LCG, Popes, the Patriarch of Constantinople, and the Image of Daniel 2

Pope Benedict XVI

We in the Living Church of God believe that the two legs of the image of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 2 represent the old Eastern and Western legs of the Roman Empire. We also believe that the feet of that image represent a power that is now developing in Europe. A power that will be partly strong and partly fragile as it will not truly ever be cohesive.

Here is what the Daniel wrote:

31 “You, O king, were watching; and behold, a great image! This great image, whose splendor was excellent, stood before you; and its form was awesome. 32 This image’s head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. 34 You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

36 “This is the dream. Now we will tell the interpretation of it before the king. 37 You, O king, are a king of kings. For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory; 38 and wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all — you are this head of gold. 39 But after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours; then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth. 40 And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything; and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others. 41 Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay. 42 And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile. 43 As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay. 44 And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. 45 Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold — the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure.” (Daniel 2:31-45, NKJV)

So what does this mean for modern times?

The late Pope John-Paul II once publicly stated that the Roman and Orthodox Churches were the two lungs of the church, which suggests that they mutually are supportive, as two legs are. Hence Pope John-Paul II has acknowledged that the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches are two parts of the same body. They apparently make up the two legs and somewhat the two feet (with ten toes) of the image of the Beast warned against in Daniel 2:33.

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, interestingly wrote of Europe (the Mediterranean continent) and the image in Daniel 2:

In the process of replacing boundaries, the conceptual continuity with the preceding Mediterranean continent…was assured by a theological interpretation of history: in connection with the Book of Daniel, the Roman Empire—renewed and transformed by the Christian faith—was considered to be the final and permanent kingdom in the history of the world in general, and therefore the association of peoples and states that was taking shape was defined as the permanent Sacrum Imperium Romanum [Holy Roman Empire]. (Raztinger J. Europe today and tomorrow: addressing the fundamental issues. Translated by Michael Miller. Ignatius Press, 2007, p. 13)

We can consider the rise of the Carolingian Empire, on the one hand, and the continuation of the Roman empire in Byzantium and its mission to the Slavic people, on the other, as the true and proper birth of the continent of Europe…(ibid, p. 17)

Greco-Christian, European culture of Byzantium…one of the two wings of Europe (ibid, p. 18).

Latin [that is, Western] Europe…(ibid, p. 19)

…the Christian idea of empire…the sacred foundation for history…(ibid, p. 20)

The two halves of the old Europe, before the modern era, had known essentially only one opponent that it had to confront in a life-or-death battle, namely, the Islamic world. (ibid, p. 22)

Believing Christians should…contribute to Europe’s recovery of the best of its heritiage and thus to the service of all mankind. (ibid, p. 34)

Dexter Wakefield, of the Living Church of God, made the following insightful comments about Cardinal Ratzinger’s writings in that book:

His analysis, of course, does not express the full meaning of this imagery. Yet in referring to the two iron legs of the Daniel 2 statue, the current pope shows that even the Roman Catholic Church has in the past recognized that the Roman Empire and its successor, the so-called “Holy Roman Empire,” are pictured in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. (Wakefield D. Will Islam Transform Europe? Tomorrow’s World magazine, November-December 2010, p. 17)

So, even the current pope realizes that the “Holy Roman Empire” is part of the image in Daniel 2 and that one leg/wing represents the Roman/Latin Catholic west with the other the Eastern/Greco/Byzantine east. Cardinal Ratzinger also seems to be teaching that the “Holy Roman Empire” is the last part of the image of Daniel 2 and that it is a good thing. Yet, he seems not to realize that in the end, God intentionally destroys the image, by attacking the last part (striking the feet it stands upon in vs. 34) which implies that God was not pleased with this image or its “sacred foundation”. Since the Bible is clear that God will destroy the final formation of that empire (Daniel 2:40-44), the development of a unified Europe to fulfill this is not something that should be encouraged.

Pope John Paul II (the pontiff prior to Pope Benedict XVI) stated:

By rediscovering the great cultural treasures of the Christian East, in a new dialogue of communion, we will also allow Christian witness to breathe at this level, with two “lungs“, making our rightful contribution to humanity’s future (Pope John Paul II. CHRISTIANITY HAS DEEPLY MARKED CULTURE OF PEOPLES. Angelus, 1 September 1996. Taken from: L’Osservatore Romano, Weekly Edition in English, 4 September 1996, “L’Osservatore Romano is the newspaper of the Holy See”. http://www.ewtn.com/library/PAPALDOC/JP960901.HTM viewed 11/16/07).

