Revelation Part 9

[Unless in brackets, all of the message is by Bertrand L. Comparet.] At this point, we arrive in our study of the Book of Revelation near the end of Revelation chapter 11, just after the second woe is past. We will now read Revelation 11, verses 15 through 19: “And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned. And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth. And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.”

What you have to remember is – whenever you run into something in the Book of Revelation, practically none of this is an instantaneous event. It is a process, and when it says that this occurs at the sounding of the seventh angel’s trumpet, it takes a couple of centuries or more to complete. Don’t look for it as just one event, because it isn’t. Thus, we are brought to the point where the seventh trumpet is sounded, and that merely opens the third and final of these woes. Then, in the next chapter, which is the 12th, you come to one of those parenthetical inserts. Remember, several times we’ve come to that same thing in this book. It would progress on one particular phase of it to a point and stop, and then go back to something else, beginning at a considerably earlier time and carrying on through that period. That’s what you have here, one of these flashback inserts to see what’s been going on a long time before. We’ve been studying what amounted to a prophesy of the break-up of the Roman Empire – its division into three parts, and here the northwestern part, amounting to the European Roman Empire; the African southern part, including Egypt and perhaps Palestine; and then the northeastern part – Syria, Asia Minor and the Balkan nations that were still under the rule of the eastern Roman Empire of Constantinople.

It has been a study of what’s been happening to the “beast” empires. But, what was happening to Israel all this time? That’s the subject of the parenthesis we come to here in the 12th chapter: “And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.” There can be no possible doubt as to the identity of the woman; this is Israel. This is Israel! This is Israel, beyond a doubt, because the symbolism is lifted right out of the Book of Genesis. [See note #1 at end of lesson.]

Remember, Joseph as a boy became quite unpopular with his eleven brothers because he kept getting dream visions of his own importance, and he liked to remind the others of it, with the natural consequences thereof. Hence, in Genesis 37, verses 9 to 11, it tells us that: “And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it to his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me. And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth? And his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying.”

Quite obviously the symbolism which Israel the patriarch recognized was that the sun represented himself, the moon his wife. And Joseph said “the eleven stars bowed before him”, and he himself was the twelfth. Hence, the Bible, as always, gives the key, and the only key to its own symbolism. This woman, clothed with the sun, the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head – no mistaking that that woman symbolizes the nation Israel. Going on, Revelation 12, verses 3 to 5: “And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto Yahweh, and to his throne.”

This again confirms the Israel identity of the woman. The man child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron – plainly that is Yahshua the Christ. For example, see Revelation 12, verse 5: “Her child caught up unto Yahweh and to his throne”, which we unquestionably know is Yahshua the Christ – see Revelation 3, verse 21, and Hebrews 12, verse 2. The dragon is a representation of Satan. The mention that “his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth” very probably means that in Satan’s rebellion a third of the angels followed him into that revolt. We don’t have that definitely stated elsewhere as to the number of them, but it is a pretty good indication here. We know that Herod, the Edomite-Jew, was the one who tried to murder the infant Christ. It mentions that this was not merely a dragon. It was a “red dragon”, and the name Edom means red. This is a further reminder that this satanic dragon is an Edomite-Jew, and at this particular period nobody else in the evil system but the Edomite-Jew was running it. Therefore, as you would expect, all evil really stems from the activities of Satan’s children, which they are. It was not merely Herod himself, because the book shows that this red dragon goes on functioning for many, many centuries thereafter. But, the red character, the Edomite-Jew control is plainly called to our attention.

Revelation 12, verse 6: “And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.” Now you find more utter rot written about the Book of Revelation than about anything else, because it does take some study to understand it, and these “one verse” Bible experts try to explain it all in terms of the one verse they know, especially the people who want to lay all evil solely at the door of the Catholic “Church.” There’s no question about it, the Jews infiltrated and corrupted the Catholic “Church”, and they led it to do a lot of terrible things which it has plenty to answer for, but when you try to say that the one who tempted Adam and Eve was one of the Popes, and that Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed because the Vatican was there, in order to blame everything on the Catholic “Church”, in doing so they’re just getting their religion all mixed-up. Hence, you have to guard yourself on the Book of Revelation, especially so you don’t apply everything to the Catholic “Church.” [See note #2 at end of lesson.]

This twelve hundred and sixty days means, of course, on the prophetic scale, twelve hundred and sixty years. There is also a twelve hundred and sixty year period in connection to the rule and fall of the papacy – their loss of power, at least. But this is a different twelve hundred and sixty prophetic days. We know that the path taken by Israel on their march was nearly all wilderness. Wilderness country is unsettled, and pretty nearly all of the territory through which they marched into their European homes was unsettled wilderness. She was to be protected in the wilderness twelve hundred and sixty years. The Assyrian conquest and deportation of the northern kingdom of Israel started in the year 745 B.C. The conquest was completed in 721 B.C., and much of the deportation had been accomplished during that period. Add twelve hundred and sixty years to that and you find that it extends from 516 to 540 A.D. If you check your English history, you will find that all of the migration into England of the Jutes, Angles and Saxons was completed by the time they reached that period. There was still fighting going on – remember in those days you could hardly find anyone who was satisfied to stay home and live at peace in his own territory. You couldn’t find any king who was satisfied to do that. The only thing that he could think of was to conquer his neighbors and extend the size of his kingdom. Not only were these Jutes, Angles and Saxons fighting the ancient Britons to take more territory from them, but they were fighting among themselves, trying to conquer and subdue each other. That continued after this time. But the migration into England, which was the last stage of the Israel migration, was all completed by this period. [See note #3 at end of lesson.]

They reached the Baltic areas much earlier, and the Visigoths’ migration into Spain came about 412 A.D. Thus, the people of Israel had been protected in their march through the wilderness throughout this twelve hundred and sixty year period. This ends practically a century before the rise of the papacy beginning at 606 A.D., so that, although it’s the same length of time, twelve hundred and sixty years of duration, it is not the same twelve hundred and sixty.

Continuing with Revelation 12, verses 7 to 12: “And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.”

This can only be a flashback to a still earlier time. The expulsion of Satan from heaven had occurred prior to the lifetime of Yahshua the Christ, because in Luke 10, verse 18, He stated, “And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.” That was something already accomplished. As a matter of fact, we have pretty good circumstantial evidence that that was accomplished before the sending of Adam here, because Adam was sent here to kick Satan out and take over power as the governor of the earth. Considering this reference to “... rejoice, yeye that dwell in them”, in Revelation “heaven” or “the heavens” is used sometimes as symbolic of the Israel lands. You’ll remember when we were discussing the matter of the two witnesses, all Protestantism was stamped out and silenced by 1514 A.D. Then, in 1517 A.D. it just swept over Europe like wildfire, beginning with Martin Luther nailing up his ninety-five theses on the “church” door. It says that “the witnesses revived and stood on their feet and heard a voice, saying come up hither into heaven, and they were caught up into heaven and their enemies saw them and were in great fear.” Anybody who is simply taken up in spirit into the heaven of Yahweh’s throne isn’t seen by anybody here on earth. What happened was, Protestantism swiftly became established as the religion of the Teutonic and Scandinavian peoples, and of England, and it was protected because the kings themselves became Protestant and gave it protection. Thus, you had the Protestant reformers from then on, caught up into heaven; into favor with the rulers of their nations. [See note #’s 4 & 5 at end of lesson.] heavens, and

Therefore, in the Israel nations where the power of the papacy is being cast out, it says “rejoice, woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea.” The earth that it speaks of here is the Roman world – the nations surrounding the Mediterranean – the Roman Catholic earth. The sea, of course, is always symbolic of the great mass of non-Israel people in general. Thus, they were going to have plenty of trouble, but it meant that the Israel Protestant nations were now on the rise and should rejoice at that. [See note #6 at end of lesson.]

