Revelation 13 verse
11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns
like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. 12 And he exerciseth all
the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which
dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
From all we've
studied, and there has been a lot of studying if you've truly kept up with this
over the last few months or so, we know that this 'another beast coming up out
of the earth' identifies as a rulership, a power that rises from the United
States. This power holds all the power
of the FIRST beast- the first beast being identified as the Papacy. What sort of power does the Papacy have-
religious and political combined. As
much as we know the constitution states this--
"Separation of
church and state" is a phrase used by Thomas Jefferson and others
expressing an understanding of the intent and function of the Establishment
Clause and Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution of
the United States which reads: "Congress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."
The intent of this
clause was to limit the power of the Federal Government in regard to religion
thus ensuring freedom of religion in the United States of America.
The phrase
"separation of church and state" is generally traced to a January 1,
1802 letter by Thomas Jefferson, addressed to the Danbury Baptist Association
in Connecticut, and published in a Massachusetts newspaper. Jefferson wrote,
“ "I
contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people
which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus
building a wall of separation between Church &
State."[1] ”
Jefferson was
echoing the language of the founder of the first Baptist church in America,
Roger Williams who had written in 1644 of "[A] hedge or wall of separation
between the garden of the church and the wilderness of the world."Article
Six of the United States Constitution also specifies that "no religious
Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust
under the United States."
Jefferson's metaphor
of a wall of separation has been cited repeatedly by the U.S. Supreme Court. In
Reynolds v. United States (1879) the Court wrote that Jefferson's comments
"may be accepted almost as an authoritative declaration of the scope and effect
of the [First] Amendment." In Everson v. Board of Education (1947),
Justice Hugo Black wrote: "In the words of Thomas Jefferson, the clause
against establishment of religion by law was intended to erect a wall of
separation between church and state."[2]
However, the Court has not always interpreted the constitutional
principle as absolute, and the proper extent of separation between government
and religion in the U.S. remains an ongoing subject of impassioned debate.[3][4][5][6]
*
Politics and
religion in the United States
Robert N. Bellah has in his writings that although the separation of
church and state is grounded firmly in the constitution of the United States,
this does not mean that there is no religious dimension in the political
society of the United States. He used the term "Civil Religion" to describe the
specific relation between politics and religion in the United States. His 1967
article analyzes the inaugural speech of John F. Kennedy: "Considering the separation of church and state, how is a
president justified in using the word 'God' at all? The answer is that the
separation of church and state has not denied the political realm a religious
dimension."[60]
Robert S. Wood has
argued that the United States is a model for the world in terms of how a
separation of church and state—no state-run or state-established church—is good
for both the church and the state, allowing a variety of religions to
flourish.[61] Speaking at the Toronto-based Center for New Religions, Wood said
that the freedom of conscience and assembly allowed under such a system has led
to a "remarkable religiosity" in the United States that isn't present
in other industrialized nations.[61] Wood believes that the U.S. operates on "a sort of civic religion," which includes a
generally-shared belief in a creator who "expects better of us."
Beyond that, individuals are free to decide how they want to believe and fill
in their own creeds and express their conscience. He calls this approach the
"genius of religious sentiment in the United States."[61]
*
Still today there
are many court related discussions on religion and politics, this is NOT a said
and done thing. They didn't state there
is a separation between religion and politics and from that time forward the two
were completely exclusive. What makes that impossible is people having a
religion and needing to live their lives as that religion dictates and being
unable to do so if it must be abandoned at the door to their workplace or
secular life. When politics began to say
you have to stop practicing(living) what you believe when you enter various
places, that's when things get heated up. To say those calling the United
States a place with a 'civil/civic religion' would be very, very true. We have
NOT and can never completely separate religion and politics without doing away
with one or the other, otherwise it's impossible.
The second beast
here in the book of Revelation, chapter 13, is this BEAST power that has the
power of mingled religion and politics, and the two horns-
Let's read an
excerpt from Daniel and Revelation by Uriah Smith-
' 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 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. '
*
This second beast -
Revelation 13 verse 11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth;
and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. 12
And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth
and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was
healed.
Comes up in the
United States, is lamb-like but will speak as a DRAGON, and will exercise the
same power of the religious political power that the Papacy has, and this will
cause those that dwell in the United States to worship the first beast who as
we know had a deadly would but that would has since been healed. And truly
today many people are worshiping the papacy power. The Catholic Church and its
beloved Pope are very popular- extremely popular today in ways they have never
been before.
We are talking about
OUR TIME here, RIGHT NOW, TODAY!
We are LIVING in
this prophecy!
YOU ARE LIVING IN
THIS PROPHECY! YOU!
If you are a
Christian and you believe in God's word as truth, then you know through this IN
DEPTH study with MANY, MANY incredible FACTS in history, that what we have
studied is TRUTH and relevant to US today! How do we know this? Our Savior has promised to return and has
given us these great prophecies so we could WATCH and PRAY, so we could DISCERN
the times in which we live. We do NOT want to be among those who are wretched
spiritually poor, miserable, blind and naked! We want to be blessed as we read
and KEEP the things in the book of Revelation! We NEED to comprehend that there
is a mark of the Beast, and there are seven plagues, and it is all relevant to
US who hope and pray to be alive at the coming of our SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST!
No comments:
Post a Comment