by
Pastor Mike Taylor
43,
“And
whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle
themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to
another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.
44, And in the
days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which
shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other
people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms,
and it shall stand for ever. “ (Daniel 2:43-44)
11,“And
from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the
abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand
two hundred and ninety days.
12, Blessed is he that waiteth,
and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty
days.
13, But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt
rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days. “ (Daniel
12:11-13)
5,“And upon her forehead was a name written,
MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF
THE EARTH.
6, And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of
the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I
saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
7, And the angel
said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the
mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath
the seven heads and ten horns.
8, The beast that thou sawest
was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go
into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose
names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the
world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.”
(Revelation 17:5-8)
As we studied the end of Daniel's book
in chapter 10-12 in our last message, we explored the possible rise
again of the “Holy” Roman Empire after it's defeat in 1798 and
the Pope was imprisoned coinciding with the Catholic Church's
influence over the whole earth dwindled and she changed her leopard
spots and instead of a wolf, began to project the image of being
harmless as a lamb. But times are changing in these final days of
man's rule upon the earth and I believe the connection between Daniel
and Revelation points to a resurgence of the political power wielded
by Rome during the Dark Ages.
DANIEL'S
INTERPRETION REVISITED
In
Daniel chapter 2, Daniel is given the interpretation of King
Nebachadnezzer's dream of a golden idol and the true God in heaven
reveals the kingdoms that will arise after Babylon is replaced as the
world power. Then at the end of the book, Gabriel the ark angel
reveals the future of these kingdoms, their rise and their fall.
Daniel was astonished and said:
“ And
I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be
the end of these things? “ (Daniel 12:8).
It
was not for Daniel to know, as the future was forward some 500+ years
before part of the vision was fulfilled, but another 2000 years to
come to our time...our time of the end, when the prophecy is set to
be completed.
The two books of prophecy in Daniel and
Revelation have given many scholars trouble understanding and the
average Joe on the street steers clear of prophecy to his detriment,
as “ the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of the prophecy.”
(Revelation 19:10b)
Let us now examine certain aspects of
Daniel and the book of Revelation to show how they are forever
connected with one another, as they speak of the same events in
different ways.
In Daniel 2:43, the Word of God says that the
seed of men will mingle:
“And just as you saw the iron mixed
with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain
united, any more than iron mixes with clay.”
The great
obscurity of this verse is partially cleared by a reference
to Jeremiah
31:27-28:
27 Behold,
the days come, saith the Lord, that I will sow the house of
Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man, and with the seed
of beast.
28 And
it shall come to pass, that like as I have watched over them, to
pluck up, and to break down, and to throw down, and to destroy, and
to afflict; so will I watch over them, to build, and to plant, saith
the Lord.”
Daniel
appears to be contrasting what man is endeavouring to accomplish by
his own efforts with that which the God of heaven will carry out :
44 “And
in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom,
which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to
other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these
kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.”(Daniel
2:44)
Man
will form his plans for uniting the discordant parts of this empire,
by encouraging marriages between the royal families that rule the
various component kingdoms. The allusion in this verse is to
matrimonial alliances contracted between the Ptolemies and the
Seleucidae :
6 “And
in the end of years they shall join themselves together; for the
king's daughter of the south shall come to the king of the north to
make an agreement: but she shall not retain the power of the arm;
neither shall he stand, nor his arm: but she shall be given up, and
they that brought her, and he that begat her, and he that
strengthened her in these times.”
17 “He
shall also set his face to enter with the strength of his whole
kingdom, and upright ones with him; thus shall he do: and he shall
give him the daughter of women, corrupting her: but she shall not
stand on his side, neither be for him”.
(
Daniel
11:6; Daniel
11:17),
This
did not, however, succeed in producing permanent harmony or union
between them. Each kingdom fell until the Roman Empire became the
strongest, “like iron that breaks” until they imploded from
within and the kingdom was given over to Papal rule instead of pagan
rule, which is a contradiction in terms, as both were just the flip
side of the same coin. We discussed this in our last message, but let
us move on when the truth is revealed in Revelation when is was
obscure in Daniel's time.
REVELATION,
REVEALING PROPHECY IN JESUS CHRIST
The
testimony of Christ, a testimony of the most solemn character, is to
be borne to the world. All through the book of Revelation there are
the most precious, elevating promises, and there are also warnings of
the most fearfully solemn import. Will not those who profess to have
a knowledge of the truth read the testimony given to John by Christ?
Here there is no guesswork, no scientific deception. Here are the
truths that concern our present and future welfare.
“The
Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his
servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and
signified it by his angel unto his servant John:
2 Who
bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ,
and of all things that he saw.
3 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.”
