Rome, Babylon, and Abominations in Daniel and Revelation: the Key to the 1260, 1290, 1335, 2300, and Seven Times Prophecies
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Foreword
Disclaimer: Bible prophecy interpretation is complex, and as Sir Isaac Newton noted, generally not well understood until fulfillment. Yet Jesus told his disciples to "keep on the watch" and to "lift up your heads" when they see significant events--that deliverance is near. It is in this spirit that this is written: to help Christians make sense of today's events in the context of prophecy. There is no claim to inspiration or special insight. All errors are mine.
I have spent many years studying the biblical prophecies--especially those in Daniel and Revelation. I put it aside over a decade ago, concluding that more history needed to be lived and written before these prophecies could be understood in detail. However, with climate change accelerating humanity's drive towards extinction, and the earthquake-like political upheavals and wars occurring around the globe, I thought it may be a good time to revisit them. I had since earned an M.A. in theological studies from a prestigious evangelical graduate school, but found the focus there on exegesis (trying to determine the original meaning to the original audience), and doubt amongst scholars regarding prophetic prediction, rendered these prophecies mostly moot. It seemed to me that the Historicist view--that prophecies were fulfilled over time, as evidenced by historical events, was the view promoted by angelic commentators in Daniel, and therefore should be the correct method with this caveat: prophecies can be fulfilled more than once, where the first fulfillment acts as a template or example for later fulfillments.
Since much of prophecy describes the rise and fall of political powers, I endeavored to discover the true nature of these powers without assuming any one power is 'good' and others are 'evil'. Daniel describes all political powers as evil, in the sense that none represent God as ancient Israel had--at least during its brief periods of faithfulness. And so with America, for example, I looked at what critics had written about its foreign policy, not what official government sources, mainstream media, or politicians said, and ignored such boasts as "a city on a hill" and "American exceptionalism." In a similar way, when looking at Christian movements and their churches, I focused more on behavior than their theology. So when Protestant state churches, for example, persecuted and killed Christian minorities, I assumed they were not from God, but had the same spirit as the persecuting Roman Catholic church prior and so could be, as well, represented by similar symbols, such as the harlot and her children of Revelation 17. "You will know them by their fruits" (Matt 7:16). Rather than focusing primarily on the evolution of theology, I looked at the evolution of freedom of conscience, which is critical to sincere Christianity's flourishing. Real, biblical Christianity must have space where it can be practiced without coercion from the state, where coercion was the norm for centuries in history. I also assumed that there was no single denomination that represented true Christianity, but rather many flavors of our faith that stayed true in essentials to our Messiah Jesus in word and deed.
This is a work in progress, but I decided to publish it now in the hope that readers will send their constructive feedback, which I will reflect upon and if required, incorporate. What follows is a perspective which I think is a fresh look at prophecy in the Historicist tradition. Any truths it may have uncovered I lay before the Lord as His. Any errors are mine only and if substantiated, will be addressed promptly.
Table of Contents
Overview
The purpose of the prophecies in Daniel and Revelation is to alert followers of Christ to the significance of the rise and fall of key political and religious powers and how they relate to the timeline for the return of Christ and the establishment of God's Kingdom. These prophecies also highlight which powers are used predominantly by the “god of this world”, Satan the Devil, to control, deceive, and oppress God's people (2 Cor 4:4; Rev 12:9). It turns out that the key power is Rome—in its various manifestations—along with corrupt churches that do its bidding. As the return of Christ approaches, these prophecies serve to inform sincere Christians where they are in God's timing, so we may “lift up [our] heads, knowing [our] deliverance is near” (Luke 21:28). They also serve to alert Christians to the true nature of these powers so they will not be deceived and led away from Christ. The following diagram illustrates the working out of freedom of conscience in history, along with the relevant time prophecies in Daniel and Revelation.
Beginning at the top left corner of the above diagram, the prophecy of Daniel 8 describes 2300 "evenings and mornings" whereby the rise of Rome--first Imperial, then Papal--would result in the suppression of, in Hebrew, the tamid, or the free, open, public worship of God. This prophecy spans the creation of the Roman Republic in 509 BCE until the creation of the French Republic in 1792, spelling the end of the Papacy's control over God's people legally (the new French constitution excluded the Roman Church from political power). For Christians, the beginning of the suppression of true worship begins in 313 CE with Constantine's Edict of Milan, a contract he made with the church in which he returns their lands, ends the persecution, and funds new buildings, but implicitly becomes head of the church, which is blasphemous (Constantine was a pagan sun worshiper and murderer). Constantine would help decide matters of theology, and declare those that resisted, "heretics" to be suppressed. He created the norm whereby political power assumed it was head of the Christian church, and this corrupted the church for centuries afterwards. 1260 years later, the Polish Brethren, via the Warsaw Confederation, and an open-minded King Stanisław Leszczyński, created the first state in Europe guaranteeing freedom of conscience in 1573. This relegated religion to a private matter apart from the state and was far ahead of its time. The printing presses ensured these ideas were promulgated in Europe and Britain, along with the printing of bibles in the common, local language by the Polish Brethren and other groups in Europe. Papacy's absolute power had been breached. It would try to claw back lost ground in the Counter-Reformation but would fail.
Note there are two 1260 year periods (equivalent to 3 1/2 times, or 42 months): as above, for the suppression of true worship (313 CE - 1573 CE), and another period for the reign of Papacy. Papacy's reign begins with Justinian, and ends with the French Revolution and its new constitution in 1792, which excluded the Church from political power. The locus of Rome would now shift to the Anglo-American realm, which was emerging as the world hegemon and symbolized by the Lamb Beast (Rev 13:11-18). Since Anglo-America now represented Rome ("he exercises all the authority of the first beast" (Papacy), we should expect to see it described in prophecy. In Daniel 12:11-12, we are told that "from the time the regular sacrifice [tamid] is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1290 days" [prophetic years]. From the Edict of Milan in 313 CE, adding 1290 years, gives us 1603 CE, the year the corrupt and flagrantly homosexual King James I was crowned, signifying the beginning of Stuart Absolutism, where the King claimed divine authority over all, including the church, which of course is blasphemous. But the angel tells Daniel, "How blessed is he who keeps waiting and attains to the 1335 days!" Adding 1335 years to 313 CE gives us 1648 CE, when King Charles I, son of King James I, is arrested and imprisoned, ending the era of Stuart Absolutism and the abomination of a British king claiming divine authority over the church. He would be executed for treason in January of the new year. At the same time, in 1648, the massively destructive Thirty Years War between Catholics and Protestants in Europe ended with the Peace of Westphalia, which allowed individual monarchs to choose their own state church, bringing some semblance of freedom of religion (dissenters could move to the country where they would have the most freedom). Roger Williams and later, William Penn, would bring the ideas of freedom of conscience to America and would influence, along with the writings of the Polish Brethren and Locke, through Jefferson and Madison, the formation of the American Constitution and the Bill of Rights in 1791.
In Britain, 1648 marked the year of relief for many Christians suffering under Stuart Absolutism. The Act of Toleration in 1688 legalized freedom of religion, but did not include Catholics, Unitarians (a.k.a. anti-trinitarians), or atheists. The British would have to wait until 1813 and the Unitarian Relief Act (a.k.a. Doctrine of the Trinity Act) to achieve complete freedom of conscience legally, although heresy laws were no longer enforced at this point. In 1792 France becomes a republic marking the end of the reign of Papacy as a political power, and the establishment of freedom of conscience in America as well as Europe. Many historicist commentators point to a 1260 day-year period encompassing the career of Papacy: from it's rise in 538 CE to the arrest of the Pope by Napoleon in 1798--the final humiliation. But at that time Napoleon was trying to implement a totalitarian system of church and state under him, assuring the Church's continued corruption and power, and so, in a sense, had made himself Pope. If he had been successful, most of Europe would have been ruled by French Catholic totalitarianism. Thankfully, Napoleon was deposed in 1814 CE.
In my opinion, a better starting point for the reign of Papacy, the "little horn," is 532 CE, the year Roman Emperor Justinian commissioned the rebuilding of the Hagia Sophia Church, which had been damaged in the Nika revolt of that same year, and which had originally been commissioned by Constantine I. This is similar to the 70 weeks prophecy which states, "from the time of the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem..." (Dan 9:25). The latter involved the rebuilding of Jerusalem and its Temple. The former, in an ironic twist, referred to the building of a counterfeit Temple, the Hagia Sophia. Justinian was really the first Pope, in the sense that he fused religious law with secular law, including punishments for 'heresy'--as he defined it (e.g. not accepting the Trinity was a capital offense)--and considered himself a theologian as well as emperor. Hagia Sophia was a masterpiece of architecture and even today, visitors and academics marvel at its brilliance. It proclaimed the greatness of the Roman Empire and its Emperor as a fusion between the religious and the secular. One mosaic shows the Virgin Mary, with the infant Jesus, on a throne, Constantine I on one side, and Justinian on the other. The implication that Constantine and Justinian were sitting at Jesus' right and left and doing the work of God is blasphemous. Roman emperors have no place in God's business. When the church renovation was completed, Justinian was reported to have said, "Solomon, I have outdone thee!" (Referring to Solomon's Temple, which was commissioned by God Himself). The Hagia Sophia, therefore, was a disgusting idol in the same vein as the golden calf, and I believe, represented the establishment of Papacy: the idea that a single individual should rule absolutely over the religious and secular worlds. Justinian commissioned the Hagia Sophia in 532 CE, formally proclaiming that the reign of Papacy had begun. Exactly 1260 years later, in 1792 CE, France became a Republic, ending Papacy's reign, and fulfilling the prophecy. In a final humiliation, the Turkish government recently converted Hagia Sophia into a mosque.
Refering to the bottom left corner of the diagram, the "seven times" prophecy in Daniel 4 suggests there would be a greater fulfillment than the insanity and restoration of King Nebuchadnezzar after seven years. If "seven times" is seven prophetic years of 360 days each, and we again apply the "day for a year" principle, we get 2520 years. Babylon was destroyed in 539 BCE. If we add 2520 years, we get 1982, the year the Abomination of Desolation arose again in the Anglo-American power, the leading Roman styled political entity (the first Abomination was King James and Stuart Absolutism 1603-1648 CE). This was signaled by President Reagan's speech--the first time an American president spoke to the British Parliament--in that year of 1982. This, I believe, is Neo-Babylon and Rome's final appearance before the return of Christ. The Anglo-American power, symbolized by the Lamb Beast of Revelation 13:11-18 is the last world power. The dominant partner, America, now rules over all the West, including the European Union. This Abomination of Roman styled political power and a corrupt, racist, idolatrous, white evangelical church in America, will bring on its Desolation, as with Britain at the end of Stuart Absolutism. The Stuart Abomination then, with its immoral, abusive, and blasphemous Kings claiming divine authority, serves as a template to understand the American Abomination. I believe this abomination began with Reagan's appeal to white evangelicals to partner with him for power. They accepted, which in my opinion, severed their relationship with Christ. They made the same mistake the Church made with Constantine in 313 CE. They traded Christ for the Emperor, or in this case, the President. As Jesus said, "you cannot serve two masters" (Matt 6:24). Christians can serve Christ or the emperor, but not both.
Much prophecy has already been fulfilled. Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Imperial Rome, and Papal Rome have all risen and fallen. Anglo-America, with America now the dominant partner, rules over Western countries and is the last superpower representing Rome, God's enemy. Modern Babylon is now represented by Western empire and culture--political, business, religious, entertainment--and led by the USA. There are no more beasts to arise and take its place. The Eastern bloc (i.e., the BRICS), led by China and Russia, have now organized themselves to resist American empire. I believe we are now in the final struggle between East (as King of the South in Daniel 11) and the West (as King of the North), and I am convinced that the West will lose, as described in Daniel 11:40-45. The Apostle Paul's prophecy about a significant cry of "peace and security" is yet to be fulfilled and will be an important signal that destruction is imminent (1 Thess 5:3). I also expect a global uprising against Babylon--Western empire and culture (see my commentary on Joel). The "ten horns" in Revelation 17:16-17 may represent Europe, or in a larger sense, a group of powers global in scope (10 in the Bible means complete set with regard to the earth). Either way, these 'ten horns' will turn on the harlot--corrupt, compromised, idolatrous Christianity--and completely destroy her, as punishment from God (Rev 17:16-17). The first fulfillment of Revelation 17 was the French Revolution. The second fulfillment will encompass the entire earth. The Beast, representing Western political powers, and the False Prophet, representing false Christianity in partnership with those powers, are "thrown alive into the lake of fire," representing complete destruction (Rev 19:20). Satan is chained and thrown into the abyss, and Christ will then assume rule of earth, beginning the millennial reign of God through his Kingdom (Rev 20:1-3; 21, 22).
That is the overview. What follows are the details.
