Babylon, the Greatest Reset, and Your Destiny

Good evening to everyone. Good to see you all here. If you're not able to see the screen very well, you might want to move on down a little bit. It's up to you. But again, good seeing all you tonight. I know it's difficult to sometimes come out in the evening, but it is what it is. We have Bible studies, of course. And of course, years and years ago, we used to have Bible studies in the churches I pastored. Sometimes I would do a Bible study in one church area. And on a Tuesday night and on a Thursday night, we had maybe another Bible study in another church area.

So anyway, we keep pretty busy. Okay, I think we're about ready. So could I ask all of you to stand? We'll ask God's blessing over the Bible study here this evening that God will inspire. Father, God in Heaven, we thank you for the opportunity to gather as your people here at this Feast of Tabernacles. And we know God is indeed a wonderful opportunity to look forward to the great Kingdom of God that is going to come.

This world is not aware, God, of the great changes that are going to take place that are going to transpire. But we know that Jesus Christ is already very, very busy in training those who one day are going to take the positions of the kings and the magistrates upon this planet. And we know God is going to be a very tremendous job that is going to have to be done. But our great King has the title of Lord of Lords and King of Kings. Help us, God, to be aware of what's coming in the times ahead, in this end time that we're living in.

And help us, God, to settle in our hearts to prepare ourselves for what is going to come. And so we ask these things, God, and ask that you be here with this Bible study, what is said and what is heard. And we ask us in the living name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Well, as has been announced, the title of this Bible study is Babylon, The Greatest Reset and Your Destiny. And I think all of us, of course, know each individual part of that title has significance in the Church of God.

You know, this world, brethren, is rapidly, very rapidly changing toward a global economy. The mad rush is on now. And quite frankly, the fact that many of you here have a cell phone is proof of that. Imagine that you could pick up a phone and call to the other side of the planet if you wanted to. I found it very, very striking just a day ago that I looked into my email, Gmail, and there was a program in there that somebody had sent me an advertisement of.

It was from Google, I believe. And in the email, it showed every place I had been with my cell phone in September of this year. And I didn't ask them to do it. I don't ask them to keep track of me where I'm going, but it is there. And I would imagine probably all of you are in the same boat. If you're using your cell phone, Google Maps or whatever, they know where you are.

They know where you are, and this world is getting more and more connected this way. It's like, you know, 1984, Big Brother is watching you. But again, this world is rapidly changing toward a global economy. And the current upheaval in the United States is as much a social war between the liberals and the conservatives as anything else. There's this battle between the people here in the United States, and it's not only going on here, but it's going on all over the world.

But right now, if you've been paying attention to what is currently happening within politics, within the social realm of this country, the liberals of this country, of the United States, and again, other countries as well, are pushing. They're pushing for a more controlled society. They want to know where you are. They want to know, you know, what you're doing. And quite frankly, the time may come when they will tell you where you can go and what you can do. That's where it is heading. It's going in that direction.

Even in Europe, brethren, there are very strong movements towards a more controlled one-world government. I know we've talked about this in the church for a long time, about the one-world government that is coming. I would encourage you to look up about what is called the World Economic Forum. You know, look into YouTube, look online about it. I think you would find it very, very interesting.

What is being said at some of these meetings? It's rather shocking. They had a meeting in December of the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland. And interestingly, there at this particular meeting, they're pretty open about it, nearly every speech that was given. And I'm talking about speeches given by not only, you know, billionaires and other people that are involved in the know about this, even at this particular meeting, there was a papal envoy that was there as well. And by the way, the World Economic Forum is a forum that is basically run by billionaires of this planet.

Also, right in the mix of all of it, you've got people like Merkel, Mrs. Merkel, who is the president, of course, of Germany, and she's a part of it. Bill Gates is a part of it. A number of people, George Soros, you can see here, he looks almost like a villain here. And I don't want to belittle any of these people, because I'm sure they're sincere in their thoughts. Here's a man that's 90 years old, by the way, and he wants to see, I think, frankly, this country to go down, the United States of America.

He wants to see that happen. And interestingly, right now, the only people that stand in the way of the desires of this one-world government more control is the United States right now. And also, Britain, in terms of the Brexit. That stands in their way as well. The United States, of course, from their vantage point, and they openly talk about this, that we have to elect a socialist president.

And quite frankly, this is what is happening in the current election. I don't know what's going to happen. To us, it doesn't make a difference one way or another. You know, we don't know. Sometimes God elects people, he puts them in office to either slow prophecy down or speed it up.

So we don't know what God desires at this particular time. I think you'd agree with me, we'd like to have, wouldn't we, the Kingdom of God to come sooner. So anyway, we don't know what God's plan is with regard to the election in the United States. But we do know what the World Economic Forum would like to see happen, would like to see occur. You know, it's quite interesting that in the Church, you probably are quite aware that the Church has always said that Britain would not be part of the European Union.

And of course, Brexit was something that we thought would happen, that it would occur. And of course, it certainly has happened. And so here in the course of this Bible study that we're going to go through here today, our focus will be primarily in the book of Daniel and also some passages of the book of Revelation.

You know, the Babylonian Empire was the first world-ruling empire. And I think we need to really wrap our minds around what that means. It means that in fact Nebuchadnezzar, who rose to great power, he had control over everyone, at least in the known world.

