Just a heads up: age of Grace is coming to an end

Radagast

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The New Testament is a Jewish text

No, it is a Christian text, inspired by the Holy Spirit, composed in Greek, written mostly outside Palestine, and largely written for Gentiles.

Your talk of "Jewish context" is only because you want to make the text say something different from what it really says.
 
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Grip Docility

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No, it is a Christian text, inspired by the Holy Spirit, composed in Greek, written mostly outside Palestine, and largely written for Gentiles.

Your talk of "Jewish context" is only because you want to make the text say something different from what it really says.

Hold up... You missed all of the writings that start with “to the twelve tribes” or to the “diaspora”?

Hebrew to Revelation all carry overt Jewish imagery and dedications.

Revelation is specifically written with the mosaic tabernacle in mind. The horns and symbols revolve around feast days and such.

The 7 candlestick lampstand ... Ancient Jewish Menorah

Bowls? Priestly ceremonies of the Jews...


And... drum roll...Jesus... Jewish! King of the Jews...
 
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ViaCrucis

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The prophecy was about knowledge, not "literally any and every incident of technological progress". You can't deny the argument of my post is fulfillment of the Daniel's prophecy. Man will never get to the point of the Matrix upload. That is a bigger challenge than AI equivalency to humans.

You fantasize to prolong the misery. You do realize that the shrinking of the world, increased interactions and commerce among all the continents is effective in God's plan to spread his word to whole world? Why would God reset this and delay his coming?

With the Ottoman capture of Constantinople, Europe was effectively cut off from Asia. There had been trade, travel, and contact with "the Orient", with the fall of Constantinople that was cut off. Which is what led to the Portuguese trying to find an alternative route around Africa to India, and was the impetus for Columbus' voyage (because he thought the earth was smaller than it was and that he could reach India without needing to restock on a sailing voyage West). Maybe you could say that God allowed this for the discovery of the Americas--but why cut off contact with Asia? It took a couple centuries for Europe to regain contact with Asia--through the Portuguese and the Dutch who were vying for control of the Indian Ocean. And certainly it would have been possible for God to have permitted another historical avenue for contact with the Americas; after all Scandinavians had reached Canada by 1,000 AD and the voyages of Columbus resulted in wholesale barbarism, the raping, murder, and enslavement of the native Arawak people.

You can argue all you want, but the course of future history is simply unknown and unknowable. History has not been one linear line of progress, it has been a bumpy, fractured, and sometimes backward moving endeavor. Empires rise and empires fall. Civilizations come and civilizations go. The rise and fall of nations has never been an impediment to God, and should our civilization come to an end, the Gospel will continue to be preached right up until the day Christ comes, whether in a hundred years or in ten thousand years.

-CryptoLutheran
 
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Grip Docility

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In those cases where the NT needs us to understand something Jewish, it tells us.

And Jesus is King of the Universe. He is my King.

I agree with the King of the Universe... and I’ll even add beyond time and space.

But... INRI is very specific and there is a specific reason it was written on the Cross... before He died.

The words at the end of Matthew 23 ... “until you say ‘blessed’ is He Who comes in The Name of the Lord”... carry significant importance.

Romans 9-11 does as well... but Romans 11:25-36 especially...

Romans 11 is a Covenant theologians worst nightmare... and 8-11 ... well the meassage is quite clear and shifts between national Israel, believing Jews, unbelieving Jews and the Gentile age Church.

Powerful stuff. But... dispensational dialogue muddles the simplicity of it all. It’s best taken with the idea that as the Jews thought the Gentiles were out of luck... so the Gentiles now think the Jews are out of luck...

But His Mercy supersedes all human Comprehension... infact Romans 11:30-36 drives this hime.
 
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Grip Docility

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With the Ottoman capture of Constantinople, Europe was effectively cut off from Asia. There had been trade, travel, and contact with "the Orient", with the fall of Constantinople that was cut off. Which is what led to the Portuguese trying to find an alternative route around Africa to India, and was the impetus for Columbus' voyage (because he thought the earth was smaller than it was and that he could reach India without needing to restock on a sailing voyage West). Maybe you could say that God allowed this for the discovery of the Americas--but why cut off contact with Asia? It took a couple centuries for Europe to regain contact with Asia--through the Portuguese and the Dutch who were vying for control of the Indian Ocean. And certainly it would have been possible for God to have permitted another historical avenue for contact with the Americas; after all Scandinavians had reached Canada by 1,000 AD and the voyages of Columbus resulted in wholesale barbarism, the raping, murder, and enslavement of the native Arawak people.

