We have already shown in our examination of the Sunday question as connected with the image of the beast that death to dissenters is the logical result of dissent from the National Reform doctrines, when that doctrine shall have been given a legal basis; and that thus the scripture will be fulfilled which says: "He had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed." (Revelation 13:15)
We shall now show the same thing from their false doctrine of the coming and kingdom of Christ.
Religious Dissent Becomes Treason
We have shown by their own words that they intend by constitutional amendment to acknowledge Christ as king of this nation, and so to make this republic the kingdom of Christ. When that shall have been done, then, Sunday being the supreme test of Christianity, to refuse to keep it will be treason to the State.
We have this in their own words. July 4, 1887, "Rev." Wm. Benton Greene, Jr., pastor of the Tenth Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, preached a sermon which the Christian Nation commends as containing "sound National Reform doctrine." In that sermon, after having to his own satisfaction proved that this should be a Christian nation, Mr. Greene proceeded to call attention to some of the consequences flowing from it, and said: Indifference to Christ is treason to the State.
This being so, then it surely follows that anyone who persists in showing what these men pronounce to be indifference to Christ, will have to suffer the penalty of confirmed treason, which is death. But this ardent "reformer" is not willing even to wait for a constitutional acknowledgment of Christ as king; he is willing to count it so already, and to carry into effect his evil principles and their infamous consequences. He says, Let him [the citizen] see to it that all civil enactments harmonize with the spiritual law of his King....If deliberate failure to do this be treason to the State, we have among us many traitors. Those there are who oppose the observance of the Sabbath [Sunday]; who demand that the law be not controlled by the gospel; that the Government must be administered on the principle that Christ has nothing to do with the State.
The secularists are more numerous and more dangerous than the infidels. Professedly aiming at keeping asunder Church and State, they aim chiefly at secularizing public education, as if there were no God and no future for the human soul....Such education must be equally false and unscientific, and when we permit it we are sanctioning the worst treason, the most oppressive tyranny, and conniving at the destruction of our nation.
If this is the way in which these men talk now, when they are are powerless to act, what will be the result when they shall have secured the constitutional authority to make their principles effective in acts. Woe then to the man who is so presumptuous as to have any opinions of his own, and thrice woe to him who shall be guilty of the treason of uttering dissent.
If there be any of our readers who think yet that we are not living in a time of which the Third Angel's Message speaks, or who think that we are talking at random when we speak of persecution coming, and of an image of the Papacy arising here, we only hope that something may occur that will wake them up before it is too late.
Signs and Wonders
Nor is this all. The Saviour says: "There shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect." (Matthew 24:24)
This shows that those who show these great signs and wonders will do so under the pretense that they are Christ; in other words, these signs and wonders will be shown under the form of false Christ's. Now the very greatest of those wonders are to be wrought by Satan: "Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders." (2 Thessalonians 2:9)
Therefore, it follows that Satan will at that time reveal himself, and do his great wonders in the form of a false Christ. Then, as the National Reformers expect Christ to come as soon as they shall have finished their testimony, when they shall have succeeded in making this nation a kingdom of Christ, and stand expectantly waiting for Christ to come into his kingdom, Satan through the mighty working of his great power will appear as an angel of light, and say, "I am Christ," and all the multitude--infidels, atheists, anarchists, Spiritualists, all--with the National Reform D.D.'s at their head, will receive him as Christ and king. Then will be indeed fulfilled the scripture that tells of "the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish." (2 Thessalonians 2:9-10)
Then to speak against their devil-king will be blasphemy, and to refuse to receive him as king will be treason, to be visited only with death.
The Faithful Considered Traitors
Yet there will be some who will refuse to receive him, and will openly say that he is the devil. These will be those who have received the love of the truth of the Third Angel's Message, that they might be saved, and who utterly refuse to worship either the beast or his image. They will refuse to worship the Papal Church by keeping Sunday, and they will refuse to acknowledge the devil as either Christ or king.
