Revelations Sea Beast

The following is a transcript from a lecture from Pastor Stephen Bohr entitled “Revelations Sea Beast”. I pray that you might find some time to watch Pastor Bohr’s lectures as I have always found his talks to be informative, and in harmony with scripture. These studies on the two beast’s from Revelation, as well as “The Image to the Beast”, “The Number of the Beast”, and “The Mark of the Beast” are an absolute must watch series, and you will learn volumes if you invest some time in watching these video’s, and then studying the attached transcripts. Pastor Bohr heads a media based ministry called Secrets Unsealed and you can visit his website by clicking here.

Revelations Sea Beast

Let’s pray. Our beloved heavenly Father, today we’re going to study a very important subject; a subject upon which the Christian world, to a great degree, is confused. We’re going to discuss the identity of the beast that rises from the sea. Therefore, Father, we ask for the guidance of Your Holy Spirit.  Revelations Sea Beast
We ask that You will give us understanding, that we might understand things as You understand them.
And, Father, I ask that everyone who listens to this presentation, and watches it, might have clarity of thought to know who the beast is, and how to escape its power. And we thank You for hearing our prayer, for we ask it in the precious name of Jesus, Amen.  Revelations Sea Beast

During the next four presentations we are going to study some very important things about the third angel’s message. This evening we’re going to study about Revelation’s sea beast.  Revelations Sea Beast
The third angel’s message says, If anybody worships the beast. Then in our next lecture we are going to study
about the land beast. It’s a beast that rises from the earth in Revelation 13:11-18. Then in the following lecture we are going to talk about the image to the beast.  Revelations Sea Beast
And after that we will discuss the number of the beast. So we have several very important lectures coming up, and I hope that you’ll make it a point to be here to listen to these important lectures.  Revelations Sea Beast

Revelations sea beastNow in order to understand the sea beast of Revelation 13, we have to go back to Daniel 7.
So I’m just briefly going to review the content of Daniel 7. There we have four beasts.
The first beast is a lion, the second is a bear, the third is a leopard, and the fourth is a dragon beast, or a non-descript beast. The lion represents the kingdom of Babylon. The bear represents the kingdom of the Medes and Persians. The leopard represents the kingdom of Greece. The dragon beast represents Rome; represents the Roman empire. So in Daniel 7 we have clearly delineated four kingdoms: Babylon, Medo Persia, Greece, and Rome. Now it’s interesting to notice that this fourth beast, the dragon beast, which represents Rome, has four stages of existence. In other words, it has four consecutive stages of dominion, this fourth beast.

I’d like to go to Daniel 7:23, 24, where we find these stages of dominion of the fourth beast of Rome.

It says in Daniel 7:23,  Revelations Sea Beast

“Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.”

So the first stage of this fourth beast, which represents Rome, is this dragon beast ruling by itself. It has no horns. It is just governing as a beast. But now I want you to notice that there’s a second stage to this fourth beast, to Rome. Daniel 7, and notice verse 24. Actually, It says:  Revelations Sea Beast

“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.”

So what do the ten horns represent? ten kings, or kingdoms that will arise from this fourth kingdom. So now we see two stages of this fourth beast. First of all the fourth beast ruling by itself. Then after it rules for awhile, we’re told that ten kings, or kingdoms, will come out of this kingdom.  Revelations Sea Beast

In other words, this kingdom will be divided. And that’s exactly what happened to Rome. See the Roman empire governed by itself for an extended period of time: from the Old Testament, 168 B.C. all the way to 476 A.D. But what happened in 476 A.D. is that the Roman empire was divided into ten kingdoms, as a result of the barbarian invasions from the Northern sector of the empire.

And so you have the dragon beast by itself. This is the Roman empire. Then you have the ten horns, which represent Rome, in a divided state, as a result of the barbarian invasions. But now I want you to notice that there’s a third stage. Daniel 7:24 and 25. It says there in verse 24:

“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.”

After which? after the ten.

So we have three stages of this fourth beast clearly delineated in Daniel 7:23-25, the dragon beast ruling by itself. That’s the Roman empire. The dragon beast with the ten horns. That’s the divided Roman empire. And it was fully divided in the year 476. And then, among those ten kingdoms of Western Europe, you have a little horn that arises, and this little horn rules for time, times, and half a time.  Revelations Sea Beast

Now what does this little horn represent? I’m going to go through these characteristics very fast, because I’m going to come to one specific point that I want to dwell on most of the lecture. Let’s notice ten characteristics of this little horn, which identifies clearly what it represents.  Revelations Sea Beast

First of all, the little horn rises after the ten are in place. The ten are the divisions of Rome, what today is Western Europe, which means that the little horn was going to arise after the year 476, when the Roman empire was divided, because the little horn rises among the ten, and after the ten. So the first two characteristics that show who this little horn is, is first of all it rises after the ten horns;  Revelations Sea Beast

secondly it rises among the ten horns;

thirdly it rises from the dragon.  Revelations Sea Beast

So let me ask you, must the little horn be Roman? Of course. It rises from the head of the fourth beast. The fourth beast is Rome. So this little horn must be Roman.

