Why is this little horn so big? A contradiction, no, not at all, not really. Many little things have huge impacts upon our lives.
Dan 7:8
I considered the horns,
and, behold, there came up among them another little horn,
before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots
and, behold,
in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man,
and a mouth speaking great things.
Dan 7:21 I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them;
Dan 7:22 Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.
Dan 7:23 Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.
Dan 7:24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and...
...another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.
Dan 7:25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.
Dan 7:26 But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end.
Dan 7:27 And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.
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Dan 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.
Dan 8:10 And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven
and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground
and stamped upon them.
Dan 8:11 Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host
and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away
and the place of his sanctuary was cast down.
Dan 8:12 And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it
cast down the truth to the ground
and it practised,
and prospered.
Dan 8:13 Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?
Dan 8:14 And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.
Dan 8:20 The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia.
Dan 8:21 And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king.
Dan 8:22 Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power.
Dan 8:23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up.
Dan 8:24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power
and he shall destroy wonderfully,
and shall prosper,
and practise,
and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
Dan 8:25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand
and he shall magnify himself in his heart,
and by peace shall destroy many
he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes
but he shall be broken without hand.
Do you see? There is so much to study! So much to contemplate and understand by the grace and mercy of God.
We've talked of the possibility of the 1260 days rather than being a mere 3 and 1/2 years that the little horn would wear out the saints of the most high, rather than this amazing power thinking to change times and laws in such a short period of time, that Biblically this could possibly mean 1260 years. We know from studying history and applying it to the prophecy that the little horn is the Papacy (Papal Rome) and we know that the Papacy has had great influence in our history not for a mere 3 1/2 years but for many, many, many more. The times and laws this little power would think to change didn't occur instantaneously but rather during the course of its history and NO ONE can dispute that the Papacy has literally changed times and laws, even the Papacy itself knows it has done this as no other has. The Papacy knows that it has taken upon itself to be a power of influence, an authoritative power claiming to have authority over all others, claiming to be the only ones who can truly interpret even the Bible correctly. I don't lie! This is fact!
Read this excerpt--
From Cardinal Merry de Val, "Forward," in the Index of Prohibited Books, revised and published by order of His Holiness Pope Pius XI (new ed.; [Vatican City]: Vatican Polyglot Press, 1930), pp. ix-xi:
[p. ix] What many, indeed fail to appreciate, and what, moreover non-Catholics consider a grave abuse — as they put it of the Roman Curia, is the action of the Church in hindering the printing and circulation of Holy Writ in the vernacular. Fundamentally however, this ac- [p. x] cusation is based on calumny. During the first twelve centuries Christians were highly familiar with the text of Holy Scripture, as is evident from the homilies of the Fathers and the sermons of the mediaeval preachers; nor did the ecclesiastical authorities ever intervene to prevent this. It was only in consequence of heretical abuses, introduced particularly by the Waldenses, the Albigenses, the followers of Wyclif, and by Protestants broadly speaking (who with sacrilegious mutilations of Scripture and arbitrary interpretations vainly sought to justify themselves in the eyes of the people; twisting the text of the Bible to support erroneous doctrines condemned by the whole history of the Church) that the Pontiffs and the Councils were obliged on more than one occasion to control and sometimes even forbid the use of the Bible in the vernacular...
[p. xi] Those who would put the Scriptures indiscriminately into the hands of the people are the believers always in private interpretation — a fallacy both absurd in itself and pregnant with disastrous consequences. These counterfeit champions of the inspired book hold the Bible to be the sole source of Divine Revelation and cover with abuse and trite sarcasm the Catholic and Roman Church.
Far from championing the spread of the Bible, and the translation into the vernacular, the Catholic Church has a history of repression and censorship in this regard. It was really the combination of the reformation and the advent of the printing press that "let the cat out of the bag." It seems that Bibles could be printed faster than they (and their authors or owners) could be burned. Since Catholicism could no longer contain the Bible and keep it out of the hands of the laity, the issue has become one of authority to interpret.
For those Catholics who continue to maintain that the Roman Catholic Church was justified in seizing and burning "faulty" vernacular Bibles, and that grave errors in translation were the primary reason for destroying them, I offer the following challenge:
Tyndale's Bible has recently been republished by David Daniell and Yale University Press and can still be found at some bookstores. Tyndale's New Testament is 0-300-04419-4 for the hardback and 0-300-06580-9 for the paperback. Tyndale's Old Testament in hardback is ISBN 0-300-05211-1. Mr. Daniell has updated the spelling but remained faithful to the original text.
http://wesley.nnu.edu/biblical_studies/tyndale/
The Geneva Bible's 1602 New Testament has also been reprinted in facsimile by Pilgrim Classic Commentaries in 1989 from an original in the Cambridge University Library. The ISBN is 0-8298-0789-6 for the hardback and ISBN 0-8298-0785-3 for the paperback.
