| Documents for Our Time |
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Twelve Great Facts About the Three Angels Messages
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Israel & Prophecy |
Overview of Revelation The First |
The Second The Third |
The Incredibly Good Gospel |
Introduction For a topic to be more easily understood, many times it helps to give a brief overview before the more detailed study is presented. For our topic we have twelve headlines which help us to get a handle on what the Bible teaches in the central chapters of the Book of Revelation.[5] Let us begin with the first point.
Therefore, the end time issues are not about the Middle-East, politics, wars, science. They are about the same issues we find already in Genesis. There we have Cain and Abel. Abel believed God and followed His instructions that only a blood sacrifice is able to forgive sins; Cain followed his own wisdom and logic and decided that offering vegetables was what he was going to present on the altar thus demonstrating that he disdained and opposed God's instructions. In the same way people are choosing today every day which side they want to belong to - the Lord's side or the wrong side. |
| Documents for Our Time |
| The First Angel's Everlasting Gospel |
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Introduction In this article we shall present the message in an easy to follow format made user friendly by the Old Testament background revealed in the Book of Revelation. This reliance on the Old Testament is of course a result of the OT being the only Bible for Jesus, the disciples and very early Christians. Not until the apostles wrote their gospels and epistles, came a New Testament about. [10] It fell upon the youngest of the 12 apostles, the Apostle John whose name is more correctly `Johannes,' to write the last book of the New Testament, "... the Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass ..." Rev. 1:1. When we study the book we should take into account that Revelation was written on the basis of prophetic visions John saw, ie. it was not written like his gospel and epistles, based on notes and recollection of his walk with Jesus as a disciple to the Saviour. That is why we find Jesus described as "the lamb" only in his gospel of John (Jh. 1:29,36) and in Revelation (Rev. 5:6 + 28 more times). We hold with many other historicists that Revelation, as a `prophetic' book is Jesus Christ spanning centuries, not days, months or years, as he shows His beloved disciple what must take place before He comes again the Second Time as King to end the reign of sin. Therefore, fulfillment of the prophecies contained in the book, if they superficially relate to events before the writing of the book in the mid 90's of AD when Domitian was emperor in Rome, are applicable to church history, the experience of the saints in the world up to and until the Coming of Christ in the clouds and heaven itself. When John uses the word "shortly" or `soon' we check how the Bible uses that word. What do we find? Revelation certainly contains references to events to take place in the not too distant future - things which must shortly come to pass, Rev. 22:6. Here is a list: Rev. 1:3 - "the time is at hand" When John wrote his prophetic book, the destruction of Jerusalem, its Temple, and the dispersion of the Jews, was a quarter century in the past [30]. Those days were not current news anymore. The reign of Domitian brought emperor worship starkly to the forefront and became for the first time a crucial issue for the Christians, in particular in Asia Minor, the area where the letters to the leaders of the seven churches were directed to. Emperor worship was known since at least the time of Alexander (b. 356-d. 323). When the Romans conquered the east, their generals and proconsuls were often idolized as deities. This is evident by the numerous temples to the goddess Roma, the personification of the spirit of the empire, built in many places. Such a temple was erected in 195 AD at Smyrna. In time the worship of Roma faded while that of the emperor rose. Rituals for the emperor were not easily distinguished from patriotic ceremonies, although the Senate did officially deify certain dead emperors, for example Gaius Gallus (37-41 AD) and Domitian (81-96). Christianity had no legal recognition by the Roman government, but even such a religion was not likely to be persecuted by the Romans unless they ran afoul of the law. Christianity did just that. Domitian zealously sought to establish his claim to deity in the minds of the people, and to force his subjects to worship him. Suetonius records that he issued a circular letter in the name of his procurators, beginning with the words, "Our Master and our God bids this to be done ..." [100] We should also note the Roman historian Dio [200] whose account throws some light on the times:
Although on first sight this passage seems to record a persecution of Jews [300], scholars have suggested that it is really Christianity for which Flavius Clements and his wife were punished. From the standpoint of a pagan historian not intimately acquainted with Christianity, "Jewish ways" would be a logical description for Sabbath keeping Christianity, and "atheism" might well represent the refusal of Christians to worship the emperor.[310] Such conditions of persecution for refusal to worship at the emperor's shrine doubtless constitute the immediate background of John's exile to Patmos, and thus of the writing of the Book of Revelation. Christianity had entered its second generation. Most of those who had known the Master were in their graves. The church was faced with the fiercest external threat it had yet known, and it needed a new revelation of Jesus Christ. We can see, therefore, how the visions given to John met a specific need in their own time. Through them heaven was opened to the suffering church, and Christians, who refused to bow to the pomp and circumstance of the emperor, were given reassurance that their Lord, now ascended and standing at the throne of God, infinitely transcended in majesty and power any earthly monarch who might demand their worship. The Cosmic Sweep of the Apocalypse Whereas most (classical) prophecy is concerned chiefly with national and international problems having to do with the history of Israel and the glorious future that might have been hers, apocalyptic (prophecy) events play upon the grander stage of the universe, and takes at its central theme from the great controversy between God and Christ on one side, and Satan on the other.[325] Today this controversy will likely appear to resolve itself into a contest to see which can preserve life on this planet. Are the powers that uphold Satans doctrine, teaching continuous sinning and thereby rebellion, winning or will the gospel of the three angels win? Read on to understand the issues in this great, spiritual conflict. The apocalyptic writer records the dreams and visions granted him while "... in the spirit" (Rev. 1:10). He is often snatched away in vision and carried to distant viewing locations, where he beholds scenes of majesty and grandeur that defy adequate description in human language, and where he converses with angels. Although such experiences are also found repeatedly in the other prophets, they are particularly characteristic of apocalyptic writings; so much so, in fact, that they form virtually the whole content of the apocalyptic sections of Daniel and the Book of Revelation. Not only that, Jesus Himself enumerated a list of signs which, when they are all happening together, let us know that His Coming is imminent. Jesus, the cornerstone, the rock of the ages (Psalms 62:1,2; 1.Cor. 10:4), is the one we look to for knowledge in these last days. He tells us that in the last days there is no reassurance and any kind of safety in riches. Only being rich in a knowledge of salvation in Jesus Christ is of any value then. We read,
These signs include those in the world of religion, in the world of politics, in nature and in society. |
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False Christs - Mt. 24:5 False Prophets - Mt. 24:11,24 False Spirituality - Mt. 24:11 Wars & rumors of wars - Mt. 24:6 Famines - Mt. 24:7 Pestilences - Mt. 24:7 Families breaking up - Mt. 24:10 Increase in knowledge - Dan. 12:4 |
Economic uncertainties - James 5:1-3 `Cries of Peace' but `no peace.' - Jer. 8:11 Earthquakes - Mt. 24:7 Sexual immorality - Mt. 24:37,38 Violence - Mt. 24:12 Sudden destruction - 1.Thess. 5:3. Persecution, tribulation - Mt. 24:9,21 Gospel preached around the world - Mt. 24:14 |
The First Angel's Everlasting Gospel
The three concepts emphasized above, `the everlasting gospel being preached among all nations of the world,' is presented in Revelation as leading right up close to the Second Coming of Christ to `harvest' His people on the earth. Everything in the three angels messages revolves around the everlasting gospel - the idea that Jesus died on the cross to suffer the penalty for sin for me, that he drank the cup that I should drink - that is the driving and the motivating force for everything else in these messages. This first angel's message arranges the whole world before the judgment bar of God, it changes their orientation. Its message is a stop and listen message for a busy world. It appeals to those who have not given up hope. To those who are still looking for answers. For those who the Holy Spirit can still reach. Actually, what John here describes is the same gospel Jesus Himself preached when on earth,
Both, Matthew and Revelation contain the same elements,
Both of these scriptures also end with Jesus coming again. So we see, Jesus preached the same gospel, as presented by Matthew and Luke, that John `saw' being preached. We may compare this gospel that goes out into all the world with its opposite.[400] For that purpose we read just a few verses before the above quote from Rev. 14,
In this scripture we read, that those who worship the beast and its image shall also drink ... drink of what? To understand this apocalyptic message let us look at the components we just read about. We have here,
In other words, the cup contains the `wrath of God' which the wicked must drink. Our question is, `What has this strange language to do with the "... everlasting gospel ..." ? Well, let us examine the gospels to find out what this is all about.
Please turn your Bible to the Book of Matthew.
We read here about the innermost feelings of Jesus. Why, then, was Jesus `exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death?' We find the reason in the next verse,
We should now notice the connection between Revelation chapter 14 and Matthew 26, with respect to the experience Jesus is going through as far as drinking out of that cup is concerned. In Revelation we are told that the wicked will drink from the wine that is in a cup. In Matthew, Jesus has to drink from that cup.[530] We can also call on the Book of Hebrews to read how it describes so very vividly the sufferings of Jesus in Gethesemane.
We recall that Jesus asked His Father about them this way, `If it is thy will take this cup away from my hand so I do not have to drink it. But your will be done, not mine..' Jesus feared what was before him. He could not see through to what was to come. Was the life he offered fulfilling what he had come for? Was it accepted by God? Or was it all a loss? Such were the trying fears of Jesus which weight so heavily upon his mind. He yearned for release if all that He did was of no avail. He feared now in his mind the death he would die, with no assurance of release. He had to drink the cup alone. His Father could send him no word, no reassurance, no comfort. His connection was cut off for these trying hours. He stood all alone. But the situation is still getting worse for Jesus. We read,
Unlike the way the movie `The Passion', which showed these events by concentrating on the physical sufferings of Jesus, in the gospels we read very little about the physical abuse, but more about his emotional sufferings. Jesus is agonizing before he is even arrested. While he suffered physically, being beaten and all, that is not the suffering stressed in the gospels. To have sweat turn into blood, even before he was beaten or had the pain inducing crown of thorns placed upon his head, indicates another type of suffering. We may think, `How can sweat turn into blood?' According to Luke, the physician, that is what happened. Are the blood vessels somehow connected to the sweat glands? In medical accounts it is known as `hematohidrosis' or `diapedesis' during which the many capillary blood vessels present in the lower skin layers become porous, allowing blood to enter the tissue and from there possibly allowing blood into the sweat glands, which then can come out of the skin as sweat mixed with drops of blood. [1000] This event took place before anyone placed a finger on Jesus according to the biblical account. Our question is, `Who gave Jesus this `cup' to drink?'
So it was God the Father, who gave Jesus the cup to drink. But the Bible is not silent on the close knit relationship between Jesus and His Heavenly Father. We read,
But now, in Gethsemane, something terrible happened which He could not shake off even while hanging on the cross.[1100]
Even though Christ knew from the Messianic prophecy of Psalm 22, what he would feel, he could not see through the veil. The Apostle Paul uses similar phraseology,
Ellen White commented on this experience of Jesus using the following words,
Here we are told that it was the wrath of God against `the sins' which crushed out the life of Jesus, ie. `our sins', the sins of all of us. That is why the Roman soldier was so surprised when he saw that Jesus was dead already, and he did not break his bones. She continues,
Can you imagine that the fate of humanity hung in the balance in the Garden of Gethsemane?
Jesus bore every sin that has ever been committed or will ever be committed upon the cross and because His Father cannot countenance sin, Jesus felt the wrath of God for all these sins during those agonizing hours. No human being will ever comprehend what that really means. We are never called upon to bear the sin burden of all of humanity upon a cross. The wicked will have enough to carry their own burden on judgment day since they made light of the forgiving grace of God. Paul writes about it this way,
Is that a bad law Paul writes about? Doesn't the Bible say here, that the law curses us? If the law curses us, does that not say that the law must be bad? Why does the law curse us? Well, because we have broken it. - Because we are all sinners.[1200] Do you suppose, that, if we had obeyed, the law would still curse us? Doesn't the Bible also say, that "the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good." Romans 7:12? So we can tell, it is not the law that is bad, we are the one's who are bad. Bad, bad, bad, as we sometimes heard it being said, while growing up. The law says, `You are cursed. You deserve to drink the cup of suffering the death. That is what the law says.' Because,
That is man's situation without Christ. But the good news is, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law. And how did He do it? Because He "... became a curse for us ...". He, who never sinned, who never broke the law, who didn't deserve what He got. - He bore our guilt! He suffered because He took your sins and mine upon His innocent shoulders and died for you and me on the Roman cross of calvary. For humanity that is the Greatest News of all the Ages. Jesus took them all so we can be innocent and free. Amen, Hallelujah, Amen. The Bible puts it this way,
Listen! -- God Father made Jesus to be sin for us. -- By giving Him our sin --- that we might be looked upon as being righteous in him. That is why we do not need to have any concern what God the Father thinks about us. We need to be concerned about what He thinks about Jesus, our Substitute. While the Jews had the law, they did not recognize the spirit which lies deeper than the law. They discerned the God of the law, but not God as His heavenly Father. That is why a Jew never discovered the real answer and meaning to his religion. What does that mean? When we sin, we make Jesus bear the burden for it. Satan can point his finger at us and accuse us before Jesus. When we kid around and say all these things which make no one proud, which are not clean things, just and good. When we say such things, we sadden Jesus and the holy angels and they turn from us - until we come to our senses and pray, `Oh God, forgive me of my sins and my trespasses, for I have sinned against Thee. ... And He is just and good and forgives us our sins for He loves the sinner who comes before Him to ask for forgiveness (Ezekiel 18:9; Acts 26:18).[1400] Such a forgiven person has forgiven also all those whom he needed to forgive - without exception, Mark 11:25,26. When we have Jesus, we have life -- everything. Let us read that from the Bible,
Here we read, `He was stricken by Caiphas, smitten by Pilate' -- is that what we read? No! Jesus was stricken by me, by all of us. He was smitten by me, and all of us. These are not the physical sufferings, these are the sufferings of the soul of the Son of God. Romans says,
His billboards and advertisements are gaudily colorful and show the good and careless life. He works from an office which is for some hard to find. He likes to remain unrecognized. He wears disguises and runs more than one shady affair at a time.[See here for other, non SdA comments: here, here and here.] When he pays his wages he tells you, he will write you a check. If we would look and read it, it will say `death.' Most, like sheep, don't look. They just put it in their pocket thinking everything is fine. The other equal opportunity is Mr. Righteousness. What are his wages? He pays you with `everlasting life.' That is what our text is saying. Mr. Satan pays you with the currency of death, but ... Mr. Righteousness `gives you the gift of eternal life through Jesus our Lord.' When Jesus came, Satan told him, `I pay you the wages of death.' But when Jesus lived a righteous life -- what payment did He receive? He was paid with death! How can that be? If he worked so perfectly for Mr. Righteousness, how could He receive death? He never sinned -- Mr. Righteousness should not have paid Him any wages. He should have received the wages of life. Why? Because He did not receive His own wages but ours, which we worked for in the office of Satan. He took all the blame on Himself because He loved us. Jesus was made to be sin for us so we could be recognized as righteous. We read,
Jesus died and paid for the sins of the whole world. He even bore the sins of the future. There is not one sin which Jesus did not pay for. Now here comes the big question. `If Jesus paid for all the sins then everybody will be saved, right?' Isn't that the good news of the everlasting gospel? Unfortunatly, No! Let us read it again in John 3,
Did Jesus pay? Must we receive what Jesus paid? Yes, But there is a condition. The condition is that we must believe in Him. That is why Jesus said, that he gave "his life a ransom for many", that means not for all, Matth. 20:28. The believers are a very special group of people. Potentially all could be saved, but many, all too many in final analysis "would not", Isa. 42:24; Jer. 13:11; Zech. 7:13; Matth. 22:2,3. The gift of Jesus, eternal life, is that a free gift? How much do gifts cost? You say, `They are free.' Is that right? Well, Yes and No. They are free for the one who receives them, but they cost something for the one who gives them. So, how much did the human race have to pay for Jesus to come? Nothing. Jesus was given for the world. He will always bear His scars. Jesus has become a member of the human family. He alone can feel for us to the utmost. God is closer to us now than He has ever been. And true, if He would not have been born as a babe, He would be only God. But He is not only God now, He is also one of us. The Bible says that "... he is not ashamed to call us brethren ..." Hebr. 2:11, where `brethren' is a collective term and means `man and woman.' He became part of our family, so that we can become part of His family. Jesus paid a very high price to purchase our salvation. He drank the cup that we should drink ourselves. He sweated the drops of blood that we should sweat. He cried out, `Why have you forsaken me?' That should be our cry because of our sins. All that Jesus gave us as a free gift. But this is the question, `If someone gives you a gift, do you have the right to accept or reject it?' Of course, we do not need to accept it but once we know that the true gospel is that Christ has accepted us already while we were still sinners, if we come home then as the prodigal son or daughter, we are part of God's family. We could be like that little ungrateful child who rejects the present his parents bought him. So, is everyone going to be saved? No, not everyone will accept the free gift offered. Even so Jesus paid already for the gift, it is already purchased, not everyone will think to enjoy it as their own. Therefore, only those who receive the gift will enjoy its values.
So, how do we show that we believe in Jesus? When we are adopted, there must be a legal ceremony of course. What is this ceremony?
When we join God's family we must be baptized. Baptism is the official incorporation ceremony, the official marriage ceremony which makes us part of His Family. When Jesus drank the cup of the wrath of God, He exhausted the wrath of God, so we don't have to drink that cup. But the Bible tells us also about a group of people in the world who will drink the cup of the wrath of God. Why must they drink that cup of the wrath of God? Because they did not receive Jesus who drank the cup of the wrath of God in their place. They decided against Him. They did not care about what heaven has to offer. They rather believed the lies of Satan. They could not trust the Biblical assertions that any of this was really true. So they decided against Jesus free offer - His gift for all. And the truth is, that if someone does not receive Jesus who drank the cup for him, he must drink it himself, Rom. 20:7-9. Jesus opened the door of salvation, He invites us to become His children.
That is the free gospel in verity. The gospel that says, when summarized, that every man, woman and child (when of age and raised aright) must die daily. The will must be surrendered moment by moment to God, the heart united with His heart, the mind become one with His mind - only when we can think the thoughts and live the life of Jesus, only then will we be clothed with the beautiful garment of Christ's Righteousness. This everlasting gospel became so unrecognizable through the teachings of some religious entities that the world had come to believe the false gospel of Satan - the concept that we can be saved in sin, not from sin. The First Angel's Message on Fearing God Having studied the First Angel's Message on the `everlasting gospel', we should be aware that the message is a call for God's people to do something after having heard the message of the everlasting gospel. What all of God's people ought to be doing we study in the following pages. The second message is as follows and please notice the three emphasized imperatives contained in this message:
Here we have a compound sentence starting the first angel's message. Who is the subject in this message? It is `You'. `You fear God, and give glory to him.' Saying it that way, we ask, `If you don't give glory to God, whom are you giving it to?' What is the answer? You give that glory to three people: me, myself and I. That is so, because man has this idea of what is truly acceptable worship backwards, "Your glorying is not good." "Your self-satisfaction ill becomes you." (1.Cor. 5:6, KJV/ NEB). We must learn to reverse our egocentricity. We recall that the Book of Revelation contains about one thousand references to the Old Testament. It was the Bible in John's days and he depended on the guidance of the Holy Spirit when he wrote Revelation. For our subject the Old Testament contains the important explanations of what it means to `fear God' or having `the fear of the Lord.' Let us read the first reference,
What this verse is telling us is, that, if we do not have the `fear of the Lord' we do not even have a basic understanding to know what wisdom is. He is saying, first things first, let us first build a sure foundation. Another text continues this train of thought,
In other words, the fear (being in awe) of the Lord is worth more than the most precious treasures on planet earth. Fear of the Lord is also the beginning of wisdom, if we do not have it, we do not have anything whatsoever.[1500] Of course we want to know, `Why should we have the `fear of the Lord' in our lives?' Well, the Bible gives us clear reasons to answer that question,
The Psalmist is saying, the reason that the Lord puts the `fear of the Lord' in us is, because we are merely human beings, we are only `dust.' The Creator God made us out of the clay of the earth and when we die, we turn to dust again from which we came and therefore we owe Him `fear.' Unless we do not always remember that, we do not even have the rudiments of wisdom. Isaiah puts it this way,
In other words, when the Bible uses the phrase, `the fear of God', that has nothing to do with being scared or afraid of God. This fact is understood especially in the following scripture,
Just as much as we `fear', that is respect, our earthly parents, just the same, and even more so, we must respect the Lord our God. In the older King James Bibles, the translators felt very uncomfortable writing that we should "fear" our parents and therefore they used the word "revere." Again, the scriptures are not intending to tell us that we should be in shock-fear of our parents, absolutely not - we are supposed to "love" our parents, feel very close to our parents. Just the same, `fearing God' has nothing to do with being scared of God, feeling petrified in face of the prospect of getting close to God. In fact, as we shall discover, those who `fear' the Lord are closest to God. Therefore, in the Bible `fearing the Lord' means to be infinitely close to God. In summary we may say, `Fearing God' means,
Therefore, these attitudes we ought to display when we enter a house of worship no matter how humble it may look. Let us read about it,
In this text we have several synonymous expressions which explain what it means to `fear God.' Please notice the parallel expressions. The word `cleave' here, we find used the first time, after God made Eve out of the bone of Adam in Genesis 2:24. Eve would `cleave' to Adam, be very close to him. That, the Bible teaches, is how close God's people can be to God. God is our loving father, our helper in distress, our saviour, our substitute, our teacher. But there is something else having to do with `the fear of the Lord,' and that is that His name is intensely holy,
In other words God is one whom we reverence because He is awesome. This is the reason why, in the Seventh day Adventist church, our pastors are not called It is the name, when angels speak it, in effect, they veil their countenance, Mt. 18:10; Rev. 7:11; Ps. 95:6; Rev. 5:11-14. Only God is to be revered, holy, held in awe, reverenced, worshipped and brought homage to. We must be very careful how we use His name. Notice how important the name of the Lord (Ex. 34:5) is in the next scripture,
One would think this should cause a whole crowd of clergy to have to change the way they like to be called. Of course it should cause such a reaction. Why doesn't it? Because the church members of these clergy do not study the Bible, neither does their clergy, and they do not have the `fear of the Lord' in them. They use the name of the Lord God unnecessarily, flattering themselves as if they deserve such an appellation. In other words, they are far removed from the Lord God, Creator of heaven and earth. There is no closeness, only a vast distance no matter how pious they may sound. The reverend God of heaven is called Jesus, which means, `he saves us.' His name will be called `Immanuel', which means, `God is with us.' When you have the `name of the Lord' upon your forehead, you have the following characteristics which God has, you are "merciful and gracious, longsuffering and abundant in goodness and truth." (Ex. 34:6) It is such people that the three angels messages produce. We learn here again the important message, that in the Bible, names have meaning and we should not presume to apply any name used in connection with God for someone among us. How man uses such names or personal addresses may very well indicate his lack of comprehension and appreciation of the holiness of God. Therefore, we should never say words like `gee' or `gosh' which are derogatory slang expressions for Jesus and God. That is why in orthodox Judaism they never pronounced the name of God for it was far too reverend to be spoken in conversations or prayers. Actually, in time they forgot how to pronounce God's name and we do not really know if His Name should be pronounced Jahwe or Jehovah. We should learn a lesson from this, that we use the name of God sparingly and in a careful manner. That is why Jesus said in the Lord's Prayer,
Jesus is saying, `Sanctified be Thy Name.' `May Thy Name be Holy.' Therefore, those who `fear God,' respect the name of God, because they `respect' the character of God. They uphold His Name in utmost `Reverence.' There are examples in the Bible of how people responded when they met God face to face, Isa. 1:4. Their experience gives us good examples on how to worship God. Let us read such a scripture,
We recall that we found these very same expressions presented in Revelation 14:7. So we realize how dependend John the Revelator was on the OT when he wrote the Book of Revelation. By observing these correlations we can tell which pages of the OT John may have especially enjoyed to study and we find excellent confirmation on the veracity of the Bible and how the Holy Spirit watched over the Word of God all these centuries. Another scripture shows the worshipful attitude so well,
How did Israel respond, when they saw, how God manifested His presence? The Bible says, that they bowed before Him, and they put their forehead to the ground. Do you know why they did that, bowing their forehead to the ground in biblical times? Israel did that because they had `humility.' A word that is akin to the Latin word `humus.' `Humus' is dirt. It is what my mother wanted in her garden for it was regarded as fertile, black-brown dirt. What is humility? Humility is humbling ourselves to the dirt, to the dust. Because we recognize that we are dust. And that is what the Israelites were doing, they acknowledged their `dustiness' before the Lord God.
Jesus would later quote this scripture when He said these tremendous words, and we read: "Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am." (John 8:58) In other words, the man Jesus standing before His Jewish accusers, states that He is God, that He is the self-existent One. That we should always remember even today. We have another example of how to come before the Lord,
The fish were all on the right side of the boat, where Jesus was. No Jesus, no fish. Jesus attracts fish, that is people seeking salvation. But as soon as Peter realized that great miracle he knew he was in the presence of divinity and his sinfulness stood out starkly and he felt so inadequate to be so close to Christ that he exclaimed this involuntary confession of his unworthiness. He had the same experience as Daniel, as that prophet fell, as if lifeless, when the angel of the Lord appeared, Dan. 10:8. Isaiah had a similar experience in a vision. He is in the Temple of the Lord and everything is shaking and full of the smoke of the incence of prayers and the Seraphim angels are there and we read how Isaiah reacts,
That is how we should feel when we come in the presence of God. We should not mill around outside. We should be found inside participating in the studies and be counted among God's people. We are admonished to attend the meetings of the congregation to train us to be unselfish and be ready for the Lord to come. The Bible teaches also, that those who fear the Lord are filled with joy. How many of you have ever been afraid and were filled with joy at the same time? On first glance the above may sound like it would contradict itself. But it does not. Here is why,
We can fear the Lord and at the same time rejoice ... albeit with trembling. But the vast majority of the verses talking about `fearing' God mean by that, we are to obey Him. Jesus says, these people, with their lips they worship me,
Indeed, these are words reflecting what Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 29:13 and which Jesus quoted from. Let us read Deuteronomy,
Here is the list of what God expects of us. There is no dispensation in the history of the church where not all of these apply. They are eternal principles. Question: What reason did Israel have to fear and obey God? How do the Ten Commandments begin? Do they begin with, `Thou shalt not?' Yes? ...... No! In their dispair of slavery, all Israel needed to do to be delivered was, to cry out to God for deliverance. It did not cost them anything. God released them from bondage. That is why we read here how the commandments begin,
What is the motivation for Israel to keep the Ten Commandments? It is to fear God, to reverence God, to cleave to God, to love God, to obey God, to serve God, to worship God. Their motivation to keep the law was that God had delivered them from a grinding-down life of bondage. A life with no freedoms, no liberties, no justice and no end in sight. And God heard their travailing and groaning, Exodus 2:24, and remembered His covenant with Abraham and released them from such a wretched, exacting life of slavery under a despotic system so that they could learn to love again, to breath the air freely, to have a home life and be able to worship. What is the motivation for us to keep the Ten Commandments? It should be love. Jesus said, "If you love me, keep my commandments." John 14:15. On this note, let us see if we can find something a bit more controversial. We are searching for some Bible texts which deal with the fear of the Lord entailing obedience.
Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?" What does it mean for Job to fear the Lord? Verse 8, `He is perfect and upright, and he shuns evil.' That is it. That is the answer. God's answer on what it means to `fear the Lord.' Job shrank back from evil and rejected evil. He was on the level. God trusted him as the rest of the Book of Job shows. We can clearly see that to `fear the Lord' has to do with obedience to the will of God. Later on he said,
So what is the `fear of the Lord?' It means to depart from evil. Does `fear of God' have anything to do with our ethical behavior? Most certainly it does. We do well to recognize, once the gospel of Jesus Christ is gone from the heart, once the `fear of God' is gone in a nation, God's people will hardly have a place of refuge left to flee to. Is it true, that obedience is the highest form of worship? There is no such thing as fearing God, worshipping God, serving God, if there is no obedience. You see, `fearing God' is not only what we do in church when we come together to worship. It is much more than that. It has to do how we live all the rest of the time. It is our way of life which must be based on `obedient fear of God.' We depart from evil, we shun evil, we walk away from it. We desire to be cleansed of evil. We believe we are the last generation before Jesus comes again. We believe that we are to give these three last messages to the world before Jesus comes for He comes again immediately after the third angel's message has done its work, Rev. 14:14.. This is the same message that comes through in Genesis 22,
Despite of such a strange request by God, Abraham, being sure of who it was who asked him, with implicit obedience carried the task out. Would any of us do that? Today he would be guilty of child abuse. How about some different divine request, -- Lets's say, Please be a better witness of your faith, Isa. 43:10? Would we know how to carry that out? Or how about this request, I want you to keep my Sabbath holy. Wow, .... silence. Shocking silence. Then the suspicion, `No, God wouldn't ask me such a Jewish thing! Why not? Is God a Jew? Are you still living in the days of Roman hatred of the Jews? Or are you just repeating the poisonous words of some misinformed preacher? For you see, they hate the Sabbath. Just like the Romans did. (Why? Click here). We ought not to hate the Sabbath of the Lord! The Sabbath of the Lord is not the Sabbath of the Pharisees in the way the latter represented it. We ought not to hate anything except sin, for nothing of hate will enter into heaven, Luke 16:13; Ex. 20:5. God is asking Christians to do just that, all throughout the whole Bible. No. I can't do that - keep the Sabbath. No. Please ask me something else. What is God's reply? If you do not ... "... keep my commandments ... keep my sabbaths ..." Ex. 20:6; Lev. 19:3, and we notice that the quotes taken from the Ten Commandments, and the New Testament content wise read the same, "... keep my commandments ... keep my words ..." John 14:15,23. We are to worship God as the Creator! Are we to ask Jesus, `Which words?' Are you kidding? Don't you know what words are part of the Ten Commandments which Jesus published in His eternal law? [1700] Abraham and many other men of faith passed the test. We read,
You see, there is not a Sunday keeper who is implicitly obeying God. No, not one. When the Bible says, Abraham `feared' God, that means He obeyed all of His law, and Abraham was not a Jew. That is why we read,
Have you ever applied these words to the teachings of those who `fear not' the Lord on the Sabbath question? Do you rather obey your preacher than the Word of God? You see, we cannot fool God. He knows even the secret wickedness of our heart. He knows many do not want to be bothered, so He stops and they are on their own - left to their own devices. As long as you have a Bible in your house, there remains no excuse for you not to keep God's seventh day Sabbath holy. For, you see, that day will become the test of allegiance and true Bible faith as taught in Revelation 14. [Here you see demonstrated what a country comes to when they get rid of their Bibles!] If you `fear' God you `obey' God in everything that He requires. If you don't, you worship another god. Such may fall into the trap that father Abraham fell into. Abraham went to Gerar and reasoned. Surely the king of Gerar has no fear of the true God. Abraham thought, the king was an unbeliever. So too some Sunday keepers seem to think. They assume they are the ones who know the Lord, just like Abraham thought so. Well, it turns out that Abraham's lie was found out by the king and turned against him. The message comes through that the king was more righteous than father Abraham. [Based on Genesis 20] Paul also commented on our subject.
Truly, we have before us here a very sad description of the human race. Why is this catalogue of evils practiced by the human race? It is because `there is no fear of God before their eyes.' It is like they don't really believe God exists for they flaunt each week their disbelief and commit open sin. Therefore it is really hard to find people in the world who truly love God, and serve him, and obey him, and keep all of his commandments, and stand in awe before him, and are true witnesses for His kingdom. For you see, all of these ideas are contained in the words, "Fear God." Many do not ask themselves the question, `Is it truly easy for people to obey God because of what He has done for us?' Didn't we see above that Jesus paid the price for sin - for all - already? That Jesus took our curse, he took our punishment, he drank the cup of the wrath of God so we wouldn't have to? And yet, their is so little enthusiasm, thankfulness, awareness, comprehension, faith -- on this subject. Are the sports scores really more important? Scores which are good for nothing except the pocket books of those who get paid for running and doing these things? Is it worth to lose eternal life over such things of temporary interest? But a few do ask, `Oh, Jesus, you have done so much for us, what can we do for you?' And the reply comes back, `If you love me for what I have done, "keep my commandments."
We cannot tell people to fear God, and give glory to him until they have accepted the everlasting gospel. The gospel is the driving force which will lead people to do just that, `fear God', give glory to God and worship Him. You can never fulfill the imperatives to fear, give glory and to worship until you have accepted the everlasting gospel. [1800] The Bible tells us, that in the end time, God will have a people who `fear Him', `respect Him,' who `hold Him in awe.' Their is a `last generation' believers, who, in a special way, obey God because He is in them; but they do not by obedience earn salvation. There is this special last generation of Christians today who understand that when they have done that which their Master asked, they remain being unprofitable servants still (Lk. 17:7-10). Yet God will not give "His glory unto another" (Isa. 48:11). These end-time believers realize that they have earned nothing, but their Savior Jesus Christ, through His merits, has made possible everything. Let us open our Bibles to the Book of Hebrews,
... We may serve God, - How? with acceptable reverence, and - What? with godly fear, and - Why? for God is a consuming fire. The reason why we do all these things down to the last requirement, is, because God is a consuming fire. Does that mean He will burn an unrepentent sinner? Throw such a person in hell fire? No, not just yet. What that means we shall talk about next! God wants us to develop a fireproof cubicle of service to Him (Isa. 33:12-15,17; 1.Peter 3:11-14; 1Jhn. 3:2,3; Hebr. 12:14,28,29). So Paul develops his theme by pointing out and showing the way as we read it in the following scriptures,
There it says,
You must be a true "yokefellow", wearing the yoke of Jesus and no other yoke. Just before that we read, `Come out from among them, and be ye separate.' By being baptized we give witness to the world that we now separated and belong to Jesus. What does the Second Angel's Message say?
Yes, John wrote the same message as all the scriptures in the Old Testament and he is on this subject on the same level as Paul is.
And the Lord says, Now notice what the Apostle Paul says, Because God promises to be our father, and He promises that we can be His children, Paul puts it all together and councils us, writing,
We are to "cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, that is our body and the mind, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." What is it that we have, when we have the `fear of God?' We have perfect holiness. On the air waves we hear a lot of talk about salvation and redemption and about grace, - but there is little talk about the holiness of God and how God is willing to impart His holiness to us. We shall conlude this topic by comparing two verses which will set the stage for the phrase `the hour of His judgment has come.' |
| "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil." Ecclesiastes 12:13,14. | "Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." Rev. 14:7. |
We find in both of these scriptures the same elements. Fear God, and do -What? Give glory to Him, - Why? Because the hour of God's judgment has come. Is there a relationship between these two scriptures? Yes. In Solomon's time the judgment shall come for it was still in the future. In Revelation's First Angel's Message it says the judgment is or has come. It is in session right now.[2000] Wow! We shall soon learn that the judgment began after the fourth beast power and after the little horn power was wounded, the latter event which took place in 1798. We have no space here to detail the beginning of this judgment more closely, but it is presented here and here. Jesus will come soon and bring His reward with Him, Mt. 16:27; Rev. 11:18. Because Jesus brings the rewards with Him at the time of His Second Coming, that means who gets the rewards has been determined prior to that - namely in the judgment which for convenience sake we call the `Investigative Judgment.' By implication this means also that the dead are not in heaven because if the judgment has not taken place until the end of the long prophetic period of Daniel 8:14, then the imagined, immortal souls of human beings are not yet in heaven, before they were judged. That is why it says, we are to fear God, and give glory to Him. We are to obey His law and thus glorify God's character as He dwells in us and uses us as His witnesses. For while we are grateful of what He has done for us, we will be more than willing to do everything that He wants us to do for Him. You see, if we love Jesus, we do everything for Him. Oh, they say, that is legalism. No, it is the response of true love for what God has done for us first. If you love Jesus you will not perform evil, for you saw what sin did to Jesus. We studied the First Angels Message, - it began first to be sounded when the world was beginning to slip into the bottomless pit of evolution. In our days we have seen the diabolical theory captivate the minds of nearly the whole sophisticated, educated world. In this decade the world is wondering after the devil's great lie, many see it crumbling to pieces. The first angel challenges us not to accept evolution, but to return to worshiping the God who created this world and all life on it. We must arise and tell the world the truth - that those who will may fully "worship Him who made heaven and earth and the sea and the fountain of waters." Let us pray therefore for God to plant this `fear' of willing obedience in our hearts. Before we go on to the second angels message let us look some more at the `little horn' power because it is portrayed as a very influential power in the prophecies of Daniel. The question we want to ask is this, is the little horn power the same as the anichrist? The Bible makes six references to the antichrist. Here they are:
May He help us to hold Him in awe. And may we serve Him, with every ounce of strength that is in us.
Amen. |
| Documents for Our Time |
| The Second Angel's Message |
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Introduction Reviewing briefly the 1st Angel's Message (Rev. 13:6 in particular), what did we learn? We learned that the 1st Angel's Message is a universal, world wide message because the angel flies `in the midst of heaven' (Rev. 8:13; 14:6). That also means that God must have a world wide people to preach these messages everywhere on earth. It tells us that the essence of the "gospel" is that Jesus paid the penalty for our sins and that he drank the cup of the wrath of God that we should drink. Out of gratefulness to Jesus, we are to obey the three commandments which we read about in verse 7,
[Click here for an easy to understand explanation of the Investigative Judgment.]"Fear God" - that means obeying God's commandments So, all these things are contained in the First Angel's Message: `Obedience to God's commandments,' `reflecting His character,' `caring for our body and our minds,' `believing we are now in the hour of God's Judgment,' `keeping God's holy sabbath in honor of the Creator' and `the dead are dead until the moment that Jesus comes to resurrect them from the grave where they have been from the moment of their death.' That is the time when God's people will be clothed with a glorious garment of light, a white mantle or robe from our shoulders to our feet (Isa. 61:10; Rom. 13:12; Rev. 3:18). Then God will say, your sorrows are ended, and shouts of joy will be heard. So let us remember to give glory only to God, not to any man, as long as we are still down here, (Acts 12:22, 23). The Second Angel's Message Content We read,
From where does this message come? It comes to us through people - from pulpits across the whole land, from government agencies, the culture at large, the media. ... It is a Babel of voices reaching us every day. That is why John the Baptist left his relatives and went into the desert to `hear' God's word in crystal clarity. It was like he was lifted above the things of this world and you will be too, if you spend such quality time in God's Word. How did Babylon fall? Babylon is fallen because she did not accept the first angel's message, instead she has given to all nations "the wine of the wrath of her fornication." In other words, she has, like Israel of old, illicit relations with the kings of the earth. But why should that be such a serious thing? Because God's kingdom is not of this world. A church represents the body of Christ, the body of all believers in Christ. Christ has only one church on earth. For centuries the Roman church assumed she occupied that one place of Christ on earth. Why? The members of her flock actually believed she was God's church not knowing the Bible and how God's church is described in its pages. That she made war against all those who did not agree with her doctrines revealed that she was not representing the true Christ, the love God has for all His people, for the Bible says, do no violence to anyone, Lk. 3:14. What we shall notice in this message is that her message is the exact opposite of the 1st Angel's Message. The First Angel's Message is God's message to the world and the Second Angel's Message is Babylon's Message to the world. What we shall discover is that Babylon teaches the opposite of what God teaches in the 1st angel's message. Some may wonder what it means that `Babylon is fallen.' We should realize that the Bible has a moral fall in mind and not the physical fall of Babylon. Babylon has fallen morally because she gives wine, her false teachings, to the world in contrast to the true teachings which God gives in the 1st angel's message.[118] Not only that, the Babylonian church, historically, also has been a prime merchant of liquor and strong drinks condemned in the Bible, Jer. 22:13-17. Another reason the `fall of Babylon' of Revelation is not the physical fall of her, is, because the physical fall is not described until Revelation chapter 16, verses 17 to 21. That fall does not take place until the seventh plague occurs when Jesus comes. At the time of the proclamation of the 2nd angel's message the `door of salvation' is still open. That means people other than Sabbath keepers [121] can still escape from that moral fall of Babylon and turn around to accept the 1st angel's message and be saved. The next question which begs for an answer is this, we need to know what Babylon is. What Babylon represents. Let us read about Babylon's physical fall when that whole, world wide system is going to collapse,
Of course we know that "the great city" (Rev. 14:8) is Babylon. We also know that this 2nd angel's message is important. Why? Because it is the one which is repeated in Revelation chapter 18. It is important because it contains God's appeal to come out of Babylon, a term which stands for religious people who love the Lord but are confused about what the Bible teaches on many different subjects. The very fact that its message is repeated, Babylon "is fallen, is fallen" in chapter 14 and 18, indicates the importance to examine why God points that out that it is fallen.[126] This city will be divided into three parts meaning that before being divided it was united. What are the three parts of Babylon? We read,
These verses are actually a reflection of what we read about earlier in Revelation 12. There we have a dragon, the dragon which tried to kill Jesus when he was born.[156] In the first ten verses of chapter 13 we have the beast and in the remaining verses of chapter 13 we have the image to the beast, that is the false prophet. These parts will be discussed in the message of the Third Angel. |
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Revelation 12 & 13
dragon |
Revelation 16:13-14
dragon |
Revelation 17
dragon |
In Revelation 17 we notice that the `dragon' are now the kings of the earth, the sea beast is now spoken of as the `harlot', and the land beast or false prophet is now a reference to the daughters of the harlot. [How does the Bible describe what a harlot is?] In Revelation 16 we have besides these three powers also the spirits of devils and the waters of the Euphrates. We notice that the purpose of these three evil spirits is the opposite of the three angels messages. The three angels send by God gather people on their side and the three evil spirits are aiming to gather a throng of people on their side, Rev. 16:14.
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Babylon - dragon, beast, false prophet, |
....Babylon - kings, harlot, daughters, |
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The first of these stories is that of the prophet Elijah. Elijah had how many primary enemies? He had three primary enemies:
The Phoenicians, home of Jezebel, were on the mind of King Ahab. He married the daughter of Ethbaal of Sidon, better known as Zezebel. To the Phoenicians, Baal was their sun-god (2.Kings 23:5,11; Zeph. 1:4,5) and they worshiped him on their high places, including on the roofs of houses (Jer. 32:35,29). Baal was thought to have power over crops, flocks, and fertility. The `golden-calf' was linked with him. Baal rites were lascivious, 2.Ki 17:17;21:6. They included human sacrifices, self-torture (1.Ki 18:28), and kissing the image (1.Ki 19:18). God does not want us to remember even the names of these idols which represent abject sin, Deut. 12:3. Among these three, Ahab the political ruler, the Baal prophets and the harlot Jezebel. The latter was the fearsome character and her (Jezebel's) servants the prophets, worked to extend the worship of the sun-god among all the Israelites. Because Elijah defeated her purposes, Jezebel issued a death decree against the prophet of the Lord, 1.Ki. 19:2.[252] The second story is that of John the Baptist. We remember the words of Jesus that John the Baptist was a likeness to the prophet Elijah, Mt. 11:14. He had the same message as Elijah. The type of apostasy of the days of Elijah and John was the same. God had raised up John the Baptist, to try and bring people back to God. How many enemies did John the Baptist have? Let us analyze his situation. Was there a king who opposed John the Baptist? Yes. King Herod. Was there a harlot woman who committed fornication with the king who hated John the Baptist? Yes. It was Herodias, Mt. 14:3. Did Herodias have a daughter who was an instrument of her mother to fulfill her purposes? Yes. It was Salome (Josephus, Antiquities, Bk. XVII, ch. I, Sec. 3). As with the story of Elijah, the dangerous figure in this story is Herodias, the harlot woman. In the story of Elijah, Ahab, nor the false prophets, left to their own devices, were a threat to Elijah. All these characters were controlled by Jezebel. A difference, however, is this, in the New Testament this three-fold union is actually successful in slaying John the Baptist. At the end of time, we find the same scenario in place with Babylon. We have
We may ask, `How is that possible?' To find the answer to who is Babylon and how can it happen like that, we must first study again the Old Testament. It is in its pages where we find the background for the fall of Babylon in Revelation 14 verse 8.
Let us first read how God calls His church, Israel, a beautiful and a delicate woman.
A text, where `Zion' stands for `Israel.' God then does call Israel as claimed above. In fact, the Old Testament states that God "married" Israel. God married Israel at Mt. Sinai. Lets us read the opening words,
This is actually a marriage covenant. God says, I want to marry you. What does Israel say? They said in effect,
This is brought out in the words of Ezekiel,
God says, `In the time of love I married .... And the marriage started out well. But then Israel fell into apostasy. God's very own, special people whom He married at Mt. Sinai, fell into apostasy.
According to this word, God's `wife' was committing abominations. What was the problem?[300]
Is there any problem with that? It depends. Potentially there may be a problem. What could be that problem?
Whose beauty, whose glory did Israel reflect? She reflected God's glory, not her own ...
It gets worse.
Notice the next verse,
1. Israel committed abominations Next let us notice the following scripture,
Notice also Ezekiel 16 on this same point.
Israel is described as a beautiful woman and is all decked with gold and silver and with all precious stones not to attract glory to God but to attract glory to herself. By doing and acting that way Israel is
1. committing abominations, she is We also notice,
We remember, Israel was faithful and had a good relation when she was young. When she just got married she was ok. Yes! But she did not remember the days of her youth. And "... thou wast naked and bare and polluted in thy blood ..." God says, you do not remember when I picked you up, when you were desolate, when you were a slave in Egypt. Thou hast not remembered those good old days when I came to save you ... Notice how Israel committed fornication. She did it by having illicit relationships with the kings of the earth. Let us read it,
In other words, Israel, instead of remaining as the committed bride with God is now committing fornication with the kings of the surrounding nations of that day and age, adopting their practices and their customs. Israel learned from them, not like Solomon where the kings learned from him, 1.Kings 10:23-25. It gets so bad, that when God speaks about His own chosen people, that in the next verse God says,
Strong language indeed. The word `imperious' means "great" like in imperial empire, it means "great" whore, "great" harlot. God is calling His professed people a "great" harlot. - Because of her abominations and fornications. She decks herself with all these jewels to attract the nations to herself but forgot to give the glory to God. She is proving herself to be an unfaithful wife to God. In fact, let us notice that,
What has Israel done here? She has found other lovers. Others then the Lord. Was she once married to the Lord? Was she once faithful to the Lord? She certainly was. - But then she forsook the way of the Lord and she became a harlot according to the Bible. This scripture is not talking about the Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Philistines or the Babylonians. It is talking about those who profess to be God's chosen people. Notice the following scripture,
The situation worsens even more. God gave Israel the sanctuary, and God gave Israel the Sabbath. Do you know what God's own people were doing with the sanctuary and with the Sabbath? Notice this Bible portion,
Well, is that about as bad as it gets? Do you know that this harlot woman was actually slaying those who were faithful to God in Israel?
Notice what we find in Ezekiel 23,
What has Israel been doing? This harlot has shed the blood of God's faithful people among her. But she does not do that alone. She has daughters who helped her.
And it continues,
Does God's church have daughters that were committing these abominations and these fornications? Were they spilling innocent blood? According to these scriptures, Yes. They did just that. Now, what did God's Word promise to do to Israel, His own professed people because they were doing this? Here it is,
The punishment of Israel is spoken of as drinking what? Drinking the cup. And if you read Ezekiel 23, the totality of the chapter, you discover that God is saying that by drinking the cup, Israel is really drinking the cup of God's wrath. But how was that wrath manifested? This way,
A very important verse. With this we are setting the stage for what we are going to discuss in Revelation chapter 17. The people, palaces, temples and institutions of the wayward entity will suffer these destructions. That is the way in which God's wrath is going to be manifested against His unfaithful people. This is not a very nice picture and all God's people today, just like way back then, should take note of it. - For what comes around, goes around (Mt. 18:35; Num. 33:56). We have here described a really terrible picture about God's people. None of us should take this lightly. It can repeat itself. Let us review once more what we studied.
And God said, because of this you are going to drink the cup of wrath and that will be manifested through the very kings you have been fornicating with, who are going to arise and destroy you. Why does God give us all these details from Old Testament times? Because, as we said, according to Revelation this story is going to reoccur again. In fact things are happening today which lead many to believe that it is in progress at this hour. In these end times. What are we talking about? We switch now to the Book of Revelation chapter 12. We just read above how God compares his Old Testament church to a woman. Do we find anything comparable in the New Testament? We read,
What does this woman represent? She represents Israel. How many stars are in her crown? Twelve stars, why twelve? Twelve tribes. You may say, `How do we know it is not the twelve apostles? Simple. Because in the next verse it says, that she is pregnant with a child and that child is Jesus. He had not been born yet. Therefore, it cannot be the New Testament church because the apostles haven't even been called yet. Therefore, God's Old Testament church is still being compared with a woman. - But you know something? In the New Testament we are dealing with the same woman. Well, some people say, there is a difference between Israel and the church. - Israel is one people, the church is another. - Revelation chapter 12 does not sustain that view. In this chapter the woman is with child, since it hasn't been born yet it must be the OT church represented by the twelve stars. And then it says, that the child is born and he has gone up to his throne, that is the ascension of Jesus, his resurrection is not mentioned, and then the same woman has to flee into the wilderness for 1260 years, Rev. 11:3; 12:6. Is it the same woman? Yes! Is it the same church? Yes it is the same church. The only difference is, at first we are dealing with the OT church, which then is followed by the NT church! In the same line of thought that in the NT the relationship between Jesus and His people is also compared to a marriage. - Let us read it.
Evidently in the NT too, the relationship between husband and wife is the same as between Christ and the church. Another scripture says the same,
God speaks about His people, as His bride. The relationship being the same, our questions may be the same. How did the relationship between Christ and the new church begin? Was it a pure church in the days of her youth? Was it a living and thriving church? Was it faithful to God's message? Acts chapter 1 and 2 clearly underscore that it was. - At the beginning of this marriage, between Jesus and His church at Pentecost, the church was in a very close relationship with Jesus.[430] She went out as a conqueror to conquer. She was pure. Her message and her lifestyle was pure. But what happened in the course of time? What happened is what the Bible calls the great apostasy, where the church looses its original purity, its original teachings, and you enter into the Second Century and onward loomed, what is known as the Dark Ages. They are called `Dark Ages' because God's truth has been forgotten, for you see, the Bible is a light unto our path, Ps. 119:105; 2Pet. 1:19. But soon darkness came into the church. The Bible had been neglected and cast aside, Isa. 5:24b. And the church that had been buried with Jesus and at first was pure, became involved in apostasy. Here we learn about the opposition against God's purposes. An apostasy that culminates in Revelation 17. Let us read in Revelation 17 now and notice the striking parallels between what we studied in the OT and what we study now. We study the OT because the Book of Revelation contains a thousand references to the OT. No one can understand Revelation unless he is intimately familiar with the OT. Therefore, the whole scenario with Israel committing all those sins we enumerated, and at the end drinking the cup of God's wrath and the kings of the earth turning against her, all this is being repeated at the end of time. Question: If in the OT it was God's professed church that apostatized, who will it be at the end of time? Today, many think, when we talk about Babylon, they think of Islam, in particular of the Iranian president.- It used to be Sadam Hussein, but he is no more. They look for a place close to where old Babylon was. But we ought to realize that the Book of Revelation is really talking about an apostate religious system. Not about a man, a city, or some influential cleric. Revelation talks about a religious system that once was married to Jesus but since has become a harlot. It is a harlot that teaches contrary to the First Angel's Message. And we shall notice that clearly!!! Let us start with this scripture,
Other translations use "harlot" (NKJV) instead of "whore" (Moffatt, KJV). Do we have once again a harlot being spoken about in the Book of Revelation? Absolutely yes! But where is the harlot located or seated? We read, it is seated or
What does sitting indicate? It indicates that this system is in control. It is a system that rules. Where does it rule? Upon the waters. What are the waters? We read - and we notice the relationship to the First Angel's Message,
These are the same expressions we noticed already in the First Angel's Message. Does this woman do the opposite of the First Angel's Message? Does she seek to control the multitudes of the world, - in contrast to God trying to gather the multitudes in the world on His side of the First Angel's Message? In other words, this harlot and God, both want to exercise control over the world. You see, over every nation, tongue and people - God through the 1st angel's message and the devil through Babylon's wine. Wine is the opposite of the First Angel's Message. This wine is the opposite of truth. That must mean Babylon teaches that the dead are not really dead, that the Sabbath is really not on the seventh day of the week, that they do not teach that we are now in the hour of God's judgment, they must teach that perhaps the law of God was nailed to the cross, that they teach that it doesn't really matter what you put in your mouth and into your belly, that health principles don't really matter that much ... [462] So we see, that the wine, the abominations of Babylon is the opposite of the First Angel's Message. Are you still wondering, `What system is this?' Question: Must it be a world wide church? And why? Because it sits on every nation, tongue and people. Is it a church or something else? How can we tell? It is a woman. In the Bible a woman represents a church. What kind of a church is it? It is a harlot church. Was it once in a good relationship with Jesus? Yes. But what happened is, it apostatized and became a harlot. What does this harlot do? - Notice verse 2. - With who? ... the kings of the earth have committed fornication...." Rev. 17:2. Is she involved in the political systems of the world? It is a church but it is involved into the political systems of every nation, tongue and people of the world. Did we find in the OT that Israel had the same experience? That they fornicated with the kings of their world and assimilated their practices and ideologies? Yes, and yes! Let us read on,
Babylon, a mysterious city. Paul wrote that in his days the "mystery of iniquity" or "the mystery of lawlessness" was already at work, 2.Thess. 2:7. Those who are involved with this mysterious system of lawlessness think they are keeping the law when they are not. That is what makes it so devastating to Christianity. This apostate system, Paul wrote, is going to come "with all power and with signs and lying wonders"(2.Thess. 2:3-14), that is with all Satanic superstition providing power available to it. People travel all over the world to see `the tears' or a supposed `appearance of Mary' somewhere. Paul is saying that the whole world will be deceived except those who hang on to the love of the truth. This power will come with "the lie". What is this lie? It is Satan coming, as we just read, and announcing that he is Christ. The lie is that we can be saved in our sins. They say, just keep on confessing your sins every day and everything is ok. No, friends. We must confess and overcome the besetting sins in our lifes. What is the name of this system that exhibits such delusion providing powers? Well, some may say, this is a harlot but there is no relationship to the Second Angel's Message! But there is a relationship. Notice Verse 5 again.
