WE HAVE TRIED TO TAKE TIME ENOUGH TO FILL IN MANY OF THE DETAILS THAT A FIRST TIME READER OF A MESSAGE LIKE THIS WILL NEED; THEREFORE WE JUST PRAY THAT IT HAS NOT BEEN BORING TO YOU WHO MAY HAVE ALREADY KNOWN MOST OF THE BASIC FACTS WE HAVE PRESENTED. BUT WE FEEL THAT THE TIME IS SHORT, AND THAT EVERY TRUE CHILD OF GOD SHOULD BE ARMED WITH A GENUINE REVELATION OF THE WORD OF GOD THAT HAS BEEN REVEALED IN THIS GENERATION. THIS IS THE GENERATION THAT SHALL NOT PASS, TILL ALL THESE THINGS BE FULFILLED, ACCORDING TO THE VERY WORDS OF JESUS, IN MATTHEW 24:34, FOR AS WE LOOK AT THE SOCIETY AROUND US, IT IS VERY OBVIOUS THAT WE ARE LIVING IN THE MIDST OF CONDITIONS SUCH AS EXISTED IN THE DAYS OF NOAH, BEFORE GOD DESTROYED THE WHOLE UNGODLY MESS WITH A GREAT FLOOD THAT COVERED THE EARTH. THIS ALONE, SHOULD BE ENOUGH TO CONVINCE ANY BIBLE BELIEVER, THAT THE END IS AT HAND, AND IT SHOULD CAUSE EVERY TRUE BELIEVER TO DESIRE TO WALK CLOSE TO GOD IN A PURE REVELATION OF HIS WORD. IN OTHER WORDS, SAINTS; THERE IS JUST SIMPLY NO TIME LEFT TO JUST PLAY AROUND WITH THE WORD OF GOD. THE TARES ARE BEING BUNDLED, AND THE PURE SEED IS BEING PERFECTED, AND THERE IS NO MIDDLE GROUND. ROMAN CATHOLICISM IS PLAYING HER ROLE ACCORDING TO THE SCRIPTURES, BUT SO ALSO, ARE HER DAUGHTERS FULFILLING THEIR PART OF IT. WHEN YOU HEAR SOME PEOPLE TALK, ESPECIALLY SOME OF THESE TV PREACHERS, IT SOUNDS LIKE THERE IS A GREAT HOLY GHOST REVIVAL SWEEPING THE WORLD IN THESE LAST DAYS, BUT DO NOT BE MISLED BY ALL OF THAT EXCITEMENT, FOR MOST OF IT IS TARE-BUNDLING, ACCORDING TO THE PARABLES OF MATTHEW 13. PEOPLE WHO REJECT THE REVEALED WORD OF GOD CANNOT HAVE A REVIVAL IN-THEIR SOUL, ALL THEY CAN HAVE IS SENSATIONS. THEREFORE WITH THIS IN MIND, LET US GET RIGHT BACK TO OUR ANNOUNCED INTENTION, AND PRESENT SOME MORE SCRIPTURAL TRUTH THAT WILL REVEAL AND IDENTIFY THE ANTICHRIST.
We more or less ended part three examining Revelation, chapter 17, where we were looking at a great whore that John saw sitting upon many waters, and I believe we proved from the word of God itself that the great whore is the Roman Catholic Church, and that the many waters are people of the world population. We sometimes try to illustrate these things with little sketches and pictures, but the symbolic terms encompass so much, and carry so many thoughts, that it is almost impossible to express it in a picture. For instance, The woman, this great whore is made up of people of the world, but so also, is the beast she is sitting upon, people. The woman is the Roman Catholic Church, and the beast is made up of the people of the old Roman empire, and the waters are people of all nations, so what picture could really express all of that? Nevertheless, the Bible does let us know how God sees this great conglomeration of religion, and we can also find out what God is going to do about all of this spiritual fornication, and we are given the opportunity to get free from all of it. God sent a prophet messenger to this Laodicean age, crying, Come out of her My people, be not partaker of her sins, saith the Lord, and thousands did come out of those systems of religion, and from those thousands, God has called an element of people to walk in revealed truth, and they want to know the truth.
SPIRITUAL FORNICATION IN HIGH PLACES
Chapter 17, verse 2, says that the kings of the earth have committed fornication with this great whore of verse one, and as we begin to read the histories written by various ones, we can see how the Catholic Church, through the power of the pope, and the loyalty of their priests, coerced kings and potentates of the earth into an international intercourse relationship. Sooner or later, little by little, they had to sell themselves to the love affair of that old religious system, or system of religion, in order to be able to sit upon their particular throne and exercise some authority over their subjects. But while they did that, the Catholic Church was feeding their subjects the wine from her golden cup, which God’s word says is full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication. You must keep in mind that wine in the scriptures many times speaks of more than just some liquid substance to drink, for because of the stimulating effect it has on those who drink it; other things that have a similar effect on people are symbolically referred to in the scriptures as wine. In this case, it is referring to the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church. Her doctrines stimulate the carnal hearts and minds of her people, just like Holy Ghost revelation stimulates the inner man of the true child of God.
DRUNK AND DAMNED
This world is full of people who are not the least bit interested in a true salvation experience, yet they are interested in religion as long as it is kept on their level of acceptability. They like to talk about religion when it is on a level that they can grasp with the natural mind, and it does not interfere with their way of living. In other words, just as long as nothing is said that places them under any sort of conviction. Everyone is looking for something that will lift them up above the disappointments and frustrations of everyday living, and put them at ease in their mind, and that is exactly what the wine of this great whore does for the carnal minded religious people of the world. It tastes good to their carnal appetite, and it never drives them to their knees to pray for the Holy Ghost, so they go on their merry way, feeling good about themselves, because they have been to church, they have confessed their sins, and they have been blessed by their priest. Now they can go right back to whatever they were doing before they went to church, and start all over with a clean slate (so they think.) My Dear Brothers and Sisters: I am telling you that the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of that woman, and the consequences of it are a lot closer to home than we like to realize! We have close friends and loved ones that are still drinking that wine, and we see time running out for the Gentiles. But all we can do is pray for them, and make truth available to them, in the hope that God will yet speak to the hearts of some of them. You just simply cannot reason with a drunk person, and whatever agreement you may get from one, will usually be forgotten. Yet when the Spirit of God begins to deal with an individual, all of those previous circumstances can fade right out of the picture.
MAN OF MANY IDENTITIES
In our process of identifying the Antichrist, we are looking at many scriptures and filling in many details, details that some may feel are unnecessary, but it is these various details that actually fasten the chain of revelation together for some folks, so let us go into the 18th chapter of the book of Revelation for a little study, at this time. We have been studying about a woman, a woman that the Bible calls, a great whore, but the head of that woman is what we will eventually bring all of this down to. For that head is the LITTLE HORN of Daniel 7:8, the MAN OF SIN and the SON OF PERDITION of 2 Thessalonians 2:3, the FALSE PROPHET of Revelation 19:20, the PRINCE THAT SHALL COME of Daniel 9:26, the HE that shall confirm a covenant with many for one week, and then break that covenant in the middle of the week according to Daniel 9:27, and certainly we know assuredly that this head of that great whore, this man that the world looks upon as a holy man of God, is in the end, none other than the very Antichrist, incarnated by Satan himself, the very spirit that has ruled that Antichrist system of religion from its very inception.
A TREE OF DEATH WITH MANY BRANCHES
There are many developments in the world at large, that indicates to me that everything is moving right on schedule. A recent issue of the National Geographic Magazine carried an article covering the Reformation, from Martin Luther’s hour, all the way through. The writer named the various reformers and many of those who rallied around them, and stood with them in their fight against that spirit of Catholicism, coming out of the Dark Ages. He gives their place of birth, and what they stood for in their particular hour of time. The writer was very open and plain spoken about it all, and I just thought to myself, Here we are, getting ready to print this article, and even though this man did not end his article like we will, he did expose those various systems of religion for what they are, starting right where anyone would have to if they were going to be honest about it, right with Roman Catholicism. Roman Catholicism is the main trunk of that tree, and all the others are branches. I just thought, as I read the article, Here is a whole history unfolding right in a magazine read by millions, for he had done extensive research pertaining to the various individuals, and what they taught, and the great battles they fought as Satan withstood them. Naturally the man of the world will read such an article, and he will find himself on one of those branches, in the midst of all the leaves, but he will never climb up any higher, to see if there is any more fruit to be found up there. That is as far as it will go with them. But the true child of God will look far beyond that tree, for he knows that this is not the tree of life. This tree is a tree of death, for there was no life in the thing from the very beginning. Naturally we realize that those branches carried life at one time when they were protesting that old dead religious system, but today, they are just like it, DEAD, for the Spirit of God is no longer in them. The Spirit of God, will not remain where truth is rejected, for this is that Spirit of truth that the world cannot receive, and only a predestined seed of God will follow.
