This Prophecy Must Be Fulfilled

Time and place...history and prophecy… may our Savior who died so we could live, who died and sent 'Another Comforter' to come to us, bless us through that Comforter with understanding of His truth!  Please Savior- open our hearts and minds to only Your truth through Your love, by Your grace.

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(((Please Note-

 This edition of Daniel and Revelation by Uriah Smith- is from the 1912 edition. 

Here's a bit of history-

The response of history to the voice of prophecy. A verse-by-verse study of the Bible books of Daniel and The Revelation, first published as separate books in 1867 (Revelation) and 1873 (Daniel). Revised several times by the author before his death in 1903, with editorial additions in this text. The original book was almost 800 pages…

Pasted from

Obviously from the following it's clear that there were EDITORIAL additions in this text… written in 1867, 1873…. Revised 1903 and finished with editions to it in 1911 for the 1912 edition..))))

Continuing on…

'At this point it may be profitable to take a glance at the progress of the Sunday-law movement in this country during the recent past. (((Remember this particular edition to this book is the year 1912)))) The following are some of the more prominent of the events which mark its advancement.

  1890. - Breckenridge Sunday bill for the District of Columbia introduced in Congress. (January 6.)
  1892. - Congress orders the gates of the Chicago World's Fair closed on Sunday, and decides that Sunday is the Sabbath Of the Decalogue. (July 19.)
  1900.  -  Congress makes the appropriation of $5,000,000 for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition at St. Louis, conditional upon Sunday closing of the gates "during the whole duration of the fair." (March 1.)
  1904. - A Sunday bill for the District of Columbia passed the House of Representatives. (April 6.)
  1906. - Congress makes the appropriation of $250,000 for the Jamestown Exposition, conditional upon Sunday closing. (June 29.)
  1906. - Wadsworth District Sunday bill passes House of Representatives. (June 11.)
  1908. - Samuel Gompers officially announces that the Arnerican Federation of Labor not only is in favor of Sunday rest, but that it has "done as much, if not more, than any other
 p 620 -- organized body of men and women, to enforce the observance of the Sunday rest-day." (September 14.)
  1907-8. - Ten bills for Sunday observance introduced during the first session of the sixtieth Congress. (December 5 to May 1.)
  1908. - Johnston District Sunday bill, passed by the Senate. (May 15.)
  1909. - Johnston District Sunday bill reintroduced in the Senate. (March 22.)
  1910. - Johnston District Sunday bill reintroduced in Senate. (January 17.)
            - Johnston District Sunday bill passes Senate. (January 27.)
            - Johnston District Sunday bill introduced in the House. (January 28.)
  1911. - Johnston District Sunday bill introduced in special session of Congress. (April 6.)
            - Favorably reported by the Senate District Committee. (May 22.)
            - Mann bill, "For the Observance of Sunday in Post-Offices," introduced in House of Representatives. (May 16.)

All this is exclusive of Sunday legislation in the states of the union, and in other countries. During the year 1910 there was such legislation or agitation over the same, in California, Connecticut, Indiana, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, North Dakota, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and the countries of Canada, England, Italy, Portugal, Russia, Spain, and Switzerland.

Most of the state governments have in their constitutions or in their adopted "Bill of Rights," provisions guaranteeing the fullest religious liberty; and the inconsistency of legislating on religious questions, under these circumstances, is at once seen; while the treachery of oppressing people for opinion's sake, in such states, is keenly felt. Every conceivable invention is therefore resorted to, to make it appear that it is not, religious persecution at all, but only the question of obedience to civil law. One of these inventions is that Sunday is only a civil institution, and its enforcement only a police regulation, a civil requirement necessary for the public good. But this is
p 621 -- impossible; for every one knows that Sunday in its origin, history, and very nature, is a religious institution. No claims in its behalf would ever have been heard of, but for its religious basis. Hence any enactment to enforce it by pains and penalties is religious legislation and religious oppression.

But if there is a law for it, should not that law be obeyed until repealed? Every law that does not trench upon the domain of conscience, if it becomes unacceptable to the people, should nevertheless be obeyed till it can be changed or repealed. But Sunday laws interfere with the conscience of the observer of another day, and for that reason cannot "bear upon all alike." And no true Christian can make his obedience to God depend upon the permission of his fellow men. It may be said again, In a country like the United States, do not majorities rule? and must not their decisions be obeyed? And the answer again is, Yes, in everything but questions of conscience, but never there. "Render ... unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's." Men may legislate to guard the mutual rights of all members of society, but no further; and in this they will never infringe upon the rights of any one's conscience; for a "good" conscience (I Peter 3:21) will never invade the rights of others, like the polygamy of the Mormons, or the human sacrifices of the heathen.

The founders of the American republic never intended that any trouble should arise, through the laws of the land, over any question of conscience but they permitted the evil principle of religious laws to remain in their political structure, a principle sure to spring to life at the first opportunity. In the further development of religious truth, it is now found that these laws forbid men to render obedience to what the Bible requires of them, and thus conflict with their unalienable rights. Such laws, therefore, the Christian cannot regard, and the government, to be true to its professed principles, should wipe them off the statute-books wherever found. But this the religio-political clergy will not permit; and the nation is doomed; for it will thus put itself in line with the religious despotisms of the past; and the cry will go up from God's suffering children,
p 622 -- "It is time for thee, Lord, to work: for they have made void thy law." Ps. 119:126.

While, according to the prophecy, the "image" can be looked for ONLY in the United States, the worship of the beast will prevail in other countries also; for all the world is to wonder after the beast.

Some one may now say, As you expect this movement to carry, you must look for a period of religious persecution in the United States; nay, more, you must take the position that all the saints of God are to be put to death; for the image is to cause that all who will not worship it shall be killed.

A period of persecution has been for about fifty years expected and predicted. It has now begun, and is thus demonstrating the correctness of the application of the prophecy as set forth in this work; but it does not by any means follow that all, and we do not think that even many, will be put to death, though a decree to that effect will be promulgated; for, as the prophet elsewhere declares, God does not abandon his people to defeat in this dire conflict, but grants them a complete victory over the beast, his image, his mark, and the number of his name. Rev. 15:2. We further read respecting this earthly power, that he causeth all to receive a mark in their right hand or in their foreheads; yet chapter 20:4 speaks of the people of God as those who DO NOT receive the mark, NOR worship the image. If, then, he could "cause" all to receive the mark, and yet all not actually receive it, in like manner his causing all to be put to death who will not worship the image does not necessarily signify that their lives are actually to be taken.

But how can this be? Answer:   It evidently comes under that rule of interpretation in accordance with which verbs of action sometimes signify merely the will and endeavor to do the action in question, and not the actual performance of the thing specified. The late George Bush, Professor of Hebrew and Oriental Literature in New York City University, makes this matter plain. In his notes on Ex. 7:11 he says:      "It is a canon of interpretation of frequent use in the exposition of the sacred writings that verbs of action sometimes
p 623 -- signify merely the will and endeavor to do the action in question. Thus in Eze. 24:13: 'I have purified thee, and thou wast not purged;' i.e., I have endeavored, used means, been at pains, to purify thee. John 5:44: 'How can ye believe which receive honor one of another?' i.e., endeavor to receive. Rom. 2:4: 'The goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance;' i.e., endeavors, or tends, to lead thee. Arnos 9:3: ' Though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea;' i.e., though they aim to be hid. I Cor. 10:33: ' I please all men;' i.e., endeavor to please. Gal. 5:4: ' Whosoever of you are justified by the law;' i.e., seek or endeavor to be justified. Ps. 69:4: ' They that destroy me are mighty;' i. e., that endeavor to destroy me; English, ' That would destroy me.' Acts 7:26: 'And set them at one again;' i.e., wished and endeavored; English, ' Would have set them.' "

So in the passage before us. He causes all to receive a mark, and all who will not worship the image to be killed; that is, he wills, purposes, and ENDEAVORS to do this. He makes such an enactment; passes such a law, but is not able to execute it; for God interposes in behalf of his people; and then those who have kept. the word of Christ's patience are kept from falling in this hour of temptation, according to Rev. 3:10; then those who have made God their refuge are kept from all evil, and no plague comes nigh their dwelling, according to Ps. 91:9, 10; then all who are found written in the book are delivered, according to Dan. 12:1; and, being victors over the beast and his image, they are redeemed from among men, and raise a song of triumph before the throne of God, according to Rev. 14:2-4.

The objector may further say, You are altogether too credulous in supposing that the masses of our people, many of whom are either indifferent or wholly opposed to the claims of religion, can be so far brought to favor the religious observance of Sunday that a general law can be promulgated in its behalf.

We answer, The prophecy MUST be fulfilled and if the prophecy requires such a revolution, it will be accomplished.

To receive the mark of the beast in the forehead is, we understand, to give the assent of the mind and judgment to his
p 624 -- authority in the adoption of that institution which constitutes the mark. By parity of reasoning, to receive it in the hand would be to signify allegiance by some outward act.

VERSE 18. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast; for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

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And tomorrow we will continue with the number of the beast- all by our Savior's grace!

So far we have to comprehend that all this came to pass, all this to deal with the Sunday law was underway and in a HUGE manner! This wasn't subtle suppositions being put forth. These weren't mere ideas being shot out for consideration.  LAWS were being made! Punishments for breaking said laws occurred!

Yet something happened to put a stop to it all.

For now we will continue on, forever keeping in mind that history cannot be changed and is necessary for our learning.

Please, Savior keep us in YOU always in all things! Bless us!

In YOUR LOVE.

Proof From the Past

Our very important study on the Mark of the Beast mentioned in the Messages of the Three Angels, continued…

Taken from-  'Daniel and Revelation by Uriah Smith, written in 1897'

'Such is the spirit which will actuate the hearts of the beast-worshipers, - a spirit which insults the God of the universe to his face, and is prevented only by lack of power from overthrowing his government and annihilating his throne. Is it any wonder that Jehovah denounces against so Heaven-daring a course the most terrible threatening that his Word contains?

