The changes that occurred in the Roman Empire as it developed over the centuries and went out of vogue are the topic of today's discussion. I'm Dr. Fred, you're listening to another episode of StudyGroKnow. Welcome to Study, Grow, Know, where we discuss theology, prophecy, and current political issues from a conservative biblical perspective. Here's your host, Dr. Fred DeRuvo. We've discussed how the Roman Empire went through various changes, first splitting into two legs, the Eastern and the Western, and from there we noted that each leg had a different ruler. The western leg was actually ruled by Germanic tribes and then Charlemagne became what was known as the Holy Roman Emperor. Following Charlemagne, the western leg became simply the Holy Roman Empire, essentially controlled by the Roman Catholic Church. This ultimately gave way to what we have today, the European Union. The eastern leg was originally controlled by Emperor Diocletian and the Tetrarchy. Diocletian was the individual who actually began to focus on the eastern part of the eastern leg of the Roman Empire and from there it was Constantine and the Byzantine Empire and this eventually succumbed and gave way to the Ottoman Empire and Turkish rule. The final stage of the eastern leg is really no empire at all but a mass of Islamic countries composed of Muslims doing their best to bring forth the next caliphate and that's Islamic rule throughout the world. A caliphate is Islamic and it is ruled by a caliph or one leader. Now we noted already that because of Islam's inability to cooperate with other groups, the final stage of the fourth beast, the 10 toes that is still yet ahead of us in the future, will easily be defined as iron Islam mixed with clay, the rest of the populace. Now I know that there are numerous commentators who take a different view, but this is the view that I'm taking and it seems to make biblical sense to me. Now, this tension between Islam and the rest of the world is going to last until Jesus returns. Now, as for the countries represented by each of the toes, it's our best guess that the countries we've listed in the charts that I talk about in my book, Rome Rising, which is available on Amazon.com, Those countries are listed there in the charts, and I believe that those countries are the best guess we can come up with. Am I dogmatic on that? No, not at all. But for instance, I believe that the five toes on the right foot comprise Spain, Britain, France, Italy, Germany, and the five toes on the left foot or the eastern leg of what was considered the Roman Empire will be made up by Turkey, Syria, Egypt, Iran, Iraq. Now, again, you know, that's just my best guess. It could be a different set of countries, but I also believe that there will be Islamic rule in those countries. And the countries are very well represented. And it's interesting, especially if you look at the Western leg of the old Roman Empire, those countries there, let me repeat them again, Spain, Britain, France, Italy, Germany, these are currently in the European Union. And it's also interesting to note that those countries maintain the largest voting bloc out of all the 28 countries and growing that are now part of the EU. Again, these are just best guesses. So don't take my words as verbatim and quote them as if they are the truth dogmatic. These are best educated guesses. Now, the next four verses of Revelation 13, and we've gone over a section of it already, is interesting to say the least, and I believe it's where folks get the idea that verse 3 speaks of a man, not an empire. It states this, they worshipped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast, and they worshipped the beast, saying, who's like the beast? Who's able to wage war with him? Now, because this verse It appears as though it points back to the beast and the fact that though the beast appeared dead, it was now alive again. That could well be, but I also wonder if the people worship the beast. because of the fact that it has accomplished a number of things as it grew to maturity or came back from the dead. For instance, and let's consider this, this last beast, what we'll call the Revised Roman Empire. We don't know what it will be called in society when it matures, when it comes back to life, but we're going to call it the Revised Roman Empire. Now, this particular beast obviously must become dominant in the world. And in order to do so, things like Christianity have to be either ignored or punished, put down in some way. And the world is rapidly moving toward that end. As I'm speaking, we have Christians in Islamic countries that are being persecuted to death, many of them, hundreds of them. Here in America, I just wrote an article at For Truth's Sake, a blog of mine, that highlighted the fact that a high school in Texas gives a room and allows Muslim students to pray during the day. They have five calls of prayer. They're allowed to go in there to pray during the day, but that would not be the case. We know this would not be the case. if Christians were given that type of room to exercise their freedom of religion. The world is rapidly moving toward the point of ostracizing, defeating outward displays of Christianity. Now we also know about Hobby Lobby and they presented their arguments before the Supreme Court and They did not want to have to be forced to provide health insurance that includes prescriptive medication that would forcibly abort unborn babies. Now we know what they went through. The Supreme Court barely sided with Hobby Lobby and so they do not have to provide that type of insurance to the people who are employed in Hobby Lobby. But Hobby Lobby is owned by a Christian family. They don't want to be forced to provide things to their employees that go against their own particular religious beliefs. And if an employee has an abortion on their own, I'm sure while the Christian owners wouldn't like it, it wouldn't be something they were part of because the employee made the decision and paid for it or used federal funds to have that abortion. Hobby Lobby objected to the federal government saying that the health insurance they offer to employees and subsidize must include medication that causes abortions. And this is one way that the federal government is running roughshod over Christians and Christianity. And at the same time, this same federal government has opened the door wide for Muslims in Islam. Apparently there's no issue regarding separation of church and state when it comes to the religion of Islam, but there's an issue when it deals with Christianity. Why is that? Well, it's simply because the traditional biblical