The
Second Angel's
Message
As Repeated In
Revelation 18:1-4
or
Jesus (aka Lamb,
Christ) the SON of
GOD IS ABOUT TO
FINISH HIS
WORK
by Joseph Dauda Yakwo
PART I
THE BACKGROUND
CHAPTER 1
TRUTH MUST BE TOLD
As philosophers would say, let us start
from the known and gradually proceed to the
unknown. First, we would assume an
implicit faith in the Bible on the part of the
reader. The Bible records the fall of man
immediately after the creation of all things,
including the first man and his wife. In
Genesis 3:15, while declaring the
punishment of the serpent which had
beguiled the woman, God gave the first
gospel message by prophesying the
incarnation and death of the Messiah
sometime in the future. Said He, “. . . it
shall bruise thy head and thou shall bruise
his heel”. Even in these words, the
final annihilation of the Devil is clearly seen.
Later on, God tested Abraham by
commanding the sacrifice of his son, Isaac,
and then promised a faithful Abraham that
“. . . in thy seed shall all the nations of
the earth be blessed”, pointing to the
fact that the Messiah would be a descendant
of Abraham – at least humanly
speaking – since it is only through
Christ that all the nations of the earth are
indeed blessed.
Still later, Moses was given the immutable
law of God – the one written on
tablets of stone by the finger of God –
and also the law of ordinances, which
pointed to Jesus Christ and captured various
aspects of His life, beginning from His
incarnation till His sacrificial death and
triumphant resurrection, through its various
ceremonies. A quick difference between
these two laws may be perceived by the fact
that the covenant containing the Ten
Commandments and written by God was
placed inside the ark, while the law of
ordinances – written by Moses as
directed by God – was placed beside
the ark, that is, outside the box. (See
Appendix)
Then came Daniel the Prophet, through
whom God gave the longest time prophecy. It
is noteworthy that Jesus Christ Himself
alluded to this very prophecy when He
began His ministry, by declaring that the
“ . . .time is fulfilled . .”. Daniel
had actually been shown the exact year of
Christ’s incarnation, death, and the
time of the end of the Jewish probation, over
500 years even before the birth of Christ.
By and by, Jesus Christ was born; then, He
became mature, and, at age 30, He began to
preach. He was later killed unjustly to
fulfill the Scriptures, and, of course, the
will of God. But He resurrected according to
His words, spoken before He was killed.
Thereafter, He left for Heaven, having
promised, on more than one occasion, that
He would return for His people. It is almost
2000 years now since Jesus Christ left for
Heaven and – at least to the best of
everyone’s knowledge – He is
yet to be back. Very importantly, the church
has gone through several vicissitudes
between when Jesus Christ left and now.
The question is whether Jesus Christ even
knew, let alone told us, to expect these
things, or whether they are wholly
unexpected. If he knew about these things
– and we know He does – then
what exactly did He say? This is crucial, so
we can decide which point we are as at
today, and whether to expect more crises.
The kind of issues referred to here are those
as serious as the persecution of
God’s people in the years following
Christ’s departure to heaven, the
Reformation of the 16th century, the Advent
movement of the 19th century, etc.
The first thing the disciples of Jesus Christ
were to expect after His ascension to heaven
was the outpouring of the Holy Ghost, as
prophesied much earlier by prophet Joel in
Joel 2:28. Thereafter, they were to be
witnesses of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem, in
Judea, in Samaria, and unto the uttermost
parts of the earth. But Christ had earlier told
these disciples that the world would hate
them like it hated Him, and His words came
ringing true when the Chief Priests and
Pharisees began to lay hands on them.
Things got extensive after the stoning of
Stephen and the gospel was indeed taken to
the uttermost parts of the earth, but amid
misery, agony, blood, and tears. So effective
were these early followers of Jesus Christ
that Paul the apostle declared confidently a
few years after he was enlisted into the army
of the Cross, that the gospel had been
“ . . . preached to every creature which
is under heaven” Col 1:23.
Christ had told Peter and his fellow
disciples in Matthew 24 of the signs of His
second coming, and one important
marker that He was on His way down from
Heaven was to be the preaching of the gospel
“. . . in all the world for a witness unto
the nations . . . ”. Some disciples, no
doubt, must have anticipated this glorious
event and even gone about sharing their
convictions with others and causing no
small stir as the words of Paul in II Thes 2:1
– 3 suggests. It was true that the
gospel had reached all the nations of the
earth at that time, but Paul, speaking by the
Holy Spirit, prophesied a “falling
away” from the faith first, and the
revelation of the man of sin, “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”. But
Paul’s prophecy was actually only
more or less a repetition of Daniel’s
prophecy about the same “man of
sin”, whom Daniel referred to as the
“little horn” in Daniel 7. This
man of sin will continue till the second
coming of Jesus Christ because it is Jesus
Himself that “. . . shall consume him
with the spirit of His mouth and destroy him
by the brightness of His coming”. II
Thes 2:8. A parallel to these prophecies is
found in Revelation where John, the Beloved
states – like Daniel – the first
period of the domination of this power as
1260 days in some places, and 3 and ½ times
in others, which all mean 1260 literal years.
(See Appendix for details). A complement to
these prophecies is found in Revelation 13,
where John tells us that this power will suffer
an injury but will eventually be healed; Rev
13:3. Without going into the exegesis and
comparison with recorded world history, and
in full knowledge of the words of God as
recorded in James 4:17, Acts 17:30 etc, we
simply state that this “man of
sin” or “little horn”, or
“leopard-like beast with seven heads
and ten horns” which receives power
and sit and great authority from the dragon
is the papacy, or, for less informed readers,
the corporate entity known as the Roman
Catholic Church. (See Appendix for exegesis
and 10 Incontrovertible Evidence).
However, for the purpose of the key
message of this book, it would be helpful to
point out that the papacy is also the
whore portrayed in Revelation 17, which
was seen riding on a scarlet coloured beast.
This whore announces her official prophetic
name and office by an inscription on her
forehead, namely “Mystery, Babylon
the Great, The Mother of Harlots and
Abominations of the Earth”. In other
passages of the Bible, she is called
“Babylon” for short. (For
Biblical Analysis of this Woman, see
Appendix) Rev. 14:8; 18:2
Suffice to say that this little horn does not
only persecute God’s people,
blaspheme God Himself and them that are in
Heaven (Dan 7:21,25; Rev. 12:6,14 -17) but,
and more crucial for the purpose of this
book, is its character, captured in Daniel
8:12 “ . . .and it cast down the truth to
the ground; and it practiced and
prospered”. Of course, the reader
would do well to continue, if only to get a
more solid assurance that the
“beast” or “little
horn” is what we say it is, in view of
God’s divine anger against all who
worship this beast (Rev13:18; 14:9 -11)
In 1John 2:21b, we read that “no lie
is of the truth . . .”. Indeed, if
something is true, then any other thing that
presents itself as true – thereby
opposing the real truth – is a lie. We
would need to be this categorical if we must
get a complete knowledge of the issues at
stake in the world today. But before going
too far in this, it would be needful for us to
establish the Biblical concept of
“present truth”. It simply refers
to the will of God for His people at different
periods in the history of the church, since
God started relating with humans. Before the
flood and after God decided to overthrow the
earth with water, any living soul that did not
join Noah in building the ark was
condemned. It is easy to see that sin was
prevalent at this time; that to build with Noah
presupposes an initial belief in his message
– which must have contained an
element of repentance and consequent
commitment to the building project –
and a possession of that virtue every follower
of God must possess, namely, faith. During
the time of the Israelites, circumcision was
the sign of the covenant; when John came
preparing the way for the revelation of Jesus
Christ to the world through the Jews, his call
for baptism as a sign of repentance from sin
was God-ordained. Luke 7:30. Anyone who
had thought to himself that circumcision, as
taught by Moses was God-ordained and
thereby despised John’s call to
repentance would have been choosing error
in place of truth and excluding himself from
the will of God for that season. The reason
for this is certainly not that circumcision as
taught by Moses was ordained by Satan, but
that for “prosperity” in the
faith, one needed to believe God’s
prophet. (See Appendix for an easy
Identification List). As the Bible said,
“believe in the Lord, so shall ye be
established; believe in His prophets, so shall
ye prosper”. Since the opposite of
prosperity is failure, disbelief of
God’s prophet – whether they
are so called or not – is the easiest
way to truncate one’s walk with God.
The “establishment” in the
foregoing Scripture, refers to the basis; the
foundation. God is the one we are seeking;
belief in Him is what establishes us. But to
succeed or build on that which is
established, or to “prosper”,
the heralds of truth are not just necessary,
but vital. Any contrary course of action puts
even the foundation gained by believing God
at risk.
After John’s preaching and baptism,
Jesus Christ began His work. At that time,
following John the Baptist after knowing who
Jesus Christ was would have been
tantamount to rejecting the truth and falling
out of the way. No wonder, John quickly
faded out of the picture. In retrospect, one
may say his incarceration was to allow for a
smooth transition since his continued
presence might have been a cause for
concern among the unlearned disciples.
Jesus Christ did not abolish water baptism
by immersion, but has, as a distinguishing
factor of His baptism and that of John, the
additional baptism of the Holy Spirit to offer.
A case is presented in Acts 19:1-7 to
illustrate the validity of this concept of
present truth. Living without present truth is
as bad as a fellow slaying goats and rams on
an altar as late as today, for the remission of
sins! But let us note that, back in time, that
exactly loathsome picture was of one
faithfully carrying out God’s perfect
will. Time, is, then, a factor, in dealing with
God. As a matter of fact, present truth
– as in some cases in the Bible
– may also be only a restoration of
long forgotten truths (2Kings 22:8 -20; 23:1
-4; 1Kings 18: 36 -46; 1Sam 10:24 -27 etc)
If we take a critical look at the passage in
Acts 19:1 -7, we would not fail to notice the
readiness with which the 12 men received
the words of Paul, once it was presented to
them. To make the point we seek to now
make, a hypothesis would be required.
Suppose, for instance, that three of the 12
men had suddenly died before they were
privileged to see Paul on the day recorded in
Acts 19? We would have to agree that they
had earlier responded accordingly to
John’s call for repentance and water
baptism (19:3) and, all factors being equal,
one would say they would have died in the
Lord. But this is not inconsistent with Bible
truth. In James 4:17, we read that “to
him that knoweth to do good and doeth it
not, to him it is sin”. Knowledge is a
precondition for sin. In one of his
discourses, John the Beloved even defines
sin as the transgression of the law, meaning
that one who sins must first of all have
known better. Cornelius – before Peter
met and preached to him – was
practicing what he believed to be true. The
Bible says in John chapter 1 that “this
was the true light, which lighteth every man
that cometh into the world”; and Paul
also told Titus that “the grace of God
that bringeth salvation hath appeared unto
ALL men . . .”
The above cases are presented so the
reader would be rest assured that all diligent
students of the Bible share a belief that,
though the truth must and should be told,
condemnation is reserved for God only, who
alone can know the ones who have beheld
the light of truth in their hearts, for which He
then proceeds to hold them accountable
John 3:19. Cornelius was in error in thinking
the way he did before Peter met him, but he
did not know any better, so, God accepted
him. To say the least, he must have been
diligent in seeking God for God to have
blessed him with the light Peter brought by
preaching the gospel to him. Even the Old
Testament teaches that “ye shall seek
me and find me when ye seek me with all
your heart”. A usual thing with all
children of God, even if for a time they may
have believed a wrong thing, is the
eagerness and joy with which they receive
truth, once it is revealed to them. Cornelius
and the 12 men in Acts are good examples of
real children of God. But, again, this is not
strange. Jesus Christ, in John 10:16, 27 said
His sheep shall hear His voice and join the
fold so that all will be in one fold. All these
are good reasons why we would
unequivocally present the truth in the
following pages. There is no loss in doing
this because the truth is a representation of
Jesus Christ and thereby honours Him; the
truth also gives children of God in wrong
folds the chance and reason to come out,
after hearing the voice of their Shepherd;
again, the truth unmasks the enemy.
