The Roman Empire and Its Revivals

Well, as I mentioned, I had a fantastic trip. It was probably a trip of a lifetime. I'd like to think I'll get to go back, but that may not ever be the case. One of the things that was really brought home to me was the connection between the church and the state over the centuries in Europe. In actuality, the presentation that I'll be showing you is a PowerPoint presentation that was put together by my traveling companion, Dr. John Karlek. As I said, he's traveled over there a number of years, and he had some time to put this together. I took lots and lots of pictures, but I would not have had time to get this thing together by now. I gave this last week in Tulsa in Oklahoma City, so I appreciated him having already done this. I did see most everything that's talked about in this particular PowerPoint presentation. I am going to talk about the Roman Empire and its revivals. Now, it was my idea to put this chart together with it, because I remember this chart from times past. In fact, I had a copy of it in my Bible that I glued in the Bible or taped into the Bible. To me, it's been a helpful chart. First of all, I'll say that the chart is somewhat speculative, because some of the events fulfilled in history are somewhat speculative. It may not be exactly the way this chart puts it together, but I don't know. It just doesn't seem like there are very many other good explanations as to what these prophecies in Revelation 13 and Daniel 2 and Daniel 7 are talking about, if they're not talking about various resurrections of the Holy Roman Empire. So that's the essence of what we'll be talking about today, the Roman Empire and its revivals throughout history. Now, I'll just point out on our trip, we started... Well, first of all, I flew into the Netherlands and was there for a few hours in Holland, and then flew over to Budapest. And right here is Budapest on the map. I guess you can see that. You can see the little pointer there. And from Budapest, I was there about four days and visited the National Museum there, and visited a number of historical sites. Very, very fascinating history. From Budapest, John and I went over to Vienna, and it had snowed 16 inches in Vienna, so it was absolutely gorgeous. I mean, it was just unbelievably beautiful.

So we took that train...

Okay, we took the train from...

Pretty touchy here. We took the train from Budapest over to Vienna.

And that was an evening train, so really couldn't see much.

And in Vienna, we went to visit the Habsburg Palace, which was fascinating. Very beautiful palace. Those men were hunters, you could tell. They had some beautiful hunting grounds. In fact, they had a zoo there now at that particular palace, and I'll show some pictures of that in a while.

So we were there over the weekend, and we went to some of the Imperial Museums, and saw the crown jewels and that sort of thing. From there, we went on the train during the day through the Czech Republic. So we went from Vienna, from Vienna here across the Czech Republic. That's where I saw the giant rabbit. And then we went to Krakow, over in Poland, in the southern part of Poland there. And that's, of course, where we went to Auschwitz, which was about 45 minutes to an hour's drive from Krakow. And there was ice on the ground there. It was really icy when we came in. We had to be careful getting our luggage out of the train and getting it to the hotel and everything, because it was very icy. But they do a good job of taking care of the roads over there. They had lots of salt out, and it was fine the next day. And in Poland, we also saw the salt mines, which is actually a working mine to this day, and it's been working for 700 consecutive years. And we spent about two hours walking around the salt mines underneath the ground, and we only saw about 1% of what's been excavated. So it's a absolutely huge complex of salt. And it was fascinating that a lot of dedicated Catholics had taken time while they were not in church, or I'm sorry, while they were not working, to build cathedrals. So they had some amazing cathedrals that they built into the into the cavities where they had taken salt out, and then they used the salt to to build statues and altars and fascinating pictures. So one of these days, I will have to find some of the pictures I took down in the salt mines and show those to you. We don't have any of those pictures in this presentation, but it was interesting. Those were the two main things, as well as the National Museum that we saw in Krakow, and also a castle in the old Krakow.

And some cathedrals too. There's cathedrals everywhere, and the wealth of the Catholic Church is evident wherever you go. You know, just the architecture and the amazing gargantuan buildings with so much wealth over the years. So this first slide is just a picture of where we were.

I would like to just talk briefly about the fact that one of the reasons we can understand these things that we're going to talk about today is because God does open our minds to His truth and His way of life. He has set apart a people to know and understand what He's doing here on earth, and frankly, most people don't really have a clue as to what's going on. Very few people are observing the Sabbath today here in Arkansas. I would say that the percentage of people actually keeping the Sabbath, fellowshiping together, is extremely low. In Exodus 19, it talks about how God has called apart a certain people. He started with the children of Israel. Let's go to Exodus 19. And of course, this is right before the Ten Commandments were given. In Exodus 19, verse 5, God says to the children of Israel, Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to me above all people, for all the earth is mine. So God was calling them to be a special people, a special treasure, and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel. So it was Moses who was to deliver the message. God was speaking through Moses to the children of Israel. And of course, they claimed that whatever Moses said they would do, but they were not so good at following through on that, as we all know. So we know that the children of Israel did a dismal job of actually obeying God. And so eventually, God allowed them to go into captivity. First in Babylon, I'm sorry, first in Assyria. First in Assyria, the house of Israel went into captivity in Assyria. And then later on, the house of Judah went into captivity in Babylon.

