Zechariah 11, part 2 - Catholics conquer

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Zechariah Chapter 11  Part 2

Nicolaitans will elevate a human leader to be head of the churches

Three verses stamp their meaning onto the last portion of Zechariah Chapter 11.

ZECHARIAH 11:12   And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver.

Thirty pieces of silver. The notorious betrayal of Jesus by the apostle and church leader, Judas Iscariot.

Iscariot means “Man of the cities”.

The five main cities involved in the “trail of the serpent’s sin” that the prophet Daniel exposes are Babylon, Pergamos, Rome, Jerusalem, and the "little horn", the independent one-square kilometer country in the city of Rome called Vatican City.

That is where the great betrayal of God’s Word occurred.

ZECHARIAH 11:13   And the LORD said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD.

They priced Jesus as worth 30 pieces of silver. A “goodly” price that reveals a much deeper pattern of sin.

This is the price that must be paid when a viciously horned ox-beast gores (pushes with its horns) a person until the person dies.

The ox-beast (or young calf that was to grow up during the 1200 years of the Dark Ages) was the second beast around the throne in Revelation Chapter 4.

REVELATION 4:7   And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle.

The lion represents the early church with the true Word of God given by the apostles.

The ox represents the third (AD 312 – 606) and fourth (606 – 1520) church ages that took the world into the Dark Ages where the  Bible truth was destroyed by the Roman Catholic church.

So, the ox represents the destruction of the Word of God as paganism, political power, big money, and human opinions infiltrated the church.

In AD 303 the Roman emperor Diocletian ordered the destruction of all Bibles in the empire.

In AD 325 at the Council of Nicaea, the idea of a Trinity (unscriptural Word) was forced onto the Roman Catholic church. Around AD 350 the Roman Catholic church accepted the unscriptural “Christmas” on the pagan sun god’s birthday of 25 December. In AD 382 the bishop of Rome, Damasus, was called Pontiff, High Priest of the pagan Babylonian mysteries.

As the Dark Ages moved on, only the priests were allowed to use a Latin Bible, that the ordinary people did not understand. Forcing the people to say, “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” simply meant that the people lost the name of God. Nobody knew what that name was.

Thus, Jesus got demoted from being Almighty God by being pushed into the Godhead as only the second Person, only the Son of God and not Almighty God. God the Father became a shadowy Person Who has no name in the New Testament but remains superior to Jesus. This successful degrading of Jesus set off a chain of events to prepare for the rise of the satanic antichrist Pope who will rule as God in the 3.5 years of great Tribulation.

Paganism required visible gods. They used idols but also elevated men up to become gods.

So a man, the Pope, must be elevated above all.

ZECHARIAH 11:16   For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land

This Chapter shows how God has used historical kingdoms, people, and churches to prepare the way for the final antichrist Pope or shepherd.  He will rule and destroy the foolish virgins in the 3.5 years of great Tribulation. The foolish virgins had to be saved before this great Tribulation started.

A shepherd is a one-man ruler of a flock of sheep. As a human, he is elevated above the sheep which are animals. After all, a man is a superior species to sheep. This is how pastors justify their pre-eminence over the congregation.

Satan’s plan for the Nicolaitans was to elevate a man above the laity or congregation. Call this man the shepherd or pastor and make him a one-man -ruler or dictator.

Nowhere does the Bible say that a shepherd is a pastor.

Nowhere in the New Testament is a pastor made the head of a church.

With human-shepherds as the heads of the churches, it eventually becomes possible for one man to become the head of all the churches. The final antichrist Pope.

The second part of Zechariah Chapter 11 must describe the rise of the antichrist Pope to power.

The antichrist Pope will also destroy two-thirds of the Jews in the Tribulation.

ZECHARIAH 13:8   And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein.

:9     And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.

The remaining third will be thoroughly purged and these Jews will be the survivors of Armageddon who go forth into the 1000 years of peace, called the Millennium.

The future destruction of the foolish virgins and the future destruction of two-thirds of the Jews is the key role of the final antichrist Pope as he claws his way brutally upwards so that he can rule supreme in the 3.5 years of great Tribulation.

The Roman abomination of desolation

Let us look at the second portion of Zechariah’s prophecy.

ZECHARIAH 11:12   And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver.

There was a bitter price to be paid for the betrayal of Jesus to the Jewish leaders by the apostle Judas for 30 pieces of silver.  The Jewish religious leaders then inspired the Jewish people to demand His death at the hands of the Romans under Pontius Pilate.

This was a betrayal of their Messiah as they had to break their own Law in many different ways to achieve His death. Breaking the Law was symbolized by the High Priest Caiaphas tearing his clothes.

MATTHEW 26:65  Then the High Priest rent his clothes…

But the High Priest was not allowed to tear his clothes.

LEVITICUS 10:6   And Moses said unto Aaron [the first High Priest], and… his sons, Uncover not your heads, neither rend your clothes…

Thus, Caiaphas the High Priest broke the Law of Moses. A devastating betrayal of the Law. That ended the Old Testament Law.

God replied by tearing up the Temple veil.

MATTHEW 27:51   And behold the veil of the Temple was rent in twain…

From then on, the Jews were out of the plan of God.

The Jewish religious leaders had stirred up the Jewish people to demand that the Romans kill Jesus.

About thirty-eight years later the Romans returned under General Titus to destroy both the Temple and Jerusalem city in AD 70. About one million one hundred thousand Jews died in that disaster according to the Jewish historian Josephus.

The Romans were aptly described by Jesus as the abomination that makes desolation.

