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 13:15 And he had power to give life unto the image
of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as
many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
Rev 13:16 And he causeth all, both small and great,
rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in
their foreheads:
Rev 13:17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he
that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
Rev 13:18 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.
(Daniel and
Revelation by Uriah Smith - 1897) Excerpts--
11. An
Image to the Beast. - Closely associated with this working of miracles is the
erection of an image to the beast. The prophet thus connects the two in verse
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."
The deception
accomplished by the working of the miracles prepares the way for compliance
with this demand for the formation of an image to the beast.
To understand what
would be an image of the papacy, we must first gain some definite idea of what
constitutes the papacy itself.
The full development of the beast, or the
establishment of papal supremacy, dates from the famous letter of Justinian,
which was made effective in A. D. 538, constituting the pope the head of the
church and the corrector of heretics. The papacy was a church clothed with
civil power, - an ecclesiastical body having authority to punish all dissenters
with confiscation of goods, imprisonment, torture, and death.
What would be an
image of the papacy? - Another ecclesiastical establishment clothed with
similar power. How could such an image be formed in the United States? Let the
Protestant churches be clothed with power to define and punish heresy, to
enforce their dogmas under the pains and penalties of the civil law, and should
we not have an exact representation of the papacy during the days of its
supremacy?
It may be objected
that whereas the papal church was comparatively a unit, and hence could act in
harmony in all its departments in enforcing its dogmas, the Protestant church
is so divided as to be unable to agree in regard to what doctrines shall be made
imperative on the people. The answer is, There are certain points which they
hold in common, and which are
p 588 -- sufficient
to form a basis of co-operation. Chief among these may be mentioned the
doctrine of the conscious state of the dead and the immortality of the soul,
which is both the foundation and superstructure of Spiritualism; and also the
doctrine that the first day of the week is the Christian Sabbath.
Let, now, an
ecclesiastical organization be formed by these churches; let the government
legalize such organization, and give it power (a power which it will not have
till the government does grant it) to enforce upon the people the dogmas which
the different denominations can all adopt as the basis of union, and what do we
have? - Just what the prophecy represents, - an image to the papal beast,
endowed with life by the two-horned beast, to speak and act with power.
And behold, just
such an organization as this, a colossal union of the leading churches of this
country, constituting the greatest and most powerful federation ever formed in
the history of this nation, has within the last few years come into existence. The
mere formation of such a confederacy, apart from any question of what is to
come from it, is one of the greatest events of modern times; and indeed is
hailed by its advocates as the greatest religious movement since the
Reformation. And this great federation, it is to be noted, has been formed for
the express purpose of controlling the politics and the legislation of the
country, in the interests, as they view it, of Christianity. By such means they
expect to bring the nation to Christ, and by the extension of the plan to other
nations, usher in the kingdom of Christ on earth. That is what they say.
WEBMASTER'S NOTE:
The printing of this book is 1897(1907), and it speaks of just the beginning of
what we see today in the organization of the World Counsel of Churches and it's
sub-organizations such as the National Counsel of Churches, and ministerial alliances,
etc.
Let us note briefly
the leading facts pertaining to the formation and present working of this
mighty federation.
In the year 1900, a
meeting of Protestant ministers was held in New York City, at which was
organized the "National Federation of Churches." This was followed by
the formation of state and local federations throughout the country.
Two years later, at
a meeting of the organization in Washington, D. C., a committee of
correspondence was chosen, which sent to all the leading Protestant churches in
the United States, an address on "The Co-operative Relationship of the
Churches
p 589 -- of Jesus
Christ, in Christian Work." A call was made for "the concentration of
effort for the removal of social evils, the cleansing of the centers of vice
and corruption, and the promotion of temperance, Sabbath observance, and general
morality."
By November, 1905,
the plan of general federation was sufficiently advanced for the holding of the
first general convention in Carnegie Hall, New York City, at which were present
several hundred delegates representing all the leading Protestant churches in
the United States. Denominations with a membership of 500,000 or more were
allowed fifty delegates at the conference, while those with less than 100,000
membership were allowed five delegates each. In a speech of welcome on behalf
of the churches of Greater New York, Dr. R. S. MacArthur said that the
conference meant more to America and to the world than any other that had ever
been held.
At another meeting,
when the report on federation was under consideration, one speaker (Dr. Dickey)
said: "I trust that one of the practical result of this conference will be
the organization of a force that law-breakers and law-makers will respect and
heed, when great questions of morals are involved. Our gospel is the fulfilment
of the law. It is our province, in the name of our Supreme King, and seeking
the good of mankind, to ask rulers to respect the church."
