The
history of the church has been a succession of miscalculations in its relationship with GOD. One wrong step usually
leads to another. The infection of sin in the church today has become so pervasive that all who are brought into the
church are merely baptized into a life of sin. Everything from discounting two of the Ten Commandments
as the standard of Christian living to declaring immortality to little children in the fires of hell. History
shows that reformation from apostasy is rarely if ever seen.
The theme of this commentary is simple: Today, the dominant views
of Bible prophecy uphold the assertion that Catholic and Protestant churches are exempt from all association
with the Bible prophecies forecasting infidelity to Jesus Christ during the modern era. This theology that
excludes the church from condemnation works to remove the valuable and precious warning of Christ, “Not every one
that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in
heaven. Many will come to Me in that day saying, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name?
And in Thy name cast out devils? And in Thy name done many wonderful works? And
then I will profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity.” Matt.7:21-23.
There is
obvious Scriptural and historical evidence showing that with the rise of the Christian movement in the first century Satan
was countering every step of the spread of the Christian faith with his deceptive temptations into the vain imaginations of
men. The great Apostle Paul said that harmful influences were entering the Christian church in his day:
“The mystery of iniquity doth already work.” II Thess.2:7. Paul discerned
that the roots of apostasy were already taking hold and gave clear prophetic insight into the disgrace that would become an
essential part of the ruling Christian church, whose history, under the pope of Rome, bears witness to the most gruesome acts
carried out under the auspices of Christianity.
In opposition to this Biblical truth the churches corporately tell the world, “We
have no part of the Bible’s list of crimes against humanity.”—Author’s paraphrase.
This is the official view concerning their relationship with Bible prophecy. What you are about
to read logically and ethically will prove the churches claim of innocence to be forged from a spirit of self-righteous pride:
the one sin Christ openly rebuked among men (Mk.7:6-9), for repentance becomes a technical impossibility when pride is exalted
above the powers of reason (Jer.50:31). And where there is no repentance, there is no separation from sin;
and when there is no separation from sin, the Holy Spirit has no partnership with these individuals (Is.59:2); for GOD can
have no companionship with a man whose chosen course keeps him enslaved to his sins (Deut.4:24; Rom.2:13). It
is only through the power of the Spirit of GOD living in the human heart that fits a man to repent (Rom.2:4) and receive the
promised inheritance of everlasting life (Rom.8:11). All others will perish and cease to exist forever—“they
shall be as though they had never been” (Obadiah 16). Here are a few other texts illustrating this
fate as have already been reviewed: Gen.2:17; Ps.37:10,20,36; 146:4; Eccl.9:5,6,10; Eze.18:4; Mal.4:1-3; Jn.3:16; Rev.20:9;
21:8.
The churches are blind to recognize that their hypocrisy of defying the Holy Law
of GOD is the greatest contribution to anarchy in any society. “We are no longer bound by its precepts,”
declare today’s theologians. “But all men are bound by our version of religious law,” declare our leaders.
This has ever been and will ever be the springboard to the final display of religious tyranny ushering the Second Coming
of Christ in the clouds of glory.
Our religious leaders are not solely responsible for the rampant sins among
men. As the first king of Israel, Saul, capitulated in a spirit of cowardice to the sinful demands of the
people (I Sam.15:24), so our religious leaders today succumb to a great extent the sinful demands of the common man: “Now
go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever: That this
is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD: Which say to the seers, See not;
and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits: Get you out of the
way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.” Is.30:8-11.
You will never bring a man to salvation by trying to placate the sinfulness of his heart. All it
does is embolden him against the truth as it is “in Christ.” Historically,
this soul-destroying compromise with sin was the very foundation of the Vatican’s rise to power in the fourth century
when they allowed the pagan rulers to take their corrupted gospel and legislate it into civil law.
How
do you best sabotage Biblical truth? By standing between Scripture and those who desire its knowledge,
creating a detour through “the tradition of men.”
The Prophetic Investigation of Scripture
The following commentary of Revelation 13 will show that the
focal point of Revelation’s prophecies is the final kingdom of earth’s sinful history and how its adulterous relationship
with traditions of pagan idolatry will lead our world to total and utter ruin (Is.24; Jer.4:22-28, 25:30-38).
This fact lies at the heart of all future events ushering the Second Coming of Jesus Christ in the clouds of heaven.