If she is a mother, she must have children, right? She has daughters. They are daughters because she is the mother of harlots (feminine). So this mother must have had daughters that were born of her at a certain stage of her existence. Are you, dear reader, following what we have been paying attention to up to this point? She is a mother, she has daughters, she is called Babylon, and now notice the last part of the verse, "... Mystery, Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth." Rev. 17:5. This mother has daughters and besides that, she commits abominations. Is that the same picture we saw fitting Israel in the OT? Is this talking about some Muslim country that doesn't have the Christian religion? Does it talk about the Hindus, or the Buddhists? Of course not. They never claimed to be the bride (church) of God. They would never have committed adultery for they were never married to the Lord in the first place. But we are not finished. There is still more to be discovered. Notice what we find here,
Isn't that what we read earlier about Israel in the OT? Sure, we find here the very same correlations that we found between Israel and Babylon.
What does she have in her cup? - Her abominations - Wine![500] Whom does she give the wine to? She gives the wine to the kings and inhabitants of the earth. Is this a blood thirsty system? Is this system guilty of killing God's saints in her history? Most certainly, yes. We read,
What have we seen so far?
01. we saw a woman, a woman represents the church, What kind of a woman?
02. an adulterous woman, a great harlot, Where does she sit?
03. on multitudes, nations, tongues and people, on the whole world, Must this be a world wide system? Absolutely! Is it a system that is involved with the political systems of the world? Yes,
04. she fornicates with the kings of the earth, Is she also the mother of daughters that were born from her? Yes. Does she give wine or teachings in contrast to the First Angel's Message to the nations? Yes. Is she all decked out with jewels and precious stones? Yes. Is she drunk with the blood of the saints? Yes. Is this talking about an apostate religious system? Yes. It has to be in the light of what we find in the OT. In the OT it was Israel. In the NT it is the church. Yes.
But how can we say such a thing? Question: When Jesus came to this world the first time, was Israel in open apostasy to God? Those who professed to be God's people, were their leaders in this open apostasy against God? Have they taught against the teachings of the Word of God? Have they gone against the practices of the Word of God, Yes and yes and yes they have - to such a point, that, when Jesus came, they not only were not expecting Him, they - What? They rejected Him! Is it just possible, that before the Second Coming of Christ those who profess to be the children of God will also be in the same situation? That they will not be teaching the truths of the Word of God? They will not be teaching the people the divine truths and practices of the Word of God! And when Jesus comes the Second Time, He will come to His own, and His own will not be ready ... We ask you, `Is that possible? It is not only possible but probable, because the devil is not sleeping. The same devil that deceived the leadership before the First Coming of Jesus, is the same devil who is alive and well and who knows his time is short. That is why he is getting angrier every day bringing calamities to everyone, 1.Pet. 5:8. What will be the end of this religious system we studied? We read,
Here we read how the same ten horn powers, which she used and flirted with, will cause her end, just like it was with Israel. These ten horns are identified as kings, in fact the kings of the whole world, Rev. 16:14..
The kings which she committed fornications with, it says, will `hate the horn.' Not only that, they will take away all her riches, and make her desolate and naked. So, we should never envy these clerics, theologians and religious leaders. They bear a solemn responsibility, which, if not admininistered in the spirit of Christ, will cause her eternal end. Why did those kings turn on their former `Mother?' Because at some point they found out the deceivableness, the lies, the abominations and wickedness of that whole system and it caused them to `hate the woman church.' And yet, today we hear so many Christians say, that our big enemies are the Muslims, perhaps also the Hindus and Buddhists and the secular humanists for we know that SdAs look to Christ's ministry in heaven; Christianity looks to Jerusalem; Muslims look to Mecca; and humanists look to the Galapagos Islands as their spiritual center of their faith. How are true Christians supposed to react to this situation? We find the answer in Rev. 18:1-5. God says, you must come out from her. Click on it to review and come back. Dear readers. Let us not forget that throughout history the greatest enemies to God's people have been other people who claim to be God's people. However, what may be going on behind the scene ist that the beast power through its secret agencies is trying to get the US and Muslim world to go to fight each other [560] so they can overcome them both. The hatred generated by such events could easily lead to look for a means to bring back "peace and safety" - in comes a Sunday law. Who killed Abel? His own brother killed Abel on the question of how to worship God. Who killed the prophets in the OT? Their own people Israel to whom they were sent. Who killed Jesus? Well, you will say, our sins did. That is true, but who appealed to the arm of the state to carry out the execution? They were the very people that claimed to serve God. Who persecuted God's saints during the Middle Ages? The established church that claimed to be the church of Jesus Christ - that is why Jesus said, "the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service." John 16:2. The current movements to join church and state are an ominous sign and we should get ready. Are you ready to become another Stephanus? Or another Peter or John or Paul? The woman and her offspring fall because they reject the First Angel's Message. These are very serious issues. They will divide all of humanity into two camps. Those who are God's and those who are Satans. Let us read it,
Is this the same as the Second Angel's Message? Yes, only intensified!
Because she teaches the doctrines of devils. - An expression the apostle Paul uses, 1.Tim. 4:1.
Does that sound like a place you want to be in? We learn here that the devil has doctrines, but God has life giving doctrines, 1. Tim. 6:1. The devil always tries to trump what God does. What made Babylon fall into this condition? It was her wine!
God is saying, Babylon is really fallen. No doubt about it.
There is no hope of reforming her. Her mind is sealed.
Does God have people in Babylon?
Yes! Most of God's people are still in Babylon.[610] They are not in the three angel's message preaching churches for many of those don't study, do not believe and will abandon ship.
Why does God say, "My people?"
Because God has people in all the churches of the world. They are sincere and are searching for the truth! They want to know what is right! They are hungry and thirsty for the Word of God!
Once the issues become clear to them, they will Come out!
God has brought you here so you can know His Word, and make a decision to receive it. And so the voice says, "Come out of her my People."
Why now? Why not wait a little longer?
Does it say, `Stay in', and just live the gospel there?
No! It says get out!
There is nothing good to be found in Babylon!
I praise God that in the end time God will have a people who sigh and cry - because of the abominations being performed both within our church and outside of it.
Let us read two more texts,
Notice, in Jerusalem all sorts of abominations were being committed but God had a faithful remnant people. A few people who were sealed! Does God speak of a faithful remnant in the Book of Revelation who are going to be sealed?
He certainly does too and it comes from Ezekiel. Let us read in Ezekiel,
Namely in the midst of Jerusalem. God has a people there, for they are saddened by what is happening in the church. Only those who belong to God bear His seal. Everyone needs to be sealed with God's seal. God's seal lands us into God's heaven, the beast's seal into doom. The former lifts us up, makes us like Jesus, the latter leaves some on earth.
How many among you are really planning to be saved by God?
Let us read one more scripture,
If you are planning to be in God's heavenly city this scripture is for you!
This scripture underscores that you will have to come out of Babylon because of what we just read.[685] No one who commits abominations will be found in God's holy city. That is why Jesus calls you and all to come out.
God calls out also many Sabbath keeping Christians. Many of them have come out of Babylon but Babylon has not come out of them. That is how they end up in Babylon.
It is like Lot's wife. She came out of Sodom, but Sodom had not come out of her.[700]
So its stands. We have to come out of Babylon and Babylonian thinking, practice and doctrines have to come out of us.
That is why we can't wait any longer to come out. We cannot get Babylon out of us in a couple hours. It takes time. It takes time to exchange the wine with God's pure doctrines. - In the city there will be no one who commits these abominations.
These are strong words, but it is the truth.
Babylon has fallen because she teaches contrary to the First Angel's Message. God calls upon His people to live this message and proclaim it to the world, so that many can be saved into the kingdom. Those, who perhaps now do not know these things.
Who is going to tell them?
You and I, all those who know - we better tell it.
For God holds us responsible for what we know to be true.
"Oh, God, thank you for revealing these truths to us. Help us overcome our unbelief. Help us to come out and take a stand for you and come out to obey all thy truths before it is too late."
What does the Bible teach about what we are to achieve in this life?
Christians everywhere have a high calling from God. What is it? For many people, they just want to be saved like the thief on the cross, without "cleansing themselves from all unrighteousness." 1.Jh. 1:9.
What about it? Can people be saved on the basis of the thief on the cross without hanging on the cross? There is no benefit to our Christian experience by carrying a cross around our neck when our Lord left a cross on that hill a long time ago.
No!
The thief on the cross is the only one saved on this term. God knew his heart. He would have been a faithful follower had he lived. He would have forsaken sins and become perfect, like the Apostle John says, to be saved.
This is what the Apostle Peter says, amazing grace will do for His people.
What does this all mean?
Peter enumerates here the ladder of Christian progress. Those Christians who lived another minute after they were converted to Christ. This ladder pertains to all denominations.[820]
Before citing the ladder let us talk just a little about meaning in the above Bible verses.
Christians experience the grace and peace of God when they follow what Peter writes about.
They seek Bible knowledge so that they are in tune with God who inspired people to write out what God presented to them by using their own words. When God calls us to glory Him, we do that by keeping His commandments which were kept underneath the Shekinah lid of the Ark of the Covenant in the Most Holy of the tabernacle and temple of the Lord God. When God calls us to glory Him, we do not treat our body as a fun house but cleanse it to be a temple of God. To hold people in darkness and impenitence, till the mediation of Christ in the Most Holy is accomplished, is the object which Satan seeks to accomplish.
When God calls us to virtue, that means He calls us to abstain from sin. Abstaining from sin means we escape the corruption and sinfulness of this world. It means we become tempered followers of Christ. We refrain from the sinful excesses of our former life. These include all selfish desires we harbor inside of us. They include sins of a) hate, b) short temper, c) working so much that we do not find time for God, d) watching the tube instead of reading for some minutes, thus connecting with heaven, e) lack of faith and prayer.
Churches which fail to renounce these things are not giving the second angel's message. They are out of step with God and do not "follow the lamb to whereever he goeth" (Rev. 14:4), but follow Babylon, where ever it goes. In the first angel's message we studied the "fear of God," and when you study it you find it is connected with the 10 commandments (Deuteronomy), and it brings people to the judgment bar of God. Today, people have lost the fear of the judgment bar of God, - of the terror to have to appear in their own uncleanness before the infinite purity of God. They lost the fear of the lake of fire, of transgression against God, therefore they have become a prey for evil spirits (thinking) and a prey to evil agencies and then they fear other things than God.
But here is Peter's ladder of Christian progress, every step of which represents advancement in the knowledge of God, and in the climbing of which there is no standstill.
What is Jesus saying? Knowing the true God means to become like Him, to strife to imitate the life of Jesus as we live our life. No Christian needs to fail in attaining to a level of perfection of the Character of Jesus. By His death on calvary He made it possible for us to receive and apply all these virtues unto life and godliness. We are to reach for the standard of perfection that Christ in innumerable ways wanted His followers to achieve. In His humanity, perfected by a constant resistance to evil, the Saviour shows us that through co-operation with the Divine will, human beings can obtain perfection of character for Christ took upon Himself our fallen nature to show, that we can achieve victory over sin and thus perfection too - just like He did.
For it is true, when the character of Christ is perfectly reproduced in His people, then He will come to claim them as His own. For Christ shows us through His life that it is also possible for us to cease from sin. That is why Jesus told the long term patient at the Pool of Bethesda and the woman brought to Him for adultery to "sin no more" Jh. 5:14; 8:11.
When Jesus forgave sins, that is what he meant to happen after that forgiveness. The forgiven sinner was expected to break his or her ties with sin from that moment on. But if someone falters we pray and ask for forgiveness right away. Never wait any length of time. Pray right away for our sins nailed Jesus to the cross. We can not be lax about them. We must deal with them right away.
God does not ask of us an impossibility. He showed us that by the perfect obedience of Jesus, He makes it possible for all of us to obey His commandments. When we give up our selfish desires our heart becomes united with His heart, our mind becomes one with His mind. Our thoughts pattern after His thoughts. That is what it means to be clothed with the garment of His righteousness, Matthew 22:1-14.
We can and must overcome in Christ. But we must understand that we come to Christ just as we are; that He loves us and accepts us in the beloved; that we are complete in Him; that we are in Him and He in us; that as we are in Him, we are covered with His righteousness, and as He is in us, He is working out His righteousness within us. Righteousness, therefore, is always a term that means holiness that has confronted temptation in sinful nature and has overcome. We must also know, that He remembers, that we are dust. He will save us by any means that He can. Some will be saved through death and some through translation.
This work of putting on our wedding garment must be going on right now for Christ does not come to cleanse us of our sins, to remove from us the defects in our characters, or to cure us of the infirmities of our tempers and dispositions. If that is done for us at all, it must be accomplished before that time of His Coming. When the Lord comes, those who are holy will be holy still, Rev. 22:11. Those who have preserved their bodies and spirits (deeds and thoughts) in holiness, in sanctification and honor, will then receive the finishing touch of immortality, for to be redeemed means to cease from sin.
That is why the Bible says that we cannot remain "wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked" but must accept God's counsel "... to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see." Rev. 3:17,18.
Why?
For not one will receive the Seal of God (Rev. 7) while our characters have one spot or stain upon them, Eph. 5:27, for we have a high calling, we are to separate us from worldly lusts yet present the gospel, the gospel contained in these Three Angels Messages.
When Paul writes that we are to be "reconciled to God" (2.Cor. 5:20), he is saying that man's sinful state ever since Eden requires that we accept the gift of the faith of Christ provided for us, so we can become righteous, i.e. obedient to God's requirements again.
With God's help we must overcome in that, in which Adam fell. Not by our own righteousness but according to His mercy and saving work, by the washing and regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which He sheds on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour.
How? -- By us accepting Christ as our substitute, He who has accepted us already. To accept Christ means to hate sin and abide in Him, daily, hourly, in our thoughts gained from the study of His Word and through prayer as we do our daily chores. He who walks in the footsteps of Christ is being sanctified through the truth and will live a life of self-control until God's amazing grace culminates in glory. He is cooperating with God in his own salvation. This sanctification is not something that happens quickly, it may take a lifetime but does not have to. When Jesus `looked into the soul' of the thief on the cross He saw that all rebellion was gone and he was safe to be saved. For us today, obedience to all that God requires is the test of justification (being pardoned) and true discipleship. Jesus leads us to feel our great need of being forgiven, then He gives repentance (Acts 5:31). Because the sinner, thinking about what his sin did to Christ on the cross is so sorry for sin, he is determined by the power of the Holy Spirit to stop sinning. He has hatred for sin, and is willing to be made willing to give loving obedience to Christ and His law to the finest detail. Then Christ wonderfully pardons or justifies him, and God the Father no longer sees the sinner, but a saint covered by the Robe of His Son's righteousness.
How did the churches stray away from the word, character, and judgment of God? The 2nd angel's message is a faithful and clear delineation of apostasy. The beast, through its highly trained troops, is using psychological manipulation on the `image of the beast,' of which its members are hardly aware. Rev. 13:14 tells us of the beast, it "deceiveth them that dwell on the earth". Vatican II's new doctrines, enforced through its canon laws, caused the structured churches to say in effect, `Oh, we only want to see good things.' `We only want to be positive, not negative.' Saying that, they are completely out of harmony with the 2nd angel's messages. Instead they are in harmony with the `New Age,' which teaches those soothing words - accepting that there is a place for evil and the good, and that all is fine.
But with God there is moral clarity, there is moral perception.
Earlier we stated the question to find out what and who Babylon is. Now we are at the end of the message of the 2nd angel and have not explicitly done so. Why? Well, we hope by presenting the data you would be able to decide the answer to the question. Even the Apostle Peter spoke in veiled language when he meant that great city of his time, writing, "The church that is in Babylon, elected together with you (church members in Pontus, Galatia, Asia), saluteth you, and so does Marcus my son." 1.Peter 5:13. In the vision of the cloth containing all kinds of creatures, Peter learned that the gospel must go to the gentiles. After he had that vision, his mission was mainly to labor for the gentiles; however, that does not mean that converted Jews were ostracized for all belonged to the body of believers in Jesus Christ. His gaze was therefore directed at Rome in need of the gospel, rather than to those Jews still living in the old, destroyed Babylon in Mesopotamia. That is why expositors agree that Peter did not mean a place in Asia but one in Europe, the capital of the great empire of his days which will be made clear in the following section.
Earlier in the life of the Apostle Peter, he had an encounter with Simon Magus, a Samaritan who was a priest of Babylonian persuasion. Simon Magus was a studied man and wanted to purchase the title of Apostle which he thought he deserved after having been baptized by a mission effort of Peter in Samaria. (Acts 8:9-25). This Simon was a crafty man who saw an advantage for his own causes when there was one, and knew how to take advantage so as to further his own goals. His main goal became more and more to be the founder of a worldwide, universal church. His `conversion' was not a genuine conversion. Having been rebuffed by Peter because of his `simony', trying to purchase a religious office (the word `simony' was coined after his name), he seemed to have entertained a defiant anger and used all his prowess and skill to achieve his goal to become the head of a universal church. For that purpose he removed at some point to Rome where he taught his mixture of Christianity and Babylonian mysticism, thereby revealing himself as the agency, the man of sin, by which the once true and pure Christian religion became adulterated in time to be a Romanized, Catholic, universal, false religion. While in Rome, Simon Magus also assumed the name Simon Peter, which led to much confusion and the idea that the Apostle Peter was the first Pope, when actually this pagan priest Simon Magus, alias Simon Peter, became the first Pope of his universal church. Thus his sect of paganized Christian services were adopted into the Catholic Church.[988]
Many claim today there is no Satan. Its just us who act up.
Why is that?
Because Satan hides in darkness, we need to seek the light to be able to withstand his attacks. The shorter the time gets the more dangerous Satan's devices become. It is so with many who know their life is short, they want to fill what is left with whatever they desire. Satan does not want Jesus to bring His harvest of faithful followers with Him to heaven. He will fight it with all he can.
So what does it mean to seek God's light?
It means for us to "... put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts of it." for ... we know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in wickedness." (Rom. 13:14; 1John 5:19).
Satan is angry for Jesus has overcome the world and His followers are immitating Jesus and overcome the world but they know it is not their performance which redeems them . . . they know Satan's power has already been broken and his life cycle is nearing its close. That is why he moves around like "a roaring lion . . . seeking whom he may devour." (1Peter 5:8). Christ's followers know He has achieved victory over sin and bids us to put on the robe of His righteousness. We need that robe, but not to put it on over our old flesh. We decided to follow Jesus and are reborn. And because of it we are involved in the greatest `battle' anyone can wage, to say `No' to fleshly desires and pride in order to become spiritual people and keep our focus on "It is written." (Mt. 4). Christ's followers know they must `put on' "the whole armour of God" (Eph. 6:11).
Satan uses in particular the following deceptions:
When Satan does not succeed to turn people away from living a Christ-like-life, from people who have put on the whole armor of God for they know Satan is out to deceive many, then they know Satan's next weapon will be exposed ...
So, let us be wise and recognize the wily attacks. Call out, `Lord, help me,' when they occur. Stay in your mind on Christ all the time. Put on the whole armor:
We are admonished to "fight the good fight of faith."
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| Documents for Our Time |
| The Third Angel's Message |
Foreword Our Mission statement: "In a special sense Seventh-day Adventists have been set in the world as watchmen and light bearers. To them has been entrusted the last warning for a perishing world. On them is shining wonderful light from the word of God. They have been given a work of the most solemn import--the proclamation of the first, second, and third angels' messages. There is no other work of so great importance. They are to allow nothing else to absorb their attention." {9T 19.1}The special message contained in this 3rd angel's message is that of true vs false worship of God.[90] Worshiping the true Christ who died on the cross for our sins makes it alarming that people would stray away so far as to worship the beast and its image with only few asking how to tell the difference - a difference of eternal life or eternal death - according to the Bible. The first part of the Bible's 3rd Angel's Message:
This is one of the most dire warnings we find in all of the Bible. Speaking of those who worship the beast and receive the image of its mark, we find that the wrath of God will be poured out upon them without mixture of mercy. In other words, the door of mercy is closed. We find that what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah will happen again at the end of time in the exact sequence, (Cmpr. Genesis 19:24 with Rev. 14:9-11). We find the following parallels,
The Bible tells us that the judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah is for all the world an example of what such sinning, moral decline and wickedness will cause to happen. We read,
This review is summarized here! Look at it briefly and then come back. First we shall talk about the location, where the second beast arises.
We find here a different point of origin for this beast which comes "up out of the earth" while all others came up out of the sea. That is the reason why this two horned land beast did not originate in Asia (lion and bear), or in Europe (like the leopard and the iron toothed beast) because these four powers (Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome) rose up out of the sea, Dan.7:2-8. These powers progressed from the east toward the west, where the sea (i.e. waters) represents multitudes of people, long established and populated areas in the world. The second, lamb like beast to be
Looking at a globe, where should we pinpoint the origin of the two horned beast? This much as to the `where' this lamb like beast arises. Let us talk about the `when.' We read on this account,
Should we understand this as having a `spiritual' or `literal' fulfillment?
Did the church go into captivity during the 1260 years? Yes!
He used the power of the state (the sword) to do its biddings which finally resulted in the state turning around, saying in effect, enough is enough, and using its sword against the dragon-beast. Finally, he had his hands tied.
Question: Does the second, lamb-like beast of Rev. 13:11 arise when the first dragon like beast receives its deadly wound? It most certainly appears on the scene of the nations of the world immediately at the time the beast received its deadly wound. In fact, these two beasts coexist with one another. But when? Does the lamb like beast coexist with the sea beast in its first stage or in its second?[200] Their time `together', according to the Bible, covers the period after it says, it came to the rescue when the 1260 years came to their end. So their time together is primarily when? --- After its deadly wound was healed. Scripture actually indicates that the two horned land beast helps the sea beast to heal its wound, Rev. 13:11-18. In effect that could be seen in the end as its main purpose of arising. --- But this relationship is not yet well publicized in actual history. (Spring 2008: But it is now already quite well.) However, Revelation indicates that the land beast plays an important role in the recovery of the sea beast. These two powers then are contemporary during the time the deadly wound is healed. Question: Does the land beast help the sea beast to regain its control over the state? What does the Bible mean by the deadly wound by the sword? We know from Romans 13:4 that the civil government, the state bears the sword. We also know that the state wounded the sea beast. The state, which the sea beast had used for so long to accomplish its purposes. Question: If this sea beast is going to recover from its wound by the sword, must that mean that the second lamb like beast is going to restore civil power to it? Yes! In fact, that is what the healing of the deadly wound means! The second (lamb) beast will heal its (the sea beast's) wound completely by giving it the support of the state or the political power.
All we can say is, `Wow.' How is that going to happen? How in the world could this lamb-like beast kingdom do such a thing? [210] On the other side we read of the patience of the saints. What characterizes this patience? Does it have to do with refraining from retaliation? --- Of course patient Christian people do not retaliate. Patience seeks to look at every situation or person in the best light possible. The Importance of this Message We saw that the first angel is a statement and contains three commands, the second angel's message is a proclamation and then he makes a call to come out; the third angel does not give a command and he doesn't make a call to come out - what he does is he gives a dire warning to the world. These messages are God's final appeal to get ready for His Kingdom. That is how important they are. The 3rd message is the very last message before Jesus comes again for we read immediately after this 3rd angel's message is proclaimed,
"And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped." Rev. 14:14-16. Finally, we should realize, that these messages ripen the people in the world to either accept God's gospel call that He has accepted us already and be ready for His Second Coming, or reject it and tread the wine presses alone. These messages polarize the world. The world will be divided into two camps, those who believe and those who do not. But the question often asked is, `How can God win His universe back to trust, or confirm the trust, to the onlooking universe?' Can He do it by show of force or power? No. God can do it only by the demonstration of trustworthiness over a long period of time, under a great variety of circumstances, especially difficult ones. Only this way can trust be established and confirmed. That is why God has revealed Himself throughout the long history recorded in Scripture. Then Christ came and provided the most persuasive evidence by the way He lived and treated people, by the truthful things He said about His Father - all of this body of evidence has been revealed before the universe. Then Jesus, having completed the course, said, `It would be better that I go and let the Holy Spirit come to teach you' (Jh. 16:7) this evidence as exemplified by His discourse with the disciples on the road to Emmaus shortly after the unique and awful death He died. Then there is the one we never see or hear. The one who works so quietly behind the scenes. The one whom we often identify with the still small voice and with truth, conviction, with light and insight. The one who seeks to convince on the basis of evidence alone, without Him being visibly present. Yes, we serve an infinitely majestic and powerful God, who ultimately wishes to work the way we just described. Why is that? Because any faith and trust based on anything else is not genuine. The trust Israel gave God at Mt. Sinai did not last very long. It is only on the basis of unquestionable evidence that we are thoroughly convinced and we remain convinced so long and are now so settled into the truth, both intellectually and spiritually, that we cannot be moved. It is only that kind of trust that can take us through difficult times. So the work of the Holy Spirit is that He works quietly through the evidence to lead us to trust and through divine agape love. [225] While it is not God's plan to harden the heart of people against Himself we should understand how peoples hearts are hardened. The question is, `When they hear the message of invitation to surrender all, what do they do?' - They shut their heart and mind off to hear them. They just click on another channel. That is serious and very consequential for people. That is also the reason why we cannot rely on electronic media alone to reach people and bring them these messages. They must be led to query whom to trust, God or man. And so we realize that our reaction to God's Word on these points are very consequential. When we accept these gospel messages of the free gift of salvation, the Bible says in the verse we just read, we will be gathered in God's barn. Conversely, when we reject them, God's Word will also ripen you, but on the wrong side - because you will have totally shut your heart against the voice of God and you will be left in darkness. The Characteristics of the Kingdom We know that a `beast' in prophecy stands for a nation or a kingdom. We recall how the beast `came up out of the earth' (Rev. 13:11).
