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His first class this morning will be given by our Brother Jonathan Bowen of the Brantford, Ontario, Ecclesia. The theme of Brother Bowen's classes this week is, The Lamb Shall Overcome Them. And today's class is entitled, A Chase Virgin Unto Christ. Tonight I turn the class over to Brother Jonathan. Well, good morning, brethren, sisters, and young people. The purpose of our study this week together in the book of Revelation is going to be to prepare ourselves, or to help to prepare ourselves, for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ to the earth. To see the finger of God at work in the world around us as it is taking place right now. To understand the reality of the preparation for the kingdom that's currently taking place at the hand of the angels. To see the world for what it really is, in the eyes perhaps of how our Heavenly Father would have us look at it. To clarify the struggle between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent as it takes place in the world around us today. And as it has existed throughout the ages. We want to consider the example of our Lord Jesus Christ, who was motivated by his vision. We read in Hebrews chapter 12 in the second verse that we are to look unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. Who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of God. The Lord Jesus Christ is the supreme example for us. We have to develop the same vision that he had. To have the same motivation to overcome the world around us. In Hebrews chapter 11, the chapter preceding the statement that was made by the Apostle Paul is full of people who are motivated by faith. They had a similar vision. And in Hebrews chapter 11, in the first two verses, we have the faith definition. Faith is the substance of things hoped for. The evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. And of course we have that interpretation for us. That faith is the confident anticipation. The firm conviction of things not seen as yet, but firmly believed that are to come. Our vision must be tangible and real in front of our eyes. We have to be motivated like Abraham. His faith was accredited to him for righteousness. And that faith became a testimony to them, as it means they are a good report. And then when we look at faith and we ask, well, how can we get it? The world around us would paint the picture that faith is one of those warm, ethereal feelings that sort of descends upon you as you involve yourself in the Christian lifestyle. The Bible would paint a slightly different picture. Romans chapter 10 verse 17 tells us that faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of God. That's the only source of faith that there really is. It helps us build a clear vision in our minds of the glory of the kingdom to come. And we have an opportunity to explore that vision this morning and throughout this coming week. We looked yesterday at the verse in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, the idea that we have to renew the inward man. We read in verse 16, for which cause we faint not. But though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is it, but for a moment, is momentary and passing. Work is for us a far more exceeding weight, an eternal weight of glory. And we are not to look at the things that are seen. Not to look at the here and now, but pass them to the things that are not seen. For the things that are seen are temporal. The things that are not seen are eternal. We have to lift our focus off the passing transient things of this life. The fleeting present and look past it to the kingdom to come. The glory of what is to take place upon this earth in the near future. When we do that, the temporal things around us, of our lives as they exist right now, our homes, our careers, our trials, the tribulations, the school, all the things that face us day by day, become less and less important. And so we want to try and do that this morning and look past those things. The book of Revelation is given for this purpose. We read in Revelation chapter 1 and the first three verses that it's the revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave unto him to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass. And he sent and he signified that book by his angel to his servant John. Now the word signify, we're going to come back and look at later on, means to express by sign or by symbol. And hidden within those signs and symbols is a blessing. We read in verse 3, blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of the prophecy of this book, and those things that are written therein, and they keep them for the times at hand. It is the blessing of imputed righteousness, a promise to those who develop a confident anticipation of things hoped for, or as we call it, faith. And so we've been invited by the Lord Jesus Christ and by the book of Revelation to, as it puts in Revelation 6 verse 1, when the seals were opened by the Lamb, the voice goes out to say, come and see. And so we're going to try and take up that invitation to come and see. The Lord Jesus Christ has personally invited us to look into these things. And that's what we'd like to try and do is see the picture that John saw. Without a vision, we're in trouble. We read in Proverbs 29 in the 18th verse, where there is no vision, the people perish, or more correctly translated from the original, the people are made naked. Without vision, we become Laodicean, lukewarm in our attitude. Without a zeal for the truth, we become caught up in the world around us. And there's a strong correspondence between having a faithful vision and being covered in Christ. Spiritual clothing is tied very closely with faith. When we look at the chapter we had read, the beginning of Revelation chapter 19 in verses 7 to 8, we read, Let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come. And we notice there it says that his wife hath made herself ready. She has done something, and to her is granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white. For the fine linen, we read, is the righteousness of the saints. Now, we want to use the vision provided to us in the book of Revelation to help us understand the destiny of the saints. And as this bride here is depicted as making herself ready, one of the key ingredients in that preparation process is the development of faith. That confident anticipation of the return of the Lord Jesus Christ to establish his kingdom upon this earth. Put all these cares behind us and look forward to that. The wedding garments that are given, we notice, are granted. And there's an interesting two terms. She makes herself ready, but these garments are granted. It's not something that she has earned, but rather that is granted to her. And that is faith imputed to her for righteousness. Because the garments, of course, we are told, are the righteousness of the saints. Now, when we come back to Romans, Chapter 4, and we consider what the Apostle Paul said about Abraham. What saith the Scripture, he says in verse 3. Sorry, well, it's verse 3 to begin with. What saith the Scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness. Now, we want to stop there before we continue. The word there, counted, is that idea of something that is accredited or imputed as it comes up later on in the chapter. Now, for us to understand that, perhaps we could think of if we were transferring from one school to another. Perhaps you're going to college or something like that, and you want to take a certain course. And when you go to that school to take this course, you find out that you don't have all the necessary credits or requirements to take the appropriate course. But you can turn around to the school and say, I might not have your course, but I have other similar courses. So they will take that, even though it's not the same thing, and they will accredite us with having the necessary qualifications. That is similar to this word imputed. We do not have the necessary qualification of righteousness. It's not something that we can possess in its fullest sense by ourselves. But imputed to us is our belief. It's accredited to us for righteousness, and that's what we go on to read. He was fully persuaded that what God had promised, he was able to perform. And therefore, that firm conviction, that belief was accredited or imputed to him for righteousness. Now, it's not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but that extends to us. It is also to us to whom it shall be imputed if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead. So we cannot earn our righteousness, but we can prepare by developing faith in ourselves, so that when the marriage supper of the Lamb comes, it is granted to us to be arrayed in white linen, pure and white. Now, when we think of the picture that the Lord Jesus Christ paints to us throughout the New Testament of his bride, the Ecclesia, that is something we all aspire to be a part of. When the marriage supper comes, we would like to be a part of that bride, that Ecclesia. There is a process by which the Lord Jesus Christ has developed his bride. In Ephesians chapter 5 and at verse 25, we read that husbands love your wives, even as Christ loved the Ecclesia and gave himself for it. That he might present it to himself, a glorious Ecclesia without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. Now, the preparation of the bride requires the daily flowing of the word through the minds of each and every one of us to participate in that cleansing process. It's a cleansing process that puts away the filth of the flesh or the thinking of the flesh and helps to build faith within us. We want to put away those things and desire the kingdom, have that vision firmly fixed in our minds, preparing us for the marriage supper of the Lamb. And it is the truth that does that for us. We read in John chapter 17 and the 17th verse that we are told that the Lord Jesus Christ asked of his Father, So it's through the spirit word that we are sanctified or cleansed, that this process of purification for the marriage supper of the Lamb takes place. And it's important that we keep the truth. It is important because it's the power of the word that sanctifies us, that develops faith within us, that we may be granted to be arrayed in righteous robes. If we lose elements of the truth, we lose the power of the truth to sanctify ourselves. We no longer become saints set aside for a purpose, but we drift back into what our brother Thomas called miserable sinners without hope and without vision. And so the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians chapter 11 describes the Ecclesia. He says, And that's the effect of the cleansing power of the word. It purifies us by its doctrines so that the Ecclesia bride remains chaste, remains pure, awaiting the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if we lose that purity, if we lose that sanctifying power, then we will no longer be a chaste virgin, will we? And those robes of imputed righteousness, if the vision is not there, if the firm conviction, if the belief, the faith of Abraham is not in the midst of each and every one of us, then we no longer belong to that bride, do we? We no longer have granted to us those robes of imputed righteousness. And so when we look to the Kingdom Age as it's depicted to us in the snapshot visions through the book of Revelation, we find there the lamb who stands on the Mount Zion and with him there are 144,000 having his father's name written on their foreheads, the character of their God in their minds and in their hearts, God manifestation. And we find that these are they which are not defiled. The original word is among women, for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed, purchased from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth there is no guile found, and they are without fault before the throne of God. That vision of Revelation describes that virgin who has been sanctified by the word, and the effect of that is she is not defiled among the other women of the book of Revelation. She has not compromised the character that has been imputed or sorry manifestly put onto her mind through the Lord Jesus Christ. They have not defiled themselves amongst those described to us in the book of Revelation. And so as we follow the character, the theme of this book all the way through, we find that it is the seed of the woman versus the seed of the serpent. That is the plot line of the book of Revelation. The enmity between thee and the woman, between thy seed and her seed, the serpent that would be bruised in the head, although it would inflict that temporary wound upon the heel of the woman. That's the plot line of the book of Revelation, and it's a living plot line. It's a plot line that is alive, because the book of Revelation isn't a story about things that just happened in the past. It's not something merely historical and factual that's interesting and intellectually stimulating for us. It is a living book, and that book affects every single one of us. It's alive today. Its message is just as relevant today as it was to John back in the first century. The Apostle Paul, though, although he depicts the Ecclesia as this chaste virgin unto Christ, was concerned for her. He says that he feared, in verse 3, lest that by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus whom we have not received, or whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit which ye have not received, or another gospel which ye have not accepted, he's afraid that they would bear with him. They would go along with him. And so there was this fear of corrupting doctrine that would defile the bride, that would make them unfit to wear those robes of imputed righteousness, that would stop the preparation process that's described for us in Revelation chapter 19. And in the most severe cases, that the Ecclesia would be robbed of its faith, robbed of its vision, and as Proverbs puts it to us, therefore robbed of its covering. Now the Apostle Paul expected a specific system. There was something coming that he knew about, and he tells us about in Thessalonians, that would be responsible for such a tragedy. The antidote for this is given to us as personal Bible study. Because if this beguiling system came along, and the brethren and sisters had their Bibles open and were aware of the truth as it is in Christ Jesus, the gospel, the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, then they would not be able to be deceived because they would be in light. But as they moved slowly throughout the first century and into the second, the light of the gospel began to fade. They began to become complacent. A clergy-type atmosphere developed where there was clergy and laity within the Ecclesia. There was the ruling brethren, and then there was the general populace. And in Isaiah chapter 9 and verse 16, we have a great warning to us. It's the leaders of the people that cause them to err, said God of Israel at this point in time, and they that are led of them are destroyed. And so, brethren and sisters, there's a real danger. It was there for Israel, it's there in the first century, and certainly it's there for us today. That if we become complacent and put the sole responsibility of the faith-developing diet upon the leaders of the Ecclesia, there's a possibility that there may be corruption and that the flock will follow them. And the Christadelphians as a body have, throughout their existence, resisted this by having the Bible readings, by having personal Bible study in every household from a day-to-day basis as something that works as an antiseptic to this. Study to show thyself approved unto God, writes Paul to Timothy, a work that needeth not be ashamed. The problem in the first century is that there was the Laodicean attitude that's described in the letters to the Ecclesia that bred laziness and complacency, leaving the spiritual discernment purely to the shepherds, so that when different doctrinal points of view came in, they were not sufficiently contested. All of us are instructed in 1 Peter chapter 5, specifically the overseers of the flock, as they were back in the first century, the job of the overseers, the elders, was to feed the flock of God, which is among you, by taking the oversight thereof, not of constraint, but willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind. Neither is being lords over God's heritage, and there is the idea of that clergy, but has being examples or in samples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. The eldership of the Ecclesia, the prime directive to them, was to feed the flock of God, and we need to remember that. Provide meat for my household, as the Lord Jesus Christ tells us. And that takes place by the diet that is prepared in the Sunday school, in the Bible class, in the lectures, in the speaking brethren, in what is put forward by the sisters to the children in the Sunday school, but all these things working together in the home, feeding the flock, that is the prime directive, because that is what sanctifies us from the world. Now, it's the scripture that's able to make us wise unto salvation, and we never want to let our arranging boards become so crippled with trivial and temporal concerns of the halls and the trimmings and all that type of thing, that they become, lose their focus as to what we're really supposed to be about. We all have to keep this as the paramount prime directive of our community. As soon as we become more of a social ship and less of a fellowship around God's word, the sooner we lose those roads of righteousness. In 2 Peter chapter 2, in the first three verses there, the apostle tells them quite clearly that there is a warning given. There were, he says, false prophets among the people of Israel back in the Old Testament. And so he says, Why should you be any different, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction? And many, he says, shall follow their pernicious ways, by reason of whom the way of the truth shall be evil spoken of. Their motivation is covetousness, and through covetousness they shall with feigned words make merchandise of you. Now, brothers and sisters, we must not be naive to the realities that face us. Just as the Ecclesia in the first century was told not to be naive as to the realities that face them, there would be false teachers and shepherds among them. Why wouldn't there be amongst us? That's what the apostle Peter says. And what we have to do is keep our minds and our hearts spiritually aware and perceptive. In the first century they were to be successful. Many shall follow their pernicious ways, and they would jeopardize the preparation of the bride, destroying the vision, becoming the conquerors or the vanquishers of the people that we read about in the letters to the Ecclesia as the Nicolaitans. Ezekiel talks of Israel in the same way. Thus saith the Lord God unto the shepherds, Woe to the shepherds of Israel that feed themselves, should not the shepherds feed the flocks? And he admonishes them. You eat the fat, you clothe you with the wool, you kill them that are fed, but you feed not the flock. The deceased have you not strengthened, neither have you healed that which was sick, neither have you bound up that which was broken, neither have you brought again that which was driven away, neither have you sought that which was lost, but with force and cruelty have you ruled them. And, brothers and sisters, that's a warning to us. To be aware that these things happened in the past as examples. Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. The corruption of doctrine can defile individual members of the Ecclesia. In the most severe cases, as we have mentioned, it robs us of our faith. And the problem in the first century was the same problem back in the time of Ezekiel, that the elders fed themselves and not the flock. It became a situation of clergy and laity, whereby, just like it began really around the Lord's table, the Last Supper, where there was a discussion as to who would be the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. In the first century that developed. That developed into a clergy and a laity mentality, because it's human nature that we want to be better than each other. And so the Apostle warns us in Acts chapter 20 and at verse 28. I don't know, perhaps we could just lose the lights here in the front. We're sort of losing a bit of the overhead. In the first century there was a real danger of spiritual wolves entering in and devouring the flock. We read there in Acts chapter 20 and at verse 28. Take heed unto all the flock, over which the Holy Spirit hath made you overseers, to feed the ecclesia of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, says the Apostle, I know this. Not it might happen or it's possible. He says, I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things. Why? To draw away disciples after them. This is the first century ecclesia. We often apply these verses to the world around us. All these grievous wolves and there's all these types of things. But this is talking about within the ecclesia, as all these verses are. The violent wolves that would come in and devour the flock for their own purposes. Not to further the purpose of God in calling out the saints. Also, they would arise from within. Perverting the truth. Motivated by the lust of pride. The pride of life. And it was once put to me that there's three reasons for false doctrine. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. And that's exactly what we see here. He warns that there would be perverse doctrines that are based upon the idea of the pride of life. That was what was to face the ecclesia. And what we're trying to do is look at Revelation paints for us this picture of this bride. This lamb's wife that was to be a chaste virgin. And yet as we begin to follow through and see what happened in the first century, we begin to see that this was to change and this was to alter. The Lord Jesus Christ himself tells us in Matthew chapter 7 and the 15th verse, Beware of false prophets, which shall come unto you in sheep's clothing. But inwardly they are ravening wolves. Now this describes to us those who had a religiously pious exterior. They looked the part. On the outside they looked the part of the sheep, of the shepherds. But from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, facts, murders, adulteries. And that's the same thing that they were faced with. These things were to come from within and defile the ecclesia. And now, brethren and sisters, when we think of 2 Peter chapter 2, we are given the description of this type of apostasy that would develop. He says, When they speak, it's great swelling words of vanity. They're done with great gusto, great charisma, but they are empty. They allure through the lust of the flesh. And that's the doctrine. The message is pleasing. It tantalates our flesh. It's something that we could do. It's not hard and maybe perhaps requires change of us, but we could do this. We could go along with this. And he says, Through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error, while they promise liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption, for of whom a man is overcome of the same as he brought in bondage. Now, brethren and sisters, is the seed of the woman versus the seed of the serpent. What did the serpent promise Eve? He promised her liberty. He promised her freedom. He promised her knowledge. He promised her life, all those things. That's exactly what Peter's talking about here. They speak great swelling words of vanity, and they appeal to the lust of the flesh. But the message, the doctrine that's put forward, is empty. They promise liberty, and they become the servants of corruption. That's exactly what the serpent promised Eve. And what she became was a servant of corruption. And just like the apostle Paul says, he feared less just as the serpent beguiled Eve, so the first century Ecclesia. And so you and I would be corrupted by these doctrines. And that's why we have a statement of faith. That's why we have a clearly defined catalog of what we believe. It's to separate us from the world. That's the whole idea from it. Sanctify them through thy truth. Come out from among her, and be ye separate. Touch not the unclean thing. It's to take the world and its doctrines, and to put a division. And as you go through the Old Testament, and you see what God tried to do with Israel, through the wilderness, through the tabernacle, through the law, it was to separate, to put a difference between Israel and the world around them, and the nations. And what the apostle Peter was worried about was that the message that would be portrayed by those that would arise in the Ecclesia would be one of thou shalt not surely die. And that's why we're going on up to the Spirit in the sky. That's where we're going when we're dying. It's not what they teach, but it's all empty words of vanity. And so, brethren and sisters, in the first century, there were those teachers that stole the vision of the kingdom that was to come. They stole the vision from the brethren and sisters, who stopped looking forward to the kingdom of God on earth, and were taught things that the kingdom of God is among you. It's now. Don't look for a political kingdom in the future, or something yet to come, but concentrate on the here and now. So instead of looking at the joy set before them, they became people who looked at the tribulation of the moment. And that's a recipe for the disaster of the saints. They began to believe that the kingdom of God was something that was the here and now. The blessings of this life was what was to be looked forward to. Now that is the message of popular Christianity, isn't it? That the kingdom is among you. That we can have the Holy Spirit now and all the benefits. And they think that the wealth that we accumulate in this life is the blessing from God, purely because we're Christians, and you have these Christian businessman associations and whatever else. That's the way the thinking of the world goes. Supposing that gain is godliness. And brethren and sisters, we've got to keep ourselves separate from that. The Apostle Paul talks about the development of this apostasy into a formal system. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first. And the man of sin be revealed, the man of lawlessness. He will be revealed, says the Apostle Paul, the son of perdition, or lawlessness as it is, who opposeth and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he as God sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. This was what was to arise in the first century, and to develop from there and would last all the way through to the Lord Jesus Christ comes, as Thessalonians continues, whom the Lord shall destroy with the brightness of his coming. It was to be there from that point in time right the way through to our point in time. And that falling away that was to exalt itself was to come because of a loss of vision, because the brethren and sisters became totally engrossed in this life. And so, as we sort of summarize what we've talked about, the main duty of the ecclesial presbyters back in the first century as it should be today, is to feed the ecclesia with the word of God. The Apostle says it's not fit that we should leave the true service of the Lord to wait on tables, and when they chose at the decents. It's not that that's not a work that needs to be done, but the focus of the ecclesia has to be on the word. There was warnings that false leaders would arise who would abuse their office, neglect their duty for the lust of power, of a following, and of filthy lucre. These false apostles would arise both from within and from without of the ecclesia. Some interested friends coming in, perhaps you could call it that, and others, brethren and sisters, arising. And they would bring with them or develop that type of situation. They would lead the ecclesia astray by teaching these false doctrines, and this falling away would climax in the revealing of the Son, or the Man of Sin, the Son of Perdition. And that, brethren and sisters, stands as a warning to us. Stands as a warning to us not to follow the same path that that first and second century ecclesia took. As Corinthians tells us in chapter 10 and verse 12, Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall. And we have to protect the inheritance that we have been given. And that begins in our own homes and with our own families. This verse stands as a testimony to our community. It stood as a testimony to Israel. It stood as a testimony to the first century ecclesia. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Hosea 4 verse 6. Because thou has rejected knowledge, that is the knowledge of God, the yadah, the knowing him by experience, I will also reject thee, that thou shall be no priest to me. Well, then we do not belong to the kingdom, do we? Kings and priests is what we're looking forward to. But if we reject the knowledge of God, then we have no place in it. Seeing thou hast forgotten the law of God, I will forget thy children. That's a severe warning to us as more and more the Bible readings become a thing that we just are too busy to do. With all the events of this life and hustle and bustle here and there, as you take a poll perhaps, you find that more and more people don't do them. You may have noticed yourselves and your family that that's the way sometimes it gets. But we've got to say, if we are there, then let's put a stop to that. And protect our inheritance that we pass on to our children. If we're becoming too busy in the activities of our lives, to attend the Bible class or the ecclesial functions, then we have to change our perspectives. Death of the Bible readings will result in death of the ecclesia. God will reject us and their children. And who wants that for your children? You look at the world out there and you see what it has to offer. If we don't take the steps to instill the word of God in them and in our families, then God will reject them. So, brothers and sisters, we really need to consider this. In the New Testament, it's full of evidence of this type of thing taking place. And we don't look at this to sort of depress everybody by no means. What we want to do is draw the comparison that there is a struggle going on. There was in the first century. And we're going to watch it go through the book of Revelation. But it's also going on in our lives, in our ecclesias, in our personal homes today. There's evidence of the apostasy as it grew up in the ecclesia. Galatians chapter 2 and verse 4, Paul had already dealt with false brethren. He says that there were false brethren, unawares, brought in, who came in privately or privately, secretly to spy out our liberty, which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage. Now, isn't that an echo back to what Paul says in Corinthians about being brought under subjection of this serpent system, to whom we gave place by subjection, says the apostle Paul. No, not for an hour. That the truth of the Gospel might continue with you. Now, think about that, brothers and sisters. This is how the apostle Paul dealt with it. He didn't give place. He didn't allow them one Bible class, not one hour class, to get up there and give their fanciful ideas of things that were great empty words of speculations and whatever else. And there was a reason for that. Not because he was a hard and austere man, but because, brothers and sisters, he wanted the truth to continue with them. Because he realized it's the truth that sanctifies and that prepares us for a place in the kingdom. Would we do the same, brothers and sisters? Do we stand up to different ideas that challenge our foundations? Or are we more like the Thyatira and Ecclesia, who suffer the woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophet, as to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication and to eat things sacrificed unto idols? Do we allow the post-French revolution humanism to infect our Ecclesias, whereby everybody gets a turn? No matter what people have to say, whether it's the word of God or not, it's democracy. So everybody should have a turn to get up there and say their own thing. Do we stand against these false ideas? Because that's what the class in the Letters to the Ecclesia and to pass, those who stand against, they stood up against these, and the Lord Jesus Christ was commending of them. Or would we allow just anything to take place? We've got to look at the issue for what it is. It's not just a case of entertaining one another with our words. The truth is what will separate us and prepare us for the kingdom. It's what builds in us faith and life. And the Lord Jesus Christ, we read in Corinthians, gave his life for the Ecclesia, sanctifying it by the washing of the water of the word. How much do we value that? What is he willing to give to preserve the sanctity and the separateness, the chastity of the Ecclesia? We read in the Letters of John of the apostasy that had already developed. He tells us that little children, it is the last time. He saw the day that he was living in. And as you have heard that Antichrist should come, he says, now he says there are many Antichrists, many who would put themselves in the place of the true Gospel, whereby we know, he says, that it is the last time. And he describes the character of this Antichrist. They went out from us. For if they would have been, if they had have been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us. But they were not of us, and so they went out, that they might be made manifest. And so, brethren and sisters, in the Apostle John's time, there was an adequate witness. They contended earnestly for the faith, so much so that this group decided, not for this, we're going to leave. It separated the Ecclesia. And that's what Jude tells us in verse 3. Beloved, I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation. It was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith that was once delivered to the saints. And so should we, brethren, because tied into that faith is our eternal life. The robes of imputed righteousness that are granted to the bride, the lamb's wife to wear, are tied into her faith, which comes from hearing and hearing from the word of God. He was trying to preserve the gospel of salvation, which had been delivered to them, because he wanted the Ecclesia to be a part of the bride of Christ. He preserved the vision of faith and the joy that was set before them. And we have to do that ourselves. And it begins by making ourselves fully aware of what our God has promised us. In the letters to the Ecclesians, there is given there to us descriptions of the time or of the Ecclesia at the time of the first century when the Lord Jesus Christ looked out upon it and said in Revelation 2 verse 2, thou hast tried them which say they are apostles and are not and has found them liars. In the Ecclesia where they were those who said that they were one cent, they were there with a mission to teach the word of God. He says, but you've tried them. They followed the advice of the apostle John to try the spirits whether they are of God because many false prophets are gone out into the world. They tried them that said they were apostles and found that they were not. We read in verse 6 of chapter 2 that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans. The Nicolaitans were those who were the vanquishers of the people. They destroyed the Ecclesia's faith. And there were those in the Ecclesia who hated that. They did not want to see the Ecclesia destroyed because there was a contention between the seat of the woman and the seat of the serpent. And this stands as a sober warning to us not to take the truth for granted. There were those it says, I know the blasphemy of those that say they are Jews and that is spiritual Jews because we are all of Israel, spiritual Israel. They say they are Christodolphians but they're not. But they're of the synagogue of the adversary. Why? Because they destroy the vision of the people. They destroy the hope that is set before. And so, brothers and sisters, we have to arm ourselves in the world. Arm ourselves in the Ecclesia because we live 150 plus years after the days when the truth was first revived. And the seat of the woman versus the seat of the serpent is to last from the time of Genesis till the Lord Jesus Christ returns. The apostles have pointed out that that's a fight that takes place within. And we have to guard ourselves, constantly remind ourselves of the facts of the Bible. This is the plot line of the book of Revelation that we hope to take some time to look at. We'd like to consider though just in the last couple of minutes what happened to the Ecclesia. In history, we have recorded for us letters. Letters that were sent by early bishops of the church. And one of them was polycarp. I use the word church because we'll see in the second class how it was apostatized. It no longer was the Ecclesia called out in that sense but began to be infiltrated with all these different doctrines. One of these such men was Irenaeus. He was overseer or bishop of the Ecclesia in Lyon, France, around AD 169 or thereabouts. You probably won't be able to read this quote, but I'll read it for you. The doctrine of those who were presbyters before. So what he's saying is, look, the teachings of the bishops who have gone before, those who walked with the apostles, because he's very close to the Apostle John, he says, these are not what's being delivered to you. For, he says, I saw when I was a boy in lower Asia with polycarp, now polycarp who's depicted there, obviously nothing like them, but that's church history, polycarp was around at the time of the Apostle John. And he knew the Apostle John. And he goes on to say that, look, he says, I was there as a boy in lower Asia. And he says, I heard him and I can describe the sermons which he preached to the multitude and how he related to us his conversations with John and the rest of those who had been with the Lord, how he mentioned their particular expressions, the things that he had heard of them from the Lord, and of his miracles in his doctrine. As polycarp had received from the eyewitnesses of the word of life, he told us all things agreeable to the scriptures. So he says, I have talked to somebody who was there with the apostles, not with the Lord Jesus Christ, but he knew the apostles personally. And he goes on to say, he says, I retain remembrance of these things. And he says, if that blessed apostolic presbyter had heard some of the doctrines that are now maintained, he would have cried out and stopped his ears, and in his usual manner would have said, oh, good God, to what times has that reserved me that I should endure these things and he would immediately have fled from the place which he had heard such doctrines. And so, brethren and sisters, that's the state, not 150 years, but only 130 years, 140 years after the apostles had been around. It's about 70 years since the apostle John in 1896, and that's the situation the Ecclesia was in then. Another writer is Cyprian of the Bishop of Carthage. Now, this is 248 A.D., so it's 150 years after the apostles, kind of similar to our age and time span. This was what was going on. They were under persecutions of Decius and some of the other emperors. And he says, if the cause of our misery or our persecution be investigated, the cure of the wounds may be found, because long peace has corrupted the discipline divinely revealed to us. And we, brethren and sisters, have had long peace in our Ecclesias. Each had been bent on improving his patrimony. He's talking about the bishops now, the elders in the Ecclesia. Go back to the verse we read in Ezekiel. It's a similar type of thing. And had forgotten what believers had done under the apostles and what they ought always to do. They were brooding over arts and the amassing of wealth. Or certainly we could be guilty over brooding over the amassing of wealth. The pastors and deacons each forgot their duty. Works of mercy were neglected, and the discipline was at its lowest ebb. Luxury and effeminacy prevailed. And he goes on to say that there was arts and dress that were cultivated. Fraud and deceit were practiced among brethren. Christians could unite themselves in marriage with unbelievers. They could swear not only without reverence, but without truth, without meaning, what they had to say. With haughty asperity, they despised the ecclesial superiors. They railed against one another with outrageous acrimony. With determined malice. This was what was going on 150 years after the apostle John. And he goes on to say that many bishops neglected the peculiar duties of their stations and gave themselves up to secular pursuits. They became involved in the things of this life. They deserted the places of residence and their flots and traveled through distant provinces in quest of pleasures and gain. And so, brethren and sisters, he says, have we not deserved to suffer for such a conduct for even the divine word has foretold us that we might expect this? Now, I don't think we're there. I'm quite sure we're not at that point. But that's the danger of where letting the truth slip leads us. And so, brethren and sisters, as we consider these things, as we see the ecclesia as it should have been and as it became, and as we will continue to follow it through into the New Testament, and consider the things that will take place, let us keep in our minds that what we are supposed to be is an ecclesia that is described as a chaste virgin unto Christ. That's what we want to do. Ecclesia that has remained separate and remained sanctified. And let us resolve to preserve the truth in our own personal lives, in our families, and in our ecclesias by protecting our Bible readings and our Bible studies and the faith that was once delivered to the saints. Christ gave his life for the ecclesia so that it could be his bride. Let us give our lives to preserve the same thing. May God grant us to be arrayed in white linen the robes of imputed righteousness when his son returns to the earth.

Transcript

Our first speaker this morning is Brother Jonathan Bowen of the Brantford, Ontario, Ecclesia. The theme for Brother Jonathan's class this week is The Lamb Shall Overcome Them. Today's class is entitled The Man Child. Brother Bowen. Good morning, brother and sisters. Before we begin, I'd just like to ask that we could distribute the notes right about now so that we can have something in our hands so that we can follow along. I've asked the lights to be dimmed somewhat so we can see a little bit better from the back of the room. Before I begin, I'd just like to make a comment that a lot of the information, a lot of the graphics you are seeing come from the Bible magazine, which has been an invaluable source for myself in preparation of these classes. And I would suggest that if you find this subject matter interesting and want some supplemental reading and some follow-up for it, that you could make use of that magazine. And our brother, Gary Smith, has put a display up at the back to assist in helping people get in touch with the Bible magazine. Now, what we want to do before we begin is just lay down some ground rules for the interpretation of the book of Revelation. Revelation chapter 1 and the first three verses tell us that it's the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him to show his servants things which must shortly come to pass. And we read later that he sent and signified it. And there is a blessing to those who read, hear, and keep the things of this book. So it's given to the servants of God to show them. Therefore, brethren and sisters, it must be intelligible to us if it is given to show us things that are shortly to come to pass. And that's the other point. These are things shortly to come to pass. They take place immediately following John's receiving the book of Revelation and continue until the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, which would put these events future to the time of AD 96. They are sent and signified, which means that they are expressed by sign or by symbol. They are not literal, many of the things that are written within here. But there is a symbolic picture that's painted for us to draw from the resources of the scriptures throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament to come up with the answers to these symbols. They are to be read, which means to know accurately. They are to be heard or comprehended, and they are to be kept or observed. Or there are things written in this book that are vital for our walk to the kingdom of God. The book of Revelation, as we have mentioned, has a plot line to it and is very similar to a play whereby there is a story that is taking place. It's the story of the seed of the woman versus the seed of the serpent throughout history. The scene that is set for us is, in each chapter, there is perhaps a changing of the scene. The background is given as to what is on the stage at that point in time, the different players, the different characters that are involved. There are antagonists. There are protagonists. There are main characters, and there are sub-characters. And as we walk through the book of Revelation, we want to try and keep in mind that there is a continual theme going on, and we are following it along. All these things are carrying out the plot line that we've put before you, the seed of the woman versus the seed of the serpent and the eventual destruction of that seed. This is the conflict the apostle Paul referred to in Ephesians chapter 6, verse 12, where he tells us that we don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Therefore, he tells us to take action, to take unto us the whole armor of God that we read about in our readings yesterday, that we may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand. So this war in the political heavens is this wrestling match that takes place against the principalities and powers of this current world. Whether they were the paganistic rulers of John's time or the humanistic rulers of our time, it is just as much a real battle that's taking place. It is real and it is deadly. It involves the lives of us and our children and our ecclesias. It is of supreme importance, brethren and sisters, that we be able to read through this book and identify the things that are written in it. Because in Revelation chapter 18 and verse 4, we are told that there is this cry that comes forth to come out of her my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her plagues. And the her there is the harlot woman of chapter 17 and chapter 18. If we do not identify who this woman is, how are we going to come out of her? And if we don't come out of her, then we may unwittingly be partakers of her sins and of her plagues, which are ultimately death and destruction. So it is vital for us to know what we're dealing with. In our day and age, chapter 17 and chapter 18 are dealing predominantly with today, with the world we live in. This verse is identified for us. Certainly it had application through the ages, but historically, if you wanted to fit it into the timeline, it deals with today. And so, brethren and sisters, we have ample warning within the book of Revelation. Our brother Thomas tells us that the reason that prophecy is given is so that no believer understanding this prophecy, referring to Revelation, could be seduced into fellowship with the clerical institutions of the world, because he would see them in order and native deformity and sin. And so, brethren and sisters, it stands there as an antiseptic for us, because we would see the world for what it is, we would see the churches around us, we would identify the doctrines that they hold, and that doing so, we would not be seduced into fellowship with them at any level. We would not belong to the ecumenical world that is going back to Rome today. Well, our goal is to follow the plot line of the book of Revelation as it goes through. We will follow the transformation of the different beasts as we travel through the book of Revelation. We will see some of the judgments that are poured on them in the seals, the trumpets, and, finally, the vials, and in the future, the funders. And we're going to try to use the Bible as our guide. Now, we're not gonna do a comprehensive study of all the aspects of the book of Revelation. It would be impossible for us to do that. Rather, we're going to try and follow the story of the beasts. The story of the beasts is basically the story of Daniel, where he has the fourth beast, and we're going to see it go through the different phases. And we're going to try and follow it along and keep our frame of reference back to this chart here so we can see where we're at in the point of history and in the apocalypse as it's revealed to us. This morning's class, we want to begin by looking at Revelation chapter 12. In Revelation chapter 12, there are two symbols that are introduced to us. There is the woman and the dragon. We'd like to really stop and consider the dragon first. We are dealing with the political heavens. We read there appeared another wonder, or symbol, or sign, in the heavens. So we're dealing with the political scene of John's day. And he looks into that political scene, and he sees a symbol there. And the symbol is of a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns and crowns upon the heads. Now, this is, as we've mentioned, a continuation of the book of Daniel. In Daniel chapter 12, once Daniel had received the prophecies of chapter seven, the four beasts and their continuation right up to the Lord Jesus Christ is told, as he tries to inquire more of what will be the end of these things, he is told that he's to go his way, Daniel, because these words are sealed up until the time of the end. And at that time, as we continue to read in the chapter, it says that the wise shall understand. Well, in Revelation chapter five, verse five, we read that, behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, hath prevailed, to open the seals. And he's talking about the seals of the book of Daniel as it was sealed up. And it's the Lord Jesus Christ who has that, was found worthy to open that book. And so chapter four and five talk about that scene where it is given to him and he opens the book and it is taken from him by the saints and they grab a hold of it and look into these things. And so we're continuing from Daniel. In Daniel chapter seven, there is the four beasts. There's the Medo, or there's the Babylonian lion, as we looked at last night, the Medo-Persian bear, which was to come and destroy that lion, the Grecian leopard, and finally, there is this fourth Roman beast. And it's interesting that this Roman beast lasts from that time where it comes into existence around the time of the Lord Jesus Christ until it is destroyed with the brightness of his coming at the kingdom age. And Revelation is an amplification of this fourth beast. It is basically a metamorphosis of the fourth beast as it undergoes different phases and comes through to being what we see it in the book. When we come to chapter 12 then, and we are considering this great wonder that appears in heaven, we have this beast that is very similar to Daniel's fourth beast. It has some similarities in that it has 10 horns and these 10 horns are symbolic of 10 kings. We read that from a later phase as we come into Revelation chapter 17. But in Daniel chapter seven, verse 24, the 10 horns of Daniel's fourth beast are identified to him as being 10 kings. Now, there are some additional information that is added. This beast is described in Revelation as being red, the color of sin. It also has seven heads and it has seven crowns upon those heads. And we'd like to investigate those differences in a moment. First of all, we find that these seven heads represent the different ruling powers that have governed Rome since its existence. They're very similar to the four heads of the leopard that Daniel saw as the third beast. That four-headed leopard, the heads represented different kings. Well, in the book of Revelation, those seven heads represent the seven systems of government that would rule Rome. It's interesting to note that they have crowns upon them, indicating that they are sovereign. Now, when Daniel's fourth or third beast ruled, there was four kings that came up together. And we read that from the narrative of chapter eight when the great horn, the notable horn was broken off, that four horns came up and replaced it and they were in existence together. Well, when we come to Revelation, we find that these seven-headed beasts with its different crowns is a little bit different in that these heads now are successive. And we've identified them for their innuendos and on the overhead as the seven types of government that were to rule Rome. The crowns are on the separate heads, but the horns are located on the sixth head because that is the head that John was looking at when he was looking at the vision of the book of Revelation. Now, as we look into these things and we concentrate on this beast and we see this head, we see that the horns on this head are not crowned. And that's a piece of information that's important for us to notice because they were not sovereign kings. Remember Daniel chapter seven and verse 24 tells us that the 10 horns are the 10 kings. Revelation chapter 17 tells us the same things, that the 10 horns are 10 kingdoms that would arise. But in the book of Revelation, in chapter 12, when we see them, now it changes later on, then chapter 12, they are not crowned. The heads are crowned, but the horns are not, signifying that the horns are in a state that they are not sovereign. That will change as time goes on. Rather, they are under the influence of the sixth head. Now, as we kind of have given you a little bit of background to this, this dragon that has existed, its identification for us is the same of that of Daniel's fourth beast. It is the Roman dragon that Daniel saw, but more information has been given to us. Now, the judgment upon this Roman dragon that's given to us in the book of Revelation is identified as the seals. Now, the Roman dragon was already in existence when John saw this vision, and the seals were to begin being unleashed upon this dragon. We're not going to look at all the seals. We would like to focus, however, on the sixth seal. We read in Revelation chapter six and at verse 12, behold, when he had opened the sixth seal, and lo, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, the moon became as blood, and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth out her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind, and the heavens departed as a scroll when it is rolled away together, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. Now, this is symbolic language, as we read about at the beginning. These things were sent and signified. Now, it's interesting to note that those symbols, as they are laid out for us there in the book, are easily interpreted as we go through them now. The great earthquake that was to take place, there are several great earthquakes in the book of Revelation, and they signify political upheavals in the world. One of the probably most famous ones to us is the French Revolution, where the entire world, as society knew it, changed. The same thing was true in the sixth seal. The pagan Roman system was going to change, and what was to happen was that the sun was to be eclipsed. And if we go back in our Bibles to look at these symbols being used elsewhere, we can go back to Genesis and see the dreams of Joseph, where the sun was symbolic of Jacob himself, and the moon was his wife, and the stars were his sons. So we see them as being the rulership of Israel, in that sense. And the sun, in this case, is darkened, signifying that the Roman emperor would lose his position, the pagan Roman emperor, as that is, and he would be put out. That was the greater light. The stars would fall. The administration of this pagan Roman system would collapse. And the moon, the religious element, would become as blood. Now, unfortunately, we don't have time to go through and identify each and every one of these signs and symbols by looking up the verses that corroborate what we're trying to say. What I would like to do, though, is lay it out before you, and you've got the notes in front of you. You can go home and corroborate this stuff yourself, establish it from the Bible. We would like to paint the picture and bring you through the story of the Book of Revelation together with us, so that we can see the end result. What we find in Chapter 12 is these same symbols of Chapter 6 appearing again. There is this great symbol, the woman in heaven. Now, this woman is clothed with the sun. Her moon, the moon is under her feet, and upon her head is a crown of 12 stars. And she is with child and pains to be delivered. Now, we looked at the symbolic woman in Class I. The Ecclesia was supposed