THE GREAT WHORE’S JUDGMENT IS JUST AHEAD
We are going into chapter 18, of the book of Revelation, where we will see a picture of Catholicism in the 20th century, as she meets her judgment at the hands of Communism. Naturally this will unfold in the last week of Daniel’s seventy weeks, that is just ahead. I will not endeavor to tell you what year in the week of Daniel, nor what month, for that is immaterial. But Catholicism is going to meet her doom in that 70th week of Daniel, and it will be by the hand of communism. Not necessarily Communism of the brand we see in Russia. It will be of European origin. It is not even looked upon as Communism by the people that accept it, but only as a Socialistic form of government. Call it what you want to, but it is fast moving upon the scene as royal kingdoms and all other forms of government are crumbling. Modern man is anxious to take hold of anything that embraces science and materialism, and crowds God out of the picture. Anything that lifts up man’s fleshly achievements, and displays his great intellectual achievements is popular today. To believe in God as a supernatural Creator is to be looked upon as simple mindedness in many places today. Just think, After 6,000 years of man’s struggle, believing in deities of some kind, and building temples and altars as places to worship them, we wind up at the endtime with a spirit that removes all of that, and pictures man as the supreme form of life on the planet. It just goes to show that all of man’s natural wisdom has led him to a place in life where he is spiritually as blind as a bat. That old evolution theory is just some of Satan’s hocus pocus, but intellectual minds love it, because without God in the picture, they feel that their potential is unlimited. Everything is being updated to fit modern man’s political concepts. Catholicism is updating itself, and so is Communism and Socialism, for it all must keep in line with the thinking of modern man. Even in America, this land that has formerly been so proud of her democracy, many politicians, some even Catholics, are beginning to express thoughts and ideas that lean toward socialism. Brother! The old America that we have known in the past is dying! We may be increasing in numbers, but that does not mean that we are staying the same. Our democracy is being undermined, not by military means, but by political maneuvering. We still want to retain that world leadership role as a great democracy, but it is fast fading from the picture. If time could stand for another 50 years, the government of this nation would evolve into some form of socialistic government, and it would take place in such a way that people would not even realize what the nation had fallen from, until they picked up a history book, and read what the nation used to be. The hour is at hand, when only one nation upon the face of the earth will still hold to a standard that gives a divine holy God His proper place. The knowledge of God came from that nation to the Gentiles in the first place, and there is where the knowledge of God will rest in the end, as far as national recognition. Gentiles have had the gospel for over 1900 years. It has lifted us out of paganism, devil worship, heathenism, or whatever you call it, but the Spirit of God is leaving the Gentiles, and they are returning back to exactly what their forefathers were lifted up from. The Lord Jesus Christ has redeemed His little bride from among them, and the rest are being turned over to the devil, and he is soon to have his heyday, and the Spirit of God will again deal with the nation of Israel.
MOTHER OF HARLOTS
Now the Catholic Church, in the 17th chapter of Revelation, is portrayed as the mother of harlots, but in the 18th chapter, she is portrayed as a commercial city – Of course when you refer to her in that way, speaking of her commercial role, a lot of people in America do not understand it; But it is because you have not lived in a Catholic dominated country. You have lived in a country that was founded by Protestant minded people, people who were fleeing from Catholicism when they came here. Naturally we realize that Columbus was a Catholic, but after the word got back to the old world, of the discovery of this lands it was Protestant people that had been striving for freedom from state rule in the old world, that first made their way to the new world, to hack out of the wilderness, a country that could be founded under the guidance and leadership of the true God, according to what they saw in the New Testament. God was with them, and honored their desires, and a nation was born. That is why the second beast of the 13th chapter of Revelation, is portrayed as being like a lamb with two horns. The two horns on this beast speak of political power and ecclesiastical power, but they were kept separate, the one from the other. We will get back to this chapter later, but right now, let us get on into chapter 18.
HOW CATHOLICISM RULES HER PEOPLE
We are going to read of the commercial fall of Catholicism, and Brothers and Sisters: If you do not yet believe that Catholicism is this commercial city, then I am going to read a couple of excerpts from history, that will show you how the Catholic Church had her hand in every till during that long period of the Dark Ages, in those Catholic dominated countries. Much of the economy of those nations was constantly channeled right into the treasury of the church. This was her way of ruling people, without necessarily having to rule them with the military sword. For up until the last 30 or 40 years, Catholic dominated countries had a very high percentage rate of illiteracy. On the other hand, the United States, for the last 150 years, we will say, has been striving to give every child the opportunity to attain the highest degree of education possible. God blessed this country because she embraced New Testament teachings of the Bible, therefore our children received, or had more opportunity to receive an education than any other children anywhere, as a whole. But Catholic dominated countries did not even have an interest in educating their children. Now of course a lot of people will say, How could that be true? That was Catholicism’s main tool in ruling people’s lives, aside from the threat of withholding God’s blessings for them. If they could keep them on the edge of illiteracy, they had a better chance of controlling them. Only those families that could be trusted to be loyal to the church, were given educational opportunities beyond just the bare necessity of enough to get by in life, and they became their professors and teachers in the necessary things for others. Their theory was that access to free education would eventually lead to rebellion against the church, so they felt that it was better to keep them ignorant. Therefore in many areas of the world, to be poor, and practically naked was just an accepted way of life, for the poor souls did not know that there was anything any better. That is why many of the Protestant missionaries who began to go into those places were persecuted, and many of them even killed. They would not only take a Bible with them, but they would take a reading book, and an arithmetic book, and teach their converts to read and write, and actually teach them the basics of life, and as they did so, it began to open up avenues of curiosity and expectancy, and cause the poor souls to desire something beyond the normal expectancy of those in their area of the world. Now we are not looking back as far as you may think, for when I came back home after W.W.II, I read of an American missionary in the country of Columbia, that the Catholic Church rose up against, and what did they do? They went into the mountains and hired a bunch of gangsters to get rid of him for them. Gangster activity has always flourished in Catholic dominated countries.
TWO SPIRITS FROM SATAN
I just saw in the news, not too many days ago, (Sept. 1983) where our government is beginning to put pressure on Italy, to damp down on the Mafia, and on gangster activity as a whole, for that seems to have been breeding grounds for organized criminals. Those families just seem to carry that spirit of gangsterism, but of late, the government is putting pressure on them, and arresting many of them. But my point is, the Catholic Church teaches nothing that would cause a gangster to realize that he ought to stop being a gangster. In other words, the corruption of the Catholic Church is what gives that Communistic element the necessary boost to destroy her. I say, it will happen sometime after the middle of the week of Daniel as those political men of Europe witness that terrible bloodbath inaugurated by the Pope. They do not believe in a religion of any kind, but the Catholic Church has always managed to maneuver itself into a place of recognition, just like in Poland. But that Communistic spirit will view all of that, and realize that the Catholic Church is nothing more than a big hoax. They will have to think in those terms in order to muster enough courage to say, This is it. You will hold your place in Europe no longer. Of course you must realize that destroying Catholicism does not necessarily mean that all Catholics will be executed. They will destroy her commercial control over the wealth of nations, and her religious influence over mankind. Apostate religion and politics can no longer exist together, even though they are both from the same spirit (Satan.) I believe you understand that, do you not? In other words, Even though that communistic spirit is also of the devil, knowing what it will do to Catholicism in that last week of Daniel causes us to say that Communism is a tool in the hand of God, for judgment upon that great whore of Revelation, chapter 17.
PICTURE OF THE SPIRITUAL MAKEUP OF CATHOLICISM
Alright now, chapter 18, verse 1, “And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lighted with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, (This is not old Ancient Babylon, the first beast of Daniel 7, this is Mystery Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and abomina-tions of the earth, commercial Babylon.) and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of even; unclean and hateful bird.” That is a picture of the spiritual makeup of Catholicism, because the true church has already gone to glory, leaving only those degenerates that have sold themselves to this old system of religion as a sanctuary for their rotten lives, while being deceived into believing that this old apostate system could somehow secure the destiny of their souls. There is no doubt about it, Satan sure is an effective deceiver, for notice this next verse. “For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.” The nations are still reeling under the effects of the drunkenness of that Catholic wine. When the Reformation struck Europe, the old pope had to take a back seat in politics, but that deadly wound has been healed, and today the present pope is running all over Europe making speeches. As he gets bolder and bolder, the masses of people that stand weeping, and worship him, grow larger and larger. They do not know but they are selling their souls to a spirit that works through a man that will one day lead them down the road to final destruction. They will have a mark upon them that brands them as vessels to be destroyed. That is why the Antichrist is called, The son of perdition; he is ordained to lead something to destruction. He is the climax of the mystery of iniquity that Paul and John said was already at work before that first church age ended. Verse 4, “And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works; in the cup which she hath filled to her double.” Brother, she is going to be rewarded according to the way she has rewarded others, so when you look at what she did to the saints of God during the Dark Ages, and what she will do in the last half of the week of Daniel, I would say she has a pretty severe reward coming to her in a double portion. Notice verse 7, “How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her; for she hath said in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.” History records how she refers to herself as the queen of heaven, the means of salvation for lost mankind. That is why the Pope says, There is no salvation outside the Roman Catholic Church. “Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.” Some of the pictorial wording here, gets a little tricky, but you have to remember that we have already read verse 16, of chapter 17, which tells us that the ten horns will hate the whore, eat her flesh, and burn her with fire, so what we read here in chapter 18, is what God is going to use Communism for when the time comes for her final judgment. He will use Communism throughout the Catholic influenced world to judge her, and to reward her according to her own former deeds. As you read the remainder of chapter 18, you will see what the effects of her judgment will be throughout the commercial realm of her dealings. The kings and merchants of the earth are weeping, and bewailing her, because of her destruction. There is just no telling, what that old apostate system of religion owns, especially in the countries where she has ruled for hundreds of years. Her holdings in America are on a much smaller scale than many of these other countries, but she has made herself some pretty substantial investments even in this country. When you begin checking, to see what is behind BankAmericard, Standard Oil, Coca-Cola, and various other large businesses, you will find the Catholic Church right there, so do not try to tell me that she is not a commercial organization. She definitely is. But the same spirit that has kept her as such a forceful religious system, will be the force behind Communism that will eventually destroy her. Millions have died at the hands of Catholicism, and so also, have untold numbers died by the hands of Communism, and Satan is the force behind both of them.