4. He uproots three of the ten kingdoms.

5. He speaks great words against God, which Revelation identifies as blasphemies.

6. He persecutes the saints of the Most High. He persecutes the saints of God.

7. He rules for time, times, and half a time. And, by the way, that is equivalent to 1,260 days. But in prophecy days are equal to years, which means that the little horn governs for 1,260 years.  Revelations Sea Beast

Characteristic 8. The little horn thought that he could change God’s holy law.

Characteristic 9. The little horn thought that he could change God’s times.

And 10. And this is what we’re going to dwell on especially, the little horn will have another period of dominion after its power was taken away at the end of the 1,260 years. In other words, the little horn has two periods of dominion: a past stage, and a future stage.  Revelations Sea Beast

Now the question is, What does this little horn represent? I’m going to be open and frank with you.  Revelations Sea Beast

There is only one power in the world that fits every single one of these characteristics that we’ve taken a look at, and that is the Roman Catholic Papacy. And let me go quickly through the reasons why.

1. Did the papacy rise after Rome was divided? Yes.

Did the papacy arise among the nations of Western Europe? Yes.

Did the papacy rise from Rome, the fourth beast, the fourth kingdom? Yes.

Did the papacy uproot three of those kingdoms? Yes.

I wish I had time to talk more about that. The Vandals, the Heruli, and the Ostrogoths were uprooted by the papacy, because they did not agree with the papacy’s theology. The great words are blasphemies, are defined in the Bible as someone who claims to be God on earth, and someone who claims to have the power to forgive sins.
Does the papacy claim, at least did it claim in the past, that the Pope is the representative of God on earth? Absolutely.

Does the papacy say that it has the right to forgive sins? Absolutely. It’s called the confessional.

Did the Roman Catholic Papacy persecute the saints of the Most High? It most certainly did.
You know of things, for example, like the Inquisition.  Revelations Sea Beast

Did the Roman Catholic Papacy rule for exactly 1,260 years? Absolutely. From 538 to 1798.
Did the papacy claim to have power to change God’s holy law? Absolutely. You look in the Catechism’s, and we’re going to talk more about this in a future lecture, you’ll find in the Catechism’s that the second Commandment has disappeared. So when you take out one commandment, you still have to have ten, so the Catechism’s divide the tenth commandment in two. And they say, Don’t covet your neighbor’s goods, and don’t covet your neighbor’s wife, as if those are two separate and different commandments.  Revelations Sea Beast

Furthermore, the papacy, as we’re going to study, has claimed to have the power to change God’s holy day of rest from Sabbath to Sunday. That’s where the observance of Sunday really originates. Furthermore, the papacy made the attempt to change God’s times.

Now I don’t have time to get into all of this issue about the times, but the word times in Scripture is referring to
God’s prophetic calendar; how God says that prophetic events are going to take place or transpire. And if I had time I would talk to you about two Roman Catholic priests who actually established two rival methods of interpreting prophecy. One is preterism, established by Luis De Alcazar, who said that the prophecies about the antichrist were fulfilled in the past with a nasty individual called Antiochus Epiphanes.

And another one arose, Francisco Ribera, who said that prophecy, you know, all those prophecies about the antichrist, they’re going to be fulfilled in the distant future. And so what happened is God’s prophetic calendar, which showed that the papacy was fulfilling these prophecies, was changed to the past, and to the distant future. Certainly the papacy attempted to change God’s prophetic times. So every single detail fits the Roman Catholic papacy to a T. Now I mentioned that the papacy actually has two stages of dominion.

Now let me explain that in Daniel 7 the second stage of the dominion of the papacy is implicit. It’s not explicit.
In other words, we know that it’s there,but it’s not explicitly there. You say, How do we know that?

Well, Daniel 7:26, 27 tells us something very important. It says there:

“But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end.”
“And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.”

That is the little horn’s dominion.