Revelation 12, verses 13 and 14: “And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.” I forget for the moment the citation where the verse is, but you remember Yahweh said to Israel, “you remember how I bore you on eagle’s wings” in the exodus out of Egypt. Here you have the same familiar symbolism. She was carried on eagle’s wings into the wilderness, nourished for a time, times, and a half of time, which again would be twelve hundred and sixty years. It’s that same period, of the march of Israel into their new home, completed within twelve hundred and sixty years. “And she was protected there from the face of the serpent.” Again, this has nothing to do with Catholicism. Remember, the power of the popes didn’t begin until nearly a century after this process was completed. Secondly, the people of Israel were not moving through Roman Catholic lands except as conquerors, smashing up everything. [See note #7 at end of lesson.]

You had the Visigoths moving down through north Italy, capturing and looting Rome in 410 A.D., and then moving out still as conquerors across southern France, where some of them settled and the rest crossed the Pyrenees into Spain and Portugal, all Roman territory. But they weren’t bothered by the power of Rome. They simply took over and displaced the power of Rome. The same was true of the various German tribes. The Heruli, the Vandals and some of those – when they came in they left a trail of desolation and ruin – they were living up to the prophesy “Thou art my battle ax and weapons of war”, and they were smashing and destroying the Roman Empire.

There is one thing, though; the terms “dragon” and “serpent” had been used interchangeably as a representation of Satan and his family, his children. Israel was protected from the face of the serpent, and in all these wilderness territories through which she moved, there were no Jews. Inasmuch as there wasn’t anybody there with money to be swindled out of, why would any Jews have any incentive to go there? They always come in as parasites after somebody else has developed it and produced something of value. Consequently, in all their march the people of Israel were kept away from corruption by Jewish influence. This is nothing particularly new. You had the same thing in the Old Testament. Jeremiah 31, verses 1 and 2: “At the same time, saith Yahweh, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people.” (Remember, Jeremiah was writing this after the deportation of Israel from Palestine was all completed – Jeremiah was writing a century later.) “Thus saith Yahweh, The people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.” [See note #8 at end of lesson.]

Even earlier still, Isaiah 43, verse 19: “Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way (or a path) in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.”

Isaiah 41, verse 1: “Keep silence before me, O islands; and let the people renew their strength ...” Remember now, when they got to England they were small in number. They were not yet ready to meet the might of the great empires that were still under control of Catholicism, so “let the people renew their strength.” They were able to build up into considerable numbers, with great fighting ability before the test came.

Isaiah 42, verse 4 – it’s one of the series of verses speaking of Yahshua the Christ: “He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law.” Remember, king Alfred the Great was the first great law giver in England. He set up a complete comprehensive code of laws which he took right out of the Bible. They were the laws of Yahweh, and with very little modification. [At this time there is a question from the audience as to the time of this event. Bertrand L. Comparet’s answer.] I venture to guess, without guaranteeing it, it was around 800. [Again there is another question from the audience, asking if this was before the Magna Carta. Answer,] Oh yes, long before. This was the old Anglo-Saxon king, and prior to the setting up of the Norman kingdom.

Then resuming again with the 12th chapter of Revelation at verses 15-16: “And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.”

Significantly, in the first place, the people of Israel were taken into the southeastern part of the Assyrian Empire. They settled there with the expectation on the part of their conquerors that they would be absorbed into the empire and lose their identity. But they didn’t. They were not allowed to build cities because the cities of ancient times were great walled fortifications. The Assyrians were not about to allow these people to make themselves a chain of great fortresses. Hence, they compelled them to be a nomadic, cattle-raising people, which proved actually a source of strength. Instead of being pinned down in cities and developing all the vices that are common to the city, they maintained their mobility and their ruggedness. If they were attacked by an army too great for them to defeat, they could always retreat before it. They weren’t leaving behind anything of value. They could retreat, drawing the pursuing enemy away from his bases of support, having to follow them through a country where they had used the “scorched earth” policy and left them nothing to eat until finally, when they caught him hungry, tired, without supplies of any sort, then they could turn on him and finish him off. In the century that they were there, they maintained a constant guerrilla warfare with the Assyrians, not able to overthrow them, but just the same, able to bleed them white by that constant warfare.

Then when the Medes came in, the Scythians were allies of the Medes. The allied Scythian-Median armies conquered Assyria and destroyed the Assyrian Empire, 612 B.C. In the next couple of generations following that, the Persians conquered and absorbed the Medes into the Persian Empire. It is this Medo-Persian empire that moved down on into Babylon and conquered Babylon. After getting help from the Scythians against Assyria, and some of them on their march into Babylonian territory, Darius the Mede became ungrateful enough to try to conquer his helpful [Scythian] ally and make them a tributary portion of his empire. He attacked them with an enormous Persian army. They retreated before him because he had forces too great for them to simply stand and be defeated. He followed them till they reached that pass in the Caucasus mountains, a pass which to within our own lifetime has ever since borne the name “the pass of Israel”, a narrow gorge. In places, an enemy army of 50 million men could only come eight or ten at a time. That is all there was room for. When he (Darius) saw he’d reached that point and that they (the Israelites) were ready to defend it (this narrow gorge), he turned back, and that has borne the name “the Dariel gorge” ever since. [See note #’s 9, 10 & 11 at end of lesson.]

Hence, here were these floods of people. Remember that the terms “sea” or “waters” or sometimes a “river” are always symbolic, in the Book of Revelation, of these masses of non-Israel people. They were moving out, crossing over into Europe on their way into their destined homelands in northern and western Europe. Then came this great migration of the Huns under Attila. The earlier migration of the Khazars had begun before this, about 150 A.D. The Khazars, a people related to the Turks, moved out of the same area from which the Turks later came, the plains of interior Asia, and they settled north of the Aral and Caspian seas and up into the Don and Dneiper valleys, the southwestern quarter of Russia. They were basically to the east of the people of Israel, who were angling to the west, around the eastern end of the Black sea, till they came to the mouth of the Danube valley. Most of them slanted northwesterly up there into Europe. Of course, that didn’t affect the march of the people of Israel. [See note #’s 12 & 13 at end of lesson.]

Then, in the late 300s you had the march of the Huns from far eastern Asia, a completely Mongoloid people. They came there in time to start pushing the Goths, who had gotten into the Balkan countries, westward before them. The Visigoths moved on first. You’ll remember that they’d gone through Roman territories around the head of the Adriatic sea, down through north Italy, and started to besiege Rome in 408 A.D. and were bought off with a big tribute bribe. In 410 A.D. they captured and looted the city thoroughly, and then moved on into Southern France, Spain and Portugal. The Ostrogoths were being pushed westwardly, however, behind the Visigoths by the steady advance of the Huns, and they came on down in the late 400s into northern Italy, conquering it, and set up their own Ostrogothic kingdom. As a politically independent unit it lasted only about 25 years, and then was overthrown and another dynasty placed over it. Nevertheless, you had the Ostrogothic people of Italy remaining there so that, in Italy today, you have in north Italy a fair skinned, often blue-eyed and blond people who in are in no way related to the swarthy people of southern Italy and Sicily. [See note #’s14 & 15 at end of lesson.]

However, the great bulk of the Ostrogoth migration had gone up the Danube valley and gone on up and settled on the Baltic shores, and East Prussia became their final destination. Hence, here came this great flood westward, designed by Satan to overwhelm and mongrelize the people of Israel. But, as he says, “the earth helped the woman, opening its mouth and swallowing the flood.” The Asiatic migration of the Huns was slowed down till all it could manage to do was creep slowly along. When they finally arrived, they simply pushed the Israelites ahead of them. The Huns drove across southern Europe, skirted up through Austria to get around the Alps, and got as far as central France before they were finally defeated by Israel peoples located there, who were of the Germanic and Gothic tribes.

That turned out to be the Huns’ high-water mark on their way to the west. They were turned back by that defeat and went back, yet Attila – who had once been talked out of capturing Rome (as one of the popes persuaded him to take a big tribute bribe and spare the city) – Attila went back to (it would be Austria where his forces were) to plan a new invasion of Italy, and then he died.

