The fall of Napoleon in 1815 marked a very important turning point in European history. Not only did it signal the resurrection of the papacy, but it also signaled the rise of the Rothschild money power, particularly the London branch of N. M. Rothschild, founded in 1798 by Nathan Rothschild. It was in the fall of Napoleon that he quadrupled his fortune and became a major monetary power house.

This new power is responsible for the economic feature of the second beast described in Revelation 13. So let us return to our study in Revelation 13,

¹¹ And I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke as a dragon.

As we showed in previous bulletins, this has to do with the messianic aspect of this beast. There are many false messiahs and messiah-like organizations, each competing for world domination. The Roman Church is just one of them. Another is the Merovingian line of kings, which was primarily thought of as a French line, but also includes the Stewart line of Scotland, according to Lawrence Gardner, who is their chief apologist.

The Holy Alliance

Now we see another main contender for the messianic calling—the Jewish claim, headed by the Rothschild dynasty. We will explain more on this later. But realize that this new beast is not a single organization, but an alliance of organizations called by historians “The Holy Alliance.”

¹² And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence. And he makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed.

This “Holy Alliance” restored the papacy to power, allowing Pope Pius VII to return from his place of exile, where he had resided as a virtual prisoner of Napoleon. Some of the Papal States were returned to the papacy, once again giving them a bit of civil power. Yet the papacy never fully recovered from this wound. As time passed, they were to lose those Papal States to the new Kingdom of Italy in 1860 and would never again recover them. They had to be content with religious power over the minds of men. They had to be content with indirectly ruling nations by the power of religion.

Even so, this Holy Alliance caused men to worship the first beast as before, because it gave Rome a power base and then allied with it. It was necessary that the Roman Church continue its existence, because its 40-Jubilee time had not yet come to a close. As the manifestation of King Saul, the Church of Pentecost, with all of its leaven, had to remain until its Saul pattern had been completed in 1993.

The Fatima Incident

Revelation 13 does not pretend to be a complete account of the history of the world or even of Rome. It gives main highlights, but to understand these things fully requires some knowledge of history and the factors leading up to these key events or conditions. One of the most important events occurred in Portugal. Verse 13 says,

¹³ And he performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down out of heaven to the earth in the presence of men.

This has a symbolic meaning as well as literal and has been fulfilled in both ways in recent history.

In 1917 in Fatima, Portugal the most important sign of the century was said to have been seen by 70,000 people. You can read the story online at www.fatima.org. Three children began having apparitions of Mary on May 13 with a message for mankind. These culminated on October 13 quite literally with a great sign of fire coming down out of heaven. The website tells the story,

“Coming at a time when civilization was torn asunder by war and bloody violence, She promised that Heaven would grant peace to all the world if her requests for prayer, reparation and consecration were heard and obeyed.”

“In all Her appearances at Fatima, the Blessed Mother repeatedly emphasized the necessity of praying the Rosary daily, of wearing the Brown Scapular, of Mount Carmel, and of performing acts of reparation and sacrifice.”

The heart of the message, however, was in the form of three “secrets.” The final secret has not been revealed in a satisfactory manner, but the first two were revealed in 1938 in order to provide support for Germany in its anti-communist ideology.

The first secret was, “a horrifying vision of hell.” This is consistent with Roman Catholic doctrine. The second was “Russia’s consecration and the conversion ‘of that poor nation’ to the Catholic Faith.” This is consistent with Roman Catholic political policy.

You see, Russia was Orthodox, and the Orthodox Church had split from Rome over the word filoque back in 1054 A.D. Since then Rome has continually attempted to assert its authority over the Orthodox Church. When the capital of Orthodoxy was destroyed in 1453, their headquarters moved from Constantinople to Moscow. In November 1917 Russia fell to the forces of Lenin, and the headquarters moved to Kosovo in Serbia. Rome has consistently made war on the Orthodox Church, killing millions of them in Croatia during World War 2. And, yes, this was all with the blessing of the Pope and the bishops, as even Catholic authors admit.

But back to 1917. The miraculous sign of Rev. 13:13 was fulfilled as follows, according to the Fatima website:

“On October 13^th, 1917, in the presence of 70,000 eye-witnesses, a miracle was worked in the sky above Fatima at the exact moment and in the precise spot that the children had announced earlier. Witnesses recounted that the sun appeared to actually ‘dance’ in the sky and seemed to fall to the ground before resuming its normal place in the heavens.”

