Participants:
Series Code: ICJ
Program Code: ICJ190012B
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00:01 So who received the power, and throne, and authority
00:06 from the old pagan Roman Empire? 00:08 Who did he give that to? 00:10 How did that get transferred? 00:12 Stanley's history, renowned historian, English historian 00:16 from the 1600's, makes this powerful statement. 00:20 And we're going to let history now give the answer. 00:24 This is what he says, he says, "The popes filled the place 00:27 of the vacant emperors of Rome, inheriting their power, prestige 00:34 and titles from paganism. 00:37 Constantine left all to the bishop of Rome... 00:40 The Papacy is but the ghost of the deceased Roman Empire 00:45 sitting crowned upon its grave." 00:48 So he said here that it's the popes, the papacy, 00:52 that has really received all of that from pagan Rome. 00:55 And here's another outstanding historian. 00:59 His name is Abbott's Roman History. 01:03 Or that's the work that he did. 01:04 He's an American historian who taught at Princeton University. 01:08 And he wrote several works on the Roman Empire 01:11 and its civilization. 01:13 And this is what he says. 01:15 He says, "The transfer of the emperor's residence 01:18 to Constantine..." 01:19 It's talking about the Roman emperors. 01:21 "...to Constantinople was a sad blow to the prestige of Rome, 01:26 and at the time one might have predicted her speedy decline. 01:30 But the development of the church, and the growing 01:33 authority of the Bishop of Rome, or the pope, 01:37 gave her," Rome, "and new lease on life 01:40 and made her," Rome, "again the capital, 01:44 this time the religious capital, of the civilized world." 01:49 So a different phase, but it's going to turn out 01:54 not so good for God's people in the end of time 01:59 and all down through Christian history. 02:02 So let's look at the data so far. 02:05 The great red dragon was pagan Rome led by the serpent, Satan. 02:08 Pagan Rome gives the leopard beast from the sea 02:11 its seat, and power, and authority. 02:14 And now the papacy, symbolized by the leopard beast, 02:17 receives its seat and power and authority from pagan Rome. 02:21 Papa Rome, signified by the leopard beast 02:25 with seven heads and ten horns, is the new phase 02:29 of the old Roman Empire, signified by the red dragon 02:33 with seven heads and ten horns. 02:35 And actually, one of the great titles of the pope 02:38 is Pontifex Maximus, which was a title of the 02:41 emperors of the Roman Empire, and now is also taken on 02:46 by the papal sea. 02:50 So we want to go back to the text again. 02:53 And the text says that this power would rule for 42 months 02:58 or 1260 days, or years. 03:02 Days of years again. 03:04 In 538 AD we have something very interesting happen. 03:10 Justinian, who now was in Constantinople, 03:13 the pope is in Rome, Justinian makes some laws 03:18 in which he gives the pope supremacy over all the ministers 03:23 Byzantine and western, gives him the authority 03:28 to be over them all. 03:29 He did that in 533 AD. 03:31 It's a very interesting story what happens here. 03:35 But Rome and Italy is under the thumb of the Ostrogoths. 03:40 And they are not letting the pope have very much power. 03:44 And so Justinian sends his general, 03:48 and his general invades Rome. 03:52 And when he takes the city of Rome, 03:55 he overthrows the Ostrogoths in 538. 03:59 Now Justinian's law can go into effect. 04:02 Because the popes are now free to exercise authority 04:07 over the Christian church all over the world, 04:10 according to Justinian. 04:14 Now the Bible says that would last for 1260 days of years. 04:21 For 1260 years that would last. 04:24 So if you look 1260 years later, you come to the time of 1798. 04:28 That gets it down closer to our time, those 1260 years. 04:32 There had been the American Revolution, 04:34 the United States of America is coming on the scene. 04:36 You have the French Revolution, the rise of Napoleon. 04:39 Napoleon crowns himself, refuses to be crowned by the popes. 04:43 And actually he goes into Rome, captures the pope, 04:46 takes him prisoner, and he dies in exile. 04:50 And that is the deadly wound that happened to the papacy 04:54 at the end of those 1260 years in 1798. 05:02 We'll come back to more of that in a moment, 05:04 but we want to go to something else that this power does. 05:06 The Bible says that he would speak great words 05:08 against the Most High. 05:10 And it even uses the word, "blasphemies." 05:12 The first time that, "blasphemy," shows up 05:14 in the book of Revelation is in chapter 2 verse 9 05:17 where Jesus says, "I know the blasphemy 05:19 of those who say they are Jews..." 05:22 Talking, using them as a symbol of Christians 05:24 in the early church. 05:25 "...and are not, but are of the synagogue of Satan." 05:29 In this context, blasphemy is calling yourself something 05:33 that you're not, inserting yourself into something 05:36 that you're not. 05:38 Now this is painful for me to have to share this, 05:40 but it has to be shared because it's the truth. 05:44 Cardinal Bellarmine, he was the Jesuit rector 05:48 of the Gregorian University in Italy 05:50 and was considered to be one of the most outstanding 05:53 instructors there, and this is what he said 05:56 about the papacy. 05:58 He said all the names that apply to Christ, 06:00 all the names that apply to Christ, "by virtue of 06:04 which has been established that He is over the church, 06:07 all the same names apply to the pope." 06:13 Well it gets worse. 06:15 And this is Pope Pius XI being quoted, and it was in 1922. 06:22 On April 29 he had a group of people with him. 06:25 And as he had them with him and he was kind of 06:27 introducing himself at the start of his papacy, 06:31 he said this, he said, "You know that I am the holy father, 06:36 the representative of God on earth, vicar of Christ. 06:41 Which means, I am God on earth." 