to be a chaste virgin unto Christ. But now we find that she's not depicted as a chaste virgin anymore. Now she is a woman who is impregnated with apostasy. She is no longer in that chaste state, but she is found now with child. She has committed fornication. And so, brothers and sisters, this is the symbol we are looking at. Certainly, we can say what the woman is not. The woman is not Israel, because these things are written about things that were shortly to come to pass from John's time. They were written about things in the future. Israel had already been dismembered as a nation and taken away in 8070. So as we look at it, the 12 stars that we saw previously in the sixth seal now become the administration of the empire that crowns the woman. She becomes involved in these things according to the symbols of scripture. She is pregnant, as we have mentioned. She now is not in a chaste state, but in an apostate state. And the son, or the emperor, the greatest light that rules the day, was to basically clothe her. There was to be power from the emperor that would surround this woman. And the moon, the religious authority of the day, would be under her feet, signifying her having power over it. Now this is a symbol of the Ecclesia as it had become Laodicean, had lost its vision of the kingdom of God on earth, and had looked now for not something in the future, but the doctrine of the kingdom of God is among you now. So it's something that we want to possess now in this lifetime. And so they saw it fit in that early Ecclesia of the second and third century as things progressed. They saw it fit then to ally themselves with the nations of the world around them, specifically the Roman Empire. Now two other characteristics that we would like to look at are the two characters that are in this, the protagonist and the antagonist in Revelation chapter 12, is this woman and the dragon. And we are told the narrative of what is to happen. As the woman is there ready to be delivered, we read in verse four, the dragon stood before the woman, which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. So there we have that pagan Roman system ready to destroy the birth of the apostasy that was to take place. It's there ready to destroy it. Now the narrative describes to us the intent of what's going to happen, the political situation which would develop. And we can look at history and we can see these things. As Christianity became increasingly more involved in politics because of the doctrines that they taught, which moved away from the idea of the future kingdom of God upon the earth, it became a threat to the Roman state. Because as it increased, it had its own lands. It had its own public purse, as it's described by Edward Gibbon, a system of taxation, which has become known to us perhaps as tithing. There was no other system that was able to generate that kind of funds throughout the empire. So they were financially independent from the empire as a religious system. They also had their own system of government, which had evolved from an ecclesial situation when they had serving brethren and had become more of a clergy laity situation where you had the rulers over the ecclesias, the bishops and the different people who were now the presbyters, and the general population which were kept somewhat in darkness. And as that situation built more and more and there was a separation from the early ecclesias, the way they operated, the apostolic faith, as that separation happened more and more, the Christian system became more of a threat to the emperor. Because, brothers and sisters, the emperor was himself part of the Roman pagan pantheon of gods. He was considered to be one of the gods and the Roman citizens were required to offer sacrifice to him. And so the pagan church, if you wanna call it that, or the pagan system of religion and the Christian system of religion became opposed to one another because any idea that would challenge paganism also challenged the authority of the emperor. And it was the emperor Diocletian around the period of 285 to 213 that tried to protect the interests of the Roman pagan system of religion. And what he did was he issued decrees whereby he allowed the governments or he instructed the governments that were underneath him, the stars of Revelation chapter 12, to go forward and to confiscate the lands of these Christians, to take away their monies and their public purse, to take away their churches and the buildings that they had built with the great wealth that they had amassed, and basically to persecute and to bring upon them the trouble that we read about in our first class under the emperor Odysseus. So these types of things were going on in the first century equation. Now we gotta remember that in this there would have been a faithful remnant. There would have been Christadelphians mixed in with this greater mass of sort of pseudo-Christadelphians who still held to the faith. They still taught the gospel as it was delivered to the saints. They believed these things. And you can imagine the life of the Christadelphian at that point in time. Not only is he effacing his brethren who might be apostate, teaching that it's this world that now we have to look to, ideas on the Godhead and ideas on the immortality of the soul that we're beginning to surface. But he's also enduring the persecution of the empire as well. So at this point in time, the woman is depicted as being with child. And she does include within her the ecclesia as well. Now, when this decree was sent forth by Diocletian, his empire was quite largely extended. Right up into Britain and down into Egypt, North Africa, Spain, it was a huge empire. And the Christian population had spread themselves throughout this entire empire. And they had done so under the power of the first seal, where the conqueror went forth with the bow. And the word of God was sent throughout the whole empire. And so we have ecclesias throughout this whole region. Now, the persecutions that Diocletian was to bring upon the ecclesia were terrific. They were horrific. They were terrible. And he enacted the role of the dragon to devour the woman's child before it was born or as soon as it was to be born. And we have the stories of the circuses where our brethren and sisters, along with some of the apostasy that had developed, but our brethren and sisters were taken and were slain. They were sawn asunder. They were persecuted. They were fed to the lions in the circuses and in the persecutions that took place at that point in time. And it was because of this type of thing that God Almighty decreed in the book of Revelation that that dragon, that pagan system that had crushed the saints, that had crucified the Lord Jesus Christ, that system was to be thrown out of the political heavens and was to be replaced. So it's the seed of the woman versus the seed of the serpent in the narrative of the book of Revelation. There are some fighting with the sword of the spirit out of their mouth, teaching the gospel. And there were others, perhaps part of a second witness almost, who took up the sword against this system. Well, when Diocletian retired, which was one of the only emperors actually to do that, most of them were either knocked off or died a natural death of some description or another, he divided the empire into four. Constantius, who was to be the father of Constantine, ruled over the area of Gaul and Britain. Maxentius was over Rome and Carthage, that's North Africa. And Licinius was the emperor over Panoina, which is basically the area of the Balkans in Greece. And Galerius was the emperor over Syria, Palestine, and he basically had the area of what was to become Constantinople. Now, in Revelation chapter 12, we read that this woman is to bring forth a man-child. And this man-child was to rule all nations with the rod of iron and was to be caught up to God and to his throne. Well, as we mentioned, we heard those things before in Isaiah, when we looked at it last night, looking at Babylon, but it also appears in 2 Thessalonians chapter two. And at verses three and four, this man of sin that was to be revealed, the end result of the apostasy that Paul was warning about, was to oppose and exalt himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he is God, was to sit in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. And so we can see a correspondence between these two things, the man of sin ascending to this great power and the man-child of Revelation chapter 12 being caught up to the political heavens, to the throne of the God of his day. And so this son of perdition of 2 Thessalonians two equates with the man-child of Revelation chapter 12. Now, Revelation chapter 12 is an interesting book. There is an interesting chapter because you have there the symbols that are outlined for us. You have the dragon, the pagan system. You have the woman who is apostasi, she's found with child. When we think back to what the apostle Paul says, what was he worried about impregnating the woman? What was it that he was afraid of? He was afraid that as the serpent beguiled Eve, so the ecclesia should be corrupted from the simplicity in Christ. Well, one of the names of the pagan Roman dragon in chapter 12 is the serpent. So what we basically see is the impregnation of the ecclesia with the pagan ideas of the religion of the day, which was the dragon, and the result of which would be this man-child. Now, Constantius, the emperor that was on the eastern or the westernmost side of the empire, was a pagan emperor. He took a wife, Helena, who was basically from the area of what is today Yugoslavia. And she was a Christian. So you have a pagan emperor marrying a Christian woman and bringing forth a son that was to overthrow the empire. He was an apostate Christian. He could not claim to be Christian, but yet he could not really claim to be pagan. He was kind of a hybrid of the two, which will become apparent from later. This was the man of sin, the son of lawlessness that Thessalonians talk about. And Constantine lives out in his life the parable of Revelation chapter 12. Now, when Constantine's father died, Constantine's actually gone to join him as they were in Britain, and his father died there. He was a very popular man, and his troops proclaimed him to be emperor, which was something they had no right to do. He had to be deemed emperor by the emperor in Rome. But he accepted the commission and basically wrote to the emperor in Rome and told them that, well, you know what? The troops have told me that I'm an emperor, so guess what? That's the job I've now taken on. And this obviously didn't go down very well with the administration over in Rome. So there was going to be a conflict that would ensue between these four emperors. And Constantine, having the Gaulish legions with him, those from France and Britain, needed an ally, because he's on the westernmost part of the empire, and he's got to cross the whole empire, and he's got to come towards Rome and if he's going to take over it. And that's the picture that the scriptures paint for us. And so what had happened, when Diocletian had given the decree that the Christians were to be persecuted, Constantius, his father, had declined to carry it out. Constantine kept that position. He did not persecute the Christians, but rather he gave an edict when he became emperor that they were allowed to live in peace. And so you can imagine the Laodicean Christians seeing that now we have an ally in this Roman emperor. And there was a lot of talk in that early community about what were they going to do to basically see that this emperor survived, because his success meant an end to their persecution. And so they committed fornication in that spiritual sense, that they threw in their lot with this emperor. They joined forces with him. And many Christians, long past believing in the doctrine of conscientious of Jackson, joined the ranks of Constantine. And not only that, but the Christians throughout the empire saw this one emperor who would recognize their religion and they all rallied behind him. Now we can imagine our brethren of the day standing up and lecturing their brethren and sisters saying we should have no part to do with this. And there would have been a great conflict within the Ecclesia at that point in time. Now, Constantine was not a stupid man by any means. He recognized that if he tapped into the network of Christians that covered the entire empire, he had his own covert spy network in every corner of the empire. And he maximized the use of that. So the bishops became his emissaries and would carry information throughout the empire. Now, to consolidate the support of the Christians, Constantine had a purported vision. Before the Battle of Milvian Bridge, he is reported to have seen in the sky the sign of the Lebarum, which is not exactly the cross, but was a precursor to it. I'd just like to point out by the way, this is a painting that was done of Constantine seeing this great symbol in the sky. But if you notice up in the corner, there is a red Roman dragon that is the standard of the Roman armies. That's the way they depicted themselves. You've probably seen it in Eureka. If we've read any of Eureka, there's a little thumbnail of it in there. But added to that, Constantine saw, or purports to have seen, this vision of the Lebarum, the cross. And in this sign, he basically was to go forth and conquer, is what he believed he heard the heavens to say to him. Now, incidentally, he also had a vision earlier before he became allied with the Christians where he saw Apollo in the skies and had basically seen the sun speaking to him. So you have to question somewhat the validity of this vision that he did see. However, he adopted this symbol. And the PX that now is carried by the Vatican, incidentally, was the symbol that basically he saw in the heavens. And his soldiers took this symbol to themselves. This helmet is a helmet from the period of Constantine, which basically has that symbol on the front of it, sort of over the forehead portion of the helmet. And so the apostate church that flocked to swell his ranks went under the sign of the cross. And so the adversaries in the Ecclesia formed an alliance with the emperor. They were the synagogue of Satan, but now they had an alliance that they formed with Constantine. And until this point, the cross had represented to them death, but now it became a good luck charm. They were crucified on it previously by the other emperors under Diocletian. They were crucified on the… Well, it was not really the cross, it was the stake, but I mean, that's what it had represented, death to them before. But now it is taken and becomes a good luck charm, something that they could pray to and hold on to and rally behind, an idol for them to worship. It was never a symbol of the gospel to the true Christian believers, to our brethren back in that point in time. And, brethren and sisters, that's why we do not worship the cross today. We do not have it in our halls. We do not wear it around our necks. We do not associate ourselves with it. We do not survey a wondrous cross in that sense. It was a sign of death, and it's also a sign of the apostasy, because it carries behind it the symbology of the doctrine of the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. And it is the sign that is carried right throughout the book of Revelation, and comes up in Revelation chapter 17. Now, brethren and sisters, in Thessalonians, we read that there was a system that withholdeth or with strains, and it was going to restrain until the time that it was to be removed. Now, in Thessalonians, that system is the pagan Roman dragon that is there for us indicated. It's the restraining power that held the apostasy at bay until that man of sin was to be revealed. Now, in the book of Revelation, we read about the war that was to ensue. Revelation chapter 12, and at verse seven, we find that there is there war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought, and his angels, and the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent. Well, Michael is a Hebrew word, which means, who like El? Who like the power of the mighty ones, in that sense? Now, whereas Constantine was an agent of God to bring about destruction of the Roman Empire, he was also the man of sin in its first manifestation, who sat in the place of God, who like God, in that sense, and was the beginning of the Roman Catholic apostasy in its greatest sense. Now, he brought about the judgments of that sixth seal, and there was to be a conflict in the political heavens between the dragon and his angels, and Michael, who like El, Constantine, and his angels, of which a large portion was formed by the apostate Christian church of the day. And so, this battle came to a head at a place called Milvian Bridge between Constantine and Maxentius. And as the battle was fought, Maxentius' forces lost as Constantine's forces came onto Rome, and they were pushed back across the Milvian Bridge. And it's interesting to note that the throng of the crowd on the bridge as they tried to get back over the river and not be slain on the other side, forced the emperor and he fell over the bridge, and the weight of his armor drowned him in the river below. And so, falling from heaven, that dragon was done away with. But not completely. Because whereas Constantine had dealt with one of the emperors on the other side of the empire, Licinius had a war with Galerius and disposed of him. But there is still a Roman dragon, and there is still the man-child in those heavens. And there was to be a war between the two of them. There wasn't eight-year truce, but the scripture determined that that was not to continue. It was during this period that Constantine recognized the help of the Christians by issuing an edict that their religion was to be respected and protected throughout his empire. The final battle between these two forces took place in Adrianople, and it was a battle of 15,000 infantry on the dragon side, with 15,000 cavalry and 350 galleons, Roman galleons, against the measly 120,000 men that Constantine had and only 120 little vessels, little ships. And of course, he was outnumbered, but that was irrelevant, because the word of God had said that that dragon would be cast out. And so, the dragon was cast out because Licinius lost. Now, it is interesting to note, brethren and sisters, we look at the apocalypse now, and sometimes we grapple with understanding it. Constantine understood it. He read Revelation 12, and he saw himself in it. This is a letter he wrote to the Bishop Eusebius, who was his close guide. The dragon, having been deposed from the governance of affairs by God's providence, but now that liberty is restored and the dragon driven from the administration of public affairs by the providence of the supreme deity and our instrumentality, and our instrumentality, we trust that all can see the efficacy of the divine power, the effect of the divine power, working in the political heavens to cast out the dragon. They saw themselves as the fulfillment of Revelation chapter 12, not in a bad sense. They slightly misinterpreted, but they read it and saw that that dragon was Rome. And so Constantine, on his coin, his coin, depicts the dragon as being vict, or the Leberon, the cross, as being victorious over the dragon. These people were aware of it. Now, after this, brethren and sisters, we read that a loud voice is heard in heaven. Now, this is the political heavens again, let's not forget. This is not God in heaven, but now is salvation and strength, the kingdom of our God, the power of his Christ, for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. But the interjection is made there that they overcame them by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony. Ultimately, it was the word of God that cast out that dragon, the preaching effort of the first seal that would go through the empire and unseat it. However, they did see themselves as the fulfillment of this, but it was the seed of the woman versus the seed of the serpent. Now, after Constantine had won this great victory, he moved the capital of the empire from Rome to the area of Constantinople. That move is gonna become very significant in a future class, probably tomorrow, as we consider these things. But what was to happen, now that that withholding or constraining power is taken away, now that the dragon has been thrown out of heaven, there are other events yet to ensue in chapter 12, and they equate to the events of 2 Thessalonians 2. Because after that was removed, then shall the wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the brightness of his coming, even him who's working is after the working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders, with all deceivableness of unrighteousness, and them that perish. Why? Why did they perish? Why did that first century ecclesia perish as it developed into this apostasy? Well, because, brilliant sisters, they loved not the truth. They received not the love of the truth, and we likewise will perish as an ecclesial body if we do not love the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause, God sent them strong delusion that they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned who believe not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. So this was what was to be revealed after this point in time. And it's very interesting to note that it's right after this point in time. Constantine is now on his throne. There is no Roman emperor anymore to stand in his way. The dragon has been cast out, and the Christians are enthroned with him there. And it's interesting to see that the biggest problem he's now got is these Christians, because they don't all agree. There are different schools of thought. There is a controversy that's going in within the apostate ecclesia as it's now ascended up to heaven. And so we have the Council of Nicaea. The great Nicaean creed was to come out of it. That council was not called by the church. That council was not sort of invented by the bishops. It was called by Constantine in an effort to consolidate his power and put an end to the squabbling amongst the church so that he wouldn't have a threat to his power base. And we see here depicted two bishops. Constantine, you might be able to make him out there, is depicted over the top right-hand side of this, I guess your left-hand side of the screen. And here he was presiding over this conference, and we have two bishops. And the bishops are Bishop Nicholas, and anybody who's heard of Saint Nicholas, Santa Claus, that's him back from the third century, fourth century, and Arius. And Santa Claus there is planting a right or a left hook on Arius as they debate out the doctrine of the Trinity. Santa Claus was the champion of the Trinity. And here he is taking on Arius as they debate the subject. You can see that the church had come a long way from discussing the scriptures with their Bibles open, and here in the political arena we result in fisticuffs as we try to come to an understanding of what not the Bible had to say, but what was gonna be the most popular, sellable doctrine. Well, Constantine, listening to this debate, being a pagan himself, worshiping a pantheon of pagan gods, was more impressed with the idea of a triune godhead because it sat probably a lot better with him since that's his background of multiple gods. He liked that idea. So he put the official Roman seal on the doctrine of the Trinity. And so the doctrine of the Trinity became by law of the Roman emperor, the doctrine that was to be held in the churches. And so out of that council came the Nicene Creed. I believe in one God, it goes, the Father Almighty. In one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only begotten of the Father. Begotten of the Father, and he goes on to say, very God of very God, begotten, not made, of one essence with the Father. And he also talks about him coming down from heaven, that he was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and was made man. And he goes on to say, I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeded from the Father, who with the Father is to be worshiped. And with the Son and the Father together is to be worshiped and glorified. And brother and sisters, the believers throughout time since this point have fought, have warred against that system against this doctrine since the time of Constantine and since the man child was revealed and that great delusion spoken of in second Thessalonian had been revealed. Now just quickly, as we close off this examination of Revelation chapter 12, the end result is that you have the woman, now bereft of the apostasy. She's given birth to this child. The Laodicean state has gone out from her because they were not of her and they have married themselves to the Catholic system or the dragon system, the pagan system. Now what happens is that she flees into the wilderness. So our brother and sisters and not just our brother and sisters, but the witnesses who held similar doctrines, if not completely the same, went into the wilderness to a place prepared of God that they should feed her there 1,203 score days, very similar to Elijah running from Jezebel. And when the dragon saw that he was cast out to the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. And so that dragon now, assumed by Constantine, because he was the only Roman emperor left, persecutes the woman. The doctrine of the Trinity becomes the rule by which the empire was to be governed. And so all sects and groups that did not adhere to that doctrine were to be judged. And so we see that the woman was given two wings of an eagle. Well, an eagle is the Roman empire, right? We read about it in Matthew chapter 25, or sorry, in Luke 21 with the Olivet prophecy in Matthew 24. And she's taken into the wilderness because the serpent is to cast out of his mouth, that dragon, remember the word serpent, dragon, interchangeable there. And the woman is to be, he's trying to destroy the woman by casting this flood of water out of his mouth. Well, brothers and sisters, what happened was, the woman was taken into the wilderness. She was taken to the corners of the empire. And the groups of believers, the Donatus, the Polychons, the Waldensis and the Albigensis, through time have existed in the outskirts of the Roman empire, where they could not be touched by, or certainly would have much less of an effect as being touched by the Roman armies. But we read there that there was to be a flood cast out of the mouth of this dragon. And that flood, brothers and sisters, was to come and was to try and destroy this woman and the remnants of her seed and those who kept the testimony of the word. But it was to be swallowed up by the earth. And so it was that the people dwelling around the Donatus, for instance, the Circumciliens of North Africa, resisted the attempts of the Roman emperor to wipe them out or wipe out the Donatus who lived among them. There were groups of people who basically stood in defiance against the Roman emperor and against the doctrines that were being put forward. Very quickly, I just wanna end off on one note. Bible students of the day reading the book of Revelation completely understood it. The Donatus of North Africa read Revelation 1 verse 1. It's the revelation of Jesus Christ given to his servants to show them things shortly to come to pass. And in the fourth century, this is what a Donatus writer had to say. Behold, suddenly the polluted flood of the Macarean persecutions burst forth from the tyrannical church of King Constans. Two beasts sent to Africa from thence to which Macarius and Paulus or Marcius and Paulus, whoever you quite pronounce that, a most horrible and cruel ecclesiastical war was proclaimed that the Christian people should be compelled by the naked swords of soldiers and by the standards of the serpent dragons and the blast of the trumpets to unite with these traitors. And he talks about these beasts coming forward, these serpents as they were to try and swallow up God's people. And they recognized that. They recognized what was going on because they had the book of Revelation. We've got it too, brethren and sisters. We have it in front of us. We have it to take home with us. And what we have to do is protect ourselves with it to identify the system. And we hope to do that through this coming week so that we can not be seduced into fellowship with the clerical systems of today, but that we can come out of her and be not partakers of her sins.