MATTHEW 24:15  When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)

(Whoso readeth, let him understand:) This has a number of meanings at different times in history.

It refers, in one instance, to the Romans who entered the Temple and then destroyed it with fire.

The Romans cut down all the trees for 11 miles around the city in all directions. This reduced the landscape to a desolation.

The Jews were beginning to pay the price for betraying their Messiah to the Romans.

But this verse also hints at the end of the church ages.

MATTHEW 24:14   And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.

:15  When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)

A tree is a symbol of a righteous man.

PSALM 1:3   And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water,

Thanks to Roman Catholic unbelief in Scripture, there will be hardly any righteous people left at the end who believe that the King James Bible is infallible as our Absolute.

It is only our faith that makes us righteous in the eyes of God. We only get faith by believing the Bible.

Spiritual desolation is believing things that are not in the Bible.

The Jews saw the pagan Roman abomination as it destroyed the Temple,  the city of Jerusalem, and the surrounding countryside.

In the end, we see how the Roman Catholic unbelief in Scripture spreads to the Protestants to destroy their faith in the King James Version of the Bible. Today, people prefer man-made unscriptural beliefs like the nameless Trinity, God the Son, Christmas, Lent, rosary, and hot cross buns rather than what is actually written in the Bible.

The end of the Gentile seventh church age will be similar to the end of the Jewish nation in AD 70.

The Jews were literally destroyed by the pagan Roman beast.

The faith of Protestant Christians in the King James Bible will be destroyed by the papal Roman Catholic beast.

For the Gentile church, in the end, the holy place is the Holy Spirit baptism which guides us into all truth.

JOHN 16:13   Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth:

The Bible is the place where we build up our faith and learn about God.

Thus the 1769 version of the King James Bible is infallible.

Thanks to Roman Catholic influence with the translators, there are now over 100 versions of the English Bible and hardly any Christians regard the King James Bible as infallible anymore.

The churches and denominations have split up into 45000 different kinds of churches, all different. They choose from over 100 different versions of the English Bible. This is a real swamp, a spiritual desolation where truth is almost impossible to be found.

The abomination is the Roman Catholic doctrines that take pagan customs and give them a veneer of Christian words. The desolation is the King James Bible that is rejected, contradicted, and claimed to be full of mistakes. Very few people now believe or live by the King James Bible. Hardly any Christians can prove their beliefs just from Bible verses.

The last church age will have its Bible-beliefs destroyed by Roman Catholic doctrines when the Protestant churches gather together to accept the Roman Catholic leadership and their unscriptural beliefs.

During the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, the Pope was the only church leader who called for a time of united prayer around the world. Protestants responded to his leadership.

The Pope rules the church as an absolute dictator. He is the only dictator in Europe.

Eventually, the church will control industry

China, ruled by a dictator, has done a much better job of controlling the coronavirus pandemic than the western democracies in Europe and America. So when the next crisis erupts it will be much easier for people to accept the rule of a dictator.

A big enough disaster will then enable the final antichrist Pope to take over if he can provide jobs in a devastated economy.

America has run up so much debt as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, that if they suffer a natural disaster like a massive earthquake then only the Catholic church would have the money to pay off their debts. But then the Catholic church would rule them.

DANIEL 8:25   And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand;

Craft is handicraft. Making something. Today we call this industry.

The antichrist Pope will set up industrial manufacturing on a worldwide scale to provide work. Nobody will dare oppose him. He will be hailed as a saviour.

Protestant churches have moved away from what is written in Scripture to accept Good Friday, Christmas, 25 December, Sunday is the Sabbath day, God the Son, Easter eggs, Easter bunnies, One God in three Persons, Trinity, Eve ate an apple, and so forth. All these ideas are unscriptural.

Thus, Roman Catholic doctrines are the abomination that makes the church spiritually desolate as life only grows where Scripture is believed. These unscriptural ideas stop people from believing what is in the Bible.

By believing in a Trinity, they claim that we must baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. That just means that they do not know what that name is. So, they effectively lose the name of God. That is desolation, wiping the name of God out of the Bible.

Then to make it worse they chop Acts 2:38 out of the Bible by telling people that Peter made a mistake. Thus, they not only refuse to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ but they reveal the desolation of their spirits by condemning those who do baptize in the name of Jesus Christ.

There must be a deeper understanding of the significance of 30 pieces of silver.

MATTHEW 26:14   Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests,

:15   And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver.

:16   And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him.

Six million Jews died in the Holocaust during the Second World War. That shocking event sufficiently stunned the nations so that, despite their hatred for the Jews, they voted them a small portion of the Promised Land in a 1947 United Nations Resolution.

The price for killing Messiah was growing horrifically bigger. Of the 16.7 million Jews at the start of World War 2, about 10.7 million were left at the end of the war.

10 and 7 are significant numbers. The 10^th day of the 7^th month is their day of atonement. They paid a huge price.

The Day of Atonement in the 3.5 years of great Tribulation is when they recognize Jesus and mourn.

By about 2015 the Jewish population had again grown back to 16.7 million.

Thus, the Jews have paid heavily for rejecting the Messiah.

They will continue to pay in the years of great Tribulation.

Judas the betrayer was an apostle, a church leader

In the second part of this study, we will consider how the church leaders betray Jesus at the end-time. A

s a result, millions of presently saved Christians will find themselves in great Tribulation, betrayed by their church leaders who valued church organizations more than the Bible.

These fooled or foolish virgins will all be killed in that time of great Tribulation. Betrayal of Scripture comes with a high price.

