Revelation 17 The Pope will rule the World -2

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The family of Julius Caesar plus a usurper form 7 kings

A king rules with the power of a dictator. Julius Caesar never called himself king but declared himself dictator for life. His family became the kings but were scared to use that title so they called themselves Emperors and ruled as one-man dictators.

We now come to the best-known Roman, Julius Caesar. Caesar destroyed the Roman Republic by removing the power of the senate so that he ruled alone as a one-man dictator. Here Caesar was setting a pattern for the rise of the Roman church. The Popes would rule the church as dictators, and they cannot be overruled by the cardinals. Caesar, after his death, was the first man in Rome to be worshiped as a god. The people felt that he stood in the place of god. So, the Popes rose to power by claiming to be the Vicar of Christ, standing in the place of Christ. The Pope's first title is Bishop of Rome, His second title is Vicarius Christi, in the place of Christ.

Caesar was a classic case of religious violence. Might is right. The Popes in charge of the Catholic church killed tens of millions of their opponents in the Dark Ages and the 100-odd years of the Counter-Reformation after the Dark Ages. They certainly followed Caesar's example.

The last few years of Caesar's life showed a similar pattern in some ways to the last few years of the life of Jesus. Julius Caesar has the initials JC, which makes him the rival of Jesus Christ, Who also has the initials JC. Caesar ruled for just less than four years as sole dictator and was killed by Brutus who had been a young friend of his. Jesus had a three-and-a-half-year ministry and was betrayed to His death by His friend and disciple Judas.

Julius Caesar - The man who established the first "royal family" of emperors in Rome.

The succession of the Roman Emperors was always a problem. Usurpers killed many Roman emperors.

The Roman church solved this problem by claiming to represent Saint Peter.  They simply altered history by saying that Peter was killed in Rome. There is no historical evidence for this claim. Peter never was in Rome.

But Peter had the keys to heaven, so the Popes claimed that they were the successors of Peter, and only they could allow someone into heaven. This was a powerful argument that really impressed many of the invading barbarians. Many barbarian conquerors of the Roman Empire were then converted to Catholicism.

Eventually, in 1059 AD, Pope Nicholas 2  decided that a new Pope could only be elected by the Cardinals. So the succession stayed in Catholic hands. No new Pope who was outside the cardinals' choice would be recognized as Peter's successor.

But there is a deeper truth here. The Bible says seven mountains, not seven hills.

REVELATION 17:9   And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.

In Daniel's Gentile image, a Rock struck the feet and then the Rock grew into a mountain which represented the kingdom of God in the Millennium, the 1000 years when Jesus rules on earth.

DANIEL 2:34   Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.

:35   Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.

The image represented the Gentile kingdoms, that finally end up being crushed into little pieces. This crumbling process will occur during the 1260 days of great Tribulation. During that time, God will turn back to the Jews, using His two prophets Moses and Elijah, to call out the 144,000 Jews.

REVELATION 11:3   " And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth."

The great wind of war and strife that sweeps over the world in great Tribulation will blow away the crumbled remnants of the Gentile kingdoms and their Gentile churches.

Then starts the Battle of Armageddon to complete the destruction of the Gentile kingdoms and churches.

75 days later (making a total of 1335 days) the glorious 1000-year Kingdom of Peace will be established like a mighty mountain. This period of 75 days ushers in the Millennium of 1000 years.

DANIEL 12:12   "Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days."

In Matthew Chapter 13 there are seven parables called the kingdom of Heaven.

(You can refer to that in the separate study called "Matthew Chapter 13 describes the  Seven  Church Ages").

Each parable refers to one of the seven church ages.

So, each church age is a kingdom.

Thus, the Roman Catholic church is the enemy of God throughout all seven church ages, that are called kingdoms, or mountains. There has been no other consistent enemy of the truth throughout all seven church ages that have covered a time span of 2000 years.

This ancient coin showed the spirit of ancient Rome as a woman sitting on seven hills. It symbolizes the Roman Catholic church which is the only organization that has existed through all seven church ages.

REVELATION 17:10And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.

54-0513 THE MARK OF THE BEAST

And there are seven kings: five are fallen...