(Revelation
1:1-3)
Beginning
with chapter 1 of Revelation with the description of the One who
stood among the seven golden candle sticks, with seven stars in His
hand that represented the seven Asian Churches at the time, and the
future which represents the time period of the Christian Church until
the return of Christ. Thus there are three applications that can be
made.
-The
first is the literal letter to the literal Church
-the
second is the application showing the time period of the Christian
Church until the return of Christ,
-and
lastly certain aspects we find in these messages apply to the
condition of our own Christian experience.
This
is a vision that was given to John by Jesus Christ Himself, as He
spoke to John as the sound of a trumpet. Each successive period of
church history shows that down through the ages, the church of Jesus
Christ has had 7 periods in church history that Jesus reveals to
John with the last being the church of the end times, the Laodecian
Church of luke warm believers that have fallen into apostasy.
COME
UP HITHER
The
book of Revelation makes a defined shift after chapter 3 leading
into chapter 4, as John is called by the sound of trumpet
calling:
“After
this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the
first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with
me; which said, Come up hither, and I will show you things which
must be hereafter.
2 And
immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in
heaven, and one sat on the throne.
3 And
he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and
there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an
emerald.”
(Revelation
4:1-3)
This
is a different vision given to John and they run concurrently, as
God reveals the opening of the 7 seals of judgment upon the earth.
Notice one of the first thing John sees after the description of
“One who sat upon the throne” is 24 elders sitting on their
respective thrones. Many people have tried to imply and to interpret
who these elders are. First let us look at their
descriptions:
“And
round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the
seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white
raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.”
(Revelation
4:4)
Note
that they are clothed in white raiment which stands for
righteousness which is defined in chp. 19 of Revelation in
describing the bride of Christ, and the armies who come back with
Jesus to reign and rule. So they are clothed with the righteousness
of Christ and a crown of victory. They have been in warfare with sin
and overcome. (sin is only upon this earth) They are seen in heaven
before the sequence of the seals begins and have been redeemed from
among men. They have crowns of gold on their heads, which represents
rewards for service. This is none other than the crown of life or
crown of righteousness that the Lord gives to those that have
endured temptation and have fought the good fight of faith,
finishing their course and have overcome.
Since
they can't be angels, as angels are in service to those of the
redeemed, the Church, then the vision shows redeemed mortal men
saved by the blood of the Lamb. They have received rewards, they are
seated, as they have received victory over their struggles with
evil. The rewards of service to God Almighty comes only in one time
period..the Bema Judgment Seat of Christ (1st.
Corinthians 3:10-15) to receive rewards for things done for Christ
in this life. They are a multiple of the number 12, as the number 12
is the divine sign of government. The only explanation is that this
is the Church, redeemed from the earth and taken to heaven just
before the wrath of God is poured out upon the earth.
Remember
what Jesus said in chapter 3 of this book:
“Because thou
hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the
hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them
that dwell upon the earth.” (Revelation 3:10)
The
original Greek tells us that Jesus is saying we will be taken out of
this time period, not through as some erroneously
believe.
Beginning in chapter 6 of this Revelation, it is
reveals the plagues that come upon the earth, starting with the four
horseman of the Apocalypse.
As Daniel saw in vision the
rise of a great beast out of the sea and described in terrible
ferocity, so too does Revelation speak of this beast that comes, but
first God describes him as a rider on a white horse, with a bow in
his hands.
Revelation 6:2 “And I saw, and behold a
white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given
unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.”
(Revelation 6:2)
The man has a bow, but no arrows. He
rides a white horse, which is a false sign of purity and
righteousness. He goes to conquer, but with words of flattery, words
of deceit, and political power given to him by other nations as
their supreme leader. He has a crown, but unlike the King of kings,
his crown is a crown of conquest and victory, much like the victor's
crown of leaves given to Roman athletes in the Colosseum.
We
are reintroduced to this man in chapter 17 noted in the opening
verses of this message:
6, “And I saw the woman drunken
with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of
Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
7,
And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell
thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her,
which hath the seven heads and ten horns.
8,
The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of
the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on
the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of
life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast
that was, and is not, and yet is.” (Revelation 17:5-8)
I've
spoken of this in past messages, that the woman is a harlot. In
scripture, the sign of a harlot woman is a sign of a religious
organization that has prostituted itself to false gods, and doctrines
of demons and devils. Greek porne -
Meaning “prostitute,” “harlot.” Porne probably goes back to a
word meaning “to sell” or “to export for sale” such things as
slaves. In Greece prostitutes were usually purchased slaves. The Old
Testament prophets often compare apostate Israel, which repeatedly
went “a whoring” after heathen gods, (Ezekiel 23:30; Isaiah
23:17; Ezekiel 16:15) with an adulterous woman. Concerning mystical
Babylon as a harlot (Revelation 19:2) For Old Testament passages
whose thought or wording is similar to that of chapter 17, see Isaiah
47:1; Jeremiah 25:12; 50:1; Ezekiel 26:13.
