Continuing on with Revelation 13 - Taken from Daniel and Revelation by Uriah Smith
--
{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
Received a Deadly Wound.--The head that was wounded to death was the papal head. We are held to this conclusion by the obvious principle that whatever is spoken in prophecy of the symbol of any government, applies to that government only while it is represented by that symbol. Now Rome is represented by two symbols, the dragon and the leopard beast, because it has presented two phases, the pagan and the papal; and whatever is said of the leopard beast applies to Rome only in its professedly Christian form. John says that it was one of the heads of this leopard beast that was wounded to death. In other words, this wound fell upon the form of government that existed in the Roman Empire after its change from paganism to Christianity. Thus it is evident that is was the papal head that was wounded to death, and whose deadly wound was healed. This wounding is the same as the going into captivity. (Revelation 13: 10.) It was inflicted when the pope was taken prisoner by Berthier, the French general, and the papal government was for a time abolished, in 1798. Stripped of his power, both civil and ecclesiastical, the captive pope, Pius VI, died in exile at Valence in France, August 29, 1799. But the deadly wound began to be healed when the papacy was re-established, though with less of its former power, by the election of a new pope, March 14, 1800. [1]
Verse 5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. 6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, and His tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. 7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. 8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. 9 If any man have an ear, let him hear. 10 He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.
Speak Blasphemies.--This beast opens his mouth "in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, and His tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven." Mention has already been made in comments on the book of Daniel as to the significance of the expression, "He shall speak great words against the Most High." Daniel 7: 25. In verse 5 in this chapter of Revelation similar words are used, for he had "a mouth speaking great things." Here, however, the word "blasphemy" is added, and this evidently points to the fact that the great words will be blasphemous enunciations against the God of heaven.
In the Gospels we find two indications of what constitutes blasphemy. In John 10: 33 we read that the Jews falsely charged Jesus with blasphemy because, said they, "Thou, being a man, makest Thyself God." This is in the case of the Saviour was untrue, because He was the Son of God. He was "Immanuel, God With Us." But for man to assume the prerogatives of God and to take the titles of deity--this is blasphemy.
Again, in Luke 5: 21 we see the Pharisees endeavoring to catch Jesus in His words. "Who is this which speaketh blasphemies?" said they. "Who can forgive sins, but God alone?" Jesus could pardon transgressions, for He was the divine Saviour. But for man, mortal man, to claim such authority is blasphemy indeed.
We might ask if the power represented by this symbol has fulfilled this part of the prophecy. In comments on Daniel 7: 25 we saw clearly from the evidence submitted that he had spoken "great words" against the God of heaven. Now observe what is said regarding the claim of the priesthood to forgive sins:
"The priest holds the place of the Saviour Himself, when, by saying, 'Ego te absolvo' [I thee absolve], he absolves from sin. . . . To pardon a single sin requires all the omnipotence of God. . . . But what only God can do by His omnipotence, the priest can also do by saying 'Ego te absolvo a peccatis tuis.'. . . Innocent III has written: 'Indeed, it is not too much to say that in view of the sublimity of their offices the priests are so many gods.' " [2]
Note still further the blasphemous utterances of this power:
"But our wonder should be far greater when we find that in obedience to the words of His priests--HOC EST CORPUS MEUM [This is My body]--God Himself descends on the altar, that He comes wherever they call Him, and as often as they call Him, and places Himself in their hands, even though they should be His enemies. And after having come, He remains, entirely at their disposal; they move Him as they please, from one place to another; they may, if they wish, shut Him up in the tabernacle, or expose Him on the altar, or carry Him outside the church; they may, if they choose, eat His flesh, and give Him for the food of others. 'Oh, how very great is their power,' says St. Laurence Justinian, speaking of priests. 'A word falls from their lips and the body of Christ is there substantially formed from the matter of bread, and the Incarnate Word descended from heaven, is found really present on the table of the altar!' " [3]
"Thus the priest may, in a certain manner, be called the creator of his Creator. . . . 'The power of the priest,' says St. Bernardine of Sienna, 'is the power of the divine person; for the transubstantiation of the bread requires as much power as the creation of the world.' " [4]
Thus this beast power blasphemes the temple in heaven by turning attention of his subjects to his own throne and palace instead of to the tabernacle of God; by diverting their attention from the sacrifice of the Son of God to the sacrifice of the mass.
