Posted By: RighteousnessBF
The "Seat of the Dragon" sits within the "Mother Church" - 01/17/21 12:54 AM
The "Seat of the Dragon" sits within the "Mother Church"on the "Seven Hills"
Revelation 17 is about to become the center of Biblical prophetic studies. There has been a debate raging within the SDA church for the past 25 years because of the apparent silence of the end time prophet Mrs. Ellen White on this chapter, but just like every other supposed silent chapter, it will soon be revealed that she and the pioneers who originally proclaimed the Three Angels Messages had given us plenty of evidence to prove the issues at hand but that it was men rushing ahead of the Spirit trying to answer the supposed unanswered elements that have retarded the progression of present truth on this subject.
Here are some very important elements that others have rushed past and completely ignored in systematic research in regards to the crux of this chapter which revolves around the seven heads of the beast.
First, we must look to biblical precedence to comprehend the structure of this prophecy.
Regarding heads on any other beast prophecy, they ALWAYS represent first the leaders of that kingdom then the kingdoms that they rule. For example, when Daniel interpreted the prophecy given to Nebuchadnezzar, he said "you, oh king, are that head of Gold" and we know this began the apex of the power of the kingdom of Babylon, the symbol extends beyond that king to his kingdom. This lays the principle that the HEAD of the image was first the man who leads the kingdom, then it represents the kingdom itself. Simple. Yet most scholars do not even mention the fact that Daniel first said that the head of Gold was Nebuchadnezzar. Why? The next example is the four heads on the Leopard beast. EVERY SDA SCHOLAR says that these heads were the four generals who divided Greece after Alexander but they mainly focus on the division of the kingdom and not the Generals. Nonetheless, those four heads first represent the LEADERS of that divided kingdom and then the four divisions of territory. This sets the Biblical precedence to apply to other prophecies.
Next, what did the protestant Commentators and SDA pioneers say regarding the seven heads of the three Roman beasts with seven heads and ten horns in Revelation 12, 13 & 17 ?
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In advocating the view that the seven heads of the dragon of Revelation 12, and the beasts of Revelation 13 and 17, represent seven forms of government that have existed in the Roman Empire, the writer deems it necessary to remind the reader that he is not dealing in novelties. He is not introducing a new view to appeal to the curiosity of the reader, and to cater to the not always healthy excitement of pursuing a line of thought because it is strange. But the view which will be advocated in this paper is one which has characterized the Adventist movement from the beginning, through the first, second, and third messages, to the present time, and is only beginning within a few years to be called in question. Nor can the view be said to be peculiar to Adventists in its historical aspect, - a scheme devised by them to meet their peculiar views of prophecy, ?for scholars declared before the Adventist movement began, that Rome had presented to the world, as a unique and marvelous feature of history, seven distinct forms of government. All that the Adventists did was to say, as the most natural thing in the world, that if Rome did have seven forms of government, the seven heads of the dragon (Rev 12), which was a symbol of Rome, must be designed to represent that fact. The old Roman historians, Livy and Tacitus, acknowledged the different forms of government in Rome, to be so many ?heads? of the Roman commonwealth?And one of the earliest Protestant commentators, Osiander, as early as 1511, names the whole seven as we have them; namely, Kings, Consuls, Decemvirs, Dictators, Triumvirs, Emperors, and Popes, as the forms of Roman government represented by the seven heads of the dragon of Revelation 12... Adventists, under the first (angel's) message, at once adopted this view. {SHR 1.1}
Here it is shown that not only did the Protestant Commentators support the fact that the seven heads of the beast were seven different forms of ROMAN government with seven different forms of Roman LEADERS governing that kingdom but that this teaching was also directly connected directly to the THREE ANGELS MESSAGES, and that the first Adventists, which included Ellen White, immediately and unanimously agreed with this view. This is a significant element that I have not heard anyone in recent times teach or even attempt to reconcile.
Is there anyone here who would dare to tell me that the repeat of the Three Angels Message would be different than the first time it was proclaimed? Are we not to tread the same path that the pioneers did in that proclamation? Can anyone else show me a direct rebuke of this comment in the Testimonies? Why would she be silent on this subject if this was a lie or not something to be embraced and repeated in the Loud Cry? How do modern-day teachings compare to this statement which is supported in the testimonies?
