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.'

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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.

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'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.'

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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!

Two Horned Beast - False Prophet (Prophecy)

Continuing with our very deep study of the 'Three Messages of Revelation 14'.  May God bless us with His truth! May we buy of Him eye salve so we may see!  Please Lord, bless us with understanding, bless us with YOU found in YOUR word of truth!

*******

Three Messages of Revelation 14 - Work of the Two Horned Beast - by J.N.Andrews

CHAPTER VII

Influence of this Power upon the Nations
Its Deceptive Character
Identity of the Two-horned Beast with the False Prophet
The Dragon Voice of the Beast Creates an Image
His Mark
The Number of his Name
The Worship of the Beast
The Final Contest.

NO form of power ever arose in any past age combining the remarkable features which appear in our own government.

It is of itself a wonder, a system of government which has not its like elsewhere. What is needed throughout the world to relieve its inhabitants of their oppression, but that Republicanism should remodel all their civil governments?

INFLUENCE OF THIS POWER UPON THE NATIONS

The leaven of its principles has deeply diffused itself throughout the nations of the earth. In proof of this, witness the revolutions of 1848, which shook nearly all the thrones of Europe. And what is so well calculated to develop and maintain religious freedom as Protestantism?
With the diffusion of these principles, how many are now confidently expecting a long period of prosperity and triumph for the church, - a period of emancipation to the poor enslaved nations of the earth, - the ushering in of the period when the nations shall learn war no more, and a universal spiritual kingdom shall be set up and fill the whole earth (Micah 4:1-5); and those wonders which we have briefly noticed promise to mankind a better revelation than the Scriptures of truth afford us?

The people of God indeed are looking forward to the time when the Lamb, who is King of kings and Lord of lords, shall reign in person over the whole earth. But with the mass this view has given place to the more congenial idea of a spiritual reign, and of temporal prosperity and triumph.

This view holds out to men the prospect of peace and safety (1 Thess. 5),

(((1Th 5:3  For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them…))))

 notwithstanding the evidence has been spread out before them that the hour of God's Judgment has come, and that no better state of things can ever exist till the curse shall be removed from the earth.

The warning respecting the coming storm of wrath has been most faithfully given; but by the multitude it has been REJECTED, thus leaving them to the deceptions that are already coming upon the earth.

They dream that the earth, with all its progress and all its improvements, is far too lovely and excellent for God to destroy. Peace and safety is the delusive dream in which men indulge while the wrath of God hangs over them.

We regard the two-horned beast, then, as the symbol of a civil and religious power, differing in many respects from those which have preceded it. It is in appearance the mildest form of power that ever existed; but it is, after having deceived the world with its wonders, to exhibit all the tyranny of the first beast.

If the right of private judgment be allowed by the Protestant Church, why does she expel men from her communion for no greater crime than that of attempting to obey God in something wherein his word may not be in accordance with her creed? Read Charles Beecher's work, "The Bible a Sufficient Creed. " Why are men, for no other crime than looking for Jesus Christ, expelled from the churches of those who profess to love his appearing?

ITS DECEPTIVE CHARACTER

To these and many other questions of a similar character, we can only answer, that the lamb is such only in pretension; he is dragon in character. His ostensible appearance is that of a lamb; BUT THE POWER WHICH HE EXERCISES IS THAT OF A DRAGON. The true kingdom of the Lamb, the King of kings, is not set up on the earth until the destruction of all the wicked powers that now bear rule. Then the Jubilee will end the bondage of the saints. God speed the right!

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?

(((Interjecting here-   We must remember the time and place of things as we read them and this is also true in the case of the 'False Prophet'. I'm not going to go into a detailed explanation at this very moment, but further along in this study I'm sure I will. The 'false prophet' in 1877 could very well have been considered exactly what is being portrayed here. But because the church had to remain 'many more years' here for her backsliding is very obvious, and as that happened the course of all history was altered as well. The church did NOT repent and became a 'Babylon' in it's own right and this 'false prophet' took on more exact characteristics and this will be explained later- by the grace of God.))))

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?

She has prophesied this out of her own heart, for God has ever spoken the reverse. 2 Tim. 3; Dan. 7; Matt. 13; 2 Thess. 2.