And if he didn't have control over them, he could have control over them without any question. There'd be no question. His power was so much, and of course that power went to his head, as we know in the story that we see within the Bible. But, you know, he had power of life and death over everyone upon this planet.

And frankly, no other leader has ever had that, except Nebuchadnezzar. But there's come a time where there will be someone in the future who will have the same power, the same authority. So we're going to cover the origin of the enigmatic Babylonian system of the last days. We'll discuss that beyond the great reset, I like to use that term for what this world is in fact wanting to do. Again, via the World Economic Forum that I mentioned here. But beyond the great reset that they talk about, that they would like to have, and George Soros is one of those people who talks about that.

That in fact, the greatest reset of all is going to take place. And it's not known to them. They're not aware of it, but here we are meeting. We're not meeting in Davos, Switzerland. We're meeting in Branson, Missouri. And of course, many of God's people meeting at various places around the globe. But we, of course, are going to talk about how, in the end, it is going to be a two-headed beast.

It's going to be a two-headed beast, as we know. The two heads I'm talking about, of course, is the beast and the false prophet that are going to come together in the end. But the journey of the Babylonish system through the ages, you know, where that two-headed system comes about, does not happen until the end. And of course, it is going on right now, as we all understand. But let's go over to Daniel 2 here to begin with.

I will be moving rather rapidly through this Bible study. You know, Mr. Dobson said it has three hours to complete it. I know I told him I would try to be done within an hour, and I'll try to move as rapidly as I can through it. But in Daniel 2, down in verse 16, I won't relay things that you should be quite aware of, but here in verse 16, he says, So Daniel went in and asked the king to give him time.

As you know, Nebuchadnezzar had seen this dream that was very, very troubling to him. And he was pretty smart. He called all of the wise men of the empire. He said, You tell me what the dream was. And of course, they would have liked to have him tell them what the dream was. And he was going to put them all to death. And Daniel, as a wise individual, went to Nebuchadnezzar and said, Give me time. You know, give me time so that I can tell the king the interpretation.

And Nebuchadnezzar, again, would have put to death these men, but Daniel proved himself to be a very loving type of an individual. But he knew only God could give the interpretation of this dream. And of course, he would use Daniel to reveal this important dream. But down in verse 31, again, we'll pass over this, some of these things here. But in verse 31, let's notice this. You know, here it says, You, O king, were watching, and behold a great image. This great image, whose splendor was excellent, stood before you, and its form was awesome.

And so he sees this image again in his dream. Let's go down to verse 36. This is the dream. Now we will tell the interpretation of it before the king. You, O king, are king of kings. For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory. God had given him this power that he had. You know, I've heard Mr. Armstrong talk about the opportunity, frankly, that Nebuchadnezzar had here. That if Nebuchadnezzar had been a man who turned to God and truly repented, he could have taken the place of Adam.

He could have steered the world in the right way, in the right manner. Of course, he was not of that demeanor. He was not of that attitude. But it says that he was the king of kings. You imagine if Adam, again, had awayed God, we wouldn't be in the mess we have in the world today.

And again, imagine if Nebuchadnezzar had truly, truly repented and made a turnaround in his life. But of course, he didn't. And it says, wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of field and the birds of heaven, he has given them into your hand and has made you ruler over all of them. And you are this head of gold that you see in this image.

You know, gold, of course, is pure. And he had that power over the world to have told people, look, you're going to live a certain way of life, and they would have done it. They would have done it. So he had a golden opportunity, as it were. Going on here, and after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours, then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which will rule over all the earth, and the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, as much as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything, and like iron that crushes, that kingdom shall break in pieces and crush all others.

And so here, again, talking about this image that he had seen, this tremendous image, and you know, it would be succeeded, according to the vision, by lesser inferior empires through history. But like I say, Babylon had a unique opportunity. Again, Mr. Armstrong speculated that about Babylon, that God could have used him in a very positive way to change the entire world. But going on, and the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, and again, it's going to break in pieces, you know, all that is before them.

And this is where, as you saw the feet and the toes, partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided. Yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay. And as the toes of the feet are partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile. And as you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with a seed of men, but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay.

In other words, you're intermingling certain peoples that just don't work together. They don't work together, and it won't stay together. And it says, Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, and the clay, and the silver, and the gold, the great God is made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream, he says, is certain, and its interpretation is sure.

And so we have, again, this scenario. This prophecy, by the way, takes us right up to the very return of Jesus Christ. Right up to the end of the age, which we're living in right now, anciently revealed again to Nebuchadnezzar as a result of Daniel. And we know that God's government is going to be set up, and it says it's for sure. It is going to occur, that there is no question about it. Now, I guess Nebuchadnezzar had a problem sleeping quite often, because he had another troubling dream.

I guess he didn't have Nyquil, or he didn't have anything to cause him to go to sleep. And sadly, he didn't get the point, because he himself erected a big idol. He erected a big idol, and remember that was a time when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, you know, said they wouldn't bow down before that idol. You know, this is after Nebuchadnezzar says he got it, that he understood. But apparently he did not get it. He did not understand. Now, let's go to chapter 4. Chapter 4 here. It's a very interesting passage over here that I have thought about many, many times. But Nebuchadnezzar had this second troubling dream.

And again, he calls the wise men, the astrologers, and the Chaldeans, and he says interpret them. And of course, the same old scenario, they could not. And Daniel, the prophet, steps forward to give the interpretation that God inspires him to see.