He blasphemes them that dwell in heaven by assuming to exercise the power of forgiving sins, and so turns away the minds of men from the mediatorial work of Christ and His heavenly assistants in the sanctuary above.
By verse 10 we are again referred to the events of 1798, when that power that had for 1260 years led the saints of God into captivity, was itself let into captivity.
*******
History. Facts. Proof. Undenialable.
Some like to believe that Revelations is all future. That none of it has happened. It's so foolish to believe that with so much history behind us. Yes, it's fantastical and our imagination can go wild with the symbolism and it has just look at our books, our movies, our tv shows. There are documentaries on the end of the world and the idea of all the things in Revelation being futuristic is prevalent. Some expect things to all happen at once but think about it... from the moment John was given the visions it was to be the future from there on. So why would the book of Revelation skip 2000 years just to pick up at the very, very last days?
Daniel gave a key to things when his visions were given and then he was told the interpretation of them being the future in several generations, not just at the end of days. He told Nebuchadnezzar that he was the head of gold on a statue, and that the chest and arms of silver were to be the next kingdom to follow and then the brass belly and thighs yet another. Long periods of time stretching out to the very end. Revelation is no different. We aren't to be left floundering in the dark there is understanding to be had and history is the key to it all. Through the guidance of the Holy Spirit we are given understanding unto all truth through Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior.
By His grace! By His Mercy!
Amen.
9/27/10
Mat 5:6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Psa 23:3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Gen 15:6 And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.
Job 36:3 I will fetch my knowledge from afar, and will ascribe righteousness to my Maker.
Psa 17:15 As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.
Psa 24:5 He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
Psa 31:1 ...In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in thy righteousness.
Psa 71:2 Deliver me in thy righteousness, and cause me to escape: incline thine ear unto me, and save me.
Rom 4:3 For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
2Pe 3:13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
Rev 3:18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
Rev 19:8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
*
Gen 15:6 And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.
Rom 4:3 For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
When so much unrighteousness surrounds us, when Satan would have us buried deep in the thick mire of our own vileness we have to remember that God alone is righteous above all and we have to believe in God and His Righteousness. We aren't to believe in ourselves. We can't SAVE ourselves by believing in own ability, our own righteousness. The only way we can save ourselves is to believe in the Lord and Salvation in our Savior, God's Son.
Act 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Act 2:39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.
Act 2:40 And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.
We save ourselves when we REPENT and are baptized in the name of our Savior for the forgiveness of our sins.
Satan's assaults grow more and more intense all around us. The closer we move towards our God the closer Satan moves towards us to take us away from Him.
Praise God we are saved by grace, that the righteousness we possess is our belief in God's righteousness, in His plan of salvation.
We have to CLING to this belief and NEVER give it up. Satan wants us to turn our minds inwards to ourselves and not outward to God. The cares of this world do truly threaten to overwhelm. We must remember that this world is already counted as lost, but the world to come is our Savior's and it's that world we need to look to when this world would tear us apart, when Satan would tear us spiritually limb from spiritual limb. When we are so caught up in the cares of this world that it seems as if Satan is dangling us above a bottomless pit, our legs kicking, our hands scrambling to cling to anything that would keep us from failing, we have to remember Christ is our Savior and we have to let go of Satan's pinching fingers trusting that we will be caught up unto our Lord.
Satan will tell us that we HAVE to worry over this life, to just NOT worry isn't how it's done. He wants us worrying and worrying and worrying as long as he can keep us worrying we keep ourselves from trusting, from believing. Satan wants us to believe it's stupid to even think of NOT worrying when there is SOOOOO much to worry about. We don't want to be stupid, we don't want to be considered clueless and foolish, stupid, dumb, blind to the REAL world, going about with our heads in the clouds, crazily happy in the knowledge of Salvation… we should want to be worldly stupid, worldly clueless, worldly foolish, worldly stupid, dumb and blind as long as we are CRAZY happy in the knowledge of our Salvation!!!
May God bless us and keep us, guide our paths, protect us from the wiles of the Devil so that we may serve Him and only Him, by His righteousness, in HIS everlasting LOVE, through the grace of our Savior!
