Living Until the End of Prophecy

******* Continuing our prophecy study--  Please GO back and read the study from the beginning to gain full understanding of where we are if you haven't been following this study daily.  Thank you :)  God bless you! ******

Dan 11:45  And he (the Papacy) shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.

Dan 12:1  And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.

Right up until the very end this Roman power would exist JUST AS PREDICTED.

There is no indication whatsoever that the Papacy will disappear, is there? Can you imagine a world without Catholics- a religious body that has been in existence for over 2000 years? Some did imagine its demise back in the late 1700's early 1800's- but the beast that received what appeared to be a deadly wound was healed.

Rev 13:3  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.

We will be going to the book of Revelation after we finish up the book of Daniel, because the two go hand in hand with this prophecy, and we cannot ignore that fact. 

That statue in Daniel chapter 2 focused on the Middle East- focused on Jerusalem and the surrounding countries, kingdoms, powers  and it tells us the big picture. That prophecy is as sure today as it was when it was given.

NOTHING stopped what was predicted from coming to pass, and NOTHING WILL stop what is yet to come.  Stop believing in God, stop believing in the Savior, stop believing in the Bible, turn your back upon everything-  that is your choice and it's a choice we all have- to believe or not to believe.

When we are given proof through prophecy, proof in history then we have ONLY ourselves to  blame when we turn our backs on truth.  Regardless of every single belief a person in any religion has, there are facts that can't be disputed. As you dispute the Bible and say it's all fantasy, all fable, all made up nonsense then explain how that made up nonsense that only fools would belief could predict our future so perfectly? Lucky guess? Hardly.  There is proof for those who are not blinded by their own deceit, who are not blinded by their own desire to remain blind. The blind however can happily say they see nothing and believe it to be the truth- their nothingness, but in the end everything will  be revealed as PREDICTED.

By God's grace alone are we saved. By the righteousness of our Savior alone do we have hope. By faith in our God we have to live.  Satan will try to strip it all away from us and he will succeed for most, it is only through God's mercy that we can be His.  The choice we make to believe -that is where it all ultimately lies, that is what is within our grasp- our choice. When we make our choice then we place our lives in God's hands or Satan's hands.

When that time of trouble comes, God's people will be protected, they will have been sealed as His, living completely in the righteousness of Christ. Those who are not protected will feel the horrific effects of that time of trouble the precursor to the coming of our LORD.  More on all that as we study Revelation.

This verse however struck me today for some reason-

Psa 34:19  Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.

The righteous are NOT promised an end to the afflictions of life as numerous and horrific as they can be, there is NO exemption for those who choose to be God's. 

MANY are the afflictions of the righteous.

MANY afflictions for those who are God's. 

TOO many people blame God day in and day out for everything that goes wrong in their lives.  TOO many claim that as proof that there is no God because He lets good people suffer. TOO many can't face the truth, that MANY afflictions come to the righteous. Believing in God is not a get out of jail free card, it's not a get out of life's troubles card, it's not a free pass from turmoil and the greatest of heartaches.  Why there is that misconception that God is out to get someone, that God hates someone because He allows intense pain and heartache I don't know. Often the closer we are to God the greater challenges we face because Satan wants to steal us back and he'll go to get lengths to do just that.

How many people willing put a target on their backs in a middle of a war?  Not many. Yet that is sort of what we do when we choose God over the world, over satan.  We place a spiritual flare on top of our heads. We have a loudly beeping tracker attached to us and satan will NOT hesitate to pounce on us with attack after attack.  Does that mean God isn't protecting us? NO!  God will protect our ETERNAL LIFE! Everything here right now should be counted as expendable, even if it breaks our hearts in a million trillion pieces.  Eternal life will be time enough for joy, time enough for no more heartache or pain.  Right now we have to know that our Savior suffered in a way we can't even imagine and the suffering we are called to endure is nothing compared to His. He is our all in all and in Him we find life eternal.

Easy for me to say- I know people will think that, but believe me Satan knows how to attack anyone who chooses God over Him and I'm NO exception. 

Prophecy is amazing. Prophecy comes true.  And by the grace of God we will live to the end of all prophecy.

By His grace may we live always in HIM!

Amen.

Living in Predicted Time.

Yesterday we began to delve into what I believe could be or could not be unfilled prophecy.  What I do know is this, the papacy has NOT come to its end. The little horn power has not come to its end, the beast power has not come to its end. How do I know this? Because evil still exists in our world and our Savior has not yet returned for us.

Let's re-read the same verses we read yesterday-- (Note- parenthesis content is added by me). But first…

Previously we determined through this prophecy in Daniel 11 that the 'him, he' in the following verses are the Papacy. If you have NOT read the previous studies which clearly lead up to this truth through the study of history and prophecy then you really need to. I do NOT want you to take my word for this! I do not want you to read this and wonder how in the world I came up with this stuff. I would tell you to please, go back and read these prophecy studies from the very beginning for continuity. This is the 54th  study in this series on prophecy so there is a whole lot to read to comprehend how I got to this point. You do not start in the middle of a book and expect to understand what's going on. This isn't a book but the same principle holds true. So please, don't dismiss this out of hand because it sounds absurd to you, pray and ask God to guide you to all truth and please read the study from the start.

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Dan 11:40  And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him (the Papacy): and the king of the north shall come against him (the Papacy) like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he (the Papacy) shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.

Dan 11:41  He (the Papacy) shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his (the Papacy) hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.

Dan 11:42  He (the Papacy) shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.

Dan 11:43  But he (the Papacy) shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.

Dan 11:44  But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him (the Papacy): therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.

Dan 11:45  And he (the Papacy) shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.

Now, we ALL know that mankind put the chapters and verses divisions into the Bible and sometimes there are continuations that should be there where they are not.

Let's continue a bit…

Dan 12:1  And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
*
AND at that time, what time? When the Papacy plants the tabernacle of his palace between the seas and the glorious holy mountain (Jerusalem),  the Papacy would come to his end and none will help him- and at THAT time- MICHAEL shall stand up, that great prince (Jesus) which stands for the children of thy people.

The Papacy meets its end- and then Jesus stands up!

Where is Jesus? In the Heavenly Sanctuary, the same sanctuary that needed to be cleansed. That cleansing began in 1844. After 6000 some years of sin, with the last 172 years of cleansing underway from ALL that sin accumulated over time- we are STILL In the cleansing phase and will remain in that cleansing phase until our SAVIOR stands up, until His work in heaven as our High Priest is over and He takes on the crown of King of Kings who comes as conquering Deliverer!

Do you see!? We are so close to this amazing second coming of our Savior! We are living in predicted time- every human being alive is living in predicted time. We have to watch and pray, we are told to watch and pray and there is SO much we need to watch and so many prayers we need to pray!

