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The Antichrist Most Definitely Is Not a Person! 5

Exarchate of Ravenna, which was conferred on the Papacy by Pepin in 755, the kingdom of the
Lombards which was conferred on the Papacy in 774, and the Roman senate itself which was taken
over by the Papacy in degrees. These Papal states were held by the Papacy until 1870 -- over 1000
years. These states ruled over Europe with no small amount of intrigue, war, bloodshed, immorality
and other adjuncts of political chicanery.

As the two-horned beast the Papacy became an empire in its own right. In the year 800,
when Charlemagne the Great came to Rome, the Pope crowned him Emperor of the Romans. There
could be no clearer picture of the image of the beast than the creation of the Holy Roman Empire.
This feudal society would last for over 1000 years until it was dismantled by Napoleon Bonaparte in
1804. During that 1000 or so years the Papacy truly wore out the saints of YEHOVAH and pre-
vailed against them. Uncounted numbers of people were put to death simply because they would
not worship the image of the beast. While masquerading as the “Vicar of Christ,” this beast (for so a
political power is styled in prophecy) waged wars, dominated politics, made kings, dethroned kings
and literally exercised supreme power over the lives and deaths of millions throughout the Papal
states and the image he made to the Roman Empire called the “Holy Roman Empire.”

The Image of the Beast

In studying Revelation 13 we see the picture of a pseudo religious-political organization re-
storing power to the Roman Empire. Historically, such events as we have just seen pictured did hap-
pen. We have noted that three of the ten kingdoms were subdued and absorbed by the Papacy. We
also saw the land grants of Pepin and Charlemagne and the usurpation of the Roman senate by the
Vatican. At the conclusion of this period -- in the year 800 -- Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne
emperor of the Romans. This act produced the image of the Roman Empire called the “Holy Roman
Empire.” It became the political framework which would be handed down for over 1000 years. It
would dominate the European politics and economy until its dissolution under Napoleon
Bonaparte. The actual end of the Holy Roman Empire came in 1804 when, ironically, Napoleon as-
sumed the title of Emperor -- without the authority of the Pope. However, the legal dissolution came
in 1806 when the hereditary possessor of the title, Frances II of Austria, (who, interestingly, called
Napoleon the new Odoacer) abdicated from the office of Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. This
officially ended the entity.

Of the Holy Roman Empire, the most well-known history was authored by James Bryce in
1864. Republished in numerous editions for use in colleges and universities as a standard text,
Bryce documents the list and history of the Emperors from Charlemagne to Frances II -- all of
whom were crowned or confirmed by Papal authority. In his introduction to the 8th edition, Bryce
gives an analysis of the meaning connected with the announcement of the abdication of Frances II
in London newspapers, in 1806.

Of those, in 1806, who read in English newspapers that the Emperor Frances II had an-
nounced to the Diet his resignation of the imperial crown, there were probably few who reflected
that the oldest political institution in the world had come to an end. Yet it was so. The empire...ex-
tinguished, was the same which the crafty nephew of Julius [Caesar] had won for himself against
the powers of the East, beneath the cliffs of Actium; and which had preserved almost unaltered,
through eighteen centuries of time, and through the greatest changes in extent, in power, in charac-

The Berean Voice July-August 2002