The ninth resurrection of the Roman Empire under Mussolini and Hitler has ended, and one more revival is prophesied to occur. That last revival of the ancient Roman Empire has been in the making for quite some time, and its final configuration is not that far off.
 
According to the book of Daniel and the book of Revelation, the last European revival of the ancient Roman Empire will be a unification of ten nations or groups of nations, which will give their power to the “beast”—a charismatic political and military leader. This political power bloc will be collaborating with a mighty Church organization claiming to be Christian, but it is a fallen church which has rejected the truth of God and has aligned itself with the political powers of this present evil world.
 
The last resurrection of the Roman Empire has already begun. And politicians KNOW that they are resurrecting the ancient Roman Empire.
 
On October 29, 2004, the member states of the EU signed the EU Constitution. Even though it was not ratified by all member states and therefore did not become law (it was later replaced by the Treaty of Lisbon, which became effective on December 1, 2009, and which included many of the provisions of the EU Constitution), it is still interesting where the EU Constitution was signed.
 
The EuObserver wrote on October 29, 2004: “Symbolically, the ceremony [took] place in the same room as the signing of the original Treaty of Rome by the then six member states – France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg – in 1957.”
 
The original Treaty of Rome in 1957 gave birth to the unification of Europe. Der Stern Online wrote that that First Roman Treaty signalized “the beginning of the success story of Europe.”
 
The idea of a united Europe is very much alive. European politicians want it—it is the people who are concerned. But the time will come when the European politicians will have their say. Europe is destined to become a super power. The dream of a united Europe has been around for some time. According to Der Stern Online of March 25, 2004, ‘Voltaire said in 1767 that Europe will become a great republic of cultivated spirits. Shortly thereafter, Immanuel Kant spoke of a European House. In 1849, Victor Hugo coined enthusiastically the phrase, ‘United States of Europe’ – a slogan that was later used by Winston Churchill during a speech in 1943.”
 
But things really began to shape up with the introduction of the euro. On January 1, 1999, the euro was introduced. Today, it is one of the most powerful currencies in the world.
 
Business Week wrote on May 4, 1998: “The Euro will turn Europe into a Superpower.”
 
National Review wrote on October 26, 1998: “That monetary union is first and foremost a political project… French officials cite the Euro as a means by which to develop a global political counterweight to the world’s only superpower [the US]. Former Chancellor Helmut Schmidt says, ‘the arrival of the euro will… change the whole world situation so that the United States can no longer call all the shots.’”
 
Newsweek wrote in late 1998: “In January, the world will start getting used to a new currency. Whether you love the Euro or hate it, know this; nothing so big has ever happened before.”
 
Even though some European eurozone member states had and have to fight with economic hardship, it should have been clear to those who understand biblical prophecy that the euro was and is destined to survive—as it is the glue which binds together the Eurozone members politically.
 
On May 1, 2004, the (then) 25 member states of Europe celebrated the coming unification of Europe. Der Stern stated: “Great Europe is to become a world power – economically, culturally and perhaps even militarily.”
 
Mark Leonard wrote in “Why Europe Will Run the 21th Century (ed. 2005, page 7): “By creating the largest single internal market in the world, Europe has become an economic giant that, according to some calculations, is already the biggest in the world.”
 
The EUObserver wrote on July 16, 2008: “In 2005, the US was supplanted as the world’s largest single market by the EU… Many American firms suddenly had this new beast to deal with—the EU.”
 
And a beast it is—biblically speaking.
 
Very soon, ten core nations or groups of nations will rule continental Europe.  Although presently 27 member states exist, there is already much talk about a Europe of two speeds, or of the necessity to establish powerful core nations to rule the rest of Europe. Remember, the Bible speaks about 10 nations or groups of nations—not 27 or more members.
 
Der Spiegel Online wrote on June 16, 2008:
 
“Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker said… that it was time for a ‘Club of the Few.’ Former German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer likewise wrote… that ‘those who want political integration should move forward and those who are happy with just a common market should be left behind.’”
 
According to The Local, dated June 7, 2012, “Chancellor Angela Merkel said… that she would work towards a European political union even if that meant a two-speed approach.”
 
The EUObserver wrote on June 29, 2012: “… the phenomenon of a two-speed Europe not only becomes a fact of increased likelihood, but it is more and more politically acknowledged and approved.”
 
In fact, a core Europe already exists.
 
Der Spiegel Online wrote on December 19, 2005: “When EU finance ministers meet, the 12 ministers from the euro zone hold talks among themselves before they meet the [other] colleagues whose countries haven’t adopted the euro. In that pre-meeting, the most important decisions for the euro zone are made.”
 
