ANTICHRIST IN ACTION
George Burnside
I know that after last night’s study of the Word of God, there are many wondering just how it is and when a change came in the Law of God, for it is very, very evident that there has been a change somewhere, changing the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the week.
Now how did it come about, and who made the change? I meet a lot of people who tell me that Jesus was the One who changed that statement in the Commandments.
I am turning over to the gospel of Matthew, and I want you to notice a clear statement the Lord Jesus Christ made on this question, in fact it is the very first sermon that Jesus preached and evidently there were some of the Jews back there who had an idea that Jesus was there to change the law. So Jesus makes this statement in Matthew 5:18: “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.” verse 18, “For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.”
Jesus says “Don't even think that I am come to destroy the law.” I meet a lot of Christians who say that He did do it, but don't let the thought over come into your mind that Jesus in any way at all came to destroy or change the law. “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil,” Fulfil means to live it and to fully preach it and Jesus did that.
Then He says, “Verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” In other words, “until everything is accomplished.”
Jesus pointed down to the farthest extremity of man's thought, to the very passing away of earth and heaven and He said as long as there is an earth beneath our feet, and as long as there is a heaven above, then there won't be the single dot of an “I” or the crossing of a “T”, for in the Hebrew a jot or a tittle is the equivalent of the dotting of an “I” or the crossing of a “T” in English.
And so friends, the Ten Commandments stand just as Jesus gave them, in fact He goes on in the next verse to say, “Who so ever therefore shall break, one of those least commandments and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. But whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” That means in the eyes of those in heaven, the worst person on this earth is a person who breaks those commandments and teaches other people to break them.
That is serious isn't it? So don't break them and certainly don't teach anybody also to break them, for in the eyes of those in heaven you are the least.
Now to be called great in the kingdom of heaven is well worth striving after, and Jesus says those that keep those commandments and teach other people to keep them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
It is a very unpopular thing to teach the commandments of God. The Commandments have never been popular. But Jesus said that if you do them and teach them you will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. So as far as I am concerned I am going to keep on keeping them and I am going to keep on teaching them-because it will be worth everything, and that is the statement made by the Lord Jesus Christ and there is no question about what commandments Jesus is talking about. He’s talking about the Ten Commandments, because straight after that He goes on to amplify and to deal with them.
Verse 21 deals with, thou shall not kill. Then He goes on to deal with, thou shall not commit adultery etc.
What Commandments is He talking about? And He says, “As long as there is a heaven above and an earth beneath our feet there won’t oven be the dotting of the “I” or the crossing of a “T” will pass from those words. They are the only words that God Himself wrote with His own finger on the tables of stone, so it is very evident that Jesus our Lord, didn't change the commandments of God.
“Well,” people say, “I suppose it was the apostles who changed them. Listen friends, if Jesus didn't change them, than the apostles couldn’t do it because no man could do it. And what is more they wouldn't have attempted to do it without leaving us a record and there is no record anywhere in the New Testament where the apostles tried to change either the Sabbath or any one of the Ten Commandments.
You notice as you read through the New Testament every time when it is dealing with ceremonialism, circumcision or the ritual of the Jews, it is always passed away and gone, but in every case in the New Testament, where the Ten Commandments are referred to, or any one of them, they are always upheld in the strongest terms with no exception. Listen to the very last statement in the Bible, Revelation 22:18 “For I testify to every man that hears the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book; And if any man shall take away from the wards of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of Life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” In other word friends, we dare not take away from this book, and we dare not add to it.
You can trace the commandments of God right through the Bible, and it closes with a solemn warning, “Don’t add to it, if you do the plagues will be added to you. And don't take away from it. If you do your part will be taken out of heaven.” And yet friends, in defiance of that, since the Bible was closed some unholy hand has reached out and tempered with the commandments of God because things have certainly been changed.
Now what power was that? Turn to Daniel 7. Jesus said He didn’t change it. I’ll read you now a prophecy of a power that says it did. Daniel 7:25. Here you will read about a little horn power that came up. It came up out of the divided state and the Roman Empire and it says, “And he-shall speak great words against the Most High and wear out the saints of the Most High and think to change times and laws.”
