Here is Revelations 13 vs.13: Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. 2 Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. 3 And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast. 4 So they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?” 5 And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months. 6 Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. 7 It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. 8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. 9 If anyone has an ear, let him hear.
The beast coming from the sea is in reference to a highly populated area, multitude of people, in other words; Europe. Specifically the Vatican in Rome, where the Pope lives and governs the Roman Catholic Church. The Vatican is in Rome, Rome is in Italy and Italy is in Europe. The Roman Empire was the world dominator in the times of Jesus, they ruled the world at that time. And though the Roman Empire disappeared, it went into a reduced state with world wide power and influence, this time religious. In the world there are 7.74 billion people and around 1.2 Billion are Catholic, that is a great number of people to have influence over. The Pope is the Pastor or shepherd of these sheep.
The Catholic heads or Cardinals are in Rome already in the Vatican and they will start their meetings on Monday March 4. There job will be to choose the next Pope. Could this be the last Pope that will be the Beast who will assist the AntiChrist? One interesting non-biblical prophesy regarding the Popes is the prophesies of St. Malachy. Saint Malachy was a 12th century Irish monk, who, while on a visit to Rome had a vision. As the legend goes, Malachy experienced what is today considered a famous vision commonly called “The Prophecy of the Popes.” Malachy saw and committed to paper, a series of Latin phrases describing the popes to come. Malachy made the prophecy in 1139. Reportedly it was entrusted to Pope Innocent II in 1140. But, for some reason it was lost in the Vatican for 400 years, only to be discovered in 1595 A.D. The prophecy is composed of Latin verses predicting each of the Roman Catholic popes from Pope Celestine II to the final pope, “Peter the Roman,” whose reign would end in the destruction of Rome. According to this ancient prophecy, the very next pope following Benedict XVI) will be the final pontiff, Petrus Romanus or Peter the Roman.
The final segment of the prophecy reads,"In extreme persecution, the seat of the Holy Roman Church will be occupied by Peter the Roman, who will feed the sheep through many tribulations; when they are over, the city of seven hills will be destroyed, and the terrible or fearsome Judge will judge his people." Though this is just a legend, it might not have been inspired by God at all, but it sure sounds interesting.
The Bible is God's word and we can find everything you ever need to know. From the origin of this world, to the revelation of God through his interaction with man, to the old testament revelation of the messiah and savior of the world, through the end of our world as we know it. The Bible is God's infinite mind compressed into a finite understanding, which is what we can use to understand him. In other words our small minds could never fathom or fully understand all of God. So, he revealed himself through his word, Jesus Christ incarnated and his Holy Scriptures. The end is clear. Jesus Christ will return to earth as a thief in the night, to lift up or rapture his Bride, the church and the Bible tells us how it will all end. We are witnessing the end times, the Pope is a marker and one of many things that usher in the 2nd coming of Christ. Are you ready for him or are you living distracted with the things of this world. All we can do is watch the signs and stay awake. We are watching things unravel before are eyes. We are in the front row of the end times. Are you ready for the next Pope?
5 comments:
We certainly are...It is awakening to the reality of Jesus return for a church that has not compromise its faith with the world.
Blessings, pastor C Cobos
Thank you for your comment Pastor Carlos you are right, no compromise.
I want to continue this discussion by again thanking you for keeping this discussion open. Often when there is a difference of opinion the easy way to go is to blame it on some evil force. With that said most modern scholars agree that St. Malackay "lost" prophesies are a forgery unless we are basing are research on Wikipedia or Nostradamus. While we as Christians can proclaim that the end will eventually happen, one should be careful of predicting the end as we do not know the time of judgment. Each generation has thought of their time as the end of times from those at the end of 999 to our own 1999 to even the first Gulf War to 9/11. The end is unknown and that is why we should remain alert and prepared, to state or even proclaim the end of times through signs contradicts the biblical words of no one knowing. Regarding the Catholic statement, this worries me in various ways. The Catholic Church in its early days tried to define what is a true Christian and failed badly. The first schism happened between Catholics (West) and Orthodox (East) churches. Than when Luther tried to reform the church, the Catholic continued to make the same mistakes and instead of listening reaffirmed their beliefs by stating that the only way to God was through the church. So how do we than say the same thing now. That the only way to Gods salvation is through a Pentecostal Church? A Christian is a follower of Christ. While Catholics have different theological differences, they like Baptist, Methodist, Lutherans, deserve to be recognized as Christians as well. There is no such thing as pure Christians since we interact from this world as well. Almost all of us have Christmas Trees in our home during the holidays even though it has a pagan background, same with the wreath on our door. We go to church on "Sun"day, maybe service on "Moon"day. Besides the days, some of our months are named after gods like January and for those born in that month, you'll see them celebrate they're day of birth on the month of Janus. Catholics and those who fall under God's grace will see eternity based on God's judgement not mans. Thank you again.
Appreciate your commentAnonymous. I agree there are many who from all Christian religions, will say in your name, Jesus, I did a lot of things and he will say I do not know thee. And there are a bunch of Catholic Christians I believe will go to heaven.
Thank you for your comment. At times Faith is downplayed and rules/laws /guidelines are given greater emphasis. Just reminds me of what Jesus was teaching against when he faced the pharisees in his time. God is righteous, thank you for allowing this forum to remain open brother. May the Lord continue to bless you.
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