Tag: High Middle Ages

Overview

To present an overview of world history, from the Babylonian Empire until Christ’s return, Daniel 7 uses four animals to symbolize four successive empires. From the fourth and last animal, 10 horns grew. After them, an 11th horn grew up by uprooting three of the previous horns. It was small at first but grew and eventually dominated the other horns. It is different from the others because it blasphemes God and persecutes His people. It will only be destroyed when Christ returns. This 11th horn is the main character in Daniel 7. The only reason that Daniel 7 mentions the preceding four empires and ten kingdoms is to enable the reader to identify the 11th horn.

Previous articles identified the four animals as Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and the Roman Empire, and the eleven horns as the kingdoms into which the Roman Empire fragmented in the fifth to eighth centuries.

The Beast’s 11th horn is the Antichrist. The purpose of the current article is to show that several similarities identify the 11th horn as the Roman Church, meaning the Church of the Roman Empire:

(1) It was one of the horns of the Roman Empire.

The horns are the fragments into which the Roman Empire divided. In other words, (a) they were parts of the Roman Empire that (b) existed as distinct entities after the Empire collapsed.

(1a) The Roman Church was part of the Roman Empire.

In the Roman Empire, the emperors decided which religions and factions of religions to allow. In the fourth century, the Church was divided, mainly between Arian and Nicene factions. However, in 380, the Roman Empire made Nicene theology the State Religion of the Roman Empire, meaning that it was the only legal religion but also that it was subject to the authority of the emperors. At the same time, the Empire outlawed and persecuted Arianism. Outside the Empire, Christianity remained Arian.

(1b) Was a distinct entity after the Empire collapsed.

The Roman Church, with its teachings and hierarchy of bishops, survived as a distinct entity after Arian nations in the fifth century wrestled control of the Western Empire from the Romans. It also survived after Muslim armies subjected the Eastern Empire in the eighth century.

(2) It was the last of the 11 horns.

The first 10 horns symbolize the Arian kingdoms that were formed after the Arian nations wrestled control of the Western Empire from the Romans in the fifth century. This left the Roman Church in the West subject to Arian rule. It was not yet able to rule itself. It only began to rule itself in the next (sixth) century when the Eastern Empire liberated it by subjecting the Arian nations that were the most direct threat.

(3) It uprooted three other horns as it came up.

The forces of the Eastern Empire subjected three Arian kingdoms: the Vandals, Ostrogoths, and the Visigoths.

(4) The 11th horn began small.

After the Eastern Empire liberated and protected it, the Roman Church remained subject to the Eastern Empire. After the Eastern Empire also collapsed in the eighth century, the Roman Church survived but was protected by and subject to the Carolingian and Ottonian Dynasties.

(5) The 11th horn grew “larger than its associates.”

Its “associates” refer to the other ten horns. It became “exceedingly great” (Dan 8:9), meaning that it dominated the other fragments of the Roman Empire. Until the 10th century, the Papacy always needed the protection of the monarchs. In the 11th century, the Roman Church, for the first time, became able to appoint its own popes and bishops without interference from rulers. Beginning in the 12th century, in the High Middle Ages, the Papacy attained power that rivaled and exceeded that of the Western Monarchs. It became the Church of the Middle Ages, which dominated the nations of Europe.

(6) The 11th horn will “wear out the saints of the Most High.”

In the Middle Ages, through the civil rulers, the Roman Church engaged in brutal forms of coercion, such as the Albigensian Crusade, the Inquisition, and the Waldensian massacres, seeking to compel or exterminate the true people of God who dared to stand up against its evil innovations.

(7) The 11th horn will only be destroyed when Christ returns.

The Roman Church still exists today.

Conclusion

The Roman Church is the only historical entity that fits both the timing and the characteristics of the 11th horn of Daniel 7. 

Daniel 7

Daniel 7 presents world history, from the Babylonian Empire until Christ’s return, by symbolizing four empires as four beasts. (Read Article) A previous article identified the Fourth Beast as the Roman Empire. (Read Article)

At first, 10 horns grew out of the fourth beast. In Daniel, horns symbolize divisions of an empire. These 10 horns symbolize the fragments of the Roman Empire, namely, the kingdoms that arose after it collapsed in the fifth to eighth centuries. [Show More]

After the first ten horns in Daniel 7, an 11th horn came up by uprooting three of the other horns. It will dominate the other nations, blaspheme God, and persecute His people (Dan 7:25). This horn symbolizes the Antichrist. It will continue the authority of the Roman Empire and will only be destroyed when Christ returns (Dan 7:26, 11). [Show More]

It does not start off as the Antichrist. It will be “little” or “small” when it comes up (Dan 7:8; 8:9) but will grow “larger than its associates” (Dan 7:20, 24). It will become “exceedingly great” (Dan 8:9). “Its associates refer to the first 10 horns. In other words, it will dominate the kingdoms that arose after the Roman Empire fragmented.