  13.  The Closing Work. - We have now seen what would properly constitute an image to the beast, such as the two-horned beast is to erect, and also the probability that such an image will soon be perfected in this country;   (((My interjection -  As we discussed already during this study, at the time in history that this was written things were all moving into place for this Sunday law and the proof follows. Please read it all and understand just how close things were, except just as ancient Israel, God's chosen people had to remain here many more years because they apostatized. Read on…))))

 and we have also learned what constitutes the mark of the beast, which is to be enforced upon all the people.

An ecclesiastical organization composed of a greater or less number of the different sects of our land, with some degree of coalition also between these bodies and Roman Catholicism, together with the promulgation and enforcement of a general Sunday-sabbath law, would fulfil what the prophecy sets forth in reference to the image and the mark of the beast; and these movements, or their exact equivalent, the prophecy calls for.

The line of argument leading to these conclusions is so direct and well-defined that there is no avoiding them. They are a clear and logical sequence from the premises given us.

When the application of Rev. 13:11-17 to the United States was first made, as early as the year 1850, these positions respecting a union of the churches and a grand Sunday movement were taken. But at that time no sign appeared above or beneath, at home or abroad, -no token was seen, no indication existed, that such an issue would ever be made. But there was the prophecy, and that must stand.

The United States government had given abundant evidence, by its location, the time of its rise, the manner of its rise, and its apparent character, that it was the power symbolized by the two-horned beast.

There could be no mistake in the conclusion that it was the very nation intended by that symbol. This being so, it
p 609 -- must take the course and perform the acts foretold. But here were predictions which could be fulfilled by nothing less than the above-named movement respecting church and state, and the enforcement of the papal Sabbath as a mark of the beast.

To take the position at that time that this government was to pursue such a policy and engage in such a work, without any apparent probability in its favor, was no small act of faith.

On the other hand, to deny or ignore it, while admitting the application of the symbol to this government, would not be in accordance with either Scripture or logic.

The only course for the humble, confiding student of prophecy to pursue in such cases is to take the light as it is given, and believe the prophecy in all its parts.

So the stand was boldly taken; and open proclamation has been made from that day to this, that such a work would be seen in the United States. With every review of the argument, new features of strength have been discovered in the application; and amid a storm of scornful incredulity we have watched the progress of events, and awaited the hour of fulfilment.

Meanwhile, Spiritualism has astonished the world with its terrible progress, and shown itself to be the wonder-working element which was to exist in connection with this power.

This has mightily strengthened the force of the application. And now, within a few years past, what have we further seen? - No less than the commencement of that very movement respecting the formation of the image, and the enactment of Sunday laws, which we have so long expected, and which is to complete the prophecy and close the scene.

Reference has already been made to the movement to secure a union of the churches for the purpose of adding strength and influence to ecclesiastical movements in certain directions. And now a class of men is suddenly springing up all over the land whose souls are absorbed with the cognate idea of Sunday reform, and who have dedicated themselves, heads, hands, and pockets, to the carrying forward of this kindred movement. Organizations called Sabbath Committees have been formed in various places, and have labored zealously, by means of books, tracts, speeches, and sermons, to create a strong public senti-
p 610 -- ment in behalf of Sunday. Making slow progress through moral suasion, they seek a shorter path to the accomplishment of their purposes through political power. And why not? Christianity has become popular, and her professed adherents are numerous. Why not avail themselves of the power of the ballot to secure their ends? Rev. J. S. Smart (Methodist), in a published sermon on the Political Duties of Christian Men and Ministers, expresses a leading sentiment on this question, when he says:          "I claim that we have, and ought to have, just as much concern in the government of this country as any other men. ... We are the mass of the people. Virtue in this country is not weak; her ranks are strong in numbers, and invincible from the righteousness of her cause, - invincible if united. Let not her ranks be broken by party names."

In accordance with the logical development of these feelings, an association has been formed, now called "The National Reform Association," which has for its object the securing of legal enactments for religious institutions, by means of such an amendment to the national Constitution as shall "place all Christian laws, institutions, and usages of the government on an undeniable legal basis in the fundamental law of the land." Here is the germ of religious revolution, the entering wedge of church and state.

This movement originated at Xenia, Ohio, in February, 1863, in a convention composed of eleven different religious denominations, who assembled for prayer and conference.

To be sure the leaders in this movement disclaim vehemently any such purpose as a union of church and state; but a sentence now and then escapes them which reveals more than they intended. Thus, at a convention of this association in Pittsburg, Pa., Dr. Stevenson, one of these leaders, said:      "Through the immense largesse's it receives from corrupt politicians, the Roman Catholic Church is, practically, the established church of the city of New York. These favors are granted under the guise of a seeming friendliness to religion. We propose to put the substance for the shadow, - to drive out the counterfeit by the more complete substitution of the true."

p 611 -- There are several guess-roads through which we may look for the intent of this language; but inasmuch as they all arrive at one conclusion, this conclusion is neither ambiguous nor doubtful; it is simply that the---

 Protestant Church shall become really established, as the Roman Catholic now is practically. -----

This is confirmed by the very next sentence, which reads:      What we propose is nothing of a sectarian character. It will give no branch of American Christians any advantage over any other."

Professor Blanchard undertakes to give a definition of what they mean by a "union of church and state," as follows:      "But union of church and state is the selection by the nation of one church, the endowment of such a church, the appointment of its officers, and the oversight of its doctrines. For such a union, none of us plead. To such a union we are all of us opposed."

The reader is requested to mark this well.

Here is given a definition of a union of church and state such as no one expects or fears; such, in fact, as is not possible in the existing state of the churches, and then a special plea is set up that they are opposed to a union of church and state!

To such an impossible combination as they describe, they may safely write themselves opposed; but to a union of church and state in the popular sense of the phrase, - a union, not of one church, but of all the churches recognized as orthodox, or evangelical, - a union not giving the state power to elect church officers nor to take the oversight of church doctrines, but giving the churches the privilege of enforcing, by civil laws, institutions and usages of religion, according to the faith of the churches, or to the construction put upon those institutions and usages by the churches, - to such a union, we say, they are not opposed. They are essentially and practically, despite their professions, open advocates of a union of church and state.

We are not alone in this view of the subject. Mr. G. A. Townsend (New World and Old, p. 212) says:      "Church and state has several times crept into American politics, as in the contentions over the Bible in the public schools, the anti-Catholic party of 1844, etc.

Our people
p 612 -- have been wise enough heretofore to respect the clergy in all religious questions, and to entertain a wholesome jealousy of them in politics. The latest politico-religious movement [italics ours] is to insert the name of the Deity in the Coustitution."

The Christian Union, January, 1871, said:      "If the proposed amendment is anything more than a bit of sentimental cant, it is to have a legal effect. It is to alter the status of the non-christian citizen before the law. It is to affect the legal oaths and instruments, the matrimonial contracts, the sumptuary laws, etc., etc., of the country. This would be an outrage on natural right."

The Janesville (Wis.) Gazette, at the close of an article on the proposed amendment, speaks thus of the effect of the movement, should it succeed:      "But, independent of the question as to what extent we are a Christian nation, it may well be doubted whether, if the gentlemen who are agitating this question should succeed, they would not do society a very great injury. Such measures are but the initiatory steps which ultimately lead to restrictions of religious freedom, and to commit the government to measures which are as foreign to its powers and purposes as would be its action if it should undertake to determine a disputed question of theology."

The Weekly Alta Californian, of San Francisco, March 12, I870, said:      "The parties who have been recently holding a convention for the somewhat novel purpose of procuring an amendment to the Constitution of the United States recognizing the Deity, do not fairly state the case when they assert that it is the right of a Christian people to govern themselves in a Christian manner. If we are not governing ourselves in a Christian manner, how shall the doings of our government be designated? The fact is, that the movement is one to bring about in this country that union of church and state which all other nations are trying to dissolve."

The Champlain Journal, speaking of incorporating the re-
p 613 -- 1igious principle into the Constitution, and its effect upon the Jews, said:       "However slight, it is the entering wedge of church and state. If we may cut off ever so few persons from the right of citizenship on account of difference of religious belief, then with equal justice and propriety may a majority at any time dictate the adoption of still further articles of belief, until our 'Constitution is but a text-book of a sect, beneath whose tyrannical sway all liberty of religious opinion will be crushed."

But it may be asked how the Sunday question is to be affected by the proposed Constitutional Amendment. Answer:    The object, or, to say the least, one object of this amendment, is to put the Sunday institution on a legal basis, and compel its observance by the arm of the law. At the national convention held in Philadelphia, Jan.18, 19, 1871, the following resolution was among the first offered by the business committee:       Resolved, That, in view of the controlling power of the Constitution in shaping state as well as national policy, it is of immediate importance to public morals and to social order, to secure such an amendment as will indicate that this is a Chrristian nation, and place all Christian laws, institutions, and usages in our government on an undeniable legal basis in the fundamental law of the nation, specially those which secure a proper oath, and which protect society against blasphemy, Sabbath-breaking, and polygamy."

By Sabbath-breaking is meant nothing else but Sunday-breaking. In a convention of the friends of Sunday, assembled Nov. 29, 1870, in New Concord, Ohio, one of the speakers is reported to have said: "The question [of Sunday observance] is closely connected with the National Reform Movement; for until the government comes to know God and honor his law, we need not expect to restrain Sabbath-breaking corporations." Here, again, the idea of the legal enforcement of Sunday observance stands foremost; and the same principle would apply equally to individuals.

Once more:   the Philadelphia Press of Dec. 5, 1870, Stated that some Congressmen arrived in Washington by Sunday
p 614 -- trains, December 4, on which the Christian Statesman commented as follows (we give italics as we find them) :

"1.   Not one of those men who thus violated the Sabbath is fit to hold any official position in a Christian nation. ...

