Tag: little horn

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

TRACING THE BLOODY TRACKS FOLLOWING AFTER THE ‘LITTLE HORN’

“I beheld, and the same (little) horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them”….”and shall wear out the saints of the Most High.” Dan. 7: 21, 25, K.J.V.

“The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. VIII was printed in 1910, which bears the sanction of the Catholic authorities, and their ‘censor,’ so that here is up-to-date authority showing that the Roman church sanctions persecution. The Roman church here acknowledges that, WHEN SHE IS IN POWER, she forced the CIVIL government to BURN those she termed ‘heretics, and the government officials who FAILED to execute her [the church’s] laws, because ‘heretics’ by that neglect, Ans SUFFERED [the same] punishment of ‘heretics.’ Professor Alfred Baudillart, a Roman Catholic scholar in France, who is now [as of 1943] a Catholic Cardinal, says:

‘The Catholic Church is a respecter of conscience and of liberty……She has, and LOUDLY PROCLAIMS THAT SHE HAS, a ‘HORROR OF BLOOD.’ Nevertheless when confronted by heresy she DOES NOT CONTENT HERSELF WITH PERSUASION; arguments of an intellectual and moral order appear to her INSUFFICIENT, and she has recourse to FORCE, to corporal punishment, to TORTURE. She creates TRIBUNALS like those of the Inquisition, she calls the LAWS OF THE STATE to her aid, if necessary she encourages a CRUSADE, or a religious war and all her ‘HORROR OF BLOOD’ practically culminates into urging the SECULA POWER [‘the kings of the earth’] to shed it, which proceeding is MORE ODIOUS—BECAUSE IT IS LESS FRANK—THEN SHEDDING IT HERSELF.

Especially did she act thus in the sixteenth century [the Dark Ages] with regard to PROTESTANTS. Not content to REFORM MORALLY, to preach by example, to convert people by eloquent and holy missionaries, she LIT (set afire) in Italy, in the Lowlands (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg), and above all in Spain the FUNERAL PILES OF THE INQUISITION.

“In France under Francis I and Henry II, in England under Mary Tudor, she tortured the heretics, whilst both in France and Germany during the second half of the sixteenth century and the first half of the SEVENTEENTH century if she did not actually begin, at any rate she encouraged and actively aided, the RELIGIOUS WARS. No one here will deny that we here have a GREAT SCANDAL to our contemporaries…..Indeed, even among our friends and our brothers we find those who dare not look at this problem IN THE FACE. They ask permission from the CHURCH to IGNORE or even DENY all those acts and institutions [such as the Inquisition] in the past, which have made orthodoxy compulsory.’ – ‘The Catholic Church, the Renaissance, and Protestantism,’ pp. 182-184. London: 1908. This book bears the sanction of the Roman Catholic authorities, and their ‘censor.’”— Christian Edwardson, ‘Facts of Faith,’ pp. 64, 65. Southern Publishing Asso., Nashville, TN 8, 1943.

It was on Friday that Jesus was crucified by the CHURCH (Jews) and the STATE (Rome) combined!! That was the type. We are facing the antitypical FRIDAY of end-time prophecy! It is preparation day and preparation time!
Have a sanctifying Sabbath starting sunset tonight. NMF

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

THE LITTLE HORN ‘WEARS OUT THE SAINTS OF THE MOST’ BECAUSE OF ‘HERESY’

Prophecy warns God’s people of the last days that the bloody and dark chapters of church history will be repeated, this time by the final threefold union and divinely-forbidden global confederacy of “Romanism, apostate Protestantism and Spiritualism.”

The little horn power, in “speaking great words against the Most High,” would also “wear out His saints.” Dan. 7:28. That is, as we have already seen, persecute the saints of the Most High, not the ‘saints’ canonized by the papal church, till they were literally ‘worn out’ to death.

Edwardson says: “Has the Papacy fulfilled this part of the prophecy? In order to do ROMAN CATHOLICS] NO INJUSTICE, we shall quote from unquestioned authorities among them. And, since they PERSECUTE people for ‘HERESY,’ we must first let them define what they mean by ‘heresy.’

“In the New York Catholic Dictionary, published by the Universal Knowledge Foundation, a Roman Catholic institution, New York, 1929, we read:

‘Heresy (Greek hairesis, choice), deciding for oneself what one shall believe and practice.’- Art. ‘Heresy, p. 440. According to this definition anyone who will not blindly subject to papal authority, but will read the Bible, deciding for himself what he shall believe [according for the dictates of his conscience] is a ‘HERETIC.’