VERSE BY VERSE COMMENTARY OF REVELATION 13
Rev. 13:1-10
1) "And I stood upon the sand of the sea,
and saw a beast [a voracious kingdom (Dan. 7:3)]
rise up out of the sea [representing "peoples, and
multitudes, and nations, and tongues" (Rev. 17:15)],
having seven heads ["The seven heads are seven mountains
(Greek word same as hills)" (Rev. 17:9). Rome has always been known as "the city on seven hills."
(Various Encyclopedias)]
and ten horns [representing "ten kings" who serve the beast (Rev. 17:12)],
and upon his horns ten crowns [rewards for their subservience to the beast (II Tim. 2:5)],
and upon
his heads the name of blasphemy [Claiming attributes of Deity (Mk. 2:7); "profane and mocking use of GOD"—Webster's
Dictionary].
2) And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard [moving
against her enemies with great speed as did Greece under Alexander the Great (Dan. 7:6)],
and his feet were as
the feet of a bear [with massive power as Medo-Persia (Dan. 7:5)]
and his mouth as the mouth of a lion ["all people,
nations, and languages, trembled and feared before Him" as Babylon (Dan. 5:19; 7:4)]:
and the dragon
[Satan, not the GOD of heaven] gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
3) And I saw one
of his heads as it were wounded to death [when, in 1798, the French government commanded Napolean’s General, Berthier,
to enter Rome with a government decree removing all papal authority and arrest the pope, imprisoning him until his death];
and his deadly wound was healed [when, in 1929, the dictator, Mussolini, enacted a law restoring papal authority,
giving the pope civil rule once more]:
and all the world wondered after the beast ["The pope is the
spiritual leader of the world."—Billy Graham "The pope is the best hope we Baptists have."—Jerry
Falwell. Everyone from Muslim leaders to Jewish Rabbis have followed suit].
4) And they worshipped the dragon which
gave power unto the beast [by turning to Satan for salvation because he allows the exercise of sin with all its lusts]:
and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him [when
he professes harmless goals, and a message of GOD'S Love]?
5) And there was given unto him a mouth speaking
great things and blasphemies ["The church is above the Bible"—The Catholic Record:
casting reproach on GOD's Word: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the
mouth of GOD;” “Seek ye out of the book of the LORD and read: no one of these shall fail.” Matt.4:4;
Isa.34:16];
and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months [1260 prophetic
days translate into 1260 literal years (Eze.4:6; Num.14:34): from the time of the Roman Emperor, Justinian, whose
decree began in 538, authorizing the Bishop (or pope) of Rome to wage war as head of the Christian church; until 1798, the
time just after the French Revolution when papal authority was removed, (also by government decree)].
6)
And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name [by removing Christ from
the 2nd and 4th Commandments: the very ones showing Christ as the Provider of "mercy" for
sinful man in the 2nd Commandment (Ex.20:6); and as "The Creator," in the 4th Commandment,
of which over 800 verses testify to be the leading attribute of our Savior (Ex.20:11): see also Deut.5:15 which promises GOD’S
ultimate deliverance through man’s obedience to the 4th Commandment],
and his tabernacle
[the Holy Sanctuary in Heaven where "He (Jesus Christ) ever liveth to make intercession for them" pleading His shed
blood before the Father (Heb. 7:25)],
and them that dwell in heaven [the angelic hosts "sent forth to minister
for them who shall be heirs of salvation" (Heb. 1:14)].
7) And it was given unto him to make war with
the saints [in which 50 million men, women, and children were murdered by authority of the pope, whose celebrations
and parades were held commemorating their slaughter (research the St. Bartholomew Massacre, as one of many examples: where
70,000 Protestants in France, who were promised by the king to be safe from Rome, were murdered in a fury of bloodshed beginning
at midnight and lasting several weeks, slaughtering men, women, children and elderly alike)],
and to overcome them
[through tyranny in utter defiance of Christ’s explicit command (Lu.22:25,26)]:
and power was given him
[by Satan (ver.4)] over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
8) 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 [through
unconscionable violations to the laws of the Gospel of Christ (Rev. 22:15—KJV only)].
9) If any
man have an ear, let him hear.
10) 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 [“Here
are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus” (Rev. 14:12)]."
As you just read, the Bible gives the only proper interpretation for its own symbolism, for "no prophecy of
Scripture is of any private interpretation." I Pet. 1:20. Also, prophecy is always verified through its fulfillment in
history; therefore, the study of the flow of History is imperative to make a correct association with prophecy, just as in
the book of Daniel. Today’s leading evangelists have removed the history of popery from the prophetic record, in denial
of the prophetic words of Christ: "But take ye heed; behold, I have foretold you all things." Mk.13:23.
