Prophecy

Could the Whole World be Deceived?

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Is it possible that the whole world could be deceived by miracles? That is exactly what the book of Revelation predicts will happen in the last days of this world’s history. There is only one class of people who will not be deceived and this class does not include the scientists or the philosophers. When Jesus spoke about the last days as recorded in Luke 21, He said there would be fearful sights and great signs from heaven.

The book of Daniel predicts a time of trouble that will come on the world as never before. Daniel 12:1 says, “At that time Michael shall stand up, the Great Prince Who stands watch over the sons of your people; and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time. And at that time your people shall be delivered, every one who is found written in the book.”

This same period of time is anticipated in Revelation 12:12: “Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.”

“Fearful are the scenes which call forth this exclamation from the heavenly voice. The wrath of Satan [spoken of throughout the Bible] increases as his time grows short, and his work of deceit and destruction reaches its culmination in the time of trouble [described in Daniel 12:1].” The Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 4, 441.

“Fearful sights of a supernatural character will soon be revealed in the heavens, in token of the power of miracle-working demons.” Ibid. The Scriptures plainly predict in Revelation 16 that demons will go out to fasten all the world in deception to join Satan in his last battle against the government of heaven. This event is described in Revelation 16:13, 14: “And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.” These spirits of demons are going to go out to the whole world, especially the leaders of the governments of the world, to gather them all to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. These “unclean spirits” will deceive the whole world by performing signs, that is, miracles. The most intelligent, the most highly educated, those in government and commerce, the leaders of our world, will almost, without exception, be deceived.

In Revelation 18:23, last part, it says, “By your sorcery all the nations were deceived.” This text emphatically says “all nations” will be deceived. Revelation 13 describes how some of these signs or miracles will be worked out. “He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived.” Revelation 13:13, 14.

When this event transpires, the whole world is going to be involved in this deception.

The purpose of these deceptions is to lead the whole world into uniting with Satan in his last struggle against the government of heaven. Remember, these are deceptive spirits. Jesus said that the devil was a liar and the father of lies. He said to the Pharisees, “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.” John 8:44. The people who are deceived by this deception will not think that they are following the devil and going to war against the God of heaven. They will think that they are worshiping Christ. They will believe that they are following Christ and exalting Him and that they are involved in the greatest religious revival, and having the greatest religious experience that they have ever had.

But as the apostle Paul cautioned the Corinthians, “For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it.” II Corinthians 11:4. Some may think they have the Holy Spirit, but in reality it is another. These are the people that Jesus talks about in Matthew 7:21–23 that will be so sure they are saved that they will actually get into an argument with the Lord when He comes and try to convince Him that He is mistaken, that they know they are saved. Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ ” Matthew 7:21, 22.

These people are not atheists; they are not infidels. They are Christians. These are people who call Jesus, Lord. Jesus is talking here especially about the Christian world, those that live in Christian nations, in Christian communities, in Christian families, and who call themselves Christians. They go to church. He is speaking of those who say, “I have received the Holy Spirit. I have been working miracles in Christ’s name.” These people have been working miracles in His name, but they did not know that the spirit motivating them was not the Holy Spirit. It was as the apostle Paul said in II Corinthians 11:4, “For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.” KJV

Notice what Jesus said He will say to them in Matthew 7:23: “Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ ” Tragically, although they think that they are saved, they have been under such a grand deception that they thought they had the Holy Spirit. They believed that the miracles they had worked were by the power of Christ, but find out too late that it was a different spirit. They thought they were the loyal children of God and called Jesus, Lord, but He will say to them, “I don’t know you. I have never known you. You did not have My Spirit. You had a different spirit. You are not loyal citizens of My government.”

There must be a way of knowing for sure which spirit controls us. A loyal citizen of any country keeps the laws of that government. A loyal citizen of God’s kingdom keeps the commandments of His kingdom. Notice that Jesus will say to many Christians: “I never knew you. Depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.”

The book of Revelation describes a mammoth, worldwide deception that will affect almost the whole world. It says, “The light of a lamp shall not shine in you anymore, and the voice of the bridegroom and bride shall not be heard in you anymore. For your merchants were the great men of the earth, for by your sorcery all the nations were deceived.” Revelation 18:23. “And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.” Revelation 16:13, 14. And in Revelation 13:13, 14, it says, “He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs [the means of those miracles, KJV] which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived.” The majority will be deceived; kings and the leaders of the governments of the whole world and the common people, because of the great signs and miracles that are manifested.

Jesus repeatedly spoke about the last days, warning His disciples to be careful that nobody deceives them. He said, “For false christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders, so as to deceive, if possible, even the elect.” Matthew 24:24.

Persons are going to arise in the future who will claim to be Christ Himself, claiming the title and the worship which is due only to the world’s Redeemer. These imposters will perform miracles. The deception will be so great that Jesus said if it were possible, even the elect, His chosen ones, would be deceived. The only way to be protected from the deceptions that are coming on this world is through the power of the Holy Spirit. If you are one of God’s elect and you are reading and studying His word and following your Bible so that you listen and apply what the Bible says, in spite of what you see and hear, then there is safety.

These false christs are going to perform not just regular signs and wonders, but they are going to perform miracles of healing. There are millions of Christians worldwide who will assume that it is by God’s power that these miraculous healings are occurring. That is one of the ways the devil will succeed in deceiving the whole world when he comes. Through these false christs and false prophets great miracles of healing will be performed. Once they have established trust, these same imposters will profess to have revelations from heaven that contradict the testimony of the Scriptures.

O, friend, study your Bible like never before. Do you know what the Scriptures say? Can you determine the truth from error if a preacher, teacher, priest, or religious leader comes and tells you something that is directly contrary to the word of God? Will you recognize truth from error?

Eventually these false teachers and miracle workers are going to be superseded by a deception that will be almost overwhelming to the whole world. “Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.” II Corinthians 11:14. The devil can transform himself into an angel of light so that he appears as a heavenly being and thereby deceives people. “As the crowning act in the great drama of deception, Satan himself will impersonate Christ. The church has long professed to look to the Saviour’s advent as the consummation of her hopes. Now the great deceiver will make it appear that Christ has come. In different parts of the earth, Satan will manifest himself among men as a majestic being of dazzling brightness, resembling the description of the Son of God given by John in the Revelation (Revelation 1:13–15). The glory that surrounds him is unsurpassed by anything that mortal eyes have yet beheld. The shout of triumph rings out upon the air. ‘Christ has come! Christ has come!’ The people prostrate themselves in adoration before him, while he lifts up his hands and pronounces a blessing upon them, as Christ blessed His disciples when He was upon the earth. His voice is soft and subdued, yet full of melody. In gentle, compassionate tones he presents some of the same gracious, heavenly truths which the Saviour uttered; he heals the diseases of the people, and then, in his assumed character of Christ he claims to have changed the Sabbath to Sunday, and commands all to hallow the day which he has blessed. He declares that those who persist in keeping holy the seventh day are blaspheming His name by refusing to listen to his angels sent to them with light and truth. This is the strong, almost overmastering delusion. Like the Samaritans who were deceived by Simon Magus, the multitudes, from the least to the greatest, give heed to these sorceries, saying: This is ‘the great power of God’ (Acts 8:10).

“But, the people of God will not be misled. The teachings of this false christ are not in accordance with the Scriptures. His blessing is pronounced upon the worshipers of the beast and his image, the very class upon whom the Bible declares that God’s unmingled wrath shall be poured out.” The Great Controversy, 624, 625.

There will be a small group of people who have studied their Bibles and will not be deceived. They know that this coming of Satan is a counterfeit and is not in the manner of Christ’s second advent and that the blessing Satan pronounces as he impersonates Christ is not according to the Scriptures. Therefore they know that he is a false Christ.

Jesus clearly foretold the manner of His coming and strictly warned His people against deception on this point. He said, “For false christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders, so as to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand. Therefore if they say to you, ‘Look, he is in the desert!’ do not go out; or, ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms!’ do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of man be.” Matthew 24:24–27.

The second coming of Christ will be an event that is witnessed by the entire world. “Behold He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, and they also who pierced Him. And all the tribes of earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.” Revelation 1:7. The apostle Paul, talking about the second coming of Christ said, “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.” I Thessalonians 4:16.

When Jesus comes, the dead will be raised. All of His children from all over the world, from all lands and from all ages, will be raised up. Then, this united company, the raised dead and those that are still alive who are followers of Christ in the world, will be lifted up off the earth into a cloud. That cannot be counterfeited. The devil does not have the ability to raise all the dead people in the world at one time. The second coming of Christ will not be something that you will see on television where Christ is in Jerusalem, or Rome, or Paris, or Africa, or some other place.

We have been warned of this deception by false christs showing great signs and miracles with their hypnotizing influence on the world. Paul said, “The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” II Thessalonians 2:9–12.

Everybody who does not receive the love of the truth will be deceived. Those who have pleasure in unrighteousness will be sent a strong delusion and they will believe the lie. Do you love truth and will you be able to detect the deceiver in his disguise? The decisions you make today will determine your future tomorrow.

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)

Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church of Free Seventh-day Adventists in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

The Last Three Heavenly Celebrations

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There are seven celebrations associated with the major events in the development of the new covenant from the time it was instituted in the Garden of Eden to the complete restoration of the Kingdom of Glory after the millennium. They occurred or will occur as follows:

  1. At the institution of the new covenant at the fall of man
  2. At the birth of Christ
  3. At the ascension of Jesus to open the sanctuary of the new covenant
  4. At the wedding of the Lamb
  5. At the second coming and the wedding banquet
  6. At the final coronation of Christ
  7. At the restoration of the kingdom of glory

The people of God do not attend any of the first four celebrations but they do attend the last three.

An article on the first four celebrations appeared in LandMarks (August 2014) entitled “Heavenly Celebrations.”

  • The Fifth Celebration – The literal wedding banquet

The fifth celebration is the literal wedding banquet and not the spiritual banquet. The wedding of the lamb takes place in heaven while we are here on earth, but a little later we will attend the wedding banquet in heaven.

The fifth celebration, the literal wedding banquet, follows soon after the wedding of the Lamb, but there are some things that take place between these two events.

  1. the death decree
  2. the time of Jacob’s trouble
  3. the date set to kill God’s people
  4. the deliverance of God’s people
  5. the beginning of plagues 5, 6 and 7
  6. the wonderful display of the 10 commandments in the sky
  7. the announcement of the day and hour of the coming of Christ

All of these things take place between the wedding of the Lamb in heaven and the time when the saints go to the wedding banquet.

In Matthew 8:11, Jesus says, “I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.” Then again in Luke 22:30 Jesus says, “That you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” Here it says that the wedding banquet takes place in heaven.

“Having received the kingdom [at the wedding], He [Jesus] will come in His glory, as King of kings, and Lord of lords, for the redemption of His people, who are to ‘sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob,’ at His table in His kingdom (Matthew 8:11; Luke 22:30), to partake of the marriage supper of the Lamb.” The Great Controversy, 427. This also states the order in which these take place. The wedding takes place in which Jesus receives the title, King of Kings, then comes the second coming and the marriage supper.

It says in Revelation 19:7: “Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready.” This is all explained in The Great Controversy, 426. The wedding is the reception of Christ of His kingdom and the bride is the holy city.

In Revelation 19:9, it says, “Then the angel said to me, ‘Write this: “Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” ’ ” Those invited to the wedding supper are the faithful saints and those raised in the first resurrection.

Here are some details that lead up to the great celebration of the wedding banquet which we need to understand so that we can be prepared for what is happening.

In The Great Controversy, 640, it says, “The voice of God is heard from heaven, declaring the day and hour of Jesus’ coming, and delivering the everlasting covenant to His people. Like peals of loudest thunder His words roll through the earth. The Israel of God stand listening, with their eyes fixed upward. …

“Soon there appears in the east a small black cloud, about half the size of a man’s hand. It is the cloud which surrounds the Saviour and which seems in the distance to be shrouded in darkness.”

In Revelation 19:11, 14, we are told that this cloud is made up of Christ and the angels. “I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice He judges and makes war. … The armies of heaven were following Him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean.” The Great Controversy, 641, says, “Jesus rides forth as a mighty conqueror.” Jesus is coming to fight the battle of Armageddon and to deliver the saints from the control of Satan.

“With anthems of celestial melody the holy angels, a vast, unnumbered throng, attend Him on His way. The firmament seems filled with radiant forms—‘ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands.’ … ‘His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of His praise. And His brightness was as the light’ (Habakkuk 3:3, 4). As the living cloud comes still nearer, every eye beholds the Prince of life. … a diadem of glory rests on His holy brow. His countenance outshines the dazzling brightness of the noonday sun.”

Christ’s countenance will be brighter than the sun which we cannot look upon now but at that time Jesus will somehow change our eyes so we can look upon Him. This is why the wicked are going to want to hide from His face.

Ellen G. White continues, “ ‘And He hath on His vesture and on His thigh a name written, King of kings, and Lord of lords’ (Revelation 19:16).” Ibid.

Christ, (the KING of kings), the Ancient of Days, and the whole universe come to gather the saints to take them to the wedding banquet with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

“Amid the reeling of the earth, the flash of lightning, and the roar of thunder, the voice of the Son of God calls forth the sleeping saints. He looks upon the graves of the righteous, then, raising His hands to heaven, He cries: ‘Awake, awake, awake, ye that sleep in the dust, and arise!’ Throughout the length and breadth of the earth the dead shall hear that voice, and they that hear shall live. … And the living righteous and the risen saints unite their voices in a long, glad shout of victory.” Ibid., 644.

May we all be faithful so we can have a part in that “long, glad shout of victory.”

On page 645, it says, “The living righteous are changed ‘in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye’ (I Corinthians 15:52). At the voice of God they were glorified; now they are made immortal and with the risen saints are caught up to meet their Lord in the air. …

“On each side of the cloudy chariot are wings, and beneath it are living wheels; and as the chariot rolls upward, the wheels cry, ‘Holy’ and the wings, as they move, cry, ‘Holy’ and the retinue of angels (the armies of heaven) cry, ‘Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty’ And the redeemed shout, ‘Alleluia!’ as the chariot moves onward toward the New Jerusalem [to the wedding banquet].

“Before entering the City of God, the Saviour bestows upon His followers the emblems of victory and invests them with the insignia of their royal state [as kings and priests]. … Throughout the unnumbered host of the redeemed every glance is fixed upon Him, every eye beholds His glory whose ‘visage was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men’ (Isaiah 52:14). Upon the heads of the overcomers, Jesus with His own right hand places the crown of glory. For each there is a crown, bearing his own ‘new name’ (Revelation 2:17), and the inscription, ‘Holiness to the Lord.’ [Their sins have been confessed and repented of and have been blotted out.] In every hand are placed the victor’s palm and the shining harp.”

Notice what happens next when all receive their harp:

“Then, as the commanding angels strike the note, every hand sweeps the harp strings with skillful touch, awaking sweet music in rich, melodious strains. Rapture unutterable thrills every heart, and each voice is raised in grateful praise: ‘Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever’ (Revelation 1:5, 6).” Ibid., 645, 646.

The following is a message that can be shared with everyone. This is what all can enjoy if they will separate from sin now.

Notice the timing in the following statement in Early Writings, 19, 20: “Soon we heard His lovely voice again, saying, ‘Come, My people, you have come out of great tribulation, and done My will; suffered for Me; come in to supper, for I will gird Myself, and serve you.’ We shouted, ‘Alleluia! glory!’ and entered into the city. And I saw a table of pure silver; it was many miles in length, yet our eyes could extend over it. I saw the fruit of the tree of life, the manna, almonds, figs, pomegranates, grapes, and many other kinds of fruit.” [Emphasis added.]

Such is the celebration connected with the coming of Christ “in His glory, as King of kings and Lord of lords, for the redemption of His people, who are to ‘sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob’ (Matthew 8:11), at His table in His kingdom to partake of the marriage supper of the Lamb.” The Great Controversy, 427.

We do not want to miss this celebration because it is the only one that takes place in heaven that we attend. The next two are attended on earth.

  • The Sixth Celebration – The Final Coronation of Christ

After the wedding banquet is finished, the work of the sentencing phase of the judgment begins. Revelation 20:4 says, “I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. … They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years.” Verse 6 says, “Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.”

“During the thousand years between the first and the second resurrection the judgment of the wicked takes place. … At this time the righteous reign as kings and priests unto God. John in the Revelation says: ‘I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them.’ ‘They shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years’ (Revelation 20:4, 6). It is at this time that, as foretold by Paul, ‘the saints shall judge the world’ (I Corinthians 6:2). In union with Christ they judge the wicked, comparing their acts with the statute book, the Bible, and deciding every case according to the deeds done in the body. Then the portion which the wicked must suffer is meted out, according to their works; and it is recorded against their names in the book of death.” The Great Controversy, 660, 661.

“Satan also and evil angels are judged by Christ and His people. Says Paul: ‘Know ye not that we shall judge angels’ (I Corinthians 6:3)? And Jude declares that ‘the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, He hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day’ (Jude 6).” Ibid., 661.

Revelation 20:7–9, first part, says, “When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth … to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city He loves.”

