Participants: Pr. Jac Colon
Series Code: RN
Program Code: RN000006
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01:04 John the Baptist, who was standing on the bank
01:10 or in the water at the Jordan River, baptizing 01:15 people and he saw a man, he pointed and said look 01:25 the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. 01:37 He was stunned at what he saw next because Jesus 01:42 took off his outer robe and began to walk down 01:46 into the water and said John baptize me. 01:54 Jesus was baptized in the water of the Jordan River 02:00 and when he came up out of the water his Father spoke 02:08 from heaven saying this is my son and I'm well pleased 02:17 and he sent the Holy Spirit which came down in the form 02:21 of a dove resting on Jesus anointing him, empowering him 02:27 to carryout his ministry on this Earth as 02:32 the Son of God. A ministry that came to an abrupt 02:37 end when Jesus received a deadly wound and died 02:41 on the cross, three and a half years later. 02:49 But then, three days later he came up from the grave 02:55 he rose again, he ascended to heaven to the right hand 03:00 of the Father and then he sent the Holy Spirit 03:05 to perform signs and wonders miracles and by the power 03:11 of the Holy Spirit Jesus gathered the whole world into 03:16 his Church to worship him, God, the Father, the Son, 03:22 and the Holy Spirit. What a God we serve! 03:34 But in Revelation Chapter 13 we see a different picture. 03:38 In Revelation Chapter 13, Verse 1, the dragon stood on 03:44 the shore of the sea and I saw a beast coming up 03:50 out of the sea. So, just as Jesus came up out 03:55 of the waters of the baptism now we see a beast coming up 04:00 out of the sea, and then the dragon gave the beast 04:09 his power, his throne, and great authority just as God 04:14 the Father gave his son his power, his throne, and 04:19 his authority, so the dragon gives the beast his power 04:23 his throne, and his authority. Verse 4, men worshiped 04:30 the dragon, that's the devil because he had given 04:34 his authority to the beast and they also worshiped the beast. 04:40 Verse 7 says he was given power to make war against 04:44 the saints and to conquer them, and to exercise his 04:51 authority for 42 months. Let's see 42 months divided 04:59 by 12 months in a year that equals three and a half years 05:06 Just as Jesus Christ came up out of the water received 05:10 his authority from the Father and began his ministry for 05:14 three and a half years, so the beast comes up out of 05:17 the water receives his authority from 05:19 the dragon that's the devil for three and one half years 05:22 coincidence? Absolutely not, that isn't all. 05:31 Verse 3 says one of the heads of the beast seemed to had 05:35 a fatal wound, but the fatal wound was healed just as 05:44 Jesus suffered a fatal wound when he died on the cross. 05:49 The beast has a fatal wound just as Jesus was raised 05:55 up again, so the beast, fatal wound is healed, 06:02 that isn't all. In Verse 11, it says another beast came 06:07 up out of the earth, he had two horns like a lamb, but 06:10 he spoke like a dragon and he exercised all the authority 06:13 on the first beast on his behalf and he made the earth 06:16 and its inhabitants worship the first beast performing 06:19 great signs and wonders, miracles, that's the false 06:24 prophet, we've already seen. So, look at it, Jesus came 06:27 came up out of the waters of baptism, the Father anointed 06:30 him with the Holy Spirit giving him his authority 06:33 to conduct his ministry on this Earth for three and 06:35 one half years after which he died on the cross. 06:38 Three days later he was raised up again and he sent 06:42 the Holy Spirit to come into this world to gather 06:44 the world into his Church to worship the creator of 06:48 the Heavens and the Earth and so the dragon gives his 06:56 authority to the beast who comes up out of the water. 07:02 For three and a half years he performs his Ministry 07:08 and then he receives a deadly wound. But, the deadly 07:13 wound is healed and he sends the false prophet 07:18 to perform miracles, signs and wonders to the whole 07:21 world to gather the world together to worship him, 07:28 the dragon. You see the dragon, the beast, 07:32 the false prophet form a counterfeit to the Father 07:39 his son and the Holy Spirit. The dragon is no dummy. 07:48 He knows that if he is ever going to secure 07:51 the elegance of men and women on this Earth he has 07:54 to appear as though he were God. He is no dummy 08:01 and in order for it to work the counterfeit must look 08:04 almost exactly and precisely the same as the truth 08:11 and it does what he makes, he is not perfect, he makes 08:19 mistake. Bible says he was given power to make war 08:25 against the saints and to conquer them, in other words 08:28 in order to secure his allegiance he uses deception 08:33 and force. God uses truth and love. The beast is 08:52 a counterfeit system of worship designed by 08:57 the dragon to look at it as though it were the true 09:02 worship of the true God and practically the entire world 09:08 is going to worship the beast believing that they are 09:13 following the lamb. Second, we shouldn't be surprised 09:20 in 2nd Thessalonians Chapter 2. In 2nd 09:24 Thessalonians Chapter 2, Verse 3, don't let anyone 09:27 deceive you in anyway for that day will not come 09:31 until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness 09:35 is reveled someone in Thessalonica had been 09:38 teaching and the people were wondering well has the end 09:41 come, has the Kingdom of God been established, has Jesus 09:44 come back again and we missed it. No, that day 09:49 will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man 09:52 of lawlessness that's the Antichrist is revealed 09:56 first the man doomed to destruction. Watch this, 10:01 Verse 4, he will oppose and exalt himself over 10:06 everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that 10:14 he sets to himself up in God's temple, proclaiming 10:18 himself to be God and that's the secret of the Antichrist. 