Seventh day-Adventist Church of Adairsville

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Seventh day-Adventist Church of Adairsville episodes

February 05, 2019 Healthy Self - Jesus on the Menu // Rico Hill
Did God embed something into our very food supply to teach us about how to live unselfishly? Rico Hill shares about why Jesus and His character is embedded in all food that gives life.
1 hr 1 min
February 05, 2019 Healthy Self - The Secrets of Health Before the Flood // Dr. Jose Gomez and Dr. Camille Lokko
This presentation takes a deep dive into why conditions before the flood may hold the secret to health and longevity today. Presented in both English and Español.
57 min
February 05, 2019 Healthy Self - The Gospel Became Flesh // Rico Hill
How does the gospel make sense in a world where so many are running from it? Rico Hill shows why Adam and Jesus were in love with their bride and could not live without her.
1 hr 5 min
January 27, 2019 The 2-Minute Warning - 9
Escape to Paradise - 9
January 26, 2019
adairsvillesda.org
The present is a time of overwhelming interest to all living. Rulers and statesmen, men who occupy positions of trust and authority, thinking men and women of all classes, have their attention fixed upon the events taking place about us. They are watching the strained, restless relations that exist among the nations. They observe the intensity that is taking possession of every earthly element, and they recognize that something great and decisive is about to take place—that the world is on the verge of a stupendous crisis. - Education p. 179.
All eyes are on America…
With the revelations of Edward Snowden, and Julian Assange -along with the willing surrender of our private lives to social media companies - Could it be that America could remove the freedoms of its own citizens?
The Constitution of the United States guarantees liberty of conscience. Nothing is dearer or more fundamental.
Pope Pius IX, in his Encyclical Letter of August 15, 1854, said: The absurd and erroneous doctrines or ravings in defense of liberty of conscience are a most pestilential error—a pest, of all others, most to be dreaded in a state.’ The same pope, in his Encyclical Letter of December 8, 1864, anathematized - (called anyone a heretic who believed that) those who assert the liberty of conscience and of religious worship,’ and also ‘all such as maintain that the church may not employ force.’ GC 564.5
“The pacific tone of Rome in the United States does not imply a change of heart. She is tolerant where she is helpless. Says Bishop O'Connor: ‘Religious liberty is merely endured until the opposite can be carried into effect without peril to the Catholic world.’
All eyes are on America…
In light of these long foretold events, the Bible describes a change that is coming - Daniel 12:1
And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
Protestant America, it’s courts, its legal system, the church, capitalism, its social fabric, the economy, the family unit, morality, - all are compromised.
What conditions could lead this very country and then the whole world to turn on its principles?
All eyes are on America
The United States currently has nearly 1000 military bases and/or military installations in 80 countries around the world. The rest of the countries of the world who have foreign military bases are 11 and the combined of all of those is 70. Any talk of China or Russia as a threat to the United States is laughable. This nation is the sole superpower on planet earth and the Bible says it will be that way until the very end. Either through the military industrial complex or the dollar industrial complex - America is calling the shots.
All eyes are on America
Trend Forecaster and American, Ellen White wrote “By the decree of enforcing the institution of the Papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. … our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and Republican government, … then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan, and that the end is near.”—Testimonies for the Church 5:451. ChS 160.4
With rapid steps we are approaching this period. When Protestant churches shall unite with the secular power to sustain a false religion, for opposing which their ancestors endured the fiercest persecution, then will the papal sabbath be enforced by the combined authority of church and state. There will be a national apostasy, which will end only in national ruin.—Manuscript 51, 1899. Ev 235
How could this happen?
As we sit here today, there is a fact, the majority of the people of God, the majority of this planet have not yet even heard this story…but something will soon occur where a change will take place.
Remember the conditions we talked about last week when Jesus told his disciples what life would be like just before He would return a second time.
Famine, Disease, Natural Disasters… Matthew 24
What about the promise that the gospel would go to the whole world?
Isaiah 26:9 -…When your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness.
From the book commenting on this moment - The Great Controversy - “Satan works through the elements also to garner his harvest of unprepared souls. He has studied the secrets of the laboratories of nature, and he uses all his power to control the elements as far as God allows. When he was suffered or allowed to afflict Job, how quickly flocks and herds, servants, houses, children, were swept away, one trouble succeeding another as in a moment. GC 589
While appearing to the children of men as a great physician who can heal all their maladies, he - [Lucifer the fallen angel] - will bring disease and disaster, until populous cities are reduced to ruin and desolation. Even now he is at work. In accidents and calamities by sea and by land, in great conflagrations (wildfires), in fierce tornadoes and terrific hailstorms, in tempests, floods, cyclones/hurricanes, tidal waves, and earthquakes, in every place and in a thousand forms, Satan is exercising his power. He sweeps away the ripening harvest, and famine and distress follow. … These visitations are to become more and more frequent and disastrous. GC 589
Isaiah 14:12,16,17 tells us what will take place -
How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;
17 That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?
Then the great deceiver will persuade men that those who serve God are causing these evils. The class that have provoked the displeasure of Heaven will charge all their troubles upon those whose obedience to God's commandments is a perpetual reproof to transgressors. It will be declared that men are offending God by the violation of the Sunday sabbath; that this sin has brought calamities which will not cease until Sunday observance shall be strictly enforced; and that those who present the claims of the fourth commandment, thus destroying reverence for Sunday, are troublers of the people, preventing their restoration to divine favor and temporal prosperity. GC 590
God is upset, the economy is in shambles…
How would you like to be blamed for what appears to be a rampant outbreak of natural disasters or the elements or what some may call climate related events…?
Communications from the spirits - [the fallen angels] - will declare that God has sent them to convince the rejecters of Sunday [Sabbath keepers] of their error, affirming that the laws of the land should be obeyed as the law of God. They will passionately express sorrow for the great wickedness in the world and second the testimony of religious teachers that the degraded state of morals …is caused by the desecration of Sunday. Great will be the indignation excited against all who refuse to accept their testimony. GC 590.2
John Mark Hall “while you were sleeping”
United States of America
Looks like another silent night
As we're sung to sleep by philosophies
That save the trees and kill the children
America, what will we miss while we are sleeping
America will we go down in history
As a nation with no room for its King
Will we be sleeping?
Satan's policy in this final conflict with God's people is the same that he employed in the opening of the great controversy in heaven. He professed to be seeking to promote the stability of the divine government, while secretly bending every effort to secure its overthrow.
God never forces the will or the conscience; but Satan's constant resort—to gain control of those whom he cannot otherwise seduce—is compulsion by cruelty. Through fear or force he endeavors to rule the conscience and to secure homage to himself. To accomplish this, he works through both religious and secular authorities, moving them to the enforcement of human laws in defiance of the law of God. GC 591.2
Those who honor the Bible Sabbath will be denounced as enemies of law and order, as breaking down the moral restraints of society, causing anarchy and corruption, and calling down the judgments of God upon the earth. Their actions driven from conviction (conscientious scruples) will be pronounced obstinacy, stubbornness, and contempt of authority. They will be accused of disaffection toward the government. -GC 592
Revelation 18:5 - “Her sins have reached unto heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.” - Come out of her my people -
God still has a people in Babylon; and before the visitation of His judgments these faithful ones must be called out, that they partake not of her sins and “receive not of her plagues.”