The 1611 Authorized Version (King James) Bible has also been reprinted word-for-word with original spelling by Thomas Nelson Publishers in 1993.
In addition, to my knowledge, the Roman Catholic Church was unsuccessful in completely destroying all copies of any "heretical" reformation era vernacular translations of the Bible. Despite their diligence, there are surviving copies existing today that can be studied. I therefore challenge Catholics to produce Catholic documents from the reformation period that cite and explain in detail the grave "errors" in vernacular Protestant Bibles, that warranted not only their destruction, but also frequently the death of the author, as well as those found in possession of said Bibles. It would seem that any charge of grave translation "errors" can still be verified by almost anyone today from either original editions or facsimile reprints. So mere claims of faulty vernacular Bibles proves absolutely nothing without providing citations of the exact verse and Bible edition where the alleged error occurs.
I maintain that the objections of the Catholic church to the various attempts to produce a Bible in the vernacular, were not that of faulty translations (although that claim was made), but rather that of "unauthorized heretical" interpretations that resulted from widespread publication and the laity finally being able to read the entire Bible for themselves in their own tongue, as noted in the various items above. The laity was then able to discern the truth for themselves, and the biblical truth was often at odds with Catholic teaching. Dissent flourished with the availability of the Bible, and so persecution of these heretics increased as well, in an attempt by the church to maintain control and assert her presumed authority. It is a sad chapter in history that is quite well documented.
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This is our history! This isn't some made up story, but truth as it happened. The Papacy today can apologize all it desires but it cannot wipe out the facts of its behavior over the many, many year it has been in existence. Was it a one year mistake on their part? No, more years than we can truly fully fathom as reality the Papacy used the authoritative power it was given not by God but by worldly men in worldly power, to bring abuse after abuse, corruption after corruption of God's truth to people trying to force it upon them. But there was a people- the few among the many- who stayed to the narrow path Jesus implemented and these people were abused but kept alive, not totally wiped out which would have suited the Papacy just fine. In fact today the Papacy claims to be the head of the ONE TRUE CHURCH and all other are called to join her. Yes, the Papacy would love unity but in truth, only fully by all others converting to her religion.
So seriously, we can honestly say there would be a 1260 year period in which the Papacy would hold sway, even against those of the wilderness faith- God's true people as they- in the minority by far, would hold fast to truth over error. But there would come a time when the full force of military power would be stripped away and the influence of the Papacy would begin to wane until we come to our current place in time where the Papacy while having great power and influence does not have what it once had that power to condemn men to death on their word. That power was cut down, a death blow was struck that would reverberate onwards to affect the course of the Papacy's history, shaping it into what it is now. That wound is healed now, but the change was made and God's wilderness people, His true people were allowed to flourish and after this death blow- knowledge began to increase and the little book of Daniel was eventually to be opened for comprehension.
During the various Papal reigns there were many events to take place, the head of the Papacy would be relocated, he would excommunicate people who would go on to form religions without him being in authority. People would be unhappy with Him and yet to actually take a Pope captive and strip him forcibly of his power, making him powerless to lead as if he were truly dead - unable to communicate with any of his priests, his bishops, his cardinals, all those who looked to him… well this only happened one time that I can ascertain.
In 1798 this happened--
• 1798: Pope Pius VI taken prisoner by the armies of Napoleon I, dies in captivity in France.
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General Berthier marched to Rome, entered it unopposed on 10 February 1798, and, proclaiming a Roman Republic, demanded of the Pope the renunciation of his temporal authority.
Upon his refusal he was taken prisoner, and on 20 February was escorted from the Vatican to Siena, and thence to the Certosa near Florence. The French declaration of war against Tuscany led to his removal (he was escorted by the Spaniard Pedro Gómez Labrador, Marquis of Labrador) by way of Parma, Piacenza, Turin and Grenoble to the citadel of Valence, the chief town of Drôme where he died six weeks after his arrival, on 29 August 1799, having then reigned longer than any Pope
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So a blow is struck here against the papal idea of supremacy, something it had for so long it was all but incomprehensible to people that it could ever be touched. Touched it was. Some might argue the papacy wasn't down for the count long, and they'd be right. The deadly wound would begin to heal and as mentioned before the power it would have would be ultimately much different than what it once held.
