Reviving the Dark Ages
We are about to enter the darkest age in world history. I can prove this to you from world events and Bible prophecy.
The term Dark Ages means different things to different people. I view it as a time of severe religious suppression during the time of the Holy Roman Empire. It was a time when the Catholic Church, together with the civil government, attacked other religions. It was a time when Jews and “heretical” Christians were tortured alive and/or burned at the stake!
Many Catholics are unaware of this history, and I am not attacking them. But we cannot afford to be ignorant—because the Bible warns that our physical and spiritual lives are at stake.
Read this pivotal prophecy in Revelation 12: “And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. … And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days” (verses 3, 6).
This passage is about God’s true Church running for its life from a beast led by a great false church—speaking of the Holy Roman Empire! Applying the day-for-a-year principle (Numbers 14:34), this is referring to a period of 1,260 years of intense persecution.
God’s Church endured 1,260 years of trial from a.d. 554 to 1814, hiding out to survive the wrath of this great false church! Those certainly were dark ages for the people of God! And untold thousands got slaughtered. Yet their record in history has been virtually erased!
This horrific story is not yet complete. Ninety percent of God’s prophecy is being fulfilled in this end time. The darkest part of the Dark Ages is just now beginning to develop! Another 1,260-day period talked about in Revelation is 1,260 actual days, or 3½ years of punishment, soon to afflict the world. God will punish the end-time descendants of physical Israel—as well as the lukewarm saints within spiritual Israel, God’s true but rebellious Church—for their sins and for not heeding His warning message.
We are headed back to the Dark Ages.
You may find this hard to believe, but that is what this great false church is talking about right now, and is about to lead this world into!
The time is approaching when Jews and “heretical” Christians will once again be slaughtered for their beliefs.
Moving Into a Darker Age
Right now, the Roman Catholic Church, backed by Germany, is stirring the flames for this conflict by disputing the Jews’ right to the land that God gave to ancient Israel. They do not view the Jews as having a legitimate claim to the land of the State of Israel. This view is becoming rapidly more common today—even in America, which has been very supportive of the Jewish state in the past.
Back in 2010, journalist Melanie Phillips wrote about comments by a Catholic archbishop who said the Jews have no right to the Holy Land. She thundered a powerful warning that the Vatican was “revers[ing] into a darker age.”
What did she mean? Europe’s history certainly has a lot of darkness—and that has been largely caused by false religion.
During the Middle Ages, entire cities experienced starvation followed by killer diseases. Thousands of dead bodies could not be disposed of quickly enough. Rats spread the bubonic plague (called the Black Death) through all of Europe in the 14th century; more than 25 million Europeans—about one third of Europe’s population—died horrible deaths from 1346–1353. Because the Jews followed the biblical laws of quarantine and hygiene, the infection and mortality rates in Jewish communities were substantially lower. Sadly, this led to many Europeans blaming the Jews for the plague—and they tortured and killed them! By the end of the century, thousands of Jews had been killed, and more than 100 Jewish communities had been wiped out.
These centuries of the Middle Ages also saw the barbaric slaughter of pagans in an attempt to “Christianize”—or rather, Catholicize—Europe. It was also the time of the Crusades, which also brought the slaughter of Jews. Later on, the Catholic Church’s efforts to suppress the Protestant Reformation culminated in the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648) that again devastated Europe’s population.
That is why many Protestants call it the Dark Ages. Many of them were killed, along with God’s true saints. In several places in Europe, especially Spain, there are hardly any Protestants because most all of them were killed!
Historians limit the Dark Ages to a certain time period, but the truth is, they never really ended. Certainly, with the rise of the British Empire, circumstances began to ease somewhat. Europe was very aware of the deadly Holy Roman Empire under the butcher Napoleon. He was on a rampage in 1800. Yet even ruthless Napoleon, with his blood-soaked mind, tried to get the pope to soften his persecution, and the pope refused! That was well after 1585. Napoleon was trying to conquer Britain as well, until he finally abdicated and his empire collapsed in 1814. After his escape from Elba in 1815, he made one final attempt to raise an army, but was finally defeated at Waterloo by British and allied forces commanded by the Duke of Wellington. God did not allow him to regain power. With Napoleon’s death, the 1,260 year period ended, though the world regressed during the world wars. Our world has seen dark and not-so-dark times. But even today, we live in a dark age!
Could the Catholic Church really be pushing toward an even darker age than the present? The years since Phillips wrote her article, especially the last few years, prove that it is doing just that!
The darkest part of the Dark Ages is just now beginning to develop!
Phillips’s Warning
The specific comments Melanie Phillips warned about came from Greek-Melkite Archbishop Cyrille Salim Bustros. He said, “The Holy Scriptures cannot be used to justify the return of Jews to Israel and the displacement of the Palestinians, to justify the occupation by Israel of Palestinian lands. … We Christians cannot speak of the ‘Promised Land’ as an exclusive right for a privileged Jewish people. This promise was nullified by Christ. There is no longer a chosen people—all men and women of all countries have become the chosen people.”
