Rev 13:11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of
the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
Rev 13:12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first
beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship
the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
Rev 13:13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh
fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
Rev 13:14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by
the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast;
saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast,
which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
Rev 13:15 And he had power to give life unto the image
of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as
many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
Rev 13:16 And he causeth all, both small and great,
rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in
their foreheads:
Rev 13:17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he
that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
Rev 13:18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath
understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and
his number is Six hundred threescore and six.
The second beast-
Exercises all the
power of the first beast- a political/religious power and causes those in the
United States to worship the political/religious power (the first beast). This second beast will do miracles like Elijah
did only this beast is doing the miracles to DECEIVE not to reveal truth. The
miracles will deceive those in the United States and the second beast will
cause them to make an image to the first beast- and that beast will be a
religious/political power and this power will be such that it will cause people
to follow it, to worship it, to believe in it- no exceptions- those who are
small, great, rich, poor, free, bond-
ALL without discrimination and they will in turn receive a mark.
How this is all to
happen I DON'T KNOW DETAILS, what I do know is that IT WILL ALL HAPPEN!
We need to know
more- so let's read from another source about what this MARK of the BEAST is…
Please Lord, Please,
bless us! Help us to comprehend ONLY YOUR TRUTH.
*******
From--
Facts of Faith
By Christian Edwardson
Chapter 28
The Mark of the Beast
(288) In Revelation 13:16 the Apostle John has penned these
significant words: "And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and
poor, free and bond, to
receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads."
What is this mark? It
must be of great importance to understand this, for Jesus gives us a solemn
warning against receiving the mark. (Rev. 22:16; 14:9, 10.) Some claim that it
is the mark of the labor unions; but the "small" cannot belong to them,
neither are the "rich," or capitalists, members of labor
organizations. Others say this prophecy refers to the peculiar
"handshake" of the Freemasons; but the "bond," or salve,
and the "small," or children, cannot become members of that
organization; and yet all these will receive the mark of the beast. (Rev.
13:16.)
This mark must belong to religion, for it has to do with
"worship" (Rev. 13:12), and it must have originated with the Papacy,
for it is "his mark" (Rev. 15:2), and yet it must be something both
Catholics and Protestants agree upon, for "all" will receive it (Rev.
13:12, 16). It is something in which not only the people but also "the earth" on which they
dwell, can show obedience. (Rev. 13:12.)
There is but one thing that answers to all
these specifications; namely, Sunday-keeping. Sunday is a religious institution
that originated with the Catholic Church, and yet Protestants agree to keep it,
and we shall now show how the earth can have a part in receiving the mark.
God required "thy manservant," "they
stranger," and "thy cattle" to rest on His holy Sabbath (Ex.
20:10); that is, no work should be allowed in a field of which we have control.
And because the Jews did not obey this, the Lord declared: "I will scatter
you among the heathen,...and your land shall be desolate....Then shall the land
rest, and enjoy her Sabbaths;...because it did not rest in your sabbaths, when
ye dwelt upon it." Lev. 26:33-35. And so the Jews were taken into
captivity to Babylon for seventy years. (Jer. 17:27; 2 Chron. 36:20, 21.)
Generally speaking, the people of this world have not allowed the earth to rest
on God's holy Sabbath for six thousand years, therefore He will lay it desolate
for one thousand years, to give it the rest man has denied it. (Jer. 4:23-25;
Rev. 20:1, 2.)
(289) We have now
seen that God wants the earth as well as the people to rest on His holy
Sabbath. But the Roman Catholic Church has put herself on record as flatly
denying God's claim. Father Enright declares:
"The Bible says: 'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it
holy,' but the Catholic Church says: 'No, keep the first day of the week,' and
the whole world bows in obedience." - "The
Industrial American," Harlan, Iowa, Dec. 19, 1889.
When our government, under pressure from the churches, shall
by law enforce the papal Sunday in open violation of God's command, so that the
people rest on Sunday, and work their land on the Sabbath, then "the earth and them which dwell
therein" will yield obedience to the papal power. (Rev. 13:12.)