Now I haven't got time to go into detail and prove to you what power this is talking about but If you want something good, then make sure you get this little paper, THE DIVINE PREVIEW OF HISTORY, and it will trace through and give you evidence on what power It is dealing with. But let me day this, here we have the specifications of the Antichrist. Bacon, the great English writer, said that if you handed the specifications of the Antichrist as outlined here in the book of Daniel, to any detective In Europe he would immediately arrest the Pope on suspicion. That was how clear and how evident it was to him! And I went to say friends, when the reformers started out to preach to men, they said that this prophecy applied to the Roman Papacy and I haven't got a doubt about it.
Now note some of the specifications and we will only touch on three of them tonight. Prophecy says this power would speak great words against the Most High. You know over there in Rome tonight, sitting on a golden throne, is a men who claims all the titles that are applied to God. There is no question about that. And what we say friends, if there is any Catholic here tonight, you are very welcome, end if you read in the Catholic Bible, you will read the same words as I am going to reed to you tonight.
Turn to a statement made by Christ in Matthow.23~9 (and both the Protestant and the Catholic Bible reed exactly the same). “And call no man your father upon earth. For one is your Father, which is in heaven.”
Now that is talking in a spiritual sense. It doesn't mean in a natural sense for the commandment says, Honor thy father and thy mother. It is talking about your literal father and mothers. This is talking here in a spiritual sense and regarding spiritual leaders. Call no man thy father on earth - but do they? Oh yea. Every one of their spiritual leaders they call father, and they will be very indignant if you don't call them father. Now every one of those men takes that term in a spiritual sense. They don't take it in a physical sense, or at least they shouldn't. Jesus acid, “Call no man thy father on earth.” But they are not very particular about that, in fact friends they go even further.
You turn over in the gospel of John to the 17th chapter, and there you have that wonderful prayer that Jesus prayed just before He died for us. He looked up there to His Father, and in verse 11 He says, “And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through Your own name those whom thou host given me, that they may be one as we are.”
When Jesus prayed to His Father in heaven He addressed Him as Holy Father. There is a man over there in Rome whom people address as “Holy Father”. You will oven notice it repeated in your newspapers. Jesus prayed to God with the words, “Holy Father”.
No title has been too great for the power that rules in Rome. He would speak great words against the Most High. The greatest titles that hove over boon taken by human beings on this earth have boon taken by the popes of Rome.
But that's not all. “He would speak great words against the Most High, and he would wear out the saints of the Most High.” I haven't got time tonight to deal with the persecutions of the Dark Ages but if I had time to lift up the gory shroud of martyrdom you would soon see the pale face of 150 million martyrs who died at the hand of Rome. In fact Zeletti, who was a rationalist but a great historian, said that the Church of Rome has put to death more innocent victims than any other institution that has over existed among mankind. Even a novice in history will vary soon discover that.
Over there in Spain some time ago, when excavating and cutting a road along the bank of a hill do you know friends they cut through fourteen fact of solid human ashes. Part of the charred finger bones and chains were mixed up in it. God clone knows how many died on that spot.
I have been up there in the valley of the Waldensian mountains where Rome butchered the saints of God like sheep. I have been down there in the dungeons of the Inquisition and I have seen the thumbscrew and all those instruments of torture, where they not merely, killed the saints of God, but as the Bible says, they wore out the saints of God. And the pages of history are just sodden red with the persecution that was done even under the name of Jesus. Yes friends, this power certainly wore out the saints of the Most High.
People tell me I ought to tone down on some of these things, and I would be quite prepared to do that if they called off the persecution today. But wherever they have the upper hand there is no limit, there is persecution, and people are being flagged to death at this very time in Catholic countries because they live by the Bible. I know that, and I have seen the scars on people that have come from countries where their own families have been slaughtered, end I have talked to them.