"2.   The sin of these Congressmen is a national sin, because the nation hath not said to them in the Constitution, the supreme rule for our public servants, ' We charge you to serve us in accordance with the higher law of God.' These Sabbath-breaking railroads, moreover, are corporations created by the state, and amenable to it. The state is responsible to God for the conduct of these creatures which it calls into being. It is bound, therefore, to restrain them from this as from other crimes, and any violation of the Sabbath by any corporation should work immediate forfeiture of its charter. And the Constitution of the United States, with which all state legislation is required to be in harmony, should be of such a character as to prevent any state from tolerating such infractions of fundamental moral law.

"3.   Give us in the national Constitution the simple acknowledgment of the law of God as the supreme law of nations, and all the results indicated in this note will ultimately be secured. Let no one say that the movement does not contemplate sufficiently practical ends."

What these National Reformers desire and design to secure in their campaign, is expressed by one of the secretaries of said association, J. M. Foster, in the Christian Statesman, October, 1S92. He says:      "But one danger lies in this: The church does not speak as a church. The American Sabbath Union has done a good work. The denominations have spoken. But the Christian organized church has not officially gone to Washington and spoken. The work there has been largely turned over to associations. But the voice of God, authoritative, official, is through his church. Should there not be joint action of the denominations in this? They should, it would appear, appoint a joint committee to speak for God; and properly and courageously done, there can follow but the very same results. ... Much is lost by the church failing officially to speak at the
p 615 -- right time, and in the right place. No association is clothed with this authority. They are individual and social; but the church is divine. She can, and ought to, utter the voice of God in the halls of Congress, as an organized church."

The italics are as we find them; but other declarations in the foregoing extract are equally deserving of emphasis. It may well be questioned whether any more arrogant and pompous words were uttered previous to the setting up of the papacy itself. What they complain that they lack, they of course intend to have. And look at the picture:   The church (that is the different denominations, confederating on dogmas held in common, and represented by a "joint committee," - a central authority) is divine, and woe unto all dissenters from the authority of a divine church! So said Rome in its palmiest days of dungeons, stakes, and blood; so she would say to-day had she the power; and so apostatized Protestantism will say when it gets the power! And this "joint committee" is to "speak for God,"   "utter the voice of God " (a second vicegerent of the Most High, now claimed as a monopoly by the pope), and authoritatively and officially lay upon Congress the commands of God, for it to perform! Such are the dark schemes for which these men are now working. Alas, that the realization of them should now stand as an attainable prospect before their eyes! Did ever Rome ask for more? And when these would-be spokesmen for God secure their object, will it not be, we still ask, Rome over again in a Protestant garb - a very image of the beast itself'?

Within recent years the influence of the National Reform party has been rapidly on the increase. It has now become international in its scope, and at frequent intervals, holds world conventions, at which plans are laid to set up the National Reform ideal of government in all other countries where it does not already exist. To this end much is hoped for from the influence of Christian missionaries, many of whom have seemingly been captivated with the idea of converting heathen governments to Christianity, and see greater results to come from that than from the slow process of converting heathen individuals. At a world convention held in Philadelphia, in No-
 p 616 -- vember, 1910, the.following pronouncement was made on this point:       "This conference expresses its appreciation of the fact that so many missionaries are alive to the importance of the kingship of Christ over the nations, and we urge upon all missionaries in all lands, the inculcation of these principles, and that they testify in their respective nations for the royal prerogative of Jesus in national life."

Among those who participated in the program at this convention, were F. E. Clark, president of the World's Christian Endeavor Union, Bishop Neely of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Rev. Dr. McCauley, district secretary of the Federal Council of Churches, Attorney John A. Paterson, of Toronto, representing the Canadian government, the Rev. David J. Burrell, president of the Alliance of Reformed Churches, besides missionaries from India and China, and from Roman and Greek Catholic countries. This affords striking evidence of the extent to which National Reform ideas have permeated the religious world.

Another most significant and alarming step toward the accomplishment of these evil designs, is the position taken by the great "Christian Endeavor" movement, which has arisen to a membership of millions within a few years, and is a common channel through which all denominations can work. The political functions of this great body are centered in a "Christian Citizenship League," which boasts that it will have branches in every state, county, city, village, and hamlet in the United States, and see to it that only Christian men are put into office. What remarkable "conversions " will then take place! How politicians will become "Christians," and the "millennium" hasten on! At the great Christian Endeavor convention, held in Boston, Mass., July 10-15, 1895, W. H. McMillan, as given in the published Proceedings, p. 19, said:      "Here is a power that is going to wrest the control of affairs from the hands of political demagogues, and place it in the hands of Him who is King over all, and rules the world in righteousness. Our political leaders have been counting the
p 617 -- saloon vote, the illiterate vote, and the stay-at-home vote, and all other elements that have hitherto entered into their canvassings of probabilities; but they have not yet learned to count the Christian Endeavor vote. I want to serve notice 'on them now that the time is drawing near when they will discover that a political revolution has occurred, and they will be found coming home from Washington and our state capitals without a job."

These sentiments were cheered to the echo in the convention; and it is not difficult to foresee the effect they will have; for they were intended for that class of men among whom they "will do the most good;" that is, the body of average politicians, who, when threatened with a boycott, become the most abject sycophants on the face of the earth.

All this, however, would be of no avail, if those who are really patriots at heart would awake to this danger before they find themselves committed to movements, the effects of which they did not foresee, and if the two houses of Congress would stand true to the Constitution which they are sworn to maintain; for this movement means nothing less than a subversion of that noble instrument.

But alas! Congress has already turned its back on its sacred trust to fawn upon the church influence so rapidly rising. When the managers of the World's Fair of 1893, in Chicago, asked Congress for an appropriation in their behalf, churchmen brought their influence to bear upon the national legislators, and induced them to make it a condition of the gift that the gates of the Fair be closed on Sunday. In carrying this point a most remarkable scene occurred. A senator called for a Bible, and caused the clerk to read the fourth commandment of the decalogue; whereupon grave statesmen argued, and at length by vote decided, that the day enjoined by that commandment as the Sabbath, is Sunday!

This was legislating upon a religious question, which the Constitution expressly forbids. (See Amendment I.) It broke down the barriers against the union of church and state, and opened the flood-gates for all the evils that invariably accompany such a union. The religious-amendment clergy hailed the
p 618 -- event as a great triumph, and openly boasted that they had Congress in their hands, and could compel it to do their bidding.

What the practical working of these changes will be is already made apparent. On the statute-books of most of the states of the American Union, are found Sunday laws; and as the agitation in behalf of the seventh day increases, religious zealots are not slow to use these laws to put the machinery of persecution in operation. Observers of the seventh day manifest no defiance of these laws in laboring on Sunday, as the higher law of God gives them an unalienable right to do; and they studiously refrain from disturbing others, or in any way infringing upon their rights, by boisterous or offensive labor. Yet it is construed to be "disturbance," if they are even seen anywhere at work, or even if it is known that they are at work anywhere, though unseen or unheard. If no other way appears for detection, they are searched out by ministers or church-members, or the police acting under their direction. Then follow arrest, conviction, and penalty by fine, imprisonment, or the chain-gang. Up to Jan. 1, 1896, over one hundred arrests of this kind had been made, some of them under circumstances of great oppression and cruelty, fines and costs had been imposed to the amount of $2,269, and prisoners had served an aggregate of nearly fifteen hundred days in jail and chain-gangs.

But public sentiment would not endorse such proceedings, and the leaders in the movement, noting this fact, decided to call a halt until such time as they would have public opinion molded in their favor. Hence there have been fewer cases of prosecution for non-observance of Sunday in recent years; but meanwhile a vigorous campaign has been carried on by the National Reform party, the "International Reform Bureau" or lobby at Washington, D. C., the "Lord's Day Alliance," the "Sunday League of America," the " New England Sabbath Protective League," and other religious bodies, having in view the creation of Sunday-law sentiment among the people, and in the state legislatures, and especially in the national legislature, at Washington. Within recent years, the contest between the
p 619 -- friends and foes of American liberty, has been concentrated upon an effort to commit Congress to religious legislation by the enactment of a Sunday law for the District of Columbia. Bills for this purpose have been repeatedly introduced, and one introduced by Senator Johnston, of Alabama, in 1908, has been urged upon Congress continually up to this date (1911), being promptly reintroduced at the first opportunity after each failure of enactment; and the intention seems to be to keep pressing it upon Congress until that body yields to the demand, and the decisive step is taken which will give to the cause of religious legislation the endorsement of the national government. That will greatly strengthen the Sunday movement throughout the nation, and the work of securing and enforcing Sunday legislation in the state governments will be much more easily accomplished.

*******

We're going to pause here. That is a lot to read but I truly believe it's necessary this is HISTORY. This is how things were being perceived in 1867 through 1911, a course of 44 years. Our history! This HAPPENED, these are NOT lies! People imprisoned and fined for working on the Sunday designated Sabbath!  TRUTH! We cannot let ourselves be deceived here, this truly took place and it took place in a time and place when many felt it would be impossible to take place.

I don't know what has to happen in our world today when all things seem to be going contrary to anything religious in the political sphere, but whatever it is we know the truth and we cannot accept anything less. To give up the truth because it doesn't fit into our imaginings of how things might unfold would be a tragedy of eternal magnitude. Yes, we have to keep learning, but we must never abandon what is truth established beyond doubt. Truth does not alter into something else if it does, how can it be truth before the change? You can add on to truth, making additions but you can't do away with truth. Is there such a thing for a 'truth for that time'? Yes, and could this be a truth for 'that' time? No, I don't see how. The established truth is there. The LAW- the CHANGING of the LAW, these are things that cannot be considered truth for that time, because it is truth for the time of the end and the mark of the beast.  With the changing of God's law we've established the beast and the power it possesses. Ahh there is just so much to consider. May God help us, bless us with the understanding we need so desperately. We need truth and only truth!

More tomorrow by His amazing GRACE and LOVE.