Transcript

Our first speaker this morning is Brother Jonathan Bowen of the Brantford, Ontario Ecclesia. The theme for Brother Jonathan's class this week is, The Lamb Shall Overcome Them. Today's class is entitled, It Was Given to Him to Make War with the Saints. Brother Jonathan. Well, good morning, brethren and sisters. As we continue the class this morning, the progression that we've been looking at in the Book of Revelation, I would like to just start off by stating that we are not trying to cover every detail of the Book of Revelation. If at times you become a little bit confused as to some of the facts, don't worry about it, because what we're trying to do is paint the overall picture. We want to not do a detailed exposition of each and every point wherein we go and improve from the Old Testament what the signs and the symbols represent. We couldn't do that with the time we have. Rather, what we're trying to do is a comprehensive, flowing overview of the Book of Revelation, looking at the transformation of the beasts as they go through and are depicted to us. We want to see the narrative of the book, the picture that is given to us, the storyline, if you want to call it that. We're going to leave it up to your personal Bible study to come back with the use of your Bible in your concordance and perhaps books like Helpus Israel, Eureka, Exposition of Daniel, Apocalypse Epitomized. They're all available to us to come in and fill in these details. But we hope to try and build for you an overview, a framework. When you leave here, you can walk away and perhaps have a little bit of a better understanding of how these things come together. As we've mentioned, the Book of Revelation is simply the exposition, or the beast phase of it, is the exposition of Daniel's fourth beast. And that beast is described to us as having iron teeth. It's that Roman element that we can see. And it equates with the iron legs of Daniel chapter 2, as we've mentioned. Yesterday, we spent our time looking at the dragon that is described for us in chapter 12, the first phase of Daniel's fourth beast, the pagan Roman Empire. We looked at some of the seals and saw how these were the judgments upon this system. They brought about its eventual fall, and that fall is described to us in Revelation chapter 12 as war in heaven between the woman seed, the man-child, and this dragon. It is the earthquake of chapter 6 and these seals. And this war in heaven had the result of bringing about the casting out from the political heavens of the pagan Roman dragon from power and the establishment in its place of the man-child. Now, where that brings us to in the narrative of the book is the beast of the sea of Revelation chapter 13. You might want to open your Bibles to Revelation chapter 13 and have them there so that you can compare some of these things and have a look at them in the context. The system that the man-child represented is depicted in this way. It's another phase of Daniel's fourth beast, and it is represented by this beast of the sea that is given to us in Revelation chapter 13 in the first part of the chapter. And although initially this man-child was an agent of God's judgment upon the pagan Roman system, it became part of this beast system itself. It became part of the kingdoms of men who stand in opposition to the kingdom of God. And we want to remember that the plot line that we're talking about is the seat of the woman in opposition to the seat of the serpent throughout the book of Revelation. Now, when we come to identify the or to examine the beast of the sea in the first part of the chapter, we read that as I stood upon the sand of the sea, I saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns, ten crowns, and upon the heads, the names of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were the feet of a bear, and his mouth was the mouth of a lion, and the dragon gave him his power and his seat and his great authority. Now, we want to look at this because if we remember when Daniel in Daniel chapter seven saw the vision, it was four beasts that arose out of the great sea, and that great sea is the Mediterranean Sea. So this beast is associated with the area of the Mediterranean, just like Daniel's beast was. We notice that it has similar characteristics to the beasts that are mentioned in Daniel. It has this lion's mouth. It has the seat and the authority given to it by the dragon. It's got feet of a bear, and it looks like a leopard. So it carries the characteristics. And that really makes sense when we look at the book of Daniel because the image of Daniel chapter two, when it's finally destroyed, is broken in pieces together. So all these composite elements are seen because they represent the kingdoms of men. Now, as we continue along in this story, as we look at what we have written here for us, we find that the seat of the beast is the Christian Roman Empire. Or sorry, I should say the sea beast is the Christian Roman Empire. It's made up of the sovereign states under the influence of Rome. And we're going to see how that develops. Remember that Constantine removed his capital to Byzantium, which he renamed to be Constantinople. And from there, the Christian Roman Empire was ruled. But there are changes that we are going to look at. There are similar characteristics, but there are some distinct differences. Some of the similarities include the fact that there are ten horns on both of these beasts. There are crowns on both of these beasts, although they're in different positions. And there are seven heads. So this is not a new, entirely new creation in that sense, but rather it is a metamorphosis of the previous pagan Roman dragon. Now, the ten horns, as we've already looked at, Daniel chapter seven and verse 24 tells us that in Daniel's beast, these ten horns represent the ten kingdoms that would arise. We are told the same thing in Revelation chapter 17, where those ten horns are also seen in existence. The crowns, as we have mentioned, signify sovereign power. And the seven heads were those seven systems of government. Now, as we look at those horns, we want to consider the difference. In the dragon phase, those horns were located upon the seven heads, signifying the seven sovereign forms of political government that would rule over the body of the Roman Empire. And they were in succession. However, when we come to the sea we find that those crowns are no longer on the heads, but they now reside on the horns. And this is a key point, because what has happened, there is a change in sovereignty. No longer is the Christian Roman Empire completely ruled over from one place. But now there is different sovereign nations that make up this Roman body of this beast that we're looking at. And it represents the empire in the phase when the ten barbarian nations that we read about in Daniel chapter 7 gain their freedom from the Roman system. During the lifespan of this beast, in chapter 8 of Revelation, are given to us the trumpet judgments, the seven trumpet judgments. These are during this beast phase and partly upon it. And they are the invasion of the barbarians into Europe and the establishment of these independent barbarian states. They are, however, under the Roman influence, both of the Christian Roman Emperor from Byzantium or Constantinople and also from the Vatican, as it was to become in Rome itself. Now, when Constantine moved the capital of the empire to Constantinople, he left the western half of the empire exposed to the tribes of the barbarians that were surrounding it. Now we want to kind of step through a little bit of history because this is a phase, when I went through Sunday school, that we kind of jumped over a little bit. And it was one of those things that I found that once we kind of walked through it and see how Europe, as our brother Stephen was talking about the other night, how Europe was formed as we see it today, it helps us to make more sense of these ten horns. Now, the invasions of the barbarians, there were several of them. We're not necessarily doing these in chronological order, but we're just kind of following them through. One of them was the invasion of the Huns. The barbarian hordes came in different waves and different basically areas they drew themselves or they came from. And the Huns were a ferocious people who under a man named Attila came and invaded the Roman Empire. They came from the area of what we know as Scythia. In the Bible, it's called Magog in Ezekiel chapter 38. Josephus describes it for us. They planted themselves in the area of the Danube River and gave the name of their own people to this area. It became known as Hungary. So this was the area of the Huns. And under Attila in AD 451, they went down to the area of Thrace, which is next to Constantinople, about 30 miles from it. They moved from there into Macedonia and then up into the area of Ponoina, which is part of Hungary today, through Nurechium, which is basically Austria as we would know it. They went into Belgium, Germany, France, and as far as the English Channel. So they basically came almost on a whirlwind through Europe. And they are described to us as the third trumpet, the blazing star, which really is another study in itself. I'm going to make mention of these things, but we're not going to look at them in detail. Along with them came the Goths. Alaric was the leader of the Goths or one of the influential leaders. And we read there from Gibbon's decline and fall of the Roman Empire that he marched to the gates of Rome. At the hour of midnight, the Salarian gate was silently opened and the inhabitants were awakened by the tremendous sound of the Gothic trumpet, which I thought was very significant because the Book of Revelation identifies these Gothic hordes or the different barbarians that would invade as the trumpets. And this was the hail and fire judgment of the first trumpet. The Goths and the Visigoths, that is, basically came from the area of Sweden. They came across Northern Europe and entered the actual area of the Roman Empire through Scythia. They crossed through to Greece under the leadership of Alaric. They went through Illyria, Lombardy, and eventually they laid siege to Italy itself. So we can see that what was a stable empire is now being slowly invaded and somewhat carved up by these peoples. They settled in France until finally they were driven by the Franks into Spain in about AD 585. Then we have the Vandals, which Brother Steven made mention of last night. And the name Vandal, as we understand it, somebody who destroys them, things, comes from this word because they were ones who were to sack Rome and bring great destruction upon it. They also came from the area of Sweden. They entered Gaul around the year 406. They came down into Spain, across into North Africa, where they fought basically against the Catholic forces of the day, the Catholic dragon, and set up an independent kingdom there. And it was under the man named Gyn Seric. And it lasted until about 533. And from here they invaded Rome and sacked Italy. They went through the provinces of Italy and basically they represent the second wind trumpet or the great mountain burning with fire that is depicted to us under the trumpets. Following them we have the Alans. The Alans came from Asia, the area between the Black Sea and the Caspian. They crossed right the way through Europe, through Germany, and they joined the Vandals and basically they ended up settling themselves in the area of Portugal. We also have the Burgundians. The Burgundians came from what we know today as northern Germany. They established themselves in the south of France, or what we would call Gaul, or what was called Gaul back then. And they gave the name of their tribe stock to that area for a long point in time. Burgundy was one of the nation states of Europe for a long time. There was the Lombards who also came from the area of Scandinavia. They came down the Danube River and basically after the dissolution of the empire of Attila around 455 they took over part of Panoina or Hungary as we know it. They came as far as Barvery in 568 and eventually they invaded Italy and settled themselves there until they were plucked up by the by the roots as described to us by Daniel. We have the Franks who came also out of the German area. The name Franks means freemen which is going to make a significant point in history later on as we look at the French Revolution. They invaded Gaul and settled themselves in the area of France which basically derives its name from the name Franks. They comprised part of the first trumpet as well. There were the Barverians who basically originated from part of the the dragon empire itself. They were in the area of Noricium and they basically gained their independence under a man named Theodon and carved out for themselves an independent state. There was the Sui or the Suvias sometimes they are called who came from Asia. They crossed northern Europe and entered into Germany. They went through Gaul and Galatia and basically or Galatia as it's called and entered into Spain where they settled themselves. So the Suvi or Sui are basically the Spanish-speaking peoples and then there was the Jeopardi. Now the Jeopardi or Jeopardi as they're called came from Sweden as well. They went across the north of Europe as well like others other of these Barbarian hordes until they reached the area of Scythia. From this area they came through the Adriatic Bay of the Mediterranean and they moved through the area of Dacia and they planted themselves in the Carpathian hills next to the Black Sea. Their kingdom continued as an independent kingdom till about 566 when it was somewhat destroyed by the Lombards. Now these are the ten horned nations that have come into Europe. They are historically documented for us in books like Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire and they carved it up for themselves giving many of the lands that they took over their names like the Franks for instance and like the Huns in Hungary. These independent nations formed the body politic if you want to call it that the political body of the Christian Roman Empire. They were under the influence heavily of the papacy and they were initially governed by the emperor in Constantinople and in fact it's interesting because all these Barbarian nations as they came in were very interested in being accepted by the Roman Empire and so quite often on the back of the coins that they struck would be the head of the emperor of their day. So they certainly were related to this this Christian Roman beast as we see it in the book of Revelation. So that's kind of what this beast is comprised of. Now we find in the book of Revelation that it's this beast that is to become the enemy of the saints much more perhaps than the the the pagan Roman dragon was that proceeded in. We find in verse five that it was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies and it had power to continue 40 in two months and we find that he opens his mouth in blasphemy against God to blaspheme his name his tabernacle and then that dwell in heaven. Now he equates to in Daniel chapter seven the little horn that arises that we also see speaking great things against the most high. So this mouth speaking blasphemy or established itself in opposition to the seed of the woman. Our brethren and sisters and those who comprised the second witness of the time really in the empire faced this this colossal political movement and were persecuted heavily by it. The kingdoms of men versus the kingdom of God or the beast that the emperor Phocas gave to Boniface. We'll read the slide there. This Boniface the third obtained from Phocas the prince of the apostolic throne the blessed apostle Peter. Sorry let me read that again. Boniface obtained from Phocas who was the emperor. The prince sorry Phocas the prince you have to excuse me here we go. Phocas the prince that the apostolic throne of the blessed apostle Peter should be the head of all the churches and that decree gave them legally the right to basically lord themselves over all other religious groups Christian religious groups in the empire. It was a very significant decree because as a result of it the catholic church had the power to suppress legally other religions and so the papacy became head of all churches and it made use of this authority by putting to death our brethren and sisters because they refused to bow down and to worship it. They spoke with the authority of God upon the earth. They became Christ representative on earth as far as the state was concerned and consequently they made war with the saints. We read in Revelation 13 verse 5 power was given unto him to continue 40 in two months and it was given unto him to make war with the saints and to overcome them and power was given unto him over all kindreds tongues and nations. So over those 10 horn nations this beast had power and influence and again it equates with that little horn the same horn that made war with the saints and so brethren and sisters it's in this time period that there was open warfare with the people of God and of the system of Europe and it was to last for a period of 1260 days and it equates with that little horn and we make that statement because we're looking at phases of it and this is where this phase plugs into. During the lifetime of this beast our brethren and sisters underwent horrific persecutions. They're detailed for us in books like Fox's book of martyrs and Moore's martyrology. Reading from Hebrews 11 it describes the age of the patriarchs of the forefathers but it also describes this age. Others were tortured not accepting deliverance. If they had accepted deliverance if they had of recanted they would have been set free many of them but they did not accept deliverance. They held fast to their faith that they might obtain a better resurrection and consequently they were put to death for their beliefs. Others had a trial of cruel mockings and scourgings a moreover of bonds and imprisonment. This was the seed of the woman versus the seed of the serpent. They were stoned. They were sawn asunder. They were tempted. They were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheep skins and goat skins being destitute afflicted tormented and brethren sisters these people gave up their lives for the truth and we've got to ask ourselves what would we be willing to give up for the truth. Quite often our lives are so busy with the things of this world that we have a hard time finding time to do the readings or to get out to the Bible class. Are we worthy of association with these saints that went before? The world was not worthy of them continues Hebrews 11 verse 38. They wandered in deserts and mountains and dens and caves of the earth all these having obtained a good report through faith. They received not the promises God having provided some better thing for us that they without us should not be made perfect and we've got to listen to those words of Hebrews and think about our association with them. What have we given up for the truth? What have we given up to belong to that class of people entitled to the description of the saints? Well brethren and sisters this system was to last for 1260 days using the day for a year principle that's outlined to us both in numbers and in Ezekiel. We realized that it's a period of 1260 years that begins in the area of or the time period of 606 with this decree that went forward and lasts for that 1260 years to basically the area of around 1866. It was under the emperor or the French emperor Napoleon and also Garibaldi that the papacy lost its power to execute war against the saints and we thank our God that we live in a time where we're allowed to meet like this. We're allowed to talk about these things without fear of persecution and the reason is because the time of her warfare over the saints by God's mercy to us has expired but let's not become complacent because we live in a time where we do not have that kind of persecution. The battle that we face the persecution we face is perhaps a little bit more dangerous than what they faced. Theirs was a battle of immediate life ours is a much more subtle battle because we allow the world and all its influences to kill us slowly and so brethren sisters we do well to take heed to these people who went before us. Now when the trumpets had finally exhausted the eastern side of the Roman empire would collapse and of course we know about the fact that that dragon area as it is described for us was transferred up to Russia when the last niece of the last or the niece of the last czar or caesar sorry of the Byzantine empire married Ivan the third. She took with her the seal the crest and all the royal paraphernalia of the Byzantine empire up with her to Russia and so from that point forward the kings of Russia were not called kings they were called czars caesars the Slavonic contraction of the word and so when we come to the book of revelation in chapter 16 in the future and we read about the dragon that hasn't been destroyed but simply thrown out of heaven it becomes to represent the nation of Russia. Well as those trumpets expire and as those barbarian nations became more powerful the Christian Roman empire phased itself out in basically the goths and the different vandal nations overpowered it and then introduced onto the scene is the lamb like creature that speaks as a dragon. We read in revelation chapter 13 I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth and he has two horns like a lamb but when he speaks he speaks as a dragon. He exercises all the power of the first beast before him and causes the earth and then which dwell therein to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed. And so brethren sisters this is the next phase that we're following through. Now we're trying not to spend too much time looking at these things because we really want to look at Europe as it is today and the developments in front of us but we want to give ourselves a frame of reference to how we get to today. Well this beast that's described for us has horns like a lamb which tells us that it has a Christian veneer. It is a dragon in sheep's clothing in that sense. It is false Christianity that has become metamorphosized into one of these beasts. The dragon speaking mouth tells us what it's really like on the inside. It has that Roman element to it but at the same time it has the Christian veneer a holy sort of countenance to it and so out of those two elements you have a holy Roman empire that develops. Now it was under Charlemagne who basically was called upon by the pope to come to Italy and drive out the lombards that were basically causing some tribulation for his holiness. Now the lombards were named at well the meaning of their name is long beards and it's actually quite comical to read what brother Thomas has to say about these long beards and how that the Catholic church hated them so much that it became tradition among the Catholics that they did not allow their followers to grow beards and so as you look across the Catholic church and you wonder about where you know or you look at their priests and popes and whatever else you'll be very hard pressed to find somebody with a beard. That's why I have one. I just sort of like the idea. Anyway the pope called upon Charlemagne to rescue him so what Charlemagne did was he came down into Italy and he drove the lombards out and so Charlemagne defeated them and became the patriarch or the protector of Italy. Now some 26 years later when Charlemagne came to the Vatican for a ceremony on Christmas day in the year 800 he was basically there kneeling before the pope for to have the mass and partake of the death cookie and whatever else and Pope Leo III picked up the Roman crown the iron crown and put it upon Charlemagne's head and crowned him pronounced him to be the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. Now Leo had absolutely no right to do this whatsoever. It was from Byzantium from Constantinople that the successors were supposed to be named so he took upon himself this authority and we can see the the growing of the the power and the authority of the papacy and so the Holy Roman Empire was born. The territory of this empire included basically much of France Germany and Italy. It didn't surround the Mediterranean Sea like the previous empire had the Christian Roman Empire and so consequently it is depicted as being the beast that came from the earth because it came from the German French sort of area of Europe. Now it is a metamorphosis again of Daniel's fourth beast and it was to continue the persecution of the saints and to live out that seed of the woman versus seed of the serpent narrative of the book. It has that Roman Empire characteristic about it. Now we read of this beast that it was to make fire come down from heaven in the sight or from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. Now this fire that was to come down from heaven came out of its dragon-like mouth in that sense. It was in heaven. Now we don't want to get confused and think now that we're talking about Almighty God in heaven. We're talking about the political heavens. So the fire coming down is judgments as fire is depicted in the in the Bible coming down from the political heavens of the day. Now these judgments came in the form of edicts from the mouth of this dragon and it mobilizes the armies under its influence to carry out these decrees and a perfect example of these decrees is that of excommunication. We read excommunication was the was a terrible weapon in the hands of the sovereign pontiff. Everyone fled with horror from him who had been struck by it. The lords broke off all commerce with the king who had been excommunicated. They hardly remained in his attendance with any attendance with with him to serve him and these threw all the fragments of his table into the fire rather than eat them. It was a terrible time in that sense when excommunication was was sent forth. You were completely and absolutely ostracized from the people around you. You were cut off. You could not deal in the society of the day. You could not buy or sell. If you were a king your subjects were no longer according to the papal decree. They didn't have to follow what you said and so you were reduced to nothing. Our brethren experience the fire of excommunication under this time because they refuse to worship the Charlemagne began this empire and his family really held on to it for about 70 years. It was then transferred over to Otto the first the German empire around emperor around the year 962 and eventually the Otto family passed on the empire to the Habsburg family that ruled it until Napoleon came along. Now it was during the time of this beast of the earth the Holy Roman Empire that was to develop with it not separate to it but sort of in in con can't think of the word in well anyway together with it there you go. During this this time the the image of the beast was to arise that we read of in Revelation chapter 13 verse 14 and this image of the beast is is set up we read verse 14 this this beast deceived them dwell upon the earth by the means of the miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast saying unto them that dwell upon the earth that they should make an image to the beast which had the wound by the sword and yet all of a sudden is found to be alive again and this beast had power to give life to the image of the beast that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast that they should be killed and so there is this depiction of an image that's set up and I wasn't quite sure how to depict that on on the slide before you so I kind of just dug the head of the last one and and stuck it on a post because it's almost like an idol that is set up in the memory of the preceding beast the Christian Roman Empire that's there before you and so it's something that is resurrected to the memory of. Now in Daniel chapter four or chapter seven the fourth beast when we consider it again as we kind of look back there the finer details are given to it as to how it how it was to to move along and it's described as these ten horns but there is some narrative that takes place that we want to consider just for a few moments the fourth beast dreadful and terrible and strong and seedingly had ten horns but three of those horns were to be plucked up we have seen what the ten horns represent three of them were to be supplanted by this eighth little horn and these three were the Lombards the Huns and the Vandals all of whom had a piece of Rome at some point in time the Vandals were an Aryan nation by their religion they did not believe the Trinity to the same degree and so they were plucked up by the forces of the emperor Justinian around 554 AD the Lombards ruled Italy during the time of Charlemagne and of course he came along and plucked them up and removed them from power around the year 800 the Huns who had established themselves in Hungary were also plucked up by Charlemagne's descendants and so we have basically by their removal the advent of this little horn Daniel seven verse eight says I considered the horns and behold there came up among them another little horn before whom three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots and behold in this horn there were eyes in the mouth speaking great things so once these three horns were plucked up which happened over a period of time they were replaced by this little horn that Daniel talks about this little horn had eyes in the mouth and it spoke great things against the most high and it was to wear out the saints of the most high we read in Daniel chapter seven and verse 25 this little horn was the catholic power of the holy roman empire as is depicted to us in revelation it was equivalent to the beast that came up out of the earth more specifically though there is the earthly kingdom of the papacy what we call the temporal power of the pope now it's interesting to note that the papal coronation crown has a triple t era on it three crowns one in the words of Daniel perhaps for each of the horns that were plucked up before it and it's interesting that when the pope is crowned that is what is placed on his head a three crowned crown so that he basically takes over from those three horn nations now pep in the short the king of france gave basically in about 758 the predecessor to charlemagne gave the the pope after the battling with the lombards who had taken control of italy he gave the pope three territories the area of rome ravena and a portion of lombardy and they became known as the papal states now they were wrestled from him and charlemagne restored them to him and from this point the image or the replica of the christian roman empire carrying much of the same characteristics was established in rome and from here the pope ruled as a king he was not just a spiritual ruler at this point in time but he had become both a spiritual ruler and a literal king