In Daniel 7:6 we find the prophet describing the third beast he saw rising from wind-disturbed waters: “After this I beheld, and lo another (beast) like a leopard, which had upon its back four wings like a fowl. The beast also had four heads, and dominion (power) was given to it” (by the serpent–Satan). The third conquering nation to arise in world history was Greece which rose to power in 331 B.C. This beast had four wings, signifying speed, which meant that it would conquer the world very quickly. Alexander the Great conquered everything he saw in only twelve years, which was considered a miracle in that day. This third beast had four heads. Alexander died at the age of 33, and since he had no offspring to carry on his legacy, his kingdom was divided up among his four generals: Cassander, Lysimachus, Seleucus and Ptolemy–symbolized by the four heads of Daniel’s third beast.

“After this I (Daniel) saw in the night visions and beheld a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and exceedingly strong. It had great iron teeth and devoured and brake in pieces and stamped its enemies with its feet.” This beast was different from all the beast that came before it. And it had ten horns” (Dan. 7:7). Being extremely powerful and cruel, the fourth beast began its conquering rampage in 168 B.C. This beast was indeed different in that it was more powerful that all of the other beasts combined. The four beasts described by Daniel are combined into one beast which, in Revelation 13 and 17, John describes as one beast having ten horns with a woman riding (controlling) it. Daniel’s four beasts and John’s one beast all represent the same enemy of God–the Roman Empire. This empire is often referred to as “holy” because of its affiliation with the Catholic Church which has used its power to subdue many people throughout history.

Six of the ten horns (kingdoms) depicted in Daniel and John’s visions have all come and gone. The following is a time and name record of those six revivals of the Roman Empire: The restoration of the church-state empire in 554 A.D., the Frankish Empire in 774 A.D., the Holy Roman Empire in 962 A.D. the Habsburg Dynasty in 1520 A.D., Napoleon’s Kingdom in 1805 A.D., Italy and Fascist Regime that existed from 1870 to 1945 when the end of World War II brought the sixth resurrection, under the rulership of Mussolini and Hitler to an end. The world’s people were sure that they had seen the last of the European beast. The United Nations was created for the purpose of preventing that beast from ever arising again.

But God tells us that there is one more revival of the Holy Roman Empire to come. The final resurrection of the church-state beast empire will occur sometime in the future. Those who know their Bible and who pay attention to current events know that the time of its final resurrection is rapidly approaching. In Revelation 17 that final often-resurrected beast is being ridden and controlled by a religious whore who, along with her harlot daughters, will cause the beast to rise once again and will fling the people of the earth into a third world war, a war the likes of which man has never before experience.

We will now focus our attention on the final resurrection of the church-led beast, today known as the European Union. The religious whore and her daughters represent the Catholic whore Church and her Protestant harlot daughters (Rev. 13:1,2; 17:1-5) who will try one last time to rid the world of God’s church. Using what was known as the “Inquisition,” the whore church slaughtered millions of non-catholic people. Many, probably most, of them were true saints of God. I have seen estimates that range from 50,000,000 to 150,000,000 souls who paid the ultimate price for refusing to join the devil’s religion.

The prophetic message of Revelation 13 and 17 reveals a towering church–a wealthy, imperialistic, ambitious, power-hungry religion presiding over and influencing the rise of seven distinct empires/kingdoms, each ruled by a king. The goal of each of the resurrections has remained the same–to destroy God’s true church.

Anyone who knows the Holy Bible and is acquainted with the history of the church understands that the great whore and her harlot daughters of Revelation 13 and 17 will urge the final beast to do everything possible to destroy the true religion of God. Bible prophecy states that the final resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire will cause global devastation that will affect every person on earth in the most terrible of ways. With one exception. God’s true saints will wait out the storm in their place of safety, to which He will take them prior to the beginning of the Tribulation period–the final 3 1/2 years of this age. As His saints watch the world around them go up in flames they will see first hand that the future they looked to was worth the sacrifices they were required to make. The end will definitely justify the means.

What must not be overlooked is the fact that everything we have looked at in this series could have been avoided had the world’s people simply obeyed God. The negative things that have happened to mankind .both individually and corporately, were, are and always will be self-inflicted wounds. By insisting on doing things his way, man has become his own worst enemy. God’s true saints know this and work diligently to keep themselves in good standing with Him through strict obedience to His written instructions. As I repeatedly proclaim: EVERYTHING COMES BACK TO THE WORD OF GOD. As Jesus tells us in John 12:44-50, every human ever born will be judged by every Word found therein. L.J.