Help us, Savior!

No One is Accountable to the Truth, Until They Know the Truth

Our very important study on the Mark of the Beast mentioned in the Messages of the Three Angels, continued…

Taken from-  'Daniel and Revelation by Uriah Smith, written in 1897'

'It will be said again, Then all Sunday-keepers have the mark of the beast; then all the good of past ages who kept this day had the mark of the beast; then Luther, Whitefield, the Wesleys, and all who have done a good and noble work of reformation, had the mark of the beast; then all the blessings that have been poured upon the reformed churches have been poured upon those who had the mark of the beast; and all Christians of the present day who are keeping Sunday as the Sabbath, have the mark of the beast. We answer, NOT SO! And we are sorry to say that some professedly religious teachers, though many times corrected, persist in misrepresenting ... on this point. ... Give ear:  

The mark and worship of the beast are enforced by the two-horned beast.

The receiving of the mark of the beast is a specific act which the two-horned beast is to cause to be done.

The third message of Revelation 14 is A WARNING mercifully sent out in advance to prepare the people for the coming
p 607 -- danger.

There can therefore be no worship of the beast, nor reception of his mark such as the prophecy contemplates, TILL IT IS ENFORCED BY THE TWO-HORNED BEAST.

We have seen that intention was essential to the change which the papacy has made in the law of God, to constitute it the mark of that power; so INTENTION is necessary in the adoption of that change to make it, on the part of ANY INDIVIDUAL, the reception of that mark. In other words, a person must adopt the change knowing it to be the work of the beast, and receive it on the authority of that power, in opposition to the requirement of God.

But how is it with those mentioned above, who have kept Sunday in the past, and the majority of those who are keeping it to-day? Do they keep it as an institution of the papacy? No.

Have they decided between this and the Sabbath of our Lord, understanding the claims of each? - No.

On what ground have they kept it, and on what do they still keep it? - They suppose they are keeping a commandment of God.

Have such the mark of the beast? - By no means.

Their course is attributable to an error unwittingly received from the Church of Rome, not to an act of worship rendered to it.

But how is it to be in the future?

THE CHURCH WHICH IS TO BE PREPARED FOR THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST MUST BE ENTIRELY FREE FROM PAPAL ERRORS AND CORRUPTIONS.

A reform must hence be made on the Sabbath question.

The third angel proclaims the commandments of God, leading men to the true in the place of the counterfeit.

The dragon is stirred, and so controls the wicked governments of the earth that all the authority of human power shall be exerted to enforce the claims of the man of sin. Then the issue is fairly before the people. They are required to keep, on the one hand, the true Sabbath; on the other, a counterfeit. For refusing to keep the true, the message threatens the unmingled wrath of God; for refusing the false, earthly governments threaten them with persecution and death. With this issue before the people, what does he do who yields to the human requirement? - He virtually says to God,
I know your claims, but I will not heed them. I know that the power I am required to worship is antichristian, but I yield to it to save my life. I renounce your allegiance, and
p 608 -- bow to the usurper. The beast is henceforth the object of my adoration; under his banner, in opposition to your authority, I henceforth array myself; to him, in defiance of your claims, I henceforth yield the obedience of my heart and life.

(((My interjection-

Here it is. The truth, and the huge wall of opposition that shouts out very loudly to us that this is an impossibility! This can NEVER happen, not here, not now in the United States of America! We are fast giving up so many Biblically sanction morals, laws here, laws there they are changing but not in the direction of keeping any law based on worship. We are more and more embracing the idea of separating church and state, taking prayer out of places we never thought it possible, refusing the allowing of our Savior's name in prayers, taking away various emblems of Christianity from places they've been in for many years. We've a president that gives an appearance of Christianity but at the same time by actions says he holds other faiths dear. We live with all this and then we come face to face with the truth of God's word and we are left to believe it is all but an impossibility, and THAT is what Satan wants us to believe.

We must remember this-

Mat_19:26  But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.

Mar_10:27  And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.

Luk_1:37  For with God nothing shall be impossible.

Truth!

We must hold fast to the profession of our faith…

Heb 10:23  Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)

We don't HAVE to comprehend how it is going to all fall into place. We have to comprehend the truth and then through the Holy Spirit keep our eyes opened, watching and praying. We know the truth, we cannot turn our backs on the truth because it doesn't fit in with our imaginations. Also, we know that we cannot imagine we don't have anything to unlearn or more to learn, we do and we will until the end. But one thing is true and always will be- God's truth is God's truth. God's commandments are sure and steadfast to the very end, always and NOTHING can change them, NOTHING.

All by the GRACE of our SAVIOR!

All though HIS love!

Keep the Commandments - Don't Be Marked

Picking up from yesterday as we endeavor to understand more fully the Mark of the Beast--

From yesterday-

'But the prophet beholds greater acts of presumption than these. He sees it endeavor to do what it was not able to do, but could only think to do; he sees it attempt an act which no man, nor any combination of men, can ever accomplish; and that is, to change the law of the Most High. Bear this in mind while we look at the testimony of another sacred writer on this very point.'

Taken from-  'Daniel and Revelation by Uriah Smith, written in 1897'

Continuing…

'The apostle Paul speaks of the same power in 2 Thessalonians 2; and he describes it, in the person of the pope, as "the man of sin," and as "sitting as God in the temple of God" (that is, the church), and as exalting himself "above all that is called God, or that is worshiped." According to this, the pope sets himself up as the one for all the church to look to for authority, in the place of God.'

 (((Interjection- If this is totally confusing, or even preposterous to you, please either take the time to go back and read the book- 'Daniel and Revelation' up to the point we are at (page 598) or continue on and hopefully gain understanding. The declaration that 'the man of sin is in the person of the pope' is NOT made lightly without ample Biblical and historical proof. You can find the book in its entirety at the following links- http://www.adventistalert.com/seven-dr/dr-a.htm or here https://sites.google.com/site/whostosaywereright2/Home/daniel-chapter-eight-a/daniel---revelation-uriah-smith))))

'And now we ask the reader to ponder carefully the question how he can exalt himself above God. Search through the whole range of human devices, go to the extent of human effort; by what plan, by what move, by what claim, could this usurper exalt himself above God? He might institute any number of ceremonies, he might prescribe any form of worship, he might exhibit any degree of power; but so long as God had requirements which
p 599 -- the people felt bound to regard in preference to his own, so long he would not be above God. He might enact a law, and teach the people that they were under as great obligations to that as to the law of God; then he would only make himself equal with God. But he is to do more than this; he is to attempt to raise himself above him. Then he must promulgate a law which conflicts with the law of God, and demand obedience to his own law in preference to God's law. There is no other possible way in which he could place himself in the position assigned in the prophecy. But this is simply to change the law of God; and if he can cause this change to be adopted by the people in the place of the original enactment, then he, the law-changer, is above God, the law-maker. And this is the very work that Daniel said he should think to do.

Such a work as this, then, the papacy must accomplish according to the prophecy; and the prophecy cannot fail. And when this is done, what do the people of the world have? - They have two laws demanding obedience, - one, the law of God as originally enacted by him, an embodiment of his will, and expressing his claims upon his creatures; the other, a revised edition of that law, emanating from the pope of Rome and expressing his will. And how is it to be determined which of these powers the people honor and worship?

- It is determined by the law which they keep. If they keep the law of God as given by him, they worship and obey God. If they keep the law as changed by the papacy, they worship that power. But further: the prophecy does not say, that the little horn, the papacy, should set aside the law of God, and give one entirely different. This would not be to change the law, but simply to give a new one. He was only to attempt a change, so that the law that comes from God, and the law that comes from the papacy, are precisely alike, excepting the CHANGE which the papacy has made in the former. They have many points in common. But none of the precepts which they contain in common can distinguish a person as the worshiper of either power in preference to the other. If God's law says, "Thou shalt not kill," and the law as given by the papacy says the same, no one can tell by a person's observance of that
p 600 -- precept whether he designs to obey God rather than the pope, or the pope rather than God. But when a precept that has been changed is the subject of action, then whoever observes that precept as originally given by God, is thereby distinguished as a worshiper of God; and he who keeps it as changed is thereby marked as a follower of the power that made the change. In no other way can the two classes of worshipers be distinguished. From this conclusion, no candid mind can dissent; but in this conclusion we have a general answer to the question, "What constitutes the mark of the beast?" and that answer is simply this:  

The mark of the beast is the change which the beast has attempted to make in the law of God.

We now inquire what that change is. By the law of God, we mean the moral law, the only law in the universe of immutable and perpetual obligation, - the law of which Webster says, defining the term according to the sense in which it is almost universally used in Christendom, "The moral law is summarily contained in the decalogue, written by the finger of God on two tables of stone, and delivered to Moses on Mount Sinai."

If now the reader will compare the ten commandments as found in Roman Catholic catechisms with those commandments as found in the Bible, he will see in the catechisms - we mean those portions specially devoted to instruction - that the second commandment is left out, that the tenth is divided into two to make up the lack caused by leaving out the second, and keep good the number ten, and that the fourth commandment (called the third in their enumeration) is made to enjoin the observance of Sunday as the Sabbath, and prescribe that the day shall be spent in hearing mass devoutly, attending vespers, and reading moral and pious books. Here are several variations from the decalogue as found in the Bible. Which of them, if any, constitutes the change of the law intended in the prophecy? or are they all included in that change? Let it be borne in mind, that, according to the prophecy, he was to think to change times and laws. This plainly conveys the idea of intention and design, and makes these qualities essential to the change in question. But respecting the omission of the
p 601 -- second commandment, Catholics argue that it is included in the first, and hence should not be numbered as a separate commandment; and on the tenth they claim that there is so plain a distinction of ideas as to require two commandments - so they make the coveting of a neighbor's wife the ninth command, and the coveting of his goods the tenth.