But down here in verse 19, let's notice this, Then Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, was astonished for a time, and his thoughts troubled him. So the king spoke and said, Belteshazzar, do not let the dream or the interpretation trouble you. And Belteshazzar answered and said, My Lord, may the dream concern those who hate you, and its interpretation concern your enemies. You know, of course, Daniel knew the impulsiveness of Nebuchadnezzar. He didn't know what he was going to do.

If he revealed to him these things. But it says, the tree that you saw. So he saw this vision of a giant tree, which grew and became strong, whose height reached the heavens, which could be seen by all the earth, whose leaves were lovely, and its fruit, it says, abundant, in which was food for all, under which the beasts of the field dwell, and in whose branches the birds of the heaven have their home. It is you, O king, who have grown and become strong. For your greatness has grown and reached to the heavens, and your dominion to the end of the earth.

And it is much as the king saw a watcher. It says, a holy one coming down from heaven, chop down the tree, and destroy it, but leave its stump and its roots in the earth.

Bind it with a band of iron and bronze in the tender grass of the field, and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let him graze with the beasts of the field, till seven times passes over. So Nebuchadnezzar, as you know, and you might see the reluctance of why Daniel didn't want to tell him these things, but here Nebuchadnezzar was going to end up being a wild beast for seven years. And it's very interesting to me that all of the visions that we're seeing, empires were depicted as animals.

And here, Nebuchadnezzar, because of the haughtiness he had, his attitude, and we see this, in fact, in the leaders, sometimes the vicious leaders of the empires through the ages, that God uses animals to depict them, that they're beasts. There is a way for a human being to conduct their life. It is a way of love, God's way of love. And God is teaching us how to love. One day we're going to be kings and priests in the world tomorrow, and we won't rule like beasts.

We will rule as men and women of dignity, representing the kingdom of God, which is a way of love. Or as we've been taught so many times, it's the way of give. The world has a way of get. Got to get for themselves. I'm better than everybody else. And you can see this attitude, can't you, in Nebuchadnezzar, because of his pompous attitude, the vanity he had, and the way that he was. But notice here in verse 15, The tree is cut down, and there's a band of iron and brass that is placed around the stump.

You know, oftentimes when we see prophecies, it's dual. It has a dual meaning. The tree being cut down and seven times passed over it, meant, of course, number one, that Nebuchadnezzar was going to be a beast for seven years. He would run with the animals, and the dew would get him wet in the nighttime in the morning. But also it pictures something else. The band is put on. The band will be taken off. It is symbolic, brethren, of the fact that, in fact, the kind of Babylonian system that Nebuchadnezzar had will be held off for seven times.

For seven times, it would not be able to rise. Now, the system would be still there, the way which is a way of get. It's a way of every society, even the United States. We have the same kind of approach as every other nation of the world today. But the band of iron was placed around the stump, and seven times were to pass over. And it was symbolic of the world-ruling influence, the power, and the majesty of Nebuchadnezzar would be held back for seven prophetic times before it could rise again. And that's what we're waiting for now. It says over in the book of Job, in Job 14, verse 7, For there is a hope of a tree, you can cut it down.

It says, if it be cut down, then it will sprout again. Though the root thereof waxes old. So there have been empires, no doubt about that. They were empires that influenced the entire world. But none was the head of gold. None was like Nebuchadnezzar. But in the end of the age, there will be a leader that will emerge, that will have power and influence over the entire globe. He's going to have influence. So I'm going to maybe mention how that might come as we go on here. He's going to be, of course, the beast, an actual human being.

And there's going to be another individual who will be like him, who is a false prophet, the religious side of what's going to happen. How is this going to come about? I think it's very noteworthy in history that you can actually trace it. You can see where it began. Where it began to happen. How it began to happen. And we're going to see, of course, that what we've been reading about in the history books and what we've been studying in the Church of God is going to happen in our days in a very potent and a very powerful way.

So you have this image, the head of gold that was symbolic of Babylon. You have the chest and arms of silver. This is, of course, the Medo-Persian Empire. And Cyrus, of course, was a very powerful instrument in that.

Cyrus was actually prophesied long before he was born. You can read some of the prophecies about Cyrus, how in fact it foretold how he was going to bring down the Babylonian Empire. Talks about how gates were going to be left open. And he was able to go right into Babylon. And remember that the Emperor and the dignitaries of Babylon were partying with a hand right on the wall, basically said, you know, you've been found wanting.

You've been put in the balances and found wanting. And that very night Babylon fell in 539 BC. Then, of course, the belly and thighs of brass. It's very interesting. Before I went to, in fact, Ambassador College or even came to the church, I studied history quite a bit. I enjoyed very much reading about Alexander the Great and the Greek Empire. And, of course, he was a young man. He'd conquered basically the known world. And he'd come back, he was coming back.

When he returned, apparently he died, you know, some say he died of disease or he might have been poisoned. But he had a drunken orgy and he died when he was 33 years of age. And, of course, his empire was divided up. And we have what we call the King of the North and the King of the South. It came about because of his empire. A little more about that. Of course, you have Ptolemy to the south. That was the King of the South and you have the Seleucid Empire that was to the north. That became the King of the North and the King of the South. And you see this imagery, in fact, in Daniel that was going to play out in the end of the age as well.