Mark Leonard wrote in 2005 in “Why Europe Will Run the 21th Century,” on page 108: “There are already three ambitious projects that do not include all of the EU’s… members: the eurozone…; the Schengen agreement, which allows passport free travel…; and the Western European Union, Europe’s defence identity…”
 
Notice this statement, which was published in The Berliner Zeitung, dated July 2, 2008: “The idea of a core Europe or a two-speed Europe is not at all the heresy that some make it out to be. It has long been reality: Many states do not participate in one of the key issues of European integration: the single currency.”
 
There is strong historical and biblical indication that Britain will not be part of the final unification of Europe. The EUObserver hinted at this development, when it wrote on March 10, 2007: “The EU should go ahead and further integrate without the UK… Belgium’s prime minister Guy Verhofstadt has said. He added that [under certain circumstances], ‘the European Union must progress without Great Britain.’”
 
The Wall Street Journal wrote on May 24, 2007, that “Ms. Merkel’s team considers Britain one of the biggest obstacles to any agreement.”
 
According to a statement by former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt in 2004, core Europe might NOT include Britain, but he felt that it would include countries like France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. However, this assessment might not be entirely correct. Certainly, countries like Germany, Italy France, Spain and Austria will be part of the core European configuration, and it is very likely that countries such as Poland and Hungary will be part of it. Whether Greece will be a part of it is not certain at all, but it is virtually assured that Britain won’t be a part of it.
 
In regard to Poland, Der Spiegel Online wrote on May 25, 2012: “Poland… has become the most astonishing success story in Eastern Europe. Relations between Berlin and Warsaw have never been better…  Berlin is already Warsaw’s biggest [trading] partner.”
 
Regarding Italy, the EUObserver wrote on March 4, 2013: “Italy indeed is a difficult beast to understand—let alone tame—for the other European countries, but it is an anchor, not an iceberg, for the European integration process.”
 
Regarding Britain, The Associated Press wrote on January 24, 2013:
 
“British Prime minister David Cameron wants nothing to do with a United States of Europe… Many in the EU, particularly among the 17 countries that use the euro, are on a drive for closer political unification, and that’s raised particular concerns recently in Britain… Britain’s relations with Europe have been strained since the end of World War II… It has stood against many efforts to forge closer ties, notably the creation of the euro…” Mail Online added on January 18, 2013: “… the EU’s mission for ‘ever closer union’ has always meant ultimately creating a federal superstate, something that is unacceptable to most Britons.”
 
And so, while Italy—a “beast”—will be part of the core nations of Europe, it is highly unlikely that Britain will be part of it. In fact, more and more voices are being heard insisting that the UK should leave the EU voluntarily or involuntarily. A vast majority of the British people are against the idea that their country should even stay in the EU.  In fact, Britain is not part of the 17 European states presently in the Eurozone, and it is virtually certain that it will not adopt the euro. This is of great biblical significance, because the Bible says that in the very end, the European power bloc, under the leadership of the “beast,” will fight a war against Britain.
 
Europe, under its core member states, will also become a strong and powerful military union. Europe’s leaders realize that a strong political union necessitates a unified European army. We have seen Europe—and Germany—getting more and more involved militarily in non-European countries. As America’s influence diminishes, Europe sees the need to fill the vacuum.
 
Under the headline, “German Chancellor Favors Creation of European Army,” Deutsche Welle reported on March 23, 2007:
 
“The European Union should move towards forming a common army, Germany’s Angela Merkel said in an interview focusing on the chancellor’s vision for the future of the bloc. Just ahead of weekend celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, the foundations of the European Union, Chancellor Merkel said she envisioned a single European army for the future of the 27-member bloc in the next decades. ‘We need to get closer to a common army for Europe,’ she told the mass-circulation Bild newspaper… The call for a European armed forces is not new. Last year, Polish President Lech Kaczynski said his country wanted a new 100,000-strong European army created to work with NATO in trouble spots in the world or to defend Europe.”
 
Under the headline, “European Army Backed,” The Sydney Morning Herald wrote the following on September 20, 2012:
 
“Germany, France and nine of Europe’s most powerful countries have called for an elected European Union president and an end to Britain’s veto over defence policy, in a radical blueprint for the continent’s future… As well as calling for a single, elected head of state for Europe, the bloc demanded a new defence policy, under the control of a pan-EU foreign ministry commanded by Baroness Ashton, which ‘could eventually involve a European army’. In order to ‘prevent one single member state from being able to obstruct initiatives’, a reference to British opposition to a European army, the German-led group demanded an end to existing national vetoes over foreign and defence policy… The plan, which has the backing of Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Holland, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg and Portugal, is likely to increase calls for a British referendum on EU membership.”
 
