T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
125
April, 1841
Have Mussolini and His "Resurrected Roman Empire" Both Collapsed? By LOUIS S. BAUMAN*, Long Beach, California
A Widely Taught Interpretation First, there is the fact that, ever since the days of the apostles, many out standing interpreters of the prophetic Scriptures have believed that the Roman Empire must be existent in some form —the supreme political power when our Lord Jesus Christ returns to earth to establish His reign from the throne of David. A few quotations must suffice, though we could present many pages of them from the pens of great teachers and preachers: Walter Scott, the well-known exposi tor of Nottingham (England), years ago wrote: “When the Empire reappears in its last and Satanic form, it will be an object of universal wonder, save to the redeemed........... “After the dissolution of the Em pire in 476, it,will next come up in a form hitherto unknown in history. The revived Empire shall consist of ten kingdoms with their respective chiefs. . . . “ Prophecy demands the existence of the beast and the ten kingdoms— the latter subservient to the for mer.” The late I. M. Haldeman, famous Baptist preacher and prophetic teacher of New York, in a sermon on “The Fall ing Stone,” said: “On account of the troubled and reactionary times, the ten kings will invite him to become dictator, world ruler. He will accept. He will take the title of the Prince of Rome. . . . Thus will Rome be revived under its tenfold form. Elected as the head of the ten kings, he will be a king of kings and lord of lords." George N. H. Peters, in that match less and exhaustive work on the sub ject, The Theocratic Kingdom, asserted: “The Roman Empire will be headless, i.e., cease to exist, but will be revived, and out of this revival springs the Anti christ.” Arno C. Gaebelein, commenting on Revelation 17:7-15, declared: “The Roman Empire . . . is to be again, a revival of which is here described.” Even the great Matthew Henry con fessed: “The ‘stone’ cut out without hands represented the kingdom of Jesus Christ, which should be set up in the world in the time of the Roman Empire.” (Bold face type mine.) [ Continued on Page 163]
/" T ^ H E WRITER is one of those who long have believed that the Roman 1 Empire will be revived, and that it will be the dominant political power when the Lord Jesus Christ returns to earth. He has believed that Mussolini may prove to be the man to be used in the restoration of that empire, and that he is a possibility for the throne of that empire in its final form. These views were voiced in a series of articles in the Sunday School Times last year, which series of articles was revised last December and published in book form under the title Light from Bible Proph ecy, by the Revell Company in New York City. No one was more aware than was the writer himself, of the danger in at tempting to interpret present-day events in the light of the prophetic Word, in a day when the nations are as shifting sand. When urged by Editor Charles G. Trumbull (who has recently been called to be with Christ) and by many other friends to place the Sunday School Times articles in a more permanent form, I expressed the fear that in an hour when nations are disappearing al most over night, in our human frailty some bad blunders in attempting to apply the Scriptures to certain men or events now on the world’n stage of action might show up on the pages of the proposed book, before the ink was dry. However, possible bunders in spe cific cases notwithstanding, believing that current events áre fitting into the prophecies as a hand fits into a glove, I consented and went to the task. Perils o f the Writer on Prophecy Just now I am paying a bit of penalty for my daring, especially since 1 pointed to Mussolini and his “resurrect ed Roman Empire” as possible fulfill ment of certain prophecies in Daniel and in Revelation. Even as I sat down to write this present article, a few letters came in the morning mail asking whether I still held to the views published last year; and if so, to “please explain” ! These two letters were only samples of many similar letters that have come to me recently—some of them kind, and some not so kind. In one of the letters re ceived this morning, a friend living in Minneapolis requests me to write an article on the subject: “Where Is the * Potior , First Brethren Church,
Roman Empire NOW?” (For some time, I have been contemplating doing that very thing, and since the Editor of THE KING’S BUSINESS also desires that I write along this line, once again I “rush in where angels fear to tread,” inasmuch as courageous little Greece seems to have a sharp bayonet pressing against nothing more than a colossal gas bag.) This Minneapolis brother is not un kind at all, but is in a quandry. He says: "Last spring and summer, you set forth very ably from a Scriptural standpoint, convincing evidence of the approaching end of this age. We saw in the trend of war events across the big water, and as you clearly pointed out, the revival, rise and re-forming of the fourth king dom—the Roman Empire. Now all is seemingly in reverse. The Roman bubble is ‘bust.’ The Greeks sent the proud boaster home with his head in a sack. That one sign has gone blank! Where are the ten little kingdoms that were stirring?” For the sake of many who are re vealing their perplexities even as does this brother, I face the problem: Is the revival of the Roman Empire a fanci ful theory found only in the minds of a certain school of interpreters, which, in the light of present events in southern Europe, has collapsed and must be dis carded ? Now there are a few facts that it will be well for us to recall at this junc ture in this history-making hour.
«
Made with FlippingBook Annual report