FRIDAY MORNING MANNA
October 23, 2015
Nathaniel Fajardo
Email:[email protected]
Biblical Numerology: NUMBER THREE – Part XX
The Threefold Union in the Coming Final Test
EARTH’S FINAL CRISIS is not global warming or climate change, economic meltdown , oil and other energy sources shortage, hunger and poverty, terrorists, nuclear war, cyber war, and wars of every kind such as ethnic cleansing, genocide, water crisis, drought, famine, the blood-splattered drug wars, global human trafficking of modern-day slavery, the current heart-rending migrant crisis allegedly caused by the Syrian conflict, diseases of every grade, deterioration of society’s morals, greed and fraud in the highest places echelons of human endeavor even in the sciences, the academe, the world of sports and entertainment, increasing devastating upheavals of nature in record-breaking storms, cyclones, tornadoes, hailstorms, tsunamis, earthquakes, etc.
The final crisis of eternal consequences coming upon “every nation, kindred, tongue, and people” of the earth (Rev. 14: 6-12) is the prophesied end-timereligious crisis that will begin in the United States, symbolized in Revelation 13 as “the beast with two “lamb-like horns.” This gentle “beast,” however, so unlike in origin, ascent to power, and initial characteristics of the four beasts of prey preceding it, symbolizing the four successive world empires that struggled mightily against the other for world dominion, namely, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome, respectively,—will sadly transform into one “speaking like a dragon.” John describes it as becoming the “image of or to the beast.”
The Two Lamb-like Horns.- John says: “And I beheld another beast coming out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.” Rev. 13: 11. E.G. White says: “One nation, and only one, meets the specifications of this prophecy; it points unmistakably to the United States of America.”- Great Controversy, 440. “Here is a striking figure of the rise and growth of our nation. And the lamb-like horns,emblems of innocence and gentleness, will represent the character of our government, as expressed in its two fundamental principles, Republicanism and Protestantism.” – Ibid, Maranatha 193. Also, “The lamb-like horns indicate youth, innocence, and gentleness, fitly representing the character of the United States whenpresented to the prophet as ‘coming up’ in 1798. Among the Christian exiles who first fled to America and sought an asylum from royal oppression and priestly intolerance were many who determined to establish a government upon the broad foundation of civil and religious liberty. Their views found place in the Declaration of Independence . . . . Republicanism and Protestantism became the fundamental principles of the nation. These principles are the secret of its power and prosperity.” – GC 441. Republicanism has been defined as “a state without and king,” and Protestantism as, “a church without a pope.”
“The Lord has done more for the United States than for any other country upon which the sun shines. Here He provided an asylum for His people, where they could worship Him according to the dictates of conscience. Here Christianity has progressed in its purity. The life-giving doctrine of the one Mediator between God and man has been freely taught. God designed that this country should ever remain free for all people to worship Him in accordance with the dictates of conscience. He designed that its civil institutions, in their expansive productions, should represent the freedom of gospel privileges. But the enemy of all righteousness has designs upon God’s purposes for this country. He will bring in enterprises that will lead men to forget that there is a God. Worldliness and covetousness, which is idolatry[Col. 3: 5], will prevail through the working of the archdeceiver, till the law of God, in all its bearings, shall be made void.” –MS 17, 1906/Ibid 193. “When our nation, in its legislative councils, shall enact laws to bind the consciences of men 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 [Ps. 119: 126]; and national apostasy will be followed by national ruin.”- Ibid.
The Two Great Errors.- “Through the two great errors, the immortality of the soul and Sunday sacredness, Satan will bring the people under his deceptions. While the former lays the foundation of Spiritualism, the latter creates a bond of sympathy with Rome. 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 hands with the Roman power; and under the influence of thisthree-fold union, this country shall follow in the steps of Rome in trampling upon the right of conscience.” GC 588-9/Ibid 190.
SPIRITUALISM.- “Upon the fundamental error of natural immortality rests the doctrine of consciousness in death—a doctrine, like eternal torment, opposed to the teachings of the Scriptures, to the dictates of reason, and to our feelings of humanity.” – GC 545. “The theory of the immortality of the soul was one of those false doctrines that Rome, borrowing from paganism, incorporated into the religion of Christendom. Martin Luther classed it with the ‘monstrous fables that from part of the Roman dunghill of decretals.’ – E. Petavel, The Problem of Immortality, p. 255/ GC 549.