PART I
CHAPTER 2
THANK GOD FOR THE
REFORMATION
Simply put, the Roman Catholic Church is
an edifice of falsehood. This is said bearing
in mind the fact that many sincere
seekers after God are currently worshiping
God through the teachings of this church. Let
us mention in passing that the time for being
on the defensive is over. Let every practicing
Catholic rise above the surging emotion of
anger and consider diligently why one who
appears to be a Christian would be so bold in
referring to the Roman Catholic Church as
the vicegerent, not of God as is claimed, but
of the Devil, or Satan. This is not the time for
indulging an unholy indignation and
vindictive thoughts. It is a time for humility
and study, even if only for the benefit of the
doubt. A comparison of Biblical prophecy
and world history – as presented in
the Appendix – will convince any
willing learner of the veracity of this
assertion. However, the purpose of this book
is not to restate what one may find in other
materials. The history of the Reformation is
there for any interested reader to read and
consider the spirit behind those who burnt
fellow human beings alive, fed them to wild
animals, destroyed their property, banished
them from society, and heaped every
conceivable curse upon them, on the basis
of these helpless victims either owning
copies of the Bible, portions of the Bible, or
teaching anything contrary to the Roman
Catholic Church, which openly declares that
its doctrines are formulated, drawing not only
from the Bible, but the “traditions of
the fathers” also. This is in flagrant
disregard of the words of Jesus Christ that
those who worship according to tradition in
disregard of the Bible are worshipping God in
vain, teaching as doctrines the
commandments of men. But we are loath to
continue on this path, else we be
conveniently misconstrued. Other materials
– and the appendix – make
clear that Babylon is indeed the Roman
Catholic Church. It would take a very
determined effort on the part of any reader to
argue with this. So many and valid are the
evidences.
“Babylon is fallen . . . because she
made all nations drink of the wine of the
wrath of her fornication; . . . and the
inhabitants of the earth have been made
drunk with the wine of her fornication; . . . for
all nations have drunk of the wine of the
wrath of her fornication” Rev 14:8;
17:2; 18:3. The Babylon referred to in these
passages is spiritual Babylon; so also is the
charge of fornication. It is spiritual, in this
case, meaning a departure from the true God
to the worship of other Gods. Indeed,
Babylon is guilty of this sin, but more than
this, has made all nations of the earth drunk
with this polluted wine of her false doctrines.
In the previous chapter, we expressed
interest in a specific character of Babylon,
namely that of upholding lies, for, says the
Bible, “it cast down the truth to the
ground and it practiced and
prospered”. Thus, the Bible declares
the prosperity of Babylon to be based on
practicing falsehood, for how can it cast the
truth to the ground except a lie is brought in
to modify or even completely replace it?
Because of the Reformation, we now know
that so many of the doctrines of the Roman
Catholic Church were borrowed directly
from paganism, the religion of Rome
before the Christian era. Doctrines such as
transubstantiation, purgatory, selling of
indulgences, the Mass, the Immaculate
Conception, the Deifying of Mary, The use of
the Rosary, Baptism by sprinkling, Infant
baptism, Veneration of Saints, Observation
of Holy Days, The Pope as Lord God, the
Infallibility of the Roman Catholic Church,
the worship of Images, the expurgation of the
second commandment, the division of the
ninth commandment, etc, have been
renounced by the protestant churches since
after the Reformation because they were
seen to be only pagan beliefs cloaked with
and garnished with the names of Jesus
Christ, Mary, the Apostles, or the images of
same. But the Bible says “the path of
the righteous is like the light of dawn, which
shines ever brighter unto the perfect
day” Prov 4:18. In view of this, we
would need to ask what further light has
been received by God’s people since
after the Reformation. This question is
answered by the Advent Movement, which
began in the early 19th century and gave
birth to a group protesting some doctrines of
the Protestants, who themselves were
children of reformers who had earlier
protested against the doctrines of the Roman
Catholic Church, declaring that the Bible and
the Bible only should be the rule of faith.
As a matter of fact, when all the details are
collected and arranged properly, one would
not fail to see that the Reformation that gave
birth to the Protestants was ordained by
God. By the way, truth alone was the great
battle axe of this great worldwide
awakening. As truth is revealed, lies must be
renounced, or the darkness of falsehood
only gets thicker. It is the will of God for truth
to initially be introduced gradually, or
restored in the same manner. The truths that
now separate the Protestants and the
Catholics are not new. They were true when
Christ walked this earth, and for a few
centuries after He left, but mark the words of
Paul in II Thes 2: 1-12 that the mystery of
iniquity was to be experienced and was in
fact already at work in his day. This mystery
is a mystery because falsehood is cunningly
made to appear as truth and righteousness,
even though it is not so indeed, for it is a
mystery of iniquity. By virtue of the fact that
it exists in the church and yet is employed to
oppose God, deception, then, must be the
engine of this mystery. People bowing the
knee to the man of sin often do so in
ignorance, and, according to Acts17:30, God
has been winking at this ignorance but is
now urging men everywhere who hear this
truth to repent. Martin Luther, Huss, Wycliffe,
Tyndale, Baxter etc indeed discovered some
truths. The Bible was their only source, with,
of course, the insight of the Holy Spirit. What
about the Advent Movement of the 1800s?
The Seventh-day Adventist Church claims
to have light on the sanctuary service and
declare that, beginning from the 21st of
October, 1844, Christ entered the Holy of
Holies for the final phase of His ministration
in the heavenly sanctuary, equivalent to the
yearly “Day of Atonement”
observed by the Israelites in Old Testament
days. This was the most solemn fast in Israel,
and confirmed or denied a person the right to
continue to belong to the people of God. It is
a period of judgment, and the Adventists
believe that their notable preaching of the
judgment message was so planned by God to
coincide with the entrance of Christ into the
Holy of Holies, and they cite some Scriptures
as support. Rev 14:6, 7 (For a detailed
presentation of this pivotal doctrine of the
Seventh-day Adventist Church, see
Appendix).
The Seventh-day Adventist Church also
categorically teaches complete obedience to
the Ten Commandments of God and
makes a Scriptural distinction between
these and the law of ordinances, which they
agree was nailed to the cross when Christ
died. Their authority for obeying and teaching
others to obey the Ten Commandments
include the words of Christ in Matthew
5:17-20, where Christ avows the perpetuity
of the law; others are John 14:15; James
2:10-12, etc. Since the Bible nowhere
suggests any change in the Sabbath day
– a fact corroborated by Protestants
– the Adventists also keep the
Seventh-day holy, as commanded in the
fourth commandment Ex 20:8-11 (See
Appendix for details). The prophecy of Daniel
7:25 that foretold an attempt by the
“little horn” to change the
times and the laws is also a crucial
motivation.
Another point in which the Seventh-day
Adventists believe light has been received is
on the issue of the state of the dead. But
it is curious that even Martin Luther the
reformer believed – as do the
Adventists – that the dead are asleep
until awoken by the voice of Jesus Christ
(John 5:28, 29), and not alive in either hell or
paradise, as the majority of Protestants
believe. In one of his writings, Luther argued
for the truth that souls of the dead know
nothing and will remain in the grave till they
are called forth, relying heavily on the Book
of Ecclesiastes. (See Appendix)
Already, the Roman Catholic Pontiff has
issued partially veiled threats to the Adventist
Church, saying the church needed to be
“evangelized”. One only needs
to look at history to see what calls forth the
indignation of the papacy – truth, or
one may even say, a revelation of Jesus
Christ.
It is remarkable that the most significant
outward difference between Catholics and
Protestants, on the one hand, and
Seventh-day Adventists on the other, is
over the separate days they observe as the
Sabbath day. While the Adventists keep
Saturday holy as the day of worship in line
with Ex 20:8-11, the rest of the Christian
world honours Sunday and continues to do
so, in spite of the fact that the Roman
Catholic Church has declared at sundry
times, through formal publications and
otherwise, that the change of the day of
worship from Saturday to Sunday was
effected by the church and also serves as the
mark of her authority. In all modesty, it must
be stated that this is a mystery. Why the
Protestants fail to find the courage to uphold
the slogan that marked their birth –
the Bible and the Bible only as the rule of life
and source of all doctrine – is indeed
a mystery. The matter had at some point got
so ugly that the Roman Catholic Church has
used this fact to mock Protestants, saying
they were inconsistent and unfaithful in
disobeying the Roman Catholic Church
– the Mother Church – on
some issues, while still keeping Sunday
instead of Saturday, an ordinance instituted
by the church and having no scriptural
authority. (See Appendix for Statements)
We shall now go back to the prophecies to
learn more – in the next chapter
– and prepare the ground, before
delving into the key message of this book.
PART I
CHAPTER 3
THE GREAT ADVENT MOVEMENT
These are days of categorical statements.
The party is almost over and the curtain is
soon to be drawn.
The only person that was speaking the
truth in the world – including Israel
– during the time of Christ was Christ
Himself, and He was always with His
disciples, except for that brief period when
He sent them out among the 70, two by two.
But this did not stop several other teachers
in Israel – Pharisees, Priests,
Sadducees, Rabbis – from teaching
what we must say was either obsolete and
thereby misleading, or plain falsehood. And
yet, these ones were by far in the majority.
During the reign of Ahab and Israel’s
great apostasy, Elijah felt so convinced that
all Israel had forsaken God except himself, as
he related to God in frustrated tones in
1Kings 19:10, 14. On the side of falsehood,
there were 850 prophets at this time. But this
ratio is only twice as worse as what we see
during Micaiah’s exploits, who alone
could deliver the true oracles of God. In
1Kings 22:1-28 and 37, Micaiah stood alone
against the flamboyant prophecies of 400
prophets, who were indeed prophets, only
that they were false or declaring falsehood,
at least in this Bible account. Many examples
of the perpetual minority of true light bearers
abound in the Scriptures. One fearful,
sobering fact many may easily overlook,
however, is that all this disturbing majority
of false preachers were in Israel, the land
God calls His chosen. If these events
referred to above had occurred in Assyria or
Egypt, it would have been understandable.
But here, we are faced with an unfortunate
reality, which is that, even among those
called the people of God, the truth have been
that scarce. And while we meditate upon this
solemn matter, let us recall also that the
people that hated Christ the most and would
not sleep till He was destroyed were the
official custodians of the Scriptures. Let us
try and juggle our imaginations to see the
counterparts of those teachers of the law
and Rabbis and Sadducees in our day. As it
was during Christ’s time, the truth is
hardly found in such places, but this fact is
never obvious unless one truly seeks God
and is enabled to see beyond the surface. As
long as Christ’s incarnation was yet
to take place, everything looked peaceful on
the surface in religious Israel, but this peace
was such sustained by lukewarmness
towards God and oppression on the part of
the Jewish leaders, who exacted the people
with laws having no higher authority than
their corrupt minds; drove them to despair
with frivolous superstitions, and directed
their minds away from God to earthly
pursuits in order for them to enrich and
please their perceived teachers. But when
Christ came, these corrupt leaders
recognized the threat. They realized that His
life alone was a scathing rebuke to their
hypocrisy, which the people they had held
bound for years, would not fail to
understand. They saw in Christ the
upholding of the law they had often perverted
for their selfish ends. Yet, so impossible was
it for them to change that, to placate their
conscience and also preserve the dread of
the people through their lies, Christ had to
be sacrificed. None of those men could
convict Christ of any sin. Their malicious
accusations were nothing more than that
– malicious accusations – and
even a heathen Governor, after examining
Him, declared Christ innocent.
