ProphecyKid
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Posts posted by ProphecyKid
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2 minutes ago, Heavenunlimited said:
Waw thats alot to dig in, i will have a look,nwgen time quiet. Thank you!!! Waw you see I ordered a KJV and it never reach to me!!! The NIV got to me! I went to our old place as Ive moved and they were very unresponsive, neeever opened the door and. I FELT the oppression for some reason I felt evil did NOT want me to have KJV! Now. I know why. It was even resistance in the air. Well Im sensitive to the realms. I hope next one will arrive..
Waw and they think its alright?! Its one thing to be ignorant I suppose. But then I again come in on the spirit of contentment.
You must have a very interesting testimony. You said you were once a part of the new age movement?
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1 minute ago, HAZARD said:
The Bible is the Holy Word of God, no doubt about it. Anyone who can read and understand plain english, can read and understand the Bible. It was written to understood by babes. A God who wrote a book on how men should live, and wrote it in such a way that it would be impossible to understand and needed interperetation, and then men by it, would be no God at all. Its a huge volume, and you wont be able to consume it overnight.
For starters.
The Bible is God's inspired revelation of the origin and destiny of all things. It is the power of God unto eternal salvation and it is the source of present help for the body, soul, and spirit (Rom. 1:16; John 15:7). It is God's will and testament to men in all ages, revealing the plan of God for man here and now and in the next life. It is the record of God's dealings with man; past, present, and future. It contains God's message of eternal salvation to all people who believe in Christ and of eternal damnation to those who knowingly and willingly rebell against the gospel.
The Bible is a literary composition, and the Bible is the most remarkable book ever written. It is a divine library of sixty-six books, some of considerable size, and others no larger than a tract. All these books include various forms of litrature, history, biography, poetry, proverbial sayings, hymns, letters, directions for elabourate ritualistic worship, laws, parables, riddles, allegories, prophecy, drama, and all other forms of human expression. The Bible never has been excelled from any standpoint. This book contains the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners, and the reward and happiness of believers. Its doctrins are holy, its precepts are binding, its histories true, and its decisions immutable.
The Bible is a mirror to reflect (James 1:23); a hammer to convict (Jer. 23:29); a fire to refine (Jer. 23:29); seed to multiply (1 Pet. 1:23); lwater to cleanse (Eph. 5:26; John 15:3); a lamp to guide (Ps. 119:105); and food to nourish, including milk for babes (1 Pet. 2:2), it is bread for the hungry (Matt. 4:4), meat for men (Heb. 5:11-14), and it is honey for dessert (Ps. 19:10). It is rain and snow to refresh (Isa. 55:10); a sword to cut (Heb. 4:12; a bow to revenge (Heb. 3:9); it is gold to enrich (Ps. 19:7-10); and it reveals the power who creats life through faith (1 Pet. 1:23; Rom. 10:17).
The Bible is not an amulet, a charm, a fetish,or a thing that will work wonders by its very presence without any volintary agency. The Bible does not claim to be any such thing. What the Bible does claim is that if one will study and practice it that it will work wonders in the life now and hereafter. The Bible does not benifit men by its presence, such as in hotel rooms, by a bedside, in a home, or a factory, any more than a spring of cool water benefits a thirsty man who refuses to drink.
The Bible is not a book of chronological events or one unbroken series of divine utterances. The Bible was given piecemeal, here a little and there a little, to many men through eighteen centuries or more (Isa. 28:9-11). And in spite of this it forms a perfect unity. The Bible is not a book of mysteries, of supernatural languages, of heavenly utterances. It is God's Revelation in the most simple human language possible. It explains the so-called mysteries and it is self-interpreting, so that no mystery remains in it. It does not say one thing and mean another. It has generally only one simple meaning. If a few passages have a double meaning, that is quite clear from the passage itself or from parallel passages. One cannot, as is commonly believed, get a thousand different meanings, from any one passage. The Bible is not an example of God's skill as a writer or logician. It is a book written by men whom God used to record His revelation. God used the men by giving them freedom of expression to use their own language and ways of expressing truth. The writers were God's penmen, and not God's pens. All that inspiration guarantees is unity of thought, not the sameness of words and expressions.
The Bible is not a book of systematic discourse on any one subject, but it does give divine information on practically every subject. One must collect together here and there all God's information through the various writers in order to get the whole truth. When this is done, there is perfect harmony, and everything agout the whole subject that man really needs to know is clear.