For over 100 years, those who presented the truths of the third angel's message of scripture have often been regarded as mere alarmists. Any predictions that religious intolerance would gain control in the United States, that church and state would unite to persecute those who keep the commandments of God, have been pronounced groundless and absurd. It has been confidently declared that this land could never become other than what it has been—the defender of religious freedom.
But All eyes are on America…
When Sunday observance or rest begins to be discussed….in response to economic concerns or climate related events the message will produce an effect which it could not have had before. GC 605
It is time for thee, LORD, to work: for they have made void thy law. Psalm 119:126
And So We Wait
This 3rd angel has a warning message for all the world. But on a more personal and practical level, Adventist Evangelist Ellen White was asked what this was all about. She responded by saying that it was about Justification by Faith - the laying of the glory of man in the dust and God doing for man what it is NOT in man’s power to do for himself or herself - aka The Everlasting Gospel.
This message will cause a great ‘shaking’ among the people of God. A shaking of beliefs and will only be followed by a sifting - or persecution.
As long as God is on the throne - the restraining influence of the Holy Spirit is always felt by rulers and society. Many of the great men of the earth are going to accept this message and stand for conviction.
The day will come when the whole world will be united… against a small minority who are standing for conviction. Which side of this do you want to be on?
Through spiritualism, [the belief that death is just a doorway to the next life and that we can communicate with the dead] Satan appears as a benefactor of the race, healing the diseases of the people, and professing to present a new and more exalted system of religious faith; but at the same time he works as a destroyer. GC 589
The Bible says the apostles will appear to return to contradict what they wrote - as fallen angels. Heathen gods will appear in the cities of the world. Fallen angels in the form of loved ones who have passed on to the grave will appear to convince this small group of their error…
As the crowning act in the great drama of deception, Satan himself will personate Christ. The church has long professed to look to the Saviour's advent as the consummation of her hopes. Now the great deceiver will make it appear that Christ has come. In different parts of the earth, Satan will manifest himself among men as a majestic being of dazzling brightness, resembling the description of the Son of God given by John in the Revelation. Revelation 1:13-15.
The glory that surrounds him is unsurpassed by anything that human eyes have ever seen. The shout of triumph rings out upon the air: “Christ has come! Christ has come!” The people prostrate themselves in adoration before him, while he lifts up his hands and pronounces a blessing upon them, as Christ blessed His disciples when He was upon the earth. His voice is soft and subdued, yet full of melody. In gentle, compassionate tones he presents some of the same gracious, heavenly truths which the Saviour uttered; he heals the diseases of the people, and then, in his assumed character of Christ, he claims to have changed the Sabbath to Sunday, and commands all to hallow the day which he has blessed. He declares that those who persist in keeping holy the seventh day are blaspheming his name by refusing to listen to his angels sent to them with light and truth. This is the strong, almost overmastering delusion. GC 624
The time is not far distant, when, like the early disciples, we shall be forced to seek a refuge in desolate and solitary places. As the siege of Jerusalem by the Roman armies was the signal for flight to the Judean Christians, so the assumption of power on the part of our nation, in the decree enforcing the papal sabbath, will be a warning to us. It will then be time to leave the large cities, preparatory to leaving the smaller ones for retired homes in secluded places among the mountains.—Testimonies for the Church 5:464, 465. ChS 16
“There shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.... Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, He is in the desert; go not forth; behold, He is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” Matthew 24:24-27, 31; 25:31; Revelation 1:7; 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17. This coming there is no possibility of counterfeiting. It will be universally known—witnessed by the whole world. GC 625
Heavenly Angels will guard the faithful from the enemies of man and fallen angels.
The people of God—some in prison cells, some hidden in solitary retreats in the forests and the mountains—will plead for divine protection, while in every quarter companies of armed men, urged on by hosts of evil angels, are preparing for the work of death. It is now, in the hour of utmost extremity, that the God of Israel will interpose for the deliverance of His chosen [people]. GC 635
There will be a mighty earthquake, graves will be opened, and the promise, the hope that everyone who has lost someone is waiting for will take place. We will be reunited with loved ones as we escape this planet.
The devil and his angels are confined on the destroyed earth for 1000 years. (Revelation 20)
The Bible says We will spend 1000 years in paradise. We judge men and angels. We ask why some aren’t there. We ask why some are. The goal is to be the one asking the questions.
In the heavenly courts there will be no song sung, To me that loved myself, and washed myself, redeemed myself, unto me be glory and honor, blessing and praise. But this is the keynote of the song that is sung by many here in this world. They do not know what it means to be meek and lowly in heart; and they do not mean to know this, if they can avoid it.
{TM 456.2}
Some will ask “what are these wounds in your hands? I got these in the house of my friends…Zechariah 13:6
We will return to this planet - earth. This will be the home of the righteous, the metropolis of the universe. The center of the action. Heaven will relocate to this planet.
He will marshal all the armies of the lost under his banner and through them endeavor to execute his plans. .… In rejecting Christ they have accepted the rule of the rebel leader. They are ready to receive his suggestions and to do his bidding. Yet, true to his early cunning, he does not acknowledge himself to be Satan. He claims to be the prince who is the rightful owner of the world and whose inheritance has been unlawfully wrested from him. He represents himself to his deluded subjects as a redeemer, assuring them that his power has brought them forth from their graves and that he is about to rescue them from the most cruel tyranny. The presence of Christ having been removed, Satan works wonders to support his claims. He makes the weak strong and inspires all with his own spirit and energy. He proposes to lead them against the camp of the saints and to take possession of the City of God. …… he points to the unnumbered millions who have been raised from the dead and declares that as their leader he is well able to overthrow the city and regain his throne and his kingdom. GC 663
In that vast throng are multitudes of the long-lived race that existed before the Flood; men of lofty stature and giant intellect, who, yielding to the control of fallen angels, devoted all their skill and knowledge to the exaltation of themselves; men whose wonderful works of art led the world to idolize their genius, but whose cruelty and evil inventions, defiling the earth and defacing the image of God, caused Him to blot them from the face of His creation. There are kings and generals who conquered nations, valiant men who never lost a battle, proud, ambitious warriors whose approach made kingdoms tremble. In death these experienced no change. As they come up from the grave, they resume the current of their thoughts just where it ceased. They are actuated by the same desire to conquer that ruled them when they fell. GC 664.1
Satan consults with his angels, and then with these kings and conquerors and mighty men. They look upon the strength and numbers on their side, and declare that the army within the city is small in comparison with theirs, and that it can be overcome. They lay their plans to take possession of the riches and glory of the New Jerusalem. All immediately begin to prepare for battle. Skillful artisans construct implements of war. Military leaders, famed for their success, marshal the throngs of warlike men into companies and divisions. GC 664
But God in his mercy ends this before it’s too late. He reveals the whole story of good and evil like a panorama story in the sky. All will see their part they acted in the drama of the ages. They know where they turned their back on love and accepted Selfishness as their ruling principle.
