God had a specific purpose in sending the message of Christ our righteousness through Elders A.T. Jones and E. J. Waggoner. It was the third angel's message which was "to be proclaimed with a loud voice, and attended with the outpouring of His Spirit in a large measure." (TM, pp. 91-92) Four years later, the servant of the Lord was able to reveal how Heaven was viewing the events transpiring on the earth. She wrote:

The time of test is just upon us, for the loud cry of the third angel has already begun in the revelation of the righteousness of Christ, the sin-pardoning Redeemer. This is the beginning of the light of the angel whose glory shall fill the whole earth. (R&H, Nov. 22, 1892)

Certain specific things were to be associated with the "time of test" 1) The people of God were to be subjected to "the image to the beast." In 1890, two years prior to the announcement that the loud cry had already begun, it was written:

The Lord has shown me clearly that the image to 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. (Letter 11,1890, 7BC:976)

2) There was to be "national apostasy" followed by "national ruin," and this was to be related to the Sunday law. At the very time of the Minneapolis General Conference of 1888, there appeared in the Review and Herald, this warning:

When our nation, in its legislative councils [note the plural], 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; the national apostasy will be followed by national ruin. (Dec. 18, 1888)

These two conditions for "the time of test," along with the Sabbath agitation were amply fulfilled in the decade following the giving of the message of Christ our righteousness in 1888. In 1892, the first national Sunday legislation in the United States was signed into law by President Benjamin Harrison on August 5.

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(See American State Papers, pp. 26, 249) Already there existed on the books of the various states Sunday laws, and at the beginning of last decade of the 19th century, in parts of the South, these laws were rigidly enforced. "On the 27th of May, 1892, the grand jury of Henry County, Tennessee, indicted five farmers living near Springville. These men, whose neighbors testified that they had not disturbed them in the least, were nevertheless found guilty, and some of them, as well as others later, were put in the chain gang along with hardened criminals, and made to work with them on the public roads." (Origin and Progress of Seventh-day Adventists, p. 469)

Events within the Catholic Church during the two decades prior to 1888, permitted it to project its voice into the Sabbath-Sunday controversy of the 1890's. When the Franco-German War broke out, the Italians occupied Rome, and the pope, Pius IX, refusing to recognize the fiat accompli, considered himself, now completely deprived of all territorial jurisdiction, a prisoner of the Vatican. But, "at the very moment when the disappearance of the papal states removed it from the field of European diplomacy, the papacy was about to emerge as a world power with which every politician would have to reckon. This development, of which Pius IX's successors were to reap the benefit, was the result partly of missionary activity (which throughout his 32-year pontificate [1846-1878] kept abreast of the colonial expansion of Europe overseas) and partly of the large-scale migration of Catholics to Canada, then to Australia, and, above all, to the United States, where promising new churches grew up." (Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol. 17, p. 223) Also as this very time, Vatican I in 1870 issued the decree of Papal Infallibility. This voice in regard to Sunday was to be heard in America during the decade following the Minneapolis General Conference in 1888.

In 1889, Father Enright wrote in the Industrial American - "The Bible says, 'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy,' but the Catholic Church says: 'No keep the first day of the week,' and all the world bows in obedience." (See Facts of Faith, p. 289)

In 1893, The Catholic Mirror, official organ of James Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore, published a tract on "The Christian Sabbath" which stated: "The Catholic Church for over one thousand years before the existence of a Protestant, by virtue of her divine mission, changed the day from Saturday to Sunday." (See Facts of Faith, p. 293)

In 1894, The Catholic World, published an article, entitled, "Paschale Gaudium" in which the author stated:

The church took the pagan philosophy and made the buckler of faith against the heathen. She took the pagan, Roman Pantheon, temple of all the gods, and made it sacred to all the martyrs; so it stands to this day. She took the pagan Sunday and made it the Christian Sunday.

The sun was a foremost god with heathendom. ... Hence the church ... would seem to have said, "keep that old pagan name. It shall remain consecrated, sanctified." And thus the pagan Sunday, dedicated to Balder, became the Christian Sunday, sacred to Jesus. (March, 1894, p. 809)

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In 1895, J. F. Snyder of Bloomington, IL, wrote Cardinal Gibbons asking if the claims of the Catholic Church that had been appearing in their publications regarding the change of the Sabbath could be considered "as a mark of her power." Replying through his Chancellor, the Cardinal responded:

Of course the Catholic Church claims that the change was her act. It could not have been otherwise, as none in those days would have dreamed of doing anything in matters spiritual and ecclesiastical and religious without her. And the act is a mark of her ecclesiastical power and authority in religious matters. (See Facts of Faith, pp. 292-293)

Finally in 1889, Father Enright is again heard from. From Kansas City MO, on June 16, he penned this offer - "I hereby offer $1,000, to anyone who can prove to me from the Bible alone, that I am bound under pain of grievous sin, to keep Sunday holy."