Question: Is the little horn the power that is going to be ruling when Jesus comes? Yes, because it says here that dominion will be taken away from him and given to the saints of the Most High. That means that the papacy must have two periods of dominion: one in the past, 1,260 years, and one in the future, where it will control, basically, the political systems of the world, as we’re going to study, and will be destroyed by the brightness of the coming of Christ.

And so, clearly this prophecy is pointing towards the Roman Catholic papacy.

Now I’d like to review then the four stages of this fourth beast that we’re talking about in our lecture today. The first stage of this fourth beast is the fourth beast ruling by itself. That’s Rome, the Roman Empire.

The second stage is Rome in a divided state; the ten kingdoms that came forth from Rome.

The third stage is the little horn ruling during the 1,260 years.

And the fourth stage is when the little horn rises once again to power at the end of time.

Now Revelation 13:1-10 describes this same power, only it doesn’t call this power the little horn. It calls this power the beast. In fact, go with me to Revelation 13:1, 2, Revelation 13:1, 2. You’re going to see an immediate link with the prophecy of Daniel 7. It says:

“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.”
” 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 seat, and great authority.”

Question: Do we have the same beasts in Revelation 13:2 as we found in Daniel 7? Absolutely.
Is there a link then between Daniel 7 and Revelation 13? Absolutely. You have a lion, a bear, a leopard, a dragon, and, by the way, Revelation 12 says that the dragon has ten horns.

And then the dragon with ten horns gives his power to the beast. So I want you to notice this.

In Daniel 7 you have lion, bear, leopard, dragon, ten horns, little horn.

In Revelation 13 you have lion, bear, leopard, dragon, ten horns, beast.

In other words, the little horn is the same as the beast, because you have the same sequence of powers.

And not only the same sequence of powers, but the beast does the same things that the little horn did for the
same period of time.

Notice Revelation 13, so that you can catch the clear reference to the same activities, and time period of the beast that the little horn exercised. Revelation 13:5:

“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 the beast. Is that what the little horn did? Absolutely. And he was given authority to continue how long? 42 months. Is that the same as time, times, and a half time? Absolutely. 3.5 times, or 31/2 years times 360 days each year, is 1,260. 42 months, times 30 days each month is 1,260. It’s the same time period.

And notice what it continues saying. This is verse 7.

“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”

So let me ask you, Is the sequence of powers the same in Daniel 7, and in Revelation 13?

Absolutely. Are their activities the same? Absolutely! So there’s two ways we can know that the little horn is the same as the beast:

1. Because it’s the same sequence of powers.

2. Because the little horn, and the beast perform the same activities during the same period of time.

But you remember that in Daniel 7 we noticed that the second stage of the little horn is implicit. We know that the little horn’s going to be ruling when Christ comes, so it’s going to have another stage of power, or another stage of dominion, but it doesn’t come out real clearly in the text.

But in Revelation 13 it comes out very clearly that the little horn has two stages, or the beast has two stages of existence.

Notice Revelation 13:3.

“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.”

Who was mortally wounded?

One of the heads of the beast. And that was it, right? he received a deadly wound; finished forever.No, it says:

So do we have four stages, clearly, of this Roman power, this number four power. Do we have four stages, very clearly? Yes. We have the dragon by itself. We have the dragon with the ten horns. We have the dragon with the little horn. The little horn receives a deadly wound. And then the deadly wound is healed. That’s stage number four. Rome,

Rome divided, Papal Rome in its first stage, 1,260 years, and then Rome recovering its power after it receives the deadly wound.

Now we need to ask some critical questions about this deadly wound that the beast received at the end of the 1,260 years.

Here are the questions that we’re going to attempt to answer in the last part of our study today.

With what weapon was the beast wounded? What weapon gave the beast it’s deadly wound?

Question 2 is going to answer Question 1. What does the sword represent? See, the beast received the deadly wound with the sword. What does the sword represent?

3. How and when did the beast acquire the sword, because the Bible says that he killed with sword, and he would be killed with the sword.

So the question is, How did the beast acquire the sword so that he could kill with that sword?

4. What is the meaning of the deadly wound? In what sense was the beast wounded to death?

5. What keeps the deadly wound from healing? Because this beast convalesces for awhile. What keeps the deadly wound from healing?

And finally, when and how will the wound be healed, and by whom?

Now, first of all, we want to talk about the weapon that wounded the beast.

Revelation 13:10 tells us what weapon wounded the beast. It says there:

“He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword.”

Which is what the beast did; you read the context. What did the beast use the sword for? The beast used the sword to kill.

And the same sword that the beast used to kill would be the sword that would what? would give it the deadly wound. Someone might object and say, Well, Pastor Bohr, but it doesn’t really say there that the beast was killed with the sword. It says, Whoever kills with the sword, will be killed with the sword.