Some will ask how a day can
be a mark in a person's forehead or hand. But we read in Exodus 13:3, 4, 9 that
a day can be "for a sign
unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes." But
some one will ask how this "mark" can be received by some only
"in their right hand," while others receive it "in their
foreheads." (Rev. 13:16.) That is easy to see. Many people tell us:
"We know that the seventh day is the right Sabbath, but we have to work on
that day or lose our jobs." Such people have no Sunday-Sabbath in their
mind, or forehead, because they do not believe in it; but their
"hand" obeys it, and so they receive it in their hand. There are
others who see the seventh day is the true Sabbath in the New Testament, but
they love their old friends and their old ways more than the unpopular truth,
and wish they did not have to obey it. Now, as God cannot accept unwilling
service, He will no longer impress them with the importance of obeying it.
God's Spirit is grieved away, and another spirit steps in unnoticed and leads
them against the truth. "Because they received not the love of the truth,...God shall send them
strong delusion, that they should believe a lie." 2 Thess. 2:10, 11. (We
have an example of this in 1 Kings 22.) After rejecting the truth they become
enthusiastic believers in the false sabbath, and thus they receive this mark
"in their foreheads."
WHO RECEIVES THE MARK?
(290) On the other
hand, people who have never heard the facts presented, but innocently keep
Sunday, thinking it is the right day, are not receiving the mark of the beast
by so doing, for God does not hold a person responsible for light that he has
never had opportunity to hear or reject. Let us illustrate this fact:
An earnest Christian is the owner of a dry-goods store, and
has sold a woman ten yards of cloth. Later she comes back with it, claiming
that it is too short. He measures it again, and finds it full length, but, as
she insists that it is short, he buys a new yardstick, and placing both side by
side he finds his old one an inch short. In amazement he exclaims: "My
grandfather was an earnest Christian, and he used this yardstick, and so did my
godly father. They were unwittingly stealing, and died without repenting of
their sin; they are lost!" He reflects a moment, then adds: "No! I
saw them die triumphantly in Christ; they are saved. And I have had blessed
seasons with Jesus during these twenty years I have used this old yardstick. If
they could be saved using it, and I could serve God acceptably all these years,
I will continue to use it hereafter!" But can he be saved while knowingly
breaking one of God's commandments? He could have been saved, if his attention
had not been called to it. But can he now continue to use the short yard
measure and remain a true Christian?
Christ says: "If I had not come and spoken unto them,
they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin" (John
15:22); and Paul declares: "The times of this ignorance God winked at; but
now commandeth all men everywhere to repent" (Acts 17:30). "Therefore
to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." James
4:17. Seeing that God's law is His measuring rod, or standard for moral
conduct, and that the Papacy has cut off part of it, so people innocently have
followed a faulty rule, and Christ has not attributed this sin to His people
till they had opportunity to know better. But when His last message of mercy is
being heralded to the world, all are given their choice as to whom they will
serve, and those who refuse to listen to His message are as responsible as
though they had heard it. (Rev. 22:14; 14:12; Luke 11:31; Proverbs 28:9.)
(291) All will
admit that Christ has a perfect right to choose any "sign" He
desires, and when He sets forth the Sabbath as the sign, or mark, of His
authority and of His sanctifying power, we should accept it with pleasure.
(Eze. 20:12, 20; 9:4-6.)
THE PAPACY SELECTS ITS
FLAG
On the other hand the pope claims to be Christ's
representative on earth, having authority to act in His name, so that "the
sentences which he gives are to be forthwith ratified in heaven." - Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. XII, art.
"Pope," par. 20, p. 265.
Any one who makes counterfeit money tries to make it as near
like the genuine as possible. And when Christ has chosen the Sabbath as His
sign, the Papacy, in selecting a counterfeit sign, would naturally choose one
as near like the genuine as possible, and so it took the very next day. And
after having changed the day of rest from the seventh to the first day, the
Papacy would naturally point to such a vital change in God's law as evidence of
its power; for no one could validly change God's moral law without being
authorized to act in Christ's stead.