The Greek word `anabain When the sea beast receives its wound, has the land-beast reached the apex of its power? - No! The lamb-beast is just starting to sprout in 1798. Question: Is this lamb like nation going to become a world wide super power? According to Revelation 13:11-18, it certainly will. --- We learn in that scripture, that this nation is going to have immense military power to the point that it is able to kill everyone who will not worship the image of the beast. It has immense political power, `the whole world wonders after the beast' as a result of the influence of this nation. It has huge economic power because Rev. 13 says, it forbids buying and selling in the whole world unless you have the mark of the beast. Therefore, after a small beginning in 1798, when it is sprouting like a plant, it is going to reach world wide proportions. It shall be a world super power militarily, economically as well as religiously. Looking back in history, where is there such a power west of Rome? (Click here for a review.) As the prophecy (13:11) shows, the country had small beginnings. It is also true that it is in many respects the lone super power of the world. Dick Cheney said:
Only the US can do ... this and that ...
In Bible prophecy what do horns represent?
How about the lamb beast of Revelation 13, do these two horns represent two kingdoms? - Yes they do! Well, you say, that cannot be. The US is not two kingdoms, it is one! Ok. So we will show our readers that the US was established with the idea that it was two kingdoms which are mutually inseparable. One is the civil power, and the other is the church. Each of these were to be respected in their own sphere of influence. The US was founded on the idea that there are two kingdoms that must be separated one from the other. One is the kingdom of God, `Render therefore unto God what is God's and unto Caesar what is Caesar's.' --- Did Jesus recognize that there are two kingdoms? Yes, He most certainly did. --- In fact Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36), while your's, `Pilate', is!" This idea is called, Republicanism and Protestantism. That stands for civil and religious liberty. -- It means a church without a pope and a state without a king. Who in Europe during the Middle Ages exerted total and complete control in civil matters? - It was the king. [See here for emphasis on how that works.] In those days power originated from the top on down. Who in Europe during the Middle Ages exerted total and complete control in religious matters? - It was the pope. Therefore, the US made a tremendous experiment when establishing this civil land. -- The founding fathers decided to establish something in this country that had never been tried before in the entire history of the world. They wanted a government of the people, by the people and for the people where the power does not flow from up - down, but from the people, from down - up. The founding fathers also created a country whose Congress has only delegated powers. It has no other power; it cannot exercise any other according to Article X of the Amendments to the Constitution. This land decided to guarantee, in religious matters, full liberty of conscience to worship God according to the dictates of your conscience without having a pope to tell you how you are supposed to worship. This land decided, in political matters, to allow full civil liberty without the government unnecessarily restricting the natural rights an individual was supposed to have. Therefore, this nation was established on the principle of `separation of church and state' with full civil and religious liberty. We read it now and observe its three clauses. They are known as (1) `the establishment clause,' (illustrated by Dan.3); (2) `the free exercise clause' (illustr. by Dan. 6); and (3) `the civil liberties clause.' Let us read it:
We ask, `What part of making no law respecting establishment of religion ... you don't understand? --- ... It also does not say, `Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of a church ... like the religious right tries to interpret this amendment. They say, well, the framers of the constitution meant, the government cannot establish any church but it can treat all churches equally. - That is not what the first amendment says. It does not say, `Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of a religion or church, it says "respecting the establishment of religion." That is any religion. The free exercise clause says, If I want to worship a nail in the wall, the US cannot prohibit it. While it is kind of dum, we have the right to do it. Question: Why did they put religious and civil liberties together in the first amendment to the Constitution? --- Did they understand that there is a very intimate relationship between having religious liberty and civil liberty? Yes! They knew very well that you cannot have religious liberty unless you have civil liberty, and vice versa. Example: Afghanistan under the Taliban. These were overzealous, fanatics who wanted to impose their own brand of religion upon all people. As a result, did they restrict the civil rights of their people? - So that man were not allowed to grow a beard, woman could not attend school, people could not listen to music, they could not have elections, not vote. There was no freedom of the press. None could play soccer. None could express him or herself freely. You could not assemble to protest the government. Are all of these civil liberties that we should enjoy? -Yes! - - But Western culture has perverted music, decency over many years - through movies, music, books, magazines - that legacy is what Islam reacts against in our days. Why could they not enjoy civil liberty? --- ? Because there was restriction of religious liberty!!! The framers of our Constitution knew that, unless you have civil and religious liberty, and they are separate, people will loose both freedoms and you have no liberty at all. The framers of the Constitution knew very well three things:
They knew that the state killed everyone who was not in harmony with their beliefs. They knew that the right to life is a fundamental liberty we should enjoy. - Can the church say, `If you do not agree with me I kill you?' Can the church remove that civil right because of the religious views of that church? Absolutely not! Yet, that is exactly what happened in Europe. Martyrs like John Huss in 1415, because he was against the selling of indulgences. That you can pay, in order to have your sins forgiven. He taught that we are saved by the righteousness of Christ.[276] He decried the immorality because of impiety, the buying and selling of church offices, the adultery and the injustice among the clergy. -- He was taken to the Cathedral in Constance, tried in their court and delivered to the state to be burned to death at the stake. The founding fathers knew this history. They wanted none of that here in the United States to occur. They wanted church and state separated so such atrocities could not happen again. They understood, like Pilate did, that only separation will provide civil and religious liberty. When the Puritans fled England after about the period of 1590 into the early 1600's, they looked for better horizons and landed in America. They arrived in Massachusetts in September of 1620. After hardships, they established the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Bad thing was, they brought their old world habits to the new world. They wanted to establish a theocracy in the colonies. They decided that,
During the colonial period you could get fined by the civil government for not attending church on Sunday. -- If you insisted on not attending church you could be spending time in jail. --- And some who kept on not attending church were executed.[282] Then, people were forced to pay tithe to the civil government so the preachers would get paid. All of this history was known to the framers of the Constitution. They wanted no part of those days.
It was Roger Williams, after arriving in Boston in 1631,
The framers of the Constitution knew all this because they were still closer in time to it. It was Roger Williams who first coined the phrase of `separation of church and state' in his book, `The Bloody Tenant of Persecution.'[290] Roger Williams was way ahead of his time. He understood what the two horns of the lamb represented - full civil and religious liberty with both kingdoms separate from one another. Question: Is the conduct of this lamb-like beast going to change - the conduct of this country which was established on liberty and justice for all, the home of the free land of the land of the brave? --- People came here from all over the world to find freedom. Revelation 13 says, that this country is going to change on these issues.[300] Instead of guaranteeing civil and religious liberty, it is going to speak as a dragon. How does it "speak" like a dragon? -- It is going to help that first sea-beast recover its power by making an image of and to that sea-beast by legislating and causing laws to come about. If this lamb-beast is the United States, and to all we pointed out, it is --- is the United States going to come to a point where they are going to establish a system similar to the one which existed in Europe during the Middle Ages? - Yes! Because an `image' is a reflection - it is going to establish a system which is a reflection of the sea-beast which existed in Europe. ---- That means the United States shall repudiate its Constitution and join Church and State, thus helping the papacy to be completely healed, recovered from its wound and recover its power. --- And this is happening right now. Do we have examples? -- President Ronald Reagan worked hand in hand with that power to overthrow the Iron Curtain in Eastern Europe and in the former Soviet Union according to `Time' magazin and their story of the `holy alliance'. The impact of September 11 is a watershed event for the United States. It is a determining event and serves to accelerate final events. We remind ourselves by looking backward, but looking forward, that is where our hope is, Titus 2:13; Jude 1:21. Why? Ever since that event people look to the Middle East for cataclysmic events and fulfillment of prophecy to happen. They look at Israel, the Palestinians fighting, they look at Afghanistan, Iraq, etc. Many times, in Protestant book stores one cannot find one book which states that the beast is the papacy. There is not one book that says that the second beast is the US. Remember, we identified them by their location on the map, their time period and by their characteristics. Of course Satan would not want anyone to believe that the antichrist sits in Rome.[400] He would not want anyone to believe the role Protestantism is playing in Bible prophecy. Of course not. --- So after September 11 everyone is looking at the Muslims. Satan succeeded to deflect people's attention to the wrong place. Even more than before. September 11 also has helped the United States step on the stage of global dominion as never before. Militarily, economically and politically it can exercise the clout we find in the prophecy in Revelation 13. But that is not all. In order for people to go along with this agenda they have to be willing to give up some of their freedoms. That is why, we heard it said, `Oh, I'll be willing to give up some of my freedoms for security.' --- Enter the Patriot Act. We may have mixed feelings for the government about the Patriot Act. There are many things that are less public. Like for giving the government permission to spy in churches and to listen in on telephone conversations. To hold people without due process ... But then we look and might say, `What else can the government do?' ---- Who is the fellow behind this whole thing- for people to give up their liberties? --- It is Satan. He caused September 11. --- He is behind it so people would become enslaved to the system, even though the system did not premeditate to enslave people. Many other issues having to do with the separation of church and state took place and are taking place. Issues on displaying the Ten Commandments. -- What is wrong with displaying them? -- It is the government establishing religion, that is what is wrong with it. -- The government is supposed to keep out of these things. It is supposed to rule only in civil matters. Or consider `faith based initiatives.' The President could not get them passed through Congress so he signed an executive order in which the government gives money to church charitable organizations so they can use the money to help people. -- We need to listen up on these events. -- What happens with the charity of the church members? What happens with the control of the government? The government does not give money without telling you how to use it. - It mixes up the state in the affairs of the church, and it mixes up the church in the affairs of the state. - After September 11 Congress took a unanimous vote, 444 to nothing, in which they decided the government should place `In God we Trust' in public schools. -- That is something we should say in church. The state cannot say, `In God we Trust.' The sad point of all of this is, that the politicians have no idea what is behind this mixing what the `Bill of Rights' separates. What is causing all of these efforts to undo that. They do not believe or know the Bible, or both. We need to pray for our political leaders to have discernment, clarity of thought.[433] That they may understand this prophecy in Revelation 13 where it speaks of Protestantism and the system of Catholicism joining hands to establish a religious/ political union like it existed during the Middle Ages. What is it that the dragon hates the most? Did we not just say, that the two horned lamb-beast is going to end up speaking like a dragon? -- Yes! We did! - Revelation 13:11 does not exactly say what the dragon hates, but our next text does.
Why was the dragon `wroth' with the woman? It was wroth because the earth helped Does the devil like the system of government of the United States? -- The devil hates it because he cannot exert control.[450] He endeavors unceasingly to get rid of this idea of separation of church and state so he can take matters in his own hands. So "the dragon was wroth with the woman and went to make war ...". That is after the earth helps the woman, right? After the 1260 years! And "he went to make war with the remnant of her seed." What is it that Satan hates about `the remnant of her seed'? He hates it so much because they are those "And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." (Rev. 12:17).[475] The beast hates those of the remnant who `keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus.' Where is that remnant going to arise at first? -- It says the earth helped the woman, so they are going to start off first in the United States. -- This remnant is going to teach that you are supposed to keep the commandments of God. They are repairers of the breach, Isaiah 58:12-14. ... and prophecy foretells that among the remnant there will be the `testimony of Jesus.' -- Now, why are Protestants not standing in line to find out what that testimony of Jesus really is? What do they say?[500] They have been prejudiced against the gift of prophecy by their leaders. The Bible teaches that the gift of prophecy can exist till Jesus comes again. The Bible teaches also how to recognize the true from false manifestations of this gift and what the conditions are under which it operates. A primary condition is revealed here, because God normally sends prophets to His church only when it is keeping His commandments. Notice how Lamentations 2:9b puts it: "The law is no more; her prophets also find no vision from the Lord." [550] But notice and be reminded, the punctuation in the Bible is not inspired. The semicolon was not there in the Hebrew text. A semicolon implies that the next phrase is disconnected from the phrase before. Therefore, we may place a comma and read the text like this, "The law is no more, and because of that her prophets find no vision from the Lord." The NIV Bible translation says it this way, "... the law is no more, and her prophets no longer find visions from the Lord." We notice, this translation uses a comma instead of a semicolon. - Israel forsook to keep the law of God which resulted in God withdrawing His gifts. Among these gifts was the gift of prophecy. The framers of the Constitution also knew the Book of Daniel and how it describes what caused persecutions in Babylon and Persia.
The United States is the greatest nation on earth because of the principles it was built upon. Principles which Satan hates and which he will soon overturn in this country. Let us pray that we will not be on the wrong side in this conflict. People must come out of the system of Babylon and the false prophet. The Bible says, `Come out of her.' (Rev. 18:4). The Image and Mark of the First Beast, the Sea Beast How did the second beast, the land beast arise which at first was an innocent lamb? This lamb, turned beast, sets up an image to and of the first beast, which is also known as the sea beast, Rev. 13:14, because, unlike the second beast, the first beast arose out of the sea over there in Europe. It changes its character from being peaceful to being abusive, Rev. 13:12,16. It is a persecuting power, Rev. 13:7.
It joined church and state, for the United States shall repudiate that church and state must be separate. In the process of joining church and state or reaching over the abyss of (church) history of many centuries, it will shake hands with the sea beast and bring to an end the United State's unique contribution and secret of its success, the separation of church and state.[700] This separation brought millions into this country who sought those liberties to work and thrive and contribute to this land. As the lamb like creature, turned beast, repudiates the first amendment of the constitution, that Congress shall make no law respecting establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, in the course of time this former lamb like beast is going to enforce the receiving of the `mark of the beast.' We know God calls His people to obedience and trust, while in contrast, following the beast involves disobedience to God. Let us remember that the `image of the beast' is different then the `mark of the beast' and the `number of the beast' is different too. We already identified the sea beast as the Roman Catholic system and the second land beast we identified as the United States of America. The image of the sea beast that the second beast makes is what? It is a replica of the system of government that the sea beast had during the 1260 years. Now we want to talk about the `Mark of the Beast.' We read:
We read that the second beast "causes". What does that mean? It means he forces everyone to receive the mark of the beast in the right hand or in the forehead.[720] Once this mark is imposed, they have set their character in such a way that it will be easy for them to accept the `mark of the beast.' - `Oh, why not just switch the day of worship, what is the big deal?' Because the `fear or honoring of God' has not gone down deeply into them, they are unable to distinguish between worshiping the living God from worshiping the beast. They have accepted the principles and concepts, the propaganda of the beast and its image all along, and when the day comes for the imposition of the mark, it will be easy for them to make such a switch. That is why how we live now is such a critical issue, to examine our habits to be sure that we worship the living God in truth; that our faith is pure; that we are in submission to the Lord God in Heaven. If any man worships the beast and its image, if they submit, if they bow down on the plain of Dura (Dan. 3:1), then they change allegiance to the beast power.[730] But there is a contrasting sign to this `seal' or `mark' sign. We find it in the very next chapter of Revelation.
What is the contrast between Rev. 13:16 and Rev. 14:1? We have two marks that are placed on or in the forehead. These are two contrasting signs. We have the seal of God and we have the mark of the beast. The seal of God is placed on those who have come to Mt. Sinai, by cooperating with God in keeping His commandments, before they come to Mt. Sion, the heavenly Jerusalem (Hebr. 12:22). In the next text this contrast is also shown. Let us read the following scripture,
Are these those who are going to be lost when Jesus comes? Did you notice that this is the same group of people which will receive the mark of the beast? Let us compare the characteristics of them. |
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"And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains." Rev. 6:15. 1 - the kings (basileus) 2 - the great men (megistanes) 3 - the rich men (plousios) ![]() 4 - the chief captains (chiliarchos) 5 - the mighty (dunatos) men 6 - the bondmen (doulos) ![]() 7 - the free (eleutheros) men
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"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." Rev. 13:16,17. 1 - kings are not mentioned, only causers 2 - the small (mikros) 3 - the great (megas) ![]() 4 - the rich (plousios) ![]() 5 - the poor (ptochos) 6 - the free (eleutheros) ![]() 7 - the bonded (doulos)
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| Encyclopedia | We notice that four of these characteristics match perfectly. Therefore we see a good correspondence between these two verses in Revelation.[770] The same terminology is used. We have here two different descriptions of the same event. Next we should notice that in Revelation 7 we have a contrasting group.
This passage says then, do not release the winds [800] so that the cataclysmic events of the end of chapter six do not take place until we have a chance to seal the servants of God in their foreheads. - So, we have here in Revelation two contrasting views of the saved and the lost. In chapter 6 and 13 we find that those, who are crying for the rocks to fall upon them, will be the ones having the mark of the beast. On the other hand in chapter 14 we find that those, who receive the seal of God, will be preserved in the midst of ruin, when destruction comes.[840] Two contrasting groups. In other words, at the end of time, when Jesus comes, there are only two groups in this world. Those who have the seal of God, and those who have the mark of the beast. [844] Those who have the seal of God will be saved and those who have the mark of the beast will be lost. None but those who have fortified the mind with the truths of the Bible will stand through the last great conflict. Question: In light of this, how important is it to know what the Seal of God and the Mark of the Beast are? Is it a matter of life and death? - Absolutely! To identify the `mark of the beast' we have to know first, who the beast is. Let us study that now. We know that the beast represents the Roman Catholic System. This RC system must then have a mark which the US is going to "cause", that is, enforce by law. Therefore we shall need to know what that mark is. In order to understand the `seal of God', particularly in Revelation 7:1-3, we need to go back to the Old Testament. Without that background it is not possible to come to logical conclusions on the content and intent of the Book of Revelation. - We must go back to those portions of the OT which tell the story of Israel just before their Babylonian captivity for that captivity occurred because of their sins.[1000] In the end time, this world will also be destroyed because of the sins committed by its inhabitants. To study this we go to the Book of Ezekiel which tells us in chapter one that God is coming in judgment upon apostate Israel. God is represented as coming from heaven to the Jerusalem Temple to judge Israel because Israel has been in reckless apostasy against God. God had a right to do that to Israel for we studied already that God had `married' Israel, Ez. 16:8. He married no other nation, he made Israel His bride on Mt. Sinai. When we continue to read in Ezekiel we discover that Israel became an unfaithful bride. An unfaithful wife. She started being a harlot or whore, Ez. 16:30. Along with being a great harlot, Israel also committed great abominations and fornications with the kings of the earth (neighboring nations), Ez. 16:2. We learned how Israel decked herself with gold, silver, pearls and precious stones, items much sought after by museums via their archaeologists today. - We also learned that Israel has daughters (Samaria, Sodom & Jerusalem). That means she does not do her sins alone, she does them with her daughters, Ez. 16; 23 the whole chapters. - God also names the worst abomination that is being committed among His professed people which is sun worship.[1050] Therefore, we must remember that Ezekiel 16 and 23 is not talking about the Babylonians, the Philistines, the Assyrians or Egyptians, - it is talking about those who profess to be God's people. That we must remember to understand the Book of Revelation.Let us read some scriptures of the sins committed before the Babylonian captivity.
At length the Lord shows Ezekiel what the worst abomination is, the one on top of the list. We read,
Why was "worshipping toward the east" such a terrible abomination? - Because by worshipping toward the sunrise they were worshiping the sun like all the pagans around them did, they were trampling upon God as the Creator. They were really claiming that anyone or more of these gods: Baal, Ashera, Astarte, Ishtar, Amon-re or Mithra was their creator. At issue, by worshiping the sun, was their failure and rejection to worship God as the one who made everything, their Creator. They saw God as being angry, a God who must be appeased, not as a God of `agape' love. But again, why was that so bad? --- Because such abominations and false worship led Israel to shed the blood of innocent people in Jerusalem. [1200] You can read about that shedding of blood in the following scripture,
Because of these terrible conditions among those who forsook worshiping the only true God and instead worshiped the sun God, God said, `I am going to come in judgment against this people.' Ezekiel tells us, where the judgment is coming from:
Does anyone reading this, recall reading about `four corners' in Revelation chapter 7? How there were four angels at the four corners holding the winds, and when they were released, what follows? - Destruction! Here in Ezekiel God is saying destruction is coming upon the four corners of the land of Israel - the whole country. This is a definite connection between Ezekiel and the Book of Revelation. But before God comes in judgment against Israel, those who claim to serve Him, who are committing abominations, fornications, shedding innocent blood, dominating the multitudes and people, being unfaithful to God, playing the harlot - before God comes in judgment and in punishment against them - there is a work that needs to be performed because not everyone was unfaithful to God. God has to separate a people. That work is described in the following scripture:
This passage is not talking about a judgment against some heathen nation, it is talking about the capital of God's chosen people, the city where God's Temple stood and where priests were supposed to offer offerings to the Lord God. - Here we learn that God's judgment will come over his own people. But before that judgment comes, God separates out those few, who were faithful, who sighed and cried over those abominations to save them from the destruction. A picture of end times. Israel was in a terrible apostasy. The leaders, the priests, scribes and princes were the instigators by pushing their apostasy. Their minds were utterly polluted by idolatry and immorality.[1450] They had become the most hardhearted people in the world, the hardest to impress with truth. Already since the time of Elijah, who was fed by a widow outside of Israel, God's people did not live up to the knowledge God brought to them. And so it was that the Syrian Naaman was healed of leprosy while Israelite lepers remained defiled. These are illustrations on what happens to a people who reject light of understanding divine truths from God. This message ought to cause us to look around today, in our own churches - are abominations being committed among Christian churches today? The lack of sessions in churches to pray, confess sins and repent leads to only one conclusion, church leaders, pastors, church officers, church members do not recognize sin. They are far removed from serving the Creator God in acceptable worship. No matter how pious and sincere they sound. We must sigh and cry for all of us to come before the Lord, confess, repent and change Our ways. God does not change. We must change. And an obvious change which must come is this, God's faithful people must keep the borders of the Sabbath and Sabbath itself faithfully. - Often, preaching in churches, is most inadequate, untimely and blind to what people need to hear in these last days. Too many pastors are spreading not bad, but untimely ideas, when they must preach what the 3 angels shout from heaven. Jesus comes soon and people will not be ready unless we reform our ways and get serious.[1455] Dear reader. Keep God's Sabbath holy, for it is God's test for citizenship in heaven. We are bidden to do this. Closely examine your own heart as in the light of eternity. Hide nothing from your examination. Search, oh! search, as for your life, and condemn yourself, pass judgment upon yourself, and then by faith claim the cleansing blood of Christ to remove the stains from your Christian character. Do not flatter or excuse yourself. Deal truly with your own soul. And then as you view yourself a sinner, fall, all broken, at the foot of the cross. Jesus will receive you, all polluted as you are, and will wash you in His blood, and cleanse you from all pollution, and make you fit for the society of heavenly angels, in a pure, harmonious heaven. There is no jar, no discord, there. All is health, happiness, and joy. This world is a training school for the higher school, this life a preparation for the life to come. Here we are to be prepared for entrance into the heavenly courts. Here we are to receive and believe and practice the truth until we are made ready for a home with the saints in light. Thank God, that He will seal his faithful people, so that when the destruction comes they are spared. What happens when God finishes His work of judgment? The Bible tells us the answer,
When God is finished separating all the righteous from the wicked, the Bibles says, that the glory that was in the Temple departed from it and Jerusalem was forsaken. Yaweh is no longer their shield. Their defender has become their enemy because they have joined the camp of His enemies, the idols. It speaks of the cherubim angels of the `Ark of the Covenant', in type, as leaving their place. Thus symbolically, and if we could see with spiritual eyes, actually, angels left and interceded and communicated no longer with His people. As a result, some foolishly try to discern the future by studying the abdominal entrails of animals like sheep to learn the future. They wanted to know what awaited them, but not on God's terms. - Jerusalem was now a city which no one could defend. The city was desolate and ready for destruction, Ez. 12:20. What historical event fulfilled the destruction of Jerusalem? [1460] The Bible tells us, that after the work of sealing, there came a terrible crisis over Jerusalem. The account of this we find written in the funeral dirge of Jeremiah, in the Book of Lamentations (Lam. 4). When Nebuchadnezzar encircled the city, he breached the walls and this is what happened ... ...[1470]
Why did all of this have to happen? -- Because they were committing what? They were committing abominations! And the greatest abomination they committed was to worship the sun god.[1478] Disregarding the day of the Creator God. Turning their back to the Most Holy where God's holy law was enshrined in the Ark of the Covenant and turning their faces toward the east. - - - Friends. God never changes, Mal. 3:6; Hebr. 13:8. That means He would never set aside, nullify, destroy a jot, tittle or letter in any of his 10 laws he engraved into tables of stone. These tables are so sacred that God did not allow them to fall into the hands of the Babylonians or any other wicked people. They are a copy of God's Law kept in the heavenly sanctuary. -- Do not dare to change them but keep them and you will be saved. -- But people forgot God's warning messages and they look upon their works and how they prosper and take that as their cue that they are all right with God, when examination by the Word would show them their sin which reaches unto heaven. The Lord's teaching sometimes contains rebukes and warnings one would rather forget. But to do so is dangerous. Paul, after reviewing the historical failures of ancient Israel, tells the church in Corinth that God had them recorded for their admonition, 1.Cor. 10:6,11. The successes of churches is often due to dodged work and Satan's lack of strafing them for he has them in his pocket. That is what God's professed people do when they flaunt God's holy seventh day Sabbath and worship their god on Sundays religiously, Jer. 17:27. Each week they commit the worst abomination which caused the destruction of Israel, Jerusalem and the Temple and brought them into a 70 year captivity. --- There will not be any more captivities, but God's final judgment day. [1500] Even some of the professed people of God have no excuse, for they teach creation and show creation to be true, yet, they still commit this great, terrible abomination in God's sight and trample on His holy Sabbath day. But Satan has his followers in both camps, those defending creation and those denying or marginalizing it. Most adherents of these groups trample on God's holy day. That is not of God and He shows in His Word that eventually God-send- destruction will come upon those who break His Commandments and teach others to do so. Jeremiah and Ezekiel show at length that Nebuchadnezzar was given license to destroy Jerusalem, because Israel was not keeping God's holy Sabbath. Jeremiah's inspired words, "Ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall seek for me with all your heart." (Jer. 29:13). This admonishen, if heeded, would get God's people out of their Laodicean condition. Only a thorough reformation is acceptable to God. Today wickedness leads people to laugh about and scorn God's holy day just like they did then, See Lamentation 1:7-10. Nebuchadnezzar entered Jerusalem, destroyed and burned it and led Israel captive to Babylon because of their rebellion against God. Long before that, even in the desert wilderness, Israel was constantly rebellious and when she entered Canaan she was in rebellion too. Today, God's wake up call will also be severe. We may be headed straight into it. The Bible tells us what God gave Israel to protect them from rebellion.