The core member states of Europe will become militarily strong (Daniel 2:42), but at first, they will not be totally unified. The Bible says that their unification will be “fragile” (same verse). It will take the arrival of the “beast” to create a short-lived military unification “of one mind” (Revelation 17:12-13), which will be hostile towards Jesus Christ (verse 14).
 
As we will explain in much detail in subsequent installments, the European political unification will be closely connected with the Roman Catholic Church. In a sense, the Roman Church has been influencing the European unification process to a certain degree all along. As The Telegraph wrote in 1991: “The Common Market itself started under the inspiration of Catholic politicians—such as Adenauer of Germany, Paul-Henri Spaak, Jean Monnet and Robert Schumann… They were all deeply influenced by Catholic social teaching.”
 
Monnet believed in the Catholic vision that Europe should become a federal superstate. The Financial Times wrote on May 22, 1995, that the “idea of a united Europe” has been viewed as “essentially a Catholic concept.”
 
In the next installment, we will discuss the characteristics of and other interesting facts about the future political and military European leader, called “the beast” in biblical prophecy.
 
(To Be Continued)
 
Lead Writer: Norbert Link

The ninth, but short-lived revival of the ancient Roman Empire occurred under Mussolini and Hitler. In the previous installment, we concentrated on Mussolini. In this installment, we will discuss some little-known facts about his ally Adolf Hitler and his magical beliefs and demonic powers.

In our free booklet, “Europe in Prophecy,” we list several incidents showing that Hitler was demon-possessed. Additional astonishing facts will be presented in this installment, quoting extensively from Paul Roland’s book, “The Nazis and the Occult.” When addressing the revival of the Roman Empire under Otto the Great, we discussed the “holy lance” and other insignias of the Holy Roman Empire. Hitler had a morbid and superstitious fascination with the lance, as the aforementioned book explains:

“The spearhead, known officially as the Sword of St Maurice, was rumored to be the Holy Lance or Spear of Longinus with which a Roman centurion had pierced the side of Jesus… Charlemagne…, the first Holy Roman Emperor, was said to have attributed his unbroken string of victories to his possession of the spear. He died shortly after it had fallen from his hand… A similar fate befell the 12th-century German conqueror Frederick Barbarossa who dropped the spear while crossing a river in Asia Minor and was immediately struck down and killed. In between, no fewer than 45 emperors had carried it before them ensuring victory on the battlefield and in the senate… The first written reference to the Hofburg spear appeared in the ancient Saxon Chronicle recording the battle of Leck in which Otto the Great triumphed over the Mongols…”

The book goes on to report about Hitler’s fascination with the spear which he visited twice in 1913, when it was kept in the library and treasury of the Hofburg Museum. He later wrote that “the spear appeared to be some sort of magical medium of revelation… I felt as though I myself had held it in my hands before in some earlier century of history—that I myself had once claimed it as my talisman of power and held the destiny of the world in my hands.”

This statement alone might point to Hitler’s possession with a demon that indeed would have lived in previous centuries.

Whether or not the “holy lance” can be traced back to the times of Jesus Christ, it would of course not have any magical powers. But those who believe in such “supernatural protection” can receive some temporary “protection” from demons, which was undoubtedly the case in many instances during the history of the revivals of the Holy Roman Empire.

While gazing at the spear, Hitler claimed that he had a vision, which many feel was “a vision of the future in which he saw himself entering Vienna in triumph on the day Austria was assimilated into the Reich on 12 March 1938… and it was on that day that he ordered the removal of the Hapsburg regalia [including the spear] to Germany aboard an armoured train…”

The book also claims that during a séance which was attended, among others, by the future editor-in-chief of the official Nazi newspaper, the “Voelkische Beobachter,” a “disembodied head of [a dead German] prince [that is, a demon] declared that the new leader of Germany would claim the Holy Lance and embark on a campaign of world conquest.” During the same seance, another “female spirit” [that is, another demon pretending to be the spirit of a dead female person] announced “the imminent arrival of the messiah for whom they had been waiting so long. But she added a warning that their new leader would be exposed as a false prophet and would drag the nation into the abyss.”

