Prophecy

Preparing for the Latter Rain, Part IV

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In this parallel, we will study the fourth event in the ministry of Jesus that the Spirit of Prophecy states has a parallel with the second advent movement. Mark gives us this account of the event: “On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple area and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. And as he taught them, he said, ‘Is it not written: “My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations”? But you have made it “a den of robbers.” ’ The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him . . . .” Mark 11:15–18, NIV.

The Spirit of Prophecy gives the following appraisal of the situation: “At the close of His [Jesus’] mission He came again to the temple, and found it still desecrated as before. The condition of things was even worse than before.” The Desire of Ages, 589.

It is clear from this statement that the ministry of Jesus had no positive effect on the attitude of the priests, rulers, and people. The condition of the church was even worse at the close of His ministry. “In place of humble repentance of sin, they had multiplied the sacrifice of beasts . . . . He knew that His blood, so soon to be shed for the sins of the world, would be as little appreciated by the priests and elders as was the blood of beasts which they kept incessantly flowing.” Ibid., 590.

No Concept

The priests and elders had no concept of Jesus’ mission to cleanse the heart from sin through the shedding of His blood. They did not perceive the deep spiritual significance of the sacrificial system they themselves were administering.

“He knew that His efforts to reform a corrupt priesthood would be in vain; nevertheless His work must be done; to an unbelieving people the evidence of His divine mission must be given.” Ibid.

It is interesting to note that Jesus did not expect any repentance or conversion on the part of the corrupt priesthood. They had gone so far in unbelief that they could not recognize the evidence that Jesus was the Lamb of God. But the evidence of His divine mission to cleanse their hearts from sin must be given to the people one last time.

We may ask ourselves, “How can such an event as this ever have a parallel in the second advent movement?” Let’s go back to a reference we studied earlier concerning the first parallel.

“When Jesus began His public ministry, He cleansed the temple from its sacrilegious profanation. Almost the last act of His ministry was to cleanse the temple again. So in the last work for the warning of the world, two distinct calls are made to the churches; the second angel’s message [Revelation 14:8], and the voice heard in heaven, ‘Come out of her, my people, . . . for her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.’ [Revelation 18:4, 5.]” Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, vol. 2, 725, 726.

A similar statement is recorded in the December 6, 1892, issue of the Review and Herald: “When Jesus began His public ministry, He cleansed the temple from its sacrilegious profanation. Among the last acts of His ministry was the second cleansing of the temple. So in the last work for the warning of the world, two distinct calls are made to the churches. The second angel’s message is, ‘Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.’ [Revelation 14:8.] And in the loud cry of the third angel’s message, a voice is heard from heaven, ‘Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.’ [Revelation 18:4, 5.]”

Two Distinct Calls

In these two references, we are told that “two distinct calls” are made to the churches in the second advent movement and that they are parallel to the two cleansings of the temple.

The first distinct call:

  1. is the second angel’s message—Revelation 14:8.
  2. was given in the summer and fall of 1844.
  3. was given because the churches rejected the first angel’s message.
  4. is a parallel to the first cleansing of the temple.

The second distinct call:

  1. is the message of Revelation 18:1–5.
  2. is still future.
  3. will be given because the churches reject the third angel’s message.
  4. is parallel to the second cleansing of the temple.

A pathetic summary of the first advent movement is given in the following reference: “At the beginning of His ministry, Christ had driven from the temple those who defiled it by their unholy traffic . . . . At the close of His mission He came again to the temple, and found it still desecrated as before. The condition of things was even worse than before.” The Desire of Ages, 589.

Following are two solemn parallel statements that summarize the condition of the churches at the end of the second advent movement:

“This scripture [Revelation 18:1, 2, 4] points forward to a time when the announcement of the fall of Babylon, as made by the second angel of Revelation 14 (verse 8), is to be repeated, with the additional mention of the corruptions which have been entering the various organizations that constitute Babylon, since that message was first given, in the summer of 1844.” The Great Controversy, 603.

Here, again, we are given a picture of churches that are getting worse, during the time of the third angel’s message, even with the abundant availability of the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy.

“A terrible condition of the religious world is here described. With every rejection of truth the minds of the people will become darker, their hearts more stubborn, until they are entrenched in an infidel hardihood. In defiance of the warnings which God has given, they will continue to trample upon one of the precepts of the Decalogue . . . . Christ is set at nought in the contempt placed upon His word and His people.” Ibid.

We see that as Jesus was unable to prevent the church from worsening, while He ministered to them, so the great proliferation of the Scriptures and the Spirit of Prophecy is unable to prevent the church in the second advent movement from following the same path as the first advent church. Just as the priests and elders set about to kill Jesus when He cleansed the temple the second time, so in the second advent movement, Christ is set at nought in the contempt placed upon His Word by the ministers and people.

The Second Distinct Call

The next few statements are very clear as to the time when the second cleansing of the churches will take place in the second advent movement. This is called the “second distinct call.” We find eight more phrases in the Spirit of Prophecy that refer to this event. Four of these are found in this next reference.

“God still has a people in Babylon; and before the visitation of His judgments these faithful ones must be called out . . . . Hence the movement symbolized by the angel coming down from heaven, lightening the earth with his glory and crying mightily with a strong voice, announcing the sins of Babylon. In connection with his message the call is heard: ‘Come out of her, My people.’ These announcements, uniting with the third angel’s message, constitute the final warning to be given to the inhabitants of the earth.” Ibid., 604.

The announcements that unite with the third angel’s message are referred to in a later reference as “the loud cry of the third angel.”

“Revelation 18 points to the time when, as the result of rejecting the threefold warning of Revelation 14:6–12, the church will have fully reached the condition foretold by the second angel, and the people of God still in Babylon will be called upon to separate from her communion. This message is the last that will ever be given to the world.” Ibid., 390.

Just as Jesus cleansed the temple a second time to remind the people that it was His work to remove sin from the heart, so the final call to come out of Babylon and to separate from her sins is the last message that will ever be given to the world.

“The latter rain is to fall upon the people of God. A mighty angel is to come down from heaven, and the whole earth is to be lightened with his glory.” Review and Herald, April 21, 1891.

In this reference, we see that the latter rain is during the time when the mighty angel of Revelation 18:1, 2 comes down from heaven and the time when the second cleansing takes place. Two more phrases are used in this next reference.

“I asked what had made this great change. An angel answered, ‘It is the latter rain, the refreshing from the presence of the Lord, the loud cry of the third angel.’ ” Early Writings, 271.

We find one more descriptive phrase in the following reference.

“ ‘The commencement of that time of trouble,’ here mentioned, does not refer to the time when the plagues shall begin to be poured out, but to a short period just before they are poured out, while Christ is in the sanctuary. . . . At that time the ‘latter rain,’ or refreshing from the presence of the Lord, will come, to give power to the loud voice of the third angel.” Ibid., 85, 86.

This statement reveals that this short time of trouble is associated with the latter rain that occurs just before probation closes. This short time of trouble intensifies into the time of trouble when the plagues are being poured out following the close of probation.

Time Period of Second Cleansing

We see, now, that there are nine terms that all apply to the time period of the second cleansing of the churches just before probation closes. Let’s review them.

  1. The second “distinct call.”
  2. The angel coming down from heaven.
  3. The call to “Come out of her, My people.”
  4. “The final warning.”
  5. The last message to the world.
  6. The latter rain.
  7. The refreshing from the presence of the Lord.
  8. The loud cry of the third angel.
  9. A short time of trouble.

I am not aware of another event leading up to the close of probation that receives as much attention in the Spirit of Prophecy as the warning to the world of the second cleansing of the second advent churches.

We have already seen that these nine phrases refer to the time just before the close of probation, and accordingly, they have been placed in that position on the time line. Notice that this fourth parallel is the last event before the close of probation.

Two Groups

The references in the Ellen G. White 1888 Materials and the Review and Herald of December 6, 1892, both say that the two distinct calls are the last work for the warning of the world. At the time of the second cleansing of the churches, that is, during the latter rain, there are only two groups left in the world—the faithful people of God and all the rest who have rejected God’s grace. When the latter rain begins, denominational distinctions such as Protestants, Catholics, Seventh-day Adventists or independent Seventh-day Adventists become meaningless. These two groups are clearly defined in the following references.

“Servants of God . . . will hasten from place to place to proclaim the message from heaven. By thousands of voices, all over the earth, the warning will be given. . . . Satan also works with lying wonders, even bringing down fire from heaven in the sight of men. Revelation 13:13. Thus the inhabitants of the earth will be brought to take their stand.” The Great Controversy, 612.

“Every man will be tested. Obedience or disobedience is the question to be decided by the whole world. All will be called to choose between the law of God and laws of men. Here the dividing line will be drawn. There will be but two classes. Every character will be fully developed; and all will show whether they have chosen the side of loyalty or that of rebellion.” The Desire of Ages, 763.

“The Sabbath will be the great test of loyalty, for it is the point of truth especially controverted. 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.” The Great Controversy, 605.

The Sabbath will be the great test of loyalty. It will be the point of truth that will draw the line of distinction between these two groups shown on the chart. This is the period of time in which the second cleansing of the churches takes place.

We listed nine terms that apply to this same time period. One of the phrases used was the call to “Come out of her [Babylon], My people.” Revelation 18:4. From this, we know that the disobedient group is also called Babylon.

The Laodicean Church

There remains a group of people who do not fit into either of these two groups; that is, they do not fit with the obedient people of God nor are they called Babylon. The Bible and Spirit of Prophecy identify them as the Laodicean church.

“I was shown that the testimony to the Laodiceans applies to God’s people at the present time, and the reason it has not accomplished a greater work is because of the hardness of their hearts. . . . The heart must be purified from sins which have so long shut out Jesus.” Testimonies, vol. 1, 186.

We need to understand that Laodiceans are Seventh-day Adventists who have rejected the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy counsel to put away sin and come into unity with Christ during the time of the second and third parallels in the second advent movement. The third parallel is still being acted out at the present time. These Laodicean Seventh-day Adventists, because they fail to meet the conditions, are included with the disobedient group.

Come Out of Babylon

We must realize that the call to come out of Babylon does not go to Seventh-day Adventists. There are two reasons:

  1. Those who have rejected the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy are not called Babylon; they are called Laodicea, so the call is not for them.
  2. The call goes only to those who have not heard and rejected the Three Angels’ Messages.

The next two statements provide some important information concerning this subject.

“The light that was shed upon the waiting ones penetrated everywhere, and those in the churches who had any light, who had not heard and rejected the three messages, obeyed the call and left the fallen churches. . . . Some chose life and took their stand with those who were looking for their Lord and keeping all His commandments.” Early Writings, 278.

Notice, the call to come out of Babylon is for those “who had not heard and rejected” the Three Angels’ Messages. They now leave the fallen churches (Babylon) and join with those who are keeping all the commandments, those who have put away every sin and have received the Holy Spirit at the beginning of the latter rain.

Put Away Every Sin

We see, in this next reference, a hopeless situation for those who reject the counsel in the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy requiring them to put away sin and unite with Christ at the center of the church.

“The time of God’s destructive judgments is the time of mercy for those who have no opportunity to learn what is truth. . . . His hand is still stretched out to save, while the door is closed to those who would not enter. Large numbers will be admitted who in these last days hear the truth for the first time.” Review and Herald, July 5, 1906.

This statement makes it clear that the character preparation to receive the outpouring of the Holy Spirit ends when the latter rain begins for those who have heard the Three Angels’ Messages. They have either completed that preparation by accepting and obeying the instruction in the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy to put away sin and come into unity, or they have rejected it. If they are living in obedience to this counsel, they now receive the Holy Spirit and go forward, calling a people out of Babylon. If they have rejected this counsel, they remain as Laodiceans, and their probation is now closed. We will study the instruction concerning this preparation in greater detail in the next parallel.

Dear people of God, do you want to be among the “servants of God” during this final warning? Then we must obey the instructions of the early rain character preparation that we might receive the Holy Spirit when the latter rain begins. It is impossible to be a “servant of God” during the latter rain and still have one sin remaining in the life. You cannot call people out of sin if you are in sin yourself. We must put away every sin now. Then we can be among the servants of God who hasten from place to place to give the final warning.

God has given us clear instruction as to what we must do to prepare our hearts for the final outpouring of His Spirit. In our next study, we will review God’s instruction in reference to the early rain character preparation that is needed if we would receive the latter rain.

To be continued . . .

Maurice Hoppe is Director of Revelation Ministry, which is dedicated to helping people prepare for the soon coming of Jesus. His special emphasis is the closing scenes of this earth’s history, the parallels between the first and second advents, and the need for unity among the people of God. He may be contacted by e-mail at: hoppe@reve-lationministry.com, or at: P. O. Box 184, Days Creek, OR 97429.

Preparing for the Latter Rain, Part V

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The subject of the fifth parallel between the two advent movements is the early rain, which followed the second cleansing of the temple. Jesus ascended to heaven 40 days after His resurrection. The events of the remaining ten days up to Pentecost are of great interest and importance to us. It was the time when the disciples were to complete their character preparation and come into unity to receive the gift that Jesus had promised them—the Holy Spirit in the early rain. Without this gift, they would not be able to carry the gospel to the world. From the time Jesus first called His disciples, it was His purpose to bring them into unity with Himself and into harmony with one another. Thus, they could receive the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost and take the gospel to the world.

“The apostles differed widely in habits and disposition. . . . These were brought together, with their different faults, all with inherited and cultivated tendencies to evil; but in and through Christ they were to dwell in the family of God, learning to become one in faith, in doctrine, in spirit. They would have their tests, their grievances, their differences of opinion; but while Christ was abiding in the heart, there could be no dissension. His love would lead to love for one another; the lessons of the Master would lead to the harmonizing of all differences, bringing the disciples into unity, till they would be of one mind and one judgment. Christ is the great center, and they would approach one another just in proportion as they approached the center.” The Desire of Ages, 296.

It was during the ten days prior to the Day of Pentecost that they were to finish their work of coming together in unity. This is the fifth event in the life and ministry of Jesus that has a specific parallel in the second advent movement.

Disciples’ Preparation

We should study very carefully what was involved in the preparation the disciples made during the ten days prior to Pentecost. This experience of the disciples has its parallel in the second advent movement and is paramount to the restoration of the family of God to the Holy City.

“It was by the confession and forsaking of sin, by earnest prayer and consecration of themselves to God, that the early disciples prepared for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. The same work, only in greater degree, must be done now.” Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 507.

The importance of this work is emphasized in the phrase that it must be done “in greater degree.” This statement makes it very clear that the early rain experience of the removing of sin must be completed before we can receive the latter rain. We are also told that it must be done now, that is, at the present time.

Let us, in our imagination, join the 120 disciples during the ten days prior to Pentecost and participate with them in their work of character preparation for the early rain. We want to know how the disciples prepared to receive the Holy Spirit, for this is the preparation we must make in order to receive the Holy Spirit in the latter rain. The important points of this preparation are found in The Acts of the Apostles, 35–37, and in The Desire of Ages, 827. These points are summarized here.

The Disciples’ Preparation

They

  • met together.
  • humbled their hearts in true repentance.
  • confessed their unbelief.
  • meditated on the pure, holy life of Christ.
  • desired to reveal Christ’s character in their lives.
  • prayed for a fitness to lead sinners to Christ.
  • put away all differences.
  • put away all desire for supremacy.
  • came close together in Christian fellowship.
  • carefully searched their hearts.
  • cried to the Lord for spiritual anointing.
  • were of one accord.

This list reveals the thoroughness of the work that the disciples attained in putting away sin before they received the Holy Spirit in the early rain. It would seem important that we inquire of ourselves, How thoroughly are we preparing to receive the Holy Spirit in the latter rain? The end result of the disciples meeting together was that they were of one accord. Are we meeting together to humble our hearts and put away our differences so that we can be of one accord?

Purpose of Early Rain

Since the disciples completed the work of character preparation before they received the Holy Spirit, what then was the purpose of the early rain on the Day of Pentecost?

“The Holy Spirit, assuming the form of tongues of fire, rested upon those assembled. This was an emblem of the gift then bestowed on the disciples, which enabled them to speak with fluency languages with which they had heretofore been unacquainted.” The Acts of the Apostles, 39.

“They could now proclaim the truths of the gospel abroad, speaking with accuracy the languages of those for whom they were laboring. . . . From this time forth the language of the disciples was pure, simple, and accurate, whether they spoke in their native tongue or in a foreign language.” Ibid., 40.

These statements tell us that the work of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost was to enable the 120 disciples to speak in the foreign languages represented among the people so the gospel could go with power to all nations. It does not say that the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost had anything to do with the disciples’ character preparation or with their coming into unity. This work had to be completed before they could receive the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the early rain.

In reference to the second advent movement, Ellen White makes the following comment concerning the work of the Holy Spirit just before the close of probation:

“It is with an earnest longing that I look forward to the time when the events of the day of Pentecost shall be repeated with even greater power than on that occasion. John says, ‘I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.’ [Revelation 18:1.] Then, as at the Pentecostal season, the people will hear the truth spoken to them, every man in his own tongue. God can breathe new life into every soul that sincerely desires to serve him, and can touch the lips with a live coal from off the altar.” Review and Herald, July 20, 1886.

This reference explains that the latter rain has the same purpose for us as the early rain had for the disciples. It is to give us the power to give the final warning in the languages of the people. The latter rain is not to provide character preparation for the people of God. This work must all be completed before the Holy Spirit comes in the latter rain.

