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VI.
The Sure Word of
Prophecy
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Chapter 61
:
Making an Image to the Beast
THE PROPHECY
OF REVELATION 13
1. WHEN was the papal head of the first beast
of Revelation 13 wounded?
In 1793-98, by the French Revolution and the
temporary overthrow of the Papacy in the latter
year.
2. What did the prophet see coming up at this
time?
"And I beheld another beast coming up out of
the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb,
and he spake as a dragon." Rev. 3:11.
NOTES.-Mr. Wesley, in his notes or Revelation 13,
written in 1754, says of the two-horned beast: "He
is not yet come, though he cannot be far off; for he
is to appear at the end of the forty-two months of
the first beast."
The previous beast came up out of the "sea," which
indicates its rise among the peoples and nations of
the world then in existence (Rev. 17:15); while this
one comes up out of the "earth." This would indicate
that the later beast would arise where there had not
before been "peoples, and multitudes, and nations,
and tongues." In 1798, when the papal power received
its deadly wound, the government of the United
States, located in the western continent, was the
only great and independent nation then coming into
prominence in territory not previously occupied by
people, multitudes, and nations. Only nine years
receding this (1789), the United States adopted its
national Constitution.
It is within the territory of the United States,
therefore, that we may look, according to the
prophecy, for an ecclesiastical movement to arise,
and exercise a dominating control, not only in the
civil government of this country, but also in the
other nations of the whole world as well.
3.
What is the character of this new power?
"He had two horns like a lamb." Rev. 13:11.
NOTE.-The Pilgrim Fathers were the vanguard of a
great multitude of Protestants, who, when persecuted
and outlawed in the lands of their birth, sought
refuge in the New World, where they developed
rapidly under the protection of a government founded
on the great Christian principles of civil and
religious freedom. The two horns may well symbolize
these two fundamental principles.
4.
Not withstanding the lamblike appearance of this power,
what is it ultimately to do?
"And he spake as a dragon." Rev. 13:11.
NOTE.-The voice of the dragon is the voice of
intolerance and persecution. This indicates that the
ecclesiastical development dealt with in this
prophecy, obtaining a foothold for its initial power
and influence in the government of the United
States, will repudiate the mild and lamblike
principles of civil and religious liberty, and
become like the beast before it, a world-wide
persecuting power. This is why in Rev. 19:20 it is
called "the false prophet." Born of the Reformation,
it will repudiate Reformation principles.
5.
How much power will this beast exercise?
"And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast
before him, and causeth the earth and them which
dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly
wound was healed." Verse 12.
NOTE.-The "first beast before him" (papal Rome)
exercised the power of persecution and putting to
death all who differed from it in religious matters.
The only way the earth can be made to worship
is by causing work to cease on it through voluntary
or enforced rest, or sabbath keeping. "For as long
as she [the land] lay desolate she kept sabbath."
2 Chron. 36:21. Enforced Sunday observance is
evidently implied here.
6.
What means will be employed to lead the people back into
this false worship?
"And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the
means of those miracles which he had power to do in
the sight of the beast." Verse 14, first part.
7.
What will this power propose that the people shall do?
"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." Verse 14, latter part.
NOTE.- The beast "which had the wound by a sword,
and did live," is the Papacy. That was a church
dominating the civil power. In other words, it was a
union of church and state, and enforced its
religious dogmas by the civil power, under pain of
confiscation of goods, imprisonment, and death. An
image to this beast would be another ecclesiastical
organization clothed with civil power - another
union of church and state - to enforce religious
dogmas by law.
8.
Is there any evidence that such an image will be made?
Large and influential organizations, such as the
National Reform Association, the International Reform
Bureau, the Lord’s Day Alliance of the United States,
and the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in
America, have been formed, by professed Protestants, and
for years have been persistently working to that end.
Many Roman Catholic societies recently formed in the
United States, such as the Knights of Columbus and the
American Federation of Catholic Societies, are looking
to a like end - that of making America Catholic.
9.
What according to its constitution, is the avowed object
of the National Reform Association?
"To secure such an amendment to the Constitution of the
United States as shall . . . indicate that this is a
Christian nation, and place all the Christian laws,
institutions, and usages of the government on a
undeniably legal basis in the fundamental law of the
land." - Article II of the Constitution.