10:27 He doesn't go around hollering and complaining 10:30 there is no God, no, he goes around saying 10:34 I am God, worship me and almost the whole world 10:40 follows in wonder after the beast. He sets himself 10:47 up in God's temple saying I am God. We have learned 10:53 from the scripture,comparing scripture with scripture 10:56 that the Israel of God today is the Church of Jesus Christ 11:01 and the Temple that is being rebuilt now is the Church 11:05 and today practically the entire Christian world 11:09 following the lead of the popular writers like left 11:12 behind Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins are looking for 11:16 the Antichrist to arise sometime in the future after 11:21 the Church is ruptured out of the way to rebuild the temple 11:26 in Jerusalem and to desecrate the temple when the 11:29 Antichrist, one Nicolae Carpathia from 11:32 Romania comes riding on the back of a fat pig and 11:37 offers the pig as a bloody sacrifice on the alter that's 11:40 what everyone is looking for today, but the Bible 11:43 says no it is going to happen in the Church 11:49 and it's happening right now. I'm going to show you 11:53 one Bible text that delivers the death blow to the idea 11:59 that you've just heard. One text, First John 12:05 Chapter 2 Verse 18, First John, the 2nd Chapter 12:11 the 18th Verse, Dear Children, John writes, this is 12:20 the last hour and as you have heard that the Antichrist 12:25 is coming even now, many Antichrists have come, this is 12:38 how we know that it's the last hour, they went out from 12:43 us now this is a remarkable Verse. John wrote this almost 12:53 2000 years ago and he wrote it to a Church that was 13:00 looking for the Antichrist to come in the future and 13:04 John says just a minute I'm telling you even now 13:09 many Antichrists have already come. Now listen to 13:17 me, if John could write 2000 years ago that even now many 13:29 Antichrists have already come then we had better 13:34 believe that Antichrist is still at work in this world 13:40 today. Even now they thought it was going to be in 13:45 the future and John says no, it's now and then another 13:52 remarkable part of this Verse, this is how we know 13:57 that it's the last hour because many Antichrists 14:00 have come and look Verse 19, they went out from us 14:05 in other words they were once a part of us. 14:09 Antichrist is doing his dirty work in the Church 14:13 and many are departing from the Church because of the 14:17 work of Antichrist and today practically the whole world 14:25 is looking over to the Middle East wondering when 14:28 is the Antichrist going to appear when he is already 14:33 doing his dirty work in the Temple of God. 14:37 Then who is Antichrist, let's let the Bible answer for us 14:43 back to Revelation Chapter 13, In Revelation, the 13th 14:49 Chapter, Verse 1, the dragon stood on the shore of the sea 14:54 and I see a beast coming up out of the sea with 10 horns, 14:57 7 heads, and 10 crowns on his head. He has 10 horns, 15:02 but only 7 heads. The ten horns, 7 heads, and 10 crowns 15:08 so why does he have 7 heads and 10 crowns, where the other 15:12 three heads. Now we'll see that a little later hang on! 15:18 And this beast goes off to make war against the 15:22 saints of God. It is no small matter to look at the end 15:28 of this conflict and struggle between the beast and 15:32 God's people. In Verse 12, this calls for patient 15:35 endurance on the part of the saints, who obey God's 15:37 commandments and have the faith of Jesus. 15:39 In Revelation 14:12 and Revelation 12:17, the dragon 15:44 was angry at the woman, went to make war against the remnant 15:46 of her offspring, those who obey God's commandments and 15:49 remain faithful to the testimony of Jesus. 15:52 We find two identifying marks two points of attack, where 15:56 the Antichrist attacks God's Church, obedience to 15:59 the commandments of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ, 16:04 but who is he. Look at Verse 2, the beast I saw 16:11 resembled a leopard, but he had feet like those of a bear 16:16 and a mouth like that of a lion. Now God's using 16:20 three animals to describe this beast, he look like 16:23 a leopard, but he had feet like a bear and mouth like 16:27 a lion. Remember that, leopard, bear, and lion; 16:35 leopard, bear, and lion; I think at this point John is 16:40 telling us, John wrote the Book of Revelation, I think 16:43 John is saying stop, don't read any further until you 16:49 understand the 7th Chapter of the Book of Daniel. 