You can argue all you want, but the course of future history is simply unknown and unknowable. History has not been one linear line of progress, it has been a bumpy, fractured, and sometimes backward moving endeavor. Empires rise and empires fall. Civilizations come and civilizations go. The rise and fall of nations has never been an impediment to God, and should our civilization come to an end, the Gospel will continue to be preached right up until the day Christ comes, whether in a hundred years or in ten thousand years.

-CryptoLutheran

Indeed! The fall of Constantinople to the Islamic Empire was the cutting off of the Military Papacy and thus the final blow to National Rome. The Ottoman Empire is indeed the 7th of the Empires we read of.

Empire One... Egypt... oppressor of Israel
Empire Two... Assyria..oppressor of Israel
Empire 3...... Babylon ... oppressor of Israel
Empire 4...... Persia ...... oppressor of Israel
Empire 5...... Greece .....oppressor of Israel
Empire 6...... Rome ... oppressor of Israel
Empire 7...... Islamic Ottomans ... oppressor of Israel

And the 8th is one of the 7. ... guess
 
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The Times

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No, it is a Christian text, inspired by the Holy Spirit, composed in Greek, written mostly outside Palestine, and largely written for Gentiles.

Your talk of "Jewish context" is only because you want to make the text say something different from what it really says.

Who were the 120 who waited in the upper room?

15In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty) 16and said, “Brothers and sisters, the Scripture had to be fulfilled in which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through David concerning Judas, who served as guide for those who arrested Jesus. 17He was one of our number and shared in our ministry.” (Acts 1:15-17)

The Acts of the Apostles is a book documenting events sequentially. At this point Peter would not associate with the Gentles until the Holy Spirit rebuked him and instructed him to go to Cornelius's house in Acts 10.

Here Peter repents of his negative outlook of the Gentiles by saying the following.....

34Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism 35but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right.

44While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. 45The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles. 46For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God.

Then Peter said, 47“Surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water. They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.” 48So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. (Acts 10)

No friend, it started as a Jewish movement and was passed to the Gentiles and ever since the 1st hour Jewish workmen and women, the Gentiles have been coming to their full numbers, from every nation and every language.

The text is authored within a Jewish context of Culture and Jewish context of Situation.
 
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The Times

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In those cases where the NT needs us to understand something Jewish, it tells us.

And Jesus is King of the Universe. He is my King.

Who were the recipients of the phrase of not knowing the day or hour?

They were all Jews. The 12 disciples.
 
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JacksBratt

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All the protestant reformers proclaimed who the antichrist was... check it out.

Nicolaus Von Amsdorf (1483 - 1565)
"He (the antichrist) will be revealed and come to naught before the last day, so that every man shall comprehend and recognize that the pope is the real, true antichrist and not the vicar of Christ ... Therefore those who consider the pope and his bishops as Christian shepherds and bishops are deeply in error, but even more are those who believe the the Turk (ISLAM) is the antichrist. Because the Turk (ISLAM) rules outside of the church and does not sit in the holy place, nor does he seek to bear the name of Christ, but is an open antagonist of Christ and His church. This does not need to be revealed, but it is clear and evident because he persecutes Christians openly and not as the pope does, secretly under the form of Godliness." (Nicolaus Von Amsdorf, Furnemliche und gewisse Zeichen, sig.A2r.,v.)

Martin Luther (1483 - 1546)
"nothing else than the kingdom of Babylon and of very Antichrist. For who is the man of sin and the son of perdition, but he who by his teaching and his ordinances increases the sin and perdition of souls in the church; while he yet sits in the church as if he were God? All these conditions have now for many ages been fulfilled by the papal tyranny." (Martin Luther, First Principles, pp. 196-197)

Flacius (1570)
"The sixth and last reason for our separation from the pope and his followers be this; By many writings of our church, by the Divinely inspired Word, by prophecies concerning the future and by the special characteristics of the Papacy, it has been profusely and thoroughly proved that the pope with his prelates and clergy is the real true great antichrist, that his kingdom is the real Babylon, a never ceasing fountain and a mother of all abominable idolatry." (Flacius, Etliche Hochwichtige Ursachen und Grunde, warum das siche alle Christen von dem Antichrist ... absondern sollen)

Georg Nigrinus (1530 - 1602)
"The Jesuits claim to be sorely offended and have taken my declarations as an insult and blasphemy in branding the Papacy as the antichrist of which Daniel, Paul, Peter, John and even Christ prophesied. But this is as true as it is that Jesus is the Messiah, and I am prepared to show it even by their own definition of the word 'antichrist'." (Translated from "Nigrinus, Antichrists Grundliche Offenbarung" fol. 6v.)

