You're not being consistent here. First, you say the 7 heads are 7 European leaders. And you're talking current or future leaders, right? Then you say the heads, which are called hills (or mountains) are "metaphors for 7 successive kingdoms in history (I agree). But, you can't have it both ways. They can't both be current or future entities as well as past entities. It's one or the other. Also, I disagree with the idea of the hills/mountains being both literal and metaphors. I don't believe that makes any sense, either.
Actually that's what I am saying, that the 7 heads are both 7 literal kings in the future Antichristian Kingdom and a symbol of 7 successive kingdoms that identify Rome as the 6th Kingdom.
The 7 heads and the 7 hills represent 7 successive kingdoms in history that lead to the Antichristian Empire. Since Rome was the 6th Kingdom, this identifies Rome as the predecessor to Antichrist.
The 7 heads are future leaders who in John's prophecy appeared to have origins in the current Roman Kingdom.
The "fatal wound" of one of the heads of the Beast may have been a future termination of Imperial Rome. In John's time it existed as an Empire, but in modern times it has been democratized and broken up into the states of Europe.
In John's time the Antichristian Empire did not yet exist, or "was not." But in the future, imperial Rome will be reconstituted, or brought "back to life," as the Antichristian Empire.
The ancient pagan Empire, having been terminated and put in the Abyss, would rise again as the Antichristian Empire. The current rise of Paganism in the heart of European Christianity is exhilarating to people today, as they feel new freedoms to explore sensuality and other religious beliefs. Hedonism is once again rearing its ugly head.
At any rate, I think John used the "7 heads" as symbols alluding to Rome. He did that by turning the 7 literal future heads of Europe, the "7 heads," into 2 hints, alluding to their Roman origins.
1) John turned the 7 heads into a representation of 7 hills, alluding to the 7 hills of Rome.
2) John turned the 7 heads into a representation of 7 successive kingdoms in history.
Why was this important? It was important because the culture that existed in John's time was the central political danger to Christians, both in terms of temptation and in terms of persecution. And John was stating that this Roman culture would be a continuing danger to Christianity for the rest of the age, up until Christ's Return.
How is this inconsistent or irrational? Let me make up a similar story for you.
Let's say I am captive to an oppressive kingdom called "The Hand." I am concerned that my coreligionists will fall for the idolatrous temptations of this Kingdom, and I want to be clear about the fact I am speaking of The Hand without appearing to be blatantly seditious.
I prophesy that towards the end of that Kingdom there will be a coalition of 5 leaders led by an emperor. This will be a time of intense temptation and persecution of my coreligionists, and I wish them to know that this is a test during which they should remain strong.
But being imprisoned by The Hand I cannot prophecy that this coalition will be an evil Empire identified as "The Hand." So I tell my fellow religionists that to properly recognize this endtime Empire the 5 leaders represent 5 fingers, which to my co-religionists would identify it as "The Hand."
And I tell them the 5 future leaders also represent a series of 5 evil governments, which by nature persecute our religion. In fact, our literature documents them as such.
When I identify the 4th in the series of evil governments as currently existing my coreligionists identify it as The Hand, which is indeed currently persecuting our religion.
This may or may not help you to understand how I look at John's prophecy. It's okay if we disagree on this. It took me many years to come up with my present theory. It's been one of the most difficult prophecies for me to decipher.
I'm certainly not dogmatic about it. But viewing the importance of having the Christians identify Rome as an endtime source of pagan danger was perhaps obvious but also something that needed to be exposed. That's just how I look at it.
Even more so, we were told in Daniel that a 4th Kingdom would lead to the end of the age, when Christ's Kingdom would be established on earth. I believe this Kingdom had to have been Rome, the 1st great political persecutor of the Church.
Today, Europe is in a state of decline, turning against Christianity. Christians do need to be aware of the prophecy of a final state of Rome, when Antichrist presides over 10 nations of Europe.
Furthermore, there are other places in Scriptures where disguising religious opposition to the state had to be done surreptitiously. So my interpretation is not out of sorts with other passages of Scripture.
The Gospel does not encourage conspiracy against the State, or revolution, though morally, that can, at times, be justified. I do think that in 2 Thes 2 the "Restrainer" is Paul's hidden name for the Roman Empire, which ultimately will be removed in order for a new coalition of the same to emerge under Antichrist.
You may have to read this several times to fully understand it. Due to its complex nature it is difficult to understand. But in my opinion, it is *not* irrational! On the contrary, it is critical to recognize the "Beast" culture that tests us every day within European culture.
