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SUNDAY, EASTER & CHRISTMAS WILL BE OUR UNDOING

CHAPTER 1

ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH IN PROPHECY

This is not an attempt to provide a history of the origins of the Roman Catholic Church and subsequent history. We will merely mention where this great false Church is mentioned in prophecy and what it will do. It is impossible to mistake the prophecies with any other Church.

Prophecies concerning this church are recorded in the books of Daniel and Revelation. This Church is described as a little horn in Daniel 7. It is described as a beast in Revelation 13. Revelation 17 also describes this church as a 'great whore'. A woman is a symbol for Church in Bible prophecy. Let us look at these prophecies.

Daniel 7:7-8 (NJKJV): "After this I saw in the night visions, and beheld, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth; it was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. I was considering the horns, and 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 of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words."

The angel gives the interpretation [the Bible interprets its own symbols, and the prophecies are not for any private interpretation] in Daniel 7:23-25: "23...the fourth beast shall be a fourth kingdom on earth, which shall be different from all other kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, trample it and break it in pieces. 24 The ten horns are ten kings who shall arise from this kingdom. And another [the little horn or pope, who actually sits on a throne as king] shall arise after them; he shall be different from the first ones and shall subdue three kings. 25 He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, shall persecute the saints of the Most High, and shall intend to change times and law[s]. Then the saints shall be given into his hand, for a time [one year], times [two years] and half-a-time [half a year]."

The fourth beast in this prophecy is the Roman Empire. The ten horns are ten resurrections of the empire after it collapsed in 476 A.D. The little horn is the Roman Catholic [or Universal] Church. The prophecy about the three horns that were uprooted by the little horn was fulfilled when the first three resurrections of the Roman Empire by the barbarian followers of Arianism - the kingdoms of the Vandals, the Heruli and the Ostrogoths - were destroyed at the urging of the pope.

The little horn was prophesied to speak pompous words against the Most High and think to change times and laws. This great church has taken to itself a pompous name: Catholic meaning 'Universal' Church. The popes claim they are the Vicars of Christ, meaning in the place of Christ. What pompous words! They claim they have the authority to bind and loose (i.e. change) any laws on earth. The truth is that this church or any human has no such authority to change God’s Law. It is based on twisting of scriptures. The popes sit on a throne like kings.

Here are some of the times and laws the Church of Rome has intended to change. God's days begin and end at sunset, but this church has given the world days that begin and end at midnight; God's months begin with new moons, whereas the world's months begin and end according to a man-made calendar; God's calendar works on the basis of a 19-year time cycle whereas the calendar approved by Pope Gregory (hence called the Gregorian calendar which the whole world currently uses) works on a four-year cycle. God's calendar begins the year in spring in the holy land. But the calendar given to the world by the Catholic Church begins the New Year in the dead of winter. This church has changed the Ten Commandments. It has changed the Sabbath day (from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset) to 'The Lord's Day', i.e. Sunday. They have done away with God's holy days, (the Sabbath and the seven annual holy days, the Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread, Pentecost or Feast of Firstfruits, Feast of Trumpets or Rosh Hashannah, Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur, Feast of Tabernacles or Succoth, and the Last Great Day, all mentioned in Leviticus 23, which collectively picture God’s plan of salvation for all of mankind) and foisted pagan ancient days on Christianity such as Good Friday, Easter and Christmas dressed in Christian garb by giving spurious Christian significance to them. The Bible does not even mention any of these days, leave alone commanding them to be celebrated by Christians. In one place (Acts 12:4) Easter is mentioned in the KJV which all scholars agree is a deliberate mistranslation of the word for 'Passover'.

Verse 25 of Daniel 7 states: “Then the saints shall be given into his hand, for a time [one year], times [two years] and half-a-time [half a year]." Time, times and half a time equal 1,260 days in the Hebrew calendar. In prophecy, one day often equals one year (Numbers 14:34; Ezek. 4:6). According to this prophecy, this false Church was to be given control over the true Church for 1,260 years and then in the end time for 1,260 days, which implies it will shed the blood of members of God’s true Church in martyrdom; also prophesied in Revelation 17:6, “6 And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.” This church has shed much blood of the true saints over the centuries.

