3/16/05 & 3/20/05 - “GOD’S TEST OF LOYALTY” Part 7
Victory Ministries International presents:
Awesome Truths and Amazing Facts  
Treasures of awesome truths from God’s Word 
and facts that affect you!

Hello!  This is Richard Vaughn

Today we will continue our series titled, “GOD’S TEST OF LOYALTY” and today’s segment will be Part 7. Before we begin, let us seek God’s guidance, “Heavenly Father, we are studying a subject that carries the consequences of eternal life with You, or eternal separation from You, but a matter you have made very clear through your word. Father, most Christians aren’t aware that Satan has almost the whole world confused on this issue, and that most will be lost if they don’t understand your revealed truth. 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.”
If you have been coming to the Revelation Seminar at the Best Western in South Hill, surely you have been blessed as Evangelist Ron Rogers, through a multi-media presentation, has been explaining the mysteries in the two books of Daniel and Revelation. Be sure to come tonight at 7:00 pm for “Revelation’s Four Horsemen”. And if you’re hearing this broadcast on Sunday, come out tonight March 20th at 7:00 pm for Revelation’s Seal of God and the Mark of the Beast. I will be there and I want to meet you personally. My brothers and sister in Jesus, this may be God’s last call to planet earth before the most devastating plagues will soon begin. So come to the Best Western and don’t let anything have a higher priority. How many people do you think wanted to get on the ark when it started to rain? Today the animals are on the ark and God wants you in the ark of safety but most Christians are outside. Don’t miss another night, because when the door of probation closes soon, no one can be saved after that event. 
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.
Over last 7 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 have listed the 12 points that identifies the Papacy as the antichrist little horn power in Daniel 7. Here are those points in review: 
Point #1. He comes up among the nations of Western Europe. 
Point #2. He comes up after 476 AD. Fulfilled in 538 AD. 
Point #3. The Papacy eliminated the three resisting nations.
Point #4. A man at the head of this governing power.
Point #5. Led by a different spirit than the Spirit of God. 
Point #6. The antichrist Papacy speaks blasphemy against God. 
Point #7. Is different because it is a religious/political power.
Point #8. Would persecute, kill and torture God’s true people. 
Point #9. Would be 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. 
Friends, understand that the word antichrist as it’s used in the Bible is not against Christ, rather is in place of Christ, claiming to be Christ on earth. 
Now we’ll pick up where we left off last week, as we will now investigate how John describes this same antichrist power as the first beast of Revelation 13. He is the one who gives almost the whole Christian world the mark that will cause most to be lost, so you better listen as God’s word makes it clear.
Revelation 13:1 “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.  
Once again we have a prophecy describing a beast, which rises up out of the sea. We have already covered how the Bible itself has interpreted these symbols. A beast power is a kingdom or political power. The Bible told us the sea represented existing nations, populated areas of different languages. Rev. 17:15. The ten horns are the ten nations that Rome divided into, when it ended its world empire rule in 476 AD. The ten crowns would be the kings, or political leaders of those ten nations. The seven heads is one we need scripture to identify. We now go to Revelation 17:9 “And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.” The seven mountains in Europe, surrounding a power would be the Seven Hills of Rome. It says on which the woman sitteth. A woman in prophecy is a church. Revelation describes two churches, the pure church in Revelation 12, which would be God’s true church, and the corrupt church that fell into apostasy in Revelation 17. So Revelation 13:1 has given us several identification points on this antichrist government, the Papacy, and here they are.
Point #1. It comes up into power, among the existing nations, since it rises up with the ten horns.
Point #2. The seven heads geographically locate it, which pinpoints it to Rome, the only such place in Western Europe.
Point #3. By virtue of the Bible definition, it is a religious power because it is a corrupt church. The ten horn nations are political powers identified by the crowns.
Point #4. This religio-political power is a blaspheming power. Verse 1 alludes to it but verse 5 makes it clear. 13:5 “And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies.” In order to understand how this can be, we need to secure the Bible interpretation of what constitutes blasphemy. We turn to John 10:33 “The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God."
