming up out 10:46 of an area of the world that had a highly populated area of 10:49 people. Now, as you look at this power, you can see it's a 10:53 composite beast, right? The body of the leopard, the feet of the 10:57 bear, mouth of the lion, 10 horns. So we've learned already 11:01 in our prophecy seminar that when you see that kind of 11:04 language we should ask ourself the question where else in the 11:07 Bible do I see a similar type of language or phraseology? And we 11:11 know by now that we go back to the book of Daniel. That's where 11:14 we saw it previous. So let me tell you something here to go 11:18 back to Daniel and that is that Daniel and Revelation are 11:22 written on a certain principle. That principle is repetition and 11:26 enlargement. I'll say it again. Repetition and enlargement. So, 11:29 God give us certain information and then later on, he repeats it 11:35 but gives us more details. And then he repeats it again, and he 11:38 gives us more details. And the reason God is repeating it is 11:41 so that we can lay a very solid foundation for where the Bible 11:45 is taking us. So we're going to start, not in Daniel 7 where we 11:49 saw that imagery but in Daniel chapter 2. And King 11:53 Nebuchadnezzar was given a dream and he saw this great image. 11:54 The head of gold, the chest, and arms of silver, and the belly 11:57 and thighs of brass and the legs of iron and the feet iron 12:01 and clay. He wondered what was this. In fact, he couldn't even 12:03 remember the dream. And so Daniel was called upon the scene 12:06 God gave Daniel an understanding of what the dream was and the 12:11 interpretation and then he's going to give it to the king. 12:13 So as he comes before the King he says to King Nebuchadnezzar, 12:17 Thou art this head of gold. So the head of gold represents 12:21 Babylon, right? That's where Nebuchadnezzar was ruling. 12:23 And then Daniel said: And after thee...meaning after Babylon... 12:27 shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and that of 12:30 course was Medo-Persia. We'll say more about them in just a 12:33 short time. And then after Medo-Persia Daniel 2, he said: 12:37 And another third kingdom of brass shall bear rule over all 12:40 the earth. So here is a world- ruling kingdom as far as 12:44 civilizations were back then. And that was Greece. Greece 12:47 came. They overtook the Medes and the Persians, and then they 12:50 began to rule. And then in verse 4 it says: And the fourth 12:52 kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaks in 12:56 pieces and subdues all things: and as iron that breaks all 12:59 these, shall it break in pieces and bruise. So the legs of iron 13:03 represented Rome. In fact, in Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the 13:06 Roman Empire he said: The images of gold, of silver, or brass 13:10 that might serve to represent the nations...and that's what 13:12 we're talking about...and their kings, were successively broken 13:15 by the iron monarchy of Rome. So here we find that the legs of 13:19 iron represented Rome but the image went on and it has feet 13:23 and the feet were of two different components. And Daniel 13:25 said this. He said: The kingdom ...speaking of the kingdom of 13:29 Rome, the fourth kingdom... shall be divided;...As the toes 13:32 of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay. So we've got 13:36 this image now and as history unfolds prophecy is unfolding 13:42 to us. So we're seeing a world outline in a very broad way and 13:46 a very brief way given to us in Daniel chapter two. But now 13:50 we're going to go to Daniel 7. And in Daniel 7, God is going to 13:54 repeat it, but give more details to it. So we start here in verse 13:57 In the first year of Belshazzar, king of Babylon, 14:00 Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed: He 14:04 wrote the dream, and told the sum of the matters. Verse 2: 14:07 Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, 14:10 the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea. Now 14:15 we've seen sea already. We've seen water in Bible Prophecy 14:17 haven't we? And water represents what? Tell it to me. Peoples 14:21 right. Multitudes of people. So now it talks about winds. Winds 14:25 represent war and strife turmoil out there among the nations so 14:30 when he sees winds over the water he seeing turmoil or a 14:35 fighting among the nations. And then he says in verse 3: And 14:39 four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse...or different 14:44 ...one from another. So the next question is, and this is 14:47 repeating, because we took this up even on opening night. What 14:51 does a beast represent in Bible? prophecy? Again, we don't have 14:53 to guess it, we don't have to speculate on it. The Bible gives 14:56 us the answer in verse 17. It says: These great beasts which 15:01 are four are four what folks? Kings who shall arise out of 15:07 the earth. So again in Bible prophecy a beast represents a 15:08 king. We see that today. We see an eagle for the United States. 15:13 And of course we've got a bear for Russia and a dragon for 15:15 China. We see that also today. But actually, the Bible broadens 15:20 this out for us by going to verse 23: Thus, he said the 15:25 fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth. Now the 15:30 fourth beast represents the fourth kingdom. What would 15:34 beast number one, two and three represent? Well obviously the 15:35 first three kingdoms starting in Daniel's day down to the fourth 15:39 one. So you see how the Bible is unlocking prophecy to us here. 15:42 So let's go back to Daniel 7 verse 4 and it says: The first 15:45 was like a lion and had eagle's wings: I beheld till the wings 15:48 thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and 15:50 made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given 15:52 to it. The fact that a man's heart was given to it shows that 15:56 it lost its lion-like qualities and became weakened. Right? So 16:01 what is this talking about? This is a repetition of what we 16:04 learned in Daniel chapter 2 with the head of gold. But now it's a 16:08 different symbol. We're not given metals anymore. We're 16:09 given beasts and the symbols of Babylon, they're all in the 16:13 superlative, right? You've got gold, the finest of metals. 