Introduction
Who decides what Christians should believe and how Christianity should be practiced? Man or God? Obviously God does, in Scripture, as elaborated by Jesus and his Apostles. It is Scripture that should be the primary authority for believers. But when Constantine first became Roman Emperor in 312 CE, he assumed he had authority over the early church and so claimed that power—calling and ruling over several church councils; declaring some as 'heretics' to be punished, and others in favor, to be rewarded and their views propagated, along with significant financial gains [1]. Later, the Roman Catholic Church claimed only it has this authority, invested in the Papacy [2]. Protestant state churches that emerged at the Reformation made similar claims. Most have persecuted and killed fellow Christians, to one extent or another, who did not recognize their authority [3]. Those of the Anabaptist tradition and others argued that one must be free to worship God according to Scripture and conscience: forcing someone to worship against their conscience makes that person a hypocrite, not a Christian. For this they were persecuted by Catholics and Protestants alike [4]. In today's world, freedom of religion is now a given and churches and governments can no longer abuse those that follow this course in most countries. But it was not always this way.
Much of the history of Christianity is a struggle between these opposing forces: those who would try to control religion in order to control people, and those—the minority—that argued for freedom of conscience. The prophecies of the 2300, 1260, 1290, and 1335 days outline this struggle and its outcome: Christians in most of today's world are free to worship God publicly according to Scripture and conscience. It is only in this way that a clear, sincere, free, and faithful witness to God's Kingdom can be given. It cannot be coerced by human agency. And there is a warning: be careful of those who would try to impose their form of worship on others, or who claim to be Christian while ambitiously seeking political power in this world. That history is very unpleasant, and we don't want to go back to it. Many of our brothers and sisters have suffered and died for this freedom, so let us cherish it, and freely render to God the worship he deserves, as we await the return of Christ, the fall of all world powers, and the replacing of them by the Kingdom of God (Dan 2:44).
End Notes
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Daniel 2: Setting the Stage
Satan, God's chief opposition, is called “the god of this world who has blinded the minds of unbelievers” and “the ruler of this world” (2 Cor 4:1; Jn 12:31). His primary objectives are to set up a spiritual rulership apart from God—subtly making himself the object of worship—and to destroy true worshipers by attacking their faith through deception, tempting them with sin, or using outright persecution (Jn 14:30). His goal is to destroy the biblical witness of the Kingdom gospel. In order to rule the world, Satan must have control of the major power of the world—and he uses this power to oppress and deceive God's people. In the Bible, we have seen he has used Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome to this end. However, Daniel's prophecies are only concerned with Babylon forward, since it was the major world power of that time.
In Daniel Chapter 2, the King of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, has a dream of a statue with a head of gold, representing himself, arms of silver representing Medo-Persia, belly and thighs of bronze, representing Greece, and legs of iron, likely representing the Western (Latin) and Eastern (Greek) divisions of the Roman Empire. Rome is not mentioned by name explicitly and so must be inferred (it did not yet exist). We know it must be Rome because it was Rome that conquered the “thighs of bronze”—Greece. The feet are part iron and part clay and the entire statue is destroyed by a “rock cut out of a mountain”, representing the Kingdom of God under “Christ the rock” (Dan 2:31-45; 1 Cor 10:4). The key point here is Rome, represented by the iron legs and feet of iron and clay, must be around in some form at the end, when Christ returns and assumes earth's rulership, and destroys this Roman power (feet of iron and clay). But who or what is Rome in our time? And what do the feet of iron mixed with clay represent?
In history, Rome arose from a small city state on the west coast of today's Italy. It began as a monarchy but formed a Republic—that is, representative government and the rule of law—in 509 BCE. This date is critical. The genius of this Republic was attractive to other powers who could share in its wealth, protection, and stability, and they were invited to become citizens. In turn, these new Romans paid taxes and Rome's wealth grew. Rome developed quickly to become the dominant power, conquering the previous power, Greece. Although Rome went through periods of military rule, dictatorships, and other types of government, it is the formation of the Roman Republic in 509 BCE that really defined this new power in a legal sense. Rome was ruling Palestine in the first century when Jesus was active in his ministry, and it was Rome that crucified him, after being egged on by the corrupt Jewish religious leaders [1]. Over the next three centuries Rome, off and on, persecuted Christians, sometimes viciously: throwing them to wild animals in the arena for entertainment, for example [2].
In the 4th century, under the emperor Constantine, Christianity also joined Rome, the persecution ended, and confiscated property was returned. But there was a catch. Constantine claimed to be a Christian, but this was likely for political reasons only: he continued to worship the Sun God and was involved in various plots and murders—even of his own family [3]. He called and presided over church councils, where bishops debated and fought each other over doctrine and for his favor. Those that lost favor were labeled 'heretics', cast out of the church, and often persecuted. For example, in 314 Constantine called the Council of Arles, to investigate the Donatists. The Donatists believed that any Christians who had abandoned their faith during persecution should be disqualified from leadership. Constantine and the other bishops disagreed. The Donatists were declared a 'heresy' and suppressed. Constantine was more interested in using Christianity for political purposes than ensuring the Church was led by people with proven loyalty to Christ [4].
In a very subtle fashion, Constantine was subverting Christianity to his own purposes—consolidating his power in the empire, and the church went along with it, which corrupted it [5]. It is this wicked partnership of Roman emperor and a corrupt church which is referred to, in Scripture, as an “abomination of desolation”, or an abomination which brings desolation. Why? A Roman emperor has no business telling God's people how to worship or what to believe, and since Satan uses the most powerful countries to rule the world, it is he who is behind the emperor (Matt 4:8-9; Eph 6:12-13). The emperor's claim to rule over Christ's people in spiritual matters is therefore blasphemous, and the Christians that bowed down to this authority had arguably abandoned Christ. Yahweh, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is a “jealous God” and tolerates no rivals, including the Emperor of Rome (Ex 34:14).
But what of the dream statue's feet of “iron mixed with common clay”? Iron is a symbol for Rome and clay is a symbol for humans, especially those that worship God (Isaiah 64:8; Jer 18:2-6; 2 Cor 4:7). We are told that, “they will combine with one another in the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, even as iron does not combine with pottery” (Dan 2:43). This, I believe, is an unclean sexual reference meaning the union of iron and clay is ungodly, sinful, and unnatural. And so, at the end of this age, we should look for Roman styled republican governments in a sinful and corrupt relationship with false, harlot churches (Rev 17). In other words, we should look for church-state unions which Jesus will do away with by the “breath of his mouth” (2 Thess 2:8). Or, in terms of Daniel 2, they are destroyed by the “rock cut out of a mountain”—the Kingdom of God under Christ.
End Notes
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Identification of Babylon
Babylon has a long history of trying to thwart God's purposes by deceiving and persecuting God's people. In Genesis, we read that Nimrod, a “mighty hunter”, tries to make a name for himself in the land of Shinar (i.e. proto-Babylon) by organizing humanity under him, and leading them in the building of a tower “up to heaven”. However, God thwarts his purpose by confusing their languages, causing humanity to spread out over the earth (Gen 10:9-11:9). Nimrod, then, is the prototypical Babylonian King: narcissistic, power-hungry, domineering, idolatrous, and opposed to God and his purposes, while falsely claiming to be a worshiper of God. In Zechariah Chapter 5 there is a prophecy about a woman, representing wickedness, who is placed in a container with a lead top, and set in a house, meaning a temple, in the land of Shinar (Babylon). Scripture is telling us that Babylon is a woman, representing God's people corrupted, that is the personification of wickedness and an enemy of true believers. At some point, the prophecy is telling us, the lead top will be lifted and she will become active. However, today, Babylon no longer exists as a political power. But there is another Babylon mentioned in the New Testament.
This Neo-Babylon is described in Revelation 17 and 18, and identifying her is critical, since it is on the receiving end of God's judgments. A 'woman' in Scripture can represent God's people. A Harlot can represent God's people gone bad [1]. So this woman clearly represents false religion—corrupted Christianity to be precise—and is in league with the Roman power in some form, represented by the 7 headed beast with 10 horns that she rides. Babylon was destroyed as a world power in 539 BCE when Cyrus, the Persian King, diverted the Euphrates River and stormed the walls, killing King Belshazzar as Daniel had predicted [2]. Just prior to this, Daniel had been brought in to interpret the miraculous handwriting on the wall: “MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.” He informs the king that MENE means God has numbered the days of Babylon and put an end to it. TEKEL means the king himself has been found deficient. PERES means his kingdom will be given to the Medes and Persians, and this is exactly what happened that evening (Dan 5:25-31) But the fact that MENE is mentioned twice likely means the prophecy would have a second, later fulfillment, for which the first fulfillment would serve as a template or example. There would be another later 'Babylonian' type ruler who would also be found deficient, have his days numbered, and his rule cut off.
In Chapter 4 of Daniel, the King receives a vision of a tree which was “visible to the end of the whole earth”. It is chopped down, and wrapped with bronze and iron bands for “seven times”. Daniel interprets this dream as meaning Nebuchadnezzar, because of his arrogance, conceit, and promotion of false worship, is made insane for “seven times”, but recovers in seven years and resumes his rule, albeit a much humbler one (Dan 4:10-27). We note that the metals in the two bands around the stump of the tree are the same metals that represent Greece (bronze) and Rome (iron) respectively, as noted in the prophecy of Daniel 2:31-35. I believe what this is saying to us is another Babylon would re-emerge after first, the Grecian (bronze) and second, the Roman (iron) powers had risen and fallen, pictured by the removing of these bands, allowing the tree to grow again. This is the Babylon that is pictured in Revelation: a corrupted “harlot” church riding a Roman styled beast, and served by kings and merchants. Many commentators have seen the Papacy in these symbols, and surely this is correct, but it is not the whole story. The “seven times” in prophetic years is 7 x 360 = 2520 years. If we add 2520 years from the destruction of Babylon in 539 BCE, we get 1982 CE. We should look for another corrupt church-state, Roman-styled power in that year. It is from this power that the last Babylon would emerge.
End Notes
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The Struggle for Religious Freedom, and the Lamb-Beast
We might ask: Why beasts? What are they? They are the symbols God has used in these prophecies to describe political entities, usually in opposition to him, but which obviously don't exist as living things. They are metaphors or models that help us understand the nature and objectives of key political systems that intersect with God's purposes for his people. They represent political powers, or a succession of them, and this principle is clearly explained by example in Daniel, by an angelic interpreter [1]. And so Historicism--assuming the beasts are a succession of political powers in history--is the correct approach to interpreting prophecy.
It is generally accepted by historicists, that the 1260 days, or the 3 ½ times, where a time is equal to a prophetic year, namely 360 days, found in several places in Daniel and Revelation, refer to the period of 1260 years beginning with the rise of Papacy and ending with its demise (Dan 7:25; 12:7; Rev 11:2-3; 12:6; 12:14; 13:5; see 'day for a year' principle in Ez 4:5-6; Nu 14:34; Dan 9:1-27). In history, the Papacy was generally corrupt in the extreme, and did deceive many; inflicting severe persecution on sincere Christians and others. I believe, however, that this abuse started earlier, after the Edict of Milan in 313 CE, with Constantine and his subversion and co-opting of the church for his own purposes. But it was the Papacy that took things to a new level: declaring popes to be the “Vicar of Christ” and ruling over Europe with an iron fist. Papacy's manifold wicked misdeeds, including persecution, sexual misconduct, thefts, and murders, are documented in such books as Vicars of Christ, by Peter de Rosa and Papal Sin, by Gary Wills. God's people suffered horribly during this time, but God had his prophets record that after these 1260 day-years, freedom of conscience and freedom of religion would arise. So the abomination of a Roman emperor ruling over corrupted, idolatrous Christianity in areas of belief and practice began with Constantine and accelerated after the destruction of Rome in the 5th century and the rise of the Papacy. In other words, there was a continuation of Church-State union from Constantine to the Papacy that in biblical terms, is an “abomination”, that spanned the destruction and rebuilding of Rome from the 5th century onward. It was Constantine that decided the Roman Emperor should rule the Church, and subsequent emperors, kings and queens carried on this blasphemous arrangement. In 532 CE, the Emperor Justinian commissioned the rebuilding of the Hagia Sophia Church, as a symbol for the greatness of the office of the Roman Theologian-Emperor, signifying the reign of Papacy had begun.
There are two other related events of interest taking place near the end of Papacy's reign of terror. The first was the rise of Britain, and later, America, which had its roots in the British colonies on the east coast of what we call today the United States. Britain began as a loyal Roman Catholic state, but King Henry VIII decided to create his own church in 1534, the Church of England, or as it was called later, the Anglican Church, and separate from the Papacy. The Pope was furious at this challenge to his power [1]. After Henry's death, and a brief rule by his son Edward, his daughter Mary, known as “Bloody Mary”, took the throne and tried to re-establish Catholicism, but died after only five years into her violent and oppressive rule. Henry's other daughter, Elizabeth, became Queen in 1558 and restored her father's Church of England as the state church, but demonstrated relative tolerance to other faiths. For example, if you did not want to attend Church of England services, you could pay a fine and worship at home or not at all [2]. Under Queen Elizabeth I, British Anglicanism was firmly established as the state church.