Distorted teaching today assumes God abrogated His sacred Sabbath in favor of Sunday because of the resurrection. What a travesty in false Bible interpretation. Christians everywhere need to face up to the commands of God and not of man. Read the Bible, don't ask your preacher is what God says. The scriptures we just quoted say, that Sabbath keeping reminds those who keep that day, who God is.[1555] ---- What does that mean? --- We could think of the inverse when using that assertion. ---- It means that those who do not keep the Sabbath have another god before them. And we are reminded of the words in Proverbs 28:9. No matter how skilled their preaching is, how mightily they work - in final analysis, they come short of the glory of God but are high up on the glory to Baal. While God may overlook times of ignorance, with the readily available numbers of Bibles around today, hardly anyone ought to have an excuse; if he can read. All that is required is to read Exodus 20. There we find God's eternally valid Law in any language (ca. 5,500) available in the world. If man would have faithfully kept the Sabbath, evolution would never have arisen as an explanation for origins while at the same time seeking to destroy faith in Creation by the hand of God. If Israel would have kept the Sabbath, Jerusalem also would never have been destroyed, Jer. 17:27. For you see God said so and it was. Jesus said so and the centurions servant was healed. When God speaks His word creates immediately. It happens right away for He Is the Creator. If it would take time, that would be evolution. Israel failed because they trusted in "We, I" will do it. They professed to believe in the creative power of the word of God, yet in their own lives they left it out. That is why those were evolutionists. The Centurion had great faith, he believed that the spoken word only was needed for healing. He was a Creationist. That is so because whoever lets time pass between the spoken word and the accomplished task, is an evolutionist. This way too, comes "a clean heart" by creation, Ps. 51:10. But who was to be blamed for the unfaithfulness of Israel? We read,
That is where the unfaithfulness of Israel came from. So it is today. The leaders of churches, pastors and theologians are to be blamed today for leading millions of professed Christians astray. Yes, the people also carry some blame. Today too. They `love to have it so.' That smells like blatant enmity and hostility toward the only true Creator God. It is abomination to the highest degree and soon we will see calamities taking lives and this world will go down on a path of destruction. Or read these words. The same idea,
Let us paraphrase that in a free rendition. Here it goes,
I hope we all get the point. We must be more faithful to the Word. Not to people telling us what is in the Word. It does not take a degree to understand the Bible, just willingness, consecration, prayer, faith and a clear, thinking mind. How many groups were there in Jerusalem before the Babylonian destruction? -- There were two groups. One group worshipped the sun, the other group were those who were sighing and crying because of the abominations, particularly the worshipping of the sun being committed in Jerusalem. - - - And this whole scenario is actually transported into the Book of Revelation for the same situation shall happen again in our days. We recall that Jesus married the church, `husbands love your wives, even as Christ loved whom? .... the church, Eph. 5:25. Did the church, according to Revelation chapters 2 and 3, after a good beginning, fell away from God and start playing the harlot? -- Yes, she did. Almost every conservative, biblical expositor says that Revelations 4th church of Thyatira is the church of the Middle Ages. -- Do you remember who was involved in the church of that time? -- We read it was that harlot woman `Jezebel' who enticed God's servants to be unfaithful to God. But by this time Jezebel was long dead and reduced to dust, but it was a church similar to Jezebel who had caused and pushed that slide into unfaithfulness. The church had become a harlot. --- We read:
In the days of Jesus, the church was totally unprepared to receive the Son of God. Why? Because they were misinterpreting Bible prophecy, the prophecies of the Old Testament. That is happening today too. Most churches misinterpret the prophecies, now those of the Old and New Testament. Oh, they say, that is never going to happen again - because Satan is all tied up. Oh, yeah? We rather think that the majority of the Christian world will be just as deceived over end time prophecies, as the Jews were on the First Coming of Jesus, the Messiah.[1650] -- And yet, they think of themselves as the most favorite of God and look at fulfilled prophecy to the Middle East and the Iranians, Iraqis, Afghans, Jews and Muslims. [What prophecy deals with Mohammedanism is briefly shown here for we certainly must present the people in those countries the Gospel of Christ. The link is meant to help in that someway.]
This harlot woman, does she represent the Muslims? Why should that be the case? By what Bible principle would this harlot woman have anything to do with the Muslims? Is it because of news articles? What about the Bible? Bible prophecy must be interpreted by the Bible. Not by magazines or newspapers. Remember, the sea beast resides on the city of the seven hills in Europe. We shall determine the answer from several perspectives. First we shall take a brief look at the First Angel's Message. Does the First Angel's Message call us to keep God's Holy Law? We refer to where it says, `Fear God and keep His commandments.' We recall that Ecclesiastes says, Fear God and give glory to Him?' Oh, yes, then there are those who say, `But preacher, this is the Old Testament. We are New Testament Christians and do not have to worry about the Sabbath.' [1700] Right. That is what they say or something similar. For our answer you may click for several articles which we shall provide a quick link to. Old and New, Did God Change? and God's Sanctuary, but there are more articles which bear on the subject. But let us continue our line of thought. We know that the First Angel calls us to keep God's Holy Law. - Does the First Angel call us to worship the Creator by keeping His Holy Sabbath? We determined that the answer is `Yes.' The First Message therefore contains these main points:
We can hardly claim that we worship the Creator God unless you keep His holy Sabbath which is the `Sign' of the Creator as we read above from the Bible. Have you ever noticed the contrast of the Third Angel's Message? The Third Angel's Message says, `If anyone worships the What .... ? ..... The beast or his image. Putting it that way, could that mean people are trampling on the true Creator? Yes? .... And upon His Holy Sabbath? Yes! So is the issue in the Third Angel's Message `worship?' Is the issue worshiping the Creator or worshiping the beast? Absolutely! Why is this important? We may say, the reason God speaks as strongly against worshiping the beast is because He knows that people cannot possibly be truly happy to be a follower of such a power whose mark they bear and will later receive burned into their conscience, Rev. 14:11. In following this power there is no rest, there is only a strange, supposed happiness because they can live in sin. As a consequence many drown out their conscience by partaking of all sorts of vices which the beast power supports for they believe that we can drink and eat all we want.[1720] And let us be reminded that the Third Angel's Message ends by saying, "Here are they that keep the commandments of God, ..." Rev. 14:12. So the First Angel's Message calls God's people to obedience and trust, to keep the commandments and to worship the Creator, that must mean that in the Third Angel's Message the beast counterfeits the work of the Creator .... and it must mean that he tramples upon the Holy Law of God. ... Because the First and the Third Angel's Messages are in contrast to each other. On that note, let us also remember the contrast we have in Ezekiel chapter 8 and 16 and in Ezekiel chapter 9. Let us underline in our mind these contrasts once more. One group in Ezekiel 8:16 is worshiping the what? They are worshiping the sun. And immediately in the next chapter are those who have what on their forehead? ..... the seal of God. So what is the contrast here? It is the contrast between those who worship the sun and those who have the seal of God. So does the `mark of the beast' have something to do with the sun? --- In contrast to those, who have the seal of God? -- Look at Ezekiel and we find that is true. Absolutely true. Let us look at some additional evidence,
What table of the law is that verse dealing with? It is dealing with the first table of the law. What did God tell Israel to do with this table of the law? Notice Deuteronomy 6:8, and thou shalt do what?
Does the seal on the forehead have anything to do with God's commandments, particularly with the first table of the law? --- In context, Yes! It definitely has a relationship with the first table of the law. --- Which calls us by the way,
Let us read also Isaiah chapter 8. Serious Bible students discover that constantly in the Bible, the law is identified with the forehead - with sealing. Notice this reference,
Again, we have here the idea of sealing the what? ... the law among God's disciples. Are we to heed those who say, `Well, this is the Old Testament.' In the New we don't read that? Come on. Are you serious? ... Or are we wily when someone says that? ... wily means to wiggle your way out of having something to do which you have no desire to do. You are on a dangerous path when it comes to things pertaining to worshipping God if you do that. You see, the Bible teaches, when we are Christ's, we are Israel, Gal. 3:29. What makes us `Israel?' Is it our blood or name? No. We are `Israel' if we belong to Christ. When we are Israel, we are to keep the Sabbath holy. We have to choose, whether we want to belong to the harlot or to God's true church. Ok, having said that lets go to the New Testament. We read the same idea again and again in its pages. This scripture is actually a quote, that is a reamplification, one that is supposed to reverberate in our ears for all time to come, of the Old Testament.[1750]
Where is God going to write His law? -- In the mind. Where is your mind? It has to do with the brain. Where is your brain? Behind the forehead. God will take His law and He will write it into our brain. He will seal it into our brain. So our obedience to it comes naturally, almost without thinking. We are then used to keep His law gladly because we are sealed, Eph. 1:13. That is when we have bound God's law as frontlets between our eyes. We delight to do His will. That is being a mature Christian. It is the way we have embarked on after we got baptized. Well, some of us on a circuitous route, nevertheless, we are now God's followers and reoccupy our mind, brain, forehead again with these eternal truths and inside we feel that joy rising higher and higher until we brake forth in a shout of `Hosanna, Hallellujah. Praise the Lord. Amen.' Ezekiel chapter 8 contrasts those who worship the sun-god with those who worship God. --- He contrasts those who receive the First Angel's Message to worship the Creator with those who worship the beast who must be a counterfeit of the Creator. On this same note, time and again, in the Book of Revelation, we find this idea, that the devil is enraged against those who keep the commandments of God. Here is an example,
The woman in Revelation 12, is she pure or impure? She is the pure church. Do we realize that in Revelation 12 that the true church during the 1260 years was fleeing and was in exile? ... when it says, that the woman fled into the wilderness for 1260 days which are prophetic `day for a year' years, who did she flee from? She fled from the other woman. ---- So, how many churches were there during the 1260 years which span the Middle Ages? --- There were basically two churches the Bible shows. God's true church, which had an uneasy and often dangerous existence because of persecution, and the ruling harlot church. There was a persecuted church and a persecuting church.[1770] What characteristic does the pure woman, the pure bride of Christ, have, what enrages the devil? Oh, Rev 12:17 says, the devil was enraged and wants to make war on the woman because of what? ... Because he wants to make war on those `which keep the commandments (plural, all), and have the testimony of Jesus.' Does the devil hate the Law of God? --- Very much so! Let us reflect on something at this juncture. Remember that we said, that Daniel 7, Revelation 12 and Revelation 13 all present parallel material.
Therefore these are all parallel passages.
Herod wanted to kill the child when it was born, the book of Revelation pulls the curtain aside and shows it was the dragon who wanted to kill the child; it presents the history behind the history - the real causes for historical events that are taking place. Then it says, the deadly wound is healed, and the United States speaks as a what?
And Rev. 12 says, that after the earth helps the woman the dragon is enraged with the woman and goes to make war with the remnant of her seed who keep the commandments of God. ... What we are getting at is this: In Revelation 12 the final stage of persecution, of the dragon against the woman, is that she keeps the commandments of God and she has the testimony of Jesus. If Revelation 13 is parallel to Revelation 12, which it is, then we ask this question: Would you expect to find the two characteristics the devil hates also in chapter 13? Yes? Of course. What do you suppose the devil hates. Which commandment does the devil hate more than any other commandment? Remember, he is going to enforce the `mark of the beast' because he wants to counteract the `seal of God,' and we are reminded of the words, "As the movement for Sunday enforcement becomes more bold and decided, ..." (GC 607) we learn here that this is an issue of enforcement, not enactment. Enactment has already happened in 33 states. --- And, by the way, how does he counteract the testimony of Jesus? (More on this is linked to just below.) The way he tries to counteract the testimony of Jesus, which is identified in Revelation 19:10 [1800] as the Spirit of Prophecy, is by raising up a What? -- By raising up a false prophet or prophets. [1900] In other words, the true remnant church of God is going to keep the commandments of God and Revelation 13 says that they have the seal of God in contrast to the mark of the beast, because there is one commandment which is particularly the great issue, that is God's fourth Sabbath commandment which the RCC moved down into third place in their catechisms and creeds. In Revelation chapter 13 it says, that they have the testimony of Jesus, they have the gift of prophecy to counteract the work of the false prophet. [These links give you hopefully the kind of information on prophecy which you may be looking for. Especially this location of the last link continues our train of thought.]In ancient times, covenants were written between a king and a lesser king on cuneiform clay tablets. When the clay was still wet, the king's seal would be pressed into the center or near the center of the tablet to authenticate and seal the covenant. Since the seal would distort the cuneiform characters, the same text was repeated on the reverse side. This we may know about the issuing of a covenant in ancient times, a law could contain a seal which stated the title, name and territory of the king. Similarly the law of God also written on tablets has a seal in its center, albeit, it was not in the form of a signet ring, which contains the name, title and territory of its originator, "For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth ...", Ex. 20:11. In other words, our own words,
Therefore the Giver of the law governs. There is only one commandment in the law of God, which is at the very center, which contains God's name, office and territory. And you know what? Satan hates this law the most. How is that shown by the beast, the harlot woman? ... If you are not a Catholic, have you ever read in a catechism? Most catechisms that I have read in, have the Roman Catholic version of the ten commandments. And you know what? -- In it they abbreviated God's fourth law. Not only that, they also made unauthorized changes in the wording of this law:
That is all there is. They left out the seal of God. The devil hates the Sabbath, the fourth commandment, because it is the law which identifies God as the only true God and as the Creator of heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is. All that is in what? -- All that is in the heavens, all the angels, the galaxies, the globular galaxies, the black eye galaxy, the Milky Way galaxy, all the stars and our sun and planets and so on and on ... That being so, what then would the mark of the beast be? --- Remember, we are dealing with opposites here.[1950] The mark of the beast must represent an opposite day of worship! It must have something to do with the day of the sun. Recall Ezekiel chapter 8 and Revelation chapter 7 which talk about the same seal.
Well, you may say, `Well, that is not the same thing.' Yes, it is effectually the same thing! Who made the sun? --- God made the sun. Did God make the sun for us to worship it? So what happens if people make it an object of worship? What is that called? It is called idolatry. Now, who made the first day of the week? God did. Did God make that day for worship? Show us from the Bible that God made the first day of the week for worship. Oh, they say, Jesus was resurrected on that day! So? Where does it say that we are supposed to keep the first day of the week in honor of His resurrection? It is merely a human assumption, when the Bible says from Genesis to Revelation that we are supposed to keep the Sabbath day holy in honor of the Creator. When Revelation references "the beginning of the creation of God" (Rev. 3:14), inspiration references the Sabbath day. This is a vital issue in the world today. For there are Sabbath keepers and first day keepers all around the world. Let us be faithful Sabbath keepers. So, what happens if you convert the first day of the week into a day of worship? It is idolatry. -- It does not matter if it is an object or a day. Anything that you make for worship that God did not make for worship is idolatry. Yet. There are many idolaters that do not know any better. And God will wink at their ignorance (Acts 17:30), if they did not have a chance to know the truth. But He will hold us responsible if we do not keep His law. If they knew, they would come out of Babylon. If you know, do come out and keep God's Holy Sabbath holy. What we really studied now is what the Bible says the little horn thought he could do. What did the little horn think he could do? Let us read it in the Bible,
He shall think to change times and the law.
Has the Roman Catholic Church claimed to have changed God's law? Yes! They did so frequently. They make no bones about it. J.F. Snider, in 1895, wrote a letter to Cardinal James Gibbons and asked him, whether it was true that the Sabbath was the day of rest. This is the question he asked, `Does the Roman Catholic Church claim the act of changing the observance of the Sabbath to the first day of the week as a mark of her power?' Here is the answer:
September 1, 1923, `The Catholic Record'.
Check out what Pope John XXII said,
Here is one more quotation. Father Enright, longtime president of `Redempters College of America.'
Here is what Pope John Paul II wrote in his `Dies Domini', `The Day of the Lord' or `Lord's Day.'
He calls Sunday From all we said so far, we all should understand what the mark of the beast is. --- The Law of God has been chiseled. As it were man has attempted to reach inside God's Ark of the Covenant by lifting up the mercy seat and attempted to change God's law. We should also remember that the mark of the beast is received in the right hand or in the forehead, whereas the seal of God is received only in the forehead. Why is that? What does the the `hand' represent in the Bible? The `hand' represents work, Eccl. 9:10. All you have to do with your hand. What do we do with our mind? We think with our mind of course. Why do some worship the beast? Some worship the beast because they are really deceived into thinking that the beast is right. Their mind is totally given over to the beast. Others, in order to work, in order to carry on their activities, they will receive the mark of the beast because they are afraid of not being able to buy or sell, and they will receive the mark, even though they know the beast is wrong. -- We have here the same type of relationship between those two groups and the sin of Adam and Eve. --- Was Eve deceived by the serpent? Did she swallow the bait and the hook and the pole? Did Adam believe the serpent? No. He could not live without Eve. Adam sinned out of convenience, so he knew he was wrong. Therefore, there are only two types of people, but we also know that God will only have one type of people at the end of time, -- not those who serve Him out of convenience, only those whose mind is given over totally and completely to Him. What happened to those who were not authorized but did touch the Ark of the Covenant? The power of God caused that they died instantly. Since the Church has not touched that physical Ark directly, they have a period of amazing grace, during which God's people will come out of Babylon, at the end of which the same fate of those remaining in Babylon will be theirs. What we need to remember is this. The United States of America is going to make an image of this sea beast and it is happening now. All the world will acknowledge the power of the sea beast [2130]. For example this October 2007 the Dalai Lama coming before Congress to receive a `Peace' maker medal on invitation of President Bush. Do you suppose it will take much, to get the Buddhists to acknowledge the mark of the beast? --- It does not seem so now, does it? Making an image to and of the beast means to establish a system as it was in place in Europe during the Middle Ages. When the church controls the state to enforce her religion. That is an image, it is a likeness. But when we study through the sure word of prophecy we come to the conclusion that if someone wants to force a religion on people in the end time, he must first centralize economical and political power - buying and selling will be controlled.[2140] Of course the United States is not only going to make an image to the beast, it is going to enforce the mark of the beast which may also be identified by its number.[2150] Protestants little know what they are doing when they propose to accept the aid of Rome in the work of Sunday exaltation. While they are bent on the accomplishment of their purpose, Rome is aiming to reestablish her power, to recover her lost supremacy. No one in the world has the `Mark of the Beast' yet. Praise the Lord for that. But when people know the issues in the very end time, and they choose to keep the first day of the week, in spite of knowing what the Bible teaches about that, at that moment they will receive the mark of the beast and what will happen to them? --- The same thing that happened to Israel after the sealing. --- They will be left in this world without any refuge. Was the Sabbath only for literal Israel? That is why we present these messages. It is not to scare anyone into serving God. But you may make an intelligent study and serve the Lord as a result. Ultimately it does not do you any good to keep the Sabbath because you are afraid. You want to keep the Sabbath holy, because you love Jesus. You want to spend the Sabbath hours with Jesus in your heart. That is the purpose of the Sabbath.[2200] It is not just a legal precept, you better keep it or you are going to hell. No. It is a matter of having come to love Jesus for what He did when He died and rose and sent His Holy Spirit to convict us of sin so we confess, repent, get baptized and live the Christian life - this world is our training ground for life eternal in heaven. If that is what you want, these messages will bless you beyond all else that could ever come your way. The Sabbath rest (`sabbatismos') is an ongoing one.[2220] We must ask, is there any sighing and crying going on about these abominations as it was in old Jerusalem? (Ps. 56:8) Do we know where in the Bible we find it described for our days? Lets read it,
No! He represents whom? He represents those who are faithful to God, His church, and cannot stand these abominations and falsities being preached in Babylon. This angel represents a group of people, who do not necessarily see or know each other, but they recognize and sigh over these terrible abominations being committed today by this harlot and her daughters.
God has his people among all walks of life, all around the world. Yes, leaders of nations are among them too. The final events will be a trying time for God's people, a time of Jacob's trouble. There is something we must especially guard against. It was written up as follows,
We have studied the three angels messages. But there is a fourth angel presented in Revelation chapter 18. Who is this angel and what is his work? When Jesus began His public ministry, He cleansed the temple from its sacrilegious profanation (John 2:13-25). Among the last acts of His ministry was the second cleansing of the temple (Mt. 21:12-16; Mk. 11:15-18). In the end, Jesus will cleanse His church "... the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion" (Isa. 4:4; 10:5; 30:29-30; 9T 228) Likewise in the last work of warning the world of the soon Coming of Christ, three distinct calls are made to the churches. The first is "Fear God and give glory to Him." 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." And in a loud voice the third angel's message warned, `not to worship a false god.' (EW 124,125) The fourth angel of Revelation 18 combines these three angel's messages for one final warning.
As Christ began His ministry in the Most Holy of the heavenly sanctuary - remember the cleansings of the Jerusalem temple just cited - in 1844, He sent the call "Babylon is fallen."[2235] By the end of His priestly ministry He again calls for the people the second time to come out of Babylon - this time He cries "mighty with a strong voice . . . Come out of her my people that ye be not partakers of her sins." Looking at Revelation 18:21, we see a mighty angel with a great millstone casting it into the sea.[2240] Who is this fourth angel? This mighty angel is the same angel we read about in Revelation 10:1, he is Jesus Himself. [2250] Both cleansings of the temple by Christ were to be symbolic of the cleansing of the church. Both calls by Christ to come out of Babylon are similar to the cleansing of the temple. It is a call to the world to be a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a peculiar people, whom He calls out of darkness to His marvelous light,
It is an invitation to be Holy as He is Holy, to be "perfect, even as our Father which is in heaven is perfect." Matth. 5:48. [This being holy we can perhaps comprehend by analogy. Like astronauts have to wear the whole outfit for a space walk, so God's people have to be transformed into holy people before their ascendancy into the heavens.]As Christ joins the Third Angel's Message it swells to a Loud Cry. The sealing angel which is the Third Angel [2260] has finished His work in the `Reverently Fearing God', seventh day Sabbath keeping, Second Coming preaching church. He now moves into the churches in Babylon to seal the honest in heart who respond to Christ's call to `come out of her my people.' That is why we read,
Is there anything in the Bible which is a smaller version of the third angel's message? There certainly is. It is the account of God's judgment over the wicked and exceedingly sinful cities of Sodom and Gomorra. The parallels we find between the third angel's message and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorra are these:
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| a) Sodomites were smitten with blindness, both small and great; Gen. 19:11. | a) "If any man", that is, if any human being worships the beast and his image then ...; Rev. 14:9. |
| b) the angels give Lot and family opportunity to escape destruction; Gen 19:12. | b) It is the call to `Come out of Babylon.' If we do not drink of the wine of false doctrines, we escape the punishment of the wicked.; Rev. 14:10. |
| c) next morning they hastened Lot out of the city; Gen. 19:15. | c) Time is short. The devil is very mad. Our world is dying. The whole creation groaneth. We have to decide now to be true to God and follow Him in all that He requires.; Rev. 14:7. |
| d) they laid hold upon his (Lot's and his families) hands and mercifully led them outside the city; Gen. 19:16. | d) Choosing the `Seal of God' saves them from the seven plagues which will fall upon the wicked.; Rev. 16. |
| e) they told them at the edge of the city, `Escape for your life.' Gen. 19:17. | e) Follow God's messages now and you will be saved, Rev. 18:4ff. |
| f) They accepted Lot's plea bargaining and let him reach Zoar; Gen. 19:20-23. | f) Those who accept the `Seal of God' will reach the heavenly Jerusalem, Rev. 21. |
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And now God speaks to the wicked, to awaken their memory that He has done everything possible that they might be saved. He declares, "Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you. .... I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out My hand, and no man regarded; But ye have set at nought all My counsel, and would none of My reproof."Proverbs 1: 23-25. The Bible uses the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah three times as examples for the destruction of the wicked at the time of the end. We read,
Let us look at another text.
Again, we read here the same thing. God, that is God's glory is a consuming fire. For how long does that fire exist? Forever. It is an eternal fire for God is eternal. However, while God is eternal, the glory fire of God consuming something, that which is consumed is not eternal. That was the case of Sodom and Gomorrah. Let us read it.
The effect of the fire has eternal results, for the wicked of the cities would not repent and the judgment of God cut them short. A similar situation we find explained in Leviticus chapter 10. Their story, like that of Sodom and Gomorrah, has a lesson for us who live at the time of the end.
Why did this have to happen? Because these two became careless. They followed their own inclinations and not the instructions of the Lord. They performed services in the tabernacle sanctuary. Inside the Most Holy stood the Ark of the Covenant with the Shekinah Glory between the Cherubim angels on top of the Ark. The Glory of God Almighty filled the sanctuary and these two kindled a strange fire. That means they did not use the fire from the altar but kindled their own fire. That ordinance of holy fire was in place because God has no provision for self-willed works among his servants.
Nadab and Abihu drank wine which caused them not to put the Lord's work ahead of their own desires. Therefore, beware, wine blurs the ability to distinguish between the holy and the common and God's people should never touch it. But you say, `Well, but these laws were only for the Jews.' Where does it say that? It says it was for Israel, and today, God's people are the spiritual Israel. Are then these words for us today? Most certainly, they are guidelines by which we should live today too in order that we can know that God lives in our heart. But the wine which blurred the senses of Nadab and Abihu also blurs the senses of many people today. They come to church bringing their own strange fire to the Lord. What are we talking about? We are talking about the wine of false doctrines. False doctrines are those which do not glorify God.
These are some examples of strange fire offered to the Lord in our day and age. - There is a complete lack of discernment, an inability to distinguish between the holy and the profane. These are the doctrines of Babylon and that is why the first Angel's Message calls out, `Fear God and give glory to him.' That is the start-out message we must present today. The wine of Babylon is contrary to God. Any doctrine that makes God look bad is a bad doctrine. Nadab and Abihu had sinned, they could not stand in the Shekinah Glory of God and were consumed. That is a hard message. So what shall the righteous do? That we shall find out next. The Bible consistently represents the time left until the Second Coming of Christ as short in order for people to ready themselves. For all these events to occur and considering how close we have come for Christ to come again in might and power, what are the signs today helping us to see prophecy being fulfilled? Are there any signs? Well, elsewhere we had agreed to the view that in the eighth month of 08 the financial system in America would collapse. The woes in the financial system started to collapse at the very end of that month and in the next month continued in accelerated fashion, even around the whole world. - Studying the responses from all around the world reveals a very strange phenomena, countries which would normally disagree on everything, Islamic countries, China, Asia, France, England, Germany, are cooperating and one can hear hardly any inflammatory language blaming the US among all the voices publicised. And we are reminded of the words,
Nebuchadnezzar lived as a beast for seven years (Dan. 4). He had raised an image before each one had to bow, those who did not were to be killed. This reminds us of Hananhiah, Mishael and Azariah, the three friends of Daniel who stood before the image of the beast (Dan. 3) but had developed a fire proof character so the incinerator oven could not destroy them. What is this type of character that will save us from being burned in the last great fire? Study the following scriptures and follow them: (Isa. 33:12-15,17; 1.Peter 3:11-14; 1Jhn. 3:2,3; Hebr. 12:14,28,29). They had a character of Jesus developed which we must have, Psalm 119:9,11; Eph. 5:25-27; 2.Cor. 3:18. God's Word gets into our heart through our eyes and ears. So let us use those senses only to the honor of God.