Hence if, after we have carefully searched the New Testament,
and found no command there for the change of the day, we still rely on the
custom of the church by keeping the Sunday, we thereby acknowledge the
authority of the church that made this change. The Roman Catholic Church sees
this point, and uses it as a challenge to Protestantism, as the following
quotations from Roman Catholic authorities will show:
(292) Rev. Stephen
Keenan says:
"Q.-Have you any other way of proving that the Church
has power to institute festivals of precept?
"A.-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." - "Doctrinal
Catechism," p. 174. New York: P. J. Kenedy and Sons, 1846.
Rev. Henry Tuberville, D. D., says:
"Q.-How prove you that the Church hath power to command
feasts and holy-days?
"A.-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 by not keeping the rest by her
commanded, they again deny, in fact, the same power." - "An Abridgment of the Christian Doctrine,"
p. 58. New York: Kenedy, 1833.
J. F. Snyder, of Bloomington, Ill., wrote Cardinal Gibbons
asking if the Catholic Church claims the change of the Sabbath "as a mark
of her power." The Cardinal through his Chancellor, gave the following
answer:
"Of course the Catholic Church claims that the change
was her act. It could not have been otherwise, as none in those days would have
dreamed of doing anything in matters spiritual and ecclesiastical and religious
without her. And the act is a mark of her ecclesiastical power and authority in
religious matters."
(Signed) "H. F. Thomas, "Chancellor for the
Cardinal." "Nov. 11, 1895."
(293) We will now
let the Catholic Church tell when it
changed the Sabbath day. Here is its answer:
"Q.-Which is the Sabbath day? A.-Saturday is the Sabbath day. Q.-Why do we
observe Sunday instead of Saturday? A.-We observe Sunday instead of Saturday
because the Catholic Church, in the Council of Laodicea (A.D. 336), transferred
the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday." - "Convert's Catechism," Rev. P. Geiermann, p. 50. London.
1934. Sanctioned by the Vatican, Jan. 25, 1910.
"The Catholic Church for over one thousand years before the existence of a
Protestant, by virtue of her Divine mission, changed the day from Saturday to
Sunday." - "The Christian Sabbath,"
p. 29. Printed by the "Catholic Mirror,"
the official organ of Cardinal Gibbons, Baltimore, Md., 1893.
Kindly notice how often Catholic authors refer to the fact that there is no
Scripture proof for Sunday, but that it rests solely on the authority of the
Catholic Church. Rt. Rev. John Milner says:
"The first precept in the Bible is that of sanctifying the seventh day:
'God blessed the seventh day, and
sanctified it.' Gen. 2:3. This precept was confirmed by God in the Ten
Commandments: 'Remember the Sabbath-day, to keep it holy. The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord
thy God.' Ex. 20. On the other hand, Christ declares that He is not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it. Matt.
5:17. He Himself observed the Sabbath; 'and, as His custom was, He went into
the synagogue on the Sabbath day.' Luke 4:16. His disciples likewise observed
it after His death: 'They rested on the
Sabbath day according to the commandment,' Luke 23:56. Yet will all
this weight of Scripture authority for keeping the Sabbath, or seventh day,
holy, Protestants of all denominations make this a profane day, and transfer the obligation of it to the first day of the week, or the Sunday. Now what authority have they for
doing this? None whatever, except the unwritten
word, or tradition, of the Catholic Church." - "End of Religious Controversy," p. 89. New
York. P. J. Kenedy, 1897.
(294) The
Brotherhood of St. Vincent de Paul says:
"'The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in
it thou shalt not do any work.' (Ex. XX. 8, 9)....Such being God's command
then, I ask again, Why do you not obey it?...
"You will answer me, perhaps, that ye do keep holy the Sabbath-day; for that
you abstain from all worldly business, and diligently go to church, and say
your prayers, and read your Bible at home, every Sunday of your lives.