16:54 Remember the Book of Revelation quotes to or alludes 16:58 to the book of the Old Testament how many times 17:02 over 600 times, that's right. Here is another one of those 17:06 places the leopard, the bear and the lion. Watch this, 17:11 Daniel Chapter 7, turn with me in your Bibles to Daniel, 17:16 the 7th Chapter, this time Daniel has a vision and he 17:25 sees the sea, the waters of the sea being stirred up 17:28 by a mighty wind and in Verse 3, four beasts each 17:32 different from the other came up out of the sea. 17:35 Now what were these four beasts that Daniel saw in 17:39 Verse 4, the first one looked like a lion 17:41 in Verse 5, the second one look like a bear in Verse 6 17:44 the third one look like a leopard sound familiar 17:49 lion, bear, and leopard, but John saw in Revelation first 17:55 he mentioned the leopard, the bear and the lion. 18:00 Daniel says the lion, the bear, the leopard, what's going 18:05 on here? What are these four beasts symbolize. Remember 18:11 the secret to understanding prophecy is to interpret 18:15 the symbols, but not just to interpret them but to let 18:18 the Bible interpret itself for you by comparing scripture 18:21 with scripture so what do these beasts symbolize. 18:24 Verse17 of the same chapter says the four great beasts 18:28 or four kingdoms that will rise up on the earth, 18:32 so now we see four beasts coming up out of the water 18:35 they rise up out of the earth. Hey we've 18:37 already identified and we did that on the first night of 18:39 Revelation, now remember on the very first night 18:42 Nebuchadnezzar saw a dream and that dream he saw, in his 18:45 in his dream he saw a big image with a head of gold, 18:47 body, the breast and arms of silver, body of bronze, 18:51 and legs of iron and then the toes were iron and clay, 18:54 you remember that the first night and the head of gold 18:57 symbolize Babylon, then the breast and arms of sliver 19:01 the Medo-Persian Empire, and then the body of bronze 19:04 the Greek empire led by its first king Alexander the Great 19:08 the legs of iron the mighty Roman Empire with her 19:11 Caesars and so. Daniel sees it again, Babylon, the lion; 19:21 the bear, Medo-Persia, even says the bear was lopsided. 19:25 He raised himself up on one side because the Medo-Persian 19:28 Empire were two empires together one bigger than the 19:31 other and then the leopard symbolizing Greece. 19:38 So Daniel lived during the time of Babylonian Empire. 19:42 Daniel saw Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece 19:46 and then Rome, but John was writing during the time of 19:49 the Roman Empire and that's why he saw the leopard, 19:52 the bear, the lion because he saw Greece, Medo-Persia and 19:56 then Babylon. In another words, he was looking backward 19:59 after this had already unfolded and now he is living 20:03 in the time of the Roman Empire, the legs of iron 20:05 and that fourth beast that comes up out of the sea. 20:09 What do we have, this is so important to recognize is that 20:13 that God is giving us a road map through history as 20:18 an anchor to help us be sure that when we interpret the 20:22 rest of his prophecy that we will be sure we are on 20:25 the right track because we are moving within the historical 20:30 flow of time Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and 20:35 then Verse 7, I looked and there was a fourth beast 20:38 terrifying and frightening, he could not even name it, 20:41 but we have already identified it because it was the Pagan 20:46 Roman Empire. By Pagan, I mean the mighty Roman Empire 20:50 under the leadership of the Caesars and the people 20:54 were required to worship their emperor as though he 20:57 were God, they thought that he was God and this just 21:02 paved the way for what was to come next and let's take 21:08 a look at it in Verse 8. This beast was different from 21:16 all the others and he had ten horns on his head. 21:20 Now Daniel saw in Nebuchadnezzar's dream 21:24 ten toes on the image. The beast has 10 horns. 21:29 What does the 10 horns symbolize, Verse 24, 21:33 compare scripture with scripture, let the Bible 21:35 interpret it for us. In Verse 24, the ten horns 21:38 are 10 kings who will come from this kingdom. And so here 21:43 Rome is divided into the ten nations we saw that already, 21:47 the massive Barbarian invasions that took place 21:50 across the mighty Roman Empire. They were 21:53 completed by the year 476 AD and there we stand in time. 22:01 Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome. Rome divided into 22:06 the 10 nations, 7 of which would become the modern nation 22:09 of Europe today, by the year 476 AD. You see we are moving 22:15 along within the historical flow of history on this planet. 