The 4 Beasts Outline SERIES: Pagan Rome morphs into Papal Rome

"Q: When did the little horn, or Papacy, arise?

It did not arise before the ten horns; hence, it did not arise prior to 483 AD, when the tenth horn came up. 

Three of the first horns must be plucked up before it, in its rise. 

It came up among the ten horns, and three of those horns fell before it. It must have been established at the very point where the third horn fell. 

*In the year of our Lord 493, the Heruli in Rome and Italy were conquered by the Ostrogoths. 

*In 534, the Vandals, who were un der Arian influence, were conquered by the Greeks, for the purpose of establishing the supremacy of the Catholics. 

*The Ostrogoths, who held possession of Rome, were under an Arian monarch, who was an enemy to the supremacy of the Bishop of Rome; hence, before the decree of Justinian, (a Greek emperor at Constantinople,) could be carried into effect, by which he had constituted the Bishop of Rome head of all the churches, the Ostrogoths must be plucked up. 

--This conquest was effected by Justinian’s army in the month of March, 538; at which time, the Ostrogoths, who had retired without the city, and besieged it in their turn, raised the siege and retired, leaving the Greeks in possession of the city; thus the third horn was plucked before Papacy, and for the express purpose too of establishing that power.

Here is the letter of Justinian to the Bishop of Rome, 533 AD: “Justinian, pious, fortunate, renowned, triumphant, emperor, consul, etc., to John, the Most Holy Archbishop of our city of Rome, and Patriarch. “Rendering honor to the apostolic see, and to your

holiness, (as always was and is our desire,) and, as it becomes us, honoring your blessedness as a father, we have laid without delay before the notice of your holiness all things pertaining to the state of the church. Since it has always been our earnest study to preserve the unity of your holy see, and the state of the holy churches of God, which has hitherto obtained, and will remain, without any interfering opposition; therefore we hasten to subject, and to unite to your holiness, all the priests of the whole East. “As to the matters which are presently agitated, although clear and undoubted, and, according to the doctrine of your apostolic see, held assuredly resolved and decided by all priests, we have yet deemed it necessary to lay them before your holiness. Nor do we suffer anything which belongs to the state of the church, however manifest and undoubted, that is agitated, to pass with out the knowledge of your holiness, who are the head of all the holy churches. For in all things (as had been said or resolved) we are prompt to increase the honor and authority of your see.” 

.....from the edicts of the “Novellae” of the Justinian code. The preamble of the 9th, states, “that as the elder Rome was the founder of the laws; so was it not to be questioned, that in her was the supremacy of the pontificate.” 

The 131st, on the Ecclesiastical Titles and privileges, chapter ii, states: “We therefore decree that the most holy Pope of the elder Rome is the first of all the priesthood, and that the most blessed archbishop of Constantinople, the new Rome, shall hold the second rank, after the holy apostolic chair of the elder Rome.”

 

Imperial Rome fell about 475 AD, and was in the hands of the barbarians. Thus it continued till the conquest of Rome by Belisarius, Justinian’s general, 536 to 538, when the Ostrogoths left it in possession of the Greek emperor, March, 538. Thus the way was open for the dragon to give the beast... Revelation 13:2 ...his power, and his seat, and great authority.

Daniel 7:25 ...a time and times and the dividing of time. 

John says, Revelation 13:5 Power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. 

He was to make war upon the saints—the church; and in Revelation 12:6, we are told, the woman, the church, fled into the wilderness 1260 days; and that it was for... Revelation 12:14 ...a time, and times, and half a time. 

Here then we have the period of the continuance of this power given us in three forms of expression, which settles the point that the time, times, and dividing of time is 42 months, or 1260 prophetic days or years.

From 538, 1260 years would extend to 1798. 

Q: Did anything transpire that year to justify the belief that the dominion of the Papacy was taken away that year? 

A: It is a historical fact, that, on Feb. 10th, 1798, Berthier, a French general, entered the city of Rome and took it. On the 15th of the same month the Pope was taken prisoner and shut up in the Vatican. 

The papal government, which had continued from the time of Justinian, was abolished, and a republican form of government given to Rome. 

The Pope was carried captive to France, where he died in 1799. Thus, he that led others into captivity, went into captivity; and he who killed with the sword those he was pleased to call heretics, was himself killed (subdued) with the sword; i.e., his dominion was taken away by war. Revelation 13:10 He that leads into captivity shall go into captivity: he that kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. 

Here is the patience and the faith of the saints. He is cut off from being a horn on the beast, or deprived of his civil power, so that he can no longer wield the sword against dissenters. That the Pope was restored, or a new one chosen, is ad mitted. But that he has power to depose kings and put to death the saints now, is denied. 

--When he was a horn on the beast, he deposed kings at pleasure, for centuries, and silenced heretics by the flame, the rack, prison, and the sword. 

Q: Can he do it now? No. Nor has he been able to do it since 1798—since that time the church is out of the wilderness, and the Papacy is compelled to tolerate Protestantism." James White