THE REVELATION OF JESUS
REVELATION 13
"And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority." Revelation 13:1, 2. Here comes a beast up out of the water! Remember when Daniel saw beasts coming out of the water? We are continuing on from Daniel’s prophecies here in the book of Revelation.
Look at this beast; he has parts of all the other beasts! ‘Like a leopard’—Greece; ‘Feet as a bear’—Medo-Persia; ‘Mouth of a lion’—Babylon; ‘Dragon gave him seat, power, and authority’—Pagan Rome and also Satan. Rome has beliefs and practices that come from each of these Pagan powers. This beast is coming up out of the ‘sea’, which means it comes to power in a well-populated area. It has 10 horns and 10 crowns, so we know it is in the area that once was rules by the Roman Empire—which was broken up into ten parts. And it has seven heads- 3 of the original nations that took over the Roman Empire were destroyed, which leaves 7 heads left of the 10 nations. On these heads we see the name of blasphemy; by claiming to be God on earth; by claiming to have power to forgive sins; by claiming to change God’s law; and many other ways, this Papal Roman beast is a blasphemous beast and the heads, (rulers and nations) by accepting and honouring this power, also bring blasphemy on themselves.
“And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.” Revelation 13:3. The deadly wound to this Papal beast was given to it in 1798, when Napoleon sent his general, Berthier, into Rome to remove the pope from power and throw him into prison. He died in captivity and it seemed for a brief time that the papacy was dead forever. The original wording for ‘wounded’ actual means ‘killed’—it was ‘killed to death’.
It is very interesting that the order to remove the pope was given more than a year before 1798, but, somehow, it didn’t get done until 1798. We know why, don’t we? Because the prophecies said he would rule for 1260 years, not 1259! God’s word never fails! As soon as another pope was placed on the throne, this power began to work to ‘heal its deadly wound’. The text says it WILL be healed. What has to happen before the wound is healed? Well, first we have to look at what ended at the end of the 1260 years. The Roman church did not cease to exist, and shortly a new pope was elected; was the wound healed then?
No, it wasn’t; you see, the Beast power is a combination of church AND government. It is when the church has full control to use the government to force people to obey it and to persecute dissenters. After 1798 the Roman church continued as a church, but it no longer had power to rule the governments and force them to work for it. It is trying to get this power back—and it is getting very close to it!
All the world will wonder after the Beast! Do you see people all excited whenever the Pope comes to visit? Do you see people, even non-Catholics, admiring him? When we try to show the world what this Power is intending to do—people get mad at us; the world is ‘wondering after him’.
“And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.” Revelation 13:4-6. Prophecies are like a puzzle, God gives us clues, that when we put them together, carefully following what the Bible says the clues mean, we can see what He is telling us. These verses give more ‘clues’. They worshipped the ‘dragon’; Pagan leaders were worshipped as gods. Their head priest was called Pontifex Maximus, the 'Great Bridge Builder', this name was passed on to the Roman emperors and later, when one of the Roman Emperors decided that he did not feel right to take this title, as it claimed control of the souls of men, the Bishop of Rome snapped it up and the popes have been called 'Pontiffs' ever since. Also Satan, who is also the Dragon, is worshipped either directly or indirectly by all Pagan religions. So we see a power that had been worshipped, giving authority to another power, which is also worshipped, that is Papal Rome.
‘Who is like unto the beast’? The kings of Europe during the dark ages well knew the power of the Papacy—they were afraid to oppose her; in fact, once, when a king had offended the pope, the poor king stood barefoot and hatless for days outside the pope’s palace in the winter-time, so he could beg forgiveness from the proud pontiff. How different from the meek and lowly Jesus, Who washed the feet of even Judas! 1260 YEARS! "And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months." Revelation 13:5.
"And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven." Revelation 13:6. ‘Given unto him…A mouth speaking blasphemies’; to have a ‘mouth’ in prophecy means to be able to pass laws. The papal power passed many wicked and blasphemous laws during her time ruling the world. Ordering the Bible to be burned and anyone who loved it to be burned also, was one of these laws. ‘Forty and two months’; this is another 1260-year prophecy. He ‘blasphemes God’s name; In Bible, God’s Name represents His character—what He is really like; the Papacy through her ideas of purgatory and eternal hell fire, made millions look upon God as a monster instead of the loving Father He really is.
‘God’s Tabernacle’; By setting up human priests and telling everyone they could only be saved through the church and its ceremonies, Rome spoke against the ministry of Jesus for us in the heavenly sanctuary. The church leaders stood like a wall stopping the people from coming straight to Jesus. ‘Them that dwell in heaven’; there are so many weird and wicked stories told to the people by the Roman church that say false things about angels, Jesus, God, the Holy Spirit and so on. They also tell the people that all these old dead church leaders are now ‘saints’ in heaven and the people should pray to them. To pray to the dead in any form—is to worship demons! “And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. If any man have an ear, let him hear. He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.” Revelation 13:7-10.