over the papal states he ruled with a rod of iron in that sense and not only that but his influence over the other people was very very strong under pope pope gregory the the seventh around the year 1073 the papacy sovereign over its own territories now reached the point in history where no longer was it looking for the emperors for support and and sort of sometimes the popes were actually chosen by the emperors but now the papacy appointed internally its own popes without reference to the emperor whatsoever the emperor and the kings of the earth instead of requiring or influencing the papacy in the decision who would become pope they now have to go to the papacy in order to gain the allegiance of their people because they required the pope to crown them in order basically to be authentic as as rulers on their thrones and this is really the point in which the image of beast becomes powerful now the reason we've run through these things and there's a lot of history that we could talk about there is tons and tons and tons of reams of it because we've just basically taken a jump from the year 300 almost right up to about 1850 as far as the area which this this system covers and we're not going to spend our time to go into it individually suffice it to say that it's under this power that the greatest and the most horrific persecutions of god's people have taken place of our brethren and sisters and are detailed for us in books like the brethren in christ and the protesters by our brother alan air what we want to do is to see that through this transition europe became a center of the christian or i should say the catholic religion and its influence pervaded all levels of society it was built upon the same structure as the roman empire papacy was that is an image to the wounded beast we are told was created in other words what we are looking at in the papal states and in the vatican as it exists today even is basically a replica of the roman empire they are structured the same way we read from the mcgraw hill in cycle illustrated world history it was truly roman in its structure talking about catholic church the hierarchy of pope archdiocese diocese and parish was in the tradition of diocletian's imperial reorganization within the episcopal system the sea of rome enjoyed a special authority the roman church was accepted as first amongst equals now what that basically is telling us to us telling to us is that remember when we went back at the very beginning with the dragon we talked about the fact that it had seven heads and each of those seven heads were systems of government and we found that the sixth head was to disappear and that was the imperial head where the the caesar was supreme but it was to be resurrected what we're looking at in the papacy is the same structure as was there back in the time of the roman dragon it is the same framework that has been resurrected it is an image to the same beast that already existed it's modeled after it's depicting the same thing and history and this is not christa dalton's writing this history tells us well you look at the one you look at the other they're same thing and that's important for us to understand well we read further that as many as would not worship the image of the beast were to be killed and he caused all both small and great rich and poor to receive the mark of or to receive a mark in their right hand and in or in their forehead that no man might buy or sell say that he had the mark or the name of the beast or the of his name and he goes on to tell us it's the number of the man as the original would really have it with a definite article there and his number is 666 so this image is related to the sign of the beast the 666 in the forehead and we have to stop and ask well what does that mean well he tells us what it means that number is the number of and the definite article is there in the book of revelation in the original greek it's the number of the man what is the man of the book of revelation well it's the man child of chapter 12 it's the man of sin of second thessalonians so what is being forced upon the people of europe at this point in time amongst which their brethren lists lived was basically the doctrines of constantine and the man of sin that would arise that was the mark of the beast that is to go into their forehead a terrific study sometimes to go into that is very exciting is a comparison between the mark of the beast and the seal of god in their foreheads it's not some visa card thing or a upc symbol that when you go through the grocery store you put your wrist there or your forehead on the thing and scan it in it doesn't represent that we got to look at it in in the real greater symbols of the apocalypse these two things you've got the woman to see the serpent you've got the mark of the or the seal of god and the mark of the beast the seal of god is the character of god in your forehead in your mind and in your hand in that sense in your works in your heart the image or the the mark of the beast is the doctrine the character the thinking of that catholic system in your forehead and in your hand in your works now it's interesting that it's the trinitarian cross the symbol of christianity as we know it and the trinity is the chief doctrine of christianity the ecumenical doctrine that forms the basis of the catholic religion we read here from a book on new catholicism this is not this is something that they're proud of by the way this is written by a catholic in the catholic and the other christian churches the sign of the cross is an important part of personal and public prayer it is the first sign made on us at baptism which incidentally is made in the forehead of the child it is the last sign made on us as we depart to the future life which incidentally is also made on the forehead it is a vital part of the liturgical prayers and the sacraments with the of the cross we begin and end our prayers we call it a blessing we say bless ourselves which i found rather interesting but anyway bless ourselves tracing with our hand the figure of the cross on our forehead on our breast and on our shoulders tracing this holy sign on our forehead our hearts and our shoulders we remember that we are blessed in mind and heart and all our being or we could rephrase that to saying we are corrupted in mind and heart and all our being with the trinitarian catholic doctrine that pervades the entire christian world around us there are very few denominations that do not believe in the trinity and christodolphians and their brethren throughout the ages have stood against this that's why many evangelical tv and radio stations will not allow us to participate they will not air our programs we have found that in california and ontario because we do not hold to the doctrine of the trinity well these three points basically of the cross that are made on the forehead and the right side and over the the hearth in that sense that trinitarian doctrine was what was impressed on the people and if they refused to go with the doctrine of the church during this time they were put to death they could not operate at all within the empire that they lived and so brethren sisters we have followed through the story of the book of revelation in preparation really for what we're going to talk about next in the next couple of classes throughout the week we have looked at the dragon that first of all existed and basically ended up being in constantinople or byzantine and eventually moved up to russia we have talked about the beast of the sea that christian roman empire that developed and basically incorporated much of europe and north africa we've talked about the beast of the earth that holy roman empire that developed and basically gave life to that image of the beast signifying the vatican and and the area of the pope's temporal power we have followed the metamorphosis of daniel's fourth beast throughout the book of revelation we have seen the arise of the political power of the apostasy from the first century ecclesia to present times recent times this system has stood in opposition to god's people it has murdered and crucified and destroyed the saints throughout the ages it is drunk with the blood of the saints and of the martyrs of jesus this overview has been necessary for us to see the current phase that we're going to be looking at during the next three classes see the beast as it is today because i believe as brother steven said that it is one of the most incredible signs to us as christadelphians that our god has given us to the nearness of the return of the lord jesus christ of this earth what we see going on in europe right now is incredible and we have to get a perspective of it because it will help us remove our affections from the fleeting present and not see this life as something that's going to last but see the finger of god has indicated a course for the kingdoms of this world to bring them into cataclysmic destruction and that his saints will be rescued out of it we pray our god that we would be able to see these things withdraw ourselves from the world and prepare for the return of the lord jesus christ

Transcript

Our first speaker this morning is our brother Jonathan Bowen of the Brantford, Ontario, Canada Ecclesia. The theme for Brother Jonathan's classes this week is, The Lamb Shall Overcome Them. Today's class is entitled, The Wine of Her Fornication. Brother Bowen. Good morning, brethren and sisters. As we consider this morning's class, it's going to be a very serious discussion that we're going to engage in. We don't take lightly the responsibility for saying what we do this morning. We ask for your careful attention to examine the evidence that we're going to lay out before for what is going to be said. We read in 1 John chapter 3 in the 12th verse that there was Cain who was of that wicked one and he slew his brother. And we are told, Wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil and his brother's righteous. Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hates you. And the Catholic Church has stood in opposition to the brethren and sisters that are of the Lord Jesus Christ throughout the ages, as it also does with us. And we should not be surprised if the world hates God's doctrine and those who hold it. Yesterday we examined the two phases of the beast of the earth and the image of the beast, which was to arise at the same time. We highlighted the little horn which had the eyes and the mouth. And it was during this time that the image of the beast was to be set up. This was the age of the Holy Roman Empire, called in secular history the Dark Ages, when the papacy ruled Europe with an iron fist. During this time, persecution was severe for those who refused to worship the beast. And it was at this time, brethren and sisters, that through the mercy of God, the Reformation broke forth. Small lights of truth dotted the historical horizon during this time and they led the way for the dawning of the Reformation. And it is the Reformation that has given us the Bible you have in front of you today. And it is out of this period that we can also glean some serious warnings for us. In the 14th century, a reformer named John Wycliffe translated the Bible into English. Copies of his translation were hand-copied and distributed around 1382. This was the first translation done in over a thousand years in the native tongue of the people who were to receive it. Once people read, they became enlightened as to the real character of the papacy. The Lollards, who were Wycliffe's followers, called the Poor Preachers, were inspired by the Book of Revelation and by the words we have read about the coming Antichrist and First of John. Wycliffe was fully aware of the teachings of the Bible. He makes the correspondence between the little horn of Daniel's fourth beast and sees its role with the saints. And he says in one of his writings on the truth of the Holy Scripture, why is it necessary in unbelief to look for another Antichrist? In the seventh chapter of Daniel, Antichrist is forcefully described as the horn rising in the same time of the fourth kingdom. For it grew from among our powerful ones, more horrible, more cruel, and more greedy. The horn had arisen from among ten horns, having eyes and a mouth, speaking great things against the lofty one, and wearing out the saints of the most high, and thinking that he is able to change times and laws. Now Wycliffe says that his followers at that time, of them he says, for so do our people see the Lord Pope as it is said of that eighth blaspheming little horn, or that little head. And so vehemently was Wycliffe and his followers hated that forty years after Wycliffe died, the Pope ordered his bones to be exhumed and burnt. The intense persecution that was to follow Wycliffe and to try and stamp out his teaching and eradicate those who followed him was to spread throughout England. Wycliffe was later followed by a man named Erasmus. Erasmus was a Roman Catholic priest. Now he opened the gates to the translation of the Bible by using the original Greek manuscripts to translate a copy of the New Testament into English, or sorry, into English, into Latin. Initially his work was only effective for the clergy, as they were the ones who could read Latin. But it sparked the spirit of biblical thought amongst some of these clergy, and some of The priests of the church began to question the foundation of the system that they belonged to during this time. One such man was the reformer Martin Luther. He was a priest who really looked hard at the situation that faced them. He began to promote what he believed to be the true gospel message found within the Bible, neglected for so long. He was disgusted with the practices of the church, such as the gathering of indulgences. And when John Tetzel came through with his train of indulgences, selling forgiveness of sins, Luther saw the hypocrisy in it. Tetzel was approached by a man who basically asked him if he could buy an indulgence, forgiveness of a sin that he had yet to commit. And so they negotiated out a price. The one offers 30, the other one says 20, and they saw off at 25, and he sold that he can have his sin forgiven for $25. Tetzel goes his way, and the man goes his way. And then we find out that as Tetzel leaves that city with his box of indulgences and all the money that he's collected from the poor, unsuspecting suspects, that this man robs Tetzel and takes from him the money that he had sold this indulgence to him, plus all the other money he had made. When brought before court of law, he was asked if he was the one who had indeed done this deed, to which he replied, Yes, I am, but I have my indulgence. I have already been forgiven for the sin that I have committed. Martin Luther saw that as absolute hypocrisy, and incidentally the man was let go. Martin Luther saw that as hypocrisy and different things like it, and began to preach justification by faith, a novel idea for the time that he lived in, and he nailed his 95 theses, or points of contention, to the doors of the castle church in Wittenberg. Martin Luther also wanted the common man to be able to read the Bible for himself. He translated it into German and set off the Reformation in the European arena, one of the first translations that was made again in the native tongue of the people of Europe. This is Luther's own Bible that is depicted here, and it still exists today. Luther was also aware of the teachings of the book of Revelation, and of 1 John, and of Thessalonians. He says that we are to beware of false prophets, which come unto you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. He continues on that it is now well a thousand years that this passage has been perverted by false Christians, he purports, so that we have no power to judge, but to accept what the pope and his councils determine, without any judgment of our own. Now this gospel here overthrows the very foundation of popery and all councils, for we are not bound to keep what the pope commands and what men decree. Therefore I say again firmly, grasp what the gospel teaches, for the authority has never been given, either to the pope or councils, or anyone else, to sit and determine what is faith. For Christ says, beware of false prophets. Either the gospel lies, or the pope and his councils do. And that was written in 1522, it's taken from one of Luther's notes from one of his sermons. He also identified the Antichrist we read about in 1 John. He says, this teaching forcefully shows that the pope is the very Antichrist who has exalted himself above and opposed himself against Christ, because he will not permit Christians to be saved without the power, which nevertheless is nothing, and is neither ordained nor commanded by God. The pope urges and disseminates his papal falsehoods concerning masses, purgatory and monastic life, one's own works, and the fictitious divine worship. For this is the very papacy upon each of which the papacy is altogether founded and is standing. And he condemns murders and tortures all Christians who do not exalt and honor those abominations of the pope above all things. These men had their Bibles in hand and were able to identify this system. They make up part of the two witnesses that we read of in the book of Revelation. They were not necessarily believers of the true gospel in its full extent, but they saw certainly the way the Bible identifies the system. William Tyndale was inspired by Martin Luther. He saw what was going on in Germany, he himself being a cleric, and picked up on these things. He was introduced to Luther's work and wanted to replicate the effect in England. He undertook his life's mission as to translate the Bible into common English, so that the plowman would be able to read it for himself. With the advent of the first printing presses, the Bible was able to be mass-produced instead of hand-copied. This was done in Germany to avoid persecution. And when the light of the Scriptures revived the Reformation in England, intense persecutions came upon the people. Tyndale also used the tool of prophecy to identify Rome. The bishop of Rome, he says, made a law of his own to rule his church by and to put Christ out of the way. All the bishops, he says, for swear unto the bishop of Rome, must swear unto the bishop of Rome, all the curates and the bishops, all the curates, sorry, unto the bishops. But all of them for swear Christ in his doctrine. He says, now though the bishop of Rome and the sects give Christ these names, yet in that they take from him the effect, and take the signification of these names unto themselves, and make him but a hypocrite as they themselves be, he identifies them as being the right antichrists that deny both the Father and the Son. He identifies this harlot system out of the book of Revelation, and he taught the followers that were to come to him to come out of firm my people and be not partakers of her sins. And God used this man to provide to us the Bible we have in front of us, because his work was the nemesis or the basis for the King James Version. Tyndale was vigorously opposed by the Mother Church and by men such as Sir Thomas More. He produced his Bibles in Germany, as we have mentioned, to avoid persecution. When those Bibles were found, they were burnt by the Church, the Catholic Church. He smuggled them back into England, and this fanned the flames of the Reformation. When Tyndale was eventually caught, he was imprisoned, and later he was burned at the stake. The Catholic Church indeed has earned the description of being drunk with the blood of the saints and the martyrs of Jesus, for it was this man that was responsible by the providence of Almighty God to deliver us the word that we have in our native tongue today. Now there is evidence in your Bible, if you have a King James Version, in the front of it, in the preface, there is evidence of the understanding of the translators of the day. We read there, in the preface, that by writing in defense of the truth, this has given such a blow to the man of sin that he will not be healed. And they identified the Roman Catholic Church as the man of sin. And this was the grounds under which the English Protestant churches broke with the Church of Rome. Popular history paints it as being the issue of divorce and remarriage with Henry VIII. That was a symptom of the cause. The real issue was the right of men to interpret and to read the Bible for themselves. The authority of the Scriptures versus the authority of the papacy. And this is identified to us in the beginning of the preface of the King James Version. The Bible states that we have a more sure word of prophecy. Whereunto we do well to take heed as unto a light shining in a dark place. In 2 Peter chapter 1 and the 19th verse. Well those of that time used this light that shone in the dark ages, a very dark place, to identify what was going on around them. Bishop Newton, who writes on the Antichrist, has this to say. When papal doctrine and the papal authority prevailed over all, it was natural to think and expect that the true notion of Antichrist would be stifled. And that the doctors of the church would endeavor to give another turn and interpretation to this passage. The night of ignorance was so thick and dark that there were hardly here or there a single star to be seen in the whole hemisphere. But no sooner as there was any glimmering or dawning of the Reformation than the true notion of Antichrist, which had been so long suppressed, broke out again. The Waldensis and Albigensis, written off by our brother Alan Eyre and the protesters and brethren in Christ, propagated the same opinions in the same century. That the Pope was Antichrist was indeed the general doctrine of the first reformers everywhere. Here in England it was advanced by Wycliffe. Now brethren and sisters, we want to see that for what it is. When the Bible was not available, when the word of God was not available, the papacy was not identified as the Antichrist, because people did not have the keys to do that. But no sooner as the word of God was available, the people began to read from its pages, and they identified the forbidding of marriage. They identified the commanding to abstain from meats. They identified calling no man father. They saw the papacy for what it was. And so the fight that was wrestled with our brethren and sisters was not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rules of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore we are told to take unto us the whole armor of God, that we may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand, as Ephesians 6, verses 12-13 tells us. Now our brethren lived among the reformers of that day. They were embroiled in a conflict against spiritual wickedness in high places. That conflict, brethren and sisters, has not ended. During the Reformation, the Catholic Church responded by introducing the Counter-Reformation, which consisted of two phases. The first part was to destroy what it called as the heretics. This is backed up by the book of Daniel, chapter 7, verses 21-22, where it identifies that this would take place. I beheld the same horn make war with the saints, and prevailed against them, until the ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints at the most high. This was to prevail until that point in time, and we have identified in our previous class that that little horn existed during this time. Revelation chapter 17 in verse 6 tells us that the Apostle John saw the woman, drunken with the blood of the saints, the true believers, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus, those who were Christians and protested against Catholicism, but perhaps did not hold the truth in its purity, the two witnesses. And when he saw her, he wondered with great admiration. And so, brethren and sisters, it is throughout this age that we have the testimony of history. The Inquisition was launched against the people who believed in God's Word. Their crimes were very simple. They learnt the Lord's Prayer by heart. They perhaps owned a Bible or read one. They recited passages of Scripture. They taught the Gospel. These people were brought before the councils of the Jesuit Inquisitors to have their punishments meted out. Those punishments and that system which was to hunt them out is identified for us, and their own history dictates the way in which they operated. The Jesuits were founded by Ignatius Loyola. They were the shock troops of the Church who were to carry out the Inquisition. We read here from the Jesuit Oath. I do further promise and declare that I will, when opportunity presents, make and wage relentless war. Now, notice this, because we're going to come back to this, secretly or openly, and against all heretics, Protestants, and liberals, as I am directed to do. If we lived in that day and age, it would include us. That I will extirpate and exterminate them from the face of the whole earth. I will spare neither sex, age, nor condition. I will hang, waste, boil, flay, strangle, burn alive these infamous heretics, rip up the stomachs and the wombs of their women, and crush their infants' heads against the wall in order to annihilate forever their excrucible race, that when the same cannot be done openly, I will secretly, using the poison cup, the strangulation cord, the steel of the point yard, the leaden bullets, regardless of the honor, rank, dignity, or authority of the person or persons whatsoever may have their condition in life, either public or private, as at any time may be directed so to do by any agent of the pope or superior of the brotherhood of the holy faith or of the secret or the society of the Jesuits. That is the current oath of the Jesuits. It has not changed. That is taken from 1843. We're not talking about back in the 1600s. Now Brother Ron Abel, during the 1970s, was on a radio or a television show with a Catholic priest. And one of the statements that was made during that show by the Catholic priest was that if he had the opportunity, he would do the same thing to the Christadelphians today. And so, brethren and sisters, this is the system against which we face. The Jesuits were determined to eradicate the Word of God. They wanted to remove the identity that might be placed upon themselves by the prophecies contained within God's words. And so they burned the Bibles, both of the Jews and of the Reformers, to eradicate any of this writing that might point the finger to them. When this did not significantly work, they burned the Reformers themselves. And history is full of the accounts of those who loved not their lives to the death. As we examined yesterday, the different tortures and the different things that they were subjected to for simply holding the truth as it is in Christ Jesus. And so, brethren and sisters, we really have to consider these things and put them in the light of what the Book of Revelation says, that this is the way it would be, and that ultimately the Lord Jesus Christ will return and crush the head of this serpent power. One of the most famous of these persecutions is that of the massacre of the Huguenots of France on St. Bartholomew's Day, Rollins, as we mentioned, who wrote the ancient history from which we looked at Cyrus the Persian the other day, was a Huguenot in France. We read by, our brother Thomas writes about this in Elpis Israel. He says, Now it is the saints who refuse to adore the imperial Roman image, or the eyes and mouth of the little horn, and who have not the sign of the cross upon their foreheads or in their right hands. These are the parties who the image has caused war to be made upon, and who have been prevailed against and killed with all attended enormities and promiscuous massacre. The slaughter of the Albigensis, of the Vodos in the valley of the Paibentis Mountains in the 13th and 15th centuries, of the Huguenots on St. Bartholomew's Day, at the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, the Dragon Age, the drownings, the instances of cruelties inflicted upon the saints by the roaring lion of the eternal city. The Spirit, the Book of Revelation, the Bible denounces it as drunk with the blood of the saints, because it stirred up the secular powers to murder and massacre the opponents of Romanism and the advocates of human rights as it caused the saints to be killed and become so died in wickedness and steeped in crime that its iniquity hath at last reached unto heaven and the burning flame of war is consuming and destroying it unto the end. And he makes reference there of the French Revolution. That massacre, brethren and sisters, was not something that took place by a bunch of zealots that were slightly misguided. It was celebrated by the Catholic Church, by the coin that you see before you, struck to commemorate it. Now our brother Thomas goes on to say, the apocalypse was given to the end that the servants of the deity who are keeping their garments might be able to discern the signs of the times preceding the apocalypse of Christ and the real nature of things extant in their several generations. No believer, as we mentioned earlier, understanding this prophecy, could be seduced into fellowship with the clerical institutions of this world because he would see them in all their native deformity and sin. And so that is what the book is there for us to do, to open it, to read its pages and see what is before us. We should be able today to determine the real nature of what exists in the world and not be fooled by it. Well, the counter-reformation, the first part of the Inquisition, did not significantly work. It was not effective enough to stamp out the teachings of the Reformers. So a second approach was taken to undermine the teachings of the Reformation, especially the prophetic identification of the Church of Rome. The Jesuit oath continues, Now this is historical documentation of the intent of the Jesuit movement to infiltrate the Protestant religions for the purpose of spreading papal doctrine. In the prelude to the Jesuit oath, we are told exactly how that would take place. The Jesuit-to-be was instructed, Huguenots to be a Huguenot, among the Calvinists a Calvinist, among the Protestants generally to be a Protestant, obtaining their confidence. You have been taught your duty as a spy to gather all statistics, facts, and information in your power from every source to integrate yourself into the confidence of the family circle of Protestants, as well as the merchants, bankers, lawyers, among the schools and the universities, in the parliaments and legislatures, and in the judiciaries and councils of state, and to be all things to all men, for the Pope's sake, whose servants you are unto death. This is their history. This is their writings. This is their oath. This is not some fanciful conspiracy theory that we have made up to present before you. It's history. And so, brothers and sisters, to carry out that plan, in the 1600s, in the year 1580, the Jesuits began a series of