This is the second resurrection. In this resurrection are all whose names are NOT found written in the Lamb’s Book of Life – men, women, and children. Satan and the fallen angels are with this group. They are fully prepared for the attack, just waiting for the order from Satan to begin. But the order is never given.

Suddenly a great white throne appears high above the Holy City. John describes it in Revelation 20:11: “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from His presence, and there was no place for them.”

The glory and grandeur of the scene is beyond description.

“Now Christ again appears to the view of His enemies. Far above the city, upon a foundation of burnished gold, is a throne, high and lifted up. Upon this throne sits the Son of God, and around Him are the subjects of His kingdom. The power and majesty of Christ no language can describe, no pen portray. The glory of the Eternal Father is enshrouding His Son. The brightness of His presence fills the City of God, and flows out beyond the gates, flooding the whole earth with its radiance.

“Nearest the throne are those who were once zealous in the cause of Satan, but who, plucked as brands from the burning, have followed their Savior with deep, intense devotion. Next are those who perfected Christian characters in the midst of falsehood and infidelity, those who honored the law of God when the Christian world declared it void, and the millions, of all ages, who were martyred for their faith. And beyond is the ‘great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, … before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands’ (Revelation 7:9). Their warfare is ended, their victory won. They have run the race and reached the prize. The palm branch in their hands is a symbol of their triumph, the white robe an emblem of the spotless righteousness of Christ which now is theirs.” The Great Controversy, 665.

The Bible describes this scene in Revelation 7:9–17. It is the description of the saints on the great golden platform above the city after the millennium.

Following is a description from The Great Controversy, 665, of the celebration that takes place at this time:

“The redeemed raise a song of praise that echoes and re-echoes through the vaults of heaven: ‘Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb’ (Revelation 7:10). And angel and seraph unite their voices in adoration. … In all that shining throng there are none to ascribe salvation to themselves, as if they had prevailed by their own power and goodness. Nothing is said of what they have done or suffered; but the burden of every song, the keynote of every anthem, is: Salvation to our God and unto the Lamb.”

Never in the whole history of the great controversy has there been a celebration like this. It is the first time, the last time, and the only time, that every being that was ever created will be together in the same place at the same time.

Above the city, with the Father and the Son, are the redeemed and all of the heavenly host. Below them, surrounding the city, are Satan, the fallen angels and the host of the wicked awaiting their sentences to be handed down by the King of kings. At this event the final coronation of Christ takes place.

“In the presence of the assembled inhabitants of earth and heaven the final coronation of the Son of God takes place.” The Great Controversy, 666.

The first official act in His new position is to pronounce sentence upon the rebels. These were the sentences decided during the thousand years between the two resurrections.

“And now, invested with supreme majesty and power, the King of kings pronounces sentence upon the rebels against His government and executes justice upon those who have transgressed His law and oppressed His people.” Ibid.

This same scene is described by the disciple John in Revelation 20:11, 12 KJV. “I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from Whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged (sentenced) out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.”

Now the sentences are executed. Revelation 20:9, last part, 14, 15, say: “But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. … Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.”

The investigative judgment is going on in heaven and now is the time to make sure our names are retained in the book of life.

Verse 10 says, “And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”

The Great Controversy, 672, 673 says, “ ‘Upon the wicked He shall rain quick burning coals, fire and brimstone and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup’ (Isaiah 9:5; 34:2; Psalm 11:6, margin). Fire comes down from God out of heaven. The earth is broken up. The weapons concealed in its depths are drawn forth. Devouring flames burst from every yawning chasm. The very rocks are on fire. The day has come that shall burn as an oven. The elements melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein are burned up. Malachi 4:1; II Peter 3:10. The earth’s surface seems one molten mass—a vast, seething lake of fire. It is the time of the judgment and perdition of ungodly men—‘the day of the Lord’s vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion’ (Isaiah 34:8).”

Such is the sixth celebration in the plan of salvation and the final coronation of Christ and the eradication of sin under the new covenant. The wicked that were surrounding the city are gone, they are no more.

  • The Seventh Celebration—The Kingdom of Glory Restored

The object of the whole plan of salvation is to restore the moral image of God in man that we may be restored to the Kingdom of glory. This is what we need to share with others, the goal of the plan of salvation and why Christ died on the cross. This is the final event of the new covenant.

In Revelation 21:1–5, John says, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and He will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’ He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’ ”

“Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.” Revelation 22:1, 2.

What a wonderful privilege it will be to eat from that tree and never die. What a glorious message we have to share.

“No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and His servants will serve Him. They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads.” Verses 3, 4.

Today, nobody can look upon the Father, or else they would be instantly destroyed. But in the new paradise, we are friends, and because we will be immortal we will be able to talk to God the Father. What a wonderful change God makes in us to be able to see His face and abide in His presence forever.

“There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.” Verse 5.

We do not now understand how to think in terms of “never ending,” but in the new earth it will be a reality and we will then understand.

“And the years of eternity, as they roll, will bring richer and still more glorious revelations of God and of Christ. As knowledge is progressive, so will love, reverence, and happiness increase. The more men learn of God, the greater will be their admiration of His character. As Jesus opens before them the riches of redemption and the amazing achievements in the great controversy with Satan, the hearts of the ransomed thrill with more fervent devotion, and with more rapturous joy they sweep the harps of gold; and ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands of voices unite to swell the mighty chorus of praise.” The Great Controversy, 678.

“And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.” Revelation 5:13 KJV.

At every celebration, Christ is the center of attention—the center of the new covenant. It is Christ and God the Father that receive all the glory and honor from all creation. As the years of eternity roll, They continue to receive praise, honor and glory for executing the plan of redemption through Christ and His ministry in the sanctuary of the new covenant.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16.

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New International Version.)

Maurice Hoppe is Director of the Steps to Life training programs and a member of the Steps to Life Board. The Training Program for Ministers and Church Leaders is a correspondence course that prepares individuals to serve as pastors or Bible workers. Preparing for the Final Conflict is a correspondence course for the laity. Both of these courses teach present truth that will be an anchor for the soul during the storm of opposition and persecution just ahead. He and his wife also have a correspondence course offered through Revelation Ministry. He can be contacted at: mauricehoppe@stepstolife.org.

The Final Letter

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Have you ever received a letter from someone that you knew would be their last? It may be that they were dying and had something important to say while they still could write.

Back in the days of the Civil War, among my wife’s relatives, was a man in the Union Army who was captured by the Confederate forces. In retaliation for the Union’s having killed one of their prominent soldiers, he was told that he would be executed. The date was set and the night before he was to be executed he was allowed to write one last letter to his family.

There are several letters in the Bible that were the last testament of the writers. The apostle John, while a prisoner, banished to the Island of Patmos, wrote the book of Revelation. He was totally separated, living with criminals and did not expect to ever be reunited with his family or his church again. While in his lonely state, the Lord gave him visions and dreams which he recorded as his last will and testament to be sent to the church he loved. Although it cannot be absolutely proven, it appears that John’s work was really the last book of the Bible that was written. It has been placed at the very end of the Bible and concludes the inspired record that God gave to man.

The Greek word for revelation is apocalypse, meaning something that is revealed. The Roman Catholic Bible as well as some other Bibles call the book The Apocalypse.

It has been said that the book of Revelation puts the finishing touches on a perfect book that reveals to man the eternal purpose of the Most High. It is the capstone of divine revelation and inspiration. Almost everything that you read in the Apocalypse can be traced to some other part of the Bible. The book of Revelation is a special book for people who are living in the last days and because we are living in that time period it is a book that requires us to give it special attention. The Lord is in the process of opening up to us more truth from this book than we have ever understood before, but new truth cannot be understood unless first there is an understanding of the old truth.

More than two-thirds of all the verses in the book of Revelation are either a paraphrase or direct quotation from the Old Testament. In fact, in the first five chapters of the book, the Old Testament is referred to or quoted 85 times. It is not only a conclusion, but it is a summary of what the Lord has already told us in both the Old and New Testaments.

Every subject from the word of God has a seed that can be found in the book of Genesis. Martin Luther made a special study of Genesis and preached on the book every day for a whole year. Genesis is like a prologue to the whole Bible. In the first two chapters there is a description of paradise and the third chapter describes how it was lost because of sin.

The book of Revelation is like an epilogue or conclusion to the whole Bible. The last two chapters reveal a picture of paradise restored. It would be well to read them often. Revelation 20 makes it clear that not everyone from this world will be in the paradise restored. Revelation chapters 21 and 22 describe a place where there is no sin and no sinners.

In The Acts of the Apostles, 585, it says, “In the Revelation, all the books of the Bible meet and end.” Throughout the book of Revelation we find all of the different symbols, types, shadows, figures, and fundamental principles of the Bible recapitulated. It embodies in itself, in a short space, the entire volume of the Scriptures. Revelation is a book that is written specifically for the last generation to prepare them for the second coming of Christ. If you are not ready for that event, you need to begin an intense study of the book, which is not only a revelation but words of prophecy. (See Revelation 1:3.) Revelation 22:18 and 19 also talk about “the words of the prophecy of this book.”

Prophecy is history that is written in advance. The book of Revelation has several singularities. It is the only book in the Bible that begins with a blessing to anyone who will read it. Revelation 1:3 says, “Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it.” Incidentally, as well as the blessing at the beginning of the book, there is a benediction at the end. “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.” Revelation 22:21.

Though it is true that Revelation is the only book with a blessing at the beginning and benediction at the end, it is very unfortunate that few know anything about.

We are living in the last days, and this book was especially written for today. Yet it is little understood. In fact, many Christians don’t understand anything at all about it. Many people believe it to be a sealed book and not able to be understood. For that reason they do not even read it. But how much has the church lost because of neglecting its study? In addition to a blessing that’s pronounced on those who read and keep what is written there, the most severe threatenings in all the Bible are also pronounced, of which we must be aware.

It is not the purpose of God to scare, curse, or hurt anyone, but the book of Revelation makes it very clear that we live in a moral universe and there are consequences for doing what is wrong. The book ends with a threat to anyone who tampers with its message. “For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” Revelation 22:18, 19. The original text reads that God would take away from him his part from the tree of life. Notice that we are warned not to add anything to this book.

There have indeed been attempts to add to the books of the Bible. For instance, the history of Susanna, the song of the three holy children and the story of Bel and the dragon were all added to the book of Daniel. Scholars said they were not actually written by Daniel and were apocryphal, false books.

At one time, it was proposed to include in the New Testament a letter called the Epistle of Barnabas. Barnabas was an associate with the apostle Paul. There were some early church leaders that believed that the Epistle of Barnabas was a canonical book. But when studied very carefully it was found to be written by an unknown fictitious author and not the associate of the apostle Paul. This caused a huge problem for the church.

There were some letters that surfaced in New Testament times that afterward claimed to be written by the apostle Peter, but a careful study of those letters revealed that they were not written by him at all. All theologians, both Catholic and Protestant, agree that the apostle Peter wrote the books of first and second Peter that are recorded in the Bible and that the other letters claiming Peter’s authorship are called pseudepigrapha, which means false writings that claim to be from the apostles.

The early church had a problem with some who claimed to be apostles who wrote something and put an apostle’s name on it. Every letter the apostle Paul wrote was signed a certain way so that the people would know if it was from him. God knew that it would be imperative for future generations to know the doctrines. Therefore, right at the end of the Holy Scriptures is the admonition that if anyone adds or subtracts from the Word, He would deal with them in the most severe way. A curse would be added and blessing would be subtracted. This is not to be taken lightly.

The book of Revelation is one that should be looked at with reverence and awe. It does not need to have anything added to it; it does not need to have anything subtracted from it. A problem mankind has had down through the ages is wanting to add to what God has said, which is fanaticism, or wanting to subtract from what God has said, which is apostasy.

In Revelation 1:1 we are told where this book came from: “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him.” God the Father is the source of this information. Because of sin the people of this world cannot communicate directly with God the Father. Jesus said in John 14:6, “No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Jesus Christ is the spokes-person between God the Father and this world. “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place. And He (Jesus Christ) sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John.” This is not just any angel. If you study the book of Daniel you know that in heaven there are millions and millions of angels around the throne of God. Daniel said in chapter seven there were ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands, which would be one hundred million plus many other millions. Of all the millions of angels, there is a certain angel that is the angel of Jesus Christ. It is this angel that He sends to His servants the prophets. And we know this angel’s name, because this very same angel was sent to the prophet Daniel.

Daniel 9:21 says, “Yes, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, reached me about the time of the evening offering.” The angel is Gabriel. His name means the mighty one of God. Gabriel spoke to Daniel again in Daniel 10. And notice what he says to him in Daniel 10:21: “But I will tell you what is noted in the Scripture of Truth. No one upholds me (stands with me) against these except Michael your prince.” Michael means the One who is like God. It is another name for Jesus Christ. Gabriel said the only other person that is with me in this affair is Jesus Christ. This one, Gabriel, is His angel. His name is also mentioned in the New Testament. In Luke 1:19 it says, “And the angel answered and said to him, ‘I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings.’ ”

If you are saved, the time is coming soon when you will get to meet Gabriel, the mighty one of God. This is the angel that descended from heaven early Sunday morning on the day of the resurrection and said, “Son of God, Your Father calls You.” And when he said that, Jesus arose.

Gabriel was the one sent from heaven to give to the disciple John these visions and revelations that he wrote down in this book. At least four times the writer simply designates himself as John. In Revelation 1:9 he says, “I, John… .” He refers to himself that way also in the end of the book in Revelation 22:8 “I, John … .” John did not need to make any other reference, as the people knew who he was. There was no other John who was that well known. Similarly, the apostle Paul just needed to say, “I’m Paul,” and the people knew who he was. The early church did not question who was the author of this book. They agreed that it was John the apostle.

For many years there has been a disagreement as to when the book was written. Some have believed that it was written during the terrible time of the persecution of the Christians by Nero. However, that is not the opinion of the majority. There is the testimony of several early Christian church fathers who testify that the book was written during the 14th year of Domitian. Domitian was a Roman Emperor who ruled the Roman Empire from A.D. 81 to A.D. 96. The study of these Roman Emperors is a great help in understanding some of the things we find in the New Testament, which includes the book of Revelation.

Before Domitian, there was a Roman Emperor in the late 30’s, early 40’s called Claudius. Before that time, the people believed that the Roman Emperor was a representative of God and when he died, he became divine. But Claudius asserted that no one needed to wait till he was dead to think that he was divine. He claimed to be divine while still living. And he therefore commanded the people to worship him.

At that time before A.D. 40, this command did not cause a lot of trouble for the Christians because the Christian church was still small. But Domitian, the second Roman Emperor who openly proclaimed to be divine, commanded the people to worship him, creating a big problem for the Christians who refused. They could give respect and honor to the Roman Emperor, but never kneel down and worship him as a god. Christians have one God. Paul says we have “One God and Father of all.” Ephesians 4:6. We have one Lord, Jesus Christ.

As a young man I heard a preacher speak about some things in the Roman Empire. He mentioned that many American cities are patterned after Roman cities. In the middle of the county seat there is a courthouse and a square around the courthouse. In the middle of these Roman cities an altar would be erected, a fire would be lit in it, and then everybody in town would be commanded to get in line and pass by the altar. All that was required as they passed the fire was to take a little pinch of incense and throw it on the fire and say, “Kaiser es Kuriors” which is Greek for “Caesar is lord.” In this way they were able to spot the Christians so that they could be killed. A Christian would say, “Christos es Kuriors” which means, Christ is Lord. They would then be shuffled off to one side and taken to be cast to the lions, have their head chopped off, be crucified, stretched on the rack, be burned or whatever the rulers decided to do to them at that time.

When John refused to worship the emperor it was decided to kill him. He was cast into a big caldron of boiling oil. His life should have ended quickly but, miraculously, he did not die. Finally, just as it was in Nebuchadnezzar’s time when he threw the three worthies into the fiery furnace, when John was pulled out of the oil pot there was no evidence of burning. Realizing that they could not kill this man of God, it was decided to banish him. It was very common among the Romans to banish their worst criminals to desolate islands where it was impossible for them to escape. Though the Romans thought to banish him, God had another purpose. Revelation 1:9 says he was “… on the island that was called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.”

The Isle of Patmos is in the Aegean Sea and is approximately 50 miles south-west of Ephesus, which is on the southwestern tip of what we call today Turkey. Even today the island is absolutely desolate. They say there are no trees on this island and it is like being in a desert. There is a cave or grotto at a high part on one side of the island and according to long-standing tradition it was in that cave where John had his visions and wrote the book of Revelation. A few thousand people still live on the island, mostly fishermen and miners. It is believed that John was banished to work in the marble mines on the island.

Speaking to the Jewish leaders just a few days before His crucifixion, Jesus predicted that His followers would be persecuted. He said, “Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.” Matthew 23:34, 35.

