http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/dec2011/kevinh1223.htm

http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/dec2011/kml1227-2.htm

http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/dec2011/kevinh1228.htm



Hello Kevin and Doves
Yes it is true that Paul was a Roman, and his blood line was Jewish. Which does corrispond with my thoughts. 
Lets look at Revelation 17:9-11
What was the Seventh, and what will be the Eighth Empire ?
Beyond the identification of the nations of Ezekiel 38, the Book of Revelation also confirms the notion that, indeed, the region of Turkey will head the Future Antichrist's empire.
Rev 17:3 There 'I saw....a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had Seven Heads and Ten Horns.
Here we see the final "beast" empire of the Antichrist. The beast has Seven Heads and Ten Horns. We already know from the Book of Daniel that the Ten Horns represent the Ten nations or Kings that will comprise the Antichrist's empire. But the Seven Heads stand for Seven Empires that Have Existed throughout history. ALL have foreshadowed the final empire to come. As usual, whenever the Bible gives a prophecy that may be difficult in it's symbolism, the Bible clarifies the symbolism and explains the passage for us.
Verse 9
And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The Seven Heads are Seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.
Verse 10
And there are Seven Kings: Five are fallen, and One IS, and the other is Not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.
Verse 11
And the beast that Was, and IS not, even he IS the Eighth, and IS of the Seven, and goeth into perdition.

The Seven Heads are called Seven Mountains. The Bible uses mountains as a symbol representing a Kingdom of [an] empire. But most importantly this passage gives us insight into the fact that, before Jesus returns, there will actually Have Been a total of EIGHT "beast" empires. The Eighth empire will be ruled by the Antichrist.
How can this passage help us gain insight into the identification of the Final empire of the Antichrist?
First we see that at the time John wrote this passage, FIVE of the empires had already fallen. This is seen in the phrase " five have been."
THESE EMPIRES ARE GENERALLY ACCEPTED BY BIBLE TEACHERS AS THE FOLLOWING
1. The Egyptian Empire
2. The Assyrian Empire
3. The Babylonian Empire
4. The Persian Empire
5. The Greek Empire
After these five, the angel tells John that ONE empire "IS." At the time John wrote the Book of Revelation, Rome "WAS." It ruled the Middle East, North Africa, and much of Europe. Thus the SIXTH empire was the Roman Empire. The next Empire, of course, is the SEVENTH, and then the EIGHTH will be the empire of the Antichrist.
So the Seventh empire is the One we need to identify, because according to the Verse above, the Eighth empire will be " A resurrected or Revived " version of the SEVENTH empire.
So if we are waiting for the final Eighth empire, then What was the SEVENTH ?
What Empire followed Rome ?
The most common belief, however, held most universally by Bible teachers, is that the Antichrist's empire will be a "revived" Roman Empire.
There are, however, some glaring problems with this theory:
1. First, Rome was the SIXTH empire. If Rome was the Sixth, and will also be the Last, THEN WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SEVENTH ?
This theory has a gaping hole.
Is Rome the Sixth, Seventh, and the Eighth empires?
Neither Scripture nor history nor common sense supports this notion.
2.Second, every one of the previous SIX empires ruled the Middle Esat, including Jerusalem. This is very important !   We must always remember that the Bible is thoroughly Jerusalem-centric. It is Not American-centric, nor Western-centric.   In the Biblical view of things, [Jerusalem is The Center of the Earth.]
This point cannot be underscored enough.
Any theory that revolves around a revived Roman Empire based in Europe- for instance on the European Common Market- is a concept foreign to the Bible. Unless the empire Rules over or directly affects Jerusalem, it is actually a bit irrelevent to the Biblical mindset.
3.Third, if we look at the first SIX empires, each succeeding empire either destroyed or absorbed the empire that preceeded it. There is a very natural succession. If we look at each empire, we see that they all fulfill these characteristics: They ruled over Jerusalem and they defeated and absorbed their predecessor. 
The Egyptian Empire ruled all of Egypt and Israel as well. But the Assyrian Empire defeated the Egyptian Empire and likewise ruled over a vast portion of the Middle East, including Israel. After this, the Babylonian Empire defeated the Assyrian Empire and became ever Larger than it's predecessor, again, ruling over Israel.
Such is the pattern with each successive empire: The Medo-Persian Empire succeeded the Babylonian Empire only to be succeeded by the Greek Empire. The Greek Empire was in turn succeeded by the Roman Empire. Which leads us to the SEVENTH empire.

In AD 395, The Roman Empire was divided into TWO portions; The Eastern and the Western portions. The Eastern portion became known as the Byzantine Empire. In AD  410 the Western Capital City of Rome fell to invading Germanic tribes known as the Visigoths or Barbarians. The Western/European half of the Empire including it's Capital had fallen, but the Roman Empire nevertheless continued.
How so ?
It simply shifted it's Capital and it's throne from Rome to Constantinople a thousand miles East. The Western European portion of the Roman Empire fell but the Eastern Bysantine portion of the Roman Empire lived on for nearly another thousand years with Constantinople as it's Captial. The Roman Empire finally fell in AD 1453 to the TURKS. The Turkish Ottoman Empire succeeded the Roman Empire and ruled over the entire Middle East, including Jerusalem, for nearly Five Hundred years. The Turkish Empire existed right up until 1909.
Thus we see that the only Empire that fulfills the patterns necessary to be considered the SEVENTH empire is the Turkish/Ottoman Empire.  This of course corrisponds perfectly with Ezekiel's List of nations with such a heavy emphasis on Turkey.

http://rinahshal.tripod.com/id187.html

http://bibleatlas.org/regional/edom.htm

http://www.bible.ca/archeology/bible-archeology-edomite-territory-mt-seir.htm

Bible prophecy and history maps
http://teachinghearts.org/dre00maps.html

The World known to the Hebrews according to the Mosaic Account
see map #4
http://jesusreigns.wordpress.com/2008/08/24/jerusalem_palestine_world-as-known-to-hebrews-maps/

Blessings to you
KML