As Jesus stands up - Nearest the throne are those who were once zealous in the cause of Satan, but who, plucked as brands from the burning, have followed their Saviour with deep, intense devotion.
The coronation of the king of Kings takes place. All bow and acknowledge that He was right all along. Jesus was never selfish.
Even Lucifer kneels as he remembers his position next to Jesus. He remembers that he was offered forgiveness and like those all around him - rejected it. He bows and admits - Jesus was right.
The working out of Satan's rule in contrast with the government of God has been presented to the whole universe. Satan's own works have condemned him.
Jesus declares - “Behold the purchase of My blood! For these I suffered, for these I died, that they might dwell in My presence throughout eternal ages.”
In this moment, millions will turn and look at their spiritual leaders - many ministers - teachers who misled them. Lucifer, believes that perhaps even now he can stir up a revolt. As he attempts it, he is finally unmaksed. All the earth turn on him and the fallen angels —-
“Because you have set your heart as the heart of God; behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon you, the terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom, and they shall defile your brightness. They shall bring you down to the pit.” “I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.... I will cast you to the ground, I will lay you before kings, that they may behold you.... I will bring you to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold you.... You shall be a terror, and never will you be any more.” Ezekiel 28:6-8, 16-19. GC 672
God in his mercy ends the lives of the whole world, the devil and his angels from attacking and tormenting each other.
And God will silence and erase from all memory the rebellion from the whole earth. No eternal hell fire. One event, to put them out of their misery.
It is as this time when I think finally every tear will be wiped away. The earth will be recreated.
Revelation 21:1 -“I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away.”
What will the new earth be like? Think about life now but remove the threats, remove the diseases, remove the threat of war, remove the anger, the sorrow, the sadness.
Think of what brings you joy now and imagine it ten fold greater.
What will the heavenly city be like?
Density of NYC - whole world could live in Texas.
We are told it is built like a giant cube. The width of the walls -
Appears to be built like ancient cities - where the citizens live in the walls with a view of the inner park and the outer sea of glass perhaps?
We are told there will be no night there. We are told we will have a country home where we will grow gardens and enjoy all the best of this life but far beyond any form of happiness we have ever experienced. Not 10% of our brains but 100%. Playing with Lions and Lambs.
if you like to travel, Visiting all the worlds of the universe. Tasting their delicious cuisine. Meeting new friends, learning new talents.
Every faculty will be developed, every capacity increased. The acquirement of knowledge will not weary the mind or exhaust the energies. There the grandest enterprises may be carried forward, the loftiest aspirations reached, the highest ambitions realized; and still there will arise new heights to surmount, new wonders to admire, new truths to comprehend, fresh objects to call forth the powers of mind and soul and body. GC 677.
There is Adam - he beholds the trees that were once his delight—the very trees whose fruit he himself had gathered in the days of his innocence and joy. He sees the vines that his own hands have trained, the very flowers that he once loved to care for. His mind grasps the reality of the scene; he comprehends that this is indeed Eden restored, more lovely now than when he was banished from it. The Saviour leads him to the tree of life and plucks the glorious fruit and invites him to eat. He looks around him and beholds a multitude of his family redeemed, standing in the Paradise of God. Then he casts his crown at the feet of Jesus and… embraces His Redeemer. The Great Controversy, 647, 648. AH 541.2
And that’s just the beginning…
On that day, Jesus will turn his eyes on you, put a crown on your head and say well done!
For the world - All eyes are on America
For the universe and Jesus - All eyes are on this planet
For you - Keep your eyes on Jesus. This world will let you down. But Keep Your Eyes on Jesus.
Song Turn your eyes upon Jesus
51 min
January 21, 2019America The Beautiful? - 8
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America the Beautiful?
January 19, 2019
adairsvillesda.org
Where we are at in this series…
Bible is a book about how the world and civilization interacts with God
and His friends or followers - Sodom, Egypt, Ninevah, Babylon, Persia,
Greece, Rome, Papacy, …. Today we are going to talk about America
and the purpose for which it was founded…
The Old World…is ending - Why?
To those who were looking to go back to the primitive church - the
apostolic church - the King of England is quoted as saying “conform,
or ….harry them out of the land, or else worse” - George Bancroft,
History of the United States of America pt. 1, ch12
-J.G. Palfrey writes “Hunted, persecuted and imprisoned many could
see only dark days ahead. For those who wanted to serve God
according to the dictates of their conscience “England was ceasing
forever to be a habitable place” -J.G. Palfrey - History of New England -
They fled to Holland, left their homes and lands because of religious
persecution.
They became known as the Puritans, a Protestant group where their
motto was “to walk together in all His ways made known or to be made
known to them.” - J. Brown , The Pilgrim Fathers p. 74
This was the true spirit of Protestantism and the Reformation.
Men like their pastor - John Robinson were teaching that Luther,
Calvin, Knox and others would have kept the reformation progressing.
He said “were they now living, [they] would be as willing to embrace
further light as that which they first received.” - D Neal, History of the
Puritans vol. 1, p. 269
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He goes on “Remember your promise and covenant with God…to
receive whatever light and truth shall be made known to you from His
written word…..for it is not possible the Christian world should come so
lately out of such thick antichristian darkness and that full perfection of
knowledge should break forth at once.” Martyn , vol 5, pp. 70-71
It was with this creed that they set sail for the shores of the new world
and a new life.
They had seen the evils of religion seeking to define and punish heresy
and saw the value of keeping church and state separate.
But sadly not long after they arrive, many begin to mandate that only
church members can serve in government and it was not long before
persecution arose…in the new world.
Before they left the shores of Holland Robinson said to them “I am very
confident the Lord has more truth and light yet to break forth out of His
holy word.” - Martyn, vol. 5 p. 70
Roger Williams
Another man of faith arrives to the shores of the new world.
He agreed with John Robinson that “it was impossible that all the light
from God’s word had been received.”
He is known as “the first person in modern Christendom to establish
civil government on the doctrine of the liberty of conscience, the
equality of opinions before the law.” -Bancroft, pt. 1, ch 15
When Williams arrived in America - he found church attendance was
mandated by law. This disgusted him.
He was respected and loved as a faithful leader and minister, a man of
rare gifts, integrity and kindness shown to everyone he met. But as he
kept teaching and preaching tolerance and freedom of speech and
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freedom of conscience he was accused of “subverting the government
and society” - Bancroft pt. Ch 15
He was sentenced for a crime - as an enemy of the state - and to
escape arrest - he was forced to flee in the cold stormy winds of winter
into the deep forest.
He wrote later “For fourteen weeks, I was sorely tossed in a bitter
season, not knowing what bread or bed did mean - but the ravens fed
me in the wilderness and a hollow tree served as a shelter.” -Martyn Vol.
