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Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Canadian Constitution Foundation to defend freedom to sell raw milk

Here's the press release form one of our favourite pro-liberty organizations, the Canadian Constitution Foundation:

At a press conference at Queen’s Park today, the Canadian Constitution Foundation (CCF) announced its support for a court case involving consumer choice, freedom of contract, and the right to earn an honest living free from government regulation that is arbitrary, unreasonable, unnecessary and unfair.

The case concerns Ontario dairy farmer Michael Schmidt, who has been providing unpasteurized milk to consumers for approximately 20 years without a single incident of illness attributable to milk borne germs.

Mr. Schmidt was charged in 2006 with numerous violations of the Milk Act and the Health Promotion and Protection Act, Ontario legislation that requires milk to be heated to at least 160 degrees Fahrenheit before it can be marketed.

Mr. Schmidt has contested both his guilt under the legislation, and the constitutional validity of the legislation itself. He argues that the ban on raw milk sales violates the guarantee of “life, liberty and security of the person” in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The ban also violates the Charter’s equality and non-discrimination rights.

His six-day trial ended in February, 2009. The court’s judgment is scheduled to be released on January 21, 2010.

Since Mr. Schmidt was charged in November, 2006, the size of the herd he manages has doubled. There is also a waiting list of consumers wishing to participate in Mr. Schmidt’s raw milk dairy.

The CCF has announced that it will represent Mr. Schmidt in ongoing litigation challenging the constitutionality of the raw milk ban.

“This is about the rights of Canadians to choose a product that is safely consumed by tens of thousands of people around the world. It’s also about the right to earn an honest living free from government regulations that are unnecessary, unreasonable and unfair,” said CCF Litigation Director Karen Selick.

“There have been huge technological improvements in refrigeration, transportation and pathogen testing, in addition to the entrenchment of individuals’ constitutional rights. Consumers who want freedom of choice expect their government to make the transition to the twenty-first century and to respect their rights,” added Selick.

The CCF will also represent consumer advocate James McLaren, who has sought for many years to persuade federal and provincial authorities to revise the regulatory regime so that inspected and tested raw milk can be sold to consumers. Mr. McLaren will argue on behalf of consumers that the legal prohibition on raw milk violates their constitutional right to “security of the person”.

Mr. McLaren has recently established an on-line petition for consumers who want the government to conduct a policy review for the purpose of establishing safe protocols for the production and distribution of raw milk.

The press release ends with some additional, and interesting, information:

A study published in 2006 in the medical journal Clinical and Experimental Allergy demonstrated that raw milk has a beneficial effect on children’s health. Scientists from prestigious American and European universities and children’s hospitals studied 14,893 children aged 5—13 years. The children who consumed raw milk had a significantly reduced incidence of asthma and allergies, compared with those who drank pasteurized milk.

Certified or government-authorized raw milk is sold in many European countries, including: the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, the Netherlands and Denmark. Raw milk is also available legally in about half of the U.S. states.

Canadian authorities justify the mandatory pasteurization of milk on the grounds of food safety. However, the U.S. Center for Disease Control has documented at least a dozen outbreaks of food poisoning from pasteurized milk over the past 25 years. Some outbreaks affected hundreds of thousands of people, and some resulted in death.

You can sign a petition to legalize raw milk in Ontario, visit Michael Schmidt's website here, or James McLaren's Natural Milk website here.

Posted by P.M. Jaworski

Posted by westernstandard on November 17, 2009 in Economic freedom, Food and Drink | Permalink

Comments

A good decision for once, but I wonder how long it will take those with a vested interest to work around the decision. The health issue was nothing but a straw-man to protect vested interest in the first place.

Posted by: Alain | 2009-11-17 5:57:45 PM

I grew up on raw milk, but it isn't for everyone. If you've never had it in your life, it could make you sick, the first time you drink it. Nothing serious, but gut aches aren't much fun.

There are so many people out there, with not a clue about the dangers of natural foods. The back to nature crowd is famous for screwing up, and poisoning babies. Everything from giving raw honey to babies, to putting manure on lettuce. Our ancestors knew all the tricks, but we've forgotten most of them. It's probably best just to stick with Safeway.

Posted by: dp | 2009-11-17 10:33:11 PM

If the state really wants to protect me from all harm, them it should ban me from driving, flying, drinking alcahol, and skiing. Otherwise I suspect it is just protecting the dairy industry. In which case it should just f@#k off.

Posted by: TM | 2009-11-17 10:49:39 PM

He should be allowed as long as he warns his customers of the dangers of raw milk. I know I would not buy unpasteurized milk for myself and I would never drink unpasteurized milk. But I would never force my preference for pasteurized milk on everyone by making the sale of unpasteurized milk illegal. I believe the sale of unpasteurized milk should be allowed alongside pasteurized milk giving the consumer a choice.

Posted by: Sheldon Long | 2009-11-17 11:44:05 PM

Sheldon, it is the responsibility of the buyer not the seller to "warn" buyers of the so-called "dangers". Along with the freedom to choose we have lost the concept of personal responsibility. It is now so ridiculous that brooms, mops and plastic bags carry warnings.

Posted by: Alain | 2009-11-18 2:15:39 PM

@Sheldon:

If and when the heroic CCF succeed in freeing the heroic Michael Schmidt from the clutches of Big Dairy and their various governmental health(sic)agency goons, I am sure said Big Dairy would LOVE to have "warning" labels forced on raw dairy.
A better idea would be warning labels on Big Dairy's products.
Even better, how bout we require, as with ingredient lists, a list of all legislative and policy privileges a particular product receives en route to market?

Posted by: JC | 2009-11-18 2:58:40 PM

A better idea would be warning labels on Big Dairy's products.
Posted by: JC | 2009-11-18 2:58:40 PM

Excellent idea. The label could warn you that diseases such as tuberculosis, diphtheria, salmonellosis, strep throat, scarlet fever, listeriosis and typhoid fever have been prevented by pasteurization and if you are hoping to get them you're shit out of luck.

Posted by: The Stig | 2009-11-18 4:06:47 PM

@ The Stig

You are not qualified to discuss pasteurization, as it is unlikely you would understand how it is human populations -- right up to and including my grandparents -- drank raw milk for thousands of years with not one episode of the bacterial bogeymen you fear.

I have been drinking it for a decade, and would happily stack my health up against that of any addled rat chow consumer such as yourself.

You also are unlikely able to grasp the processes and chemicalizations inherent in commercial dairy.

But only two things matter: that you do not invite government to obstruct others' access to raw dairy; and that you retain your right to consume Big Dairy's swill.

I wish you the consumption of as much commercial dairy as your kidneys and gut can accommodate. And then have some more.

Posted by: JC | 2009-11-18 4:13:41 PM

You are not qualified to discuss pasteurization,
Posted by: JC | 2009-11-18 4:13:41 PM

And just what are your qualifications? Do you have an advanced degree in microbiology?

Posted by: The Stig | 2009-11-18 6:19:24 PM

@ Stig

You don't need an advanced degree in microbiology. But talking to microbiologists who drink raw milk helps.

As does working in, or visiting actual dairies and dairy farms, as I have done.

As does reading a gawdam book on the subject.

Or better yet, reflecting on a history of drinking large amounts of all kinds of milk, both pasteurized and unpasteurized.

You might even throw in a little logic or common sense in your deliberations.

It may be too bad that you go through life with prejudices based on absolute ignorance when it comes to health, scientific, or other concerns. But the crime is when people like you, in a dumbocracy, advocate for state restriction, interference and obstruction of others' rational and moral health choices...who clearly do not have ONE CLUE what you are talking about.

Even the MOST bacteriophobic food inspectors INSIDE CFIA admit that raw milk is not a problem for human consumption. Even the LAW -- ass that it is -- does not restrict its consumption IF YOU OWN A COW. That this is a heinous unconstitutional and moral crime is not only unarguably discriminatory, but forms part of the basis for the CCF's heroic legal action.

Posted by: JC | 2009-11-18 10:30:24 PM

I drink raw milk all the time, when my grandpa used to drive the milk truck, we would fill up our thermos's at the dairy farms, the milk tastes so much better, and its so creamy. I also eat the uninspected, uncandled free range chicken eggs that my kids sell to our neighbors.(or trade for raw mik, or uninspected pork and beef)

Love the yummy natural tax free goodness.

Posted by: DrGreenthumb | 2009-11-20 2:33:50 PM

@ DrGreenthumb:

What province r u in?

Posted by: JC | 2009-11-21 1:58:53 AM

Another take on raw milk:

http://efoodalert.blogspot.com/2009/11/ron-paul-is-right.html

Posted by: Phyllis Entis | 2009-11-21 7:59:58 AM

Like the CCF, Ron Paul is a hero.

Posted by: JC | 2009-11-21 1:04:50 PM

@JC MB why?

Posted by: DrGreenthumb | 2009-11-21 5:33:29 PM

@Dr Greenthumb

Just wondering where you were sourcing your raw milk -- I know several people there who are interested -- and is it organic?

Posted by: JC | 2009-11-21 5:48:05 PM

I had organic raw milk for about six months, until the jump in gas prices shut the supplier down. loved the cream for coffee. i swear my teeth were whiter by the day. my knee that was out of sorts from speed-skating, cleared right up about 2 or 3 days after i started drinking it. (calcium enzimes) i wouldn't hesitate to drink it again if i could find another source. i'd swear on a stack of bibles to its health benefits.

Posted by: Doug | 2009-11-21 9:09:28 PM

Those interested in more information on non industrial agriculture food can find a lot of good information at www.eatwild.com

Posted by: Alain | 2009-11-22 10:05:52 AM

Ive never asked if it was organic, I'm pretty sure its not certified as such, but the cows are out eating grass every day in the field by my house. If you leave the milk sitting still in a jar in the fridge the cream rises to the top, then you can skim it off into another jar, put a lid on it and shake it up till you have some fresh butter.