"But Sunday is not
the Sabbath-day, Sunday is the first day
of the week; the Sabbath-day was the seventh day
of the week. Almighty God did not give a commandment that men should keep
holy one day in seven; but He
named His own day, and said distinctly, 'Thou shalt keep holy the seventh day': and He assigned a
reason for choosing this day rather than any other - a reason which belongs
only to the seventh day of the week, and cannot be applied to the rest. He
says, 'for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in
them is, and rested on the seventh day; wherefore the
Lord blessed the Sabbath-day and hallowed it.' Almighty God ordered that all
men should rest from their labor on the seventh day, because He too had rested
on that day: He did not rest on Sunday, but on Saturday. On Sunday, which is
the first day of the week, He began the
work of creation....Gen. 2:2, 3. Nothing can be more plain and easy to
understand than all this; and there is nobody who attempts to deny it....Why
then do you keep holy the Sunday, and not Saturday?
"You will tell me that Saturday was the Jewish Sabbath, but that the Christian Sabbath has been changed to
Sunday. Changed! but by whom? Who has authority to change an express
commandment of Almighty God? When God has spoken and said, Thou shalt keep holy
the seventh day, who shall dare to say, Nay, thou mayest work and do all manner
of worldly business on the seventh day; but thou shalt keep holy the first day
in its stead? This is a most important question, which I know not how you can
answer.
(295) "You
are a Protestant, and you profess to go by the Bible and the Bible only....The
command to keep holy the seventh day is one of the Ten Commandments; you
believe that the other nine are still binding; who gave you authority to tamper
with the fourth?
"We blame you not for making Sunday your weekly holy-day
instead of Saturday, but for rejecting tradition, which is the only safe and
clear rule by which this observance can be justified." - "Why Don't You Keep Holy the Sabbath-Day?"
pp. 2-4, 8. London: burns and Oates. Found also in "The Clifton Tracts," Most Rev. John
Hughes, D. D.
"That the Church has instituted the Sunday as the Lord's
day instead of the Sabbath...shows forth her great power which she solemnly
received from Christ." - "Manual of
the Catholic Religion," p. 186.
Dr. Martin Luther and Melancthon felt the stinging force of
this Catholic argument in proof of the power of the papal church, although they
knew that the time had not then come for a Sabbath reform. Dr. Eck, disputing
with Luther, said:
"If, however, the Church has had power to change the
Sabbath of the Bible into Sunday and to command Sunday-keeping, why should it
not have also this power concerning other days?....If you omit the latter, and
turn from the Church to the Scriptures alone, then you must keep the Sabbath
with the Jews, which has been kept from the beginning of the world." -
"Enchiridon," pp. 78, 79.
1533.
Calling attention to this Roman Catholic assumption of
authority, the Reformers said:
"They also point out, that the Sabbath is changed to
Sunday, contrary as it seems, to the Ten Commandments; and there is no example
over which they make more ado than the change of the Sabbath. Great, they
assert, must be the power of the Church, when it can grant release from one of
the Ten Commandments." - "The
Augsburg Confession," art. 28, in "Book of Concord," p.
79. (Norwegian ed., printed in Christiania, 1882.)
(296) At the great
Council of Trent (1545-1563), which was called to determine the "doctrines
of the Church in answer to the heresies of the Protestants" (Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. XV, art.
"Trent," p. 30), the question of the authority of the church over
that of the Bible was decided in the following manner:
"Finally, at the last [session] opening on the
eighteenth of January, 1562, their last scruple was set aside; the archbishop
of Reggio made a speech in which he openly declared that tradition stood above
Scripture. The authority of the church could therefore not be bound to the
authority of the Scripture, because the church had changed Sabbath into Sunday,
not by the command of Christ, but by its own authority. With this, to be sure,
the last illusion was destroyed, and it was declared that tradition does not
signify antiquity, but continual inspiration." - "Canon and Tradition," Dr. J. H. Holtzman,
p. 263. ("Source Book," pp.
603, 604.)
