Revelation 14 – The Mark Of The Beast
This Revelation Timeline Decoded Bible study focuses on the Mark Of The Beast in Revelation 14.
There are two separate fulfillments of the Mark Of The Beast. The first is referenced in Revelation 14, 15 and 16, which applied to the people in France, Spain and other countries, who revered (forehead) and obeyed (right hand) the antichrist Popes of Rome in killing the saints during the 12th-18th centuries.
This application will be the topic of this study.
The second is referenced in Revelation 13 and 19, and it applies to the end times One World Government, when the Jesuits of Rome will enforce of the Mark Of The Beast.
The second application of the Mark Of The Beast will be discussed in the studies on Revelation 16.
In both applications, having the Mark Of The Beast means that you revere/worship (mark on your forehead) the antichrist Pope, and that you obey (mark on your right hand) his commands.
In Revelation 10 and 11 we learned that the Roman Catholic Church had relentlessly worked to eliminate the Holy Scriptures and the Church of Christ, the Two Witnesses against it. In 1514 A.D., they proclaimed that all of Christendom was under their power, and that there was no witness against it.
Then 3 1/2 years later in 1517 A.D., Martin Luther posted his 95 Thesis, which sparked the Protestant Reformation. Out of this came a great harvest of souls, as millions of Catholics found salvation in Christ alone.
Revelation 11 proclaimed the need to preach the Gospel again, which was done by the Protestant Reformers.
Revelation 14:8-12 “And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”
The sides are drawn. Those who obey the Popes of Rome in killing the saints, have the Mark Of The Beast on them, and they will be punished.
Revelation 14:13 “And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.”
To counter the Reformation, the Popes of Rome empower the Jesuits, the supposed Society of Jesus, to bring the Protestants back under the power of the Papal Church.
This they did by causing many Protestants to be killed in France, Spain and other Catholic countries.
The enemy has infiltrated Churches and causes Pastors to not recall all of the brutal Papal attacks on the saints, so that Christians don’t realize who is the enemy of Messiah and His Church.
During the 1,260 year reign of the Roman Catholic Church from 538-1798 A.D, over 50 million saints refused to bow down to the authority of the Popes. The saint refused to obey the Popes commands to deny their faith, so they were killed.
Here is a list of declarations by Popes, the leaders of Catholic countries, and the resulting actions by the armies that they controlled. You can see that all of these people revered and obeyed the Pope, in killing the saints, thus they had the mark of the beast on them. All years are A.D.
1179 – Pope Alexander III commanded that the Waldenses be exterminated. So King Phillip of France caused his army to burn the town of Picardy and it’s people.
1208-1226 – Pope Innocent III orders a crusade to be launched against the Albigensian Christians in southern France, and Roman Catholic armies are sent to exterminate them. (e)
The Albigensian Christians preached against the immoralities of the Roman Catholic priesthood, pilgrimages, worship of saints and idols…opposed the (pompous and pretentious) claims of the Church of Rome; made great use of the Scriptures. By 1167 they (the Albigensian Christians) were a majority of the population of South France.
The Cistercian order of Catholic monks were then commissioned to preach all over France, Flanders, and Germany for the purpose of raising an army sufficient to kill the Bible believers.
All who volunteered to take part in these mass murders were promised that they would receive forgiveness of sins and eternal life.
The Albigenses were referred to in Pope Innocent’s Sunday morning messages as “servants of the old serpent“. Innocent promised the killers a heavenly kingdom if they took up their swords against these unarmed populaces. (f)
1209 – On July 22, 1209, Roman Catholic “crusaders” butcher approximately 20,000 men, women, and children at the French city of Beziers. (f)
The whole city was sacked, and when someone complained that Catholics were being killed as well as “heretics”, the papal legates told them to go on killing and not to worry about it for “the Lord knows His own.”
1211 – Roman Catholic authorities burn at the stake approximately 80 Bible-believing Waldensian Christian men and women at Strasburg in Alsace (in northeastern France). (g2)
1219 – The Roman Catholic “crusaders” slaughter all the inhabitants (approx. 7000) – men, women, and children – of the market center of Marmande in western Languedoc (in southern France). (h)
1229 – The Council of Toulouse forbids reading or owning a Vaudois (Waldensian) Bible. (Canon XIV)
“We prohibit laymen possessing copies of the Old and New Testament … We forbid them most severely to have the above books in the popular vernacular.” (In any language but Latin)
“The lords of the districts shall carefully seek out the ‘heretics’ in dwellings, hovels, and forests, and even their underground retreats shall be entirely wiped out.” – Council Tolosanum – Pope Gregory IX
1229 – The Roman Catholic Inquisition executes 32,000 Bible-believing Albigensian Christians at Toulouse, France – and confiscates all their property! (i)
By the time the Roman Catholic armies finish these “crusades”, almost the entire population of southern France (mostly Albigensian Christians) has been exterminated.