22:23 Then while I was thinking about the horns in Verse 8, 22:29 there before me was another horn, a little one and he came 22:35 up among them, so there he was looking at the 10 horns 22:40 on that beast and he sees a little horn coming up among 22:43 them and three of those first horns were uprooted before it, 22:50 three. Now, you know, why the beast in Revelation only 22:55 has 7 heads because 3 got chopped off, uprooted, we are 23:02 gonna comeback to that, isn't this exciting, we're gonna 23:05 comeback to this in a minute. This horn had the eyes like 23:09 the eyes of a man, but a mouth that spoke boastfully 23:16 Revelation says blasphemously. Eyes like the eyes of 23:23 a man and mouth that spoke boastfully. He claimed to 23:27 be God. He was only a man. So far all of the pieces are 23:36 lining up aren't they and if we can just identify 23:39 who that little horn is that comes up among the ten uproots 23:43 three speaks boastfully even though he is just a man. 23:49 If we can identify that little horn then we'll know who 23:52 the beast and the Antichrist is because almost every Bible 23:56 scholar agrees that the little horn in Daniel 7 is the beast 24:00 of Revelation Chapter 13. So, who is that little horn, 24:07 that's what Daniel wanted to know. Daniel was looking 24:11 at the little horn and he said I want to know the truth 24:14 about those horns. I want to know the truth about 24:16 that little horn that came up and so the angel appeared 24:19 to interpret the vision for Daniel and here we read about 24:22 it in Verse 23. He gave me this explanation, the fourth 24:28 beast is the fourth kingdom that will appear on the Earth. 24:31 It will be different from all of the other kingdoms and 24:34 it would devour the whole earth, that's the Roman Empire 24:38 and remember their emperors were considered Gods and 24:42 everyone was expected to worship the emperor to worship 24:46 their God. Verse 24, the ten horns are 10 kings, who will 24:56 come from this kingdom. Now I want you to get this 24:59 point, this is so crucial. The ten horns are ten kings, 25:06 ten nations as he said that come from this kingdom. 25:11 Now what is this kingdom, the fourth kingdom, 25:15 the Pagan Roman Empire with her Caesars, with her 25:19 emperors, with people who worship their emperors, 25:22 so the ten horns come from that kingdom. They have to 25:28 come from the Roman Empire because that's where 25:31 the ten horns arise and he specifically says they come 25:37 from this kingdom, Rome, now why is that important 25:41 because almost everybody today is saying no, no. 25:46 Nicolae Carpathia divides the world into ten different 25:50 regions and appoints kings over the those regions 25:54 sometime after the rapture of the Church, but the bible 25:59 says that those ten horns come from this kingdom, 26:03 which is the Roman Empire, so if they come out 26:06 of the Roman Empire then they can't be ten parcels 26:10 of the land divided up 1000s of year after the Roman Empire 26:14 fell. Can't be? No, we have Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece 26:22 and then Rome. Rome itself was divided into the ten and 26:27 out of those ten come the little horn. And now 26:31 everything flows in order, I hope you are with me 26:34 on this tonight, that's a crucial point. Then he 26:39 identifies, who the little horn is with nine identifying 26:43 marks. He says after them another kingdom will arise 26:47 different from the earlier ones that's Rome, I'm sorry, 26:50 after them another king will arise different from the 26:52 earlier ones, that's the little horn that comes up 26:55 among the ten. And he will subdue three kings and he will 27:02 speak against the Moshi, that's blasphemy and he will 27:06 appraise and prosecute the saints of God and he will 27:11 try to change the set times and the laws, and the saints 27:15 will be handed over to him for time, times and half a time, 27:17 I found the nine identifying marks of that little horn. 27:22 We are going to look at each one of them and when we do 27:26 we are gonna discover they can only point in one 27:28 direction to one power that is the Antichrist or the beast 27:32 in Revelation Chapter 13. So who is that little horn? 27:38 Let's look at the nine identifying marks; first 27:41 of all he describes the fourth beast that's 27:44 the Pagan Roman Empire, the mighty Roman Empire in history 27:48 The ten horns are ten kings who will come from this 27:52 kingdom, so he arrives as among the ten that come 27:56 from the Pagan Roman Empire, so things are flowing along 28:02 here. He has to arise among the ten, somewhere among 28:09 what we would call the modern nations of Europe 28:12 because that's what the ten horns are. And therefore, 28:18 it would have to be sometime after, sometime after Rome is 28:24 divided by those Barbarian invasions into those 28:28 ten nations or ten states. That was completed by 28:34 the year, by the year 476 AD, so what are we looking at? 28:38 We should be looking for the little horn or the Antichrist 28:42 who arise somewhere within the confines of Europe 28:46 that comes out of that Roman Empire. It would be after 476 28:51 when Rome is divided among the ten horns or the ten nations. 