But notice verse 14 of chapter 13. And here it’s explicit that it was the beast that killed with the sword, and the beast that was killed with the sword, or received the mortal wound.
It says in Revelation 13:14, Now listen to this.

“And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.”

So who was wounded with the sword? the beast. So the beast used the sword to kill.
And the same sword that it used to kill was going to give the beast the deadly wound.
So the question is, what is the sword?
Well, in the Bible the sword has two different meanings. Let’s go to Ephesians 6:17 where we have the first meaning of the sword. It says:

“And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:”

So what does the sword represent in the first instance? It represents what? the word of God, the Bible.

Let me ask you, To whom did Jesus give this sword? We studied this in our last lecture.
To whom did He give this sword? He gave this sword to the church. Right?
And how does the church use this sword? by preaching the word of God through the power of the Holy Spirit, right?
This sword belongs to the church.
But let me ask you, Does the Bible speak about a different sword?
It most certainly does.
By the way, this is not the sword that wounded the beast.

You say, How do we know that it wasn’t this sword that wounded the beast? Because the prophecy says that the beast killed with the sword, and he would be killed with the sword. Let me tell you, the papacy did not use the Bible to kill people.

In fact it forbade, for a long time, the reading of the Bible. And so it cannot mean the Bible here. The sword must represent something different than Scripture. And in the Bible, by the way, symbols are flexible. They can have different meanings in different context. So the question is, What does the sword represent?

Romans 13:1-4 has the answer, Romans 13:1-4.

“1 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.”
“2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.”
“3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:”
“4 For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.”

What is meant by the authority, by the way? All the times it’s used here? It’s referring to the government, the civil government. These are civil rulers. That is of the civil government? Now don’t miss this point.

Is there another sword in Scripture? Yes. What is that sword? It’s the sword that is in the hand of the civil power. Now listen to what I’m going to say.

Is this sword the Bible? No.

This sword is the mandate that God has given to the civil power to punish violations of civil law. Not religious law, but civil law, as we studied in our last lecture. In other words, there are two swords. One sword has been given to the church, and the other sword has been given to the state.

The sword that has been given to the church is the Bible.

The sword that has been given to the state is that of civil power and inflicting penalties on those who violate civil law.

Let me ask you, Did Jesus establish both of these kingdoms? Did He establish both swords? Of course He did. Did Jesus say, Upon this rock I will build My church? He most certainly did. He said to Peter, I will give you the keys to the kingdom? And He wasn’t only speaking to Peter. He was speaking to all of the apostles. In other words, the church is one kingdom, and the church has the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

But did God also establish the civil power? Yes. Because in Romans 13 it says clearly that he is God’s minister. Now you remember when the mob came to arrest Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane.

There was one disciple, Peter, who wanted to defend the kingdom of Christ. And how did he want to defend it? Supposedly he was the first pope, although we know that Biblically and historically, that’s not true. But, anyway, he took out his sword, and he swung at the servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear. And he wasn’t aiming for his ear. He was aiming for his head, but he missed. And what did Jesus say to Peter? He said, Well done, Peter. Defend My kingdom with the sword. Make everybody obey Me. Is that what He said? No!

Notice the very interesting words that Peter spoke and that Jesus used to rebuke Peter. Matthew 26:52.

“Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.”

Are those words very similar to Revelation 13:10, where it says that he who kills with the sword must be killed with what? with the sword. This is speaking about the sword, the literal sword that is used to defend Christ’s kingdom; the sword of the state, of the civil power to defend Christ’s kingdom. And Christ would have absolutely nothing of it.

A little bit later Jesus was in Pilate’s court, John 18:36. Pilate asked Jesus, Are you a king? And notice what Jesus said.

“Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.”

How many kingdoms did Jesus recognize? He recognized two kingdoms. He said: They would use the physical sword. They would fight.

So the question is, what is the deadly wound? We can only understand the deadly wound if we understand what the sword is. The sword that is spoken of in this prophecy is the ability of using the civil power to those who disobey civil law. But what happened with the beast? The beast is a religious power, right? And the beast used the sword to punish everyone who was not in agreement with the beast’s theology, or belief system, or teachings. Are you understanding what I’m saying? In other words, as we’ve studied before, it’s the church taking the sword of the state to punish dissenters who are not in harmony with her. And the sword that the church used, the sword of the state that the church used to kill, would be the sword that would arise to give her the deadly wound. In other words, the deadly wound is nothing less or more than taking away from the hand of the church the sword of the state. In other words the state was going to turn against the church that had used the power of the state to persecute people who did not agree with the church.