Is that true? No, that is not what the Bible says!
The Jews are part of the descendants of Israel that God chose. This man claims this designation was nullified by Christ, thus making all people chosen. That is not so. In fact, it makes little logical sense. God has given the land of Israel to a specific physical people—separate from the promise of grace open to all mankind. Nowhere in the Bible will you find a call on Christians to drive out the descendants of ancient Israel. Instead, you will find dozens of prophecies of not just Jews but all of Israel returning to the Promised Land.
What that archbishop said 16 years ago wasn’t an aberration. The church is saying the same things today—and even stronger, as we will see.
Who are they to talk like that? On what authority do they make such audacious claims? Where did they get that idea? They didn’t get it out of the Bible, but they still want people to listen and think that it’s somehow spiritual.
“Even if the head of the Israeli state is Jewish, the future is based on democracy. The Palestinian refugees will eventually come back and this problem will have to be solved,” Bustros said.
They don’t want to see a Jewish leader rule the land of Israel—despite the fact that King David was Jewish, and so was Jesus Christ, who will rule Jerusalem for all eternity!
Melanie Phillips wrote: “He thus seems to be saying that Israel itself is illegitimate, therefore should no longer exist as a Jewish state because the Jews have no right to their own country.”
This is essentially what the Catholics are saying! If Jews don’t have a right to live in the land of Israel, they have no right to live anywhere as a nation! This teaching is absolutely anti-Jewish and anti-God! It is diabolical!
Phillips put it this way: “It does not explain why since other people are allowed to have their own nation states, the Jews alone should be singled out to be denied their historic national homeland.”
The Catholic Church may advocate politically for a two-state solution (which would put a terrorist state right next to Israel), but the church’s theological view is that the Jews don’t have any right to their own country at all.
“The reason Bustros says the Jews have no right to their own country is not political but theological,” Phillips wrote. That is true. Many politicians try to make a political argument. But this isn’t about politics—it’s about theology!
“But above all, it is a resurrection of the ancient Christian calumny that the Jews are damned for all time as cosmic exiles on account of their refusal to accept the divinity of Christ. It is therefore a profoundly anti-Jewish statement” (ibid).
What is ironic is that Catholics, sincere as they may be, also reject Christ in a sense, because they put their traditions ahead of the Bible! They don’t follow what Christ taught. For example, Christ observed and taught the seventh-day Sabbath, yet the Catholic Church teaches Sunday worship. Some even admit that this doctrine has nothing to do with the Bible and is based on the sole authority of the Catholic Church.
The article continued: “First of all, is this merely a rogue outburst by a partisan bishop? If so, the Vatican must immediately distance itself from these remarks. If it does not, it would seem that the Vatican has taken a giant step backwards into a darker age.”
You can see by what they are doing today that they haven’t distanced themselves at all from this.
Attacking Jews and Other Christians
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, along with other religious leaders in Jerusalem, condemned “Christian Zionism” in a letter released January 17. They listed it among “damaging ideologies” that “mislead the public, sow confusion, and harm the unity of our flock.”
In other words, if you as a Christian believe that the Jews have a right to the Holy Land, then according to the Catholic Church, you are a heretic!
The church issued this letter in conjunction with the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Lutheran and Episcopalian churches. They all basically agree in their hatred for Jews and for American evangelicals who support them.
Here is an excerpt from their statement: “The patriarchs and heads of churches in Jerusalem reiterate that they alone represent the churches and their flock in matters pertaining to Christian religious, communal and pastoral life in the Holy Land.”
They alone claim authority of Christian religious practices in the Holy Land. How audacious! Yet they themselves refuse to be ruled by the authority of the Bible.
This January 17 letter was written in the spirit of the Crusades!
“The patriarchs and heads of churches in the Holy Land affirm before the faithful and before the world that the flock of Christ in this land is entrusted to the apostolic churches, which have borne their sacred ministry across centuries with steadfast devotion” (ibid).
These centuries of “steadfast devotion” are the Dark Ages, when Catholic crusaders killed and executed Muslims, Jews and other Christians.
They were called the Christian Crusades, but that label is a deception; they were primarily Catholic Crusades. Other Christian religions have their problems, but let’s not blame them for what the Catholics did. For nearly 2,000 years, the Roman Catholic Church has been one of history’s most militant institutions. Has it ever truly repented of this condemning history? The answer is no. Yet this world is unwilling to hold it accountable. People seem almost unaware of these monstrous crimes.
In A History of the Crusades, Steven Runciman wrote, “The Crusades were the pope’s work.”
