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Eureka

AN EXPOSITION OF THE APOCALYPSE
Sixth Edition, 1915
By Dr. John Thomas (first edition written 1861)

 

 

Chapter 16

Section II Subsection 6

The Third Phase of the Frog-Sign


 
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The third and last phase of the great "sign of the Son of Man in the heaven" is that in which the unclean Frog-like daemon-spirit goes forth out of the Mouth of the False Prophet. It is worthy of note, that this is the first place in the Apocalypse where the phrase "False Prophet" occurs. It is found in two other texts after this, namely, in ch. 19:20; and 20:10. In the first of these, his perdition and the manner of it' are predic-ed; and in the last, it is a mere reference to his fate.

A prophet, in the New Testament use of the word, is not confined to the idea of one foretelling future events. In the larger sense of the word, a prophet is a spiritual allocutionist; or one who speaks to others with authority upon spiritual subjects. It is therefore equivalent to a teacher who speaks to men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort (1 Cor. 14:3). But of teachers or prophets, there are two kinds; the one true; and the other, false. True and false teachers are styled spirits in  1 John 4:1, who saith, "Beloved, believe not every spirit; but try the spirits whether they be of the Deity; because many false prophets are gone out into the world;" and Peter refers to these in 2 Peter 2:1, saying, 'there were false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will privily bring in damnable heresies".

"Beware," said Jesus, "of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits" (Matt. 7:15): "and many false prophets shall arise and deceive many" (ch. 24:11). The rule laid down by John whereby the kind of teacher may be known by his fruits, is thus expressed in 1 John 4:6, we are of God;" that is, the apostles are the teachers he authorized:

"He that knoweth the Deity," he continues, "heareth us; he that is not of the Deity doth not hear us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error".

Tried then by this rule, we know that the whole clerical hierarchy of "Christendom" so called, are false prophets in the clothing of sheep, animated by the spirit of error, and deceivers of the people. They speak to the edification, exhortation, and comfort of all men, who, through ignorance of the Word, are unable to discern between good and evil, the false and the true. But, to those of knowledge, wisdom, and spiritual understanding in the Truth, they are an "abomination of the earth;" more especially that section of clerical false prophets, having "the sign of the Beast's Name in their right hand, or in their foreheads" (Apoc. 13:16; 14:11), and who minister before the worshippers in the Latin service of the Daemonials. The Chief of this Pseudoprophet Body is the Spiritual Allocutionist, commonly styled the Pope. He is the Mouth-piece of the Beast's false prophets; the "Holy Father" of their Latinity.

The False Prophet Body is located in all the kingdoms of the Great City, where they make merchandise of the peoples with their sorceries, in pretense of curing their souls. The Mouth of this Body has been, for many dark and gloomy centuries, established in Rome. It is the executive and legislative authority there, which despotically and absolutely administers or controls the spiritual affairs of two hundred millions(*) of worshippers of the two-Lamb-horned Beast of the earth, and of the Ten Horns. When the first vial began to be poured out, it wielded a temporal power of formidable proportions. The Roman Mouth counted three millionst of subjects in its own Church-States; this was its primary dominion   the elective monarchy of the Pope-king. But, besides this first dominion, he had great political authority in all the popish kingdoms of Europe; so that he ruled in Rome like one of the emperors of old. In these high times of tyrannical superstition, the Papal Constitution of things was "the Image" of the Beast's Sixth Head, that had the wound of the sword, and lived. It was a terrible image of imperial power, sustained by the despotisms of the world, the ignorance of the people, and the internal Inquisition. But, how is it with this Image in the spring of 1868? What is it now after passing through the scorching, ulcerating, darkening, and tormenting plagues of the vials thus far poured out? It has lost its temporal dominion, which has passed to the Frogs; and the Papacy is a mere "False Prophet", or spiritual power, with its Mouth in Rome.

But, such a Frog-civilization" is not based upon "satisfied" Italian "interests," which they deemed perfectly "legitimate," the Convention of September 1864 to the contrary notwithstanding. Since the evacua-tion of Rome by the Frog-troops, affairs had continued provokingly quiet; and there seemed to be no prospect of the throne of the Italian kingdom being transferred from Florence to the Seven Hills. "Rome the Capital of Italy" was still nothing more than a national cry, which the Convention forbade to be made effectual. The city was garrisoned by several thousands of mercenaries, called the Antibes Legion, made up principally of volunteers from the French army, who had been permitted to serve the Pope, but, at the same time, ordered to remember that they were French soldiers. This was what the Frogs called "evacuation" a mere substitution of a volunteer for the national force to be paid by the Papal instead of by the French, government. This arrangement made a show of temporal independence and power; and evinced that the Image still breathed the breath of political life, and could still speak, and cause that as many as would not worship it in its little territory, should be killed (Apoc. 13:15). Patriots within the walls did not rise; and false prophets by thousands came from far and near, to celebrate the martyrdom of the popish St. Peter, to witness the creation of new saints, and to pour into the papal treasury the contributions of its strong deluded worshippers. This was in 1866.