We'll continue with more tomorrow but we really need to think about this- OUR FUTURE! If you hope to be alive when our Savior returns then this has to interest you! I know I hope to be alive when Jesus returns and this interests me a great deal.  There is going to be a period of time between the moment our Savior ceases His cleansing work as our High Priest and when He returns for us. One thing is certain that in that time we will be living under the full righteousness of our Savior, under His full grace - cleansed and free from all sin. In that state of being made clean, in that completely purified state we will be ready for our Savior when he comes for us. We won't be cleaned in any way by our own power, we cannot cleanse ourselves- all our righteousness is as filthy rags.  Christ must cleanse us, Christ's righteousness must be ours- we have no righteousness of our own.  All through Christ, everything through our Savior.

May we grow closer and closer to our Lord, our only hope, our LOVE!

By His grace! By His mercy! By His forgiveness!

Amen!

Prophecy - yet unfulfilled.

******* Continuing our prophecy study--  Please GO back and READ the study from the beginning to gain full understanding of where we are if you haven't been following this study daily.  Thank you :)  God bless you! ******

As this prophetic interpretation of the angel to Daniel begins to come to a close we can't help but understand that the end of this  message has to include our time.  At some point we KNOW that the stone cut out of the mountain without hands, will destroy the statue that represents earth as we know it. The kingdoms focused on were centered around the apostate force- those opposing God's people time and time again and giving rise to the beast power that would last for thousands of years right up until the very end - only to be destroyed completely by our Savior's triumphant return.

Babylon
Medo-Persia
Greece
Rome- Pagan and Papal
A broken empire that would include that Roman power.

Do we really live in the time of the broken empire that includes Rome?

Never has the world seen a kingdom such as the Roman Empire since its dismantling, never!
Rome still exists and shows NO indication of disappearing- ever.
The power that came up, that strange, diverse power- a religious power mingled with politics- the Papacy still exists today and show NO signs of disappearing- ever.

So proud of their 2000 year history, this Papal power will have a part to play right up until the end of the world as we know it and the return of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior who will take His saints back to heaven with Him.

As we continue on keeping in mind this is all PROPHETIC, there comes a point now where things begin to blur because as mentioned before- we will enter a time when we are living in what is prophesized and not have history to point at.

When we think of history with all the battles, all the wars, all the crusades, all the military campaigns, we have to stop for a moment and think about life today.  I read something really interesting the other day- it said that we are already in WWIII, only most people don't realize it because WWIII is being waged on a much different scale than ever before.  WWIII is a war that involves technology unlike any in years past. WWIII involves the cyber world, it involves economy, it involves destructive politics.

Yes, a lot of that is the same, but the MEANS have changed. Rather than battle with weapons of physical warfare, these battles are fought on a whole new level of intelligence. We're not dealing with a small country here, or small country there, we have huge countries and the means to be in contact with those huge countries instantaneously! Such ways of warfare were completely unimagined in times past. These last couple hundreds of years have changed the entire face of warfare.  Do we take this into consideration when dealing with prophecy? We have to. We cannot pretend the changes in technology, the changes in society do not matter at all, we can't. If we ignore life the way it exists now then we are saying our lives do not fit into history, they do not fit into prophecy and our lives HAVE to fit into prophecy because we exist- the end has not come yet. So with this in mind we NEED to move our thinking forward to life today and not keep it back in time without our advanced technology.

The prophecies we've read so far have shown us beyond a doubt that the power in long lasting control changed from strictly political to a combination of political and religious. Throughout time the political/religious power has had its ups and downs but during it all that power has believed in things that have made it corrupt and time has only reaffirmed this evil power over and over. The blasphemy of this religious/political power is well documented, well known. We've discussed this at length so there's no need to go through it all again, if you missed some of the studies feel free to go back and read them.

At the time of the end…

As time has gone on and on we've come to a place that many believe is the end.

Let's read more of Daniel…

Dan 11:40  And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
Dan 11:41  He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.
Dan 11:42  He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
Dan 11:43  But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.
Dan 11:44  But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.
Dan 11:45  And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.

Now broken down with interjections noting the one spoken of if we are to follow in line with the previous prophecy in Daniel 11, in parenthesis-

Dan 11:40  And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him (the Papacy): and the king of the north shall come against him (the Papacy) like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he (the Papacy) shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
Dan 11:41  He  (the Papacy) shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his  (the Papacy) hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.
Dan 11:42  He  (the Papacy) shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
Dan 11:43  But he  (the Papacy) shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.
Dan 11:44  But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him  (the Papacy): therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.
Dan 11:45  And he  (the Papacy) shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.
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This says so much,  so incredibly much.  And so many things I've read say that we shouldn't even attempt this section of prophecy because it's yet unfulfilled. To me it has meaning but on a different level. I can't back any of my *takes* up on this with wikipedia excerpts,  or maybe I can to a certain extent. I'm just going to try to explain where I'm coming from on this but I'm not setting any of the following in stone, I can't. By the grace of God may I not be spouting off nonsense.

The Papacy - the Catholic religion which calls itself the One True Church of God- has in its history ups and downs without any doubt. However, the Catholic church HAS managed to infiltrate much of the world in one way or another.  This church has millions and millions of followers and so it's correct to say that many people have been caught under the deception of this power. We also know that there are millions who have escaped this powerful deception.  When this prophecy mentions Edom, Moab, and Ammon- is it possible these are the prominent areas of the Moslem faith? When we talk about the treasures of gold and silver, and precious things of Egypt- antiquities of the past- it's not farfetched to look at the Vatican which has billions of dollars, and vaults of treasures which are renown. It's also safe to say that there IS opposition to the Papacy - yes? We can read so much about the East, North - China, Russia- and their history past and current is decidedly anti-Catholic, while still allowing for its own version of religion. There is tension, well known tension, well documented.

(http://ncronline.org/news/vatican/pope-francis-praises-china-latest-effort-thaw-chilly-relations)

(http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/12/pope-francis-russian-orthodox-patriarch-kirill-make-history-cuba-first-meeting-in-1000-years  )

Just two examples.

We cannot IGNORE all this! We can't!  Is it true? Does this fit the prophecy, honestly I don't know, I don't, I can only pray and hope that as this does come to pass, or if it has come to pass that God will open my eyes to see.

Now there is a lot more to all this and we'll continue with it tomorrow by the grace of God. His will be done always!

In His amazing love!

Amen.

If history has unfolded prophecy before our eyes how can we close our eyes to it and pretend it's all false? How?

The truth.

