Beginning Of The End
George Burnside
All the signals are go
Why it is almost here
Why it is inevitable
BEGINNING OF THE END!
Writing began on this book in mid-July 2001. On the morning of September 11, as it was being packed for mailing to the printing house, a staff member rushed in with the news that one, and then another, of the twin Trade Center towers had been struck by terrorists. We had no idea these specific incidents would occur. This is a day of infamy for our great nation,—yet this book was written to provide a wide-ranging warning of this and similar dangers. The information it contains is needed by our people more than ever before. We are facing a stupendous crisis, and it will deepen.- Harvest Time Books
About the front cover: A view of part of the terrible tragedy that occurred in New York City on September 11. At 9:03 on the morning of September 11, 17 minutes after the earlier impact, a second Boeing 767 was turned into a flying jet-fuel bomb. United Airlines Flight 175, hijacked en route from Boston to Los Angeles with 65 passengers aboard, struck floors 80 to 86 of the 110 story, 1,362-foot South World Trade Center. Fifty-seven minutes later, it was the first of the two towers to collapse
About the back cover: In July 1946, the United States tested two fission (plutonium) bombs of 20-kiloton power at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. These tests were made to determine the effects of nuclear weapons on U.S. warships and military equipment. Far more powerful bombs were developed later. At the present time, there are over 50,000 nuclear bombs stockpiled in various places around the world.
“In the remaining decades of this century, mankind’s problems will be increasingly complex in detail and global in scope . . Never before have so many people faced so many problems of such great complexity. Any attempt to isolate issues and apply short-range remedies will continue to fail by reason of the growing interdependency of all vital processes on this planet.”—Ervin Laszlo, ed, The World System, p. v.
“Are we racing to the brink of an abyss or are we just gathering speed for a takeoff to a wonderful future? The crystal ball is clouded; the human condition baffles all morality because it is both unprecedented and almost beyond understanding.”—E.O. Wilson, well-known biologist, “Is Humanity Suicidal?” The New York Times Magazine, May 30, 1993, p. 27.
FORWARD
OUR 21st CENTURY CRISIS
At the beginning of the 20th century, people had great hopes for the future. But the horrors of World War I shattered them. Then came the global misery of World War II, and 100 million dead or disabled.
And with it came the atomic bomb.
It was a beautiful morning with not a cloud in the sky. The date was August 6, 1945, the time 8:00 a.m. A single plane was in the sky. Then its bomb-bay doors opened.
When the bomb reached 1850 feet, a radar echo set off an ordinary explosion inside. This drove a wedge of U-235 into a larger piece of U-235, setting off a blast with the force of 13,000 tons [11,794 mt] of TNT. As a result, more than 41/2 square miles [11.7 km2] of the city were destroyed. The “Little Boy” atomic bomb exploded only 800 feet from on-target and essentially destroyed the city. Over 92,000 persons were dead or missing.
That explosion changed the world. Never again would life be the same.
“Since 1945, it began to be technologically feasible to end life on this planet.”—Michael Grosso, “Analyzing the Future,” in Isaac Asimov, ed., Living in the Future (1985), p. 18.
Why did we seek to uncover that last, that deepest, secret? But now it is done and we stand aghast at what crazed men can now do to the rest of us.
“Man has survived, thitherto, through ignorance. Can he continue to survive now that the useful degree of ignorance is lost?”—Bertrand Russell, Has Man a Future? historian and philosopher (1961), p. 69.
Then came the 43-year nuclear arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union. For decades, there was a massive bipolar face-off between the Soviet Union and America, and the rest of the world quietly sat back and nervously watched.
But then, when the Soviet Union broke apart in 1989, everything changed again. Over a dozen smaller nations began preparing for war against one another—or against us.
Nations once again arming,—but this time it is different. In the 1990s, we entered upon a situation that has steadily grown almost unmanageable.
Now there are too many actors in the drama, too many loose nukes, too many individual terrorists. It is too easy to buy nuclear bombs, too easy to make chemical and biological ones.
The leading scientists and intelligence experts of America tell us they long for the days of the cold war, when things were peaceful!
“In comparison to the present, in some ways it seems like the Cold War was a piece of cake.”—National Security Seminar, late 1990s, held at the U.S. Army War College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
Make no mistake: The 1990s and beyond have hurled us into an increasingly dangerous world. Dr. Masoud, a U.S. defense expert, explains:
“Those of us who spent our formative years during the halcyon days of the Cold War cannot escape feeling a modicum of nostalgia for the simplicity of that era. While the bipoloar structure of the Cold War nuclear confrontation ensured its stability, the chaos of the post-Cold War era has seen Third World ‘rogue’ states—like Iraq and North Korea—and possibly even terrorist elements become the newest players in an increasingly volatile nuclear game. Since everyone with an ax to grind appears to be trying to acquire nuclear materials, it seems inevitable that eventually someone, somewhere will succeed. . How does the West deter non-state terrorist actors with nuclear bombs and nothing to lose?”—Tarek E. Masoud, “Stealing the Fire: Nuclear-izing the Third World,” Brown Journal of World Affairs, Winter/Spring 1997, pp. 17-18.
The entire world is becoming increasingly militarized, and many of the belligerents are fanatics.
As you will learn in this book, we now live on the edge of a sudden military attack which could destroy major cities,—an attack which need not come from the skies. It can be brought in on trucks. Yet there are a number of other, equally dangerous problems. This is the story of what we are facing. Why it will come. And what you need to do to prepare for it.
1
COLLISION COURSE WITH DISASTER
“We may have only a few decades until Doomsday.”—Carl Sagon, Cosmos, p. 328.
In 1980, Avin Toffler, the well-known futurist, predicted that “the decades immediately ahead are likely to be filled with upheavals, turbulence, perhaps even widespread violence” (Alvin Toffler, The Third Wave, 1980, p. 12).
Little did Toffler imagine what was coming! The fall of East Germany and the Soviet Union, at the end of the 1980s, hurled the planet into a level of crisis living that was unimaginable in the preceding decades of relative peace, when all the world sat back quietly and watched the Soviets and Americans point guns at one another.
It is different now.
“Currently we are behaving like insane passengers on a jet plane who are busy taking all the rivets and bolts out of the craft as it flies along.”—Tom Harper, Toronto Star, quoted in W.R. Goetz, Apocalypse Next: The End of Civilization as We Know It (1996), p. 28.
“I think human life is threatened as never before in the history of this planet. Not by one peril, but by many. They are all working together, coming to a head about the same time. And the time lies very close to the year 2000. I am one of those scientists who find it hard to see how the human race is to bring itself much past the year 2000.”—Dr. George Walk, Chairman, Biology Department, Harvard University, Nobel prize winner, quoted in Goetz, p. 15.
We are now past 2000, but the reasons for coming catastrophe only intensify with each passing month.
“Political and economic trust will implode. Real hardship will beset the land, with severe distress that could involve questions of class, race, nation, and empire.”—William Strauss and Neil Howe, The Fourth Turning: An American Prophecy (1997), p. 6.
Not on one or a few, but on many fronts, the situation is rapidly worsening.
“It could mark the end of man. It will be an omnicidal Armageddon, destroying everything, leaving nothing.”—Ibid, p. 330.
“This is the first age that’s paid much attention to the future. Which is a little ironic since we might not have one.”—Arthur C. Clarke, quoted in R.A. Swenson, Hurtling toward Oblivion (1999), p. 20.
Whitehead said, “It is the business of the future to be dangerous” (Alfred North Whitehead, quoted in Edward Wenk, Jr., Tradeoffs: Imperatives of Choice in a High-Tech World, 1986, p. 202). But that which the world’s leading experts now say is just ahead of us is more than dangerous; it is deadly.
“The question for humanity is whether our species is capable of thinking and acting in its own interest to ensure its survival. Some scholars maintain that we hold within us an unconscious drive to self-destruct, which will eventually succeed.”—Melville C. Branch, “Why We Simulate Long-range Futures,” The Futurist, April 1998, p. 52. Professor Emeritus of Planning, University of Southern California.
2
WHY CATASTROPHE CANNOT BE AVOIDED
The entire world is rushing toward a dramatic climax. It will be swift, powerful, and certain. In this chapter, we will explain several reasons why it is inevitable.
The overwhelming majority of all the material goods we use in daily life today have been developed within the generation in which we now live.
“Until this century. . social change was so slow, that it would pass unnoticed in one person’s lifetime. That is no longer so. The rate of change has increased so much that our imagination can’t keep up. Indeed, says social psychologist Warren Bennis, the throttle has been pushed so far forward in recent years that no exaggeration, no hyperbole, no outrage can realistically describe the extent and pace of change. . In fact, only the exaggerations appear to be true.”—Alvin Toffler, Future Shock (1970), p. 22.
On every hand, in every field, wherever we look or go—everything is increasing. In every technology, every aspect of living, every field of science and endeavor, we are experiencing dramatic increase, which, along with other factors, is leading us into an area of irreversible instability and danger.
“The world of today. . is as different from the world in which I was born as that world was from Julius Caesar’s. I was born in the middle of human history, to date. Almost as much has happened since I was born as happened before.”—Alvin Toffler, Future Shock (1970), p. 13.
Wherever else we turn, we see growth that is equally profound. More examples:
Even in the poorest nations, there is more and more;—more people, more crowded cities, more abject poverty, and more anger. And also, we might add, more guns.
This continual increase is both staggering and unmeasurable. It is also unstoppable. Everything changes and grows so fast, we cannot keep up with it. Profusion is both complex and deceptive. We simply cannot grasp how fast everything is increasing.
“Everything grows. Everything is on the increase, and every year the speed of that increase is greater.”— Roberto Vacca, The Coming Dark Age, trans. by J.S. Whale (1974), p. 6.
The insistent profusion divides itself into both differentiation and proliferation: First, there are so many different types of everything; and, second, the sheer numbers of it all keeps increasing.
“By changing our relationship to the resources that surround us, by violently expanding the scope of change, and, most crucially, by accelerating its pace, we have broken irretrievably with the past.”—Alvin Toffler, Future Shock (1970), p. 18.
On a gargantuan scale, everything is simply more and more. This fact, along with several others, is leading us into big trouble.
WE CANNOT TURN THE CLOCK BACK
Even if most of us wanted to, it is impossible to slow the increase. And most of us don’t want to. We are careening toward a destination, whether we like it or not.
“Society is caught up in a dynamic of change which no power can stop. . Now that the transition is under way, there is no going back on it.”—Kenneth E. Boulding, Meaning of the Twentieth Century: The Great Transition (1964), pp. 186, 191.
The continual increase is thought to be a great blessing, but we shall soon see it has an ominous side.
Our present economy is completely dependent on progress continuing in its current direction. We are used to a lifestyle of always something new, something different. “Innovation” is the gasoline in the engine of progress.
But keep in mind that each new level of progress destroys the previous level. If we suddenly lose our computers, we have no experts nor equipment with us to help us revert to how we did accounting thirty years ago. The experts of yesteryear are dead. We cannot go back because there is nothing to return to.
THIS GROWTH IS EXPONENTIAL
“Exponential” is a big word, but there is a little word that can define it: doubling. Here is a simple way to explain it: 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1,024, and upward.
Life around us is not only increasing; it is doubling! Doubling in this, in that, in everything, and doubling in trouble.
“Nearly all of mankind’s current activities, from use of fertilizer to expansion of cities, can be represented by exponential growth curves.”—Dennis Meadows, et al., The Limits to Growth (1972), p. 25. And he added this ominous note:
“Nearly every pollutant that has been measured as a function of time appears to be increasing exponentially.”—Ibid, p. 71.
Many contemporary processes not only grow, they seem to be exploding. You have seen those graphs, where everything is starting to go straight up. Well, that is the way, in the U.S. alone; the graphs are registering on item after item. Health care expenditures, air miles traveled, gross domestic product, volume of advertising, federal debt, private debt, third class mail, total mail, and data transfer.
Whether it be gambling, pornography, world population, explosive power of weapons, number of dedicated terrorists, or the variety of their explosives, everything is increasing—fast!
“Each new machine or technique, in a sense, changes all existing machines and techniques, by permitting us to put them together into new combinations. The number of possible combinations rises exponentially as the number of new machines or techniques rises arithmetically.”—Alvin Toffler, Future Shock (1970), pp. 28-29.
“What has been learned, in the last three decades about the nature of living beings, dwarfs in extent of knowledge any comparable period of scientific discovery in the history of mankind?”—Philip Siekevitz, quoted in Alvin Toffler, Future Shock (1970), p. 31.
“The causal chain of the deterioration is easily followed to its source. Too many cars, too many factories, too much detergent, too much pesticide, multiplying contrails, inadequate sewage treatment plants, too little water, too much carbon dioxide—all can be traced easily to too many people.”—Paul R. Ehrlich, The Population Bomb (1968), p. 18.
“Prior to 1500 by the most optimistic estimates, Europe was producing books at a rate of 1,000 books a year. . By 1950, the rate had accelerated so sharply that Europe was producing 120,000 titles a year. . By the mid-sixties, the output of books on a world sale, Europe included, approached the prodigious figure of 1,000 titles per day.”—Alvin Toffler, Future Shock (1970), pp. 30-31.
It is difficult to grasp the massive power of exponential change which is continually doubling! Exponential change makes something very little into something very big—fast. How can I present you with the sheer magnitude of exponential change? This should help you understand:
The Pacific Ocean, alone, covers 64 million square miles and averages 14,000 feet in depth. If all the continents were placed inside it, there would still be room for another Asia. So it is big, really big.
If the Pacific Ocean dried up and we had to refill it, how long would it take; that is, if we began with a single drop of water, and each time doubled the amount we put into it? That’s right; all we did was double the amount poured in each time.
The answer is just eighty. We would only have to double the amount 80 times in order to fill the Pacific Ocean! That is what doubling does. How full would the ocean be at the 70th doubling? Less than one-tenth of one percent. The last ten doubled amounts poured in would fill it to the top! That is the power of continual doubling. And you and I are living in it right now. But it is a dangerous way to live.
Richard Falk, Princeton professor of international law, says it is “a situation of growing danger .. provoked by the explosion of people and technology past the point of overload” (Richard Falk, This Endangered Planet: Prospects and Proposals for Human Survival, 1971, pp. xi, 4).
“Every day of continued exponential growth brings the world system closer to the ultimate limits to that growth. A decision to do nothing is a decision to increase the risk of collapse.”—Dennis Meadows, et al., The Limits to Growth (1972), p. 183.
Jay Forrester, a research professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was one of the first to develop computer models of what was happening in the modern world. Frightened, he declared that nothing in a finite world can continue on an exponential curve to infinity (see Ervin Laszlo, ed., The World System: Models, Norms, Variations, 1973, p. 82). He is right. Dead right.
The massive increase of technology, at such a prodigious rate, is not as safe as we might imagine. One of the deepest thinkers of our time writes thus:
“The more we try to spread technique over the culture, the more fragmented society becomes. The whole process of increased complexity, increased problems, increased entropy [deterioration], and increased disorder proceeds exponentially, and that’s what makes the modern world crisis so frightening. The exponentially of the technological fix is a one-way ticket to disaster for life and for the planet earth.”— Jeremy Rifkin, Entropy: A New World View (1980), p. 83.
Roberto Vacca is a systems mathematician. He says we are headed toward “breakdown on a large scale” (Roberto Vacca, The Coming Dark Age: What Will Happen When Modern Technology Breaks Down? 1974, p. 4).
Four pages later, he summarizes the crisis in these words:
“Similar growth rates are shown by the expanding highway systems, the number of telephones, the number of travelers by air, the number of books printed annually—in short, the numerical membership of any and every class of object and activity.
“All these measurements, then, have the character of continuous and exponential growth, and their variation obeys a well-known mathematical law, the law of the phenomenon of growth in the presence of limiting factors. At first the effect of these limiting factors is hardly noticeable, but there comes a time when they begin to predominate and to produce the phenomenon known as ‘saturation’ . . Often the effect of the limiting factors is not felt gradually; it may be felt all of a sudden.”—Ibid., p. 8.
Ervin Laszlo, a systems analyst, uttered this warning:
“Concern and controversy over the state of the world is currently growing at an exponential rate. Debate and discussion focuses on the question whether the world system, composed of the human population of the earth together with its technology and life-supporting ecology, can tolerate further growth without limit.”— Ervin Laszlo, ed, The World System, p. 3.
Not only are technology and products doubling rapidly, but the speed with which this is being done is exponentially increasing also. As things get larger rapidly, the duration at which it happens gets shorter. What used to take one hundred years to develop, later required only ten years. Now it takes only ten days. Vacca again:
“One of my contentions is that the proliferation of large systems until they reach critical, unstable, and uneconomic dimensions will be followed by . . many catastrophic events.”—Roberto Vacca, The Coming Dark Age: What Will Happen When Modern Technology Breaks Down? 1974, p. 14.
Exponential doubling of everything is dangerous. It is going to break eventually. This cannot continue. You should be aware of the fact. That is why you are reading this book.
But there is more. The situation is rapidly worsening.
All the signals are go Why it is almost here Why it is inevitable
3
NUCLEAR WINTER
One billion people killed before the mushroom cloud begins to blow away—an equal number doomed to slow, agonizing death by radiation.
This is the story of what some believe is coming to Planet Earth if a major atomic war is started by either of the two great powers—Russia or the United States.
“As a scientist, I tell you: There must never be another war!”—Dr. Harold C. Urey, atomic scientist, “I’m a Frightened Man,” The Saturday Review of Literature, August 7, 1948.
“Bidden or unbidden, the atomic bomb sits in on all the councils of nations; in its light all other problems of international relations are dwarfed.”—Henry L. Stimson, former U.S. Secretary of War, Harper’s Magazine, March 1946, p. 204.
Many believe that there is no power on earth—other than that of God Himself—that can save man from destroying himself within the next few decades.
And then, after the bombs have been quickly sent back and forth by the two powers—and others that may wish to join in,—the darkness of nuclear winter will settle over the planet.
A scientific conference in Washington, D.C., held the first week in November 1983, presented all this and more—as the result of a single nuclear clash between the two super powers.
“We are on our way towards removing the last barrier that prevents man from converting the earth into a planetary crematorium.”—Norman Cousins, Saturday Review of Literature, August 7, 1948, pp. 7-8.
Man cannot save himself by armament moratoriums and test bans—for we are already loaded with thousands of nuclear warhead missiles on both sides. Only a return to God can save us—individually or as a race.
The new name coined at the Washington conference for this impenetrable darkness that will last for months, “nuclear winter,” will be brought on by the detonation of less than one-half the megatonnage in U.S. and Soviet arsenals.
Carl Sagan, well-known TV personality, and Cornell University astronomer, Paul Ehrlich, Stanford University biologist, together with a team of elite scientists from all over the world, spent two years of research—before coming up with this in-depth report on what one major atomic attack and counterattack will bring to us all.
“What is new in the present situation is not the possibility of a last generation but the possibility—sobering enough I grant—that OURS may be the last generation!”—Ernest Fremont Tittle, The Christian Century, May 1, 1946, p. 556.
There is no man that can stand in the breach of today’s crisis and deliver us. Only God can do it—and He will deliver those that will pray to Him for help.
The intense heat from the blasts will set off firestorms, in which the very air will become so hot that everything flammable will ignite. Sweeping over large areas of the world, the storms will burn both stored chemicals and those used in construction and manufactured products. The air will become filled with the poisonous fumes of carbon monoxide, dioxins, and cyanides—that will threaten the existence of the people who have somehow survived the initial blasts.
This Conference on the Long-term, Worldwide Biological Consequences of Nuclear War, attended by top scientists from around the world, was the outgrowth of two years of research by a cooperative team that included 100 physicists, biologists, and atmospheric scientists from several continents.
“The inexorable ‘either-or’ of the atomic bomb, upon which hangs the fate of life on this planet, leaves the pride of man no means by which to save itself. The only alternative to Armageddon is repentance and regeneration.”—Richard M. Fagley, Secretary of the Peace Commission, Federal Council of Churches, in The Chaplain, November 1945, p. 5.
We cannot wait for others to take hold of this work. We must do it individually. We must pray for ourselves and our loved ones. We must return to God. We must read His messages to us in the Bible. We must obey those messages.
The chemicals burning in the air from the blasts will produce an acid rain that will burn the skin upon contact. The intense heat will also super-heat the soils and destroy the dormant seeds within them. With the plants and trees gone and the seeds destroyed, what future will the few survivors of an atomic holocaust have?
This conference, revealing the chemical and climatic effects that nuclear war would have on plants, animals, and man, was based on computer models of nuclear exchanges ranging from 100 megatons to 5,000 megatons. The examples of destruction, described here, are based on a 5,000 megaton interchange bombing—and this is less than half the megatonnage of atomic weapons now ready for blast-off by nations around the world!
“The present level of human behavior is so low that man is more likely to use control of unlimited natural forces for destruction rather than constructive purposes . . Gadgets and machines are getting better and better, and man is getting worse and worse.”—E.A. Hooton, Harvard University Anthropologist, United Press dispatch, in Washington Times-Herald, August 10, 1945.
We must individually return to God’s way of living—and that way is obedience to the Ten Commandments through faith in Jesus Christ, His Son. We cannot reclaim ourselves; we have repeatedly found this impossible. God’s way is the only way that will work. We must ask Him to forgive our sins and help us obey His Written Word. Only through self-control, by the help of God, can our planet survive.
The hundreds of nuclear fireballs would heat the surrounding air to a temperature of more than 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit and would, in the process, form a photochemical smog that would gradually drift around the world in the stratosphere. It would destroy about 50 percent of the irreplaceable ozone layer, that thin band of gas encircling the earth high in the sky that absorbs the ultraviolet light that would otherwise induce mutations and cancer.
A 5,000 megaton war is equal to the devastation that would be produced by 12,500 Pershing extra-continental ballistic missiles. (But this is only one-half of the missiles armed with nuclear warheads that are ready for immediate action right now.)
“Against the atomic bomb there is no defense. Just below the surface lurks the diplomat’s fear. If we give away the atomic power secret we will lose our bargaining power. But there is no longer an atomic power secret! This new power is a discovery at least as great as man’s discovery of fire. Who can predict what will come of it?”—H.M. Davis, editorial, Chemistry, November 1945.
We have come to a time in human history when men are turning their backs on the Ten Commandments, when scientists say it cannot be obeyed and preachers say it need not be obeyed. But the Bible says it must be obeyed. By his disobedience to the laws of nature and the laws of God, man is on the verge of destroying himself.
Following the initial blasts, all will be silent, as months of twilight settle over the world and temperatures plunge 55 degrees, killing nearly all plant life by the intense and continued cold.
The two-day conference was attended by some 600 American and foreign scientists and environmentalists, and was addressed by satellite by four Soviet scientists in Moscow (including Evgeni Velikhov, Vice President of the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences). The Soviets said they had already completed parallel research in this field and had arrived at approximately the same conclusions as the Sagan-Ehrlich teams.
“The devastation that could be wrought by an Atomic Age war is too appalling to be fully realized. The vision stuns our imagination. But if the present trends continue it is only a question of time before such a war will come. Time is short. Looking at . . the increasing bitterness and unrest throughout the world, at the tremendous power of our latest weapons, a realist might well conclude that many of us now living will see the start of a war which will end in more dark ages.”—Charles A. Lindbergh, Reader’s Digest, September 1948, pp. 134, 138.
Jesus did not die so men could disobey God as they are doing today; He died to enable men to do all that God asks of them in His Word. Both the Old Testament and the New Testament are important. Both come from God and both need to be read today by men and women who want to go to heaven. It is too late to rely on technology to save us and television to tranquilize us. We must return to Bible religion and obedience to the God of heaven.
It is amazing, but true, that some ministers of the gospel today preach from pulpits that men need no longer obey the moral law of God. But it is such teaching echoed by educators, psychologists, and scientists that has led us to the point in history where we are approaching the brink of destruction.
Within a week after the missile attacks, some 200 million tons of sooty smoke will blanket the earth. Stephen Schneider of the National Center for Atmospheric Research described it as “a blacktop highway— three miles up.” This smoke will absorb so much of the sun’s rays that less than 5 percent of the normal amount of light will reach the ground. This will result in a constant gloom that will make breathing difficult. It will also be ruinous to the plants still alive. Photosynthesis, that process whereby green plants convert sunshine and water into carbohydrates—food needed by animals and man—will be stopped.
—And yet all this from only a limited 5,000 megaton war! One megaton equals 1 million tons of nuclear warhead material. Russia and the United States combined already have over 12,000 megatons stockpiled. Proponents of a nuclear weapons freeze want the nuclear warheads in both super powers reduced from the present 17,000 to less than 1,000.
“Despair is creeping up on us—on the best of us most of all. The stars of promise have all but faded from our sky. We are on a road that leads to destruction, and destruction is drawing close.” —Editorial, Christian Century, November 19, 1947, p. 1391.