Down there in Colombia in South America, at the present time people are dying and being banished from their homes because they believe and live by the Bible. Wherever Rome has had the upper hand it has bear, the same story. She is brutally intolerant. In a Protestant country like this it is a different story. But probably at least 150 million martyrs have died at the hand of that power.
But that wasn't all she did. She would think to change times and laws. Here is something friends, that she would think that she was able to do. Not only wear out the saints of God on the earth. Not only speak big words against God, but she would actually attempt to dabble with the vary constitution of heaven.
Now whether you open the protestant or the Catholic Bible, you will find the Ten Commandments are written vary much the same. But of course Catholics are not taught the Bible very much. They are taught from catechisms. The Ten Commandments as found in the catechism are very abbreviated. The first one is something the same as it found in the Bible. The second one is entirely different. “You shall not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” But lo and behold, that is down hero in the third one. You see this big section is like the missing link, it is always missing. It's not there, why? You have a look at it.
“You shall not make unto yourself any graven image or the likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is, in the earth beneath. You shall not bow down yourself to them nor serve them.” This one is missing out of by far the majority of their catechisms.
The churches are filled with images and you don't have to go over to Rome to see them. You can go into any of their churches and there are the images. Not only that, but they are bowing down and preying to them. I’ve watched them especially In Catholic countries, and I could take you to image after image where the whole foot is just about worn away from people kissing it. There is a big one there in the catacombs in Saint Peters in Rome. I could take you up there to Milan where they have the Virgin Mary holding the baby Jesus, and the whole heed of Christ is just about gone. People have kissed it away over the centuries.
They bow down and pray, but God says, “Thou shall not make a graven image, you shall not bow down thyself to them nor serve them.” So you see friends, that cuts right across, so they just drop it out. They don’t encourage the people to read the Bible but to deal with the catechisms.
“So”, you will say. “They only have nine commandments instead often.” Oh no. You see friends, they split the last one in two and instead of one dealing with coveting there are two. “Thou shall not covet thy neighbor's wife.” “Thou shall not covet thy neighbor's goods”.
So when they talk about the Ten Commandments those are the Ten Commandments they are talking about. Now God says that this power would attempt to change the very commands of Almighty God. But friends, it is very interesting to study and notice that all the way through when the devil has worked counterfeits in regard to religion he doesn't just step in and tear out and leave it at that. He works it by substitution.
Your remember over in the book of Matthew, the way the Jaws worked it in the days of Jesus. Christ was approached by those men and they wanted to know why the disciples transgressed the tradition of the elders. Matthew 15:2. Jesus was an opponent of tradition and so am I. This tradition may be very, very old but those people had a ceremonial washing of their hands that was not found in the law of Moses, or the law of God.
They came along and they wanted Jesus to answer why the disciples broke the tradition of the elders, but Jesus answered and said unto them, “Why do you transgress the commandments of God by your tradition?” And then He goes on to show how they did it.
You see this commandment, “Honor thy father and thy mother” got in their road sometimes and all they needed to do was to go along to the temple and say a certain ward and in that act it relieved them of all responsibility in regard to caring for their parents. And they wiped it out. And when they came along and acid to Jesus, “Why do your disciples transgress tradition?” He turned right around and said, “Why do you transgress the Commandments of God by your tradition?”
You see the way they worked it. They worked it by substitution and they substituted tradition in there in place of the commandments of God so that when people kept that religion they automatically broke the commandments of God. That is the way the devil has always worked it.
Atheism is not much of a problem to the church of God. And Atheism doesn't last very long, and the devil knows that, but he works it in such a way that he brings in a counterfeit, a substitution, so that when people follow that religion they automatically break the commandments of God. You can't do otherwise. And the devil has worked substitution all the way through.
Now friends, this one is certainly no exception fat he has so counterfeited it here that when people follow that religion they automatically break the commandments of God. One of the commandments says, “You shall not bow down thyself to any graven image.”
But friends, you follow that religion and you must do that, and in every home they have either a crucifix or a Madonna, and part of their religion is to bow down and pray to that. You see how the devil has worked substitution.
