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Much of our understandings of the Antichrist come from the book of Daniel. It is not only detailed by his own interpretations but also is evidentiary of the second presence of Christ. What I have detailed for you here is only the event symbolic interpretations of Daniel 7 and how it relates to the antics of the Roman Catholic Church. All of this information is verifiable and available for you to research if you wish.

We all know that the event symbolism of Daniel’s dream has the four beasts as being the Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Greek, and Roman powers over God’s people after God Himself ceased being their King. We also know that although the Beasts and the metals follow each other sequentially, the entire image (including the head of gold, the arms of silver and the thigh of bronze) is destroyed when the stone strikes the feet. The Medo-Persians conquered Babylon, but the Babylonian system of worship was not destroyed, merely refined. Similarly, when Greece conquered the Medo-Persian Empire, the names of the gods changed but the system of worship remained essentially the same, and the same deities were worshipped in Rome under a different auspice. The final apostate power to control world events would thus incorporate aspects and refinements of all the religious systems of history. They would be so clothed and disguised to deceive, if possible, the very elect.

24 And as for the 10 horns, out of that kingdom there are 10 kings that will rise up; and still another one will rise up after them, and he himself will be different from the first ones, and 3 kings he will humiliate. (Dan 7)

Although this scripture relates to both earthly (geographical) kingdoms and heavenly (spiritual) kingdoms, we will focus our attention on the spiritual aspects of this scripture since it supports our understandings of the true relationship of our heavenly family. Bear in mind that there is a first and second presence fulfillment of this event. We are only covering the first presence fulfillment in this paper.

The 10 horns, or kings that rise up are the 10 Christian Roman Emperors as follows:

http://www.roman-emperors.org/impindex.htm 

306-37: Constantine I (Nicene Christian)
337-40: Constantine II (Christian who freed Athanasius - Nicene sympathies)
337-61: Constantius II (Arian Christian)
337-50: Constans (Athanasian/Nicene Christian
[361-63: Julian the apostate (not a Christian at all)]
363-64: Jovian (Nicene Christian)
364-75: Valentinian I (Nicene Christian)
364-78: Valens (Arian Christian)
375-83: Gratian (Nicene Christian)
375-92: Valentinian II (Arian Christian)
379-95: Theodosius (Nicene Christian)

...there was another horn, a little one, coming up among them, before whom three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots. And there, in this horn, were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words.  Daniel 7: 8 NKJV

In this verse, we again have the reference to a man just as we had the reference to a man associated with the lion that had eagle wings representing Babylon. It was Babylon that deceived the ancient world with its system of worship (representing the type), and the little horn power would have the same elements as Babylon but on a universal scale (representing the great antitype).  It was the power that would blaspheme God and speak pompous words and deceive the nations at the end of time. The NIV study Bible identifies this power as the antichrist and the footnote in the Douay Version (Roman Catholic Bible) on verse 8 says:

Papal Rome arose out of the ashes of Pagan Rome. The Historian C.C. Eckhardt says:

"When the Roman empire had disintegrated and its place had been taken by a number of rude, barbarous kingdoms, the Roman Catholic Church not only became independent of the state in religious affairs but dominated secular affairs as well." 

Every single historian agrees that papal Rome emerged out of the ruins of the ancient pagan Roman Empire.  Thomas Hobbes, English Historian says:

"If a man considers the original of this great ecclesiastical dominion, he will easily perceive that the Papacy is no other than the ghost of the deceased Roman Empire, sitting crowned upon the grave thereof." 3  Leviathan, page 457.    

2. It came up "among" the ten horns. Verse 8

I considered the ten horns and, behold, there came up among them another little horn.  Daniel 7:8

The antichrist was to come up among the ten horns, growing from a small power to one which would eventually become greater than all the other powers. This is indeed true of the papacy. After the initial fusing of Christianity with the pagan religions of the time, the bishop of Rome increased in power whilst the emperors of the Roman Empire supported him. 

As you know Constantine was the first emperor to embrace Christianity, but he only cloaked himself with a veneer of Christianity. In the year 533 AD, the emperor Justinian decreed that the bishop of Rome was the spiritual leader of the Christian world.