That all of this was of demonic origin, there is no doubt. Demons are lying spirits, who sometimes pretend to be the ghosts of dead persons, as was the case of a demon pretending to be Samuel, when he appeared to the witch of Endor who was visited by King Saul. But demons know the future, and sometimes they tell the truth [as the demon pretending to be Samuel accurately foretold Saul that he would die soon], but many times they lie or tell only portions of the truth, mingled with much error. The problem is, one never knows when which is which, and the Bible warns us, of course, not to conduct or attend séances or consult mediums or to have anything to do with the demonic world.

As mentioned, when Hitler declared the annexation or “Anschluss” of Austria, he had the “holy lance” and the other insignias removed from Austria to Germany. When the Americans discovered and claimed them in 1945, Hitler coincidentally killed himself less than two hours later. Some say he did so since the “magical spell” of the lance had left him. All of this superstition can be traced back to a belief that the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire was himself holy.

An interesting episode is recorded, pertaining to Hitler’s desire to rescue Mussolini who had been imprisoned by rivals in Mussolini’s fascist party:

“Within days, Himmler ordered the SS Intelligence Service to locate Mussolini using every variety of ‘occult science’ at their disposal. This prompted the Gestapo to round up the most reliable astrologers and radiesthesists (pendulum diviners) in the Reich for a top secret summit at Wannsee, where they were plied with food and drink and ordered to identify the location within 24 hours—or face the consequences.”

This reminds us of Nebuchadnezzar’s demand of his astrologers to declare to him a dream and its meaning, but while the magicians at his time were unable to do this, the demon-inspired and possessed magicians at Hitler’s time were apparently successful, because they produced the required answer within hours, leading to the rescue of Mussolini through German paratroopers.

Before his death, Hitler had repeatedly denounced not only the Catholic Church, but also Christianity and the entire Bible, while announcing his intention to tear up Christianity and replace it with a pagan religion. “The new German religion would worship Wotan… and the congregation would accept Adolf Hitler as their messiah,” while rejecting Jesus Christ. He stated that the Bible is “the old Jewish swindle… one is either a German or a Christian. You cannot be both.” The purpose of his famous “Cathedral of Light” was to “create the illusion of a magical temple,” and the Nuremberg Rallies were actually “an invocation of Mars, the pagan God of War,” with Hitler being “the High Priest.”

Hitler’s and his Nazi followers’ beliefs in astrology, the occult and witchcraft is well-known. The Bible shows that the final revival of the ancient Roman Empire will be brought about by demonic forces. Both major leaders—the beast and the false prophet—will be demonically possessed. As legend has it that the holy lance and the other insignias of the Holy Roman Empire are waiting for another “Holy Roman Emperor of the German Nation,” who is to say whether they will not play a “mystical” role again during the last resurrection of the ancient Roman Empire under German or Austrian leadership.

(To Be Continued)
Lead Writer: Norbert Link

The eighth resurrection of the Roman Empire under Napoleon had come and gone. According to the Bible, two more revivals would have to take place before Christ could come back. And so, the ninth, but short-lived revival occurred in the 20th century, over 100 years after Napoleon, under Mussolini and Hitler.

The Ninth Revival under Mussolini and Hitler

Technically, it was Benito Mussolini under whom the ninth revival of the Roman Empire took place, but he was of course greatly supported in this by Adolf Hitler.

The Living World of History states the following about Mussolini:

“Benito Mussolini, the son of a blacksmith, was a man of violent and boastful character, fiery patriotism and flaming ambition. Supported by the bludgeon of his blackshirted Fascist gangs (named after fasces, or rods, which in ancient Roman times had been carried before the chief magistrates), he seized power in 1922 and set himself up as dictator… He even entertained fantastic ideas about reviving the glory of the ancient Roman Empire. In 1935-6, cynically disregarding the solemn covenant of the League of Nations, he invaded and annexed Abyssinia [modern Ethiopia]…”

John Kirshon, a journalist/editor with more than 25 years of experience at the Associated Press, The New York Times and CBS News, wrote the following in March of 2010:

“With financial support from employers squeezed by trade unions and corrupt politicians, Mussolini developed a loyal following among disenchanted, angry, mostly lower-middle-class conservatives and veterans, as well as the military, the business elite, and the right wing. He promised them he would end disorder and corruption, and recreate the glory of the Roman Empire… Among his admirers was Adolf Hitler, who introduced the Roman salute to his Nazis and dressed his bodyguard in black shirts… [Mussolini’s] dream of a new Roman Empire led to the conquest of Ethiopia in 1935-36 in defiance of the League of Nations. In 1936, he sent troops to support General Franco in the Spanish Civil War. In 1939, he invaded Albania. By the end of the 1930s, Mussolini had moved closer to Hitler and Nazi Germany.