beliefs that created America need to be overturned. And the best way to do that is to attack the source of those beliefs, which is Christianity that's based on the Bible. Now, throughout the world, Satan is rising up against God and those who belong to him. This should definitely not come as a shock to any of us because Jesus warned us, as did Paul, Peter, and other writers of the New Testament. As a matter of fact, in the Old Testament, we see the heinousness of the end times in stark contrast to the goodness of God in Jesus's own personal reign during the millennial kingdom. But the federal government is wanting to force Christians to align themselves with policies and laws that are opposed to God's law. Or non-Christians attempting to put Christians who own businesses out of business. It's clear that the attacks have begun in earnest. Not only will Satan not stop, by the way, but he will continue his efforts to box in and defeat Christians as the time draws closer for his final demise. He knows his time is short. And he's not going to waste any of it. Now, in essence, the tone of civility in society is being removed and has been an ongoing problem for many decades. We can go back to the late 50s, early 60s to see how things bubbled over into society. And it really took hold in the 60s. I believe that it is now reaching a near fever pitch. And the goal is so close that those in Satan's kingdom of darkness can taste it. They want Christianity stopped, defeated, and erased from society because it is a constant reminder of how far they themselves have fallen from God. If you want to read the situation that they go through, read Romans 1. Refresh your memory on that. Christianity is something that people have no real answer to, though they certainly believe they do. People like Richard Dawkins, for them it's a slam-dunk case of Christianity being wrong, God does not exist, evolution is the answer. I don't even truly believe that people understand their anger toward Christianity and Christians. For those who have that anger, their reaction is characteristic of Satan's anger because he knows his time is short as I've said. The people who reflect that same anger have no real clue as to why they feel the way they do. They just feel it. They can't help it. It's part of them. I believe when things reach critical mass and what is now being held back is released, and that's 2 Thessalonians 2, 6-7, all heck, all bad things, hell, will literally break loose in society. we get that very strong impression from reading 2 Thessalonians 2. The fact that people are worshiping the beast here may be due to the fact that the beast is seen as the one who is going to vanquish outwardly Christianity. And for the lost people of this world, that would certainly be something to get excited about, wouldn't it? And we know that during the final stages of this fourth beast, the world will be different. It will come under the power of Satan's deception. Interestingly enough, God says that he himself will cause the delusion to be so strong that people will believe the lie. In fact, it will be so strong that if it were possible, even the elect would be deceived. Of course, the implication is that it is not possible, and you can check that out in Matthew 24, 24 and Mark 13, 22. I'm not sure we can fully appreciate the power of such A strong deception. But I do believe that we have seen the beginnings of it with the election of President Obama and his re-election. Think about how during the first run of office, people seemed unable to think logically. When he was first running to be elected the first time, their emotion carried them. They ignored the red flags. They ignored things like his absolute and unfailing support for abortion. He was a good speaker, almost hypnotic. He would say things like, change is coming. And while no one knew what that specifically meant, he never bothered to explain it in detail. He preferred to allow people to come up with their own ideas about what it meant. Since President Obama has taken office, we've heard one celebrity after another talk about how wonderful he is, how great he is. Jamie Foxx at one point referred to President Obama as our Lord and Savior. Most people in the audience clapped at his remark during his stand-up routine. Chris Rock said that we should do what the President Obama wanted because we should see him as though he's our father, the boss of the country. Sorry, that's not what the Constitution says it is not the type of power that it gives him. And more recently, Russell Crowe called President Obama the light in the future. Not only do too many celebrities speak highly of President Obama, but it's rare to hear a negative word coming from the press. It's almost as though it's wrong to speak against President Obama because he is considered sacrosanct. Yet no other president has enjoyed such privilege and has always been fair game. This is a problem that seems to have only gotten worse during his second term. There's a great deal of protecting going on as if it borders on illegal to speak against President Obama. I believe this has to do with those that were trying hard to protect him because they still have a good deal of work for him to do before the end of his second term. I'm talking about globalists. I also believe it's the start of the delusion that is overtaking this country. and will eventually overtake the world. It's a delusion that refuses to die and seems to be getting stronger. When President Obama does things that are seen as illegal, bypassing the Constitution for many, many times, Congress doesn't know how to respond. They then try to pass a law that's designed to force Obama to obey and observe the law created by Representative Trey Gowdy, Republican, South Carolina. The whole thing is lawless to the nth degree. If members of Congress feel the need to create law that is designed to force President Obama to obey the law, then it's clear that they believe he's outside the law. This makes him a lawless president, something that the coming Antichrist will be. He's called the man of lawlessness. I'm not saying that President Obama is the Antichrist. I'm simply saying that many of the things he does or attempts to do are outside the law. And that's our show for today. Pretty fast, pretty quick. Thanks for joining me. Tune in again next time. And until we meet again, I pray that the Lord will open your eyes to show you how blessed you are. You've been listening to Study, Grow, Know with Dr. Fred DeRuvo. Please join us each week for new broadcasts that deal with theology, prophecy, and political issues from a biblical, conservative perspective.