And, of course, then you have the legs, which were the Roman Empire. I think all of us have heard the legend of how Rome began. Romulus and Remus, who were nursed by a wolf, a mother wolf. Again, whether or not that is true, I know when I, my wife and I traveled to Rome, there is a statue of that that is right there in Rome, a part of that legend. But, of course, we know that it was the Caesars that really established the Roman Empire in terms of its power that grew very, very rapidly.

But in the image, of course, you have the legs of the Roman Empire and then you have the feet of iron and clay, which is at the end of the age, the very end of the age. You know, the Holy Roman Empire is going to be partly strong and partly weak. It will be a world ruling empire in the end time and it will be the rebirth of the Babylonish system, which will have influence over the entire world.

And it's going to exercise the power of life and death. That's what your Bible says. You're going to have to have a mark. You're going to have to have a mark in order to buy and sell in the future. It's a matter of life and death. You can't buy anything for food. How can you live? God will obviously have to take his people out if they are going to survive. They're going to make it. Well, let's now go to Daniel 7. Daniel 7.

Here is a dream that Daniel saw, similar to what, in fact, Nebuchadnezzar had seen, that troubled Daniel too. But in verse 1 of Daniel 7, In the first year of Belshazzar, king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream of visions of his head, which while on his bed and when he wrote down the dream, telling the main facts. And Daniel spoke, saying, I saw in my vision by night, and behold the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea. And four great beasts came up from the sea, each different from the other. Again, they're beast-like, as with Nebuchadnezzar's dream. And it says, the first was like a lion, and it had an eagle's wings, and I watched till its wings were plucked off, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made to stand on two feet like a man, and a man's heart was given to it. And suddenly another beast, a second, like a bear, is raised up on one side, and had three ribs in his mouth between his teeth. And they said thus, to it rise devour much flesh. And after that I looked, and after that I looked, and there was another, like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird. The beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to him. And after that I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast. Dreadful, and terrible, exceedingly strong, it was huge, iron teeth. It was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue of his feet, and it was different, it was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. And I was considering the horns, and there was another horn, a little one coming up among them, before whom three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots, and there in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words. Sort of like we're going to read over in the book of Revelation about such an individual that speaks pompous words. So Daniel sees these four beasts, but the fourth is different, very different. But it comes at the end of the age. Let's notice down in verse 15 here. Verse 15, And now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt, with a mighty hand, and made yourself... I'm sorry, I'm in chapter 9. I don't know how that happened. I guess some of my pages stuck together here. Verse 15 of chapter 7, I, Daniel, was grieved in my spirit within my body, and the visions of my head troubled me. I came near to one of them, or those who stood by, and asked him the truth of all of them. So he told me, and made known to me, the interpretation of these things. Those great beasts, which are four, are four kings which will rise out of the earth. But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever. And it says, Then I wished to know the truth about the fourth beast, which was different than all the others, seen and dreadful, with its teeth of iron, and so forth, as it mentions. It says, And the ten horns that were on his head, and the other horn which came up, before which three fell, namely, that horn which had eyes and a mouth which spoke pompous words, whose appearance was greater than his fellows.

And it says, I was watching the same horn, was making war against the saints, and prevailing against them, until the ancient of days came, and judgment was made in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time came for the saints to possess the kingdom. Now, it's kind of interesting to read these passages here.

It's almost like God is conducting court. And it says that He judges in favor of the saints, and He judges that those who have ruled upon this earth have not qualified to rule, and that they're going to be replaced, of course, by the saints. They're going to possess the kingdom. They're going to have the kingdom. I think Mr. Hooser talked about, you know, in Isaiah, about what it's going to be like at that time. That you and I are going to have an opportunity to rule with Jesus Christ. We're going to be spirit beings, and I think we're going to be very much involved in the process, by the way, of some of the things that are described in Isaiah.

But our children are going to have tremendous opportunity, our grandchildren and great-grandchildren in the future, because we're going to be ruling with Jesus Christ. We're going to have that tremendous opportunity. So the fourth beast is the Roman Empire, as we understand, which grew far and wide, and it controlled much of the known world, beginning with Augustus Caesar in 27 B.C. Let's go back up to verse 11 here. And I watched then before the sound of the pompous words, which the horn was speaking. I watched the beast was slain. So here it's talking about how the beast is going to be slain.

And its body destroyed and given to the burning flame. It's very interesting that over in Revelation 19, verse 20, it talks about how the beast of the false prophet are cast into a fire, and they are cast alive, and they're burned up during that time. And it says, as for the rest of the beast, they had their dominion taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season and for a time. I was watching in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven, he came to the ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.

Then to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations and languages should serve him, of course that's Jesus Christ, who's going to rule, which shall not pass away in his kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed.

It will never be destroyed. It was akin to, again, to the other prophecies that Daniel had explained to Nebuchadnezzar. And so the beast, the false prophet, have in mind they're going to be around, like as we know, the universal church basically says she sits as a queen and nobody's going to remove her. But the time is coming where that is precisely what's going to happen in the future. But in the stream of time, the Roman Empire grew rapidly, and of course the population of it increased, and communication was slow sometimes and getting messages from one side of the Empire to another.

But it grew to a point where it was difficult for one man to rule over the Roman Empire. And so it was divided into East and West Roman Empire with the Eastern Empire capital at Constantinople and the Western Empire in Rome. And so it was divided out. And the Roman Empire continued. It continued to get stronger and more powerful. It subdued kingdoms and nations. The Roman Empire, if you've ever been in Italy, you know, there's still tremendous construction projects that were done, you know, in terms of the water delivery, and to Rome was incredible, what they were able to do with the kind of water systems that they had there.