Mary, the mother of Jesus, symbolizing the church of the foolish virgins, wept as they will in the 3.5 years of great Tribulation.

JOHN 20:11   But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre,

Mary was at the empty tomb. The foolish virgins knew enough to get saved by believing that Jesus died for their sins.

The tomb was thus a symbol of the water baptism.

ROMANS 6:3   Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

:4     Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Jesus died, was buried, and then rose from the dead.

In baptism, we are laid on our backs, covered with water, and stop breathing. It is as if we were dead and buried.

Thus, in the years of great Tribulation, the foolish virgins will weep much when they realize how easily they had been fooled.

God the Father and the Holy Ghost could neither die nor were they buried. If they were separate Persons then they could not be part of the water baptism.

“Baptized into Jesus Christ” means baptized into a name.

Titles describe a person but are not a name.

“In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” is a list of the Titles of God, but is not His name. Thus, the foolish virgins lost the name of God as they could not find one name for three Persons.

That is represented by Mary being bewildered at the tomb.

The water baptism was where the saved foolish virgins lost the plot because they were fooled by the pagan Trinity that the Roman Catholic church invented.

The Protestants lost the name of God by accepting 3 titles

JOHN 20:12     And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.

In the 3.5 years of great Tribulation, there are two angels or messengers to the Jews. They are the prophets, Moses and Elijah.

The ministry of Moses is to prove the Headship of Jesus to the Jews, that Jesus is the Lord God Almighty.

REVELATION 15:3   And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.

Jesus the Lamb is called Lord God Almighty.

REVELATION 15:4   Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy:

Only Jesus is holy. No room here for two other Persons. If the Father and the Holy Ghost are separate People, then they are not holy.

To the shock and horror of the saved foolish virgins, when they are in great Tribulation, they will learn that there is no Trinity. Jesus, alone, is the Lord God Almighty.

REVELATION 1:15   And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace;

Jesus walked through the fires of hell to win our salvation from Satan after he had died. His Holy Ghost took our sins down to hell where He dumped them on the Devil.

Now the foolish virgins weep as they find that they have to walk through the fires of great Tribulation and die, instead of being at the Wedding Supper.

Elijah called for a 3½ year drought when he was on earth. Now the last prophet to the Jews, in the spirit of Elijah, also will call for a 3½ year drought during great Tribulation. Those are going to be deadly times to walk through.

REVELATION 7:9       After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;

A huge crowd of many millions.

REVELATION 7:14   And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Except for the Jews that God had blinded, there is no salvation for anyone in the Tribulation as Jesus is off the Mercy Seat where He sits today making intercession.

So, these millions of saved people from all over were saved before the years of great Tribulation started but they missed the Coming of the Lord due to the wrong doctrines that they had been taught by their pastors.

There will be millions of them. No wonder Mary was involved in much weeping. The church members or foolish virgins will discover that they have been betrayed by their church leaders.

REVELATION 13:15     And he [the North American beast] had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

“Life”.  The lifeblood of a church organization is money. The North American beast that arose on land, the thinly populated plains of North America, became the world’s wealthiest nation. They pumped their money into the Protestant churches as these churches began to gather together in a confederation that is the image of the worldwide Roman Catholic beast-church-system.

The Protestant church system, as the image of the beast, speaks with more authority than the Bible does. They say “Christmas”, “Christmas tree”, “25 December” and the whole world obeys, even although none of these words is in the Bible. Nowhere in the Bible are we asked to celebrate the birth of the Lord Jesus.

“Trinity”, “God the Son”, “Second Person of the Godhead”, “Father and Son are of the same essence”, “One God in three Persons”. All these are unscriptural statements but the foolish virgins believe them because the organized church says so. What the combined churches say when they speak carries more weight than what the Bible says.

Resentment is growing in the churches against those who want to be strictly Scriptural.

Hardly anyone in the churches believes that the King James Version of the Bible is the Absolute. This hatred will spill over in the tribulation when the One World Church using the power of the One World Government will kill anyone who disagrees with them. At that time the sleeping virgins will wake up in horror to the true depth of their deception by their church leaders. Then they will be killed for their faith as they will oppose the unscriptural beliefs of the united church system.

Mary, the mother of Jesus, wept. This symbolizes the grief of the deceived foolish virgins.

JOHN 20:13     And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.

They have taken away her Jesus. He is no longer Lord God Almighty. They have somehow put Him into a mysterious Trinity that they themselves do not understand. The Trinity God has no name. You cannot find one name for three People.

Thanks to the organized deception of today’s churches, the saved Christians who had put Jesus first in their lives when they got saved, have since then lost sight of Him in the mystery of the Trinity. Sometimes one, sometimes three. Like chasing shadows in the mist. They think that Jesus cannot be Lord God Almighty if another Person, God the Father, is above Him. All very confusing.

The churches claim that Jesus is in the Godhead where He is demoted to being the second Person. The foolish virgins weep when they realize that they never believed that the fulness of the Godhead was in Him.

COLOSSIANS 2:9   For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.

By ignoring the Scriptures that did not agree with Trinity, and by believing all the unscriptural statements that describe the Trinity, the saved foolish virgins end up fooled. They will be purged in the Tribulation. That is the tragic fate of millions of today’s saved Christians.

Betrayed by their church pastors who either cannot admit that there was an end-time prophet or, if they can admit that, then they rate brother Branham’s quotes above the Bible.

JOHN 20:14     And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus.

The foolish virgins will never find the truth from their modern-day pastors. They need to turn back to the teachings of the apostles who wrote the New Testament that was based on the Old Testament.