ILLITERACY AMONG CATHOLIC DOMINATED NATIONS
Let me read a couple of pages to you now, from this little book written in 1916, by a man named Pickett. It will allow you to see how this theory of illiteracy has worked for the Catholic Church. “Romanism, like the bat and the owl, flourishes most in a land of darkness, of ignorance; accordingly, it is opposed to the education of the masses of the people. Grand Vicar DeMars, of Canada, himself a school man, said to Charles Chiniquy, who was a young priest, that the masses of the people should not be educated, for when educated, said he, they will become unmanageable.” That is why there was no material progress made during those years of the Dark Ages. People were just barely existing with what they had already, and there was no one with any initiative to look for anything better. Now listen, as Mr. Pickett states further remarks of this Grand Vicar. “He further stated that the Protestants were seeking to educate the people in order that they might circulate the Bible among them. To prevent this evil, he declared we must see to it that very few of ‘our people’ shall be able to read or write. Some might say that this was simply the vagary of a lone priest; that such was not the case may be seen at a glance through any Rome-ruled country or community. Spain is 80 percent illiterate, (at that time) Portugal rather more. Mexico has an average of 76 percent illiterate, some states running as high as 90 percent. Bishop Stuntz, who has traveled extensively through South America, tells us there is an average of 78 percent illiteracy throughout the whole continent. It is said that when the temporal power of the Pope was destroyed by Victor Immanuel, there were more than a hundred thousand-in the city of Rome that could neither read nor write; and this was the capital of the Pope’s empire. Here, he had everything in his own hands. He was looked upon as the ‘father of the faithful’ for not only Italy, but the whole world, and he was also the King and temporal ruler of the Papal States. His income was immense, his estate the greatest of any living man; yet, while wallowing in wealth, he allowed his poor people to grow up in dense ignorance. This was evidently in order that they might not repudiate his pagan mummeries. Look at Cuba, how poor, how ignorant, under priestly domination. Behold France, prior to the Republic, largely illiterate. Look over the domain of Franz Josef, of Austria-Hungary, how poor, how illiterate these priest-infested domains. (That is why, when Austria came out of the darkness, the Pope had not been back there for two hundred years, but he did go back there just a short time ago.) Glance at the Philippines under papal power. Spain, a priestly kingdom ruled and robbed the islands for three centuries. They were never truly civilized, much less educated. After three hundred years of papal treachery and priestly gluttony, practically all of the people were illiterate, and many of them pagan idolaters when the Islands came under the flag of the U.S.” They were still walking on fire like their pagan ancestors did. They call themselves Catholics, but they still go through many of the same orgies of torture that their pagan forefathers practiced. I have seen on TV how they would take hooks, (like fish hooks) and pull out the flesh of their bodies, and hang weights on those things. They feel that the more they can torture themselves, the more they have appeased the spirits that are nut to dominate their souls, and by doing this, they feel that sooner or later, they are going to gain peace of mind from it. You can see how the devil has twisted their thinking. That is why I said earlier, Catholicism does not convert them from their pagan practices; she just converts them to another religious idea, and they go right on doing what they have always done. They will pray the rosary, and then go right back to this sort of thing. Now in the United States, Catholicism builds schools, because that is the American way, and they will do whatever they believe will put them in the forefront of everything. They have fought for years, trying to obtain certain government benefits for their parochial schools, and I believe they have finally prevailed. The government has finally started giving them benefits that formerly were for only the free public schools. They work, to accomplish through IC education in the United States, what they accomplish through ignorance and illiteracy in other countries, that is, to control the lives of people. Their main goal is to dominate. I am going to read a little, concerning the wealth of the Catholic Church, from another book I have here. It is the one we read from earlier in the message, “The Other Side of Rome,” by John B. Wilder This man is a minister, was raised in Texas, and preached back and forth along the border, so he had ample opportunity to study these things. He also served in World War 2, and traveled in Italy, so let us see what he has to say about the wealth of the Catholic Church. Naturally this backs up the commercial aspect portrayed in the 18th chapter of Revelation. “High on a mountain overlooking the Sicilian city of Palermo and the blue Mediterranean Sea is the town of Monreale. I visited its famous cathedral one morning, and the guide told me that the gold work in the main chapel was worth twenty million dollars. (During the W.W.II years) I looked about me at the walls and at the ceiling overhead. The walls and the high vaulted ceilings were covered with gold. It would probably be impossible to determine accurately the amount of gold, silver and precious stones that go to make up the glittering altars and facades of Roman churches and that decorate their walls. (That is why the 17th chapter of Revelation portrays her as a woman arrayed with purple and scarlet colors, and decked with gold and precious stones.) Such wealth is understandable when it is known that in times past the Catholic Church owned as much as two-thirds of the wealth of some nations. J. Lloyd Mecham, Doctor of Philosophy and Professor of Government at the University of Texas, in his book Church and State in Latin America, writes of Catholic wealth in Latin America in other days. He states that the wealth of the church was at one time notorious. It owned beautiful buildings with ornate furnishings, and vast, revenue-producing lands. It loaned money to private enterprises and collected interest on this money. Using the nation of Peru as an example, Mecham says that in Lima in 1790, out of 2,806 buildings in the town, the church owned 1,115 of them. In Mexico City in one period there were 3,387 buildings, of which 1,935 belonged to the church. Some of the higher officials of the church in Latin lands received annual incomes ranging from 200,000 to 600,000. The upward thrust of civilization has relieved somewhat this unhappy condition, but the church of Rome still is able to display fantastic wealth when the need or opportunity arises.”
BRAZIL’S MATERIAL PROGRESS
We could go on and on just talking about the commercial side of Roman Catholicism, but I think that will be enough from these men. Anyone who would want to invest the time doing so, could gather their own statistics, and they would find that even today her commercial interests are as active as they have always been. The main difference between today and one hundred years ago is increased educational opportunities in many areas of the world. Political upheaval has opened up avenues that have set the church back, and broke their hold on the masses Brazil is one of those areas of the world where a drastic change has taken place. I read a statement in an article lately, that said, “Brazil would one day be the United States of South America.” They are producing their own automobiles, manufacturing different types of steel, and various other things, all because of freedom from the power that once controlled them; In other words, they are moving into the material age, but the material age for them will not be an age wherein they learn of God. It will be an age of politics, science, and such like, built around humanism, what man is to himself, and what man can do for himself. The modern concept in the world today, is that man does not need God. They have seen so much hypocrisy in religion, it has turned their thoughts completely away from God. But God would not allow a thing like that, if it were not for the fact that we are getting close to the end of the Gentile age, or dispensation of time. Therefore, if we can accept the fact that the Roman Catholic Church is this commercial city called Babylon the Great in chapter 18, we will better understand what is soon to take place according to the scriptures. for the angel said to John, “Come hither; I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters; with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. It is the ten horns of Europe that will judge her, and they will do it within the areas of Europe and the Middle East nations. That is where the beast of Revelation 13, rises, and even now is rising for its end time role in fulfilling the scriptures.
TWENTIETH CENTURY VISION
When we go back to the 13th chapter, and realize that John, even though he was living in 96 A.D., was actually transported by the Spirit of God into the twentieth century, where he saw that old Roman Empire restored, it lets us better understand verse 8, of chapter 17, where it speaks of the beast that was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and verse 10 and 11, concerning the seven heads, and verse 12, concerning the ten horns. He saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns. As we said before, That was the old Roman Empire, after it had passed from its ONE HEAD rule, of which Nero was the last of those old imperial Czars. Now the Middle East as part of the Roman Empire in the beginning of that era, so it will wind up that way in the end also. But my main point right here, is that John was seeing it in its twentieth century makeup, for it already had seven heads, one of the heads had been wounded unto death, and was already healed. In other words, It had already been struck by the Reformation and wounded, it had passed through an interval of time when it was not even a beast, and John was looking at the whole thing after it had been completely restored. Any person who believes the Bible, can see that it has been this land of America that has sold herself to that same old dragon spirit that ruled the first beast, and therefore is the lamb beast of verse 11. It had two horns like a lamb, but spoke like a dragon. It has been this country of America with her great wealth potential, that has pumped billions of dollars into Europe, to rebuild it, since WWII. Besides that, they have kept hundreds of thousands of troops in Europe for over forty years, spending American money in their stores. They do not send all of that money back home. They go into town and spend a lot of it right there. That has caused their economy to flourish and stabilize. So any way you look at it, you will have to agree, that it has been this country of America that has spoken like a dragon in the past, and also that has caused the whole world to worship the first beast. That does not mean that people would fall down and worship, as you might imagine. It simply means that the spirit of Satan through his deceptive work, and the power of his forces, causes the whole world to want to see Europe restored.
THE WHORE — THE BEAST —AND THEIR HEAD
We call ourselves Americans, but do you realize that our ancestral roots are in Europe? The only original, true American, is the American Indians. Most of the rest of us are descendants of those who came to this country from Europe. So America has exerted every effort to get Europe rebuilt and restored, and with the restored image of the papacy, I would have to say that the old beast that was not, now is, again. The thing that is confusing to a lot of people is the fact that the head of the beast, and the head of the great whore are one and the self same person in the scriptures. The beast is made up of people of the old Roman Empire territories, and the Pope now sits in the chair of the old imperial caesars, so he is the eighth head, but he is of the seventh, so the beast still only has seven heads. That is not determined by the number of men that have sat in that governmental chair, but rather by the different forms of rulership through the years, and the Pope, even though he sits in that chair, he only took over the seventh form of Roman rulership that was political rule. Therefore instead of State over Church, it is now Church over State. Then we look at the great whore which is Catholicism, and we know that this whore is also people, and the Pope is the head of the church, so that really boils down to the fact that they both have the same head, but they are not the same. In other words, The beast is not the whore, and the whore is not the beast, and neither is the Pope the beast in the overall picture, but there are references where he is pointed to as that. The main thing to remember though, is that papal church government took over the last form of Roman state government, blending the eighth with the seventh without putting another head on the beast, for those seven heads are political heads only, and the eighth is an ecclesiastical head. The world did not make the Pope a political figure. It was accomplished through time itself, as the devil constantly opened up opportunities where he (the Pope) could exercise himself in that capacity. It was actually in the 11th and 12th centuries that the Pope elevated himself to the point where he began to look upon himself as the sovereign, supreme ruler of the universe, with power and authority to depose kings, change times, laws, and seasons, and so forth. But is that not what Daniel said that he would do,over in Daniel 7? Of course it is, and secular history allows us to see that it has been fulfilled exactly as it is written in the scriptures. That is why I say, Any preacher that says the Antichrist is not going to come from that papal office, is as blind as a bat. Through their carnal interpretations of the scriptures, they would rather hold to some idea that would have him coming from Syria, or that he would be an apostate Jew. Do you really know why they still believe such as that, when the true revelation of it is so clear today? It is because they have rejected revealed truth on the major doctrines of the Bible, and God has sent strong delusion upon them to the point where they can only follow that which they see with their natural mind. First they see where Antiochus Epiphanes, a type of the Antichrist because of his hatred for the Jews, was referred to as a little horn in Daniel 8:9, and Antiochus was a Syrian, and his deeds were almost identical to what the Antichrist will do, in the great tribulation times here at the end of the age. Speaking of Antiochus, but identifying him only as a little horn, Daniel goes on to say, “And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them. Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. And a host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practiced, and prospered.” As you read that, if you do not catch the keys that unlock the truth, it sounds just exactly like it is pointing to what will happen in the last week of Daniel, in the great tribulation. But the truth of the matter is, This has already happened, and it was for a period of 2300 days, not 1260, like the Antichrist has allotted to him. We have all of this spelled out, in our article titled, “The Abomination That Maketh Desolate,” so I am only mentioning this here, to remind you of where a lot of these “so called” evangelists and big name preachers of our day, get their Syrian idea in connection with the Antichrist.