Posted by: DrGreenthumb | 2009-11-22 10:12:45 AM

an excellent resource for information is the Weston A Price Foundation. they promote localism and farm-gate sales and have been lobbying in the US for legalizing raw milk for awhile now. they have connections with underground-market farmers in Canada, but you have to jump through some hoops.

the dairy i buy is raw only.

warning labels are for the dull and lazy. its not the responsibility of producers to hold our hands. i fully educate myself on the food i buy, and grow and slaughter my own.

Posted by: shel | 2009-11-22 10:52:50 AM

then you can skim it off into another jar, put a lid on it and shake it up till you have some fresh butter.

Posted by: DrGreenthumb | 2009-11-22 10:12:45 AM

My mother used to make butter, about 45 years ago. My memory has faded some, but I remember it as being a bit more complicated than you describe. Al that will get you is whipped cream.

Posted by: dp | 2009-11-22 1:41:33 PM

http://twitter.com/RealMilkAlberta

Posted by: Jones | 2009-11-22 3:34:40 PM

just need to keep shaking longer till it gets nice and clumpy, then strain off the liquidy stuff(buttermilk)

Posted by: DrGreenthumb | 2009-11-24 7:57:35 PM

growing up in vancouver I drank unpasterised milk with the paper caps in glass bottles and I grew up fine. I always remember mom collecting the cream for her coffee off the top of the bottle.

that was from a small dairy...(struggling to remember the name)