To qualify as a horn, this power must have the attributes of a kingdom, which indeed applies to the Vatican, which to this day is an independent state. Also, it arose amongst the powers of fallen Rome. The Europe that we know today is the remnant of the horns of Rome. Not only that, but it is different from all the rest!

3. It came up "after" the ten horns had been established in the first presence and continues to this day!

And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise; and another shall arise after them....Daniel 7:24

The rise of the little horn power must be sought after the subdivision of Rome into ten powers, which means it must have been after 476 AD that this power, that had been growing from littleness, became firmly established in order to qualify as a 'horn', which is a king or a kingdom.

The Roman Catholic church grew in power after Constantine accepted Christianity, but it did not control secular affairs until the Justinian decrees went into effect. The power of the bishop of Rome steadily increased and papal authority in secular affairs arose after the division of Rome in 476 AD by the Barbarians. The American Catholic Quarterly Review, April 1911, says:

Long ages ago, when Rome through the neglect of the Western emperors was left to the mercy of the barbarous hordes, the Romans turned to one figure for aid and protection, and asked him to rule them; ... and thus ...commenced the temporal sovereignty of the popes. So, meekly stepping to the throne of Caesar, the vicar of Christ took up the scepter to which the emperors and kings of Europe were to bow in reverence through so many ages.

A further quote from The Papal Monarchy, states the following:

"The Pax Romana has ceased. It is universal confusion. But wherever a bishop holds court, religion protects all that is left of the ancient order. A new Rome ascends slowly above the horizon. It is the heir of religion, the emperor is no more... but the Pontifex Maximus abides...He is now the vicar of Christ, offering the old civilization to the tribes of the north. He converts them to his creed, and they serve him as their father and judge supreme. This is the papal monarchy, which in its power and its decline overshadows the history of Europe for a thousand years". 4

"The Vicar of the Incarnate Son of God, Anointed High Priest and Supreme Temporal Ruler, (the Pope) sat in his tribunal impartially to judge between nation and nation, between people and prince, between sovereign and subject". 5 

Luther wrote:

It is a horrible thing to behold the man who styles himself Christ's vicegerent, displaying a magnificence that no emperor can equal . . . He is, say they, the Lord of the World; but Christ Himself has said, "My kingdom is not of this world." Can the dominions of a vicar extend beyond those of his Superior? 6

Who is the Lord of this world? Well we only have to look as far as St Paul for the answer:

3 If, now, the good news we declare is in fact veiled, it is veiled among those who are perishing, 
4 among whom the God of this system of things has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, that the illumination of the glorious good news about the Christ, who is the image of God, might not shine through (2 Corinthians 4).

The papacy has always considered its right to interfere in the affairs of states. Countries were divided by papal decrees, and kings enthroned or dethroned by papal decrees.

4. It was to "uproot three horns". Verse 8

...Before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots....

Three of the ten kingdoms were to be destroyed by the establishment of the little horn power. Since it made its appearance after the subdivision of Rome into ten different states, (after 476 AD), but before the destruction of three of them (because it arises among all ten), we now have a very definite time frame for the rise of the Antichrist power.

Only the papacy answers this description of three of the Roman divisions being uprooted. This is known in the history books as the Arian controversy, because three kingdoms, which did not accept the papal mandates regarding Christ's divinity, were literally uprooted and mercilessly destroyed. The Heruli were completely scattered in 493 AD, the Vandals in 534 AD and the Ostrogoths in 538 AD. These conquests strengthened the hand of the papacy and helped to get her established by the year 538 AD, in which year the bishop of Rome ascended the papal throne under the protection of the Roman general Vigilus. The date for the establishment of papal Rome as an independent power can thus be pinned at 538 AD.

5. It was to be greater than its fellows. 

...Whose look was more stout than its fellows.... Daniel 7:20

The power depicted by the little horn was greater than that of the other states. This implies a position of political superiority. Although it grew from littleness, it was to become greater than all the other powers.