 	 Now friends according to the Bible, that's blasphemy.  When a man makes himself God or a god. Now follow me carefully.  Jesus could do this because He was fully God or fully Divine. And therefore He could rightfully assume that title. But for an ordinary man, a created being, to claim to be God, the Bible says that is blasphemy. 
That's the first definition but now look at the second one.
Mark 2:5-7  "When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.  But there were certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts, Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only?"  
Now again, because Jesus was fully God He could say to a person "Your sins are forgiven." 
But beloved, the Bible says that when a man says, "Your sins are forgiven", this constitutes blasphemy in God's eyes. This man in this kingdom will claim to be like God, and will also claim to have the power to forgive sins.
Now we have 4 points of identification in verse 1. Going on verse 2.
  13:2   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. So John is describing this beast or power as one like a leopard, a bear and a lion. In Daniel 7, Daniel saw a Lion, a Bear a Leopard and then the dreadful beast. Daniel was looking forward and named them in order. John was looking backward and named them from his perspective. Pagan Rome was, like the composite beast in that it was an amalgamation of the cultures and traditions of its predecessors. What is new in verse 2 is “the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.” Well who is the dragon? Revelation 12:9 says, “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world” And so the Pagan Roman empire got its power, seat and authority from Satan himself. In the middle of the fourth century, the Roman Emperor gave the seat of his authority to the bishops at Rome, and in 538 AD the Papacy was fully raised to power with no nations to challenge his authority.
	Point #5 – Papal Rome receives its power seat and authority from Pagan Rome, who got it from Satan, the dragon. Now verse 3. 
  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.
Here we are told that the Papacy will receive a deadly wound, that it would heal and that the whole world would wonder after the beast. Did that happen? Yes it did, after 1,260 years of tyrannical rule, Napoleon gave orders to his General Berthier to bring the Pope into captivity and end the Papacy. This happened in 1798 and all of Europe was relieved, thinking the Papacy was dead. But in 1929, Mussolini restored the Papacy to power. Today, the whole world is wondering in admiration of the Papacy. Verse 8 says “And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him.” How does the whole world worship or show respect for the Papacy? Simply by recognizing the child of the Papacy, the counterfeit Sabbath Sunday, as a day to cease from labor.
Point #6 – Papacy receives a deadly wound.
Point #7 – The deadly wound is healed.
Point #8 – The whole world wonders after or worships the Papacy.
Revelation 13:4   “And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?  
  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.” According to verse 4, by accepting the Papacy’s creation of first day worship, Sunday-keeping, and rejecting God’s seventh day Sabbath Saturday, you are worshipping the dragon Satan? Either Christ has your worship through obedience to His commandments, or Satan gets your worship regardless of what your mouth says. Satan hates God’s Sabbath and he brought his rebellion, which started in heaven, down to Earth, and he manipulated man into the change in God’s Sabbath to his Pagan day of worship so that he can receive the worship of the followers of Christ. ANY person who says it doesn’t matter which day you worship on is an agent and voice for the cause of Satan, because God says it matters.
Point #9 – Verse 5 said “and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.” We learned in Daniel 7 that this calculated to 1,260 days of prophetic time, 1,260 years of literal time. And that was the 1,260 years from 538 AD to 1798 AD.
	We will continue in Revelation 13 next week, but let’s quickly look at the 9 points of identification we just identified.
Point #1. It comes up into power in existing nations.
Point #2. It is geographically located in Rome. 
Point #3. It is a corrupt church government. 
Point #4. This religio-political power is a blaspheming power.
Point #5. Papal Rome receives its power seat and authority from Pagan Rome, who got it from Satan,
Point #6. Papacy receives a deadly wound.
Point #7. The deadly wound is healed.
Point #8. The whole world wonders after or worships the Papacy.
  	Point #9. Ruled for 1,260 years.

Time is up for this week so Next week “God’s Test of Loyalty” - part 8.
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.