God has warned men, in His Word, that He would “destroy them which destroy the earth” (Revelation 11:18—and that Word reads like tomorrow’s newspaper. How long dare you wait before taking hold of this work for yourself? God is as near as your own private room. Go alone and fall on your knees and ask Him to forgive your past. Tell Him that there is no hope or help apart from Him. Plead with Him to do for you that which you cannot do for yourself. Dedicate the remainder of your frail life to Him, to use in His service. And then begin reading the Bible every day and obeying what you find there.
If the war broke out in the spring or summer—when plants are the most vulnerable to cold snaps,— virtually all land plants in the Northern Hemisphere would be damaged or killed, said Paul Ehrlich of Stanford University. And even more sobering is the fact that without the plants, every higher organism— including man himself—would face starvation. Need we add that only a novice, in the study of warfare, will not recognize that mankind for thousands of years has preferred springtime—as ideally suited for starting wars. Plant life is most vulnerable then.
Ecologist George Woodwell of the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, declared that “the potential effects [of such a nuclear conflict] extend even to the extermination of Homo sapiens— man himself.”
“The splitting of the atom, which represented the furthest reach of the new physics into the mysteries of matter, also annihilated the last of the nineteenth-century notions of an inevitable millennium of peace on this earth.”—Fortune Magazine, October 1948, p. 112.
God is pleading with men to return to Him before it is forever too late. Neither science nor research nor talent nor money can save us. We are nearing the final hour of man’s history. Only a return to God can now help any of us.
After the initial blasts has deafened ears, a cloud of dust and smoke weighing 1,200,000,000 tons will rapidly encircle the Northern Hemisphere—the northern half of the world,—and then will swiftly swirl into the Southern Hemisphere as well. Ninety percent or more of the sun’s light will be blocked out. Even if the war is only fought in the summer in the Northern Hemisphere, surface temperatures will plunge to an average of 13 degrees Fahrenheit (13 degrees below zero) and will remain below freezing for at least three months. Surface waters will freeze to a depth of three feet in what the atmospheric scientist, Stephen Schneider, calls “nuclear winter.”
Sagan adds that this effect will be much more severe than suggested in earlier studies; for they previously failed to take into account the great amount of smoke that will rise from burning cities, towns, and forests.
It is well-known that such a terrible drama in destruction could easily take place if one of the two super powers fired “on warning” of imminent attack—when no attack had really been made. In response to the battery of missiles, the other side would respond with thousands of its own.
Scientists expressed their fright at the picture that was presented to them in the Washington conference. The danger is vivid and it is real. As Randall Kehler commented, it “cannot be written off as the rhetoric of antinuke activists.”
“Unless something can be done to destroy the power of sin in the heart of man, his existence in a scientific world will always remain under the shadow of imminent self-destruction.”—Charles Clayton Morrison.
In His Word, God promises to give you a new heart—and a peace to match it. And He will do it if you will give Him your all. Heaven is worth the best you have, for heaven is better than the best you are. Turn over your life to Him. Tell Him you are tired of trying and failing on your own.
At best, only small bands of hunters and gatherers will be left in the Southern Hemisphere—no one will be left in the Northern. But could the life renew itself, even after the darkness and bitter cold lifted? Most of the protective layer of ozone in the upper atmosphere would have been burned off by that first torrent of atomic explosions.
The National Academy of Sciences, based in Washington, D.C., is preparing an even more detailed study on what will happen if the long-feared interchange of nuclear missile blasts takes place. The report, when completed, is expected to agree closely with the research done by the Sagan-Ehrlich teams.
“A new era is upon us . . We have had our last chance. If we do not now devise some greater and more equitable system—Armageddon will be at our door.”—General Douglas MacArthur, spoken on the day Japan surrendered, September 2, 1945, half a month after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, New York Times, September 2, 1945, p. 3.
But we are seeing that the work that must be done will have to be done, alone, before God. No one can do it for us, and we cannot do it for any one else. There is only one escape route out of this world. Only a connection with God can lead us down that path.
With the ozone layer removed, the surface of the earth would be exposed to the full intensity of solar rays. Powerful ultraviolet radiation would stream in from the sun, paralyzing even the phytoplankton in the oceans. Those one-celled ocean plants form the base of the ocean’s food chain. Without them no animals in the ocean could survive very long.
The Washington conference carefully discussed the ozone layer problem and found no solution. If this protective covering were removed by nuclear blasts—as it surely would by a 5,000 megatonnage of them—there would by no way that it could be restored within the indefinite future.
“I have lived seventy-five years. . and I know I am old because the century was once rich in utopias that are now meaningless. What has not remained anywhere is the ‘utopian’ drive and confidence in the future that sparked the early 20th century.”—Alfred Kazin, journalist and author, quoted in John Maddox, The Doomsday Syndrome (1972), p. 3.
“Thou shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins.”—Matthew 1:21. Christ lived and died to save us from our sins—not in our sins. And if we will let Him, He will do it. The key is cooperation. The power of God is made perfect in a weak man that is surrendered to Him. He can take your weakness and enable you to do all that He asks in His Inspired Word.
With the bursting of the big bombs from the missiles, there would result a powerful radioactive fallout pattern that would spread out with the winds and rapidly cover large areas. This fallout would be greater than earlier reports have suggested, for the simple reason that new “low-yield” atomic bombs have been developed. These new nuclear weapons do not throw radioactive fission debris very high in the atmosphere; and, as a result, the fallout is not “cooled” to less dangerous radioactive levels before it begins filtering down from the skies and settling on the ground.
Carl Sagan, who worked on the atmospheric models for this massive report, calculates that 30 percent of North America would be bombarded with radiation levels that would be greater than 200 rads (about half the lethal dose) within a very few months.
“I am writing at a dark moment, and it is impossible to know whether the human race will last long enough for what I write to be published, or, if published, to be read.”—Bertrand Russell, Has Man a Future (1961)? p. 120.
Christ said: “Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.”—Matthew 5:17. “If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love; even as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.”—John 15:10. Jesus can do for us that which we cannot do for ourselves. By His enabling grace, He can help us live kindly, clean, obedient lives. —And is not this what you want, just now, in your life?
“We are now asking a narrower question than ‘can man survive?’ We are now asking ‘can scientific man survive?’ ”—Bertrand Russell, ibid, p. 70.
A powerful air turbulence would begin as a result of the explosions; most of these would take place in the Northern Hemisphere, where North America, Europe and Asia are located. These super winds would be set into action by the enormous differences in temperature between the Northern Hemisphere, which has received thousands of bomb blasts, and the cooler Southern Hemisphere which has received relatively few of them.
Because of this, no region on the planet would be spared from many of the deadly effects of the nuclear explosions. Scientists had earlier thought that the southern portion of the globe would be immune from the worst consequences of nuclear war, because there is normally so little mixing of air between the two hemispheres. But it is now seen that the large temperature differential between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres would shift regular wind patterns toward the south—carrying smoke and radioactivity into the southern part of the world. A nuclear war, involving only one-half the total atomic warheads now ready for deployment, would become a total war destroying, immediately or soon after, nearly everyone living on this planet.
“After World War II—with its fifty million dead, the debut of nuclear weaponry—scientists found they no longer required God’s judgment to end history. Humankind could get the job done without any help from above.”—Richard A. Swenson, Hurtling toward Oblivion (1999), p. 22.
Two thousand years ago, the Apostle Peter took a piece of parchment and, under the inspiration of Heaven, described conditions when Christ returned the second time for His faithful ones.
“Within the pages of the New Testament, one is forever stumbling upon passages, long ignored, which suddenly speak directly to the mood of the hour. From utter irrelevance they become luminous with meaning. The closing lines of 2 Peter [3:9-14] are a case in point. A year ago they were completely foreign to our thinking, but listen to them today!”—Winthrop S. Hudson, The Christian Century, January 9, 1946, p. 46.
Here are those remarkable words:
“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
“Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness. Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
“Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of Him in peace, without spot, and blameless.”—2 Peter 3:9-14.
A few months after Hiroshima, Sir Richard Gregory stepped to the podium, at a meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, and quoted 2 Peter 3:10. He was frightened (Christian Century, May 1, 1946, p. 556).
It is an old adage of sailors, “Without a destination, there is never a favorable wind.” Something to think about. Where are you headed? Do you know? You only have a few more years and, one way or another, you are going to die.
All the signals are go Why it is almost here Why it is inevitable
4
PLANET IN REBELLION
Increased technology and faster commerce cannot solve the problems we are encountering now.
“Perhaps the next few summers may lengthen into a few more summers of opportunity. Again, no man can say. But let men search the Scriptures and ponder the facts of science, the vagaries of world politics, the economic, emotional and industrial condition of the peoples—conditions pointing sharply toward finis, soon or a little later.”—Wesner Fallow, Professor at Andover Newton Theological Seminary, in The Christian Century, September 25, 1946, p. 1148.
More fundamental than what we have already discussed, moral conditions have not improved; they steadily worsened until the mid-1960s—and they have been hurtling downward ever since.
The whole world seems to be going crazy. We stand aghast and wonder what will happen next.
We search for the cause and it is obvious to those willing to consider it: Men and women have forgotten God. They no longer acknowledge Him as supreme in their lives. Many do not even believe there is a God. They have swallowed the lie of evolution.
Even many Christians who love God are taught that they do not need to keep the Ten Commandments! Little wonder that the moral fabric of society is unraveling. Men are told that the only laws they need to obey are man’s laws! God, they are told—doesn’t have any, any more!
The basic problem is that the greater part of mankind today is in rebellion against its Creator. They refuse to submit to His authority.
We may try to excuse it any way we want, but this is the reason mankind seems to be hurtling toward moral extinction.
Our planet has a disease. That disease is sin. In order to solve the problem, we must first identify sin. What is it?
The Bible says sin is the breaking of God’s law.
“Whosoever commits sin transgresses also the law; for sin is the transgression of the law.”—1 John 3:4.
Men refuse to obey God’s moral Ten Commandment law. It is as simple as that. And we all know it. They lie, they steal, they cheat. They kill, they covet, They reject God’s authority and take His name in vain. They violate His holy day.
If we kept the Ten Commandments, all the other evils plaguing our civilization would be solved. Yet, oddly enough, although we are expected to keep the laws of man, we are solemnly told by educated men that it is impossible to keep God’s laws—and anyone who tries to do it is a “legalist”!
Men today are so deeply involved in drugs, pornography, gambling, drinking and wild entertainment, that they cannot think straight. But in the early months after the bomb was flown from Tinian Island to Hiroshima, many feared for what the future would bring.
“Scientists themselves now proclaim that their science has reached the point in its development where it becomes imperative to do something about man. They prophesy doomsday unless their warning is heeded.
“Christianity puts its finger upon that in man’s nature which science now gravely fears may cause his destruction and the destruction of the earth with him. Science and Christianity are now looking at the same thing in man. Science has no word for it, but Christianity has. That word is sin ..
“Unless something can be done to destroy the power of sin in the heart of man, his existence in a scientific world will remain under the shadow of imminent self-destruction.”—Charles Clayton Morrison, The Christian Century, March 13, 1946, pp. 330-332.
For a few brief years after Hiroshima, there were men who were concerned about returning our planet to obedience to God.
“Something tremendous is needed to lift us out of our infatuation with doom. . It must set blazing beacons to light a different path. Does the Christian church know what this tremendous something is? We believe it does. Then why, for the sake of desperate, despairing men, is it not tremendously declaring it?”—Editor, Christian Century, November 19, 1947, p. 1391.
But such concerns are past. Man is not changing. His obsession with sin has become a mania. The end is just ahead.
God allows developments to work toward a climax. He has often done this in the past. He did it in Noah’s day when He sent a flood of waters and buried the wicked. He did it in the days of Abraham when He destroyed the wicked cities of the plain which gave themselves up to evil.
When men reach the point that they only live to do wickedness, then God steps in.
Christ predicted that, when conditions in the entire world become as evil as they were in the time of Noah and Sodom,—the end would come!
“As it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. . and the Flood came and destroyed them all.
“Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot. . It rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.”—Luke 17:26-27, 28-30.
We are told that, in the days of Noah,
“God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. . And the earth was filled with violence.”—Genesis 6:5, 11.
That is exactly what is happening now! In the time of Noah, those conditions existed worldwide. After nearly 4400 years, the sheer intensity of such evil once again exists worldwide!
A few days after Hiroshima, President Truman said that mankind could only be saved if it returned to obedience to what God had written in the Bible:
“If men and nations would but live by the precepts of the ancient prophets and the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount, problems which now seem so difficult would soon disappear. . Unless it is done, we are headed for the disaster we would deserve.”—President Harry S. Truman, quoted in Federal Council of Churches, Biennial Report for 1946, p. 109.
Our entire global civilization is today repeating the sins that destroyed the world in the days of Noah. Never before have we lived in such “perilous times.”
“In the last days perilous times shall come.”—2 Timothy 3:1.
Never before has there been so much evil:
“Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse.”—2 Timothy 3:13.
In the judgment, the harvest of the world, Christ will return the second time and take His faithful ones to heaven.
“The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one. The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels . . Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into My barn.”—Matthew 13:38-39, 30.
We are stunned as we consider the fact that a terrible climax is developing. Yet, according to Bible prophecy, God is permitting it to happen. Something immense is about to take place.
We are dealing with something very much larger than that which appears on the surface. We have discussed the very real crisis in public health, politics, economics, bioterrorism, and weapons of mass destruction. But something far more fundamental is involved.
God is about to deal with an entire planet that has run amok in evil. The world is warring against the law of God, the Ten Commandments; and the effects are to be seen everywhere. We are on a collision course with disaster because morality is at the depths. Marriage as an institution is about gone, sexual perversion has been given a free rein, millions live only for the next uppers shot, and bribery and corruption run riot.
In the beginning, sin arose when Satan disputed God’s right to rule the universe. Satan told the angels that God’s law was unjust and should be abolished.
But, when Satan was kicked out of heaven, he came to earth; and, in the Garden of Eden, he used the same approach. God had told Adam and Eve what they could do and should not do. He was their Creator and they had a responsibility to obey Him. The only way anyone can be happy is when they obey God.
But then: Satan arrived and, disguised as a snake, told our first parents they did not have to obey what God said. “You do not have to obey; you shall not die. You will enter upon a new, higher experience by disobeying,” was his message.
“Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
“And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which [is] in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
“And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”—Genesis 3:1-5.
All down through human history, Satan has repeated the same lie: “You don’t have to obey God.” Throughout Bible times, and in the centuries since then, he has lured people into disobeying God’s moral law of Ten Commandments (Exodus 30:3-17).
And that is our core problem today. The same problem existed back in the days of Noah: “Every man does what is right in his own eyes” (Genesis 6:5).
Just as it was back then, so it is today. When the crisis in lawlessness reaches a certain point, God will step in.
Men do not realize what they are doing when they refuse to submit to God’s ten rules, the Ten Commandments. That moral law is the foundation of God’s government. It establishes His right to rule His creatures. If we reject His law, we reject Him! Think about that a moment.
God wrote down His moral code in enduring stone on Mount Sinai. (It is given in Exodus 20:1-17.) How much more permanent can something be, than to have it engraved on stone—and written there by God’s own finger! God gave the Ten Commandments to those who were His people at that time, to be given to the world.
The situation has not changed. Today it wants you and me to obey that law and urge it upon others.
Look about you today: God’s moral rules are rejected by nearly the entire world. Even many Christians reject it! They say they do not have to keep God’s law, for they have been saved from it!
Did Christ die on Calvary so we can steal and kill and take God’s name in vain? No, no. It cannot be. The truth is that God saves us from sin, not from His law!
How does He save us from sin? It is through Christ’s death on the cross, and His mediation on our behalf in heaven, that God saves us from sin. As we plead with Christ for help, He forgives our past, and strengthens us by His empowering grace—right now—to resist temptation and obey His Father’s law.
The plan is a beautiful one. The Bible says sin “is the transgression of the law” (1 John 3:4). What can be clearer? The problem is sin, not the law!
Why did Jesus come to our world? The angel told the reason to Mary before Christ’s birth: “Thou shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins.”—Matthew 1:21.
Jesus did not die on the cross to save us from God’s law. Jesus died to save us from sin—from transgression of that law!
If I intentionally drive through a stop sign, hit another car and kill someone,—how do we solve the problem? Theoretically, we can do it in one of three ways:
First, we can get rid of the law. We can do away with the rule which forbids driving through stop signs. That would mean I am henceforth free to run stop signs and hit more cars! “I am free from the law.”
Second, I can suffer the penalty myself. I can go to court, perhaps go to jail. This is done to punish me for breaking the law and convince me not to disobey it any more. The law stands, and the sin is punished.
Third, someone else can pay the penalty for me. But, although he may pay the penalty for my past transgression, he is not thereby abolishing the law! I am still required to obey it.
Under this third plan, which is God’s way of solving the sin problem in my life, the One who paid the penalty for my sin, Jesus Christ,—also helps me obey the moral law as, by faith in His righteous merits, I daily walk with Him by faith.
Christ did not die to take away the law, but to help me obey it. He died in my place on Calvary; and He lives today in heaven to strengthen me, by His righteous merits, to obey His moral law. Sin is the problem, not the law! Sin is rebellion against God; the law is the foundation of God’s government. There is a great difference between the two!
Which do you want to get rid of? If you want to get rid of sin, you are on God’s side of the question. If you want to get rid of His law, you are on the devil’s side.
God’s plan is for His earthly children to live clean, moral lives, in obedience to the Ten Commandments. Christ did not die so they could keep sinning in defiance of the law. He did not go through the agonies of Calvary so we could continue as lawbreakers.
However, it is very important that we understand that, by ourselves, none of us can keep God’s holy law. None of us—not one—can, by our own will or strength, put away sin or resist Satan’s temptations.
Christ died on Calvary not only to forgive our past sins, but to enable us by His grace to obey it each day as, by faith, we cling to His hand and, as little children, walk along life’s pathway with Him! “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.” That old song is true.
We are to take hold of His empowering strength, trust in His enabling merits,—and live clean, godly lives. By His grace, we are to control ourselves. We are to be “Christians,” Christlike.
God’s part is infinitely great, but He will not do His part without our part. And our part is to choose Him, to put our will into action, to resist temptation, and do what is right. Trusting Him for help as we attempt to do this, Christ supplies the strength to carry it through to success. He enables us to live clean, pure, honest lives, and spend our time helping and blessing others. Thank God, there is a way we can live like Jesus! We can be like the One we so much love. And all the praise goes to Him for it.
Forget this idea of “sin and be saved.” Let’s live for something better than that! Through the enabling grace of Christ, sin is not to have dominion over us!
We need to learn, from the Bible, what is in the future for our world. But first, because it is so important, here is a brief Bible study, clearly showing that, trusting in Jesus, each one of us can live a “Christian” life. By presenting it to you in outline format, you can clearly see the principles as they are explained in the Bible, God’s holy Word:
THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION:
Romans 3:23—“For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”
Isaiah 59:2—“But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear.”
Romans 6:23—“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
2 Peter 3:9—“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
Exodus 34:6-7—“The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty.”
John 3:16-20—“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved. He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hates the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.”
Luke 19:10—“For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Matthew 1:21—“He shall save His people from their sins.”
Isaiah 53:6—“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
Acts 16:31—“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shall be saved.”
2 Corinthians 6:2—“Now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”
John 1:12—“But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.”
Galatians 2:20—“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.”
John 3:3—“Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
2 Corinthians 5:17—“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
Philippians 2:13—“For it is God which works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.” Hebrews 10:16—“I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them.”
1 John 1:9—“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Philippians 4:13—“I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.”
OBEDIENCE BY FAITH
HOW GOD ENABLES YOU TO OBEY HIM
1 - GOD HAS A GOVERNMENT
Psalm 103:19—“The Lord hath prepared His throne in the heavens; and His kingdom rules over all.”
2 - THERE CAN BE NO GOVERNMENT WITHOUT LAW
Romans 7:12—“The law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.”
Romans 7:14—“For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.”
Proverbs 28:9—“He that turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination.”
3 - GOD’S LAW WAS FOR MEN IN BIBLE TIMES
Romans 3:31—“Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.”
James 2:10-12—“For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For He that said, Do not commit adultery, said also Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.”
4 - GOD’S LAW IS FOR THE REMNANT IN THE LAST DAYS
Revelation 12:17—“And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”
Revelation 14:12—“Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus” (also verses 13-15).
5 - THERE IS GENERAL REBELLION AGAINST GOD’S LAW
Romans 8:7—“The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.”
Psalm 119:126—“It is time for Thee, Lord, to work: for they have made void Thy law.”
6 - THERE ARE PROMISES FOR THE OBEDIENT
Psalm 119:165—“Great peace have they which love Thy law: and nothing shall offend them.”
Isaiah 48:18—“O that thou had hearkened to My commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea.”
7 - THE SACRIFICIAL LAWS WERE ABOLISHED AT THE CROSS
(Hebrews 10:1-16)
Colossians 2:14—“Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross.”
Colossians 2:17—“Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.”
8 - WHAT DOES THE LAW DO FOR THE SINNER?
God uses the law to do for the sinner just what needs to be done. The sinner must realize that he is a sinner. The heavy hand of the law must be laid upon him, and he must be arrested in his course. Notice the following carefully:
Romans 3:20—“By the law is the knowledge of sin” (Romans 7:7).
Romans 3:19—“Now we know that what things so ever the law said, it said to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.”
James 1:23-25—“If any be a hearer of the Word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: for he beholds himself, and goes his way, and straightway forgets what manner of man he was. But whoso looks into the perfect law of liberty, and continues therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed” (James 2:9-12).
Without the law, the sinner is like a man who is afflicted with a deadly disease that he doesn’t know he has. Paul said, “I had not known sin, but by the law” (Romans 7:7).
9 - WHAT IS THE LAW UNABLE TO DO FOR THE SINNER?
The law cannot forgive. Law does not possess the power to forgive those who transgress its precepts. Only the Lawgiver can do that. Jesus died to redeem us from the curse of the law (Galatians 3:13). The law cannot keep the sinner from sinning because “the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (Romans 8:7).
The law only shows the sinner where he needs to change; but the law, itself, cannot change him. And so let us get three facts about the law very clear.
Romans 3:20—“By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight.”
Galatians 3:21—“Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.”
The law is limited in its ability to do all that needs to be done for the sinner. A wound cannot be sewed up with only a needle. The thread of the gospel must do that.
10 - WHAT DOES THE GRACE OF CHRIST DO FOR THE SINNER?
When the law of God and the Spirit of God have made the sinner conscious of his sin, he will then feel his need of Christ and go to the Savior for pardon. The publican found it so (Luke 18:13-14). The woman taken in adultery felt condemned and ashamed. She needed sympathy and forgiveness, and Christ was ready to grant these to her. Then He said, “Sin no more.”
If we confess and put away sin, He will forgive (1 John 1:9). This is grace, or unmerited favor. This gracious love of Christ awakens love in the heart of the sinner, and he then desires to serve and obey God. Here are four elements of the saving grace of Christ:
Acts 13:38-39—“Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: and by Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses” (Luke 18:13-14).
Matthew 1:21—“She shall bring forth a son, and thou shall call His name Jesus: for He shall save His people from their sins.”
1 Corinthians 1:30—“But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.”
Ephesians 2:8-10—“By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”
4. It brings God’s power.
Romans 1:16—“I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”
Forgiveness of sin and power over sin came through the exercise of simple faith in God’s promises and a full surrender of the heart to Him.
11 - HOW DOES A SINNER SAVED BY GRACE RELATE TO THE LAW?
1 John 5:3—“This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.”
Romans 8:3-4—“God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
Hebrews 8:10—“This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, said the Lord; I will put My laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to Me a people” (Psalm 119:11).
Men in their blindness boast of wonderful progress and enlightenment, but the heavenly watchers see the earth filled with corruption and violence. We are living in the midst of an epidemic of crime, at which thoughtful, God-fearing men everywhere are aghast. The spirit of anarchy is permeating all nations, and the outbreaks of strife and bloodshed are but indications of what is ahead.
We are living in the last days,—and are standing on the threshold of the crisis of the ages. In quick succession judgments are following one another. The restraining Spirit of God is even now being withdrawn from the world. Hurricanes, storms, tempests, fire and flood, disasters by sea and land are to be seen. Science seeks to explain all these. The signs are thickening around us—warning of the end and of Christ’s coming in judgment—and are attributed to any other than the true cause.
The sun shines in the sky, passing over its usual round, and the heavens still declare the glory of God. Men are still eating and drinking, planting and building, marrying and giving in marriage. Merchants are still buying and selling. Men are jostling one against another, contending for the highest place. Pleasure lovers are still crowding to horse races, gambling halls, theaters, and worldly music,—even bringing it all into their homes. The highest excitement prevails, yet probation’s hour is fast closing and every case is about to be eternally decided.
