Missing
History
In our previous message,
we found that two different women went into the
wilderness. One went into the wilderness of
confusion because she fled from the truth. The
other woman went into a place of obscurity where
God nourished her, where man could not beat her
around any longer.
Now, how did they come
out? We will see the true woman, The Church,
come out beginning with Martin Luther. The Song
of Solomon 8:5 tells us, Who is this that
cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her
beloved?... The other woman never came
out--she is STILL in the wilderness. Revelation
17 gives us a picture of a woman on a
scarlet-colored beast, still in the wilderness.
She still has the same spirit, fighting against
truth and the cause of God, surrounding the camp
of the saints.
When we begin to consider
some of the darkness of false religion, we want
to make it very clear that we are not talking
about any person or any people. We are talking
about a very deceptive system (of religion) that
the devil is working through. When I went to
school, we studied about it in history, but this
history is not in history books now. No,
children are not learning about the terrible
perils of the Roman Empire. This beast we are
currently studying in this series on Revelation
worked around in such a deceptive manner until
he was lifted out of the history books.
I
just wonder, as God looks down on the United
States today, how many congregations there are
where the message against that system is being
sounded out. My friends, that devilish power
does not want the truth told on them because it
hinders their work! Because there has been such
a letup of pouring out the truth on these
conditions, Roman Catholicism has expanded
through deception. Through deception, she has
the state hauling her school children. Come on,
she is making you and me pay to haul children to
be taught darkness. Every time you pay your
taxes, you are paying to have people instructed
in this devilish false teaching.
You may
say, "I don't have anything to do with
that system." When you pay your taxes,
you are buying school buses and furnishing the
gasoline. It is actually against the law because
it's a parochial school. Come on, you start a
private Christian school and go to the state and
ask them to send a bus out to haul your children
in--they will laugh you to scorn. Yet this
deceptive system of religion is getting it done!
Any number of Catholic priests and nuns, because
of the shortage of school teachers, are teaching
in public schools. They receive the same wages
as other school teachers, yet they refuse to pay
a penny of income tax. I just mention a few ways
that this deceptive power is taking hold of our
nation.
Someone may question, "How can it
do that?" Well, there is nobody exposing them!
The history books used to, and preachers in the
pulpits used to, but little by little they were
silenced. Now, when someone does raise their
voice against such a system (of religion),
people say that he (she) has a bad spirit. I am
merely doing the same thing that preachers have
done in past ages and telling the same story,
because it has NOT
changed.
"...The
Earth Helped the
Woman..."
The dragon of
the 12th century, the Pagan Roman Empire, with
all its infidelity and idolatry, didn't go down
without a struggle. The Bible said that the
dragon persecuted the woman who brought forth
the man child. This specifies the particular
woman, the true part of The Church.
In AD
284, Diocletian, a pagan, took the imperial
throne and for ten years, Christians suffered
more severe persecutions than they ever received
from old Pagan Rome! He set out to burn all
copies of the Word of God, and it was his goal
to eliminate every Christian off the face of the
earth. But Revelation 12:16 tells us, And the
earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her
mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the
dragon cast out of his mouth. In AD 300,
Constantine, who "professed" Christianity (but
didn't really have the experience), took the
throne and declared Christianity a religion of
the empire by the law.
Christianity
became the office state religion over the Roman
Empire. Everyone was forced to accept it as
their religion. This merely ended up exactly as
you would imagine it without me pointing it out:
a great number of pagans, who were never
converted, simply adopted certain Christian
practices with no reality in the heart. Right
then and there was a seedbed for the devil to
start his work.
Brothers and Sisters,
that happens right here and now. Whenever we
just practice the "customs of Christianity",
with no reality of the experience in our hearts
and lives, we are just smoothing up a good
seedbed for the devil to do his work in! My
friends, in those days, great numbers who were
never converted, claimed to be Christians with
no reality in their heart. This threw a bad
influence on The TRUE Church, and many
Christians relaxed their efforts and endeavors
to witness for God.
This is why a pastor
has to stay stirred (renewed) in his heart and
mind. If too many people feel free to have no
experience, it has a bad influence on those who
are striving to do (live) right! It will make
them weary and the devil will work on them,
asking, "What's the use?" This is exactly what
worked on the early church to the point that the
devil was able to break through upon her and
break her down. As far as the outward appearance
was concerned, he overcame her.
