1. Her story is one of those unbelievable tales that deserves to go straight into Paul Harvey's "The Rest of the Story" collection! (And if not Paul Harvey's, then at least Ripley's Believe It or Not!)
   1. Her name--Evelyn Glennie.
      1. Her age-26.
      2. Her profession-percussion virtuoso.
      3. She's a graduate with honors from London's prestigious Royal Academy of Music.
      4. From there she embarked on a professional career her doctors said was impossible.
      5. For Evelyn beats, shakes, rattles, or squeezes more than 600 musical instruments, as the world's only full-time percussion soloist (from drums to marimbas, from xylophones to cymbals, from tympani to tambourines).
   2. And this young woman who speaks with a lilting Scottish accent and who has been blessed with perfect musical pitch is making history!
      1. For she gave the first solo percussion recital in the 95-year history of the BBC's Prom Concerts at Royal Albert Hall.
      2. And in November she scored another first, as this daughter of a Scottish farmer debuted in the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
      3. Her debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl was also a smashing success.
   3. But the wild applause from her appreciative concert audience fell on deaf ears. For Evelyn Glennie is deaf. She plays 600 instruments without hearing them!
      1. Impossible?
      2. Here's how she's made the impossible possible.
      3. Evelyn Glennie has learned to play her concert percussion solos by the subtle vibrations of tone and pitch that she feels in her body.
      4. Which is why she usually kicks off her shoes during a performance, to sense the reverberations from the wooden stage.
      5. You see, she began to go deaf at the age of eight, and by twelve it was permanent.
      6. They said it couldn't be done.
      7. But they forgot to convince Evelyn, who would stand outside the wall of the music room as her teacher struck various notes, to discover where the notes tingled or vibrated in her fingers or wrists.
      8. She now learns entire scores of complex music by playing a tape recorder between her knees.
      9. What do you suppose she entitled her recent autobiography? Good Vibrations. I like that!
   4. Isn't it phenomenal? She doesn't hear a word-but she can feel the vibrations.
   5. I wonder: Is she a parable of the world? A world that can't hear the Word of God but feels and senses deep within its earthy soul the vibrations of an impending conflict?
   6. In this NeXt Millennium Seminar we move now into a trilogy of ancient apocalyptic prophecies whose words are hardly heard tonight, let alone listened to, anymore.
      1. But even if you can't hear their words, surely today you can feel their vibrations.
      2. The vibrations and reverberations of a prophetic word at last coming true.
      3. Which is more than true for "Beauty and the Beast."
      4. For the beast has come again.
2. The Beast
   1. Turning to the 13th chapter of Revelation tonight is like taking a surreal trip into Hollywood's bizarre world of high-tech special-effects Jurassic Park.
      1. The beasts you are about to encounter in this apocalyptic trilogy are as fearsome as the roaring, ripping, ravaging Tyrannosaurus Rex.
      2. Imagine how the aged disciple John must have reacted as, in horror, he saw in vision an amalgamated beast dripping with the brine of the wind-swept sea stalking toward him.
      3. Open your Bible tonight to the Apocalypse, the Bible's last book, the Book of Revelation, chapter 13, verses 1,2 (p 1183).
      4. Ever seen a creature like this? Spotted like a leopard, the beast possessed the raking claws of a grizzly bear and the tearing fangs of a lion, had seven heads and ten horns, and was dripping with water.
      5. What on earth is this amalgamation?
   2. V. 1--"And on his heads a blasphemous name."
      1. And what is blasphemy?
      2. You're right. It's taking the name of God in vain.
      3. Illus: Actually the Greek word here in the Apocalypse is blasphemiu, from which our English word blaspheme is a direct transliteration or copy.
      4. But notice how the dictionary expands its definition: "Impious or profane speaking of God, or of sacred persons or things."
      5. And then the dictionary adds this theological twist to blasphemy: "The act of claiming the attributes of God."
      6. Illus: But you don't have to take the dictionary's word for it--the Bible itself plainly defines the meaning of blasphemy:
         1. John 10:33 [show verse on screen]: Blasphemy is when a human being claims to be God.
         2. Mark 2:7 [show verse on screen]: Blasphemy is when a human being claims the prerogatives of God alone, in this case the ability to forgive sins.