1234 – The Council of Tarragona declared that no Bible is permitted in one’s native language. All of them must be burned. (j)
“No one may possess the books of the Old and New Testaments in the Romance language (such as French, Italian, Spanish, etc.), and if anyone possesses them he must turn them over to the local bishop within eight days after the promulgation of this decree, so that they may be burned.” – Council of Tarragona, the Roman Catholic Church Council of 1234 (j2)
1477 – When Pope Sixtus IV commanded a crusade against the Waldensian Christians in southern France, Roman Catholic soldiers responded by murdering many thousands of these Bible-believing Christians – men, women, and children. (r)
1481 – Kickoff of the “Spanish Inquisition”. The Roman Catholic Church’s hierarchy choreographs an orgy of torture and burning people alive – called the Inquisition. Though it is aimed initially and primarily at Jews and Moslems, the Inquisition also targets those Christians whose beliefs are not completely in line with the Roman Catholic Church’s doctrines and practices.
In Spain alone the number of condemned exceeded three million, with about 300,000 burned at the stake during the length of the Spanish Inquisition. (r2)
Yet, not all Romanists have been comfortable with the totalitarian nature of their “church”. Even Jean Antoine Llorente, secretary to the Spanish Inquisition from 1790-92, was to admit: “The horrid conduct of this Holy Office weakened the power and diminished the population of Spain by arresting the progress of arts, sciences, industry, and commerce, and by compelling multitudes of families to abandon the kingdom; by instigating the expulsion of the Jews and the Moors, and by immolating on its flaming shambles more than 300,000 victims.”
Pope Innocent VIII appointed the brutal Thomas of Torquemada as the Inquisitor General of Spain, and ordered all rulers to deliver up heretics to him.
In 1498, Tomas de Torquemada, as Inquisitor General of Spain, ordered more than 10,000 people to be burned at the stake because they didn’t agree with his religious views. He used the Inquisition for religious and political reasons, believing punishment of (so-called) ‘heretics’ and non-Christians – chiefly Jews and Muslims – was the only way to achieve political unity in Spain.
Greatly feared and hated by millions, he persuaded (Spanish King) Ferdinand and (Queen) Isabella to rid Spain of Jews. More than a million families were driven from Spain during that time. The country never recovered from the resulting decline.” (r3)
The Inquisition was not only used for “religious and political purposes” – it was also used to loot and plunder the lands and possessions of Jews, Muslims, Bible-believing Christians, and even some wealthy Roman Catholics.
Many Christians were accused of being “heretics” simply because they held the Holy Bible to be of higher authority than the Papacy, or because they would not submit to corrupt Papal authority.
Pope Paul III in 1534 commanded the Duke of Savoy to exterminate the Voiduis?? in the valleys of the piedment in northern italy.
1540-1570 – Papal Rome sent army after army of Roman Catholic soldiers into southern France and surrounding areas in an attempt to exterminate the Waldensian Bible-believing Christians.
These Roman Catholic armies butchered up to 900,000 Waldensian Christians – men, women, and children – during that thirty-year period. (t)
Think of Monks and Priests, in holy garments — directing, with heartless cruelty and inhuman brutality — the work of torturing and burning alive innocent men and women, and doing it in the Name of Christ — by the direct order of the “Vicar of Christ!”
The Inquisition was the most notorious and devilish thing in human history! It was devised by Popes, and used by them for 500 years, to maintain their power.
For its evil record — none of the subsequent line of “Holy” and “Infallible” Popes have ever apologized!
1550-1560 – Papal Rome directed Roman Catholic King of Spain Philip II to send 10,000 Spanish troops, led by the Duke of Alva, to the Netherlands, in accordance with the Edict of 1550, to stamp out Protestantism there. From 1550-1560, these Roman Catholic troops butchered up to 250,000 Dutch Protestants. (v)
1572 – Roman Catholic soldiers butchered upwards of 100,000 French Protestants (Huguenots) during the St. Bartholomew massacre that started in Paris. Butchery of Protestants then spread to the countryside. (w)
The glorious Reformation, begun in Germany on October 31, 1517, had spread to France—and was joyfully received. A great change had come over the people as industry and learning began to flourish, and so rapidly did the Truth spread that over a third of the population embraced the Reformed Christian Faith.
The (Roman Catholic) king of France had cleverly arranged a marriage between his sister and Admiral Coligny, the chief Protestant leader. There was a great feast with much celebrating. After four days of feasting, the soldiers were given a signal.
At twelve o’clock midnight, all the houses of the Protestants in the city were forced open at once. The admiral was killed, his body thrown out of a window into the street where his head was cut off and sent (first to the Roman Catholic Cardinal of Lorraine, and then on) to the pope.