Now in John chapter 18, this is where it talks about Christ who said, my kingdom is not of this world. Remember, there were those who wanted to take Christ and set him up as king at his first coming. But Christ explained that it was not the proper time. It was not... this world was not his world. John 18 verse 36.

John chapter 18, I guess I was in the wrong book here. John chapter 18 verse 36, where Christ says, Christ says, my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews, but now my kingdom is not from here. Christ never intended to set up his kingdom on the earth. Christ was coming to die for mankind. That's why he came the first time. He's coming back to establish his government and his kingdom on the earth, and he will rule and reign for a thousand years here on the earth. But the kingdom of God is certainly not established here on the earth at this point. It wasn't established when Christ was here, and it's not established today, but it will be established in the future. And then in 1 Peter 2 verse 9, it does talk about a people, again, who are sanctified and set apart, who are to become a holy priesthood, a very special nation. And this is talking about the Spirit, it's talking about spiritual Israel. It's talking about the Church of God. 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 9. 1 Peter 2 verse 9. Peter says, but you are a chosen generation. You are a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, who once were not a people, but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. So again, God is merciful. God is very forgiving. God has called a certain people out of the world to understand. He has opened up their minds to understanding. He has shown them his marvelous light. But the rest of the earth is in darkness, and Satan is still the God of this world, and Satan has still deceived the whole world. And to me, that was pretty evident on my trip as I traveled around Europe, that God has deceived the whole world. Now, it was very clear that there's still a lot of abundance in Europe. There's a lot of wealth still in Europe. And of course, we were visiting the most wealthy and prestigious places, I suppose, on our trip because we were in the capital cities of Budapest and of Vienna. And of course, we also went to Krakow, where we never saw as much wealth there in Poland as we did in Vienna and as we did in Budapest. But a lot of the people there are not as religious anymore. They've forgotten God in many respects. But it was also clear that there's still a lot of people that do have some religious fervor. They do visit the churches over there, and under the right circumstances, I am confident that we will see a resurgence in religious wanting to go to church and to go to Mass. There were people observing Mass whenever we went into the various cathedrals. There are a lot of tourists, though, more tourists than anything else. But there were some people that were there worshipping. So again, Satan has deceived the whole world. He's used actually the churches of this world to do it in large part. But he has set apart some people to know and understand the truth. So we can be grateful that we're among those people. In Daniel chapter 2, it does talk about the succession of empires that would occur through history. Let's go to Daniel chapter 2.

Now, you may remember that Nebuchadnezzar had a dream, and he was troubled by that dream.

And so he went to his magicians, he went to his soothsayers and the wise people of the land, and he told them that he wanted them to tell him the dream. Not just the interpretation, but he wanted them to tell him the dream. And they said, well, that's unheard of. No one ever requires that of anybody. You know, you tell us the dream, and then we'll tell you what it means.

Now, to me, that's a whole lot easier. If someone tells me the dream, then I can think of something that it could possibly mean. But if nobody tells me the dream, then I'm at a very real disadvantage. And I think Nebuchadnezzar was smart enough to know that these wise men might play games with him. So either he couldn't remember the dream at all, and that's why he wanted them to tell him the dream, or he was testing them to see whether or not they could actually tell him what the dream was all about. So in Daniel chapter 2, Daniel chapter 2, let's pick it up here. Daniel chapter 2. Well, I might say that because they weren't able to do this, Nebuchadnezzar gave the decree that those men would be killed, that the magicians and Chaldeans and so forth would be killed. And so they started killing the wise men. And of course, Daniel heard about this. And obviously, Daniel was concerned because Daniel was one of those captives from Israel. And he had been taken in that Babylonian captivity in Babylon. And so he's very concerned that he and perhaps his friends would also be killed. So Daniel sought out the the captain of the guard there and talked to him about it and basically said, go to the king and I'll be there soon to tell you what's happening here, basically. So Daniel does explain the dream. Let's go back to verse 20. Well, verse 19, it says, Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. So Daniel certainly prayed about it and he sought the God of heaven as it says in verse 18.

And the secret was revealed to him in a night vision. So Daniel blessed the God of heaven, and he answered and said, Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, for wisdom and might are his. And he changes the times and the seasons. He removes kings and raises up kings. And remember that Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. God doesn't change. Christ doesn't change in that sense.

They still remove kings even today. They raise up kings. They raise up leaders as they see fit, as they know certain prophecies need to be fulfilled, and history is working to do that. So we may wonder how someone got re-elected. We may wonder, you know, how he got elected in the first place. You know, we may have a lot of, you know, questions about why is this happening. And perhaps it could be that it's God's will, or God's allowing it, certainly, and may even be orchestrating it to some degree, because God does remove kings and raises up kings.

He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. He reveals deep and secret things. He knows what is in the darkness, and light dwells with him. I thank you and praise you, O God of my fathers. You have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known to me what we ask of you. For you have made known to us the king's demand. Therefore Daniel went to Ariach, whom the king had appointed, to destroy the wise men of Babylon. And he went and said to him, Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon.

Take me before the king. I will tell the king the interpretation. So Ariach quickly brought him. He says, I have found a man of the captives of Judah who will make known to the king the interpretation.