(((2Ti 3:1  This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2Ti 3:2  For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
2Ti 3:3  Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
2Ti 3:4  Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
2Ti 3:5  Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
2Ti 3:6  For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,
2Ti 3:7  Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
2Ti 3:8  Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.
2Ti 3:9  But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was.
2Ti 3:10  But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience,
2Ti 3:11  Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me.
2Ti 3:12  Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
2Ti 3:13  But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.
2Ti 3:14  But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;
2Ti 3:15  And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
2Ti 3:16  All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
2Ti 3:17  That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

Dan 7:1  In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed: then he wrote the dream, and told the sum of the matters.
Dan 7:2  Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea.
Dan 7:3  And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another.
Dan 7:4  The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it.
Dan 7:5  And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh.
Dan 7:6  After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it.
Dan 7:7  After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.
Dan 7:8  I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.
Dan 7:9  I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.
Dan 7:10  A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.
Dan 7:11  I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame.
Dan 7:12  As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time.
Dan 7:13  I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.
Dan 7:14  And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.
Dan 7:15  I Daniel was grieved in my spirit in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head troubled me.
Dan 7:16  I came near unto one of them that stood by, and asked him the truth of all this. So he told me, and made me know the interpretation of the things.
Dan 7:17  These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth.
Dan 7:18  But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever.
Dan 7:19  Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and his nails of brass; which devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet;
Dan 7:20  And of the ten horns that were in his head, and of the other which came up, and before whom three fell; even of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows.
Dan 7:21  I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them;
Dan 7:22  Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.
Dan 7:23  Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.
Dan 7:24  And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.
Dan 7:25  And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.
Dan 7:26  But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end.
Dan 7:27  And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.
Dan 7:28  Hitherto is the end of the matter. As for me Daniel, my cogitations much troubled me, and my countenance changed in me: but I kept the matter in my heart.

2Th 2:1  Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,
2Th 2:2  That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
2Th 2:5  Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
2Th 2:6  And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
2Th 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
2Th 2:9  Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
2Th 2:10  And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
2Th 2:11  And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
2Th 2:12  That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
2Th 2:13  But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:
2Th 2:14  Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2Th 2:15  Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.
2Th 2:16  Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace,
2Th 2:17  Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work. ))))

The Protestant Churches as a body now proclaim this doctrine as expressing the great object for which they labor, - temporal prosperity and triumph in a world that has ever rejected Christ.

Mohammedanism is not this false prophet; for it is introduced in the prophecy under the symbol of locusts, and its power departed with the hour, day, month, and year of the second woe. Rev. 9.

But the two-horned beast, or false prophet, acts as an accomplice of the papacy in Satan's great work of final deception, and unites in the great conflict against the King of kings. Rev. 19.

THE DRAGON VOICE OF THE BEAST CREATES AN IMAGE

The work of deception prepares the way for the dragon voice of the beast. He says "to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast which had a wound by a sword, and did live. "

And thus it would seem that the history of this symbol is in part, at least, twice presented, each time ending with its oppressive acts, first, with its power represented by horns like a lamb, and subsequently exercising all the dragonic power of the first beast; and, secondly, as a power working miracles to deceive the dwellers upon the earth; and when this deception is accomplished, it is to cause them to unite in making an image that should have power to put every one to death who would not worship it.

In noticing the prophetic history of the first beast, we called attention to the fact that the prediction respecting the time when all that dwell upon the earth whose names are not written in the book of life shall worship the beast, has NEVER yet met its fulfillment; and we would here express the conviction that this prophecy relates to the time when the two-horned beast is to speak as a dragon, and to exercise all the power of the first beast. In that hour of strong temptation, we may expect to see all the dwellers upon the earth united in the worship of the beast.

The beast was the papacy clothed with power to put to death the saints of God. Rev. 13:5-8; Dan. 7:23-26. An image to the beast, then, must be another ECCLESIATICAL BODY CLOTHED WITH POWER AND AUTHORITY TO PUT THE SAINTS TO DEATH.  This can refer to nothing else but the corrupt and fallen Protestant Church.

If it be asked whence the beast receives this power, we can only answer that, by permission of God, the dragon, that old serpent, called the Devil and Satan, is without doubt the very being who communicates this power to the beast.

The kingdoms of the world are claimed by him, and the right to give them to whom he will. Luke 4:5, 6.

