“And out of one of them came
forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward
the east, and toward the pleasant land. And it waxed great, even to the host of
heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and
stamped upon them.” (Dan. 8:9,10).
From https://ktfnews.com/category/briefings/news/
“Over 250 prominent scholars,
pastors, and church leaders from around the world released on Tuesday a
theological statement affirming the essentials of the Reformation. And its
Protestant authors contend that in this 500th anniversary year, the document is
a ‘catholic’ statement in its best sense. The Reforming Catholic
Confession is a document which outlines the main theological commitments
held by a wide breadth of Protestant Christians, including evangelicals, since
the Reformation. The purpose of such a statement is to demonstrate the
remarkable togetherness that exists throughout the world among Protestants on
the core elements of Christianity, said Jerry Walls, an author and
professor of philosophy at Houston Baptist University. The Confession showcases
the extensive agreement on the substance of the historic Christian faith, Walls
said.
The statement’s signatories
include a sizable list of biblical heavyweights who hail from a variety of
denominations. Over 110 Christian institutions, over 30 of which are
international, are represented.…
As for why they decided to
call it a “catholic” confession, Walls said he felt it is important to reclaim
the word “catholic.”
‘The Church of Rome simply
calls itself, “The Catholic Church.” It is not the Catholic church,’
he emphasized. “It is one part of the holy catholic church.”
‘We want to make clear that
‘catholic’ is a much more expansive reality than the Church of Rome. And we
want Protestants to understand that when they are true to their own heritage,
and their own roots, they are “catholic” also.’
On October 31, Protestant
evangelicals around the world will mark the 500th anniversary of the start of
the Reformation, when Martin Luther nailed 95 theses to the door of Castle
Church in Wittenberg, objecting to corrupt practices of the Roman Catholic
Church, most notably the selling of papal indulgences.
‘A lot of people have been
asking the question ‘Is the Reformation over? Was it a mistake?’ said Kevin
Vanhoozer, who took charge of the drafting the initial statement. ‘I would say
that there is a permanent gain that we shouldn’t lose. The Reformation was not
‘a Pandora’s box that unleashed an interpretive anarchy and schism upon the
world,’ he stressed.”
The context of the opening
scripture was:
“And out of one of them came
forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward
the east, and toward the pleasant land.
And it waxed great, even to
the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the
ground, and stamped upon them.
Yea, he [the little horn
antichrist power] magnified himself even to the Prince of the host, and by him [the
little horn power] the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of His [the
Prince of the host’s] sanctuary was cast down.
And an host was given him [the
little horn power] against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and
it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practised, and prospered.
Then I heard one saint
speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long
shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of
desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?
And he said unto me, Unto two
thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.” (Dan.
8:9-14).
The little horn antichrist
from the Roman Beast of Daniel 7 that “waxed great, even to the host of heaven,
cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon
them” in Daniel 8 is the same symbolic woman on top of the Roman Beast in
Revelation 17 who drank the blood of the martyrs of Christ, (“it cast down some
of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them”). “She
possesses the same pride and arrogant assumption that lorded it over kings and
princes, and claimed the prerogatives of God. Her spirit is no less cruel and
despotic now than when she crushed out human liberty and slew the saints of the
Most High.” The Great Controversy, p. 571.
The Great Controversy, chapter entitled, Liberty of Conscience Threatened, written in 1888, says much about
the October 31, 2017 peace treaty between Protestant denominations and the
Church of Rome. As if written yesterday, its clear understanding of Bible
prophecy spoke of this ecclesiastical event as if it came from Sunday’s
editorial section of the Washington Post.