5, pp 349-350
He continued through the snow and the forest until he found refuge
with an Indian tribe whose confidence and affection he won while
teaching them the truths of the gospel.
Finally he made it to the shores of Narragansett Bay, he laid the
foundation for the first state in the new world that would recognize
religious freedom - “that every man should have liberty to worship God
according to the light of his own conscience.” Martyn vol 5, p 354. That
state would become known as Rhode Island and became the asylum
for civil and religious liberty - the cornerstones of the American
Republic.
The Declaration of Independence would eventually state: “all men are
created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain
unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness.” And the Constitution guarantees, in the most explicit
terms, the inviolability of conscience: “No religious test shall ever be
required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the
United States.” “Congress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
A land of Freedom?
Word begins to spread around Europe and the world - There is a land
where every man might enjoy the fruit of his own labor and obey the
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convictions of his own conscience - and thousands came to the shores
of America.
The French would gift us a statue - The Statue of Liberty - where on it
today it reads - in a poem - that Lady Liberty is called The Mother of
Exiles - “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning
to breathe free…”
A land set up to give men and women the freedom that deep down we
all desire.
————————
Revelation 13 - Would the Bible mention this nation?
The first verses of Revelation 13 identify a power that comes up out of a
populated area i.e. the Sea. The Bible uses water to symbolize people -
population. Revelation 17:15 - The waters which you saw, where the
harlot sits, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
We learned last week, The harlot/beast/kingdom rules for 1260 years,
guilty of claiming the power to forgive sins, guilty of changing the 10
commandments, persecuting those who kept the Sabbath of Creation
and who prized liberty of conscience.
Verse 10 says - This power that led others into captivity would be led
into captivity. The capture of the pope and Napoleon taking himself
into exile fulfilled this prophecy. The kingdom, most Protestant scholars
along with scripture identify this power as the Roman Church.
But another power begins to rise once this previous power begins to
fall.
It is good to note that Daniel 7:23 interprets a beast as a kingdom or
empire. So when this passage describes one beast falling and another
rising it’s talking about kingdoms or empires.
So the Roman church is represented like other nations before it by a
predator - a carnivore. Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome - all of these
world powers had to conquer and kill another kingdom to become the
new superpower on the earth.
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But this new nation, a new empire is not rising out of a populated area
symbolized by water.
11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had
two horns like a lamb…
New Kingdom, coming up (or growing up) in an unpopulated area of
the world symbolized by a lamb - an herbivore - not an animal that eats
or kills other animals. So this kingdom would not conquer or overcome
another power in the territory it would rise in. It would grow up slowly
and innocently like a lamb.
The lamb may also be a symbol of the values of Christ - represented in
scripture.
The words ‘coming up’ are also translated as ‘to grow or spring up as a
plant’. G.A. Townsend describes it like this - “Like a silent seed we grew
into an empire.” - The New World Compared with the Old p.462
How about the horns? Lamblike horns? It’s not a sheep with horns, but
lamblike horns. A lambs horns are still Innocent, gentle - not dangerous
yet.
When we see other horns in the Bible - horns represent power. Horns
often like in Revelation 13:1 - have crowns on horns. Crowns in the old
world were on kings and pontiffs.
But what would these two sources of power be in this new nation?
History reveals that Republicanism and Protestantism - are the
fundamental principles of the nation. Many identify these principles as
the secret of its power and prosperity. Separation of church and state.
A country was forming marked with peace and prosperity where you
could have a “church without a pope, and a state without a king.” A
new world, a new civilization, a new country - where Protestantism
could flourish.
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But Revelation 13:11 ends with something strange…. And he spoke like a
dragon
How could this lamblike innocent nation become the most fearsome of
all monsters on the earth - a dragon?
How could this new nation transform from a lamb - a symbol of Christ
into a dragon - the symbol of the fallen angel Lucifer - the Devil
himself? How does that happen?
Not all at once. If we are being honest we have some sad realities in our
past - Indian genocide, slavery, racism - These were not the reason this
country was founded.
The motto of John Robinson and Roger Williams and of the Puritans
and Protestants that founded America - that Truth is Progressive - The
Protestant Churches of America stopped believing and stopped
practicing.
But God was not done yet…
Another Reformer was raised up - a farmer, a military man, a Patriot and
a man who doubted the Bible’s inspiration and validity - William Miller
@ the age of 34.
He was turned off from Scripture and Christianity.
The doctrines of the old world were still badges of slavery of the dark
ages and the medieval church. Doctrines that most of the churches still
held to included:
Burning Hell Fire for bad people
-rising teaching of a secret rapture - not a visible second coming
-the dead moved on to the next life
-prophecy was sealed - God and the Bible were a mystery
the millennium was to be on earth - not heaven
-that Israel was the country to look to in prophecy rather than the
United States
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But the biggest thing that caught Miller’s attention was the accuracy of
the time prophecies of the Bible.
He began to study the 70 weeks prophecy of Daniel, 2300 day
prophecy, 1260 days, He was curious as to why the Jewish leaders had
pronounced a curse on all who studied Daniel 9.
After years of study - he was convinced and convicted that the
imminent second coming of Jesus was near and that sometime around
1843-1844 Jesus would return to the earth at the close of the 2300 year
prophetic time period.
Miller decided to spend his wealth and devote his life to telling all in
America of this long hoped for Advent. Those who believed his
message would become known as Millerites or Adventists.
Miller was not alone in this understanding. Like the beginning of the
Reformation in the 16th century, Around the world something was
happening -a great awakening in the first half of the 19th century.
The Middle East, Europe, South America, England but America
becomes the center of where the Reformation continues.
The majority of the churches reject the idea of an imminent second
coming and further reforms in Protestant belief. God was trying to
complete the Protestant Reformation in the land of the free and yet a
battle was raging for the soul of the nation. A few years later - A civil
war would break out. After all - divide and conquer from within is the
most seditious of all threats to any institution. Abraham Lincoln had
this to say about the civil war:
“This war would never have been possible without the sinister influence
of the Jesuits. We owe it to Popery that we now see our land reddened
with the blood of her noblest sons….It is the promises of the Jesuits…
the money and the arms… The Protestants of both the North and South
would surely unite to exterminate the Jesuits, if they could hear…the
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plots made in Rome to destroy this Republic. - A Letter - June 8, 1864 -
Abraham Lincoln
The church begins to slip back into the superstition and persecution of
the dark ages. A Professor at Oberlin College said “churches generally
are becoming sadly degenerate…” Many wanted to follow what they
knew to be right but they trusted their pastors who forbade them or
they couldn’t endure the persecution they would get from family and
fellow church members.
Ellen White, one of those who began to listen and follow Miller stated -
“He who deliberately stifles his convictions of duty because it
interferes with his inclinations will finally lose the power to distinguish
between truth and error.”