The Bible is not a book that conforms to tasts, customs, or habits of any one nation or people, or for any one age or period of time. It is a book to which all people in all ages can conform, and yet retain their own peculiar customs and habits that are not sinful and contrary to the will of God."The Bible is God's inspired revelation of the origin and destiny of all things. It is the power of God unto eternal salvation and it is the source of present help for the body, soul, and spirit (Rom. 1:16; John 15:7). It is God's will and testament to men in all ages, revealing the plan of God for man here and now and in the next life. It is the record of God's dealings with man; past, present, and future. It contains God's message of eternal salvation to all people who believe in Christ and of eternal damnation to those who knowingly and willingly rebel against the gospel.
"Over forty different authors wrote the sixty six books of the Bible during a period of 1,800 years; and they all had one theme. The creation and redemption of the human race by God through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
These books of the Bible were written by men from all walks of life such as Kings, Priests, Judges, lawyers, Princes, Shepherds, Soldiers, Courtiers, Statesmen, Musicians, Inventors, Singers, Poets, Preachers, Prophets, Fishermen, Farmers, Tentmakers, Publicans, Physicians, Rich men and Poor men.
They were written in various lands of three continents, Europe, Asia, and Africa. They were written in different ages and by many men, some who never saw each other or knew what the others wrote on the same subjects, yet when their writings were all assembled into one book, there is not one contradiction among them."
I believe each and every one of the individual authors were inspired to write the particular book or books that God inspired him to write.
Many if not most of them did not know each other, and even would have known what every and any other author was called and inspired by God to write if at all.
After all the books were finally written and were all compiled into one, they were in complete unison on every doctrine and they agreed with each other and they were then re-written several times over the years by other men of varying and even if only slightly differing religions who never knew any of the original authors, who never knew each other as they copied and re-wrote, and things were sometimes, accidently or on purpose, changed because of the different understandings of some foreign words some dialects and even the languages themselves.I'm not sure if you correctly understand the issue. The bible is everything you said it was. This is about there being versions of the bible distributed that were tampered with and corrupted.
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3 minutes ago, Heavenunlimited said:
WAW!!! Man youre good!! Hallelujah! So what to do?? This is serious. How can they just... But yes evils infiltration. Still how can bible believing otherwise good christians not see but tow this line??
Well firstly don't overreact.
The sad fact is that most christians don't care enough to investigate. They assume they already know what the case is and go by what has always been said, which is that they are all saying the same thing so it does not matter.
I will post the first part of the presentation that explains the background behind how the scriptures as we have it came to be and who some of the editors were and what they believes and how the influenced some of the versions that we commonly use.
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4 minutes ago, Heavenunlimited said:
Thats interesting. Every christian should be interested inthe right shoe fit so to speak. Waw ... I cant help to wonder, how many been decieved by this. Ive never demied Jesus inflesh strangely enough even when out in new age. Something in me if asked, couldnt. I loved Him even then. Waw.. This must really prove that not all bibles bear to rome?! Shocking you know Ive been thinking about it since I read recently that the other bibles dont have all as in words, meanings etc as KJV. Then. I proceeded to read the other bibles are cursed, because of it, that they lack Gods power. Less power because of changed words. I was gonna ask myself.. I asked God to show me.. Funny..
I watched an entire presentation on it. It really goes pretty deep. There are reasons behind many of the discrepancies and I'm not referring to the cases where its just about improving grammer. In the scriptures I posted, when you compare then you realize its not just a difference of grammer but its a different idea. I did not even show instances where sometimes parts of verses to entire verses are just ommitted.
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5 minutes ago, Heavenunlimited said:
Oh my gosh, when I was in new age there was a so called space brethren that I now understands a spirit of evil that just went "oh, Jesus is from God, Hes godly". So that proves the point!!!! That if the spirit is not asked if they believe Jesus came in flesh, then....doom..
so, if someone with the wrong interpretation where they are told to ask if Jesus is from God, the evil wouldve got away with fooling that poor listener!!!! It wouldve!
Exactly.. Gnosticism which was one of the beliefs system that came up sometime to the end or not far after Paul's time denied specifically that Jesus came in the flesh. There is a reason for the specificity of the bible I believe some of the "mistakes" are intentional to support beliefs that the editors had that were not originally supported by the inspired words of God.
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1 minute ago, other one said:
I'm not sure what you point is in the post.... I would suggest you get a good interlinear Bible with both the Hebrew/Greek words and english translation along with Strongs numbers so you can look up each word to get a better idea of what each says.... you can take the numbers and look them up in either Strongs or Vines or some other lexicon or dictionary.
But to answer your question on the surface no they don't all say the same thing, but they do tell the same story....
