The Two Witnesses
Birthing of the Reformation
Revelation 11
AD 254 -1514/1517
Chapter 11 marks the beginning of reading from the back of the scroll so to speak. An overlapping time period is introduced here which will reoccur variously for a while on the path ahead. The angle from which the story is now being told (in chs. 10 & 11) has shifted from the imperial version of the Roman beast, and its attempts to destroy the Jesus people, to the religious version of the Roman beast and its equally ferocious genocides.
If you are unfamiliar with the ‘year for a day principle’ of Bible prophecy and if you do not instantly recognise the date 1517 as being one of the most pivotal dates of Church history then you are going to need to work a little bit to keep on track in this chapter. In the year AD 254 a declaration was made that the then ‘Bishop of Rome’ was to be recognised by all the churches as “the successor of St Peter,” you might say, the first ‘pope’ although I believe that title came later. If you add 1260 years to this date you come to AD 1514 where at a pivotal ‘Church’ (so called) council a declaration was made that, “all heretics have now been extinguished.” ‘Heretic’ is the word the papacy used to describe Christ loving, Bible believing peoples who would not bow their knee to papal authority. During the course of 1260 years the papacy had tried everything in its power to cleanse the earth from these vile creatures and in May 1514 they declared, “we’ve done it!” With partying and gift-giving the prelates of Rome celebrated the death of the two witnesses (two major branches of the 'unsubmitted' churches across Europe. Many identify these as the Waldensian and the Albigensian peoples - more later...). In October 1517 – three and a half years later (note the day/year scale again), the ‘witnesses’ were figuratively ‘resurrected’ – in the form of Martin Luther and many others and the full blown earthquake of the Reformation began.
THE TEMPLE & THE WITNESSES
The ‘temple’ (GK. NAOS – same as 2 Thes 2:4) being measured is the temple of God, i.e. the Church. The divine measuring rod is the now freely available Word of God (now translated and in print for many to read with their own eyes). Part of the temple is holy and part of it is corrupt. In the last chapter we saw the dawn of the Reformation. Here it continues and God is making the distinction between His true followers and the false, apostate ‘Church’ (so called). Separation and a call to separation is a key message of the book. By this, I do not mean simply that God wants His people to just leave Catholicism and become ‘Protestants’. Sadly, much of the Protestant Church never wholly left the spirit of Rome behind – you can take a people out of the beast but that does not automatically take the beast out the people. But many authentic believers did indeed separate themselves.
Prior to this Reformation earthquake God still had His witnesses in the earth (the Roman ‘earth'/world remember); various individuals and many pockets of believers scattered down the centuries and across Europe. Particularly in the more remote and mountainous regions. Historicists often identify two particular strands of the 'pre-protestant' (but already 'protesting') Church – the Waldenses and the Albigenses*. Any good Church history book will highlight the significance of these, among other groups of peoples who maintained a testimony of the pure Gospel and lived their lives, as it were, in constant sackcloth and ashes as they were hounded by the Church authorities over time and across European lands.
*(Other commentators have suggested that the Old and the New Testaments are the two witnesses or similarly the Word of God and the people of God).
OTHER 1260 PERIODS
I have used the 254-1514 period above for simplicity and because it is the first such 1260 period. However, many other 1260 periods have been noted. Each marking some significant accretion - in papal power - leading to some other significant abatement 1260 years later. It is my belief that all of these 1260 periods are significant. 1260 is like 666 – it is a number that God has stamped upon the papal beast. It may occur and reoccur in multiple ways.
- 254-1514 – Bishop of Rome declared successor of Peter – to the birthing of the Reformation.
- 312-1572 – Battle of the Milvian Bridge/Vision of Constantine – to St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre.
- 533-1793 – Bishop of Rome declared head of all churches (with political power) – to French Revolution when powers revoked.
- 538-1798 – Seige of Rome abandoned, thus allowing allowing papal rule to emerge – to the imprisonment of the pope by Napoleon.
- 606-1866 – Phocus (Byzantine emperor) decrees that the bishop of Rome is the ‘head of all Christendom’ – to stripping of temporal power/lands.
- 756-2016 – Pepin (King of France) aided the pope in the creation of the papal states – to Brexit.*
- 774-2034 – Charlemagne overthrows last Lombard king and confirms Pepin’s land grant – to possible final destruction of the papal beast (!?).
- 800-2060 – Crowning of Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor – to possible final destruction of the papal beast (!?). (As cited by Sir Isaac Newton).
*“The Donation of Pepin in 756 provided a legal basis for the creation of the Papal States, thus extending the temporal rule of the Popes beyond the duchy of Rome”.
(quotation from Wikipedia)
*Citing Brexit as part of this long-running saga of prophecy necessarily implies that it is my understanding that the EU is part of the current day form of the papal Roman beast. It is not within the scope of this simple overview to examine this but it will not be very hard for any diligent enquirer to find the information that connects the dots of the Roman Catholic Church with the founding of the EU (under the Treaty of Rome in 1957. Also note the EU's emergency meeting with the Pope following the Brexit referendum in 2016). It is also of no coincidence at all that 2016 saw the election of Donald J Trump to the presidency of the USA – connecting the dots of his presidential tenure to the further exposure and demise of the papacy may need a little more time and investigation. Perhaps there are some things to transpire in the coming years that will make this more obvious (?).