He had, as his forces, a conglomeration of wild, lower grade savage tribes, and each tribal leader, while he was willing to subordinate his own authority to that of the leader of the horde, Attila, but with Attila gone, each tribal leader said “Well, now you’re not going to put one of these other little tribal leaders over me; I’m as good as he.” So nobody could re-establish the power of that horde of the Huns. With their power broken up, most of them drifted back eastward into Mongolia. Some of them did, though, take service under the Romans as mercenary troops, but that was a minor, fragmentary few.

We comprehend then, “the earth swallowed up this flood of waters that the dragon poured out trying to carry away the woman, Israel.” Significantly, that was prophesied earlier still, at Isaiah 43, verses 1 and 2: “But now thus saith Yahweh that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.” (Remember, when Isaiah wrote this the deportation of the northern Kingdom of Israel was already complete.) Isaiah goes on: “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.” Thus, Israel had Yahweh’s protection on their march. The waters of the great turbulent masses of non-Israel peoples were not permitted to overwhelm them and mongrelize them. Then, at Revelation 12, verse 17: “And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of Yahweh, and have the testimony of Yahshua Christ.” If you will look in your King James Version Bible, at least if it’s a Scofield edition, you will find over that verse the heading “the Jewish remnant.” Since when did any remnant of the Jews have the testimony of Yahshua the Christ?!?! [See note #16 at end of lesson.]

Moving over now to chapter 13, verse 1 of Revelation, we come to a completely new theme: “And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.” We see here the dragon had seven heads and ten crowns; so obviously the beast with seven heads and ten crowns is another phase of the same thing as the dragon. You can see that they are similar in their principal and purpose. John goes on to say in verse 2: “And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his throne, and great authority.” You’ll remember it was in Daniel where we had the start of this business of beasts symbolizing empires.

Daniel 7, verses 3 to 7, he’s telling his vision: “And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another. The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made to stand upon the feet as a man, and a man’s heart was given to it ...” I’ve told you before of the different words having different meanings, which have all been translated “man.” There is the Hebrew word aw-dawm, from a root meaning of a ruddy, fair complexion, and therefore the white race. There is the Hebrew word ’iysh, literally a male person and therefore applicable to a man, whether white or otherwise. There is also the word enôwsh, whose root meaning is mortal and which implies weakness, either physical or spiritual. It’s always used in a rather derogatory sense in the Scripture. In practically all of your translations, even the good modern ones, these distinctions are lost because all three of those words are indiscriminately translated “man.” Now, this man’s heart that was given to the lion, that was the Chaldean word enash, which is from the same root of the related Hebrew word enôwsh. Daniel, you will remember, interpreted Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the great image or statue. The head of gold was Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon, the breast and arms of silver were the Medo-Persian empire, the belly and thighs of brass were Alexander’s empire, and the legs of iron were the Roman Empire. That was Nebuchadnezzar’s vision as Daniel interpreted it. [See note #17 at end of lesson.]

By way of confirmation, Daniel was given his own vision of these four beasts. The first of these – the lion – is Babylon: “And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh. After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it.”

The bear was the Medo-Persian Empire, as it raised itself up on one side. You had the two nations, the Medes and the Persians, but the Persians became dominant, inasmuch as the one side was raised up more than the other. It had three ribs of the prey in its mouth – the Medo-Persian Empire conquered and overthrew three other empires – Assyria, Babylon and Egypt. Now the leopard, the swift striking forces of Alexander the Great, are very well symbolized by the leopard. Swift and powerful. The leopard had four wings and four heads. It, in other words, already carried signs of being split up, on the death of Alexander himself, into four separate kingdoms. Four of his chief generals each took over a quarter of Alexander’s empire: “After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.” This keys in with these other visions. The dragon had seven heads and ten horns, and the beast that John saw rise out of the sea had seven heads and ten horns. Hence, these four beast empires all show similar characteristics because that’s brought out to John, as all are combined into one beast. It was like a leopard, its feet like the feet of a bear, his mouth like the mouth of a lion, and he had the seven heads and ten horns. Therefore, you can see that these four successive Gentile empires were all satanic in their origin and in their basic principles – they all had come from the dragon. But you find a difference between the vision that John got and the vision Daniel got, and for a reason. Daniel was given a prophesy of things to come, in his day, carrying down to where the Book of Revelation took up. John was not given visions going back into the past, nor tying it into what had existed before. We’re going to see, as we get to the point of tracing these seven heads, that they represent other empires in addition to the four that Daniel’s vision had. Then you come to a portion of this thing in Revelation that again is often misinterpreted by these “one verse” Bible experts, whose knowledge of the Bible is limited to the hatred of the Catholic “Church.” [See note #18 at end of lesson.]

[Revelation 13:3-4:] “And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?” This is one of these seven heads of the beast – wounded seemingly of a fatal wound and yet the deadly wound healed. Ironically, these so-called Bible experts are able to see that the one head of the beast being talked about here is the Roman Empire. But there is more to it than that.

Actually, it was the western Roman Empire that was destroyed – wounded unto death. They say, however, the power of the papacy developed after that, so that’s the healing of the deadly wound of that head. It’s nothing of the sort. It is not a healing of the wound of the old head because the Roman Empire was not a religious power. It was a political and military power only. When you get a different religious power coming up, it is not a healing of the wound of the previous one; it is the start of something new and additional, and we’re going to see when and where the healing of the wound of this head actually occurred, as it’s not the power of the papacy. [See note #19 at end of lesson.]

As soon as this composite beast rose out of the sea, it proved to be the whole world mass of non-Israel people. It showed that they were all essentially the same in their beastly character – violent, brutal, totally lacking in spiritual understanding. The western Roman Empire, while it maintained the name Roman – and remember, that after the capital was moved to Constantinople, that part of it still called itself the Roman Empire. After the split became totally permanent and you had two independent empires, the easterly one called itself the Roman Empire, even though it had only the territories of Palestine, Asia Minor and the Balkans, while the rest of the empire belonged to Rome. Secondly, the western empire was not governed from the city of Rome during approximately the last century of its existence. The emperors had moved their capital city, part of the time to Milan, and part of the time to Ravenna. Hence, the empire was something more than just one city in it, however big and important that city had previously been. The western Roman Empire received a deadly wound. They were invaded and plundered by the Visigoths in 410 A.D. [Whereupon they set up a Visigothic kingdom. These Goths did not stay in Rome, however, but soon moved on to Gaul and Spain. There they drove out the Vandals, whereupon the Vandals then emigrated to Africa and occupied it by 439 A.D., and returned to sack Rome in] A.D. 455. The Ostrogoths again conquered them and took over northern Italy in 493, but in the meantime, 476 A.D., the western Roman Empire came to its official end, because one of the invading Germanic tribes, the Heruli, under their king Odovacar, had conquered it; and the emperor was such a trivial figure they didn’t even bother killing him. They just told him he was deposed, “now go on home.” They sent him down – he had a luxurious villa down in southern Italy and they sent him home as a private citizen. Odovacar didn’t bother taking the title emperor for himself. He appointed one of his minor officers emperor, and his army elected him king of Italy. [See note #20 at end of lesson.]

Essentially, the Roman Empire was dead. It was wounded unto death. For another three centuries, that’s the way it stayed. In the meantime, you had the rise of the papacy, but they didn’t restore any empire. The Italians have never been capable of self government. Each little area would set itself up under a local, petty king. Then that petty king had to conquer the neighbors to enlarge his kingdom, and so they fought among themselves all the time. While the people of the city of Rome did turn to the Pope as someone who might restore order amid the anarchy, he did not restore an empire – definitely not – but Charlemagne, king of the Franks, did. He revived the western European Roman Empire. Then he became first the master of all Gaul; France we’d call them today. Then he conquered and ruled nearly all of Germany, then Italy, part of Spain, and some of the islands in the Mediterranean. Thus, he had restored that western Roman Empire, in fact, even before the title was given him. [See note #21 at end of lesson.]

In 800 A.D., Pope Leo the third crowned him emperor of the Romans. Thus, you now had a military and political western Roman Empire restored. Even the name. Hence, the deadly wound of the head was healed. That was the first time the Pope had managed to get any king to accept his crown, and it became the basis for the claim, later maintained by the papacy, that they had the right to make and unmake kings at will. Then you’ll remember, at Revelation 13:4 it said: “And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?”

