FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:
APOSTASY: PREPARED THE WAY FOF THE PAPACY FIRST, THEN THE IMAGE OF THE BEAST
“Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come [Christ’s second advent], except there come a falling away [apostasy] first, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.” 2 Thess. 2:3, KJV.
“When the early church became corrupted by departing from the simplicity of the gospel and accepting heathen rites and customs [as we have been tracking in church and secular history] she LOST the Spirit and power of God; and in order to CONTROL the consciences of the people, she sought the support of the secular power. The result was the PAPACY, a CHURCH that CONTRoLLED the power of the STATE and employed it to further her own ends, especially the PUNISHMENT OF ‘HERESY.’
“Whenever [and wherever] the church has obtained secular power, she had employed it to punish DISSENT from HER doctrines. PROTESTANT CHURCHES [whether Evangelical, Pentecostal, or Apostolic, etc.] that have followed in the steps of Rome in forming alliance with WORLDLY POWERS have manifested a similar desire to RESTRICT LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE. An example of this is given in the the long-continued persecution of dissenters in the CHURCH OF ENGLAND. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, THOUSANDS of nonconformist ministers were forced to FLEE from their churches, and many, both of pastors and people, were subjected to FINE, IMPRISONMENT, TORTURE, AND MARTYRDOM.
“It was apostasy that led the EARLY CHURCH to seek the aid of civil government, and this prepared for the development of the Papacy—-THE BEAST. Said Paul [2 Thess. 2:3 quoted]. So apostasy IN THE CHURCH will prepare the way for the IMAGE TO THE BEAST.
“Satan will work with all power and deceivableness of unrighteousness.’ 2 Thess. 2:9,10. His working is plainly revealed by the RAPIDLY increasing darkness, the MULTITUDINOUS errors, heresies, and delusions in these last days. Not only is Satan leading the WORLD captive, but his DECEPTIONS are leavening the PROFESSED CHURCHES of our Lord Jesus Christ. The GREAT APOSTASY [in these professed Christian churches] will develop into DARKNESS DEEP AS MIDNIGHT. To God’s [faithful and true] people it will be a night of trial, a night of weeping, a night of persecution for the TRUTH’S SAKE. But out of that night of darkness God’s LIGHT will shine!” – E. G. White, Maranatha, p. 165.
The time of test is rapidly approaching! “Quit ye like men and be strong” “in the Lord and in the power of His might.” Bless all, NMF