“Romanism is now regarded by
Protestants with far greater favor than in former years. In those countries
where Catholicism is not in the ascendancy, and the papists are taking a
conciliatory course in order to gain influence, there is an increasing
indifference concerning the doctrines that separate the reformed churches from
the papal hierarchy; the opinion is gaining ground that, after all, we do not
differ so widely upon vital points as has been supposed, and that a little
concession on our part will bring us into a better understanding with Rome. The
time was when Protestants placed a high value upon the liberty of conscience
which had been so dearly purchased. They taught their children to abhor popery
and held that to seek harmony with Rome would be disloyalty to God. But how
widely different are the sentiments now expressed! {GC 563.1}
The defenders of the papacy declare that
the church has been maligned, and the Protestant world are inclined to accept
the statement. Many urge that it is unjust to judge the church of today by the
abominations and absurdities that marked her reign during the centuries of
ignorance and darkness. They excuse her horrible cruelty as the result of the
barbarism of the times and plead that the influence of modern civilization has
changed her sentiments. {GC 563.2}
Have these persons forgotten the claim of
infallibility put forth for eight hundred years by this haughty power? So far
from being relinquished, this claim was affirmed in the nineteenth century with
greater positiveness than ever before. As Rome asserts that the ‘church never
erred; nor will it, according to the Scriptures, ever err’ (John L. von
Mosheim, Institutes of Ecclesiastical History, book 3, century II, part 2,
chapter 2, section 9, note 17), how can she renounce the principles which
governed her course in past ages? {GC
564.1}
The papal church will never relinquish her
claim to infallibility. All that she has done in her persecution of those who
reject her dogmas she holds to be right; and would she not repeat the same
acts, should the opportunity be presented? Let the restraints now imposed by
secular governments be removed and Rome be reinstated in her former power, and
there would speedily be a revival of her tyranny and persecution. {GC 564.2}
A well-known writer speaks thus of the
attitude of the papal hierarchy as regards freedom of conscience, and of the
perils which especially threaten the United States from the success of her
policy: {GC 564.3}
‘There are many who are disposed to
attribute any fear of Roman Catholicism in the United States to bigotry or
childishness. Such see nothing in the character and attitude of Romanism that
is hostile to our free institutions, or find nothing portentous in its growth.
Let us, then, first compare some of the fundamental principles of our
government with those of the Catholic Church.
{GC 564.4}
‘The Constitution of the United States
guarantees liberty of conscience. Nothing is dearer or more fundamental. Pope
Pius IX, in his Encyclical Letter of August 15, 1854, said: “The absurd and
erroneous doctrines or ravings in defense of liberty of conscience are a most
pestilential error--a pest, of all others, most to be dreaded in a state.” The
same pope, in his Encyclical Letter of December 8, 1864, anathematized “those
who assert the liberty of conscience and of religious worship,” also “all such
as maintain that the church may not employ force.” {GC 564.5}
‘The pacific tone of Rome in the United
States does not imply a change of heart. She is tolerant where she is helpless.
Says Bishop O'Connor: “Religious liberty is merely endured until the opposite
can be carried into effect without peril to the Catholic world.”. . . The
archbishop of St. Louis once said: “Heresy and unbelief are crimes; and in
Christian countries, as in Italy and Spain, for instance, where all the people
are Catholics, and where the Catholic religion is an essential part of the law
of the land, they are punished as other crimes.”. . . {GC 565.1}
‘Every cardinal, archbishop, and bishop in
the Catholic Church takes an oath of allegiance to the pope, in which occur the
following words: “Heretics, schismatics, and rebels to our said lord (the
pope), or his aforesaid successors, I will to my utmost persecute and oppose.”’--Josiah
Strong, Our Country, ch. 5, pars. 2-4. [SEE APPENDIX FOR CORRECTED
REFERENCES.] {GC 565.2}
It is true that there are real Christians
in the Roman Catholic communion. Thousands in that church are serving God
according to the best light they have. They are not allowed access to His word,
and therefore they do not discern the truth. [PUBLISHED IN 1888 AND 1911. SEE
APPENDIX.] They have never seen the contrast between a living heart service and
a round of mere forms and ceremonies. God looks with pitying tenderness upon
these souls, educated as they are in a faith that is delusive and unsatisfying.
He will cause rays of light to penetrate the dense darkness that surrounds
them. He will reveal to them the truth as it is in Jesus, and many will yet
take their position with His people. {GC
565.3}
But Romanism as a system is no more in
harmony with the gospel of Christ now than at any former period in her history.