In all this they claim that they are giving the commandments exactly as God intended to have them understood; so, while we may regard them as errors in their interpretation of the commandments, we cannot set them down as professedly intentional changes. Not so, however, with the fourth commandment.

Respecting this commandment, they do not claim that their version is like that given by God. They expressly claim a change here, and also that the change has been made by the church. A few quotations from standard Catholic works will make this matter plain. In a work entitled, Treatise of Thirty Controversies, we find these words:  

"The word of God commandeth the seventh day to be the Sabbath of our Lord, and to be kept holy; you [Protestants], without any precept of Scripture, change it to the first day of the week, only authorized by our traditions. Divers English Puritans oppose, against this point, that the observation of the first day is proved out of Scripture, where it is said, the first day of the week. Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:2; Rev. 1:10. Have they not spun a fair thread in quoting these places? If we should produce no better for purgatory and prayers for the dead, invocation of the saints, and the like, they might have good cause indeed to laugh us to scorn, for where was it written that these were Sabbath days in which those meetings were kept? or where is it ordained they should be always observed? or, which is the sum of all, where is it decreed that the observation of the first day should abrogate, or abolish, the sanctifying of the seventh day, which God commanded everlastingly to be kept holy? Not one of these is expressed in the written word of God."

In the Catechism of the Christian Religion, by Stephen Keenan (Boston, Patrick Donahue, 1857), p. 206, on the
p 602 -- subject of the third (fourth) commandment, we find these questions and answers:
"Ques.- What does God ordain by this commandment?
"Ans.- He ordains that we sanctify, in a special manner, this day on which he rested from the labor of creation.
"Q.- What is this day of rest?
"A.- The seventh day of the week, or Saturday; for he employed six days in creation, and rested on the seventh. Gen. 2:2 ; Heb. 4:1; etc.
"Q.- Is it, then, Saturday we should sanctify, in order to obey the ordinance of God?
-A.- During the old law, Saturday was the day sanctified; but the church, instructed by Jesus Christ, and directed by the Spirit of God, has substituted Sunday for Saturday; so now we sanctify the first not the seventh day. Sunday means, and now is, the day of the Lord."

In the Catholic Christian Instructed (J. P. Kenedy, New York, 1884), p. 202, we read:
"Ques.- What warrant have you for keeping the Sunday preferable to the ancient Sabbath, which was the Saturday?
"Ans.- We have for it the authority of the Catholic Church, and apostolic tradition.
"Q.- Does the Scripture anywhere command the Sunday to be kept for the Sabbath?
"A.- The Scripture commands us to hear the church (Matt. 18:17; Luke 10:16), and to hold fast the traditions of the apostles. 2 Thess. 2:15. But the Scriptures do not in particular mention this change of the Sabbath."

In the Doctrinal Catechism (Kenedy, New York), p. 174, we find further testimony to the same point:
" Ques.- Have you any other way of proving that the church has power to institute festivals of precept?
"Ans.- Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her - she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday, the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday, the seventh day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority."
p 603 -- In Abridgment of Christian Doctrine (Kenedy, New York), p. 58, we find this testimony:
"Ques.- How prove you that the church hath power to command feasts and holy days?
"Ans.- By the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which Protestants allow of and therefore they fondly contradict themselves by keeping Sunday strictly, and breaking most other feasts commanded by the same church.
"Q.- How prove you that?
"A.- Because by keeping Sunday they acknowledge the church's power to ordain feasts, and to command them under sin."

And finally, W. Lockhart, late B. A. of Oxford, in the Toronto (Catholic) Mirror, offered the following "challenge" to all the Protestants of Ireland, - a challenge as well calculated for this locality as that. He says:      " I do therefore solemnly challenge the Protestants of Ireland to prove, by plain texts of Scripture, these questions concerning the obligations of the Christian Sabbath:   (1)   That Christians may work on Saturday, the old seventh day;   (2)   that they are bound to keep holy the first day, namely, Sunday;   (3)   that they are not bound to keep holy the seventh day also."

This is what the papal power claims to have done respecting the fourth commandment. Catholics plainly acknowledge that there is no Scriptural authority for the change they have made, but that it rests wholly upon the authority of the church; and they claim it as a token, or mark, of the authority of that church; the "very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday" being set forth as proof of its power in this respect. For further testimony on this point, the reader is referred to a book entitled, The Change of the Sabbath, in which are also extracts from Catholic writers refuting the arguments usually relied upon to prove the Sunday-sabbath, and showing that its only authority is the Catholic Church.

"But," says one, "I supposed that Christ changed the Sabbath." A great many suppose so, and it is natural that
p 604 -- they should; for they have been so taught. And while we have no words of denunciation to utter against any such persons for so believing, we would have them at once understand that it is, in reality, one of the most enormous of errors.

We would therefore remind such persons that, according to the prophecy, the only change ever to be made in the law of God was to be made by the little horn of Daniel 7, the man of sin of 2 Thessalonians 2; and the only change that has been made in it, is the change of the Sabbath.

Now, if Christ made this change, he filled the office of the blasphemous power spoken of by both Daniel and Paul, - a conclusion sufficiently hideous to drive any Christian from the view which leads thereto.

Why should any one labor to prove that Christ changed the Sabbath? Whoever does this is performing a thankless task. The pope will not thank him; for if it is proved that Christ wrought this change, then the pope is robbed of his badge of authority and power. And no truly enlightened Protestant will thank him; for if he succeeds, he only shows that the papacy has not done the work which it was predicted that it should do, and so that the prophecy has failed, and the Scriptures are unreliable. The matter would better stand as the prophecy has it, and the claim which the pope unwittingly puts forth would better be granted. When a person is charged with any work, and that person steps forth and confesses that he has done the work, that is usually considered sufficient to settle the matter. So, when the prophecy affirms that a certain power shall change the law of God, and in due time that very power arises, does the work foretold, and then openly claims that he has done it, what need have we of further evidence?

The world should not forget that the great apostasy foretold by Paul has taken place; that the man of sin for long ages held almost a monopoly of Christian teaching in the world; that the mystery of iniquity has cast the darkness of its shadow and the errors of its doctrines over almost all Christendom; and that out of this era of error and darkness and corruption, the theology of our day has come. Would it, then, be anything strange if there were yet some relics of popery to be discarded ere the reformation will be
p 605 -- complete? A. Campbell (Baptism, p. 15), speaking of the different Protestant sects, says:      "All of them retain in their bosom, - in their ecclesiastical organizations, worship, doctrines, and observances, - various relies of popery.

They are at best a reformation of popery, and only reformations in part. The doctrines and traditions of men yet impair the power and progress of the gospel in their hands."

The nature of the change which the little horn has attempted to effect in the law of God is worthy of notice. True to his purpose to exalt himself above God, he undertakes to change that commandment which, of all others, is the fundamental commandment of the law, the one which makes known who the lawgiver is, and contains his signature of royalty.

The fourth commandment does this; no other one does.

Four others, it is true, contain the word God, and three of them the word Lord, also. But who is this Lord God of whom they speak? Without the fourth commandment, it is impossible to tell; for idolaters of every grade apply these terms to the multitudinous objects of their adoration.

With the fourth commandment to point out the Author of the decalogue, the claims of every false god are annulled at one stroke; for the God who here demands our worship is not any created being, but the One who created all things.

The maker of the earth and sea, the sun and moon, and all the starry host, the upholder and governor of the universe, is the One who claims, and who, from his position, has a right to claim, our supreme regard in preference to every other object.

The commandment which makes known these facts is therefore the very one we might suppose that power which designed to exalt itself above God would undertake to change.

God gave the Sabbath as a memorial of himself, a weekly reminder to the sons of men of his work in creating the heavens and the earth, a great barrier against heathenism and idolatry.

It is the signature and seal against atheism and idolatry.

It is the signature and seal of the law.

This the papacy has torn from its place, and erected in its stead, on its own authority, another institution, designed to serve another purpose.

p 606 -- This change of the fourth commandment must therefore be the change to which the prophecy points, and THE SUNDAY SABBATH MUST BE THE MARK OF THE BEAST!

Some who have long been taught to regard this institution with reverence will perhaps start back with little less than feelings of horror at this conclusion.

We have not space, nor is this, perhaps, the place, to enter into an extended argument on the Sabbath question, and an exposition of the origin and nature of the observance of the first day of the week. Let us submit this one proposition:    If the seventh day is still the Sabbath enjoined in the fourth commandment; if the observance of the first day of the week has no foundation whatever in the Scriptures; if this observance has been brought in as a Christian institution, and designedly put in place of the Sabbath of the decalogue by that power which is symbolized by the beast, and placed there as a badge and token of its power to legislate for the church, - is it not inevitably the mark of the beast? The answer must be in the affirmative. But these hypotheses are all certainties.'

*******

Is this shocking to you?  Is this the first time you're hearing all this? Do you want to toss it aside as so much garbage? Do you want to stop reading this and call it all lies? 

Remember this--

Mat_15:3  But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?

Mat_15:6  And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.


Col_2:8  Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

Mar 7:3  For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders.
Mar 7:4  And when they come from the market, except they wash, they eat not. And many other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups, and pots, brasen vessels, and of tables.
Mar 7:5  Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands?
Mar 7:6  He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
Mar 7:7  Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
Mar 7:8  For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do.
Mar 7:9  And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.
Mar 7:10  For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death:
Mar 7:11  But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be free.
Mar 7:12  And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother;
Mar 7:13  Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.

Traditions trumping the Commandments of God? Jesus spoke of it happening.  It's not something that is preposterous, it's not something ludicrous, it's reality!

That the man of sin would think to change times and laws is something we must look at. The beast changing times and laws.  That it has been done is something we CANNOT ignore!

Or rather we ignore it at our own risk.

The commandments of God are so much more important than any traditions of men.

The Catholic church gives all sorts of supposed good reasons for the change, but none hold real Biblical weight. They twist and turn scripture to suit their purpose and they did this under their OWN authority, not God's!