After the Jesuits were expelled from England in 1579 they
determined to recapture that country, and at their school at Rheims, France,
they translated their New Testament from the Vulgate Latin into English in
1582. (Their Old Testament was printed at Douay, 1609, so that their whole
Bible has come to be called the Douay version.) In their English New Testament,
translated from the Vulgate Edition of 1582, printed in New York, 1834, we read
on page 413, note on the Apocalypse 1:10:
"And if the Church had authority and inspiration from
God, to make Sunday, being a work-day before, an everlasting holy-day: and the
Saturday, that before was holy-day, now, a common work-day: why may not the
same Church prescribe and appoint the other feasts of Easter, Whitsuntide,
Christmas, and the rest? For the same warrant she hath for the one she hath for
the other."
Thus we see that the Roman Catholic Church always and
everywhere points to her change of the Sabbath as the mark, or evidence, of her having the
power and inspiration from God to legislate in Christ's stead for His church on
earth, and that this power is vested in the pope. Pope Leo XIII says: "We
hold upon this earth the place of God Almighty." All must yield
"complete submission and obedience of will to the Church and to the Roman
Pontiff, as to God Himself." - "Great
Encyclical Letters," pp. 304, 193. And Pope Gregory says of the
power of the pope:
(297) "Hence
he is said to have a heavenly power, and hence changes even the nature of
things, applying the substantial of one thing to another - can make something
out of nothing - a judgment which is null he makes to be real, since in the
things which he wills, his will is taken for a reason. Nor is there any one to
say to him, Why doest thou this? For he can dispense with the law, he can turn
injustice into justice by correcting and changing the law, and he has the
fulness of power." - "Decretals of
Gregory" (R. C.), Book I, title 7, chap. 3. Gloss on the Transfer
of Bishops.
The Roman "Decretalia,"
an authentic work on Roman ecclesiastical law, says of the power of the pope:
"He can pronounce
sentences and judgments in contradiction to the right of nations, to the law of
God and man....He can free himself from the commands of the apostles, he being
their superior, and from the rules of the Old Testament.
"The pope has power to change times, to abrogate laws,
and to dispense with all things, even the precepts of Christ." - "Decretal, de Translat. Episcop. Cap."
"The Pope's will stands for reason. He can dispense
above the law; and of wrong make right, by correcting and changing laws."
- Pope Nicholas, dist. 96; quoted in "Facts
for the Times," pp. 55, 56. 1893.
"THE MARK OF HIS
NAME"
We have now seen that the pope claims to be the "Vicar
of the Son of God" on earth; to have authority to act in His name. And as
proof for this claim he points to the fact that he has changed the Sabbath into
Sunday. How conclusive! He must be authorized as Christ's "Vicar" in
order to validly make such a vital change in God's moral law. That is
imperative! The Sunday-Sabbath is therefore the proof or mark of his
'vicarship"' it is "the mark of his name." Rev. 14:11. When once
a person had become aware of the wording of this text (Rev. 14:11), it becomes
impossible for him to exchange this explanation of either the "mark"
or the "name" for some other. For the creation of the Sunday-Sabbath
by the Papacy constitutes the mark, or proof, of the pope's being invested with
authority to act as "Vicar of the Son of God." This "mark"
and this "name" fit together as prepared by the divine hand of prophecy,
and no others do. Catholics can therefore appeal to Protestants in the
following way:
(298) Sunday-keeping
"not only has no foundation in the Bible, but it is in flagrant
contradiction with its letter, which commands rest on the Sabbath, which is
Saturday. It was the Catholic Church which, by the authority of Jesus Christ,
has transferred this rest to the Sunday....Thus the observance of Sunday by the Protestants is an homage
they pay, in spite of themselves, to the authority of the Church." -
"Plain Talk About the Protestantism of
Today," from the French by Segur, p. 213. Boston. 1868.
