Spain and Latin America in Bible Prophecy

All right, those are the announcements, and we have a PowerPoint now. This is part two of Spain and Latin America in Bible prophecy. So we'll see, and we have a handout as well that I'll notify when to receive it.

But again, this is something that I haven't covered in all my years, but having worked in Latin America on and off for 50 years, and certainly studying its history, its people, living in several Latin American countries, I want to share with you something that you can take with you, and we'll see how many of these things will turn out as best as we understand it. So I realize it's going to be a little difficult to read the information here with the doors open, but at least I'll be going through it with you.

It says, in this second part, we go from the origins of Spain and Latin American people to modern times. Interesting that Spain has been in the news because many Moroccans went into this little Spanish possession on the side of Morocco, but it was Spanish territory because they thought they could all enter into Europe. Because a lot of nations, they would love to come. They would love because they're living in a lot of poor nations, complicated things. So there has to be a certain order and a law-abiding way of doing it, or you can just have so many come in legally.

We certainly appreciate everybody that comes in, but to do it through a legal basis. That's what God says. Honor the king, honor the laws of the country, respect them. You might have different opinions, but it is what the Constitution and the statutes of this country have.

So remember, though, what 1 Corinthians 13, 12 says about prophecy. It says that we know only in part and should be humble about what we currently understand. So this isn't the last word. This is the best we understand. At the same time, recall what 1 Thessalonians 5, 20 says. Quote, don't treat prophecy like something that is not important. In the easy reading version. It says, so let's not disdain it either, because sometime in the past when the church went through that crisis, this doctrinal crisis, they basically threw out so much of prophecy.

They wanted to talk about just Christian living and being nice, and they forgot all of these wonderful truths that about a fourth of the Bible more is prophecy. And God's people have God's Spirit, which helps us understand it. So it's a very important part of Scripture. It says, for prophecy is like a light in a dark place. I read that Scripture before in 2 Peter 1. It shows us indicators of the future to spiritually prepare us properly. Should have said it's 1 Peter 1. I believe. It also gives us hope in the future to let us know how God's plan of salvation is being fulfilled, and gives us a glimpse of the coming kingdom of God. So prophecy has always been something to hope because we have a view of what's coming, and so far, a lot of it has turned out to be right on target.

Now, I'm not going to say everything that the church has said, but in the broad outline, it's still being carried out. For instance, I have here a copy of the Good News magazine, February 1970, and on the cover in 1970, we're talking here approximately about 56 years have passed by, over half a century. And it has the EU, the European Union, and it says it is coming.

And it is something that we have seen grown in power, in membership. So I'll go ahead and Howard, can you hand that to people just to have a little view of things? But that's a very precious magazine, so please keep it in mind and bring it back because I don't have a second copy. So let's go to the next slide. Lastly, this is important about Bible prophecy and what we're going to talk about, the modern nations and how all things can converge to a certain point.

It says that although some nations would receive birthright blessings through some of Abraham's physical descendants, notably Ephraim and Manasseh, all nations will be blessed spiritually through Abraham's seed, which is Christ. For salvation will be offered to all nations, and God is not a respecter of persons.

So that's what it mentions in Acts 10, 34, and 35, where Peter says, now I know, here God is going to call the Gentiles to salvation as well. It says in Galatians also about Abraham and by his seed, talking about Christ in Galatians 3, 16, and then verses 27 and 29, where it says that if you're a baptized member, it doesn't matter what country you come from, it doesn't matter whether you're a man or a woman, what kind of status you have in life.

It says we are all one in Jesus Christ, we're all church members, and we have salvation available to us. And that is the most important thing of all, for all nations will have an opportunity to be part of God's kingdom. With that said, we can now proceed to our topic on Bible prophecy. Let's go to the next slide. This is important. I briefly covered it in part one, but I really want to explain this now more thoroughly, because if I had to give you a quiz on explaining the beast in Revelation 17, that wouldn't be that easy.