To refuse to do either of these things will be treason, and to refuse to do both will be doubly so. These alone of all the people will so refuse, and they will be but a "little flock." (Luke 12:32)
What then shall be done with them? They will be but confirmed traitors. It will be argued that they are only bringing destruction upon the nation, and above all that they refuse to acknowledge Christ as king. What shall be done? The prophecy tells: "He had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed." (Revelation 13:15)
Besides this, did not the Saviour say that when He should return, having received the kingdom: "Those my enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring here, and slay them before me." (Luke 19:27)
And when Satan shall have come a false Christ, and shall have been received as the true, this scripture will be enforced by the National Reformers in his behalf. They have already quoted it in this very connection, and with this very meaning. National Reform Secretary M. A. Gault, in replying to one who is opposed to National Reform, said to him: Have you forgotten that the day is coming when all professed Christians who deny the kingship of Christ over the nations, together with their infidel confederates, will at Christ's command be slain before His face, because they would not have Him to reign over them?
Fire from Heaven
Nor is this all. When Satan, as a false Christ, shall have come, then, then among the "great signs and wonders" (Matthew 24:24) that he will show, there will be fulfilled: "And he does great wonders, so that he makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men." (Revelation 13:13)
Now Elijah was a prophet of the true God, and fire came down from heaven in testimony that he was the servant of the true God, and in testimony that what he taught was the commandments of God. (1 Kings 18:17-39; 2 Kings 1:10,12) But in this test that is coming, this same miracle is to be performed to prove that the devil is God, and that the one distinguishing institution of the Papal Church--Sunday--must be kept instead of the commandments of God.
There will be those who, out of love to the truth of the Third Angel's Message, will be keeping "the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." They will be keeping the seventh day according to the commandment, and will be waiting for the Lord from Heaven. On the other hand, there will be the multitude saying that Sunday is the Sabbath and that those who keep it are the servants of the true God.
Then to those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, Elijah's challenge will be made by those who keep Sunday. It will be said, "If Sunday is the Sabbath of the Lord, and if we be the servants of the true God, let fire come down from heaven."
And fire will come down from heaven. But instead of accepting the evidence, those who have received the love of the truth of God will reply, "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God." (Exodus 20:10)
And the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord, even though heaven itself comes down. Then these people, having refused to accept the evidence of such a stupendous wonder, and still persisting in their "rebellion" and "treason,"--what can be done with them? Nothing at all but to go on with the perversion of the story of Elijah, and exclaim, "Take these traitors, let not one of them escape."
And then as the prophets of Baal were slain, so will those be commanded to be who receive the love of the truth of the Third Angel's Message, and through it keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. But not one of them will be slain, [Editor's note: Revelation 20:4 indicates that some will be martyred for their faith during this time] for, says the prophet, "I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire; and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God." (Revelation 15:2)
And so the contest will be finished; and thus those who have received the love of the truth, and keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, will gain the everlasting victory through Him "that loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood." (Revelation 1:5)
Which Path?
To some of our readers, these things may seem very strange. But they are true, nevertheless. These things will come to pass as surely as this nation runs into the iniquity of religious legislation, and the union of religion and the State. These things will come to pass as surely as this nation makes Sunday the national sabbath, and that is as certain as that the word of God is true. And the only protection for anybody on earth is to "keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus" (Revelation 14:12) with such a love for the truth that all the power and signs and lying wonders of Satan cannot swerve him from it in the least degree.
This nation is going to make an image of the Papacy. The Papacy made war with the saints, and the image of the Papacy will do likewise. The Papacy "opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, and His tabernacle, and them that dwell in Heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations." (Revelation 13:6-7)
And the image of the Papacy will do likewise. "And [he] deceives them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, thatthe image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free andbond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name." (Revelation 13:14-17)
This war with the saints is because they keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ, (Revelation 12:17) and with the purpose of making all men worship the Papacy. But God says, "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; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb; And the smoke of their torment ascends up for ever and ever; and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receives the mark of his name. Here is the patience of the saints; here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." (Revelation 14:9-12)
Reader, we beseech you to take heed to the message; receive the love of its truth; stand firmly for the righteousness of God; and so obtain a part in the promised victory.--Signs of the Times, February 10, 1888.