This prediction was literally fulfilled. For example, the forerunner of Jesus Christ, John the Baptist was beheaded. Jesus Christ Himself was scourged and crucified. But that was just the beginning. During the first century, prominent leaders in the Christian church were aggressively persecuted. Steven was stoned. James was beheaded. Philip was scourged, imprisoned and crucified. Matthew was killed with a halberd. James the less was stoned and his brains were dashed out with a fuller’s club. Matthias was stoned at Jerusalem and then beheaded. Andrew was crucified at Odessa. Mark was dragged to pieces by an infuriated mob on the streets of Alexandria. Peter was crucified head downward at his own request. Paul was beheaded. Jude, the brother of James, and who was also called Thaddeus, was crucified. Bartholomew was beaten and crucified. Thomas was thrust through with a spear. Luke was hanged on an olive tree in Greece. Simon Zelotes was crucified in Britain. They tried to kill John the beloved by casting him into a caldron of boiling oil, but he didn’t die. So they banished him on an island. He was the only one that died a natural death. However, remember that persecution for Christ’s sake has always been a blessing in disguise.

Some people today are very troubled by this historical account. Some people say that if God is all powerful, and if He really loves us, why does He allow us to go through such terrible suffering? Some people have lost their faith in the Christian religion because of the suffering, not wanting a religion that involves suffering. Wanting a religion that is a little easier, they search and find that there are plenty of options available.

The book Foxes Book of Martyrs records the ten major pagan Roman Empire persecutions against the Christians. In spite of the fact that the Romans, as early as Nero, tried to destroy the Christians, it was during that period of time of terrible persecutions that the Christian church made its greatest growth. By the end of the first century it is estimated that there were at least 6 million Christians in the Roman Empire. That might become a little bit more meaningful if you remember that in the whole Roman Empire at that time there were only about 120 million people. Roughly 1 out of 20 people in the whole Roman Empire at that time were Christians.

When Christians were banished, they shared the lot of common prisoners. John says that he was their companion in tribulation. He had no hope of ever seeing his family, his church family, or his loved ones again. He was an elderly man by then and thought he would die on the island, never expecting that he would be given an opportunity to return home and that the book he wrote would be his last will and testament.

Suddenly, on September 18, A.D. 96, Domitian, the emperor who claimed that he was God, was assassinated. As soon as the new emperor, Nerva, came to power, he set all the prisoners who had refused to worship the emperor free. John was also set free. At a time when you think that everything is lost and your life is so dark and awful, when you commit your way to God, He can turn everything around, and sometimes it can happen quite suddenly.

The book of Revelation, written by God’s faithful servant while a prisoner on the lonely island, comes to us from heaven. It comes with a blessing on anybody who will read it and keep what it says. Much of the most wonderful literature and music written was during very trying times. The Bible has many examples of this.

While he was in exile, Jacob, in his extremity, finally found God. In fact, he was so transformed by the experience he had during that 20 year period that the Lord changed his name. He said, You will no longer be called Jacob. You are going to be called a prince of God.

Then there was Joseph, exiled from his family to be a slave, never to see his family again, he thought. During that time of exile, God so transformed his character that he became a saviour of his nation and of the whole world at that time. Ellen White says that Joseph is a type of Christ.

Moses was a fugitive after killing a man. After 40 years enduring poverty in a strange land, God used him to deliver his people from the mighty nation of Egypt and write the books of Genesis and Job.

David was a fugitive fleeing from cave to cave to escape the wrath of Saul. It was during the time that he was on the run and scared for his life that he produced some of his best and most spiritual psalms.

It was while he was fleeing from the wrath of Jezebel, in a mountain cave, that Elijah heard the still small voice of God giving him directions to finish his ministry on earth. Today he is alive in heaven.

Ezekiel and Daniel both wrote from their captivity. Daniel had been separated from his family as a young man and was never allowed to return.

It has happened that way since Bible times, too. The most popular Bible versions during the Protestant Reformation were the English translation by Tyndale and the German translation by Martin Luther. These men produced their translations while fugitives, fleeing from the wrath and power of the papal Roman Empire. Approximately ninety percent of the King James Version is directly from Tyndale’s translation.

The book Pilgrims Progress was written by John Bunyan while he was incarcerated in an English jail because of his professed Christianity. That book has led multitudes of young people to Jesus Christ and the Christian religion. Then there was a woman by the name of Ellen White, who just before the turn of the 20th century, while in Australia, suffered terribly for months, day and night, because of rheumatoid arthritis. By then she was already a widow and in her pain and suffering she produced one of the greatest masterpieces that has ever been written on the life of Jesus Christ, The Desire of Ages.

Don’t give up and lose your faith because of the suffering you are going through. Commit your life to God. Say, “Lord, what do you want me to learn from this? What do you want me to do as a result of this experience that would be a blessing to my fellow men?” The Lord wants to deliver you. The book of Revelation makes it very clear that the pain and suffering that we’re going through in this world is all temporary. For the Christian, there is coming a time when there will be no more pain. Soon the things that cause us grief will end and a wonderful new future will be opened up to those who are faithful.

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)

Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church of Free Seventh-day Adventists in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at 316-788-5559.

Sunday Law

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Did You Know? ‘Sunday Law’ barred people from working on Sunday.

We read the words of Jesus in Matthew 24:12: “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” Iniquity is unrighteousness, the breaking of God’s law. Daily news reports tell us the iniquity is increasing.

The Great Controversy behind all worldly controversies is between Christ and Satan over the law of God. Prophecy tells us that the fourth commandment will be nullified by the United States. “When the final test shall be brought to bear upon men, then the line of distinction will be drawn between those who serve God and those who serve Him not. While the observance of the false sabbath in compliance with the law of the state, contrary to the fourth commandment, will be an avowal of allegiance to a power that is in opposition to God, the keeping of the true Sabbath, in obedience to God’s law, is an evidence of loyalty to the Creator. While one class, by accepting the sign of submission to earthly powers, receive the mark of the beast, the other choosing the token of allegiance to divine authority, receive the seal of God.” The Great Controversy, 605.

God’s people choose to obey all of His commandments and “… sin will become hateful to us.” The Desire of Ages, 668. “All true obedience comes from the heart. It was heart work with Christ. And if we consent, He will so identify Himself with our thoughts and aims, so blend our hearts and minds into conformity to His will, that when obeying Him we shall be but carrying out our own impulses. The will, refined and sanctified, will find its highest delight in doing His service. When we know God as it is our privilege to know Him, our life will be a life of continual obedience. Through an appreciation of the character of Christ, through communion with God, sin will become hateful to us.” Ibid.

The Ten Commandments define this “line of distinction” between those who serve and obey God and those who do not serve and obey Him, especially the commandment referring to the day of worship. Jesus tells us, “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judea flee, into the mountains.” Matthew 24:15, 16.

A decree will be issued against the people of God which will “… be very similar to that issued by Ahasuerus against the Jews in the time of Esther. The Persian edict sprang from the malice of Haman toward Mordecai. Not that Mordecai had done him harm, but he had refused to show him reverence which belongs only to God. The king’s decision against the Jews was secured under false pretenses through misrepresentation of that peculiar people. Satan instigated the scheme in order to rid the earth of those who preserved the knowledge of the true God. But his plots were defeated by a counterpower that reigns among the children of men. Angels that excel in strength were commissioned to protect the people of God, and the plots of their adversaries returned upon their own heads. The Protestant world today see in the little company keeping the Sabbath a Mordecai in the gate. His character and conduct, expressing reverence for the law of God, are a constant rebuke to those who have cast off the fear of the Lord and are trampling upon His Sabbath; the unwelcome intruder must by some means be put out of the way.

“The same masterful mind that plotted against the faithful in ages past is still seeking to rid the earth of those who fear God and obey His law. Satan will excite indignation against the humble minority who conscientiously refuse to accept popular customs and traditions. Men of position and reputation will join with the lawless and the vile to take counsel against the people of God. Wealth, genius, education, will combine to cover them with contempt. Persecuting rulers, ministers, and church members will conspire against them. With voice and pen, by boasts, threats, and ridicule, they will seek to overthrow their faith. By false representations and angry appeals they will stir up the passions of the people. Not having a “Thus saith the Scriptures” to bring against the advocates of the Bible Sabbath, they will resort to oppressive enactments to supply the lack. To secure popularity and patronage, legislators will yield to the demand for a Sunday law. Those who fear God cannot accept an institution that violates a precept of the Decalogue. On this battlefield comes the last great conflict of the controversy between truth and error. And we are not left in doubt as to the issue. Now, as in the days of Mordecai, the Lord will vindicate His truth and His people.

“By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near.

“As the approach of the Roman armies was a sign to the disciples of the impending destruction of Jerusalem, so may this apostasy be a sign to us that the limit of God’s forbearance is reached, that the measure of our nation’s iniquity is full, and that the angel of mercy is about to take her flight, never to return. The people of God will then be plunged into those scenes of affliction and distress which prophets have described as the time of Jacob’s trouble.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 450, 451.

“The Sunday movement is now making its way in darkness. The leaders are concealing the true issue, and many who unite in the movement do not themselves see whither the undercurrent is tending. Its professions are mild and apparently Christian, but when it shall speak it will reveal the spirit of the dragon. It is our duty to do all in our power to avert the threatened danger. We should endeavor to disarm prejudice by placing ourselves in a proper light before the people.” Ibid., 452.

The Sunday Law In La Crosse, Wisconsin

It is very interesting to read the history of the Sunday movement which took place in La Crosse, Wisconsin, my home town, in 1886, 129 years ago. From The Morning Chronicle of Friday, November 5, 1886, we read: “To the citizens of La Crosse: Notice is hereby given that the police force of this city have been instructed to strictly enforce the observance of the ‘Sunday Law,’ and they will hereafter arrest each and every person found violating said law, regardless of the nature of the business carried on. This in accordance with chapter 186, section 4595, revised statutes of Wisconsin, which reads as follows.

“ ‘Any person who shall keep open his shop, warehouse, or workshop, or shall do any manner of labor, business, or work, except only works of necessity and charity, or be present at any dancing or public diversion, show or entertainment, or take part in any sport, game or play, on that day of the week shall be punished by a fine of not exceeding ten ($10) dollars; and such day shall be understood to include the time between the midnight preceding and the midnight following said day. D. F. Powell, Mayor.’

“Mayor Powell informs The Chronicle that the above step has been rendered necessary by a notice served upon him by Lawyer Higbee, signed Thomas M. Rosse, W. D. Thomas, Gilbert Shepard, George W. Case., H. G. Miller, H. B.Smith and D. B. Cheny, Jr., who have ordered the mayor to prosecute twelve violators of the Sunday law, whose names are given in the notice. Mayor Powell says that he considers the Sunday law, as it now stands on the statute books, too contracted and indefinite for a progressive people. He hopes to convince the citizens of La Crosse by forcing them to obey it, that the Sunday law should be amended.

“Some people will say that the mayor has taken this step on account of some feeling over the late election, but this is not true. He states last Saturday night that he had been pressed very hard to enforce the Sunday law against saloons, and had made up his mind, first, not to discriminate against any class; and, second, to give the Sunday law in its entirety a fair trial from top to bottom, from beginning to end. It is stated on the streets that the chief of police has orders to swear in twenty-five extra policemen for service next Sunday, and to arrest every man who does any sort of labor, either for himself or any person or corporation.

“Police didn’t waste any time as shortly after [Saturday] midnight they made their first arrest, ordering the editor of the La Crosse Chronicle, Ellis B. Usher, to appear in court after employees were found working on that paper’s Sunday edition. Usher would not be alone in court. Others found violating the Sunday Law included street car drivers, mill workers, tannery workers, the superintendent of the gas works, the engineer of the electric light works, a porter and shoe shine boy from the Cameron House Hotel, [and] a ferry operator …”

And so, this is how the Sunday Law was enforced in La Crosse.

www.markofbeast.net/page3.htm gives the most recent updates of Sunday Law News. Here is an interesting quotation from another page entitled “Sunday – The Perfect Deception.” This is what a Protestant minister stated: “Great! I would welcome a Sunday law, so that we could have one day a week where we can rest. We need a day of rest.” So we can see how the world is divided into two classes; those who keep all of God’s commandments and those who keep only nine because they are convinced that the Sabbath has been changed from the seventh day to the first day of the week.

The mark of the beast is in the forehead or hand. Now apply this to the Sabbath. Exodus 20:8: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy….” Where do we remember? In our foreheads (our minds). Exodus 20:9, 10: “Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates.”

With what do we work? Our HANDS! Are you seeing this important truth? Those who make a free will decision in their minds to give their allegiance to the beast (the Roman Catholic Church) and keep their Sunday sabbath instead of “remembering” and keeping God’s seventh day Sabbath will receive the mark of the beast in their foreheads. Those who simply bow under economic pressure of not being able to “buy or sell” will receive the mark in their hand.

And just look at the state of the world today. Look at the economic troubles of the nations with unemployment and debt. Look at how people rely so much on the lifestyles they have built up— entertainment, food, having a good time. Satan is bringing about a position in this world where people will welcome the mark of the beast with open arms in order to continue buying and selling.

Do those who keep Sunday as Sabbath have the mark of the beast now? No, because Sunday needs to be enforced by law in order to become the mark. God still has many of His people within the Roman Catholic Church and the other fallen churches, and is calling His people out of these Sunday keeping churches. “And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” Revelation 18:4.

When the National Sunday Law is enforced in America and throughout the world, then we will have a big decision to make. Do we reject that law, no matter how bad it gets and keep God’s Law and receive His seal? Or do we accept the Sunday law of the Papal church and receive the beast’s mark? Friend, very soon we will all have a choice to make, and some are already making that choice, because Sunday laws have already been passed in certain places. No matter how much pressure you are put under, eternity is waiting for you if you just trust in God and keep His commandments, including the seventh day Sabbath commandment, and keep the faith of Jesus Christ.

Keep your eyes open to this truth and worship Him Who made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and all that is in them (see Revelation 14:7). Is there any significance to receiving the mark in the forehead or hand? Yes there is, which we can see from the following Old Testament scripture:

“And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.” Deuteronomy 6:6–8. [Emphasis added.]

“Therefore shall ye keep all the commandments which I command you this day, that ye may be strong, and go in and possess the land, whither ye go to possess it.” “Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.” Deuteronomy 11:8, 18. [Emphasis added.]

What does it mean to bind God’s Words, His law upon our hands and foreheads? God did not mean to literally write the law on their hands and heads. He wanted His Commandments in their minds to stop them from sinning. The forehead or front of the brain is where thoughts are formed and decisions are made.

The hand represents actions. Having the mark of God’s law in their hands and foreheads meant that all decisions and actions would be in line with God’s law. “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord: I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them.” Hebrews 10:16. [Emphasis added.]

God would “seal” His law, His Ten Commandments, in the hearts and minds of His people, that they would not be deceived into receiving the mark of the beast. “Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.” Isaiah 8:16. [Emphasis added.]

Remember, Bible prophecy reveals that there will be only two groups of people during the end times: one will have the seal of God, His name written in their forehead, while the other will have the mark of the beast. To understand this further, we need to find out the truth about the name of God.

“And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.” Exodus 34:5–7. [Emphasis added.]

When God proclaimed His name to Moses on Mount Sinai, it was not particular words to be called but He proclaimed His character – merciful, gracious, forgiving, longsuffering. Jesus confirmed this in John 17:6: “I have manifested Thy name unto the men which Thou gavest me out of the world: Thine they were, and Thou gavest them me; and they have kept Thy word.” Jesus’ whole life displayed God’s character. The group in Revelation that have God’s name in their foreheads reflect God’s character that controls their thoughts and actions. In the same way, the other group have given their thoughts and actions to the beast and receive its mark in their actions.

The Catholic Church claims that it was by her authority that the Sabbath was changed from the seventh day of the week, Saturday, to Sunday. In a letter dated November 11, 1895, it says, “Of course … the change was her act …. and the act is a mark of her ecclesiastical power and authority in religious matters.” (Signed by H.F. Thomas, Chancellor for Cardinal Gibbons, in a letter dated Nov. 11, 1895.) [Emphasis added.]

“The church is above the Bible, and this transference of Sabbath observance is proof of that fact.” (The Catholic Record of London, Ontario, September 1, 1923.) [Emphasis added.]

“Sunday is a time when all Christians discover the Eucharist form that their life is called to have … the Cardinal stressed how the way in which we celebrate Sunday determines the way in which we live the rest of the week, since it is the mark of Christian identity.” (Cardinal O’Malley, Archbishop of Boston, Sanctifying celebration, the family in the Lord’s Day, June 1st, 2012.) [Emphasis added.]

If the beast is the Roman Catholic Church, she makes clear her “mark” of authority—to change the fourth commandment from the seventh day (Saturday) to the first day (Sunday). The Roman Catholic Church is also identified as the little horn power in Daniel 7:25 that “thinks to change times and law.”

The Mark of the Beast

If you read Revelation 13:16, 17, you will see that the mark of the beast is connected to buying and selling. There is a great spiritual war between Christ and Satan. Satan is the great deceiver, and through his miracles and wonders (Revelation 13:13, 14), he manages to deceive virtually the whole world, including professed Christians. He deceives the masses by transforming himself into an “angel of light” (II Corinthians 11:14). Satan has a counterfeit for just about everything found in the word of God.

In Revelation 13 we find a certain law being enforced that is connected to buying and selling. If you keep this “law” of Satan and receive the mark, then you will be able to “buy and sell.” The fourth commandment states: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.” Exodus 20:8–11. [Emphasis added.]

