Revelation 17:7 states, "The angel said to me, Why are you amazed? I will explain to you the mystery of the woman and the seven heads and the ten horns".
This woman is identified with the dragon, Revelation 12:3 states, 'Then another sign appeared in the sky; it was a huge red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns".
So we are dealing with pure evil and this is why the anti-Catholic spends their energy against the Catholic Faith.
For the anti-Catholic, their focus is to oppose the Catholic faith because they see the Pope as the anti-Christ and the Catholic Faith the "Whore of Babylon".
With all the issues facing our nation today, the moral decline of America, the anti-Catholic is dedicated first and foremost to attack the Catholic faith.
They may verbally oppose abortion, homosexuality, incest and murder, but they will give their full energy to oppose the Catholic Faith. They see the Catholic Faith as pure evil, an apostate church.
This is why Catholics need to have an understanding of this. I'm not addressing general Protestantism, but primarily the anti-Catholic. There are Protestant denominations that are built on this premise.
There are many others who have soften over the years and have moved more towards the center. With all this in mind, lets take a closer look who this dragon is.
Rev 12:3: Huge red dragon: The devil or Satan, this dragon symbolizes the forces of evil. Psalms 74:13-14 states, "You stirred up the sea in your might; you smashed the heads of the dragons on the waters. You crushed the heads of Leviathan, tossed him for food to the sharks".
Psalms 89:11 states, "You crushed Rahab with a mortal blow; your strong arm scattered your foes".
Rahab was a mythological sea monster whose name is used in the bible mainly as a personification of primeval chaos.
Isaiah 51:9 states, "Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord! Awake as in the days of old, in ages long ago! Was it not you who crushed Rahab, you who pierced the dragon"?
Clearly, this dragon is pure evil. So who is the seven heads? St. John identifies these seven heads with seven hills.
Rev 17:9 states, "Here is a clue for one who has wisdom. The seven heads represent seven hills upon which the woman sits. They also represent seven kings: five have already fallen, one still lives, and the last has not yet come, and when he comes he must remain only a short while".
There are two schools of thought: The seven heads represent seven kings or seven kingdoms. The traditional view is that these seven heads represent the early Roman Emperors who persecuted the Catholic Faith with Nero being the "Anti-Christ" or the "one who still lives".
Revelation 13:3 says, I saw that one of it's heads seemed to have been mortally wounded, but this mortal wound was healed".
Traditionally, this is believed to be Nero who took his own life in 68 A.D.
St. John also said, "and the last has not yet come, and when he comes he must remain only a short while. The beast that existed once but exists no longer is an eighth king, but really belongs to the seven and is headed for destruction".
Traditionally, many believed that the Roman Emperor Domitian (A.D. 81-96) embodied all the cruelty and impiety of Nero and placed him in this yet to come category. It is possible that these early "Pagan" Roman Emperors were seen by St. John to be the seven heads.
This certainly has a traditional foundation in the Catholic Faith and many accept this.
Also, the bible is filled with "types" to point to a deepertruth for a later time. Can there be an "anti-Christ" that will emerge at the end of time?
Most certainly, and this has a strong traditional foundation as well as scriptural. 2 Thessalonians 2:3 states, "Let no one deceive you in any way. For unless the apostasy comes first and the lawless one is revealed, the one doomed to perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god and object of worship, so as to seat himself in the temple of God, claiming that he is a god".
(Editors note) This is why the anti-Catholic places so much energy in trying to get us to see the Pope as the "anti-Christ", to even forge the believe that the Popes call themselves god.
St John echos St. Paul stating, "Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that the anti-Christ was coming, so now many anti-Christs have appeared. Thus we know this is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not really of our number; if they had been, they would have remained with us. Their desertion show that none of them was of our number" (1 John 2:18-20). (Editors note) Notice that Both St. John and Paul allude to an "anti-Christ", the son of perdition. Notice that they both refer to an apostasy from the Catholic faith. I spoke of a second possibility of identifying who the anti-Christ is, or at least will emerge from. Remember 17:9-10, speaking to the seven heads as seven hills upon which the woman sits?
The seven kings, five have fallen, one still lives, and at the last has not yet come... The five fallen kingdoms were Assyria, Egypt, Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Greece.
The kingdom that was in power during the time of Jesus was the Roman Empire.
There is one final kingdom that is to come that will arise from the foundations of the old Roman Empire. It is believed that this anti-Christ will emerge from this last kingdom.
In 1948, the European Community, now known as the European Union (EU) began with Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg. In 1957, Italy, France, and Germany joined the EU. The "TREATY of ROME" ratified the EU!
In 1973 England, Ireland, and Denmark joined the EU.
Then in 1981 Greece became the tenth nation to follow into the EU. Could this be the "Ten Horns" identified with the the seven heads? Quite possibly.
The EU, in January 1995, gained Austria which became the 13th nation to join this federation. The EU has become a potential political power that can rival America and perhaps overcome it.
The push for the one world Government has infiltrated much of American politics. Our current political power in America is modeling European socialism that is breaking down our economy.
Is this setting us up for something?
Pope Benedict XV (1922) cautions this push for a one world government saying, "This State will vanquish all national loyalties. If these ideas are put into practice there will inevitably follow a reign of unheard of terror".
It is clear from the scriptural text that the "Whore of Babylon" was Jerusalem and the "Beast" was Pagan Rome.
It is interesting that both Jerusalem and Rome sit on seven hills or even seven "mountains".
This is not the Catholic Faith. If my second hypothesis is true, then the anti-Christ would be coming from the EU.
It is tradition that this anti-Christ would be Jewish probably from the tribe of Dan. (Editors note) The anti-Catholic knowing this, try to tie the origins of the Catholic Faith to Constantine. This is why they throw emphasis on Constantine claiming he introduces Babylonian paganism. The Seventh Day Adventist claims that the date 538 marks the beginning of the Catholic Faith. They tie this into their 1260 day (year) belief system ending in 1798 marking for them the wounding of this anti-Christ. They see the Papacy as anti-Christ marked by Sunday worship.
All the anti-Catholics are in error as the Papacy was established by Jesus Christ and no weapon set against it shall stand.
Jesus promised the gates of hell will not prevail, that he would remain with it forever, and he gives it the Holy spirit.
This is a sure foundation, it is the rock of Christ who is the Master Builder.
The Catholic Faith is the city set upon a mountain (Vatican Hill) so that all the world can know who she is, the one true Church founded by Jesus Christ.
It is the salt of the earth and the light of the world. We are to as we are part of his Church!
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