28:55 Sometime after that, sometime among them, we should be 28:59 looking for the little horn to appear and then the fourth 29:04 identifying mark. He would be different from all 29:11 of the other kingdoms. The other kings, he would be 29:15 a different kind of power, so this little horn that grows 29:22 up among the ten would be different, a different 29:27 kind of power. We'll come back to that in a moment 29:30 and then it says he would subdue or uproot and destroy 29:36 those three kings. In order to understand this we have to 29:43 go back into history because in the fourth century, 29:51 the emperor Constantine was the emperor of Rome. 29:56 And Constantine recognized that his empire was rapidly 30:03 weakening and falling apart, looking like easy prey for 30:08 the Barbarians standing at the gates, ready to come in, 30:14 so he did two things to expand his influence and 30:18 strengthen his empire. Number one, he became 30:23 a Christian because at the same time, 30:26 the Christian Church was gathering, gaining momentum 30:30 and growing across the Roman Empire, 30:33 so in order to expand his influence with the people, 30:36 Constantine became a Christian in name and he did something 30:44 else. He moved the capital from Rome over to the Eastern 30:50 Front in Byzantium thinking that it would strengthen 30:54 his hand to stand against the Barbarians, but he realized 31:01 that through the centuries the world had become accustomed 31:05 to looking to Rome for guidance and leadership. 31:09 And he knew that as soon as he left, it would be 31:13 a simple matter for a political or a military 31:18 man to exert his influence in Rome and begin to gain 31:23 power and become a threat to the empire himself because 31:28 he knew that when he moved he left the political vacuum 31:32 there, so he had to do something to fill that vacuum 31:36 who could he put in power. It couldn't be a military 31:39 person, it couldn't be a political person because 31:41 they would be a threat to the empire himself, but there 31:44 was another leader beginning to emerge as a very, very 31:49 powerful leader and that was the Bishop of the Church 31:57 at Rome. And so Constantine and the Pagan Roman Empire 32:05 gave his thrown, his power and his authority to 32:11 the Bishop of the Church at Rome and now for the first 32:18 time in the history of God's Church, the Church had 32:23 religious authority and the political power of 32:28 the state to enforce that authority. In other words, 32:33 the Church and the state were joining together to enforce 32:38 the doctrines of the Church and that's exactly what 32:42 happened because as the Bishop of Rome began to expand 32:48 his influence over the empire he found himself bitterly 32:52 opposed by three of those little horns, the Vandals, 32:57 the Ostrogoths and the Heruli These were called Arian 33:02 nations because they accepted the teachings of a man 33:06 named Marcus Arius who taught that Jesus Christ was a man, 33:11 and Jesus Christ was a man and not God at all. Now we 33:20 know that Jesus was a man, but at the same time 33:25 Jesus Christ was God, Amen. So obviously the Church 33:31 could not accept the teaching of Arius, but opposition 33:39 between the Church and those three tribes became so intense 33:45 and so severe that war broke out and the Bishop of Rome 33:50 summoned the emperor Justinian who send his troops in and 33:56 by the year 538 uprooted and destroyed those three nations, 34:01 those three horns, the Vandals, the Ostrogoths, 34:05 and the Heruli, and now the Bishop of Rome was 34:08 virtually unopposed in his quest for power. That's all 34:13 that happened. Now I feel like it's important to say 34:18 something before we go any further. Most of you 34:21 I can tell have already got it and you can see who 34:27 the little horn is. If you haven't gotten it, 34:31 well let me tell you now and we'll substantiate it 34:35 a lot more, it was the Medieval Church in Rome, 34:41 which was a dark, dark chapter in the history of 34:46 the Church, but having said that I want to make a couple 34:49 of things crystal clear. I'm not a Catholic-hater, 34:56 I'm not a Pope-hater. I don't hate anyone. 35:00 God loves everyone and we should love everyone, Amen. 35:07 We are looking at a period of time in the history of 35:12 the Church, where the Church made some very, very serious 35:18 mistakes. We are looking at a time that I'm gonna 35:22 show you even John Paul II himself acknowledged as a dark 35:27 chapter in the history of the Church and he publicly 35:31 confessed to the world that the Church made serious 35:36 mistakes during the Dark Ages. And I think it takes 35:41 mighty big man to admit that he or his Church has made 35:48 mistakes and I respect him for that. I respect John Paul II. 35:53 John Paul II has done wonderful things in trying 35:58 to bring peace to the world and we should respect him 36:02 for that, but just because I respect someone doesn't 36:06 mean that I have to agree with everything that they 36:10 believe and just because I don't agree with everything 36:15 that he believes, doesn't mean that I'm being 36:17 disrespectful and hateful as some would have us 36:20 believe today. You see there is a new way of thinking out 36:24 there that there is no such thing as truth or error. 36:29 Everybody is right as long as they sincerely believe it 36:32 in their heart and someone who dares to stand up and 36:36 say that something is wrong is now considered hateful 36:41 and is playing right into the hands of the devil. 36:45 Jesus said I'm the way, the truth and the light, 36:50 and anything outside of Jesus is not truth, Amen. 36:55 That does not mean that we need to be hateful. We don't 36:59 have to agree on everything to love one another. 