WHAT “SON OF PERDITION” MEANS
As for believing that the Antichrist will be an apostate Jew, they get that idea from John 17:12, where Jesus called Judas the son of perdition, in His prayer, saying, as He prayed to the Father, “While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gayest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; (Judas Iscariot) that the scripture might be fulfilled.” What many fail to see, is what that terminology actually points to. Son of perdition, did not point to Judas’ race; it pointed to something he was ordained to do. Son of perdition points to someone who is ordained, or predestined to lead something or someone to destruction. Judas was predestined to lead Jesus to his death. But the same spirit that took him over, and caused him to do what he did, also caused him to destroy himself. So it is that spirit of destruction in them, that makes them sons of perdition, and not their race nor heritage at all. Furthermore, the Bible has already told us where the Antichrist will come from, and that is all any son or daughter of God needs. That is why Paul wrote what he did, in his second letter to the Thessalonians. (Let us just turn to that little Epistle right now, while we are dealing with this son of perdition terminology. We will just have to go back through these scriptures that we have already looked at, and tie them together into a complete picture, as we try to close this message out.) Remember, it was Paul, in his first letter to the Thessalonians, that wrote of the rapture of the church, (4:13-17) and tied it in with the resurrection that the Jews already believed in. But between those two Thessalonian letters, those saints had become over-anxious and very impatient, concerning the rapture. They no doubt, were grabbing at every sort of idea that anyone came up with, like a lot of people are doing in our day, concerning things that Bro. Branham said, in the course of his ministry. Therefore, in order to stabilize them, and get their interests pointed in the right direction, he wrote them a second letter, and we will just pick up with verse 1, in chapter 2, where he deals with that particular problem.
SIGNS THAT POINT TO THE END
“Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together (in the rapture) unto Him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit (vain imaginations of their own minds) nor by word, (things taught to them without revelation) nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day (The day of our gathering together unto the Lord in the rapture.) shall not come, except there come a falling away first.” Let me just stop without finishing that verse, and remind you that the falling away is already taking place. It is more than 1900 years this side of Paul’s letter, and we know that a lot of those first age saints believed all of this would take place in their day, but that was not possible, for there were yet many scriptures to be fulfilled before that great event. Many people get upset when you say so, but even today, there are yet scriptures that will have to be fulfilled before the rapture of the church takes place. and Ezekiel 38 & 39 falls in that category, for there is no way to crowd that war into the last week of Daniel as some try to do, for they will still be burning weapons from that war, seven years after it is over, according to Ezek. 39:9, and I do not believe Israel will be burning weapons from that war, while the old Antichrist and his army is trying to destroy every Jew left alive, in the last half of that week. Nevertheless the falling away is a reality already for thousands who have heard the truth, and even followed it for a while, have walked away from it, to follow some other spirit. Some have gone back into denominations, some have gone back to the world, some have perverted the truth to suit their own doctrines, and some others are just drifting, not really taking a stand for anything. But thank God for those that are pressing on. To them, the last half of verse 3 will be important, so let us finish it. Alright, “Except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin (the Antichrist) be revealed, the son of perdition; (another son ordained to lead something to destruction) Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” You can lay that verse 4, right alongside Daniel 11:37. But let us read on, for I want you to see what has been holding Satan back until the proper time. Paul says in verse 5, “Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. (Who? The man of sin.) For the mystery if iniquity doth already work: (Now saints, a mystery is not a myth. A mystery is something that is there, but you just simply do not understand it.) Only he who now letteth (or hindereth) will let, until he be taken out of the way.” That, of course, is talking about the Holy Ghost, but it does not mean that the Holy Ghost leaves the earth completely, for the Spirit of God will always be here, but He-does not always work for the same thing. When He has called the last predestined Gentile to salvation, He will no longer work among Gentile people. He will turn the rest over to the devil. In other words, You never see the spirit of the Lord making corn grow on a December day when there is 30 inches of snow on the ground. He has a law that He moves by, a time, and a season, and every-thing is kept within that, so until He be taken out of the way, simply means, until He is finished with the Gentiles. When He is finished with the Gentiles, the devil will be in full control of whatever is left for a period of time. “And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming: (When? At the end of the week of Daniel.) Even him, (the Antichrist) whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders.” Where will he come from? The Bible says he will come from Rome. He is the little horn of Daniel 7, the prince that shall come of Daniel 9:26, the false prophet of Revelation 19:20, the man of sin, the son of perdition, and the man whose number is 666. Dear Brother, Dear Sister: You just simply have to keep it tied to that head that was wounded, and later healed. It cannot be Kissinger, Mussollini, nor anyone else other than the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church. The world is crying for peace, and this great ambassador of peace will promise them exactly what they are crying for, when he comes upon the scene with all power and signs and lying wonders, after the working of Satan. The old Pope steps off of a plane, and there are ever so many dignitaries waiting right there to welcome him. They do not realize it, of course, but in reality they are actually shaking hands with the Devil right then and there. No the man himself is not a devil, and don’t you ever say I called him that, but the day will come, and very soon we believe, that the devil will take him over, and when he does, Satan will be just as much in him as God was in Jesus.
HOW THE LIVES OF THE FIRST THREE BEASTS WERE PROLONGED
When Paul was writing to that Thessalonian church in 54 A.D., he was imparting to them something he had received by divine revelation from studying those scriptures such as Daniel, chap-ters 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, and so forth. He did not have to guess about the things he wrote though, like so many preachers are guilty of doing today; for he had been alone with God and his Old Testament scrolls for three years, after his conversion on the road to Damascus. Therefore what he preached was not learned in man’s schools of theology; it was learned in a school where the Holy Ghost was the only teacher. Let us just review a little of what Paul had been studying by the leadership of the Holy Ghost, as we try to tie these various scriptures together. Turn back to Daniel 7:7-8, where the little horn first makes his appearance in prophetic utterance. “After this (after his vision of three other beasts) I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, (Roman Empire) dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns. I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.” Just keep in mind that these horns represent power and they translate into kings or kingdoms in the breakup of the old Roman imperial government by the caesars. All of which are political kingdoms except one. That little horn is an ecclesiastical power that becomes so strong it actually dethrones kings, but it never puts eleven horns on the beast, because it is not the same kind as the other ten. This is the power of the papacy in the Dark Ages. Then verse 9, carries the setting all the way over to the end time. Notice, “I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, (Now I am sure you all know who the Ancient of days is, Jesus Christ, wigged with that white wig of an ancient judge.) whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head like the pure wool: His throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him: thousand thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him: the judgment was set, and the books were Opened.” Daniel’s vision reached all the way through time to the great white throne judgment, recorded in Revelation 20:10-15. You can read that later, but notice these next two verses here, now. Daniel continued saying, “I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: (the little horn, the pope) I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame.” That shows the end of this fourth beast, and verse 12 lets us see why John described that old beast as he did in Revelation 13:2, which says. “And the beast which I saw (this same ten horned beast that Daniel saw) was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon (the devil) gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.” Now let us read this 12th verse here in Daniel 7. “As concerning the rest of the beasts, (Babylon, Medio-Persia, Greece) they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time.” As ruling dominion passed from one great kingdom to another, the people of those kingdoms still remained. That is why, even though Babylon, (the lion) Medio-Persia, (the bear) and Greece, (the leopard) had their dominion taken away, they were still represented in the ten horned beast when John saw it, because the people of those first three kingdoms were still encompassed in the kingdom of this fourth beast (Rome.) That is how the lives of those former beasts were prolonged. But this little horn of the fourth beast is really the central figure. He is the one we are definitely concerned about as we deal with this message here at the endtime. Just knowing that the fourth beast of Daniel’s vision was the Roman Empire is not enough for true children of God today, we need to know the purpose which God showed these visions, and had them recorded in His holy word. As we have already said, Saints of other ages had no particular reason to need to identify the Antichrist, (that little horn of Daniel 7:8) but every true child of God in this hour of time certainly ought to know what to expect as time runs out for Gentiles.
