08/01/2024
FREEDOM'S FINAL HOUR
THE BIBLE PREDICTS THAT TWO END-TIME SUPERPOWERS WILL USE SATANIC DECEPTIONS TO ENFORCE A GLOBAL RELIGIOUS TYRANNY - WHO ARE THEY? WHEN WILL THEY ARISE?
I live in a country whose citizens may attend any church they desire or may ignore religion entirely, if they choose. They may even promote their religious beliefs, as long as they do not restrict other people's freedoms in the process.
So when we read the prophecy in Revelation 13 about an evil power forcing everyone, on pain of death, to worship "the beast," it sounds like a medieval fairy tale. How could sophisticated nations allow themselves to be manipulated by such a despot? Even more difficult to imagine is Buddists, Moslems, Christians, Hindus, athiest, voodooists, animists, etc. uniting to support such a global religious leader!
The Book of Revelation picks up where the book of Daniel leaves off. John is shown details about world empires right before Jesus comes that enlarge on Daniel's prophecy. (See "Can We Trust Bible Prophecy?" in this issue.)
The apostle John received his revelations from Jesus Christ around A.D. 96. Since then, many of Revelation's prophecies have been fulfilled. But the events described in Revelation 13 haven't all been fulfilled yet. Does the Bible shed light on who these beasts are and when they will come to power?
THE SEVEN-HEADED BEAST
There are amazing similarities between the first beast of Revelation 13 and the little horn of Daniel 7. For example, the beast speak great things and blasphemies against God (Revelation 13:5, 6). The little horn spoke great words against God (Daniel 7:25). The beast make war with the saints and persecuted them (Revelation 13:7). The little horn also persecuted the saints of God (Daniel 7:21). The beast rules for 42 prophetic months or 1260 years (Revelation 13:5). The little horn rules for a time, times, and the dividing of time, or 1260 years (Daniel 7:25). In Revelation 13, the beast had ten horns representing the ten divisions of Rome from which the Papacy emerged as a world power. In Daniel 7, the ten horns of the fourth beast represented the ten divisions of Rome from which the the little horn power - the Papacy - emerged as a leader. In both prophecies - Daniel 7 and Revelation 13 - we have a description of the Papacy.
There is another valuable identifying mark of the Papacy described in Revelation 13:2: "And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion." Here the beast is described as a combination of the same beasts in Daniel 7, representing Greece, Medo-Persia, and Babylon.
Daniel prophesied that these three kigdoms would continue on after their kigdoms had vanished. "As concerning the rest of the beasts (the lion, the bear, and the leopard), they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time" (Daniel 7:12).
The lives of these defeated empires were prolonged by pagan Rome's practice of borrowing deities and beliefs from the surrounding nations. When Papal Rome needed to make Christianity the religion of the state, it fused pagan customs with Christian beliefs. Then it was that Greece, Medo-Persia, and Babylon lived on to influence and corrupt Christianity. Historian Alexander Hislop states, "To conciliate the pagans to nominal Christianity, Rome, pursuing its usual policy, took measures to get the Christian and pagan festivals amalgamated and by a complicated but skillful adjustment of the calendar, it was found no difficult matter, in general, to get paganism and Christianity, now for sunk in idolatry,...to shake hands"(Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylon, p. 105).
But the influence of these past kingdoms and their idolatrous worship on Christian ideals did not end with pagan festivals. Instead of many simple churches, these emerged the grand cathedrals with altars and idols. Instead of pastors, evangelists, apostles, and teachers, there emerged the Catholic priesthood. The apostasy went even so far as to have a bloodless victim: the wafer at communion was claimed to be the literal body of Christ.
John was shown that the Papacy received its power and authority from the dragon, or the devil (Revelation12:9; 13:2). Yet God has precious children worshipping in the Roman Catholic communion. When we identify the beast, we are addressing a false system of worship, not individuals.
THE LAMB-LIKE BEAST
Now the focus of Revelation 13 moves to the lamb-like beast. John say the seven-headed beast rising out of the sea. But the lamb-like beast from the earth (Revelation 13:10-11). The Bible tells us that "seas" or "waters" represent a very populous part of the earth with its teeming multitudes. (See Revelation 17:15). The "earth," by contrast, represents a new world with few inhabitants.
When would this great nation arise? While John sees in vision the first beast, the Papacy, going into captivity in A.D. 1798, he sees another beast rising from obscurity into a superpower. The United States is that political power that arises out of the New World at the end of the 18th century.