"This Jesuit further contends that the Papacy cannot be antichrist because the Papacy has lasted for centuries, but that the antichrist is supposed to reign only for 3 1/2 years ... But no one doubts today that Daniel spoke of YEAR-DAYS, not literal days ... The prophetic time-periods of forty-two months, 1260 days, 1, 2, 1/2 times are prophetic, and according to Ezekiel 4, a day must be taken for a year." (Translated from "Nigrinus, Antichrists Grundliche Offenbarung" fols.28v. 29r.)

John Calvin (1509 - 1564)
"Though it be admitted that Rome was once the mother of all Churches, yet from the time when it began to be the seat of Antichrist it has ceased to be what it was before. Some persons think us too severe and censorious when we call the Roman Pontiff Antichrist. But those who are of this opinion do not consider that they bring the same charge of presumption against Paul himself, after whom we speak and whose language we adopt .. I shall briefly show that (Paul's words in II Thess. 2) are not capable of any other interpretation than that which applies them to the Papacy." (Institutes of the Christian Religion, Vol.3, p.149)

John Knox (1505 - 1572)
Yea, to speak it in plain words; lest that we submit ourselves to Satan, thinking that we submit ourselves to Jesus Christ, for, as for your Roman kirk, as it is now corrupted, and the authority thereof, whereon stands the hope of your victory, I no more doubt but that it is the synagogue of Satan, and the head thereof, called the pope, to be that man of sin, of whom the apostle speaks." (John Knox, The History of the Reformation of Religion in Scotland, p.65)

Thomas Cranmer (1489 - 1556)
"Whereof it followeth Rome to be the seat of Antichrist, and the pope to be very antichrist himself. I could prove the same by many other scriptures, old writers, and strong reasons." (Works by Cranmer, vol.1, pp.6-7)

Roger Williams (1603 - 1683)
Pastor Williams spoke of the Pope as "the pretended Vicar of Christ on earth, who sits as God over the Temple of God, exalting himself not only above all that is called God, but over the souls and consciences of all his vassals, yea over the Spirit of Christ, over the Holy Spirit, yea, and God himself...speaking against the God of heaven, thinking to change times and laws; but he is the son of perdition." (The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers by Froom, Vol. 3, pg. 52)

The Baptist Confession of Faith (1689)
"The Lord Jesus Christ is the Head of the church, in whom, by the appointment of the Father, all power for the calling, institution, order or government of the church, is invested in a supreme and sovereign manner; neither can the Pope of Rome in any sense be head thereof, but is that antichrist, that man of sin, and son of perdition, that exalteth himself in the church against Christ." (1689 Baptist Confession of Faith)

The Westminster Confession of Faith (1646)
"There is no other head of the Church but the Lord Jesus Christ: nor can the Pope of Rome in any sense be head thereof; but is that Antichrist, that man of sin and son of perdition, that exalts himself in the Church against Christ, and all that is called God." (1646 Westminster Confession of Faith)

John Wesley (1703 - 1791)
"... In many respects, the Pope has an indisputable claim to those titles. He is, in an emphatical sense, the man of sin, as he increases all manner of sin above measure. And he is, too, properly styled, the son of perdition, as he has caused the death of numberless multitudes, both of his opposers and followers, destroyed innumerable souls, and will himself perish everlastingly. He it is that opposeth himself to the emperor, once his rightful sovereign; and that exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped - Commanding angels, and putting kings under his feet, both of whom are called gods in scripture; claiming the highest power, the highest honour; suffering himself, not once only, to be styled God or vice-God. Indeed no less is implied in his ordinary title, "Most Holy Lord," or, "Most Holy Father." So that he sitteth - Enthroned. In the temple of God - Mentioned Rev. xi, 1. Declaring himself that he is God - Claiming the prerogatives which belong to God alone." (John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon The New Testament, p.216)

Charles Spurgeon (1834 - 1892)
"It is the bounden duty of every Christian to pray against Antichrist, and as to what Antichrist is no sane man ought to raise a question. If it be not the popery in the Church of Rome there is nothing in the world that can be called by that name. If there were to be issued a hue and cry for Antichrist, we should certainly take up this church on suspicion, and it would certainly not be let loose again, for it so exactly answers the description."