16:16 You've got a lion, the king of beasts. You've got eagle's wings 16:20 the lord of the air. Babylon was a glorious kingdom, and it ruled 16:24 from 605 B.C. all the way down to 539 B.C. But then it weakened 16:31 It was taken over by another kingdom starting here in verse 5 16:34 And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it 16:37 raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the 16:40 mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto 16:43 it, Arise, devour much flesh. 16:45 So here we see a bear with three ribs in its teeth. So what 16:50 is this talking about. The fact that it was humped up on one 16:52 side shows an imbalance of power There were really two powers 16:56 that came together, the Medes and the Persians, and because the 16:59 Persians were much larger and more powerful this bear is 17:04 showing us the lopsidedness of the relationship between the two 17:07 nations and the fact that it had ribs in the mouth. Now if you 17:10 saw something in the forest, you know ribs or bones on the forest 17:12 floor, you'd think well, something had been conquered, something 17:15 had been eaten. So the ribs in the mouth of this power show 17:18 that when it came to power, it just conquer Babylon, but two 17:23 other nations, Lydia and Egypt. Lydia's where we see Turkey 17:26 today. So they were successively subdued by this power called 17:29 Medo-Persia. It ruled from 539 all the way down to 331 B.C. 17:36 And then in verse 6, we read: After this, I beheld, and lo 17:40 another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four 17:44 wings of a fowl; the beast also had four heads and dominion 17:47 dominion was given to it. Daniel says okay. He knows what a 17:51 leopard is but four wings. Now wings represent speed and the 17:55 one for Babylon, it had two wings. This one has four wings 17:58 This represents double speed, right? This is talking about 18:02 Greece but it literally flew from conquest to conquest. 18:06 Alexander at a very young age conquered all the territory 18:09 around him and unfortunately he could not conquer himself. He 18:12 died at a very young age and in a few years the kingdom was 18:16 divided up into four parts. The north, the south, the east and 18:20 the west represented by the four heads on this leopard here. So 18:24 four heads represent Greece in a divided fashion and Greece ruled 18:27 this way all the way down from 331 to 168 B.C. Again, we're 18:32 paralleling or repeating what we knew in Daniel chapter 2. And 18:37 then after Greece Daniel 7:7 says this: And after this I saw 18:41 in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and 18:44 terrible, and strong exceedingly and it had great iron teeth: it 18:49 devoured and brake in pieces. Pause there. 18:51 It had great what teeth, friend? 18:54 Iron teeth. Now that should bring to our mind as Bible 18:56 students something else. We saw legs of iron over there in 18:59 Daniel 2 didn't we? So God is helping us draw the parallel 19:03 to Daniel 2 by telling us it had iron teeth. It goes on...and 19:07 stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse 19:10 from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns. 19:13 Now Daniel didn't know quite what to think of this power. 19:15 He knew what a lion was and he knew what a bear was and he knew 19:19 what a leopard was. When it came to this one it was nothing 19:21 in nature to compare it to. He said it was just dreadful and 19:24 terrible. So, the Bible says in verse 23: The fourth beast is 19:28 the fourth kingdom on the earth. We know from Daniel chapter 2 19:31 that that was the same as the legs of iron. It is Rome. And 19:36 Rome ruled 168 B.C. all the way down to 476 A.D. A lot longer 19:42 that those other ones. Now again we what we're doing we're just 19:45 following the historic flow of events in world history. Right? 19:49 As prophecy unfolds history is unfolding to us and we're seeing 19:53 exactly what God wanted us to see. We can't deny it. It's 19:57 there in the history books. We know it took place. Now the 20:00 fourth beast had 10 horns on its head, and we want to know what 20:03 do those horns represent. Again we don't have to guess at it. 20:06 There's no speculation needed. We can go right to Daniel 7:24. 20:11 And here it says: And the ten horns out of this kingdom are 20:15 ten kings that shall arise. So if you let the Bible explain it, 20:18 it's not that difficult. God put those ten horns on the head of 20:23 that fourth beast over a thousand years before Rome 20:27 disintegrated and weakened and fell into various parts. God 20:30 knows the future, Amen? No question about it friends. So, 20:34 those ten horns represent the various European nations that 20:37 came out of the Roman empire and this is a parallel again to the 20:42 ten toes on the feet of Daniel chapter 2's image. So we got ten 20:47 kingdoms coming out of Rome. Now you might think what are those 20:49 kingdoms? Well they have some ancient names here. You can see 20:53 them given. We're not as familiar with those ancient 20:55 names, but you might be more familiar with the modern names. 20:58 We'll put those up. The Alamanni tribe were the Germans. The 21:02 Franks were the French. The Burgundian, the Swiss, the Suevi 21:03 are the Portuguese. The Lombard's are the Italians. The Visigoths 21:07 are the Spanish. Anglo-Saxons, you know who they are. They're 21:09 the English. Now three of the ten we no longer have anymore. 21:13 There's no modern equivalent over there in Europe. The 21:17 Vandals, the Heruli, the Ostrogoths they were taken out 21:19 of the way. We don't have those nations anymore. We're going to 21:21 be saying more about that in a short time today. Here something 21:26 new is introduced. God is first telling us about history. We 21:29 saw in Daniel 2 and we saw in Daniel 7 so, basically what 21:34 we've learned up to this point in our study we already knew it, 21:39 right? We already knew it from the image of Daniel 2. But the 21:43 next verse takes us into the next important development over 21:45 there in Western Rome after the fall of Rome and the various 21:49 parts. So verse 8 says: I considered the horns...now pause 21:54 there with me. When he said I considered the horns, what's he 21:55 saying. He's saying I'm looking at the various kingdoms right? 