Now the question is, How did the papacy obtain the sword? Well, between the year 300 and the year 476 A.D. there were a series of barbarian invasions into the Roman Empire. The last Roman Emperor was Romulus Agustulus, and he was deposed in the year 476.

There was no more Emperor in Rome. As a result, Rome became a kingdom without a ruler. Everything was turned upside down. The empire was in disarray, in a chaotic situation. And in this chaotic situation the barbarian kingdoms enticed the Bishop of Rome to bring law and order to the empire. And he accepted not only the role of being the spiritual leader of these kingdoms, but also the civil, or the political leader of these same nations.

Allow me to read you some very interesting statements written by historians about this event.

Notice this is from Cardinal Henry Edward Manning, a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He explains what happened when the empire fell apart. He says:

“The Pontiffs found themselves lone, the sole fountains of order, peace, law, and safety. And from the hour of this providential liberation, when, by a Divine intervention, the chains fell off from the successor of St. Peter, as once before from his own, no sovereign has ever reigned in Rome except the Vicar of Jesus Christ”

At least he believes so. What happened when the successor of Peter, as he calls him, took over the reins of the civil government? What happened? The chains what? fell off. So he says:

When by divine intervention the chains fell off He further states this:

The papacy…

“Waited until such a time as God should break its chains asunder, and should liberate it from subjection from civil powers, and enthrone it in the possession of a temporal sovereignty of its own
“So the papacy, while Rome was in place and governing, was what? restrained, because he says: Listen to this. “

So what is the liberation of the papacy? the falling off of the chains. It means that now the papacy can govern, not only in religious affairs, but also in what? in civil affairs. And so he says, The papacy That’s a political power.

By the way, this is what the apostle Paul was talking about in 2 Thessalonians 2:6, 7. Have you ever read about the mysterious restrainer that needed to be removed for the man of sin to manifest himself? Notice 2 Thessalonians 2:6, 7. The apostle Paul says:

“6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.”
“7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.”

Restraining the man of sin. See, he was restrained. By the way, that restrainer, all of the early church fathers say that the restrainer is the Roman Empire. So it says: Which is the Emperor, by the way.

So what is it that liberated the papacy so that it could use the sword of civil power? It was the fact that the barbarian invasions threw the Roman Empire into upheaval and chaos, and so those nations said to the Bishop of Rome, You need to bring law and order. Govern upon us not only in religious affairs, but also in civil affairs.

I want to read you some statements from some theologians on the style of government that existed during the Middle Ages.

This statement is by James Conroy, a Roman Catholic.He says this: Notice this.

“Long ages ago, When Rome through the neglect of the Western Emperors was left to the mercy of the barbarian hordes, the Romans turned to one figure for aid and protection, and asked him to rule them.. and thus, in this simple manner, the best title of all to kingly right, commenced the temporal sovereignty of the Popes. And meekly stepping to the throne of Caesar, the Vicar of Christ took up the scepter to which the emperors and the kings of Europe were to bow in reverence through so many ages.”

Who was that that they asked to rule? the Bishop of Rome. Today he’s called the pope.
Notice the terminology.

Here’s another statement from another historian, Carl Conrad Eckhardt. He says:

“Under the Roman Empire [Stage #1] the popes had no temporal powers. But when the Roman Empire had disintegrated and its place had been taken by a number of rude, barbarous kingdoms [Stage #2], the Roman Catholic Church not only became independent of the states in religious affairs but dominated secular affairs as well [Stage #3].”

In other words, they had no political power. Also the ten divisions, the ten horns.  Revelations Sea Beast
R. W. Southern, another historian. These are all, by the way, non­ Adventist theologians, and historians. R. W. Southern says this:

“During the whole medieval period there was in Rome a single spiritual and temporal authority [the papacy] exercising powers which in the end exceeded those that had ever lain within the grasp of the Roman Emperor.”

That is civil.

And John N. Figgis has this interesting comment. He says:

“In the middle ages the church was not a state, it was the state; or rather, the civil authority (For a separate society was not recognised), was merely the police department of the church”

Are you catching the picture of what this is talking about? What was the sword that the Roman Catholic Papacy had in its hand? It was the sword. Not of the Bible. It didn’t use the Bible to persuade, or to kill people. It used the civil power to accomplish its purposes, which it took over when the Roman Empire fell. By the way, it’s interesting to read a bull
by Pope Bonifus VII.
It was written in the year 1302.
The name of the bull is Unam sanctum. 37:31 And notice how he interprets the two swords. He says this:

We are informed by the texts of the gospels that in this church…  Revelations Sea Beast

That is the Roman Catholic Church. …and in its power are two swords. So the church has how many swords?
According to the Bible, how many swords does the church have? one. According to the Roman Catholic Church, how many swords does he have? two.