writings. The Jesuit Franciscan Ribera in 1537 to 1591, where he lived, was the first one to revive an undeveloped form of futurism around 1580. It says that futurism made virtually no headway in the Protestant community until about the 1820s, through the Church of England. The scholar Maitland was to bring it in. In the late 20s, futurism began to gain converts and to grow in the British Isles, often motivated by revived interest in God's plan for Israel, during which time it gained one of the most influential converts, John Nelson Darby. And if anybody has the Darby Bible in front of you and the notes of the Nelson Bible, then that is where basically a lot of these things will be found in your margins. Though Darby and other brethren expositors, or sorry, through Darby and other brethren expositors, futurism spread to America and throughout the evangelical world. The last 100 years have seen, for the first time, the full development of consistent futurism. This has led to the, in turn, to the formulation of dispensationalism and a clearer understanding of the pre-tribulational rapture of the Church. Now, this is written by a Christian writer who is talking about the rapture and where the idea of the rapture of 1 Thessalonians 4 came from. And he says, it came, its roots were in the Jesuit's writings, who put forward a futuristic interpretation of the Book of Revelation. Belief in the Book of Revelation could not be applied to the Catholic Church if its interpretation was to be found in the future. We continue to read that, at the time of the Reformation, the early Protestants widely held and were convinced the Pope was the supreme individual embodiment and personification of the spirit of Antichrist and the Roman Church, the harlot system of Revelation 17. This understanding was responsible for bringing millions of believers out of the Roman Catholic religious system. It therefore became expedient for certain Romish theologians to turn the attention of the people away from the papacy. And this the endeavor to do by inventing a counter interpretation to be held by the Protestants or sorry, not held by Protestants. This new scheme of prophetic interpretation became known as futurism. Rather than viewing the drama of the Book of Revelation spiritually and historically, what we would term today the continuous historical interpretation of the Book of Revelation, they would consign it to a brief period of time at the end of the age. It was the Jesuit priest named Ribera who in the days of the Reformation first taught that all the events of the Book of Revelation were to take place literally during a three-and-a-half year reign of Antichrist way down at the end of the age. And he laid the foundation for the secret rapture idea. Their goal is outlined to us of pointing the finger away from the Catholic Church in the interpretation of the Book. Now, the Jesuits did this by cunning. They conspired to get their book into the Protestant movement. One of the men following Ribera was La Conza. He was also a Jesuit priest. He built on Ribera's teachings and spent much of his life writing his book. That's the title page of one of the books here. This is the one by Ribera. The Coming of Messiah in Glory and Majesty was the book that La Conza wrote. He wrote it under the assumed name of Rabbi Ben Ezra, supposedly a learned Jew who accepted Christ as his Savior. With Jesuit cunning, says this writer, he conspired to get his book a hearing in the Protestant world. They would not permit in their home something coming from a Jesuit pen, but the earnest work of a converted Jew perhaps would be something that they would devour. And that's exactly what happened. So these Jesuits dressed themselves in sheep's clothing. According to their oaths, they acted as dissembler to go into the Protestant movements and to spread their doctrines. Well, that was the one view, the futurist view, that the Book of Revelation all occurs way down at the end of time. The other one is the preterist view. Another Jesuit from Seville, Alcazar, who the title page of his book is depicted here, it says in 1614, Alcazar made a new attempt to interpret the apocalypse through the use of critical historical methods. He concluded that the apocalypse described the two-fold war of the church in the first century, one with the Jewish synagogue and the other with paganism, which resulted in the victory over both adversaries. Now he basically writes these things saying that the Book of Revelation is to do with and the events around that time, before it was even written from a historical point of view. And so pointing the finger away from the Catholic Church, the Jesuits, and a period cartoon. And none of this is Christodolphian writing. There's nothing that I've made up. It's just books that talk about the subject. I've depicted for you the Jesuits of Ribera, who basically are pointing to the future and saying, no, no, no, no, no, the interpretation of the Book of Revelation is way down the round, towards the end of time. And on the other hand, you have the Jesuits of Alcazar pointing to the back saying, no, no, no, no, no, the Book of Revelation is already being completed. It is fulfilled back in the time of the Jews. And standing to witness against them, we have the writers of the day. We have Wycliffe, Tyndale, Luther, Calvin, Sir Isaac Newton, Grattan Guinness, Eliot, Dr. Keith, Alexander Hyslop, and we could add to that Brother Thomas, Brother Roberts, Brother C.C. Walkers, and our brethren and sisters of the earlier Christodolphian ecclesia. They identified by the use of Revelation chapter 17, Revelation chapter 12, 2 Thessalonians 2, and Daniel chapter 7 and 8, where the papacy fit into the identity of the Scriptures. Now if that seems a little bit too cloak and dagger for you, if that seems a little bit too fanciful, that this is just a bunch of zealot Christians, evangelicals, who sort of have gone a little bit too far in their identification, let's listen to what Reverend C.C. Martindale, a Jesuit priest himself, writing in the Catholic True Society publication, has to say. He says, today, we think, there is no danger of anybody supposing that the visions of the are meant to represent a series of historical events succeeding one another chronologically, the continuous historical point of view. Why? Well, he says, the real renaissance of scientific study of the book took place in Spain in the 16th century. The Jesuits themselves were largely responsible for it, especially Alcazar and Mariana about the same time. The Jesuits will tell you. The reason you do not look out in the Protestant world around you and see that these things are interpreted the way they used to be is because we came up with better ideas back in the 16th century. I realize you might not be able to read this slide, but I'd just like to pick out a couple of things from it. This is a book by a man named Dennis Preeb, The Final Verdict, he says. So great a hold that the conviction that the papacy was the Antichrist gained upon the that Rome at last saw she must bestir herself and try by putting forth other systems of interpretation to counter the identification of the papacy with the Antichrist. Toward the close of the century of the Reformation, two of the most learned doctors set themselves to the task, each endeavoring by different means, one futurist, one preterist, to accomplish the same ends, Alcazar and Ribera. And he goes on to say that the futurist system, which asserts that these prophecies refer properly not to the career of the papacy, but to some future supernatural individual who's yet to appear. He says, it is a matter of deep regret that those who advocate the futurist system at its present day, Protestants as they are for the most part, are really playing into the hands of Rome and helping to screen the papacy from detection as the Antichrist. And so, brothers and sisters, the Protestant world has become drunk with the whine of her fornication of the interpretation of the Jesuits, the Catholic Church, when it comes to understanding the book of Revelation. No longer do the bulk of them identify the church as the antagonist of the book, the enemy of the saints. No longer are they able to discern who she is, and so consequently we see them going back to Rome in droves. We read, or we see that in the Protestant world, and headed up figuratively by the Church of England, which is one of the first to really break away, we see that lulled to sleep by the intoxicating effects of the Roman Catholic doctrine, the Church of England, supposedly Protestant, has been moving away from the Protestant interpretation of the book to a reunion with the papacy. Just a couple of weeks ago, there was a conference held in Toronto where the bishops of both the Catholic and the Church of England churches got together to discuss steps for unity. Here we see Anglican priests falling down prostrate in conversion to join the Church of Rome. We've seen Queen Elizabeth II, the head of the Anglican Church, the supposed defender of the Protestant faith, cozying up to the Catholics, Cardinal Hume at a service in Rome, or not in Rome, sorry, in England. And it's interesting to note that they should both be dressed in red. Billy Graham, one of the leading Protestant heads of this country. We read from one of the Southern Baptist Christians, David Cloud of the Christian News, says, Now Billy Graham, more than any other single person, is responsible for leading the evangelical community into a more cozy relationship with the Church of Rome. He has failed to warn of the terrible and unbiblical doctrines of Rome. Graham sees no problem in having spiritual fellowship with the Roman Catholic Church, and since his influence is very great among the evangelicals, it is any wonder that many have followed his lead. Now Billy Graham, in 1967, received an honorary Catholic degree, making him an honorary Catholic priest. And this is what he had to say in 1983 when he visited Vancouver, British Columbia. The Pope, he says, is almost an evangelist. I tell you that that was just about a straight and evangelical address as I'd ever heard. It was tremendous. What would Tyndale and Wycliffe and Luther have thought about a statement like that? He goes on to say, in the fine print there, that finally the way of the salvation has not changed. I know how the ending of the book will be. The gospel that built this school, the Catholic school he received his doctorate at, the gospel that brings me here tonight is the way of salvation, going back to the Church of Rome. And so another Christian concerned about these things writes in a book called Selling Out to the Pope that doctrine is of no longer prime importance to many evangelicals. Emphasis has shifted in recent years to a shared experience, and we've probably all heard that, haven't we, as we try to preach the truth. People don't want to know. Well, I've got Jesus in my heart, what does it matter? A shared experience has become a common ground for fellowship rather than common doctrinal convictions. Everybody that loved Jesus should get together without regard of doctrinal distinctions. Evangelicalism as a whole has been stricken with a bad case of the warm fuzzies, he says. If the Roman Catholic loves Jesus, then I should embrace him as my brother in Christ. This is the common view of many, and, brethren and sisters, we never want to fall into the danger of those things. And so we ask then, do we see the Protestant world protesting anymore? The word Protestant comes from the word to protest against. Protest against what? Against the Catholic Church. The Reformation, where they came from, gave them this insight to do so. So we look at the modern interpreters of Revelation from the Protestant world, and we find Juan Hal Lindsay. He says, no, get me wrong. He says, I've got a few theological differences with the Pope. But John Paul, too, is, in my opinion, a truly devout person who claims a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and that is the basis on which we can cozy up to the Roman Catholic Church, in this man's opinion. What would those who have given their lives during the Reformation think about this? The souls from under the altar that cry out, how long, O Lord, holy and true this, they'll not judge and avenge us. One of the last of the two witnesses, I guess you could say, that exists is the man Ian Paisley. He is the leader of the Protestant religion in Northern Ireland. He says, the light of God's world at the Reformation dispelled the black midnight of potpourri. Millions of souls thus escaped from the dungeons of papal priestcraft in order to regain her vice-like grip on Europe, Rome has launched the Great Counter-Reformation. The main object was to undermine the belief of the Reformed churches in the Bible, upon which they had been successfully and gloriously founded. In order to do this, he says, Rome planted her emissaries in the schools where the leaders and teachers of these denominations were trained. And that, brothers and sisters, is true. I went to a Mennonite church in British Columbia, and the company I worked for was a newspaper, and we were doing an advertising section on this church. And I volunteered to go because I really wanted to go and see what was in the library of this preacher. So we went into his library and we looked across the shelves, and I said to him, I said, I don't see any Mennonite books here. They're all IVPs, Andervan, they're all sort of just your standard Christian Baptist kind of works. And he said, oh, well, he says, I was never a Mennonite, he says, I just went to college and these guys offered me the job. And so that's the way in which the world today is turning. It's just a religion that becomes a business. So he goes on to say that these people try to have the Bible viewed as myth and fable, which is true. You ask many of your Christian associates, and they will tell you the book of Genesis, the account of Genesis and the creation is not literal, it's mythology. You can't take it literally. That's why there's room for evolution. He goes on to say that Rome soon had the streams which ran down to the grassroots of Protestantism poisoned at their source. The Jesuit taught professors soon became the acknowledged leaders of the reformed churches. And he's making specific mention there of Billy Graham. And he goes on to say, then started the many pilgrimages back to Rome. Until today, the leaders of the now apostate reform churches are tripping over one another to slobber upon the pope's slippers, as he would put it. And so, brethren and sisters, we see there is a grand movement across the Reformation. We have heard just very recently in the news of the Lutheran Church making this great statement of having reconciled itself to the Catholic Church. Oh, sure, there's a few little details to work out, but they are now reconciled one to the other. Couldn't you imagine what Luther would have done? He'd be at the World Conference of the Lutherans hammering his theses on their doors. I mean, brethren and sisters, this is the reality of what is taking place. But we have to ask the question, are we as Christadelphians immune from these things? Let's not sit back with an attitude of smugness and think that we are, because the Bible tells us that there shall be false Christs and false prophets that shall show great signs and wonders inasmuch as if it were possible, they would deceive the very elect. And that, brethren and sisters, is us. So we have to do some self-examination in the light of the evidence that we've set forth before you, historical documented evidence. And when we turn to some of our own works, we find the Christadelphian magazine, and I'm making no comment here on the quality of the Christadelphian magazine, just purely the fact that it used to have the words in opposition to the dogmas of papal and Protestant Christendom put upon the front of its pages. That was the character of the early Christadelphians. That's the way they stood. They were in opposition to these things, and they had no qualms about saying it. Their lectures from their billboards in the newspapers all stated the same things. And yet today, we seem to have moved from an open opposition to perhaps a quiet disapproval of the Catholic and Protestant communities. Our community has been guilty of politically correcting its witness. Let's take, for instance, Hymn 244, Zion's king shall reign victorious. In the old hymn book, it used to say in the third verse, or second verse actually, see all papal idols falling, worshipped once but now abhorred. Now it reads, see all worldly idols falling. And so we have edited out the identity of the Catholic church from our hymn book. It is a removal of our witness. Brother Thomas was fully aware of the writings of these Jesuits. In the preface to Volume 3 of Eureka, he says, Ribera and Alcazar were Spanish Jesuits who sought to expand the Apocalypse so as to deliver the papacy from any identification with its symbols. The true meaning of the Apocalypse is accessible only to the Brethren of Christ, and the fellow servants of the Apostle, who keep the sayings of the book. All others will prove but vain and fanciful theorists who the secrets of the deity are never to be found with. Now, sadly today, we're not quite so enlightened. During the 1960s and 70s, these same ideas were introduced into our own brotherhood during a wave of popular interpretation. And they carried the same effect of pointing the finger away from the Catholic church. We'd like you to consider the next slide from a purely objective point of view, based on the evidence that we've set before you. We have a new series of writers who have put forth what they call new ideas on the Book of Revelation. The evidence would suggest that these are not really new ideas at all. We have attention pointed away from the Catholic church. We have preterist ideas, which would tell us basically that the harlot of the Book of must represent Israel, and that attention can be coaxed away from Rome to Jerusalem. The end result is that a statement is made that at least the pope honors Christ. Could we say that, brethren and sisters, to our brethren and sisters when they are raised from the dead, who lost their lives, who had their children's heads crushed against the walls, that the pope honors Christ? We read of the futurist ideas. The possible connection is between Israel and the harlot system of the last days. Not the Vatican. So the hope of Israel now becomes a hope of seeing her destroyed, as the Book of Revelation would indicate to us. An Israeli beast, the seed of the woman, will inflict the death wound upon a Jewish serpent. And so, brethren and sisters, will the Jesuits conquer our community? Have we unwittingly taken in some of their doctrines? We have to do some self-examination on this. The warning remains to us. Come out of her, my people, that she be not partakers of her sins, that she receive not of her plagues, for, he says, therefore shall her plagues come in one day. What are her plagues? Death, mourning, and famine. And she shall be utterly burned with fire. It is necessary, brethren and sisters, that we identify who she is, because this chapter is talking about the time period in which we live. And we are invited to come out of her. We can only do that by identifying who she truly is. We need to earnestly contend for the faith that was once delivered to the saints. We need to identify, using the book of Revelation, the system that faces us in the world today. And hopefully, tomorrow, we will continue to look at the arising of this system, the last phase of the metamorphosis of Daniel's fourth beast, the phase that is arising today before our very eyes. And God willing, we hope to see it as it arises from the abyss, the abyss of history, ready to make war with the saints. May it be, brethren and sisters, that we are accounted worthy to be amongst those who shall go with the Lord Jesus Christ, to follow Him in white horses in heaven, the political heavens, that we might be entitled to that description of being those that are with Him, who are called and faithful and chosen.

Transcript

Our first speaker this morning is our brother Jonathan Bowen of the Brantford, Ontario Ecclesia. He is speaking to us on the theme, The Lamb Shall Overcome Them. And today's class is entitled, These Shall Give Their Power Unto the Beast. Brother Bowen. Well, good morning, brethren and sisters. Just to, by way of announcement, mention that there are plenty of notes at the back now. There have been extras run off. And for the preceding classes there are some extras left over of those also. We've been examining the beasts of the earth and the image of the beast in the last class or so. And looking at the development of these. Well, brethren and sisters, to me this is where things begin to get really exciting. Because it brings us into the time period that we currently live in. We now move our attention to the vials of wrath. These are the judgments of God upon these two systems. And again we'd like to remember that the plot line of the book of Revelation is the seat of the woman in opposition to or enmity between the seat of the serpent. We're not going to attempt to do an in-depth study of the vials by any stretch of the imagination. We just simply want to highlight a few aspects that help us focus on the metamorphosis of Daniel's fourth beast through the book of Revelation that will bring us to the current events of today. The vials of wrath are God's judgments as we have mentioned. And they are carried out predominantly by the man Napoleon and the French Revolution. They were the main agents of this judgment that was poured out. The Revolution began in France with the storming of the Bastille around 1789, about 210 years ago. This revolution was taken through Europe by Napoleon, who was used to pour out these judgments of God upon the system that persecuted our brethren and sisters. At the height of his conquest, Napoleon conquered almost all of Europe. He dissolved the Holy Roman Empire and took from the Austrian king the title of emperor for himself, so putting an end to the Holy Roman Empire. He toppled most of the crown heads of Europe, replaced them with rulers of his own, most of which were his family and friends. And he brought judgments upon those specific nations, such as Spain, who had, through Ferdinand and Isabella, supported the Spanish Inquisition in some of the hideous crimes against the people of God and against the Jews. Now during the fifth vial period, Napoleon advanced on Rome itself. He took over the Papal States and made Pope Pius VII prisoner and moved him to France. This move that Napoleon made began the end of the temporal power of the papacy, represented in the earlier chapters as the image of the beast. During Napoleon's failed exploits into the Middle East and in other areas, the Revolutionary Council of France reinstated the pope back in Rome. And it wouldn't be until the man Garibaldi that the image of the beast would be destroyed. Garibaldi led a force of blackshirts, as they were called, and removed all non-Italian powers out of Italy. Under the flag of Italian nationalism, they united the country. He also took back those papal states from the pope and made the pope prisoner in his summer residence, Castel Gandolfo, in 1870. And so we see the period of the treading down of the saints came to an end. There was a period where it was given to them to make war with the saints, but that period has now expired. We want to examine for a few minutes what the Scriptures have to tell us about the last phase of Daniel's fourth beast. We want to see what Revelation chapter 17 speaks to us of. We have followed the metamorphosis of Daniel's fourth beast so far. The dragon, the pagan Roman Empire that lasted until 313 with Constantine. The sea beast, the Christian Roman Empire that lasted from 313 to around the year 800. The earth beast, the Holy Roman Empire that lasted approximately from 800 to 1817. And during this earth beast phase, there was the image of the beast, the papal kingdoms that lasted from roughly 1073 to 1870. And the last phase we come to examine this morning is the phase of the harlot that is to ride the beast. It is a very exciting time that we live in, brethren and sisters. It is the convergence of much of the Bible prophecies that we see into our day and our age. All the biblical symbols representing the kingdoms of men can be seen today in some form. The feet of Nebuchadnezzar's image. The little horn of Daniel chapter 7. The harlot riding the beast of Revelation chapter 17. The man of sin of 2 Thessalonians. We live in the climax of the kingdoms of men just before the kingdom of God is about to break forth upon this earth. When the son of righteousness will arise with healing in his wings. We live at that dawn period where you can just begin to make out the return of the Lord Jesus Christ as the son of his righteousness will arise upon this earth. Now it's during this period that the beast of Revelation chapter 17 is to come into existence. We read that I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet colored beast full of names of blasphemy having seven heads and ten horns. Which reminds us of those previous beasts we've already been looking at. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations of filthiness of her fornication. And upon her forehead was a name written, mystery Babylon the great, the mother of harlots, the abominations of the earth. And John saw this woman drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And this is the form that we'd like to look at this morning. We notice that this is a harlot. We've already run into a harlot in the book of Revelation, Revelation 2 and verse 20. We read about that woman Jezebel who the fire tire in Ecclesia suffered, a prophetess who was to teach and to seduce his servants to commit fornication and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. And the Lord Jesus Christ says he gave her space to repent and she repented not of her fornication. And so this is the system that arose out of the early Ecclesia, the falling away described by Paul in 2 Thessalonians that went out from us as John says in his first letter. The harlot represents a false religious system that began at the time of the apostles and was to continue all the way through history as we have seen. She is depicted in her latter manifestation, the final phase, 1900 years later as riding the beast. And so as we look at her we see that there are some identifying points. She has an accumulation of great wealth. She has a cup of fornication of false doctrine. She has many harlot daughters and she is guilty of murder and there are many other things we can look at. Some of these things are easily identifiable. We have seen the identity of this false religious system that is drunk with the blood of saints by the historical things we have looked at. We have seen the false religious doctrines that have been disseminated through this cup of fornication. The trinity, the different interpretations of prophecy that are there to seduce and to deceive the people upon the earth. She is also called though the mother of daughters, a mother of harlots. And it was interesting that when brother Paul Billington and Frank Abel were in the Vatican filming one of their Bible magazine videos entitled Christendom Estre, that they noticed as they were standing in the Vatican Square a window up on one of the buildings of the Vatican. And they observed that there was a mural there. And they used a telephoto lens to take a picture of this mural which carries the caption, which of course we would understand as the mother church. So we see this as a fulfillment of Revelation chapter 17. She is a mother of different false religious harlot daughters of Christendom that we see around us today. We also note that the beast which thou sawest was and is not and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit and go into perdition. And they that dwell on the earth shall wonder whose names were not written in the book of life and the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was and is not and yet is. Now that echoes the words of Revelation, or of Daniel chapter 12, that the wicked shall not understand, they shall wonder. And let us not be amongst those who say, I wonder who she is. But rather let's remember those words of Daniel that the wise shall understand and apply ourselves to finding out who this woman is. We continue to read that, here is the mind that hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits. And there are seven kings, five are fallen, and one is. And the other is not yet come. But when he cometh, he must continue a short space. And the beast that was and is not, even he is of the eighth, and is of the seventh, is the eighth and is of the seventh that goeth into perdition. And so, brethren and sisters, we see some of these identifying points. This political system is represented as being fashioned after a previous beast, the sea beast, or the Christian Roman Empire, which means that it is an imperial system. And that's what we have to look for, something that has an imperial element in it. It is not exactly the same because as Daniel's image depicts, or Nebuchadnezzar's image, the clay is intermixed with the iron. It doesn't carry quite the same aspect, but certainly a lot of the same type of things. This system is resurrected after being thrown into an abyss. This happened at the hands of Napoleon. He put the kingdom into darkness, but it was to arise again. Consequently, we are looking for the resurrection of the Roman Empire. We also note the woman is geographically located on seven hills, and we can see these symbols in existence today. The seven hills, as Brother Stephen has already drawn our attention to, are identified easily and would have been known to the Apostle John. We must remember that this woman is sitting on a beast, and that beast is a development of the Roman Empire, the fourth beast of Daniel. And so it is no surprise to us, and it is providential, that in the coinage of the Roman Empire, we see Roma, the woman, sitting upon seven hills at the time of Vespasian. And that would have been a familiar symbol to the disciples of the day. We also note that there are ten horns, which they are sawed, and these are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet, but receive power as one hour, or as kings, one hour with the beast. And these, we are told, are to have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. And these shall make war with the Lamb. And so we see there that the ten horns, which were the sovereign nations that comprised the sea beast, or the Christian Roman Empire, are depicted as individually not amounting to much. But they are developing a unifying mind, or a political doctrine, and will eventually voluntarily give their power and their strength to the beast. And the end result of that will be that they will