      7. So whatever else this beast power is, it is a power that, among other characteristics, claims the attributes and prerogatives of God.
   3. But that's not all--let's read on in Revelation 13:3-8.
   4. Did you catch the length of its domination?
      1. V. 5--Forty-two months.
      2. Which calculates into three and a half years, or 1,260 days.
      3. But to what kind of time period could this possibly be referring?
      4. Illus: Interestingly, from the time of the Christian writer Tichonius in the late fourth century onward, various Bible scholars have consistently embraced the biblical key for symbolic time prophecies, namely, that a day represents a year (based on God's usage of that "time key" in Ezekiel 4:6 and Numbers 14:34 [show two verses on screen]).
      5. Simply put, a day in apocalyptic prophecy represents a year in actual time.
      6. By the way, don't miss our lecture, "The Spectacular Prophecy Nostradamus Misseed" in a few evenings, when we will note the amazing accuracy of this prophetic in a fascinating prophecy that predicts to the very season of the year! But more on that one later!
   5. So what John is being shown here in this dripping wet, amalgamated beast is the symbol of a power that would hold sway during the history of the Christian church.
      1. Because that is what the Apocalypse is all about from chapter one through 22, we find in this cryptic book a graphic symbolizing of the church's history from the cross of Jesus on through to His return to Earth the second time.
      2. So whatever power this is, it would dominate church history for 1,260 days or 1,260 years.
      3. But who or what is this beast power?
   6. Working strictly with the internal evidence of this prophecy, what do we know about this beast power?
      1. First of all, from even a cursory reading of the prophecy, the beast clearly represents a religious power.
      2. For only a religious institution would receive the worship of the world (as it does in verse 8), seeking to usurp the place and worship of Cod.
      3. Secondly, it is also clear that the beast represents a political power.
      4. For only a political power has a throne and crowns and a global dominion (verses 1 and 2).
      5. But thirdly, it is a religio-political power that holds global sway.
      6. And so it is fair--and even essential--to consider this beast power a geo-religio-politico institution.
   7. But there's more. For the prophecy reveals that this geo-religio-political power that would hold sway for over a millennium in history becomes wounded in the prophecy--that is, it is nearly destroyed.
      1. Reread v. 3.
      2. But amazingly, that wound heals.
      3. Then, after the healing, this power reasserts its global dominance.
      4. Reread v. 4.
      5. And finally, this power is depicted as making war on the people of God.
      6. Reread verse 8.
   8. So what do we have? A geo-religio-political power that (1) is dominant for over 1,200 years in the history of Christianity and then (2) is unexpectedly and mysteriously wounded, but that (3) is eventually healed of its wound and (4) finally holds global sway. [show on screen]
3. The Beauty
   1. But before we finish identifying this power, I must share with you an amazing counter-portrait in this passage!
      1. It very quickly becomes clear that this beast is an intentional counterfeit of the Lamb of the Apocalypse!
      2. For if you look carefully, you will discover seven parallels between the beast and the Lamb.
      3. And who is the Lamb? Revelation 5:6 leaves no doubt as to who this apocalyptic symbol represents when it describes "a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes."
      4. Those around the throne sing a paean to the Lamb that includes the glad exclamation, "You are worthy . . . for you were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and language tongue and people and nation" (verse 9).
      5. The Lamb is the apocalyptic symbol for our crucified, resurrected, and ascended Lord Jesus.
   2. Notice now the startling parallels between the Lamb and the beast:
      1. #1--Both the Lamb and the beast arise out of water as they begin their influence on earth--One out of the Jordan River at His baptism; the other out of the apocalyptic sea.
      2. #2--Both the Lamb and the beast exercise power for three and a half years: One for three and a half literal years, as it was for Jesus in His ministry on earth; and the other for a prophetic or symbolic three and a half years (1,260 days/years).
      3. #3--Both the Lamb and the beast are mortally wounded: in fact, the Greek word describing the beast's "deadly wound" in Revelation 13:3 is identical to the word for the Lamb's being "slain" in Revelation 5:6 and 13:8.
