Church History - Session 5 (History and Old Testament Prophecy) — Edgar F. Parkyns

Well, thank you for your patience in listening to this rather devastating review of history. Not every history book you pick up will say all these things, but you will find that there's plenty of evidence for what I have told you, and much more that I haven't mentioned yet, which I rather fear mentioning.

In fact, I think that you might save me a good deal of heartache if, having your Harry, you read the Church History section, especially down to the Reformation period. And in that brief summary, you'll find enough to, well, to make you think a little bit about these things.

Now then, yes, yes, yes, and later on there were three. Yes, yes, a little later on we'll be coming up to those periods. That was in the time of Jeanne Poussin, the Council of Constance. There was an occasion when there were two folks in this period, but they weren't very well known, and they didn't do a lot of damage, so I think we can overlook them.

I could dig out their names for you. Did prophecy foresee these things, or did prophecy overlook them? Were they big enough to be foreseen? Does the, is there a consistent pattern in scripture which would lead us to compare prophecy and history, and notice their similarity?

Daniel's Vision of the Four Kingdoms

So, I'll refer you first of all to Daniel chapter 2, where Nebuchadnezzar has the vision of the great image. Daniel, living at what we think is the beginning of the time of the Gentiles, gives him the interpretation.

For now, God is not only taking in the history of Israel, but he's taking into close account the history of the nations affecting the testimony for God down through the ages. And he tells Nebuchadnezzar, thou art this head of gold.

And Nebuchadnezzar, of course, isn't just the head of gold in himself. The whole dynasty, from Napoleon through Nebuchadnezzar and Nabonassar and Belshazzar, all the dynasties there, four major kings in Babylon, represented by that head of gold.

After thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee. There, that is, the Medo-Persian Empire, which you read in Daniel, quickly took over the Babylonian Empire. And another third kingdom of bronze, which shall bear rule over all the earth, the great Grecian Empire.

Remember how Alexander the Great swept from Greece all the way across as far as the Indus. And a young and petulant young man, he complained that there weren't any more worlds to conquer. His kingdom broke up into four, and then was replaced by the great Roman kingdom.

The fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron, for as much as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things, and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise. And then he says, thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potter's clay and part of iron.

The kingdom shall be divided, that there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, for as much as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partially strong and partially broken.

And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men, but they shall not cleave one to another, even if iron is not mixed with clay. And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all those kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.

So there is a sequence, the Babylonian, the Medo-Persian, the Greek, and the Roman empires. And then a great deal of attention is paid to the toes of the Roman empire, its broken form, where it is partly strong and partly broken.

And following that comes the kingdom of our God. So if Europe, this image covers many hundreds, many hundreds of years, it's not a brief thing, it goes right back into history. And if Europe, since the fall of Rome, corresponds to those ten toes, then we may expect the coming of the kingdom of God next, quite rightly.

Daniel 7 and the Four Beasts

Now Daniel 7 has a corresponding vision. This time Daniel sees the same thing, but instead of seeing the kingdoms of the earth as a beautiful image, he sees them as four beasts. It's a different outlook, you see, here's a man of God seeing from God's standpoint.

The first was like a lion and had eagle wings. I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked. It was lifted up from the earth and made to stand upon the feet of a man. A man's heart was given to it. He remembered how Nebuchadnezzar was converted from his godlessness and violence to fear the law of the God of heaven.

Another beast, like a bear, it raised itself on one side. It had three ribs in the mouth of it, between the teeth of it. They said to it, arise, devour much flesh. The Medo-Persian empire was an empire on its one side.

That is, the Persian was stronger than the Median, and it devoured much flesh. After this there was another, like a leopard, which had on the back of it four wings. The beast had four heads. Dominion was given to it.

The four-winged leopard beast represents Alexander the Great, with his swift conquests. After his death, his kingdom was divided among his four generals, and these four Grecian kingdoms dominated the Middle East until the Roman empire took over.

After this, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly. It had great iron teeth. It devoured and breaking pieces, stamped the residue with the feet of it. It was diverse from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns.