Within the fourth commandment is a command to refrain from all business transactions or “work” on the Sabbath—the seventh day. Satan has introduced a counterfeit Sabbath day through the Roman Catholic Church—Sunday, and when the time is right, he will have the Sunday law enforced, so that only those who accept the false sabbath can continue to “buy and sell.” John Paul II, Dies Domini, 1998 wrote, “Therefore, also in the particular circumstances of our own time, Christians will naturally strive to ensure that civil legislation respects their duty to keep Sunday holy.”

Virtually the whole professed Christian world has embraced this false sabbath (Sunday), and are ripe to be deceived by the evil one into taking the mark of the beast. It must be noted that worshiping on Sunday will only become “the mark of the beast” when it is enforced by civil law. Pope Francis, through his interest in saving the environment, is already pushing for a family day, which means closure of businesses on Sunday, the spurious Sabbath.

God’s people will find safety only in having the whole of God’s law, His own character, securely hidden in their hearts, and the faith of Jesus Christ (Revelation 14:12).

With this impending threat against being able to buy and sell, Ellen White wrote, “The Lord has shown me repeatedly that it is contrary to the Bible to make any provision for our temporal wants in the time of trouble. I saw that if the saints had food laid up by them or in the field in the time of trouble, when sword, famine, and pestilence are in the land, it would be taken from them by violent hands and strangers would reap their fields. Then will be the time for us to trust wholly in God, and He will sustain us. I saw that our bread and water will be sure at that time, and that we shall not lack or suffer hunger; for God is able to spread a table for us in the wilderness. If necessary He would send ravens to feed us, as He did to feed Elijah, or rain manna from heaven, as He did for the Israelites.

“Houses and lands will be of no use to the saints in the time of trouble, for they will then have to flee before infuriated mobs, and at that time their possessions cannot be disposed of to advance the cause of present truth. I was shown that it is the will of God that the saints should cut loose from every encumbrance before the time of trouble comes, and make a covenant with God through sacrifice. If they have their property on the altar and earnestly inquire of God for duty, He will teach them when to dispose of these things. Then they will be free in the time of trouble and have no clogs to weigh them down.” Early Writings, 56.

We can prepare now for the coming time of trouble by asking God to show us our sins so that we may overcome them and have a character like Jesus. Only then will we be able to receive the full outpouring of the Holy Spirit to give the loud cry and endure. Be faithful to the law of love as spoken by our Savior: “By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another.” John 13:35. “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13.

Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” John 14:15 NKJV. “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God that we keep His commandments: and His commandments are not grievous [or burdensome].” I John 5:2, 3.

The Christian’s Hope

“Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established.” Proverbs 16:3.

“Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Colossians 1:27.

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.” Titus 2:13.

“For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.” Romans 15:4.

In ten simple precepts, the gospel, the new covenant, is given. In these perfect Ten Commandments is revealed to us the law of the kingdom of heaven. We can come apart from the world when we surrender our lives to obey this perfect law of liberty that Jesus designed to give us life.

May we all be faithful to our Savior is my prayer.

Dennis Hallingstad volunteers at Steps to Life and is the husband of Judy Hallingstad who is an integral part of the LandMarks team.

Choose Whom You Will Serve

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A BIBLICAL INDICTMENT AGAINST ALL WHO WOULD USE FORCE IN RELIGIOUS MATTERS

Prior to Pope Francis’ visit to America in September, his Advisor, Jeffrey Sachs said that the Pope would challenge the American ideal of individual choice in matters of religion and conscience. It was also reported that the pope would encourage a family day. It seems to have escaped his mind that Americans in “the land of the free” can already rest on Sunday as a family if they so choose. The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees them the freedom to choose whatever day of rest they want without interference from the government.

What is the Pope up to?

The Catholic Church has always been an enemy of separation of church and state. The pope’s plan to encourage a Sunday law will be forced on all. Those who choose to keep God’s seventh day Sabbath holy will be eventually branded as criminals and persecuted. Those who forget history are bound to repeat it. Is it now time that we better understand where the American ideal of separation of church and state came from, what it cost, and what we can do to preserve this God-given right.

“And there was war in heaven: Michael and His angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” Revelation 12:7–9.

Our first parents, Adam and Eve, though they were put in a perfect environment, chose to sin. As a simple test to prove loyalty to their Creator, they were prohibited from eating the fruit from one tree in the Garden of Eden. Satan deceived Eve. She ate the fruit and gave it to Adam and they lost their right to live in their garden home.

After Satan had caused the fall of Adam and Eve, he claimed this world as his own. The plan of salvation put in place to restore fallen man from his sinful condition could only be successful if he was given free choice.

In heaven, we are told that Michael (Christ) fought against the devil, who was thrown out of heaven as a result. However, when Christ came into this dark world, which was under Satan’s dominion, He never fought physically for its recovery. He knew that would have proved nothing to the unfallen worlds in vindicating God’s Holy Law, His character, and His plan of Salvation.

Satan had accused God of being a dictator. He claimed a victory in Adam’s fall, claiming that it was impossible for humans to keep God’s law and that there was fault with the Law Giver. God and His Law had to be vindicated, and doubt had to be removed from the minds of the unfallen worlds. God is love and only through love could He draw this lost world back. The plan of salvation would not only vindicate God but would save lost humanity from their sins.

The inhabitants of the unfallen worlds could see that Satan had won control of this world by tempting our first parents to choose to transgress God’s law, just as he had caused the ruin of one third of the heavenly host. God’s eternal and perfect law had been broken, and the only way the world could be won back was through the shedding of blood to pay the penalty for a broken law. “… and without shedding of blood is no remission [of sin].” Hebrews 9:22.

Satan was cast out of heaven for breaking God’s law, and the universe would see the inconsistency if God had not allowed death to come upon Adam and Eve, who, like Satan, had transgressed God’s law. He could not penalize Satan for transgression and then excuse our first parents for the same offence.

The story is told of a judge who fined all who came before him who had been found guilty, because the law had to be upheld. One day his own son came before him and many whispered that the judge would let him off. Much to their surprise, his own son was fined heavily. Then, because he was his father, the judge put his hand into his own pocket and paid his son’s fine. No one could say that justice had not been done. Justice and mercy had met. So it was with God. Adam and Eve had to be punished because His law had to be upheld. Then He paid the fine Himself by sending Jesus Christ to die in our place.

God loves His creatures. “God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8. By His death the law was magnified and made honorable.

“The Lord is well pleased for His righteousness’ sake; He will magnify the law, and make it honourable.” Isaiah 42:21. Jesus kept His Father’s commandments. “If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love; even as I have kept My Father’s commandments, and abide in His love.” John 15:10. Jesus asks us to do the same. “If ye love Me, keep My commandments.” John 14:15.

Some might think that because Jesus fought and won in heaven, why couldn’t He come to this earth and again take the sword to Satan and his angels, and then take us all back to heaven? The problem with that argument is that when we get back to heaven we would continue to take the sword to each other. God’s plan of salvation has provided power for all those who choose to accept Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour and live a victorious life. The old carnal man must choose to die and be born again. “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me, and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20.

The whole plan to recover this lost world of sin and death was to be one of choice alone. Christ said that His kingdom is not of this world, for if it were, then His servants would fight (see John 18:36). Because of this principle He separated the church from the state, for if these powers were united, force would replace choice, and the gospel message would fail.

There are many examples in Scripture of the exercise of freedom of choice. Satan chose to rebel in Heaven. Our first parents chose to transgress. Choices were made before the flood, in Sodom and Gomorrah, and at the golden calf. The three worthies in Babylon chose to be loyal to God. Judas chose to betray Christ for 30 pieces of silver. Peter chose to deny Christ several times. The unbelieving Jews chose to reject Christ.

The common people chose to follow Jesus. Christ chose to die for us on Calvary.

Two thieves were crucified with Jesus—one chose to accept Him and sadly the other thief chose to reject Him.

When Christ started His church on earth, force was never used to compel those who heard Him preach. He would harm nobody. “A bruised reed shall He not break, and the smoking flax shall He not quench: He shall bring forth judgment unto truth.” Isaiah 42:3.

On one occasion when Jesus and His disciples were rejected while passing through a Samaritan village, His disciples wished to take revenge. Instead, Christ gave them a lesson in love and tolerance towards those who chose to reject their message: “And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt Thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did? But He turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them. And they went to another village.” Luke 9:54–56.

Because Christ’s kingdom was not of this world, He rejected those who tried to make Him a king on this earth. Caesar could not forgive but Christ could forgive seventy times seven the vilest sinners who truly repented (see Matthew 18:22). “When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take Him by force, to make Him a king, He departed again into a mountain Himself alone.” John 6:15.

Christ had told His followers that they had to eat His flesh and drink His blood (figuratively). That meant that they had to take His victorious life into their hearts. At this stage most of His followers chose to leave Him. He never tried to compel them to come back. “From that time many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?” John 6:66, 67.

Christ preached the gospel; some chose to accept Him while others chose to reject Him. Christ never used violence and coercion to obtain converts. Some who believe in the church/state union say that Jesus used force when He cleansed the temple. However, there is no record of anyone being physically harmed by Christ. The only harm done was to the egos and pockets of the moneychangers. To try and use this example as an excuse for full scale genocide defies all credibility.

Jesus taught the disciples that there was to be no force used when they preached the gospel to the world. At Pentecost, Peter preached with the power of the Holy Spirit. “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Then they that gladly received His word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.” Acts 2:38, 41. Three thousand souls chose to accept Jesus without coercion. In Acts 4:4 five thousand chose Jesus as their Saviour. In Acts 5:14 multitudes of both men and women chose to believe. In Acts 6:7 a great company of priests chose to become obedient to the faith. In Acts 7:57 most of the leaders chose to stop their ears. In Acts 8:37 the Ethiopian chose to accept Jesus Christ. In Acts 13:42–51 the Gentiles chose to accept Christ but many of the Jews chose to reject the gospel message. They expelled both Paul and Barnabas from their coasts. The disciples chose to shake off the dust from their feet and went to Iconium.

There is no record of the first church ever having used force to attain conversions. Conversely, the unbelieving Jews continually chose to use violence against their former fellows who had chosen to become followers of Christ.

The following Bible verses show that all those who claim to be followers of gentle Jesus and advocate the use of force in religious matters are not His disciples despite their profession:

“These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.” John 16:1, 2. The Bible warned us that there would be a time coming when force would be used, but it also said that false doctrines would be introduced. These two factors (force and false doctrine) would unite to bring forth the man of sin. “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.” II Thessalonians 2:3.

The following verses also predict that error would come into the church and be forced upon the people: Acts 20:28–31; II Peter 2:1, 2; I Timothy 4:1–4; II Timothy 4:3, 4; II Corinthians 4:2. Christ admonished us to read the Book of Daniel (Matthew 24:15). In Daniel 7:25 there is prophesied that a power would arise out of pagan Rome and it would “wear out the saints of the Most High” who chose to remain loyal to Jesus and His doctrine. In Daniel 11:33 and 35, it says that this same religio-political power would kill God’s children. They would “fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days” (1260 years). Protestant Bible students historically believe that these prophecies were fulfilled by the papacy in the Dark Ages, which, to be politically correct are now called the Middle Ages.

This blasphemous religious power had united itself to the state. That act contradicted Christ’s command to the first church (see Matthew 22:21). This was the first step in using the arm of the state to force millions to choose a false worship against their conscience. This power claimed this world to be its kingdom, which also contradicts Christ’s statement that His kingdom was not of this world (John 18:36).

“Pope Urban II, inspirer of the first Crusade, decreed that all heretics were to be tortured and killed.” A Woman Rides the Beast, 246, by Dave Hunt. “St. Thomas Aquinas [the darling of the Catholic Church] taught that non-Catholics, or heretics, could, after a second warning, be legitimately killed. His exact words are: ‘they have merited to be excluded from the earth by death.’ ” St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, vol. 4, 90. “There is no greater offence than heresy … and therefore it must be rooted out with fire and sword.” The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1911, vol. 14, 767. The Catholic church claimed the right to kill all those who chose to believe differently from what the church taught, even if that teaching conflicted with the plainest Scripture.

Christ, on the contrary, had told us to “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” Matthew 5:44. Christ gave all a choice in religious matters, but popery believes in force.

“The absurd and erroneous doctrines or ravings in defense of liberty of conscience are a most pestilential error—a pest, of all others, most to be dreaded in a state.” Pope Pius IX, Encyclical Letter of August 15, 1854. [Emphasis added.]

“One eighteenth Century historian, Walter James, counted 95 popes who claimed to have divine power to depose kings.” Vicars of Christ, by Peter de Rosa, page 355. This is a far cry from their claimed first pope Peter who said, “Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; or unto governors.” I Peter 2:13, 14, first part.

“Archbishop Kendrick, says: We confess that the Roman Catholic Church is intolerant, that is to say, that it uses all the means in its power for the extirpation of error and sin; but this intolerance is the logical and necessary consequence of its infallibility. She alone has the right to be intolerant, because she alone has the truth. The Church tolerates heretics where she is obliged to do so; but she hates them mortally, and employs all her force to secure their annihilation. When the Catholics shall here be in possession of a considerable majority which will certainly be the case by and by, although the time may long be deferred, then religious liberty will have come to an end in the Republic of the United States. Our enemies know that we do not pretend to be better than our Church, and in what concerns this, her history is open to the eyes of all. They know then, how the Roman Church dealt with heretics in the Middle Ages, and how she deals with them to-day, everywhere she has the power.” Shepherd of the Valley, (St. Louis, Mo.), 1876.

“The church has the right to require that the Catholic religion shall be the only religion of the State, to the exclusion of all others.” Pope Pius IX Syllabus Errorum, December 1864.

“I want to hear some American stand up and shout: ‘Give us justice. Give us decency and to hell with the Constitution.’ ” The Catholic News, July 25, 1963.

“Our work is to make America Catholic … and our hearts shall leap toward it with crusader enthusiasm.” Bishop Ireland, Baltimore Catholic Council, 1890.

“The word of God teaches that these scenes are to be repeated as Roman Catholics and Protestants shall unite for the exaltation of the Sunday.” The Great Controversy, 578. “And let it be remembered, it is the boast of Rome that she never changes. … is to dominate the conscience, and the triumph of Rome in this country is assured.” Ibid., 581.

“The pacific tone of Rome in the United States does not imply a change of heart. She is tolerant where she is helpless. Says Bishop O’Connor: ‘Religious liberty is merely endured until the opposite can be carried into effect without peril to the Catholic world.’ … The archbishop of St. Louis once said: ‘Heresy and unbelief are crimes; and in Christian countries, as in Italy and Spain, for instance, where all the people are Catholics, and where the Catholic religion is an essential part of the law of the land, they are punished as other crimes.’ ” Ibid., 565.

“The Roman Church now presents a fair front to the world, covering with apologies her record of horrible cruelties. She has clothed herself in Christlike garments; but she is unchanged. Every principle of the papacy that existed in past ages exists today. The doctrines devised in the darkest ages are still held. Let none deceive themselves. The papacy that Protestants are now so ready to honor is the same that ruled the world in the days of the Reformation, when men of God stood up, at the peril of their lives, to expose her iniquity. She possesses the same pride and arrogant assumption that lorded it over kings and princes, and claimed the prerogatives of God. Her spirit is no less cruel and despotic now than when she crushed out human liberty and slew the saints of the Most High.

“The papacy is just what prophecy declared that she would be, the apostasy of the latter times (II Thessalonians 2:3, 4). It is a part of her policy to assume the character which will best accomplish her purpose; but beneath the variable appearance of the chameleon she conceals the invariable venom of the serpent. ‘Faith ought not to be kept with heretics, nor persons suspected of heresy’ (Lenfant, volume 1, page 516), she declares. Shall this power, whose record for a thousand years is written in the blood of the saints, be now acknowledged as a part of the church of Christ?” Ibid., 571.

Seventh-day Adventists know that there are two significant powers mentioned in Revelation 13. We recognize them to be the resurrected papacy and the United States of America. America, the land of free choice in religious matters, has succumbed to its age-old foe from which her ancestors fled nearly four hundred years ago. Sleepy America has taken her wonderful liberties for granted. The people have been seduced and subdued by a mysterious stupor and are infatuated by sports, amusements, revelry and making money.

It is in this atmosphere that Pope Francis came to America to present to the U. S. Government the plan (or conspiracy?) for a New World Order to deal with global warming and the problems of humanity. He also presented at the World Family Day in Philadelphia the need for Sunday rest. Pope Francis is being idolized as the solver of the world’s problems. These problems are being used as an excuse to sell Catholicism to America as the only remedy.

As the pope and a confirmed Jesuit, he sincerely believes that he can resort to any means to rid the world of all who do not accept his “remedy.” He believes, as a “good” Jesuit, that he can take the wealth of America and distribute it to the slums of the world, the majority of which are Roman Catholic.

Even more alarmingly, the top Vatican adviser, Jeffery Sachs reported prior to the pope’s visit that he would directly challenge the ‘American idea’ of God-given rights embodied in the Declaration of Independence. The Catholic Church’s view, confirmed by the ‘Holy Father’ in veiled messages, has always been that the orderly development of a civil, pluralistic society, required that the authentic spirit of religion not be confined to personal conscience. Catholicism must supersede the Protestant belief of individual choice in religious matters for his planned New World Order.

