5/07/06 - “GOD’S TEST OF LOYALTY” Part 6 19L - FM
Victory Ministries International presents:
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Hello!  This is Richard Vaughn

Today we will continue our series titled, “GOD’S TEST OF LOYALTY” and today’s segment will be Part 6. Before we begin, let us seek God’s guidance, “Heavenly Father, we are studying a sensitive subject but one that you have made very clear through your word. So again we ask for the guidance of the Holy Spirit and we pray for wisdom, knowledge and understanding so that we may live in the center of Your revealed will, as we ask in Jesus Name, Amen.”
Right now, I continue to keep my pledge, to cry aloud and spare not, to lift up my voice like a trumpet and to show God’s people where they are transgressing God’s law.
Recapping the messages of the last 6 weeks, I have stated that the first beast of Revelation 13 and the little horn power in Daniel 7, is the antichrist beast power and that being the Papacy who changed God’s seventh day Sabbath from Saturday to the Pagan day of worshipping the sun god, the first day of the week Sunday, and that Sunday-keeping is going to be the mark of the beast, after the National Sunday Law is passed. We have been going through Daniel chapter 7 and so far we have listed 9 points of identification. And those 9 points would clearly show it to be the Papacy, with history verifying Daniel’s vision. Now let’s review the 9 points established so far that identifies the Papacy.  
Point #1. He comes up among the nations of Western Europe. The Papacy came up in Rome.
Point #2. He comes up after 476 AD. Fulfilled in 538 AD. The Papacy came into power in 538 AD.
Point #3. The Papacy eliminated the three resisting nations. The Ostrogoths, the Vandals and the Heruli.
Point #4. A man at the head of this power.
Point #5, Being led by a different spirit, not the Spirit of God. 
Point #6, Having a mouth speaking great things. The antichrist Papacy speaks blasphemy against God. 
Point #7, Is different because it is a religious/political power.
Point #8, This would be a persecuting power that would kill and torture God’s true people. 
Point #9, The Papacy would still be exercising power, even directing his persecuting power against God’s saints until Jesus comes.
Now we’ll pick up where we left off last week. 
Daniel 7:25 reads, “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. ” 
This verse once again confirms the great words or blasphemy against God, point #6, and the persecution of God’s people, point #8. The verse goes on to give three new points. He shall think to change times. Did he do that? Yes he did. He did it by changing the time when a day begins. God set the beginning of a day at sundown, and the end of the day at the following sundown. The Papacy changed the beginning of the day to midnight and the end at the following midnight.
Point #10 the Papacy thinks he changed times, and the whole world follows the beast and uses that time reckoning. But God still recognizes sundown to sundown.
Next it says he would think to change laws. Well these would not be civil laws, as they are always changing. They would not be any laws regarding religious ceremonies as they change with the times also. No, the object of this verse is directed at God’s Ten Commandment moral law. Has the Papacy changed, or thinks he changed God’s law? Yes he did. 
We go back to the fourth century AD. The church has endured much persecution from the Pagan Roman Empire. But now it had an emperor by the name of Constantine that was raised a Pagan, but had a Christian mother who had influenced him. In time he chose to become a Christian. Under his rule persecutions had subsided and when he became a Christian, they all but stopped. 
Constantine began to convince the Bishops at Rome that if they would make a couple of changes, then he might use his influence to bring much of the Pagan world into the church. There were two main problem areas. First, Pagans were idol worshippers and they would have a serious problem with the second commandment that forbids idol worship. The pagans had difficulty accepting the concept of an invisible God. They needed something they could see and touch. 
Second on their agenda was this day of worship problem. The Pagans always worshipped the sun god on the first day of the week, Sun-day. The Christians had always worshipped on God’s seventh day Sabbath, Saturday. So there was a problem with two of God’s commandments, the second and the fourth. What could they do? What did they do?
They made major compromise to accommodate the possibility of a large increase in church membership. They completely removed the 2nd commandment and moved the remaining up one notch. Then they took the former tenth commandment and split it in two, so as to keep 10.
The names of the pagan idols had name changes, Jupiter became Peter and Diana became Mary. All the idols received Christian names, and they began worship of these statues of stone or wood that had apostle’s names. 
As far as the day of worship, the bishops made the Sabbath one of heavy restriction and not one to look forward to. But Sunday they made a joyful festival, also reasoning that Jesus rose on the first day, therefore from now on Sun-day would be celebrated in honor of the resurrection. It took about two centuries to have almost the entire Christian world keeping a man made Sabbath in place of God’s Sabbath. 
Point #11 was accomplished by the Papacy; she thinks that she has changed God’s laws. But the second and fourth remain as constant as ever. But nearly the whole world accepts the change of God’s Sabbath.
Point #12 in Daniel chapter 7, that identifies the Papacy, is the length of time that the Papacy would be in power in it’s first reign of terror. Daniel 7:25 concludes by  saying, “and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.” Well how long is that? Again, we don't have to guess or speculate. To understand this, we need to go to the book of Revelation. Revelation has to interpret this particular phrase for us. Revelation 12:14    
"And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent." 