The 1,260 years of the Catholic Church’s control of the realms in which the Church of God had its presence are considered to be from the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. when Emperor Constantine made Catholicism the state religion of the Roman Empire, till the start of the war between Protestant England and Catholic Spain in 1585 resulting in the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588. The Roman Catholic Church has certainly fulfilled all the prophecies in Daniel 7 concerning the little horn.

Revelation 13 calls this religious power a two-horned beast. Revelation 13:11 (NKJV): "Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb [another name for Jesus Christ] and spoke like a dragon [another name for Satan - Revelation 12:9]." This beast outwardly masquerades as Christian, seeking to be identified with Christ, but speaks like the devil.

In prophecy horns represent rulership or authority. But why is this beast pictured with two horns? The reason is that the Roman Catholic Church is both an ecclesiastical (religious) as well as a civilian government. The pope is both a religious head as well as a civil head of state of the Vatican state. He sits on a throne like a king.

Revelation 13:12 continues: "And he [the beast] exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast." As explained earlier, this is a prophecy about the popes of the Church of Rome crowning the emperors of the Roman Empire as 'Holy Roman Emperors'. The emperors were then worshipped as such by their subjects. In turn the popes exercised the authority of the emperors to bring their subjects under the religious authority of the Church of Rome, often with much violence and bloodshed.

The Roman Empire was known simply as the Roman Empire for its first three resurrections under the kingdoms of the Vandals, the Heruli and the Ostrogoths, which were destroyed at the urging of the pope because they were followers of Arianism rather than the Catholic Church.

After the three successive kingdoms ended, the next seven resurrections would be called the Holy Roman Empire. The reason was that the pope of the Roman Church would crown the emperors of these kingdoms as holy Roman emperors and protectors of the False Church. In 554 A.D. Emperor Justinian’s Imperial Restoration began the first resurrection. This was followed by that of Charlemagne who was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 800 A.D.

The 3rd resurrection was that of Otto the Great who was crowned in 962 A.D. The 4th resurrection was that of Charles V of the Hapsburg Dynasty, crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 1530 A.D. The 5th resurrection was that of Napoleon from 1804-1814 A.D., and the 6th resurrection occurred when Garibaldi united the little kingdoms in Italy by 1870 and then Mussolini signed a secret concordat with the pope and declared his rule as the Holy Roman Empire, including the African territories of Eritrea and Somaliland as parts of his kingdom. The Hitler-Mussolini Axis was part of the sixth resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire.

The seventh and final resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire, which is also the 10th resurrection of the Roman Empire, is yet in the near future and is represented by the tenth horn of Daniel’s fourth beast and feet and ten toes of Nebuchadnezzar’s image. This indicates an alliance of ten rulers. In the days of these kings Jesus Christ will return, smash this kingdom and set up God’s kingdom which shall never be destroyed, as indicated by the words in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in Daniel 2:44-45 (“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. 45 Forasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands [meaning it is God’s doing and not human doing], and that it broke in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God has made known to the king [Nebuchadnezzar] what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.”], and also in Daniel 7:13-14, 26-27.

The Church of Rome is also described as a 'great whore' in Revelation 17:1-6, 15: "And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will show unto you the judgment of the great whore that sits upon many waters: with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So, he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple [color of royalty] and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: and upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. 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....Verse 15: "And he said unto me, the waters which you saw, where the whore sits, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations and tongues."

A woman is a symbol for a church. This woman is called a whore in prophecy because it is s false Church. The true Church of God is called the virgin bride of Jesus Christ. The scarlet beast with the seven heads and ten horns which the woman rides is similar to the fourth beast of Daniel 7 and the beast in Revelation 13, except that the seventh head of this beast has the ten horns, meaning that the seventh head will be made up of ten rulers or kings. It is the last of the seven resurrections of the 'Holy Roman Empire'. The source of the Church's religion is also identified as the ancient Babylonian Mystery Religion of Semiramis and her son Nimrod, masquerading around as the Christian religion. It has brought all the pagan festivals of the Babylonian Mystery religion into Christianity by giving them Christian names and Christian 'significance'. For example, Christmas is supposed to commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ. But Jesus was born nowhere near December 25th. Nobody knows the exact birth date of Jesus Christ. All biblical evidence points to an autumn birth rather than a winter birth. And Jesus never instructed His disciples to celebrate His birthday. This Church has also abundantly shed the blood of the true saints of Jesus Christ through the centuries.

Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong (HWA), through whom God founded the modern era of His Church, had this to say about the origins of this false Roman Catholic Church in his book, "The United States and Britain in Prophecy" on page 174-175: "And where, today, are the ancient BABYLONIANS - the Chaldeans? They migrated west and settled in ITALY. Their religion was the Assyrian-Babylonian MYSTERY religion. It is going to come as a breathtaking, awesome, shocking surprise when the world learns that one Simon [Magus, or magician mentioned in Acts 8], the sorcerer of Samaria in the time of the original apostles, leader of the BABYLONIAN MYSTERY religion having the title of PATER or PETER, meaning PAPA, actually appropriated the NAME of Christ and the Christian principle of GRACE, which he turned into LICENSE, doing away with God's LAW (Jude 4) and started what is today called "Christianity." How astonished the world will be to discover that it is NOT, and never was the outgrowth of the CHURCH OF GOD, founded by Jesus Christ and His apostles!"

Remember, all these prophecies in the book of Revelation were given around 94 A.D., when this Church was not fully in existence, but was just beginning to form. There is one and only one Church in history that fulfills all these prophecies perfectly - the Roman Catholic Church. Like it has always done, it is prophesied to do much evil in the near future as prophesied in Revelation 13:11-18, “11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb [another name for Jesus Christ], and he spoke as a dragon [another name for Satan].12 And he exercises all the power of the first beast [the seventh resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire] before him, and causes the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed [meaning the Roam Empire that collapsed in 476 A.D. was resurrected]. 13 And he does great wonders, so that he makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, 14 And deceives them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.

“15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. 16 And he causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: 17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. 18 Here is wisdom. Let him that has understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.”

The number 666 is identified with the Roman Empire. In the Living Church of God booklet titled “Th Beast of Revelation: Myth, Metaphor or Soon Coming Reaity”, the following explanation is provided:

“THE NUMBER OF HIS NAME

“What of the mysterious number 666? Many ingenious solutions have been devised to label desired individuals with that number. But what does the Bible mean when it tells us that this is the number of a man?

“Before Arabic numerals became accepted in the Western world in the thirteenth century, letters of the alphabet doubled as numerals. Thus, all names had numeric value. Most of us are familiar with Roman numerals, where the letters of the Latin alphabet have numeric value. In this system I=1, V=5, X=10, and so on. Greek and Hebrew are the languages in which the Bible was written, and both use a similar system.

“The earliest proposed solution to the meaning of 666 is a tradition attributed to Polycarp, the disciple of the same Apostle John who wrote Revelation. This tradition is preserved in the second century writings of Irenaeus. The number 666 is “contained in the Greek letters of Lateinos [L=30; A=1; T=300; E=5; I=10; N=50; O=70; S=200]” (Jamieson, Fausset & Brown’s Commentary On the Whole Bible, 1961, p. 1567). Lateinos is a Greek term referring to the Romans. Interestingly, the Greek expression meaning “the Latin kingdom” (h Latine Basileia) also has a numeric value of 666. Greek writers commonly referred to the Roman Empire in this way. The book of Revelation was originally written in Greek, as it was written to Greek-speaking churches in ancient Asia Minor.

“Another interesting explanation involves the name of the emperor Nero, who died about 25 years before John wrote Revelation. Though Nero was dead, his rule was nevertheless a type of the end-time Roman system. He was brought to power promising constitutional reforms and a return to the “golden age” of Augustus but became increasingly cruel and despotic after achieving power. Living in an atmosphere of intrigue and conspiracy, he abused his power and was responsible for the Roman state’s first official persecution of Christians. During his reign, most of the Apostles, including both Peter and Paul, were martyred. His name in Greek was spelled Neron Kaesar (Nero Caesar). When the Greek form of his name is spelled out in Hebrew characters, their numeric value also adds up to 666.

“The founder of ancient Rome was Romulus, from whose name Rome and Roman are derived. The Latin name Romvlvs is written in Hebrew as Romiith. In the Hebrew language this also adds up to 666 (resh=200, vau=6, mem=40, yod=10, yod=10, tau=400). Thus, in both Greek and Hebrew, the two languages of the Bible, the number 666 is stamped upon the kingdom that derived from Rome.”