 THE RED DRAGON CHAPTER 12 FOOTNOTES Verse 1. Some have felt that the Sarah Covenant pictures this "woman." This view would have merit only if the "man child" represented Christ. Such does not seem to be the case. While the "dragon" represented in Herod did try to kill the "child" Jesus he did not succeed. Jesus fled into "Egypt"—not to heaven. There was no throne for Jesus while he dwelt on earth. While Jesus finally is raised to heavenly glory, it was not as a "man child." He was raised a "life-giving spirit" (1 Peter 3:18). Jesus did not gain heavenly glory by besting the devil in combat. He said, "all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth" (Matthew 28:18). God the Father gave this to Jesus. There was no way that the devil and Jesus locked in conflict for heavenly glory. Why would the "crown of twelve stars" be featured on this woman before the "man child" is born? Jesus selected the twelve apostles when he was a grown man and not a "child." To teach that the "twelve apostles" crowned the woman who gave birth to Jesus seems almost irreverent. While Jesus was put to death on the cross, it was not as a "child." The devil was successful in securing Jesus death. He remained in the grave for parts of three days and was not snatched up to heaven. He stayed on earth for forty more days before he ascended to heaven. None of this fits the scenario given in Revelation 12. Verse 8 Constantine entered the Church as Pontifex Maximus, Chief Religious Ruler, especially at the Council of Nicea, CE 325. It was his desire to control spiritual Rome and civil Rome from one seat of authority that he intended to occupy. However, upon Constantine’s death, Julian, the Apostate, who was a noble pagan who had no use for the church or the Christian bishops, ascended the throne. This locked civil Rome out from the rising Papal powers. This left the Papal powers free to rise in ascendancy, taking complete control of the spiritual heavens. This happened very quickly and soon after Julian’s death the succeeding emperors found themselves locked out of the council and synods of the church. The ascent of the man-child of sin was very sudden and spectacular. Verse 10 Edward Gibbons, Esq., in THE HISTORY OF THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE, Vol. II, p. 41 (in Chicago Bible Students disk on Gibbons the footnotes are not provided so the pages are 31, 32), in evaluating the tendency of Christians to seek martyrdom observes: "The first Christians, who, according to the lively expressions of Sulpicius Severus, desired martyrdom with more eagerness than his own contemporaries solicited a bishopric. "The epistles which Ignatius composed as he was carried in chains through the cities of Asia, breathe sentiments the most repugnant to the ordinary feelings of human nature. He earnestly beseeches the Romans, that when he should be exposed in the amphitheater, they would not, by their kind but unseasonable intercession, deprive him of the crown of glory; and he declares his resolution to provoke and irritate the wild beasts which might be employed as the instruments of his death. "Some stories are related of the courage of martyrs, who actually performed what Ignatius had intended; who exasperated the fury of the lions, pressed the executioner to hasten his office, cheerfully leaped into the fires which were kindled to consume them, and discovered a sensation of joy and pleasure in the midst of the most exquisite tortures. Several examples have been preserved of a zeal impatient of those restraints which the emperors had provided for the security of the church. The Christians sometimes supplied by their voluntary declaration the want of an accuser, rudely disturbed the public service of paganism, and rushing in to pronounce and to inflict the sentence of the law. "The behavior of the Christians was too remarkable to escape the notice of the ancient philosophers; but they seem to have considered it with much less admiration than astonishment. Incapable of conceiving the motives which sometimes transported the fortitude of believers beyond the bounds of prudence or reason, they treated such an eagerness to die as the strange result of obstinate despair, of stupid insensibility, or of superstitious frenzy." This illustrates that the antichrist had martyrs during the pagan persecutions, which they could look back upon and chose whom they would as their "brethren" who were being accused and martyred. It must be acknowledged that while there were true Christians who were martyred, the antichrist had many people who gladly and fanatically sought martyrdom. We are not to think of the man of sin element as being limited in its roster of martyrs to fanatic examples. It claimed that all martyrs, starting with Christ and the apostles on down through the terrors of Diocletian’s reign of terror, were among its faithful who helped bring it victory. As Gibbon says in Vol. 2, p. 84: "The Church of Rome defended by violence the empire which she had acquired by fraud; a system of peace and benevolence [practiced by early Christians] was soon disgraced by proscriptions, war, massacres, and the institution of the holy office [of torture]." Constantine ended the relentless persecution of Christianity, allowing the man of sin forces to enrich and fortify their position and ultimately to secure victory over the whole spiritual realm. While the early Christians were non-violent martyrs, once the man of sin came to power it became more ruthless and cruel than the worst performances of Diocletian. We notice this false declaration of victory that says: "Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ." We notice this shameless proclamation attributing to God and Christ what in fact had been the result of their pride-driven ascent to power in the control of the "spiritual heavens." Notice this man of sin class does not say we were "accused day and night." No, these ruling princes were not the persecuted and martyred. They say, "the accuser of our [deceased] brethren … is cast down." They claim all the martyrs, which at their discretion they chose to call, their "brethren." How convenient it was! Verse 12 The proclamation from verses 10 to 12 is made by the papacy and in no wise represents God’s viewpoint. When ecclesiasticism succeeded in putting out civil Roman authority from its ranks, and established itself as supreme, then it made this false claim. It was then claimed "salvation" and "strength, and the kingdom of our God" had truly come and its rule was by the power and appointment of Christ. This eventuated into the counterfeit papal Millennium, which it claimed, had been brought in by faithfulness and martyrdom on the part of its members who were trusting in the blood of Christ. Indeed, with this victory it exhorts those dwelling in its ecclesiastical realm to "rejoice," but it like-wise forecasts "woe" for the stable social society as well as for the restless masses, for the "devil is come down unto you, having great wrath." This manifestly must be the counterfeit claim of the papacy, rather than the true "kingdom of our God" by reason of the fact that while this alleged reign and deliverance is proclaimed we find the "woman" (the true church) fleeing into the "wilderness" condition where she is miraculously sustained by God. When the true reign of Christ is in effect where will the Church be? It will not be in the "wilderness" but rather reigning with their Lord and head and neither will the devil be bringing "woe" to the inhabitants, for he will be bound in the bottomless pit. This obviously is a counterfeit kingdom. Verse 16 The devil, working through the civil Roman authorities [not the then reigning aristocracies but the element frowned upon by papacy] caused infidels and liberal writers to bring forth truths which were ahead of their times. The purpose was not to enlighten the people, but rather to act as an emetic to cause them to become nauseated with liberalism, infidelity, and Protestantism, and thus to make speedy riddance of these troublesome teachings. The effects were not as desired, for the Lord caused the people to receive these advanced teachings with favor, and instead of desiring to rid society of these teachings they endorsed them. Thus the "woman" received help and sympathy instead of being overwhelmed. Click to go to the following:
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