21:59 I'm looking at England and I'm looking at France, and I'm 22:02 looking at Spain, so he's looking at the horns, which 22:05 represent kingdoms. And behold there came up among them another 22:07 little horn, another little kingdom before whom there were 22:11 three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots...So all of a 22:14 sudden the picture changes, right? We're seeing the next 22:19 important development over there in Western Europe after Rome 22:23 falls into various parts. So we have to be very, very careful 22:26 identifying this little horn power and why? Because Bible 22:31 scholars are almost all in agreement that this little horn 22:35 power is the same exact power as the first beast of Revelation 22:39 chapter 13, where we started tonight and those two symbols 22:43 represent the same power is the end-time antichrist system. So 22:50 this little horn on the fourth beast and the first beast of 22:54 Revelation chapter 13 are the same. And we want to be sure we 22:56 identify accurately because this is the power that is going to 23:00 give a mark. So, many of you already know this if you've 23:03 studied history even in elementary school. You would 23:06 know after Rome fell, there was another power that came into 23:10 being but we don't just again rush over it. This is so 23:14 important the Bible gives us lots of information so we're 23:18 going to draw it out of the Bible, put it up there on the 23:22 screen for us to see so that all of us and all of you at home can 23:26 see that we don't make up anything here. You're going to 23:28 get it right from the word of God tonight. I considered the 23:32 horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little 23:34 horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked 23:36 up by the roots: and behold in this horn were eyes like the 23:41 eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things. So now we 23:43 can put that one up there. We know a little bit about the 23:49 geographic area that it's going to come up. The other horns 23:53 or the other kingdoms were over there in Western Europe. So if 23:56 this one comes up among them it must also come up somewhere over 24:01 in Western Europe. We don't have the exact precise place yet but 24:05 we know within all the world approximately where it's going 24:08 to come up among the European nations. Okay. Now let's go to 24:12 another identifying mark. This time verse 24: And the ten horns 24:16 out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and 24:19 another shall arise, what does it say? After them. Now think 24:23 this through very carefully. The date that historians give for 24:28 the fall of Rome is 476 A.D. So, that's when it disintegrates and 24:33 the various kingdoms that came in from the north that were able 24:36 to carve out a piece of it was able to do so. So if the little 24:39 horn comes up after the ten though we don't have the exact 24:42 date yet, it would have to come up some time after 476 A.D. So, 24:48 this point helps us identify it chronologically. The first point 24:53 geographically, the second point chronologically. It would have 24:56 to come up some time after Rome falls into the various parts, 24:58 sometime after 476 A.D. Back to verse 8. I considered the horns, 25:04 and, behold, there came up among them another little horn. 25:06 So, if it's a little horn that means it's a little kingdom. 25:10 Right? Not too hard there. Back to verse 8. It says: Before whom 25:13 there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots. 25:17 So this little kingdom came up with enough power that three of 25:23 the original 10 that Rome fell into were taken out of the way. 25:26 It says plucked up by the roots. Now I go out in the summertime 25:29 to my yard, and I'll tell you I don't like weeds. I don't like 25:32 weeds in my grass. So if I'm going to see a weed there and 25:35 I want to get rid of it, I can't just break off the top leaves 25:38 can I. I got to pluck it up by the what? By the roots. Sure. 25:42 If I pluck it up by the roots, I know it's going to be gone. So, 25:44 by telling us that these nations were plucked up by the roots 25:47 means they were annihilated, they were taken out of the way and 25:50 that's why they don't exist anymore. When this little power 25:55 came to be, it destroyed three of the 10 horns. Now verse 20: 26:00 And of the 10 horns that were in his head, and the other, which 26:03 came up, and before whom three fell...So there it is again. 26:05 It's told to us not just one place, but another place in verse 26:08 20 the three of the 10 fell. Let's put that up here on the 26:11 screen. It uproots three horns or three kingdoms. Verse 8 26:15 back here. It says: And behold, in this horn were eyes like the 26:18 eyes of man...Now this is unusual here. In the Bible eyes 26:23 are symbols of divine intelligence. A prophet of God 26:26 was called a seer, right? So as God gave direction to the 26:31 prophet and the prophet told the church and the church was able 26:33 to move according to the direction of God, and so the 26:36 prophet was considered the eyes of the church. So eyes in Bible 26:40 prophecy are symbols of divine intelligence and this horn with 26:46 eyes as the eyes of man by God describing it that way is 26:50 telling us that this horn is not being guided by God, it is not 26:55 God giving it direction but man is guiding it, man is at its 26:58 head. It's chosen for man to lead it rather than for God to 27:01 lead it. So we have a visible man at its head. Very important 27:06 here. It's all you have to think about. A little power over there 27:08 in Western Europe, comes up after 476 and man at its head. 27:13 We got a lot more to go though. Verse 24. It says: And he shall 27:17 be diverse from the first...Now again, the other horns are simple 27:21 political kingdoms aren't they? But something about this power 27:24 is different. Something about the way it's structured, 27:29 something about the way it rules is vastly different even unto 27:33 this day. Now I know I got you thinking, but here we go. Number 27:36 6 is diverse or different from the other political kingdoms. 27:40 Now this time we're going to go to verse 25. We got a lot of 27:43 information here. And he shall speak great words against the 27:47 Height, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and 27:50 think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his 27:53 hand until a time and times and the dividing of time. Lots of 27:57 information here. So let's now ask a logical question here. 28:02 What is this talking about? It says that it's going to speak 28:10 blasphemy. Let's go to Revelation 13:5. It says: There 28:12 was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and 28:14 blasphemies. So in Daniel it said he'll speak great things, 28:18 but Revelation adds to it by saying it's blasphemous, these 28:21 great things. So the question comes to us. What is blasphemy? 