Q. “What official stand has the Catholic Church taken in regard to such ‘heretics?’
Ans. “This we find stated in the Catholic Encyclopedia in the following words:

“In the Bull ‘Ad extirpanda’(1252) Pope Innocent IV says: ‘When those adjudged guilty of heresy have been given up to the CIVIL power [state] by the bishop or his representative [church], or the INQUISITION, the ‘podesta’ or chief magistrate [civil power] of the city shall take them at once, and shall, within five days at the most, execute the laws made against them….. Nor could any doubt remain as to what CIVIL regulations were meant, for the passages which passages which ordered the BURNING of impenitent heretics were inserted in the PAPAL DECRETALS from the IMPERIAL constitutions ‘Commissis nobis’ and ‘Inconsutibilem tunicam.’ The aforesaid Bull ‘Ad extirpanda’ remained therefore a FUNDAMENTAL DOCUMENT of the Inquisition, RENEWED OR REINFORCES by several popes: Alexander IV (1254-61), Clement IV (1265-68), Nicolas IV (1288-92), Boniface VIII (1294-1303), and others. The civil authorities therefore, were enjoined by the popes, UNDER PAIN OF EXCOMMUNICATION to execute the legal sentences that condemned impenitent heretics to the STAKE [called ‘auto da fe’]. It is to be noted that the excommunication itself was NO TRIFLE, for, if the person excommunicated did not free himself from excommunication within a year, he was held by legislation of that period to be a HERETIC, and incurred all the penalties that affected HERESY.’- Vol. VIII, p. 34.” – Christian Edwardson. Facts of Faith, pp. 62, 63. Southern Publishing Asso. Nashville 8, TN 1943.

The Christian life is not a cakewalk. It is a battle, a march, a race for immortality and eternity. As the apostles truthfully declared, “It is through much tribulation that we must enter the kingdom of God” and “All that will live godly in Christ shall suffer persecution,” that is, “for Christ” and “righteousness’ sake.”
More tomorrow. Bless all, NMF

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

THE ‘WEARING OUT OF THE SAINTS OF THE MOST HIGH’ BY THE ‘LITTLE HORN’ – PART 4

We have clearly seen from the overwhelming evidence already thus presented that the “little horn” of Daniel 7: 21,25 is the the Papacy or the Roman Catholic Church with the Pope as its singular, exclusive titular head. It has several other designations and names (which we will summarize later in another message) identifying and symbolizing its salient characteristics and identifying its true nature and role in the great controversy between Christ and Satan and between truth and error. Here under are more records of its fearful role of “wearing out the saints of the Most High”:

“These facts are confirmed by the testimony of W.E.H. Lecky. He declares:

“That the Church of Rome has shed more innocent blood than any other INSTITUTION that has ever existed among mankind, will be questioned by NO PROTESTANT [or “Christian”] who HAS A COMPLETE KNOWLEDGE OF HISTORY. The memorials, indeed, of many of her persecutions are now so SCANTY that it is impossible to form a complete conception of the multitude of her victims, and it is quite certain that NO POWERS OF IMAGINATION can adequately realize their sufferings…..These ATROCITIES were not perpetrated in the brief paroxysms of a reign of terror [such as the 3 1/2 year French Revolution], or by the hands of obscure sectaries, but were inflicted by a TRIUMPHANT ChURCH, with every circumstances of SOLEMNITY and deliberation.” – William E. H. Lecky, ‘History of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of Rationalism in Europe,’ Vol. II, pp. 35, 37.” – Uriah Smith, ‘Daniel and the Revelation,’ p. 131.

So when you turn to Revelation 17 and read what John saw in vision of the last days of “a woman drunken with the blood of saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus” (verse 6) you know that it is “the truth as it is in Jesus” because “life is in the blood” (Lev. 17:11) and “without the shedding of blood there can be no remission of sin,” and Jesus the Lifegiver told His disciples, “If they persecuted Me they will persecute you also for the servant is not greater than the master.” The “blood of the saints and the blood of the martyrs of Jesus,” like that of Abel, the very first saint and martyr for the truth, joins him in that “the voice of their blood criers unto Me from the ground.”(Gen. 4:9-11).
More follows, stay focused and on track. Bless all, NMF.