The Protestant churches are in great darkness, or they would discern the signs
of the times. The Roman Church is far-reaching in her plans and modes of
operation. She is employing every device to extend her influence and increase
her power in preparation for a fierce and determined conflict to regain control
of the world, to re-establish persecution, and to undo all that Protestantism
has done. Catholicism is gaining ground upon every side. See the increasing
number of her churches and chapels in Protestant countries. Look at the
popularity of her colleges and seminaries in America, so widely patronized by
Protestants. Look at the growth of ritualism in England and the frequent
defections to the ranks of the Catholics. These things should awaken the
anxiety of all who prize the pure principles of the gospel. {GC 565.4}
Protestants have tampered with and
patronized popery; they have made compromises and concessions which papists
themselves are surprised to see and fail to understand. Men are closing their
eyes to the real character of Romanism and the dangers to be apprehended from
her supremacy. The people need to be aroused to resist the advances of this
most dangerous foe to civil and religious liberty…. {GC 566.1}
The Roman Church now presents
a fair front to the world, covering with apologies her record of horrible
cruelties. She has clothed herself in Christlike garments; but she is
unchanged. Every principle of the papacy that existed in past ages exists
today. The doctrines devised in the darkest ages are still held. Let none
deceive themselves. The papacy that Protestants are now so ready to honor is
the same that ruled the world in the days of the Reformation, when men of God
stood up, at the peril of their lives, to expose her iniquity. She possesses
the same pride and arrogant assumption that lorded it over kings and princes,
and claimed the prerogatives of God. Her spirit is no less cruel and despotic
now than when she crushed out human liberty and slew the saints of the Most
High. {GC 571.1}
The papacy is just what prophecy declared
that she would be, the apostasy of the latter times. 2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4. It
is a part of her policy to assume the character which will best accomplish her
purpose; but beneath the variable appearance of the chameleon she conceals the
invariable venom of the serpent. ‘Faith ought not to be kept with heretics, nor
persons suspected of heresy’ (Lenfant, volume 1, page 516), she declares. Shall
this power, whose record for a thousand years is written in the blood of the
saints, be now acknowledged as a part of the church of Christ? {GC 571.2}
It is not without reason that the claim
has been put forth in Protestant countries that Catholicism differs less widely
from Protestantism than in former times. There has been a change; but the
change is not in the papacy. Catholicism indeed resembles much of the
Protestantism that now exists, because Protestantism has so greatly degenerated
since the days of the Reformers. {GC
571.3}
As the Protestant churches have been
seeking the favor of the world, false charity has blinded their eyes. They do
not see but that it is right to believe good of all evil, and as the inevitable
result they will finally believe evil of all good. Instead of standing in
defense of the faith once delivered to the saints, they are now, as it were,
apologizing to Rome for their uncharitable opinion of her, begging pardon for
their bigotry. {GC 571.4}
A large class, even of those who look upon
Romanism with no favor, apprehend little danger from her power and influence.
Many urge that the intellectual and moral darkness prevailing during the Middle
Ages favored the spread of her dogmas, superstitions, and oppression, and that
the greater intelligence of modern times, the general diffusion of knowledge,
and the increasing liberality in matters of religion forbid a revival of
intolerance and tyranny. The very thought that such a state of things will
exist in this enlightened age is ridiculed. It is true that great light,
intellectual, moral, and religious, is shining upon this generation. In the
open pages of God's Holy Word, light from heaven has been shed upon the world.
But it should be remembered that the greater the light bestowed, the greater
the darkness of those who pervert and reject it. {GC 572.1}
A prayerful study of the Bible would show
Protestants the real character of the papacy and would cause them to abhor and
to shun it; but many are so wise in their own conceit that they feel no need of
humbly seeking God that they may be led into the truth. Although priding
themselves on their enlightenment, they are ignorant both of the Scriptures and
of the power of God. They must have some means of quieting their consciences,
and they seek that which is least spiritual and humiliating. What they desire
is a method of forgetting God which shall pass as a method of remembering Him.