28:25 Now I could give you a thought and you could give me your 28:27 thoughts, but we don't want that. We want a Bible description or a 28:31 Bible definition of blasphemy. To do that, let's go to John 10 28:35 and verse 30. Jesus says: I and my Father are one. Then the 28:40 Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, 28:43 Many good works have I shown you from my Father, for which of 28:45 those works do you stone me? The Jews answered him, saying, 28:48 For a good work we stone thee not, but for what folks? 28:52 Blasphemy;...and now they're going to interpret what they 28:55 understand blasphemy to be... because that thou, being a man, 28:58 makest thyself God. Now according to the Bible, that's 29:01 blasphemy. So when a man makes himself God, that's a blasphemous 29:05 act. Now follow carefully. This wasn't blasphemy for Jesus 29:09 because he not only was man, he was fully Divine, right? So it 29:12 wasn't blasphemy for Jesus to make that claim because he had 29:15 every right to that claim. But for an ordinary man, for you and 29:19 for me to make that claim that would be a blasphemous act. So, 29:24 Jesus was accused of blasphemy when he came before Caiaphas, the 29:26 high priest and Caiaphas accused him of that because he said he 29:31 was divine. Now we're going to get another definition of 29:36 blasphemy here, Mark 2 verse 5. When Jesus saw their faith, he 29:39 said u to the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. 29:42 But there was certain of the scribes sitting there, and 29:45 reasoning in their hearts, Why doth this man thus speak 29:48 blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God only? Now they're 29:53 giving another definition of blasphemy here. It wasn't 29:55 blasphemy for Jesus to say thy sins be forgiven because he had 29:59 the Divine right to do that. But for an ordinary person to say 30:01 that, to make that claim, that would be considered blasphemy. 30:06 So this kingdom is going to be able to claim blasphemous acts 30:10 It's going to claim to be like God and to be able to forgive 30:14 of sin. So the Bible's defining blasphemy as assuming rights of 30:19 power that belongs to God alone. That's a very succinct way of 30:23 saying what blasphemy is. So let's put that one up here. 30:25 Number 7: He's going to speak great words and blasphemy. 30:28 Back to verse 25. And then it says: He shall wear out the 30:32 saints of the most High. Now the term wear out, it's kind of an 30:36 older term. We really don't use it as much anymore. But it's an 30:38 old English term that means to relentlessly persecute. So this 30:42 power is going to wear out the saints, going to be known for 30:46 persecuting God's people or the church. It says he's going to 30:50 think to change times and laws. Now, this can't be talking about 30:53 man's laws because man's laws change all the time. This has 30:56 got to be talking about God's law. Because we know that God 30:59 wrote his law with his finger on what? On stone, right? So it's 31:04 not going to change. Nobody can change God's laws. But this 31:07 power's going to think, or intend to change it. So very, 31:12 very important. Number 9: Think to change God's times and laws. 31:14 Back to verse 25, one more thing here. It says and they...they 31:19 being the saints...shall be given into his hand,...him 31:23 meaning this little horn power...until a time and times 31:26 and the diving of time. Now that kind of sounds like a riddle, 31:28 doesn't it? Time, times, and dividing of time. So this 31:32 prophecy is even telling us how long this power is going to rule 31:36 right? How long it's going to be persecuting God's people. A time 31:40 times and half a time. Now what is that? Once again we don't 31:43 have to guess that. The Bible will give us our explanation. 31:46 But this is one time when Revelation has to interpret for 31:50 us. Sometime Daniel interprets Revelation, sometimes Revelation 31:53 interprets Daniel. So let's go to Revelation chapter 12 and 31:56 let's see what it says here in verse 14: And to the woman were 32:00 given two wings of a great eagle that she might fly into the 32:03 wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a 32:06 time, and times...plural...and half a time, from the face of 32:10 the serpent. So here we've got the same terminology, don't we? 32:13 Daniel said time, times, and dividing of time. Here it says 32:15 time, times, and half a time. Well, what is it, though? Well 32:19 what is it is found in verse six same chapter, same book, same 32:23 chapter verse 6 says: And the woman fled into the wilderness, 32:25 where she has a place prepared of God, that they should feed 32:29 her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days. That's 32:33 1,260 days. So now we've got our understanding because time 32:39 represents a year and times represents two years and half a 32:43 time is half a year so using the Jewish method of calculation, 32:46 which is 30 days to a month we come up with exactly 1,260 days 32:50 So here's where many go astray when it comes to Bible prophecy 32:54 or the book of Revelation. Remember now that we're dealing 32:58 with symbolic prophecy in Daniel and Revelation. So, when we come 33:02 to 1,260 days, we can't stop there. We've got to apply the 33:06 key of understanding that unlocks time to us, which is in 33:09 Bible prophecy one prophetic day equals one literal what? Year, 33:14 that's right. So we apply this very important key of our 33:18 understanding. We're not looking now at 1,260 days, but 1,260 33:21 years. Now, keep in mind this is only in Bible prophecy. Usually 33:27 in the Bible, water is something you drink, and a beast is an 33:30 An animal with four legs, but in Bible prophecy, these things take 33:32 on symbolic meaning. So 1,260 days here represents 1,260 years 33:38 So, number 10 says this power will rule for 1,260 years. Let's put 33:43 that up there. Number 10, we know what that is now. We have 33:47 one more to go here. Revelation 13 and verse 3: And I saw one of 33:51 his heads, as it were, wounded to death, and his deadly wound was 33:54 healed: and...now much of the world...all the world wondered 33:57 after the beast. Verse 8 says the same thing: All that dwells 34:00 upon the earth shall worship him. We know it's a worldwide 34:04 power, right? Worldwide, all the world. Okay. Let's put them all 34:08 up here together. And we got all these points. Let me ask you a 34:12 very simple question. Did all the beasts come from the Bible? 