In time, Anglican Britain became the major world power, having a navy far superior to other competitors and defeating her main rival at the time, Spain, in the Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604). Britain became the largest empire the world had yet seen, but as it declined, America rose. Surprisingly, some years after the American War of Independence, which ended in 1783, Britain chose to partner with America rather than compete with her [3]. And so the Anglo-American power was born and became the world's most powerful partnership in the modern era, having "all the authority of the first beast [Papal Rome]" (Re 13:12). America, since the second world war, became the dominant partner of the Lamb-Beast and defacto world leader. However, at the time of writing, America is in rapid decline as the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), have risen to challenge her hegemony. Dozens of other countries have signaled their desire to join the BRICS, to the great consternation of American political leadership.
Second, in Europe, the French Revolution (1789-1799), and the earlier British Civil War (1642-1651) and subsequent formation of republics in both countries, set the model for other European nations: monarchies and religious authority must be checked and subordinated to representative government and its laws if citizens were to avoid the excesses of corrupt religion partnering with corrupt government. These ideas can be traced back to Poland and the Warsaw Confederation in 1573, where for almost a century, freedom of conscience—a revolutionary new idea in Europe—was practiced. These new ideas began circulating across Europe and Britain—John Locke's writings were influenced by them—and even found their way to Jefferson and Madison in America and its new Constitution [4]. Freedom of conscience meant that religion would be kept separate from the state and there would be no favoritism given to any church by the reigning political power. This was revolutionary: since Constantine's edict of Milan in 313 CE, it was assumed that the church fell under the authority of the political leadership, both in Catholic and Protestant domains [5].
But the concept of freedom of religion took hold, allowing Christians and others to practice their faith openly, according to their conscience. Republics swept across the European continent as kings, queens, and state churches fell from political power. In 1791 Thomas Paine published The Rights of Man, which supported the principles of individual freedoms espoused in the French Revolution. It was the most widely read book in Europe at that time [6]. It seemed God had had enough of Papacy and state churches. A new era in government was born: Republicanism—representative government and the rule of law. Or was it?
As mentioned above, Rome became a republic in 509 BCE. More likely, the ancient Roman ideal of a republic had reemerged in the Christian era. Even prior to the French Revolution, in England, it was the imprisonment of Charles I in 1648 and subsequent anti-monarchical laws, as well as laws guaranteeing the freedom of religious expression, that brought freedom of conscience [7]. Around the same time, it was Roger Williams in Providence, Rhode Island who created a state where there was freedom of religion; then William Penn and the founding of a free Pennsylvania—and these ideas found their way into America's Constitution [8]. In Germany, it was the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 that ended a bloody thirty year war between Catholics and Protestants and paved the way for freedom of conscience [9]. So 1648 is the year that the almost universal control of Christianity by political leadership was breached—in Europe, Britain, and America. The Papacy would continue in Europe and elsewhere, trying to claw back lost ground--but in 1792 France became a republic, and that would seal its fate. France had been a dependable ally of the Catholic Church, but this was now ending. Popes could no longer assert their authority and control over secular rulers or people's consciences. In 1798 Napoleon had the Pope arrested--the final humiliation [10]. And as mentioned above, he tried to implement a totalitarian political system that put the Roman Church under his control. If he had not been deposed by the French Parliament, Napoleon could have emerged as Emperor of a European religious-political totalitarian state. Thankfully, Napoleon was deposed in 1814 and Papacy's power continued to diminish, given the competition from Protestant churches, the wide circulation of ideas of freedom of conscience, and the expansion of republicanism as a form of government.
End Notes
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Daniel 7 and 8 and the link to Revelation 11, 12, 13 and 17
In Chapter 7 of Daniel, there is a parallel vision to Chapter 2, involving 4 beasts. A lion is first, and represents Babylon. The second beast resembles a bear, raised up on one side, and stands for the Medo-Persian empire. Initially Medea was the dominant player, but Persia surpassed it to be the stronger partner. This is likely the meaning of the bear being raised up on one side. It had three ribs in its mouth indicating the defeat of three kingdoms on its way to supremacy—Egypt, Lydia and Babylon [1]. The third beast, the leopard, represents Greece. It has 4 wings and 4 heads, representing the 4 powers that emerged after the death of Alexander the Great. This will be confirmed in Daniel Chapter 8. The fourth beast is Rome, which emerges after Greece as the dominant world power. Note that the total number of heads then, adding up the heads of all the beasts, is 7 (Babylon 1, Medo-Persia 1, Greece 4, Rome 1). We note the last beast, which history shows is Rome, has 10 horns. Then a "little horn" emerges, displacing 3 of the 10, and utters great boasts. This signifies the rise of first Constantine, Justinian, and then the Papacy, which conquered three Arian powers—the Heruls (493 CE), the Vandals (534 CE), and the Ostrogoths (538 CE) and ruled over much of Europe [2]. It should be noted here that some commentators see 538 CE as the date Papacy came into its own, having removed the last Arian opponent (the Ostrogoths) from Italy and having implemented the Emperor Justinian's Code, which placed the Bishop of Rome over other bishops, creating the office of the Pope [3]. As mentioned above, there is another 1260 year period from Justinian's commission of the rebuilding of Hagia Sophia in 532 CE until 1792 CE, the year France became a republic, removing the Catholic Church from power. I believe this interpretation is more accurate. God then takes his seat in the heavenly court, and passes judgment on this last beast, which is slain. Sometime afterwards, the “Son of Man” is then given the kingdom and rules over the earth along with his people. This of course is Jesus Christ returning to rule earth—ensuring that God's will is done here as in heaven (Matt 6:9-13).
The Scriptures, however, likely refer to two periods of 1260 day-years (a.k.a 3 1/2 times or 42 months). In Daniel 7, we read of the Roman beast out of which "ten kings will arise; and another will arise after them, and he will subdue three kings. He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time. But the court will sit for judgement, and his dominion will be taken away, annihilated and destroyed forever" (v24-26). This is clearly describing the rise and career of the Papacy. It was the emperor Justinian who collected and normalized Rome's historical laws, and it was Justinian who fused the office of emperor with theologian in law [ ]. The Papacy's arrogance and oppression is mentioned in the biblical text: "He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints..." The Papacy, and its Inquisition, abused and persecuted any Christian who did not bow to its authority. In 1792, France became a secular republic. This signified the end of Papacy as a political power. Revelation 13:5 is similar: "There was given him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for forty-two months." The 42 months ended in 1792 with the new French constitution.
In other passages, such as Revelation 12:5-6, it is Imperial Rome that is doing the persecuting: "She gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne. Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that she would be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days." Since we know the child is Jesus, it must be Imperial Rome--the power that persecuted Christians and executed Jesus Christ. Constantine would continue the persecution by declaring some Christians "orthodox" and others "heretics", although the designations had little to do with biblical teaching. The emperor would now preside over church councils which decided how Christians should worship and what they must believe across the empire. Justinian would encode heresy in Roman Law and continue the persecution in the 6th century. Since Constantine subverted the church in 313 with the Edict of Milan, 1260 day-years would take us to 1573 and the Warsaw Confederation, guaranteeing for the first time, freedom of religion and freedom of conscience in a previously Catholic country and setting an example for the the rest of Europe. Religious control by corrupt political and church leaders was breached.
Revelation 11:1-4 speaks of Gentiles taking over the courtyard outside the Temple, and that they would "tread underfoot the holy city for forty-two months." This signifies that the church would be overrun by those that did not belong to Christ. The two witnesses, likely meaning the Old and New Testaments, and the wilderness churches they would generate, prophesy for 1260 days, clothed in sackcloth. "When they finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them, and overcome them and kill them" (v7). It was the French Republic that emerged after the Revolution and represented the re-emergence of Imperial Rome. Other European powers would subsequently become republics and Imperial Rome, the beast from the abyss, would now be represented by Western powers as a group. In time, the Western powers would be led by Anglo-America, the partnership of the USA and Britain, and symbolized by the Lamb Beast of Revelation 13:11-18, which had "all the authority of the first beast". The first beast, the beast from the sea, was Papal Rome (Rev 13:1-10).
So there are likely two periods referred to with the 1260 days, 42 months, or 3 1/2 times: one describing the career of the Papacy, and the other describing the period of the suppression of the true church, driven into the wilderness, as it were, by Constantine. These wilderness churches would be be supported by God and would bear witness to Jesus, despite the persecution and attempts to control the faith of all Christians.
End Notes
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Revelation 12 Dragon Beast Aligns with Daniel 7 Beasts
We note this ten-horned beast in Daniel 7 is very similar to the beasts described in Revelation 12, 13 and 17 and referred to in Revelation 11:7. I believe these four Revelation beasts are the same beast at different points in time. Revelation 11:7 describes the "beast from the abyss", which we argued above was initially France, making war on religion during the French Revolution and conquering Christianity for a time. The French celebrated the downfall of the church and attempts were made to create a universal religion in line with the Revolution's principles. But verse 11 tells us that "after three and a half days, the breath of life from God came into them, and they stood on their feet; and great fear fell upon those who were watching them." Although the French Revolution put an end to the Papacy's political power, after "3 1/2 days", or years--the period of persecution during the French Revolution-- there was a renewed interest in the Bible and what followed was an explosive increase in Christian missions and bible translation societies worldwide. "And they hear a loud voice from heaven saying to them, 'Come up here.'" They symbolically "went up into heaven in the cloud" (v11). True Christianity had survived the Revolution's onslaught and was now energized for world mission. The Beast had failed to suppress it.
In Revelation Chapter 12:3-6, the dragon, Satan the Devil, is pictured as a beast with 7 heads and 10 horns, and crowns upon its heads. These 7 heads are likely the 7 heads from Daniel 7 mentioned above, which serves to link the two visions. This beast clearly represents Imperial Rome, because the devil tries to destroy a “male child, who is to rule all the nations...” (v5), a reference to Christ. It was Imperial Rome that crucified Jesus and persecuted his disciples, with help from the corrupt Jewish religious leaders. Although the beast has 10 horns, representing the 10 northern tribes of what would later become Europe, the crowns are on the heads of this beast, showing that these “10 horns” had not yet begun to rule, as they will later, in the Chapter 13 Sea Beast. We note that the beast had 7 heads. This is significant. If we go back to Daniel 7, and count the number of heads on these beasts, we get Babylon, the Lion, 1 head. Medo-Persia, the bear, 1 head. Greece, the leopard, 4 heads. And the final beast, which we know is Rome, 1 head. In total, 7 heads: the same number as in Revelation 12:3. Both visions, in other words, are describing the same thing from different points of view, but the beast in Revelation Chapter 13:1-10 is somewhat different.
Revelation 13:1-10 Sea Beast Aligns with Daniel 8
The Devil, in Rev 13:1-4, conjures up, as it were, this beast out of the sea that was “like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion.” It is similar but not identical to the beast in Revelation 12. We note from Daniel that the leopard is Greece, the bear is Medo-Persia, and the lion is Babylon, and further, the beast itself is Rome in some form, due to its resemblance to the Dragon Beast in Rev 12. The Babylonian mouth (lion) indicates corrupt religion is part of this beast, and we know this beast arises after the Revelation 12 beast, so must be the Papacy, which arose after Imperial Rome was destroyed in the 5th century. The Revelation 13 Sea Beast has 7 heads and 10 horns, and on its horns were diadems, or crowns. On its heads were blasphemous names. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority” (v2).
The “little horn” in Daniel 8 arises out of a small town on the west coast of Italy to become the dominant world power—Rome. This little horn arises out of seemingly nowhere, on it own, as opposed to Daniel 7, where the “little horn” arises among the 10 horns and removes 3 of them. In Revelation 13:1-10 and in Daniel 8, Babylon is not mentioned explicitly because it ceased to be a political power at the time the Daniel 8 prophecy was given (Babylon had been conquered by Medo-Persia, so the vision begins with the Ram representing that dual power). However, we note the Revelation 13 Sea Beast has a “mouth like the mouth of a lion” (v2) which means it speaks Babylonian, if you will. The prophecy is telling us that Babylon has risen again in first Constantine and his corrupted, harlot church, and later, Justinian and the Papacy.
But what are the 10 horns? These are the 10 Germanic tribes or powers (give or take) that arose and destroyed Imperial Rome in the 5th century and assumed Roman power. They consist of various northern tribes, like the Ostrogoths, Visigoths and Vandals, that would eventually form the countries of Europe. The “mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies” (v5) is the “little horn”--the rise of first Constantine, then the Papacy--that puts down three Arian powers in Daniel 7, and achieves dominance. Arian powers were seen as a unique threat to the Papacy because they rejected the Trinity, a core Roman Catholic doctrine [2]. Justinian in particular singled out non-trinitarians for particular persecution--making the rejection of the Trinity a capital offense [ ]. The Trinity doctrine, being inherently irrational (there are three coequal Gods but only one God; God cannot die but Jesus, who is God, died, etc.) confuses believers regarding the true nature of Yahweh, the God of Israel, and his son Jesus, our Messiah and King. And arguably, the Trinity, being the work of theologians, and unknown to Moses, the Prophets, and the first century church, is an idol. It is a thing people worship. The horns have crowns because the form of government during this time was monarchy in partnership with the corrupt and wicked Papacy, which for much of this period, had power over the kings and queens of Europe. This is Babylon reborn: church-state union with an arrogant, self-serving and blasphemous human leader, inspired and directed by Satan himself; while claiming to be Christ's unique representative—the so-called “Vicar of Christ”.