As Jesus Christ often said, His lot would
also fall upon His disciples, since they
represented Him to the world. The same
spirit that worked in the children of
disobedience will work against
Christ’s faithful few, to mete out to
them the same treatment meted out to their
Lord. This will never change. Small wonder,
Jesus Christ Himself says, “The thing
that is highly esteemed among men is an
abomination towards God”. With a
Christian spirit, one should never look at
majority, fame, wealth, or worldly
acceptance, in determining the true fold of
God. If anything, those things should be a
reason for extreme caution. The only
criterion to be used should be absolute
conformity to the revealed will of God.
Without mincing words, Christ declared
Himself as the way, the truth and the life,
making it easier for His hearers to decide,
and in fact, placing a demand for a decision
upon them, even if by default. In imitating
Christ, we wish to present some facts that
make clear that the God who was behind the
Reformation of the 16th century was also
behind the Advent Movement of the 19th
century, and that the oracles of truth are
currently believed and being taught by the
Seventh-day Adventist Church, as the church
armed with present truth for our time. As
Jesus Christ said, he who has an ear let him
hear. Everyone is responsible for the
decision they make over this matter. But the
main thrust of this book is the presentation
of more truths, which will be news, even to
members of the Seventh-day Adventist
church.
Most of the prophecies pertaining to the
last days paint a very bleak picture. II
Timothy 3: 1-5 says perilous times shall
come, and that God haters would appear to
be genuine children of God, meaning they
would attend church and probably partake in
some godly ceremony, yet will be guilty of
the most heinous sins. Another Scripture
says men shall no longer endure sound
doctrine, but “ . . .give ear to
seducing spirits and doctrines of
devils”. In the world today, no church
can claim not to have it's own share of Judas,
Jezebels, and Ahabs. And yet, the Bible
gives us enough light to at least belong to the
right fold, with its weaknesses and all. The
Book of Revelation, which is one of the keys
to understanding the last days, also presents
a torchlight one may use in searching for the
true remnant church in these last days.
Pivotal to finding the church of God is first,
the recognition of the “beast”,
or “antichrist”, or “little
horn”, or “man of sin”,
which all refer to that power that has
opposed and will yet oppose God’s
people. The first hint in all of Scripture that
the Devil will plant his agent right within the
church and, through this agent, attempt to
usurp God’s authority, was given in
the Book of Daniel. As shown in the
appendix, the saints of God are given into the
hands of the little horn for 3 ½ times, which
is equal to 1260 literal years; (Dan 7:25).
According to Scripture, this horn was seen
“making war with the saints and
prevailing against them”. Indeed,
history records how powerless the early
Christians were to defend themselves
against the wrath of this man of sin. We have
already established from Appendix 6A that
this period prophesied about in Daniel 7:25
was the 1260 between 538AD and 1798AD. By
this latter date, the little horn or papacy,
seemed to have been defeated. The Pope at
that time was captured by the French
General, Berthier, who was acting on the
orders of Napoleon Bonaparte. This Pope
was exiled and later died in exile. But there is
something that happened in the early 20th
century for which one may require some
explanation. In 1929, the Italian government
under Mussolini recognized Vatican City as
an independent State. It bears mention for
the sake of those who may not know, that
Vatican City is the city from which the Pope
administers the affairs of the worldwide
Roman Catholic Church. It is the
headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church.
By recognizing this city as an independent
State, the Pope had been made King once
more. It means the Pope could then have
ambassadors representing him in all the
nations of the world. But Daniel, in Daniel
7:25 only prophesied that the little horn will
persecute God’s people and reign in
the earth for 1260 years, which history
records was between 538AD and 1798AD. So,
is the Bible silent about the restoration of
the papacy? As a matter of fact, the Bible is
far from silent, for it has a faithful record of
the foreknowledge of God in this matter, to
the effect that this power will be present in
the world until “consumed” by
the brightness of the coming of Jesus
Christ, according to 2Thess 2:9. To
understand what is going on, we have to
investigate the prophecy of John in the
Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God
Almighty gave Him to show unto His servants
things which must shortly come to pass.
John’s Prophecy about the
leopard-like beast – which is the same
as the power represented by the little horn of
Daniel’s prophecy – is
recorded in several chapters of the Book of
Revelation. The first is in chapter 12.
Beginning from verse 13, where the dragon
realizes he had been cast to the earth and
the Child Jesus finally out of his reach
because caught up to heaven (verse 5), the
Bible says this dragon persecuted the
Woman – that is, the church –
which gave birth to the Child. “But the
Woman was given two wings of a great
eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness
to her place, where she is nourished for a
time, times and half a time, from the
presence of the serpent”. This
prophecy unmistakably points to the same
period in Daniel 7:25, where, harassed by
various forms of tortuous death, the
Christians of that age found refuge in the
wilderness and nether places of the earth,
“from the face of the serpent”.
This was necessary because the serpent, or
dragon, was bent on destroying the Woman --
or church -- completely. One only needs to
read the documents signed by the Popes of
that Dark period to reach this conclusion. But
John expounded further on this chapter 12
prophecy right in the next chapter. After
making clear that the leopard-like beast
receives his power, throne and great
authority from the dragon – spiritually
referring to Satan but physically referring to
pagan Rome – John says,
“And I saw one of his heads as if it
had been mortally wounded, and his deadly
wound was healed”. There, we have a
prophetic insight into the restoration of the
papacy and the authority of the Pope in 1929
by the Italian government. God knew all along
that this was going to happen. Indeed, He is
God.
But when we go to Revelation 12, we realize
that the Woman which fled to the wilderness
was indeed protected “from the
presence of the serpent”, meaning,
she was safe in that wilderness. In
desperation, the dragon spewed water out of
its mouth to drown the Woman, but God
overruled. “And the dragon was
enraged with the Woman and he went to
make war with the rest of her offspring,
which keep the commandments of God and
have the testimony of Jesus Christ”.
Let us note that the Woman was in the
wilderness primarily to escape the
persecution of the dragon (12:13). The
dragon kept trying to do this until it downed
on him that it will not be possible, since this
Woman was helped by the earth to swallow
even the water spewed from the
dragon’s mouth (12:15-16). The agent
of this dragon is the papacy, and the Woman
remained in the wilderness for the same
period that this power reigned because it
persecuted this Woman, which represents
the true church of God (12:1). History says
the Pope – and thereby the papacy
– was dethroned after this same
1260-year period in 1798, and the Bible had
this recorded almost two millennia before it
actually happened! But the woman also
remained in the wilderness this long. It
means the dragon was not able to
exterminate the church. Though historians
put the number of martyrs of Jesus Christ
during the Dark Ages when papacy held
sway as over 50 million, this passage makes
clear that some were still in the wilderness
and this church obviously outlived the
papacy, since the papacy’s reign was
interrupted in 1798. Rev 12:17 says,
“And the dragon was enraged and
went to make war with the remnants of her
seed”. The obvious implication, here,
is that this war takes place only during the
period of the healed wound. The dragon had
no agent to persecute God’s people
in the worldwide manner the Roman Catholic
Church did, after 1798, and yet, we hear the
Bible saying the dragon went to make war
with the rest of the Woman’s seed.
This war only takes place when the dragon
again has the papacy or an alternative agent
to employ; meaning sometime after the
mortal wound, inflicted in 1798. Also, these
remnants of the Woman’s seed
appear only after the 1260 years, that is, any
time post 1798. The distinguishing feature of
this remnant church is the keeping of the
commandments of God and the possession
of the testimony of Jesus Christ, Rev 12:17.
So, the Bible is saying that there is going to
be a war between the dragon and the
remnant church, which keeps the
commandment of God and have the
testimony of Jesus Christ. This war must be
in the future because we are yet to see the
persecution of any group claiming to be the
remnant church; at least, not anything near
the scale the dragon, through the papacy, is
known for.
But which is this remnant church, which
appears in the world after 1798 and would
have to engage in a war with the dragon?
As already proved, the dragon’s
war with this church, though basically
spiritual, is exhibited in the physical. The
dragon would need an agent on the ground,
and it is interesting to note that its faithful
agent – the papacy – though
mortally wounded, gets healed; Rev 13:3.
But, does the dragon employs this same old
agent in the war against the remnant church
prophesied in Rev 12:17? We need to know
the answers to this question because, right
before our eyes, the glory and power of the
papacy is being restored. With the drive for
ecumenism gaining unprecedented
momentum, Christians the world over will
inevitably be united. In 1999, the Pope
hosted the leaders of virtually all the religions
in the world, including Buddhism, Hinduism,
Islam, etc. This convocation was held in
Vatican City and some aspects of it were
broadcast on international TV stations.
Apart from the prophetic insight granted to
us who live in these time of the end so we
would appreciate God’s
foreknowledge, Rev 13:1-7 is more or less
the same prophecy found in Daniel 7. This
insight, of course, concerns the restoration
of the papacy, which the prophet figuratively
describes as the healing of the mortal wound
– a thing that we can say formally
occurred in 1929 when Mussolini recognized
Vatican City as an independent State, making
the Pope King again, since the dethronement
of that power in 1798. But, Rev 13:11 opens
up another new angle to this worldwide
drama. There, the prophet sees
“another beast coming up out of the
earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and
spoke like a dragon”. As appendix 7A
makes lucidly clear, this beast is the United
States of America, which was rising to world
fame at the time after the mortal wound was
inflicted on the leopard-like beast, that is,
post 1798. “And he exercises all the
authority of the first beast in his presence,
and causeth the earth and those who dwell in
it to worship the first beast, whose deadly
wound was healed”. Again, we see a
reference to the wounded beast, whose
deadly wound was healed, and is referred to
in this shocking prophecy as “the
first beast”. In other words, the
United States of America shall exercise all
the authority of the papacy. The ultimate act
in this very wonderful achievement of the
United States is recorded in Rev 13:16, 17,
but the method for the fulfillment of this
incredible prophecy is as recorded in verses
13 – 15 of the same chapter. What is
important to note is that this two-horned
beast – or the United States –
first supervises the formation of “an
image to the beast that was wounded by the
sword and live”. This third reference
to the beast that was mortally wounded and
yet lived is simply remarkable and should not
fail to enjoy our attention. So, though the
United States is credited with deputizing for
the first beast, it does so primarily by
hosting the formation of the “image
of the beast”. The punishment visited
on those who will not obey the image of the
beast by receiving the mark or name of the
beast or the number of his name, is life
threatening (Rev 13: 17, 15), and the Bible
says in 13:8 that, “all who dwell in the
earth will worship him, whose names have
not been written in the Book of life of the
Lamb slain from the foundation of the
world”. If all who dwell in the earth
worship this beast, and yet beast
worshippers do not have their names written
in the Book of life, does it mean that all
those who live during this period will be
enemies of God? Would there not be a single
person or group of persons whose names
are written in the Book of life, and who
consequently would not worship this beast?