And at the final
meeting of the conference, Bishop Hendrix, of the Methodist Episcopal Church,
spoke of the nation as being the last product of the church, and of Christ as
being the world's first citizen. "Christ," said the bishop, "is
not a Saviour from the world, implying separation therefrom, but the Saviour of
the world; and the kingdom of God is to come by the quiet processes of civic
righteousness."
The close of this
convention saw the federation fully formed, and ready to begin its activities
in the affairs of church and state. It embraced, according to official
statements, thirty denominations, and eighteen million church communicants,
representing a general following of fifty millions of people. The scope of its
intended operations may be seen from the following official statement, which we
quote from the Plan of Federation: -
p 590 --
(picture omitted)
p 591 -- "4.
To secure a large combined influence for the churches of Christ,
in all matters affecting the moral and social condition of the people, so as to
promote the application of the law of Chiist in every relation of human life."
The power of this
church federation therefore will be felt "in all matters affecting the
moral and social condition of the people," and "in every relation of
human life;" which is to say that it will be felt in everything, and
everywhere, throughout the nation.
In December, 1908,
the first session of the federation, which took the name, "Federal Council
of the Churches of Christ in America," was held in Philadelphia. It gave
attention to such ics as Week-day Instruction in Religion, Co-operation in Foreign
Missions, State Federations, Local Federations, The Church and the Immigrant,
The Church and Modern Industry, Temperance, Sunday Observance, Family Life, and
International Relations. When the ic of Sunday Observance was reached, an
unpremeditated incident occurred which drew aside the veil of outward Christian
fellowship, and disclosed a different spirit dwelling in the inner sanctuary of
the movement, and proved that the theory of federal unity was too weak to bear
the strain of practice. A committee appointed to bring resolutions on Sunday
observance before the council, presented the following: -
"1.
It is the sense of the council that a new and stronger emphasis should
be given in the pulpit, the Sunday-school, and the home to the Scriptural
observance of the first day of the week as the sacred day, the home day, the
rest day for every man, woman, and child.
"2.
That all encroachments upon the claims and sanctities of the Lord's day
should be stoutly resisted through the press, the Lord's day associations and
alliances, and by such legislation as may be secured to protect and preserve
this bulwark of our American Christianity.
"3. That
we rejoice in the prospect of unity of action among the various organizations
striving in America for the preservation of the Lord's day as a day for rest
and worship."
Evidently the
Seventh-day Baptists, who had joined the
p 592 -- federation,
could not well be expected to subscribe to such a declaration as this. An
effort was accordingly made to preserve the fundamental idea of Christian unity
and harmony in the council, by the following resolution which was offered for adoption.
"Resolved,
That in these resolutions there is no intention to interfere with
those brethren represented with ourselves in this council, who conscientiously
observe the seventh day of the week instead of the first day as the day of rest
and worship."
No sooner was the
reading of this resolution finished than a Methodist bishop (Bishop Neely) was
on his feet. "The people referred to by this resolution," he said,
"do not believe in the Lord's day, but in some other day. These
resolutions emphasize the Lord's day. We must stand for the Lord's day and not
weaken what we say."
Rev. Wayland Hoyt
made an earnest plea in support of the resolution, reminding the delegates that
the Seventh-day Baptists were members of the council in full standing, and that
the spirit of brotherhood required that their convictions should be respected.
One of the Seventh-day Baptist delegates, Rev. A. E. Main, dean of Alfred
Theological Seminary, N. Y., obtained the floor and said: -
"We know that
we represent the smallest body in this council, and on that account we
recognize with gratitude your recognition of us, and your invitation to unite
with you, as being evangelical and Christian. We have joined heartily with you
in the work of this federation; and shall it be that in this city of brotherly
love, where a Seventh-day Baptist presided at a session of the Continental
Congress, - shall it be that this council composed of professed brethren shall
favor legislation adverse to us, and refuse to say that we shall be free when
we stand shoulder to shoulder with you in this movement?"
But these pleas for
religious freedom in the federation were without result. The sentiment of the
council was strongly in opposition to the resolution. And in the speeches made
against it, pointed reference was made to observers of the seventh-day Sabbath
as being a class of people to whose attitude the council
p 593 -- should not
give even the semblance of endorsement. The resolution was lost by a decisive
vote.