The papacy is well adapted to meet the wants of all these. It is prepared for
two classes of mankind, embracing nearly the whole world--those who would be
saved by their merits, and those who would be saved in their sins. Here is the
secret of its power. {GC 572.2}
A day of great intellectual darkness has
been shown to be favorable to the success of the papacy. It will yet be
demonstrated that a day of great intellectual light is equally favorable for
its success. In past ages, when men were without God's word and without the
knowledge of the truth, their eyes were blindfolded, and thousands were
ensnared, not seeing the net spread for their feet. In this generation there
are many whose eyes become dazzled by the glare of human speculations,
"science falsely so called;" they discern not the net, and walk into
it as readily as if blindfolded. God designed that man's intellectual powers
should be held as a gift from his Maker and should be employed in the service
of truth and righteousness; but when pride and ambition are cherished, and men
exalt their own theories above the word of God, then intelligence can
accomplish greater harm than ignorance. Thus the false science of the present
day, which undermines faith in the Bible, will prove as successful in preparing
the way for the acceptance of the papacy, with its pleasing forms, as did the
withholding of knowledge in opening the way for its aggrandizement in the Dark
Ages. {GC 572.3}
In the movements now in progress in the
United States to secure for the institutions and usages of the church the
support of the state, Protestants are following in the steps of papists. Nay,
more, they are opening the door for the papacy to regain in Protestant America
the supremacy which she has lost in the Old World. And that which gives greater
significance to this movement is the fact that the principal object
contemplated is the enforcement of Sunday observance--a custom which originated
with Rome, and which she claims as the sign of her authority. It is the spirit
of the papacy--the spirit of conformity to worldly customs, the veneration for
human traditions above the commandments of God--that is permeating the
Protestant churches and leading them on to do the same work of Sunday
exaltation which the papacy has done before them….
Since the middle of the
nineteenth century, students of prophecy in the United States have presented
this testimony to the world. In the events now taking place is seen a rapid
advance toward the fulfillment of the prediction. With Protestant teachers there
is the same claim of divine authority for Sundaykeeping, and the same lack of
Scriptural evidence, as with the papal leaders who fabricated miracles to
supply the place of a command from God. The assertion that God's judgments are
visited upon men for their violation of the Sunday-sabbath, will be repeated;
already it is beginning to be urged. And a movement to enforce Sunday
observance is fast gaining ground. {GC
579.1}
Marvelous in her shrewdness and cunning is
the Roman Church. She can read what is to be. She bides her time, seeing that
the Protestant churches are paying her homage in their acceptance of the false
sabbath and that they are preparing to enforce it by the very means which she
herself employed in bygone days. Those who reject the light of truth will yet
seek the aid of this self-styled infallible power to exalt an institution that
originated with her. How readily she will come to the help of Protestants in
this work it is not difficult to conjecture. Who understands better than the papal
leaders how to deal with those who are disobedient to the church? {GC 580.1}
The Roman Catholic Church, with all its
ramifications throughout the world, forms one vast organization under the
control, and designed to serve the interests, of the papal see. Its millions of
communicants, in every country on the globe, are instructed to hold themselves
as bound in allegiance to the pope. Whatever their nationality or their
government, they are to regard the authority of the church as above all other.
Though they may take the oath pledging their loyalty to the state, yet back of
this lies the vow of obedience to Rome, absolving them from every pledge
inimical to her interests. {GC 580.2}
History testifies of her artful and
persistent efforts to insinuate herself into the affairs of nations; and having
gained a foothold, to further her own aims, even at the ruin of princes and
people. In the year 1204, Pope Innocent III extracted from Peter II, king of
Arragon, the following extraordinary oath: ‘I, Peter, king of Arragonians,
profess and promise to be ever faithful and obedient to my lord, Pope Innocent,
to his Catholic successors, and the Roman Church, and faithfully to preserve my
kingdom in his obedience, defending the Catholic faith, and persecuting
heretical pravity.’ --John Dowling, The History of Romanism, b. 5, ch. 6, sec.
55. This is in harmony with the claims regarding the power of the Roman pontiff
‘that it is lawful for him to depose emperors’ and ‘that he can absolve
subjects from their allegiance to unrighteous rulers.’--Mosheim, b. 3, cent.