THIS KING OF FIERCE COUNTENANCE — AN INTELLECTUAL GIANT
The Antichrist, which is the little horn of Daniel 7:8, and the king of fierce countenance of Daniel 8:23, will be an intellectual, political minded mastermind, inspired by Satan like no other man before him. But he will not present the kind of image that a lot of twentieth century preachers are looking for. They are looking for a great big giant of a man with supernatural power, that will stand out here and call fire down from heaven like some sort of magician’s trick. But that is not the picture that the Holy Ghost is revealing from the scriptures they got their ideas from. Antiochus Epiphanes, one of those who set the type of the abomination that maketh desolate, was not that kind of a man, and neither was Titus, the Roman General, which fulfilled another type of the abomination that maketh deso-late, so why should the character that all the types point to, be that kind of a man? We have got to realize that world politicians are not going to pay attention to a magician standing somewhere pulling rabbits out of a hat. They are looking for an intellectual giant that has the answers to the world’s problems, and these demon possessed magicians do not fill that requirement. Let us read Daniel 8:23, where the previous verses of that chapter have been dealing with Medio-Persia, but then goes right over to the man that all types have been pointing to in these other verses. “And in THE LATTER TIME of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a KING OF FIERCE COUNTENANCE, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up. (Now here is the man that will deceive world politicians, so notice what it says about him.) And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: (No, it will be by the power of Satan, the same power that motivated his types, Antiochus and Titus.) and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practice, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.” That points to the last half of Daniel’s seventieth week, where you find in Revelation 12:6. 14, the woman (Israel) fleeing into the wilderness to escape this demon possessed destroyer. He will put up a pretty good front for the first 317 years after he comes into his world peacemaker role. but in the middle of that week of years he will become a tyrant, more demon possessed than any that have ever proceeded him. Alright, verse 25 climaxes what it says about this character in this chapter. “And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; (Saints we are now living in the industrial age. You no longer have a great number of tinsmiths, leathercrafters, and such like, as in days of old, but scripturally it is the same thing, for this is what the world is screaming for, an age of peace and material prosperity, and this man is going to offer it to them, and they will jump at it in a minute. Naturally having attained such a place in the world’s spotlight, such a man would be feeling pretty good about him-self.) And he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many; and he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.” That is where Paul got his revelation about how he would magnify himself above God and all that is worshipped, and so forth. A lot of people ask, when will he do that? Well, Brothers and Sisters: Here is the picture. We are fast approaching a time of world shattering events, that is going to have world leaders grasping at straws, trying to find a solution to the world’s problems, and a man capable of mediating a peace covenant between them. That will bring him into the political spotlight of world affairs. This is why we are hearing this present pope speak more on unity and co-existence, and the exchanging of the wealth of the wealthy nations with the weaker nations. He is sowing those seeds in the minds of people everywhere, for that is a part of the vision of the Catholic Church, to once again maneuver the world into a position where that church can again assume leadership of temporal powers, world systems, as they did it in the Dark Ages. In the meantime the Catholic Church will be updating herself, for she will have to take on a more modern look than she has had in the past, in order to fulfill her role in the affairs of modern man. People of today are not going to return to the standards of the Catholic Church in the Dark Ages. Education has changed all of that. This is why the Pope of that hour will have to be an intellectual giant, he will have to be able to come up with the right solution to every problem, in order to usher in such a worldwide utopia as man will think he finally has. As that week of Daniel starts, and this man is introduced to the world in his new role, the world will see him as a wonderful man of love and peace. Oh I can just see things begin to settle down as business begins to blossom and flourish, and money begins to flow, and no one has to worry about war any longer. Can’t you just hear the man of the world saying, “Oh, the world should have had this a thousand years ago.” No wonder the Bible says the whole world will wonder after the beast, and worship the dragon (the devil) which gave power unto the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him? The healing of that wounded head sets the whole thing in motion. But saints, do you ever wonder what causes him to turn from being the sweet, lovable man of peace into a ruthless tyrant? I am convinced that it is what he sees going on in the land of Israel, in the first half of that week, by the ministry of those two Jewish prophets of Revelation 11:3-7.
SOME OF THE EFFECTS OF GOD’S TWO PROPHETS IN ISRAEL
When two Jewish prophets with that anointing of Moses and Elijah come on the scene in Israel, demonstrating the supernatural power of almighty God. Israel is going to see the Jehovah of the Old Testament, once again in their midst. This is what causes the elected Jew to be sealed away by the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and receive a revelation of who the prophet Jesus whom their forefathers crucified really was; the Messiah that was promised them of old. During this time, the old Pope will still be in the Vatican, in Rome. But every day he will be seeing on his television, these two Jewish prophets revealing the true God and demonstrating His power, there in Israel. What a sight to behold! He has finally managed to get the world settled down into a peaceful atmosphere, and up pops these two troublemakers, warning the Jews to flee from this deceiver, and have no part in this political farce. They will not only prophesy and warn the nation of what is ahead, they will vindicate their ministry with the very supernatural signs that followed Moses and Elijah of old. They will have power to shut up the heavens, that it rain not, turn water to blood, smite the earth with plagues, and fire will proceed out of their mouths to devour their enemies that oppose them. God has allotted them 3 1/2 years of prophetic time for this ministry to Israel, and during all that time, over across the Mediterranean there sits the old Pope of Rome witnessing this great display of the mighty power of God. Do not tell me that he can sit there day in and day out, watching that on the national news broadcast, without it having some kind of adverse affect on him. Here he is, known to the world as the Vicar of Christ, holding all the political strings in his hands to control Western politics, and these two God-anointed prophets are there in Israel, exposing him to the world as a counterfeit. Brother! three and a half years of that, is all he will be able to take. He will have to do something about it before it goes any further. There is also something else to consider, something that actually brings the whole thing to the boiling point and sets the stage for an explosion. There are many, many Catholic Churches in Israel, for through the years they (the Catholics) have been the ones that have represented Christianity to that part of the world. Therefore as those Jews become revelated, and learn that Catholicism is an apostate religion, I believe they will begin to do things to those Catholic Church buildings, and maybe even the Catholic people themselves, and that will really add to the upset. Jealousy and hatred for those Jews will drive him to the point where Satan will anoint him to fulfill all that has been prophesied of him. This is when he magnifies himself in his heart according to what we have read from Daniel 8:25, and determines that this thing must be stopped. Up until that point he will have been on a pretty level keel. His world politics has been effective everywhere except there in Israel, and because of the success of his peace-making policy, craft (or industry) has been made to prosper. Factories are running full blast, money is jingling in the pockets of everyone, and it looks like the world has finally reached the utopia it has sought for, except for one thing, all that disturbance over there in Israel. In his heart he will think, Why should two men, no matter who they claim to be representing, be allowed to stir up so much trouble at a time when everything is finally calmed down? Natural man, with his carnal reasoning, will be thinking along those same lines also, for the nations are back to work, and all denominational religions have finally made peace with each other, and become one united body of people, (all worshipping the devil) and everything is wonderful. No doubt people all over the world will be screaming, “There ought to be something done, to stop those two Jews from blaspheming this holy man who has been able to bring peace to the world for the first time.” The world as a whole has always had it in for the Jews anyhow, so this just rekindles old feelings toward them. If it wasn’t for them, we would have no problems at all, some will say.
GOD’S TWO PROPHETS ARE KILLED
Listen to me Saints: By the time 3 1/2 years have passed, with those two Jewish prophets continually exposing Catholicism and the Pope for what they are in the sight of God, he will be able to sit there and listen to it no longer. He will take his European peace-keeping troops, and hop across the Mediterranean to the land of Israel, and stop that bunch of spiritual Jews from worshipping God and carrying on like a bunch of holy rollers. His first act will be to grab those two prophets, and make a universal display of his reckoning with them. He will have them killed, and will not let them be buried. Their dead bodies will lie there in the streets of Jerusalem for three days and a half, while the world looks on, rejoicing and sending gifts to each other, because the two prophets that had been tormenting them, were now out of the way for good. (That is what they thought, or will think.) In his heart the old Pope will be exalting himself, “I will show the world where the real power of God is.” Therefore not only does he have the two prophets killed, but he takes over the Jews’ temple, sits himself up in it, and shows himself as God, while inaugurating a mass slaughter of Jews, and anyone else who worships God outside of his approved system of religion. There are many scriptures that put this picture together, so in an effort to collect them together, let us now go to the 11th chapter of Revelation, and read about the two prophets called witnesses. Let us begin with verse 3. “And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall PROPHESY a thousand two hundred and threescore days, (three and one half years of prophetic time, which has only 360 days to a year) clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees, (You can also find this in Zechariah, chapter 4.) and the two candle-sticks standing before the God of the earth. (Notice now) And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: (you can compare that with Rev. 19:21, which speaks of Jesus Christ slaying men with the sword that proceeded out of His mouth. They will speak this very judgment upon those worthy of it.) and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed. (This next verse lets us see that they will have the same signs following them, that Elijah and Moses had, which speaks of the same anointing of God upon them.) These have power to shut the heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will. (It is this demonstration of the supernatural power of God that draws worldwide attention to their ministry, and it is their prophesying and preaching that infuriates the old peacemaking Pope and drives him to the end of his patience, and he will make his move to stop them exactly in the middle of the 70th week of Daniel. That will fulfill Daniel 9:27, which shows him stopping the Jews from offering sacrifice unto God, and naturally that is when he himself takes over the temple of God, which fulfills 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4, so notice this next verse.) And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and a half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. (Watch this) And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, (Why? Because they are of another spirit, and the spirit of Satan is always against anything God anoints men to do.) and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another: because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth. (People who have sold out to the devil simply cannot stand to hear what these two prophets of God will say, for they will be exposing apostate (religion, false peace pacts, and most important of all, the old false prophet himself, the Pope of Rome. So these demon possessed people of the whole earth will rejoice over their death. But after 312 days their rejoicing will come to an abrupt end, because God will again put on a great display of His mighty power.) And after three days and a half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them. (Brother! Who wouldn’t be afraid?) And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them. And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.” Now Saints, This does not mean that these people will actually worship God, but that they will be forced to attribute what they have witnessed to God. In other words, Only God could do that; But do not think that will stop the old Pope, for he has already determined that he will do whatever is necessary to keep control of the situation, so this is the beginning of the great tribulation, a time of trouble such as never was since Israel became a nation, according to Daniel 12:1, and brother, she has been through some hard times through the centuries of time. Just think, what Antiochus Epiphanes did, and what Titus and his Roman soldiers did in 70 A.D., and none of that could compare to what will take place in the last 3 1/2 years of that week of Daniel by the direction of the Antichrist, who will be none other than the Pope of Rome, the very man that has been so sweet and lovable up to that time. He has determined that if he cannot rule the world by his great peace pact, he will rule it by the sword. That takes us right back to the middle of verse 25, in the 8th chapter of Daniel, where we were reading. “He shall magnify himself in his heart, AND BY PEACE SHALL DESTROY MANY.” That simply means that he will destroy any opposing force, so that he can put in his own brand of peace. But in the middle of that week, after the two prophets are killed and God intervenes as we read in Rev. 11, events have transpired that make it impossible to return to any kind of peaceful condition, for everything has already gone past the point of no return. From here on out, it will be by the sword. Of course the remainder of verse 25 pertains to events that will transpire at the end of the years of great tribulation, after the Antichrist has used up his allotted time, and Jesus returns to earth with His great army of saints. “He shall also stand up against the PRINCE of princes; (Jesus Christ) but he shall be broken without hand.” Yes, he will be broken by the sharp sword that proceeds forth from the mouth of Jesus Christ. No one will have to lay a hand on him; he will be broken by the very word of God, and cast in the lake of fire, according to Revelation 19:20. In 2 Thess 2.8, Paul said the Lord would consume him with the spirit of His mouth, and destroy him with the brightness of His coming.