Overview of History

After three centuries of being an illegal and persecuted religion, Christianity was legalized by Emperor Constantine in 313. However, the Roman emperors ruled over the Church. They decided which religions were legal, and when there were divisions in the church, they decided which divisions to allow and which to squash. [Show More]

Church and State was one because the emperor was the head of the church. [Show More]

The so-called ecumenical councils were really the meetings through which the emperors governed the Church to ensure that it complied with the emperors’ wishes. [Show More]

In the fourth century, factions existed within Christianity, with Nicene and Arian theologies being the main factions. Most of the time, the majority view was Nicene in the West but Arian in the East. However, in 380, the Eastern Emperor Theodosius, with the support of the Western Emperor Gratian, made Nicene Christianity the State Religion of the Roman Empire. ‘State Religion’ that Nicene theology:

• • • Became the sole legal religion in the Empire. Theodosius outlawed and ruthlessly persecuted Arianism, which previously dominated in the East, into extinction, at least among the Roman elite. 
    • Received protection and authority over people from the emperors.
    • Was subject to the authority of the emperors. Read Article

At that time in history, each kingdom had its god, and the Roman Empire had selected the Christian God, specifically as explained by Nicene theology. The State Religion of the Roman Empire is here referred to as the ‘Roman Church’.

Arian Germanic tribes, who previously migrated into the Empire, wrestled control of the Western Empire (current Europe) from the Romans and divided it into several Arian nations. The Roman Empire continued to rule in the east. These ‘Arian’ nations claimed to remain part of the Roman Empire. Therefore, the Roman Church survived and even flourished in the West. But it had to exist alongside a hierarchy of Arian bishops and under Arian rule. Read Article.

Justinian’s aim was to free the ‘Roman Church’ in the West from Arian domination. His troops subjected the three Arian nations who were the most direct threat to the Papacy. 

In 533–534, his troops dispersed the Vandals of North Africa to the fringes of the empire.

After a protracted war, Justinian defeated the Ostrogoths in Italy in 553. They returned to South Austria.

In 552, Justinian recovered a strip of land that barricaded the Visigoths from being a threat to the Roman Church in Italy.

Read Article

Justinian then set up the Byzantine Papacy, a system in which the Eastern Emperors in Constantinople ruled the Papacy but also ruled the Western nations through the Papacy. This continued for two centuries, transforming the Roman Church into a very powerful political animal and an important part of the Roman Empire. Read Article

The Byzantine Empire lost its richest provinces to Islamic armies. Suddenly, much of the Christian world was under Islamic rule. (Wikipedia) Consequently, the Byzantine Empire could no longer control or protect the Western Roman Church. Byzantine authority in Italy evaporated. Islam had put an end to the Byzantine Papacy. [Show More]

The Papacy had to find a new protector. After a volatile period, the popes found a powerful protector in the Frankish-dominated Carolingian dynasty. This was a large Frankish-dominated empire founded by Charlemagne (Charles the Great). However, the Carolingians followed the example of their Roman predecessors by asserting “immense authority over the Western church” (Britannica). [Show More]

Carolingian power waned in the late 9th century. In the 10th century, the Ottonian dynasty in Germany established a new imperial line and became the preeminent power in Latin Europe. The Ottos treated churches as their property, appointed bishops, and forbade appeals to Rome. (Britannica) [Show More]

Up to this point in history, the Papacy was always ruled over by civil powers, namely, by:

• • • The Roman Emperors in the fourth century,
    • Arian kings in the fifth,
    • Eastern Emperors in the Byzantine Papacy, from the 6th to 8th centuries,
    • The Carolingians in 9th, and by
    • Ottonians in the 10th century.

In the 11th century, for the first time, the Papacy began to escape from such domination.