While God did not attribute this sin to His people in former
ages, when they had not been enlightened on the subject, we are now approaching
the final struggle between Christ and the restored Papacy, and it behooves us
to show under which flag we have decided to stand. For example: In times of
peace, no serious results would come to an alien in this country, if, on his
holiday, he should hoist his native flag. But if our country was at war with
his homeland, and he then should tear down the "Stars and Stripes,"
and trample on it, while he hoisted his own flag, it would be an entirely
different matter. And so now, while Christ and Antichrist face each other in
the last deadly struggle, it becomes a serious matter to hoist the enemy's
flag, while trampling on the blood-stained banner of Prince Emmanuel!
(299) The papal
power was "to continue forty and two months" (Rev. 13:5), and, as the
Bible reckons thirty days to a month, this period would be 1260 prophetic days
(Rev. 11:2, 3). And a day in prophecy stands for a year. (Eze. 4:6.) Thus we see
that the papal supremacy would continue for 1260 years. We have already seen
that this period began in 538 and ended in 1798 A.D. (See pp. 52-60.) At that
time the pope, who had for centuries driven God's people "into
captivity," was himself to "go into captivity," the prophet
declared. (Rev. 13:10.) And when the hour struck, to which God's prophetic
clock had pointed for 1700 years, the pope had to "go into
captivity." Rome was taken by the French on February 10, 1798, the Roman
Republic proclaimed on the fifteenth, and on the night of the twentieth, Pope
Pius VI was hurried off "into captivity," where he finally died at
Valence, France, in 1799. Napoleon had previously given orders that no new pope
was to be elected in his place. "No wonder that half Europe thought
Napoleon's veto would be obeyed, and that with the Pope the Papacy was
dead." - "Modern Papacy,"
Joseph Rickaby, S. J., p. 1.
But this prophecy also foretells its restitution. The prophet
declares: "His deadly wound was healed; and all the world wondered after
the beast." Rev. 13:3. (Compare 17:8.) A new pope (Pius VII) was elected
March 14, 1800, and, as J. Rickaby further states:
"Yet since then, the Papacy has been lifted to a
pinnacle of spiritual power unreached, it may be, since earliest Christian
history." - Id., p. 1.
Especially since the days of Pope Leo XIII the healing of the
"deadly wound" has been steadily progressing. On February 11, 1929,
the pope once more became a civil ruler (a king). Some day he will attempt to
assume his ancient authority over the nations of earth, and then the world will
realize that the Papacy is unchanged in spirit, that it will do today just what
it did in the Dark Ages.
(300) We shall now
see what God will do for those who have been faithful to Him in this time of
apostasy, and have not deviated from His word, while the whole Christian world
has gone astray. But let all remember that we cannot follow what is easy and popular,
and expect to stand under God's protection. It was the ark of Noah - the object
of so much scorn and derision from the world - that finally became the means of
rescue to all who stood faithfully by it under taunt and ridicule. And so now.
(Luke 17:26.) God always uses unpopular truths with which to test His people
and gather out the honest in heart, and He will protect His own in the time of
trouble.
They "shall abide under the shadow of the
Almighty," safe "from the noisome pestilence." As a hen protects
her brood in a storm, so "He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under
His wings shalt thou trust: His
truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for
the terror by night [night
raids by airplanes]; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; nor for the
pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at
noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand;
but it shall not come nigh thee,...neither shall any plague come nigh thy
dwelling." Psalm 91:1-10.
God will reveal that He still lives and reigns, and the world
shall yet see that He puts a difference "between him that serveth God and
him that serveth Him not" (Mal. 3:18), just as He did during the plagues
of Egypt (Ex. 8:22, 23; 9:4; 10:23; Isaiah 4:5, 6). "His truth shall be
thy shield and buckler." Psalm 91:4. (Compare John 17:17; Colossians 1:5;
Psalm 119: 142, 151.)
According to the new covenant promise, the Holy Spirit is to
write the law of God in the heart of God's children. (Hebrews 8:8-10; 2 Cor.
3:3.) But it must be put "into their mind" before it can be written
"in their hearts" (Hebrews 8:10); and as they have been looking at a
mutilated law, the missing part must be restored before the Holy Spirit can
write it in their hearts. And so the message comes to "bind up the
testimony, seal the law among My disciples." Isaiah 8:16.