The crusade philosophy has made Catholic popes the bloodiest religious leaders in history! Two hundred years of Catholic crusading left the blood of several hundred thousand to several million people soaking into the Holy Land!
It is important to study the Crusades because they reveal the Roman Catholic Church’s insatiable lust for Jerusalem and the barbaric measures it will take to control this city. And the Bible reveals that the Catholic Church will initiate one final crusade over Jerusalem before the Second Coming of Jesus Christ!
Seven Heads
The Vatican has taken a giant step backward into a darker age. If we just look at their history, we know what this means. But we must look at Bible prophecy to truly understand where it is heading and, most of all, to see God’s light.
Revelation 17 talks about the resurrections of the Holy Roman Empire, which would be better termed the “unholy” Roman Empire.
“And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication” (Revelation 17:1-2).
These verses refer to the same Satan-inspired empire described in Revelation 13 (verses 1-10). However, the beast in Revelation 17 pictures only the last seven resurrections of that empire. It adds the knowledge that a woman rides or guides the last seven heads of the beast. This woman, named “Mystery, Babylon the Great,” is drunk with the blood of the saints.
If we just study the persecution of God’s Church through the centuries, we can see what is coming.
God’s Church in the Dark Ages
Around a.d. 365, the Catholic Council of Laodicea wrote in a famous canon: “Christians must not Judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but must work on that day, rather, honoring the Lord’s Day [referring to Sunday]. … But if any shall be found to be Judaizers, let them be anathema from Christ.” Rome at the time helped remove any Christian opposition to Catholicism. The persecution during that time was a prelude to the Dark Ages, when the Catholic Church began ruling the Roman Empire and the attack on God’s Church turned far bloodier.
Notice they called them Judaizers. They persecuted these Christians for keeping God’s observances such as the Passover and the Sabbath. But these are not Jewish days—they are God’s days, ordained by God! (Request a free copy of Which Day Is the Christian Sabbath?)
These Christians were killed because they kept the Sabbath! You can see how this hatred for supposedly “heretical” Christians and for the Jews go hand in hand. If you see the Catholic Church go after the Jews, know that next, they will go after true Christians and anyone who won’t submit to the pope!
In Mystery of the Ages, the late Herbert W. Armstrong wrote, “This was a virtual sentence to torture and/or death. The false church did not herself put true believers to death, but caused them to be put to death (Revelation 13:15).” And in Who or What Is the Prophetic Beast? he wrote, “History shows that the civil government martyred millions who were declared ‘anathema from Christ’ or ‘heretics.’”
Mr. Armstrong noted that true Christians at the time “left few records. Occasionally they appear as a footnote of history, rejected as heretics, ridiculed, and hounded by their enemies” (Mystery of the Ages).
Yet, Christ’s words in Revelation 2:9-10 apply to them: “I know your works, tribulation, and poverty …. Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. … Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Revised Authorized Version).
Revelation 2 and 3, a prophecy of the seven successive eras of God’s true Church, shows that the Church during these years was the church of Smyrna followed by the church of Pergamos. Mr. Armstrong explained: “These had been called to carry the truth through one of history’s most difficult periods—the Dark Ages. … [T]hey were never far from threat of persecution and martyrdom” (ibid).
During these Dark Ages, God’s people were “never far from threat of persecution and martyrdom”! These true Christians had to stand their ground all the way to death! But they accepted death rather than give in to these tortures and renounce the truth.
This is nothing new for God’s Church. All the original apostles were killed, except John. Many in this end time will face the same. But God promises physical protection to most of those who repent before the great tribulation (Revelation 12:14). Sadly, Bible prophecy reveals there will be few who heed this message today.
In 1161, during the Thyatira era, a man named Peter Waldo began publicly preaching the truth of God. But it wasn’t long before the Catholic Church started persecuting him and his followers.
In 1197, it was commanded that the Waldensians, named after Waldo, be burned at the stake. The Waldensians fled to Castile. But many were mercilessly tracked down and slaughtered.
In 1208, Pope Innocent iii declared the Albigensian Crusade—an attack against God’s people and the civil rulers who protected them.
“When the war began in 1209, the Provencal civilization was the most brilliant in Europe. When it was over, after 20 bitter years, that civilization had been completely destroyed,” the Ambassador College Bible Correspondence Course states. “South France had become a backward region completely subject to Paris and Rome.
“The infamous Inquisition was then set up to complete the job by eliminating religious objections. Papal bull decreed severe punishment against any person suspected of even sympathizing with ‘heretics.’ Confiscations, imprisonments, burnings and every imaginable form of persecution continued for more than a hundred years.”
This kind of persecution went on for centuries!
“By the beginning of the 13th century, the Albigenses had become a threat to the very existence of the [Roman Catholic] Church in southern France. During the next 10 years, the [Catholic] army led by Simon de Montfort forced the surrender of the most important heretical strongholds, employing in the process methods that were cruel even by medieval standards” (Encyclopedia Dictionary of Religion).