kudos to my mother

Posted by: ~nirvana~ | 2009-11-24 8:26:44 PM

A TIME TO CHOOSE
David Clayton
Blessed is he that readeth, and
they that hear the words of this
prophecy, and keep those things
which are written therein, for the
time is at hand. (Revelation 1:3)
This blessing is pronounced in the
first chapter of the book of Revelation.
In this verse, God lets us know that it
is of vital importance that we not only
read, but also understand, and “keep”
or obey, the things which are written
in this book. He lets us understand that
Revelation is a book of tremendous
significance for those who live upon
the earth in the last days. In a similar
book, the book of Daniel, we are told
that: “none of the wicked shall understand,
but the wise shall understand.”
(Daniel 12:10) You can see that it is a
serious issue whether or not we understand
these prophecies, whether or not
we are among the “wicked” or the
“wise.” The prophecy of the mark of
the beast is not something which is
easy to understand. There are many
different interpretations and as a result,
there is a great deal of confusion.
If you speak to a dozen different people,
most of them will have a different
interpretation of this passage of scripture.
And yet, it is of vital importance
that we understand this matter correctly,
because the Lord tells us in
Revelation chapter 14 verses 9–10
that,
If any man worship the beast ....
and receive his mark in his forehead
or in his right hand ... he shall be
tormented with fire and brimstone in
the presence of the holy angels, and
in the presence of the Lamb.
So we see that the most terrible
threatenings ever found in the word of
God are pronounced against those
who worship the beast and receive his
mark.
On the other hand, in Revelation
chapter thirteen in the last few verses,
we are told that those who refuse to
worship the beast, those who refuse to
receive his mark, will not be permitted
to buy or sell, will be ostracized–cut
off from society–and eventually will
be placed under sentence of death. So
we see that those who would serve
God will find themselves in a great dilemma.
They will be commanded by
the powers of the earth to receive this
mark of the beast, and if they will not
do this it will be decreed that they cannot
live in the world. However, the
God who is above all, who is our Creator,
in whom we live and move and
have our being, states that those who
worship the beast shall receive the
most terrible punishment.
Today there are millions of Christians
in the world, millions of people
who go by the name of Christ, but are
they all true Christians? No. Many
false professors fill the churches. So,
in Revelation chapter three and verse
ten, the Lord speaks about an hour of
temptation that is coming, which shall
“try” those who dwell upon the earth.
This hour of temptation will arrive
when the mark of the beast is forced
upon every person on earth. This great
test of the mark of the beast will separate
the true Christian from the false
pretender. When we come to the place
where we see our homes, our cars, our
furniture, our jobs, our friends, everything
which we have labored so hard
for everything on which our hearts
have been set all our lives in danger of
being lost to us, it will require a terrible
struggle to give up all these things
in order to follow the Lord. Then it
will be clearly revealed who the people
are who truly love the Lord with
all their hearts, and who those are that
only bear the name of Christ, but in reality
love themselves and the things of
the world best of all. As we proceed
with this study, the whole issue will
become much clearer.
Please ask God for the guidance of
His Holy Spirit as you carefully read
this booklet. I am sure that when you
come to the end of it you will be better
prepared to face this awful crisis
which is soon to come upon the earth.
God bless you as you read.
THE TWO BEASTS
In the book of Revelation, in chapter
13, God tells us about two great
beasts which would arise. The first,
one coming up out of the sea, had the
body of a leopard, the feet of a bear
the mouth of a lion, and had seven
heads and ten horns. The other, coming
up out of the earth, had two horns
like a lamb, but spoke like a dragon.
God gives us some identifying marks
which help us to clearly, unmistakably,
identify these two beasts and to
understand the kind of work which
each one will do.
Now when we read about these two
beasts the first question that comes to
mind is, “Are these real beasts, are we
to expect that such monsters will one
day walk abroad on the earth?” This is
not such a foolish question for I have
heard people express this opinion. So
what is the answer to the question?
Are these real animals, or are they
symbols representing something else?
It is clear that Revelation is a symbolic
book; over and over symbols are
used in it. For example: wherever you
find a Lamb in Revelation it represents
Jesus, while a dragon represents
Satan. Seven candlesticks are used to
represent the seven churches, and
seven stars the ministers of the seven
churches. So you can see that in the
book of Revelation things are not
what they appear to be. When we read
about these two beasts, our first question
must be, “What do these two
animals represent?”
The Bible interprets itself, and when
we turn back to the book of Daniel,
which is very similar to Revelation
being also a book full of beasts and
other symbols, we find in chapter 7
and verses 17 and 23 that God gives us
the interpretation of the symbol of a
beast and tells us what this symbol
means. Verse 17 says, “And these
great beasts which are four, are four
kings which shall arise out of the
earth.” So we see that a beast represents
a king. But in verse 23 it says:
“And the fourth beast shall be the
fourth kingdom upon the earth...” So
it is clear that a beast is not meant to
represent just a king, but the kingdom
itself. Therefore we can begin with the
- 2 -
understanding that when we see a
beast, we are to understand that God is
talking to us about a KINGDOM. In
Revelation it is plain that we are dealing
with two kingdoms. Two great
kingdoms which Satan would use in
the end of time to make war against
God’s people.
When we take a careful look at the
identifying marks of these two beasts,
it is fairly easy for an open-minded
person to identify the kingdoms or
powers which they represent.
As you read down to about verse
eight, it tells you several facts about
the first beast. Among other things it
tells you that he has on his heads the
name of blasphemy, that he opens his
mouth and speaks blasphemous words
against God, that he makes war
against the people of God and tries to
destroy them and that Satan gives him
his power, and his seat, and great authority.
It goes on to say that all the
world wonders after this beast, and admires
him.
This first beast arose out of the sea.
This means that the kingdom arose in
an area which was densely populated.
You see, in the book of Revelation
waters represent multitudes of
people. You will find the proof for
that in Revelation 17 and verse 15,
where it says:
...he said unto me: and the waters
which thou sawest where the
whore sitteth are peoples and nations
and multitudes and tongues.
The strongest clues to the identity of
the Beast are to be found in the book
of Daniel in chapter 7. In this chapter
we see four great beasts rising up from
the sea: a lion, a bear, a leopard, and a
terrible beast with ten horns on its
head. We are told that these beasts
represent four great kingdoms which
would arise out of the earth (Daniel
7:23), and it is not difficult to recognize
that these kingdoms are Babylon,
Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome.
The book of Daniel was written
about two thousand, six hundred years
ago. Since that time there have been
four great kingdoms which ruled over
the earth. There have been only four;
no more. In fact, God tells us that there
will never be a fifth one. The next time
that one single kingdom rules over the
whole earth will be when God sets up
His everlasting kingdom which shall
never be destroyed (Daniel 2:37-44).
Therefore, it is not difficult to identify
the kingdoms which these beasts rep-
- 3 -
resent. History tells us plainly that the
four great kingdoms which have ruled
over the earth during the past three
thousand years are Babylon,
Medo-Persia, Greece and, last and
strongest of all, Rome.
As Daniel looked at these beasts in
his vision he noticed that the fourth
beast, the one representing Rome, had
ten horns on its head. What was the
significance of these ten horns? History
tells us that as time passed even
the great kingdom of Rome began to
lose its power. As it weakened, it was
gradually broken up into ten smaller
kingdoms. These ten kingdoms were
originally known as: the Heruli, the
Vandals, the Ostrogoths, the
Burgundians, the Visigoths, the Anglo-
Saxons, the Franks, the Alamanni,
the Suevi and the Lombards. However,
today these ten kingdoms exist
as the modern nations of Europe. The
Anglo-Saxons became the English,
the Franks became the French, the
Alamanni became the Germans, and
we can still identify most of the others.
As Daniel observed these ten horns
which represented the nations of Europe,
he saw another little horn appear
in the midst of them. This little horn is
the one on which we want to focus
particularly for, as soon as you begin
to compare the works of this horn with
the works of the first beast in Revelation
13, you come to realize that they
both represent one and the same
power. Let us quickly compare them:
Daniel 7:21,25
“I beheld, and the same horn made
war with the saints and prevailed
against them... And he shall speak
great words against the Most High,
and shall wear out the saints of the
Most High, and think to change times
and laws: and they shall be given into
his hand until a time and times and the
dividing of time.”
- 4 -
THE TEN DIVISIONS OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE
It says that this horn shall:
(A) Speak great words against the
Most High
(B) Make war against the saints and
prevail against them.
(C) Afflict God’s people for three
and a half times, or years.
Notice the three things: Speak blasphemy
against God, make war on His
people and afflict them for three and a
half years. Now look at what it says of
the beast in Revelation 13:
Revelation 13:5,7
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 it was given unto him
to make war with the saints, and to
overcome them: and power was
given unto him over all kindreds and
tongues and nations.
Do you see? The beast does exactly
the same things as the horn!
(A) He speaks great things and
blasphemies.
(B) He makes war with the saints
and overcomes them.
(C) He continued for forty-two
months (which is the same as
three and a half years).
Now let me ask you a question. Do
you believe that there were to be two
such powers on the earth; Do you believe
that two antichrist powers would
arise which would do exactly the same
works, and continue for exactly the
same period of time? I am sure this is
not what God is telling us. It is plain
that both passages are speaking of the
same one power only using different
symbols. So we can settle it then, that
the little horn of Daniel chapter 7 represents
the exact same power as the
first beast of Revelation chapter 13.
The question then is: who is this little
horn? If we can identify the horn,
then we can know who the beast is.
Let us notice that it arose among the
ten horns. It came up among the nations
of Europe AFTER the Roman
empire had been broken up. So we
are looking for a power which arose in
Europe after the time of pagan Rome.
We are looking for a power which was
different from the other kingdoms,
which was more powerful than the
other kingdoms, for it says in
Daniel7:20 that it plucked up three of
the other horns. That is, it destroyed
- 5 -
three kingdoms. We are also told that it
was more “stout” than the others.
There is one power, and one power
only, which fits the description. This
power is the Papacy. It was the Papacy
which emerged as the most
powerful institution in Europe after
the decline of the Roman empire. It
was the Papacy which was responsible
for the destruction of three nations
which opposed the teachings of the
Roman Catholic Church as it was beginning
to rise to power. We will deal
with these facts in greater detail as we
continue with this study and you will
see that every single detail of the
prophecy has been fulfilled by the Papacy.
“The Papacy?” You ask, “What on
earth is the Papacy?” The Papacy is
the institution which is ruled over by
the pope. It is partly a church and
partly a political power. It is a combination
of the state of the Vatican and
the Roman Catholic Church. The Vatican,
though a small state, is an
independent political country, while
the Roman Catholic Church is by far
the largest of all the denominations
within the bounds of Christendom.
Both of these institutions are bound
together by one common tie: They
both look upon the pope as the head.
The Papacy is an institution where
church and state are truly united in
one. I am going to show more proof
that the Papacy is the power represented
by the beast, and I believe you
will be satisfied with the evidence that
is given. There is a great deal of proof.
We will take the points and deal with
them one by one and you will find that
what is written in Revelation chapter
13, from verse one to eight, is a perfect
description of the Papacy.
Let us take a quick look at how the
Papacy came into existence. This
powerful power came about as a result
of a gradual union between Christianity
and paganism which took place
over a period of many years. Just a
couple of centuries after Jesus returned
to heaven the church which He
left behind began to introduce pagan
principles into its worship. Little by
