[§221] Rev 13:5: Satan Has a Mouth [Power] Given Him 42 Months

This podcast explains the symbolism and imagery used by John in Revelation 13:5 to describe the Great Apostasy that began after the fall of Rome in 476 AD and before the start of papal authority in 607 AD. John describes the Great Apostasy saying: “And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.” Many interpret this verse to mean that the Dragon (Satan) gave to HIM (the First Beast) a mouth speaking great things, etc. However, the HIM in verse 5 refers to the Dragon who was given a mouth from God to speak great things and blasphemies throughout the world. The First Beast is a symbol for the Roman Empire as just one geographical location in the world where the much larger Great Apostasy was a universal and worldwide loss of truth and priesthood authority, including the church on the western hemisphere among the Nephites and the church among the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel. Revelation 13:5 indicates that the worldwide apostasy lasted 42 months, which is a prophetic period of evil equal to 3½ years or 1260 days. In this case, the 1260 days are prophetic days of years or 1260 years. From John’s perspective, the Great Apostasy was measured as the period of time when there were no legal administrators of the priesthood anywhere on the earth. This means that the 1260 years ended when The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was restored with priesthood administrators in 1830. Working backwards from this date, the Great Apostasy began on or about 570 A.D. This date corresponds to the translation of the Lost Ten Tribes as the last legal administrators of the priesthood on the earth until the restoration of priesthood authority in 1830. This podcast also explains the difference in John’s 1260 day apostasy in Revelation 13:5 and Daniel’s 1290 day apostasy in Daniel 12:11. Revelation 13:5 defines the apostasy as an absence of priesthood authority, while Daniel 12:11 defines the apostasy as a flood of spiritual darkness that began with the Roman Abomination of Desolation in 70 A.D. The spiritual darkness began to end in 1360 A.D., as the spiritual light of the Renaissance began to emerge and the power of the popes began to decline in the Holy Roman Empire.