34:15 If they did, give me a loud Amen out there. Amen. We didn't make 34:18 these up. I'm going to ask you a very...I'm going to say did 34:23 the all come from the Bible, Yes or No? Yes. You could take these 34:27 points. You could go down to the local library here and you could 34:31 look it up and without any doubt you'd come to the exact same 34:34 conclusion that we're going to come to here in our seminar. 34:37 Not because it's guess work because it's historical fact. 34:41 God is taking us through a sequence of history. Just to be 34:45 sure, we have no question about it we start with Babylon, and 34:50 then we have Medo-Persia. Then Greece came along and overcame 34:52 Medo-Persia and Rome came along and it conquered Greece. After 34:57 Greece, excuse me, after Rome then we have the divisions of 35:01 Rome. We have the 10 horns showing Rome divided up into 35:04 various parts. After the divide up into various parts we've got 35:05 the little horn. The little horn is described to us in all of 35:09 these ways, 11 clear identifying marks. Actually there are more 35:13 than this but we just put up 11 for now. So there is no guess 35:16 work. This is not a private interpretation, this is not some 35:20 church's idea of it. This is what the Bible describes this 35:25 power to be. Now, before I go any further, I want to say 35:28 something to you all. And that is that when we show 35:33 the understanding of this prophecy. 35:35 Folks, if we are associated of anyone that we know of 35:39 is associated with it, it doesn't mean that you're bad 35:43 people. It doesn't mean they're bad people. It doesn't mean they 35:47 don't love God. It doesn't mean God doesn't love them. There's 35:50 nothing personal in here. We're identifying a kingdom, 35:55 identifying a system. So God as our heavenly Father friends 35:58 looks down upon this world, and in love, because love demands 36:04 truth, he says, I need you to understand this prophecy. I need 36:08 you to understand this kingdom because this kingdom is going to 36:12 do a very prominent work in end time events. It's going to be 36:16 very prominent in all of history especially in end-time history. 36:22 So we're going to take a very careful look at it. God is not 36:26 talking about a personal thing. He's talking about a 36:28 religiopolitical kingdom that ruled the world in Bible 36:32 prophecy. He's not talking about sincere people that love the 36:35 Lord, Amen? And so putting this all together now there is one 36:39 and only one power that fits all of these identifying marks. 36:46 Point number 1: It was to come up over there in western Europe. 36:47 It came up at the very heart of the Roman empire, right in Rome 36:50 itself, and that was fulfilled. Point number two: It says that 36:54 it was to come up after 476. So here is the quote from 1860: 36:59 Pope Pius IX said: It is therefore, by a particular 37:04 decree of Divine Providence that...the fall of the Roman 37:07 empire and its partition into separate kingdoms, the Roman 37:12 Pontiff, whom Christ made the head and center of his entire 37:15 Church acquired civil power. So they're saying themself that 37:20 Rome under the Caesars', you might call it Pagan Rome divided 37:25 up into the various parts and when it did, the church itself 37:30 says, then we came to power. So, History of the Christian Church, 37:35 Vol. 3, p. 327, it says Vigilius ...ascended the papal chair 37:41 (AD 538) under the military protection of Belisarius, which 37:43 was a general of Rome and it's telling us that 538 is after 476 37:50 so that fulfilled it. It has to rise after Rome falls into 37:54 various parts, so we know that the church did not take control 37:57 till after 476. Point number two is fulfilled. The legally 38:00 recognized supremacy of the Pope began in 538 AD when there went 38:04 into effect a decree of Emperor Justinian, making the bishop of 38:07 Rome head over all the churches the definer of doctrine and the 38:11 corrector of heretics. Of the 10 divisions of Old Rome seven 38:15 accepted the supremacy of the Bishop of Rome; the other three 38:17 opposed his supremacy. War was made on these three. That's the 38:21 Heruli, the Vandals, and the Ostrogoths. The last of these 38:24 opposing powers, the Goths, were overthrown in 538 AD. This gave 38:28 Papal Rome, the undisputed supremacy. The 1,260 years thus 38:33 began in 538 AD. So we have that fulfilled. Let's go on to point 38:38 number three. It's the little horn or little kingdom. Now it's 38:40 a little kingdom in size, it's only about 108 acres, about the 38:44 size of your average golf course there, but of course it has 38:47 worldwide influence, but nevertheless, it fulfills number 38:51 three. Number four uproots three horns. Now we've already really 38:55 said this, but of the 10 that took over from western Rome when 38:59 it fell three of them the Heruli the Vandals and the Ostrogoths 39:04 opposed Rome. So armies were sent out under the direction of 39:08 Rome to take them out of the way and the Goths were the last to 39:12 go in 538. Now the next point is that it would have a man at its 39:17 head. Of course, we know that this power has that exact thing. 39:21 He rules, his word is law, even unto the time of his death and 39:26 so he speaks for that kingdom at all times. That point is 39:30 fulfilled. The next point is it would be diverse. Now why would 39:35 it be diverse. Well, I think we can clearly see that it is not 39:40 just political in its nature but it is religious and 39:43 political. It's a church and state combined, and so that's 39:47 what makes Papal Rome so unique because it's a church that's 39:50 ruling rather than simply a political kingdom. It has its 39:54 own laws, it has its own policies, it has its own 39:57 ambassadors, it's all dictated by the Pope. So that's point 40:01 number six. Point number seven: He will speak great words and 40:05 blasphemy. I'm going to give you some quotes right from this 40:07 power itself. From Ferraris' Ecclesiastical Dictionary it 40:11 says: The Pope is of so great dignity and so exalted that he 40:16 is not a mere man, but as it were God, and the vicar of God. 40:19 Which means one who takes the place of God, right? So again 40:23 many Catholics themselves are not aware of these, but when 40:26 these quotes are declared and when this is put into Catholic 40:31 doctrine, it stays there until it is taken out of the way and 40:35 it never has been. Revelation Four Views: A Parallel Commentary 40:38 p.288 says: On April 30, 1922, Pope Pius XI said, You know that 40:45 I am the Holy Father, the representative of God on earth, 40:49 the Vicar of Christ, which means that I am God on the earth. Now 40:53 again, this is a blasphemous claim. 