Sermons for SDA - The Coming Sunday Crisis

The teachings of religious leaders have opened the door to infidelity, to spiritualism, and to contempt for God's holy law; and upon these leaders rests a fearful responsibility for the iniquity that exists in the Christian world. This very class put forth the claim that the fast-spreading corruption is largely attributable to the desecration of the so-called "Christian sabbath" and that the enforcement of Sunday observance would greatly improve the morals of society. This claim is especially urged in America, where the doctrine of the true Sabbath has been most widely preached.

SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 7, p. 978, or Review and Herald December 26, 1899

Human enactment's, laws manufactured by satanic agencies under a plea of goodness and restriction of evil, will be exalted, while God's holy commandments are despised and trampled underfoot.

"Concerning Pope John Paul's July Encyclical "Sunday (Lord's Day)' I too heartily agree with this world's great spiritual leader, "it is time to give Sunday the Day of Worship the recognition it demands. It is time to pass our legislated agenda and stop profaning the Lord's Day. Revelation 1:10. Somebody—some people, who care about the moral crisis of our nation must act to save our nation before it is forever to late." Pat Robertson, President Christian Coalition

Last Day Events, pp. 129, 130

Satan puts his interpretation upon events, and they think, as he would have them, that the calamities which fill the land are a result of Sundaybreaking. Thinking to appease the wrath of God these influential men make laws enforcing Sunday observance.

The Great Controversy, pp. 579, 580, (1911)

With Protestant teachers there is the same claim of divine authority for Sundaykeeping, and the same lack of Scriptural evidence, as with the papal leaders who fabricated miracles to supply the place of a command from God. The assertion that God's judgments are visited upon men for their violation of the Sunday-sabbath, will be repeated; already it is beginning to be urged. And a movement to enforce Sunday observance is fast gaining ground.

James P. Wesberry, Executive Director, Lords Day Alliance. Report p. 6, 1988

I believe that we are engaged in the biggest work in the world and if we can settle the problem of Sabbath observance, of keeping the Lord's Day as it should be kept, we will go a long, long ways toward supplying the remedy for the moral and ethical crisis that blights our nation. I am so grateful to God and to you for the privilege of giving my life and my best to such a great cause and I am deeply grateful that you share this commitment.

Special Alert, Bulletin # 29, 1981

If we as a nation would escape the doldrums of increased trouble as God's hand rests heavily upon His people, 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 decree and action.

Summary:

One of the reasons for the current and future push for Sunday laws is a belief that God's judgments are due to the immorality prevailing in society. Because of mankind's perverseness and iniquity, God is truly giving man up to the sure results of his sin. This is evidenced by the many increasing problems in nature, society, finance etc. However, it is mistakenly believed that the fearful cause of all these judgments is the direct result of the desecration of Sunday. Sadly, men will mistakenly want to break God's law, thinking they are working toward establishing morality and obedience to God's commandments.

Compelling The Nation to Honor Sunday Laws

The Great Controversy, p. 592

The dignitaries of church and state will unite to bribe, persuade, or compel all classes to honor the Sunday. The lack of divine authority will be supplied by oppressive enactments. Political corruption is destroying love of justice and regard for truth; and even in free America, rulers and legislators in order to secure public favor, will yield to the popular demand for a law enforcing Sunday observance.

Testimonies for the Church, vol. 9, p. 234

Those who are under the influence of a false religion, who observe a spurious rest day, will set aside the most positive evidence in regard to the true Sabbath. They will try to compel men to comply to obey the laws of their own creation, laws that are directly opposed to the law of God.

Review and Herald, vol. 2, pp. 353, (1889)

Plans of serious import to the people of God are advancing in an underhanded manner among the clergyman of various denominations, and the object of this secret maneuvering is to win popular favor for the enforcement of Sunday sacredness. If the people can be led to favor a Sunday law, then the clergy intend to exert their united influence to obtain a religious amendment to the Constitution, and compel the nation to keep Sunday.

Summary:

A call will soon come (indeed is even now being urged) from the clergy asking the state to honor Sunday by law. Then church and state will compel men to honor Sunday.

Sunday Laws As An Act Of Homage To Rome

Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, p. 712

When our nation shall so abjure the principles of its government as to enact a Sunday law, Protestantism will in this act join hands with popery; it will be nothing else than giving life to the tyranny which has long been eagerly watching its opportunity to spring again into active despotism.

Review and Herald, vol. 3, p. 474

Testimonies for the Church, vol. 7, pp. 711, 712

Any movement in favor of religious legislation is really an act of concession to the papacy, which for so many ages has steadily warred against liberty of conscience. Sunday observance owes its existence as a so called Christian institution to the "mystery of iniquity;" and its enforcement will be a virtual recognition of the principles which are the very cornerstone of Romanism.

The Upward Look, p. 262

Every person will be arrayed under one of the two banners. The chosen and loyal will stand under the bloodstained banner of Prince Emmanuel, and all others under Satan's standard. All who are on Satan's side will unite with him in honoring the spurious Sabbath, thus paying homage to the man of sin, who has exalted himself above all that is called God and [who] has thought to change times and laws. They trample upon the laws of Jehovah and frame laws to compel all to worship the false sabbath, the idol they have exalted. But the day of deliverance to God's people is not far distant.

Summary:

Men, whose thinking is distorted by falsehood and guided by Satan, will exalt Sunday keeping by law. By this act they will in effect be honoring the papacy above God.

Many Leaders In Sunday Movement

Blinded As To The Real Issues

The Signs of the Times, November 28, 1900 or Testimonies for the Church vol. 5, p. 711

Many who are working for Sunday enforcement have never understood the claims of the Bible Sabbath, and the false foundation on which the Sunday institution rests. And they are blinded to the results of Sunday legislation. They do not see that it would be a blow against religious liberty. But any movement in favor of religious legislation is really an act of concession to the Papacy, which for so many ages has steadily warred against liberty of conscience. Sunday owes its existence as a so-called Christian institution to the "mystery of iniquity;" and its enforcement will be a virtual recognition of the principles which are the very corner-stone of Romanism.

Review and Herald, January 1, 1889

Prophecy represents Protestantism as having lamb-like horns, but speaking like a dragon. Already we are beginning to hear the voice of the dragon. There is a satanic force propelling the Sunday movement, but it is concealed. Even the men who are engaged in the work, are themselves blinded to the results which will follow their movement. Let not the commandment-keeping people of God be silent at this time, as though we gracefully accepted the situation. There is the prospect before us, of waging a continuous war, at the risk of imprisonment, of losing property and even life itself, to defend the law of God, which is being made void by the laws of men. This Bible text will be quoted to us, "Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. . . . The powers that be are ordained of God."

Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, p. 452

The Great Controversy, pp. 587, 588, (1911)

…Here the temperance work, one of the most prominent and important of moral reforms, is often combined with the Sunday movement, and the advocates of the latter represent themselves as laboring to promote the highest interest of society; [Today it is anti-abortion, anti-gay rights, and other perceived moral ills of society] and those who refuse to unite with them are denounced as the enemies of temperance and reform. But the fact that a movement to establish error is connected with a work which is in itself good, is not an argument in favor of the error. We may disguise poison by mingling it with wholesome food, but we do not change its nature. On the contrary, it is rendered more dangerous, as it is more likely to be taken unawares. It is one of Satan's devices to combine with falsehood just enough truth to give it plausibility. The leaders of the Sunday movement may advocate reforms which the people need, principles which are in harmony with the Bible; yet while there is with these a requirement which is contrary to God's law, His servants cannot unite with them. Nothing can justify them in setting aside the commandments of God for the precepts of men.

Summary:

Those calling for and working toward Sunday laws may be sincere in their concerns over immorality and societies evils. Yet the very cure they propose will attempt to enforce morality and family togetherness and rest by law. However all force applied to a man's conscience regarding his duty to God leads to the manifestation of Satan's attributes, it matters not how sincere the reasoning.

Sunday Laws Bring Persecution

Review and Herald Extra, December 11, 1888

The Sunday movement is now making its way in darkness. The leaders are concealing the true issue, and many who unite in the movement do not themselves see whither the undercurrent is tending…They are working in blindness. They do not see that if a Protestant government sacrifices the principles that have made them a free, independent nation, and through legislation brings into the Constitution principles that will propagate papal falsehood and papal delusion, they are plunging into the Roman horrors of the Dark Ages.

Testimonies for the Church, vol. 7, p. 712

If popery or its principles shall again be legislated into power, the fires of persecution will be rekindled against those who will not sacrifice conscience and the truth in deference to popular errors.

Selected Messages, Book 3, p. 385

We are to be ready and waiting for the orders of God. Nations will be stirred to their very center. Support will be withdrawn from those who proclaim God's only standard of righteousness, the only sure test of character. And all who will not bow to the decree of the national councils and obey the national laws to exalt the sabbath instituted by the man of sin to the disregard of God's holy day, will feel, not the oppressive power of popery alone, but of the Protestant world, the image of the beast.

SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 7, p. 975, or Review and Herald January 1, 1889

There is the prospect before us of waging a continuous war, at the 1) risk of imprisonment, of 2) losing property, and 3) even life itself, to defend the law of God, which is being made void by the laws of men.

Testimonies for the Church, vol. 9, pp. 229, 230

Religious powers, allied to heaven by profession, and claiming to have the characteristics of a lamb, will show by their acts that they have the heart of a dragon and that they are instigated and controlled by Satan. The time is coming when God's people will feel the hand of persecution because they keep holy the seventh day. Satan has caused the change of the Sabbath in the hope of carrying out his purpose for the defeat of God's plans. He seeks to make the commands of God of less force in the world than human laws. The man of sin, who thought to change times and laws, and who has always oppressed the people of God, will cause laws to be made enforcing the observance of the first day of the week. But God's people are to stand firm for Him. And the Lord will work in their behalf, showing plainly that He is the God of gods.

The Great Controversy, 608

Conscientious obedience to the word of God will be treated as rebellion . Blinded by Satan, the parent will 1) exercise harshness and severity toward the believing child; the 2) master or mistress will oppress the commandment-keeping servant. 3) Affection will be alienated; 4) children will be disinherited and driven from home. The words of Paul will be literally fulfilled: "All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." 2 Timothy 3:12. As the defenders of truth refuse to honor the Sunday-sabbath, some of them will be 5) thrust into prison, 6) some will be exiled, 7) some will be treated as slaves. To human wisdom all this now seems impossible; but as the restraining Spirit of God shall be withdrawn from men, and they shall be under the control of Satan, who hates the divine precepts, there will be strange developments. The heart can be very cruel when God's fear and love are removed.

Manuscript Releases, vol. 4, 279

Soon the Sunday laws will be enforced, and men in positions of trust will be embittered against the little handful of God's commandment-keeping people.—Letter 168, 1909, p. 5. (To the officers of the General Conference, December 1, 1909.)

Selected Messages, Book 3, p. 387

A spurious sabbath is presented to be legislated into power, compelling the observance of a sabbath which God has not enjoined upon man. The persecutions of Protestants by Romanism, by which the religion of Jesus Christ was almost annihilated, will be more than rivaled, when Protestantism and popery are combined.

The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, p. 484 or Maranatha, p. 199

The two armies will stand distinct and separate, and this distinction will be so marked that many who shall be convinced of truth will come on the side of God's commandment-keeping people. When this grand work is to take place in the battle, prior to the last closing conflict, 1) many will be imprisoned, 2) many will flee for their lives from cities and towns, and 3) many will be martyrs for Christ's sake in standing in defense of the truth. 4) They will be brought before kings and rulers, and before councils to meet the false, absurd, and lying accusations brought against them, but they must stand firm as a rock to principle, and the promise is, "as thy days so shall thy strength be." Deut. 33:25. You will not be tempted above what you are able to bear. Jesus bore all this and far more. The express command of God must be obeyed, for God has been working. (See, Luke 21:1-19).

Summary:

Sunday laws may start as a human rights issue emphasizing workers' and families' right to rest. They may merely seek to encourage people to attend church on Sunday. These laws and enactments may appear as innocent as lambs, but they will after enactment lead to religious persecution that will eventually encompass every nation on the globe.

How Will God's People Be Represented

Or Thought Of At This Time?

Sketches from the Life of Paul, pp. 251, 252

Men professing to be representatives of Christ will take a course similar to that taken by priests and rulers in their treatment of Paul. All who would fearlessly serve God according to the dictates of their own conscience, will 1) need moral courage, 2) firmness, and 3) a knowledge of God and his word, to stand in that evil day. Persecution will again be kindled against those who are true to God; their motives will be impugned, their best efforts misinterpreted, their names cast out as evil. Then will it come to pass, as foretold by Christ, that whoever shall seek to destroy the faithful, will think that he is doing God service. Then Satan will work with all his fascinating power, to influence the heart and becloud the understanding, to make evil appear good, and good evil. Then it is that he is through his agents to "show great signs and wonders, insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect."

The Great Controversy, 592

Those who honor the Bible Sabbath will be denounced as enemies of law and order, as breaking down the moral restraints of society, causing anarchy and corruption, and calling down the judgments of God upon the earth. Their conscientious scruples will be pronounced obstinacy, stubbornness, and contempt of authority. They will be accused of disaffection toward the government. Ministers who deny the obligation of the divine law will present from the pulpit the duty of yielding obedience to the civil authorities as ordained of God. In legislative halls and courts of justice, commandment keepers will be 1) misrepresented and condemned. 2) A false coloring will be given to their words; the 3) worst construction will be put upon their motives.