“Although wary of German power, Mussolini agreed to the Rome-Berlin Axis, or Pact of Steel, and on June 10, 1940, led Italy into World War II on the side of the Axis… King Victor Emmanuel discharged Mussolini as head of state on July 25, 1943. He was arrested and jailed, but rescued by German commandos. Then, he became head of the Hitler-installed Italian Social Republic in northern Italy…

“Grandeur for Mussolini meant empire building. In 1934 Mussolini said, ‘After the Rome of the Caesars, after that of the Popes, today there is a new Rome, Fascist Rome’… His dream was to be called Mare Nostrum or, ‘Our Mediterranean’, extending from Palestine to Egypt and throughout parts of Africa… Mussolini’s recreation of a Roman Empire was commemorated by the monumental construction of the Via dell’Impero.

“Mussolini attempted to turn monuments of Augustan Rome into symbols of the fascist doctrine. His goals in doing so were to validate his role as the founder of a new Roman empire … He recognized in himself a parallel to the Roman emperors, Augustus in particular… During the speech he delivered upon the installation of the first fascist governor of Rome on December 31st, 1925, he made his plans for a new Rome public: ‘Within five years Rome must strike all the nations of the world as a source of wonder: huge, well organized, powerful, as it was at the time of the Augustan Empire….’

“The Via dell’Impero was opened in 1932 to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the March on Rome. The overall point of the imperial boulevard was to establish and promote a relationship between the glory of ancient Rome and Mussolini’s Fascist Regime. The broad thoroughfare physically connects the most identifiable ancient symbol of the Coliseum with Mussolini’s Fascist headquarters in Piazza Venezia. More importantly it was a figurative symbol to seamlessly show the continuity of the Roman Empire.”

The following is stated in “The History of Europe and the Church” (Worldwide Church of God, ed. 1984):

“He perceived himself as a modern-day Caesar… He shaves his head to make himself look more like Caesar… He dreams of a modern Roman Empire, of repeating the great days of ancient Rome. The handshake is abolished and the old Roman salute with raised arm becomes the official greeting… Following the example of ancient Rome, some of Mussolini’s Fascist supporters even call him ‘divine Caesar.’ [As we will see, he even came to believe himself to be a god.]… [Following Italy’s defeat of Ethiopia] Mussolini now proclaims another resurrection of the Roman Empire.”

Turning to Mussolini’s beliefs and his collaboration with the Catholic Church, we are introduced to remarkable facts.

The Wikipedia Encyclopedia writes:

“Mussolini was raised by a devoutly Catholic mother and an anti-clerical father. His mother Rosa had him baptized into the Roman Catholic Church, and took her children to services every Sunday… Mussolini would become anti-clerical like his father. As a young man, he ‘proclaimed himself to be an atheist and several times tried to shock an audience by calling on God to strike him dead.’… He believed that science had proven there was no God, and that the historical Jesus was ignorant and mad… Mussolini made vitriolic attacks against Christianity and the Catholic Church… Despite making such attacks, Mussolini would try to win popular support by appeasing the Catholic majority in Italy. In 1924, Mussolini saw that three of his children were given communion. In 1925, he had a priest perform a religious marriage ceremony for himself and his wife Rachele, whom he had married in a civil ceremony 10 years earlier.

“On 11 February 1929, he signed a concordat and treaty with the Roman Catholic Church. Under the Lateran Pact, Vatican City was granted independent statehood and placed under Church law—rather than Italian law—and the Catholic religion was recognized as Italy’s state religion. The Church also regained authority over marriage, Catholicism could be taught in all secondary schools, birth control and freemasonry were banned, and the clergy received subsidies from the state, and was exempted from taxation. Pope Pius XI praised Mussolini, and the official Catholic newspaper pronounced ‘Italy has been given back to God and God to Italy’…

“After the concordat… Mussolini reportedly came close to being excommunicated from the Catholic Church… Mussolini publicly reconciled with… Pope Pius XI in 1932, but ‘took care to exclude from the newspapers any photography of himself kneeling or showing deference to the Pope.’ He wanted to persuade Catholics that ‘[f]ascism was Catholic and he himself a believer who spent some of each day in prayer …’ The Pope began referring to Mussolini as ‘a man sent by Providence.’ Despite Mussolini’s efforts to appear pious, by order of his party, pronouns referring to him ‘had to be capitalized like those referring to God …’

