Revelation, Europe, Antichrist
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4.3. FROM THE STATE CHURCH TO MODERNITY4.3.1.THE BEAST ASCENDING FROM THE ABYSSThe history of Europe predicted by RevelationAccording to the statue of the four metals, the two cultures represented by the legs and the feet form part of the same kingdom, since they are both constituted of iron, the clay of the feet being neutral at this level because it has not a meaning as state because of its non-metallic character. Consequently the Roman Empire and the different states that formed in Europe on the ancient territory of the Western Empire must be considered having common origins. The prophecy of the beast confirms this: we have seen that it not only signifies the seven Roman emperors, but also the totality of the Roman Empire, its seven heads representing the seven hills of the city of Rome, which was the head of the whole Empire (see The Roman Empire). The collapse of this Empire consequently corresponds to the disappeared beast. And the following verse, by mentioning the ten kings "who have not yet received royal power" (Rev 17:12), designates the beast that will return, to the viewpoint of the present of St. John. This will equally be an ascent as kingdom at first, although later they will obtain a meaning as personal kings (see figure 13). So, at first the ten kings refer to the different states that formed after the decline of Rome, which means that the Roman Empire and these states are represented by the same beast. They are composed of the same "stuff" the Roman state was made of, as the prophecy of the statue implies, and were also effectively about ten in number as shown in figure 12 representing the European states towards 476 AD1.
Since a change of power only occurred when a military victory of a nation over another took place, according to the prophecy of the statue (Dan 2:39-40), this kinship between the Roman state and Europe seems to contradict the fact that the Romans were conquered by people who were foreign to them, namely by the Cousins and Vandals. But, as the name says, the Western Empire was only a part of the whole Roman Empire. The other part, the Eastern Empire, only disintegrated in the 15th century, when it was conquered by the Ottomans. Meanwhile, Charlemagne restored the Roman culture in the Occident, which in a certain sense remained intact until our days, as we are going to see. Moreover, Russia became the spiritual heiress of Byzantium, that is to say of the Eastern Empire, which transmitted its culture and religion to it, and which also became "alive" again. What confirms this thesis is that also an important territorial change of the victorious culture upon the precedent one is determinant for a fundamental change of power: the territory of the Babylonians was restricted to the region of the Euphrates and the Tigris, and to the countries at the Mediterranean coast. That of the Persians was already much larger, since it occupied the same territory of the Babylonians, but in addition spread toward the region where today Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan are found. The Greeks occupied the region of what is now Greece with a very large part around as well, which tended rather to East. Yet the Romans occupied essentially the same territory one later began to call Europe. It is only because of its historic past, in which is precisely implied the Roman epoch, that Europe is considered as a continent. For it is not entirely surrounded by the sea, separates even states, Russia and Turkey, and should consequently not be considered as a continent from a purely geographical point of view. According to the biblical prophecies, the Roman Empire, especially with its spiritual goods, has therefore never ceased to exist and survived up to our days, like the beast ascending from the abyss being reborn in the various European states and later growing in the Russian and Western imperialism. Thus was formed the Occident directed by the United States of America and the oriental block governed by the ancient USSR. Especially America shares much characteristics with the antique Roman Empire as points out Peter BENDER in Weltmacht Amerika - Das Neue Rom. These so-called former West-bloc and East-bloc made part of a single entity, which may be named the modern civilization. This unity is easily observable today since the East-bloc was dissolved and has rapidly adopted the western structures. Between them laid the same cut that had already existed during the Roman epoch separating the Western from the Eastern Empire. This is perfectly represented by the two legs of Daniel's statue for the Roman epoch and by the two feet for our time. In this sense, the origin of the term Europe is very interesting: the Greeks were the first to call Central Greece by this name and it seems that they had inherited it from the Assyrians, who distinguished asu, the country of the rising sun: the Orient, from ereb or irib, the country of the setting sun: the Occident2. Another common point, which is also necessary to mention, is that the citizens of this modern civilization mainly make part of the white race, which precisely issued from Europe. I use this fact neither to depreciate nor to valorize the white race, because it is my conviction – since I do not believe in natural selection – that there is no superior or inferior race as compared to another. Evil, which the apocalyptic beast represents, is consequently only linked to the high technology structures of industrialized nations at a time when they will be misused by the future Antichrists, that is to say when the ten kings as persons will step in. In addition, according to Daniel's statue, our society is mixed up with Christians values. In fact, the biggest part of Christianity is represented by the white race. So it is not at all my intention to generally demonize our civilization.