A great source of discouragement for those
who will not worship the beast is the power
of the image of the beast to sustain the threat
of economic sanctions and even dare to kill
(Rev 13:15,17).
Beginning from the last verse of this
amazing chapter of this amazing Book, we
see hope for a group that seems not to
bow the knee to the image of the beast,
choosing, rather, to suffer the wrath of the
two-horned beast. “Here is wisdom.
Let him who has understanding calculate the
number of the beast, for it is the number of a
man: His number is 666”. There would
have been no need to hold up this sign in the
sacred Scripture except to warn the faithful
and help them avoid receiving this very
dangerous mark. But apart from the fact that
only those whose names are not written in
heaven worship the beast, they are also the
recipients of the worst punishment God
would ever visit on mortals, because this
punishment is poured out without mercy.
This punishment is, in fact, to be declared by
some people who actually live through this
troublous period. It is reasonable to expect
this people to be the only ones excluded
when the Bible says, “all who dwell on
the earth shall worship the beast”.
This message that would be declared by the
faithful few is recorded in Rev 14:9.
“Then the third angel followed them
saying with a loud voice, “if anyone
worships the beast and his image, and
receives his mark on his forehead or on his
hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine
of the wrath of God, which is poured out full
strength into the cup of His
indignation”. But if the Bible refers to
this damning message quoted above as the
third angel’s, then what are the first
and second angels’ messages? The
Bible calls the first beast so, because it
receives its power directly from Satan, or,
physically, from pagan Rome. When talking
about the United States, it made clear that
this was “another beast”.
Therefore, in the same manner, there is no
reason for the Bible to talk of a “third
angel” without there being a first and
a second angel.
In this matter, we really do not have to look
too far. Rev 14:6-8 declare that before the
third angel there was a second, before
whom there was a first, all having distinct
messages. For now, all we need to note is the
worldwide nature of these messages.
Borrowing from the first angel, we see that
the everlasting gospel it carries was
preached “to those who dwell on the
earth – to every nation, tribe and
tongue, and people” Rev 14:6.
While presenting the history of the world
– both past and future, as revealed in
the Book of Revelation – we have
allowed the reader wonder what this group
is, whose members constitute the remnant
church, against which the dragon makes war
(12:17); have their names written in the Book
of life, and do not, therefore, worship the
beast. These also suffer the sanctions
imposed by the image of the beast in honour
of the beast (13:16, 17), and preach the three
angels’ message (14:6-10). The Bible
states the character of this group –
actually, it is a restatement – so
clearly that it is easy to see who they are.
After painting a picture of loyalty to the beast
and rebellion against God and His anger
against those who worship the beast –
whose names are no written in the Book of
life – the Bible soothes and comforts
those who will surely suffer for their fidelity
towards God during this time of near
universal apostasy. In Rev 14:12, we read,
“Here is the patience of the saints;
here are those who keep the commandments
of God and have the faith of Jesus”.
Who are those that keep the commandments
of God but the ones against whom the
dragon was enraged and went to make war
with; who are these but members of the
remnant church, which the dragon turned his
attention to, after his determined struggle to
exterminate the church failed even after
1798? Who are these comforted and told to
have patience because of the tribulation they
suffer under the image of the beast, in its
attempt to force them to receive the mark of
the beast? Who are these but the same
remnants who also are alone against the
world and are alone mandated to preach the
three angels’ message, part of which
is the damning message promising the
unmingled wrath of God against
worshippers of the beast? Since it is time for
identification of this remnant church, one
more character of this group, unto which
God’s oracle have been committed is
in place. In Rev 12:17, the dragon went to
make war with the remnant church, which
not only keeps the commandments of God,
but have the testimony of Jesus Christ. In
the restatement of the character of this
group, they are said to keep the
commandments of God and possess the
testimony of Jesus. An interpretation of
“the testimony of Jesus” is
found in Rev 19:10. “Worship God!
For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of
prophecy”.
PART I
CHAPTER 4
THE BEAST AND HIS MARK
One very interesting method of identifying
the remnant church of God that provokes the
destructive temper of the beast and his
agents – whether first beast, or
two-horned beast, or image of the beast
– is by identifying the mark of the
beast. The relation of the remnant church to
the mark of the beast casts it in bold relief as
indeed the remnant church.
“He shall speak pompous words
against the Most High; shall persecute the
saints of the Most High; and shall think to
change times and law. Then the saints shall
be given into his hands for a times and times,
and half a time”. Dan 7:25. If a panel
of judges were given an objective history of
the reign of the Roman Catholic Church
during the Dark Ages, and also given the
true length of the prophecy of the
“time, times, and half a time”,
they would find it very easy to say the papacy
indeed is the little horn, even if none of them
was a Christian. The matter is so plain that it
cannot be argued. As already stated, the
little horn is the beast, whose mark we now
wish to determine, as a countdown to
identifying the remnant church that it
engages in a war. Dan 7:25 includes a
statement that indicts the beast for thinking
to change “times and law”. As
a matter of fact, the beast has already done
this. In appendix 8A, we present the Ten
Commandments, as written by the finger of
God Almighty on the tablets of stone given to
Moses and recorded in Exodus 20:1-17, and
besides these, the ten commandments as
contained in the Roman Catholic Church
catechism booklet. A careful comparison
between the two reveals the fulfillment of the
prophecy of Daniel, which was given some
500 years before Christ’s incarnation
on earth. It would be noticed that the 10th
commandment – as recorded in the
Scriptures – is actually stated as two
separate commandments, and yet, the
number of commandments in this catechism
booklet still remains 10. Well, the reason for
this is that you may use a microscope to
search, but you will never find the words of
second commandment as recorded in
Exodus 20:3, in the version of the ten
commandments of the Catholic Church, as
taught to her adherents. Thirdly, the fourth
commandment in the Catholic document
only mentions the Sabbath day –
which is to be kept holy – but does
not define which day is the Sabbath day, as
the Bible does in Exodus 20:8-11. “He
shall think to change times and law”.
The reason for the total expurgation of the
second commandment in the Catholic
version of the Ten Commandments is that
there is no way paganism can function
without bowing down to its gods, and, left
with no option or no lie to explain the
requirement of the second commandment
forbidding image worship, the beast –
or papacy -- imperiously expunged the law it
could not alter. But alteration was possible
with the fourth. By stating the law in part, the
papacy was able to pull off one of greatest
hoax in the history of the church, but nothing
God did not already know about. What was
this hoax?
In the world today, Roman Catholics
consider Sunday the Sabbath day, in total
disregard of the Biblical Sabbath, which
is defined as the seventh day of the week,
or Saturday, as we now call it. Sunday is the
first and not the seventh day of the week,
and in case anyone is wondering if this
matter is petty, let us consider that the
Roman Catholic Church as an entity which
we have unequivocally stated is the
leopard-like beast of Rev 13:1 – claims
that the change of the Sabbath day from
Saturday to Sunday is a “mark of her
authority”. Daniel prophesied it and
the church has defiantly fulfilled this
prophecy, with no apologies to the
Protestants, who they mock of paying
homage to the Roman Catholic Church in
spite of themselves, by observing Sunday as
the Sabbath day. If the beast is the Roman
Catholic Church and it says of itself that the
change of the Sabbath from Saturday to the
day more appropriate to the worship of the
chief of the pagan gods – the sun god
– is a mark of its authority, then, be it
known unto all who have ears to hear that the
mark of the beast is the change of the
Sabbath day from the day commanded by
God Almighty to that commanded by the
beast. The matter may sound simple and
even belaboured, but is nonetheless so
profound to the extent of being a major
reason for the writing of the Book of
Revelation. In the foregoing statements, we
are either wrong or right, for we have been
categorical. The reader is responsible for
reading thus far; whether to seek God and
receive greater light or despise these words
to his/her soul’s damnation.
Many are the sins of Babylon – the
Roman Catholic Church – against
God and His people, but the war of the
dragon, which was frustrated by the
successful fleeing of the Woman into the
wilderness, and which will, in these last
days, enlist the image of the beast and the
two-horned beast to fight against the
remnant of her seed, will basically be over
the issue of this mark, as recorded in Rev.
13, 14. But one may ask if God also has His
mark, since the beast obviously has his.
Actually, God’s mark is called a
“seal”, and is indeed found
within His law. Some reader has already
inferred what it is. If the mark of the beast is
a flagrant change of God’s Sabbath
from the seventh day of the week to the first
day of the week, then the seal of God is
simply obedience to the requirement of
keeping this original Sabbath, that is, on the
seventh day of the week.
So, while the Roman Catholic Church
– the beast of Rev 13:1 –
persecutes God’s people for a period
of 1260 years, blasphemes God, speaks
against Him, thinks to change times and law,
“casts truth to the ground and
practiced and prospered”, the
remnant church receives the seal of God by
obeying His Ten Commandments –
including the Sabbath commandment
– appears in the earth only after 1798,
is a worldwide church; has the spirit of
prophecy (which is the testimony of Jesus),
and is set to suffer persecution, while
declaring especially the third angel’s
message, which denounces the worshippers
of the beast and assures them of
God’s judgment. As surely as the
Roman Catholic Church exists right before
our eyes today, so also does the remnant
church, which will be seen to have the full
complement of the identifying marks, as
stated above. This church is none other than
the Seventh-day Adventist Church. It was
established as a corporate entity in 1863; it
keeps the seventh day as the Sabbath day; it
also believes and teaches obedience to the
whole Ten Commandments of God; it is a
worldwide movement; it preaches the three
angels’ message; it has the gift of
prophecy, or spirit of prophecy. In short, one
would need to disagree with the Bible in
order to disagree with the evidence all
pointing to the fact that the Seventh-day
Adventist Church is the remnant church of
Bible prophecy, as foretold in the Book of
Revelation. But we are yet to present
evidence of the church’s possession
of the spirit of prophecy, and intend to do so
through the course of the remaining chapters
of this book, while dealing with other equally
crucial matters.
So far, we have been able to identify the
beast, his mark, and the remnant church,
which has the seal of God, contained in
the commandments of God. We are yet to
explore how one may receive the mark of the
beast and would do so eventually. Let us
now try to identify the image of the beast,
which, as we have seen in Rev. 13, is
actually the preferred agent of the dragon in
part 2 of his war against the woman who fled
into the wilderness. Of course, because she
fled and was kept from the dragon’s
presence, this second part of the war,
prophesied in Rev 12:17, is “against
the remnant of her seed, which keep the
commandments of God and have the faith of
Jesus”. We also learnt from the same
Rev 13 that the beast that was defeated in
1798 was restored – and recent
history does confirm this officially happened
in the early days of the last century,
precisely in 1929. Yet, the Bible points -- as
the agent of the dragon in this second part
of the war against the church Jesus left
behind when he left to heaven – the
image of the beast, and not even the beast,
though it has been restored by this time. But
let us bear in mind the fact that this image of
the beast is a creation of the two-horned
beast, or the United States. “And he
deceives those who dwell on the earth by
those signs which he was granted to do in
the sight of the beast, telling those who
dwell on the earth to make an image to the
beast who was wounded by the sword and
did live”. Rev 13:14.