They also slaughtered many other well-known Protestants. In the first three days, over ten thousand were killed. The bodies were thrown into the river and blood ran through the streets into the river until it appeared like a stream of blood. From Paris, the destruction spread to all parts of the country. Very few Protestants escaped the fury of the Roman Catholic persecutors.
At Orleans, a thousand were slain of men, women, and children, and six thousand at Rouen.
At Meldith, two hundred were put into prison, and later brought out by units, and cruelly murdered.
At Lyons, eight hundred were massacred. Here children hanging about their parents, and parents affectionately embracing their children, were pleasant food for the swords and bloodthirsty minds of those who call themselves the Catholic Church. Here three hundred were slain in the bishop’s house; and the impious monks would suffer none to be buried.
At Augustobona, on the people hearing of the massacre at Paris, they shut their gates that no Protestants might escape, and searching diligently for every individual of the reformed Church, imprisoned and then barbarously murdered them.
Upon hearing of the bloodshed in Paris, Pope Gregory XIII celebrated by declaring a jubilee day of public thanksgiving.
Guns were fired in salute and the Pope ordered the striking of a commemorative medallion.
Subsequently, Gregory XIII also commissioned a mural by Giorgio Vasari to hang in the Vatican depicting the wondrous St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre. The king also commanded the day to be kept with every demonstration of joy, concluding now that the whole race of Huguenots was extinct. (w)
1685 – Roman Catholic French King Louis XIV, at the urging of his father-confessor, Jesuit priest Pere La Chaise, revokes the “Edict of Nantes” that had granted religious liberty to all Frenchmen. (z2)
King Louis XIV then orders his murderous dragoons to persecute the French Protestant Huguenots which resulted in 500,000 innocent Protestants (men, women, and children) being butchered!
The Popish French governors in each parish declared that the king would no longer suffer any Huguenots (French Protestants) in his kingdom, that they had to change their religion and become Catholic, either freely or by force.
The Protestants replied that they ‘were ready to sacrifice their lives and estates to the king, but their consciences being God’s they could not so dispose of them.’
Instantly the troops seized the gates and avenues of the cities, and placing guards in all the passages, entered with sword in hand, crying, “Die, or be Catholics!” And they practiced every wickedness and horror they could devise to force them to change their religion. (z2)
You can read the gruesome details as recorded in Fox’s Book of Martyrs.
You can clearly see that the Popes of Rome, the Kings who revered and obeyed him, and the armies who carried out his orders to kill the saints, all deserved punishment.
Pope Nicholas said “For where Christ bids Peter put up his sword, and admonished His disciples not to use any outward force in revenging themselves, do not I, Pope Nicholas, writing to the Bishops of France, exhort them to draw out their material swords. (“Acts and Monuments” by J. Fox.)
Revelation 13:10 proclaims that because they used the sword against the saints, they deserved the sword to come against them, which happens during the bowl judgments.
“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.”
Next Revelation Timeline Decoded Study: Revelation 15 – 7 Bowls Prelude
Sources:
e – Wikipedia – Albigensian Crusade https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albigensian_Crusade
f – THE INQUISITION: A Study in Absolute Catholic Power http://www.mtc.org/inquis.html
g2 – Wikipedia – Waldensians https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waldensians
h – http://www.catharcastles.info/marmande.php?key=marmande
i – Wikipedia – Albigensian Crusade SAME AS E https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albigensian_Crusade
j – DID ROME FORBID VERNACULAR VERSIONS? http://www.wayoflife.org/database/did_rome_forbic_vernacular_versions.html
j2 – D. Lortsch, Histoire de la Bible en France, 1910, p. 14.
r – Christianism.com http://www.christianism.com/additions/33.html
r2 – (Page 79; Hunt quoting from R. W. Thompson’s book The Papacy and the Civil Power) (Page 259 of an updated version of “Foxe’s Book of Martyrs”; 2001; Publisher: Bridge-Logos.)
r3 – (A Daily Joy; Page 272)
t – Grace Gems – Evil Popes http://gracegems.org/D/evil_popes.htm
v – King Phillip II: rule over the Netherlands http://www.publicbookshelf.com/public_html/Outline_of_Great_Books_Volume_I/kingphill_hj.html
w – BibleStudyTools.com Book of Martyrs -The Bartholomew Massacre at Paris, etc.
http://www.biblestudytools.com/history/foxs-book-of-martyrs/the-bartholomew-massacre-at-paris-etc.html
z2 – THE ST. BARTHOLOMEW’S DAY MASSACRE http://www.worldfuturefund.org/wffmaster/Reading/Religion/sbart.htm
References:
The History Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon
Romanism And The Reformation by Henry Grattan Guinness
{ 0 comments… add one now }