But it also is very clear. So you have here what is kind of a dragon, and it's just called a beast, very powerful beast, with a woman, a fallen woman, riding it. This is in Revelation 17. And so I'd like now to give all of you the handout, or win if you can go ahead and give a handout. And actually, I'm going to go through it very carefully, because this is a key prophecy to understand. And I don't think it's been explained well enough. Everybody have one already? Okay. Raise your hands if you're missing one. I think Carrie needs one with... Okay, we got plenty, so it can be...

And then Carrie in the back. All right, so I have mine here.

And we're just going to cover four different places, which talk about the future kingdoms until the return of Jesus Christ. The first one was revealed to Daniel in chapter 2. That's the one with the image made of four parts, and talking about that when this all is manifested, is all revealed all the way to the 10 toes of this image, which is the last manifestation of these Beast Powers. Please focus on the bottom part of that Daniel 2 image. It says, the 10 toes. Now, the 10 toes are going to appear in all the different beasts. As you get closer to the fulfillment, there's more details. So he just gave basically Daniel four different empires, and then the last empire would have at the end 10 kings. But then in Daniel chapter 7, he explains that image now of the beast and gives more detail. Now, there are four beasts instead of the four sections of the image. There are four beasts.

The first is the lion, which is equivalent to the head of gold of the image. Then the second beast is the bear. That's the breast and arms of silver, which are equivalent to the Persian, Medo-Persian empire. Then you have the belly and thighs of brass of the beast, which are now the third beast, which is a leopard with four heads, which has to do with it. It's very clear here in that prophecy in Daniel 8. It describes this one as the he goat with a great horn and four notable ones, which was Alexander the Great. He dies and he gives the Greek kingdom over to four of his generals. So in Daniel, this is a couple hundred years before Alexander the Great would appear. Yet the Greeks would fulfill this, that great he goat that would defeat the Persians. I think how many have watched some of those movies with Alexander the Great and all the fight against the Persians and how it didn't look like the Greeks had any chance to beat the Persian empire. He just came through and just like a he goat. I mean, he rammed into this other, which is the horn with the other goat or the ram, which is a type of sheep.

So anyways, you notice in Daniel 7, as you go down, that the fourth beast, which is the Roman empire, that's the one that inherited all of these other empires, it would have ten horns, which we have called the resurrections of the Roman empire, or it can be revivals in history.

And it's notable. It says that the first three horns of that Roman empire, after it fell, remember, horns have to do with power. These are now the nations that come to dominate the Roman empire. The first one would be the vandals, and it gives you here at the extreme right corner, the vandals AD 429 to 522. So remember how the Goths came in and eventually defeated the Roman empire? Well, the Goths actually ruled over Rome for a time, but then it was removed. And then the second horn are called the Harelae, which are also types of Goths. And then the third horn is the Ostrogoths. That's a, Austro means Eastern Goths. They were the last ones. And it says, these three horns destroyed the behest of the Pope until the transition period. And transition, it's called the transitional age, because they're small horns. They don't have much power, but they do have a continuity of the Roman empire. You never had that with the Greeks. Once they fell, that was it for them. Or the Persians, or the Babylonians. They never restored it. Here you have a restoration. And so we're still in Daniel 7, because then you have in Daniel 7, it talks about that little horn among the 10, which has to do with the Papacy, who they certainly did not want the Goths to continue with the Roman Empire. So the Pope influenced, so they were transitional. But now you have the fourth horn of Daniel 7. And here is, as you notice in Revelation 13, if you go down, it says, the first of the remaining seven horns. The deadly wound healed.

So now the Roman Empire really became powerful with this fourth horn.

And if you go to the right, at the end, it says the imperial restoration of the Empire by Justinian in AD 554. He recognized the supremacy of the world's Christianity. He was actually a crown by the Pope at that time. So until then, when the Roman Empire still existed, and this was the time when John received these revelations, though the woman was not writing the beast because the Papacy and the Roman Empire had not joined together. The Goths never joined. They even had a different Christianity. They were Arians, so they didn't go along with the Catholic Church. But then, with Justinian, he was the one that restored the Empire. And so when you look at the beast, let's go back one slide.