11, pt. 2, ch. 2, sec. 9, note 17. (See also Appendix note for page 447.) {GC 580.3}
And let it be remembered, it is the boast
of Rome that she never changes. The principles of Gregory VII and Innocent III
are still the principles of the Roman Catholic Church. And had she but the
power, she would put them in practice with as much vigor now as in past
centuries. Protestants little know what they are doing when they propose to
accept the aid of Rome in the work of Sunday exaltation. While they are bent
upon the accomplishment of their purpose, Rome is aiming to re-establish her
power, to recover her lost supremacy. Let the principle once be established in
the United States that the church may employ or control the power of the state;
that religious observances may be enforced by secular laws; in short, that the
authority of church and state is to dominate the conscience, and the triumph of
Rome in this country is assured. {GC
581.1}
God's word has given warning of the
impending danger; let this be unheeded, and the Protestant world will learn
what the purposes of Rome really are, only when it is too late to escape the
snare. She is silently growing into power. Her doctrines are exerting their
influence in legislative halls, in the churches, and in the hearts of men. She
is piling up her lofty and massive structures in the secret recesses of which
her former persecutions will be repeated. Stealthily and unsuspectedly she is
strengthening her forces to further her own ends when the time shall come for
her to strike. All that she desires is vantage ground, and this is already
being given her. We shall soon see and shall feel what the purpose of the Roman
element is. Whoever shall believe and obey the word of God will thereby incur
reproach and persecution.” The Great Controversy,
p. 563-572,579-581.
Life in this world,
especially in Protestant America, is about to become very difficult. What the
Vatican couldn’t succeed at with Adolf Hitler during WWII it will accomplish.
But this time with the United States as the world’s aggressor. Peace will no
longer be known. Already trouble to building in the world, which will spark the
final world war that will enslave the human race. Just like the 1929 world
market collapse set the stage for a German furor and a Japanese Emperor,
likewise another collapse will happen for redistributing the world’s wealth
into the hands of the Vatican and her secret societies. When the nations are
angry, then the pope will come to the rescue—but at a price. That price: seven
billion people to worship him as vice president to Christ in His kingdom on
earth.
This can only happen when the
“mighty and holy people” (Dan. 8:24) are abused throughout the earth. They must
be silenced. No more protesters, no more dissenters. Protestant and civil
America will be no more. A new constitution, a new country, will dominate the
world. As the papacy’s eldest son of the Church, the United States of Christian
America will fight her wars. Every true child of God must die, be tortured into
recantation, imprisoned, or worked to death. Every Protestant who loves his
Bible must be punished. Everyone who clings to Jesus in His heavenly sanctuary
must be punished. Like the Jews during Hitler Germany, all modern antipathy
toward the new American regime, all anti-papacy, anti-Catholicism, anti-bishop
of Rome sympathizers, will suffer.
“So he carried me away in the
spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured
beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
And the woman was arrayed in
purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls,
having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her
fornication: and upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE
GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. And I saw the woman
drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of
Jesus.” (Rev. 17:3-6).
But before that extreme
treatment will be a lesser time of trouble. The Holy Roman power will lord over
all the world. Her wicked people will be her henchmen. Reduced to servitude,
the mighty and holy people will be enslaved. They will suffer severely for
every mistake to their masters’ orders, every misunderstood command, every
damaged object, every less than perfect service. Their each complaint, each
request for rest, food, water, etc. will be met with a modern counterpart for
the whip. Angry, crude threatenings will make first time offenders aware of
their transgression. The tazer, the pepper spray, the rubber bat, for second
time offender. The hidden chambers for torture and death to third time offenders.
And there will be no redress
of grievances. Workers’ rights will be no more. Civility will disappear from
this planet. Prejudice and intense hate will pour forth from those who promised
the nations equality and common wealth, who professed to love peace and
brotherhood. Why should we have rights? We deserved to be deceived. We’re the captured
enemy. Enemies have no rights. We will be the enemy in our own country. We will
be the enemy because of Protestantism and its liberation. Those two powers
raised up America above the Papacy and above every other power in the earth.
