DISAPPOINTMENT AHEAD FOR BRICS ENTHUSIASTS AND ADVOCATES (CONTINUED)

This same Roman Emperor Constantine 1 supposedly bequeathed his throne and regal authority to the Roman Pontiff. The Donation of Constantine (Donatio Constantini or the Donatio) is a medieval forgery dated to the 8th century purporting to be an original 4th-century document in which the Roman emperor Constantine the Great (r. 306-337) granted supreme temporal and spiritual power to the Church. The document claims that in c. 315-317, Constantine was cured of leprosy by Pope Sylvester I (who served 315-335) and, in gratitude, surrendered his power and lands to the pope. The pope then generously gave that power back, allowing the emperor his reign.

The Donation of Constantine was included in the 9th-century Pseudo-Isidorean decretals. Lorenzo Valla, an Italian Catholic priest and Renaissance humanist, is credited with first exposing the forgery with solid philological arguments in 1439–1440, although the document’s authenticity had been repeatedly contested since 1001. WIKIPEDIA: The Free Encyclopedia.

Whether or not this original document was forged, the prophet John predicted that event hundreds of years before such a transaction occurred. “Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name.  Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority.” Revelation 13:1-2 (NKJV)

As was alluded to earlier, the Beast of Revelation 13:1-2 represents The Roman Catholic Church. This entity is also represented by The Little Horn of Daniel 7 with a mouth speaking pompous words. Before whom three horns were uprooted. The three uprooted horns represent the Ostrogoths, Vandals, and Heruli Kingdoms. Those nations embraced Arianism. A religious belief that constituted a direct threat to Roman Catholicism, and consequently, over some time, they were destroyed.

Arianism, in Christianity, the Christological (concerning the doctrine of Christ) position that Jesus, as the Son of God, was created by God. It was proposed early in the 4th century by the Alexandrian presbyter Arius and was popular throughout much of the Eastern and Western Roman empires, even after it was denounced as a heresy by the Council of Nicaea (325). ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA.

In its appearance, the Beast of Revelation 13 resembled the four beasts that Daniel saw during his vision described in Daniel 7. “Daniel spoke, saying, ‘I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the Great Sea. And four great beasts came up from the sea, each different from the other. The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings. I watched till its wings were plucked off; and it was lifted up from the earth and made to stand on two feet like a man, and a man’s heart was given to it. And suddenly another beast, a second, like a bear. It was raised up on one side, and had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. And they said thus to it: ‘Arise, devour much flesh!’ After this I looked, and there was another, like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird. The beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it.'” Daniel 7:2-6 (NKJV)

The Roman Catholic Empire (538-1794 A.D, The Seventh World Empire, viz a viz the little horn) otherwise known as Papal Rome, resembled ancient Babylon (the lion), ancient Medo Persia (the bear), ancient Greece (the leopard), and ancient Rome (the ten horns) because it was full of pomposity and pride, was religiously intolerant, and persecuted God’s people, just like the pagan empires of antiquity. It was also an economic, political, and religious empire that ruled the civilized Western World for 1260 years.

Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication.” So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. And on her forehead a name was written:

MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT,
THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS
AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS
OF THE EARTH.

I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement. Revelation 17:1-6 (NKJV)

One important principle to remember during this study is that the arrival and existence of this empire, like the preceding world empires, was prophesied by Daniel the Seer, one of God’s faithful servants. This is far more than can be asserted about the BRICS movement.

(TO BE CONTINUED)