Excerpt from Daniel
and Revelation by Uriah Smith 1897--
Revelation 13-
VERSE 1. And I stood upon the sand of the sea,
and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and
upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. 2.
And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet
were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the
dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. 3.
And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly
wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. 4.
And they worshiped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they
worshiped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make
war with him? 5. And there was given unto him a mouth
speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue
forty and two months. 6. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy
against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in
heaven. 7. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints,
and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues,
and nations. 8. And all that dwell upon the earth shall
worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. 9. If any man have an ear, let
him hear. 10. He that leadeth into captivity shall go into
captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here
is the patience and the faith of the saints.
6. Character
of the Government Symbolized by the Two-horned Beast. -
Under this division
of the subject we find still further evidence that the symbol represents the
United States government. In describing this power, John says that it had
"two horns like a lamb." The horns of a lamb indicate, first,
youthfulness, and secondly, innocence and gentleness. As a power which has but
recently arisen, the United States answers to the symbol admirably in respect
to age; while no other power, as has already been proved, can be found to do
this. And considered as an index of power and character, it can be decided what
constitutes the two horns of the government, if it can be ascertained what is
the secret of its strength and power, and
p 578 --
(picture omitted)
p 579 -- what
reveals its apparent character, or constitutes its outward profession. The Hon.
J. A. Bingham gives us the clue to the whole matter when he states that the
object of those who first sought these shores was to found "what the world
had not seen for ages; viz., a church without a pope, and a state without a
king." Expressed in other words, this would be a government in which the
ecclesiastical should be separate from the civil power, and civil and religious
liberty reign supreme.
It needs no argument
to show, and even the statement is unnecessary, that this is precisely the
profession of the American government. Article IV., sec. 4 of the Constitution
of the United States, reads: "The United States shall guarantee
to every state in this union a republican form of government."
Article VI: "No religious test shall ever be required
as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States."
The first amendment of the Constitution (Art. 1) begins as
follows: "Congress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."
These articles profess the amplest guarantee of civil and
religious liberty, the entire and perpetual separation of church and state; and
what better symbols of them could be given than "two horns like a
lamb"? In what other country can be found a condition of things which
would meet so completely this feature of the symbol?
7.
A Republican Government. - The two-horned beast symbolizes a nation with
a republican form of government. This is shown by the absence of crowns both
upon its head and its horns. A crown is an appropriate symbol of a kingly or
monarchical form of government; and the absence of crowns, as in this case,
would suggest a government in which the power is not vested in any such ruling
member, but is, per consequence, lodged in the hands of the people.
But this is not the
most conclusive proof that the nation here symbolized is republican in its form
of government. From verse 14 we learn that appeal is made to the people when
any national action is to be performed: "Saying to them that
dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast," etc.
p 580 -- Were the
government a monarchy, national questions would hardly be submitted in this
unqualified manner to the people; and the fact that appeal is here made to the
people shows that the form of the government is such that the power is vested
in their hands; and this is emphatically the case in the United States
government, but not in any other government to which any one could reasonably
think of applying this symbol. This is another strong link in the chain of
evidence that this symbol must apply to the United States of America.
8.
A Protestant Nation. - The two-horned beast also symbolizes a
government which is Protestant in religion, or which, at least, is a
non-Catholic power. It has been shown that the preceding beast symbolized the
papacy; and of the two-horned beast we read that he causeth the earth and them
which dwell therein to worship the first beast. But in all Catholic countries,
the people voluntarily worship the beast, or obey the dictates of Catholicism,
without being "caused," or compelled, to do so by the government. The
fact that the people of this government do not render this worship till caused
to do so by the civil power, shows,that the religion they entertain is not
Catholicism. As an almost inevitable consequence, it follows that it is
Protestantism! for these are the only two religions of any consequence in
Christendom. The United States is a Protestant nation, and meets the
requirements of the prophecy admirably in this respect. Thus again the prophecy
points directly to this government.
9.
The Dragon Voice. - After contemplating all the good features presented
in this symbol, it is with pain we read that. "he spake as a dragon."
Before entering upon a discussion of,this ic, let us look at the points already
established. It has been shown,
(1) That the government symbolized by
the two-horned beast must be some government distinct from the powers of the
Old World, whether civil or ecclesiastical.
(2) That it must arise in the Western
Hemisphere.
(3) That it must be seen assuming a
position of prominence and influence about the year 1798.
p 581 -- (4)
That it must rise in a peaceful and quiet manner, not augmenting its power, as
other nations have done, by aggressive wars and successful conquests.
(5) That its progress must be so rapid
as to strike the beholder with as much wonder as would the perceptible growth
of an animal before his eyes.
(6) That it must be republican in its
form of government.
(7) That it must be Protestant in its
religion.
(8) That it must exhibit before the
world, as an index of its character and the elements of its government, two
great principles which are in themselves perfectly just, innocent, and
lamblike.
(9) That it must perform its work this
side of 1798.
And we have seen
that of these nine specifications, it can be said, first, that they are all
perfectly met in the history of the United States thus far; and secondly, that
they are not met in the history of any other government on the face of the
earth. It is therefore impossible to apply the symbol of Rev. 13:11 to any
other government but that of the United States.