At present, they read the Bible and cannot see that Jesus is Lord God Almighty. They cannot see that Jesus Christ is the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

JOHN 20:16     Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.

Jesus had to open Mary's eyes.

But in the Tribulation, the foolish virgins will hear of the preaching of Moses and from him, they will learn the truth about Jesus being all of the Godhead. And then go to their deaths at the hands of the church systems.

51-0509  TESTIMONY

And now, I'm thinking of the great morning of the resurrection after He went from mortal to immortality. He rose up from the grave. His poor little old disciples scattered about like sheep without a shepherd... Standing by the tomb, stood His dear mother, weeping. Daylight was breaking; doves was flying around, cooing. He said, "Mary." She recognized Him.

61-0424  THE  GREATEST  NEWS   FLASH  IN  HISTORY

Now, the message is, He goes before us: before us. He's not in a tomb behind us; He's before us, making a way. We are to follow, not to look back to the tomb, but to look forward to where's He's leading, for He is our Leader. We're to follow Him, not look back to the tombs.

Mary, that morning well represented the bewildered church. She well represented it, because she was in the same channel it sits in today. What did she say when she heard Him speak? "Mary, what... Woman, why weepest thou?"

She said, "They have took away my Lord, and I don't know what they've done with Him." That's about the way the church stands today. "They took away my Lord, and I don't know where to find Him. I have tried all their communions. I've tried all their water baptisms. I've tried Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, Pentecostals, Catholics, and all, and I can't find Him. If the Scripture says He's the same yesterday, today, and forever, He's somewhere. If He's not dead than He's a living. He can't be living and dead at the same time." So, Mary well represented the church; "They have took away my Lord, and I don't know where they--what they've done with Him."

61-0424  THE  GREATEST  NEWS  FLASH  IN  HISTORY

And the church said, "They've taken away my Lord." What did they do with Him? Yet today, many because of the lackness and slowness and leanness of the church, believes that the Jewish story back there that was told, that they come stole Him out of the grave at nighttime, still think it's so. I believe it was about seventy percent of the Protestants didn't even believe in the physical resurrection or the literal coming. A statistics showed it. They simply deny it. Many of them, thousands of them deny the virgin birth.

The denial of the resurrection is a problem.

Others will claim that the resurrection has already happened sometime in the past.

61-0424  THE  GREATEST  NEWS  FLASH  IN  HISTORY

"They've took away my Lord." Why? They have to. If you can't believe in the physical resurrection, then you cannot preach a Christ that's the same yesterday, today, and forever. You can't take His Word, then what about it? We make ourselves unbelievers and infidels. No wonder the little church cries, "Where is my Lord? Where is the God of history? Where is Jesus that was, that said He would be with us, always He'd go before us, and He'd be in us to the end of the world, the works that He did?" And when the church sees that come to pass, they're so busy with making organizations. And that didn't come out of their organization, they class it the devil, and throw it away just exactly the way they did then. So, it's still a bewildered.

People only believe what their pastor says.

They think that God will only speak through their pastor. Nobody else.

Despite all the churches being closed down in the coronavirus pandemic.

The modern church emphasizes self and wealth

Thanks to the prosperity gospel the church now associates God’s blessings with wealth.

Being rich is a sign of being God’s blessed servant.

This is the first thing that the church of the Laodiceans says about itself.

REVELATION 3:17   Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing;

In the previous six church ages, the church never spoke. Now after 2000 years, the church has a chance to speak up. And look at what they emphasize: first mentioning self and then wealth.

“I am rich”.

Who is responsible for teaching the church? Their pastors.

With so much money being in circulation in the wealthy church of the Laodiceans, there is plenty of opportunities to leave the written Word and pursue economic success.

Judas, an apostle and church leader, betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver.

MATTHEW 26:14   Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests,

:15   And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver.

:16   And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him.

In what way have the modern-day church leaders betrayed Jesus?

ZECHARIAH 11:13   And the LORD said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD.

A “goodly price” means that there is a much deeper meaning behind the betrayal of Jesus.

What were the dark and sinister forces that were unleashed that night?

The midnight terror of a rigged and illegal trial.

Peter, a brave man on other occasions, was so scared that he denied Jesus three times.

Yet he had started the night by being willing to single-handedly attack a group of armed officers.

He was very brave then, but the situation was changing. A spirit of Fear arose.

The other disciples all left.

John Mark lost his cloak in his haste to get away from the hands that were clutching him.

A spirit of intense fear stalked the streets. The pit of hell was unleashing its shock troops in their full fury. Ordinary mortals could not oppose them.

There was only one Man Who could defeat that pitiless horde.

But like Samson, if He was to pull down the pillars of Death and Hell by Himself, then He would have to die in the process.

The price of our salvation was very high.

The trail of the serpent is the path of the Babylonian Mysteries

The antichrist spirit that ruled the Roman empire in its ruthless brutality was rising to attack its most feared enemy. Messiah Himself.

Four pagan empires tracked the path of the Mysteries of Babylon through the Old Testament.

Daniel saw these as a Gentile image in the dream of Nebuchadnezzar which he interpreted.

Babylon was the head of gold. The “golden” pagan mysteries that came down from Nimrod, the first rebel against God. The High Priest of the Babylonian mysteries was the Pontiff.

GENESIS 10:9   He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD.

Nimrod was a hunter of animals as well as a hunter of human souls.

“Before the Lord”.  They believed what Nimrod said before they believed what God said.

Nimrod was called “El Bar”. This means “god the son”.

