For four decades, as I studied the power structure of the modern beast, I noted that historians differed in their opinion as to who actually was in control of the present Babylonian system. Most of these historians agreed that the world is controlled by money and banking, but they did not agree on who controlled the big banks.

This question is vital to understanding the beast from the earth and his relationship with the beast from the sea. Rev. 13:12 says of the second beast,

¹² And he exercises [or executes] all the authority of the first beast in his presence. And he makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed.

This is an unusual situation. The second beast “exercises all the authority of the first beast,” and yet “he makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast.” In all previous cases where a beast has arisen, he has overthrown the previous beast, making him subservient. Whenever we see something unusual, we must examine it more closely to find out why it is so.

The first thing we see is that the authority itself was indeed transferred from the first to the second beast. Yet in spite of this, we see a cooperation of some kind being set up, wherein the conquered beast, having been brought back to life, is allowed to be worshipped as in previous times. In other words, the second beast does not want to be worshipped, for that would necessitate being out in the open. This second beast prefers to remain hidden and to keep the previous beast in place as the visible object of worship.

The Mystery

Such an arrangement comes out clearly in later chapters, where “the great harlot” carries the name “Mystery Babylon.” The term mystery comes from musterion, which means secret or hidden. Hence, the transition of power from the first beast to the second is the point where the beast empires (going back to Babylon) went underground so that they might rule in secret. Its secretive nature is even suggested by the fact that it was kept secret from Daniel himself. Only John exposes it for us to see.

There seems to be no other compelling reason for God to keep the final beast hidden from Daniel, other than to illustrate its secretive nature. Furthermore, because the first beast continued to be worshipped even after receiving a fatal wound, that first beast visibly appears to rule until the authority is transferred to the saints of the Most High.

Not understanding this has caused many researchers to believe that the Vatican continues to rule the earth by its control of Western law and all corporations based upon that law. It is also argued often that the Vatican controls the Federal Reserve. But Rev. 13:12 does not support such a belief. John tells us that a new beast arose after 1,260 years, which secretly took all the authority of the first beast, while leaving that first beast as a visible object of worship in the world. In other words, the financial beast from the earth rules over the religious beast from the sea (Holy See).

The Boast

Obviously, proof in the form of signed documents are in short supply, for such papers would defeat the whole purpose of this secret arrangement. Without such hard proof, we have only Scripture at our disposal, which we may believe or disbelieve. Nonetheless, there have always been a few in each generation in the top echelons of power who know of this arrangement. It is inevitable that pieces of information would be leaked, especially since it is the nature of carnal men to want to boast of their power.

And so we find such a boast, written tersely with no explanation, in The Jewish Encyclopedia itself. The key is found in an article on the Rothschilds (See Vol. X), where it is written,

“It is a somewhat curious sequel to the attempt to set up a Catholic competitor to the Rothschilds that at the present time the latter are the guardians of the papal treasure.”

http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/12909-rothschild

In other words, the Rothschilds became the “guardians” of the Vatican’s wealth, holding the key to Rome’s money. When this arrangement began—or what it means to be a “guardian”—is not stated, but the context of the article above states that a Catholic bank, Union Générale, had been set up in 1876 as to compete with the Jewish Rothschild banks, hoping the Vatican would entrust them—instead of the Rothschilds—with their money. This Rothschild competitor apparently did not realize that the Vatican had lost control of its own finances at the time of the Holy Alliance. It was, therefore, unable to entrust its money to a Catholic bank, even if it wanted to do so.

Was it by choice that the Roman church continued to utilize a Jewish bank rather than a Catholic bank? If the choice had been left to the Vatican, it seems logical that they would have entrusted their money to Catholics who respected the spiritual authority of the church. But the Vatican seemed to ignore the Catholic bank, and the Rothschilds retained control over the Vatican accounts. Why?

The key is in understanding what a guardian is. Black’s Law Dictionary defines a guardian as:

“A guardian is a person lawfully invested with the power, and charged with the duty, of taking care of the person and managing the property and rights of another person who, for some peculiarity of status, or defect of age, understanding, or self-control, is considered incapable of administering his own affairs.”

A guardian is appointed to exercise authority over the financial affairs of a minor, or someone who is mentally impaired, or one who suffers from a lack of self-control. Control of the owner’s finances is entrusted to the guardian who has understanding. Recall that the Apostle Paul said in Gal. 4:1-3,

¹ Now I say, as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave although he is the owner of everything, ² but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by the father. ³ So also we, while we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world.