Men like Thomas Guthrie, a Presbyterian, began to write on the separation of protestant churches “300 years ago, our church, with an open
Bible on her banner, and this motto ‘Search the Scriptures’ on her scroll, marched out from the gates of Rome…But did they come clean out of
Babylon?” Thomas Guthrie , The Gospel of Ezekiel, p. 237
“The Church of England,” says Spurgeon, “seems to be eaten through and through with sacramentarianism; …
Those of whom we thought better things are turning aside one by one from the fundamentals of the faith….I believe, the very heart of England is honeycombed with a
damnable infidelity which dares still go into the pulpit and call itself Christian.” -GC
384
Howard Crosby states “It is a matter of deep concern that we find
Christ’s church so little fulfilling the designs of it’s Lord.” - The Healthy Christian:
An Appeal to the Church, p. 141-142
Only a few today cling to the idea that truth is still progressive.
That God is calling people out of the confusion of Babylon - confused
religion - back to the primitive simple faith of the early christians.
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.
two key identifiers - those keeping the commandments of God and
those who Revelation 19:10 says kept the flame of prophecy alive and
burning. Our challenge is to find that group and stay close.
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—————-————-————-————-————-————-————-
Revelation 13 continues on and the scene changes…
11 and he spake as a dragon.
How does a nation speak? Through its legal and judicial system and
laws.
In history what is the process by which the religion of God falls from
having power to wielding persecuting power?
It is when the church and it’s adherents are really no different than the
world. When they lower the standards and dilute it’s brand identity
When the church loses its power it turns to power.
When the church loses its power - it turns to those in power.
When the church loses its power from God - it turns to the power of
men.
Paul says it this way - talking about a sign of the closing moments of time - a picture of those in the church -
2 Timothy 3:1-5 “ But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers,
without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power.
What does the Bible predict for America?
12 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.
Quoting from the book the Great Controversy on this passage that The
Bible foretells that America will develop “the spirit of intolerance and
persecution of the empires and superpowers that came before her.
Revelation 13:13 goes on to say that it will be through signs and
miracles that the United States and eventually the whole world will be
deceived into persecuting those that don’t fall in line with the majority.
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1 Timothy 4:1 - Now the Spirit expressly says that in last days some will
depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of
demons. —-In other words, the fallen angels have been warned to
begin disseminating deception around the world.
That the day would come when -Verse 14 - “that they should make an
image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.”
That America should honor the Papacy that was wounded and yet has been regaining it’s influence in the world. The
phrase “they should make” denotes a country where legislative power
rests with the vote and voice of the people.
Verse 15 … [America would force] those who don’t worship the image
of the beast should be killed.
What is the image of the beast? What is an image of something? When
you hear the phrase in the south - you’re the spitting image of your
father, mother etc. Something that closely resembles something else.
That America would closely resemble the Roman power -a state
influenced by the church - that ruled the world and men and women’s
consciences for 1260 years…. Could it be true? Could this happen?
It goes on …
16 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:
Some method to identify people by what their choice is
17 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.
Some way to track everyone to the extent that you can limit someone’s
ability to buy or sell anything.
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18 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.
More symbols, more details….for another time.
When we talk about Marks of authority, cattle are branded, cars are
branded, clothing is branded, Does anyone claim to have something
that is their mark or brand signature?
In the last message, we described two churches represented by two
women - one the Bible calls a harlot, unfaithful who has attempted to
change the law of God and one a hero, faithful and keeping all of the
commandments of God.
We learned that Constantine, the Roman emperor, in order to unite the world - the pagans and Christians, created a new holiday, a rest day on
the first day of the week - the Sunday.
Speaking on that change of the weekly day of rest:
Priest T. Enright says - “It was the holy Catholic Church
that changed the day of rest from Saturday to Sunday, the
1st day of the week. And it not only compelled all to keep
Sunday, but at the Council of Laodicea, AD 364, anathematized -
condemned those who kept the Sabbath and urged all
persons to labor on the 7th day under penalty of anathema.”
John A. O'Brien, The Faith of Millions: the Credentials of the Catholic Religion Revised Edition
(Our Sunday Visitor Publishing, 1974): 400-401:
But since Saturday, not Sunday, is specified in the Bible, isn't it
curious that non-Catholics, who claim to take their religion
directly from the Bible and not from the Church, observe Sunday
instead of Saturday?
C.F. Thomas, Chancellor of Cardinal Gibbons on October
28, 1895: “Of course the Catholic Church claims that the
change [of Sabbath to Sunday] was her act…And the act is
a MARK of her ecclesiastical power and authority in
religious matters.
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—————-
So the Bible predicts that America would abandon the secrets of her
power, her lamblike horns, like Samson cutting off the secret of his
power, America would see the sunset of - Protestantism and
Republicanism and church and state would unite.
Ellen White, author of the book the Great Controversy writes,
“Our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a
Protestant and Republican government.” - Testimonies Vol 5, P. 451
When Jesus was asked by his disciples about what life would be like
just before His return, He tells them some signs to look out for: Let’s look at both those
and if we have reason to be concerned about the future or Protestantism or The Republic.
The Signs of the Times
Jesus says in Matthew 24 -
Verse 4 - Deception or Fake News will be everywhere
Verse 5 - People claiming to be Christians will be guilty of not telling
the truth
Verse 6 - There will exist the threat of war
Don’t be afraid, these are just leading up to the final events…
Verse 7 - There will be disasters - famines, disease, earthquakes
Verse 8 - Persecution
Verse 24 - Deception signs and wonders
Harvard Historian - Charles Meyer on America since 1971… “We have switched from an empire of production to an empire of consumption”
We began living on credit as soon America went off the gold standard and in essence the world economy became attached to the fiat currency
of America. Fiat currency is as good as the entity says it is, not inherently of value.
The fall of Rome - why did the Republic fail and fall?
Mike Duncan - author of The Storm before the Storm
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Many people ask me ‘Is the United States Rome? Are we following a
similar trajectory?’ If you start to do some comparisons between the
rise and development of the U.S. and rise and development of Rome,
you do wind up in this same place.
What preceded the fall of the Republic?
-mos maiorum began to falter -the code of conduct and normalcy for
society - the heirarchical family structure began to break down. The
traditional home led by fathers disappeared. Society was in a place to
make sure social pressure was there to hold men accountable -
Hölkeskamp, Reconstructing the Roman Republic, p. 33.
it also depended strongly on the ruling influential class adhering to
the consensus of society and the norms of society, not undermining it.
Law began to be used to change culture rather than persuasion and
consensus
rising political tensions and factions
-unprecedented wealth began to be had across the empire.
-Growing gap between the rich and the poor classes
-Poor are having to sell their land
-Rich are buying up large tracts of land
-small farms are disappearing - Land ownership really became the
wealth determinate
-“At the founding of [The United States Republic] our republic,
everybody’s a farmer, and now everything is owned by what,
Monsanto?”
Review & Herald Magazine - October 3, 1912, - In God's plan for Israel,
every family had a home on the land, with sufficient ground for tilling.
Thus were provided both the means and the incentive for a useful,
industrious, and self-supporting life. And no devising of man has ever
improved upon that plan. To the world's departure from it is owing, to
a large degree, the poverty and wretchedness that exist today.