      4. #4--Both the Lamb and the beast come back to life (see Revelation 1:18 and 13:3).
      5. #5--Both the Lamb and the beast have horns: the Lamb has seven horns (Revelation 5:6); the beast ten (Revelation 13:l).
      6. #6--Both of them receive honor and worship, to which only One of them is entitled. (Interestingly, the language of global worship for the beast in Revelation 13:4 is the same language ascribed to divine worship in Exodus 15:ll and Psalm 35:10!)
      7. #7--And finally, both the Lamb and the beast seek to reach every nation, kindred, tongue, and people (14:6 and 13:7).
   3. Look at them carefully--seven incontrovertible parallels between the Lamb and the beast--Beauty and the beast.
      1. Seven parallels that powerfully portray the reality that somebody is trying very hard to be like the Lamb--to look like the Lamb!
      2. Somebody is trying desperately to take Christ's place.
      3. In fact, the Greek word anti means "instead of."
      4. So anti-Christ means "instead of Christ."
      5. Somebody is secretly trying to take the place of Jesus.
      6. A somebody who has had his proud eye on the position of the Son of God from the beginning of the rebellion in the great Cosmic War.
      7. A somebody who started a war in heaven and has vowed to keep it raging on earth.
      8. Lucifer the dragon against Christ the Lamb.
      9. Revelation 13 is the struggle between the Lamb and Lucifer, between Beauty and the beast.
      10. So desperate is Lucifer that he creates in the history of the Christian church a counterfeit for himself through the existence of this beast--a counterfeit intended to look just like Jesus!
   4. Before we identify this beast power by name, I must share this caveat--this warning disclaimer: Never forget that the Apocalypse is describing a power and not a person or a people, an institution and not an individual.
      1. On the basis of this prophecy, nobody has the right to point to a neighbor or a friend or a colleague or an acquaintance and say: "Ah, you must be what this is all about."
      2. Never! The Lamb Himself said, "Judge not, that you be not judged."
      3. For it could be that in the end the very sin of Lucifer that brought him down could bring anyone down the dark sin of pride and self-worship.
   5. But who is the Beast?
      1. Illus: In my library, I have a set of books by Leroy Froom called The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers that traces how the Apocalypse has been interpreted over the history of the Christian church--a four-volume compendium that Dr. Wilbur M. Smith of Fuller Theological Seminary commended as being unparalleled "for exhaustiveness, freshness, and dependability in our language."
      2. I'm amazed, as I study these books, both by the number and by the unanimity of those Christian writers and Bible students over the dusty span of the church's history who agree as to who this geo-religio-political power really is.
      3. In fact, you may go all the way back to Eberhard II, the archbishop of Salzburg (A.D. 1200-1246), to discover a long line of scholars who believed and taught that this beast power of the Apocalypse (as well as of Daniel) is the institution of the papacy of Rome.
   6. And as soon as one concludes that this beast power of Revelation 13 symbolizes the Church of Rome, I realize how easy it is to declare such a conviction nothing more than stereotypical Protestantism--an archaic appendage to medieval thinking.
      1. (Incidentally, the Apocalypse offers a warning to stereotypical Protestantism as well, which we'll consider in tomorrow evening's startling lecture study.)
      2. After all, the 1,260 years of the Dark and Middle Ages are past.
      3. The world is enlightened now, and previous barbarities are no longer relevant.
      4. So what if in A.D. 538 the barbarian seige of Rome was broken, thus elevating the Bishop of Rome to the position of preeminent leader within the Catholic Church-and so what if 1260 years later in A.D. 1798, the papacy was mortally wounded when the pope was taken prisoner and died in exile?
      5. Illus: And by the way, it is very reliable history that confirms the interpretation of this prophecy--because the City of Rome really was besieged in A.D. 538 by a barbarian nation-the Ostrogoths.
         1. To aid the cause of Catholics in the West, Justinian-the emperor who ruled the Eastern half of the Roman Empire from Constantinople dispatched an army that year that broke the seige and liberated the city.
         2. As a result, the emperor enabled the Church in Rome to claim the preeminence that he decreed in A.D. 533 in his 131st Novella (New Constitution):

