Prophecy

I think many Protestants, and perhaps a number in the Orthodox community, had to be surprised recently at the pronouncement of Pope Benedict XVI. Many of you commented to me on this press release. Let me read from a press release. This was from July 10, 2007. It says, Pope Benedict XVI has reasserted the universal primacy of the Roman Catholic Church, approving a document released Tuesday that says Orthodox churches were defective, and other Christian denominations were not true churches.

So you're either a defect or you're a false church. Benedict approved a document from his old office at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith that restates in church teaching on relationship with other Christians. It was the second time in a week the Pope has corrected what he says are erroneous interpretations of the Second Vatican Council. The 1962-65 meetings have modernized the Church. On Saturday, Benedict revisited another key aspect of the Vatican, too, by reviving the old Latin Mass. So now they can go back to the Latin Mass if they want to.

It says, traditional Catholics cheered the more. I don't know if that was because you don't understand Latin so you don't know what's going on. But more liberal ones called it a step back from Vatican II.

Then it goes on to talk about how Benedict attended Vatican II, how he was upset by how some liberals have interpreted what that particular council said. But in the document that he put out, it says, it has set off a firestorm of criticism among Protestants and other Christian denominations because it said that they were not the true Church but merely ecclesiastical communities.

So we would be considered an ecclesiastical community. And therefore, they did not have the means of salvation. Christ established here on earth only one Church.

The document said—no, I wouldn't necessarily argue with that.

It says the other communities cannot be called churches in the proper sense because they do not have apostolic succession.

You cannot, he says, trace—or they can't trace their origin—back to the original apostles, especially Peter. The ability to trace their bishops back to Christ's original apostles. The document said Orthodox churches were indeed churches because they have apostolic succession, and they enjoyed many elements of sanctification and of truth. So you have the Greek Orthodox, you have the Russian Orthodox, and then you have Protestants. But it said that they lacked something.

Now, what is it they lack? Well, because they do not recognize the primacy of the Pope. A defect or a wound that harmed them, it said. It is obviously not compatible with the doctrine of primacy, which, according to the Catholic faith, is an internal constitutive principle of the very existence of a particular church. It says, despite the harsh tone of the document, it stresses that Benedict remains committed to ecumenical dialogue. So that means you all come to us, change what you're doing, and we will accept you. However, it says that such dialogue is to be truly constructive. It must involve not only the mutual openness of the participants, but also fidelity to the identity of the Catholic faith. The commentary said, not backtracking on ecumenical commitment. The doctrine signed by the Congregation Prefect, U.S. Cardinal William Veda, was approved by Benedict on June 29th at the Feast of St. Peter's and Paul, a major ecumenical feast day. The church is not backtracking on ecumenical commitment. But, as you know, it is fundamental to any kind of dialogue that participants are clear about their own identity. So, in talking with the Protestants and other groups, as far as their ecumenical getting together, everybody needs to be clear about their identity. The Catholic Church is the one true church. I mean, this is what Pope Benedict would say. You have other Orthodox churches, but they are wounded. They have certain deficiencies. And then you have all these other churches, which are not churches, but ecclesiastical communities. So, let's get together and talk. This is what the Catholic Church is telling them.

When you read a statement like this, what does it portend for the future? If the Catholic Church feels this way towards the Protestants and other groups who do not believe in the supremacy of the papacy, what do they think about groups like Islam or other religions that are not based upon the Bible? I think many of us may be surprised that over the centuries that there have been many Catholic prophecies. Many of these prophecies talk about the end time, talk about what is going to happen in the next few years. Sometimes we may think that we have a corner on understanding prophecies in the future. But I'd like for you to listen to some of the Catholic prophecies and see what they understand when it comes to prophecy.

All of these first seven quotes that I will give to you come from the book by Edward Conner titled Prophecy for Today. I will read from this. It says, let me just read, I'll just read one right after another of these prophecies to show you what their understanding of what's going to happen at the end time. This is from Venerable Maria of Angreda, 1665. The kings will send armies to the Holy Land, but he will slay them all. So we understand that when all the armies gather around Jerusalem, Christ is going to destroy them.

Anna Katrina Emmerich, 1824, said he will fight a successful battle of Megiddo in Palestine, after which he will thereafter become Lord of the world. Now, another prophecy. Venerable Bartholomew Holzhauser, 1658, he and his army will conquer Rome, kill the Pope, take the throne. The Jews will come from everywhere and accept him as the Messiah.