Character Preparation

Let us take a closer look at the early rain character preparation in the second advent movement that will prepare the people of God to receive the latter rain.

“By the power of the Holy Spirit the moral image of God is to be perfected in the character. We are to be wholly transformed into the likeness of Christ. The latter rain . . . represents the spiritual grace that prepares the church for the coming of the Son of man. But unless the former rain has fallen, . . . Unless the early showers have done their work, the latter rain can bring no seed to perfection.” Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 506.

There are two significant points to notice in this statement:

1 The former rain (early rain) must fall before the latter rain can do its work.

2 It is during the early rain that we are to be wholly transformed into the likeness of Christ.

How much variance and lack of unity can exist if we are wholly transformed into the likeness of Christ? So we see that it is in the early rain experience that all differences, strife, and dissension must be put away, if we would receive the latter rain.

We can now identify the place of this early rain experience on the Second Advent Time Line. We need to understand that this Table does not adequately represent the relationship between the present time and the early rain. One does not follow the other. To correctly picture our position at the present time, the Early Rain would need to be listed with the time when the independent movement is rejecting the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy, because these two conditions are both occurring at the present time.

Complete Unity

In our previous study of the third parallel, we learned that it is at the present time that the great majority of the independent movement is rejecting God’s instruction in the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy, which calls for unity among His people. The great weight of evidence of this fact is seen in the variances, in the diverse winds of doctrine, and in the lack of unity among ministries, churches, and people.

It is also in the midst of this departure that a small group of people is beginning to respond to God’s call for them to come into unity in preparation to receive the latter rain. The question each one of us needs to ask ourselves is, Which group does my attitude reveal that I am in? Am I responding to God’s call to come into unity, to put away all variances, divisions, and every kind of strife that currently exist among us?

In heaven there is complete unity. When the people of God enter the Holy City, they must have this same heavenly unity. This work is not done for us when Jesus comes. It is not done for us at the close of probation nor even during the latter rain. This coming into unity is a work that we must do now before we can receive the latter rain.

“Not one of us will ever receive the seal of God while our characters have one spot or stain upon them. It is left with us to remedy the defects in our characters, to cleanse the soul temple of every defilement. Then the latter rain will fall upon us as the early rain fell upon the disciples on the Day of Pentecost.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 214.

It is our work during the early rain to prepare our characters to receive the seal of God. This requires that all our sins be removed during the early rain experience. We will then be ready to receive latter rain. Now is the sealing time for the people of God who, when the latter rain falls, will give the final warning to the world.

“We may be sure that when the Holy Spirit is poured out those who did not receive and appreciate the early rain will not see or understand the value of the latter rain.” Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 399.

“Many have in a great measure failed to receive the former rain. . . . They expect that the lack will be supplied by the latter rain. When the richest abundance of grace shall be bestowed, they intend to open their hearts to receive it. They are making a terrible mistake. . . . The heart must be emptied of every defilement and cleansed for the indwelling of the Spirit. It was by the confession and forsaking of sin, by earnest prayer and consecration of themselves to God, that the early disciples prepared for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost.” Ibid., 507.

“So it may be now. Instead of man’s speculations, let the word of God be preached. Let Christians put away their dissensions, and give themselves to God for the saving of the lost.” The Desire of Ages, 827.

“It will never do to cease our efforts. If we do not progress, if we do not place ourselves in an attitude to receive both the former and the latter rain, we shall lose our souls, and the responsibility will lie at our own door.” Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 508.

How Is It With You?

How is it with us today? Are we meeting together as did the disciples? Are we putting away our differences, variances, pride of opinions, envies, jealousies, etc., until we are all of one accord? If we do not place ourselves in an attitude to fully complete this work, we will not receive the latter rain, and we will lose our souls.

“Unless we are daily advancing in the exemplification of the active Christian virtues, we shall not recognize the manifestations of the Holy Spirit in the latter rain. It may be falling on hearts all around us, but we shall not discern or receive it.” Ibid., 507.

So it was in the early rain; no one recognized the work of the Holy Spirit except the 120 who were ready to receive Him. The next few paragraphs have some pertinent counsel for us.

“Many fail to meet their high responsibilities and privileges. . . . Cannot we pray over this matter more earnestly, that the Holy Spirit of God may quicken the discernment of his people to see that by putting away envy, evil surmisings, jealousy, they may answer the prayer of Christ, that his disciples might be one, as he is one with the Father? Can it be that the senses of those who claim to believe the truth are paralyzed? Do they not see that they deny Christ? Do they not understand that they scatter from him in acting as though it was a light matter to disagree and engage in controversy? Brother looks coldly upon brother, minister distrusts minister. The church seems to have lost the blending attribute of love, and its members unite no better than ropes of sand. And yet the great crisis of the day of God is at hand.

“What is the reason of this selfishness and bigotry? What means this self-satisfaction, this disposition to tear down and not build up? The truth is not sanctifying the soul, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. Many cling to their independence, choosing their own way, but not the way and will of God. The truth is believed in theory, but not received in the love of it, and the soul is left as cold as an iron wedge. Those who are sanctified by the truth will be one in Christ Jesus. The cleansing blood of the Lamb of God cements hearts together. The branches are united in the vine.” Review and Herald, March 19, 1895.

“When the Spirit of God, with its marvelous awakening power, touches the soul, it abases human pride. Worldly pleasure and position and power are seen to be worthless. . . . Then humility and self-sacrificing love, so little valued among men, are exalted as alone of worth.” The Desire of Ages, 135.

“The latter rain is to fall upon the people of God. A mighty angel is to come down from heaven, and the whole earth is to be lighted with his glory. [Revelation 18:1, 2.] Are we ready to take part in the glorious work of the third angel? Are our vessels ready to receive the heavenly dew? Have we defilement and sin in the heart? If so, let us cleanse the soul temple, and prepare for the showers of the latter rain. The refreshing from the presence of the Lord will never come to hearts filled with impurity. May God help us to die to self, that Christ, the hope of glory, may be formed within! . . . The day of judgment is upon us.
O that we may wash our robes of character, and make them white in the blood of the Lamb. [Revelation 7:14.]” Review and Herald, April 21, 1891.

“Blessed [are] they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.” Revelation 22:14.

We must come up to the high standard that God has set for His people. We must work diligently now to come into unity. We must put away all differences, strife, and division, and be of one accord, if we would one day enter that glorious city.

The very next significant event to happen before the close of probation is the coming of the Holy Spirit in the latter rain. Brothers and sisters, I believe that we have only a very short time to complete this work. Let us pray earnestly about this matter so that we may be of one accord when the refreshing from the presence of the Lord comes. We can then cooperate with the glorious work of the angel of Revelation 18 to give the last message of warning and mercy to the world.

Let us be faithful in this preparation now, so we may be among the redeemed who wait at the entrance of the Holy City to receive the emblems of victory from the hand of our precious, glorious Redeemer.

To be concluded . . .

Maurice Hoppe is Director of Revelation Ministry which is dedicated to helping people prepare for the soon coming of Jesus. His special emphasis is the closing scenes of this earth’s history, the parallels between the first and second advents, and the need for unity among the people of God. He may be contacted by e-mail at: hoppe@reve-lationministry.com or at: P. O. Box 184, Days Creek, OR 97429.

Preparing for the Latter Rain, Part VI

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We have come to the end of our study on “Preparing for the Latter Rain.” It is my hope that this study has drawn you closer to Christ and in love and unity with your brothers and sisters in the faith. My friends, we must not continue with a business-as-usual attitude. Let us resolve here and now that we will, by the grace and power of God, continue to make the needed changes in our characters that we may be the recipients of the Holy Spirit in the latter rain.

Shortly before the crisis in Galilee, when so many of His disciples turned away from Him, Jesus had invited the multitudes that followed Him to come to Him and find rest. Ellen White describes this gracious invitation in The Desire of Ages, in the chapter entitled “The Invitation.” Had “His disciples” heeded the counsel of Jesus and accepted His invitation, the crisis in Galilee would never have occurred. If the people of God today would follow the invitation in the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy to come into unity with Christ and with our brothers and sisters in the faith, the prophecy in The Great Controversy, 608, stating that a large class will abandon their position and join the ranks of the opposition, would not come to pass. The outcome rests with us. Will we heed the instruction?

In this last article of our series, we will study “The Invitation” from Jesus, Who is inviting each one of us to come and find rest in Him.

“Come to Me”

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, . . . For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28, 30, NIV.

“Tenderly he bade the toiling people, ‘Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.’ ” The Desire of Ages, 328.

“The rest that Christ offers depends upon conditions, but these conditions are plainly specified. They are those with which all can comply. He tells us just how His rest is to be found.

“ ‘Take My yoke upon you,’ Jesus says. . . .

“The yoke that binds to service is the law of God. The great law of love revealed in Eden, proclaimed upon Sinai, and in the new covenant written in the heart, is that which binds the human worker to the will of God.” Ibid., 329.

“Love for God, zeal for His glory, and love for fallen humanity, brought Jesus to earth to suffer and to die. This was the controlling power of His life. This principle He bids us adopt.” Ibid., 330.

“We shall understand that the value of our work does not consist in making a show and noise in the world, and in being active and zealous in our own strength. The value of our work is in proportion to the impartation of the Holy Spirit. . . .

“He who walks in the way of God’s commandments is walking in company with Christ, and in His love the heart is at rest.” Ibid., 331.

Conditions

The impartation of the Holy Spirit is on the condition that we walk in the way of God’s commandments. This requires that we remove all sin from among us, that is, all variance and differences, pride of opinion, jealousy, envy, strife, etc. Then we can walk in company with Jesus.

Invitations from Heaven

I would like to share with you some invitations in the Bible that come directly from heaven. The first one is from God the Father. He sends us an invitation to be His son, His daughter—to be part of His family. This invitation comes from the highest Authority in the universe. He invites you, and He invites me.

“He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’ . . . To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son.” Revelation 21:5–7, NIV.

And Jesus, the Son of God, our elder Brother and our High Priest, invites us to come and eat of the tree of life that we might live with Him for eternity.

“Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, . . . Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.” Revelation 22:12, 14, NIV.

The exalted position of those who have accepted these invitations, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, is also described: “Therefore, ‘they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’ ” Revelation 7:15–17, NIV.

One final invitation to the heavenly paradise is given from the Holy Spirit and the bride. And then it says that we, too, can have the privilege and opportunity to share this invitation with others.

“The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.” Revelation 22:17, NIV.

No one in the past, no one in the present, and no one in the future will ever receive invitations from any higher-ranking dignitaries than those just reviewed above. Nor will there be any invitations that have greater rewards with them—the removal of sin, an entrance into the Holy City, access to the tree of life, and the gift of the water of life. All these are free because Jesus has bought these for us with His own blood. Will we take up the yoke of His commandments? Will we trust Jesus to give us of His strength that we can be overcomers? All these gifts will be ours, if we will meet the conditions.

Social Meeting Testimonies

I would like to introduce you to a practice that was prominent among the early advent believers. Ellen White often wrote about social meetings. She was not referring to the church socials as we know them today. She was referring to times when the people shared their testimonies regarding their love of God and the truth. These were precious times, indeed, for those who attended the meetings.

If these messages concerning preparation for the latter rain have moved you to have a closer walk with Jesus and to be ready to receive the Holy Spirit, I invite you to share your testimony. Your faith, courage, and determination to walk with Jesus, in preparation for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the latter rain, may be just what someone else needs to hear for their encouragement.

Mrs. White wrote: “The Lord has shown me that great interest should be taken by Sabbathkeepers to keep up their meetings and make them interesting. There is great necessity of more interest and energy being manifested in this direction. All should have something to say for the Lord, for by so doing they will be blest. A book of remembrance is written of those who do not forsake the assembling of themselves together, but speak often one to another. The remnant are to overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony. Some expect to overcome alone by the blood of the Lamb, without making any special effort of their own. I saw that God has been merciful in giving us the power of speech. He has given us a tongue, and we are accountable to Him for its use. We should glorify God with our mouth, speaking in honor of the truth and of His unbounded mercy, and overcome by the word of our testimony through the blood of the Lamb.

“We should not come together to remain silent; those only are remembered of the Lord who assemble to speak of His honor and glory and tell of His power; upon such the blessing of God will rest, and they will be refreshed.” Early Writings, 114, 115.

May God bless in your preparation for the latter rain, and may you accept His invitation to “Come.”

Maurice Hoppe is Director of Revelation Ministry, which is dedicated to helping people prepare for the soon coming of Jesus. His special emphasis is the closing scenes of this earth’s history, the parallels between the first and second advents, and the need for unity among the people of God. He may be contacted by e-mail at: hoppe@revelationministry.com or at: P. O. Box 184, Days Creek, OR 97429.

Parallel Prophecies of Daniel, Part I

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In this article, I want to study with you some of the most critical, serious items having to do with the Adventist faith; items in which we are under attack by our theological opponents; items in which former Seventh-day Adventist ministers, who have left the Adventist faith, think that they can destroy our faith and make us look like we are foolish and do not even believe what the Bible teaches.

That is by way of introduction. We, unfortunately, cannot cover everything in the limited space of this article. Since we can cover just a few things, you need to study and know thoroughly this subject for yourself. I hope that you are on a Bible study program of your own. Do not think that you will be able to go to the end of time and be ready for the Second Coming of Christ just by attending church and studying whatever is studied there. You cannot do it. You have to study the Bible at your own home every day. I would rather see a Christian that studies the Bible every day for 20 minutes than to see a Christian that only studies the Bible for 3 hours on Sabbath. You will get more good out of it if you study it every day. A few points will be covered briefly in this article. Hopefully, they will stimulate your thinking so that you can study them out more in detail.

Ellen White says that we are all called to be students of prophecy. (Testimonies, vol. 5, 708.) You do not have to have the Spirit of Prophecy to know that, because Jesus said to His disciples, “When you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing in the Holy Place, whoever reads, let him understand.” Matthew 24:15. We have a Divine command that we are to understand prophecy. Particularly are we to understand the prophecy of Daniel. That is a Divine injunction. Jesus is the Son of God, the Majesty of heaven. When He says, “You are to study and you are to understand,” we should take that to heart and really study to understand. The early Adventists took that to heart. They began to study prophecy. Adventism is a result of those Protestant Christians. There were even some Roman Catholic Christians that engaged in the study of prophecy in the late 1800s and the early 1900s. Adventism is the result of the study of prophecy—particularly the prophecies of Daniel, as Jesus commanded us that we were to do.

Dismantling Adventism

Ellen White wrote, “The scripture which above all others had been both the foundation and the central pillar of the advent faith was the declaration: ‘Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.’ Daniel 8:14.” The Great Controversy, 409. The devil today has not only attacked Adventism, but he is trying to dismantle Adventism by destroying its very foundation. The devil started this demolition work hundreds of years ago. It was well under way by the Council of Trent, which was the Roman Catholic Council that met between 1545 and 1563. Adventists today are specifically under attack concerning Daniel 8:14.

The controversy over the six things that we will study did not begin in the last ten years with these new attacks by former Seventh-day Adventist ministers who are trying to destroy the Adventist faith. It began a long time ago and really erupted in Adventism nearly 25 years ago, in October 1979, at Pacific Union College [Angwin, California]. A teacher there by the name of Desmond Ford presented a lecture in which he said that he was going to debunk the whole idea of 1844 as a mistake. All of the attacks now are actually reruns of attacks made in 1979 and 1980.

The leadership of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists gave Desmond Ford several months to outline his views, and then the top scholars of the Seventh-day Adventist Church met together at Glacier View Camp in Colorado during the summer of 1980, and they reviewed with Desmond Ford these different things. If Desmond Ford was correct with these different charges, there would be no reason for a Seventh-day Adventist Church.

My wife and I were living in Texas when those meetings took place. I was teaching at Southwestern Adventist College in Keene, Texas. I remember the discussions that were taking place among the faculty during this time. Some people used to say, “If you really knew what the Greek language says in Hebrews 6 and if you really knew what the Hebrew words mean in Daniel 8, then you would know that the Adventists are wrong.” I was hearing things like this, and such thoughts were even being published. A leading Seventh-day Adventist theologian published as fact the idea that a two-apartment sanctuary is not taught in the Book of Hebrews.

Others were saying, “If you could read the texts in the Greek or in the Hebrew, you would find they do not say exactly what we have thought they said,” and I thought to myself, “If that is so, I am going to find out.” I was an ordained Seventh-day Adventist minister at that time, and I decided to find out for myself what these Scriptures say.

Study of the Original

I happened to have studied Greek between three and four years at Walla Walla College [Walla Walla, Washington] and at the Adventist Seminary [Berrien Springs, Michigan]. I also studied Hebrew at the Adventist Seminary. I got my books, and I obtained more lexicons, additional analytical materials, and interlinear Bibles, and I bought a new Hebrew Bible. I wanted to find out if I had been confused my whole life. I now have a Hebrew Bible and a Greek Bible, which I use regularly. If it had not been for the Ford controversy, maybe I would not know Hebrew and Greek as well as I do today.