But, glorify themselves as they may, peace will not abide with the wicked. In 1867, the Revolution became impatient. Events did not progress fast enough for the Garibaldini and the Italian Government. Signor Ratazzi chief minister of State, colleagued with Garibaldi's friends for an attack upon Rome. These invaded the Roman territory, defeated the Pope's mercenaries, who retired within the walls, and put the "Holy Father" in great fear. The Frog-Emperor (**) seeing that his power was gone; and that he could no longer defend himself; and that the Italian Government did not protect him, with the greatest dispatch sent a strong force to rescue him from impending ruin. It reached Rome in time to prevent it falling into the hands of the Garibaldini, who were in force at Mentana. Having encamped, they assumed the political and military direction of the city. They then proceeded to empty the prisons choked with the victims of papal tyranny, and to renew the war in the provinces. Six thousand papal mercenaries and French regulars, armed with the newly invented Chassepot rifle, encountered the Garibaldini at Mentana, whom they outnumbered two to one. The unequal conflict was decided against the revolutionists. The French conquered, and the Temporal Power passed into their hands.

The following extracts from Parisian journals show this. "Our Chassepot rifles have done wonders," says L'Opinion National, quoting the words of General Failly in his report of the fight. "It is, therefore, to the Chassepot rifle that the honor of the day at Mentana is due". Now we know the victor, but who was the vanquished? The vanquished was THE TEMPORAL POWER. The intervention of the French troops at the moment when the victory wavered between the Garibaldians the Papahans, has proved once more that the Pope-king was incapable of defending himself by his own strength. As the Journal des Debats says, by "sending our troops to the help of that power in distress, we have only furnished its adversaries with fresh arguments to show how impossible it is to restore life to it. Is it not Strange, that in order to safeguard him whose anathemas formerly made Europe tremble, it was necessary for modern invention to discover, just in time, the most murderous instrument? This is what the Papacy is now reduced to; it subsists because a rifle has been made which makes wounds larger, and more incurable than the old projectiles.

“What do we see in Rome?" says the Journal des Debats. "It is no longer the Holy Father or his Ministers, it would appear, who exercise authority there, but a French general".

"For the sake of truth," says Ii Diritto, "we must confirm the fact, that scarcely had the French arrived than the spirit of terrorism ceased, which the Papal Government had created in the country. The prisons in which three thousand suspected persons groaned are being emptied by order of the French, who have taken the political and military direction of Rome. We took up arms to put the Sovereign Pontiff in a state of command in his States, and yet it seems IT IS WE ALONE who exercise authority there".

It is then no longer a question of the Pope's temporal power. He is the SPIRITUAL HEAD of the worshippers of the Beast; and will so continue to be until he sinks into the volcanic abyss to come forth no more. His temporal power seems to have gone forever, and, true to its murderous antecedents, in its sanguinary departure, has signalized the last year of the 'forty-two months," or 1260 years, Divinely allotted to it to practise and prevail against its enemies. The revolutionary Frogs are in the very "Mouth," or government, "of the False Prophet," so that any spirit henceforth proceeding thence, must be, not only an unclean daemon-spirit, but also "like to a Frog". Doubt, then, is at length removed. We may now know that A.D. 607, is the true date of the confirmation of the papal institution by Phocas. The issue is now no longer between Italy and the Temporal Power; but between Italy and the Frogs. Shall Rome and its territory be, as now, a mere fief, or dependency of the French empire; or shall they become part of an united Italy? This is a question pregnant with great trouble to all concerned. M. Rouher, minister of state, has declared that the French government will not allow Rome to become the capital of Italy. This determination they are preparing to support by arms. They are at present engaged in making Civita Veechia an impregnable fortress for permanent occupation; and in storing up there abundant warlike materiel for whatever troops may choose to diverge thence upon Italian territory

A letter from Rome in the Correspondence Italienne, says: "Cardinal Antonelli, in his private conversations, expresses firm belief in approaching war. He says, that the great works which the French are executing are by no means intended to shelter Rome from a coup de main of Garibaldi, but to guarantee it against an attack of the regular Italian army. In the war which is preparing, he recently said, the French army will fight alone against Italy, and we shall keep our troops to hold in respect the Roman population. The Cardinal Secretary of State is also said to have remarked, that 'the Emperor Napoleon has lost all sympathy for Italian Unity ever since the discovery of the secret between Signor Ratazzi and Herr Bismark'."

My maturest conviction is that "Rome the Capital of Italy,"(****) is a vain cry. Eight recognized forms of government have reigned there since the foundation of the city. The Papacy is the ecclesiastical element of the Eighth Head, which is the last, and goes into perdition with the city. We read of no Ninth Head upon the Seven Mountains. If Italy gained Rome, and removed the throne from Florence thither, it would be the capital of a new form of government, and therefore the Ninth. There may be a struggle between France and Italy to decide the point. The unclean daemon-spirit about ere long to issue from the Mouth of the False Prophet will enlighten us still further in relation to it. Were the Italians to get the city, they could not retain it long; for apart from the reason, that no ninth form can be constitutionally recognized, is the fact that there is one standing at the door, whose mission it is to destroy the city that it may "be found no more at all" (Apoc. 18:21). This will effectually settle all controversy about Rome, and put a quietus upon the Roman Question forevermore.

