Three Angels Messages - Future

How the Three Angels Messages Relate to the End Times



Table of Contents

Government trampling on rights When discussing the future of religious liberty in the United States it is extremely important to realize the difference between religious toleration and religious liberty. Prevailing political opinion seems to be that government should take care of the population's physical and personal needs whenever necessary. The government at some level will take care of people with unemployment, health benefits, food stamps, etc. This is not a bad thing. But, too much of a good thing is not a good thing. Under these conditions, there is toleration to some extend of different religions, but with today's moral climate Christians enjoy less and less freedom to practice what they believe. The same goes for Muslims. There are also those who would curb individual freedoms in the name of the common good and personal security. We live in an era when anything goes - anything is tolerated. But, to speak out against the norm, to express contrary views, will not be tolerated.

Prophecy says religious liberty will be curtailed
The rights of the minority will eventually be sacrificed for what people will say is the good of society as a whole. This will mean persecution, imprisonment, and, according to Revelation, death will also result.





Add to this the current moral climate. The attitude of too many today is to get whatever they can in any way they can. There is no moral compass in the world. We have a hedonistic society with our smart phones, Twitter accounts, cable TV, DVDs, music videos, etc. Sports stars and movie stars are given air time to espouse their immoral views of life. Of course, not all, but many. And, many of the Protestant churches have joined hands again with the Roman church.

Any person or group who speaks out against this immorality will be hated. When a group stands out by keeping the entire Word of God, including all Ten Commandments, they will be persecuted. History proves that anyone who holds true to the entire Word of God will be in the minority and persecuted for their beliefs. Ungodly people will joke and persecute and Christians who keep Sunday will eventually want to punish Sabbathkeeprs. A Christian writer named Ellen White penned these words over 100 years ago

"The greatest want of the world is the want of men‐men who will not be bought or sold, men who in their inmost souls are true and honest, men who do not fear to call sin by its right name, men whose conscience is as true to duty as the needle to the pole, men who will stand for the right though the heavens fall".{Education page 57).

The story of the beautiful angel who coveted the position of God Himself is revealed in many places in the Old Testament. Isaiah says in reference to this glorious being: "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High." Isaiah 14:12-14.

And we should not be surprised. Revelation 12:7 "And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, 8) And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. 9) And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him".

Nothing written here is meant to condemn God-fearing people who are sincerely ignorant of such things. But, there is a power on earth with leadership who desire to have your worship! These same people will use tradition to keep the counterfeits alive. And what did Jesus say about tradition? See Mark 7:7.

Controversy began as far back as Adam and Eve. Cain relied on the fruits of his own labor, self-righteousness, and wanted to substitute his own way instead of the way God had commanded him. Abel obeyed God implicitly and incurred the wrath of Cain. God told each one of them to bring a lamb, but Cain substituted fruit and vegetables that he had grown. In other words, Cain substituted the fruits of his own labor instead of accepting the sacrifice. This, you will discover, will always be the mark of the dragon. He tries to substitute, or make a counterfeit, for the exact truth of God. Persecution for obeying God began almost immediately in the human family.

In fact, values are so mixed up today that something Jesus said will hold true to the letter

John 16: 1,2 "They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service."

So, those who hate Christians, and those Christians who hate Sabbathkeepers, will unite in persecuting those who keep the Sabbath. At the same time, the message is going out in Revelation 14:6-12 to come out of Babylon (Babylon means confusion)and worship God the way He wants us to worship Him.

Revelation 14:6-12 "6 And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,
7 Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
8 And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus".

Unfortunately, religious ideas are very mixed up today. And many just say leave me alone. Athiests will want to persecute Christians just for being Christians and the majority of Christians are Sundaykeepers who will not want to be reminded of the Sabbath. Sabbathkeepers are considered troublemakers and legalists, and eventually the great controversy will revolve around true worship or false worship with the Sabbath at the center of the controversy. See Revelation 13:16-17.

The number of his name will also be the number of a man. Undoubtedly this refers to the man who heads the beast power. The ancient method of deriving the number of a name is to take the numerical value of all letters and add them up to get the sum. If we want to apply this test to the papacy, we must find the official name of the pope, who is the head of his church. It is interesting to note that there is an official Latin title for the pope, a title which has been granted by the Church itself. This title is found repeatedly in the publications of Rome. But in the weekly Catholic newspaper, "Our Sunday Visitor", of April 1915, we have the interesting statement that the letters of the official title are inscribed in the pope's miter. Here is the actual quotation: "The letters inscribed in the pope's miter are these; Vicarius Filii Dei, which is the Latin for 'Vicar of the Son of God.' Catholics hold that the Church, which is a visible society, must have a visible head; Christ, before His ascension into heaven appointed St. Peter to act as His representative. Hence, to the Bishop of Rome as head of the church, was given the title, 'Vicar of Christ.'" At present, the pope's miter does not contain the Latin title, but the words are incorporated into the coronation ceremonies of each newly crowned pope. What is the number of his name? By getting the numerical value of the Roman numerals of the title Vicarius Filii Dei, we actually come the number 666. Notice how it is worked out below as each letter is given its numerical value:

 V = 5        F = 0       D = 500
 I = 1        I = 1       E =   0
 C = 100      L = 50      I =   1
 A = 0        I = 1
 R = 0        I = 1
 I = 1
 U or V = 5
 S = 0
 _____         _____       _____
  112      +   53            501

                 =666
 
SOURCE: http://www.preparingforeternity.com/beastdragonwoman.htm

Please note that the beast of Revelation 13 symbolizes a gigantic antichrist power that attempts to displace God entirely. Here is the description of that power in the language of Revelation Chapter 13:1-7: And IB stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
2) And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
3) And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.
4) And they worshipped the dragon that gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him?
5) And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.
6) And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.
7) And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations."

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BLASPHEMY

NOTE: Jesus dealt with the term blasphemy in two specific instances.
John 10:33 "Thou, being a man, makest thyself God". The Jews accused Jesus of making Himself a God. Of course, He was, but they accused him of pretending to be God. Again in Luke 5:21 "Who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?". So blasphemy is forgiving sin, taking the place of God.

A reality check is in order here.
"The priest holds the place of the Saviour Himself, when, by saying, 'Ego te absolvo' {I thee absolve}, he absolves from sin....To pardon a single sin requires all the omnipotence of God....But what only God can do by His omnipotence, the priest can also do by saying 'Ego te absolvo a peccatis tuis....Innocent III has written: 'Indeed, it is not too much to say that in view of the sublimity of their efforts the priests are so many gods.'
Dignities and Duties of the Priest, Alphonsus de Liguori, p 34-36.

"Thus the priest may, in a certain manner, be called the creator of his Creator...."'The power of the priest' says St. Bernadine of Sienna, 'is the power of the divine person; for the transubstantiation of the bread requires as much power as the creation of the world.'
ibid, pp32,33.

These developments are already on the horizon. Those who refuse to accept the false day of worship will face fines, boycott, prison and finally, the threat of death. When the Sabbath question is thus made a national issue, people will be forced to accept one side or the other. Every single person will have to make a decision. The mark of the beast will then be placed upon all who choose to disobey the commandment of God to keep the Sabbath day holy. By accepting the mark of allegiance to the papacy (Sunday), they reject the mark that God claims as His sign of authority - the seventh-day Sabbath.
http://www.preparingforeternity.com/beastdragonwoman.htm 

Daniel chartThe only reliable source in discussing the future is the Bible! The prophet Daniel wrote about our day under inspiration from God 2,600 years ago. A historical timeline appears on the left. We are now living in the time of the toes of the figure! It is not the purpose of this web site to historically identify the beast power. There are other web sites that do that such as http://www.amazingfacts.org. The focus here is how end time events will unfold in the United States.

There is a concerted effort on the part of many, particularly in the news media, to belittle and mock Christianity. Christianity has been hijacked into some social justice mission with focus o the here and now. Admittedly, that is important, but, according to the Bible, that is a side issue, however important it is. All social issues will be resolved when Jesus comes! Issues related to the antichrist are not clarified because the ones trying to promote the end time events ideas are drowned out by social justice seekers or just ignored as some kind of crazy person who should be ignored or persecuted.

Several years ago three Rwandans were convicted of war crimes. One of them named Nahimana, broadcast inflammatory music and speech against the Tutsi in the country by calling them "cockroaches" among other things. He was sentenced to life in prison! They were convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, under the auspices of the United Nations, of "causing the death of thousands of innocent civilians". What about this country in this era of political correctness? How long will it be before those who call the papacy the antichrist will be persecuted for hateful words! In fact, WorldNetDaily reported on April 30, 2004 that the governor general of Canada signed into law a measure that declared preaching against homosexuality as hate speech, punishable under Canada's genocide and hate-crimes legislation.

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Antichrist

There is probably no subject in Sacret Writ that has evoked more passion and opinion than that of the antichrist. People are entitled to their own opinion but not to there own facts. Facts are stubborn things. Facts about Bible matters must be considered by the Bible and the Bible only. There are only four verses in all of Scripture that use the word antichrist. All of them are in the New Testament. In fact, all of them are in the books that John wrote.

1 John 2:18 (KJV)
18 Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.

1 John 2:22 (KJV)
22 Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.

1 John 4:3(KJV)
3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

2 John 1:7 (KJV)
7 For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.

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Explanation

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There is an obvious conclusion that antichrist means against Christ. Certainly that meaning can be gained from the texts. But, there is a deeper meaning that needs to be gleaned. The diabolical trick of antichrist is not to place the bad in the room of the good, but the good in the room of the glorious work of Jesus Christ. The deeper answer lies in the preposition 'anti'.

The word means "in the place of", giving the impression of substitution. 1 Timothy 2:6 (KJV) "6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time". There is a meaning here of substitutionary ransom. The Greek word for ransom is 'lutron'. The meaning of the verse is substitutionary ransom.