            "Hence, in accordance with the provisions of these Councils, we order that the Most Holy Pope of ancient Rome shall hold the first rank of all the Pontiffs, but the Most Blessed Archbishop of Constantinople, or New Rome, shall occupy the second place after the Holy Apostolic See of ancient Rome, which shall take precedence over all other sees."

         3. But her unrivaled precedence was mortally wounded 1,260 years later when Napoleon's General Berthier, at the head of a French army, entered Rome in 1798, proclaimed the papal political rule at an end, and exiled Pope Pius VI to France, where he died a political prisoner.
      6. And on top of all of that, during Garibaldi's revolution in Italy (1866-70) the Roman Church was stripped of even her lands, leaving the pope a virtual prisoner in the Vatican.
      7. But in a most amazing reversal of history, fifty-nine years later, on February 11, 1929, an Italian leader named Mussolini signed a concordat with Cardinal Gaspari that restored a portion of those lands and ushered the papacy once again into international status by granting it geo-political power.
      8. Illus: In fact one of the newspaper headlines rang out the news: The wound is healed!
      9. Which is precisely what this ancient prophecy predicted!
   7. So what's next?
      1. Any reader of this apocalyptic prophecy cannot escape the throbbing prediction of a yet-to-be global dominance by this same power, that will in turn climax human history.
      2. It can hardly be a stereotypical Protestant response to wonder how this divine prophecy is yet to unfold.
      3. Clearly, in this portion of the Apocalypse, the Church of Rome is front and center.
      4. The internal evidence of the thirteenth chapter that identifies it cannot be summarily dismissed.
      5. This prophetic description of a geo-religio-political power that has held dominance for over a millennium of church history must not be hastily ignored.
      6. Nor should the apocalyptic prediction that this very institution will one day exercise unprecedented global sway at the end of time.
4. Is the Wound Healed?
   1. Reread v. 3,4,8.
   2. Illus: In January diplomats representing over a hundred nations gather in the "sumptuous frescoed Royal Hall of the Vatican," as the Associated Press release described it, to hear "the pope's major foreign policy statement of the year," as John Paul II gives his annual New Year's address to all the "diplomats accredited to the Holy See."
      1. Interesting, isn't it?
      2. Over 100 nations send their diplomats to hear what Pope John Paul II has to say about the new year.
      3. But then, is anybody surprised?
      4. At just the first twelve years of his pontificate, John Paul had visited more than 90 nations and had given 1,559 speeches in 32 languages, being seen or heard either in the flesh or via audio-video circuits-by 3.5 billion people.
      5. Was anybody really surprised?
      6. Who would possibly challenge the geo-political ascendancy of Rome anymore?
   3. Illus: Note how Foreign Policy, a journal published for the diplomatic corps, put it in an article entitled, "Papal Foreign Policy."
      1. Written by J. Bryan Hehir, professor of ethics and international politics at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service and a counselor for social policy for the United States Catholic Conference, the article describes what he calls "the most activist papacy in modern history."
      2. In fact, "Not since the Middle Ages can a comparably broad conception of papal activity be found."
      3. Did you catch that? "Not since the Middle Ages" the author writes.
      4. Which is precisely what the Apocalypse declares about this Middle Ages power whose mortal wound will be healed in the end: It will regain and exercise its previous power.
      5. Hehir further observes: "The Vatican acts like a state but not simply a state." But it is "its capacity to act like a church and a state" that creates a "paradox in this papacy. For the pope has established himself as a major figure in world affairs. But he consistently denies any political interest."
      6. Such denial notwithstanding, Hehir notes that "John Paul II's role, especially but not only in Eastern Europe, has been a political event of vast proportions."
      7. So who was surprised when Boris Yeltsin, a born again communist Russian orthodox turned democratic champion, hurried to Rome on one of his first visits outside the new Commonwealth?
      8. Both political science and ancient prophecy offer a clear and certain explanation for such evident ascendancy on the part of Rome today.
      9. "Clearly, there is great potential for a repositioned Catholicism, led by a philosopher-pope with an acute sense of geopolitical trends, to play an activist role in both the East-West and North-South agendas of the 1990s."
   4. North, south, east, and west. "And all the world marveled and followed the beast" (Revelation 13:3).
   5. Illus: Listen to Pope John Paul II, on October 28, 1978, as he addressed the world at his papal coronation, speaking successively in ten languages:

      "Open wide the doors of Christ. To his saving power open the boundaries of states, economic and political systems, the vast fields of culture and civilization and development. Do not be afraid . . . I want your support in this, my mission."

      1. One Catholic scholar and author, Malachi Martin, would later extol "the divine claim he [Pope John Paul II] did indeed have to exercise spiritual authority and moral primacy over all those who wield such temporal power in our lives."
      2. Which is why Martin, the once-Jesuit and still-loyal advocate of the papacy, can describe John Paul as possessing "the unrivaled personal status as the most visible and wellknown human being of the twentieth century."
      3. "The Holy Father," Martin writes, "was making his very own a truly central spot on the world stage."
      4. Listen to the more than coincidental resemblance between the geo-religio-political power described by the Apocalypse and Malachi Martins firm contention:

         "The most important facts and details about the Roman Church from the point of view of any secular power holder, however, all come down to one point. There is a tacit agreement among the great international political and financial leaders that the very attributes that give the Holy See its geo-religious power and capability provide it, as well, with everything essential for the same power and capability on the political plane. In secular eyes, the Roman Church stands alone in every practical sense as the first, fully realized, fully practicing and totally independent geo-political force in the current world arena. And the Pope is by definition the world's first fully fledged geo-political leader."

   6. Illus: But having heard from a well-known voice within conservative Catholicism, how would a liberal voice within the Roman Church speak?
      1. Penny Lernoux was the Latin American Affairs correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter.
      2. An award-winning journalist, she wrote the book People of God: The Struggle for World Catholicism.
      3. As a liberal Catholic journalist, Lernoux makes an impassioned appeal for the papacy to abandon what she describes as its growing authoritarian and hierarchical power that calls Roman Catholics to conform to Rome's decrees: "John Paul's Vatican longs for the past; the pope wishes to restore an authoritarian church model based on that of the Middle Ages, when the state and its institutions were uniformly Catholic."
      4. Once again we find the more than coincidental observation that Rome is returning to her Middle Ages modus operandi.
      5. Once more from a Catholic pen, we encounter the annotation of Rome's evident quest for her Middle Ages global power base.
   7. Illus: Listen to Mikhail Gorbachev, former president of the Soviet Union and now a nationally syndicated columnist here in the United States.
      1. In an article in the South Bend Tribune entitled "Pope Played Major Role in Reforms," Gorbachev discloses: "I have carried on an intensive correspondence with Pope John Paul II since we met at the Vatican in December 1989. And I think ours will be an ongoing dialogue."
      2. The former president went on to declare: "Personally, I would be glad to take any opportunity to continue working with the pope, and I am certain that this desire is mutual and will prove lasting."
      3. What role does Gorbachev envision for John Paul in the future? "I am certain that the actions undertaken by John Paul II are of immense significance." And then he predicts: "Pope John Paul II will play an enormous political role now that profound changes have occurred in European history."
      4. The former head of communism (political atheism) hails the leadership of Rome!
   8. Say what you will about John Paul II, his peripatetic global ministry has raised his papal office to a height never before witnessed in the history of Christendom.
      1. Billy Graham, Ronald Reagan, George Bush, Bill Clinton, Mikhail Gorbechev (who called him the "world's highest moral authority"), the Dalai Lama, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Boris Yeltsin, Robert Schuller, and a host of religious and political leaders have all sought their private audiences with the Holy See.
      2. "And all the world marveled and followed the beast."
      3. Illus: The now retired Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie, leader of the 70 million Anglicans in the world, stepping out from his audience with John Paul, addressed the congregation in the Church of St. Gregory:

         "For the universal church, I renew the plea. Could not all Christians come to reconsider the kind of primacy the bishop of Rome exercised within the early church, a 'presiding of love' for the sake of the unity of the churches in the diversity of their mission?"