little it degenerated until it came to the
place where it was no more than a pagan
institution barely disguised as a
Christian church, with all the strange
forms of worship which are today
present in the Roman Catholic
Church.
This was precisely what had been
prophesied through the apostle Paul in
2 Thessalonians 2:3-12 where he refers
to the second coming of Jesus and
says:
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 who
opposeth and exalteth himself above
all that is called God or that is worshiped,
so that he as god, sitteth in
the temple of God, showing himself
that he is God.... For the mystery of
iniquity doth already work. Only He
who now letteth will let until He be
taken out of the way. And then shall
that wicked be revealed whom the
Lord shall consume with the spirit of
His mouth, and shall destroy with
the brightness of His coming.
- 6 -
So what we find here friends is that
even from the days of the apostle Paul
the mystery of iniquity was already
beginning its work, and Paul stated
that it would continue to develop in
the church until the conditions would
be right for the man of sin to appear in
the Christian church. He would sit in
the temple of God, claiming to have
God’s authority and power, and to be
deserving of the praise and worship
due to God Himself. This prophecy
was fulfilled exactly as Paul said it
would be, and not very long after the
time of Paul either!
You see, men came into the Christian
church who were more interested
in popularity and in worldly recognition
than in faithfully serving the Lord
Jesus. Just like in so many churches
today, people wanted what was acceptable
to the society in general.
They did not want true Christianity.
As Christianity became more widespread
it gradually gained acceptance
and persecution by the pagans ceased.
This opened the way for persons to
join the church who were more interested
in the prestige and influence
which an office in the church could
give, than in the earnest and true
Christian lifestyle which had been
called for in the days when the church
had been the object of scorn and reproach.
These worldly-wise leaders
decided that it would be a good plan to
break down some of the barriers
which existed between the teachings
of Christianity and paganism in order
that the Christian faith might be more
easily accepted by the pagans. It
seemed to them to be a good plan for
winning pagans to the faith.
It was during this time that celebrations
such as Easter and Christmas
were introduced into the Christian calendar,
adopted from pagan festivals
and given different meanings. There
were many other similar marriages
made between Christianity and paganism
during that period of time.
That was the beginning of the Roman
Catholic Church.
Of course there were, from time to
time, sincere and true Christians who
spoke out against the compromises
which were slowly but surely corrupting
the pure apostolic faith and
changing the Christian church into a
thoroughly pagan institution. But with
the decline of the true Christian faith,
there came into the church the persecuting
spirit of Satan, and the church
of Rome found a way to deal with
those who opposed her. From that
time she began a wave of persecution
that lasted for more than one thousand
years and which cost the lives of many
millions of Christians who dared to
stand up and call for a return to the
true religion of the Bible. Some historians
estimate that during that period,
from the year 538 A.D. until about
1750, more than sixty million Christians
were put to death on the
authority of the Roman Catholic
Church because they dared to believe
and to teach the simple and pure religion
of the Bible. Many were burned
alive at the stake. They were tortured
to death, they died by the sword and
by every conceivable means of destruction
which Satanic ingenuity
- 7 -
could devise. For what crime? For the
crime of daring to believe and to
preach the true religion of Jesus
Christ. This is what the Bible referred
to in Revelation 13:7, where it says
that this beast made war against the
saints.
The historian, W.E.H. Lecky, wrote:
That the church of Rome has
shed more innocent blood than any
other institution that has ever existed
among mankind, will be
questioned by no protestant who has
a competent knowledge of history...
it is impossible to form a complete
conception of the multitude of her
victims. (History of the Rise and Influence
of the Spirit of Rationalism
in Europe, Vol.2, p.32, 1910 edition)
Tom Dowling, in The History of
Romanism, says:
It is estimated... an average of
40,000 religious murders for every
year of the existence of the Papacy.
The Bible also says that all the world
would wonder after the Beast. For
many hundreds of years, the Roman
Catholic church was one of the most
powerful and feared institutions on
the face of the earth. You see, in those
days the great religion on the earth
which reached into most of the countries
of the earth, was Roman
Catholicism. People were taught to
believe that the pope was God’s representative,
that the power of salvation,
the power of life and death now and
eternally, was in the hands of the
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Extracts from the Irish Massacre 1641
“The great design was that ... all the
protestants without exception should be
murdered. The day fixed for this horrid
massacre was the 23rd of October,
1641....
The conspirators were in arms all over
the kingdom early in the morning of the
day appointed, and every protestant that
fell into their way was murdered ... no
age, no sex, no condition were spared.
There were some of them laid with the
centre of their backs on the axletree of a
carriage, with their legs resting on the
ground on one side and their arms and
head on the other. In this position, one of
the savages scourged the wretched objects
on the thighs and legs, while
another set on furious dogs, who tore the
arms and upper parts of the body to
pieces ....
Several were fastened to horses’ tails
... dragged along till they expired. Many
were hung on lofty gibbets, and a fire being
kindled under them, they finished
their lives, partly by hanging, and partly
by suffocation ....
The whole country was one common
scene of butchery, and many thousands
perished, in a short time, by sword, famine,
fire, water, and every species of
cruel death that rage and malice could
invent ....
When an estimate was afterward made
of the number who were sacrificed ... it
amounted to 150,000.” - Foxe’s Book of
Martyrs - pp. 333-337
priests of Rome. It was taught that the
common people could not understand
the Bible and the people were forbidden,
at times on pain of death, to read
the Bible. Many were punished with a
most cruel death for the dreadful
crime of daring to have the Bible in
their possession. The only idea which
the people had of Christianity was the
corrupted worship which was passed
on to them by the church of Rome.
And so they were taught that the pope
had the power to send men to either
heaven or to hell and that the priests,
as his representatives, had similar
power.
Understandably, people were very
afraid to displease the pope and every
head of state, every king, in every
country, feared him. People generally
believed that the authority of the pope
was more to be recognized, more to be
obeyed, than the authority of any king.
If the pope should excommunicate an
individual, or place a country under an
interdict, this would mean that he had
banned that person, or that country,
from the favor of God. It was taught
that such a person or country was
damned, bound for hell, and that there
was no way in heaven or earth for
them to be saved. People feared to incur
the displeasure of the pope, and
kings were very anxious to please the
pope in all matters.
Let me quote from a book entitled,
“The Other Side of Rome,” written by
John B. Wilder:
...millions of human beings
across the centuries have looked
upon the Pope with an awe that for
all practical purposes has elevated
him to a position of deity.
With such influence in his hands,
the Pope is a world leader whom
kings and presidents regard with
profound respect. Only a handful of
kings have resisted the Pope and
kept their thrones. For the most part,
they have feared the Pope and
obeyed him. In Germany Emperor
Frederick lay down on the floor and
allowed Pope Alexander to stand on
his neck. On another occasion, Pope
Celestine III crowned Henry VI of
England with the usual colorful ceremonies.
As the English king knelt in
front of him, after having had the
crown of the British Empire placed
upon his head, the Pope reached
forward with his foot and kicked the
crown from the monarch’s brow. At
another time, Pope Alexander rode
horseback down the streets of Rome.
Walking along on either side of his
horse, and leading the animal by the
bridle, went Louis, King of France,
and Henry, King of England.
An ordinary king or elected official
has always been at a great
disadvantage before a Pope. Kings
and presidents have means of exercising
influence over their people,
but none has ever had the means of
control that the Popes have held.
Kings may take a man’s liberty, his
property or his life. But they can
only interfere with him in this world.
The Pope however, has been able to
do all of these things and has announced
himself as being able to do
much more. He claims to have
power to determine to a large extent
the destiny of a man’s soul in eter-
- 9 -
nity. Therefore, if a citizen were
forced to choose between loyalty to
his king and loyalty to the Pope, he
usually sided with the head of his
church. Knowing this, some kings
allowed Popes to treat them as floor
mats and bridle boys.
You will notice that today the Papacy
is regaining some of that power
and influence, but it has not attained to
the same pinnacle on which it stood in
the past.
On the question of blasphemy, the
Papacy is again a perfect match for the
description of the beast. No other
power in existence upon the earth has
ever dared to make the arrogant,
boastful and blasphemous claims
which have been made by various
Popes, and by the Papacy in general.
Look at the following statements and
you may decide for yourself whether
or not they constitute blasphemy:
We hold upon this earth the
place of God Almighty. (Pope Leo
XIII)
The Pope is not only the representative
of Jesus Christ, but he is
Jesus Christ Himself, hidden under
the veil of flesh. Does the Pope
speak? It is Jesus Christ who
speaks... so that when the Pope
speaks we have no business to examine,
we have only to obey. (The
Catholic Mirror - Sept.2, 1893)
The Pope is of so great dignity,
and so exalted that he is not a mere
man but as it were, God, and the
vicar of God...the Pope alone is deservedly
called by the name ‘Most
Holy’ because he alone is the vicar
of Christ...he is likewise the divine
monarch and supreme emperor and
king of kings...hence the Pope is
crowned with a triple crown, as king
of heaven and of earth, and of the
lower regions...he is of so great dignity
and power that he forms one
and the same tribunal with
Christ...the Pope is as it were, God
on earth. (Prompta Bibliotheca - by
Lucius Ferraris)
Here, surely, are examples of the
most heaven-daring blasphemy ever
uttered by a power which professes to
be a Christian institution, and these
are just samples of many such statements
which have been made by the
Papacy.
One other piece of evidence which
we must also examine in greater detail
is the matter of the time periods which
God gives us in connection with the
little horn and the beast. Daniel tells
us that this period was three and a half
times (or years), while John tells us
that it was forty-two months, which
also works out to three and a half
years.
- 10 -
Let us establish something here: Today
we calculate a year as having 365
days, and the number of days in a
month varies from 28 to 31. However,
in the biblical calendar, which the
Jews used, every year had exactly 360
days and every month, 30 days. Let us
bear this in mind.
History tells us that the period of the
Papacy’s greatest power lasted for a
period of 1260 years. We have already
mentioned that in these prophetic
books a day is used to represent a year.
(If you look at Ezekiel 4:6 and Numbers
14:34, you will see where twice
before God applied this same principle
and used a day to represent a year).
Now the Bible says that the little
horn would persecute the saints for
three and a half times. How many
days would that be? If each year had
360 days, then three and a half years
would be three hundred and sixty multiplied
by three and a half, which
would work out to exactly 1260 days!
Again we are told that the beast would
continue his persecuting work for 42
months, and 42 months, with 30 days
each, works out to be the same 1260
days. Since a day is used to represent a
year, what we have here is a time period
of 1260 years. The exact time for
which history says the Papacy continued
as a dominant world power.
Hundreds of years ago, as the Papacy
was becoming more and more
influential and on the way to being the
most powerful political force in the
world, a stumbling block arose in her
way. Three of them in fact. The nations
of the Heruli, the Vandals and
the Ostrogoths were not favorable to
all the teachings of the Papacy. In fact
they were strongly opposed to certain
points of papal doctrine. The problem
was that the Heruli were at that time in
control of the city of Rome which was
the headquarters of the Papacy. These
three powerful kingdoms opposed the
Catholic Church and used their influence
to suppress its teachings. As long
as these nations existed they effectively
cut off any hope of the Papacy
ever rising to any position of greater
influence and power. It was only when
the other Catholic nations of Europe
made war upon and destroyed these
