Of Popes and Prophecy, Part 3

In parts one and two of this series, I gave you a background based on Bible prophecy and history that leads me to believe that Revelation 17 speaks about the short reign of Benedict XVI and the installation of Pope Francis, and seems to point to him being the last pope.  Here, I'll break down for you how I came to that understanding of Revelation 17.

I do believe that the world is ending, but not as is often portrayed by Hollywood or mass media.  I believe it according to the sound rootedness of scripture.  As the Bible says in 2 Timothy 3:16, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness."  And for those who don't think prophecy is something the average person can or should try to understand, Revelation 1:3 says, "Blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand."  At the end of Revelation in chapter 22, verse 7, Jesus says, "Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book."  In Amos 3:7, the Bible says, "Surely the Lord God will do nothing but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets."  A time is coming when it will be hard to find the things and the words of God all around.  It will be against the law to live out a Godly life, to worship God according to his Word, the Bible.  Amos 8:11-12 say, "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord: And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it.."

Today is the time to study for yourself.  2 Timothy 2:15 reads, "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."  Remember that spiritual things are spiritually discerned (1 Corinthians 2:14-15).  So, we have to approach Biblical study with prayer, allowing God to guide us, to reveal things to us, so we don't end up like the "unlearned and unstable" who wrestle the scriptures on their own, to their own detriment (see 2 Peter 3:16-17).

Now that that bit of housekeeping has been done, let's talk about Pope Francis being l'ultimo papa.  In Revelation 17:6, John says he wonders greatly, he's astonished, by this woman who was drunk with the blood of the martyrs and the saints of Jesus.  But in verse 7, the angel asks why he's astonished and proceeds to explain the mystery of this woman and the beast that carries her.

• The beast "was, is not, and shall ascend" (17:8), which is reminiscent of the beast of which "the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.  And [John] saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed." (13:2-3)
• When the beast ascends out of the bottomless pit, it goes into perdition, or final ruin (17:8).
• Just as in 13:3, the whole world wonders after this beast whose deadly wound was healed, 17:8 points out that all those who are not written in the book of life, from the foundation of the world (which contributes to the case for a judgment that's going on now in heaven--but that's a whole nother blog post)--all those who don't accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and live according to His Word (the Bible)--wonder when they see this "beast that was, and is not, and yet is".
• 17:9 says, "Here is the mind which hath wisdom.  The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sitteth."  17:18 says, "And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth."  One place comes to mind and that is Vatican City, the smallest country in the world.  Yet it has great sway, great influence the world over in religion and politics, and many spheres of society.
• 17:10, "And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space."  The wound that was delivered to the papacy in 1798, during the reign of Pius VI by General Berthier of Napoleon's army, was healed during the reign of Pius XI.  The Lateran Treaty, signed in 1929 between the Italian government, headed by Benito Mussolini, and The Holy See, headed by Pius XI, granted the papacy political power once again by allowing the Vatican to become an independent nation.  In 1929, Roman Catholicism also became the sole religion of the state of Italy, even though they tolerated other religions.  So, Pius XI became the first sovereign, or king, of Vatican City.
• 5 pope/sovereigns reigned and died before John Paul II was crowned.  I remember growing up with him as pope and thinking that there could never be any other pope.  He had the longest reign of the sovereigns thus far, 1978-2005, 27 long years.  I believe the reference to the king that is, refers to John Paul II.  He was King #6.
• The one that comes after him and continues a short space would be #7, Benedict XVI.
• 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."  I believe there is a warning here.  The beast that was and is not, was a persecuting church, selfish and greedy, power-hungry.  Pope Francis, the 8th sovereign in the line of Vatican sovereigns may give a great image of ecumenism (which in a lot of ways brings the death of true, Godly worship) and love for those in poverty, etc, but all is not as it seems.  

