This is a description of the 1st of the 4 deadly horseman of the Apocalypse. It is a description of Emperor Constantine going forth to conquer the entire Roman world. All the great prophecies in the Book of Revelation began to be fulfilled with the reign of Emperor Constantine. Before the battle of the Milvian Bridge outside Rome in 312 A.D., Constantine claimed to have seen a cross in the sky with this inscription: IN HOC SIGNO VINCES or IN THIS SIGN CONQUER. He immediately had the Roman eagle replaced by the cross on his battle standards.
Emperor Constantine began to fulfill Bible prophecy when he founded a new capital for the Roman Empire in Constantinople. Pagan Rome ended and Papal Rome began with the CROSS!! Imperial Rome became PAPAL Rome on October 28, 312 A.D., when Constantine exchanged the eagle for the cross:
He would have been much better off if he had kept the eagle, because God is referred to as an eagle in the Old Testament, but you will never find the word CROSS in the Hebrew Old Testament . . . or the Greek New Testament. Emperor Constantine was the first Pope!! Emperor Constantine was a GIANT whose iron legs bestrode the vast Roman Empire from east to west....By founding a new capital at Constantinople, he divided the Empire into 2 halves, and actually fulfilled the prophecy in Daniel chapter 2 of the division of the Empire into East and West.
Emperor Constantine was born Flavius Valerius Constantinus at Nis on Feb. 27, 280, in what is now Serbia, son of the commander Constantius Chlorus (later Constantius I) and Helena, a prostitute and Balkan barmaid. Constantius became co-emperor in 305. Following the example of his father, and earlier 3rd-century emperors, Constantine in his early life was a solar henotheist, believing that the Roman sun god, Sol, was the visible manifestation of an invisible "Highest God" (summus deus), who was the principle behind the universe. This god was thought to be the companion of the Roman emperors. Constantine's adherence to this faith is evident from his claim of having had a vision of the sun god in 310, while in a grove of Apollo in Gaul. As a youth Constantine was sent to the palace of the infamous Roman Emperor Diocletian to learn the tricks of the trade as they say. At that time, Christianity was growing by leaps and bounds throughout the Empire. The Christians were outstanding citizens but the Emperors saw them as a threat to the Empire for ONE reason: they refused to acknowledge the divinity of the Emperors or call Caesar "lord." During the early days of Rome, the people hated kings. Rome was a republic. This human divinity idea came from the Pharaohs. Egyptian rulers were considered gods by their subjects, and when Julius Caesar conquered Egypt, he brought this idea back to Rome. Emperor Diocletian was actually just 1 of 4 Caesars because the Empire began to SPLIT in two during his reign.
Beginning in the year 303, the pagan Roman Empire made one last great attempt to exterminate Christianity. This persecution, under the Emperor Diocletian, began on the 23rd of February (303 A.D.), that being the day the Roman Terminalia was celebrated, and the cruel pagans boasted that they would finally put a termination to Christianity Diocletian began by sacrificing to the pagan gods to make his war against the Christians a success:
The local demons having failed him, Diocletian then consulted the most powerful shrine of augury and divination in the world. This was the Oracle of Apollo in Delphi, Greece. His priests brought him back more bad news: it quit working too....This caused him to fly into an uncontrollable rage and he ordered the holocaust to commence immediately. Monuments to the power of the Risen Christ!! All over the Old World, shrines of divination like these stopped working after the Resurrection of Christ. Apollo was another name for Sol Invictus or the sun god.
Real Christians would NEVER build churches or houses of worship over pagan shrines. This was strictly prohibited by the Bible. The very ground was polluted with blood offered to demonic images. Many of Satan's most powerful demons could no longer operate after the Resurrection of Christ. Many of them emigrated to the New World and found a refuge there....In the following centuries, Pope Constantine's system made sure that no missionaries reached the New World inhabitants with the Gospel of Christ. Emperor Diocletian's 10 year persecution of Christianity Beginning in the year 303, the Roman Empire launched a persecution against Christianity which lasted 10 years. It is called the last great pagan persecution of the Congregation. Fire, racks, swords, wild beasts, crosses, poison and famine were made use of to kill the Christians. Invention was exhausted to devise tortures against those who would not deny Christ and acknowledge Caesar as "lord" and burn incense to his image. The lives of Christians during that time consisted of persecution above ground and prayer underground. This is known in history as the era of the martyrs. The main target of the pagans was the New Testament . . . and the histories of Christ....All of the great books portraying the Mount of Olives as the site of the Resurrection were systematically destroyed. Even the books written by pagan authors were destroyed because they would reveal a lot about the doctrines and practices of the Apostolic Congregations. There were millions of Christians and many of them had copies of the New Testament. Only about 5,000 manuscripts have survived from that time and the oldest is dated around 350 A.D.
Eusebius tells us that there were innumerable histories of the Life of Christ written by the Christians. Only one account survived this persecution. If any had survived we would have known exactly when Jesus was born:
Rome was systematically destroying Christian history so that the next generation of believers would have no idea what their parents believed. Jesus said that the Christians were the salt of the earth and the light of the world: With the removal of the salt and light through persecution, the world became a very dark place. This is what St. Paul was referring to when he refers to the let or hindrance that was holding back the manifestation of the Antichrist system:
Even Eusebius was imprisoned and it is a miracle that any of his writings have survived. His close friend and mentor, Pamphilus, was martyred during this time. Emperor Constantine "rescued" the Christians from persecution!! The idea of a Roman Emperor "rescuing" Christians from persecution seems incongruous but that is exactly what happened. Emperor Constantine defeated his rival Maxentius at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge and proclaimed religious toleration for all. Constantine was always very ambiguous when he mentioned the divinity that he served....This was done to gain favor and acceptance with pagans and Christians in order to unite then with his new ecumenical religion whose sign or symbol was the cross.