My point is that they largely do but in some cases they don't and the differences are significant. Take the first one. kJV says if one denies that Jesus came in the flesh, the others say Jesus is from God. Those are totally different. I didn't even post any examples of where some of the other verses totally left out verses. If its not a serious thing to you then I remind you that the bible warns against removing or adding anything to the scriptures.
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Hey guys. Been doing some research lately into both the books that some claim were left out of the bible and also comparing many of the versions of the bible that use today. Here are just a few scriptures for comparison. Are these just grammatical differences or does it give a different meaning altogether?
1 John 4:3(NIV) but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.
(ASV) and every spirit that confesseth not Jesus is not of God: and this is the spirit of the antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it cometh; and now it is in the world already.
(BBE) And every spirit which does not say this is not from God: this is the spirit of Antichrist, of which you have had word; and it is in the world even now.
(NIV) but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.
(KJV) And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.I Timothy 3:16
(ASV) Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness:
(BBE) Every holy Writing which comes from God is of profit for teaching, for training, for guiding, for education in righteousness:
(KJV) All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
(ISV) All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
Mark 10: 24(NIV) The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!
(CEV) The disciples were shocked to hear this. So Jesus told them again, "It's terribly hard to get into God's kingdom!
(ERV) The followers were amazed at what Jesus said. But he said again, "My children, it is very hard to enter God's kingdom!
(ISV) The disciples were startled by these words, but Jesus told them again, "Children, how hard it is for those who trust in their wealth to get into the kingdom of God!
(KJV) And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!
2 Peter 2:9(ASV) the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment unto the day of judgment;
(BBE) The Lord is able to keep the upright safe in the time of testing, and to keep evil-doers under punishment till the day of judging;
(CEV) This shows that the Lord knows how to rescue godly people from their sufferings and to punish evil people while they wait for the day of judgment.
(KJV) The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:
Revelation 22:14(ASV) Blessed are they that wash their robes, that they may have the right to come to the tree of life, and may enter in by the gates into the city.
(ESV) Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates.
(KJV) Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
(WEB) Blessed are those who do his commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter in by the gates into the city.
John 9:4(ASV) We must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.
(BBE) While it is day we have to do the works of him who sent me: the night comes when no work may be done.
(CEV) As long as it is day, we must do what the one who sent me wants me to do. When night comes, no one can work.
(ISV) I must do the work of the one who sent me while it is day. Night is approaching, when no one can work.
(KJV) I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.
Acts 13:42(ASV) And as they went out, they besought that these words might be spoken to them the next sabbath.
(CEV) As Paul and Barnabas were leaving the meeting, the people begged them to say more about these same things on the next Sabbath.
(ISV) As Paul and Barnabas were leaving, the people kept urging them to tell them the same things the next Sabbath.
(KJV) And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath.
(WEB) So when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath.
Daniel 3:25(ASV) He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the aspect of the fourth is like a son of the gods.
(BBE) He made answer and said, Look! I see four men loose, walking in the middle of the fire, and they are not damaged; and the form of the fourth is like a son of the gods.
(ESV) He answered and said, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.”
(KJV) He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.
Mark 7:19(ASV) because it goeth not into his heart, but into his belly, and goeth out into the draught? This he said, making all meats clean.
(BBE) Because it goes not into the heart but into the stomach, and goes out with the waste? He said this, making all food clean.
(CEV) It doesn't go into your heart, but into your stomach, and then out of your body." By saying this, Jesus meant that all foods were fit to eat.
(KJV) Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats?
(LITV) This is because it does not enter into his heart, but into the belly, and goes out into the waste-bowl, purging all the foods.
(DRB) Because it entereth not into his heart but goeth into his belly and goeth out into the privy, purging all meats?
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9 minutes ago, eileenhat said:
Yes.
Daniel 7 and Rev. 13 refer to The Beast out of the Sea, or what we call The Beast system which existed since 1945.
Daniel 2 is referring to empires and pointing to the last Empire on earth when Rev. 13/Dan. 7 fulfilled.
It began around the 13th century* with the banking empire as it's root....from my limited research and Holy spirit guidance.
*Evidence for this is on-line.
" The title Holy Roman Empire was adopted in the 13th century. "*
Well the title might be adopted then but in 538AD the Emperor of Rome (Emperor Justinian) gave over his power to the Bishop of Rome making him the ruler of the state in addition to him being the leader of the church. Since the little horn rises up after the reign of the 4th beast had ended and the Pagan Roman Empire was broken up in 476AD, then its more plausible that the little horn power would have started somewhere around 538AD
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1 minute ago, eileenhat said:
I added three photos for use in previous post.
