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Volume IV Number (2)
"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)
COMMENTARY
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THE ABC OF BIBLE PROPHECY
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EDITORIAL
Bryan W. Ball in his book - The English Connection - has a chapter on " The Great Almanack of Prophecy." He borrows this concept of "almanack" from the Puritan scholar, Joseph Mede, one of the most learned and renowned academics of his age. Mede urged Christians to recognize the importance of time in Scripture, and referred them to the "sacred calendar and great almanack of prophecy, the four kingdoms of Daniel, which are a prophetical chronology of time." (p. 193) Mede is further quoted as declaring the first two dreams and/or visions found in the book of Daniel as "the ABC of prophecy" (p. 201) This emphasis is necessary to avoid speculative interpretations of the book of Revelation. Hugh Broughton, a rabbinical scholar and Reader in Divinity at Durham, who wrote on both Daniel and Revelation said of the latter in 1610, "I must advise the reader to learn Daniel before he learn this book.* (ibid.) The perceptions and advice of these Puritan scholars need to be heeded today within Adventism, both on the periphery as well as at its heart.
The futuristic speculation being projected on these books by such men as Hauser and Wheeling, as well as by others, with the resultant deceptions could be avoided by simply noting that the two first dreams and/or visions in Daniel are indeed the ABC of all Bible prophecy. The desire to understand the unrolling of the prophetic scroll is commendable, but to substitute human speculation for the prophetic base given in the two prophecies of Daniel 2 & 7 is to turn the rays of prophetic light into death rays of darkness.
On the other hand, within the heart of Adventism, there has been either a denial of the light revealed in Daniel 7 regarding the identity of "'the little horn," or we have sought to tone down the designation given in the prophecy of Daniel. In regard to the latter approach. C. Mervyn Maxwell, in his book, God Cares, Vol. 1, writes after listing the identifying marks of "the little horn" of Daniel 7:
Only one entity really fits all eight of these identifying marks - the Christian church which arose to religiopolitical prominence as the Roman Empire declined and which enjoyed a special influence over the minds of men between the sixth and the eighteenth centuries.
To call this Christian church the "Raman Catholic" Church can be misleading if Protestants assume that the Roman Catholic Church of, say the sixth century was one big denomination among others, as it is today. Actually the Roman Catholic Church was virtually the Christian church in Western Europe for about a thousand years. Because of this early universality, both Protestants and Catholics may regard it as the embodiment of "our" Christian heritage, for better or for worse. (p. 127, emphasis his)
Does Maxwell not realize that the prophetic symbolism clearly indicates that the "little horn" came up in the fourth beast, and never ceased to be rooted in that beast, ever drawing its nourishment and life from the beast! It can never be considered from God's viewpoint as a "Christian" church as Maxwell has considered it. It is ever the Roman Catholic Church!
Perhaps it was such thinking as displayed by Maxwell - his book was published by the Pacific Press - which led the Seventh-day Adventist hierarchy in the legal case of EEOC v. PPPA to declare to the Federal Court:
Although it is true that there was a period in the life of the Seventh-day Adventist Church when the denomination took a distinctly anti-Roman Catholic viewpoint, and the term "hierarchy" was used in a pejorative sense to refer to the papal form of church governance, that attitude on the Church's part was nothing more than a manifestation of widespread anti-popery among conservative denominations in the early part of this century and the latter part of the last, and which now has been consigned to the historical trash heap so for as the Seventh-day Adventist Church is concerned. (Civ. No. 74-2025 CBR, "Reply Brief" submitted in US District Court for Northern District of California. Footnote #2.)
[Excerpts Legal Documents (EEPC vs PPPA)from which the above quotation is taken can be obtained from the Foundation Order Form The documents are facsimile reproductions from court records.)