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

THE LITTLE HORN ‘WEARS OUT THE SAINTS OF THE MOST HIGH’ – Part 3

The last and final counterpart of “the saints of the Most High” in Dan. 7:25 are the “saints who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus” and “have the testimony of Jesus which is the Spirit of prophecy” (Rev. 14:12; 19:10). And “the dragon was wroth with the woman (the church) and went to make war with the remnant of her seed who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus”(Rev. 12: 9, 17). These are they who steadfastly refuse “to worship the beast and his image or to receive his mark, name, or number in their foreheads or in their right hands” (Rev. 13: 11-18; 15:2; 21: 7, 14).

Let’s return to church and world history: “Albert Barnes, in his comment on this passage [the ‘wearing out of the saints,’ Dan. 8:19], remarks:

‘Can anyone doubt that this is true of the Papacy? The Inquisition, the ‘persecutions of the Waldenses,‘ the ravages of the Duke of Alva; the fires of Smithfield; the tortures of Goa [in India]—-indeed the WHOLE HISTORY of the Papacy may be appealed to in proof that this is applicable to that power. If anything could have ‘worn out the saints of the Most High’— could have cut them off from the earth so that the evangelical religion would have become extinct, it would have been the PERSECUTION of the Papal powers.

“In the year 1208, a CRUSADE was proclaimed by Pope Innocent III against the Waldenses and Albigenses, in which a million of men perished. From the beginning of the Order of JESUITS, in the year 1540, nine hundred thousand were destroyed. One hundred and fifty thousand perished in the INQUISITION in thirty years. In the Low Countries [Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg] fifty thousand persons were hanged, beheaded, burned, and buried alive for the crime of of HERESY, within the space of thirty-eight years from the edict of Charles V against the PROTESTANTS, to the peace of Chateau Cambreses in 1559. Eighteen thousand suffered by the hand of the executioner in the space of five years and a half during the administration of the Duke of Alva.

“Indeed, the slightest acquaintance with the HISTORY of the Papacy will convince any one that what is here said of ‘making war with the saints’(verse 21, and ‘wearing out of the saints of the Most High’(verse 25), is strictly applicable to that power, and will ACCURATELY describe its history.’ – Albert Barnes, Notes on Daniel,’ p. 328, comment on Dan. 7:25.’ “- Uriah Smith, ‘Daniel and the Revelation,’ pp. 130, 131.

Do we have the faith of the saints and the courage of the martyrs for Jesus? God bless as you ponder upon that, NMF.

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

LITTLE HORN TO ‘WEAR OUT SAINTS OF THE MOST HIGH’ – Part 2

After stating that the ‘little  horn” shall “speak great words against the Most High,” Daniel continues, he “shall wear out the saints of the Most High.” Dan. 7: 25. Let’s wind up first the preceding quotes on how the little horn was ‘to speak great words against the Most High,” we read:

“Again, Adam Clark says on verse 25: ‘He shall speak as if he were God.’ So St. Jerome quotes from Symmachus. To none can this apply to so well or so fully as to the Popes of Rome. They have assumed INFALLIBILITY, which belongs only to God. They profess to FORGIVE SINS, which belongs only to God. They profess to OPEN AND SHUT HEAVEN, which belongs only to God. They profess to be HIGHER THAN ALL THE KINGS of the earth, which belongs only to God. And they go BEYOND GOD in pretending to loose whole nations from their oath of allegiance to their kings [and by extension, all others from their oath of allegiance to their own nation of which they are residents and citizens of, its respective constitutions and national flags]. And they GO AGAINST GOD when they give INDULGENCE for sin. This is THE WORST OF ALL BLASPHEMIES.’ – Adam Clarke, ‘Commentary on the Old Testament,’ Vol. IV, p. 596, note on Dan. 7:25.

Now we start considering how the ‘little horn,’ the Papacy, was to “wear out the saints of the Most High,” and during what period of church and world histories. Uriah Smith wrote:

“It requires but little historical investigation to prove that Rome, both in the times of antiquity and during the Dark Ages, carried forward a work of destruction against the church of God. Abundant evidences can be given showing that PROR to and FOLLOWING the great work of the REFORMATION, wars, crusades, massacres, inquisitions, and persecutions of all kinds were the METHODS adopted to COMPEL ALL to submit to the ROMAN yoke.