And frankly, they also had the ability to produce concrete that we can't even match today. And we don't have the capability to in fact produce a strong and enduring concrete as the Romans were able to do. But they increased in understanding. They continued to grow militarily in terms of making war.

There was no one that compared, in fact, to the Roman Empire. Their understanding of science increased. And of course they created a standing army that was loyal to the state. And the military power and the cohesion of the Empire, it brings an age of prosperity to the world. And this is what, in fact, the end-time beast power is going to basically offer to people. Incredible prosperity to everyone. That's what it's all about. And of course it's going to turn very ugly for people who trusted it.

But not only did it give tremendous prosperity, it gave tremendous peace in the Mediterranean world. And subsequent efforts throughout history have attempted to recapture and to duplicate the success of the Roman Empire. You know, at one time, of course it was said, of Rome, all roads lead to Rome. And some of those same roads, by the way, still exist today. So there are parts of it. And of course, here in the United States, we have Route 66, don't we? They have, of course, ancient roads that are still there. And if you ever go to Pompeii, you see how they made some of those roads that they've uncovered there in Pompeii.

But in the Empire, of course, Christians were persecuted. Christians were martyred. But there came a time, there came a time when the Church began to be integrated with the Roman Empire. The Bishop of Rome had long been acknowledged as a leader of Christianity. He was called the Pope or Papa or Father. But of course, they suffered quite a bit of persecution. We know Nero killed many Christians, put them to death, put them in an arena, and animals would tear them apart. But eventually, there came a leader along. His name was Constantine the Great. And Constantine is on the field of battle, and he sees a flaming cross in the sky.

In fact, it may have been like a Greek letter, kero, with the words, in this sign, conquer. And interestingly, the battle he fought in the name of a Christian God, he was victorious. And he used that kero as his symbol, you know, on the flags and other things that they would go to war with.

But he was very, very successful. When we come to the time of the 313 AD, Constantine, along with the other emperor, issues an edict called the Edict of Milan. And basically, it's said that the Roman Empire would be benevolent to Christians.

Of course, we know that they weren't benevolent to all Christians, not by any stretch of the imagination. But Christianity then becomes the state religion in around 324 AD. This is when, of course, a lot of the things in our society that people commonly practice became a part, basically, of the society. So Christians were shown more benevolence, but those Christians that did not agree were banished from the empire. They had to flee. And in fact, all of their possessions were confiscated. And many Christians, true Christians, I'm talking about God's church, they fled to the edges of the empire where it was safer for them.

Even though there was a change in the empire, it was never good for Christians. So what we have, then, is a rise of church at state and what becomes known as the Holy Roman Empire. It begins to come together. But how can that be? How can that be? Because Jesus had said, my kingdom is not of this world. And if my kingdom were of this world, then my servants would fight. Jesus has said, in the world you will have tribulation. You're going to be persecuted. But be of good cheer, I've overcome the world.

So how can it be that the church is integrated with the empire? I made a trip over to Europe, had an opportunity to go with a friend of mine. We went to Budapest and was able to travel over to Vienna. I hadn't really had an opportunity to see a lot of the cathedrals of Europe. But maybe as a tourist, I'd walk in these churches and I'd look at the columns that are so huge. And obviously, I came to the conclusion that these people had something else in mind beyond just building a church.

When they built these churches, they built them to last for a thousand years, for a long time. But again, how could it be that the church is wedded to the empire? You know, Christ said His kingdom was another world, that people of God would be persecuted. But now, emperors are filling government jobs with Christians.

How could that be again? Not only that, emperors were building churches. For centuries, the Christians were persecuted, but now they were allied with the empire. Later, in fact, the church would crown kings. If you ever go over to, in fact, Budapest, you get an opportunity to go there. Look at some of the cathedrals there, or look it up online. King Stephen was made a saint by the church because he made the universal church the state religion.

There was a lot of bloodshed. And you know, the reason they made him a saint is, I don't know how it happened, but his hand somehow did not decay. And so they determined by that that he must be a saint. After he died, that part of him... In fact, you can go inside of this cathedral, and there's a little box with King Stephen's hand in it.

It certainly indeed looks like, I don't know, maybe it was freeze-dried. I don't know how they did it, how it occurred. But people pay to go in and look at this, but he was made a saint because of this, later by the Catholic Church. You know, when people began to see how the empire was wedded to the church, they were together with one another. They began to wonder, is it possible the church itself, or a Christianized empire, is the kingdom of God?

Again, you could understand, if somebody's building a church and they believe that they're building the kingdom of God, that they would certainly, you know, want to make sure that it was of very high-list quality. And again, you look at what was built there, it is remarkable, it really is.

Maybe why, in fact, people were suckered into it, to believe it. Like I said earlier, the empire became too large and difficult to be governed by one man. And it's the death of Epyrhthheodosus. In 395, it was divided into the Western Empire, ruled by his two sons, again with the capitals of Rome and Constantinople. Remember, in the image that Nebuchadnezzar saw, the image had two legs. And so you have the Eastern Empire and the Western Empire. Now let's go over to the book of Revelation, Revelation chapter 13. Revelation chapter 13.

It says, Then I stood on the sand of the sea, and I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his head a blasphemous name. Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of the bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion, the dragon gave him his power. Satan, behind this empire, he was thrown in great authority. And I saw one of his heads as it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast.