While the beginnings of this change in the Seventh-day Adventist Church attitude can be traced to the deletions made in the 1931 Statement of Beliefs in which not only the statement on the nature and purpose of prophecy was removed, but the reference to "the man of sin, the papacy" was deleted. The current expressed attitude began in earnest when the senior Maxwell (Arthur S. of Bedtime Stories) returned from Vatican II Council having attended the session as the editor of the Signs on a press pass. He stated in a sermon at the University Church in Loma Linda. after telling of the supposed changes in the Roman Catholic Church-
Well, I must close. I've kept you much too long, but I feel this very sincerely that we as a people, must re-think our approach to these deer people. We must re-think our approach to our Roman Catholic friends. How can we reject an outstretched hand and be Christians? How can we say that they belong to antichrist when they reveal so many beautiful Christian attitudes? Does this shock you very much? I hope it does! ...
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Now, there's one other thing. These things are going to make us think, they really are - this is a new situation. I think that a lot of our preachers are going to have to throw away a lot of old sermons. You and me - lot of old sermons. I have scrapped a lot of them already. You know what I think is going to happen? We cannot go on preaching about these dear people like we did thirty, forty, fifty years ago. We simply can't do it. The facts are against us. How can we go and talk about them persecuting, burning the Bible when they're not doing anything of the sort? ("The Outstretched Hand," Present Truth, No 3, 1968, pp. 13-14)
This attitude was passed from father to son as evidenced in the book, God Cares, Vol. 1. But this subtle and devilish influence has not stopped there. Mervyn Maxwell's influence has in turn had its effect on R. J. Wieland and caused the two men who sounded a warning in 1950 to rewrite and tone down their original manuscript. The one who applauded this tone down was none other than Mervyn Maxwell himself. (See Ministry, Feb., 1988. p. 63) And the end is not yet. The full consequences will only be realized in eternity.
THE ABC OF BIBLE PROPHECY
The dream of Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 2) and the night vision of Daniel (Chapter 7) constitute the ABC of Bible prophecy. These two chapters form a single outline of what is now mostly fulfilled. The outline is further detailed by the other prophecies in both the rest of the book of Daniel and the book of Revelation. These two prophecies begin with Babylon as a world empire and extend to the time when this world again is returned to its rightful allegiance. The dream of Nebuchadnezzar was adapted to the thinking and contemplation of this pagan king, and focuses on world empires until the time when "the God of heaven" sets up His eternal kingdom on this earth. The vision of Daniel, while including the same world empires, presents the flow of history as it concerns "the saints of the most High."
Daniel 2 is not a conditional prophecy. God made known "to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain and the interpretation thereof sure." (2:45) We are not left in doubt as to when this dream began to be fulfilled. To Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel said - "Thou art this head of gold." (2:38) It is not necessary for the purposes of this article to detail this dream, but rather note a key revelation. The fourth kingdom represented by the iron, though having a point - the ankles - whereat it appears as mixed with clay, continues to the very tip of the toes. (2:42)
Daniel 7 is important because it gives a prophetic outline which permits the student to identity in history the "little horn" as the Papacy.
Certain general details need first to be considered before the specifics of Daniel's night vision are considered. These beast symbols follow each other in successive order, and do not appear simultaneously upon the world scene. "The first was like a lion" (7:4) "And behold another beast, a second, like unto a bear" raised itself up "on one side." (7:5) "After this" Daniel beheld another, "like a leopard." (7:6) And "after this" he saw "a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible." (7:7) Further, he was told that "these great beasts, which are four, are four kings which shall arise out of the earth." (7:17) The words, "king" and "kingdom" are used interchangeably by the heavenly interpreter. (See 7:23)
The 4 beasts of Daniel 7 - and the 5th picture showing the little horn power.
How are we to arrive at the point of beginning? Does the "Lion" represent Babylon even as the head of gold? This vision was given in "the first year of Belshazzar, king of Babylon" (7:1) which means that most of Babylon's history as a "great" kingdom was in the past. It had already risen out of the earth, and the text reads, "shall arise." In the Hebrew, there are but two tenses of the verb - the perfect, and the imperfect by which the future is expressed. In Daniel 7:17, the imperfect is used. But the Hebrew imperfect does more than express future time as does our English future tense. "The Hebrew imperfect ... expresses the unfinished, what is coming to pass, and is future; but also what is continuing and in progress at any period of time, even in the past." (Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar, 17th ed., p. 227) The 7th Chapter begins where the 2nd Chapter did, with Babylon.