He was the only person to have this title until the Roman Catholic church adopted the pagan trinity of gods and somehow, mysteriously, had one God despite each of the three People in the Godhead being an individual God.

To achieve this great deception they called Jesus, God the Son.  There is no expression “God the Son” in the Bible. Even the word Trinity is unscriptural, having been copied from the pagan Egyptians and Hindus.

An Egyptian trinity of three persons in one godhead, represented by 3 people in one throne.

Then we see a Hindu version of one-god-in three-persons. Three heads on one body.

Mankind has always been trying to elevate somebody above the people so that the elevated person can tell the people what to believe and do.

The Medes and the Persians were represented by the arms of the Gentile image that stretched out to establish the first worldwide kingdom of many nations. The Persian king in the East was worshiped as a god by the Persian people.

The Greeks were the belly and thighs of brass.

The loins are where life comes from. Greek philosophy became the clever way in which pagan traditions were combined into an impressive form of the false Christian religion.

Alexander had been the first Greek man to be called a god in the West. He became the first western god-king. The four Greek kings who followed him as Successors, also called themselves god-kings.

Later on, at Pergamos, the office of Pontiff of the Babylonian mysteries was given to the Greek king of Pergamos.

The position of Pontiff thus received a big boost. He was no longer just a high priest, he was also a god and a king. Satan was imitating Melchizadek.

The Western and Eastern pagan Roman empires were the legs of iron.  Julius Caesar, the greatest Roman, became Pontiff in 63 BC. Then he became a one-man-dictator of the Roman empire. The Babylonian Pontiff thereby became the ruler of the Roman empire.

Salvation was of the Jews, outside the Gentile image. Then in Jerusalem, Jesus was crucified and salvation crossed over into the feet of the Gentile image.

The feet represent the seven church ages. The bits of iron were Roman Catholicism where the Pope became Pontiff. The wet or miry clay represents the Bride as seeds can grow in clay.

The pagan Roman empire was the fourth beast in Daniel’s vision of the Gentile kingdoms in Daniel Chapter 7.

This beast had 10 horns.

The Greeks were represented by a leopard and a horned goat.

The main horn broke to produce four horns. Out of one of the four horns the little horn grew. (Shown in red). This represented the Babylonian priesthood who settled in Pergamos.

Of the six beasts, only two had horns, the Greek goat, and the Roman beast.

A powerful pagan Roman beast with ten horns that would give rise to a little horn (shown in red) that grew amongst them.

The horns represent 10 of the barbarian tribes who helped to destroy the pagan Roman empire but then intentionally or unintentionally helped to build up the power of the Pope in Europe.

The little horn is Vatican City, recognized as a separate, independent country in 1929. The year of the Great Depression when the world went bankrupt. The bankruptcy of looking up to the Vatican as if it represents God. Vatican City is one square kilometer in size and only has 150 citizens with a Vatican passport. About 650 other people have dual passports, one of which is from the Vatican, as they live in other countries, usually in the diplomatic service.

DANIEL 7:8   I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn,

The Pope in Rome grew to power in the midst of the 10 barbarian tribes that had conquered the Roman empire.

Thirty pieces of silver is the price for a person killed by a horned beast.

The Greek spirit was the first to worship a man in the west

Alexander the Great was the first western man to be worshiped in the East and then also in the West.

This spirit of worshiping a man then moved to Rome as Caesar worship.

Then it entered the Roman Catholic church as the Pope became Vicarius Christi, in place of Christ.

A man was now so elevated that he could replace Christ.

Mary was also worshiped and prayed to as if she is a pagan goddess.

Let us first consider the Greek horned goat.

This symbolizes the Greek spirit whereby a man stands on earth during great Tribulation and calls himself God.

61-0806  THE  SEVENTIETH  WEEK  OF  DANIEL

They'll have a man that'll take the place of God, set in the temple of God and oppose himself above all the people like that, and it... See what is it? "Nicko," "overcoming the laity." See? All that's called God--he'll set in this temple of God, like God. Paul said, there'd be a falling away first in the last days.

At the end the churches must fall away from Bible truth in order to accept a one-man-church-dictator who will call himself God, like Alexander the Great did.

The most famous conqueror in western history was Alexander the Great.

When he got to Egypt he called himself the son of god.

He conquered Afghanistan by means of brutal ethnic cleansing. Then he called himself a god and demanded to be worshiped as a god by the Greeks. Within four years he died mysteriously in Babylon.

Jesus is God in human flesh and He had a ministry of 3½ years.

So, by calling himself god, Alexander doomed himself to be dead within four years.

But the Greek Alexander was the model that Satan wanted to build on. A western man who was called god in the West. Formerly, this had been the habit in the east, to call the ruler god.

The Persians worshiped their king as god. Alexander was so famous that he brought this spirit of uplifting a man until he is considered to be God, into the west, and then in Rome, that deceiving spirit got into the church.

Cyrus the Persian chased the Babylonian priesthood out of Babylon after the city had been conquered. They fled to Pergamos and kept a low profile there while the Persians ruled.

Daniel Chapter 8 shows a goat with one horn (Alexander the great) that broke and formed 4 horns as his empire split initially into 4 sections.

DANIEL 8:21   And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king.

:22   Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power.

Alexander was the first western man to be accepted as a god-king in the West. His four generals, who called themselves Alexander’s Successors, split up his empire into four sections and also called themselves god-kings. Such was Alexander’s fame. Ptolemy took Egypt. Seleucus took Asia. Cassander took Greece.

The important section is shown in black as it contained the city of Pergamos. It was ruled by Lysimachus.