      4. Illus: Consider the following incident as related in the journal Ecumenical Trends, which reported on Pope John Paul II's visit to five Scandinavian countries.
         1. In one country the pope was conducting a Roman mass. At the end of the line were two Lutheran bishops, who approached him.
         2. One bishop spoke: "I am sorry we cannot go to the same table, but I am here as a symbol of our common longing for unity."
         3. The account ended with these words: "The pope then blessed the two bishops."
   9. Are the calls for unity with Rome being heeded?
      1. I went through two years' worth of the monthly Ecumenical Trends magazine.
      2. In those issues I read of the following dialogues for unity and reunion taking place in Christendom: Talks between the Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodoxy; between the Roman Church and Methodists; between Rome and the Jews; between the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Church; between Rome and the Lutherans; even between the Roman Church and Southern Baptists (who have had a "Scholar's Dialogue" between their two communions that has met eighteen times over the last few years).
      3. And who do you suppose will make the necessary accommodations to achieve this sought-after unity?
      4. Illus: Note carefully the Vatican's answer, reported in Time magazine. At the conclusion of recent talks between Rome and the Anglican Church, the Vatican issued a statement. And Time commented on "the Holy See's official 12-page response" with this observation:

         Rather than endorse the painstakingly crafted agreement, the Vatican issued a statement insisting that a reunited church must be built upon a papacy that is a God-given, "permanent" institution with "universal jurisdiction, "directly founded" by Jesus Christ. The text also reasserts the pope's personal power to teach infallibly on faith and morals.

      5. Yes, Rome seeks unity.
      6. But the Vatican has made it more than apparent at whose expense that unity must be achieved.
      7. And yet the movement to unite goes on.
      8. Illus: Consider this report made by the Catholic Herald, its front-page headline reading: "John Paul in historic unity meeting."

         For the first time since the Reformation, the Pope prayed at the tomb of St. Peter under the Vatican basilica with two Lutheran bishops this week, as part of a series of milestone events for ecumenism. . . . Pope John Paul II told the congregation of politicians, diplomats and both Catholic and Protestant hierarchy that the "centuries-long mistrust between Catholics and Lutherans has dissolved" making way for "more tangible faith and hope." . . .In his address, Sweden's Lutheran Bishop Bertil Werkstrom stressed that the Protestant reformation was never intended to forge a rift between the Christian community. "It was meant as a movement for reform within the one, holy apostolic church. . . .The moment has come when we must say that the denunciations at the time of the reformation are no longer valid," he said.

      9. "The denunciations [of Martin Luther] at the time of the reformation are no longer valid"?
   10. "And all the world marveled and followed the beast."
5. So what does all of this mean for you and me? In the shadows of this thirteenth chapter, I hear three clarion calls to this planet.
   1. First, I hear the call of Jesus in Luke 21:28 [show on screen]: "Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near."
      1. My friend, I believe that in the phenomenal resurgence and ascendancy of the Church of Rome, we are witnessing today a fulfillment of apocalyptic prophecy.
      2. There is a mysterious confluence and convergence of global factors that must draw our minds and souls back to God's communication here in Revelation 13.
      3. But it is not a time for fear; it is an hour for faith.
      4. For on the heels of this end-time resurgence comes the greatest good news of all: Jesus will soon return!
   2. Second, in this apocalyptic prophecy I hear the call of God to honest-hearted Roman Catholics all over this planet.
      1. I must affirm it again: While God warns of the institution, He wants the individual.
      2. Just a few chapters later you will hear His apocalyptic cry to them, "Come out of her, My people" (Revelation 18:4).
      3. They are His people, every single one of them.
      4. We are all God's people.
      5. Penny Lernoux's title, People of God, is right!
      6. Which is why in the end God is so urgent in summoning humanity to turn from false gods and counterfeit institutions, to come back to the Creator God and Father of us all.
      7. There is growing hunger in Roman Catholicism for spiritual reformation and renewal.
      8. The liberals despair of a church that, with iron authority, would command their consciences.
      9. The conservatives despair of a church that would barter away the truth of God.
      10. And so to my Roman Catholic friends who are here tonight, I would quietly appeal: Turn your heart toward the One who still declares, [show on screen]

          "I am the way, and the truth, and the life" (John 14:6).