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Daniel in wanting to know about the vision was not primarily concerned with the first three "beasts." He recognized the symbol of the lion with eagle's wings. He saw it every day in the mosaics and sculptured works of Babylon. It was the "national" symbol of Babylon. Even the prophet Jeremiah used that imagery where foretelling the coming of Nebuchadnezzar to desolate the kingdoms to the east of Judah. (49:19, 22, 28) But Daniel was concerned about the fourth beast. He said - "Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast." (7:19)
This "fourth beast" not only follows the Grecian leopard - in the distant past for us - but Daniel also sees it continuing "till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame." (7:11) This iron-toothed monster, like its parallel symbolism in Nebuchadnezzar's dream - the legs of iron - continues likewise to the end. But in it and from it comes another symbol - a "little horn" which instead of "beastly" features has "the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things." (7:8) It must be kept distinctly in mind that the teaching of the vision is that this "horn" finds its source in, is nourished by, and is never separated from, this non-descript beast.
The "little horn" is described as coming up "among" the ten horns which were also to arise out of the beast. (7:24) In the interpretation, it was stated the "'little horn" would arise "after" the ten horns were in place. (7:24) In its ascendancy, three of the first horns would be uprooted. (7:8) The record of history reveals that this prophetic detail was fulfilled by one power only, the Papacy. Thus the continuing "iron" of Daniel 2, and the iron-toothed monster with its humanized little horn of Daniel 7, represents both pagan and papal Rome. It is telling us that though "Christianized," the Papacy is still Roman - the Rome of Christ, Paul and all the other martyrs of the early centuries of the Church. Further, it is still the Rome of the Dark Ages, and though presently robed in white, counseling the rulers of earth, it is still ready again "to wear out the saints of the most High."
There is a continuum in this Prophecy which needs to be carefully considered. In the vision itself which is detailed in Daniel 7:1-14, 21-22, the sequence in symbol is
that following the pagan phase of the iron-toothed monster comes the "little
horn." The "little horn" is allotted power for "a time and times and a dividing
of time." Then "the judgment shall sit." (7:25-26, 9) In Daniel 7, the vision to
verse 8 covers the time from Babylon till 1798, the close of "the time and times
and the dividing of time." Daniel 7:9-10 pictures the opening of the judgment in 1844 (8:13-14) with its objective to "take away" the dominion of the little horn and "to consume and to destroy it unto the end;" and to render a decision in behalf of "the saints of the most High." (7:26, 22) Usually, we have stopped at this point in our study and discussion of Daniel 7, even failing to consider the fact that the "little horn" and what it represents is brought into the pre-Advent judgment.
At the time "the judgment was set, and the books were opened," Daniel in vision "beheld then because of the great words which the horn spake." (7:11) During the "time and times the dividing of time" - the prophetic 1260 day/years - the horn had spoken "words against the most High." (7:25) [The word, "great" is supplied in the text] Now he speaks "great words." Though deprived of the temporal power since 1798 which he once possessed, the Papacy spoke forth in the realm of the spiritual wherein in reality is the basic conflict - the battle between truth and error. (See John 8:44)
Ten years after the time given in prophecy for the judgment to be set, the Papacy issued its dogma of the Immaculate Conception in 1854. This assured the fact that the doctrine of the Incarnation would be a key issue in the final contention over truth. To the Advent Movement raised up by God to proclaim the messages of the Three Angels of Revelation 14, God committed the truth of the incarnation that Christ in entering humanity took upon Himself, the nature of fallen man. The documentation of this fact can be verified from several sources. For one see - An Interpretive History of the Doctrine of the Incarnation as Taught by the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
The conflict over this doctrine has been evident in the history of the Church. First the aberrant movement in Indiana at the turn of the century revolved on the doctrine of the Incarnation. Their perception of the nature Christ assumed in humanity was such that it was dubbed the "Holy Flesh" Movement. While the leadership of the Movement did not accept the Papal explanation for Christ's "holy flesh," they did teach that Christ's humanity was different from the rest of the sons and daughters of Adam by declaring that God prepared for Him a special body in which to dwell while on earth.
