Chapter 16—The Close of Probation
No One Knows When Probation Will Close
God has not revealed to us the time when this message will close
or when probation will have an end. Those things that are revealed we
shall accept for ourselves and for our children, but let us not seek to
know that which has been kept secret in the councils of the Almighty....
Letters have come to me asking me if I have any special light as
to the time when probation will close, and I answer that I have only
this message to bear, that it is now time to work while the day lasts,
for the night cometh in which no man can work.—
Selected Messages
1:191
(1894).
Sunday-Law Enforcement Precedes the Close of Probation
The Lord has shown me clearly that the image of the beast will be
formed before probation closes, for it is to be the great test [
See the
previous chapter, where the great test for the people of God is shown
to be Sunday-law enforcement.
] for the people of God, by which their
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eternal destiny will be decided.—
Selected Messages 2:81
(1890).
What is the “image to the beast”? and how is it to be formed?
The image is made by the two-horned beast, and is an image to the
beast. It is also called an image of the beast. [
The two-horned beast of
Revelation 13:11-17
makes an image to the beast portrayed in
Reve-
lation 13:1-10
.] Then to learn what the image is like and how it is to
be formed, we must study the characteristics of the beast itself—the
papacy.
When the early church became corrupted by departing from the
simplicity of the gospel and accepting heathen rites and customs, she
lost the Spirit and power of God; and in order to control the consciences
of the people, she sought the support of the secular power. The result
was the papacy, a church that controlled the power of the state, and
employed it to further her own ends, especially for the punishment
of “heresy.” In order for the United States to form an image of the
beast, the religious power must so control the civil government that the
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