“After his fall from power in 1943, Mussolini began speaking ‘more about God and the obligations of conscience’, although ‘he still had little use for the priests and sacraments of the Church.’ He also began drawing parallels between himself and Jesus Christ…”

“P.M. Biografie” wrote the following about Mussolini in March of 2008:

“As head of state, he reconciles with the Vatican, which increases his reputation among the people. Merely because of political reasons, he is married before the altar, and has his five children baptized. The pope… praises Mussolini as ‘the man whom Providence gave us’… Mussolini is worshipped as a god, his ministers are his high priests. He dreams of Rome as a metropolis as it existed during the times of Emperor Augustus… His headquarters is Rome and because of the immunity of the Vatican, he is safe from British bombs… Il Duce was during his glorious days more popular than anyone before or after him in the modern history of Italy.”

The book, “Kingdom of Europe,” added the following:

“The Lateran Pacts of 1929 consisted of a treaty between Italy and the Holy See and concordat regulating relations between the Italian state and the Catholic church. The treaty created the independent state of Vatican City and recognized the sovereignty of the pope there. In the concordat the church was assured of jurisdiction in ecclesiastical matters, and canon law was recognized as superseding the civil code in such areas as marriage. The church was restored to its role in education and allowed unencumbered operation of its press and communication facilities.”

In spite of his personal feelings towards the Catholic Church and his ambitions to be worshipped as a god and to restore the Roman Empire, we still see that he collaborated with the Church so much so that the pope praised him as a man sent by Providence—obviously a reference to God Himself. The competition between Church and State, which lasted throughout the history of the revivals of the Roman Empire, was also existent during the time of Mussolini and Hitler, and it will again be observable during the tenth and last revival.

Even though Mussolini actually declared publically the revival of the Roman Empire through him, this “revival” was short-lived and in no way comparable to the previous resurrections. This is the reason why the Bible describes it in Revelation 17:8-10 as the one which “is not, and yet is.” It says: “The beast… was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit… And those who dwell on the earth will marvel… when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is… The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits. There are also seven kings. Five [previous Church-State resurrections of the Roman Empire] have fallen, one is [the one under Mussolini], and the other has not yet come [the last revival]…”

In our free booklet, “Is That In the Bible? The Mysteries of the Book of Revelation,” we state that the ninth revival was the “comparatively insignificant Italian-German resurrection under Mussolini and Hitler (compare Revelation 17:10–11. Although this resurrection existed when God’s Church understood the meaning of this prophecy at the time of the late Herbert W. Armstrong [Revelation 17:10: “one IS”], it was very insignificant, so that it is also characterized as not existing [Revelation 17:11: “is NOT”].)

“Neither Mussolini nor Hitler were crowned by a Pope (as Justinian had not been, either); nevertheless, a close partnership existed between the Catholic Church under Pope Pius XII and Italy and Germany. This partnership can be seen by Mussolini’s signing the Lateran Treaty with the papacy in 1929, establishing papal sovereignty of the Vatican City, affirming Roman Catholicism as the only religion of Italy and, in turn, having the papacy officially recognize Mussolini as the rightful Italian governor. Further, the Vatican signed a concordat with Hitler in 1933, protecting the rights of the Church under Nazi regime and giving Hitler’s government an outward semblance of legitimacy.”

The ninth resurrection of the Roman Empire under Mussolini and Hitler had ended, and one more revival is prophesied to occur. That last revival of the ancient Roman Empire has been in the making for quite some time, and its final configuration is not that far off, as we will explain in future installments.

(To Be Continued)

Lead Writer: Norbert Link

Previously, we covered the first six revivals of the ancient Roman Empire, after its demise. The sixth revival under Otto the Great occurred about 962 A.D., but it too would come to an end. It would take more than 450 years after Otto’s death, before the next revival of the ancient Roman Empire would occur.