So as we read through these, you know, ask yourself, what would we disagree with? For St. Thomas Aquinas, 1274, he will rebuild the Temple of Jerusalem, and it will be in this temple that he will sit. And then St. Anselma, I guess, A-N-S-E-L-M 1109, he will rule the world from Jerusalem, which he will make into a magnificent city.

And then a little longer one from Dionysius of Luxembourg, 1682, he will be an iconic class, even against pagan images. Most of the world will adore him. He will teach that the Christian religion is false, confiscation of Christian property is legal, Saturday is to be observed instead of Sunday, and he will change 10 commandments. As you know, the Catholic's number the 10 commandments differently than we do. All his wonders cannot be written in a book. They will be more wonderful in the Old and the New Testament. He will read people's minds, raise the dead, reward his followers, and punish the rest. Well, you could say so far, so good. And then finally, the seventh one from Saint Zenobius, he shall work a thousand progenies on the earth. He will make the blind see the death hear the lame walk and raise the dead. He shall enter in triumph the city of Jerusalem, and will sit on his throne in the temple to be adored as the Son of God.

Now, all of those are Catholic prophecies. So, you thought we had the corner on the market. We understood prophecy, and nobody else did understand it.

Well, I think these are truly remarkable prophecies. There's only one trouble.

I didn't read them correctly. I substituted one word for another word as I read through these prophecies. When I read the word, he, the Catholic prophecy has the word Antichrist in place of it. Instead of he referring to Christ, it's referring to what they would call the Antichrist.

Let's go back. Let me read these again. Read them correctly. As we read through each one of these, let's refresh our minds on what the Bible has to say.

The quote number one that I had, if you'll remember, the venerable Maria of and Gredi said, the kings will send armies to the Holy Land, but the Antichrist will slay them all.

Not Christ, but the Antichrist will slay them all.

Now, I think we realize that the Bible indicates at the end time. Let's go back and read it. Zechariah 14, the book of Zechariah chapter 14. That at the end time, all nations are going together at Jerusalem. And we read here beginning in verse one, Behold, the day of the Lord is coming. This day of the Lord is always an end time setting for prophecy. And your spoil will be divided in your midst. And I will gather all nations to battle against Jerusalem. So all nations are going to come up to fight. Who will inspire those nations to come up? What power, what force will be behind them to motivate them? Let's go over to Revelation 16 and verse 13. Revelation chapter 16. And we'll pick the story up here in verse 13.

It says, I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon. That's Satan. Out of the mouth of the beast, a political leader. And out of the mouth of the false prophet, religious leader. For they are spirits of demons, performing signs. So they were performed signs, wonders, people will call them miracles, which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world to gather them to the battle of the great day of God Almighty.

Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches and keeps his garment. So you find that Satan the devil will eventually, through demons, through the fallen spirit world, send these spirits out to influence the leaders of nations to gather their armies and they will all begin to converge on the mid-east. And we find that they will gather at Megiddo or at the hill of Megiddo to fight. In chapter 17, verse 12, we find a scripture here talking about the upcoming European power or what we would refer to as the beast power.

In verse 12 it says, the ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they shall receive authority for one hour as king with the beast. These have one mind and they will give their power and authority to the beast. These will make war with the Lamb.

So they're going to fight against Jesus Christ and the Lamb will overcome them. For he is Lord of Lords and King of Kings and those who are with him are called chosen and faithful. So we find this first quote about the Antichrist as something that is misleading. Actually, as I will show you later on, let me just skip ahead and quote from this. You'll find that Pope Pius XII made this statement that the teaching about the millennium, that Christ before the final judgment will come visibly to rule over the earth, is a serious error condemned by Pius XII.

Instead, the teaching of the millennium is the very thing that the Antichrist will need to set up his rule in the world. So you see, they interpret the fact that you have the prophecies that we understand that Jesus Christ is going to come back to this earth. He will come back visibly. He will fight against the armies of this earth and set up a millennial kingdom. They take all of that as referencing the Antichrist. And so, therefore, these scriptures, they say, are what sets that up. Let's go over here to quote number two that I gave to you earlier.

Anna Katrina Emmerich. Antichrist will fight a successful battle at Megiddo in Palestine, after which he will thereafter be called the Lord of the world. So, in other words, he will be worshipped as the Lord of the world. We'll turn over to chapter 19 in the book of Revelation, while you're here, in verse 11. And let's see what the Bible has to say. It's going to occur at the end time.

Revelation 19, verse 11. I saw heaven open, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on him was faithful and true, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. Now, this is Christ, obviously. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns. He has a name written that no one knew except himself, and he was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God.