Amen.
9/27/11
Rev 11:9 And they of the people and kindreds and
tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and
shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.
Rev 11:10 And they that dwell upon the earth
shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another;
because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.
*******
Oct. 5, 1793. The
revolutionary calendar was established making weeks of 10 days.
Nov. 10. A
statute of liberty as "godess of the French people" replaced the image of Mary.
(link as for Oct. 5).
Nov. 10. Account
of burning Bible portions.
Nov. 24. Satute
ordering the closing of all churches. (Aulard, p. 161)
Sept. 17, 1797.
Catholicism had been generally restored.
Pasted
from <http://www.bibleexplained.com/revelation/r-seg11-12/r11f-Fr-rev.htm>
*******
France guarantees
freedom of religion as a constitutional right and the government generally
respects this right in practice. A long history of violent conflict between
groups led the state to break its ties to the Catholic Church early in the last
century and adopt a strong commitment to maintaining a totally secular public
sector.[1]
The
Dechristianisation of France during the French Revolution is a conventional
description of the results of a number of separate policies, conducted by
various governments of France between the start of the French Revolution in
1789 and the Concordat of 1801, forming the basis of the later and less radical
Laïcité movement. The goal of the campaign was the destruction of Catholic
religious practice and of the religion itself.[1] There has been much scholarly
debate over whether the movement was popularly motivated or something forced
upon the people by those in power.[2]
The programme of
dechristianization waged against Catholicism, and eventually against all forms
of Christianity, included:[1][3][4]:
confiscation
of church lands, which were to be the security for the new Assignat currency
removal
of statues, plates and other iconography from places of worship
destruction
of crosses, bells and other external signs of worship
the
institution of revolutionary and civic cults, including the Cult of Reason and
subsequently the Cult of the Supreme Being,
the
enactment of a law on October 21, 1793 making all nonjuring priests and all
persons who harboured them liable to death on sight.
The climax was
reached with the celebration of the Goddess "Reason" in Notre Dame Cathedral on
10 November 1793.
The
dechristianization campaign can be seen as the logical extension of the
materialist philosophies of some leaders of the enlightenment, while for others
with more prosaic concerns it was an opportunity to unleash resentments against
the Church and clergy.[5]
In Paris, over a
forty-eight hour period beginning on September 2, 1792, as the Legislative
Assembly (successor to the National Constituent Assembly) dissolved into chaos,
three Church bishops and more than two hundred priests were massacred by angry
mobs; this constituted part of what would become known as the September
Massacres. Priests were among those drowned in the Noyades for treason under
the direction of Jean-Baptiste Carrier; priests and nuns were among the mass
executions at Lyon, for separatism, on the orders of Joseph Fouché and Collot
d'Herbois. Hundreds more priests were imprisoned and made to suffer in
abominable conditions in the port of Rochefort.
Anti-church laws
were passed by the Legislative Assembly and its successor, the National
Convention, as well as by département councils throughout the country. Many of
the acts of dechristianization in 1793 were motivated by the seizure of church
gold and silver to finance the war effort,[6] though exceptions weren't
uncommon. In November 1793, the département council of Indre-et-Loire abolished
the word dimanche (English: Sunday).[citation needed] The Gregorian calendar,
an instrument decreed by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582, was replaced by the French
Republican Calendar which abolished the sabbath, Saints' days and any
references to the Church.
Anti-clerical
parades were held, and the Archbishop of Paris was forced to resign his duties
and made to replace his mitre with the red "Cap of Liberty." Street and place
names with any sort of religious connotation were changed, such as the town of
St. Tropez which became Héraclée. Religious holidays were banned and replaced
with holidays to celebrate the harvest and other non-religious symbols.
Robespierre and his colleagues decided to supplant both Catholicism and the
rival, atheistic Cult of Reason with the Cult of the Supreme Being. Just six
weeks before his arrest, on June 8, 1794 the still-powerful Robespierre
personally led a vast procession through Paris to the Tuileries garden in a
ceremony to inaugurate the new faith.
The
dechristianisation of France reached its zenith around the middle of 1794 with
the fall of Robespierre. By early 1795 a return to some form of religion-based
faith was beginning to take shape and a law passed on February 21, 1795
legalised public worship, albeit with strict limitations. The ringing of church
bells, religious processions and displays of the Christian cross were still
forbidden.