The fourth beast is different from all the others. It's dreadful and strong, corresponding to the Roman empire. It had ten horns. Now, just a word about the Roman empire. It is described here, as most commentators agree, as a beast great and terrible.

Good People Within the Roman Empire

But don't think that that means that the whole thing is totally evil. For if you come across the Roman empire in the New Testament, you will find among it some very fine people. Like the centurions that you meet in the New Testament.

The centurion whose servant was ill. Wonderful man, wonderful man of faith, but he was part of the iron kingdom. He didn't say, I'm going to be a conscientious jack after we met Jesus Christ. He was part of the iron kingdom.

The centurion at the foot of the cross, who confessed, one of the first to confess truly, this was the Son of God. He was part of the iron kingdom. The Philippian jailer, who was so gloriously converted, he was part of the iron kingdom.

And many more, in the New Testament, were parts of this great beast kingdom, but they were quite good fellows. So, in these great cartoons of prophecy, don't think that the whole thing is stamped as totally evil.

They are quick cartoons to describe a certain empire, a certain political form. All right? I consider the horns, or ten horns here, they are corresponding to the toes of the of the other image. I considered the horns, and behold there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots.

And behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man. That's interesting. He is an episcopal character. Eyes, episkopos, overseeing. And the mouth speaking great things. He boasts greatly of his power.

I beheld till the thrones were cast down, the ancient of days did sit, his garment was like a snow, the hair of his head like pure wool, his throne like the fiery flame, wheels of burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth, and it saw him thousands and thousands minister to him.

The judgment was set, the books were opened. I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which that horn spake. I beheld until the beast was slain, his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame.

As concerning the rest of the beast, they had their dominion taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time. Persia is still there, isn't it? Under the name of Iran. Greece is still there, and the Iraq kingdom is still there.

They're still in existence, but they haven't the power that they had in those days. One like the son of man came with the clouds of heaven and came to the ancient of days, and to him was given that dominion, that kingdom.

The Son of Man and the Judgment of the Little Horn

That's what Jesus, who Jesus claimed to be when he was on trial before the high priest. There's an explanation. Then I would know the truth, verse 19, of the fourth beast which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron and his nails of brass, which devoured breaking pieces and stamped the residue with his feet.

Of the ten horns that were in his head, and of the other which came up, and before whom three fell, even if that horn that had eyes and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellow, I beheld and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them, until the ancient of days came and judgment was given for the saints of the most high.

So he said, the fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, cut it down, break it in pieces. Ten horns are ten kings that shall arise, another shall rise after them, he shall be diverse from the first, he shall subdue three kings.

He shall speak great words against the most high, and shall wear out the saints of the most high, and think to change times and laws, and they shall be given into his hand, until a time, and times, and dividing of the time.

But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion to consume, and to destroy it unto the end. And the kingdom, and dominion, and greatness of the kingdom unto the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most high, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominion shall serve and obey him.".

So there is Daniel's foreview of gentile history as it concerns the testimony of God. And you'll see so far how closely it compares with history. Now then have a look at Revelation. Chapter 17. I'm not going to read the whole chapter.

Revelation 17 and the Woman on the Beast

It's the vision of the woman clothed in scarlet, sitting upon the beast. The woman in Revelation is a symbol usually of a church, and she's sitting upon the Roman beast. Come down to verse 8, verse 9.

Here is wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits. There's more than one city which is known as having seven hills, but the most famous of them all in the old world was Rome.

Rome was known as the seven hill city. And there are seven kings. Five are fallen. One is, and the other is not yet come. And when he is, he must continue a short state. And the beast that was and is not, even he is the eighth and is of the seven, and goes into perdition.

The ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings which have received no kingdom as yet, but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.

These shall make war with the lamb, and the lamb shall overcome them, for he is king of kings and lord of lords. They that are with him are called and chosen and faithful. The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are a people and multitudes and nations and towns.