We have a
definite responsibility to keep The Church
CLEAN. If we allow hypocrisy, the devil
will overcome us as a congregation. He doesn't
ask for a very large number to start in with.
Please do not get me wrong here: we DO want
sinners in the congregation because that is all
God can make saints out of. However, to put
sinners in a position of preaching, teaching,
counseling, etc., in The Church is the wrong
thing to do! Men and women who merely "adopt"
(outward) Christian customs, going along,
"looking" like saints, yet the spirit they
manifest and the action they take many times
prove to not be CHRISTian (Christ-like). This
has a killing, chilling effect on men and women
who would be fervent for God.
The devil
wants the tares among the wheat. Oh yes he does!
Why? Because he gets more accomplished that way.
Why? Brothers and Sisters, with the very best we
can do as a congregation to live right, the ones
who are wrong stick out like a sore thumb. When
the world sees them, they will overlook ten
other good people. When they see them being
hypocrites, they mark off the WHOLE church right
then and there! This throws a bad influence and
many true Christians relax their vigor and
witness which produces a falling
away.
Papal
Rome
Now let us
consider this first beast and what it came up
out of. Verse one of our scripture text (above)
tells us that it rose up out of the sea. And
he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest,
where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and
multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
Revelation 17:15. So we see that the "sea" was
not "water", but people. And not just people,
but wicked, unsaved people. So right out from
among people who were not right with God to
begin with, we have a beast rising up which is
going to rule the world for a few hundred years.
Once again, we remind you that in exposing the
evils of this SYSTEM, we have no person or
persons in mind--it is the "system of religion"
that we want to bring to your
attention.
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. Revelation 13:1. We are
talking about a leopard-colored beast. The Roman
Empire in its pagan state was symbolized by a
red dragon with seven heads and ten horns. In
the pagan state, those horns were on the head.
Rome was under seven forms of
government.
This beast we are studying is
the same empire. It still has seven heads and
ten horns, but the crowns have moved off the
heads onto the horns. The ten horns symbolize
(stand for, represent) the ten kingdoms that the
Roman Empire was broken into, and the crowns
denote ruling power. So what we actually have is
the same Roman Empire coming up under the
political reign of ten kingdoms, with a name of
blasphemy on his heads.
Revelation 13:2
further describes this beast: 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. This is a picture of the Roman
Empire under papal power, or under one-man rule
of the Pope. Ask any historian what power
followed Rome-Pagan, and every one will tell you
that it was Rome-Papal, or Rome in a papal
state!
Daniel saw some of these very
things. Turn in your Bibles and read with us,
Daniel 7:1-8:
In the first year of
Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream
and visions of his head upon his bed: then he
wrote the dream, and told the sum of the
matters. Daniel spake and said, I saw in my
vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of
the heaven strove upon the great sea. And four
great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one
from another. The first was like a lion, and had
eagle's wings: I beheld till the wings thereof
were plucked, and it was lifted up from the
earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man,
and a man's heart was given to it. And behold
another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it
raised up itself on one side, and it had three
ribs in mouth of it between the teeth of it: and
they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much
flesh. After this I beheld, and lo another, like
a leopard, which had upon the back of it four
wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads;
and dominion was given to it. After this I saw
in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast,
dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly;
and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and
brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with
the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the
beasts that were before it; and it had ten
horns. I considered the horns, and, behold,
there came up among them another little horn,
before whom there were three of the first horns
plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this
horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth
speaking great
things.
To
find out who these beasts were, let's look at
verses 15-17 in the same chapter:I Daniel was
grieved in my spirit in the midst of my body,
and the visions of my head troubled me. I came
near unto one of them that stood by, and asked
him the truth of all this. So he told me, and
made me know the interpretation of the things.
These great beasts, which are four, are four
kings, which shall arise out of the earth.
We can say these beasts were kingdoms because
verse 23 tells us, Thus he said, The fourth
beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,
which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and
shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it
down, and break it in pieces. So these
beasts symbolized four kingdoms that were to
rise up out of the
earth.
Old And
New Testament
Agree
Daniel
received the deram during the Babylonian Empire
(the lion). Following that were the
Median-Persian Empire (the bear), the Grecian
Kingdom (the leopard), and then the Roman
Empire, symbolized by this great beast. Rome
conquered all these kingdoms and dominated the
whole then-known world. Again, verse 23 tells
us, Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be
the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be
diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the
whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break
it in pieces.