There is and has been an agenda, and the world is playing right into it.  Who wouldn't want a pope that seems to do away with the trappings of the mysterious papacy, who speaks against the evils of greed and capitalism, who is down-to-earth?  Who finds ways to unify us all?  Unity does not equal equality--especially if it is under the banner of imperfect, manmade systems.  Someone will always lose.  And in this case, if we are to unify under the banner of an entity that gets its power, seat, and great authority from the dragon, "that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world" (Revelation 12:9)--the enemy of Jesus Christ--those of us who seek to serve God will lose.  Lose, not in the eternal sense, but in the worldly sense.  When that time comes, I will resist the status quo because I serve the true and living God.  And those who are the real truth seekers need to stand up with our God and come out of Babylon.  As the next chapter, Revelation 18, begins,

"And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.  And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.  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.  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."

This is assurance to me that God has His people in the Catholic Church too.  And beyond--all over the world.  But there comes a time when the sheep must be divided from the goats, the wheat from the tares.  If you love God with all your heart and want to do His will, He will help you to know what to do, how to live for Him.  Just trust Him and all will be well.  He is coming back for a people ready to meet Him.  Don't you want to be ready?

Of Popes and Prophecy, Part 2

In my last post I gave a breakdown of Bible prophecies related to the different kingdoms, starting with the Babylonian kingdom, that affected God's people, the Jewish nation.  I believe that there is something in prophecy that shows that the stepping down of Benedict XVI was not "unexpected."

From the study I did last time, let's hop over to Revelation 13.  In verse one we meet another beast.  Keep in mind that a beast in prophecy refers to a kingdom/political power.  Based on John's description of the beast, we can go right back to Daniel 7 and make a link.  It would seem that he describes in the reverse order of Daniel because he is looking backward in time, and this beast is an amalgamation (or to put it simply, a mix) of the other beasts before it.  During John's time, Rome was ruling, and he knew the history of the kingdoms going back to the Babylonian era.  Just as the beast in Daniel 7 warred against God's people, so too the beast of Revelation 13.  The fourth beast in Daniel 7 has ten horns, the first beast mentioned in Revelation 13 has ten horns.  The beast of Revelation 13 and the Roman power are one and the same.  Revelation 12, verses 6 and 14 refer to a prophetic period of 3.5 years, during which the beast of Daniel 7 and that of Revelation 13 have "power over" God's people.  In prophecy, unless the explanation following says otherwise, we use the time formula 1 day=1 year (see Numbers 14:34 and Ezekiel 4:6).  And 1 year by the Jewish calendar equals 360 days.  Thus, this 3.5 years equals 1260 days or 1260 literal years.  We can confirm this practical approach by looking at prophecies that have already been fulfilled like:

• the Jews' return to Jerusalem from exile during the reign of Cyrus, the Persian king.

• the length of Christ's ministry.

• the time of His death.

I think there are times we're living in the midst of prophetic fulfillment, but we don't recognize it.  However, we are given markers that can serve to wake us up.  The Bible refers to the beast receiving a deadly wound.  It loses its power.  It is silenced for a time.  But the wound is healed.  It regains its political clout and the whole world wonders after this resurrected beast.

Utilizing clues I have already mentioned and ones like them, we can gain understanding for Revelation 17.  In this chapter, we come upon yet another beast.  But we can identify it as the same beast in Revelation 13 that is controlled by the dragon (which is Satan; see Revelation 12:9).  Important clues from Revelation 17:

• the beast has ten horns (verse 3)

• the woman riding it is drunk with the blood of the saints and martyrs of Jesus (verse 6)

• the beast goes away for a time, comes back and the unbelieving world (as in those who don't believe in Jesus the Christ) wonders after it (verse 8)

• a woman in Bible prophecy refers to a church (see Revelation 12); a pure woman is God's true and faithful church; a harlot woman is an unfaithful church.

• this unfaithful church has a counterfeit to the priestly order established by God while the Israelites were in the desert; it has the purple, scarlet, and gold of the priestly order and the earthly replica of the heavenly tabernacle/sanctuary/temple, but it doesn't have the blue, which was to point people back to God's law (see Numbers 15:37-39; see also Exodus 36 and 39); as I mentioned before, I do believe this unfaithful church refers to the papal system--if you look at images of Roman Catholic cardinals and bishops, you will see a sea of red and purple with gold mixed in.

