[FONT="]Prophecy of Daniel[/FONT]
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[FONT="]1. Read Daniel 7:7. What kingdom did the ten-horned beast represent?[/FONT]
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[FONT="]After that, in my vision at night I looked, and there before me was a fourth beast—terrifying and frightening and very powerful. It had large iron teeth; it crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. It was different from all the former beasts, and it had ten horns.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]This could be no other than Rome, the most powerful nation that the world had yet seen.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]What did the 10 horns represent?[/FONT]
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[FONT="]Daniel 7:24[/FONT]
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[FONT="]The ten horns are ten kings who will come from this kingdom. After them another king will arise, different from the earlier ones; he will subdue three kings.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]The 10 major nations that rose from ruins of Rome were:[/FONT]
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[FONT="]Anglo-Saxons[/FONT]
[FONT="]Franks[/FONT]
[FONT="]Alemanni[/FONT]
[FONT="]Lombards[/FONT]
[FONT="]Suevi[/FONT]
[FONT="]Visigoths[/FONT]
[FONT="]Burgundians[/FONT]
[FONT="]Huruli[/FONT]
[FONT="]Vandals[/FONT]
[FONT="]Ostrogoths[/FONT]
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[FONT="]The small horn is said to be a king that is “different” from the original ten. What does this small horn do to three of those ten nations that rose up from Rome?[/FONT]
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[FONT="]Daniel 7:19-25[/FONT]
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[FONT="]After them another king will arise, different from the earlier ones; he will subdue three kings. 25 He will speak against the Most High and oppress his saints and try to change the set times and the laws. The saints will be handed over to him for a time, times and half a time.[/FONT]
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[FONT="] The horn will be responsible for destroying three of those kingdoms.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]What three barbarian kingdoms did Emperor Justinian in Constantinople overthrow?[/FONT]
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[FONT="]Heruli (defeated in 493 AD)[/FONT]
[FONT="]Vandals (destroyed by Emperor Justinian in 534 AD)[/FONT]
[FONT="]Ostrogoths (Ostrogoths withdrew from Rome in 538 AD)[/FONT]
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[FONT="]How long does it say that the little horn will have influence over the world?[/FONT]
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[FONT="]Daniel 7:25[/FONT]
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[FONT="]He will speak against the Most High and oppress his saints and try to change the set times and the laws. The saints will be handed over to him for a time, times and half a time.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]Revelation 11:2[/FONT]
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[FONT="]But exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy city for 42 months.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]Revelation 12:6[/FONT]
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[FONT="]The woman fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]Revelation 13:5[/FONT]
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[FONT="]The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise his authority for forty-two months.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]“Time, times, and half a time,” 42 months, and 1260 days all refer to the same 3 ½ year period (1 month=30 days). This is a consistent period in both the Old Testament Book of Daniel and Revelation in the New Testament.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]Are these 1260 days literal?[/FONT]
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[FONT="]Numbers 14:34[/FONT]
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[FONT="]Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the desert. 34 For forty years—one year for each of the forty days you explored the land—you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]This was Israel’s punishment for not trusting God to lead them into Canaan. God punished them for 40 literal years for the 40 days they explored Canaan.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]Ezekiel 4:6[/FONT]
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[FONT="]‘Then lie on your left side and put the sin of the house of Israel upon yourself. You are to bear their sin for the number of days you lie on your side. 5 I have assigned you the same number of days as the years of their sin. So for 390 days you will bear the sin of the house of Israel.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]Here again we see how God sometimes used a day to symbolize a year. God is not bound by time; a year is like a day to Him. Therefore, it is not unreasonable to think that the 1260 years mentioned in Daniel and Revelation are talking about a 1260-year period.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]Assuming each day represents a year, and the turning point in the Ostrogoths’ fall came in 538 AD, that would bring the end of the little horn’s power at 1798. What major event took place in 1798?[/FONT]