"Popery is contrary to Christ’s Gospel, and is the Antichrist, and we ought to pray against it. It should be the daily prayer of every believer that Antichrist might be hurled like a millstone into the flood and for Christ, because it wounds Christ, because it robs Christ of His glory, because it puts sacramental efficacy in the place of His atonement, and lifts a piece of bread into the place of the Saviour, and a few drops of water into the place of the Holy Ghost, and puts a mere fallible man like ourselves up as the vicar of Christ on earth; if we pray against it, because it is against Him, we shall love the persons though we hate their errors: we shall love their souls though we loath and detest their dogmas, and so the breath of our prayers will be sweetened, because we turn our faces towards Christ when we pray." (Michael de Semlyen, All Roads Lead to Rome)
This doesn't make it right.

If you really want to make a biblical logical guess at who it is... the Pope is a Jesuit. He is also of Roman descent.....You could easily base a case on other aspects of this man, his position and his motifs and claim the same about him......

The Anti Christ will be "reveled" He will not be predicted, found our or determined by any man.
 
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EastCoastRemnant

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This doesn't make it right.

If you really want to make a biblical logical guess at who it is... the Pope is a Jesuit. He is also of Roman descent.....You could easily base a case on other aspects of this man, his position and his motifs and claim the same about him......

The Anti Christ will be "reveled" He will not be predicted, found our or determined by any man.
He has been revealed... in God's Word.

The men quoted above were not just some casual readers of the Bible... they were diligent students being lead by the Holy Spirit and they knew far more intimately the abuses of the Papacy in their day and how it related to prophesy revealed in scripture.
 
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EastCoastRemnant

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Daniel's dream describes a little horn that arises from among the ten horns of the fourth terrible beast. The little horn power represents the Antichrist and is described in Daniel's dream with great detail so that we can clearly identify who this end-time enemy will be. Since we don't want to make any mistake, it is essential that we correctly identify this power.

Daniel 7 gives us very precise identifying features of the horn, and every single one must apply in order to make an accurate identification possible. The 13 features are as follows:

1. It arose out of the fourth beast.
2. It came up among the ten horns.
3. It came up after the ten horns had been established.
4. It was to uproot three horns.
5. It was to be greater than the others.
6. It was to be different than the others.
7. It was to have eyes like the eyes of a man and speak great words against God.
8. It was to make war on God's saints.
9. It would think to change times and laws.
10.The saints were to be handed over to it for a time and times and half a time.
11. It shall devour the whole earth.
12. It shall reign until the Ancient of Days comes.
13. Its dominion will be taken away.

The Antichrist power has to fulfill all of the characteristics given in the Bible. It cannot meet only some of them. Thirteen times in the above articles, we see how the papal system qualifies for all the identifying points of the little horn power of Daniel 7, as sad and shocking as it may seem. It is essential that we realize that the Bible is not dealing with individuals, but with a religious and political system that for more than 1500 years has claimed the power to control the planet’s conscience. Moreover, for a set time, it had power to enforce its decrees and to persecute all who chose to obey God and His Word. This can be seen clearly in the Sunday-Sabbath issue

The Bible is dealing with a power that is misusing its position, and presuming to take the very place of God. Individuals are responsible to God for the light they live up to. In condemning the system, God is not condemning the individuals within the system who are living up to light they have and long to have a relationship with Him.

There is only one system that meets all the identifying features listed in Daniel chapter 7, and this is the Papacy.

We'll unpack each of the above points showing there is only one possible answer to the question of who/what the antichrist/beast power is.
 
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EastCoastRemnant

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1. It arose out of the fourth beast.

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. I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn (Daniel 7:7-8).