Do Not Stumble

The Adventist faith is anchored in the Greek and Hebrew texts of the Old and New Testaments. Do not let someone tell you that, because you have to read the Bible in English, you do not know what it says. There are a few mistakes in the best English translations. Ellen White acknowledges that in Selected Messages, Book 1, 16: “Some look to us gravely and say, ‘Don’t you think there might have been some mistake in the copyist or in the translators?’ This is all probable, and the mind that is so narrow that it will hesitate and stumble over this possibility or probability would be just as ready to stumble over the mysteries of the Inspired Word, because their feeble minds cannot see through the purposes of God. . . . All the mistakes will not cause trouble to one soul, or cause any feet to stumble, that would not manufacture difficulties from the plainest revealed truth.” Notice that she says those few mistakes will not cause one soul to be lost! If we take the Bible, read it, and study it, there is no mistake in the translations of the Bible that will cause us to be lost.

Nobody will be able, in the Day of Judgment, to say, “Lord, I am lost because I read the King James Version of the Bible, and there was a transcription error in Romans 14:6, and because of that transcription error, I did not know that the seventh day was the Sabbath, so now I am lost.” There is a bad mistake in Romans 14:6 in the King James Version, but that will not cause any honest soul to be lost. Why? Because there are hundreds of texts in the King James Version that point out what the true Sabbath is. Even if there is a mistake in the translation in Romans 14, nobody will be lost over that, if they look at the whole Bible.

No one will be able to come to the Lord in the Day of Judgment and say, “Oh, Lord, I read the New American Standard Bible and now I am lost, because it translated from a different text or manuscript in Revelation 22:14.” (The two different texts or readings in the Greek manuscripts for Revelation 22:14 are almost certainly the result of a scribal hearing error since they rhyme.) Why cannot anyone use that as an excuse to the Lord in the Day of Judgment? Because in the New American Standard Bible or in the New International Version, there are many other texts that show exactly what the commandments are, what the Sabbath is, and that we should keep them.

The fact that there is a mistake in translation here or there will not cause anyone to be lost, unless they choose to base all their doubts on that one mistake. We are to look at the whole Bible, and if we take the evidence of the whole Bible, there is no mistake in the King James Version, there is no mistake in the New King James Version, there is no mistake in the New American Standard Bible, and there is no mistake in the New International Version that will cause us to be lost—if we look at the whole Bible.

Back to Basics

My faith was challenged in 1979 and 1980. I was told, “If you knew what the Greek and Hebrew said, you would know that we are wrong.” I decided that if that was so, I would find out. I found out! I read the whole Bible in the original languages—Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic. Let me tell you, friends, the Adventist faith is anchored in exactly what the prophets wrote.

It is true that in the Book of Daniel there are a few translation difficulties. Daniel is one of the most difficult books of the Old Testament to translate, because the translators did not understand what they were translating. If you have ever translated from one language to another, you know that sometimes you could translate something more than one way. When that occurs, you look at the context to determine whether the word should be translated this way or that way. That is true with all translation. If you do not know the meaning of what you are translating, it makes the translation much more difficult.

The translators did not know the meaning of what they were translating in the Book of Daniel, so they made a few mistakes. Ellen White refers to that. She talks about the fact that the word sacrifice was added in Daniel 8 and also in Daniel 11 and 12. She says that was added by human wisdom and that it is not part of the Word of God. She makes that very clear. (See Early Writings, 74, 75.) That is a critical point to our understanding of the Book of Daniel.

Pioneers Understood

When I went through the Book of Daniel in Hebrew and Aramaic, I found something very interesting. This will give you encouragement. Every time that I found a mistake in translation and I went back to the Hebrew text, I found that the Hebrew text agreed exactly with what the Adventist pioneers worked out! The Hebrew text agrees exactly with what the Adventist pioneers worked out about what the Book of Daniel means. Now that is just astounding and amazing, because most of our pioneers did not know Hebrew and Greek. Surely the Lord led them to understand the truth.

The Attack

Now, let me tell you what the attack is about. Former Seventh-day Adventist ministers, through their web sites, videos, and published books, are spearheading this attack. As a result of their teachings, Adventists that are following them are becoming Sunday worshippers or Sunday-keepers. This is where the attack is focused.

These former ministers say that Adventists are a cult. I do not mind being called a cult, because Christians have been called a cult since the days of the apostle Paul. Act 28:22 talks about the Christians being a sect. We are going to be called a sect at the end of time, so I am not worried about being called a cult or a sect. All I want to know is, “Am I living according to the Word of God?”

Given here are six points upon which the attack centers:

  1. These former ministers say that the sanctuary of Daniel 8:14 is referring to the earthly sanctuary; we believe it is talking about the heavenly sanctuary.
  2. We are attacked over the 2300 days. First of all, the former ministers say that these 2300 days were fulfilled in the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, 200 years before Christ. He is the one that defiled the sanctuary; then it had to be restored after his defiling it.
  3. We are attacked on the day-for-a-year principle.
  4. This is one of the big ones! We are attacked on the identity of the little horn. These former Seventh-day Adventist ministers, along with many liberal Protest-ant theologians today, say that the little horn in Daniel 8 is Antiochus Epiphanes, who was a Greek and king of the Seleucid (Syrian) Empire. Do you remember, in Daniel 7, it says that the Greek Empire would have four heads and out of those four heads two would become predominant? In Daniel 11, reference is made to the king of the north and the king of the south. The king of the north was the Seleucid (Syrian) Empire, which was a division of Alexander’s empire. The eighth Seleucid king (there were 12 after him) was Antiochus Epiphanes. These former ministers say that Antiochus Epiphanes is the little horn power and that the Adventists are wrong in their belief. If Antiochus Epiphanes is the little horn, we are about as deluded as any people could be, and Ellen White would have to be a false prophet. So we need to under-stand this.
  5. We say that the timing of Daniel 8:14 has to do with the time of the end of the world. These former ministers say the timing has to do with the Second Century before Christ.
  6. We say that the meaning of the cleansing of the sanctuary is the investigative judgment. They say that just means the cleaning up of the temple after Antiochus Epiphanes defiled it.

Those are some of the main items that are under attack. We need to know what we believe about all of those things.

In this study, we will look at a few things in regard to context and then take an overview of the prophetic parts of Daniel—chapters 2, 7, 8, 11 and 12. We will skip chapter 9.

End of . . .

Let us first look at the end of Daniel 8:17. I will give this text a word for word translation from the Hebrew Bible, so if it does not agree exactly with the Bible version you are using, do not get upset. What is given here is very accurate. In Daniel 8:17, the angel says to Daniel, “Consider then, O son of man, that to the time of the end is the vision.” This is a critical point. End of what—end of Antiochus Epiph-anes? End of what? “To the time of the end is the vision.” We need to understand something about the time. The angel repeats this fact—that this vision has to do with the time of the end—in verse 19. So, this vision has to do with the time of the end.

Prophecies Built on Each Other

We are now going to look at the whole Book of Daniel, because I want you to see that, in the Book of Daniel, the prophecies are built on each other. Prophecy is first given in Daniel 2; then the same thing is given with more detail in Daniel 7; then the prophecy, with much more detail, is recorded in Daniel 8; then the same prophecy is given, with much, much more detail, in Daniel 11 and 12. The prophecies in Daniel are parallel. However you interpret these prophecies, remember they are parallel prophecies, and everything has to fit. Daniel 2 has to fit; Daniel 7 has to fit; Daniel 8 has to fit; and Daniel 11 and 12 have to fit. You cannot pull out Daniel 8:14 and apply it to something unless you also have made it fit with everything else.

Daniel 2

Let us look at how it works. Open your Bible to Daniel 2:36, 37: “This [is] the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king. Thou, O king, [art] a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory.” Notice three points in Daniel 2: 1) There are earthly powers. (See verses 37–43.) But these earthly powers come to an end. 2) There is a Divine intervention, and 3) All earthly powers come to an end. (See verses 44, 45.)

We learn that there are earthly powers, several earthly powers, but then there is a Divine intervention. How long do the earthly powers exist? Verse 44 says, “In the days of these kings.” “These kings” are the division of the fourth world empire, and “these kings” rule until a “stone is cut out without hands.” Verse 45. This is a stone that is cut out with-out hands. This is not a human intervention; this is a Divine inter-vention. This is a Divine intervention in human affairs, and the result is that all earthly powers come to an end. That should be simple enough that we could all figure it out.

Do you have the three points figured out in Daniel 2? You have earthly powers. These earthly powers continue until there is a Divine intervention, and the result of the Divine intervention is that all the earthly powers come to an end.

Daniel 7

Now look at Daniel 7. There you will see the very same thing that you saw in chapter 2, with some more detail added. In verses 17–25 of Daniel 7, you are going to see various earthly powers. Then, in verses 26 and 27, the specifics of the Divine intervention are given in more detail. As a result of the Divine intervention, all of the earthly powers are going to come to an end, and the saints of the most high are going to receive the kingdom.

So you see here in Daniel 7 the very same thing that is in Daniel 2. In Daniel 7:17–25 you have: 1) earthly powers with 2) Divine intervention in verses 26 and 27. As a result of that, 3) all of the earthly powers come to an end.

Daniel 8

In Daniel 8 we could go either to the first part of the vision or to the last of the vision where the vision is interpreted. The interpretation of the vision is given in verses 20 to 25. In these verses, you have the very same thing. 1) There is a series of earthly powers. 2) There are earthly powers, but then there is a Divine intervention.

Verse 25 says, “And by cunning, he shall cause deceit to prosper in his hand, and in his heart he shall magnify himself. And by peace he will destroy many, and against the Prince of princes he will stand up, but without hand he is going to be broken.” At the end, there are earthly powers, and then, as explained in the last part of verse 25, there is a Divine intervention. “Without hand,” he is going to come to an end. He does not come to his end because of something that human beings do. Did you see that in Daniel 2? In Daniel 2 there is a stone cut out without hand. In Daniel 8, there is intervention “without hand.” In other words, it is a Divine intervention. He is going to be destroyed. The Hebrew word shalvah means to be broken or destroyed. So without hand he is going to be broken or without hand he is going to be shattered or without hand he is going to be destroyed. All three translations are correct. What is the result? 3) The result is that all earthly powers come to an end.

To be continued . . .

[Bible texts quoted are literal translation.]

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

Parallel Prophecies of Daniel, Part II

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Daniel 8 and Daniel 11 do not deal with Babylon, because Babylon has already come to an end. Daniel 2 and Daniel 7 deal with Babylon. Daniel 11 deals with Medo-Persia, then Greece, and then Rome. There is a tremendous amount of detail in Daniel 11 and 12.

Daniel 11

I love to study Daniel 11 and 12. Understanding of these chapters provides historical anchors for everything that Adventists believe. Daniel 11 has some amazing detail. For instance, in just a few words in Daniel 11 is an amazingly detailed history of the life of Julius Caesar. It is astonishing! I have taken a history book and followed down each point. Each point was fulfilled in the life of Julius Caesar in detail, exactly the way it was written.

The people who are opponents of Adventism—the liberal theologians—say that Daniel was written in the second century b.c. The Bible says it was written in the sixth century b.c. If it was written in the second century b.c., how did Daniel know, over a hundred years in advance, the detail? If he was a liar and a fraud, how did he know, over a hundred years in advance, the exact description of the life history of Julius Caesar? What is even more, after Julius Caesar, Daniel points out in detail the life history of Augustus Caesar. Every single thing mentioned there exactly came to pass. From the manuscript written in Daniel, I can point out from the history book how it was fulfilled exactly, on every detail. Even more amazing is that it points out in detail the life history and the career of Tiberius Caesar. It tells, in verse 22, that at the time of Tiberius Caesar the prince of the covenant would be broken. Who was the Caesar when Jesus was crucified? Tiberius Caesar. Amazing!

Messiah Timeline

Daniel 11 shows in great detail the history of these earthly powers. It points out the history of three of the most well-known Caesars. The reason that is done is so we have an historical anchor with the Messiah.

We know exactly when the Messiah was to be crucified from both Daniel 9 and Daniel 11. If the Jews had studied Bible prophecy, they would have known—as soon as Tiberius Caesar became the Caesar—that during the reign of this Caesar the Messiah would be crucified. If they had studied Daniel 9 carefully, they would have known the exact year when Jesus would be crucified! They would have known the exact month and the exact day, because the Messiah was to die as our sacrifice on the Passover Day in the middle of the seventieth week. Not only that, if they had really studied carefully, they would have known the exact hour of the day when Jesus would die on the cross. They would have been right, because He died at the time of the evening sacrifice. They would have known the Caesar that would be reigning. They would have known the year. They would have known the month and the day. They would have known the hour of the day when the Messiah would be crucified. That is how specific Old Testament prophecy was about the Messiah.

Does it ever alarm you when you read that Ellen White said that the history has been pointed out to us just as clearly as it was pointed out to them? “The students of God’s word may, then, confidently expect to find the most stupendous event to take place in human history clearly pointed out in the Scriptures of truth.” The Great Controversy, 324.

Have you ever prayed, “Lord, help me to understand prophecy so that I will not be taken by surprise”? We need to be students of prophecy, and when we read these prophecies, we need to pray and ask the Lord to help us to understand what we read.

One Prophecy

Daniel 11 and 12 are all one prophecy. There is not even a sentence break at the end of Daniel 11. In Daniel 11, there are given the earthly powers. Then, in Daniel 11 and 12, there is a Divine intervention. Daniel 11:44–12:2 says, “Reports from the east will cause him to tremble, and from the north. And he will go out with great fury to destroy and to kill many, and he will plant the tents of his citadel [or his palaces] between the seas and the glorious holy mountain. But he shall come to his end and no one will be helping him, and in that time Michael will stand up, the great Prince who stands for the sons of your people, and there will be a time of distress [a time of trouble], which has not been since there was a nation, even to that same time. And in that time your people shall be delivered; all who shall be found written in the book. And many who sleep in the dust of the ground will wake up, these to life everlasting and these to reproach and abhorrence everlasting.”

Did that happen during the days of Antiochus Epiphanes? Of course not! Here in the last part of Daniel 11 and the first part of Daniel 12, are the very same things as were given in the earlier prophecies, only with greater detail. There are 1) earthly powers. Then 2) there is a Divine intervention. Michael stands up and the result is that 3) all the earthly powers come to an end. And then Daniel is going to stand in his inheritance; he is going to stand in his lot.

Let us go into a little bit more detail. We went through the whole book of Daniel with a real simple outline. Now, we will amplify our outline. It is good to start simple. It helps us to understand what we are talking about. There are accusations that Seventh-day Adventists do not know who the little horn is, so we will go into a little bit more detail.

Babylon

Is Babylon the first world kingdom that is given to us in Daniel 2? Oh, you cannot mistake it. Daniel 2, remember, is the image, and it starts with the head of gold, then the breasts and arms of silver, the belly and thighs of brass, and the legs of iron. Then there are feet. The feet, clear down to the toes, are partly iron. The iron goes clear to the ends of the toes, but at the bottom there is some clay with it. That is important to remember.

People say Babylon meant this or it meant that, but when you are studying Daniel 2, how many things could Babylon mean? Have you ever thought about that? Can you say you could interpret it this way or that way? Can you really say that? I cannot. When I read, in verse 38, that Daniel declares, “You [Nebuchadnezzar] are this head of gold,” I do not know any other way to interpret that except that this head of gold refers to Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar’s empire. So, Babylon is the first kingdom.

In verse 39, Daniel continues with the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, saying, “After you, there is going to arise another kingdom inferior to you.” What kingdom overthrew Babylon? The Medes and the Persians.

Then Daniel said, “As you saw the belly and the thighs of brass, after the second kingdom there is going to be still a third kingdom that rules over all the earth.” Who was that kingdom? Greece.

Please do not get upset if we are going through some rather elementary points. You will soon see that every single point we are looking at now is going to become very, very important in understanding Daniel 7 and 8.

Fourth Kingdom Unnamed

After the third kingdom, Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar, in verse 40, that there was going to be a fourth kingdom! Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Greece are all mentioned by name in Daniel. The fourth kingdom is never mentioned by name in Daniel. Because this fourth kingdom is never mentioned by name, there has been argument about it for 2,000 years. Our theological opponents are always mixed up about this.

Let me ask you a question. If Babylon is clearly defined as the first kingdom, should you know who Babylon is? Yes. If you next have Medo-Persia, should you know who that kingdom is? Then you have the worldwide kingdom of Greece. This kingdom had such an influence on the ancient world that the whole world spoke Greek in the time of Christ. The New Testament was not written in Hebrew and Aramaic like the Old Testament. The New Testament was written in Greek, because of the influence of this nation on the world.

Then, if you say that after this and this and this, there is going to be a fourth kingdom that will rule over all the world, do you think that a person should be able to figure out who this kingdom might be? This nation is called an iron kingdom.

Identifying Features

Notice five things about this fourth kingdom. These five things will be true whether studying in Daniel 2, 7, 8, or 11. They will be true every single time, but we will stay in Daniel 2 right now. Five things about the fourth kingdom are identified in Daniel 2. The reason we need to concentrate on this is because in Daniel 2, 7, 8, and 11 there is more time spent on the fourth kingdom than on the other three kingdoms put together.

If a writer spends more time on this one kingdom than on all the other three kingdoms put together, do you think we should spend more time studying this one, even if it is not named? Everything that God does is intelligent, not arbitrary. There is a very intelligent reason why this fourth kingdom was not named, but we will not go into that now. You can begin trying to figure that out. Let us look at a few details about this fourth kingdom.

First, were the first three kingdoms worldwide empires? Yes. Is the fourth kingdom a worldwide empire? Yes, it is a worldwide empire. You cannot say that about Antiochus Epiphanes.