The Seventh Revival under Charles V of Habsburg

Charles V of Habsburg was crowned in 1530 A.D. by pope Clement VII as Holy Roman Emperor, and Germany could speak again “with its former authority in Europe,” as it had done under Otto the Great. According to P.M. History, Charles V ruled over an empire which never saw the setting of the sun. The Book, “The Living World of History” states:

“Charles V., who was crowned in [1530], dominated Europe… His grandfather, the Emperor Maximilian, had gained the Netherlands by marrying the heiress Mary of Burgundy. His father, Philip the Handsome, had espoused Joanna… [the] future heiress of Spain, the kingdom of Naples (embracing southern Italy) and Sicily and the growing Spanish dominions in the recently discovered New World. And the Habsburg family inheritance included Austria and other districts, as well as the imperial crown of Germany. Such was the colossal empire that Charles possessed when, at the age of twenty, he was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in [1530]… [But] when the Pope was intriguing… against Charles, his… troops sacked Rome and imprisoned the Pope…”

What this shows is that the relationship between the Catholic Church and the State was not always without problems, since both sides wanted to have dominion over the other party. In Charles’ case, “peace” was established again between Church and State. The afore-mentioned book continues:

“The advancing Turks (who had captured Constantinople in 1453) were a growing menace… Taking the field in person, he drove the Moslems back in Hungary and in 1535 [he] was acclaimed as the shining champion of Christendom when he captured Tunis in North Africa… After forty years of sovereignty… [he] abdicated the imperial throne in favour of his brother Ferdinand and retired to a Spanish monastery where, in 1558, he died. Ferdinand… received the Habsburg Austrian inheritance; Charles’s son Philipp II got the rest. So the great Habsburg empire fell into two parts, the Austrian and the Spanish…”

The collaboration between the pope and Charles V is also seen in the following example, as stated in the above-mentioned work, when dealing with the Reformation:

“In the sixteenth century, Western Europe, despite all its political and religious quarrels, had been united for a thousand years on a fundamental matter… the West was a single Christian community acknowledging the spiritual authority of the Pope… in 1520, the Pope issued a bull, or decree, of excommunication against [Martin Luther]. Luther’s reply was to burn it. Next year the pope called on Charles V to suppress him. Luther, refusing to retract his words, was outlawed.”

Here we see how in the past, the Church would excommunicate someone or call him “anathema”, and the State would come in to prosecute or outlaw such a person. Similar events are going to happen in the near future.

The book, “Kingdoms of Europe,” adds the following:

“In 1556 Charles V divided his realms with his son, Philip II of Spain, and his younger brother, Ferdinand, who succeeded him as Holy Roman emperor in 1558. Until the dissolution in 1806 of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, as the loose German confederation came to be called, the Austrian Habsburgs were concerned with internal German affairs and with the problems raised by the Reformation, the rising power of France, the almost constant Turkish threat, and the necessity for reorganizing and developing an administrative system for their territories. Austria itself was merely a headquarters for their activities. Usually a Habsburg was chosen Holy Roman emperor by the electors of the empire.”

However, the Habsburg empire after Charles V was in name only a continuance of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. For all practical purposes, its power diminished constantly after Charles V, until it only had a shadowy existence.

The above-mentioned work continues:

“The Habsburgs opposed the Reformation and made every attempt to destroy it; in the territory of Austria they were almost completely successful in preventing the new movement from gaining a foothold… Internally… the Habsburgs consolidated their rule and reestablished the supremacy of the Roman Catholic church…”

Even though the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation endured officially until 1806 when the last Habsburg emperor abdicated, it had long before ceased to exist as the seventh revival of the ancient Roman Empire. Another revival was to occur instead—the eighth revival under Napoleon Bonaparte.

The Eighth Revival under Napoleon

Many believe erroneously that Napoleon was French. However, this was really not the case.

In “Living World of History,” we read:

“It was only by chance that France’s greatest military genius was a Frenchman at all. Corsica, where he was born in 1769, had only been acquired by France from Genoa the year before. Actually Napoleon was the second son of a poor Corsican lawyer of noble and, probably, Italian decent… [Napoleon’s] whole career was to blaze him forth as a superman… He could work or ride for hours on end. Food and sleep seemed unnecessary to him. His ambitions, like his vanity and selfishness, were boundless. No moral scruples restrained him. No man must stand in his way… In 1804… Napoleon attained the glory of being crowned Emperor of the French.”

The work, “Kingdoms of Europe,” elaborates:

“… on December 2, 1804, he was crowned in Notre Dame in great splendor. The pope was present, but Bonaparte placed the crown on his own head [apparently with the prior consent of the pope, according to P.M. History]… and he gave his soldiers eagle standards, in memory of the old Roman Empire… [Subsequently] Napoleon’s desire was fulfilled, His new wife presented him with a little son to perpetuate his imperial line, and the boy was promptly crowned king of Rome… in 1814… the French Senate, which Napoleon himself had created merely to register the laws, sent notice to him that it had deposed him from the rank as emperor.”

