John,
In connecting Daniel’s vision of the Iron Kingdom and John’s vision of the Beast in Revelation, it’s looking like the Beast IS Christianity and Christianity is the Beast I had always envisioned the Beast as being a specific person coming in the future. The Beast being Christianity is a new thought and would mean it/he is already here! Have you said that before??!
Richard
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Hi Richard.
It seems to me that the Beast is a person, the coming world ruler, but that he embodies the wicked spirit (Satan) who inspired Constantine to blend his Empire and the Gospel in order to form a system for stabilizing and controlling the world, which system continued to evolve and eventually became known as Christianity, or “Christendom”. At the same time, we must remember the ten kings of Revelation 17, serving under the Beast, destroy Christianity (the “Great Whore”).
Whew, Richard! It is a mystery, isn’t it? God help us stay prepared (that is, full of the holy Ghost) for whatever happens!
Pastor John
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It’s kind of interesting after reading these your IK notes to look at bible verses on the beast.
Concerning the “beast”, this verse always intrigued me:
Rev 13:3 “And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.”
Do you think this verse could have anything to do with the Rome, one of the beast’s heads, being “wounded” (men thought it fell because so much about it changed) and then “healed” (morphed with Christianity, and really never went anywhere/died)?
Or, is this wounding of the beast’s head an event still for the future?
I know that you said Revelation was in chronological order, and that probably means it has not happened yet judging by some things before it. But it is still interesting. I wonder what things we are going to find in the scriptures, as we go through the IK writing with you… there is probably a lot we will see as we are stretched by Jesus. 🙂
Gary
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Yes, Gary, I expect some serious stretching of our spirits and understanding from Jesus before this job is completed!
Pastor John
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Whew, this is good reading. Really like this part too:
“Rome is the survivor extraordinaire among earthly kingdoms. None of its long-used earthly power or brilliance could have saved it from extinction, only an infusion of new blood. As it turned out, ‘the blood of prophets and of saints’ would do it.”
My, my, who in the world knows this and can believe it! We are so blessed, John. Keep at it, you will be rewarded.:) 🙂
Lou