Alexander’s Greek empire did not last long. Alexander called himself a god-king and so did his successors also call themselves god-kings.

Lysimachus ruled a smaller part of Alexander's empire. This shrunk after his death to the kingdom of Pergamum, but that local king also called himself a Successor and was thus regarded as a god-king too. Many historians ignore this little kingdom of Pergamum and claim that Alexander's empire just split up into 3 kingdoms. But Daniel was tracking the "little horn" of the Babylonian mysteries and knew that size was not always important. But the god-king of the kingdom of Pergamum had also been offered the position of Pontiff or High Priest of the Babylonian mysteries. This was the evil of Satan that Daniel was tracing.

In terms of keeping track of the trail of satanic error, the only important part of Alexander’s empire was the city of Pergamos. This was the capital of the kingdom of Pergamum where the Pontiff or High Priest of the Babylonian mysteries was. Thus, the Babylonian Pontiff now became the god-king thanks to this Greek influence. The Babylonian priesthood was regarded as the most genuine pagan priesthood because they were the successors of Nimrod. What they were searching for was a powerful politician to accept the position of Pontiff so that they could become more famous.

REVELATION 2:12   And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write

:13     I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is:

Alexander’s empire is shown above in yellow.  The kingdom of Pergamum is shown in the blue circle.

In 133 BC Pergamos and the kingdom of Pergamum were given to Rome and Julius Caesar became Pontiff in 63 BC. This made Caesar a god-king in the eyes of the people of Pergamos. When he died in 44 BC they built a temple to worship him in Pergamos in 29 BC. Caesar worship was born. His grand-nephew Augustus became the first emperor of the Roman empire and Pergamos asked for permission to worship him, since he was the Pontiff, while he was still alive.

Worshiping a man as god had spread to Rome.

The Roman emperors began to regard themselves as being a god. The Roman emperors took over the title of Pontiff, High Priest of the Babylonian mysteries.

The Greek Goat had four horns that would strive to destroy Jesus and His truth.

Nimrod's evil Babylonian beliefs spread through 5 cities

Evil began in Babylon and moved to Pergamos and then to Rome.

So far evil had traveled through three cities, Babylon, Pergamos, and Rome.

Then Jesus was crucified in Jerusalem by the Jews.

LUKE 23:33   And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him…

“There they crucified Him”.

There. The most religious city.

They. The Jews, the most religious people.

Crucified. The most awful and degrading death.

Him. The greatest Man that ever lived.

Evil went from Babylon to Pergamos to Rome and then to Jerusalem.

Look at the goat spirit. Four dangerous horns.

Look at Jesus on the cross. There are four wounds that could be made similarly by horns.

A nail through each hand. A nail through both feet. A spear in His side.

It is as if the four-horned goat had pushed against Him and gored Him.

But actually there are five wounds because one nail was driven through both His feet.

But then Daniel saw a fifth horn, a little horn (the tiny Vatican City) that grew out of the small part of Alexander’s empire that contained the evil city of Pergamos where a self-proclaimed god-king became the Babylonian Pontiff. Then the Babylonian mysteries went to Rome and became Mystery Babylon when they entered the Catholic church.

The little horn is shown in red.

Five horns to make 5 holes in the Body of the Lord.

ZECHARIAH 4:10   For who hath despised the day of small things?

Who has despised the day of small things? From small beginnings big things can grow.

From that small beginning in Pergamos the antichrist system has grown into the vast organized Roman Catholic church that is spread around the world. All ruled from the tiny Vatican City.

And one day Vatican City will introduce the last dictator, the antichrist Pope, to the world.

Five evil cities. Babylon. Pergamos. Rome.  Jerusalem. Vatican City, the nerve centre of the Roman Catholic church.

The power of the pagan Roman emperor was destroyed by the barbarian tribes. But this power was resurrected to life in the Roman Catholic church as the church conquered the barbarians by converting them to Roman Catholicism.

The Pope picked up the power in Europe that the pagan Roman emperor lost.

By AD 382 Pope Damasus of Rome was called Pontiff and the Babylonian mysteries entered the Roman Catholic church. The Pontiff was thus a man who, as time went on, was regarded as being in the place of God. Alexander’s spirit of a man being a god had moved through the Pergamos god-kings to Rome and then into the Catholic church.

Now the Pope had to be elevated above everyone so that the final Pope in the 3.5 years of great Tribulation could be Satan’s superman, God on earth.

What were the 5 main steps that led to the elevation of the Pope?

Each of these steps has been a savage gored wound to the church, the body of believers, because it took them further and further away from the Bible truth.

1. Nicolaitan. Elevate a leader to dominate the laity or congregation.

REVELATION 2:6  But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

In AD 313 Roman emperor Constantine gave the Lateran Palace to the Pope in order to make him the strong man in the West when Constantine went east to Constantinople. The Lateran is still the official headquarters of the Roman Catholic church and as the Seat of Peter, it gives the Pope authority. The Pope was then given the money to build the big Lateran church or basilica. All this impressive infrastructure gave the Pope leadership amongst the other churches.

REVELATION 13:2   … and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.

Constantine also gave the Pope the political backing of the emperor. The Council of Nicaea in AD 325 then forced the Trinity doctrine onto the church and the Pope became the main defender of this unscriptural doctrine as well as forcing other churches to celebrate Easter on Good Friday, not on the full moon. Around AD 350 the Pope introduced the unscriptural Christmas on 25 December. Enforcing the Easter and Christmas days gave the Pope pre-eminence over other churches.