There are many ways of substituting man and his experience in the place of Christ and His unique saving experience. The Christian church has adopted many anthichrist ideas over the years:

Sanctification in the place of justification.

The personal righteousness of the believer in the place of the vicarious righteousness of Christ.

Our new life in the place of His sinless life.

Our experience in the center in the place of His.

Our love for God in the place of His love for us.

Our surrender instead of Christ's.

Our victorious life in the place of His.

Our attainment instead of His atonement.

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Statements from the Church Itself

But, the biggest one is the fact that the Catholic Church claims that the pope actually takes the place of God on earth and the Catholic Church changed the day of worship from Sabbath to Sunday! Unam Sanctam (Rome: 1302)

Cardinal Sarto, who became Pope Pius X, as quoted in Publications of the Catholic Truth Society Volume 29 (Catholic Truth Society: 1896): 11: "The Pope represents Jesus Christ Himself..."

In 1512 Christopher Marcellus said this to Pope Julius II:
Take care that we lose not that salvation, that life and breath which thou hast given us, for thou art our shepherd, thou art our physician, thou art our governor, thou art our husbandman, thou art finally another God on earth.
Christopher Marcellus addressing Pope Julius II during the Fifth Lateran Council which began in 1512, as quoted in Alexander Hislop, The light of prophecy let in on the dark places of the papacy (London: William Whyte and Co., 1846): 91 and Letters between a Catholic and a Protestant on the doctrines of the Church of Rome originally published in Borrow's Worcester Journal (Worcester Journal, 1827)

In a letter written in November, 1893, C.F. Thomas, chancellor to Cardinal Gibbons, replying to an inquiry as to whether the Catholic Church claims to have changed the Sabbath, said: "Of course the Catholic Church claims that the change was her act... and the act is a mark of her ecclesiastical authority in religious things."

The {Catholic} Church took the pagan philosophy and made it the buckler of faith against the heathen....She took the pagan Sunday and made it the Christian Sunday.... There is, in truth, something royal, kingly about the sun.... Hence the Church in these countries would seem to have said, 'Keep the old, pagan name.'.... Thus the pagan Sunday... became the Christian Sunday. The Catholic World, March, 1894 (Eastern Issue).

Bishop Patrick Dunn of Auckland said this: "It seems that Pope John Paul II now presides over the universal Church from his place upon Christ's cross.
"Auckland Bishop Says Pope Presides From the Cross" (Zenit, September 20, 2004)

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Summary

There is almost universal agreement in Christendom that Sunday is the correct day of worship. Protestant churches bowed down to the Roman church centuries ago. With the exception of Seventh-day Baptists and Seventh-day Adventists, there is universal agreement on this issue.

The United States is completely unique in human history with regard to individual freedoms guaranteed by its founding documents, among them is the freedom to worship according to dictates of conscience. Nobody has the right to force their will on others. But, the Bible says that will happen at the risk of death.

middle of the roadThe history of the United States is the story of mixed results. The freedom that exists is to be found nowhere else on earth at any time in history. But, prejudice of all kinds has marred the experience. The picture on the left may seem silly, but there is truth in it. There has never been a time when the majority has been right and true Christians will be held accountable for their faith.

Matthew 7:13,14 "Enter ye in at the straight gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be tht go in thereat: 14)because straight is the gate, and narrow in the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it..

The time is coming soon when circumstances will force Christians to make a choice over the Sabbath or suffer imprisonment or death. There will be no middle ground.

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".

Elijah confronted the people centuries ago in the same manner that the Three Angels Messages of Revelation 14 confront people today.

"And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? If the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word".
1 Kings 18:21

Baal was a sun God. It was worshipped as a substitute God. Today, the image made to the beast power, Sunday, has become a normal day of worship in the Christian world. A remnant worship the Sabbath day as Jesus did. See Luke 4:16. And those today who keep the Sabbath will be in the minority and be persecuted. Some calamity in the environment or economy will come upon people in the United States, and the remnant will be blamed.


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Food for Thought

The true ground of divine worship, not of that on the seventh day merely, but of all worship, is found in the distinction between the Creator and his creatures. This great fact can never become obsolete, and must never be forgotten.” It was to keep this truth ever before the minds of men, that God instituted the Sabbath in Eden; and so long as the fact that he is our Creator continues to be a reason why we should worship him, so long the Sabbath will continue as its sign and memorial.
Great Controversy, Ellen White, P. 437.

"Though the last act of Satan be to unite all the wicked of the earth in the worship of the beast, and to attempt the utter extermination of the saints; yet God has said the saints shall triumph!" The Three Messages of Revelation 14:6-12 PARTICULARLY THE THIRD ANGEL'S MESSAGE, AND TWO-HORNED BEAST, JOHN N. ANDREWS, REVIEW AND HERALD PUBLISHING CO.: BATTLE CREEK, MICH; CHICAGO, ILL.; TORONTO, ONT.; ATLANTA, GA, 1892, P. 144)

Important Statements


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