Should it be objected that the world is too much enlightened to submit to such deception, or to unite in such a work of persecution, we answer that the word of God gives us this prophecy in clear language; and it is with reference to this scene of danger that the third angel utters his solemn warning.

Look at the Jewish Church, and mark how soon after they had rejected the Messiah at his first coming, they put him to a cruel death, and also slew many of his apostles and saints. They said, indeed (Matt. 23), that had they lived in the days of their fathers they would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets; but when their "hour and the power of darkness" came upon them, how completely did it show them to be under the power of Satan. Luke 22:53; John 7:30.

(((Luk 22:53  When I was daily with you in the temple, ye stretched forth no hands against me: but this is your hour, and the power of darkness.

Joh 7:30  Then they sought to take him: but no man laid hands on him, because his hour was not yet come. ))))

The rejection of the truth of God leaves men the captives of Satan, and the subjects of his deception. 2 Thess. 2:9-12.

The greater the light which men reject, the greater the power of deception and of darkness which will come upon them.

The advent message has been given in our own land, and by the mass rejected, and no greater, and indeed no other, light can ever be given to those who have turned away from that.

The third angel gives us warning of the danger which is now before us. The warning precedes the danger, that we, by seasonable admonition, may make our escape.

HIS MARK

Another religious power enforces the claims of the first beast and his image, and causeth the world to receive his mark. What is this mark of the beast? -It is the mark of that beast to whom the image was made - the first beast. Rev. 19:20; 16:2. But it is enforced by the two-horned beast; hence we understand it is an institution of the papacy, enforced by Protestantism.

The beast and his image unite in this thing, in opposition to the saints, who are engaged in keeping the commandments of God.

Have we an institution of the papal apostasy which the civil power supports, and to which the religious world pay homage? -

We have. It is found in the weekly Sabbath, which the "man of sin" has placed in the stead of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment.

If we turn to the law of God, we shall find that the fourth commandment alone points out Jehovah, the first three forbid the worship of false gods, and blasphemy, and the last six pertain wholly to our duty to our fellow-men. Not one of these nine commandments point out the true God. But the Sabbath commandment points out the true God as that being who in six days created heaven and earth, and rested upon the seventh. By the observance of the sanctified rest-day of the creator, he is acknowledged as the true God, in distinction from every object upon which the eye can rest, in the heavens above or in the earth beneath. The being that created all these things is God. Such is the teaching of the fourth commandment.
But the Scriptures plainly predict that the man of sin should exalt himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped, and should "THINK TO CHANGE TIMES AND LAWS. " 2 Thess. 2; Dan. 7:25.

It is not said that he should be able to change them; but he should THINK to do it; or, as the Catholic version reads, "He shall think himself ABLE to change times and laws. " They are not the times and laws of men which he thinks to change, for these he might be able to change, as other powers have done; but it is an act of arrogance in which he does not succeed. The times and laws of God are doubtless intended. This apostasy began in the apostolic age (2 Thess. 2:7), and it has resulted in the perfect development of the man of sin, and of his blasphemous acts, among which we may name the change of the fourth commandment.

No one can produce any other authority for changing the Sabbath than Romish traditions.
Listen to the following cutting reproof from a Romanist:

" 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 the 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 from 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. "(See "History of the Sabbath" and "Who Changed the Sabbath?" RH)

Notwithstanding the fourth commandment in the plainest terms enjoins the observance of the sanctified rest-day of the Lord, almost all the world now wonders after the beast, and observe the pagan festival of Sunday, which the great apostasy has substituted for the holy Sabbath.

By the observance of the Sabbath, men acknowledge the great Creator as their God; but when they understandingly choose in its stead the Sabbath of the man of sin, they acknowledge him as above all that is called God, or that is worshiped, and as able to change the times and laws of God. There is no evading the point.

If we observe the Sabbath of the Lord, and that of the apostasy also, we only make the man of sin equal with God. But when we profane the Lord's Sabbath, and observe in its stead the Romish festival of Sunday, we acknowledge the papacy to be above God, and able to change his times and laws.

We speak of those who have the light of truth and act contrary to it. Those who have never yet understood that the observance of Sunday is a tradition of the fathers which makes void the fourth commandment, are not referred to. It is the bringing of this Sabbath of the apostasy to the test that will constitute it the mark of that power that should think to change times and laws.