If we are to take the 1260 days and make them prophetic years and then take the date history provides as the date the Papacy was dealt a severe, deadly blow (the Pope did die in captivity after being pulled from power), then we are left with the date 538 AD as the date the Papacy began to wield its strange power over the governmental forces. Can we find any historical significance to this date, to this year?
The man in civil power was Justinian this is said about him-
Justinian was one of the first Roman Emperors to be depicted wielding the cross on the obverse of a coin.
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And of the pope -
On 29 June, 538, a decretal was sent to Bishop Profuturus of Braga containing decisions on various questions of church discipline. Bishop Auxanius and his successor, Aurelian of Arles, entered into communication with the pope respecting the granting of the pallium as a mark of the dignity and powers of a papal legate for Gaul; the pope sent suitable letters to the two bishops.
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15427b.htm
Pallium-
As early as the 6th century the pallium was considered a liturgical vestment to be used only in the church, and indeed only during Mass, unless a special privilege determined otherwise. This is proved conclusively by the correspondence between Pope Gregory I and John of Ravenna concerning the use of the pallium
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History --
Siege of Rome (537–538)
The First Siege of Rome during the Gothic War lasted for a year and nine days, from 2 March 537 to 12 March 538.[1] It was fought between the defending East Romans, under general Belisarius, and the Ostrogothic army under king Vitiges. The siege was the first major encounter between the forces of the two opponents, and played a decisive role in the subsequent development of the war.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Rome_(537%E2%80%93538)
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In 538 AD there are a few notable events. Just as in 1798 the Pope was pulled from power and exiled until he died in 1799, events can begin that continue on, or events and culminate. The importance of something begun can't be overlooked. We are looking at the little horn power and at this time in history papal and military we can see the influence of the two combined and separately. The intertwining of the Papal influence with things secular, things military can't be denied.
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'After Agapetus's death on April 22, 536, Vigilius returned to Rome equipped with letters from the imperial Court and with money. Meanwhile Pope Silverius had been made pope through the influence of the King of the Goths. Soon after this the Byzantine commander Belisarius garrisoned the city of Rome, which was, however, besieged again by the Goths. Vigilius gave Belisarius the letters from the Court of Constantinople, which recommended Vigilius himself for the Papal See. False accusations now led Belisarius to depose Silverius. Owing to the pressure exerted by the Byzantine commander, Vigilius was elected pope in place of Silverius and was consecrated and enthroned on March 29, 537.
Vigilius brought it about that the deposed Silverius was put into his keeping where the late pope soon died from the harsh treatment he received. After the death of this predecessor Vigilius was recognized as pope by all the Roman clergy. Much in these accusations against Vigilius appears to be exaggerated, but the manner of his elevation to the See of Rome was not regular.'
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One Pope- Silverius was established but another man desiring to be pope used false means (secular means-governmental not religious means) to dispose of Silverius. He didn't kill him outright, in fact the exact date of his death is unknown. Vigilius the man who was instrumental in this deception had the disposed pope treated very harshly until he did die and then Vigilius became the Pope- all because of the mingling of the religion with the politics of the time. This is important to note, because in 1798 when the Pope was torn from power by the military authority it is very, very similar to Pope Silverius' disposal. Torn from power by deception, in exile they both died. This is a connection we cannot fail to make. While it began in 537, again, the exact date of the pope's death isn't know and it's definite that in 538 the successor pope was in charge having begun fully and completely leaving NO doubt that the papacy had been gained through deception, it was thoroughly corrupt … this man's 'elevation to the See of Rome was not regular'. No, it was far from regular but it was right on time to usher in the evil mingling fully that had been slowly creeping into play. I read somewhere, but it's too late for me to look for it now and I'm tired (maybe tomorrow hehe) that Pope Silverius was one of the last genuinely good Pope's that would exist for a long, long time. Of course we know the whole of it, the man of sin was at work right away guiding things to suit himself and in 538 AD we are left with NO doubt that the corruption was sealed and would only continue on and on growing over time- history proves this without a doubt.
Only those with willing eyes will see, only those with willing ears will hear… only a very small group will accept truth where it is exposed. I pray to God we are among those elect. Please God help us to hear and see all that we need to, all according to Your righteousness not because any of us have any righteousness in and of ourselves. We are only deserving through Christ, because He is deserving and it's through Him we pray, live, and love.
All glory to God!
Thank you Jesus!
Amen.
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