When you go back, you see the beast. It has seven heads, but it's the seventh head that well, too much wind. Too much wind. It says that out of these next, the fourth horn, the fifth, the sixth, the seventh, the eighth, the ninth, and the tenth horns correspond to the seventh head in Daniel. It's the fourth horn, and it is in Revelation 17. If you go down, it says, the first head of the beast rode, or ridden, by the scarlet-clothed woman. So when is that? When's the first time that the woman rides this beast, this seventh beast of the Roman Empire? What's the person's name?

Justinian. He's the first one that is crowned by the Pope and formed an alliance of church and state. And that's going to be the first of seven resurrections that we have. So again, when you look at that picture, you look at the the beast, and it has three little horns on its nose. Well, those were the ones that were plucked out. You have the seven that remain as the main ones. And so, let's read now. It says in Revelation 17 verse 9 through 10, the beast that the woman is riding has seven heads, which the Bible says are seven kings, which have kingdoms. And the seventh and last king is the one with the ten horns.

This is because it, the papacy, did not ride or ally with the first three kings in power. So that's why you have this.

The seven horns. Notice in Revelation 17 verse 12 through 14 and 17, it says, the ten horns which you saw, where are the ten horns? They are the ones that are on the seventh head. The seventh resurrection would have ten kings that would be in charge, who have received no kingdom as yet. So this hasn't happened yet. But they receive authority for one hour, which means a short time. It's not going to be decades. It's not going to be centuries, like sometimes these different kingdoms lasted. It's actually going to be only three and a half years.

It says, as kings with the beast and with the false prophet backing them. It says, these are of one mind and they will give their power and authority to the beast.

These will make war with the lamb. So this gives the time when they arise, because Jesus Christ is the one that's coming as the lamb. So we're not talking about some time in the past. We're still talking about the future. The ten kings will be alive when the lamb comes.

And the lamb will overcome them. For he is Lord of lords and King of kings. And the woman, which is a church, whom you saw is that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth, which is Rome. It was a time when John was there. The capital of the Roman Empire was in Rome. And it still has the woman with her headquarters in Rome. So let's go back to this chart for a moment. And just let's read the last line of the graph. See if you can understand it now.

It says, Daniel to the image, the ten toes. That's right before Christ comes, which corresponds to the tenth horn of the four beasts, which in Revelation 13 correspond to the seventh and last horn. And as far as the church goes, the beast ascends out of the pit.

Revelation 17, and Babylon and the beast, it says here at the end, it says the seventh head and ten horns. And in Revelation, it says there that one is yet to come. So we still have one more kingdom left before Christ returns. And the events here at the end, it says it is the revived Roman Empire by ten rulers under one leader and plus the false prophet. So you actually would have two. This is a chart that Herbert Armstrong wrote back in the 50s. So you can imagine, almost 70 years ago, and a lot of this is still very accurate.

So we appreciate all the effort that he did in compiling this. So let's continue.

In the October 23, 2021 article in The Economist, you can look it up, it's called the Court of Kings. It's very important about what is happening today in Europe.

It said, in the EU, the European Union, every leader becomes a monarch or a king.

The European Council hands leaders too much power.

Notice in the drawing, each leader is shown wearing a crown. Can you see that?

And the heads of Spain and Portugal are part of those leaders.

Notice the next slide.

The noted British author, Adrian Hilton, says in his book, The Principality and Power in Europe, quote, The fighting in Europe finally stopped in the spring of 1945.

This may have been Europe at rock bottom, but it followed the pattern of history.

Catastrophe followed by revival, followed by catastrophe. See one, this destruction, and then the revival. Quote, since the fall of the Roman Empire, there have been numerous attempts to rebuild a unified Europe. The vision of one empire under one emperor belonging to one church has caused more bloodshed than anything in the history of the world. In other words, World War I and World War II had to do with this.