37:05 My wife and I don't even agree on everything and she 37:09 likes the Dallas Cowboys, but I still love her and 37:18 so I have no desire and no intention to be disrespectful 37:21 to John Paul II or anyone of that faith, but what we're 37:25 doing tonight is looking back into the flow of history at 37:28 a period which he called the dark chapter in the history 37:32 of the Church looking at mistakes that the Church made 37:35 and the only way we can be sure that we never make those 37:38 mistakes again is to learn from them. Amen. 37:41 Not to ignore them, and so let's look in the right light 37:45 with the right mind and the right heart. It says that 37:50 he would speak against the most high Revelation 37:54 says it would be a blaspheming power. So what does 38:00 blaspheming mean? Jesus when he was on this Earth, healed 38:10 a man, crippled man, but it was interesting when he 38:16 healed him. He said your sins are forgiven. Remember the 38:25 story and then the religious leaders were so incensed that 38:29 they picked up stones to stone Jesus because they said 38:34 only God can forgive sins, true. What they didn't 38:40 understand was that Jesus was God and he has 38:45 the authority to forgive sins, but they accused him 38:49 of blasphemy, blasphemy is man putting himself in God's 38:54 place. Man taking to himself that which can only pertain 39:00 to God, that's blasphemy. Now what did the Church do? 39:06 That could be considered blasphemy. It is to be 39:10 observed and I'm reading from the faith of millions 39:14 written by the Reverend John O'Brian former Dean of 39:17 Notre Dame University as the Imprimata of the Pope 39:21 stamped inside the cover meaning there is no heresy 39:24 in this book according to what the Church itself teaches 39:28 from Rome. Christ gave the Church not the power to 39:36 simply announce that sins are forgiven, but to actually 39:40 forgive them. You see when a person goes to confession, 39:47 they confess their sins to the priest and the priest 39:51 raises his hand says ego te absolvo and instantly 39:57 they claim the priest has the authority to forgive 40:00 the sins and God has to obey what the priest says in heaven 40:04 but the Bible says only God can forgive sins and that's 40:09 man putting himself in God's place, man can't forgive sins. 40:21 There are other ways to blaspheme God and again 40:29 I'm reading from the same book. In the mass, most 40:34 people don't understand what the mass is. Protestants teach 40:39 that the bread is the symbol for the body of Christ and 40:44 the wine is the symbol for the blood of Jesus Christ 40:49 as we celebrate the Lord Supper, but in the mass, 40:53 the Church says no, the priest takes the wine and 40:59 the bread and he prays over it lifting it up to heaven and 41:04 in what is called the prayer of trans-substantiation, 41:08 the bread they claim actually becomes the body of Christ 41:14 and the wine becomes the blood of Christ, so 41:18 that in the mass the priest is offering the body and 41:22 shedding the blood of Jesus as a sacrifice again 41:27 for the sins of men, most people don't understand that. 41:31 Let me read it to you, the power of the priest 41:35 in conducting the mass is equal to that of Jesus Christ 41:41 because in this role the priest speaks with the voice 41:44 and the authority of God himself. He reaches up into 41:48 heaven brings Christ down from his thrown and places 41:53 him upon our alter to be offered again as a victim 41:58 for the sins of man not once, but a 1000 times. 42:02 The priest speaks and lo Christ, the eternal and 42:06 omnipotent God bows his head in humble obedience to 42:10 the priest's command. No wonder the name which 42:15 spiritual writers are especially fond of applying to 42:18 the priest is that of Alter Christus for the priest 42:21 is and should be another Christ. He would set himself 42:28 up in God's temple and proclaim himself to be God. 42:39 And that's exactly what happened in the Medieval Church. 42:47 And then the Bible says that he would be 42:51 a persecuting power. Let me back track for just 42:57 a minute, this idea of forgiving sins, remember 43:04 the two points of attack by the Antichrist in the 43:07 Book of Revelation with the Gospel and the law of God. 43:12 And when a man takes the authority to forgive sins, 43:17 it flies in the face of the Gospel that teaches us 43:21 we're saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone. 43:26 And not only that, but it led to, it led to the Doctrine 43:32 or the teachings of indulgences where the Church 43:35 was actually selling forgiveness for sins and if 43:41 you had enough money and made a large enough donation 43:45 to the Church you could purchase an indulgence that 43:48 would allow you to continue sinning without any penalty 43:53 or price. It would be a blaspheming power and 43:59 he would attack the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which says 44:02 that we're saved by grace through faith and not by 44:05 works. And then he would a persecuting power and oppress 44:13 the saints. I don't need to go into all the gory details 44:18 of the Dark Ages, the Saint Bartholomew massacre, 44:22 the Spanish Inquisition, where millions of Christians 44:26 lost their lives, blood was flowing through the street 44:29 because they stood on the scripture and the scripture 44:32 alone. We did a Revelation Now down in Peru 44:42 and while we were there we stopped in Lima to do 44:44 a little sight seeing and the first place we went to 44:47 was called the Church of the Inquisition and the 44:51 Church of Inquisition was one of the Churches that 44:54 was build during the time of the Spanish Inquisition 44:57 where anyone suspected of teaching anything other than 45:01 what the Church gave them permission to teach was 45:03 tortured and even put to death and they took this 45:06 down in the Catacombs, I have pictures of a large 45:10 room with skulls arranged in concentric circles like 45:14 a bulls eye and then bones going out in radiating 45:20 patterns from the skulls in room after room, 45:23 place after place we saw bones and skulls and I asked 45:27 the lady that was our guide there I said how many 45:30 skeletons have they found here. She said about 75000 45:35 so far and they're finding more. I said 75000! 