We are seeing the sure word of prophecy springing forth into reality before our very eyes. The two powers of Revelation 13 are uniting, and soon, no man shall buy or sell unless he receives the Mark of the Beast (see Revelation 13:16). After this economic boycott will come death to all those who choose to refuse to receive the Mark of the Beast (see Revelation 13:15).

There is a storm coming relentless in its fury. Rome is to regain its lost ascendancy. The three worthies on the plain of Dura chose to honor God and accept the consequences. The great majority chose to take the easy way out. Soon all the world must choose between the Mark of the Beast and the Seal of God. Man’s extremities are God’s opportunities. His biddings are also His enablings. We can do all things through Christ Who strengthens us. Soon Jesus will return and take all those who have chosen Him as their Saviour to heaven. Anything we must suffer of this earth for the glory of God is nothing compared with the eternal life to come. He that tries to save his life will lose it, and he who is prepared to lose it will save his soul (Matthew 16:25). “But as it is written, eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.” I Corinthians 2:9.

Evan Sadler is the director of Hope International (NZ) Ltd. He is passionate about sharing the warning messages of Revelation 14 on his many travels throughout the United States of America and his home country, New Zealand. He may be contacted by email at: office@hopeinternational.co.nz.

No Purchasing Power

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Revelation 13 is a chapter we need to understand thoroughly because some day we are going to have to explain these verses in courts and in legislatures. We must be able to explain what we believe and why we believe it.

Revelation 13:1–10 talks about a beast that comes out of the sea. There are 23 definitive descriptions of the beast power to help understand who it is and to know how they apply.

Revelation 13:11–17 talks about another beast that comes up later. I have found 17 definitive statements that describe this beast, which is the United States.

We need to study these things and pray that the Lord will help us to be ready for what is going to happen, because it is going to happen suddenly and at an unexpected time.

Revelation 13:15 says, “He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast …” To understand that, you need to know what the image of the beast is. “… the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.” In verse 16, it says, “He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads.”

This beast power, this government, is going to cause everybody to receive that mark. Then in verse 17 it says, “No one may buy or sell except one who has the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of the name.” This will lead up to the death decree, in verse 15, which is not the first thing but the last thing.

When I was a child, we lived in a completely different world from today. When you wanted to pay somebody, you either gave them cash or a check. If you couldn’t pay with cash or a check, then you went to a bank and mortgaged something to obtain a loan. We thought at that time that we understood a little bit about what Revelation 13:17 meant regarding buying and selling.

Those who were alive in the 1940s during World War II experienced a foretaste of what will be experienced in the near future when there are restrictions on buying and selling. My father saw similar restrictions enforced by this country in the 1940s with the rationing system. You could not buy gasoline, oil, tires, shoes, sugar, meat, coffee, and a host of other consumer products without ration stamps procured from the Federal government. Conversely, you could not sell without permission from the same government. Prices were usually fixed for both buyers and sellers. There were very stiff penalties for violators, including fines and jail time. However, a large black market flourished illegally, just as it did during Prohibition in the 1920s. We assumed that restrictions on trade would be something similar. But today we are living in a completely different age.

We have been told that we need to prepare for that time. Ellen White wrote in 1903: “The work of the people of God is to prepare for the events of the future, which will soon come upon them with blinding force.” Selected Messages, Book 2, 142. In the future there is going to be a national Sunday law.

Ellen White also said that, “We have nothing to fear for the future except as we forget the way the Lord has led us, and His teaching in our past history.” Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 31. The problem is that most Adventists today hardly even know what happened in the past; so how would they forget something they never knew?

In the past, there have been efforts to develop and enact a national Sunday law in the United States, but they have never succeeded. One of the reasons that the effort failed in 1891 was that A. T. Jones, an Adventist minister, went to the United States Congress and explained to them the consequences of doing such a thing, and the law was not passed.

However, even though our nation has never passed a national Sunday law, the states themselves have passed many state Sunday laws.

Let’s review a bit of what has happened in the past with Sunday laws in this country. This is not an extensive or exhaustive account. Events that occurred in the late 1880s in Tennessee were recorded in The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, 471–497. It was in regard to what happened in Tennessee that Ellen White wrote a very lengthy testimony about how we should relate to Sunday laws. This is important for Seventh-day Adventists to know so that when these laws are pushed again we do not take extremes either way.

In Tennessee, one hundred twenty Seventh-day Adventists were arrested, tried, convicted, fined, and imprisoned within a very short time for breaking the Sunday law. That was not a national Sunday law but a Tennessee Sunday law. Over twenty-five hundred dollars were paid in fines. Eighty-seven were put into prison for approximately five years. Twelve were put on a road-chain gang to repair roads, bridges, and break stones. What did they do? What had they done wrong? One of these men had repaired the screen door of his house on Sunday. One man had dug a mess of potatoes from his garden for his family’s meal on Sunday. Another had fixed his shoes, and in the process of fixing his shoes, he made a noise with a hammer, and a neighbor heard it and turned him in.

Another person was turned in by his neighbor after being spotted working in his cornfield on Sunday. The neighbor said he watched him work, then he went off to church, but he couldn’t concentrate on the sermon because he kept thinking how wrong that law-breaker was to work on “his holy day.” So this mental disturbance was sufficient enough to sustain a conviction in court and get the Seventh-day Adventist put in jail. A widow was convicted for returning a borrowed wagon with a load of kindling wood as payment for its use. This is just a sampling of what happened to the Adventists in the 1880s.

Actually, in the 1600s, before the United States became a nation, people were put to death for violating religious laws in this country. In Massachusetts, during the spring and summer of 1692, nineteen persons were hanged. One was killed by being pressed to death and sixty-six were tortured until they confessed. One hundred fifty were imprisoned and two hundred were deemed suspicious and worthy of arrest.

The Review and Herald reported a prominent churchman in the 1880s who said, “If you will look in Noah Webster’s dictionary, you will find the word ‘Sunday’ is defined as the Christian sabbath. It is true that before Christ the Jewish people kept the seventh day. However since Christ, the lines of longitude and latitude have been such that it is impossible to keep it. And furthermore, the custom of this country makes it obligatory upon us to observe Sunday sacredly. But these miserable Adventists come around in the face of all this, and tell us that we must keep the old Jewish Sabbath. They are a set of abominable traitors who are trying to produce dissention in our land and oppose the laws of our country. The place for every one of them is in our state prisons. And what we want is a law that will put them there. And thank God the time is not far distant when we will have it.”

In 1891 Sunday keepers thought they could get the law passed and would have if A.T. Jones had not protested it in Congress, resulting in the majority in the United States Congress voting it down. In 1920, in Virginia, on Tangier Island in Chesapeake Bay, a young man by the name of Roland Parks was shot with a revolver by the local constable because he refused to go to church on Sunday morning or to remain indoors. He was sitting outside on a bench in front of the town store, in violation of the local Sunday laws.

What has happened in the past on a state level is going to happen in the future on the national level. Ellen White wrote about this national Sunday law in Testimonies, vol. 5, 451, and lists a whole series of things that are going to happen when it is passed. She says it will be time when the marvelous working of Satan will come to pass.

She says our people are going to be plunged into those scenes of distress and affliction described in the prophecies and that national apostasy will bring about national ruin. When that happens we can know that it is almost time for the angel of mercy to take flight, never to return. What does that mean? That means that probation closes. Ellen White said these things would come upon us with “blinding force.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 4, 74. We need to be studying and asking the Lord to teach us step by step what to do and when to do it. The time will come when we will have to flee the big cities.

Only the Lord knows where each one of us will be when Jesus comes. Some will be in prison or in a cave, but be sure that life will not be the same as we are experiencing at this present time. Adventists believe and have taught that because of what is coming on the world we must get out of the cities, especially the big cities. Preparation must be made for these difficult times that are ahead of us.

Ellen White wrote in 1902: “The time is not far distant when every city will be visited by the plagues of God.” Ibid., vol. 17, 357. In another place she wrote: “The larger the city, the greater will be the oppression.” Ibid., vol. 19, 337.

Although the Pen of Inspiration states that the United States will lead out in this oppression, the very same crisis regarding buying and selling will eventually be a worldwide event. God’s people will be affected at the time, regardless of where they are when this happens, and “every city will be visited by the plagues of God.”

There are already plagues of God in the earth, but when I read these things and read that Ellen White says that in the last days, God is going to walk through the earth and spoil the whole land, I ask myself, What does that mean? We are yet to find out!

“Those who choose to remain in the cities, surrounded by the houses of unbelievers, must share in the disasters that will come upon them.” Ibid., vol. 17, 350. We’ve been told before it happens so that we can think through where we live and what we are doing, and consider how we will be affected by what’s going to happen.

I don’t fully understand what her statement means, but I do know that if I am there, surrounded by unbelievers, I will be sharing in the disasters that come upon them from the plagues that are coming on the cities.

Now here is what the Lord, Who knows everything, has told us. He knows what the devil is thinking and all of his devious plans and has revealed them through His prophet. “Satan says …

“ ‘For fear of wanting food and clothing they will join with the world in transgressing God’s law.’ ” Prophets and Kings, 183, 184.

They transgress God’s law for fear of want of food and clothing because they will not be able to buy and sell unless they compromise their faith. The devil says, “The earth will be wholly under my dominion.” Ibid. “Then the sabbath, [the false Sabbath] which I (the devil) have set up shall be enforced by laws the most severe and exacting. Those who disregard them [these severe and exacting laws] shall be driven out from the cities and villages, and made to suffer hunger and privation.” Maranatha, 163.

That time is coming. We do not know when or how.

When I studied these subjects many years ago, I thought, like many Adventists, that it was time to find an isolated place. However, further study into this subject revealed that there is a time to do that, but right now we need to get the message to the world. We have been told we should scorn concealment.

But that time is coming and we have to trust the Lord that He will show us at the right time when to flee. We need to go to the Lord and ask for the Holy Spirit to guide and direct us.

Ellen White saw in vision the time of trouble. She said, “During the night a very impressive scene passed before me. There seemed to be great confusion and the conflict of armies. A messenger from the Lord stood before me, and said, ‘Call your household. I will lead you; follow me.’ He led me down a dark passage, through a forest, then through the clefts of mountains, and said, ‘Here you are safe.’ There were others who had been led to this retreat. The heavenly messenger said. ‘The time of trouble has come as a thief in the night, as the Lord warned you it would come.’ ” Ibid., 270.

The Lord knows when we will be driven from our homes. If we are staying close to Jesus, He can send an angel to tell us ahead of time that it is time to get ready to go. There is no way you can surprise the Lord. If you are under His direction, the Lord can direct you when it is time to leave your home, when it is time to flee to the mountains, or similar place of safety.

In one place Ellen White says, “It is impossible to give any idea of the experience of the people of God who shall be alive upon the earth when celestial glory and a repetition of the persecutions of the past are blended.” Ibid., 205. Then she says, “By means of the angels there will be constant communication between heaven and earth [for God’s people].” Ibid.

When these prophecies in Revelation 13 are fulfilled, the most important preparation is, “Have you received the Holy Spirit? Are you being directed and guided by the heavenly agencies?”

Ellen White said: “I was shown that it is the will of God that the saints should cut loose from every encumbrance before the time of trouble comes, and make a covenant with God through sacrifice. If they have their property on the altar and earnestly inquire of God for duty, He will teach them when to dispose of these things. Then they will be free in the time of trouble and have no clogs to weigh them down.” Early Writings, 56, 57.

As we draw closer to the end, these things are going to come on us with blinding force. But, nothing comes on the Lord with blinding force. There is no such thing as surprising the Lord. Thus the most important thing is for each one of us to be guided by the heavenly agencies and to be in tune with the Lord and not just going our own way. For that to happen, we need churches. We need the people of God’s church to be praying day by day that we might be led and guided by His Holy Spirit.

We know that our work right now is to get the Three Angels’ Messages to all the world and to help people to get ready in character for Jesus to come. But the time will come when it will be time to do something different. Jesus said we do not know when the time is but He does know and will not be surprised when normality as we know it breaks apart. We need to be people of prayer, continually asking for direction. If our lives are committed to the Lord, and we are seeking for the Holy Spirit to direct and guide us, the angels know exactly what we need to do and will lead us. We have been promised His Holy Spirit so we can face the future without terror.

There are many peopIe who are fearful and cannot figure out what is happening in this world. The economy is collapsing, there is a moral decline, and they do not feel safe anymore. Some worldly people are moving out to the mountains for safety, believing that a terrible catastrophe is going to happen in the United States. There are some worldly people who are hoarding gold and silver and stashing food and water in preparation for their survival.

However, the most important thing is to be guided by the Holy Spirit. The Lord has promised us in Luke 11:13 that if you ask, He has promised to send you the Holy Spirit. And when the Holy Spirit comes, the next thing is, am I going to receive whatever rebuke or reproof or direction He gives me? If I receive that, then the Holy Spirit will continue to guide me.

Guidance from the Holy Spirit is what we need to be able to have the assurance that we will be able to face the future without terror. People that don’t even know the Three Angels’ Messages are terrified today by what’s going on in the world. This is not just in the United States. There is no need for fear if we are under divine direction and guidance. The only way possible to face the future without terror is to be under the direction of the divine agency.

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)

Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church of Free Seventh-day Adventists in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Deception and Prophecy

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We are living in solemn times and we need to take our relationship with the Lord seriously. In Matthew 24:2–14, Jesus answered the question His disciples asked about the building of the temple and He gave them signs of the end. Particularly look at verse 15 when Jesus said: “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand).”

Right before this startling statement Jesus said that the gospel will be preached in all the world. Christ admonishes those who are living in the last days to study the book of Daniel, and specifically, the abomination of desolation.

This article will touch on the phrases Christ is referring to in Daniel 12:11 which says, “And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.” Here it makes mention of an abomination that makes desolate and that it is in connection with the phrase that says, “sacrifice being taken away”—the daily sacrifice.

Notice Daniel 11:31: “And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.” There it is again: “abomination that maketh desolate?” In connection with that phrase, it makes mention of taking away a “daily sacrifice.” Daniel 8:11, 12 says, “Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of the [His] sanctuary was cast down. And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground, and it practiced, and prospered.”

Here the phrase talking about daily sacrifice also mentions sanctuary and truth being cast down. What Jesus spoke is found in the book of Daniel. If you are a familiar with this book you know that the word sacrifice is a supplied word, meaning that it is not in the original text. Whatever this power represents it casts down truth to the ground.

A question is then asked in verse 13: “Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, ‘How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?’ ”

The words abomination and transgression are in the same family. Notice how they are linked to daily sacrifice. The other chapters say specifically “abomination of desolation,” but here it says “transgression of desolation.” I believe they are one and the same.

The answer to the question asked in verse 13, “How long” is given in verse 14. “And He said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.” Christ wanted us to understand what was happening in Daniel chapter 8, that “unto two thousand and three hundred days” there would be a cleansing of the sanctuary. This was a phrase that was used to denote a specific day and also a specific service that transpired for the Jews throughout the year.

Leviticus 16:16 says, “And he shall make an atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgression in all their sins; and so shall he do for the tabernacle of the congregation, that remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness.” We see here that some atonement needs to be made because of the uncleanness of the people. This service was for the purpose of cleansing the people because they were in a state of uncleanliness based on the sins in their lives.

Verse 19 says, “… he shall sprinkle of the blood upon it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it, and hallow it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel.” And verse 33 says, “And he shall make an atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make an atonement for the tabernacle of the congregation, and for the altar, and he shall make an atonement for the priests, and for all the people of the congregation.”

The cleansing of the sanctuary is linked with the Day of Atonement, the day of cleansing. All those who refused to participate in that service were condemned. The Day of Atonement was the only day in the whole year that the high priest was to enter into the most holy place of the sanctuary.

There were three compartments to that sanctuary. In the outer court was an altar of sacrifice and a laver. This is where the Jews washed before entering into the first compartment called the holy place. Within this compartment was the table of showbread, the altar of incense, and the minora, a candlestick holding seven candles.

Within the most holy place, the last compartment behind the second veil was the ark of the covenant which contained the Law of God. Once a year the high priest would go into this compartment. Leviticus 23:27, 28 says, “Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord. And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the Lord your God.”

Notice verses 29 and 30: “For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people. And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people.” Because of this cutting off from the people, it became known to the Jews as a Day of Judgment. On that day it was decided who would remain in the congregation for the following year with the Jews and who was to be cut off from the people. So, the Day of Atonement was also the Day of Judgment for the Jewish economy.

As you study the abomination of desolation, you will come across the question that was asked in Daniel 8, “How long shall these things be” and as you study that time prophecy, you will come to an understanding that there must be a cleansing of the tabernacle. In Hebrews 8:1, 2 it says, “Now of the things which we have spoken, this is the sum: We have such an high priest, Who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.”