The second half of Revelation 13 is the prophecy of the United States of America, and her role as an accomplice with
Rome in the exercise of religious tyranny in the end of days, receiving the LORD’S title of condemnation: “The
false prophet.”
Rev. 13:11-18
11) "And I beheld another beast coming
up out of the earth [which, in this timeline chronologically follows the first beast, rising in a land largely unpopulated
(“the earth”), in contrast to the first beast rising out of “the sea” which represents "peoples,
nations multitudes and tongues” (Rev. 17:5). The one great kingdom that has risen in a largely unpopulated area since
the removal of papal Rome from her secular domination in 1798 is the United States of America];
and he
had two horns like a lamb [Republicanism and Liberty of conscience are uplifted as the ruling concepts for government,
forbidding any religious authoritarianism through the First Amendment to the Constitution],
and he spake as a
dragon [continual exercise of hypocrisy by claiming to honor justice, and mercy, while working through acts of oppression,
to weaken the very fabric of our mutual liberties established through the Constitution, ultimately leading society to full-blown
religious tyranny].
12) And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him [via
the religious leaders restoring the spirit of Roman Catholic tyranny and working to gain an absolute civil authority that
Christ condemned and commanded should never exist (Mk.10:42-45)],
and causeth the earth and them which
dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed [The reestablishment of a church/state system
of government under the auspices of the Vatican, legislating laws enforcing the worship of GOD, thereby removing the religious
freedoms from the Constitution as established by our Protestant forefathers].
13) And he doeth
great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men [through Satan’s
power the leaders of apostasy cause fire to fall from the sky burning up people and animals thereby securing more control
over the people (Job 1:16; Matt. 24:23,24; II Cor. 11:13-15)],
14) 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 [leading earth's population into
a unanimous rebellion against GOD'S Law and the Gospel of Christ (Is. 8:20; 34:16; I Jn. 2:3-6; 5:3)];
saying
to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast [by a national law, and from
there into international law, the violation of the Ten Commandments of GOD (Rev. 12:17; 22:14) as have already been dismissed
by papal Rome by the removal of the 2nd and 4th Commandments],
which had the wound
by a sword, and did live [inflicted
on the papacy by "a sword" of General Berthier in 1798.]
15) And he [the
church leadership of America]
had power to give life unto the image of the beast [through demanding the legislation
of laws enforcing the worship of GOD removing the 1st Amendment to the Constitution],
that the
image of the beast should both speak [with unrestrained authority],
and cause [by
enacting civil laws of tyranny]
that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed
[where civil penalties increase, leading to the death sentence. When the U.S. decrees death
for the Commandment-keeping Christians, they have, in the eyes of heaven, pronounced the same sentence on themselves (Gal.6:7).
A swift destruction awaits the population of earth (Lu.18:7,8).]
16) And he
[Protestant America] causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right
hand [through their actions of obeying the law of religious apostasy (Ps.94:20,21)], or in their foreheads
[by accepting this law through the intellect of the mind (Jer.3:3; Eze.3:8)]:
17) 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 [through governmental
confiscation of all legal holdings, forbidding any ability to provide life-support for family and friends (Eze.34:1-16)].
18) 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
"Vicarius
filii Dei" (or Vicar of Christ) is the Pontiffs official title of which he himself claims. The
numerical value of each of the letters of the pope's title, "Vicarius filii Dei," adds up to exactly 666 in
each of the Biblical languages of Hebrew, Greek and Latin; the same three languages used on the placard posted on the Cross
of Christ. This, in conjunction with the history of atrocities against Christians for 1260 years, as specified 7 times in
prophecy (Dan. 7:25, 11:33, 12:7; Rev. 11:2, 12:6, 12:14, 13:5), committing the blasphemy of claiming attributes of Deity,
removing two Commandments from His Sacred Law (the 2nd and the 4th Commandments, the ones pointing directly
to Christ as Savior and Creator), and, removing over seventeen centuries of Christian history from Bible prophecy—with
all this, one's understanding becomes clear: the religious systems of Catholicism and Apostate Protestantism are in the
service of Satan, not Jesus Christ, and are "the beast" and "the false prophet" of Revelation's uninterrupted
history of GOD'S church from the days of the Apostles through the close of earth's present history.
Their mutual destruction is prophesied (Rev.19:20); and only those who disassociate themselves from the sins of these
two corrupt systems professing service to Jesus Christ will be spared the coming plagues that will devastate the world before
the LORD comes in power and glory (Rev.18:4)].