45:40 Who are they? She said oh, those are the priests and nuns 45:44 that worked here. I said 75000 she said well there may be 45:50 a few others in there too, well there were a few others 45:54 in there because the very next place they took us was 45:57 to the Wax Museum showing us the instruments of torture 46:02 that were used to torture people who decided to stick 46:06 with the scripture and the scripture alone, against the 46:09 teachings of the Church. One, I'll just read one 46:13 letter this was written by Pope Martin V, he wrote 46:19 to the king of Poland, know and one understand 46:21 the interest of the Holy See and those of your crown make 46:23 it a duty to exterminate the Hussites. Hussites were 46:26 those who choose to follow John Huss who taught that the 46:28 Bible and the Bible alone is the only rule of faith and 46:31 practice for the Christian. So, he said while there 46:33 is still time then turn your forces against Bohemia; 46:36 burn, massacre, make deserts everywhere for nothing 46:39 could me more agreeable to God are useful to the cause of 46:42 kings then the extermination of the Hussites. 46:45 It would be a persecuting power, the Bible says 46:48 and it was. And then the next identifying mark 46:54 he would try to change the set times and the laws, 47:00 he would try to change the times and the laws 47:03 now this has to be God's laws because man's laws change all 47:06 the time, he would try to change God's laws, he would 47:10 try to change the set times well what gives him the 47:13 authority to change God's laws and here, and 47:17 this is in John Paul II's Catechism, just put out a few 47:19 years ago, you can buy at almost in any bookstore 47:22 and here's what he says in article 82, the Church does 47:26 not derive all of her certainty about revealed truth from 47:29 the holy scripture alone, both scripture and tradition must 47:34 be accepted and honored with equal sentiments of devotion 47:37 and reverence. He would change the set times 47:42 and the laws even the ten Commandments in the 47:46 Catechism, the second commandment not to worship 47:48 idols has been taken out of the ten commandments 47:52 and the last one has been split into two. 47:54 He would try to change the law, but look I'm going 47:57 to show you something that's going to make your head spin 47:59 on another night coming. Man can't change God's laws. 48:04 I believe the truth is found in the scripture and 48:07 the scripture alone. How long would he have this power to 48:13 persecute those who oppose him? We find it in 48:16 25th Verse at the very end it says that the saints would 48:20 be handed over to him from time, times and half the time. 48:24 Sounds like a riddle, it's not really that hard to 48:26 understand when you let scripture interpret scripture 48:28 remember, back to the Book of Revelation again this time 48:31 in Revelation Chapter 12 look with me in Revelation the 48:34 12th Chapter in the 14th Verse the woman was given the great 48:38 wing, the wings of the great eagle, so that she might fly 48:40 to the place prepared for her in the desert where she'd 48:43 be taken care of for time, times and half a time out 48:46 of the serpent's reach. Woman is God's people, 48:51 the Church and here she would be protected for time, 48:54 times and half a time out of the serpent's reach exactly 48:57 the same period of time where the dragon is persecuting and 49:01 destroying God's Church through the little horn, 49:03 the Antichrist, the beast during the same time we find 49:07 God protecting his Church hiding here in the wilderness 49:11 for time, times and half a time. Well, how long 49:14 is that? Back to Revelation Chapter 12 and this time 49:17 we look in the 6th Verse compare scripture with 49:20 scripture, the woman fled to the desert or place prepared 49:22 for her by God, where she would be taken care of 49:24 for 1260 years. So, time, times and half a time is 49:29 1260 years. But 1260 days is three and a half years, 49:39 but I was right, just got a little ahead of myself because 49:45 you see in prophecy a day is a symbol for one year. 49:54 Now unfortunately I can't prove that to you tonight, 49:59 I can prove it to you absolutely without a doubt 50:02 and we're going to do on that another night. But, 50:05 let's start with a day being a symbol for year and most 50:08 people agree with that. A day is a symbol for year 50:11 so 1260 days would be 1260 years. Now remember 50:16 the last of those three horns, the Vandals, the Ostrogoths, 50:20 and Heruli, the last traces of those three horns were 50:23 uprooted by the year 538 A.D. So, 1260 years after that 50:29 would be 1798. What happened in 1798? Amazingly, Napoleon 50:40 sent his General Berthier down to Rome with orders to capture 50:46 the city, which he did and brought the Pope back captive 50:51 in Paris, where he died 1260 years after coming into power. 