In all this time, the papacy had no army to speak of. But Charlemagne was a very brilliant general. He overran the Saxon peoples of Germany, the Visigoths of Spain – both of them Israel – and the turbulent peoples of Italy, including the Israel Ostrogoths in the north. He was victorious everywhere. Hence, as they say, who can make war with this beast empire? Now that renewed empire they called the “Holy Roman Empire”, from the fact that the crown had been bestowed by the Pope. The successors kept that title of Holy Roman Empire until the year 1806 A.D. Therefore, here you had a real healing of the deadly wound. Charlemagne ruled until 810 A.D., a tremendously able man. His successors on the throne were weak and incompetent, and by the year 888 his dynasty finally fizzled out. The last two kings of that dynasty – Charlemagne is Latin, Carolus Magnus (Charles the Great) – but the last two kings of this dynasty were known respectively as Charles the Bald and Charles the Fat, the only things through which they were distinguished.

Speaking not simply of this one head, but of the beast, this whole composite system of empires was in a process: as one was rising to power, another declined and fell. Revelation 13, verse 5, says: “And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.” This is where it is talking about the rise of the papacy, not the same head that was healed, but a part of the beast system. Of course, the papacy has unquestionably maintained blasphemous claims, indeed. They say that the Pope is the successor to and substitute for Yahshua the Christ. His official title, Vicarius Filii Dei, is “A Substitute for the Son of God.” Yes, that’s the literal translation of it, one who takes the place of and acts as a substitute for the Son of God. He claims to be the successor to Christ, having taken over all the power of Christ and Yahweh. He could, by his own whim, consign anybody to hell, no matter how good he was, or to heaven, no matter how evil he was, just as the Pope saw fit. In fact, there are certain of the official documents of the Catholic “Church”, official pronouncements, that they put out which refer to him as “Lord God the Pope.” Certainly it is a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, “and power was given unto him to continue for forty two months” [1260 years]. [See note #’s 22 & 23 at end of lesson.]

The first real consolidation of the power of the Pope came about 606 A.D. From then on, the power of the papacy continued to rise. The pope gradually took over a large part of the territory of Italy as the Papal States, which he ruled as an earthly king. But, in 1866, twelve hundred and sixty years after the beginning of the rise of the papacy, it was overthrown. All its territory was taken from him except a few hundred acres being left of the Vatican City, and the Pope’s claim as a temporal king was smashed. Thus, his power continued forty-two months, which would be twelve hundred and sixty days on the prophetic scale, equaling twelve hundred and sixty years. It continues here, in Revelation 13:6-8: “And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against Yahweh, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven (in the Israel lands). And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. 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.” Another viable translation of that could be “whose names are not written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the slain Lamb.” [See note #’s 24 & 25 at end of lesson.]

Here again, this pretty definitely identifies the papacy. All European Christianity was gradually brought under the domination of the Catholic “Church.” It became, as far as any organized “church” was concerned, the “church” of all Europe. Hence, “power was given him (the Pope) over all kindreds, tongues, and nations.” This was true even up into Germany, the Scandinavian countries and England. It was given unto him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. Yes, Protestantism was stamped out in bloody massacres over a period of several centuries, until finally the last trace of any attempt at organized Protestant religion had vanished by 1514. It says “he made war with them, and overcame them.” This doesn’t mean that there were no Protestants alive, but it does mean that they didn’t dare have any organized “church” services. They had their own secret beliefs, but they didn’t dare talk about it. [See note #26 at end of lesson.]

Then at Revelation 13, verses 9 and 10: “If any man have an ear, let him hear. He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.” The Catholic “Church”, over this period of twelve centuries, had murdered a great many million Protestants. There were at least two Protestants burned to death for heresy in Italy in the year 1866 – that late! No records were kept of how many were murdered in these various massacres, so estimates are all that can be made. I’ve seen estimates running as high as 40-60 million Protestants murdered by the Catholic “Church” over that period, and a great many others imprisoned in order to stamp out everything but Catholicism.

You will remember that Napoleon was an outgrowth of the French Revolution. He started as an officer in the Communists’ army, but he saw what utter chaos and confusion their silly Communism was. He was a very capable man and he had the backing of an army. Because of some brilliant military victories, they put him in military command and gave him high office. With the backing of the army, he declared himself emperor of the French. For him, Communism was ended and displaced. Then he started out on a general conquest to extend his empire as far as he could. Among other places, he took over Italy, and he took a lot of the papal states – the territory that the Pope had ruled. The Pope excommunicated him for this, so Napoleon put the Pope under arrest and threw him in jail and kept him there until the Pope signed a treaty acknowledging that the territories Napoleon had taken rightfully belonged to Napoleon. The Pope had tried to pull this stunt of granting the crown to Napoleon. He was there at the ceremony, ready to place the crown on Napoleon’s head, and Napoleon seized it out of the Pope’s hands and put it on his own head. He wasn’t going to acknowledge that he got any power from the Pope, and he didn’t.

Therefore, he that leads into captivity has to go into captivity. He that killed with the sword must be killed with the sword. You will note in that period of wars that started then, beginning with the French Revolution and following, they had frightful wars in the basically Catholic countries, the Latin countries of Europe in which the slaughter was terrific. Thus, “the patience and faith of the saints.” They realized that the triumphs the Pope was making at the time were not permanent, that he too was going to be overthrown. This leads us to the point where we’re about to start on another and bigger phase of this, much too big to cover tonight. We might as well break it off at this point. [See note #27 at end of lesson. – End of Comparet’s Lesson #9. – See also critical narrative on the connection between Justinian and the Pope at the end of critical notes.]

CRITICAL NOTES ON LESSON #9

Comments by William Finck initialed W.R.F.

Comments by Clifton A. Emahiser in brackets in lesson text as “your transcriber”

or initialed C.A.E. in critical notes.

Note #1: Comparet speaks at times of the Germanic tribes as if they alone are Israelites. If that were so, we would have no epistles to Romans or Greeks in our Bibles, and there were already Israelites in Iberia, Ireland and Britain long before the Germanic tribes entered Europe from Asia. These had left from Palestine, or much earlier even from Egypt, and were known as Danaans, Trojans, Phoenicians, or Dorians, all leaving and spreading themselves throughout the Mediterranean – or beyond – at different points in time and from different places during the 700 year period from the Exodus to the Assyrian deportations. The art and archaeology of the Greco-Roman world shows a people anatomically indistinguishable from the Northern Europeans of this day, except for the minority of Arab types among them – as we have among us now – and even in Byzantium the “Aryan” type dominated art into the 15^thW.R.F. century. We should mourn, and not scorn, this ancient Greco-Roman world and the fate that they met due to their own licentiousness, idolatry and universalism, things we ourselves face today. We have not learned from the errors of our forebears.

Note #2: It is here at Revelation 12 that Comparet should have related the “man of sin” of 2 Thes. 2, and the “antichrists” of John’s epistles also, to the Edomite Jews (i.e. Rom. 9:1-13 and John 8:30-47) rather than to any pope (see note #7, at Lesson #8). W.R.F.

Note #3: Comparet’s identification of the 1260 years of Rev. 12:6 here is quite arbitrary, and several 1260-year periods may be contrived from Israelite history and our treks into Europe (via various paths) to explain the imagery here related. I may even state that if the 1260 years isn’t fulfilled before the invasion of the Huns, then the Huns cannot be – as Comparet would have them – part of the flood of the serpent of Rev. 12:15. More likely candidates which may be identified with the flood of the serpent are the Arab invasion into France and their conquest of most of Spain, and the conquest of southeastern Europe by the Turks, and southern Russia and the Ukraine by Mongol hordes under Genghis Khan.

Yet another avenue must be investigated here, however, where it must be noticed that the woman who fled into the wilderness bore her child: He destined to rule all nations, before she fled, and so here the woman may symbolize not merely the “lost tribes” themselves, but the true Christian “church”, established in Ireland circa 37 A.D., which brought the Gospel to Britain and Scotland, and to many of the Germanic tribes of the Continent, before it was sold out by English kings and absorbed by the Roman “church” in the 13^th century. W.R.F.