This incident,
coming unexpectedly into the proceedings of the conference, clearly revealed
the fact that this great federation of churches stands ready to coerce the
religious minority in matters of religious teaching and practice. And this is
so not because of any purpose or desire on the part of its members to be
intolerant toward others, but because intolerance is inherent in the very
nature of the movement they have inaugurated. To obtain power was the primary
idea of federation; and the power thus obtained, - the power of numbers, - is
not exercised to persuade, but to coerce. There is another power quite
independent of numbers, - the power of godliness, - which convinces people of
the truth, and draws people together into unity on the platform of the truth.
But it is not such power that the churches are seeking through federation. What
they have secured is the power of a great religious combine, a church trust;
and it is the nature of a trust to put down everything that stands in its
pathway.
In this federation,
the churches do not pretend to be bound together in "the unity of the
Sprit," but only to be federated together, and the spirit of such union is
quite another spirit than that divinely designated, the "Spirit of truth."
The Federal Council laid no emphasis upon the value of truth; it could not do
so when the very ground upon which it stood was that of the setting aside of
the differences of religious belief among its members, for the sake of
obtaining the worldly power of their combined numbers.
The avowed purpose
of the federation, officially stated, was to express "the fellowship and
Catholic unity of the Christian church." Yet the intolerant spirit within
it could not be concealed, but ruled the council in opposition to its professed
spirit of fellowship and unity. And when such is the attitude of this great
religious trust toward those who stand with it and work for its advancement, it
can easily be understood how tolerant it will be toward the religious minority
outside of it.
And this great
religious trust purposes to exercise a complete religious monopoly throughout
the entire country.
p 594 -- "The
time has come," said a speaker who voiced the sentiment of the conference,
"when the churches may and must know every individual in the entire
community as accurately as they know their own membership.... It thus becomes
possible, as in two states already, to announce the watch word, 'Some church
responsible for each square mile.' ... The policy of the federation should be
to emphasize the 'responsibility districts' which it establishes. When these
cover the state, and the churches so appreciate their opportunity and
responsibility, that each church will know the position of every voter on moral
issues, and tirelessly work to place every one upon the right side, moral
reforms will come swiftly and permanently."
In answer to the
question, then, whether anything like an "image" to the papal beast
can be set up in this country, we have before us a gigantic ecclesiastical
organization of Protestants, with power to bend the government to its will;
intolerant of its own members when the question of Sunday sacredness is
concerned; by resolution declaring its purpose to exalt the first-day sabbath
both by teaching and legislation, and by vote refusing to respect the
"convictions, rights, and privileges of those ... who religiously and
conscientiously observe the seventh day instead of the first day of the
week;" expressly claiming to be a federation of all Christian churches,
and therefore recognizing no church outside of it as Christian; and purposing
to monopolize religious work in every square mile of American territory. Is not
such an organization prepared to deal with anybody of people outside its ranks
in very much the same way as the papacy dealt with dissenters and heretics in
the days of its power?
At the first annual
meeting of the executive committee of the federation, held in December, 1909,
at Louisville, Ky., the intolerant spirit of the organization again appeared in
a speech by the president, Bishop Hendrix of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in
which he spoke of the smaller denominations as "fragments," and said
that if they ever had any real mission they had served their purpose and should
now be merged into the larger bodies. "In a few years," he said,
"all religious
p 595 -- work done
by Protestants in the United States, ought to be carried on by not more than
eight or ten of the larger denominations."
*******
Today more than ever
before it would seem as if there is NO way the government would EVER enforce
any religious laws upon us, such as the Papacy (the Beast) has done. The
Papacy- a religious/political organization.
None would dare say the United States government is a
religious/political organization. In the
last several years the government seems to be going to great lengths to enforce
more and more separation between church and state. So how do we equate this truth with the
prophecy we read?
Personally, I have
witnessed many people growing more and more disgruntled with the separation of
church and state. Right now we are going through the Christmas season which has
many traditions and I see a lot of facebook posts about putting Christ BACK into
Christmas. People refusing to say happy holidays, insisting upon saying
Merry Christmas. So what the government is doing and what the
PEOPLE are desiring seem to be at odds in many ways.
I tell my Bible
Study group that I personally believe that all the United States needs is some
major, extremely major, catastrophe- natural or not- and people will want their
government to bring God back into it in a HUGE way. We witnessed it during the tragedy of
9/11/01- many were wanting God involved back then, and if we saw that then, the
reality is we could see it again on a much grander scale and that will fulfil
the prophetic truths. Only time will
unfold it all. We do know that the very end events are going to be rapid ones
and those alive as prophecy is unfolding will have to have their eyes opened to
truth to comprehend what is taking place. There will be NO looking back to see
where it unfolded.
May God help us to
see, to comprehend all that we need to comprehend as prophecy unfolds.
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