The tabernacle on earth was something that Moses and the Israelites were commanded to make. The tabernacle in heaven is the true tabernacle, the one the Lord pitched. Christ is in the most holy place right now making an atonement for the people. Many teach that everything concerning the atonement was over at the cross. But that is not true according to the plan of salvation, which was preached unto Abraham (Galatians 3:8). God attempted to teach the gospel through symbols, service, and type. As the people understood this gospel, the sinner could go from the outside of the sanctuary by faith into the innermost part of the sanctuary.

The word sanctified means to make holy. It has the same root as the word sanctuary. The sanctuary was the place where the process occurred by which a sinner could be made holy. It was through the blood of the lamb from the court all the way to the mercy seat in the most holy place where atonement could be made. That being the case, it is impossible that a complete atonement was finished at the cross. The lamb was slain in the court and the blood was taken all the way into the sanctuary. When Christ ascended up into heaven, the Bible teaches that He became the high priest, offering His blood on behalf of our sins in the heavenly sanctuary.

The Bible says in Psalm 1:1–4: “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so: but they are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.” Notice, the ungodly are like the chaff that the wind drives away and then it says in verse 5, “Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment.”

Daniel 2 describes Nebuchadnezzar’s dream where he saw an image with a head of gold, arms and chest of silver, belly and thighs of brass, legs of iron, and feet a mixture of iron and clay, representing the world powers from the Babylonian era to the end of time. Then, it says a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, which came and smote the image upon the feet. “Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away.” Daniel 2:35. Compare this with Psalm 1:4, 5. God revealed to King Nebuchadnezzar, through His servant, Daniel, the importance of recognizing the power that God has to set rulers on the throne. God showed him the basic outline of the powers of the world represented by the metals in the statue. Babylon – the head of gold; the Medes and the Persians – the arms and chest of silver; Greece – the belly and thighs of brass; Roman dominion – the legs of iron; the division of nations – iron mixed with clay, which we have to this day. The stone that smashed the feet causing the destruction of the entire statue represented the everlasting kingdom to be set up at the return of Christ.

The Bible encourages us to study and meditate on God’s Law and its precepts. If we study the life of Jesus we shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water and will bring forth His fruit. However, those who neglect this will not be prepared for that coming Stone and will be like the chaff blown away with all kinds of winds of doctrines and worldly theories.

When Jesus came to the fig tree looking for fruit there was none. God is looking for us to bear the fruits of His character, the fruits of the Holy Spirit, in and out of season.

Ezekiel 37 talks about dry bones. “The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, and caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry. And He said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, thou knowest. Again He said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.” Ezekiel 37:1–6.

In Luke 24, two men were walking to Emmaus when Christ began to draw near to them. They did not know it was Jesus, even when He expounded to them, beginning at Moses and all the prophets, the things concerning Himself. The end of that story reads that “as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them” (verse 30 NKJV). Then their eyes were opened and they began to know Him and understand the events of the past days, His crucifixion and resurrection. Likewise, Ezekiel was told to prophecy to a valley of dry bones. Why? So “… ye shall know that I am the Lord.”

Ezekiel continues in verses 7–10: “So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them. Then said He unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God, Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.”

The word of the Lord caused those dead and dry bones to have life. Often our spiritual experience languishes and we feel like a bunch of dry bones, but if you want a spiritual revival in your life, then as Christ said to the two men at Emmaus, and as Christ commanded Ezekiel, study Bible prophecy. See how the Lord’s word is sure to come to pass as He has spoken it and you will begin to have a revival in your life. Read Daniel, read Revelation, and take more earnest heed to the things that are being taught there. This is sure to bring revival in your spiritual walk with the Lord.

King Nebuchadnezzar wanted to utilize the great image he saw in his dream to bring glory to himself. So he had a statue built, not just with the head of gold but with the entire statue of gold. When it was completed, he commanded that all people bow to it, thus giving him homage. This tower of Nebuchadnezzar’s image did not appear overnight and was built over time in the view of all. Thus the people had time to think and to pray about it, including Daniel’s three friends, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego. These three who had previously determined with Daniel not to defile themselves with the king’s food stood firm in their worship of the only true God, refusing to bow before the image. This caused them to be cast into the fire. (See Daniel 3.)

Nebuchadnezzar was the most powerful king of the most powerful dynasty ruling the world at that time. He made other nations to tremble. All the nations feared before him and yet these three young men humbly, yet firmly told the king there was no need to give them another chance to bow. Daniel 3:16–18 states: “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.”

The boldness these men had is amazing. Something about the presence of authority can really shake a man, but these young men had holy boldness because they knew that with them was the presence of a greater authority. They believed themselves always to be in the presence of God. The Psalmist says in Psalm 16:8: “I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.” They were unflinching in the face of such great authority, much like Christ, Daniel, Paul, and many of these others.

Boldness does not mean aggression or forcing the truth down people’s throats. It means being confident in what you believe. We should not be ashamed of the principles that lead to eternal life. These three Hebrew men had faith in the promises of God, and as a result they stood boldly obedient to His word.

Daniel 1:3, 4 gives us some background of Daniel and his three friends. “And the king spake unto Ashpenaz the master of the eunuchs, that he should bring certain of the children of Israel, and of the king’s seed, and of the princes; children in whom was not blemish, but well-favored, and skilful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king’s palace, and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans.” So Daniel and his three friends were all eunuchs in their Babylonian captivity.

In Isaiah 38 we are told that Hezekiah was “sick unto death” and Isaiah the prophet said unto him, “Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order: for thou shalt die, and not live. Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed unto the Lord … And Hezekiah wept sore.” Then the Lord told him, “I will add unto thy days fifteen years. And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria: and I will defend this city. And this shall be a sign unto thee from the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing that He hath spoken; Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down” (verses 1–8).

The sun not only shines in the Palestine area but all around the globe. Many astrologers and magicians saw this. When King Nebuchadnezzar could not figure out his dream, he called the magicians and the astrologers who were students of the skies. Because the Babylonians were students of the skies, they saw what had happened to the sun. Word had spread that Hezekiah had something to do with this and that His God had done some miracle for him and men were sent to enquire. Hezekiah was glad of them, and showed them “all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all of his dominion, that Hezekiah shewed them not. Then came Isaiah the prophet unto Hezekiah, and said unto him, What said these men? and from whence came they unto thee? And Hezekiah said, They are come from a far country unto me, even from Babylon.

“Then said he, What have they seen in thine house? And Hezekiah answered, All that is in mine house have they seen: there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shewed them. Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the Lord of hosts: Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left, saith the Lord” (Isaiah 39:2–6).

God had performed a mighty miracle for Hezekiah. He was given the greatest opportunity to present the gospel story and to present the power and mighty working of the Creator God to the Babylonians. Instead, he bragged by showing them his riches and neglected to give the glory to God. As a result, Isaiah prophesied that everything in his house would be taken to Babylon. Isaiah 39:7 says, “And of thy sons that shall issue from thee … shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” Daniel and his three friends were part of the fulfillment of that prophecy to Hezekiah.

Isaiah 40:28–31 says, “Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is not searching of His understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might He increaseth strength. Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”

We can find comfort in Scriptures like Isaiah 41:10: “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness.” What a promise! We don’t have to fear.

Look at Isaiah 42:1, 6: “Behold My servant, whom I uphold; Mine elect, in whom My soul delighteth; I have put My Spirit upon him … I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles.”

Isaiah 43:10, 11 says, “Ye are My witnesses, saith the Lord, and My servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He: before Me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after Me. I, even I, am the Lord; and beside Me there is no Saviour.”

Daniel and his three friends knew the Scriptures; so we can be sure that they understood that there was no other God besides Christ and God the Father. In verses 14 and 15 it says: “Thus saith the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and have brought down all their nobles, and the Chaldeans, whose cry is in the ships. I am the Lord, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your king.” He reminded them that He is the Creator.

We worship God because He is the Creator. Many times in the Bible when you read about worship, it will mention the fact that He is our Creator. We worship Him because He created us.

Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego would have been familiar of the writings of Isaiah, including chapters 38 through 43 and there learned the promises that they could claim. They knew that they were to be the eunuchs prophesied about and that they were the witnesses that were sent to Babylon as representatives of God. So because of Bible prophecy, which Isaiah had spoken, they were able to stand with boldness before King Nebuchadnezzar, refusing to bow down. Our God is able to deliver us as stated in Isaiah 43:2. But they said in Daniel 3:17, “If it be so, our God Whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.”

However, if He decides not to, that is also okay because He is still the Creator God. He has redeemed us and we will not bow down to the image. Brethren, praise God!

Matthew 24:14 says, “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” It was followed by the abomination of desolation, which has something to do with the connection of the cleansing of the sanctuary and the Day of Atonement, or the judgment.

Where else in the Bible do you know of where a gospel is going to the world, and then the very next statement makes mention of judgment? In Revelation 14:6, 7 the first of the three angels’ messages says, “I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him.”

There is a warning today of an image of the beast being formed. Do you see it being constructed? Are you watching the progress while the pieces are being put together? God is giving us time now to study the prophecies so that when the time comes and the decree is announced that all should bow before the image and worship it, you can also be unafraid and bold just like Daniel and his three friends when they met their trials.

Bible verses are from the KJV version.

Jose Riviera delivered this message as a guest speaker at Historic Message Church in Portland, Oregon. Previously he has helped out with the youth at Steps to Life camp meetings.

What is Freedom? Are We Free?

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There are some people in the United States of America who do not know the reason for the 4th of July celebration and from whom they gained independence. Many Americans are ignorant of their historical roots.

The Bible deals with three aspects of liberty and it would be wise to consider whether we truly have liberty and freedom in our own lives. It is possible to experience liberty even in the midst of lawlessness when our civil liberties are taken from us.

God has told His church that what was not done when there was opportunity in times of peace would have to be done under terrible conditions and even persecution.

The two founding documents of the United States are the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. Notice in the following quotation that Ellen White lumps these two together because the Constitution is based upon the principles in the Declaration of Independence. If you attack one, you attack the other. She says, “In that grand old document which our forefathers set forth as their bill of rights—the Declaration of Independence—they declared: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.’ And the Constitution guarantees, in the most explicit terms, the inviolability of conscience: ‘No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.’ ‘Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.’ ” The Great Controversy, 295.

We always think of the Bill of Rights as the amendments to the constitution, but here these rights are tied in with the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.

Christians will have to exercise their freedom of conscience when challenged personally over what God’s law says and what saith the state, called the image to the beast. “It (freedom of conscience) is an inborn principle which nothing can eradicate. Congressional documents (U.S.A.), serial No. 200, document No. 271.” Ibid., 295.

Liberties will be eroded, but true liberty comes from God. The psalmist said, “I will walk at liberty for I seek Thy precepts” (Psalm 119:45). Here David is referring to God’s law. Those who seek to know truth and obey God’s law walk in liberty. Precepts here means commandments. In the book of Psalms, particularly Psalm 119, God’s law, His ten commandments, are referred to in many different phrases and words such as precepts, or testimonies, or a law, word, or commandments.

While a fugitive, being hunted by Saul like a wild animal, David could still walk at liberty in his own heart. He could have freedom, knowing he was right with God, even though his personal rights were being taken from him.

The apostle James said that true freedom, or liberty, comes from walking in obedience to God’s law. He said, “But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continues therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed” (James 1:25 KJV). The apostle James calls the law a law of freedom.

Why would God’s law be seen as or described as a law of liberty? An examination of the ten commandments reveals that they were divided and written on two tables of stone, the first four on the first table of stone and the last six on the second table. God knew that the principles governing man’s relationship to Himself and to each other would have to be distinct and separate from one another, just as state and church are to be separate from one another.

The state has been given the responsibility of enforcing the last six commandments that deal with man’s responsibility to his fellow man, but religion has its part in the first table of the law, which deals with man’s relationship with God. The government has no right to infringe upon the first four commandments, which is why they were put on a separate table.

We also notice that within the commandments there are eight commandments of omission and two of commission. In eight commandments God reveals behaviors that are to be eliminated from each life. Freedom would be experienced if adultery, lying, stealing, and coveting other people’s things were eliminated. Many people think that keeping God’s law puts you in bondage, but that is just the opposite of what the Bible says.

An illustration was given of a pastor who asked a man who was smoking for a cigarette. The man had previously accused the minister of being in bondage to the law. On receiving it he put it into his mouth and asked for the lighter. When the lighter was about an inch away from his cigarette he said, “Nah!” He took the cigarette out of his mouth and gave back both the cigarette and lighter.

Then he said to the man, “Now, you do the same. I want you to put it down and never touch it again.”

“Oh, I can’t do that,” said the man.

“No!” said the pastor. “Who is really in bondage?”

You see, if anything has control of your life that does not give freedom and peace in your heart, then you are not at liberty. God’s law is a law of liberty. He says that if you omit the disruptive things from your life and then add the two commandments of commission, the Sabbath and give honor to your father and mother, then your days may be long on the land which the Lord gives you. You will experience complete freedom in your life. No matter what outward force may come against you, you will walk at liberty.

We have been told and can already see evidence that God’s law is going to be challenged in our own country and around the world, but we need not fear, for God is sovereign over all and still in charge.

James 2:10–12, literal translation says, “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. For He that said, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ said also, ‘Do not kill.’ Now if you do not commit adultery, but if you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty.” God’s law, the law of freedom, will one day judge us. Though you have complete freedom to do whatever you want to in this world, there are always consequences to doing what is contrary to God’s law.

The book The Man That Couldn’t Be Killed is a true story of a man who became a Seventh-day Adventist under Mao Se Tung, the late dictator in China. In his attempt to eradicate all religion, Mao Se Tung sent him to Siberia where the prisoners were forced to make the own prison. While it was being constructed, their accommodation was in caves. There was no need of barbed wire fences because any escape would mean certain death due to their isolation. Refusing to eat the pork that was served, he gave his portion to another prisoner. When the guards found out that he was refusing it, they held him down and shoved pork down his throat. Returning to his room, he stuck his finger in his mouth and gagged himself until the pork was regurgitated.

It would have been easy for him to eat it, as there was nothing else, but he could not do that because, though he was a prisoner, he was walking in God’s freedom. God wants to put us in perfect, total control of ourselves, where, if offered something that is appealing to our sinful human nature but contrary to God’s will, we will not accept it. We must be able to be trusted to be taken to heaven. Unless tried, how can God know who will give Him allegiance under every circumstance.

When we acknowledge our sins and defects of character and turn to Christ for the remedy, we will find that the law is not a law of bondage, but a law of freedom. God’s law is good. “Jesus answered them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin’ ” (John 8:34).

Friends, if you are enslaved to anything you eat, or drink, or to some activity you are engaged in, whether it be your cell phone, your Facebook account and you can’t get away from them, you are not free. Just try laying it aside for a week or two and see how you feel. National Public Radio did a study of everybody in their office, charging them not to look at Facebook for a week. There were some who could not last a couple of hours. In fact, two days is the most any went. Friends, do not be enslaved to anything in this world but experience complete freedom in Jesus.

Jesus said, “ ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed’ ” (John 8:34–36).

There is freedom in Christ. Does your temper enslave you? Do you find yourself impatient, or are you enslaved to evil thoughts? The devil wants to keep you enslaved to the habits you have formed over your life. Many people are enslaved to the bitterness of their own hearts. All they can talk about are the wrongs that somebody did to them in the past. Are you enslaved to those past experiences? Paul said, “Forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13, 14).

The bitterness connected to being enslaved to the past will defile your own heart. Jesus said, “The Son will make you free” (John 8:36). All desire liberty, but few understand how to get it. In John 8:31 Jesus told the Jews that believed Him that they were enslaved with unbelief. They had hatred in their hearts and harbored jealous feelings. They were envious of Jesus’ ministry. Are these same things also in our lives?

God wants to give us liberty. Speaking about the year of Jubilee, it says in Leviticus 25:10, “And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you; and each of you shall return to his possession, and each of you shall return to his family.”

The famous landmark in the United States with this text written on the very top is the Liberty Bell, which became a rallying cry for slaves. Liberty was being proclaimed throughout all the land and the slaves said, “Hey, we are not free, and this is what you are proclaiming from the word of God?” They also wanted freedom.

“True liberty and independence are found in the service of God. His service will place upon you no restriction that will not increase your happiness.” Fundamentals of Christian Education, 88. It is not going to create unhappiness in your life when you are restricted from eating or drinking something, or thinking something, or participating in some activity contrary to God’s will, but it will increase your happiness in the service of God.

“In complying with His requirements, you will find a peace, contentment, and enjoyment that you can never have in the path of wild license and sin.” Ibid. You can not have peace, contentment, and enjoyment when you give yourself up to your own carnal, sinful nature. “Then study well the nature of the liberty you desire. Is it the liberty of the sons of God, to be free in Christ Jesus? or do you call the selfish indulgence of base passions freedom? Such liberty carries with it the heaviest remorse; it is the cruelest bondage.” Ibid.

There are terrible consequences of doing whatever you want without restraint.

Another interesting dichotomy of liberty is found in Daniel 6. It was the envy and jealousy of the governors of Persia that caused them to find an occasion against Daniel to go and tell the king that this man was unfaithful. How much did they find with Daniel to substantiate their claim? Not even one thing. They had to find something Daniel did that would be contrary to the king’s law. So they made a law that no one could pray to any god except the king for 30 days. Daniel was not fazed; he did not change the way he prayed to his God.  Three times a day, as his custom was, he opened his windows toward Jerusalem, and there he prayed (see Daniel 6:10). Daniel experienced perfect freedom, even though there was a law in force to restrict it. He experienced liberty and was in perfect freedom with Christ.