Summary:

Inspiration makes it clear that persecution starts in the church and then moves out into the world for we read "they bring you unto the synagogues, and unto magistrates, and powers…." Luke 12:11. Even now faithful believers are experiencing the very things just outlined. If we cannot stand for truth now, willing if need be to have our names cast out as evil how can we stand in the future? The fact is we cannot and we will not.

What Do We Do At This Time?

Testimonies for the Church, vol. 9, p. 232

To defy the Sunday laws will but strengthen in their persecution the religious zealots who are seeking to enforce them. Give them no occasion to call you lawbreakers. Keep right on with your missionary work with your Bibles in your hands, and the enemy will see he has worsted his own cause.…

When we devote Sunday to missionary work, the whip will be taken out of the hands of the arbitrary zealots who would be well pleased to humiliate Seventh-day Adventists.

Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, p. 464

As the siege of Jerusalem by the Roman armies was the signal for flight to the Judean Christians, so the assumption of power on the part of our nation in the decree enforcing the papal sabbath will be a warning to us. It will then be time to leave the large cities, preparatory to leaving the smaller ones for retired homes in secluded places in the mountains.

Testimonies for the Church, vol. 9, p. 235

The law for the observance of the first day of the week is the production of an apostate Christendom. Sunday is a child of the papacy, exalted by the Christian world above the sacred day of God's rest. In no case are God's people to pay it homage. But I wish them to understand that they are not doing God's will by braving opposition when He wishes them to avoid it. Thus they create prejudice so bitter that it is impossible for the truth to be proclaimed. Make no demonstration on Sunday in defiance of law.… We can use Sunday as a day of which to carry forward work that will tell on the side of Christ. We are to do our best, working with all meekness and lowliness.

Selected Messages, Book 3, p. 395

There should be no just occasion to our enemies to charge us with being lawless and defying the laws through any imprudence of our own. We should not feel it enjoined upon us to irritate our neighbors who idolize Sunday by making determined efforts to bring labor on that day before them purposely to exhibit an independence.…

There should be no noisy demonstration. Let us consider how fearful and terribly sad is the delusion that has taken the world captive and by every means in our power seek to enlighten those who are our bitterest enemies. (See, Counsels to Teachers, pp. 550, 551; also 9 T. p. 238.)

The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, vol. 2, p. 481

While we cannot bow to an arbitrary power to lift up the Sunday by bowing to it, while we will not violate the Sabbath, which a despotic power will seek to compel us to do, we will be wise in Christ,—Christ's wisdom and not in our own spirit. A consistent, substantial, lovable Christian is a powerful argument for the truth. We must say no words that will do ourselves harm, for this would be bad enough, but when you speak words, and when you do presumptuous things that imperil the cause of God, you are doing a cruel work for you give Satan advantage. We are not to be rash and impetuous, but always learning of Jesus how to act in His Spirit, presenting the truth as it is in Jesus.

Summary:

As Sunday laws are enforced we should lay aside our work that may be considered against the law. Instead of noisy demonstrations or open defiance we are to engage in missionary work on Sundays seeking to enlighten the deluded masses. Once witnessing and sabbath keeping are restricted by circumstances or laws we must "obey God rather than man." Thus we are told we must leave the large cities at this time. Buying and selling will become increasingly difficult country living will be our only means of survival. Thus NOW is the time to sow the seed and work the cities, towns, and village areas while we are free to do so.

How To Hinder Sunday Laws

Review and Herald, February 16, 1905

Patriarch's and Prophets , Daniel and the Revelation, and The Great Controversy are needed now as never before. They should be widely circulated because the truths they emphasize will open many blind eyes.…Many of our people have been blind to the importance of the very books that were most needed. Had tact and skill then been shown in the sale of these books, the Sunday-law movement would not be where it is today.

Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, p. 452

It is our duty to do all in our power to avert the threatened danger. We should endeavor to disarm prejudice by placing ourselves in a proper light before the people. We should bring before them the real question at issue, thus interposing the most effectual protest against measures to restrict liberty of conscience. We should search the Scriptures and be able to give the reason for our faith. Says the prophet: "The wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand."

The Paulson Collection of Ellen G. White Letters, pp. 333, 334

There are many who are at ease, who are, as it were, asleep. They say, "If prophecy has foretold the enforcement of Sunday observance, the law will surely be enacted" and having come to this conclusion, they sit down in calm expectation of the event, comforting themselves with the thought that God will protect his people in the day of trouble. But God will not save us if we make no effort to do the work he has committed to our charge. We must be found faithfully guarding the outposts, watching as vigilant soldiers, lest Satan shall gain an advantage which it is our duty to prevent. We should diligently study the word of God; and pray in faith that God will restrain the powers of darkness; for as yet the message has gone to comparatively few, and the world is to be lightened with its glory. The present truth—the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus— has not yet been sounded as it must be. There are many almost within the shadow of our own doors for whose salvation no personal effort has ever been made. We are not prepared for the time when our work must close. We must take a firm stand that we will not reverence the first day of the week as the Sabbath, for it is not the day that was blessed and sanctified by Jehovah, and in reverencing Sunday we should place ourselves on the side of the great deceiver.

The controversy for the Sabbath will open the subject to the people , and an opportunity will be given that the claims of the genuine Sabbath may be presented. Blindness, disloyalty to God, so prevails that his law is made void, but the psalmist says of such a condition, "It is time for thee Lord to work; for they have made void thy law."

It is time for God's people to work as never before , because of the increase of wickedness. The God-fearing, commandment-keeping people should be diligent, not only in prayer, but in action: and this will bring the truth before those who have never heard it. The world is over-borne with falsehood and iniquity and those whom God has made the depositaries of his law, and of the pure religion of Jesus, must be determined to let their light shine. If they do nothing to disabuse the minds of the people, and through ignorance of the truth our legislatures should abjure the principles of Protestantism, and give countenance and support to the Roman fallacy, the spurious sabbath, God will hold his people who have had great light, responsible for their lack of diligence and faithfulness. But if the subject of religious legislation is judiciously and intelligently laid before the people, and they see that through Sunday enforcement the Roman apostasy would be re-enacted by the Christian world, and that the tyranny of past ages would be repeated, then whatever comes, we shall have done our duty.

Review and Herald, January, 1, 1889

It should be the business of all the righteous in the land, as they see signs of the approach of peril, to arouse to action, and not sit in calm expectation of ruin, comforting themselves with the belief that this work must go on, because prophecy has foretold it, and that the Lord will shelter his people in the day of trial. Effectual, fervent prayers should be ascending to Heaven, that this calamity may be deferred; for we are not ready to meet it.

Summary:

There are those within Adventism, who by voice, actions or attitude, declare that this is not now the time to speak on the issues of the mark of the beast, the new world order, or to teach the sabbath so boldly. Yet if not now when? You see, this is THE TIME to print, publish or preach as never before. Now when we have peace and freedom of movement, now when we have access to funds little or much, now when even the Pope is calling the world to Sunday, NOW is the time to work. The very work may delay the events as people become enlightened. But more likely is the fact that now while we can work freely we can warn many who at the time of Sunday laws can make an intelligent decision for eternity.

The Physical Preparation Needed For The Crisis Ahead

Fundamentals of Christian Education, p. 322

The time is not far distant when the laws against Sunday labor will be more stringent, and an effort should be made to secure grounds away from the cities, where fruits and vegetables can be raised.

The Spiritual Preparation Needed For The Crisis Ahead

The Upward Look, p. 283

You need not be thinking that there is a special time coming when you are to be crucified. The time to be crucified is just now. Every day, every hour, self is to die; self is to be crucified; and then, when the time comes that the test shall come to God's people in earnest, the everlasting arms are around you. The angels of God make a wall of fire around about and deliver you.

All your self-crucifixion will not do any good then.… It is now that self is to be crucified—when there is work to do; when there is some use to be made of every entrusted capability. It is now that we are to empty and thoroughly cleanse the vessel of its impurity. It is now that we are to be made holy unto God. This is our work , this very moment. You are not to wait for any special period for a wonderful work to be done; it is today. I give myself to God today.

The Paulson Collection of Ellen G. White Letters, pp. 334, 335

My brethren, you must have Jesus enthroned within, and self must die. We must be baptized with the Holy Spirit, and then we shall not sit down, saying unconcernedly, "What is to be will be; prophecy must be fulfilled." O awake, I pray you, awake! for you bear the most sacred responsibilities. As faithful watchmen, you should see the sword coming, and give the warning, that men and women may not pursue a course through ignorance that they would avoid if they knew the truth. The Lord has enlightened us in regard to what is coming upon the earth, that we may enlighten others, and we shall not be held guiltless if we are content to sit at ease, with folded hands, and quibble over matters of minor importance. The minds of many have been engrossed with contentions, and they have rejected the light given through the Testimonies, because it did not agree with their own opinions.

The Great Controversy, 624

Only those who have been diligent students of the Scriptures and who have received the love of the truth will be shielded from the powerful delusion.

Review and Herald, February 11, 1904

At this time a very decided work in character building should be going forward among our people. We are to develop before the world the characteristics of the Saviour. It is impossible to please God without the exercise of genuine, sanctifying faith. We are individually responsible for our faith. True faith is not a faith that will fail under test and trial; it is the gift of God to His people.

Review and Herald, January 1, 1889

Every passing hour now is one of activity in the heavenly courts, to make ready a people upon the earth to act a part in the great scenes that are soon to open upon us. These transient moments, that seem of so little value to us, are weighty with eternal interests. They are molding the destiny of souls for everlasting life or everlasting death. The words we utter today in the ears of the people, the works we are doing, the spirit of the message we are bearing, will be to human souls the savor of life unto life or of death unto death. We must be washing our robes of character in the blood of the Lamb. If we would be saints above, we must first be saints below.

Summary:

God has told us before the decree goes forth that there is a need for physical preparation, but more especially spiritual preparation is what is needed. Our faith , our trust in God , our very belief in God and His word will be tested to the very depths of our being. Without a genuine and growing experience being gained NOW, day by day WE WILL falter and fail, and deny Christ even as Peter, but without the assurance that time or circumstance will allow repentance. We must not be as the foolish virgins who at midnight find their lamps going out with no time to seek for the oil of grace, which now must be infilling and sanctifying us. NOW "Before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the LORD come upon you, before the day of the LORD'S anger come upon you. Seek ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the LORD'S anger." Zephaniah 2:2, 3

The Image To The Beast

SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 7, p. 976

When the Protestant churches shall unite with the secular power to sustain a false religion, for opposing which their ancestors endured the fiercest persecution, when the state shall use its power to enforce the decrees and sustain the institutions of the church then will Protestant America have formed an image to the Papacy, and there will be a national apostasy which will end only in national ruin.

The Great Controversy, pp. 448, 449

The enforcement of Sunday-keeping on the part of Protestant churches is an enforcement of the worship of the papacy—of the beast. Those who, understanding the claims of the fourth commandment, choose to observe the false instead of the true Sabbath are thereby paying homage to that power by which alone it is commanded. But in the very act of enforcing a religious duty by secular power, the churches would themselves form an image to the beast; hence the enforcement of Sunday-keeping in the United States would be an enforcement of the worship of the beast and his image.

The Great Controversy, p. 445

When the leading churches of the United States, uniting upon such points of doctrine as are held by them in common, shall influence the state to enforce their decrees and to sustain their institutions, then Protestant America will have formed an image of the Roman hierarchy, and the infliction of civil penalties upon dissenters will inevitably result.

Summary:

The image is even today developing step by step. Nevertheless, it shall be revealed fully when laws in the United States enforce Sunday. Then it is that the image or likeness of Rome shall be the characteristic of the heretofore-lamblike beast of America, which at that time will "speak as a dragon."

Protestantism and Romanism United

Review and Herald, June 15, 1897

Protestants will work upon the rulers of the land to make laws to restore the lost ascendancy of the man of sin, who sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Roman Catholic principles will be taken under the care and protection of the state.… The Protestant governments will reach a strange pass. They will be converted to the world. They will also, in their separation from God, work to make a falsehood and apostasy from God the law of the nation.

Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 4, p. 410 (1884 Great Controversy)

Our land is in jeopardy. The time is drawing on when its legislators shall so abjure the principles of Protestantism as to give countenance to Romish apostasy. The people for whom God has so marvelously wrought, strengthening them to throw off the galling yoke of popery, will by a national act give vigor to the corrupt faith of Rome, and thus arouse the tyranny which only waits for a touch to start again into cruelty and despotism.

Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, p. 712

General Conference Daily Bulletin, April 13, 1891, or SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 7, p. 975

The Word of God plainly declares that His law is to be scorned, trampled upon, by the world; there will be an extraordinary prevalence of iniquity. The professed protestant world will form a confederacy with the man of sin, and the church and the world will be in corrupt harmony.

Here the great crisis is coming upon the world. The Scriptures teach that popery is to regain its lost supremacy, and that the fires of persecution will be rekindled through the time serving concessions of the so-called Protestant world.

The Great Controversy, 578

These records of the past clearly reveal the enmity of Rome toward the true Sabbath and its defenders, and the means which she employs to honor the institution of her creating. The word of God teaches that these scenes are to be repeated as Roman Catholics and Protestants shall unite for the exaltation of the Sunday.

Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, p. 449

Church and state are now making preparations for the future conflict. Protestants are working in disguise to bring Sunday to the front, as did the Romanist.

The Great Controversy, p. 580

Marvelous in her shrewdness and cunning is the Roman Church. She can read what is to be. She bides her time, seeing that the Protestant churches are paying her homage in their acceptance of the false sabbath and that they are preparing to enforce it by the very means which she herself employed in bygone days. Those who reject the light of truth will yet seek the aid of this self-styled infallible power to exalt an institution that originated with her.

Summary:

Even now, the gulf between Rome and her "separated daughters" is being healed. The time will come when the churches of the land, especially in the Protestant new world shall JOIN hands with Rome fully, in enacting and enforcing Sunday laws.

America and Europe Lead Out

In This Apostasy And Persecution

Maranatha, p. 188

In the last conflict the Sabbath will be the special point of controversy throughout all Christendom. Secular rulers and religious leaders will unite to enforce the observance of the Sunday; and as milder measures fail, the most oppressive laws will be enacted. It will be urged that the few who stand in opposition to an institution of the church and a law of the land ought not to be tolerated.… Romanism in the Old World, and apostate Protestantism in the New, will pursue a similar course toward those who honor the divine precepts.

The Great Controversy, 579

The prophecy of Revelation 13 declares that the power represented by the beast with lamblike horns shall cause "the earth and them which dwell therein" to worship the papacy—there symbolized by the beast "like unto a leopard." The beast with two horns is also to say "to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast;" and, furthermore, it is to command all, "both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond," to receive the mark of the beast. Revelation 13:11-16. It has been shown that the United States is the power represented by the beast with lamblike horns, and that this prophecy will be fulfilled when the United States shall enforce Sunday observance, which Rome claims as the special acknowledgment of her supremacy. But in this homage to the papacy the United States will not be alone. The influence of Rome in the countries that once acknowledged her dominion is still far from being destroyed. And prophecy foretells a restoration of her power. "I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast." Verse 3.… In both the Old and the New World, the papacy will receive homage in the honor paid to the Sunday institution, that rests solely upon the authority of the Roman Church.

Summary:

Through the Sunday law, Rome will gain control of formerly Protestant and free America. In Europe Rome still has great influence especially behind the scenes in the political arena. The nations of Europe will also enforce the dictates of the dragon power. Thus, both America and Europe will lead out in this grand apostasy. The merchant men (see, Revelation 18:11-19) of world finance and industry are largely centered in America and Europe. Thus with military, economic and political might coupled with the principles of Rome now made law, the whole world will worship the image to the beast. State and church will be combined to enforce the political, moral and social agenda of the Papal New World Order.

Spiritualism's Role In Exalting Sunday

The Great Controversy, pp. 590, 591

The miracle-working power manifested through spiritualism will exert its influence against those who choose to obey God rather than men. Communications from the spirits will declare that God has sent them to convince the rejecters of Sunday of their error, affirming that the laws of the land should be obeyed as the law of God. They will lament the great wickedness in the world and second the testimony of religious teachers that the degraded state of morals is caused by the desecration of Sunday. Great will be the indignation excited against all who refuse to accept their testimony.

Revelation 13:13, 14

And he (the two horned beast the USA) doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire (a false holy spirit) come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.

Selected Messages Book 2, p. 51

We are coming right upon the time when Satan is to work with all manner of bewitching influences, and those who are charmed with them now , or give them the least countenance now , will be all ready to be swept right in to act a part with the devil then . Evil angels are working all the time upon the hearts of men. Satan is working with everyone who is not under the control of the Spirit of God. 1) It is the lying wonders of the devil that will take the world captive, and 2) he will cause fire to come down from heaven in the sight of men. 3) He is to work miracles; and 4) this wonderful, miracle-working power is to sweep in the whole world. 5) It is now just beginning.

The Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 4, pp. 405, 406

As Spiritualism assimilates more closely to the nominal Christianity of the day, it has greater power to deceive and ensnare. Satan himself is converted, after the modern order of things. He will appear in the character of an angel of light. Through the agency of Spiritualism, miracles will be wrought, the sick will be healed, and many undeniable wonders will be performed. And as the spirits will profess faith in the Bible, and express regard for Sunday, their work will be accepted as a manifestation of divine power.

Revelation 16:13, 14

And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, (spiritualism, non Christian pagan religions) and of the mouth of the beast, (the Papacy) and out of the mouth of the false prophet (Protestantism, fallen apostate Christianity). For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.

The Great Controversy, p. 588

The Protestants of the United States will be foremost in stretching their hands across the gulf to grasp the hand of spiritualism; they will reach over the abyss to clasp hand with the Roman power; and under this threefold union, this country will follow in the steps of Rome in trampling on the rights of conscience.

Summary:

Spiritualism's teachings are undermining the word of God in Christianity. In society spiritualism's doctrines are the doctrines, and philosophy and thinking of most of mankind. Thus the world and the church are preparing to join hands, with the shared doctrines of spiritualism binding them together.* Thus the whole world will "believe a lie" who "had pleasure in unrighteousness." They will be in the condition to accept "the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders." See 2 Thessalonians 2:9,11, 12. The teachings and miracles of spiritualism will play a major role in bringing about the implementing and confirming of Sunday laws and the Papal New World Order.

The spirit of devils has come into most off the churches and denominations of this world. The spirit behind the miracles, signs and wonders, the spirit behind the compromised and false teachings; the spirit that pretends to lead people to God is Satan and his hosts. "And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works." 2 Corinthians 11:14, 15. *(For further information, order the study on the doctrines of spiritualism.)

Satan And The Papacy As Co-conspirators

Selected Messages, Book 3, pp. 423, 424

All who exalt and worship the idol Sabbath, a day that God has not blessed, help the devil and his angels with all the power of their God-given ability, which they have perverted to a wrong use. Inspired by another spirit, which blinds their discernment, they cannot see that the exaltation of Sunday is entirely the institution of the Catholic church.

SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 7, pp. 980, 981

We are nearing the close of this earth's history. Satan is making desperate efforts to make himself god, to speak and act like God to appear as one who has a right to control the consciences of men. He strives with all his power to place a human institution in the position of God's holy rest day. Under the jurisdiction of the man of sin, men have exalted a false standard in complete opposition to God's enactment. Each sabbath institution bears the name of its author, an ineffaceable mark showing the authority of each. The first day of the week has not one particle of sanctity. It is the production of the man of sin, who strives in this way to counter-work God's purposes.

SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 7, p. 910

There is one pointed out in prophecy as the man of sin. He is the representative of Satan. Taking the suggestions of Satan concerning the law of God, which is as unchangeable as His throne, this man of sin comes in and represents to the world that he has changed the law, and that the first day of the week instead of the seventh is now the Sabbath.… But Christ declared that not one jot or tittle of the law should fail until heaven and earth should pass away. The very work that He came to do was to exalt that law, and show to the created worlds and to heaven that God is just, and that His law need not be changed. But here is Satan's right-hand man ready to carry on the work that Satan commenced in heaven, that of trying to amend the law of God.

Selected Messages, Book 3, p. 424

The Lord of heaven permits the world to choose whom they will have as ruler. Let all read carefully the thirteenth chapter of Revelation, for it concerns every human agent, great and small. Every human being must take sides, either for the true and living God, who has given to the world the memorial of Creation in the seventh-day Sabbath, or for a false sabbath, instituted by men who have exalted themselves above all that is called God or that is worshipped, who have taken upon themselves the attributes of Satan, in oppressing the loyal and true who keep the commandments of God. This persecuting power will compel the worship of the beast by insisting on the observance of the sabbath he has instituted. Thus he blasphemes God, sitting "in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God." 2 Thessalonians 2:4

Prophets and Kings, pp. 183, 184

…Satan says, "I will work at cross purposes with God. I will empower my followers to set aside God's memorial, the seventh-day Sabbath. Thus I will show the world that the day sanctified and blessed by God has been changed. That day shall not live in the minds of the people. I will obliterate the memory of it. I will place in its stead a day that does not bear the credentials of God, a day that cannot be a sign between God and His people. I will lead those who accept this day to place upon it the sanctity that God placed upon the seventh day.

" Through my vicegerent, I will exalt myself. The first day will be extolled, and the Protestant world will receive this spurious sabbath as genuine. Through the non-observance of the Sabbath that God instituted I will bring his law into contempt. The words "A sign between me and you throughout your generations," I will make to serve on the side of my sabbath."

Summary:

The papacy and its institutions in opposing God's word and law are the coworkers with Satan in his opposition to God. We must judge the papacy not by its social programs and humanistic speeches. We must judge Rome by her teachings. There, it is easily seen by those who "know and love the truth" that this power is a counterfeit. Claiming to speak for the kingdom of God, she has "committed fornication" with the kings of the earth. Thus, Rome in presenting a false day of worship and a false means of salvation becomes Satan's agents to lead men to perdition.

What about Satan's words, "A sign between me and you throughout your generations I will make to serve on the side of my sabbath." Is He succeeding in supplanting the seventh day Sabbath with Sunday the first day of the week?

James P. Wesberry, Executive Director Lords Day Alliance 1988

Individuals who observe The Fourth commandment are blessed and so are nations. If we are to save the flesh it must be of the spirit. If we are to save America, it must be of the Sabbath. If we are to save our work, it must be through Lord's Day observance. One of the greatest debts America owes the Sabbath day is its contribution to such improvement in human character.

"The Atlanta based Lord's Day Alliance of the United States got a helping hand from the pope in its long-running campaign to keep the faithful in their pews and out of the shopping malls on Sunday.

"The pope's decree comes at a time when attendance at Sunday Mass has declined. That decline is a distressingly familiar issue to Jack Lowndes, executive director of the interdenominational Lord's Day Alliance.

"We believe what the Bible says: "Remember the sabbath and keep it holy.' It should be a day of rest, worship and good works."

There are indications, though, that organizations such as the Lord's Day Alliance are having an impact. "There is a growing movement to make Sunday a day of rest," Lowndes said. "And it's not all based on rest and worship, although that is why we support it." Atlanta Journal-Constitution, July 8, 1998

Sabbath Keepers Blamed For Continual Judgements

Because They Break Sunday

Maranatha, p. 176, or Review and Herald, July 16, 1901

1) As men depart further and further from God, 2) Satan is permitted to have power over the children of disobedience. 3) He hurls destruction among men. 4) There is calamity by land and sea. 5) Property and life are destroyed by fire and flood. Satan resolves to charge this upon those who refuse to bow to the idol which he has set up. His agents point to Seventh-day Adventists as the cause of the trouble. "These people stand out in defiance of law," they say. "They desecrate Sunday. Were they compelled to obey the law for Sunday observance, there would be a cessation of these terrible judgments."

Christian Service, p. 155

It is on the law of God that the last great struggle of the controversy between Christ and His angels and Satan and his angels will come, and it will be decisive for all the world.… Men in responsible positions will not only ignore and despise the Sabbath themselves, but from the sacred desk will urge upon the people the observance of the first day of the week, pleading tradition and custom in behalf of this man-made institution. 1) They will point to calamities on land and sea—2) to the storms of wind, 3) the floods, 4) the earthquakes, 5) the destruction by fire—as judgments indicating God's displeasure because Sunday is not sacredly observed. These calamities will increase more and more, one disaster will follow close upon the heels of another; and those who make void the law of God will point to the few who are keeping the Sabbath of the fourth commandment as the ones who are bringing wrath upon the world. This falsehood is Satan's device that he may ensnare the unwary.

The Great Controversy, pp. 589, 590

It is God that shields His creatures, and hedges them in from the power of the destroyer. But the Christian world has shown contempt for the law of Jehovah; and the Lord will do just what He has declared that He would, He will withdraw His blessings from the earth and remove His protecting care from those who are rebelling against His law and teaching and forcing others to do the same. Satan has control of all whom God does not especially guard. He will favor and prosper some in order to further his own designs, and he will bring trouble upon others and lead men to believe that it is God who is afflicting them.

While appearing to the children of men as a great physician who can heal all their maladies, he will bring disease and disaster, until populous cities are reduced to ruin and desolation. Even now he is at work. 1) In accidents and calamities by sea and by land, 2) in great conflagrations, 3) in fierce tornadoes and 4) terrific hailstorms, 5) in tempest, 6) floods, 7) cyclones, 8) tidal waves, and 9) earthquakes, in every place and in a thousands forms, Satan is exercising his power. He sweeps away the ripening harvest, and famine and distress follow. He imparts to the air a deadly taint, and thousands perish by the pestilence. These visitations are to become more and more frequent and disastrous. Destruction will be upon both man and beast. "The earth mourneth the haughty people… do languish."

And then the great deceiver will persuade men that those who serve God are causing these evils . The class that have provoked the displeasure of Heaven will charge all their troubles upon those whose obedience to God's commandments is a perpetual reproof to transgressors. It will be declared that man is offending God by the violation of the Sunday-sabbath, that this sin has brought calamities which will not cease until Sunday observance shall be strictly enforced ; and that those who present the claims of the fourth commandment, thus destroying reverence for Sunday, are troublers of the people preventing their restoration to divine favor and temporal prosperity.