There is no other papal institution that directly sets aside one of the ten commandments, that the whole Protestant world observes. This mark is very conspicuous in the forehead or hand, and signifies not a literal mark, but a public profession, or act, that all may see or know.

THE NUMBER 666 OF HIS NAME

The number of the name of the beast is also to be enforced as a test of submission to him. This name, which is said to be that of a man, is seen, without doubt, in the title of "Vicar of the Son of God, " which the pope has caused to be inscribed upon his mitre.

 (((Remember when this was written 1877- and it is true for the time, this is historical fact that many have gone to great lengths to destroy over time.))))

 It is written in Latin, and the numeral letters employed make the sum of 666. The design of this test is to cause men to acknowledge the authority of the papacy.

The manner in which the Protestant Church would enforce the Sabbath of the man of sin, had it the power, is well expressed by a distinguished clergyman.

Says Dr. Durbin.
"I infer, therefore, that the civil magistrate may not be called upon to enforce the observance of the Sabbath, as required in the spiritual kingdom of Christ; but when Christianity becomes the moral and spiritual life of the State, the State is bound, through her magistrates, to prevent the open violation of the holy Sabbath, as a measure of self-preservation. She cannot, without injuring her own vitality and incurring the divine displeasure, be recreant to her duty in this matter. (Christian Advocate and Journal)

(((I have to note that there was on the bill books for a National Sunday Rest-

AMERICAN STATE PAPERS p. 243 -- NATIONAL SUNDAY-REST BILL OF 1888 -- SENATE BILL No. 2983, INTRODUCED IN FIRST SESSION OF FIFTIETH CONGRESS, BY SENATOR H. W. BLAIR, MAY 21, 1888 -- BILL TO SECURE TO THE PEOPLE THE ENJOYMENT OF THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK, COMMONLY KNOWN AS THE LORD'S DAY, AS A DAY OF REST, AND TO PROMOTE ITS OBSERVANCE AS A DAY OF RELIGIOUS WORSHIP (2)

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Please google things and you'll come up with other sources for this very factual information.

AMERICAN STATE PAPERS p. 246 -- SUNDAY CLOSING OF THE CHICAGO EXPOSITION -- First National Sunday Legislation in the United States -- BILL APPROVED AUGUST 5, 1892 * -- And it is hereby declared that all appropriations herein made for, or pertaining to, the World's Columbian Exposition are made under the condition that the said exposition shall not be open to the public on the first day of the week, commonly called Sunday; and if the said appropriations be accepted by the corporation of the State of Illinois, known as the World's Columbian Exposition, upon that condition, it shall be, and it is hereby made, the duty of the World's Columbian Commission, created by act of Congress of April 25, 1890, to make such rules or modification of the rules of said corporation as shall require the closing of the Exposition on the said first day of the week, commonly called Sunday.

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The idea of this 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.))))

THE WORSHIP OF THE BEAST

It is proper that we should speak with carefulness of that which relates to the events of the future.

That the scene described in the conclusion of Rev. 13 pertains to the time of trouble before us, such as never was, we have no doubt. It is also evident that in the providence of God the line of separation between the worshipers of the beast and his image on the one hand, and those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus on the other, will be most distinct and visible.

The third angel's proclamation will prepare the people of God for the coming crisis; and the formation of the image and the reception of the mark will prepare all the various classes of adherents to the beast, to receive the vials of the wrath of God, the seven last plagues.

The image of the beast, as we have seen, is made up of apostate religious bodies. The name of the beast, as given in verse 1, is "Blasphemy. " The mark will determine to which class each individual belongs.

We have seen the cause of danger fully laid open before us in Rev. 13. We now turn to the voice of warning as presented in chap. 14:9-11.

The warning of danger is a warning which refers directly to the scene of trouble described in Rev. 13:11-18.

This warning shows that that trouble is yet to come.

Its fearful character may be learned from the thrilling and dreadful import of the angel's message. The Bible nowhere else depicts such dreadful wrath.

On one side stands the decree of the beast, who is to exercise all the power of the first beast before him, that all who will not worship the image and receive his mark shall be put to death; on the other hand stands the solemn warning of the third angel.

Here, then is the strait before us. We can worship the beast and his image, and as the penalty, drink the wine of the wrath of God, or we can refuse, and peril our lives here, that we may obey God.