51:06 And that was to be the end of the Papal domination of 51:13 God's people, the infliction of the deadly wound. 51:19 But, the prophecy in Revelation says the deadly wound 51:22 is going to be healed. So, we should be looking 51:27 for another manifestation, a church, a movement built 51:31 on the foundation of the church laid in the Dark Ages 51:34 that's coming up in another lesson. Tonight I just want 51:39 to make it crystal clear, the Antichrist Christ would 51:43 arise in the Roman Empire, somewhere in Europe after 51:48 the year 476 when Rome was divided by the massive 51:51 Barbarian invasions. It would be a different kind of power, 51:57 a religious political power. He would uproot three horns 52:01 and he did. He would blaspheme God and put himself 52:04 in the place of God. In fact the book of Revelation says 52:07 his number is 666, six is man's number because 52:12 man was created on the 6th day. Three is God's number 52:15 for the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, 52:18 666 is man putting himself in the place with God. 52:23 And it gets even more detailed in that, but you 52:25 have to study that in your printed lesson. He would 52:31 be in power for 1260 years and he was. You see there 52:38 is no power, there can be no power and there has been no 52:41 power on this Earth other than the Medieval church at Rome 52:46 that fills all the identifying marks of the little horn. 52:52 But, that isn't what most people are being taught today. 52:56 Most people are being taught to look for the little horn 53:00 in the future after the rapture of the Church, 53:04 where did that come from. Surprisingly Martin Luther 53:11 was a Roman Catholic priest teaching at the University of 53:15 Wittenberg a class on the book of Romans. 53:18 And when he was studying Romans this Catholic priest 53:21 discovered they were saved by grace through faith in 53:24 Jesus Christ alone and he began to teach it. 53:28 The Church said no Luther, we are saved by faith and 53:31 works, not faith alone. Luther said but the Bible says 53:36 we are say by grace through faith. And the church said 53:40 Luther the Bible is not the final answer. It's the Bible 53:44 plus the traditions of the church and Luther said not 53:47 for me. For me it's the scripture and the scripture 53:53 alone. And the battle-line was drawn in the sand. 53:59 Luther protesting against Rome saying that all truth 54:03 is found in scripture. Rome saying no, it's scripture 54:07 plus tradition. Many people began to follow 54:10 Martin Luther, standing on the scripture and the scripture 54:14 alone. Luther only intended to reform the Church. 54:19 He never intended to leave the church. But in the 54:22 Council of Trent, the church met for 18 years trying to 54:26 decide what to do about this massive outflow of 54:30 Protestants protesting Rome's stand on the scripture alone, 54:34 what can we do about this massive outflow? 54:41 And they came up with two approaches one was to 54:44 establish scripture and tradition equally. 54:49 Luther said, you are the Antichrist. Are you a Lutheran? 55:01 Your church began with the interpretation of the prophecy 55:05 that you heard tonight. It's not new. It's not 55:08 something I made up. John Calvin followed your 55:14 Presbyterian, your church began with the prophecy 55:19 that we heard tonight. The Wesleys followed. 55:24 Are you a Methodist? Your church began with the prophecy 55:28 you heard tonight, why aren't they teaching it today because 55:32 at the council of Trent two scholars Ribera and 55:35 Bellarmine came up with a new method for interpreting 55:38 prophecy and that was that the Book of Revelation is all 55:41 future. Everything is in the future and this church has 55:47 been around for 1500 years at that time and if we have 55:52 been around for 1500 years and revelation is all future 55:55 then we can't be the beast. So, you Protestants get off 55:57 our backs and they brought it today hook, line, and 56:01 sinker and that's what you're hearing. But, folks this 56:07 book is too clear to be misunderstood and the only 56:12 safety we have is to follow the lamb to stand on the 56:16 solid rock of truth. Amen. Follow Jesus Christ and 56:25 you'll never have to worry about the Anti-Christ. 56:31 Pray with me. Dear Lord, we've opened a lot of scripture 56:41 tonight and we have seen that, we have seen that there 56:49 are some things being taught today that just don't measure 56:53 up with what the Bible teaches. We also know Lord that 56:58 in the end most of the people are going to be deceived. 57:03 Most people are going to worship the Anti-Christ. 57:08 Let us worship the Christ. And tonight Lord I pray, 57:17 because sometimes, I know that sometimes words can come 57:21 out cold and harsh and unloving, if my words came 57:27 out that way, Lord I pray that you forgive me, but 57:33 nevertheless let the truth be clear. We ask 57:39 in Jesus name, Amen. |
Revised 2014-12-17