The followers of Christ - from Jesus all the way until today will be reviled for their beliefs.  Many, many followers of Christ have been put to death for daring to preach truth. Today, right now in some countries, Christians are being put to death for daring to believe in Christ and giving witness to their belief in Christ.  The truth is not popular and has never been popular, it is found on the very narrow path, not the broad path where many will be led to, deceived.

This is truth-

Rev 1:1  The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:
Rev 1:2  Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.
Rev 1:3  Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

Do you read and hear and keep the words of prophecy? Do you even know them at all in the least? It's too easy to allow ourselves to be led astray by pleasing, soothing words. It's too easy to just take bits and pieces of God's truth and call it a day.  God would have us know Him and be known by Him and we do this through prayer, through study- constantly learning through His word, through His truth all through the Holy Spirit.

Prophecy's truth is unveiled in history. We have a lot of history behind us to look to. May God guide us through it all to see His amazing love, Jesus Christ gave us these books of prophecy to bless us, may we be blessed!


******* Continuing our PROPHECY study--  Please GO back and read the study from the beginning to gain full understanding of where we are if you haven't been following this study daily.  Thank you :)  God bless you! ******

Dan 11:36  And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
Dan 11:37  Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.
Dan 11:38  But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
Dan 11:39  Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for gain.

The lure of power. Possessing power is so enticing. With power comes a certain sense of protection, superiority, invincibility.  How often do things begin with seemingly good intentions only to end up falling apart? Getting things in order, creating a system so that there isn't chaos is a perfectly good idea but when that order ends up with ONE person in charge, inevitably that power, that person is easily corrupted by the position.

When Jesus came to earth and began His ministry years later what was one of the first things He did after facing temptation in the wilderness? He gathered His Apostles to Him.  Note the plural!  Jesus did NOT gather one man to Him, one Apostle. Could He have gathered one? Yes. Jesus could have taken on a single Apostle. Jesus could have trained one man to carry on His work after He was gone. Jesus could have trained that single man all the while allowing for many, many disciples- yes?

How perfect it would have been to leave no doubt as to who was to lead, about how Jesus wanted things set up.  That's not what Jesus did though.  Jesus gathered twelve Apostles, twelve! Twelve to carry on, because even after Judas' betrayal and death, another was appointed to that place of the twelve.

Twelve to be in a position to carry the gospel to the world as Jesus would have it go. Then we have Saul renamed Paul, who was chosen by God as well to carry on His message.  God didn't ever want ONE man in charge of things, not ever! Jesus made this clear when He distinctly answered the Apostles question about which of them was the greatest.

There was to be NO one Apostle placed above another! People have taken various verses of the Bible and claimed this is where this certain disciple was placed above another, but that would be so contradictory to ALL that Jesus previously taught and Jesus would not contradict Himself that way!

Jesus was forever and always to be the HEAD of the body, and then from there on out there would be two shoulders, two arms, two hands, two legs, two feet…there would be MANY parts of the body that would contribute to carrying on His work. For man to set up their OWN plan is contrary to the Savior's wishes.

Yet the papacy did just that, they created a system that eventually had a single MAN standing supreme, the voice of God on earth.  So contrary this is to the word of God it's hard to believe that so many millions are caught up in this lie.

Was this the only lie of the papacy? Not by a long shot.

'Celibacy for priests is a discipline in the Latin Catholic Church, not a doctrine: in other words, a church regulation, but not an integral part of Church teaching. It is based upon the life of Christ and his celibate way of life. However the first pope, St. Peter, as well as many subsequent popes, bishops, and priests during the church's first 270 years were in fact married men, and often fathers. The practice of clerical continence, along with a prohibition of marriage by men once they were ordained a deacon, priest or bishop, is traceable from the time of the Council of Elvira. This law was reinforced in the Directa Decretal (385) and at the Council of Carthage in 390. The tradition of clerical continence developed into a practice of clerical celibacy (ordaining only unmarried men) from the 11th century onward among Latin Rite Catholics and became a formal part of canon law in 1917. This law of clerical celibacy does not apply to Eastern Catholics. Until recently, the Eastern Catholic bishops of North America would generally ordain only unmarried men, for fear that married priests would create scandal. Since Vatican II's call for the restoration of Eastern Catholic traditions, a number of bishops have returned to the traditional practice of ordaining married men to the presbyterate. Bishops are still celibate and normally chosen from the ranks of monks.'

'Because the rule of clerical celibacy is a law and not a doctrine, exceptions can be made, and it can, in principle, be changed at any time by the Pope. Nonetheless, both the present Pope, Benedict XVI, and his predecessor, spoke clearly of their understanding that the traditional practice is unlikely to change.'

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This TRADITIONAL practice is something that has been greatly perverted by the papacy.  What the Word of God tells us is a good thing but not a necessity, they took and made it a necessity and thereby causing untold grief.  But once again this is just another sign of the power they claim to have, a power greater than God's.

Another great lie perpetuated by the papacy is the changing of God's law. Changing the seventh day Sabbath to the first day of the week.  The sheer audacity of any man to think they can change God's law is unbelievable, yet all the proof is there.

And what about Jesus' mother, Mary?  There is NO where in our Bibles that tells us we are to worship her, NO where does the Bible say that she was sinless herself, NO WHERE! Mary was given NO power whatsoever. Yet where does the papacy place Mary? Right up there to be worshipped!  Who created these beliefs- man! Teaching for doctrine the commandments of men!

Mat_15:9  But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

'There is significant diversity in the Marian beliefs and devotional practices of major Christian traditions. The Catholic Church has a number of Marian dogmas, such as the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption. Catholics refer to her as Our Lady and venerate her as the Queen of Heaven and Mother of the Church; most Protestants do not share these beliefs.[8][9]'

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Queen of Heaven!  Entirely UNBIBLICAL! Nowhere to  be found in the BIBLE!

'The Immaculate Conception of Mary is the conception (the being conceived) of the Virgin Mary without, according to the Roman Catholic Church, any stain (in Latin, macula or labes, the second of these two synonymous words being the one used in the formal definition)[1] of original sin.[2] It is one of the four dogmatas in Roman Catholic Mariology. Under this aspect Mary is sometimes called the Immaculata (the Immaculate One), particularly in artistic contexts.[3]

The proclaimed Roman Catholic dogma states "that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin".[1] Being always free from original sin, she was from the start filled with the sanctifying grace that would normally come with baptism after birth.'