So the king answered and said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar in Chaldean, Are you able to make known to me the dream which I have seen and its interpretation? Daniel answered in the presence of the king and said, The secret which the king has demanded, the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers, they cannot declare to the king, but there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets. And he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days.

Your dream and the visions of your head upon your bed were these. As for you, O king, thoughts came to your mind while on your bed about what would come to pass after this. And he who reveals secrets has made known to you what will be. So clearly, this is talking about the latter days. These are prophecies of the latter days or the last days, just prior to Christ's return. But as for me, the secret has not been revealed to me because I have more wisdom than anyone living, but for our sakes who make known the interpretation to the king and that you may know the thoughts of your heart.

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. The image's head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. And you watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay and broke them in pieces.

Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were crushed together and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors. The wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found, and the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. So this stone that struck the image that became a great mountain is speaking of God's kingdom. It's speaking of the establishment of the kingdom of God.

A mountain is symbolic of authority and power, and this is speaking of God's power and his might. And it will fill the whole earth. Verse 36, this is the dream. Now we will tell the interpretation of it before the king. So no doubt Nebuchadnezzar was very impressed that Daniel was able to tell him the dream. You are king. You, O king, are a king of kings, for the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory.

And wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven, he has given them into your hand and has made you ruler over them all, you are this head of gold. But after you shall arise another kingdom. So he's starting to talk about world-ruling kingdoms. The first kingdom is that of Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom, the Babylonian kingdom. But after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours, then another a third kingdom of bronze which shall rule over all the earth.

Now history tells us that after the Babylonians it was the Medes and the Persians. And of course the Bible even verifies that, that the Medes and the Persians conquered the Babylonians. But in reality it was a kingdom that was inferior to Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom. At the height of Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom it was definitely a much more powerful kingdom than the Medes and the Persians. Then there was a fourth kingdom, I'm sorry, a third kingdom which came afterwards, the kingdom of Greece. The kingdom under Alexander the Great a third kingdom of bronze which shall rule over all the earth. And you may remember that Alexander wept because he had no more kingdoms to conquer. He had basically taken over the earth.

Verse 40, and the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, and as much as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything, and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and will crush all the others. So this is a fourth kingdom, and of course it was the Roman Empire that was the next world-ruling kingdom. Whereas you saw the feet and 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. So throughout history this fourth kingdom would prove to be strong at times, and not so strong or even fragile at other times. As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men, but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay. And in the days of these kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed. Now that's a very important phrase there, and in the days of these kings, the kings of this fourth kingdom. I mean, that's basically the only way to really read this, isn't it? That in the days of these kings, speaking about the kings of the Roman Empire, this fourth kingdom, in the days of these kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed. Now we know that hasn't happened yet, that hasn't taken place, so evidently this fourth kingdom still exists, and there are still kings that are representative of this fourth kingdom.

So God's kingdom will, again, it will break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. And as much as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the great God is made known to the king, excuse me, what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure. So this is a prophecy that we can count on. It is a sure prophecy. It will certainly be fulfilled and take place as God has deemed it to do so. So, of course, Nebuchadnezzar, again, was very impressed by all that he had heard from Daniel, and he blessed the God of heaven, the God of Daniel. He also promoted Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who were Daniel's friends, and they became very important in the province of Babylon.

So in Daniel 2, again, there's a great image, first of all, of Babylon. The head is representative of Babylon, of Nebuchadnezzar. Then we have the Medo-Persian Empire, the Greek Empire, and then the Roman Empire. When we were in Vienna, we saw Roman ruins. In fact, just about everywhere we went, we saw signs that the Romans had been there. This is at the east entry to the Hofburg in Vienna, which is basically the seat of government there in Vienna. So there are Roman ruins there. When we were in Budapest, we could see various ruins near the Danube. The Danube goes right through Budapest. In fact, it separates the two cities of Buddha and Pest, which are now known as Budapest, one capital city. But here are some Roman ruins in Budapest, and at the National Museum, they have just a huge basement full of these Roman... they were like grave stones and statues and various things. A lot of pagan goddesses and gods that were portrayed. It was really quite interesting. There were different mosaics and ceramics from that time period, from the time of Rome. So this was in Budapest. Here's some more Roman amphitheaters near Aquincum, which is near modern Budapest. Now let's go to Daniel 7. And of course, the Roman Empire was a very powerful empire that spread throughout the world, the known world at the time, the civilized world. Okay, Daniel 7.

Let's start in verse 1 here, where it shows a vision of four beasts, or four empires that were to arise. In the first year of Belshazzar, king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream and visions of his head while on his bed. So this is Daniel's dream this time. Then he wrote down the dream, telling the main facts. 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. The first was like a lion and had eagle's wings. 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 beast, like a bear, it was raised up on one side and had three ribs in its mouth between his teeth, and they said, thus to it, arise, devour much flesh. After this 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, so it's got four wings and four heads, and dominion was given to it. And after this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible. Exceedingly strong, it had huge iron teeth, it was devouring, it was breaking in pieces, it was trampling the residue with its feet, it was different from all the beasts that were before it. Much more powerful, and it had ten horns. Now, 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 out by the roots, and there in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth speaking pompous words. Okay, I think that's as far as we need to read now. So here it talks about three beasts, as well as a fourth beast. A fourth beast, and it's actually a picture of the same beast that we saw in Daniel chapter 2, representative of the same empires that we discussed before, of the Babylon, the Medo-Persian, the Greek, and the Roman empires. Now, when we also look at Revelation 13, and we tie it together with Daniel 2 and Daniel 7, then again we see the same picture here, Revelation chapter 13.