So far in this book, we have learned several reasons why a terrible crisis is just ahead of us.
We have also learned that, in the past, God has stepped in when morality has reached the bottom. He did it in Noah’s day, and He did it to Sodom. We all know that conditions today are as bad as both those earlier crises.
And we have learned that God’s terrible judgments are sent to punish sin, the transgression of His moral law.
It has become clear that the end is not far off. But the sheer intensity of wickedness has reached such a massive amount, that if God does not step in soon, man will destroy himself.
Another crisis—the last one in history—is just ahead of us. It is called the Mark of the Beast.
All the signals are go Why it is almost here Why it is inevitable
5
WHEN MEN DEFY GOD
Thinking men everywhere recognize that a great crisis is ahead. Christians know it will include the Mark of the Beast. It is part of the final judgment of God on our planet. You should understand what it is.
This Mark is not about international intrigue, a mysterious man who has been born somewhere, aliens from outer space, or the bar codes on tin cans. The Mark is solidly based on a violation of principles found in God’s holy Word.
The answers are in the Bible, for God has warned us about what is coming. In order to understand these things, we must go back in history. There are answers in Bible prophecy.
In the annals of human history, the rise and fall of nations and empires appear as if dependent on the will and prowess of man. The shaping of events seems, to a great degree, to be determined by human power and ambition. But in the Word of God the curtain is drawn aside and we behold, above, behind, and through all the play and counter play of human power and passions the agencies of the All-merciful One, silently, patiently working out the counsels of His own will.
When we want to understand last-day events, the books of Daniel and the Revelation are extremely important. Revelation 18 talks about the fall of symbolic Babylon. Revelation 13 and 14 deal with the Mark of the Beast. The two are related.
In order to understand this symbolic “Babylon” of Revelation, we must go back in history to another moral crisis when God sent judgments. God has destroyed nations and civilizations which have defied Him. In the Bible, ancient Babylon became a symbol of a nation which not only stooped to a very low level of morality, but, by its actions, brazenly defied the God of heaven.
“Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand. Belshazzar, while he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, might drink therein.
“Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem; and the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, drank in them. They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone.
“In the same hour came forth fingers of a man’s hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. Then the king’s countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another.”—Daniel 5:1-5.
Belshazzar, king of ancient Babylon, dared to call for the sacred vessels, taken earlier by his nation’s army from the Temple at Jerusalem. Then, in a drunken orgy, the king, his associates, and their prostitutes dared to drink liquor from them!
The limit had been reached. God sent His judgments upon the proud nation of Babylon. A large, bloodless hand traced words on the wall, which declared the doom of the nation. Belshazzar was slain that night, as a new power gained control of the vast empire.
“In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain. And Darius the Median took the kingdom.”—Daniel 5:30-31.
You can read the fascinating story in the fifth chapter of Daniel.
Henceforth, in Bible prophecy, “Babylon” stood for the organization or nation which should openly defy God and His law. That is why we find judgments upon Babylon in Revelation 18. But what is that later Babylon-like power which was predicted?
Earlier in the book of Revelation, there is another symbol which also stands for the Babylonian power. It is the beast of Revelation 13, which gives the Mark of the Beast.
How is the beast of Revelation 13 like Babylon? The Bible explains that also.
Ancient Babylon was the first of several ancient great empires mentioned in Bible prophecy. We are told about them in Daniel 7 under the figure of great beasts which arise, one after another, each one conquering the one before it. After Babylon, symbolized by a two-winged lion in Daniel 7:4 (605-538 B.C.), came Medo-Persia, the bear of verse 5 (538-331 B.C.).
Medo-Persia was eventually conquered by Alexander the Great, the king of Greece, who was represented by the speedy four-winged leopard of Daniel 7:6 (331-168 B.C.). Alexander conquered a territory, extending from Greece through the Persian Empire and all the way to India (an area just under two million square miles, containing more than 20 million people) in just ten years (330 to 320 B.C.). Three years later, he drank himself to death in remorse, after having slain a close friend in a drunken rage (323 B.C.). He was only 33 years old.
Alexander’s will had declared that the kingdom should go “to the strongest.” After some extended infighting, four of his generals (Cassander, Lysimachus, Seleuchus and Ptolomy) grabbed portions of the empire and divided it into four parts, just as predicted in Daniel 7.
In the vision of Daniel 7, there was to be a fourth beast.
“After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth. It devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.”—Daniel 7:7.
This fourth empire, represented by the terrible beast described in Daniel 7:7, was pagan Rome (168 B.C.-A.D. 476).
“Finally, in 168, the Romans. . won a complete victory over Perseus in the battle of Pydna . . Henceforth it was clear that Rome was the real sovereign in the eastern Mediterranean.”—A.E.R. Boak, A History of Rome to A.D. 565, p. 109.
After conquering Greece, the Roman Empire gradually decayed,—and gave its power to the beast of Revelation 13!
Out of the fourth “terrible beast” of Daniel 7, came a “little horn.” Now here is something amazing. The beast of Revelation 13 and the little horn of Daniel 7—are one and the same power! God wanted to make sure there was no mistaking who this power was, so He described it in both prophetic books.
What the Bible says about this little horn power is very important:
“I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things..
“And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.
“And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.”—Daniel 7:8, 24-25.
The description of this little horn power in Daniel 7 is exactly like that of the beast power in Revelation 13:
As the Roman Empire was beginning to crumble, under the onslaughts of ten barbaric tribes from the north, the little horn power arose and gained authority over them all. This exactly fulfilled Bible prophecy: “And another shall arise after them” (Daniel 7:24).
The ten northern tribes (the “ten horns” of prophecy) gradually took over various portions of the Roman Empire. The little horn power came up among them, after they had arisen, and became the leading power. This division was completed by A.D. 476.
The little horn arose to power after the other ten powers were established. Then three of the other kingdoms (the Heruli, Vandals, and Ostrogoths) fell. This little horn power was the Papacy.
“Out of the ruins of political Rome, arose the great moral Empire in the ‘giant form’ of the Roman Church.”—A.C. Flick, the Rise of the Mediaeval Church (1909), p. 150.
Eckhardt, a historian at the University of Chicago, explains it in this way:
“Under the Roman Empire the popes had no temporal powers. But when the Roman Empire had disintegrated and its place had been taken by a number of rude, barbarous kingdoms, the Roman Catholic Church not only became independent of the states in religious affairs, but dominated secular affairs as well. Under the weak political system of feudalism, the well-organized, unified, and centralized church, with the pope at its head, was not only independent in ecclesiastical affairs but also controlled civil affairs.”— Carl Conrad Eckhardt, The Papacy and World Affairs (1937), p. 1.
It was predicted that the little horn power, which pushed its way up among the ten horns, would be “diverse” (Daniel 7:24). It would be different than the other kingdoms. The Papacy, which arose on the ruins of the Roman Empire, differed from other world kingdoms, in that it was an ecclesiastical—a church—power ruling the nations around it.
“Whatever Roman elements the barbarians and Arians left came under the protection of the Bishop of Rome, who was the chief person there after the Emperor’s disappearance. The Roman Church in this way privily pushed itself into the place of the Roman World-Empire, of which it is the actual continuation. The Roman Empire had not perished, but had only undergone a transformation. . The pope, who calls himself ‘Pontifex Maximus,’ is Caesar’s successor.”—Adolf Harnack, What is Christianity? (1903), pp. 269-270.
The names, “pontiff” (meaning “king”) and “Pontifix Maximus” (meaning “king over all other kings”) had previously been the titles of the Roman emperors, whom the people had obeyed and worshiped.
One of the most startling things about this little horn power was that the Bible predicted it would “think to change times and laws.” Here is a man that sets himself up as equal with God and above God’s law,—for he presumes to have the power to change God’s law! To presume to be equal to God and able to change God’s law would be blasphemy.
Some of the parallel prophecies in Daniel 7 and Revelation 13 discuss this:
“And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.”—Daniel 7:25.
“And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.”—Revelation 13:5-6.
The God of heaven said, “I am the Lord, I change not” (Malachi 3:6). And about His holy law, Scripture tells us, “All His commandments are sure. They stand fast forever and ever” (Psalm 111:7-8). The character of God does not change, neither do His Ten Commandments.
The Bible even predicted the amount of time that the little horn power would rule: 1260 years. This 1260-year time period is mentioned seven times in the Bible, so it is important. Using the day for a year principle found in Ezekiel 4:6 and Numbers 14:34, let us consider these passages:
All seven Bible verses describe this power as reigning 1260 prophetic days, or 1260 literal years.
Do you know of any other kingdom which lorded it over other kingdoms—for over a thousand years? And, according to Bible prophecy, the kingdom that did that,—had to do it in the territory of the fourth beast: pagan Rome, which formerly controlled Europe.
Here are eleven facts about this little horn power:
1 - It received its “seat” (capital city) and its authority from pagan Rome (Revelation 13:4).
2 - It would rule the world for 1260 years (A.D. 538 to 1798).
3 - It would receive a “deadly wound,” which would later be healed (Revelation 13:3).
4 - It would be both a political and religious power, which would be worshiped (Revelation 13:4).
5 - It would attempt to change God’s Ten Commandment law (Daniel 7:25).
6 - It would have a leader who would claim to be God on earth and able to forgive sins, both of which are the highest blasphemy (Revelation 13:1).
7 - It would be a mother church, with daughters which would come out of it and copy it in some way (Revelation 17:5).
8 - It would make war with the saints and, for over a thousand years, would kill millions of them (Daniel 7:25; Revelation 13:7).
9 - It would be a world power which would be wondered at (Revelation 13:3-4).
10 - It would have a “man” at its head, and the number of his name would be 666 (Revelation 13:18).
11 - It would have a dreaded mark, which it would be able to place on people (Revelation 14:9-10).
We are getting closer to understanding the Mark of the Beast. Here is how papal Rome received its “seat” from pagan Rome:
Emperor Constantine gave the Bishop of Rome his “seat” when he, Constantine, traveled to Asia Minor (modern Turkey) and founded the city of Constantinople. Henceforth, the pope was in charge of Rome and its surrounding area. To this day, it still has its headquarters in the same capital of the ancient Roman Empire—Rome, by the banks of the Tiber, in what is today called Italy.
Then in A.D. 538, the Emperor’s general, Belisarius, helped the pope drive the Ostrogoths from Rome. The 1260 years began that year.
“Long ages ago, when Rome through the neglect of the Western emperors was left to the mercy of the barbarous hordes, the Romans turned to one figure for aid and protection, and asked him to rule them; and thus. . commenced the temporal sovereignty of the popes. And meekly stepping to the throne of Caesar, the vicar of Christ took up the scepter to which the emperors and kings of Europe were to bow in reverence through so many ages.”—American Catholic Quarterly Review, April, 1911.
Later, additional power was given to the pope when, in A.D. 533, the Emperor Justinian decreed that the pope should be over all the Christian churches of the earth (Code of Justinian, book 1, title 1, section 4).
“The recognition of the Roman See as the highest ecclesiastical authority remained the cornerstone of his [Justinian’s] policy in relation to the west.”—G. Kruger, “Justinian I, Emperor of the East,” in The New Shaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge,
The Papacy ruled for exactly 1260 years, from A.D. 538 to 1798. What happened in 1798?
In that exact year, Napoleon sent General Berthier to Rome, to capture the pope, take him prisoner, and exile him to France, where he later died in captivity! This was an amazing event! And it occurred exactly 1260 years after the Papacy first gained full civil authority.
“When in 1797, Pope Pius VI fell grievously ill, Napoleon gave orders that in the event of his death no successor should be elected to his office, and the Papacy should be discontinued. But the pope recovered. The peace was soon broken: Berthier entered Rome on the tenth of February, 1798. The aged Pontiff was hurried from prison to prison in France. Broken with fatigue and sorrows, he died on the seventeenth of August 1799, in the French fortress of Valence, aged 82 years. No wonder half of Europe thought Napoleon’s veto would be obeyed, and that with the pope, the Papacy was dead.”—Joseph Rickaby, The Modern Papacy, p. 1.
From A.D. 538, when the sword of Belisarius elevated Pope Vigilius as universal pontiff, to the time when the sword of Berthier thrust Pope Pius VI from office, in 1798, was exactly 1260 years.
But the prophecy also said that this “deadly wound” would later be healed.
“ . . and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.”—Revelation 13:3.
In his plans to conquer neighboring Catholic countries, Mussolini wanted no interference from the pope. So, in 1929, Mussolini made a deal with the pope. On March 9 of that year, the Italian government signed the Concordat of Rome, recognizing Vatican City as an independent state. Once again the pope was king over an earthly kingdom.
Astounding as it may seem, the very wording of the prophecy of Revelation 13:3, uttered nearly 2,000 years earlier, was headlined in the public press. On that same day, the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle headlined: “Mussolini and Gasparri [Pope Pius XI] Sign Historic Pact. . Heal Wound of Many Years.”
“In affixing the autographs to the memorable document, healing the wound which has festered . . extreme cordiality was displayed on both sides.”—Associated Press Dispatch, March 9, 1929.
On that day, the pope said, “The peoples of the entire world are with us.”
“Yet since then [1798], the Papacy has been lifted to a pinnacle of spiritual power unreached. It may be, since earliest Christian history.”—The Modern Papacy, p. 1 [Roman Catholic].
The papal power occupies a unique place in the world, for it not only is a religion but a kingdom as well. At the present time, representatives and ambassadors from more than forty major nations of the world come to counsel with its head of state, the pope. Among these are representatives from the United States.
The prophecy also specified that this power would slay many of God’s people.
“And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.”—Daniel 7:25.
“And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them.”—Revelation 13:7.
For over a thousand years, the Papacy put to death faithful Christians for the crime of not bowing the knee to the pope and accepting his false teachings.
“That the Church of Rome has shed more innocent blood than any other institution that has ever existed among mankind, will be questioned by no Protestant who has a competent knowledge of history. . It is impossible to form a complete conception of the multitude of her victims, and it is quite certain that no powers of imagination can adequately realize their sufferings.”—W.E.H. Lecky, History of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of Rationalism in Europe, Vol. 2, p. 32, 1910 ed. [An excellent, though lengthy, article describing in detail the right of the Roman Catholic Church to do this, will be found in The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 12, p. 266.]
“For professing faith contrary to the teachings of the Church of Rome, history records the martyrdom of more than one hundred million people. A million Waldenses and Albigenses [Swiss and French Protestants] perished during a crusade proclaimed by Pope Innocent III in 1208. Beginning from the establishment of the Jesuits in 1540 to 1580, nine hundred thousand were destroyed. One hundred and fifty thousand perished by the Inquisition in thirty years. Within the space of thirty-eight years after the edict of Charles V against the Protestants, fifty thousand persons were hanged, beheaded, or burned alive for heresy. Eighteen thousand more perished during the administration of the Duke of Alva in five and a half years.”—Brief Bible Readings, p. 16.
“The Catholic has some reason on his side when he calls for the temporal punishment of heretics, for he claims the true title of Christian for himself exclusively, and professes to be taught by the never-failing presence of the Spirit of God. . It is not more ‘morally’ wrong to put a man to death for heresy than for murder . . [and] in many cases persecution for religious opinions is not only permissible, but highly advisable and necessary.”—“The Lawfulness of Persecution,” in The Rambler, 4, June 1849, pp. 119, 126 [English R.C. journal published from 1848 to 1862].
“ ‘The church,’ said [Martin] Luther . . ‘has never burned a heretic’. . I reply that this argument proves not the opinion, but the ignorance or impudence of Luther. Since almost infinite numbers were either burned or otherwise killed, Luther either did not know it, and was therefore ignorant, or if he was not ignorant, he is convicted of impudence and falsehood; for that heretics were often burned by the church may be proved if we adduce a few examples.”—Robert Bellarmine, Disputationes de Controversis Christianae Fidei (“Disputations Concerning Controversies of the Christian Faith”), Tom. II, cap. XXII [Bellarmine, later canonized, was a leading Jesuit leader and writer.]
“From the birth of the Papacy to the present time, it is estimated by careful and credible historians, that more than fifty million of the human family have been slaughtered for the crime of heresy by papal persecutors,—an average of more than 40,000 religious murders for every year of the existence of the Papacy. Of course, the average number of victims yearly was vastly greater, during those gloomy ages when the Papacy was in her glory and reigned despot of the world; and it has been much less since the power of the popes to tyrannize over the nations has diminished.”—John Dowling, The History of Romanism, pp. 541-542.
It was also predicted that this little horn power would “call itself god.” “And he shall speak great words against the most High.”—Daniel 7:25.
“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, showing himself that he is god.”—2 Thessalonians 2:4.
It would be remarkable, indeed, if this prediction also applied to the Papacy. But, according to many Roman Catholic statements, it does:
“We hold upon this earth the place of God Almighty.”—Pope Leo XIII, Encyclical Letter, June 20, 1894.
“The Pope is not only the representative of Jesus Christ, but he is Jesus Christ Himself, hidden under veil of flesh.”—The Catholic National, July 1895.
“We define that the Holy Apostolic See [Vatican] and the Roman Pontiff hold the primacy over the whole world.”—Council of Trent, Decree, quoted in Philippe Labbe and Gabriel Cossart, The Most Holy Councils, Vol. 13, Col. 1167.
“Christ entrusted His office to the chief pontiff. . but all power in heaven and in earth has been given to Christ. . therefore the chief pontiff, who is His vicar, will have this power.”—Corpus Juris Canonici, 1555 ed., Vol. 3, Extravagantes Communes, Book 1, chap. 1, Col. 29.
“Hence the Pope is crowned with a triple crown, as king of heaven and of earth and of the lower regions [infernorum; the fiery place].”—Lucius Ferraris, Prompta Bibliotheca, “Papa” [the Pope], art. 2, 1772-1777 ed., Vol. 6, p. 29.
“For thou art the shepherd, thou art the physician, thou art the director, thou art the husbandman; finally, thou art another God on Earth.”—Christopher Marcellus, Oration in the fifth Lateran Council, session IV (1512), in J.D. Mansi (ed.), Sacrorum Conciliorum, Vol. 32, Col. 761.
“The priests are the parents of God.”—St. Bernard [fifth century archbishop].
“O wonderful dignity of the priests! In their hands as in the womb of the Blessed Virgin, the Son of God becomes incarnate!”—Augustine.
“The pope himself is the keybearer and the doorkeeper, therefore no one can appeal from the pope to God.”—Augustinus Triumphus, Summa de Potestate.
“All the names which in the Scriptures are applied to Christ, by virtue of which it is established that He is over the church, all the same names are applied to the Pope.”—Robert Bellarmine, On the Authority of the Councils.
Hildebrand was Pope Gregory VII, who reigned from April 1073 to May 1085. Among the twenty-seven rules, known as the “Dictates of Hildebrand,” are these:
“2. That the Roman pontiff alone is justly styled universal. . 6. That no person. . may live under the same roof with one excommunicated by the Pope. . 9. That all princes should kiss his feet only. . 19. That he can be judged by no one. . 22. That the Roman Church never erred, nor will it, according to the scripture, ever err. . 27. That he can absolve subjects from their allegiance to unrighteous rulers.”—Gregory VII, The Dictates of Hildebrand.
On April 29, 1922, in the Vatican throne room, a throng of cardinals, bishops, priests, nuns, and others were present. All had fallen on their knees in reverence of the one before them. They were then addressed from the throne by Pope Pius XI, who said:
“You know that I am the Holy Father, the representative of God on the earth, the Vicar of Christ, which means I am God on the earth.”—Pope Pius XI, quoted in The Bulwark, October 1922, p. 104.
Pius XI (1857-1939) was pope from 1922-1939, and signed the Treaty of the Lateran with Mussolini in 1929, whereby Vatican City was established. He consistently backed Mussolini’s policies and government until the dictator met with military reverses.
The claim to divinity includes the claim to infallibility, the ability to speak words that never contain any error.
It is also an official teaching that, whenever any pope in history speaks to the church on any important matter, his words have always—throughout the history of the Papacy—been infallible, without any error.
“We teach and define that it is a dogma divinely revealed that the Roman Pontiff, when he speaks ex cathedra [“out of the throne,” in official capacity], that is, when in discharge of the office of pastor and doctor of all Christians, by virtue of his supreme Apostolic authority, he defines a doctrine regarding faith or morals to be held by the universal Church, by the divine assistance promised to him in blessed Peter, is possessed of that infallibility with which the divine Redeemer willed that His Church should be endowed for defining doctrine regarding faith or morals; and that therefore such definitions of the Roman Pontiff are irreformable [without possibility of being corrected] of themselves, and not from the consent of the Church.”—First Dogmatic Constitution on the Church of Christ (Pastor Aeternus, published in the fourth session of the First Vatican Council, 1870), chapter 4; quoted in Phillip Schaff, Creeds of Christendom, Vol. 2, pp. 269-270.
It was also predicted that this power would have 666 in the name of its leader, and that he would have a “name of blasphemy” (Revelation 13:1).
“Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.”—Revelation 13:18.
“And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”—Revelation 13:17.
“And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever; and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.”—Revelation 14:11.
As you can see, this is a very serious matter. Scholars tell us that the number is determined by counting the numerical value in his official name, which is his title. In Latin, many letters stand for numbers.
“The number [is] indicated by the letters of his name.”—The Twentieth Century New Testament.
“Verse 18, Six Hundred Sixty Six. The numeral letters of his name shall make up this number.”—The Rheims Douay [Catholic] Bible, note on Revelation 13:18.
“The method of reading, generally adopted, is that known as the ghematria of the Rabbins, which assigns each letter of a name its usual numerical value, and gives the sum of such numbers as the equivalent of the name.”—Marvin R. Vincent, D.D., Word Studies in the New Testament, Comment on Revelation 13:18.
Scholars provide us with still more information on this:
“The beasts of Daniel and John are empires. The ten-horned beast [of Revelation 13] is the Roman power.. The head is the governing power in the body.”—H. Grattan Guinness, Romanism and the Reformation, pp. 144-145.
“The number in the mark in Revelation 13 will be found in the title of the leader of ‘Mystery, Babylon the Great.’ It is the number of the man of sin of 2 Thessalonians 2, the little horn of Daniel 7, the beast of Revelation 13. It is the number of the one who led out through long centuries in killing the martyrs and uniting Christianity with paganism.” Jean Delacroix.
“The pope is of such lofty and supreme dignity that, properly speaking, he has not been established in any rank of dignity, but rather has been placed upon the very summit of all ranks of dignities . . He is likewise the divine monarch and supreme emperor and king of kings.
“Hence the pope is crowned with a triple crown, as king of heaven and of earth and of the lower regions.”—Lucius Ferraris, Prompta Bibliotheca, Vol. VI, pp. 438, 442 [R.C. sourcebook].
“Q. What are the letters supposed to be in the pope’s crown, and what do they signify, if anything?
“A. The letters inscribed in the Pope’s miter are these: Vicarius Filii Dei, which is the Latin for ‘Vicar of the Son of God.’ Catholics hold that the church, which is a visible society, must have a visible head. Christ, before His ascension into heaven, appointed St. Peter to act as His representative. . Hence to the Bishop of Rome, as head of the church, was given the title, Vicar of Christ.”—Our Sunday Visitor, “Bureau of Information,” Huntington, Indiana, April 18, 1915 [nationwide R.C. weekly journal].
In Revelation 13:18, it says, “Count the number of the beast; for it is the number of a man, and his number is six hundred threescore and six.” Let’s do it now and see what we find. We will use the Roman numerals you learned in school. Remember that “U” and “V” have the same value. (See top of next page.)
It is a “name of blasphemy,” and it represents teachings of blasphemy.
“They have assumed infallibility, which belongs only to God. They profess to forgive sins, which belongs only to God. They profess to open and shut heaven, which belongs only to God. They profess to be higher than all the kings of the earth, which belongs only to God. . And they go against God, when they give indulgences for sin. This is the worst of all blasphemies.”—Adam Clarke, Commentary on Daniel 7:25.
It was during the 1260 years, that many pagan teachings were adopted by this power.
“Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day [the second advent of Christ] shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; 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.”—2 Thessalonians 2:3-4.
The errors of the Dark Ages came directly from paganism. The Church of the Apostasy searched for them throughout the East and the West—and adopted them as they were discovered.
“Rites and ceremonies, of which neither Paul nor Peter ever heard, crept silently into use, and then claimed the rank of divine institutions. Offices for whom the primitive disciples could have found no place, and titles which to them would have been altogether unintelligible, began to challenge attention, and to be named ‘apostolic.’ ”—William D. Killen, The Ancient Church, p. xvi.