Note #4: I know not that it is proper to say that Adam was “sent” here, but rather Adam was created here, of organic material native to this planet, as Genesis attests. Only Adam’s spirit is not of this world. W.R.F.

Note #5: Not all of the Scandinavian countries so quickly or firmly took up the cause of Protestantism. While today Sweden is 87% Lutheran, and a Lutheran “church” was established in Sweden in the 16th century, the Swedes fought for the pope and Catholicism against the German people in the 30 Years’ War (1618-1648). W.R.F.

Note #6: The “sea” is certainly not representative of only non-Israel people. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind. Which, when it was full, they drew to the shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away” (Matt. 13:47-48). And so the “sea” is representative of the mass of people in general – Israelites or not. Well into the Christian era, most of the people of the “Roman world” were Israelites or related Japhethites, and it wasn’t until after the first and second woes – the conquests of the Arabs and Turks – that Adamic people became the minority – or even disappeared – from most of the Mediterranean regions. W.R.F.

Note #7: One other place in the Bible where “eagle’s wings” are used in this symbolic manner is Ezekiel chapter 17, and many Israel Identity scholars identify the twigs of the cedar which this “great eagle with great wings” carried off to the “good soil by great waters”, the “high mountain and eminent” (Ezek. 17:3, 7-8, 22) as the flight to Ireland by Jeremiah, who took the daughters of the king of Judah with him (Jeremiah 43:1-7) via Tahpanhes in Egypt. This same language being used to describe both events seems to support the idea that the “woman” of Rev. 12 may represent the infant “church” and its coming to Ireland in 37 A.D., as discussed in note #3 above. W.R.F.

Note #8: While Comparet does well in explaining that the deported Israelites in their travels into Europe were relatively free from “Jewish” influence, the concept of the “dragon” cannot be limited to the “Jews.” While Herod certainly was one representative of the dragon, all of the non-Adamic races of the planet are descendants of the rebel angels, and so are of the dragon, and dragon worship (especially in China) and serpent worship are prevalent in many of the non-Adamic regions of the earth, if not nearly all of them. Many, if not all, of the Arabs even have the blood of Cain, which Herod himself had, as do many, if not all, of the Turks. And so these peoples surely are part of that flood from the mouth of the serpent. W.R.F.

Note #9: It seems from the accounts of the historians (notably Strabo, 11.13.5, Diodorus Siculus 2.43, and the chronology of Median kings given by Herodotus) that Nineveh actually fell during the same 28 year period that the Scythians of Sacasenê (Strabo’s Armenia) were ruling over the Medes, where Herodotus says that the Scythians “became masters of Asia” (1.102-104). W.R.F.

Note #10: The invasion by Cyrus the Persian into “Scythia” was beyond the Araxes river, into Armenia, circa 530 B.C. However, it is clear that the invasion by Darius into “Scythia” took place in Europe, north of Thrace and the Danube, and that Darius got there not through the Caucasus mountains, but by crossing the Cimmerian Bosphorus from Anatolia into Thrace, and much is said by Herodotus of the bridge built to do so (4.83-89). These invasions of Scythia are discussed in Watchman’s Teaching Letter #72, pages 1 and 2. Here it is obvious that Comparet has these two different Persian invasions of “Scythia” (and in reality two different “Scythias” involving two different branches of the same race), which happened about 40 years apart, confused with one another. Darius’ intentions in Thrace and, with the Scythians to the north of Thrace, was to cut off the supply of wood to the Greeks, who got their ship-building wood from those regions, for Darius had initiated the wars against the Greeks, which his son and successor Xerxes had conducted. W.R.F.

Note #11: The people called “Scythians”, or by the Persians “Saka”, were rapidly spread, from their beginnings in Media, into many fragments and over a great deal of territory, and were never a single unified political entity. There actually were many Scythians who had settled in the east, such as those of Bactria and Sogdiana, who were tributary to the Persians and among the Persian forces in Xerxes’ army which invaded Greece. W.R.F.

Note #12: The homelands of the Khazars and Turks are certainly the lands known as “Khazakhstan” and “Turkmenistan” today, north of Iran and east of the Caspian Sea, and where in the first millennium the Jewish-Turkish-Khazar trading empire thrived. Some of these same lands were also, for a time, occupied by the Israelites in part, notably the Sakae and the Massagetae who dwelt around the Jaxartes river before migrating westward into Europe, and also Sogdiana, which occupied much of modern-day Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. W.R.F.

Note #13: Note that the Huns seem to be among the first four trumpets which mark the fall of the European Roman empire, and not the last three trumpets, the three “woes” that come upon Europe after the fall of Rome in the west. The jew, Arthur Koestler, in his book The Thirteenth Tribe, offers documentation that purports that the Huns and the Khazars are of the Japhethite tribes of Gomer, which is plausible but difficult to demonstrate convincingly. Dr. George Moore, in his book The Lost Tribes ... presents the viable theory that names similar to Kush and found in southern Russia are derivative peoples of this Biblical patriarch: Kosa, Khoza, Khazars, and Cossacks. This also is plausible, since even in the Bible are the Hindu-Kush mountains called the “mountains of Kush” (or “Ethiopia”). Here Comparet oversimplifies the routes which the Scythians took into Europe, which although limited due to obvious geographical impediments, were nonetheless several and varied. W.R.F.

Note #14: If indeed the Huns were a part of the flood from the mouth of the serpent, as a mongol people would be, then were the Goths, Israelites, away from the face of the serpent for 1260 years? On the surface, it seems to me that these two ideas should not coexist, and must be investigated more thoroughly. W.R.F.

Note #15: Sicily and southern Italy, once called Magna Graecia, were settled originally by Greeks and Phoenicians, and all through the classical, and for most of the Roman period, were inhabited by fair, Adamic people. The dark races of these areas came first from the multitudes of slaves imported by the Romans, many of which were Arabs, Egyptians or from elsewhere in Africa, and later from the incursions of the Arab conquerors. For several centuries at the end of the first millennium, Arab sheiks ruled Sicily. In northern Italy, Kelts first settled, pushing out the Etruscans, as early as the 4^th century B.C., and so a fair-haired people resided there for 700 years before the Goths arrived. The Etruscans themselves were most certainly Shemetic Lydians and just as fair as the Goths and Kelts. The Romans had come from Troy, and were probably descended from Judah-Zerah along with the Japhethite Thracians and Phrygians, Trojan neighbors and allies. Although shorter in stature than the Goths, archaeology shows that the Romans were no less fair and no less Adamic. W.R.F.

Note #16: It is apparent that Isaiah 43 is a perpetual assurance, mostly applicable to end-time prophecy, and not speaking specifically of Israel’s trek into Europe. Isaiah 41 forward is even addressed to those who are already in the islands of the sea. W.R.F.

Note #17: While Comparet is correct concerning the meaning of enôwsh, the word is not “always used in a derogatory sense”, although it often is, especially when contrasted to adam. See Strong’s Concordance under “man” at 1 Sam 5:11; or under “men” at Genesis 43:15-33 for contrary examples. W.R.F.

Note #18: Much of Daniel and the Revelation overlap. Daniel 8:9 ff. is a prophecy of Mohammedanism which correlates with Revelation chapter 9. Daniel chapter 2 discusses the “beast empires” up to the fall of Rome and its destruction by the children of Israel. Daniel chapter 7 is a different version of this same thing but extends the prophecy through Justinian and the papacy (7:24-25), and corresponds to the first beast and second beast of Revelation chapter 13, which Comparet may have discussed even more accurately if he had seen the correlations. Daniel’s prophecies ran at least until the pope’s loss of dominion (7:26) and the rise of the Anglo-Saxon hegemony over world affairs (7:27). John did have “visions going back into the past”, as Comparet had already explained when he covered Revelation chapter 12. The white horse of Revelation 6, along with at least part of the red horse period, and part of the first beast period of Revelation chapter 13 were also in John’s past. W.R.F.