GOD PUTS IT IN MEN’S HEARTS TO FULFILL HIS WILL
As I have already said, Paul had been studying this prophecy of Daniel, and that is where he got his revelation of those things he wrote in the New Testament. Whilst he was out there in the desert, after his conversion, the Spirit of God opened up these scriptures to him. So let us go from Daniel 8:25, where it speaks of this man exalting himself, over to Daniel 11:36, where we find it again. “And the king (talking about this Antichrist) shall do according to his own will; and he shall EXALT HIMSELF and MAGNIFY HIMSELF above every god, (Is that not what Paul said about him?) and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: (according to Daniel 9:27) for that that is determined shall be done. (This next verse mystifies a lot of people, and I admit that I used to be mystified by it myself, until I studied it all out and saw what it pertained to.) Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.” Now we know the Pope’s office and authority has always been of Satanic origin, never God inspired, nor God ordained. The Catholic Church has survived the breakups of every kind of temporal power, because she has always been able to change her tactics enough to co-exist with whatever power was in office, anywhere. That is why the book of Revelation calls her a whore; she has committed fornication with kings and potentates of the whole world, always selling herself to please whatever power she is flirting with. But we must realize, that by the time verse 37 becomes a fulfilled reality the world at large has evolved through many centuries of political ideas and kingdoms, and ever since the Catholic Church came into being, she has always been able to change her image enough to survive the changes, and except for the period of the wounded head, the Pope has always been able to ride on top of every situation and power. One thing we must keep in mind though, is that Satan is in every political system, and he is in the Catholic religious system, and by the very words of Jesus, in Matthew 12:26, we are made to know that Satan does not cast out Satan, lest his kingdom be divided. Therefore Satan’s church has always been able to cope with political kingdoms as they evolved from one to the other. But Revelation 17:17 lets us know also that God is able to override every condition when He sees fit to do so – for it says, (speaking of the destruction of the whore) “For God hath put it in their hearts to fulfill His will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast until the words of God shall be fulfilled.” What does that mean? Some will surely ask, Well we have all been made aware of the fact that there is a great political and economic upheaval in the world today. Communism is a strong political force, going under the disguise of Socialism, and little by little it is working its way into the governmental structures of the world. It is a spirit of Satan, designed to eventually bring the whole world under a socialistic form of government, if time were allowed to stand long enough. Complete atheism is Satan’s goal, and its effects are present all around us; In other words, No god, no devil, and that lets man become his own god. Modern man has made material-ism his god, if it would be correct to say that there is such a thing. The dollar is more important than anything else in the world. Therefore, regardless of what you may choose to call it, the spirit that is invading the world today is an atheistic spirit. That is why Communism and Catholicism have never been compatible. One is anti-God, and the other believes in God, but is anti-truth, which is antichrist. But I wonder how many of you have noticed how this Pope, as he travels from nation to nation, just seems to hold those communist powers spellbound, when he is there? They would like to cut his throat, but somehow or other, he is able to keep them spellbound. That has to lay like that until the Catholic Church has run its course. But as her time runs out, and she is approaching the hour of her destruction, Catholicism as a religious system, will be swallowed up by Communism. That is why we read in Revelation 17:16, that the ten horns will hate the whore, and will make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. Communism rising up in those nations will completely destroy the monetary and political power of the Catholic Church, but they will not destroy the man of sin, which is the Pope of the Catholic Church. That man is going to be so anointed of Satan, as time moves into the last half of that week of time, and so power crazy and angry, that the church will no longer mean anything to him. He is Satan’s masterpiece, in his relentless efforts to defeat the plan and purpose of God, so do not stumble when you read in the word of God, that this man of sin will magnify himself above every god, even the God of all gods. For when he sees what the true God does through those two prophets there in Israel, he will turn himself over completely to
Satanic powers. No, he will not tell the world that he is demon possessed; he will just try to show the world that he has power that even Israel does not have, and God is going to allow him 3 1/2 years of time to exercise his Satanic power, but God will still protect certain chosen ones from his wrath during that time.
MIGHTY FEATS OF A STRANGE GOD
Alright now saints: I believe you should begin to see why the Bible says, Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers. As long as he (whatever pope was in that office) claimed to be the Vicar of Christ, he of necessity, I also, would have to say that the God of the Christians is the God of the Jews, for the whole world knows that the word of God first came to the Jews. But when this last Pope sees that God returns to the Jews in such power and demonstration through those two Jewish prophets, he knows this exposes him to the whole world as a counterfeit. So in his demon possessed state, he takes on a new identity, the god of forces. Verse 38, “But in his estate shall he honor the God of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honor with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.” Circumstances will force him to take off the shield and robe of the church, and become an evil tyrant that magnifies himself to the point where he himself is god, but through the power of Satan, he will rule by force, because he honors the god of forces. What God would do through leadership in His true people, Satan always uses force and deception, so this Satanic vessel will try to do by force, what he has failed to accomplish through deception – As for the desire of women, he is in an office now, that long ago established that celibacy teaching, and while priests are rising on the scene today, that are trying their level best to get the Pope to change that old order of the church, this pope dogmatically refuses, so he has got to ride that identity all the way to the end. But for the duration of his reign, he will become altogether a political, socialistic minded dictator. He will have no thoughts whatsoever of establishing any sort of democracy in the world. for he himself will take complete control of everything in the western world. He will hold the reins of Socialism when he controls the wealth of the nations. Then with all the military capabilities of modern weaponry in this computer age, he is going to demonstrate to the world that he is God of this whole thing, and do not forget, it will be Satan in him, causing him to act like that. He will not know this; but God just simply turns that power over to him for an allotted period of 3 1/2 years of time. So verse 39 says, “Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory; and he shall cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for gain.” Now Brothers and Sisters: Strong holds there, does not refer to military forts; it pertains to governmental offices, high places of the world system. It will be within his power to manipulate things to suit his own purpose, through the political structures of the nations, and the strange god is Satan. It will be by his power that these mighty feats are accomplished, and do not ever think that the worship of him (Satan) will be anything like you might see over in the remote, dark, jungle regions of Africa. Those heathen dance around, and offer some kind of animal sacrifice, and we know that what they do is devil worship, but what about this modern educated society right here in the twentieth century? Brother! When this genius comes on the scene with his great plan of peace and prosperity for all, this intellectual society of modern mankind will accept him in a minute. These kinds are not interested in the God of Israel; they want a god that will give them houses, cars, boats. swimming pools, and this sort of material things, and that is exactly what they are going to get, but their souls will be in bondage, and there will be no way out, for their destiny will be sealed just as sure as the Holy Ghost seals every true born again child of God. Their god will lead them to destruction.