As late as 1799,
priests were still being imprisoned or deported to penal colonies and
persecution only worsened after the French army led by General Louis Alexandre
Berthier captured Rome and imprisoned Pope Pius VI, who would die in captivity
in Valence, France in August of 1799. Ultimately, with Napoleon now in
ascendancy in France, year-long negotiations between government officials and
the new Pope, Pius VII, led to the Concordat of 1801, formally ending the
dechristianisation period and establishing the rules for a relationship between
the Roman Church and the French State.
Victims of the
Reign of Terror totaled somewhere between 20,000 and 40,000. According to one
estimate, among those condemned by the revolutionary tribunals, about 8 percent
were aristocrats, 6 percent clergy, 14 percent middle class, and 70 percent
were workers or peasants accused of hoarding, evading the draft, desertion,
rebellion, and other purported crimes.[7] Of these social groupings, the clergy
of the Roman Catholic Church suffered proportionately the greatest loss.[7]
Main articles:
Dechristianisation of France during the French Revolution and Revolt in the
Vendée
The
Dechristianisation of France during the French Revolution is a conventional
description of a campaign, conducted by various Robespierre-era governments of
France beginning with the start of the French Revolution in 1789, in order to
eliminate any symbol that might be associated with the past, especially the
monarchy.
The program
included the following policies:[44][45][46]
the
deportation of clergy and the condemnation of many of them to death,
the
closing, desecration and pilaging of churches, removal of the word "saint" from
street names and other acts to banish Christian culture from the public
sphere
removal
of statues, plates and other iconography from places of worship
destruction
of crosses, bells and other external signs of worship
the
institution of revolutionary and civic cults, including the Cult of Reason and
subsequently the Cult of the Supreme Being,
the
large scale destruction of religious monuments,
the
outlawing of public and private worship and religious education,
forced
marriages of the clergy,
forced
abjurement of priesthood, and
the
enactment of a law on 21 October 1793 making all nonjuring priests and all
persons who harbored them liable to death on sight.
The climax was
reached with the celebration of the Goddess "Reason" in Notre Dame Cathedral on
10 November.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Christians#French_Revolution
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dechristianisation_of_France_during_the_French_Revolution
*******
Roman
Catholicism, the religion of a majority of French people, is no longer
considered a state religion, as it was before the 1789 Revolution and throughout
the various, non-republican regimes of the 19th century (the Restoration, the
July Monarchy and the Second French Empire).
Pasted
from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_France>
*******
In
September 1793 a period known as the Reign of Terror
ensued for approximately 12 months
Pasted
from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_France>
*******
The climax was
reached with the celebration of the goddess "Reason" in Notre Dame Cathedral on
10 November. Because dissent was now regarded as counterrevolutionary, extremist
enragés such as Hébert and moderate Montagnard indulgents such as Danton were
guillotined in the Spring of 1794.[citation needed] On 7 June Robespierre, who
favoured deism over Hébert's atheism and had previously condemned the Cult of
Reason, recommended that the Convention acknowledge the existence of God. On the
next day, the worship of the deistic Supreme Being was inaugurated as an
official aspect of the Revolution. Compared with Hébert's somewhat popular
festivals, this austere new religion of Virtue was received with signs of
hostility by the Parisian public
Pasted
from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reign_of_Terror>
*******
The days of the
French Revolution and Republic saw many efforts to sweep away various trappings
of the ancien régime; some of these were more successful than others. The new
Republican government sought to institute, among other reforms, a new social
and legal system, a new system of weights and measures (which became the metric
system), and a new calendar. Amid nostalgia for the ancient Roman Republic, the
theories of the Enlightenment were at their peak, and the devisors of the new
systems looked to nature for their inspiration. Natural constants, multiples of
ten, and Latin derivations formed the fundamental blocks from which the new
systems were built.