“The belief in miracle-working objects, talismans, amulets, and formulas was dear to . . Christianity, and they were received from pagan antiquity . . the vestments of the clergy and the papal title of ‘pontifix maximus’ were legacies from pagan Rome. The [Catholic] Church found that rural converts still revered certain springs, wells, trees, and stones; she thought it wiser to bless these to Christian use . . Pagan festivals, dear to the people, reappeared as Christian feasts, and pagan rites were transformed into Christian liturgy. . The Christian calendar of saints replaced the Roman ‘fasti’ [calendar of gods]; ancient divinities dear to the people were allowed to revive under the names of ‘Christian saints’ . . Gradually the tenderest features of Astarte, Cybele, Artemis, Diana, and Isis were gathered together in the worship of Mary.”— Will Durant, The Age of Faith, 1950, pp. 745-746.
“The [Catholic] Church took the pagan philosophy and made it the buckler of faith against the heathen. She took the pagan Roman Pantheon, temple of all gods, and made it sacred to all the martyrs; so it stands to this day. She took the pagan Sun day and made it the Christian Sunday. She took the pagan Easter [in honor of Ishtar] and made it the feast we celebrate during this season . . The sun was a foremost god with heathendom. . Hence the Church would seem to say, ‘Keep that old pagan name [Sunday]. It shall remain consecrated, sanctified.’ And thus the pagan Sunday, dedicated to Balder, became the Christian Sunday, sacred to Jesus.”—William L. Gildea, “Paschale Gaudium,” in The Catholic World, 58, March 1894, p. 809.
“It is not necessary to go into the subject which the diligence of Protestant writers has made familiar to most of us: the use of temples dedicated to particular saints. . holy water; asylums [monasteries]; holydays and seasons, use of saints’ calendars, processions. . are all of pagan origin, and sanctified by their adoption into the church.”—John Henry Newman, An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, p. 373 (1906).
“The mighty Catholic Church was little more than the Roman Empire baptized. Rome was transformed as well as converted . . It is not a matter of great surprise, therefore, to find that from the first to the fourth century, the Church had undergone many changes.”—Alexander C. Flick, Rise of the Medieval Church, pp. 148-149.
“Pictures of Christ, Mary, and the saints, had been already worshipped from the fifth century with greetings, kisses, prostration, a renewal of ancient pagan practices. In the naive and confident conviction that Christians no longer ran any risk of idolatry, the Church not only tolerated, but promoted, the entrance of paganism. . A brisk trade was carried on in the seventh and beginning of the eighth century in images, especially by monks; churches and chapels were crowded with pictures and relics; the practice of heathen times was revived.”—Adolph Harnack, History of Dogma, Vol. 4, pp. 318-319 (1898).
“From ancient Babylon came the cult of the virgin mother-godess, who was worshiped as the highest of gods.”—S.H. Langdon, Semitic Mythology, 1931 ed.
Laing mentions several pagan practices by which the mother-goddess had earlier been worshiped by the heathen, which Rome adopted into Christianity: holy water, votive offerings, elevation of sacred objects [lifting of the host], the priest’s bells, the decking of images, processions, festivals, prayers for the dead, the worship of relics and the statutes of saints (See Gordon J. Laing, Survivals of Roman Religion, 1831 edition, pp. 92-95, 123-131, 238-241).
That which made the “Dark Ages” so dark was the fact that this power forbade the people from owning Bibles or reading them. For hundreds of years, copies of the Bible were only found chained to monastery walls. During those dreary years, Christians secretly translated the Bible into their own language. But, when caught for reading the Bible, they were burned at the stake.
“We prohibit laymen possessing copies of the Old and New Testaments. . We forbid them most severely to have the above books in the popular vernacular [language] . . The lords of the districts shall carefully seek out the heretics in dwellings, hovels, and forests, and even their underground retreats shall be entirely wiped out.”—Pope Gregory IX, Concil Tolosanum, Anno. Chr. 1229 [Council of Toulouse, A.D. 1229],
“No one may possess the books of the Old and New Testaments in the Romance [common] language, and if anyone possesses them he must turn them over to the local bishop within eight days after the promulgation of this decree, so that they may be burned.”—Church Council of Tarragona, quoted in D. Lortsch, Histoire de la Biblia en France, 1910, p. 14.
“Socialism, Communism, clandestine societies, Bible Societies. . pests of this sort must be destroyed by all means.”—Pope Pius IX, encyclical Quanta Cura, December 8, 1866.
This power “would think to change times and laws” (Daniel 7:25).
“And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.”—Daniel 7:25.
Since the heathen, which were entering the church, were used to worshiping images, Rome removed the second commandment from the Ten Commandments.
“Thou shall not make unto thyself any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.”—Exodus 20:4; the Second Commandment.
Images were placed in the churches, and the people were encouraged to bow down and pray to them. They were first commanded to do so by the Second Council of Nicea, A.D. 787 (Baronius, Ecclesiastical Annals, Vol. 9, pp. 391-404, Antwerp, 1612; Charles J. Hefele, History of the Councils of the Church from the Original Documents, Bk 18, chap. 1, secs. 332-333).
“The worship of images . . was one of those corruptions of Christianity which crept into the church stealthily and almost without notice or observation. . Images were first introduced into churches, not to be worshiped, but either in place of books to give instruction to those who could not read, or to excite devotion in the minds of others . . but it was found that images brought into churches darkened rather than enlightened the minds of the ignorant—degraded rather than exalted the devotion of the worshiper.”—J. Mendham, The Seventh General Council, the Second Council of Nicea, Introduction, pp. iii-iv.
There were also other laws that this power would also “think to change.”
“The pope has power to change times, to abrogate [abolish] laws, and to dispense with all things, even the precepts of Christ.”—Decretal: de Tranlatic Episcop.
Rome also changed the fourth commandment. This is that commandment, as given in the Bible: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shall thou labour, and do all thy work.
“But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shall not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
“For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.”—Exodus 20:8-11; the Fourth Commandment.
The Fourth Commandment was written by the finger of God Himself on rock, because the seventh-day Sabbath was given to all mankind at Creation. Indeed, it was a memorial of Creation! When we worship God on the seventh day of the week, we acknowledge that He is the Creator. Only God would have the authority to change it to some other day!
“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made.
“And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made.”—Genesis 2:1-3.
The seventh day is the memorial of Creation! There would be no way to change it to another day, without creating the world a second time!
“It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed.”—Exodus 31:17.
For an excellent Bible study on what the Bible says about the Sabbath, go to part 8- At both the beginning and end of that study, you will be directed back to this page, so you can continue reading.
It is totally incredible to think that any man or group of men would dare to attempt to change the Bible Sabbath to some other day! But that is what was attempted!
Amazing though it may seem, the prophecy of Daniel 7:25, about what the little horn power would do, was exactly fulfilled centuries later by the Papacy. Both historians and Catholic writers have written how it happened. Here, briefly, is the fascinating story:
1 - Sunday sacredness is not in the Bible:
“It would be an error to attribute [‘the sanctification of Sunday’] to a definite decision of the Apostles. There is no such decision mentioned in the Apostolic documents [that is, the New Testament].”—Antoine Villien, A History of the Commandments of the Church, 1915, p. 23.
“It must be confessed that there is no law in the New Testament concerning the first day.”—McClintock and Strong, Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, Vol. 9, p. 196.
“Rites and ceremonies, of which neither Paul nor Peter ever heard, crept silently into use, and then claimed the rank of divine institutions. [Church] offices for whom the primitive disciples could have found no place, and titles which to them would have been altogether unintelligible, began to challenge attention, and to be named apostolic.”—William D. Killen, The Ancient Church, p. xvi.
2 - The great majority of the followers of Christ kept the Bible Sabbath—the seventh-day Sabbath—for several centuries after the last book of the New Testament was finished.
“It would be an error to attribute [“the sanctification of Sunday”] to a definite decision of the Apostles. There is no such decision mentioned in the Apostolic documents [the New Testament].”—Antoine Villien, A History of the Commandments of the Church, 1915, p. 23 [Catholic priest and professor at the Catholic University of Paris].
“Until well into the second century [a hundred years after Christ] we do not find the slightest indication in our sources that Christians marked Sunday by any kind of abstention from work.”—W. Rordorf, Sunday, p. 157.
“The ancient Sabbath did remain and was observed. . by the Christians of the Eastern Church [in the area near Palestine] above three hundred years after our Saviour’s death.”—A Learned Treatise of the Sabbath, p. 77.
“Modern Christians who talk of keeping Sunday as a ‘holy’ day, as in the still extant ‘Blue Laws,’ of colonial America, should know that as a ‘holy’ day of rest and cessation from labor and amusements Sunday was unknown to Jesus . . It formed no tenant [teaching] of the primitive church and became ‘sacred’ only in the course of time. Outside the church its observance was legalized for the Roman Empire through a series of decrees starting with the famous one of Constantine in 321, an edict due to his political and social ideas.”—W.W. Hyde, Paganism to Christianity in the Roman Empire, 1946, p. 257.
“The festival of Sunday, like all other festivals was always only a human ordinance, and it was far from the intentions of the apostles to establish a Divine command in this respect, far from them, and from the early apostolic church, to transfer the laws of the Sabbath to Sunday.”—Augustus Neander, The History of the Christian Religion and Church, 1843, p. 186.
3 - The Papacy adopted a variety of heathen customs from various pagan sources.
“The [Catholic] Church took the pagan buckler of faith against the heathen. She took the pagan Roman Pantheon, [the Roman] temple to all the gods, and made it sacred to all the martyrs; so it stands to this day. She took the pagan Sunday and made it the Christian Sunday . . The Sun was a foremost god with heathendom. Balder the beautiful: the White God, the old Scandinavians called him. The sun has worshipers at this very hour in Persia and other lands. . Hence the Church would seem to have said, ‘Keep that old pagan name. It shall remain consecrated, sanctified.’ And thus the pagan Sunday, dedicated to Balder, became the Christian Sunday, sacred to Jesus. The sun is a fitting emblem of Jesus. The Fathers often compared Jesus to the sun; as they compared Mary to the moon.”—William L. Gildea, “Paschale Gaudium,” in The Catholic World, p. 58, March 1894.
“When Christianity conquered Rome, the ecclesiastical structure of the pagan church, the title and the vestments of the ‘pontifex maximus,’ the worship to the ‘Great Mother’ goddess and a multitude of comforting divinities. . the joy or solemnity of old festivals, and the pageantry of immemorial ceremony, passed like material blood into the new religion,—and captive Rome conquered her conqueror. The reins and skills of government were handed down by a dying empire to a virile papacy.”—Will Durant, Caesar and Christ, p. 672.
4 - In very ancient times, the Sun day was dedicated to the sun god.
“Sun worship was the earliest idolatry.”—Fausset Bible Dictionary, p. 666.
“The Church made a sacred day of Sunday . . largely because it was the weekly festival of the sun;—for it was a definite Christian policy to take over the pagan festivals endeared to the people by tradition, and give them a Christian significance.”—Authur Weigall, The Paganism in Our Christianity, 1928, p. 145.
5 - Back then, Sunday was the sacred day of Mithra, the sun-god, also called Sol Invictus: the invincible sun god.
“Sun worship was one of the oldest components of the Roman religion.”—Gaston H. Halsberge, The Cult of Sol Invictus, 1972, p. 26.
“ ‘Babylon, the mother of harlots,’ derived much of her teaching from pagan Rome and thence from Babylon. Sun worship—that led her to Sundaykeeping,—was one of those choice bits of paganism that sprang originally from the heathen lore of ancient Babylon: The solar theology of the ‘Chaldeans’ had a decisive effect upon the final development of Semitic paganism . . [It led to their] seeing the sun the directing power of the cosmic system. All the Baals were thence forward turned into suns; the sun itself being the mover of the other stars—like it eternal and ‘unconquerable’ . . Such was the final form reached by the religion of the pagan Semites, and following them, by that of the Romans. . when they raised ‘Sol Invictus’ [the Invincible Sun] to the rank of supreme divinity in the empire.”—Franz F.V.M. Cummont, Astrology and Religion Among the Greeks and Romans, p. 55.
It had only been a short time before Christ that the days of the week had been dedicated to pagan planetary gods. The first day was the high day for heathen worship: It was “dies Solis”—the day of the Sun. All the other days were subservient to it (“dies Lunae,” the day of the moon, etc.).
All this was in decided contrast with the religion of the Bible—in which God’s people worship the Creator of the Universe, and His worship day is the seventh day of the week, as is commanded in the Ten Commandments.
Sunday worship is never found in the Old or New Testaments, nor is it commanded there. Here is more information about Mithra:
Mithra (also called Mithras) was originally an ancient god of Persia (where Iran is now located). He had been worshiped as a god of strength and war for centuries. Roman soldiers, sent to far places to command the peace, brought Mithra worship back to Rome; and through the soldiers it spread throughout the empire. Mithra became the leading sun god of the Roman Empire. The Romans gave him a new name: “Sol Invictus” (“the Invincible Sun”), and they called his holy day “the venerable [sacred] day of the Sun.”
Emperor Aurelian (A.D. 270-275), whose mother was a priestess of the Sun, made this solar cult the official religion of Rome during his lifetime. His biographer, Flavius Vopiscus, wrote that the priests of the Temple of the Sun at Rome were called “pontiffs,” and were priests of their dying-rising saviour-god Mithra, and “vicegerants” (second in command, not to their god) of the Mithric church.
It is an interesting fact that it was the Mithrites, not the Christians, who first called their Sun day “the Lord’s day.” Mithra was their Lord and they wanted to honor his holy day.
“The first day of each week, Sunday, was consecrated to Mithra since times remote, as several authors affirm. Because the Sun was god, the Lord par excellence, Sunday came to be called the ‘Lord’s day,’ as later was done by Christianity.”—Agostinho de Almeida Paiva, O Mitraiomo, p. 3.
The Christian churches at Alexandria, Egypt (which had a large, worldly Christian seminary), and Rome were the most paganizing in the Empire and the first to adopt Sunday as the sacred day of Christians.
During those centuries, most of the heathen customs entered the church through Alexandria and Rome. From as early as Pope Victor in A.D. 195, the Roman Bishops tried to force the other Christian churches scattered throughout the Empire to adopt these practices, but their demands were ignored.
By the time of Constantine, in the early fourth century, the old government-sponsored emperor worship had declined, and two religions contended for first place: Mithrism (also called Mithraism) and Christianity.
In order to strengthen the empire, and conferring with the bishop of Rome (the pope), Constantine decided to unite the two strongest religions into one. By doing this, he publicly announced he had become a
Christian and ordered everyone to keep Sunday holy. At about this time, the titles, “pontiff” and “vicegerant,” were transferred from the high priest of Mithra to the bishop of Rome.
6 - When Constantine, emperor of the Roman Empire, nominally converted to Christianity, he cooperated with the Bishop of Rome (the pope) in issuing an edict requiring everyone to keep “the venerable day of the sun.” That edict, the first of six that he made, was issued in A.D. 321 and was the first Sunday Law.
“Remains of the struggle [between the religion of Christianity and the religion of Mithraism] are found in two institutions adopted from its rival by Christianity in the fourth century, the two Mithraic sacred days: December 25, ‘dies natalis solis’ [birthday of the sun], as the birthday of Jesus,—and Sunday, ‘the venerable day of the Sun,’ as Constantine called it in his edict of 321.”—Walter Woodburn Hyde, Paganism to Christianity in the Roman Empire, p. 60.
“Unquestionably the first law, either ecclesiastical or civil, by which the sabbatical observance of that day is known to have been ordained, is the edict of Constantine, A.D. 321.”—Chamber’s Encyclopedia, article, “Sabbath.”
7 - Here is the text of this first Sunday law in history, a legal enactment by Constantine I (reigned 306-337):
“On the Venerable Day of the Sun [“Venerable die Solis”—the sacred day of the Sun] let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. In the country, however, persons engaged in agriculture may freely and lawfully continue their pursuits; because it often happens that another day is not so suitable for grain-sowing or for vine-planting; lest by neglecting the proper moment for such operations the bounty of heaven should by lost—given the 7th day of March [A.D. 321], Crispus and Constantine being consuls each of them for the second time.”—The First Sunday Law of Constantine I, in “Codex Justianianus,” lib. 3, tit. 12,3; trans. in Phillip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Vol. 3, p. 380.
8 - Church edicts were issued requiring that Christians everywhere worship God on Sunday. The first Sunday Law decree by a Christian council (A.D. 337) came shortly after Constantine’s first Sunday Law of A.D. 321:
“Christians shall not Judaize and be idle on Saturday [in the original: ‘sabbato’—‘shall not be idle on the Sabbath’], but shall work on that day; but the Lord’s day they shall especially honour, and as being Christians, shall, if possible, do no work on that day. If, however, they are found Judaizing, they shall by shut out [‘anathema,’ excommunicated] from Christ.”—Council of Laodicea, c.A.D. 337, Canon 29, quoted in C.J. Hefele, A History of the Councils of the Church, Vol. 2, p. 316.
“The keeping of the Sunday rest arose from the custom of the people and the constitution of the [Catholic] Church. . Tertullian was probably the first to refer to a cessation of affairs on the Sun day; the Council of Laodicea issued the first counciliar legislation for that day; Constantine I issued the first civil legislation.”—Priest Vincent J. Kelly, Forbidden Sunday and Feast-Day Occupations, p. 203 [Kelly was a Catholic priest, and his book was a thesis at Catholic University of America].
“This [Constantine’s Sunday decree of March 321] is the ‘parent’ Sunday law making it a day of rest and release from labor. For from that time to the present there have been decrees about the observance of Sunday which have profoundly influenced European and American society. When the Church became a part of State under the Christian emperors, Sunday observance was enforced by civil statutes, and later when the Empire was past, the Church in the hands of the papacy enforced it by ecclesiastical and also by civil enactments.”—Walter W. Hyde, Paganism to Christianity in the Roman Empire, 1946, p. 261.
9 - Constantine’s objective was to unite the sun-worshiping Mithraites and the Christians into one united church, in order to strengthen the nation.
“Constantine labored at this time untiringly to unite the worshipers of the old and the new into one religion. All his laws and contrivances are aimed at promoting this amalgamation of means melt together a purified heathenism and a moderated Christianity. . Of all his blending and melting together of Christianity and heathenism, none is more easy to see through than this making of his Sunday law: The Christians worshiped their Christ, the heathen their sun-god [so they should now be combined].”—H.G. Heggtveit, Illustreret Kirkehistorie [Illustrated Church History], 1895, p. 202. [Heggtveit (1850-1924) was a Norwegian church historian and teacher.]
“The retention [today] of the old pagan name, ‘Dies Solis’ [Day of the Sun] or ‘Sunday’ for the weekly Christian festival, is in great measure owing to the union of pagan and Christian sentiment, with which the first day of the week was recommended by Constantine to his subjects, pagan and Christian alike, as the ‘venerable day of the sun’ . . It was his mode of harmonizing the discordant religions of the empire under one common institution.”—Dean Stanley, Lectures on the Eastern Church, Lecture 6, p. 184. [Stanley was an Episcopalian historian and church leader.]
“Constantine labored at this time untiringly to unite the worshipers of the old [pagan] and the new [Christian] faith in one religion. All his laws and contrivances are aimed at promoting this amalgamation of religions. He would by all lawful and peaceable means melt together a purified heathenism and a moderated [compromised] Christianity . . Of all his blending and melting together of Christianity and heathenism, none is more easy to see through than his making of his Sunday law. The Christians worshiped their Christ, the heathen their Sun god; according to the opinion of the Emperor, the objects for worship in both religions being the same [the worship of the deities on a single day of the week].”—Hallvard G. Heggtveit, Illustreret Kirkehistorie, 1895, p. 202.
10 - But papal writers at the time proudly declared that they had a hand in getting Sunday declared the sacred day of Christians.
“All things whatsoever that were prescribed for the [Bible] Sabbath, we have transferred them to the Lord’s day, as being more authoritative and more highly regarded and first in rank, and more honorable than the Jewish Sabbath.”—Bishop Eusebius, quoted in J.P. Migne, “Patrologie,” p. 23, 1169-1172 [Eusebius of Caesarea was a high-ranking Catholic leader during Constantine’s lifetime.].
Sylvester, who was pope when Constantine issued his Sunday laws, declared that Sunday should be exalted and the Bible Sabbath should be ignored. (Sylvester I reigned from January 31, 314 to December 31, 335.)
“If every Sunday is to be observed by Christians on account of the resurrection, then every Sabbath on account of the burial is to be regarded in execration [cursing] of the Jews.”—Pope Sylvester, quoted by S.R.E. Humbert, “Adversus Graecorum Calumnias,” in J.P. Migne, Patrologie, p. 143.
11 - More church and civil edicts were issued, commanding that everyone abandon the Bible Sabbath and worship on the Sun day.
“Constantine’s decree marked the beginning of a long, though intermittent series of imperial decrees in support of Sunday rest.”—Vincent J. Kelly, Forbidden Sunday and Feast-Day Occupations, 1943, p. 29
12 - Yet, in spite of the edicts, outside of Rome and Alexandria (where the most liberal Christians were congregated), the great majority of Christians remained faithful to the plain words of Scripture and continued to keep the Bible Sabbath holy until well into the following century—a hundred years after Constantine’s first Sunday Law! Oh, that Christians would be as faithful today.
“As we have already noted, excepting for the Roman and Alexandrian Christians, the majority of Christians were observing the seventh-day Sabbath at least as late as the middle of the fifth century [A.D. 450]. The Roman and Alexandrian Christians were among those converted from heathenism. They began observing Sunday as a merry religious festival in honor of the Lord’s resurrection, about the latter half of the second century A.D. However, they did not try to teach that the Lord or His apostles commanded it. In fact, no ecclesiastical writer before Eusebius of Caesarea in the fourth century even suggested that either Christ or His apostles instituted the observance of the first day of the week.
These Gentile Christians of Rome and Alexandria began calling the first day of the week ‘the Lord’s day.’ This was not difficult for the pagans of the Roman Empire who were steeped in sun worship to accept, because they [the pagans] referred to their sun-god as their Lord.”—E.M. Chalmers, How Sunday Came into the Christian Church, p. 3.
The following two statements were written 100 years after Constantine’s Sunday Law was passed:
“Although almost all churches throughout the world celebrate the sacred mysteries on the Sabbath every week, yet the Christians of Alexandria and at Rome, on account of some ancient tradition, have ceased to do this.”—Socrates Scholasticus, quoted in Ecclesiastical History, Book 5, chap. 22 [written shortly after A.D. 439].
“The people of Constantinople, and almost everywhere, assemble together on the Sabbath, as well as on the first day of the week, which custom is never observed at Rome or at Alexandria.”—Hermias Sozomen, quoted in Ecclesiastical History, vii, 19, in A Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 2nd Series, Vol. 2, p. 390 [written soon after A.D. 415].
“Down even to the fifth century the observance of the Jewish Sabbath was continued in the Christian church, but with a rigor and solemnity gradually diminishing until it was wholly discontinued.”—Lyman Coleman, Ancient Christianity Exemplified, chap. 26, sec. 2, p. 527.
Do not let anyone tell you that Christians were keeping Sunday in the time of Christ or soon after His death. Nearly all Christians were still keeping the Bible Sabbath 400 years after Calvary.
13 - In the centuries which followed, ever-stricter regulations were enacted and enforced, especially as the Papacy gained full political control of Rome.
“What began, however, as a pagan ordinance, ended as a Christian regulation; and a long series of imperial decrees, during the fourth, fifth, and sixth, centuries, enjoined with increasing stringency abstinence from labor on Sunday.”—Hutton Webster, Rest Days, pp. 122-123, 270.
“About 590, Pope Gregory, in a letter to the Roman people, denounced as the prophets of Antichrist those who maintained that work ought not to be done on the seventh day.”—James T. Ringgold, The Law of Sunday, p. 267.
“The Jewish, the Samaritan, even the Christian, were to be fused and recast into one great system, of which the sun was to be the central object of adoration.”—Henry Hart Milman, The History of Christianity, Book 2, chap. 8, Vol. 22, p. 175. [Dr. Milman, 1791-1868, was an important historian of England and dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.]
Ironically, Mithra passed away within fifty years after the time of Constantine, for he was no longer needed. The same happened to the worship of Isis and Horus—the Egyptian Queen of Heaven and her infant son. Both were worshiped widely throughout the Roman Empire, but both disappeared within half a century after the worship of Mary was required by the Papacy. Its pagan devotees had switched over to Christianity and the worship of statues of Mary of the sacred heart, holding an infant Son.
More than fifteen additional Sunday laws were enacted and enforced by the Catholic Church, or by secular governments by demand of the Papacy, over the next several centuries. These laws restricted what could be done on Sunday and forbade Sabbathkeeping. Each law was more strict, each penalty more severe. Humble Christians who refused to yield were slain. Others fled to desolate areas where they could worship God in peace. Revelation 12 vividly predicted what happened.
“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.
“And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.
“And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.
“And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”—Revelation 12:11-17.
As the above passage reveals, for over a thousand years, the faithful ones were identified as those who, by faith in Christ, obeyed God’s commandments. So it will be at the end of time.