She has slain
millions upon million of the innocent down through the ages and is
drunk with their blood.
She has a sign of her habitation of
sitteth upon many waters. Exercising power over many “peoples”
and “nations.” (see verse 15) The form of the verb in Greek
presents the “great whore” as in power at the time and as
continuing to exercise power. As the ancient city of Babylon was
situated upon the literal waters of the Euphrates (see Jeremiah
50:12, 38) and dwelt figuratively “upon many waters” or peoples,
(Jeremiah 51:12-13; cf. Isaiah 8:7-8; 14:6; Jeremiah 50:23) so modern
Babylon is represented as sitting upon or oppressing the peoples of
earth. (Revelation 16:12) This whore in but a metamorphosis of
ancient Babylon who received power from the imploding Roman Empire
and instead of Caesar became the leader of a pagan religion. But look
again at the end of verse 8 of the above passage in chapter 17: “the
beast that was, and is not, and yet is.”
Who have we
revealed as the persecutor and tormentor of millions of non-compliant
Christians and Jews throughout the Dark Ages? Who has robes of
scarlet and purple, pearls and costly jewels? Who was defeated in
1798 by France and “that was, and is not, yet is” ?
There
is only one institution that fulfills every aspect of this
description that seeks a return of her former glory and sadly, my
Catholic friends, it is the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy headed by
the Pope of Rome. I take no pleasure in warning of this
“religion”,but even as much as I would warn of Islam and it's
“religion”, because people follow a creation, and institution, a
man-made parallel to worshiping God in vain and both, if a person is
not careful, will lead those people to hell. Both proclaim a
different way to God instead of the true way through Jesus Christ.
This present “Pope” has clearly stated that there are alternative
ways to heaven. “Just be good” is what he says giving a pass to
atheist, Muslims, and any other aberration to the Truth of God's
Word. Thus the head of this “religion” denies that Jesus is the
Only Way back to God the Father.
Jesus calls this institution,
“a beast” which represents kingdoms or political powers. (Daniel
7:3-7, 17; 8:3, 5, 20-21; cf. Revelation 12:3; 13:1) The color of
this beast no doubt representing a sinful kingdom, not just sinful
but one that thought to change the law of God.
25 “And
he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out
the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and
they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the
dividing of time.”
(Daniel 7:25)
The
names of blasphemy with which it is covered indicate that it stands
in opposition to God. Accordingly, the beast itself may be identified
as Satan working through those political agencies in all ages that
have submitted to her control.
In certain respects this beast
resembles the great red dragon of Revelation 12:3, and in others the
leopard like beast of Revelation 13:1-2 . The context makes the
latter relationship appear to be closer. The chief difference between
the beast of chapter 13 and that of chapter 17 is that in the former,
which is identified with the papacy, no distinction is made between
the religious and the political aspects of Papal power, whereas in
the latter the two are distinct. The beast representing political
power and the woman a religious power.
ONE
WORLD GOVERNMENT AND ONE WORLD RELIGION
I
have covered this before, but for this message, I will briefly touch
on it again. The United Nations coupled with the USA and the rest of
the world are pushing for a complete and total control of every
aspect of human life and endeavor by the year 2030. Agenda 21
introduced in the 1990's has morphed into 'SUBSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT”
and their aim is a one world government. Stage right, the pope in
Rome advocating the implementation of this nefarious scheme for
complete control of planet earth. And it is reported that he has
commanded that this be taught in every parish that he controls
through his priest. Some will scoff, but coupled with the foolish
notion of “climate change” the earth dwellers are being primed
for tyranny and a one world government. What better way to unite the
world, than to unite them in the same religious authority. “Which
was, and is not, but is” and will rise again. She has inherited and
proclaimed the abominations of ancient Babylon:
Seduction.
By seducing the kings of the earth into illicit union with her, in
order to further her own sinister designs.
Oppressive
despotism. By sitting upon “many waters” and oppressing the
people of earth. '
Contributing
to human delinquency. By making the people of earth except for the
saints, drunk with the wine of her political policy thus causing
them to become her accomplices in her evil plot. By her fornication,
she “did corrupt the earth” (Revelation 19:2)
Drunkeness.
By being “drunken with the blood of the saints, who had offended
her by refusing to drink of her evil potion of error or to submit to
her ambition to rule the earth.
Murder
and attempted murder. By plotting the murder of God's people, the
“woman” of chapter 12. This political/religious organization has
been anti-semitic from her inception and has attempted to destroy
the Jewish nation, even through Nazi Germany of which she was in bed
with.