Here
again we have more clues, so many in fact that there just is not ANY other power
on earth that this can be—but Papal Rome! Here again we see it persecuting and
killing the true followers of Jesus during the 1260 years of rule.
‘Power was given him’; during the 1260 years, this wicked power was allowed to pretty much do what it wanted to do. Satan can never say to God and the universe that his religion would have worked, but God didn’t give him a chance to prove it. No, indeed, for 1260 years that religion ruled and the effects on the world and on people and nations are written in history and in the books of heaven with letters of blood! "And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. If any man have an ear, let him hear." Revelation 13:7-9.
Then
we are told that ALL on earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in
the Book of Life. This is very solemn; unless you have really given your whole
heart to Jesus and serve Him only, you WILL end up worshipping the Beast! There
is no other choice, and it is now that we better decide for the right; the time
will come later we will no longer have the choice.
‘Captivity and sword’; Here is a warning from God; too bad the haughty popes did not spend much time reading the Bible, they could have been warned what would happen to them if they kept doing their wicked and cruel deeds.
"He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints." Revelation 13:10.
It
is also giving us more clues; for centuries, Rome threw the people of God into
prisons, she sent armies with swords to kill them and drove them into hidden
places of the earth; then in 1798, armies were sent against her and a military
power threw the pope into prison. In the upheavals during the French Revolution,
the Roman priests and leaders were slaughtered by the people, just as formerly
the church had slaughtered God’s children.
The
people of God did read the Bible, during those 1260 years of cruel persecution; many
were encouraged by God’s promise that the persecuting power would have an end.
This did give them patience and faith.
"And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon." Revelation 13:11. Here comes another BEAST! But this time it comes out of the ‘earth’. Now if the ‘seas’ mean areas where there are lots of people, ‘earth’ would mean where there was not many people. Did a new power arise near the close of the 1260 years, around 1798, in areas where there was not many people? Yes, it certainly did! And where these other beasts arose in the ‘winds’, that is with war and strife, this power just quietly arose and grew into power in the late 1700s. It is the United States of America. ‘It had 2 horns, like a lamb’; These horns were the secret of his power and glory and represent the principles of civil and religious liberty. “Republicanism and Protestantism” are also an equivalent expression. It means that the power of church and state are separate powers, the church is not able to use the state to enforce her decrees and the state is not allowed to interfere with the free exercise of conscientious worship. It is like a lamb, this means it is gentle, not harmful and cruel like the other beasts. Strangely enough, it is these very same 2 horns, civil and religious freedom, that keep the wounded head on the leopard-like beast from healing— and it still isn't healed to this day, not completely. How do they do this? Well, the concepts that every man has a right to freedom and to be able to exercise his religious beliefs freely without hassle was a very new idea in the world in the late 1700s; but it is just taken for granted now—because it has spread throughout the world, and this belief in the rightful freedom of man prevents the Roman beast from starting to slaughter heretics again as it would like to. Instead it has to pretend to go along with the freedom idea, and it yells the loudest about freedom when its own 'rights' are interfered with. But it really hates this idea that people should be free to serve God or not serve Him as they see fit. During the Dark Ages, people accepted the idea that popes and kings had the 'Divine Right' to force people to do whatever they wanted to! No one ever thought to question this— but now—because of the two horns of the American Lamb-like Beast--the world sees things differently. In order to come back into the despotic power she had before in the middle ages, the Roman power has to play a very different game of strategy. ‘Like a DRAGON”; but something happens, this helpful, gentle beast with its amazing 2 horns, begins to ‘speak like a dragon’! To ‘speak’ means to pass laws, this means this power will eventually pass laws ‘like a Dragon Power’.
12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. Revelation 13:12. Did you know that the power that the Dragon represented, besides Satan, was Pagan Rome, and that power, under Constantine, passed the world’s first SUNDAY-LAW! Yes indeed, in the 300s, before Papal Rome had received the seat and authority from the dragon, Pagan Rome passed 6 Sunday Laws after Constantine declare himself to be a ‘Christian’. When the Lamb-like beast speaks 'like the dragon' it will pass laws to force all to keep the Sunday also.
"And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men," Revelation 13:13. Now we see this lamb-beast working to force people to worship the leopard-beast of Rome. It does this by passing laws which honour Rome, such as forcing people to worship on Sunday, which Rome claims is its ‘mark’ of authority. This lamb/dragon power does great wonders; the USA has great technology and does wonders in the use of atomic power and so on, also she is having many people arising that are performing miracles by means of demon spirits— but they think the power is from God! It is interesting though that the USA is promoting the ideas of evolution and rejection of the Biblical record of Genesis throughout the world, while at the same time pointing to its scientific progress as evidence that she is right about this. America's brand of 'Protestantism' is a mixture of evolution, pantheism, spiritism, humanism and situation ethics. This is why the lamb-like beast is also the 'false prophet'!