The image of the beast is simply a creation
having at least the fundamental character of
the beast, but certainly not the beast
itself. Just like the beast which
“wears out the saints of the Most
high” Dan 7:25 – a modest
reference to a far more serious issue
involving the exhibition of man’s
worst carnal passions in full swing as was
witnessed during the Dark Ages – the
image of the beast also “causes as
many as would not worship the image of the
beast to be killed”, or ensures that
“no man may buy or sell except one
who has the mark or the name of the beast or
the number of his name” Rev
13:15,17. The original beast perverts the truth
of God by polluting it with false doctrines,
borrowed directly from paganism and does
all humanly possible to seduce and then
generally compel men to obey. It does not,
like the Lord Jesus, say, “whoever
wills let him take of the water of life
freely” Rev 22:27. Rather, it forces
men to follow its dictates in matters of
religion. The penalty for noncompliance is
always life-threatening. The image of the
beast is not the beast but only its image. He
who has an ear let him hear this. The image
of the beast will be formed when the
Protestants gain control of the civil
government and become positioned to use
their power to influence the government at
their pleasure. In the beginning, the Roman
Catholic Church was actually a church. It
certainly did not become constituted in
538AD, but had been in existence long before
then. But the Bible records the appearing of
the little horn coinciding with this date, and
the reason is that 538AD was actually when
the Bishop of Rome – the Pope
– became ratified by the Emperor of
that time, as leader of the world church.
When the Pope spoke from then on, he had
the support of the Emperor behind his words,
making it dangerous to disagree with his
wishes. Not until this happened, the Roman
Catholic Church was only a fallen church.
The dragon has always relied on the support
of civil powers to aid any of his agents. When
the Protestants in the United States reach
that abstract point in time when they can
control the civil government, they would, like
the first beast, be in a position to use their
influence to further their ends. Those who
disagree with them will easily be coerced or,
if they would not, face severe sanctions. The
real difference, then, between the first beast
and the image of the beast is the
denomination that takes control of the civil
government and the civil government
involved. The first beast was the Roman
Catholic Church and it received power from
the Roman civil government, during the
reign of the very powerful Emperors; the
United States – the two horned beast
or second beast – gives backing to
the Protestants to form the image of the
beast. The basic difference between the two
is that simple. Everything climaxes through
this arrangement, in the punishment of
“heretics”. This is basically the
message of Rev 13, as revealed by God. Of
course, the image of the beast simply
attempts to force all the nations of the earth
and peoples and tongues and tribes to
receive the mark of the beast. This event is
still in the future, and since we have already
identified the mark of the beast as the change
of the Bible Sabbath from the seventh day to
the first day by the beast – the Roman
Catholic Church – when the image of
the beast is formed and it commands all
peoples in the earth to either worship on
Sunday or face the sanctions prophesied in
Rev 13, then, those who honour this law by
obeying it – and in the process
disobeying God’s law – receive
the mark of the beast. It is that simple.
Today is the 5th of January, 2005, but the
above thesis – the one outlining the
development of the image of the beast on the
basis of Rev 13 – is actually a
prophecy delivered to the world through the
remnant church, well over a hundred years
ago, by a prophetess, who, naturally, is a
member of this remnant church. To
appreciate the validity of this prophecy and
aid us in believing that nothing but the Spirit
of God is the giver of that prophetic insight,
we need to have a brief picture of the world at
the time this prophetess of God declared
this message. America was just a little more
than a hundred years old by this time; none
of the world wars had taken place; the
missionary societies were going round the
world; there was ideal religious freedom in
the United States, and the idea that its twin
foundational ethics of Protestantism and
Republicanism would at any date in the
future be overthrown for the papal culture of
religious persecution could only have been
uttered by one insane – or moved by
the Spirit of God. In fact, Protestantism
appeared as the winner at this time,
because, among other things, the healing of
the mortal wound of the leopard-like beast
– the Roman Catholic Church –
was just beginning and, more, importantly,
Vatican City was yet to be recognized as an
independent State. The minds of people
must have been repulsed by the idea that
protestant America would one day use the
engine of its government to force people to
worship the beast. To be candid, there was
no love lost between the Catholics and the
Protestants, especially those of the United
States. After all, the first generations of
American settlers were actually Christians
who were fleeing the persecuting power of
the Roman Catholic Church. To think that
America would in future be enlisted to
further the glory – both spiritual and
physical – of the power that Martin
Luther had to conclude was the antichrist,
was unthinkable. It was in this state that
America was and it was at this period that
Ellen G. White, the prophetess of the
Seventh-day Adventist Church, made her
startling prophecies.
Things soon began to change. 1929 came
and the Pope became the King of the Vatican
City; the Second World War woke men up
from their sleep; the formation of the
United Nations followed; the fall of the USSR
and the consequent emergence of the United
States as the single world power; the
September 11 attacks, which analysts
believe has changed the United States
forever, etc. Amid, all these, prominent
leaders in the United States have been
making calls for the enactment of a Sunday
law, claiming it would improve the morals of
society. As a matter of fact, anyone just
simply well informed and not necessarily an
expert in international politics would hesitate
to throw away the prophecies of Ellen White
as a product of delirium now. The possibility
now exists that the prophecy would come
true. This book is being written at a time
when it is clear to everyone that the
separation of church and state – a
fundamental and cardinal principle of the
United States government since
independence – now only exists on
the pages of the constitution of the United
States, but is not upheld in the political life
of the nation, and especially so under the
government of George W. Bush. In his first
state of the union address, delivered after
his victory in 2001, he made clear that his
government would support
“faith-based initiatives”,
meaning that tax payers’ funds would
be used to support social reform programs
of religious groups. An important marker of
God’s true prophets is the fulfillment
of their prophecies. But, equally important is
the fact that a true prophet edifies the body
of Christ, in the final analysis; 1Cor 14:3, 22.
To say the least, this prophetess just referred
to has done just that. Reputed as the female
writer with the most published books in the
United States ever, Ellen G. White wrote on
health –giving Biblical insight on
lifestyle medicine several decades before the
world of modern medicine became aware of
the concept. She wrote on the second
coming of Christ and the state of the world
before this; she gave Biblical insight into the
life and times of Christ and experienced all
the divine encounters of true prophets, as
recorded in the scriptures. (See Appendix
9A). Seventh-day Adventists, in view of the
Biblical basis of her prophecies, accept Ellen
White’s prophecies as of God, and
this also serve as a mark of identification of
the church as the remnant church of Rev
12:17, which must have the spirit of prophecy
Rev 12:17; 19:10. Let this, however, not
create the wrong impression that we think
God has not blessed His people with
invaluable insights from His word through
other vessels. Yet, Ellen G. White has been
so used of God more extensively than all
with respect to the knowledge required by
the people of God for these very last days.
God often uses several different vessels for
the same general purpose. For example,
Apostle Paul is recognized, and he even
avowed himself the apostle to the Gentiles.
But that did not stop the Lord Jesus Christ
from sending Peter – the apostle to
the Jews – to preach the gospel to
Cornelius, who was verily a Gentile.
PART I
CHAPTER 5
A STRANGE GUIDANCE
The Bible teaches that God, being
omniscient, is never really surprised. He
knows the end from the beginning of all
things. Jesus Christ knew that Peter was
going to deny Him; that Judas was going to
betray Him; that the other disciples were
going to desert Him; that they were all going
to be helpless as they saw their Lord and
Master being crucified as a common criminal,
etc, and yet He allowed these things to
happen. Jesus Christ knew how deep the
dismay of His disciples would be after His
death. In John 17:20, He says, “ye
shall weep and lament . . . but your sorrow
shall be turned into joy”. Even though
this prophecy also applies to the joy of the
saved at the second coming of Christ, it was
spoken primarily as a prediction of the
experience that awaited the disciples just a
few days from then. So bad was the state of
mind of two of Jesus’ disciples that,
on their way to Emmaus, they told Jesus
– supposing Him to be a fellow
traveler and not their risen Lord – that
“But we trusted that it had been he
which should have redeemed Israel . .
.” meaning He was no longer the one.
And all these, in spite of the fact that they
were privy to the words of Jesus Christ,
predicting His shameful and unjust death at
the hands of the Chief Priests and Pharisees;
and the glorious climax of all these in a
certain resurrection.
The Seventh-day Adventist Church is a
direct product of the Advent Movement of the
early 19th century. Some diligent Bible
students were led to a study of the
prophecies relating to the last days, after the
fulfillment of the prophecies relating to the
end time given by Jesus in Matthew 24 began
to be fulfilled before their very eyes. On
November 1, 1755, the world experienced
what has come to be known in history as the
Lisbon earthquake; then, there was the dark
day and “bloody moon” event
of May 19, 1780, and finally, the falling stars
phenomenon, which took place on the 13th of
November, 1833 (Matt 24:29-30).
Coincidentally, an American named William
Miller was led of the Spirit of God and
through some personal experiences, to begin
preaching what he had discovered after
several years of study, namely that
“the sanctuary shall be
cleansed”, or, according to him, that
Jesus Christ would return to the earth. He
had equated the cleansing of the sanctuary
prophesied in Daniel with the coming of
Jesus Christ to earth because of an
assumption, which was that the sanctuary in
the prophecy – recorded in Daniel
8:14 – referred to the earth. Thus,
William Miller believed that the event foretold
in the prophecy was the second coming of
Christ. All of Christendom was astir as a
result of this Advent message and different
people in different lands joined the
Movement, preaching and warning others to
get ready to meet Jesus Christ on the 21st of
October, 1844. This was after an initial date
which was later shown to have been arrived
at without taken all factors in the time
estimation process into consideration. Every
conceivable consecration was made before
that day, but that day came and the sun did
not seize its daily rise or the moon its
monthly circles. This resulted in what is
known in church history as “The
Great Disappointment”. Later, the
near weary band of faithful Adventists
received enough light from the word of God
to realize that they had indeed been led of
God, but that the event they had expected
took place in heaven, as Jesus Christ went
into the Holy of Holies in the heavenly
sanctuary to begin the judgment of the
church, or cleansing of the sanctuary.
Several other hidden truths were
rediscovered by these same diligent Bible
students that were scathed with the sorrow
of shame and ridicule and confusion and
near despair. It was from this Movement that
the Seventh-day Adventist Church emerged,
from which the Sabbath and other pivotal
but long forgotten truths – as taught
by Jesus Christ and the apostles, and in fact,
through all of sacred scriptures – were
restored. A detail of the doctrine of the
sanctuary is presented in Appendix 7A, but it
is worthy of note that at this point that a
comparison of the earthly sanctuary -- which
God designed and communicated to Moses
to build according to specifications –
and the sanctuary in heaven – of
which that of the earth is only a copy –
brings to light several important truths. Key
among this is the doctrine captured in the
Day of Atonement, the most important of the
sanctuary services, during the time of the
Israelites. On this day – as recorded in
the Pentateuch – the people of God
afflicted their souls and repented for their
sins, and the High Priest cleansed the
sanctuary. It was a day of judgment and was
held yearly. Every Jew who failed to observe
the details of this solemn fast became
effectively cut off from God’s people.
The Bible says that “for judgment
must first begin in the house of God”,
and this principle is seen in the sanctuary
service of Old Testament times. Daniel was
shown a vision of the future, beginning from
many centuries before the birth of Christ to
the exact day when Jesus Christ would
– as the High Priest in Israel yearly
did – go into the sanctuary to cleanse
it of the confessed sins of God’s
people. It is a judgment period because, at
the end of it, the number of God’s
people is made up. There is no any other
atonement after this Day of Atonement.
Indeed, this was the event that was
kick-started in heaven on the day of the Great
Disappointment in 1844. Dan 8:13,14.
Interestingly, all these happenings had
been foretold in the Bible. After the
tribulation of the 1260-year period in
which the dragon – through the beast
– persecuted the church, the
Seventh-day Adventist Church was born,
according to Rev 12:17, which locates the
remnant church sometime after 1798.