This was before the Protestant Reformation and the infamous Spanish inquisition. In fact, it was Satan’s attempt to blot out true religion! Imagine being tortured with instruments “cruel even by medieval standards” until you renounce your faith—or die holding fast to it!
A couple of centuries later, the Habsburgs came to power. You can travel around Europe and see their castles, even today. Many of them have dungeons below them. Tour guides will tell you that the Habsburgs would have great feasts upstairs, listening to the finest classical music, while people were being tortured to death below. Similarly, Hitler could listen to beautiful opera while his minions were committing unspeakable atrocities.
During the 16th and 17th centuries, members of the true Church found relative safety in England, where the Sardis era began before it transitioned to the United States. The U.S. ever since provided far greater religious freedom than Europe ever had. But prophecy shows these days are nearly over.
How Many Victims?
Many historians have tried to estimate the number of people killed by Roman Catholics over the centuries. Some calculations put the figure at 50 million! In his 1871 book The History of Romanism, author John Dowling wrote, “From the birth of popery in 606 to the present time, it is estimated by careful and credible historians, that more than 50 millions of the human family have been slaughtered for the crime of heresy by popish persecutors, an average of more than 40,000 religious murders for every year of the existence of popery.” Halley’s Bible Handbook agrees: “Historians estimate that, in the Middle Ages and Early Reformation Era, more than 50 million martyrs perished.” (sidebar, below)
The late Herbert W. Armstrong wrote about this time in his booklet Who or What Is the Prophetic Beast? Most people are ignorant of this history and will pay for their ignorance by becoming victims of that empire!
As recently as World War ii, the pope and Hitler worked closely together. The title of John Cornwell’s book is revealing in itself, referring to Pope Pius xii as Hitler’s Pope. God says “you shall know them by their fruits.” The Vatican was the heavyweight in helping Nazi leaders escape after World War ii in the infamous ratlines. Almost all of the worst Nazi criminals escaped with the Vatican’s help. This is clearly documented in books like The Unholy Trinity, by Mark Aarons and John Loftus (a Catholic).
This is deadly dangerous for every human being, especially those in the sights of this organization: God’s people and the descendants of Israel, especially Britain, the United States and the Jewish state in the Middle East.
Could the Catholic Church really be reverting back into such a dark age? It is doing so right now! It is far more now than it was when Melanie Phillips wrote her article. We have to warn you about this because it will affect every one of us.
The darkest age ever is yet to come! It will eclipse all those dark ages of the past.
Enter Germany
You will have noticed that Revelation 17 also talks about a beast, which is symbolic for an empire. Throughout history, the Roman Catholic Church used the state to force its will.
The Catholic Church’s power comes from the European governments that back it, primarily Germany. Shrewd analysts understand that Germany is backing the Vatican and the Catholic Church, as it has done so often in the past.
Bible prophecy reveals that the Catholic Church will use Germany’s rising military power to attack Israel. It will betray the trust of the Jewish people in a horrendous way.
Daniel 11:40-41 show that Assyria, modern-day Germany, will lead Europe to the “glorious land”—Jerusalem—and will “enter into” it. Nothing indicates that it will have to fight its way in; it will be invited, apparently to protect the Jewish state. By this point, it will have already defeated the king of the south, Iran.
But just as it did in the Crusades of old, it will promise liberty—but bring bloodshed!
Prophecy shows that one man will be leading the charge: “And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up. And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people” (Daniel 8:23-24). “Not by his own power” indicates that he will be possessed by an evil spirit!
This man is going to lead that powerful empire and cause the worst suffering the world has ever seen! It will bring about the darkest age ever known in the world!
We are seeing this seventh head of the Holy Roman Empire rise. All these prophecies we so often write about are soon to come to pass!
Wait for the Light
In our present evil world, you see a lot of terrible darkness. Bible prophecy shows that it is going to get much darker. But remember, it is darkest just before dawn! And prophecy shows that beyond the darkness will come a beautiful age of light!
Daniel 12:1 talks about “a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time.” This is the darkest moment of the dark age we are living in.
But just after that, a time comes when “they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever” (verse 3).
The return of Jesus Christ will end our dark age (Matthew 24:30). At that time, we who publicize this message to the world for God today will shine like stars forever and ever! Never again will there be a dark age!
If we support God’s work and deliver His message before Christ’s return, we will receive the ultimate reward! Shortly afterward, all other humans will have an opportunity to shine brightly too.
We are about to witness the end of the dark ages and the dawn of a new age! In the darkest moment of human history, Jesus Christ will return and bring unprecedented light. From then on, the world will grow brighter and brighter and brighter for all eternity! (Revelation 22:5).