And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed him on white horses. Now, out of his mouth goes a sharp sword that with it he should strike the nations. And he himself shall rule with a rod of iron. So again, we find warfare, Christ having to come back and fight against the nations. And he himself shall tread the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God. And he has on his robe and on his thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.

So here they claim that the Antichrist will become the Lord of the world. And yet the Bible very clearly reveals that Jesus Christ, when he comes back, will proclaim King of all kings, Lord of all lords. And so therefore, he is the one who will be Lord of lords. But they apply this to the Antichrist. Okay, let's go on to quote number three from the venerable Bartholomew Holzhauser. Now, we have another quote from him a little later on.

But it says, The Antichrist and his armies will conquer Rome, kill the pope, take the throne. The Jews will come from everywhere and accept the Antichrist as the Messiah.

So everywhere, the Jews will come back and they're going to proclaim him as their Messiah.

Okay, who is it who kills the false Christ or the false prophet? In chapter 19 here again, let's pick up...

Well, no, chapter 19 verse 19.

Notice, it says, I saw the beast, again, this is a political leader, the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against him, who set on the horse, and against his army. And the beast was captured, so this political leader is taken and captured, and with him, the false prophet, who works signs in his presence, by which he deceives those who receive the mark of the beast, and those who worship his image. And these two were cast alive into the lake of fire, burning with brimstone. So they're thrown into the lake of fire. And the rest were killed with the sword, which proceeded from the mouth of him, who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh. So it is Jesus Christ who's going to come back and deal with the final false prophet, the political leaders of this world, and the one who is actually known as the Antichrist.

Now, the fourth quote here... Well, let me read another scripture. It says, The Jews will come from everywhere. Isaiah chapter 11 talks about the end time. You remember, this is a prophecy concerning the millennium. Al the wolf and the lamb will dwell together. Lions will eat straw like the ox. Won't have to be afraid of poisonous snakes anymore. But verse 11 here, Isaiah 11, It shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people which are left, from Assyria and Egypt, from Pethros and Kush, from Elam and Shinar, from Hamar or Hamath, and the islands of the sea. And he shall set up a banner for the nations.

And he will assemble the outcast of Israel and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. And the envy of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off. And then we find in verse 16, There shall be a highway for the remnant of his people, who will be left from Assyria as it was for Israel in the day that he came up from the land of Egypt. And so you find here that God will bring back not only the other tribes of Israel, but the Jews also. That we find back in the book of Ezekiel, the same thing is mentioned. We're all familiar, I think, with a number of these prophecies. Now, quote number five.

It says, The antichrist will rule the world from Jerusalem, which he will make into a magnificent city.

So he's going to rule the world from Jerusalem, and it will become a magnificent city.

Psalm 147 in verse 2. Again, the reason we're going to the Scriptures is to show you that here are prophecies about what they say about the antichrist. And then we will go and read about what Christ himself, the Messiah, is going to do when he comes back to the earth. In chapter 147 verse 2, The Lord builds up Jerusalem, and He gathers together the outcast of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted. He binds up their wounds. And so you'll find here again that God is going to deal with these nations. Zechariah chapter 14 again. Zechariah 14. And we'll pick up the story this time in verse 9. Zechariah chapter 14 in verse 9.

It says, The Lord will be king over all the earth, and on that day it shall be, The Lord is one, and His name one. So it doesn't say the antichrist is going to be king over all the earth or Lord over all the earth, but the Lord Himself will be king. He's going to be king over all of the earth. Now verse 16. And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the king. Go up to where? That's an expression that's commonly used in the Bible when it says to go up. It meant to go up to Jerusalem. So they shall go up to Jerusalem, and where will God be? Where will Christ be? Where will the Messiah be? Well, they will go up there from year to year to worship the king, the Lord of Hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. And so you'll find, again, that Christ will be there in Jerusalem.

Now quote number 6. The Antichrist will be an iconoclast.

Now the word iconoclast, again, means against pagan images. That means he will tear down steeples. He will throw away all of the pagan signs, the statues, the idols, the quote-unquote saints that people have. They have these little dashboard saints that they put up there. It says, Most of the world will adore him. He will teach that the Christian religion is false.

Now, do you think that Jesus Christ will teach that the Christian religion, as it's being taught today, is false? The answer is yes. Confiscation of Christian property is legal. Now, how are we going to get a start in the millennium? You go around and you collect all of those billions, millions of dollars. Saturday is to be observed instead of Sunday. Well, well, everyone will keep the Sabbath instead of Sunday, and he will change the Ten Commandments. There will be a commandment in there saying, you're not supposed to worship idols.