Thereafter, the church began preaching the
three angels’ message of Rev 14:6-10
for the very first time in the history of the
Christian church. Though they passed
through the portals of the bitterness and
anguish of deferred hope which sickens the
heart, the Seventh-day Adventist Church is a
planting of God. Said the first angel, which
also, of course, appears after the 1260-year
period, “Fear God and give glory to
Him and worship Him that made heaven, and
the earth, and the sea, and the fountains of
water”. But rightly understood, these
words are a call to Sabbath worship, for they
only echo the Sabbath law of Exodus
20:8-11, where the Bible says,
“Remember the Sabbath day to keep
it holy . . . for in six days the Lord God made
heaven,, and the earth, and the sea, and all
that is in them, and rested on the seventh
day”. Dear reader, it is no
coincidence that the restoration of the
Sabbath commandment and the message of
judgment were preached for the first time
ever since the ascension of Christ, by the
Seventh-day Adventist Church. It is indeed, a
plan of God, hid through the ages. God
Almighty knew about the experience of the
Adventists and revealed it to John the
Beloved almost 2000 years before it
occurred. In Rev 10:8-11, a prophecy is
presented that refers to none other than the
experience that marked the birth of the
remnant church in the 1840s. Note Rev
10:11. After this disappointment –
recorded in the preceding verse – the
prophet was still going to “prophesy
to many peoples, nations, tongues, and
kings”. But let us now recall that the
first angel’s jurisdiction also
encompasses “those who dwell on
the earth to every nation, tribe, tongue, and
people” Rev 14:6. It is either all these
we have been saying amount to fallacy or
– because it is based on the Bible
– the word of God. It cannot be any
other, for the logic of God’s
foreknowledge, blending with cold, hard,
historical facts, runs through these issues.
He who has an ear let him hear. This is no
coincidence, but the providence of God at
work for the good of His children who, He
knew, will have to live in these perilous
times, when advanced deception is the order
of the day.
The Roman Catholic Church is the little
horn or the leopard-like beast, or the man of
sin, or Babylon, pictured as a whore or
unclean woman in Rev 17. The remnant
church is pictured in Rev 12:1 as a chaste
woman. This is also true of her seed,
portrayed in 12:17. But what does prophecy
have to say about the vast multitudes who
are today Protestants? These ones are like a
man fleeing disaster on the north side of a
river bank, with the aim of getting to the
south side for total safety, but getting caught
up somewhere in the middle of the river. As
already noted in earlier chapters, the
Reformation that marked the birth of
Protestantism was superintended by none
other than God Himself. However, the refusal
of the Protestants to respond obediently to
present truth has bound them in a bond of
sympathy with Rome because they still
honour the false Sabbath instituted by the
dragon for its own honour and glory. They
also drink of the polluted wine of the
doctrines of devils, such as man’s
natural immortality – in spite of the
fact that God drove Adam and his wife out of
the Garden of Eden to prevent their perpetual
existence (Gen 3:24) – and other
equally pernicious beliefs that rob God of His
glory and promotes a wrong impression of
His love, justice, benevolence, and mercy.
Even the Catholic Church calls itself the
“Mother Church”. Funny
enough, the Bible concurs with the church, to
the extent of calling it a Mother; Rev 17:5.
But the Bible unmasks its false claim by
describing just what kind of mother she
really is. The above verse in Revelation says
the Roman Catholic Church, or Babylon, is
the “Mother of Harlots”. Simply
put, the various denominations of
Protestantism are the children of this
“Mother Church”. The Bible
– and especially prophecy –
refers to any kind of spiritual infidelity as
adultery. The various denominations of
Protestantism, in refusing the light that
shone in the world through the Advent
Movement, became the harlots, which all
belong to the “Mother Church”.
Typically, when the Mother Church speaks,
they obey. Before the light broke forth, the
worship of the protestant fathers on Sunday
could not be classed as spiritual adultery.
The light of the Sabbath was yet in the future
in their day, and God, according to His word,
winks at true ignorance and is the only one
qualified to distinguish between that true
ignorance and another the Bible describes
as “willful ignorance”. The
Mother Church has said severally that
through the tradition of the fathers and not
any scriptural authority, she changed the
Biblical Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. All
her children gladly obey. Not until the Advent
Movement, Protestants were the church of
God on the earth, for the possession of the
truth of God was the only source of
Israel’s true glory. God foresaw that
lukewarm devotion and general backsliding
of the Protestants would not allow a total
acceptance of the Advent message. So, the
prophecy was written, showing that the
Roman Catholic Church would have many
children. One wonders where the Roman
Catholic Church finds the courage to invite
the Protestants to return to the Mother
Church, from which they broke away. And
gradually, Protestants are stretching their
hands. Many protestant leaders have made
statements that confirm this step-by-step
reunion with Rome. In case anyone thinks
otherwise, the ecumenical movement is the
star evidence for the validity of our position.
Small wonder, then, that the remnant church
has not been able to join the band wagon.
Different spirits are at work in these
persuasions. If they are right, then we are the
worst and boldest liars the world has ever
been unfortunate enough to host. But, as our
position is based on the Bible, one must face
the fearful and forceful and unapologetic
truth -- falsehood is in the majority. But, once
again, none of this is a surprise to our
omniscient God. Knowing fully well that
many of His children would ignorantly seek
to worship Him through the false churches,
the message of the second angel –
which forms part of the three angels’
message that has been and is being
preached by the Seventh-day Adventist
Church – is to be repeated with great
power before the second coming of Jesus
Christ, so that people of God in Babylon will
come out.
“And I heard another voice from
heaven saying, ““come out of
her my people, lest you share in her sins and
lest you receive of her
plagues”””. The
remaining part of this book presents the stuff
of the repeated second angel’s
message, as revealed by God. The time is
near. It is so near, but the source of comfort
for the child of God must be only in the final
outcome, which, by the very word of God
that cannot fail, will be victorious and filled
with joy unspeakable. But the troublous
times are here – well, almost.
PART II
THE MESSAGE
CHAPTER 1
PROPHETIC PERSPECTIVE
The purpose of the remnant church of
Revelation 12:17 that appears in the world
after the 1260-year prophetic period is the
preaching of the three angels’
message, as recorded in Rev14:6-10. As has
been shown, the Seventh-day Adventist
Church, which appeared after the 1260-year
prophetic period, is the only church that, for
the first time in the history of the world, and
for the first time since the message itself
was written, began to preach the three
angels’ message. This message is
divided into three parts, each spoken, or
preached, by a specific angel. The first
addresses the whole world to fear God and
worship Him because the hour of His
judgment has come. The message in itself is
proof positive that something new had
started. “The hour of His judgment
has come”, simply means that, before
this time, it was yet to begin. Anyone sound
in the knowledge of the ceremonies of the
earthly sanctuary – which we must be
careful to always remember, is a copy of the
sanctuary in heaven – knows that the
Israelites passed through judgment once a
year, during the Day of Atonement. Just like
the Passover was celebrated once every year
but was fulfilled by the death of Christ
– once – so also, this Day of
Atonement is observe once every year in
ancient Israel and also approximates in
meaning to what actually was planned by
God to happen in heaven at the appointed
time. At the time of the Israelites, this
heavenly Day of Atonement was still in the
future. Just as the High Priest went into the
inner sanctuary to cleanse it on this Day of
Atonement – judging the Israelites in
the process – so Christ also, for the
first and last time entered the inner sanctuary
in heaven at the specified time when Daniel
the prophet prophesied He would. According
to Daniel, from the time the decree goes forth
for the rebuilding of Jerusalem to this time
when Christ enters the inner sanctuary, there
would be 2300 years, which he prophetically
referred to as 2300 days – Dan8:14. In
Israel of old, the Day of Atonement meant a
day of judgment, for one may only continue
to be in the camp of God after this day, if he
afflicted his soul, confessed, and repented
on the day. It is no coincidence that the
judgment message of the first angel
(Rev14:6, 7) was never preached until Christ
began the cleansing of the sanctuary, which,
based on the 2300-year prophecy, began on
October 21st, 1844. Worthy of note is the fact
that this same prophecy foretold the year of
Christ’s incarnation, death, and the
time when Stephen – one of the seven
Deacons of the early church (Acts 7) –
was stoned, which marked the end of the
Jewish probation, given in the prophecy as
490 years and beginning also when the
decree to rebuild Jerusalem was given. The
call to worship God – being part of
this message – refers directly to the
Sabbath law of Exodus 20:8-11 because it is
the only commandment in the Bible that
urges men to worship the God who made the
heavens and the earth, the seas, and the
fountains of water” Rev14:6,7. Again,
it is no coincidence that the message which
the remnant church began to preach after
Christ entered the inner sanctuary also
included that of worshipping God on the
Sabbath day, “for the hour of His
judgment has come”. It is the
fulfillment of prophecy that the world was
privileged to witness in those days of the
Advent Movement.
“The second angel followed them
saying, ““Babylon is fallen is
fallen because she made all nations drink of
the wine of the wrath of her fornication . .
.” Babylon is the Roman Catholic
Church, and the term especially refers to her
practice of teaching falsehood, for, says the
prophet John, blasphemy is the hallmark of
this Babylon, represented as a beast in the
same prophetic Book of Revelation. The
Apostle Paul, when warning Christians of his
time not to expect the second coming of
Christ too soon after His ascension to
heaven says, “that day shall not come
except there come a falling away
first”. This “falling
away” simply refers to a departure
from the original truth of the Bible, which
sadly, had even begun in Paul’s day.
Of course, this is what Jude alluded to,
urging the faithful servants of God to
“contend for the faith which was once
delivered to the saints”. For Jude to
say “once delivered”, shows
that, even at this early date, there was
already a need for restoration of original
truths. This time was also very long before
the worldwide domination of the beast
– or papacy, or the Roman Catholic
Church – which began in 538AD.
Under the shadow of the beast’s
reign – 1260 long years – there
was more than enough time to incorporate
falsehood into Christianity so that the truth
would have appeared strange and false when
presented. Let us note through all these, that
prophecy had foretold these things, referring
to its success as a “mystery”.
It took God’s direct intervention for
the Reformation to take place, but the
Reformation was not ordained of God to
either preach the judgment message or the
Sabbath message, since it did not produce
the remnant church – whose
appearance was still in the future –
and Jesus Christ had not even entered the
inner sanctuary to begin the atonement or
judgment, which is the only reason why a
mortal would proclaim the judgment
message of Rev 14:6 and not incur the wrath
of God as a false prophet. Indeed, any
preaching of this message before 1844 would
have been premature, thus wrong. But after
this date, the message was due. Talk about
the wisdom of God!
So, the Adventists proclaimed the first
angel’s message, beginning at a time
after 1844. But they also proclaimed the fall
of Babylon, which was not part of the first,
but the second angel’s message.
To be understood correctly, this
“fall” of Babylon in the second
angel’s message should be reckoned
as the same type of fall prophesied by Paul
in IIThes 2, where he meant a departure from
truth to upholding of lies, which we have
seen, is the bedrock of Babylon. Therefore,
“Babylon is fallen”, as
proclaimed by the second angel does not
necessarily refer to the defeat of Babylon as
is apparent, but is simply declarative that
Babylon has replaced truth with falsehood.