Children say that they own certain things, but their ownership is subject to the will of a parent and is therefore not absolute. So also the nations of The Holy Alliance in 1815 subjected the Vatican to certain terms by which the church would be allowed to be reinstated as a religion to be worshiped. The popes were legally declared to be mere children, minors, under the guardianship of others. Their “treasure,” i.e., bank accounts, property, buildings, art, etc. came under the guardianship of the Rothschild banks.

There is no doubt that The Jewish Encyclopedia used the term guardian as a precise legal term. It suggests that the Roman church had been allowed to survive its deadly wound only on condition that it turned over its property and finances to the Rothschilds as their legal guardians. Thus, the Vatican had to admit legally that it was incapable of administering its own affairs on account of its past excesses.

Doubtless, it was the powers of The Holy Alliance that discussed this issue, bringing up earlier fears of Jesuit power. It seems that they agreed to allow the Jesuit Order to be reinstated, along with the church itself, on condition that their money be spent with certain limitations at the approval of the Rothschilds, acting as agents of the world powers.

The Bankers of the Holy Alliance

The Rothschilds were the “bankers to the Holy Alliance,” as Niall Ferguson says in two statements on the same page in Vol. II, The House of Rothschild:

“Thus by the end of 1822 the Rothschilds could justifiably be regarded as bankers to the Holy Alliance…” (p. 127)

“The final coup which completed the Rothschilds’ emergence as ‘bankers to the Holy Alliance’ came in 1822 with the loan to Russia.” (p. 127)

He was referring to the Rothschilds emerging as the main banker who gave loans to the big three nations of the day, showing the stature of this banking house by this time. It adds credence to the Rothschild’s appointment as “guardians of the papal treasure” earlier in 1815.

Ferguson also quotes the sons of Mayer Amschel Rothschild, who recalled their father’s words:

“Our late father taught us that if a high-placed person enters into [financial] partnership with a Jew, he belongs to the Jew” (The House of Rothschild, Vol. II, p. 77).

It is apparent, then, that the Rothschilds became the legal guardians of the Vatican in 1815 and that this became more apparent in 1822.

The Rothschilds and the Royals

The Rothschilds themselves were the guardians, but this did not mean that they held actual power over the Vatican—at least not at first. Their power increased over time, of course, and gradually they were able to use the power of money to assert their will upon monarchs and nations. Certainly, they would have remembered the words of the Rothschild patriarch, and they would have worked toward subjecting the monarchs by the power of mounting debt. But this took some time. Meanwhile, their loans made them business partners, but as debt piled up, the lenders became the real masters.

Power continually shifted over the years, as nations (including the church) plotted daily to increase their own power at the expense of the others. In 1917 Russia was overthrown by Rothschilds and other banking interests. In 1929 the pope signed the Lateran Treaty with Mussolini, in which the papacy received a $90 million “donation” from the state of Italy as recompense for their loss of the Papal States in the 1860’s. This money had increased through investment to $2 billion by 1939 and was used to set up the Institute for Religious Agencies (Vatican Bank) on June 27, 1942.

The question is whether or not the Vatican Bank obtained genuine independence from Rothschild guardianship, once it seemed to be able to manage its own finances. The Vatican Bank became a major money laundering bank, not only for fleeing war criminals after World War II, but throughout the decades afterward. I do not know if these activities were done with the approval of the Rothschild banks or not, but the recent attempts by Pope Francis to clean up the banks has run into huge internal roadblocks within the Vatican itself.

Regardless of the changing situation over the past two centuries, if the Rothschild banks were appointed guardians over the financial affairs of the Vatican, it means the earth beast retained background control over the sea beast. Yet it is important to recognize that the Rothschilds in 1815 were appointed by the big three powers after the fall of Napoleon: Russia, Germany, and Austria. The Rothschilds did not dictate the terms, but positioned themselves to be entrusted with this guardianship.

Much of this arrangement has surely changed by now, as no such agreement can survive the ever-changing power shifts in history. But while such changes may be interesting, they are not fully relevant to the details established in Revelation 13. John saw only a brief outline and gave us only a short description of this final beast. The most important factor, however, is that the second beast was allied with the first beast while itself remaining secretive, allowing the first beast to remain to be openly worshipped as in previous centuries.