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"I considered the horns, and, behold, there came
up among them another LITTLE
HORN ... in this horn were eyes like THE EYES OF MAN, and A MOUTH
SPEAKING GREAT
THINGS." (Daniel 7:8a,c)
"And the TEN HORNS out of this (fourth ROMAN) kingdom
are TEN KINGS that shall arise: and ANOTHER (horn, king) shall
rise after them; and HE SHALL BE DIVERSE FROM THE FIRST, and
he shall subdue three kings." (Daniel 7:24)
"I beheld, and THE SAME HORN MADE WAR WITH THE SAINTS,
and prevailed against them." (Daniel 7:21)
The key thing to understand is that the little horn which
is part of the fourth
ROMAN beast is diverse from the ten other horns. The horns represent
kings or
lines of kings. How is this little horn diverse from the ten
other European
kings?
First of all, I believe like many others before me that the
little horn of
Daniel chapter 7 and the son of perdition (false apostle) of
2nd Thessalonians
chapter 2 refer to the same power or entity : the papacy (the
line of popes).
And both prophecies are associated with the prophecy of Mystery
Babylon
(Revelation chapter 17). Now that being said let us see how the
little horn is
diverse from the other kings:
1) the little horn is a bishop who is the ruler of his own
religion
2) the little horn claims infallibility in matters of faith and
practice
3) the little horn is responsible for our present Gregorian calendar
4) the little horn is an elected monarchy
5) the little horn rules (at least religiously) the subjects
of other kings
6) the little horn's name is changed after coming to power (ex.
Joseph Ratzinger
did not become Pope Joseph but Pope Benedict XVI) whereas monarchs
usually
retain their original names after ascending to the throne (e.g.
Elizabeth before
becoming Queen Elizabeth, George before becoming King George,
Louis before
becoming King Louis)
7) the little horn is not officially called a king (e.g. King
John Paul II was
not one of the official titles of the previous pope)
8) the little horn does not have a queen like other kings because
of celibacy
and cannot have a male heir (publicly) again because of celibacy
9) the little horn is always male (no queen)
10) the little horn must always be a priest
11) the little horn received his power from other kings (e.g.
temporal power
through King Pepin of France in the 8th century, spiritual power
through the
Byzantine emperor Phocas in the 7th century, the restoration
of the pope's
temporal power through Mussolini with the recognition of Vatican
City as a
distinct and sovereign state)
12) the little horn has an army of cardinals, bishops, priests,
monks and nuns
dispersed in other kingdoms
13) the little horn does not have a standing military army of
his own
14) the little horn claims to have the power of excommunication
15) the little horn has ruled from different headquarters and
from different
countries (Rome in Italy, Avignon in France)
16) the little horn claims succession ultimately from a fisherman
and not from a
past political ruler
17) the little horn has claimed the power in the past to depose
kings of other
countries
18) the little horn has a unique triple crown tiara and not just
one crown
19) the little horn wears a mitre
20) the little horn always wears white robes publicly
21) the LITTLE horn is the sovereign of the world's smallest
state
22) the little horn through the Roman Catholic confessional booth
claims the
right to pry into all of the thoughts of his subjects
23) the little horn claims to be a prophet
24) the little horn claims authority over purgatory, hell and
heaven
25) the little horn claims to offer sacrifices for sin
26) the little horn claims to declare who a saint is (canonization)
27) the little horn claims to have the keys of the kingdom of
heaven and the
power of binding and loosing
The same little horn has made war with both kings and Christians
just as the
prophecy predicted. This little horn has a big mouth and what
king has had
pretensions as lofty as the popes have had (e.g. the power to
forgive sins which
only God can do)? What king or line of kings has spoken as many
blasphemies as
the popes have done? The eyes of man do not refer to physical
eyes or else that
would mean that the 10 other horns represent 10 physically blind
kings because
those horns don't have eyes. The eyes refer to spiritual eyesight
or more
appropriately the eyes of a SEER. A prophet who is an overseer.
Overseer =
bishop. As universal bishop, he claims the right to oversee the
whole world. His
prying eyes extend to the thoughts of his subjects through the
unbiblical
instrument of the confessional. The litte horn does not have
ears. It speaks
with arrogant authority but is not receptive to hearing the truth.
In the vision of chapter 7, the Pagan kingdoms (Babylon, Persia
and Greece) are
associated with animals. The kingdom of Christ is associated
with human
elements. Christ is called prophetically the son of MAN. The
final form of the
fourth kingdom has both animal and human elements which would
indicate a mix of
paganism and Christianity. Another perfect prophetic fit for
the Roman papacy.
Marcel A. |