14 - During the Dark Ages, church leaders were determined to persecute and kill every heretic who kept the Bible Sabbath. Very few remained alive.
Pope Gregory the Great (Gregory I; A.D. 590-604), in his edict against Sabbathkeepers, declared that they were the preachers of antichrist. Here are his words:
“Gregory, bishop by the grace of God to his well-beloved sons, the Roman citizens: It has come to me that certain men of perverse spirit have disseminated among you things depraved and opposed to the holy faith, so that they forbid anything to be done on the day of the Sabbath [the seventh day]. What shall I call them except preachers of antichrist, who when he comes, will cause the [seventh day] Sabbath day to be kept free from all work. . He compels the people to Judaize .. [and] wishes the Sabbath to be observed.
“On the Lord’s day [Sunday], however, there should be a cessation of labor and attention given in every way to prayers, so that if anything is done negligently during the six days, it may be expiated by supplications on the day of the Lord’s resurrection.”—Gregory I, Epistles, Book 13, epis. 1, in Labbe and Cossart, Sacrosancta Concilia, Vol. 5, Col. 1511.
Gregory well-knew that the Bible Sabbath was given to mankind by the God of heaven, 2,000 years before the first Jew was born. (Compare Genesis 2:1-3, the Creation of the world, with Genesis 12:1, the call of Abraham, the first Jew.) The Sabbath is not “Jewish”: It is God’s “holy day” (Isaiah 58:13).
Here are two other statements by Catholic leaders during the Dark Ages:
“They do not hear the masses of Christians [Catholics] . . they flee the image of the Crucifix as the devil, they do not celebrate the feasts [Catholic holy days] of the divine Virgin and of the apostles.. Some indeed celebrate [keep] the Sabbath that the Jews observe!”—Translated by J.J. von Doellinger, Beitraege zur Sektengeschiechte des Mittelalters, Vol. 2, No. 61, p. 662.
“Convicted heretics should be put to death just as surely as other criminals.”—Thomas Aquinas [Aquinas (1225-1275) was an extremely influential Roman Catholic theologian. Made a saint in 1323; in 1889, Pope Leo XIII decreed that every Catholic must obey and practice Aquinas’ writings.]
“There is scarcely anything which strikes the mind of the careful student of ancient ecclesiastical history with greater surprise than the comparatively early period at which many of the corruptions of Christianity, which are embodied in
the papal system, took their rise; yet it is not to be supposed that when the first originators of many of these unscriptural notions and practices planted those germs of corruption, they anticipated or even imagined they would ever grow into such a vast and hideous system of superstition and error as is that of popery.”— John Dowling, History of Romanism, 13th ed., p. 65.
“Concerning the power of the Mithras cult [on Christianity throughout later centuries], we still have evidence in the fact that it is not the Jewish Sabbath that is the sacred weekday, but Sunday, dedicated to the Sun-god, Mithra.”—H. Lamer, “Mithras,” Wurterbuch der Antike, 2nd ed., 1933. [Hans Lamer (1873?) was an archaeological writer and a student of ancient religions and civilizations.]
15 - When the sixteenth-century Reformation began, the true Sabbath was almost unknown. Even Luther and Calvin knew little about it.
On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed a sheet of paper containing 95 protests to the door of the University Church in Wittenberg, Germany. That day marks the beginning of the Great Reformation.
16 - The Council of Trent crystalized Vatican teachings and founded the authority of the church on its earlier change of the Sabbath.
Oddly enough, although the Vatican had a hodgepodge of teachings, the beliefs had never been fully organized. As part of its plan to counteract the Reformation, the Council of Trent was convened, and continued off and on from December 13, 1545 through December 4, 1563. The goal assigned it by the pope (Paul III, 1534-1549) was to clarify Catholic doctrine. Every basic modern doctrine of Catholicism finds its conciliar basis in the decisions affirmed at this council.
“From a doctrinal and disciplinary point of view, it was the most important council in the history of the Roman Church, fixing her distinctive faith and practise in relation to the Protestant Evangelical churches.”—Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia, article entitled “Council of Trent.”
A key point to be settled was the basis of Roman Catholic authority. Rome commanded many things which were not in the Bible. All this vast heap of non-Biblical additions to Catholic doctrine were collectively termed “tradition.” In contrast, Protestants declared that no one should accept anything not clearly stated in Scripture.
What was the basis of Roman Catholic authority? Was it the Bible or tradition? If it was the Bible, then the Protestants were right. That was unacceptable, yet what proof did they have that tradition was superior to Scripture? This produced an enormous controversy at the Council of Trent.
“Tradition” is the sayings of men. It is the decisions of Roman Catholic councils, the decrees of its popes, and the words of its canonized saints, all the pagan practices which had been adopted over the centuries. Here is a poetic description of the glories of “Tradition”:
“Like two sacred rivers flowing from paradise, the Bible and divine Tradition contain the Word of God, the precious gems of revealed truths.
“Though these two divine streams are in themselves, on account of their divine origin, of equal sacredness, and are both full of revealed truths, still, of the two, TRADITION is to us more clear and safe.”—Joseph F. Di Bruno, Catholic Belief, 1884 ed., p. 45. [Di Bruno was an Italian Catholic priest and writer; full caps are his.]
According to the above statement, the uninspired ramblings of men and the adopted practices of ancient heathenism are as divinely inspired as the Holy Bible! Another priest lists six of these traditions, which, he says, you will not find in the Bible:
“Some of the truths that have been handed down to us by Tradition and are not recorded in the Sacred Scriptures, are the following:
“That there are just seven sacraments; that there is a purgatory; that, in the new law [Roman Catholic Canon Law], Sunday should be kept holy instead of the Sabbath; that infants should be baptized, and that there are precisely seventy-two books in the Bible [66 in our Bible that are inspired, plus 6 apocryphal books which contain error].”—Francis J. Butler, Holy Family Catechism, No. 3, p. 63. [Butler (1859-?) was a Catholic priest of Boston and an author of a series of catechisms.]
However, when the Council of Trent convened, there was a battle over this matter. The church leaders wanted to prove tradition superior to Scripture, but they could not figure out a logical principle for doing so. By what authority could they make other theories and practices superior to the Bible? Yet they had to find an excuse, for this is what they had been doing for centuries.
But then came the deciding point—and it came as a surprise. The entire problem was settled in one brief speech.
When Gaspar del Fosso, the Archbishop of Reggio, spoke on January 18, 1562, he decided once and for all the entire future course of Catholicism.
Rising to his feet and calling for attention, he began by whole-heartedly praising tradition and making bitter jibes at those who wanted to downgrade its supremacy in the church.
del Fosso reasoned that the Church of Rome was founded on tradition—and both it and their positions would crash if they did not give it supremacy over the Bible.
Then catch this,—he told them the proof they were waiting for, the evidence that tradition was superior to Scripture: It was the fact that, centuries before, the Church of Rome had changed one of God’s Ten Commandments; it had changed the seventh-day Sabbath to Sunday, the first day of the week,—and even the Protestants accepted it!
There is an interesting logic to that: “Because we did it, and got away with it—as far as men are concerned,—therefore it must be right. Because we can apparently change the very laws of God Himself, we are superior to those laws, and our words (traditions) are superior to God’s words in the Bible.” A faithful adherent of the church explains:
“Finally, at the last opening [session] on the eighteenth of January 1562, their last scruple was set aside; the Archbishop of Reggio made a speech in which he openly declared that tradition stood above Scripture. The authority of the church could therefore not be bound to the authority of the Scriptures, because the church had changed the Sabbath into Sunday, not by the command of Christ but by its own authority. With this, to be sure, the last illusion was destroyed, and it was declared that tradition does not signify antiquity, but continual inspiration.”—J.H. Holtzman, Canon and Tradition, p. 263.
Oddly enough, the Reformers had discovered the truth of the matter thirty years earlier, when they presented the Augsburg Confession:
“They [the Catholic bishops] allege the changing of the Sabbath into the Lord’s day, contrary, as it seemeth, to the Decalogue; and they have no example more in their mouths than the change of the Sabbath. They will needs have the church’s power to be very great, because it hath done away with a precept of the Decalogue.
“But of this question ours do thus teach: that the Bishops have no power to ordain any thing contrary to the Gospel, as was showed before.”—From the Augsburg Confession, Quoted in Library of Original Sources, Vol. 5, pp. 173-174.
Unfortunately, shortly after that confession of faith at Augsburg, Germany in 1530, the Reformers and their followers found themselves deluged in war and bloodshed for years. Fighting for their faith and their very lives, they never later had time to return to the issue of the Bible Sabbath. Later generations of Protestants generally venerated what the Reformers had written, and did not go beyond them even though it was quite obvious in the Bible that Sunday was not the Bible Sabbath.
It was not until the seventeenth century that anyone began calling Sunday the “Sabbath.” The Puritans in England were the first to begin doing this.
17 - Emboldened by the fact that the Council of Trent declared the change of the Sabbath to Sunday to be the basis of Roman Catholic authority, many Catholic leaders and writers have bragged about what the church has done. They are proud of the fact that God commanded the keeping of Sabbath, not Sunday, in the Bible; and the church has nullified His command and changed the day on which the Creator is to be worshiped.
“Sunday is a Catholic institution, and its claim to observance can be defended only on Catholic principles. . From beginning to end of Scripture there is not a single passage that warrants the transfer of weekly public worship from the last day of the week to the first.”—Catholic Press, Sydney, Australia, August, 1900.
“Protestantism, in discarding the authority of the [Roman Catholic] Church, has no good reason for its Sunday theory, and ought logically to keep Saturday as the Sabbath.”—John Gilmary Shea, in the American Catholic Quarterly Review, January 1883.
“It is well to remind the Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, and all other Christians that the Bible does not support them anywhere in their observance of Sunday. Sunday is an institution of the Roman Catholic Church, and those who observe the day observe a commandment of the Catholic Church.”—Priest Brady, in an address, reported in the Elizabeth, N.J. News of March 18, 1903.
“Ques.—Have you any other way of proving that the [Catholic] Church has power to institute festivals of precept [to command holy days]?
“Ans.—Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her: She could not have substituted the observance of Sunday, the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday, the seventh day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority.”—Stephen Keenan, Doctrinal Catechism, p. 176.
“Reason and common sense demand the acceptance of one or the other of these two alternatives: either Protestantism and the keeping holy of Saturday or Catholicity and the keeping holy of Sunday. Compromise is impossible.”—The Catholic Mirror, December 23, 1893.
“God simply gave His [Catholic] Church the power to set aside whatever day or days she would deem suitable as Holy Days. The Church chose Sunday, the first day of the week, and in the course of time added other days, as holy days.”—Vincent J. Kelly, Forbidden Sunday and Feast-Day Occupations, p. 2.
“Protestants. . accept Sunday rather than Saturday as the day for public worship after the Catholic Church made the change . . But the Protestant mind does not seem to realize that in accepting the Bible, in observing the Sunday, they are accepting the authority of the spokesman for the church, the Pope.”—Our Sunday Visitor, February 5, 1950.
“Not the Creator of Universe in Genesis 2:1-3, but the Catholic Church can claim the honor of having granted man a pause to his work every seven days.”—S.C. Mosna, Storia della Domenica, 1969, pp. 366367.
“We hold upon this earth the place of God Almighty.”—Pope Leo XIII, in an Encyclical Letter, dated June 20, 1894.
“The Pope is not only the representative of Jesus Christ, but he is Jesus Christ, hidden under veil of flesh.”—The Catholic National, July 1895.
“We define that the Holy Apostolic See (the Vatican) and the Roman Pontiff hold the primacy over the whole world.”—A Decree of the Council of Trent, quoted in Philippe Labbe and Gabriel Cossart, “The Most Holy Councils,” Col. 1167.
“Now the [Catholic] Church. . instituted, by God’s authority, Sunday as the day of worship. The same Church, by the same divine authority, taught the doctrine of Purgatory. . We have, therefore, the same authority for Purgatory as we have for Sunday.”—Martin J. Scott, Things Catholics Are Asked About, 1927, p. 236.
“If Protestants would follow the Bible, they should worship God on the Sabbath Day. In keeping the Sunday they are following a law of the Catholic Church.”—Albert Smith, Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, replying for the Cardinal, in a letter dated February 10, 1920.
“It was the Catholic Church which, by the authority of Jesus Christ, has transferred this rest [from the Bible Sabbath] to the Sunday. . Thus the observance of Sunday by the Protestants is an homage they pay, in spite of themselves, to the authority of the [Catholic] Church.”—Monsignor Louis Segur, Plain Talk about the Protestantism of Today, p. 213.
“We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday.”—Peter Geiermann, CSSR, A Doctrinal Catechism, 1957 edition, p. 50.
“We Catholics, then, have precisely the same authority for keeping Sunday holy instead of Saturday as we have for every other article of our creed, namely, the authority of the Church . . whereas you who are Protestants have really no authority for it whatever; for there is no authority for it [Sunday sacredness] in the Bible, and you will not allow that there can be authority for it anywhere else.”—The Brotherhood of St. Paul, “The Clifton tracts,” Volume 4, tract 4, p. 15.
“The Church changed the observance of the Sabbath to Sunday by right of the divine, infallible authority given to her by her founder, Jesus Christ. The Protestant, claiming the Bible to be the only guide of faith, has no warrant for observing Sunday. In this matter the Seventh-day Adventist is the only consistent Protestant.”—The Catholic Universe Bulletin, August 14, 1942, p. 4.
Think a minute about the fact that their very names: “The seventh-day Sabbath” and “Sunday,”—point to their origin.
18 - Protestants admit that Sunday sacredness is not in the Bible, and that the seventh-day Sabbath is the only true weekly Bible Sabbath.
BAPTIST: “There was and is a command to keep holy the Sabbath day, but that Sabbath day was not Sunday. It will however be readily said, and with some show of triumph, that the Sabbath was transferred from the seventh to the first day of the week, with all its duties, privileges and sanctions. Earnestly desiring information on this subject, which I have studied for many years, I ask, where can the record of such a transaction be found? Not in the New Testament—absolutely not. There is no Scriptural evidence of the change of the Sabbath institution from the seventh to the first day of the week.”—Dr. E.T. Hiscox, author of the Baptist Manual.
Congregationalist: “It is quite clear that however rigidly or devotedly we may spend Sunday, we are not keeping the Sabbath. . The Sabbath was founded on a specific divine command. We can plead no such command for the observance of Sunday. . There is not a single line in the New Testament to suggest that we incur any penalty by violating the supposed sanctity of Sunday.”—Dr. R.W. Dale, The Ten Commandments, pp. 106-107.
Protestant Episcopal: “The day is now changed from the seventh to the first day. . but as we meet with no Scriptural direction for the change, we may conclude it was done by the authority of the church.”—The Protestant Episcopal Explanation of the Catechism.
Baptist: “The Scriptures nowhere call the first day of the week the Sabbath . . There is no Scriptural authority for so doing, nor of course, any Scriptural obligation.”—The Watchman.
Presbyterian: “There is no word, no hint in the New Testament about abstaining from work on Sunday. The observance of Ash Wednesday, or Lent, stands exactly on the same footing as the observance of Sunday. Into the rest of Sunday no Divine Law enters.”—Canon Eyton, Ten Commandments.
Anglican: “And where are we told in the Scriptures that we are to keep the first day at all? We are commanded to keep the seventh; but we are nowhere commanded to keep the first day.”—Isaac Williams, Plain Sermons on the Catechism, pp. 334, 336.
Methodist: “It is true that there is no positive command for infant baptism. Nor is there any for keeping holy the first day of the week. Many believe that Christ changed the Sabbath. But, from His own words, we see that He came for no such purpose. Those who believe that Jesus changed the Sabbath base it only on a supposition.”—Amos Binney, Theological Compendium, pp. 180-181.
Episcopalian: “We have made the change from the seventh to the first day, from Saturday to Sunday, on the authority of the one holy, catholic, apostolic church of Christ.”—Bishop Seymour, Why We Keep Sunday.
Southern Baptist: “The sacred name of the seventh day is Sabbath. This fact is too clear to require argument [Exodus 20:10, quoted] . . On this point the plain teaching of the Word has been admitted in all ages. . Not once did the disciples apply the Sabbath law to the first day of the week,—that folly was left for a later age, nor did they pretend that the first day supplanted the seventh.”—Joseph Judson Taylor, The Sabbatic Question, pp. 14-17, 41.
American Congregationalist: “The current notion, that Christ and His apostles authoritatively substituted the first day for the seventh, is absolutely without any authority in the New Testament.”—Dr. Lyman Abbot, in the Christian Union, June 26, 1890.
Christian Church: “Now there is no testimony in all the oracles of heaven that the Sabbath is changed, or that the Lord’s Day came in the room of it.”—Alexander Campbell, The Reporter, October 8, 1921.
Disciples of Christ: “There is no direct Scriptural authority for designating the first day ‘the Lord’s Day.’ ”—Dr. D.H. Lucas, Christian Oracle, January 23, 1890.
Baptist: “To me it seems unaccountable that Jesus, during three years’ discussion with His disciples, often conversing upon the Sabbath question, discussing it in some of its various aspects, freeing it from its false [Jewish traditional] glosses, never alluded to any transference of the day; also, no such thing was intimated. Nor, so far as we know, did the Spirit, which was given to bring to their remembrance all things whatsoever that He had said unto them, deal with this question. Nor yet did the inspired apostles, in preaching the gospel, founding churches, counseling and instructing those founded, discuss or approach the subject.
“Of course I quite well know that Sunday did come into use in early Christian history as a religious day, as we learn from the Christian Fathers and other sources. But what a pity that it comes branded with the mark of paganism, and christened with the name of the sun god, then adopted and sanctified by the Papal apostasy, and bequeathed as a sacred legacy to Protestantism.”—Dr. E.T. Hiscox, report of his sermon at the Baptist Minister’s Convention, New York Examiner, November 16, 1893.
All the signals are go Why it is almost here Why it is inevitable
6
THE MARK OF THE BEAST
There is a great crisis coming upon our world, which will greatly overshadow any problems we now face. This final crisis is explained in this chapter.
The Mark of the Beast is revealed in Revelation 13. We want to understand the meaning of this chapter, but to do this requires a careful Bible study, comparing Scripture with Scripture. That is the only way we will determine the correct meaning of the Mark of the Beast. We will begin at the first verse:
“And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.”—Revelation 13:1.
A beast in prophecy represents some great earthly power or kingdom. A head or horn indicates a governing power. Waters symbolize “peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues” (Revelation 17:15).
“The beasts of Daniel and John are empires. The ten-horned beast is the Roman power. . The head is the governing power in the body. The heads of this beast represent successive governments.”—H. Grattan Guinness, Romanism and the Reformation, pp. 144-145.
“And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.”—Revelation 13:2.
In this beast of Revelation 13:2 we see the characteristics of the first three symbols of Daniel 7: the lion, bear, and leopard which represented the kingdoms of Babylon, Persia, and Greece. That suggests that this beast of Revelation 13 symbolizes the fourth beast of Daniel 7, or Rome, which came up after the first three and inherited so many of their characteristics.
Both the fourth beast of Daniel 7 and the first beast of Revelation 13 have ten horns. Like the dragon of Revelation 12, this beast also has seven heads. The dragon symbolized the power of evil working in Rome in its earlier (pagan) and later (papal) forms, as it sought to slay God’s people throughout the Dark Ages (read Revelation 12:11-17). This beast of Revelation 13:1-2 is also like the little horn which came up among the ten horns of the fourth beast of Daniel 7,—thus representing Rome in its later, or papal, form. Both it and the little horn have a mouth speaking great things; both make war upon the saints; both continue for the same period of 1260 years.
“And the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.”—Revelation 13:2.
We earlier noted that, when Constantine transferred his capital to Constantinople, he left Rome under the control of the popes. Thus pagan Rome became papal Rome, and the persecuting power of the dragon of Revelation 13 was conferred upon the Papacy.
“And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.
“And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.
“And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.”—Revelation 13:5-7.
We earlier found that all these specifications were fulfilled in the Papacy during the Dark Ages.
“And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.”—Revelation 13:3.
We have already learned how the Papacy received its wound when Berthier, general of Napoleon, took the pope prisoner in A.D. 1798 and he later died in captivity. That ended the 1260 years of papal supremacy (The Catholic Advocate [Australia], April 18, 1929, p. 16).
It is predicted that, in some way, everyone will eventually be required to worship this first beast.
“And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? ..
“And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”—Revelation 13:4, 8.
The Bible predicts that the final end of this power will be by a terrible death (Revelation 19:20; Daniel 7:11).
But there is also a second beast in Revelation 13. At about the time that the first beast received its wound (A.D. 1798), another beast began arising. But this one comes up “out of the earth.”
“And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.”—Revelation 13:11.
“He is not yet come: tho’ he cannot be far off. For he is to appear at the end of the forty-two months [1260 years] of the first beast [of Revelation 13].”—John Wesley, Note on Revelation 13:11 (A.D. 1754), in Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament, 1791 ed., Vol. 3, p. 299.
The beasts of Daniel 7 and the first beast of Revelation come up “out of the sea,” or in areas where there are many people.
“The waters which thou sawest . . are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.”—Revelation 17:15.
But this second beast is different; it arises in a relatively uninhabited part of the world. What nation, destined to become a great world power, arose near the end of the 1700s, in a land with few people? The United States of America.
“And he had two horns like a lamb.”—Revelation 13:11.
Unlike the nations of Europe which, like terrible beasts of prey, so often warred on one another, was the United States with its wonderful principles, enshrined in the U.S. Constitution of 1789.
It was a haven of refuge from intolerance, persecution, and oppression. It truly was the land of freedom. “And he spoke as a dragon.”—Revelation 13:11.
Changes would later come; and, according to Bible prophecy, our wonderful nation would eventually persecute people.
“And he exercises all the power of the first beast before him, and causes the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.”—Revelation 13:12.
“The first beast before him” was papal Rome. This indicates that the persecution will be a religious persecution.
The Bible says that miracles will be performed. It should not be surprising that, accompanied by satanic wonder-working power, the demand that everyone worship on Sunday will go everywhere and stir up the most intense excitement.
“And he doeth great wonders, so that he makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,”—Revelation 13:13.
This second beast will cause to be made an “image to the [first] beast.”
“And deceives them that dwell on the earth by [the means of] those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.”—Revelation 13:14.
The beast which had been wounded was the Papacy. The nature of the Papacy is that it is a church and a state combined. The “image” (exact likeness) would be another ecclesiastical organization clothed with civil power—another union of church and state—which would enforce religion by law.
“And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.”—Revelation 13:15.
We have learned that the basis of the Papacy’s power was the change of the Sabbath to Sunday. That was, according to the official decision of the Council of Trent, its special mark of its authority.
“Of course the Catholic Church claims that the change [of the Sabbath to Sunday] was her act . . And the act is a MARK of her ecclesiastical power.”—From the office of Cardinal Gibbons, through Chancellor H.F. Thomas, November 11, 1895 [caps ours].
The image will use the same mark of power. It is an image “of the beast” (verse 15), for it will mirror the beast. It will be an image “to the beast” (verse 14), for its actions will honor the beast.
We have observed that the Papacy especially focused on enforcing the Sun day as the holy day of worship. This was the particular focus of its persecution in the earlier part of the Dark Ages.
The image power will do the same thing. We should not be surprised at this, for the Fourth Commandment is the special mark, the special identifying sign that the God of heaven is our Creator and demands our worship. The Sabbath-Sunday issue is pivotal. When we understand the issue, our decision in the matter determines the one we have chosen to serve.
“And he causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”—Revelation 13:16-17.
In order to properly understand the full meaning of the Mark of the Beast, we need to understand its opposite: the Seal of God.
In ancient times the king would affix his seal to something, to show it belonged to him. “Now, O king, establish the decree and sign the writing, that it be not changed.”—Daniel 6:8.
A king would use a seal ring, containing his name, initials, or monogram. Jezebel, the wife of Ahab, “wrote letters in Ahab’s name, and sealed them with his seal” (1 Kings 21:8). Of a Persian decree it was said, “In the name of King Ahasuerus was it written, and sealed with the king’s ring” (Esther 3:12).
A seal is something that has to do with legal affairs. A law is stamped with the seal of the ruling government. The seal of the lawgiver must show three things: (1) his name; (2) his official position, title, or authority; thus his right to rule; and (3) the extent of his dominion and jurisdiction.
The Bible tells us that the seal of God is found in His law.
“Bind up the testimony, seal the law among My disciples.”—Isaiah 8:16.
God’s seal makes His law official, and the whole loyal universe stands behind it. Anyone disloyal to the seal of the government, and to the law upon which it is attached, is looked upon as disloyal to the government.
Only one of the ten commandments in the Decalogue reveals the name, authority, and dominion of the Author of this law. It is the Fourth:
“Six days shall thou labour, and do all thy work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shall not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates.