Notice: We are informed by the texts of the gospels that in this church, and in its power, are two swords: namely the spiritual and the temporal. Both, therefore, are in the power of the church. That is to say, the spiritual and the material sword.

But the former, that is the spiritual, is to be administered for the church, but the latter, that is the temporal,

by the church. The former in the hands of the priest. In other words, Scripture in the hands of the priests; and the latter by the hands of kings and soldiers.

That’s the temporal sword. But notice how it ends.
But at the will and sufferance of the priest.
Are you catching what this, what Revelation is talking about? Revelation 13, when it says, He who kills with the sword will be killed with the sword.  Revelations Sea Beast

How did the papacy kill with the sword?

It did not do it as a church, it actually influenced the state to do it.
Do you remember our last lecture where we talked about what happened to Jesus?
Could the church execute the penalty upon those, upon Jesus Christ? Absolutely not.  Revelations Sea Beast

So what did they have to do? They had to go to Pilate, and they had to get the help of the civil power to kill Christ. Is that the very same thing that happened during the Middle Ages when the saints of the Most High were killed by this power? Absolutely.

That’s what prophecy teaches. So the question is, What happened in 1798? It must be that the sword that the beast used to kill, that sword arose and gave it the deadly wound. So who would give the deadly wound to the beast? It would have to be the what? the state. The civil power would have to give the papacy the wound, because the sword represents the civil power. So if he killed with the sword of the civil power, and that sword is going to hurt him, or is going to give him the deadly wound, it must mean that the civil power would give the church the deadly wound. And that’s exactly what happened in 1798.

1798 was the culmination of the French Revolution. The French Revolution started in 1789, and it was a reaction against kingly intolerance, and it was against priestly power wrongly exercised. And on February 12, 1798 General Berthier, the general of the troops of Napoleon Bonaparte, entered Vatican City, arrested Pope Pius VI, and took him prisoner to France where he died in exile.

And so everybody thought that the papacy, at this point, had been killed by this civil power of France. In fact, let me read you some interesting statements from historians where they say that everybody thought that the papacy was dead. And these are secular historians.  Revelations Sea Beast

Notice this first one.

“The papacy was extinct. Not a vestige of its existence remained. And among all the Roman Catholic powers, not a finger was stirred in its defence. The Eternal City had no longer prince or pontiff. It’s bishop was dying captive in foreign lands. And the decree was already announced that no successor would be allowed in its place.”

In another quotation Joseph Rickaby says this about the French Revolution, and the deadly wound.

“No wonder that half of Europe thought Napoleon’s veto… The veto means that Napoleon had said, No more pope’s. No wonder that half of Europe thought Napoleon’s veto would be obeyed, and that with the pope the papacy was dead.”

Another: T. H. Gill in his book, The Papal Drama, says this about what happened in 1798:

“Multitudes imagined that the papacy was at the point of death and asked, Would Pius VI be the last pontiff? and if the close of the 18th century would be signalized by the fall of the papal dynasty.”

And one further quotation:  Revelations Sea Beast

“The papacy had suffered its deepest humiliation, and appeared to be annihilated.”

(Notice the terminology: appeared to be annihilated.)

“The revolution also dealt it the wound, which it seemed did not want to heal until far into the 20th century.”

And the ironic thing is that the first nation that gave the Roman Catholic Papacy temporary power was Clovis, King of the Franks, in the year 508. That’s why France is known as the eldest daughter of the papacy.

And the very nation that first gave temporal power to the Roman Catholic Church withdrew that power, ironically, from her in 1798. The French Revolution was a catastrophic event for the papacy.

In fact, in the aftermath of the French Revolution, country after country, in the Western world turned democratic. They were emancipated from the power of the church during the Middle Ages, using them to persecute the
saints of the Most High.

And it appeared that the papacy was dead. Prophecy tells us that the deadly wound was going to be healed.
Notice Revelation 13:3.

And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded. What was it wounded with? with a sword.
What did the beast wound with? the sword. And his deadly wound was healed, and all the world marveled and followed the beast.

Let me ask you, If the deadly wound is removing the sword from the hand of the beast, what must be the healing of the deadly wound?

It must be restoring, once again, the sword to the hand of the beast so that the sword can use the civil power, once again, to persecute.

Are you with me or are you not with me? I hope so.