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In the controversy over the doctrine resulting from the SDA-Evangelical conferences of 1955-1956, the compromise over the doctrine of the incarnation on the part of the Adventist conferees was in the forefront. See Andreasen's Letters to the Churches. Now at the present time, through the Church's leading publication, the doctrine of the incarnation has again become an issue. (See
WWN, XXIII - 5 & 6 (1990)) Each individual needs to answer the challenge by E. J. Waggoner to the delegates at the 1901 General Conference session when the Holy Flesh Movement was confronted - "We need to settle, every one of us, whether we are out of the church of Rome or not." (Sermon, April 16, 1901, 7 p.m., GC Bulletin, p. 404)
In 1870, the "great words" of the "little horn" were again heard in the dogma of Papal infallibility. In this papal action the "teaching magisterium" of the Pope was confirmed. He was infallible in his supreme pronouncements in the matters of doctrine. The Bible needs to be interpreted to the common man, and that interpretation would come through the pope. The Catholic Church's position is that "an infallible Bible without an infallible living interpreter is futile." (The Faith of Millions, p. 138) Tragically, many a concerned Seventh-day Adventist have cast "the messenger of the Lord" into the same role as given the Pope that of being an infallible interpreter of the Scriptures.
There is a second aspect to the Dogma of the Infallibility of the Pope. It gave to him " the immediate and sovereign jurisdiction, under all of its aspects over all the pastors and the faithful. The devil was not content to have his vicegerent alone proclaim this working policy, but he has succeeded in infiltrating the Movement God established with these same concepts. the record of our own church history documents his success and the warnings given concerning such policy.
In 1901, when Ellen G. White arose and addressed the General Conference session in Battle Creek, she declared referring to the officers of the Church - "That these men should stand in a sacred place, to be as the voice of God to the people, as we once believed the General Conference to be, - that is past." (1901 G.C. Bulletin, p. 25) Many have latched onto this statement with the emphasis on "that is past." But note - "as we once believed." That is past! We believed an error.
We now to return to the foundation, "and to build upon a different principle." (ibid.) The result was, a new Constitution was formulated, simple, short and direct, without the office of a president - no pope or kingly potentate. But 1901 was followed by 1903, and the 1901 Constitution was thrown out. Before the new instrument was voted, P. T. Magan warned the delegates that "the principles which are to be brought in through this proposed constitution, and in the way in which they are brought in, are the same principles, and introduced in precisely the same way, as they were hundreds of years ago when the Papacy was made." (1903 GC Bulletin, p. 150)
Ellen G. white reacted to this new order of things established by the 1903 General Conference. She declared that the church was "now being leavened with her own backsliding." (8T:250) She had previously from Australia sought to correct the drift into this state by warning that the hierarchical manifestations of authority reaching down even to the local conference presidents was "following in the track of Romanism."(TM. p. 363) The hope that had arisen in 1901, was jettisoned in 1903, and "backsliding" began in earnest. But not only did the Lord's messenger warn of this apostasy from the principles of truth, but she specifically called for denominational repentance and conversion. (8T:250) [Tragically, today the call for such a repentance is directed at the wrong issue, a message rather than the church having accepted papal dogma as a working policy]
On November 1, 1950, another dogma was promulgated. Pius XII "solemnly pronounced the dogma of the Corporal Assumption of the Virgin Mary." This gives validity to spiritistic manifestations as far as Rome is concerned. Let it be noted that this dogma was proclaimed on All Saints Day. This was not a coincidence. What is significant for us is the time of this pronouncement - 1950 - bringing us down in the prophecy of Daniel 7 to our own day when the controversy between truth and error began in earnest within the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The climax was reached in 1980, when the General Conference at Dallas voted a new 27 Statements of Belief which differed radically in parts from what had been previously held, setting forth concepts alien to historic Adventism.