The new calendar
was created by a commission under the direction of the politician Charles
Gilbert Romme seconded by Claude Joseph Ferry and Charles-François Dupuis. They
associated with their work the chemist Louis-Bernard Guyton de Morveau, the
mathematician and astronomer Joseph-Louis Lagrange, the astronomer Joseph
Jérôme Lefrançois de Lalande, the mathematician Gaspard Monge, the astronomer
and naval geographer Alexandre Guy Pingré, and the poet, actor and playwright
Fabre d'Églantine, who invented the names of the months, with the help of André
Thouin, gardener at the Jardin des Plantes of the Muséum National d'Histoire
Naturelle in Paris. As the rapporteur of the commission, Charles-Gilbert Romme
presented the new calendar to the Jacobin-controlled National Convention on 23
September 1793
Pasted
from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Republican_Calendar>
*******
There are a lot
of people who believe even today that the Bible, that belief in God, that belief
in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior- is an oppressive religion. This moment in
history - if you will- reveals a time when religion was banned. This happened
at tail end of the 1260 year prophecy which ended in 1798. It is notable, very
notable and recognized in many ways even today- if not significantly for the
religious aspect. The Reign of
Terror-who hasn't learned of this in school history? This is a remarkable event
and all that surrounds it very telling. In 1798 Napoleon's general took the Pope
out of power and this led up to that prophetically significant event. We can't
ignore it, we shouldn't ignore it. We have to realize that there is quite bit of prophecy specific to the very
end times, but we have thousands of years of history that the prophecy has been
set for. Periods of great events, and long lulls. We have to trust that our
Savior will give us all the truth we need so that we are not deceived as all but
the very elect will be.
So much to
learn! Does this fit the
prophecy? Truly, does it? Could it? Putting things all together does it work?
Are we forcing puzzle pieces into the puzzle or are they falling easily into
place? A lot of people would have
us believe we are forcing those puzzle pieces. And you know what, they'd say that no
matter what theories we come up with. Everyone has their own and this is the
theory of people who came to the truth as God was opening the eyes of people to
understand the messages in the little book of prophecy- Daniel.
Does this mean they can't be wrong? No, it doesn't mean that at all. We
all are given light and seriously as God enlightens our understanding to things
then we can build on truths that have been presented but only in such a way that
we are not contradicting God's word, not contradicting truths that have been
established beyond any doubt whatsoever. If we begin to believe in something
that takes away that truth that has been given without any doubt at all then
everything collapses and deception works its way in. We have to pray and pray
hard to have understanding in God's truth.
Personally I
do not subscribe to any religion at all that has been established as a religion
today- unless I am joining the few who are coming out of Babylon and believing
in God's truth and nothing but God's truth.
Do I have all the
answers? No, and I never will. We
are ALL called to walk by FAITH and that means not having evidence for all
things. We place our hope and faith in our Savior to lead us to all the truth we
need to be His now and forever.
Tomorrow we'll
continue this study and we will continue to pray and pray hard for clarity, for
only God's truth. We'll pray that we will be our Savior's upon His return,
ready for Him, watching, waiting, praying, praying, praying always.
All through the
love of our God, our Savior, our Creator!
Amen.
Mat 5:6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Psa 23:3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Gen 15:6 And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.
Job 36:3 I will fetch my knowledge from afar, and will ascribe righteousness to my Maker.
Psa 17:15 As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.
Psa 24:5 He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
Psa 31:1 ...In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in thy righteousness.
Psa 71:2 Deliver me in thy righteousness, and cause me to escape: incline thine ear unto me, and save me.
Rom 4:3 For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
2Pe 3:13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
Rev 3:18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
Rev 19:8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
*
Gen 15:6 And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.
Rom 4:3 For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
When so much unrighteousness surrounds us, when Satan would have us buried deep in the thick mire of our own vileness we have to remember that God alone is righteous above all and we have to believe in God and His Righteousness. We aren't to believe in ourselves. We can't SAVE ourselves by believing in own ability, our own righteousness. The only way we can save ourselves is to believe in the Lord and Salvation in our Savior, God's Son.
Act 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Act 2:39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.
Act 2:40 And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.
We save ourselves when we REPENT and are baptized in the name of our Savior for the forgiveness of our sins.
Satan's assaults grow more and more intense all around us. The closer we move towards our God the closer Satan moves towards us to take us away from Him.
Praise God we are saved by grace, that the righteousness we possess is our belief in God's righteousness, in His plan of salvation.
