The Fourth Beast is the Roman Empire. It is the subject of this second part of our article. It is the beast that we must pay the closest attention to, since its decrees, actions and institutions have ramifications for almost all human beings alive on earth.

Under the military genius of Julius Caesar, Rome rose to prominence in the Italian peninsula circa 168BC. Rome then went on to subjugate almost all the peoples of continental Europe, the British isles, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East. 

This world power had 10 provinces which roughly correspond to some of the European nations extant today. They were: the Anglo-Saxons (the United Kingdom), the Franks (France), the Alemanni (Germany), the Visigoths (Spain), Lombardy (Italy), Burgundy (Switzerland), Suevi (Portugal), Vandals, Heruli, the Ostrogoths. They are the ten horns on the fourth beast's head. 

As Imperial Rome started to decline in the fifth century AD, there was much warfare with barbarian tribes from the North, ending with its sacking by Alaric the Goth in 476AD. This was followed by a period of strife as the weakened empire was riven with the civil war among competing peoples. In 538AD, Emperor Justinian vacated his throne, ceding it to the Bishop of Rome (cf Revelation 13:4). This "different" king - the Bishop of Rome - held both civil as well as ecclesiastical offices. Caesarial (or Pagan) Rome thus morphed into what later came to be known as the "Holy Roman Empire" or simply, Papal Rome. The ruler became known as the Pope or Pontifex Maximus (meaning Supreme Pontiff). They are the boastful horn that had "eyes of a man" and an insolently blasphemous mouth (cf Daniel 7:20). The kingdoms they uprooted were the Arian kingdoms of the Heruli, the Vandals and the Ostrogoths.

Notes the word of God: "Thus 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, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.

And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them, and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.

And 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 the dividing of time..." (Daniel 7:23-25, KJV, emphasis mine).

In Matthew 23:9, the Bible is explicit that: "...you shall not call anyone on earth 'Father', for you have one Father in heaven..." The Fourth Kingdom, Rome, however,  have totally disregarded that admonition and placed "fathers" at the head of their church. The Latin term "Pope" means "father". The same can be said for the Italian term "padre". They are blasphemous titles and elevate mere human beings to the level of God. This is part of the apostasy that the apostle Paul talked about: "...who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4, NKJV).

Rome has similarly given its clergy blasphemous titles such as "Reverend", "the Most Reverend", the "Very Right Reverend",  which are reserved for deity (cf Psalm 111:9, KJV). The popes also claim infallibility and their "bulls" (encyclicals, or edicts) supposedly carry more weight than the very word of God!

There are many other examples of how Rome have insulted the God of heaven and claim to have abrogated his position. But due to limitations as to space, we cannot enumerate them here. I believe however, that the point that Rome has spoken blasphemously against the Most High, has been made.

Secondly, the Roman Empire remains unparalleled for sheer cruelty and inhuman excesses. None of the preceding empires could equal them. On a single day, the Romans could crucify upwards of 2000 people on one hillside in a gory spectacle of unbelievable bloodletting! In their gladiatorial contests, the doomed gladiators fought to the death, as bloodthirsty crowds cheered and howled in Caligula's Circus Maximus. History estimates that between 68 to 100 million people (mostly Jews and Messianic believers) died during Rome's persecutions during the Dark Ages. This was a horrendous period spread between 538 and 1798AD, and is the prophetic timespan mentioned in Daniel 7:25 as quoted above ("...a time, two times, and half  a time"). A time, in Bible prophecy, is a year of 360 days (cf Revelation 12: 14, 6, and 11:2). 

Because early Messianic believers would not submit to Anti-Messiannic commands issued by the Roman Church, much persecution was directed against them.

Some of the believers were brought into the Roman arena and wild animals such as bears, lions, tigers, buffaloes, etc, were loosed upon them! Roman crowds gathered to cheer as these hapless believers were torn to pieces, gored to death, or otherwise devoured by the ravenous beasts. When evening came, some of the believers were tied up on upright stakes, doused in oil, and set ablaze to provide lighting! These bizarre human torches were placed at regular intervals all around the stadium! Others were thrown off cliffs to endure painful lingering deaths impaled upon sharpened spikes at the bottom of the cliffs. Then there were those that had their hands and feet placed in cruel stocks for long periods of time, oftentimes left naked, hungry, thirsty, and at the mercy of the elements. Yet others were shackled unto a torture device called the 'Wrack' and stretched till all the joints in the hands and legs were dislocated and they died a slow, agonizing death. In some cases, molten lead was poured into the mouths or ears of some, while others had their tongues cut out. Still many more were bound in cold, pest-ridden dungeons without water, food, or sanitation. Other Roman empire victims were placed in a woman-shaped device called the 'Iron Virgin'. The victim would be placed inside this metallic device and then a screw mechanism was used to tighten the device all around the victim. Since the device had sharp spikes on the inside, the unfortunate victim was pierced in hundreds of places and slowly died in unimaginable pain. It was also Rome that authorized Tomas de Torquemada to set up the devilishly evil Spanish Inquisition to deal with all as may differ from the satanic dictates of Rome. Hundreds of thousands were tortured to death and their properties confiscated. Some were forced to flee with almost zero belongings. This was, in part, fulfillment of Paul's prophecy in Hebrews 11:35 - 38. These long-ranging persecutions, spread over many dark centuries, only ended with the capture and imprisonment of the Pope by Napoleon's general Berthier in 1798. This is the "fatal wound" that the beast suffered as shown in Revelation 13:1-3. So Rome persecuted the saints of God Almighty, just as Daniel had foretold.

