A COUPLE of years back we bought a 1996 Ford Transit van. Fantastic van it was and very good for purpose. It had a few cosmetic extras but I wished it also had a ‘light’ to show when I was running on reserve tank.
The fuel gauge worked perfectly but sometimes it was difficult to tell if there was enough diesel to go an extra mile or not. Indeed, I ran out of diesel on the road a couple of times and my longsuffering sister, Nom, had to come out to the rescue with a 5 litre can of diesel.
We are living in a world that is running on reserve tank and are about to run out completely, the main tank is empty. We will briefly explore why.
We have been able to identify the first beast of Revelation 13: 1-10 as Papal Rome because of the following points:
(1) it’s a blasphemous power: Rome claims the prerogative of God to forgive sins.
(2) it made war with the saints and overcame them: Rome has killed more people that the first and second world wars put together.
(3) The length of the beast dominion is 42months, which calculates into three and a half years, or 1,260 days; which equates to 1,260 years: the papal supremacy is dated from A.D. 538 and ends A.D.1798 when Pope Pius VI was exiled to France.
(4) 666 – The title of the pope of Rome is “Vicarius Filii Dei” (English: “Vicar of the Son of God”). The name adds to 666.
(5) the beast is worshiped and has world dominion: The papacy is so influential and powerful that nearly every major country consults her before making major policy moves. Her “large diplomatic corps maintains relations with more than 100 nations.” U.S. News and World Report, October 30, 1978, p. 24.
I hope you realise that we are not talking about individuals, not even Benedict XVI or the late John Paul II. Benedict is a lovely man with a nice smile and he loves children. I have nothing against the guy. But the papal system is the first antichrist beast power of Revelation 13.
Now watch what else John saw, “Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon” [Revelation 13:11]. The previous verse, v10, mentions the first beast being led into captivity and this happened in the year 1798.
The second beast was seen emerging out of the earth round about the same time. There is only one nation that arose at this time. The United States declared its independence in 1776, voted the Constitution in 1787, adopted the Bill of Rights in 1791, and was clearly recognised as a world power by 1798.
A nation enters prophecy when the work and destiny of God’s people are definitely linked with it. The timing obviously fits America. Remember that beasts in Bible prophecy symbolise nations or world powers (Daniel 7:17, 23). “The fourth beast shall be a fourth kingdom on earth” [v. 23].
This nation arises “out of the earth” instead of out of the water as did the first beast mentioned in Revelation 13. We know, from the same book, that water symbolises areas of the world that have a large population. “The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues” [Revelation 17:15]. Therefore, the earth represents the opposite. It means that this new nation would arise in an area of the world that had been virtually unpopulated before the late 1700s. It could not arise among the crowded and struggling nations of the Old World. It had to come up in a sparsely populated continent.
Horns, in this case, represent America’s two governing principles: civil and religious liberty. These two governing principles have also been labelled “republicanism” (a government without a king) and “Protestantism” (a church without a pope).
Other nations since ancient times had taxed people to support a state religion. Most had also oppressed religious dissidents. But America established something entirely new: Freedom to worship as you wish without government interference or control and with government protection.
The absence of crowns signifies a republican form of government, rather than a monarchy. Lamb-like horns denote an innocent, young, non-oppressive, peace-loving, and spiritual nation. Jesus is referred to as a lamb in the book of Revelation. So this new government was trying to uphold His principles. No other power on earth could possibly fit the characteristics and time slot of the lamb-horned beast, except America.
It doesn’t end there. This beast is schizophrenic. It looks like a lamb but speaks like a dragon. The dragon is Satan, who works through various governments of the earth to establish his evil kingdom and crush God’s church by persecuting and destroying His people. Satan’s aim always has been to usurp God’s power and throne and to force people to worship and obey him.
So “speaking as a dragon” means that the United States (under the influence of Satan) will, in the end time, force people to worship contrary to conscience or be punished.
Using only the internal evidence, what will the United States do?
(1) “exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence” [Revelation 13:12]. America will become a persecuting power that will force people to go against their conscience, as did papal Rome (the first beast).
(2) “causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed” [Revelation 13:12]. The USA will lead the nations of the world in forcing worship of, and allegiance to, the papal Antichrist. The issue is always worship. Who will you worship and obey? Will it be Christ your Creator and Redeemer, or Antichrist? Every soul on earth will finally worship one or the other. The entire approach will appear to be deeply spiritual, attended by incredible miracles, which will deceive billions (Revelation 13:3).
Those who refuse to join this movement will be considered godless radicals and fit for extermination. Small wonder Jesus labels Protestant America of the end time a “false prophet” (Revelation 19:20; 20:10), because it will appear spiritual and trustworthy but instead will be satanic in its conduct.
(3) “telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived” [Revelation 13:14]. The USA will make an image to the beast by legislating religious practice. It will pass laws requiring worship and force people to either obey them or face death. This action is a copy or image of the church-state combination that the papacy utilized at the height of her power during the Dark Ages when millions were slain for their faith. America will combine civil government and apostate Protestantism in a “marriage” that will support the papacy. It will then influence all the nations of the world to follow her example. So, the papacy will gain worldwide support one more time and one last time.
(4) “And cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed” [Revelation 13:15]. The USA, as head of this international movement, will next influence the nations of the world to impose a universal death sentence upon all who refuse to worship the beast or his image. This worldwide alliance will, in the name of Christ, substitute the Holy Spirit’s persuasion by army and policeman’s power and will force worship.