It is a very interesting thing to trace it through the Bible. Away back there ancient Baal worship it was the same story of one thing substituted for another, so that when they followed that religion they had to break the commandments of God.
I went you to notice just what a serious thing this is. I am turning now to Revelation 11, and here John was given a glimpse up there into the Land of Glory. In verse, 19: “And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen In his temple the ark of his testament.”
You remember when Moses built the sanctuary on earth he was commanded to build an ark. It was called the Ark of the Testament because that ark contained the table of testament. You read through Exodus and you will find that these were referred to as the Tables of Testament. And the ark was called the Ark of the Testament because it contained the Tables of Testament. And that was the very center of the worship of God. Everything hinged about it. Everything was carried out because the people had transgressed this, and hence the whole gospel was there to save them from breaking that.
Right over here in the New Testament John had a glimpse up there into the land of glory and right there in the very temple of God in heaven, he sees the ark of the testament, for enshrined up there in heaven is the great original ark, the very foundation of the throne of God, containing the immortal words that God Himself wrote on tables of stone. Its the very constitution, the very foundation of the throne of our God. That's the reason why God Himself came down and spoke those wards with His own finger on the tables of stone because they constitute the very foundation of everything.
You can see what a serious thing it was when Rome reached in and tampered with the very constitution of heaven, because friends, we are going to be judged by those commandments. You will reed that in the book of James. We are going to be judged by the Ten Commandments.
Away back there in Psalms David said, “Thy word is forever settled in heaven.” know that expression “Thy word is the very same expression in the Hebrew as translated “Ten Commandments” in Deuteronomy 4:13. So you could read, “Forever thy The Commandments are settled in heaven.” It doesn't matter very much what you do with them for they are settled in heaven.
But Rome has come along and worked a program that substitutes, that tears out part and compels people by their religion, to transgress. She didn't just tear out and leave a blank but she substituted and she brought in a religious system that where people follow it they must automatically break the Ten Commandments.
That is why we read over there in the prophecy of Daniel 7, that this power would think to change times and laws. Actually nobody on earth could change them because they are forever settled in heaven. But this power would actually think that she could do it and think that she has done it.
But my dear friends, she didn’t even atop there. She not only abbreviated the commandments down until they mean nothing at all, because you read through those commandments and some of them could mean anything, they are so abbreviated. But she didn’t stop even there, for the record says that she would think herself able to change the times and the laws.
Now you read through the Ten Commandments and you will find that only one deals with time, “You shall have no other gods before me.” Is that anything about time? You can run right down through to “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy god.” Is that dealing with time?
Now here is a power that God says would not only change the laws of God, but would change the very time in the low of God. Now God says Rome would attempt to change the Sabbath of God.
We go along and we says, “Rome, did you do it?” Listen, and I’m reading to you from the “Convert’s Catechism of Catholic Doctrine.” I notice here in the foreword it has the blessing of Pope Pius X, and seeing he is infallible it should be good. I am reading from page 49. “What is the third commandment? The third commandment is that, remember thou keep holy the Sabbath day.” Of course it is the fourth one in the Bible but easing they cut out the second, well lo and behold it is the third one in their reckoning.
“Q. Which Is the Sabbath day?
A. Saturday is the Sabbath day.” (This isn’t a Seventh Day Adventist book I’m reading from. It is a Roman Catholic Catechism.)
“Q. Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?
A. We observe Sunday Instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church in the Council of Laodicea in AD 336 transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday.”
Now you notice friends how they changed it. The prophecy told us about a power that would think itself able to change the times and the law of God, and seeing there is only one dealing with time we go along and we say, “Rome did you change the Sabbath?” “Yes, sure we did,” And my friends, Rome makes no secret about this whatsoever, In fact she is very proud of it.