“For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.”—Exodus 20:9-11.
In six days, (1) the Lord (name); (2) made (office; Creator); (3) heaven and earth (dominion);—the three aspects of the seal.
This commandment, alone, contains “the seal of the living God.” It shows God’s authority to enact all the other commandments and our duty to obey them all. It also reveals that all other gods—non-Creator gods— are false gods.
Do you see how very serious this matter is? The question is whether we will worship the God of heaven on His holy day or whether we will yield to what men tell us to do.
So we see that the Sabbath commandment, therefore, contains the seal of God; and the Sabbath, itself, is inseparably connected with the seal. It not only contains the seal of God; but, as the following two verses show, it is the sign by which God’s creatorship and redeeming power are to be acknowledged.
“It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed.”—Exodus 31:17.
“Verily My Sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you.”—Exodus 31:13.
It requires the same power to redeem that it does to create. “Create in me a clean heart” (Psalm 51:10). “We are. . created in Christ Jesus unto good works” (Ephesians 2:10). The Sabbath reminds us of all that God has done and is doing for us.
“And hallow My Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God.”—Ezekiel 20:20.
God is going to seal His name into the foreheads of His faithful ones.
“And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.”—Revelation 14:1.
The name of God the Father represents His character; what He is like. The Ten Commandments tell us what He is like: full of goodness, kindness, and helpfulness.
God wants to write His law on our hearts and place it in our minds. He wants us to live clean, pure lives. He wants us to be obedient, through the enabling grace of Christ, to His law. His sealed ones will be like that.
“And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.”—Revelation 14:5.
Here is an excellent description of what God’s special people in the last days will be like: trusting in Jesus and keeping God’s commandments.
“Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”—Revelation 14:12.
Just before that verse is a special warning not to receive the Mark of the Beast. The third angel’s message of Revelation 14:9-12 is the last message to the world before Christ returns for His people. That warning message has two parts: (1) Do not receive the Mark. (2) Do keep God’s commandments by faith in Christ. Put the two parts together and you have the solution to the matter. You will not receive the Mark of the Beast if, in submission to Christ, you are obedient children.
“And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand; the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation..
“Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”—Revelation 14:9-12.
Now we want to look more closely at the Mark of the Beast. As mentioned a little earlier, we find that the Papacy has declared that Sunday is the special mark of its authority and power.
“Ques.—How prove you that the Church hath power to command feasts and holy days?
“Ans.—By the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which Protestants allow of.”—Henry Tuberville, An Abridgement of the Christian Doctrine, 1833, p. 58. [Tuberville was a Catholic priest].
“If Protestants observe the first day of the week are they in that act recognizing the authority of the Catholic Church? . . It looks that way. Since the custom they observe is of the Church and from the Church.”—H.F. Thomas, chancellor to Cardinal Gibbons, letter dated February 8, 1898.
“By what authority did the Church change the observance of the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday?
“The Church changed the observance of the Sabbath to Sunday by right of the divine, infallible authority given to her by her Founder, Jesus Christ. The Protestant, claiming the Bible to be the only guide of faith, has no warrant for observing Sunday. In this matter the Seventh-day Adventist is the only consistent Protestant.”—The Catholic Universe Bulletin, August 14, 1942, p. 4 [official newspaper of the Cleveland, Ohio, diocese].
“The observance of Sunday by the Protestants is an homage they pay, in spite of themselves to the authority of the [Catholic] Church.”—Monsignor Louis Segur, Plain Talk About the Protestantism of Today, 1868, p. 213.
The seventh-day Sabbath is the only weekly rest day that God ever gave to mankind in His Inspired writings, the Bible. He commanded us to keep it holy. If we do so we acknowledge His authority. If we keep Sunday, instead, we acknowledge the authority of fallible men.
A large part of Revelation 12 is about the efforts of Satan, through the leading power in the Dark Ages, to persecute faithful Christians and slay those who would not yield to an authority not of God.
But the last verse in that chapter brings us right down to the last days and the very end of time! Our time in history! It fits right into Revelation 13, just as Revelation 14:6-12 fits into Revelation 13. Revelation 12:17 not only tells us that a terrible persecution of God’s people will occur at the end of time,—but, like Revelation 12:14, it identifies who the faithful ones will be at that time:
“And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”—Revelation 12:17.
“Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”—Revelation 14:12.
Two verses later is the Second Advent:
“ And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud [one] sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.”—Revelation 14:14.
There can be no doubt that in the very last days, just before Christ returns in the clouds of heaven for His children, they will be obedient to the commandments of God through faith in Christ’s enabling grace.
And they will do it in the face of a death sentence for obeying God.
“And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.”—Revelation 13:15.
This is a very serious matter. Throughout history, there have always been faithful ones who, by faith, obeyed God’s Ten Commandment law. But Satan has continually sought ways to blot them out of existence.
In the final crisis, Satan will seek to abolish Sabbath keeping throughout the world. He wants to destroy the seal which identifies God as the Creator. The Sabbath commandment, in the heart of God’s law, is the only commandment containing that seal.
(As an aside, let me mention here that a special unique quality of the Sabbath is its sheer arbitrariness. God selected the seventh day instead of some other day of the week [the second day or the fourth, etc.]. He did the selecting! It is obvious that we should not go around killing people; but why His selection—instead of another of our own choice? This situation makes it a special faith commandment. We obey it by faith, taking Him at His word. The same situation occurred in the garden of Eden: One tree was forbidden, yet they all looked fine. Adam and Eve had to obey—simply because they believed God meant what He said.)
Back to our subject: It was by the technique of enforcing Sunday worship by a death penalty, that the Papacy obtained dominance over territories throughout a vast area, By the 12th century, the Papacy had essentially eliminated all Sabbath keepers, except small groups in distant or mountainous areas.
In the centuries since then, many conscientious Christians have ignorantly worshiped God on Sunday, not realizing the true situation.
But in these last days, the God of heaven is going to permit this matter to develop into a full-blown crisis! He predicted it in His Word, and so it shall come to pass.
“And he causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads. And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”—Revelation 13:16-17.
How will this be done? First a strict National Sunday Law will be enacted, to be followed by other Sunday Laws elsewhere in the world. Efforts will be made to crush any that object. Keep in mind that, not only has Scripture predicted that obedience to God’s commandments will be the issue (Revelation 12:17 and 14:12), but that wonder-working miracles by the beast and its image will be performed—which will captivate the senses of the entire world.
By the coercive efforts of the second beast, the United States, the first beast, Rome, will be exalted. By knowingly yielding to the command to worship on Sunday, everyone who submits will be marked in their forehead (minds) and in their hand (daily activities). Any that refuse obedience will be cut off from employment and opportunity to purchase goods. Efforts will be made to kill them.
That is what is predicted in Scripture, and it is quite obvious. Notice the italicized portions of these passages:
“And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”—Revelation 12:17.
“If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God. . [contrasted with] Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”—Revelation 14:9-10, 12.
“All that dwell upon the earth shall worship him [the first beast], whose names are not written in the book of life.”—Revelation 13:8.
“He [the second beast] exercises all the power of the first beast before him, and causes the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast.”—Revelation 13:12.
“And he does great wonders, so that he makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men.”—Revelation 13:13.
“And deceives them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.”—Revelation 13:14.
“And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.”—Revelation 13:15.
“And he causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads.”—Revelation 13:16.
“And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”—Revelation 13:17.
The sealing work will take place at the same time that the marking occurs. This is important! We will receive either the Seal of God or the Mark of the Beast. Our individual decision and actions will be the deciding point.
But, as they recognize the issues involved, all who are faithful to God will stand true to Him—in spite of all efforts to compromise their loyalty.
“And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.”—Revelation 15:2.
Here are a few concluding quotations, showing that Sunday sacredness is the special Mark of Rome. It is the mark of its authority to change God’s law. It is the Mark of the Beast. (All caps are ours.)
“Of course the Catholic Church claims that the change [of the Sabbath to Sunday] was her act. . AND THE ACT IS A MARK of her ecclesiastical authority in religious things.”—From the office of Cardinal Gibbons, through Chancellor H.F. Thomas, November 11, 1895.
“The observance of Sunday by the Protestants is an HOMAGE they pay in spite of themselves to the AUTHORITY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.”—Monsignor Louis Segur, Plain Talk about the Protestantism of Today, p. 213.
“Q. How prove you that the church HATH POWER TO COMMAND feasts and holy days?
“A. BY THE VERY ACT OF CHANGING THE SABBATH INTO SUNDAY, which Protestants allow of, and therefore they fondly contradict themselves by keeping Sunday strictly, and breaking most other feasts commanded by the same church.
“Q. How prove you that?
“A. Because BY KEEPING SUNDAY THEY ACKNOWLEDGE THE CHURCH’S POWER to ordain feasts, and to command them under sin.”—The Douay Catechism, p. 59.
“PROVE TO ME from the BIBLE ALONE that I am bound to keep Sunday holy. THERE IS NO SUCH LAW IN THE BIBLE! It is a law of the holy Catholic Church alone.
“The Bible says, ‘Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.’ THE CATHOLIC CHURCH SAYS, by MY DIVINE power, I ABOLISH THE SABBATH DAY and command you to keep holy the first day of the week. And lo! The entire civilized world bows down in reverent obedience to the command of the holy Catholic Church!”—Priest Thomas Enright, C.S.S.R, president of Redemptorist College, Kansas City, Mo., in a lecture at Hartford, Kansas, February 18, 1884, and published in The American Sentinel [R.C. journal], June 1893, p. 173.
“All dogmatic decrees of the pope, made with or without his general council, are infallible. . Once made, no pope or council can reverse them . . This is the Catholic principle, that the church cannot err in faith.”—The Catholic World, June 1871, pp. 422-423.
“We have no right to ask reasons of the church, any more than of Almighty God, as a preliminary to our submission. We are to take with unquestioning docility, whatever instruction the church gives us.”—The Catholic World, August, 1871, p. 589.
“Nowhere is dogmatic intolerance so necessary a rule of life as in the domain of religious belief. . There can be but a single true religion, which, by the very fact of its existence, protests against all other religions as false.”—Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 14, p. 765.
A time is coming when the law of God is, in a special sense, to be made void in our land. The rulers of our nation will, by legislative enactments, enforce the Sunday law; and thus God’s people be brought into great peril. When our nation, in its legislative councils, shall enact laws to bind the consciences of men in regard to their religious privileges, enforcing Sunday observance and bringing oppressive power to bear against those who keep the seventh-day Sabbath, the law of God will, to all intents and purposes, be made void in our land; and national apostasy will be followed by national ruin.
The sins of the world will have reached unto heaven when the law of God is made void, the Sabbath of the Lord is trampled in the dust, and men are compelled to accept in its stead an institution of the Papacy through the strong hand of the law of the land. In exalting an institution of man above the institution ordained of God, they show contempt for the great Lawgiver and refuse His sign or seal.
Once again history will be repeated. False religion will be exalted. The first day of the week, a common working day, possessing no sanctity whatever, will be set up as was the image at Babylon. All nations and tongues and peoples will be commanded to worship this spurious Sabbath. This is Satan’s plan, to make of no account the day instituted by God and given to the world as a memorial of creation.
Trial and persecution will come to all who, in obedience to the Word of God, refuse to worship this false Sabbath. Force is the last resort of every false religion. At first it tries attraction, as the king of Babylon tried the power of music and outward show. If these attractions, invented by men and inspired by Satan, failed to make men worship the image, the hungry flames of the furnace are ready to consume them. So it will be now. We need the same spirit that was manifested by God’s servants in ages past, in their conflict with paganism.
You and I want to be on God’s side of this matter. It is not safe to delay obedience! You now understand the Sabbath-Sunday issue far more fully than ever before. You have a decision to make. Please, make the right one. Through the empowering grace of Jesus Christ, obey all ten of the commandments.
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”—2 Timothy 4:3-4.
“This people draws nigh unto Me with their mouth, and honors Me with [their] lips; but their heart is far from Me. But in vain they do worship Me, teaching [for] doctrines the commandments of men.”—Matthew 15:8-9.
“Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey?”— Romans 6:16.
“How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow Him; but if Baal, then follow him.”— 1 Kings 18:21.
The Bible is your only safe guide. Jesus can help you obey it. Trust God’s Word more than man’s traditions.
A powerful book which explains the final crisis, far more completely than this present book, is Great Controversy.
All the signals are go Why it is almost here Why it is inevitable
7
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Here are additional points not covered earlier in this book:
1 - HAS THE WEEKLY CYCLE CHANGED?
The writings of historians, the records of chronographers, the languages of earth, the calendars of time, and the existence of the Jewish race—all testify to the fact that the weekly cycle on our calendars today is the same as in earlier centuries—going back to the time of Christ, to Moses, and beyond.
In the beginning, God gave us the weekly seven-day cycle, with the Sabbath as the last day. That pattern has never changed. The seventh day of the week today is the true Bible Sabbath. Our seventh day is the Sabbath which Jesus kept; it was the Sabbath in the time of Moses when the Ten Commandments were written down. Historians and scientists all agree that this is true.
If there had been any change in the weekly cycle, between the time of Creation and the time of Moses, a correction would have been made when the Ten Commandments were given to the Hebrews. From that time, on down to the present, there have always been Jews to testify as to the true Sabbath! It is the same seventh day of the week which is on our calendars. While all the other ancient races are now intermingled, the Jews have been kept separate so they could testify to the fact that our seventh day is the Bible Sabbath!
The yearly (not weekly) cycle has been changed. In 1582, the length of the year was changed to include the leap year. This changeover resulted in October 1582 having only 21 days! But each week remained the same; each was seven days in length. Thursday, October 4, was followed by Friday, October 15. God has divinely protected the weekly cycle down through the ages. If He had not done this, it would be impossible to keep the Sabbath holy, as He has commanded. But, because He has, there is no excuse for disobedience. The seventh day is a holy day, made holy by the command of God. All calendars agree: The seventh day is the Sabbath. Sunday is the first day; the day called “Saturday” in the English language is the Sabbath.
However, in 108 of the 160 languages of mankind, the seventh day is called “the Sabbath”! Dr. William Mead Jones of London prepared a chart proving this. (A copy of this chart can be obtained free of charge from the publisher of this book: Ask for “The Chart of the Week” [BS–27-28].) English is one of the few major languages in which the seventh day is not called “the Sabbath.” (The word, “Sabbath,” was originally a Hebrew word and means “rest.”)
Here are ten examples; all mean “Sabbath.” Hebrew: Shabbath / Greek: Sabbaton / Latin: Sabbatum / Arabic: Assabit / Persian: Shambin / Russian: Subbota / Hindustani: Shamba / French: Samedi / Italian: Sabbato / Spanish: Sabado.
Here are several statements by astronomers that the weekly cycle has never been changed, confused, or lost:
“By calculating the eclipses, it can be proven that no time has been lost and the creation days were seven, divided into 24 hours each.”—Dr. Hinkley, The Watchman, July 1926 [Hinkley was a well-known astronomer.].
“The human race never lost the septenary [seven day] sequence of week days and that the Sabbath of these latter times comes down to us from Adam, though the ages, without a single lapse.”—Dr. Totten, professor of astronomy at Yale University.
“Seven has been the ancient and honored number among the nations of the earth. They have measured their time by weeks from the beginning. The origin of this was the Sabbath of God, as Moses has given the reasons for it in his writings.”—Dr. Lyman Coleman.
“There has been no change in our calendar in past centuries that has affected in any way the cycle of the week.”—James Robertson, Director American Ephemeris, Navy Department, U.S. Naval Observatory, Washington, D.C., March 12, 1932.
“It can be said with assurance that not a day has been lost since Creation, and all the calendar changes notwithstanding, there has been no break in the weekly cycle.”—Dr. Frank Jeffries, Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and Research Director of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, England.
God has given us many ways by which we can know that we today have the true Bible Sabbath, and that it is the seventh day of the week. He wants everyone to be sure, whether or not they have access to historical and astronomical records. He has given us more than written proof—He has given us living proof—the Jewish race. Every other Near Eastern ethnic group has disappeared: the Hitites, Summarians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Moabites—all gone. The Jews remain a distinct people—and with them the Bible Sabbath. It has been 3400 years since the time that God gave them manna in the wilderness—but all during that time they have been keeping the Bible Sabbath, week after week, century after century. Ask any Jewish acquaintance what day is the Sabbath. He will tell you that it is Saturday, the seventh day.
Orthodox Jews scattered throughout the world have kept strict record of time. They have carefully observed the seventh-day Sabbath throughout the ages. The existence and testimony of the Jewish race is alone enough to settle the matter.
It is remarkable how complete is the Biblical and historical evidences corroborating the fact that the Bible Sabbath was given to us by the God of heaven. Let us keep the Sabbath that Jesus kept! He worshiped on the Bible Sabbath, and never told us to stop keeping it. No one else in the Bible said to either. The seventh day is the Sabbath, for God never changed it.
For a copy of the 256-page book, Beyond Pitcairn, explaining in far more remarkable detail about the Bible Sabbath, Send $2.00 to the publisher of this book. It is an extremely readable book.
2 - WHAT DID JESUS THINK ABOUT THE LAW OF GOD?
While here on earth, Jesus gave us a careful example of obedience to the Sabbath day He had earlier, at the Creation, given to mankind.
“And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up: and, as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read.”—Luke 4:16.
His custom should be ours, for He is our Example. He gave us an example of obedience that we should follow.
“He that said he abides in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked.”—1 John 2:6.
“Leaving us an example, that ye should follow His steps.”—1 Peter 2:21.
“I have kept My Father’s commandments, and abide in His love.”—John 15:10. “For this is the love of God: that we keep His commandments.”—1 John 5:3.
Throughout His earthly life, Jesus continually gave us an example of obedience to the Moral Law of Ten Commandments. And He told His disciples to obey it also.
“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. 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.
“Whosoever therefore shall break one of these 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.”—Matthew 5:17-19.
Not only did Christ give us a careful example of obedience while here on earth,—but He also rebuked manmade attempts to change His laws.
“But in vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”—Matthew 15:9. “Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.”—Matthew 15:6.
“But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?”—Matthew 15:3.
Throughout His life, Christ did as Scripture predicted He would do: He magnified the law and made it honorable.
“The Lord is well pleased for His righteousness’ sake; He will magnify the law, and make it honorable.”— Isaiah 42:21.
“Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of Me: I delight to do Thy will, O My God; yea, Thy law is within My heart.”—Psalm 40:7-8 [compare Hebrews 10:5, 7].
Christ also taught that others should obey the law of God, as He was doing.
“Not every one that said unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven.”—Matthew 7:21.
“Whosoever therefore shall break one of these 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.”—Matthew 5:19.
“Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And He said unto him. . If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.”—Matthew 19:16-17.
However, God’s faithful ones fully realize that they are incapable, in their own strength, of rendering this obedience to God. We must all lay hold of the enabling grace of Christ.
“I am the vine, ye [are] the branches: He that abides in Me, and I in Him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing.”—John 15:5.
3 - WHICH DAY IS THE “LORD’S DAY”?
What day is the “Lord’s Day” mentioned in Revelation 1:10? The Bible is very clear about this; in fact, so clear it will surprise you.
Christ was in the beginning with God the Father.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.”—John 1:1-2.
Christ is the Creator, for God the Father created all things by Him. “God, who created all things by Jesus Christ.”—Ephesians 3:9.
“God . . hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son . . by whom also He made the worlds.”— Hebrews 1:1-2.
“For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth. . all things were created by Him. . and by Him all things consist [hold together].”—Colossians 1:16-17.
Therefore it was Christ who, after creating the world in six days, rested on the seventh and made the Sabbath.
“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made.
“And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made.”—Genesis 2:3.
What day is the “Lord’s day” in Revelation 1:10?
“I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet.”—Revelation 1:10.
The Sabbath was “made”; it was made for man.
“The Sabbath was made for man.”—Mark 2:27.
The one who made it was Christ, our Creator. Christ is our Lord, and the Sabbath is the Lord’s day.
Did you know that, repeatedly, we are told in the Bible that the Bible Sabbath is the Lord’s day? Here are several examples:
The Sabbath is the day UNTO the Lord.
“This is that which the Lord hath said, To morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord. . to day is a Sabbath unto the Lord: to day ye shall not find it in the field.”—Exodus 16:23, 25.
“Six days may work be done; but on the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord.”—Exodus 31:15.
“Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you an holy day, a Sabbath of rest to the Lord.”—Exodus 35:2.
The Sabbath is the day OF the Lord.
“The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord.”—Exodus 20:10.
“The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shall not do any work.”—Deuteronomy 5:14.
“Ye shall do no work therein; it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings.”—Leviticus 23:3. The Sabbath is the Lord’s holy day.
“If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord. .—Isaiah 58:13.
The Sabbath is the day blessed and hallowed by the Lord.
“And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made.”—Genesis 2:3.
No other day of the week is ever claimed by the Lord as His day.
John the Revelator, who mentioned the “Lord’s day” in Revelation 1:10, earlier heard Christ call Himself “the Lord of the Sabbath day.”
“For the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath day.”—Matthew 12:8. “The Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath.”—Mark 2:28.
John well-knew which day was the Lord’s day. It is the memorial day of the Creator (Genesis 2:1-3; Exodus 31:17) and the memorial day of the Redeemer (Ezekiel 20:12, 20).
God blessed the Sabbath (Genesis 2:2), sanctified it (Genesis 2:3), and hallowed it (Exodus 20:11). We are commanded to hallow it (Jeremiah 17:22, 24, 27; Ezekiel 20:20; 44:24); just as, in the Lord’s Prayer, we are told to hallow the name of the Lord (Matthew 6:9; Luke 11:2).
The Sabbath is the Lord’s day, a day that God wants to share with you. He plans to keep it with you all through eternity to come.
“For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before Me, said the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, said the Lord.”—Isaiah 66:22-23
Come, worship Him on the best day, His day, the only day of worship your God ever gave you.
4 - WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT SUNDAY?
Are we told anywhere in the Bible that we should keep Sunday holy? Is there even one verse in all of Scripture that officially changes the sanctity of God’s holy Sabbath from the seventh day to the first day?
There is not one passage—not one—anywhere in the Bible that commands us to do such a thing.
Sunday is never called sacred or holy anywhere in the Bible. It is never called the Sabbath or the Lord’s Day.
Sunday is only mentioned eight times in the entire Bible. The first time is Genesis 1:5, where the first day of Creation Week is spoken of. No Sunday sacredness here. It is just one of the six working days of Creation Week.
Five times refer to Jesus’ appearances on Sunday to His disciples after His rest in the tomb on the Bible Sabbath (Matt 28:1; Mark 16:1-2, 9; Luke 24:1; John 20:1, 19). Jesus went and found His disciples and told them the good news that He was alive. But there is nothing here about Sunday holiness.
Here are the eight texts in the New Testament that mention the first day of the week:
Matthew 28:1 is the first first-day text in the New Testament. We are here told that the Sabbath ends before the first day of the week begins,—and that is all that this passage tells us. Matthew wrote his record several years after the resurrection of Christ.
Mark 16:1-2 is the second first-day text, and Mark 16:9 is the third. We learn here that the Sabbath was past before the first day began. They are two different days. The seventh-day Sabbath is holy; the other is one of the six working days. Years after the resurrection, Mark knew of no first-day sacredness.
Luke 24:1 is the fourth one. Nothing new here. Luke does point out in the two preceding verses (Luke 23:55-56) that some of Jesus’ most faithful followers “rested on the Sabbath day according to the commandment” (the Fourth Commandment of Exodus 20:8-11). In all His years of instruction, Jesus had said nothing about Sunday keeping—or we would see His followers faithfully observing it. But this is not to be found, for Sunday sacredness is foreign to Scripture.
John 20:1 is the fifth first-day text in the New Testament. Again, the same simple record of the early morning experience and nothing more.
John 20:19 is the sixth one. As with the others, John’s record gives no account that Jesus ever mentioned the first day of the week. What John does say is that the disciples were gathered together “for the fear of the Jews.” He specifically points out that this was not a worship gathering. They were simply in hiding, fearful that they too would soon be killed as Jesus was. Some have suggested that the disciples were celebrating Christ’s resurrection. This is incorrect, for they did not yet believe Jesus had risen. They were frightened men with, for all they knew, a dead Savior. Twice, Mark says that those men, gathered in that upper room, refused to believe that Christ had risen—even when others came and told them (Mark 16:11 and 16:12-13). Later Christ appeared to them (Luke 24:33-37), but even He had a difficult time convincing them.
Acts 20:7-8 is the seventh text, and the only one in the book of Acts. After having spent seven days at Troas, Paul and his missionary company held a farewell gathering with them that night, which lasted till midnight.