40:55 Here's another Catholic quote On 40:56 the Authority of Councils from Bellarmine book 2: All the names 41:06 which in the Scriptures are applied to Christ, by virtue of 41:08 which it is established that he is over the church, all the same 41:11 names are applied to the Pope. So what it's telling us, friends 41:13 is that the things that Jesus is called in the Bible, the Pope can 41:17 be called the same things, and many of those things he does 41:20 take upon himself. In this particular book which I have in 41:22 my own personal library, Crossing the Threshold of Hope 41:24 which came out in about the mid 1990s by Pope John Paul II on 41:30 the third page, which is the first page with writing, it says 41:33 Confronted with the Pope, one must make a choice. The leader 41:37 of the Catholic Church is defined by the faith as the 41:39 Vicar of Jesus Christ (and is accepted as such by believers). 41:43 The Pope is considered the man on earth, who represents the Son 41:46 of God, who takes the place who takes the place of the Second 41:49 person of the omnipotent God of the Trinity. So they say 41:53 themselves in their own book, we take the place of Jesus, because 41:58 he's the Second Person of the Trinity. And then this one. Here 42:04 it is an article on the Pope, it says from their own dictionary 42:06 it says: The Pope is called most holy because he is rightfully 42:09 presumed to be such...He is likewise, the divine monarch, 42:12 the supreme emperor, and King of kings. So there again they're 42:16 taking the names of Jesus upon himself. From the Encyclical 42:20 Letters of Leo XIII, they said: We hold upon earth the place of 42:24 God Almighty. Wow. Again You might think these are older 42:30 statements, but Papal statements they're known as Papal bulls 42:32 they remain until the Pope retracts them. They're like the 42:36 law of the U.S. You know that law can go in effect until the 42:38 president retracts that law it stays law. So let's now look at 42:42 this. The Bible defines blasphemy as assuming any rights 42:45 or power that belongs to God alone. In Adam Clark's 42:50 Commentary on Daniel 7:25, where we got a lot of this information 42:53 from it says, speaking of that church: They have assumed 42:56 infallibility, which belongs only to God. They profess to 43:00 forgive sin, which belongs only to God. In the Catholic 43:05 Encyclopedia it says: This judicial authority will even 43:09 include the power to forgive sins. In Duties and Dignities of 43:13 the Priest, a book I have personally, Vol. 12, p.27, it says 43:18 God Himself is obliged to abide by the judgment of His priests, 43:21 and either not to pardon or to pardon, according as they refuse 43:25 or give absolution. The sentence of the priest precedes, and God 43:30 subscribes to it. So they're saying whatever the priest says 43:34 God's got to go along with it. If the priest forgives, God's 43:36 got to forgive. The priest doesn't forgive God can't 43:38 forgive. They're basically saying that the priest's word 43:40 takes precedent. Joseph Dearie's Catechism, p. 279 43:44 says: The priest does really and truly forgive sins in virtue of 43:48 the power given to him by Christ So they're not just saying that 43:50 God is doing it, and the priest is his mouthpiece, they're 43:53 saying the priest has the power to do it. Here is A Catechism 43:58 for Adults, p. 78. It says: Does the priest merely pray that your 44:02 sins will be forgiven? No, acting as God's instrument and 44:05 ordained minister, he truly forgives the sins. So there it 44:09 is. The Associated Press in 1984 it says Pope John Paul II...On 44:14 Tuesday told Roman Catholics to seek forgiveness through the 44:16 Church and not directly from God This requirement for confessing 44:19 sin through priests is one of the fundamental principles of 44:25 Roman Catholicism. And I know that to be true because in my 44:29 home, we did the very same thing. You know my father took us down 44:32 to the priest, and we had to confess sins to the priest and 44:35 so this is something that takes place in Catholic households. 44:37 But what does the Bible say? That's the important thing, 44:40 right? So in 1 Timothy 2:5, we read for there is one God, and 44:44 ...how many mediators, friends ...one mediator between God and 44:48 men, the man Christ Jesus. So Jesus himself said that: No man 44:53 comes to the Father, except through him. So we are not to go 44:57 to human priests, but only through Jesus to the Father. 45:01 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 4, Paul wrote that there would 45:05 come along, one: Who opposes and exalts himself...remember that 45:08 word exalt...above all that is called God, or that is 45:12 worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, 45:15 showing himself that he is God. By saying showing it's like he 45:18 is boasting himself that he is God. Matthew Henry, a very 45:23 famous commentator on the Bible, says that: The antichrist here 45:27 mentioned is some usurper of God's Authority in the church. 45:31 Now that's so important because most people today from reading a 45:35 lot of novels, they believe that the antichrist is something 45:38 outside of the church that persecutes the church. The 45:41 reason the antichrist is so deceptive folks is because he 45:44 comes from within the church and does his work in the name of 45:48 Christ. And that's why people don't see it as they should. 45:51 Now speaking about the temple when Paul wrote to the 45:55 Corinthian church, he said to them that they were the church 45:57 of God, and he also called them the temple of God. So, when 46:00 Thessalonians says he will come in the temple, he's saying he's 46:03 come right in the church. Now you know, they say that a picture 46:07 is worth a thousand words. Well here is a picture for you. Here 46:12 you have the head of this system he's sitting on a throne. Now 46:16 the Bible says God sits on a great white throne, right? So, 46:20 what do we see here? He's sitting on a great white throne. 46:22 The Bible tells us that God is between the cherubim angels. 