It was God's plan and purpose that in the giving of, "the loud cry" it would move forward "not so much by argument as by the deep conviction of the Spirit of God." (SP, IV, p. 430) The arguments were to have been presented, and the seed sown. Here we see that during this period when "the loud cry" was beginning under the presentation of the message of righteousness by faith, God was taking care of the arguments, by causing the very one's who had altered His Holy Sabbath day to confess to their deed in no uncertain terms. This could have aroused sincere, though misguided Protestants, who claimed to hold to the Bible and the Bible only, to reassess their position.

For ten years from 1891 - 1901, God waited for his people to come into "working order," but all that the leadership of the church did was to assent to the light given. "No special change was made to bring about such a condition of things that the power of God could be revealed among His people." (E. G. White, 1901 General Conference Session, See Bulletin, p. 23) Sorrowfully, in 1903, the servant of the Lord told the delegates to the General Conference session - "I know that if the people of God had preserved a living connection with Him, if they had obeyed His word, they could today be in the heavenly Canaan." (Evangelism, p. 694) The light of the glory of that other angel faded away; the power of the Spirit was withdrawn, and Israel headed back into the "wilderness." In 1901, Ellen G. White wrote to Dr. P. T. Magan suggesting - "We may have to stay here in this world because of insubordination many more years, as did the children of Israel , but for Christ's sake, His people should not add sin to sin by charging God with the consequence of their own wrong course of action." (M-184-1901)

This situation presents us with some very critical questions. When are we to know when the "many more years" are up, and that God is setting His hand the second time to recover the remnant of His people? How will the prophecies concerning "the image to the beast" and "the national apostasy to be followed by national ruin" be fulfilled? It should be obvious to any student of current events, that the present day America is not the America of the final decade of the 19th century. Many, if not all the factors, which dominated the scene from 1890-1900, have changed. From a predominantly Protestant society, we now have become a pluralistic America - Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish. The moral

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issues which the religious community consider central today - abortion, homosexuality, prayer in the public school, for examples - are not the temperance and Sunday sacredness issues of the 1890's. This is not saying that the Sabbath question could not, or will not become central again, but it is suggesting that when it does come to the fore, it will not come as it did in the period between 1890 and 1900.

Israel of old rebelled against God at Kadesh-Barnea, and God declared that they would know the "altering of [His] purpose." (Numbers 14:34 margin) "Many more years" elapsed before Israel again approached the borders of Canaan. What if Israel had gone into the Promised Land at Kadesh-Barnea? The reading of the books of Joshua and Judges would have been vastly different from that which we now read in those books. Moses would have led the children of Israel into the land. The fear of the nations resulting from the deliverance from the land of Egypt would have been sharp and keen. The human mind fails in considering what might have been! However, we cannot long dwell upon what might have been had our spiritual forefathers responded to the purposes of God in the 1890's, but we need to consider carefully, what now is taking place which is fulfilling the prophecies, lest in our nit-picking demands that the details must be fulfilled now as they would have been fulfilled then, the door of mercy shall close upon us and we still be looking for something to be fulfilled.

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"MANY MORE YEARS"

The statement which the servant of the Lord wrote in 1892 that "the time of test is just before us, for the loud cry of the third angel has already begun in the revelation of the righteousness of Christ" (R&H, Nov. 27, 1892) brings us face to face with a problem of major proportions. The credibility of Ellen G. White, as a prophetess, is at stake, for it is obvious, or at least should be, that the latter rain which was to accompany the "loud cry" (TM, p. 92) did not fall. The "time of test" did not materialize. The "why" of this experience is the focal point around which the controversy over righteousness by faith has been swirling during the past two decades. What happened during the last decade of the 19th century is the basis of the research manuscript - 1888 Re-Examined - by Elders R. J. Wieland, and D. K. Short, and books released from the denominational presses such as A. V. Olson's -From Crisis to Victory 1888-1901.

Ellen G. White gave her own explanation at the General Conference of 1901. After the Chair declared the conference formally opened, Sr. White came forward and said:

I feel a special interest in the movements and decisions that shall be made at this conference regarding things that should have been done years ago, and especially ten years ago, when we were assembled in Conference, and the Spirit and power of God came into our meeting, testifying that God was ready to work for His people if they would come into working order.

[Now ten years prior was 1891, and coincides with the date 1892, when the statement regarding the "time of test" was given.]