And, you know, it'll be included. All his wonders could not be written in a book.

They will be more wonderful in the Old and the New Testament. He will read people's minds, raise the dead, reward his followers, and punish the rest.

Well, right here in Zechariah, what happens to those who refuse to obey God, who refuse to keep the Feast of Tabernacles? Verse 17, And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth that do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, on them there will be no rain. And if the family of Egypt will not come up and enter in, they shall have no rain, and they shall receive the plague with which the Lord strikes the nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. So God will begin to give people time and chance to change, but when they refuse to do so, He will begin to apply subtle pressure. No rain.

And then He will bring other plagues upon them. What about Revelation 11?

This talks about how He will reward His followers and punish those who oppose Him. Revelation 11, verse 15. In verse 15, it says, Then the seventh angel sounded, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ, and He shall reign for ever and ever.

And the twenty-four elders said before God, on their thrones fell on their face, and worshiped Him, saying, We give you thanks, O Lord God Almighty, the one who is, who was and who is to come, because you have taken your great power and reign. So Christ is now ruling on the earth. The nations were angry.

They're going to be upset over this. And your wrath has come. And the time of the dead that they should be judged. And that you should reward your servants. So here are the true servants of God being rewarded. And it says, You shall reward your servants, the prophets and the saints, who fear your name, small and great, and destroy those who destroy the earth.

So very clearly, this is a prophecy concerning Jesus Christ and what He will do. Now, quote number seven from Saint Xenobias.

Enter Christ shall work a thousand progenies on the earth.

He will make the blind see the death hear the lame walk the dead rise.

So that even the elect, if possible, shall be deceived by His magical arts. Now, I left that part out.

So what you find is saying that those who are the elect, and who would they define as the elect? Well, Catholics. That even they might be deceived by all of the miracles that He performs and wonders and signs.

Swollen with pride, the antichrist shall enter in triumph. The city of Jerusalem will sit on a throne in the temple. To be adored as if, now I left that out too before, He were the Son of God.

He shall seduce many credulous persons through His deceitful error.

Now, I don't have to read, but Isaiah 35, 4-6, we're all familiar with that Scripture. Now, when Christ comes back, that the blind will see, the deaf will hear, the lame will leap like hearts, like deer, and God will begin to heal people when He establishes His kingdom. But let's go back to Isaiah 43.

Excuse me, Ezekiel 43, not Isaiah. Ezekiel 43.

And we'll read verses 6 and 7 here.

Then I heard Him speak to me from the temple, while a man stood beside me. And He said to me, Son of Man, this is the place of my throne.

So whose throne is going to be established in the temple, ruling from Jerusalem? Jesus Christ. Because this is God here. You go back to the first few verses and see that. This is the place of my throne, the place of the souls of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever. No more shall my house, no more shall the house of Israel, defile my holy name. They, nor the kings, by their harlotry are with their carcasses of their kings on their high places. And so you'll find that Christ will rule here. Ezekiel 40 through 48 shows a setting of the millennium. There's going to be a temple built in the millennium. This is where Christ Himself will rule from.

And you and I will be pillars in that temple. So, brethren, at the end time, many will be deceived by false teachings.

Scripture warns us that you and I are not to be called off guard. We're told to watch and to pray always. Catholics will be taught Catholic prophecies, and they will view world events through the prism of these prophecies as we get closer to the time of the end. Because their followers will begin to ask questions. Why are these things happening? Why is all of this taking place? And these prophecies will be rolled out. Now, Islam has prophecies that at the end time, their Messiah will come. And He will bring Christ over to Mecca and further train Him in their religion. I mean, this is what they teach. Many major religions have prophecies about the end time and what are going to happen. What about those who are atheists, secular, less humanistic? Those who doubt God, don't believe in God, or don't believe in supernatural power? Well, they'll see natural disasters taking place, and they'll just say that. Well, it's just natural disasters. It's probably global warming. We can blame everything else on global warming. It's probably global warming. Some might even think that it's invaders from outer space. They're finally here. What do you think all of these movies, books, science fiction, movies and books are doing? Well, they're conditioning people into thinking. There could be somebody out there. And so, we have telescopes. We have all kinds of programs where we're trying to find life that's out there.

And some, there are many other ideas floating around. Who knows what some people will believe at the end time?

Now, as I mentioned to you, these prophecies, but I've not read to you all of the prophecies that I have here. And as Paul Harvey wants to say, let me tell you the rest of the story, because there are other Catholic prophecies that we might want to look into.