      11. Jesus is calling you and me to a radical commitment to the truth in His Word.
   3. But there is a third and final call that I hear in this prophecy: And that is God's summons to choose this day between the Lamb and Lucifer, between the Beauty and the beast.
      1. Ultimately that is the final choice left to every man and woman and child on this planet.
      2. Whom will you serve?
      3. If the Lamb is God, serve Him; if Lucifer is God, then serve him.
      4. As the ancient prophet Elijah cried out to a divided Israel: How long will you go limping between two masters?
      5. No wonder this prophecy ends with the summons in verse 10!
      6. I like how Rev. 13:10 reads in the NRSV: [show on screen] "Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints."
      7. In the face of intensifying force, here is a call for intensifying faith.
      8. Now more than ever the time has come for the radical choice--I will follow Jesus--even if I stand alone, I will stand for Him!
6. "Here I Stand"
   1. You will not be the first to stand.
   2. Let me close by reminding you of one who long ago stood all alone against the religio-political power of the Middle Ages church.
      1. His name? Martin Luther.
      2. The night before he was to return to the Diet (or council) of Worms and defend his writings and faith in the Scriptures, Luther suffered what we would call today a panic attack.
      3. Gripped by the icy paralysis of crippling fear, he crumbled to the floor of his tiny room that dark hour in Worms.
      4. His anguished face pressed against the earth, Luther's sobs rend the black night.
      5. The great Reformation historian D'Aubigne recounted those cries:

         "'O God, do Thou help me against all the wisdom of the world. Do this, . . . Thou alone; . . . for this is not my work, but Thine. . . . O Lord, help me! Faithful and unchangeable God, in no man do I place my trust.. . . . Thou hast chosen me for this work. . . . Stand at my side, for the sake of Thy well-beloved Jesus Christ, who is my defense, my shield, and my strong tower"' (History of the Refbrmation of the Sixteenth Centuy, p. 259).

      6. Through that long midnight hour he poured out his soul to his Lord.
      7. And when the day dawned, it arose upon a man whose worn knees and clinging faith had laid hold upon the Divine.
      8. Finally ushered back into the judicial chambers of that Diet, Luther stood now before the greatest living personages of church and state.
      9. Without trace of fear or embarrassment, this young Augustinian pastor and professor launched into a grueling defense of his faith in the Holy Scriptures and of his humble efforts to publish the truth he had discovered therein.
      10. Exhausted, he finished at last his lonely defense, only to have the magistrates call him to repeat all his words, this time in Latin.
      11. So it was that Providence ordained a twin defense that fated day in court, first in German and then in Latin.
      12. When, at the end of the wearying day, Luther was once more grilled, "Will you, or will you not, retract?" he calmly replied:

          "'Since your most serene majesty and your high mightinesses require from me a clear, simple, and precise answer, I will give you one, and it is this: I cannot submit my faith either to the pope or to the councils, because it is clear as the day that they have frequently erred and contradicted each other. Unless therefore I am convinced by the testimony of Scripture or by the clearest reasoning-unless I am persuaded by means of the passages I have quoted, and unless they thus render my conscience bound by the word of God, I cannot and I will not retract, for it is unsafe for a Christian to speak against his conscience. Here I stand, I can do no other; may God help me. Amen"' (Ibid., p. 265).

   3. In the face of.intensifying force, intensify your faith.
      1. There is no other way
      2. As Christ declares in the Apocalyse, "Behold I come quickly."
      3. "Hold fast till I come."

Further Study:

Discover Guide - A Plan For Your Life     (Lecture Study Guide from Discover Bible School)

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