We note this sea beast of Revelation 13:1-11 had one of its 7 heads slain, but its fatal wound was healed (v3). This signified, I believe, the destruction of Imperial Rome by invading tribes from the north in the 5th century CE and the Papacy ('Holy' Rome) arising from the ashes and taking control of the old empire, bringing the beast back to life, as it were. It's head wound was healed and the world was amazed (v3). It then ruled until the Reformation in the early 16th century and finally, the French Revolution, when God executed judgment against it. We note that this beast “was like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority” (v2). Note that with prophetic beasts, time moves vertically, from the bottom to the top of the beast. I believe John is telling us that this beast, which the dragon conjures up out of the sea, should be viewed from the Medo-Persian empire (feet of a bear) onward as in Daniel 8, not from Babylon onward as in Daniel 7 and the beast of Rev 12. Its leopard body means Greece, which succeeded Medo-Persia, and the “mouth of a lion” represents Babylon, as the lion symbol does in Daniel—but not ancient Babylon. It represents a Neo-Babylon that was revived and which will become clearer in Revelation Chapter 17. It has the "mouth of a lion" and so speaks Babylonian, if you will. After Papacy's demise at the French Revolution, Anglo America arises "with all the authority of the first beast" (Rev 13:12). And so Babylon here defined, is Western culture now led by Anglo-America, including the unholy alliance of church and state along with corrupt business and finance—since these are intimately connected with the church and state (note the howling of the merchants in Revelation 18:15). It is Babylon's goal to deceive, control, profit from, persecute, and subjugate God's people—to break their faith, if possible. Sincere Christians suffered much under this Neo-Babylonian tyranny, but many survived to bear witness to Christ [3].
Now one might ask: if Daniel 7 mentions 7 heads: Babylon (1), Medo-Persia (1), Greece (4) and Rome (1), but Daniel 8 aligned with Revelation 13:1-10 does not include Babylon as a separate head, what are the 7 heads of the Revelation 13:1-10 Sea Beast? If Babylon is now incorporated in the beast's “mouth”, then the heads remaining are: Medo-Persia (1), Greece (4), and Imperial Rome (1), whose death-stroke was healed, for a total of 6 heads. Since the Papacy followed Imperial Rome, it must be the 7th head. This is the Holy Roman beast of the middle ages—where Papacy cruelly ruled over much of Europe and the known world and denied the open, free worship of God. However, as the Reformation approached, and the idea of religious freedom circulated, the position of this beast became tenuous.
In Daniel 8 we are told that the vision, which starts with the creation of Rome, and takes us through religious persecution and finally, freedom, would be in place for 2300 “evenings and mornings; then the holy place will be properly restored” (v14). The prophecy says that the "regular sacrifice” would be curtailed. Some translations say “burnt offering” but this is not in the original text and "sacrifice" isn't either. The Hebrew word is tamid, which means "regular" or "continual", referring to regular or continual sacred service to God. "Sacrifice" or "burnt offering" are added because many commentators see the Jewish temple in the prophecy [4]. Although the prophecy likely includes earlier suppression of Jewish worship by Rome, it more pointedly refers to Christian worship, considering the latter part of the prophecy involves the Christian era when the Temple is no longer functional or meaningful. Rome became a republic in 509 BCE. 2300 years later—exactly—the French Republic was born, in 1792, signifying the end of Papacy's wicked rule. Holy Rome was no more. Christians in most countries were now free to worship unimpeded. The tamid was restored. The prophesy is fulfilled.
The verse that has tripped up many Bible commentators is verse 9 of Daniel 8. Daniel describes the dividing of Alexander the Great's empire between his four generals after his death: “Then the male goat magnified himself exceedingly. But as soon as he was mighty, the large horn was broken; and in its place there came up four conspicuous horns toward the four winds of heaven. Out of one of them came forth a rather small horn, which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the Beautiful Land.” This small horn has the characteristics of the “little horn” of Chapter 7: it “magnified itself to be equal with the Commander of the host; and it removed the regular sacrifice from him, and the place of his sanctuary was thrown down.” Most interpreters assume that it is out of one of the four horns mentioned previously that this little horn emerges. It is then further suggested that Antiochus Epiphanes is that evil little horn, since he emerges from the Seleucid dynasty, which one of Alexander's four generals founded. There are two major problems with this, however. First, Antiochus Epiphanes does not fulfill all the details of the prophecy. He was mostly despised by his contemporaries, had only brief success in the “south”, that is, Egypt: he was humiliated by the Roman Ambassador and had to retreat [5]. He was often referred to, sarcastically, as “Epimanes, the madman (GC1, 158). And second, there is a problem with the Hebrew itself. The pronoun “[one of] them” is masculine, but the horns are feminine, and the winds can be feminine or masculine. The pronoun should agree with its antecedent, and so should be masculine, suggesting the little horn should be associated with the winds, not the horns.
Dr. William H. Shea, in Selected Studies on Prophetic Interpretation, Volume 1, p. 51, lays out a sophisticated and convincing textual argument:
The English translation, "Out of one of them,"...obscures and smooths out the actual Hebrew construction. The sentence actually opens with two prepositional phrases. Translated literally the sentence reads, "and from the one from them … ," etc. The reason why it is important to notice this literal construction is that it provides a precise parallel to the gender of the elements found in the last phrase of verse 8. This can best be shown by transposing the first phrase of verse 9 to line up beneath the last phrase of verse 8 with these elements in parallel columns.
Shea then lays out the phrases and shows how gender agreement is preserved (I am only including Shea's English translation here, not the Hebrew):
Feminine Masculine
verse 8 “to the four winds of the heavens”
verse 9 “from the one from them”
Therefore, the “Out of one of them” phrase refers to one of the four winds, not one of the four horns. The little horn arises from one of the four winds, that is, from one of the four compass directions, so cannot be Antiochus Epiphanes, who arose from the Seleucid dynasty, one of the "four horns" of Alexander's Empire. It is lamentable that most commentaries have missed this key point. Antiochus Epiphanes, although a wicked oppressor of the Jews, had little or no success in the South, and since he emerged from one of the four horns, cannot be its fulfillment. His greatest historical feat, in my opinion, is to send commentators down a rabbit hole. What power could this possibly be that would arise from one of the four winds (i.e. one of the four points of the compass) and grow to become world ruler?
As mentioned above, history shows that Rome began as an insignificant small town on the west coast of today's Italy. It was not part of Alexander's empire after that empire was divided. It “grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the Beautiful land” (v9). Therefore, it came out of the north or west, which Rome did, and it did grow towards the south, east, and “beautiful land”—Israel—conquering these areas. It “magnified itself to be equal with the Commander of the Host”, that is, Jesus Christ, and “removed the regular sacrifice from Him, and the place of His sanctuary was thrown down” (v11). This refers to, I believe, Constantine's subversion of the church, and later, Papal Rome arising after the destruction of Imperial Rome, and the Pope's blasphemous claims for himself as Vicar of Christ, and his evil abuse of sincere Christians and attempts to control how God is to be worshiped. Many Christians were persecuted under Constantine if they didn't accept church council decisions [6]. Later, Justinian and the Papacy jailed, hounded, robbed, tortured, and burned or otherwise killed those who did not not bow to its authority [7]. The vision was to cover “2300 evenings and mornings; then the holy place will be properly restored” (v14). The “evenings and mornings” refer to the evening and morning sacrifice in the temple, but more importantly, to true believers who would worship God openly and publicly according to their consciences. This would be taken away from them during the latter period of the prophecy, and we know it is Rome—especially Constantine and the Papacy—that was the culprit.
Daniel prefigures this persecution. In Daniel 3:8-27 the prophet's companions are told they must worship an image the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar set up. They refuse, and are thrown into a furnace, but God miraculously rescues them, and the King is chastised. Some years later, in Daniel 6, the prophet refuses to worship King Darius' statue (the Medean king that conquered Babylon along with his partner King Cyrus of Persia), but prays to his God Yahweh openly from his home, in plain view. He is arrested and thrown to the lions, but is miraculously saved by God and his persecutors are executed instead. Daniel is warning believers that there would be prolonged, severe persecution coming, but that God would make a way out if we stay faithful. The control of religion under Constantine and later, the Papacy with its abuses, would last for centuries. Thankfully the 2300 “evenings and mornings”, which began with the formation of the Roman Republic in 509 BCE, were completed in 1792 with the formation of the French Republic. No longer would God allow a mere man, pretending divine authority, to abuse his people. Freedom of conscience and freedom of religion would henceforth be the norm in most countries.
End Notes
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The Revelation 17 Harlot Beast: Babylon and Rome--Aligns with Daniel 2
In Revelation Chapter 17, we see the Sea Beast again, but there are significant differences. A disgusting harlot sits atop the beast, which has 7 heads and 10 horns, but there is no mention of crowns on the horns. This harlot, I believe, represents the Roman church and her offspring—various other corrupt Protestant and Orthodox state churches—after Papacy's political power has been diminished through social and political upheaval. The earthquake mentioned in Revelation 11:13 was likely the French Revolution. But there is another earthquake coming which "there had not been since man came to be upon the earth, so great an earthquake was it, and so mighty" (Rev 16:18). There is likely a global uprising coming which will spell the end of neo-Babylon and will likely begin in France, the location of the first earthquake--the French Revolution. I believe the prophecy of Joel, which I've written about here, describes that revolution. This harlot and beast vision aligns with Daniel 2, since in both visions, God intervenes to destroy these powers and establish his Kingdom. In Daniel 2, it is a Rock, representing Christ, which attacks the feet of the statue and utterly destroys it. In Revelation 17, it is the "ten horns" that destroy the Harlot, representing false Christianity, and clears the way for the establishment of the Kingdom of God, because God has "put it in their hearts" to hate the Harlot. Both visions describe events near the end since in both visions, the world powers are destroyed by God's agency.
However, even after the French Revolution, this Harlot continues to try to manipulate and control governments, even though she no longer has the political power enjoyed at the height of the Papacy. She also is called the “Mother of Harlots” (v5). Why? The Orthodox and Protestant churches came out of this church, and in many cases acted much the same. The Church of England, for example, was created by King Henry VIII in 1534, as a separate entity under his control, but looked very similar to the Catholic Church--complete with priests, an altar, holy water, and incense. Along with the state, it also persecuted and killed Christians who would not bow to its authority [2]. However, the abomination of church-state union would not be fully realized in Britain until the reign of James I and his son Charles I under Stuart Absolutism in the period 1603-1648, when James I, who was openly and flagrantly homosexual, would declare himself head of the Church of England and accountable only to God by Divine Right [3].
Other Protestant churches, when partnering with governments of various sorts, tended to be corrupt, abusive, and power hungry as well. Ulrich Zwingli partnered with the city government of Zurich, and participated in the burning and drowning of those that did not agree with infant baptism—including some of his most gifted students [5]. John Calvin in Geneva had Michael Servetus burned at the stake because he criticized Calvin's theology, especially the Trinity doctrine [6]. The Roman Catholic Inquisition tortured and executed thousands of people [7]. This is the meaning of “the woman [was] drunk with the blood of the saints” (v6). These false churches are primarily responsible for the persecution of the true disciples of Jesus. And because they claim to represent Christ, they are particularly guilty and worthy of God's punishment. No church which is in league with political power, and which has the aim of forcibly controlling other people's consciences, is a church from God. It is a satanically inspired abomination. God wants worshipers who freely choose him, not those coerced by the state and its harlot church.
In verse 8 of Revelation 17, we read that, “The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and go to destruction.” The beast that was, was Imperial Rome. It “is not” because from the perspective of Revelation 17, it was destroyed in the 5th century and replaced with the Papacy—pictured by the beast of Rev 13:1-10, and so “is not”. However, after the French Revolution, it again emerges out of the abyss in the form of first Republican France, then later, other republican governments in Europe, and displaces the monarchies and church-state rule and so "is about to come up out of the abyss". In time, these powers would unite to form the European Union, a secular political power. We know the beast is Rome in some form, because “the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits” (v9). Rome is known as the city on seven hills [8].
With regard to the seven heads, we read that they are seven kings (or kingdoms, in prophetic language). “five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain a little while” (v10). We recall from Daniel 7 that the total number of heads on the 4 beasts of the vision was 7, and as we saw above, for the Revelation 13 and 17 beasts, we began the count at Medo-Persia, the “feet of a bear”. This vision, in Chapter 17, continues that story and so we begin the count also from the bear (Medo-Persia): 1 kingdom; leopard (Greece): 4 kingdoms, for a total of 5 kingdoms. These are the kings that have fallen at the time of John's writing (we are seeing this from John's first century perspective now, I believe, in verse 10). The kingdom that is, then, from John's perspective, must be Rome in its imperial form, the sixth head. The other that has not yet come is Papacy, the 7th head. The Papacy, as we saw, would last until the Reformation and beyond. The vision of Revelation 17 is after the French Revolution, I believe, as new republican governments were “coming out of the abyss”, as it were, and were beginning to form. So the seven kingdoms of the Revelation 17 Harlot beast are: Medo-Persia (1), Greece (4), Imperial Rome (1), and Papacy (1)--the same heads as the Rev 13:1-10 beast, but future in time from John's perspective. "And the beast that was, and is not, is also himself an eighth, and is of [or one of] the seven, and he is going to destruction (v11). After the French Revolution, Imperial Rome, "[one] of the seven [heads]" reemerges in first the French Republic, and then the secular West in general. It is an eighth head, but is "of the seven" because it is essentially Imperial Rome reborn.