Here are the words on his triumphal arch in Rome translated from Latin:
With the defeat of Maxentius, Constantine was master of the entire Western Roman Empire and he began to fix his gave eastward....The Emperor of the East was named Licinius, and Constantine was determine to eliminate his rival and be sole master of the Roman world.
Byzantium was renamed Constantinople After Constantine became sole master of the Empire in 324, he decided to built a new capital for the Roman world. The city that he chose was an ancient Greek city called Byzantium, and was situated on a strategic and well fortified location on the Black Sea. Little did Constantine realize that his actions would split the Roman world in two and fulfill Bible prophecy.
It was called the New Rome and mirrored the Old Rome in many respects with its own Senate House and violent public entertainment. The New Rome was a lot like the Old Rome. "Bread and circuses" was the watchword for the Old Rome and Constantine made sure that the population was well fed and well entertained. This dividing of the Roman world by Constantine did not take the Almighty by surprise. As a matter of fact, He had already predicted it 800 years beforehand
King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had a terrifying nightmare but when he awoke he couldn't remember the dream. None of his astrologers or "wise men" could be of any help because they were all charlatans and fakes. Daniel the Jewish prophet, who was a captive in Babylon, came to the rescue and told the king his forgotten dream . . . and its interpretation:
Notice that the 4 empires follow one another in SUCCESSION and there is no gap or break between them. The MYTH of the Fall of the Roman Empire!! The Holy Bible is the only book in the world where the future is given in ADVANCE....None of the founders of the major world religions dared make any prophecies about what will come to pass in the future, because they were all charlatans and fakes, like the "wise men" of Babylon. Most children in school are told that the Western Roman Empire fell to the barbarians in 476 A.D., and that the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine) fell in 1453 A.D. It is a DOGMA that is held as firmly as the moving earth. A British author named Edward Gibbon (1737-1794), greatly perpetuated this myth in his massive tome entitled: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Gibbon ended the Western Empire in 476 and the Eastern Empire in 1453. It is a MYTH and falsehood because it contradicts the infallible Word of God.
The highest office in the pagan pantheon was that of Pontifex Maximus or Supreme Pontiff....This was held by the Roman Caesars. The last Caesar to hold that title was Emperor Gratian who conferred it upon Pope Damascus.
About 12 "Emperors" ruled from Rome until the last one, Romulus Augustulus, abdicated in 476. However, these "Emperors" were merely figureheads or puppets who answered to the Papal dynasty. There were several barbarian invasions of Rome, but the Papal dynasty continued to rule the Western or Latin Empire right down to our own time....Even the Roman Catholics admit that Rome never fell when they claim an unbroken succession of pontiffs right back to St. Peter. Moscow is the successor of Constantinople!! According to the prophecy in Daniel chapter 2, the Roman Empire would be divided into 2 halves, and both halves would continue unbroken until the end of time. Constantinople—headquarters of the Eastern Empire—fell to the Turks in 1453, but the Orthodox church found a new home in Moscow. The Eastern Empire is derisively referred to as the BYZANTINE Empire meaning shady or characterized by intrigue; scheming or devious. As Old Rome's main rival, we know who was the author of that appellation.
The Almighty, who sees all things in advance, had a new home for the Orthodox church in Russia.
Due to her family traditions, she encouraged imperial ideas in the mind of her husband, Ivan. It was through her influence that the ceremonious etiquette of Constantinople (along with the imperial double-headed eagle and all that it implied) was adopted by the court of Moscow.
We shouldn't fail to mention that the Julian calendar was imported to Moscow from Constantinople, as well as the Greek based Cyrillic alphabet. Editor's Note After the discovery of the New World by John Cabot. The Latin church also gained vast new territory with the Portuguese and Spanish conquests of the New World. Vital Links Constantine's 6 Major Changes to Christianity. The Vatican Against the Orthodox Church by Avro Manhattan References Alföldi, Andreas (Andrew). The Conversion of Constantine and Pagan Rome. Oxford, 1948 and 1969. Gibbon, Edward. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (in 6 volumes). Methuen & Co., London, 1909. Eusebius Pamphili, (260 — 340), Preparation for the Gospel, Proof of the Gospel, Ecclesiastical History, Life of Constantine, Oration to Constantine, etc., etc. Grand Rapids, Baker Book House, 1981. Baynes, Norman, H. Constantine the Great and the Christian Church. London, 1934. Burckhardt, Jacob.The Age of Constantine the Great. Pantheon Books Inc., New York, 1949. Halsberghe, Gaston, H.The Cult of Sol Invictus. E.J. Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands, 1972. Kee, Alistair. Constantine Versus Christ: The Triumph of Ideology. SCM Press, London, 1982. MacMullen, Ramsey. Constantine. The Dial Press, New York, 1969. Norwich, John Julius. A Short History of Byzantium. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1997. Copyright © 2008 by Niall Kilkenny |