2.   In AD 754 Pope Stephen 2 made a forged “Donation of Constantine” document which gave all the land in the west to the Pope.

This was of course a complete lie. He then used this forgery to made a deal with Pepin who was in charge of the barbarian Franks. Stephen would anoint Pepin and his sons as king of the Franks if they defeated the Lombards, who occupied most of Italy, and gave some of their territories to the Pope as the Papal States.

With this new kingdom, the Pope had increased political influence. The Pope also now had political power as a barbarian king-maker.

DANIEL 11:23   And after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully: for he shall come up, and shall become strong with a small people.

The Pope’s style. Tell a bunch of lies and people give you land in order to buy their way into heaven.

The Pope had ruled the red area around Rome. Now Pepin gave him all the black area as well, known as the Papal States. The power of the Pope was growing in Europe, both as a church leader and as a political leader.

3. The Pope claimed to be the Successor of Peter who has the key to open the door to Heaven for you.

This was the most successful lie that the Pope told.

He claimed that Peter alone had the keys to open the door to Heaven. Peter would only do this for you if you did something nice for his successor, the Pope. So, Peter stood in the place of the Son of God when it came to determining if you got into Heaven or not. And the Pope stood in the place of Peter. So it is essential to give money, or land, or protection to the Pope, the successor of Peter, in order to keep Peter happy when you died and knocked on Heaven’s door.

REVELATION 17:8   …  when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

The Pope “was”.    According to the Catholics, Peter was the first Pope. Thus, there always was a Pope.

“And is not”.  The Pope dies.

“And yet is”.   A new Pope is elected.

This is the Succession of Popes, living off the reputation of Peter. (Like the Greek Successor god-kings lived off the reputation of Alexander the Great). The Popes are the longest line of rulers in the world.

In AD 754, Pope Stephen 2, in the forged document “The Donation of Constantine”,

called Peter VICARIVS FILII DEI. In place of the Son of God.

In Latin, some letters also represent a number.   I = 1,  V = 5, L = 50,  C = 100,  D =  500.  This adds up to 666.

Remember. The  U in Latin was a V.    That is why we say "double U" is  VV or W.

V   I  C  A  R  I  V  S     F  I   L   I  I     D   E   I

5  1  100         1  5              1  50  1  1    500     1

REVELATION 13:18   Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

A score is twenty. The “man” is Peter. Peter is not to blame, he never claimed this. It is the Popes who have lied about Peter to boost their own authority.

So, the Pope falsely claims to get his authority from Peter. And they claim that only Peter can open Heaven’s door.

The barbarians fell for this and gave the Pope money and lands and converted to Catholicism in order to please Peter and thereby buy their way into Heaven.

4. The Pope was elevated to the top position on earth. Crowned king. Vicar of Christ. Head of church. Infallible.

DANIEL 11:14   … also the robbers of thy people shall exalt themselves to establish the vision

The Popes were endlessly looking for new ways to boost themselves and elevate their authority over everyone.

In 1302 they announced the doctrine of Unam Sanctam. No salvation outside the Roman Catholic church. Salvation is only possible if you are in submission to the Pope.

Many Protestants adopt this belief too. Claiming that people are doomed if they leave their pastor’s church.

In 1870 the Pope announced himself to be infallible.

Only God is infallible. So this was the Pope pushing another step closer to take the place of God.

Since the 1200s the Pope had called himself VICARIVS CHRISTI. Vicar of Christ. He stands in the place of Christ on earth. Nobody can get much higher than that.

Many message believers have been fooled into calling brother Branham’s quotes “infallible”. That is awful.

62 10 07   THE KEY TO THE DOOR   … that I am perfectly infallible. That there's nothing... And, oh, some of the awfullest things you ever heard.

Scripture classifies William Branham as “the voice of the seventh angel” but message pastors have elevated him to be “the Voice of God”.

Putting a man in the place of God is the same mistake that the Roman Catholics have made. It effectively turns brother Branham into another Pope.

64-0830   QUESTIONS  AND  ANSWERS.3

To make me the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, would be an antichrist

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.

A horse is a power. White is religious. A bow without an arrow is bluffing. This was the spirit of religious deception that rose up in the Roman Catholic church and later spread to the Protestant churches.

EXODUS 15:1   Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.

Pharaoh and his army were in chariots.  Thus the “horse and his rider” refers to the antichrist spirit that was inspiring Pharaoh.

Today the antichrist spirit is the foundation of denominational and organized churches. That continues to conquer newly saved people. They look to Jesus alone for salvation but then lose sight of Him in a pagan Trinity and are not even allowed to get baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. (Acts 2:38).

This is doubly wrong seeing that they then cannot find a name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Thus, they serve a nameless Triune God.

The antichrist spirit is to contradict, or change, or ignore Scripture.

“And a crown was given unto him:”    Pope Nicholas 1 , around AD 860, was crowned with a single crown, like other kings.

In 1305 Clement V became Pope and he wore a triple crown as king of heaven, earth, and purgatory.

Thus, the Pope was now king of the underworld of demonology.

In Revelation Chapter 9, the fifth Trumpet sounds to force the Jews back to Israel, so the pit of hell is opened and demons, looking like crowned locusts, come hurtling out in the Tribulation to torment the Jewish people.

REVELATION 9:11   And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit,

A king is crowned. For 1100 years the Pope wore a crown. The Vatican is thus a hotbed of demonology.

5. In 1929 Mussolini granted independence to Vatican City. It became the world’s smallest country.

He also gave it much money which they used in dubious investments to make a fortune.