The cultural and political evolution of EuropeThe kinship between Antiquity and the modern world also appears on the politico-cultural level: the Christianization in Europe carried along a considerable diminution of the artistic culture, which was an object of much attention during the Roman period. Charlemagne in France become aware of it in the 8th century and remedied it by promoting ancient works, art, public instruction, science, philosophy, Roman right, the Latin language, and so on, because he wanted knowledgeable officials and priests. Thus, the antique culture again began to interest people. One opened schools and the Roman culture experienced a new spring named Carolingian renaissance, which perpetuated through the next centuries. The first universities were founded thereafter (Salerno (1050), Bologna (1119), Paris (1150), Oxford (1167), Cambridge (1233), Montpellier (1289), Prague (1348), Vienna (1365), Heidelberg (1386), Cologne (1388), Leipzig (1409), etc.), thanks to which the Roman language, Latin, stayed alive until the 19th century. Charlemagne also renewed the political culture of the ancient Rome by getting himself crowned Caesar following the Roman emperors’ example, which was a premiere since the decline of the Empire in Western Europe. Pope Leo III crowned him, which shows that it was still a fully marriage between the Church and State according to Daniel's statue (see The prophecy of Daniel's statue). In 962, Otto the Great founded an Empire in Central Europe called Roman (Sacrum Romanum Imperium Nationis Germanicae). It was the future Germany and it held itself until 1806 when another Empire gobbled it up, the one of Napoleon, who also dreamed of re-establishing the ancient Roman Empire, just like Mussolini and Hitler with his vision of a great Germany, which many people considered the third Reich since the Holy Roman Empire, the first, and the kingdom of Bismarck, the second. This belief in a third Empire was based on the theory of Joachim of Fiora, according to whom history succeeds to three kingdoms representing the divine Trinity, that is to say the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Hitler misused this popular belief for his propaganda but abandoned it later, probably because it was too much linked to Christian values, which did not prevent him from having dreamt of the Roman Caesars and their until today unequalled power in Europe. Let’s return to Charlemagne: what he had sown in the 8th century (the Carolingian renaissance) only began to bloom, first in Italy and then in all Europe, between the 12th and the 15th century with what later was called Renaissance, which is French and means rebirth, namely of the Roman culture. During this epoch not only was Antiquity reborn, it also gave birth to modernity that has become "adult" today. This modernity is essentially characterized by science and philosophy, which were invented by Antiquity and took on a new lease of life since the Renaissance. By their critical nature, science and philosophy only could end up with first question and then ridicule the Church and its teachings. This is why the revivification of the antique spirit indeed marked – passing by humanism and the Age of Enlightenment – a slow return to paganism, which today is more and more absorbing the modern society and closely resembles the one of Antiquity with all its decadence, depraved practices and superstitions. Science also invented modern industry, which is not only behind our prosperity but also behind our military superiority, thanks to which Europe became the political center of the whole world at the epoch of colonialism. Today these former colonies, especially the United States, have become independent. Yet they kept cultural bonds with Europe. One knows that America plays a dominant role in the whole world today, not only at the state-controlled level, but also culturally (music, film, literature, sport, etc.). It inherited this role from Europe though, which therefore, directly or indirectly, imposed its culture in the world as formerly the city of Rome little by little dictated its way of life everywhere on the territory of the future Empire. Accordingly, the modern culture has a very distant past and the reascent of the beast goes on very slowly, almost imperceptibly, and takes its time. There is a common thread through the innumerable events that mark our history. Its complexity and its duration spreading over several centuries therefore cannot cast doubt on its cultural unity.