If we'd take the history, and go right back and show it, where the kings had fallen in Rome, since the Babylon kingdom.
... one is... (Nero)... and one is to come;...

and he must continue a short space... (about six months when he comes.)

Nero (AD 54 - 68) was ruling at the time when John was first exiled to Patmos. John was released in AD 68 when Nero died. Later on, another emperor Domitian (AD 81 - 96) exiled him to Patmos again, before he was finally released in AD 96 when Domitian died. Political prisoners were always released when the emperor, who had banished them, died. John received his great revelation in two stages. On his final release, he knew the New Testament was complete because nothing more could be added (Revelation 22:18).

REVELATION 22:18   For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:

He returned to Ephesus and was the only man spiritual enough to compile the New Testament from the various letters and writings that were in existence.

Galba, a Roman general in Spain, usurped the role of the emperor but only lasted 7 months, which is a "short space". This ended the line of Julius Caesar's family. Pagan Rome always had a succession problem.

The Catholic church solved the problem by not allowing cardinals to marry. Thus, they did not rely on children to succeed the dead Pope. The cardinals were free to choose what they felt was the best man for the job. Hence, they were recently able to choose John Paul II and Francis as two very competent organizers, and completely unrelated popes.

In the East, the people had been accustomed to worshiping their ruler as if he were a god. This was not a common practice in the West. Alexander the Great went from Greece to Persia, and because of his spectacular successes, he became the first Westerner to be worshiped in the East, where the ruler was traditionally worshiped as if he were a god. Alexander, driven by pride and arrogance, then started to force some of the Macedonians and Greeks to worship him as well, but he died soon afterward. But the idea was established. A Western man could be declared a god. Western rulers greatly admired Alexander and Caesar-worship later entered the Roman Empire.

Julius Caesar had such a famous career that he became the first Roman to be worshiped as a god, after his death in 44 BC, when a temple was erected to him in AD 29 in Pergamos. Thus, Emperor worship was born in the Roman Empire. While Caesar lived he had been Pontiff of the Babylonian mysteries, which he established as a title of the ruler of Rome. The Pope rose to power over the pagan barbarians who destroyed the Roman Empire by calling himself Pontiff, their high priest.  The Popes believed and spread many of the Babylonian mysteries because this gave them great authority among the barbarian tribes. In later years, the Catholic daughters, the Protestants, would also follow their Catholic mother's example of believing in certain Babylonian mysteries.

Ezekiel similarly lamented over Jerusalem's corruption by her surrounding pagan countries.

EZEKIEL 16:44Behold, every one that useth proverbs shall use this proverb against thee, saying,

As is the mother, so is her daughter.

In the natural, a daughter often takes after her mother. Looking at the mother often gives a good idea of what the daughter will be like in later years.

So, sadly, we Protestant daughters copied much of our Catholic mother's paganism.

Christmas, 25 December, Good Friday, Easter eggs, Easter bunnies, Lent, rosary, holy water, Pontiff

   Augustus

The ruler who followed Caesar was his sister's grandson Augustus.  Caesar adopted Augustus as his son.

Augustus brutally murdered everyone who opposed him as he clawed his way to supreme power.

Augustus took all the power away from the senate, although he paid them the appearance of respect and seemed to listen to their advice. This was just a pretense. Then, hypocritically, he ignored them and ruled as a one-man dictator and called himself Emperor.  "One man is boss", was his motto. Catholic priests rule their churches the same way. They have picked up this pagan Roman spirit. Even a Protestant pastor now rules his church the same way. The daughter churches behave like the mother church.

The spirit jumped from the pagan Romans to the Catholic church and then onto the Protestant churches. The pretense of following the Bible when the Catholic church was just interested in building up its own power over the people and getting their money.

The rest of Julius Caesar's family would develop corrupt actions that would set a pattern for the behaviour of the future Roman Popes.

   Tiberius

Tiberius was adopted as the son of Augustus.  He came next and was very cruel and sadistic. A classic case of the corrupting influence of too much power. He loved to execute at least one person a day. He was a pedophile. He killed about 300 senators which made the senate scared to argue with him. The Senate had declared him a god, but he still eliminated 300 of them. The Popes picked up these murderous tendencies in the Dark Ages. Killing tens of millions of people.