Like I said, you know, in terms of the Roman Empire, there were subsequent empires that arose that tried to mimic the success that occurred earlier. What is amazing with the splitting of the empire, and frankly, many years after that, the Western Empire ends in 476 AD, when the last Roman emperor is deposed by a Germanic chieftain Odesura, 1163 years after the founding of Rome. It looked like, in fact, that the Roman Empire would die, that it would disappear.

Or what, in fact, Gibbon and Saunders, in their book, The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire, they call deadly wounds or mortal wounds, as it reads. But the Eastern Empire remained, and Justinian assumes power in the east in 527 AD. And he moves very quickly. He reconquers North Africa and Italy in 554, and the empire is united once again. But it did not persist. And the church at Rome, by the way, walks in conjunction with the empire, still. Actually, during this time, Justinian and other emperors, probably a little more powerful in terms of rulership than they would be later. But there are successive resurrections of the Holy Roman Empire. You have, of course, Justinian in 554, then you have Charlemagne in 800, Otto the Great in 962. You have then the Hapsburg dynasty, beginning with Charles the Great, who was crowned in 1520. And then you have the notable Napoleon, who was crowned in 1804. And then you have Garibaldi, who unites Italy in 1870. And then you have Benito Mussolini, that comes along. And in 1921, with the latter in the treaty, cedes full sovereignty over itself to the Vatican city. So the papacy is born, as it were. And by the way, Mussolini admired the cesars, and he desired to make Italy the center of the Western civilization. But interestingly, too, Charlemagne is considered the father of modern Europe. He's crowned in Imperator Romanaerum by Pope Leo III on Christmas Day in 800 AD in Rome. He revives the traditions of the Roman cesars and unifies a Christian empire in the West. And after his death, the empire begins to crumble and is raided by the Vikings, the Saracens, and the empire rises and falls seven successive times. Otto III was crowned by Pope Gregory in 996. Later on in the history, again, of the Roman Empire, the Holy Roman Empire, the Golden Bull got its name from the seal, issued from the Imperial Diet of Metz in northeast France during the reign of Charles IV in 1356. And what happened then was it fixed 400 years of problems with the constitutional structure of the Holy Roman Empire. And the Hapsburgs rule for 300 years after that. They rule from 1440 to about 1740. During the reign of Charles V, the Holy Roman Empire stretches from Vienna to Peru. And the sun never sets on my realm, he said. You're not probably able to make that out from where you're sitting, but you see that eagle that is on top of that building there? It is a double-headed eagle with the faces looking from east to west signifying, again, the breadth and how massive the empire is. You see that a lot in the buildings that are around. If you get a chance to go down to Vienna and look at the Hapburg that is there. During the time of Napoleon, Napoleon changed things up. He basically told the Pope he did not want him to crown him or his wife, Josephine. And he crowned himself. He was 5'7", I believe. Here he had, of course, the heart of a lion as a French leader. But Napoleon crowns himself. Then, of course, we come to the time of Garibaldi. Garibaldi organized a 1,000-man guerrilla army in Sicily dubbed the Red Shirts. And he takes Sicily and Naples and turns it over to Victor Emmanuel, who is Italy's first king. And he seizes the Papal States. And Italy is united under the House of Savoy as a result of Garibaldi. He is very respected by the people of Italy.

Mussolini rules Italy. He is called El Duce, or the leader. And, of course, he is a dictator, a supreme leader of Italy. The Lateran Treaty cedes sovereignty to the Vatican, as I mentioned earlier, in 1929. He goes down and defeats Ethiopia and, highly salacy for revenge, that was in 1935, and Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Somaliland form an Italian colony. And he and Nexus, you know, Ethiopia and King Victor Emmanuel, in fact, is declared the emperor of Ethiopia in 1936. Remember, Mr. Armstrong actually visited with highly salacy. You know, he was alive, of course, during the time when Mr. Armstrong was preaching, and he had the opportunity to go and visit with him. Mussolini declares a revival of the Roman Empire. You know, Garibaldi did not do that, of course, but he was intramental in bringing it together, of making it work. So he declares a revival of the Roman Empire, and he proclaims, at last, Italy has her empire. And he is isolated from the world. And, consequently, he turns to Germany and Adolf Hitler. And he forms an alliance with Hitler in 1936. And the world falls into World War II. And Germany is a part of the Axis powers. And, of course, Italy is a part of that whole thing too. And they were defeated, and Mussolini is shot. He's put to death. Germany is beaten to the ground. It's pummeled to the ground.

And, over Revelation 17, verse 10, you know, Mr. Herbert Armstrong opened his Bible in Revelation 17, verse 10.

He says, there are seven kings, five have fallen, and one is, and the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must continue a short time. So he thought there had to be, there had to be another revival of the Holy Roman Empire. And he began preaching that during the midst of World War II. If you have not been in the Church very long, you may not have known that.