The values of the metals of Daniel's statueThe time since the fall of Rome until today is indeed far longer than the duration of the other kingdoms represented by Daniel’s statue (see The prophecy of Daniel's statue). Therefore, the place occupied by its feet seems too small, also in regard to the territorial and social importance of the industrialized civilization. However, the statue represents no time scale, otherwise one could approximately calculate the date of the end of the world, which shall not be possible according to Mc 13:32. The prophecy of the statue has not taken into account geographical and sociological criteria either. On the contrary, the metals represent spiritual values that make the magnitude of the kingdom of God, which grows on the earth after the collapse of all terrestrial power (Dan 2:44) and becomes "a great mountain that fills the whole earth" (Dan 2:35). Thus we have to determine what is great or little as compared to the values of this kingdom, which indeed refers to the millennial reign (this is why kingdom is written with a small letter here, the Kingdom of God only arriving after the Last Judgment) and will only be populated by few persons, since there will not be many people surviving the preceding judgment (see The Flood of fire of the end times). During that time, one will no longer use modern technology, which currently confers a material importance to our civilization. So the magnitude of the kingdom of God described by Dan 2:35 will without doubt be spiritual. After all, Jesus said that the greatest in the Kingdom of Heavens will be the one who humbles oneself like a child (Mt 18:4), although this Kingdom and the millennial reign have to be separated historically. If we judge the four terrestrial kingdoms according to the values the Kingdom of Heavens fulfils, they develop by retiring increasingly from these values, for the most ancient of the four kingdoms, that of the Babylonians, is represented by the golden head of the statue (Dan 2:37-38). So it is at the top and is considered the kingdom closest to the Kingdom of Heavens. The others descend successively from the high to the ground and correspondingly lose their value. This is also confirmed by the decreasing values of the metals, that is to say by the gold, the silver, the bronze and the iron, which rusts and is ephemeral. Iron is however the best metal to make war. Thus it expresses the military domination of the industrialized civilization. But it is nevertheless found on the last rank, which shows a certain incompatibility of military power with spiritual values. On that level, our civilization is consequently the smallest among the other kingdoms, since it is represented by the iron feet standing in the dust. To sustain this assumption one has to state at the first place that two World Wars have taken place during modern history with an attempt at genocide of the Jewish people. But the most insidious and reprehensible genocides, that is to say abortion, is committed during "times of peace". The list of sins of modern times is long. Among others, greed has become a plague like never before. Never there has been such a big difference between poor and rich, both on the international and national level, than in our days. The best "barometer" to measure the compatibility of a society with the kingdom of God is to see how its most weak individuals, that is animals, are treated: myriads of them are tortured and massacred to test superfluous cosmetics for mostly women and to obtain fur, foie gras (especially in France), aphrodisiacs (in China) and so on. Another prerogative of a wealthy society is the ability to eat meat once or more per day for the best affordable price, with the effect that domestic animals are "produced" with the lowest possible costs, cramped in insalubrious and dark locals or even in cages during their whole live. However, animals are created in love by God and, even if eating them is not wrong, it was certainly not God's intention that they are treated like lifeless objects, as if they were completely ignoring what is suffering and pain. This dreadful treatment of animals is the unmistakable symptom (among others) of a deeply sick society.