It may be argued that the seventh head, which would remain "a little while" from John's perspective, cannot be Papacy, since that institution continued for 1260 years. However, when we look at other prophetic utterances regarding extreme wickedness, we find similar language. For example, in Psalm 37:10-11, the Psalmist says, "Yet a little while and the wicked man will be no more; And you will look carefully for his place and he will not be there. But the humble will inherit the land and will delight themselves in abundant prosperity." This Psalm was written some 3,000 years ago so the "little while" cannot represent actual time. It must be the Bible's way of comforting those undergoing abuse. God, in effect is saying, don't worry, in a little while (from the point of view of all history), the wicked one will be no more. The 1260 year period of Papacy was an extremely wicked time, and God's people needed some comforting words. It is in this spirit that I believe John is writing.
In verse 11 we read that “The beast which was and is not, is himself also an eighth and is one of the seven (or of the seven), and he goes to destruction.” We saw that after the French Revolution (1789-1799), republics formed across Europe, and eventually became the European Union in our time. This is “one of the seven”—it is essentially Imperial Rome reborn, and is an 8th kingdom ruling now, during this time, over Europe. “The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but they receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour. These have one purpose, and they give their power and authority to the beast. These will wage war against the Lamb and the Lamb will overcome them.” So the European Union, the modern representation of the “10 horns” will likely play a major part in the complete fulfillment of this prophecy: the complete destruction of the harlot and her offspring: the corrupt Roman Catholic Church and its corrupt Protestant and Orthodox offshoots.
We may also consider, on a larger scale, that the “ten horns” are representative of any republican-type government supported by a corrupt church, such as in Brazil, Australia, Nigeria, America, Poland, or Russia (the corrupt Russian Orthodox Church partners with the Russian government) and many other powers, enlarging the scope of this prophecy to include all of these powers, which ultimately derive from Rome [9]. Even China, also a republic (but not a democracy) has a state church—the so-called “Three Self Church”--controlled by the Communist government there. In addition, the Pope has recently concluded an agreement to consult with the Chinese government before naming Catholic bishops in that country [10]. In this sense, these “ten horns” are already making war on Christ by misleading his people into directing their loyalty to 'Rome'. In this view, the feet of clay and iron in the vision of Daniel 2, represent all corrupt church-state unions in the world today involving a Roman-styled republic and a harlot church—mostly powers which arose from the Western and Eastern realms of the Roman Empire or which are modeled similarly [11].
However, God will put a stop to it. He will cause the 10 horns to hate the Harlot, and completely destroy her and her 'children': corrupt Protestant and Orthodox churches that imitate her [12]. Since the entire system (corrupt religion, politics, business, and entertainment) is called "Babylon the Great" we should expect another Babylon to arise at the time of the end. That is why the count of heads begins with Medo-Persia, the feet of a bear, and not Babylon. The identity of this new Babylon, taking the place of the humiliated Papacy, will become clearer when we look at Daniel chapters 4 and 8, and connect these to the beast from the earth—the Anglo-American power—in Revelation 13:11-18.
The three 7 headed beasts of Revelation are compared in the following table:
Dragon Beast Sea Beast Harlot Beast
Rev 12:3-4 Rev 13:1-10 Rev 17:1-13
First Head Babylon Medo-Persia Medo-Persia
Second Head Medo-Persia Greece 1 Greece 1
Third Head Greece 1 Greece 2 Greece 2
Cassandra
Fourth Head Greece 2 Greece 3 Greece 3
Lysimachus
Fifth Head Greece 3 Greece 4 Greece 4
Seleucus
Sixth Head Greece 4 Imperial Rome Imperial Rome
Ptolemy (had a death-stroke but healed)
Seventh Head Imperial Rome Papacy Papacy
Eighth Head n/a n/a European Union or the West,
led by Anglo-America
Comments This Rome Arises with After French Revolution
crucified Jesus Constantine. Political, business, religion
Head 1 is now are now separate entities
Medo-Persia "Harlot" Babylon rides the
(feet of a bear) Sea Beast. Merchants and
'Kings' support it.
Babylon is now Babylon is now
the beast's mouth the beast's mouth
(mouth of a lion) (mouth of a lion)
End Notes
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Daniel 12 and Revelation 13 – The Lamb Beast from the Earth, and the 1290 and 1335 Day-Years
The beast described in Revelation 13:11-18 arises out of the earth, not the sea, and has “two horns like a lamb and he spoke as a dragon. He exercises all the authority of the first beast [the sea beast of Rev 13:1-10] in his presence and he makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed” (v11-12). I believe this beast is the Anglo-American power that arises first, with the British empire, and then, as America is colonized and becomes the United States of America, the second horn of the two comes into existence. Horns mean constituent powers, so there must be two (similar to Medo-Persia represented by the two-horned ram in Daniel 8). He “exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence”, the Sea Beast, because it becomes the world power, and represents Rome and Roman power, and exists while the Sea Beast (Papacy) is still in operation. The real power behind Rome, of course is Satan, the “ruler of this world” (John 14:30; also see Rev 12:3-4).
Unlike the beast from the sea, the Lamb Beast arises from the earth, because there were no constituent peoples, represented by the sea, present in North America, as compared to the Mediterranean basin, where the Sea Beast arose. There were many First Nations peoples, but for the most part, these were deceived, hounded and killed, and had their land stolen by settlers from Europe [1]. They did not participate in the formation of the American empire in any meaningful way. This beast tells “those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life” (v14). I believe this image is the Church of England, created by King Henry VIII, in order to redirect the loyalty of Christians away from the Pope and towards the King of England. It looked very similar in both appearance and practice to the Roman Church--with priests in robes, an altar, incense, holy water, and so on--but was under the control of the King, not the Pope, and so was an “image”. Like the Roman Church, it persecuted those that did not recognize its authority [2]. It demanded all in Britain to attend its services on pain of fine or other punishment [3]. This 'image' would come to represent all harlot state churches—Protestant and Orthodox—that came out of the "mother of harlots", the Roman Catholic Church, and which had the objective of forcibly controlling people's beliefs and practices while suppressing all dissent.
When Henry VIII died, his son Edward reigned briefly, then his daughter Mary took the throne and tried to re-establish Catholicism by force in Britain. Thankfully, her reign only lasted five years. After her death, Elizabeth I took the throne and re-established the Church of England as the state church. However, unlike Mary, she tended to be relatively tolerant to those that had other faiths, although the Anglican Church under her was firmly established as the state church of England [4]. After her, James I (1603-1625), followed by Charles I (1625-1649), instituted the so-called Divine Right of Kings, and persecuted those that did not obey the state church, which in turn, was compelled to obey the King. This period is known as Stuart Absolutism, where the King claimed blasphemously, to answer only to God, and to rule by Divine Right. As a result, civil war broke out in England, Charles I was arrested and imprisoned in 1648, and relative religious freedom became the policy henceforth, although Catholics, atheists and Unitarians were not yet included [5]. Limited religious freedom would also be the policy in America, later to be enshrined in its fullness in the Constitution, as well as on the continent with the Peace of Westphalia, around the same time.
In Daniel 12, when the prophet wants to know the meaning of the vision, he is told by an angel, “Go your way, Daniel, for these words are concealed and sealed up until the end times. Many will be purged, purified and refined, but the wicked will act wickedly; and none of the wicked will understand, but those who have insight will understand. From the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1290 days. How blessed is he who keeps waiting and attains to the 1335 days! But as for you, go your way to the end; then you will enter into rest and rise again for your allotted portion at the end of the age.”
I believe this prophecy is intended to show us who the Lamb Beast is, and at what time we should expect it to arise, along with when God's people could expect freedom to worship publicly according to conscience in its domain. The “regular sacrifice” refers to Christians being able to worship openly according to their conscience, not animal sacrifices in some temple. The Hebrew word tamid, means “regular”—the word “sacrifice”, or sometimes “burnt offering” is added by translators assuming the 'regular' is a reference to the temple in Jerusalem. But this is unlikely, considering the Temple is non-existent and otherwise meaningless after Jesus' one-time sacrifice for all sins [6]. But when did this excessive control of Christian worship in the Lamb-beast's domain begin? This date is critical to our understanding of the 1290 and 1335 days.
In 312 CE Constantine became emperor of Rome's eastern division and in 324 CE he conquered the West as well, and then set out to control and use Christianity to cement his power in the empire. This near-absolute control of Christianity by the political leadership in Europe would last for 1260 day-years; that is, from 313 CE with the Edict of Milan, until 1573, when the Warsaw Confederation declared religious freedom in Poland. The significance of this event should not be minimized: it was revolutionary in European history [7]. Religious freedom in Poland essentially announced to the world that Papacy's claims were false—Christians could worship God outside of the Pope's control. Christians that were persecuted by the Papacy could now find a home where they could express their faith without fear, and many did migrate to Poland to participate in this unique experiment [8]. Sadly, after a century or so, Poland fell to Jesuit machinations and returned to the tyranny of the Papacy [9]. However, the ideas of religious freedom were sown across Europe and could not be stopped, although the Roman Church certainly tried in the so-called counter-reformation [10]. But after the 1260 days, or 3 ½ times, Papacy lost absolute control over Europe, and it would only get worse for it from there. The idea of religion as a private affair, and no business of the government, took hold and spread widely after the example in Poland [11]. It spread to the rest of Europe, Britain, and America uninterrupted, creating spaces for freedom of religion wherever it took hold. So 1573, with the Reformation in full swing, was the year Papacy lost its iron grip on people's minds and hearts, and it would never recover.
But what of the 1290 days? This, I believe, is a prophetic indicator showing how the focus of prophecy, and Satan's seat of power, was shifting from Papal Rome, which was going down, to the Lamb Beast: the Anglo-American power, which was ascending, and which would henceforth carry Rome's torch, as it were. From Constantine's partnership with the fallen church, in 313 CE, adding 1290 years, gets us to 1603 CE, the year King James I of England, who was openly and flagrantly homosexual, assumed the throne, beginning the era of Stuart Absolutism, in contrast to the relatively liberal policies of Elizabeth I. In 1604 he called a conference at Hampton Court whereby he proclaimed Royal Supremacy over the Church of England and its bishops, who were tasked with enforcing it. He claimed the Divine Right to rule--that he only answered to God--which was blasphemous; an abomination [12]. Here he explains his position:
“The state of monarchy is the supremest thing upon earth; for kings are not only God's lieutenants upon earth, and sit upon God's throne, but even by God himself are called gods...Kings are justly called gods...they make and unmake their subjects, they have power of raising and casting down, of life and of death, judges over all their subjects and in all causes and yet accountable to none but God only...
I conclude then this point touching the power of kings with this axiom of divinity, that as to dispute what God may do is blasphemy....so is it sedition in subjects to dispute what a king may do in the height of his power.” - From King James I, Works, (1609)
His son Charles I would continue this arrogant and blasphemous policy after his father died. However, parliament resisted, civil war broke out, and 45 years later, in 1648, at the 1335 day-years point, Charles was arrested and put in prison. He would be executed early in January of the following year. From henceforth, in general, Christians in England would not be controlled in their worship by kings or a state church. But freedom of religion was breaking out in other places as well, and at the same time.
In Germany, the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 ended much religious persecution as well as the bloody thirty years religious war between Protestants and Catholics. In America, Roger Williams had obtained a charter while in Britain in 1644, guaranteeing freedom of conscience, and then returned to America to continue building Providence, now Rhode Island, into a state where people could worship according to their conscience—no matter which religion they preferred—or no religion at all. This idea found its way into America's Constitution, which forbade any one religion from dominating or getting special privileges [13]. So 1648 was the year religious freedom emerged in the West and the power of the church-state abomination in Britain and the Papacy on the continent was breached. The tamid, or regular Christian free worship, was now possible, as Daniel 8 predicted it would be, although absolute freedom of conscience would have to wait another century and a half. But compared to the wicked oppression previously, this was a breath of fresh air.
The prophecy in Daniel 12 was now fulfilled in Britain with the end of Stuart Absolutism (although it may have a second fulfillment in America): “How blessed is he who keeps waiting and attains to the 1335 days” (Dan 12:12). From the Edict of Milan in 313 CE to the end of Stuart Absolutism in 1648, is exactly 1335 years. A few years later, in 1690, William III of Britain would allow total toleration of religious minorities. The Papacy continued its wicked work in countries favorable to it, trying to claw back lost ground, but in 1792, exactly 2300 years after the Roman Republic was born, the French Republic was born. The abomination of a king claiming Divine Right to Rule, and a corrupt, harlot church under his control was no more in France, the traditional bastion of the Roman Catholic Church. True worshipers were now free to read the bible and worship according to their God-given consciences without fear of persecution in Britain, Europe, and America. Satan had challenged God, as in the Book of Job, and lost. Many Christians had proven faithful during the worst of times, and now could worship openly without fear of persecution.