And since she discovered that weapon she has put Protestantism on the run. Protestantism started out with the Bible and the Bible only, and she shook the Papacy in the days of the Reformation and they called together the Council of Trent which was the biggest council the Church of Rome ever held, and their big problem was how to meet the Reformers. They studied for years for the Council of Trent actually lasted for years. And they stepped out from the Council of Trent with a weapon to moot Protestantism, for as they went over all the facts they discovered again that the Catholic church had changed the commandments of God, and Lo and behold Protestantism was trotting along behind them, so they went out with that weapon and they put Protestantism on her knees, For as soon as Protestantism takes its stand on the Bible and the Bible only, immediately they will say, “Alright, give me your text in the Bible for Sunday.”
Protestantism has been on the run and losing ground very largely since, and Rome has been marching as to triumph, and in Protestant countries she is getting stronger and stronger. She has just about got Sydney, and a large section of Australia, and she has just about got America by the throat.
It is true, she has been marching on. Why? Because she finds that Protestantism is just trotting along behind her. I remember some years ago I gave a lecture along this line, up on the north coast of Queensland, and there was an officer of the Baptist Church there. He was a man who didn't have very much to say but he listened and he was very impressed. He got into his car and the next day went up to interview the priest in charge of the whole district. He told me later on that he went up there to this fine big home with eleven rooms (what a bachelor did with eleven rooms I don't know). My friend knocked at the door and he said “I have come along because I went truth.” He said, “I want to ask you some questions.” So the old priest ushered him into the sitting room and they chatted. He said, “I want to ask you a straight question, and I went a straight answer. Tell me, did your church change the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday? Tell me yes or no.” The old priest leaned back in his chair and said, “Yes, my man, of course we did. Who else would dare to do it? Rome makes no secret about it whatsoever.”
I listened to a Jesuit answering questions on one occasion. A Protestant stopped over and said “Tell me, you maintain you are a Christian people. Why don't you follow the Bible in regard to the Communion, the Lord's Supper?” The Jesuit said, “Why don't we? Well, the Bible says regarding the wine, drink you all of it.”
Of course if you go along to the Catholic Church you don't get any wine. All you got is a bit of broad. The priest will bless the goblet of wine. It is alcoholic every time. He will drink the lot, you don't get any. That is a fact. Any ox Catholic here will bear me out. You don't get any wine in the Catholic Church.
The Protestant said, “Why don't you follow the Bible and as Christ said, “Drink you all of it.
You know, I can still see that Jesuit loan over his desk and say, “Don't talk to me about following the Bible. The Bible says there is only one kind of baptism and that is adult baptism by immersion. The bulk of you Protestants follow the Catholic Church in regard to baby christening. The Bible says both in the Old and the Now Testaments, that you shouldn't eat blood, but the majority of you Protestants eat as much of it as you can get. The Bible says the seventh day is the Sabbath, and without a single verse to the contrary in the Bible you Protestants keep Sunday as the Catholic Church does. Don't talk to me about following the Bible.” And the poor Protestant, like a whipped puppy with his tail between his logs, got out of the road.
And Rome friends, has put Protestantism on the run. She would think to change times and laws. God says that Rome would attempt to change the Sabbath of God and we come along and we say, “Rome did you do it”, and she replies, “Of course we did.” Who else would dare to do it? She makes no secret about it whatsoever.
Out my dear friends, she went even further, for the only reckoning of time was from sunset to sunset. You reed back there in Leviticus, “From even unto even shall you celebrate your Sabbaths.”
The very first record of the days in the first chapter of Genesis was the evening and the morning. The days began at sunset with the evening - the dark part, and then the light part. That’s the reason why, when they took Jesus down off the cross the Bible says, “the Sabbath was drawing on,” the sun was setting. And from sunset to sunset, from evening to evening is the reckoning that runs all through the Bible.
You see friends, when you go to church on Sunday night you are not going on the first day of the week. According to the Bible reckoning you are going on-the second. And if you wanted to keep the first day of the week according to Bible reckoning, you would need to keep it from sunset on Saturday to sunset on Sunday, for when the Sun sets on Sunday night, according to Bible reckoning it is finished.
The Sabbath of God comes in at sunset on Friday and ends at sunset on Saturday, and then the first day of the week begins and that is the reckoning that runs all through the book of God.