Note #19: The Roman Empire was indeed a religious power, for it operated an approved State religion by which the Emperor was also “Pontifex Maximus”, the ultimate religious authority in the State who declared other religions as either to be tolerated or to be banned and persecuted, and who also designated ‘gods’ (often himself as ‘god’) and ordered their compulsory worship. Decrees banning Christianity and Druidism were issued as early as the reign of Claudius I, 41-54 A.D. Surely all of this represents religious authority! Here, I must say that Comparet’s poor interpretation of the two beasts of Revelation chapter 13 is tainting his account of history. W.R.F.

Note #20: Daniel chapter 2 describes the succession of the “beast empires”, the same entity discussed in Revelation 13:1-10, and at 2:38 Daniel says that Nebuchadnezzar’s vision would rule “wheresoever the children of men (Hebrew: Adam) dwell.” This succession of empires ruled over Adamites, including Israelites, and not over “the sea ... of non-Israel people”, as it has already been shown – in the parable of the net –  that there are many “good fish” in the “sea”! W.R.F.

Note #21: The government of the Catholic “church”, with its pope (emperor), college of cardinals (senate), archbishops and bishops (local and regional governors) and clerics (the Greek word klêrouchos was originally one who held an allotment of land and a klêrouchia, the allotment of land to citizens in a foreign country - Liddell & Scott) is a close duplicate of the Roman government of the empire, which over time the Catholic “church” certainly did restore to a great degree and which reached its height when the popes began crowning the kings of Europe. The “Holy Roman Empire”, while Germanic in might and in nature – and later considered the “First Reich”, or First German Empire, relied on the approval of the popes to maintain its legitimacy in the eyes of the people. The popes made or broke its kings.

John, in Revelation, dates the duration of the succession of beast empires (which Daniel does not date in chapters 2 or 7), at Revelation 13:5, to 42 months, or 1260 years. This period of time had to begin with the Babylonians and ended with the fall of Rome in the 5^th century A.D., since this beast has – and as Comparet admits – the same attributes and so must be the same beast as that described at Daniel 7:1-7. And so the Holy Roman Empire can not be perceived as a part of this first beast of Revelation 13, but is instead an entity of the second beast of Revelation 13.

The Babylonian empire of Nebuchadnezzar was begun by a predecessor, Nabonassar circa 747 B.C., and 1260 years brings us to about 514 A.D. As is evident, this is 40 years after the accepted date for the fall of Rome, 476 A.D., but is about 13 years prior to the rise of Justinian to the throne in Constantinople in 527 A.D. It can be shown that Justinian marks the advent of the second beast of Revelation 13. W.R.F.

Note #22: Elsewhere, such as in his discussion of the seven “churches”, specifically that of Pergamos and the later “churches”, Comparet illustrates the degree of power which the popes had achieved over the kingdoms and peoples of Europe. This was a process that took several centuries to complete – as even Comparet has explained that many of these images drawn by the Revelation are processes, without fully defined beginnings and endings which often overlap with each other. The Holy Roman Empire lasted about 1000 years, and not 1260. Whether we measure the power of the papacy from Gregory I until 1866, when the pope ceased to have an actual “kingdom” of his own in Italy, or we measure – as will be evident that we should – from Justinian until Napoleon, when the Temporal Power of the papacy was first established until when it was first curtailed, or 538 to 1798 A.D., we have a 1260 year period.

Daniel describes Rome at 7:23. Justinian was the eleventh emperor of the Eastern Empire at Constantinople (7:24) and he re-conquered for the East portions of the Western Empire which had fallen to the Germanic hordes, in Italy, Spain and Northern Africa (also Dan. 7:24). Justinian codified Roman law, the Codex Justinianus finished in 529 A.D. which was all of Medieval Europe’s chief legal text (except England) and which still influences European laws today (Dan. 7:25). Justinian first established the Temporal Power of the papacy, and a later pope, Gregory the 13^th, gave us the Gregorian calendar (7:25). Daniel, not John, dates this second beast to 1260 years, the “time, times and a dividing of time” of Daniel 7:25. W.R.F.]

Note #23: Here, with an understanding of the phrase Vicarius Filii Dei, there should be no longer any contention over the identity of the second beast, and for the following reasons:

Ÿ  It is a title long claimed and used by the popes themselves.

Ÿ  It is in Latin, the official language of the Catholic “Church” and a tongue that most popes knew well and used consistently.

Ÿ  The value of its letters, in Roman (Latin) numerals, is equivalent to the sum given us to recognize this beast, at Revelation 13:18, or “six hundred and sixty six.”

While there have been many attempts to identify the “666” of this passage with men and kingdoms and entities, none are so plain and profound as this one. The papacy, each pope in succession, is clearly this second beast.

Upon calculating the total values of these letters which have a value, in the phrase Vicarius Filii Dei, one may realize that the unused letters, those having no value in Latin, are f, a, r, s and e. It often seems that Yahweh, creator of languages, certainly has a sense of humor. W.R.F.

Note #24: Comparet here admits the 1260-year duration of the papacy, but assigns him the “42 months” which Revelation allots to the first beast. Comparet fails to connect Daniel 7:24-25 to Revelation’s second beast. Reconciling Daniel 7 and Revelation 13, and both with history, we can see that each beast (the succession of empires and then the papacy) had a duration of 1260 years, and since then the Anglo-Saxon people have been self-governing, and have also had world military and trade hegemony. (Daniel 7:27). W.R.F.

Note #25: The natural reading of the Greek of Rev. 13:8 is well reflected in the A.V. rendering of the verse, and the alternative reading offered by Comparet here violates the structures of grammar in the Greek sentence. The phrase in Greek which reads here “of the lamb slain from the foundation of the world” is all in the Genitive case, bracketed by a Greek Article, and therefore is a single idea which should be represented as a unit, and not broken up into segments in translation, for the phrase cannot justly be manipulated to suit the whims of the translator. W.R.F.

Note #26: Each of the two beasts had the power “to make war with the saints” (compare Rev. 13:7, 12 & Daniel 7:21, 25). Remember that only 144,000 of the sons of Israel were “sealed”, i.e. spared the wrath of these beasts. Surely these represent the Germanic peoples, the Israelites who were kept out of reach of the empire, in Northern Europe. For Rome never had dominion north of the Danube and east of the Rhine. Dan was not “sealed”, yet neither did Rome conquer either Denmark or Ireland, and although some Romans (i.e. Agricola) entertained the idea, the Romans never undertook the endeavor. W.R.F.

Note #27: Napoleon fought equally destructive wars against the British and the Prussians, and in his disastrous invasion of Russia, none of these were “Catholic” states. W.R.F.

Critical note concerning Comparet’s greatest error in this series of lessons:

THE JUSTINIAN-POPE CONNECTION

Though Comparet does quite well in many areas of the prophecy of the Book of Revelation, he made a major error by not identifying the second beast at Revelation 13:11 being identical to Daniel 7:24-26. We cannot condemn Comparet completely, as the history identifying Justinian with the Pope is difficult to find, even for those who have a good understanding of history. There may be some who will criticize William Finck’s note #’s 18 through 24 above, but once this history of the connection of Justinian and the Pope is presented, one will be in a position to grasp the link. Basically, Justinian was the one who fulfilled the prophecy at Daniel 7:25 inasmuch as he updated and codified Roman law, and Justinian also subdued three kings at Daniel 7:24. All one need do is check with almost any encyclopedia on Justinian. But the encyclopedias do not have the entire story. I will now present the history surrounding the connection of Justinian and the Pope. I will take my documentation from Uriah Smith’s book Daniel and the Revelation “entered [copyrighted] according to Act of Congress in the year 1897”, pages 321-329. And because there is not enough space here, I will give an abbreviated review of the historical facts cited by him, mostly in paraphrase:

In the year 508, Arthur, king of England, was elected monarch of Britain. The See of Rome was also in unusual circumstances at the time. As a recent convert from paganism, Symmachus by bloodiness ascended the pontifical throne and reigned until A.D. 514. He was lauded as being the successor to, or another, St. Peter. His flatterers began to maintain he was formally appointed judge in the place of God, and vicegerent of the Most High.  A strong papal party now existed in all parts of the empire and was encouraged by both east and west. In 508, civil war swept fire and blood through the streets of the eastern capital, which Gibbon records under the years 508-518, speaking of commotions in  Constantinople (Decline And Fall, vol. 4, p. 526.)

