Excerpt from XXXVIII -11(05)
“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)
"Spirits of Devils"
The prophetic scriptures picture
the gathering together for the battle of the great day of God Almighty as
energized by "the spirits of devils" under the symbol of
"frogs" coming "out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the
mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet (Rev. 16:13-14).
We have perceived these symbols - the dragon, beast, and false prophet to
represent the religious forces at work to accomplish the designs of the devil.
This interpretation has led to the designations of paganism, papalism, and
apostate Protestantism to the symbols. A new symbolism is added as the
prophetic picture describes the final conflict - "frogs." Frogs are
marked by their tongues by which they catch their prey and its unintelligible
croaking noise in its spring mating season. Another part of the symbolism which
we appear to have missed needs consideration. The symbolic powers involved in
the final conflict - dragon, beast, and false prophet -are set in
"heaven," "sea" and "earth" - when first revealed
to John. The "dragon" is specifically declared to be "that old
serpent, called the Devil and Satan" (Rev. 12:9). Another reference is
very definitive: the text reads - "the dragon, that old serpent, which is
the Devil and Satan" (20:2). The first conflict is revealed as being in
"heaven" - "There was war in heaven" (Rev. 12:7). The final
conflict is in a "place called in the Hebrew tongue – Har-Magedon"
(16:16 ARV). "Har" in Hebrew means, "mountain.' The phase of the
conflict that brought "salvation" (12:10) was settled on a
"mount" outside Jerusalem, Golgotha, "the place of the
skull" (John 16:17). The final phase of the conflict both before and after
the 1,000 years will be settled at the place called in the Hebrew tongue -
Har-Mo'ed - "the mount of the congregation" - Jerusalem, and even as
the first phase - outside the gates of the city (Rev. 20:9).
From the symbolic
"heaven" the prophetic picture passes to "sea" and
"earth" (
4
(13:2; cmp. with Daniel 7). The designation in history was the papacy. The
first protest - the original Protestantism - arose in the same area in which
this "beast arose." The "false prophet" was to come
"up out of the earth" (13:11). To this differentiation, we have not
given sufficient study as the events of the present unfold before us. No longer
using the designation of "Protestant" they speak of themselves as
"Evangelicals" and are in lockstep with Rome. A part of this
evangelical body is Pentecostal. Their "voice" is Christianity
Today (CT), a publication founded by Billy Graham. It is now edited by one
with previous Seventh-day Adventist connections.
In a recent issue of CT (July,
2005), Jack Hayford was featured as "the
Pentecostal Gold Standard" in a "cover story." A year ago he was
elected president of the Foursquare denomination which
was founded by Aimee Semple McPherson. While seeking
to bring Pentecostals together with other Evangelicals, and involvement in
interdenominational activities, he does all this "without toning down his
Pentecostalism one decibel." The preface of the cover story warrants
careful consideration. It reads:
In 1969, a
35-year old Jack Hayford pulled up to a traffic light
in front of the First Baptist Church of Van Nuys. Like any other pastor in
Southern California, he knew of the Baptist congregation. It was growing like a
weed, drawing nationwide publicity under the leadership of Pastor Harold Fickett. Hayford's church, a few
blocks down
Parked at the light, Hayford felt a burning sensation on his face, a startling
physical sense of the church's intimidating presence. Through an inner voice
God spoke to him reprovingly: "You could at least begin by looking at the
building."
He turned and saw nothing but a
modern brick structure. "What now?" Hayford
asked. "I want you to pray for that church," God said. "What I
am doing there is so great, there is no way the
pastoral staff can keep up with it. Pray for them."
As Hayford
began to pray, he felt an overflow of love for Van Nuys Baptist. It seemed to
take no effort. Through the days to come, the same sensation came to him every
time he passed a church - any church. "I felt an overwhelming love for the
church of Jesus Christ. I realized I had them in pigeonholes."
A few days later, he approached a
large Catholic church. Having been raised to take strong exception to Catholic
doctrine, he wondered whether he would have the same feelings. He did, and
heard another message from God: "Why would I not be happy with a place
where every morning the testimony of the blood of my Son is raised from the altar?"
"I didn't hear God say that
the Catholics are right about everything," Hayford
says now, remembering the experience that changed his ministry. "For that
matter, I didn't hear him (sic.) saying the Baptists
are right about everything, nor the Foursquare."
The message was simply that people
at those churches cared about God. These were sites dedicated to Jesus' name.
And he, Hayford, was supposed to love and pray for
them (p. 25).
What conclusions can be drawn from
these experiences of Hayford? Number one - it was
not God Who spoke approvingly about the Catholic mass.
He had already spoken through His Word - "But this Man, after He had
offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God" (Heb. 10:12). Jesus Christ does not come down from that throne and
descend to the Roman altar every time a priest calls Him! It was the
"spirits of devils" who were approving the
eucharist of
We have observed in recent issues
of WWN the objective of Benedict XVI to bring about the unity of the Christian
Church under
4
followers" (L' Osservatore Romano,
In the same Homily, Benedict XVI
declared:
The Eucharist, let us repeat, is the sacrament of unity. Unfortunately, however, Christians are divided, precisely in the sacrament of unity. Sustained by the Eucharist, we must feel all the more aroused to striving with all our strength for that full unity which Christ ardently desired in the Upper Room (ibid.).
He closed the homily with these
words:
Dear Friends
who have come to
Christ's Resurrection happened on the first day of the week, which in the Scriptures is the day of the world's creation. For this reason Sunday was considered by the early Christian community as the day on which the new world began, the one on which, with Christ's victory over death, the new creation began.
As they gathered round the Eucharistic table, the community was taking shape as a new people of God. St. Ignatius of Antioch described Christians as "having attained new hope" and presented them as people "who lived in accordance with Sunday....
Then he closed with these words:
It is this
that gives rise to our prayer: that we too, Christians
of today, will rediscover an awareness of the crucial importance of Sunday
Celebration and will know how to draw from participation in the Eucharist the
necessary dynamism for a new commitment to proclaiming to the world Christ
"our peace" (Eph.
How will this be achieved - the
Sunday Mass as the unifying factor? The prophecy of Revelation 16 gives that
answer - "spirits of devils."
+++++
Page 8
Take Note
We are living in the time of the
end. The fast fulfilling signs of the times declare that the coming of Christ
is near at hand. The days in which we live are solemn and important. The Spirit
of God is gradually being withdrawn from the earth. Plagues and judgments are
already falling upon the despisers of the grace of God. The calamities by land
and sea, the unsettled state of society, the alarms of war, are portentous.
They forecast approaching events of the greatest magnitude.
The agencies of evil are combining their forces, and
consolidating. They are strengthening for the last great crisis. Great changes
are soon to take place in our world, and the final movements will be rapid
ones.
Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 9, p. 11