NOTES.-Upon the question of making this a "Christian
nation," Bishop Earl Cranston, D. D., of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, in an address delivered
in Foundry Methodist Episcopal Church, Washington,
D.C., March 13, 1910, made the following
observation:-
"Suppose this were to be declared a Christian nation
by a Constitutional interpretation to that effect.
What would that mean? Which of the two contending
definitions of Christianity would the word Christian
indicate? - The Protestant idea, of course, for
under our system majorities rule, and the majority
of Americans are Protestants. Very well. But suppose
that by the addition of certain contiguous territory
with twelve or more millions of Roman Catholics, the
annexation of a few more islands with half as many
more, and the same rate of immigration as now, the
majority some years hence should be Roman Catholics,
- who doubts for a moment that the reigning Pope
would assume control of legislation and government?
He would say, with all confidence and consistency,
'This is a Christian nation. It was so claimed from
the beginning and so declared many years ago. A
majority defined then what Christianity was, the
majority will define now what Christianity now is
and is to be.' That 'majority' would be the Pope." -
"The Church and the Government," page 7.
The National Reformers in their attempts to justify
the legal establishment of Christianity as the
national religion, have erroneously declared that
the statement of Justice Brewer of the Supreme Court
of the United States in 1892, "This is a Christian
nation," is a decision of the court, whereas it was
only a statement in the argument leading up to the
decision of the court.
In a sermon at the centenary of the establishment of
the Roman Catholic hierarchy in the United States,
in 1889, Archbishop Ireland said: "Our work is to
make America Catholic. . . . Our cry shall be, 'God
wills it,' and our hearts shall leap with crusader
enthusiasm."
The theory of the National Reformers is thus
expressed: "Every government by equitable laws, is a
government of God; a republic thus governed is of
Him, and is as truly and really a theocracy
as the commonwealth of Israel." - "Cincinnati
National Reform Convention," page 28.
10. How does this association regard the Catholic Church
on this point?
"We cordially, gladly, recognize the fact that in South
American republics, in France and other European
countries the Roman Catholics are the recognized
advocates of national Christianity, and stand opposed to
all the proposals of secularism. . . . Whenever they
are willing to cooperate in resisting the progress of
political atheism, we will gladly join hands with them
in a world’s conference for the promotion of
national Christianity, which ought to be held at no
distant day. Many countries could be represented only by
Roman Catholics." -
Christian Statesman,
Dec. 11, 1884, official organ of the a National Reform
Association.
11. What has the Pope commanded all Catholics to do?
"First and foremost, it is the duty of all Catholics
worthy of the name and wishful to be known as the most
loving children of the church . . . to endeavor to bring
back all civil society to the pattern and form of
Christianity which we have described." -
Encyclical of Pope
Leo XIII, "Immortale Dei," Nov. 1, 1885, "The Great
Encyclical Letters of Leo XIII," page 132.
NOTE.-The prophecy says that this power will make an
image to the Papacy. In the days of
Constantine and his successors, the church made use
of the civil power to carry out her aims: through
this means the Papacy was developed. In our own day
the same theory is advocated, and prominent men in
the nation, in both church and sate, are doing all
they can to bring about the same result, which, when
their work is completed, cannot fail to fulfil the
specifications of the prophecy. The climax will be
an image of the Papacy.
12. What is the object of the International Reform
Bureau?
"The Reform Bureau is the first 'Christian lobby'
established at our national capital to speak to
government in behalf of al denominations." - "History
of the International Reform Bureau," by its founder and
superintendent Rev. W. F. Crafts, page 2.
NOTE.-The securing of compulsory Sunday legislation
is one of the chief objects of this and other like
organizations.
13. What are the objects of the Lord’s Day Alliance of
the United States?
"(1) To preserve the Lord’s day [Sunday] for America;
(2) to secure an active Alliance in every State not yet
organized;
(3) to induce the
general government as far as possible to set the example
of Sabbath observance;
(4) to press
the rest-day feature of the fourth commandment, until
every toiler in the land has guaranteed unto him
fifty-two full rest days a year."-
From leaflet
published by the Alliance.
NOTE.- By all of which is meant the securing, as far
as possible, of compulsory State and national Sunday
legislation,-the very means by which the church
gained control of the state and by which church and
state were united in the fourth and fifth centuries
of the Christian era.
14. What is the purpose of the Federal Council of the
Churches of Christ in America?
"That the great Christian bodies of our country should
stand together" in dealing with "questions like those of
marriage and divorce, Sabbath desecration, social
evils," etc.-"Report of Federal Council" (1908),
pages 5, 6.