Because of the faith of Christ and His righteousness built into our
forefathers’ minds He exalted us among the nations. But, Protestant America
failed to do as Jesus commanded when He blessed His people. They were to
prepare the world for the end of the great controversy between Satan and
Christ. Protestant Americans were supposed to purify themselves for Christ’s
second coming in power and in a glory brighter than the sun. “Jesus saith unto
him, … Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of
power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.”(Matt. 26:64).
But, we looked to this world
and loved this world. Now the same destruction must fall upon us as it did to
Israel of old. “I was wroth with My people, I have polluted Mine inheritance, and
given them into thine hand: thou didst shew them no mercy; upon the ancient
hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke.” (Isa. 47:6). No one will receive pity.
Sympathy will leave the earth. “And the nations were angry, and Thy wrath is
come.” (Rev. 11:18).
“Our inheritance is turned to
strangers, our houses to aliens.
We are orphans and
fatherless, our mothers are as widows.
We have drunken our water for
money; our wood is sold unto us.
Our necks are under
persecution: we labour, and have no rest.
We have given the hand to the
Egyptians, and to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.
Our fathers have sinned, and
are not; and we have borne their iniquities.
Servants have ruled over us:
there is none that doth deliver us out of their hand.
We gat our bread with the
peril of our lives because of the sword of the wilderness.
Our skin was black like an
oven because of the terrible famine.
They ravished the women in
Zion, and the maids in the cities of Judah.
Princes are hanged up by
their hand: the faces of elders were not honoured.
They took the young men to
grind, and the children fell under the wood.
The elders have ceased from
the gate, the young men from their musick.
The joy of our heart is
ceased; our dance is turned into mourning.
The crown is fallen from our
head: woe unto us, that we have sinned!” (Lam. 5:2-16).
“The wicked shall do wickedly.”
(Dan. 12:10).
Today Satan is destroying the
nations. Darkness is covering the earth, and gross darkness is covering the
people. The world is growing very depraved, and the prophecy says to us all,
“They ravished the women in Zion, and the maids in the cities of Judah” (Lam.
5:11). Most often in the Bible the word for “ravished” [Strong’s 6031] was
translated “to be afflicted” and “to be humbled”. But two times the Hebrew word
was translated, “forced” (Judg. 20:5; 2 Sam. 13:14,32) sexually, and once
“defiled” (Gen. 34:2) in the way of prostitution (see Gen. 34:31). In those
cases, rape was what the word specifically described. Being raped, “ravished” should
not be dismissed in the coming reign of terror. And men, in this age of
homosexuality and perversity, let’s not think that we will be exempt from rape.
“The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the
bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall
wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of
the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is…. The
beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and
goeth into perdition.” (Rev. 17:8,11). Perdition is the condition of
lawlessness. Morality will evaporate from the earth. the conscience will no
longer be under the control of God’s Spirit.
You will get one chance to
hear your master’s instructions, and any confusion or misunderstanding that
ends in non-compliance will require the master’s terrorizing punishment.
Impatience and wrath will accompany every demand of this rising power. “For,
lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march
through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwellingplaces that are not
theirs.” (Hab. 1:6). There will be no relationship between masters and slaves.
All possessions and houses and lands will be taken by the enemies of
Protestantism and the God of the Bible.
“So the LORD alone did lead
him [Israel], and there was no strange god with him.
He made him ride on the high
places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and He made
him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock;
Butter of kine, and milk of
sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the
fat of kidneys of wheat; and thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape.
But Jeshurun waxed fat, and
kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with
fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of
his salvation.
They provoked Him to jealousy
with strange gods, with abominations provoked they Him to anger.
They sacrificed unto devils,
not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom
your fathers feared not.
Of the Rock that begat thee
thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee.
And when the LORD saw it, He
abhorred them, because of the provoking of His sons, and of His daughters.
And He said, I will hide My
face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward
generation, children in whom is no faith.
They have moved Me to
jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked Me to anger with their
vanities: and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I
will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.