Of course, this adds more to the story here. Revelation 13 verse 1.

Of course, John was envisioned, the Apostle John, 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 were ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. Now, the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and again that's very similar to what we just read, the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, his mouth like the mouth of a lion, and the dragon gave him his power. Now, who is the dragon? Of course, the scriptures reveal that the dragon is speaking about Satan the devil. You know, Satan is the dragon. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed, and all the world marveled and followed the beast. So 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 in blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for 42 months, or for three and a half years, or 1260 days.

Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God to blaspheme his name, his tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. And it was granted to him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them, and authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. And all who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. If anyone has an ear to hear, then let him hear. So these are important words God wants us to hear. If we are chosen and set apart by God, then certainly God wants us to hear and understand these prophecies. He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity. He who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here's the patience and the faith of the saints. So again, we see in the Beast of Revelation here, seven heads. First of all, the first had Babylon, the second had Medo-Persian, and then the third actually had four.

See how is it described here?

The beast which I saw was like a leopard. His feet were like the feet of a bear, mouth like a mouth of a lion. Dragon gave him his power, throne, and authority. I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded. Okay, what doesn't really describe what I was thinking about here. But the Greek Empire was broken down to when Alexander died. There were four generals, and those four generals continued to basically rule until Rome gained the upper hand, and Rome was that fourth kingdom. So those are the seven heads. There were four heads from Greece, Medo-Persian, Babylon, and Rome, and then the ten horns. Then, of course, it spoke of the deadly wound and asked the question, who can make war with this beast that's so terrible and dreadful and more powerful than any of the other empires? History has shown us that the Roman Empire has greatly advanced military science and created a standing army loyal to the state, unlike any other nation. The military power and the cohesion of the Empire bring an unprecedented age of prosperity and peace to the Mediterranean world. You may have heard the term Pax Romana, which basically meant Roman peace. There was Roman peace throughout the world basically because of the power that Rome wielded over all other nations. They just didn't have the strength to fight back, basically. So there was peace for a good many years, and also it was an age of prosperity. They were able to build roads and great cathedrals and different types of temples and so forth for a number of years there because of the peace and prosperity that they had in the Mediterranean world. And, frankly, there have been efforts in Europe for the last 2,000 years attempting to duplicate the Empire's success, the early Empire, and establish comparable peace and prosperity, but they haven't gotten there yet. There's going to be at least another stab at that.

So the fourth beast, again, shall be different from the other beast. We read that in Daniel 7, verse 23 and 24.

The Roman Empire was divided around AD 395 at the death of Emperor Theodosius. It was becoming too large and difficult to govern by one man, so the Western Empire was administered by his son Honorius, and the capital city was at Rome, whereas the Eastern Empire was administered by his son Arcadius, and there was a capital at Constantinople, or Istanbul. So those were the the two divisions of the Roman Empire, the East and the West, Rome, and also in Constantinople. Now this is a map that shows the Western Roman Empire on this side here. This is the Western Roman Empire. Over here is the Eastern Roman Empire, and it does cover a vast amount of land. This was in 395 AD before the barbarian invasions were to take place.

Now we talked about a deadly wound, and the fulfillment and history of the deadly wound occurred in 476 when the Western Empire ended as the last Roman Empire was deposed by a Germanic chieftain named Odie Acer. And by the way, it might be a good time to look at the chart that you all have here. This again is a chart showing prophecies of the reign of Gentile kingdoms. And if we'll just start on the left-hand side, going down vertically, it starts with Daniel 2, and it has the head of gold, the breasts and arms of silver, the belly and thighs of brass, the legs of iron, and then way down at the bottom it has the 10 toes that it talks about in Daniel 2. And then the next two vertical columns come from Daniel 7, where the four beasts are mentioned, and this is broken down into church and state. And on the state side of things, the first beast was like a lion, the second beast like a bear, the third beast like a leopard, with four heads, and then the fourth beast was strong like iron with 10 horns. Then it goes down and shows the different horns, the first horn, the second horn, the third horn, all the way down to the 10th horn, of course, which is yet to come. In the church, it shows the little horn among the 10 from Daniel chapter 7, gives the verses that are listed there. And again, this is our best guess as to what all this means. I mean, this is what we believe is likely the case.