Second, this fourth power will be a powerful, violent kingdom or entity. (See verse 40.)

Third—this should be so obvious, but we have to point it out—does the fourth kingdom arise after the third kingdom in Daniel 2? Yes, it does. We have to point this out since our theological opponents, in an attempt to reinterpret prophecy, have confused the time sequence.

Fourth, look at Daniel 2 carefully now, because many Seventh-day Adventists are confused since they have not understood this. This fourth kingdom extends until the end of time. Do not let anyone confuse you about that. This fourth kingdom arises after the third kingdom. That locks it into a specific time of arising, and it is going to extend until the end of time. At the last, there is going to be some clay mixed with the iron, but the iron goes to the end of time. That is very important to understand.

Fifth, this fourth kingdom, at the end of time, will be destroyed without hand. In other words, there will be a Divine intervention that will destroy this fourth kingdom. Now, if the fourth kingdom arose after the Greek kingdom and if the iron is going to go clear down until it gets struck with a rock, has this image been struck by the rock yet? No. When it is struck by the rock, all earthly kingdoms are going to come to their end. (Verses 44, 45.) Has the rock struck yet? No, because we still have earthly kingdoms.

What we have just reviewed proves that this fourth kingdom still has to be in existence, because this fourth kingdom is going to go on until it is struck on the feet. It is going to change. Daniel 7 will give you some more detail about this so that it will be clear to you. If all we had was Daniel 2, we would have a difficult time figuring that all out, but in Daniel 7, we have the very same sequence with much more added detail.

Daniel 7

In Daniel 7, there is the first kingdom, Babylon, again—a lion this time. We have the second kingdom again—a bear this time. We have the third kingdom again—a leopard this time. And we have the fourth kingdom again—a great and terrible beast, so awful that there is nothing in the natural world with which to compare it.

If you look carefully in Daniel 7, you will see something very interesting. This fourth beast has a latter-day development that is very intriguing. Out of this fourth beast, eventually grow ten horns. Where are the ten horns? They are on the fourth beast; do not ever forget that. And the fourth beast goes until it is destroyed without hand. There is a Divine intervention that destroys the fourth beast. But this fourth beast, in time, has some interesting developments. Ten horns grow out of it. After the ten horns grow out of it, we are told, another horn comes up—an eleventh horn, a little horn—and as it comes up, it destroys three of the first horns.

As you read Daniel 7, you see that this fourth kingdom has several phases. There is the beast; then there are the horns that grow up out of it, and eventually there is one little horn that becomes greater than all the rest of them. Where does the little horn come up? What does it come out of? It comes out of the fourth beast.

Rome

This fourth beast was called Rome. Have you heard of any entity in the world today that is still called by that name? It is called Roman; that is the first word of its name. It is the Roman kingdom, and it is going to go right on until the end of time, and then it is going to be destroyed without hand. No human being is going to destroy it. Human beings have tried to destroy this power many times. They cannot.

Remember that the little horn comes out of the Roman kingdom. It grows out of that kingdom, and it is that kingdom. It is still Roman today. Do you know the official title of the leading personage of the Roman kingdom? Pontifex Maximus. They refer to his rule as his pontificate, and he makes pontifical announcements.

Daniel 8

By the time of Daniel 8, we are not dealing with the nation of Babylon anymore, just as with Daniel 11. We start with Medo-Persia followed by Greece. That is the ram and the he-goat. There are some details about the first horn that was broken into four horns and the little horn that developed out of one of them.

Let us look at seven facts about the little horn in Daniel 8. 1) This is the same symbol as is used in Daniel 7. 2) The little horn in Daniel 7 and the little horn in Daniel 8 engage in similar actions. 3) In Daniel 7 and in Daniel 8, the very same thing happens. When this horn comes up, it is little, but it becomes greater than everybody else. 4) In both Daniel 7 and Daniel 8, this little horn power is a blasphemous power. 5) In both Daniel 7 and Daniel 8, the little horn persecutes the saints. 6) In both Daniel 7 and Daniel 8, the little horn power endures for a protracted period of time—a long time. 7) In both Daniel 7 and Daniel 8, the little horn power suffers the same fate. It is destroyed without hand.

Now concentrate on this little horn power. In Daniel 8, Persia, which is the ram, is called great. Let us be sure we understand what we are talking about. How large a nation was Persia? It was vaster than Nebuchadnezzar’s empire. It was a worldwide empire. Although Nebuchadnezzar’s empire was a worldwide empire, he did not control as much territory. He had worldwide influence, but he did not physically rule over every city. They all paid allegiance to him; they sent tribute to him. But Persia was even bigger than Babylon.

Greece, the he-goat with the horn, is exceedingly great. Greece had more territory than did Medo-Persia. It had a greater effect on the world. The whole world adopted the Greek language, as a result of the influence of Alexander the Great and the Greek Empire.

Little Horn

But then we come to this little horn. Remember what opponents of Adventism say. They say that the little horn is Antiochus Epiphanes and that Seventh-day Adventists are confused and deluded. I have done a lot of studying on this subject, because I wanted to be sure I knew what the Hebrew said. Daniel uses the same word, great, but then adds another word, the Hebrew word yether. There are various ways to translate that word. In this context, it would be translated above and beyond, or some lexicons would say beyond measure.

It is like the apostle Paul. The apostle Paul uses such superlative terms that you cannot translate them. You have to use a number of superlative words to try to explain how it is something that is far beyond super abounding. How do you express something like that? That is the situation relating to the little horn. First there is Medo-Persia, and it is great, but then there is the he-goat, and it is great exceedingly. Then there is the little horn, and it is great beyond measure. It is so great that Daniel cannot find a word to describe it so he uses the word yether, which means above and beyond.

The prophecy said that after Alexander the Great died, his kingdom would be divided into four parts. The prophecy in Daniel 11 reveals that those four parts would be divided so that there were just two parts, and there would be the king of the north and the king of the south. Antiochus Epiphanes was one of those kings of the north. He was the eighth of about twenty Seleucid kings.

The little horn is great beyond measure. It is greater than Greece; it is far greater than Persia; . . . and some people want us to believe it refers to Antiochus Epiphanes? Wait a minute! I am not willing to lay my reason aside at the door. This could not possibly be Antiochus Epiphanes. Whoever or whatever this is has to be somebody or something that is greater than Persia, and it has to be greater than Alexander the Great.

Think this through. The world at large—everyone who has studied the most basic ancient history available—will tell you about the neo-Babylonian Empire and about Persia and about Greece and about Alexander the Great. Look, I just want to be sure you understand this. You should not have to have a high school education to figure out who the little horn represents, because whoever it is has to be greater than Persia and greater than Alexander the Great.

How many people walking down the street today, if asked, would know who Antiochus Epiphanes was? Was Antiochus Epiphanes greater than Alexander the Great? That is ludicrous! That is insane, as people would say, and it is a form of insanity. That is what opponents of Adventism want us to believe. Think this through.

No Gaps

There is one basic point that I want to be sure you understand so thoroughly that you will never forget it, even if you live to be 100 years old. This is important. It is important to understand the prophecies of Daniel and to understand where we live in the stream of time and what is about to happen.

There is Babylon; there is Medo-Persia; there is Greece; there is the fourth kingdom. This fourth kingdom has two phases. There is Divine intervention, and all earthly powers come to an end. Here is what I want you to think through. If you have never studied this before, go through Daniel 2 and then Daniel 7 and then Daniel 8 and then Daniel 11 and 12, and you will see it every single time. This is very important to understand, because the people who believe in the rapture are confused on this point. This is not complicated. It is so simple that if we did not have theological opposition, we would think that we were insulting each other’s intelligence by even bringing this up, but we need to make this clear because of what people believe.

People have been told, regarding the time prophecy of Daniel 8:14, that between week 69 and week 70 there is a gap of about 2,000 years. Some people believe the little horn power is Antiochus Epiphanes. Other people say that the little horn power is the antichrist power that is going to come at the end of time. It may be someone who is born right now. It may be some atheist dictator that is born in Israel—a Jewish, atheist dictator that will take control of the whole world at the end of time when there will be seven years of tribulation. Where do they get all of this?

Notice, from the study of Daniel, that whether you are reading Daniel 2, 7, 8, or 11 and 12, it will come out the same every single time. There is Babylon, then Medo-Persia, then Greece, and then a fourth kingdom. The fourth kingdom, in its later history, becomes divided, but remember that the iron goes all the way to the end. Then there is a Divine intervention, and all earthly powers are destroyed. This is something that goes from Babylon, from Nebuchadnezzar’s time, until the end of the world, and there are no gaps.

You cannot find a gap in the Book of Daniel. Can you find a gap in Daniel 2 between Babylon and when the stone is cut out? Can you find a gap anywhere? There is no gap. It is continuous. You will find the same thing in Daniel 7. In Daniel 7, the fourth kingdom arises after Greece, and this fourth kingdom has a further development into a different phase, but it goes all the way to the end, and then it is destroyed without hand. There are no gaps. It is continuous. The same is true in Daniel 8. In Daniel 8, there is Medo-Persia, Greece, and the development of a little horn power, and the little horn power goes all the way to the end. Then, in verse 25, we read that it will be destroyed without hand. The same thing is found in Daniel 11. Starting with Medo-Persia, there is then Greece, and more detail is given about Greece and how it would be divided. Then it tells about this fourth power developing, and describes a further development of this fourth power. It goes all the way to the end. Then there is the Divine intervention (Daniel 11:45; 12:1, 2), and all the earthly powers come to their end, and there is no gap.

There is no gap. That is very important to understand, because people today have been taught that there was a gap of about 2,000 years. They have been told that the prophets can only see certain high points and there were 2,000 years in between called the “church age,” and they could not understand that. Well, wait a minute. Do you believe that God means what He says and says what He means? In the Book of Daniel, there are no gaps. The fourth kingdom is the final earthly kingdom.

That final earthly kingdom is still here, and it is still all over the world. I have seen it everywhere I have traveled in the world, and I have traveled over a good share of this world. Do not ever think that you or I will ever destroy this final earthly kingdom of which we are now in the final stages. No human being is going to destroy it. God is going to destroy it when He comes. “And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.” 11 Thessalonians 2:8.

It is my hope that this brief look at Daniel will stimulate you to study. I hope you will study these things and that you will know why you believe what you believe and know what the Bible says about it. Every single word in the prophecy of Daniel is important. If you do not know Greek or Hebrew and you are having trouble with some verses, get an interlinear Bible and some appropriate books and study it out. Know what the Bible says.

[Bible texts quoted are literal translation.]

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

The Seven Churches, Part III – The Church of Smyrna

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Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea represent the different eras of the Christian church from Jesus’ day until the Second Coming. A study on the first church, the church of Ephesus, was given in the November 2004 issue of LandMarks. By way of review, Ephesus was the church that worked hard. They were faithful, and they had right theology and doctrine. But there was one thing they did not have, or at least they had lost—their first love. The Scripture does not say they did not have any love. Obviously they had some, but they had lost that fervor and that real heartfelt love. As a result, the Lord said that He would remove them from being a church for Him. We might question, in our way of thinking, “Could it be that serious, if they had everything else?” If they had right theology and hard work and all of these things, could the issue of love be that serious? The Bible tells us, in 1 Corinthians 13, just how necessary love is: “Though I have [the gift of] prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.” Verse 2. The church is to reflect the image of God, and that image is love [charity]. God is love. If we do not have the love of Jesus in our hearts, we do not have anything, nothing else matters. The only way we can develop this kind of love is through conflict and trial.

Even the heathen people have love for those that love them. That is what Jesus said in Matthew 5:43–48. He said that even the heathen people, the Gentiles, and the unconverted love those who love them, and they are patient and loving when everything is going smoothly and when all things are pleasing them.

Sacrifice Self

It is not difficult to love when everything is pleasing, is it? But what shows whether you are a Christian or not is when you love when things are not going right and when you are not feeling right. That is when the Christian character is revealed. The only way that we can develop this kind of love is to sacrifice self, because as long as self is number one in our lives, we will never have love for others. We will always be watching out for ourselves, and we will always be getting our feelings hurt. We have to sacrifice self.

We must be broken on the Rock, as Jesus said in Matthew 21:44, and He is that Rock. When we come to the cross and see Jesus there, bleeding and lacerated, and know that He suffered abuse, bled, and died for our sins, not for His, because He did not commit any sins, our hearts will be broken. When we hear Jesus say, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do,” and we see how Jesus died for those who crucified Him, then we cannot stay offended anymore against those who mistreat us. Self must be put away. (Luke 23:34.)

Look at the story of Jesus in Romans 5:6–8: “For when we were still without strength [before we had any strength physically and, as sinners, before we had any strength spiritually], in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrated His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Dear friend, what love! When we were yet in rebellion, when we hated Him, He died for us.

John tells us what that should do for us—what kind of an impression that should make on our minds, what it should do for our characters—in 1 John 4:7–9, 11–13: “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. . . . Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him.” There are many people who think they abide in Jesus, but this is how we can know we abide in Him and He in us: “Because He has given us of His Spirit” of love. Verse 13.

Command of God

Verses 20, 21 continue: “If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God [must] love his brother also.” That, we could say, is the eleventh commandment, but really it applies to all ten.

John 15:9 says, “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.” Verse 12 says, “This is My commandment . . . .” It is not only an invitation; it is the command of God, because it is what we have to become like, if we are going to get to heaven. “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” Verse 12. That is a lot of love, dear friends, that loved us when we were still in our sins. That is a love that loved us when we did not love Him, when we were unloving. But this is Jesus’ commandment: “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.” Verses 13, 14. That command was to love one another.

Love to Be Loved

You know, the church will survive only, as the church of Ephesus tells us, as it develops that love of Jesus. The trouble is that everyone wants everyone else to be loving! Everyone wants to belong to a church like that. How many times have I heard it as a pastor? “You know, the church is supposed to be loving, but I do not have any money and no one here has given me any.” I have heard similar words many times. “No one has cared for me, and this is supposed to be God’s loving church.” How unfortunate it is when people are not cared for, but what utter selfishness of the heart such words betray.

The very principle of love is to love when we are not loved. If we have a whole church of people that are just waiting for everyone else to love them and to take care of them and notice them, we would have no love at all, would we? Love is developed when no one shows us any love, but we love in return. It has to start with one person and then two people, and that love will pervade through the whole church just as leaven pervades through a loaf of bread. If we wait to be loved in order to love, we are not yet Christians.

Lost Love

So it was that the church of Ephesus kept the law, and they worked hard, but they ceased to represent Jesus. They were not His representatives. They could not continue to be His church, because they did not represent His character, His love. Do you know what God is waiting for today? It is for that love—His character—to be represented in the church. We are told, in Christ’s Object Lessons, 69, “When the character of Jesus shall be perfectly reproduced in His people, then He will come to claim them as His own.”

Ephesus was the very first church. It had the apostles with it for most of its existence. If there was a danger in losing that love with John, Paul, and Peter ministering to them, what do you think the danger is for us? But God had a cure for Ephesus. We find that cure in the church of Smyrna.

Smyrna needs special attention. Although we are not likened to the church of Smyrna, we still need to study it carefully. Ellen White never likens us to Smyrna. In fact, so far are we from the church of Smyrna, she only mentions it in her writings twice, and that is just in quoting the Scriptures.

While the church of Laodicea represents us, she often likens us to the church of Ephesus—not to the whole of the church of Ephesus, but she says we, like Ephesus, have lost our first love. “Those who truly love God must manifest loving-kindness of heart.” The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, vol. 1, 135. And then she says something that makes me so sad: “There is nothing the church lacks so much as a manifestation of Christlike love.” Ibid. Oh, does that not make you sad? That is the very thing that will destroy us. That is what Ephesus lacked. She says there is nothing that we lack so much as that very thing—“the manifestation of Christlike love.” It cannot be something that is just in our hearts; it has to be manifested. So the church is often illustrated by the church of Ephesus but never illustrated by the church of Smyrna.

Contrast Smyrna and Laodicea

Smyrna is almost the exact opposite of Laodicea. Smyrna perfectly represents the 144,000 who will come out of the Laodicean condition. When we study the church of Laodicea, the seventh and last church, which represents us, we will discover that God does not say one good thing about the church of Laodicea. How sad! But do you know, He does not say one bad thing about the church of Smyrna; He says only good things about it. Let us look at the contrast between these two churches.

Regarding the church of Laodicea, Revelation 3:17 says, “Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor . . . .” They thought they were rich, but they were actually poor. On the other hand, look at what Scripture says about the church of Smyrna: “I know your works, tribulation, and poverty (but you are rich) . . . .” Revelation 2:9. You think you are poor, but you are actually rich. Laodicea says, “We are rich,” but God says, “No, you are poor.” Smyrna says, “We are poor,” but God says, “No, you are rich.” God does not quite view things as we view them, does He? Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart.