And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire. For God hath put in their heart to fulfill his will, and to agree and give their kingdom unto the beast until the words of God shall be fulfilled.

And the woman which thou sawest is that great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth. I told you that Revelation is a book of symbolism. Here is a chapter which explains many of the symbols doesn't it?

Or at least half explains them. Gives you a sufficient clue to get you looking into it well. Now we have a point of identification. The seven heads are not only the seven hills. See this is cartoon language, symbolic language.

God drawing us political pictures that we may understand. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sitteth and there are seven kings. Five are fallen, one is, and the other is not yet come.

So one thing you do know is that king number six is in power in John's own time. Get that? King number six is in power in John's own time. In these prophecies we have to pause and inquire what is meant by the word king.

Kings, Dynasties, and Rome's Successive Governments

The normal use of the word king is just what it says, a king, in the ordinary sense of the word. But several times in prophecy, and very frequently in Daniel, the word king has another meaning. For instance, in Daniel chapter 11 you read about the king of the north and the king of the south.

You Bible students know that don't you? And you know enough, whatever commentary you may have read, that those kings are universally understood to be not single kings, but dynasties of kings. The Ptolemies and the Thucydides, lasting over a couple hundred years.

Not one king, but dynasties of kings. And indeed, in Daniel the word king is more often used of a dynasty, that is a succession of kings, than of one individual. So it may have either of those meanings, in John's time.

The Roman Empire started off under kings at its beginning, and every now and again the form of government changed, and it got a new head. There were consuls, ruling at one time decimbes, ruling at another time tribunes, ruling at another time.

Form after form of government passed away, and new forms of government came in. But you know perfectly well what form of government was reigning in John's time. The pagan emperors. Don't they? They were the fellows in charge, like Nero and all that in John's particular time, Domitian.

The pagan emperors were the sixth form of government in the great Roman Empire. And then the angel said, they must continue a short space. After then comes the seventh, he must continue a short space.

We've already seen that the pagan empire emperors gave away to an entirely different form that the heathen world had never seen before. Christian emperors. The last form of government in the Roman Empire, before it collapsed, was Christian emperors.

And they lasted from the time of Constantine until 476 AD, when poor old Romulus Augustus went down the chute, and that was the end of the lot. Roman Empire in confusion. So there I've drawn on this little thing, the successive heads.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. And number seven would only continue a short space. And then the whole thing would be wounded to death. And as you know, we've been watching in history how the Roman Empire, under those very feeble Christian emperors, came into total collapse and confusion.

And it looked as though all the world was going to pieces. The ten kingdoms of Christendom formed, as on the last head. So I've drawn them as horns on the head. He has, he has on his last horn now, the ten horns.

And among them arises a little horn, more sparse than his fellows, who overthrows three, and becomes the most potent power in the whole lot. He continues until he suffers some consumption. We'll see more about that in 2 Thessalonians 2.

He suffers from a consuming. His power is diminished, and diminished, and diminished, by certain agencies. And eventually he is overthrown, and the kingdoms become the kingdom of our God, and of his kind.

Now that is roughly the picture from Daniel and Revelation. Were the people I've mentioned right in thinking that the Pope, the Pope and the Papacy were that dynasty which was in truth the Antichrist and the Man of Sin?

The Man of Sin and the Historicist Interpretation

This is what they all said. They all testified to it before they were killed. Were they right, or were they deluded? Had the Lord overlooked these things, and focused our attention on something in the future?

Or has it actually been taking place in history? Well you'll say, he's called the Man of Sin, so he must be one individual. In 2 Timothy 3 Paul says, the Man of God must be, what did he say about the Man of God?

2 Timothy 3 17. That the Man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. Who's he referring to? One man, or many men? Many. That's right. And if the Man of God can be many men, or one man, cannot the Man of Sin be many men, or one man?

Again, the prophecy, as we have already seen, is so shaped that every Christian generation has a right to hope that the Lord Jesus will come back in its own time. So that the early Christians were looking for the coming of the Lord in their own time.

