XXXVIII - 3 (05) Excerpt
“Watchman,
what of the night?”
"The hour has come, the hour is
striking and striking at you,
the hour and the end!" Eze. 7:6 (Moffatt)
The
Day of God Almighty
It is Pending!
Wm. H.
Grotheer
Editor's Preface
Recent events and the forces
at work behind the events as indicated in prophetic Scripture indicate that the
final phase of the great controversy between Christ and Satan has begun. The
final battle is pending. It dare not be overlooked that the revelation given to
John on
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The
Day of
God Almighty
It is
Pending!
The
book of Revelation designates three powers symbolically represented as the "dragon,"
the "beast," and the "false prophet" which vomit out
"frogs," which are defined as "spirits of devils" which in
turn "go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world to
gather them to the battle (πόλεμος -
war)
of that great day of God
Almighty" (Rev. 16:14). They are gathered "together into the place
which is called in Hebrew, Har-Magedon" (verse 16, ARV).
These powers - the dragon, beast, and false
prophet - are defined symbolically in chapters 12 and 13, and placed in a
locality, "heaven," "sea," or "earth." In the 12th
Chapter, "heaven" is used either as the screen on which the drama is
portrayed (vs. 1, 3) or heaven itself from which is heard "a loud
voice" (verse 10). Beginning with verse 12, the warfare is transferred to
the earth and sea, a "beast" rising "up out of the sea
(13:1);" and a second beast "coming up out of the earth" (
The first beast is a composite animal with parts
from
a leopard, bear and lion, thus linking it with
the symbolism of Daniel 7, but in reverse order. The time allotted to the
"beast" (13:5) parallels the time given the "little
horn" in Daniel 7 (verse 25), and the
wilderness experience of the woman of Rev. 12 (verse 14).
We have interpreted the "false prophet"
as symbolic of apostate Protestantism, and rightly so, but we have failed to
recognize that the second "beast' came up out of the "earth,"
not the "sea" where "historic Protestantism" under Luther
originated. It is an evangelical "Protestantism" originating in the
prophetic "earth," which has now become "the political religious
right." It was coming up "in" the earth at the same time that
the deadly wound was being healed in the "sea" following World War 1.
It could not exercise
the power assigned it in Rev. 13:12 until the deadly wound "was
healed." The message to "make an image to the beast"
is spoken to "them that dwell on the earth" (
We must see the "beast"" as it operates to
perceive more accurately the image being formed. Let us consider just one
aspect - the persecution initiated by the "beast." "It was
given
unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them" (13:7). A Roman Catholic
professor, Alfred Baudrillart, wrote that the
Catholic Church is a respecter of conscience and of liberty" and that she
"loudly proclaims that she has 'a horror of blood." But ----
Nevertheless, when confronted
by heresy, she does not content herself with persuasion; argument of an
intellectual and moral order appear to her insufficient, and she has recourse to
force, to corporal punishment, to torture. She
creates tribunals like the Inquisition, she calls the laws of the state to her aid, if necessary she encourages
a crusade, or a religious war, and all her
"horror of blood" practically culminates in urging the secular power
to shed it, which proceeding is almost more odious - for it is less frank - than
shedding it herself. [Then he cites examples from history) (Source Book for Bible
Students,1940 rev. ed., pp. 408-409).
A simple identification of the "beast"
is: it is the religious power which arose from the prophetic
"sea" and for "forty and two months" (13:5) used the state
to carry out its agenda until the state turned on her and inflicted a
"deadly wound." The "image to the beast" would be the
creation of a government in the prophetic "earth" which would carry
out the agenda of the "false prophet." To this end the
"religious right"
has been seeking to create through the
Christian Coalition a theocratic government
which will enact and force their agenda on the people of the
A perceptive, documented, analysis of the current
situation in the prophetic "earth" is to be found in the Yurica Report prepared by Katherine Yurica,
a lawyer, and her Editorial and Research Assistant, Laurie Hall - "The
Despoiling of America." This report which was first issued,
Taking his cue from Leo Strauss,
Scalia [the Vatican "voice" on the Supreme Court] argued, a
democratic government, being seen as 'nothing more than the composite will of
its individual citizens, has no more moral power or authority than they do as
individuals...' Democracy, according to Scalia, creates problems: it can
foster civil disobedience."