That a great and miraculous sign occurred, I have no doubt. It would be hard to fool 70,000 people, even if we account for a certain amount of mass hysteria. However, let us make it clear that the astronomers noticed nothing unusual. The sun continued its journey as it always had in ages past. It was, perhaps, a mass vision, but not an astronomical event. In October 1951 the Pope presented photographs of the sun near the horizon, supposedly taken by an amateur photographer at Fatima in 1917. However, by March 1952 it was revealed by the photographer’s brother that they were taken in 1923. This was reported by Time magazine in its March 17, 1952 edition.

“This event has now become known as ‘The Miracle of the Sun’ and has been justly characterized as the greatest supernatural occurrence of the 20^th century.”

So there is no doubt that this is what John had in mind when he wrote Revelation 13:13. Many have been taken in by this great sign, because they did not understand the book of Revelation, which foretold of that day. It really comes down to a choice, whether we will believe the Word or let the miracle be the determiner of doctrine and/or the “true religion.” Every religion has its miraculous features which are used to validate its teachings.

For me, the bottom line is that John foretold in Rev. 13:13 that the second beast, healed of its deadly wound in 1815, would “perform great signs” and even make fire come down out of heaven to the earth. So it ought not to take us by surprise when this event actually occurs. Nor should it cause us to join forces with this second beast. In fact, the whole point of John pointing out this miracle to us is to warn us not to be unduly impressed by it. By this, John also states that many people would be deceived by the beast through this sign. Verse 14 says,

¹⁴ And he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life.

Out of this has come one more “image”—the Pilgrim Virgin Statue of Our Lady of Fatima, blessed by the Pope in 1967.

The Pope is still trying to “consecrate” Russia. This simply means that they are still attempting to destroy the Russian Orthodox Church there and replace it with the Roman Catholic Church. It is a typical power struggle and not much different from the papal struggles to control the other nations of Europe and ultimately the whole world.

¹⁵ And there was given to him to give breath [pneuma, “breath, or spirit”] to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast might even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed.

Whether or not we see a literal fulfillment of this at some point, we do know that this image, the Cult of Fatima, has been given life by the Roman Church. The “breath” or “spirit” of this image has already been a major force behind the papal anti-communist effort of the 20^th century. It was in the name of anti-communism that Pope Pius XI signed the Lateran Treaty with Mussolini and the Concordat with Hitler in 1933. He felt that they—Hitler in particular—might successfully overthrow communism in Russia, giving their ally—the Roman Church—authority to rule behind the scenes.

In Avro Manhattan’s book, Vatican Imperialism in the Twentieth Century, p. 68, we read,

“In June, 1941, Hitler invaded soviet Russia. The Virgin’s prophecy was being fulfilled to the letter. Catholic volunteers joined the nazi armies from Italy, France, Ireland, Belgium, Holland, Latin America, the U.S.A., and Portugal. Spain sent her Blue Division. Many of the volunteers went to fight the soviets, prompted by ideological hatred, but most by their desire to become the chosen instruments for the fulfillment of the Fatima prophecy.

“In October, 1941, while the nazi army rolled toward Moscow, Pius XII, speaking to Portugal, urged Catholics to pray for the speedy realization of the Lady of Fatima’s promises. The following year, 1942, after a speech by Hitler in which the Fuehrer had declared that soviet Russia had definitely been defeated, Pope Pius XII, in a Jubilee message over the radio, fulfilled the first injunction of the Virgin, and ‘consecrated the whole world’ to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.”

Of course, we know that the German army was lost in Russia, in much the same way that Napoleon’s army was lost over a century earlier. When it became clear that the pope’s allies were probably going to lose World War 2, Pope Pius XII stepped up his efforts to make friends with the winning side.

Throughout the 1930’s and into the 1960’s the Roman Church was at the forefront of anti-communist activity. Father Caughlin was openly pro-Nazi as well as anti-communist. The Catholic Senator Joseph McCarthy led America into what came to be known as “The McCarthy Era,” known for its over-zealous search for communists.

Nuclear Bombs and Missiles

The Fatima incident in 1917 was not a physical fire from heaven, but was rather a sign of things to come. This is not to minimize its importance, for the very fact that it occurred 2,520 years after the fall of Jerusalem in 604 B.C. makes it important. A month later Russia fell to the Bolsheviks, and a month after that General Allenby took the city of Jerusalem from the Ottoman Empire.

These are all very important events that changed the course of world history in the 20^th century.

The next great event was America’s use of the atomic bomb over Japan in 1945, bringing us into the Nuclear Age. Next came the hydrogen bomb (nuclear fusion) in 1952. Nuclear fusion is said to be how the sun burns—hence, its connection with the Fatima incident.

John says that this beast will be able to call down fire from heaven. This beast could do this only because they were able to utilize the new technology of aeronautics. They could literally take bombs of all kinds into the air and rain them down upon cities and other targets. Later, they developed missile technology, by which they could do this more efficiently and more quickly. This was the literal, physical “fire from heaven” that John foresaw, though he certainly did not understand what he was seeing.