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'Roman Catholic Mariology is theology concerned with the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ and developed by the Catholic Church. "The Blessed Virgin, because she is the Mother of God, is believed to hold a certain infinite dignity from the infinite good which is God."[1][2] Theologically, Roman Catholic Mariology deals with not only her life but also with veneration of her in daily life, prayer, hymns, art (where she has been a favorite topic), music, and architecture; in modern and ancient Christianity throughout the ages.[3][4][5]
The development of Roman Catholic Mariology is ongoing. It continues to be shaped not only by papal encyclicals but also by the interplay of forces ranging from sensus fidelium, to the writings of the saints, to the construction of major Marian churches at the sites of Marian apparitions. In some cases, sensus fidelium has influenced Marian papal decisions, providing Mariology with a "theology of the people" component that distinguishes it from other parts of formal theology.
In terms of popular following, membership in Roman Catholic Marian Movements and Societies has grown significantly in the 20th century. This has continued to be matched by support from the Holy See, with Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI) stating: "It is necessary to go back to Mary, if we want to return to the truth about Jesus Christ".[6] The ongoing development of Mariology continued in the 20th century, e.g. in his Angelus address in September 1985 Pope John Paul II coined the term The Alliance of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, and in 1986 addressed the international conference on that topic held at Fátima, Portugal.[7][8][9]'

'Assumption of Mary
Mary was assumed into heaven with body and soul (de fide). Mary, the ever virgin, mother of God was free of original sin. The Immaculate Conception is one basis for the 1950 dogma. Another was the century old Church-wide veneration of the Virgin Mary as being assumed into heaven, which Pope Pius XII referred to in Deiparae Virginis Mariae and reported in Munificentissimus Deus.[52] Although the Assumption was only recently defined as dogma, accounts of the bodily assumption of Mary into heaven have circulated since at least the 5th century. The Catholic Church itself interprets chapter 12 of the Book of Revelation as referring to it. The earliest assumption narrative is the so-called Liber Requiei Mariae (The Book of Mary's Repose), a narrative which survives intact only in an Ethiopic translation. (Stephen J. Shoemaker, Ancient Traditions of the Virgin Mary's Dormition and Assumption] Oxford University Press, 2002, 2006). Probably composed by the 4th century, this early Christian apocryphal narrative may be as early as the 3rd century. Also quite early are the very different traditions of the "Six Books" Dormition narratives. The earliest versions of this apocryphon are preserved by several Syriac manuscripts of the 5th and 6th centuries, although the text itself probably belongs to the 4th century. Later apocrypha based on these earlier texts include the De Obitu S. Dominae, attributed to St. John, a work probably from around the turn of the 6th century that is a summary of the "Six Books" narrative. The story also appears in De Transitu Virginis, a late 5th century work ascribed to St. Melito of Sardis that presents a theologically redacted summary of the traditions in the Liber Requiei Mariae. The Transitus Mariae tells the story of the apostles being transported by white clouds to the death-bed of Mary, each from the town where he was preaching at the hour. The Decretum Gelasianum in the 490s declared some transitus Mariae literature as apocryphal.

An Armenian letter attributed to Dionysus the Areopagite also mentions the event, although this is a much later work, written sometime after the 6th century. Other saints also describe it, notably St Gregory of Tours, St John Damascene, and St Modestus of Jerusalem.

Theological debate about the Assumption continued until 1950 when, in the Apostolic Constitution Munificentissimus Deus, it was defined as definitive doctrine by Pope Pius XII:
 We pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory."[53][54]

Since the 1870 solemn declaration of Papal Infallibility by Vatican I in 1870, this declaration by Pius XII has been the only ex cathedra use of Papal Infallibility. While Pope Pius XII deliberately left open the question of whether Mary died before her Assumption, the more common teaching of the early Fathers is that she did.[55][56]'

Lies!

'Mary as Mediatrix

Main article: Mediatrix
In Catholic teachings, Jesus Christ is the only mediator between God and man.[61] He alone reconciled through his death on the Cross creator and creation. But this does not exclude a secondary mediating role for Mary, preparatory, supportive, in the view of several prominent, but not all Catholics. The teaching that Mary intercedes for all believers and especially those who request her intercession through prayer has been held in the Church since early times, for example by Ephraim, the Syrian “after the mediater a mediatrix for the whole world [62] Intercession is something that may be done by all the heavenly saints, but Mary is seen as having the greatest intercessionary power. The earliest surviving recorded prayer to Mary is the Sub tuum praesidium, written in Greek.[63]

Mary has increasingly been seen as a principal dispenser of God's graces and Advocate for the people of God and is mentioned as such in several official Church documents. Pope Pius IX used the title in Ineffabilis Deus. In the first of his so called Rosary encyclicals, Supremi Apostolatus (1883), Pope Leo XIII calls Our Lady the guardian of our peace and the dispensatrix of heavenly graces. The following year, 1884, his encyclical Superiore Anno speaks of the prayers presented to God through her whom He has chosen to be the dispenser of all heavenly graces. Pope Pius X employed this title in Ad Diem Illud in 1904, Pope Benedict XV introduced it into the Marian liturgy when he created the Marian feast of The Mary, Mediatrix of all Graces in 1921, In his 1954 encyclical Ad caeli reginam, Pope Pius XII calls Mary the Mediatrix of peace.[64] The theological discussion ongoing, neither Pius XII nor his successors moved to a closure of this issue.'

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More lies!

'In several Marian teachings, such as the Immaculate Conception, the "theology of the people", the profound and century-old sense of the faithful took precedence over academic theology.[90] Identical arguments were made for the dogma of the Assumption by Pope Pius XII.[92] To some non-Catholics and even to some theologically oriented Catholics, like Karl Rahner, this sensus fidei has some problems.[93]

Nevertheless, popular Mariology has been a major driving force in the past 150 years. It led to the two infallible, ex cathedra dogmas: Immaculate Conception (1854) and Assumption (1950). Since the 1870 solemn declaration of Papal Infallibility by Vatican I, the 1950 declaration by Pius XII has been the first and only ex cathedra use of papal infallibility. Thus while the dogmatic definitions of the Assumption, took place only in the 20th century, the sensus fidelium was already being shaped in the Middle Ages, and by 1530, Antonio da Correggio had completed his contract for the elaborate scene of the Assumption in the Cathedral of Palermo.[94]'

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Such lies! Man's lies standing in place of God's truth! The papacy is rife with its lies against God's truth!

'In this sequence of events the nature of the medieval papacy is clearly seen. Excommunication of rulers, military campaigns enjoying papal support, rival popes reigning at the same time, the split between pope and emperor as a factor in European politics - all these become familiar themes of the Middle Ages.

The cumulative effect, centuries later, is a papacy of great wealth, vast power, considerable corruption and much reduced spiritual authority. Eventually these characteristics provoke the Reformation. But in the meantime the papacy has its period of greatest power, presiding over Europe's feuding factions and charging handsomely for the service. '

'The familiar image of a Renaissance pope begins a little later, with the election of Sixtus IV in 1471. His patronage of the arts is evident in the Sistine chapel and the Sistine choir, both named after him. But his lavish patronage goes hand in hand with a very worldly conduct of the Vatican's affairs. '

'In 1503, his first year in office, Julius launches the great scheme to rebuild St Peter's. In 1509 the pope invites Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and persuades Raphael to decorate three rooms in the Vatican. Christian Rome's greatest glories have been conceived within a space of six years.'