I still see it as the Holy Roman empire (for Daniel 2 prophecy) and therefore a piece of the Beast out of the Sea (ie. Revived Rome) Rev. 13.
So is there a connection between Daniel 2, Daniel 7 and Rev 13?
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Billions of shares? That's unbelievable? Do you know how much money that can amount to?
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3 minutes ago, eileenhat said:
I have thought about Daniel 2 for some time.
The other day I had a brief vision about the ten toes.
I looked up the toes and found this article, that references them.
http://www.end-times-prophecy.org/end-time-kingdom.html
In it, it talks about the Catholic Church.
You can peruse the article, but I have been drawn to look at the 'apostate' Church, or as this author feels, the Catholic Church.
In the vision the toes were cleaved from the foot.
Is this meaning the Catholic Church will be divested of it's power here on Earth? Quote:
"The beginning of the feet with regards to history comes into play when the kingdom of Rome splits up and the Papal Church of Rome gains supremacy and rules the nations through influencing the different civil governments and using them for her own corrupt ways. So the "strength" of the iron (civil power) remains, but it is now "mixed" with "dirty clay" (apostate Christianity, via the Roman Catholic Church)."
Interesting article indeed.
I was reading Daniel 2 with Daniel 7 which apparently is the same thing but with much more detail. About the 4th beast and thereafter it says:
Dan 7:23 Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.
Dan 7:24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.
Dan 7:25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.
Dan 7:26 But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end.If that article is correct and the iron clay mix is a church-state system like the Roman Catholic Church then how do we understand those verses from Daniel 7
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1 minute ago, Marilyn C said:
Hi ProphecyKid,
Pleased to meet you & looking forward to your thoughts too. Now Ezra said that `Conservative commentators have called the mixture of iron and clay "the revived Roman Empire" since the iron remains, but is mixed with clay. ` The error here is that God says the word `iron means strong.` God does not call the word `iron` the Roman Empire. That has been an assumption from people not reading God`s word clearly. To base a `doctrine` on a symbol is also a grave error, as we know it is God who interprets His word.
Marilyn.
Well in defence of Ezra the bible helps us understand this a bit.
Dan 2:40 And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.
The fourth metal which was iron represents a kingdom according to Daniel's interpretation of the vision. So you can argue that the iron does not represent Rome, but you cannot argue that it does not represent a Kingdom because Daniel clearly tells us the iron represents the 4th kingdom.
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3 minutes ago, Ezra said:
If that is how you respond, then don't bother asking questions. Just hold on to your speculations, since I at least won't be responding.
I'm not wrong. What you expressed was an opinion and there is nothing wrong with you expressing an opinion. I am simply pointing out that it is in fact just an opinion. I want to get to the bottom of this and opinions are welcomed but it isn't authoritative.
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4 minutes ago, Teditis said:
Maybe they did talk about it but didn't write it any book that we have access to... perhaps the records were lost over time.
That could be possible if indeed there was a recollection to share.
I think it is clear however from the bible was that the belief in the OT and even at the time of Jesus and after was that men died and were in the grave until the resurrection and then would be resurrected. I mean Martha didn't believe that she would see Lazarus again when she died. She believed she would see him again at the resurrection. When did the view on this change?
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Now the bible says this:
Job 14:12 So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.
Job 14:13 O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me!
Job 14:14 If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.
Job 14:15 Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands.What I am trying to understand is that if this is not true, it needs to be corrected in the bible. Jesus said that Lazarus was sleeping and he is going to awake him out of sleep. Not that Lazarus has gone to the bosom of Abraham. So to the first person who commented, this is the confusion. If someone would have shared if they went to heaven or hell when they died, then we would know what the truth of the matter is. The fact that we have no such account seems to be to suggest that in fact the dead know nothing as it says in Eccl 9: 5.
Ecc 9:5 For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.
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2 minutes ago, Ezra said:
Lazarus (the brother of Martha and Mary) would have gone where the other Lazarus (the beggar) went. Which is to *Abraham's bosom* in Sheol/Hades. His soul and spirit were with the righteous dead, while his body was in the tomb. But he was not permitted to talk about this, just as Paul was not permitted to disclose what he heard in Heaven.
I respect that opinion but it is clearly an opinion, not a fact. Plus, that parable about the begger and Lazarus was not to be taken literal or else you miss the entire meaning behind the story. And with Paul, its a different story because Paul did not die and was then resurrected.