This may be difficult for some to believe, seeing we live in an enlightened world but Jesus’ words are always totally reliable and true. “And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time. And at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone who is found written in the book” [Daniel 12:1].
We ask ourselves how this can happen in a nation from whose Article 1 of the Amendments to the Constitution we read: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” We have seen how laws can be quickly changed for “security reasons”.
From the Declaration of Independence, we quote: “We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”
Twenty two years before the English colonies in America declared their independence of the motherland, John Wesley, in his notes on Revelation 13, written in 1754, says of the two-horned beast: “He has not yet come, though he cannot be far off; for he is to appear at the end of the forty two months of the first beast. And he had two horns like a lamb – a mild, innocent appearance.” (John Wesley. Notes on Revelation, 1754. p.457). Isn’t this awesome?
The Reformers knew that the papacy would continue persecuting them until 1798 (the end of the bible prophecy), and round about that time the second beast will be appearing! Wow!
Yours truly came upon these biblical truths around 1986. Then there were two superpowers, the USA and the Soviet block, the USSR. We believed even then that the Biblical prophecy mentioned only one superpower, the USA, and therefore wondered how this would happen.
I personally thought there would be a Third World War after which only one would emerge. But we saw President Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II destroy the Soviet Union without a single shot being fired, paving the way for the USA to have global sway. God’s word always comes to pass!
Clifford Goldstein, in his book, The Saving of America, concludes: “The only time religion is mentioned in the Constitution is to stop the government from making laws that would either establish, discriminate against, or prohibit it. If the government is not allowed to make laws regarding religion, then it will never be able to persecute or discriminate against on the basis of religion. Here is the secret of America’s great religious freedoms” (p. 37).
Revelation 13 says America will ultimately speak like a dragon. The exact detail of how these things will take place was not revealed to the prophet, but events will come, and come quickly. The First Amendment to the Constitution must either be abolished or ignored. America is the last frontier of liberty. God’s people have journeyed down the centuries and died under the flags of many nations, but they have had a double loyalty — to God first, and to their country second.
Today, most Protestants don’t even know what their founders protested against. Yet, it is also true that whatever they protested against, the Mother Church has not renounced one bit.
The cover on Time Magazine of June 7, 2010, read: “Why Being Pope Means Never Having to Say You’re Sorry.” The papacy is still as infallible as it were in the Dark Ages. Poor Benedict, how will he face his 1.2 billion members who demand a very modern kind of accountability for the decades of cases of child abuse by priests and cover-ups by their bishops?
He’s visiting the UK in September 2010 on a mission of bringing England, Scotland and Wales back into the fold of the “one true church.” He will offer prayers to the Virgin Mary for the conversion of England asking her to ‘intercede for our separate brethren, that with us in the one true fold they may be united to the supreme Shepherd, the Vicar of thy Son.’
For Scotland: ‘Lord, win over the minds of our countrymen so that all men see your spirit, truth and life in the one true church which you founded.’
For Wales: ‘Have mercy on the people who dwell in Wales. Grant to them the precious gift of faith, and unite them in the one true church founded by thy divine Son.’
He will succeed because “all the world marvelled and followed the beast” [Rev 13:3]. The bible does not lie.
The Christian Coalition along with Christian Churches Together and Catholic Campaign for America have developed a ten point agenda for America that they want to implement at the federal and state levels by law. These ten amendments were updated at the Fuller Theological Seminary on March 1, 2007.
Most of them are designed to uphold the principles that are important to Christian people, such as marriage between one man and one woman, public prayer, references to God in the pledge of allegiance and on coins and bills, judicial integrity, limits on eminent domain, the right to bear arms, etc. But ironically, the seventh amendment on their list is a call for a national day of rest. I wonder what day they will eventually choose, but we hope, as Christians, they will follow their Master’s footsteps, “And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read” [Luke 4:16], anything else will be antichrist.
One inspired writer had this to say, “God’s word has given warning of the impending danger; let this be unheeded, and the Protestant world will learn what the purposes of Rome really are, only when it is too late to escape the snare. She is silently growing into power. Her doctrines are exerting their influence in legislative halls, in the churches, and in the hearts of men.
“She is piling up her lofty and massive structures in the secret recesses of which her former persecutions will be repeated. Stealthily and unsuspectedly she is strengthening her forces to further her own ends when the time shall come for her to strike. All that she desires is vantage ground, and this is already being given her. We shall soon see and shall feel what the purpose of the Roman element is. Whoever shall believe and obey the word of God will thereby incur reproach and persecution.”
Unfortunately, so many of God’s people don’t seem to care. Thousands upon hundreds of thousands are sound asleep like the ten virgins in Jesus’ parable. They keep watching their ungodly movies. They keep doing things God has forbidden. They keep listening to music that makes the angel’s weep and invites Satan into their hearts and homes. They continue eating things that becloud their minds so that they cannot hear the still small voice. They forget that we are in the antitypical solemn Day of Atonement. The judgement day is upon us!
It is sad to think that again religious liberty must be in jeopardy, but this is one of the signs that the world is running on reserve tank. Soon the King will come to deliver His people everywhere. The God who cared for His own in the fiery furnace and in the den of lions will be a refuge to His people in the last day.
The USA has been a refuge for the oppressed in times of persecution. It is their last homeland this side of eternity. Someday it will pass away and Christ’s eternal kingdom will cover the earth.