The Orthodox apparently agreed that they were and are one of the lungs as the Orthodox Metropolitan John of Pergamon stated to John Paul II:

As Your Holiness has aptly put it some years ago, East and West are the two lungs by which the Church breaths; their unity is essential to the healthy life of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church (Speeches of Pope John Paul II and Metropolitan John of Pergamon. Made in private audience following a Mass to celebrate the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul. Rome, 28 June 1998. http://www.orthodoxresearchinstitute.org/articles/ecumenical/john_pergamon_john_paul2.htm viewed 11/16/07).

It should also be noted that the Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I (whose “official title” is His All Holiness, Bartholomew I, Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch) wrote:

Today, then, it is our obligation more than ever to reclaim the Christian roots of Europe and the spiritual, sacramental and doctrinal unity that it enjoyed prior to the schism of our two Churches. The re-evangelization of our peoples is “today, more so than ever before, timely and necessary, even within traditional Christian lands,” as we admitted and confessed in common here exactly one year ago.

Thus, we believe that Western and Eastern Europe must cease regarding themselves as foreign to one another…

Elder Rome has the foremost St. Peter as its apostle and patron. New Rome, Constantinople, has the brother of St. Peter, the first-called of the apostles, Andrew. Both invite us to the fraternal unity that they shared with each other and that can only be acquired when the cross becomes our point of reference and experience of approach.

Let us, therefore, beseech these two brothers and greatest of apostles that they may grant peace to the world and lead everyone to unity. (Bartholomew I’s Letter to Vatican Delegation. Zenit. December 5, 2007 http://www.zenit.org/article-21198?l=english).

The Patriarch of Constantinople is generally considered the first among equals within the Eastern Orthodox “sees”. Even if this unity with the Romans occur, individually the Orthodox Must Reject Unity with the Roman Catholics as unifying will make them part of Babylon (according to both biblical and Roman Catholic prophecy).

I strongly believe the Orthodox Must Reject Unity with the Roman Catholics and have had this published in 2007 on the internet and in The Journal: News of the Churches of God. Futhermore, many ecumenical meetings and pronouncements have been coming from those groups (for documented details see Ecumenism Advancing).

Sadly, history records that the Orthodox and the Roman Catholics were part of the old Roman Empire, that they both have had efforts to persecute the true Church of God (please see the article Persecutions by Church and State), and the Bible indicates that together they (with others) will accept a changed version of their religion and fulfill prophecies related to Babylon. And for those who consider that remote at best, please consider that there are both Catholic and Orthodox prophecies looking for a re-establishment of Babylon.

But the Bible warns against the emergence of the final beast and tells of the destruction of the image of the beast as well as the end time Babylon. Yet, this is what many are encouraging to be formed in Europe even today. And we are getting closer to the time that this European power will suddenly rise up to rule again.

Some articles of related interest may include:

Europa, the Beast, and Revelation Where did Europe get its name? What might Europe have to do with the Book of Revelation? Will some Catholics be involved? What about “the Beast”? Is an emerging European power “the daughter of Babylon”? What is ahead for Europe?
Which Is Faithful: The Roman Catholic Church or the Living Church of God? Do you know that both groups shared a lot of the earliest teachings? Do you know which church changed? Do you know which group is most faithful to the teachings of the apostolic church? Which group best represents true Christianity? This documented article answers those questions. Português: Qual é fiel: A igreja católica romana ou a igreja viva do deus? Tambien Español: Cuál es fiel: ¿La iglesia católica romana o La Iglesia del Dios Viviente? Auch: Deutsch: Welches zuverlässig ist: Die Römisch-katholische Kirche oder die lebende Kirche von Gott?
Some Similarities and Differences Between the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Living Church of God Both groups claim to be the original church, but both groups have differing ways to claim it. Both groups have some amazing similarities and some major differences. Do you know what they are?
Why Should American Catholics Should Fear Unity with the Orthodox? Are the current ecumenical meetings a good thing or will they result in disaster?
Orthodox Must Reject Unity with the Roman Catholics The talks for unification involve compromise and the apparent rising up of a changed religion that no one should accept.
Catholic Prophecies: Do They Mirror, Highlight, or Contradict Biblical Prophecies? People of all faiths may be surprised to see what various Roman and Orthodox Catholic prophets have been predicting as many of their predictions will be looked to in the 21st century.