See, Jesuit Futurists always cast aside the
precise prophetic template in Daniel and Revelation and appeal to the
not-so-precise prophecy of Revelation 17 to "prove" their Jesuit Futurist nonsense. While none of us can say for certain what it all means, by sticking to the prophetic template and timeline of Daniel and Revelation, the best explanation I've found so far is concerning the 7 kings:
- Babylon
- MP
- Greece
- Pagan Rome
- Papal Rome
- ("is not, yet is") Wounded papacy operating behind the scenes via papal-controlled secret Luciferian societies arising from the "bottomless pit" to control the world during this interim (click the link!)
- "not yet come" - Image of the Beast
- "eighth, of the 7" - final NWO confederacy under ultimate papal control
Some may disagree, but they cannot deny this interpretation sticks to the prophetic timeline while Jesuit Futurists interpretations don't even occupy the same Scriptural universe.
This is hardly Scripture according to Daniel 2. It is too papacy centered and missing the whole point of the actual church.
Satan is always the primary head of the beast. Not the papacy, or some secret world order. The beast is wounded because since the Reformation, the church has been holding the beast in check, through the power of Holy Spirit. That is what keeps the mortal wound going. The church is the rock cut out without hands that destroyed the image in the toes causing the fatal end to the first 5 kingdoms including the papacy. That was the outcome of the Reformation. Not church theology that caused further splintering of the church. The historist are stuck in the past, just not as deep as preterist.
The church is not centered and controlled by some central authority of human governance. That is what caused the apostasy in the first place. Remember when Israel wanted a king like all the other nations? The church was to fill the earth, that means local people all over the earth under the submission of the Holy Spirit.
The dragon/sea beast/scarlet beast only has 7 heads, so there will only be 7 earthly empires not 8. Your math is wrong. The 8th kingdom is the 7th head, but it will only happen after a 7th Kingdom. So look in Revelation, before you start guessing. The 6th head is wounded, and literally defunct. It is splintered, because there never was going to be a 6th world empire. You say people are working behind the scenes, in high places with Satan. That is probably true, but no nation wants to give in to a single nation, unless they get to be that single nation, so all you get is a stalemate.
So the Second Coming is the game changer, because the church is removed, and Satan may in fact heal the 6th head. The problem is that the Second Coming not only removes the church, but it places the Prince to come, yes Jesus as King, to actually sit on a throne in Jerusalem. That is Scripture: Matthew 25:31-32
"When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:"
So the 6th head may be healed, but is now in direct competition with God, now seen visibly on the earth. Not just Jesus on a throne. God sitting on the GWT is in plain sight, as all spiritual blindness has been lifted. Revelation 6:14-16
"And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb."
Not only is there a shake up of current world government, but all on earth can see the face of the one sitting on the GWT, the one that in the OT, no one could look upon and live.
So we have the 7th Kingdom right there in Jerusalem. And there is tribulation and trouble like none else because during the first 6 Trumpets and the 7 Thunders, Jesus is going to be tossing people into the LOF, or redeeming them out of Adam's dead corruptible flesh, in preparation for the Day of the Lord. And the 7th Trumpet declares the 7th Kingdom: Revelation 11:15
"And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever."
So if there even is an 8th kingdom, it will be 3.5 days after Jesus is declared King, and split the week of the days of the 7th Trumpet in half. And Satan being the 7th and primary head, is the beast that was, is not, and yet is. Jesus will abdicate the throne, and take the 144k to wait 42 months on Mount Zion.
That is what John wrote in Revelation. Nothing about a covert apostate church, with a false papacy sitting as God. Satan wants you all to think everything is in the past, and then there will be a "left behind" period of trouble, in preparation for a Second Coming. But Jesus is going to come first, and no warning will indicate any time to get ready, and that is why there is so much trouble. If people are not ready for a thief in the night, that thief will be a surprise. The longer Jesus does not return, the shorter the length of this trouble will be, and the longer the elect have to join the church. Because the time of the church is now, not after the 7th Seal is opened.
Once the 5th Seal is opened, the church will be complete, and in heaven, waiting for Jesus and the angels to gather the final harvest. And the battle of Armageddon is not that Second Coming. The Second Coming will not be announced ahead of time like the battle of Armageddon is.