According to the Bible, each new day begins at sunset (Bible time: sunset to sunset—see Genesis 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31). The first day of the week begins Saturday evening at sunset and ends Sunday evening at sunset. Because this meeting in Acts 20:7-11 was held on the first day of the week and at night, it must therefore have been held on Saturday night.
“It was the evening which succeeded the Jewish Sabbath. On the Sunday morning the vessel was about to sail.”—Conybeare and Howson, Life and the Epistles of the Apostle Paul, Vol. 2, p. 206. [This is the most authoritative and complete book on the life of the Apostle Paul.]
“The Jews reckoned the day from evening to morning, and on that principle the evening of the first day of the week would be our Saturday evening. If Luke reckoned so here, as many commentators suppose, the apostle then waited for the expiration of the Jewish Sabbath, and held his last religious service with the brethren at Troas . . on Saturday evening, and consequently resumed his journey on Sunday morning.”— Dr. Horatio B. Hackett, Commentary on Acts, pp. 221-222. [Dr. Hackett was professor of New Testament Greek in Rochester Theological Seminary.]
After the Saturday night meeting at Troas (Acts 20:7-11), Paul’s company immediately set to work. They set sail that night. Paul preferred to go alone part of the way; so, the next morning, Sunday morning, he walked nineteen miles across a point of land to Assos, where his friends took him on board ship (Acts 20:11-14).
If Sunday was Paul’s holy day, why then did he stay with the brethren at Troas seven days and then leave them on Sunday morning in order to walk eighteen and a half miles that day? The Bible says, “for so had he appointed” to do. That was planning quite a bit of work for Sunday.
They had spent seven days at Troas, and then on Saturday night (after the Sabbath was past) they had a farewell gathering with the believers, “ready to depart on the morrow.”
What does it mean “to break bread”? This is the common Bible expression for partaking of food. The disciples broke bread daily from house to house (Acts 2:46), and they “did eat their meat [“food” in the Greek] with gladness” (2:46). It should here be mentioned that even if they had held an actual communion service that night, this would in no way make it a holy day. The Lord’s Supper commemorates Christ’s death, not His resurrection. “Ye do shew the Lord’s death till He come.” 1 Corinthians 11:26.
So we see that the book of Acts is as silent on first-day sanctity as are Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
1 Corinthians 16:1-2 is the eighth and last text. It is the final mention of the first day of the week in the New Testament—and only mentioned in all of Paul’s writings. Although Paul wrote many, many letters, this is his only mention of the first day of the week. That is very significant.
Paul wanted the folk to save aside money for the poor in Jerusalem. He was an evangelist who did not like to make calls for money in Sabbath services. “That there be no gatherings when I come,” is what he said. He evidently observed that if people did not lay aside at home systematically, on a basis of weekly income, there would have to be a gathering when he came—not only a gathering of money, but gatherings of people also.
“Let every one of you lay him in store.” This plan had no connection with a weekly collection at a church service. It was to be laid aside at home. This text also teaches us to total up our money and work up our budgets on the first day of each week, since there is not time in the sixth-day preparation on Friday afternoon to carefully give attention to such matters. For the Sabbath begins at sunset, and figuring up money totals might take longer than is expected—and run into the Sabbath. Bookkeeping and the keeping of accounts is not to be done on Sabbath; and is best not done at the end of the work week.
So there we have it: eight texts where Sunday is mentioned in the New Testament—and no indication of a new holy day, much less a direct command by the God of heaven to observe it in the place of the seventh-day Sabbath.
Thank God every day of your life for the Bible! It is your pathway to Christ and to eternal life. Never leave the pathway for that which relatives or learned men may tell you. If their ideas do not agree with the Voice of God, you had better stay with the plain words of Scripture.
5 - WHAT WAS ABOLISHED AT THE CROSS?
But are we not told that the law was nailed to the cross, so we no longer need to keep the Sabbath? Here are the passages referred to:
“Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of Me) to do Thy will, O God. Above when He said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin Thou would not, neither had pleasure therein; which are offered by the law. Then said He, Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God. He takes away the first, that He may establish the second.”—Hebrews 10:7-9.
“Having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in Himself of twain one new man, so making peace.”—Ephesians 2:15.
What do those passages mean? They cannot mean that either the moral law of Ten Commandments or the Creation Sabbath were destroyed at Calvary.
Hebrews 10:7-9 is talking about the sacrificial and offering laws. It says so. Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross eliminated the sacrificial laws (also called ceremonial laws). The death of God’s Lamb did away with the offering of lambs on the altar. The sacrificial laws were taken away and the moral law of Ten Commandments established.
Ephesians 2:15 is talking about “the commandments contained in ordinances.” The ordinances were the ceremonial laws. By His death, Christ eliminated the sacrificial laws and, as our Mediator, brought us to God.
Jesus did not come to earth to destroy the moral law! Keep in mind that it was because that law could not be abolished that Christ had to die. Christ did not die so we could keep sinning. He died to provide us miraculous, divine grace to empower us to keep the law.
“By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep His commandments.”—1 John 5:2.
“Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”—Revelation 14:12.
It is the Ten Commandment law of God that the saints will keep. When asked, “Which law?” Jesus replied by naming several of the Ten Commandments (Matthew 19:17-19). And the Apostle James did likewise (James 2:10-12).
Some today claim that there is no law since the death of Christ. But the Bible teaches that if there is no law, there is no sin! Indeed, without the law to identify sin, we cannot know what sin is. Apart from the presence of the law, sin does not exist.
“Where no law is, there is no transgression.”—Romans 4:15. “Sin is not imputed when there is no law.”— Romans 5:13. “For by the law is the knowledge of sin.”—Romans 3:20. “I had not known sin but by the law.—Romans 7:7.
“Whosoever commits sin transgresses also the law; for sin is the transgression of the law.”—1 John 3:4.
The only thing abolished at the cross was the ceremonial law, contained in ordinances. They were the sacrificial laws. After Christ’s death, it was no longer necessary to sacrifice lambs at the temple, for Christ our Lamb had died. But after the death of Christ we were still obligated to keep the moral law.
Daniel 9:26-27 predicted that at His death, Christ would “cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease.” And the Apostle Paul tells us that this is exactly what happened. When Christ died, the ceremonial ordinances were blotted out. The sacrificial services in the Temple no longer had meaning in the eyes of God.
“Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross.”—Colossians 2:14.
“Having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in Himself of twain one new man, so making peace; and that He might reconcile both God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby.”—Ephesians 2:15-16.
A leading Protestant writer, Dr. Albert Barnes, in commenting on Colossians 2:16, said this:
“But the use of the term [‘Sabbaths’] in the plural number, and the connection, show that he [Paul] had his eye on a great number of days which were observed by the Hebrews as festivals, as a part of their ceremonial and typical law, part of the moral law,—and not on the moral law or the Ten Commandments. No part of the moral law—not one of the Ten Commandments—could be spoken as a shadow of things to come.”—Dr. Albert Barnes, Commentary on Colossians 2:16.
The “shadowy laws” were the ones that foreshadowed the coming of Christ: the slaying of the lambs and goats, the keeping of the yearly Passover, etc. All these ceremonial laws were taken away by the death of Christ.
“For the [sacrificial] law, having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have cease to be offered? . . But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins.”—Hebrews 10:1-4.
And these sacrificial laws included yearly holy days, or yearly “Sabbaths.” The weekly Sabbath was given to mankind at the foundation of the world and is the fourth of the Ten Commandments.
But the yearly Sabbaths were gatherings for special sacrificial service and foreshadowed the death of Christ. At those services, there were special “meat offerings” and “drink offerings.” A list of the yearly Sabbaths will be found in Leviticus 23:4-44.
The weekly seventh-day Sabbath is called “the Sabbath” in the Bible, but the yearly Sabbaths are easily identified. When mentioned together, an “s” is added: they were the “Sabbaths” or “Sabbath days.” All those yearly gatherings were abolished at the cross. Paul calls them (and their meat and drink offerings) a “shadow.”
“Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days: which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.”—Colossians 2:16-17.
“For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.”—Hebrews 10:1.
This is because the meaning of the Temple services ended when Christ died. At that moment a hand reached down from heaven and tore the veil of the temple in two, thus desecrating it and destroying its significance:
“Jesus, when He had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent.”—Matthew 27:50-51.
“Then said I [Christ], Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of Me) to do Thy will, O God. Above when He said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou would not, neither had pleasure therein; which are offered by the law. Then said He, Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God. He takes away the first, that He may establish the second.”—Hebrews 10:7-9.
The first—the shadow laws and ceremonies—were taken away by the death of Christ, that He might solidly establish by His death the principle that man must obey God—and, through the merits of Christ, he can be empowered to do it!
For a much larger history of Sunday laws in America, including major court decisions, send $2.00 for a copy of our book, National Sunday Law Crisis.
For an in-depth presentation of the Bible Sabbath, send $2.00 for a copy of our book, Beyond Pitcairn. It is full of fascinating details.
Over twenty years ago, the present writer offered a $500,000 reward to anyone who could find one verse in the Bible that said that the Sabbath had been changed from the seventh day of the week to the first, and that the verse would have to be obvious in the King James Version. (For half a million dollars, someone might try to print their own edition of the Bible!)
But no one ever claimed the reward. Back around the beginning of the 20th century, a Catholic priest in Missouri made a similar ($1,000) offer. But he never gave away the money either.
The reason is simple: There is no such passage. The seventh day is the Sabbath, for God never changed it.
All the signals are go Why it is almost here Why it is inevitable
BIBLE STUDY ON THE BIBLE SABBATH
FACT NUMBER ONE
The Sabbath was given to all mankind at the Creation of this world. The seventh-day Sabbath was given to mankind on the seventh day of Creation Week.
“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made.
“And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made.”—Genesis 2:1-3.
God dedicated and set aside the Sabbath as a rest day—2,000 years before the first Jew. Abraham is considered by all to have been the first Jew. He lived about 2000 B.C. Biblical records indicate that the Creation of this world took place about 4000 B.C. So the Bible Sabbath is not Jewish! It is for mankind; it is for all the world.
“The Sabbath was made for man.”—Mark 2:27.
FACT NUMBER TWO
The Sabbath is a memorial of Creation and our salvation. First, it is a memorial of Creation.
“It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed.”—Exodus 31:17.
As a memorial of the Creation of this world, the Sabbath cannot pass away without first having this world pass away—and creating a new one! Our planet could not have a new or different Sabbath day, without having it first hurled into oblivion—and then a new planet created from nothing. But no such event has occurred.
Second, the Sabbath is a symbol of our salvation. When we keep it, we tell all the world that we belong to God and that we serve and obey Him. The seventh-day Sabbath is a sign of our conversion, sanctification, and salvation:
“Verily My Sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you.”—Exodus 31:13.
“Moreover also I gave them My Sabbaths to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them.”—Ezekiel 20:12.
“And hallow My Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God.”—Ezekiel 20:20.
But what about Christ’s resurrection? Nowhere in Scripture were we told to keep any day in honor of Christ’s resurrection. To do so is unscriptural. On the contrary, to set aside the Creation and sanctification Sabbath of the Bible—for another day of the week—and excuse it by saying that we do so “in honor of Christ’s resurrection”—is indeed to do a very daring thing. Who dare presume to set aside the Memorial of Creation and salvation for any reason! To knowingly do so, flies in the face of repeated, direct, Biblical commands by the God of heaven. To do so denies that He is our Creator and Redeemer.
If we abandon the Bible Sabbath and keep another day holy, in the Judgment what excuse can we offer? There is no Bible reason for keeping the first day of the week holy instead of the seventh day.
FACT NUMBER THREE
The people of God kept the Bible Sabbath before the Ten Commandments were given at Mount Sinai.
The Sabbath Truth was first given to our race in Eden before the fall of man. It was given before sin existed, and apart from it. It was given to every man to link him to his God. And if Adam needed the Sabbath, we need it all the more today.
God’s people had it before Mount Sinai. Four chapters before the Ten Commandments were given on Mount Sinai, the God of heaven spoke in such a way that it is obvious that the seventh-day Sabbath was already well-known by the people of God—but not always well-kept: Read Exodus 16.
There are those who say that the seventh-day Sabbath was not commanded by God, nor kept by man before it was spoken from Mount Sinai in Exodus 20. But Genesis 2:1-3 and Exodus 16 prove otherwise.
FACT NUMBER FOUR
The seventh-day Sabbath Commandment lies in the very heart of the Moral Law of Ten Commandments. “Remember The Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
“Six days shall thou labour, and do all thy work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shall not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates.
“For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.”—Exodus 20:8-11.
The Sabbath Commandment is part of the Moral Law of Ten Commandments. The Apostle James tells us that if we break any part of this law, we have broken it all (James 2:10-12). We cannot tear out the Fourth Commandment without setting aside all the others as well. They all stand together, because the God of Heaven put them all together.
We do not decide which day of the week is to be kept holy unto God; He alone is to do this. It is for Him to command; it is for us to obey.
Some say that Genesis 2:1-3 is not a command for man to keep the Sabbath, and therefore we do not obey it. But Exodus 16 and 20 clearly show that man is commanded to keep it holy. And who dare say that the Ten Commandments were only for the Jewish race? Are the rest of us permitted to lie, steal, cheat, and commit adultery? Are only the Hebrews to observe these ten moral principles?
The reason for the commandment is the Creation of this world: “For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth.” This is not something local, merely for a Semitic race;—it is a commandment for all in the entire world who shall bow down and worship their Creator in humble thankfulness for His plan to save them through the life and death of Jesus Christ. It was given at the Creation of this world, and was given to every man, woman, and child who shall live on this planet.
God wrote these Ten Commandments with His own finger (Ex 31:18; Deut 9:10). He wrote them on the most enduring thing in the world, and that is rock (Ex 31:18). And He wishes to write them also on our hearts.
“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, said the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them.”—Hebrews 10:16 (Heb 8:10; Jer 31:33).
And, if we will let Him, through the New Covenant He will write His holy law upon our hearts. To have the Ten Commandments written on our hearts means two things: First, a willingness to obey them and, second, letting God enable us to do so by the grace of Jesus, His Son. Obedience to God’s law is to become an integral part of our lives.
FACT NUMBER FIVE
The weekly seventh-day Sabbath is part of the Moral Law contained in the Ten Commandments. It will stand forever. The yearly Sabbaths were part of the ceremonial laws that prefigured, or foreshadowed, the death and ministry of Christ.
These “shadow laws,” such as Passover and the Wave Sheaf, which were a part of the ceremonial or sacrificial law, would not endure past the death of Christ.
“For the [ceremonial] law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? . . But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.”—Hebrews 10:1-4.
These ceremonial laws were not written on rock, but were contained in ordinances, written on parchment. The rock was to endure, but the ordinances that foreshadowed the death of Christ were to pass away at His death. It is for this reason that we do not today observe the yearly Sabbaths of the Passover and the Wave Sheaf.
“Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross . . Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days. Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.”—Colossians 2:14,16-17.
In the Greek it says, “or of the Sabbaths.” There is one weekly Sabbath; it comes down to us from the Creation of this world and will be kept in the New Earth (Isa 66:22-23). But the yearly Sabbaths did not begin until Moses. They foreshadowed and explained the coming death of Christ till it happened; and, at His death, they were nailed to His cross.
If the ordinances containing the yearly Sabbaths had not been set aside at Calvary, we would need now to sacrifice animals on various occasions throughout the year. But we are not now to slay lambs; for Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed for us.
“Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”—John 1:29. “For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.”—1 Corinthians 5:7.
FACT NUMBER SIX
Christ’s disciples faithfully kept the Bible Sabbath, not Sunday.
The disciples had been with Jesus for three and a half years, and had listened closely to His teachings. What they did at the time of His death on Calvary shows what He taught them. The sacred importance of the seventh-day Sabbath was of such concern to them that they would not even prepare the body of Jesus properly for burial on Friday, lest they transgress the Fourth Commandment.
“And now when the even was come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath.. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses beheld where He was laid.
“And when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint Him. And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulcher at the rising of the sun. And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulcher?”—Mark 15:42, 47-16:1-3.
For more on this, read Luke 23:53-24:2.
FACT NUMBER SEVEN
According to the New Testament, the Apostles of Jesus always kept the Bible Sabbath. The Apostles kept the Bible Sabbath. Read Acts 13:14; Acts 13:42; Acts 16:13; Acts 17:1-2. Paul supported himself by tent making; and then on the Sabbath, he would preach the gospel.
“Because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought: for by their occupation, they were tentmakers. . And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.. He continued there a year and six months, teaching the Word of God among them.”—Acts 18:3, 4, 11.
Paul’s manner was the same as Christ’s custom: to keep the Bible Sabbath (Acts 17:1-2; Luke 4:16).
Paul never taught that the Moral Law was, or could be, set aside. It will ever govern the conduct of mankind:
“Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.”—Romans 3:31.
“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?”—Romans 6:1-2.
“What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shall not covet.”—Romans 7:7.
Paul clearly saw that the problem was that we needed to obey the law; there was nothing wrong with the requirements of the law itself.
“Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.”—Romans 7:12.
“Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but [that which is important is] the keeping of the commandments of God.”—1 Corinthians 7:19.
The moral standard that governs mankind was not relaxed or destroyed by the death of Christ; for, indeed, it is through the merits of Christ’s sacrifice that we can be empowered to keep that law.
“Thou shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins.”—Matthew 1:21.
Jesus saves us from our sins, not in our sins. And since sin is the breaking of the Ten Commandments, it is obvious that He saves us by enabling us, strengthening us, to keep that law.
“Whosoever commits sin transgresses also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.”—1 John 3:4.
The other Apostles saw this same great truth, that the moral standard that governs mankind was not relaxed or destroyed by the death of Christ:
“But be ye doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the Word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face In a glass. For he beholds himself, and goes his way, and straightway forgets what manner of man he was.
“But whoso looks into the perfect law of liberty, and continues therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. . For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For He that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty. . Faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works; show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works.”—James 1:22-25; 2:10-12, 17-18.
“By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments: and His commandments are not grievous.”—1 John 5:2-3.
FACT NUMBER EIGHT
God predicted in Scripture that men would later try to change the Law of God—and especially the “time
law.”
The Bible Sabbath is very important—for it is the very center of our worship of God! If men were later to try to change it to another day, we should surely expect a Bible prophecy saying that it would happen.
“And he [the little horn power] shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into His hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.”—Daniel 7:25.
The church of the Dark Ages was to rule the world for 1260 years, and during this time would try to tear out God’s holy Time Law and put a counterfeit in its place. Oh, what blasphemy men can dream up, when they are tempted by Satan to gain religious control of their fellow men!
“For that day [the Second Coming of Christ] shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped.”—2 Thessalonians 2:3-4.
God said:
“And hallow My Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God.” —Ezekiel 20:20.
After the New Testament was finished and the Apostles had died, men tried to transfer the sacredness from the seventh to the first day of the week. They tried to change the “time law.”
Roman Catholic: “It is well to remind the Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, and all other Christians, that the Bible does not support them anywhere in their observance of Sunday. Sunday is an institution of the Roman Catholic Church, and those who observe the day observe a commandment of the Catholic Church.”—Priest Brady, in an address at Elizabeth, N.J., March 17, 1903; reported in the Elizabeth, N.J., News of March 18, 1903.
“You may search the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctify.”—James Cardinal Gibbon, The Faith of Our Fathers, chapter 8.
“If Protestants would follow the Bible, they should worship God on the Sabbath day. In keeping the Sunday they are following a law of the Catholic Church.”—Albert Smith, Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, replying for the Cardinal, in a letter of February 10, 1920.
“We hold upon this earth the place of God Almighty.”—Pope Leo XIII, Encyclical Letter, June 20, 1894; The Great Encyclical Letters of Leo XIII, p. 304.
“Prove to me from the Bible alone that I am bound to keep Sunday holy. There is no such law in the Bible. It is a law of the holy Catholic Church alone. The Bible says ‘Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.’ The Catholic Church says, No. By my divine power I abolish the Sabbath day and command you to keep holy the first day of the week. And lo! The entire civilized world bows down in reverent obedience to the command of the Holy Catholic Church.”—Priest Thomas Enright, CSSR, President of Redemptorist College, Kansas City, MO, in a lecture at Hartford, Kansas Weekly Call, February 22, 1884, and the American Sentinel, a New York Roman Catholic journal, in June 1893, p. 173.
“Of course the Catholic Church claims that the change was her act. . AND THE ACT IS A MARK of her ecclesiastical power.”—From the office of Cardinal Gibbons, through Chancellor H.F. Thomas, November 11, 1895.
How important it is that we obey the commandments of God rather than the commandments of men.
“Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey?”— Romans 6:16.
“It is written, Thou shall worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shall thou serve.”—Matthew 4:10. “But in vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”—Matthew 15:9.
“How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow Him; but if Baal, then follow him.”— 1 Kings 18:21.
FACT NUMBER NINE
The seventh-day Sabbath, instituted by God at the Creation of this world, is the seal of His governmental
authority.
God’s basic governmental code for mankind is the Ten Commandments. Of those ten, only the Sabbath commandment reveals the name of our Creator and Lawgiver.
Of all the commandments in the Decalogue, only the Fourth Commandment reveals the (1) name, (2) authority, and (3) dominion of the Author of this Law:
In six days, (1) the Lord (name) (2) made (office—the Creator) (3) heaven and earth (dominion or territory over which He rules). This commandment alone contains the seal of God.
Examine the notary seal of a notary public or any other legal seal. Each seal will always contain the above three identifying marks.
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. . for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.”—Exodus 20:8, 11.
The Sabbath commandment contains the seal of God, and the Sabbath itself—given in this commandment—is inseparably connected with this seal. For the Sabbath is the basis of all true worship of our Creator. And this worship lies at the heart of all our acknowledgment of His authority as our Creator and our God. The Sabbath is ever to be kept as a sign that we belong to Him. And the keeping of it brings us within the circle of this seal.
The seal is impressed in order that all may know the authority from whence it comes—and that all may know that it is not to be changed. The seventh-day Sabbath comes from God. Let no man dare to tamper with it—for the seal of God is upon it.
“Now, O king, establish the decree, and sign the writing, that it be not changed.”—Daniel 6:8. “Bind up the testimony, seal the law among My disciples.”—Isaiah 8:16.
“It [the Sabbath] is a sign between Me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed.”—Exodus 31:17.
“And hallow My Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God.”—Ezekiel 20:20.
The Sabbath is a powerful sign of God’s creative power—not only of this earth, but within our lives as well. It requires the same power to clean our lives and redeem us as it did to create us in the first place.
“Create in me a clean heart, O God.”—Psalm 51:10.
“We are. . created in Christ Jesus unto good works.”— Ephesians 2:10.
The Bible tells us there is to be a special sealing work in these last days, just before the return of Jesus in the clouds of heaven.
“And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels . . saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, or the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.”—Revelation 7:2-3 (Ezekiel 9:1-6).
“And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with Him an hundred forty and four thousand, having His Father’s name written in their foreheads.”—Revelation 14:1.
The name of the Father is expressive of His character. When Moses asked to see the glory of God, the Lord passed by and told His name—that which He was like:
“The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth.”— Exodus 34:6.
And as we look at God’s holy law, we see another view of His character. It is a transcript of that character. It is God’s characteristics written on everlasting stone. He wants us to live it out in our lives.
When God writes His name on your forehead and right hand, this means He writes His law on your heart. This is the work of the new covenant (Heb 8:10; 10:16; Jer 31:33); and that work reaches its climax when God “seals in” His own people, just before He returns the second time in the clouds of heaven. What are those sealed ones like? They are fully obedient to the Law of God:
“And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.”—Revelation 14:5.
But in the final crisis before His return, there will be a people who will yield obedience to the beast instead of to God.
“And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God.”—Revelation 14:9-10.
“And he [the beast] causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads.”—Revelation 13:16.
In contrast with those who serve the beast and receive his mark, are those who in the last days will serve God and receive His seal. How can they be identified? God has told us in His Word. Here is a description of God’s remnant people at the end of time:
“And the dragon [Satan, working through his agents] was wroth with the woman [the true church], and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”—Revelation 12:17.
And the third angel of Revelation 14, which warns men to not receive the mark of the beast, also tells them how to avoid receiving it—by keeping the commandments of God through the faith of Jesus Christ:
“And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture . . Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”—Revelation 14:9-10, 12.
The final crisis will be caused by a decree by the beast, that all men must disobey a commandment of the law of God. The nations and churches of the world will not require men to steal or lie or commit adultery. The growing movement toward national Sunday laws is growing stronger every passing year. It is seen that in this point, and in this alone, will be found the heart of the crisis of Revelation 13 and 14.
The first angel of Revelation 14 calls on all men everywhere, today, to reverence God—by returning to the worship of the Creator of all things.
“And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people:
“Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.”—Revelation 14:6-7.
As the crisis nears, we must prepare for it.