 Doesn't this mean anything?!  Isn't this cause for our concern, our eternal concern?

Read this--

Rev 14:9  And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
Rev 14:10  The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
Rev 14:11  And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
Rev 14:12  Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

Worship the beast.
Worship the beast's image.
Receive the beast's mark.

All those who do this will drink the wine of the wrath of God.
All those who do this will be tormented with fire and brimstone.

Worship the beast.
Worship the beast's image.
Receive the mark of the beast's name.

Do you see why it is SO important for us to know what this mark is, if at all possible. As stated earlier in this study God would NOT leave His people clueless, helpless to do anything but receive the mark.

We are given a huge clue-

The PATIENCE of the saint.
Those keeping the commandments of God.
Those keeping the faith of Jesus.

These alone will NOT receive the this mark of the beast.

The clues-  Patience, keeping the commandments, keeping the faith.

We can know what the commandments are.
We can know what the faith of Jesus is.

If we do NOT keep these we will be lost!

It makes sense that the beast who would think to change times and laws would be messing with the commandments we are told we must keep!

This makes sense. This is logical!

Please LORD, please SAVIOR open our hearts and minds to YOU and all YOUR TRUTH!

We don't have to like it, but the truth of it is all that matters. Do NOT dismiss this without serious study, please!

By the grace of God we will continue with this tomorrow.

All in HIS LOVE!

Mark of the Beast - 1

A couple of days ago in my study I wrote the following which I'd like to expound upon a bit-

'The idea of this (A NATIONAL SUNDAY LAW) happening today seems ludicrous, but at that point in time as God's spiritually chosen people were on the right tract things were falling into place for the return of our Savior. Again I have to mention the apostasy of God's people delaying that glorious return. Will there be this same exact mark? In some way it will happen, it's not ludicrous. People would say that a lot of things that go on in our world are ludicrous, but nonetheless they are going on.  God's will be done, and it will! We don't have to wonder how, only know by faith that God will accomplish all He says he will.'

Having said all that I have to talk more about this because it is SO IMPORTANT!

Honestly as I sit here in my chair, living in the year 2014, 137 years after J.N. Andrews wrote 'Three Messages of Revelation 14',  170 years after 1844 and so on, I cannot fathom a law going into effect in the United States making it against the law to worship on any other day than Sunday.  I can't imagine a law making Sunday the day of worship and it being mandatory for everyone to attend that worship on the risk of losing their livelihood, the ability to buy and sell. I just can't see this happening yet it was all set to happen back then.

The Mark of the Beast and the Seal of God have not changed.  If the Mark of the Beast is worshipping on the false sabbath, a sabbath created by the Papacy then it can't be changed. How can you change a mark?

Let's do a more in-depth study on the Mark of the Beast here, this is something we truly need to know and be convicted on. First PRAY for wisdom, for understanding, for only the truth as it is known in our Savior to be given to us! Please, Holy Spirit guide us!

The Mark of the Beast.

We are going to take our study from the  book- Daniel and Revelation by Uriah Smith, written in 1897. And we are going to study GOD'S WORD hand in hand with this. We are going to go to history with this. We need the truth and ONLY the truth by the grace of our LORD.

*******

'The mark of the beast is enforced by the two-horned beast, either directly or through the image.

The penalty attached to a refusal to receive this mark is a forfeiture of all social privileges, a deprivation of the right to buy and sell.

The mark is the mark of the papal beast. Against this worship of the beast and his image, and the reception of his mark, the third angel's message of Rev. 14:9-12 is a most solemn and thrilling warning.'

Rev 14:9  And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,

Rev 14:10  The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:

Rev 14:11  And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.

Rev 14:12  Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

'This, then, is the issue, which, according to this prophecy, we are soon to be called upon to meet: namely, human organizations, controlled and inspired by the spirit of the dragon,

p 596 -- are to command men to do those acts which are in reality the worshiping of an apostate religious power and the receiving of his mark; and if they refuse to do this, they lose the rights of citizenship, and become outlaws in the land; and they must do that which constitutes the worship of the image of the beast, or forfeit their lives.

On the other hand, God sends forth a message a little before the fearful crisis is upon us, as we shall see under chapter 14:9-12, declaring that all who do any of these things "shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation." He who refuses to comply with these demands of earthly powers exposes himself to the severest penalties which human beings can inflict; and he who does comply, exposes himself to the most terrible threatening's of divine wrath to be found in the word of God.

THE QUESTION WHETHER THEY WILL OBEY GOD OR MAN IS TO BE DECIDED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE PRESENT AGE UNDER THE HEAVIEST OF PRESSURE, FROM EITHER SIDE, THAT HAS EVER BEEN BROUGHT TO BEAR UPON ANY GENERATION.

The worship of the beast and his image, and the reception of his mark, must be something that involves the greatest offense that can be committed against God, to call down so severe a denunciation of wrath against it.

This is a work, as has already been shown, which takes place in the LAST DAYS; and as God has given us in his word most abundant evidence to show when we are in the last days, that no one need be overtaken by the day of the Lord as by a thief, so, likewise, it must be that he has given us the means whereby we may determine what the receiving of the mark of the beast is, which be has so strongly condemned, that we may avoid the fearful penalty so sure to follow the commission of this act. God does not so trifle with human hopes and human destinies as to denounce a most fearful doom against a certain sin, and then place it out of our power to understand what that sin is, so that we have no means of guarding against it.

We therefore now call attention to the very important inquiry, What constitutes the mark of the beast?

The figure of a mark is borrowed from an ancient custom. Bishop Newton (Dissertations on the Prophecies, Vol. III, p. 241) says:

p 597 -- "It was customary among the ancients for servants to receive the mark of their master, and soldiers of their general, and those who were devoted to any particular deity, of the particular deity to whom they were devoted. These marks were usually impressed on their right hand or on their forehead, and consisted of some hieroglyphic character, or of the name expressed in vulgar letters, or of the name disguised in numerical letters, according to the fancy of the imposer."

Prideaux says that Ptolemy Philopater ordered all the Jews who applied to be enrolled as citizens of Alexandria to have the form of an ivy leaf (the badge of his god, Bacchus) impressed upon them with a hot iron, under pain of death. (Prideaux's Connection, Vol. II, p. 78.)

The word used for mark in this prophecy is Caragma (charagma), and is defined to mean, "a graving, sculpture; a mark cut in or stamped." It occurs nine times in the New

Testament, and with the single exception of Acts 17:29, refers every time to the mark of the beast. We are not, of course, to understand in this symbolic prophecy that a literal mark is intended; but the giving, of the literal mark, as practiced in ancient times, is used as a figure to illustrate certain acts that will be performed in the fulfilment of this prophecy. And from the literal mark as formerly employed, we learn something of its meaning as used in the prophecy; for between the symbol and the thing symbolized there must be some resemblance.

The mark, as literally used, signified that the person receiving it was the servant of, acknowledged the authority of, or professed allegiance to, the person whose mark he bore. So the mark of the beast, or of the papacy, must be some act or profession by which the authority of that power is acknowledged. What is it?

It would naturally be looked for in some of the special characteristics of the papal power. Daniel, describing that power under the symbol of a little horn, speaks of it as waging a special warfare against God, wearing out the saints of the Most High, and thinking to change times and laws. The prophet expressly specifies on this point: "He shall think to change times and laws." These laws must certainly be the

p 598 -- laws of the Most High. To apply it to human laws, and make the prophecy read, "And he shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change human laws," would be doing evident violence to the language of the prophet. But apply it to the laws of God, and let it read, And he shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and shall think to change the times and laws of the Most High," and all is consistent and forcible.

The Hebrew has the word (dath), law, and the Septuagint reads, nomoV (nomos), in the singular, "the law," which more directly suggests the law of God.

The papacy has been able to do more than merely "think" to change human laws. It has changed them at pleasure.

It has annulled the decrees of kings and emperors, and absolved subjects from allegiance to their rightful sovereigns. It has thrust its long arm into the affairs of nations, and brought rulers to its feet in the most abject humility.

But the prophet beholds greater acts of presumption than these. He sees it endeavor to do what it was not able to do, but could only think to do; he sees it attempt an act which no man, nor any combination of men, can ever accomplish; and that is, to change the law of the Most High. Bear this in mind while we look at the testimony of another sacred writer on this very point.'

*******

And we will pick up this study tomorrow by the grace of our God.  To put in too much at once is never good. We have a lot to study, a lot to comprehend. May the Savior open up our understanding as only He can through the promised Holy Spirit guiding us here and now.

Let God's truth prevail in our lives always!

My the Savior's grace and mercy, through His amazing love!

False Prophet - Three Unclean Spirits Like Frogs

From yesterday's study we encountered the False Prophet.


J.N. Andrews had this to day about the False Prophet-


'A further view of the two-horned beast may be obtained by comparing his history with that of the FALSE PROPHET.


The two-horned beast is represented as working miracles in the sight of the first beast. Rev. 13:14. The same is affirmed respecting the FALSE PROPHET. Chap. 19:20.


(((Rev 13:14  And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.


Rev 19:20  And the beast was taken, and with him the FALSE PROPHET that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. ))))


The nations of the earth are deceived by these miracles, and caused to worship the image of the first beast, and to receive his mark.


The same work is ascribed to the FALSE PROPHET.


Still further, we may say that the Bible gives us the origin of the two-horned beast, but does not under that name give us his final destiny. The origin of the FALSE PROPHET is not given under that name, but his destiny is clearly revealed. Rev. 19:20; 20:10.


(((Rev 20:10  And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the FALSE PROPHET are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. ))))


IDENTITY OF THE TWO HORNED BEAST


Inasmuch as their work is identical, and they act their part at the same time, we cannot doubt their identity. This is positive proof that the two-horned beast is, from the time of its rise, a power contemporary with the first beast, and not the first beast in another form.


What power has ever risen in the past history of the world that could answer the description of this lamb-dragon, or FALSE PROPHET?