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1 minute ago, Ezra said:
Death is not annihilation but SEPARATION. In physical death the soul and spirit are separated from the body. In spiritual and eternal death, the unsaved are separated eternally from God in the Lake of Fire.
As to why those who were resurrected remained silent, I believe God would not allow them to discuss their experiences in order to prevent people from misplacing their focus (which should be Christ and the Gospel). As the Lord said, if they would not believe the Bible, they would not believe though one rose from the dead.
That's a logical reason but its not practical. I saw this because when Jesus died, many people were resurrected from the dead. It is hard for me to believe that all of these people just kept their mouth shut about whatever they experienced for the duration of their life until they died again.
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Just now, shiloh357 said:
The Bible is very clear about what happens after death. There are only two destinations, heaven or hell. Where is this confusion you speak of?
Ok so where was Lazarus taken after he died?
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So this is a question I have been thinking about and I would like if someone can share their opinion on this.
We have many accounts of people who were dead and were resurrected. Lazarus is a prime example but there are examples of these instances in both the OT and NT.
If when someone dies, they simply live on in another form and are taken to another place, why is it that will all of these people who were dead and then resurrected, that no one has shared their experience of being taken somewhere? if Lazarus would have shared where he was taken for the 3 - 4 days after his death that would really clear up the confusion of what happens after death.
Or is it that death is really death so the dead have nothing to report after they have been resurrected?
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So I was reading Daniel 2 recently and looking at the vision that the king had. As I see it, the vision was basically an overview of the kingdoms that shall rule the world from his time down to the time when Jesus shall put all the manmade governments to an end and establish his kingdom.
My question is, where in that vision are we right now?
I would assume we are in this period right here:
Dan 2:41 And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.
Dan 2:42 And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.
Dan 2:43 And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.I have my opinion on these verses put how do you guys view this verses in relation to where we are at now or maybe where we have been?
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On 12/11/2015 at 7:22 AM, Pamelasv said:
Sounds like a newbie subject, I know, but I honestly still do not find it easy to read. Maybe someone who has knowledge in Greek can shed some light here.
The 'poor' in spirit are what?
Blessed are those who mourn. Why?
Blessed are the gentle ( mine says, tho others say meek ) what is it really?
I get the rest of it.
This presentation on the Beautitudes gives an awesome understand and explanation. If you can spare the time, please watch it.
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6 hours ago, OneLight said:
During the time before Jesus, they had only their laws to follow and no means of salvation we have through Christ. They had the 10 Commandments and the Levitical Laws to guide them as they tried to live righteous lives.
They had the same means of Salvation as we had. Its the same grace through faith. The only difference was that they had to use a system of symbols and shadows that were detailed in the Levitical Priestly System, but those things all pointed to Christ.
The laws had anything to do with earning salvation unless they were laws which dictated how they were to interact within the levitical system in order to obtain forgiveness. For instance, laws which dictated what kind of animal sacrifice was needed at which feasts. But other than that, the other laws were not about earning salvation, they were just about how God wanted his people to live.
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43 minutes ago, OneLight said:
Yet, for legalism, as some preach, it is their belief. Still, in the OT, all they had was the law, which is the time frame the person spoke of. Today, we do have people who do teach legalism, and if you break one of their beliefs, you have sinned and if you continue to do such a sin, you were never saved in the first place. They leave grace/repentance out of the picture.
What do you mean by all they had was the law?
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1 minute ago, OneLight said:
I believe this person was speaking of James 2:10 "For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all."
But they went on to day that if someone did not keep the law perfectly then they were lost. That part I did not agree with. Salvation never came by keeping the law perfectly
How Should We Interpret These Things?
in Prophecy
Posted
How someone interprets this is based on the system of prophetic interpretation they are using. If they are a futurist which most denominations subscribe to, they see most of Revelation being only pertinent to a future 7 year period. The preterist view most of Revelation if not all of it as being fulfilled by the second century. The historicist system which I believe sees Revelation as being fulfilled historically from the time right before John and right down to the end of time.
The protestant reformers were all historicist and they understood this beast with 7 heads and 10 horns to be the Papacy. If you go to Daniel 7 and count up the heads of the 4 beasts listed and count all the horns the result is seven heads and ten horns. Revelation 13 is an expansion and continuation of the little horn mentioned in Daniel 7.
Babylon is represented by a woman and in the bible, a woman has been using to represent a church in numerous places. This woman represents the false system of religion and worship which shall cause the masses to accept the mark of the beast.
As for #3, just know that the Vatican was built on seven hills kinda like what Rev 17:9 talks about.