   Caligula

Caligula, the adopted grandson of Tiberius, was the next emperor. He thought he was a god. He had no need to listen to anyone. Everyone had to obey him. He was very vicious and depraved.

In 1302 the Pope declared that you could not be saved unless you submitted to him. The Pope claimed to be able to forgive sins, which only God can do. The Pope took the title Vicarius Christi, in place of Christ. As if the Pope is God on earth.

Up till that time, only the Roman senate could declare a man to be Emperor.

   Claudius

Claudius, the rather feeble uncle of Caligula, was made Emperor by the Praetorian guard, the only army that was allowed in Italy. Claudius gave the Praetorian Guard a big bonus,  so it paid the army to make a new Emperor. Claudius, born in Gaul (France) was the first Emperor born outside Italy. He was the first man to be declared Emperor without the senate making the decision.

Claudius was weak but cruel. There were some Popes who were very weak characters and did exceptionally bad things. But they still remained Popes. The Catholic church had many low moments in the Dark Ages when morally weak and sadistic monsters ruled as Popes.

Claudius married Nero's mother and adopted Nero as his son. Nero's mother poisoned Claudius so that Nero could become Emperor.

   Nero

Nero became emperor and launched the first, vicious persecution of the Christians in AD 64 to blame them for the fire that burnt Rome. He was exceptionally cruel and made wealthy people sign over their money to him in their wills. Then he told them to commit suicide so that he could get their money. He committed suicide in AD 68.

Around AD 450 Pope Leo I decided that it was permissible for the Catholic church to kill any Christians who disagreed with the Catholic church. The killing machine started that would spawn the terrible crusades and the perversions of the Spanish Inquisition.

   Galba

General Galba, who was in charge of the Roman army in Spain, usurped the throne as Emperor when the army in Spain elected him. For the first time, an Emperor had been elected outside Italy. For the first time, a man was elected who was not part of the royal family. Caesar's royal family line of succession ended. Galba was killed after 7 months.

That antichrist spirit will finally enter a man who will usurp the position of Pope at the end time so that he can rule the world. This will give him great religious power, huge wealth, and a lot of political power. All he will lack is military power which he will get from 10 dictators.
DANIEL 11:21    And in his estate shall stand up a vile person,

to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom:

but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries.

The beast is the succession of Popes. By falsely claiming Peter to be the first Pope means there always was a beast. The Pope dies (is not) and a new one is elected (yet is).

Eight means a new system.

A cruel church system to replace the first family of cruel pagan Roman emperors.

Then a final Pope, with military backing, who usurps the papacy without being voted in by the Council of Cardinals.

The beast is the succession of Popes who gained power

The pagan Roman Empire of the Caesars was destroyed by the barbarians but their pagan spirit resurrected as the Popes rose to power on the ruins of the Roman Empire.

REVELATION 17:11And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.

The first seven Roman dictators set up the Roman Empire. Then the succession of Popes would rule as dictators.

The family of Caesar dictatorially ruled the physical Roman Empire which the barbarians later destroyed.

But the Popes would later set up a spiritual kingdom or church where each Pope had supreme dictatorial powers.

This spiritual kingdom, the Catholic church, survived the barbarian invasions.

Then they succeeded in converting the barbarians to Catholicism.

The barbarians conquered the territory of the physical Roman empire but the Roman church conquered the minds of the barbarians.

Thus the Pope rose to power among the barbarians who converted to Catholicism.

But the first six members of Caesar's family and the usurper Galba had set a blueprint or pattern that the Popes would later follow.

"He is the eighth, and is of the seven".

This "he" represents the papacy, because the Pope is the figurehead of the Catholic church. The Popes are the longest line of rulers in the Western world. The Popes ruled, and do still rule, as dictators with the same dictatorial one-man domination and rulership that the Roman emperors had. The Pope is the only dictator in Europe.

Protestant pastors would later copy this dictatorial pattern of one man ruling a church as the head of the church.