The United States is described as a beast with two horns like a lamb, or a nation with Christlike features. The previous world powers were described as ferocious beasts because of their civil and religious intolerance. However, this lamb-like nation occupies the New World offering both civil and religious freedom.
But sadly, the Bible tells us that one day this peaceful nation will "speak as a dragon." The prophecy doesn't say it would look like a dragon. It would look like a professedly "Christian" nation, while at the same time exhibiting the characteristics of Satan. By causing the world to "worship the beast," it will repudiate the two great principles of civil and religious freedom.
THE WORSHIP OF THE BEAST
We are told that the seven-headed beast - the papacy - received a deadly wound (Revelation 13:3). When the pope was captured by Napoleon's armies in A.D. 1798, it ceased to be a universal political power, although it continued as a church - However, the prophecy predicts that "...his daedly wound was headed and all the world wondered after the beast."
The Papacy is returning to universal political power once again. Today, the wound is largely healed.
How will the United States of America force the world to worship the modern Papacy? The Bible says, "And he [the lamb-like beast] exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed" (Revelation 13:12).
Before the U.S. can enforce global religious decrees, a religious element within the United States will pressure lawmakers to pass religious legislation that allies them with the Church of Rome.
The two superpowers today are the United States and the Vatican. The United States is the greatest nation in human history - with a strong and diverse economy and superior military force.
The Vatican is the world's most multi-racial and multi-cultural institution. Her members comprise one'fifth of the world's population. The pope is the most popular international figure and controls a worldwide infrastructure of schools, universities, churches, hospitals, libraries, newspapers, magazines, publishing houses, radio, and television stations. He has a working force of half a million priests overseeing more than 200,000 parishes. The Vatican Bank, "with its team of international advisers who administer an extensive portofolio of the Holy See's holdings and investments in virtually every sector of the world's commercial and industrial activity," makes the Papacy a major economic force in geopolitics today." (Malachi Martin, The Keys of This Blood, p. 111.)
A RETURN OF TYRANNY
When Christian leaders in the Roman Empire mingled pagan customs with the purity of the gospel, they lost the Spirit and power of God. Lacking spiritual power, they sought the support of secular power. The result was the Papacy, a church that controlled the power of the state, and employed it to further her own interests, especially in the punishment of dissenters.
When the leading churches of the United States pressure lawmakers to enforce their doctrines and to sustain their institutions, then the U.S. will have formed an image or likeness to the Papacy. Both history and prophecy warn us that when the church controls the state, religious oppression is the sure result.
Religious leaders will use use miracles to prove that heaven is behind their alliance between church and state. (See Revelation 13:13-14.) Under the influence of these deceptions, people born in free countries will believe this spiritual tyranny is ordained of God.
What happens to those who do not worship the beast and his image? The Bible says, "And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak [legislatively], and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their forheads: and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name" (Revelation 13:15-17).
What a religious crisis! Those who do not worship the beast or his image, or receive the mark of the beast, cannot buy anything to eat or wear. They may lose their homes. They will not be allowed to sell anything. Essentially, they face a complete economic boycott. And eventually, they will face a death decree.
Could this be possible? Only slightly more than seventy years ago, a nation of intelligent, well-to-do, cultured people decided to eliminate a religious minority and over six million Jews were murdered. Today we call this the holocaust. According to Bible prophecy, we will soon experience this senseless savagery once more. Strangely, it will develop in the freest nation in the world. Someone once wrote, "Democracy is a brave experiment that will die young." Tragically, the prophecies of Revelation do not deny this.
No one wants to lose their freedoms. Why would they take someone else's away? Revelation 12:12, 17 reveals who is really behind this religious oppression. This is the devil's last desperate effort to rid the earth of God's people, those who love Him and keep His commandments. They stand between Satan and the complete takeover of the world.
On the other hand, what will happen to those who receive the mark of the beast? They will receive the undiluted wrath of God poured out in the seven last plagues and will experience complete destruction. (See Revelation 14:9-11; 15:1-8; 16:1-21.)
John described those who would not receive the mark of the beast, even at the cost of their lives. They were those with names written in the Lamb's book of life. They follow the Lamb wherever He goes and are pure and without faults before God's throne (Revelation 14:4). I WANT TO BE IN THAT GROUP, DON'T YOU ???
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