"More stout than its fellows" refers to the greater power which the papacy wielded in the affairs of Europe more than any of the other powers. From 800 AD when Charlemagne received his crown from the Pope, the papacy was to assume power over kings and nations. The "Humiliation of Canossa" is depicted in St. Peters, Rome, when in 1077, Henry IV, King of Germany, stood for three days, a penitent in the snow, before being permitted an audience with Pope Gregory VII. Likewise, King John of England in 1213 stood naked on a cold marble floor waiting for admission to the Pope's presence in order to apologize to him. Note the testimony of a Catholic functionary again:

The Vicar of the Incarnate Son of God, Anointed High Priest and Supreme Temporal Ruler, (the Pope) sat in his tribunal impartially to judge between nation and nation, between people and prince, between sovereign and subject. 5 

6.  It was to be "different" from all the others.

...And he shall be diverse from the first.... Daniel 7:24

As "a horn" is a king or a kingdom, the little horn must represent a king or a kingdom different from all the previous horns, which were secular kingdoms. The precise manner in which the horn was different can be deducted from the sum total of all its attributes that will follow.

The papacy was different from the pagan kingdoms before it, because it was not only a political power, but a religio-political power as well. With regard to the political aspect of the papacy, it is a recognized state. Its seat is the Vatican, complete with a traditional guard and its own postal service. The Vatican is the smallest state in the world, occupying a mere 100 acres, but it has one of the strongest diplomatic corps in the world. Papal representatives sit in the capitals of the world and in turn, these countries have their representatives in the Vatican. The Pope is not only head of the Church, but also temporal sovereign of the papal state? The Vatican.

7. It was to have "Eyes like the eyes of a man and speaking great words against God".    Daniel 7: 8,25

.. behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things....And he shall speak great words against the Most High. Daniel 7:8,25

We have already discussed the reference to the man and its connotation with Babylon. The little horn power is man rising up against God and speaking great words against God. It refers to a system that defies God directly and sets itself up in opposition to God. In ancient Babylon, the king of Babylon was referred to as the head of gold. All power was vested in the king. His word was law, and he was considered [a] god. Similarly, in the great antitype, all power will once again be vested in one man who as the spokesman for the system will utter blasphemies and claim a status not due to mortal man. The Bible identifies blasphemy in the New Testament. We read in the Gospel accounts that the Jews twice wanted to stone Jesus for blasphemy.

'..Son, be of good cheer, your sins are forgiven you.' And at once some of the scribes said within themselves, 'This Man blasphemes! '  Matthew 9:2,3 NKJV

'Son, your sins are forgiven you.'... 'Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?' Mark 2:5-7

'...For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God.' John 10:33 NAS

Unlike Jesus, who is the Son of God and therefore can forgive sins, the little horn power is a power that claims to be able to forgive sins, and then has the effrontery to claim the position of God. Paul, writing to the Thessalonians, reiterates this point with regard to the antichrist.

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, shewing himself that he is God.   2 Thessalonians 2:4 

Many of the Roman catholic churches antics can be summed up in their doctrine as demonstrated here.

Catechism #8 – Priests have the title "Father". "In the great era of the Fathers of the Church, saintly bishops devoted an important part of their ministry to catechesis."

Is this warning not sound enough for you….

Canon Law 1251 - Abstinence from meat, or from some other food as determined by the Episcopal Conference, is to be observed on all Fridays, unless a solemnity should fall on a Friday. Abstinence and fasting are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

Catechism 1580 - In the East as in the West a man who has already received the sacrament of Holy Orders can no longer marry.

1 But the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, cleaving to deceiving spirits and teachings of demons,
2 in lying speakers in hypocrisy, being seared in their own conscience,
3 forbidding to marry, saying to abstain from foods, which God created for partaking with thanksgiving by the believers and those knowing the truth. (1 Tim 4)

Catechism #2131 - Basing itself on the mystery of the incarnate Word, the seventh ecumenical council at Nicaea (787) justified against the iconoclasts the veneration of icons - of Christ, but also of the Mother of God, the angels, and all the saints. By becoming incarnate, the Son of God introduced a new "economy" of images.