If Satan has been permitted to make use of paganism, as an instrument of oppression and deception, and also of papacy, which is Christianity in a corrupt form, why may he not make use of Protestantism also, when it becomes corrupt, as, if possible, a more efficient means of deception than either of the former?


Has not the Protestant Church acted the part of the FALSE PROPHET most effectually in promising to the world a thousand years of peace and prosperity before the day of wrath?''


J.N. Andrews here spoke of the FALSE PROPHET being the Protestant Church.  Now let's read another's view on the FALSE PROPHET.


'THE BATTLE OF THE GREAT DAY OF GOD ALMIGHTY (WWN-Adventist Laymen's Foundation) -- Part 4 -- Three powers in opposition to God, His law, His sanctuary and His people are symbolized in the last half of the book of Revelation - the dragon in Chapter 12; - the beast in 13:1-9; - and the FALSE PROPHET in 13:11-17. In the hour of the battle of the great day of God Almighty, frog-like spirits proceed from EACH of these powers for the purpose of influencing a worldwide unity against God. (Rev. 16:13-14)


"There will be a universal bond of union, one great harmony, a confederacy of Satan's forces." (Ms. 24, 1891)


What then is the manifestation of evil as symbolized as "frogs" in this prophecy? This manifestation is declared to be "spirits of devils."


Of what this symbolic representation - frogs - could mean, I have meditated long. In the book of Revelation the symbolism used by God to represent the prince of evil is the dragon. It is stated clearly to be "that old serpent, called the Devil and Satan." (Rev. 12:9) And in Rev. 20:2 the statement is made that the angel "laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan." The connection is clear; the power operating under the symbolism of the dragon in his warfare against the "woman" and "her seed" is the same intelligency which used the medium of the serpent to deceive the first woman. But now in the battle of the great day of God Almighty, the representation of the work of the "spirits of devils" is changed to the symbolism of "frogs." God does not alter His prophetic symbols arbitrarily - He is saying something in this change! So I asked myself the questions - How do frogs catch their prey? What types of sounds do they produce? The answer to these questions led me to the conviction that here in prophetic symbolism is represented the modern Charismatic Renewal. The very wording of the prophecy demands that a COMMON spiritual force, possessing and thus UNIFYING the religious divisions of mankind, will work for the unification of the leadership of the whole world. The frog-like forms come forth from all three of the basic symbols of the last half of the book of Revelation - the dragon, the beast, and the FALSE PROPHET.


That which at one time was only a hallmark of traditional Pentecostalism has now entered the major bodies of Protestantism and the Roman Catholic Church. To illustrate the whole change in attitude that has taken place in the last decade, The Toronto Star (June 9, 1973) tells of the reaction to the charismatic movement in the Anglican Church of Canada. Tom Harpur, Star Religion Editor, wrote:      Holy horror is the only way to describe the reaction with which top Anglican officials here once greeted the news that some members, including several Metro clergy, were ''speaking in tongues.'' Now, the bishop himself, Rt. Rev. L. S. Garnsworthy, has begun a ''dialogue'' with those of his diocese involved in what has come to be known as a charismatic revival.


On the same page of "Religion in the Star" another article noted that the then Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Michael Ramsey, in addressing a massive ecumenical Congress in England, spoke enthusiastically of the neo-Pentecostal movement noting that, it was cutting across all denominational lines, and indicated he found in it "an encouraging sign" for the future of Christian unity. Harpur observed,


p 4 -- "Many call it 'the third force' in ADDITION to Protestantism and Catholicism." The prophecy of God's word tells us that the same spirits of devils that came out of the dragon, have also permeated the beast and the FALSE PROPHET, and come out of them also. The same dragon who gave his power and seat to the beast (Rev. 13:2) and who is speaking through the FALSE PROPHET (Rev. 13:11) now is transformed into an angel of light "working miracles" through these same religious bodies. (Rev. 16:14)


The Charismatic Renewal entered the Catholic Church in 1967, and has grown into such a force that it was recognized by the late Pope Paul VI. Following a mass in St. Peter's on May 19, 1975 conducted by Cardinal Suenens for the Annual Charismatic Conference which met in Rome instead of Notre Dame University for the Catholic Holy Year, the Pope entered the assembly and gave his greetings to the conferees. He closed his message with the words - "Glory to the Lord, hallelujah!" - and before leaving, embraced and kissed Cardinal Suenens. Suenens reacted by stating simply - "the Pope opened his arms and heart to the charismatic renewal." The day previous - Pentecost Sunday - at a pontifical mass presided over by Pope Paul VI in St. Peter's "the sound of tongues and charismatic singing filled the massive nave of the ancient mother church of Roman Catholicism." (Christianity Today, June 6, 1975, pp. 45-46)


In July, 1977, an interdenominational conference on Charismatic Renewal was held in Kansas City, bringing together Catholics, Lutherans, Baptists, Episcopalians, Mennonites, Presbyterians, Methodists, and Messianic Jews. President Carter acknowledged this conference as a "Powerful force" in American life, and one that has led to a "new level of Christian unity" in this country. The Rev. Larry Christenson, chairman of the Lutheran Charismatic Renewal Services, told one general session of the conference that Catholics and Protestants are all a part of the "special army of God" and that the Charismatic Renewal is a "network of outposts strategically placed throughout the land ... that the Lord can count on in the day of battle." (RNS, Week in Religion, Aug. 12, 1977)


There can be no doubt as to the objectives that those who are involved in the Charismatic Renewal have in mind. They consider it "the most tremendous outpourings of the Spirit ever known in the history of the church." Catholic-Protestant sponsors of a rally of Charismatic Christians called "Jesus 78" in their joint statement - noting there is still substantial disagreement and division among themselves - declared: "Since we are experiencing this grace in such abundance today, since the Holy Spirit has already done so much among us to make us one, it is easy to believe that He will continue to move powerfully among us and our churches to make us fully one in faith." (RNS. March 3, 1978, p. 3)


This is the same theme of the Full Gospel Business Men's Fellowship International (FGBMFI). Founded in 1952 by Demos Shakarian, a former California dairy farmer, it has grown to 1,400 local chapters, attracting 500,000 persons to weekly and monthly meetings in 43 countries. This fellowship does not attempt to become a church, but supports all churches. Reporting the FGBMFI's Rome-European Conference in 1974 in their official magazine - Voice (March, 1975) - the remarks of Fred Ladenius, Press Secretary to the late Paul VI, were featured.  *   Before the Rome conferees, Ladenius declared - "There is only one church." Commenting on the charismatic experience, he said:


p 5 -- As people marvelled on the Day of Pentecost, so they marvel today. "Here is his fellow speaking in tongues, but he does not belong to a 'Pentecostal' church." But today even the Methodists speak in tongues. How can this be possible? Catholic priests, sisters and laymen are speaking tongues. How can this be possible? "God is pulling some grave errors," the doubters say. But I want you to know that He is not the God of 1925 but of 1974! He is indeed manifesting Himself through ''all flesh.'' (Voice, p. 6)


And to what are they looking? Let Ladenius again comment:      We ask God's forgiveness. Catholics and Protestants alike have committed grave errors. But all that is past. Now let us give Him our confidence and our trust. Let us put everything in His hands and "look for Him as our soon coming King. (Ibid.)


But who will come as "King" to fulfill the expectations of these involved in the Charismatic Renewal? We have been told:      Fallen angels upon earth form confederations with evil men. In this age antichrist will appear as the true Christ, and then the law of God will be fully made void in the nations of our world. Rebellion against God's holy law will be fully ripe. But the true leader of all this rebellion is Satan clothed as an angel of Iight. Men will be deceived and will exalt him to the place of God, and deify him. But Omnipotence will interpose, and to the apostate churches that unite in the exaltation of Satan, the sentence will go forth, "Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her." (TM, p. 62)


Putting it all together, we see that the objective of Satan is to "sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north." (Isa. 14:13) This "mount of the congregation" - Har Mo'ed in the Hebrew; Har-Magedon in the Greek - is none other than Jerusalem, the city of prophecy and conflict. Here in the "last remnant of time" (GC, p. 561) that fallen angel will seek to have himself enthroned on what will be hailed as the "throne of his father, David." But when all the world thus bows led on by the "apostate churches" Omnipotence will intervene, and then will begin the "war of the great day of God Almighty," in which Babylon the great will come "in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath." (Rev. 16:19) And in the book of Revelation, a supreme question is asked - "Who shall be able to stand?" (Rev. 6:17) And the answer is found in Rev. 14:1 - "And I looked, and lo, a Lamb stood on Mt. Zion, and with Him an hundred and forty-four thousand, having His Father's name written in their foreheads." (See Rev.- 3:12 for application.)


*******Is the Charismatic Movement relevant today in 2014?  Read the following article from Christianity Today-

'OCT 18, 2013


Understanding the Charismatic Movement


Over 300 million people in the world are considered charismatic Christians. | Ed Stetzer


ANGLICAN11 / FLICKR


A 2011 Pew Forum study showed that almost 305,000,000 people worldwide, or 14 percent of the world's self-identified Christian population, is part of the charismatic movement.That's 305 million people, and their impact on Christianity and God's global mission has been POWERFUL and FAR-REACHING. Needless to say, and as with any movement, that includes both good and bad. Yet, to understand a movement's impact, we often need to understand it better-- including its history.


To understand the beginnings and growth of the Charismatic Renewal Movement, you need to know Dennis Bennett. Interestingly, the story of the charismatic renewal begins less than twenty miles from the Azusa Street Mission where Pentecostalism was birthed almost sixty years before that. (See my explanation of continualism here.)


Most consider Van Nuys, CA as the starting place of a distinct movement that would come to be called the charismatic movement.