Let's continue. The author continues, thus the last word on all European legislation lies with the block vote of the now 27 unrepresentative Council of Ministers, now called the European Council. Have you heard when these ministers get together? They don't bring their parliaments with them. They don't worry about other things. They're the ones that make the final decisions about their countries. Macron, many others, Sanchez in Spain.

And then he goes on to say, it is not democracy which is failing the citizens of Europe, but the degenerate system which claim this title. They think they're democratic, but when they have to make these decisions, it's a big poker game that all of these leaders are handing out favors, receiving favors. If Satan can masquerade as an angel of light and demons appear as ministers of righteousness, 2 Corinthians 11 14, then it is not so far removed from the realms of possibility that a system of government which hides behind a cloak of democracy is, in reality, nothing of the sort. So, okay, just like the first sermonette, let's show a couple of exhibit A, exhibit B, exhibit C.

You make the decision about this evidence. Let's go to the next slide.

Notice the new European Council headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. Anybody ever been to that place in Brussels? Yes, okay, Ron did. That's good. You remember that big space egg?

Right? Looks like something from the movie Godzilla. But it is just where these 27 heads of Europe meet in this hermetic soundproof.

Nobody knows what's going on there. The space egg meeting room, vainglorious.

Millions and millions of dollars just for them. They could have had a nice meeting room with air conditioning.

But no, they had to have this huge egg.

I wonder if they end up with egg on their face one day. As we saw in the drawing, each European head of state is now depicted because of their great power as a king. So remember those heads?

And this is from a geopolitical expert of the economist. Has nothing to do with the church, but that's what he did. He put them as rulers. Notice on the left, next to the new building, they have a woman riding a beast. This is the symbol. Europa, the woman, riding a bull.

And by the way, that's not something she wanted. That was supposed to be Zeus, who disguised himself as a bull and then had her climb up, and then he took off with her. That's why she's flying, but pretty appropriate. Revelation 17 also talks about a woman riding a beast. Sometimes a woman's in charge. Sometimes the beast is in charge. It's always this power struggle. Okay, let's continue with the next slide.

When the European Parliament building was built, they used a poster of the painting in 1563 of the Tower of Babel by Dutch painter Peter Bruegel to promote it. So here you have, first of all, the painting of Peter Bruegel. Oops, just a lot of wind. And then you have in the center, this is the poster. They're building something that looks like the fallen Tower of Babel.

There you go. Good idea. And notice its resemblance to the Tower of Babel, and also that it has 12 stars.

Babel, of course, is just another name for Babylon. That's what the word comes from, where God confounded the languages. And look at the Parliament building.

Very similar type of construction.

The next slide. Okay, this is what we covered in the chart. That bottom place. This is what we currently understand. For we know, in part, the European Union already exists, with 27 rulers acting like kings.

Somehow they must be reduced to 10 principal ones. And of course, the 10 toes describes that some are made out of iron and some are made out of clay. And so you're going to have powerful countries and then some weaker countries, but it ends up either having a top tier type of group over the rest, which then the rest of these nations give the power to the 10 rulers. That happens all the time.

Germany is united again, as we had predicted before the fact. So that's one of the things. If this is going to happen, you can't have a divided Germany, which is the most powerful of the nations in Europe. And they're becoming even more militarily powerful now. But they needed to be united. A lot of people said that will never happen. The Berlin Wall will never fall.

As a matter of fact, I still have a Newsweek article in 1989 or so where they were saying the wall is never going to fall. Six months later, it had fallen. So again, egg on the face.

Then in Revelation 17, 13 through 14, these 10 rulers says will give their authority to a powerful leader called in the Bible the beast, who is backed by a second leader, a miracle working religious figure called the false prophet. So one is a military, political. The other one is the religious church and state united again. And these are a total of 12 leaders. And it's interesting that the European flag doesn't add stars as more countries are incorporated. They only have 12 stars, even if they're 27 countries. In this book that I already mentioned by Hilton, he says the designs of the European flag were inspired by the halo of 12 stars around a picture of the Madonna. In other words, a supposed Virgin Mary of the Catholics.