We have to CLING to this belief and NEVER give it up. Satan wants us to turn our minds inwards to ourselves and not outward to God. The cares of this world do truly threaten to overwhelm. We must remember that this world is already counted as lost, but the world to come is our Savior's and it's that world we need to look to when this world would tear us apart, when Satan would tear us spiritually limb from spiritual limb. When we are so caught up in the cares of this world that it seems as if Satan is dangling us above a bottomless pit, our legs kicking, our hands scrambling to cling to anything that would keep us from failing, we have to remember Christ is our Savior and we have to let go of Satan's pinching fingers trusting that we will be caught up unto our Lord.
Satan will tell us that we HAVE to worry over this life, to just NOT worry isn't how it's done. He wants us worrying and worrying and worrying as long as he can keep us worrying we keep ourselves from trusting, from believing. Satan wants us to believe it's stupid to even think of NOT worrying when there is SOOOOO much to worry about. We don't want to be stupid, we don't want to be considered clueless and foolish, stupid, dumb, blind to the REAL world, going about with our heads in the clouds, crazily happy in the knowledge of Salvation… we should want to be worldly stupid, worldly clueless, worldly foolish, worldly stupid, dumb and blind as long as we are CRAZY happy in the knowledge of our Salvation!!!
May God bless us and keep us, guide our paths, protect us from the wiles of the Devil so that we may serve Him and only Him, by His righteousness, in HIS everlasting LOVE, through the grace of our Savior!
Amen.
9/27/11
Rev 11:9 And they of the people and kindreds and
tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and
shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.
Rev 11:10 And they that dwell upon the earth
shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another;
because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.
*******
Oct. 5, 1793. The
revolutionary calendar was established making weeks of 10 days.
Nov. 10. A
statute of liberty as "godess of the French people" replaced the image of Mary.
(link as for Oct. 5).
Nov. 10. Account
of burning Bible portions.
Nov. 24. Satute
ordering the closing of all churches. (Aulard, p. 161)
Sept. 17, 1797.
Catholicism had been generally restored.
Pasted
from <http://www.bibleexplained.com/revelation/r-seg11-12/r11f-Fr-rev.htm>
*******
France guarantees
freedom of religion as a constitutional right and the government generally
respects this right in practice. A long history of violent conflict between
groups led the state to break its ties to the Catholic Church early in the last
century and adopt a strong commitment to maintaining a totally secular public
sector.[1]
The
Dechristianisation of France during the French Revolution is a conventional
description of the results of a number of separate policies, conducted by
various governments of France between the start of the French Revolution in
1789 and the Concordat of 1801, forming the basis of the later and less radical
Laïcité movement. The goal of the campaign was the destruction of Catholic
religious practice and of the religion itself.[1] There has been much scholarly
debate over whether the movement was popularly motivated or something forced
upon the people by those in power.[2]
The programme of
dechristianization waged against Catholicism, and eventually against all forms
of Christianity, included:[1][3][4]:
confiscation
of church lands, which were to be the security for the new Assignat currency
removal
of statues, plates and other iconography from places of worship
destruction
of crosses, bells and other external signs of worship
the
institution of revolutionary and civic cults, including the Cult of Reason and
subsequently the Cult of the Supreme Being,
the
enactment of a law on October 21, 1793 making all nonjuring priests and all
persons who harboured them liable to death on sight.
The climax was
reached with the celebration of the Goddess "Reason" in Notre Dame Cathedral on
10 November 1793.
The
dechristianization campaign can be seen as the logical extension of the
materialist philosophies of some leaders of the enlightenment, while for others
with more prosaic concerns it was an opportunity to unleash resentments against
the Church and clergy.[5]
In Paris, over a
forty-eight hour period beginning on September 2, 1792, as the Legislative
Assembly (successor to the National Constituent Assembly) dissolved into chaos,
three Church bishops and more than two hundred priests were massacred by angry
mobs; this constituted part of what would become known as the September
Massacres. Priests were among those drowned in the Noyades for treason under
the direction of Jean-Baptiste Carrier; priests and nuns were among the mass
executions at Lyon, for separatism, on the orders of Joseph Fouché and Collot
d'Herbois. Hundreds more priests were imprisoned and made to suffer in
abominable conditions in the port of Rochefort.
