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Among the many claims made by the popes over the centuries, especially arrogant is the
Unam Sanctam of Boniface VIII: "All the faithful of Christ by necessity of salvation are subject to
the Roman pontiff, who judges all men....Therefore we declare, assert, define, and pronounce, that
to be subject to the Roman pontiff is to every human creature altogether necessary for salvation"!
The Papacy has had a mouth claiming things that no other bishop had claimed before. The edicts of
the Pope are considered final; his utterances infallible; his decrees irreformable.

6/. The little horn of Daniel's vision "had eyes" and his "look was more stout than his fel-
lows" (Daniel 7:20). Because a horn on a beast does not normally possess eyes, such symbolism
stands out vividly. This horn, therefore, is a power with foresight, intelligence. With such eyes it
would be a seer. Does the Papacy fit this image? The Pope claims to be the overseer of the whole
world-wide church! He claims to watch over, to shepherd or pastor, more people than any other
leader -- secular or religious! His look is more stout than others and is greatly feared, for he
claims to be the possessor of the keys to the kingdom of heaven.

7/. The little horn was to "make war with" and "wear out the saints of the most High"
(Daniel 7:21, 25). The early Christians were persecuted by the Jews, with later persecutions thrust
upon them by the pagan Roman Empire. These were minimal and amounted to almost nothing com-
pared to the massive persecutions inflicted upon Christians by the Roman Catholic Church. The
war against the saints here described was to be carried out by a power that would rise out of
Rome following the breaking up of the Empire. Looking into history, we find that century after cen-
tury of persecution fell upon the saints by a power that rose out of Rome. That power was the PA-
PACY -- and none other.

Christians who would not bow to Papal claims were horribly tortured, tested, and tried
during those terrible centuries. Pope Innocent IV issued an official document which clearly stated
that these "heretics" were to be crushed like venomous snakes. His soldiers were promised prop-
erty and remission of all their sins if they killed a "heretic"! Unfortunate victims of the Inquisition
were stretched and torn apart on the "rack." Some were crushed and stabbed to death in "iron vir-
gins." Other devices used included the thumb-screw, an instrument made for disarticulating the fin-
gers and "Spanish boots" which were used to crush the legs and feet. Pinchers were used to tear
out fingernails or were applied red-hot to the sensitive parts of the body.

Every imaginable method of torture was used by these fiendish men representing the Pope.
Those who wouldn't bow to the Pope's system were shut up in caves and dungeons, were nailed to
trees, tormented with fires, scalded with oil or burning pitch; melted lead was poured into their
eyes, ears, and mouths; they were scalped, skinned, flayed alive; heads were twisted off and eyes
gouged out; women were defiled, their breasts cut off; babies were brutally beaten, whipped,
stabbed, dashed against trees -- in front of their own parents -- and then thrown to hungry dogs and
pigs. It has been estimated -- conservatively I believe -- that fifty million Christians were killed
during those Satanic centuries of Papal persecution. This makes Adolf Hitler, Stalin and Saddam
Hussein seem like rank amateurs.

Let me ask you this -- if such treatment as this, inflicted on generation after generation, is
not the "wearing out of the saints of the most High," then what is? All other persecutions against
Yehovah's people were brief and mild in comparison.

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