Joseph in Egypt was a slave working for Potiphar. Resisting the advances of Potiphar’s wife resulted in his being thrown in jail. However, he was still free in his heart, even though he was incarcerated and his liberty had been taken away.

Another aspect of freedom is found in 2 Corinthians 3. This describes the difference between the Spirit of life and the spirit of the letter of the law. Notice in verse 17, it says, “Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”

In John 16 we are told a few things the Holy Spirit does in our lives that sets us free. He says, “Nevertheless I [Jesus] tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper, the Spirit, will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He is come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and judgment” (John 16:7, 8). There is liberating theology within this one text.

When the Holy Spirit comes and convinces of sin and that sin is confessed, there is freedom and liberty. The Holy Spirit then convicts of righteousness, to do what is right, and of judgment. There are consequences for sin and there may be some fixing up to do. The new birth experience is a process of liberty; it is freedom.

There is another function of the Holy Spirit: “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak, and He will tell you things to come” (verse 13). The Spirit will guide you into truth. Truth is liberating. The opposite of truth is deception—error and lies. Truth will set you free from old deceptions. You cannot deceive God.

God said in Genesis 2:15 and 16 that if you eat of this tree you will die. In chapter 3 verses 1–3, the devil says the opposite of what God said in chapter 2. That was a lie. Eve deceived herself into believing that what the serpent said was actually true, that she would become like God, knowing good and evil. It is amazing that the devil can tell us just the opposite of what God’s word tells us, and we believe it as truth.

People deceive themselves all the time. If God says, “Don’t commit adultery,” somehow people have a text of Scripture to back up why it is acceptable. If God says, “Don’t lie,” they have a reason why they need to lie, some using Rahab as a reason why it is acceptable to lie in certain situations, when the Spirit of Prophecy says there is no situation under the heavens where we can lie. Jesus said, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32).

If you know the truth and obey it, you will no longer be deceived. In The Great Controversy, 277, it says, “The spirit of liberty went with the Bible. Wherever the gospel was received, the minds of the people were awakened. They began to cast off the shackles that had held them bondslaves of ignorance, vice, and superstition.” These were shackles of ignorance. There were people in the time of Martin Luther who believed that if they paid for indulgences they would receive a little piece of paper saying their sins were forgiven. Martin Luther was outraged at this and preached what the Bible says—that you have to confess your sins to Jesus and have faith in Him and be forgiven. But they said, “No, I like my piece of paper better.” They were deceived; they were bond slaves of ignorance, vice and many other things. When the Spirit of Liberty went with the Bible, it set them free from all their superstitions. No longer would they believe that their departed little loved one was floating out on the fireflies at night in the summer wind. “They began to think and act as men. Monarchs saw it, and trembled for their despotism.” Ibid.

In The Review and Herald, December 14, 1911, we are told: “It was not the apostle’s work to overturn arbitrarily or suddenly the established order of society. To attempt this would be to prevent the success of the gospel.” This was referring to the slavery in the Roman Empire. Two thirds of the population were slaves and the other one third were the owners of the slaves. Paul’s work to overturn this arbitrarily would not have worked. “But he taught principles which struck at the very foundation of slavery, and which, if carried into effect, would surely undermine the whole system. ‘Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty’ (2 Corinthians 3:17).” Ibid.

When the Holy Spirit is withdrawn from this earth, slavery and bondage will take its place. Ignorance, vice, and superstition will return with falsehood, deception and lies. We see this happening today, which tells us that the Spirit of God is being gradually withdrawn from this earth.

In Luke 4:18, Jesus, quoting from Isaiah 61, described His mission. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim deliverance (liberty) to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed … .” Christ’s main reason in coming to this world was to give us freedom, freedom from sin and deception. He came to bring truth. “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage” (Galatians 5:1).

“Through yielding to sin, man placed his will under the control of Satan. He became a helpless captive in the tempter’s power. God sent His Son into our world to break the power of Satan, and to emancipate the will of man.” Our High Calling, 104. To emancipate is to give freedom.

Dare to be a Daniel or a Joseph. They determined to do right even though they knew the consequences were dire. They would rather maintain their relationship with God through prayer and be thrown into a den of lions or into prison. That is being free in this world. God wants us to be able to stand fast in the liberty that Christ has given us to make us free. It is up to you and me whether we choose that freedom or not.

Just think what it would have been if there were not some men who were willing to sign that Declaration of Independence. Benjamin Franklin said, “Well, if we don’t hang together, we’ll hang separately.” And there were some men who were willing to do that and put their names on the document, whether or not it would cost them their lives. That is what is at stake in our world. These brave men pledged everything and we must do the same if we are looking for an eternal inheritance.

All quotes NKJV unless otherwise noted.

Mike Bauler was ordained into the ministry in 2005 and serves as pastor of the Historic Message Church in Portland, Oregon. Prior to locating in Portland, Pastor Bauler served as a Bible worker for Steps to Life Ministries. His goal is to help give the gospel to the greater Portland area with an emphasis in helping his Bible students discover the truths in Bible prophecy, which are so often neglected today. His wife, Amanda, a family nurse practitioner, and their daughters assist him in his ministry. 

Image to the Beast

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We are Seventh-day Adventists and I am proud of that name. It is a name that God has given to us as a people.

I remember my first experience in attending a Seventh-day Adventist Church. A young minister was giving a study on Daniel 7. As I listened, the pastor read the various descriptions of the little horn power from Daniel 7 and Revelation 13. There are over a dozen identifying marks of the Roman Church given in these two chapters—marks that when collectively considered could not possibly apply to any other power. Just imagine being a Roman Catholic for thirty-two years, and hearing for the first time that the leader of your church was the Antichrist.

“And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” Revelation 13:8. The Roman Papacy is Satan’s crowning achievement, and through this power he hopes to bring the whole world under his control.

I make no apologies and I am deeply stirred within my soul. God has a message of stern rebuke to this church. We know that the Protestant nations will clasp hands with the Roman Church and that the papacy will use Protestant America as a puppet to bring all the world under its control.

“In a special sense Seventh-day Adventists have been set in the world as watchmen and light bearers. To them has been entrusted the last warning for a perishing world. On them is shining wonderful light form the Word of God. They have been given a work of the most solemn import—the proclamation of the first, second and third angel’s messages. There is no other work of so great importance. They are to allow nothing else to absorb their attention. The most solemn truths ever entrusted to mortals have been given us to proclaim to the world. The proclamation of these truths is to be our work. The world is to be warned, and God’s people are to be true to the trust committed to them. They are not to engage in speculation, neither are they to enter into business enterprises with unbelievers; for this would hinder them in their God-given work.” Testimonies, vol. 9, 19,20

We have been entrusted with a work like no other people on the face of this earth. This is the time when the Seventh-day Adventist Church should be on the front line, but the leaders are retreating, waving white flags. Peace and safety messages are being preached while those who are acting as faithful watchmen, seeking to expose the man of sin with billboards, are being disfellowshipped.

“Our message is a life-and-death message, and we must let this message appear as it is—the great power of God. Then the Lord will make it effectual. We are to present it in all its telling force. The first and second angel’s messages are bound up with the third angel’s message. The power of the proclamation of the fist and second angel’s messages is to be concentrated in the third.” The Voice in Speech and Song, 329

“When men stand out in defiance against the counsel of God, they are warring against God. Is it right for those connected with such ones to treat them as if they were in perfect harmony with them, making no difference between him that serveth God and him that serveth Him not? Though they be ministers or medical missionaries, they have dishonored Christ before the forces of the loyal and the disloyal. Open rebuke is necessary, to prevent others from being ensnared.” Testimonies for the Church Containing Letters to Physicians and Ministers Instruction to Seventh-day Adventists, 9

Today, God is calling eleventh hour workers to fill the ranks, to take the last message of mercy to a perishing world. “There are many souls to come out of the ranks of the world, out of the churches—even the Catholic Church—whose zeal will far exceed that of those who have stood in rank and file to proclaim the truth heretofore. For this reason the eleventh hour laborers will receive their penny. These will see the battle coming and will give the trumpet a certain sound. When the crisis is upon us, when the season of calamity shall come, they will come to the front, gird themselves with the whole armor of God, and exalt the law, adhere to the faith of Jesus, and maintain the cause of religious liberty which reformers defended with toil and for which they sacrificed their lives.” Selected Messages, Book 3, 387,388 They will receive eternal life because they went to the front, saw the enemy coming and rose up to battle—they were numbered with the cowardly and fearful.

When the Lord’s Day Alliance recently came out with a book, they praised the executive director what he had accomplished during his years of service. They said that he had made history for the Alliance when he spoke at Andrews University Theological Seminary in Berrien Springs, Michigan. In spite of the differences of opinion with reference to the Sabbath question, their leader explained, “We clapsed hands across these differences.” See The Great Controversy, 588.

From the Gleaner, May 17, 1993, part one of a five part series states: “We may have less to say in some lines in regards to the Roman power and the Papacy.” Quoting Ellen G. White, it continues, using quotations that emphasize the fact that we need to speak the truth in love. But I submit to you that to warn the world, giving the three angel’s messages in its entirety and exposing the man of sin, is love.

As I read: “Billboard derides Catholics, forgets to speak the truth in love,” I am concerned for my church. Then, when I read in the fourth part of the five part series in the Gleaner, July 12, 1993, “The Great Controversy: Taming the Strong Language: Such a practical approach to inspiration is not popular with some.” I find that this article concludes that Seventh-day Adventists might need to change the language of The Great Controversy. I asked myself, “Is Adventism making an image to the beast?”

The Adventist Review is now speaking up against the billboard campaign, but the thing that troubled me the most was a picture of a Roman Catholic nun, called the “cookie nun.” “Sister Jean Thuerauf, who, in an effort to get youngsters off the streets and away from gangs, started a bakery in Minneapolis, Minnesota, has earned the affectionate title of ‘Cookie Nun.’ Profits from Sister Jean’s Cookie Cart are used for scholarships so the youngsters can attend Catholic schools.” Why are we putting this in our magazine?

I received a letter in regard to the billboards from the Catholic Campus Ministry of the Ecumenical Affairs office. To support their position, they quoted from a book by George Vandeman, What I Like About….They are using our material to support the Catholic position. I am shocked at what I see.

I take no pleasure in speaking strongly, but I see our church beginning to blend with the rest of the ecumenical world. The Sacramento Bee came out with an article entitled: “Intolerance in America still a pattern of life for many.” “Intolerance in America, a billboard says, ‘And all the world wondered after the beast.’ When religion’s love is lost. Driven by fear, ignorance, fanatics sow seeds of violence.” Do you see the handwriting on the wall when it is considered intolerant in America to speak against Rome and the Papacy? The following is a part of that article.

“On a billboard along 16th Street about a month ago, high above the traffic, a faintly smiling caricature of John Paul II waved benignly to passing motorists.

“At first glance, the cartoon image of the pope might have appeared to be an advertisement for Catholicism, but a telephone call to the 800 number on the board provides a different picture. What callers received in the mail—after leaving their address—was a booklet that calls the pope the Antichrist or ‘the beast.’

“The pope is the satanic dictator who will send the world into misery and war before Jesus Christ’s second coming to save the faithful.

“To some, the billboard is an example of religious intolerance. To the billboard proponents, it is the truth.

“‘I am exercising religious liberty,’ said Danny Vierra, the Lodi man and former Catholic leading the billboard effort locally. ‘Protestant reformation was in harmony with what I am saying. The Papacy is the Antichrist.’

“He draws that conclusion, in part, because of what is inscribed on the pope’s miter, his tall ornamented cap, which carries the title Vicarius Filii Dei, Latin for Vicar of Christ.

“The booklet by author A. Jan Marcussen assigns roman numerals to the various letters in Vicarius Filii Dei….and gets 666.

“And in chapter 13, verse 18 of Revelations, the number is linked to the beast.

“Al Menendez an Episcopalian and research director for Americans for Religious Liberty in Silver Springs, Md., said the billboards—which have sprung up all over the West—are examples of religious intolerance.

“Intolerance need not be murderous. The Union of American Hebrew Congregations, representing 1.3 million reform Jews, denounce singer Sinead O’Conner for publicly defacing a photograph of the pope during a ‘Saturday Night Live’ television show.

“Roger Keller, a professor of world religion at Brigham Young University, said that there is continuous antipathy toward those who are different.

“Vierra, the ex-alter boy with the anti-papal billboards, said the doctors and business owners behind the billboards are not part of a hate group. He professed love for the Catholic people.

“‘Our goal is to get people to study the Word of God,’ he said. ‘We have had 500 phone calls. People have thanked us. They have ordered other books that expose the Papacy in detail.’

“Although the pope billboard was taken down, others have taken its place in other locations. The billboards have the ‘the phone ringing off the hook. The few calls we get against us say the pope is our holy father. The Bible says call no man father.’”

It is a sad day when Brigham Young University, the Episcopalian Church and the American Hebrew Congregations all speak out against the billboard, but shocking when officials of the Oregon Conference of Seventh-day Adventists in Portland have said the ads do not represent the views of the church.

“With rapid steps we are approaching this period. When the Protestant churches shall unite with the secular power to sustain a false religion, for opposing which their ancestors endured the fiercest persecution: when the state shall use its power to enforce the decrees and sustain the insututions of the church, –then will Protestant America have formed an image to the to the Papacy, and there will be national apostasy which will end only in national ruin.” Signs of the Times, March 22, 1910

“In the very time in which we live, the Lord has called His people and has given them a message to bear. He has called them to expose the wickedness of the man of sin who has made the Sunday law a distinctive power, who has thought to change times and laws, and to oppress the people of God who stand firmly to honor Him by keeping the only true Sabbath, the Sabbath of creation, as holy unto the Lord.” Evangelism, 705

“The Lord has a controversy with His professed people in these last days. In this controversy men in responsible positions will take a course directly opposite to that pursued by Nehemiah. [They will not be trying to repair the breach, will they?] They will not only ignore and despise the Sabbath themselves, but they will try to keep it from others by burying it beneath the rubbish of custom and tradition. In churches and in large gatherings in the open air, ministers will urge upon the people the necessity of keeping the first day of the week. There are calamities on sea and land: and other calamities will increase, one disaster following close upon another; and the little band of conscientious Sabbath-keepers will be pointed out as the ones who are bringing the wrath of God upon the world by their disregard of Sunday.” Review and Herald, March 18, 1884

As I see our church today speaking out, denying the message of those billboards—that the man of sin shall be revealed is the view of Seventh-day Adventism—and as I see Kenneth Cox professing that, “We really don’t believe that the pope is the Antichrist,” I am confused.
“I saw the nominal church and nominal Adventists, like Judas, would betray us to the Catholics to obtain their influence to come against the truth. The saints then will be an obscure people, little known to the Catholics; but the churches and nominal Adventists who know of our faith and customs (for they hated us on account of the Sabbath for they could not refute it) will betray the saints and report them to the Catholics as those who disregard the institutions of the people; that is, that they keep the Sabbath and disregard Sunday.” Spalding-Magan Collection, 1

Once a person starts working against God’s message as given by the three angels, anything is possible, because when there is not a love of the truth, the mind will very quickly move on to accept advanced delusions.

When I read in our church paper about the cookie nun, and when I see my brethren’s names being turned in to the archdiocese, I no longer am confused. “As the storm approaches, a large class who have professed faith in the third angel’s message, but have not been sanctified through obedience to the truth, abandon their position, and join the ranks of the opposition. By uniting with the world and partaking of its spirit, they have come to view matters in nearly the same light.” The Great Controversy, 608

The Episcopalians, Brigham Young University, the Baptist Church, the Ecumenical Movement, Roman Catholicism and Seventh-day Adventists are all agreed in their assertion that the billboards are not speaking the truth in love.

“Men of talent and pleasing address, who once rejoiced in the truth, employ their powers to deceive and mislead souls. They become the most bitter enemies of their former brethren. When Sabbath-keepers are brought before the courts to answer for their faith, these apostates are the most efficient agents of Satan to misrepresent and accuse them, and by false reports and insinuations to stir up the rulers against them.” Ibid.

“When Christ saw in the Jewish people a nation divorced from God, he saw also a professed Christian church united to the world and the Papacy. And as He stood upon Mount Olivet, weeping over Jerusalem till the sun sank behind the western hill, so He is watching over and pleading with sinners in these last moments of time. Soon He will say to the angels who are holding the four winds, ‘Let the plagues loose; let darkness, destruction, and death come upon the transgressors of My law.’ Will He be obliged to say to those who have had great light and great knowledge, as He said to the Jews, ‘O that thou hadst known, even thou in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace. But now they are hid from thine eyes.’?” Kress Collection, 153. Who do you think is the people spoken of in this prophecy?