three kingdoms, that the way was
opened for the Papacy to rise to the
pinnacle of worldly power.
- 11 -
3 ½ Times & 42 Months
1 time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . = 360 days (1 Jewish year)
3 ½ times = 31/2 X 360 . . . . . . . . . . . . . = 1260 days
1 day = 1 year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1260 days = 1260 years
1 month . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . = 30 days (1 Jewish month)
42 months = 42 X 30 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . = 1260 days
1260 days . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . = 1260 years
The last of these three kingdoms, the
Ostrogoths, was destroyed in the year
538 A.D. and from that time the Papacy
rapidly rose to a position where
she dominated all the kingdoms of
earth for a period of 1260 years. It was
many centuries later, when the reigning
Pope Pius VI, was taken prisoner
by the armies of Napoleon in the year
1798, that the long reign of persecution
of the Papacy came to an end.
This period lasted from 538 when the
Ostrogoths were destroyed to 1798
when the Pope was taken prisoner, a
period of 1260 years. Again we see
that the description of the beast is exactly
matched by the Papacy.
The other beast which is found in the
11th verse of this same chapter 13
came up out of the earth. Now if waters
represent multitudes of people,
then clearly the earth represents the
opposite, for earth is the opposite of
water. So then the earth must represent
an area of the world in which
there are relatively few people.
It says that this second beast had two
horns like a lamb. Remember that Jesus
is the Lamb in the book of
Revelation. But this beast spoke like a
dragon. Remember that Satan is the
dragon in the book of Revelation. You
can read all of this for yourself, simply
take up your Bible and turn to Revelation
chapter 13. It is all there. Do not
take my word for it, but check it out
for yourself. Make sure that what you
believe is based on what you read in
the Bible. It says that this second
beast–the one which arises from the
earth and has two horns like a lamb
but speaks like a dragon–begins to do
many marvelous things. In fact he performs
miracles, even calling down fire
from heaven on the earth. These miracles
are similar to some of the greatest
miracles performed by God’s servants
during Bible times. It says furthermore
that he commands the people
who dwell on the earth to make an image
of the first beast–that is, the one
who came up out of the water–and that
they should give life to that image of
the beast. Then this second beast commands
everybody to receive a certain
mark in the forehead or in the right
hand, and that no man might be able to
buy except he has the mark, or the
name, or the number of the beast. And
more than that, he goes on to command
that anybody who does not
receive this “mark of the beast”
should be killed! The Bible finishes
by saying that the number of the beast
is six hundred and sixty-six.
This other beast you should be able
to help me to identify:
What great power exists on the earth
today which seems to have the characteristics
of a lamb? That is, it seems to
embrace the principles of Jesus Christ,
the Lamb of God? It seems to present
the appearance of a Christian power;
and yet the Bible says that it speaks
like a dragon. Underneath it is working
with Satanic principles, but on the
surface it seems to be a Christian
country. Which great nation, a nation
with influence all over the earth, will
influence the whole world to worship
the first beast? Which nation has that
kind of power and influence, which
looks like a “Christian” nation? In
fact, this country appears to be such a
- 12 -
good Christian country with such
freedom such godly principles that
when people go there they don’t even
want to return to their own country
Which country is that? I am sure that
you have already concluded that this
must be the United States of America.
This is the power which is represented
by the second beast. A great political
power which is able to persuade the
whole world to give in to its demands.
If this is true, then what God is trying
to tell us is that the United States of
America will one day influence the
whole world to “worship” the Papacy,
or the Roman Catholic institution.
Now let me
briefly sum up
what I have been
trying to say thus
far. I have been trying
to establish the
fact that the first
beast of Revelation
thirteen represents
the Roman Catholic institution, otherwise
called the Papacy, and that the
second beast represents the United
States of America. Now how do these
two powers work together to bring
about the last great crisis on the earth?
Let us see what the Bible says in Revelation
13. Verse 12 says that the
second beast, that is the United States
of America,
exerciseth all the power of the
first beast, and causeth the earth
and them which dwell therein to
worship the first beast whose deadly
wound was healed.
It says furthermore that he, the second
beast,
doeth great wonders so that he
maketh fire come down from heaven
on the earth in the sight of men, and
deceiveth them that dwell on the
earth by means of those miracles
which he had power to do in the
sight of the beast.
Now I have been talking about the
United States of America when referring
about this second beast. But here
it says that this beast will perform
MIRACLES, calling down fire from
heaven on the earth. Now when we
talk about miracles we know that we
are talking about religion. The United
States as a secular power will not be
performing miracles!
But we are
talking here about
the religious element
in the United
States. A powerful
religious force
within the United
States of America
which will perform supernatural acts,
as a means of convincing the secular
government to carry out its wishes.
This is why, later on in chapters 16
and 19, this same two-horned beast is
referred to as “The False Prophet.”
Today, among the religious bodies
of the United States of America , there
is a growing emphasis on miracles.
The charismatic movement is sweeping
through all the churches and many
people are seeing this as the mighty
moving of the Holy Spirit. But we
need to be very careful of what we believe
and what we get involved in, for
it is through these religious bodies in
the United States of America that the
- 13 -
mighty miracles will be performed
which will deceive the whole world.
The Bible prophesies that these religious
powers will perform miracles as
a means of convincing the people that
they should make an image of the first
beast. What this means is that in the
United States of America a system
will be set up which will be exactly
like the Papacy. That is what the image
of the Beast is–a system which is
just like the beast!
What are the main features of this
first beast, the Papacy? If we can identify
these main features, then we know
that when we see these same features
duplicated in the United States, then
America will have formed an image of
the beast.
Now basically, the Papacy is a
religio-political system. This means
that it is partly a church and partly a
political state. Both secular and religious
authority are combined in one. It
is not so yet in the United States. At
the moment, there is still a very strong
separation between church and state
and the Constitution of the United
States of America even has a clause in
it which guarantees this separation.
However, there are powerful people in
the United States who even at this moment
are using all their influence to
break down this separating wall between
church and state, and the
prophecy tells us that they will succeed.
At the moment, the separation
remains, but, the mighty miracles
which will be performed by these religious
forces will be the ultimate
persuasion. This will be seen as the
hand of God at work and it will be
- 14 -
His number is 666 (Rev. 13:18)
The Pope has been given the title, “Vicar of the Son of God.” In the
Latin (which is the official language of the Roman Catholic Church),
this is written as, “VICARIUS FILII DEI.” Most of us learned in school
that letters are used to represent numbers, in “Roman Numerals.” When
we evaluate the title of the Pope, using Roman numerals, we come up
with the exact number 666, as demonstrated in the following figure.
V. . . . . . . 5
I. . . . . . . 1
C. . . . . . . 100
A. . . . . . . 0 F . . . . . 0 Total
R. . . . . . . 0 I . . . . . . 1
I. . . . . . . 1 L . . . . . 50 D . . . . . 500 112
U. . . . . . . 5 I . . . . . . 1 E . . . . . 0 53
S. . . . . . . 0 I . . . . . . 1 I . . . . . . 1 501
112 53 501 666
seen as the will of God that the church
should have an input in deciding the
policies which run the country. In
other words, that there should be a union
between church and state. When
this happens in the United States, then
we may know that America has
formed an image of the Beast. Inevitably,
just as in the case of the Papacy,
this image of the beast will become a
persecuting power seeking to destroy
all those who are not in harmony with
its decrees; all who will not worship in
the way that it demands.
If you are in touch with what is happening
today by listening to the news
or reading the newspapers, then you
already know that there are strong
movements afoot to bring about this
religio-political union. There is a great
cry among the churches today that
they ought to have, and that they will
have, a bigger input in the governing
of the various countries and in the way
that the world is run. Today, the
World Council of Churches has become
a very influential institution
with the power to influence many of
the policies which govern the world.
According to the prophecy, the unholy
marriage between these two powers
church and state will soon be a reality
in the United States. The image of the
beast will be fully formed. What a
time of testing that will be for God’s
people! Who will then dare to stand up
and say that God ought to be obeyed
rather than men? To take such a stand
at that time will mean placing one’s
life in the greatest danger, but all who
are faithful to the Lord, all who are
truly His children, will remain faithful
to Him. All the powers of earth and
hell combined cannot cause them to
be disloyal to their Saviour.
THE MARK
Now that we have settled the question
of who these two beasts are, the
next question which we need to face
is, “What is the mark of this beast?”
Remember, please, that the mark is
the mark of the first beast. There are
some fundamental things which we
need to understand before we can begin
to deal with this topic, and one of
these is the truth that ever since God
created man and placed him on this
planet the great issue has been loyalty
to God the question of whether a person
would obey God, or obey some
other master. From the Garden of
Eden when God said to man, “thou
shalt not eat of the fruit of the tree...”
and Satan persuaded him that he
should eat, this has been the issue. If
you read the Bible carefully, you will
see that this has always been the separating
line between God’s people and
those who are not. Obedience! That
was the critical issue, and that is what
reveals whether we are God’s people
or not. Yes, it is true that we only obey
as Jesus is allowed to control our
lives. We of ourselves can do nothing.
Nevertheless, when Christ lives in us
He will lead us to obey God, and this
is how we may identify the person
who is a true and sincere Christian.
We may know him by his fruit–by his
obedience (Matt.7:20). In dealing
with this question of the mark of the
beast, we need to bear this fact in
mind.
- 15 -
Let me ask you a question; a simple
question: Will God punish people for
anything else apart from sin? Will
God be displeased with men for anything
other than sin? The obvious
answer is no! The only thing which
will bring God’s punishment down on
men is the fact that men commit sin.
Sin is what causes separation between
man and God and makes man deserving
of death. God says, “The soul that
sinneth, it shall die.” The next question
is this, “What is sin?” The Bible
gives us a clear answer in 1 John 3:4.
It says, “Whosoever committeth sin
transgresseth also the law, for sin is
the transgression of the law.” So
then a man commits sin when he
breaks or transgresses the law.
Consider then: Is it a sin to receive
the mark of the beast? Is the mark of
the beast sin? Is the receiving of this
mark something which God will punish?
In Revelation 13 verses 9-12 God
promises that those who receive the
mark of the beast will receive the most
dreadful punishment ever meted out
to any human being, so we may be
certain that sin is involved in receiving
the mark of the beast. Since sin is
the transgression of the law, it must
mean that receiving the mark of the
beast will involve the breaking of the
law of God. This has always been the
basic issue from the beginning of
time–the question of obedience to
God’s law–and at the end of time it remains
the key issue.
Revelation is a book of symbols.
Many people are expecting that some
day people will be going around with
some kind of device by which they
will place some kind of literal mark on
the bodies of people. Some specify
that this will be the number 666, but
remember that the NUMBER of the
beast is 666, which helps us to identify
the beast. The MARK of the beast is
something else. Revelation is a symbolic
book. Things are not the way
they appear. When we see that people
are to receive a mark, are we to believe
that this is to be a literal mark?
Some kind of tattoo which we can see
with our physical eyes? Something
which is to be engraved on people’s
bodies? Why do we look at it in such a
simplistic way?
It is interesting to note that the book
of Revelation speaks about two
marks. One set of people will receive
a mark which is called “the seal of