46:25 What do we see here? He's sitting between the cherubim 46:27 angels. So by putting himself between the cherubim angels on a 46:30 great white throne, he's portraying himself visually as 46:34 sitting on the throne, taking the place of God. Very, very amazing 46:41 There are millions of beautiful sincere people in that power 46:45 that who love Jesus and Jesus loves them. I was raised in this faith 46:49 and many friends that I have are still in this faith. And I want 46:53 you to know that they can love Jesus, as much as anyone, Amen? 46:56 So I just want to say that to make that clear. Pope Boniface 47:02 VIII said: We therefore assert, define, and pronounce that it is 47:05 necessary for salvation that every human being is subject to 47:08 the Pontiff of Rome. So they're saying if you want to be saved 47:11 you have to come through Rome for salvation. Now you think 47:16 well, that was an old quote. Let's go to September of 2000 47:19 in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. I was in Milwaukee 47:22 holding a seminar here, and I picked this up. Of course it 47:25 went around nationally. It says: A new Vatican declaration issued 47:29 Tuesday says that only faithful Catholics can attain full 47:33 salvation from earthly sin and that other beliefs, including 47:35 Protestant Christian ones have defects that render them 47:39 inferior. Muslim, Jewish, and even Orthodox Christian leaders 47:42 have repeatedly asked to be treated as equals in dialog with 47:46 the Vatican, an idea that the new statement explicitly 47:49 circumscribes by reaffirming centuries-old claims of Catholic 47:53 primacy. Circumscribed means it's confined or restricted 47:58 because of this statement. So they're saying that by this 48:01 statement, they're saying that the Catholic Church is the prime 48:05 church, and you have to come through that agency. Now 48:08 remember what is the true meaning of antichrist? It is 48:12 Antichristos, which is Latin for antichrist. It means someone who 48:15 sets himself up in the place of Christ. Yes, it's true in that 48:19 sense he's opposing, but once you see that it is one who takes the 48:23 place of makes it a lot easier. Now one of the most well used 48:27 titles for the Pope in Latin is Vicarious Filii Dei and it means 48:31 the Vicar or the substitute of the Son of God. So when you 48:36 see the word Antichrist or one who puts himself in the place of 48:39 Christ and one of their titles is Vicarius Filii Dei, when 48:45 they use that title because of the meaning of the title they're 48:48 virtually pronouncing themself antichrist. They're taking that 48:51 title upon themself, they're taking that meaning upon 48:54 themself because that's really what antichrist means. One who 48:58 puts himself in place of Christ. Next one. Next point, Daniel 49:04 7:25. You will wear out the saints of the most High. 49:07 Revelation adds to that. It says It was given unto him to make 49:11 war with the saints, and to overcome them. Did they do that? 49:13 In the Catholic publication Western Watchman, they said 49:17 themselves. The church has persecuted. Only a tyro in 49:21 church history will deny that. Now a tyro in case you didn't 49:25 know is a beginner or a novice. So they're saying you'd have to 49:29 be a novice, you'd have to be a beginner not to know that that 49:32 church has persecuted. So we give them credit for honesty 49:35 there. Now another quote from them: the Public Ecclesiastical 49:40 Law, p. 142, says: The church may by divine right, confiscate the 49:43 property of heretics, imprison their persons and condemn them 49:46 to the flames. So they claim that God has given them the 49:50 right to persecute. And of course, they did this, friends in 49:53 the dark ages for a long, long time. They put many Christians 49:57 to death, burned them at the stake, tortured them, put them 50:00 in dungeon cells. In fact, taken from the History of the Rise 50:04 of the Spirit of Rationalism in Europe, Vol. 2, p.32, it says 50:07 that the church of Rome has shed more innocent blood than any 50:11 other institution that has ever expiated among mankind,...will 50:15 be questioned by no Protestant who has a competent knowledge of 50:19 history. So they're saying that if you understand history, you 50:22 will know that this church has persecuted. The problem folks is 50:26 that they've taken this information out of the books now 50:28 You can hardly find it in libraries today. It's been 50:31 removed, and so the generations that are growing up now they 50:34 have no understanding of it. They have no knowledge that this 50:36 went on during the time of the dark ages. History of Romanism, 50:40 pp.541-542 it says from the birth of popery...to the present 50:43 time, it is estimated by careful and credible historians that 50:48 more than 50 million of the human family have been 50:51 slaughtered for the crime of heresy by popish persecutors. 50:54 Newsweek Magazine 1982, it said Sounding more serious themes to 50:59 a gathering of academicians... or intellectuals...John Paul did 51:04 what no pope has ever done; he publicly acknowledged the errors 51:08 excesses of the Spanish Inquisition, which tortured and 51:11 burned heretics, Jews, and other false converts to the faith. So 51:13 they came right out and said yes we did this, you know. We're 51:16 sorry, we did that, but they came and acknowledged that at least 51:19 they did do that. And what did they do during that time? The 51:22 saints. They fled to obscure places. They went to remote 51:26 hills and mountains and retreats anywhere they could in order to 51:29 survive. History of the Popes, Vol. 2, p.334, it says: Great 51:34 numbers meaning great numbers of Christians were driven from 51:37 their habitations with their wives and children, stripped 51:39 and naked. Many of them inhumanly massacred. Now we 51:43 bring this out not to be sensational, but only to show you 51:45 how prophecy has been fulfilled. All you would need friends is 51:48 this book right here. If you have Fox's Book of Martyrs, it 51:51 has more than enough information there to help you to know what 51:54 went on during the history of the papacy in the dark ages, the 51:59 Spanish Inquisition, the Massacre of St. Bartholomew, the 52:03 slaughter of the Waldensian people, many other things could 52:05 be mentioned. But let's go on. Verse 25 says: he will think to 52:10 change times and laws. The Catholic Encyclopedia article 52:14 under the Pope, p.268 says He... meaning the Pope...is not 52:19 subject to them...them being the laws or what's called the canons 52:22 of the church...because he is competent to modify...that 52:24 means change...or to annul them...which means do away with 52:27 them...when he holds this to be best for the church. So, this is 52:31 saying the Pope is not tied to the law because he can change it 52:33 any time that he wants to. Again, back to the Catholic 52:38 Encyclopedia, it says: The Pope is of so great authority and 52:41 power, that he is able to modify declare, or interpret even 52:43 divine laws. It says he can change them, right? He can do 52:47 what he wishes. He can interpret them as he wishes because he has 52:50 that power. That's what they claim. The commandments again, 52:52 we were here earlier in the seminar. In Exodus chapter 20 52:55 speaking of the second commandment it says: Thou shalt 52:59 not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any 53:03 thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, 53:05 or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow 53:08 down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I, the Lord thy God, am 53:11 a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the 53:14 children unto the third and fourth generation of them that 53:16 hate me, And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me 53:20 and keep my commandments. Now that is the long commandment. 