“All unite in heaping their bitterest condemnation upon the ministers. Unfaithful pastors have prophesied smooth messages;…Now, in their despair, these teachers confess before the world their work of deception. The multitudes are filled with fury. ‘We are lost!’ they cry, ‘and you are the cause of our ruin;’ and they turn upon the false shepherds….Now the angel of death goes forth, represented in Ezekiel’s vision by the men with the slaughtering weapons, to whom the command is given: ‘Slay utterly old and young, both maid, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at My sanctuary.’ Says the prophet, ‘They began at the ancient men which were before the house.’ Ezekiel 9:1-6. The work of destruction begins among those who have professed to be the spiritual guardians of the people. The false watchmen are the first to fall. There are none to pity or to spare. Men, women, maidens, and little children perish together.” The Great Controversy, 655, 656

The End

Identification Mark

by

Many years ago I read a book that was authored by a man that was supposedly one of the most successful sales trainers conducting seminars in large cities of the United States. During one of his seminars, he recognized a salesman who attended every year. Inquiring about the company he worked for and if any other of his colleagues were in attendance he discovered that this man was the top producer in his company. The younger salesmen that were invited felt that the course dealt with elements that were too fundamental and they did not have time to waste on things they had already studied. It was only the successful salesman that saw the necessity in reviewing the basics at least once a year.

Successful Bible workers must also review from time to time what they really understand and believe about the Bible. Jesus talked about this in Matthew 13:52. He said, “Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old.” There are some people who only want to study about new things, failing to realize the importance of understanding those things that are basic and fundamental so that they will have them indelibly imprinted in their mind.

In this article we will consider five Bible facts.

  1. It is in this life before you die that whether you are saved or lost is determined. When a person dies, their position never changes. This fact is clear in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19–31.
  2. All who are alive in the final generation will worship either Christ or anti-christ. Revelation 13:8 reveals how many will worship anti-christ: “… all who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” All who are not saved will worship the anti-christ. Revelation 14:12 says, “Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.”
  3. There are three chapters in the Bible that identify the anti-christ power. The word anti-christ comes from two Greek words, “anti” and “christos.” The primitive meaning of the word anti is somebody or something that stands in the place of somebody else. Later on in history it came to mean against. Although most people today believe this later meaning, anti-christ is someone that stands in the place of Christ. Also, the Latin word that means the same as the word anti is the word vicar. So a vicar of Christ is anti-christ. The three chapters in the Bible that explain in detail who the anti-christ power is are Daniel 7, 2 Thessalonians 2, and Revelation 13.
  4. In the last generation every person will be marked. However, not all receive the same mark. Some will be marked for destruction and others will be marked for everlasting life. Revelation 7:1–4 talks about God’s children receiving a mark of deliverance which is called the seal of God. However, many people will not receive this mark but a different seal or mark. The other mark is described in Revelation 13:16 and 17. It says, “He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.” In Revelation 14:9–12 the Lord says that if you receive this mark you will receive His wrath and suffer eternal separation from Him which is His judgment of condemnation.
  5. God raised up the second advent movement to prepare a people who would not receive the mark of the beast and who would live in a way that would prepare them to receive the seal of God.

To understand those last brief Bible points we first need to know who the beast is so we can avoid his mark. Then we need to understand what the seal of God is and how to receive it.

Who is this beast in Revelation 13 and 14? Revelation 13:1–10 gives a lengthy description of this beast. In fact, in just these 10 verses there are approximately 15 different descriptions or identifying marks of this beast or anti-christ. We know that it is an anti-christ because of what it says, “… then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven” (Revelation 13:6). This is an anti-christ power.

At the close of Revelation 13:2 it says, “… the dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority.” In the Greek language it says, “his throne.” In some English translations it says, “his seat,” which means his seat of government or his throne.

Revelation 12 tells us the dragon is the devil, but although the devil is the chief anti-christ, he works through appointed or selected human agencies just as God works in this world through appointed or selected agencies. You will see that it was the devil in Revelation 12:1–6 who used Herod, the Roman governor, in an attempt to destroy Jesus Christ when He was born. Herod sent forth his soldiers to go to the homes in Bethlehem and kill the children two years old and under. It is a most horrible story. This was not a work that God authorized. This was the work of the dragon using the pagan Roman Empire to do his dastardly work. So the pagan Roman Empire in a secondary sense is the dragon.

During the first 300 years of Christianity the pagan Roman Empire attempted to obliterate all Christians and it was a miracle that they did not succeed. The capital of the Roman Empire had moved to Constantinople and in A.D. 532, 533, Justinian, the Roman governor, appointed the bishop of Rome to be the head of all the churches and gave three months for all to submit to his authority or get out of the Empire and be stripped of all of their possessions.

There were Christians who refused to submit to the bishop of Rome and his religion. They fled, leaving all of their possessions behind so that they could practice their religion in the way they saw fit. Many Christians lost their lives attempting to flee. Their enemies called them Aryans.

First fact: One of the key identifying marks of the beast is to receive its power from the dragon. We have already identified that Justinian did the work of the dragon. The Bishop of Rome then received his throne, his seat of government, and great authority. Justinian put him over all Christendom, declaring that everybody had to do what he said.

Second fact: We know in Revelation 13 that this power was a religious power because to submit to it involved worship.

Third fact: It says, “… all the world worshiped this power” (verses 3, 4). In other words, it is a world-wide religion. There is not a country in the whole world where the Roman Catholic church is not present today including Moslem, Hindu, and atheist countries.

Fourth fact: This power would receive a deadly wound. This happened in 1798 when Napoleon captured the pope.

Fifth fact: Its deadly wound would be healed. That happened in the earlier part of the 20th century.

Sixth fact: This power would speak great things. Remember the word anti-christ means someone who stands in the place of Christ. This power has stated in public, official documents: “In this world we stand in the place of God Almighty.” “We hold upon this earth the place of God Almighty.” Pope Leo XIII Encyclical Letter, June 20, 1894.

Seventh fact: This power would continue for 42 months. It would make war with the saints and overcome them.

We will never know until the day of final judgment just how many people have been killed for religious reasons, not because they did anything wrong or transgressed any civil law, but simply because they refused to worship the way this power commanded them to worship God. The Society of Friends says that the number killed could be around 70 million, but it could have easily been many more. We do know of a few times when almost a million were killed, such as the massacre of Saint Bartholomew under Pope Innocent III. In one year the church was able to kill almost a million Waldenses.

Several years ago, it was my privilege to visit the headquarters of the Huguenots in southeastern France. The Huguenots were Protestants in the early days of the Protestant Reformation. There in the museum is recorded the history of the Huguenots and how they suffered at the hands of the church. In a 100-year period almost a million people were killed. That was just in France and did not include what happened in Italy, or England, and any other country. One Protestant historian made the statement: “The fact that the Church of Rome has shed more innocent blood than any other institution that has ever existed among mankind, will be questioned by no Protestant who has a competent knowledge of history.” History of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of Rationalism in Europe, Volume II, p. 32. Unfortunately, most people today do not have that knowledge of history.

The description of anti-christ continues in Revelation 13, stating that this power would receive authority over every tribe, tongue, and nation (verse 7), that all who dwell on the earth would worship him (verse 8), and that he who leads into captivity will go into captivity (verse 10). This latter event occurred in 1798 when the pope was led into captivity by the French. He died in Valence, France, in 1799.

There are a few other identifying marks in Revelation 13 not covered here, as a thorough reading of the chapter will reveal. However, it is not enough to know who the beast and anti-christ are; we must also know what constitutes the mark of the beast, mentioned in Revelation 13 and 14.

The basic principle of the Protestant was, “In religious matters we stick to the Bible and the Bible only.” One writer said, “The Bible and the Bible alone is the religion of Protestants.” William Chillingworth, 1602–1644.

This saying hit the papacy like a bomb. It was in a desperate situation because millions of people were leaving the Roman Catholic church. There were even some of their theologians who said, “We (the Catholic church) need to get back to the Bible and the Bible only.”

This caused a debate amongst the theologians, some of whom wanted to get back to the Bible and others who insisted that they hold on to their tradition. A council was convened to decide what to do about the Protestants, resulting in what is recorded in history as the Council of Trent. It was the lengthiest council ever held by the church. It did not meet continuously but lasted for 18 years, from 1545 to 1563. Protestantism at that time was a serious threat to the church.

A decision was finally made when, on the 18th of January, 1563, the Council of Trent ruled that tradition takes precedence over Scripture. A powerful speech was made by one of the arch-bishops in which he maintained that the fact that the church had changed the fourth commandment clearly proved that tradition was greater than Scripture. That was the argument: tradition was more important than God’s word.

During that time there were a number of famous debates or disputes between the Protestants and the Catholics. Martin Luther was a powerful debater however, there was one debate with Dr. Ek that he lost. Dr. Ek said, “If … the church has had power to change the Sabbath of the Bible into Sunday and to command Sunday-keeping, why should it not also have this power concerning other days, many of which are based on the Scriptures—such as Christmas, circumcision of the heart, three kings, etc. If you omit the latter, and turn from the church to the Scriptures alone, then you must keep the Sabbath with the Jews, which has been kept from the beginning of the world.” Dr. Eck’s Enchiridion, 1533, pp. 78, 79.

Martin Luther lost the debate. He could not answer that question because he was not a Sabbath keeper. The church claims that it was by her own authority that Rome changed the Sabbath. Her argument is that Protestants who say they adhere to the Bible and the Bible only are in error when they observe Sunday. The Catholic Church alone is responsible for Sunday observance.

The Augsburg confession, a Lutheran document written about 1530, acknowledges the following: “They [Roman Catholics] refer to the Sabbath Day, as having been changed into the Lord’s Day, contrary to the Decalogue, as it seems. Neither is there any example whereof they make more than concerning the changing of Sabbath Day. Great, say they, is the power of the Church, since it has dispensed with one of the Ten Commandments.” Augsburg Confession of Faith art. 28; written by Melanchthon, approved by Martin Luther, 1530; as published in The Book of Concord of the Evangelical Lutheran Church.

Many people do not understand the significance of the change of day but it is so important to the papacy that in the great hour of her crisis, the change of the Sabbath to Sunday was the deciding factor that determined which way the Catholic church would go. The Augsburg confession makes it clear that no example is held up so high by Catholics, so forcefully pointed to by them, as the change of the Sabbath. This fact has appeared in Roman Catholic publications over and over ever since that time. For example, in 1856, a Roman Catholic publication said, “The command to keep holy the seventh day is one of the Ten Commandments. You believe that the other nine are still binding. Who gave you (the Protestants) the authority to tamper with the fourth?” Library of Christian Doctrine: Why Don’t You Keep Holy the Sabbath-Day? (London: Burns and Oates, Ltd.), pp. 3, 4. Good question!

A Roman Catholic document in 1868 said, “It was the Catholic church which, by the authority of Jesus Christ, has transferred this rest to the Sunday. … Thus the observance of Sunday by the Protestants is an homage they pay, in spite of themselves, to the authority of the [Catholic] church.” Plain Talk About the Protestantism of Today, by Mgr. Louis Segur, 1868, p. 213.

A Roman Catholic spokesperson wrote the following in 1903: “It is well to remind the Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, and all other Christians that the Bible does not support them anywhere in their observance of Sunday. Sunday is an institution of the Roman Catholic church and those who observe the day observe a commandment of the Catholic church.” Priest Brady, in an address, reported in the Elizabeth, NJ ‘News’ on March 18, 1903.

The Catholic catechism, which is used for education, said the following in 1876:

Question – “Have you any other way of proving that the church has power to institute festivals of precept?”

Answer – “Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all other religionists agree with her. She could not have substituted the observance of Sunday, the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday, the seventh day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority.” Stephen Keenan, A Doctrinal Catechism 3rd ed., p. 174.

Around the turn of the 19th century, Cardinal Gibbons, who was head of the Catholic church in the United States, had a chancellor who was responsible for answering letters on his behalf. In a letter sent in 1895, he was asked whether the act of changing the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday was recognized by Rome as a mark of power. On October 28, 1895, this was his reply:

“Of course the Catholic church claims that the change (from Sabbath to Sunday) was her act and is a mark of her ecclesiastical power and authority in religious matters.”

The Bible agrees that this is the mark of her authority. Daniel 7:25 states that this would be the mark of authority of anti-christ. Under the symbol of the little horn it says, “He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, shall persecute the saints of the Most High, and shall intend to change times and laws. Then the saints shall be given into his hand for a time and times and half a time.”

Notice it says, “he shall intend.” He tries to change a law that actually cannot be changed. We are not talking about human laws. The papacy has changed human laws so many times that they probably could never be counted, but he intends to change a law that actually cannot be changed. In Revelation 13:15–17 you will see a great crisis is coming upon our world, where there will be an attempt to force everyone alive to accept this mark of authority. To accept it would be a mark of submission to the power that changed the day of worship—the papacy. To force everybody to accept that mark, a law must be made to worship on Sunday.

Revelation 13:16, last part, describes two places where this mark can be received—in the forehead or in the hand. In fulfillment of this prophecy, every nation in the world will pass a Sunday law. The only people who do not receive the mark will be those who receive the seal of God. Revelation 13:8 says that all whose names are not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life are going to worship this power. Romans 6:16 tells us how people will be submitting to this power: It says, “Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?” When put into place, the Sunday law is going to divide the whole world into two classes—those who obey God and those who do not. Whom do you obey?

After the law is passed, pressure will be put on the people to obey it. Revelation 13:16, 17 says that unless you submit, you will not be able to buy or sell. During the Second World War when rationing was in force, God’s people thought they understood a little of how the government could prevent a person from buying and selling, but that was nothing compared with what is possible today. Today, many things cannot be purchased without showing a card, whether it is a driver’s license, or a credit card for identification. Cards can be scanned instantly into a central computer and if your name is flagged you will not be able to buy a thing. Many people will fold from their commitment under such a test. They may not believe it at all but will compromise in order to be able to continue buying and selling.

But the Lord states in His word that by accepting this mark, you are living in violation of His Law. And if you do accept this mark, you are also going to accept something from Him. That is written in Revelation 14:9–12 where it says, if you receive this mark, you are going to receive of God’s wrath. People are not yet receiving the mark today because the law has not yet been passed. But the time is coming when religious laws will be made in America. Other countries will follow suit. When there is an attempt made to force people to accept this mark and they understand the truth about the third angel’s message, then all must decide whom they will serve.

Those who accept the third angel’s message are described in Revelation 14:12: “Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” The one that you worship is the one to whom you submit and obey. By submitting to the beast power and receiving this mark, you cast a special dishonor upon your Creator.

The whole theme from Revelation 13 to the end of the book of Revelation is the seal of God versus the mark of the beast. What you receive determines your destiny. Will you receive the mark of the beast or the seal of God? This is important enough that it forms the major theme of the last half of the book of Revelation, which describes the end-time scenes of our world’s history. Those that accept the mark of the beast will be in the great majority.

Revelation 12:17 says, “And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the remnant (offspring) of her seed, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ” (literal translation). It continues in Revelation 13:1 where John saw the dragon, a symbol for the mass of the world’s population rising out of the sea. Those that keep the commandments of God are described as a remnant, or the rest of her offspring. Revelation 15:2, 3 describes the people who receive the seal of God. It says: “… I saw something like a sea of glass mingled with fire, and those who have the victory over the beast, over his image and over his mark and over the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. They sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb. …” These are the people that are saved. They are protected and secure, acknowledged by all heaven that they do not belong to this world but the heavenly kingdom, part of the kingdom of Christ. When Jesus comes back they will be taken out of this world and be with Him.

In speaking of Abraham in Romans 4:11, it says: “… he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also.” Notice, he received a sign, which is also called a seal. The words are interchangeable.

God also has a seal. The Sabbath is God’s sign or seal. This was told to God’s people clear back when the children of Israel came out of the land of Egypt. “Speak also to the children of Israel, saying: ‘Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord Who sanctifies you.’ ” Exodus 31:13. This seal sets you apart and makes you holy.

Verse 17 says, “It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.” The Sabbath is called God’s sign. It identifies His people. Ezekiel 20:12 says, “Moreover I also gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between them and Me, that they might know that I am the Lord Who sanctifies them.” Verse 20 says, “Hallow My Sabbaths, and they will be a sign between Me and You, that you may know that I am the Lord your God.”

There is a misunderstanding that God’s seal is the Holy Spirit. The New Testament teaches that you are sealed by the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit is not the seal. God’s seal or sign is the Sabbath. God’s people are those that keep His commandments and have the faith of Jesus (Revelation 14:12). Revelation 12:17 says the same thing. God’s people in the last days are the people that keep His commandments. They could not be thus described if they break one.

James says in James 2:10 that if you keep the whole law and offend in one you are guilty of all. The ten commandments are not ten laws but just one law with ten parts. If you break any one of them you are a commandment breaker. This is spelled out in James 2:10–12. People with a shallow understanding have interpreted James as saying if you keep the Sabbath you will receive the seal of God. Exodus 20:8 starts out by saying, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy …” Can you keep the Sabbath holy while living a wicked life contrary to the other commandments? No. You cannot keep the Sabbath holy unless you are holy.

The ten commandments are God’s definition of holiness and a holy person is one who is in harmony with the commandments.

Many people say it is just a day but it is a day that determines whose side of the great controversy you are on. All must come to a decision. Are you on God’s side?

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)

Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church of Free Seventh-day Adventists in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.