And the book of Revelation is so written that whoever reads it can say, I must be ready for Jesus is coming back in. Isn't that right? And this is a great favor of the Lord to his church, because if those poor folk had foreseen the years of misery and deception that have intervened between their time and ours, they would have been utterly discouraged, as it was the Lord said, behold I come quickly.

And so he set before each generation the possibility of his near return. Now that being so, when he gave the church her last prophecy, he had so delighted that even the early church members could only see one generation.

That was essential to the coding of that book. He could not reveal plainly such a long, long line of successes. Paul too, follows the same principle when he says, we which are alive and remain under the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them that are asleep.

Why couldn't he have said there'll be 60 or 70 generations before the Lord comes back again? No, he could not say that. God withheld him from saying that, because every generation must have the hope of the coming of the Lord near at hand.

And so Paul says, we that are alive and remain. Paul has gone, that generation has gone, many generations have gone, and still we can look into that same scripture and say, we which are alive and remain.

You see, this is the basic principle in prophecy. So, if the Lord was foretelling events which history would demonstrate will be stretched out over many centuries, he still had to paint the picture as though it was but one generation.

The only way you can find out whether he's talking about one generation or many, is to examine history and see if what has been written has been fulfilled. If it has been fulfilled, then lift up your heads, the coming of the Lord draws nigh.

If it has not been fulfilled, it still intervenes between you and the first resurrection. Because the first resurrection doesn't occur in Revelation until chapter 20. You know that, don't you? Chapter 20, this is the first resurrection.

And you know perfectly well, there's no rapture of the church before the first resurrection. We shall not prevent, at the end of our scripture, for the Lord shall descend from heaven with a shout, the voice of the archangel and the trump of God.

And the dead in Christ shall rise first. And we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord shall be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. So you see, there can be no secret rapture before the first resurrection.

And Revelation puts the first resurrection at the end of the book. So you better look for the fulfillment of the book of Revelation between Christ's first coming and his second coming. That is, we're in it somewhere.

And the thing we're trying to find out is, are we near the end or just at the beginning? And I suggest to you that if we examine detail by detail these tremendous prophecies, we'll see that they were, they perfectly match the development of history.

The correspondences are too many and too perfect to be matters of coincidence. And if so, I think Christians have a right to be fairly optimistic about our present time. There will be evil right to the end of the age.

There will be corruptions. Always the enemy follows the great sower. So and tares where there has been wheat. So don't expect the perfect church on earth. I doubt if you'll find one. But nevertheless, I think we're on the upgrade, and we have been for a long time.

The Reformation and the Rise of Protestant Christianity

If we drew a graph of the spiritual condition of the church of God, we should show it descending steeply during the first eras, first years, centuries of the Christian era. And we see it going down very steeply to say the seventh century.

And then we see it still going down all the way to about the 14th century. And then we'll see it beginning to rise, and rise, and rise, and rise. And then we'll be back into New Testament, aren't we? There never have been so many people on earth who understand and live in the power of the New Testament as there are today.

I don't mean in America. We're a long way behind, or in Britain. But in persecuted countries, that's where you find them. Right back to New Testament and praise the Lord. Because they're poor, and persecuted, and suffering, and that helps to keep them clean.

And they have the same blessed gospel, the same blessed truth that we find in the New Testament. Let's see if already we have seen the beginnings and the growth of the papacy. Did he arise among the ten kings?

He certainly did. Did the Roman Empire come to a spiritual revival under his leadership? It certainly did. Has he persecuted the saints? He certainly has. Has he made great and blasphemous claims? Yes.

I've only read you a couple. There are a lot more. And has he stepped into the place occupied by the Christian emperors of Rome? He has, in every sense. Now I think nearly all the features that we have looked at so far mark at such a close correspondence between history and prophecy, that the identification is almost inescapable.

That's one reason why people don't like you studying church history. That's one reason why books on this subject are quickly removed, even from the second-hand bookstores. Some of my material I have at home is all falling to pieces.