When the pagan Roman Empire of the Caesars collapsed, then the Popes picked up the brutal force that the Caesars once held.

In Scripture, seven is the number of completion. Seven days complete a week. Seven dominant colours complete a rainbow, which is a sign of God's covenant with the Earth which He made after the Flood.

Thus 8 starts a new system.

The pagan Roman emperors or Caesars would be replaced by the spiritual Roman Popes. The solid pagan Roman iron of the legs of Daniel's Gentile image changed into the small bits of papal Roman Catholic iron in the feet of the image. The pagan Roman Empire, which dominated the bodies of men by brutally ruling them, collapsed as a physical empire but was replaced by the Roman Popes and their spiritual church empire which dominated the minds of men.

The feet of the Gentile image represented the seven church ages.

In the Old Testament, salvation was of the Jews. Gentiles had to convert to Judaism to get saved. At Calvary, salvation "crossed over" to the Gentiles to enter the feet of the image which represents the 7 church ages.

The first seven Roman dictatorial rulers of the empire came from one family. Dictator-for-life Julius Caesar never called himself Emperor but his successor Augustus did.

The papacy is "of the seven" pagan rulers.

It is of the same nature as the first seven pagan Roman rulers.

Like the Caesars, the Popes would have supreme authority in the church. The first bishops never called themselves Popes. That title was only adopted just before the year AD 400. Human leadership took over the church. Like the Caesars, they would be recognized as Pontiff or high priest of the Babylonian mysteries. As such they would introduce certain pagan doctrines and ceremonies into the churches that the Protestants would also follow. Of the first seven, only Caesar and Augustus were competent rulers. So, amongst the approximately 260 Popes, there would be a few capable and competent Popes like Gregory 1, but in between, there would be some dismal personalities. Just like Tiberius, Caligula, and Nero who were rather pathetic and deviant rulers.

So, five members of Caesar’s family were already dead ("five are fallen") after having been absolute rulers over this largest of empires that spread around the known world by brutally conquering and enslaving the people.

At the time of this vision, Nero was ruling as emperor ("and one is"). He was the cruelest and most depraved. He insisted on being called “Divinity” as he felt he was a god. He burnt down Rome and then blamed the Christians. He began killing Christians and the Popes picked up that spirit. In the Dark Ages, tens of millions were martyred by the Roman Catholic church.

These first six members of Caesar’s family established the guidelines for the rise of the Catholic church. The man at the top, the bishop of Rome, must rule as an absolute dictator. He is infallible and must be obeyed by everyone.

Thus, each local church must be ruled by a priest who has to be obedient to the Pope.

Human leadership builds up denominational religion

The Pope is so uplifted that when he speaks on doctrine, it is the voice of God.

In 1870 he was declared to be infallible. He takes the place of God on earth. He is called the Vicar of Christ ("in the place of Christ"). The people must obey him like slaves obey their master.

We sadly see the message-groups following this same spirit. They claim that William Branham is infallible and is the Voice of God. There is nothing original here, just submission to a Catholic spirit.

The "Voice of God" is not promised in the New Testament.

The white horse rider of religious deception was seen to conquer. He is still fulfilling that prophecy amongst the message groups. He was never told to stop conquering. So he has fooled and will continue to fool the message-churches too, as they uplift brother Branham to be the Son of man.

REVELATION 6:2  And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him:

and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.

Then Nero introduced the vicious spirit of killing Christians. Eliminating tens of millions of dissenting opponents enabled the Catholic church to secure its strong power base in Europe and South America over many centuries by rooting out the opposition in many areas.

Galba was a military usurper from outside the royal family. So the last Pope will not come from the Council of Cardinals. He will acquire the military backing of ten dictators, and he will also usurp the papacy. At that stage, great Tribulation will be on.

Thus this verse predicts a new system of a spiritual Roman church rising up out of the ruins of the pagan Roman empire. Pagan Roman brutality now wears a Christian veneer.

10 dictators provide the military power for the church

REVELATION 17:12And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.

They are not crowned kings because they receive power as kings. A modern definition would be a dictator.

A dictator is a person who has the power of a king but does not wear a crown.