If you have a better idea, please let me know. I'd like to hear it. Daniel 8, we didn't go through Daniel 8, but it talks about the ram and the goat and ties that in with the various prophecies. We did talk about Revelation 13, again broken down into state and church. The beast was seven heads and 10 horns, the deadly wound, which is the fall of the Roman Empire. That's what is basically talking about the deadly wound that was to take place. Marked the fall of the Roman Empire. Of course, the Roman Empire, it was a deadly wound, but it basically didn't kill it. It was a deadly wound that didn't remain deadly. Gibbon and Saunders refers to this as a mortal wound that took place to the Roman Empire. Again, it ended in 476 when the last Roman Emperor is deposed by a Germanic chieftain, Odie Acer. This was 1163 years after the founding of Rome, so it had lasted a long time. On the last column, the events fulfilled in history, it shows the fall of the Roman Empire in 476 AD, and then it shows the three horns, the vandals, the haryalae, and the Ostrogoths. It mentions Odie Acer's government here from 476 to 493.

Of course, the vandals were also involved around the same time period, and also the Ostrogoths from 493 to 554 AD as fulfillment of the first, second, and third horn of Revelation 13. So anyway, this chart you can go along in the rest of the presentation, and you can keep in mind the chart as we go. So the Eastern Empire was not destroyed, the Western Empire ended in 476, but the Eastern Empire continued. And then Justinian assumed power in the east in 527. He reconquers North Africa and Italy in 554, and the Empire is united once again.

So the mortal wound was healed, so to speak.

In Revelation 17, it talks about cities built on seven hills.

Rome and Constantinople both have seven hills. Revelation 17.9. Here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains or seven governments on which the woman sits.

There are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must continue a short time. The beast that was and is not is himself also the eighth and is of the seven and is coming to perdition. The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast. So we believe that there's still a fulfillment of that verse 12, yet to come.

And again, the chart does discuss one is and one is yet to come down at the bottom of the chart. So again, this deadly wound was to be healed. This is mainly just a reiteration of what we just talked about here. The three horns that were overthrown in Daniel 7 verses 8 and 24. Again, these are three Arian kings that are overthrown in the early 500s. Odi Eyser of the Herulae, Theodoric of the Ostrogoths, and Gilemer of the Vandals. So if you want to read more about history, actually I'll tell you a very good article that was written by Keith Stump. Some of you may remember Keith Stump. He was a part of the worldwide Church of God for many years. He has an article that's I guess it's called the History of Europe and the Church, I think. And if you google that, it is out there. In fact, it's a PDF file. It's like 97 pages. I was reading it, most of it, yesterday and some of it this morning. So it goes into much greater detail, of course, than I can hear in terms of the history of this. So there's a lot more history to be shared and there's a lot more interesting stories about the Popes and how they interact with the various heads of state. There's always been a struggle between the Pope and the kings or the emperors. Who gets to be in charge? Who gets to have the power? It seems like that's an age-old concern. Who gets to be in charge? It is still a problem today, as we all know. This has always been a problem throughout history. So nothing new under the sun, so to speak. Now let's go to Daniel 11 and consider the kings of the north and the kings of the south. Daniel chapter 11. Daniel chapter 11 verse 36. Daniel 11 verse 36. Then the king shall do according to his own will, he shall exalt and magnify himself above every god, shall speak blasphemies against the god of gods, and shall prosper till the wrath has been accomplished. For what has been determined shall be done. He shall regard neither the god of his fathers nor the desire of women, nor regard any god, for he shall exalt himself above them all. But in their place he shall honor a god of fortresses, and a god which his fathers did not know. He shall honor with gold and silver with precious stones and pleasant things. Thus he shall act against the strongest fortresses with a foreign god, which he shall acknowledge and advance his glory. And he shall cause them to rule over many and divide the land for gain. And then verse 40. At that time of the end, the king of the south shall attack him, shall attack the king of the north. Now we've basically believed that the king of the north is those European nations, that beast power that comes together at the last times that it's talking about here. The king of the south being of Islam or Muslim. At the time of the end, the king of the south shall attack him, and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, with horsemen, and with many ships. And he shall enter the countries, overwhelm them, and pass through. He shall also enter the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown. But these shall escape from his hand, Edom, Moab, and the prominent people of Ammon. He shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape.

He shall have power over the treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt. Also the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall follow at his heels. But news from the east and the north shall trouble him. Therefore he shall go out with great fury to destroy and annihilate many. And he shall plant the tents of his palace between the seas and the glorious holy mountain. Yet he shall come to his end, and no one will help him. So again, it does prophesy the kings of the north and the south coming against each other, and ultimately being defeated, both of them. The king of the south, of course, again, is speaking of Islam and the rise of Islam.

Arabic peoples had strong tribal ties back in the early days, you might say, but there was little unity until Muhammad came on the scene. Muhammad fled persecution in 622, and this marked the start of the Islamic era. Excuse me, I think I'm gonna have some water. I've been battling something ever since I got back from my trip. I think I came back exhausted from the trip. It was fun, and thankfully I was healthy throughout the trip. But I think that just getting back and the jet lag and everything, I've been able to work, but I've been at kind of like half speed since I've been back, and it's like something's been trying to get a hold of me the whole time.