Anti-church laws
were passed by the Legislative Assembly and its successor, the National
Convention, as well as by département councils throughout the country. Many of
the acts of dechristianization in 1793 were motivated by the seizure of church
gold and silver to finance the war effort,[6] though exceptions weren't
uncommon. In November 1793, the département council of Indre-et-Loire abolished
the word dimanche (English: Sunday).[citation needed] The Gregorian calendar,
an instrument decreed by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582, was replaced by the French
Republican Calendar which abolished the sabbath, Saints' days and any
references to the Church.
Anti-clerical
parades were held, and the Archbishop of Paris was forced to resign his duties
and made to replace his mitre with the red "Cap of Liberty." Street and place
names with any sort of religious connotation were changed, such as the town of
St. Tropez which became Héraclée. Religious holidays were banned and replaced
with holidays to celebrate the harvest and other non-religious symbols.
Robespierre and his colleagues decided to supplant both Catholicism and the
rival, atheistic Cult of Reason with the Cult of the Supreme Being. Just six
weeks before his arrest, on June 8, 1794 the still-powerful Robespierre
personally led a vast procession through Paris to the Tuileries garden in a
ceremony to inaugurate the new faith.
The
dechristianisation of France reached its zenith around the middle of 1794 with
the fall of Robespierre. By early 1795 a return to some form of religion-based
faith was beginning to take shape and a law passed on February 21, 1795
legalised public worship, albeit with strict limitations. The ringing of church
bells, religious processions and displays of the Christian cross were still
forbidden.
As late as 1799,
priests were still being imprisoned or deported to penal colonies and
persecution only worsened after the French army led by General Louis Alexandre
Berthier captured Rome and imprisoned Pope Pius VI, who would die in captivity
in Valence, France in August of 1799. Ultimately, with Napoleon now in
ascendancy in France, year-long negotiations between government officials and
the new Pope, Pius VII, led to the Concordat of 1801, formally ending the
dechristianisation period and establishing the rules for a relationship between
the Roman Church and the French State.
Victims of the
Reign of Terror totaled somewhere between 20,000 and 40,000. According to one
estimate, among those condemned by the revolutionary tribunals, about 8 percent
were aristocrats, 6 percent clergy, 14 percent middle class, and 70 percent
were workers or peasants accused of hoarding, evading the draft, desertion,
rebellion, and other purported crimes.[7] Of these social groupings, the clergy
of the Roman Catholic Church suffered proportionately the greatest loss.[7]
Main articles:
Dechristianisation of France during the French Revolution and Revolt in the
Vendée
The
Dechristianisation of France during the French Revolution is a conventional
description of a campaign, conducted by various Robespierre-era governments of
France beginning with the start of the French Revolution in 1789, in order to
eliminate any symbol that might be associated with the past, especially the
monarchy.
The program
included the following policies:[44][45][46]
the
deportation of clergy and the condemnation of many of them to death,
the
closing, desecration and pilaging of churches, removal of the word "saint" from
street names and other acts to banish Christian culture from the public
sphere
removal
of statues, plates and other iconography from places of worship
destruction
of crosses, bells and other external signs of worship
the
institution of revolutionary and civic cults, including the Cult of Reason and
subsequently the Cult of the Supreme Being,
the
large scale destruction of religious monuments,
the
outlawing of public and private worship and religious education,
forced
marriages of the clergy,
forced
abjurement of priesthood, and
the
enactment of a law on 21 October 1793 making all nonjuring priests and all
persons who harbored them liable to death on sight.
The climax was
reached with the celebration of the Goddess "Reason" in Notre Dame Cathedral on
10 November.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Christians#French_Revolution
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dechristianisation_of_France_during_the_French_Revolution
*******
Roman
Catholicism, the religion of a majority of French people, is no longer
considered a state religion, as it was before the 1789 Revolution and throughout
the various, non-republican regimes of the 19th century (the Restoration, the
July Monarchy and the Second French Empire).