Maranatha, p. 176, or Manuscript 85, 1899

Satan puts his interpretation upon events, and they [leading men] think, as he would have them, that the calamities which fill the land are a result of Sunday-breaking. Thinking to appease the wrath of God, these influential men make laws enforcing Sunday observance. They think that by exalting this false rest-day higher, and still higher, compelling obedience to the Sunday law, the spurious sabbath, they are doing God service. Those who honor God by observing the true Sabbath are looked upon as disloyal to God, when it is really those who thus regard them who are themselves disloyal, because they are trampling under foot the Sabbath originated in Eden.

Summary:

As Sunday enactments come into being, the authorities will enforce Sunday more and more stridently. As men depart from God in the exaltation of the false above the true, God's protecting hand is withheld, and Satan's hand is more forcibly felt upon the world. Because men have rejected God's truth, they look at the continual judgments upon the land as sure indicators that Sabbath keepers are bringing these problems. Now their conscientious obedience to God in keeping His Sabbath is viewed as a desecration of Sunday and disobedience to church and state authority.

As we saw in the first section, it is the judgments and catastrophes that are even now motivating people toward Sunday. We are now hearing weekly of great floods, storms and fire etc., throughout the world. Once Sunday is made law, these judgments will intensify. The ethnic hatred we see manifested in various parts of the world is a lesson to us of what it will be like when you are hated and blamed for the world's difficulties, merely because you love and obey God. Do you think you can stand for truth at that time if you are compromising now? If you are yielding to family, church, or social and work pressures now, how can you stand when you are part of a people whom the world hates and despises, and who are blaming you for their suffering and difficulties? Today we must learn to stand or tomorrow WE WILL FALL.

Government Enactments To Enforce Sunday Laws

SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 7, p. 977

A time is coming when the law of God is, in a special sense to be made void in our land. The rulers of our nation will, by legislative enactment's, enforce the Sunday law and thus God's people will be brought into great peril. When our nation, in its legislative councils, shall enact laws to bind the consciences of man in regard to their religious privileges, enforcing Sunday observance, and bringing oppressive power to bear against those who keep the seventh day Sabbath, the law of God will to all intents and purposes be made void in our land; and national apostasy will be followed by national ruin.

Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, p. 451

To secure popularity and patronage, legislators will yield to the demand for a Sunday law.

Selected Messages, Book 3, p. 387 or Manuscript 30, 1889

Last Day Events, 129

Political corruption is destroying love of justice and regard for truth, and even in free America rulers and legislators, in order to secure public favor, will yield to the popular demand for a law enforcing Sunday observance. See GC 578, 579, 592 (1911).

Review and Herald vol. 2, p. 386, or SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 7, p. 976.

When the legislature frames laws which exalt the first day of the week, and put it in the place of the seventh day, the device of Satan will be perfected.

Review and Herald, December 24, 1889, An Address in Regard to the Sunday Movement

Dear Brethren and Sisters:—I have been much burdened in regard to movements that are now in progress for the enforcement of Sunday observance. It has been shown to me that Satan has been working earnestly to carry out his designs to restrict religious liberty. …If the people can be led to favor a Sunday law, then the clergy intend to exert their united influence to obtain a religious amendment to the Constitution, and compel the nation to keep Sunday.

Summary:

Today, for religious and social concerns, Sunday is being agitated and will be accepted in communities, nations and businesses more and more. Yet it is government enforcement of Sunday laws that will bring trouble and trial to God's people. These laws will be enacted due to popular demand. This means by previous conditioning, society has been growing in its acceptance of Sunday at least as a day of rest, if not worship, and will see the need for its enforcement by law. Problems coming in the economic, social and environmental realms will quickly speed up this whole process.

Sunday Will Not Only Be Exalted, But Sabbathkeeping

Will Eventually Be Outlawed

SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 7, p. 978, or Review and Herald December 26, 1899

Human enactment's, laws manufactured by satanic agencies under a plea of goodness and restriction of evil, will be exalted, while God's holy commandments are despised and trampled underfoot. And all who prove their loyalty by obedience to the law of Jehovah must be prepared to be arrested, to be brought before councils that have not for their standard the high and holy law of God.

Testimonies for the Church, vol. 9, pp. 229, 230

It is in reaction to the judgments of God being poured out that the deceived and those led by the prince of darkness shall seek to outlaw the sabbath in hope of pleasing an offended God.

Prophets and Kings, p. 184

"Thus the world will become mine. I will be the ruler of the earth, the prince of the world. I will so control the minds under my power that God's Sabbath shall be a special object of contempt. A sign? I will make the observance of the seventh day a sign of disloyalty to the authorities of earth. Human laws will be made so stringent that men and women will not dare to observe the seventh-day Sabbath. For fear of wanting food and clothing, they will join with the world in transgressing God's law. The earth will be wholly under my dominion." [Satan is here being quoted]

Spalding and Magan, p. 25

The time will come when men will not only forbid Sunday work, but they will try to force men to labor on the Sabbath, and men will be asked to renounce the Sabbath, and to subscribe to Sunday observance or forfeit their freedom and their lives.

The Great Controversy, p. 592

Those who honor the Bible Sabbath will be 1) denounced as enemies of law and order, as breaking down the moral restraints of society, causing anarchy and corruption, and calling down the judgments of God upon the earth. 2) Their conscientious scruples will be pronounced obstinacy, stubbornness, and contempt of authority. 3) They will be accused of disaffection toward the government. Ministers who deny the obligation of the divine law will present from the pulpit the duty of yielding obedience to the civil authorities as ordained of God. 4) In legislative halls and courts of justice, commandment keepers will be misrepresented and condemned. 5) A false coloring will be given to their words; the worst construction will be put upon their motives. (See, 7BC 979)

SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 7, p. 910

Protestantism shall give the hand of fellowship to the Roman power. Then there will be a law against the Sabbath of God's creation, and then it is that God will do His "strange work" in the earth.

Review and Herald vol. 2, p. 609, 1892

An apostate church (Protestantism) will unite with the powers of earth and hell to place upon the forehead or in the hand, the mark of the beast, and prevail upon the children of God to worship the beast and his image. They will seek to compel them to renounce their allegiance to God's law, and yield homage to the papacy. Then will come the times which will try men's souls; for the confederacy of apostasy will demand that the loyal subjects of God shall renounce the law of Jehovah, and repudiate the truth of His word.

Summary:

A relative tolerance toward those who choose not to honor Sunday as it begins to be agitated and enforced gives way to milder measures of force. These include threats, fines and even offers of money and positions of influence. As these fail to convince the people of God to renounce the Sabbath, laws restricting there buying and selling begin to be invoked. Laws not just enforcing Sunday but laws against the Sabbath will be enforced at the loss of liberty and even of life itself. Persecution is being manifested today in Adventism in the form of prejudice, slander and false accusation. The threats and flattery, the involvement of secular authorities and courts in trying to stop the faithful from giving the three angels messages, is but a small glimpse of what opposition is coming to God's faithful remnant.

The church and the world may for a time tolerate Sabbath worship so long as Sunday is respected. Thus the counsel we have is to use Sunday for missionary labor. But as difficulties in the world mount, it will be seen that Sunday the first day of the week is being desecrated by Sabbath observance. Sabbath observance will come to be looked upon as rebellion against authority and therefore must be outlawed. If your relationship with Christ is not then deep and firm, and His word your foundation you will choose the easy popular side and receive the mark of the beast.

The Position Of The False Professor During This Crisis

Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, p. 81

The time is not far distant when the test will come to every soul. The mark of the beast will be urged upon us. Those who have step by step yielded to worldly demands and conformed to worldly customs will not find it a hard matter to yield to the powers that be, rather than subject themselves to 1) derision, 2) insult, 3) threatened imprisonment, 4) and death. The contest is between the commandments of God and the commandments of men. In this time the gold will be separated from the dross in the church.

The Great Controversy, p. 608

As the storm approaches, a large class who have professed faith in the third angel's message, but have not been sanctified through obedience to the truth, abandon their position and join the ranks of the opposition. 1) By uniting with the world and partaking of its spirit, 2) they have come to view matters in nearly the same light; and when the test is brought, 3) they are prepared to choose the easy, popular side. 4) Men of talent and pleasing address, who once rejoiced in the truth, employ their powers to deceive and mislead souls. They become the most bitter enemies of their former brethren. When Sabbath-keepers are brought before the courts to answer for their faith, these apostates are the most efficient agents of Satan to misrepresent and accuse them, and by false reports and insinuations to stir up the rulers against them.

Summary:

"Our daily lives are determining our destiny." Standing for truth and righteousness in the future is dependent on our standing firm now day by day. If we are not daily being "transformed by the renewing of our mind;" if we are not purposed in our hearts to choose God's will and way today, then we are preparing for the mark regardless of our profession. If today we cannot bear insult, and false reports and threats for the sake of truth and righteousness, then tomorrow when the testing time comes we will choose "the easy popular side" which will only end in death.

When The Majority Forsake The Truth

Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, p. 136

"And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold." The very atmosphere is polluted with sin. Soon God's people will be tested by fiery trials, and the great proportion of those who now appear to be genuine and true will prove to be base metal. Instead of being strengthened and confirmed by opposition, threats, and abuse, they will cowardly take the side of the opposers.

Evangelism, p. 361 or Selected Messages, Book 2, p. 368

When the law of God is made void, the church will be sifted by fiery trials, and a larger proportion than we now anticipate, will give heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils.

Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1, p. 608

In the last vision given me, I was shown the startling fact that but a small portion of those who now profess the truth will be sanctified by it and be saved.… They will conform to the world, cherish idols, and become spiritually dead.

Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1, p. 578

That night I dreamed that I was in Battle Creek (then the General Conference headquarters) looking out from the side glass at the door and saw a company marching up to the house, two and two. They looked stern and determined. I knew them well and turned to open the parlor door to receive them, but thought I would look again. The scene was changed. The company now presented the appearance of a Catholic procession. One bore in his hand a cross, another a reed. And as they approached, the one carrying a reed made a circle around the house, saying three times: "This house is proscribed. The goods must be confiscated. They have spoken against our holy order." Terror seized me, and I ran through the house, out of the north door, and found myself in the midst of a company, some of whom I knew, but I dared not speak a word to them for fear of being betrayed. I tried to seek a retired spot where I might weep and pray without meeting eager, inquisitive eyes wherever I turned. I repeated frequently: "If I could only understand this! If they will tell me what I have said or what I have done!"

I wept and prayed much as I saw our goods confiscated. I tried to read sympathy or pity for me in the looks of those around me, and marked the countenances of several whom I thought would speak to me and comfort me if they did not fear that they would be observed by others. I made one attempt to escape from the crowd, but seeing that I was watched, I concealed my intentions.

Review and Herald, vol. 1, p. 405

There is need of a Sabbath reform among us, who profess to observe God's holy rest-day....The Lord has a controversy with His professed people in these last days. In this controversy men in responsible positions will take a course directly opposite to that pursued by Nehemiah. They will not only ignore and despise the Sabbath themselves, but they will try to keep it from others by burying it beneath the rubbish of custom and tradition. In churches and in large gatherings in the open air, ministers will urge upon the people the necessity of keeping the first day of the week.

Before the above can come about Adventists will have rejected or ignored the experience of righteousness by faith of which the Sabbath is a sign. Thus, they really have no need of standing for the Sabbath truth for in reality the do not even keep the seventh day holy.

Desire of Ages, p. 283

But in order to keep the Sabbath holy, men must themselves be holy . Through faith they must become partakers of the righteousness of Christ.…

As the Jews departed from God, and failed to make the righteousness of Christ their own by faith, the Sabbath lost its significance to them. Satan was seeking to exalt himself and to draw men away from Christ, and he worked to pervert the Sabbath, because it is the sign of the power of Christ.

Summary:

We have lost sight of the Sabbath as being a sign of an experience of holiness and righteousness manifested in the new birth and the renewing of the mind. (See 2 Corinthians 5:17, Ephesians 4:23, 24). So having missed this experience, the Sabbath now becomes buried beneath the rubbish of dry formalism and open disregard for its sanctity. In fact this is one of the last steps in the Omega of Apostasy that we are very much in the midst of.

"The enemy of souls has sought to bring in the supposition that a great reformation was to take place among Seventh-day Adventists, and that this reformation would consist in 1) giving up the doctrines which stand as the pillars of our faith, and engaging in a process of reorganization. Were this reformation to take place, what would result? 2) The principles of truth that God in His wisdom has given to the remnant church would be discarded. 3) Our religion would be changed. 4) The fundamental principles that have sustained the work for the last fifty years would be accounted as error. 5) A new organization would be established. 6) Books of a new order would be written. 7) A system of intellectual philosophy would be introduced. 8) The founders of this system would go into the cities, and do a wonderful work. 9) The Sabbath of course, would be lightly regarded, as also the God who created it. 10) Nothing would be allowed to stand in the way of the new movement. 11) The leaders would teach that virtue is better than vice, but God being removed, they would place their dependence on human power, which, without God, is worthless. Their foundation would be built on the sand, and storm and tempest would sweep away the structure." Selected Messages Book, 1, pp, 204, 205.

All of these steps of apostasy are in our midst and are being fulfilled. The last step is simply the new theology that has been gaining ground in our churches for the last four decades and has to a large degree usurped the everlasting gospel of Revelation 14. Sadly, most Adventists know not the present truth of Biblical Adventism.

Finally, as the apostasy deepens, those who have yielded step by step to worldly demands and to worldly customs come to view matters in the same light as the nominal churches and with the hellish torch of false prophecy, teachers and leaders urge the slumbering church to go along with the apostasy.