This message will draw a line between the worshipers of God and the worshipers of the beast and his image; for on either hand it reveals a dreadful penalty, and leaves no chance for half-way work.

Those who disregard this warning will be found with the worshipers of the beast and his image, and will drink of the wine of the wrath of God. Those who heed this warning will obey God at the risk of their lives.

The one class is designated by the mark of the beast, the other class is seen in the patience of the saints, keeping the commandments of God.

That the law of God should thus be made a great testing truth to draw a line between the subjects of the fourth and fifth kingdoms, is an idea not unworthy of the God of the Bible.

That the commandments of God are the great subject of controversy between the dragon and the remnant of the seed of the woman, is plain from Rev. 12:17.

(((Rev 12:17  And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. ))))

The issue of this struggle cannot be a matter of doubt; for, as in all past ages those who have had the ark of God and have kept his commandments have triumphed, even so will it be now.

What, then, is it to worship the beast? for this is a prominent part of the act against which the wrath of God without mixture of mercy is denounced, and, as we have seen, all the world are yet to unite in this act?

It is worthy of notice that at the conclusion of this dreadful warning the saints are introduced as keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.

Thus we may understand that the worship of the beast and his image, and the reception of his mark, is the opposite of keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.

And we have seen that one of the commandments of God has been superseded by an institution of the Romish apostasy.

A remark by Prof. Bliss, bearing on this point, is worthy of lasting remembrance;
"Whenever any civil or ecclesiastical enactment conflicts with the requisitions of Jehovah, that power is worshiped which is obeyed in preference to the other. `Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey?' Rom. 6:16. " (Bliss on the Apocalypse, page 233)

We have already seen that the conflict is between the commandments of God and the requirements of the beast; and that a papal institution, which has usurped the place of one of the commandments of God, is yet to be made a test by the two-horned beast.

It is not difficult, therefore, to see how men will be made to worship the beast; for whenever they obey the requirements of the beast, in the place of the commandments of God, they worship the beast; for they acknowledge him as above the Most High.

It is a remarkable fact that the pagan festival of Sunday, which the great apostasy has substituted for the Sabbath of the Bible, is now enforced by law in most of the States of the union. A papal institution which directly contradicts the fourth commandments is thus enforced by a protestant government!

But many of our State governments have already enacted that the Sabbath of the Bible (?) shall be kept on Sunday, and the judges have decided such laws to be constitutional! If the government has a right to nullify the fourth commandment, there is an end to the principle of religious liberty; for it has an equal right to nullify any or all of the others.

THE FINAL CONTEST

It may be proper that we should notice some of the most probable causes that will induce the two-horned beast to create the image, and to require the reception of the mark:-

1. The first which we should name is the work of the spirits in performing miracles, etc.
It is certain that this agency, as we have already seen, is to deceive the dwellers upon the earth, and to cause them to make the image which all must worship on pain of death. We may rest assured that this extraordinary development of Satanic power has been reserved by him to act an important part in preparing men for the seven last plagues. If our public men become mediums (and some of them are such already), and our citizens become believers in this new system of divinity, or government is hopelessly in the hands of the Devil. Such a result may be neither improbable nor distant.

2. A second cause, and one, too, which should not be lightly passed over, is this; The preaching of the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.

This is the cause of the conflict between the dragon and the last fragment of the church. We shall hereafter show that the commandments of God, as distinguished from the faith or testimony of Jesus, mean the ten commandments. The fourth of these commandments the dragon has attempted to change. It is because the saints are keeping all the commandments of God that the dragon makes war upon them. This prophecy (Rev. 12:17) doubtless refers to the scene described in the conclusion of Rev. 13.

Mr. Miller remarks respecting this prophecy:
"I am therefore constrained to believe this battle of the dragon's last power will be in America; and if so, it must be mainly in these United States. " (Lectures," p. 213)

It is because the commandments of God will be vindicated, and the unscriptural character of the Sunday-Sabbath exposed, that the two-horned beast will require all to receive the mark. The lack of scriptural argument has been the chief cause why men have resorted to the argument of fire and fagot to convince dissenters.
*******

Because it is late and I still want to expound on a few things this chapter has brought to light, we will (BY the GRACE OF GOD) continue this chapter study tomorrow.

May God bless all of us who are seeking His amazing truth, seeking Him!

In His love!