Dear reader, you have followed the account patiently this far. The following will be very encouraging and goal oriented. Young people often feel urged that they need something to enliven and divert the mind. But we must know that there is pleasure in industry, a satisfaction in pursuing a life of usefulness. Some still urge that they must have something besides to which the mind can turn for relief and refreshment amid cares and wearing labor. The Christian's hope is just what is needed. Religion will prove to the believer a comforter, a sure guide to the Fountain of true happiness. The young should study the word of God and give themselves to meditation and prayer, and they will find that their spare moments cannot be better employed. Young friends, you should take time to prove your own selves, whether you are in the love of God. Be diligent to make your calling and election sure. Men need to be aroused to realize the solemnity of the time, the nearness of the day when human probation shall be ended. God gives no man a message that it will be five years or ten years or twenty years before this earth's history shall close. He would not give any living being an excuse for delaying the preparation for His appearing. We take a look at what God's people are like who will stand when Jesus comes again in the clouds. We read,
We must find out who those are who will be able to stand on their feet when the Lord Jesus comes again as the great King of Glory (Ps. 24:7-10) who conquered death. Let us study a short list of scriptures. |
| 1. | "Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness . . . Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless." 2.Pet. 3:11,14. | 2. | "He that walks righteously, and speaks uprightly; he that despises the gain of oppressions, that shakes his hands from holding of bribes, that stopps his ears from hearing of blood, and shutts his eyes from seeing evil ... He shall dwell on high . . . his waters shall be sure. . . . Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off." Isa. 33:15-17. |
| 3. | "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." Hebr. 12:14. | 4. |
"Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that has this hope in him purifies himself, even as he is pure." 1.John 3:2,3. |
There it is. In these scriptures we are told that we must live an ethical, biblical lifestyle without which we will not be able to stand on our feet when Jesus comes again. Revelation 6 asked that question, `Who will be able to stand?' In the next chapter we find the answer. They are those ...
Which are those who receive . . .
They must be those who are like Jesus. We must be like Jesus. We must be like Jesus in love, faith and obedience. (How? See here.) That way we can live in the presence of God and not be consumed like Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah (Dan. 1:7) were not consumed.
That is how the message to the church of Laodicea ends.[2910] Divine love can conceive of no higher honor, no more exalted position, than that the Eternal would share the throne of the universe with frail and faulty man, now redeemed by His sacrifice and love. While it contains warning and reproof, the Laodicean message is one of comfort and hope, "Oh, how precious was this promise, as it was shown to me in vision!" Or this one, "`I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me.' (Rev. 3:20) Just look at that love, the wondrous love of God! After all our lukewarmness and sins He says: `Return unto Me, and I will return unto thee, and will heal all thy backslidings.' Mal. 3:7 This was repeated by the angel a number of times. `Return unto Me, and I will return unto thee, and will heal all thy backslidings'." {5T, p. 143} The counsel of the True Witness is full of encouragement and hope. The True Witness, after revealing to the Church of Laodicea her condition, recommends the three remedies to heal the three maladies, then discloses man's part of the transaction: he must repent - repent with zeal. "Be zealous therefore, and repent." Rev. 3:19 God's people must repent particularly of the lukewarmness they exhibited. The True Witness counsels us to buy gold. How do we do that? "We must buy, - we must `be zealous and repent' of our lukewarm state." {R&H, Sept. 4, 1883}We also read about Christ's righteousness that it "can be bought only of Christ for a life of willing obedience." {4T, 88} Sadly, those who remain careless and indifferent to their Laodicean condition will finally lose their salvation. What does the True Witness mean when He says, "I will spew thee out of my mouth?" Rev. 3:16 . Simply this, "He cannot present their case to the Father." {7BC, p. 963} The Bible says, Christ "ever lives to make intercession for them" (Hebr. 7:25), but He cannot do it for the Laodicean who persists in his present condition. Since, as Jesus said, "no man comes unto the Father, but by me," (Jh. 14:6), it leaves the persistent Laodicean with no avenue of communication between him and the Father. On the other hand we must not overlook the persistence of Jesus. "His love is drawing us to Himself. If we do not resist this drawing, we shall be led to the foot of the cross in repentance." {DA p. 176} The Laodiceans have choices: Repentance and salvation, or resistance and eternal loss. The figure of Jesus knocking on the heart's door implies the Laodicean's need to decide. He will either open the door and let Him in or will refuse to open it. God's Sabbath keeping church began with a small group of believers with great faith and dedication, then retrograded into Laodicean apathy and lethargy in ten short years. But those belonging to it, like all other churches even more so, did not sense their condition. Then came the warning, "Buy faith and love . . . Buy the white raiment, which is Christ's glorious righteousness; and the eyesalve, that we may discern spiritual things." {7BC, p. 964} The challenge briefly shook the church, but then it lapsed into its former Laodiceanism. Here she has remained with greater or lesser consistency for many years. We have followed the course of every other church: birth, a deeply spiritual youth, and then drifting away. But let it be boldly proclaimed that Laodicea will break free from that pattern. It will end its earthly sojourn in holiness and power and victory:
The church will possess just before Jesus returns a holiness such as God's people have never before achieved. "Those who receive the seal of the living God and are protected in the time of trouble must reflect the image of Jesus fully." {EW p. 71} "There will be among the people of the Lord such a revival of primitive (original, genuine) godliness as has not been witnessed since apostolic times . . . At that time many will separate themselves from those churches in which the love of this world has supplanted love for God and His word. Many, both of ministers and people, will gladly accept these great truths which God has caused to be proclaimed at this time to prepare a people for the Lord's Second Coming." {GC, p. 464} As the church received power at Pentecost, so it will be prior to the Second Coming of Christ. "The great work of the gospel is not to close with less manifestation of the power of God than marked its opening. The prophecies which were fulfilled in the outpouring of the former rain at the opening of the gospel are again to be fulfilled in the latter rain at its close." {GC, p. 611,612} Miracles and healings will take place. "In visions of the night, representations passed before me of a great reformatory movement among God's people. Many were praising God. The sick were healed, and other miracles were wrought." {9T, p. 126} "Miracles will be wrought, the sick will be healed, and signs and wonders will follow the believers." {GC, p. 612} Prayer will revitalize the church. "I saw some, with strong faith and agonizing cries, pleading with God. Their countenances were pale and marked with deep anxiety, expressive of their internal struggle. Firmness and great earnestness was expressed in their countenances: large drops of perspiration fell from their foreheads." {EW, p. 269} Never before will the church have attained such a capacity to love. The possession of such love will banish human selfishness and implant the Christian virtues. God's end time church will be a praying church. "Through the church [God's Sabbath keeping SdA church] eventually will be made manifest the final and full display of the love of God to the world that is to be lightened with its glory." {TM p. 50; 9T 19,20} The demonstration of God's love in the final victorious experience of His church will also exhibit to the watching universe that His dealings with His creatures had been just. What will bring about such an unprecedented degree of holiness, power, miracles, prayer, and finally the full display of God's love in the hearts of His people? He will produce these manifestations in human lives. But what is man's part? Repentance, confession, and reformation - not only of the sins of the flesh, but also, and especially with the Laodicean, the sins of the spirit. This challenge of the Laodicean message is not an issue that lies in the future. It is here, today. It faces every member of the church now and cannot be put off. The world cannot wait much longer, nor will the True Witness. The hour of decision crowds in. Note Mrs. White's warning, "And as we near the close of this earth's history, we either rapidly advance in Christian growth, or we rapidly retrograde toward the world." {R&H, Dec. 13, 1892} Which will it be? It is a decision that only the individual Laodicean can make. And it is the only aspect of the entire process that he needs to concern himself about. If he will surrender his will, the Lord will do all the rest. He guarantees to see the poor, frail Laodicean through to victory. Notice the following promise:
"If you will only watch, continually watch unto prayer, if you will do everything as if you were in the immediate presence of God, you will be saved from yielding to temptation, and many hope to be kept pure, spotless, and undefiled till the last." {5T, p. 148; For a favorite, existing, true Bible class using Powerpoint illustrations, call Sacramento: 916-428-3027} "As the people of God afflict their souls before Him, pleading for purity of heart, the command is given, "Take away the filthy garments" (Zech. 3:4) from them, and the encouraging words are spoken, "Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment." Zech. 3:4. The spotless robe of Christ's righteousness is placed upon the tried, tempted, yet faithful children of God. The despised remnant are clothed in glorious apparel, nevermore to be defiled by the corruptions of the world. Their names are retained in the Lamb's book of life, enrolled among the faithful of all ages. They have resisted the wiles of the deceiver; they have not been turned from their loyalty by the dragon's roar. Now they are eternally secure from the tempter's devices. Their sins are transferred to the originator of sin. And the remnant are not only pardoned and accepted, but honored. "A fair mitre" (Zech. 3:5) is set upon their heads. They are to be as kings and priests unto God. While Satan was urging his accusations and seeking to destroy this company, holy angels, unseen, were passing to and fro, placing upon them the seal of the living God. These are they that stand upon Mount Zion with the Lamb, having the Father's name written in their foreheads. They sing the new song before the throne, that song which no man can learn save the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. "These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God." {Rev. 14:4; 5T 475.2} Isaiah caught a glimpse of the triumph of the forces of God. "Behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light." Isa. 60:2,3. He wrote about what could have been Israel's story: "O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and they righteousness as the waves of the sae." Isa. 48:18. Someday that will happen. As the waves of the sea. When His people respond to His commandments, righteousness, like a tide, will finally conquer evil. But first, there will be a tide of repentance, a tide of character surrender, a tide of confession, a tide of conversion permeating the Christian experience. Then will follow a tide of prayer - earnest, persevering, agonizing prayer, intercessory prayer - for those within the church and for those without. Then "the people of God are sighing and crying for the abominations done in the land. With tears they warn the wicked of their danger in trampling upon the divine law, and with unutterable sorrow they humble themselves before the Lord on account of their own transgression." {5T, p. 474}. Thus it is the matured Christian character which provides the best evidence testifying to God's righteousness and unselfishness. The power of God unto salvation is the gospel. Their response is their own free-will response to be obedient to God that arises because of being convicted by the evidence of their faith. The time has come when God will open the floodgates [2989], and the tide of salvation will sweep away all before it. Now all those who have waited, the children who have drifted, the loved ones who have hesitated, the neighbors who have not understood, the truant members who have strayed, and the hungry individuals on far-off shores - all of them the mighty tide will now sweep in. Amen. [2990] May God help us to use our time left to us towards this goal. We read in Daniel's prophecy: "And at that time, Michael shall stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people; and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time; and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book." (Dan. 12:1) I want to be among that number who shall have their names written in the book, who shall be delivered. I want the overcomer's reward. The masterly temptations of Satan will overpower many who now profess to believe the truth. Their unworthy course of action, their denial of Christ, will make it necessary for God to blot their names from the book of life. But may it not be so with you! Jesus has said, "Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Notwithstanding, in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven." Luke 10:20.[2995] Notes & References to Part 1 [0005] The importance of studying prophecy is clearly presented in the Bible. Here are a few scriptures to underscore that: John 5:50; Acts 10:43; Rom. 15:4; 2.Tim. 3:16a; Isa. 42:9; 46:9,10; Amos 3:7; Dt. 29:29; 1.Pet. 1:9,10,23; 2.Pet. 1:19-21; Dan. 12:3,4,9,10. [0010] Some interpreters, you will find, refrain from researching all the details of the Book of Revelation and make light of those who do. We shall follow the Lord's admonition to "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me." Jh. 5:39.
[0020] John's personal response to these declarations of the soon accomplishment of the divine purpose was, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus" (Rev. 22:20). The concept of the imminence of the return of Jesus is therefore both explicit and implicit throughout the book.- The Second Coming of Christ is the climactic event which ends the reign of sin and statements in Revelation and elsewhere must be tethered to this background when it comes to explain time in the account of this conflict. God might justly have annihilated Lucifer when, in obdurate impenitence, he persisted in rebellion. But divine wisdom deferred the extermination of evil until the nature and results of sin became fully apparent to the inhabitants of the universe. At any one time God could say, `It is done', except His people were not ready. Therefore, while the Bible represents that event to come shortly, the Bible also teaches that the promises and threatenings of God are conditional (Jer. 18:7-10) in the same way and we should not interpret them in terms of the foreknowledge of God that there would be such a long delay. God couches his messages in terms which helps his people to be conscious of the fact that in divine providence no delay was necessary. Consequently the seven statements in Revelation concerning the nearness of Christ's coming are to be understood in terms of God's will and purpose, as promises conditionally set forth, and not as utterances based on divine foreknowledge. In this fact, doubtless, is to be found the harmony between (a) those passages that exhort to readiness for the soon Coming of Christ andChristianity could hardly have grown to become the major religion if the Second Coming would have been stated to be more than 1900 years in the future. The truth is, Christ's Coming is `soon', `quickly', `shortly' for all of us, for our lives are short - as it was particularly short at that time of writing for John the Revelator. [0030] For the account of Josephus of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD see his Wars of the Jews, Books I to VII. For those interested in James Ussher's account see his The Annals of the World, 2005 Ed., Running paragraph 6968ff, p. 877-880. [0100 Domitian xiii. 2; Loeb ed., Suetonius vol. 2, p. 367. [0200] Dio, possibly Dio Chrysostom (born ca. 40-ca.120AD), Roman History lxvii. 14. 1-3; Loeb ed., vol. 8, p. 349. [0300] According to the Jewish historian H. Graetz, Dominitian's cousin was a Jewish proselyte, in History of the Jews, vol. 2, pp. 387-389. [0310] Paganism in Greek and Roman times: Both worshipped many gods. Their religion had great effect on the way the worshipper lived because it included not uncommonly gross acts of different types of perversions prohibited by God. On the outside it seemed that people could belief what they wished as long as they remained to be good citizens and loyal to the state. During times of emperor worship attitudes intensified greatly. Overall, most of the time there was no great stress on a search for truth. The gods were distant. They were to be paid due honour. But they seemed to be projected as not deeply interested in human affairs. Some say Christianity has not been found to be wanting but it is viewed as being hard and is therefore often left untried. But is that true? No. It is much harder to live a life apart from God, than with Christ in our heart. The burden on our mind without God finds no relief, it can grow to a critical state and affect emotions and health. Forgiveness of sins gives ease of mind and returns peace and joy. [0325] The two types of prophecy are (1) Classical Prophecy which has to do with `Thus sayeth the Lord,' or `what might have been,' and (2) Apocalyptic Prophecy which has to do with `visions and dreams' and `what will be.' It may be helpful for our readers to remember that a great deal of confusion with respect to apocalyptic prophecy has to do with people confusing it by applying Classical Prophecy principles of interpretation. Apocalyptic Prophecy contrasts good and evil, this age with the age to come, Christ and Satan, the righteous and the wicked... Daniel and Revelation, as well as Matthew 24, are apocalyptic prophecy, they are companion books. They are tethered to each other and the whole of the Old Testament, the Bible of the Apostles. To understand Revelation we must compare the text with similar statements in the OT. [0400] Stated differently, the everlasting gospel is the truth that Jesus died for our sins on the cross and drank the cup so we would not have to drink it ourselves. He died on that Friday, the preparation day when he cried out, "It is finished," Jh. 19:30; Gen. 2:1. The parallels between Christ's experience in the middle of that prophetic week, Christ rested in the grave as he rested on the 6th day after finishing the creation. Not only that, His followers also rested on the Sabbath, Lk. 23:56. Everything that happened at creation, has parallels when Christ died. - That means that the Sabbath is not only the sign of the Creator, but it is also the sign of the Redeemer for Christ not only made us, but He also rescued us from sin and we celebrate this on His holy Sabbath day. When people learn this and comtemplate these interwoven meanings, the want to embrace this faith and be baptized into the resurrection of Christ their new found Savior. The day of the resurrection of Christ is thus upheld in baptisms and in the Lord's Supper as a memorial of dying on the cross, buried in the grave and risen to life.
[0510] Let us give Caiaphas the generous benefit of a doubt. At first he could have been sincerely uncertain how to relate to Jesus in the early days of His ministry. But by the time of Jesus' trial he could have taken a firm stand for right. He needed only to make a simple speech such as this to the Sanhedrin: "For a time I didn't understand the work of Jesus. You brethren have shared my misunderstanding. Something has happened among us that has been beyond us. But I have studied the Scriptures lately. I have seen that beneath His lowly outward guise, Jesus of Nazareth is indeed the true Messiah. He fulfills the prophetic details. And now, brethren, I humbly acknowledge Him as such, and I forthwith step down from my high position and shall be the first to install Him as Israel's true High Priest."
[0530] Many people wonder, does the Bible prohibit drinking of alcoholic wine and other drinks of that sort? Most assuredly yes. We should never put into our body substances which alter our mind. See here for more.
[1000] A few notable cases have been left on record by historians and physicians where people under great anguish, or fear have sweated blood. G.H. Kannegiesser, a German physician wrote, "Violent mental excitement ... and in like manner sudden terror, or intense fear, forces out a sweat. . . . If the mind is seized with a sudden fear of death, the sweat, owing to the excess degree of constriction, often becomes bloody." - Of this rare occurrence another physician wrote: "Of all the maladies which affect cutaneous transpiration, diapedesis, or sweating of blood, is the most singular; so much so indeed that its existence has been doubted. It is probable that the strange disorder arises from a violent commotion of the nervous system, turning the streams of blood out of their natural course, and forcing the red cell particles into the cutaneous excretion." [Millingen, J.G. MD, `Curiosities of Medical Experience,' Vol. 2, pp. 338-342.] [1100] Jesus death on the cross was also prophezied in Zecharaiah 11:10,11. [1200] Amazingly, when you talk to people, many do not know or realize that they are sinners and in need of forgiveness. They never heard a sermon or scriptural adminitions. They are completely unprepared for what is ahead but they are those whom God loves and wants to save for they may not know Him yet, but they also have not actively resisted His Spirit. - In our role as a caring church we must recognize our need of this genuine, unfailing Christ-like love. We can preach about it a thousand years and never get beyond the window-dressing that psychological techniques can offer, the polished furniture and soft chairs, except through the mature faith that will characterize Laodicea's final repentance. The impact of the future will not be our charitable "works," in which others will always far out-do us. It will be the Good News content of our message. It will be a distinct, unique presentation of righteousness by faith - in a message that goes far beyond the message by the same name of the popular churches! Such faith appreciates His character, seen more clearly through repentant eyes, Rev. 3:19. His repentance represents a vital aspect of Immanuel's (Jesus) sinless character. - Through union with Him by faith we become part of the corporate body of humanity in Him, Eph. 1:1 NEB. Is it not gross selfishness to want to appropriate Christ, yet refuse to appropriate His love for sinners? How can we receive Him and not receive that love which is "in Him"? - Truly, we have infinitely more reason to feel close to sinners than did our sinless Lord, for we ourselves are sinners; but our human pride holds us back from the warm empathy that Christ felt. How to experience this closeness is the purpose of true repentance. - The first step must be to recognize our corporate involvement with the sin of the whole world. Although we were not physically present at the events of Calvary 2000 years ago, "in Adam" the whole human race was there. So surely are we in Adam's sin. - Suppose that we had no Saviour. If any of us were left to develop to the full the evil latent in our own soul, if we were tempted to the ultimate as others have been tempted, we would surely duplicate their sin if given enough time and opportunity - that is, if there were no Saviour to save us from ourselves. - Suppose Hitler had lived as long as Methuselah. None of us dares to say, "I could never do what others have done!" - The apostle John says it is only when we confess a sin that we can experience Christ's "faithful" forgiveness and cleansing from it (1.Jh. 1:9). But to confess a sin without sensing its reality becomes lip-service, perilously close to hypocrisy. Skin-deep confession and skin-deep repentance bring skin-deep love, skin-deep devotion. Jesus teaches the principle that we must realize we have been forgiven much before we can learn to"love much." Mary Magdalene was "forgiven . . . much" because she had been possessed by "seven devils" (Lk. 7:47; 8:2). Must we also go into devil possession, to "love much" after being forgiven? No, there is a better way: realize that we would be possessed by seven devils if it were not for the grace of the Saviour! - When Paul said, "I have been crucified with Christ" (Gal. 2:20), he meant that he identified himself with Christ. In the same way we identify ourselves with Christ's repentance in behalf of the human race. The footsteps of Christ are a path to repentance. - In the light of Christ's cross the true dimensions of our sin begin to take shape out of the fog. [1400] The problems sin causes was also familiar to the authors of the ancient El Amarna Letters. But they did not worship the true God but their self-made gods. Rib-Addi wrote, "the gods of Gubla are angry, and the disease is worse, and I have acknowledged my sins to the gods';" Rooted in paganism which serves angry gods, there may be a slight hint that the author had some Bible knowledge which would lead him to seek forgiveness and put his life in order before death, which in turn might indicate that he knew something about a resurrection, provided the translation is justified. That makes Rib-Addi certainly very familiar with Hebrew beliefs. [See EA Letter 137]
[1500] What may be some of the reasons that man ought to have "fear of the Lord" which means, being in awe; it has nothing to do with being afraid? The reason for being awed is the greatness of God and what He has done in His creation. We just cite a little example of the universe. We could cite examples from all areas of creation, but have no space for that many wonders to talk about. - Here we go, "As we learn more about the universe, we are continually amazed at the astonishing diversity and beauty that we find. Though marred by the curse, the universe still exhibits the handiwork of the Lord. By learning more about the intricacies of the celestial realm, we gain an infinitasmal glimpse into the infinite mind of God. One extraordinary aspect of creation is the incredible range of sizes and distances we observe.
[1700] Where exactly does the Bible say that it was actually Jesus who created the world, and with it the Sabbath, and who gave the Law of God to Moses on Mt. Sinai?
[1800] The gospel is a broad subject. Here are a few more aspects of the gospel presented in brief format. The human mind is the battle ground where the conflict between good and evil takes place. In the beginning God created man perfect. All the universe lived in perfect obedience to the law of God the following of which was the normal way of existence. Not until the wily insinuations of Satan, angelic beings became even aware of such a law. God knew of the spot of sin right away. Because of the freedom to choose, He had to let the true nature of this evil take its course. Angelic perfection failed in heaven. Human perfection failed in Eden. Because Lucifer lived at first in a perfect environment, the stain of sin arising in him without remorse, was tolerated until he overstepped the patience of God by intending to kill the Son of God on the cross and he was banned from heaven. In the beginning the nature of man was in total harmony with heaven. Man became a sinner when he chose to believe Satan rather than God. Selfishness became the foundation of all sin and revealed itself in pride, jealousy, deceitfulness and open rebellion. A sinner either worships himself or hates himself, Jh. 12:25; 3:6. Since selfishness is the root of all sin, different sins are but variations of the plant from which they grow. The more carefully selfishness is camouflaged within the temptation, the stronger is the temptation. Eve was tempted to question why God withheld the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. This became very strong when she thought the serpent had gained his capacity to speak by eating of this fruit. "Why should I not have such a wonderful fruit?" This is selfishness of the most common kind. --- Christ ever retained this utmost hatred for sin but not the sinner. While Satan could not tempt Christ with something he hated, man had not this natural hatred for sin.
[2000] How can we say that the judgment is taking place now? Because just previous to this, in Rev. 13:2, John points out the lion, representing Babylon (Daniel 7:4ff), the bear, representing Medo-Persia (with the three ribs in its mouth representing Lydia, Babylon and Egypt), and the leopard, representing Greece - followed by the non-descript dragon beast with ten horns (Rome). These ten horns, of course, represent ten kingdoms which were in place in Europe by the year 476 A.D. The little horn power, therefore, would arise shortly after 476 AD for it comes up among the ten horns - by 538 A.D. that little horn power began its activities. That means, the scene presented in Rev. 14:7 comes subsequent to the last of these empires. Notes & References to Part 2 [0100] Because if God's judgment is taking place in heaven right now then people did not receive their rewards of life or death at the moment that they die.