So anyway, it was it was Muhammad who galvanized the Islamic faith. It starts the Islamic era around 600-622. Islam spreads rapidly in the wake of military conquest because Muhammad was effective as a military ruler or leader. Islamic wars take Spain after a victory in 711. The Moors cross the Pyrenees. They are stopped by Charles Martel in 732 at Poitiers, southern France. This is just points of history. Again, you can study history more if you'd like.

Charlemagne is crowned Imperator Romanorum by Pope Leo III on Christmas Day in 800 AD in Rome. This revived the tradition of the Roman Caesars, the Pope crowning Charlemagne. Charlemagne was actually surprised when the Pope did this. Again, there's always been a struggle between the Popes and the Kings as to who's really in charge. So when the Pope can put a crown on the King, then that means the Pope really has the upper hand because the Pope's the one that crowned him. So from what I read, the Pope kind of snuck up behind him, just crowned him right then. But he didn't fight back. Charlemagne didn't. So he accepted that and it revived traditions of the Roman Caesars. There was a unified Christian empire in the West at this time.

After Charlemagne's death, the empire again begins to crumble. There are raids by the Vikings, the Saracens, and the Magyars. The Magyars are those who end up in Hungary. So I saw the different kings of the Magyars and saw a lot of their history when I was in Hungary. This is a painting of Charlemagne from a famous artist, Durer. This is at the Schatzkammer in Vienna. I saw this picture.

Again, you see the crown on his head. This is, again, symbolic of church and state. You've got the cross. You also have the arch behind it, which is symbolic of the state. And the Romans were big on arches. You know, there's lots of arches in Rome. So you have the church and the state here.

This was a very... I saw this actual crown in Vienna as well. This is a picture of Notre Dame in Paris, which I unfortunately did not get to see. I would like to go to France sometime and see Notre Dame. Quasimotto. Here's a statue outside the... outside Notre Dame. It's entitled Our Lady. Charlemagne was crowned Imperator Romanorum again by Leo III on Christmas Day, 800 AD in Rome. Charlemagne was a Frankish king. He was a very powerful king. In fact, it was Napoleon who harkens back to Charlemagne, I think it is, when he became powerful. He wanted to be known as a successor of Charlemagne from France.

Now, Otto the Great was a... I guess he was a great king, I mean, with a name like that. Pretty much had to be. Otto the Great was elected king in Germany in 936.

In 955 at the Battle of Augsburg, he defeats the Magyar raiders who then go back to Hungary.

And in 962, he is crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope John, a refounding of the empire here in 962. So he's actually crowned Holy Roman Emperor. And by the way, this isn't a term that the church has come up with, Holy Roman Emperor. This is a term that you'll find in history. They considered it a Holy Roman Empire.

Again, here's the imperial crown that was on Charlemagne's head at the Schatzkammer in Vienna. Actually, I don't know that... See, I think that that picture may have been... See, it's... Well, I'm not sure. It seems to me like Charlemagne was ruling in 800, and this this crown wasn't even made until 950. So I think that the picture was drawn with the crown on his head, even though the crown wasn't even around yet. So sometimes they do that. So I don't think Charlemagne actually had this crown, but they wanted to put it on his head. So when Durer painted it, he painted this crown on his head. I think that's the story. Notice again the secular and ecclesiastical symbols, the cross and the arch. And these jewels, there's 12 jewels on a couple of the different panels, symbolic of the 12 apostles, 12 tribes of Israel.

This is Heros Square in Hungary, in Budapest. I visited this. It's really some impressive statues of the various kings.

Again, here are some pictures of the kings of Hungary. And again, you see church and state in the statues. These are some pictures from Castle Hill in Buda. Buda is a real hilly, and it's amazing views from Castle Hill in Buda. Past is where it's a lot flatter. It's very flat down on the other side of the river. The Danube River divides Buda and Pest. So this was up at Castle Hill. They've got an amazing cathedral up there.

Here's a picture of Europe around the time of the First Crusade, around 1100 AD.

See, the empire has shrunk some here. It's not as big as it was, so that's the case with the Roman Empire. It was larger at some times, more powerful at times, weaker at other times, but still existed. Now the Habsburgs have a big role to play in the history of Europe. It was Rudolph of Habsburg that was crowned king in 1273, and he's recognized as a Holy Roman Empire by the Pope. So if you go to the chart again on the right-hand column, the fourth horn was the Imperial Restoration by Justinian.

He was recognized by the Pope, and he submitted to the Pope. The fifth horn was the Frankish Kingdom under Charlemagne, crowned in 800 AD by the Pope. And then the sixth horn of Daniel 7 represents the Holy Roman Empire under Otto the Great, who was crowned by the Pope in 962. And the seventh horn is symbolic of the Habsburg dynasty under the Austrian head, Charles the Great, which was crowned by the Pope in 1520. But first, Rudolph of Habsburg was the first Habsburg that was crowned king in 1273. He was recognized as Holy Roman Emperor by the Pope, but I don't believe he was ever crowned by the Pope. In 1355, Charles IV is crowned the Holy Roman Emperor. In 1356, he issued a document regarding the election of the German king. I think that was called the Golden Bull. In 1438, Albert II becomes the King of Germany. And in 1520, Charles V, again of the Habsburg line, is crowned in Aachen in 1520. And Charles V was very powerful. He held more than 60 royal titles. He governed over Spain and all of his colonies Hungary, Burgundy, and many others. Here's a statue of Charles IV. Holy Roman Emperor, this is at Praha, or in Prague, which again, I didn't get to go to Prague either. So don't feel too sorry for me, but I didn't make it to Prague, but I understand it's a very beautiful city. Again, here's the statue of the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles IV.

