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://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.