This Fourth Beast also sought to: "...change the set times and the laws..." Beginning with Emperor Constantine's first Sunday Law enacted in 321AD, Rome has been at the forefront of a push to have Sunday replace the divinely ordained Sabbath. In several of their Church Councils, for example, Nicaea (325AD), Laodicea (364AD), Trent (1545-1563AD), Rome has steadfastly maintained that human beings must worship on Sunday. Rome has thus "tried to change the set times." At Creation, God Almighty set up the Sabbath day as a day of rest. He also blessed and sanctified it (Genesis 2:1-3). He further declared the Sabbath to be a sign between him and his people here on earth (Exodus 31: 16-17; Ezekiel 20:12, 19-20). He then put this Sabbath Commandment in his immutable Ten Commandments (cf Exodus 20:8-11; Deuteronomy 5:6-21). 

In view of the above, Rome's actions in trying to initiate a different spiritual path is borne of a satanic agenda and sheer unmitigated arrogance. Indeed numerous Catholic writings boast of this fact! According to them, the change of the Sabbath from the divinely ordained seventh day of the week to Sunday (the first day of the week), is proof positive of their ecclesiastical power and authority here on earth! It is their MARK of authority and nothing can sway them from this position, as doing so would amount to ceding the said authority to the God of heaven...a position to they consider both unthinkable and untenable! Sunday worship is the mysterious "Mark of the Beast" of which humans are solemnly warned against in the Bible (cf Revelation 14:9-10). A time is soon coming when Sunday honoring will be enforced worldwide just as happened in Constantine's time (Revelation 13:8). This is the central plank in the current vigorous push for the enactment of a New World Order/One World Government! Resurrected Rome, at the control of the amalgamated beast - the One World Government- (cf Revelation 13:1-4), would once again enforce the keeping of Sunday in the only religion to be allowed in that "New Order."

Similarly, Rome has completely obliterated the second Commandment on the making and worshipping of graven images. It is conspicuously absent from their catechisms. To try and cover up the mutilation the tenth Commandment has been cunningly and brazenly split in two the Tenth Commandment, to maintain the semblance of "Ten"! Rome has since adopted the idols of the ancient heathen world - Babylonian, Egyptian, Persian, Greek, Norse etc. Rome is the land of graven images.

Vatican City itself is named after Vaticanus, the Roman goddess of cemeteries! St Peter's basilica, on the other hand, is built over the ruins of an ancient pagan temple. Most European cathedrals are similarly built on sites of ancient heathen temples, or are near cemeteries, or have large numbers of skeletons and bone relics of so-called "saints" in their foundations!

Architectural designs including church steeples, spires, towers, obelisks, circular windows etc, all stem from paganism and obliquely pay homage to ancient phallus and sun worshipping cults. The same can be said for the cross which is an ancient symbol of the Babylonian deity, Tammuz (son of the sun-god)! It is this same Tammuz that is mentioned in Ezekiel 8:14, in connection to Israel's idolatry. Rome has bent over backward to accommodate heathenism while paying nominal lip service to the God of heaven. They have blatantly set aside God's laws in favour of the traditions of men (cf Mark 7:7-10).

During the so-called "Age of Discovery" beginning in the 15th century, some of the powers making up Daniel's fourth beast set sail from the shores of Europe. They crossed oceans and went "discovering" many "new" lands such as the Americas, Australia, New Zealand, the Far East, the African interior, and the far-flung islands of Polynesia, and the Caribbean. It was the period of great voyages such as those of Ferdinand Magellan, Cristoforo Columbo, Captain Cook, Vasco da Gama and many others. As reports of these fabulous, exotic lands filtered back into Europe,  geographical and missionary societies were formed to  sponsor explorers, anthropologists, and missionaries to go and understand the "discovered" peoples better. It all ended in the colonization of many non-Western societies. The words of Daniel thus found startling fulfillment: "...the fourth beast will devour the whole earth, trampling it down and crushing it..." (Daniel 7:23). Many non-Western peoples have since lost their identity, their economies, culture, languages and even independence. Huge populations have been displaced, wars fought, religions changed or eradicated, etc. The world has experienced in some cases still experiencing) the steamroller effect of the fourth beast's march across the earth.

Enabled by the "lamb-like" beast of Revelation 13:11-17, the Roman beast's dictates will soon be enforced on all mankind: "...all inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast. All whose names have not been written in the Lamb's Book of Life..." (Revelation 13:8). The whole import in the fervent efforts at setting up a "One World Government" is to secure all humanity's worship to the Beast. The complex pieces of the conspiracy's jig saw puzzle are now neatly falling into place. We however cannot discuss the details here for want of space. Subject for another day.

As for us, we can only urgently trumpet the 3rd Angel's Message: "...if anyone worships the Beast or his image, and receives his mark in his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of  the wrath of God, which is poured full strength into the cup of his indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb." (Revelation 14:9-10). It is therefore prudent to heed God's warning seriously and take early evasive action before it is too late. Maranatha. Blessings.

Pst JK Chang'andu, Oloitoktok