'In April 1506 Julius II and his architect, Bramante, are ready to lay the foundation stone of the new St Peter's. A commemorative medal is struck with the classical inscription Templi Petri Instauracio (Renewal of the Temple of Peter), showing a view of a great domed basilica with a classical portico.

In spirit - though not in detail - this design is similar to the church which is eventually completed in 1590, by which time Raphael and Michelangelo and several others have succeeded Bramante as official architect for the scheme.
 
Meanwhile the need for funds for the vast new project, together with the unscrupulous manner in which Renaissance popes are willing to raise them, provokes the great central crisis of Europe in the 16th century - the Reformation. '

'Germany provides a context in which materialism within the Roman Catholic church is offensively evident. Some of the principalities, which together make up the Holy Roman empire, are ruled by unscrupulous prelates living in the style of Renaissance princes. Foremost among them is Albert, archbishop of Mainz and one of the seven imperial electors.

By the age of twenty-four Albert holds a bishopric and a second archbishopric in addition to Mainz. Such plurality is against canon law. But the pope, Leo X, agrees to overlook the irregularity in return for a large donation to the building costs of the new St Peter's.

 Both pope and archbishop are men of the world (the pope is a Medici). Leo makes it possible for Albert to recover his costs by granting him the concession for the sale of indulgences towards the building of St Peter's. Half the money for each indulgence is go to Rome; the other half will help to pay off Albert's debts (he has borrowed the money for the original donation from the Fuggers of Augsburg).

This secret arrangement might distress the faithful if they knew of it. But more immediately shocking to some is the behaviour of the friar Johann Tetzel, whom Albert employs to sell the indulgences.
 
Tetzel is a showman. When preaching to gullible crowds in German towns he goes far beyond the official doctrine of indulgences. He promises the immediate release of loved ones from the pain of Purgatory as soon as a purchase is made. He even has a catchy jingle to make the point: 'As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, The soul from Purgatory springs.' '

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True apostasy!

For more on this read this article- 'The Vatican Billions - Two Thousand Years of Wealth Accumulation From Caesar to the Space Age.'   http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/vatican/vatican_billions.htm


Dan 11:36  And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
Dan 11:37  Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.
Dan 11:38  But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
Dan 11:39  Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for gain.


This outlines the Papacy perfectly.  Prophecy meets history in a perfect fit.

Anyone today who doesn't recognize the fact that the Papacy has a unique power all its own is totally deceived.

There is so much we are given for our own edification and so much that people would have us totally ignore.

 If we don't bother ourselves with all this nonsense and just leave well enough alone the better for everyone concerned, right?

 Just follow what man tells us and ignore completely what God says.

How many people are truly WATCHING today?  We are told to watch and pray, but how many are really, really watching and praying? Watching means a whole lot more than simply existing. Watching means a lot more than letting someone else tell us what we are seeing.  For us to be watching means we are actively looking, we are active. We need to watch in all things.

If history has unfolded prophecy before our eyes how can we close our eyes to it and pretend it's all false? How?

Yet millions do this, millions and millions would much rather close their eyes and be lulled with soothing words of the greatest deception.

It is my prayer that we are not among those who would rather be told smooth things- easy to accept.  It is my prayer that we are among those who choose to delve deep for the truth hearing hard sayings but knowing them for being the real unadulterated truth!  Being Christ's means traveling that NARROW path that few will find.  If we discover ourselves upon a broad path where everything is going along nicely and we have millions of people with us- then we truly have to ask ourselves if we are upon that narrow path Jesus spoke of.

By His GRACE always!!!!! In His love! May His kingdom come! May HIS will be done always!

In His forgiveness, in His righteousness!

Amen.

The heart is wicked above all things...

The one true church… God's or Man's?    Do you want to belong to God's church or man's?  Seriously. You may THINK you belong to God's church but do you really? You may be thinking to yourself right about now that it doesn't matter, that God knows your heart and that's all that matters.  You're not wrong, not about God knowing your heart. God knows all of our hearts and He knows whether or not we want to truly be His, if we truly want to know all His truth or only bits and pieces of it that please us.  God knows us! And He knows this…

Jer 17:9  The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
Jer 17:10  I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.

So sure, we can say God knows our hearts and then ignore things we don't want to think about like whether or not the church we belong to is God's or Man's.  We can choose the easy way, the way that doesn't cause us to search out truth.

If you want truth then you need to search for it and when you are given an opportunity to know truth, you take it, all by the grace of God, you take it!

******* Continuing our prophecy study--  Please GO back and read the study from the beginning to gain full understanding of where we are if you haven't been following this study daily.  Thank you :)  God bless you! ******

Dan 11:36  And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
Dan 11:37  Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.

The Papacy did according to its will.
The Papacy exalted itself.
The Papacy magnified itself above every god.
The Papacy spoke marvelous things against the God of gods.
The Papacy prospered.
The Papacy did not regard the One True God- the God of those first Christians.
The Papacy makes the desire of women of no regard.
The Papacy recognizes no other god but itself.
The Papacy magnifies itself above ALL.

Do we have any doubt at all whatsoever what power this is speaking of?  Remember this--

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 8:24  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.

We've studied this already, remember? This power was the Papacy beyond any doubt! And the Papacy would exist in some form or another until when? UNTIL THE VERY END OF TIME, until that Stone destroys all earthly kingdoms ushering in His heavenly kingdom.  So until the very end of this prophecy, from here until the end we will be discussing the Papacy along with other powers, other interactions the Papacy would be involved with, other powers in play as this Papal power - the false religion- continues onwards just as our God told us it would.

Now let's take a little bit and look at some of the outrageous- scripture perverted beliefs and rites of this little horn power, this power that places itself above all.

Papal Supremacy -  Please read this all through - and make note that it brings us right up to our day!

'Papal supremacy refers to the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church that the pope, by reason of his office as Vicar of Christ and as pastor of the entire Christian Church, has full, supreme, and universal power over the whole Church, a power which he can always exercise unhindered:[1] that, in brief, "the Pope enjoys, by divine institution, supreme, full, immediate, and universal power in the care of souls."'

'Urban II's launching in 1095 of the Crusades, which, in an attempt to liberate the Holy Land from Muslim domination, marshaled under papal leadership the aggressive energies of the European nobility.

 The Papacy determined whom they wished to be the king of various lands by the crowning by Pope Leo III of Charlemagne, first of the Carolingian emperors, rather than a man proclaiming himself king.'