Laodicea and Smyrna are contrasted in a parable that Jesus gave, which is recorded in Luke 18:9–14. “He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves [who thought they were rich and increased with goods] that they were righteous [and in need of nothing], and despised others.” Now, you must understand that when Jesus said this, Pharisees were held in great esteem, not like today. Today, we look at Pharisees through Jesus’ eyes, and we, like Him, realize they were not very good. Back then, everyone thought the Pharisees were almost ready for translation. Jesus said, “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise [his] eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner.’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified [rather] than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Likened to Pharisees

The Pharisees fit the description of Laodicea exactly. In fact, it is interesting how often Ellen White likens us to the Pharisees. I hope that we have accepted all the counsel and that we no longer fit this description. Someday God has to have a people that come out. But look carefully, because the Laodiceans did not think that they were Laodiceans, did they? They thought that they were rich and increased with goods and had need of nothing. Ellen White said that “the spirit that controlled the Pharisees is coming in among this people.” The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, vol. 1, 165. She also stated: “I entreat you, brethren, be not like the Pharisees, who are blinded with spiritual pride, self-righteousness, and self-sufficiency, and who because of this will be forsaken of God. For years I have been receiving instructions and warnings that this was the danger to our people.” Ibid., 166. “There has been a spirit of Phariseeism, a hard, unsympathetic spirit towards the erring [she does not say toward those that we were misjudging as erring, but toward those who really were erring], a withdrawing from some and leaving them in discouragement, which is leaving the lost sheep to perish in the wilderness. There has been a placing of men where God alone should be.” Ibid., 312. Whenever men are lifted up in pride, they always look with spite on other people whom they perceive to be not as good as they. This spirit of the Pharisees is the most difficult, the most incurable, the most hopeless of all the diseases that man could have. “There is nothing so offensive to God or so dangerous to the human soul as pride and self-sufficiency. Of all the sins it is the most hopeless, the most incurable.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 154.

Spiritual Pride

There is nothing as difficult to cure as spiritual pride. Spiritual pride causes you to think that you are humble—because of all the hard work that you are doing for the Lord—like the Ephesians. Many may say, “Lord, if I did not love you, I would not be doing all of these good works.” But, you know, you can work and still not have that love.

When we become spiritual without love for others or for God, it makes us critical toward others. “Whoever trusts in himself that he is righteous will despise others.” Ibid., 151. Do you ever find yourself despising others? Do you find yourself critical of others? That is the spirit of Laodicea. That is the spirit of the Pharisees. The good news is that if we realize it, God can heal and cure that disease just as completely as any other. The only reason He cannot cure it is because most of us do not see it. The Pharisee disease is the disease you do not see. It is like someone who has cancer and does not know it. He thinks he is healthy when he is filled with a deadly disease.

Publican like Smyrna

The publican was like the people in Smyrna. They knew they were sinners, but they were forgiven. They thought they were poor, but they were rich. I want to have the experience of the Smyrnans, do you? My prayer to God is, “If you need to make me poor, in order to make me rich, make me poor. If you need to make me weak, in order to make me strong, make me weak. If, like Paul, you need to take away my eyesight so that I can see, take it away.”

Paul’s experience is given in 11 Corinthians 12:7–10. “Lest I should be exalted above measure,” like the Pharisees and the Laodiceans, “by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” Smyrna had the experience of Paul. They considered themselves poor and sinful, but Jesus said they were rich and righteous.

Represents Christians

The church of Smyrna represents the Christians in the post-apostolic era after the apostles died. It is interesting that when the apostles died, the church then became purified. When the apostles were living, they lost their love. After the apostles died, however, the church began to be persecuted by the Romans, and they were persecuted by the Jewish church. Most were poor in this world’s goods, and they had no prophets among them, no apostles—they all had died. The church was scattered, beaten, and cast to the lions, but they remained true and faithful. Most of them died a martyr’s death.

“Paganism foresaw that should the gospel triumph, her temples and altars would be swept away; therefore she summoned her forces to destroy Christianity. The fires of persecution were kindled. Christians were stripped of their possessions and driven from their homes. . . .

“Christians were falsely accused of the most dreadful crimes and declared to be the cause of great calamities—famine, pestilence, and earthquake.” The Great Controversy, 39, 40. By the way, does that remind you of something that is going to happen in the last days?

During the time of trouble, soon to break upon us, “the great deceiver will persuade men that those who serve God are causing these evils.” Ibid., 590. They will turn to the Christians who are keeping the Sabbath, and they will say that it is because of them that they are receiving these judgments.

That was the experience of the church of Smyrna, and the church of Smyrna represents the 144,000 who come out of the Laodicean experience. The church of Smyrna came out of the Ephesus experience, and they were blamed for all these terrible calamities. “As they became the objects of popular hatred and suspicion, informers stood ready, for the sake of gain, to betray the innocent. They were condemned as rebels against the empire, as foes of religion, and pests to society. Great numbers were thrown to wild beasts or burned alive in the amphitheaters.” Ibid., 40. How terrible that must have been! “Some were crucified; others were covered with the skins of wild animals and thrust into the arena to be torn by dogs. Their punishment was often made the chief entertainment at public fetes. Vast multitudes assembled to enjoy the sight and greeted their dying agonies with laughter and applause.” Ibid. They represent those who will come out of a Laodicean experience as they came out of an Ephesus experience of no love.

Result of Persecution

Did this persecution destroy the Christians? Did it make them weaker? Revelation 2:10, 11 answers those questions: “Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw [some] of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.” The church before this time had lost their love, but persecution had revived it. You had to love God to be a Christian in those days. You had to love your neighbor to go witness to him, because he might turn you in to the authorities.

The fires of persecution, rather than destroy the church, purifies it. How sad that we have to have persecution to be purified. It would be wonderful if we could be purified without it! In the last days, we are going to find that all of God’s counsels are going to go for naught until the persecutions come, and then the church will be purified. We are told we will be so sad that we did not do in times of ease and prosperity the things we could have done, because now we will have to do them with persecutions. (See Testimonies, vol. 5, 456, 457.)

Malachi 3:3, 4 says that in the last days, “He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver.” The church is not going to remain in a Laodicean condition. It is going to be purged and purified, “that they may offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasant to the Lord, as in the days of old, as in former days.” Daniel 12:10, speaking of the last days, says, “Many shall be purified, made white, and refined.” They will be purified and made white through trial. The more the church is persecuted, the stronger the church becomes.

Satan Plants Banner

Satan saw that he was losing the battle, so he had a council and came up with a new tactic, which brought about the end of the church of Smyrna. The Bible then goes into a different church, Pergamos, which we will study next month, but here is the tactic that Satan came up with to destroy the church, or Smyrna: “In vain were Satan’s efforts to destroy the church of Christ by violence. . . . The gospel continued to spread and the number of its adherents to increase. . . .

“Satan therefore laid his plans to war more successfully against the government of God by planting his banner in the Christian church. . . .

“The great adversary now endeavored to gain by artifice what he had failed to secure by force. Persecution ceased, and in its stead were substituted the dangerous allurements of temporal prosperity and worldly honor.” The Great Controversy, 41, 42. Satan’s representatives enticed the Christians, telling them that they would not call them a cult anymore, if they would just modify some of their theological understandings. If the Christians would give a little and Satan’s representatives would give a little, they could become one happy family.

It was during this time that Constantine decided that he was not gaining anything with the Christians, and he needed a united army. He marched his whole army through the river and then declared they were all baptized Christians—even the pagans! He permitted them to continue meeting on Sunday as the pagans always had, figuring that Sunday, instead of being the day of the sun, S-U-N, would now become the day of the Son, S-O-N, commemorating His resurrection. The idols that the pagans had been worshipping, representing Venus and Mars and Jupiter, now represented Peter and Mary and Jesus.

It became popular to be a Christian. Everyone could be a Christian in peace, but the church was in fearful peril. Prison, torture, fire and sword were blessings in comparison with this. As long as persecution continued, the church remained comparatively pure, but as persecution ceased, converts were added who were less sincere and devoted. The way was opened for Satan to obtain a foothold.

Dear friend, do not fear persecution. There is something much worse than persecution. It is Laodiceanism. That is what we need to fear—Phariseeism, legalism, work without love, Nicolaitanism. Smyrna was the opposite of Laodicea. Smyrna was persecuted but pure. Laodicea was at ease, but it was not pure. Smyrna was stripped of worldly goods, but they were rich. Laodicea was invested with worldly goods, but they were poor. Smyrna was perishing, but God said, “You will live.” Laodicea was living, but God said, “I will spew you out of My mouth.” Thus Smyrna is the opposite of Laodicea, but not only is it the opposite, it is also the cure for Laodicea.

Purge Unconverted

In Testimonies, vol. 4, 89, we read that, “Prosperity multiplies a mass of professors. Adversity purges them out of the church.” I want you to notice something, however, lest anyone should misinterpret the Scriptures. Adversity and persecution do not convert the unconverted; they merely purge them out of the church. Anyone who is waiting for a time of trouble and persecution to be converted is going to be sadly disappointed.

“Let opposition arise, let bigotry and intolerance again bear sway, let persecution be kindled, and the halfhearted and hypocritical will” not be converted. The Great Controversy, 602. Now, I added those last few words, but let me paraphrase what Mrs. White says. Those who are already converted will become more converted, but those who were not converted will find themselves, like the five foolish virgins, outside the door. They will say, “Oh, Lord.” He will say, “I am sorry; I never knew you.” (Matthew 25:11, 12.)

Dear friend, the time of trouble is coming. We find, in Daniel 12:1, that a time of trouble is coming on this world before Jesus comes such as has never been since there was a nation. That time of trouble is going to include persecution such as happened with Smyrna. It is nothing to fear, unless we are not ready today. In fact, we are told that whenever we live godly, there will be persecution. (See The Acts of the Apostles, 576.) Evidently, the only reason there is not persecution today is because we are not living godly. “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” 11 Timothy 3:12.

Do we think that Satan does not have enough control of the world today that he could bring persecution if he so desired? He does not want to bring persecution right now. He does not want to wake up anyone. He is doing just fine the way things are. Let them sleep on in peace and prosperity and riches. We have not excited the wrath of Satan. He is happy with the way we are.

Fidelity Under Trial

Smyrna is an example of fidelity under trial. They were the purified remnant that came out of the church of Ephesus. They were a type of the 144,000 who will be a purified remnant that come out of the Laodicean condition. The people of Smyrna still had to overcome. Persecution did not do the overcoming; it merely showed what was inside and helped refine and polish them. They still had to overcome.

At the beginning of this article we read, in 1 Corinthians 13:3, that even if we give our bodies to be burned, and give all our goods to feed the poor, if we do not overcome selfishness and develop the love of Jesus, none of that will do us any good. In Revelation 2:11, we read the words spoken to the people of Smyrna in whom God found no fault, as far as was recorded. Nevertheless, He says, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.” They still had to overcome. Persecution does not make the lukewarm righteous. It did not make the people of Ephesus have love, but it did polish those who were living up to all the light they had, and that is what the time of trouble will do for the Christians in the last days.

In Maranatha, 273, we are told that “the time of trouble is the crucible that is to bring out Christ-like characters.” A crucible is a boiling pot where silver is refined, for example, and where the impurities come to the top and are strained out of the silver. So it is when troubles come, when those things that should not be in our characters are revealed, we can then take them out of our characters, and God can purify us. Those that go through to the end and are translated must go through the experience of Smyrna, because there is coming another time like that which existed on the earth in the days of Smyrna.

Preparation Time

Today, God is getting us ready for that time of trouble. How does He do it? By giving us little troubles today with which we can practice. The Ministry of Healing, 481, says, “The faithful discharge of today’s duties is the best preparation for tomorrow’s trials.” How do we prepare for tomorrow? If we keep up with the trials today, we will probably have plenty to do. But that is all we have to do, because if we do that, we will be ready for tomorrow. This is why we are told, in James 1:2–4, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have [its] perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” Verse 12 says, “Blessed [is] the man who endures temptation; for when he has been proved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.” God is faithful. He will never permit anything to come to us for which He has not at least tried to prepare us and for which He has prepared us, if we will endure the trials of today. That is all we have to do.

We look at the trials today and at times they get us down, but if we realize that all we have to do to make it through the time of trouble and get to heaven is to survive cheerfully the trials that come today, with God’s help, we can do that. God has promised to give us strength for today. Dear friend, if we will just keep up with the trials and troubles of today, we will have strength to handle the ones tomorrow. If we will conquer the temptations of today, we will be ready to master the troubles of tomorrow. But if we do not conquer the troubles of today, we will not be ready for the trials of tomorrow.

Jeremiah 12:5 says, “If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses? And [if] in the land of peace, [in which] you trusted, [they wearied you,] then how will you do in the floodplain of the Jordan?” It is to us God speaks these closing words. It is to us, those who are going to make up the 144,000, those that come out of their Laodicean condition, that God speaks. “Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw [some] of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.” Revelation 2:10, 11.

Dear friends, our privilege is even greater than was the privilege of the Smyrnans, for they who endure the trials of the last days will not even suffer the first death. They will be translated. They will not even be hurt by the first death, for we are told, in 1 Thessalonians 4:17: “Then we who are alive [and] remain shall be caught up together with them”—those from Smyrna and all the other righteous people who have ever lived—“in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.”

The message to the church of Smyrna is, “Be thou faithful even in trial.”

To be continued . . .

Pastor Marshall Grosboll, with his wife Lillian, founded Steps to Life. In July 1991, Pastor Marshall and his family met with tragedy as they were returning home from a camp meeting in Washington state, when the airplane he was piloting went down, killing all on board.

If the Foundations be Destroyed, Part I

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In Amos 4:12, we are told to “prepare to meet thy God.” Are we prepared to meet Jesus? Are we ready for probation to close? In this article, the foundation will be laid for Part II, in which the subject of the image to the beast will be presented. We will discover how near is the close of human probation. There is coming a time when our sins will either be blotted out of the book of life or will remain there as a witness that we are guilty against the government of heaven. That very subject should be uppermost in our minds as we prepare to meet Jesus.

Psalm 11:3 asks, “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” If the foundations are being destroyed in a country or in a church, what should the righteous do? There is only one thing to do! We must stick to the original foundation. We must not get off that foundation. We must not leave it!

Paul, in 1 Corinthians 3:10, 11, says: “According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” There is no other foundation; there is only One. There are not many foundations upon which we can build; there is only One. If the foundations are being destroyed, Jeremiah 6:16 counsels, “Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where [is] the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.”

A Different Foundation

Since the beginning of earth’s history, the devil has constantly been trying to lay a different foundation. Think back to the Garden of Eden. The devil tried to lay a different foundation than that which had been laid through God. Knowing that God had told Adam and Eve that if they ate of this one special tree they would die, the devil laid another foundation. He said, “You shall not surely die.” Genesis 3:4. The devil has been constantly, from generation to generation, trying to lay a different foundation than that which has been laid in God’s Word.

Luke 19:41, speaking of Jesus, says, “And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, Saying, ‘If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things [which belong] unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.’ ” The Jews did not understand the time of their visitation. Have you asked yourself why they did not know?

The Rejected Foundation

A foundation was laid in Daniel 9:24–27, and God gave a probationary time to the Jewish nation. “God first sent His prophets to ancient Israel, but their message was not heeded, and as a last resort He sent His Son . . . .” Manuscript Releases, vol. 3, 94. God had been sending prophet after prophet to keep His people on the foundation. As a last resort, at the end of the 490-year period of Daniel 9, Jesus came to His people Himself to show them the foundation platform that they should be on, because they had left it. Jesus told them that they did not know the time of their visitation. Should this be a warning to us also? Should we be asking ourselves whether or not we know that the time of our visitation is near?

Why did the Jews not know the time of their visitation? They had started laying a different foundation. All of those lambs that they were killing pointed to Jesus, the Lamb of God, but they had started laying a different foundation that became a very lucrative business for them. Did the Jews understand salvation? No, they did not understand the principles of salvation through Christ.

Misapplied Prophecy

In The Desire of Ages, Ellen White says that the Jews misapplied prophecy. They were taking the prophecies of Jesus’ Second Coming and applying them to His first coming. (See, for example, pages 30, 387, and 458.) They were taking prophecies of His glorious coming and the conquering of all enemies and applying them to His first coming. The devil laid a different foundation there, did he not? So, when Jesus came and walked among them, they said that He could not be the Messiah, because what they had studied did not fit the description of what they could see with their eyes.

Ought we be careful as to how we study prophecy? Do you suppose we could fall into the same trap as the Jews did? You better believe it! We better be careful that we do not become like the Jews and become so dogmatic in our understanding of prophecy that we think our understanding is the way it has to happen. We could walk into the same trap as did the Jews of old.

When Jesus came, He told them that they did not know the time of their visitation. Their probationary period was about to close, and they did not even realize it. The temple upon which they had put so much emphasis was about to be destroyed, and they did not even know it. They laid a different foundation.

So, if the foundation be destroyed, what are the righteous supposed to do? They are to stick with the foundation that has already been laid. Do not move off that foundation. Ask for the old paths. “The trials of the children of Israel, and their attitude just before the first coming of Christ, have been presented before me [Ellen White] again and again to illustrate the position of the people of God in their experience before the second coming of Christ . . . .” Selected Messages, Book 1, 406.

History Repeated

Do you suppose the devil would like to lay a different foundation for Seventh-day Adventists today, so that we would repeat what happened to the Jews in the time of Christ? His tactics worked then. Things that work in this world we continue to repeat, do we not? It is the same thing with the devil today. His foundation caused a whole nation to go down in ruin, and the devil would like to see that happen again today.

How the enemy sought every occasion to take control of the minds of the Jews! He was successful in taking control of the minds of the Jews through false prophets, false doctrines, and false prophecies; he laid a different foundation. He controlled their minds by misapplying Scripture.