Notice there are 12 stars, even if it has 27 nations. What a curious thing.

The Wikipedia says in 1987, following the adoption of the 12-star flag by the European community at that time, Arsen Heit, one of the designers who had submitted proposals for the flag's design, suggested a religious inspiration for it. He claimed that the circle of stars was based on the iconographic tradition of showing the Blessed Virgin Mary as a woman of the apocalypse, wearing a crown of 12 stars. In Revelation 17, there would then be 12 leaders in total, as its flag has. So you have the beast, the false prophet, and the 10 kings under them. Next slide. Regarding the fallen woman riding the beast in Revelation 17, it says, quote, and the woman whom you saw is that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth. Revelation 17-18. Rome was founded on seven hills, as this coin depicts the goddess Roma sitting on seven hills. This is a Roman coin of that time. Notice Vatican Hill on the right, nearby. The word Vatican from the Latin Vaticanus means prophetic hill, where pagan prophets gave their visions in oracle. So the Catholic Church just took over, but the pagan Roman priests were the ones that prophesied. So now you have a new person in charge of the Vatican. Now the Vatican sits above Vatican Hill and is the headquarters of the Catholic Church in Rome.

Now, next slide. Multitudes at the Vatican.

How many have been to the Vatican? Can I see?

Yeah, quite a number. It's one thing you probably don't want to miss if you go to Italy.

Multitudes at the Vatican. So, you know, they have over a billion people that claim to be Catholic.

War leaders kissing the Pope's ring. Revelation 17, 1 and 2 says about the woman whom the kings of the earth come. Notice, let's read that because that's important. Revelation 17.

Verse 1 and 2, it says, Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying to me, Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication. So, it's not talking about physical, it's talking about spiritual fornication, political fornication. It's a system that comes and the leaders come before them and inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication.

So, her teachings have been very successful up to now.

Notice that even as you go inside St. Peter's Cathedral, you notice the Vatican has on its altar in one of the columns up above the image of a pagan son.

So, what's that doing there? If this is supposed to be something Christian, well, you're violating the second commandment, but having images where you worship God. Let's continue. It says, As for Spain and Latin America, the visions of the Virgin Mary are very important. In 1997, Newsweek Magazine reported, quote, In many ways, the 20th century belongs to Mary, from almost every continent, visionaries have reported more than 400 apparitions of the Virgin, more than in the previous three centuries combined. The appearances continue in the 21st century and could be preparing the world for some great revelations and signs ahead. So, why is this appearing at this period of time and more frequently? Well, if there's this Vatican and the European Union getting together, there's going to be a lot more important things. Signs and wonders are going to appear. I'd like to go to the next slide.

The comparison using the scriptures about Mary and the Catholic Church, what the appearances of Mary said. So, these are some of the quotes that Mary, when she appears, she says, She is also Savior.

She doesn't deny Christ is, but she says, I am also Savior. But notice what the Bible says. Christ is the only Savior. Acts 4, 12. It says there's no other name. Mary is not the name of a Savior.

Number two, she suffers for us. And what does the Bible say? Jesus is the suffering servant.

Doesn't say Mary's alive, suffering for us. Number three, that she is the mediator.

And the Bible says Christ is the only mediator. 1 Timothy 2, 5.

She says she is co-redeemer, along with Christ. Number four, Christ is the only redeemer. Revelation 5, 9. She says she is immaculate. In other words, without sin. Number five, Christ is the only immaculate. 1 John 3, 5. Christ is the only one who has not sinned. Number six, she is worthy of worship. And the Bible says, six, Christ is only worthy of it. Of course, talking here, God the Father as well, but in relationship with what she is saying, only one of these can be right. Who is it? I believe everybody would say Christ is. But this is what is being taught to over a billion people on the earth. Let's continue. Now, these 10 kings will be defeated just as the beast and the false prophet when Christ returns. So, just as when these appear, Christ is going to return at that time. And there's that image in Daniel 2 of the image being hit on the toes of this image, which means when those 10 kings fight against Jesus Christ, along with the beast and the false prophet. Let's go to the next slide as we start to finish.