“The story of medieval persecution is a frightful one, and we dread to dwell upon its detail. Yet for a PROPER UNDERSTANDING of this passage [in Daniel 7:25] it is necessary that we recall SOME of the happenings of those unhappy times.” – Uriah Smith, Daniel and the Revelation, pp. 129, 130.

More follows tomorrow. Pay attention for history will repeat itself in the days ahead, according to Revelation 13. To be forewarned is to be forearmed, that is, if we take heed and do what must be done before it’s too late. God bless all, NMF.

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

LITTLE HORN “SPEAKS WORDS AGAINST THE MOST HIGH”

When the Papacy finally “uprooted” the last of the three Arian horns (kingdoms) in 538 A.D., Daniel’s prophecy says he “would speak great words against the Most High.”
Uriah Smith says: “This prophecy, too, has been unhappily fulfilled in the history of the pontiffs. They have sought, or at least have permitted to be applied to them, TITLES which would have been hyperbolically and blasphemous if applied to an ANGEL of God [!].

“Lucious Ferraris, in his PROMPTA BIBLIOTHECA, which the Catholic Encyclopedia refers to as a ‘veritable encyclopedia of religious knowledge’ and a ‘precious mine of information,’ declares, in its article on the Pope, that ‘the pope is of so great dignity and so exalted that he is not a mere man, but as it were God, and the vicar of God…..The Pope is of such lofty and supreme dignity that, properly speaking, he has not been established in any rank of dignity, but rather has been placed upon the very summit of all ranks and dignities…..The Pope is called most holy because it is rightfully presumed to be such…..

‘The Pope alone is deservedly called by the name ‘most holy,’ because he ALONE is the Vicar of Christ, who is the fountain and source and fullness of all holiness…..’He is likewise the divine monarch and supreme emperor, and ‘king of kings’….Hence the Pope is crowned with a TRIPLE CROWN, as king of HEAVEN and of EARTH and of THE LOWER REGIONS….. Moreover the superiority and power of the Roman Pontiff by no means pertain ONLY to heavenly things, to earthly things, and to things under the earth, but are EVEN OVER ANGELS, than whom he is greater…..So that if it were possible that the angels might ERR in the faith, or might think contrary to the faith, THEY COULD BE JUDGED AND EXCOMMUNICATED BY THE POPE….For he is of so great dignity and power that he forms ONE AND THE SAME TRIBUNAL WITH CHRIST….

“The Pope is as it were GOD ON EARTH, sole sovereign of the faithful of Christ, chief king of kings, having plenitude of power, to whom has been entrusted by the omnipotent God direction not only of the earthly but also the heavenly kingdom…..The Pope is of so great authority and power that he can MODIFY, EXPLAIN, OR INTERPRET EVEN DIVINE LAWS.’ – ‘Translated from Lucius Ferraris, Prompta Bibliotheca, art. ‘Papa,’ II, Vol. VI, pp. 26-29.

“Christopher Marcellus, at the fourth session of the fifth LATERAN COUNCIL in an oration to the Pope, exclaimed: ‘Thou art the shepherd, thou art the physician, thou art the director, thou art the husband man, finally. thou art ANOTHER GOD on earth.’- P. Joannis Arduin, Acta Concilorum, Vol. IX, p. 1651.”

Daniel and the Revelation, Uriah Smith, pp. 128, 129. Revised 1944, 1972, Southern Publishing Asso./Review & Herald Publishing Asso.

The angels, created before man as “ministering spirits,” thus are spirits, not flesh and blood of human nature made from the dust of the ground, do not need the “faith” of Jesus neither the “grace of God in Christ” because the plan of salvation was only for fallen man, who alone was “made in the image and after the likeness” of God.

When one third of the angels joined Lucifer’s rebellion and war against Christ in heaven, and lost, they were cast out of heaven and immediately became fallen angels also known as the demons, evil spirits, fiends. There is no plan of redemption for the angel spirits in the Bible. Hence, they are not subject to the divine provisions of faith and grace, etc., included in the everlasting gospel.

Also, the very first commandment says: “Thou shalt have NO OTHER GODS before Me.”’ It is officially claimed (blasphemously) that the Pope is “another god on earth” and “forms one and the same tribunal with Christ.” The Bible plainly reveals that the heavenly Council called the Godhead, is made up of only three Persons: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. John said “These THREE are ONE,”that is,’ the One and only true God!

