Pastor Bohr spends extensive time on what Revelation 12:17 means by the phrase "the commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus" that the end-time church will possess. He makes fascinating comparisons between John the Baptist, whose mission in heralding the first coming of Christ came at the end of the 70-week section of the 2,300 day prophecy of Daniel 8, and the work of Ellen G. White, who was given messages at the end of the 2,300 day prophecy to prepare a people for the soon second coming of Jesus.
There are many new and fresh insights to be found here and this study will bring Revelation 12 to your understanding in a sensible, well-organized and enlightening way.
Revelation 13
In this striking and informative study of Revelation 13, Pastor Bohr first explains the importance of understanding its structure, which reveals three cycles in it that need to be compared in order to shed light on what the chapter means in regards to the wound of the first beast and its healing by the second beast. He then shows the importance of comparing this chapter with the final events in the life of Christ, in order to see an example of what will be repeated on a worldwide scale in His followers in the end times as they face the wrath of the beast. He also compares it with Daniel 2 and the importance of understanding what the clay represents in the image there.
Questions this study deals with include:
1) Why does the first beast in this chapter have its symbolic animals listed in reverse order of their listing in Daniel 7 and why, unlike the beasts in Daniel 7, is it composed of all four beasts blended into one conglomerate beast?
2) Why are there 7 heads on this beast, how do they differ from the 10 horns, and do they rise consecutively or appear all at once in history?
3) Are the same nations that composed the 10 horns at the beginning of the reign of this beast, the same ones that stay on it throughout history, or do they vary over time?
4) What is meant by the wounding of this beast by a sword and what needs to happen in order for that wound to finally be fully healed?
5) Did the signing of a treaty with Mussolini in 1929 heal the wound made in 1798 to the Papacy, as many claim it did, and which country is identified in prophecy as the one that will be the catalyst which will fully heal that wound?
Pastor Bohr shares some fascinating history of the various victories and setbacks experienced by the Papacy after 1798, as well as reading several quotes on how the Papacy is little-by-little gaining its lost power back and how they are promoting Sunday sacredness.
Concerning the second beast in Revelation 13, Pastor Bohr:
1) Discusses the meaning of the term "earth" that the second beast rises up from.
2) Compares the stories of Elijah on Mt. Carmel and the falling of tongues of fire at Pentecost with the earth beast causing the falling of fire from heaven in the end.
3) Shows how all three beasts in Revelation 12-13 represent in their different forms the power and lasting influence of the Roman Empire.
4) Compares the story of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar set up in Daniel 3 with the image made by the second beast in honor of the first beast in Revelation 13 and then identifies the meaning of this image.
5) Shares many important quotes from Roger Williams and America's Founding Fathers that show how America arrived at implementing the separation of church and state and describes how some revisionist historians today are trying to say that our Founders actually did not believe in their separation (This extensive section alone is worth the price of the set).
6) Explains the vital differences between Colonial America and Constitutional America.
7) Discusses in detail the meaning of the two lamblike horns on the second beast and how the voice of the dragon already was speaking in opposing those two horns right from the inception of this country, as seen in how some of our important Founders wrote and promoted bills that would have punished Sabbath-breakers, at the very same time that they pushed for religious freedom! This will happen as well in the end, when America will still hold a profession of separation of church and state, while at the same time contradicting themselves with passing restrictive mark-of-the-beast laws.
8) Discusses how two stories in Daniel illustrate the First Amendment's establishment clause and free exercise clause and how they will both be ignored in the last days.
9) Gives the definition of the word "Papacy" and the two-fold meaning of what that term represents.
10) Compares Elijah and John the Baptist's experiences with the end time three-fold union of the dragon, beast and false prophet.
11) Discusses several events in recent American history which illustrate a growing tendency to join church and state and to bring Protestants and Catholics together as one in ecumenical common causes, and provides several important quotes from modern religious leaders who believe that the principle of strict separation of church and state is very harmful and needs to be discarded.
12) Reveals how modern forms and understanding of prophetic interpretation about who the beast is and how and when he appears on earth are being shifted further and further away from the historicist method of interpreting Bible prophecy that Protestants once used to use in their view of identifying the beast.
13) Discusses the validity of the two opposing views concerning whether the Papal title "Vicarius Filii Dei" is connected with Revelation's 666 prophecy or not, and whether those Christians, including some modern Seventh-day Adventists, who now say that the Papacy has changed, and that we no longer have to fear its power and religious persecution of dissenters anymore, are correct or are deceiving themselves.
14) Shows how the number 666 can be found in the study of the worship structure of ancient Babylon and in the dimensions of Nebuchadnezzar's golden image.