After the War of Independence (1775-1783), the United States would arise as the major power in the Anglo-American partnership, similar to Persia becoming the more dominant partner with Medea, as described in Daniel 8. The two 'horns' of the Lamb Beast would work together henceforth to expand their influence and control throughout the earth [14]. This beast would “make fire come down out of heaven to the earth in the presence of men” (Rev 13:13). America would be superior in air power and drone warfare as Great Britain had been superior in sea power. It “causes all, the small and the great...to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name” (v16-18). It is the United States that controls the world financial systems, and it can impose sanctions on any country or individual that does not bow to its authority, no matter how arbitrary [15]. We have seen how it has brought the economies of Venezuela and Iran to their knees, and severely damaged the Russian economy in our time [16]. But this mark of the beast has another, more devious spiritual aspect. It is a reference to slavery in Roman times. Individuals who receive the mark, willingly enslave themselves to the abomination of Roman power and its harlot church and thereby renounce Christ. A mark on their hand or forehead means they belong to the beast and support its abominations in thought or deed. They become willing apologists for this evil empire and its false Christianity. This is in contrast to the true worshipers, who in Revelation 14:1 have "His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads." These belong to God. The others belong to the Beast, and ultimately, Satan the devil.
But what of the “the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six” (Rev 13:18)? Many bible interpreters assign the Papacy to this number, and surely this is correct: what man is more sinful and evil than an imperfect man claiming to be Christ's unique representative on earth? (see Rev 15:2) This is blasphemy. But since the French Revolution, Papacy is no longer a serious political power. It has no control over other countries anymore. The fact that this statement comes at the end of the section describing the Lamb Beast suggests there may be other 666 men in the Lamb Beast, since it now "has all the authority" of the previous beast, Papal Rome. Anglo America is modern day Rome. We are to look for a man leading this Lamb Beast power who would be excessively sinful and evil, since 6 in the bible means imperfection or sin and 666 multiplies this sinful condition [17]. It would be a Babylonian type person: “its wings were plucked, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man; a human mind also was given to it” (Dan 7:4). An attribute of Babylon is that the empire is embodied in a grossly sinful, arrogant person, as opposed to a republic and its laws [18]. In James I, we have an openly homosexual, immoral king whose escapades were unashamedly public [19]. The fact that he considered himself to be divinely appointed to rule both country and church is an abomination. He ignored Parliament and its laws, disbanding it by decree [20]. This is a signal that the 666 man is ruling within the Lamb-beast. The empire would now be represented by a human and his personal failings, as opposed to a republic and its laws.
However, there may be another 666 man that would come later, when America became the dominant power of the Lamb-beast. We should look for a church-state union and a man of exceptional sin, which the biblical number 666 signifies, if we are to know what these things mean for us in our time. We should look for someone whose personality has become the empire. We should look for someone who has no regard for laws or decency; who feels he should rule by divine decree as a king would. We should look for someone who aspires to be a modern day Roman emperor, supported by his obedient, harlot church. To identify this second 666 man, we must look at the seven times prophecy in Daniel 4.
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Daniel 4 and the 7 Times
In Daniel Chapter 4, King Nebuchadnezzar has a dream of a giant tree that is chopped down and wrapped with a band of iron and a band of bronze for '7 times'. The implication is that tree would not begin to regrow, until these metal bands were removed. Daniel interprets this as the King, because of his arrogance, pride, and promotion of false worship, succumbing to mental illness and living as an animal for seven years, then restored to his kingdom as prophesied. This was initially fulfilled in Nebuchadnezzar and his seven year madness and restoration [1]. However, I believe there is a deeper meaning that links this prophecy to the Lamb-beast. The clue is the metal bands of iron and bronze.
The tree, according to Daniel, is Babylon. It will be chopped down and left for '7 times'. It was fulfilled initially with Nebuchadnezzar's madness and return to sanity seven years later. However, if we consider 7 times to be 7 prophetic years of 360 prophetic days each (the number of days in the Hebrew calendar), we get 2520 prophetic years. Because the stump is wrapped with a band of bronze and a band of iron, it signifies we are to wait for the bronze (Greek) and iron (Imperial Rome + Papacy) powers to arise and fall before the Greater Babylon would emerge again. As mentioned, the Papacy was a form of Babylon as well as Rome, but there would be another after Papacy's decline. Babylon was conquered in 539 BCE by the Medo-Persian power. If we add 2520 years to 539 BCE, we get 1982 CE. What happened in 1982? We should look for something in the Anglo-American power, since this is the reigning Roman-type superpower in our time with the greatest army in history: greater than the next ten powers combined in terms of cost. Since Babylon is the unholy alliance of state, church, and business, which dominates the world, we should look for this within the Anglo-American sphere. What events of significance happened in 1982 in the Anglo-American sphere?
In 1981 Ronald Reagan was inaugurated as the 40th President of the United States, the current major power of the two-horned Lamb Beast and defacto world leader. Earlier, Nixon had devised the so-called “Southern Strategy” whereby Southern white racists would be enticed to come over to the Republican Party from the Democrats, as the Democrats were embracing the civil rights movement which offended them. It was successful and Nixon was elected in 1968 [2]. After Nixon resigned, Ford became president, but lost to the Democrat Jimmy Carter, known widely as a pious Christian, becoming president in 1975. However, he was rejected by Republicans and only served one term--proving that the real goal of conservatives was power, not Christian principles. In 1979, Jerry Falwell Sr. founded the so-called Moral Majority, which combined Southern white racists and conservative evangelicals into a voting block. It was this so-called Moral Majority that was responsible for the election of Reagan [3]. At the same time, the Council for National Policy was formed by political operatives and which had similar aims [4]. With Reagan, it was established that conservative evangelicals should vote as a block for the Republican Party. In other words, they were instructed that the Republican Party was Christian, and the Democrat Party was not. Abortion and gay marriage became the issues that kept religious Republicans from going over to the Democrats--by design--along with an undercurrent of unspoken but understood racism [5]. Political operatives worked in the background to organize these voters and ensure conservative pastors were on board with the program [6]. At the same time, the so-called Thatcher revolution was happening in England, and the two ultra-conservatives--Reagan and Thatcher--partnered to establish their political philosophy on the rest of the world, where possible [7]. These two political leaders personified the two horns of the Lamb-Beast during that period.
In 1982, for the first time in history, exactly 2520 years after the fall of Babylon, an American President gave a speech to the British Parliament. This was also the first time in history that an American president had been elected and supported by politically active conservative evangelicals, who now, as described above, were dedicated to achieving and holding power no matter the lack of ethics and morals in their political and pastoral leadership. They had sold out. In that speech, Reagan predicted that American styled democracy would triumph over what he called totalitarian government and targeted the Soviet Union in particular. But these predictions turned out to be false. Under Reagan, democracies were destroyed, and brutal dictatorships supported, especially in Latin America [8]. Although the Soviet Union fell, the Russian Federation arose and Vladimir Putin has brought his country back to world power status. In China, their communist system continues to flourish as its economy begins to surpass America's. Marxist critique has also seen a comeback in economics and political philosophy [ ]. Reagan was not only wrong, but completely fraudulent. The US was not supporting democracy and freedom: it was establishing itself as world ruler through brutality and abuse of other peoples and their countries; usually to coopt their resources American business leaders coveted [ ]. The following diagram demonstrates America's real goals: world hegemony.
The irony is that the United States, which had a clear separation of church and state in its constitution, has transformed itself into an unholy union of church and state which we saw in previous history, was a disaster for sincere Christians. With the election of Donald Trump in 2016, white racist conservative evangelicals, like Christians in Rome partnering with Constantine, or Church of England bishops conspiring with the King of England, sold their souls for power. Donald Trump could lie continuously, rob the Treasury for his billionaire backers, lock children in cages and deport their parents, cut subsidies to the poor, be charged with sexual abuse by dozens of women, do little or nothing during a deadly pandemic--even attempting to destroy the Affordable Care Act--and these so-called Christians would stick with him for the rewards of power. They abandoned Christ for one of the most sinful, disgusting, selfish, incompetent, lying, and abusive leaders the United States has ever seen. In July of 2019 Boris Johnson, known as the “English Trump” was elected Prime Minister of England and assumed the other horn of the Lamb-Beast. Both Trump and Johnson embody the arrogant, narcissistic and deceitful Babylonian kings, Roman emperors, and popes. But it is Trump who has invited American evangelicals to partner with him, and the church has gladly climbed into bed, as it were, for access to power [9].
We are asked in Revelation 13 to consider 666 to be the number of a man. And 666, where the number 6 in the Bible means sinful, refers to an exceedingly and grossly sinful person that feigns Christianity (“two horns like a lamb”) but in practice behaves as a child of the devil (“speaks like a dragon” -- Rev 13:11, 18). The reference implies that the state will be embodied in this individual; that the rule of law, established under Roman styled republicanism, will be cast aside. Can there be a better example of this than President Donald Trump and previously, King James I? Babylon surely has returned in the form of America with its wicked President and corrupted, false Christian supporters. This is the “mouth of a lion”—Babylon, in its final appearance. It is also the Abomination that brings Desolation, discussed below. Although Trump decisively lost the election in 2020 to Joe Biden, he remains firmly in charge of the Republican Party and his false apostles and pastors continue to support him and his "Big Lie"--that the election was stolen from him. He is now running for President in 2024, and the polls show he is leading Biden. I believe God has allowed him to remain so he can be used as the personification of Satan, and be destroyed politically and financially, as an example to the world. Other similar neo-fascist rulers, such as Bolsonaro in Brazil, along with their version of the harlot church, are in trouble politically. Bolsonaro was recently voted out in favor of Lula da Silva, the socialist and environmentalist. But if Trump is re-elected, we can be sure that a period of great darkness will descend upon the West and the world. In this case, Trump will likely be the final 666 man, buoyed by his adoring MAGA horde of apostate Christians. Fascism across the world will find a friend in America.
The Lamb Beast, now led by America, leads the Western powers (as symbolized by the beast with 7 heads and 10 horns). How so? It was Reagan who first partnered with evangelicals, but it was Donald Trump who claimed to be the “chosen one”; that God had told him to run for another term, while claiming to be doing the work of Christ in his political machinations. He says the coronavirus will “just disappear”; that America “will be great again”; that good jobs will return; and so on, and his corrupt, naïve evangelical base believe and support his lies. What is the final judgement for America and its harlot church?
And he [the Lamb Beast] causes all people, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free and the slave, that they give them a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, and that no one was able to buy or to sell except the one who had the mark—the name of the beast or the number of his name. (Rev 13:16-17)
It is only America that can impose crushing sanctions on other countries or individuals. The mark on the right hand or forehead symbolizes complete submission to the beast. Those that have the mark include the corrupt evangelical church, which has been described as fascist [ ].
In Revelation 19:20 we read that “the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone.” If we compare the description of the Lamb Beast in Rev 13:11-18 to the description of the False Prophet, we see they are related.
Note that the False Prophet "performs signs" and "deceived those who had received the mark of the beast." I believe this False Prophet represents those false Christian leaders and politicians that encourage Christians to be loyal to the beastly power and who claim America is a Christian country and motivated by Christian principles. This is a lie. God has both the Beast and this False Prophet destroyed.
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Daniel 9: The 70 Weeks and the Abomination of Desolation
Abomination in the Bible refers to objects and practices which are an affront to God, such as idolatry (2 Kings 23:13), sexual misconduct (Lev 18:22), magic and divination (Deut 18:9-14), injustice and lying (Prov 12:22; 20:23) and hypocritical worship (Prov 15:8; Isaiah 1:13). There is also a peculiar phrase found in Daniel and the Gospels: Abomination of Desolation, Abomination that Makes Desolate, or Desolating Sacrilege (Daniel 9:27; 11:31; 12:11; Matthew 24:15-16; Mark 13:14 cf. Luke 21:20-21). The 70 Weeks prophecy tells us that, “on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate” (v27), so it is imperative to understand what this abomination was (or is), since the idea will reoccur in prophecy, and thus in history, and is the object of God's punishments.
In Daniel 9:24-25 we have a prophecy of “seventy weeks” to “finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place...from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress.”
There were three decrees to rebuild Jerusalem: by Cyrus in 537 BCE (Ezra 1:1-4), Darius in 518 BCE (Ezra 6:1-12), and Artaxerxes in 457 BCE (Ezra 7:11-28). It was this last decree that set the legal framework for the establishment of Jerusalem and its temple, and reinforced the previous two decrees, so we take this as the referenced decree [1]. The period of 7 weeks, or 49 years, takes us to 408 BCE, roughly when the Temple would be rebuilt. Another 62 weeks of years takes us to 27 CE, the likely date Jesus began his ministry [2]. “After 62 weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing and the prince who is to come will destroy the city and its sanctuary” (Dan 9:26). Midway through the last week, the 70th week, around 31 CE, Jesus was crucified [3]. The “prince who is to come” is the Roman General Titus, who destroyed Jerusalem and burned down its temple in 70 CE after the Jews revolted. All of this was prophesied in Matthew 24, Luke 21, and Mark 13 as well as Daniel 9.