But back to the prophecy of Daniel 7. After Daniel heard the "great words which the horn spake," he then saw one "like the Son of man" come to "the Ancient of days." To the Son of man was given "dominion and glory, and a kingdom." (7:11, 14) In the continuity, the Son of man did not come at this point to investigate the record of the lives of those who were to make up the kingdom, but to receive the kingdom that was His and to share it with "the saints of the most High."(7:27) While we have given study and consideration to the fact that when the judgment was opened, the great High Priest entered the Most Holy Place of the Heavens, we have not considered the implications of this prophecy which adds the inference that Christ performed a work, and at a point in time returned to the Heavenly Court to receive the results of its adjudication "given to the saints for the most High" against "the little horn." (7:21-22) While the previous study was based on the type outlined in Leviticus 16, we failed to carry forward the implications of the prophecy of Daniel 7. Such a study would involve a careful investigation of the meaning and significance of what is called "the final atonement." Since it is evident from the prophecy in connection with Leviticus 16, that "the Son of man" is returning from a mission on which He was sent as a result of the "judgment" being set, we must ask about the nature of such a "mission."
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In the type, the high priest on the day of atonement was clothed from head to ankle with the holy linen garments. (Lev. 16:4) We have failed to connect this fact with the sanctuary imagery of Ezekiel 9, where there is depicted a movement from the "most holy" and a command to "the man clothed in linen." The final revelation of this section of the four-part "visions of God" given to Ezekiel discloses that "the man clothed in linen" returns and reports the matter saying, "I have done as thou has commanded me." (9: 11) What was He commanded to do, and therefore, what did he accomplish? This is a study in itself, a study opened by a clearer understanding of Daniel 7.
Part Two
"DO YOU SEE WHAT I SEE?"
Reid C. Granke
Catholic Propaganda
The Catholic propaganda machine is a really big issue to pursue - one that should have the thorough and lengthy attention of a good research book. Even though I will not be able to give the reader that kind of material in the article, I could not let the matter go by without at least making a few observations. I have already discussed the successful misinformation or propaganda regarding the Vietnam War and former President John Kennedy (the most overrated president in United States history). Now let's deal with some current issues.
Have you noticed more and more TV news reports are including interviews with prominent Catholic public figures and priests? Have you noticed that more and more stories are being selectively picked and slanted to a certain philosophy than ever before? The issues which are presented to the American public for emphasis are chosen by a select group of people with a certain religious and social philosophy. Note the frequency with which they are presented, the number of times only one side of an issue is presented and the other side ignored. For example, CBS aired an anti-gun program, "Guns of Autumn," a little while back without charge to anti-gun factions. But, when the NRA tried to buy air time to rebut many inaccuracies and distortions of the program, CBS refused. This leads me to the next comment.
1) Gun Control: Isn't this an unusual topic for traditional Adventists to discuss arid consider? This issue reminds me of the trick questions the Pharisees presented to Christ. These types of questions and issues appear as having only two extreme positions. If you take either position, you lose. A traditional Adventist will automatically tend to take the position that all guns should be abolished in North America. Why then even consider the question? Right? There is more than meets the eye at first glance. If you are not careful, you will be taken in by the surface issues just like millions of others have been, and are being taken in.
Whether Adventists want to admit it or not, one of the basic reasons why we as Americans have the rights of freedom of speech, movement and religion that we do, is because of the very significant and totally overlooked provision in the Bill of Rights commonly referred to as the 2nd Amendment - "the right of the people to keep and bear Arms .. " Whether we own or keep a firearm in our home is irrelevant to the importance of the issue. The fact that Americans are Constitutionally protected in that right holds political/religious domination of the country at bay. Take away the right of the people to own and carry guns and you set the stage for a dictatorship!