By 508 (same year as Arthur above), paganism and the “church” had merged and became Catholic gaining strength and began a successful war against the civil authority of the empire and the “church” of the East which had embraced a Monophysite doctrine. The extermination of 65,000 so-called heretics was the result. Among the supporters of paganism was Clovis, but he soon yielded to the Catholic faith and became its champion. This was preparatory to the setting up, or establishment of the papacy, which was a separate and subsequent event to which the prophetic narrative now leads us to speak:

The little horn that had eyes like the eyes of man was not slow to see when the way was open for his advancement and elevation. From 508 on, his progress toward universal supremacy was without parallel. In 533, Justinian was about to wage a war of great magnitude and difficulty against the Vandals. In doing so, he wished to secure the influence of the bishop of Rome who had attained a position of great weight among a large portion of Christendom. In order to accomplish this, Justinian took it upon himself to give precedence to the See of Rome, making him chief of the whole ecclesiastical body of the empire. Upon this, Justinian by a letter 25th March, 533, pronounced many honors on the so-called “apostolic chair.” Answering in 534, the Pope observes that among the virtues of Justinian “one shines as a star” for his reverence for the “apostolic chair” to which Justinian subjected and united all the “churches” as being truly “head of all.” The “Novellæ” of the Justinian code give unanswerable proof of the authenticity of the title ... The 131st, on the ecclesiastical titles and privileges, chapter 2 states: “We therefore decree that the most holy pope of the elder Rome is the first of all the priesthood, and that the most blessed archbishop of Constantinople, the new Rome, shall hold the second rank after the holy ‘apostolic chair’ of the elder Rome.”

Near the close of the 6th century, John of Constantinople rejected Roman supremacy, and assumed for himself the title of universal bishop; whereupon Gregory the Great indignantly denounced John, declaring him “Antichrist.” In 606, Phocas took sides with the bishop of Rome. The See of Rome continued to contend for the authenticity of the decree of Justinian, but the provisions of the decree could not at once be carried into effect, for Rome and Italy were held by the Ostrogoths, who were Arians in faith strongly opposed to the religion of Justinian and the Pope. Upon that, it was decided that the Ostrogoths must be rooted out of Rome before the Pope exercised his power. To accomplish that goal, the Italian war was begun in 534. At the head of the campaign was the trusted Belisarius. Approaching Rome, several cities of the Goths forsook their sovereign Vitijes and joined the armies of the Catholic emperor. Upon this, the Goths decided to delay any offensive until spring, thus allowing Belisarius unopposed to enter Rome, where he was given a grand welcome Dec. 10, 536.

But the struggle for the Goths was not over. Rallying their forces, they resolved to retake the city by siege March, 537. Fearing treachery on the part the people, several senators, along with Pope Sylverius, on suspicion of treason were sent into exile, and the emperor commanded the clergy to elect a new bishop. After solemnly invoking the Holy Ghost, says Gibbon, they elected the deacon Vigilius, who, by a bribe of two hundred pounds of gold, had purchased the honor.

Assembling at Rome for its siege, the Ostrogoths melted away under heavy, frequent and bloody combats for the year and nine days of its duration, consuming nearly the whole Ostrogothic nation. During the month of March, 538, danger threatening from other quarters, they raised the siege, burned their tents, retiring in tumult and confusion with hardly enough in number to preserve their identity as a people.

Thus, the Gothic horn (the last of the three) was plucked up before the little horn of Daniel 7. Nothing now stood in the way of the pope preventing the exercising of his power conferred upon him by Justinian five years previous. The prophecy of Daniel 7:24-26 had been fulfilled, setting in motion the 1260 years that the power of the Pope (666) would continue as sovereign.

THE FOLLOWING IS TAKEN FROM MY WATCHMAN’S TEACHING LETTER #53,

Which In Turn Excerpts Lesson #12:

With this lesson (#12), we are going to continue the study of Judah. In this study, we will consider a passage that was prophesied by Daniel during the Judean captivity in Babylon and see how it affected Judah when it was fulfilled about 1100 years later. This passage is Daniel 7:24-25, which we will read at this time:

“24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. 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.”

BEFORE WE GET DONE WITH THIS LESSON, WE WILL FIND

WHAT THIS PASSAGE IS, AND WHAT IT IS NOT!

First of all, we are going to skip the subject of, “And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise”, as it is a subject all in itself. It would take an entire lesson just to cover it. (As of lessons #49, #50 and the present lesson #53, that “subject” is now being addressed.) The part we are going to concentrate on is: “... and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. 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.”

To start this discussion on this passage, I am going to quote from William V. Fowler’s book, End Time Revelation, page 127:

“To identify the ten horns of the fourth beast which was the Roman Empire, one has but to examine history which records that ten kingdoms arose after A.D. 476 in the western half of the Roman Empire, while the eastern half continued to flourish. History also reveals that Justinian at the head of the Eastern [Roman] Empire at Constantinople subdued three of the ten kingdoms which were established in the western half of the Roman Empire after the fall of Imperial Rome. These were the Vandals whose kingdom had been established in north Africa, the Ostrogoths who had established a kingdom in Italy, and the Alemanian kingdom north of Italy. ‘And he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings’ (verse 24). Justinian, as head of the civil government, united the interest of the church and established the Temporal Power of the Papacy which clearly fulfilled the prophetic little horn by dominating Europe for 1,260 years until curtailed by Napoleon, (538 A.D. to 1,798 A.D.).

“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 (verse 25). Justinian’s best known work was as a codifier and legislator. He greatly stimulated legal studies, and set up a commission under Tribonian which issued the codex, the digest, and the institutes. (Originally introduced in Dec. 534 A.D., and completed in 538 A.D.). The second edition of the codex contained Justinian’s own laws known as the Novels (Novellae Constitutions). One need only read the utterances of Pope Innocent III in the thirteenth century and his immediate successors to recognize the fulfillment of speaking ‘great words against the Most High.’ Study the history of the Inquisition with its massacres, martyrdoms and every kind of persecution to substantiate this interpretation. (See Halley’s Bible Handbook, chapter on Church History.)”

This is one of the key passages “futurists” use to prove a future so-called Antichrist and a three and one half year period of tribulation, along with the so-called mark of the beast. If our people understood history, they wouldn’t be falling for such nonsense. All that futurist bunk was dreamed up by a Spanish Jesuit by the name of Ribera about 1580 A.D., and no one before that time ever heard of such a doctrine.

The important thing to notice with this passage, is that we are looking for a king of a kingdom who subdued three other kingdoms of our people during his reign. You will also notice we are looking for a king, who, during his reign had a very strong impact upon writing and managing laws. You will notice Justinian fits both of these qualifications. As we go along, the picture of the fulfillment of this passage will start to come into focus. I will now quote from The World Book Encyclopedia, volume 11, page 168 to get further insight on this subject:

“JUSTINIAN I, jus TIN ih un (A.D. 482-565), was the Byzantine (East Roman) emperor from A.D. 527 until his death. He collected Roman laws under one code, the Corpus Juris Civilis (Body of Civil Law). This code, also known as the Justinian Code, is the basis of the legal systems in many nations today ... Justinian was called The Great. He recaptured from barbarians many parts of what had been the West Roman Empire. He built fortresses, harbors, monasteries, and the famous church of Saint Sophia in what is now Istanbul, Turkey.

“Justinian was born in a part of Macedonia that is now in Yugoslavia. His uncle, Emperor Justin I, made him co-ruler in 527. Justin died a few months later, and Justinian became sole emperor. During Justinian’s reign, his wife, Theodora, tried to influence his politics ... Justinian was an orthodox Christian, and tried to unify his empire under one Christian faith. He persecuted Christian heretics (those who opposed church teachings), Jews, and pagans (non-Christians). In 529, he closed the schools of philosophy in Athens, Greece, because he felt they taught paganism.