How do we know for sure the power behind these miracles is demonic? Well, the Bible tells us ‘if they speak not according to this Word, there is NO light in them’. Isaiah 8:20. When these ‘miracle workers’ tell people to keep the Sunday, and that they don't need to keep God's Ten Commandments, they show they are from the darkness. Many people think that when anything happens that looks like a miracle, it has to be God who is doing it. Sadly they don’t read their Bibles, for we are told clearly that in the last days miracles are going to be the sign of the false power that seeks to force all to receive the Mark of the Beast! "And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live." Revelation 13:14. These miracles and deceptive philosophy are what will convince many people that this movement is right and they will follow it blindly and hate all who speak against it and who seek to show from the Bible where it is wrong. If you get people coming to you all excited telling you about miracles; watch out! There WILL be true miracles, BUT when people do miracles and then tell you that God’s law has been changed or doesn’t matter, or that we can’t keep it anyway, or we have to keep sinning until Jesus comes, they are doing the devil’s work whether they know it or not! "And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed." Revelation 13:15. So here we see this power, now speaking as a Dragon and it is saying to all the world, ‘Let’s make something that is a copy of the beast that was wounded; let’s make a copy of the Papacy.’ What would be a copy, ‘image’, of the Papal Beast? It would be when the USA starts to use government power and laws to FORCE people to obey religious laws just like Rome did in the 1260 years. Can USA tell the world what to do? We see many examples lately that it is starting to do exactly that. Since Sept 11, 2001, USA has been rising up and talking more proudly than ever before, just like the proud Papal Beast before it, it is exulting itself. Now it is getting ready to push its weight around, and it has a lot of weight!
It is going to pass laws to force all people to not only keep Sunday, BUT to also break the 7th day Sabbath of the Lord. And those who won’t obey them— will not be able to buy or sell. This is the very method that USA has been using for many years now against countries it doesn’t like; it makes ‘economic sanctions’ and stops them from buying and selling, until they have to ‘give in’. But God’s true people don’t ‘give in’. God helps them and they stand firm for His Sabbath. So then the lamb/dragon says they are all to die. A death decree is passed that on a certain day all the Sabbath keepers are to be killed. At that time, God closes probation on this earth and the plagues begin to fall on the wicked. Always remember, God’s obedient people have nothing to fear as He will help them and protect them. Even those who die as martyrs will be given all the courage and help they need. Jesus will hold their hand!
“And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and
bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no
man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or
the number of his name." Oh, what a lot of funny ideas people have about this ‘mark’ on the hand or forehead. It is no mystery; the MARK of Rome’s authority is Sunday-keeping enforced by law. This is the mark of the beast. People get it in their hand when they agree to obey the power, not because they believe in it, but just so they can buy and sell and not be persecuted. They get it in their forehead when they really believe in it, because of all the miracles Satan is doing to fool them. It isn’t a real mark. "And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name." Revelation 13:17. Notice the three groups, those who have the ‘mark’; that means those who keep Sunday, the protestants; those who have the ‘name of the beast’, the Roman Catholics; and those who have the ‘number of the beast’s name— 666’, this represents the pagan religions and the new age movement, all of which have the number 666 somewhere in their ceremonies or worship. All three unite to persecute the true Sabbath keepers.
"Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six." Revelation 13:18. Then here we see the number 666; many people get mixed up and think that 666 is the ‘mark’ of the beast but it isn’t, it is another clue. I’ll show you how it works: In Latin, Roman language, letters are also used for numbers, so a persons name can often have a number by adding up what the letter/numbers mean. Documented Roman Catholic source states "The letters inscribed in the Pope's miter are these 'VICARIUS FILII DEI', which is the Latin for 'VICAR OF THE SON OF GOD.' Catholics hold that the church, which is a visible society, must have a visible head...., as head of the church, was given the title, 'VICAR OF CHRIST'." Our Sunday Visitor, (Catholic Weekly) "Bureau of information," Huntington, Ind., April 18, 1915. When you take the letters that are also numbers in this name and add them up it comes to 666.
V....
5, I... 1, C.... 100, A... 0, R... 0, I.... 1, U.....5, S .... 0 = 112
F....
0, I... 1, L... 50, I... 1, I.... 1 = 53
D....
500, E.... 0, I..... 1=501
112
+ 53 + 501= 666 A vicar is someone who take another’s place; vicar of God, means he takes God’s place. In Greek the word ‘ANTE’ or ANTI means ‘to take the place of’. So ‘Antichrist’ is not someone who is against Christ, or a non-Christian power, it really means someone who claims to ‘take the place of’ Christ; that is exactly what the Roman power claims to do!
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