The points of identification examined in this lesson (from Daniel 7 and Revelation 13) make it clear that this little horn power would arise in during the fall of the Roman Empire and during the time that the 10 barbarian tribes ruled much of western Europe.
We can take these marks of identification, go to any encyclopedia or history book, examine the history of the Dark Ages when the Bible said this power would arise, and we would discover that there is only one power that meets every one of these identifying marks. That power is the Papacy. Please remember that we are not talking about individuals. We are talking about a system that is in opposition to God. There are many good, sincere people in the Catholic religion who love and serve Jesus. God loves them, and in mercy He has sent them this warning so that they might not be deceived by this power.
Let's re-examine the identifying marks of Daniel 7 and Revelation 13 and see how clearly the Papacy has met every one of these marks of identification.
As the Roman Empire fell and the world was taken over by the barbarian tribes, another power began that became a unifying power. That power was the Papacy. No other such power arose among the ten tribes after the fall of the Roman Empire.
In 533, Roman Emperor Justinian declared that the Bishop of Rome was the head of all the Christian churches. However, Rome was in the hands of Ostrogoth Theodoric the Great. Although Theodoric treated Catholics well, he was Arian in belief (a Christian heresy). Justinian set out to rescue Rome from Arian hands and place a pope of his choosing there (the other popes had been elected by the Arians). In 534 he sent Belisarius to capture Rome. Under new king Witigis, the Arian Goths allowed Belisarius to simply walk into Rome. While there, he deposed pope Silverius and placed Vigilius (chosen by Justinian) in his place in 538.
By 540 the Ostrogoths had surrendered to Belisarius, but he was recalled by Justinian. In his absence they began rebelling again under a new leader named Totila. In 546 and 549 Totila captured Rome and eventually all of Italy. However, he was eventually defeated and by 562, Ostrogoths were heard of no more in Italy. Thus was the end of the third horn that was uprooted to make way for the little horn. The other two (the Heruli and Vandals) had already been defeated.
At the head of the Papacy sits a man, making the decisions that affect the lives and souls of thousands of people
Consider these three points:
"We are told in various ways by Eusebius, that Constantine, in order to recommend the new religion to the heathen, transferred into it the outward ornaments to which they had been accustomed in their own. It is not necessary to go into a subject which the diligence of Protestant writers has made familiar to most of us. The use of temples, and these dedicated to particular saints, and ornamented on occasions with branches of trees, incense, lamps, and candles; votive offerings on recovery from illness, holy water; asylums; holidays and seasons, use of calendars, processions, blessings on the fields; sacerdotal vestments, the tonsure, the ring in marriage, turning to the East, images at a later date, perhaps, the ecclesiastical chant, and the Kyrie Eleisen, are all of pagan origin, and sanctified by their adoption into the Church."
John Henry Cardinal Newman, "An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine," Longmans, Green & Company, London, 1920. p. 373
When you examine the Roman Catholic quotations cited above, there can be no question that the papacy has boasted against the Most High and has combined paganism with Christianity.
The results of the Inquisition and many other persecutions of various religious groups are well know facts. To the Catholic church they were heretics, to others they were saints -- true believers of the Bible and it's teachings.
Later in this lesson series we will detail how the Roman Catholic Church tried to accomplish this.
When do we date the beginning of the rise of the little horn to power?
After Belisarius placed Vigilius in Rome in 538 (The first pope chosen by Justinian after he had declared the Bishop of Rome the head of the church) Vigilius was called to Constantinopal to settle a dispute. It was while Vigilius was away that Totila captured Rome and later that the Ostrogoths were defeated. In 556, Pelegius (elected by Justinian to replace Vigilius' who had died on his way back to Rome) returned to Rome. The Bishop of Rome, the declared head of the Church, while not in Rome during the complete demise of the Ostrogoths, remained the only Bishop of Rome. So, the dating of the start of the Bishop of Rome as the head of all the Christian church begins with Vigilius in 538.
Later, during the reign of Gregory the First (590-604), were laid the foundations for the Papal States and temporal Papal authority.
The rise of the little horn was slow. It started small but grew in power. The three Arian tribes were uprooted. Among them and in thier place the little horn began to gain power.
Exactly 1260 years later, in 1798, Berthier, French general under Napoleon, invaded the Vatican and took the pope prisoner.
An assortment of popes had been taken prisoner
and killed through out the history of the Roman church. However,
it is significant that it was the French, who in 1798 rejected
God and embraced atheism, that dethroned the pope, because 1290
years (Daniel 12:11) before, in 508 AD, the Franks under Clovis
became the first of the tribes to embrace the teachings of Rome
and reject Arianism.
The dragon primarily represent Satan (Revelation 12:9). However, the devil works through various agencies, in this case, Pagan Rome. When the Roman emperors moved the capital of the failing Roman Empire from Rome to Constantinople, they left the pope as the power in Rome. The power of the Caesars supported the bishop of Rome by elevating him above all the other bishops in Christianity. Truly Pagan Rome gave the Papacy his power, seat, and authority. The Papacy is a continuance of the first phase of the Iron legs kingdom.
When Berthier, the French general, took the Pope prisoner in 1798, he inflicted the deadly wound. Many thought the Papacy had come to its end and could never recover. Indeed it had received a deadly wound.
In 1929 Mussolini restored the Vatican to the Pope, making him again a secular as well as a religious ruler. Today the Vatican is recognized by many governments on earth. Even the United States of America sends an ambassador to the Vatican, recognizing the Vatican State as a secular as well as a religious state. The United States does not recognize any other religious organization in this way. It is against the Constitution to do so. As one observes the developing Papacy today, one sees indeed the whole world wondering after this power.
One only has to watch the acts of obeisance that people pay to the head of the papacy to know that this power is an object of reverence and worship. During his 1260 year reign, few earthly governments dared defy this power. He held the keys to life and death for thousands of individuals.
(For fulfillment of the above four marks of identification, see points D, E and G under Daniel 7 and this exhibit.)
Notice that Revelation 13-18 does not say the number 666 is written out. Rather it says that to discover the number of the beast, one must calculate the number of the beast, or add it up. An ancient Hebrew custom was to add up the numerical values for the letters in people's names. That would then be the person's number. The Bible says the beast has a number, and the numbers add up to 666. One of the titles take by all bishops of the Roman Church in Latin is Vicarius Filii Dei, meaning "Vicar of the Son of God." Please notice below that the Roman numeral value of the letters of this name add up to the Biblical 666:
| V | I | C | A | R | I | U | S | |
| 5 | 1 | 100 | 1 | 5 | 112 | |||
| F | I | L | I | I | ||||
| 1 | 50 | 1 | 1 | 053 | ||||
| D | E | I | ||||||
| 500 | 1 | 501 | ||||||
| T | O | T | A | L | 666 |
Any one of the above points by themselves or in select groups may be shown to apply to this or that person or organization, but altogether they can only apply to the Roman Catholic Church.
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This page maintained by Allen Roy. Last Update on 01/06/2002