Having made these leading points, now consider this...
There are three phases of the seven-headed ten-horned Roman beast.
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Now I want you to see, in the twelfth chapter of Revelation, the three phases of the history of the world, from Christ until now... The first was pagan Rome; the second is the apostate church; the third is the power that is used against the remnant. {ARSH June 6, 1899, p. 356.7}
Revelation 12 mainly focuses on Pagan Rome who tried to kill Jesus as a baby and nailed Him to the cross. The seven heads of that Dragon beast in that chapter cover all seven forms of the ROMAN government until the Emperor gave the Seat of the Dragon to the seventh head, the POPES, and they took control of the seven-hilled Imperial City. This is a perfectly sound prophetic interpretation here.
Then began the second phase of Rome as foretold in Revelation 13, representing the 1,260 years of Papal Roman rule in the Dark Ages. The prophecy of Revelation 13:2 is fulfilled by the pope the seventh head of the first phase of Rome. "The dragon gave him his power, and his SEAT and great authority" 'til the deadly wound took the SEAT of the Dragon away within the Imperial seven-hilled city. Notice how the prophecy zooms in closer and closer with the Popes from this point on.
This is the seat of the Dragon beast, the throne given to the Bishop of Rome by Constantine I during the pontificate of Pope Miltiades which sits in the Lateran Arch-Basilica inside the seven-hilled city of Rome, not in ST. Peters Basilica across the Tiber River outside the walled city of Imperial Rome. It is a recommissioned Roman toilet that some say was used by the soldiers who crucified Christ.
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"In the sixth century, the papacy had become firmly established. Its SEAT of power was fixed in the imperial city and the bishop of Rome was declared to be the HEAD over the entire church. Paganism had given place to the papacy. The dragon had given to the beast ?his power, and his seat, and great authority.? {Revelation 13:2}. And now began the 1260 years of papal oppression foretold in the prophecies of Daniel and the Revelation." Daniel 7:25; Revelation 13:5-7. {Great Controversy 54.2}
Many believe that the Vatican is the seat of the Papacy, but in fact, this is not the case. The ARCH-Basilica, meaning the "Greatest Basilica", which holds the papal throne, is not St. Peters Basilica in the Vatican, but St John the Lateran Basilica in the heart of the walled Seven Hilled portions of the city of Rome. This is the area considered to be sacred by the Pagans and their gods in the Imperial Roman era. Notice how the Lateran Church sits upon the seven-hilled Imperial City and how the Vatican is across the Tiber River. This is very important to understand Revelation 17 because the prophecy points directly to when the seat of the Dragon would be restored by regaining this Basilica and the seat within her.
This is Lateran Arch Basilica, i.e. the cathedral church, therefore it houses the Cathedra or ecclesiastical seat of the Roman Pontiff. On the archbasilica's front wall between the main portals is a plaque inscribed with the words "Sacrosancta Lateranensis ecclesia omnium urbis et orbis ecclesiarum mater et caput", which translates to "Most Holy Lateran Church, of all the churches in the City and the world, the MOTHER and HEAD"; a visible indication of the archbasilica's claim to be the "MOTHER CHURCH" of all the world.
Most people are not aware of the strange fact that every pope of the Dark Ages claimed that the Lateran Arch Basilica housed the Ark of the Covenant. They literally claimed that they had been given the power to declare that Rome was the center of God's universe and that they literally sat in the seat of Moses. This is why God foreshadowed that the man of sin "will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God." 2 Thess 2:4.
Now, with these extra elements of evidence, a picture should now emerge on how important the SEAT of the Dragon is in identifying who those HEADS are of Revelation 17. The Spirit of Prophecy specifically proclaims that when the Pope received the SEAT of the dragon within the Imperial City it began the 1,260 years of oppression of the Dark Ages. Thus, when they lost that SEAT within the MOTHER HEAD CHURCH and the man of sin had his kingdom taken away it was the infliction of the deadly wound upon the HEAD of the beast of Revelation 13 and then this wound would be healed when they regained that SEAT within the seven hills and their title of 'king" back. This shows the significance of the LATERAN TREATY!!! It begins the succession of the seven last Papal heads until the eighth and final pope. Pope Francis is the eighth king of Revelation 17:11.