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'Rome's role as arbiter

This passage in Irenaeus [from Against Heresies 3:4:1] illuminates the meaning of his remarks about the Church of Rome: if there are disputes in a local church, that church should have recourse to the Roman Church, for there is contained the Tradition which is preserved by all the churches. Rome's vocation [in the pre-Nicene period] consisted in playing the part of arbiter, settling contentious issues by witnessing to the truth or falsity of whatever doctrine was put before them. Rome was truly the centre where all converged if they wanted their doctrine to be accepted by the conscience of the Church. They could not count upon success except on one condition -- that the Church of Rome had received their doctrine -- and refusal from Rome predetermined the attitude the other churches would adopt. There are numerous cases of this recourse to Rome…'
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'First Vatican Council
     The doctrine of papal primacy was further developed in 1870 at the First Vatican Council where ultramontanism achieved victory over conciliarism with the pronouncement of papal infallibility (the ability of the pope to define dogmas free from error ex cathedra) and of papal supremacy, i.e., supreme, full, immediate, and universal ordinary jurisdiction of the Pope.

The most substantial body of defined doctrine on the subject is found in Pastor aeternus, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church of Christ of Vatican Council I. This document declares that “in the disposition of God the Roman church holds the preeminence of ordinary power over all the other churches.” This council also affirmed the dogma of papal infallibility, deciding that the “infallibility” of the Christian community extended to the pope himself, at least when speaking on matters of faith.

Vatican I defined a twofold Primacy of Peter — one in papal teaching on faith and morals (the charism of infallibility), and the other a primacy of jurisdiction involving government and discipline of the Church — submission to both being necessary to Catholic faith and salvation.[27]
Vatican I rejected the ideas that papal decrees have "no force or value unless confirmed by an order of the secular power" and that the pope’s decisions can be appealed to an ecumenical council "as to an authority higher than the Roman Pontiff."

Paul Collins argues that "(the doctrine of papal primacy as formulated by the First Vatican Council) has led to the exercise of untrammelled papal power and has become a major stumbling block in ecumenical relationships with the Orthodox (who consider the definition to be heresy) and Protestants."[28]
Forced to break off prematurely by secular political developments in 1870, Vatican I left behind it a somewhat unbalanced ecclesiology. "In theology the question of papal primacy was so much in the foreground that the Church appeared essentially as a centrally directed institution which one was dogged in defending but which only encountered one externally," [29]

Second Vatican Council

At the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) the debate on papal primacy and authority re-emerged[citation needed], and in the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, the Roman Catholic Church's teaching on the authority of the Pope, bishops and councils was further elaborated. Vatican II sought to correct the unbalanced ecclesiology left behind by Vatican I. The result is the body of teaching about the papacy and episcopacy contained in the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium.

Vatican II reaffirmed everything Vatican I taught about papal primacy and infallibility, but it added important points about bishops. Bishops, it says, are not "vicars of the Roman Pontiff." Rather, in governing their local churches they are "vicars and legates of Christ".[30] Together, they form a body, a "college," whose head is the pope. This episcopal college is responsible for the well-being of the Universal Church. Here in a nutshell are the basic elements of the Council’s much-discussed communio ecclesiology, which affirms the importance of local churches and the doctrine of collegiality.

In a key passage about collegiality, Vatican II teaches: "The order of bishops is the successor to the college of the apostles in their role as teachers and pastors, and in it the apostolic college is perpetuated. Together with their head, the Supreme Pontiff, and never apart from him, they have supreme and full authority over the Universal Church; but this power cannot be exercised without the agreement of the Roman Pontiff".[31] Much of the present discussion of papal primacy is concerned with exploring the implications of this passage.

21st century

Relation with other Christian denominations

In the document Responses to some questions regarding certain aspects of the doctrine on the Church of 29 June 2007 the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith reiterated that, in the view of the Roman Catholic Church, the Christian communities born out of the Protestant Reformation and which lack apostolic succession in the sacrament of orders are not "Churches" in the proper sense. The Eastern Christian Church that are not in communion with Rome, such as the Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodoxy and the Assyrian Church of the East, are Churches in the proper sense and sister Churches of the Catholic particular Churches, but since communion with the Roman Pontiff is one of the internal constitutive principles of a particular Church, they lack something in their condition, while on the other hand the existing division means that the fullness of universality that is proper to the Church governed by the successor of St Peter and the bishops in communion with him is not now realised in history.'

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Is this, or is this not proof that the papacy- that the pontiff- has placed himself as supreme- above all other men, as ONE holding supreme religious power upon earth?  It is proof.  This man has exalted himself above all. Yet, this isn't a single man, it is a power that transcends a single person; a power that continues, passed down from one man to the next over the ages- this is the papacy, the papal power, the little horn.  Just because all do not bow to this papal power does not mean for a single second that the papal power does not believe in his supremacy.  Those who do NOT believe are to them those that are lost, those who are in need of enlightenment and conversion to what they call the one true church, the Roman Catholic church.
We can't close our eyes to these truths! We can't claim modern enlightenment. We can't claim intellectual superiority. We cannot hide from the truth or else we will be blind and those blind to God's truths will be lost eternally.
By the grace of God may we continue to delve deeply into the truth and always seek to do so.

More tomorrow by my Savior's grace!

All through His love, all through His righteousness, His mercy!

Amen.

Spiritual Apathy or Spiritual Truth.

Today's spiritual apathy in my sphere of living is tragic. I say my sphere of living because there are many outside my sphere who have very spiritual lives. In some countries there are men and women dying to follow the same religion I follow. Their spiritual walk with Christ is so deep, so strong through the power of the Holy Spirit that they would rather die than betray their walk with Him. They live their beliefs while we play at them, toy with them not seeking a deep spiritual connection, but a cursory glance every now and again.  If we would live close to our God we need to do just that, live close to Him. Seek Him. Truly love Him.

We need to seek truth as we live our spiritual life, we must never stop seeking truth. To know a prophecy that our Savior told us we should read and keep is important and by the grace of our Lord we will know that prophecy - reading and keeping.

******* Continuing our prophecy study--  Please GO back and read the study from the beginning to gain full understanding of where we are if you haven't been following this study daily.  Thank you :)  God bless you! ******

Yesterday we discussed the dark ages a bit, we talked about the horrific dark period in our earth's history where under the guise of Christianity- Papal Rome exerted such authority that putting to death those who opposed them, torturing those who were contrary to their beliefs, was something common and widespread.

During that time not all of God's people were wiped out.  Throughout history God has kept at least a small group of those He can call His true followers, from harm's way.  While many who followed the truth in Christ sincerely were brought to horrific ends- among them the Apostles themselves- God could not allow all of His followers to be destroyed.