As I mentioned, when the millennium is referred to, which we know is a belief of the second coming of Jesus Christ to rule the world and punish the wicked, that the Catholic's teaching on millennialism is different. That Christ, before the final judgment, if this is what is taught, will come visibly to rule over this world is a serious error condemned by Pius XII. Indeed, the teaching of millennialism is a very thing. The Antichrist will need to set up his rule over the earth.

The Catholics, in other words, will be taught that when Christ appears, he is the Antichrist.

Now, let me just read you a couple of other quotes that are very interesting in this regard. Anna Maria Tagetti, 1837, whole nations will join the Church shortly before the reign of the Antichrist. These conversions will be amazing. Those who shall survive shall have to conduct themselves well. There shall be innumerable conversions of heretics who will return to the bosom of the Church.

So many heretics, who do you think they would classify as heretics? Those who are ecclesiastical communities would be part of those. And then Abbot Merlin Jockam, 1202, says, a remarkable pope will be seated on the pontifical throne under the special protection of the angels.

One has to ask which angels will be there protecting him. Holy and full of gentleness, he shall undo all wrong. He shall recover the states of the Church, reunite the exiled temporal powers.

So he's going to reunite people. He shall be revered by all people and shall recover the kingdom of Jerusalem. As the only pastor, he shall reunite the Eastern to the Western Church. So the Eastern Orthodox, the Greek, and the Western will be united.

And thus one only faith will be in vigor. The sanctity of this beneficent pontif will be so great that the highest potentate shall bow down before his presence. This holy man shall crush the arrogance of religious schism and heresy. All men shall return to the primitive Church. This holy pope shall be both pastor and reformer. So he's going to be a religious leader and a political leader. Through him, the East and the West shall be an everlasting concord. The city of Babylon shall then be the head and guide of the world. I'm not so sure I'd want to say the city of Babylon will be the head and the guide.

So here you find some very clear prophecies saying that before the Antichrist himself appears, you're going to have this remarkable pope.

Now, what you have to realize anytime you read these prophecies, you ask yourself a couple of questions. Are they accurate? And the answer is no, they're not always accurate. But is there a grain of truth or, you know, a semblance of truth contained therein? And I would say yes to that. Let's go over to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 8. 2 Thessalonians 2.8.

And let's notice what it has to say about the false prophet at the end time.

Beginning here in verse 8, 2 Thessalonians 2. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his coming.

The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders. So this shows where he gets his power to perform signs and wonders. And with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason, God will send them strong delusions that they should believe the lie, that they will believe in this man, and they will accept what he says. And they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. So we find at the end time people are going to be deluded, and they are going to be lied to. Revelation chapter 13. Again, we find two beasts described here. One's political, the other is religious. Revelation 13, beginning in verse 8, says, All who dwell on the earth shall worship him, whose names have not been written in the book of the life of the Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world, worshiping the Roman system, government, and way of life. When you look at the political system of this world, you look at the economic system, you look at all of the religious systems, they can all trace their roots back to Babylon. And it says, If anyone has an ear, let him hear. He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity, and who who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here's the patience and the faith of the saints. Then verse 11, I saw another beast coming up out of the earth. He had two horns, like a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon. So he looks Christian, looks godly, lamb being a symbol of Christ, but a dragon we know is Satan the devil. So when he speaks, he looks, quote-unquote, Christian in appearance, but when he speaks, he speaks like the dragon speaks. And he exercises all of the authority of the first beast. So here is a religious political union. He's able to use the power of the first beast, the political union, to carry out what he wants. In his presence, and he causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. 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 on the earth by those signs, which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth that they make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. So people are going to be deceived. We know that even in the Catholic Church when they claim that a picture cries blood or somebody saw something, people by the tens of thousands stream there. So when this man, this false prophet, has all of this power to perform signs and wonders, I'll guarantee you people are going to flock. And not only the Catholics, but many of the rest of Christ. Back in Isaiah 47, we find a prophecy that indicates that at the end time there is going to be an ecumenical movement, that there are going to be those who are going to come back to the quote-unquote primitive church as they referred to it. But let's notice here, Isaiah 47 beginning in verse 6. God says, I was angry with my people and I have profaned my inheritance and given them into your hands and you showed them no mercy on the elderly. You laid your yoke very heavily and you say, I shall be a lady forever. Now who's this talking about? Well, verse 1, come down and sit in the dust, old virgin daughter of Babylon. So it's talking about Babylon.