 Here we have the exact same terminology, (time, times, and half a time), as we have read in the book of Daniel. How long is that? Verse 6 is our interpretation. "And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days." That's one thousand, two hundred, and sixty days.  And so it becomes very simple.  
A time represents one year.  Times, means two years.  And the dividing of time is half a year.  So you end up with three and a half years.  
 Using the Bible rule of a thirty-day month, three and a half years comes out to exactly 1260 days. Revelation 13:5 is the same period expressed as 42 months, which is also 1260 days.
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.”  
  	Remember we are dealing with the books of Revelation and Daniel where we are dealing with symbolisms. Bible prophecy is loaded with symbolisms. Now in Bible prophecy what is a day symbolic of?  A literal year! 
	In Ezekiel 4:6 God says "I have appointed thee each day for a year." 
 	In Numbers 14:34 "After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years.”
And so a prophetic day represents a literal year. Many Bible scholars from a multitude of backgrounds and churches agree with the validity of the day for a year principle in Bible prophecy.
That understood, we can now understand that the Daniel 7:25 scripture identifies the period the Papacy would be this persecuting power, “and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time,” as 1,260 prophetic days or 1,260 literal years. Was God right? Yes. The Papacy ascended to power in 538 AD and exactly 1,260 years later the Papacy received a deadly wound in 1798, when General Berthier under orders of Napoleon, marched into Rome and took the Pope prisoner. He later died in a French prison. All of Europe thought the Papacy was dead.
When we return to Revelation chapter 13 in our next broadcast, we will see that this deadly wound was prophesied, but it wouldn’t be fatal as a recovery was also noted.
Now we will quickly review the 12 points of identification that Daniel has listed in chapter seven, that cannot point to any other power on earth in all of history but the Papacy.
Point #1. He comes up among the nations of western Europe. 
Point #2. He comes up after 476 AD. And he did in 538 AD. 
Point #3. The Papacy eliminated the three resisting nations.
Point #4. A man is at the head of this power.
Point #5. Not led by the Spirit of God. 
Point #6. Blasphemy against God.
Point #7. Different because it is a religious/political power.
Point #8. Would be a persecuting power. 
Point #9. Papacy exercising power until Jesus comes.
Point #10. Papacy thinks he changed times.
Point #11. Papacy thinks he changed God’s Laws.
Point #12. Papacy would be in power 1,260 years.
God has made it clear who the little horn power is and He identifies him so that you would know that he is the first beast power of Revelation 13. He is the antichrist and he is the one who gives almost the whole Christian world the mark that will cause most to be lost.

Time is up for this week so Next week “God’s Test of Loyalty” - part 7.
God bless you friends and study your Bibles daily,

Until next week, Jesus said in John 5:39, “Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me”. Even so, Come Lord Jesus.