make war with the Lamb. Now, since the beast was plunged into the abyss by Napoleon and Garibaldi, several attempts have been made to resurrect it. The first concerted effort was made in World War I by Bismarck and the German Kaiser, which is simply the German form of the word Caesar. Remember, we looked at Tsar was the Russian form of the word Caesar. Well, the Kaiser is the same thing. World leaders of the time recognized the effort being made by the Vatican to restore its former state. Prime Minister Gladstone of Britain had the following to say, There is a fixed purpose among the secret inspirers of Roman policy to pursue by the road of force upon the arrival of any favorable opportunity the favorite project of re-erecting the terrestrial throne of popedom, the temporary kingdom of the pope upon the earth. The existence at this day of the policy, even in the bare idea, is itself a portentous evil. I do not hesitate to say, predicts Prime Minister Gladstone quite accurately that the incentive to general disturbance, that this will be an incentive to general disturbance, a premium upon European wars. He says, if this policy is pursued, we will see Europe plunged into war once again. And so the man Otto von Bismarck, we read of him that he made an alliance of Prussia and the 17 northern German states. These were created by Bismarck in 1866, and it led to the declaration of the German Empire or Reich in 1870, the proclamation of King William I of Prussia as the German Emperor in Versailles in 1871. Bismarck's greatest achievements, however, were the administrative reforms, the developing of, and now listen to this, because this is what we see in Europe today, a common currency, a central bank, a single code of commercial and civil law for Germany. Now that quote is taken out of the German News, a magazine from Germany from June and July of 1988. This is them talking about their own history and being very proud of it. And so Bismarck created the Second Reich, and it was Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany that set in motion the battle plan to unite Europe. On this overhead, we have the actual plan that was put out to basically encompass much of Europe back into this Holy Roman Empire that was to be revived. He is seen here as reading the proclamation of his attentions. Which, brethren and sisters, was the real catalyst of the beginning of the First World War, an attempt to reunite Europe under the Catholic German power to revive a Second Reich, the Holy Roman Empire? And certainly the Papacy saw it as such. The Papacy was thrilled at the prospect of a Catholic German Empire. It saw the Kaiser or the Caesar's plan as an opportunity to be released from his captives in Italy under Garibaldi and the forces that followed him. The Papacy looked for the resurrection of the beast that had been ruling in Europe before Napoleon. And so we read the slide, a period slide from 1909 from an Italian publication, a cartoon which said, come on, come on, my sons, for 39 years we have waited for you in Rome. 39 years since 1870 when the kingdom of the beast was plunged into darkness. And so we read the caption, last hopes, that is, of their temporal power to be restored. But the power of the vials, brethren and sisters, was still in effect. And the naval alliance of Britain and her allies thwarted the attempts to revive this empire during the First World War. It cost millions of lives to do so. However, not to be beaten and not to steer its course away from its designed intention, having failed in 1917, the German Papal Confederacy made a second attempt in the Second World War. Adolf Hitler rose to power partly thanks to the help of a very influential man of the time, a man named von Papen. He was the leader of the German Catholic Party. He was also the privy chamberlain of the pope. And it was these two men, Benito Mussolini of Italy and Adolf Hitler of Germany, who were to combine forces and both work with the Catholic Church to ensure success. They drank of the wine of her fornication and committed political fornication with her in that sense. And so it was Mussolini that made a deal with the Vatican to restore its national status in exchange for votes that would help to rocket him to power as the dictator of Italy. He signed the concordance with the Vatican in 1929. We read there that likewise a guarantee of its, and this is the Vatican's, indisputable sovereignty in international matters. It has been found necessary to create under special conditions the Vatican City, recognizing its full ownership and exclusive and absolute dominion and sovereign jurisdiction of the Holy See over that city. And so, brothers and sisters, what had been plunged into darkness under Garibaldi and under Napoleon by the hands of Benito Mussolini is now resurrected and is given the opportunity to exist as that great city once again. Well, meanwhile, back in the Reich, Hitler, Goebbels and Himmler, as our quote says, the most and most members of the party's old guard were Catholics. It's not by accident that because of the chief's religion, that is Hitler, the National Socialist government was the most Catholic one that Germany has ever seen. This kinship between National Socialism and Catholicism is most striking if we study closely the propaganda methods, noting it is more instructive that Joseph Goebbels, in his works, he had himself been brought up in a Jesuit college and was a seminarist before devoting himself to literature and politics. So, brothers and sisters, Goebbels was a Jesuit in training. He went to a Jesuit school, and it's no surprise that as they resurrected this beast once again, they should choose as their flag a cross, crooked as it might be. Hitler's Nazi party was heavily influenced by the Catholic religion. A man named Edmund Paris, writing a book called The Secret History of the Jesuits, had this to say, The SS organization, that is the Gestapo, had been constituted by Himmler according to the principles of the Jesuit order. Their regulations and spiritual exercises prescribed by Ignatius Loyola were the model Himmler tried to copy exactly. The whole structure of the direction was a close imitation of the Catholic Church hierarchical order. And Himmler, as the head of the SS, was the son of a Roman Catholic. His uncle was a Jesuit priest who actually was tried at the Nuremberg trials for war crimes. His brother was a Franciscan monk. These men were men who belonged to that beast system. And Adolf Hitler said of Himmler, I see Himmler as heir Ignatius Loyola. These are not sort of conspiracy theories, brothers and sisters. These are documented historical facts of the character of this system in the Second World War. And it was at the hands of this man that six million Jews, God's people, would be put to death in a manner very reflective of the Jesuit oath that we read for you yesterday. And so it was in 1933 that the Vatican entered into an alliance with Nazi Germany, signing a concordant. And these were not sort of distant negotiations held amongst a few zealot priests and a few off-colored Nazi officials. The Vatican's signatory was a Cardinal Pacelli. Pacelli was to become Pope Pius XII. von Pappen signed for the Vatican, or not for the Vatican, for the Nazis. And as we have mentioned, he was the privy chamberlain of the Pope, the leader of the German Catholic Party in Germany. And so we read what von Pappen had to say. The Third Reich is the first power in the world not only to recognize, but also to put into practice the high principles of the papacy. Brethren and sisters, can we not see that this system that ruled Europe in the 1930s and 40s is none other than an attempt to revive that beast. And Hitler had envisioned what he called das neue Europa, the new Europe. Which is exactly what we hear in phraseology today. And he sought to unite it under his Third Reich. And the map you have there before you is his vision of how he was to reach out and take over both Western and Eastern Europe. And the Church played a large role in Hitler's Third Reich. Here we see Adolf Hitler, who is with Reich Bishop Müller, head of the Catholic Church of Germany. And these were not just silent things that took place during the Second World War. And that's what we hear of today. It's revisionist history. Oh, the Church remains silent on these things and has been criticized for being silent. It wasn't silent, brethren and sisters. It was actively involved as one of the chief reasons or catalysts behind the empire that was being built by Adolf Hitler. As is evidenced by many photographs that have been somewhat suppressed, but are certainly there as documented evidence. The alliance of the Nazis and the bishops of Germany and the countries that they overran. Here we see them giving the Nazi salute with Nazi soldiers. And, brethren and sisters, it was this system trying to arise again that persecuted God's people, Israel. And that murdered our brethren and sisters. And one such man was from a small ecclesia in Berlin, Brother Albert Metz. He refused to serve in Hitler's forces and was sentenced to death. He says this to my dear brethren and sisters. This is the letter written just before his execution. It is hard for me to write to you today. Not on my own account, but because I know that this letter will cause you grief. So I beg you not to take it too hard. You all know my belief and my hope for to me or for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. So do not weep over me even if the supreme punishment comes upon me. But rather be strong and of good courage. For I have been condemned to death and am to be executed. The life which is in me that took a visible form will return to the source. And then at the appointed time will soon take that form again. It is my time or if my time is now and at an end and I must die. Then remember that it is appointed unto men once to die. And after that the judgment. Tomorrow I shall submit a petition for mercy. Perhaps the court will yet show mercy towards me. And even if not, I still hope to be allowed to write to you some more. Think of me in your prayers. And now I will close in confidence of God and his kingdom. And greet you all with all my heart. And Brother Albert Metz was executed at 530 on April the 4th in 1941. That is the system as Brother Thomas calls it reeking with the blood of the saints. And there were many others who were not Catholics who died at the hands of this power. In Croatia where the Catholic Church became the only state religion under the Astashi government of antipavelec. The Archbishop Stepanek made an alliance with him. And we see him here depicted. We see the nuns of the Catholic Church of Yugoslavia or as it became Croatia at that point in time, marching with the Astashi soldiers. We see priests blessing the Croatian troops. We see Franciscan monks who joined in Stepanek's policy of convert or die to the nation of Croatia. And we see the murder of the Orthodox priests of any Christians who were not Catholic in this state. 700,000 people in the small nation state of Croatia lost their lives. That is the largest per capita murder of any ethnic race or religion during the Second World War. It is even greater per capita, believe it or not, than the destruction of the Jews. And we've had comments this week of how the Catholic Church has repented, you know, this great speech that the Pope gave of, you know, we're sorry for the things that took place. We're sorry for remaining silent during the Second World War, which is a complete farce. Well, if they are so sorry, brethren and sisters, then why is it that Pope John Paul on October the 3rd, 1998, visited the tomb of Archbishop Stepanek, the architect of the murder of the 700,000 non-Catholics, and canonized him or beautified him, began his journey to become a saint of the Roman Catholic Church? The Book of Revelation correctly states, they repented not. And this is confirmed by this fact. A man tried for war crimes and found to be guilty at his trial has now become a Catholic saint. Well, brethren and sisters, this brings us to the exciting time that we live in. The Second World War failed to bring about the successful reviving of the beast. The reason is that it was not in God's plan or his purpose. He had a plan to bring many more to righteousness before this should happen. And we have been given the opportunity during this time to come to the truth and to raise our children in it. Plus, both the Kaiser's and Hitler's plans could not be a fulfillment of Revelation, Chapter 17, as they did not successfully answer to its requirements. Not willing to settle for defeat, though, the Catholic Church is trying again. We followed the metamorphosis of Daniel's fourth beast, and we now stand at the final stage. We stand at the end of the kingdoms of men, at the edge of the return of the Lord Jesus Christ to the earth. Now, it is during this time that we find that there was the foundation of the European Union that our brother Stephen has talked to us about. It began initially, as it says, in Europe there was an awareness of the communist threat. It still provided an impetus for the consolidation of the western part of the continent in closer ties. So that was the guise under which the European Union began. We've got the threat of communism, we need to get together. However, it's Catholic founders, and they were Catholics, Robert Schuman and Jean Monnet of France, both of them ardent Catholics, had other plans for this union, and so did the Pope. It's interesting to notice the close hand the Catholic Church has in its coming to power. The Pope saw the European Union as a chance to revive those former glories, or as the scripture would put it, to revive the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. Before signing the historic treaty in 1957, the signatures went to the Pope's private residence for an audience. And this is the same Pope, brethren and sisters, that signed the concordant with Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany. We read from the Catholic times. This is not something that they are hiding, this is historical fact. The Pope on Monday urged the nations of Europe to create a real federation. The 78 members of the assembly drove from Rome to Castel Gandolfo, and were received in the audience of the Holy Father before beginning their session. He said the six nations of little Europe were embarking on a salutary road, from which can emerge for themselves and for Europe a new road in all domains, an enrichment not only economic and cultural, but spiritual and religious. And so it was in 1957 that that treaty of Rome was signed. The birth of the European Union, the nemesis for the beast that is to arise, took place in no other place than Rome, after the blessing of the Holy Father. Now it was during this time that the Second Vatican Council took place in the 60s. And this was a place where the Vatican laid out its plans for the Church over the next century in the preceding years. A new doctrine was introduced at this point in time to compete with the communist ideology of the day. And it was introduced by a Jesuit, Teilhard de Chadron, which incidentally, who was incidentally responsible for the construction of the missing link, the piltband man. He faked it from the tooth of a pig. So this is the type of character of this man. Now he introduced something called Christian Socialism, or if we could rephrase that, to be Catholic Humanism. He says a faith will have to be born, or reborn, containing and embracing all others. Now there is ecumenism, if I've ever heard it. Inevitably, it is the strongest faith, which sooner or later must possess the earth. So they see the end result of this humanistic, Christian Socialistic theory as an embracing of all the earth under the dominion of the Roman Catholic Church, the strongest faith. Now, brothers and sisters, that ideology is Catholic, or Roman, or iron. And it is humanistic, socialistic, or the seed of men, which is clay. So we see its teaching echoes what it is called in Daniel chapter 2. Now, in order to succeed at imposing its doctrine upon the world, especially Europe, it needed to harness all means available. And so with the growth of technology and the public education system, it began its work. Somehow the Catholic Church managed to avoid identification from World War II as a contributing party. Instead, it retained or regained its sovereignty and made itself rich by investing in both sides of the war. And it immediately set about its goal to reestablish this place in the world. Now, we read that the Roman Catholic Church is being given an opportunity, this is talking about today, an open invitation to fill the vacuum created and to set a moral agenda to stabilize an uncertain society. It will be perceived as the unchanging bedrock upon which the New World Order may be constructed. Its plea for Britain and for Europe will be to seek out its lost soul and restore its Christian spirituality. The more the Church of England is perceived as a failure, which is largely responsible for the teaching of the Jesuits and undermining the Church of England, the more the Church of England and Britain is perceived as a failure, the greater the opportunity will be for the Church of Rome to proceed with its evangelicalization of Europe and to absorb Britain into the Catholic Europe. And so we put that up there as just an example, because the same thing has happened with the Lutherans. Once you remove the prophetical identification of the Lutheran Church, of the Catholic Church, well then we have much greater reason why Europe should get back together again. Now, one of the ways in which the Catholic Church has tried to regain her power is being by harnessing the media. It's made a concerted effort to control and to form public opinion. And they make no attempt to hide their intentions. We have the Catholic encyclicals and tracts that tell their people, what you should be trying to do. In a publication called Pastoral Instruction on the Means of Social Communication in 1991, put out by the Catholic Truth Society, this is what was said. The power of propaganda is increasing, and its power is being augmented by the growth of behavioral sciences like that of psychology and the technical resources at the disposal of the communications media. Broadcasters have access to the minds and the hearts of everyone, television especially. Communicators have therefore a most important part to play in forming public opinion. Now, brothers and sisters, we have to be careful that we do not give the Catholic Church access to our minds and our hearts through the media. We have to be careful that we do not allow our opinion to be formulated through this means that they openly say they are going to harness, because our minds and our hearts belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. We read further in one of these encyclicals, communicators have therefore a most important part to play in forming public opinion. He continues that they are to influence public opinion, and this is justified only when it serves the truth, that is, the Catholic teachings. Parents, educators, and priests, and Christians, or Catholics is really what they are talking about, these organizations should encourage young people with the right qualities to take up a career in social communication. They must make this contribution with the social teachings of the Church in mind. Broadcasters have access to the minds and hearts of everyone. That was 1971, so they are saying, look, put your Catholic boys and girls into the media, and use it as an opportunity to get into the minds and the hearts of the people of the world. Not only that, but also in the schools. The schools have become a place where our children are affected by the doctrines of men. UNESCO had some fairly frightening things to say about our children. In a publication called In the Minds of Men by a man called Ian Taylor, under the heading, The Unification of the Mind in the Schools, which has to remind us of Revelation Chapter 17, the following is said, as long as the child breathes the poisoned air of nationalism, and education in world-mindedness can produce only precarious results. Now, listen to that, brothers and sisters. What they are saying is they want to educate our children in world-mindedness, and they go on to say that the school should, therefore, use the means described earlier to combat family attitudes. So they want to take the family attitudes, which we would call the truth, the Christadelphian doctrine, which is a threat to world-mindedness, and they want to squash it. And it's by these means, working in Europe, that the Catholic Church has been able to form one mind, one public opinion. And so, brothers and sisters, there has been a change amongst the Christadelphians from our doctrine. We read, until about a half century ago, Christadelphians in North America tended to discourage the pursuit of higher education, or college, university, and there was a rationale behind that. There was a reason, and that was that higher education would necessitate exposure to ideas and theories perceived as false. And this is a warning to us, brothers and sisters, because we have changed quite a bit on our thinking. More recently, the college degree became a cultural passport to many kinds of employment. There has been a less of an aversion to higher education, and many Christadelphians now boast of graduate degrees in numerous disciplines. And so, brothers and sisters, we've got to listen to us, a non-Christadelphian, looking in our community and saying, well, here's an interesting change. And, brothers and sisters, we've got to hear those things and hear them in reference to what the world is telling us they're trying to do with our young people. These are some of the tools that the Church has used in Europe to form the opinion, and we have to be careful that it doesn't happen amongst us. The goal of the Church in Europe is quite clear. A long, arduous path lies ahead. However, he says, the Pope, the Holy See, hopes to see a day born when a new Europe will arise, rich with fullness and tradition. Can it not be said that the faith of the Christian faith, that is, the Catholic faith, is the thing that made Europe? It is there that our mission as bishops of Europe takes a gripping perspective. No other human force in Europe can render the service that is confided to us, promoters of the faith, to reawaken Europe's Christian soul where her unity is rooted. And so, brothers and sisters, we see a revival of the Christian soul. That's the words they use. The Book of Revelation says, This is the beast that was and is not and yet is, is what is trying to be brought back. Newsweek says, It's interesting that this Newsweek depicted Euroland as the Tower of Babel. And on the inside graphic where this article is located, it depicts Europe as this strange eight-headed beast, funnily enough. He says, And European statesmen have been looking for this, the returning to a history and geography like the one who is returning home. A movement towards political and economic cooperation of the last two decades, raised among many people like Mitterrand and others, has this hope of a true European revival. Schumann and the others dreamed of the rebirth of Europe and the Maastricht Treaty, and the Euro are descendants of that hope and dream. And if there's any doubt as to what kind of character Europe has, what kind of doctrine is behind it, it was the Baroness Shirley Williams, one of the British labor ministers under Edward Heath's government, who took Britain into Europe, who had the following to say, We will be joining a Europe in which the Catholic religion will be the dominant faith, in which the application of the Catholic social doctrine will be the major factor in everyday political and economic life. So what she's saying here is that this Europe we're joining is going to be directed by the Catholic Church, the woman that sits upon the beast. Let's just refresh our memories for a moment. We're looking at the sovereign states of Europe, who would have one mind, i.e. Christian socialism, who would voluntarily give their strength and power to the beast, and finally make war with the Lamb. Well, power is the Strong's word 1411, and one of the meanings put forward is the power and influence which belong to riches and wealth, and so we have the creation of the euro, a united currency. It is also the power of resources arising from numbers. It is the power consisting or resting upon armies, forces, and hosts, and our brother Stephen Palmer has talked about that. There is the word strength, which basically from Strong's means the power of choice, the liberty of doing as one pleases, the power or authority or the right, the power of rule or government. These are the things that were to be given up, and so in Europe we see this taking place. Come January 1999, what Charlemagne and his successors failed to achieve violently will have been accomplished. This is what the world is saying, brothers and sisters, in a single measure, peacefully. A single monetary regime will unite the 11 European states. Some of the world's leading countries will relinquish an essential element of sovereignty, their money, to a larger entity, the European Central Bank. The Euro 11 will be forever melded together. Europe, an old place name on the world's map will become Euroland, a new force in world affairs. They are giving up their power and their strength so that they can have power one hour with the beast. Think of Strong's definition as we read this about the European Parliament or the European justice system in Parliament. It is now generally accepted by the British judges that European law takes precedence over acts of Parliament. Parliament has therefore surrendered its sovereignty where there is any disagreement in Britain's actions with the European Court of Justice. It is the European Court of Justice which decides what is right. Now, whether Britain will stay in or not is not what we're putting this quote up there for, just simply to highlight what has taken place. They've given up their sovereignty. The European Parliament, it was set up earlier as a body called an assembly. Its functions were to talk and to debate. It now is incorrectly termed a Parliament, though none of its powers have increased. That's all it can do is to talk and debate. It doesn't decide legislation. It has no legislative or tax-raising authority. It's merely a power to debate and make suggestions. With the passing of the Single European Act, huge areas of Britain and Europe's national sovereignty were given away by the enlargement of Europe's qualified majority voting system. And so for the European citizens today, there are few aspects of life that are untouched by Brussels. In the name of efficiency and cooperation, national governments have ceded an enormous amount of power to the European Commission. All the legislation and regulation coming out of Brussels originates with the Commission, a body that is not answerable to the citizens by the ballot box. The European Parliament, which has directly elected, which is directly elected, has very little power. What were we to see revived? An imperial head. It's not a democracy in Europe, brothers and sisters. Far from it. The man who wrote the book, Principality of Power in Europe, says that in a true democracy, it's the people who decide which powers to lend to the leaders. It's a false democracy where the leaders decide which freedoms to lend to the people. And so, brothers and sisters, we see a holy European empire emerging. Peregrine Worsthorn saw the rising of the papal influence in Europe and had this to say. The Pope calmly is preparing to assume the mantle which he solemnly believes to be his by divine right, that of the new holy Roman emperor reaching from the Urals to the Atlantic. Do we recognize, brothers and sisters, what is going on in Europe? Do we see the power of the papacy arising as it rises to assume its role as the system that will ride the beast? Well, brothers and sisters, Brother Roberts had this to say. He says, we look at the European system today and we ask, is there any correspondence to the symbol of Revelation Chapter 17? Is there a confederation of powers on a Roman basis, independently sovereign, yet combining to sustain among them the ecclesiastical system enthroned on seven hills, historically reeking with the blood of heretics? Everyone knows that this is just a situation of affairs. The scarlet-bodied beast is a body politic of Europe. Its color and its symbol is sin, showing that by divine estimation, European society, which considers itself Christian and holy, is steeped in wickedness. That was written in 1880. And, brothers and sisters, we've got to ask, do we see that? Well, I personally think that it can't be clearer, the evidence that is set forward. The current events in Europe are screaming out to us of the rising of the beast that was and is not and yet is. If we cannot see through these current events, brothers and sisters, that the angels have been at work to help us, to identify these things a little bit more graphically, perhaps, because the symbols that Europe chooses to associate itself with or to depict itself by, depict a woman riding a beast surrounded by twelve stars. The stamps that they issue depicting the second European Parliament opening, which was opened by the Pope, incidentally, is a woman riding a beast, and she's coming out of the sea. We have the books of Euroland, the Newsweek, that depicts Europe as Babylon. We have official posters for the European Union themselves, the caption of which reads, Europe, many tongues, one voice, depicting itself as Babylon. What blasphemy against our Almighty God in heaven. And so we see Time Magazine, and this idea of this new Europe arising, a woman riding a beast, crowned with twelve stars. Brothers and sisters, the Lord Jesus Christ is at the door. The earth is ripe for judgment. It is up to you and I to prepare ourselves for the trumpet sound that is to take us to that judgment. Brother Thomas wrote 150 years ago, there has never yet existed a single dominion contemporary with the Toe Kingdoms, and of course comprehending them in its jurisdiction, which would claim to be represented by Nebuchadnezzar's image. In order then to prepare for the catastrophe, the image which is now in antagonistic parts must be confederated. There will be no more a resuscitation of old governments, but all things will be absorbed into one continental dominion upon the Roman domain. Brothers and sisters, it did not exist in his day, but it certainly is coming up today. It did not exist, but we can see it as it is being born in front of our eyes. And it is in the days of these kings that the God of heaven will set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed, and this kingdom will not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it will stand forever. The question is, do we want to be a part of it?