-“People felt like the state was no longer working for them, that the
Assemblies and Senate weren’t passing laws for the benefit of anyone
but a small group of elites. This resentment was threatening the
legitimacy of the Republic in the eyes of many citizens.”
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Another issue Duncan says was citizenship - everyone wanted to be a
citizen of the Republic
Camille Paglia states - the movement towards androgyny (removal of
the distinction of gender and gender roles) occurs in late phases of a
culture. As a civilization is staring to unravel. In the Greek art, the sculptures of handsome nude young men and athletes that used to be very robust,
suddenly begin to look like wet noodles. This applies to the Hellenists, the Romans, Weimar Germany. People that live in these
moments feel they are very sophisticated, very cosmopolitan - saying
homosexuality, heterosexuality - anything goes - you can see from a distance that this is a culture that no longer
believes in itself, and then what you invariably get are people who are convinced of the heroic power of masculinity - that could be the Huns, Barbarians, Vandals - ISIS today. There is disconnect
between the fascination of the transgender with what is taking place at the fringes. I am concerned and I think it’s ominous.
6 - protracted wars, crumbling infrastructure, rising national debt,
“These are all examples of a society that is completely unmoored”
“Pay attention to the warning signs, If you ignore it, you risk the whole
thing collapsing into civil war and a military dictatorship.”
Rome went from a Republic quickly to a democracy to anarchy to
dictators, tyrants.
Author Chris Hedges describes current underemployment, rising debt,
growing sexual abuse, rising gambling addiction, opiod and drug
addiction, people are feeling alienated, depression is rising, loneliness
is increasing. Disintegrating societies resort to violence.
“Never forget that within American society, we are a deeply violent
culture. - awash in weapons.”- An Estimated 40% of all guns in the
world are in the United States. 400 Million Guns to a population of 328
Million.
When national discourse is no longer rooted in fact, then facts are interchangeable with opinions. Then the truth is whatever you want it to be.
-Chris Hedges (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPk9HSLagVg)
"A growing segment or majority of the Christian Right does not have
the standard of living that they once did and is being marginalized. "
There is currently an ideological vacuum in America which is quickly
being filled by the Christian Right.
The christian right is organized. They have their own universities, their own media platforms, systems of indoctrination, huge amounts of money behind them. Unless there is sustained mass civil
disobedience to put pressure on the two party system and corruption then what’s coming
Noam Chomsky “You may want Trump out but Michael Pence will be worse.”
A republic protects the minority despite what the majority wants. A democracy is guided by the majority, the mob, the popular vote… Once people see their government and leaders cant be trusted or
they lose that trust….we see what happened in France - Revolution
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Today, Multitudes are thus led to believe that desire is the highest law,
that license is liberty, and that man is accountable only to himself.
Education p. 227.6
“…anarchy is seeking to sweep away all law, not only divine, but human.
The centralizing of wealth and power; the vast combinations for the
enriching of the few at the expense of the many; the combinations of
the poorer classes for the defense of their interests and claims; the
spirit of unrest, of riot and bloodshed; the world-wide dissemination of
the same teachings that led to the French Revolution—all are tending
to involve the whole world in a struggle similar to that which convulsed
France. Education p. 228.
Automation threatens jobs, unions still hold significant power.
Hebrews 13:5 - “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
FOR FURTHER STUDY
Artificial Intelligence and unions
Growing gap of the rich and poor
The peril of cities and the data
EW - Out of the cities is my message.
Matthew 24, disasters are coming. Dead are coming, satan coming as Christ
heathen gods are coming.
Digital currency. No buy or sell. Mark of the Beast. Loss of freedom of speech and religion.
1 hr 3 min
January 13, 2019Harlot or Hero? - 7
Harlot or Hero? - 7
January 12, 2019
adairsvillesda.org
"Jesus immediately ascended to Heaven and presented himself before the throne of
God, showing the marks of shame and cruelty upon his brow, his hands and feet. But he
refused to receive the coronet of glory, and the royal robe, and he also refused the
adoration of the angels
"Jesus refused to receive the homage of his people until he knew that his sacrifice had
been accepted by the Father, and until he had received the assurance from God himself
that his atonement for the sins of his people had been full and ample, that through his
blood they might gain eternal life." -Spirit of Prophecy, Volume 3, p. 202
The Father embraces Jesus - Yes it is enough!
——————————————
There is John, one of Jesus closest friends, looking off into the sunset of
the Mediterranean. He feels the warm rays of the setting sun under the
azure blue sky. He’s remembering the past 50 or so years of life. He
watches the slowly crashing waves. He hears the birds down by the shore.
Jesus is in heaven. The church is on earth.
Jesus had promised he would send the Holy Spirit to help the believers
and boy did he! John hears the echo of the words of Jesus in his mind -
John 14:1-3 - “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God,
believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it
were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive
you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.
The disciples, John’s friends, his brother James, they had all acted upon
Jesus last words - Matthew 28 and Mark 16 - Go into all the world, make
disciples, baptize and teach them all that I have taught you. I will be
with you and signs will follow you. (Matthew 28:19-20)(Mark 16:15-18)
The church as we read in the book of Acts starts off with gusto.
Thousands are baptized in a day. Even with the persecution of Saul, the
church kept spreading. Then Saul has an encounter with Jesus in a vision
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and becomes Paul. The gospel is now turning enemies into evangelists.
Finally as Jesus had foretold - Jerusalem once thought to be the eternal
city was destroyed by the Romans.
How long until He would return? John, on this island, is shown scenes all
the way to our day and something is strange. He sees two churches
represented by two women:- Scripture uses a woman to describe a
religious movement. Jeremiah 6:2 I have likened the daughter of Zion
To a lovely and delicate woman.
Revelation 19:7,8
Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the
Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” 8 And to her it
was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine
linen is the righteous acts of the saints.
Revelation 14:4
Church is described as pure and faithful vs.
Pure Woman- The Hero in our story - is described as dressed in white,
pure, faithful, ready to marry Christ and be with him forever.
Revelation 17:1-4 -
“Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on
many waters, 2 with whom the kings of the earth committed
fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the
wine of her fornication.”
3 So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a
woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of
blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. 4 The woman was
arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious
stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of
abominations and the filthiness of her fornication.
Mystery - Babylon the Great - The Mother of Harlots
Revelation 18
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Babylon the Great is Fallen, is Fallen and has become a dwelling place
of demons…
1 Peter 5:13 - Peter calls Rome - Babylon
Ellicotts Commentary: St. Peter has just personified the church of the place from which he writes, which seems quite as unprosaic a use of language
as to call Rome “Babylon.” And it seems pretty clear that the name was quite intelligible to Jewish readers, for whom it was intended. The
Apocalypse (Revelation 17:18) is not the only place where Rome is found spoken of under this title. One of the first of living Hebraists (who will not
allow his name to be mentioned) told the present writer that no Hebrew of St. Peter’s day would have had need to think twice what city was meant
when “Babylon” was mentioned. And on the mention of the name, all the prophecies of the vengeance to be taken on the city which had desolated
the Holy Land would rush with consolation into the mind of the readers, and they would feel that St. Peter, though supporting St. Paul, was still in full
sympathy with themselves.
