Anchor 2016 Class 7

The Image of and to The Beast Part 1

Image of The Beast

Image of The Beast

The following transcript comprises  the first few minutes of this Anchor 2016 Class 7 presentation by Pastor Stephen Bohr. I welcome you to this page and pray that you might find the videos in this series as enlightening and informative as I have found them.

Please take the time to watch this series and also to secure a copy of the study notes as they will help complete the course structure.

The study notes can be obtained at Secrets unsealed by clicking the following link. ‘Secrets Unsealed’

Pastor Stephen Bohr

All right, let’s go to another quotation that refers to the division of the Roman Empire and the appearance of the Roman Catholic papacy as a continuation of the Roman Empire; this quotation is from Time magazine December 12 1960.

Image of The Beast

“The all-conquering barbarians were storming the gates of Augustine’s City when the Saint died in 430. The North African town of Hippo was one of the last imperial outposts to be attacked. Rome had already gone under: (It’s talking about the city of Rome) Only four years before, St. Augustine’s City of God had laid the theological groundwork for the church to step into the void left by the collapsing Roman Empire.”

So who steps into the void of the collapsing Roman Empire? The Roman Catholic papacy, and incidentally it’s interesting here it says that the theological groundwork for this had been laid by St. Augustine.

Image of  The Beast

Image of The Beast

Do you know what St. Augustine taught about the stone that smites the feet of the image?

He said the stone isn’t the second coming of Christ, the stone represents the church, the church demolishes all the kingdoms of the world and then the church establishes an ideal Society in the world by the church governing over all world affairs; and so that’s why he’s saying here that Augustine provided the theological groundwork for the papacy to step into the void, and to exercise that so-called prerogative.

Now here’s another statement.

Image of The Beast

“The removal of the capital of the Empire from Rome to Constantinople in 330 left the Western Church, practically free from imperial power, to develop its own form of organization”

 

So when Constantine goes to the east, the Western Roman Empire has no Emperor; so who steps into the void and takes the place of the Emperor? The Pope; so he rules not only the church, he rules the state, notice it continues saying.

 

Image of the Beast“The Bishop of Rome, in the seat of the Caesars was now the greatest man in the West, and was soon forced (and I would question that word forced, he chose!) he was forced to become the political as well as the spiritual head. (Do you see the iron in the clay there?) To the Western world Rome was still the political capital–hence the whole habit of mind, all ambition, pride, and sense of glory, and every social prejudice favored the evolution (notice evolution) the evolution of the great city into the ecclesiastical capital. Civil as well as religious disputes were referred to the successor of Peter for settlement. (So, did the Pope now assume civil and religious power? Absolutely!) Again and again, when the barbarians attacked Rome, he was compelled to actually assume military leadership. Eastern emperors frequently recognized the high claims of the Pope’s in order to gain their assistance. It is not difficult to understand, how, under these responsibilities the primacy of the Bishop of Rome established in the pre-Constantine period, was emphasized and magnified after 313 [Edict of Milan]. The importance of this fact must not be overlooked. The organization of the church was thus put on the same divine basis as the revelation of Christianity. This idea once accepted led inevitably to the medieval papacy.”Image of The Beast

 

So the union of church and state, very early, ultimately leads to the development of the medieval papacy.