But you will notice it says that this power said she would think herself able to change times, plural. She didn't merely change the Sabbath from the seventh day to the first, but she changed time as much as possible and she altered the whole reckoning of time.
Let me reed you an extract from the Catholic Encyclopedia, and hare is what they say about it. You can get this down in your library. Volume 14, page 333 under the article Sunday. “As with the Sabbath the observance of the Christian Sunday began with sundown on Saturday and lasted until the same time on Sunday. The method of reckoning Sunday from sunset to sunset continued in some places down until the 17th century, but in general, since the Middle Ages the reckoning from midnight to midnight has been followed.
The Middle Ages was the reign of the Papacy, commonly known as the bark Ages when Rome ruled all, and in those Dark Ages she changed the reckoning from sunset to sunset, to midnight to midnight until today when people keep Sunday they don’t keep any day. They keep a bit of two days. I don’t know of any people in the world that are keeping Sunday or the first day of the week, for they keep a bit of two days. If they are going to keep the first day of the weak they would need to keep it according to Bible reckoning, from sunset on Saturday to sunset on Sunday.
But Rome altered that, in fact you can see how vary little regard people have for the so-called holy day of Sunday. Rome has stepped in and altered time just as far as she can. She boasts that she has done it and she makes no secret about it whatsoever. And yet when you come to this dear old book of God, every saint in the Bible stood by the Sabbath of God, and right down there in the last days God says He will have a massage going around the world to call people back to the Commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, and it will expose the great Antichrist's power.
You remember over in the eighth chapter of Daniel, when they cried out, how long would that power go on that was trampling under foot the truth of God, the answer came ringing back, “Unto 2,300 days”. And we notice that ended in 1844, when not only the last work in heaven would begin, but the last great message on this earth would get underway. In that very hour when the Judgment Hour struck in heaven, a movement started on this earth warning people against the antichrist, and showing them exactly the counterfeit she had worked.
Thank God that truth is going to all the world and many, many Roman Catholics are seeing it until today every year between forty and fifty thousand Roman Catholics step out to follow and to join our ranks.
You know friends, we get more Roman Catholics than any other people. Over there in Southern Europe in the Catholic colleges, they have got to put on special courses to train the priests on how to moot Adventists. We are hopping into their ranks. In fact not long ago the Pope said that it made his heart bleed to see the work of Seventh Day Adventists. When I heard this I said, “Let his old heart bleed a whole lot more.” I've traveled through those countries and I have met hundreds and thousands of ex-Catholics and they are fine Christians, and they,' are coming out of Protestantism by the tens of thousands to get in line with the commandments of God, for Jesus is getting a reception committee ready.
Listen friends, if these are the great principles of heaven, if in the Glory Land we are all going to keep the Sabbath, you can see how logical it is just before Jesus comes again, in His final call to the world, if He calls people right back to the principles of heaven to get them ready for a place in heaven.
If there is anything this old dying world needs it is the light of God. I thought of that as sometime ago I raced across the Blue Grass County-of old Kentucky and I heard about an experience that happened there. A little boy was dying and his father was sitting at the edge of the cot. The little led evidently realized he was dying and he looked aver to his father and in his faltering way he said, “Dad, put a little light on my grave.” The little follow died and he was buried by the roadside in Kentucky, and the rather that night went out and put a lantern on the kid's grave, and the next night he did it, and the next night. And when the hot balmy winds of the south blow, every night without a single break, the father put a lantern on the grave. And when the blizzards swept down from the north and laid the blue grass flat as it ware, with snow, every night without a break that father put a lantern on his lad’s grave. Do you know friends, he did that every night for fourteen years until he followed his son into the land of silence. And there by the roadside are two graves, the lad, and the faithful father.
When I read about it I thought that is what this old world needs. It needs the light of God down here in this dying world. And thank God, He is giving His light to this world in crystal clearness, and thank God that thousands are accepting it. Let us follow very closely in the footsteps of Jesus.