“In the early 530’s, Justinian began a series of wars against the Vandals, Ostrogoths, and Visigoths, who had conquered most of the West Roman Empire in the 400’s. By the mid-550’s his armies had taken northern Africa, Italy, and parts of Spain ...

“JUSTINIAN CODE. Justinian I, ruler of the eastern Roman Empire from 527 to 565, commanded 10 of the wisest men in his realm to draw up a collection of the Roman laws. This collection is known as the Corpus Juris Civilis, which means Body of Civil Law. Also called the Justinian Code, this body of law is recognized as one of the greatest Roman contributions to civilization. It was a compilation of early Roman laws and legal principles, illustrated by cases, and combined with an explanation of new laws, and future legislation. The code clarified the laws of those times, and has since been a basis for law codes of many countries.

“The scholars who compiled the Justinian Code divided it into four parts. The Institutes served as a textbook in law for students and lawyers. The Digest was a casebook covering many trials and decisions. The Codex was a collection of statutes and principles. The Novels contained proposed new laws.”

You will notice in both of these quotes, three kingdoms were taken by Justinian. William V. Fowler records them the same as The World Book Encyclopedia, except for the Alemanian which The World Book Encyclopedia calls the Visigoths. The Alemanni and Visigoths are different tribes of the same people, so there is no problem here. Justinian was corrupting the church and the state with his law code, so we will not completely understand this passage unless we look further. To see how all of this happened, I will quote from the book, Study in Daniel, by Howard B. Rand, pages 182 and 183:

“Having discovered the identity of the four beasts; let us now note the meaning of the little horn which Daniel saw arise from among the ten horns on the fourth beast. The ten horns represent subdivisions in the Roman Empire:

“The little horn that arose among the ten, which was diversified from them, pulling up three, is none other than Justinian at the head of the Eastern [Roman] Empire at Constantinople. History reveals that he subdued three of the ten kingdoms which were established in the Roman Empire after the fall of Imperial Rome. These were the VandalsOstrogoths who had established a kingdom in Italy and the Alemannian Kingdom north of Italy. In the eyes and the mouth that appear in this little horn we have a new power associated with the rule of the little horn. In fact, this power became the eyes and mouth of the civil and economic activities of the government represented in the little horn. Justinian, as head of the civil government, and the Pope, as the head of the Church, united their interest and Church and State became one. Finally the Pope became the director of both Church and State and ruled as a great politico-ecclesiastical potentate. One needs but read the utterances of past Popes to recognize the fulfillment of speaking ‘great words against the most High’ as prophesied by Daniel.” [emphasis mine] whose kingdom had been established in north Africa, the

Again, I will take you to Watchman’s Teaching Letter #12 of April, 1999 to show you the connection between Justinian and the popes of the Roman Catholic Church. This is an interesting perception, for the popes gained their state-political authority by Justinian’s Law Code.

What we are talking about here is an ecclesiastical-political power with the combination of Justinian and the Pope. That is why this new ecclesiastic-political beast is diverse from all the beasts that were before it, Daniel 7:7. I will now quote from Howard B. Rand’s book, Study In Revelation, page 44:

“Upon the ruins of the ancient Roman Empire there arose, gradually, a new and different type of Empire, which became all the more powerful because it claimed control over the souls of men as well as their bodies, and extended its dominion beyond this life into the grave. History has amply verified these facts and that the Popes claimed the right to temporal power, taking the place of the Caesars, while the Eternal City under pagan Rome became the Eternal City under Papal control. How apt is the description of her supporter as named by John, Hell. This is Hades or the abode of the dead, for through the doctrine of Purgatory, the church was able to hold supremacy and exercise tremendous power over her followers not only in this life, but beyond through the fear of future suffering in Purgatory.”

Then quoting on page 49 from this same book: “CHURCH OVER STATE: Pope Agapetus, in a dispute with Justinian the Emperor of the East, won his point and the Emperor yielded to the Pope. The head of the Church had triumphed over the head of the government. This was 536 A.D. A Church council assembled at Constantinople this same year and informed the government, as a servant of the Church, that an edict be issued ordering a decision of the council executed. This was done and thus Church and State became united. Persecutions followed, which the Church dictated and the State supported. One thousand two hundred and sixty years of cruel torture and destruction now followed, resulting in nearly a hundred million dying violent deaths.”

538 A.D. TO 1798 A.D. = 1,260 YEARS, NOT 3½ YEARS

Let’s go back to our original Scripture of Daniel 7:24-25 and pick up the sentence concerning this period of time: “and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.”

This sentence is used by futurists as a basis for their postulation of a future three and one half year tribulation period, when a so-called Antichrist will set up his kingdom after a so-called rapture. Some futurists call for a seven year tribulation period. As I told you before, the futurist theory was dreamed up by a Spanish Jesuit priest by the name of Ribera, about 1580 A.D., and the teaching had never been heard of before that time. It has a long and sordid history, and I don’t have space here to go into much detail on the subject. But this portion of Scripture quoted immediately above is one of the basic passages they use, out of context, to support their theory. By showing you the true historical meaning of this passage, I hope to drive a nail into the coffin of this doctrine so it will stay dead forever. What could be more of a tribulation than 1,260 years and 100,000,000 violent deaths, mostly of our people? Some estimate as low as 60 million, but it is still a lot of people. This is the legacy of Justinian and his law code, along with the Universal Church. [This concludes that portion of Lesson # 12.]

EXAMPLE OF LACK OF INSIGHT ON DANIEL 7:20-26

Now that we have covered this prophecy of Daniel 7, let’s take a look at some comments from The Bible Knowledge Commentary on this passage found in vol. 1, page 1355. While there are some positive remarks by this source, other statements are deficient, lacking any understanding. As I quote an example here, compare it with the evidence:

“The amillenarian view that the ‘little horn’ has already appeared sometime in the past (but since Christ’s First Advent) is wrong because: (a) no such ruler has attained worldwide status (7:23), (b) no such ruler has subdued 3 of 10 kings who were ruling at once (v. 24), (c) no such ruler has persecuted Israel (v. 21) for three and one-half years (v. 25), and (d) no such ruler has been destroyed forever (v. 26) by Christ’s return. Nor could this ‘little horn’ be the Roman Catholic papacy because: (a) the ‘little horn’ is a king, not a pope, (b) the papacy’s power has not been limited to three and one-half years, (c) the papacy has not concentrated on persecuting the nation Israel, and (d) the papacy has not been destroyed by the return of Christ to the earth.”

My answers to these blatantly false statements by The Bible Knowledge Commentary, edited by John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck of the Dallas Seminary Faculty are: Yes, the “little horn” of Daniel 7:8 did appear in the past, represented by Justinian, and continued through the Roman Catholic papal system! Yes, the “little horn” did attain worldwide status in the prophesied Roman world! Yes, Justinian did subdue 3 out of 10 kings! Yes, the Roman Catholic papal system did persecute Israelites of Anglo-Saxon and European descent! Yes, that prophecy was for a prophetic-3½-years, or 1260 actual years! Yes, that papal ruler lost his power in 1798 A.D., and will be totally destroyed at the Second Advent! Yes, the papacy represents the “little horn” of Daniel 7:8! Yes, the papacy’s power did continue for a prophetic 3½ years or 1260 actual years! Yes, the papacy did concentrate on persecuting European, Anglo-Saxon and related “Israelites” during that period! And, Yes, while the papacy did lose its ruling power, it will finally be totally destroyed at Messiah’s Second Advent!

How true is Matthew 15:14 and Luke 6:39, that if the blind lead the blind, both will fall in the proverbial ditch. Not only are there blind leaders of the blind in the Jew-deo-unchristian churches, but there are blind leaders of the blind in the Israel Identity movement. A good example of blind leaders leading the blind in Israel Identity are those who deny the Two Seedline message of Genesis 3:15. That puts the responsibility for the truth squarely upon ourselves, for Scripture implores us to “... study to show thyself approved ...”, 2 Timothy 2:15. This concludes the excerpt of WTLClifton A. Emahiser. Lesson #53