President Putin in Russia is an example of this. Technically he was democratically elected but he is such a strong man that there is no effective opposition to him. Thus, Putin actually wields full power in Russia, as if he were a dictator. In February 2015 Boris Nemtsov, once groomed to be president himself, was shot dead just metres away from the Kremlin. Hitler and Stalin knew all about eliminating opposition. That is how they established their dictatorships.

Putin came to power in 2000 by using the main private television company NTV to falsely accuse his two main rivals so badly, that they dropped out of the presidential race. When in power he then broke the NTV television company and took it over as a state institution that spreads his propaganda and disinformation to keep him in power. Russia claims to be a democracy, but in reality, most parties are controlled by the Kremlin, and elections have turned into a mechanism for retaining power. When President Putin had to stand down after eight years, he made himself prime minister and his obedient lackey Medvedev stood in as president for four years and then handed back the presidency to Putin. This is a dictatorship under the illusion of democracy. The same hypocrisy and pretense that Augustus practiced when he established the Roman Empire.

China today is capitalistic in terms of its economy but is ruled in a dictatorial communist fashion by its leaders, starting from Mao Tse-tung who murdered and starved to death in man-made famines some 77 million Chinese. Lenin and Stalin, the communist dictators of Russia "only" killed about 35 million Russians. Communist dictators are good at killing.

Ten such dictators will arise in the future, in the 3.5 years of great Tribulation.

One hour with the beast. This is a brief pre-allocated time for great Tribulation at the end.

The final Pope who will be the man of sin, will not be a Catholic cardinal. Like general Galba, he will come in from the outside, and he will sign an agreement with ten powerful dictators during the short time of great Tribulation.

REVELATION 17:13These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.

These ten dictators will unite under the final superman-Pope to give this Pope overwhelming military power. As Pope of the Roman Catholic church, he will also gain vast religious power and political power as well as huge financial power when he signs a covenant with the Jews for their Stock Exchange money.

Added to this will be the incredible military power and strength of the ten united dictators.

This will make him unstoppable. The iron force of brutal Rome will be unleashed worldwide.

REVELATION 17:14These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.

The destructive madness of the years of great Tribulation will be a period that climaxes with the man of sin leading his armies to Armageddon.

There the antichrist spirits that control the man of sin, who will be the last Pope, will discover that they are completely out of their depth.

When it comes to power, Jesus is supreme.

At Armageddon, He will prove it by smashing the forces of evil. The battle will be a major bloodbath. The blood will flow to the horses' bridles for 200 miles.

But the Bride of Christ is with Jesus. They are called and chosen by Him. Most Christians feel that this is true of their experience with Christ. But the third condition is the difficult one: faithful.

Who amongst the Christians is faithful only to the Word of God.

Not faithful to a church denomination when it disagrees with the Bible. Not interested in Nicolaitanism which elevates a pastor or church leader above the congregation or laity. No pagan philosophy from Greece concerning three-in-one or one-in-three. No titles of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost replacing the Name of Jesus Christ. No Trinity replacing Jesus as Almighty God.

If these factors are considered, then there are not quite so many of today's Christians faithfully following the Lord.

REVELATION 17:15And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.

The restless multitudes of people, all demanding their rights, denouncing any rules of dress or behaviour, and hostile towards any form of Scriptural accuracy or holy standards, are represented by the endlessly moving waters of the sea.

REVELATION 17:16And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.

The final Pope will want to imitate God by setting up his throne in God's city, Jerusalem. So he will use the Roman church to gain sufficient power so that he can move to Jerusalem. Once the Vatican has served its purpose, he will allow the military dictators to drop an atomic bomb on the Vatican. That is how Satan works. If you serve him then he is happy to use you. Once you are no longer useful to him, then he ditches you. Lenin referred to the Western people who supported his revolution as useful idiots.

Stalin, the brutal dictator of Russia, always had willing volunteers to murder his opponents. Then, to silence their knowledge of his crimes, he would kill the murderers. The volunteers never seemed to learn. They kept killing and being killed. Satan is not a nice guy. Stay as far away from him as possible.

REVELATION 17:17For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.