The taking away of guns was one of the first steps taken by Hitter to gain complete control of Germany. It is the underlying philosophy that has been applied in Communist countries, and it is the same approach used by all totalitarian governments in the world.
Whether you abhor guns or not, if you vote for, or even go along with, zealous gun controllers, you are helping to give away our national freedoms - which will inevitably mean even the freedom of speech and religion. Sometimes we resist wanting to believe the truth when it seems so contradictory to what we have been taught in Adventism, but it is important that we honestly and openly consider this very vital matter. I have come to the conclusion that perhaps the most significant consideration as to why we should not bear arms in wars waged by the United States is not just because of the general commandment - "Thou shalt not kill" - but because we cannot always believe what our own government is telling us about why we are fighting in the first place. I have often wondered what many people would think if they realized that their sons, brothers and other loved ones were killed for the purpose of promoting Catholicism in Vietnam! The Roman Catholic church has done an astonishingly effective job of camouflaging that "little" fact.
2) Abortion: This is another trick issue that is not what it appears to be on the surface. There is no question, it is wrong to have a casual abortion just to get rid of evidence of an immoral affair, for economic expedience, or just plain convenience! That is the surface issue - the emotional one that allows religionists to manipulate the unwary. What lurks behind, however, is a very important constitutional issue - the forcing of another person's moral judgments on you whether you agree with them or not! This is one of those issues where the Roman Catholic church crosses the line between separation of church and state. Keep in mind that not all abortions are immoral. One of at least two things wrong with the Roman Catholic position is that it is extreme. There are extenuating circumstances which may make it advisable to have an abortion for the child's sake as well as for the parent's sake - particularly the woman's sake. Let we give you a personal experience:
My wife and I had to face the issue of whether or not to abort a potentially defective child when my wife contracted German measles during the first few weeks of pregnancy with our second child. That was the most difficult decision of our lives! Adventist doctors at Loma Linda University told us that there was at least a 25% (Possibly up to 50%) chance that the child would be deformed both physically and mentally. They all advised us to abort. Because my wife and I could not emotionally bring ourselves to that decision, we decided to go ahead with normal delivery and I prayed for the best. In fact, I told the Lord that if the child would be normal both physically and mentally, let the child's affliction come upon me. if necessary. The child is now seventeen, and not only healthy and normal in every sense of the word, but she is a wonderful young lady with a great deal of potential. What about me? Whether a coincidence or not, I have become totally deaf - one of the most common afflictions of rubella babies.
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The point about abortion is this. Nobody has a right to take away the decision of whether or not to abort a child but the mother of that child! Whether she makes a right or wrong decision is between her and God. Nobody else! Only the father of that child should have a say in the matter, but it should be left totally to the woman bearing that child to make the final decision. Until the child is born, it is a part of her own body - thus her decision! This is where the Catholic church wants to take away those God-given rights of women and make it theirs. This theft of rights and the resulting confusion it brings is causing havoc in our nation today. Former Surgeon General Koop has publicly stated the same group who oppose contraceptive devices is the one who is sung the antiabortion issue. Do we need to say more to identify those people?
The final thing that the reader needs to remember is that the United States Constitution should not, and does not, guarantee that certain religious/philosophic views are to dominate the lives of others! On the contrary, our nation's fathers well realized the importance of separation of church and state in protecting the religious freedoms and basic God-given rights of its citizens. The role of the clergy should be to reason and even plead with the person to make the right moral decision, but not to force them into doing what the cleric thinks is right.
Television Shows and Movies
A few years ago, I heard an Adventist minister who was with one of the Union Conferences in the Seventh-day Adventist church, tell the group assembled for a staff worship meeting that television shows are an evil influence on us. Wow, I had not heard an Adventist minister speak up about the evils of TV in many years since the 1950s In fact! Very interesting! But as I listened, only generalities were being expressed. Nothing specific was cited as being evil. It seemed like a vague, mysterious something that no one was able to identify. Yet it was there.