Testimonies to Ministers, pp. 409, 410

Many will stand in our pulpits with the torch of false prophecy in their hands, kindled from the hellish torch of Satan.

Selected Messages, Book 2, p. 385

I was told that men will employ every policy to make less prominent the difference between the faith of Seventh-day Adventists and those who observe the first day of the week. In this controversy the whole world will be engaged, and the time is short. This is no time to haul down our colors.

A company was presented before me under the name of Seventh-day Adventist, who were advising that the banner or sign [the Sabbath] which makes us a distinctive people should not be held out so strikingly; for they claimed it was not the best policy in securing success to our institutions.

Already we are seeing the beginning's of this leaning in the homage we are giving to Sunday in our Easter services and Ecumenical services. For homage would include keeping Sabbath and Sunday. And would be the same as the three worthies to have bowed down on the plain of Dura and prayed to the God of heaven. It would have appeared they were honoring the image (Sunday) even though they claimed they were calling on God. We are seeing this in the removing of Sabbath or Seventh day etc. from churches and institutions. We are seeing this in the ecumenical dialogues and membership with Sunday churches and organizations.

And to pay homage to Sunday will lead to a complete yielding of all principle.

Selected Messages, Book 3, pp. 394, 395

If the decision is made that our people shall not labor on Sunday and that our brethren in the Southern States shall appear to harmonize with the Sunday law, because of oppression, how long before all over the world [our people] shall be in like circumstances as they are in the South. The decision is to be a universal one. If it comes to the light of day as it will in degrees and there will be concessions and servile bowing to an idol god by those who claim to be Sabbath keepers, there will be a yielding of principles until all is lost to them.

Summary:

Sadly most SDA's, because of NOW joining hands with the world and daily compromising their faith will come up to the test and choose Satan's side. This will appear to them as the easy, popular and wise thing to do. This is no sudden decision, but it is merely the visible fruit of the experience, which was lacking in truly seeking the ways of God. Thus the false professor will, once the crisis comes and as it deepens, merely reveal whom they have all along been serving.

The Stand Of The Faithful At This Time

The Great Controversy, p. 602

Let opposition arise, let bigotry and intolerance again bear sway, let persecution be kindled, and the halfhearted and hypocritical will waver and yield the faith; but the true Christian will stand firm as a rock, his faith stronger, his hope brighter, than in days of prosperity.

Testimonies for the Church, vol. 6, p. 401

But on the other hand, when the storm of persecution really breaks upon us, the true sheep will hear the true Shepherd's voice. Self-denying efforts will be put forth to save the lost, and many who have strayed from the fold will come back to follow the great shepherd. The people of God will draw together and present to the enemy a united front. In view of the common peril, strife for supremacy will cease; there will be no disputing as to who shall be accounted greatest.

Then will the message of the third angel swell to a loud cry, and the whole earth will be lighted with the glory of the Lord.

Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, p. 136

When the religion of Christ is most held in contempt, when His law is most despised, then should our 1) zeal be the warmest and 2) our courage and firmness the most unflinching. To stand in defense of truth and righteousness when the majority forsake us, to fight the battles of the Lord when champions are few—this will be our test. At this time 3) we must gather warmth from the coldness of others, 4) courage from their cowardice, and 5) loyalty from their treason. The nation will be on the side of the great rebel leader.

Summary:

The Sunday law crisis will reveal character, for it is in a crisis that the real character of man is revealed. Only those who have been seeking God daily striving to conform to His will and purpose shall stand at the testing hour. Opposition and difficulty will bring out more fully their true love for God and His truth. Through His grace, they will stand firm for Him in the trying hour.

Sunday Laws As A Test And Separator

SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 7, pp. 976, 977

The Lord has shown me clearly that the image of the beast will be formed before probation closes; for it is to be the great test for the people of God, by which their eternal destiny will be decided.

This is the test that the people of God must have before they are sealed. All who prove their loyalty to God by observing His law, and refusing to accept a spurious sabbath, will rank under the banner of the Lord God Jehovah, and will receive the seal of the living God. Those who yield the truth of heavenly origin and accept the Sunday sabbath, will receive the mark of the beast.

Testimonies for the Church vol. 6, p. 352

The Sabbath question is to be the issue in the great final conflict in which all the world will act a part.

1888 Manuscripts, vol. 2, p. 477

Be sure the Sabbath is a test question, and how you treat this question places you either on God's side or Satan's side. The mark of the beast is to be presented in some shape to every institution and every individual.

The Great Controversy, p. 605

The Sabbath will be the great test of loyalty, for it is the point of truth especially controverted. When the final test shall be brought to bear upon men, then the line of distinction will be drawn between those who serve God and those who serve Him not. While the observance of the false sabbath in compliance with the law of the state, contrary to the fourth commandment, will be an avowal of allegiance to a power that is in opposition to God, the keeping of the true Sabbath, in obedience to God's law, is an evidence of loyalty to the Creator.

Summary:

This great test will go far beyond an intellectual assent or understanding that the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord. The experience of sanctification and re-creation, and separation from the world's ideology and ways, a coming out of Egypt, must become your experience or you will fail the test. Why is this, because the Sabbath is a sign of an experience not just an intellectual acknowledgment of a truth. As trial and perplexity grows, and the loss of liberty, property and even life itself becomes a reality, we will only be able to stand if we have experienced Christ in reality, and the Sabbath as a sign of that experience.

Who Only Shall Stand At This Time?

Revelation 14:12

Here is the patience of the saints, here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.

Review and Herald, vol. 2, p. 609, (1892)

Every one who is not centered in Christ will fail to stand the test and ordeal of that day . While those who are clothed with Christ's righteousness will stand firm to truth and duty, those who have trusted in their own righteousness will be ranged under the black banner of the prince of darkness. Then it will be seen whether the choice is for Christ or Belial.

Maranatha, p. 192

As we near the end of time, falsehood will be so mingled with truth, that 1) only those who have the guidance of the Holy Spirit will be able to distinguish truth from error. 2) We need to make every effort to keep the way of the Lord. 3) We must in no case turn from His guidance to put our trust in man. The Lord's angels are appointed to keep strict watch over those who put their faith in the Lord, and these angels are to be our special help in every time of need. 4) Every day we are to come to the Lord with full assurance of faith, 5) and to look to Him for wisdom. . . . 6) Those who are guided by the Word of the Lord will 7) discern with certainty between falsehood and truth, between sin and righteousness.

Maranatha, p. 203, or SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 7, p. 911

NONE but those who have been overcoming by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony will be found with the loyal and true, without spot or stain of sin, without guile in their mouths.… The remnant that purify their souls by obeying the truth gather strength from the trying process, exhibiting the beauty of holiness amid the surrounding apostasy.

Prophets and Kings, pp. 512, 513

The season of distress before God's people 1) will call for a faith that will not falter. 2) His children must make it manifest that He is the only object of their worship, and 3) that no consideration, not even that of life itself, can induce them to make the least concession to false worship. 4) To the loyal heart the commands of sinful, finite men will sink into insignificance beside the word of the eternal God. 5) Truth will be obeyed though the result be imprisonment or exile or death.

Review and Herald, November 9, 1911, or Sketches from the Life of Paul, p. 252

God would have his people prepared for the soon-coming crisis. Prepared or unprepared, we must all meet it. Only those whose characters are thoroughly disciplined to meet the divine standard will be able to stand firm in that testing time. But when enemies shall be on every side, watching them for evil, the God of Heaven will be watching his precious jewels for good. When secular rulers unite with the ministers of religion to come between God and our conscience, then those who cherish the fear of God will be revealed. When the darkness is deepest, then the light of a noble, Godlike character will shine the brightest. When every other trust fails, then it will be seen who have an abiding trust in God.

Sketches from the Life of Paul, p. 252

The stronger and purer the faith of God's people, and the firmer their determination to obey him, the more will Satan stir up the rage of those who claim to be righteous, while they trample upon the law of God. In that coming emergency, rulers and magistrates will not interpose in behalf of God's people. There will be a corrupt harmony with all who have not been obedient to the law of God.… It will require the firmest trust, the most heroic purpose, to hold fast the faith once delivered to the saints.

Summary:

Who shall stand at this time, only those whose faith is centered in Christ. Only those overcoming by the blood of the Lamb. Only those who have made God their sole object of worship. Only those that have been purifying their souls by obeying the truth. Only those whose characters are thoroughly disciplined to meet the divine standard will be able to stand firm in that testing time. Dear reader: can you not see the Sunday/Mark of the Beast crisis, is the revealer of character, and will be the time of the judgment of the living that will determine your ETERNAL destiny? Again the words of the prophet Zephaniah comes to us as God's plea—

[The time for repentance is speeding by like chaff whirled before the wind!] Therefore consider, before God's decree brings forth [Revelation 22:11], before the time [to repent] is gone like the drifting chaff, before the fierce anger of the Lord comes upon you—yes, before the day of the wrath of the Lord comes upon you! Seek the Lord [inquire for Him, inquire of Him, and require Him as the foremost necessity of your life], all you humble of the land who have acted in compliance with his revealed will and have kept His commandments; seek righteousness, seek humility [inquire for them, require them as vital]. It may be you will be hidden in the day of the Lord's anger. Zephaniah 2:2, 3, The Amplified Bible

Who Shall Grow Weary And Falter At This Time?

Selected Messages, Book 3, p. 415

Many are holding the truth only with the tips of their fingers. They have had great light and many privileges. Like Capernaum they have been exalted to heaven in this respect. In the time of test and trial that is approaching, they will become apostates unless they put away their pride and self-confidence, unless they have an entire transformation of character.

Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, p. 217

What are you doing brethren, in the great work of preparation? Those who are uniting with the world are receiving the worldly mold and preparing for the mark of the beast.

Prophets and Kings, 188

The time is not far distant when the test will come to every soul. The observance of the false sabbath will be urged upon us. The contest will be between the commandments of God and the commandments of men. Those who have yielded step by step to worldly demands and conformed to worldly customs will then yield to the powers that be, rather than subject themselves to derision, insult, threatened imprisonment, and death. At that time the gold will be separated from the dross. True godliness will be clearly distinguished from the appearance and tinsel of it. Many a star that we have admired for its brilliance will then go out in darkness. Those who have assumed the ornaments of the sanctuary, but are not clothed with Christ's righteousness, will then appear in the shame of their own nakedness.

Sketches From The Life of Paul, p. 252

There will be a corrupt harmony with all who have not been obedient to the law of God. In that day, all time-servers, all who have not the genuine work of grace in the heart, will be found wanting.

Summary:

Those who hold the truth on the tips of their fingers or in a shallow careless way, and those uniting with the manners, ideas, and attitudes of the world cannot stand in the coming crisis. Those today who follow the commandments of men rather than the commandments of God cannot stand in the coming crisis. The commandments of men may be following your own will instead of God's will. Following the commandments of men may be following friends or family instead of God. It may be following the decrees and decisions of church counsels or leaders rather than God. It may be following the policies, and manuals and rules of church structures rather than God's Word. In short those who fall at this time are those who appeared to be Christians but were not. The storm shall reveal whether they have been building their house of character on the sands of this world's ways or have been building their house or character upon the everlasting rock of Christ and His Word. And the storm will surely reveal how our daily lives have been. See, Matthew 7:24-27

Sunday Laws, The Latter Rain, And Loud Cry

Signs of the Times, vol. 3, p. 44

Protestants will throw their whole influence and strength on the side of the Papacy; by a national act enforcing the false Sabbath, they will give life and vigor to the corrupt faith of Rome, reviving her tyranny and oppression of conscience. Then it will be time for God to work in mighty power for the vindication of His truth.

The prophet says: "I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with His glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon, the great is fallen, is fallen.… And I heard another voice from heaven, saying Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities." When do her sins reach unto heaven? When the law of God is finally made void by legislation. Then the extremity of God's people is His opportunity to show who is the governor of heaven and earth. As a Satanic power is stirring up the elements from beneath, God will send light and power to His people, that the message of truth may be proclaimed to all the world.

Selected Messages Book 3, p. 385

Support will be withdrawn from those who proclaim God's only standard of righteousness, the only sure test of character. And all who will not bow to the decree of the national councils, and obey the national laws to exalt the sabbath instituted by the man of sin to the disregard of God's holy day, will feel, not the oppressive power of popery alone, but of the Protestant world, the image of the beast.

The great issue so near at hand will weed out those whom God has not appointed and He will have a pure, true, sanctified ministry prepared for the latter rain.

Testimonies to Ministers, p. 206

The commandment-keeping people of God erelong will be placed in a most trying position; but all those who have walked in the light, and diffused the light, will realize that God interposes in their behalf. When everything looks most forbidding, then the Lord will reveal His power to His faithful ones. When the nation for which God has worked in such marvelous manner, and over which he has spread the shield of Omnipotence, abandons Protestant principles, and through its legislature gives countenance and support to Romanism in limiting religious liberty, then God will work in His own power for His people that are true. The tyranny of Rome will be exercised, but Christ is our refuge.

Psalm 119:126

It is time for thee, Lord, to work: for they have made void thy law.