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[FONT="]Note that the kingdoms of the Huruli, Vandals, and Ostrogoths were rivals to the Roman Catholic Church because of their support of Arianism (i.e. they believed that Christ was a created being, and therefore there is no Trinity). In 496 AD, Clovis, the leader of the Franks, converted to Roman Catholicism. In 533 AD, Emperor Justinian, from his capital in Constantinople, wrote two letters which legally confirmed the Bishop of Rome as “head of all holy churches” and “head of all the holy priests of God.” However, it wasn’t until the Ostrogoths were forced to retreat from Rome in 538 AD that the Bishop of Rome was free to extend his influence, and each of the remaining six kingdoms became Catholic. Obviously the early church did not subdue the three kingdoms itself, but it used its relationship with the emperor to have its enemies defeated. In contrast, the Roman Catholic Church’s power symbolically waned when Napoleon’s General Berthier marched into Rome in 1798. He took the Pope prisoner and declared that the papacy had ended.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]Read Revelation 13:1-2. Who is the dragon? What does the beast represent?[/FONT]
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[FONT="]And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. He had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on his horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. 2 The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]We know from Revelation 12:9 that the dragon is referring to Satan. The beast, also known as the little horn, the Prostitute of Babylon, or the Anti-Christ, therefore has to be the Roman Catholic Church. Of course, it is not referring to the Catholic people, as there are many sincere, loving Catholics who don’t realize the danger they are in, but it is the institution of the Catholic Church that the Book of Daniel warns us about. No other organization has done more to corrupt God’s Word through the adoption of false doctrines such as the adoration of Mary, prayers to the saints, salvation by one’s works, purgatory, and, most recently, evolution. Idols decorate every cathedral. It was the Roman Catholic church that persecuted, tortured, and killed innocent people throughout the middle ages and the renaissance. Almost every relic and symbol used in the Catholic Church is traceable to the pagan religions that they suppressed and then copied. Revelation 17:9 tells us that the Harlot of Babylon sits on seven hills, and Rome has long been known as the “City of Seven Hills” (look it up on the Internet, there is even a site which will tell you the name of each of the hills). Rev. 17:4 says she is dressed in purple and scarlet, probably referring to the colors used by the bishops and cardinals. The anti-Christ will speak blasphemies, and Mark 2:7 says that, among other things, claiming to forgive sins is blasphemy. The pope and clergy reserve the right to forgive sins, and they can also refuse to forgive one’s sins if they wish. Just as it was said that he will think to change the times and the laws, the Vatican has changed many of God’s laws, claiming the right to do so through its misuse of Matthew 16:19.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]How do we know that the capture of the pope would mark the end of the church’s 1260-year rule?[/FONT]
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[FONT="]Revelation 13:3[/FONT]
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[FONT="]One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was astonished and followed the beast.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]It was prophesied that the beast’s power would come to an end through its “wound,” but the beast would not be completely destroyed. Likewise, although Napoleon declared the end of the Papacy, the church would continue on with diminished power.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]How was the beast’s wound “healed”?[/FONT]
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[FONT="]Mussolini signed a concordat on February 11, 1929 known as the Lateran Treaty, which restored some of the Papacy’s power. Most of the world no longer looks at the Papacy as being the beast of Revelation, and even President Reagan established diplomatic relations with the Vatican during the time he served as President of the U.S.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]You’ll find that even non-Catholics now have a very high regard for the Vatican and view any criticism of the pope as blasphemous. Thus, the “wound” has been healed, and all the world now looks upon the Vatican with a newfound respect. Yet, the nature of the Vatican hasn’t changed all that much. Even as late as WWII, the Catholic church turned a blind eye to many atrocities taking place, and some even say that it profited from them. The church still supports many of its false doctrines, and Pope John Paul II has repeatedly pushed for unity with other churches, trying to convince them that their differences in belief are not all that important. Many reformers died defending certain truths against the Roman Catholic Church, and many Protestant churches are now equally ready to toss those beliefs aside for the sake of unity.[/FONT]