This message is never ripe for proclamation
till the truths Babylon corrupted are
rediscovered by the church of God. The
mystery of Babylon is a mystery of falsehood
where truth had existed. Not necessarily new
truths, but restoration of truth, is what
demands the preaching of the message,
“Babylon is fallen”. In all
fairness, Babylon cannot be accused of not
knowing new truths, and thus accused of
being “fallen” when these
truths are proclaimed after being discovered.
But we see the denunciation of Babylon
taking place in the wake of restored truths,
and the reason is not to indict Babylon for
being ignorant of these truths, but for being
the main negative factor behind the need for
the restoration of the truths in the first place.
As a matter of fact, the judgment message
of the first angel is new, being proclaimed for
the first time ever by the Adventists. But
even in this judgment is the basis for the
second angel’s message. The
requirement for worshipping the God whose
“judgment has come” in the
first angel’s message is the keeping
of the true Sabbath on the seventh day, a day
that had been changed by the beast and
upheld through her councils. So, one of the
key reasons for the proclamation of the
second angel’s message by the
Adventists is that Babylon is fallen because
she had lied – she had taught the
nations to honour the day of the sun god of
paganism instead of the day of the LORD,
who made heaven and earth . . .”
brought to light in the first angel’s
message. Babylon is fallen because the
remnant church had rediscovered the truths
Babylon perverted; the remnant church had
rediscovered the Biblical Sabbath, among
other relevant truths. This point is crucial to
the whole message of this book – that
it is the possession of truth –
especially restored truth – that
demands the proclamation that
“Babylon is fallen”.
Other truths rediscovered by the remnant
church include the truth about the state of
the dead. Babylon had taught her
subjects the lie of several millennia; the lie
that man is naturally immortal; the lie, which,
in fact, is the first the dragon or serpent or
Satan told humanity through Eve in the
Garden of Eden. Related to this is the matter
of God’s justice system, which had
been perverted to the point of becoming an
income earner by the Roman Catholic Church
– that is, Babylon – which
taught the instantaneous passage of souls of
the dead to a place of torment – if
they died unprepared – or to a place
of supreme bliss – if they died
prepared. This, Babylon taught, in direct
contradiction to the testimony of the
Scriptures and the words of Jesus Christ
that all the dead – both the righteous
and the wicked – shall remain in their
graves until He calls them forth. John
5:28,29; Acts 2.
Another truth rediscovered quite recently is
the only Biblically sanctioned method of
baptism, which, according to the synoptic
gospels and the Book of Acts (as in the
case of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch), is
by immersion. It is no news that there are at
least four different types of baptism practiced
and taught by Babylon – the Roman
Catholic Church – none of which is by
immersion. The remnant church is qualified
and has been mandated to preach the
second angel’s message, and the
method was by giving light to the church
through the word of God in order for it to
dispel the darkness that had beclouded the
world and even the church for unending
centuries, under the direct supervision of the
agent of Satan – Babylon.
Concerning the third angel’s
message, the prophecy given in chapter 13
of the Book of Revelation makes clear that its
proclamation will be due only in the future.
According to this prophecy, the image of the
beast commands that none can buy or sell
except him that has the mark or the name of
the beast, or the number of his name. There
is hardly a place in the world where people
have begun to suffer whatever kind of
sanctions in these last days, for worshipping
on Saturday, or refusing to worship on
Sunday; in any case, not to the scale to be
experienced during the days the mark of the
beast would be the only means of survival,
humanly speaking. Indeed, the change of
God’s Sabbath from Saturday
– the seventh day – to Sunday
– the first day – is the mark of
the beast. Prophecy says people begin to
receive this mark only after the law enforcing
its observance – with its
accompanying sanctions against defaulters
– goes into effect. Those who receive
this mark not only surely end up in hell fire
and die the second death there, but also
receive of God’s wrath, poured out
unmingled with mercy. This punishment is to
be meted out to beast worshippers right here
on earth.
With the above forming a background, we
now consider the words of Rev 18:1-4. This
message is proclaimed by an angel from
heaven having great authority, whose glory
lightened the earth, and who cried mightily
with a loud voice. None of the two other
angels of Rev 14:6-10 is depicted in this
manner. To say the least, the world cannot
be ignorant of the message of this angel.
Such intensity, rapidity, power, and attention
will accompany this message. Interestingly,
this message is more or less a repetition of
the second angel’s message, which
declares that Babylon is fallen. As we have
been showing, nothing, but the restoration
of truth demands that kind of declaration.
The Advent Movement began and became
accompanied by restored truth, necessitating
the cry of the second angel’s
message. The repetition of that message in
Rev 18:1-4 is in itself a prophecy that there is
going to be a restoration of truths again in
our day. But, since this second
angel’s message is followed by the
third angel’s -- which carries a note of
finality – it can be seen that all the
truths corrupted and hidden will be restored
this time around so that God’s
people will come to believe all the things
believed by the apostles of Jesus Christ in
those days before the perversion began.
Below is a presentation of the truths that will
cause the proclamation of the second
angel’s message, as repeated in Rev
18:1-4. Each is presented under a special
heading. These truths, in fact, represent the
repeated second angel’s message.
PART II
CHAPTER 2
THE CROSS
According to the Catholic encyclopedia,
“the sign of the cross, represented in
its simplest form by the crossing of two lines
at right angles, greatly antedates (came
before) in both the East and the West, the
introduction of Christianity. It goes back to a
very remote period of human
civilization”. Consider the fact that
many kinds of crosses are used in the
Roman Catholic religion. The Catholic
encyclopedia reports that not less than 40
different crosses are used, and yet all of
these – including the so-called Calvary
cross -- says a noted writer, can be traced to
a period long before even the birth of Christ!
The question, in view of all these, is whether
Jesus Christ even died on a cross that
includes a crosspiece. Even in the remnant
church as identified – the
Seventh-day Adventist Church – no
statement has been issued condemning,
discouraging, or advising against the use of
the cross. No wonder, many faithfuls wear
ties or use other adornments with the sign of
the cross imprinted on them. Yet, this
remains a source of amazement because of
the assumption that these should know the
purely pagan origin of the cross and the fact
that the Greek word, “stauros”,
from which the word, “cross”,
is translated, does not require the meaning
to be a cross of two straight lines at right
angles to each other. How about Scriptures
like Deut 21:22-23 that all talk of Christ
having been tortured and crucified on a
tree? Is a tree any similar to a cross? See the
paganism tied to the cross and there will be
small wonder that, like Sunday sacredness,
which is a product of falsehood, apostate
Christianity, paganism, and an apparent
Scriptural support, the cross is also one of
the vestiges of Babylon. Why is it still finding
safe accommodation in the beliefs of many
Protestants, including the remnant church,
who are spiritually the archrivals of Babylon?
(Eze 8:13-14). Still on the inconsistency of
the remnant church on a related matter is the
use of a certain picture of Jesus Christ in the
Sabbath School Study Guide and many other
church publications which is a strong source
of irritation. Firstly, no one actually has the
true picture of our risen Lord. Why should
we join the throng is supposing that the face
of a fairly handsome, bearded man with long
black hair – covered in Arab style
– and a calm visage, is the face or
likeness of Jesus Christ? In the unlikely
event that it actually is, I still feel, based on
the scripture, the church may not be so
innocent in this practice. (Eze 20:4,5)
How come almost everything the Roman
Catholic Church believes in and practises
have its roots purely in paganism and enjoy
Scriptural support only after such
unfortunate Scripture quotation has been
conveniently misconstrued or deliberately
misinterpreted? How come the remnant
church still holds some beliefs in common
with this certified merchant of falsehood? We
should not discard beliefs simply because
Catholics happen to believe them also, but
we are doubly obligated to investigate
especially shared beliefs to know our stand
and not be guilty of conforming.
PART II
CHAPTER 3
THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS
One of the beliefs shared by
almost all Christians –
Catholics, Protestants,
Pentecostals, Seventh-day
Adventists, etc – is that
Jesus Christ died on a
certain Friday after 3pm, was
buried in the evening of the
same day, and rose early on
Sunday morning. Even
though no clear scriptural
evidence is given for this
belief, assumptions are made
and queer explanations
offered. It is noteworthy that
this belief puts a real strain on
the validity of Jesus’
statement about resurrecting
after three days and three
nights, which was His
preferred sign for the people
to understand that He is the
Messiah. In other words, this
sign of Christ dying and
resurrecting after three days
and three nights is pivotal to
the Christian faith.
Is it a coincidence that this Friday-Sunday
theory is the major argument employed to
support the supposed change in the day of
worship from Saturday (the seventh day) to
Sunday (the first day)? Is it a coincidence
that Sunday is the day of worship of pagan
Rome, which is the source of Roman
Catholicism as it is today? Is it a
coincidence that this belief serves the
purpose of the Roman Catholic Church
whose authorities testify to being
responsible for the change of the Sabbath to
Sunday from Saturday? Is this rather not part
of the mystery of iniquity?
A Contrary Opinion:
(Christ Died On A Wednesday
Evening And Resurrected On A
Saturday Evening)
In Matthew 12:38-40, Jesus Christ very
clearly answered the Pharisee’s
request for a sign by telling them that none
but that of the prophet, Jonah, would be
given to that generation. As Jonah was three
days and three nights in the belly of a fish,
Christ would be three days and three nights
in the heart of the earth. As a matter of fact,
this is exactly what happened. There is no
room for assuming that the “third
day” used in other parts of the gospel
with respect to this prophecy modifies the
position here presented. The simple reason
is that Christ described the “third
day” as “three days and three
nights”. Besides, Gen 1:4-13 shows
the “third day” could very well
mean three days and three nights. See Luke
13:32,33; Matt 16:21; Mark 10:34.
Jesus died after 3pm on a certain day in the
week (Matt 27:46-50) and His burial was
completed by evening that same day
(Mark 15:42-47; John 19:38-42). To know
when He resurrected, let us realize first that a
reasonable estimate of how long Christ must
have stayed in the grave is at least 72 hours,
going by Scriptures like Mark 8:31; John
11:9,10; 2:19, and Matt 12:40, and the fact
that Christ’s birth, anointing, ministry,
and death were all events fulfilled according
to prophecies based on time. With this in
mind and the fact that Christ is recorded to
have already resurrected even before very
early on the first day of the week (Matt
28:1-6), we have no option but to realize that
Christ died on Wednesday after 3pm, was
buried just before evening, and resurrected
on Saturday anytime after dusk. How else
could 72 -- hours three days and three nights
(John 11:9, 10) – have been fulfilled
before very early on Sunday morning?
Anyhow you look at it, Christ must have
resurrected at sundown, not sunrise! Matt
28:1,6; John20:1.
One cogent reason for this appropriate
conclusion is that if Friday is assumed as the
day of Christ’s crucifixion, Christ
would be automatically pointed out as a false
prophet or a common liar. Between
Friday evening and before very early on
Sunday morning could never be three days
and three nights!
The fact that Christ is recorded to have died
on a day before a Sabbath day does not
permit us to carelessly suppose that the
Sabbath referred to was the weekly
Sabbath, making the day a Friday. In fact,
Apostle John clearly stated and allowed no
room for confusion when he informed us that
Christ died on the eve of a “high
day” Sabbath (John 19:31-33). Also,
Christ is quoted in many epistles as our
Passover Lamb. Anyone sound in the
knowledge of the Old Testament knows that
the Passover event was one of the Sabbath
days, and that it was during this season that
Christ was killed so that type would meet
antitype and fulfill the real Passover. Let it be
clear in our minds that “while it was
still dark”, that is, before dawn on
Sunday, Christ had already risen (John20:1;
Matt 28:1-6; Luke 24:1-2). A Friday crucifixion
would mean Christ was in the grave only two
nights and a full day! What then, would have
been the purpose of Matthew 12:40?