Review and Herald, vol. 2, p. 354

The man of sin thinks to change times and laws. He is exalting himself above God, in trying to compel the conscience. But God's people should work with persevering energy to let their light shine upon the people in regard to the law, and thus to withstand the enemies of God and His truth. When the law of God has been made void, and apostasy becomes a national sin, the Lord will work in behalf of His people. Their extremity will be his opportunity. He will manifest His power in behalf of His people.

Selected Messages, Book 3, pp. 406, 407

This false sabbath is to be enforced by an oppressive law. ….While Satan is working with his lying wonders, the time has come [that was] foretold in Revelation, when the mighty angel that shall lighten the earth with his glory will proclaim the fall of Babylon and call upon God's people to forsake her.

Last Day Events, p. 208

When the storm of persecution really breaks upon us,… then will the message of the third angel swell to a loud cry, and the whole earth will be lightened with the glory of the Lord.

Summary:

The latter rain and the loud cry will be God's counter measure to the ever-increasing agitation and enforcement of Sunday. As the Sunday issue has grown in intensity encompassing the world, God will give his people special power to call all who will listen out of Babylon before the plagues fall upon the worshippers of the beast and his image. This is that time that the Sabbath will be preached more fully and the glory of God shall lighten the earth.

Lessons From History

Signs of the Times, vol. 4, p. 502

The decree which is to go forth against the people of God in the near future, will be in some respects similar to that issued by Ahasuerus against the Jews in the time of Esther. The Persian edict sprang from the malice of Haman toward Mordecai. Not that Mordecai had done Haman harm, but he had refused to flatter his vanity by showing him the reverence which belongs only to God.

The king's decision against the Jews was secured under false pretenses—a misrepresentation of that peculiar people. Satan instigated the scheme in order to rid the earth of those who preserved the knowledge of the true God. But his plots were defeated by a counter-power that reigns among the children of men. Angels that excel in strength were commissioned to protect the people of God, and the plots of their adversaries returned upon their own heads.

History will repeat itself . In this age the test will be on the point of the Sabbath observance. The same masterful mind that plotted against the faithful in ages past, is now at work to gain control of the fallen churches, that through them he may condemn and put to death all who will not worship the idol sabbath.

Prophets and Kings, pp. 605, 606

The decree that will finally go forth against the remnant people of God will be very similar to that issued by Ahasuerus against the Jews. Today the enemies of the true church see in the little company keeping the Sabbath commandment, a Mordecai at the gate. The reverence of God's people for His law is a constant rebuke to those who have cast off the fear of the Lord and are trampling on His Sabbath.

1) Satan will arouse indignation against the minority who refuse to accept popular customs and traditions. 2) Men of position and reputation 3) will join with the lawless and the vile to take counsel against the people of God. 4) Wealth, genius, education, will combine to cover them with contempt. 5) Persecuting rulers, ministers, and church members will conspire against them. 6) With voice and pen, 7) by boasts, threats, and ridicule, they will seek to overthrow their faith. 8) By false representations and angry appeals, men will stir up the passions of the people. Not having a "Thus saith the Scriptures" to bring against the advocates of the Bible Sabbath, 9) they will resort to oppressive enactments to supply the lack. To secure popularity and patronage, legislators will yield to the demand for Sunday laws. But those who fear God, cannot accept an institution that violates a precept of the Decalogue. On this battlefield will be fought the last great conflict in the controversy between truth and error. And we are not left in doubt as to the issue. Today, as in the days of Esther and Mordecai, the Lord will vindicate His truth and His people.

An End Time Image

Review and Herald, vol. 3, p. 550

As Nebuchadnezzar set up his golden image on the plain of Dura, and so exalted himself, so Satan exalts himself in this false sabbath, for which he has stolen the livery of heaven.

SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 4, p. 1169

By many, the Sabbath of the fourth commandment is made void, being treated as a thing of naught; while the spurious sabbath, the child of the papacy, is exalted. In the place of God's laws are elevated the laws of the man of sin,—laws that are to be received and regarded as the wonderful golden image of Nebuchadnezzar was by the Babylonians. Forming this great image, Nebuchadnezzar commanded that it should receive universal homage from all, both great and small, high and low, rich and poor.

Youth's Instructor, p. 594

The lessons we may learn from the loyalty of the Hebrew captives toward God and His law, have a direct and vital bearing upon our experience in these last days. We have a confession to make, different from that which we have made; and we shall have to make it under trying circumstances. In order to impress idolaters with the power and greatness of the living God, we, as His servants, must reveal our own reverence for God. We must make it manifest that He is the only object of our adoration and worship, and that no consideration, not even the preservation of life, can induce us to make the least concession to idolatry.

The vainglory and oppression seen in the course pursued by the heathen king, Nebuchadnezzar, is being and will continue to be manifested in our day. History will repeat itself. In this age the test will be on the point of Sabbath observance. The heavenly universe behold men trampling upon the law of Jehovah, making the memorial of God, the sign between Him and His commandment-keeping people, a thing of naught, something to be despised, while a rival sabbath is exalted as was the great golden image in the plain of Dura. Men claiming to be Christians will call upon the world to observe this spurious sabbath that they have made. All who refuse will be placed under oppressive laws. This is the mystery of iniquity, the devising of satanic agencies, carried into effect by the man of sin.

SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 7, p. 976

False religion will be exalted. The first day of the week, a common working day, possessing no sanctity whatever, will be set up as was the image at Babylon. All nations and tongues and peoples will be commanded to worship this spurious sabbath. This is Satan's plan to make of no account the day instituted by God, and given to the world as a memorial of creation.

The decree enforcing the worship of this day is to go forth to all the world. In a limited degree, it has already gone forth. In several places the civil power is speaking with the voice of a dragon, just as the heathen king spoke to the Hebrews captives.

Trial and persecution will come to all who, in obedience to the Word of God, refuse to worship this false sabbath. Force is the last resort of every false religion. At first it tries attraction, as the king of Babylon tried the power of music and outward show. If these attractions, invented by men inspired by Satan, failed to make men worship the image, the hungry flames of the furnace were ready to consume them. So it will be now. The papacy has exercised her power to compel men to obey her, and she will continue to do so. We need the same spirit that was manifested by God's servants in the conflict with paganism.

Summary:

As in the past so in the future, men under the guise of religious zeal will seek to force the consciences of those who would be true to God. This is the working out of Satan's masterful plan. Yet in the midst of slander, false accusation, and threatened death, and loss of liberty there will be a faithful remnant as in days past who will stand true to God vindicating His character.

Enforcement Of Sunday Observance Will Close

Probation For The United States

Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, p. 451

By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near.

Evangelism, p. 235

When Protestant churches shall unite with the secular power to sustain a false religion, for opposing which their ancestors endured the fiercest persecution, then will the papal sabbath be enforced by the combined authority of church and state. There will be a national apostasy which will end only in national ruin.

Review and Herald, vol. 3, p. 44

The people of the United States have been a favored people; but when they restrict religious liberty, surrender Protestantism, and give countenance to popery, the measure of their guilt will be full, and "national apostasy" will be registered in the books of heaven. The result of this apostasy will be national ruin.

Selected Messages, Book 2, 373

It is at the time of the national apostasy when, acting on the policy of Satan, the rulers of the land will rank themselves on the side of the man of sin. It is then the measure of guilt is full. The national apostasy is the signal for national ruin.

Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, p. 451

As the approach of the Roman armies was a sign to the disciples of the impending destruction of Jerusalem, so may this apostasy be a sign to us that the limit of God's forbearance is reached, that the measure of our nation's iniquity is full, and that the angel of mercy is about to take her flight, never to return.

Summary:

This last great test at the end of time over worship centered in the Sabbath-Sunday crisis will be the testing issue, "the judgment of the living." This test will determine the destiny of every single person and that of the societies and nations they make up. Thus as individuals and nations fully reject God's law they will be closing their probation. As America and the nations of this world legislate into law the false against the true, then the cup of iniquity is filled, and God's protecting hand is finally removed and as a nation's apostasy is filled, national ruin will be the inevitable result.

Leaders Declare The World Is Being Punished Because

Of The Continued Desecration Of Sunday

The Signs of the Times, January 17, 1884

Men in responsible positions will not only ignore and despise the Sabbath themselves, but from the sacred desk, will urge upon the people the observance of the first day of the week, pleading tradition and custom in behalf of this man-made institution. They will point to calamities on land and sea—to the storms of wind, the floods, the earthquakes, the destruction by fire—as judgments indicating God's displeasure because Sunday is not sacredly observed. These calamities will increase more and more, one disaster will follow close upon the heels of another; and those who make void the law of God will point to the few who are keeping the Sabbath of the fourth commandment as the ones who are bringing wrath upon the world. This falsehood is Satan's device that he may ensnare the unwary.

Review and Herald, vol. 4, p. 335

When the angel of mercy folds her wings and departs, Satan will do the evil deeds he has long wished to do. Storm and tempest, war and bloodshed,—in these things he delights, and thus he gathers in his harvest. And so completely will men be deceived by him that they will declare that these calamities are the result of the desecration of the first day of the week. From the pulpits of the popular churches will be heard the statement that the world is being punished because Sunday is not honored as it should be. And it will require no great stretch of imagination for men to believe this. They are guided by the enemy, and therefore they reach conclusions which are false.

Summary:

As we saw in the opening of this study, it is the mounting natural disasters and economic troubles that is one of the motivations for bringing forth the recognition and setting aside of Sunday. The milder measures for Sunday sacredness are even now being agitated, and will be implemented largely under the guise of strengthening the family, and to improve social morals, and for a much needed day of rest. Since these issues really hide the strong religious element behind Sunday, more stern enforcement will be called for. Especially will this be the case as it is seen that the disasters are increasing and showing no sign of letting up. Thus it is concluded that strict enforcement will be necessary to appease an angry God. What heretofore may have been milder laws, decrees and enactments will become more and more oppressive. Human nature being what it is, society will be looking for a scapegoat to blame their troubles upon. Faithful Sabbath keepers, who by this time are greatly pushed to the forefront in the controversy over Sunday, will be seen as the few stubborn ones who are creating the problems due to their persistence in not heeding the laws and wishes of the government and society to sacredly observe Sunday. Though they may refrain from open work by carrying forward missionary work on Sunday, yet their conscientiousness in keeping the seventh-day Sabbath will come to be seen as belligerence and stubborn disregard for the laws of the land, and therefore must be stopped at all costs.

The Sunday Issue Spreads From The United States

To Encompass Every Nation

Testimonies for the Church, vol. 6, p. 18

As America, the land of religious liberty, shall unite with the papacy in forcing the conscience and compelling men to honor the false sabbath, the people of every country on the globe will be led to follow her example.

Revelation 13:15-17

And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

Testimonies for the Church, vol. 6, p. 395

The less we make direct charges against authorities and powers, the greater work we shall be able to accomplish, both in America and in foreign countries. Foreign nations will follow the example of the United States. Though she leads out, yet the same crisis will come upon our people in all parts of the world.

Testimonies for the Church, vol. 8, p. 94

"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." Revelation 14:6-8. How is this done? By forcing men to accept a spurious sabbath.

Testimonies for the Church, vol. 6, p. 352

The Sabbath question is to be the issue in the great final conflict in which all the world will act a part.

SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 7, 976,

History will be repeated. False religion will be exalted. The first day of the week, a common working day, possessing no sanctity whatever, will be set up as was the image of Babylon. All nations and tongues and peoples will be commanded to worship this spurious sabbath. . . . The decree enforcing the worship of this day is to go forth to all the world.

Selected Messages, Book 3, p. 415

The Lord will judge according to their works those who are seeking to establish a law of the nations that will cause men to violate the law of God. In proportion to their guilt will be their punishment.

Evangelism, p. 236

The law of God, through the agency of Satan, is to be made void. In our land of boasted freedom, religious liberty will come to an end. The contest will be decided over the Sabbath question, which will agitate the whole world.

SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 7, p. 949

The so-called Christian world is to be the theater of great and decisive actions. Men in authority will enact laws controlling the conscience, after the example of the papacy. Babylon will make all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. Every nation will be involved.

Summary:

The careful observer of international events can certainly see that America in the 1990's and into the new millennium seems to be growing in influence and power. The influence and popularity of American pop culture in fashion, music and movies and fast food etc., is being adopted throughout the world and on every continent. With the fall of Soviet Communism from the stage of being a global super power to now being a bankrupt system and nation, America stands as the sole superpower on the globe. Beginning with Desert Storm in Iraq in the early 90's to the recent Kosovo war in the Balkans it is seen that America is the dominant super power of the world. Though the war in Serbia was a NATO affair, it was largely the American war machine that did the work. In fact, it is the American dominance that has so worried Russia and China.

The meltdown of the Asian economies beginning in 1997 that seemed to threaten the global economy, has been to a large degree for now contained by the American dominated financial institutions, and the huge trade deficit piled up by American consumers who, by their unbelievable and unrealistic spending spree, have kept the word economy afloat. This has seen an export driven turnaround in many of the Asian countries. The Anglo-American business model is even stirring up Western Europe as the countries of Euroland adopt increasingly the American way of business.

Technologically America is also the dominant power of the world. As we see American and British and to some extent European companies merging and entering partnerships on a vast global scale, the merchant men of world commerce and industry are coming to the place that they control much of the key elements of business worldwide exactly as Revelation 18 tells us. Thus the American and European powers of the old and new world which will lead out in the Sunday law crisis are also the powers of the world economy.