Now the question is, Why hasn’t the mortal wound healed yet?

Let me read you a statement by Malachi Martin, Roman Catholic Jesuit.

He wrote in 1986 a very revealing statement. I don’t think he really realized what he was writing, and the prophetic implications of it. But he said in 1986:

“For 1500 years and more Rome…

(He’s talking about the Roman Church.)

…Rome had kept as strong a hand as possible in each local community around the wide world.

(So notice, for 1500 years Rome had kept a strong hand in every local community around the world.
And then he says this:)  Revelations Sea Beast

By and large, and admitting some exceptions, that had been the Roman view.

(What had been the Roman view? exercising power with the what? with a strong hand, right? That had been the Roman view. So he says:)

By and large, and admitting some exceptions, that had been the Roman view until 200 years of inactivity had been imposed upon the papacy by the major secular powers of the world.”

What is it that keeps the deadly wound in place?

The major secular powers of the world, because they have not allowed the papacy to climb on them again.
They have not allowed the papacy to use them. Are we starting to see changes, even within the United States of America? We most certainly are.  Revelations Sea Beast

We’re seeing the church trying to appeal to the arm of the state in order to get her agenda across.
Now let me ask you, if he wrote this in 1986, and he says that 200 years of inactivity have been imposed by the papacy, by the major secular powers of the world.

If you go back 200 years where do you arrive? You arrive at the time of the French Revolution.

He’s saying, The French Revolution imposed 200 years of inactivity upon the papacy. And that inactivity is imposed by the major secular powers of the world. Are you with me?

Ellen White wrote 100 years before Malachi Martin wrote, and notice what she says.

“Let the restraints now imposed by secular governments…

(Who imposes the restraints? Who imposed the restraint back in the time of the Roman Empire? the civil power. But when the civil power was removed, and the sword was given to the church, the chains fell off. The restrainer was gone. Are you with me? So when it receives a deadly wound, is this power restrained again by the secular powers of the world? Yes.)

“Let the restraints now imposed by secular governments be removed, and Rome be reinstated in her former power, and there would speedily be a revival of her tyranny and persecution.”

Let me ask you then, What is it that keeps the deadly wound in place? The fact that the state does not allow itself to be used as the state was used during the Middle Ages.

When will the deadly wound be healed?

When the sword, which turned against the papacy, will arise and be given once again to the Roman Catholic Papacy to do what she did during the 1,260 years.

Allow me to read you a very telling statement by John W. Robbins. He’s a reformed theologian. He’s not a Seventh-day Adventist. He quotes actually Ayn Rand, who wrote this in 1967. Notice what it says:  Revelations Sea Beast

“The Catholic Church has never given up the hope to re-establish…

(What does re-establish mean? Must have lost it, right?)

“The Catholic Church has never given up the hope to re-establish the medieval union of church and state…

(So are church and state united today? No. She needs to re-establish it, right?)

With a global state, and a global theocracy as its ultimate goal, the Roman Church state is a hybrid; a monster of ecclesiastical and political power….

(What kind of power? ecclesiastical and what? political power.)

It’s political thought is totalitarian. And whenever it has had the opportunity to apply its principles, the result has been bloody repression. If during the last 30 years it has softened its ascertains of full supreme and irresponsible power, and has murdered fewer people than before, such changes in behavior are not due to a change in its ideas, but to a change in it’s circumstances….

(Folks, because it has a deadly wound, Notice what he continues saying.)

The Roman Church state in the 20th century, however, is an institution…

(This is not a Seventh day Adventist. I don’t think he interprets Revelation 13 the way we do. But he says,)

The Roman Church state in the 20th century, however, is an institution recovering from a mortal wound. If, and when,…

(We would not say if, we would say when. But he says, If, and when,)

it regains its full power, and authority, it will impose a regime more sinister than any the planet has yet seen.”

What’s going to happen when the beast receives the sword once again? It is going to have worldwide dominion, and it is going to persecute like it did in the past, no matter what it might appear like right now.  Revelations Sea Beast

By the way, Dave Hunt caught this. He wrote a book called, A Woman Rides the Beast. Now a lot of the ideas in that book I don’t agree with, because I think there’s a lot of error, but one thing that he gets straight is that the woman that rides the beast represents the Roman Catholic Church, and the beast represents the civil powers of the world. He got that right. Now notice what he says.Do you remember we spoke about this system being the harlot? Notice what Dave Hunt says.  Revelations Sea Beast

“Why do world leaders want to get in bed with the Vatican?

(Do you notice the fornication metaphor being used there?)