So verse 7, you said, I shall be a lady forever so that you did not take these things to heart, nor remember the latter end of them. Therefore, hear this now, you who are given the pleasure, who dwell securely, who say in your heart, I am, and there's no one else beside me.

See, I am the only true church and I am is a title of God, as we know. So there is going to be a great leader who's going to proclaim himself as I am. I shall not sit as a widow. In other words, I will not have loss of children, and yet that's exactly what happens today. You look around the world, and it's a Catholic church, and you've got millions, hundreds of millions of Protestants out there. But here is a point in time where she is saying, I will not know loss of children. That seems to indicate that these children come back to her. Nor shall I know, she says, I shall not sit as a widow, nor shall I know the loss of children. But these two things shall come to you in a moment in one day, the loss of children and widowhood. They shall come upon you in their fullness because of the multitude of your sorceries and for the great abundance of your enchantments. For you have trusted in your wickedness, and you have said, no one sees me, and your wisdom and your knowledge have warped you. And you have said in your heart, I am, and there is no one else beside me. So God is going to take God to finally come back and deal with this military, political, religious power. Now notice another quote from Saint Caesar of Arliles.

It says, this prince shall extend his dominion over the entire universe.

At the same time, there will be a great pope who will be most eminent and sanctity and most perfect in every quality. This pope shall have with him the great monarch. Substitute beast for great monarch, a most virtuous man. This great monarch will assist the pope. How? In the reformation of the whole world. So there's going to be a reformation, not the Protestant reformation, but the Catholic reformation. Many princes and nations that are living in error and impiety shall be converted, and an admirable peace shall reign among men. And there will be one common law, only one faith, one baptism, one religion. All nations shall recognize the Holy See of Rome. Can't be talking about Christ, the Holy See of Rome. And they shall pay homage to the pope. But after some considerable time, fervor shall cool, iniquity shall abound, and moral corruption shall become worse than ever, which shall bring upon mankind the last and the worst persecution of Antichrist and the end of the world. So they're saying that this Antichrist is going to come. So here you find a prophecy from this Catholic prophet who claimed that the beast and the false prophet are going to work together. And let's go back to Revelation 13 again.

Revelation 13 and verse 3. And I want you to notice what this great religious or great, I should say, political power that's united with a religious power, what they do. Now the beast, which I saw, was like a leopard. And that's verse 2 verse 3. It says, I saw on one of his heads as it had been mortally wounded. And his deadly wound was healed in 554. And all the world marveled and followed the beast. So they worshiped the dragon.

So we find who ultimately is being worshiped through these systems. It's the dragon. They worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast. And they worshiped the beast, saying, Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him? And he was given a mouth, speaking great things and blasphemes. Now that mouth is the false prophet. And he was given authority to continue for 42 months. And he opened his mouth in blaspheme against God, the blaspheme, his name, his tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. And he was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given to him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. So they're going to go out and fight against every tribe, true Christians, and all that they consider heretics. Now, let me quote another quote here. And this is from Brother John.

We've all heard of Brother John of the Cleft Rock. This is the 14th century. He must have been in a monastery somewhere up on a cleft rock.

Toward the end of the world, tyrants and hostile mobs will rule the church. And the clergy in all their possessions will afflict and martyr them. Those who heap the most abuse upon them will be held in high esteem.

At that time, the pope, with his cardinals, will have to flee Rome in tragic circumstances to a place where they will be unknown. The pope will die a cruel death in his exile. The sufferings of the church will be much greater than any previous time in her history. But God will raise a holy pope, and the angels will rejoice.

Again, we have to wonder which angels. Enlightened by God, this man will rebuild almost the whole world through his holiness. He will lead everyone to the true faith, the Catholic faith. Everyone, or everywhere, the fear of God, virtue, and good morals will prevail. He will lead all erring sheep back to the fold, and there will be one faith, one law, one rule of life, one baptism on earth. All men will love each other and do good, and all quarrels and wars will cease. And there will be a time when they will proclaim, Peace, Peace.

But as the Bible says, there will be no peace. Now, there is an interesting prophecy in Revelation 17 concerning what will happen at the end time to the woman, as she is described here. Notice, beginning in verse 1, then one of the seven angels, chapter 17 verse 1, who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying to me, Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot that sits on many waters. So here is a great harlot, verse 3. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, which was full of names of blaspheme, or blaspheming, having seven heads and ten horns.

And verse 5, on her forehead, a name was written, Mystery Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and the abominations of the world. Now, verse 15, And he said to me, The waters which you saw where the harlot sits are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues.