For a fire is kindled in Mine
anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with
her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.
I will heap mischiefs upon
them; I will spend Mine arrows upon them.
They shall be burnt with
hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will
also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the
dust.
The sword without, and terror
within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling also with
the man of gray hairs.
I said, I would scatter them
into corners, I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men:
Were it not that I feared the
wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely,
and lest they should say, Our hand is high, and the LORD hath not done all
this.” (Deut. 32:12-27).
Let the avenging Vatican
remember this last verse. Nevertheless, Protestant America deserves what is
coming. They have loved the gifts of God more than the Giver of those gifts.
The words from their Bible are an affidavit against them. “Wherefore gloriest
thou in the valleys, thy flowing valley, O backsliding daughter? that trusted
in her treasures, saying, Who shall come unto me?” (Jer. 49:4).
“For they are a nation void
of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them.
O that they were wise, that
they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!
How should one chase a
thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them,
and the LORD had shut them up?
For their rock is not as our
Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges.
For their vine is of the vine
of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their
clusters are bitter:
Their wine is the poison of
dragons, and the cruel venom of asps.
Is not this laid up in store
with me, and sealed up among My treasures?
To Me belongeth vengeance,
and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their
calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.
For the LORD shall judge His
people, and repent Himself for His servants, when He seeth that their power is
gone, and there is none shut up, or left.
And He shall say, Where are
their gods, their rock in whom they trusted,
Which did eat the fat of
their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink offerings? let them rise up
and help you, and be your protection.” (Deut. 32:28-38).
Our homes will be taken and
redistributed among the new residents in the land from other countries. And there
will be nothing we can do to stop the grand theft, for we will be considered
traitors of the state and we will no longer have any rights. The only thing
that Protestant homeowners will retain is the mortgage, which they will have no
way of paying. They will be doubly punished, while the new dwellers will live
freely. And the new house dwellers will worship the pope for his beneficence
and political power.
“In all your dwellingplaces
the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate; that
your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, and your idols may be broken
and cease, and your images may be cut down, and your works may be abolished.
And the slain shall fall in
the midst of you, and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
Yet will I leave a remnant,
that ye may have some that shall escape the sword among the nations, when ye
shall be scattered through the countries.
And they that escape of you
shall remember Me among the nations whither they shall be carried captives,
because I am broken with their whorish heart, which hath departed from Me, and
with their eyes, which go a whoring after their idols: and they shall lothe
themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations.
And they shall know that I am
the LORD, and that I have not said in vain that I would do this evil unto them.
Thus saith the Lord GOD;
Smite with thine hand, and stamp with thy foot, and say, Alas for all the evil
abominations of the house of Israel! for they shall fall by the sword, by the
famine, and by the pestilence.
He that is far off shall die
of the pestilence; and he that is near shall fall by the sword; and he that
remaineth and is besieged shall die by the famine: thus will I accomplish my
fury upon them.
Then shall ye know that I am
the LORD, when their slain men shall be among their idols round about their
altars, upon every high hill, in all the tops of the mountains, and under every
green tree, and under every thick oak, the place where they did offer sweet
savour to all their idols.
So will I stretch out My hand
upon them, and make the land desolate, yea, more desolate than the wilderness
toward Diblath, in all their habitations: and they shall know that I am the
LORD.” (Eze. 6:6-14).
We have trusted in the
dove-like peaceful, tones of the popes. The strong delusion of God has come.
Soon, very soon, the sweet sound of the Vatican will turn into the roar of a
ravenous lion. When it is too late to reclaim our power we will see what are
the real motives of the papacy in her smiles and promises of good.
“Woe to her that is filthy
and polluted, to the oppressing city!
She obeyed not the voice; she
received not correction; she trusted not in the LORD; she drew not near to her
God.
Her princes within her are
roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves; they gnaw not the bones till the
morrow.
Her prophets are light and
treacherous persons: her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done
violence to the law.
The just LORD is in the midst
thereof; He will not do iniquity: every morning doth He bring His judgment to
light, He faileth not; but the unjust knoweth no shame.