The Habsburgs were kings of Bohemia. They were electors of the Holy Roman Emperor. This was the golden bull that I mentioned of 1326, which sat down rules for selecting emperors.

Here's a family tree of the Kaiser or the Caesar. Kaiser just comes from the word Caesar.

This is a chart that's available at the Habsburg in Vienna. You can't really see it very well, and it's in German, but it has different rulers of the Holy Roman Empire.

This is Europe in 1360. Again, the Holy Roman Empire, it does call it Holy Roman Empire. Again, it's not something that we termed it, but this is what history has shown it. This map of 1360 refers to it as the Holy Roman Empire. Here's another map that was at the Museum in Vienna.

Again, it means Holy Roman Empire, the Reich, or the Holy Roman Empire, or Reich.

The Ottoman dynasty was founded in 1299. You've heard of the Ottoman Turks. While the Turks, again, Muslims were another powerful force in the region, the Ottoman dynasty was founded in 1299. Constantinople fell in 1453. This was the end of the Roman Empire in the east. Suleiman the Magnificent, he was a part of the Ottoman dynasty. He conquered Hungary after the Battle of Mohawks in 1526. I remember going to a palace of Suleiman the Magnificent and all the treasures that he accrued. I think it was in Istanbul when we didn't go to Istanbul on this trip, but we went on a Mediterranean cruise back in 1988 during the Feast of Tabernacles. This was 1989. This was one of the palaces or one of the museums that we visited there to Suleiman the Magnificent. Very impressive. Turkish Islamic influence is increasing.

Again, another incursion of Islamic forces into Europe, taking place after 1526. The actual zenith of the Ottoman Empire was around 1623 or somewhere around that. I believe this map is showing the Ottoman Empire on the right over here. This is the Ottoman Empire. It's gaining power.

Then here you see it larger, even larger here, the Ottoman Empire, which reaches all the way up into Austria, way up into here, Bohemia.

I guess that's part of it. That's still part of the Holy Roman Empire there, but down here is where the Ottoman Empire is pushing against the Roman Empire. This was the zenith of the Ottoman Empire. In 1683, it was at the siege of Vienna by 200,000 Turkish troops, so they were trying to take over. But it was King Jan Sobieski of Poland who intervened, and the western powers were victorious against the Ottoman Turks. Prince Agun of Savoy drives the Turks from the land of Hungary at the Battle of Zenta in 1697. Again, these are the events that were taking place in the east.

This picture shows the taking of Buddha from the Turks in 1686. So the Turks had taken over Hungary, but now they were taking it back in 1686. This is a picture I saw at the Hungarian National Art Gallery. This is also a picture of the battle with the Turks at Sevitskar. 1825 is not the date of the battle. This was when Peter Kraft was the artist and drew the picture here at the Hungarian National Art Museum. This was again around the late 1600s. Here's another picture of the self-sacrifice of Titus Dogavics at the Hungarian National Art Museum to fight back the Turks.

Here's a sword and sheath with Arabic inscriptions from the Schatzheimer in Vienna.

There's a lot of that. There's military museums. I saw lots and lots of armor, very armor and guns and bows and crossbows and just amazing museums, just room after room after room, full of military warfare, which is what you know that's the history of mankind. It was waging war. This was a sword and sheath. It had Arabic inscriptions in Vienna. This shows the decline of the Ottoman Empire and it declined from the Zenith in 1683 to 1924.

Here's a coronation of Joseph II of Austria as a Roman king in the Church of Saint Bartholomew.

One of the things that was really quite evident was all the art depicting Mary and the worship of Mary. It's just very, very prevalent throughout all the cities in Europe, the museums. Mary crowned with 12 stars holding the baby, the mother and child. We also went to a display of ephesus, artifacts they'd brought from Ephesus, which had a lot of the pagan goddesses and gods and things. There's just a big mixing up of the pagan goddesses and gods and the worship of Semiramis and Nimrod and mother and child throughout history. Those things are really very evident. I had an opportunity to have about a three-hour train ride with an ambassador from this guy. He worked at the embassy in Rome. He was an American. He worked at the American embassy in Rome. We sat across from each other for about three hours on a train trip from Milan because John and I went to Saba services. We had to go three hours on a train to get there. The only place they were meeting was in Milan in that day in Italy. On the way back, I sat across from this guy and we struck up a conversation. We talked for the full three hours. It really went quickly. He was pretty knowledgeable of the Catholic Church. He was a Catholic, somewhat nominal to some degree, but he knew quite a bit.