15. How does it propose that the matter of "Sabbath
desecration" shall be dealt with?
"That all encroachments upon the claims and the
sanctities of the Lord’s day should be stoutly
resisted through the press, the Lord’s day
associations and alliances, and by such legislation
as may be secured to protect and preserve this bulwark
of our American Christianity." - Id., page 103.
NOTE.-Thus it will be seen that the securing of laws
for the enforcement of Sunday observance is a
prominent feature in all these organizations in
their efforts to "Christianize" the nation. In doing
this many fail to see that they are repudiating the
principles of Christianity, of Protestantism, and of
the United States government, and playing directly
into the hand of that power which originated the
Sunday sabbath, and gained control of the civil
power through Sunday legislation - the Papacy.
16. What action of the American Federation of Catholic
Societies indicates that Catholics will gladly "join
hand" with Protestants in enforcing Sunday observance by
law?
"Our Societies in the various parts of the United States
have been urging the abolition of Sunday labor, and have
indorsed and assisted the movement of closing the
post-office on Sunday."
-
Tenth Annual
Convention of American Federation of Catholic Societies,
Columbus, Ohio, Aug. 20-24, 1911.
NOTES.-With the active cooperation of the Lord’s Day
Alliance of the United States, a Protestant
organization, a proviso was attached to the
post-office appropriation bill, 1912, requiring that
"hereafter post-offices of the first and second
classes shall not be opened on Sundays for the
purpose of delivering mail to the general public."
The following resolution was adopted by the Boston
Archdiocesan Federation of Catholic Societies:-
"We are unalterable opposed to any relaxation of the
Sunday laws. Sunday is a day of rest to be devoted
to the praise and service of God. We hold the safest
public policy at present is to adhere to the rigid
observance of the laws now safeguarding the sanctity
of the Lord’s day."-Boston
Pilot, official organ of Cardinal O’Connell, March
16, 1912.
17. What complaint is made against Sunday trains and
Sunday newspapers?
"They get a great many passengers, and so break up a
great many congregations." "The laboring classes are apt
to rise late on Sunday morning, read the Sunday papers,
and allow the hour of worship to go by unheeded." -Elgin
(Ill.) Sunday-law Convention, November, 1887.
NOTES.-In the fourth century, Sunday games and
Sunday theaters, it was complained, "hindered" the
"devotion" of the "faithful," because many of the
members attended them in preference to the church
services. The church, therefore, demanded that the
state should interfere, and enforce Sunday
observance by law. "In this way," says Neander, "the
church received help from the state for the
furtherance of her ends." In this way church and
state were united, and the Papacy was placed in
power. The same course pursued now will produce the
same results.
It is proper and right for the church to teach
Sabbath observance, and decry Sabbath desecration;
but it should not attempt to secure Sabbath
observance through compulsory legislation; nor
should it seek to fasten upon the people by any
means the observance of a day which God has never
enjoined and for which, as is admitted on all hands,
there is no Scriptural command. See admissions in
Chapters 97. thru 101. of this book.
18. What does the prophet say the two-horned-beast power
will attempt to enforce upon all the people?
"And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and
poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their
right hand, or in their foreheads." Rev. 13:16.
NOTES.-This mark is the mark of the beast, or the
false Sabbath. See Rev. 14:9,10. God’s seal, or
mark, is set in the forehead (Rev. 7:3; 14:1), the
seat of the mind, the Lord accepting only the
worship of conviction of conscience. The mark of the
beast however, is said to be received in the hand or
forehead. Some are deceived and give assent to the
false teaching with their minds, receiving the mark
in the forehead; others, coerced or indifferent,
give formal, outward consent, and so receive the
mark in the hand.
Let the reader note this twofold aspect of the
Sunday sabbath, as expressed by one of the most
ardent and active Sunday-law advocates in the United
States: "We, the Sabbath Union, W.C.T.U., all the
churches, and the Y.M.C.A., are laboring with all
our might to carry the religious sabbath with
our right arm, and the civil sabbath with our
left. Hundreds of thousands will receive it as a
religious institution, and all the rest will receive
it as a civil institution, and thus we will sweep in
the whole nation."-Rev.
W. F. Crafts, in Sunday Union Convention, Wichita,
Kans., Sept. 20, 1889.
19. What means will be employed to compel all to receive
this mark?
"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." Verse 17.