The
Report begins with a discussion of "The First Prince of the Theocratic
States of
It
happened quietly, with barely a mention in the media. Only the Washington
Post dutifully reported it. And only Kevin Phillips saw its significance in
his new book, American Dynasty. On
Behind
the scenes religious conservatives were abuzz with excitement. They believed
Robertson had stepped down to allow the ascendance of the President of the
Robertson's
act was symbolic, but it carried a secret and solemn revelation to the
faithful. It was the signal that the Bush Administration was a government under
God that was lead by an anointed President who would be the first regent in a dynasty of regents awaiting the return of
Jesus to earth.
Robertson
himself had sought to run for the presidency of the
This cult, born in Christian Reconstructionism,
was founded by the late R. J. Rushdoony. The core
included Rushdoony, his son-in-law, Gary North, Pat
Robertson, Herb Titus, the former dean of Robertson's Regent University School
of Public Policy, Charles Colson, Robertson's political strategist, Tim LaHaye, Gary Bauer, the late Francis Schaeffer, and Paul
Crouch, the founder of TBN, the world's largest television network, plus an
army of television and radio evangelists and news talk show hosts.
Prior to his death, Schaeffer was the leading evangelical theologian.
Appearing on the 700 Club show, he urged revolt against what he termed a
humanistic society. While not using the word "Dominionism," he charged that the "dominant
culture" in the
I'm
for evangelicals running for public office and winning if possible and getting
control of the Congress, getting control of the bureaucracy, getting control of
the executive branch of government. ... I would like to see every true believer
involved in politics in some shape or form.
According
to these men, Schaefer, Graham and Robertson, - leading voices in the American
protestant church which arose in the "earth," - "God's
people" have a moral duty to change the government of the
Already
the "Religious Right" has achieved the time table which they set for
themselves, that by 2004 they would complete the take over of the American
government. Controlling the executive and legislative, they are poised to alter
the judicial to their liking.
Into the picture enters US Supreme Court Justice,
Antonin Scalia. He was appointed to the Court in 1986 by the then President
Ronald Reagan. Now, with speculation that William Rehnquist is on the verge of
retirement after the diagnosis of thyroid cancer, Scalia may be the leading
candidate to take his place. The online edition of the
Jerusalem Post
(
Another interesting aspect has been noted by Pastor Rich Lang of the
Trinity United Methodist Church of Seattle, Washington. In a release on
One of Scalia's concepts needs to be
carefully noted. Several months after the first inauguration of Bush, he wrote
in First Things (May 2002) that
the Bible teaches and Christians believe "...that government ... derives
its moral authority from God. Government is the 'minister of God' with powers
to 'revenge,' to 'execute wrath,' including even wrath by the sword...."
Placing this concept beside the objective of Dominionism,
you think you are reading Revelation 13. Journalist Frederick Clarkson in 1994
warned that Dominionism "seeks to replace
democracy with a theocratic elite that would govern by
imposing their interpretation of 'Biblical Law’” He then describes the creation
of a new class of citizens:
Women would be generally relegated to hearth and home.
Insufficiently Christian men would be denied citizenship, perhaps executed. So
severe is this theocracy that it would extend capital punishment [to] blasphemy, heresy, adultery, and homosexuality (Pub/ic Eye Magazine, Vol. VIII, Part 1, 1994;
emphasis mine).
In the
Further, in the article it is noted that Dobson is ready to play
"hard ball," threatening any Senator facing re-election in 2006 who
filibusters Bush's appointments to the judiciary. Thus the take over of the
three branches of the American government, the executive, legislative, and
judicial has been accomplished by the election in November. We have only to
await the imposition of the theocratic state as envisioned by the Dominionists and "the image" to the beast will
have spoken. The "battle" of the great day of God Almighty has been
joined.
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"The last great conflict between truth and error is but
the final struggle of the long standing controversy concerning the law of God. Upon this battle we are now
entering, - a battle between the laws
of men and the precepts of Jehovah, between the religion of the Bible and the religion of fable and
tradition" (Great Controversy, p.
582).
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The Duality of the Fourth Commandment
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep
it holy. Six days shalt thou labour,
and do all thy work but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God in
it thou shalt not do any work . . . (Exodus 20:8-10