God even controls His enemies. These bad dictators will stay united until they have done whatever brutal damage they are required to do. Then God will sort them out. So even God's enemies have the final frustration of knowing that in their rebellion against God, they only succeeded in doing what God wanted to be done.

Hitler exterminated 6 million of the 9 million Jews in Europe and Russia in his awful extermination centres or concentration camps. So Hitler tried hard to eliminate the Jews. But the world was so shocked by this awful slaughter that they briefly felt sorry for the Jews, and through the United Nations, they voted that the Jews could have three small bits of Palestine as a homeland. The Arabs would have the rest of Palestine. The vote was very close. The Jews were within about two votes of losing. So Hitler's atrocity actually gained the Jews a small piece of a homeland.

Then, the Arabs, in their greed and hatred of the Jews rejected this partition offer. They did not want the Jews to have any part of Palestine. The Arabs collected five armies and set out to eliminate the Jews from the three portions that the United Nations had given them. That way they reckoned, by killing all the Jews, the Arabs would get all of Palestine. The Arab Goliath, with their big armies, attacked. Somehow, miraculously, the small Jewish David defeated them and, in the process, conquered a much bigger portion of Palestine than the United Nations had offered them.

The Jewish leader, very appropriately, was David Ben Gurion.

In 1967 the Arabs threatened war again. Israel attacked first and cleaned them up in 6 days. An incredible achievement that allowed them to regain all of Jerusalem. So Arab hatred and aggression were just giving Israel more territory. The law of unintended consequences.

But Israel made a mistake. After 1967 they kept the Sinai desert which is not part of their Promised Land. As victors they became negligent. So in 1973, the Arabs hit them hard. Israel won this war but really suffered. They then handed back the Sinai desert to Egypt to cement peace with Egypt.

Lesson. God's people must always stay within the limits that are defined for them in the Bible. Move out of those limits and God will wallop you back into line. Any good father would do that. God has His reasons for setting those limits in the first place. Limits and rules are there for our benefit and our safety.

In 2018 President Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. This fulfilled prophecy so that the Jews are now ready in their Promised Land to receive Messiah.

In 2020 the Catholic church with Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi took over America.

A Catholic, John Kennedy, was president in 1960 and laid the ground for the Vietnam war which was a military disaster as America almost committed suicide. They won the battles but the politicians lost the war.

Will the new Catholic president preside over a financial disaster? Something has to happen because the Catholic church will rule America someday and take America into slavery and ruin.

Imagine the financial consequences for America if Los Angeles sinks into the sea. Only the Catholic church could raise the money needed for America to recover. Especially since Biden has greatly increased American debt.

Vatican City is a city that is a church

REVELATION 17:18And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

Here we have a puzzle. A woman in the Bible represents a church. But here the Bible claims that the woman is a city. How can we reconcile these two statements? Is there a city that is so dominated by a church that the name of the city can either refer to the city or to the church.

There is only one. Vatican City in Rome.
Vatican City has its headquarters in the Lateran Palace and Basilica (big church) on the Caelian Hill, one of the original seven hills of Rome.
Vatican City is the smallest state or country on earth. This is the “little horn” of Daniel’s prophecies.

The Vatican "woman" or church sits on the 7 hills. There are Roman Catholic churches on all the seven hills of Rome.

It cannot be Constantinople or Jerusalem, even though they are also on 7 hills. Which church dominates Constantinople? There is no "Constantinople" church. No church in Constantinople dominates politics on a global scale. World leaders do not go to Constantinople or Jerusalem to consult with a church leader there. Which church dominates Jerusalem? None. There are many churches there. No one church is dominant.

The woman sitting next to seven heads represents the Vatican City church built next to the 7 hills of Rome.

When Pope John Paul II died in 2005, there were more heads of state at his funeral than had ever been gathered together for one function, at any time in history.

Rome has this amazing political clout, thanks to the prestige and admiration that the world has for the Roman Catholic church.

The Roman church has a long history of survival in the Roman Empire which then disintegrated into barbarian tribes that produced the Dark Ages. Around AD 600 the church grew to power in the chaos of the collapsed Empire. Then the nations of Europe emerged with much bloodshed. Today the vast third world of developing countries struggle to catch up with Europe and America. Two horrific world wars and a brutal communist Cold War with the West have occurred. No one could have foreseen all this, but somehow the Roman Catholic church survived and spread. The Roman church is a survivor of note. Her roots go back almost 2000 years.