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She continued:

The brethren assented to the light God had given, but there were those connected with our institutions, especially with the Review and Herald office and the [General] Conference, who brought in elements of unbelief, so that the light that was given was not acted upon. It was assented to, but no special change was made to bring about a condition of things that the power of God could be revealed among His people. . .

Year after year the same acknowledgment was made, but the principles which exalt a people were not woven into the work. (GC Bulletin, 1901, p. 23)

[Those who put forth the idea that the message of 1888 was "rejected" will have to face the statement that Ellen G. White made in 1901, that it was "assented to." There was acknowledgment made of the message, but unbelief on the part of the leadership kept it from being acted upon. God was calling for the church to come into more than "a doctrinal understanding." It was rather to come into "a working order." This aspect of the 1888 Message has not been explored as it should be. The confrontation over this issue of the message of righteousness by faith will be much more severe than the doctrinal confrontation has ever been.]

Certain changes involving "the working order" were made at the 1901 General Conference Session, however "thorough work" (8T:106) was not done, and the forward steps taken were reversed at the 1903 Session. It is against this backdrop that Ellen G. White wrote to Dr. P. T. Magan that oft repeated statement that "we may have to stay in this world because of insubordination many more years." Do keep in mind that it was not insubordination regarding the doctrinal content of the message - that was assented to - but it was insubordination regarding the "working order," or as Elder E. J. Waggoner stated it at the 1903 Session - "truth, as to administration." (1903 GC Bulletin, p. 149)

In the letter to Magan of what might take place - and it has taken place - there is a suggestion made relating the experience of the Church at that time (1901), and the children of Israel at Kadesh-Barnea. (See full statement, p. 3) This has led to the development of a type and antitype between the Exodus and Advent Movement. There are many good lessons to be learned from such a typology, but tragically, it has been perverted to sustain the very "insubordination" which caused our wilderness wanderings.

Regardless of how we try to explain what has happened, we need to seek an answer as to when God again began unrolling the prophetic scroll. Of all the chapters in the book of Revelation which have a direct bearing on the experience of God's people here in America, and ultimately upon all peoples of every nation on the globe, it is the 13th Chapter. The second "beast" having two horns like a lamb is to speak as a dragon. (Rev. 13:11) When will it begin to so speak? We are told that it will exercise all the power of the first beast before it and cause the earth and them that dwell therein to "worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed." (Rev. 13:12) It will suggest to those dwelling on the earth that "they should make an image to the beast, which had a wound by the sword, and

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did live." (verse 14) Not until "the healing of the wound" could these prophecies begin to transpire. Only when the "beast" again began to "live" would the second beast begin to speak as a "dragon." In 1929, with the signing of the Concordant between Mussolini, and the Papal Secretary of State, the Pope was no longer a "prisoner of the Vatican," but emerged as a world figure among the rulers of the earth. Almost immediately the President of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt, appointed Myron C. Taylor as his personal ambassador to the Vatican State. Once more the scroll of prophecy began to unroll! And with the fulfillment, we reached what could be termed the "end-time zone" of human history.

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On behalf of every American of every faith I also welcome you to our nation's heart. God bless you for coming to our country. We are proud to have you here. (RNS, Oct. 8, 1979, Sec 1, p. 1)

This was the first time not only that a pope had visited the White House, but the first time in modern history that any pope has called on a governmental leader anywhere. The Papacy considers itself above the State, and therefore, the officers of the State must come to the Pope. However, on this occasion, the Pontiff stepped down from his "throne" and extended his hand to a Protestant head of the American nation, and that President grasped it! This is most significant. The handclasp has been fully consummated on the part of both Catholicism and Protestantism.

At the time of the reception, the Pope and President Carter spent two hours in private talks. Of this meeting it was voiced:

Even the private meeting between Pope John Paul II and President Jimmy Carter, a born-again Southern Baptist, was interpreted as having deep significant religious meaning. David Tracy, a Catholic theologian at the University of Chicago Divinity School, said of that historic meeting in the White House: "I think there is a symbolic significance for the acceptance and contribution of Catholics in this country as a whole, as well as a distinctly ecumenical flavor of American Christianity. It is an unusual and good gesture by the President, who is himself a deeply religious man." (Christianity Today, Nov. 2, 1979, pp. 64-65)

Jesuit, Robert A Graham, a RNS Rome correspondent, wrote prior to the arrival of John Paul II to the United States on what could be expected from this visit. He compared and contrasted the visit of Pope Paul VI to the United Nations in 1965 with the impact that John Paul II would make on America. In a RNS release Jesuit Graham wrote:

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