CHRIST CUT OFF AT END OF 69th WEEK
As for dividing the land for gain. I can just see those Moslem nations that have linked up with the Pope’s great peace agreement, when he begins to manifest himself in the last half of that week, they are going to be very disturbed, and angry with him. They will realize when he starts his bloodbath against all who will not bow to him, that everything they have agreed to, was only for his gain. That will put them in a state of unrest, and the situation will get worse and worse as time passes. In the meantime the old Pope has moved himself into the Jewish temple that they have already built, and he has his whole international police force stationed in Jerusalem. Right from that very area of the Middle East, he is going to show the world that he is God, and give those other Middle East nations warning not to get in his way. But during the 3 1/2 years of ruthless tyranny at the hands of this man of sin, (this son of perdition) all eyes will be focused on the Middle East. Oriental nations will prepare themselves, and come into the Jezreel Valley to get into the action, for this is where these Communistic forces will fight the battle of Armageddon. But we know the literal return of Jesus Christ with His vast army of saints, will interrupt, and bring a climax to that great battle that the whole world talks about, and fears, but cannot do anything to prevent, because God’s word says it will be fought. Let us just drop down to verse 45 now though, for a comment or two before moving on. “And he (the Antichrist, the Pope) shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.” He will not build anything; this just simply speaks of the fact that he will be residing in the Jews’ temple there on Mount Zion. That is where he will establish his headquarters, right there in the temple of the Jews. But the main thing I wanted you to see, is the last part of that verse, “Yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.” The climax of it all is the same as chapter 8, he comes to his end. Chapter 8, verse 25, and Revela-tion 19:19-20, both let us know that he is destroyed by the return of Jesus Christ, when He returns to earth to set up His literal earthly kingdom. As for the identity of this man who will be the Anti-christ, I do not see how anyone can miss the fact that he is a Roman. Syria is out of the picture, and an apostate Jew is not even to be considered, for all scripture points to Rome, to a prince of the people that destroyed Jerusalem in 70 A.D., for we all know it was none other than Roman soldiers that did that. Daniel 9:26-27 is a very important key to a proper understanding of the subject we are dealing with, for God showed Daniel seventy weeks of years in which He would deal with the people of Israel because of their transgressions, and that 490 year period of time is broken down into three distinctive divisions. First there is seven weeks (49 years.) Then there is sixty two weeks, (434 years) making a total of 483 years of that 490, that expired before Jesus was crucified. When you read Daniel 9:25, you see there, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince (Jesus Christ) you have seven weeks, and then sixty two weeks, so notice verse 26 now, “And after threescore and two weeks (in other words, at the end of the sixty two week period) shall Messiah be cut off, but not for Himself: (That speaks of the crucifixion which was certainly not because of any wrong that Jesus had done, but was strictly for the purpose of satisfying man’s sin debt before God, so it was not for Himself.) and the people (Romans) of the prince that shall come (the Antichrist) shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; (that was done in 70 A.D. by Titus and his Roman army) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, (a flood of persecution and destruction) and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. (Now please notice that verse 27 starts out, “And he,” so the he there has to pertain to “the prince that shall come” of verse 26, and remember also, that this he, is to be a prince of the Romans.) “And he (the Roman Catholic Pope) shall confirm the covenant with many (many nations) for one week: (7 years) and in the midst (the middle) of the week (after exactly 1260 days) he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, (That is when he drives the Jews out of their temple and seats himself in it, according to Paul’s revelation, in 2 Thessalonians 2:4, where he shows himself that he is God.) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, (God will not be there) even until the consummation, (until the end of the age) and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.” In other words, he (the Antichrist) will be allowed to reign for a full 1260 days after the breaking of the peace covenant, in which time he will be seated in the temple of God in Jerusalem, presenting himself to the world as the very God, with power to do whatsoever he chooses to do. Then at the end of that 1260 days Revelation 19:11-21 will be fulfilled. That is when Jesus Christ comes from heaven with His great army of redeemed saints, and destroys the whole ungodly mass of degenerate mankind that still remains alive, climaxing the reign of the Antichrist, and also the great battle of Armageddon that will be raging there in the Jezreel valley, in Israel. The old Antichrist and his beast system (those two spirits) will be cast into the lake of fire, and Jesus with His bride saints will be ready to judge the remaining element of living mankind to find worthy subjects from every nation to pass into the Millennial age for the purpose of repopulating the earth (Matt. 25:31-46.) This is when Jesus Christ will be sitting upon the throne of His glory, ruling the nations for a thousand years of peace, because the devil will be bound during all that time, unable to cause any trouble. Now Saints: We have covered a lot of scriptures in this article. and we have read a lot of history that deals with the fulfillment of many of them, but the prophetic scriptures that are yet to be fulfilled are of the greatest interest to the true people of God in this late hour of time just before the coming of the Lord, so I hope you will allow the Holy Spirit to put all of this together for you, so you can see the complete picture that has been revealed to the church in this generation. There are many voices in the world today, claiming to be preachers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, but many of them would not tell you the truth about some of the things we have dealt with in this message, even if they knew the truth, for it would upset their own apple-cart, and reveal their own carnality and deception. Many of them are so wrapped up with ecumenalism in the name of peace, that they would not dare mention one word against the Catholic Church, nor the Pope, so they try to bring the Antichrist out of something that has already been fulfilled. That is just how carnal minds work. They can never see past their noses. Brothers and Sisters: I thank God for the Comforter that was sent to teach us all things. For I would sure hate to have to feed my spiritual soul off of what is being taught in apostate religion today. I believe we have sufficiently identified the Antichrist to any true child of God who may read this message, so we will close with this admonition, Let us conduct ourselves as children of light, and shun all of these works of darkness. AMEN
EXCERPTS FROM REVELATION MESSAGE
WOUNDED HEAD
As we look at chapter 13, we find John watching a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns. Not only did it have 7 heads and ten horns; it also had characteristics of a leopard, a bear, and a lion, and was given the seat and authority of the dragon. We have printed different articles that go into detail describing how this beast happened to have 7 heads and ten horns; therefore we will not go into all of that here. We will just say that the beast was that old Roman empire, that at one time had only one great head. That was down through the last of the old Caesars, Nero being the last. The seven heads John saw on this beast, were the seven forms of imperial rulership that the empire passed through, after the death of Nero. Naturally there were many emperors of Rome, down through the years, but only 7 of them actually stood out in a way to be considered a head. Our article titled, The Abomination That Maketh Desolate, gives their names, and goes into detail on why their forms of government stood out as the 7 heads that John saw on that old Roman beast. Verse 3, speaks of a time when one of those heads received a wound that looked like it would be unto death, but the wound was healed, and all the world wondered after the beast. That speaks of the wounding of that papal head, by the reformers, and by the sword of Napoleon Bonaparte, and the healing of that wound is what we see taking place right now. All of the protesting daughters of the old mother church system (Catholicism) are returning home to their mother, through the great ecunemical movement of our day. Therefore the wound is almost completely healed. The authority of the pope of Rome has just about been restored to the point where he can step into his end time role, to fulfill Daniel 9:27, and all these other scriptures that point to him. Now chapter 17 lets us know that the pope of the Roman Catholic Church is actually the eighth, but the beast only had seven heads when Daniel and John both saw it. The reason for that is that they were looking at political heads. Charlemagne of Germany was the 7th head. His form of imperial rulership placed head number 7 on that old Roman beast; and as time progressed, the pope just began to reach right over and take over that last form of old imperial rulership. That is why Rev. 17:11 says, “And the beast that was. and is not, even he is the eighth. and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.” In other words, those old popes just began to exercise their authority above that of the emperors. They have never called themselves emperors, but in process of time, they moved themselves into a position where they could rule men’s lives with the same authority that the old Caesars ruled with. Therefore the head that John saw wounded was that ecclesiastical head that had taken over the 7th form of imperial government, and it is that ecclesiastical head that is being healed.
WHAT ABOUT THE BEAST?
Do not let this word BEAST, throw you off course, for it is used in three different ways, but they all pertain to the same thing. It applies to a system in some of its usages. At other times it applies to the man who is the head of the system, (the pope who is the Antichrist) and at other times it applies to the spirit of it all, and of course we know, that is the devil himself. As you read through verse 4, and on into the following verses, you see the beast terminology leave the system and go directly to the man who is the head of that beast system. It is the man that is given 42 months. It is the man that opens his mouth in blasphemy against God, and it is the beast man that the number 666, belongs to. Verse 18 tells us that, In verse 11. John saw another beast; This one was coming up out of the earth, and had two horns like a lamb – He says in verse 12, “And he (this two horned beast) exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. Keep in mind now, brothers and sisters: these visions cover great spans of time. Remember also, that horns represent power. The old Roman empire was broken up into 10 different kingdoms; that accounted for the ten horns on the first beast, but where does this second beast fit into the picture? That is America with her political and ecclesiastical powers. The first beast rose up out of the sea. Sea is symbolic of people. That first beast rose up from the midst of people, but this second beast came up out of the earth. Pilgrims came here seeking religious freedom from Roman Catholicism. They set up a form of government where the people themselves ruled, instead of a dictator. In her early years, this country was not looked upon as a world power, but she later became that. John watched her all the way from her humble beginning, right on through until she had formed an image to the first beast. It is this nation that has pushed the ecumenical council of churches. It is the religious leaders of this country that is leading all of the protestant daughters back home to mama. It is this country that has performed great scientific miracles, so that they have caused fire to come down from heaven in the sight of men, and it is this country that has deceived great multitudes, and used them to form an image of the first beast. The first beast has led human souls to destruction down through the ages, and now, Protestantism has formed a system that is doing exactly the same thing. The hour will come, when anyone who does not belong to organized religion will be denied their God given rights and privileges. People like us will not even be allowed to openly refer to ourselves as being of the church of the living God. There are people hanging on to this message right now, that will sell out and take the mark of the beast when things really begin to get tight, simply because they do not have a revelation in their soul that will enable them to stand against the pressure in that hour. People who just drift in and out of church, and never really take a definite stand for present truth, are prime candidates for the mark of the beast, regardless of what they may have heard. If you do not make it out of here in the rapture, and God leaves the breath of natural life in you for awhile, you will do one of two things. You will either accept the mark of the beast, or you will be killed for refusing it. Now here is my point, you are not able to serve God now, in an hour when there is very little persecution of Christians, how will you be strong enough spiritually to stand up before that beast and refuse to take his mark? Some have even said, If I don’t make it in the rapture. I will just have to be a foolish virgin. You just have a head knowledge of truth, without any revelated understanding, or you would not say such a thing.
Vicarius Filii Dei is a title assumed by the Pope of the Roman Catholic church. The meaning of this title is, (one who stands in the place of God), Vicar of the Son of God. We know from the scriptures that we are priests unto God, and have no need for any man on earth to stand between us and God. (See Rev 1:6. 5:10.) Therefore, this is a blasphemous title that the Pope has taken to himself. We will print, (following these remarks, this title, worked out in Roman numerals. In Latin the U has the same equivalent as the V. which makes it work out perfectly to the number of a man according to Rev. 13:18. As you add these columns together you get the number 666.
IDENTIFYING THE NUMBER
Let us take a little time before moving too far away from the 13th chapter and try to pin this number 666 to the rightful owner of it according to scripture. I realize that there have been many men through the centuries of time whose names could have been worked out to 666 by the method we are going to demonstrate. But there has never been another one who could fulfill the scripture that must line up with such an identity. Chapter 13:17-18,we find that there will come a time, (during that week of Daniel), when no man can buy or sell without the mark of the beast or the number of his name. Here is wisdom, says verse 18, let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast. for it is the number of a man: and his number is six hundred threescore and six. We see here that this number belongs to a certain man, and that certain man is identified as the beast. Now let’s not get confused by the different ways that the word beast is used throughout the book. First of all the beast is a spirit, which is the devil. Secondly, it is a system which is inspired and motivated by the devil, and thirdly it is a man who is incarnated by the devil, and that is the man that we wish to identify. Daniel 9:26-27 identifies a prince that shall come in this way.