The diplomatic initiatives of America both seen and unseen from the Israel and Palestinian controversy, to the India/Pakistan controversy over Kashmir, to the Catholic/Protestant controversy in Northern Ireland, and countless other places show the global influence and dominance of America. The moral decay of America, and its current dominance in the world is setting the stage for an apparent turn to God that will be dictated to the world at large as well. Increasing disasters and perhaps a disaster of a national or of a global scale will push America to do that which seems to our minds to be impossible. Prophecy has foretold the events, and the rise of America to world dominance shows us that she shall speak, and even now is speaking like a dragon. "And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name."

Sunday The Full Fruit Of Uniting The Mind Of Satan

And The Mind Of Man

Selected Messages Book 2, 352, 353

For thousands of years 1) Satan has been experimenting upon the properties of the human mind, and he has learned to know it well. By his subtle workings in these last days, 2) he is linking the human mind with his own, imbuing it with his thoughts; and he is 3) doing this work in so deceptive a manner 4) that those who accept his guidance know not that they are being led by him at his will: The great deceiver 5) hopes so to confuse the minds of men and women, 6) that none but his voice will be heard.

7)… It is not by force that Satan takes possession of the human mind. While men sleep, the enemy sows tares in the church. 8) While men are spiritually sleeping, the enemy accomplishes his work of iniquity. 9) It is when his subject "understandeth it not" (Matt. 13:19) that he catcheth away the good seed sown in the heart. 10) When men and women are in this condition, 11) when their spiritual life is not being constantly fed by the Spirit of God, 12) Satan can imbue them with his spirit, and lead them to work his works....

Review and Herald, February 10, 1903

When Satan is permitted to mold the will, he uses it to accomplish his ends. 1) He often works under cover as an angel of light. 2) He has synagogues for worship, and a multitude of followers. But with all his 3) high professions, he is at enmity with God. 4) He instigates theories of unbelief, and 5) stirs up the human heart to war against the word of God. 6) With persistent, persevering effort, he seeks to inspire men with his own energies of hate and antagonism to God, and to 7) array them in opposition to the institutions and requirements of heaven and the operations of the Holy Spirit.…

8) It is Satan's work to dethrone God from the heart, and 9) to mold human nature into his own image of deformity.

Testimonies for the Church vol. 6, pp. 14, 15

1) Satan is working to the utmost to make himself as God and 2) to destroy all who oppose his power. And 3) today the world is bowing before him. 4) His power is received as the power of God. The prophecy of the Revelation is being fulfilled, that "all the world wondered after the beast." Revelation 13:3.

Men in their blindness boast of wonderful progress and enlightenment ; but to the eye of Omniscience are revealed the inward guilt and depravity. The heavenly watchers see the earth filled with violence and crime. Wealth is obtained by every species of robbery, not robbery of men only, but of God. Men are using His means to gratify their selfishness. Everything they can grasp is made to minister to their greed. Avarice and sensuality prevail. 5) Men cherish the attributes of the first great deceiver. 6) They have accepted him as God, and have 7) become imbued with his spirit.

Review and Herald, April 14, 1896

1) Every human mind that is not surrendered to God and is not under the control of the Spirit of God, will be perverted through satanic agencies. 2) The enemy is working continually to supplant Jesus Christ in the human heart, and 3) to place his attributes in the human character, in the place of the attributes of God. 4) He brings his strong delusions to bear upon the human mind, 5) that he may have a controlling power.

… All the vast, complicated machinery of evil agencies is put into action in these last days. Through generation after generation, from age to age, 6) Satan has gathered human agencies through whom to work out his diabolical purposes, and to bring about the enforcement of his plans and devices in the earth. The great putrid fountain of evil has been continually flowing through human society. Though unable to expel God from his throne, Satan has charged God with satanic attributes, and has claimed the attributes of God as his own. He is a deceiver, and through his serpentine sharpness, through his crooked practices, 7) he has drawn to himself the homage which man should have given to God, and 8) has planted his satanic throne between the human worshiper and the divine Father.

…Those who love and keep the commandments of God are most obnoxious to the synagogue of Satan, and the powers of evil will manifest their hatred toward them to the fullest extent possible. John foresaw the conflict between the remnant church and the power of evil, and said, "The dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." 9) The forces of darkness will unite with human agents who have given themselves into the control of Satan, and the same scenes that were exhibited at the trial, rejection, and crucifixion of Christ will be revived. 10) Through yielding to satanic influences, men will be transformed into fiends; and 11) those who were created in the image of God, who were formed to honor and glorify their Creator, will become the habitation of dragons, and 12) Satan will see in an apostate race his masterpiece of evil,— men who reflect his own image.

Selected Messages Book 3, p. 406

This false sabbath is to be enforced by an oppressive law . Satan and his angels are wide awake and intensely active, working with energy and perseverance through human instrumentalities to bring about his purpose of obliterating the knowledge of God.

Review and Herald, April 15, 1890

There will be an effort made to unsettle the faith of every believer in present truth. Since Satan fell from heaven, he has been trampling underfoot the word of God, and putting something of his own devising in its place. His work has been accepted as the work of God. When the legislature frames laws which exalt the first day of the week, and put it in the place of the seventh day, the device of Satan will be perfected.

Upward Look, p. 262

All who are on Satan's side will unite with him in honoring the spurious Sabbath….

Review and Herald, January 1, 1889

Once let the minds of the Christian world be turned away from God; let his law be dishonored and his holy day trampled upon, and they will be ready to take any step where Satan may lead the way.

Selected Messages, Book 3, p. 424

…a false sabbath, instituted by men who have exalted themselves above all that is called God or that is worshipped, who have taken upon themselves the attributes of Satan.

Prophets and Kings, p. 184

"Thus 1) the world will become mine. 2) I will be the ruler of the earth, the prince of the world. 3) I [Satan] will so control minds under my power that God's Sabbath shall be a special object of contempt.… The earth will be wholly under my dominion."

Summary:

Since the fall of man and throughout human history, Satan has been seeking to have full control of the mind, and body of mankind. Just before the flood, he seemed to have succeeded as the mind of man was only evil continually. Jesus said the state of society at the end would be just like Noah's day. We see again today that the imaginations, the thoughts, motives and aspirations of man are largely contrary to God's will, ways, and word. Mankind's mind is becoming the representative of the mind of Satan.

Sunday legislated into law will become the "mark" of the mind of Satan. "To receive this mark means to come to the same decision as the beast has done, and to advocate the same ideas, in direct opposition to the Word of God." Thus, it is his device perfected. Then Satan's proud boast in Isaiah 14:13 will be fulfilled, as he receives the worship of the "congregation," as he "exalts my throne" above that of God's, as he sits in the "sides of the north" in the place of God. Thus, the world is ready for his appearance as he comes claiming to be God.

Satan's Personating Of Christ

The Overwhelming Delusion

Testimonies to Ministers, p. 62

Fallen angels upon earth form confederations with evil men. In this age Antichrist will appear as the true Christ, and then the law of God will be fully made void in the nations of our world. Rebellion against God's holy law will be fully ripe. But the true leader of all this rebellion is Satan clothed as an angel of light. Men will be deceived and will exalt him to the place of God, and deify him. But Omnipotence will interpose, and to the apostate churches that unite in the exaltation of Satan, the sentence will go forth, "Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her."

Fundamentals of Christian Education, pp. 471, 472

Satan is striving to gain every advantage. He desires to secure, not only students, but teachers. He has his plains laid. 1) Disguised as an angel of light, 2) he will walk the earth as a wonderworker. 3) In beautiful language he will present lofty sentiments. 4) Good words will be spoken by him, and 5) good deeds performed. 6) Christ will be personified, but on one point there will be a marked distinction. Satan will turn the people from the law of God. Notwithstanding this, so well will he counterfeit righteousness, that if it were possible, he would deceive the very elect. Crowned heads, presidents, rulers in high places, will bow to his false theories.

The Great Controversy, pp. 624, 625

As the crowning act in the great drama of deception, Satan himself will personate Christ. The church has long professed to look to the Saviour's advent as the consummation of her hopes. Now the great deceiver will make it appear that Christ has come. 1) In different parts of the world he will manifest himself among men as 2) a majestic being of dazzling brightness, resembling the description of the Son of God given by John in the Revelation. Revelation 1:13-15. 3) The glory that surrounds him is unsurpassed by anything that mortal eyes have yet beheld. The shout of triumph rings out upon the air: "Christ has come! Christ has come!" The people prostrate themselves in adoration before him, while he lifts up his hands and pronounces a blessing upon them, as Christ blessed His disciples when He was upon the earth. 4) His voice is soft and subdued, yet full of melody. 5) In gentle, compassionate tones he presents some of the same gracious, heavenly truths which the Saviour uttered; 6) he heals the diseases of the people, and then , in his assumed character of Christ, he claims to have changed the Sabbath to Sunday, and commands all to hallow the day which he has blessed. 7) He declares that those who persist in keeping holy the seventh day are blaspheming his name by refusing to listen to his angels sent to them with light and truth. This is the strong almost overmastering delusion. Like the Samaritans who were deceived by Simon Magus, the multitudes, from the least to the greatest, give heed to these sorceries, saying: This is "the great power of God." Acts 8:10.

Maranatha, p. 205,

He will declare that the Sabbath has been changed from the seventh to the first day of the week; and as lord of the first day of the week he will present this spurious sabbath as test of loyalty to him.

Summary:

Just before probation closes God will allow Satan to personate Christ. To the majority of the world's inhabitants who have chosen to love "a lie" and had "pleasure in unrighteousness," the appearance and beauty, and the teachings and miracles of Satan will bind them in a delusion that shall only be discovered when it is to late. Satan while upon the earth will set forth the first day of the week as the Lord's Day and a test of loyalty to him. Thus in the final push to exalt Sunday above God's day of rest and worship Satan himself will take the battlefield in his pretended role as Jesus.

Death To Sabbathkeepers

Selected Messages, Book 3, p. 385

The two armies will stand distinct and separate, and this distinction will be so marked that many who shall be convinced of the truth will come on the side of God's commandment-keeping people. When this grand work is to take place in the battle, prior to the last closing conflict, many will be imprisoned, many will flee for their lives from cities and towns, and many will be martyrs for Christ's sake in standing in defense of the truth.… You will not be tempted above what you are able to bear. Jesus bore all this and far more.

The Great Controversy, p. 604

The powers of earth, uniting to war against the commandments of God, will decree that "all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond" (Revelation 13:16), shall conform to the customs of the church by the observance of the false sabbath. All who refuse compliance will be visited with civil penalties, and it will finally be declared that they are deserving of death.

Testimonies to Ministers, p. 473

[Satan quoted] "But our principle concern is to silence this sect of Sabbath keepers. We must excite popular indignation against them. We will enlist great men and worldly wise men upon our side and induce those in authority to carry out our purposes. Then the sabbath which I have set up shall be enforced by laws the most severe and exacting. Those who disregard them shall be driven out from the cities and villages and made to suffer hunger and privation. When once we have the power we will show what we can do with those who will not swerve from their allegiance to God. We led the Romish churches to inflict imprisonment, torture and death upon those who refused to yield to her decrees: and now that we are bringing the Protestant churches and the world into harmony with the right arm of our strength, we will finally have a law to exterminate all who will not submit to our authority. When death shall be made the penalty of violating our sabbath, then many who are now ranked with Sabbath-keepers will come over to our side."

SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 7, p. 968, or Maranatha, p. 199

When the fifth seal was opened, John the revelator in vision saw beneath the altar the company that were slain for the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. After this came the scenes described in the eighteenth of Revelation, when those who are faithful and true are called out from Babylon. [Revelation 18:1–5 quoted].

Revelation 6:9-11

And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and there brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.

Maranatha, p. 209

I saw our people in great distress, weeping, and praying, pleading the sure promises of God, while the wicked were all around us, mocking us, and threating to destroy us. They ridiculed our feebleness, they mocked at the smallness of our numbers, and taunted us with the words calculated to cut deep. They charged us with taking an independent position from all the rest of the world. They had cut off our resources so that we could not buy nor sell, and referred to our abject poverty and stricken condition. They could not see how we could live without the world; we were dependent upon the world, and must conceded to the customs, practices, and laws of the world, or go out of it. If we were the only people in the world whom the Lord favored the appearances were awfully against us. They declared that they had the truth, that miracles were among them, that angels from heaven talked with them, and walked with them, that great power, and signs and wonders were performed among them, and this was the Temporal Millennium, which they had been expecting so long. The whole world was converted and in harmony with the Sunday law, and this little feeble people stood out in defiance of the laws of the land, and the laws of God, and claimed to be the only ones right on the earth.

Testimonies for the Church, vol. 9, p. 231

The remnant church will be brought into great trial and distress. Those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus will feel the ire of the dragon and his hosts. Satan numbers the world as his subjects, he has gained control of the apostate churches; but here is a little company that are resisting his supremacy. If he could blot them from the earth, his triumph would be complete. As he influenced the heathen nations to destroy Israel, so in the near future he will stir up the wicked powers of earth to destroy the people of God. All will be required to render obedience to human edicts in violation of the divine law. Those who will be true to God and to duty will be menaced, denounced, and proscribed. They will be betrayed "both by parents, and brethren, and kinfolks, and friends." Luke 21:16

Signs of the Times, vol. 4, p. 502

When the Sabbath shall become the special point of controversy throughout Christendom, the persistent refusal of a small minority to yield to the popular demand will make them objects of universal execration.* Satan will excite indignation against the humble remnant who conscientiously refuse to accept the customs and traditions of error. Blinded by the prince of darkness, popular religionists will see only as he sees, and feel as he feels. They will determine as he determines, and oppress as he has oppressed. Liberty of conscience, which cost this nation so great a sacrifice, will no longer be respected. The church and the world will unite, and the world will lend to the church her power to crush out the right of the people to worship God according to His Word.