Traditionally, the monarchs controlled appointments (investitures = investing a person with honors or rank) of popes and high-ranking church officials. However, in the 11th century, the Papacy restricted political interference by forming the College of Cardinals to appoint new popes and challenged the authority of monarchs to control appointments in higher church offices. With the Concordat of Worms in 1122, the Emperor agreed to allow the Church to appoint its officials but retained the right to veto the appointments of bishops. [Show More]

The humiliation of King Henry IV before Pope Gregory VII during the Investiture Controversy illustrates how powerful the Papacy had become. Henry IV, the mightiest king in Europe at the time, had to wait for three days, stripped of his royal robes and clad as a penitent, barefoot in ice and snow, before Pope Gregory was willing to withdraw his ex-communication. [Show More]

It claimed that the pope stood between God and humankind as the vicar (stand in the place) of Christ and, therefore, claimed authority over emperors and kings; not only in Europe but worldwide. It claimed jurisdiction over all matters relating to sin. Emperors and kings, to reign lawfully, had to be in communion with the Pope. Otherwise, the Pope could declare the ruler unfit to reign. [Show More]

The Roman Church continued the principles of the Roman Empire, killing countless numbers of God’s people. For example:

Innocent III (1198–1216) called the Albigensian Crusade, which was intended to end heresy in southern France and resulted in the massacre of Christians whom the Papacy classified as heretics.

The Inquisition, which was a powerful office set up within the Catholic Church to root out and punish heresy, is infamous for the severity of its tortures. The Spanish Inquisition alone resulted in some 32,000 executions. (History.com)

The Catholic Church authorized the Waldensian massacres. Read Article The Waldensians criticized Catholic beliefs and identified the Church as the harlot of the Apocalypse. In response, the Catholic Church called for the destruction of the Waldensians, absolving all who would perpetrate such crimes. In consequence, the Waldensians were looted, raped, tortured, and massacred.

The Church’s Powers

The factors that allowed the Church to become “larger” than the kings of Europe include the following:

Ordinary people across Europe had to ‘tithe’ 10 percent of their earnings to the Church. This allowed the Church to amass a great deal of money and power, as attested by the cathedrals. Built during the Middle Ages, were the largest buildings and could be found at the center of towns and cities across the continent.

To control the gates of hell can be quite a lucrative business. The church used this monopoly on salvation to wield power over political rulers:

Popes EXCOMMUNICATED disobedient kings. This meant the king was denied salvation, and his vassals were freed from their duties to him.

If an excommunicated king continued to disobey the pope, the popes used an even more frightening weapon; the INTERDICT, which meant that many sacraments and religious services could not be performed in the king’s lands, causing civil unrest because the king’s subjects believed they are doomed to hell.

The Church attempted to control most marriages among the great by prohibiting marriages involving blood kin and kin by marriage to the seventh degree of relationship. Under these rules, almost all great marriages required special approval from the Papacy.

Christian monasticism, which is the practice of living ascetic and typically secluded lives dedicated to worship, became popular in the Middle Ages. 

Before the invention of the printing press in the 15th century, books were works of art. Craftsmen in monasteries created handmade books with colored illustrations, gold and silver lettering, and other adornments.

In the 12th and 13th centuries, the Catholic Church authorized military expeditions called Crusades to expel Muslim “infidels” from the Holy Land and to return it to Christian control. The crusades gave the people a common purpose and inspired waves of religious enthusiasm.

Pope Urban II launched the First Crusade in 1095. Crusaders, who wore red crosses on their coats to advertise their status, believed that their service would guarantee the remission of their sins and ensure them eternal life. They also received worldly rewards, such as papal protection of their property and forgiveness of some kinds of debts.

Since the pope called for the crusades, they were also a sign of the authority of the popes over the political rulers. By participating in the crusades, in a sense, the kings submitted to the Pope’s authority.

Conclusions

The Roman Church is the only historical entity that fits both the timing and the characteristics of the 11th horn of Daniel 7.

There are also other identifications of the 11th horn in Daniel 7, such as the “time, times, and half a time,” that are not discussed in this article. Furthermore, the 11th horn is the same as the Beast of Revelation (Read Article). Therefore, another article identifies it from the Book of Revelation (Read Article).

To believe in God is not always easy. We live in a world where we see evil and pain, birth and death. We get used to these things, and sometimes we fail to see the infinite miracles of the life in us and around us. See – Inner Life of a Cell. We must also observe the miracles in the Bible, such as the miracle of His laws, for example, the Sermon on the Mount, and the miracles in His prophecies. Daniel 9 seems to be a clear prediction of the life and death of Jesus Christ. And, for me, Daniel 7 seems to be a clear prediction of the Church of the Roman Empire. 

Other Articles

• • • Origin of the Trinity Doctrine – Including the pre-Nicene Church Fathers and the fourth-century Arian Controversy
    • All articles on this website
    • Is Jesus the Most High God?
    • Trinity Doctrine – General
    • The Book of Daniel
    • The Book of Revelation
    • The Origin of Evil
    • Death, Eternal Life, and Eternal Torment

FOOTNOTES

• 1
  The Search for the Christian Doctrine of God: The Arian Controversy, 318-381. 1988
• 2
  Hanson, RPC, The Search for the Christian Doctrine of God – The Arian Controversy 318-381, 1987. Hanson is a wo