And the ten horns which you saw on the beast, these shall hate the harlot. And we read back in chapter 13, where they work together in conjunction with one another. But here something happens, and they hate the harlot, and they make her desolate and naked. They eat her flesh and burn her with fire. So how do you do that? Well, you destroy churches. You take down monasteries and nunneries. You confiscate the wealth. For God is put into their hearts to fulfill His purpose, to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast, and to the words of God, are fulfilled. So they are going to make the harlot desolate. The Bible indicates.

Now, coming back to venerable Bartholomew Holzhauser from the 17th century, he reflects on the same teaching. He says, The fifth period of the church, which began around 1520, will end with the arrival of the Holy Pope and the powerful monarch who is called help from God. So the monarch, the beast, will be referred to as help from God because he will restore everything. The fifth period is one of affliction, desolation, humiliation, and poverty for the church. Jesus Christ will purify His people through cruel wars, famines, plagues, epidemics, and horrible calamities, referred to as Tribulation Day of the Lord. He will also afflict and weaken the Latin Church with many heresies. It is a period of defections, calamities, and exterminations. Those Christians who survive the sword, plague, and famine will be few on the earth. During this unhappy period, there will be laxity and divine and human precepts. Discipline will suffer. The Holy Canon will be completely disregarded. The clergy will not respect the law of the church. Everyone will be carried away into belief and to do what he fancies according to the manner of his flesh. They will ridicule the Christian simplicity. They will call it folly and nonsense. These are evil times. Finally, it says they will enter into Rome, lay Rome waste, will burn down the churches, and destroy everything. That's an interesting prophecy that goes along with what we read back in chapter 17. Let's read again in verse 16. The ten horns which you saw on the beast, these will hate the harlot and make her desolate. Here's a prophecy that indicates this happening. How close are we to these prophecies being fulfilled? Are we very close, semi-close, decades away?

We must be aware of the inspiration behind these prophecies.

I'm not here today to tell you I know exactly how many years or decades, but I think when you look at some of the prophecies that they have prophesied, it makes you begin to wonder how close we are. As I said, you have to be aware that the inspiration behind these prophecies is not from God or from Jesus Christ or the Holy Angels. There's another source. There are powerful spirit beings who know the basic outline of prophecy, know what's going to happen, or are able to twist what is going to happen in the future in order to deceive mankind and to inspire people to proclaim those prophecies. There are some interesting prophecies about the possibility of how many popes there are yet to be. Notice what Saint Malachi had to say. And many of you are familiar with Saint Malachi, 12th century priest and his papal prophecies. In 1139, Malachi lived from 1094 to 1148. An Irish priest went on a pilgrimage to the Vatican, where he was later appointed as papal legate for Ireland. Upon approaching the Vatican gates, Saint Malachi fell down to his knees and went into a deep trance. When he came out of the trance, he told his assistants that he had seen a vision of the future popes of the Catholic Church, and he told his assistants to write down his words. In short, the pigmatic Latin verse, Malachi gave a brief description of each of the popes he had seen in his vision, 112 Pontus in all. From that time forward, the phrases of Saint Malachi that he used to describe the future popes are each one a few words long. They contain references to a unique identifier, such as the pope's place of birth or family name. Such phrases are very straightforward, and others contain multiple prophecies. If Saint Malachi is correct, there are only two more popes after John Paul II. The brief, pigmatic description of the pigmatic Malachi gave, the next and last two popes are respectfully Gloria Alave or Latin for the glory of the Alave, and Petrus Romanus, Peter the Roman. During whose reign Malachi prophesied, the seven-hilled city of Rome will be destroyed. Another write-up that I found on Saint Malachi, just type in Saint Malachi and you'll go to hundreds of websites. Saint Malachi, Irish bishop and seer, produced an accurate list of future popes, which began with Pope Celestine II in the year 1143. His list consists of a single line that gives clue to the characteristics of each pope. He predicted 112.

Here are the last five popes of what was said about each one. Pius XII was called the angelic shepherd.

We find John XXIII was pastor and mariner.

Paul VI was flower of flowers. I'm not trying to read all the Latin expressions, but just the translation into English. Pope John Paul I, on the half moon, says, note, this pope was so unpopular with the Curie that he lasted only 34 days, which is about one moon's cycle and died suddenly of unknown causes. His body was cremated within one day without an autopsy. This was and still is controversial since popes are usually buried within the walls of the Vatican and are never cremated. The suddenness of this action has led much speculation about political conspiracy. Then John Paul II died April 2, 2005. Saint Malachi referred to him as from the toil of the sun.