God” (Rev.7:1-3). The rest of the
world will receive a mark which is
called, “The mark of the beast.” Now
in order to help us to understand what
these two marks are, I’m going to go
right back to the very beginning. You
see, this is not something new which
crops up at the end of time. The controversy
between God and Satan
began before this world was created
and has continued up until the present
time. The principles involved, the issues
at stake are basically the same
from beginning to end. God does not
change and Satan’s strategies have not
changed very much either. The issues
have come to us in a different context,
but in the Garden of Eden, the key
question was that of obedience to the
law of God, and Satan convinced
Adam and Eve to disobey God. He
made them believe that disobedience
- 16 -
was a trivial thing, but with God, obedience
is always a crucial test in
determining our loyalty to Him, and
this is still the issue here at the end of
time.
GOD’S SIGN
From the very beginning God has
had a mark which He has specifically
stated is a sign between Himself and
His people, and God has placed that
sign on everything which He has
claimed as His. Of course, we need to
understand that one of the devil’s key
strategies is that whenever God establishes
something which is of
importance, Satan tries to set up a
counterfeit, an alternative which looks
similar, but is not quite the same. This
he does in order to deceive people and
to lead them into something which is
contrary to the will of God; something
which seems to be okay to the person
who is not a careful student of God’s
Word and who is not led by the Holy
Spirit. So as we look at God’s mark, or
God’s sign, let us keep this in mind.
Let us go back to the very beginning.
In Genesis chapter one we are
told that God made this world in six
days. Of course He took six days because
He chose to, because a God of
infinite power could have created it in
one second. God chose to take six
days for reasons which He knows
best. However, since God took six
days to create the world, then each
week should have had just six days,
because the week came into existence
because of the time which God took to
make the world. The creation week
was the first week, and every other
week since then has been patterned after
that first week of this world’s
history. So the week should have had
six days! But in Genesis chapter 2:1-3,
the Bible says that when He had finished
His creation, God rested. God
entered into an experience on the seventh
day which the Bible describes as
“rest.” In Exodus 31:17, we are told
that God was “refreshed” by that experience.
It was such a beautiful
experience for Himself that God
blessed that day. He sanctified it and
He set it apart. To “sanctify” means to
set apart for a holy purpose. To
“bless” means to make holy. From
that day God blessed the Sabbath and
sanctified it BECAUSE He rested on
that day. Notice that all this happened
before there was any sin on this world.
It was a part of God’s perfect plan.
When God’s work of creation was
completed He set a seal upon it by
placing the seventh day at the end of
the week as a perpetual reminder of
the fact that He is the Creator and that
He created the world in one awesome
week as a reminder that He is the Al-
- 17 -
2 4
5
6
7 1 3
mighty God; the One who does not require
endless ages of evolution to
create a perfect thing out of nothing.
The seventh day Sabbath stands therefore
as a seal as a mark as a perpetual
witness to the truth that this world was
created in six days. So this day was
added to the week, and this is why
even today the week has exactly seven
days. No more, no less.
I want you to notice that the seventh
day was added to the week for one
purpose, and one only. That it came
into existence as a part of the week as
a memorial of God’s experience of
rest. More than that, however, it was
set apart for a holy purpose. The same
holy purpose for which it was used on
the very first Sabbath when God was
refreshed. That holy purpose was that
man and God should have uninterrupted
communion together just as
God had with Adam and Eve on that
first day after they were created, that
first Sabbath when the fellowship “refreshed
” the Spirit of Jehovah. This is
the only reason for which this day has
been attached to the week.
Later on when God called the Jews
to be His peculiar people when God
took them out of Egypt and made a
covenant with them, God said, “because
you are mine, I now give you
the Sabbath.” This is the sign which
God places upon what belongs to
Him—the Sabbath, the seventh-day
Sabbath. This is made quite clear in
Ezekiel chapter 20:12, where, speaking
of the Jews, God says,
Moreover, I gave them also, MY
SABBATHS that it might be a sign
between me and them that they may
know that I am the Lord that sanctify
them.
“I gave them my Sabbaths to be a
sign between Me and them.” It was,
and is, God’s Sabbath, but He gave it
to the Jews. A sign between God and
the Jews that they could know that He
was the One who was their God, their
Sanctifier; the One who made them
holy, the One who had set them apart
to be a peculiar people. Not that it was
the Sabbath of the Jews. It was God’s
Sabbath, given to the Jews because
they had now become God’s people;
they now entered into a special, peculiar
relationship with God and this, the
keeping of the Sabbath, was the sign
of that relationship.
Some people say that this relationship
was only between God and the
Jews but the Bible does not support
this idea. In Isaiah chapter 56 God
says that the stranger (and the word
“stranger” there means “Gentile”)
who joined himself to the Lord, and
who would take hold of the Sabbath,
would also receive a place and a name
better than that of sons and daughters.
So this privilege of sonship, of entering
into a covenant relationship with
God, was always available to the
Gentiles. But as you will read here in
Isaiah 56, it was dependent on the
Gentiles also accepting the Sabbath,
the sign of God’s covenant relationship.
Friends, God never broke that
covenant. God never changed that
sign. Though many people try to tear
down the law of God and to say that
the Sabbath was abolished, the Bible
does not teach that doctrine, and we
have to look somewhere outside of the
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Bible to find authority for that belief.
Later on in this message we will see
exactly where this change came from
and how it came about.
Jesus made it perfectly clear that all
of God’s laws were to continue forever.
In Matthew chapter 5:18,19 He
said that,
till heaven and earth pass, one
jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass
from the law, till all be fulfilled.
Whosoever therefore shall break
one of the least of these commandments
and shall teach men so, shall
be called the least in the kingdom of
heaven.
Colossians 2:16-17 says that the
Sabbaths were a shadow of things to
come, but if we think carefully we will
see that this could not include the seventh-
day Sabbath. The Jews had many
Sabbaths which they observed, for the
word “Sabbath” really means “rest.”
(see Lev. 23: 24, 32, 39; 25:4). But the
seventh-day Sabbath was peculiar because
it was God’s Sabbath, intended
to commemorate God’s rest. These
other Sabbaths, like the Passover, the
Day of Atonement, Pentecost, and
many others, were shadows, or types
which pointed forward to some great
event in God’s plan of redemption.
The seventh-day Sabbath was not one
of these types. You see, these types
were instituted after man sinned. They
were to be lessons, or parables which
were intended to teach the Jews about
God’s plan to redeem man from sin.
But the seventh-day Sabbath was
from before man sinned. It was a part
of God’s perfect plan. It was no afterthought.
Not something put in as a
result of sin, but there from the beginning
a part of God’s perfect plan for
sinless man.
The true value of the Sabbath lies in
understanding and appreciating what
God intended it should be from the beginning.
The Bible says God was
refreshed on the Sabbath day. He
“rested,” though God could not be
tired. God spent that first Sabbath day
with Adam and Eve, His two
newly-created creatures; His son and
His daughter. As God spent that day
with them and God got to know them
better, they also began to know Him,
and it was such a beautiful experience
for them all that the Bible describes it
by saying that “God “rested” and was
“refreshed.” (Exodus 31:17). No
doubt it was a beautiful experience for
Adam and Eve also. God “sanctified”
the day. He set it apart forever, and in
this He was saying, “I want this experience
to come back over and over
again. Every seventh day I want to enter
into this experience again.” The
Sabbath became a memorial of that
“rest” experience which God had enjoyed.
Amemorial of that first seventh
day when God and man had enjoyed
total oneness. God is inviting man to
continually enter this experience
which He had with Adam and Eve on
that first Sabbath day, and the sign of
this relationship is the observance of
the seventh-day Sabbath.
Outside of this, the Sabbath loses its
meaning. It is the experience which
the day is intended to foster and to
commemorate, which means something.
Apart from this, the Sabbath
can deteriorate into dry, empty legal-
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ism. But truly understood and truly
appreciated as God intended that it
should be, it is one of the most beautiful
gifts which God has given to man.
SATAN’S COUNTERFEIT
But, as stated before, Satan always
tries to counterfeit whatever God establishes.
This is especially true in the
case of something like the Sabbath
which God set aside as a particular
sign to be an identifying mark between
Himself and His people. Satan
set himself to counterfeit this, to destroy
in people’s minds the reverence
for the Sabbath which God had ordained
that it should have. Satan set
out to destroy the Sabbath, and I am
going to now give some history as to
how Sunday observance, which is the
opposite thing, came into existence. I
am aware that some of you who read
this booklet have a long tradition of
Sunday observance. Your grandparents,
your parents, you yourself, may
have been born into a home where
Sunday observance was the normal
way of life. Please understand that I
do not mean to attack you or to hurt
you. My only purpose, by God’s
grace, is to help us to see things in the
true light of the Scriptures so that we
may have the option of choosing to
walk in the light of God as we see
more clearly the way that He would
have us to take.
I am going to turn now to Collier’s
Encyclopedia, and I amgoing to quote
from the article entitled, “Sunday.”
To understand the meaning and
the significance of Sunday as the
first day of the week, it is necessary
to consider the five contributions
that have been made to its place in
the calendar, and to its manner of
observance.
1. The worship of the S U N
among ancient peoples. [What this
is saying, is that Sunday observance
began when, in ancient times, people
began to worship the sun. I am
going to deal with this point a little
more closely, but let us just read the
other four points first.]
2. The popularity of Mithraism
among the Romans. [This was also a
form of sun worship.]
3. The Roman observance of the
day of the sun.
4. The early Christian dedication
of the first day of the week as a
memorial of the resurrection of
Christ.
5. The Scottish Presbyterian
conception of Sunday as a day of
rest.
So we see that according to Collier’s
Encyclopedia, Sunday observance began
when pagans started worshiping
the sun in ancient times.
Now let’s take a look at a little history.
Perhaps it might not be very easy
to check out the facts which we are
about to examine. However, you will
be able to find many of these facts in
the books, Babylon, Mystery Religion,
by Ralph Woodrow and The Two
Babylons by Alexander Hislop.
The Bible speaks in Genesis 10 and
11 of a man named Nimrod. You will
remember that when God destroyed
the world by a flood He commanded
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Noah to build an ark in which he and
his family found refuge and escaped
that terrible destruction because they
trusted in, and believed, God. Some
years after the flood this man Nimrod
began to become a person of renown
in the earth. The Bible says that he became
“a mighty hunter before the
Lord.” Or as some commentators have
rendered it, “a mighty hunter instead
of the Lord.” What we are made to understand
is that Nimrod began to set
himself up as a mighty person, as one
who was to be looked up to instead of
Jehovah. He was the first man on the
earth who made war on his neighbors.
Up to this time there had been no governments,
no nations. People had
lived in scattered family groups with
the head of each family being the
highest authority but with no central
authority or organized social structure.
Nimrod decided to gather people
together into cities and to bind them
together under one central government
with himself as the ruler, the
ultimate authority. The Bible says that
the beginning of his kingdom was Babel.
Nimrod made war on his
neighbors, established a kingdom for
himself and proceeded to set himself
up as the greatest man on earth.
Nimrod was such a powerful man,
such a skillful warrior and so successful
in the hunt and in warfare, that the
people eventually elevated him to the
place where they actually regarded
him as a god. They began to look to
him as their protector and provider.
His wife, Semiramis, who was said to
be a very beautiful woman, of course
rose in the shadow of Nimrod to become
the most powerful woman in the
world.
Nimrod was eventually killed (it is
believed by Noah’s son Shem who remained
alive for a period of five
hundred years after the flood and who
led an expedition against him because
