The history of the United States from 400 BC to late 1492AD Is what? Is there a detailed history of the United States, or rather the land the United States is founded upon during that time? No, not other than the Native Americans living amongst themselves in the vast open land. The land was ripe for the picking and the picking occurred horrifically, and yet NOT like it was done in the land of Palestine, Egypt, Europe. Those lands were spent in conquering through numerous wars. Even the barbarians of those wars were considered more civilized than any found in the lands that would become the United States. When people arrived in what would be the United States they did not find any sort of army in which to wage an all-out full scale war against. They found what they deemed savages who had no modern amenities, no real houses, nothing like the "civilized" world had. They found a people to conquer in a different way. The taking of the land was done over 300 some odd years give or take, exchanging hands with those countries in Europe and such, France, Spain, England… until 1776 when ridding itself of all outside rule, the United States formed its OWN country with a government completely different from any known government. They did not elect any king and set up a monarchy. They did not set up a dictatorship of any sort. This new government declared their independence from all others and wanted to prove things could be done differently.
The history of Palestine is long, so much longer than the United States. The history of Europe is exceedingly longer than that of the United States as well. What is my point here? My point is what does the BIBLE have to say about the United States? Yes, the BIBLE. The United States wasn't on any ones radar during the entire time the Bible - Old and New Testaments were being written. God knew of its existence though. God knew and it had/has a very big part in His word.
God knew that another power would come into existence yet be different than those known up until then. This power however would eventually grow to take on the image of the power of the Papacy. Look at us now in 2022. Look at us poised on the edge of making a law whose roots are founded in the belief of Spiritualism. Yes, it's true, yet very few will look at the deep roots buried deeply beneath the surface. They don't care about the roots, just the pretty flower blooming above ground. They don't care about the source that is feeding the flower, their minds are only focused on the surface. They say nothing else matters, but it does, it really does. The controlling roots that feed the flower which everyone will be forced to partake of in one way or another, is just another detail that God foresaw must occur as the Beast and its Image fulfil the prophecies slated for them to fulfil before our Lord and Savior returns and ushers in the wondrous Eternal Life. May we be HIS now and always!!!!!!! All through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, NOW and FOREVER!!!!!!! Amen!
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CHAPTER XIII. THE BEAST WITH TWO HORNS
Following the description of the beast with seven heads and ten horns, in Rev. 13:1-10, is that of a beast with two horns, which we must now examine, inasmuch as they are closely related in the fulfillment as they are in the record.
We have seen that in the description of the third beast, the locality and extent of its dominion are perfectly identified. Some have said that the power of the papacy was great in degree, but quite limited in extent.
Already in 325, when the church was organized according to the provinces of the whole empire, the primacy was given to the bishop of Rome.
In 538 ALL the churches of the whole East were subjected to him; and even before this he was the central power of the western churches, being considered the representative of orthodoxy, and its constant defender.
According to the prophecy, the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. And so great was his authority that it was asked, Who is able to make war with him? If any yet doubt of the extent of his dominion, let them point to the king or the nation who dared to resist the authority of the popes during the middle ages of the Christian era. The mightiest kings led his horse, held his stirrup when he mounted, or prostrated themselves at his feet. Was there any other ruler on the face of the earth so nobly served, and so highly honored? All know that there was not. The description of this beast indicates that he was the heir to the monarchies represented by the lion, the bear, the leopard, and the dreadful and terrible beast of Daniel 7. And this was the case. Was not the dominion of Rome as extensive as that of the preceding kingdoms? And did not the spiritual authority of the popes extend to the full extent of the empire? And did they not, in their spiritual authority, rule over the kings of the earth? Not the shadow of a reason can be given for denying the great extent of the rule of the papacy.
And, therefore, if we have another beast, not having any of the features of the beast of Daniel 7, we must conclude that it comes up outside of the limits of their dominion. But they ruled over the whole earth. Daniel said to Nebuchadnezzar that the God of Heaven had given him a kingdom and dominion wheresoever the children of men dwell. From Eastern or Central Asia to Africa and to the Atlantic, the dominions of those beasts extended. As their dominion was worldwide, how can it be that another beast should rise up, but not within the bounds of their dominions?
It could be possible only by this beast coming up in some part of the earth not included in the world as known to the ancients. If it came up on the territory of any of the four beasts of Daniel 7, we should expect that it would present some of the features of those beasts, somewhat after the fashion of the first beast; but it does not. Its description is as follows:--
Rev. 13:11. "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."
The beasts of Daniel 7 all rose out of the sea; and so did the first beast of Revelation 13. Waters, according to Rev. 17:15, represent "peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues." They were kingdoms that arose among the multitudes of people, and such kingdoms generally rise by means of revolutions and strifes. This was indicated in Daniel 7 by the striving of the winds upon the sea, whence the four beasts came up. But John saw this beast coming up out of the earth. It was coming up at the time that the other beast went into captivity, namely, in 1798. It was coming out of the earth, as a plant grows, and not by the striving of the people. These and other facts point unmistakably to the power which was then growing up on the newly-discovered continent of America--the United States.
It did not arise by overturning other governments, but by improving wild forests, by conquering the wilderness. History does not record the rise and growth and actions of any nation or government that perfectly fulfills the prophetic description of this beast, except the United States.
It had two horns like a lamb, and the horns had no crowns upon them, as was the case with the ten horns of the first beast--quite different in appearance from the other. The horns of a lamb express both youthfulness and innocence. We have learned by Daniel 7 that a horn may represent a church power. The following remarks on this point are copied from "Thoughts on the Revelation," chap. 13, p. 567:--
"One of these horns may therefore represent the civil republican power of this government, and the other the Protestant ecclesiastical. This application is warranted by the facts already set forth respecting the horns of the other powers. For,
(1) the two horns may belong to one beast, and denote a union instead of division, as in the case of the ram in Daniel 8;
(2) a horn may denote a purely ecclesiastical element, as the little horn of Daniel's fourth beast; and
(3) a horn may denote the civil power alone, as in the case of the first horn of the Grecian goat. On the basis of these facts, we have these two elements, Republicanism and Protestantism, here united in one government, and represented by two horns like the horns of a lamb. And these are nowhere else to be found; nor have they appeared since the time when we could consistently look for the rise of the two horned beast, in any nation upon the face of the earth, except our own. This nation must therefore be the power in question."
And yet it will be seen in the end that it has the same nature, in some respects, as the other beast, for "it speaks as a dragon." This is the climax, reached before the history is given, according to what was pointed out as of frequent occurrence in prophecy.
To be continued…
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