I've got a book with me now, it's scarcely recognizable as a book, written by Dracken Guinness in 1890. You can't get it. I had a history of the Reformation, almost impossible to obtain. I have a history of Protestantism, well I've passed it on to my colleagues, all colleagues now.

But that's almost impossible to obtain. Tremendous stuff, containing material very difficult to get hold of. But all this has been carefully removed from public view. A vast literary campaign from some source, teaching people not to look into history.

Don't look into history. Don't be impatient. There are other things I wanted to say. I can't really think of them at the moment. I don't want to tread over. Oh, I know. 2 Thessalonians 2. You will have remembered from Daniel's prophecy, that he saw the little horn rising among the ten, and making war with the saints.

So that, as far as Daniel is concerned, the occasion of the arise of that little horn is at the collapse of the old Roman Empire, and the beginning of its new form under its ten heads. Now, in 2 Thessalonians 2, Paul is actually paraphrasing from the Septuagint version of Daniel chapter 7.

2 Thessalonians 2 verse 8. And then shall that wicked one be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume, that's the quote from Daniel 7, there's the consumption, with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming the epiphany of his parousia.

Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all powers and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness and unrighteousness, him then that perished, because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned, who had believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. All that is almost a paraphrase from Daniel 7.

So you will see that while Daniel shows the rise of the little horn, this little fellow here in the bottom of my diagram, is the coincidence with the rise of the 10 kings of Europe. Paul says that he arises out of the falling away in the church.

Get that? The one says he arises out of the midst of the 10 kings, the other says he arises out of the falling away at the church. The one shows that he arises when the seventh head is wounded to death, the other says he arises when the hindering power is removed.

See the coincidence between the two. The seventh head destroyed, the hindering power removed. Rome's old pagan power broken down, destroyed, removed. Out of it come the 10 kings. In the middle of the 10 kingdoms, there is the one foretold.

So just as the disciples had to be heavily instructed, because they were always looking forward, Lord will thou at this time restore the kings into Israel. And they were saying one to another, we thought that it had been he who should have delivered Israel.

Jesus had to instruct them to look back over what had happened, and said you compare what you've seen with prophecy. And that will clear your doubts. But they were rather reluctant to do it. But you will find in the early church that they used prophecy to establish the truth of things that had already happened.

If the deductions I've brought before you are right, I think you may compare history, and find detail by detail, these things have been fulfilled. I did say to you just now that the little handbook, Harry's handbook, contains some revealing details about the medieval papacy.

I'm not going to read that here. It's so depressing. You'll have a headache for a week. But I suggest to you that you read it at home, and get acquainted with those things that are revealed. But let me drop you a little hint.

The Number 666 and the Antichrist

The number of his name, says Revelation, is the number of a man. And we have already seen that man is the peculiar mark here of the horn. And it is 666. You know that in the old days, the Romans used to like to play numerics, or numerology, with their names.

And I'm told that in the ruins of Herculaneum of Pompeii, there's an inscription on a wall written by a young lady who's in love with somebody. And she says the number of his name is, and she puts the total of the letters, in his Christian name there.

So this idea of a name carrying a number is quite common. And Irenaeus, one of the early church fathers, who was speculating as to the name of the coming one, came across an interesting solution, which may have a bearing on it.

And he wrote the word Latinos, which is the Greek word for the Latin man. That was Irenaeus in the second century. That's not bad, is it? You can also play the same trick with the word the Latin kingdom.

Once again, it adds up to 666. You can also take the famous Latin title, Vic Calius Filii, son of God. Some Latin names, Latin letters, have numerical values. You will find once again you get 666. You may know that the word anti, in Greek, means not only against, but also instead of.

In fact, it's more often used as instead of, than for against. Antichrist is not just against Christ, but instead of Christ. Someone who takes his place and claims to act in his name. It's rather strange that the Pope has this title.

I don't know why on earth he keeps it. I don't know why he keeps it, because Vicar is the Greek anti. If I were him, I'd wipe that one out. Anyway, there are some of the clues. Now, I do think that God has foreseen and foretold history, and I will tell you that the whole Reformation was built on this understanding of revelation.