The Europeans were, of course, are much aware of the Holy Roman Empire. Of course, Americans don't think about it all that much. We don't know the history. The EU, as what we call the European Union, came into the force in 1993. And the EU, interestingly, traces its origin to the 1957 Treaty of Rome. And actually, in 1951, the very beginning, that's the very initial beginning of the common market. You know, where you had a couple of nations that got together and they formed a treaty with one another. And it sort of grown, it grown into what became the European common market. And then it evolved into what is the European Union, which we were talking about. We've been preaching for a long time in the Church of God. And the EU, of course, the original members of the European communities that, in fact, came together were the intersex, as they're called. And I think it could be a very important thing to know. Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and West Germany. And of course, now Germany is reunited, right? What was really interesting to me in studying this whole subject, by the way, is that Winston Churchill was among the first to ever propose the United States of Europe. And it's just very, very interesting to me that here you've got one of the leaders of Britain, the tribe of Ephraim, as we understand, that is proposing the United States of Europe. It also is quite interesting to me that the Marshall Plan, which the United States was a very, very big part of, put billions of dollars into Europe after World War II. And we have been instrumental in building up Europe. Does this sound familiar, by the way, to what happened with China? Well, you know, we're our own worst enemy. You know, we are actually building up something that was going to, in the future, destroy us.

And frankly, the same happened with China. You know, I kept telling my wife, I said, we are spending so much money over in China, and we're making them rich. And they're building up their army, their navy, and not only that, but they are heavily involved in things that are in space. Now, things to bring down satellites and things, they've bought a lot of it. They've stolen the technology from the United States. Let's go over to chapter 17 here. In verse 1, it says, I mentioned to you earlier on that it's almost like a court case that is going on, as far as this world is always, brethren, going on. You and I are being judged. God is the judge. And here it says, I'm going to show you the judgment of the great harlot, as it mentioned here. And hopefully we will be judge-worthy, brethren. And it says, And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cupful of abominations, and the filthiness of her fornication. And on her forehead a name was written, mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots, and of the abominations of the earth. And she was drunk with the blood of the saints. She's been instrumental again in putting to death God's people through the ages. You know, I wanted to show you a little bit in terms of the counterfeit nature of the beast system. Like I mentioned, when you look at the cathedrals of Europe and all of this, they were trying to counterfeit the coming kingdom of God. Again, the cathedrals and how they built them, they were built to last, but I want to show you some other things here.

Like there's a statue of Julius Caesar, in fact, in the courtyard of the Hopburg Palace. One thing that I really enjoyed doing when I went over to Vienna is going to the Schottkammer. Because it has all of the royal, the crowns and everything. And I found some very interesting things out when I was going through the Schottkammer, there at the Hopburg in Vienna. You notice here the crown of Austria, and they have an orb. You notice the cross on top of the orb? In other words, Christianity is going to take over the entire world. This is a king, by the way, that carries these items.

You notice here also the high arch emulates the decoration of the emperor's helmet. It has four panels. And victory over the Turks when the Islam threatened to conquer Europe.

You know, we are on the second round of when the Islam is trying to invade Europe. This time they're being very, very, very successful. They are really going to be a problem again for Europe in the future. That time will come. But you notice that it's shaped like a bishop's miter.

The government of the Roman Catholic Church, in fact, mirrors that of the Roman Empire.

You'll notice here, now the next one is the crown of Austria with an orb that is again at the Schottkammer in Vienna. And it has jewels that are on this particular crown.

And it was used, in fact, to crown Emperor Otto. Let me mention about it. I believe it was in 900 that when he was crowned, the Pope crowned him. And the crown of the Holy Roman Empire dated the second half of the 10th century.

The arch-immolation decoration of the helmet of Roman emperors. And on this particular crown that you see here, there are eight plates depicting the eight gates of the heavenly Jerusalem. And the kingdom of God is represented again by the Holy Roman Empire. There are four plates, by the way, on this crown that are scenes of King David, King Solomon, King Hezekiah and Isaiah.

And of course, Christ with two seraphim on this particular crown.

Here's another crown picture. The crown of the Holy Roman Empire. There are 12 stones on the front plate that symbolize the 12 apostles. The new covenant, 12 stones on the back plate, symbolize the 12 tribes, or the old covenant. And the emperor is seen as a successor of the Roman emperor, and, by the way, brethren, what really shocked me is the kings of Israel.

I don't know that I ever connected the Roman Empire with making that claim. But the crown, again, makes that connection. And the belief that he received his authority from God.

And again, the Holy Roman Empire claims King David, Solomon, and Hezekiah and Israel as a legacy.

Now, let's go over to Daniel, chapter 11. We're getting near the end of this. Give me a few more moments to sort of round this out. But in Daniel 11, over here, it talks about an in-time being that is going to come along.

Down in verse 32, it says, It says, I hope that describes us, brethren, that we will carry the gospel to the world and do great exploits around the globe. And down here, going on in verse 5, And some of those of understanding shall fall. We've had a little bit of a problem with that, haven't we? We've had people that have fallen away.

And it says, for some of them, to refine them, purify them, and make them white. Maybe in the end they will repent until the time of the end. So this is bringing us up again to our time, brethren, because it is still for the appointed time, as he says here. And it says, Then the king shall do according to his own will, and he will exalt and magnify himself above every god, shall speak blasphemous against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the wrath has been accomplished. And of course, that is the time of the day of the Lord, here it's talking about. For what has been determined shall be done. I want you to notice this verse, brethren. He shall regard neither the God of his fathers nor the desire of women, or regard any God, for he shall exalt himself above them all. I want you to think about the fact, brethren, that the current Pope Francis, many are not aware he is a Jesuit. His background is Jesuit. But many people are not aware, either, that one of the great things that the Jesuits want to do, is they want to see the Muslims being brought into the faith.