Today, the devil is seeking to blind the minds of God’s servants that they might not be able to discern the precious truth. God is telling us, through His prophet, that the devil is going to try to lay a different foundation for you and me. We will now see that the devil is indeed trying to lay a different foundation, but we should not be pointing fingers at anyone or any church. We need to point to ourselves to make sure that we are on the firm and true foundation.

General Departure

In the May 2, 2002, Adventist Review, an article was published that sanctioned Sunday worship. It reads, at the end of the article, “There’s no question that the seventh day is holy time. But when you’re hungering for something more, there’s nothing wrong with worshiping on Sunday too.” Kay Kuzma, “Challenges and Changes,” 14. Do you suppose the devil would like to lay a different foundation here?

The author continued, “Just don’t give up one for the other. Plus, it’s a great way to witness to others about the Bible truth you’ve found.” Is that not a keen way of witnessing, going and worshiping on Sunday? Is that how we are supposed to witness? Absolutely not! Do you suppose the devil is trying to lay a different foundation here?

An article was published in The Signs of the Times, June 1999, about who the antichrist is. Is the devil trying to get Seventh-day Adventists off the foundation of who the antichrist is? In this article, the writer is following the line and the thinking of evangelical Christians today that the antichrist is going to arise in the future during the seven-year tribulation.

The Signs of the Times has, for years, been the witnessing missionary magazine of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. I was pretty excited when I found this article, because when I looked at the front cover of the issue in which it appeared, I said to myself, “They are going to expose who the antichrist is in this witnessing magazine!” But as I started reading, my mind became confused, because the article did not agree with the Bible and with what I had been reading and studying.

In one part, the author says that the antichrist teaching is only a New Testament teaching. When I read that, I said, “Wait a minute! What have I read in Daniel 7?” As I continued reading through the article, I had the feeling that something was wrong.

Something is desperately wrong with what is being taught in this magazine. The devil is trying to lay a different foundation from what has already been laid in the Word of God and in the Spirit of Prophecy.

As time progresses, we are going to see a general departure from the truth, from the foundation that has already been laid in the Bible and in the Spirit of Prophecy. To what is all of this leading? It is leading to the image of the beast. As Christians today have misapplied Scripture in applying the antichrist to the future, they are going to accept the mark of the beast, and they are not going to know it, just as the Jews were unaware that they were about to be destroyed and have probation close on them. This teaching is going to do the same to Seventh-day Adventists as it will do to all other Christians. This is what the devil is trying to lead people to do.

Only a Part

Let us go back in history and study this image to the beast, so we may understand just how close we are. The following statement was written by Ellen White: “It was apostasy . . .”; what is apostasy? It is a rejection of the truth. It is what Paul calls a falling away; when you turn your back on the truth. When you turn your back on the truth, you accept something false in its place. You fall off the foundation. “It was apostasy that led the early church to seek the aid of the civil government, and this prepared the way for the development of the papacy—the beast. Said Paul: ‘There’ shall ‘come a falling away, . . . and that man of sin be revealed.’ 11 Thessalonians 2:3. So apostasy in the church will prepare the way for the image to the beast.” The Great Controversy, 443, 444.

So, “apostasy in the church will prepare the way for the image to the beast.” As the church departs from the truth and turns its back on it, it accepts false teachings. This is what prepares the way for the image to the beast. I want you to remember that even at that early time, Paul saw “creeping into the church, errors that would prepare the way for the development of the papacy.” The Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 4, 51. At that time, idolaters were led to receive a part of the Christian faith. Is a part good enough?

I have been studying with some people who were once a part of the Seventh-day Adventist denomination, but they fell away and became Pentecostal. At the time they became Seventh-day Adventists, the pastor with whom they were studying led them to receive a part of the gospel message. After they were baptized, the church put them into a teaching position. Then, further truth, which had not been presented to them before, was sprung on them. As a result, they became so discouraged that they left the church and became Pentecostals. You see, it is not enough for us to teach a part of the Seventh-day Adventist message. We must teach it all or not teach it at all. We must not be ashamed of the truths that we know.

A brother recently came into the Seventh-day Adventist Church through a prophecy seminar that was held in Vancouver, Washington. He was so excited! He began to read Ellen White’s books and started sharing with the other members of the church what he was reading in her writings, but the brethren in the church he was attending told him, “Do not talk about those things here.”

He questioned this, asking, “Is this not the prophet of your church?”

They replied, “Well, yes, but we do not talk about it, and we do not read from her writings from the pulpit.”

When the new brother asked, “Why not?” the answer was given, “She was a prophet for her time; she is not a prophet for now.” He soon left that church and began attending a Sunday-keeping church. It is not enough to have and believe just a part of the message. We cannot be ashamed of anything that we believe.

It does not matter whether or not the Mormons and the Jehovah’s Witnesses say that they have prophets; their prophets are counterfeits. We have a prophet, and she is a true prophet. We are not to be ashamed that she is a true prophet. Now, that is easy for us as Seventh-day Adventists talking about Ellen White to say among ourselves, but state that in an evangelistic series and see what happens. If we start telling others about Ellen White, the point will come that she is the best thing that the church could ever have. Do not ever be ashamed of her writings; they are essential.

Concessions

“Idolaters were led to receive a part of the Christian faith, while they rejected other essential truths. They professed to accept Jesus as the Son of God and to believe in His death and resurrection, but they had no conviction of sin and felt no need of repentance or of a change of heart. With some concessions on their part they proposed that Christians should make concessions, that all might unite on the platform of belief in Christ.” The Great Controversy, 42.

So the idolaters were led to receive a part of the Christian faith while they rejected other parts. They amalgamated together, and those things that the pagans would not accept, the Christians left off. As the Christians left the foundation of truth, they accepted fables and false doctrines. It was proposed that Christians should make concessions. In other words, they were to capitulate on what they believed; they were to compromise that all might unite on a platform or foundation of belief in Jesus. Sounds good, does it not? But Jesus has some specific teachings. Doctrines are important.

However, the pagans said, “Let us join together and unite on a platform of belief in Jesus.” As good as that may sound, it is not enough. We must accept the teachings of Jesus, and that is what the Jews did not do. Their probationary period was fast closing in around them, and they did not know it.

As we continue in this study, we will come to see how close we are to the image to the beast and the close of human probation.

To be continued . . .

Pastor Mike Bauler serves as pastor of the Historic Message Church in Portland, Oregon. He may be contacted by e-mail at: mbauler@earthlink.net.

If the Foundations be Destroyed, Part II

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The Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy give us important information to let us know how near we really are to the close of human probation. As we continue this study, I encourage you to continually ask yourself, Am I ready for Jesus to come?

Coming Storm

This portion of the study will begin with Revelation 13. This chapter should be extremely familiar to each one of us, so this should just be a review of what the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy tell us about this chapter and what is happening right now. We are told that a storm is coming that is relentless in its fury, and that it is going to burst upon both Seventh-day Adventists and those in the world alike, as an overwhelming surprise.

To make sure that we are all on the same page, before we begin this study, look first at verses 1 and 2: “Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like [the feet of] a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority.” About whom is this speaking? It is the papacy. The leopard-like beast is the papacy. It is the first beast of Revelation 13.

Eight Identifiers

Now, read verse 11, in which eight identifying marks of a second power are given: “Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon.” Take a closer look at the identifying marks: (1) “Then,” meaning another power, or another nation, was arising at that time when the papacy received a deadly wound in 1798. (2) It is “another beast.” Remember that a beast in Bible prophecy is a nation or a power. (3) Not so readily identified is the mark of “coming up.” This is translated from the Greek word anabaino, which means, “to spring up like a plant.” Here is a nation that is growing into power. Unlike the other nations that conquered through war, it is coming up out of the earth. (4) The “earth” represents a sparsely populated area. The first beast (verses 1, 2) came up out of the sea, which represents people, multitudes, tongues, and nations. (See Revelation 17:15.) This “lamb” represents the United States of America. (See The Great Controversy, 440.) (5) And then the text says that this beast had “two horns.” These represent Republicanism and Protestantism. (See The Great Controversy, 441.) (6) This beast is “like a lamb.” The word lamb is used 27 times in the Book of Revelation, and 26 of those times it is used as a symbol for Jesus. In this text, it represents a Christ-like nation. (7) And, it says, “he spake.” How does a nation speak? It speaks through its legislation. (8) Then it is described as being “like a dragon.” From Revelation 12:9 and 20:2, we know that a dragon represents Satan! The two horns of this beast are going to speak like a dragon!

Exercise All Power

Laws are going to be framed in the United States to restrict liberty of conscience. We are told, in verse 12, that he, the lamb-like beast with two horns—Republicanism and Protestantism—shall exercise all the power of the first beast—the papacy, the leopard-like beast. And, this passage continues, “[he] causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he does great wonders, so that he 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.” Verses 12–14.

“An image” could be stated as “a likeness to.” It would be correct terminology to state that this beast, this image, is a likeness to the papacy. In other words, we are going to see the two horns, Republicanism and Protestantism, unite as they did in the Dark Ages, when the state gained control of the church and restricted religious freedom.

“And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak” through its laws, “and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.” Verse 15.

In 1780, Benjamin Franklin said, “When a religion is good, I conceive that it will support itself; and, when it cannot support itself, and God does not take care to support, so that its professors are obliged to call for the help of the civil power, it is a sign, I apprehend, of its being a bad one.” “Benjamin Franklin on Religion,” http://www.worldpolicy.org/.

Apostasy

Let us look at this image to the beast for a moment. Ellen White wrote: “It was apostasy that led the early church to seek the aid of the civil government, and this prepared the way for the development of the papacy—the beast. Said Paul: ‘There’ shall ‘come a falling away, . . . and that man of sin be revealed.’ 11 Thessalonians 2:3.” The Great Controversy, 443, 444. What is apostasy? It is when you turn your back on the truth. What do you accept when you turn your back on the truth? Error! This is what led the early church to seek the aid of the civil government, and it prepared the way for the development of the papacy, the beast.

When the church turns its back upon the truth, that means it is going to prepare the way for the image to the beast, and the image is going to speak “and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.”

Continuing from The Great Controversy, 443, we read: “But what is the ‘image to the beast’? and how is it to be formed? The image is made by the two-horned beast, and is an image to the beast. It is also called an image of the beast. Then to learn what the image is like and how it is to be formed we must study the characteristics of the beast itself—the papacy.

“When the early church became corrupted by departing from the simplicity of the gospel and accepting heathen rites and customs, she lost the Spirit and power of God; and in order to control the consciences of the people, she sought the support of the secular power.”

Did you take notice of what happens as a church departs from truth? It apostatizes, and it turns its back on truth and accepts error and fables in its stead. It loses the Spirit and power of God.

Lawlessness

If the early church would have remained faithful to God, the whole world could have been converted. But as a result of the church backing away from the truth, she lost the Spirit and power of God and the power to convert souls. The church lost the power to go out and preach, as did Peter on the day of Pentecost, when 3,000 souls were added to the number of believers. (Acts 2:38–41.) She lost that power, and any church that follows in that same path today will lose the power and Spirit of God. What, then, shall prevail in society? Lawlessness!

Just as Jesus said, iniquity, or lawlessness, shall abound. (See Matthew 24:11, 12.) We have been hearing from pulpits all around the land that the law has been done away. What do we expect to happen to society when the law has been done away? Lawlessness! That is the inevitable result of such preaching.

“The result was the papacy, a church that controlled the power of the state and employed it to further her own ends, especially for the punishment of ‘heresy.’ ” Ibid. That is a doctrine not sanctioned by the church.

“The ‘image to the beast’ represents that form of apostate Protestantism which will be developed when the Protestant churches shall seek the aid of the civil power for the enforcement of their dogmas.” Ibid., 445. Is this becoming increasingly clear? We see those two horns coming together; church and state shall unite.

Common Points

Over a hundred years ago, Ellen White penned: “The wide diversity of belief in the Protestant churches is regarded by many as decisive proof that no effort to secure a forced uniformity can ever be made. But there has been for years, in churches of the Protestant faith, a strong and growing sentiment in favor of a union based upon common points of doctrine. To secure such a union, the discussion of subjects upon which all were not agreed—however important they might be from a Bible standpoint—must necessarily be waived.” Ibid., 444.

What is going to happen in the United States? Churches are going to unite on common points of doctrine and on those things that are not important; those doctrines that are not essential, they say, have to be waived.

Notice this: “When this shall be gained, then, in the effort to secure complete uniformity, it will be only a step to the resort to force.” Ibid., 445. Do you know how close we are to this right now? I believe that God is holding this wind back for just a little while longer, and He is allowing it to happen in little, tiny increments, because He sees that we are not ready.

We are not ready! We are not prepared for what is going to come upon this earth, especially in the United States.

“When the leading churches of the United States, uniting upon such points of doctrine as are held by them in common, shall influence the state to enforce their decrees and to sustain their institutions, then Protestant America will have formed an image of the Roman hierarchy, and the infliction of civil penalties upon dissenters will inevitably result.” Ibid., 445.

Is this happening today? Are churches uniting today? Friend, what are we still doing? If we know this, what are we doing right now to prepare for this crisis? Ellen White wrote about it over a hundred years ago, and we are still here today! This unification has been happening, increments at a time. It has been happening, and Seventh-day Adventists have not been aware of it.

Catholic Ascendancy

In 1963, the July 25 issue of Catholic News quoted from a former Catholic priest: “There is, ere long, to be a state religion in this country, and that state religion is to be the Roman Catholic. . . . The Roman Catholic is to wield his vote for the purpose of securing Catholic ascendancy in this country.” Frank Hecker, Catholic World, July 1870.

What do you suppose it is today? In 1964, Cardinal Richard Cushing, the renowned archbishop of Boston, Massachusetts, shook up the Catholic Church by praising Billy Graham! He encouraged Catholics to hear the evangelist. Cushing remarked that he would stop worrying about the Catholic Church’s future in America if they had half a dozen men like Graham. (Billy Graham, “We Are Brothers,” “A Christianity Today editorial,” Christianity Today, June 2005, http://www.ctlibrary.com/ct/2005/june/17.28.html, posted May 24, 2005.)

Catholic and evangelical efforts towards fellowship have largely followed the Cushing-Graham model in unofficial individual and sporadic meetings. For this reason, Pope John Paul’s encyclical letter, in which he stated, “ . . . that they may be one,” is so important. Released in 1995, this teaching fueled the ecumenical movement and started at the second Vatican Council by inviting debate about Catholic doctrine. The document acknowledges for the first time in papal history that the Vatican authority hinders cooperation between such church traditions. (Graham, Christianity Today, June 2005.)

Do you realize that as far back as the 1960s Billy Graham never had a crusade without Catholic priests and nuns present in his audience? And whenever he made his famous altar calls, he would have every single card completed by those individuals who came forward given to the priests and the nuns. (Dr. Cathy Burns, Billy Graham and His Friends: A Hidden Agenda? Sharing, November 2001, 35.)

Billy Graham had never met a pope until John Paul II invited him to Rome in 1981. Ushered into the papal apartments by the Vatican’s swift guards, Graham marveled at the pomp. He and the Pope chatted like long lost friends for 30 minutes, swapping photos, gifts, and travel stories. Before Graham left, John Paul II reached over and clutched Graham’s thumb, and told him, “We are brothers.” Graham revealed nothing of the Pope’s message in 1981. At the time of their meeting, John Paul II had been pope for less than three years. An assertion of spiritual kinship would have been ill received by the bulk of their constituencies, both Catholic and Protestant, but by 1990, when Graham related this story to Time magazine journalist David Akman, the climate had changed considerably. Key to the thaw was John Paul II’s effort to beat back Communism worldwide. He became the hero of freedom. (Graham, Christianity Today, June 2005.)

From what we have read, as given in the Spirit of Prophecy, and from what has been given in the previous paragraphs, does the papacy ever change? No, she shall never change! She is the same despotic, cruel, persecuting power that she was during the Dark Ages. She is only waiting to spring into power.

Moral Relativism

The late Pope John Paul II has been lionized in evangelical eulogies and lauded by the United States President, George W. Bush, as a humble, wise, and fearless priest who became one of history’s greatest moral leaders and a hero for the ages. Why the sudden change? John Paul II offered a winsome face of Christianity to the world and leaves behind a Roman Catholic Church firmly opposed to moral relativism.

You may read more about this at the following web sites:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0504/02/bn.04.html.

Allow me to interject a thought here from the Spirit of Prophecy: “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.” The Great Controversy, 571.

Graham, in his June 2005 Christianity Today editorial, stated, “He [Pope John Paul II] reinforced the Second Vatican Council’s commitment to seek renewal in the sources of classic Christianity, Scripture, and the church fathers. And while significant differences remain, examples include ecclesiastical authority, the means of grace, and the relationship of justification through sanctification. Evangelicals can confidently engage a Catholic Church committed to fundamental truths.” Are they committed to the truths of God’s Word? This is not what I read!

The ECT

Evangelicals and Catholics Together (ECT) is a group comprised equally of Evangelicals and Catholics—40 altogether. If I named the members, you would recognize every single one. In one of its documents, “The Christian Mission In The Third Millennium,” it is shown what these Catholics and Evangelicals agreed upon when they met together. You may read the complete 25-page document on the Internet.

Upon what did the Spirit of Prophecy say Protestants and Catholics are going to unite? “Common points of doctrine,” and when this uniformity is secure, what is going to happen? “When this shall be gained, then, in the effort to secure complete uniformity, it will be only a step to the resort to force.”