You wouldn't have your Bible if this hadn't been understood. The power of the papacy was so great, he was so universally thought of as Christ's Vicar, as God on earth, that no one dared to say anything against the papacy or the Catholic Church.

It was blasphemy in the deepest sense. No one could dare, that is, until they realized who he was. And over that discovery, the whole Reformation came into being. All the pre-Reformation witnesses died because of this.

When they completed their testimony, not only as to who Christ is, but as to who Antichrist was, then they were killed. If any of you have a King James Bible, you'll know that even King James found it quite safe, and in agreement with popular opinion, to allow his translators to leave in their rather fulsome introduction, which they wrote to all King James, a mention of the man of sin.

So that we read in their word here, in the third paragraph. And this their contentment, that is your subjects, doth not diminish or decay, but every day increase it and take its strength. When they observe that the zeal of your majesty toward the house of God doth not slack or go backward, but is more and more kindled, manifesting itself abroad in the farthest parts of Christendom, by writing in defense of the truth, which have given such a blow unto that man of sin as will not be healed.

How's that? They're referring to a tract written by King James, which has given such a blow to that man of sin as will not be healed. The opinion was universal, not universal, but all through Britain, and all through the growing Protestant countries at that time, that this was the true identification.

And to that we owe our Protestant liberties. No wonder there's been such a tremendous work to confuse our minds on this issue, and paint a picture of things ahead which will probably never happen, in order to divert our attention from that which has really taken place.

Tribulation, the First Resurrection, and the Christian Era

I think I'd better stop. Yes, well it says a great multitude which no man can number out of every kindred and nation and tribe and tongue, and that is great tribulation. We should be looking at some of it as it occurred in association with the Reformation.

We've already seen a bit of it under pagan Rome. We've already seen a touch of it with the Albigenses and Polychaeans. There's still tribulation in this world, in several parts of the world, you know that.

The great tribulation. Who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Why some of the Futurists tell us that these Saints don't begin until the Church is taken out, and that the Holy Spirit is also taken out with the Church.

A strange, strange interpretation of Scripture. So that they are assuming that a great multitude which no man can number out of every kindred, nation, tribe and tongue, will be taken, will be converted after the Church is gone, after the Holy Spirit has gone, and will have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

How can it be in three and a half years? Isn't it plain, John, that the language of Revelation has this whole Christian era in view. Great tribulation. And when we study in greater detail what our fathers have suffered, we shall see that it was indeed great tribulation.

The comment on that three and a half years, I noticed in Daniel 7. It says that the Saints will be handed over to him for a time and a half. Now you connect that to the face of Jesus. Much longer. Are you acquainted with Daniel 70 weeks?

Is that the first time you've heard about 70 weeks? Oh my. In the 70 weeks, God uses the year-day scale, doesn't he? That is, the 70 weeks prove to be 70 weeks of years. A year for a day. And we saw, if you were there in that meeting, that from several sources in the Old Testament, the year-day scale is not a strange one.

It's used in three or four other places. And as Daniel and Revelation are closely related, we might use the same method that Daniel did. Thus, Daniel, praying about it, realizing that the city and the wall couldn't be rebuilt as quickly as 70 literal weeks, had Revelation, that it would be a much longer period.

Now, the early church naturally didn't know it was going to be such a long period, and they thought that antichrists would arise fairly quickly as one man. But as a thousand years began to pass by, men began to think again, and they thought, is it a different scale?

And when you take the measure 1 to 60 years, and measure your history with it, you will find that from one point of apostasy, to the point of recovery, you can put the dividers across history and find 1 to 60 years divide each falling away to the corresponding restoration.

So it's not given to us to forecast the date of our Lord's coming, but to mark the era in which we live. 1 to 60 years. And I'll tell you more about that another time. Question about the 7th. No, I suggest to you that the Christian emperors were replaced by the papal emperors with their papal states, who became a king among kings.