The heads of state in today’s world all recognize that the pope wields a power, which in many ways is even greater than their own. It is not only Catholicism’s 900 million subjects, and enormous wealth that causes the world’s most powerful governments to call to make friendly relations with the Roman Catholic Church. It is because Vatican City citizens are found in great numbers in nearly every country. They constitute an international network that reaches into the inside circles of the world’s power centers.  Revelations Sea Beast

Malachi Martin wrote a book, a very famous book, The Keys of This Blood. He speaks about three systems that are vying for the dominion of the world: capitalism, communism, and Roman Catholicism. And I want you to notice what he says. This is a Jesuit priest. By the way, he died under mysterious circumstances. Notice what it says in The Keys of This Blood, page 18.

“There is one great similarity shared by all three of these global escapetitors: that is communism, capitalism, and Roman Catholicism. Each one has in mind a particular grand design for one world governance.

What do each one of them want? one world what? governance.

Their geo-political competition is about which of the three will form, dominate, and run the world system that will replace the decaying nation system.

And then in some chilling words on page 16, he tells us this:  Revelations Sea Beast

“No holds barred, because once the competition has been decided, the world and all that’s in it: our way of life as individuals, and as citizens of the nations, our families, and our jobs, our trade, and commerce, and money, our educational systems, and our religions, and our cultures, even the badges of our national identity, which most of us have always taken for granted, all will have been powerfully, and radically altered forever. No one can be exempted from its effects. No sector of our lives will remain untouched. Nobody who is acquainted with the plans of these three rivals has any doubt but that only one of them can win.”

Is that chilling? Does that tell you what the objective of the Roman Catholic Church is? It’s world dominion by once again sitting on the civil powers of the world to dominating control as she did in the past. You say, Well, she sounds so nice now, so conciliatory. That’s true! But let me say folks, and I say this solemnly, that’s the way the Devil works. The Devil doesn’t work openly. He works underground. He makes evil look good, and he makes good look evil.  Revelations Sea Beast

Now what about the time frame? How soon, in the mind of Malachi Martin, is this dominion going to take place? He says in his book, The Keys of This Blood, pages 15-16, the following:

As to the time factor involved, those of us who are under seventy will see at least the basic structures of the New World government installed. And he says, under the Roman Catholic Papacy. Remember this. Those of us under 40 will surely live under its legislative executive and judiciary authority and control.

You need to get a copy of that book and read it. I mean it’s not covert. There’s nothing hidden there. It openly tells you what the objective of the Roman Catholic Church is. And, by the way, Malachi Martin says it’s inevitable that the papacy is going to be the winner, because God has willed it that way.

That’s why he calls it The Keys of This Blood. God has said that that’s the way it’s going to be, and no human being can prevent it. Now here’s the big question: How is this deadly wound going to be healed? Who is going to bring about its healing? And how is it going to happen?

We’re going to study this in our next lecture:

Revelation’s Land Beast. We’re going to find that the deadly wound will be healed by the most unlikely nation in the world. A nation that rises from the earth, and has two horns like a lamb, but ends up speaking like a dragon.

You say, Pastor Bohr, what nation in its right mind would return the sword to the papacy, knowing the historical track record of the papacy? What nation in its right mind would do such a thing?  Revelations Sea Beast

The problem is that this nation is not going to be in its right mind. Remember when we talked about the wine of Babylon? The wine of Babylon makes people drunk. And when they’re drunk they can’t think straight.  Revelations Sea Beast

Jeremiah 51:7 says that through the wine of Babylon the nations became mad. In Hebrew it means that the nations became deranged; mentally ill, if you please. The nations became as a result of drinking the wine of Babylon, which are her false doctrines.

One of those great false doctrines is the idea that the church has two swords. And the church cannot only preach God’s word, but the church can also use the sword of the state to punish dissenters who do not agree with her doctrines, and don’t do exactly what she says. Now if you live in the United States you know that some amazing things have happened in the last few years:

Some ex-president’s kneeling before the body of John Paul II, the pope visiting the White House, receiving a standing ovation in the United Nations, and many religious leaders coming to a cathedral in New York when he visited the United States, including representatives from practically every major Protestant denomination. And each one of these leaders… I watched it on television. The Protestant churches came forward and shook his hands, and some of them even giving him a bow, and saying some real kind words to him. Listen, if they understood Bible prophecy as it was understood 200-250 years ago, they wouldn’t even come anywhere near this system. But people have forgotten the roots of prophecy.  Revelations Sea Beast

So, folks, don’t miss the next exciting episode in this series: The Beast That Rose From the Earth.