Following are some of the points upon which the ECT agreed:

Number One: Jesus Christ is Lord. Do you suppose that Catholics and Protestants can agree upon that? Can they agree upon it when Catholics call the pope, “the Lord God” upon earth?

Number Two: Salvation is only in Christ. Can Catholics and Protestants agree upon those two things? From what I read, the Catholic gains his grace through the Mass, not through Christ.

Number Three: All who accept Jesus are brothers. “Evangelicals and Catholics are brothers and sisters in Christ.”

Ellen White wrote: “The Christian world has sanctioned his [the papacy] efforts by adopting this child of the papacy,—the Sunday institution. They have nourished it, and will continue to nourish it, until Protestantism shall give the hand of fellowship to the Roman power. Then there will be a law against the Sabbath of God’s creation, and then it is that God ‘will do a strange work in the earth.’ ” Review and Herald, March 9, 1886.

Protestantism is giving that right hand of fellowship to the Roman power.

To be continued . . .

Pastor Mike Bauler serves as pastor of the Historic Message Church in Portland, Oregon. He may be contacted by e-mail at: mbauler@earthlink.net.

If the Foundations be Destroyed, Part III

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In this article, we will study the departure from truth, especially about the coming of the antichrist and how it has come into the ranks of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. You may think that it could never happen, but it is happening, and the devil is preparing Seventh-day Adventists to take the mark of the beast, which is going to come upon those who have not overcome all sin. You see, you and I can know all these truths; we can know all doctrine and all theology, but unless we have overcome all sin, the devil will overcome us. We can know it all, but if we do not have victory in our lives, that means the devil has a foothold there. He can introduce subjects and doctrines of devils into our minds.

In Part I of this series [February 2006], we learned from Psalm 11:3 that if the foundations be destroyed, the righteous must stick to the original foundation. We must not get off that foundation or leave it. The apostle Paul warned the believers not to be laying any other foundation than that which had already been laid. (1 Corinthians 3:10, 11.)

Which Coming?

From The Signs of the Times, February 10, 1898, we read from Ellen White’s article, “Christ and the Pharisees,” that “The priests and elders made great professions of piety. They claimed to be looking eagerly for the promised Messiah, and apparently they were waiting with anxious expectancy for the call to the great supper, when they would immediately go in. They were proclaiming everywhere the great events that were to take place when the King of the Jews should come. They boasted constantly of how He was to conquer their enemies, and set up His own kingdom. But they applied to His first advent the prophecies relating to His second coming, and when He did come, they knew Him not.”

How successful was this deception? Do you realize that even the disciples were still asking Jesus when He was about to ascend into heaven, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” Acts 1:6. This thought had so permeated the minds of the people that many Jews perished. They did not know Him because they had applied the prophecies of His Second Coming to His first coming.

With such great former success, the devil has introduced the same thought within the Christian world today. This probably ranks as one of the top deceptions of the Christian age, along with Sunday keeping and spiritualism. This idea has been reversed by the devil by applying the prophecies of Jesus’ first coming to his Second Coming. How has he done this?

Second Coming Divided

Read Daniel 9:27: “. . . in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate.” This one week of prophecy that belongs to Jesus’ ministry has been applied to the seven years of an end time secret rapture, to the coming of antichrist, and to the glorious coming. Jesus’ Second Coming has been divided into two parts. It is believed that this antichrist is going to be a single individual who will come and stop the sacrificing in the temple that the Jews have made in Jerusalem and make a covenant with them. Have you ever wondered what Jews who have accepted Jesus and believe they are the 144,000 evangelists that are to go out and spread the gospel once again to the ones who did not accept it the first time would be doing sacrificing in a temple? The connections have not been made! So the prophecies that we are talking about here have been reversed by the devil.

Christian Edwardson wrote: “So great a hold did the conviction that the Papacy was the antichrist gain upon the minds of men, that Rome at last saw she must stir herself and try by putting forth other systems of interpretation to counteract the identification of the Papacy with the antichrist.” Christian Edwardson, Facts of Faith, Southern Publishing Association, Nashville, Tennessee, 1943, 201. This occurred during the time of the Council of Trent. This was called the counter-Reformation period. It was during the sixteenth century, at the height of the Reformation. The Catholic Church was losing many of its converts. It wanted to reverse this trend, so other systems of interpretation were introduced.

“Accordingly, towards the close of the century of the Reformation, two of her most learned doctors set themselves to the task. Each endeavoring by different means to accomplish the same end; namely, that of diverting men’s minds from perceiving the fulfillment of the prophecies of the antichrist in the papal system. The Jesuit Alcasar devoted himself to bringing into prominence the Preterist method of interpretation.” Ibid. That is, they believed that the antichrist arose before Jesus came or that it applied to Nero.

On the other hand, the Jesuit Ribera tried to set aside the application of these prophecies to the papal power by bringing out the futurist system, which asserts that these prophecies refer properly not to the career of the papacy but to that of some future supernatural individual. Note the words, “who is yet to appear and to continue in power for three and one-half years.” All of this comes from Daniel 9.

Thus, as Alfred says, that Jesuit Ribera, about 1850, may be regarded as the founder of the futurist system in modern times. It is a matter for deep regret that those Protestants who hold and advocate the futurist system at the present day are, for the most part, really playing into the hands of Rome in helping to screen the papacy from detection as the antichrist.

Futurism or Preterism

Has this been successful within Protestantism? Absolutely! Perhaps a brief study of history would be useful. Francisco Ribera founded the futurist system of the antichrist arising in the future. This has been the most successful one of all, as we just read. Alcazar had the preterist view, in which he applied the antichrist to Nero and some to Antiochus Epiphanies before the coming of Christ. Both of these prophecies were to accomplish the same end, and that was to divert the people from studying that the papacy was the antichrist. Both of these prophecies accomplished this, but the most widely believed was Ribera’s interpretation. The belief systems are called preterism and futurism, and they apply the last seven years of Daniel 9:27 to an end-time prophecy.

Many Christians today are looking into the future for some supernatural individual to arise and for a temple to be rebuilt. Then the antichrist will come and stop the sacrificing during the middle of the seven-year period, which applied to Christ. It is an abomination!

Toward the end of the 1700s, a Jesuit priest by the name of Manuel Lacunza wrote a book entitled The Coming of the Glorious Messiah. (Juan Josafat Ben-Ezra, Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, 2000.) He was from South America, so he wrote in Spanish under the pen name of Ben-Ezra.

Ellen White wrote about Lacunza as a person who began to search the Scriptures about the coming of Christ but did not have all the truth. “In South America, in the midst of barbarism and priest-craft, Lacunza, a Spaniard and a Jesuit, found his way to the Scriptures and thus received the truth of Christ’s speedy return. Impelled to give the warning, yet desiring to escape the censures of Rome, he published his views under the assumed name of ‘Rabbi Ben-Ezra,’ representing himself as a converted Jew. Lacunza lived in the eighteenth century, but it was about 1825 that his book, having found its way to London, was translated into the English language. Its publication served to deepen the interest already awakening in England in the subject of the second advent.” The Great Controversy, 363.

Future Antichrist

In this book, The Coming of the Glorious Messiah, Lacunza asserts that the antichrist is going to arise in the future. John Edward Irvin obtained a copy of Manuel Lacunza’s book in London and translated it. As he was translating it, he grasped this theory that the antichrist was going to arise in the future.

Following are some excerpts from the translation of the book. “That there shall be an antichrist and he shall be revealed and publicly declare toward the last times in that he shall commit in the world the greatest evils making formal war against Christ and all that pertains to him. These are three certain things of which no Christian can doubt.” Ben-Ezra, vol. I, Pt. II, Phenomenon III, 259.

Here is another excerpt: “According to all the signs given in the Holy Scriptures and others not equivocally offered to us by time which is want to be in the best interpreter of the prophecies the antichrist or the counter-Christ, with whom we stand threatened in the times immediate, upon the coming of the Lord is nothing but a moral body composed of innumerable individuals, divers in themselves but all morally united and animated with one common spirit and against the Lord and against his Christ.” Ibid., 260. Notice those words, it is “composed of innumerable individuals.”

Theories Accepted

Now, there are other people. For example, Margaret McDonald was a 15-year-old in John Edward Irvin’s church who started having visions of a secret rapture. She then started proclaiming that this secret rapture was going to happen and started studying John Edward Irvin’s books. John Darby then grasped Margaret McDonald’s visions and began publishing them and proclaiming about the antichrist arising in the future. Then Cyrus Schofield, who edited and annotated the Schofield Bible, included all the notes of Darby and McDonald in his edition of the Bible and introduced it into the Protestant theological seminaries, such as the Dallas Theological Seminary and the Moody Bible Institute.

By the early 1900s, people had already been introduced to these theories. Well-known theologians such as LaHaye and Jenkins attended these seminaries and grasped these theories. You perhaps recognize that LaHaye and Jenkins wrote the Left Behind book series that has sold more than 65 million copies. The theory propagated in their books is being permeated throughout all of Christendom, and now it has even come into the Seventh-day Adventist Church. There is no doubt that this teaching, which is pretty fundamental, is a fallacy.

Fallacy

Following are statements from an article entitled “Who is the Antichrist?” which appeared in the June 1999 issue of The Signs of the Times (Pacific Press Publishing Association, Nampa, Idaho). As you read through the statements, consider whether or not you detect anything wrong in the statements.

“Since the whole idea of antichrist comes out of the New Testament, it seems best to go to the Bible for the answer to our question.” What is wrong with that statement? Where in the Bible do we first discover mention of the antichrist? In the Old Testament, in Daniel 7! So there is something seriously wrong with this quote.

I was just a baby Christian when I started studying this subject, but when I began reading through this article, I was certain there was something wrong, because I had studied Daniel 7 where the antichrist is revealed. In fact, this chapter has more pertinent information that is not found anywhere else in the Bible, especially verse 25, where it says that he “shall intend to change times and law.”

Look at this next quote: “And he told us that the appearance of these false Christs will be a sign of the nearness of the Second Coming, making it clear that these antichrists will especially be an end-time phenomenon.” It is almost a mimic writing of what we read in Lacunza’s writings. Now, is this an end-time phenomenon?

A Historical View

How could you prove from the Bible that our understanding of the antichrist has already come, has been here, has ruled, and is with us today? Turn to Daniel 7. We may know these prophecies by heart, but the Bible says that we need to give an answer. We need to have a biblical reason for what we are doing, what we are saying, and what we are teaching.

In Daniel 7, there is something that is repeated three times, and when God repeats something, He most certainly is trying to make a point. Teachers use this method to teach their students; it is called repeat and enlarge. In Daniel 7, the little horn as the antichrist is described; then notice the pattern of repeating in verses 8, 20, and 24: “I was considering the horns, and there was another horn, a little one, coming up among them, before whom three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots. And there, in this horn, [were] eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words.” “And the ten horns that [were] on its head, and the other [horn] which came up, before which three fell, namely, that horn which had eyes and a mouth which spoke pompous words, whose appearance [was] greater than his fellows.” “The ten horns [are] ten kings [Who] shall arise from this kingdom. And another shall rise after them; He shall be different from the first [ones], And shall subdue three kings.” What is repeated in those texts? The three horns. What is so significant about those three horns? Those three horns tell exactly when the antichrist would arise! How do we know that?

What were the three horns? Well, the horns represent earthly powers or kingdoms. The first one to fall were the Heruli in a.d. 493; the second were the Vandals in a.d. 534; and, lastly, were the Ostrogoths in a.d. 538. You will certainly recognize the significance of the a.d. 538 date, as it marked the beginning of the 1260 year prophecy. That date is being attacked in Adventism today by theologians.

The a.d. 538 date also marked a very significant change in the papacy. I have read from several different sources that at that time the popes were no longer just men of the church, but were men of secular power. The popes were considered to be men of the state.

In 11 Thessalonians 2:3, 4, we are told: “Let no one deceive you by any means; for [that Day will not come] unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” This is the Papacy; is it not? This is what Paul predicted.

But, notice verse 7: “For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work.” To what time period does this refer? to the days of the apostles, to the pagan Roman Empire in Daniel 8. How are the pagan Roman Empire and the papal Roman Empire described in this chapter? They are described the same as in chapter 7, as a little horn. Both pagan and papal Rome are described as a little horn. It is the antichrist system, because the papal system is but Christianized paganism. That is all it is.

Paul says that the mystery of iniquity is already at work; “only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way.” Verse 7, last part. We know that is paganism. Paganism was taken away, and papal power took its place. It was just a transition. Many say that the papacy is baptized paganism.

Who/What is Antichrist?

Returning to the 1999 The Signs of the Times article, consider this quote: “And it is clear from the context of 11 Thessalonians 2:1-12 that Paul’s antichrist would appear just before the Second Coming of Jesus.” That is exactly what Lacunza and the Jesuit Priest Ribera had taught and introduced to Christendom today. Remember that the apostle Paul said, “Let no one deceive you by any means.” There has to come a falling away first.

Here is another quote: “However, Paul departs from Jesus and John in two important ways. First, his antichrist is a single individual¾a ‘lawless one.’ Second, Jesus and John’s antichrists were apostate Christians¾that is, ‘ordinary human beings.’ ” The Signs of the Times, June 1999. Is the antichrist a single individual or a system? It is the papal system, and each head of that system is the lawless one.

“As the storm [persecution] 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; and when the test is brought, they are prepared to choose the easy, popular side. 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 Sabbathkeepers 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.” The Great Controversy, 608.

Exposing the Papacy

Does the third angel’s message expose the papacy? It does. God warned us not to worship the image or the beast or receive his mark. Why is the devil introducing this into Adventism? Will it have the same effect that it had on Protestantism? People of today do not know who the antichrist is. I have asked Seventh-day Adventists to tell me who he is, and they tell me it is the devil. When the devil hears that, he surely laughs and cheers. He loves to be called the antichrist, because then the papacy is not detected.

So much pressure is going to come upon us. Those who continue to preach the gospel message are going to become so unpopular that many will succumb to the pressure. We will see an abandonment of all of these principles of Seventh-day Adventism all over the world. There are going to be only a few left proclaiming this truth.

Pray daily that we will be part of that group. Jesus has given us the commission to take the gospel, which includes exposing this antichrist system, to the entire world. May He help us to stand firm when those about us are abandoning the truth¾even His professed people. May we not succumb to any pressure, but stand firm and continue to proclaim these truths until probation closes.

To be continued . . .

Pastor Mike Bauler serves as pastor of the Historic Message Church in Portland, Oregon. He may be contacted by e-mail at: mbauler@earthlink.net.

If the Foundations be Destroyed, Part IV

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Our heavenly Father has told us that the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. The Bible further tells us that spiritual things are spiritually discerned and that the Holy Spirit teaches us. (See 1 Corinthians 2:14.) We should daily plead and ask that the Holy Spirit will be our divine teacher and watcher to guide our minds that we may have an answer for every man who asks of us for the reason of the hope we have. We should, as well, pray that God will help us to be on firm footing, so the devil will not be able to sweep our feet away by the winds of doctrine that are blowing around us.

Identifying Marks

One of the texts that is under attack today, and that is being denied, is Revelation 13:18. It is one of two texts in Revelation that calls for wisdom, the other being Revelation 17:9. Revelation 13:18 says, “Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number [is] Six hundred threescore [and] six.” We know that this number is an identifying mark of the papacy and especially of the pope himself, but it is only one of many.

Through a study of three Bible chapters (Revelation 13, 11 Thessalonians 2, and Daniel 7) I found 44 identifying marks of the papacy. There could be well over 100 identifying marks of the papacy given in the Bible, as my study did not include Daniel 8 and 11 or Revelation 17 and 18, but this text gives only one.

I do not think we should make a big issue about having numerous identifying marks, but I am always concerned when we start to compromise on what the founders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church have discovered. They laid a foundation, and we know from Psalm 11:3 that, “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” What should we do? What do we need to do? We need to stick with the original foundation. So, in this article, we will study Revelation 13:18 and this number of the beast.

A Parallel

Daniel 3 is a parallel to Revelation 13; an image is described in both chapters. Daniel 3 is a real, live illustration of what is going to happen to God’s people at the very end of time when the image to the beast is established. They are going to go through the same experience as did the three Hebrews.

You may wish to read Daniel 3 again to refresh your memory of how King Nebuchadnezzar set up an image, and all the world was commanded to worship the image. Your study of this chapter should reveal that the people were not just giving their homage to a statue; they were giving their allegiance to Nebuchadnezzar – the one who had set himself in the place of God and who wanted to be worshiped. It was not enough for Nebuchadnezzar to see everybody bow down; he wanted them to give him their allegiance. It is going to be the same way at the end of time.

Take notice of the first verse. It says, “Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height [was] threescore cubits, [and] the breadth thereof six cubits.” What is “threescore cubits”? It is sixty cubits. And then there is “six cubits.” Are you starting to see a pattern of sixes here? How many instruments were used in verse 5? There were six of them. Indeed we have a parallel between Daniel 3 and Revelation 13!

In Babylon, the number six was one of the favorites of the sun god. You will notice, in the figure on this page, that these amulets contain the triple sixes. Whichever way you add them, horizontally or vertically, they add up to 666.

