| THE IMAGE OF THE BEAST |
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 “Anyone who attempts to construe a personal view of God which conflicts with church dogma must be burned without pity.” Pope Innocent III, 1198, Papal Bull, the Public Decree of the Pope |
| 13 He performs great signs, even making fire come down out of the sky on the earth in the sight of men. |
| Rev 13:13 so that he even makes fire come down to earth in the presence of men – this is an allusion to miracle of Elijah. Elijah made fire come down from heaven so that Israel would recognize the true God, rather than Baal. But the false prophet will use miracles so that people will worship the false god, the image of the beast. |
| 14 He deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to do in front of the beast; saying to those who dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast who had the sword wound and lived. |
| Rev 13:14 And he deceives those on earth because of the signs – in establishing the Trinity doctrine, “the champion” of the meeting at Nicaea was St. Nicolas who apparently “struck” an Arian, or Arius on the jaw. “Saint” Nicolas was called “the wonderworker,” because he performed many miracles. telling those on earth to make an image to the beast – this story is found in Daniel Chapter 3. The King of Babylon made an image, and whoever would not worship it would be killed. The Trinity is the man-made image of God, created by philosophers from 325 to 381. In Rev 13:2, the beast was described as the combination of “three animals”- a lion, leopard and a bear, coming together to make one beast. The Trinity is an “image of the beast.” The picture of God as a lion, leopard and a bear is also found in Hos 13:4,7-8: “And you shall not know no God but Me… So I will be to them like a lion, Like a leopard by the road I will lurk, I will meet them like a bear deprived of her cubs.” This was God’s prophecy against Ephraim, the harlotry of Israel; and by extension, the harlotry of the New Covenant Church: the prophecy which Hosea began in Hos 2 and 3. who had the wound of the sword and come to life – this brings us back to verse 3, and the time period: one of the heads was crushed (the fall of the Roman Empire) and yet the beast lived. The key event in the fall of Rome was the Gothic war from 376-382. The Trinity was established in 381. |
| 15 It was given to him to give breath to it, to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause as many as wouldn’t worship the image of the beast to be killed. |
| Rev 13:15 the image of the beast would even speak – the false prophet deceived the people of the earth to believe that the three person “Trinity god” was speaking to them. and cause as many as did not worship the image of the beast to be killed – the Trinity is the first doctrine established by the threat of capital punishment. Constantine gave orders that anyone protecting the writings of Arius would be killed. The next three centuries would be filled with attacks on Arian believing states, by Nicene Creed believers, who thought the “Trinity god” was helping them to win. Muhammad easily overthrew the Christian Arab states of Turkey, Syria and Egypt from 600 to 700; rebuking them for forsaking the straight path of their forefathers, by worshipping a three person god. And from 1096 to 1487, the Crusades attempted to regain the Holy land from Islam, believing that their three person god would help them win. In Dan 11:36, and 2 Thess 2:4, we read about the Beast, “who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship , so that he takes his seat in the temple of God.” Daniel told us that the Beast would act against the strongest of fortresses, with the help of a god that his fathers (the Apostles) did not know (Dan 11:38, and Dan 11:39). This described the Popes’ failed Crusades against Islam from 1096 to 1291. The Crusades encountered the strongest fortresses in the world. “The armies of the First Crusade on their way to Jerusalem between 1096 and 1099 encountered the most advanced fortifications of the time: Constantinople (now Istanbul), Nicaea (now Iznik), Kaisariyya (now Kayseri), Mar‘ash (now Kahraman Maraş), Tarsus, ‘Ayn Zarbā (now Anavarza), Rāwandān (now Ravanda Kalesi), Tall Bāshir (now Tilbaşar Kalesi), Edessa (now Şanlı Urfa), Antioch, Ma‘arrat al-Nu‘mān, Ṭarṭūs, ‘Arqā, Tripoli, Tyre, Acre, and finally Jerusalem. All of them were surrounded by double, if not triple walls, protected by ample moats. Their gates were commonly entered through indirect access ways.” crusader-castles.com For 1200 years, opposition to the Trinity belief would be regarded as heresy, and treason, worthy of capital punishment. During the Reformation, the Protestant Reformer Calvin rallied for the execution of Michael Servetus, a Spanish theologian. He was burned alive on his books because he opposed the Trinity. |