“The observance of Sunday by the Protestants is an homage they pay, in spite of themselves, to the authority of the [Catholic] Church.”—Monsignor Louis Segur, Plain Talk About the Protestantism of Today, p. 213.
Already we are facing Sunday closing laws on local levels. Men are prohibited from doing business on the first working day of the week, lest they be fined or imprisoned. And the situation will grow worse in the days just ahead.
“That the image of the beast should both speak, and cause [decree] that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark.”—Revelation 13:15-17.
But there is victory for those who will stand true to the God of heaven. There is overcoming power for those who will “keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus” (Rev 14:12).
“And I saw. . them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.”—Revelation 15:2.
FACT NUMBER TEN
God’s remnant people will keep the Bible Sabbath, and that holy day will be kept throughout eternity.
“And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”—Revelation 12:17.
And the third angel, after warning all men against receiving the mark of the beast, tells us clearly who will be the little group that will stand apart from this almost universal apostasy:
“Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”—Revelation 14:12.
It will be an almost universal apostasy. All around us can be seen a rising tide of rebellion against the Ten Commandments. The colleges and universities teach that man is but an animal descended from worms and amoeba. The churches teach that God destroyed the Ten Commandments at Calvary, and that Jesus died to take sinners to heaven just as they are. Governmental agencies are relaxing moral restrictions and permitting gambling, abortion, homosexuality, and other vices.
This world is becoming a curse, but soon God will intervene. Prophecy tells us that before the end there will be a small company who will stand true to the commandments of God, by faith in Jesus Christ.
And in that heaven the seventh-day Sabbath will be kept forever. God’s people suffered and died for it down here, and they will worship God on that holy day through all ages to come.
Revelation 21 and 22 tells us about this new life with Jesus, when sin has come to an end and the wicked are no longer alive.
“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. . And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.”—Revelation 21:1; 22:1.
And then we are told who will enter that beautiful new world:
“Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.”—Revelation 22:14.
But more: There is the promise that they will keep the holy Sabbath through all eternity:
“For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. . And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of My people, and Mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. . The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock; and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, said the Lord..
“For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before Me, said the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, said the Lord.”—Isaiah 65:17, 2122, 25; 66:22-23.
Now you have seen God’s plan for His people. And it is a wonderful one. It can begin for you right now. And it will continue on throughout eternity. Why not begin today—this very week? Ask God to forgive you for the past, and tell Him that, by His grace, you will worship your Creator on His day! This is the best decision you can make. Go to Him just now. He will help you make it.
And next Sabbath—begin that holy walk with God on His day, the holy day of Isaiah 58. Read that chapter and see the blessings He will add, if you will but let Him take over your life.
But think not that there will be no problems or trials. Satan will bring many upon you. He hates the Sabbath and all who will stand loyal to it. Yet if you will determine to be true to God and His Word, you will have strength from above to go through all that lies ahead.
And one day soon, if faithful to the end, you with the redeemed of all ages will rejoice on the sea of glass and will receive from the hand of Jesus the overcomer’s crown. And you will be given that new name, expressive of a new character. And you will begin a walk with Jesus that will last through all eternity to come.
“And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence come they?
“And I said unto him, Sir, thou knows. And he said unto me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
“Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple: and He that sits on the throne shall dwell among them.
“They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.
“For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.”—Revelation 7:13-17.
(You were referred to this study from page 110. You may now wish to return to it.)
WHY THE REBELLION WILL END
To many minds, the origin of sin and the reason for its existence are a source of great perplexity. They see the work of evil, with its terrible results of woe and desolation, and they question how all this can exist under the sovereignty of One who is infinite in wisdom, in power, and in love. Here is a mystery, of which they find no explanation. And in their uncertainty and doubt, they are blinded to truths plainly revealed in God’s Word, and essential to salvation. There are those who, in their inquiries concerning the existence of sin, endeavor to search into that which God has never revealed; hence they find no solution of their difficulties; and such as are actuated by a disposition to doubt and cavil, seize upon this as an excuse for rejecting the words of Holy Writ. Others, however, fail of a satisfactory understanding of the great problem of evil, from the fact that tradition and misinterpretation have obscured the teaching of the Bible concerning the character of God, the nature of His government, and the principles of His dealing with sin.
It is impossible to so explain the origin of sin as to give a reason for its existence. Yet enough may be understood concerning both the origin and the final disposition of sin, to fully make manifest the justice and benevolence of God in all His dealings with evil. Nothing is more plainly taught in Scripture than that God was in nowise responsible for the entrance of sin; that there was no arbitrary withdrawal of divine grace, no deficiency in the divine government, that gave occasion for the uprising of rebellion. Sin is an intruder, for whose presence no reason can be given. It is mysterious, unaccountable; to excuse it, is to defend it. Could excuse for it be found, or cause be shown for its existence, it would cease to be sin. Our only definition of sin is that given in the Word of God; it is “the transgression of the law”; it is the outworking of a principle at war with the great law of love which is the foundation of the divine government.
Before the entrance of evil, there was peace and joy throughout the universe. All was in perfect harmony with the Creator’s will. Love for God was supreme, love for one another impartial. Christ the Word, the only begotten of God, was one with the eternal Father,—one in nature, in character, and in purpose,—the only being in all the universe that could enter into all the counsels and purposes of God. By Christ, the Father wrought in the creation of all heavenly beings. “By him were all things created, that are in Heaven.. whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers” (Colossians 1:16); and to Christ, equally with the Father, all Heaven gave allegiance.
The law of love being the foundation of the government of God, the happiness of all created beings depended upon their perfect accord with its great principles of righteousness. God desires from all His creatures the service of love,—homage that springs from an intelligent appreciation of His character. He takes no pleasure in a forced allegiance, and to all He grants freedom of will, that they may render Him voluntary service.
But there was one that chose to pervert this freedom. Sin originated with him, who, next to Christ, had been most honored of God, and who stood highest in power and glory among the inhabitants of Heaven. Before his fall, Lucifer was first of the covering cherubs, holy and undefiled. “Thus said the Lord God: Thou seals up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering.” “Thou art the anointed cherub that covers; and I have set thee so; thou was upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou was perfect in thy ways from the day that thou was created, till iniquity was found in thee.” Ezekiel 28:1215.
Lucifer might have remained in favor with God, beloved and honored by all the angelic host, exercising his noble powers to bless others and to glorify His Maker. But, says the prophet, “Your heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness.” Ezekiel 28:17. Little by little, Lucifer came to indulge a desire for self-exaltation. “Thou hast set your heart as the heart of God.” “Thou hast said . . I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation.” “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.” Ezekiel 28:6; Isaiah 14:13, 14. Instead of seeking to make God supreme in the affections and allegiance of His creatures, it was Lucifer’s endeavor to win their service and homage to himself. And, coveting the honor which the infinite Father had bestowed upon His Son, this prince of angels aspired to power which it was the prerogative of Christ alone to wield.
All Heaven had rejoiced to reflect the Creator’s glory and to show forth His praise. And while God was thus honored, all had been peace and gladness. But a note of discord now marred the celestial harmonies. The service and exaltation of self, contrary to the Creator’s plan, awakened forebodings of evil in minds to whom God’s glory was supreme. The heavenly councils pleaded with Lucifer. The Son of God presented before him the greatness, the goodness, and the justice of the Creator, and the sacred, unchanging nature of His law. God Himself had established the order of Heaven; and in departing from it, Lucifer would dishonor his Maker, and bring ruin upon himself. But the warning, given in infinite love and mercy, only aroused a spirit of resistance. Lucifer allowed jealousy of Christ to prevail, and he became the more determined.
Pride in his own glory nourished the desire for supremacy. The high honors conferred upon Lucifer were not appreciated as the gift of God, and called forth no gratitude to the Creator. He gloried in his brightness and exaltation, and aspired to be equal with God. He was beloved and reverenced by the heavenly host. Angels delighted to execute his commands, and he was clothed with wisdom and glory above them all. Yet the Son of God was the acknowledged sovereign of Heaven, one in power and authority with the Father. In all the counsels of God, Christ was a participant, while Lucifer was not permitted thus to enter into the divine purposes. “Why,” questioned this mighty angel, “should Christ have the supremacy? Why is He thus honored above Lucifer?”
Leaving his place in the immediate presence of God, Lucifer went forth to diffuse the spirit of discontent among the angels. Working with mysterious secrecy, and for a time concealing his real purpose under an appearance of reverence for God, he endeavored to excite dissatisfaction concerning the laws that governed heavenly beings, intimating that they imposed an unnecessary restraint. Since their natures were holy, he urged that the angels should obey the dictates of their own will. He sought to create sympathy for himself, by representing that God had dealt unjustly with him in bestowing supreme honor upon Christ. He claimed that in aspiring to greater power and honor he was not aiming at self-exaltation, but was seeking to secure liberty for all the inhabitants of Heaven, that by this means they might attain to a higher state of existence.
God, in His great mercy, bore long with Lucifer. He was not immediately degraded from his exalted station when he first indulged the spirit of discontent, nor even when he began to present his false claims before the loyal angels. Long was he retained in Heaven. Again and again he was offered pardon, on condition of repentance and submission. Such efforts as only infinite love and wisdom could devise, were made to convince him of his error. The spirit of discontent had never before been known in Heaven. Lucifer himself did not at first see whither he was drifting; he did not understand the real nature of his feelings. But as his dissatisfaction was proved to be without cause, Lucifer was convinced that he was in the wrong, that the divine claims were just, and that he ought to acknowledge them as such before all Heaven. Had he done this, he might have saved himself and many angels. He had not at this time fully cast off his allegiance to God. Though he had forsaken his position as covering cherub, yet if he had been willing to return to God, acknowledging the Creator’s wisdom, and satisfied to fill the place appointed him in God’s great plan, he would have been re-instated in his office. But pride forbade him to submit. He persistently defended his own course, maintained that he had no need of repentance, and fully committed himself, in the great controversy, against his Maker.
All the powers of his master mind were now bent to the work of deception, to secure the sympathy of the angels that had been under his command. Even the fact that Christ had warned and counseled him, was perverted to serve his traitorous designs. To those whose loving trust bound them most closely to him, Satan had represented that he was wrongly judged, that his position was not respected, and that his liberty was to be abridged. From misrepresentation of the words of Christ, he passed to prevarication and direct falsehood, accusing the Son of God of a design to humiliate him before the inhabitants of Heaven. He sought also to make a false issue between himself and the loyal angels. All whom he could not subvert and bring fully to his side, he accused of indifference to the interests of heavenly beings. The very work which he himself was doing, he charged upon those who remained true to God. And to sustain his charge of God’s injustice toward him, he resorted to misrepresentation of the words and acts of the Creator. It was his policy to perplex the angels with subtle arguments concerning the purposes of God. Everything that was simple he shrouded in mystery, and by artful perversion cast doubt upon the plainest statements of Jehovah. His high position, in such close connection with the divine administration, gave greater force to his representations, and many were induced to unite with him in rebellion against Heaven’s authority.
God in His wisdom permitted Satan to carry forward his work, until the spirit of disaffection ripened into active revolt. It was necessary for his plans to be fully developed, that their true nature and tendency might be seen by all. Lucifer, as the anointed cherub, had been highly exalted; he was greatly loved by the heavenly beings, and his influence over them was strong. God’s government included not only the inhabitants of Heaven, but of all the worlds that he had created; and Satan thought that if he could carry the angels of Heaven with him in rebellion, he could carry also the other worlds. He had artfully presented his side of the question, employing sophistry and fraud to secure his objects. His power to deceive was very great, and by disguising himself in a cloak of falsehood he had gained an advantage. Even the loyal angels could not fully discern his character, or see to what his work was leading.
Satan had been so highly honored, and all his acts were so clothed with mystery, that it was difficult to disclose to the angels the true nature of his work. Until fully developed, sin would not appear the evil thing it was. Heretofore it had no place in the universe of God, and holy beings had no conception of its nature and malignity. They could not discern the terrible consequences that would result from setting aside the divine law. Satan had, at first, concealed his work under a specious profession of loyalty to God. He claimed to be seeking to promote the honor of God, the stability of His government, and the good of all the inhabitants of Heaven. While instilling discontent into the minds of the angels under him, he had artfully made it appear that he was seeking to remove dissatisfaction. When he urged that changes be made in the order and laws of God’s government, it was under the pretense that these were necessary in order to preserve harmony in Heaven.
In his dealing with sin, God could employ only righteousness and truth. Satan could use what God could not—flattery and deceit. He had sought to falsify the word of God, and had misrepresented His plan of government before the angels, claiming that God was not just in laying laws and rules upon the inhabitants of Heaven; that in requiring submission and obedience from His creatures, He was seeking merely the exaltation of himself. Therefore it must be demonstrated before the inhabitants of Heaven as well as of all the worlds, that God’s government was just, His law perfect. Satan had made it appear that He Himself was seeking to promote the good of the universe. The true character of the usurper, and his real object, must be understood by all. He must have time to manifest himself by his wicked works.
The discord which his own course had caused in Heaven, Satan charged upon the law and government of God. All evil he declared to be the result of the divine administration. He claimed that it was his own object to improve upon the statutes of Jehovah. Therefore it was necessary that he should demonstrate the nature of His claims, and show the working out of his proposed changes in the divine law. His own work must condemn him. Satan had claimed from the first that he was not in rebellion. The whole universe must see the deceiver unmasked.
Even when it was decided that he could no longer remain in Heaven, infinite wisdom did not destroy Satan. Since the service of love can alone be acceptable to God, the allegiance of His creatures must rest upon a conviction of His justice and benevolence. The inhabitants of Heaven and of other worlds, being unprepared to comprehend the nature or consequences of sin, could not then have seen the justice and mercy of God in the destruction of Satan. Had he been immediately blotted from existence, they would have served God from fear, rather than from love. The influence of the deceiver would not have been fully destroyed, nor would the spirit of rebellion have been utterly eradicated. Evil must be permitted to come to maturity. For the good of the entire universe through ceaseless ages, Satan must more fully develop his principles, that his charges against the divine government might be seen in their true light by all created beings, that the justice and mercy of God and the immutability of His law might forever be placed beyond all question.
Satan’s rebellion was to be a lesson to the universe through all coming ages, a perpetual testimony to the nature and terrible results of sin. The working out of Satan’s rule, its effects upon both men and angels, would show what must be the fruit of setting aside the divine authority. It would testify that with the existence of God’s government and His law is bound up the well-being of all the creatures He has made. Thus the history of this terrible experiment of rebellion was to be a perpetual safeguard to all holy intelligences, to prevent them from being deceived as to the nature of transgression, to save them from committing sin, and suffering its punishment.
To the very close of the controversy in Heaven, the great usurper continued to justify himself. When it was announced that with all his sympathizers he must be expelled from the abodes of bliss, then the rebel leader boldly avowed his contempt for the Creator’s law. He reiterated his claim that angels needed no control, but should be left to follow their own will, which would ever guide them right. He denounced the divine statutes as a restriction of their liberty, and declared that it was his purpose to secure the abolition of law; that, freed from this restraint, the hosts of Heaven might enter upon a more exalted, more glorious state of existence.
With one accord, Satan and his host threw the blame of their rebellion wholly upon Christ, declaring that if they had not been reproved, they would never have rebelled. Thus stubborn and defiant in their disloyalty, seeking vainly to overthrow the government of God, yet blasphemously claiming to be themselves the innocent victims of oppressive power, the arch-rebel and all his sympathizers were at last banished from Heaven.
The same spirit that prompted rebellion in Heaven, still inspires rebellion on earth. Satan has continued with men the same policy which he pursued with the angels. His spirit now reigns in the children of disobedience. Like him they seek to break down the restraints of the law of God, and promise men liberty through transgression of its precepts. Reproof of sin still arouses the spirit of hatred and resistance. When God’s messages of warning are brought home to the conscience, Satan leads men to justify themselves, and to seek the sympathy of others in their course of sin. Instead of correcting their errors, they excite indignation against the reprover, as if he were the sole cause of difficulty. From the days of righteous Abel to our own time, such is the spirit which has been displayed toward those who dare to condemn sin.
By the same misrepresentation of the character of God as he had practiced in Heaven, causing him to be regarded as severe and tyrannical, Satan induced man to sin. And having succeeded thus far, he declared that God’s unjust restrictions had led to man’s fall, as they had led to his own rebellion.
But the Eternal One Himself proclaims His character: “The Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty.” Exodus 34:6, 7.
In the banishment of Satan from Heaven, God declared His justice, and maintained the honor of His throne. But when man had sinned through yielding to the deceptions of this apostate spirit, God gave an evidence of His love by yielding up His only begotten Son to die for the fallen race. In the atonement the character of God is revealed. The mighty argument of the cross demonstrates to the whole universe that the course of sin which Lucifer had chosen was in nowise chargeable upon the government of God.
In the contest between Christ and Satan, during the Savior’s earthly ministry, the character of the great deceiver was unmasked. Nothing could so effectually have uprooted Satan from the affections of the heavenly angels and the whole loyal universe as did his cruel warfare upon the world’s Redeemer. The daring blasphemy of his demand that Christ should pay him homage, his presumptuous boldness in bearing Him to the mountain summit and the pinnacle of the temple, the malicious intent betrayed in urging Him to cast Himself down from the dizzy height, the unsleeping malice that hunted Him from place to place, inspiring the hearts of priests and people to reject His love, and at the last to cry, “Crucify Him! crucify Him!”—All this excited the amazement and indignation of the universe.
It was Satan that prompted the world’s rejection of Christ. The prince of evil exerted all his power and cunning to destroy Jesus; for he saw that the Savior’s mercy and love, His compassion and pitying tenderness, were representing to the world the character of God. Satan contested every claim put forth by the Son of God, and employed men as His agents to fill the Saviour’s life with suffering and sorrow. The sophistry and falsehood by which he had sought to hinder the work of Jesus, the hatred manifested through the children of disobedience, his cruel accusations against Him whose life was one of unexampled goodness, all sprung from deep-seated revenge. The pent-up fires of envy and malice, hatred and revenge, burst forth on Calvary against the Son of God, while all Heaven gazed upon the scene in silent horror.
When the great sacrifice had been consummated, Christ ascended on high, refusing the adoration of angels until He had presented the request, “I will that they also, whom thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am.” John 17:24. Then with inexpressible love and power came forth the answer from the Father’s throne, “Let all the angels of God worship Him.” Hebrews 1:6. Not a stain rested upon Jesus. His humiliation ended, His sacrifice completed, there was given unto Him a name that is above every name.
Now the guilt of Satan stood forth without excuse. He had revealed his true character as a liar and a murderer. It was seen that the very same spirit with which he ruled the children of men, who were under his power, he would have manifested had he been permitted to control the inhabitants of Heaven. He had claimed that the transgression of God’s law would bring liberty and exaltation; but it was seen to result in bondage and degradation.
Satan’s lying charges against the divine character and government appeared in their true light. He had accused God of seeking merely the exaltation of Himself in requiring submission and obedience from His creatures, and had declared that while the Creator exacted self-denial from all others, He Himself practiced no self-denial, made no sacrifice. Now it was seen that for the salvation of a fallen and sinful race, the Ruler of the universe had made the greatest sacrifice which love could make; for “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself.” 2 Corinthians 5:19. It was seen, also, that while Lucifer had opened the door for the entrance of sin, by his desire for honor and supremacy, Christ had, in order to destroy sin, humbled Himself, and become obedient unto death.
God had manifested His abhorrence of the principles of rebellion. All Heaven saw His justice revealed, both in the condemnation of Satan and in the redemption of man. Lucifer had declared that if the law of God was changeless, and its penalty could not be remitted, every transgressor must be forever debarred from the Creator’s favor. He had claimed that the sinful race were placed beyond redemption, and were therefore his rightful prey. But the death of Christ was an argument in man’s behalf that could not be overthrown. The penalty of the law fell upon him who was equal with God, and man was free to accept the righteousness of Christ, and by a life of penitence and humiliation to triumph, as the Son of God had triumphed, over the power of Satan. Thus God is just, and yet the justifier of all who believe in Jesus.
But it was not merely to accomplish the redemption of man that Christ came to the earth to suffer and to die. He came to “magnify the law” and to “make it honorable.” Not alone that the inhabitants of this world might regard the law as it should be regarded; but it was to demonstrate to all the worlds of the universe that God’s law is unchangeable. Could its claims have been set aside, then the Son of God need not have yielded up His life to atone for its transgression. The death of Christ proves it immutable. And the sacrifice to which infinite love impelled the Father and the Son, that sinners might be redeemed, demonstrates to all the universe—what nothing less than this plan of atonement could have sufficed to do—that justice and mercy are the foundation of the law and government of God.
In the final execution of the Judgment it will be seen that no cause for sin exists. When the Judge of all the earth shall demand of Satan, “Why hast thou rebelled against Me, and robbed Me of the subjects of My kingdom?” the originator of evil can render no excuse. Every mouth will be stopped, and all the hosts of rebellion will be speechless.
The cross of Calvary, while it declares the law immutable, proclaims to the universe that the wages of sin is death. In the Savior’s expiring cry, “It is finished,” the death-knell of Satan was rung. The great controversy which had been so long in progress was then decided, and the final eradication of evil was made certain. The Son of God passed through the portals of the tomb, that “through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.” Hebrews 2:14. Lucifer’s desire for self-exaltation had
led him to say, “I will exalt my throne above the stars of God . . I will be like the most High.” God
declares, “I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth. . and never shall thou be any more.” Isaiah 14:13, 14; Ezekiel 28:18, 19. When “the day cometh that shall burn as an oven,” “all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, said the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.” Malachi 4:1.
The whole universe will have become witnesses to the nature and results of sin. And its utter extermination, which in the beginning would have brought fear to angels and dishonor to God, will now vindicate His love and establish His honor before a universe of beings who delight to do His will, and in whose heart is His law. Never will evil again be manifest. Says the Word of God, “Affliction shall not rise up the second time.” Nahum 1:9. The law of God, which Satan has reproached as the yoke of bondage, will be honored as the law of liberty. A tested and proved creation will never again be turned from allegiance to Him whose character has been fully manifested before them as fathomless love and infinite wisdom.
A NUCLEAR ATTACK ON WASHINGTON DC
In March 1982, Pentagon and Strategic Air Command officials staged an elaborate war simulation. Called the Doomsday Exercise, it began with rising tensions centering on a typical European confrontation. The simulated superpower showdown during the five-day exercise gradually escalated into a 5,000-megaton missile attack on the American mainland and the death of the President (on the fourth day), plus an all-out retaliatory strike on Russia (on the fifth day) by the surviving U.S. forces (Newsweek, April 5, 1982). The elaborate simulation answered dozens of questions in the minds of our military leaders, but did not explain how to keep it from actually happening.
In contrast to the 20-kiloton bomb (equal to 20,000 tons of TNT) that leveled Hiroshima and killed 70,000 persons, the typical nuclear missile warhead today is more than 100 times the strength of the 1945 weapons; that is, each is equivalent to 1 to 2 million tons of TNT.
There are over 48,000 nuclear bombs scattered here and there throughout the world. Together, they possess 13,000 megatons of explosive power, equal to 13 billion tons of TNT—enough to vaporize nearly a million Hiroshimas.
What would happen if just one 1-megaton nuclear explosion detonated over the White House? (This would be the explosive power of a single SSN-6 missile fired from a Russian submarine.) Detonated at about 2,000 feet above the ground, the huge fireball would reduce everything—concrete, steel, brick, etc., within 3 miles (28 square miles) of the White house to rubble.
Beyond that, winds of 400 miles per hour—stronger than any hurricane—would blast outward, crushing brick and wood buildings, stripping bark and branches from trees, igniting clothing, hurling people and automobiles through the air. Then as the mushroom cloud rose into the sky, it would suck the ground air back again, adding to the damage. Nearly everything within a 5-mile radius of ground zero (78 square miles) would be severely damaged, if not destroyed. People still alive would have third-degree burns, their clothes in flames, their faces and hands charred.
Beyond that, out to eight miles from the point of impact (an additional 94 square miles) brick and wood houses would sustain moderate damage. Cars would be blown off the Capital Beltway. Burns and eye damage would occur to many exposed survivors. The heat would start fires beyond the eight-mile radius, and people as far as 40 miles away would be cut by glass from shattered windows (R.H. Blodgett, How Will It End? 1984).
“The 1-megaton weapon would produce an intense white light, followed by a moment of darkness—caused when the explosion became so intense that it was opaque to light—and then an even brighter flash. The second flash would be accompanied by a surge of heat far hotter than the breath of a blast furnace, moving outward in all directions with the speed of light. Anyone exposed to the full power of that heat in downtown Washington would be incinerated.”—U.S. News and World Report, November 28, 1983.
“Human life is threatened as never before in the history of this planet. . I am one of those scientists who finds it hard to see how the human race is to bring itself much past the year 2000.”—George Wald, Harvard Nobel Prize-winning scientist, in Countdown to Armageddon, p. 17.