Birth of the Charismatic Renewal Movement


Dennis Bennett had been considering spiritual growth with a small group of Saint Mark's Episcopal Church in Van Nuys, CA. Some were unsure of the direction that Bennett was leading. Tensions grew volatile in his large church in Van Nuys, CA, when he declared to the congregation on Easter Sunday of 1960 that he had received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.The news was not well received by all and Bennett later resigned. Both Time and Newsweek ran articles on Bennett and the church later that year, and the story appeared on local and national television. In a sense, Pentecostalism was entering the mainline (the Episcopal Church, no less) and this was news. This began the mainsteaming of continualist practices (like speaking in tounges, praying for healing, etc.) that were primarily found in Pentecostal churches that, up until now, were often on the fringe of Protestantism.


In the wake of Bennett's resignation, the Episcopal Bishop in Seattle assigned Bennett to the floundering St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Seattle. The church had ongoing growth and national influence—a charismatic training ground of sorts. In 1973, Dennis Bennett helped start Episcopal Renewal Ministries, soon renamed Acts 29, specifically founded to promote the charismatic renewal movement.


Spreading of Charismatic Renewal


The emphasis on the Baptism (or filling) of the Holy Spirit and charismatic gifts began to spread quickly through mainline denominations throughout the 1960s and 70s. Though much of the belief and practice of the Charismatic Movement came directly from the Pentecostals who had been around for nearly sixty years, the mainline churches who embraced such belief avoided the "Pentecostal" label for both cultural and theological reasons.


Instead, these churches adopted the descriptor "charismatic," as described by Harald Bredesen, a Lutheran minister who was part of the movement. The label came from the Greek word charismata, which means "a gift of grace," and refers to the particular gifts they emphasized.


Charismatic renewal spread into other mainline traditions, which I do not have time to address here, but that also included a charismatic movement within the Roman Catholic Church. However, let me mention the scope and impact of the movement by tracing one part in one tradition.


Case Study: Anglicans in Africa


Bennett wrote the book Nine O'Clock In the Morning in 1970, and the impact of that movement spread around the world. Africa's Anglicans are one of the groups deeply influenced by the charismatic movement.


There are certainly many theologically aberrant groups in Africa (and around the world), but often African Anglicans are respected for their passion for liturgy, the word, and the spirit. Often, they are the ones speaking into the heterodox practices in much of what is called the charismatic movement in Africa and, ironically, some African Anglicans helped birth the new Anglican province launch here in the United States.


Anglicanism in Africa existed prior to Bennett and functioned like most other places. But the charismatic renewal created a major global shift in Africa and elsewhere. And, ironically, that renewal would eventually circle back to help bolster evangelical Anglicans in the Episcopal Church decades after Dennis Bennett.


From Mainline to Mainstream.


The Pentecostal movement in the early 1900's grew to about 50 million by 1950 and then it exploded with the Charismatic renewal coming into the mainline traditions in the 60's and 70's. The growth in the time affected Anglicans, Lutherans, Orthodox, Reformed, and even Roman Catholics (see my brief reference to charismatic Catholics here).


Movements were born in each of those denominations. Episcopalians had "Faith Alive" and "Acts 29" (not the church planting network, but the Episcopal group), the Southern Baptists had the "Fullness Movement," Lutherans had ARC, and more. Some denominations adopted guidelines (like the Methodists), but most of those movements declined as mainline denominations moved leftward theologically. One notable exception would again be the Anglicans, with the new Archbishop of Canterbury (Justin Welby) coming from a charismatic Anglican tradition.


The charismatics tended to be the evangelicals and as the mainline denominations became more progressive theologically, the charismatics began to be increasingly uncomfortable. Many left, though not all. (For example, much of the church planting in the Reformed Church in America would be in the charismatic stream.)


From Charismatic Renewal to Independent Charismatics


Many charismatics began to leave mainline denominations (particularly in the United States and Canada) and independent charismatic churches began to arise (and, that led to a mix of results). In the rest of the world, most of the charismatics were not in mainline denominations, but part of the sudden and rapid growth of evangelicalism in the Two Thirds World. Today, most charismatics are not in mainline denominations, though that is where it started and where such practices were mainstreamed.


With the movement away from mainline denominations and the explosion of charismatic churches around the world, the center of the movement moved from renewal to independent churches (and from the United States to the Global South). These churches were often no longer tied to the theological traditions that birthed and then "contained" them. As such, the movement began to morph in many directions. Today, you can find charismatics of many stripes and beliefs-- making the movement hard to define and easy to caricature.


The charismatic movement-- mainline renewal and independent charismatic-- is now an established part of the than 500,000,000 Christians worldwide who are part of these continualist traditions (Pentecostal, charismatic, and Third Wave). THE MOVEMENT CONTINUES TO GROW RAPIDLY WITH NO SIGN THAT THE GROWTH IS SLOWING.


Where from Here?


I'm thankful that many people heard the gospel in mainline churches that were reenergized by the charismatic movement. As that movement spilled out of the mainline churches, new churches were formed and I'm thankful for faithful independent charismatic churches that have been birthed around the world. I have many friends who came to Christ in such churches and, though I am not a charismatic, I am thankful for many who are.


Yet, there are also challenges, as we often see in many rapidly growing movements (consider the Second Great Awakening as I mentioned in an earlier article). Regrettably, people often think of excesses now when they think about charismatics, though that is not the focus of so many faithful charismatics. Regardless, I agree with-- and pray that more will hear and heed-- the words of Lee Grady who explained (in Charisma Magazine), "I t's (Past) Time for a Charismatic Reformation."


So, I'm both thankful for the good and prayerful for the future of my charismatic friends. I hope you will be (both) as well.'



****My thoughts-


Is the Charismatic movement still alive? Yes, very much so, and those who think differently think it because we know the Devil is deceptive and he would put to rest suspicions, he will soothe over worries, he would have a calm before a storm. How like him to have something seemingly die away only to revive it to suit his purposes in a way it couldn't have if it hadn't started to seemingly wane in the mainstream. Just when you thought something was done and gone, having it flare up to life in a magnificent display of power would truly suit Satan's purposes of deception.  Those who scoffed at the movement would be astounded! Those who rested on the fence not knowing what was what, would finally choose their side. The doubters would fall over themselves in an effort to confirm their new found belief all through lying signs and wonders of which Satan will perform to perfection so that NONE but the very elect will be able to see through. The rest of the world will be blinded, completely blinded and there will be no seeing through the dark covering of deception. There will be no reasoning with those caught under the devil's cloak so artful contrived to capture and keep people who don't have their hearts truly in Christ and His truth.  Rev. 14: 12 12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.


No one will be able to point out anything to raise doubts because the belief will be that strong. In fact those among the few unbelievers will be the ones who will be overwhelmed with those trying to convert them to the real truth. The accusations will be- how can you not believe when you can see the miracles for yourself!


James 2:19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.


The devil believes, the devil's followers believe.  The devils will stand up and shout they believe and somehow many will accept that their confession means they aren't really devils at all.


2 Thess. 2:9 9Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders


Whose coming is after the working of Satan--- who? SATAN! And he will come with what? ALL power and signs and lying wonders.


Is it no wonder that the true manifestation of God's powers will be scarce in the end times?  The magnificent display of God's true wonders was wrought by Jesus and His Apostles, and from then on slowly waning, except for the rare occurrence. That need for display was replaced by the growing of faith that would be needed by God's people. We've no doubt today that Jesus existed, none. No doubt that historical witnesses testified to the fact he died and rose again- historical witnesses not just Biblical witnesses. We have the intellect today that gives us this understanding and there is no need for miracles to give us the truth of the ultimate miracle wrought in Christ.


As with any amazing and marvelous wonder, Satan likes to use it for his benefit. He will take what was laid down as groundwork and use it to suit his needs and how wonderfully the working of miracles, the speaking in tongues, the seeming out pouring of the Holy Spirit in deeds truly does suit him. Is it any wonder that Satan will use in lying the very thing to win over millions and millions, that Jesus used in truth? What better way to deceive than to come close to the truth and let the vanity and pride of mankind takeover from there.


Does all this mean that there are no true miracles of God in the last days? I don't think so. But I do believe that the miracles that God performs will be subtle and such that they won't be confused with the grand standing show that Satan is about to put on for the world.


May God keep us all safe in Him. May our hearts and minds be open to Him and Him only and His truths. May we be among those who are keeping the commandments of God and having the testimony of Jesus. By His mercy and grace, in His love.


Amen.'


The above note of mine was written in 2009, and it is still applicable today just as finding that article from 2013 is applicable for our current day. Before that I found current 2009 articles to go with the topic, but today we needed something up to date and it wasn't hard to find.


The FALSE PROPHET is one of Satan's tools to use, and truthfully the Charismatic Movement from start to current times fits that perfectly. It came up here in the United States and spread rapidly all it's lies. Protestantism isn't a guarantee to truth, not when it holds fast to so many lies enacted by the Beast-the Papacy and kept as their Protestant truth. The majority of Protestant religions just slipped on a facade of protesting while refusing to divest themselves of ALL the lies perpetuated by the Papacy. In one breath they say they would NEVER teach and worship as the Papacy does, and yet in the next breath they are clinging to the lies that same Papacy has tricked them into believing are truth.  The frogs coming out of the mouth of that false prophet, the beast, and the dragon truly are the that unifying force affecting all religions, building on the lies and deceiving millions into believing they are truth.

So when we read of the False Prophet in J.N. Andrews Three Messages of Revelation 14, written in 1877, we can know that yes, it is Protestantism that has refused the truth.

When we discuss the beast as we are in the messages of the three angels-
 
Rev 14:9  And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, Rev 14:10  The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb


We must comprehend that intertwined in that message of the beast is the dragon and the false prophet.  All of them working together to bring destruction to ALL who will be deceived by them.

Rev 16:13  And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.

Rev_19:20  And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.

Rev_20:10  And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

By the grace of our God may we NOT be among those deceived.

 God has a truth for all who seek truth, and God allows deception for those who prefer deception.  The heart will decide in every person and every person is given a chance to decide. God or self. Please, Savior, help us to choose You over ourselves.


All by YOUR LOVE!