53:25 Except for the fourth one, that's the longest commandment for sure 53:27 Now did they do that? Did they in any way change God's law? 53:31 Now let's go take a look. This is a monument outside of a 53:37 Catholic Church here in Grand Junction, Colorado, in the 53:40 courtyard. And look what it says there. It says that they have 53:45 basically, taken the second commandment right out. And that 53:49 has bumped the fourth one up to the place of the third and the 53:50 third one up to the place of the second and so on. So that would 53:52 only leave nine commandments, but what they did was they took the 53:55 10th commandment and divided it into two, the one that deals 53:58 with coveting. So they made two commandments out of one, so they 54:01 could still keep the round number 10. Now this commandment 54:05 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to images...this was taken out 54:09 and so the adherents of that faith doesn't understand the 54:13 restriction that God put on that and of course, what they do is 54:17 they make images, and they bow down to them, and they venerate 54:21 them. And so you can see what happens when you don't have that 54:25 commandment to show us God's will. But he didn't stop there. 54:29 That power didn't stop there. Remember, we took up this 54:31 commandment, number four, Exodus 20. It says: Remember the 54:33 Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and 54:36 do all thy work: But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord 54:39 thy God:...Again, when you go to that commandment, you see that 54:43 they've changed the position of it from the fourth to the third, 54:45 and sometimes they don't even mention the commandment in its 54:49 length. They say remember to keep holy the Lord's day. Now 54:54 that takes out the whole meaning of the Sabbath and the seventh 54:56 day of it. So this one is in another location. I found this 54:58 one in Pensacola, Florida and again, you can see that they've 55:01 taken the second commandment out So you can see this is common 55:05 these monuments of the commandments or these diversions 55:09 of the commandments, and they've taken the second commandment out 55:10 So they made the second commandment, what is the third 55:14 one in the Bible about you'll not take the name of the Lord 55:16 thy God in vane and that makes the fourth one take the place of 55:18 the third, and you've still got the ninth and the tenth to do 55:21 with coveting. All right. So here you can see they've labeled 55:25 the fourth commandment number three. And this is another one. 55:29 Just to show you that these are very prominent and very 55:32 consistent in the same way that I described. Number 10: He shall 55:36 rule for 1260 years. Now this is one of the most amazing of 55:40 all of these points of identification. They said he 55:44 would rule for 1260 years. Now back to this quote, where we were 55:47 earlier. It says that Vigilius who was the first Pope it said 55:52 he ascended the papal chair in 538. So all you have to do Bible 55:57 students is take 538, add 1260 years on to that, and we will 56:03 come to the year 1798. So we would expect then to see 56:09 something significant happened to this power in 1798 at the end of 56:13 1260 years, and absolutely we do. Revelation 13 verse 3, it says: 56:18 I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to what? Death. 56:23 Now, keep something in mind here. When the Bible shows that this 56:27 power, Revelation 13:1-3, it shows it to us symbolically 56:31 doesn't it. Body of the leopard, feet of the bear, mouth of the 56:33 lion and so on. So it's showing it to us in a symbolic way so 56:36 it's going to get a wound. It makes sense that we would expect 56:40 to see the wound given in a symbolic fashion. A lot of 56:43 people today because they're reading these Left Behind books 56:45 they're expecting this antichrist man to stand out, 56:49 some ruthless dictator and he's going to get shot or stabbed 56:52 and that kind of thing and he's going to have this miraculous 56:54 resurrection. Nothing could be further from the truth folks. 56:56 This is a power rather than an individual that has assumed this 57:01 incredible prominence. It rules down through the time and then 57:05 it receives what is called a death blow. Let's go take a look 57:09 how this is taking place? In 1798, there had just been a 57:14 major revolution take place in this world, and that was in what 57:17 country. France, right. So, Napoleon, of course, who was the 57:21 leader at that time, he sent his general, Berthier with part of 57:27 the French army down into the heart of Rome itself. And what 57:30 they did was they took the Pope captive, Pope Pius VI. When Pius 57:35 refused to give over temporal or civil rule, they took him 57:39 captive, took him back to France He died there a short time later 57:41 They confiscated the property, the beast received a deadly 57:45 wound, and people thought the papacy was over. They thought 57:47 that's it. It will not go on from that blow. Let's go to 57:53 Church History p.24. It says The murder of a Frenchman in Rome 57:56 in 1798, notice the exact year...gave the French an excuse 58:01 for occupying the Eternal City...that's another term for 58:04 Rome...and putting an end to the Papal temporal power...that 58:07 means papal civil power. The aged Pontiff himself was carried 58:11 off into exile to Valance. The enemies of the Church rejoiced. 58:15 The last pope, they declared, had reigned. They thought nope 58:19 this is it, no more popes after this. There's the deadly wound 58:21 right there, friends. |
Revised 2025-10-13