The Pope is now at the head of a significant money power as well as a church power and a political power.

These represent the first three Seals as the antichrist spirit rides three powerful spiritual horses.

The black horse of money power.

The white horse of religious deception.

The red horse of political power.

In this day and age, they are all uniting in Vatican City.

2000 years of church history had endlessly bestowed more power and authority on the Pope as he takes the place of Christ on earth as the Vicar of Christ. VICARIVS CHRISTI. This is his second official title. His first official title is Bishop of Rome.

All this was preparing the way for the final antichrist Pope to be worshiped as God in the 3.5 years of great Tribulation.

It is only one step to go from being in the place of Christ, to be Christ. All the final Pope needs is more power, more wealth.

The Popes have set up an organization in which they take the place of Christ.

So, when Satan’s superman takes over the Vatican as the final Pope, it will be an easy step for people to accept him as Christ. Then they will think that the final Pope is God on earth.

10 military dictators will give the antichrist Pope his military power

Combining with the Protestant churches (the image to the Catholic beast) will give him vast church authority.

A covenant with the Jews for their stock exchange money will give him the wealth that he needs.

Ten dictators will give him their military power.

REVELATION 17:12   And 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.

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

These dictators give their military power and strength to the beast-Pope.

DANIEL 8:24   And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power:

The Vatican has no military power of its own. The final Pope will get this military power from the ten dictators that are scattered around the world.

DANIEL 11:23   And after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully: for he shall come up, and shall become strong with a small people.

Only 150 people in the Vatican have Vatican passports. Another 650 have dual citizenship as they live in other countries, mainly on diplomatic business. So, the population of Vatican City is about 800. The area of  Vatican City is about one square kilometer. The smallest country on earth. The little horn.

A horn is a power,

DANIEL 7:8   I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn,

In this Chapter of Daniel, the little horn is the pagan Roman spirit that enters the church to destroy Bible truths.

In the next Chapter of Daniel the little horn is the pagan Greek spirit that elevates a man to become God.

This vile spirit also enters the church.

DANIEL 8:9   And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land.

The south is the Protestant church world. Jesus spoke well of the Queen of the South, the queen of Sheba who sought Solomon’s wisdom.

MATTHEW 12:42   The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.

But the Catholic beliefs have moved into the Protestant churches as they have absorbed many Catholic errors. Trinity, Christmas, 25 December, Good Friday, Sunday is Sabbath day, Easter eggs, Easter bunnies, one man is the head of the church, baptism in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost without having any clue as to what that name is.

The east is the home of demonology. Cain went east and took his demons with him.

GENESIS 4:16   And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.

The effect of these spirits on the church is manifested by people praying to dead saints. Believing that Peter opens the door to Heaven for you. Believing that a man is infallible. Elevating a man to stand in the place of God.

The pleasant land is Israel.

The final Pope will use the Vatican in his rise to world power but then he will destroy the Vatican and move to Jerusalem towards the end of the 3.5 years of great Tribulation.

Thus, this final superman will rule the earth as God during the vicious, blood-thirstiness of great Tribulation.

Alexander’s spirit has moved on.

Alexander the Great, the greatest western conquerer, was the first western man to be proclaimed as son of god in Egypt then in Afghanistan he called himself god because he had conquered much of the earth. Western men had to bow before him. He probably killed a million people in his lust for power as he elevated himself to the pagan godhead.

Alexander was symbolized as a goat.

Today athletes use the word GOAT to describe a man as the Greatest Of All Time.

This Greek spirit of worshiping a man finally rose up in the Roman Catholic church as the Pope increasingly claimed to stand in the place of God as His representative on earth.

Who knows how many will be killed by the final Pope as he takes the world to Armageddon.

As a result of these five fateful steps, the Roman Catholic church has been set up to receive the final antichrist Pope. Each step was a deep wound to the church as it tore the church away from the Bible.

The Greek spirit which desires to worship a man has severely gored and wounded the body of Christ, the church.

Thirty pieces of silver was the price for being gored to death by a horned beast.

The Greek influence on elevating a man to replace Christ and replacing Scripture with clever philosophical ideas like Trinity, has gored the Word of God until people want nothing more to do with that wounded King James Version of the Bible.

This can be referred to as the second crucifixion of Christ.

First, they crucified Him as a Man.

Now the church leaders crucify Him as the Word of God.

They claim that no Bible is perfect, especially not the King James Version.

They attack the Bible by discarding, changing, contradicting, ignoring, rejecting, and condemning verses wherever it suits their biased and flawed opinions. This leaves what is left of the Bible’s reputation in a mangled state.

Each criticism is part of a crown of thorns.

Whatever you say about the Bible, you are saying about Jesus because He is the Word of God.

The Bible contains His thoughts and you cannot separate a Man from the thoughts in His mind.

In Part 3 we will consider further damage that is done to the Bible’s reputation by the churches who foolishly listened to the spirit of the pagan Roman beast that entered the church to try to destroy the Bible's influence.

A huge problem today is that people are falling away from the need to get saved.

Church-goers no longer feel that they need to genuinely and sincerely repent of their sins. People are losing the desire to ask Jesus into their hearts so that He can fully control their lives. Our modern age does not want to become totally submitted to the will of God as they no longer believe that the King James Bible is the infallible Word of God. But each one of us has to make these decisions. The decision is between each person and the Lord Jesus. It has nothing to do with any church.

If you genuinely receive forgiveness of your sins from Jesus, then no man could ever take the place of Jesus in your heart. Because no man could ever forgive your sins.