Note
in the verses, that she rides the beast and controls him though from
the beast perspective, reluctantly. She guides it's policy. The beast
representing political power and the “harlot woman” the spiritual
power of the last days found in the Tribulation and the Great
Tribulation. But who controls this beast of Revelation...the Catholic
church is but a tool of the supreme deceiver who will arise out of
the bottomless pit.
When the beast exists again as “the
eighth,” “they that dwell on the earth shall wonder whose names
were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world
when they behold the beast.” Remember the analogy of the sixth pope
stepping down to take the helm of the European Union and then taking
it up again from the seventh who will become the false prophet, until
the beast “will burn her with fire and eat her flesh”. (For a
refresher course, if you have not read part 1. then see my blog and
read how the 8th pope comes into existence.)
A very similar
statement is made in Revelation 13:3, 8 on the world's attitude
toward the beast of that chapter when its deadly wound is healed:
“All
the world wondered after the beast … And all that dwell upon the
earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of
life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”
If
chapter 13 refers to the same event as Revelation 17:8, it means the
statement “his deadly wound was healed” (Revelation 13:3) is
equivalent to the expression “shall ascend out of the bottomless
pit.” (Revelation 17:8; Revelation 20:3, 7) In a similar way the
words “did live” (Revelation 13:14) would be equivalent to the
expressions “yet is” and “he is the eighth.” (Revelation
17:8, 11) The wounding of the head, (Revelation 13:3) the going “into
captivity” and “the wound by a sword” (Revelation 13:10, 14)
would have their counterpart in the implied descent of the “beast”
into the “bottomless pit.” (Revelation 17:8) And “death”
(Revelation 13:3) would be equivalent to the “bottomless pit”
phase of the experience of the beast. The similarities noted here
tend to identify the seventh head of the beast as the Papal head. If
there be any doubt, then I invite you to take these scriptures
passages and read them for yourself and then decide who the
description fits and who is pandering to the whole religious world
telling them to “Come home to the mother church” .
My
reader, the book of Daniel was a prophecy of what was to come upon
the earth, but history has proven it to be correct. Daniel was not
given the details of how this would come to pass, so it was hidden
from view until the events actually happened.
Revelation in
comparison is written to “reveal” what Daniel wrote when that
prophecy was given to him by the angel Gabriel from our ABBA Father
God in heaven. Jesus came to flesh out the events and they are not
obscure if you study them closely and compare them to other prophets
in your bible...History is fast becoming completed in our modern
times and all we wait for it the signs that point to the coming of a
one world government and the installing of it's one world
religion...already, the world is promoting a cashless society in
different parts of the world into digital cash to monitor every
transaction on earth. For one reason, and one reason only is control
of the masses of the earth. That is what the coming Anti-Christ will
demand, utter and complete control.
I'm a firm proponent that
the church, the true Church of Jesus Christ, washed in His precious
blood which is not an institution, a building, (but members of His
own body as individuals one at a time upon receiving grace and mercy
through faith in the atonement paid for on Calvary's cross), will
never see the actual in the flesh Anti-Christ, but if we see the
stage being set for his revealing, how much closer is the Lord Jesus
coming for His people, the Bride of Christ? That much closer
everyday. The signs are all around us, from the Middle East, to
Israel, to the USA, to the United Nations, and yes, even to this
pope.
I pray for family members who have been seduced into
this false religion who have come full circle from a Christian home,
into atheism, then the occult, Wiccan, and finally becoming an
agnostic only to succumb to the Satanic lie disguised as the “rock
that Jesus would build His Church on”...that Rock is Christ, not
some religious organization headed by a “vicar of Christ”, but
try telling that to a convinced and converted Catholic. (the
strongest kind that are blindly convinced of their piety by being
members of this cult). If you have come out of this harlot church,
then praise God for His mercy. If you see yourself in any of this, or
still being influenced by the idolatrous doctrines spewed by your
priest, your bishop, or even this pope or any pope, then I pray you
will look behind the curtain that hides their abominations by looking
at their history and their hypocrisy...I pray for my family members
daily that their lives are sold out to the real Jesus, not the
Catholic Jesus who they insult with their false doctrines and
blasphemy.
Remember my friend, the Catholic church is not the
way of salvation....Jesus is the way:
“I am the Way, the
Truth, and the Life. No man cometh to the Father, but by Me..”
(John 14:6)
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His
only Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him, should not
perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)
This is
Pastor Mike Taylor, praying you escape the apostasy that will fill
the earth in the coming Tribulation. If you need counseling, prayer,
or just a listening ear, email me at realteam1999@sbcglobal.net,
or visit me online at www.pastormiketaylor.blogspot.com. God
bless all.
TILL
WE MEET AT JESUS FEET