In their tongue-in-cheek article, “Good that there was Napoleon,” PM wrote:

“In 1804 he crowned himself in the presence of the Roman pope as emperor of the French… by the grace of God and the will of the nation, out of his own will as Caesar, and anointed by the church as Charlemagne… He appeased the Catholics with a concordat… not only the French, but also more and more Europeans saw the empire of Napoleon I as the continuation of the Roman Empire such as the Empire of the Franks had been. Even and especially Germans supported and accepted the French Emperor (who deposed the German Emperor), including Karl Theodor von Dalberg of Mainz, the arch chancellor of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation… Soon, the new empire reached until the river Elbe—as had been the case under Charlemagne.”

P.M. History states that Napoleon believed to be Charlemagne—perhaps his reincarnation. He wrote in 1806: “Je suis Charlemagne” (“I am Charlemagne”). The magazine also states that three months before his coronation as Emperor, Napoleon travelled to Aachen to visit Charlemagne’s tomb and to pay homage to him.

Will and Ariel Durant, “The Story of Civilization—The Age of Napoleon,” point out the following:

“But he also thought, and often spoke, of Charlemagne, who, in a reign of forty-six years (768-814), had brought order and prosperity… and had won—or commanded—consecration by a Pope; had not he, Napoleon, done all these things? Had he not restored in France the religion that was checking the pagan riot let loose by the Revolution? Did he not, like Charlemagne, deserve the crown for life?…

“By 1801, it was generally agreed that the Holy Roman Empire, as Voltaire had said, was neither holy nor Roman nor an empire; that no important state recognized its authority, or the authority of the pope; that some new form of order and cooperation amid the chaos would have to be devised, accepted, or imposed. Napoleon accepted the challenge…

“On August 6 [1806] Francis officially declared the Holy Roman Empire dissolved, and renounced the Imperial title, remaining emperor of Austria. The glory of the Hapsburgs faded, and a new Charlemagne, ruling from France, assumed authority over western Germany” (pp. 193, 588, 590).

The following is stated in “The History of Europe and the Church” (Worldwide Church of God, ed. 1984):

“In 1799 the young hero returns from an expedition against the English in Egypt. He seizes power in a bold move, setting up a new government of three members. Borrowing a title from ancient Rome, he calls them consuls. He himself is First Consul—a virtual dictator at age 30… He dreams of being another Caesar… Napoleon dreams of a resurrected Roman-European civilization dominated by France… ‘ The influence of Rome is incalculable,’ he declares. ‘It was a serious error to break with this power’… In 1801 a concordat… is concluded between France and the Papacy.

“The Catholic Church again becomes the official church of France [His nephew, Napoleon III –some claim that he was Napoleon’s illegitimate son–would continue in the tradition of close collaboration between the French state and the pope, rescuing and assisting him against Italian revolutionists, such as Garibaldi.]… [After his coronation through the pope in 1804] Napoleon crowns himself again [in 1806], this time with the celebrated ‘iron crown’ of Lombardy. One of the great historic symbols of Europe, this crown had previously been worn by Charlemagne, Otto the Great and other European sovereigns…”

Historical books will tell you that the Holy Roman Empire ceased to exist in 1806. They fail to mention that this was just the shadowy existence of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, under the Habsburgs, but that in the meantime, Napoleon had already revived the Holy Roman Empire, but under French leadership.

The above-mentioned booklet explains:

“… it becomes clear that the Austrian-led Holy Roman Empire is dead. Napoleon… has usurped the Holy Roman Emperor’s primacy among European monarchs… On August 6, 1806, Holy Roman Emperor Francis II formally resigns his title and divests himself of the imperial crown… Technically, Napoleon has swept away the moribund Holy Roman Empire… but he perpetuates it, under a different name, for another eight years…

“In April 1810 Napoleon marries Archduchess Marie-Louise of Austria… [She] is a Habsburg princess, the eldest daughter of the last Holy Roman emperor… In March 1811 she bears Napoleon a long-desired son, who is given the title ‘King of Rome.’ … With the fall of Napoleon in 1814, the time-honored system of Roman-inspired government first resurrected by Justinian in A.D. 554 comes to an end after 1,260 years.”

The empire of Napoleon constituted indeed another revival of the ancient Roman Empire—in size and also in tradition. As mentioned, Napoleon wanted to be another Charlemagne and apparently believed that he was (the reincarnation of ) Charlemagne. (As we will see, Hitler seemed to have believed something similar). But Napoleon’s empire fell apart in 1814. Another revival was to occur in due time.

(To Be Continued)

Lead Writer: Norbert Link