Dan 11:32  And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he (((the Roman power))))* corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.
Dan 11:33  And they that understand among the people shall instruct many: yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days.
Dan 11:34  Now when they shall fall, they shall be holpen with a little help: but many shall cleave to them with flatteries.
Dan 11:35  And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end: because it is yet for a time appointed.

Among those who kept a vigil over the truth were the Waldeneses-

'In 1179, some Waldensians went to Rome, where Pope Alexander III forbade explanation or critical interpretation (exegesis) without authorization from the local clergy.[5] They disobeyed and began to preach according to their own understanding of the scriptures.

Waldensians were divided by three types of activity: Sandaliati, who received sacred orders and were to prove the heresiarchs wrong; Doctores, who instructed and trained missionaries; and Novellani, who preached to the general population.[6] They were also called Insabbatati, Sabati, Inzabbatati for keeping the Sabbath and/or rejecting all religious festivals.[7] They were also sometimes called Sabotiers, which some sources state was due to the unusual type of sabot they used as footwear.[8]

Seen by the Roman Catholic Church as unorthodox, they were formally declared heretics by Pope Lucius III in 1184 at the Synod of Verona, and by the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215.[5] In 1211, more than 80 were burned as heretics at Strasbourg, beginning several centuries of persecution that nearly destroyed the movement.[9] Part of their legacy is recognized as works of the writer Henri Arnaud. The Waldensian Church of Italy has survived to the present day.[10]'

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Protesting the Catholic rule, protesting the Papal dictates that were against God's teaching even came from some in their own ranks.

In the 800's--

'As bishop of Turin, Claudius found that men were often directed to go on pilgrimage to Rome for penance and that worshippers were accustomed to venerate Christ and the saints by bowing before images and relics. Claudius, coming from an educated background, was not greatly exposed to such provincial modes of worship.[9] He made attacks on the use of images, relics, and crosses, he opposed pilgrimages to obtain absolution, and he had little regard for the authority of the pope due to his belief that all bishops were equal.[3]

Claudius was a heretic in the view of Dungal and Jonas of Orléans, who later wrote to refute some of his teachings at the request of the emperor.[3] The last recorded act of Claudius is in a charter of the monastery of St Peter at Novalesa in May 827.[1] He was dead by the time Dungal finished his Responsa contra peruersas Claudii Taurinensis episcopi sententias late in 827, so it is presumable that he died that year.[1]'

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The rejection of the decree to worship images--

'[14] Dupin, Eccles. Hist., cent. 9. The worship of images was decreed by the second Council of Nice; but that decree was rejected by France, Spain, Germany, and the diocese of Milan. The worship of images was moreover condemned  by the Council of Frankfort, 794. Claude, in his letter to Theodemir, says: – "Appointed bishop by Louis, I came to Turin. I found all the churches full of the filth of abominations and images... If Christians venerate the images of saints, they have not abandoned idols, but only changed their names." (Mag. Bib., tome 4, part 2, p. 149.)'

http://www.whitehorsemedia.com/docs/THE_HISTORY_OF_PROTESTANTISM_01.pdf
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As the Papal church introduced its various perversions always there were those who opposed these abominations.   There were those who allowed themselves to be called heretics rather than worship idols, there were those who were outspoken against the transubstantiation of the eucharist-

'Berengar of Tours (c. 999–January 6, 1088) was a French 11th century Christian theologian and Archdeacon of Angers, a scholar whose leadership of the cathedral school at Chartres set an example of intellectual inquiry through the revived tools of dialectic that was soon followed at cathedral schools of Laon and Paris, and who disputed with the Church leadership over the doctrine of transubstantiation in the Eucharist.'

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Those who were against the change and perversion of the Sabbath to Sunday.
Read this--
'Early church

According to Bauckham, the post-apostolic church contained diverse practices as regards Sabbath.[1] "In the first centuries the true (seventh day) Sabbath had been kept by all Christians. They were zealous for the honor of God, and, believing that His law is immutable, they zealously guarded the sacredness of its precepts".[2] "That the attention of the people might be called to the Sunday, it was made a festival in honor of the resurrection of Christ. Religious services were held upon it; yet it was regarded as a day of recreation, the Sabbath being still sacredly observed."[2]

Widespread seventh-day Sabbath observance by Gentile Christians prevailed in the 3rd and 4th centuries.

In the 4th century, Socrates Scholasticus Church History book 5 states:[3]
For although almost all churches throughout the world celebrate the sacred mysteries on the sabbath of every week, yet the Christians of Alexandria and at Rome, on account of some ancient tradition, have ceased to do this.

On the seventh of March, A.D. 321, the Roman Emperor Constantine issued a decree making Sunday a day of rest from labor stating:

All judges and city people and the craftsmen shall rest upon the venerable day of the sun. Country people, however, may freely attend to the cultivation of the fields, because it frequently happens that no other days are better adapted for planting the grain in the furrows or the vines in trenches. So that the advantage given by heavenly providence may not for the occasion of a short time perish.
— Joseph Cullen Ayer, A Source Book for Ancient Church History [4]

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All along the huge broad path of corruption there exists a much smaller, much narrower path of truth.  Along those two paths people walk and have walked since sin entered the world.  Right now YOU are on one of those paths. Right now I AM on one of those paths.  Every single human being exist on one path or the other.  There is a path of truth and a path of lies.  Unfortunately for a lot of people Satan has prettied up the path of lies to make it look almost exactly how one might imagine the path of truth. Only those who sincerely desire the truth of God no matter the cost- will receive that truth. Those who would rather believe lies will be allowed to do so.  No one is force onto the path of Truth.

By the grace of God may we continue to study HIS truth. We have these prophecies and we have history and the two go together.  This is the 50th study focusing on prophecy studying the Book of Daniel, and we still have a long way to go. I'm not going to stop, this has been an amazing blessing for me and I hope any others who are reading this study are also being blessed.

All glory goes to God, all praise, all honor to our amazing heavenly High Priest, our King, our Savior!

May we be blessed to continue this study tomorrow learning more and more of God's love, of God's truth.

Amen.

The Dark Ages and Prophecy

Dark Ages (Many Days) and Prophecy….

******* Continuing our prophecy study--  Please GO back and read the study from the beginning to gain full understanding of where we are if you haven't been following this study daily.  Thank you :)  God bless you! ******

Dan 11:32  And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he (((the Roman power))))* corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.

Dan 11:33  And they that understand among the people shall instruct many: yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days.

Dan 11:34  Now when they shall fall, they shall be holpen with a little help: but many shall cleave to them with flatteries.

Dan 11:35  And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end: because it is yet for a time appointed.

*The HE is the Roman power. We really need to remember these are powers at play here political, religious powers.