Saint Malachi referred to Pope Paul II as the labor of the sun. This serves as something of a double prophecy. John Paul II was born on 18th of May, 1920, a day during which there was almost a total eclipse of the sun in Europe, a true labor of the sun. This pope has been identified with unceasingly hard work. Having visited practically every country in the world, he traveled in excess of three quarters of a million miles and promoting the faith. He was a very important person. He was the first non-Catholic pope in 450 years. The current pope, Saint Benedict, as we know Joseph Ratzinger was elected the 265th pope on April 19, 2005, a few days after his 78th birthday, and he is known as the glory of the Olive. The Olive branch represents peace. Will he play a role in bringing religions together and further tolerance during his office?

That's just a question. It says within 24 hours of his election, Islamic and Jewish religious leaders suggested such a role for him. Now, we know that he's just put out an edict in which he again says that the Catholic Church is the one true church, and he identifies who everybody else is. So, you know, how that plays in, we'll have to wait and see. The last pope is simply referred to as Peter the Roman. In extreme persecution, the seat of the Holy Roman Church will be occupied by Peter the Roman, who will feed the sheep through many tribulations at the term of which the city of Seven Hills will be destroyed, and the formidable judge will judge the world. And this is the end of the prophecies. So, if there's any accuracy, and I put a big if, and I'm not saying there is, I'm just saying if there is any accuracy in this, we have a pope today who's around 80, and if this is true, there may be one more after him. We will have to wait and see. But what we do need to do is to do what the Bible says, watch and pray always. Because, brethren, what we need to realize is that there are many of these prophecies, and as we move closer to the time and the end, and world events begin to happen, and you see calamitous events happening, and maybe persecution of not only the true church, but some of the false churches, there's going to be more and more people prophesying about what will happen at the end time. You and I need to know, and we need to be aware. When Jesus Christ returns to this earth, many will believe that he is the Antichrist. Others, such as those who follow Islam, may believe he is their Messiah, the one who has come to establish them as the ruling power over all the earth. Others will believe that Jesus Christ is an invader from outer space. Imagine the surprise of the entire world when they begin to learn that the God of the Bible has returned, that Jesus Christ has returned back to this earth, and the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, the God of the Bible has returned, and that he is going to be teaching the Ten Commandments. And those who come along and say, well, we can decide for ourselves, he will say, oh, no, you won't. This is the way. Walk you in it. The Sabbath and the Holy Days will be practiced. Those who refuse to go along with that will find no rain and eventually plagues. People will find that there is only one way, one true religion, one God who is to be worshiped, and not all of this pantheon of ideas and gods that we see in the world today. Man will no longer be free to decide for himself how to worship God. Let's finish by going back here to Isaiah 2, Isaiah 2, and verse 2, which this section summarizes what's going to happen and what all nations will eventually come to. The word of the Lord that Isaiah the son of Amos saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, that it shall come to pass in the latter days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on the top of the mountains. So the government of God will be exalted above all kingdoms, all nations, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow to it. And many people shall come and say, come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and He will teach us His way.

See, people's minds are going to be unblinded. The veil will be removed. The deception will be removed. God's Spirit will work with them, and people will begin to respond. And all nations will come up and say that He will teach us His way, and we will walk in His pass. For out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, and He will judge between nations and shall rebuke people. And they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. So you can ask, well, where are we going to get the medal? How are we going to, you'll get what we need. Well, you take all of the arm limits out there, the tanks, and everything else that have been used for warfare, and you beat them and melt them down, and then re-smelt them and you redesigned them. We will have plows at that time. So they will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. And nation shall not lift up sword against nation. Neither shall they learn war anymore.

So you find that God Almighty is going to come back to the earth. And instead of people, let's face it, to begin with, many people may be very reticent to worship Him and go God's way, because they have all of this baggage, all of these false ideas, all these false concepts. But when they have the model city, Jerusalem, the model nation, Israel, as a light to the rest of the world, and they see blessings, no curses, they see plenty of rain, abundant crops, you know, here's a nation that God Himself protects, and people having wonderful marriages, you know, these type of things, then all nations are going to be drawn to that light. And truly Israel at that time will become the light that they should have been when God first called them to be a beacon and an example to all the nations around them so that they will be drawn to God in His ways. So brethren, all nations will acknowledge that the God of the Bible is the Messiah, their Savior, that He truly is King of kings and Lord of lords.