The future AntichristRemember that the ten horns of the beast at first apply to the European states that formed on the ancient ground of the Roman Empire. Then in the future, they will apply to the personal leaders of the ten most important states of modern times. These ten heads of state will have some common points with the seven Roman emperors represented by the seven heads of the beast: as one of them, Domitian, resuscitated somehow and became the eighth one (see The first seven Roman emperors), there will also be a last one who will resuscitate among the ten sovereigns as well. Also Daniel writes about this sovereign in the vision of the four beasts (Dan 7), which represent the same kingdoms as the statue. The last beast of this vision is consequently the same as the one of Revelation. This is why it also has ten horns and teeth of iron (Dan 7:7). Daniel writes that among these ten horns a small horn rose, which uprooted three of the first horns (Dan 7:8). That approximately resembles Vespasian, who, after the suicide of Nero, was victorious over the three other emperors aspiring to power (Galba, Otho and Vitellius). If we add these three emperors to the eight, there are eleven up to Domitian. To be exact, Domitian is therefore not the eighth emperor but the eleventh3. Vespasian and Domitian thus together resemble this future eleventh potentate, who will eliminate three others in order to gain access to power. So neither the one nor the other perfectly corresponds to the prophecy of Daniel. For that, they lack other characteristics of the Antichrist, which are also found in Nero, because the former will persecute the Christians like the latter. This is why Nero, Vespasian and Domitian together prefigure certain characteristics that will only later unite in a sole person, that is to say in the future Antichrist, who will be victorious over three other potentates like Vespasian, will die and return to life as prefigured by Nero and Domitian, and will persecute the Christians like these last ones (see figure 13).
Figure 13 By the elimination of three others by the eleventh sovereign, there are consequently eight like at the time of the first eight Roman emperors, who were also eleven by counting the three eliminated by Vespasian. The numbers eight and eleven, or seven and ten, therefore both have a meaning for the antique Rome and for the future, which allows us to conclude that the seven heads of the beast are not solely limited to antique Roman times and to its emperors but also to the future. This also applies to the ten horns, which do not exclusively refer to the future of the Antichrist either, but the whole beast with its seven heads and its ten horns simultaneously refers both to the antique Rome and to modern times, although the seven heads are nevertheless rather attached to Rome and the ten horns to the future. This is important to clarify, for on the one hand chapter 13 of Revelation can only be applied to end times, but on the other hand it states that "one of its heads [of the Antichrist] seemed fatally wounded, but its mortal wound was healed" (Rev 13:3). If therefore the heads solely referred to the past and the horns to the future, Revelation 13 would only relate to one of the first Roman emperors, which however can not be true, because the image of the Antichrist given by Revelation 13 perfectly applies to none of the Roman emperors. None of them is for example really dead and has came back to life in the biological sense. After this miraculous healing, the Antichrist and the Devil, represented by the dragon, will be adored by the whole world (Rev 13:3-4). Nero indeed asked to his subjects being adored as a god like many other emperors. Yet he did not request to adore his image under penalty of death and to carry his name on the front or on the right hand to be allowed to buy and sell (Rev 13:15-17). On the other hand, some Emperors imposed the adoration of the Roman gods to persons suspected being Christians. This practice was restricted to Christians though and did not apply to everyone. There is also something else that only agrees with a future time, namely the reign of the ten kings, which will be simultaneous and not successive as during the Roman Antiquity. This is expressed by Revelation 17:12: "but for one hour they will receive royal authority" and demonstrates simultaneity, which also confirms the war they will lead together against Christ (Rev 17:14), that is to say against the Church. And because the ten horns also represent an equal number of states, the ten kings will separately reign in the ten strongest states and not in a single state like at the Roman epoch. If therefore the Antichrist will reverse three other despots, he will at the same time seize their territories. That’s also what Hitler did in the beginning of World War II. So we see that the future is rather well imaginable by the past. To conclude, I would like to make clear that the Antichrist – contrary to a simplistic but unfortunately rather current logic – will not come out of the most influential and strongest nation, for Daniel writes that "a little horn" will rose among the others (Dan 7:8), without telling that it was the smallest one. In the beginning, the Antichrist will hence reign over a relatively modest nation as compared to the great powers. I hope that this detail will help to pacify the Americanophobia of certain persons. Also Hitler reigned over a relatively modest nation. Germany was of course very strong compared to for instance France or Great Britain, but not as strong as America or the USSR, which were already great powers. |
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NOTES
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