of his blasphemous acts against God),
but Nimrod’s wife, Semiramis, managed
to convince the people (in order
to maintain her influence as queen)
that Nimrod, in dying, had merely
moved on to a different sphere and
that his spirit was now in the sun, and
that day by day as the sun passed by
overhead Nimrod’s spirit was watching
over them all. This was the
beginning of Sun worship, with the
corresponding Sunday observance.
Eventually Semiramis died and they
came to believe that her spirit was
gone to live in the moon! So they also
started to worship the moon and called
it the queen of heaven. You may read
in Jeremiah 7:18 where God rebuked
the people of Israel for copying the
heathen nations in worshiping this
queen of heaven. They worshiped the
sun, the moon, and eventually they
even worshiped the planets and the
stars. Since they regarded the sun as
the most important god, they dedicated
the first day of the week to the
sun and called it the day of the sun.
This is where the name “Sunday”
came from. The second day was called
Moon’s day in honor of the moon and
the other days were dedicated to various
other gods.
So this is really where Sunday observance
began. With heathen sun
worship Satan’s counterfeit of what
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God had established. God had consecrated
the seventh day of the week and
set it aside for His honor and worship.
Satan led men to substitute the opposite,
the first day of the week. This
deception has continued right down
through the ages. Almost every heathen
nation has had a history of sun
worship, with the corresponding observance
of Sunday.
In Egypt they worshiped the sun under
the name of Ra; in Babylon he was
worshiped as Bel; in Medo-Persia he
was worshiped as Mithra. The
Romans also embraced this form of
sun worship called Mithraism, while
the Greeks adored him under the name
of Apollos. Also, as you read the Bible,
you will find that the Israelites
had a great deal of conflict with heathen
sun worshipers whom they
encountered in Palestine and who
worshiped the sun under the name of
Baal. At one time, during the days of
Elijah, sun worship filled Israel and
there was eventually a great confrontation
on Mount Carmel between
Elijah and these worshipers of Baal.
You may read about this in 1 Kings,
chapter 18:20-40.
Ezekiel had a vision in which God
showed him a group of men who pro-
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HOW DID THE DAYS OF THE
WEEK GET THEIR NAMES
By A. LEOKUM
The first people to give each of the
seven days of the week a name were the
ancient Jews. But it was really a number
after the Sabbath day (which was Saturday).
For example, Wednesday was
called the fourth day (four days after
Saturday).
When the Egyptians adopted the
seven-day week, they named the days
after five planets, the sun and the moon.
The Romans used the Egyptian names
for their days of the week; the day of the
sun, of the moon, of the planet mars, of
Mercury, of Jupiter, of Venus, and Saturn.
We get our names for the days not
from the Romans but from the Anglo-
Saxons, who called most of the days
after their own gods, which were
roughly the same as the gods of the
Romans.
The day of the sun became
Sunnandaeg, or Sunday. The day of the
moon was called Monandaeg, or Monday.
The day of Mars became the day of
Tiw, who was their god of war. This became
Tiwesdaeg, or Tuesday. Instead of
Mercury’s name, that of the god Woden
was given to Wednesday
The Roman day of Jupiterth–the
thunderer–became the day of the thunder
god Thor, and this became
Thursday. The next day was named for
Frigg, the wife of their god Odin, and so
we have Friday. The day of Saturn became
Saeternsdaeg, a translation from
the Roman, and then Saturday.
A day by the way, used to be counted
as the space between sunrise and sunset.
The Romans counted it from midnight to
midnight, and most modern nations used
this method.
fessed to be God’s people but who
turned their backs to the temple of
God and worshiped the sun toward the
east. This story can be found in
Ezekiel 8:16.
THE CHANGE
This is the true story of how Sunday
observance began, and the Bible states
in a startling text which many people
have never read (in Daniel 7:25) that
the beast kingdom would “think to
change times and laws.” Please make
a note of this text and read it carefully!
This is what God showed to Daniel in
a vision.
Think about this: Whose times
would he change? Whose laws? There
is nothing unusual about changing the
laws or the times of men. That happens
all the time. So when God warns
us that the little horn on the head of the
beast would try to change “times and
laws,” it must be clear that He is talking
about GOD’S TIMES AND
GOD’S LAWS! Somewhere in God’s
law, in the Ten Commandments, there
is a law which deals with time and the
Bible tells us here that the little horn,
which is the Papacy, would try to
change it. Now if we go through the
Ten Commandments from beginning
to end we will find that there is only
one commandment which deals with
time. All the commandments begin
“Thou shalt” or “Thou shalt not,” but
this one begins with the word “Remember.
” The peculiar thing is that
this is the one which people are most
neglectful of and are most willing
and anxious to forget. God says,
“Remember the Sabbath day to keep
it holy.” (Exodus 20:8) He says,
“The seventh day is the Sabbath of
the Lord thy God.” (Exodus 20:10)
Friends, we have seen clearly that
the beast represents the Roman
Catholic church-kingdom. It is this
beast-kingdom which has tried to
change God’s times and laws.
Let us now read from the writings of
the Roman Catholic Church itself to
prove to you that this church is the one
which has tried to change the Sabbath
from the seventh to the first day of the
week. Roman Catholics are not
ashamed of, or embarrassed by, this
change. They boast about it! They
claim that their church has the authority
to change even the laws of God!
They claim that the Pope has received
this authority from God, and the statement
has been made that it is a MARK
of the power of the church that it has
been able to change even the laws of
God. Do you see the significance of
this? The Roman Catholic Church
says: I changed the Sabbath. God gave
me that authority. Everybody else has
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accepted this change and now acknowledges
Sunday as a day to be
observed as holy. Therefore, this
means that everyone accepts that God
has given us, the Roman Church, this
authority. So you see, Sunday observance
is a MARK of our authority!
Let me read to you from the Catholic
Encyclopedia, Volume 4, page 153.
The church, after changing the
day of rest from Sabbath, or the seventh
day of the week, to the first,
made the third commandment refer
to Sunday as the day to be kept holy
as the Lord’s day...
Now you will notice that they refer
to it as “the third commandment although
in reality the Sabbath
commandment is the fourth commandment.
The reason for this is that
the Catholic Church has removed the
second commandment which forbids
the worship of images. This second
commandment says, “Thou shalt not
make unto thee any graven image,”
nor “… bow down thyself to them...”
However, in the Catholic Church it is
a common practice for the people to
bow to the images of Mary and dead
saints. In order to make this practice
acceptable, they have simply cut out
the second commandment and done
away with that part of God’s Word.
Then the third commandment is regarded
by them as the second and the
fourth has become the third. To preserve
the number ten, the last
commandment is divided into two. So
we see that the Roman Catholic
Church claims that it was their work to
change the Sabbath day from the seventh
day to the first day. Let us read
again from an article entitled, “The
Christian Sabbath” which was published
by “The Catholic Mirror of
Baltimore” in the year 1893:
The Catholic Church, for over
one thousand years before the existence
of a protestant by virtue of her
divine mission, changed the day
from Saturday to Sunday. But the
Protestants say, “How can I receive
the teachings of an apostate
church?” “How,” we ask, “have
you managed to receive her teachings
all your life in direct opposition
to your recognized teacher, the Bible,
on the Sabbath question?”
Now these are plain words, and they
are written by Catholics. This is a reasonable
question. If the Protestant
claims to believe the Bible and the
Bible only, then how does he come to
be observing Sunday instead of the
seventh-day Sabbath? Where does he
get this authority from? Who can find
this change in the Bible? It is not
there! There is not a single hint in the
Bible that God ever blessed the first
day of the week or that it is any different
from the other five days which
come after it. Yet millions of people
who are not Roman Catholics are at
the present time observing Sunday,
setting it aside as a special day of worship
every week, while they trample
upon the day which the Bible says is
holy and make it a day of business and
recreation. Where has this authority
come from? It has come from the
Catholic Church! From the Catholic
Church alone, and those who observe
Sunday and defend it are acknowledging
that the Roman Catholic Church
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has been given the right by God to
change the Sabbath. Do you see more
clearly how Sunday observance is the
mark of the authority of the Roman
Church? Look at the following statement
which actually appeared in a
Catholic publication:
Sunday is the MARK of our authority.
The church is above the
Bible, and this transference of Sabbath
observance is proof of the fact.
(The Catholic Record, London, Ontario,
Sept.1, 1923)
For hundreds of years Christians all
over the world have observed the first
day of the week instead of God’s Sabbath.
Many of them have done this in
ignorance, sincerely believing that
they were doing the correct thing. God
has accepted their worship because
they did not know better, and has
counted them as His children because
they were sincerely seeking to please
Him even though in their lack of understanding
they were disobeying
Him. But God desires that we should
worship Him not only in spirit, but
also in TRUTH! (John 4:24) And as
we come to the end of time, the truth
and the glory of God must go to the
ends of the world. It is impossible for
a person’s life to glorify God in the
way that God wants as long as he continues
to hold on to error and
falsehood. How can a man truly glorify
God if there are elements of
paganism in the way that he worships
God?
God speaks to us through His Word
and He calls us up, higher to a more
pure and perfect worship! And those
who hear and yet refuse to obey the
word of God place themselves in a position
where they are in rebellion
against God and are in danger of being
eternally lost! Having read this, you
have an obligation to obey God. You
cannot, after this, claim that you are
ignorant and that you do not understand.
Your own conscience will ever
after trouble you and give you no rest
until you make up your mind to surrender
completely to the will of God
or else grieve away God’s Holy Spirit
by continual disobedience and so end
up with the devil and his angels in the
lake of fire!
THE APPROACHING CRISIS
Now what does all of this have to do
with the mark of the beast? Have you
seen the direction in which this study
is heading?
Some time ago, back in the year
1977, as a young Christian I was feeling
a bit discouraged one day and I
prayed to God and asked Him to show
me a sign just to give me a little encouragement,
to show me something
to help me to be reassured that the end
of time was indeed very near. Now
that I am a more mature Christian I
would not ask God for such a thing for
I realize that the Word of God shows
us very clearly where we are, and we
are to base our faith upon that Word,
rather than upon signs. Nevertheless, I
was a baby in Christ and God understood
this, and He will sometimes give
something to a child that He would not
give to an adult. Later that day, I saw
God’s answer. An article appeared in
the local newspaper, The Gleaner,
which had the caption, “Methodists
concerned over misuse of Lord’s
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day.” When I read the article it struck
me with tremendous force. It stated
that the Methodist Church in Jamaica
was concerned about the “misuse” of
the “Lord’s day” (meaning Sunday).
They were concerned that there were
too many sporting events being held on
that day, too much
recreation, and too
little regard for the
sanctity of the day.
One particular statement
caught my
attention. They said
that “Christian corporate
worship,” or
in other words, unity
among Christians,
could only be
achieved if it was
based on a greater
regard for Sunday as
a holy day.
This is the direction
in which Satan
is leading the world. He wants it to be
established by law that Sunday should
be treated as a holy day! It is Satan’s
plan! He means that the whole world
shall embrace his form of worship
rather than God’s! This has been his
plan from the very beginning. Whatever
God has ordained, Satan has tried
to turn upside down. Unhappily, even
those who call themselves the children
of God, who go by the name of
Christians, have allowed themselves
to be deceived by the father of lies and
have not only accepted pagan Sunday
observance, but are demanding that
the governments of the world should
force every person, by law, to give the
same honor to the false Sabbath that
they have given to it.
Jesus said that the way to eternal life
was straight and narrow and that only a
few people would find it. He stated that
many would one day come with the
claim that they had served Him faithfully
and had done
many miracles in
His name, but His
answer to them