A few months ago, one of the major TV networks (CBS as I recall) in one of their documentaries brought to light that regular TV entertainment shows such as mysteries, detective stories, westerns, etc., are used to teach people morals. Well, Isn't that interesting? I had been taking note of the moral lessons that were being generated by these programs, and now for the first time (to my knowledge) it was being publicly admitted that there was "a method behind all the madness."
Next time you watch TV, take note of what morals the show is trying to get across to the viewer MacGyver is always trying to tell the public that guns in-and-of themselves are evil. They are an evil entity. In that show they are not the inanimate destructive devices or tools that in reality they are. They are personified as having a character of evil in-and-of themselves. The bad guy is always the one who has the gun in that show. It never seems to have occurred to the writer and producer that like other destructive devices such as bulldozers, shovels, axes and scissors, guns can be and are used in a protective way. Most other shows such as "Spenser" - "Matlock" - "Hunter" - "In the Heat of the Night" - seem to be saying that it is only okay for policemen and military to have guns. Those "moral" lessons are, of course, setting the stage for a police state.
In January 1989, NBC in their series "In the Heat of the Night" showed a play where a Black man, who was involved (as a get-away driver) in an armed robbery, was sentenced to death. It was not clear as to why he was sentenced to be executed, but one was left to assume that it was not just for being a get-away driver in a robbery. But, by vague inferences the fellow was made out to be a pretty nice guy who "was getting a bum rap." The audience was made to feel sorry for him because "capital punishment is not right." Readers, have you noticed that in real life whenever a criminal is about to be executed, there are invariably at least one or two Catholic priests or nuns in attendance objecting to the execution? On October 25, 1989, it was reported in The Capital Times newspaper that Wisconsin's Catholic bishops collectively said, "The right of life of the unborn child, of the ill and infirm grandparent, of the despicable criminal, of the AIDS patient, is to be affirmed and protected as though it belonged to us." Do you got the obvious connection as to whose sense of morals are being promoted?
That January "In the Heat of the Night" show was also doing some else of great significance. It was distorting and misusing Bible texts to teach its brand of morals to the viewers. Since most of the readers of this article will be Adventists or former Adventists, they will be familiar with the Bible text where Jesus said to Martha, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?" (John 11:25 NASV) This is the way the TV program quoted it, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me... shall never die." It makes a difference, doesn't it! They were promoting their old pagan theology of the immortality of the soul. A very sly and subtle maneuver.
Have you noticed more and more instances of priests and nuns being used as characters in TV productions? More and more photographic shots are being taken in Catholic churches and schools. More and more shows are showing people with crucifixes hanging around their necks or on the walls of their homes and offices. Whose morals and codes of life are being promoted in these productions?
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Some Miscellaneous Thoughts to Consider
1. When one analyses the Vietnam War matter, one can see that it was a "no lose" situation for the Roman Catholic Church. If South Vietnam (and the United States) had won the war, then there would have been hundreds of thousands of Buddhists subject to a Catholic regime. With the loss of Vietnam itself came the massive Immigration of Vietnamese Catholics to the United States to help load the electoral scales in favor of the Catholic Church. The influx of Mexicans and other Central and South American peoples into this country is working also to the same end - helping elect those public "representatives" who favor Catholic ideals.
2. If the United States' Constitution were to be effectively annulled and Americans lose their freedoms, it would undoubtedly have a profound effect on other nations. Canada whose economy is almost totally dependent on the United States may not be a "free" either. When one considers that the Anglican Church and the Roman Catholic Church are the dominant churches in Canada and their unification seems inevitable in the near future, I think that Canadians would be very naive to think that their freedoms would continue as they have in the past. I noticed that Prime Minister Brian Mulrooney, who is himself a Catholic, has tried to change the Canadian Constitution to make it illegal for woman to have abortions. Does that sound, a bell?