[0118] In the Bible, `Babylon' stands for confusion. Let us examine that condition as it appears today. Since Babylon contains confused religious people we examine things in history having to do with Christian nations, churches and people. We may cite the `Geneva Convention' for example. It has to do with how countries ought to treat prisoners of war - "Prisoners of war must at all times be humanely treated. Any unlawful act or admission by the detaining power causing death or seriously endangering the health of the prisoner of war in its custody is prohibited ...". Sadly, just about every country in the world mistreats prisoners of war, including our own, as if the Geneva Convention does not mean anything anymore. - Of course governments go to war and bomb and kill many people. So war itself is the major problem, not how people are treated afterwards - which is in our example a case of showing mercy. The call may be `let's have a civilized war,' or, `let us civilize sinners.' -- This kind of thing Jesus also dealt with during his time on earth, Lk. 11:37-54. [0121] God in His mercy keeps the door of salvation open for as long as He can for those who had no opportunity to hear about such a great salvation, Micah 7:18,19. Those who know this message, however, their probation closes earlier when the first law is issued and they are being asked, are you one of them? When they say `Yes', they put themselves on the side of those who are sealed by God, when they say `No' because of fear or whatever, they are being directed to join those who receive the Mark of the Beast. Such a question at that time seals a person's decision for eternity. This we must point out so we know how to decide now and each following day.{7BC 976.2} [0126] Other Bible verses containing such repeating phrases are 2.Samuel 19:4 where David laments the death of his son Absalom. The connection between this event and Babylon is (a) that Absalom tried to take the kingdom by force which is the intention of those in Babylon who will not come out. (b) Another example of such a repetition factor is when Jesus looked upon Jerusalem and he saw the city and cried out, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem." Jesus longed for Jerusalem to hear his voice but they would not. So too with those in Babylon.(c) The first city of Babylon which built that tower would not believe God that He would not send another flood. That is typical Babylon today too. They do not believe the plain words of God. [0135] These three unclean spirits are functioning in the world today. What is represented by them? They are false practices and doctrines of devils in established churches.(Isa. 28:17,18). That is why, in the last days, God's people must memorize the promises of God for the time will come when there may be no Bible in your possession. In your "heart" and mind "abide" in Jesus and you will be safe - though you will see "1000 fall at your side and 10,000 at your right hand." Psalm 91:7. This Psalm sounds like a scene witnessed already by many - once, not long ago - in New Orleans, where an angry crowd, tens of thousands of them, stood shoulder to shoulder on their way to a "friendly" `camp' in Houston, America. [0156] Herod, son of Antipas I., was not a king because he had no pedigree connecting him to the royal house of King David. A number of decades before, the country of Rome had sent its armies all over the then known world to conquer and subdue established powers until they were under its influence. In 63 B.C. Rome made Judea a province but it was at first not tightly controlled. The first ruler which answered to Rome in some respects was the High Priest Hyrcanus II. (64-40 BC) whose son Herod (40-4 BC) re-conquered Judea with the aid of the Roman army in 37 BC. Herod was named King of Judea by the Roman Senate when he was 35 years of age. See the link for more details. [0210] How is Spiritualism sweeping the world? According to `U.S. News and World Report,' Sept-Dec. issue of 2003, the devil is scientifically, and gradually preparing scientists for this delusion by reporting about hearing notes and music in space. It may be by having `spirits' appear on earth from other planets. We are in for some surprises. [0252] Such a decree was also issued in the endtime prophetic parallel book of Esther in the conspiracy of the Agagite/Amalekite descendant named Haman (Esther 3:1) who demanded to be worshiped as a god (bowed to & paid homage to, v. 2). We find the details of this death decree in Esther 2:5-9-15; it was a binding, universal decree (Esth. 3:12) initiated by a religious figure. We find here that the causer of all sin got ready to destroy God's people (Esth. 3:13 hatred), the Jewish nation, in order to prevent God's plan of salvation to being fulfilled. The Book of Esther shows the consequence of the sin of King Saul when he disobeyed the direct command of God to destroy the Amalekites (1Sam. 15:3) and let their king Agag (v. 8) live. Even though the Israelites in Persia were no threat to the government, they were perceived as a threat by Haman because of his religious assumption of wanting to be worshiped as a god. [See also the story of Simon Magus.] This decree to destroy the Jews was to be executed on a particular date, on the 13th day of the 12th month. This history in the Book of Esther, their salvation from destruction (Esth. 9:2.16), became the occasion for the Jewish feast named `Purim.' (Esth. 9:17,18) -- In the end time such issues will again come to the forefront as it is happening in our very own days today. A religious ruler will cause a political ruler to make religious laws defying the `separation of church and state.'
[0300] What are these abominations? The reality of what Israel did during this time and as spoken of in the Old Testament may be understood by discoveries made by archaeologists in Jerusalem. Quoting, "A hoard of several dozen broken female and zoomorphic figurines of the seventh century BC, including many examples of Mother Goddess or Asherah figurines, deposited in a cave a few hundred yards south of the Temple Mount" were found. "... the reforms of Josiah, who, according to 2. Kings 23:12-13, dismantled the shrines of Ashtoreth and other deities on the Temple Mount, smashed their paraphernalia and then had the debris thrown out into the Kidron Valley below." The cave was considered to have been used by those `nonconformists' of the Israelites, as the author calls them. Other items found over time in Israel included: miniature horned altars, terra cotta offering stands, zoomorphic and anthropomorphic figurines, so called "trick vessels", kernoi, and other items. The author, in this age of unbelief and skepticism, did not even consider Jeremiah's and Ezekiel's statements. [Source: Biblical Archaeology Review, March/April 1991, p. 64.] [0400] Do the ancient Assyrian and/or Babylonian documents verify this scornful attitude toward Israel and/or Judah? Yes they do. Links: (1), This link indicates that the whole region was exploited by Assyria to subjugate them for tribute. (2) Other texts verify that tribute was paid by several nations including Judah, J.B. Pritchard, Ancient Near Eastern Texts, pp. 291, 294. (3) A king(?) by the name of Adon (thought to have lived in the five city area of the old Philistine lands) wrote a letter to Pharaoh for assistance when Babylonian armies threatened his Palestinian possession. [See John Bright, A new letter in Aramaic, written to a pharaoh of Egypt in The Biblical Archaeologist, Vol. XII, No. 2, May 1949, pp. 49-52.] [0430] Why was the early church of the apostles a pure church? Because there was no danger then that people with corrupt hearts would join this church of God; for true Christians, who dared to live and speak about their faith, were in great danger of being burned, thrown before wild animals, being beheaded, and suffer every torture which Satan and his evil angels could invent, and put into the mind of man. Don't all true Christians know that the greater success of true followers of Christ is the success of another? That threat kept the church pure and the lack of it today, keeps it impure for there are those who do not want to hear it mentioned, these prophecies of God.[See also SG, I, p. 119.]
[462] According to statistics, since 1980 America has become a nation of overweights in a marked way. Since 1993, it increased the most - within only 16 years. That tells us it has nothing to do with our genes. It has to do with what we put in our body. People today are not living temperate lives. They do not read and/or understand the labels put on purchased foods. Years ago a cola bottle was one serving, today many products are super-sized and contain more than one serving. That means if you finish such products all in one day, you take in way too much.
[0500] Not to repeat ourselves, we said already this much about the use of the
word wine. But there is another avenue by which
we can clarify what the Bible means by these sayings. So we ask us, `How can we say
that the wine as used in the prophetic books of the Bible are abominations, false
teachings?' The best way to clarify the issue we find here. We read,
"And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication." Rev. 17:4. [0560] Perhaps similar to how such an agent tricked the US commander Abrams into attacking Cambodia and start the war in Vietnam. In a similar vein, it appears that Rome, through its secret societies attempting to regain control of the world, is trying to get the US and Muslim nations to fight each other in order to overcome them both in preparation for the NWO. They are doing it right now in Afghanistan. [0610] "At the proclamation of the first angel's message, the people of God were in Babylon; and many true Christians are still to be found in her communion. Not a few who have never seen the special truths for this time are dissatisfied with their present position, and are longing for clearer light. They look in vain for the image of Christ in the church. As the churches depart more and more widely from the truth, and ally themselves more closely with the world, the time will come when those who fear and honor God can no longer remain in connection with them. Those that "believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness," will be left to receive "strong delusion," and to "believe a lie." [2 Thess. 2:11, 12.] Then the spirit of persecution will again be revealed. But the light of truth will shine upon all whose hearts are open to receive it, and all the children of the Lord still in Babylon, will heed the call, "Come out of her, my people." {4SP 239.3}[See `The Spirit of Prophecy (1884) Volume Four' (4SP), chapter XV, `The Second Angel's Message,' p. 239.] [0685] The importance to come out of Babylon may be seen in the light of the fact that the Bible teaches that two documents were written by God Himself, the Ten Commandments and the writing on the wall in the reign of Belshazar of Babylon. The Ten Commandments let us know that sinning has to be discontinued by God's people and the writing on the wall lets us know in order to be overcomers it is God's message for us to come out of today's system of Babylon, worldliness, false doctrines, abominations and defiance against what God has commanded in order to be saved. - - How can a God of love have wrath? Is that a message of love? That is why God gives the message in Revelation because he does not want you to suffer His wrath. He wants you to come out of Babylon now while you still can. In God's love He warns the world, will they heed His warning? Please, you yourself, heed God's warning. [0700] What were the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah which made them eligible for destruction? Where they mostly sexual sins? The Bible says what they were. We read, "Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy (they didn't help the needy) And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good." Ezekiel 16:49,50. - About six areas of sin are listed, pride, gluttonous eating, idleness, no charity, haughty and committing abominations. The sin of "pride" is first on the list. Why? Because "pride" was Satan's initial malignancy. The inhabitants of these cities lived a worldly life without caring about God or agape, neighborly love. They were on the fast lane to infectious self-destruction for the whole land. "Their useless, idle life made them a prey to Satan's temptations, and they defaced the image of God, and became satanic rather than divine. Idleness is the greatest curse that can fall upon man, for vice and crime follow in its train. It enfeebles the mind, perverts the understanding, and debases the soul. Satan lies in ambush, ready to destroy those who are unguarded, whose leisure gives him opportunity to insinuate himself under some attractive disguise. He is never more successful than when he comes to men in their idle hours." - Sunday laws are of that variety. Why? Because they legislate people to be idle on Sundays. God's way of Sabbath keeping has nothing to do with idleness. Keeping the Sabbath of the Lord holy can only be done toward or with respect to God, not Caesar. The Law of God forbids the state to have anything to do with Sabbath keeping. That we may become tired is not given as a reason for Sabbath keeping in the 4th commandment. God does not say that on the 7th day you shall do no work, because if you should, you would over work yourself and break down your physical system. Man's physical wants are not referred to in the commandment. It is written with respect to God. It is not a day for man's physical but rather for his spiritual needs. When the state undertakes to secure observance of the Sabbath, it undertakes an impossibility, because "holiness" is not an attribute of civil government, nor does the state have the divine credentials to promote holiness; even working for a church it does not have that power. Therefore, Sunday laws are not for the good of anybody or anything in the world. (See A.T. Jones, The National Sunday Law, p. 55-57)
[0820] Why are there so many denominations when there is only one God, one Bible and one Holy Spirit? The Bible itself will explain the answer to that often asked question. After the resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ, the early Christian church grew fast and mightily throughout the then known world. At first it was a church preserving the pure faith as taught by Jesus and the apostels, represented by the white horse of Rev. 6:2. This purity of doctrines lasted from 31 to about 100 A.D. It was the time of the mighty preaching of Peter and Paul and many others. On Paul's voyage through the Aegean Sea back to Jerusalem he had just left the harbor of Ephesus when he approached the harbor of Miletus and bade the captain to let him off for he was impressed to preach to the believers in this great city. He bade all the elders from the churches to come together to hear him give a much needed message for the last time. They all came and he preached the words we read in Acts 20:27-30. In his message he had a burden to warn the church of great changes and problems that in the near futur will effect the church and how they should not falter from their faith in Jesus. After the apostles had passed away, a period of great persecutions set in represented by the red horse, Rev. 6:3,4 (ca. 100-321 AD). Many lost their life but yet, the church grew stronger and larger. When persecution did not stop the growth of the Christian faith, the great deceiver tried to present errors and divisions. Bible testimony alone will detect the deceiver in his disguise. That period is represented by the black horse, Rev. 6:5--6. It lasted from ca. 321 to 538 AD. The fourth or pale horse represents the period of influences entering the church which turned it away from Bible based truths and instead adopting pagan doctrines under Christian names. This lasted between ca, 538 to 1798. - We see that within 500 years the pure teachings of the early church had been turned into impure teachings after that length of time. - But God was getting ready to purify His truths again. As it took centuries, so it would take centuries to come back to the pure doctrines of the early Christian Church. It started out with the
Waldensians, they preached confidence in the Word of God which they carried and distributed around wherever they went. John Wycliffe translating the Bible into English. Now more people could read the word of God in their mother tongue. Then came John Huss who taught obedience to God; Dr. Martin Luther taught that salvation comes by grace alone; the Anabaptists taught adult baptism by immersion and from them came the Baptist Church; then came the Methodists who taught that believers must show in the way they live that they belong to Christ; then came William Miller who preached that Jesus would come again soon. - All of these movements taught each one just a little truth; none taught all the truth. Each one represented the repairing of the breach by just one board at a time. Just like it took 500 years for God's truth to vanish from among the church, so it would take some 500 years to slowly reveal it again so that by the end of the age, when the last movement brings out all the Bible truth in all its glory, Jesus can come again to take a purified people home to heaven. Before the eyes of the world scriptures have been and are being fulfilled at this very hour. We read, [0988] See also A. Harnack, A History of the Christian Church, N.Y. 1907-10; Vol. p..; J. Hasting, Dictionary of the Apostolic Church, 1915-18, Vol. I, II, various pages.; and his History of Dogma. If you can read German or would want to see just a few more Bible texts and explanations click here. Notes & References to Part 3 Please note that some references are rather long. [90] The three angels messages, over the decades, have been presented largely by literature. {7T 140.3} Only in the last few decades have other media contributed to the proclamation. [0100] The 3 inscriptions on the gold and silver crown presented to Pope Leo XIII in 1903: 1) Omnis Regis Christi Pastorum Pastor Ovilis (Chief shepherd of the whole fold of King Christ) 2) Nescius Errandi Fide Morumque (Incapable of erring in the faith and master of customs) 3) Sacerdos Maximus in Terris Divino (High Priest in the earth by divine right). Also notice how on October 17, 2007 the Dalai Lama gets a Peace decoration in US Congress via Bush. [200] Rome's 4 stages are: 1. The imperial period, 2. The ecclesiastical period, 3. the `little horn' stage and 4. the final stage of the little horn. [See Vatican II, The Conciliar and Post Conciliar Documents, Gen. Editor Austin Flannery, Costello Publ. NY, 1984.]
[0207] "At present (2003), 174 sovereign nations maintain full diplomatic relations with the Holy See. The Holy See is the central governing unit of the RCC. These ambassadors represent the governments to Pope John Paul II and to the offices assisting him in governing the CC, and not to the Vatican or Vatican City as such. Fifty years ago, President Harry S. Truman attempted to reinstate American diplomatic relations with the Holy See, but anti-Catholic objections in the US halted the process. Twenty years ago, President Ronald Reagon succeeded." [Msgr. Owen F. Campion] - If you ever go to Rome, the Italian capital, you will see plenty of embassies to the Holy See. If the embassy is to Italy, the solitary seal above the embassy door will be that of the embassy's own government. If, however, the embassy is to the Holy See, beside that country's seal will be the seal of Pope John Paul II. So, at the US embassy to the Holy Sea, above the door beside the American eagle are the papal keys, whereas at our embassy to Italy, is the eagle alone. This custom, unique in the world, is a tribute to him and to the papacy. Therefore the prophecies of Revelation represent current news for our time. How closely our leaders are controlled may be gaged by how they follow directions of the power. It is not without reason that the once `lamb; power followed closely the colonizing powers of France when going to war in SE Asia, and England, when doing the same in the land where opium is king. These trumped up events starting with a trumped up, hushed up, event called 911; skills it learned for over a thousand years - the secret of its power. [0210] See also the book written by someone using the assumed name `Brutus', `Foreign Conspiracy against the Liberties of the United States', Originally published in the New York `Observer', N.Y., Leavitt, Lord & Co., 1835. With recommendations by James Milnor (Episcopal), Thomas De Witt (Presbyterian), N. Bangs (Methodist) and Jonathan Going (Baptist).
[0225] Think about the role of evidence in our church. There can be meetings where there are brought forward many spiritual references, many prayers are offered, but then it can be that there is hardly any concern about evidence, the evidence for our faith. Even though the right people are present, concern about evidence was lacking. But such evidence about the reasons for our faith may be the devil's greatest deception in these last days. We see the so-called charismatic, spiritual renewal in many parts of the world, but there is one thing that does not go with it - a very careful pursuit of the evidence in order to find out the truth, through, we might say, intellectual activity. - But conviction happens in the mind, however, we know that the unsanctified spirit has a strange value system. What is the only medium through which heaven communicates with men that effects the inward life? Yes, it is our brain and nervous system - that is why we must keep it healthy. God made us that way. Truth is not apprehended through our bowels. It is in our heart, the Biblical way of saying in our mind. But we know it is heart and hard work to think things through. It is easier to dig a ditch then to make up someone's mind on some of these issues, but unless we care enough to really wrestle with the evidence, and be sure not to waste any, how can the Spirit lead us into truth? That is why we must talk about `Medical ministry, but also about science, creationism, dinosaurs, fossils, Noahs' Flood, the Ice Age and the big ark he built. About ancient history, the kings and queens and who knew whom in their day and circumstance - especially to children. Satan has brought in tons of errors on these topics. We should know some about it, so we can become the `sealed group' who is intellectually so settled into the truth, both intellectually and spiritually, that we cannot be moved. [0240] "On January 28, 2003, . . . President Bush put the world on notice in his State of the Union address that he was prepared to attack a foreign government that . . . had not directly attacked the United States, its interests, or its treaty commitments (This writer remembers, that government had hanged one day an American citizen in the streets of Baghdad, cannot remember the name or year, for something contrived and minor).... Such action, said the president, would be necessary for the US to fulfill its unique role in history - its destiny in spreading to the world the divine gift of liberty. `If war is forced upon us, we will fight with the full force and might of the US military - and we will prevail,' he declared. `And we go forward with confidence, because this call of history has come to the right country.' - These stirring sentiments . . . point us to the fact that something more basic than wiping out terrorist networks has been driving the global war ... since 2001. Something deeper . . . namely, `the call of history,' the role and destiny of the American republic in the human drama as a whole." [Chr. and A. Reinach, Politics and Prophecy,' p.53.] And no wonder, our president visits again (June 2008) the Vatican for advice. The claim of American politicians that only America can do this and that had been made by other countries and politicians before, one was Germany in the 1930's and early 1940's in which was claimed that only Germany could do that.
[0260] Around January 1862 Ellen White wrote much on the inner feelings of those involved in the Civil War and how their loyalties often conflicted with their wants and duties. In the beginning of the war the South won more easily. She wrote, "A great share of the volunteers enlisted fully believing that the result of the war would be to abolish slavery. Others enlisted intending to be very careful to keep slavery just as it is, but to put down the rebellion and preserve the Union." Not until Abraham Lincoln (2/12/1809 - 4/15/65) read what Ellen White had written, and he could see more clearly what justly had to be done, was he moved to proclaim the emancipation of the slaves. In his brief Gettysberg address Lincoln stated, "Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. [0276] The Righteousness of Christ; The ca. 9 foot high white linen enclosure of the court of the desert tabernacle, hid anyone entering the court from view from the outside. Each day, when repentend sinners went to the tabernacle to offer their sin offering, they had to walk through the free space between the tents of the people and the sanctuary tent to be seen by all onlookers as a public declaration of their faith. The onlookers then knew that this person went to the tabernacle to have his/her sins forgiven. Likewise, everything that took place with respect to mankind's reconciliation to God and His holy law took place within the humanity of Christ. - (1) When we accept Christ by faith (enter into the court), we are `clothed' with His righteousness symbolized by the white linen fence. (2) The wedding garment in the parable of the Wedding Feast (Mt. 22:10) represents not our own righteousness but rather the righteousness of Christ since those wearing it had prepared themselves by accepting the invitation of the bridegroom. (3) This is imputed (accounted or credited to) and imparted (communicated, given) righteousness, the latter of which is then the gift of God which becomes part of the believer's character, 1.Thess. 2:8. (4) The righteousness that qualifies the believer for heaven is the imputed righteousness of Christ, because in that righteousness we stand perfect (Col. 1:28; 2:10; Hebr. 10:14), for Christ is perfect. - So, in Christ we stand perfect in nature, in character, and in relation to the law. - The evidence that we are actually wearing the garment is the imparted righteousness of Christ, or the righteousness of Christ reproduced in us as we live our daily lives. While these works do not qualify us for heaven, they are visible evidence that we are wearing the imputed righteousness of Christ. This tangible evidence is what proves in the judgment that we have become one with Christ. [0282] Examples of persecutions by the Puritans during the colonial period are: (a) They arrested a sea captain and locked him in stocks after he was caught kissing his wife on a Sunday. (b) One man had fallen into a pond and skipped Sunday services to dry his suit. They whipped him in the name of Jesus. (c) John Lewis and Sarah Chapman, two lovers, were brought to justice for "sitting together on the Lord's day under an apple tree in Goodman Chapman's orchard." Christians engaging in political activism do not follow Christ's example. Jesus showed that the problem lies deeper, in sinful human hearts. Religious legislation is legalism. Outward conduct may be changed, but not the heart.
[0290] `The Bloody Tenant of Persecution' was published in 1644 and can be purchased via online book sales. But what about those who say the words `separation of church and state' are not found in the constitution - presumably implying, if we don't want it anymore we can unite state and church? Protestantism is frequently proclaiming that point in our day and age. While they many times understand how to recognize principles, why can they not see that principle of `separation of church and state' in our laws? The answer must be, `Because they do not want to. They are in the process of adopting an un-American agenda, that of the papacy, to do away with `separation of church and state.' Therefore, those who do not know the history of this Roman power, will not be able to recognize its workings in the end time. Rome hates liberty and the Constitution, the same way they hated the Magna Carta. When pope Innocent III. (1198-1216) got a copy of the Magna Carta (1215) which the barons of England forced king John (1199-1216) to sign, he tore it up and denounced it. In their hatred of liberty, Rome has sent its Armadas against England (1588) and French soldiers against Scotland (1638). - A great personality to study for the time when one religion and one pope ruled the consciences of man is Oliver Cromwell (active before and during the kingless Interregnum from 1645-1660). During his time a significant shift in thinking took place. Where to begin for the roots of the upheaval? The reformation Dr. Martin Luther caused was of course a major contributor to many shifts in thinking which affected especially politics and religion. Then there was one personality in Germany who perceived another area which needed change, namely the repressive taxes and economic hardship people lived under. This man was Thomas Muentzer (? to 1525), unfortunately he was a rebel rouser and great troublemaker. He claimed, "Luther says that the poor people have enough in their faith. Doesn't he see that usury and taxes impede the reception of the faith? He claims that the Word of God is sufficient. Doesn't he realize that men whose every moment is consumed in the making of a living have no time to learn to read the Word of God? The princes bleed the people with usury and count as their own the fish in the stream, the bird of the air, and the grass in the field, and
Dr. Liar says, "Amen!" What courage has he, Dr. Pussyfoot, the new pope of Wittenberg, Dr. Easychair, the basking sycophant? He says there should be no rebellion because the sword has been committed by God to the ruler, but the power of the sword belongs to the whole community. In the old days the people stood by when judgment was rendered lest the ruler perverted justice, and the rulers have perverted justice. They shall be cast down from their seats. The fowls of the heavens are gathered to devour their carcasses." In such a mood Thomas Muentzer came to Muehlhausen (ca. Longt.10.4, Lat.51.2) and became responsible for fomenting a peasants' war. Luther countered Muenzer's fomenting by writing his famous `Wider die Nordischen und Reubischen Rotten der Bawren', translated as `Against the Murderous and Thieving Hordes of Peasants'. The title page to his tract quoted, "Seyne tueck werden sii selbs treffen/ Und seyn muetvill/ wirdt uber in aussgeen", "His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate." Ps. 7:16. Luther supported immediate action against the peasants saying, "If the peasant is in open rebellion, then he is outside the law of God, for rebellion is not simply murder, but it is like a great fire which attacks and lays waste a whole land." This "Bauernkrieg" began in 1525 and stretched from the Dutch border to Thuringar and south toward Austria. It ended with a terrible defeat of the peasants. -- [0300] Read the message of Revelation 13 and that of the third angel in Revelation14.
[0400] The theology which Satan hates especially is demonstrated to us during the trial of Jesus before Pilate. In the preceding days, Jesus had asked his disciples, `Who do you say I am?' (Mt. 16:15) And Peter said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." (Verse 16) -- Peter knew without a shadow of a doubt that Jesus was a man. He knew it. He knew where His home was. He knew His mother, Mary. He saw the perspiration trickle down His forehead under the hot Palestinian sun. He saw the dust settle on His body. He saw Him get weary. He saw Him get hungry. He saw Him get thirsty. Peter knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that Jesus was a man. But Peter said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." Peter recognized that, in the Man that was questioning him, there was divinity; this Man was not "just from the earth." He was heaven come down to men. --
It was on this very point of truth that those same leaders condemned Jesus to die on the day of His trial before Pilate. John 19:7 says, "The Jews answered him [Pilate], We have a law, and by our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God." This truth, that Jesus accepted fallen humanity, took upon Himself the seed of Abraham, that He is a union of our humanity and Godhead divinity, is the truth against which Satan manifests his special hatred.
[433] Many leaders of nations have no or little knowledge about God and salvation. They may talk about faith but fail to mention what or whom they have faith in. While they know that they are "imperfect human beings", they do not know that they must be forgiven of their sins by God. They do not know that salvation comes only by faith in Jesus Christ and the great salvation He has wrought for all, provided they accept Him as their Savior. [0440] Tolerance in the Bible may be best described by the Greek word which is translated `forbearance', Rome. 2:4; 3:25, the only two occurrences and the Hebrew and Greek word for "forbear", which is found 22 x in the Bible.
[0450] In the Bible Satan is depicted as a provoker, one who pushes sin in order to tempt us to sin against God and to control events in human affairs, 1.Chronicles 21:1.
The Pope is the King. the Cabinet Council,The Archbishops are Ambassadors to foreign courts. The Bishops are Judges and Magistrates. [See here] [0475] The prophetic symbols in these two verses are: the earth has a mouth which can swallow up a flood, the woman, the dragon and the seed. The earth (world) represents land which the woman inhabits. The flood is a deadly danger which is being averted by the earth rendering it harmless by reason of the `land' of the `earth' being far removed from where the sea beast rules. Interpreters have long understood this to be the United States providing a safe haven for the persecuted people of Europe around the end of the 1260 year period when America was being settled. America was like an innocent lamb by reason of its remoteness from the persecuting powers and is therefore not described as a beast of prey like the lion, bear, leopard and iron toothed composite sea beast. The lamb beast arose in previously thinly inhabited territory and grew up relatively speaking, gradually and peacefully. [500] They categorically deny that apostles and prophets can exist today. We agree that apostles, in the sense of those who knew Jesus face to face, do not exist today. The role of the twelve was unique. They were special witnesses of the incarnate Christ--His ministry, His atoning death, especially His resurrection, and His ascension (cf. Acts 1:21, 22). However, nowhere does Scripture indicate that their distinctive role and authority was to be transferred from generation to generation through certain selected persons. As John R.W. Stott has written: "The apostles were unique in both authorization and inspiration, and they have no successors." Their role came to an end when the last apostle, John, passed away. -- But the gift of prophecy is not like that of apostleship. The gift of prophecy, to guide God's people through difficult times, is to be present until the time of the end, Acts 2:17; Joel 2:28-32. Jesus is very much alive and works for His people today just like He did in the days of old Israel and the Apostles when He raised up prophets to give guidance to His people living amidst the spiritual darkness in this world. It is only God who can call a prophet. People cannot want to be true prophets of God on their own volition.
[0550] Please review the following texts: These verses verify that when God's people disregard His commandments, He sends no prophet. When they begin to obey His commands, He sends a prophet to assist, encourage, and guide. So when God's remnant church for the end time emerged keeping His commandments, it was time for a prophet. And God sent one - right on schedule. "I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." Rev. 19:10, and the seed of the woman "which keep the commandments ... and have the testimony of Jesus." Rev. 12:17;14:12. But some will say, that was then - in OT times, today we do not need to worry about prophecy. - Yes, they think they are in a different dispensation. - Many of these same people uphold the sayings of the Apostle Paul. What about this one? ""Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." 1.Thessalonians 5:20-21. - Well, may be not this one. They don't care about this one. They are worried about prophets like Joseph Smith and Mary Eddy Baker, and some, yes, about Ellen G. White. They compare apples with thistles. We are to apply the test (tests) of true prophets. Just one check and false ones are eliminated. Here is the check, "To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." Isaiah 8:20. So, if a Christian church does not have a prophet, read the law of God and check if they comply with all its aspects. If, not, you know what to think and do. - But did you know that Joseph Smith was a prophet? He had some 64 visions or prophecies, all of them wrong. So he was a false prophet.