It will be urged that the few who stand in opposition to an institution of the church and a law of the state, ought not to be tolerated: that it is better for them to suffer than for whole nations to be thrown into confusion and lawlessness. This argument will appear conclusive; and against those who hallow the Sabbath of the fourth commandment will finally be issued a decree denouncing them as deserving of the severest punishment, and giving the people liberty, after a certain time, to put them to death. (See, also Signs of The Times, vol. 3, p. 479, Revelation 13:15). *[Act of cursing, utter detestation, to abhor].

An Adventist Apocalypse, 268

Men trample underfoot God's law and say to the people, as the Jews said of Christ, "We have a law, and by our law he ought to die" (John 19:7). Over and over this will be repeated in the courts. Christ tells us that in the world we shall have tribulation, but that in Him we shall have peace.

Those who live in the last days of this world's history will know what it means to be persecuted for the truth's sake. Injustice will prevail in the courts. The judges will refuse to listen to the reasons of those who are loyal and true to the commandments of God, and will say, "We have a law, and by our law he ought to die." God's law is nothing to them; "our law" with them is supreme. Those who respect this human law will be favored, but those who will not bow to their idol sabbath have no favors shown them.

Revelation 13:15

And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

Revelation 20:4

And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

Summary:

Laws will be made condemning Sabbath keepers to death. In addition, many death sentences will be carried out through national and international criminal court systems. Yet, it seems probable that many, many martyrs of God will seal their fate by their blood as they are witnessing. Others will be cut down by angry mobs. While still others will be murdered as they go about their daily lives. Others will be formally tried and sentenced to death by corrupt courts of law. These atrocities are already taking place, as individuals and even whole groups of people are killed for religious or ethnic reasons, from Rwanda to Yugoslavia. If this is happening now in a supposed enlightened age what more when God's people become objects of universal hatred and scorn, and Satan has control of men who have rejected Christ and His law.

Enforcement Of Sunday Closes The World's Probation

Revelation 18:4, 5

And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.

Review and Herald, vol. 2, p. 342, or SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 7, p. 977

The sins of the world will have reached unto heaven when the law of God is made void; when the Sabbath of the Lord is trampled in the dust, and men are compelled to accept in its stead an institution of the papacy through the strong hand of the law of the land.

SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 7, p. 910

Then there will be a law against the Sabbath of God's creation, and then it is that God will do His "strange work" in the earth. He has borne long with the perversity of the race; He has tried to win them to Himself. But the time will come when they have filled their measure of iniquity; and then it is that God will work. This time is almost reached. God keeps a record with the nations: the figures are swelling against them in the books of heaven; and when it shall have become a law that the transgression of the first day of the week shall be met with punishment, then their cup will be full .

Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, p. 524

When the accumulated figures in heaven's record books shall mark the sum of transgression complete, wrath will come, unmixed with mercy, and then it will be seen what a tremendous thing it is to have worn out the divine patience. This crisis will be reached when the nations shall unite in making void God's law .

SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 7, pp. 980, 981

The substitution of the false for the true is the last act in the drama. When this substitution becomes universal, God will reveal Himself . When the laws of men are exalted above the laws of God, when the powers of this earth try to force men to keep the first day of the week, know that the time has come for God to work. He will arise in His majesty, and will shake terribly the earth. He will come out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the world for their iniquity.

Just Before and After The Close Of Probation

The World Believes They Are In The Temporal Millennium

Selected Messages, Book 3, 427, 428

The wicked… declared that they had the truth, that miracles were among them, that angels from heaven talked with them and walked with them, that great power and signs and wonders were performed among them, and that this was the temporal millennium that they had been expecting so long. The whole world was converted and in harmony with the Sunday law.

The Great Controversy, 38

The world is no more ready to credit the message for this time than were the Jews to receive the Saviour's warning concerning Jerusalem. Come when it may, the day of God will come unawares to the ungodly. When life is going on in its unvarying round; when men are absorbed in pleasure, in business, in traffic, in money-making; when religious leaders are magnifying the world's progress and enlightenment, and the people are lulled in a false security— then , as the midnight thief steals within the unguarded dwelling, so shall sudden destruction come upon the careless and ungodly, "and they shall not escape."

The Great Controversy, pp. 338, 339

When the professed people of God are uniting with the world, living as they live, and joining with them in forbidden pleasures; when the luxury of the world becomes the luxury of the church; when the marriage bells are chiming, and all are looking forward to many years of worldly prosperity— then, suddenly as the lightning flashes from the heavens, will come the end of their bright visions and delusive hopes.

Summary:

The delusion of sin will have become so great, that even with the judgments of God, even with the loud cry and the setting up of church and state to enforce the mark of the Beast, the great majority of the world will not grasp the fact, that God's final message has gone forth and the day of salvation is coming to an end. In Noah's day, the inhabitants heard the preaching of Noah for 120 years. They saw his works of faith in the building of the ark according to God's commandments. They saw the miraculous movement of animals into the ark; they saw the immense door shut of its own accord, yet still they would not see the hand of a merciful God calling them to repentance. Thus as it was in the days of Noah so shall it be at the end. Even as the sun of salvation shall be setting the world will know it not, they have been "weighed in the balance and found wanting," yet they will continue on in joyful expectation of a thousand years of peace and prosperity.

The Outlook At The End Will Require

Great Faith And Courage To Stand True

As We Look At The Outward Circumstances

Manuscript Releases vol. 21, pp. 325, 326

The time of trouble was upon us. I saw our people in great distress, weeping and praying, pleading the sure promises of God, while the wicked were all around us, mocking us and threatening to destroy us. They ridiculed our feebleness, they mocked at the smallness of our numbers, and taunted us with words calculated to cut deep.

They charged us with taking an independent position from all the rest of the world. They had cut off our resources so that we could not buy or sell, and referred to our abject poverty and stricken condition. They could not see how we could live without the world; we were dependent upon the world, and we must concede to the customs, practices, and laws of the world, or go out of it. If we were the only people in the world whom the Lord favored, the appearances were awfully against us. They declared that they had the truth, that miracles were among them, that angels from heaven talked with them and walked with them, that great power and signs and wonders were performed among them, and this was the temporal millennium that they had been expecting so long. The whole world was converted and in harmony with the Sunday law, and this little feeble people stood out in defiance of the laws of the land and the law of God, and claimed to be the only ones right on the earth.

"The angels from heaven have spoken to us (referring to those whom Satan personated that had died, and they claimed had gone to heaven). You will hear the testimony of the heavenly messengers." They sneered, they mocked, they derided and abused the sorrowing ones. There was much more but I have not time to write it.

The Final Attempt To Annihilate

God's People From The Planet

The Great Controversy, pp. 614, 615

1) Those who honor the law of God have been accused of bringing judgments upon the world, and 2) they will be regarded as the cause of the fearful convulsions of nature and the strife and bloodshed among men that are filling the earth with woe. 3) The power attending the last warning has enraged the wicked; 4) their anger is kindled against all who have received the message, and 5) Satan will excite to still greater intensity the spirit of hatred and persecution.

The forms of religion will be continued by a people from whom the Spirit of God has been finally withdrawn; and the satanic zeal with which the prince of evil will inspire them for the accomplishment of his malignant designs, will bear the semblance of zeal for God.

As the sabbath has become the special point of controversy throughout Christendom, and religious and secular authorities have combined to enforce the observance of the Sunday, the persistent refusal of a small minority to yield to the popular demand will make them objects of universal execration [hatred]. It will be urged that the few who stand in opposition to an institution of the church and a law of the state ought nought to be tolerated; that it is better for them to suffer than for whole nations to be thrown into confusion and lawlessness. The same argument eighteen hundred years ago was brought against Christ by the "rulers of the people." "It is expedient for us," said the wily Caiaphas, "that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not." John 11:50. This argument will appear conclusive; and a decree will finally be issued against those who hallow the sabbath of the fourth commandment, denouncing them as deserving of the severest punishment and giving the people liberty, after a certain time, to put them to death.…

The people of God will then be plunged into those scenes of affliction and distress described by the prophet as the time of Jacob's trouble.

Desire of Ages, pp. 121, 122

In the last great conflict of the controversy with Satan those who are loyal to God will see every earthly support cut off. Because they refuse to break His law in obedience to earthly powers, they will be forbidden to buy or sell. It will finally be decreed that they shall be put to death . See Revelation 13:11-17. But to the obedient is given the promise, "He shall dwell on high: his place of defense shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure." Isaiah 33:16

Early Writings, p. 282

I saw the leading men of the earth consulting together, and Satan and his angels busy around them. I saw a writing, copies of which were scattered in different parts of the land, giving orders that unless the saints should yield their peculiar faith, give up the Sabbath, and observe the first day of the week, the people were at liberty after a certain time to put them to death.

The Great Controversy, pp. 626, 627, 629

As the decree issued by the various rulers of Christendom against commandments keepers shall withdraw the protection of government and abandon them to those who desire their destruction, the people of God will flee from the cities and villages and associate together in companies, dwelling in the most desolate and solitary places. Many will find refuge in the strongholds of the mountains. Like the Christians of the Piedmont valleys, they will make the high places of the earth their sanctuaries and will thank God for "the munitions of rocks." Isaiah 33:16. 1) But many of all nations and of all classes, high and low, rich and poor, black and white, will be cast into the most unjust and cruel bondage. 2) The beloved of God pass weary days, bound in chains, shut in by prison bars, sentenced to be slain, some apparently left to die of starvation in dark and loathsome dungeons. 3) No human ear is open to hear their moans; no human hand is ready to lend them help.…

Though enemies may thrust them into prison, yet dungeon walls cannot cut off the communication between their souls and Christ. One who sees their every weakness, who is acquainted with every trial, is above all earthly powers: and 4) angels will come to them in lonely cells, bringing light and peace from heaven. The prison will be as a palace; for the rich in faith dwell there, and the gloomy walls will be lighted up with heavenly light as when Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises at midnight in the Philippian dungeon.…

5) The people of God will not be free from suffering; but while persecuted and distressed, while they endure privation and suffer for want of food they will not be left to perish. That God who cared for Elijah will not pass by one of His self-sacrificing children. He who numbers the hairs of their head will care for them, and in time of famine they shall be satisfied. While the wicked are dying from hunger and pestilence, angels will shield the righteous and supply their wants. To him that "walketh righteously" is the promise: "Bread shall be given Him; his waters shall be sure." "When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them." Isaiah 33:15, 16; 41:17

Testimonies to Ministers, p. 37

The whole world is to be stirred with enmity against Seventh-day Adventists, because they will not yield homage to the papacy, by honoring Sunday, the institution of this antichristian power. It is the purpose of Satan to cause them to be blotted from the earth, in order that his supremacy of the world may not be disputed.

The Final Consummation

Manuscript Releases vol. 21, 326, 327

But while anguish was upon the loyal and true, who would not worship the beast or his image and accept and revere an idol sabbath, One said, "Look up! Look up!" Every eye was lifted, and the heavens seemed to part as a scroll when it is rolled together, and, as Stephen looked into the heaven, we looked. The mockers were taunting and reviling us and boasting of what they intended to do to us if we continued obstinate in holding fast our faith. But now we were as those who heard them not. We were gazing upon a scene that shut out everything else.

There stood revealed the throne of God. Around it were ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands upon thousands, and close about the throne were the martyrs. Among this number I saw the very ones who were so recently in such abject misery, whom the world knew not, whom the world hated and despised.

…Strong and terrible have become the masters of iniquity in the world under the control of Satan, but strong is the Lord God who judgeth Babylon. The just have no longer anything to fear from force or fraud as long as they are loyal and true. A mightier than the strong man armed is set for their defense. All power and greatness and excellence of character will be given to those who have believed and stood in defense of the truth, standing up and firmly defending the laws of God.

Another heavenly being exclaimed with firm and musical voice, "They have come out of great tribulation. They have walked in the fiery furnace in the world, heated intensely by the passions and caprices of men who would enforce upon them the worship of the beast and his image, who would compel them to be disloyal to the God of heaven.

"They have come from the mountains, from the rocks, from the dens and caves of the earth, from dungeons, from prisons, from secret councils, from the torture chamber, from hovels, from garrets. They have passed through sore affliction, deep self-denial, and deep disappointment. They are no longer to be the sport and ridicule of wicked men. They are to be no longer mean and sorrowful in the eyes of those who despise them.

"Remove the filthy garments from them, with which wicked men have delighted to clothe them. Give them a change of raiment, even the white robes of righteousness, and set a fair mitre upon their heads."

They were clothed in richer robes than earthly beings had ever worn. They were crowned with diadems of glory such as human beings had never seen. The days of suffering, of reproach, of want, of hunger, are no more; weeping is past. Then they break forth in songs loud, clear, and musical. They wave the palm branches of victory and exclaim, "Salvation to our God, which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb" [Rev. 7:10].

Even So Come Lord Jesus

Amen!

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