The Mark of the Beast

We come now to the financiers of the Holy Alliance in 1815, the House of Rothschild. All students of the Bible and of the book of Revelation ought to know something about the Rothschilds and their role in world history in the past two centuries, because the Rothschilds invented the international banking system. In Volume 1 of the book, The House of Rothschild, Money’s Prophets, page 6, Niall Ferguson says,

“Indeed, it can be argued that, by modifying the existing system for government borrowing to make bonds more easily tradable, the Rothschilds actually created the international bond market in its modern form.”

But first let us read what the Bible has to say about it. John deals with this in Rev. 13:16, 17,

¹⁶ And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and their slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand, or on their forehead, ¹⁷ and he provides that no one should be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name.

This portrays the beast in its economic feature. Some try to turn this into a Sabbath issue, saying that the mark of the beast is worshiping on Sunday. Others have looked for laws requiring tattoos. More recently, with the rise of computer technology, some insist that computer chips will be implanted in the forehead or hand, without which no one can buy or sell anything.

But much of the answer is given to us internally in the Scriptures. We do not need to engage in speculations. The “mark of the beast” is no more a literal mark than is the mark of God in our foreheads. Deut. 6:5-8 says,

⁵ And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. ⁶ And these words, which I am commanding you today shall be on your heart; ⁷ and you shall teach them diligently to your sons … ⁸ And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.

This is the original “sign” in the law, indicating that the law was to be written on our hearts. More specifically, the law was to govern what we do with our hands and how we think in our minds (foreheads).

The opposite of this is the “mark of the beast,” which is lawlessness in general, but more specifically “the love of money”—the root of all evil (1 Tim. 6:10). It is not a physical mark, but a condition of the heart. It is not money itself, but the love of money that is the problem. Even so, the currencies of the world are literally owned by the central banks and represent debt notes from those who have borrowed the money into circulation.

Coins have images today, even as they did many years ago when Jesus took a coin and asked in Matt. 22:20, “Whose is this image and subscription?” Coins are “marked” by images. German currency is even called the “German Mark.” From this perspective, one can say that the “mark” of the second beast is money, understanding, of course, that money itself is not new. But the monetary system that has developed since the Holy Alliance through the Rothschilds is this mark.

Niall Ferguson says on page 16 of his first volume, “the Rothschilds were notoriously the ‘chief ally of the Holy Alliance’.” On page 17, he says,

“Not only had the Rothschilds replaced the old aristocracy, they also represented a new materialist religion. ‘[M]oney is the god of our time,’ declared Heine in March 1841, ‘and Rothschild is his prophet’.”

No one today is allowed to buy or sell without using their money. Since money is a bank note which they create, it is specifically their mark. If anyone attempts to create or use another currency, it is called counterfeiting.

The Number: 666

There are positive and negative aspects to every number as used in the Bible. It depends upon the application. The number 666 appears twice in the Bible. Rev. 13:18 says,

¹⁸ Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of that beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six [666].

We find the other example in 2 Chron. 9:13,

¹³ Now the weight of gold which came to Solomon in one year was 666 talents of gold.

As with so many things, the New Testament must be interpreted with its double witness, the Old Testament. It is plain that in 2 Chron. 9:13 the number 666 is associated with gold, which is also used as money. Certainly, this statement has an economic color to it, even as we see in John’s reference. Thus, when we look at John’s statement in its natural flow of the revelation of history, it is remarkable that it would coincide precisely with the rise of the international banking system as invented and developed by the family of Rothschilds. It happened at the same time that the beast was healed of its deadly wound in 1815 after the downfall of Napoleon.

If there is one thing that stands out in a study of Church history, it is that the Roman Church loves money. Its entire system of penance, indulgences, and payment for masses for the dead, is based upon the love of money. Cardinals’ hats were regularly sold to raise money for the papal coffers. Popes themselves regularly bribed their way into office. Catholic authors have written extensively of this.

But Rome is not the only beast that loves money. The “Holy Alliance” is an alliance between two beasts who love money and who rule by its power. Each has its “turf.”

It is not so much the USE of money, but the LOVE of money that determines if one has the mark of the beast. When everything one does is for the sake of money, it is a “mark of the beast” upon one’s hand. When one constantly schemes how to make more money, it is a “mark of the beast” upon one’s forehead. It does not matter if men justify their greed by saying that it is for the advancement of the Christian faith or the Kingdom of God. It is still a mark of the beast and the opposite of God’s law, which tells us to love God and our neighbor as ourselves.