Lastly, Jesus told His disciples that He would send the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Godhead, to His Vicegerent on earth while performing His closing work as our High Priest, Advocate, Intercessor, Mediator and Judge of all mankind. When ended, He returns to earth with the final rewards of either eternal life or death—as The King of kings and Lord of lords!’
More to follow. Bless all, NMF

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

THE ‘LITTLE HORN’S’ DASTARDLY DEEDS IN CHURCH HISTORY

Pray to our Father in heaven, in the name and authority of Jesus, for the Holy Spirit to open your eyes, enlighten your mind, and be our Teacher and Guide. This is the only way to discern, understand the “deep things of God” and treasure them above silver, gold, diamonds, or bitcoins. This is how to rise above the petty daily annoyances surrounding you, the non-stop fray, distractions, confusion,, conflicting news and contradicting opinions of experts and pundits, exacerbated by an open season of conspiracies breeding fanaticism, misguided zeal for righteousness, resulting from a distortion of truth only because people “love a lie rather than the truth,” and “darkness over the light.” So says the Bible.

Now read Daniel 7: 20, 21, 24, 25 and compare them to 2 Thess. 2: 3, 4, 9-12; then Rev. 12: 6. 14 and Rev. 13: 5-7. We pick up from where we left off on the year 538 A.D. when we learned that the way had been prepared by Justinian, emperor of Western Rome in 533 (March 25) stating that “the head of all bishops, and the and effective correcter of heretics” in anticipation of “the three FINAL ACTS which were to occur in 538, when the (1) the Arian powers were destroyed (2) Catholicism made the State Religion and (3) the Papacy placed under the protection of the State, which gave rise to the long struggle between the Church and State as to which should be SUPREME.”

Tomorrow we cite the record of these in Daniel and the Revelation by Uriah Smith. Stay tuned, focused on what matters because of its eternal, not temporal consequences and rewards. God continue blessing you, NMF.

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

OSTROGOTHS: THE THIRD AND LAST ARIAN ‘HORN PLUCKED UP BY ITS ROOTS’

We now come to the last of the “three horns” that were “plucked up by their roots” paving the way for the “little horn” power of Daniel 7.:20, 21 “to wax exceeding great…” Dan. 8: 9-12. (Be sure to read these verses for yourself):

Theodoric, king of the Ostrogothic nation of Italy, maintained COMPLETE RELIGIOUS LIBERTY for all classes and creeds. He wrote to Justin, Emperor of the East [of the Roman Empire]:

‘To pretend over the conscience, is to usurp the prerogative of God; by the nature of things the power of sovereigns is confined to political government; they have no right of punishment but over those who disturb the public peace; the most dangerous heresy is that of a sovereign who separates himself from part of his subjects, because they believe not according to his beliefs.’ – ‘History of Latin Christianity,’ H. H. Mailman, Vol. I, Book III, chap. 3, p. 439. NY: 1860.

“The wars of the migrating barbarians on one side, and the persecutions of the heathen, Jews, and Arians by the CATHOLIC CHURCH on the other, had kept Italy in constant turmoil. Agricultural pursuits were neglected, people crowded into the cities, and want and starvation faced the population. But Theodoric’s wise and firm rule, and the strict RELIGIOUS LIBERTY he established in Italy, brought PEACE, PROSPERITY, AND HAPPINESS to all others [the secret of true peace and prosperity of any nation for “righteousness exalteth a nation.”]. J. G. Sheppard, D.D., says:

‘Theodoric deserves the highest praise; for, during the thirty-eight years he reigned in Italy [not only 4 years!], he brought the country to such a state of greatness [sounds familiar somehow’] that her previous sufferings were no longer recognizable……What prevailed this man, with so great a genius for government, and so splendid an opportunity from its exercise, from organizing a Germanic Empire, equal in extent and power to that which obeyed the scepter of the old Roman Caesars? Of why did he fail, when Charlemagne, with a greater complication of interests to deal with, for a time at least, succeeded? ‘“- ‘Fall of Rome,’ John G. Shephard, D.D., pp. 301, 302. London: 1861.” – Facts of Faith, C. Edwardson, pp. 44, 45.

Why did Theodoric not succeed? Because prophecy revealed it so. That’s how much we can trust unconditionally on God’s infallible Word! Bless all as we continue to learn, be enlightened and better prepares for the final crisis and test of mankind! NMF