• this unfaithful church was a persecuting church, "drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus" (Revelation 17:6), up until it received its deadly wound (Revelation 13:3).

• this unfaithful church is riding political power (the scarlet-colored beast with 7 heads and 10 horns), and that combination, which is what made it "diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns" (Daniel 7:7), unites church and state together in an iron grip--a religio-political system.

• the setting for this harlot woman/beast combo is Vatican City/Rome:  "And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth." (Revelation 17:9) "And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth." (Revelation 17:18)  The City of Seven Hills generally refers to Rome and the Bible further qualifies by stating that it is that great city that reigns over the kings of the earth.

As I read through Revelation 17, as I prayed and studied it, and looked at the historical clues, the passage seemed to be saying that Pope Francis will be the last pope, that some serious power plays will go down, that the world will end during his reign.  This is pretty powerful stuff!  We’re living in an exciting time in the world’s history.  A time that will blow a lot of people’s minds.  A lot of people will be confused, will feel lost about what is happening.  But the Bible gives me my grounding.

In my next post, we will delve into Revelation 17 some more, and I will explain how I arrived at these conclusions.

Of Popes and Prophecy, Part 1

During the Rome evening last Thursday, the Vatican closed the main door of the Papal Residence at Castel Gandolfo.  A chapter in the life of Benedict XVI, born Joseph Ratzinger, also closed.  Many people around the world were shocked when the pope announced his resignation on Monday, February 11, 2013.  I was surprised too.  But in my surprise, I found rootedness in a Bible passage I'd read countless times, but didn't understand.  It came back to me when the news was released, and I decided to prayerfully study it.  My disclaimer is that I don't know everything, but I share what I've discovered, so you can study for yourself too, with lots of prayer.

In the Biblical book of Daniel, chapter 2, we find an incredible story.  A king has a dream he can't remember, gets angry at his wise men and magicians, and orders their death.  When the word goes out, young Daniel and his friends ask if they could have some time to pray for God to reveal this dream to them.  God answers that prayer, and we get a view into earth's history all the way from the Babylonian Empire to the end of the ages.  Now, in chapter 7, Daniel gets an expanded vision of the one God showed him in chapter 2.  We see that the four beasts align with the four kingdoms represented by the metals that form the Daniel 2 statue, and we get a bit more information.

Characters in my novel, The Remnant, go into a more detailed study of the symbolism of these chapters and what they mean than I'm going to do here; but should you have questions/comments, you can leave them at the end of this post, and I will respond.  A basic breakdown is as follows:

• The gold of the Daniel 2 statue and the winged lion of Daniel 7 refer to the kingdom of Babylon.  This is clearly identified in chapter 2 when Daniel says to King Nebuchadnezzar, "You are the head of gold."
• The kingdom to follow Babylon was represented by silver and the bear that was raised up on one side with 3 ribs in its mouth.  At the end of chapter 5, we see where the Babylonian kingdom is overthrown by Darius the Mede.  This kingdom was actually a partnership commonly referred to as Medo-Persia.
• From history we know that the brass from chapter 2 and the leopard with four wings and heads refer to the kingdom of Greece.
• The fourth kingdom of iron, which is represented by a great and terrible beast with iron teeth and ten horns in chapter 7, is the Roman kingdom.
• After iron, in chapter 2, we see that the kingdom is divided--iron and clay, which cannot mix--and eventually, a stone that is cut out of a mountain without hands comes and destroys the statue.
• In chapter 7, we understand that a judgment happens in heaven (the Ancient of days sits and the books are opened), and then Jesus (the Son of man) is given complete dominion, and the saints (those who love and serve God) gain possession of God's kingdom forever and ever.
• We also understand from chapter 7 that this fourth kingdom, the kingdom of Rome, becomes divided into 10 kingdoms (the ten horns) and that a little horn uproots 3 of those kingdoms.  This little horn has the eyes of a man and a mouth that speaks great things.  This little horn king is diverse from the other 10 kings, makes war with God's people, blasphemes God, and thinks he can change God's law and time.  It is a religio-political power.  Here we have the transition from Pagan Rome to Papal Rome and the institution of the pope.

We will continue in my next post.