THE PEOPLE OF THE PRINCE THAT SHALL COME SHALL DESTROY THE CITY AND THE SANCTUARY
Verse 26: Now we know that the people who destroyed the city were Romans, led by Titus in the year 70 A.D. Therefore, the prince that is to come, who will confirm a covenant with many for one week, will have to be a prince of the people who destroyed the city and the sanctuary. This makes him a prince of the Romans. Now who is the prince of the Romans that would be in a position to fulfill all the other prophecies tied to this particular office, but the Pope of Rome? He is the only Roman prince with worldwide influence enough to mediate such a covenant of peace. Notice in Dan. 9:27, he, (that same prince that is to come! breaks his covenant with Israel. Dan. 7:8 refers to him as a little horn that rises up with eyes like a man and a mouth speaking great things. Verse 25 shows that he will speak great words against the Most High God and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change the times and the laws; and THEY, (the saints of the Most High, see Rev. 13:7), shall be given unto his hand until a time, (one year), and times, (two years), and the dividing of times, (one half year ). Dan. 7-11 identifies the little horn with the beast and shows that it is all destroyed by fire after it has been allowed to run its course, (see Rev. 19:20, and 20:10). This prince that we are identifying has assumed a title that belongs only to God. (Sovereign, IMPERIAL, UNIVERSAL RULER.) That makes him a blasphemer. Rev. 17:3 speaking of the names of blasphemy in connection with the woman which was sitting upon the scarlet colored beast ties this prince to the Catholic church which he is the head of. Assuming this position of sovereignty makes him the false prophet of Rev. 16:13, which ties in with all these other titles and all of them point to the same man.
There has never been a religion on the face of this earth that could fit any more perfectly Dan. 7:25 than the Catholic church, for they truly have changed many things already and will climax it all in the last half of that week of Daniel, especially by the time the mark of the beast becomes law.
CASHLESS SOCIETY
Brothers and sisters, we are living right at the edge of a cashless society. Computers are taking over jobs that it has taken hundreds and thousands of humans to do in the past. The hour is fast approaching, especially in Europe, when there is not going to be any nickels and dimes and quarters in peoples’ pockets. The cashless system itself is not the mark of the beast, but it will have the whole world already programmed and ready for the beast to take over, when his hour arrives. That is what the scripture means when it says, “And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.” When that hour comes, ten million dollars of your present currency could not buy one loaf of bread. That is why I say, If you do not have something real in your soul before then, you will sell your soul for a loaf of bread and think little about it, until after it is too late. God’s 144,000 Jewish preachers will be on the scene preaching the last good news that this world will ever hear, but there will be great multitudes that will completely ignore their warnings. On the other hand, chapter 7:9 lets us see that there will be a great multitude that does take heed to their warning. We have already covered their situation earlier in the message. There is just one other thing that I would like to say right here, concerning the foolish virgins who will be martyred in that tribulation hour.
WORDS OF ETERNAL LIFE
Taking the setting from Matthew 25:1-13, we have touched on these foolish virgins from time to time, and sometimes we use certain terms a little too freely for them to have a genuine scriptural application. I am mainly concerned with the term BAPTISM of the Holy Ghost. When the apostle Paul used that term, it only applied to those who were completely immersed in a genuine revelation of the truth of God’s word, those who accepted the revelation of the oneness of God, and the revelation of water baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and walked in all the truth of the gospel that Jesus died to make effective. But it seems that we are living in an hour when the term is applied to every experience anyone has where they feel the anointing presence of the Spirit of God. Saints: Listen to me, If all of these people who are having experiences, and calling it the baptism of the Holy Ghost were truly receiving the BAPTISM of the Spirit of God, truth would not be rejected by so many of them when they hear it. If you read the Bible correctly, Jesus plainly stated that one of the things that the Holy Ghost would do for believers, would be to guide them into all truth, and teach them all things. Why is this not happening? How can they have the BAPTISM of the Holy Ghost, and still fight against truth? I am afraid that many of them are receiving a counterfeit experience, and others are receiving a measure of the Spirit of God, which in reality is the Holy Ghost, but it is improperly referred to as the BAPTISM of the Holy Ghost. Open your Bibles to John 6:63, and I will try to clarify what I have just said. Jesus had just told those who had been following Him that except they eat His flesh and drink His blood, they had no life in them, and many of those that had followed Him so very close up to that point, were offended, and walked no more with Him. I got ahead of the verse I wanted to read to you, so let us read it now. “It is the spirit that quickeneth; (gives life) the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” He went on to say, There are some of you that do not believe. He knew who they were; and He went ahead and said to them, But you cannot come unto me unless it were given unto you of my Father. That is when many of them turned back from following Him, and that is when He looked at His twelve apostles and said, “Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the WORDS of eternal life.” I want you to understand that eternal life only comes to us when we hear and believe the WORDS of eternal life. When you are hearing words that are saying, God is three persons, a holy trinity, and that the second person of that triune Godhead loved you and died for you, you have only heard a half truth. You have not yet heard the WORDS of eternal life. When you heard that the pope is the vicar of the Son of God, and that he has the authority to forgive you, if you will confess your sins, you have not heard the WORDS of eternal life. If you are depending on that for the salvation of your soul you are bound for the lake of fire, even if you have laid on the floor and spoke in tongues all night. In other words, the words of eternal life, are the words that those apostles of Christ preached by revelation of what Jesus had taught them while He was with them. Whoever heard them preach, heard the unadulterated gospel; therefore when they believed it and obeyed it, they received the BAPTISM of the Holy Ghost. They were baptized into the body of Christ, just like Paul wrote to the Corinthian church in his first letter. (12:13) “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.” It is the baptism of the Holy Ghost that places us into the body of Christ. and the body of Christ is the bride of Christ. If you are in that body you are going to be caught away to the marriage supper before that dark tribulation hour arrives. Are you following me? To the apostle Paul. and all the others who wrote epistles that are part of the New Testament as far as that goes, the body of Christ, the bride of Christ, and the church all meant the same thing. These are terms they applied to those who had received the gospel, and been baptized in water in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ
WHAT FOOLISH VIRGINS RECEIVE
Now let us come back to the 25th chapter of Matthew. We all agree that the oil which the wise virgins had, and the foolish did not, is the Holy Ghost. The Spirit of God is the Holy Ghost: let that be clear also. The WISE virgins are those who have the BAPTISM of the Holy Ghost, and they are shut in with God in a revelation of truth. They have the seal of eternal life. They could never be lost, they could never miss the rapture; their destiny is sealed. But what about those foolish virgins? How could they be called VIRGINS spiritually speaking, and still not have oil in their vessels? First let me remind you that this is a parable. There will not be a literal setting where some folks are asking others for some of their portion of the Holy Ghost. What this is pointing to is these denominational people in our day that are waking up to the fact that they need the Holy Ghost They have been living off of certain truths from the word of God, and let me say also. Every truth from the word of God carries a certain amount of the Spirit of God with it. When the truth that they have been holding to, came forth through their founders, that truth came by the Spirit of God. But as new generations came on the scene. They held the letter of that truth, but did not have the measure of the Spirit of God that their founding fathers had; therefore symbolically their lamps have gone out. When they realize that they need the Holy Ghost, they are told of certain meetings they can attend where they always pray for interested souls to receive the Holy Ghost. That is where the term comes from. Go to them that sell, and buy for yourselves, comes in at. While they are all caught up in the excitement of those meetings, those who already had the Holy Ghost really get serious with God – They are allowing the Spirit of God to bathe them with the revelated word, which is purging them from every trace of Babylon. They are shut in with God. “Afterward came also the other virgins saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But He answered and said, Verily, I say I unto you, I know you not.” That simply means that He has not had that kind of close relationship with them, that He has with the others. It is not that He knows nothing at all about them, and there will not be a literal door shut against them. It just means that by the time they finally begin to see enough going on in the ranks of their charismatic fellowships. that it causes them to realize they still do not have all they need: they begin to seek out those places where they know revelated truth is preached, but even though they hear what is preached, the Holy Ghost does not open their understanding. They just simply cannot understand what they are hearing. But, Bro. Jackson, did not they receive the Holy Ghost? Some will ask. We have to believe that they received a measure of the Spirit of God, which is a measure of the Holy Ghost, but I believe we err in saying they received the BAPTISM of the Holy Ghost. I believe they receive enough of the reality of God’s word, that they are willing to die a martyr’s death at the hands of the Antichrist, rather than denounce it. But if you insist that they receive the same portion that the bride has, then I will have to ask you this, Why could they not get in the revelation? Why will they not be raptured? Why will Jesus say, I know you not? You have to remember that this parable is not fulfilled in a day’s time. All the foolish virgins do not return at the same moment. This will be a condition that will exist for a period of time in the closing days, weeks, or years of the grace age. Therefore let us not try to pin this thing down too tight. Let us leave room for all of the scriptures to be applied. Just to say, Yes, they receive the Holy Ghost, to most people would leave the idea that they will receive the same measure that the bride has, but I hope you can see that if they did, they would not be left here to face the beast, and neither would the revelation he closed to them. Remember, Brother Branham sounded the midnight cry while he was still alive, so this condition has been in effect for a number of years already. Concerning the charismatics he said, That is your foolish virgins going after oil. Our main concern should not be trying to figure out who the foolish virgins are anyhow. We should be devoting all of our time and efforts to obeying the truth that we have received. Remember, there is another parable there in Matthew that is being fulfilled also I am talking about the one in chapter 13 about the sower that went forth to sow. Verse 23: lets us know that only those who understand the word they hear will bear fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. According to the parable, a lot of people will hear the word, and follow for a while, but by and by. Either they will not be able to the reproach that goes with following truth, or the deceitfulness of worldly gain, and the pleasures of life will choke the word, and cause them to be unfruitful. If you can see the reality of what Jesus spoke in this parable, you will no longer ask, Why do we need to know all of that anyhow? That is why I stress the importance of understanding what we hear. Like I have said many times, If you die tonight – you may die without understanding a lot of things. But if you are privileged to live until Jesus calls for His bride to meet Him in the air, you will need to understand what is in this book, or you will be left behind. The hour will come when you will face the Antichrist for a showdown. You will either give up to him and be damned, or you will resist him unto death because you have enough of God in you that you cannot give up.
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