Such is the manifestation of the third phase of the Frog-Sign as far as it has been displayed to this February, 1868. In a short time the last of the 1260 and 1335 years will have expired; at all events, these numbers of years will have elapsed since the issue of Justinian, the Dragon-emperor's, Decretal Epistle to the Bishop of Rome, A.D. 533, constituting him the Chief Seer, or Prophet, or Spiritual Head of the Ecclesiastical Body of the Roman world: and since the confirmation of this appointment by Phocas, A.D. 607, respectively. As we have seen, the three phases of the Frog-Sign have had three successive beginnings, each signalized by a war; the first began in 1853, resulting in the Crimean war; the second, in 1859, in the Italian war; and the third, in 1867, in the invasion of the Roman States. But the Frog-Sign is not yet complete. The prophecy seems to require "a simultaneous going forth" of all the three daemon-spirits to the kings of the earth and of the whole habitable: to convene them contemporaneously to encounter some great and urgent danger, that threatens, if not overcome, to subvert and destroy all their "legitimate interests". Among the influences brought into exceedingly prominent activity will doubtless be the Franco-Papal, or the unclean froglike daemon-spirit that issues from the Mouth of the False Prophet. When the crisis is formed, the Prophet of the Great City will be in high feather, exerting himself in the presence of the Beast, with all the spiritual influence he possesses over the millions of Antichristendom, to induce them to join in the crusade preached, as the grand rally of "the earth and the whole habitable" against the great and pressing terror of the situation (*****).

The "kings of the earth" are the rulers of middle, eastern, and northern Europe; and those of "the whole habitable", western and southern Europe, with other outlying regions, whose powers are Apocalyptically symbolized. But, what is the Great Terror that throws the Dragon, the Beast, and the False Prophet, into such tumultuous alarm, that their several governments should seek to excite the whole world simultaneously to war? The answer to this important question will form thesubject of the third part of the prophecy of this Sixth Vial.


 

(*) 500 Million today.

(**) The term "Frog-Emperor" refers to Napoleon III of France, who as Louis Napoleon, becamePresident of France in 1848 after the abdication of Louis Phillippe. On the formation of the Second Empire in 1852, he appointed himself Emperor and took the title of Napoleon III. He was a nephew of Napoleon I, and hoped to gain popularity and power by the use of his family name and the nostalgic appeal to the "Napoleonic Legend". His rule came to an end with the disastrous defeat of France at the hands of the Prussians in 1870. This, like 1848, became another "remarkable year" in which prophecy was dramatically fulfilled. The success of the Prussians brought them to the forefront of the German nations, and the Second Reich (Germany) came into existence. The defeat of the French by the Prussians permitted the unification of Italy, followed by the termination of the temporal power of the Papacy. This was a terminal date for the 1260 year period (Dan. 7:25) according to the Papal times. The Emperor Phocas in AD 607-610 gave power to the Papacy, and 1870 saw the termination of its temporal power. Hitler established what he called the Third Reich which linked modern Germany with the past. The first Reich was the Holy Roman Empire; the 2nd was the Germany establish by the efforts of Bismarch in 1870, and the Third was that established by Hitler. So Germany took over from Austria the role of the Beast of the Book of Revelation. This was after the original publication of Eureka; but was anticipated by its Author — Publishers.

(***) The French were compelled through their defeat at the hands of the Prussians in 1870 to withdraw from Italy thus paving the way for Italian independence — Publishers.

(****) Rome did actually become capital of Italy in 1870, when the French were forced to withdraw their troops from the city because of their disastrous defeat in the Franco-Prussian war. Italian revolutionaries then entered Rome and took the city, placing Victor Emmanuel of Sardinia on the throne. This, we believe, was prophetically necessary in order to provide a revolutionary political voice of intrigue to issue from the "mouth of the false prophet" as required by The Apocalypse (Rev. 16:13). The horns associated with the revived Beast uf^the Sea, the Western European powers, are required to first "hate the whore and make her desolate and naked," and afterwards to "agree and give their kingdom unto the beast" (Rev. 17:16-17). In consequence, at the epoch of its judgment at the hands o f Christ, Babylon the Great is seen triumphantly riding the beast (Rev. 17:3). The revival of a united Italy provided the means for this. Following World War I, Mussolini came to power in Italy, and in 1929 through the Lateran Treaty, revived the temporal power of the Papacy by granting Papal autonomy over the Vatican. After World War II, the Common Market was brought into existence by the Treaty of Rome in 1957, providing the means whereby the horns of the West began to "give their kingdom unto the beast". Today, Europe is divided into two parts answering to the two feet of the Image seen by Nebuchadnezzar, the Common Market is laying the foundation for the full manifestation of the "beast" of The Apocalypse, whilst the international influence and prestige of the Papacy are more widespread than at any time in its history. The Author of Eureka died on 5th March, 1871 so he did not see the remarkable political developments that have vindicated his interpretation of The Apocalypse — Publishers.

(*****)This has provided the means for the extension of political prestige and power on the part of the Pope, which is today a significant sign of the times. — Publishers.

 

 


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