Donation of Constantine

Let us trace the history of this number and how it entered into papal Rome. We know that the Catholic Church adopted all its practices out of paganism. Constantine, in the fourth century, gave the Pope a statute which bears an inscription that reads, in Latin, Vicarius Filii Dei. Today, it is still in the Vatican in Rome. The English translation of those words is, “The Vicar [or Representative] of the Son of God”; the actual full Latin of the inscription is “Vicarius Filii Dei on Earth.” The Donation of Constantine in the fourth century to the papacy of this title, which, by the way, was a forged document, was retained by the papacy for six centuries.

We will now follow the history of this throughout the Catholic Church’s own writings. The Donation of Constantine is the most famous forgery in European history. Its “original” was discovered in the Pseudo-Isadorian Decretals, which are now also recognized to be forgeries – a complete fabrication of Church history in the ninth century. Parts of the Donation of Constantine were later incorporated into most of the medieval collections of Catholic canon law. Did you take note of that? They were instituted into Catholic canon law.

For centuries, this forged document, the Donation of Constantine, was held to be genuine. The Catholic Church continued to use it for hundreds of years. As one example of Constantine’s Donation being incorporated into Catholic canon law, it was incorporated into Anselm’s Cardinal Deusdedsit’s in a.d. 1087 and into Johannes Gratian’s Decretum in a.d. 1148, also known as Concordia Discordantium Canonum. The Decretum was intended as a collection of everything that Gratian could find which could give historical precedent to the teaching of papal primacy, and therefore the authority of tradition, which could then carry the force of law in the Church. It had such success that it became the standard work of the law of the Roman Church and, thus, the basis of all canon law and Scholastic theology.

Gratian’s Decretum

“In this work [Gratian’s Decretum] the Isidorian forgeries were combined with those of the other Gregorian (Gregory VII) writers . . . and with Gratian’s own additions. His work displaced all the older collections of canon law, and became the manual and repertory, not for canonists only, but for the scholastic theologians, who, for the most part, derived all their knowledge of Fathers and Councils from it. No book has ever come near it in its influence in the Church, although there is scarcely another so chokeful of gross errors, both intentional and unintentional (Johann Joseph Ignaz von Döllinger, The Pope and the Council (Boston: Roberts, 1870), pp. 76−77, 79, 115−116).” William Webster, “Papal Forgeries,” <http://po67.ezboard.com/fthetruth11187frm2.showMessage?topicID=1028.topic> (May 18, 2007).

In his writings, Gratian stated that the blessed Peter in the earth is the Vicar of the Son of God, so the Church retained this. In the Catholic Encyclopedia, it states that Gratian is the true founder of the science of canon law. Popes who have claimed infallibility made some of the statements presented here. They would read through this man’s work (Gratian, founder of Catholic canon law) and would say that it was without flaw, and continued to use the forgery for centuries. Again Pope Pius V, appointed in a.d. 1566, commissioned to prepare a new edition of the Corpus Jurus, which is the Catholic canon law, and its gloss (comments of canonists). (See The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. VI, 392.)

It must be admitted that the work of Gratian was as near perfection as was then possible. For that reason, it was adopted at Bologna and soon elsewhere, as the textbook for the study of canon law. Today the Church will deny that this work was ever valid. They tell us that they are infallible, but Gratian’s words are still found in their encyclopedias, in their canon law, and in the Corpus Jurus.

Religion of Human Nature

Ellen White, the prophet of the Lord, sanctioned the book Daniel and Revelation (Uriah Smith, Pacific Publishing Association, 1897). She said that the book should be circulated throughout the world: “Daniel and Revelation, Great Controversy, Patriarchs and Prophets, and Desire of Ages should now go to the world. The grand instruction contained in Daniel and Revelation has been eagerly perused by many in Australia. This book has been the means of bringing many precious souls to a knowledge of the truth. Everything that can be done should be done to circulate Thoughts on Daniel and Revelation. I know of no other book that can take the place of this one. It is God’s helping hand.” The Publishing Ministry, 356. Uriah Smith’s book, Daniel and Revelation, was the first to be published containing the words Vicarius Felii Dei adding up to the number 666.

Before we look at some Seventh-day Adventist sources, I would like to show you a few things from other writings.

Lucius Ferraris, in about 1755, revised this canon law of the Catholic Church in his book, Prompta Bibliotheca. (Vol. VI, 43, col. 2, Rome, 1890.) He quotes from the Donation of Constantine, including the phrase Vicarius Felii Dei. On the fifth line of the original article, it says, “blessed Peter in the earth is the vicar of the Son of God – Vicarius Felii Dei.” This was later revised, and each one of the revisions also contains that same title within it as an official title of the pope. The revision in 1890 still contained the title, Vicarius Felii Dei.

In the February 19, 1894, issue of The Signs of the Times, an article written by Ellen White, entitled “Romanism the Religion of Human Nature,” was published. In part, it says, “Popery is a religion of human nature, and the mass of humanity love a doctrine that permits them to commit sin, and yet frees them from its consequences.” Popery is the religion of human nature!

The Bible says, in Revelation 13:18, “Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man.” It is a number of a man. That is why you read, in Daniel 7:8, that the fourth beast had eyes like the eyes of a man. In 11 Thessalonians 2:3, he is called the “man of sin.” So, I am convinced that the number 666, since it can be traced in many ways, does represent humanity, and I believe that is only a part of it.

The following quote is from a 1911 newspaper. I found it in newspaper achives.com, which contains 39 million copies of newspapers dating back to 1756. Wondering whether or not anyone else was talking about Vicarius Filii Dei, I did a search on this website. In the Sandusky Register (Sandusky, Ohio) of March 13, 1911, a Pastor Russell, a non-Adventist, was asked what the words on the pope’s triple mitre – Vicarius Filii Dei – mean. He answered from the Bible that those words are the pope’s official title and that they add up to the number 666, meaning he is the antichrist.

The Challenge

The story begins at Loma Linda University Hospital, Loma Linda, California, in 1941, where a night nurse was taking care of the General Conference Treasurer, J. L. Shaw. The nurse could tell one night that his patient was troubled, and when asked why he was so restless, he replied: “I am very worried. For many years we have been preaching that the Pope has the title Vicarius Filii Dei, which adds up to 666, and now we have been challenged officially by the Catholic Church to prove this allegation by producing not some Protestant testimony, but reliable Catholic sources.”

Then Elder Shaw told how it all started with Elder [Francis D.] Nichol, who had written an article in The Signs of the Times that stated that someone in Rome saw the title Vicarius Filii Dei on the Pope’s tiara. No sooner was this published, than Elder Nichol was challenged by an editor of a Jesuit paper (by letter and by editorial) who wrote that Adventists for years had maintained that the Pope had this undocumented title, and now the Catholic Church demanded proof be presented or we desist from preaching such preposterous assumptions. Elder Nichol, who was known as a great defender of the faith, did not take this challenge lightly. He immediately wrote to scholars around the world to share with him any information they might have on this subject. He received no response.

Eventually, it was put into the hands of a special General Conference committee. Francis Nichol was a member of a committee of many scholars who wrote the Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary. The committee had been working on this for a long time, but could not find any official paper from the Catholic Church stating that the pope’s official title was Vicarius Filii Dei. This night nurse decided that he was going to go to the General Conference and ask if he could help in this search. Upon receiving permission to join in the search, he commenced an exhaustive research in the religious deck of the Library of Congress.

Joined in the search by a fellow student from Washington Missionary College (now Columbia Union College), who spoke Italian, it was learned that some years previous to this time a minister in Huntington, Indiana, was able to get a photocopy of an article that appeared in the April 18, 1915, issue of Our Sunday Visitor (the largest Catholic weekly in America), which stated that the Pope’s tiara had the title Vicarius Filii Dei. When this information was presented to the General Conference Committee, they were informed that one of their influential members insisted that this source was unreliable, because in the very next issue of Our Sunday Visitor, the editor published a denial indicating that he was mistaken about what was mentioned in the previous issue regarding the Pope’s title. In order to check on this alleged denial, it was necessary to review the back copies of Our Sunday Visitor which were available only at the publishing house in Indiana.

So the night nurse, along with his college buddy, dressed in black suits and traveled to Huntington, Indiana. Arriving at the publishing house of the paper, their entrance was denied, as it was just closing for the weekend. However, they pleaded with the doorman and told him they were seminarians doing a research paper, and they needed some help. The doorman ushered them to the secretary to the editor, where they once again explained their situation. The secretary, noting that they were both Latino seminarians in black suits, took them to the vault where they were able to look through bound volumes of back issues of the publication only to discover that the particular volume for which they were searching was missing.

When asked about the missing volume, the secretary responded that there had been a lot of problems with that volume, so it was kept in a secret vault. They asked if she would allow them to look at that year’s volume, and she complied with their request. The secretary retrieved from the vault a stack of papers with this particular issue of interest being at the very top. By coincidence, the young man’s birth date was April 18, 1915, the date of the publication, and when he told the secretary, she said she would love to make his day by giving him the original copy of the publication.

The two young men returned to the General Conference with the original copy of Our Sunday Visitor that states, “The letters inscribed in the pope’s mitre are these: Vicarius Filii Dei which is the Latin Vicar of the Son of God.” (See http://biblelight.net/vicarious-filii-dei-documentation.htm.)

In the November 15, 1914, issue of Our Sunday Visitor, the following was printed in response to a reader’s question: “The title of the Pope of Rome is Vicarius Filii Dei. This is inscribed on his mitre; and if you take the letters of his title which represent Latin numerals and add them together, they come to 666.” The author, who repeated the claim later in 1915, withdrew it. Among the errors he said he made was to mix up tiaras.

Denials

Notice what was happening. The Catholic Church began to deny the fact that the statement was ever written. Though the magazine itself discussed the topic again in September 1917 and August 1941, it never denied the claim published in the 1915 article that the title appeared on the mitre. Critics of the Seventh-day Adventist’s interpretation of the comment have argued that if there was some secret Catholic title that it was denying, it would have been unlikely to publish the secret in a magazine widely read by peoples of all faiths.

So, first of all they said that there was a mix-up on the tiaras. Then they argued that if the question asked about papal tiaras was such a secret, why then would the present author have proceeded to answer a question he was not asked about supposedly secret mitres? When questioned, the magazine wrote to the Seventh-day Adventist Church to inform them that the contributing priest had gotten his facts wrong.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church no longer regards the magazine article as anything other than an error and no longer promotes belief in the claim that Vicarius Filii Dei is a papal title. The Seventh-day Adventist Church abandoned its quest for the evidence after years of searching; however, some minority groups within the church still hold onto the belief that such a tiara with a title existed. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vicarius_Filii_Dei.) Well, I believe such a tiara did exist.

Search Continued

Now, the two men who went to Our Sunday Visitor also went to the Jesuit University in Washington, D.C. Again, both dressed in black, as if they were from the seminary, and they said, “We need some help.” They were told that help would be given with whatever they needed. They then shared that they were doing a research paper and wanted to know if Vicarius Filii Dei was an official title of the pope. They were told that there was someone who could talk to them about it, and they were ushered into a man’s office who was an expert on canon law. The gentleman, a Monsignor, referred them to a man named Dr. Johannes Quasten, whom they could not see that day, but they were assured they would be called when he was available. A few days later they received the anticipated call and rushed to Dr. Quasten’s office, where they repeated the purpose of their visit their quest to learn whether or not the pope’s official title was Vicarius Filii Dei. Dr. Quasten responded verbally, but also, upon request, in writing. “Dr. Quasten pulled out his pen and in his own handwriting wrote on official Catholic University stationary the following: ‘The title Vicarius Christi, as well as the title Vicarius Filii Dei is very common as the title of the Pope’ and signed his name.” <http://biblelight.net/vicarius-filii-dei-documentation.htm> May 20, 2007.

Bible Commentary

These two young men went directly back to the General Conference Committee, got two notaries to sign it, seal it, and date it. These two men risked their lives to get that information in 1941. Because of the two strong evidences of support they secured, the Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary came out very strongly with the fact that Vicarius Filii Dei is the official title of the pope.

“This interpretation [that 666 stood for Vicarius Filii Dei, meaning ‘vicar of the Son of God,’ one of the titles for the pope of Rome] was based on the identification of the pope as the Antichrist, the historic Reformation concept. The principal exponent of this interpretation was Andreas Helwig (c. 1572-1643; See L. E. Froom, The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 2, pp. 605-608). Many since his day have adopted this interpretation. Inasmuch as this commentary identifies the beast as the papacy, it also accepts this view as being the best thus far presented, though recognizing that there may be more implied in the cryptogram than this interpretation provides.

“Regarding the title Vicarius Filii Dei, the Catholic journal Our Sunday Visitor, of April 18, 1915, reported in answer to a query, ‘What are the letters supposed to be in the Pope’s crown, and what do they signify, if anything?’ ‘The letters inscribed in the Pope’s mitre are these: Vicarius Filii Dei, which is the Latin for Vicar of the Son of God.’ . . . The issue of November 15, 1914, admitted that the Latin numerals added together total 666. . . . The Catholic Encyclopedia distinguishes between the mitre and the tiara by describing the tiara as a non-liturgical ornament and the mitre as one worn for liturgical functions. Whether the inscription Vicarius Filii Dei appears on the tiara or the mitre is really beside the point. The title is admittedly applied to the pope, and that is sufficient for the purposes of prophecy.” Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 7, 823, 824.

2002 Bible Study Guide

In the Seventh-day Adventist General Conference Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide for April, May, June 2002, Great Apocalyptic Prophecies, 85, 86, the following note is presented: “Vicarius Filii Dei (Vicar of the Son of God). Since the Reformation, this papal title has been used to calculate the number 666. But there are several questions that should make us cautious. First, it is not clear that this title is an official one.” As shown previously, this information was received from doctors of canon law. We have seen the evidence. “Second, there is no clear indication in Revelation 13 that the number is based on the numerical value of the letters of a name.” The Catholic Church supports that view, but we cannot! “The phrase ‘it is the number of a man’ (vs. 18, NIV) could be translated ‘it is the number of [humanity]’; that is, of humans separated from God. Third, those who insist in counting the numerical value of letters confront the problem of deciding which language will be used. Because the text does not identify any language, the selection of a particular one will be somewhat arbitrary. At the present time, the symbolism of intensified rebellion, six used three times, and total independence from God seem to be the best option. Time will reveal the full meaning of the symbol.” <www.ssnet.org/qrtrly/eng/02b/> May 20, 2007.

It should concern us that there is a compromise on these issues. What is next? Is a complete denial going to come out in one of the church’s publications? It is going to lead to an effect upon Protestants today; they are going to forget about history; they are going to forget what it means to be a real Protestant.

The Catholic Church, over the past few years, has made numerous pronouncements in defense of religious liberty. Does this truth affect in any way what Revelation 13 says? Does it impact how we witness regarding Rome? Does the Catholic Church love religious freedom? That is not what Revelation 13 tells us, nor is that what the Spirit of Prophecy tells us. The Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy tell us that the papacy never changes. It is the same cruel, despotic power that it was during the Dark Ages.

“Protestants are losing the mark of distinction that distinguished them from the world, and they are lessening the distance between themselves and the Roman power. They have turned away their ears from hearing the truth; they have been unwilling to accept light which God shed upon their pathway, and are therefore going into darkness. They speak with contempt of the idea that there will be a revival of the past cruel persecution on the part of Romanists and those who affiliate with them. They do not recognize the fact that the word of God fully predicts such a revival, and will not concede that the people of God in the last days shall suffer persecution . . . .” The Signs of the Times, February 19, 1894.

The Future

From Revelation 13:16, 17, we read: “And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.” We will not be able to buy or sell if we do not have those qualifications. In Nebuchadnazzer’s day, he not only wanted people to bow down, he wanted people to reverence him, to pay him homage. In the Dark Ages, when people were asked, “Do you accept the pope as the vicar of the Son of God on earth?” what would happen if they said, “No”? It was a death decree. I believe it is going to be the same today, because it says that we cannot buy or sell unless we have the mark or the name of the beast or the number of his name. “Vicar of the Son of God” means that the pope has absolute control over everything – governments and churches.

Ellen White tells us that, “Under one head – the papal power – the people will unite to oppose God in the person of His witnesses.” Testimonies, vol. 7, 182. A time will come when we will be required to give our allegiance to the pope. But, “I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, [and] over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.” Revelation 15:2. These are the people who will not accept that the pope is the ruler of the world.

Pope Benedict XVI has made an appeal to all churches to recognize him as the head of all churches, including Protestantism. (See http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/content/news_syndication/article_060612pope.shtml.) An appeal by the Pope to non-Catholic Christians to recognize papal primacy risks reinforcing divisions between churches, according to an Italian Protestant theologian. “Pope Benedict asserted that Jesus himself had entrusted the leadership of the Church to his apostle Peter.

“ ‘Peter’s responsibility thus consists of guaranteeing the communion with Christ,’ said Pope Benedict. ‘Let us pray so that the primacy of Peter, entrusted to poor human beings, may always be exercised in this original sense desired by the Lord, so that it will be increasingly recognised [sic] in its true meaning by brothers who are still not in communion with us.’ ” This is what the pope is calling for.

Do you want to recognize that the pope is the vicar, the one who takes the place of Christ on earth? The Bible tells us that there is only one head of the church, and that is Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 5:23.) If we are going to make it to the end, Jesus must be all in all in us.

Pastor Mike Bauler serves as pastor of the Historic Message Church in Portland, Oregon. He may be contacted by e-mail at: mbauler@earthlink.net.