It says, Christ returns in the clouds and defeats the warring nations as they converge in Jerusalem.

They are headed by the beast and the false prophet who received their authority from the 10 kings. I hope that's clear now to everybody. Then the beast and the false prophet are thrown alive into the lake of fire. They're going to be punished by God. Christ then orders Satan and his demons to be put in a deep pit and is sealed for a thousand years. So, that's what's going to come and that's going to be the end of these beast-like kingdoms that we've had.

You know, I used to admire the Roman Empire, especially reading about Julius Caesar's memoirs and things like that as a young man. But boy, that was a very cruel... it was a dictatorship.

Yes, it lasted long, but it lasted because of the armies that they had. They crushed everybody that opposed them. They were that powerful. They had a lot of technology, a lot of things, but it was a cruel... it was a beast-like system as well. All right, so let's go to the next slide. So, Christ warns us in Matthew 24, 24, about following deceiving spirits in the end times. What if a Virgin Mary starts talking in a statue and, oh, everybody's impressed. Let's follow. Let's follow. This is where God is.

1 Timothy 4.1 describes demonic spirits, fooling people, and even brethren in the end times.

It warns us that some brethren are going to fall for this deceit. Notice 1 Timothy 4.

Verse 1, it says, now the Spirit, talking about God's Spirit, inspiring, says expressly says that in the latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons. So, people are going to be caught up in that wave of deceit. Revelation 16, 13 through 14 says demonic entities will ultimately lead the nations to Armageddon and fighting the Lamb. The people think they're doing everything for God.

They have been deceived. So, the destiny of Latin America, as far as we can see, is linked through the influence of its Spanish and Catholic culture and religion to a united and still considerable Catholic population in Europe, comprising the largest bloc of religious people in Europe, 40 percent.

And the final slide, it says, Spain and Latin America, along with Portugal and Brazil, will likely be deceived and duped by the beast and by the miracles of the false prophet and its image.

Most under the spell of Catholic influence will be persuaded to go against the Israelite Anglo-Saxon powers, England, Canada, and the United States, which a majority envy and resent for their great prosperity, and also will persecute the church, quote, which keeps the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. So, once that beast power is united with the false prophet, the church is persecuted tremendously.

This is the traumatic time called, quote, Jacob's Trouble in Jeremiah 37 through 9.

You can read about that more in our booklet, The United States and Britain and Bible Prophecy, which we have here. This is why it's so vital to remain vigilant and prepared for what can happen soon. So, we don't know when God is already looking at the earth. He knows time is short, things are getting out of hand, nations warring against each other, and you've got so many threats from very powerful nations. Basically, a lot of it is going to be at the beginning drone wars that will use robotic drones to attack, as we see today between Russia and Ukraine.

In Luke 21 verse 36, when Christ was talking about prophecy, he says, he says, watch therefore and pray always. So, it means don't be sure, make sure you're praying to God and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape. So, how are we going to escape?

Well, we're going to have to be spiritually strong, for spiritually weak. It's easier.

We're not going to be worthy for God to protect us at that time. That you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man, which means the resurrection and be able to be resurrected in that first resurrection.

So, to finalize, this is why it is so vital to remain vigilant and prepared for what can happen soon, nor participate in its sins, because after all, this whole Western civilization has been established on the beast powers from the time of Babylon. They took some of Babylon's religion, and then they took the Persian religion and power, and then the Greeks took over and added their religion and power, and then the Romans came and they basically built everything up.

But there's always been that remnant of God's church and also a remnant of God's people that received the blessings from Abraham that have tried to withstand this onslaught of attacks to be able to, everybody, conform to a dictatorial system of government. And so, as Revelation 18.4 says, come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins.

That can happen unless you receive of her plagues.

So, this is what we currently know about Spain and Latin America in prophecy.