Basic HTML Version
The Last Solemn Warning, October 7
And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any
man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his
forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the
wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of
his indignation.
Revelation 14:9, 10
.
As the ministration of Jesus closed in the holy place, and He passed
into the holiest, and stood before the ark containing the law of God, He
sent another mighty angel with a third message to the world.... This
message was designed to put the children of God upon their guard, by
showing them the hour of temptation and anguish that was before them.
This symbol [the beast], as most Protestants have believed, repre-
sents the Papacy....
The “image to the beast” represents that form of apostate Protes-
tantism which will be developed when the Protestant churches shall
seek the aid of the civil power for the enforcement of their dogmas....
As the sign of the authority of the Catholic Church, papist writers
cite “the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday.” ... What then is
the change of the Sabbath, but the sign, or mark, of the authority of the
Roman Church—“the mark of the beast”?
Sundaykeeping is not yet the mark of the beast, and will not be until
the decree goes forth causing men to worship this idol sabbath.
And it is not until the issue is ... plainly set before the people, and
they are brought to choose between the commandments of God and the
commandments of men, that those who continue in transgression will
receive “the mark of the beast.”
When God sends to men warnings so important that they are rep-
resented as proclaimed by holy angels flying in the midst of heaven,
He requires every person endowed with reasoning powers to heed the
message.
[287]
298