And of course, they worship not a god that anyone's father is familiar with. They worship Allah. Allah is not God, not the God we worship. You know, Allah goes back to Babylon. You know, ancient Babylon. You do a little bit of research about that. But again, the current Pope is a Jesuit, and his chief goal is to bring Muslims into the church. But this individual that rises up, he's going to worship a god that, you know, his fathers did not worship. And the Bible describes this individual as vile. He's a vile individual. He's going to, again, emerge in the future.

And you know, the Bible tells us that when Jesus Christ returns, that when this beast is in place, and when the false prophet is in place, in the end of the age, that these ten kings that gather together in the end of the age, that they're going to fight Jesus Christ when he returns. Let's notice over in Revelation 17, Revelation 17, we can quickly look at that over here. But in verse 14, we'll just go right to the verse. You know, all these ten kings in the end of the age are going to give their power over to this beast. And these shall make war with the Lamb, and will overcome them. For he is the Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with him are called, chosen, and faithful. And so they're going to attempt to bring Jesus Christ down. And, you know, that, of course, is something that you and I may very well see, you know, in the future.

We may have the opportunity to see with our own eyes, I don't know, again, what the circumstances will be, if even God takes us into a place of safety, how we will be able to view some of these things. But very probably we will. Now, let's go back to Revelation 13. Revelation 13. Revelation 13 in verse 11.

Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth. Of course, you have the other beast, which is the one that had the deadly wound that was healed. But he said, I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke, it says, like a dragon.

So this is certainly an allusion to the false prophet. And he exercised all the authority of the first beast in his presence and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. Again, this is the last resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire. And he performs great signs so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And he deceives those who dwell upon the earth by these signs, which he is granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell in the earth, make an image to the beast, who was wounded by the sword and lived. And he was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, and that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. So again, it's going to be a matter of life and death. And it causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, that no one may buy or sell, except one has the mark or the name of the beast or the number of his name.

And so it's going to be a matter, again, if you don't have this, you can't buy or sell. One of the first things that probably, and again, we can only speculate about this, but there's a movement right now in the world toward a digital currency.

Now, you may wonder, what benefit would a digital currency be? You know, I told you about my cell phone and I got my cell phone and it tells me everywhere I've been. I don't know how I can get it off my phone. I'm not smart enough really to do it myself. I have to ask my son to help me. But the digital currency is going to get rid of the underground economy.

And they will know what you spend everywhere you go. And if they can know where you spend and what you spend everywhere you go, they can stop you from buying everywhere you go. So expect this is going to probably happen, a part of it all. I don't know how, again, the mark is going to be played into that. But I think there will have to be a time where if there's going to be anybody that's going to be saved in the future, or else they'll be running and hiding, which may be very, very difficult for anybody to do. But, brethren, this is describing what I would call the great reset of the world. The economy is going to be reset. That's what it's about. And you know what? At the World Economic Forum, speech after speech after speech has said this pandemic is a godsend. This pandemic we're going through right now provides us the opportunity to reset everything. And of course, they would like to do the Green Deal. They'd love to do that. And that way they could reshuffle wealth in the world. You're going to find, again, the global warming is a very big part of this. And the changes are going to take place in the economy.

But, brethren, what they are calling the great reset is it will stay together a little while. But eventually, of course, Jesus Christ is going to come and he's going to destroy the whole thing. Because it says in Daniel 2, in verse 44, you don't need to turn there. But it says, No, it's not going to be left to other people. It's going to be left to the saints of the Most High. And though we read, of course, over in Revelation 5, verse 10, where it says there that God has redeemed us from every nation and tongue and people. And he's made us kings and priests to our God and we shall reign on the earth. And, brethren, this is so much bigger, I think, like Mr. Kubik was talking about. You know, when he talked about how Jesus Christ himself died because he was a king.

Well, brethren, Satan knows what we're going to be. He knows that we're going to replace all of his minions, that they're going to be booted out, and that all of those of the magistrates of the world are going to be put down, and that God's family, the kingdom, is not going to be left to other people. Brethren, we need to see the big picture, the really big picture, about what's happening. You know, the book of Daniel and the book of Revelation go together to show that the saints of the Most High are going to rule the world. And it's big. Very, very big. You may be ruling over ten cities. I don't know. Some may be given rulership over states. Some may be given rulership over provinces. We know that the apostles are going to rule over the twelve tribes of Israel. So they're going to have very high positions. And, brethren, whatever in fact God decides he's going to give to us, of course, any of us would be willing to be in the kingdom, even as a doorkeeper, if that were the case. But God hasn't called you and me to be doorkeepers. He's called us to be kings and priests for the future. So the book of Daniel and, of course, what we see in the book of Revelation go together to show the saints are going to be taking the kingdom, and they're going to rule with Christ forever and ever. And, brethren, this is the greatest reset the world will ever know. And people are going to be amazed. They're going to be confounded by us that we are the rulers. They're going to say, where did you come from? We're going to be the Jimmy Carter of the day. Remember when Jimmy Carter was elected president? People wondered where he came from. Frankly, I wish he had stayed on the peanut farm, but that's history. But on the other hand, maybe God wanted him to be where he was, and that's what happened. Well, brethren, let's keep that big picture. And so with that, I'll go ahead and adjourn the Bible study. And if you have any questions, I'd be glad to answer any way I can. I'll be down front here for a while. And I appreciate your patience. Have a safe trip home, and we'll see you tomorrow.