The Harlot - identified as dressed in purple and red with lots of gold.
Fornication or sleeping around outside of marriage is symbolism used to
describe being unfaithful to God and to the Law. The wine is used as a
symbol of teaching false doctrine.
John saw the most confusing thing - two women, representing truth and
error, light and darkness all the way to the end.
——————
Last week we read that for the sake of man the controversy was to be
continued…but for how long?
Daniel had foretold of a time that even he didn’t fully understand - 2,300
years into the future - ‘the time of the end’ (Daniel 8:14/17)
Daniel has dreams about the future in Daniel 7 all the way to chapter 12
and then…
In Daniel 12:4, we read that Daniel is told to seal the book…until the time
of the end.
That it wouldn’t make much sense until it was all unfolding around the
planet a long time into the future.
All of the disciples would eventually lose their lives for the message. They
went around the world to tell others this amazing story of love. John they
had tried to kill multiple times - but were unsuccessful. So they banished
him to the island of Patmos where he was given the scenes of the book of
the Revelation.
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Daniel and John wrote down a a clear prophetic picture of the gruesome
days ahead for the church.
There is John on Patmos - He sees Jesus reveal Himself and the future
unfolds before him…and he is told to write it down
sanctuary in heaven - Revelation 1
Future of the church and the war playing out… Revelation 2-3
Judgment - 4-5
Again the state of the church - Revelation 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12,
Then John writes something that perhaps he at first like Daniel didn’t fully
understand. The church would become the greatest enemy on earth to -
the faithful of God? Huh? John had seen Jesus become the greatest
‘threat’ to organized religion. But one day, organized religion would
become the greatest threat to Jesus and his followers!
Life of the early Church
…They were teaching, baptizing, healing, worshipping together. Acts 17:2
continued custom of Sabbath observance
"The primitive Christians did keep the Sabbath of the Jews;. therefore
the Christians for a long time together, did keep their conventions on
the Sabbath, (in which some portion of the Law were read: and this
continued till the time of the Laodicean council.)” The Whole Works of
Jeremey Taylor, Vol. IX, p416 (R. Heber's Edition, Vol.XII, p.416)
"The ancient Christians were very careful in the observation of
Saturday, or the seventh day..It is plain that all the Oriental churches,
and the greatest part of the world, observed the Sabbath as a
festival...Athanasius likewise tells us that they held religious
assemblies on the Sabbath, not because they were infected with
Judaism, but to worship God, the Lord of the Sabbath, Epiphanius says
the same." Antiquities of the Christian Church, Vol. II, Book XX, chap.
3, Sec. 1, 66.1137, 1138
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The Falling Away…
Paul warns the church though in - 2 Thessalonians 2:3- Let no man
deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there
come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of
perdition;
Daniel, writing nearly 1000 years earlier says in Daniel 7 that a power
would arise that would persecute the faithful, would attempt to change the
very law of god and would rule for 1260 years
Daniel 7:25
He shall speak pompous words against the Most High,
Shall persecute[a] the saints of the Most High,
And shall intend to change times and law.
Then the saints shall be given into his hand
For a time and times and half a time.
In Daniel 7, as Daniel writes of the future he says “I saw a Lion, a Bear, a
Leopard and then an awful 4th kingdom come on the earth. We further see
how that became Babylon, Persia, Greece, and the Iron Monarchy of
Rome which would last the longest.
John is given a similar vision of the future of the church.
In Revelation 13:1-5 John states:
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.
2 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.
John sees the same animals in vision but in reverse of how Daniel
describes them.
3 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.
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4 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?
5 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 Just to be clear - the dragon is Lucifer/Satan the fallen angel. He has
set up a church on the earth - with the end goal to be worshipped by
impersonating Jesus with a false second coming…this is the grand almost
overmastering strong delusion that we have been warned about
Summary
They are both shown a power that would one day come on the world that
would:
1-would be guilty of making a change to the ten commandments
2-would persecute the saints - the true church, the real heroine - the
bride of Christ
3-would be guilty of blasphemy.
4-rule for 1260 years on the earth,
John’s definition of Blasphemy was based on two interactions Jesus had
with the Pharisees:
John 10:36 - Claiming to be god when you are not God
Mark 2:7 - “this fellow claims to forgive sins - who can forgive sins but
God? This is blasphemy!
Recap: The true church -
The one Jesus started was one built on love, not force. Love, not
selfishness. Built on the laws of the old testament because Jesus said “I
have not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it” Love is the fulfilling of the
law. I have not come to change one jot or one tittle from the law”. The
ceremonial sacrificial laws of course were done away with but not the
moral law.
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The Falling Away -
The Roman Empire has gone from the glory of the republic before the time
of Christ, to the mob ruled democracy for hundreds of years, to finally on
the brink of total chaos. Wars have exhausted the treasury, morality has
disappeared and finally the pagan emperor - Constantine - sees a vision -
and is converted to Christianity.
There are some changes that would begin to be implemented: Scripture
teaches too much independence of thought and action - therefore:
The circulation of the scriptures must be prohibited! So that the people
become ignorant.
#1 - An attempt to change the law of God - to get the pagan world into
the church - to allow for idol worship - of the gods of myth and legend -
the heathen gods. The statue of Jupiter would now be called Peter. The
images of a woman - the queen of heaven- would not be Juno or Isis but
Mary - Mother of god.
If you will remember from part 5 in our story - the heathen gods - were the
fallen angels of heaven!
You can’t just remove a commandment, so the 10th was split into two. The
4th commandment, the only one prefaced by the word “Remember” was
moved and now commemorated the first not the Seventh-day of the week.
The text of Constantine's Sunday Law of 321 A.D. is:
"On the venerable 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 suitable for gainsowing
or vine planting; lest by neglecting the proper moment for such operations the bounty of heaven
should be lost.”
At first the Sunday was a day of celebration and Sabbath was still
observed. But over time, Sabbath was made a day of mourning and finally
given up altogether. After all - the scriptures were hidden.
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#2 - Persecution
Then great persecution arose from the Papacy in Rome and true Christians
fled the cities and lived in the hills and mountains of the wilderness. The
Waldenses, The Albigenses, The Huguenots.
Revelation 12:6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she
hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a
thousand two hundred and threescore days. - 1260 years according to
the day for a year principle found in bible prophecy.
This was the dark ages… because the Light - Jesus was hid from daily life,
and also were hidden the truths of scripture
#3 Blasphemy
The church begins selling indulgences to build a place called - The
Basilica of Saint Peter in Rome - Forgiveness of sin was now offered by
the church in Rome - what the disciples understood as blasphemy.