Daniel 7:24,25 tells
us, And the ten horns out of this kingdom are
ten kings that shall arise: and another shall
rise after them; and he shall be diverse from
the first, and he shall subdue three kings. And
he shall speak great words against the most
High, and shall wear out the saints of the most
High, and think to change times and laws: and
they shall be given into his hand until a time
and times and the dividing of time.
I
want you to consider the parallel between
Daniel's beast and the beast of Revelation: (1)
When Daniel saw this power, it was a political
power only. (2) When John saw this same power,
it was a political-religious power. (3) I want
you to understand that it is the SAME
Roman Empire.
(1) They are both a
blasphemous power: And he shall speak great
words against the most High, and shall wear out
the saints of the most High, and think to change
times and laws: and they shall be given into his
hand until a time and times and the dividing of
time. Daniel 7:25. 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.
(2) They
both make war against the saints of God: I
beheld, and the same horn made war with the
saints, and prevailed against them. Daniel
7:21. 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. Revelation 13:7.
(3)
They both had mouths speaking great things: I
considered the horns, and, behold, there came up
among them another little horn, before whom
there were three of the first horns plucked up
by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were
eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking
great things. And of the ten horns that were in
his head, and of the other which came up, and
before whom three fell; even of that horn that
had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great
things, whose look was more stout than his
fellows. Daniel 7:8, 20. 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 13:5,6.
(4) They
are both to continue the same space of time:
And he shall speak great words against the
most High, and shall wear out the saints of the
most High, and think to change times and laws:
and they shall be given into his hand until a
time and times and the dividing of time.
Daniel 7:25. 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.
Somebody
might ask, "Why is this beast spotted like a
leopard, have the feet of a bear and the mouth
of a lion?" My friends, this beast which we are
studying was a consolidation of all the previous
kingdoms (and the influence they had had upon
people of their ages). In other words, all these
kingdoms which he swallowed up were consolidated
into one, strong Roman Empire which ruled the
world.
Revelation 13:2 tells us 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. This great beast got his seat and
great authority from the dragon. Papal Rome will
tell you that they received their authority
through apostolic succession, but the Bible says
they got their authority from the dragon and the
dragon got his authority from the devil! In
fact, the Revelation comes right out and tells
you that this is the devil's sanctuary, or the
devil's church. The man of sin is at the head of
it. Read the second chapter of II Thessalonians.
Two verses in particular from that chapter are
verses 3,4: Let no man deceive you by any
means: for that day shall not come, except there
come a falling away first, and that man of sin
be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth
and exalteth himself above all that is called
God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God
sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself
that he is God.
Church
And State
The ten horns
denote the ten civil powers of the kingdom; then
that little horn rose up in the midst of them.
Let's take another look at that "little horn":
I considered the horns, and, behold, there
came up among them another little horn, before
whom there were three of the first horns plucked
up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were
eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking
great things. Daniel 7:8. The very beginning
of papalism ripped out three of the kingdoms!
this little horn was different from the others:
it had the face of a man and a mouth speaking
"great things". He blasphemed God, he blasphemed
the temple of God, nad he fought with those who
worshipped therein.
Now the little horn
is reigning; he is stronger than all the other
horns. When he took office, he plucked up three
horns, or three kingdoms, and crushed the rest
of them and reigned over them. Brothers and
Sisters in Christ, that horn with the face of a
man and a mouth speaking geat things is a
picture of papalism, or the Pope rising up. What
does it mean when it says that he is stronger
than the rest? All the rest of these ten
kingdoms were political kingdoms, but here was
something that was a religious force rising
up--the church reigning over the
state.
Going on with history, following
Constantine's death, the bishop of Rome took his
seat and power and authority. He combined the
office of high priest and emperor. In other
words, he brought together the head of the state
and the head of the church and made them one.
That is why Daniel saw this fellow rising up: he
was more powerful than, and he crushed, the
rest. So, they combined the office of high
priest and emperor, and the church ruled the
state.
The church put out the laws, and
the state backed up those laws with armies. If
you did not abide by the laws of the Roman
Empire, even to the thought of how you
worshipped, where you worshipped, or what you
gave, there were armies that backed the rules
and commandments of the church. My friends, this
picture of papalism ruling lasts from 530 clear
through 1530, when God began to break through
with the 16th century
reformation.
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