Transcript

Well, brothers and sisters, as we come to the close of our study together in the book of Revelation, many of you with me have enjoyed going through these things. We have enjoyed looking at the passage of history as described by our God. And so our thanks goes to our God that he has given us such a book as this to let us know the time period in which we live. In Revelation chapter 5 and at verse 9, we read there, they sang a new song, saying, thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof, for thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, tongue, people and nation, and hast made us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall reign upon the earth. And so, brothers and sisters, we indeed are indebted to our heavenly father and the Lord Jesus Christ that these things have been sent and signified that we, his servants, might know those things that are shortly to come to pass upon the earth. And that, brothers and sisters, is a vision that involves us because we read there that we will be made kings and priests upon the earth. And so, brothers and sisters, we reflect that this is a vision that motivates us. The Lord Jesus Christ was a man motivated by such a vision. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, we read in Hebrews chapter 12 verse 2, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down on the right hand of the throne of God. And so, brothers and sisters, we want to leave here with a clear vision in our mind. Not to be outdone by Brother Ron, I thought I'd share this slide with you. That is the vision of the world around us. An empty, absolutely fruitless, nothing vain vision of floating off to some ethereal place where we just sit for eternity doing nothing. And as the cartoon says, wish I'd brought a magazine. Brothers and sisters, we have to a vision much clearer than just some thing in the future that we're not really sure about because that's what the Lord Jesus Christ was motivated. A clear vision that was able to give him the strength to overcome. And so, we left off in our last class in Daniel chapter 2 and verse 44. In the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed. And this kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, the kingdoms that we have been looking at. And it shall stand forever. That is the point in time that we live. We live in what we've called the pivot of destiny. The very point in time when the Lord Jesus Christ is about to be manifested upon this earth. The dawn of the kingdom of God. And this is the generation, brothers and sisters, that will witness these things. Our goal this week is to make this abundantly clear. And so that we can go from this Bible school with resolve in our hearts to prepare to meet the Lord Jesus Christ in his return. The world will be completely taken by surprise when the Lord Jesus Christ comes, but this should not be the way it is for us. First Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 2 says, Ye yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord cometh as a thief in the night. But he goes on to say that, Ye brethren are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief in the night. Ye are the children of light, the children of the day. We are not of the night, nor of the darkness. Therefore let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober. Brethren and sisters, hopefully that book of Revelation will help us as we go from here to watch and to be sober and not to get caught up in the affairs of this life. We have the enlightening word of prophecy, a more sure word of prophecy that we do well to take heed unto as a light that shines in a dark place. And we have to prepare ourselves now for the kingdom of God. So we want to watch. But brethren and sisters, we will not be watching the events that we are to talk about now take place on CNN. This will not be like the Gulf War that we can listen to the radio and pick up the newspaper or watch on the television and see these things take place, because we are involved in them. And so as we have followed through the picture of the book of Revelation, as we have come through the different phases, we live in the time period of chapter 16 and 17 where the vials are still at the end of their pouring out and that harlot system is beginning to arise. We live in the time period of this sixth vial and the majority of this vial has been poured out. The nations are in the process of being gathered together by the frog spirits, the spirits of humanism that we've been talking about that are gathering it to that battle of Armageddon. And the harlot is already in the controlling seat of the beast of Europe and will assume a greater roles in the coming days. And so the Christendolphian body has watched this sixth angel pour out his vial upon the great river Euphrates, the water thereof being dried up, that the way of the kings of the east, the saints, the kings of the sun's rising might be prepared. We have anticipated it as a body. We have lectured about it and we have seen it happen. Our brother Thomas correctly predicted Britain's role in the drying up of the river Euphrates in Elpis Israel 70 years before it took place. He says the term the drying up of the waters of the Euphrates which occurs for the purpose of bringing about the restoration of Israel, he says Britain promotes the colonization of Judah or Judea. And so, brethren and sisters, we have seen that in the history of the Christendolphian body. And more recent times we have seen the drying up of the Euphrates by the U .S.-led coalition that stopped any further advance of the rivers of Islam into the Middle East containing those little puddles, if you want to call it, of Arab nationalism or zealous religious wars that have been taking place. And that puts us directly into the context of Revelation chapter 16 and verses 15. And this verse, brethren and sisters, is what you could call the verse of the Christendolphians directed especially and primarily to us as a body. Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame. So our watching, brethren and sisters, is directly related to our position at the judgment seat. Having a consciousness of the nearness of Christ returns will help to impress upon us the reality of the things concerning the kingdom of God and help us detach our affections from the fleeting present to the world to come. And it takes us right back, really, doesn't it, brethren and sisters, to where we started. Back in Revelation chapter 19, where we looked at the marriage of the Lamb that was come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. And so, brethren and sisters, we have the book of Revelation, the book of Daniel, Ezekiel. We have all the prophecies of the Bible that are there to help us use that light of Scripture to develop faith, a confident anticipation of things to come, a firm belief that what God has said he is able to perform, and he will perform it. And that faith that we have, that worketh by love, will be accredited to us for righteousness if we develop it by God's grace. Our righteousness is the covering we find, the Lamb's wife arrayed in, and that righteousness is given to us by Almighty God if we believe him. And our belief in these things is not an intellectual assent. It's not saying, yes, I agree in the event subsequent to the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the practical outworking of a firm conviction in our lives as we go to work, as we go to school, in our homes, as we teach our children, that we, the people of God, believe that he will send his son in the very near future to take the kingdoms of this world to himself. That is faith, brethren and sisters, the practical outworking of it. And so we need to prepare ourselves now, because the first event that will herald the return of the Lord Jesus Christ to the earth is that of the resurrection. We read, for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and verse 16. Where will we be, brethren and sisters, when the angels of the Lord Jesus Christ are sent out to gather us together to the judgment seat? What will the angels interrupt us from doing? Would we want to be found in those circumstances? Would the angels enter into the situations we put ourselves? Would they take us from there, or would they wait at the door till we remove ourselves from whatever those things are? We really have to live our lives as though at any point in time, the angel of the Lord could come and take us, and we would be prepared, and not only prepared, brethren and sisters, but willing and wanting to go with that angel. We will not be able to hide behind our Sunday suit and tie at this point in time, because we will be seen for what we are. We read that those which are alive and remain, which we believe firmly, brethren and sisters, will be many of us, shall be caught up together with them in clouds, those great clouds of witnesses of Hebrew chapter 12, to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord, wherefore comfort one another with these words. And so we have the picture of the judgment. Before the Lord Jesus Christ comes in judgment of the world, he will judge his household, and that is us. We read in 1 Peter chapter 4 in the 17th verse, for the time has come that judgment must begin at the house of God, because we are to be involved in the judgment of the nations of the world around us, and that's why we're not going to see these things take place in front of us on our televisions, in the newspapers, in the magazines. We are taken away first so that God can prepare his people for their involvement in these things. And if it first begin at us, what shall be the end of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? So the Bible describes to us that judgment process. In 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and at verse 10, we must all, all appear before the judgment done in his body according that he hath done, whether it is good or bad. And the apostle Paul cautions us, knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we persuade men. And, brethren and sisters, we do have to stop and consider the reality of the judgment seat. That word there appear, as many of you will know, is that closely related to phanerosis, the idea of being revealed for what we are, to be opened up, to be shown. And when the Lord Jesus Christ strips away the veneer that we wear amongst each other and exposes the true character on the inside, will he find the reflection of himself that he is looking for, of his heavenly father? Will he find the faith on the in you and I when he returns? We should heed the words of the apostle Paul in Corinthians. We often read it before we come together at the memorial meeting about we should examine ourselves and so eat of that cup and drink of, or eat of that loaf and drink of that cup. Well, brethren and sisters, the apostle Paul goes on to say that if we would judge ourselves, then we should not be judged. So, brethren and sisters, let's go from here with resolve in our mind to make the necessary changes in our lives so that when that judgment seat comes, we will have already dealt with as much as we can, recognizing our nature for what it is and asking God for strength. So when the Lord Jesus comes, he will help us in our struggle by removing the nature that we have and answering our prayers because we know that we cannot do it in our own strength and so we will be immortalized to live with him and reign for a thousand years. But we have to begin that process right now. He's not going to come and change us. The end of Revelation ends. Let him that is unjust be unjust still. Let him that is filthy be filthy still. Let him that is righteous be righteous still. So we have to develop that in and begin those changes as we go from here this week. We have a wonderful hope, an incredible hope the world doesn't even begin to understand. We read in 2 Peter chapter 1, the 4th verse, that we have been given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these ye might be takers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption of the world through lust. He continues in verse 10, wherefore rather brethren give diligence to make your calling and election sure, for if ye do these things ye shall never fail, for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And so brethren and sisters let's do that. Going from here give diligence. Once the Lord has taken his saints to him, once that judgment process has happened, then we'll begin the wonderful picture, the march of the rainbow angel that we have described for throughout the Bible. And the first step in that march is going to be as we talked about yesterday in our small reading group, the preparation of Israel. So that when the Gogian forces comes down, it is a trial of the nation's faith. There is no point in a sense of coming down if there's no faith to try. And so we read in Malachi chapter 4 and verse 5, behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord, and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to the fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. And so God will develop the seeds of faith in his people Israel once again. Pastors will go out that will teach them. That is the work of the Lord Jesus Christ and the saints, led by Elijah as we are told here in Malachi chapter 4 and verse 5. Would to God brethren and sisters that we would be involved in that work, that we would prepare ourselves now to assist our Jesus Christ and become part of his purpose in bringing about the kingdom upon the earth. But notice that it is before the coming of the dreadful day of the Lord. And so we are taken away before the events of Ezekiel chapter 38 take place. How would it be a thief like coming if we watched it? How would it be a thief like coming if we saw these things happening? How would it be a thief like coming if the cry came from the Middle East of the strange power that had arrived there? We will be removed before these things and that is the exhortation to us to prepare ourselves now. And so we have, we know well the story of Ezekiel 38. The nations of Europe and the book of Revelation that are identified for us, or sorry the nations of Europe that are identified for us from the perspective of the book of Revelation, from Ezekiel chapter 38, from Daniel chapter 11, they all paint this picture of this northern confederacy and their ancient locations can be easily ascertained by the use of the historians such as Herodotus, Strabo, Josephus, things that are available to us today. That's not our subject but we just want to comment on one thing. Our brother Stephen mentioned to us this need for the confederacy of Russia with Europe. The need for the military confederacy because that is what is to happen in Europe. These shall make war with the land and not only that but the forces of Ezekiel 38 combine and come down into the land. Well one month ago the Russian president Putin visited the pope. Their conversation began with a discussion on how eastern and western Europe could be pulled together and this is what is said by the news article. On this first official visit to western Europe, Russian president Vladimir Putin spoke to the pope, John Paul II, at the Vatican about the ongoing need to bring western and eastern Europe closer together. And there we have it, brothers and sisters, all over again. A confederacy that is based on Daniel chapter 2, chapter 7, Revelation being prepared. And who is preparing it? The Vatican and Russia. And not only Russia but following this meeting, Putin headed off to Germany a week later to visit with the German chancellor. We read there Russian president Vladimir Putin and German chancellor Gerhard Schröder concluded their first summit on Friday with Schröder's support of Russia's cooperation in European defense matters. Schröder said that proposals put on the table by Putin creating a European missile defense system that includes Russia, sharing Russia's technology with European partners were due considerations on a broad level. The Europeans were asking questions as to how they could organize this, said Putin. Not a question of whether or not they want to do it but how can we do it and how soon can we do it? To which Putin responds, this is an issue for a particular summit. Not a simple question but we must move in this direction, there is no doubt. Putin said that he told Schröder to consult with his European partners, tell them that Russia as a third party should work together with the European partners for the missile defense system. The dragon, the beast, and the false prophet preparing themselves for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the character of Europe as painted to us by the book of Ezekiel is one of antisemitism. They were to come against my people. And so we read that in this article from the Electronic Telegraph, Friday, March the 12th of 1999, Israel reacted sharply yesterday to a statement from the European Union countries that they did not recognize the Jewish state sovereignty over Jerusalem. The foreign minister Ariel Sharon was to go on to say that we will never give up anything regarding Jerusalem. The letter from the United or the European Union countries believed Jerusalem was not to be part of Israel but a corpus separatum, which I thought was very interesting. Latin is what they use, the language of the papacy for a separate entity. And so we can see the seeds of what will bring Russia down, what will bring Europe into this conflict being painted or being sown right now in Europe. We can see the attitudes developing. And it's at this point in time, brothers and sisters, that the role of Christ and the saints changes. Christ is not coming back as a lamb, dumb before her shears this time, but as the lion of the tribe of Judah. He is coming in the physical manifestation of Yahweh upon the earth. He who will be mighty ones, the saints who will be with him are those mighty ones of power. And so our brother Thomas wrote, human governments have all been opposed to God's truth. They have made war upon all that class of people in their several countries who are entitled scripturally to the designation of the saints, and we have seen that with our own eyes. You cannot make peace between them. That's the reason why we who advocate the doctrine of God's saints are in hostility to the world. Those who are on our side who would make peace with the enemy are not fit to be on our side. It is war to the knife between the powers that be and all Christadelphians. We accept no truce. We consent to no compromise. Either the world will conquer us or we will conquer them by argument now. But when the time for argument is passed away and the Lord has come with power and great glory, his saints will take the sword and conquer the world, whether the world likes it or not. We read in our readings the other day that the meek shall inherit the earth. Meek, brethren, sisters, as we all know, is not weak. Meek is the power that is contained. And so we find the meek inheriting the earth in Psalm 149. We read that the Lord take his pleasure in his people. He will beautify the meek with salvation. And he goes on to say, let the saints be joyful in glory. They are immortalized at this point in time. Let them sing aloud upon their beds or their pavilions. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth and a two-edged sword in their hand, depicting what we see in Revelation, the man with a sword coming out of his mouth, to execute vengeance on the nations and punishments upon the people, to bind their kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron, to execute upon them the judgment written, this honor have all his saints. And, brethren and sisters, we can think of those saints who, as Matthew chapter 19 verse 29 tells us, hath forsaken houses or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or lands or children, for my name's sake, that shall receive an hundredfold and shall inherit everlasting life. This is the honor of those who are put to death by the system. Or, put it another way, this is the plot line of the Bible, is it not? It is Genesis 3 verse 15, the seed of the woman conquering the seed of the serpent. It's the plot line of the book of Revelation and we've seen it. We have watched the serpent inflict the temporary bruise upon the Lord Jesus Christ and upon his saints. We have seen them persecuted, crucified, banished, burned at the stake, and executed more recently at gunpoint. Well, this is the time, brethren and sisters, when the saints will inflict a mortal wound upon the forces of the serpent and the Lord Jesus Christ will be the head of this group that will come forward. This is the time when Daniel tells us that the saints will take the kingdom and wrest it from the hands of the usurper. I beheld the same horn, made war with the saints, and prevailed against them until the ancient of days came and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. That is Daniel 7 verse 21 and 22. That time, brethren and sisters, is at the door when the saints will possess the kingdom and they will take it. Let's not get lost in the cares of this life and miss out on such an opportunity to be with the Lord Jesus Christ in the establishment of the kingdom on the earth. This is when Christ will be physically manifested to the world. We read in 2 Thessalonians 1 and verse 7, to you who are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus Christ will be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, the messengers of his power, the saints, in flaming fire, taking vengeance upon them who, notice what it says, know not God. The saints have already been judged. Judgment begins at the house of God and if the righteous scarcely be saved, what shall be the end of those who know not God and obey not the gospel? And so we see here the Lord Jesus Christ coming in vengeance on them that know not God and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power when he shall come to be glorified in his saints. This is that great cloud of witnesses that returns in Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 1, at this point here, to take the earth back from the kingdoms of men. The little stone cut without hands that we saw in the image. Revelation chapter 10 describes it as the rainbowed angel. I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud. The rainbow was upon his head and his face was it were the sun and his feet as pillars of fire and he cried with a loud voice as when a lion roareth and when he cried seven thunders uttered their voices and when the seven thunders had uttered their voices I was about to write and I heard the voice from heaven saying unto me seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered and write them not and so those final judgments are sealed up to us in their entirety. But the scriptures do tell us of how these events will take place. We read in Revelation chapter 16 and verse 16 that the nations will be gathered together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon and this corresponds with the invasion of Ezekiel 38 of Zechariah 14 of Joel 3 of Daniel chapter 11. These are parallel prophecies and that word Armageddon is broken out for us. It's a transliteration which means it's a book of Revelation and simply transliterated phonetically spelt in Greek and the word is Arma a heap of sheaves or Arima appears in Ruth the sheaves that were laid out on the floor before Boaz. Guy or gay the valley and we think of it gay Hinnom the valley of the son of Hinnom we know this and dawn is that word judgment or den and so Armageddon is the heap of sheaves gathered together in a valley for judgment and that's exactly what Joel chapter 3 tells us. Let the nations be wakened and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat for there will I sit to judge all the nations round about put you in the sickle for the harvest is ripe come get you down for the press is full the fats overflow for their wickedness is great multitudes multitudes in the valley of decision and if you look in your margin there you will see that it's the valley of threshing so we have a heap of nations brought down gathered together into a valley for threshing and this is the day of the Lord that is near in the valley of decision and the sun and the moon of the world around us the political heavens will be darkened and the stars will withdraw they're shining and this is similar to what we read throughout the Bible Zachariah describes it this way I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle the city shall be taken the houses rifled the women ravished and half of the city shall go forth into captivity and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city and that is the end of Ezekiel 38 really isn't it the nations that come down and there is Jerusalem finally taken and it's at this point in time that the Lord Jesus Christ with his saints appear on the scene then shall the Lord go forth and fight against those nations as when he fought in the day of battle his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of olives which is before Jerusalem on the east and the mount of olives shall cleave in the midst thereof and brother and sisters we will be with the Lord Jesus Christ when that happens because we read the Lord my God he who will be mighty one shall come and all the saints are with him so we're not going to see these things take place if Christ comes back to Jerusalem we're involved in it and that's why we have to prepare ourselves now and once the Lord Jesus Christ has been planted in Jerusalem removed Psalm 2 tells us yet I have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion I will declare the decree that was declared at his baptism thou art my son this day have I begotten thee ask of me and I shall give thee the nations for thine inheritance and the uttermost part of the earth for thy possession thou shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel this is the true one like L this is the Lord Jesus Christ in manifestation not Constantine who usurps this position but the Lord Jesus Christ and so we read at that point in time in Isaiah 11 verse 9 they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea and so brother and sisters is at this point in time the decree will go forth he sees John sees in the heavens another angel fly in the midst of heaven it's in between the two heavens of the politic of the world around us just before the establishment of the kingdom of God and just after the the heavens or the the things that are existence right now and he comes forth you preach the everlasting gospel good news to the people on the on the face of this earth to the people in your neighborhoods to the people that your children are involved in in school the good news of the gospel that right now is shrouded by those catholic forces by the christian forces by the humanistic forces that would blind the world around us the good news of the gospel that's to go out to every nation kindred tongue and people saying with a loud voice fear God and give glory to him for the hour of his judgment is come and worship him that made the heaven and the earth and the sea and the fountains of waters and what more applicable phrase could be made to the nations that live right now to the society that we have to deal within a godless society an evolutionist society they are in for the rudest awakening that has ever taken place well brother and sisters based on the theories that we looked at in our fourth class of antichrist disseminated by the jesuits and the christians around us what do you suppose the response of the world is going to be to such a decree well the teaching of antichrist if we take a sampling of their books is pretty much more or less comes down to a similar theme revelation is all about future events antichrist is a future menace that is to appear he is to appear in Jerusalem he is to convert the jews he is to build a temple in Jerusalem he is to do many miracles and he is to put the world in a situation where it's called to submit and that is the mainstream teaching of of most baptist evangelical and catholic writers they're all singing the same song when it comes to antichrist this is rome's song because they are drunk with the wine of her fornication let's make sure brother and sisters that we don't become drunk with these doctrines too that we recognize the truth for what it is that it's the lord jesus christ who is to return to the earth acts one verse 11 it is christ who is to convert the jews we read about it in isaiah in our readings it's echoed in roman's chapter 12 that the deliverer will come forth from zion and turn away on godliness from jacob it's the gospel message the hope of israel christ will build the temple in Jerusalem fulfilling the promise that was made to david isaiah 2 then the lord's house shall arise he will perform many miracles and all nations will be called upon to submit to him well the world's response has been predicted through the bible at this point in time psalm 2 where they're called upon to submit also tells us what they have to say it says the nations rage and the imagine a vain thing the kings of the earth set themselves the rulers take counsel together against the lord and against his anointed saying let us break up their bands or let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us they will have nothing to do with it because they will look at the lord jesus christ and see him as the anti-christ is it any surprise that they're going to rebel against him when he comes well brother and sisters at this point in time there will be absolutely no room for dissenting views on prophecy the world will be given an ultimatum to bend to he that sitteth in heaven shall laugh the lord will have them in derision then shall he speak to them in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure he says i have set my king upon my holy hill of zion and he instructs those kings of the earth to be wise now therefore oh ye kings be instructed ye judges of the earth serve the lord with fear rejoice with trembling kiss the son lest he be angry and he perished from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little and blessed are all they that put their trust in him some nations brother and sisters will hear that and they will submit we have indication through the bible of the tarshish nations who bring gifts who will submit to the lord jesus christ and be involved in bringing his people israel back to him and that will be largely due to the fact that they have had the word of god and it will be an assistance to them in that day we don't know exactly who will and won't be evolved but we know some for sure the nations of europe were told will make war with the lamb they will war with the lord jesus christ just as they have made war with his people throughout the whole history of time just as they make war with us and our children in our homes in our schools in the society we live in trying to infect us with the gospel of their the good news as they see it of their doctrines and their teachings the humanistic philosophies all these types of things the warfare is still going on today brother and sisters we might not be openly persecuted but certainly these things are there pulling us away from our god and from his service so these shall make war with the lamb and the lamb shall overcome them for he is lord of lords and king of kings and they that are with him are called and chosen and faithful and there are three things the calling of the gospel we have all heard and there are many are called but few are chosen and on what basis are they chosen how does that verse work that tells you here those that are called and faithful are the ones who will be chosen we have all heard the call of the gospel brethren sisters so have our young people we want to take up that call and be faithful to it so that by god's grace we would be chosen in this day well it's at this point in time that the lord jesus christ will pour out the thunder judgments of the book of revelation they will sound out from heaven and the world will not know what has hit it it will be the greatest conflict that has ever existed in the face of the earth because it will be the conflict between the seed of the woman the lord jesus christ now upon the earth in physical divine manifestation and the seat of the serpent the arm of flesh and so we read in daniel chapter 2 thou sawest this image that is being constructed and standing up today till that a stone was cut out without hands which smote the image on the feet that were of iron and clay and break them to pieces then was the iron the clay the brass the silver the gold broken in pieces together and became like and notice the chaff of the summer threshing floor and there's the echo to revelation and the wind carried them away and there was no place found for them and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth and we read in daniel chapter 7 i beheld till all the thrones were cast down and the ancient of days did sit whose garment was white as snow and the hair of his head like pure wool his throne was like a fiery flame and his wheels is burning fire there is the caribim the god manifestation in this age that will come forth and will destroy the kingdoms of this world not for the sake of destruction brethren and sisters not for the sake of blood the lord taketh no pleasure in the death of the wicked but for the sake of the establishment of the kingdom of god upon this earth and so a stream will issue forth from before him and that is that proclamation fear god give glory to him for the hour of his judgment has come and he says i beheld because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake that's the reason for its judgment for its doctrine for its insidious teaching for its blasphemy against the god of heaven and for its treatment of his people and i beheld even till the beast was slain and his body destroyed and given to the burning flame and so brethren sisters ezekiel puts it the same way he says that i will send a fire on mago and that area of europe that has existed the holy roman empire the christian roman empire that has stood in opposition to god's saints will experience the wrath of almighty god as he crushes the head of that serpent once and for all it is described to us in revelation chapter 19 as being a lake of fire the same thing the beast was taken and the false prophet that was that wrought miracles before him the political body of catholic europe and the papacy will be taken that wrought miracles before him which deceived them that had received the teachings of the beast the mark of the beast and then that worshiped his image these both were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone and their remnants were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse which sword proceeded out of his mouth and no longer brethren sisters will israel be trampled under foot will be a proverb and a byword but as we read in akari the lord will fought as he fought in the day of battle but how did he fight in the day of battle well jeremiah 51 tells us that israel will become in verse 20 my battle axe and my weapons of war for with thee will i break in pieces the nations they're the rod of iron in his hand and with thee will i destroy kingdoms and with thee will i break in pieces the horse and his rider i will also break in pieces with thee the shepherd and his flock and with thee will i break in pieces the captains and the rulers and so the kingdoms of this world and of our christ or the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our lord and of his christ and the saints who have suffered throughout the ages will rejoice over her that holy apostles and prophets and reward her even as she rewarded you and this is not some inconsistent incongruous bloodbath at the end of time brethren sisters this is the true and righteous judgments that were promised to those souls under the altar how long oh lord holy and true does thou not avenge us and perhaps it's hard for us to get into the flavor of that because our children have not been taken from us and starved in the room room following until we should recant and we've had to listen to their cries as they die we have not experienced those things and perhaps it's hard for us to get into the spirit of this because it's not our family it's not our father that was taken and shot at dawn but brethren sisters we've got to read these things and identify ourselves with people we read in revelation chapter 19 verse 1 after these things i heard a great voice of much people in heaven the lord jesus christ and the saints now enthroned in the political heavens of this world that's what thesilonians is talking about so shall we ever be with the lord in the air this great cloud of witnesses in the political heavens and they say hallelujah praise be to yaweh salvation and glory and honor and power unto the lord our god for true and righteous are his judgments for he hath judged the great whore which did corrupt the earth of her fornication and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand and again they said hallelujah and so brethren sisters this is the situation that will come thy kingdom come thy will will be done on earth as it is in heaven and with this false system taken out of the way as isaiah 25 verse 7 puts it he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people and the veil that is spread over all nations and that darkness will be removed from the nations of the world around us and the people of our neighborhoods who we try to preach to but we can't seem to get through to will have all that superstition and worldliness removed from their eyes and they will be able to see the kingdom of god established upon this earth and so brethren sisters we read in revelation 11 verse 15 the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our lord and of his christ and he shall reign forever and ever it's not a question of if it's a question of when and whether or not we're going to be involved in it it will happen brethren sisters with or without us and we've got to decide going from here if we want to be involved in these things if we keep the vision in our hearts and our minds if we are motivated by faith not allow this world to swallow us up with its attractions and entertainments but overcome the world by faith then we have a promise that is being given to us to him that overcomes will i grant to sit with me in my throne even as i overcame him and sat with my father in his throne that promise is to us and to our children if we would bring them up in that way and so let us not lay up for treasures on earth where moth and rust does corrupt and thieves break forth and steal well let's lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust does corrupt and where thieves do not break through and steal for where our treasure is there will our heart be also and then shall the righteous shine forth as the son in the kingdom of their father who hath ears to hear let him hear and so brethren sisters knowing the time it is now high time to awake out of sleep for now is our salvation nearer than when we when we believed the night is far spent the day is at hand let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and put on the light our bible school is all but over we return to our lives to our jobs to our schools to our trials and temptations let us keep the vision of the kingdom of god in our minds in our hearts let us watch the world around us and make ourselves aware of the hand of the lord as it moves and let us heed the invitation of christ he that testifies these things saith surely i come quickly surely i come quickly surely i come quickly and so brethren and sisters let's heed those things let's take that book of revelation let's eat it up and have it motivate us and the book that really is not to be consigned to the end of time of the scriptures but goes all the way through them and so let our voice echo that of john's as he reached the end of this marvelous prophecy given to us by god's grace no doubt he was filled with tears when he said these things when he saw the picture of what was to come even so come lord jesus even so come lord jesus let that prayer be in our hearts as we leave here and the grace of our lord jesus christ be with you all amen