To clear the issue of Friday not being the
day referred to in John 19:31-33 – the
one and only assumption that has brought
about this great confusion – let us
take a look at the accounts in Mark 16:1 and
Luke 23:56. The latter Scripture says that
Mary et al prepared spices before resting on
the Sabbath day according to the
commandment, that is, the weekly Sabbath
Exodus 20”8-11. On the other hand,
Mark 16:1 says these same women bought
spices when the Sabbath was past. With
these two apparently contradictory verses of
scriptures, we know that there were two
separate Sabbaths the week our Lord was
crucified – the first, a Passover
Sabbath to commemorate the deliverance of
the Israelites from Egypt, and the second,
the weekly Sabbath, which is according to
the commandment Ex 20:8. Christ died on
Wednesday; Thursday was the Passover, so
the women rested; Friday came and they
were up again, so they bought spices (after
the Sabbath on Thursday) prepared them,
and rested on the Saturday Sabbath. Luke
23:56; Mark 16:1.
Peripheral Evidence: Considering Matt
27:62-66, a Friday crucifixion would mean
the Pharisees came to see Pilate on the
weekly Sabbath day and also made
arrangements, sealed the tomb of Christ, and
posted guards, all on the Sabbath day. This
is very unlikely, considering the fact that
these Pharisees were Jews of the strictest
order. Also, note that the reason for bringing
down the bodies of Christ and the two
thieves was primarily because of a law
concerning condemned criminals (Deut
21:23) and not necessarily for the sake of
keeping the Sabbath, which was a Passover
in this case, and could fall on any day of the
week.
Clarifications: Mark 16:9. Even though this
verse, as stated in the Bible, seems to
suggest a Sunday resurrection, a proper
placing of the comma would make clear
that Sunday is mentioned only in connection
with the appearance of Jesus Christ to Mary
Magdalene. Whatever, suffice to say Saturday
evening may well be rendered as
“first day of the week” by a
Hebrew writer, since they reckon a day as
“an evening and a morning” in
line with Scriptural definition; Gen 1:5.
Also, we read in Luke 24 the story of the
disciples making their way to Emmaus. In
verse 21, while they thought they were
conversing with a stranger, they told
Jesus, “Besides all these, today is the
third day since these things
happened”. Since the issue being
discussed at that material time was the
death of Jesus, one may need more
explanation to understand how the third day
since Wednesday (crucifixion day) could be
Sunday (the day the conversation took
place), and not Saturday. When “these
things” referred to by the speakers at
Luke 24:21 is taken to mean Jesus’
arrest, torture, death, and the sealing of the
tomb and posting of the guards on
Wednesday, any possible confusion seizes
to exist.
PART II
CHAPTER 4
THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY
Bible facts about God: a one and only true
God (John 17:3; Isa 43:10; 44:6; Eph 4:4-6;
1Cor 8:6// spirit (John 4:24)// worthy of
worship (John 4:23-24; Matt 4:10)//first and
last (Isa 44:6)// had no beginning (Ps
90:2)//Omnipresent (Ps 139:7-12)//
Omnipotent (Like 18:27)// the creator (Gen
1:1; 2:1-2)// Father of Jesus Christ (John
8:54)// has never been seen before (John
1:18)// is greater than Jesus Christ (John
14:28)// subject to none; above all (1Cor
15:28)// the Father (John 5:19; 16:27; Gal 1:1;
IThess 1:1; 2Thess 1:1; Col 1:19; Philp
2”11; 1Cor 8:6; Eph 4:4-6)// The head
of Christ (1Cor 11:3)// the final authority
(Mark 13:32; Matt 20:20-23)// the God of
Jesus Christ (IPet 1:3; John 20:17; Mark
15:34; Rev 3:12)// the IAM THAT IAM (Ex
3:14)// the one that resurrected Jesus Christ
from the dead (Gal 1:1; Rom 8:11)// God
Almighty (Gen 17:1).
As a matter of fact, God is God. The
problem seems to be how to explain Jesus
Christ as also God or exactly as or equal
to God or a “God the Son”,
and the Holy Spirit as “God the
Spirit”, and yet all three as one God.
Bible Facts About Jesus Christ: the Son of
God (I John 5:5)// the only begotten Son of
God (John 3:16; 1:18)// the Mighty God
(Isa 9:6)// is in the form of God (Philp 2:6)//
is Omnipotent (Matt 28:18; John 17:2)// is
Omnipresent (John 14:16-18; Matt 28:20;
18:20)// is immutable (Heb 13:8)// has life in
Himself (John 5:26; 1:4)// is the source of all
creation (Col 1:16; John 1:3)// forgives sin
(Mark 2:5-7; Matt 9:6)// is one with the Father
(John 10:30)// is the image of God (John
14:9; Heb 1:3; I1Cor 4:4)// is worshipped (Heb
1:6; Matt 28:17; Philp 2:10-11)// is from
everlasting (Micah 5:2)// is God (John1:1)// is
the Lord (Eph 4:4-6; Philp 2:11; 1Cor 8:6;
ITim 1:1; IThess 1:1; 2Thess 1:1)// is the
firstborn of God’s creation (Col 1:15)//
is the beginning of God’s creation
(Rev 3:14)// was with God before the world
was created (John 17:5; Prov 8:22-31)// is
subject to God (1Cor 15:24-28)// receives
glory from God (Col 1:19; John 17:5; Heb
1:3)// confessed the Father as the only true
God (John 17:3)// was brought forth by God
(Prov 8:22; Col 1:19; Rev 3:14)// received life
from the Father (John 5:26)// received
authority from God (John 5:22,26,27; 12:49;
Matt 28:18)// was seen before/after
resurrection (John 1:14; 21:4)// is not the
final authority (Mark 13:32; Matt 20:20-23)//
the only one God created alone (John 3:16;
1:14,18)// confessed God is greater than Him
(John 14:28)// is one with God (John 10:30)//
is called King of kings and Lord of Lords
(Rev 19:6)// is called the archangel Michael
(Jude 9; Daniel 12:1)// is called Lord, to the
glory of God, the Father (Philp 2:9-11)
Clarification Of Scriptures Apparently
Supporting Belief That Jesus Is God And
Equal With God.
Isaiah 9:6: Here, Christ is called
“Mighty God”. Does that make
Him equal with the Father? Notice that God is
called God Almighty (El Shaddai; Gen 17:1),
a name reserved for Him alone. In the light of
other scriptures, this verse in Isaiah is too
insufficient for us to draw the obvious
conclusion that Jesus Christ is the same as
the Almighty God. See Jude 9; Dan 12:1,
where Christ is called “the
archangel”. Certainly, Christ is more
than angels, and, in fact, not of the same
nature with them. Do we, for reasons less
than logic, then use these verses to say that
Jesus Christ is an angel? See also, Dan 2:37,
where King Nebuchadnezzar is called king of
kings. This, as we would readily agree, does
not make him the same or equal with Jesus
Christ in any way, though they share the
same title, since Jesus Christ is also called
King of kings. Jesus Christ is the image of
God; a perfect representation of Him (Heb
1:3; I1Cor 4:4). See John 1:1; compare with
John 1:18; 20:31; 6:46; Matt 16:16-17. Also
compare John 20:28 with John 10:34-37, Ps
82:1-6. Concerning John 20:28, could
Thomas have been exclaiming? See 1Cor
15:10a and Ex 3:14.
Micah 5:2: While some versions of the Bible
make this appear like Jesus’ years
are from everlasting (eternity), others, like the
New Revised Standard Version, render the
verse as, “. . . whose origin is from
old, from ancient days”. See Ps 90:2,
where God is shown with endless years.
Which rendering of Micah 5:2, when
compared with Ps 90:2, seem correct, in the
light of Col 1:15; Prov 8:22, and Rev 3:14,
where Jesus is shown very clearly to have a
beginning, as the first of all of God’s
creation? These Scriptures allow for no
contradiction on the correct rendering of
Micah 5:2. See Heb 1:6a. Before the
“everlasting” from which
Jesus was brought forth was the One who
brought Him forth Prov 8:23.
Matthew 1:23: In a bid to make Jesus Christ
God – even though He declared
truthfully that eternal life came from knowing
the one and only true God, a being distinct
from Himself (John 17:3) – some
people take this verse to mean that Jesus
Christ is God, just like the Father. But, how
could such a conclusion be drawn, when
verses such as the following are in the Bible?
John 5:43; 10:36; 3:17; 17:18. Besides, the
Bible also said, “. . . God was in
Christ, reconciling the world to
Himself”. See Luke 4:18; Acts 10:38.
Just like a prophet speaks in the name of the
Lord, so, Christ, through God’s spirit,
was God’s representative, having
God’s full mandate John 7:16.
Names abound in the Bible similar to
Immanuel, and, were the bearers of such
names to receive the same treatment
Trinitarians give Jesus Christ in order to
prove that He is God, then, these, too, will be
God for the same reasons often adduced.
For example: “Eliathah” means
“God has come”;
“Jehu” means “Jehovah
is he”.
John 5:18: In this verse, the Jews
misunderstood Jesus and He cleared the air
in the very next verse. See John 5:19; 14:28.
By juxtaposing Rev 22:8,9 and Matt 4:10
with verses like Heb 1:6, Matt 14:33 and Matt
28:17, some hope to reach the conclusion
that Jesus Christ, who is clearly
distinguished from God by the title,
“Lord”, is the same as God,
the Father almighty. Like had been earlier
explained, let us now test these verses with
others in the Scriptures to learn more.
Firstly, the Greek word translated
“worship” in all these verses
is proskyneo. Note that, like the English
words, fast, brood, spell, etc, proskyneo has
various meanings. This same Greek word
also appears in the following verses, some
of which reveal the word meaning the
courtesy of bowing to the ground for
someone of higher authority, or, just to show
respect. Gen 22:5; 23:7; 1Kings 1:23; Matt
4:10. So, one may be too forward in
presuming that the “worship”
in the stated verses, where Jesus Christ was
involved, is the same that is due to God. This
caution is not so out of place in the light of
Philp 2:11, where the name of Jesus Christ
is declared greater than all others in heaven,
in earth, and even under the earth; He is
bowed to and called “Lord”,
but all to the glory of God, the Father. See
1Cor 15:28; John 4:23, 24; Col 1:19.
Compare John 4:23, 24 with Luke 24:39.
Furthermore, study the verses below and see
whether together, they pass any message.
The chart highlights how angels and/or
people and/or creatures and/or the
twenty-four elders act toward God and Jesus
Christ respectively.
God (aka God, Lord)
Jesus (aka Lamb, Christ)
| Rev 4:9-11 (fall
down, worship
and speak) |
Rev 5:8-10 (fall
down and sing)
|
| Rev 5:13,14
(acclaim and
worship) |
Rev 5:11-12
(acclaim) |
| Rev 7:10-12
(acclaim and
worship) |
Rev 7:10
(acclaim) |
| Rev 7:13-16,17b
(serve) |
Rev 7:17 (be lead
by) |
| Rev 11:15-17
(acclaim; fall
down; worship) |
Rev 11:15
(acclaim) |
| Rev 12:10
(acclaim) |
Rev 12:10
(acclaim) |
| Rev 15:2-4 (sing;
acclaim) |
|
| Rev 16:5-7
(acclaim) |