[0700] Our freedoms are based on the Word of God which clearly displays and teaches separation of church and state, Matth. 22:21, which says in effect: `God, being more cunning than man, separated religion from politics.' And so it is true, Christian religion can be either a form or a power, 2.Tim. 3:5. -- In ancient times, most of the people living in the great centers of the world - Babylon, Persepolis, Susa, Athens, Rome - were slaves to the elite upper class. Many times diseases ran rampant and violence filled the realm. If Christ would not have come when he did, sin steeped mankind would have most likely annihilated itself by now. Christendom gave the world a new lease on life. They taught God's word, powerful to create and speak things into existence, can make us into a new man or person in no time at all. We, by faith, take God by His word. In this way giving our life to Jesus takes no time at all if you want to follow Him. Becoming a faithful believer does not need to be a long, tedious, wearing out process to meet the Lord in glory. But there are enemies along the way. Prosecuting powers are reckless, enslaving not only the body but also the mind of its victims. [0720] The strong `dualism' or contrast in Revelation 13 and 14. Receiving the mark in the right hand: right hand means, `power to do', `power to get', `power to make a living', `power to support yourself.' Forehead is the seat of our conscience.{5T 136.2}
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[0730] Daniel chapter 3: It was Nebuchadnezzar who set up a golden image on the plain of Dura. In doing so he was rejecting the vision God had given him that had just the head of gold. He wanted an eternal kingdom, like a thousand year Reich, with no toes of iron and clay **. He also wanted to make sure that every single person bowed down to that image as he assigned a day and brought all the people to Dura. Thousands of people came; all the leaders of the realm. First the king tried psychological persuasion with beautiful music (v.5) to try and charm the senses, (Ez. 28:13) to get them into the mood of submission. Even today, most popular music which people listen to has hypnotic powers. Therefore, it is of the devil. Turn away from it. Repetitive beat and syllables fascinates the people and drives the Holy Spirit from them until their mind is so debauched that they don't see or care how Rome is taking over this nation. - Nebuchadnezzar knew about the hypnotic power brought about by this swaying music. Next he brings the people face to face with the situation that they either had to bow down before the image or die (v.10,11). But the worshipers of the true God knew that there was another dimension to all of this, there is a Lord God of heaven who rules over the kingdoms of man. Out of all the thousands, three Jews refused to bow down before the image. But the Chaldeans spoke up and turned in to the authorities those hated, Sabbath keeping Jewish boys. While the Bible clearly delineates between the righteous and the wicked, looking around us, often it may not seem that there is such a clear difference discernible. It is more a mass of grey. Why? Because there is not a clear separation. People are walking down the "wide . . . broad . . . way that leadeth to destruction..." (Matt. 7:13). Even today, people are trained to just dial 1-800 ... to turn those in who decided to walk the narrow path. Most of us do not understand what faith is until it has been tested. Such a testing time is soon upon us. Then we will know what our faith is made of and if we really have true faith. - Faith is the very essence of liberty. In order to maintain liberty in the hearts of people, they must have true faith. They must have the love of the everlasting gospel, the faith of Jesus, keep the commandments of God (Rev. 14:12). Paul says, people are lost because "They received not the love of the truth." (2.Thess. 2:10-11). People who have that love and believe thus can be part of a righteous nation in which peace is found. - Why was it important for the king that every person would bow down and submit to his control? Whenever you have a false premise you are working on that level. Whenever you have things which are not firmly grounded, it becomes a crisis when one person does not submit. That is why Nebuchadnezzar had to make sure that everyone submitted or else the whole plan would fall apart. - Such a design will also be revealed when the image of the beast will be imposed on all the people - only today it is more sophisticated. They can use electronics to help them identify each living soul. - If you are one who is able to see part of the picture revealed in Revelation, the history of the beast power will supply the remaining part. - The beast and its image will cause the world to believe that there is no escape, that they are all powerful and all knowing and that their databases have all the information ... and there is no way that you can get out of their clutches. That is what the image wants you to believe. They ask you, and ... "who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?" Dan. 3:15. The three Jewish boys were prepared. They would not bow down to the one world government, but trust in the Lord as members of the eternal kingdom, of the family of God and only worship the Lord God of heaven. ** A Prof. of History of the University of Rome named LaBanca said, "To the succession of the Caesars came the succession of the pontifs in Rome. When Constantine left Rome he gave his seat to the pontif. In the policies of the papal system, who received the city of Rome as a gift from Constantine, we have a continuation of the firmness of this `iron empire' as for 1260 long years she ruled in the papal chair in Rome." Stanley's history, p. 40: "The pope filled the place of the vacant empire in Rome inheriting their power, seat and titles from paganism. Constantin left all to the bishop of Rome. The papacy is but the ghost of the deceased Roman Empire sitting crowned upon its grave." The iron in the ten toes represents the iron monarchy of the papal system as she ruled with an iron hand down through the centuries. Does the RCC agree with this view? Father J.P.Conroy of the RCC, `The American Catholic World Review', April 1911, "Meekly stepping to the throne of Caesar the pope of Rome took up the sceptor to which the emperors and kings of Europe were to bow in reverence through so many centuries." [0770] In the Greek the not matching words are chiliarchos (chief captains) and dunatos (mighty men) in Rev. 6, and in Rev. 13 we find the words, mikros (small) and ptochos (poor). -- Perhaps we can say that chiliarchos captains should represent the `small' or `rich' and dunatos the mighty, the always present and politically `significant' or `mighty' ptochos poor people. The ptochos poor can also mean `crouch', `beggar' and sometimes `suffering'. [Strong's Concordance, 4434] These poor may sometimes, therefore, exert a significant influence on the chief captains or leaders of the land, since there are so many of them. [0800] These four winds were anciently turned into pagan concepts as can be seen in a wall painting in the Roman city of Dura Europos illustrating the `Restoration to National Life' found in the `House of Assembly.' The angelic `four winds' are depicted as restoring breath to the lifeless bodies. Of course those lifeless bodies remained lifeless and God's judgment was carried out to the letter as prophesied by Ezekiel. [See BA, Vol. 47, No. 3, p. 176.] - Today moral and spiritual plagues afflict society. People lost their moral compass. While the gospel is still being preached, the sealing of God's people will be the final work. "The loosening of the "four winds" will be the complete breakdown of social order, decency, morality, fidelity, including economic and political security. The Bible says it will be `Babylon' dropping into the sea `like a millstone' - the end of weddings, Christmases, Easters, shopping malls, sports, materialistic orgies, vacations and sensuality. - If the special message to the world which the 3 angels of Rev. 14 proclaim is `the everlasting gospel' in the setting of the Day of Atonement, then it is obvious that the gospel cannot be clearly understood except in the context of the cleansing of the sanctuary." . . . A half-gospel cannot truly save people, only all the gospel can. If a half-gospel does anything, it delays the entrance of God's people into the Promised `Beulah' (`married' to Jesus) Land, Isa. 62:4. -- We can be (2001) perilously close to economic, political, and social ruin." Today moral collapse goes down to the toes. How were these problems solved in the Church at Corinth? - by the message of justification by faith! "There was frightful moral depravity then. Citizens and slaves were so violently cruel that they reveled in watching human beings fight wild animals, and each other, to the death. The more blood the more fun. Prostitution was sanctified as a part of religion. But through the proclamation of the gospel, `grace did much more abound' and reigned `through righteousness [by faith] unto eternal life.' Rom. 5:20,21 The story of the cross touched secret springs hidden deep in Gentile and Jewish human hearts, and released latent abilities undreamed of. - The message placed `under grace' people who were shackled by all kinds of compulsive sin, including that of `abusers of themselves with mankind.' Now a new compulsion of love shackled them willingly and gladly to Christ. The result: a happy one. `Sin shall not have dominion over you,' Paul said, `for you are not under law but under grace.' Rom. 6:14. Even today, that message of grace conquers all kinds of secret addictions when appeals to self-centered concern are helpless to motivate people to a true and lasting change." - The truth which is emphasized by this message of grace is this: a) Christ's human nature is like, not unlike ours so Christ was tempted in everything like we are; b) Christ accepted his followers poverty that he might give them His wealth, conquering their temptations by faith but with the same `equipment' they had (2.Cor. 8:9); c) Such a change can be achieved right away. All it takes is a willing and determined decision (Gen. 39:8) to from now on walk in the true and tried ways of God - no delay at all to ready thousands for the Soon Coming of our Saviour from this world of sin. - Here was a power that gripped human hearts as nothing had done in all previous history. The most hopeless captives found deliverance. The reality of the cross burned its way into the deepest recesses of thinking as a spiritual purification of emotions. A new sense of self-respect emerged that no other thing could destroy. [Wieland, Grace on Trial, p. 80.; Early Writings, p. 254. 1.Cor. 6:9-11.]
[0840] The destruction of Revelation chapter six comes after the great earthquake at Lisbon in 1755, the dark day of 1780, and the great meteor shower of 1833. In prophetic history, these long in advance prophesied signs are important on the divine calendar, for they are the signs of the beginning of the time of the end of the history of sin on earth. After the third celestial sign follows a time which are not explained in this chapter which proceeds to the next event closer to the Coming of Christ. The next events read as follows,
"And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
[0844] That in the end only two groups will exist, two persuasions on how to see the world, is taught in Isaiah 2. We read,
[1000] The Bible teaches that Israel was led into captivity because they did not keep the Sabbath, Jer, 17:27; Eze. 20:12,20. Not keeping the Sabbath was the greatest abomination they could commit. See also: Nehemia 10:31; 13:15; Jer. 17:21-27; Eze. 20:20,12,21; 22:8,26; 23:38; Mal. 2:11. [1050] This sin of worshipping idolatrous and decor items, can that be more clearly demonstrated? The following items from Lachish are attributed to the Canaanites by the author based on Egyptian artifacts, a scarab, belonging to the 18th Dynasty time of Amenhotep III, predecessor of Akhnaton, known from the El Amarna period. Amenhotep III (ca. 879-843 BC) belongs in our verified and proven revised chronology into the time of King Jehoshaphat and King Ahab. Finding a scarab of Amenhotep III at Lachish (similar to the one of the link) then places the events at his or following his time and not in the 12th century BC as the BAR article states. Archaeology, run by humanistic educated men, has made havoc of true Bible history. Here is a short list of incidental discoveries: - From Lachish: (1) A 10 inch high ivory perfume flask in the shape of a female, with a removable spoon on top of her head the opening of which was used to pour the contents into the spoon shaped like a human hand. (2) a worn clay plaque found at the Fosse Temple of Lachish shows, what is described as an Egyptian style nude female illustrating moral decay at Lachish.; [BAR, Jan/Feb 1987, p. 30.] We shall add more as time allows.- No, may be not, two is enough. [1200] Of course the long range effects are much worse. Just look back in more recent history. How rejecting the Creator led to slavery, naturalism and humanism and the shedding of blood by notorious evil men before and during World War I (Ex. in Africa), during World War II and after that all around the globe because of humanistic, naturalistic, evolutionistic world views. Today, murders are largely committed by those who were led to believe there is no God and no judgment. Satan instigated successfully that masses of people hate their Creator God. [1300] Please compare the white robes of Rev. 7. It is significant to remember that the high priest in the sanctuary on the day of atonement, the great judgment day, wore white linen clothing (Ex. 28:38,39; Isa. 59:17). [1400] By the way, was there a voice in heaven in the Book of Revelation 7:2 which said, do not let loose the winds, do not destroy the earth, the sea and the trees? Let us remember these parallels. [1450] The idolatry practiced so long ago even affected this whole world in our times. You may ask, `How so?' - When archaeologists began digging up towns, temples, palaces and homes, what did they find so very often? - Yes, they found a lot of pottery. They used this pottery to determine how city to city, region to region, country to country, commerce evolved. Instead of letting the written word be their guide, they trusted in the hard evidence of pottery. But you see, they had to make assumptions. They assumed when new types of pottery appeared that the previous population had vanished or was conquered. They used so-called markers, particular types of pottery which stood out among the common types, to piece together the history of the whole Middle East. But before this all was interpreted and put into time frames, they had already decided on an overall sequence of ancient history. A first starting point was developed when Napoleon took his army to Egypt. Along came three French scientists. When they arrived at the temple of Ramses III. at Medinet Habu and saw the scenes of land and sea wars, they had just learned to read hieroglyphics enough to discern the name `prlt' or `prst'. Right away they `knew' this was a reference to the Philistines. They had found evidence of the land and sea wars of the Philistines and their allies against Egypt. The Philistines, they decided, were easily recognized by their `feather' like headgear. So Ramses III landed in about 1150 BC, the time of the judges in Israel. That the Bible had nothing to say about these events meant nothing to these men. Only now do we know that Ramses III. was not fighting the Philistines but some 700 years later, the `prst', the Persians, based on written evidence. Examining Persian history we also find such `feather' headgear among them. Case closed. Convention does not follow this chronology. Their time assignments are based on pottery and Sothic dating driven chronology. These learned men and women forever overextend ancient history to connect some historical people to some Neanderthal like population. They try forever, to make `Jahwe' into some figment of the imagination of the ancient people. They are trying forever, to make `Jahwe' into a God just like the pagans had, with consorts, shortcomings and human tendencies. Long ages dominate Biblical and of course secular Archaeology. We ought to realize that no ancient history goes beyond ca. 2300 BC. For just before that, a world wide Flood destroyed all but 8 people. - We have to face it, folks. We cannot put our trust in princes of science, or in princes of education, or in princes of industry, or in princes of politics. And we cannot put our trust (are you ready for this?) in princes of the church. Let us go without further delay to the very heart of the problem. [1455] Do the members of Christian churches reform routinely? No. In fact many Christians make only few reforms and little effort to reform. They are astonishingly content. They pass through life with a few changed beliefs but little change in the life. They have been taught that they have little substantive role in the process of end-time events. They have been taught that they are already "saved." And unless the heart is radically changed, we may be sure that men will follow what Albert Jay Nock called Epstean's law: "Man tends always to satisfy his needs and desires with the least possible exertion." We may regard this as a law of fallen human nature. [1460] While this word "fulfilled" comes up on these subjects we would like to remind our readers how exactly Bible prophecy is being fulfilled. This is well illustrated in another article we carry here about the first advent of Jesus Christ. If His first advent was so precisely forecast in the pages of the Old Testament, it ought to remind us that we should pay attention to Bible prophecy - even more so than to the evening news. While the first advent prophecies seem pretty much forward, the end time prophecies are more complicated and involved. The reason must be obvious. It relates to worldwide, cataclysmic events. [1470] When Nebuchadnezzar came to destroy Jerusalem, they built a siege wall around the city as the Ark of the Covenant was still within the Temple. The only place where someone could leave Jerusalem unobserved by the Babylonians were two little gates on the north side of the city. According to an Apogryphical book, Jeremiah and his helpers took the ark and hid it in a cave. Israel had broken God's Sinaitic covenant with them and the ark was removed out of their sight. [1478] For an example which documents this, see a Hebrew seal which was dated to the 8th century BC and is shown in BAR, Sep 1984, p. 54. [1500] The wearying 70 year captivity had a prophetic light at the end found in Zechariah 10:6-9. - While the Bible teaches the destruction of Jerusalem because of the abominations enumerated, some may wonder, `How come Christianity is said to trespass God's Law in the same way, and yet, no destruction came over them?' Answer: We may suppose no destruction exactly like in the days of Zedekiah came over us, but so called Christian nations did suffer many wars and conflicts. However, God is patient and overlooks the time of ignorance. That will not last. We must speak up like Elijah did when he announced to king Ahab, "... there shall not be dew nor rain these years ..." (1.Ki. 17:1) because of their apostasy. Three years later the showdown came and the priests of Baal lost. Elijah alone was faithful and God could use him in a mighty way. But on that day, when Elijah faced Ahab and his imposing military and 450 priests of Baal, he stood solemn and calmly crying out, "How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him." Next comes a fateful reaction. A reaction which God abhors more than any other. We read, "And the people answered him not a word." (1.Ki. 18:21) From the events unfolding we learn that if God abhors one sin above another, it is doing nothing in case of an emergency. Indifference and neutrality in a religious crisis is regarded of God as a grievous crime, and equal to the very worst type of hostility against God. God's followers are to guard the truth about God and be watchman to guard people against sneak attacks by the forces of evil. -- All Israel was silent. They were afraid of Jezebel and the priests of Baal who had killed all the prophets of Judah and destroyed the altar of the Lord. This day, on Mt. Carmel, was reckoning time. -- God's enemies learn from this that their time will come too. Slowly but surely. [1550] Bible interpretation is based on the Bible interpreting itself. No commentaries, pastors or theologians are needed. What is needed is prayer and the Holy Spirit (A concordance may be helpful). This is the assurance to avoid man's opinion in place of God's exposition of truth. [1600] For everything we do and think is recorded in heaven's memory bank, Dan. 12:1, to be used for or against us on judgment day. [1650] Messiah means `the annointed.' (Luke 4:18) The Greek equivalent of Messiah is `Christos.' [1700] What is the Word of the Lord? Are we to occupy us with smooth sayings? Are we not to straighten us up, polish our rough edges? Are we not to bear good fruit? How can disobeying God's clear commandments be depending on which time of earth's history you live in? That is man's wisdom seeking to speak for God. It is from the same source which nailed Jesus to the cross. We must have the character of the great man of God who obeyed the Lord on whatever He asked them to do. We are to obey God's Ten Commandments from the day Adam was created into all eternity without interruption. Sin started because Lucifer trespassed the Law of God. Anyone who teaches his listeners to trespass any of God's commandments is like that fallen angel.
[1720] What does the Bible teach about what we take into our body? Why should we concern ourselves as to what we eat and drink? Because we are what we eat and drink. Despite energetic attempts to stamp out sickness and disease through modern medicine and technology, people are worse of today then they used to be. You see it was not until 1943 that the first anti-biotic Penicilin was available for regular use. Some years ago people came down with one disease which afflicted and perhaps killed them. Today people come often down with multiple often diet related diseases. Many are sick for many years, suffering miserably, until they finally die. That is not the way it was for much of history. Most people lived in the possession of their ability to walk and work until they sort of just fell over and died. We are world wide in a health care at a time of crisis. The Bible's remedy is quite simple and basic. It teaches the pill of prevention; the treatment of causes. Do not abuse your own body, do not eat unclean foods and partake of drinks which affect your spirit, your thinking mind. When Noah took in 7 pairs of clean animals into the ark and only 2 pairs of unclean creatures, God was showing this way, that even after the Flood, there would be clean and unclean food categories. It is absolutely false to state that God permits the consumption of everything man may desire. There are health laws in the Bible. The experience of Daniel and his three friends in Babylon is an example. The eating of swine flesh is condemned in the Bible. We read,
"For thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream . . . your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like an herb . . . For, behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. . . . They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the Lord." Isa. 66:12-17. See also the Bible principles of good physical and spiritual health: 3.John 2; Matth. 4:23; 1.Cor. 10:31 (Therefore it is possible to eat to the glory of God and to the glory of the devil.); Isa. 55; (God would not command us to eat that which is good if it was not possible to eat that which is bad. It does matter.); John 10:10; Ex. 23:25; Ps. 105:37 (after following the health principles for 40 years). The original diet was (Gen. 1:29), fruits, grains, nuts and legumes (garden beans, peas). Fruits are the products of the blossom of a plant. Legumes are a subdivision of fruits. After sin, when man could no longer eat of the Tree of Life, vegetables were added to the diet, Genesis 3:18. Obviously there was now something missing that man needed and vegetables substituted in part for it.
[1750] Babylon has another epidemic in the land, that of "itching ears." (2.Tim. 4:2,3). Studying this scripture we recognize that having "itching ears" as spoken about by Paul, causes Babylonian, religious confusion. It may include those who listen to every wind of doctrine which sounds good and appeals to sensual pleasures. What Christian people really need is a longing heart for the truth of God's word in order to stay and call people out of Babylon. [1770] `Humanities first freedom is religious liberty. It is first, because at the nascence of human history, God gave Adam and Eve the right to choose whether to follow Him. God thereby established a precedent for the human race that remains as alive today as it was all those years ago in the Garden of Eden. - Religious liberty is also the first liberty expressed in the United States Bill of Rights: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." But there is a third reason, this is humanity's "first freedom." There is no more sacred space in the human experience than our search for the ultimate meaning of our existence. Repressing religious liberty is at its heart an attempt to extinguish this core of the human soul.' - James Standish's presentation at the Liberty Banquet, `Frontlines of Freedom', Vol. 51, July 25, 2007, p.4. - Unfortunately many treat these liberties not as they should for they are fragile indeed. Church speakers and News media not infrequently do not realize that they can speak their mind without worrying about legal consequences, within esthetic limits, because there exist agencies defending religious liberty. When these spokes-people slight religion and use occasions to ridicule faith in God, they work into the hands of those who would take away their right to speak as they do. [1800] If your Bible does not say that, it is because some translations followed other, we believe and show, corrupted sources of another age, even if involuntary, a devilish scheme to subvert and fight the Word of God is employed. [1900] The false prophet, from Bible faith fallen away Protestantism, is here represented.
[1950] In a meeting a cardinal presented corroboration on how they present this opposite message. Because of them not knowing the message in Revelation, their views are impartial and revealing. In his presentation he emphasized the need to guard "the Lord's Day", of course meaning Sunday in the face of the Bible calling the seventh day Sabbath the real Lord's Day, Mark 2:28. Among the largely Protestant audience there was hearty, general agreement to his remarks. - Frequent mention was made of the immoral decay that America was rapidly sliding into and the indications that the judgments of God were soon to fall, as evidenced by the rapid increase of natural disasters - of course after Al Gore showed them his DVD the day before. Appeals were made that the only way in which America could be saved from its rapid descent into immorality was by stopping the desecration of the Lord's Day. It was stated, otherwise God's judgments would fall all the harder on America. - With that, we discern here the reverse mirror-image of the 1st Angel's Message of Rev. 14:6-7! Us Adventists used to warn the world that the Judgment was imminent, and all must keep the Ten Commandments and keep the Bible Sabbath. Now we are told by Rome that the judgments of God will fall upon us - if we do not sacredly observe the false Sabbath! - Wake up friends. And on May 10, 2008, about 18:00 hours Colorado time, a series of tornadoes killed 14 people, six of them in flipped cars, and destroyed many homes in a large area. This was just a day as we had already several, just a few days apart. Indeed, God's protective care is being withdrawn. People are reminded to consider that we are dust and only God can save us from the Second death from which there is no resurrection. So, people, consider your maker. Flee to the foot of the cross, surrender all and accept the sacrifice of Jesus before it is too late. - When is it too late? After the Sunday Law, friends, it is too late!! In my humble opinion that may be very, very, very soon. Meanwhile they will use any convenient event or circumstance to deliver their message and achieve their goal - to dominate once more the whole world and do that until Jesus comes again. That is why we must heed the call, "Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." Phil. 2:12. As we see Rome flexing its muscles, we must exercise our faith and maintain a closer connection with the Lord, daily, hourly.
[2130] During the 1950's and 60's Rome changed its entire image. When America tried to send an ambassador to the Vatican in the 1950's, there was a storm of protest. When it actually happened in the 1970's, hardly a voice was raised against it. Vatican II set forth a plan to infiltrate all Protestant centers of learning, their headquarters, publishing houses, medical facilities, churches and other institutions. They used various organizations to achieve this including liberation theology, environmentalism and the `New Age' religious movement whose doctrines found their way into our legislative halls. This way Rome is riding the image of the beast through our law making institutions. If this "infiltration" of governments, churches and their institutions were not true, then we would have just a group of harmless crooks, and Rome would not be so dangerous. However, if the words of the prophet are true, then we can expect to see several things: 1) RCC agents secretly taking control of major denominations (most of them if not already all) to get them to unite in love with Rome, so that they will repress the preaching on the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation; 2) Rome's agents will infiltrate government agencies so that what Rome will think of doing, the leaders of these governments will think of doing.3) The re-instituting of torture means that the US is already controlled by the spirit of Rome. Prophecy says that the horrors of the dark ages and the glories of the Day of Pentecost will be blended. To repudiate Protestant and Republican principles in the constitution is what the agents of Satan through human instruments are interested in. They are continually working for Christians to turn their eyes away from personal piety and Sion, the City of God, and instead compromise with the world and set up rock playing coffee houses - these dark and dingy places with smoke filled rooms and motorcycle gangs. Thus the influence of Vatican II was spread all over the country and in many nations in the world. Paganism in India regarded cows as sacred. Today, in America, people regard beetles more highly than individuals. After all we have over 6 billion people on earth but running out of certain kinds of beetles. This is exactly the same religious garb as that type of pagan idolatry upon which Rome rests. It rests upon sun-worship and all of these ancient pagan religions of Babylon, Medo-Persia and Greece. These `New Age' influences permeated all churches. Why? Because the doctrines of Rome are winding their way through all churches while destroying personal piety, destroying union with Christ, destroying righteousness by faith which is the heart of the 3rd angel's message. The same mastermind which plotted against God's people in ages past, is alive today. Men of education and reputation will join with the lawless to take counsel against God's people. By false representations and angry appeals they will stir up the passions of the people.
[2140] How Long Do We Have? - This is the most interesting thing I've read in a long time. The sad thing about it, you can see it coming. - I have always heard about this democracy countdown. It is interesting to see it in print. God help us that we not deserve it. - How Long Do We Have? About the time our original thirteen states adopted their new constitution in 1787, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh, had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic
some 2,000 years earlier:
[2150] What does `enforcing the mark of the beast' mean? It means a national, religious law is going to be enforced which will force people to either disobey God's commandments or be destroyed. Such a law as a national Sunday law. Why should instituting a Sunday law have such an effect? The Bible indicates it will open the flood gates to demons to do their work. When that happens the words of Zephaniah 1:2 will come to mind where it says about God: "I will utterly consume all things from off the land, saith the Lord." That means national ruin because the anger of God is kindled. It goes on and says, "That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of devastation and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess." Verse 16 says, "A day of trumpet. . . [that is of war]" Verses 17 and 18, "I will bring distress upon men, and they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord; their blood shall be poured out like dust, and their flesh like refuse. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord's wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of His jealousy, for He will make speedy riddance of all those who dwell in the land." |