(301) While the
nations are moving toward Armageddon, while angels are about to release the
winds of war but have been admonished to hold a little longer, another angel
comes with the "seal of the living God," saying: "Hurt not the
earth,...till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads,"
so they shall be able to stand during the terrible time of trouble just ahead.
(Rev. 6:17; 7:1-3). The Lord revealed the same scene to Ezekiel. He saw the
destroyers coming, but a man clothed in linen (a symbol of purity, Rev. 19:8)
went before them to "set a mark upon the foreheads of" God's people,
after which the destroyers were told to "slay utterly old and young,...but
come not near any man upon whom is the mark." Eze. 9:1-6. This mark, or
sign, is the Sabbath. "I gave them My Sabbaths to be a sign between Me and
them." Eze. 20:12, 20.
As Christ viewed His people on the earth, and found them
without "the seal of the living God," He commanded the winds of war
to be held in check "till we have sealed the servants of our God in their
foreheads." Rev. 7:1-3. They were God's servants, but lacked the seal. In
Eze. 9:4-6 and 20:12, 20 it is called God's "mark," or
"sign," while in Rev. 7:1-4 it is called His "seal." God's
"name" will be written in the foreheads of His people. (Rev. 14:1.)
In God's law His name is found only in the fourth commandment. The fourth
commandment, which enjoins the keeping of the seventh-day Sabbath, is the seal
of God which the Holy Spirit places in the minds and hearts of His people.
The day of wrath is fast approaching. God's people will need
a shelter during Armageddon. But God will not do miracles to protect the
willfully disobedient. The Lord is greatly grieved over the situation, and
complains that His watchmen are not preparing the people "to stand in the
battle in the day of the Lord." Eze. 13:5. Compare Eze. 22:26, 30; Isaiah
58:1, 2, 12, 13; 56:1-5, 10, 11; Hebrews 10:26, 29. "But the Lord will be
the hope of His people, and the strength of the children of Israel." Joel
3:16.
From <http://www.adventistlaymen.com/Facts%20of%20Faith%20Docs/Facts%20of%20Faith%20Chapter%C2%A0%2028_The%20Mark%20of%20the%20Beast_By%20Christian%20Edwardson.htm>
*******
So much time has
passed and so much speculation has arisen. We CANNOT fathom our government
forcing anyone to worship. We just can't comprehend such a thing. Back in the
late 1800's there were laws and even laws up to when I was growing up I
remember 'Blue Laws'.
'Blue laws, also known as Sunday laws, are laws designed
to restrict or ban some or all Sunday activities for religious reasons,
particularly to promote the observance of a day of worship or rest. Blue laws
may also restrict shopping or ban sale of certain items on specific days, most
often on Sundays in the western world. Some Islamic nations may ban certain
activities on Fridays. Blue laws are enforced in parts of the United States and
Canada as well as some European countries, particularly in Austria, Germany,
Switzerland, and Norway, keeping most stores closed on Sundays.
In the United States,
the U.S. Supreme Court has held blue laws as constitutional numerous times,
citing secular basis, even though the origin of the blue laws was for religious
purposes. Blue laws are technically classed as "mala prohibita" or "wrong [as or because]
prohibited" (as opposed to "mala in se" or "wrong or evil in itself").
Most blue laws have been repealed in the United States, although many states
still ban the sale of alcoholic beverages or cars on
Sundays. Bergen County, New Jersey is notable for
their blue laws banning the sale of clothing, shoes, furniture, home supplies
and appliances on Sundays kept through county-wide referendum.[1]
From
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_law>
'
So, while we cannot
NOW imagine such a thing it's a reality.
In truth, so many
believe that Sunday is God's day of worship to force people to believe wouldn't
be too hard. They will be DECEIVED. They will RECEIVE the MARK of the BEAST,
willingly.
More on this
tomorrow - another point of view.
All by the grace of
God, all through HIS LOVE, HIS MERCY!