Charles Longacre, General Secretary, Religious Liberty Association; and editor of Liberty, a magazine of religious freedom, wrote in his book, “The Church in Politics”: “When our forefathers divorced religion from the state, and refused to give legal sanction and support to Christianity as such, it was not because they were hostile toward religion, but because they were friendly to it. They knew that religion in its purity flourishes best without legal recognition and support. They knew that all the religious persecutions of the past grew out of the incorporation of religious dogma into law. For the first time since human governments, the founding fathers of the American Republic recognized in the fundamental law the inalienable rights of the individual, the freedom of the conscience in the domain of religion, and the independence of the state from the dominance of the church.” – “Aims of the Founding Fathers” chap., p. 98, Review & Herald Publishing Asso., Washington D.C. (1927).
Hence, the United States Constitution, adopted by the Founding Fathers, declares: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridge the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” – First Amendment.
Spiritualism, Apostate Protestantism, and Romanism Join Hands. – “By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation [the United States] will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. WhenProtestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of theRoman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp the hand ofSpiritualism, when, under the influence of this three-fold union our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant andrepublican 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.” –Ibid, 5T 451.
“In 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.” 5T 215/ Maranatha, 188. “The so-calledChristian 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. [Spiritual] Babylon will make all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. Every nation will be involved. [Rev. 18: 3-7 quoted].”GC 450.
“In the last conflict the Sabbath will be the special point controversy throughout all Christendom. Secular rulers and religious leaders will unite to enforce the observance of the Sunday; and as milder measure fail, the most oppressive laws will be enacted. It will be urged that the few who stand in opposition to an institution of the [Roman] church and a law of the land [America] 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.” – Ibid, 4 SOP 444-5.
The Position of the Church of Rome towards Separation of Church and State and Freedom of Religion and Conscience
“Pope Leo XIII, in an encyclical letter, Immortale Dei, Nov. 1, 1885, outlines ‘the Christian constitution of states,’ by saying that ‘the state’ should profess the Catholic religion, and that the Roman pontiffs should have ‘the power of making laws.’ . . He says of the Middle Ages: ‘[then] church and state were happily united.’—‘The Great Encyclical Letters of Pope Leo XIII,’ pp. 113, 114, 119. Benziger Bros., 1903/ Facts of faith, p. 256. “The theory ‘that the church be separated from the state,’ Pope Leo further calls a ‘fatal error,’ ‘ a great folly, a sheer injustice,’ and ‘a shameless liberty.’- Id, pp. 124, 125; Facts of Faith, p. . In His next encyclical letter, of June 20, 1888, he calls it ‘the fatal theory of the need of separation between Church and state,’ ‘the greatest perversion of liberty,’ and ‘that fatal principle of the separation of Church and state.’ – Id, pp. 148, 159/Ibid p. 257. “A letter from the Vatican outlining the plans of Pope Leo XIII respecting the United States was published in theNew York Sun, July 11, 1892, and contains the following significant statement:
“What the church has done in the past for others, she will now do to the United States. . . . he [the pope] hails in the United States, and in their young and flourishing church the source of new life for Europeans . . . If the United States succeed in solving the many problems that puzzle us, Europe will follow her example’—‘New York Sun,’ July 11, 1892; quoted in ‘Liberty,’ 1907, No. 4, p. 10. The doctrine of Pope Leo XIII is the doctrine of the Catholic Church, and is taught in her schools in the United States. One of their school books, ‘Manual of Christian Doctrine, by a Seminary Professor,’ printed by J.J. McVey, Philadelphia, 1915, and carrying the sanction of the Catholic Censor and the seal of the Church, has this to say concerning the “Relations of Church and State”:
‘Why is the Church superior to the state?
‘Because the end to which the Church tends is the noblest of all ends.
‘What right has the pope in virtue of his supremacy?
‘The right to annul those laws or acts of government that would injure the salvation of souls or attack the natural rights of citizens.
‘What then is the principal obligation of the heads of states?
‘Their principle obligation is to practice the Catholic religion themselves, and, as they are in power, to protect and defend it.
‘Has the State the right and duty to proscribe (outlaw) schism of heresy?
‘Yes, it has the right and duty to do so.
‘May the State separate itself from the Church?
‘No, because it may not withdraw from the supreme rule of Christ.
‘What name is given to the doctrine that the state has neither the right nor the duty to be united to the Church to protect it?
‘This doctrine is called Liberalism. It is founded principally on the fact that modern society rests on liberty of conscience and of worship, on liberty of speech and the press.
‘Why is Liberalism to be condemned?
‘Because it denies all subordination of the state to the Church.” –
From Facts of Faith by Christian Edwardson (Revised), pp. 256-260, Southern Publishing Association, TN (1943)
(To be continued next week)