would be, “I never
knew you!” (Matthew
7:13,14, 21-23)
This is exactly what
is happening. People
are claiming to
be Christians, when
in reality, they are
serving Satan. Let
us beware of
blindly following
the majority. Let us
not simply walk in
the footsteps of the
crowd. Let us follow the teaching of
God’s Word, no matter how unpopular
it makes us or what the
consequences may be. This is our only
safety. Satan is trying to bring the
world to the place where, by a decree
of law all mankind will be compelled
to disobey God, and to serve the great
deceiver.
Just as in the days of the Tower of
Babel, men are trying to work out
their own salvation; to establish a religious
system of their own choice
rather than what God requires. This is
why God calls the religious systems of
the day “Babylon the Great,” the religious
prostitute which commits
- 26 -
fornication with the kings of the earth.
But God will not accept false worship,
and as He destroyed that tower of ancient
times, so He will again destroy
this present-day attempt to defy His
word.
There are several organizations in
the world today, most of them located
in the United States of America,
which are trying very hard to get
Sunday officially set aside by law as a
day of rest and worship! Among these
are: The National Reform Association;
The International Reform
Association; The Lord’s Day Alliance
of the United States; The New York
Sabbath Committee; The Federal
Council of The Churches of Christ in
America, among others. To get an
idea of the direction in which these
people want to go, let us read a quotation
from a representative of one of
these groups. This quotation was
taken from a publication entitled, Special
Alert No.29, edited by a man by
the name of Howard B. Rand, and
published in May 1982.
It is not the duty of any particular
group of people, it is not the duty
of any church, it is the duty of the
government of His people to thus
proclaim a day as the Sabbath to be
uniformly observed throughout the
length and breadth of our land...opposition
to Sunday, nationally
declared the Sabbath, must cease.
There will be no relief from mounting
economic disaster until the
seventh day, following six days of labor,
is strictly enforced by
government decrees and action.
Of course, when this man says, “the
seventh day, following six days of labor,
” he means that we should start the
week from Monday so that the Seventh
day will fall on Sunday.
As far back as 1904, Dr. Bascom
Robins gave a lecture in which he
made the following extraordinary
statement:
There is a class of people in this
country who will not keep the Christian
Sabbath [meaning Sunday],
unless they are forced to do so. But
this can easily be done. If we will
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
would be wiped out, and all the
world would keep the Christian Sabbath.
That is exactly what the Bible says
will happen when the mark of the
beast is enforced! Those who refuse to
receive the mark of the beast will be
unable to either buy or sell
(Rev.13:17). Can you see where we
are heading? The religious powers
will influence the governments of the
world to pass laws which will compel
everybody to treat Sunday as a holy
day! This is the mark of the beast! The
sign of apostasy will be the observance
of Sunday! The observance of a
man-made commandment in direct
disobedience to the Word of God.
Those who at that time continue to observe
Sunday, instead of God’s
Sabbath, will in this way receive the
Mark of the Beast. They will plainly
demonstrate that they obey the beast
rather than God.
- 27 -
- 28 -
POPE CALLS FOR
SUNDAY LAWS
And now it has happened at last. On
the 7th of July, 1998, in the most significant
move of his whole career,
Pope John Paul II sent out a 104-page
“apostolic letter” in which he insists
on the need for Sunday legislation.
The letter is entitled, Dies Domini,
or, The Lord’s Day. While it is addressed
to “the bishops, clergy and
faithful of the Catholic Church,” we
should not believe that these are the
only persons who will be influenced
by the letter. Not only is it a mandate
to all Roman Catholics to personally
observe Sunday in a more meaningful
way, it is also a directive to them to do
all in their power to ensure that the
whole society conforms to the Pope’s
concept of Sunday observance. The
following is a quotation from the
Pope’s letter.
Therefore, also in the particular
circumstances of our own time,
Christians will naturally strive to
ensure that civil legislation respects
their duty to keep Sunday holy....
In an article which appeared in The
Sunday Times, July 5, 1998, the following
report appeared:
In Vienna last month, he told
Catholics: “Do whatever you can to
preserve Sunday. Make it clear that
this day must not be worked, since it
must be celebrated as the day of our
Lord.”
To put it bluntly and in more familiar
terms, what the Pope is pushing for
is the passing of SUNDAY LAWS!
The man who has called for this
Sunday legislation is the person who,
above all others alive on planet earth,
is considered the symbol of morality;
the one whose voice is most authoritative
on social issues. In this area, the
Pope is not just a figurehead. When he
speaks, people in high places listen.
His voice and influence helped to topple
the mighty Soviet Union and
brought about concessions in the attitude
of the United States of America
toward Cuba. When he calls for
Sunday laws, we can expect things to
happen.
Note carefully that the Pope is not
just asking for a greater respect for
Sunday on the part of Christians. He
states that Sunday rest is “not merely a
religious obligation,” but is “a human
right, which should be protected by
appropriate legislation.” Specifically,
he wants laws to “protect” Sunday!
He wants his convictions, his standards
of morality, his respect for
Sunday, to be imposed, not just on all
Roman Catholics, but on all societies;
upon all persons living on the face of
planet earth. He wants to ensure that
the whole society, all the world, shall
be persuaded to respect Sunday rest;
not voluntarily, but BY LAW.
In this letter the pope unveils his
heart and shows us quite clearly where
his focus is. He has devoted 104 pages
exclusively to the subject of Sunday
observance. He says:
The Sunday celebration of the
Lord’s Day and his eucharist is at
the heart of the church’s life.
(Chap.3)
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For Christian families, the
Sunday assembly is one of the most
outstanding expressions of their
identity... (Ibid.)
Sunday...stands at the heart of
all worship.” (chap. 2) “Sunday is a
day which is at the very heart of the
Christian life. (Introduction)
Sunday observance has always been
one of the key pillars of Catholicism.
The Roman Church has hailed it as a
“mark of her authority.” In the past,
she has endeavored to compel others
to honor the day against their will, but
in recent times she has had neither the
influence nor the power to do so.
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Why is it that she has now, once
again, openly and unapologetically
undertaken to impose Sunday observance
on the whole society? It is
because she feels that the time is ripe.
Pope John Paul II realizes that his time
has come. Once again Rome is mistress
of the world and is pulling the
strings. So, immediately, the Pope
turns to the subject which above all
others is dear to his heart. The one
practice which above all others supports
Rome’s claim of supreme
authority in the religious world: the
practice of Sunday worship.
Although the movement is pressing
forward, unseen, unnoticed by the
people of the world, this issue will
soon be forced upon the consciousness
of every man, woman and child
who is alive upon the earth. The Bible
says that those who choose God’s way
rather than the way of the beast will
eventually be placed under sentence
of death (Revelation 13:15). Yet those
who are true and faithful to God and
keep His commandments at the risk of
life itself, will be the ones who receive
the seal of God. Do you see how
dreadful the deception is which now
holds the world in darkness? May the
Father of mercy help us to choose the
way of light and truth.
Of course I am not suggesting that
all of those who worship on the Sabbath
today are necessarily better
Christians than those who worship on
Sunday. It is true that at present, many
of those who go to church on the seventh-
day Sabbath are just surface
Christians, without a deep experience
in the things of God. When the mark
of the beast is enforced by law, hundreds
of them will give up their faith.
They will accept the mark of the beast
when their lives are threatened because,
although they went to church
on Saturday, they never really knew
the Lord of the Sabbath, Jesus Christ.
Nevertheless, God wants all His children
to keep the Sabbath holy. The
fact that there are some hypocrites
among Sabbath-keepers does not
mean that the Sabbath is not ordained
of God.
Some may think that it is just a matter
of one day versus another, but the
issue is far greater than that. It is a
matter of loyalty and obedience. The
Bible tells us that we are the servants
of the one whom we choose to obey
(Romans 6:16). By choosing to observe
the day commanded by the
beast-power, the day ordained by Satan,
we are really choosing to honor
Satan above God. In reality, we are
worshiping Satan rather than God!
This is why Revelation 13:4 says that,
“...they worshiped the dragon which
gave power unto the beast, and they
worshiped the beast...” Are our eyes
upon God alone? Are we loyal to Him?
These are the real questions that we
must answer. Do we love Him above
everything else, even our lives? Will
we obey Him even when the mightiest
powers of earth demand that we do
otherwise, or are the world and its influence
upon us greater than our love
for God? Is the approval of our friends,
the praise of men and our slot in society
so important to us that we cannot act
independently of the crowd? This is really
the heart of the matter.
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Today there is still time to choose
for God, still time to reject Satan’s
way. Will you wait until the crisis
breaks upon you? It may then be too
late! We gain strength by degrees, a
little at a time, by obedience at each
step of the way. As the truth comes to
us we must accept it no matter what
sacrifice is required. Do not wait!
When we put off God and tell Him to
wait, our hearts become harder and it
is more difficult for God’s Holy Spirit
to help us. Let us face the facts now
and immediately take our stand for
God’s truth, today.
Jesus says, “if ye love me, keep my
commandments.” (John 14:15) In
1 John 2:4 the Bible says, “he that
saith I know Him, and keepeth not His
commandments is a liar, and the truth
is not in him.” Revelation 12:17 tells
us that Satan goes to make war against
God’s people who “keep the commandments
of God and have the
testimony of Jesus Christ.”
Friends, the world respects and
honors men. The world worships
men. They idolize their political leaders,
their religious leaders, their
sports heroes. But in Revelation 14:6
an angel is seen flying in the midst of
heaven and his message is “Fear
GOD, and give glory to HIM, for the
hour of His judgment is come.” Worship
God alone. Only God. Do not
allow man to encourage or to compel
you to dishonor God. Search God’s
Word. Find the Truth and obey the
Truth...all the Truth no matter what it
may cost you. That is the only way we
can be saved. May God help us to
choose His way now, while there is
still time to choose.
Our Father and our God, as we
have read this booklet we know that
your Spirit has been present with us.
Strengthen and teach us Father, for
we are only children. Teach us, for
we have been steeped in error and
false ideas. Only You can enable us
to be true to You, and this we pray
that You will do. Help us to be determined
that though the heavens
might fall, though the whole world
should rise up against us, we will
still stand loyally for You. Thank
You for hearing our prayer and for
answering as we ask in Jesus’
Name. Amen.
- 32 -
For further information you may contact:
Smyrna Gospel Ministries
HC 64 Box 128B
Welch, WV 24801-9606
phone: (304) 732-9204
e-mail: [email protected]
or
Restoration Ministries
P. O. Box 23, Knockpatrick
Manchester, Jamaica, W.I.
Phone: (876) 904-7392
e-mail: [email protected]
The Most Solemn Warning
Ever Given to Mankind!
6 And I saw another angel fly in the midst of
heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them
that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred,
and tongue, and people,
7 Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give
glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and
worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and
the fountains of waters.
8 And there followed another angel, saying,
Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she
made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her
fornication.
9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a
loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image,
and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of
God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of
his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and
brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the
presence of the Lamb:
11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for
ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who
worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth
the mark of his name.
12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they
that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of
Jesus. (Revelation 14:6-12)

Posted by: Nebiyu | 2009-12-23 1:45:43 PM


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