06:46 Well that's very sobering to say something like that. 06:49 Pope Leo XIII in an encyclical letter said this, 06:55 he said, "We hold upon this earth 06:58 the place of Almighty God." 07:00 And according to the holy Scriptures, 07:02 Jesus said the Holy Spirit was His representative on earth. 07:06 Now we appreciate ministers, and we appreciate the many 07:09 wonderful priests that are very sincere, 07:12 and many wonderful Christians are sincere 07:15 in all kinds of faiths. 07:17 But no Christian minister has the right to say that he 07:20 takes the place of Almighty God on the earth. 07:25 This power would also, during those 1260 years, 07:28 would wear out the saints of the Most High. 07:31 It's very interesting what the Catholic encyclopedia says. 07:34 No one, including the Roman Catholic papacy, 07:37 denies that the church did persecute horribly. 07:40 Everybody knows about the Inquisition. 07:42 In fact, the United States Constitution has actually, 07:45 some of it, is a reaction to the Dark Ages and the persecution. 07:48 Because many people came to this land to escape the persecution 07:53 of the Roman Catholic Church and the papacy. 07:56 So they came here, and this is the reason Protestantism 07:58 has been established here. 08:00 But they admit, in the Catholic encyclopedia online, 08:04 that the Christian teachers of the first three centuries, 08:07 including the apostles, insisted on complete religious freedom. 08:12 That's interesting. 08:14 And they urged that religion could not be forced. 08:18 Now that sounds like the American Constitution. 08:20 And that's the way it should be. 08:22 But a change took place as the popes came into power. 08:27 This same encyclopedia defends the behavior of the popes 08:32 and their persecution. 08:34 It says, "The churches legislation on heresy 08:37 and heretics is often reproached with charges of 08:41 cruelty and intolerance." 08:44 And they go on to say, "Well, if this cruelty, if it exceeds 08:52 the requirements of the case, then it becomes cruelty." 08:55 And they use the comparison of a father punishing his son. 08:58 Well, that's a whole different ball game. 09:00 The church, popes, have no right to punish other Christians. 09:04 A father who disciplines his son is helping him to grow. 09:07 But even that discipline cannot be cruel. 09:09 And that's what they're saying here. 09:12 And the opponents, Protestant opponents 09:14 of the papacy say, "Precisely, precisely, 09:18 the rigors of the Inquisition violated all human feelings." 09:25 I can't tell you, if you've ever read, Foxes Book of Martyrs, 09:28 the tortures were worse than pagan Rome. 09:33 And millions of people lost their lives 09:38 under the hand of the popes. 09:41 Now I say that not unkindly. 09:45 But it's the truth. 09:47 And love, love will tell the truth. 09:51 It rejoices in the truth. 09:52 Even though that truth is painful. 09:55 And it is painful to say that in the name of Christ 09:59 these popes did this kind of thing. 10:03 And it goes on, the opponents say, 10:05 "We answer, they offend the feelings..." 10:07 I'm sorry, the Catholic encyclopedia responds to 10:12 the Protestant opponents by saying, 10:14 "They offend the feelings of later ages in which there is 10:19 less regard for the purity of faith." 10:21 What! 10:23 Do you mean that in the age of the Inquisition 10:27 when people were being tortured with all kinds of horrible 10:30 tortures in the name of Christ, that the Catholic faith 10:34 was more pure then than it is now where we insist that 10:39 people not be treated that way 10:41 and that religion has no right to punish somebody else 10:43 for their different beliefs? 10:45 So what does that mean? 10:47 Does that mean if the church gets more pure 10:50 and has power, it return again to persecution? 10:55 I find this incredible. 10:57 And they go on to say that the Medieval people 11:00 found no fault with the system. 11:01 What! 11:04 The United States Constitution, again, a reflection of those 11:07 terrible persecutions of the Dark Ages, 11:09 the United States Constitution says you cannot invoke 11:12 on people cruel and unusual punishment. 11:18 The Medieval people hated it. 11:20 That's why there's a reaction. 11:21 That's why there was the Protestant Reformation. 11:23 That's why the United States of America rose up and 11:25 declared religious freedom. 11:30 This is a terrible thing, but it's reflection 11:34 of that old Roman Empire that persecuted God's people 11:39 in those times. 11:41 It says it would speak against the Most High, 11:43 against the tabernacle. 11:45 But let me just finish up by saying this. 11:49 That deadly wound that was healed in 1798, 11:53 it said it would be healed. 11:55 And then it said all the world would wonder 11:58 after this power again. 12:01 And you've actually seen that fulfillment in your day. 12:03 But let me flash back to when this thing was healed. 12:07 The papacy made a special treaty with none other than Mussolini. 12:12 Because they had lost all their temporal power 12:15 over the states of Italy. 12:17 But now Mussolini, in a treaty, and with Hitler, 12:23 they had a treaty, and that power was restored. 12:26 What does the church of Christ have making treaties 12:31 with the people like Mussolini and Hitler? 12:34 Why would they do that? 12:36 But now we see the effects. 12:38 As time has gone on, people have forgotten 12:40 the Reformation, they've forgotten the Dark Ages. 12:43 They've forgotten what happened during those 1260 years. 12:47 I say this with sweet kindness, but as Christians we need to 12:52 rest on the Scripture. 12:54 We need to focus on Christ as our High Priest. 12:57 He's the only High Priest. 12:59 And our heavenly Father is the only Holy Father 13:02 that there is. 13:04 Jesus is the incomparable Jesus. 13:07 Beware of false christs who insert themselves 13:11 in the place that only Jesus should hold. 13:15 Jesus is the real Christ, and He's the one 13:21 who really, really loves you. |
Revised 2019-08-26