“And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate” (v27). It should be noted that the Hebrew is better translated "confirm a covenant" [4].
The “he” who confirms the covenant with Israel for 7 years, I believe, refers back to “Messiah” in verse 26, not to Titus, the “prince who is to come”. Jesus keeps the covenant with Israel in place, whereby he goes first to the Jews with his message [5]. This covenant stays in place for his ministry, and for 3 1/2 years after his death and resurrection, for a total of 7 years—the end of the 70th week. There is no reason to separate this last week and move it far into the future, as some Futurist bible commentators have done. Yahweh would continue to call out his people Israel to recognize their Messiah—and many did heed the call--but the majority rejected it [6]. So after the 7 years of the covenant with Israel, it is cast off by God and he then goes to the Gentiles, selecting the Apostle Paul as the one sent for that ministry (Eph 3:1-12). Some commentators believe it was the stoning of Stephen in Acts that ended this 7 year covenant, and there may be merit in this view [7]. In any event, Christianity would now go out to the Gentiles in the empire, although Jews were always welcome if they repented and accepted Christ as their Messiah. A “complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate,” refers to the destruction of Rome in the 5th century as punishment for its treatment of Israel in the 1st century. God allows Rome to attack his people and destroy the temple in Jerusalem, which serves to punish them, but at the same time holds Rome accountable for its actions.
The phrase “on the wing of abominations”--that is, as a result of abominations, or as a consequence of abominations--Rome comes, in the person of General Titus and destroys Jerusalem and its temple in 70 CE. This part of the prophecy is linked to the “abomination” in Matthew 24 and Mark 13 as well as the “desolation” in Luke 21. But what are the abominations? Many commentators argue it was the Roman troops with their pagan symbols standing in a holy place—the Temple Mount at Jerusalem [8]. However, consider the events around Jesus' execution. Jesus was framed and executed by the corrupt Jewish religious leaders putting pressure on the representative of Rome, Pontius Pilate. After Jesus had died and was resurrected, Rome continued to partner with the blood-guilty religious leadership who ran the temple and kept the Jews in line. They extracted a lot of money from the people and encouraged them to buy and sacrifice animals for their sins—much as the Papacy would later sell “indulgences” that supposedly covered sins [9]. Think about this. The Jewish religious leaders had conspired to murder the Son of God, and now, in a slap in the face to Yahweh, the God of Israel they claimed to worship, slaughtered animals for their sins and ignored Jesus' sacrifice, making huge sums of money in the process and continuing to hide the true Messiah from the people. This was the Abomination that brought Desolation: a corrupt temple, led by corrupt religious leaders in partnership with Rome, deceiving the people about the true Messiah and his work. This is the Abomination that brought the Desolation in 70 CE, not pagan symbols on Roman flags. The Temple had become a disgusting idol, and was cast off by God, and so it was already an abomination. Roman pagans located nearby would not make it worse than it already was. Throwing a dead animal into a cesspool does not corrupt the cesspool.
We would see another Abomination arise in Constantine and his corrupt Christian leaders, and later, the Papacy's rule over Europe and its claims to be the Vicar, or unique representative, of Christ on earth. We would see the Abomination again in the rule of James I and Charles I in England as Roman power moved to the Lamb-beast. And finally, we see the Abomination in Reagan and later, ex-President Trump, who was leader of the reigning Roman-styled superpower along with his corrupt, racist white evangelical base. It's the same pattern of Abomination and brings the same result from God: Desolation. Since the "beast" and the “false prophet” are thrown into the lake of fire, we can expect the Abomination of a wicked, narcissistic ruler and his harlot church to meet the same fate--unless, of course, like the situation in Nineveh and the prophet Jonah, there is genuine mass repentance (Jonah 3:6-10). However, we have seen little evidence of this emerging to date.
The Stuart abomination mentioned earlier, lasted for 45 years--from the inauguration of James I in 1603 until the arrest and deposition of his son Charles I in 1648. But will there be a similar period in the American domain of the Lamb Beast?
If we examine the prophecy in Daniel 5:25-27, we note the miraculous handwriting on the wall:
“Now this is the inscription that was written out: ‘MENĒ, MENĒ, TEKĒL, UPHARSIN.’ This is the interpretation of the message: ‘MENĒ’—God has numbered your kingdom and put an end to it. ‘TEKĒL’—you have been weighed on the scales and found deficient. ‘PERĒS’—your kingdom has been divided and given over to the Medes and Persians.”
The fact that ‘MENĒ’ is mentioned twice, likely means there will be two periods where "God has numbered your kingdom and put an end to it." The first instance is King Belshazzar's foolishness and judgement by God: he was killed by the Meads and Persians that very night. But if we take this as a prophesy of the rise of a later Neo-Babylon, much like the Tree prophesy of 7 times in Daniel 4, there are two periods of interest. The first is the period of Stuart Absolutism from 1603 until 1648, exactly 45 years, in the Lamb Beast, Anglo-America. If ‘MENĒ, MENĒ means there will be two periods of equal length, we can establish the American Abomination with the inauguration of Reagan in 1981, or perhaps with his speech to the British parliament in 1982. Adding 45 years gets us to 2026 or 2027, where we could expect the American Abomination of church-state partnership to come to an end. If Trump is elected in 2024, this suggests he will be destroyed in the first midterm election.
Again, this is only conjecture, but we should watch political developments in the US and Britain, especially the US midterms in 2022 and presidential election in 2024. There is a vicious battle occurring in America, between Christian Fascists, represented by the Republican Party, Republican State legislators, the Supreme Court's conservative majority, and its white evangelical voters, who would take us back to religious oppression, and progressive elements, who believe religion is a personal issue that government has no business in. Since the 2300 day prophesy in Daniel 8 has been fulfilled, I do not believe God will allow another theocracy to arise in the West. Therefore, it must be the Christian Fascists that meet their end in a progressive uprising. I believe this uprising will be global in scope. See my commentary on Joel for more information.
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Daniel 11 and the Kings of the North and South - The Synchronization of Time in Prophecy
The Kings of the North and South prophecy lays out opposing political forces north and south of Israel initially, and their effect on God's people over the centuries. Chapter 11 begins with Medo-Persia in 11:1-2, but transitions to Greece in v3. So again, we have an alignment with Daniel 8, which begins with Medo-Persia, and the Sea Beast of Revelation 13:1-10, which has the feet of a bear, representing Medo-Persia (for Beasts, time moves vertically upwards). When Alexander the Great succumbs to illness, his empire is distributed among his four generals, but two in particular achieve prominence and so are highlighted. From v4 to v13 the rivalry between the Ptolemies of Egypt in the south, and the Seleucids in Syria in the north, is described. Verse 14 reveals the rise of the next power, Rome. Note “the violent ones among your people” in verse 14 is better translated “the robbers of your people” [1]. This was Rome. It robbed God's people by first executing their Messiah under Emperor Tiberius and then later, under Constantine, subverted, undermined, and controlled their Christian faith. This verse is a summary of Rome's involvement. Rome “fulfills the vision” by rising and falling as foretold [2].
We now get the details of Roman rule, where verse 14 is a summary. In v15, the King of the North fails in his attack on the King of the South. This may refer to Antiochus III who ignored Rome's warning to stay out of Egypt and who successfully defeated the Egyptian general Scopas, capturing Palestine in the process. [GC1, 291]. Or, it may instead refer to his successor, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who waged a successful campaign against Egypt in 169 BCE, targeting the city of Pelusium [Shea, 245]. Rome then enters the story again: "He who comes against him will do as he pleases and no one will be able to withstand him; he will also stay for a time in the Beautiful Land, with destruction in his hand. The phrase "do as he pleases" indicates another major power has arisen, as in v3 with respect to Alexander the Great and the Grecian power. [Shea, 2005, 261]. Rome will now be the dominant superpower and "do as he pleases". In v17-19 we have the career of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra but he is “found no more”—Julius Caesar was murdered in a conspiracy [3]. We then have Caesar Augustus, who sent “an oppressor through the Jewel of his kingdom; yet within a few days he will be shattered, although not in anger nor in battle” (v20). It was Augustus that decreed a census whereby Mary and Joseph had to return to Bethlehem to be registered, and there gave birth to the Messiah, Jesus. Augustus succumbed to illness and so was “shattered, although not in anger nor in battle” [4].
However, “in his place a despicable person will arise, on whom the honor of kingship has not been conferred, but he will come in a time of tranquility and seize the kingdom by intrigue.” This is usually assigned to Titus by commentators, who became Emperor after Augustus, and was reportedly a nasty, sadistic person. But there are problems with this. Titus, in a common practice, was adopted into the royal family and was groomed by Augustus—he was not a usurper and seemed uninterested in becoming an effective emperor, living in isolation for much of his reign [5]. I believe this instead refers to Constantine, a new type of Roman emperor. He was not in line to become ruler and had to seize the throne through intrigue and civil war—defeating the other claimants [6]. He was reportedly vain and conceited--very concerned about his appearance--especially his hair. This indicates narcissim--excessive self-love and lack of empathy [ ]. “The overflowing forces will be flooded away before him and shattered, and also the prince of the covenant” (v22). Constantine was very successful in warfare, becoming the sole emperor of the Roman Western and Eastern divisions. He subverted the early church and made it obedient to him, taking away the allegiance to the Lamb of God. Constantine ultimately decided what form of Christianity was legal and which should be suppressed. In this sense, he defeated the “prince of the covenant” by making Christians loyal and obedient to him, and helping to define what they should believe and how they should worship. He became the prototypical Vicar of Christ which was fully realized later in the Papacy. To apply the shattering of the "prince of the covenant" to Christ's crucifixion under Titus is problematic: Jesus' death was a victory, not a defeat. But the subversion of the Church by Constantine stole what was Christ's and sent many of his true disciples into exile.
“After an alliance is made with him he will practice deception, and he will go up and gain power with a small force of people” (v23). This describes Constantine's use of the compromised church, and highlights the transition from Constantine to the Papacy. The “small force of people” are the Christian leaders corrupted, and the “alliance” is their agreement to partner with Rome--beginning with the Edict of Milan in 313 CE. Rome was destroyed in the 5th century but Papacy arose to fill the power vacuum. Verses 24-30 describe Papacy as King of the North and its Crusades against the King of the South—Arab countries that practice Islam. Verse 25 describes the first Crusade, which was a success. "Those who eat his choice food will destroy him..." (v26), is likely a reference to the Muslim leader Zengi being assassinated by his servant Yarankash in 1146, just prior to the second Crusade. In Verse 27 "as for the two kings, their hearts will be intent on evil and they will speak lies to each other," refers to the dark political intrigue surrounding the Crusades. Verse 28 speaks of persecution of Christians by the Papacy. Verse 29 then describes the last Crusade, which was a complete failure. "Ships of Kittim will come against him; therefore he will be disheartened" (verse 30). According to William Shea, the Hebrew preposition for "coming against", as in a war, is usually 'al, but here the preposition is be or beth, which means by, in, at, or with. The ships of Kittim, therefore, came with him, the King of the North, not against him. This is exactly how the final Crusade transpired: the French King Louis IX came with his ships and wintered at Cyprus in 1248. In 1249 he set sail for Egypt but suffered a major defeat in 1250 and was captured. There would be no more crusades in the Holy Land. [Shea, 2005, 257]
But then there is an interjection, a summary description similar to verse 14: “Forces from him will arise, desecrate the sanctuary fortress, and do away with the regular sacrifice. And they will set up the abomination of desolation” (v31). This abomination is not the one that brought the temple's destruction—as in the 70 weeks prophecy above. This abomination comes much later. It cannot be either Constantine and his harlot church, or the Papacy, since these arise in earlier verses, and Daniel 11 is in historical time sequence. It is true that Constantine and his harlot church, as well as the Papacy, are abominations, but not the one noted here. The timing simply doesn't fit. I believe this signals the beginning of the the power of Rome's transition from Papacy to the Lamb-Beast--the "Forces from him", that is, Papacy, that arise in Britain. Or, in terms of Revelation 13:12, he [the Lamb-Beast] "exercises all the authority of the first beast [Papacy] in his presence." Verses 32-35 outline the attempts by Papacy and this new power to subvert and persecute God's people.
Britain was originally loyally Roman Catholic and was rising as a power while the Papacy's power began to wane. As mentioned above, it was James I, a Catholic, in 1603 that set up an Abomination in his claim to Divine Right and his rule over Christians through the English Church, including persecuting those that would not obey. Verse 32-37 continues the career of Papacy but also can apply to the newly set up Abomination in Britain. “He will show no regard for the gods of his fathers or for the desire of women” (v37). James I was openly homosexual and the Popes and their bishops were supposedly, by church policy, celibate [7]. The “gods of his fathers” is a reference to the traditional Christian God, and earlier, pagan Roman gods. He rejects them all and “magnifies himself above them all”, which describes the Papacy as well as the extreme narcissism and arrogance of James I and his son Charles I under Stuart Absolutism [8]. In verse 36 we again see the phrase "the king will do as he pleases", and as in verse 3 and verse 16, it represents the arrival of a new superpower: in this case Anglo-America, where previously it was Greece (v3) and Rome (v16). The rest of Chapter 11, therefore, describes this power.