Papal Rome arose out of the ashes of pagan Rome. Historian Carl Eckhardt says this:

When the Roman empire had disintegrated and its place had been taken by a number of rude, barbarous kingdoms, the Roman Catholic Church not only became independent of the state in religious affairs but dominated secular affairs as well.
i

All historians agree that papal Rome emerged out of the ruins of the ancient pagan Roman Empire. Thomas Hobbes, English Historian, says this:

If a man consider the origin of this great ecclesiastical dominion, he will easily perceive that the Papacy is no other than the ghost of the deceased Roman empire, sitting crowned upon the grave thereof.
ii

The description of the little horn power is in connection with the fourth beast. This is very important, since there are many who adopt a
preterist view of the Antichrist and would like to associate the Antichrist with Antiochus Epiphanes IV, a Greek king who persecuted the Jews and desecrated the temple. This would, however, not fit the prophecy, as the Antichrist is to arise out of the fourth beast, which is Rome.
 
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EastCoastRemnant

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2. It came up among the ten horns.

I considered the ten horns and, behold, there came up among them another little horn (Daniel 7:8).

Note that the little horn arises among the ten, which implies that the ten were already there when it arose and, all ten were still in existence when it made its appearance.

The Antichrist was to come up among the ten horns, growing from a small power to the greatest. This is indeed true of the Papacy. After the initial fusing of Christianity with the pagan religions of the time, the bishop of Rome increased in power while the emperors of the Roman Empire supported him.

Constantine was the first emperor to embrace Christianity, but he only cloaked himself with a veneer of the religion. In the year 533 AD, emperor Justinian decreed that the bishop of Rome was the spiritual leader of the Christian world.

To qualify as a horn, this power must have the attributes of a kingdom, which indeed applies to the Vatican, which to this day is an independent state. Also, it arose amongst the powers of fallen Rome. The Europe that we know today is
the remnant of the horn of Rome.
 
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EastCoastRemnant

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3. It came up after the ten horns had been established.

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. I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn (Daniel 7:7-8).

The Roman Catholic Church grew in power after Constantine accepted Christianity, but it did not control secular affairs until the Justinian decrees went into effect. The power of the bishop of Rome steadily increased and papal authority in secular affairs arose after the Barbarian division of Rome in 476 AD.

The American Catholic Quarterly Review says this:

Long ages ago, when Rome through the neglect of the Western emperors was left to the mercy of the barbarous hordes, the Romans turned to one figure for aid and protection, and asked him to rule them...and thus...commenced the temporal sovereignty of the popes. So, meekly stepping to the throne of Caesar, the vicar of Christ took up the sceptre to which the emperors and kings of Europe were to bow in reverence through so many ages.i

William Barry says this:

The Pax Romana has ceased; it is a universal confusion. But wherever a Bishop holds his court, religion protects all that is left of the ancient order. A new Rome ascends slowly above the horizon…the heir of religion which it has overthrown; it assumes the outward splendour of the Caesars…The emperor is no more...But the Pontifex Maximus abides; he is now the Vicar of Christ, offering the old civilisation to the tribes of the North. He converts them to his creed, and they serve him as their Father and Judge Supreme. This is the Papal Monarchy, which in its power and its decline overshadows the history of Europe for a thousand years.ii

The rise of the little horn occurred after the subdivision of Rome into ten powers in 476 AD. At this time, the little horn became firmly established in order to qualify as a horn, that is, to be a king or a kingdom:

And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them (Daniel 7:24).
 
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4. It was to uproot three horns.

I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots (Daniel 7:8).

Three of the ten kingdoms were to be destroyed by the instigation of the little horn power. Only the Papacy fits this description. Three kingdoms that did not accept the papal mandates regarding Christ's divinity were literally uprooted and mercilessly destroyed. Although the doctrine of the divinity of Christ was correct, the method of dealing with it was not.

Since the little horn made its appearance after the subdivision of Rome into ten different states (after 476 AD) but before the destruction of three of them because it arises among all ten, we now have a very definite time frame for the rise of the Antichrist power. The Heruli, Vandals, and Ostrogoths were eliminated by the year 538 AD. This power was to arise between 476 AD and 538 AD.

These conquests strengthened the hand of the Papacy, which was established by the year 538 AD. In that year, Vigilus, the bishop of Rome, ascended the papal throne under the protection of the Roman general Belisarius. The date for the establishment of papal Rome as an independent power can thus be pinned at 538 AD.
 
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5. It was to be greater than the others.

…and the ten horns that were on its head, and the other horn which came up, before which three fell, namely, that horn which had eyes and a mouth which spoke pompous words, whose appearance was greater than his fellows (Daniel 7:20 NKJV). The power depicted by the little horn was greater than that of the others. This implies a position of political superiority. Although it began small, the little horn power was to become greater than all the other powers.