I didn't hold much back. We really got into a lot of interesting topics about the Catholic Church. He said there was an obvious linkage between some of the pagan aspects of Rome and the Roman Catholic Church. Some of the practices and the rituals and things that they do even today. I don't know that it will change his life forever. He may not remember that conversation for long, but I found it very interesting. It really did underscore in my mind that we're on the right track understanding the Bible and what's happened throughout history. There will be a revival of the Holy Roman Empire before Christ returns because the Scripture clearly said that Christ was going to come back in the days of those kings, that fourth kingdom. Again, here's the Austrian Empire 1804 to 1918. This is at the Museum in Vienna. This is the mantle of the Austrian emperor. Very ornate, beautiful embroidery, gold embroidery, priceless garments, white silk, red and white velvet. Here's the crown of the Empire of Austria. This was the crib for the son of Napoleon and Empress Marie Louise. You might remember he divorced Josephine because she could not give him an heir.

He married Empress Marie Louise, which was a Hapsburg princess. Napoleon did fancy himself as a Roman emperor. He really did. In fact, he's the one that actually grabbed the crown from the Pope and crowned himself. Do you remember that story? Where Napoleon actually grabbed the crown from the Pope. The story was he was supposed to kneel before the Pope. The Pope was supposed to place the crown on his head, but Napoleon instead grabbed the crown and crowned himself, basically Holy Roman Emperor, and his wife, the Empress. He crowned his wife right after that.

So this was quite a fancy crib. You see the Roman eagle and the crown above it, an eaglet looking up to the crown. This was a gift of the city of Paris, more than 600 pounds of silver used in it.

There was two cornucopias, which I don't think you can really see here, signifying wealth and abundance, and also strength and justice. Also, if you could see closely on the side of the crib, there's all these bees, which were a personal symbol of Marovaginian kings. I don't know exactly how to pronounce that, but Napoleon was a part of that line. I read somewhere that these kings were long-haired kings. Most of them had long hair. They all had long hair. I saw that in Hungary, too, where a lot of the rulers there had long hair. They may have been a part of this Marovinian kings as well. Here's a picture of the National Library in Vienna. Here's the Austrian Emperor Francis I portrayed as a Roman.

They really did fancy themselves as revivals of the Roman Empire. This is the Austrian Emperor Francis I of Habsburg.

A Latin inscription for the statue of Francis I, again showing the Roman influence.

This is an entrance to the Schönbrunn, which is the Habsburg residential palace. Another picture of the grounds there. This is a picture of a gloriette, again, inside the Habsburg palace built in 1775. Very beautiful. A lot of Roman figures there at the gloriette. These Roman figures were everywhere. Everywhere we went there were statues and Roman figures.

This is a recreation of the Roman fountain at Schönbrunn.

The Roman Empire was smaller here at the time of the Great War in 1914, World War I. This is a picture of Prague, which again I didn't make it to Prague, but the Roman Empire and its revivals. There have been many attempts to revive the Roman Empire, the Holy Roman Empire. These are well known in history. Again, if you want to study into it more, I would recommend you read the articles that were written by Keith Stump, almost 100 pages. The Islamic incursions were also well known. The Ottoman Turks and the power that they wielded there for several hundred years, a couple 300 years. We're going to see that again, the rise of the King of the South against the King of the North. We see evidence of Europe's history in all of its principal cities, its monuments, its galleries. Again, that was very evident to me. This was a beautiful Parliament building that I went through in Budapest, and they had crown jewels here and just again filled with beautiful art.

As far as the future course, what's going to happen in the future, what will be the role of the accession countries, those countries added to the European Union on May 1st, 2004. I don't think any of us know the answer to that. Of course, we're looking for a union of 10 kings to come out of this. Which countries, which kings, will it be in the final analysis that that remains to be seen? Where will the boundary of Europe be? Will it be Turkey, the Middle East? Europe's religious roots are still alive. Certainly there is evidence of that wherever you go. And again, when times get tough, there will be a lot more people turning to a God, at least, for help. The Bible speaks of people's multitudes, nations, and tongues. Of course, Satan has deceived the world.

This is St. Stephen's Basilica in downtown Budapest. Very beautiful Basilica. And of course, I was at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Another beautiful Basilica.

So, I may show some more power points in the future. This was one that was put together. I thought it was helpful with the chart to consider Daniel chapter 2, 7, Daniel 8, Revelation 13. Also, Revelation 17 is listed on here as well, and some of the prophecies of Revelation 17 and how that fits. So, I hope you found this interesting. It was, again, a very interesting trip, and it has made these things seem more real to me now, having been there. There's a lot of wealth over there, but there are a lot of people that are pretty uneasy about the future, too. We were on a train in Czech Republic where a young lady, a college student, was very concerned about the upcoming elections and who would actually become the leader over there in the Czech Republic. She was concerned that one of the men was going to take them back into a lot of repression and that type of thing. They were under communist rule, so there was certainly a lot of evidence of communist rule in Budapest when we were there. A lot of the start buildings that were built at that time, concrete buildings, just apartment buildings that were ugly. Very unlike the Romans, the beauty of the Roman architecture and all that, the Russians just threw up concrete buildings. Certainly a much different approach.

So anyway, if you have any questions about my trip, I'll be glad to answer them, and we'll talk later.