In verse 39, we read that, “He will take action against the strongest of fortresses with the help of a foreign god,” describes the achievement of world power status by Britain, along with “a foreign god”, likely America [9]). Dr. Michael Heiser has shown conclusively that each nation has a god, or mighty angelic being, over it, and these mighty angelic creatures are in rebellion against Yahweh, the Almighty. This is now the era of the Lamb-beast, the Anglo-American power, which has "all the authority of the first beast in his presence"--the Sea Beast, Papacy--and is the last power mentioned prior to Jesus' return. (Rev 13:12). Verses 40-43 describe the conquest of the Middle East and Holy Land (Israel) by the Anglo-American power, which secured oil resources and other wealth there in the 20th century [10]. The dominant power in the Lamb-beast is now America, as Britain declines.
I believe that in this year 2024, we are now at the last part of this prophecy: “rumors from the East and from the North will disturb him, and he will go forth with great wrath to destroy and annihilate many. He will pitch his tents of his royal pavilion between the seas and the beautiful Holy Mountain; yet he will come to his end, and no one will help him” (v44-45). The “rumors from the East and from the North” I believe are likely rumors about Russian, Chinese, and perhaps Iranian collusion in resistance to American hegemony, which countries are north and east of Israel, respectively, and which are the main powers opposed to Anglo-America. America, as we speak, is like a drunken bull in a pottery shop, running around the world, issuing threats to allies and enemies alike that don't obey it [11]. But it will come to its end “and there will be no one to help him.” "He will pitch his tents of his royal pavilion" refers to political or military leaders in history that would travel with a fully equipped entourage when visiting foreign dignitaries, and set up camp near where they were visiting. The phrase "between the seas and the beautiful Holy Mountain" refers to the area between the Mediterranean and Dead seas on the west and east respectively, and Mount Zion to the north. This is the exact spot where Jerusalem is located today, and it should be noted that President Trump moved the American Embassy, a modern equivalent of a "royal pavilion", from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on May 14, 2018, ignoring all accepted norms and enraging the Palestinians and Arab countries. However, this last King of the North, the West led by America, meets its end here--or at least the corrupt political system which has partnered with its harlot church--meets its end here. It remains to be seen if America and the West survive in some other, humbler form (Rev 16:13; 19:20; 20:10).
Then “Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued” (Dan 12:1). This is the return of Christ and the destruction of any remaining world powers, as described by the stone crushing the feet of the statue in Daniel Chapter 2. The “rock” then grows to encompass the whole earth: God's Kingdom takes charge globally after submitting all other powers that are in opposition to it.
End Notes
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Looking Ahead
What do we know for sure? There are no more major powers to arise—we have reached the end of the Gentile rule [1]. We know that Anglo-America is now the final Babylonian-Roman Abomination that Scripture speaks of. Satan is now using this power predominantly in an attempt to rule the world and deceive God's people—and if we look at the racist and idolatrous evangelicals supporting Trump, we see millions have been horribly deceived and stolen from Christ. Like Belshazzar in Daniel Chapter 5, Reagan and then Trump have misused the “holy utensils”—the Bible, churches, and evangelicals, for unclean political purposes. This is an affront to God and begs a response from him. Daniel's “MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN” may very well have a second fulfillment in our time—we shall see. Either way, the days of the Anglo-America power are numbered and near their end.
We know that the Sea beast of Revelation 13:1-10 and the Harlot beast of 17:1-18 (first as Imperial Rome, then the Papacy, then the EU, or possibly all world republics in league with harlot churches) and the Lamb-Beast of Revelation 13:11-18 (Anglo-America) are “thrown into the lake of fire”, signifying complete destruction (Rev 19:20). The Devil will also suffer the same fate later (Rev 20:10). Since beasts are kingdoms, we don't expect either the Sea Beast or Anglo-America to survive--at least not in their current forms. We know that the “ten horns”, signifying the EU, or perhaps more widely, all republican styled governments in league with harlot churches, to “rule as kings” for “one hour” (Rev 17:12). The word “kings” signifies authoritarianism--a suspension of democracy. It may be that neo-fascist governments, which were on the rise in America, Brazil, Russia, France, Italy, Poland, Hungary, and other places will “fight against the lamb”—they will try to deceive and harass God's people and will try to restore church-state rule. We know from Daniel 8, however, that they will not be able to exclusively control religion and worship any longer—God will not allow it. The prophetic time for this has expired—but God's people can still be deceived and harassed, so we must be careful.
In time, God steps in and turns the “ten horns” against the Harlot, completely destroying her and her offspring (other churches that act like the Harlot). I suspect it is progressive forces that replace the neo-fascist forces, since the “kings of the earth” and the “merchants of the earth”—the very forces that comprise neo-fascism—stand at a distance in fear (Rev 18:9-11). This sounds very much like another 'great earthquake'—a revolution of perhaps global scope that will bring in socialist governments that are anti-religion, and which are modeled upon the French Revolution. The prophet Joel may have significance and I have written about it here. Considering the extreme corruption, racism, love of violence, and idolatry of Trump's evangelicals, it should not be surprising that reasonable people would see these as detrimental to their country's very existence as a democracy, and put their support behind a people's movement. We can expect retribution against compromised Christianity and their political partners, and understand this is God's punishment. The discovery of unmarked mass graves at Indian boarding schools around the world and the church's resistance to accepting responsibility may be one of the sparks that ignites the fires of hatred. Another is the dangerous corruption of the evangelical churches as demonstrated by their political support for Trump and other neo-fascist rulers, and their presence at the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capital building. Reasonable people are outraged and fearful of these developments.
We also know that Jesus' prophecies in Matthew 24, Luke 21 and Mark 13 will continue to unfold in their second fulfillment (the first fulfillment was the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE). We know that there must be a greater fulfillment because not all of the details of these prophecies were fulfilled in 70 CE. We can expect more pandemics, earthquakes, famines, floods, fires, droughts, wars and various miraculous signs. We can expect more attempts to deceive God's people through false prophets, false pastors, false messiahs, and false teachings. We can expect some persecution since non-Christians will not know the difference between a false Christian and a true Christian when the “ten horns” turn on the “harlot”. But we know we will be saved if we stay firm in our faith, hold onto Christ, and pray incessantly to survive and to be able to stand before the Son of Man (Luke 21:36).
As far as timing, it must be remembered that "concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only," so it cannot be calculated from Scripture (Mt 24:36). But we know that the Lamb-Beast will continue to operate until it and the West it leads is thrown into the "lake of fire". In other words, as long as the corrupt church-political union continues in America, we will have to wait. As long as Presidents like Biden, who is creating misery across the globe--bombing countries at will, for example--we will have to wait.
The Apostle Paul wrote that, "While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape" (1 Th 5:3). We expect some major initiative or announcement regarding peace--likely peace in the Middle East, or at least the appearance of peace. This would be the sign for believers that God's judgement is imminent: like the birth pangs upon a pregnant woman, the contractions continue with greater frequency until the child is born. There is no going back once it starts.
Thankfully, the end of the story is already written: In Revelation 21, the “New Jerusalem”, representing the Bride of Christ and God's Kingdom under Christ, descends to the earth and rules over it. A time of joyous peace in the knowledge of God envelopes the planet. Heaven has come to earth. Paradise has been restored. God's Will will be done on earth as in heaven: that prayer will finally be answered. Praise Jah, you people!
Final Reflections
Satan, the “dragon” and “devil” has used Rome primarily, in its various forms, to control earth's peoples and to persecute and deceive God's people. His implied challenge to God is: he can produce churches beholden to him, and God's people will not know the difference, or if pressured, will abandon their faith for a false church. In other words, he would impersonate Christ and seek to be worshiped (2 Cor 11:14). Indeed, many were deceived through the centuries. But there were always people who rejected Satan's offer and suffered greatly as a consequence. We think of John Huss, burned at the stake by Papacy; or Wycliffe and the Lollards earlier; the Polish Brethren in the 1500's; and the Anabaptists during the Reformation—persecuted by Catholics and Protestants alike. God has always had his people, even if they are the persecuted minority. These brave ones maintain their faith, and like Job, prove the the Adversary a liar.
Satan's rebellion has failed. His end is already forecast. God's people have rejected him and his harlot churches. He has tried everything to turn humans against God, but a remnant has always been true to their Lord and Savior, as history attests. The true nature of Rome in its various forms has been unmasked. The final appearance of the Abomination of Desolation, Babylon restored, with all the authority of Rome, is now found in the Lamb Beast, led by the Anglo-American superpower. If Trump is re-elected in 2024, this Abomination will reach heights of evil darkness we have not witnessed for a long time in the West. But the West's end is near and approaching fast. Christians must remain vigilant and pray incessantly. We must be careful not to be fooled by propaganda regarding empire and its wars, political parties, or corrupt religion.
Jesus is coming soon. We must be ready to stand before him.
End Notes
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Appendix A
Key Dates and Times
1260 Day-Years of religious oppression – the tamid was take away (Dan 7:25; 9:27; 12:7; Rev 11:2-3; 12:6; 12:14; 13:5): The time from Constantine's Edict of Milan (313 CE) until the Warsaw Confederation (1573 CE), which first provided for religious freedom in Europe. With the Edict of Milan, Church property was returned, and Christians were now allowed to worship openly, but only as decided in Church councils led by Constantine. Anyone who disobeyed was deemed a 'heretic' to be suppressed. The blasphemous assumed authority of the Emperor over Christians would continue through to the Holy Roman Empire and the Papacy. However, 1573 CE was the year religious freedom was obtained in Europe--beginning with Poland--and although there were some setbacks, it would only become more firmly entrenched going forward. Since 1573, the Papacy would never again have absolute control over the minds and hearts of Christians.
There is another 1260 day-years period referring to the career of the Papacy. If we consider the start date to be 532 CE, the year Justinian commissioned the rebuilding of the Haga Sophia, the 1260 years ends in 1792 CE, the year France became a republic.
1290 Day-Years and the establishment of the Abomination of Desolation (Daniel 12:11-12): The time from Constantine's Edict of Milan (313 CE) to the reign of James I, and Stuart Absolutism (1603 CE), where King James, a Catholic and flagrant homosexual--a biblical abomination--declared himself under divine authority and answerable to no human. This signifies that the power of Rome has shifted to Anglo-America, and that the Abomination of a Roman-styled government and its harlot church has arisen there. This also ties into Daniel Chapter 11:31, setting a time indicator for when this would happen (Daniel Chapters 11 and 12 list historical events in sequence, from the Medes and Persians, to the Greek dynasties, the Roman powers, and finally, Anglo-America, the last Roman-styled power).
1335 Day-Years and the blessedness of those who attain it (Daniel 12:12): The time from Constantine's Edict of Milan (313 CE) until the end of Stuart Absolutism in Britain, the Peace of Westphalia in Europe, and the establishment of freedom of religion in Rhode Island, America (1648 CE). Virtual freedom of worship now had a foothold in Europe, Britain, and America. America, now part of the Lamb-Beast power, would soon become the dominant horn, eclipsing Britain as Persia did with Medea in Daniel's Ram-Beast of Chapter 8. The first Abomination in the Lamb Beast was Stuart Absolutism, from 1603-1648, 45 years. There may be a parallel 45 year period in America: from the inauguration of Reagan in 1981 until 2026, or possibly from Reagan's speech to the UK parliament in 1982 until 2027, where we might expect the American abomination to end. However this is very speculative.
2300 Day-Years (Daniel 8:13-14): The time from the creation of the Roman Republic in 509 BCE until the founding of the French Republic in 1792 CE. This highlights Rome's role in suppressing freedom of religion and is the beast that “was, was not, but is” in Revelation 17. 1792 is the year France became a constitutional republic, after the model of Rome. It signified the end of Papacy's secular power. From this point, Papacy could no longer interfere in the governance of other countries, and is represented by the disgusting harlot of Revelation Chapter 17--unknowingly awaiting it's final judgment as described in Revelation 17:16.
2520 Day-Years (Daniel's “seven times”, 7 x 360 days, in Dan 4:23): The time from the destruction of Babylon in 539 BCE until the first term of Ronald Reagan, who was inaugurated in 1981 CE, but who in 1982 CE, exactly 2520 years after Babylon was destroyed, gives a speech to the British Parliament--the first time for a US president. He predicted the victory of Western democracy over all other forms of government, which turned out to be false. It was also the first time American conservative evangelicals had partnered with politicians to obtain power--the so-called Moral Majority had helped Reagan get elected. This signified Babylon arising again for the last time, after the demise of Papacy as a major political power. For the first time in American history, in violation of its own Constitution, corrupt religion had partnered with corrupt political leadership and corrupt business to obtain power. Later, President Donald Trump would hasten America's descent into religious corruption, greed, violence, racism, idolatry, and lawlessness. The American Babylonian Abomination is a greater fulfillment of the Stuart Abomination in Britain.
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