The Papacy wielded greater power than any country or king. The Papacy has always interfered in political affairs. Countries were divided by papal decrees, and kings enthroned and dethroned by papal decrees.

Since 800 AD, when Charlemagne received his crown from the Pope, the Papacy assumed power over kings and nations. In 1077, King Henry IV of Germany stood in the snow for three days before being permitted an audience with Pope Gregory VII. Likewise, in 1213 King John of England stood naked on a cold marble floor waiting for admission to the Pope's presence in order to apologize to him. Read King John's concession

Note the testimony of a Catholic functionary:
[T]he vicar of the incarnate Son of God, anointed high priest and supreme temporal ruler, (the Pope) sat in his tribunal impartially to judge between nation and nation, between people and prince, between sovereign and subject.i

Luther wrote this:
It is a horrible thing to behold the man who styles himself Christ's vice-gerent displaying a magnificence that no emperor can equal…He is (say they) the lord of the world! But Christ...has said, "My kingdom is not of this world." Can the dominions of a vicar extend beyond those of his superior?ii
 
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EastCoastRemnant

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6. It was to be different than the others.

...He shall be different from the first ones (Daniel 7:24 NKJV).

The Papacy is different from the pagan kingdoms before it, because it is both a political power and a religious power. Politically, the Vatican is a recognized state, complete with a traditional guard and its own postal service.

The Vatican is the smallest state in the world, occupying a mere 100 acres, but it has one of the strongest diplomatic bodies in the world. Papal representatives sit in the capitals of the world, and in turn these countries have their representatives in the Vatican. The Pope is not only head of the Church, but also temporal sovereign of the Vatican state.

The little horn represents a king or a kingdom different from all the previous kingdoms, which were secular kingdoms. The Papacy fits that role because it is both religious and political.
 
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EastCoastRemnant

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7. It was to have eyes like the eyes of a man and speak great words against God.

...behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things...And he shall speak great words against the Most High (Daniel 7:8,25).

The little horn power is humankind rising up against God and speaking great words against Him. It refers to a system that defies God directly and sets itself up in opposition to God.

It is significant that the little horn power is likened to a man. This same symbol was also applied to Babylon (Daniel 7:4). In Daniel 2, the king of Babylon was referred to as the head of gold. All power was vested in the king. His word was law, and he was considered a god.

Similarly, in the great antitype, all power will once again be vested in one man who, as the spokesman for the system, will utter blasphemies and claim to be God. Papal power is seated in one man. At the Council of Trent, the decrees of the Pope are considered the very decrees of God. The doctrine of papal infallibility further expanded this concept and gave to the Popes a position that should only be given to God.
 
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EastCoastRemnant

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8. It was to make war on God's saints.

I was watching; and the same horn was making war against the saints, and prevailing against them (Daniel 7:21).

Throughout history, the great wars of Europe were fought on religious grounds. The Protestants of Europe were relentlessly persecuted by Rome. Europe was plunged into the Thirty Years’ War with the sole purpose of destroying the Protestant Reformation.

The Waldenses, Albigenses, and Huguenots were relentlessly persecuted, and the Inquisition ordered the cruelest of punishments to be executed by the princes of Europe upon all those who refused to bow to the supremacy of Rome. In 1200, AD Pope Innocent III ordered the king of France to exterminate the Albigenses because they refused to accept the papal teachings and regarded the Bible as the ultimate Word of God. Historians D'Augbigné and Wylie say that more than a million of these innocent people were massacred in one single campaign.

John Calvin, in a letter to Emperor Charles V, wrote this:

I deny that See to be...the vicar of Christ, who, in furiously persecuting the gospel, demonstrates by his conduct that he is Antichrist.i

In the 13th century, St. Thomas Aquinas said that convicted heretics should be put to death just as surely as other criminals, because they were counterfeits. In a 1912 Catholic magazine we read this:

You cannot excite any piety in our souls by whining accounts of Catholic atrocities...We have never written a line in extenuation or palliation of the Inquisition. We never thought it needed a defence.ii

The church historian Philip Schaff makes this comment:

So far as we know, the popes never uttered a word in protest against the inhuman measures which were being practised by the Spanish Tribunals.iii

The historian Lecky says this:

The Church of Rome has shed more innocent blood than any other institution that has ever existed among mankind.iv

The little horn power was thus to be a persecuting power that would war against God's people, and have success against them.
 
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