#4 - Would rule for 1260 years…More on that in a minute
Late 1400’s - Columbus is sailing looking for more land - the legend of a
new world. Gutenberg has discovered how to print bibles on new
technology - the printing press - The Bible is having a resurgence.
Around this time, a devout Catholic priest - Martin Luther - takes a journey
to Rome - he is about to enter the city and falls to the earth and says “Holy
Rome - I salute thee!” And exiting the city he writes “no one can imagine
what sins are committed in Rome….If there is a hell, Rome is built over it!”
Quite the change of heart. Luther began to study and could not reconcile
the sale of the forgiveness of sin with Scripture.
The date October 31, 1517 (which since then somehow paganism covered
up with a holiday)- Luther has 95 issues that he sees his beloved church
must address.
This ignites what would be known as The Protestant Reformation - Built on
the spirit of protest.
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Then a few decades into this ‘Revival’ - The Church of Rome christens -
The Society of Jesus - The book -The Great Controversy speaks on this -
“At this time the order of the Jesuits was created, the most cruel,
unscrupulous, and powerful of all the champions of popery…..To combat
these forces, Jesuitism inspired its followers with a fanaticism that enabled
them to endure like dangers, and to oppose to the power of truth all the
weapons of deception. There was no crime too great for them to commit,
no deception too base for them to practice, no disguise too difficult for
them to assume. Vowed to perpetual poverty and humility, it was their
studied aim to secure wealth and power, to be devoted to the overthrow of
Protestantism, and the re-establishment of the papal supremacy. GC 234
It was a fundamental principle of the order that the end justifies the means.
By this code, lying, theft, perjury, assassination, were not only pardonable
but commendable, when they served the interests of the church. Under
various disguises the Jesuits worked their way into offices of state,
climbing up to be the counselors of kings, and shaping the policy of
nations. They became servants to act as spies upon their masters. They
established colleges for the sons of princes and nobles, and schools for
the common people; and the children of Protestant parents were drawn
into an observance of popish rites. GC 235
—————
“We will never forget that our forefathers, the first inhabitants of the
American land, were compelled to leave their native country, to come to
bury themselves in unknown and far-distant wildernesses to escape Jesuit
tyranny and cruelty. ~Jesuitism Unvailed (Americans Warned About
Jesuitism) by Claude Pirat; 1851 AD
~Fifty Years in the Church of Rome by Charles Chiniquy - Abraham Lincoln
stated to his friend Chiniquy - “Man must not care where and when he
will die, provided he dies at the post of honour and duty.' But I may
add, today, that I have a presentiment that God will call me to Him
through the hand of an assassin.
“Unfortunately, I feel more and more, every day, that it is not against
the Americans of the South, alone, I am fighting, it is more against the
Pope of Rome, his perfidious Jesuits [and their blind and blood-thirsty
slaves,] than against the real American Protestants, that we have to
!10 of !10
defend ourselves. Here is the real danger of our position. So long as they will hope to conquer the North, they will
spare me; but the day we will rout their armies (and that day will surely come, with the help of God), take their cities, and force them
to submit, then, it is my impression that the Jesuits, who are the principal rulers of the South, will do what they have almost
invariably done in the past. The dagger, or the pistol of one of their adepts, will do what the strong hands of the warriors could not
achieve. This civil war seems to be nothing but a political affair to those who do not see, as I do, the secret springs of that terrible
drama. But it is more a religious than a civil war. It is Rome who wants to rule and degrade the North, as she has ruled and
degraded the South, from the very day of its discovery. There are only very few of the Southern leaders who are not more or less
under the influence of the Jesuits, through their wives, family relations, and their friends. Several members of the family of Jeff Davis
belong to the Church of Rome. Even the Protestant ministers are under the influence of the Jesuits without suspecting it. To
keep her ascendancy in the North, as she does in the South, Rome is doing here what she has done in Mexico,
and in all the South American Republics; she is paralyzing, by a civil war, the arms of the
soldiers of Liberty. She divides our nation, in order to weaken, subdue
and rule it.
So the war continued on earth that had started long ago in heaven - the
principle of love and kindness vs. the principle of force and selfishness.
———————
“The War against the Bible, carried forward for so many centuries in
France, culminated in the scenes of the French Revolution.” GC 265
The year is 1798 - 1260 years after the Roman Emperor Justinian, issued a
decree in 538 AD, proclaiming the Pope to be supreme in religious
matters. The moment foretold by Daniel, and John - 1260 years that the
Church of Rome would rule the world - had come. Napoleon’s army
marches upon Rome - led by General Berthier - , takes the pope captive.
This was the death knell to the old world - and everyone knew it.
Across the ocean for the last two hundred+ years a nation was springing
up, slowly growing in prominence. A place where men and women were
fleeing the old world in search of a place where there was no king and no
pope. A Protestant Republic… As France is falling, America is rising
• Declaration of Independence (1776)
• Constitution of the United States (1787)
• Bill of Rights (1791)
Virgin soil existed in the new world where liberty and freedom of
conscience could once again take root.
Why this matters now… Revelation 18:4 -
56 min
January 07, 2019 Jesus - The Fallen Angel? - 6
For 4000 years, the angels, the unfallen worlds, and mankind had waited. Mothers and fathers had relayed the story to their children. One day the Messiah would come and be the sacrifice to save man from sin and selfishness. The tipping point in the plan of salvation had finally come.
This was the moment like that of Cortez and his men in 1519 when the Spanish Fleet landed on the shores of the new world. Cortez turns to them and says “BURN THE SHIPS” There is no going back now.
In order to elevate fallen man, Christ must reach him where he was and become the son of man.
All heaven was at risk!!!
Satan meets Christ in the desert and tells Him that one of the exalted angels had been exiled to the earth, that Jesus appearance indicated that, instead of His being the king of heaven, He clearly was the fallen angel…
50 min
December 29, 2018 Angels and Demons - 5
Israel enters the promised land and eventually reaches their greatness in King Solomon. But soon he begins building shrines to the heathen gods all around Jerusalem. Who were these gods? None other than the fallen angels of heaven. In this episode we discuss the role of angels and demons in the war of good and evil and why prayer is one of the rules of engagement that allows God to enter into the affairs of mankind.
49 min
December 24, 2018 Be Fruitful - 4
What are the two principles contending for supremacy in the war of good vs. evil? Moses is poised to be king of the world, the sun god, Pharaoh of Egypt, yet he decides to cast his lot with the people of God rather than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. God rewards him by showing him the final details of how the war of good and evil would end and how sin and selfishness would forever be silenced.
1 hr 2 min
December 15, 2018 The Mystery - 3
Eve the mother of all creation is flattered, enchanted by this talking serpent. He lured her in with intrigue and awakened her curiosity to explore the mystery that God had kept secret from her - the effects of eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. She had the knowledge of good, but wanted to understand the mystery hidden from her…
36 min

About Seventh day-Adventist Church of Adairsville

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Seventh-day Adventists believe all of Scripture is inspired and equipped to help us live an abundant life today and in expectation of the life to come. Our church is located in Adairsville, Georgia.…

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