Catechism #2132 - The Christian veneration of images is not contrary to the first commandment which proscribes idols. Indeed, "the honor rendered to an image passes to its prototype," and "whoever venerates an image venerates the person portrayed in it." The honor paid to sacred images is a "respectful veneration," not the adoration due to God alone:

"Religious worship is not directed to images in themselves, considered as mere things, but under their distinctive aspect as images leading us on to God incarnate. The movement toward the image does not terminate in it as image, but tends toward that whose image it is." (CCC, 516-517; see also p. 299-300 under "Holy Images")

Talk about theobable!!!! Dear Lord open the eyes of our lost brothers for this is exactly what the Second Commandment warned us about!

Indeed, the Roman catholic church is "speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron" (1 Timothy 4:2). What is described above is classic idolatry. God strictly forbade the Israelites from doing this exact thing (i.e. making an image that would represent Himself or something else and paying homage to it).

15 Take careful heed to yourselves, for you saw no form when the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire,

16 lest you act corruptly and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of any figure: the likeness of male or female. (Deuteronomy 4).

When Aaron made a golden calf for the Israelites, the golden calf represented Yahweh (translated, "the LORD" in the NKJV), the true God. The Israelites identified this golden calf as the God who brought them out of the land of Egypt (Exodus 32:4), which was Yahweh (Exodus 3:14-17).

And Aaron made a proclamation and said, "Tomorrow is a feast to the LORD." (Exodus 32:5).

God's response to the Israelites idolatry was severe anger (Exodus 32:7-35).

Catechism #971 - "All generations will call me blessed": "The Church's devotion to the Blessed Virgin is intrinsic to Christian worship." The Church rightly honors "the Blessed Virgin with special devotion. From the most ancient times [i.e. traditions of our fathers] the Blessed Virgin has been honored with the title of 'Mother of God,' to whose protection the faithful fly in all their dangers and needs. . . . This very special devotion . . . differs essentially from the adoration which is given to the incarnate Word and equally to the Father and the Holy Spirit, and greatly fosters this adoration." The liturgical feasts dedicated to the Mother of God and Marian prayer, such as the rosary, an "epitome of the whole Gospel," express this devotion to the Virgin Mary.

Mary was the mother of Immanuel who became Jesus who became the only "begotten God" after His resurrection.  Jesus made this point clear in a number of scriptures as it pointed out in the Death of he Trinity section followed by the Truth About Jesus section.  Consider HIs answer to Mary at the marriage feast: "What have I to do with you woman?" This wording was no mistake for every word has power.

Although Catholics may deny they worship Mary, they nonetheless do worship her. And, being that she is not Jehovah God nor His "begotten God" Jesus, this is stark idolatry (Deuteronomy 5:7; Psalm 96:5) and demonic (Leviticus 17:7; Deuteronomy 32:17; 2 Chronicles 11:15; Psalm 106:37; 1 Corinthians 10:20-21; Revelation 9:20). Pope John Paul II epitomized this Mary worship. In the book, Crossing The Threshold Of Hope, by "His Holiness John Paul II," the chapter entitled, "The Mother of God" begins and ends with these two paragraphs.

"The renewal of Marian Theology and devotion - in continuity with Catholic tradition - is another distinctive characteristic of the teaching and pastoral activity of John Paul II. Totus Tuus ("I am completely yours, O Mary") is the motto you chose for your papacy." (p. 212)

"I think what I have said sufficiently explains the Marian devotion of the present Pope and, above all, his attitude of total abandonment to Mary - his Totus Tuus." (p. 215)

Catechism # 969 - . . . "Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation. . . . Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix."Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix."

Mary is given the title of "Advocate", a title only Christ (Yahushua) is given in Scripture:

Also in the same section she is stated to be one who not only intercedes, but also brings "gifts of eternal salvation" (ibid.). Acts 4:12 says,

What is this name? It is Yahushua (Christ Jesus) of Nazareth (Acts 4:10; Philippians 2:9-11), not Mary (Mark 3:31-35; Luke 11:27-28).

Click here to continue with - What About Infant Baptism - and More of Their Antics....

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