3. What kind of freedoms are likely to be lost? When one studies the history of the old Roman Empire and the succeeding "Holy" Roman Empire one can see patterns of similarity. In ancient Roman times, peoples were allowed to worship their own gods as long as the ultimate or supreme loyalty to the Emperor was foremost. Similarly, the history of the Roman Catholic Church reveals the same policy. People who are "converted" in "Third World" countries are allowed to keep their pagan superstitions so long as their ultimate pledge of allegiance is to the Pope and his local representatives. The "Holy" Roman Empire can be very accommodating to those who will yield allegiance to the pope. To the Biblical Christian, however, it can only mean oppression.
4. Where are other churches in their closeness to unification with Catholicism? Judging from the staunch, passionate support for Catholicism from some local Baptists with whom I am acquainted, it would seem that they have already united in spirit although not in corporate being. Where are the Lutherans in this issue? According to the Ecumenical Press Service (EPS) news bulletin 88.02.158, Lutherans and Catholics have completed a "working paper" (started in 1967) on "Asserting the Wide-Ranging Agreement on Justification." As the reader will recall the issue of justification by faith was the basic theological issue which set Luther at odds with the Papacy. This bulletin, incidentally, coincides with a radio news broadcast I overheard in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, about 18 years ago which said that Lutheran and Catholic theologians were simply waiting for their congregations to catch up.
Further, according to the EPS (89.08.46)
SASKATOON - Effective in October, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Anglican Church of Canada are to begin a relationship of "interim sharing of the eucharist." This follows official judgments by the governing bodies of each denomination that in the other "the gospel is preached and taught." Besides eucharistic sharing, the relationship is to include joint programs in evangelism, social action, and Bible study; shared facilities; and regular intercessions for the other. The agreement is patterned after a similar one in effect in the United States since 1982.
With both the Anglicans and Lutherans moving toward Rome and to one another, what does this mean? Note the following EPS report:
SACRAMENTO - About 1000 people came to the Roman Catholic cathedral here for a 90-minute, ecumenical baptismal liturgy. During it, four children - Roman Catholic, Anglican, Oriental Orthodox, and Lutheran - were baptized, each after the custom of his or her tradition. But, observed liturgy planners, the baptisms took place "under one roof, in the water of one font, knit together by one liturgy, celebrated, in the power of the Holy Spirit, by one people." Preacher at the liturgy was Kathleen Hurty, associate general secretary for the regional and local ecumenism on the general staff of the [US] National Council of Churches.(89.08.42)
The emphasis is "under one roof" and the water from "one font." But under whose roof, and from whose font?
With Communism in Eastern Europe collapsing, Catholicism is rushing in to fill up the vacuum. on a CBS news telecast from Moscow in which a Roman Catholic priest was being interviewed, it was reported that Gorbachev's mother "is a believer." Ellen G. White once wrote that the last events would be very rapid. Rapid, to an incredible degree, they are indeed! Catholicism already reigns supreme in South and Central American countries, the Philippines, Spain, France, Hungary, Poland and many other nations. Now she is on the verge of taking over Australia, New Zealand, and Canada via the Anglican merger. With Lutheranism joining the ranks, that lines up the rest of Western Europe. Once the United States has been conquered for Catholicism with the destruction of the U.S. Constitution, it is "in the bag."
So now that we have reviewed all these details, where are we? Jesus said:
"But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.
"And He told them a parable 'Behold the fig tree and all the trees; as soon as they put forth leaves, you see it and know for yourselves that summer is now near.
"Even so you, too, when you see these things happening, recognize that the kingdom of God is near. Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.
"Be on guard, that your hearts may not be weighted down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of life, and that day come on you suddenly like a trap; for it will come upon all those who dwell on the face of all the earth.
"But keep on the alert at all times, praying in order that you may have strength to escape all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man." (Luke 21:28-36 NASV)
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