NOTE.-That is, all who refuse to receive this mark
will be boycotted, or denied the rights and
privileges of business and trade, or the ordinary
means of gaining a livelihood. Already this spirit
has begun to manifest itself in the movement to
enforce Sunday observance. In a sermon preached in
Burlington, Kans., Sunday, Jan. 31, 1904, Rev.
Bascom Robins said:-
"In the Christian Decalogue the first day was made
the Sabbath by divine appointment. But there is a
class of people who will not keep the Christian
sabbath unless they are forced to do so. But that
can be easily done. We have twenty million of men,
besides women and children, in this country, who
want this country to keep the Christian sabbath. If
we would say we will not sell anything to them, we
will not buy anything from them, we will not work
for them or hire them to work for us, the thing
could be wiped out, and all the world would keep the
Christian sabbath."
20. By what authority was Sunday sabbath-keeping
instituted?
By the authority of the Catholic Church. See Chapter 97.
of this book.
21. Why were the ancient Sunday laws demanded?
"That the day might be devoted with less interruption to
the purposes of devotion." "That the devotion of the
faithful might be free from all disturbance." -
Neander’s "Church
History," Vol. II, pages 297, 301.
NOTE.-In short, it was to secure the enforced
observance of the day, and through this means church
attendance, and control over the people in religious
things.
22. Why are they demanded now?
"Give us good Sunday laws, well enforced by men in local
authority, and our churches will be full of worshipers,
and our young men and women will be attracted to the
divine service. A mighty combination of the churches of
the United States could win from Congress, the State
legislatures, and municipal councils, all legislation
essential to this splendid consummation." -Rev.
S. V. Leech, D. D., in Homiletic Review, November, 1892.
23. Who is responsible for the present State Sunday laws
of the United States?
"During nearly all our American history the churches
have influence the States to make and improve Sabbath
laws."- Rev. W. F. Crafts, in Christian Statesman,
July 3, 1890.
NOTES.-"These Sunday laws are a survival of the
complete union of church and state which existed at
the founding of the colony." -Boston Post, April
14, 1907.
"Such laws [as the Maryland Sunday law 1723]
were the outgrowth of the system of religious
intolerance that prevailed in many of the colonies."
-Decision of Court of Appeals of the District of
Columbia, Jan. 21, 1908.
The first Sunday law in America, that of
Virginia, in 1610, required church attendance, and
prescribed the death penalty for the third offense.
See "American State Papers," edition 1911, page 33.
24. Why is a national Sunday law
demanded?
"The national Sunday law is needed to make
the State laws complete and effective." -
Christian Statesman,
April 11, 1889.
25. Since the Sunday sabbath originated with the Roman
power (the beast), to whom will men yield homage when,
knowing the facts, they choose to observe Sunday,
instead of the Bible Sabbath, in deference to compulsory
Sunday laws?
"Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves
servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey."
Rom. 6:16.
NOTES.-"The observance of Sunday by the Protestants
is an homage they pay, in spite of themselves, to
the authority of the [Catholic] church."- Plain
Talk About the Protestantism of Today," page 213.
The conscientious observance of Sunday as the
Sabbath on the part of those who hitherto have
supposed it to be the Sabbath, has, without doubt,
been accepted of God as Sabbath-keeping. It is only
when light comes that sin in imputed. John 9:41;
15:22; Acts 17:30. See reading in Chapter 174. of
this book.
26. What does Christ say about our duty to the state?
"Render therefore unto Caesar the things which
are Caesar's; and unto God the things that
are God's." Matt. 22:21.
NOTE.-The Sabbath belongs to God. Its observance,
therefore should be rendered only to Him.
27. What special miracle is finally to be performed to
deceive men, and fasten them in deception?
"And he doeth great wonders, so that
he maketh fire come
down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men."
Rev.
13:13.
NOTE.-In the time of Elijah, in the controversy over
Baal-worship, this was the test as to who was the
true God,-the God that answered by fire. 1
Kings 18:24. Now, as a counterfeit test, fire will
be made to come down from heaven to confirm men in
an idolatrous and false worship.
28. To what length will this effort to enforce the
worship of the image of the beast be carried?
"And he had power to give life unto the image of the
beast, 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." Verse 15.
29. What deliverance will God finally bring to His
people in this controversy?
"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." Rev. 15:2.
30. What song will they sing?
"And they sing the song of Moses the servant of
God, and the song of the Lamb." Verse 3.
31. What was the song of Moses?
A song of deliverance from oppression. See Exodus 15.
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