Pasted
from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_France>
*******
In
September 1793 a period known as the Reign of Terror
ensued for approximately 12 months
Pasted
from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_France>
*******
The climax was
reached with the celebration of the goddess "Reason" in Notre Dame Cathedral on
10 November. Because dissent was now regarded as counterrevolutionary, extremist
enragés such as Hébert and moderate Montagnard indulgents such as Danton were
guillotined in the Spring of 1794.[citation needed] On 7 June Robespierre, who
favoured deism over Hébert's atheism and had previously condemned the Cult of
Reason, recommended that the Convention acknowledge the existence of God. On the
next day, the worship of the deistic Supreme Being was inaugurated as an
official aspect of the Revolution. Compared with Hébert's somewhat popular
festivals, this austere new religion of Virtue was received with signs of
hostility by the Parisian public
Pasted
from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reign_of_Terror>
*******
The days of the
French Revolution and Republic saw many efforts to sweep away various trappings
of the ancien régime; some of these were more successful than others. The new
Republican government sought to institute, among other reforms, a new social
and legal system, a new system of weights and measures (which became the metric
system), and a new calendar. Amid nostalgia for the ancient Roman Republic, the
theories of the Enlightenment were at their peak, and the devisors of the new
systems looked to nature for their inspiration. Natural constants, multiples of
ten, and Latin derivations formed the fundamental blocks from which the new
systems were built.
The new calendar
was created by a commission under the direction of the politician Charles
Gilbert Romme seconded by Claude Joseph Ferry and Charles-François Dupuis. They
associated with their work the chemist Louis-Bernard Guyton de Morveau, the
mathematician and astronomer Joseph-Louis Lagrange, the astronomer Joseph
Jérôme Lefrançois de Lalande, the mathematician Gaspard Monge, the astronomer
and naval geographer Alexandre Guy Pingré, and the poet, actor and playwright
Fabre d'Églantine, who invented the names of the months, with the help of André
Thouin, gardener at the Jardin des Plantes of the Muséum National d'Histoire
Naturelle in Paris. As the rapporteur of the commission, Charles-Gilbert Romme
presented the new calendar to the Jacobin-controlled National Convention on 23
September 1793
Pasted
from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Republican_Calendar>
*******
There are a lot
of people who believe even today that the Bible, that belief in God, that belief
in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior- is an oppressive religion. This moment in
history - if you will- reveals a time when religion was banned. This happened
at tail end of the 1260 year prophecy which ended in 1798. It is notable, very
notable and recognized in many ways even today- if not significantly for the
religious aspect. The Reign of
Terror-who hasn't learned of this in school history? This is a remarkable event
and all that surrounds it very telling. In 1798 Napoleon's general took the Pope
out of power and this led up to that prophetically significant event. We can't
ignore it, we shouldn't ignore it. We have to realize that there is quite bit of prophecy specific to the very
end times, but we have thousands of years of history that the prophecy has been
set for. Periods of great events, and long lulls. We have to trust that our
Savior will give us all the truth we need so that we are not deceived as all but
the very elect will be.
So much to
learn! Does this fit the
prophecy? Truly, does it? Could it? Putting things all together does it work?
Are we forcing puzzle pieces into the puzzle or are they falling easily into
place? A lot of people would have
us believe we are forcing those puzzle pieces. And you know what, they'd say that no
matter what theories we come up with. Everyone has their own and this is the
theory of people who came to the truth as God was opening the eyes of people to
understand the messages in the little book of prophecy- Daniel.
Does this mean they can't be wrong? No, it doesn't mean that at all. We
all are given light and seriously as God enlightens our understanding to things
then we can build on truths that have been presented but only in such a way that
we are not contradicting God's word, not contradicting truths that have been
established beyond any doubt whatsoever. If we begin to believe in something
that takes away that truth that has been given without any doubt at all then
everything collapses and deception works its way in. We have to pray and pray
hard to have understanding in God's truth.
Personally I
do not subscribe to any religion at all that has been established as a religion
today- unless I am joining the few who are coming out of Babylon and believing
in God's truth and nothing but God's truth.
Do I have all the
answers? No, and I never will. We
are ALL called to walk by FAITH and that means not having evidence for all
things. We place our hope and faith in our Savior to lead us to all the truth we
need to be His now and forever.
Tomorrow we'll
continue this study and we will continue to pray and pray hard for clarity, for
only God's truth. We'll pray that we will be our Savior's upon His return,
ready for Him, watching, waiting, praying, praying, praying always.
All through the
love of our God, our Savior, our Creator!
Amen.