We've already talked about God's covenant, but here it is mentioned again.  God's covenant with His people is His truth. When any are against the truth they are against God's covenant. The Roman power -pagan/papal holds little with God's whole truth and no matter how many lies are mingled with truth, a single lie corrupts the truth. God would only have the entire truth, never having anything to do with a single lie, not even lies we might call harmless and tout them as white lies.

When paganism introduced its rituals and merged them with Christianity they brought with them man's laws breaking God's laws.  Man substituting God's truth for the beliefs of false gods. Sunday- the day of the Sun. Sunday a day for worshipping the sun.

Sól also was called Sunna, Sunne, and Frau Sunne, from which are derived the words, sun and Sunday.

Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_deity>

The English noun Sunday derived sometime before 1250 from sunedai, which itself developed from Old English (before 700) Sunnandæg (literally meaning "sun's day"), which is cognate to other Germanic languages, including Old Frisian sunnandei, Old Saxon sunnundag, Middle Dutch sonnendach (modern Dutch zondag), Old High German sunnun tag (modern German Sonntag), and Old Norse sunnudagr (Danish and Norwegian søndag, and Swedish söndag). The Germanic term is a Germanic interpretation of Latin dies solis ("day of the sun"), which is a translation of the Greek heméra helíou.[2] The p-Celtic Welsh language also translates the Latin "day of the sun" as dydd Sul.

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The day of the sun-- the very god so many pagans worship, not God, but the sun god, the sun. Worshipping the sun, not worshipping God.

With sun worshipping introduced to Christianity, a compromise was made towards the pagans drawing them into a whole new religion, but it was NOT God's truth, it was NOT God's religion, but rather a false, corrupted religion put up in its place.  The covenant was broken once more. Wickedness was done against the covenant.

Now we need to realize something here-- Daniel was given over and over prophecies that all led up to when? The time of the end. All of the prophecies pointed towards that very first prophecy- that statue whose destruction would come at the very end as God's new world is ushered in.

This prophecy in Daniel 11 leads up to that end as well.

We've gone through quite a bit of history but this next bit takes in a long span.  Just as the Dark Ages of our history are known for being- just that- Dark times.

'Dark Ages (historiography), the concept of a supposed period of intellectual darkness that occurred in Europe following the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. the European Middle Ages (5th to 15th centuries AD)'

Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Ages>

Dark Ages" is a historical periodization emphasizing the cultural and economic deterioration that supposedly occurred in Europe following the decline of the Roman Empire.[1][2] The label employs traditional light-versus-darkness imagery to contrast the "darkness" of the period with earlier and later periods of "light". The period was characterized by a paucity of historical and other written records for much of the period, rendering it obscure to historians. The term "Dark Age" itself derives from the Latin saeculum obscurum, originally applied by Caesar Baronius in 1602 to a tumultuous period in the 10th and 11th century.[3]

Originally, the term characterized the bulk of the Middle Ages, or roughly the 6th to 13th centuries, as a period of intellectual darkness between the extinguishing of the "light of Rome" after the end of Late Antiquity, and the rise of the Italian Renaissance in the 14th century.[4] This definition is still found in popular usage,[1][2][5] but increased recognition of the accomplishments of the Middle Ages since the 19th century has led to the label being restricted in application. Since the 20th century, it is frequently applied only to the earlier part of the era, the Early Middle Ages (c. 5th–10th century).[6][7] However, many modern scholars who study the era tend to avoid the term altogether for its negative connotations, finding it misleading and inaccurate for any part of the Middle Ages.[8][9]

The concept of a Dark Age originated with the Italian scholar Petrarch (Francesco Petrarca) in the 1330s, and was originally intended as a sweeping criticism of the character of Late Latin literature.[4][10] Petrarch regarded the post-Roman centuries as "dark" compared to the light of classical antiquity. Later historians expanded the term to refer to the transitional period between Roman times and the High Middle Ages (c. 11th–13th century), including not only the lack of Latin literature, but also a lack of contemporary written history, general demographic decline, limited building activity and material cultural achievements in general. Later historians and writers picked up the concept, and popular culture has further expanded on it as a vehicle to depict the Middle Ages as a time of backwardness, extending its pejorative use and expanding its scope.[11]

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Reading this we can see where a label given and accepted, a label taught in history- modern history for a long, long time- is being altered. People want to strip away those words Dark Ages, but they hold true. There was a long period of time for a lot of intellectual as well as religious darkness. You know as well as I know that knowledge was stunted for a long, long time as opposed to the enlightenment we have found ourselves in since the late 1700's on right into the 1800's, and of course 1900's and today we are so incredible farther ahead in just a few hundred years it's hard to comprehend how people lived in such an intellectual void.  You have to stop and think that our modes of transportation remained virtually unchanged for thousands and thousands of years only to go from horses to cars, to planes, to rockets, to  shuttles.  We're talking thousands of years of the same thing only to be changed phenomenally in just a few hundred years.  No matter what contemporary people wish to say, wish to change to better suit them, FACTS speak for themselves.

From the 6th to the 15th centuries…  900 years the world was coming caught up in a period of time unlike any other. The Roman Empire fell and in its place NO other world empire came up but things broke apart never to be joined again. Our world today still has those results of that time when the empire was shattered.  There was only a gradual rise up out of those 'dark ages', it wasn't instantaneous, just as little is. We have to stop here though and look at the 'dark ages' for a bit. Reread this--

Dan 11:32  And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he (((the Roman power))))* corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.

Dan 11:33  And they that understand among the people shall instruct many: yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days.

Dan 11:34  Now when they shall fall, they shall be holpen with a little help: but many shall cleave to them with flatteries.

Dan 11:35  And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end: because it is yet for a time appointed.

God's people would -

Fall by the sword.

Fall by flame.

Fall by captivity.

Fall by spoil.

For how long?  Many days.

Falling, tried, purged.

What happened during this time for God's true people? They were horrifically oppressed for all that Christianity was now accepted in the mainstream.  The false religious force under the guise of being truly Christ's persecuted those who truly were Christ's.

Who hasn't heard of the persecution of any who defied the papal rule?

The Roman Catholic history is rife with its stifling, oppressive control over people.  Having people put to death- horrible deaths, torturous deaths all in the name of God. These people were FAR from being Christ-like. Christ would NEVER have approved of any of this, not one bit and yet these people called themselves God's, these people called themselves Christians, these people today still call themselves God's only true church yet they still hold to many, many perverted rites not Biblical at all. These rituals are gross atrocities yet so few can see them for what they really, truly are. People are blind because they do NOT want to see.

Darkness enveloped the world as God predicted it would.

May God please help us to understand His truths. There is much more to understand and we cannot of our own selves comprehend anything. 

More tomorrow by God's grace.

In His amazing love!

Amen!