What enabled this to happen?

To build a kingdom that lasts requires certain key ideas that act as pillars.

In the Bible a mountain represents a kingdom.

DANIEL 2:34Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to piece

35   Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them:

and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.

44   And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed:

REVELATION 17:9And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.

We need spiritual wisdom to understand the deeper meaning of seven mountains.

Rome is built on seven hills. So why call them mountains?

This refers to a kingdom that the Devil has been building up ever since Noah's Flood. His kingdom will come to its completion during great Tribulation.

In the end the man of sin will usurp and take over the position of Pope because the Roman Catholic church has certain foundational attributes that are essential for a worldwide kingdom.

A one-world government, ruled by a church, will be set up in those 3.5 years of great Tribulation.

The unscriptural mess that the churches accept

Nicolaitanism which is the elevation of a holy man above the laity or congregation to control each congregation. This leads to the ultimate acceptance of a holy man as dictator of the entire earth if he is a sufficiently talented and successful superstar like Alexander the Great was. The final man of sin will usurp the papacy. An infallible Pope who is the one-man dictator of the church that runs on centralized control which is exercised by the Vatican.

With one man as the head of the church, there is unleashed the crushing power of that church organization. The dictator Hitler took supreme power over Germany and used his Nazi party to crush all opposition. Church leaders crush any opposition to their viewpoints and dissenters are made to leave.

Salvation in one church only, which has the Pope as the successor of Saint Peter because they believe that he only

has the keys that open Heaven's door for a believer.

People easily believe that they must belong to a church in order to be saved.

A fuzzy concept of a Triune God that is sufficiently vague to loosely fit many beliefs because it defies accurate analysis, and gives people an excuse to be unscriptural with other doctrines also.  

If the word Trinity cannot be quoted exactly from a Scripture, and yet I believe it is true, then I have permission to believe any other doctrine that is also not written in Scripture. Very cleverly, this leads me away from the written Word. Satan has convinced churchgoers that the King James Bible is flawed and is not the Absolute truth. Thus they are forced to choose between over 100 different versions of the English Bible. New revisions are constantly appearing to add to the confusion.

Politics plays a crucial role. Political influence establishes a web of contacts with world rulers who will be drawn into the one-world government because of what they can gain.

Political correctness has now forced the churches to condone gay rights and same-sex marriage. This is the sin of Sodom that led to Sodom’s destruction by fire.

Politics generates hatred. The churches today are learning to hate the Jews, the very nation that God is coming for next. Those who support the Palestinians in their war against Israel have chosen the wrong side.

God spoke to Abram.

GENESIS 12:3   “And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee:”

Big Money. The Vatican is the world’s richest organization. Remember Judas, he was in charge of the money bag. The final Pope will control the world economy.

Individuals and nations are accumulating huge debts. When a natural disaster collapses the economy they will be helpless victims in the clutches of the Roman Catholic church that will finally control the economy. You become Roman Catholic or belong to the official denominations that they approve of, or you are out of work.

REVELATION 13:17   And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

The Roman church conquers its conquerors.

The Popes converted the barbarians who destroyed the Roman Empire. They got the break-away Protestants to accept the Trinity and water baptism in three titles instead of a Name. Communism conquered Poland after the Second World War, but the Polish Pope John Paul 2 helped the Poles in Poland to break away from Russian control.

The Pope thus plays a big role in politics. Protestants are also being dragged into political conflicts.

The early church never got involved in politics.

The final Pope needs the complete military power and domination that cannot be successfully opposed. The God of forces.

This will be supplied by ten vicious dictatorial super-killers.

Brutal repression and elimination of opponents by using each State's political control of their police, law courts, jails, and armies will come to pass.

As these factors enter the churches, they will enable the kingdom of that antichrist spirit to spread worldwide so that the final Pope can have his brief but murderous reign in great Tribulation time. He will be the final Nicolaitan.