But after
describing. the lamblike appearance of this symbol, the prophet immediately
adds this, "And he spake as a dragon." The dragon, the first link in
this chain of prophecy, was a relentless persecutor of the church of God. The
leopard beast, which follows, was likewise a persecuting power, grinding out
for 1260 years the lives of millions of the followers of Christ. The third
actor in the scene, the two-horned beast, speaks like the first, and thus shows
himself to be a dragon at heart; "for out of the abundance of the heart,
the mouth speaketh," and in the heart actions are conceived. This, then,
like the others, is to be a persecuting power; and the reason that any of them
are mentioned in prophecy, is simply because they are persecuting powers. And
if the United States is the power intended by this symbol which speaks as a
dragon, it follows that this government is to enact unjust and oppressive laws
against the religious profession and practice of some of its subjects.
Nor is this so
improbable an event as might at first appear. We must remember that in the last
days the vast majority of
p 582 -- the people
of the most favored lands are to relapse into the low moral condition described
in such scriptures as Matt. 24:12; 2 Tim. 3:1-5; 2 Peter 3:3, 4; Luke 17:26-30;
18: 8; and it is from such that those who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer
persecution. 2 Tim. 3:12.
Evil is also
threatened from another quarter. Roman Catholicism, which has grown strong
through immigration, has fixed its rapacious eyes on the United States,
determined to bring this government under its power. Votes rule here, and
Romanism controls an immense suffrage, which it carefully manipulates to its
own ends. With such a weapon in its hands, its power for evil is almost
unlimited; for multitudes of unscrupulous politicians, who under their
country's pay, labor not for their country's good but for their own selfish
aggrandizement, stand ready to help any party carry out any scheme, no matter
how wicked, if that party will keep them in office.
Within recent years
we have witnessed the ominous phenomenon of the consolidation of the Catholic
elements in this country into one gigantic society, or "federation,"
as it is known, which holds annual conventions in our large cities, and conducts
an active campaign in the interests of the Catholic church. The federation has
been careful to announce that it was not going into politics, - meaning by this
that it would not ally itself with any one political party, knowing of course
that to form such an alliance would be to incur the opposition of other
political parties. It is however in politics with the idea of controlling all
political parties, and having the opposition of none, which is the very worst
sense in which any church party can be in politics. This great federation,
which now has more than two million members, can swing its vote and its
influence solidly against any political or governmental action to which it is
opposed; and as between the political parties which are contending for the
mastery in this country, it easily holds the balance of power, and can dictate
terms to either; so that no matter how an election turns, it is sure to go in
favor of the papacy. Already this organization has boasted of its power over
Congress. When it seemed likely that this
p 583 -- government
would join with England in some action toward putting an end to the atrocities
practiced in the so-called Congo Free State under the rule of his Catholic
Majesty Leopold I of Belgium, the federation intervened, and a feature of the
secretary's report at the next convention (held at Indianapolis, July, 1907),
was a lengthy statement setting forth how the federation had taken action
"refraining the United States from any act of intervention in Congo
affairs."
And not only does
the federation aim to control legislation, national and state, but it is
conducting an active campaign for the suppression of all anti-Catholic
literature in public libraries, and even from circulation in the mails.
The regular
attendance of the President, and other high government officials, at mass in a
Catholic church in Washington on Thanksgiving days, and the participation of
the President and Vice-president, and Ex-president, and leading members of
Congress, at the jubilee of Cardinal Gibbons (June, 1911) are marked
indications of the strong hold which Rome is securing upon this Protestant
republic.
In addition to this,
we have Spiritualism, infidelity, socialism, free love, and trades unions, or
labor against capital, and communism, - all assiduously spreading their
principles among the masses. These are the very principles that worked among
the people, as the exciting cause, just prior to the terrible French Revolution
of l789 and onward. Human nature is the same in all ages, and like causes will
surely produce like effects.
*******
And today in the
year 2015 we know just how far the Roman Catholic church and it's leaders have
infiltrated our government. Just this
year the Pope-Catholic Leadership played a HUGE part in the United States and
Cuba becoming diplomatic friends after 54 years.
The Papacy has GREAT
influence in the United States, now more than ever. They are leading a charge
on climate control that the U.S. is in agreement with and so much more. The
POPE addressed the United States CONGRESS when he visit here this year- for the
first time ever!
There are six
supreme court justices who are Catholic! Six out of twelve!
Because we live in a
world where people are quick to shout racism, prejudice etc, when you dare to
pick out any one group and talk bad about them, I'm sure there are many who
want me to shut up and not say a word about the Catholic church. I'm sure they want
me to say it doesn't matter, only loving God matters and it doesn't matter what
religion or what beliefs we have.
I say READ YOUR
BIBLES!
I've been shouting
for a while now that there are going to be MANY who believe they are Jesus',
but He will NOT KNOW THEM! Why don't
people get this?! Why isn't this REAL to people?! So real they study to find
the truth, not wanting to be among those who believe they are Christ's and are
not!
More on all this
tomorrow, by the will of God!
All through our
Savior, Jesus Christ our LORD!
Now and forever!
Amen.
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