I have cut off the nations:
their towers are desolate; I made their streets waste, that none passeth by:
their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man, that there is none
inhabitant.
I said, Surely thou wilt fear
Me, thou wilt receive instruction; so their dwelling should not be cut off,
howsoever I punished them: but they rose early, and corrupted all their doings.
Therefore wait ye upon Me,
saith the LORD, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for My determination
is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them Mine
indignation, even all My fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with
the fire of my jealousy.
For then will I turn to the
people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the LORD, to
serve Him with one consent.” (Zeph. 3:1-9).
We will have to have the
scriptures fortifying our minds in order to keep calm and loving toward our
mistresses and masters. All who played church and never feared God will have no
protection for the mental and physical abuse. The persecution will only serve
to reinforce the hatred and vengefulness that still existed in the hearts of
the unconverted religionists. Only the honest hearts will admit that they
deserve the reign of terror.
“Many shall be purified, and
made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked
shall understand; but the wise shall understand.” (Dan. 12:10).
Out of the oppression will
awaken an admission of our failure and our mountain of sinfulness. Conviction
will take hold of minds, repentance will be forthcoming because the word of God
had taken root in honest hearts previous to the desolation that came against
America and all the nations of the world.
“Behold, I will send My
messenger, and he shall prepare the way before Me: and the Lord, whom ye seek,
shall suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, whom ye
delight in: behold, He shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.
But who may abide the day of His
coming? and who shall stand when He appeareth? for He is like a refiner's fire,
and like fullers' soap:
And He shall sit as a refiner
and purifier of silver: and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as
gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in
righteousness.
Then shall the offering of
Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in
former years.” (Mal. 3:1-4).
They will confess their
unfaithfulness to the Lord who hears repentance. They lived for this world
instead of living to spread the gospel everywhere they went in accordance with
the Lord’s command, “to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy
burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?” (Isa.
58:6). He will answer them with His witness of His Spirit. They will be
thankful for the oppression, and will let the oppressors purify them and
prepare them to stand before the Lord of perfection. They will learn what Ellen
White relayed to them about doing their work with “dispatch”, with all their
heart. They will do their masters’ and mistresses’ commands with glee and
thoroughness. They will remember how Abraham, Rebekah, Elijah, and every other
saint—even the cherubim of Ezekiel 1:14 ran to do service. They will become
perfect in their sphere even as their Father in heaven is perfect in His. They
will become pure as Jesus. “It doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we
know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He
is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as He is
pure.” (1Jn. 3:2,3).
This will begin the Loud Cry
of the fourth angel of Revelation 18. Nothing less than captivity will turn
around the rebellion of the mighty and holy people. Out of the abundance of
their repentance their new faith will plead with others and call them to
repentance and obedience to the living God of love. To them will come the
refreshing from the presence of the Lord Jesus, the testimony of Jesus, the
Latter Rain of the Spirit of Christ. He will be close to them again, and their
communion and assurance of His presence will empower them to take the gospel to
the very last soul. There will be no fear of man in their hearts. Never again
will they forget that it is better to obey God than lawless men.
“And when they [the two
witnesses, the mighty and holy people] shall have finished their testimony, the
beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and
shall overcome them, and kill them.
And their dead bodies shall
lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and
Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.
And they of the people and
kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an
half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.
And they that dwell upon the
earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to
another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.
And after three days and an
half [3 1/2 means “judgment”] the Spirit of life from God entered into them,
and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.
And they heard a great voice
from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in
a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.
And the same hour was there a
great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake
were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave
glory to the God of heaven.
The second woe is past; and,
behold, the third woe cometh quickly.” (Rev. 11:7-14).
Nothing the devil and his
hordes of the earth does will not discourage or eliminate the mighty and holy
people. The Adventist and 11th hour Protestants will “sit in heavenly places in
Christ” (Eph. 2:6). They will preach the gospel after their resurrection from
unbelief and desolation. The truth they pour forth will cause a world-wide
shaking and sealing. The Vatican and all of your soldiers cannot prevent the
fulfillment of God’s word by His people.
